Friday's Fast Five: Week of 2.28

They Built Their Fireproof Dream Home. Even if It Lasted, Would They? (The New York Times): They had spent the last decade constructing one of the most fire-resistant homes in the country — a beautiful, Spanish-style estate that was also a fortress meant to withstand even the worst of California’s worsening natural disasters. The house had already survived one historic California wildfire in 2018, the Woolsey fire, which destroyed more than a thousand other nearby homes. They believed their house could withstand any worst-case scenario, but lately they had also begun to wonder about the toll that exacted on them.

Why Schwab’s 24-Hour Trading Might Be a Bad Idea for Investors (Morningstar): Opening the doors to investing to more people is usually a good idea, but in this instance, the overly generous accessibility may backfire. That’s because the common behavioral challenges that investors face with their finances, such as chasing returns and herd behavior, are as pernicious as ever. When investors have access to features like 24-hour trading, these biases may be amplified—making it all too easy for investors to trade impulsively and act against their own best interests.

Move Over, Florida. Retirees Are Making New Plans as Climate Change Raises Costs.  (Barron's): Beth McCormack recently called off her search to buy a home in Florida. The Chicago attorney decided that prices were too high, especially given the expensive homeowner’s insurance she would need to buy. Instead, McCormack, 60, decided to rent a place for the winter. She is one of many pre-retirees and retirees who are recalibrating their plans as climate change intensifies natural disasters and increases the cost of living in many desirable locales.

Ancient DNA Challenges Stories Told About Pompeii Victims (Harvard Medical School): An international team led by scientists at Harvard Medical School, the University of Florence, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology analyzed DNA from the remains of five people who died in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE and were cast in plaster nearly two millennia later. The results reveal that some of the stories told for decades about the individuals’ sexes and family relationships, which were based on the casts’ physical appearance and other archaeological evidence, are either not correct or not as simple as believed. For example:

Space vacations and retiring on Mars: SpaceX COO shares 3 visions for the company’s future (CNBC): While SpaceX founder Elon Musk may be dead set on one day living on another planet, the firm’s chief operating officer says she plans to keep things terrestrial, for now. Nevertheless, like her boss, Shotwell’s visions for SpaceX remain stratospheric: accessible space travel for all, global proliferation for satellite internet, and yes, eventually, interplanetary travel and living.