Author: Douglass Gaking

Doug is a certified business educator and music educator. He currently teaches businesses and computer science at Avon High School in Avon, Indiana and is the director of IGNITE Winter Percussion in Shelby County, Indiana. He was a band and choir director for 13 years and continues to judge and clinic with ensembles. He performs drums and percussion, composes and arranges music for concert band, marching band, and percussion ensemble, and teaches and writes about business, finance, and economics. He has a B.M. in Music Education from Butler University and an M.B.A. in Economics from Southern New Hampshire University. He is also an avid reader and a lover of art, history, science, and nature, especially birds and other wildlife.
Sale-leaseback: Corporations’ New Scheme To Steal American Homes
Essays

Sale-leaseback: Corporations’ New Scheme To Steal American Homes

Douglass GakingLeave a comment

Maybe you are elderly and on a fixed income, or for some other reason you cannot afford a major increase in your cost of living, but you live in a Midwestern city where the cost of living is traditionally low. You’ve owned your home for years and have plenty of equity, so you should have financial security, right?

Not so fast. Private equity firms and other “property investors” have bought up homes in your neighborhood to flip them and/or rent them out, driving up house prices. Your county assessor raised their appraisal of your home, and now you can’t afford your new property tax bill. But have no fear, the millionaires and billionaires who caused this problem for you are also here to offer a solution.

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Book Review: Active Value Investing
Book Reviews · Investing

Book Review: Active Value Investing

Douglass GakingLeave a comment

I read a lot of books about finance and investing, and this is one of the best. I seriously put this on par with Benjamin Graham (The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis, Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters), and John Mihaljevic (The Manual of Ideas). It is that good.

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A Christmas Carol Is a Lesson in Opportunity Cost
Economics · Personal Finance

A Christmas Carol Is a Lesson in Opportunity Cost

Douglass GakingLeave a comment

Opportunity cost is the how you would spend your time or money if you chose your favorite alternative to the choice you are making. For example, I am tempted to add the extra sports package to my Sling TV account, but it costs an additional $11 per month. $11 doesn’t seem like much, but if put into my retirement account instead, $11 per month is $6,000-8,000 in future value. Using the 4% rule, that’s about $300 in future annual income, or about $25 per month in retirement income. So an $11 per month now costs me $25 per month later. That’s a heavy opportunity cost that one might not consider before making a seemingly small financial decision.

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Book Review: How to Prepare for Climate Change
Book Reviews

Book Review: How to Prepare for Climate Change

Douglass GakingLeave a comment

I enjoy watching David Pogue host episodes of Nova on PBS. He is great at taking complex science and making it accessible and interesting to the view. His new book, How to Prepare for Climate ChangeL A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos, is along those same lines.

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