Crowds know a lot collectively. The basis for efficient market theory is that everything known about the market, good and bad, is already priced into it, so that its price is exactly where it should be, supposedly. This works only if you have a large number of people making a judgment as to where the … Read more
I’ve seen a couple of loans fully funded on Prosper.com to pay for very expensive engagement rings. One loan was for $4,000. And that was only for half the cost of the ring! My wife and I were talking about her engagement ring tonight. (She was able to put it on again for the first … Read more
The copper ones (pre-1982) have been worth more than one cent in melt value for a while. But the newer, “cheaper” zinc ones (post-1982) are also now worth more than one cent each in melt value! With zinc trading at around $1.80 per pound, one hundred 97.5% zinc pennies are now worth about $1.01 in … Read more
I’m actually a pretty easy-going guy most of the time, but a few things tick me off. The phone rings. I pick up the phone. “Hello, this is John.” Two or three seconds later … **CLICK** “Uh, hello, is this John?” At this point, I usually say “Yes, I said that before the machine connected … Read more
I received a complimentary copy of Lynette Khalfani’s The Money Coach’s Guide to Your First Million courtesy of the publisher (no strings attached, by the way.) First off: I enjoyed the book. It’s written in a deliberate, easy-to-understand voice, and is peppered with an appropriate number of subheadings and “big-idea” call-out boxes so that it’s … Read more
As I go out on a limb and write posts about the evils of consumer debt and borrowing to invest, I get comments on these posts that provoke a lot of thought. Like this one excerpted from Enough Wealth’s comment regarding my aversion to debt: [Borrowing against existing net worth to invest in additional assets] … Read more
An anonymous commenter on my 130-year mortgage post said this: “I don’t understand your aversion to debt…” I suppose I am averse to debt, or at least certain kinds of debt. Now, if the debt is used to control an asset that will bring in more per month than the payment on the loan, then … Read more
I saw it on Punny Money, so it must be true! (He tried to sell me a bridge, too, but I already have one.) A 130-year fixed-rate mortgage. More than twice as long as the 50-year loans that have come out recently. No one has lived that long, yet, but people are already wagering on … Read more