Snowy Halloween

Another Halloween is upon us. For the past many years on Halloween I have walked through the streets of New York and even the halls of Grand Central Terminal only to find all kinds of goblins, ghouls and freaks (or at least noticeably more so than on a normal day in the city). But this [...]

Mint.com

I have always considered myself frugal, but I have never been good at keeping a budget. I live within my means and know when I can afford something and when I can’t. But a hard-numbers budget allowing me to only spend a certain amount on one category is not something I have done well in [...]

Home-Grown Concerns

Some say that home ownership is wonderful, but purchasing a home is a horrible experience. I must say that I agree with the latter. After sitting on the sidelines for years and paying specific attention to the market for the past fifteen months, my wife and I are now ready to take the plunge and [...]

Beautiful Seattle

Every time I’m in Seattle I am impressed with its beauty. Growing up there I didn’t always appreciate the beauty in the area. There are few other places in this country where one can live with a moderate climate, instant access to a major ocean and nearby mountains. San Francisco and Portland are two other [...]

Life in the City: Before and After

Prior to moving to New York I had this idea of how I wanted to live my life there. It may have been just a dream, but it was what I wanted to do. In my four and a half years since coming to New York, my life has worked out a bit differently, although [...]

Unprecedented Times

These are unprecedented times, at least for my lifetime. From where I sit at work, I can hear the hedge fund guys speak with our clients/investors and with other hedge funds. Things are bad across the board out there. Sure, the DJIA falls quite a bit each day, but there are so many other gauges [...]

Complying with Compliance

During my last year of law school I interviewed with one of the bulge-bracket investment banks in New York for a position in the regulatory compliance / anti-money laundering department. While I was hoping to get a job with a law firm, I was at least interested enough in exploring other opportunities. At the time, [...]