Millennials' Financial Problems

The Huffington Post has an article about why Millennials are in such a bad financial position.  (And no it's not because of avocado toast.)

What is different about us as individuals compared to previous generations is minor. What is different about the world around us is profound. Salaries have stagnated and entire sectors have cratered. At the same time, the cost of every prerequisite of a secure existence—education, housing and health care—has inflated into the stratosphere. From job security to the social safety net, all the structures that insulate us from ruin are eroding. And the opportunities leading to a middle-class life—the ones that boomers lucked into—are being lifted out of our reach. Add it all up and it’s no surprise that we’re the first generation in modern history to end up poorer than our parents.

Apollo Astronauts Insurance

UKInsuranceNet.com has an article about an unusual form of life insurance used by the Apollo astronauts. Since they were unable to get normal life insurance what they did was sign postcards that would be posted (and hence postmarked) when the rockets took off. The theory was that if the rockets crashed the cards would be worth a fortune.

via Dark Roasted Blend

What's up with bond holders

My friend Tim has a blog post about why some bond holders have an interest in driving the companies whose bonds they hold into bankruptcy. Basically if you have insured the bond using a Credit Default Swap (a CDS - one of the derivatives that is so much in the news lately) then you get all your money back if the issuer of the bond goes under. You'll get a lot less than that in a settlement.