I’m always trying to turn things upside down and see if they look any better.

— Tibor Kalman.

The Upside

The financial press pumps out headlines about growing profits and rising stock prices. You’d think this news would be good for you right? Good news for companies means good news for you and I? When companies do well, we all do well…

Yay markets!

The Downside

Actually…

85% of the US stock market is owned by the wealthiest 10% of Americans.

So when companies do well, the vast majority of the benefits go to a very small portion of the population.

Period.

The The Upside Down Side

If this all seems a bit upside down, you’re right. Should we really be cheering a soaring stock market and record company profits? What are we really getting out of this?

If you, like me, make most of your money from your paycheck, you have very different priorities than the small number of people who make their money from investments. The financial headlines really do not apply to you the same way they apply to the top 10%.

So, we’re going to use this site to turn finance upside down (right side up?) to make sure we understand what finance means to us, the regular, average paycheck earning American.