You may have noticed that I write about all things financial: hedge funds, bitcoins, investing in Africa. Sometimes people ask me why someone with an MBA is writing about museum free days and buying store brands at the grocery, but to me, it’s all the same. It’s all about getting the most value for your… [Read More]
Blog
Category: Financial Advice
Gen X and Gen Y and investing
Gen X and Gen Y are cliches, and yet, like so many cliches, there may be something to them. Today, I am struggling with the usual existential crisis that makes managing money so hard: living for today versus saving up until age 100. In finance terms, it’s a matter of opportunity cost; we tend to… [Read More]
Scalawags, Spanish prisoners, and Nigerian scams
As part of my ongoing effort to learn about Africa, I read the book 419 by Will Ferguson. It’s about a Canadian who is caught up in the so-called Nigerian scam, and it is also about charity, crime, forgiveness, and retribution. The title comes from the section of the Nigerian legal code that handles punishment… [Read More]
Defending the Penny
John Green is a great guy. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him, and he is really smart and really clever. His books are wonderful, and he deserves all of the success that he has had. But John Green and I disagree on one thing: the penny. John Green hates pennies. I love them. Follow… [Read More]
The Basics of Financial Advice
A lot of people know very little about personal finance, which is a problem because it’s not very hard and it has a huge effect on their lives. It’s a lot like cooking – you can make it hard if you want to, you can spend a lot of time on it if you want… [Read More]
