Really enjoyed this Vox article about the fallacy of willpower. So many applications. From a financial planning perspective items #1 and #2 in the “what we can learn from people who are good at self-control” section hit close to home – the former b/c we’ve found clients that make choices as opposed to being forced [...]
Despite what Rick James thinks the most powerfully addictive human drug is dopamine. We're all affected by it. For many of us it's at the core of why we are our own worst enemies when it comes to investing.
Using data from Morningstar we’ve compiled a list of the twenty mutual funds receiving the largest net cash inflows in 2017: Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Vanguard 500 Index Vanguard Total International Stock Index Vanguard Developed Markets Index Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Oakmark International Prudential Total Return Bond American [...]
Behavioral psychologists know humans are OK being ignorant – we just hate being deprived of information. Big Media uses this to drive clicks and ratings. Which of the following headlines will make you want to read more? Woman loses 10 lbs by making this small change to her daily routine. Woman loses 10 lbs by [...]
What's the benefit to individuals and society of giving and receiving holiday gifts? The heavyweights of economic thought duke it out for our enjoyment.
Ostensibly written to explain economic events this article is one of the best you’ll ever read. Understanding what we tell ourselves and why is the first step down a path of better life decisions.
Takeaways from the above: more than half of American households own no stock roughly 1/3 maintain indirect ownership and with the rise in passive strategies (i.e. indexing) have endowed giants like Vanguard with enormous voting power over corporations Now consider the following: 60% of American families combined own less than 2% of stock wealth [...]
Both the House and Senate passed Bills to reform the Internal Revenue Code. Here's how they stack up as they had into the reconciliation process:
It’s a poor joke but it seems appropriate given data released yesterday by the Hartford Funds. A decade after the deep financial crisis the majority of survey respondents said there was no impact upon their lives. Really? Wow! And yet... 42% of respondents reported that they avoid investing in financial markets 46% have altered their [...]
Yesterday members of the House of Representatives announced their version of income tax reform. The Senate is expected to offer its own version as early as next week. Assuming each passes without changes (and that’s a big assumption) there will still likely be changes as the legislation moves through the reconciliation process before being presented [...]