Bill Gates is widely quoted as saying the following regarding flexible work arrangements: The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area.Bill Gates In recent years, more companies are hiring people under a range of different employment … Continue reading Parsing Bill Gates’ statement on flexible work arrangements
Category: Uncategorized
Instead of FIRE, consider this
There is an endless stream of articles discussing the Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) movement. The plan is to save a very high percentage of your working income, invest the proceeds, and then retire young and live off of investment income. There is, however, another way to achieve many or all of the benefits … Continue reading Instead of FIRE, consider this
Voting with our dollars
While climate change gets increasing attention and concern among voters, the daunting reality is that the United States has no real policies or regulations in place to substantially reduce carbon emissions. Other nations that have committed to reducing carbon emissions are far from reaching their goals. I have come to believe that a large part … Continue reading Voting with our dollars
Financial and environmental sustainability
Modern society faces a crisis of sustainability on both financial and environmental issues. Much of modern society depends on unsustainable levels of consumption. We are seeing increasing attention on environmental degradation and risks associated with climate change. Across the developed world, we are also facing a crisis of financial sustainability and these problems are also … Continue reading Financial and environmental sustainability
Common sense on climate change
We are seeing more media and discussion on climate change than ever before. This is a very good thing. On the other hand, I often feel as though the discussions are detached from reality. It seems that most of the attention on climate comes down to believers (human activity is having a massive deleterious impact … Continue reading Common sense on climate change
Rethinking earnings and consumption through life
In the United States, many people are re-evaluating the traditional model of working and saving through life. The traditional model is that you get an education and then work full-time until you exit the workforce entirely and live on a pension, Social Security, and/or savings. In recent years, the Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) … Continue reading Rethinking earnings and consumption through life
Are expensive sneakers really an investment?
I have been hearing more and more about trading / auction websites that provide a secondary market in high-end sneakers. Sneaker enthusiasts try to buy anticipated shoe models at retail and then re-sell them for high prices when the shoes have sold out. Sure, this sounds odd but the market for high-end sneakers is now … Continue reading Are expensive sneakers really an investment?
Redefining middle age
The ways that people envision and plan their lives start with concepts about the "natural" stages of life. These concepts change over time, though. As people live longer, new ideas are emerging about how to characterize mid-life in developed economies. More people are thinking in terms of a new stage of life, the second middle … Continue reading Redefining middle age
Relationship between wealth and lifespan
It is not surprising that wealthier people live longer than poor people, but the degree of the difference is incredible. People in the 1% of households with the highest incomes in the United States have male and female life expectancy that is 15 years and 10 years (respectively) greater than for the 1% of households … Continue reading Relationship between wealth and lifespan
Conformity and Consumption
A vast array of analysis suggests that Americans are making poor financial decisions that have the potential to lead to extreme future regret. We are consuming way too much and saving too little. One of the best ways to understand why we are acting this way is societal pressure to conform. On one hand, we … Continue reading Conformity and Consumption
Geoff Considine on Finance and Economics 