How many times have you read that Roth accounts will be “tax free forever?” Alas, forever is a very long time, and also not a word much used by adults, outside of church. So consider this post a kind of apostasy. It may cost you your faith in Roth. The present income…
Ever since Roth conversions were liberalized in 2006, a steady stream of accounts have appeared in various media outlets, purporting to show that you ought to do a Roth conversion. Most accounts wave the bloody shirt of Required Minimum Distributions (RMD), and the dread tax burden you will someday suffer,…
Visual Branding: Rhetorical and Historical Analyses Edward F. McQuarrie and Barbara J. Phillips Forthcoming from Edward Elgar, 2016 Back Story This book will be published toward the end of 2016. It represents the first fruits of breaking free of the journal publication grind (see New Consumer Online page) We bring…
Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric Edited by Edward F. McQuarrie & Barbara J. Phillips Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008 ISBN-13: 978-0765618016 Amazon The table of contents is available on Amazon, along with portions of the first chapter, which explains the meaning of advertising rhetoric, and how the rhetorical…
Triggered by William Deresiewicz’ book Excellent Sheep, the past year has seen its share of wailing and gnashing of teeth by Humanities scholars, most recently by Jackson Lears in Commonweal. The laments, while familiar, have new urgency: A soulless pragmatism squeezes the Humanities; universities have succumbed to rationalization and disenchantment,…
This can make good financial sense (but maybe not so much, in psychological terms; apologies for any marital stress this post may cause). You’ve heard of the marriage tax penalty; but you will be shocked to learn how steep it can be. When that penalty is large enough, it costs…
Back in 2014, I was pleased to see my daughter earn a ‘5’ on her AP European History test (this will not be a complaint about victimization by standardized testing). Gratified, but curious about what a ‘5’ really means, I went searching for a translation: how good is that top…
The current admissions process for elite colleges is a mess. I’m not here to defend it. My goal: to expose the problems with Steven Pinker’s proposed solution. I take Professor Pinker to be an eminent member of the scientific elite: he’s published dozens of papers and books, and he’s been…
I wrote this essay for my daughter and her peers, to help them adjust to the rejection letter they are almost certain to receive from Princeton—or Harvard, Yale, and Stanford (collectively, HYSP). I hope it may help other parents too. I write as a Dad. My responsibility is to convey…