Why Do You Read?
Is it for pleasure or from pressure?
I’ve always craved for more info. I was begging for more.
No, that wasn’t accurate enough…
I Was Addicted
Books were crystallized wisdom to be sniffed up. I needed a quickie. A hit. A bang. I had to feel “the intellectual high.” For every book I consumed, I sought solace.
Then seconds later, I was lusting for more.
Read, if you want to get smarter.
Read, if you want to get richer.
Read, if you want to meet interesting people.
More. More. More.
Read. Read. Read.
Read, because reading is the f***ing foundation for everything wonderful in life.
Is it?
No. Not anymore. I’m done with that addictive, and hurtful reading porn.
The Confession of an Ex-Addict
Or at least, I’m in the recovery mode.
Now, I read because I want to slow down to see my mirror image. I read because I want to hear my voice echoed more eloquently by my favorite authors. I read because I want to see my better self through the eyes of my friends from afar.
I used to read to fill my void inside. I now read to face myself as is.
The Shift that Made Sense
This shift came to me thanks to Nick Maggiulli.
Every week, I receive a gift from Nick in the form of a newsletter. Let me share with you the 3 best gifts I received from him.
But first, here’s his bio from his blog:
Of Dollars And Data focuses on personal finance using data analysis. Nick Maggiulli is the Chief Operating Officer for Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC.
To be honest, my first impression of Nick wasn’t that good: Excusez-Moi? Data analysis? I’m a freaking designer. I don’t care about the data analysis. Besides, I don’t have wads of cash lying around. Verdict: He is an officially boring guy.
Oh boi, was I wrong.
Not only he was the guy with a healthy sense of skepticism, but he was also the codebreaker who knows how to explain the difficult subject matter of personal finance to anyone interested. As a result, his posts always came packing with weighty insights and emotional depth that linger in my monkey mind for days and weeks afterward.
Nick the “Sensei”
Whenever Warren Buffet was mentioned in Japanese media, the tone is always the Classic Coke sugary. The Oracle of Omaha, the Sage, and the Saint. If you have been reading business and self-help genres long enough, you cannot avoid the good-old Warren being revered as the God (yes, I’d translate it with capital G) of investment and moral guidance.
Warren may be the Oracle of Omaha but Nick was my sensei. I knew it when I read his Talk is Cheap article.
For example, consider how Warren Buffett consistently claims that it is “outrageous” that his secretary pays twice the federal tax rate that he does.
Oh really Mr. Buffett?
Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!
So when he challenged Mr. B, I was thrilled.
In fact, Buffett and Gates go out of their way to minimize their tax burden through the use of foundations and other tax avoidance strategies.
Yes, their wealth will do great things for the world (whether they pay their “fair share” of taxes or not), but this example illustrates that you can’t listen to what somebody says, only what somebody does.
Then in his masterful move, he pivots to unwrap a valuable economic theory to the audience.
In economics, this concept is called revealed preferences, and it can be one of the most valuable ways to learn about the world.
If he had begun this piece from the dry economics theory, I would’ve lost my interest already. But the way he stood up against the guru ensnared me into his article to read on. That was a smooth scaffolding only my sensei can build. I was loving it.
Nick the “Ninja”
He wasn't just a regular personal finance sensei. He knows when to go full-on "Ninja-mode" to build up data and narrate what’s really happening below the news headlines. In How Big is the Racial Wealth Gap?, Nick wielded his analytical power to examine a thorny issue that divides us.
When I heard riots erupting in the U.S., frankly I was glad to be in Tokyo. I didn’t have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire. Was I selfish? Surely. Didn’t I grow up in Los Angeles as an immigrant and shouldn’t I be caring more about the plight of the victims? Certainly. But then, across the pacific ocean, I was at. I had no black friends. Really, I was on the side fence about the whole thing.
Then I read Nick’s article:
It might be hard to believe, but the typical White household has 10 times as much wealth ($171,000) as the typical Black household ($17,000) in the U.S.
No shit! How could this be happening? How could the system be so rigged?
He got my attention. He went on to question if the gap in educational attainment is the root of the racial wealth gap.
In fact, the median Black household with a college degree has a net worth similar to the median White household without a high school diploma.
In other words, for Black households, having a college degree is not good enough to build their own wealth to the level of White households. Perhaps if they are earning the same income, their net worth would be similar.
No.
Controlling for income directly has shrunk the racial wealth gap from a factor of 10 to a factor of three to four. However, the gap still isn’t close to zero, so something else is going on.
Finally, he began to wrangle with the power of the negative compounding effect.
I see discriminatory acts both large and small that have added up over decades and decades to leave the typical Black household in the U.S. at a far worse starting point than the typical White household.
In the end, he didn’t leave me with a Disney-grade catharsis to wipe off the mess we are in.
I don’t know. But we need to even the playing field for as many people as possible as early as possible. We need true equality of opportunity not just the image of equality of opportunity.
Nobody has a silver bullet to make racism go away. That was what I needed to hear because any change begins from uncompromising courage to acknowledge that we are, in fact, in the square one.
That’s why he is my ninja sensei.
But, What’s He Really Like IRL?
Some people say that numbers don’t lie. I suppose. But people lie with the numbers. Judging from his credential, he makes an excellent potential liar.
Ultimately, I have to put my trust in the people, not on the numbers. I trust Nick not because he is the data science guy or makes tons of money investing but he is open and honest about himself.
How do I know for sure? I don’t.
But I do know about his Regrets. That was the piece that his voice came through and struck a chord with me.
When people tell me that they have “No regrets,” I never believe them.
With his signature skepticism, he began to question the motives of people who say they have no regrets. This was a very personal post about his good friend from high school days.
I won’t go any further because I don’t want to spoil it. But at the end of the article, there was a scene where he unmasks his vulnerability and owns it. He owns it so much to the degree that my moralistic ego got blown away. Out. He owns it so much that I could not help but sit straight and listen to him.
But, there are many other choices I will have to make. Choices that will affect the lives of my friends, my family, my colleagues, and many others. So will you.
Right. Reality sucks. Regrets happen, therefore.
When regrets happen, we can simplistically dismiss them, saying, “You are so privileged. You should live your life without regrets. Shame on you for not living your life to the fullest.”
No, he doesn’t slap you around like that. Sure, he knows a lot about data analysis and investing which makes him a desirable professional to entrust your portfolio with. But at the most basic level as a fellow human being, he embraces you though his truthful character.
And some of those choices won’t turn out the way you want them to. Some of them will turn into regrets. And that’s okay. Because regrets are not something to be looked down upon.
As a “recovering” reader and as a member of humanity, I want to feel the raw power of authenticity that I can instinctively relate to. Relevant skills and experiences. Techniques to deliver the core message. They are all nice to have and I know Nick’s got them all. But if I had to choose one thing from Nick’s writing, and only one thing, that would be his authenticity.
What Do You See? The Void? The Openness?
As Nick’s lessons resonated in my mind, it was my turn to amplify it through my actions. What my ninja sensei taught me was that it’s completely OK to be myself. It sounds cheesy as hell. But that was how I came to internalize his message and applied it to my own life.
For example, I used to silently sandbag myself for not being able to write like professors and columnists. Now, as I write my weekly newsletter, I can feel a mild buzz for writing at the 8th-grade level because I’m on the right track. And if I could write it in the 4th-grade, I knew I nailed it! That would be me, speaking with my authentic voice. Simple. Straight-forward. I wouldn’t have it in any other way.
I’m also aware that my design skills won’t qualify for any awards or not even an internship at a local agency. But I volunteered anyway to see if I could help out people with their websites. Now I have 10 people who reached out to me.
As an anonymous consumer, I was always trying to fill my anxiety with binge reading. The more I consumed, the more I cried out for what I was missing.
I don’t do that anymore.
Don’t Just Consume. Create.
I’m here as a content creator in the open world of the internet just being myself. This is me and here is where I’m at because I know people would echo back to me for what I create.
People like you.
I know this for sure because I know you’re reading this. If you enjoyed my content, it’d be nice if you could share it with someone like yourself. For some reason, I feel like there are a lot more people like us waiting to hear from us.
Let’s not just consume.
Let’s create a difference!
Thanks for reading!
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