A Sad Situation
Jiab Wasserman | Jul 26, 2022
I RECENTLY CHATTED with a clerk at an art supply store. We both complained about the Texas heat. Whenever I engage in small talk or meet new people, the weather is my safe, go-to topic. As the saying goes, “Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.” Changes in the weather affect us to varying degrees—pun intended. Some effects are minor, like rain interrupting our outdoor plans. Others are more serious. When the fall and winter bring darker and colder days, many people experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Symptoms vary, but SAD is manifested by listlessness or sadness, if not outright depression. In extreme cases, there’s a feeling of hopelessness or worthlessness and an all-around negative view of life. It’s an extensively documented medical condition. An estimated 6% of the U.S. population are affected by SAD. Another 14% suffer from a lesser form of seasonal mood change known as the winter blues. It’s more common among people living farther from the equator, where daylight is in shorter supply. Fourteen percent of residents of Oslo, Norway, have seasonal affective disorder compared to 4.7% in New York City. This mood disorder can affect our decision-making, including our financial decisions. Negative and unsure feelings increase risk aversion among investors. Risk-averse investors are less willing to buy stocks, and may even consider selling the stocks they already own. According to a paper that analyzed the flow of money between mutual fund categories, investors prefer safer mutual funds in the fall and riskier funds during spring. The same researchers found this trend was offset by six months in Australia, where the seasons are reversed. A study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta concluded that stock returns vary seasonally with the amount of daylight in the fall and winter. Another study by…
Read more » Brain Food
Jiab Wasserman | Dec 3, 2021
MY MOST MEMORABLE experiences are family vacations—and that includes the mishaps. Those become the stories we laugh about years later. For instance, when our boys were young, we took an overnight train from Bangkok to northern Thailand. We found ourselves trapped for three days in Chiangmai by an unexpected torrential flood. Multiple times, we had to modify our plans for getting back to Bangkok. Finally, we got a flight on a small airplane. As we walked up to the plane, we saw tons of fuzzy yellow baby chicks loaded under the plane—which delighted our boys. Today, the boys don’t remember much about Chiangmai. But they’ll never forget the flight with the fuzzy baby chicks. More recently, during a trip that Jim and I took to Istanbul, our inexperienced taxi driver got lost in the historic district. At 2 a.m., he dropped us off in a dark alley on the wrong side of the Hagia Sophia mosque and told us to walk to the hotel. Adding insult to injury, he tried to overcharge us by $2. The hotel was only a 10-minute walk. But in the heat of the moment, we spent 30 unproductive minutes arguing with the taxi driver, who spoke little English. Traveling doesn’t just give us colorful stories and good laughs for years to come. It turns out that it brings additional and unexpected benefits. As John Steinbeck wrote in Travels with Charley in Search of America, “We do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” Here are three reasons to pack your bags and head to parts unknown: 1. Travel brings happiness. A 2014 study found that people were happier when they traveled, and not just while on the trip. Just anticipating a trip can make you happier for 15 days beforehand, while the after-glow from a…
Read more » Resolved: New Journeys
Jiab Wasserman | Jan 23, 2022
WE RETIRED AND MOVED to Spain in 2018. We were excited and eager to explore our new home and a new culture. We traveled a lot, mostly in Spain, but also the rest of Europe and Asia. But since the pandemic started, our travel has been limited. Indeed, COVID-19 sped our return to Dallas. I’m happy that we’re now closer to our sons, and can see family and friends in person. But having lived in Dallas for 28 years, I already know the city well. Still, I plan to keep exploring—but this year I’ve resolved to take my retirement journey in two different directions. First, during the ultra-strict Spanish lockdown in early 2020, I discovered my love of drawing and painting, and even set up online art shops. Creating art has helped me deal with the stress of the pandemic and of my mother's situation. It has become my way of turning off the outside noise. This year, I’ve resolved to continue to draw and paint in my sketchbook every day. Whether that will translate into making more money isn’t important to me, though I’ll admit that I get excited and enjoy the extra validation that comes with selling a piece of art. My second journey for 2022 is returning to graduate school. Like my husband Jim, I was recently admitted to the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University of Texas at Dallas. My focus will be gender studies and economics. Why? I spent my career in the male-dominated world of finance and banking, and I’ve written about my experiences and the challenges women face. I’ve also been interviewed about the gender pay gap. It’s an issue I’m passionate about and want to explore in depth. Classes are set to start in late January. I hope that, by drawing…
Read more » Less Is More
Jiab Wasserman | Aug 20, 2021
I RECENTLY INJURED my lower back playing tennis. I rested for a day and then decided I was well enough to resume my usual activities. But my haste worsened the pain, extending my recuperation to more than a week. Every move—even sneezing—hurt. Putting on my pants was a major struggle. I was forced to do nothing except rest. Doing nothing was the one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Ironically, at the time of my injury, I was working with Jim on writing a book on Daoism, and I happened to be focusing on the idea of wu wei or “nonaction.” The notion: We shouldn’t act unnecessarily and instead do so only when we absolutely have to. In the Dao De Ching, Lao Tzu cautions against interfering with the state of things. He sees the world as one of precious balance, where an action that isn’t carefully considered might easily lead to an avalanche of unwanted effects before balance is eventually restored. This got me thinking about the financial world—and about how much better off we’d be if we adopted this kind of cautionary thinking by investing in index funds, keeping costs low and interfering with our portfolio's natural growth as little as possible. History has shown it’s extremely difficult to beat the market averages year in and year out. Sometimes, a rush to action hurts us. As Warren Buffett once observed, "The stock market is a device to transfer money from the impatient to the patient."
Read more » Happy to Be Home
Jiab Wasserman | Aug 12, 2021
IN THE PAST THREE years, Jim and I have moved five times—three times in Spain and twice in Dallas. We sold almost all our possessions when we moved to Spain, taking just four suitcases and two cats. When we returned to Dallas, we didn’t bring home much more—five suitcases and two cats. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that I prefer living in a smaller home. I love the design of Spanish houses, which are—on average—just half the size of equivalent U.S. homes. Because most Spanish homes don’t have central air conditioning, all of our Spanish casas had lots of windows for cross-breezes. This also provided natural light from multiple directions. Each place had at least one outdoor terrace. When we returned to the U.S., we lived in a condo for four months. We were waiting for our tenant’s lease to end on the townhome we own. The condo had plenty of space, about 1,200 square feet. But I just didn’t care for the layout. It lacked a terrace or patio, and the light and air came in only from the south side. The windows could be opened, but just barely. When we finally moved back into our Dallas townhome a few weeks ago, I realized that it has the qualities that we loved in our Spanish apartments. It gets lots of light from multiple directions. It has a private courtyard, so we can leave the doors open for some fresh air. It has places for plants to thrive, including the kitchen window sills. There’s even a small cat door, so our pets can frolic in the courtyard at night, chasing bugs and rolling in catnip. Having been away, we fell in love with our first home all over again. Voltaire writes of travelers who, after seeing much of the world, decide that…
Read more » Buen Camino
Jiab Wasserman | Apr 30, 2019
ON APRIL 3, MY HUSBAND Jim and I were among 262 pilgrims who made our way into Santiago de Compostela to receive an official pilgrim’s certificate for completing the required distance along one of the famous El Camino’s several routes—the most popular of which is some 500 miles. We were now certified peregrinos, or pilgrims. Because it was early in the season, ours was one of the slow days for Camino completion. Last August, 2,000 certificates per day were issued. Walking El Camino is gaining in popularity not just with Spaniards, but also with folks from around the world. In 2018, there were 327,328 certificates issued, compared to just 2,491 in 1986. This begs the question: Why do people commit themselves to such an arduous walk, which can take weeks to complete? In an age that provides convenience, comfort, speed and efficiency, thousands from around the globe walk hundreds of miles, enduring considerable physical demands, long periods of solitude, and deprivation from most modern comforts and conveniences. I can’t answer that question for all pilgrims. But I can honestly say that it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The certificate at the end was, of course, nice to receive, but that was the least of it. In The Pilgrimage, Paulo Coelho wrote, “It is the road that teaches us the best way to get there, and the road enriches us as we walk its length.” El Camino enriched me in three ways: I had the feeling of being fully present. I recently retired after working more than 25 years in the business world, where I had to be simultaneously mindful of the past, the current situation and the future. The simple act of walking, putting one foot in front of the other for mile after mile, hour after hour, brought…
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Mark Crothers is a retired small business owner from the UK with a keen interest in personal finance and simple living. Married to his high school sweetheart, with daughters and grandchildren, he knows the importance of building a secure financial future. With an aversion to social media, he prefers to spend his time on his main passions: reading, scratch cooking, racket sports, and hiking.
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