WALL STREET - Beware ‘Faux Experts’

"Why our financial decision-makers need ‘skin in the game’" PBS NewsHour 5/24/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Economic contrarian Nassim Taleb warned of a coming financial crisis more than a decade ago.  Now he believes there’s a big con going on, and that the Federal Reserve's response to the 2008 crash is part of it.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman catches up with Taleb to discuss his new book, “Skin in the Game” and hear his latest concerns.

WALL STREET - The Dark Side

“Only at the end do you realize the power of the Dark Side.” - Star Wars

"The world of finance has a dark side, but that's only half the story" PBS NewsHour 7/13/2017

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SUMMARY:  You could say that the field of finance has an image problem, with both fictional and real-life figures projecting greed and other less-than-likeable attributes.  That's why Mihir Desai has written a book, "The Wisdom of Finance," to balance the picture and appeal to those in the field to get back to the core ideas.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

MONEY MANAGEMENT - Financial Advice Index Card

"All the financial advice you’ll ever need fits on a single index card" PBS NewsHour 4/14/2016

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SUMMARY:  At first glance, fiscal planning can seem more complex and time-consuming than it’s worth.  But according to Professor Harold Pollack of the University of Chicago, you can fit all the financial advice you’ll ever really need on a single index card.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman takes a look at Pollack’s ten easy tips for simple and sensible money management.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  It couldn’t get any simpler.  All the financial advice you really need can fit on a four-by-six index card.

And in the next eight minutes, our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, will fill you in and let you know what the secret is.  It’s part of our weekly Making Sen$e report, which airs every Thursday on the “NewsHour.”

WOMAN:  Use Fidelity’s analytics to spot trends, gain insights and figure out what you want to do next.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  On TV, financial advice abounds.  But the best advice is: Ignore it.

HAROLD POLLACK, Co-Author, “The Index Card”:  Hey, Paul, come on in.

PAUL SOLMAN:  So says University of Chicago health policy Professor Harold Pollack, who lives in Flossmoor, Illinois 20 miles from campus.

About personal finance, until recently, he knew squat.

HAROLD POLLACK:  I sort of figured it would all work out, and I didn’t have to think about it too much.  And so I didn’t.

PAUL SOLMAN:  Until, that is, he had to, when, in 2003, his mother-in-law died suddenly, leaving her disabled son in the Pollacks’ hands.

HAROLD POLLACK:  The expenses of caring for someone who is quite disabled, you know, are very frightening.  When Vincent moved into our home, he was about 340 pounds, and we needed to get furniture that would fit him.  One time, we had to go out and just buy a recliner, and it was something like $900.

PAUL SOLMAN:  And there were hospitalizations, medical bills.  Pollack needed advice.  So, he started reading and had what he calls an epiphany.

HAROLD POLLACK:  All the financial experts actually had a pretty simple set of things that they suggested that you do, and basically all of them would say tune out all the other stuff.