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The Great Gatsby is Really About the Housing Crisis
The Great Gatsby got a modern upgrade last week thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s directing, Leo’s acting, Jay-Z’s soundtrack, and Prada’s costumes, but those aren’t the only reasons the film should resonate with a 2013 audience. Gatsby’s Roaring 20’s lifestyle—ull closet, extravagant parties, boats, cars, and especially his mansion—has something to teach us about an era of more recent cultural memory: the Clinton-Bush boom years and the Great Recession that followed.
Chatting With My Parents About How (And Why) They Paid For My College Education
When I was 18, my parents sent me 600 miles away to Northwestern University for a journalism degree worth nearly $200,000. Minus $50,000 in loans and grants, they paid for the whole thing out-of-pocket. I’ve never understood why. So I asked them.
Should You Play The Lottery?
To decide if you should play the lottery you need to compare the (tiny) chance of winning a giant amount of money, on the one hand, with a dollar, on the other. The simple way to do this is to assume that a one in a million chance of winning a million dollars is “worth” the same as a dollar. But, why?
A Conversation With a Kyrgyz Schoolteacher About Wedding Customs (And Costs)
The cost of a wedding in Kyrgyzstan.
I Made $570K Last Year, But I Don’t Feel Rich (In Fact, I Feel Worried)
I’m a physician in my early forties. I make $450-500K. I read a lot about finance and I know that technically I am in the 1%, but I don’t feel rich at all.
In Support of Credit Card Points, With Caveats
I would never recommend making heavy use of credit if you’re coming up lean at the end of every month. But we do have enough that we could pay off last month’s credit card bill and pay for this month’s spending.
When Your Brain Chemistry Screws Up All Your Relationships (Even at Work)
The third in a series about money and depression (but mostly depression).
How to Stop Going into Credit Card Debt for the Sake of “Points”
First you have to have this revelation: Spending money now to save money later does not make sense. It’s illogical. Points systems make you think that spending extra on your credit card, right now, is a responsible thing to do. It isn’t. It took me six years to figure out why.
An American in Israel, Navigating Credit
How credit works in Israel.
Pilot Season Job Offers of Shame
When you read this offer, please picture Ms. Leesa Kugel as she is—a television producer who always chews gum, probably even in her sleep, and engages in verbal up-speak. All names have been changed to protect the guilty and, yes, this was an actual job offer.
