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…

The first quarter of 2026 (Q1) ended with a surge in stock and bond prices, which was a nice change after a string of down days that seemed to stretch on and on. In a way, the market’s positive about-face to close Q1 was fitting. Abrupt price swings dominated throughout most of the quarter, although the impacts were uneven across sectors and industries and the catalysts were categorically different. The quarter began with continued concerns about how fast the AI in…