Economics isn’t just about GDP and unemployment.  Sadly those types of economists get all the attention, but they also take most of the fun out of the “dismal science”.  I’ve often found the most fascinating lessons of economics come from applying abstract ideas to what we observe every day. Recently, I found myself on a [...]

In 1947 De Beers, the diamond industry kingpin, famously started their advertising slogan “A Diamond is Forever.” In 1953, Marilyn Monroe famously performed her version of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend.” Since these days now gone diamonds have been ingrained in our culture as a symbol of love, status, and beauty. Ladies, look at [...]

And by cheap ass I of course mean me.  I’ve read frugal blogs that talk about saving $2000 a year by giving up Starbucks and all that other crap you’re tired of.  That isn’t interesting to me because I spend maybe $50 a year at Starbucks and its competitors. Here’s my inspiration for this post: [...]

The recent good (or less worse than expected) GDP numbers became instant headlines across newspapers and blogs, and presented relief from, what has otherwise been, a barrage of bad news. GDP contracted by 1% in the last quarter, which was significantly lesser than the previous quarter, and this raised the hopes of a turnaround. The [...]

Every once in a while it’s a good idea to take stock of the important material items you have with you every day. It’s good to do this because sometimes you may not know exactly why you bring something with you wherever you go, you just do. Here’s my list, and why I have what [...]

The following is a guest post written by Dave of LifeExcursion.com, a blog that focuses on a different subject for each day of the week.  For example: Mondays are finance, but Thursdays are minimalism and Tuesdays are fitness.  Dave is a well traveled guy with a unique insight and orignal blog format.  If you like his [...]

Most of today’s retirement planning advice is derived from insights advanced in research referred to as “safe withdrawal rate” (SWR) analysis. These studies get the numbers terribly wrong. They have been the cause of bad decisions that will likely in time result in millions of failed retirements. It’s not Rob Bennett, a guy who posts [...]

You can’t beat the market. You’ve heard that one, right? Why do they say that? What is the reason why you can’t beat the market? The market is rational. That’s the idea. To beat something, you must find a weakness in it. If the market sets prices rationally, there’s no way for you to beat [...]