Online Scams

By: Laura Walton AFC®   The Nigerian prince email is old news. The latest generation of scams come in the form of fake websites and fake ads on social media and they’ve been surprisingly successful. The Better Business Bureau, FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and the Stanford Center on Longevity interviewed consumers who had…

A Day Late…

By: Laura Walton AFC®   Last month was Second Hand September. Those who participated pledged not to buy new clothes for 30 days. Compared to 15 years ago, we buy 60% more items of clothing each year and keep each item for about half as long. The result? The average American throws away approximately 80…

A Better Mousetrap?

Have you heard of Afterpay? Klarna?? I’m guessing you will. They’re upending access to credit by offering buy now, pay later options that are particularly appealing to millennials. Why millennials? Studies show they prefer using debit cards to credit cards to avoid building debt. However, debit cards are an instant draw on your funds –…

Bogleheads

By: Laura Walton AFC®   Are the followers of Jack Bogle, Vanguard’s founder. This cult for the good of investors first surfaced in 1998 when Morningstar established the Vanguard Diehards Forum. One day in 2001 it received 100,000 postings, the most postings ever received by any Morningstar Forum. The writing was on the wall –…

Lessons from Nepal

By: Laura Walton AFC®   Good friends traveled to Nepal to hike the Annapurna Circuit and, while talking about their experience, I couldn’t help but see the similarities between trekking and, you guessed it, saving and investing. Their story: “Trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal is an experience unlike any other travel adventure. It can…

Should Have, Could Have…

By: Laura Walton AFC®   The things we say when we realize we’ve made a poor decision. Daniel Gilbert, Harvard professor of psychology, told Shankar Vedantam of Hidden Brain that 15 years of research hasn’t uncovered a way to improve our decision-making skills. Why not? He cites three weaknesses: (1) We’re not good at imagining…