By Stephen Buller I travelled to Thailand in 2014, and – in addition to the delicious food, exotic sights, and incredible scuba diving – a conversation with my friend’s father stuck with me. He and his wife were expats from the U.S. and were building a home in Thailand. However, they were unable to own…
By Stephen Buller Since COVID, the cost of living has been increasing at rates not seen for decades. Depending on your circumstances, this could be catastrophic, no big deal, or even beneficial to your overall wealth. For the average person, there is no better time to get serious about a personal budget. Before we get…
By Stephen Buller What does it mean to invest in yourself? Some might say it’s finding time for a hobby, or family, vegging out with a favorite movie, or relaxing with a friend and a beer. Money isn’t everything, after all. It is, however, half of almost every transaction we engage in. It is a…
By Stephen Buller Save for a rainy day. Invest for the future. We all know these nuggets of wisdom, so why – by recent surveys – Junedo one in four Americans have less than $1,000 in savings and only around half feel ready for a $400 emergency expense? The obvious answer is wages are too…
By Stephen Buller Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” Perhaps one of his less inspiring quotes, but the sentiment holds true today, arguably more so than in 1789. In case you’d forgotten, your federal taxes are due on the 15th of this month. If…
By Stephen Buller Tariffs are a tax imposed on imports into a country. They have two main effects: First, like all taxes, they raise revenue for the government; second, they discourage imports from the relevant country by increasing the price of goods. Are they good or bad? In short, they’re bad, just like every other…
By Stephen Buller It’s been more than a month since the 47th President of the United States was elected, and nobody living today can remember a time when our country didn’t operate on a two-party system. Although the party holding various positions influences laws, court rulings, and other governance, I’ll argue that your daily life is…
By Stephen Buller Robert Kiyosaki, famous for writing the number-one bestselling book on personal finance, “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” says savers are losers. If you’re able to get past the controversial and inflammatory nature of the statement, you will find much truth, especially in 2024. I’ll argue for the merits of saving for the future….
By Stephen Buller How much is a dollar worth? If that sounds like a trick question, it’s because most Americans are used to measuring worth in dollars. The dollar is our “unit of account,” which is a standard measure of value, and one of the key traits of money. We could use other units of…
By Stephen Buller One of my readers wrote in, disagreeing with my claim that the United States dollar is a “fiat” currency. Firstly, let me say thank you for your interest! My mission in writing these columns is to educate my community about the monetary system as it exists today, and on how we could…