When someone presents us with an idea that’s totally new and different, we may think, hey, that’s incredibly brilliant and game-changing. Or we may think, that’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard . . . it will never work. But how do we really know? After all, the telephone and Star Wars were initially rejected. […]
Julie Won
The 2-Minute Thought: Are Investors Scientists or Poets?
“Are you an artist or a scientist? An engineer or a poet?” So asks NYU finance professor and valuation specialist Aswath Damodaran in a recent blog. He goes on to lament that we live in a time when we must pick sides, even though it would be far more productive to bring both sides together. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Trust Matters
Do you feel most people can be trusted? What informs how trusting you are? Are trust levels associated with education levels or religious beliefs? How do levels of interpersonal trust vary across countries and over time? And how do trust levels relate to GDP growth and income equality? These are some of the questions addressed […]
The 2-Minute Thought: The Paradox of Stocks Reaching All-Time Highs
The story of the week is that U.S. stock markets are at all-time highs even though no one is particularly in love with stocks. Since all three major U.S. markets reached record highs last week for the first time since 1999, there have been plenty of “partying like it’s 1999” stories (and more than one […]
What Good Is a Monarchy Today?…
A few days ago, Emperor Akihito of Japan suggested that he would like to step down from the throne and allow his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, to take over. Japan’s “Chrysanthemum Throne” is the world’s longest running monarchy with a history stretching over 2700 years, and it remains an important source of Japanese identity. But […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Why Healthy Habits Are Hard: Because People, Like Rats, Are Energy Misers
Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behavior and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University, said this in an interview in Ipsos Mori’s publication on behavioral research, “Make It Simple”: “My favourite behavioural insight is that people, like rats, are energy misers – they conserve their finite energy by finding the easiest way to achieve a goal. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Are We Money-Smart? A Simple Quiz Tells Us We’re Not
To test basic knowledge on money matters, the FINRA Investment Education Foundation created a quiz with 6 simple questions that it believed should be easy to answer. The questions cover compounding of interest, inflation, and basic mortgage knowledge. You can take the quiz yourself here. If you get most of the questions right, all is […]
The 2-Minute: Thought Why Selling Stocks Is Much Harder Than Buying Them
Buying and selling stocks should be two sides of the same investment coin: You buy when there is potential for gain and you sell when that potential no longer exists. If you really know why you buy something, you should know when it’s time to sell. But it’s not so simple, is it? Selling carries […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Confessions of an Active Investor
How does an active investor get out of bed in the morning and feel like she has a fighting chance at outperforming the market? These days, it’s very hard. The Financial Times recently quoted active investor Dennis Lynch saying, “If somebody asked me to make the argument for active management, I would find it difficult […]
A New Look at Reverse Mortgages
If most of your wealth is tied up in your home, does it make sense to tap that wealth in retirement via a reverse mortgage? A reverse mortgage is a type of loan available only to those aged 62 or above. It converts a portion of the equity in your home into cash payments or […]
The 2-Minute Thought: What Does It Mean To Live For 100 Years?
Laura Carstensen, director of Stanford’s Center on Longevity, wrote in a recent column that reaching age 90 or even 100 is well within reach for many millennials. As a result, millennials will be the first generation ever to spend a third of their lives as what we now call “old people.” That has big implications. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Great salespeople are a competitive bunch
Highly productive salespeople are confident and ambitious. They have a plan for themselves. They are driven by money. They care about how others perceive them. And they are pretty interesting characters. Just read Steve W. Martin’s brief piece in Harvard Business Review called “A Portrait of the Overperforming Salesperson.” Martin teaches sales strategy at USC’s […]
