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Beyond Returns: The Constitutional Scorecard for Your Financial Success

Throughout this series, we've carefully taken apart the idea of "return" to understand what it truly means. We’ve looked beyond the surface numbers to consider the impact of inflation, taxes, and risk. Now, in our final installment, we’ll perform the most important task of

Are You a Good Investor, or Do You Have a Good Investment? A Tale of Two Returns

In our previous post in this series, we explored the difference between arithmetic and geometric average returns, highlighting how the order of returns matters. Today, we take that concept a step further to resolve one of the most common—and often frustrating—contradictions in personal finance: the gap between how

investments-true-return-series

The Deceptive Average: Why Volatility Skews Your 'Average' Investment Return

Have you ever looked at your investment statements and felt a sense of disconnect? On one hand, you calculate the "average" annual return over a few years and it looks pretty good. But when you look at your actual account balance, the growth doesn't seem to

investments-true-return-series

Your Investment Return Isn't What You Think: The One Number You're Probably Ignoring

Have you ever looked at your investment statement, seen a healthy green number—say, a 7% or 8% gain—and felt a sense of accomplishment, only to then go to the grocery store or the gas station and feel like you’re falling behind? It’s a frustrating and common