Mind Over Money

Wonder what happened the first time someone said, “Hey, let’s build an ice skating rink in Madison?” Dead silence. Then, “Are you nuts?” Hasn’t that been tried before? Ice skating, ice hockey … do we think Mississippians will grab onto anything as exotic as ice, as long as it doesn’t show up in our glass [...]

While other state insurance commissioners sat around twiddling their thumbs, Mike Chaney moved forward with developing a framework for the private insurance exchanges for health insurance. Based on the headlines, I had assumed such work had ground to a halt, but I ran into someone intimately involved with the work who told me different. As [...]

I pay my bills online through my local bank account. When I want to make a deposit into my brokerage account, I snap a picture of the check on my phone. A click of a button and large sums of money move through cyberspace. I place investment trades online, and I shop online, inputting my [...]

I grew up singing “Go Mississippi.” In fact, I learned to spell the state name by reciting “M-I-crooked letter, crooked letter-I-crooked letter, crooked letter-I-humpback, humpback-I.” While I have often heard of the tensions surrounding our state flag, I had never heard of the segregationist themes of the state song. And I really don’t care. Why do [...]

It’s hug your regulator day! When I first started my business in 1993, I filled out the paperwork to become a registered investment advisor in the State of Mississippi. As a small start-up, I was put under the watchful eye of the Secretary of State’s Office. On three occasions, auditors showed up at my door, [...]