Must Read: Chinese App Shows Who Standing Near You Is In Debt, Is Financial Independence Really Worth It?

These are the personal finance stories in the news this week.  China Reportedly Made An App To Show People If They’re Standing Near Someone In Debt In futuristic-sounding news that reads like a sci-fi book come to life, a province in northern China has created an app that will let its residents know if they are located in close proximity to someone in debt. The app is said to serve as a way to identify “deadbeat debtors” and create a “socially credible environment.” Mainly, the authorities are looking to make sure that people who have faced financial judgment don’t skip out on their obligations, but this detail could create further division between the population. (Business Insider) How To Invest Your Down Payment If You’re Planning To Buy A House Sam, author of Financial Samurai, is planning on buying a new house in the next two years. Being an avid investor (and coming from a successful career in finance), he knows the value of putting money into the market and watching it grow (hopefully). In this post, he discusses how to invest in order to achieve a 20 to 25% down payment on your future home. (Financial Samurai) Is FI Really Worth It? On the way to financial independence, we often forget why we decided to embark on that path to begin with. It’s easy to fall into autopilot once we are convinced that something is right for us, but taking a look around from time to time to confirm that it’s the best decision in the moment as well as long-term can help. (Grokking Money) The Top Global Risks In 2019 A new report has detailed the major threats of 2019 including cyber-attacks, confrontations between economies, and “fake news.” (Visual Capitalist) Amazon Knows What You Buy. And It’s Building A Big Ad Business From It. Businesses are now able to take Amazon’s data on consumers’ purchasing habits and use them to better predict demand for their products and services. This enables companies to show people exactly what they need in the moment – by using people’s past orders and previous search history. (The New York Times) Beware Of The Compare It’s human nature to compare yourself to others and to judge yourself based on what you see elsewhere. We look to others as a measure of self-worth, but it’s really more productive to walk on your own path and congratulate those who put in the time and energy to achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves. Here are some suggestions about how to compare yourself less and grow more from within. (Fiery Millennials) When Is It Better To Finance A Purchase Than Pay Cash? If you’ve ever made a major purchase (think: car, home, etc.), you know that taking out loans and mortgages are pretty common ways to fund a purchase. When people with the means to buy entirely in cash are looking at these sorts of assets, you’d be surprised how many of them opt to borrow money. It actually makes sense to do no matter how much money you have – here’s why. (Money Under 30)