_{Exploring a general rule, dunning-kruger, and avoidance}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

What Will Your Retirement Look Like?

Planning for retirement raises many questions. Have you considered how much it will cost, and how you’ll generate the income you’ll need to pay for it? For many, these questions can feel overwhelming, but answering them is a crucial step forward for a comfortable future.

Start by understanding your goals, estimating your expenses and identifying potential income streams. The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income can help you navigate these essential questions. If you have $1,000,000 or more saved for retirement, download your free guide today to learn how to build a clear and effective retirement income plan. Discover ways to align your portfolio with your long-term goals, so you can reach the future you deserve.

Get The Guide

_{One idea to experiment with:}

A General Rule:

Social media has turned attention into a marketplace. The time we are buying and selling also touches our dollars. We buy on recommendation or on brand promise.

Some people are buying attention, trying to grow an audience, monetize influence, or build a name. Others are selling it, deciding who deserves their time, trust, and money. But this dynamic isn’t limited to social platforms. It shows up everywhere.

Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly marketing ourselves.

Sound bites and highlight reels market influencers. Brand stories market products. Clothes, cars, houses, and job titles market status. Even silence can be a strategy. And if you want someone’s attention, you have to make a pitch compelling enough that they choose you over everything else competing for them.

That’s marketing.

And in a world saturated with it, a simple rule has started to settle in my mind:

Be cautious of the person who repeatedly announces, “Trust me.”
Be wary of the one who declares, “I’m an expert.”
Pay attention when someone insists, “I’m disciplined,” “I’m wealthy,” “I’m generous,” “I’m different.”

Real traits tend to reveal themselves. They don’t need megaphones.

We trust experts because we have to. No one can master every domain. But think about the most competent people you’ve encountered, the true professionals, how often did they introduce themselves by proclaiming their greatness? Warren and Charlie were two of the most prolific investors in history. They didn’t self-promote. They shared thinking, ideas, lessons, failures. Their results spoke their status.

They didn’t.

The louder the claim, the thinner the substance often is. When someone leads with adjectives instead of evidence, what is being sold is perception, not proof.

This doesn’t mean confidence is a red flag. Clarity is not arrogance. But credibility is earned through demonstration, not absolute declaration.

Trust patterns over promises, track records over taglines, and broadly, trust what people repeatedly do, not what they repeatedly say.

Because the people most eager to convince you who they are are often still trying to convince themselves.

there are no experts

_{Two quotes on dunning-kruger:}

Certainty of knowledge is not indicative of validity of knowledge.

_{Three questions on avoidance:}

1. What am I avoiding because I know it will be difficult?

2. Is the projected path of my current reality harder than the change I am avoiding?

3. Have I ever had a seemingly insurmountable difficulty arise that I didn’t eventually work through?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Ray Dalio: "The S&P Fell 28% Last Year." Wait, What?

He's measuring in gold, not dollars. And that's the point.

The dollar dropped 10% in 2025. So, yeah, your portfolio went up in dollars, but, Dalio says your real return isn’t so exciting.

And the decline is reportedly advancing as macro conditions don’t improve.

So, what investments offer protection against that currency risk?

Well.. billionaires have an answer. And now 70,819 everyday investors have joined in.

This unexpected asset class outpaced the S&P 500 overall with low correlation since 1995.*

Not real estate or PE. Post war and contemporary art. Seriously.

Plus– Art trades globally ;)

And now, you don’t need to be a billionaire–

Masterworks makes it easy to FRACTIONALLY invest in blue-chip art, with a track record of 26 net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% on works held over a year.

See why investors moved $1.3 billion into 500+ offerings:

Skip waitlist

_{*According to Masterworks data.  Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. See important disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.}

_{Exploring going toward energy, old tools, and quicksand}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

There’s more to AI than ChatGPT.

If you’re only using AI to rewrite emails, you’re doing it wrong.

The AI for Business & Finance Certificate from Columbia Business School Exec Ed breaks down how to use AI to make faster, more strategic decisions at work.

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Enroll Today

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Going Toward Energy:

Purpose and meaning are heavy words. Their use suggests an existential exercise, a herculean effort to arrive at the right answer, the implication being that there even is one.

What’s my purpose?
What’s the meaning behind this pursuit?

You can feel the weight in those questions. They attempt to illuminate an entire road we haven’t yet walked. They ask for certainty about a future self we haven’t met, in circumstances we can’t predict. No wonder they invite spin-outs and mental wandering. They are long-term questions demanding a lifetime answer.

Like other high-energy, time-consuming tasks, we procrastinate. We assume the answer will come in a dream. That our stars will align. That clarity will arrive fully formed.

But what about energy? What gives you energy?

It’s a lighter question. More immediate. Instead of asking for destiny, it asks for data. It doesn’t require you to solve your life.

Energy might be a more accessible entry point into purpose, not because it replaces it, but because it is observable. Purpose is abstract and future-facing. Energy is embodied and present. One lives in theory; the other shows up in the body.

When people talk about purpose, they rarely describe a mission statement. They describe a feeling. It lights me up. It brings me joy. I lose track of time. I feel clear and alive.

Finding “the thing” is far harder than identifying the feeling. So perhaps the feeling is the backdoor. Instead of obsessing over the lifelong calling, we track moments of sustained aliveness. We outsmart ourselves.

We become Pac-Man, collecting energy pellets and dodging the poisonous purpose ghosts, the version of purpose that insists there is one correct answer and that we’d better find it before it’s too late.

Orienting toward energy lowers the stakes. It opens the gates of experimentation. It is safe to try something simply to see how it feels.

I helped someone financially, my day felt steadier after.
I built a piece of code, I had focused energy for hours.
I sat down to write, I lost track of time.

But not all energy is equal.

Some energy is novelty, some is avoidance dressed as productivity.

Scrolling can stimulate. Starting ten projects can excite. Talking about plans can feel energizing without demanding risk.

So the question is not merely, “What gives me energy?” but “What kind of effort generates sustained, coherent energy?”

There is a difference between stimulation and vitality. Between distraction and engagement.

Purpose may not be about energy in the moment. Many purposeful acts are difficult, repetitive, even draining. Building something over years often includes long stretches of doubt. But there is often a deeper current, a sense of chosen difficulty, of meaningful strain that continuously provides bites of energy throughout the endeavor.

The energy we’re looking for is not pleasure. It is aliveness. A marriage between action and actualization.

And our money? Money often serves as false purpose when it should serve as an amplifier for real purpose. Even those that promise to use their resources well tricking themselves into believing that money isn’t sitting in the driver’s seat.

go for sustainable energy and you’ll get closer to purpose

_{Two quotes on old tools:}

As we progress throughout the levels of life, the tools we need to use change. The beliefs and actions that you used to beat the first few levels, now, leave you stalled. You must evolve and find some more tools.

_{Three questions on quicksand:}

1. What situation am I in that feels like I’m stuck in quicksand?

2. What if I am not stuck, but exhausting myself by fighting the wrong way?

3. What specific fear is keeping my thrashing instead of calmly look for the ground, “spreading my weight” and getting out?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Someone just spent $236,000,000 on a painting. Here’s why it matters for your wallet.

The WSJ just reported the highest price ever paid for modern art at auction.

While equities, gold, bitcoin hover near highs, the art market is showing signs of early recovery after one of the longest downturns since the 1990s.

Here’s where it gets interesting→

Each investing environment is unique, but after the dot com crash, contemporary and post-war art grew ~24% a year for a decade, and after 2008, it grew ~11% annually for 12 years.*

Overall, the segment has outpaced the S&P by 15 percent with near-zero correlation from 1995 to 2025.

Now, Masterworks lets you invest in shares of artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso. Since 2019, investors have deployed $1.25 billion across 500+ artworks.

Masterworks has sold 25 works with net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.

Shares can sell quickly, but my subscribers skip the waitlist:

Skip waitlist

_{*Per Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring buying cars, calmness, and information leverage}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Start using AI the way top finance teams do.

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

Buying Cars:

My wife and I recently bought a car, very recently actually, last night, and I’m reflecting on the process. My sample size of buying cars is small. Still, I think many people share similar experiences. Not everyone, of course, but enough of us that it feels like a pattern.

As I’ve been reflecting on the process, one question keeps circling my mind: why is this how it works? I have a lot of questions about car buying, but that’s the main culprit.

Why is buying a car like this?

We went to a dealership yesterday morning, pulling in right at open. The moment we entered the lot, it felt like we were helpless, hapless, wounded fish that had inadvertently swum into a den of sharks. They all stare at you. Hunger in their eyes. You can almost see their pupils dilating, their jaws expanding.

From time zero, you are a prized meal to be consumed and ushered through the process that is buying a car. It’s a terrible process, and I know I’m not alone in thinking that. With fifteen sharks staring at you, your mind keeps wondering which one is coming for you. So you’re already on the defensive. Before you even step out of your car, your alert systems are screaming.

You know the niceties are pomp. The photos of families, oddly, the only personal items in these bleak, bland “offices,” are always positioned to face you, the customer. They’re a ruse meant to disarm the alarms that have been deafening since you pulled in. They’re all a ploy to get your dollars.

They know they need one thing from you early on: for you to tell them you love a car. That’s their first goal. Find you a car. Hear you say you love it.

How did it feel? Do you have children? This one has our highest safety rating.

The single orienting goal of each shark is to consume as many of your dollars as possible. A secondary goal might be to make you feel good about what they just did to you. Once they know, because you told them, that you’ve found your car, you’re on the hook. Concession one goes to them.

They continue to deploy tactic after tactic, all designed to turn up the heat: scarcity, incoming demand, timely incentives, urgency, facetious compliments, relatability, friendliness, family-oriented signaling, more sales tactics than I could write in my notebook.

They make it raw and personal:

“I can’t do that.”
“I won’t make any money if I do this.”
“I’ve got no profit in this vehicle now.”
“You’re costing me my job.”

Why? Because the more of this they tell you, the better you think you’re doing in the process, and the less margin you’ll actually extract from the deal. They are kindly, and sometimes, if you run into a used car sales manager named Carlo(s), very unkindly, ushering you toward the checkout line.

After the sales specialist finds you a vehicle you’ve said you love, it’s time to “get the numbers.” If you don’t negotiate, you probably only deal with this specialist. Maybe the sales manager comes in, lays it on thick, thanks you profusely, and compliments your choice. You pass go and head to the finance manager, or business manager.

But many people know this is how the process works, so they negotiate. If you go back and forth more than once, you unlock a new level: now it’s you and the sales manager.

After deploying the full suite of sales tools, you arrive at a price. The sales manager earns the sale. Now you, too, get to head to the business manager.

After an exhausting span of time, where you believe you’ve finalized pricing, the business manager “wraps things up.” You are sold again. Interest rates. Warranties. Maintenance packages. And because you’ve already agreed to the sale, they know you’re likely to go along for a few more dollars each month. You’ve got to protect what you just spent all that money on, right?

So why is the process like this?

The textbook delays. Splitting the difference. Tiny concessions. Making you feel like you “won.” When, no matter what, no car sold is a solo win. Dollars are paid in many forms. Maybe they cleared inventory that sat on the lot too long. Maybe they earned more allocation for next year’s model. Maybe they captured more dealer holdback than they let on, or margin from your financing rate, extended warranties, or month-end volume bonuses.

I don’t know why it’s like this, so for now I’m still shaping the lessons from our car buying interaction, lessons on how we can better sell our dollars in the future.

• Ask as many questions as you can. Leverage is an information game. The more you know, the more power you have.

• Buy on key dates: month-end, quarter-end, year-end.

• Don’t buy their attempts to make it personal. It’s a business for both buyer and seller.

• Learn how long the car, or similar cars, has been on the lot. Days on lot are the dealer’s golden key. Aging inventory is costly and risky.

• Use their process against them. Understand the stages. If the sales manager is done budging on price, hint at higher-margin add-ons (like extended warranties) to reopen flexibility.

• Always be ready to walk away.

• The more time they invest in you, the more likely they are to sell to you, at your number.

• Think in terms of out-the-door cost. They want you focused on monthly payments. Keep those cards hidden.

• A car’s value is not its price, but its circumstance. In this sense, value is ever-changing, negotiable (very), and elusive.

how can we make the car buying process better?

_{Two quotes on calmness:}

Quitting happens when we project and ruminate. It never happens in the moment. It’s always a recollection of how hard the past was and how difficult the future will be. A calm, evenness to the present moment is the path to endurance. Life is endurance. Money is endurance.

_{Three questions on information leverage:}

1. How can you use questions to get more information, more leverage?

2. What are the questions I need to ask to get the information I need?

3. What information do I need to have the leverage?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Someone just spent $236,000,000 on a painting. Here’s why it matters for your wallet.

The WSJ just reported the highest price ever paid for modern art at auction.

While equities, gold, bitcoin hover near highs, the art market is showing signs of early recovery after one of the longest downturns since the 1990s.

Here’s where it gets interesting→

Each investing environment is unique, but after the dot com crash, contemporary and post-war art grew ~24% a year for a decade, and after 2008, it grew ~11% annually for 12 years.*

Overall, the segment has outpaced the S&P by 15 percent with near-zero correlation from 1995 to 2025.

Now, Masterworks lets you invest in shares of artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso. Since 2019, investors have deployed $1.25 billion across 500+ artworks.

Masterworks has sold 25 works with net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.

Shares can sell quickly, but my subscribers skip the waitlist:

Skip waitlist

_{*Per Masterworks data. Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring the environments, schedules, and enough}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

What Will Your Retirement Look Like?

Planning for retirement raises many questions. Have you considered how much it will cost, and how you’ll generate the income you’ll need to pay for it? For many, these questions can feel overwhelming, but answering them is a crucial step forward for a comfortable future.

Start by understanding your goals, estimating your expenses and identifying potential income streams. The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income can help you navigate these essential questions. If you have $1,000,000 or more saved for retirement, download your free guide today to learn how to build a clear and effective retirement income plan. Discover ways to align your portfolio with your long-term goals, so you can reach the future you deserve.

Get The Guide

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Environments

How many different environments — collections of people, things, behaviors, actions, expectations, and beliefs — are you in on a daily basis? A few common ones probably jump to mind: work, school, home, the gym, church, bars or restaurants, stores, vacation homes, coffee shops, computers, phones, TVs.

This isn’t exhaustive, but it captures where most of us spend most of our time. You’ll notice these are broadly defined environments. Within your home, for example, there are rooms—or sub-environments—you spend time in. These environments form a stream with a strong current. And the current’s powerful: it’s much easier to go with than against.

Why does this matter? Because our decisions are shaped, formed, and guided by the environments we inhabit.

When strategically designed, an environment becomes a hyper-efficient behavior facilitator. An office facilitates work. A bedroom facilitates rest. A kitchen facilitates cooking and sharing a meal. Bars and restaurants (generally) facilitate drinking and indulgent foods—anyone else weak for cheesecake?

Whether an environment was created by us or by others, it sets a norm, a set of behaviors it encourages. That’s key because environments don’t force identical behavior. You can eat healthy at a restaurant, but doing so means swimming upstream.

Some important takeaways:

• The lowest-energy path is to go with the norms in your environment, so that’s what we default to.

• We can design our own environments to make desired behaviors easier.

• Environments exist to satisfy a specific need.

• If the behaviors you want aren’t happening, there’s likely an environmental design flaw. If you don’t write in your office, maybe it’s because your phone is there, or an interesting book is in sight.

Think of environment design like building a sealed room meant solely to produce certain behaviors. Each “thing” that distracts from the desired behavior is a leak—temptations that pull you off course. Want better sleep? A TV, a phone, or light sneaking through a curtain is a leak.

Focusing on redesigning your environments to remove leaks greatly improves your chances of producing the right behaviors.

How does this relate to your dollars? What are your leaks, and how can you patch them? How can you redesign clunky, crowded, or broken environments to better support your goals?

And a final note: your phone is an environment itself. It’s a portal into a virtual world that will tempt your attention if you bring it into the wrong environments.

build focused environments where the normal behavior is your desired behavior

_{Two quotes on schedules:}

If you have a laundry list of money to-do’s, try scheduling them; give yourself a date and a deadline.

_{Three questions on enough:}

1. What is enough for me?

2. How will I know the next acquisition is the one that makes me feel satisfied?

3. How can I engineer constraints against moving goal posts?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

But what can you actually DO about the proclaimed ‘AI bubble’? Billionaires know an alternative…

Sure, if you held your stocks since the dotcom bubble, you would’ve been up—eventually. But three years after the dot-com bust the S&P 500 was still far down from its peak. So, how else can you invest when almost every market is tied to stocks?

Lo and behold, billionaires have an alternative way to diversify: allocate to a physical asset class that outpaced the S&P by 15% from 1995 to 2025, with almost no correlation to equities. It’s part of a massive global market, long leveraged by the ultra-wealthy (Bezos, Gates, Rockefellers etc).

Contemporary and post-war art.

Masterworks lets you invest in multimillion-dollar artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Over 70,000 members have together invested more than $1.2 billion across over 500 artworks. So far, 25 sales have delivered net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

Want access?

[Click here to skip the waitlist →]

_{Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring tax folly, not knowing, and alignment}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

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Get the Brochure

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Tax Folly

It’s that time again. CPAs are emailing their checklists. W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, and the like are rolling in. If you didn’t do much planning in 2025, now might be the moment you start to sweat.

What bracket will I fall into?
Will I owe this year?
How much?
What can I still do?

The fear of owing at tax time causes a lot of folly. We get so focused on the short-term tax bill that we end up making decisions with long-term consequences.

Let’s say you run your projections and discover you owe the IRS $1,000. That prospect sends you spinning. You scan your accounts and realize you can still make prior-year contributions to a spousal IRA or an HSA. You’ve got $5,000 of available capacity, just enough to eliminate the tax bill entirely. You move the money, erase the liability, and feel a deep sense of satisfaction that you stuck it to Uncle Sam.

But a few things are worth noting.

From a cash perspective, you’re now down $5,000 instead of the $1,000 you would have been by simply paying the tax. You’ve traded a manageable expense for a $4,000 reduction in liquidity.

You’ve also made a long-term decision with money you hadn’t planned to commit throughout the year. How long will it be before you can access those funds again? What trade-offs did you just lock in?

And what if you had already saved enough in retirement accounts or your HSA? Yes, eliminating the tax bill “saves” money. Your net worth will be higher than if you had paid the tax outright. But net worth alone doesn’t tell you much about financial robustness, about how resilient your overall structure really is.

There are times when playing the tax game makes sense. Intentional, well-planned contributions aligned with broader goals can be incredibly powerful.

But more often than not, these moves happen in a moment of panic. Once the potential liability shows up on the screen, our brains flip into solver mode, frantically racing through the maze toward one outcome: make the tax bill go away.

Be strong this tax season. Remember that refunds aren’t windfalls, but interest-free loans to the government. And avoiding tax at all costs can be far more expensive than simply writing the check

don’t let tax be the sole driver

_{Two quotes on not knowing}

The base to acquire a little more knowledge than you presently own is to debase the knowledge you think you have. Question the assumptions and rebuild from the ground up.

_{Three questions on alignment:}

1. Are my actions aligned with my priorities?

2. Is my spending aligned with my values?

3. Are my goals aligned with my internal metrics, or an external scorecard?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

But what can you actually DO about the proclaimed ‘AI bubble’? Billionaires know an alternative…

Sure, if you held your stocks since the dotcom bubble, you would’ve been up—eventually. But three years after the dot-com bust the S&P 500 was still far down from its peak. So, how else can you invest when almost every market is tied to stocks?

Lo and behold, billionaires have an alternative way to diversify: allocate to a physical asset class that outpaced the S&P by 15% from 1995 to 2025, with almost no correlation to equities. It’s part of a massive global market, long leveraged by the ultra-wealthy (Bezos, Gates, Rockefellers etc).

Contemporary and post-war art.

Masterworks lets you invest in multimillion-dollar artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Over 70,000 members have together invested more than $1.2 billion across over 500 artworks. So far, 25 sales have delivered net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

Want access?

[Click here to skip the waitlist →]

_{Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring now what, changing tides, and 1% better}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

A big 2026 starts now

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In fact, we’re so hyped about what you’ll create, we’re giving you 30% off your first three months with code BIG30. So forget about taking a break. It’s time for a break-through.

Start building for 30% off today.

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Now what?

Life changes quickly. A moment passes, and the entire structure of your days is altered forever, irrevocably. Life progresses slowly, in a sense, yet it can end with astonishing speed. Existence doesn’t always complete its arc.

Tragedy arrives on a schedule we cannot see or predict. The unthinkable happens. The unimaginable becomes real. The invincible are revealed to be mortal, just like us. Our worlds shake, and suddenly our foundations don’t only crack, they disappear. The ground we stood on is gone. No warning. No signs. No time to plan.

When tragedy visits, grief follows. And depending on the nature of the loss, grief does not come alone.

Still, life demands motion. Bills must be paid. Taxes filed. Food bought and cooked. Houses repaired. Attorneys called. Decisions made.

Chaos binds itself to grief in an unwelcome marriage, especially when there is no guide, no answer to the always looming question: now what?

That is why we should all have our own guides.
“Logan’s gone, now what?”

These guides should be simple and clear. A single page. A treasure map for navigating a transition to a new reality.

What roles did you fill?
What responsibilities did you carry alone?
Which passwords unlock which accounts and what are those accounts for?
Insurance. Taxes. Utilities.
What are your wishes for arrangements?
Where is the will you made years ago?
What’s the code to the safe? Your phone? Your laptop?

This one-page document won’t be comprehensive, but it can point the way. It can serve as a first stop, a resource that helps gather the actions that must follow loss. It is not estate planning. It is not legally enforceable. It is not a will, a trust, or a beneficiary designation (please update those). It is a guide. A resource. A treasure map.

The goal is simple: to make the lives of those you love a little lighter in the days that follow.

Deferral isn’t helpful here. Make the document. It will change as your life changes. Complexity will grow, but force yourself to distill. Hold on to what is essential. Focus on what is necessary.

leave a guide to facilitate the transition

_{Two quotes on changing tides:}

The tides come and we must be ready to recognize the time to go forward.

_{Three questions on 1% better:}

1. How can I be 1% better today?

2. What do I typically procrastinate for days of more time because I think they will take too much time?

3. How many reps do I miss out on because I am looking for too large of gains?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

But what can you actually DO about the proclaimed ‘AI bubble’? Billionaires know an alternative…

Sure, if you held your stocks since the dotcom bubble, you would’ve been up—eventually. But three years after the dot-com bust the S&P 500 was still far down from its peak. So, how else can you invest when almost every market is tied to stocks?

Lo and behold, billionaires have an alternative way to diversify: allocate to a physical asset class that outpaced the S&P by 15% from 1995 to 2025, with almost no correlation to equities. It’s part of a massive global market, long leveraged by the ultra-wealthy (Bezos, Gates, Rockefellers etc).

Contemporary and post-war art.

Masterworks lets you invest in multimillion-dollar artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Over 70,000 members have together invested more than $1.2 billion across over 500 artworks. So far, 25 sales have delivered net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

Want access?

[Click here to skip the waitlist →]

_{Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring the enemy within, concentration, and specificity}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Introducing the first AI-native CRM

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Enemy Within:

It’s a new year. Fresh starts, resolutions; new habits, opportunities; old temptations, frustrations; false starts, reversions. We launch the year from an eve of excitement, the kind you feel buzzing inside. The genesis. The hope. The catalyst. All is possible on the eve. Rebirth. Renewal. Regeneration. Return. Recommitment. We are ready, we are eager, we are motivated.

Drawn to the light of a new life. A life that’s real, not too far, it’s right over there.

We march, but we stumble. Something always seems to snap us back, trip us up, and make our tangible vision feel like a mirage. So we fall back to the paved path. “That’s not obtainable.” “That’s not for me.” “I don’t have enough time.” “I don’t have enough money or the right resources.”

These are some of the lies we tell ourselves. Self-deception—the enemy within—weakens our resolve and opens the gate, letting the good slip away and the bad slip in. It’s not an external problem. And it’s why Richard Feynman said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.”

Our brains make up stories to explain the gap between our wants and our realities. They make up stories to smooth over bumpy failures and inadequacies. The mind protects us, and in doing so, hurts us. These lies might not be as overt as you’d expect. “I need more time” doesn’t seem like a lie on the surface, but it’s the premise, “I don’t have enough time” that is the lie. The enemy within.

It’s these innocuous, unchecked premises that roam around invisible and destructive. We never question them; we accept them as is. To find your direction this year, to get on a sustainable path, to avoid falling off and rewearing the labels “undisciplined,” “inconsistent,” “faulty,” you’re going to have to have a Socratic, premise-searching dialogue with yourself.

It’s much easier to stick with a resolution when your convictions are strong, and it’s easier to have strong convictions if you spend time testing them. The goal of this dialogue is to pressure-test each embedded assumption—the premises from which our lies are fabricated.

• I need more money
  ⇒ I don’t have enough money
  ⇒ I can’t afford X
  ⇒ X is required to begin
  ⇒ Without X, I can’t become who I want to be

• I don’t have enough time
  ⇒ My schedule is fixed
  ⇒ Everything on it is equally necessary
  ⇒ Change requires large, uninterrupted blocks
  ⇒ Small, imperfect action doesn’t count

• I’m not disciplined
  ⇒ Discipline is a personality trait
  ⇒ Other people have it; I don’t
  ⇒ Failure is evidence of identity
  ⇒ Trying again is pointless

a faulty premise doesn’t need a majority vote to wreak havoc

_{Two quotes on concentration:}

Where are you directing focus this year? Are you willing to concentrate on a single thing?

_{Three questions on specificity:}

1. How many of my new year’s resolutions are vague?

2. What if I added more specificity to the resolutions, leaving no doubt to the action steps needed?

3. What time? What location? What action(s) do I need to perform daily — how else can I add more specificity?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Amazon Prime members: See what you could get, no strings attached

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Learn How To Apply

_{Exploring the contrarian, satisfaction, and choosing difficulty}

Happy Sunday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Fuel your business brain. No caffeine needed.

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Quick, witty, and delivered first thing in the morning, Morning Brew takes less time to read than brewing your coffee — and gives your business brain the boost it needs to stay sharp and in the know.

Try Morning Brew for free

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Contrarian:

Most people think being contrarian means standing opposite the crowd. Not always, most times that’s just reaction. True contrarianism is having the patience to stand still while everyone else rushes past you.

The world rewards speed and certainty. Opinions travel so much faster than understanding. Beliefs are adopted not because they’re examined, but because they’re available, and the perceived, or real, social cost of not adopting those beliefs is painful. When enough people repeat something, it starts to feel true. That feeling can be dangerous, as a crowd walking toward the edge of a cliff is no less at risk than a single individual walking the same path.

Being contrarian begins with restraint. It’s the decision to pause when momentum is loud. As Mark Twain warned, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Pause doesn’t mean reject. It means slow down long enough to think for yourself.

Independent thinking is quiet work. It rarely announces itself and almost never feels confident at the start. You don’t get immediate validation for it. Often you don’t get any. Nietzsche captured the cost well: “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.” That struggle is daily. It’s choosing not to outsource your judgment. Nearly anyone with anything of consequence has faced the crowd and decided for themselves, left or right. And as Sam Zell put it, “If everyone is going left, look right.” Maybe there’s something over there, maybe not. But you thought about it, you set course and conviction from logic not largeness.

Contrarian thinking isn’t about being right in public. It’s about being right in private and patient in the meantime. It’s the willingness to sit with uncertainty while others borrow confidence from numbers.

The crowd offers reassurance. Independent thought offers clarity. You have to choose which one you want more.

look the other way

_{Two quotes on satisfaction:}

As we head through the holiday season, into the new year, keeping the meaning of satisfaction in pocket will help us navigate the inevitable snares that snag us.

_{Three questions on choosing difficulty:}

1. What daily forks do I typically take the easy path instead of the difficult one?

2. What if I intentionally took the hard path for a month?

3. How can I gamify and make the hard thing fun?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Last Time the Market Was This Expensive, Investors Waited 14 Years to Break Even

In 1999, the S&P 500 peaked. Then it took 14 years to gradually recover by 2013.

Today? Goldman Sachs sounds crazy forecasting 3% returns for 2024 to 2034.

But we’re currently seeing the highest price for the S&P 500 compared to earnings since the dot-com boom.

So, maybe that’s why they’re not alone; Vanguard projects about 5%.

In fact, now just about everything seems priced near all time highs. Equities, gold, crypto, etc.

But billionaires have long diversified a slice of their portfolios with one asset class that is poised to rebound.

It’s post war and contemporary art.

Sounds crazy, but over 70,000 investors have followed suit since 2019—with Masterworks.

You can invest in shares of artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

24 exits later, results speak for themselves: net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

My subscribers can skip the waitlist.

Skip waitlist

_{*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.}

_{Exploring incentives, new models, and your schedule}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Does your car insurance cover what really matters?

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COMPARE COVERAGE

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Incentives

Incentives explain more of human behavior than most people realize. We like to think decisions are driven by values or reasoning. In reality, people respond to rewards, punishments, and consequences. As Charlie Munger famously said, “Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome.”

This is why good people sometimes make bad decisions. It is not a matter of ethics or intelligence; it is the system they operate in. Governments, schools, and organizations drift in ways that serve the people or processes that are rewarded. Incentives, not intentions, guide the results.

Incentives are not always financial. Attention is an incentive. Convenience is an incentive. Avoiding discomfort is an incentive. When a system rewards quick responses, we train ourselves to be reactive. When it rewards avoiding hard work, procrastination becomes rational. In every case, behavior aligns with the payoff, whether we notice it or not.

Munger warned repeatedly: “Never, ever think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.” Warren Buffett has echoed this principle in investing and management: incentives determine behavior, and ignoring them leads to predictable mistakes.

The power of incentives is often invisible. They silently shape what gets repeated and what gets ignored.

A practical question to keep in mind is simple: what behavior does this system actually reward? Not what it claims to value, not what seems fair or ethical, but what people are actually incentivized to do. Understanding incentives is not just useful; it is essential.

Ignore them, and even the best intentions will rarely produce the outcomes you expect.

Incentives do not care about morality, logic, or effort. They care about outcomes. And if you want to understand why people or systems behave the way they do, start with the incentives.

what are the incentives?

_{Two quotes on new models:}

How can you build new models that get you out of the old way of thinking, to get a new look on old problems?

_{Three questions on your schedule:}

1. What could you stop doing this week to gain more freedom?

2. Where are you letting other people set your schedule?

3. What is one small change that could reclaim hours each week?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

But what can you actually DO about the proclaimed ‘AI bubble’? Billionaires know an alternative…

Sure, if you held your stocks since the dotcom bubble, you would’ve been up—eventually. But three years after the dot-com bust the S&P 500 was still far down from its peak. So, how else can you invest when almost every market is tied to stocks?

Lo and behold, billionaires have an alternative way to diversify: allocate to a physical asset class that outpaced the S&P by 15% from 1995 to 2025, with almost no correlation to equities. It’s part of a massive global market, long leveraged by the ultra-wealthy (Bezos, Gates, Rockefellers etc).

Contemporary and post-war art.

Masterworks lets you invest in multimillion-dollar artworks featuring legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Over 70,000 members have together invested more than $1.2 billion across over 500 artworks. So far, 25 sales have delivered net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

Want access?

[Click here to skip the waitlist →]

_{Investing involves risk. Past performance not indicative of future returns. Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd}

_{Exploring willpower contracts, patterns, and other people}

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Home insurance rates up by 76% in some states

Over the last 6 years, home insurance rates have increased by up to 76% in some states. Between inflation, costlier repairs, and extreme weather, premiums are climbing fast – but that doesn’t mean you have to overpay. Many homeowners are saving hundreds a year by switching providers. Check out Money’s home insurance tool to compare companies and see if you can save.

Compare coverage

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Willpower Contracts

We make verbal money contracts with ourselves and our families all the time. These aren’t written down, notarized, or formal in any way, but we treat them like promises. “I’m not spending next month.” “We’re paying off the credit card by fall.” “I’m done with impulse buys.”

These are willpower contracts. They rely 100% on our future ability to exert a stronger force of discipline than the formidable force of desire.

And usually, we create these contracts from emotional places:

• reflection after looking at our statements

• shame after overspending

• hope about the future

• motivation after one good month

We get energized by the promise they hold, the possibility of a lower monthly spend, a certain net worth number, a future home, the debt-free timeline. They all point toward a destination we deeply want to reach.

And to get there, we stack these contracts with “do more of this” and “stop doing that.” Spend less, save more. Cut this, start that. Action and inaction woven together into a plan.

However, willpower contracts are inherently fragile.

They rarely survive the first real temptation because nothing underneath them changes. There’s no new system. No accountability. No structure. No meaningful consequence. If we break them, what happens? Nothing. We just end up right back where we already are. Rinse and repeat. When we go to outline the next contract, we add more bells, more exciting points to our persuasive presentation. But we are putting time and energy behind the wrong points of leverage.

It’s not the agreeing to contract that’s the problem. It’s not the shared desire of the outcome that’s the problem. It’s not the lack of discipline that’s the problem.

So what is?

The real problem is that willpower contracts operate in a vacuum. They’re built on intention, not infrastructure. They assume that a future version of us that’s tired, stressed, rushed, tempted, overwhelmed, or upset will still make the same choice we made in a calm, reflective moment.

And that’s where these fail because the future us won’t stand in the same emotional space where the contract was created.

Willpower contracts don’t fail because we’re weak. They fail because the environment never changed, the systems never shifted, and nothing in our daily life supports the decision we wanted to make.

The contract asks us to fight desire. Systems make desire irrelevant.

Think about it this way:

• A willpower contract says, “I won’t overspend next month.”

  A system says, “My spending categories have caps, and my card will decline when I hit them.”

• A willpower contract says, “I’m going to save more.”

  A system says, “I set my auto-transfer for payday so saving happens before I ever see the money.”

We’ve been taught to believe that money success is about personal strength. More discipline. More grit. More trying. But the people who make the biggest money progress aren’t the ones with the most willpower; They’re always the ones who build the best systems.

Willpower is a spark, systems are the logs that keep the fire burning.

willpower contracts fail when there’s no system to support the original contract

_{Two quotes on patterns:}

Patterns keep us stuck in the same paths we’ve walked before. It’s natural and frictionless to trod the beaten path, even if it’s inefficient.

_{Three questions on other people:}

Other people want to feel like they are the most important person in the world. Knowing this is WD-40 for improving relationships.

1. How might I listen more attentively to show that this person has my utmost presence and respect?

2. What relationships am I trying to prove something about myself rather than discover something about the other person?

3. How can I employ questions to express genuine curiosity and interest in this other person? How can I make these questions better?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Simplify your coverage and unlock real savings this winter

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Compare winter rates now!

_{Exploring open loops, organizational environments, and being pushed}

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Start investing right from your phone

Jumping into the stock market might seem intimidating with all its ups and downs, but it’s actually easier than you think. Today’s online brokerages make it simple to buy and trade stocks, ETFs, and options right from your phone or laptop. Many even connect you with experts who can guide you along the way, so you don’t have to figure it all out alone. Get started by opening an account from Money’s list of the Best Online Stock Brokers and start investing with confidence today.

Start investing

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Open Loops:

David Allen said, “Anything that does not belong where it is, the way it is, is an ‘open loop,’ which will be pulling on your attention.”

In his productivity classic, Getting Things Done, Allen talks about open loops: incomplete commitments that live somewhere in your mind, quietly bleeding out energy. They often resurface as whack-a-mole distractions, and as long as they remain open, consume your brain’s finite RAM.

Each new task or to-do piles on top of the existing mound, forming a shapeless blob of mental weight that can drag you down into motionless angst.

So you procrastinate. You miss deadlines, responses, goals. You feel stressed and drained by the army of nagging tasks floating in your head.

Allen offers an ironclad remedy through a system to capture, organize, and effectively execute the barrage of to-dos that life, and each new day, throws at you.

But the same principle works just as well for money.

When it comes to our dollars, we’re often even more reluctant to act. Money tasks usually require outside input, paperwork, timing, or insight from hours of research. The stakes feel high. And just like open loops in productivity, financial tasks can linger unaddressed, hidden in our mine for years, while “status quo” remains just alright.

You might not notice a missing retirement account or beneficiary in your 20s or 30s, but by 60, those undone tasks could be disastrous.

Here’s the core of Allen’s approach:

1. Capture: Record every loose end, every open loop, financial or otherwise. Make an “in tray” list for all open loops on paper or through a notes app.

2. Organize: Sort your in tray into lists, buckets, or calendars. If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it now.

3. Define the next action: For every item, figure out the very next physical step you can take. Reduce or get creative to produce next actions.

4. Execute: systematically review the lists and work through the tangible next action steps.

Some example open loops that might be circling your mind:

• Update the net worth template

• Call the accountant

• Finish year end tax loss harvesting

• Research that new investment strategy

• Send that project-status email

• Hang that picture that’s been collecting dust in the corner for months

• Open the 529 account

• Change your beneficiary

• Update your will

• Write that block of code

• Order new air filters

• Fix the light fixture

Whenever a task is vague, multi-step, or complicated, ask yourself: what’s the next step I can take right now to move this forward?

• Can I call, email, or text someone?

• Can I schedule something on the calendar?

• Can I research, read, or write a bit?

Close your open loops and you’ll unlock a new level of mental clarity and monetary peace.

your brain is filled with open loops that eat at your attention

_{Two quotes on organizational environments:}

Status quo in organizations is often persistent because the designers of that system control the ultimate direction. Going down the beaten path is easier than losing short-term efficiency preparing a new direction.

_{Three questions on being pushed:}

Our stated and believed capacity is nearly always well below the levels we could operate if we had an effective push.

1. How much extra capacity could I have if I were pushed harder?

2. Who can I employ to help this productive pushing?

3. What if I increased the demands on myself, would I need to reengineer my systems?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

How High-Net-Worth Families Invest Beyond the Balance Sheet

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• Learn why emotional well-being often outranks financial optimization.

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• Understand generational differences shaping how the wealthy live, work, and parent.

See how you compare to your peers.

Download the Report

_{Exploring the Diderot Effect, giving thanks, and the mssing link}

Happy Thursday and Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Hands Down Some Of The Best 0% Intro APR Credit Cards

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Take a look at this article to find out how you can pay no interest on balance transfers until 2027 with these top cards.

Learn How To Apply

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Diderot Effect:

Before making a big purchase, there’s a little mental exercise I love: try forecasting the decision through the lens of the Diderot Effect.

If you’ve never heard of it, the Diderot Effect comes from an 18th-century essay by the French philosopher Denis Diderot. The story goes that he received a brand new dressing gown as a gift. From the moment he put it on, everything else around him suddenly looked shabby. His rug? Too dull. His desk? Too worn. His chair? Practically an unnatractive antique. So he replaced them. All of them. One “free” gown turned into an expensive house-wide upgrade. He even joked that he was now “the slave of the gown.”

That dynamic is still alive in 2025.

You buy a new sweatshirt, and somehow your jeans start looking a little outdated. So you replace those. Then the jeans make your shoes look sad. So you upgrade those too. One purchase plants a temptress of an idea in your mind: wouldn’t everything look better if it all matched my new things? And suddenly you’re knee-deep in a slow-motion shopping spree you never consciously planned.

This is the core of the Diderot Effect: a single new item creates a ripple of desire for more new items, not because you actually needed them, but because your old stuff suddenly looks out of place.

And this doesn’t just happen with small purchases. It shows up in the big, life-shifting decisions, the ones we thought we budgeted for.

Buy a house? It’s never just the down payment. It’s new furniture for rooms you didn’t have before. It’s a lawn mower. It’s patio furniture. It’s curtains for 15 different windows. It’s organizational bins, a bigger TV, chairs for the front porch. You think you’re buying the house, but you’re actually signing up for a lifestyle and one that comes with ongoing costs you didn’t include in the monthly mortgage calculation.

Even upgrades that seem practical or “responsible” activate the same pull. You get a new laptop for work and suddenly feel like your office chair should be nicer. Then the wall decor, paint, bookshelves, and desk all follow. You finally replace your worn dishes and now the mismatched silverware looks like it belongs in a college dorm. One domino falls and nudges the next.

None of this means you shouldn’t buy nice things, or that every purchase is a slide into financial ruin. The Diderot Effect isn’t a warning, it’s a lens. A way to pause before you buy and ask:

What is this purchase likely to trigger next? And am I okay with that?

Sometimes a new thing is genuinely worth the cascade. Sometimes it’s not. But simply knowing the cascade exists gives you enough power. It turns you from a passive spender reacting to shiny objects into an intentional one choosing what truly matters.

Forecast the hidden costs. Expect the ripple. And make the decision with more clarity.

one purchase often is the start of a few more

_{Two quotes on giving thanks:}

We count our dollars but how often do we count our thanks?

_{Three questions on the missing link:}

1. What do I feel like is missing in my life?

2. What problems or other ‘missing things’ might pop up after the first one goes away?

3. How can I shift the lens from the missing link(s) to the many well connected links all around?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

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_{Exploring money experiments, chance, and moving too quickly}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

The Simplest Way to Create and Launch AI Agents and Apps

You know that AI can help you automate your work, but you just don't know how to get started.

With Lindy, you can build AI agents and apps in minutes simply by describing what you want in plain English.

→ "Create a booking platform for my business."
→ "Automate my sales outreach."
→ "Create a weekly summary about each employee's performance and send it as an email."

From inbound lead qualification to AI-powered customer support and full-blown apps, Lindy has hundreds of agents that are ready to work for you 24/7/365.

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

Money Experiments:

1. Nothing New Month: Buy nothing new for 30 days.

   You’ll see how many “needs” were boredom dressed up as urgency.

2. Cash-Only Week: Withdraw a set amount and live on it.

   Cash adds the kind of friction your card hides.

3. The 48-Hour Rule: Screenshot every impulse buy and wait 2 days.

   Most wants die in the silence.

4. Subtract Before You Add: Cut one habit for a week. No Amazon, no eating out, no subscriptions.

   Clarity shows up when clutter leaves.

5. Daily Pay Yourself First: Automate $10 a day to savings for a month.

   Make saving an intentional rhythm, not an afterthought.

6. Calendar Audit: Lay your calendar next to your spending.

   If one is chaotic, the other usually is too.

7. Generosity Day: Pick one day a month to spend on others.

   A small dose of generosity pays a big dividend.

8. Autopilot Month: Automate any manual saving, investing, and bill paying.

   Systems outperform willpower every single time.

9. Challenge a Belief: Take one money belief you swear by.

   Live a week as if the opposite were true. You’ll expose the scripts you downloaded early in life.

10. The 5-Year Test: Before any discretionary spend, ask: “Will this matter in five years?”

    Long horizons kill short-term impulses.

11. Skill Investment Week: Spend only on skill development: books, courses, tools.

    Money spent on capability compounds.

make a list of things to try with defined start/stop times

_{Two quotes on chance:}

What’s the balance of skill and luck in the results? Are we learning the right things?

_{Three questions on moving too quickly:}

1. How often do I create errors, injuries, or extra work because I tried to compress a timeline?

2. What if I expanded the runway and slowed the climb?

3. Is the need to move quickly necessary? Why?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

13 Investment Errors You Should Avoid

Successful investing is often less about making the right moves and more about avoiding the wrong ones. With our guide, 13 Retirement Investment Blunders to Avoid, you can learn ways to steer clear of common errors to help get the most from your $1M+ portfolio—and enjoy the retirement you deserve.

Get your free guide today.

_{Exploring the ask, retiring, and buying back time}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Home insurance rates up by 76% in some states

Over the last 6 years, home insurance rates have increased by up to 76% in some states. Between inflation, costlier repairs, and extreme weather, premiums are climbing fast – but that doesn’t mean you have to overpay. Many homeowners are saving hundreds a year by switching providers. Check out Money’s home insurance tool to compare companies and see if you can save.

Compare coverage

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Ask:

During a college internship, I got coffee with a company leader who told me something that changed how I think about opportunity:

If you don’t a-s-k, you won’t g-e-t.

It was simple, yet profound and effective.

I realized that everything we have is a giant function of our ability to keep asking, and asking, and asking.

It wasn’t during the internship that I saw the elegance.

Waiting for a promotion, a raise, or more responsibility?

They don’t come to those who wait, but to those who ask. What if your manager has no idea you want more responsibility? What if they don’t know you have more capacity? What if they don’t know the value you’ve added over your tenure?

Even if your original ask comes up empty, you’re not walking home broke. You’ve pocketed some knowledge.

Ask what you might do right now that gets you closer to the raise, provides more responsibility, adds more value. This is feedback, this is the bridge to get what you want.

There’s no situation where you’ll walk away without more clarity than you started with.

Persistence is required, dogged persistence, because you will receive a lot of no’s along the way. It’s with each ask that you get feedback. And if you gamify that component of asking for things, seeing the ask as a magnet for feedback, that’s where value appears.

The shorter these feedback loops, the faster your learning.

You could go years waiting, years running suboptimal money strategies.

Or you could ask someone for feedback on your approach: what’s working, what’s broken, what opportunities exist?

In that light, can I ask you a favor? I need your feedback:

• If you’ve been reading these for a while, what do you like and dislike?

• What would you pay money for each month or year? How much?

• What’s stopping you from sharing with a friend, coworker, family member?

Let me know, logan@intentionaldollar.com

what can you start asking?

_{Two quotes on retiring:}

When you press the button, write the letter, or send the notice, you need something else to occupy your mind and time.

_{Three questions on buying back time:}

1. What could I buy that would save me time?

2. Are there second-order downsides to getting rid of some things that occupy my time? (i.e solving the time problem creates a new problem that is on par or worse than the time cost I was paying)

3. How much does it really cost to buy back different quantities of time?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

The Simplest Way to Create and Launch AI Agents and Apps

You know that AI can help you automate your work, but you just don't know how to get started.

With Lindy, you can build AI agents and apps in minutes simply by describing what you want in plain English.

From inbound lead qualification to AI-powered customer support and full-blown apps, Lindy has hundreds of agents that are ready to work for you 24/7/365.

Stop doing repetitive tasks manually. Let Lindy automate workflows, save time, and grow your business.

Get $20 Worth of Free Credits

_{Exploring yes stress, listening, and saving more}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Want to get the most out of ChatGPT?

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

Yes Stress:

Our inability to say no quietly drains our time, money, and peace of mind.

We say yes to a purchase and feel the pinch later when the budget’s blown. We say yes to a night out and feel the anxiety of the tab. We say yes to plans after work and then stare at the undone chores and lost rest we desperately needed.

Saying yes feels easier in the moment. We don’t want to disappoint anyone, seem boring, or miss out on something fun. But every time we say yes to one thing, we are at the same time saying no to something else, often something that matters more.

This trade-off is clearest with time because it’s finite. Time spent scrolling, chatting, or going out is time not spent with family, recharging, or making progress toward goals. The same holds true with money; every unnecessary yes chips away at your future financial freedom.

The key is to realize no isn’t rejection. It’s a protective boundary, a way to safeguard your time, energy, and money, so they can be used with purpose instead of guilt.

Learning to say no doesn’t make you selfish; it makes you disciplined. It’s how you build a life you’re actually present in, rather than one you’re constantly trying to catch up with and recover from.

Five Ways to Say No

1. “Thanks for thinking of me, and I’ll have to pass this time.”

2. “That sounds fun. I’m keeping this week free to recharge, so I won’t make it this time.”

3. “I can’t make it work right now, maybe another time.”

4. “I’m focused on another project at the moment, so I’ can’t this time.”

5. “I need to pass this time, not in the budget right now.”

We don’t want to be rude, so we spend days crafting a thoughtful rejection, or flat delaying responses to avoid a potentially awkward conversation. But it’s your time, your money, your life.

Saying no is hard, but the reward is freedom from financial strain, from overcommitment, and from the quiet resentment that builds when you say yes too often. More no’s to the externals means more yes’s to your needle movers.

are your yes’s leaking time and money?

_{Two quotes on listening:}

I love this old nursery rhyme about an owl:

A wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he saw, the less he spoke; The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?

_{Three questions on saving more:}

1. Have I been balanced with saving and consumption, or fallen victim to the ambiguous save more trap?

2. Do I have a precise amount that I need to save?

3. How much more clarity would I have in my financial life if I operated from standard rules: “I save 20% of every dollar I make and spend the rest.”

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

The Simplest Way To Create and Launch AI Agents

Imagine if ChatGPT, Zapier, and Webflow all had a baby. That's Lindy.

With Lindy, you can build AI agents and apps in minutes simply by describing what you want in plain English.

From inbound lead qualification to AI-powered customer support and full-blown apps, Lindy has hundreds of agents that are ready to work for you 24/7/365.

Stop doing repetitive tasks manually. Let Lindy automate workflows, save time, and grow your business.

Get $20 Worth of Free Credits

_{Exploring engineered optionality, champion mentality, and rearranging things}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Institutional-Grade Opportunities for HNW Investors

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_{One idea to experiment with:}

Engineered Optionality:

Are you saving too much for retirement?

It sounds like a strange question, doesn’t it?

Too much in a retirement account? Isn’t that the goal?

Actually, saving too much for retirement is not only possible, it’s common.

When all your savings funnel into tax-deferred retirement accounts, your financial life becomes unbalanced. The tax advantages feel smart in the short run, but the long-term tradeoff is less flexibility, less liquidity, and potentially a pile of taxable risk later on.

Retirement accounts are intentionally illiquid. They’re designed so you can’t access your money easily. Sure, there are loans, hardship withdrawals, and a few exceptions. Those are band-aids to an illiquidity problem. In reality, your money is locked away until age 59½, and touching it early often triggers taxes and penalties./2 , and touching it early often triggers taxes and penalties.

The risk isn’t just about early access. It’s about having too much money trapped in tax-deferred accounts, where every future withdrawal could be taxed at higher rates, and where you have little control over timing or flexibility. Meanwhile, you’ve shortchanged other accounts that give you freedom.

I’ve seen it too often: people overfund their 401(k)s and IRAs, feeling responsible and disciplined, but end up with small pools of money outside of retirement plans. They’re retirement rich and optionality poor.

The smarter goal isn’t to maximize retirement savings.

It’s to maximize flexibility, or engineer life optionality. Thats what cash is. Thats what money in a brokerage account is. Engineered optionality. Building wealth across different tax buckets and timelines, so you have control over your money both before and after retirement.

All financial people will say too much cash is a bad thing. They’ll say cash drag, opportunity cost, those kinds of things. But cash and brokerage assets give you options, and options are good.

If you want to retire early, or take a sabbatical, or take a lower paying job, you need the flexibility to do so. Too much in retirement will gate your ability to make the moves you want to make from now to 59½.

What’s the composition of your net worth? How liquid are you? How much optionality are you engineering along the way?

do you have the right asset mix?

_{Two quotes on champion mentality:}

What are the winners doing?

_{Three questions on rearranging things:}

1. When’s the last time I rearranged things to get a new perspective?

2. What if the things fit, but the current location doesn’t?

3. What new solutions are illuminated from the new layout?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

The Simplest Way to Create and Launch AI Agents and Apps

You know that AI can help you automate your work, but you just don't know how to get started.

With Lindy, you can build AI agents and apps in minutes simply by describing what you want in plain English.

From inbound lead qualification to AI-powered customer support and full-blown apps, Lindy has hundreds of agents that are ready to work for you 24/7/365.

Stop doing repetitive tasks manually. Let Lindy automate workflows, save time, and grow your business.

Get $20 Worth of Free Credits

_{Exploring the stitching together little gains, chaos, and capturing the present}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Business news doesn’t have to be boring

Morning Brew makes business news way more enjoyable—and way easier to understand. The free newsletter breaks down the latest in business, tech, and finance with smart insights, bold takes, and a tone that actually makes you want to keep reading.

No jargon, no drawn-out analysis, no snooze-fests. Just the stuff you need to know, delivered with a little personality.

Over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew, and once you try it, you’ll see why.

Plus, it takes just 15 seconds to subscribe—so why not give it a shot?

Check it out

_{One idea to experiment with:}

Stitching together little gains:

Some observations on small things being big things:

• a piece of clothing is a thousand tiny stitches

• a million dollars is a million single bills

• a human being is a collection of microscopic cells

• one mile is a few thousand small steps

• one year is half a million minutes

• a good relationship is a hundred small gestures and I love yous

• a clean house is a pile of little chores

• a painting is dozens of brushstrokes tied together

• a reputation is a handful of promises kept

• a strong body is a thousand individual reps

You can distill the complex, insurmountable, and elephant-like tasks into bite size pieces. This way, there’s a tangible path, a narrative you can stitch together piece by piece.

One block might be too big to fit in the confines and constraints of your work setting. But sliced into pieces, you can perform the micro tasks on repeat, all day.

single pieces create something when tied together

_{Two quotes on chaos:}

_{Three questions on capturing the present}

1. What routine daily happenings will I regret not capturing to remember 30 years from now? 

2. How can I record more — video, audio, photo, journal?

3. What moments am I too heavily relying on a memory that will fade?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

The corporate tax software guide you actually need

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_{Exploring the obituary, character vs reputation, and creative solutions}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Business news doesn’t have to be boring

Morning Brew makes business news way more enjoyable—and way easier to understand. The free newsletter breaks down the latest in business, tech, and finance with smart insights, bold takes, and a tone that actually makes you want to keep reading.

No jargon, no drawn-out analysis, no snooze-fests. Just the stuff you need to know, delivered with a little personality.

Over 4 million people start their day with Morning Brew, and once you try it, you’ll see why.

Plus, it takes just 15 seconds to subscribe—so why not give it a shot?

Check it out

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Obituary:

None of us writes our own obituary. When that fateful time comes, it’s our friends and family who are left with the quiet task of stitching together who we were.

Who were you?

Have you ever read an obituary that lists like a scorecard possessions, net worth, or size of home owned?

No.

Yet we spend so much of our lives chasing and accumulating things that the people who care so much for us care so little about.

The things never make the list in the end, so what does?

It’s the qualities, the virtues, the traits, the smile, the warmth.

Were you kind? Were you a good partner, parent, friend, sibling, community member How did people feel when you were around? What will flash in their mind when your name comes up?

So many of us chase money to buy things for the people we love, thinking that will make them feel loved. But sometimes the money becomes a stand-in, a justification for the life cost we’ve sacrificed earning it. The stressful job to pay for the massive TV. The endless conversations about spreadsheets and dollars that steal time we’ll never get back.

Let’s be clear:
Wanting nice things is not bad. Having money is not bad.
But making money and stuff the center of your life is.

Money is a tool. It can amplify the good or bad that’s already within you.
However, it does not create a new version of you. It simply reveals what’s already there.

When someone finds wealth and subsequently treats people terribly, people say, “money changed them.” But that’s not right. It exposed them; it exposed what was always there.

So this week, in the spirit of Jeff Bezos’ regret minimization framework, project yourself to the end. Write your own obituary, the one you’d want read.

What does it say?
Who were you?
What will people miss about you?

I’m willing to bet none of the great trinkets you accumulated will make the list.

If the life you’re living now doesn’t tie to those words you want read, it’s not too late to change your course to match the things you want said.

what would your obituary say now? what will people remember?

_{Two quotes on character vs reputation:}

Really, three quotes, but Warren’s analogy does more for the idea behind these quotes than I could possibly cobble together:

“Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst lover? Or would you rather be the world’s worst lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s greatest lover? Now, that’s an interesting question.”

_{Three questions on creative solutions:}

On the fringe of something new there is no manual, no guidebook, only creative solutions born of creative experiments.

1. Where am I looking for an established path vs machete whacking my own? 

2. What creative, low risk experiment can I run to advance forward?

3. If I couldn’t spend money to solve this problem, how would I get started?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Where the smartest investors start their day

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_{Exploring the inner ring, uncertainty, and rest}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

Home insurance rates up by 76% in some states

Over the last 6 years, home insurance rates have increased by up to 76% in some states. Between inflation, costlier repairs, and extreme weather, premiums are climbing fast – but that doesn’t mean you have to overpay. Many homeowners are saving hundreds a year by switching providers. Check out Money’s home insurance tool to compare companies and see if you can save.

Compare coverage

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Inner Ring:

In 1944, C.S. Lewis gave a lecture he called The Inner Ring. Over 80 years have passed since he voiced those words. Lewis is long gone, but his message remains as present and as true today as ever.

The Inner Ring is a goldmine, and I’ve linked it in the bonus reading today (below). It’s worth multiples of every second you invest in it.

I’ll point to Lewis’s lecture to do the heavy lifting, he makes a point far better than I could, and it applies poignantly to both our money and the way we’ve designed our lives. This isn’t new. The same status problems that have always plagued humanity continue to do so. They just wear different faces now.

The idea behind the Inner Ring is that we exist within a nested structure of rings, one inside the other, continuing indefinitely. At any given moment, your place in a ring means you are “in” that ring, but still outside a smaller, more exclusive one within. As novelty addicts, we endlessly pursue ring after ring until the final bell tolls.

Lewis put it this way:

Job titles, salaries, houses, cars, spouses, achievements, toys—anything you can name is vulnerable to this structure. There will always be something you cannot have. And the effort to grind your way into the next ring is the exact distraction that consumes your attention while the hands of time dance on.

Contentment is the only cure. And while contentment is immediately attainable, it’s slippery. We try to make peace with our lot, but slowly start to believe that the more exclusive lot must offer something better. We assume that once we break into the next ring, we’ll finally settle down, feel happy, exhale with relief, hang up our ambition, and experience lasting contentment.

But you and I both know that’s not what happens.

Our problem-solving brains start to ache for the next ring to join. So we march on.

I see two versions of this ring structure: the internal and the external.

The internal version is powerful and good for us. It’s the “inner scorecard” version. It’s the understanding that ambition and drive can make you better, but only when they’re applied to the rings that matter to you. In this version, you’re blind to society’s leaderboards.

The external version is destructive and it’s not easy to see. It’s an age-old, well-designed game that pulls us in. We begin working through the levels, the rings, but it’s someone else’s game, governed by an external scorecard. One where your worth is measured not by your own standards, but by someone else’s. And what good is that?

Maybe it’s simply human nature to want the next inner ring. If that’s true, then we must design a system of rings that make sense to us. A system where, when we reach the end, we don’t simply end up with more money, more toys, more status, more power, or more accolades than someone else.

what’s the next ring? Is it in your own game?

_{Two quotes on uncertainty:}

Information mitigates uncertainty but never eliminates it.

_{Three questions on rest:}

1. What does rest and recharge look like for you? 

2. What happens if you don’t get adequate rest?

3. What cadence do you typically need this rest?

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

An espresso shot for your brain

The problem with most business news? It’s too long, too boring, and way too complicated.

Morning Brew fixes all three. In five minutes or less, you’ll catch up on the business, finance, and tech stories that actually matter—written with clarity and just enough humor to keep things interesting.

It’s quick. It’s free. And it’s how over 4 million professionals start their day. Signing up takes less than 15 seconds—and if you’d rather stick with dense, jargon-packed business news, you can always unsubscribe.

Check it out

_{Exploring the assembly line, dividing happiness, and moving faster}

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading Intentional Dollar — where we look at old money ideas through a new perspective.

What’s inside?

• One idea to experiment with

• Two quotes from others

• Three questions to dig deeper

• Four lines of poetry for the point

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.

7 Ways to Take Control of Your Legacy

Planning your estate might not sound like the most exciting thing on your to-do list, but trust us, it’s worth it. And with The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning, preparing isn’t as daunting as it may seem.

Inside, you’ll find {straightforward advice} on tackling key documents to clearly spell out your wishes.

Plus, there’s help for having those all-important family conversations about your financial legacy to make sure everyone’s on the same page (and avoid negative future surprises).

Why leave things to chance when you can take control? Explore ways to start, review or refine your estate plan today with The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning.

Download your free guide now!

_{One idea to experiment with:}

The Assembly Line:

Mass media financial advice is like running an assembly line. Every output looks the same. Doesn’t matter the circumstance: the recommendation for you is the recommendation for me.

I recently witnessed this firsthand. A popular budgeting app, now positioning itself as a quasi-financial planner, offered me “personalized”recommendations. After filling out an intake form, the recommendations appeared. On the surface, nothing sounded outrageous. But what was missing was context, the digging that gives quality advice its stature. Without that, even a “good” recommendation can be disastrous.

One recommendation stood out: liquidate the entirety of my taxable brokerage account and use it to pay off debt. The reasoning? “You wouldn’t borrow to invest in the stock market.”

Here’s the problem: selling a brokerage account balance isn’t just moving cash. It can trigger taxable gains, sometimes massive. Depending on timing, bracket, and cost basis, the tax bill alone could outweigh the benefit of the debt payoff. In other words, this one-size-fits-all prescription could cause more harm than the debt it’s meant to fix.

That’s the danger of the new “advice factory” — whether it’s social media influencers, viral TikTok tips, or apps without fiduciary standards. There’s no safeguard, no duty of care, no prudence, and no real vetting. A single half-baked recommendation can derail years of progress.

AI and software will absolutely reshape the advice industry. Tools can give people access, education, and options in ways that used to be out of reach. But we’re not yet in a world where every app is consistent, reliable, and trustworthy.

Until then, context matters. Nuance matters. Depth matters. And advice that skips those things isn’t advice at all—it’s Ford’s assembly line.

make sure the advice is fit for you

_{Two quotes on dividing happiness:}

Money compounds when you add to it. Happiness compounds when you give it away.

_{Three questions on moving faster:}

1. What areas do I think I’m moving as quickly as I can?

2. How would I move faster if I had to?

3. What constraints block my ability to move at a faster pace? (Internal and external)

Which question stuck with you? Questions like these are spotlights for the mind. Reply to this email and let me know which one shined light on a previously dark cave.

_{Four lines of poetry for the point:}

Contact Me:

Content ideas, questions? Reply to this email or reach out to me at logan@intentionaldollar.com

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. These weekly posts represent my simple thoughts, a few quotes, and some questions — for educational purposes only.