As in my wont, I was browsing through depositaccounts.com to see if anything interesting was happening in the world of consumer-facing interest rates. I was surprised to see a few new borrowers at the top of the interest rate league table, with Merchants Bank of Indiana and Workers Credit Union offering 5.65% APY on 36-month certificates. The products used a term I hadn't seen … [Read more...] about Inverted yield curves, rate expectations, and floating-rate certificates
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Inflation-proofing your life
Become a Patron! Life is lived in nominal dollars I wrote last year about the fuzzy thinking I saw surrounding the topic of inflation. Inflation, properly understood, is an economy-wide increase in prices driven by too much money chasing too few goods, not when an early freeze destroys the Florida orange crop and raises the price of orange juice by 20 cents (drink apple juice … [Read more...] about Inflation-proofing your life
The even newer broadband discount
Become a Patron! Today's topic is a little bit of a weird one, but it's valuable and widely-available enough that I wanted to make sure readers were aware of it. A lot of folks are probably aware one way or another of a federal program that was spun up in the mid-1990's called "Lifeline." This program provided basically free basic phone and internet access to low-income … [Read more...] about The even newer broadband discount
My paid family leave journey: application, timing, hiccups, and approval
Become a Patron! This is the second entry in what will be an occasional series about my navigation of the District of Columbia's universal paid family and medical leave program. You can find the first entry here. Getting your application ready Like every interaction with the government here, applying for leave requires filling out a series of forms. In the District of … [Read more...] about My paid family leave journey: application, timing, hiccups, and approval
Minimums, Anchors, and Thresholds
Become a Patron! One of the most frustrating things that comes up almost immediately when you start talking to people about money is the way people treat certain purely regulatory or legislative figures as having some kind of moral or persuasive value. The example that has driven me crazy for years is the advice to "contribute enough to your 401(k) to maximize your … [Read more...] about Minimums, Anchors, and Thresholds