What? Yeah, that was my reaction too. And guess where I heard this? At a homeless shelter. Indeed.
 
This morning, I gave a talk at a homeless shelter in Santa Monica. A really cool place called Turning Point which helps homeless people get into permanent housing and jobs in  two to nine months. They require that […]

Some friends of mine recently made a pledge to cut out all discretionary spending. We sat in their living room together, and their conviction was palpable. “Nothing. Not another purchase in 2008 unless we can’t live without it.” The week before, they had had to scramble to come up with enough for their mortgage payment, […]

It was January 1980. I was 12 years old, and about to be bar-mitzvah’d (the coming-of-age ceremony in the Jewish tradition). My stepfather convinced me to put all of the money I’d received in gifts into Krugerrands, the South African 1 oz. gold coins. I vividly recall him saying “Gold’s a great investment. It’s got […]