We all know what money is. It’s what we use to buy and sell goods and services and, from a savings and investing standpoint, it’s how we keep score of (i.e., place a value on) the assets we own. But how much does money cost? That might sound like a strange question, because we typically associate

When you apply for loans and other financial products, you’ll probably agree to a credit check. The bank or lender wants to know that you can handle debt and that you have a solid history of making payments. It uses your credit score to determine whether you’re a good credit risk. If you have a

Frank Loesser: …song of the infantry, “What Do You Do in the Infantry?” From 1947 Loesser enjoyed major successes on Broadway and in Hollywood, often with songs employing an urban postwar vernacular. His song “On a Slow Boat to China” was a leading hit of 1948. Where’s Charley? (1948), a musical…

Buying your first home? Congratulations! You’ll need homeowner’s insurance. Insurance helps to protect you from financial risk, and a home is often a person’s biggest asset. While researching the best policy, you’ll want to know what a given homeowner’s insurance plan covers, and just as

The Easter Bunny is an odd character to associate with the Christian festival celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as Santa Claus has become synonymous with Christmas, the festival celebrating Jesus’ birth, the Easter Bunny has become one of the most-recognized symbols of Easter. But

The monthly jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor provides a useful snapshot of how many jobs the economy created the previous month, how many people were unemployed, and what kind of wage hikes workers received. It also delivers an excellent snapshot of overall economic health. Key Points

The term “Judea and Samaria” is a reference to the biblical regions of Judaea and Samaria. It is also the name given by the Israeli government to the West Bank, an area west of the Jordan River whose borders were defined by the 1949 armistice agreement between Israel and Jordan at the end of the

Cuba Gooding, Jr.: …portrayed by Robin Williams in What Dreams May Come (1998). He appeared in the badly reviewed thrillers A Murder of Crows (1998) and Instinct (1999) and won praise for his performance in the lead role of the biopic Men of Honor (2000) and as heroic petty officer Dorie Miller in…

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, American psychological thriller film, released in 1962, that was a late-career triumph for both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Baby Jane Hudson (played by Davis) is a former child star of the vaudeville era whose fame was so widespread that there was even a “Baby

Margaret Sanger: …on the topics, including “What Every Girl Should Know” for the New York Call. In 1914 she issued a short-lived magazine, The Woman Rebel, and distributed a pamphlet, Family Limitation, advocating her views. She was indicted for mailing materials advocating birth control, but the charges were dropped in 1916.…

Gregory La Cava: Heyday: Barrie play; Helen Hayes reprised her stage role as the canny wife who props up her rather dim politician husband (Brian Aherne). In 1935 La Cava made two films with Claudette Colbert: Private Worlds, a drama about doctors in a mental institution that also starred Charles…

Gregory La Cava: Heyday: What Every Woman Knows (1934) was an adept adaptation of the J.M. Barrie play; Helen Hayes reprised her stage role as the canny wife who props up her rather dim politician husband (Brian Aherne). In 1935 La Cava made two films with Claudette Colbert: Private…

If you’re wondering about debt collection and how it works, then you may have gotten yourself into a financial pickle. Life happens—and sometimes your debt obligations exceed your repayment capacity. Understanding the nuances of debt collection is important for every borrower, even if you always

Hillary Clinton: Secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate: In What Happened (2017), she wrote candidly about the election and offered reasons why she lost.

Elfriede Jelinek: …oder, Stützen der Gesellschaften (1980; What Happened After Nora Left Her Husband; or, Pillars of Society, 1994), which she wrote as a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; Clara S.: musikalische Tragödie (1984; Clara S., 1997); and Bambiland (2003).

Nevil Shute: …include So Disdained (1928) and What Happened to the Corbetts (1939), a foretaste of World War II’s bombing of civilians. His later novels—all set in Australia—reflected a growing feeling of despair about the future. A Town Like Alice (1950) dealt with the Pacific theatre of World War II.

Dover Wilson: His most famous book, What Happens in Hamlet (1959), is an original reading of that play, and The Fortunes of Falstaff (1943) presents a picture of Falstaff as a force of evil ultimately rejected by the king. His other works include Life in Shakespeare’s England: A Book of Elizabethan…

Cameron Diaz: Later films: Charlie’s Angels, Shrek, and Gangs of New York: …also featured Kate Winslet, and What Happens in Vegas (2008). In 2010 Diaz reteamed with Cruise on the action-comedy Knight and Day. She later switched gears with Ridley Scott’s crime thriller The Counselor (2013), about drug trafficking. Her credits from 2014 include the comedy The Other Woman and Annie, an

Meg Ryan: Later work: …in 2023 with the film What Happens Later, which she directed, cowrote, and starred in opposite David Duchovny.

About 65% of Americans own their homes, spending massive amounts to buy, furnish, and maintain their humble (and not-so-humble) abodes. That’s why many investors view housing data as a bellwether of the U.S. economy, and, to a certain extent, the stock market. Making a down payment is only your

Rascal Flatts: The hit singles “What Hurts the Most” (2006), a rueful ballad, and “Life Is a Highway” (2006), a rollicking tune featured on the soundtrack to the animated film Cars, contributed to the act’s growing mainstream popularity. During this time, Rascal Flatts also won accolades from its peers, collecting…

Leo Tolstoy: Conversion and religious beliefs: …chyom moya vera? (written 1884; What I Believe); he later added Tsarstvo bozhiye vnutri vas (1893; The Kingdom of God Is Within You) and many other essays and tracts. In brief, Tolstoy rejected all the sacraments, all miracles, the Holy Trinity, the immortality of the soul, and many other tenets…

Larry Woiwode: What I Think I Did (2000) and A Step from Death (2008) are memoirs.

Larry Woiwode: Woiwode’s critically acclaimed first novel, What I’m Going to Do, I Think (1969), is a study of a newly married couple. Beyond the Bedroom Wall: A Family Album (1975) is a multigenerational saga of a North Dakota family; Born Brothers (1988) continues the story of Charles and Jerome Neumiller, characters…

accentual verse: The poem "what if a much of a which of a wind’’ by E.E. Cummings is an example of accentual verse. In the following lines from the poem the number of accents is constant at four while the number of syllables per line varies from seven to…

Caryl Churchill: … (2016), and the short play What If If Only (2021).

When you start a new job, your employer might offer several different types of insurance. You definitely need health insurance, but what about the other types, like vision and dental? And here’s a confusing one: Disability insurance. There are two types—short-term disability (STD) and long-term

When considering investment types, investors typically think of the big three: stocks, bonds, and cash. Although those traditional assets typically make up a significant chunk of investors’ portfolios, the choice set is wider than you might think. Beyond traditional investments lie alternative

If you’re a public school teacher or you work for a nonprofit organization, any retirement savings plan offered through your job will most likely be a 403(b). Total assets held by 403(b) plans amounted to more than $1.1 trillion in 2020, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in

Have you ever wondered how an organization can be nonprofit? A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization earns its classification from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) based on its primary purpose. Charitable, religious, educational, and scientific organizations commonly obtain 501(c)(3) status. The main

You’ve finally gotten a real job and it comes with benefits! Wow—health insurance and a retirement plan and even some life insurance! But what are these extra forms asking for “beneficiary information”? What should you fill in? What is a beneficiary, and why do you need one? Or maybe you’ve been

Business development companies (BDCs) are investment entities that focus on supporting smaller private enterprises. By providing both funding and managerial assistance, a BDC aims to encourage entrepreneurship and deliver returns for investors. If you’re considering adding BDCs to your portfolio,

It’s one of the key components of capitalism: Accessing money as cheaply as possible and seeking the highest possible return. Companies issue stock and bonds to investors, then use the money to fund their business enterprises. Banks attract deposits from savers by paying interest, then loan it out

Guaranteed retirement income through a company-sponsored pension plan is far less common than it used to be. Nevertheless, some employers still offer pensions, including one type that has grown in popularity: cash balance plans. These defined benefit plans are akin to traditional pension plans and

Looking to measure how a company’s marketing about its sustainability practices matches up with reality? Turn to the firm’s corporate social responsibility report. Also known as corporate sustainability reporting, CSR reports are meant to demonstrate to various company stakeholders—employees,

Are you working on paying down debt, but high interest charges have been making the process slow and arduous? If so, you might be wondering if there’s a way to move things along. You might consider taking advantage of credit card introductory incentives and consolidation by making a balance

Just about anytime you make a sizable financial transaction or agreement—apply for a loan, rent an apartment, or even land a job—someone wants to look at your credit report. But what is a credit report, and what can it be used for? And how does your credit report differ from your credit score? Key

You’ve probably heard a car commercial that mentions how “well-qualified” buyers can get a 0% interest rate for 72 months. Or maybe you’ve had to provide a bigger security deposit for an apartment compared to a friend with the same income. What does it all mean? You can find the answer in your

When you’re managing your money, do you feel comfortable being just another number at a big bank? Or are you looking for a more personal feel to your finances? Depending on your situation and preferences, you might prefer a credit union. But before joining a credit union, it’s smart to compare

Initial public offerings, or IPOs, are a well-traveled road that many companies use to sell shares to the public for the first time. But shorter paths exist, including the direct public offering (DPO), also known as a direct listing. This is when a company puts shares directly onto a stock exchange

Fiduciary. It sounds official, doesn’t it? Like those 19th century bankers in their three-piece suits and bowler hats. In a way, that’s not far off—minus the hats. In general, a fiduciary is a person or organization who acts on behalf of others. A fiduciary can be a professional like an attorney,

Have you heard of fixed-income laddering? It’s an advanced strategy that structures your investments in fixed-income securities to resemble a ladder with a series of maturity dates for the “rungs.” If you commit to fixed-income laddering by continually reinvesting, then a fixed-income ladder can

What will the price of a barrel of oil be in six months? How much will a bushel of wheat set you back a year from now? Nobody knows for sure. But such questions are why futures markets and futures contracts exist. Futures markets are a mechanism through which investors and traders track the fair

A health savings account (HSA) is a tax-advantaged account designed to help you save for health care costs. Plus, when your HSA savings levels reach a certain threshold, you can invest the money, much like a 401(k) plan or other retirement account. Key Points Health Savings AccountsA wellness

In the realm of health care planning, few documents hold as much weight and significance as a living will. This legal document is a type of advance directive that allows you to specify your preferences for medical treatment in the event that you become incapacitated and unable to communicate your

Defined benefit plans were once a mainstay of many companies’ employee benefit plans, driven largely by the industrialization of the United States in the early 20th century. Known more commonly as pension plans, the programs pay regular income throughout retirement, ensuring retirees never run out

Prenuptial agreements are often associated with the rich and famous, but even if your income is modest, you may benefit from a prenup if you want to ensure that what’s yours remains yours in case “Till death do us part” should devolve into “Spare me the pleasure of your company.” Protecting

Reverse mortgage. If you watch daytime TV, you’ve probably seen the sales pitch. A celebrity spokesperson tells you how a reverse mortgage can put cash in your pocket, help you cover expenses, and let you stay in your home. But like anything that sounds too good to be true, for every advantage,

Target-date funds, also known as life-cycle funds, are a popular mutual fund type for retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs. But they can also be used to save for a wide array of goals with a specific target date, such as a child’s college tuition. Key Points Target Date FundsIs your investing

Imagine two brands of home coffee makers. Both appliances go through similar steps in their production. Yet, according to customer reviews, one makes better coffee than the other. Regardless of their cost—whether one is more expensive than the other or whether both are similar in price—customers

If you or someone you know has a disability, then you may have heard about ABLE, the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. It was signed into law in 2014 to increase the financial security and tax benefits afforded to people with disabilities. ABLE helps beneficiaries to pay for

With people enjoying increasingly long lifespans, the need for specialized legal assistance in matters related to aging and elder care is growing. Elder law attorneys, sometimes called elder care lawyers, play a crucial role in helping older adults and their families make the best use of their

You went to the doctor for a sinus headache and they kindly sent the bill to your insurance company. Later, you received an EOB in the mail. What is this document and what does it mean to you? An explanation of benefits (EOB) is a summary document intended to help you understand medical bills after

When you fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), whether as an undergraduate or a graduate student, you’ll need to indicate a dependency status. Your dependency status can impact how much financial aid you receive, as well as the ability to claim some education credits and

Leo Tolstoy: Fiction after 1880 of Leo Tolstoy: In Chto takoye iskusstvo? (1898; What Is Art?) he argued that true art requires a sensitive appreciation of a particular experience, a highly specific feeling that is communicated to the reader not by propositions but by “infection.” In Tolstoy’s view, most celebrated works of high art derive from no real…

Blockchain may be among the buzziest technologies to disrupt the world of finance, tied to the rise of cryptocurrency, but it’s refashioning perhaps the most archaic of all financial tech: the ledger. Yes, the system that originated from the clay tablets ancient Mesopotamians used thousands of

On June 16, 1904, Irish writer James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle, a woman from western Ireland who worked as a chambermaid in Finn’s Hotel in Dublin. This romantic encounter led to a lifetime together, in which the couple lived a peripatetic life on the European continent and had

Making a big purchase online can feel unmanageable, considering you either have to part with your money all at once, or you have to pay with money you don’t (yet) have. One trend that’s made it easier to buy what you want immediately is buy now, pay later (BNPL). What is buy now, pay later? It’s

Adolf von Harnack: …Das Wesen des Christentums (1900; What Is Christianity?), which was the transcript of a course of lectures he had delivered at the University of Berlin.

Accreditation is a formal recognition that a college or university meets specific standards of quality and rigor. The process resulting in accreditation is carried out by independent or governmental agencies that evaluate institutions based on an appropriate set of criteria applied to academic

If you have debt, it’s easy for your obligations to become unmanageable. You may be feeling stressed—that’s relatable!—but you may be able to find some relief through credit counseling. A credit counselor can provide you with crucial support and education throughout your debt repayment journey. If

You’re likely already familiar with gold mining, but what is mining for cryptocurrency? Crypto mining is how some cryptocurrencies—like Bitcoin—process transactions and mint new tokens. Mining for cryptocurrency is, by design, like digitally mining for gold. Let’s explore the depths of this

You may have heard that cryptocurrency has its own unique equivalent to fixed-income assets. Instead of earning interest in the form of dollars, you earn a percentage of a batch of crypto coins you set aside and “stake.” This is what crypto staking is all about. But what’s involved, how does it

Despite its elusive nature, dark matter is a crucial component of the cosmos. Because it is electromagnetically neutral, dark matter does not interact with light and is thus impossible to see directly. Although it is invisible, we infer its existence from its gravitational effects on visible

evolution: Religious criticism and acceptance: …an American Protestant theologian, published What Is Darwinism?, one of the most articulate assaults on evolutionary theory. Hodge perceived Darwin’s theory as “the most thoroughly naturalistic that can be imagined and far more atheistic than that of his predecessor Lamarck.” He argued that the design of the human eye evinces…

Dollar cost averaging is an investment strategy in which you divide the total amount you’d like to invest into small increments over time, in hopes of lowering the average price, and aim for better returns in the long run. Have you ever decided to fill your gas tank just halfway, hoping to come

Before making any big purchase, long-term commitment, or investment, you want to know everything you can about what you’re getting into. Weigh the benefits against the risks. You’ll want to know in detail the strengths and weaknesses of whatever it is you’re purchasing. In a worst-case scenario,

Fiscal policy refers to the spending programs and tax policies that the government uses to guide the economy. Governments frequently use fiscal measures along with monetary policy to achieve economic policy goals, including: These three factors lay the general foundation for a government’s economic

What a year you had! You broke your leg right before your beach vacation (which you had to cancel), your sore tooth needed a crown, and your fender bender necessitated major car repairs. Luckily you had medical, dental, auto, and even trip insurance. The money you received in insurance claims was

Investment banking is a business that facilitates capital markets and the larger financial community. Investment bankers connect investors to companies that are raising money by issuing stocks and bonds. Most investment banks also offer broker-dealer services to help customers—often institutional

Leverage is a part of everyday financial existence for consumers. Anyone who’s taken out a mortgage to buy a house or paid for holiday gifts with a credit card has used leverage—borrowed money that enhances your immediate buying power but must be paid back. When applied to trading, leverage works

Life insurance is an important—but often misunderstood—component of an investment and financial plan. Most consumers are familiar with insurance. After all, we insure our cars, we insure our property (rental or homeowner’s), and we insure our health. Today you can’t even buy a small appliance or

Erwin Schrödinger: During this period he wrote What Is Life? (1944), an attempt to show how quantum physics can be used to explain the stability of genetic structure. Although much of what Schrödinger had to say in this book has been modified and amplified by later developments in molecular biology, his book…

literary criticism: Functions: Sartre’s own What Is Literature? (1947) is typical in its wide-ranging attempt to prescribe the literary intellectual’s ideal relation to the development of his society and to literature as a manifestation of human freedom. Similarly, some prominent American critics, including Alfred Kazin, Lionel Trilling, Kenneth Burke, Philip…

You may have noticed that every year at around the same time, word of seasonal market expectations tends to surface on Wall Street. The saying “sell in May and go away” is a popular one. So is the “Santa Claus rally.” Are these expectations just figments of Wall Street folklore, reinforced by

phenomenology: In France: …Heidegger’s Was ist Metaphysik? (1929; What Is Metaphysics?), in fact, are copied literally. The meaning of nothingness, which Heidegger in this lecture made the theme of his investigations, became for Sartre the guiding question. Sartre departs from Heidegger’s analytic of Dasein and introduces the position of consciousness (which Heidegger had…

Maya Lin: …apotheosis with the multimedia project What Is Missing? (begun 2009), an exploration of the growing threats to biodiversity that she referred to as her “final memorial.”

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is also known as referral marketing, direct marketing, or network marketing. It’s a business model in which sales are funneled through individuals and their social networks instead of through a retail outlet. This diverts the sales responsibility to individual

News literacy is the ability to determine the credibility of news and other information using the standards of quality journalism. It involves “thinking like a journalist” to determine what information to trust, share, and act on. News literacy teaches people how to think critically about timely

Nikolay Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov: …best known for his essay “What is Oblomovism” (1859–60). The essay deals with the phenomenon represented by the character Oblomov in Ivan Goncharov’s novel of that name. It established the term Oblomovism as a name for the superfluous man of Russian life and literature.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Two years later he published What Is Poetry?, a book of prose poetry, which was followed by the collection How to Paint Sunlight (2001) and Americus: Part I (2004), a history of the United States in verse. In Poetry as Insurgent Art (2007), a volume of prose poems, he exhorted…

Preferred stock is a type of security that can grant special benefits to its holders. Preferred shares also have some restrictions, which are important to understand before taking the leap to own this type of investment. How do preferred stocks differ from common stocks? The short answer is that

When investors look to yield-bearing assets in the alternative debt universe, it’s usually to pursue higher yields compared with traditional debt and fixed-income securities, and to achieve a deeper level of diversification beyond conventional stocks and bonds. One alternative investment that’s

You’ve probably heard that Bitcoin transactions are highly secure and executed with near-perfect accuracy despite lacking a central (or human) entity to verify and oversee the process. It sounds pretty amazing, but how is it possible? Crypto blockchain networks use algorithms to secure, verify, and

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: Early life and education: …Qu’est-ce que la propriété? (1840; What Is Property?, 1876). This created a sensation, for Proudhon not only declared, “I am an anarchist”; he also stated, “Property is theft!”

Back in 1992, U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot warned there’d be a “giant sucking sound” of U.S. jobs heading to Mexico due to the then-new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The fact is, offshoring —that is, U.S. companies sending production overseas—had begun long before and

When it comes to understanding how monetary policy works, many of us understand, and even expect, the simplified version: The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to rev up the engines of economic growth, and it raises interest rates to slow the economy when prices start overheating. As we

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is a U.S. government agency created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). Its main role is to provide oversight of mortgage and housing credit government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), specifically the Federal National Mortgage Association

Have you heard of the Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE) movement? It’s certainly an alluring pitch. Imagine checking out early from the soul-crushing day job to live on your terms while you’re still young. Hike the mountains, see the world, and spend time with your family. All you have to

It’s a popular myth that manufacturing no longer matters in the U.S. economy. Although China is the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter, U.S. manufacturing and mining aren’t dormant by any means, producing a hefty 18% of all the stuff the world consumes. And Wall Street keeps close tabs on

The metaverse is a network of immersive digital “worlds” that are interconnected so users can move between them, interact with other users, exchange various goods and services, and transact items for virtual or real-world ownership. As the metaverse approaches mainstream adoption—as many expect it

When a stock is rallying, we assume there’s an influx of buyers willing to pay higher prices for the shares. Similarly, when a stock’s price is falling, we assume the opposite, that sellers are trying to unload assets onto buyers who are willing to pay only lower prices. But amid the bidding-up or

The Statue of Liberty is constructed of 31 tons of 0.1-inch- (2.4-mm-) thick copper sheets that were hammered into shape by hand and assembled over a framework of iron and steel supports. When combined with its concrete and granite base, the massive statue stands 305 feet (93 meters) tall and is

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès: …General, Sieyès issued his pamphlet Qu’est-ce que le tiers état? (January 1789; “What Is the Third Estate?”), in which he identified the unprivileged Third Estate with the French nation and asserted that it alone had the right to draft a new constitution.

Did you buy anything last month, like groceries, clothing, or a knickknack for the shelf in the corner? How about a new smartphone or perhaps even a car? Congratulations. You and your stuff are part of a key monthly statistic: The monthly retail sales report. Each month, the U.S. Census Bureau

Dave Eggers: …books followed Eggers’s memoir, notably What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng (2006). The book chronicled the story of a South Sudanese man who had survived the destruction of his family’s village during Sudan’s civil war and made his way to the United States. In 2007 the…

Russian literature: The intelligentsia: …utopian novel Chto delat (1863; What Is to Be Done?). Although appallingly bad from a literary point of view, this novel, which also features a fake suicide, was probably the most widely read work of the 19th century.

Vladimir Lenin: Formation of a revolutionary party of Vladimir Lenin: In his What Is To Be Done? (1902), Lenin totally rejected the standpoint that the proletariat was being driven spontaneously to revolutionary Socialism by capitalism and that the party’s role should be to merely coordinate the struggle of the proletariat’s diverse sections on a national and international…

Have you ever pondered how the Internet works? And we’re not just talking about Web 2.0—today’s Internet of search engines, corporate websites, social media, and ultra-useful information sites like Encyclopædia Britannica—but tomorrow’s Internet. It’s called Web 3.0 or Web3, and it’s a

You may have heard the terms “unbanked” or “underbanked” before. Unbanked describes people who do not use the services of any banking institution, and underbanked describes those who have insufficient access to financial services. Everyone can benefit from being banked, and the right bank account