Joshua Kushner: 26-Year-Old VC Who Cashed In On Instagram

A story of extreme wealth, hard work, and being in the right place at the right time.  Joshua Kushner, 26 head of Thrive Capital, had wired an undisclosed amount to Instagram in the feverishly sought-after Series B round. Playing alongside VC heavyweights Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners, ­Kushner—whose ante was the second-largest investment, says one source—helped value the 18-month-old startup at $500 million. Thrive had doubled its money in about 72 hours.

Here is Kushner's story via Forbes

Joshua Kushner (David Yellen for Forbes)

Catching Up on Retirement Savings

One of the worst things that you can do an an investor who is coming up short on your retirement or other financial goal is to ratchet up your risk by changing your asset allocation.

Investors need to look at increasing their savings rate towards their goal and/or extending the time needed in order to achieve your goal.

10 Great Cities to Raise Your Kids

Kiplinger is known for creating a plethora of top 10 lists which I always find a bit intriguing.  First I am interested in how they just come up with these lists and second I wonder exactly how they actually compromise the results of the list?  Having an ever growing family this 10 Great Cities to Raise Your Kids list caught me eye

Via Kiplinger

We took a two-step approach to come up with our list of the best cities to raise kids. First, we looked for metropolitan areas with high household incomes relative to living costs, a large percentage of families with children under 18, and low crime rates. We weren’t seeking the cheapest places to live, but rather places where earnings potential is more than adequate to cover a family’s expenses. 

Then, we honed in on a specific city within each of our top 10 metro areas that’s well-suited to raising kids based on educational factors (spending per student and the quality of local school districts) as well as fun factors (availability of public parks, playgrounds and libraries). We also looked at each city’s average income for families -- as opposed to median income for all households -- to give a realistic sense of how much it can cost a family to live in a place with so many kid-centric benefits.

By the way Omaha, NE ended up being number one on this list.

Omaha, NE

The New Fear Gages

Two things to keep an eye on this week is the price of Gold and the 10-year Treasury yield.  Both are or have turned into fear indicators.  People continue to pile into the US safe haven driving prices up and yields down.  Gold on the other hand while it sometimes trades as an asset class can also trade as the currency of last resort. If gold begins to spike as it did at the end of last week this could be another signaling that the markets are heading lower.