The Latest News Won't Help You With Money

To the human mind, there’s nothing better than a goose chase, even a wild one. Novelty thrills us while routine feels stifling, especially for us Millennials. Yet we all know that reacting to the latest thrill is no real way to live.

A constant eye for novelty is useful as a threat detection mechanism, but it’s also one of our collective pain points, regularly getting us into trouble as we shift our gaze from the consistently important yet probably mundane to the exciting and possibly utterly trivial.

That’s exactly how to understand people in the media. They need things to talk about, and things that draw in audiences. Because we chase novelty, they must focus on what’s new, scandalous, or exciting.

That’s why the media is full of things that don’t matter or really affect your life. They largely focus on what’s out of whack, what’s not normal, where things don’t work. They focus on bad apples, fresh faces, and reckless encounters.

Look to the media for what not to do with your money.

News of the moment on TV, your favorite news site, Facebook, or Twitter should mostly be considered infotainment, or even considered straight-up entertainment without any pretensions of being more. It’s fiction until proven truthful.

These shows and articles can really be compelling, but don’t look to them for divining the secrets of money or enduring lessons about life. Nearly every piece of media has a short shelf life, and should be thought of as a tasty snack but rarely a full meal.

You’ll never get financial freedom if you pay too much attention to what people are talking about right now. Think of the things people have been talking about in recent months: Snap going public, the White House doing XYZ, interest rates going up.

Almost all of these kinds of things are outside your control and aren’t worth your time. Ignore tech IPOs, don’t fret about interest rates when you’re not looking for loans anytime soon, and don’t invest based on this hour’s broadside from D.C.

Learning how to separate out the useful from what’s just passing by in the perpetual flood of information is one of the most important skills of our time.

There’s a useful analogy from the human body here. Your brain is the place where your most precious assets live, the fortress of all you hold dear. Therefore, this stronghold must be protected at almost any cost. Its moat must be deep, its walls thick and strong.

The blood-brain barrier functions in exactly this way. It’s a mechanism to keep out dangerous threats to the brain and prevent something harmful like a virus in the bloodstream from reaching this most vital of organs. Because of it, most substances in the blood simply can’t get anywhere close to the brain.

You need such a barrier around what you know has enduring value. Keep viral nonsense out of your brain.

Ideas of enduring value could be useful guidelines you’ve learned or goals you’ve set for yourself, the kinds of things that will never be inapplicable or never go out of style. They’re easy to defend and simple to explain. (It’s like Amazon focusing on low prices, huge selection, and quick delivery; these are literally never going out of style.)

Within the realm of money, this might be the need for low expense ratios, the need to always save significant amounts of income, the need for a fiduciary adviser who’s looking out for you, an obligation you feel to give charitably, the need for an emergency fund, or the need to avoid buying things you don’t need.

With the brain--your deepest convictions and commitments--safe and protected for the most part, you can take in the news about money you hear on TV or online without fearing you’ll lose your head.

You can take it in without absorbing it. It’s the difference between being swept up in the current and standing firm as water rushes around your legs.

What’s being discussed is usually not the fundamentals. The quiet work, the backstory, the first principles, the mundane essentials--these are left to the imagination while the focus lingers on the surface level.

It’s usually sweeter to think about the icing on the cake, and guess what? That is just what people do.

The news about money is not on TV right now. It mostly isn’t a set of specifics that all people in all places should always implement. It depends greatly on the context of your life, your own personality, and your own priorities.

Just be careful about chasing novelty. When it comes to money, be very selective about which ideas you’re inviting into your brain.