.5 Friend Types That Can Hurt Your Finances
5 Friend Types That Can Hurt Your Finances
By Aja McClanahan
Your inner circle of friends can have a direct impact on many areas of your life, including your financial behavior. According to a 2014 study from the Journal of Consumer Research, peers can influence you to make certain decisions.
You can even bond with someone over decisions to abstain or indulge in certain activities. The study found, for instance, that friends bond over small shared indulgences like eating chocolate, but were more inclined to abstain as the stakes were raised.
.Is Your Bank Actually Safe
.Is Your Bank Actually Safe
Notes From The Field By Simon Black
Here’s an easy way to tell if Your Bank Is Actually Safe
March 15, 2013 was a pretty normal day in Cyprus. It was a Friday, and most people were looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
The next morning the entire nation woke up in horror. Their politicians had been up all night, negotiating with international lenders to provide an emergency loan to the country, and its banks.
It turned out that the banks in Cyprus were all insolvent; just like banks in the United States during the 2008 sub-prime crisis, banks in Cyprus had been making idiotic decisions with their customers’ hard-earned savings.
.How Should You Pay for Financial Advice?
.How Should You Pay for Financial Advice?
By Michael Pollock
From robo advisers to full-service professionals, investors have more choices than ever in getting, and paying for, financial advice
Deciding what kind of financial advice to pay for, and which fee structure is right for you, can be daunting.
The advice market is evolving rapidly, and investors today have more choices than ever before—from expensive, highly tailored advice to more impersonal services that cost next to nothing.
Financial experts say investors should shop carefully, while considering these questions: Do you have a complex financial life, where paying a premium for advice could produce lasting benefits? Or are your needs more basic—such as crafting a starter financial plan—where fees could be much lower?
.Dreaming About Money? What Does It Mean?
.Dreaming About Money? What Does It Mean?
Erinn Bucklan | April 11, 2019
Dreaming About Money? What Does It Mean?
Have you been dreaming about money lately? Us, too. Find out what it means when you dream about money.
Before you shake your head and say that dreams have no impact on your waking life, consider this: Scientists have found that they can actually affect our daytime behavior.
In research published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, a team of U.S. and British researchers found a link between particular events in dreams and later real-world interactions with our significant others.
.Uncle Sam Just Used Its Financial Nuclear Weapon Again
.Uncle Sam Just Used Its Financial Nuclear Weapon Again
Notes From The Field By Simon Black January 15, 2020 San Juan, Puerto Rico
In August of 1945, the United States became the only country to drop nuclear bombs on an enemy.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were largely destroyed in the blink of an eye. And the Japanese had no choice but to surrender to the Allies, finally ending World War II.
Ever since, world superpowers have been rapidly advancing weapons technology, constantly raising the bar for destructive power.
It won’t surprise you to find out that the most powerful and destructive weapon in the world, though, by far, is claimed by the United States.
But this weapon has nothing to do with America’s nuclear arsenal. It doesn’t even require bullets.
I’m talking about the US dollar.
.The Best Way to Manage Your Money Isn’t What You’ve Been Told
.The Best Way to Manage Your Money Isn’t What You’ve Been Told
By Anne Gaviola Jan 6 2020
Outdated advice on how to save, budget, and handle your finances doesn’t cut it anymore.
Financial advice should come with an expiry date. Because outdated guidance is like financial sabotage, according to money experts.
As written about in the Wall Street Journal last year, much of the financial advice young people have been given might actually be the opposite of what they’re supposed to be doing with their money.
Young people are delaying or foregoing life milestones like getting married, buying a home, and having kids, so advice that was fine for boomers doesn’t always make sense for the economy that millennials and Gen Z live in. Personal finance expert Robin Taub said precarious employment and changing values are why the old financial playbook needs a refresh.
.How the 2010’s Taught Us to Hate the Rich
.How the 2010’s Taught Us to Hate the Rich
By Matt Taylor, and Maxwell Strachan; illustrated by Hunter French Nov 26 2019,
From the gig economy to supervillains like Martin Shkreli to the college cheating scandal, this is the story of "late capitalism" coming to life.
In the past ten years, we lost hope in American politics, realized we were being watched on the internet, and finally broke the gender binary (kind of). So many of the beliefs we held to be true at the beginning of the decade have since been proven false—or at least, much more complicated than they once seemed.
The Decade of Disillusion is a series that tracks how the hell we got here.
If you squint hard enough, you could theoretically be optimistic about capitalism in America right now. Technically speaking, the U.S. economy is currently in the midst of the longest expansion in its history—a record that started when the country dragged itself out of the Great Recession and back into something resembling growth in 2009. Middle-class incomes have shown (at least fleeting) signs of life after decades of stagnation, too.
.12 Signs That The Economy Is Seriously Slowing Down As 2020 Begins
.12 Signs That The Economy Is Seriously Slowing Down As 2020 Begins
By Michael Snyder January 12, 2020
Lost in all of the headlines about Iran and impeachment is the fact that the U.S. economic slowdown which began during the latter stages of last year appears to be accelerating.
The final numbers which will tell us if we are officially in a recession at this moment won’t be released until months from now, but for millions upon millions of Americans it definitely feels like one has already started.
Yes, the stock market has been soaring, but at this point the stock market has become completely divorced from economic reality. And as you will see later in this article, stock prices are now the most overvalued that they have ever been in all of American history.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about what is happening in the real economy.
.People Who Take Precaution Seriously Are Well-Protected
.People Who Take Precaution Seriously Are Well-Protected
Notes From The Field By Simon Black
January 13, 2020 Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
Do You Have A Backup Generator?
The news headlines read, “Deadly 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake Plunges Puerto Rico into Darkness”; and “Powerful Puerto Rico Earthquake Knocks Out Entire Island’s Power.”
It was enough to prompt my mother to call, four times, to make sure I was OK.
There’s been a string of fairly strong earthquakes lately in Puerto Rico... which is incredibly unusual for this part of the world. It’s been more than a century since the island was rocked by anything of this magnitude.
But I explained to my parents that the press had blown things out of proportion as usual. They were running video footage that made it seem as if the island had been blasted back into the Stone Age.
It’s true that there were some displaced families and property damage near the epicenter.
But most of the island was not substantially affected. None of the major news organizations bothered to show footage of busy shopping malls, crowded restaurants, and packed movie theaters teeming with consumers.
.Rich People Agree That Life Is Unfair
.Rich People Agree That Life Is Unfair
By Harry Cheadle Jan 10 2020,
They are concerned about inequality, according to a new survey, but don't ask them to pay more in taxes.
Huge numbers of Americans understand that life in their country is fundamentally unfair. Even many of those in households making more than $500,000—the literal top 1 percent of earners—think that they are unfairly privileged in areas of life ranging from college admissions to housing, and believe the richest of the rich should pay more in taxes.
But when those high earners are asked if the merely rich, i.e. them, should have to chip in more, they balk. Oh, reducing inequality and making the world nicer means that I, personally, might have less stuff? No thank you.
.5 Lessons From the 'Witch' of Wall Street
.5 Lessons From the 'Witch' of Wall Street
The best advice is often timeless.
Karen Wallace, CFP® Dec 31, 2019
Mentioned: Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B)
During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, a woman named Hetty Green was one of the most powerful financiers in the world. She made the vast majority of her $100 million fortune ($2.3 billion in today’s dollars) herself, investing in railroad stocks and bonds, government bonds, and mining stocks. She also provided loans to cash-strapped businesses and bailed out the city of New York on several occasions.
But high society didn’t quite know what to make of Green. Despite having all the makings of a socialite--a huge fortune and a direct bloodline to the Mayflower settlers--Green preferred to dress plainly and conduct business with men. That Green preferred black, Quaker-style dress to fancy clothes wasn’t the only reason she’s best remembered by the epithet “The Witch of Wall Street,” though.