◆ ARTICLES
The Library
379 articles on personal finance, investing, and the economy: filter by topic, sort, or search for the one you came for.
379 articles · page 1 of 23
◆ Spotlight
◆ INVESTING BASICS
What Is Rebalancing?
Returning your portfolio to its target allocation by selling outperformers and buying underperformers. A discipline that improves returns.
- Rebalancing means returning portfolio allocations to targets by selling what's gone up and buying what's gone down
- Annual rebalancing improves long-term returns by roughly 0.1-0.2% annually through disciplined contrarian investing
- Rebalancing forces you to sell winners (emotionally difficult) and buy losers (emotionally difficult)—but mathematically sound
◆ MARKET FAILURES
The Tragedy of the Commons: When Rational Choices Wreck a Shared Resource
Nobody set out to kill the cod. Every captain was doing the rational thing. That is exactly what makes the tragedy of the commons worth understanding.
◆ INCOME & INEQUALITY
Lorenz Curve: Visualizing Income Inequality
The Lorenz curve plots the cumulative share of income held by cumulative income percentiles.
◆ INVESTING BASICS
Digital Products and Royalties: The Truth About Scalable Income
How digital products and intellectual property royalties work, realistic income expectations, and why distribution matters more than creation itself.
◆ DEBT & CREDIT
APR vs. APY: What the Two Rates Actually Tell You
APR is the cost of borrowing; APY is the return on saving. The difference is compounding, and knowing which to use will change every rate comparison you make.
◆ TAX & RETIREMENT
What Is an HSA?
Health Savings Account—a tax-advantaged account for medical expenses, with triple tax benefits (deductible, tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawals).
◆ INFORMATION ECONOMICS
Signaling and Screening: How Markets Close the Information Gap
When one side of a deal knows more than the other, markets have two tools: signaling (the informed party acts) and screening (the uninformed party designs).
◆ BEHAVIORAL FINANCE
Where Classical Economics Breaks Down: The Rise of Behavioral Economics
Classical economics assumes rational calculators. Behavioral economics documents the systematic ways people aren't — and why that gap costs you money.
◆ IMPERFECT COMPETITION
Advertising Isn't Just Persuasion. Here Is What It Actually Does to Markets.
The belief that advertising only manipulates is incomplete. Economists find it also carries real information, signals quality, and can sharpen competition.
◆ DEBT & CREDIT
Debt Avalanche vs. Debt Snowball — A Side-by-Side Breakdown
The avalanche saves more money. The snowball keeps more people on track. Here's exactly how each works and how to choose the right strategy for your psychology.
◆ MARKET FAILURES
Positive Externality: When Transactions Benefit People Who Didn't Pay
A positive externality is an uncompensated benefit conferred on third parties by a market transaction.
◆ INVESTING BASICS
What Is a Portfolio?
Your collection of investments held together. The building block of wealth is intentional portfolio design.
◆ TAX & RETIREMENT
Tax Planning vs. Tax Preparation: Year-Round Strategy vs. Last-Minute Filing
The difference between proactive tax planning (reducing taxes throughout the year) and reactive tax prep (filing at the last minute)—and why planning saves…
◆ FACTOR MARKETS
Economic Rent: Income That Exceeds What It Takes to Keep a Resource in Use
Economic rent is the payment to a factor of production above what is needed to keep it in its current use.
◆ COMPETITION & MONOPOLY
What Is Perfect Competition? The Market Structure That Sets the Benchmark
An idealized market of countless tiny sellers, an identical product, and zero pricing power. It rarely exists in full, yet it anchors all of economics.
◆ LABOR ECONOMICS
How Labor Markets Work: Supply, Demand, and the Price of Human Time
A labor market is supply and demand applied to human time. How wages, hours, and jobs get set — and why the textbook curves bend in the real world.
◆ IMPERFECT COMPETITION
Game Theory: How to Think When Someone Else Is Thinking Back
Game theory is the study of decisions where your best move depends on what someone else does. Here is the logic, worked through.