Greycourt: Fifteen on Friday #507

Happy Friday –

As promised, Fifteen on Friday continues following my professional transition to Greycourt along with an updated color scheme.

A quick word of welcome to a number of new subscribers –

Best for your weekend,

David

Featured Articles:

The Atlantic – How America Got Mean – Credit ML – In a culture devoid of moral education, generations are growing up in a morally inarticulate, self-referential world.
NYT – Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That? Credit CW – For most people, the new economics of higher ed make going to college a risky bet.
WSJ – Try Hard, but Not That Hard. 85% Is the Magic Number for Productivity. To do the best work of your life, take it down a notch
Letters of Note – Live a life worth living – Credit TW – On 19 March 2018, almost five years after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, forty-two-year-old Julie Yip-Williams died, leaving behind a husband and two daughters. In July 2017, a year before she passed away, Yip-Williams wrote the following letter to her young daughters.
NYT – The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found This is a wonderful reflection from Nov 2001 by the now eminent Colson Whitehead – “There are eight million naked cities in this naked city — they dispute and disagree. The New York City you live in is not my New York City; how could it be?”

Business / Markets:

WSJ – Amateurs Pile Into 24-Hour Options: ‘It’s Just Gambling’ Rookie speculators try to strike it big on short-term investments that often act like lottery tickets
BR – Nobody Knows Anything, John Wick edition The first of the Keanu Reeves action movie was made for $20 million dollars. It was made as an independent film because none of the studios were interested: By the time it’s all said and done, the John Wick franchise will be worth more than 2 billion dollars
Morningstar – Will You Need Permission to Spend in Retirement? Their savings can comfortably replace their working incomes with little risk of running out over their lifetimes, but they spend less than they could spend, often much less. Indeed, researchers have identified a “retirement consumption gap” that’s particularly prevalent among retirees with higher levels of wealth.
NYT – The Big City Where Housing Is Still Affordable – Credit AM – In the past half century, by investing in transit and allowing development, the city has added more housing units than the total number of units in New York City. It has remained affordable by becoming the world’s largest city. It has become the world’s largest city by remaining affordable.
WSJ – Government Money-Market Funds Are Hot. There’s a State-Tax Catch. When it comes to state taxes, all government debt is not created equal—be sure to read the fine print

Others…

WorksInProgress – Why we didn’t get a malaria vaccine sooner. Hundreds of thousands of people die from malaria each year, but it took 141 years to develop a vaccine for it. Advance market commitments could speed things up next time.
Insider – The many faces of Scooter Braun The mega-manager behind Bieber and Grande says he’s the nice guy in a bad business. But Taylor Swift isn’t the only person who’s seen his dark side.
NYT – How Hip-Hop Became America’s Poetry
LifeHacker – How Long You Should Rest Between Sets It may feel awkward to stand around for three to five minutes, but that’s how you get stronger.
Ted – A smart way to handle anxiety — courtesy of soccer great Lionel Messi