{"id":467,"date":"2026-01-12T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmoneymaps.com\/?p=467"},"modified":"2026-01-12T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T08:00:25","slug":"the-most-controversial-topics-in-personal-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmoneymaps.com\/?p=467","title":{"rendered":"The Most Controversial Topics in Personal Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pGgpGP3swmE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some personal finance topics are perpetually controversial. Not \u201clet\u2019s cordially disagree\u201d controversial but \u201cyou have offended everything I stand for\u201d controversial. The fact that these topics are controversial is not that interesting on its own, but understanding the reasons why they are controversial is fascinating.<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<br \/>\n*Meet with PWL Capital* https:\/\/pages.pwlcapital.com\/en-ca\/contact-us?utm_source=content&amp;utm_medium=youtube&amp;utm_campaign=benfelix_yt<\/p>\n<p>Avoid Online Scams: https:\/\/pwlcapital.com\/stay-safe-online\/<\/p>\n<p>*References* https:\/\/zbib.org\/ae5d4eb94b3e47aa8789d1abc44154f8<br \/>\nMaslow&#8217;s Hierarchy of Needs image by Hamish Croker<br \/>\nHedonic Treadmill image from The Decision Lab <\/p>\n<p>*Video Chapters*<br \/>\n2:51 Renting vs. Owning<br \/>\n7:25 Income Investing<br \/>\n13:25 FIRE<\/p>\n<p>*Correction*<br \/>\n17:52 I originally said happiness increases linearly, but it increases linearly with log(income) making my statement incorrect. For example, a $10,000 income increase has a decreasing effect at higher income levels, but a 10% increase has a consistent effect. I clipped out &#8220;linearly&#8221; to avoid confusion.<\/p>\n<p>A related study by one of the co-authors on the same data set, but not the study mentioned in the video, finds that control is the explanation for the observed increases in happiness with increasing log(income). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.2016976118<\/p>\n<p>*Related Videos*<br \/>\nRenting vs. Buying a Home: What People Get Wrong https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j4H9LL7A-nQ<br \/>\nThe Irrelevance of Dividends https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=f5j9v9dfinQ<br \/>\nThe Relevance of Dividend Irrelevance https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4iNOtVtNKuU<br \/>\nHow to Retire Early (The 4% Rule?) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3BScK-QyWIo<br \/>\nThe 2.7% Rule for Retirement Spending https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1FwgCRIS0Wg<\/p>\n<p>*Check out my weekly podcast* @rationalreminder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some personal finance topics are perpetually controversial. Not \u201clet\u2019s cordially disagree\u201d controversial but \u201cyou have offended everything I stand for\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmoneymaps.com\/?p=467\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Most Controversial Topics in Personal Finance - Personal Finance Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some personal finance topics are perpetually controversial. 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