David

David

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Posts by David

Harvard Doesn’t Create Winners, It Identifies Them

15 years ago
in
Many studies have shown that Harvard graduates go on to have more successful careers (on average) than their state university counterparts, even when you control for SAT scores and high school academic success. This has led many a family to believe that going to Harvard is a golden ticket. [...]

Fuel Use by Mode of Transportation

15 years ago
in
The following graph shows how many gallons of fuel it take to travel 350 miles using different modes of transportation.  Beware of one sleight of hand.  When the graph gets to the SUV, cars and hybrid it no longer divides by the number of passengers (i.e., it is assuming only one person in a car). [...]

Instant Quotes: Annuities and Life Insurance

15 years ago
in
When shopping for immediate annuities or life insurance it always amazes me how far apart quotes can be from different companies.  To make things even worse, the same companies aren’t always the cheapest, so you ALWAYS need to shop around. Here are a few sites where you can get instant quotes [...]

AIG – The New Marshall Plan

15 years ago
in
Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr As the AIG bailout goes north of $160 billion dollars, I have been trying to figure out who this money is really supporting.  The latest round of money illuminated that a major thrust was on maintaining AIG’s AAA rating.  A number of people [...]

Understanding a Trillion Dollars

15 years ago
in
Numbers like a trillion are way beyond our every day comprehension.  With the economic crisis taling about trillions has become common place and James Hamilton has come up with the following to help make the numbers more real. A trillion dollars is about the total amount collected in income taxes [...]

Happiness Wisdom from Adam Smith

15 years ago
in
I was reading some Adam Smith and came across the following and was struck by the timelessness and relevance of his insights.  It is worth your while to work your way through the dense prose (typos and formatting is mine, words are Adam Smith’s).  With all the negativity that swirls around us in [...]

Market Valuation Update

15 years ago
in
After the rundown we have had over the last two weeks, I find it useful to take a step back and check on how current valuations measure historically.  I should reiterate that I don’t believe that I have the ability to time the market.  And for me, these valuation exercises are about assessing risk [...]

Improve Creativity & Problem Solving Ability in 2 Minutes a Week

15 years ago
in
Spend two minutes each week (more if you prefer) thinking of three things you are grateful for that benefit you and without which your life would be poorer.  Then think about the causes for these good things. Be creative with your gratitude to avoid habituation. Positive emotions are associated [...]

Discerning Expertise

15 years ago
in
In these days of spinmeisters and talking heads, figuring out who to pay attention to is a difficult task. In two recent studies Cameron Anderson and Galvin Kilduff discovered that people who offer suggestions first and most often in a group are generally perceived by that group to be the most [...]

Unsustainable Tuition Growth

15 years ago
in
Donald Heller, the director for the Center for the Study of Higher Education, has been studying college affordability and presented the following slide. It is obvious this divergence is unsustainable.  On its current path most graduates will effectively become indentured servants.  This leads to [...]
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