Articles & Analysis

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An older couple at home, representing retirement income and its purchasing power
RetirementPlanningSeptember 7, 2026 · 5 min read

How the Social Security COLA Is Calculated, and Why It Feels Short

The annual adjustment is a mechanical formula, not a policy decision. What it measures, why retirees consistently report it lagging their actual costs, and what that means for planning.

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Two people examining market charts on screen, representing scrutiny of an investment offer
StocksBehaviour

Can You Actually Invest in SpaceX? How Pre-IPO Access Really Works

The honest answer for most people is no, and the routes that do exist carry costs and restrictions that rarely appear in the pitch. What the real access routes are, and how the fraudulent ones are structured.

September 4, 2026 · 6 min read
A hundred dollar note, representing the choice of where the next payment goes
PlanningBeginner Guide

Should You Invest While You Still Have Student Debt?

The advice splits into two camps that both sound right. The actual answer is a comparison you can run in about ten minutes, plus one exception that beats both camps.

September 2, 2026 · 5 min read
A creator unboxing a smartphone on camera, the kind of footage brands later run as paid media
MarketingGrowth

Running a Creator's Video as Your Own Ad: What to Agree First

The content that outperforms your studio ads is usually the content a creator made. Turning it into paid media is straightforward, but four things have to be agreed before the post goes live rather than after it does well.

August 31, 2026 · 6 min read
Seated attendees at a conference, representing the per-head costs of running an event
EventsGrowth

What Running an Event Actually Costs, Line by Line

The venue and the catering are the costs people budget for and rarely the ones that cause the overrun. A structural breakdown of where event money goes, including the lines that are invisible until the invoice arrives.

August 28, 2026 · 6 min read
A casual indoor gathering overlooking water, representing a small recurring community meetup
EventsGrowth

Why New Communities Die in Three Months, and What Prevents It

Most communities are launched, populated, and quietly abandoned. The failure is structural rather than a matter of effort, and the things that prevent it have to be built in before anyone joins.

August 26, 2026 · 5 min read
A crowd with arms raised at a live event, representing a full room
EventsMarketing

How to Fill a Room in a City Where You Know Nobody

The first event in an unfamiliar market has no mailing list, no local reputation and no word of mouth. What actually fills the room is borrowed audience, and there is a specific order in which to borrow it.

August 24, 2026 · 5 min read
Runners celebrating at the end of a fun run, a format that depends on sponsorship
EventsGrowth

How to Get Sponsors for an Event Nobody Has Heard Of

Sponsors do not buy attendance numbers, which is fortunate, because a first event does not have any. What they actually buy, and how to sell it before you have a track record.

August 21, 2026 · 5 min read
A woman holding a notebook, representing recording campaign results before drawing conclusions
MarketingGrowth

How to Tell Whether a Creator Campaign Actually Worked

Views are the number everyone reports and the one that tells you least. What to measure instead, how to set it up before the post goes live, and why the honest answer is sometimes that you cannot know.

August 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Illuminated advertising screens at Times Square, representing shared campaign spend
MarketingGrowth

Shared Advertising: Splitting Campaign Costs Between Businesses

Co-operative advertising is old, unglamorous and almost undiscussed for small businesses. When splitting a campaign works, when it quietly costs more than it saves, and how to structure one.

August 14, 2026 · 5 min read
People enjoying themselves at a busy social event
EventsGrowth

Why People Register for Your Event and Don't Turn Up

A free event that sells out on paper and half-fills the room is not a marketing failure. It is a predictable consequence of how registration works, and most of it is fixable before the day.

August 7, 2026 · 6 min read
Young creators taking a selfie in a studio setting
MarketingGrowth

What Should You Actually Pay a Creator?

Creator pricing has no rate card, and the follower count everyone quotes is the weakest input. How rates are actually built, what changes them, and how to tell whether you paid too much.

August 7, 2026 · 5 min read
A person looking at an Instagram post on a phone screen
MarketingGrowth

How the Instagram Algorithm Actually Works

There isn't one algorithm, there are several, and they optimise for different things in different places in the app. What Instagram has said publicly, what follows from it, and what to ignore.

August 7, 2026 · 5 min read
Bright advertising billboards lining a busy city street
EventsGrowth

Events or Paid Ads: Which Actually Wins B2B Customers?

Ads are measurable and cheap per impression. Events are expensive and hard to attribute. The comparison people run flatters ads, because it measures the thing ads are good at.

August 7, 2026 · 6 min read
A veteran value investor, representing valuation discipline
StocksBeginner Guide

The P/E Ratio: What It Tells You, and the Four Ways It Lies

The price-to-earnings ratio is the most quoted number in investing and the most misused. What it measures, why a low P/E is often a warning, and what to check alongside it.

August 1, 2026 · 5 min read
Comparing brokerage account options
PlanningBeginner Guide

How to Choose a Broker: The Six Things That Actually Matter

Broker comparison articles obsess over app design and free stock promotions. The things that genuinely affect your returns and your safety are duller, and shorter to check.

August 1, 2026 · 5 min read
Diagram showing how paying capital gains tax reduces the amount left invested
PlanningRetirement

Tax Drag: The Return You Lose Without Noticing

Two investors with identical portfolios can end up with very different amounts. Where tax drag comes from, why holding periods matter, and the account choices that do most of the work.

August 1, 2026 · 5 min read
The cycle of market emotions from optimism through despair and back
BehaviourBeginner Guide

The Behaviour Gap: Why Investors Earn Less Than Their Own Funds

Study after study finds investors underperform the funds they hold. The gap isn't caused by bad fund selection - it's caused by when people buy and sell. The biases, and the fixes.

July 29, 2026 · 5 min read
A falling market chart representing corrections and bear markets
MarketsBehaviour

Correction, Bear Market, Crash: What the Words Actually Mean

The financial press uses these terms interchangeably. They aren't. The precise definitions, how often each has happened, how long recoveries took, and why the vocabulary matters.

July 26, 2026 · 5 min read
Gold bars alongside banknotes, representing a mix of asset classes
PlanningRetirement

Asset Allocation by Age: How Your Split Should Change Over a Lifetime

The 'hold your age in bonds' rule is a starting point, not an answer. Why time horizon beats age, what sequence-of-returns risk really means, and how to set a split you can hold.

July 22, 2026 · 5 min read
Bundles of banknotes stacked on a dark surface
Funds & ETFsMarkets

Bonds Explained: Why the Boring Asset Got Interesting Again

Bonds spent a decade paying almost nothing, then 2022 changed the arithmetic. What a bond actually is, why prices fall when rates rise, and what role they play in a portfolio now.

July 18, 2026 · 6 min read
Chart comparing interest rates against inflation over time
MarketsBehaviour

Inflation: What It Quietly Does to Savings, and What Has Actually Beaten It

Inflation is the loss that never appears on a statement. How to calculate what it costs you, why cash erodes slowly and permanently, and the historical record of which assets outpaced it.

July 15, 2026 · 5 min read
Chart breaking a diversified portfolio into stocks, bonds and cash
PlanningBeginner Guide

Diversification: What It Actually Protects You From (And What It Doesn't)

Owning thirty stocks isn't diversification if they all move together. What correlation really means for a portfolio, why most people are less diversified than they think, and the limits.

July 11, 2026 · 5 min read
A piggy bank in a life ring, representing an emergency cash reserve
PlanningBeginner Guide

The Step Before Investing: How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be?

Investing before you have cash reserves is how people end up selling at the worst possible moment. How to size an emergency fund, where to keep it, and when to stop building it.

July 8, 2026 · 5 min read
An employment data report, representing monthly payroll figures
MarketsBehaviour

Why Weak Employment Data Can Lift Stocks

A jobs report comes in far below expectations and the market goes up. That is not irrationality, it is arithmetic about discount rates, and knowing the chain explains a great deal of otherwise baffling market behaviour.

July 5, 2026 · 5 min read
Footballers celebrating, representing the commercial scale of a global tournament
MarketsBehaviour

How a World Cup Actually Moves Stocks: Rights, Betting Handle and Host Cities

A global tournament does not move a stock because a match is exciting. It moves the businesses whose revenue is tied to viewership, sponsorship, wagering volume or host-city spending, and most of those bets were placed years earlier.

July 4, 2026 · 5 min read
A celebrity couple in formal dress, representing the luxury halo effect
MarketsBehaviour

The 'Celebrity Effect': What a Trending Wedding Dress Reveals About the Luxury Goods Market

A celebrity wedding dress can trend for days. What that search spike actually tells you about the luxury sector, why it's a weaker signal than it looks, and what really moves luxury earnings.

July 4, 2026 · 5 min read
Calculator and growth chart illustrating the Rule of 72 for compound interest
Beginner GuidePlanning

The Rule of 72: A One-Line Way to Estimate How Money Grows

A simple piece of mental math that estimates how long it takes an investment to double, using nothing but a calculator and the number 72.

July 3, 2026 · 4 min read
Bitcoin coin representing cryptocurrency as a portfolio holding
BehaviourPlanning

Bitcoin in a Long-Term Portfolio: How Much Is Reasonable

Bitcoin's volatility and its low correlation to stocks make it a genuinely different conversation than a typical fund. Here's a level-headed way to think about sizing it.

July 1, 2026 · 5 min read
Declining market chart representing a recession or economic downturn
BehaviourPlanning

Recession-Proof Investing: What Actually Holds Up When Markets Drop

No investment is truly recession-proof, but some hold up far better than others. Here's what actually tends to happen to different assets during a downturn, and why.

June 30, 2026 · 4 min read
A trader at a stock exchange terminal watching rate-sensitive markets
MarketsBeginner Guide

How Interest Rates Move the Stock Market, Explained Simply

Why a decision made by a central bank hundreds of miles away can move your portfolio in an afternoon, and how to think about rate changes without overreacting to them.

June 29, 2026 · 4 min read
Retired couple representing the long-term payoff of a workplace 401(k) match
RetirementBeginner Guide

The 401(k) Match: The Free Money Most People Leave on the Table

How an employer 401(k) match actually works, why not claiming the full match is an instant, guaranteed loss, and how to make sure you're getting every dollar of it.

June 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Cash payouts representing dividend income from stock holdings
StocksFunds & ETFs

Dividend Investing 101: Building an Income Stream That Grows

How dividend investing actually works, what yield really measures, the trap of chasing the highest number, and how to build a stream of income that grows over time.

June 27, 2026 · 4 min read
A fund manager speaking at an investing conference
Funds & ETFsBeginner Guide

ETFs vs. Mutual Funds: What Actually Sets Them Apart

Both pool your money into a diversified basket of investments. The real differences are in how you trade them, what they cost, and how they're taxed.

June 26, 2026 · 4 min read
Someone opening a brokerage account on a phone to invest their first $100
Beginner GuideFunds & ETFs

How to Start Investing With Your First $100

You don't need thousands of dollars to start. Here's exactly how to turn your first $100 into a real, working investment account, step by step.

June 25, 2026 · 5 min read
Retirement savings paperwork, representing the choice between a Roth and a Traditional IRA
RetirementPlanning

Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA: Which One to Open First

The real difference between a Roth and a Traditional IRA isn't complicated: it's a bet on whether your tax rate today is higher or lower than it will be in retirement.

June 23, 2026 · 4 min read
Coins stacked steadily over time representing dollar-cost averaging
BehaviourBeginner Guide

Dollar-Cost Averaging: Why It Works Even When the Market Doesn't

What dollar-cost averaging actually is, the math behind why it smooths out a bumpy market, and how to set it up so you never have to think about it again.

June 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Financial leaders discussing markets, representing index fund investing
Funds & ETFsStocks

VOO, QQQ, VTI, SCHD and VGT: What Actually Separates Them

Five funds that look like five decisions and are mostly one. What each actually holds, how much they overlap, what the fee gap is worth over decades, and why ranking them by past returns tells you least.

June 20, 2026 · 5 min read
A member of Congress speaking publicly, representing STOCK Act disclosures
StocksMarkets

Why Everyone Watches Politician Stock Trades (And How to Do It Legally)

The STOCK Act makes congressional trades public. How disclosure tracking actually works, why the 45-day lag matters more than the trades themselves, and what the data does and doesn't show.

June 12, 2026 · 5 min read
A technology chief executive speaking, representing large-cap blue-chip companies
StocksPlanning

Blue-Chip Stocks: The 10 Long-Term Holdings That Built Portfolios

What makes a stock 'blue chip', the ten classics from Apple to Home Depot, the three tests any long-term holding must pass - and the cautionary cases that prove blue chips can still fail.

May 28, 2026 · 5 min read
A soldier in a war-damaged town, representing the market impact of conflict
MarketsPlanning

How War Affects Your Investments: What Four Decades of Conflict Show

A war is not one event for a portfolio. It is dozens, arriving at different companies in different directions, and the index-level number hides nearly all of it. The pattern across four conflicts.

May 10, 2026 · 5 min read