Finance, like many professions stocked with men trying to impress each other, has accumulated a plethora of cliches like barnacles on the hull of a ship. Among the hoariest is the admonition, "don't buy the dividend." Since I, personally, love dividend-paying stocks, not because of their "outperformance" or their "value" but simply because they pay dividends, I decided to … [Read more...] about No, you still shouldn’t buy the dividend
Archives for March 2017
What would you do if the risk-free rate was 7%?
While it's a cliche to say that investors have short memories, I'm frequently surprised to realize just how short most people's memories are: I'm old enough to remember when the United States was running a budget surplus and the chairman of the Federal Reserve endorsed a tax cut because of the risk of the debt falling too low. I'm old enough to … [Read more...] about What would you do if the risk-free rate was 7%?
What is, or might be, a pension crisis?
A spectre is haunting the United States — the spectre of pension crises. Since "the pension crisis" is on the lips of policy-makers around the country, I think it is well worthwhile taking a moment to discuss what is, what might be, and what is not a pension crisis. For additional details I recommend this recent Haas Institute paper on public … [Read more...] about What is, or might be, a pension crisis?
Where does your marginal dollar go?
On Twitter the other day I had a short exchange with Noah at Money Metagame about a question that I find fascinating: what do you do with your next dollar in income? Budgets are fine but don't aid ongoing decision-making For a little bit of context, here are my recurring monthly expenses: Rent Phone Internet Blog subscription service Google … [Read more...] about Where does your marginal dollar go?
The effects of late-career Social Security contributions
I've written before (and expect to write more) about the Social Security Administration, which is both the primary source of disability insurance for low-income workers and one of the lowest-cost guaranteed retirement savings vehicles available to all workers in the United States. I want to address a few curious issues that arise with late-career Social Security … [Read more...] about The effects of late-career Social Security contributions