FYI: NIKOLA TESLA was a brilliant inventor, with nearly 300 patents to his name. He also had some unique habits. Among them: Every night, before he sat down for dinner, he would ask his waiter for a stack of 18 napkins. He would then use them to carefully wipe down his silverware. Even at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where Tesla lived for decades and where the silverware was presumably clean, Tesla insisted on this time-consuming process before every meal.
The first napkin, and perhaps the second, might have ensured a somewhat cleaner set of utensils—and it probably gave Tesla, who had contracted a debilitating infection as a child, additional peace of mind. That’s what economists would call positive marginal utility. It served some use. But beyond that, it’s hard to imagine that all that additional cleaning and scrubbing contributed much. It just took time. That’s called negative marginal utility. It consumed time without adding any value.
When it comes to managing your finances, I suggest looking at things through this same lens. The financial world, unlike more scientific fields, is full of uncertainty. In many situations, additional effort won’t get you any closer to a better answer—just as wiping down the silverware for the 18th time won’t make it any cleaner.
Regards,
Ted
https://humbledollar.com/2019/09/adding-value/
