Latest articles · 2026-09-20 ↓
Latest articles
Fifth collection · Three new questions about inflation-protected bonds, credit-card interest and futures curves. Previous collection retained below.
TIPS adjusted principal is not a market price or a purchase-price guarantee
Separate inflation indexing, the amount a buyer will pay today, and the principal floor that applies at maturity.
Why credit card APR is not your monthly interest bill
Daily balances, payment timing and purchase grace periods explain why dividing APR by twelve does not reproduce a statement.
Contango and backwardation: why a futures curve is not a spot-price forecast
Separate delivery-month price differences, convergence and the return from maintaining a futures position.
Why a stock split price adjustment is not a stock-price crash
A lower quote can mean smaller share units, not lost wealth. Separate the split arithmetic from the market return.
Why selling a brokered CD early can cost you principal
No early-withdrawal penalty does not mean a guaranteed sale at your purchase price.
Why the average electricity price is not your household bill
A cents-per-kWh statistic, a utility tariff and a monthly payment measure different things. Here is how to compare them without double-counting charges.
ISSUE 01 / THE BOUNDARIES OF A QUOTE
A price is a number.
Context makes it useful.
The gold benchmark is not the shop price. A reference rate is not what arrives in your account. We unpack units, purity, timing and costs so comparisons mean something.
THE LEAD NOTE
METALS / COMPARISON
One metal. Three different gold prices.
A benchmark, a shop price and a buyback offer answer different questions. Here is how to compare them without inventing a “fair premium”.
Read the full explanation →One question, carefully unpacked.
18 original topics · two languages18K gold: calculate the metal, not the price tag.
A purity mark helps estimate fine-gold content. It does not authenticate a piece or establish its resale price.
925 silver: why melt value is not your payout.
A clean calculation for sterling silver, with explicit limits for plated, weighted and mixed-material objects.
The ECB rate is a reference, not your exchange quote.
Read direction, date and fees before deciding that a bank or currency converter is “wrong”.
Crude is down. Why isn’t gasoline down by the same amount?
A U.S.-focused explanation of components, timing and the limits of a one-line oil-to-pump comparison.
“Updated just now” does not mean the price is new.
A field guide to observation time, publication time and retrieval time—and why a stale-looking number may still be the latest release.
Keep the context. Keep your dashboard.
Your original dashboard remains available. On the same browser and site, saved boards and drafts use the same storage. Reading these notes does not clear them.
Open original dashboard