Needs vs Wants: Helping Kids Make Smart Money Choices
A Note to Parents As your child becomes more familiar with saving and spending, the next step is teaching them how to tell the difference between a need and a want. Understanding this difference builds decision-making skills and helps kids prioritize spending – a...
Book Review: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
First published in 1949 and updated several times since, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is widely regarded as the definitive guide to value investing. Graham, often called the father of value investing, was also Warren Buffett’s mentor - and Buffett has...
Save or Spend? Helping Kids Make Smart Money Choices
A Note to Parents Once your child starts receiving a regular allowance and learns that money can grow (thanks to the magic of compounding), the next natural step is helping them decide what to do with their money. Should they spend it now on something fun? Or should...
The Magic of Compounding
A Note to Parents Compounding is one of the most powerful forces in finance – and one of the hardest to appreciate without seeing it in action. For kids, it’s like magic: the longer your money sits and grows, the bigger it gets. Not because you keep adding more, but...
Don’t Panic: How Long-Term Investors Should Respond to Market Volatility
Tariffs, Tumult, and Staying the Course: A Note to Long-Term Investors Markets are down. Headlines are loud. Uncertainty is abundant. But for long-term investors, this is not the time to panic. In response to a new wave of global tariffs announced by the Trump...
How I’m Teaching My 7-Year-Old About Money – One Allowance at a Time
Introduction Money skills don’t develop by accident. They develop through practice – and the best practice comes from handling real money, making real decisions, and living with the consequences. I started my son on a weekly allowance when he was five. Now that he is...
Why Even a Crystal Ball Won’t Make You Rich
Imagine having tomorrow’s news today. Would you use it to strike it rich in the markets? That’s the premise behind a fascinating experiment conducted by Victor Haghani, James White, and Jerry Bell, described in their article “When a Crystal Ball Isn’t Enough to Make...
Why Retail Investors and Traders Lose Money
Originally published March 2025 – updated April 2026 to reflect new research and a tighter structure. Introduction Most people who invest believe they are keeping pace with the market. Not beating it – few expect that – but roughly tracking it. The evidence,...
Portfolio Hedging Strategies: An Overview for Investors
Stock market downturns are a regular occurrence, and they are part of every investor’s experience over time. Exposure to risk is what generates long-term returns but it also requires investors to accept periods of volatility and temporary losses. This means having to...
The Importance of Financial Literacy for Kids
Introduction My son's school teaches him algebra. What it does not teach him is what to do with money: how to save it, how to spend it wisely, or why starting early matters so much. I noticed the gap when he was about five and started asking questions I did not have...
Volatility and Returns: Why Long-Term Investors Should Care
When evaluating investments, most people focus on returns - how much something gained or lost in a given year. But what often goes unnoticed is the volatility of those returns, and how it quietly eats into your long-term performance. As a long-term investor, you...
Do You Gamble? The Fine Line Between Investing and Speculation
Many people lost lots of money in the past “investing” too much of their money into perceived lucrative opportunities. Think Gamestop. During the GameStop short squeeze in early 2021, many retail investors rushed to buy GME shares as the stock price soared due to the...
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