Personal (mostly financial) news you can use:

• Getting ready for tax season, what makes you more likely to be audited by the IRS?
• Next time you pick up a prescription at the drug store, maybe you should ask what the cash price would be.   (Pharmacists can’t volunteer that information.)
• Anyone living in Ohio?  Watch for a ballot initiative in November for payday lending reform.  The issue is important for all to understand.
• It can’t hurt to include some good advice for helping teens become better drivers.
• NYT Smarter Living shares the secret to a happier life: just say no!
• Need a counterpoint to news of gloom and doom?  The Economist recommends reading Steven Pinker’s new book Enlightenment Now to refocus today’s world in a positive light.

Investing

• Folks wait each year to read Warren Buffet’s annual shareholder letter.  You choose: the detailed review for the serious investor, or the main street review or wait until Monday to get the NGPF angle. In particular, check out how his 10 year bet with the best on Wall Street worked out...
• To follow up on Digging Deeper: The Sharing Economy, this article from The Atlantic describes how Airbnb is not impacting the hotel business as much as it is the real estate market by effectively crowding out buyers.
• Amazon acquires Ring, which can only help it’s Key business and give Google Nest a run for the money.  Yes, sometimes those Shark Tank investors get it wrong, they missed out on the cool billion that Amazon paid for it. 

Technology

• MIT Technology Review published its list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2018.  
• Bill Gates is no fan of crypto-currency.
• Here is an interesting retrospective on Elon Musk: what does he have in common with Steph Curry?
• How many Apple devices are in use? Care to guess?  

Corporate News

• Starbucks has figured out that less is more.  Have you ever seen anyone buying that merchandise anyway?
• With only a few hours to find a traditional trench coat (and after a quick online search) we headed to Macy’s this weekend.  Seems others have been heading there as well.  Macy’s saw its first quarterly increase in sales in 3 years and has been making its stores nicer (watch the video), to keep people coming back.
• Apple is planning to launch top notch health clinics for its employees this spring.  And here is the latest on Apple’s product pipeline for 2018.

Economics

• New Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave his current outlook for the economy (and interest rate increases) to the House Financial Services Committee this week for the first time.  And yes, financial literacy came up (thanks Rep. Brad Sherman).  The market moved down slightly and 10-year treasuries moved up a bit he spoke.
• Is Econ STEM? And why that matters.

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.