Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Some light reading:

1) Racked Everlane's After-Christmas Sale Lets Shoppers Choose Their Own Price - This is certainly a unique way to deal with overstock. 
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2) Yahoo Finance "Force Awakens" becomes fastest movie to $1 billion - What's even more amazing is that this movie hasn't opened yet in China, the world's second-largest movie market. 

3) Financial Samurai ​Year-End Checklist For Financially Wise People - A good checklist to refer to as the year wraps up. 

1) MarketWatch What a $1 Million Home Looks like in 20 Different Cities - These homes are stunning but unfortunately, I wouldn't even know what to put in a house that big. It'd be 4/5ths empty.
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2) The Financial Diet 10 Women Writers On What They Actually Get Paid Per Article - An honest look at writing fees. 

3) The Billfold What I Learned About Money After My Parents Died - A really nice read about family and money.

4) Bloomberg Big IPO, Tiny Payout for Many Startup Workers - Read this before joining a startup. 

5) NY Times Talking Money With: Alec Baldwin; Living Paycheck to Paycheck (All of Them Big) - Celebrities may seem larger than life but they're still human. It's interesting to hear them talk about how they deal with their money. 

1) The New Yorker My Life as a Heiress - "I finished the screenplay and it got made. I am quick to draw lessons from my own experience, and the lesson I drew from this one was that I was extremely lucky not to have ever inherited real money, because I might not have finished writing When Harry Met Sally . . . , which changed my life."

2) Forbes Q&A: Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely On Making Smart Financial Decisions - The author of Predictably Irrational just created a new research center called Common Cents that wants to help us become smarter with our money!

3) Nerd's Eye View The Ratcheting Safe Withdrawal Rate – A More Dominant Version Of The 4% Rule? - How much money do you need every month? Thinking about that will help you come up with your magical retirement number.

4) NY Times The Bad Fortune of Some Ultrawealthy People - Diversify your portfolio and don't buy five yachts when you make it big. One yacht is enough.

5) Vox Finland's hugely exciting experiment in basic income, explained - I'll be keeping tabs on this!

1) Facebook A Letter to our Daughter - It's raining money and babies!

2) Levo League SuChin Pak Tells Us the Biggest Millennial Money Mistake She Ever Made - Maybe if celebrities start talking about money, us normal folk will be more open about it as well.

3) The Finance Bar - "The Finance Bar is a mobile 501(c) (3) non-profit that bridges the gap between communities and personal finance accessibility. We deliver personal finance teachings to schools, organizations, and corporations." What a great idea!

4) NY Times Student Debt in America: Lend With a Smile, Collect With a Fist - "The story of how a teacher ended up $410,000 in debt reveals the deep contradictions in the federal government’s approach to student loans."

5) Racked Life as a Shut-In: I Survived a Week Relying Only on Delivery Apps - You know what I thought about the entire time I was reading this? How expensive the delivery fees must have been. Those things really add up!

1) Slate Bitter Brew -  "The scary part is that you think you can do better." Trying to open any sort of dining establishment is downright frightening.

2) Afford Anything Renting is Throwing Money Away … Right? - Did the chicken or egg come first? Is In-N-Out Burger the best burger joint in the world or the greatest burger joint in the world? Should we rent or buy?

3) Two Cents Lifehacker Lifestyle Inflation Isn’t Always a Bad Thing - We all like nice things. Let's just make sure it doesn't spiral out of control.

4) NY Times How MacArthur Geniuses Handle Their Money Windfalls - I love this so much. MacArthur Geniuses .... they're just (kind of) like us!

5) NY Mag "Daddy, Are We Rich?" - How can we raise our children to not be spoiled and to have a positive work ethic?