The Presumption of Importance
Most of us presume events of the day, particularly those within the political or financial realms, are of vital importance and will remain so in the future. When something happens on the world stage today,…
Is Life a Game of Chess or Poker?
In her excellent book Thinking in Bets, author Annie Duke describes how most of us downplay the role of chance or luck in our lives. We want to believe that the quality of our choices…
Do You Know Your Biggest Risk?
Everyday life is full of a myriad of risks. From the moment that we get out of bed in the morning until we go to sleep at night, risk is a close companion. To go…
Costly Promises
All of us are human and we are, at least in some way, attracted to promises that appear to be “good deals.” The grand majority of the machinations by investors each day amount to searching…
Some Things Matter; A Lot of Things Don’t
The constant grind from all forms of media clamor for our attention. Political punditry, religious rants, and financial forecasts dominate discussions each day. If you believe or support one side, then by inference you must…
Top 10 Money Maxims with Modern Twists
There are thousands of classic quotes about money and investing that contain morsels of truth. The problem is applying these to modern life can be difficult. Here are my Top 10 money maxims along with…
What Is Behavioral Guidance? Why Is It Important?
I write a lot about behavioral guidance, but what does this mean? Why is it important? Simply put, behavioral economics studies how real people act in real situations. How you act and react to both…
The Crystal Ball Racket
The NYT recently ran an article titled Recession Chances Rise: Time for a Gut Check by columnist Jeff Sommer. The online edition carried a somewhat different title “Vanguard Warns of Worsening Odds for the Economy…
11 Questions with Uncommon Answers
With few exceptions, the individuals that come to us seeking advice are stressed out. Some of this stress is owed to our general cultural taboo of talking about money issues. An even larger part, however,…
Is Regret Costing You a Secure Future?
Do you worry endlessly about choices you have made that might not work out as planned? Do you regret not doing something in the past that, with benefit of hindsight, would have been great? Welcome…