In his State of the Union address, President Biden announced his intent to “take on junk fees.” These are the hidden fees involved with many of the services we purchase. I have written previously about undisclosed fees related to investments (annuities, private REITS,...
Do you keep secrets about your spending from your significant other? Research shows that 44% of partners do. Some money secrets within a coupleship are matters of privacy or convenience, while others cross a line into financial infidelity. A recent survey by...
Even after 40 years of specializing in all things financial, I constantly learn new things, often from readers. My most recent teacher was Eugenia (Gene) Thornton, the Recorder of Deeds in Kent County, Delaware. She emailed me in response to an interview on identity...
Is investing in the stock market akin to gambling? It certainly carries a reasonable amount of risk. Yet, done correctly, investing in the market is not remotely gambling. For comparison, consider games of chance. The best one to play is Blackjack. If you play every...
Given that I’ve been a landlord since I bought my first rental house at age 19, I was surprised to realize recently that I’ve never written about rent controls. Here’s the quick primer: rent controls are laws established by government, typically a municipality,...
Transparency is a highly valued attribute that is routinely promised—and frequently undelivered. In fact, it often seems that the more loudly transparency is touted, the more opaqueness is practiced. Perhaps Shakespeare’s famous line from Hamlet, “The lady doth...
