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Executive Function Theft
51–60 of 227 posts
Re: Executive Function Theft
#52On a side note, the author's example is exactly why I have chosen to not use FSAs. Sure, it saves me 20% or so since it's pre-tax money, but is my stress, time, executive function, and sanity all worth that? Plus if I screw up and don't spend the money or file something wrong, I lose it or pay penalties.
FSAs are pretty manageable if you only put $200ish in there. Mine somehow gets auto deducted for vision costs, so it manages to get used.
HSAs are a very good tax dodge retirement account, so you should figure them out. Except in California they're supposed to be taxed. Except… HSA providers don't give you the forms you'd need to report HSA investment gains, so it is literally impossible to report them.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#53> I will admit to never having been able to read Cal Newport’s Deep Work all the way through — I got too irritated — but I would point to his dismissive naming of the idea of “shallow work”, which he defines as logistical and often repetitive tasks, such as writing short emails. Newport recommends entirely stopping or poorly performing that work; I read this as encouraging readers to commit EFT against others around…
But getting rid of shallow work is the entire reason why people get executive assistants.
Maybe so, but unrelated to the book and its message.
The author referencing the book in this context is in complete bad faith.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#54[flagged]
[flagged]
Re: Executive Function Theft
#55On a side note, the author's example is exactly why I have chosen to not use FSAs. Sure, it saves me 20% or so since it's pre-tax money, but is my stress, time, executive function, and sanity all worth that? Plus if I screw up and don't spend the money or file something wrong, I lose it or pay penalties.
I have always felt this way about FSAs. They don’t save enough money to feel remotely worth the bureaucracy. Especially because (maybe this is not universal) they don’t carry over year to year like an HSA. So you can actually lose money.
Similarly, my work has two options for commuter benefits. Monthly transit passes or like a $20/mo bike credit. The transit passes process automatically and do not accumulate. The bike credits can in theory accumulate but you need to manually manage these more that, bring receipts, the whole thing. Even though I’m an avid cyclist and spend well more than $20 on my bike related activities every month, the shenanigans around it just make it unusable to me.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#56On a side note, the author's example is exactly why I have chosen to not use FSAs. Sure, it saves me 20% or so since it's pre-tax money, but is my stress, time, executive function, and sanity all worth that? Plus if I screw up and don't spend the money or file something wrong, I lose it or pay penalties.
I've only taken plans that offered HSA. They have incredible tax free investment potential and they don't require any immediate attention. I'm just automatically buying retirement date low fee funds. If I want to manage it later on I can just swap things out.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#57[flagged]
Insulting the author is not appropriate.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#58On a side note, the author's example is exactly why I have chosen to not use FSAs. Sure, it saves me 20% or so since it's pre-tax money, but is my stress, time, executive function, and sanity all worth that? Plus if I screw up and don't spend the money or file something wrong, I lose it or pay penalties.
I think my strategy diverges somewhat from the norm but this is what I do: instead of trying to perfectly predict annual medical expenses, which is pretty fraught especially in my case, i come up with a conservative estimate using a heuristic. Now this figure is typically half of my previous year's expenses. In this way, i essentially ensure that i utilize the full FSA amount without overcommitting.
To guardrail the process, i've integrated my FSA with a small app I wrote as a hobby project that automatically flags eligible transactions. This largely automates the reimbursement procedure, significantly reducing the overhead of manual management and making sure I don't miss much heh.
And in terms of the risk of forfeiture, this conservative approach coupled with the aforementioned automation has safeguarded me against major losses and kept my exposure low. I think the benefits of FSAs are hard to ignore, but they do necessitate a bit more touch than other expenditure vehicles to be sure.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#59My parents did this to me the whole time I lived with them whenever they had to do something involving the computer. It was exhausting and infuriating. "It's so easy for you and so hard for me" - it wouldn't be hard if you'd start trying and stop making yourself helpless.
Re: Executive Function Theft
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Labeling this as EFT, comparing it to illegal action, implies that this act is hostile. That implies that Newport is inciting violence.
What? I think it's pretty clear theft is a metaphor and that no one is suggesting this is illegal. Even if it were, theft is a far cry from inciting violence. Eg if I advocated shoplifting (don't shoplift) I wouldn't be inciting violence, I'd be inciting shoplifting. (Theft by violent means is called robbery.)
PP said that it was _compared_ to an illegal act, which the author did.
> (Theft by violent means is called robbery.)
(Legally, that's not accurate.)
_Morally_, all theft is violence. Shoplifting a pack of chewing gum is extremely minor, almost zero but it's not zero. Shoplifting also includes the "flash mobs" which run in and steam items, or the folks who walk into stores (e.g. in California) with trash bags and loot as much as they can fit because they know the employees won't touch them and the legal punishment is almost zero.