A complicated tax situation was the final straw. — Like a lot of other writers on this platform, I was getting fed up with Medium for a number of reasons. The suddenly abysmal viewer numbers for no apparent reason and a major reduction in income, while at the same time the most sensational creators of self-help dribble thrived at…

Time to prepare for a major period of economic pain. — There’s no mincing words on this one — unless you’re rich, you’re in trouble. Inflation is raging and hitting everything from global food prices to the cost of a Netflix subscription. Oil briefly hit $120 a barrel, and frankly, there’s not a whole lot that U.S. producers can do about…

Here come the agencies with some real teeth. — The SEC and CFTC are moving to require hedge funds to report their cryptocurrency exposure to better measure their level of risk. To quote the former U.S. president, this is huge. The first red flag for crypto enthusiasts is the use of the word “exposure.” The SEC and CFTC, both…

What the captains of the finance industry drink. — At the height of my bartending career, I was in charge of an elite beverage program at an ultra-luxurious Napa Valley resort, that was once found hidden within a beautiful redwood forest, and frequently visited by some of the world’s most wealthy and famous people. I have many crazy stories…

Breaking down the latest escape from actual existence. — Just WTF is “The Metaverse” anyway? The metaverse is not just Mark Zuckerberg's sexual fantasy, it refers to both current and future integrated digital platforms that are focused on virtual and “augmented reality.” It is the great hype and hope of the internet, being that it is heralded as the…

And what you can do to change. — Okay people, I’m back from the tax shelter, but largely because this platform is now a cesspool of social media marketed get-rich-quick content, so my chances of overshooting my 2023 budget by writing here are nill. …

Good news for some probably means volatility for all. — Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock has won re-election in Georgia’s runoff election after defeating Republican challenger Herschel Walker, who had previously been backed by the now disgraced former President Donald Trump. With almost all of the votes counted, Warnock secured a healthy 51.4% of the ballot, compared to 48.6% for the…

The latest wave of absurd cultural grandiosity ensures that crypto enthusiasts remain incredibly naive. — I grew up in Detroit, the place where raves were first invented during the early 1990s by a group of misfit electronic music enthusiasts who decided to make good use of the city's many abandoned factories. It’s not a good time in Detroit unless there are drugs, loud music, wild…

Expect the upcoming 2023 economic downturn to serve them well. — My favourite line from Game of Thrones is when Lord Baelish says “sometimes when I try to understand a person’s motives, I play a little game. I assume the worst. What’s the worst reason they could possibly have for saying what they say and doing what they do? Then I…