Squandering Aimlessly: My Adventures in the American Marketplace
2/5
()
About this ebook
"I think Warren Buffett's got the problem and Gates has the problem and Bloomberg's got the problem," the billionaire said. "And the problem doesn't just have to be at our level. It can be with people who have just a couple of million bucks." It was the second "just" in that sentence that made tears well up in Brancaccio's eyes.
Most of us once thought the problem was getting some money. Now what?
Squander: to spend or use something precious in a wasteful way. Squandering ranks even below "leaving it in a passbook savings account" on the list of the greatest personal finance sins of our age, according to Brancaccio, who hit the road to determine the right answer to the question of what to do with money. Brancaccio gets this question from Marketplace listeners all the time: What does one do with a lump sum, perhaps the proceeds from some stock options, the profit on the sale of a house, an inheritance, a bonus, a settlement, or even a modest accumulation in a savings account?
A natural storyteller, Brancaccio has a clear, intelligent, and delightfully offbeat way of explaining to his listeners the complexities of business, investing, and the economy. He has access to rivers of market information that should help answer this question of what to do with money. But data do not necessarily equal wisdom, so Brancaccio hit upon the idea of venturing out on a random "walk" to acquire some street smarts.
Imagining a windfall of his own and haunted by his own checkered history with money, Brancaccio embarked on a funny and irreverent personal finance pilgrimage. His travels took him from Minnesota's Mall of America to New York City's Wall Street to one of the poorest towns in the West. He encountered entrepreneurs in California, homeowners in New York, retirees in Arizona, and some folks following their lifelong dreams in Texas. A drifter in a desert offered advice. So did a U.S. secretary of the treasury.
Along the way, Brancaccio was challenged by a cascade of practical and philosophical issues: If consumption drives the economy, is there something wrong with saving? Is there such a thing as a socially responsible investment? Is charity an investment? If you can't beat a Las Vegas casino, can you beat the stock market?
While Brancaccio's journey was a personal one, his eye-opening adventures reveal a great deal about attitudes toward money in America at the dawn of the new century -- and they provide entertaining lessons about how best to spend, invest, and save.
David Brancaccio
David Brancaccio is host and senior editor of Marketplace, the half-hour business and finance magazine program produced by the University of Southern California and distributed nationwide by PRI Public Radio International. Putting a human face on the global economy, the program illuminates the ways that international business and finance relates to listeners' daily lives. It is the fastest-growing public radio program in America, quadrupling its audience in the five years Brancaccio has been host. In 1998 it won broadcast journalism's top honor, the Dumont-Columbia Award for excellence. Brancaccio received his Bachelor's degree in history and African studies from Wesleyan University, in Connecticut. He received his Master's degree in journalism from Stanford University, where he also taught a graduate level course in broadcast news writing. The son of a Colby College English professor, Brancaccio also had the experience of attending schools in Italy, Madagascar and Ghana. He speaks French and some German and Italian. Brancaccio began his broadcasting career in Maine, where he served as newscaster, reporter and announcer for Waterville's WTVL-AM/FM for six years. Since then, Brancaccio has gained experience in several major markets, including newscasting and reporting positions at KQED-FM, San Francisco, and WASH-FM, Washington, D.C. In addition to these staff positions he did freelance reporting assignments for Marketplace, National Public Radio, Monitor Radio, Calnet and Voice of America. During his three years at KQED, Brancaccio caught the ear of Marketplace' international editor George Lewinski, who, with the support of Marketplace executive producer Jim Russell, ultimately offered him a freelance assignment: to set up and maintain an informal news bureau in London. The bureau soon became a full-fledged operation. Brancaccio served as London bureau chief for three years before being promoted to his current position in September 1993. During his three years of reporting for Marketplace and Monitor Radio programs, Brancaccio covered Europe's rocky path toward economic and political union. He rode the gauntlet with British truck drivers while under attack from French farmers protesting the low price of British meat, and he reported on British consumers' attempt to take advantage of the single European market by importing liquor and cigarettes cheaply from neighboring countries. He also covered historic losses at Lloyds of London insurance market, described the effect of BCCI's collapse on Asian businesses in Britain, and documented Eastern Europe's bid to become part of the European Community. "Brancaccio's international reporting and considerable travel overseas give him the kind of global perspective on news that the Marketplace host must have," noted Marketplace Productions' general manager, Jim Russell.
Related to Squandering Aimlessly
Related ebooks
Outrageous Crimes of Fashion: Breaking All The Rules of Fashion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrand Menteur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSplit Ends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vanishing Room Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHappiness Sold Separately Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Traces of a Boy: Reflections of the Unfathomable Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReminiscences of a Wall Street Trader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJustommy: Notting Hill Ponces Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStraight to Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, and Billion-Dollar Deals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Error World: An Affair with Stamps Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Poet's Legacy On a Razor's Edge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDown and Out Today: Notes from the Gutter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecret Desires of the One Percent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBad Choices Make Good Stories: The Strange True Story of the First Influencer: The Complete Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAround the World in 80 Scams: an Essential Travel Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDunyon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecrets of a Pet Nanny: A Journey from the White House to the Dog House Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Goodbye Islands: Tongan Redux Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kindness Diaries: One Man's Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Will That Be Cash or 'Cuffs? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Revelation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTacit Resonances: Viktor A. King Anna, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Lucky Break Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Top 10 Short Stories - The 1890's - The Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Calling (Part 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Top 10 Short Stories - The US Authors of the South Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Both Sides of the Fence: Searching for Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCartier's Hope: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Popular Culture & Media Studies For You
100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And The Mountains Echoed Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thick: And Other Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Communion: The Female Search for Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth: Sex, Love, Commitment, and the Puzzle of the Male Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regarding the Pain of Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dream Dictionary from A to Z [Revised edition]: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Microdosing with Amanita Muscaria: Creativity, Healing, and Recovery with the Sacred Mushroom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Squandering Aimlessly
4 ratings0 reviews