Category: Behavioral Economics
What Would You Do If Someone Was Going to Kick Your Butt?
Suppose for the moment you’re going to jail in three months. It doesn’t matter why you’re losing your freedom, and it doesn’t matter how long your exile from civilian life will last. All that matters is that you’re going to jail and as soon as you arrive there, you’ll be potential prey. Now I have…
How Poor Do You Have to Be to Become Rich?
My household income was never very versatile. I could never use it to look rich and actually become rich. Mrs. Groovy and I thus had to make a choice: Use our household income to live fabulously and save little or nothing. Or use our household income to live modestly and save a lot. I suspect…
Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Save Money – Part Two
Last Wednesday, I published Part One of my two-part series, “Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Save Money.” Here’s Part Two. Reasons Six to Ten Why You Can’t Save Six: You Don’t Listen to Dave Ramsey Haha! Only kidding. Mr. Ramsey is being used here as a metaphor, although his syndicated radio show is surely worth…
Ten Reasons Why You Can’t Save Money – Part One
Americans are a confounding lot. On one hand, they’ve never had more opportunities to make money and save than they do right now. There were no app developers, YouTube personalities, Uber drivers, direct deposits, and Roth IRAs when I was growing up. On the other hand, however, they’ve never been more racked by financial insecurity…
Five Things Poor People Should Never Do
The poor will always be with us in America because the poor engage in a lot of self-sabotage. This post lists five things the poor shouldn’t do—especially the young poor—if they want to give themselves a shot of becoming affluent. The Poor Defined To make things simple, I’m defining a poor person as any non-retired…