The late William F. Buckley, founder of the conservative-leaning political magazine National Review had a very famous quote when it came to the Republican primaries: vote for the most conservative candidate who can win. Add to that little piece of advice this oft-repeated maxim: "Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line." (popularized by Bill Clinton). Toss those two together and what do you get? New Hampshire Primary results... at least according to the exit polls! Let's dig in...
We apologize in advance if this discussion is too concentrated on minutiae and definitions, but we'd like to clarify an issue (with the help of our readers!).
Let's just throw it out here: "How do you define savings?". It's a serious question, and you're going to get two articles with serious answers... one from yours truly and another from Cameron, our resident Economist. Let me lead with my definition: 'savings' , in my mind, is any money set aside from current earnings that is easily accessible, liquid, fungible, and have a reasonable chance for maintenance of principal and appreciation.
Okay folks, let's hit the links under the watchful eye of the squirrel...
Ahh, New Year, new resolutions, and new stocks for stock-picking competitions. We are a web site ostensibly about Personal Finance and investing, so I'd be remiss if I didn't enter a few contest this year. I already discussed my picks for the Money Pros Stock Picking Competition, but this time I'm entering a 4-stock contest run by Nelson at Financial Uproar. As always, just because I picked stocks here doesn't mean I'm telling you to buy them - so do your own due diligence!
I know it says the 26th, but this thing will be posted on the last day of the year. You know what that means? Just like all the other web sites you read, we're going to recap our best articles from the year (in addition to our normal roundup)! Lucky you!
Welcome to the Christmas/Holidays/Winter Solstice version of the DQYDJ weekender! The three writers on the web site are Catholic (we're from Boston, remember?) so this is being sent out on Christmas Eve for us. Happy Holidays to you and your families, and enjoy this wrap up.
We'll be back next week with more controversial stuff, but for now we leave you with the cream of the crop for the week!
Time may only move in one direction - but just like a faster than light neutrino, let's ignore physics for a bit! Inspired by this comment from an anonymous author, we will take you to the years 1976 and 1989 and look at life through the eyes of a recent college graduate.
Why would a rational person purchase insurance yet also play the lottery?
It's a question that has puzzled Economists (and fake Economists, like 2/3 of the staff at DQYDJ) for a long time. Think about it, a lottery is the exact opposite of insurance. When it comes to insurance, a person purchases coverage to hedge against risks. In a lottery, sums are spent for a long-shot chance at the 'risk' of a payoff. People are risk-seeking when it comes to playing the lottery yet risk-averse when it comes to purchasing insurance. What gives?
Check it out - a year from now will be 12/12/12! That's got to be lucky in a year.
First off, we cracked 200,000 in our Alexa rank. Much thanks goes to the ladies and gents in the Yakezie Network who have been with us on this journey. It would have taken a while without you folks! Here's to 5 digits!
Welcome back friends, readers, and haters to your favorite Personal Finance web site! I hope we pleasantly annoyed you with our balanced take on the unemployment report this week. Nothing was too hard hitting - you know that men are finding themselves unemployed more than women and the 8.6% top-line unemployment rate begs the question, is the unemployment rate an improvement? How much mileage can you get out of a single unemployment report? Plenty, it turns out. We'll stop now until it strikes our fancy again (or I can get Cameron and Bryan to write something!).