Money Maps Today

  My coworker James bought a house at 26.                                     

                                         For six years I told myself I would start investing "next month." Every single month. For six years.

                                    MY EXPERIENCE   I was brushing my teeth on a random Monday morning I think the date was 16 July 2024 when my phone buzzed with a notification. "Your card has been charged $14.99 by random app which i used for 1 day.

  At 2am on a random Tuesday, I bought a $45 kitchen gadget I had never heard of before that moment. I was scrolling through my phone in bed, half asleep, and an ad showed me this thing that sliced avocados in three different ways. I do not even eat avocados that often. But the ad made it look so satisfying and the reviews said it was "life-changing" and it was 40% off for the next two hours only and before my brain could finish the thought "do I actually need this" my thumb had already tapped "Buy Now" and my card was charged. It arrived four days later. I used it once. It went into the drawer under my kitchen counter where it joined a collection of other impulse purchases — a phone grip I saw on Instagram, a set of resistance bands from a midnight scrolling session, a portable blender I used twice, and a journal with inspirational quotes that I never wrote a single word in. That drawer was the physical evidence of my impulse buying problem. Every item in...