A Learning a Day

A good friend and I were catching up a few months ago and he shared that the book “Die with zero” inspired him. Outside of a few financial planning tips, the central thesis of the book was that we are too attached to accumulating wealth.

Instead, our goal should be to die with as close to zero dollars left as possible, having spent our money on memorable life experiences and giving to loved ones and causes we care about.

He was on a career break and shared just how disconcerting it was to see his bank account go down instead of up. And even though he had “enough,” it still didn’t remove that discomfort. Old habits and programming are hard to change.

I haven’t read the book but I have thought about that conversation a few times over the past months. Personal finance and spending is a complex topic. Any discussion requires dealing with nuance as our circumstances vary.

But I’ve also come to realize that any answer that is along the lines of “I’ll be happier when….” is the wrong answer.

That doesn’t mean indulging our every whim. It does, however, mean being intentional about spending on experiences that are within our means in the current moment.

Don’t keep postponing the good stuff.

Time does fly… and life can be shorter than we think.

I was on a continuous set of calls while at Newark airport recently and absent-mindedly left my bag at security. I got food and reached my gate with plenty of time to spare.

It was only when the calls were done that I realized that my bag was not with me. I had walked around plenty while on the phone – so, I traced my steps back and didn’t find the bag. I checked with airport police – no dice. I walked back to security check and asked two guards who weren’t helpful either.

So I went back to the gate and asked around – starting with the attendant at my gate. It wouldn’t have been possible for someone to be more unhelpful. “Not my problem” sounds painful when you’re dealing with said problem. I asked a few more people – nobody really knew who could help.

A gate helper at a nearby gate shared that my flight was going to be delayed an extra half an hour. That was a relief – and I was grateful to her for sharing that.

Still, I was getting increasingly desperate as I continued asking airport staff. That’s when a gentleman named Eduardo – also airport staff – walked by. He said he’d just helped someone find a bag and he’d help. He asked me questions about where I’d been and we began retracing steps again. Again, no luck. But Eduardo was calm, patient, and collected.

There was a moment during the questioning when I said – “Eduardo, I think I didn’t have it then.. but at this point, I’m feeling like an idiot. So I don’t really know whether I’m right.”

To which, Eduardo simply replied – “It’s okay man. You’ve just lost your bag.”

His message was loud and clear – don’t overreact. It’s just a lost bag – we just have to go through the process step-by-step. Something about that message got me back to problem solving mode and gave me home. As we’d exhausted all our options, I asked if it made sense to go back to security.

That was the only logical option. But we’d have to run as the flight looked like it was about to board.

And so we did. This time, I walked past the unhelpful first set of agents to the next set. Did they have a gray bag in their lost and found?

Voila – they did.

I thanked Eduardo, scanned the airport’s compliments website and left him as nice a note as I could.

4 reflections –

(1) Multi-tasking always has a cost. Stay extra vigilant with your stuff in new places.

(2) Focus on the problem vs. your feelings about yourself or what caused the problem. It will help you solve problems faster.

(3) Often, our days and weeks are made positive by the kindness of strangers. Eduardo saved me so much trouble. And he did so by simply being kind – kindness that gave me hope. His kindness will remain etched in my memory. Thank you, Eduardo.

(4) I’m not generally thankful for flight delays. But, if it wasn’t for the delay, I wouldn’t have found my bag.

As the saying goes, good? bad? who knows?

The law of squeaky wheels: When more grease and care is given to squeaky wheels within organizations, the more likely it is that ordinary wheels turn squeaky.

Incentives drive behavior.

#OurWorldIsAwesome – Edition 4

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Last summer, I had the opportunity to spend two days in Lauterbrunnen valley. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we all have different ways of perceiving beauty. In my eyes, it was hands down the most beautiful place I’d ever been to.

Snow-capped mountains, stunning green meadows, and waterfalls – Lauterbrunnen valley is, in a word, incredible. It reminded me of Yosemite valley (the topic of another post) – except larger and – against all odds – prettier. Below are a couple of photos clicked on an iPhone.

The name “Lauterbrunnen” translates to “loud springs.” The valley has 72 waterfalls. The most stunning of these – in my opinion – is the Trummelbach falls. These falls are on the inside of the mountain and their power is awe-inspiring.

These falls are made possible by melting glaciers from the tallest Alps – Jungfrau, Eiger, and Monch. At a time when the warming climate is reducing the glacier coverage on this planet, places like this remind us of the importance of finding ways to stop and, hopefully in time, reverse the impacts of climate change.

Both sides of the valley have picturesque car-free villages. I loved the idea of car-free villages. We need more of those.

And, a fun fact, this valley was the inspiration for “Rivendell” in the Lord of the Rings saga.

I hope to return.

The sweet spot is caring deeply about the process while not caring too much about the outcome.

A study from Raj Chetty et al looked at the long-term impact of kindergarten teachers. The TLDR is that experienced kindergarten teachers have a long-range impact on their student.

They posit that experienced teachers create an environment that results in kids developing better non-cognitive/social skills that tend to have large long-term impact on their well-being.

A good start to school goes a long way. Quite literally.

This poll from Heatmap (original post is paywalled) made me chuckle. In a survey with 2000 American respondents, only 14% said they support Methane gas for electric generation. That makes sense – Methane is the biggest contributor to climate change and is a poor choice compared to some of the others we have today.

However, thrice as many people said they support natural gas.

The kicker is that – despite the natural sounding name – they are both the same thing.

An underrated personal finance strategy is to just buy good/quality things and use them longer.

It’s good for our wallet in the long run, great for our happiness, and also more sustainable.

Penny foolish, pound wise.

Stand-up comedians are known for breaking up their act into small components (“bits”) and relentlessly testing these with smaller audiences before a big show.

It is a great way to think about shipping products. De-risk the big launch by breaking it up into smaller bits that can help you get early signal.

It is also a great analogy for learning to pitch something. You just have to keep practicing that pitch and take all the feedback you get along the way.

Ship and pitch… like a stand-up comedian.

Leading car manufacturers in the past few decades have been concentrated among manufacturers from a few countries like Germany (Volkswagen et al), Japan (Toyota), and the United States (Ford, General Motors). The biggest challenge any incumbents faces is moving quickly when new technology arrives.

Tesla’s success has been a great example of the incumbents’ failure to respond. In 2023, the Model Y was the best selling car in the world – beating the Toyota Corolla. Tesla reimagined a great driving experience and reaped the results as the undisputed leader in electric vehicles for the past decade.

All this while, we’ve seen the incumbents takes a few steps forward with a few steps back. Call it hubris or a lack of conviction or some mix of both – but they’ve taken their time. So, reading this excerpt in the Exponential View about the progress in China was eye-opening.

China has reduced vehicle costs through economies of scale in manufacturing, allowing prices as low as $10,000 per vehicle. In addition, wages are likely to have increased fivefold since 2008¹. These factors have made vehicles more affordable for China’s middle class. Last year, China registered 8.1 million new EVs. With 120 million factory workers, unlocking domestic demand will create a virtuous cycle of learning and growth for manufacturers.

Chinese cost leadership in EVs is already challenging US and German companies. The Tesla Model 2, cancelled in April, was going to cost $25,000 and the cheapest Volkswagen EV is €36,900 – both well above BYD’s $10,000 Seagull. Tariffs of 100% in the US and potentially of at least 50% in the EU are designed to buy time for incumbent carmakers, but the pressure is on to compete. These companies bear some responsibility for their situation, having defended ICE vehicles rather than embracing the exponential trajectory of battery pricing and EV demand.

The tariffs won’t mean much to China – there are plenty of markets for their cheap vehicles, Brazil, Asia, Africa (and Ethiopia, of course). Even in the UK, I just saw my first BYD in a local neighbourhood in London last week.

The lesson is a cautionary tale of hubris, for Western car makers who doubted the exponential trend sweeping electric vehicles and stepped in too timidly and, possibly, too late.

As fascinating as this case study is, this post isn’t about the car industry.

Instead, it got me reflecting on my own decision making. We all are dealing with versions of this story – in our personal lives, in our career, and in decisions we make at work.

It is so easy to get attached to the status quo – especially when it feels comfortable in the moment. It is best to anticipate the change and move toward it on your own terms rather than get caught reacting to it.

Amateurs react, professionals respond, masters anticipate.