This week’s post is shorter than normal due, at least in part, to our flights home Sunday night (I write these posts on Monday) taking longer than expected. We had flown out of state for a long weekend to watch a high school graduation that, in some ways, marked the end of an era as we and other close friends become empty nesters. My family and I have been lucky with on-time flights for a while, so I guess we were due. Anyway, a late night was followed by a busy M…

Good morning and Happy Tuesday. Last week I talked about my desire to slow my professional adoption of AI due to privacy concerns. This has to do with wanting the various privacy issues to solidify more before considering allowing these technologies to interact with your information. Call me paranoid, but I’ll watch the bandwagon roll by a little longer. This week’s post is also from a negative bent. But as I mentioned last week, I’m not anti-AI. I’m actually exci…

Good morning. The Iran War grinds on, and oil prices remain elevated this week. The stock market has mostly been looking past this because corporate profits have been coming in strongly during this earning season. That has helped investors flip their attention away from war and back to growth prospects for AI. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m cautiously optimistic about AI capabilities but I don’t use any subscription services when working for you. I don’t use them p…

The advent of so-called prediction markets is one of more ridiculous outcomes we’ve seen from the financial services industry in recent years, and that’s saying something. You have likely heard of these markets lately where individuals can place bets on all sorts of predictions, even random stuff that would make you laugh if not for the actual money being wagered. These markets are also said to have been a venue for insider trading related to the Iran War, White Ho…

There’s been a surge of articles lately regarding the new 530A accounts, or more commonly called “Trump” accounts, because the Treasury Dept issued further guidance on how this new account type should function. These were proposals instead of final rules, so details can change before the accounts are available this summer. In the meantime, read on for a summary of some of the more important details as we know them today. First, and as you may recall, Trump account…

Tax season is always hectic for taxpayers and the professionals who help them: details, deadlines, and often negative surprises. Recent law changes exacerbated this dynamic. Still, numerous taxpayers have been pleasantly surprised at the size of their refunds this year. The Tax Foundation reports that as of late March refunds averaged about $3,500 and are up about 11%, or around $350, from last tax season. I’ve read elsewhere this might end up being around a 20% i…