🦩 Life’s fantastic?

I’ve tried to look away, but it’s impossible – everything is pink! Social posts, media ads, and even the financial news have gone bonkers for the cinematic blockbuster known as Barbie.

Barbie is a lot of things. She’s an astronaut, a lawyer, a doctor, a physicist, a fashion model, and now an out-of-the-box comedy boasting a little self-referential humor and a lot of social commentary. Will there be consumerism? Check.

Today we explore the world of plastic.

Let’s do this!

Today’s newsletter is 353 words, 1:45 minutes.

10 Money things worth reading this week

1. How Barbie primed us for a life of conspicuous consumption. This is all true but I’m still gonna go see the movie.

2. Barbie the doll was never “just a doll”. That’s right! There’s Ken and the Dreamhouse too.

3. Getting real with plastic, now. Which method helps you pay down debt faster – the Snowball or the Avalanche? The UnDebt.it calculator will snow you the way! This is a neat tool.

4. Show me the money! Science shows that posting salaries reduces the gender gap in wages. 👀 (study)

5. Are you risk aware or risk averse? How to strike the right balance between risk tolerance and risk aversion, and do women and men view risk differently? (podcast)

6. What machine learning reveals about forming a healthy habit. Pssst – It’s not about a magic number of days, there’s a little more to it.

7. Struggling to cancel an online service? You are not alone.

8. How cognitive shortcuts can lead us astray. An interview with Dr. Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow. There are parallels between human cognition and modern AI.

9. Am I obsessed? Influencer culture is notoriously materialistic and kinda gross, so now we have a new trend called “deinfluencing”. Deinfluencing involves influencers discouraging their followers from buying overpriced junk. Yes, I am obsessed.

10. Tweet of the week

I think this newsletter has a little of everything – yay! If there’s something you’d like me to cover, just shoot me a reply! I love feedback too.

Love, love, love

Kerry