Find all of the following, explained in plain-English: How your Social Security retirement benefits, spousal benefits, and widow/widower benefits are calculated How your benefits are affected if you have a government pension or if you continue working while claiming Social Security How to decide when is the best age for you (and your spouse, if you're married) to claim Social Security in order to get the most out of your benefits Whether or not it makes sense to take Social Security early in order to invest the money How to check your earnings record on the Social Security Administration's website to make sure you're getting the full benefit you deserve How Social Security benefits are taxed and how this affects retirement tax planning Please note that this book does not cover Social Security disability benefits or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

    Carlota Perez draws upon Schumpeter's theories of the clustering of innovations to explain why each technological revolution gives rise to a paradigm shift and a "New Economy" and how these "opportunity explosions", focused on specific industries, also lead to the recurrence of financial bubbles and crises. These findings are illustrated with examples from the past two centuries: the industrial revolution, the age of steam and railways, the age of steel and electricity, the emergence of mass production and automobiles, and the current information revolution/knowledge society. By analyzing the changing relationship between finance capital and production capital during the emergence, diffusion and assimilation of new technologies throughout the global economic system, this book sheds light on some of the most pressing economic problems of today.

    We’ve comea long way since then. With this book, Drs. Romero and Balch liftthe veil from many of these once-opaque concepts in high-techfinance. We can all benefit from learning how the cooperationbetween wetware and software creates fitter models. This bookdoes a fantastic job describing how the latest advances in financialmodeling and data science help today’s portfolio managerssolve these greater riddles. —Michael Himmel, ManagingPartner, Essex Asset ManagementI applaud Phil Romero’s willingness to write about the hedgefund world, an industry that is very private, often flamboyant,and easily misunderstood. As with every sector of the investmentlandscape, the hedge fund industry varies dramaticallyfrom quantitative “black box” technology, to fundamental researchand old-fashioned stock picking. This book helps investorsdistinguish between these diverse opposites and understandtheir place in the new evolving world of finance. —Mick Elfers,Founder and Chief Investment Strategist, Irvington Capital

    This book will explain what cryptocurrencies are in the most simple way possible - how to select the right cryptocurrencies and how to invest in them. You will learn about the risks and the potential profits. No matter whether you want to become a crypto expert or just want to get the basics - this book is for you.

    Authored by Product Managers from Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, Bubble or Revolution cuts through the hype to offer a balanced, comprehensive, and accessible analysis of blockchains and cryptocurrencies.You'll learn the core concepts of these technologies and understand their strengths and weaknesses from real-world case studies; dive deep into their technical, economic, political, and legal complexities; and gain insights about their future from exclusive interviews with dozens of tech industry leaders. No coding or math needed!Are cryptocurrencies and blockchains a bubble or a revolution? We'll help you decide for yourself.What's inside:Bitcoin and the blockchainHow Bitcoin and blockchains work from a technical perspective with no assumed technical knowledgeSatoshi Nakamoto and the history of Bitcoin, the original blockchainA thorough overview of crucial crypto concepts (eg. blocks, keys, mining, nodes, etc.)Frameworks for understanding when it actually makes sense to use blockchainMajor application scenarios for blockchain and cryptocurrencies and where it'll fall flatPublic blockchains and altcoinsEmerging trends in blockchain technologyWhat you should know before buying any cryptocurrencyAn overview of Etherum and smart contractsAn overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the top altcoins and stable coins, including Monero (XMR), Tether (USDT), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)Alternatives to blockchain and cryptocurrenciesNew kinds of decentralized ledger technology (dlt)The economics of both traditional payment methods and cryptocurrenciesCryptocurrency security best practices and major breach case studiesPrivate blockchainsHow blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and traditional banking and finance will interact with one another in the futurePublic blockchains vs private blockchainsLimitations and shortcomings of public blockchains and cryptocurrenciesThe role of blockchain in the strategy of top tech companies like Facebook and MicrosoftCase studies of how non-tech companies are effectively utilizing blockchain (eg. Walmart using it to prevent foodborne illness)Business blockchain case studies ranging from gaming (e.g. Xbox) to cloud services (e.g. Microsoft Azure's blockchain-as-a-service and Amazon's AWS offering)Blockchain's use for big data, internet of things (IoT), and machine learning (ML)Cryptocurrency regulation and policyICOs vs STOs vs IPOsICOs' status as securitiesThe SEC's STO rules and Reg A+/CF/D/SKYC and AML lawsThe debate over whether cryptocurrencies are securitiesThe official stance of various countries on cryptoAn overview of crypto policy and regulatory hurdlesThe role of crypto in emerging markets and ChinaDigital democracy and voting on the blockchainThe future of decentralized technologyIf, how, and when the tokenization of national currencies will play outFacebook and WhatsApp's upcoming cryptocurrenciesCurrency tokenization and China's efforts to tokenize the yuanBlockchain, IoT, and the tangleCryptocurrencies vs. fiat vs. the gold standardPredictions about the future of money, business, and currencyWhy blockchains would do better on Mars than Earth

    

    Instead they shared with me their "career acumen" secrets, things they wished they had learned at school, but instead have had to learn the hard way..through years of experience. In this book, you will hear these leaders' secrets around: -Finding and using your superpowers , the qualities that make you completely unique and memorable - A script for how to negotiate your salary (in a non-aggressive way) and influence your managers and peers from day one - How to do that infamous "networking" thing everyone talks about, especially if you're not a networking event kind of person - How to have professional presence that sets you apart from everyone else - How to hit the ground running in the first 100 days and be the "rockstar" employee everyone talks about and wishes they could hire more of I've had all kinds of adventures during my 10 years of engineering at Microsoft but my absolute favorite thing has been building relationships, speaking to, and mentoring people (both in and out of the tech industry) on how to achieve their career goals while still being themselves. When I interviewed 25 tech leaders for advice on the questions I get over and over, I wanted to share it with more than just my mentees. This book is full of practical, do-today things as well as "scripts" and email templates that we have all actually used. Read the book and let's talk. I love reaching and meeting new people and you can now consider me “in your network” and I hope I can do the same for you. My best always, Dona

    Analysing various case studies of innovation-led growth, it describes the opposite situation, whereby the private sector only becomes bold enough to invest after the courageous State has made the high-risk investments.The volume argues that in the history of modern capitalism, the State has generated economic activity that would not otherwise have happened, and has actively opened up new technologies and markets that private investors can later move into. Far from the often heard criticisms of the State potentially 'crowding out' private investments, the State makes them happen, shaping and creating markets, not only 'fixing' them. Ignoring this reality only serves ideological ends, and hurts effective policymaking.This book examines case studies ranging from the advent of the Internet to the emergence of the biotechnology and nanotechnology industries. In particular, the volume debunks the myth that Silicon Valley was created by entrepreneurial venture capital. A key chapter focuses on the State investments behind Apple's success, and reveals that every major technology behind the iPhone owes its source to public funds. Thus, while entrepreneurial individuals like Steve Jobs are needed, their success is nearly impossible without their ability to ride the wave of State investments. And if Europe wants its own Googles, it needs more State action, not less.Two forward-looking chapters focus on the emergence of the next big thing after the internet: the 'green revolution'. Both solar and wind technology are currently being led by State spending, whether through the US ARPA-E programme or the Chinese and Brazilian State investment banks. The discussion refreshingly moves beyond the usual division between proponents of austerity vs. the proponents of fiscal stimulus. It argues that State investments not only help kick-start growth during periods of recession, but that they also, even in boom periods, lead to productive investments in radical new technologies which later foster decades of growth.The book ends with a fundamental question: if the State is so important to investments in high-risk innovation, why does it capture so little direct return?

    The rapid maturation of PHP has created a skeptical population of users from more traditional enterprise languages who question the readiness and ability of PHP to scale, as well as a large population of PHP developers without formal computer science backgrounds who have learned through the hands-on experimentation while developing small and midsize applications in PHP. While there are many books on learning PHP and developing small applications with it, there is a serious lack of information on scaling PHP for large-scale, business-critical systems. Schlossnagle's Advanced PHP Programming fills that void, demonstrating that PHP is ready for enterprise Web applications by showing the reader how to develop PHP-based applications for maximum performance, stability, and extensibility.

    Perhaps you thought of grocery stores or something sexy like internet retailing, but chances are you didn’t think of banking. Yet, most likely you interact with a bank every time you’re paid and when you pay your bills. Banks facilitate the flow of money through the economy and even if you don’t interact with a bank daily, the businesses you deal with on a daily basis do. For all the interaction people have with banks, few understand how they work or why they work. Even fewer understand why they should consider including bank stocks in their investment portfolio. There are a lot of misconceptions about banks, including understanding what they are and what they do. For many people the word “bank” evokes images of receiving a toaster upon opening an account, or thoughts of security related to the storing of precious items in a safety deposit box. Others might go further and tap their inner Michael Moore and talk about how banks are greedy and evil. It’s our belief that banks aren’t just places to store idle savings (on which you receive virtually nothing in interest) or to cash checks, but that they should be an integral part of an investor’s portfolio. The goal of this book is to provide you with a foundation and framework with which you can both begin to understand banks, but also learn the basic tools used to analyze banks as investments.

    We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. This bold, contrarian view, backed up by exhaustive research, introduces our near-term future, where exponentially growing technologies and three other powerful forces are conspiring to better the lives of billions. An antidote to pessimism by tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist, Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler. Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing—fast. The authors document how four forces—exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion—are conspiring to solve our biggest problems. Abundance establishes hard targets for change and lays out a strategic roadmap for governments, industry and entrepreneurs, giving us plenty of reason for optimism.Examining human need by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis and Kotler introduce dozens of innovators making great strides in each area: Larry Page, Steven Hawking, Dean Kamen, Daniel Kahneman, Elon Musk, Bill Joy, Stewart Brand, Jeff Skoll, Ray Kurzweil, Ratan Tata, Craig Venter, among many, many others.

    In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye. It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts. The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet.Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It’s a story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real.

    In Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance, he reveals the truth about how the subprime lending business spiraled out of control, pushed home prices to unsustainable levels, and turned unqualified applicants into qualified borrowers through creative financing. Learn about the ways the mortgage industry can be fixed with his twenty suggestions for critical change.

    It is within the realm of possibility that their work may usher in a change in global economics as profound as the Industrial Revolution. As may be expected, press reports dealing with asteroid mining have been numerous, ranging in scope from short and breezy to broad and serious, and in quality from accurate to impressionistic to simply uninformed. There is good reason to be curious about what may be the biggest game-changer in human economic history. And there is good reason to look closely at the underlying science and engineering that form the foundation of this work.

    In Rise of the Robots, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford argues that this is absolutely not the case. As technology continues to accelerate and machines begin taking care of themselves, fewer people will be necessary. Artificial intelligence is already well on its way to making “good jobs” obsolete: many paralegals, journalists, office workers, and even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by robots and smart software. As progress continues, blue and white collar jobs alike will evaporate, squeezing working- and middle-class families ever further. At the same time, households are under assault from exploding costs, especially from the two major industries—education and health care—that, so far, have not been transformed by information technology. The result could well be massive unemployment and inequality as well as the implosion of the consumer economy itself.In Rise of the Robots, Ford details what machine intelligence and robotics can accomplish, and implores employers, scholars, and policy makers alike to face the implications. The past solutions to technological disruption, especially more training and education, aren't going to work, and we must decide, now, whether the future will see broad-based prosperity or catastrophic levels of inequality and economic insecurity. Rise of the Robots is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what accelerating technology means for their own economic prospects—not to mention those of their children—as well as for society as a whole.