Household net worth is the value of assets such as a house, car, stocks, retirement accounts minus debts, mortgages, credit card debt, etc. The median figure is what matters – it is the point at which half of people are richer than you and half are poorer than you. Mean is meaningless because people like…
Although credit card debt is a relatively new phenomenon, it is the spiritual descendant of consumer debt, which has been around with us forever. Consider the words of the bestselling Napoleon Hill in his book, The Law of Success, which was originally published in 1928 as part of an eight-part series: [mainbodyad] It is a…
A family member of mine has a daughter who is selling Girl Scout cookies. To help, I decided to buy half-a-dozen boxes of cookies. That led me down a research path to figure out who, exactly was making money from baking those treats.
[mainbodyad]As I explained in my investing lesson on how to read an income statement over at About.com, a division of The New York Times, gross profit and the gross profit margin are both important because they determine how much money out of each dollar sold is available for salaries, benefits, advertising, expansion, debt reduction, and…
I came across pictures from years ago of the very first office Aaron and I setup when we came back to Kansas City from New Jersey. It brought back fond memories. Other than problems with the temperature (the office was always too warm for my taste), it was a great space. Of course, being an…
Three weeks ago, Dylan sent me a message and asked the following (see below). This is my response. I’ve been meaning for a long time to ask what you specifically think someone in my position- a young person just leaving high school and entering college- should do to end up in a position similar to…
Another addition to the Scrooge McDuck collection, reading a tobacco annual report, and picking up more books were on the list of things I enjoyed today.
Following the calculations I did last week, adjusting Monopoly for inflation as if it were real life, I began to speculate about what it would take for the average, regular, typical American citizen to “feel” rich. [mainbodyad]I think the average American would feel really, really well off at the equivalent of a light purple Monopoly…
Years ago, the Walt Disney Company released a limited edition Scrooge McDuck Cookie Jar, restricted to 250 copies. I spotted one at a good price a few days ago and bought it for the Carl Barks collection. It arrived and is now right where it belongs.
Adolphus Green was the genius that founded the modern day Nabisco, which was known as the “biscuit trust” after J.P. Morgan combined much of the nation’s bakeries under a single entity that Green controlled. He is responsible for most of the snacks America has enjoyed for generations. The thing that impressed me most about Adolphus…