I recently got together with two of my best friends from high school, Jamie and Jason. We’ve been friends for over 30 years. We don’t see each other as often as we’d like to because life is busy. But when we do it’s always amazing. Sipping tea in the Sugarhouse neighbourhood of Salt Lake City,…
Articles by Carl Richards
Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner and a columnist for the New York Times, Morningstar magazine and Yahoo Finance. He is author of 2 books, The Behavior Gap & The One-Page Financial Plan. Carl lives with his family in Park City, Utah. You can find his work and sign up for his newsletter (which has an international audience) at www.behaviorgap.com/
Do you remember playing pretend when you were little? Maybe you were a superhero, a dinosaur or a princess. It’s normal when you’re little, and it’s usually harmless. Most children know the difference between pretending to be a superhero and jumping off the roof thinking they can fly. But adults often forget. For instance, we…
There’s nothing wrong with ranting. Most people do it. I would argue that everybody needs to do it. In fact, I’d even suggest that ranting is a good thing. But only if you do it right. If you do it wrong, the consequences can cost you your job, your friendships or even your marriage. So…
I’m sick of Instagram. I’m sick of comparing myself to everyone else I see there. I’m sick of thinking that #livingmybestlife has anything at all to do with what @Influencer123 thinks (aka, preaches). I’m sick of competing. I’m sick of flipping through other people’s photo streams and feeling envious about what I see. I’m sick…
I worry about money. I bet you worry about money, too. But here’s the interesting thing: I’ve never worked with anyone who identified “worry” as something they valued. So why do we let worry about money drive so much of our thinking and decision making? My experience suggests our worry comes from trying to control…
There are two types of experts in the world: real experts, and fake ones. The real experts are the people who spend many years refining their knowledge and skill set in a particular area and become masters of pattern recognition. But all too often, they end up toiling away in relative obscurity and poverty, neither…
Some of us really like the status quo. Even when we have a better alternative, many of us are content to keep on doing what we’re doing. I think about this every time my wife and I swap cars. Depending on who is running what errands that day, we’ll switch between our big car and…
I ski the back-country a lot, so I pay close attention to reports of avalanches. In particular, I pay attention when a skier is caught and killed by one. This year alone there have been 20 avalanche fatalities in the United States. In January, there were nine fatalities in nine days. Very few avalanche accidents…
Did you read, listen, or watch the news in the last year? If so, you probably came across one or more of these headlines: Europe Stocks Close Down, Euro Hit as Greek Talks Stumble Russia says it would match any U.S. military buildup in Eastern Europe U.S. fast-track vote leaves Pacific trade pact talks in…
Hey, I have a question for you. Do you remember being a kid and pretending you could fly? I sure do. Now, let me ask you another question. Do you remember jumping off a roof to test that theory? No? Ok, good. Me neither. You know why? Because even as kids, we knew what it…