Mind Over Money

Did you catch Tom Coburn on “Face the Nation” during the holidays? Coburn is a Republican senator from Oklahoma. He also happens to be a medical doctor. This western representative is a straight shooter with sterling conservative credentials. He served on the Simpson-Bowles Commission and is well-versed in the federal budget. Unlike Paul Ryan, he [...]

I read Nick Kristof’s column in the New York Times on Sunday. It was entitled, “Do we have the courage to stop this?” Kristof writes about common sense gun regulations in Canada and Australia that we might consider implementing. The first time the column below ran, I received some of the nastiest and scariest e-mails [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

I am hopping mad! Jack Welch and others have taken to the air waves suggesting the latest economic data on jobs has been manipulated. They have no evidence, but that hasn’t stopped them from claiming that government information has been “cooked.” Such an accusation reveals an ignorance of the collection and calculation of such data [...]

Recessions are part of the business cycle. They are relative, and they are temporary. They can last up to 18 months. The Great Recession, which began with the Financial Crisis of 2008, has been longer and harder than most. Here in Mississippi, we were late to the party. The effects of the contraction hit us [...]

I was so excited when the State of Mississippi finally started offering a college savings plan. My daughter was 16 and on the edge of qualifying. I plunked down my money for the full four years. By the time “H” headed to college, tuition costs had spiked. It was a great return on my money. [...]

I hate flying. Every time I climb on board one of those tin cans, I think, “Surely, God didn’t intend for us to be hanging around at 10,000 feet.” The source of my distaste used to be my irrational fear of flying. Panic would set in days before my scheduled trip. During the trip, turbulence [...]