Em dashes are under fire, AI is getting the side-eye, and Vanessa’s here to defend both – with a side of investing wisdom that’s as practical as it is unapologetic.

This image was generated by ChatGPT

One of the downsides of working in the year 2025 is spending a regrettable amount of time on LinkedIn — and thus, being subjected to a regrettable amount of LinkedIn thought leadership.

The latest controversy lighting up the feed? The em dash.

Yes, the punctuation mark. Apparently, it’s now the telltale sign that someone used AI, as if our robot overlords were forged in the fires of Emily Dickinson’s diary.

Somewhere between the rise of ChatGPT and corporate Karenism, the em dash has gone from charmingly informal to “suspicious.” It’s less a breezy punctuation mark, more a scarlet letter pinned to the chest of anyone accused of AI-assisted laziness.

To this I say: who cares??

I use ChatGPT. I might’ve even used it for the first draft of this post. Why wouldn’t I? If the machines are destined to make me obsolete in ten years, I might as well use them to make my life easier in the meantime.

It’s called working smarter.

Same goes for investing.

There’s a long-standing belief, mostly perpetuated by men with overly extensive watch collections, that investing is complicated. If it’s not complicated, you’re not doing it right.

But effort does not equal virtue.

Investing doesn’t need to feel like a part-time job. You shouldn’t need to decipher Greek letters or keep up with all the latest stock acronyms (FYI: check out a great take on the meme craze here).

At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to protect what we’ve earned, see it grow, and maybe go on that bike trip through Europe Tom was talking about.

The good news is this: Over the long run, disciplined investors — the ones who stay diversified, invest consistently, and avoid overreacting — tend to outperform the over-caffeinated stock pickers.

Morningstar’s annual Mind the Gap study repeatedly shows that investors often underperform the very funds they’re invested in, simply because of poor timing decisions driven by emotion.

The rules of punctuation haven’t changed, and neither have investing fundamentals.

  1. Save regularly
  2. Invest often
  3. Stay diversified
  4. Avoid emotional decisions
  5. Talk to someone who thrives on the details (e.g., Steadyhand Investor Specialists are masters of these technicalities)

The trick isn’t in making it exciting — it’s making it sustainable.

So go ahead — use the em dash. Use ChatGPT to write your anniversary toast or a mildly stern letter to your condo board. And opt for a clear, straightforward investment approach that doesn’t demand your attention every time markets wobble.

There’s no trophy for making life harder than it needs to be.

Ease isn’t cheating. Ease is, very often, the point.

(And for the record — 7 em dashes. All intentional.)

— Vanessa