6 Ways To Reduce Your Home Mortgage Interest Costs

The amount of interest you pay on your home mortgage may have the biggest impact on your personal finances over your lifetime. Not sure you believe me? Well, consider this example: I really like Bankrate’s website, and the site provides a simple home mortgage interest calculator. Let’s assume that you’re buying a $300,000 home loan, […]

How To Make Smart Decisions About Credit Card Car Rental Insurance

There’s nothing worse than getting off of an airplane. You’re tired, and probably in a bit of a mental fog. About a year ago, I got off of a plane, expecting to get on a connecting flight to my destination. I looked at my watch, which indicated that I had arrived at the final destination […]

Budgeting at the Coffee Shop: A Personal Finance Story (Chap. 1)

Authors’ note:  Explaining accounting and finance can be pretty dull. That’s a problem, if you need to learn accounting or finance. On a plane from St. Louis to Seattle, I decided to try and fix the problem. What if I could wrap some accounting concepts inside of a quirky (funny?) short story? My goal here […]

The Rear View Mirror and the Tree: An Accounting Story

    Authors’ note: Explaining accounting and finance can be pretty dull. That’s a problem, if you need to learn accounting or finance. On a plane from St. Louis to Seattle, I decided to try and fix the problem. What if I could wrap some accounting concepts inside of a quirky (funny?) short story? My […]

What The Rio Olympics Teaches Us About Personal Finance

My favorite Rio Olympics-related headline so far: “Olympic kayaker possibly capsized by couch in Rio de Janeiro” Priceless. Now, the story isn’t confirmed, but it illustrates all of the controversy related to Brazil’s preparation for the Olympic Games. This situation is a great analogy for personal finance, because it helps us think about the answer […]

What a 4 Year Old Teaches Us About Earnings Per Share

So, I overheard a Dad say something interesting to his 4-year old son (at least he looked to be about 4). His son asked him a question and he said: “I just answered that question, so I’m not going to answer it again”. That approach would have saved me a lot of time when my […]

What A Telsa Car Crash Teaches Us About Investor Disclosure

So, how much information do you need to make an informed decision? Unfortunately, Tesla’s Motors problems with autopilot cars provide a great discussion about required disclosure to investors. This CNBC video with a former SEC Chairmen discusses whether or not Telsa had a duty to disclose a car accident that occurred with an autopilot vehicle […]

Warning to Investors: Contribution Margin Is Not Company Profit

So, we’re in a crazy political period, and it’s hard to know just what is true in a political ad and what isn’t true. In the investment business, however, we have extensive rules on disclosure to investors, and those rules are in place to provide all stakeholders- including investors- enough to information to make informed […]

3 Little Known Factors That Can Affect Your Portfolio: Quandl’s Guide

  So, I saw something the other day that I’ve never seen before. I was coming out of a grocery store that was up a hill from a major street, and a truck was approaching the intersection. The truck was hauling a bulldozer on a flatbed trailer and, as the truck approached the intersection, it […]