Last week, a conversation with a friend reminded me how easily we can confuse actual risk with our own exposure to that risk. My friend travels a lot for work, and I asked him where he planned to go this year. His answer surprised me. “I don’t know,” he replied. “With everything going on in…
The day after Christmas, a skier was caught in an avalanche near my home in Park City, Utah. Part of a foursome, the skier slid with the snow for about 500 feet before ending up buried to his neck. Luckily, his party found him, dug him out, and discovered he hadn’t been injured. The group…
I live in a part of the country where we take skiing pretty seriously. It’s common for people to ski a few times a week since there are three great resorts right in our town. Our family is no exception. We ski a lot, but as my wife and I have gotten older, we discovered…
If I ask, “How are you today?” I already have a good idea what you’ll say. “Busy.” We’re all busy. It’s reached the point that many of us wear our busyness like a badge of honor. And what better way to measure our busyness than with lists and numbers. Did the children learn a new…
Over the next few weeks, you’ll hear a lot about setting financial and other goals. I doubt I’ll be the first (or the last) to ask what goals you have in mind for 2015. Obviously, setting goals and wanting to improve our lives are good things. But by focusing our attention in only one direction…
Many years ago, my wife and I went to dinner with another couple whom I’ll call Pam and Stan. I went to high school with Pam, and my wife had grown up knowing Stan. They were among the smartest and most successful people we knew. I was always a bit intimidated by them and their…
When my children took their first steps, they were tentative. They were quick to grab the nearest object to keep their balance. However, it didn’t take long before they started acting like they were invincible. Seemingly overnight, my children went from hanging on my legs to running across the room. Based on my own very…
I love this time of year, except for one teeny, tiny thing: charitable giving guilt. You know exactly what I’m talking about. We’ve all walked past that red bucket without dropping in any money. We’ve all said “no” to those requests at the checkout counter to donate $1 to some worthy cause. Many of us…
In the Mormon Church, the first Sunday of each month is called Fast Sunday. As my kids have pointed out, however, it’s not because it goes by faster than any other Sunday. Quite the opposite, in fact. It’s called Fast Sunday because members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, use…
Last year, a guy made headlines because he was caught using a lowly flip phone. In a world of gold iPhones and palm-size phablets, it does seem a little odd that someone would still use such a low-tech device. But it was the identity of the person using the phone that got everyone’s attention: Jerry…
Americans aren’t saving enough. The numbers appear to back up this claim, which we hear repeatedly. But what I find more interesting is how we react to such statements. I touched on the issue of savings last week, and the responses I’ve heard seem to confirm that it’s a touchy subject. For the sake of…
Income inequality can arise from a number of things, like gender, race, social class and education. We know it’s an issue. But the most recent recession revealed what may be an even bigger problem: wealth inequality. When we talk about wealth, we’re referring to everything you can claim as an asset, including savings accounts, your…
Last week was uncomfortable for market watchers. The Dow dropped more than 200 points one day and surged more than 200 the next. Both moves were attributed to small, seemingly random things. The International Monetary Fund cut its global forecast, and the Federal Reserve released its meeting minutes. I’ll leave it to you to figure…
We’re really good at telling ourselves stories. One story I told myself for a long time was that I needed to buy a lot of books. It’s my job to be on top of things, so I’d go to Amazon, read a sentence or two of a review, and buy the book. Over time, this…
Early in my career, I worked at a large brokerage firm. My job included answering calls from people with questions. One question kept coming up: What does your Individual Retirement Account return? The first few times, I thought it was a joke. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that people just didn’t…