Forbes: Schlonging the Dragon: Three Essays To Get You Into B-School

By SIMON CONSTABLE

If you want to go to B-school you can write an essay which details every certificate you ever earned or every piece of paper you once shuffled. You could spend six months crafting something with many caveats and weasel words about what you did.

Alternatively, you could learn to tell a story. Compelling tales capture the imagination in 

ways that simply listing a series of events cannot. Here are three examples. In the first two cases, you will need to adapt the narrative to your specific work situation. Shoehorn your story into these templates.

The third essay is self explanatory and probably not applicable to most people.

Read more here.

Forbes: Worst Boss Part 9

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Part nine of a continuing series, which outlines how you too can be an appalling manager. Read part eight here.

To be supportive to your employees means that sometimes you must prevent them from hurting themselves. Such interventions can also sometimes cause your department to suffer. Still, it's what a compassionate person does.

Of course, as a potential "worst boss possible" you shouldn't be so caring. Instead, you should exploit your workers at a time when they really need help and compassion. Read more here.

Photo by Hayley Maxwell on Unsplash

U.S. News: Is the End in Sight for the Natural Gas Slide?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Investors hoping for a turnaround in natural gas prices may have to wait until the second half of the year, at the earliest. 

Prices for the commodity, which is used for heating homes, power generation and to make plant food, have been in a downtrend for almost two years. Front-month futures contracts were recently trading at $2.188 per million British thermal units on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The last major peak in prices was in February 2014 at more than $8, according to the Energy Information Administration. 

Reasons for the rout are legion and include the global decline in commodity demand, increases in supply from new techniques of extraction and a strong U.S. dollar, which makes all dollar dominated materials cheaper. 

Read more here.

Forbes: Snow Day Money Tasks!

By SIMON CONSTABLE

East coast snowpocaplyse shouldn’t become a wasted day. Quite the contrary. It presents the perfect opportunity to review (and plan) your financial life for the year ahead. Instead of binge-watching “Breaking Bad” or the “Making of a Murderer,” tackle these tasks first, then reward yourself with a movie later in the day. Read more here.

Photo by Fabian Mardi on Unsplash

OZY: An Investing Legend on the Global Market Woes

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The bears are coming. Bear markets, that is. Already, stocks in the U.K., France and Japan have plummeted more than 20 percent from their highs in 2015, which is traditionally seen as bear market territory, while U.S. equities have had their worst start to a year on record. 

But you don’t see investing legend and Princeton University economist Burton Malkiel hitting the panic button. In a recent sit-down with OZY, the author of the best-selling investment classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street remained calm as he discussed global stock swings, China’s slowdown and positive prospects for the future of the U.S. economy — as evidenced by what we’ll call the Chewbacca or C-3PO effect. Read more here.

Photo by Ibrahim Boran on Unsplash

U.S. News: Why Mutual Funds Lost Their Mojo

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Staying power usually means a lot on Wall Street. But apparently when it comes to mutual funds, hardly any portfolio managers have such mojo. 

Mutual funds with managers who pick securities rather than follow an index – so-called actively managed funds – seem to have little or no ability to stay ahead of the competition, even for periods as short as five years.

"Over a longer-term investment horizon, it is very, very hard for a manager to maintain a top quartile performance," says Aye Soe, senior director of global research and design at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Read more here.

OZY: When Trade School Meets Wall Street

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Imagine a scene of industrial lathes spinning, sparks flying from a welding torch and flames shooting up from workbenches. It’s a classic industrial workshop, just like the one where I studied for five years during high school in northern England. In a sense, it was like a trade school. We were learning the skills for the workplace, but the relevant jobs had mostly disappeared before we even finished. Now, it’s relevant again, because of increasing calls to encourage more studying at trade school rather than college. Read more here.