The Split's finance columnists debate the stories shaping your portfolio, paycheck, and financial future. Two perspectives, one topic, every day.
Bill Gates's skepticism about ESG long-run performance has a real data foundation. It also has a significant blind spot. The 2026 numbers reveal which part of his argument holds and which part does not.
By Marcus Cole · 4 min read
A UK poll this April found 63% of young people still optimistic about their finances, even as their belief in outpacing their parents collapsed by nearly half in a single year. That's not denial. The data underneath the optimism tells a more interesting story.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
Freddie Mac's privatization story has been the same for years: just around the corner, always delayed. KBW just cut price targets after saying the window closes before the 2026 midterms. Before you buy FMCC, ask yourself what you're actually betting on.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
Trump promised a $2,000 tariff dividend to every American. The Supreme Court forced $166 billion in refunds, and every dollar goes to corporate importers. Families paid the tariff costs through higher prices and have no legal claim to a cent of it back.
By Ray Vega · 3 min read
A smart contract flaw dropped one stablecoin from $1.00 to $0.025 in 17 minutes. Accounting frameworks want to call these instruments cash equivalents. The safety record does not support that classification.
By Marcus Cole · 3 min read
Schroders just got sold for £9.9bn and the finance world is buzzing. If you hold a managed fund, you probably got a letter about it. Here's what the deal actually means for your money, and what you can safely ignore.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
Kevin Warsh called the post-COVID inflation years "fatal policy errors" and proposed a rules-based framework to prevent the next ones. The problem is stagflation does not care about your framework. It punishes rigidity.
By Ray Vega · 3 min read
The best high-yield savings account available right now pays 4.5% APY. Your credit card charges 20%. Holding both simultaneously costs you $1,550 a year on a $10,000 balance. The math does not care how good the savings rate feels.
By Marcus Cole · 3 min read
Direct lending defaults are projected to hit 8%, nearly triple the historical average. Private credit just posted its first-ever quarterly outflow. Credit markets are pointing at the buffers and calling it fine. The buffers aren't the whole story.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
Blue Owl got downgraded. Blackstone capped withdrawals. JPMorgan marked down loan values. Private credit is having a rough April, and if you're a retirement saver, you need to know what that actually means for you.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
The US is adding $7.2 billion to its debt every single day. The immediate crisis crowd is wrong, but so is anyone who thinks 122% debt-to-GDP has no cost. The bill arrives slowly, then all at once, and it shows up in your tax rate before it shows up in a market crash.
By Ray Vega · 4 min read
Social Security faces a real 23% cut around 2032 if Congress does nothing. But the 401(k) bond-shift advice spreading in response gets the math exactly backwards. Here is what the data actually says to do.
By Marcus Cole · 3 min read
Bill Ackman is calling Fannie Mae a 10X opportunity. Trump signed housing executive orders in March. Freddie Mac's stock is climbing on real policy tailwinds. None of that tells you whether to buy a house or change your savings plan.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
The White House says the One Big Beautiful Bill puts $2,300 back in a tipped worker's pocket. The CBO says it adds $3.4 trillion to deficits over a decade. Both numbers are accurate. Only one of them compounds.
By Ray Vega · 3 min read
The FDIC scandal narrative is generating more heat than the underlying data supports. Your insured deposits are structurally safe. The gaps that should worry you were put there on purpose.
By Marcus Cole · 3 min read
Brent crude hit $103 this week and financial Twitter declared the bull market over. The S&P 500 closed up 1% the same day. $100 oil creates real friction for the economy, but friction and collapse are different things. Here's what actually changes for your wallet.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
High-yield corporate bonds just had a positive week while oil sits at $112 a barrel. The default explosion isn't here. But the services sector just contracted at its fastest pace since 2009, and that gap between the headlines and the underlying data is worth understanding before someone tries to sell you something off it.
By Sadie Park · 3 min read
International stocks are beating the S&P 500 in 2026, and the valuation case is real. But most of the outperformance traces back to dollar weakness, not earnings quality. That distinction matters enormously when the currency trade reverses.
By Ray Vega · 3 min read
