When it comes to unclaimed property, such as unclaimed bank accounts, uncashed cashiers checks, unused gift cards, utility deposits or various overpayments, we are all…
HOW MUCH?
The actual costs of US college financial aid
It’s that time of year. Colleges have mailed acceptance letters and parents and students have until May 1 to make a decision. One of the…
WAS IT WORTH IT?
The counterintuitive economics of choosing a college
Our daughter is about to go off to university in the US. And that means college applications have been a big feature in our lives…
DELIVERY BOY
What the US post office really gets from Amazon
In the past few weeks, Donald Trump has tweeted multiple times about whether the US Postal Service is “Amazon’s delivery boy.” Only fools, or worse,…
FACE THE MUSIC
Every question that investors—not music lovers—must ask of Spotify
Today, Spotify is holding its only investor meeting prior to its non-IPO. We don’t know if management will take any questions. If they do, here…
SPOT THE PROBLEMS
Spotify’s IPO is to be avoided at all costs
Despite the growth of digital music, there are limited opportunities to invest in the market. Pandora, the pioneering online radio firm, has been the only…
WATCH THIS SPACE
With these patents, Apple could win the next major platform war
The next stage of the platform wars may be in health. Despite being one of the most regulated sectors, where change is driven as much…
OUT OF RUNNING ROOM
The Fed won’t be able to save us during the next recession
A recently published report (pdf) by the Roosevelt Institute suggests that the Federal Reserve won’t have the same influence in the next recession because there…
CHILD'S PLAY
Less than half of fund managers have any experience of a financial crisis
We all like to know that, if there’s ever a problem, the people handling a crisis are experienced. Pilots, doctors, kindergarten teachers all have something…
NEVER AGAIN
How to know if you own gun stocks without knowing it
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a fantastic tool because they give investors exposure to many securities at once. But one downside is that you may not…
INFLATE ME
One of the key measures of US inflation just took an Olympic-sized leap
As we wrote in our piece earlier this month on what metrics investors should be using to track US inflation, the median price change of…
PUTS IN PLACE
How a volatility investor made 6,000% while everyone else lost $2 billion
Last week, traders in a popular money-making activity, commonly called “the short vol trade,” had a rude awakening. The XIV—the most popular product to bet…
