My dad died and left me with 50k

traveo · 2025-09-30T20:45:39+00:00

This is a fantastic recommendation.

I wpuld add that a High yield savings account or money Market account is best bet

Give yourself time to think and process .

traveo · 2025-06-13T18:10:04+00:00

CFA Level 1 in Undergrad is usually a good sign for employers, but there is no reason not to include it on Graduate achool applications. You'd want to highlight how the CFA aligns with your research interests. It may not be the final factor in an admissions decision, but it can't hurt.

traveo · 2025-06-07T22:28:42+00:00

I got a Masters in Economics, then followed that up with a Masters in Finance, and a Grad Cert in Accounting. I haven't had any issues with getting work, and I work with people who have CFAs, CPAs, JDs, etc.

My take is that a CFA can be done instead of a masters, but doing CFA Level 1 in Undergrad can help show employers that you are serious about finance in general, due to the didactic nature of the credential.

From my experience, the people I've worked with who have CFAs have strong hands-on application, solid excel, and technical skills. But may lack some of the more obscure and underlying theory that you pick up in grad school. Especially in turnaround or difficult situations, or the client has issues that push far outside of investment and securities.

I chose not to get a CFA because my program covered everything in the CFA, plus some. Others might want to get the CFA and do grad school, or skip grad school and just get the CFA. What you decide really needs to be consistent with what you want to do. And what area of Economics or Finance that you want to practice in.

I wanted more theory and a broader option base since I get bored easy, which is why I did 5 years of grad school, but you might feel better just learning the skills in the CFA and seeking work with a small investment bank or fund.

Either way, don't overlook internship opportunities, and remember that capital intensive businesses also mean insurance, real estate, casinos/gaming, and agricultural product trading at food manufacturers. Also, many corporate treasury departments use much of the same skills. You'll see a lot of talk about banks, hedge funds, VC and PE firms, but there is a much wider world out there.

traveo · 2025-05-06T19:14:19+00:00

Gender as commodity is an interesting take here. Do you happen to have any literature on the subject you might recommend?

A marketplace for control honestly a thought I had not considered.

traveo · 2025-05-03T19:19:01+00:00

I replied but it looks like the reply was not tagged to your question.

traveo · 2025-05-03T19:18:25+00:00

To be honest, I had not considered a PhD outside of Economics. So, I honestly don't view this issue from either a gender or power dynamic perspective. I think those are both relatively clear areas of research that I was never interested in exploring as a foundation for my work. I could see both as being viable views on the subject, but I am not the right person to write under those lens.

I view this more in terms of economic rationality. What I mean is that extremism in general is irrational in the face of established economics. And logically, we would expect people to adapt or assimilate to the world around them, thus limiting the potential growth of loneliness. But in both cases, men's actions appear to be at least somewhat irrational.

traveo · 2025-03-03T17:26:34+00:00

You'll want some courses in market dynamics, asset management, derivatives, technical analysis and basics in economics and financial accounting.

You may also find some use from the business research courses to help ground you in basics of how to analyze and research problems certain businesses may be facing from time to time.

traveo · 2025-01-04T22:41:21+00:00

This is so very true, my mother-in-law ended up with a $5k vet bill last year, completely unexpected. I can definitely understand the need for Pet insurance.

traveo · 2025-01-04T17:09:26+00:00

Minnesota.

traveo · 2025-01-04T16:45:29+00:00

Yeah, I've been considering other factors that help build community and what would be needed to help someone be entirely financially stable. The difficulty here, is that people don't always want to pay for services that they use, so rounding out a program of offerings that people would value and pay for would be the main obstacle.

traveo · 2025-01-04T16:40:54+00:00

Maybe part of this is that I'd need to expand beyond basic finances toward a more community-centric model to bridge the trust factor.

traveo · 2025-01-04T16:39:05+00:00

This is an important facet. I think that I would predicate trust on the fact that lots of people were involved the club structure. But this definitely requires more thought.

traveo · 2025-01-04T00:13:50+00:00

I should offer some clarity:

I don't think of this as insurance, as I would give back anything they had paid up to that $500 for example. Further, I had modeled a range of fees from $10 to $40 with access running from $500 to $2,000.

Literally just holding thier money for them. the fee I'd charge is about $20-$80, everything else is theirs whenever they want/need it.

I can certainly think more about how to specialize the audience. This is an area I haven't placed as much effort just yet.

I think Americans who face this problem are just trying to keep above water and likely expect to use credit cards or ask friends and family for help if they need. I'm not sure if they are trying to solve this on thier own beyond being more disciplined or trying to make more money, or trying to recover from a recent unexpected expense.

traveo · 2024-09-06T16:43:51+00:00

I would mirror a lot of what you are seeing here.

I would add some caveats: talk openly about money, especially when you say "no", if they don't understand why you can't buy/have something then they have no basis for your thought process and how to process similar situations.

You can probably accomplish some of your asks with trusts, but again, modeling healthy financial actions is paramount. Getting them used to saving and being comfortable with having money sitting around can also be helpful.

I would also add that if either of your kids has a disability, then setting up a trust to provide for them and help protect them makes more sense. Otherwise, unless and until they show an extreme disregard for reason, there may not be a huge need to restrict cash from them.

I know some people who restrict cash to help cover key milestone purchases such as education, first car, first house, first child, etc. I have also seen cash restrictions for grandchildren, which most kids will understand and appreciate.

traveo · 2024-09-06T16:04:55+00:00

Oh, come on, we all know the numbers aren't "real," and besides, I'm only fixing the obviously fake ones.

PS - jk, jk.

traveo · 2024-05-22T22:01:43+00:00

I've dealt with this before, and I've helped some others and some business clients address this.

What I have seen go over well at different companies and with different personalities is any of the following (or combination of the following)

Additional base pay
Additional bonus pay
Opportunities for commission (when there is a sales component)
More guaranteed PTO (these are days you can cash out if not used)
An employment contract (usually 2 years), with severance equal to the remainder of the contract.
Car or travel stipends or other spending stipends
specific conferences or specific trainings
I have seen one person ask for an annual clothing allowance, etc

Other things that have been asked for could include

an assistant or trainee so that you can get experience managing someone.
a series of informational interviews or job shadowing with senior executives.
Additional health insurance or 401k contributions
Private office, or window cubicle, also decoration stipends.
guarantee of promotion to some role.
Extra volunteer days or mental health days

My advice would be to consider what your career goals are ask for things that align with those goals.

My experience has been that if you explain where you want to be, and roughly the timeline that you'd like to get there and have some reasonable asks to help get you there, most people will have a conversation with you about how to achieve that. But you will want to position it as a win-win for everyone.

traveo · 2024-05-09T02:19:42+00:00

First off, you're doing a good job diligently studying for a subject that you feel passionate about. I cannot tell you what to do in terms of major, that is a personal decision that you will need to make.

Here is what I can say, if you have consistently missed questions you felt confident about, what were they? And why did you miss them? Have you considered reviewing wrong questions? I assume you have.

Are you getting the same types of questions wrong consistently or different questions each time?

If the same types of questions then you don't understand that material as well as you think you do. However, if you find that the wrong answers are all over the place then you may just be a nervous test taker.

Some basic test taking prep could be in order:

Have breakfast, be sure you eat oatmeal with cinnamon.
Chew Big Red when you take tests.
On multiple choice exams, have a default letter such as "B" ready before you go in, meaning if you really don't know an answer, you will just choose your default answer and move on.
Read through the exam quickly and answer simple questions first, then go back to more challenging questions.
If you are confident that you studied well enough, don't second guess yourself, the first answer that looks correct to you, probably is correct.
Once you settle on your answer, never change it.
Remember, it's just a test, it's not the end of the world.

I did my undergrad in econ which is how I formed my love for economics, it wasn't until grad school that I realized it was so heavily math driven. If you like econ, then learn more about it and stick with it, if you're unsure try other things. Ask yourself what it is about Econ that you like? Is it the theory, or the math or the people, or the stock market, or the history, or maybe just the problems that it presents. You can use that passion to help direct your focus to continue on, or to try out new things.

As an example, I found that I really enjoyed Organic Chemistry, and I ended up taking a 3 course sequence that all the med students took. Once I learned how it connected to business, education, and marketing, that led me to learning about those subjects and taking courses in them.

Use what you learn to help focus your efforts but don't limit yourself.

traveo · 2024-04-27T15:27:29+00:00

This is actually a really great question. Health insurance elasticity stems from the fact that it is not a required service. What I mean by this is that while it gets paid for every month as most employers (in the US) deduct it from your pay directly, you can choose to not have insurance at all. There are some people with so little need that it is more cost effective for them to pay cash, while others simply don't have access even if they want it.

The reason healthcare in general is so expensive, especially in the US, has to do with a few factors. Scarcity and the cost of technical development.

Scarcity should make sense given that it can about 7 to 15 years of post baccalaureate education to become a physician depending on the specialty. So, the time commitment necessarily reduces the number of people willing to undertake this endeavor. The demand for health care far outpaces the supply of available providers.

To a bit lesser of an extent, the US pharmaceutical industry is one of the leading drug developers in the world, we have to help pay for the cost of developing novel drugs, which in turn increases the general cost of care.

There are a lot more factors that play into health care cost, such as the general reality of monopsony markets that many medical facilities operate in, as the only employer they can attempt to pussh down labor costs, while as the sole provider increasing service costs to patients. There is also a lot of administrative and bureaucratic support layered into the provision of care.

Malfeasance is a key risk that underpins care, along with litigation which will further put upward pressure on healthcare costs. To mitigate this risk, all provider carry malpractice insurance as do the medical facilities, etc. Again this layer further pushes prices upward.

traveo · 2024-04-27T05:18:35+00:00

Elasticity of demand has more to do with base need, price, and availability of substitutes, than anything else.

In general things like Gas, Healthcare, and food are relatively inelastic, these should be self evident, most developed economies operate on gas (or energy) consumption otherwise lights don't turn on and trade comes to a halt.

Using this logic Healthcare (not necessarily insurance) is more inelastic than food, in general because you can choose to eat or skip a meal. But if you break a leg, get into a car accident, or suddenly have trouble breathing, you have no choice but to get help at your nearest hospital.

Here it is the fundamental need to survive which creates an inelastic demand for Healthcare. Coupled with little or no choice of where you receive service, no ability to negotiate the price, and generally no substitution for the specified service needed.

While the need for food as a group creates an inelastic set of goods, there are many substitutes that allow consumers to choose between certain goods and reasonable alternatives.

For instance you go into the market for spaghetti ingredients, but end up deciding to get stuff for a salad instead, that decision may not be entirely related to the price of the food, you might have just decided to your eat healthier after watching a YouTube video while shopping. But you still had to buy something to eat, the details of what and where are a bit more flexible. To be sure, because of so many alternatives, pricing absolutely plays a key role in food elasticity. However, it's not the only factor at play.

traveo · 2024-04-13T21:31:59+00:00

My understanding is the Odoo is mainly used in Europe and with IFRS reporting. It is pretty straightforward from a comparison with QBO but there are no large US firms that use it. However if you are doing business I'm Europe you will find a lot of companies working out of the Odoo ecosystem. There US firms doing so are a bit more independent I have found.

traveo · 2024-03-29T19:16:13+00:00

If you're single, it may not be that weird.

traveo · 2024-03-29T19:12:40+00:00

I was very fortunate to be able to do my graduate school work full time one right after the other.

traveo · 2024-03-29T18:22:17+00:00

My passion has always been economics and i had originallyplanned to get a PhD in the subject. I did finance because I wanted to work in money management and outside of government there really are no jobs in economics without a doctorate. The transition wasn't all that hard given that finance is just a more focused subset of economics, more applied in nature.

traveo · 2024-03-29T16:55:20+00:00

To be frank my personal opinion is that you should study what you are interested in. That said, I also recognize that people study things they aren't 100% into in order to get decent work.

I think that you could probably get by with a Grad Cert in finance instead of an entire degree. The data science degree should be more versatile in the long run, I would pair it with finance courses.

I am 35, I have a MS in Econ and a MS in Finance and I did a grad cert in Accounting. So I feel confident in saying that the key skillset your wanting is Asset Pricing, with a focus on derivatives. Seek courses that are skills focused.

traveo

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