Month: April 2018

If you follow the stock market coverage on CNBC or Bloomberg, or read the Wall Street Journal, you’ve probably seen references to the VIX, especially in politically and economically volatile times like the 2008 financial crisis or last year’s election. While it appears in charts and tickers like a stock or exchange-traded fund, the VIX… Continue reading Investing in Volatility: Understanding the VIX

You’ve probably seen the advertisements: “Start your own business!” “Be your own boss!” “Become a part of something great!” Or the bumper stickers and even vehicle wraps advertising Mary Kay or Herbalife. Maybe you’ve gone to a friend’s house for a dinner that turned into a sales pitch, or noticed the catalogue in the office… Continue reading Multi Level Marketing: Too Good To Be True?

The idea seems simple enough at first: anyone can become a member of the merchant class, without ever having to physically even see their product. Commodity futures originally developed as a way of making the market more stable, guaranteeing future prices (hence the name) for staples like wheat, corn and cattle. Every futures contract required… Continue reading Are Futures In Your Future?

According to a recent survey conducted by LegalZoom, just 41% of Americans had a last will and testament, and only 9% had a living will. Death isn’t something anyone particularly wants to think about or plan for, but it’s essential for your loved ones to know what to do if the inconceivable does happen sooner… Continue reading Why Everyone Needs A Living Will

It’s every car owner’s worst nightmare: you wake up one morning, ready to go to work, and there’s one less car in the driveway than you expected. You call the police to see if it’s been found stolen, but they let you know it’s being held at Bubba’s Towing and Wrecking, three months delinquent on… Continue reading Don’t Fear The Repo: How To Rebuild

Yesterday, Bitcoin hit yet another all-time high of $2779 per BTC, before retreating nearly 20% by afternoon… and gaining more than half of that back in the overnight! Does this sound like your kind of investing? Are you ready to make and lose thousands of dollars in a matter of hours? If so, cryptocurrencies may… Continue reading Bitcoin: What’s the Big Deal

It didn’t seem so bad while you were in school – yes, you’d have to pay for it eventually, but here it is, tens of thousands of dollars a year to support not only your Master’s degree in ethnomusicology, but the biggest parties in the conference, and that one week in Cozumel you’ve sworn never… Continue reading Is There Any Escape From Student Loans?

Once investors move on from basic equity trading, for purposes of seeking alpha, or leverage (investments that move up and down at a faster rate parallel to the market), it’s hard to get very far without making use of options. But where most companies only have one stock, and one price for that stock, dozens… Continue reading Are Option Quotes All Greek To You?

According to an article in Friday’s New York Times, Vitaly Borker is back in prison. Infamous for a previous business venture, DecorMyEyes.com, Borker believes strongly in the tenet that “any press is good press,” which he followed to its logical conclusion, running the business as erratically and counterintuitively as possible to remain in the spotlight. Read… Continue reading When Bad Business Pays Off

In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, one of the main directives given to the transition team was to eliminate two regulations for every new government regulation passed. In addition, the administration used a rarely-utilized loophole known as the Congressional Review Act to target every amendment and regulation passed in the closing months… Continue reading Why the Fiduciary Rule Matters