Modern Finance For The New Age Thinker

Betting Against Disaster: The Strange World of Catastrophe Bonds Betting Against Disaster: The Strange World of Catastrophe Bonds Imagine walking into a casino where instead of betting on cards or dice, you're wagering on whether a Category 5 hurricane will devastate Miami, or whether a magnitude 8.0 earthquake will level Tokyo. Welcome to the $40 billion world of catastrophe bonds—one of the weirdest corners of finance you've probably never heard of. When Insurance Companies Need Insurance Most people get basic insurance: you pay premiums, and if disaster strikes, the company pays out. But what happens when the disasters are so massive that they could bankrupt the insurance companies themselves? This is where catastrophe bonds come in, or "cat bonds"—basically a way for insurers to pass their worst nightmares onto investors. Here's how it works: An insurance company creates a special investment vehicle and issues bonds to investors. These aren...

Your Money is a Houseplant: Financial Wisdom from the Windowsill Your Money is a Houseplant: Financial Wisdom from the Windowsill Why tending to your finances is exactly like keeping a succulent alive (and why both are harder than they look) So three months ago, I killed my third snake plant. THIRD. Snake plants are supposedly indestructible—like the Nokia phones of the plant world, right? Yet somehow, I managed to turn what should of been a thriving green companion into something that looked like it had been through a particularly rough breakup. As I stared at the withered remains (dramatic, I know), it hit me: I've been treating my money exactly like I treat my houseplants. And that explained literally everything. The Overwatering Thing (We're All Guilty) Just as us novice plant parents kill more greenery with kindness than neglect, most of us are basically drowning our financial futures with good intentions. We overwater our spending in the name of ...