The Interest Rate That Made You Feel Smart Is Disappearing
There was a specific window — roughly mid-2023 through mid-2024 — when putting money in a high-yield savings account was genuinely one of the better financial decisions available to most…
The Business Checking Account Decision Most Freelancers Make Too Late
I mixed personal and business transactions in a single checking account for the first few months of running The Global Frame. It felt fine until I sat down to file…
The IRS Spent Three Years Refusing to Enforce a Law. Congress Finally Killed It.
The part that gets lost in most coverage of this story: the $600 1099-K threshold wasn’t some IRS overreach. It was a law. Congress passed it in March 2021 as…
“Renting Is Throwing Money Away” Is the Most Expensive Cliché
I’ve heard some version of this at almost every family gathering I can remember. The concern is genuine — it comes from people who watched homeownership build wealth for a…
The Roth IRA Is Excellent. The HSA Is Better. Here’s the Math.
Most personal finance writers hedge this into meaninglessness. I’m not going to do that. The Roth IRA is one of the best retirement accounts in the US tax code. If…
The “Zero Tax State” Move Is One of the Most Expensive Mistakes
The pitch sounds airtight. California taxes your income at 13.3%. Texas taxes it at zero. Move from Los Angeles to Austin and you’ve given yourself an automatic 13-point raise without…
You Think You Own “The Market.” You Mostly Own Seven Companies.
There’s a number that changed how I think about passive investing: 34%. That’s the share of the S&P 500 that the ten largest companies represent as of 2026. In 2010…
Nobody Told You the Front Door Was Decorative
Last year I spent some time mapping how people I know actually got their last job. Not the official version — “I saw the posting and submitted my application” —…
