Shouldn’t an apology come with a 20 percent discount?

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Plymouth is the best “small” city to live in, according to Money Magazine.

What do you think of this idea, floated by Yale economist Robert Shiller in the latest issue of Atlantic Monthly:

There’s a strong case to be made that the government should subsidize comprehensive financial advice for low- and middle-income Americans to help prevent bubbly thinking and financial overextension. One way to do this would be through co-pay arrangements like those in place for Medicare or for private health insurance. Accredited advisers, charging a flat fee, would be partially reimbursed by the government; the moderate costs to consumers would create a much broader market for their services.

Shiller, the “Irrational Exuberance” guy known for his prediction of the dot-com bubble as well as the bearer of bad news S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, says that the average person’s inability to assess risk, price and affordability has contributed to the current real estate mess we’re in.

Treating financial advice like medical advice is an intriguing concept. And finding a  sales-pitch-free advice model for the masses is a subject that I’m passionate about. But I think I read somewhere about how our health care system isn’t feeling so well.

And given the current deficit, I pity the fool who would be charged with convincing the government that financial advice for those of modest means is as critical as life-saving health care or food stamps.

Allianz Life released their second study on women and money today.

While some of the Women Money and Power Phase II study findings are interesting, I can’t help but wonder: Would men have answered much differently?

For example women who were surveyed answered the following regarding financial information:

Information is overwhelming/too much/hard to sort through	44 percent
Information is complicated or hard to understand	36 percent
Materials are really boring and dry	32 percent
Don’t understand terminology/materials seem foreign	26 percent

I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that many guys feel the same way. It’s not a female thing to think that much of the terminology and materials that insurance companies utilize is hard for even finance majors to digest.

Here’s another example

(more…)

This deserves its own entry. It’s certainly an interesting concept.

University of Minnesota economist Andrew Cassey has been performing an economics one -man-show at the Bryant Lake Bowl. It’s a show he initially developed as part of the Fringe Festival. Read all about him at the U’s web site. If you’re free, tonight’s show is at 7 p.m. and he’ll rip the lid off monetary policy. He has another two shows planned for July and August.

If anyone goes, give us the full report.