Tom rang me up last month, practically screaming into the phone. “Bro, I’m gonna get rich off the Stripe IPO,” he says. “Easy money, man.” Had to tell him straight up, You’re dreaming, buddy. It doesn’t work like that. Nobody wants to admit this, but most of us regular people can’t actually buy IPO shares […]
The Nasdaq Thing Everyone Talks About But Nobody Really Explains
My brother called me last month. He’d just put some money into what he kept calling “Nasdaq stocks” and wanted to brag about his 15% returns. Good for him, I guess. But when I asked him to actually explain what is Nasdaq, he fumbled around for like two minutes before admitting he wasn’t totally sure […]
What is an IPO in the Stock Market?
My coworker Brian wouldn’t shut up about Circle stock back in June. He’d bought shares the day they went public and watched his investment quadruple in a few months. I asked him what is an IPO in the stock market is, and he looked at me like I’d just asked what the internet was. Turns […]
What is Cost of Debt Formula
Jake phoned me six months after starting his roofing business. “This loan’s killing me, man.” “What’d you expect? You knew it was 6%.” “Yes, but it feels 10 times as expensive.” That’s the funny thing… Jake never even realized what that debt was costing him. He never did the math, he said; he simply glanced […]
Wall Street Had a Weird Day on Tuesday, October 14th
Tuesday was absolute chaos. The Dow Jones closed up 203 points to hit 46,270, which sounds good until you see what happened with everything else. The S&P 500 ended down 0.2%. The Nasdaq got hammered even worse, dropping 0.8% as tech stocks took a proper beating. Why the mess? Trade tensions between America and China […]
How to Calculate Dividend Payout Ratio?
So there I was, staring at a $47.82 check from some utility stock my father had talked me into. “Great dividend payer,” he said. “Cool,” I thought. But what does that even mean? I called him up. “Dad, I got forty-seven bucks. Is that good?” “Well, what’s their payout ratio?” “Their what now?” That conversation […]
The Business Owner’s Guide to Travel Credit Cards That Actually Make Sense
Running a business means being on the road. Client meetings in Denver. Trade shows in Vegas. That conference in Austin, everyone’s talking about. Your travel spending adds up fast, and picking the right credit card can mean the difference between wasting money and actually getting something back. Here’s the straight talk on travel credit cards […]
What Is An IUL? Someone Finally Explains This Mess
My buddy Steve called me three weeks ago, all excited because his insurance guy showed him this fabulous “can’t lose” financial product. Market returns when things go up, zero losses when they crash, and tax-free money forever. I pressed him for what it was called. He said, “IUL something.” Did he even know how it […]
Credit Rating vs. Credit Score – I Learned the Hard Way These Aren’t the Same Thing
So last month I’m at the bank trying to get a loan for a car, and the loan officer said, “You look like you have good credit, but let me check your credit rating.” I’m like, “Wait, isn’t that the same thing?” The silence was brutal. She just looked at me for like three seconds. […]
Accrual Accounting vs Cash Accounting: What My CPA Never Told Me Until Tax Season
Three years ago, I started my freelance consulting business in my basement. Super excited, making good money, like a real entrepreneur. And then April came and my accountant Lind,a hit me with a question that caused me to realize I had not an effing clue about what I was doing. “Are you using cash or […]
