The Ungoverned

I tested all the popular budgeting and personal finance tracking apps out there: Mint, Personal Capital, Truebill, Prosper Daily, Albert, Level Money, Proper Daily, and more. These apps can connect to most banks and credit card companies to pull your transaction history and track your spending. Some of them can monitor and help you cancel recurring subscriptions, or recommend relevant (or not) financial products. Most of the apps I tried ran into problems such as double-counting credit card charges and credit card bill payments, classifying bank or brokerage transfers as bills (Truebill), not showing pending charges or credit refunds, unable...

By David Veksler Vote4 1

After reading the "toddler maximum effort" story, I was thinking back to when Sophie was an infant. I noticed that while she was crawling around or playing, she was usually covered with sweat. We adults sometimes think that because kids are not good at the things we take for granted, their play is not focused or meaningful. In fact, babies are far more likely than adults in engage in prolonged "maximum intensity" effort. Productivity is our default mode, while laziness must be learned! The activity we call "play" refers to its low economic value to adults, not to a difference...

By David Veksler Vote4 2

The relationships between unrelated services that the government imposes on us often don't make any sense: * Why should my choice of doctor depend on my job? * Why should my kids be forced to attend a school based on where I live? * Why does my retirement plan depend on the provider my employer choose? But other relationships would probably be more common if the government did not force them to be separate: * Why doesn't our employer pay for our education? If a certain skill is needed to perform our job, then our employer could pay for it...

By David Veksler Vote2 1

I've been avoiding TV and radio for many years now, but I catch glimpses of NPR now and then because my wife listens to it in the car. It usually only takes a few minutes to remind me why: A "human interest" story features an average guy who figured out a "trick to save social security." This "amateur economist" has a "brilliant" proposal: eliminate social security taxes on middle-class incomes by raising the cap on earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax. So: steal more from middle-upper families and redistribute their money to middle-lower families. This is hailed as...

By David Veksler Vote4 2

I like going to Krav Maga practice because it's very practical: each session is about learning how to maim and cripple your opponent until you eliminate or escape the threat. Technique is key, but during most practices, there comes a time when I am exhausted during an exercise and have to find the strength to continue. It often comes out as a roar and a total focus to finishing the task. Every athlete knows what that feels like. How do frequent sessions of learning to hurt people change a person? I was driving today, and someone did something that upset me....

By David Veksler Vote8 0

The key principle you must understand to have a well-balanced portfolio is modern portfolio theory. Although the idea was introduced in 1952 by Harry Markowitz (who got a Nobel for it), it still doesn't get the central focus it deserves in investment planning. Like the efficient market hypothesis introduced by Friedrich Hayek seven years earlier (who also got a Nobel for it), it is a very useful theoretical model to understand the relationship between investment risk and performance, but should not be abused by failing to question whether its underlying assumptions hold true in particular cases. Let me try to...

By David Veksler Vote6 0

If you believe that a technological singularity is coming in the 2030's, is there anything you can do now to prepare? Yes, plenty: Career: As increasing automation replaces rote human labor with machines, work that requires creativity, adaptability, and self-direction is becoming more valuable. Expert systems will augment and then replace technicians, and deep understanding and expertise will fall in importance relative to broad cross-functional heuristics. Engineering and programming will increasingly be performed by creatives working with high-level design tools, while algorithms work out the technical details. "Employment" itself will become obsolete, and most work will be performed by either temp workers...

By David Veksler Vote10 2

I'm not categorically opposed to life (and most other kinds of) insurance, but if you follow good financial practices, you're better off self-insuring. If you don't follow good financial habits, you won't heed my advice anyway Here are my thoughts on why insurance doesn't make sense in most cases. I'll focus on life insurance, but it applies to many others. When (term) life insurance makes sense: I'll begin with an example where life insurance makes the most sense: The Smith family has a single income of $100K/year, two small children, and Mrs Smith has limited means to replace the lost...

By David Veksler Vote4 0

Whether you're making minimum wage or pulling down $250K per year, if your day job is your only source of income, you should start working on developing additional income sources. The biggest reason to do so is to start transitioning from working for your money, to making your money work for you: you need passive income sources which build wealth with minimal effort. While you might never want to retire, financial security (not being financially stressed by losing your job) is something you can achieve in your 20's, and financial independence (not needing to work a regular job at all...

By David Veksler Vote5 1

One the biggest myths about buying a home is that it is an investment. An investment is an asset which tends to go up in market value over time. But consider what would happen if this were actually true: if home values increased faster than inflation, pretty soon no one could afford a home! In fact, home values for the most part barely keep up with inflation. The math is complicated by a number of factors: the size of homes keeps getting larger, so comparing the average home price now versus 30 years ago does not mean that any specific...

By David Veksler Vote2 0

Here's the main reason why I don't think young professionals should buy a home: If I get fired or quit my job tomorrow, it won't be a big deal. I'm confident that of the seven billion people on this planet, there is a person or group somewhere who will find my skills valuable enough to pay me enough to support my family. It may take me some days, months or years, and take me to Kentucky, Seattle, Shanghai, or Kathmandu, but I have no loans, debts, or any other ongoing financial commitments, so my savings will last long enough until...

By David Veksler Vote8 2

The term "Judeo-Christian" was invented in the 1940's as a response to the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism in America. As a historical fact, the idea that America is a Judeo-Christian nation is nonsense. In many ways, America represents a rejection of Judeo-Christian values. At the time of the United States' founding, the vast majority of Christians and Jews lived in outside America - and they held very different moral values than Americans. Everything that defines America - the belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, the importance of property rights and free markets, equality before the law, and...

By David Veksler Vote4 0

When I say that "most university degrees are worthless" I don't mean "no one should go to college" or "drop out of school now." I mean that the objective value of university degrees is more often than not negative. If governments stopped subsidizing higher education, the vast majority of young people and employers would find a way to match with each other without wasting four years. By this, I don't mean "in a theoretical utopia you don't need to go to school, but in the real world, you better start on your applications." The fact is that many, if not...

By David Veksler Vote2 0

The CEO of my brokerage firm asked for my support in opposing the Trump administration's plan to roll back the Dodd Frank Act and the Fiduciary Rule for retirement accounts, which would require brokers for retirement accounts to act in their client's best interest. Sounds great, right? This is what I wrote in response: Dear [CEO's Name], Please allow me to share a few thoughts on your request as a client of [Firm Name]: I appreciate that you believe that the Fiduciary Rule and the Dodd Frank Act are in the interests of consumers and the economy. I respectfully disagree....

By David Veksler Vote4 1

Our culture has shifted away from viewing work as the main focus of people's lives. Part of the cause is economic: most people no longer need to work hard in order not to starve to death on the streets. Furthermore, the differences between income levels is far less important: your friend might have $1 or $1 million in the bank without much noticeable difference in lifestyle, whereas it used to mean the difference between a poor house or a mansion. Another aspect of it is philosophical: we have lost the understanding that markets are responsible for civilization, and so place far...

By David Veksler Vote9 2

Ever since I discovered the importance of individual rights and the role of markets in human progress, my biggest fear about the fate of world has been not that things will get worse, but that we will muddle along with more of the same. My study of history led me to the conclusion that the rapid growth in the power of the State following the First World War reached some threshold in the late 1960s, and damned up (however imperfectly) human moral, social, artistic and technological progress in many ways. I don't mean some sort of utopia, but the...

By David Veksler Vote5 2

I needed a foreign language credit for my undergraduate, so I decided to take Russian, since I had grown up speaking it. So I took a Russian assessment test. It was harder than I expected, but I was still pretty surprised when told that I would have to start from scratch with Russian 101. When I challenged the head of the Russian language department, he asked me a series of grammar questions, which only confirmed the test results. So I took the few semesters of Russian needed for my degree. I got easy A’s – not because I was fluent in...

By David Veksler Vote7 4

What’s the first thing which comes to mind when you hear “personal finance”? I bet it’s “balancing a checkbook.” Do you know anyone who does it? I don’t. Like most people under the age of 40, the only checks I ever write to the government - to pay for taxes and speeding tickets. Everyone else has moved on. Like most Americans who don’t live in log cabin in the backwoods, I use a bank account and credit cards which keeps a record of all my transactions. No doubt a written records of transactions was essential during the first five...

By David Veksler Vote13 7

Whether you’ve decided that you don’t need credit cards in your life, or stick to a single card you got in college, you’re making a big mistake. You need a proactive credit-building strategy. Here's what to do.

By David Veksler Vote14 7

While improving the world is a worthy goal, it is even more important to invest in yourself. Your life is the only one under your control, and setting an example for others is one of the best way to create positive change. Don’t get distracted by politics - no matter who you vote for, it will only leave you distracted, disillusioned and feeling more powerless than ever. You can act right now to improve your life in a million small ways, and become a model for others to do the same. Here are 20 ideas for becoming the change you...

By David Veksler Vote11 1

Here is the best personal finance & budgeting app Jun 3, 2017

Laziness must be learned May 29, 2017

Company scrip and other great ideas pushed out by employment regulations May 28, 2017

Dear NPR: “Steal from the rich to give to the poor” is not a genius new economic theory May 27, 2017

How learning to hurt people helped me deal with chronic stress May 24, 2017

Introduction to Modern Portfolio Theory Apr 30, 2017

How to prepare your life for the Technological Singularity Apr 22, 2017

Why you (probably) don’t need life insurance: how to self-insure your family Apr 6, 2017

Four income streams that young professionals should develop Mar 28, 2017

The myth of rising house prices Mar 26, 2017

Here’s why buying a home is a terrible idea for young professionals Mar 26, 2017

The myth of America as a “Judeo-Christian” nation Mar 15, 2017

Why most university degrees are worthless, Part 2 Feb 22, 2017

A letter to my broker on the Fiduciary Rule and the repeal of Dodd Frank Feb 21, 2017

Make your job your primary focus in life Feb 20, 2017

Why we need disruption now more than ever Feb 19, 2017

Here is why most university degrees are worthless, Part 1 Feb 19, 2017

Forget balancing checkbooks: three practices to help you learn financial responsibility Dec 16, 2016

How I learned to stop worrying about my credit and love plastic Dec 4, 2016

20 things you can do on election day to improve your life Nov 8, 2016