Articles

In 1977 economist Milton Friedman wrote an article “The Line We Dare Not Cross: The Fragility of Freedom at ‘60%.'” We are in danger of crossing that line.

David Marotta discusses how to shield your personal assets from the corrosive influence of government policies.

All assets are not equal. Some investments appreciate better on average than others.

Everyone in our risk pool will order filet mignon. First the costs will skyrocket. And then the meat will be rotten.

Sometimes we make the mistake of deliberately budgeting the impossible. If you purposefully set the required spending in one category too high, you won’t be able to trim other categories to bring your overall spending into harmony.

Many budgets are doomed to failure because of the challenge of planning for unplanned spending. Here are some of the items you either did not put in your budget or they shouldn’t be in your spending.

George Marotta is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution pursuing research on international finance.

Get control of the spending that breaks the bank. Certain purchases that are typically both unnecessary and unplanned are budget busters. Avoiding these financial slips requires hedging some of our worst impulses and constraining our desire for instant gratification.

Good things do come from France. Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz captured Olympic gold in the men’s downhill skiing event beating out favorites Austria’s Michael Walchhofer and America’s Bode Miller. His win meant flying madly off jumps and being determined to finish first or break every bone in his body. Your investments shouldn’t be like that.

They say that as long as Americans keep spending, the economy will be strong and unemployment will remain low. “Spend now and pay later” is poor personal policy.

In both good times and bad times, investing is really about managing your emotions. If you want to be an investor, you have to grow to understand not only the relationship between risk and return, but also your own reaction to it.

The returns offered by immediate fixed annuities aren’t as good as they sound. The slight of hand in this case is the immediate loss of 100% of your principal. They are fixed for you to lose and the insurance company to win.

Every University student knows they should have a credit card. You have to have a second form of ID on many financial transactions. You have to have one to establish good credit. And, the more you use them, the more you will accrue bonus points toward cash, mileage credits and various “free gifts”. P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” But it doesn’t have to be you.

Everyone knows a family with financial debt. Stop the bleeding. Apply emergency medicine.

Every year problems of debt and overspending frustrate millions of families. The problem has little to do with income, a lot to do with spending. Spending less than you earn is the essential foundation that creates the capital for investing and wealth building.