Pandemics, like the diseases themselves, run their course. The coronavirus will also run its course, as will its impact on global markets. This article isn’t about COVID-19, though it is important to know What to do if your sick … by the CDC. Rather this piece is about human nature and investing, and by extension, […]
What is “Lifestyle Creep?” “Lifestyle creep occurs when an individual’s standard of living improves as their discretionary income rises and former luxuries become new necessities. The rise in discretionary income can happen either through an increase in income or decrease in costs.” Lifestyle creep can occur when your young when income tends to continue to rise. […]
So, your child is in high school. For some parents, the concerns about the next step to college begin to enter your minds. When should you begin to think about college for your child? As early at the 9th grade! Here’s why? The ignored Preliminary SAT (PSAT) can open invisible doors not imagined or seen. […]
Most people invest willy-nilly (without any planning or order). Taking some basics from journalism may help most people get better results (expectations) when they approach investing. Answers to questions about Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? “…are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws . They’re very fundamental […]
What is the true source for the cost of delayed savings, or the cost of waiting? Most articles focus on the lost dollars, which is true. But why are those dollars lost? Please read the insert below (and a link to the post in case those who get these by email can’t access the embedded […]
Most people have the illusion that they have steady income. This is another example of recency bias (as it relates to income in this post) where people have become accustomed to their current income and forget it wasn’t always as it is now. It may have been lower, or even higher for some. Want to prove […]
“Tariffs are one of the oldest trade policy instruments, with their use dating back to at least the 18th century. Historically, the main objective of a tariff was to raise revenue (my emphasis). In fact, before ratifying the 16th Amendment in 1913 and formally creating the income tax, the U.S. government raised most of its revenue (taxes) from tariffs. Even so, […]
The Happiness Equation, as it relates to investing, is an interrelationship between your perceptions and expectations of investing and events. How do you manage happiness when you can’t manage the markets or the events that influence the markets? The inserted article below explains. The happiness equation from Better Financial Education Note: Your […]
When it comes to debt, there are many different kinds. There is mortgage debt (primary mortgages, second mortgages, lines of credit, etc.), vacation home or secondary residences, credit cards, education loans (both owed by students, or by parents and/or grandparents), vehicle debt, and other miscellaneous debts (e.g., loans against pensions or life insurance). I’ve written […]
You may hear, when markets get “volatile,” that there are more sellers than buyers. Can that even happen? What does that phrase even mean? BTW, you hear it too in any market, including the real estate market. The article below, “A Question of Equilibrium,” explains the basics of how buyers and sellers always agree on […]
