Daniel Kim

By Daniel Kim TLDR In 2022, the S&P 500 lost 18.1% and the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index lost 13.0% — the bond index's worst calendar year since it began in 1976. A classic 60/40 portfolio fell about 16.9%, only about one percentage point better than holding stocks alone. The cause was inflation: the Federal Reserve raised rates 425 basis points in nine months, and bond prices fall when rates rise. Diversification is not dead — but diversification built only on stocks and bonds fails exactly when inflation drives a selloff. This post shows the numbers, explains why the hedge broke, and gives you four checks to run on your own portfolio this week. The promise that broke Every investor has heard the rule: stocks zig, bonds zag. When stocks fall, bonds are supposed to catch you. For most of the last forty years, that rule worked. In 2008, when the S&P 500 lost 37.0%, bonds gained 5.2% — the cushion did its job, and balanced portfolios lost about 20% instead of 37%....

Gas Prices Under $4 — But You Pay $710 More a Year Gas Prices Under $4 — But You Pay $710 More a Year By Daniel Kim | November 10, 2026 TLDR: gas prices at a glance Save this: Gas prices fell to a national average of $3.98 a gallon for regular gasoline on Tuesday, November 10, 2026 — the first reading below $4 since July 20, according to AAA . That is down from $4.15 a week ago and $4.37 a month ago. But the same gallon cost $3.07 a year ago, so a driver who fills a 15-gallon tank once a week is still paying about $710 more per year than last fall. Diesel has barely moved: $6.16 a gallon, against $3.74 a year ago. The drop is real relief, not a return to cheap gas — and the cheapest move this week is to fill up now rather than wait for a lower price that may not come. Photo by ddlogg on Pexels Gas prices: the number that changed today On Tuesday morning, November 10, 2026, the AAA national average for regular gasoline stood at $3.9788 a gallon, with AAA data report...

One 10-second AI video clip costs $3.00 on one platform, $3.52 on another, and about $9.12 on a third. Same model, same length, same resolution. The model is Seedance 2.5, ByteDance's video generator, and the price gap is not a rounding error. It is three different platforms selling Seedance credits at three different rates. And every take you throw away costs that amount again. A clip you generate four times before you like it is not a $3.52 clip. It is a $14.08 clip. The way to stop paying for your own mistakes is to check everything before a single credit is spent. This post shows the exact prices, checked November 9, 2026, and the check-first workflow from a published AI drama production guide: a free review of the still image and the prompt before any paid generation runs, cheap tests before the final take, and payment only for the keeper. TLDR: Seedance 2.5 makes up to 30 seconds of video in one generation. The same 10-second 720p clip costs $3.00 through Runway...

Your $56 Raise Lost $215 a Year to Medicare Part B Premiums Your $56 Raise Lost $215 a Year to Medicare Part B Premiums Your Social Security check went up in January 2026. If you are the average retired worker, it went up by $56 a month. That is the good news, and it is real money: $672 over the full year. Here is the part nobody put in the headline. Your Medicare Part B premium went up in the same month, by $17.90 a month. Over the year, that is $214.80. Nearly a third of your raise never reaches your bank account. It goes straight from Social Security to Medicare before you ever see it, because for most people the Part B premium is deducted from the benefit check itself. This is not a mistake, and it is not a scam. It is how the two programs interact every year. But 2026 is a particularly sharp example, because the premium rose 9.7% while the cost-of-living adjustment was 2.8%. This article shows the exact math for a typical retiree and for a couple, explains why the pr...

TLDR The 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment lifts the average retired worker's Social Security benefit from $2,015 to $2,071 a month starting in January 2026 — about $56 more. But the standard Medicare Part B premium rises $17.90 at the same time, from $185.00 to $202.90, so the average retiree who pays the standard premium keeps $38.10 of that $56. Your exact amount is in your COLA notice — check it in your my Social Security account. Social Security checks went up in January 2026. If yours looked bigger, it was — and if it did not look $56 bigger, there is a reason, and it is printed on the same notice as the raise. The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced a 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2026 , and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) set the standard Medicare Part B premium at $202.90 a month for the same year. The two numbers arrive together, in the same check, and the second one takes a bite out of the first. This post works thr...