T.G.I.F. Friday: Volume 177

Welcome to “Thank God I’m FI” Friday, Volume #177

Here are some things I really like and that you might too!

Financial Independence/Work Life/Retirement Articles & Content

Majorities of Americans say key financial milestones are harder for today’s young adults to reach (Pew Research Center)  “The shares of 21-year-olds who were employed full-time, were financially independent or lived outside their parents’ home were all lower in 2021 than in 1980.

Half of Americans now ask AI for financial advice, but how good is it? (MIT Sloan School Of Management)  “New MIT Sloan School of Management research finds that while AI can improve saving and spending guidance over a lifetime, it still reflects biases tied to user inputs and struggles with portfolio rebalancing.“

Video

Modern humans have been putzin’ around the Earth for about 300,000 years. And while the Earth is big there’s more than 8,300,000,000 of us so you’d think we could cover some serious ground.  Yet a new species of monkey was found in the Congo recently.  If we’re still finding large mammalian species on land in 2026 imagine how many thousands (millions?) of fish and mammals that we have yet to discover in the oceans. They comprise about 71% of the earth’s surface but that stat is kind of meaningless, it’s about their depth.  We’ve barely explored .0001% of the oceans on Earth and I bet there’s some wild shit down there!

What I’m Grateful For

A fourth place finish in a big bike race a few weeks ago.  It’s tough to be happy when I missed out on the podium by a slim margin, but it was a big race and a stacked field and I actually did better than expected considering the course profile (or “parcours” as we say in bike racing) didn’t play to my strengths.

Lyrically Speaking

Well, you can’t just get what you want
Without a little work today
And you can’t just stick out your hand
No, it doesn’t work that way

From “Paying My Way” by Glen Hasnard

In the relatively small world of famous musicians from Ireland, Van Morrison stands head and shoulders above everyone to me.  U2 would be second.  After that it starts thinning out quick, with bands like Thin Lizzy and The Pogues being standouts.  Born in Dublin, Glen Hasnard came to prominence in the early 1990’s with a role in the 1991 movie The Commitments (<–affiliate link) after starting his band The Frames the year prior.  He was a clear talent and quickly started projects with other musicians including a folk-rock band called The Swell Season with Markéta Irglová. He toured with Eddie Vedder, wrote music for various movies, and was a well-established part of the live folk-rock music scene both in Europe and in the U.S.  I really love Hasnard’s voice, a gritty and evocative baritone that’s meant for the substantive songs he wrote.  Hasnard died on July 29th in a motorcycle crash in Ireland, he was only 56.  Tributes have been pouring in and Bono from U2 penned a particularly good one.  R.I.P. Glen and thanks for the music. 

As for the lyrics above, I now get what I want without having to work most days, though I work hard on my bike and on my health in general. If you achieve financial independence you can get there too.

Miscellaneous

Coffee may protect your heart but energy drinks could harm it – “Moderate coffee may help the heart, but high-powered energy drinks could push caffeine into dangerous territory.”

Inside NASA’s ‘very ambitious’ moon base plan – “NASA’s moon exploration plans call for nearly 80 launches, nearly 75 landers, 10 moon buggies and one nuclear reactor.”

Despite AI hype, Google’s data shows workers aren’t automating themselves away – “Analysis of 15 million real AI interactions finds most tasks at most jobs are unaffected.”

**Note To My Readers – I sometimes get complaints about ads on my blog (too many).  I’m kind of astonished that anyone browses the internet without an ad-blocker.  I haven’t seen ads in over a decade, and you shouldn’t either.  Please use an ad blocker, your life will improve 500%