Mind Over Money

Pearl used to be the red-headed stepchild of the Jackson area. It had a stretch of Highway 80 littered with half-empty strip malls and fast food restaurants. In many cases, the neighborhoods were old and rundown. We laughed when the town was mentioned. Puuhhrrrl? We always stretched out the one syllable and put on our [...]

Every generation of women has found it easier to step into a man’s world and compete. During my early years as a business owner, one potential client decided against signing up because I might get married and quit. As a woman, credibility was hard to come by. I knew I had to have more letters [...]

Good news is always welcome. Just days from the pronouncement of the expert panel at the annual CFA Forecast Dinner, the market performed as predicted and hit an all-time high. Kathleen Hays of Bloomberg Radio moderated again this year, much to the delight of the audience. Food and atmosphere at Jackson Country Club met our [...]

We’re at that stage. It’s the one where you feel the need to gather your siblings and have conversations about your parents. The trip to my husband’s home over Thanksgiving confirmed our suspicions. His parents’ health is declining, and they need help with basic needs. All around us, friends are having these same conversations in [...]

I made my usual phone call. “Mom, Dad, how about coming north and staying with us until the storm passes,” I said, knowing full-well what their answer would be. My parents live in the same house in Gulfport where I grew up. Their street is about a mile off the beach but not in a [...]

I usually cringe when I see state ranking lists published. In things like income and education, Mississippi is always on the bottom. In things like teen birth rate, we’re always at the top. Rarely do we have anything to crow about, but a recent list caused me to puff up a bit. Mississippians are the [...]

Finally!!! After all the talk of dogs on roofs and birther conspiracies, maybe we can start talking about real stuff. What do we want government to do? And how will we pay for this? David Wessel, economics reporter for The Wall Street Journal, has a new book. It’s called “Red Ink.” In it he addresses [...]

It happened again! How could we add 163,000 jobs and then see our unemployment rate go up to 8.3 percent? There are three pieces of jobs data that tell us about the condition of the labor market. Two are reported monthly, and one is reported weekly. The weekly number tells us how many new claims [...]

Years ago, my then-single husband and his friend lamented their desert of a love life. They wanted the love of a good woman but had trouble finding the right one. In the midst of the moaning and groaning, his friend said, “But even Christian girls need sex, too!” Eighty-one school districts in Mississippi have chosen [...]

I love Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. I think it’s the pickle. That tangy, sour taste combined with a juicy piece of chicken satisfies my hunger pangs every time. My daughter is a devotee, as well. When traveling home from Yankee territory, she gets her fix at the Atlanta airport. If only Mr. Cathy had stuck with chicken [...]