Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

The American Ream

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Normally it only takes a small percentage change in something to make it newsworthy. If the labor force participation index, for instance, went from 62% to 61%, that would merit discussion. The chart below, however, is jaw-dropping: a 50% level of home affordability down to 16% should be front page news across the country (it isn’t). I suppose this is largely caused by the increase in interest rates coupled with the merciless acquisition of residences by private equity firms. Let’s just say I’m glad I bought my “life home” in 1991.

Compound Miracle

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The table below is fascinating, because it shows the jaw-dropping power of compound interest (as well as how much a different a small percentage makes over the long haul). The top performing stock over 30 years from the S&P 500, AMZN, had an annualized return of 33.6% whereas Microsoft, another mega-tech giant, provided 20.3%. Both excellent returns, right? The difference is that, over the past 30 years, $10,000 would have grown to $2.5 million with MSFT but $24 million with AMZN!

You can experiment yourself with “what if?” scenarios like this with this free page on Slope.