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Money Musings Newsletter
Consume the brain of a queer financial advisor.
The Query Capital Money Musings Newsletter, written by Landon, is a periodic think piece relating to personal finance as only someone with a degree in alternative philosophy and a background as a social justice trainer can. Expect an email at most once per month.
After signing up, check your spam folder for the confirmation and then add landon@query.capital to contacts so that we don't disappear forever into the void.
See below for past mailing and other articles.
The Transfers Method of Budgeting
Do you ever feel like when you're budgeting, you are just struggling to find time to do all this categorizing? If so, you may like the type of budgeting that we at Query Capital refer to as The Transfers Method.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Market Commentary for Anxious Queers
The bombshell tariff announcement last Wednesday sent U.S. markets plunging over -10% and international markets down -8% in the largest drop
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Four Paradigms of Joint Finances
Four starkly different attitudes to shared finances underpin interactions in all life partnerships.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
The Willingness to Withhold: Tithing Part II
In a little village in Myanmar, monks in maroon robes walk down the street with bowls in hand to gather alms.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
The Case for Tithing
Whenever we're out, my little son will ask me, "Are we close to home?" A few blocks, a few neighborhoods, a few states - are we close...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Strategic Scarcity
We're now in the dead of winter, a time when the summer seems long ago. When the sun shines on my face, it feels precious. Lately I've been
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Retirement of the immortal
At a house party in my 20s, I told someone I worked in financial planning. To my dismay she responded with, “That’s okay, I have a boring...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Retirement by default invests in war
If you're like most people, when you fill out choices in your retirement plan, you likely aren't thinking about arms manufacturing— even...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Considering the cost of kids
But can cost comparison address the question of having kids or not? I’m not so sure. Having kids is a fundamental life question.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Return of the Student Loans
Despite the setbacks to student debtors, new changes to the repayment options are a good thing. So let's dig into it together.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Marriage: What is it good for?
If you are in a couple and ambivalent about marriage, blink and you might miss the benefits. But there are a few benefits worth mentioning.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
What is burning that hole in your pocket?
In April’s installment of my newsletter I wrote about the mindset of scarcity and its impact on finances. Many clients have struggled with
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Let's play around with a Wealthiness Audit
Isn’t it weird how rich people feel so much scarcity? They don’t have the struggles that bind you on a daily basis. They could live like...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Thoughts and prayers for the trans community
Lately as the proxy war over trans people continues, I am grieving the narrative of progress and safety that I had even as bathroom bills..
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Landon's Once-a-Month "Backwards Budget"
There are two ways to count your spending—counting up from zero, or down from everything.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Let’s consider our inevitable demise
You can’t use your money where you’re going, so why bother? My answer is that an orderly estate is an act of care to others.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Should you be worried about inflation if you have student loans?
Landon in the media!
Landon Tan, CFP ®
French Teen v. Big Sis: Who will pay me back?
One summer while I was visiting Paris with friends after my high school study-abroad program, I lent my friend €80 to buy a nice pair of hee
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Navigating Family Power & Financial Delegations
My father was born in the year of the tiger. Growing up in a Chinese family in Singapore and Malaysia he was one too many tiger...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
In Defense of New Year’s Resolutions
All the reasons I believe in goal making in the new year.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
A Budget Is Not a Body
The dreaded weight-loss analogy. A few years back on a conference call with the Seattle Times for a “Money Makeover” financial plan, I...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Katie Thinks School's a Scam
My partner likes to say that education is a scam. Or perhaps a tool of the state to make children compliant...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Administrative Genius
A few years ago, behavioral economics took the world by storm. It helped us think critically about the influence of nudges on outcomes.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Queer Feelings about ESG
I came of age in the queer left in Seattle, where ethicality is paramount. "Environmental" might mean saving dish water and using it to flus
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Go Ahead and Miss Out Financially
I love the wild ones, but most of the people who come to hire a financial planner are actually pretty prudent. They want to know that...
Landon Tan, CFP ®
Attention Small Nonprofits: If You Care about Your Employees, Help Them Retire
The important work of nonprofit employees ought to be rewarded with the ability to retire with dignity after a career of service.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
100+ Years Delinquent
This article explores the effect of compound interest and the continued legacy of racism in America.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
The Joys and Sorrows of Budgeting
Making an ideal budget is easy; it's where that budget meets with reality that's the problem.
Landon Tan, CFP ®
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