Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as investing vs gambling, Scambodia, what matters in AI right now, Park Hyatt Saigon, average rents in 100 US cities, more AI ETFs are coming, vaccines for shingles, best airport dining, the best app for national parks, Route 66 turns 100, the best photography links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. And much more. Enjoy the weekend.

 

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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.

 

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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING

This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.

In case you missed it, I did publish my annual post: How I Burned 1,893,248 Miles and Points in 2025.

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.” – Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, 1974

 

PERSONAL FINANCE

Well, this is true: It’s Getting Harder to Tell Investing From Gambling, and It’s Not Your Fault. When the stock market seems unstoppable, it’s easy to step over the line.

In the real world, your attitude toward risk depends partly on who you are, but also on what you’ve lived through. And the data you’ll rely on is a mix of recent history and whatever stands out most vividly from your own experience. [So true, some old timers have been through the horrific dot com and Great Financial Crisis bear markets. Therefore, we think differently than so many younger folks who have never even come close to anything like that. And they have been conditioned to always buy the dip. At some point, that will not work. I think…]

So you need to stick to an investment plan and recognize that the market will do its thing. And lately most of us keep wondering about this: No Peace Plan, No Problem: Why the Wartime Market Keeps Rising. Actually, we have been wondering about this for a while. But, again, you need to get back to your investment plan to guide your investment decisions: Deciding on an asset allocation that you can live with, stick with a low cost broad based ETF portfolio, pick a time interval (every six months or at least once a year) to review and rebalance if necessary and avoid making stupid tax moves. And go live your life instead of worrying about how the latest happenings in the Strait of Hormuz will impact your portfolio. Because it does not matter what you think, the market will do its thing. And stop comparing yourself to others, like this guy mentioned in the article:

A longtime investor who held on through the dot-com crash and the 2007-09 recession, Drake said his experience has instilled a kind of blind faith in the American stock market’s ability to recover from just about any crisis. Why are markets racing back to records? “I have no idea,” he said. “It doesn’t matter why it goes down—the Iran war, Covid, whatever,” Drake said. “All these times when the market drops, it doesn’t even matter to me, I buy more.”

This was very good: Survival is the Only Success.

It doesn’t matter what you do in life if you can’t sustain it. You could make $100 million, but if you end up in a prison cell or broke, who cares? That’s not success. In fact, it’s the opposite.

…greed is a hell of a drug. Greed drives people to behave in absolutely irrational ways. It drives some people to risk everything for just a little bit more. It’s the most negatively asymmetric payoff you could imagine—the upside is capped, but the downside is unlimited. And yet people still make this trade all the time. There are people out there doing it right now. They may look successful today, but they won’t hold onto their success. [Blogging here is greedy…this is why this venture freely shares all profits…LOL]

This is why I’m not a fan of those who “generate income by selling options.” [Same]. These people are trading immediate rewards for future risks. And when those future risks inevitably arrive, many of them get wiped out.

Some of my kids’ friends and coworkers read my blog. This is for you for your next move: Average Rent Across 100 US Cities.