Personal finance would not be so confusing if the investment community junked most of its technical jargon.
Let’s take a look at a term that is very much in the news today:
The Yield Curve
It sounds formidable and exotic, but the reality is something much more prosaic.
The yield curve is simply the plotting of two linked measurements […]

Please indulge me for a brief wallow in personal nostalgia…
My first career job in finance began at Bank of America in 1969, after I finished my MBA at Berkeley.
Starting pay was $11,000 per year (par for the era).  Two years (and three raises) later, it had rocketed up to $15,000.  That’s when I quit to […]

It’s time we focused on the absolute best business model of all time.
This would be where the customer/client pays the provider/seller a fat fee…
and gets nothing in return…
Or worse.
Hey…I didn’t say it was the best business model for the customer.
Don’t be surprised that this vanishing act is entrenched and enshrined in the land of smoke […]

I’m a few days behind (again), but our recent post on “Debunking Debit Cards” has been posted in the Carnival of Personal Finance - Edition #204. As always, the carnival is full of informative and educational articles. It took me a few days to mull through them and pull some of my favorites, but here […]

Have you noticed this trend in retirement account favoritism…where the tastiest  goodies are reserved for low income workers who usually cannot afford to collect their rewards?
Today’s case in point is the so-called “saver’s credit”
It’s full title: “The Retirement Savings Contributions Credit,” and it’s the latest iteration in the genre of “now you see it and […]

The old timers had an expression that captures the dynamic of our recent stock market surge.
They described such seemingly counter intuitive behavior as “climbing a wall of worry.”
It’s not as if we were lacking confirmation of dismal economic conditions…
The recession is not yet an end, and may even continue into the next year.  Housing prices […]

Like your favorite disc jockey, Blue Jeans Millionaire does take requests.
Loyal reader Ellen Grayson asked if we could take a look at the hot new topic de jour:
Cap and Trade
In theory, the proposal involves the use of market incentives to shape the behavior of manufacturers who emit pollutants into the atmosphere.
The “Cap” refers to the […]

Solid proof that consumers have been scared witless by the crushing recession…
Debit cards are overtaking Credit cards as the plastic of choice.
See the Wall Street Journal article, “Debit-Card Use Overtakes Credit,” by Robin Sidel (4/30/09, page C1).
And who can blame them?  Instead of racking up unpaid balances that accrue double digit interest and late payment […]