Roundup #49 đ„±đ
Body image issues, coming for your colleagues, high-yield savings accounts, 2025 Mercedes EQC sedan, and a comment on self worth.
Welcome to The Boring Gay Roundup! The gay experience, career, money, and cars from a boring gay in <5 minutes.
Lexicon
A relationship shouldnât be something you seek in order to resolve a conflict within yourself. I recently spoke to a guy who was dealing with body image insecurities. He said that he just wanted to be with someone that made him feel attractive so he wouldnât have to feel insecure anymore. Itâs great to be with someone who makes you feel attractive, but how you feel about any aspect of yourself shouldnât depend on another person. You should seek to do the things that make you feel attractive on your own. Donât give someone that power over you. And donât go into a relationship with that pressure or expectation - itâs only going to cause hurt.
Career
If youâre going to come for someone due to a mistake theyâve made at work - please triple-check your receipts. Recently someone came for me (in a polite way) over what they presumed was an error I made. They sent me an e-mail to tell me to try not to make the error again. This is someone Iâve worked with for years who knows I do great work and who has never seen me make this type of error before. I checked the receipts and it turns out the error was not on my end but was actually an error triggered by the complaining colleague. To take any drama out of the situation, I apologized and pointed out what I perceived as the other personâs error. The other person then apologized to me and said that they thought it was strange because I had never made this error before. Nothing about this exchange was rude or dramatic - but we both had to have an awkward interaction. This made me think - is there ever a good time to bring up a colleagueâs mistake? I personally let mistakes go all the time if they donât impact the big picture, if the person has a long history of not making the mistake, if it isnât a âteachable momentâ that I can use to help someone grow, or if itâs not worth the potential rift in a working relationship. And if I do feel like I need to point a mistake out, I triple-check that it actually occurred and always approach the person constructively because defensiveness is a natural response.
Louder for the Gays in the Back
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Money
I took my own advice and transferred the bulk of my ârainy dayâ savings into a high-yield savings account. I used Bettermentâs Cash Reserve account which currently has a 2.75% APY. That is compared to the 0.01% I was getting by leaving it in my bankâs traditional savings account. The good thing is I can transfer my money in and out as I please with no penalty. Itâs not as instant as a traditional bank account (thereâs a couple-day lag on transfers), so thatâs why I left a cushion amount in my traditional bank account for everyday needs. But this is way better than a CD account, which puts withdrawal penalties on your money for a certain time period. For instance, Wells Fargo has a CD that pays out at the same rate as this Betterment account but you canât touch your cash for 13 months without penalties. Betterment is able to pay out such a high rate for a savings account because interest rates are high in general right now - so although that makes the cost of borrowing for things like houses and cars high, it also allows banks to pay you more for parking your cash with them (because they can then lend your money to others at high rates and make stronger returns). Iâm kind of kicking myself for waiting so long - I guess I didnât want the inconvenience of having yet another account or feeling like my money was tied up somewhere, but Betterment made it super easy. And in an economy where the stock market is dramatically inconsistent, itâs nice to have a little growth with your cash.
This is not an ad, I have been a Betterment customer for two years. You can email me for a Betterment referral code if you want to use them for investing, which gets me and you free account fee credits for $5,000 of investments.
Cars
I saw these renderings of the next-generation all-electric Mercedes EQC Sedan, which is basically an electric âC-Class.â I was just saying how Mercedes was in a very confusing place with its electric designs, but this actually looks promising. Itâs a little more chiseled than their current electric designs, especially the rear which is giving me 90âs boxy Mercedes design (which I love). The front is looking like the current Kia EV6, which isnât a bad thing but I wish it were a little more distinct.
If this car becomes a reality, Iâd be very pleased with this new design direction. Not too many technical details are available on this new model, but itâs expected to make its way to the U.S. as a 2025 model. Leave me a comment - do you like the design?
Check out my recent reviews of the Mazda CX-9 Carbon Edition, Volvo XC40 Recharge, Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, Polestar 2, Mazda3 Hatchback, Honda Civic Hatchback, Mercedes GLA 35 AMG, Hyundai Sonata, and Mazda CX-30.
Comment of the Week
I recently made an IG post saying âyour body is not your worth, your bank account is not your worth, your social circle is not your worth, and your followers are not your worthââŠ.to which someone responded:
Thank you for that. Lol.
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