...Economic independence belongs to those with the willingness to allocate time, money, energy, and cognitive resources to achieve financial goals...

...Starting early shows you how much you own and hints at how much is ahead...

...warm yourself up with these classic hot cocktails that go beyond spiked hot chocolate...

...We are not taught how to learn in school, we are taught how to pass tests. The spacing effect is a far more effective way to learn and retain information that works with our brain instead of against it...

...The harsh truth is that the most important driver in the growth of your assets is how much you save, and saving requires discipline. Without a regular savings program, it doesn’t matter if you make 5 percent, 10 percent, or even 15 percent on your investment funds. The single most important thing you can do to achieve financial security is to begin a regular savings program and to start it as early as possible. The only reliable route to a comfortable retirement is to build up a nest egg slowly and steadily...

...What we found was two-fold: Not only did participants choose differently when it was for themselves rather than for someone else, but the way they chose was different...

...If you can’t let go of the chase and shake off the helplessness and cynicism it eventually generates, then you’re stuck. If you’re not willing to question that, then it is hard to dislodge the thinking that got you stuck...

...Tiny, nearly imperceptible changes can make a huge difference when you factor in time...

...A lifeguard doesn’t have to spend much time pitching to the drowning person. When you show up with a life buoy, if the drowning person understands what’s at stake, you don’t have to run ads to get them to hold on to it...

...In other words, what counts as common knowledge is a mix of things that are true and other things that are false, all of which are believed because they’re widely held, frequently repeated, and routinely recalled. It’s this fluency-as-a-surrogate-for-truth shortcut that makes innovation tricky: We trust in assumptions about the way the world operates that seem so obviously true that we fail to test them. And in failing to check these basic assumptions, we slam the door shut on finding new and better ways to do things...

...Breaded, melty cheese is something that crosses cultures—from deep-fried mozzarella sticks at state fairs to queso frito in Latin America. Inspired by those foods, we've taken squares of cheese are breaded and "fried" them in the waffle iron for just a minute, until their outsides turn golden brown and crunchy and their insides become perfectly melted and gooey...

...While looking to the future is fun, the more important question is, “What’s not going to change in the next ten years?”...

...When it comes to making your art—whether it’s music or writing or building a great company—you either really want it or you don’t. There is no easy way in, or out...

...Regardless, despite the upheaval, itemizing deductions is still a viable strategy to reduce overall tax obligations, and there are still six core deductions available to taxpayers, including: medical expenses (to the extent that they exceed 10% of Adjusted Gross Income); taxes paid to other governmental entities (both state or local municipality taxes as well as foreign governments, but with a $10,000 maximum deduction limit… regardless of filing status!); at least some types of interest paid (for not only mortgage interest – up to a $750,000 principal limit – but for investment purposes as well); charitable giving (but with limits); casualty and theft losses (but, for individuals, only if they were attributable to a Federally declared disaster); and other (miscellaneous-but-not-subject-to-the-2%-of-AGI-floor) deductions (such as gambling losses, among others)...

...Staying at the house of an old friend, whenever possible, is preferable to spending a night in a hotel...

...What starts small compounds into something more. The longer you play the long game, the easier it is to play and the greater the rewards. The longer you play the short game the harder it becomes to change and the bigger the bill facing you when you do want to change...

...risk management is about avoiding the mistake of betting so much you can lose it all—the mistake made by nearly every bank and hedge fund that ran into trouble in 2007 and 2008...

...Experimenting with different futures and identities is more than just a way of uncovering new opportunities (or pitfalls). Hard choices are often hard because they impact other people’s lives in meaningful ways, and so our ability to imagine that impact — to think through the emotional and material consequences from someone else’s perspective — turns out to be an essential talent...

...But I would bet that there are some ways that you could make your tried-and-true recipe even better...

...Meanwhile, Ekblom-Bak and other researchers are discovering that even just moderate physical activity — such as a brisk walk, dancing, or even gardening — can improve physical and mental well-being and extend lives...