Long-Term Money
Does life seem easy in 2026? Some days it seems hard. Gas is $4 a gallon. Inflation is making grocery prices soar. Interest rates are making it harder to get an affordable home loan. There are arguments in the news about vaccine mandates. It seems like life is difficult. But in this article Morgan Housel takes a long view on things. For instance, he talks about Queen Anne of England who had 18 children, all of which died before adulthood. And about how as recently as 1881, a US President died because his doctor didn’t understand infections. If these rich and powerful people were brought down by something a $4 course of penicillin would fix in 2026, how much in some ways, even the worst of us in 2026 are richer than anyone could have imagined in the 1800’s.
If you could show any of these people a modern grocery store, they would faint from disbelief. They could not comprehend that the biggest challenge of grocery shopping is deciding which of the 19 brands of jelly to buy, or that in January you can buy papayas in Minnesota.
~Morgan Housel, Collabfund
This article takes an interesting long view on financial hardship. One key theme of the article is that we are all getting richer as society advances. Previous generations were limited to travel by how far they could walk. Maybe our great grandparents were limited to horse trips, whereas we can get from Sydney to New York in a day thanks to the help of a jet engine. Likewise, advances in medicine mean that horrible deaths that plagued humans for generations are relegated to the history book. But the most interesting part of the article deals with this concept on a more personal level. For instance, he interviewed a second generation immigrant whose parents worked multiple jobs so that he could get an education and who feels guilty that his daughter has a room full of toys. Housel says that he thinks that instead of being resentful at their grandchild, the first generation would be overjoyed that their hard work paid off enough that their grandchildren could live a comfortable life. In this way, we all are struggling so that future generations have a better life than we have now. The article is a great look into the purpose of money and how to think about and measure financial success.
3 Reasons Why Vanguard Investors Made $5 Trillion Over Last 10 Years
Have you ever heard someone mock index funds? While many people in 2026 now understand how index funds can help you build wealth, 30 years ago, they were widely mocked. When I was just starting to invest, I remember someone asking me “Why would I just want average performance?” Even now, it’s not uncommon to find people that believe in actively managed index funds or pick their own stocks trying to hit it big. Some people even hire a financial professional to manage their money and trade securities on their behalf. If you’re starting to question whether index funds are a sound investment, then you’ll want to check out this article on My Money Blog.
Aggressive covered-call ETFs for high-income, buffer ETFs for downside protection, leveraged ETFs for boosted returns. These all have a common feature: much higher fees and lower expected long-term returns! Vanguard offers none of these products. That’s not an accident!
~MyMoneyBlog
This article highlights that investors at Vanguard, a company known for low cost index funds, have made over five trillion dollars ($5,000,000,000,000) over the past 10 years. That’s a lot of zeros… Where did all of this money come from? Well, the stock market has done surprisingly well over this time period. The average annual return was 12.6%. So even if you just had average performance, your money was doubling in less than 6 years. Furthermore, Vanguard tends to attract “buy and hold” investors, so these investors were letting their money grow passively during this time instead of moving into and out of the market. Finally, Vanguard has extremely low fees, meaning that their investors got to keep even more of their investment gains than if they had their money at a higher cost firm. While this article focuses on Vanguard investors, there are many brokerage firms that offer similar low cost index fees and the takeaway message is not to move your money to Vanguard, but rather showing how powerful buying and holding index funds can be!
Stop the Money Mistakes Costing You Big
The biggest key to winning in almost any venture is to not make any unforced errors. In football, the team with less turnovers wins about 70% of the time. Financial security is the same way. If you don’t do stupid things with your money, there’s a very good chance that you can have comfort and financial security. Or even if you think those goals might be out of reach, not making money mistakes can be the difference between paying or bills or going into a cycle of debt. While it is not surprising that a big key to financial success is not making mistakes, many people fall into common money traps.
Focusing only on small savings can be a mistake. Like clipping coupons while ignoring a high-interest credit card debt. Tackling the big expenses often frees up more cash.
~Josh Hasting, InvestedWallet
If you’re hoping to keep yourself on a good financial trajectory, this article by Josh Hastings points out fourteen common mistakes people make with money that can hold them back from their financial goals. Many of the items on the list involve making emotional decisions with money instead of sticking to a budget. For example, maybe you buy something because it’s “on sale” or a “good deal” even though you weren’t planning for that purchase or didn’t need it. While that might feel good in the moment, these purchases can add up and impact your financial security. Another culprit is trying to save money by skipping maintenance. This can lead to bigger bills down the line when things break. The article is filled with lots of similar little things that can sneakily set you up to fail.