DOLLARS AND CENTS
The inside scoop on the money machine. What Wall Street actually does, why it moves, and how it reaches your wallet.
Every story is anchored to a real event. Plain-spoken, story-first, a bit irreverent. Never jargon-y.
The roadmap
Work through it in order. Open lessons first, then the stories in production.
The markets
5 lessons, open now.
- 1LESSONOPENWhat you actually own when you buy a share
Stocks and shares, and what you'd really own.
START THE LESSON→ - 2LESSONOPENWhat 'the Dow's up 300 points' actually means
Nasdaq, Dow, S&P, FTSE, the scoreboard, decoded.
START THE LESSON→ - 3LESSONOPENWhy the news won't shut up about gold
Commodities, and gold as the market's fear gauge.
START THE LESSON→ - 4LESSONOPENThe boring thing that secretly runs everything: bonds
Loans to governments and companies, and why they move your mortgage.
START THE LESSON→ - 5LESSONOPENCrypto, minus the hype and the cult
What Bitcoin actually is, without the noise.
START THE LESSON→
The products
4 lessons, open now.
- 6LESSONOPENHow credit cards make money when you slip (and how to flip it)
How cards profit, and how to make them nearly free.
START THE LESSON→ - 7LESSONOPENMortgages, actually explained
The biggest debt of your life, in plain English.
START THE LESSON→ - 8LESSONOPENThe debt that looks free and isn't: loans, overdrafts & BNPL
APR, overdrafts and Buy Now Pay Later, decoded.
START THE LESSON→ - 9LESSONOPENWhere your cash should actually sit: savings & ISAs
Why cash shrinks, and what an ISA actually is.
START THE LESSON→
How the machine works
3 stories in production.
- 1THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONWhere your money goes when you deposit it
Your bank doesn't keep your cash in a vault. Here's what it does with it.
🔒 LOCKED - 2THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONWhat 'printing money' actually means
Central banks, interest rates, and money made out of thin air.
🔒 LOCKED - 3THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONThe number that runs your life
How your credit score is built, and how to move it.
🔒 LOCKED
When the machine breaks
3 stories in production.
- 1THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONHow a bank dies in 36 hours
Silicon Valley Bank, Northern Rock, and how a rumour can kill a bank.
🔒 LOCKED - 2THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONThe man who lost $8 billion
FTX, crypto, and what happens when nobody's really holding your money.
🔒 LOCKED - 3THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONThe day Reddit took on Wall Street
GameStop, short selling, and the hedge funds that got caught out.
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When the machine is rigged
2 stories in production.
- 1THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONWhy your 'free' trading app isn't free
How commission-free trading apps actually make their money.
🔒 LOCKED - 2THE INSIDE SCOOPCOMING SOONWhere the world's money hides
Tax havens, the Panama Papers, and how the rich pay less.
🔒 LOCKED
Buzzword, decoded
3 stories in production.
- 1BUZZWORD, DECODEDCOMING SOON'Hedge fund', decoded
What a hedge fund is, and why the word gets thrown around so much.
🔒 LOCKED - 2BUZZWORD, DECODEDCOMING SOON'Quantitative easing', decoded
The scariest-sounding phrase in finance, in plain English.
🔒 LOCKED - 3BUZZWORD, DECODEDCOMING SOONRecession vs depression
What counts as a recession, and what doesn't.
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The case studies
THE BANKS BET YOUR HOUSE, WIPED YOU OUT & YOU PAID THEIR BAIL.
In 2008 the housing market took the whole banking system down with it, and taxpayers wrote the cheque.
The most important number in finance was fake.
For years, banks quietly rigged the interest rate that sets the price of trillions in loans, possibly including yours.
How 'shark' lenders make money when you can't pay.
Payday loans and credit-card traps aren't broken. They're designed to profit from people who fall behind.
Everyone says 'AI.' Almost nobody means the same thing.
The term 'ai' makes people want to roll their eyes and tune out. But ChatGPT is just the start and the end looks insane.