Jeremy Olshan
Verified- Managing Editor, NBC News
- Adjunct Professor, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY
New York
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Managing editor @NBCNews; dad of twin boys; husband of professor; middling pianist
Articles by Jeremy Olshan
America can’t agree on its own story. This park ranger tells it anyway.
America can’t agree on its own story. This park ranger tells it anyway. At Independence Hall in Philadelphia, rangers pack 250 years of history into 20 minutes. “We do the Fourth of July every day.”
Patrick Stewart, AI and I encountered the Bard. Resistance was futile.
Justine Goode / NBC News; Getty Images (Justine Goode) I performed a bit of Shakespeare on my Amtrak train to work. Please understand that: 1. This was AI’s idea, not mine. 2. Performed may be a stretch, since in the quiet car all verse must be kept to a minimum — so it was closer to a mumble. Why was I mumbling Shakespeare? I had set out to read the 154 sonnets, one each day, and then reflect on them for a few minutes in a chat with Claude.
Patrick Stewart, AI and I encountered the Bard. Resistance was futile.
May 21, 2026, 6:01 AM EDT I performed a bit of Shakespeare on my Amtrak train to work. Please understand that: 1. This was AI’s idea, not mine. 2. Performed may be a stretch, since in the quiet car all verse must be kept to a minimum — so it was closer to a mumble. Why was I mumbling Shakespeare? I had set out to read the 154 sonnets, one each day, and then reflect on them for a few minutes in a chat with Claude. I embarked on this strange and nerdy exercise as a sort of daily meditation.
Patrick Stewart, AI and I encountered the Bard. Resistance was futile.
1 hour ago Porsche's base all-wheel-drive EV still offers plenty to write home about. You don't need a car that's loaded to the gills with techno-doodaddery to have a good time. In fact, in this day and age where it feels like everything has some helping-hand agentic AI shoehorned into it—telling the …
A GPS for the Mind
The first time I asked a GPS for directions was in December 2004, while on assignment in Kansas covering a grisly murder. I’m no Truman Capote, and needed all the help I could get piecing together the lives of the victim and perpetrator. Capote, in fairness, had Harper Lee as his co-pilot to navigate the state for In Cold Blood. I had a hunk of grey hardware attached to the dashboard of my rental car. Hertz called it the Neverlost.
We deserve an AI for effort
I knew almost nothing about oceanography until 7 this morning. Then, after a run on the Miami Beach boardwalk, I kicked off my shoes, stepped into the surf, and in a few minutes felt confident I understood the Gulf Stream’s effect on shark migration. Psychologists call this the illusion of explanatory depth. We skim the surface of a subject just enough to get the gist and come to believe we know more than we actually do about inflation, Ukraine, tariffs, or quantum electrodynamics.
A $100 bill is no longer worth its weight in gold
Gold used to be a heavy metal. It weighed down pockets and made moving money a workout. When Marco Polo saw China’s paper currency for the first time, he marveled at how effortlessly Kublai Khan could make it rain. “They are so light,” he , comparing the paper bills to the heftier coins he knew, “that ten bezants’ worth does not weigh one golden bezant.” The Wrong Notes is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Digging into this 1890 song about tariffs helped me understand Trump's trade war
Let’s riff on tariffs, ChatGPT. We’ll improvise a column together to test your reporting chops. The first part plays to your strengths, since your coding seems bound not by the three laws of robotics so much as the first rule of improv comedy: Yes, and… The Wrong Notes by Jeremy Olshan is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
My Passionate, 21-Year Affair With a Midtown Office Building
Dear 1211 Avenue of the Americas, This is going to be a love letter. Middle-aged midtown office buildings probably don’t get many, I’m guessing, as it violates the conventions of the genre for the recipient to also be the address. Then again, I once wrote a front-page obituary for a dead tree in Queens, a similarly weird melding of subject and object. That story, oddly enough, is what brought me into your embrace.
Do I Get Rich, or Go Bust? These Tools Predicted My Financial Future
The fortunetellers say I’ll retire rich. Not Buffett rich, but rich enough for my wife and me to live in premium-economy comfort well into our 90s and still leave something to our kids. Of course, there’s a 17% chance—roughly the odds of rolling a seven at the casino—that we’ll outlive our money. Crap. Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Do I Get Rich, or Go Bust? These Tools Predicted My Financial Future
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Test-Drive Your Retirement Spending While You’re Still Working
Before buying a new car, most people go for a test-drive. They should do the same for retirement. To take retirement life for a spin while still working, try living for a month on your expected budget. This makes the years of abstract financial plans and calculations real. These trial runs help reveal whether your vision for how to spend time and money really is a good fit, says Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance.
Live Question & Answer Event - What Is It Like to Retire on a Boat or RV? - WSJ.com
LIVE Q&A | Begins 1:00 PM ET NOVEMBER 9, 2023 What Is It Like to Retire on a Boat or RV? Ever wondered what it’s like to retire on a boat or in an RV? The Journal spoke to retirees about the ins and outs of an uprooted retirement across land and sea. On November 9, at 1 p.m. ET, the Journal’s Personal Finance Bureau Chief Jeremy Olshan sits down with personal finance reporter Veronica Dagher to discuss and weigh in on your questions.
Live Question & Answer Event - Roth vs. Traditional 401(k): Where to Put Your Money for Retirement? - WSJ.com
LIVE Q&A | Begins 1:00 PM ET OCTOBER 5, 2023 Roth vs. Traditional 401(k): Where to Put Your Money for Retirement? The 401(k) was built on a simple idea. Save money from each paycheck for tomorrow and get a tax break today. But deciding how much of your money should go into a Roth versus traditional 401(k) can be overwhelming.
The Smallest $1 Billion Powerball Jackpot Ever
Winning a billion dollars has never been such a letdown. Monday’s Powerball prize had a $490 million cash value, less than half of the advertised $1.04 billion, making it the tiniest 10-figure jackpot ever. And that is before taxes. In 2021, a similar $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot paid out a lump-sum prize of $776 million. Did the lottery people buy a shrink ray? Not quite. Winners have two choices. They can take the cash value now or opt for 30 annual payments that add up to the listed jackpot.
The Right Amount of Cash to Keep at Home for Emergencies. Hint: Not $480,000
By Anne Tergesen and Jeremy Olshan Sept. 27, 2023 So, just how much cash should people keep at home in case of an emergency? When the question was put to more than a dozen advisers and disaster-preparation experts, the answers ranged from $200 to more than two weeks’ worth of expenses. Though it is personal-finance gospel to save an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, advisers say money should be collecting interest, not dust at the back of your sock drawer.
The Right Amount of Cash to Keep at Home for Emergencies. Hint: Not $480,000
Updated Sept. 26, 2023 11:40 am ET So, just how much cash should people keep at home in case of an emergency? When the question was put to more than a dozen advisers and disaster-preparation experts, the answers ranged from $200 to more than two weeks’ worth of expenses. Though it is personal-finance gospel to save an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses, advisers say money should be collecting interest, not dust at the back of your sock drawer. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Live Question & Answer Event - WSJ+ Live | Personal Finance: Investing in Yourself - WSJ.com
LIVE Q&A | Begins 3:00 PM ET JANUARY 23, 2023 WSJ+ Live | Personal Finance: Investing in Yourself Most people think of investing as socking away money in their 401(k) or brokerage account. But there are many ways to invest beyond stocks and bonds, such as learning new skills or cultivating hobbies, interests and relationships. Join WSJ Reporters Anne Tergesen and Julia Carpenter as they discuss what it means to invest in yourself with WSJ Personal Finance Bureau Chief Jeremy Olshan.
Have a Money Dilemma? We Can Help
Should you lend your cousin money to start a new business? Is it better to divide your estate equally among your three kids, or leave more to the one who needs it most? Which investment will pay off more in the long run: A new espresso machine or six shares of Starbucks? The Wall Street Journal is helping readers hash out their burning money questions with insight from some of the top minds in money, business, psychology, the arts and sciences—and we want to hear from you.
Tax Breaks, Bragging Rights Drive Crypto and NFT Donations
A combination of generosity and tax-bill sticker shock is driving more wealthy crypto investors to donate bitcoin and NFTs to charities. The nonprofits aren’t always sure whether accepting these digital assets is worth the trouble. At the Oscars in late March, for instance, a Hollywood moment of silence for the people of Ukraine cut to an ad for Crypto.com that sent viewers to a site where they could donate crypto, buy nonfungible tokens, or use a plain old credit card.
The Stock Market Isn't a Roller Coaster, Bear, Bull, Cat
(Allie Joseph/New York Stock Exchange via AP) Let's retire the roller coaster as an illustration of volatility, because the metaphor is a mediocre visual joke that’s unfair to both amusement parks and... Read Full Article » Show comments Hide Comments Related Articles
The stock market is not a roller coaster, a bull, a bear or a dead cat
When the stock market plunges, we all go to Disney World - or Six Flags. Buckle up for this roller coaster, the commentators tell us. Keep your hands, arms and assets inside the vehicle at all times. The theme-park thrill ride is our most tired metaphor for market volatility.
Ninja, the world's top streamer, on how video games can make you smarter about money and investing
The best economics textbook may soon be a video game.
Life isn't a game, but it is game-like-and playing video games can make you smarter about money
The best economics textbook may soon be a video game. The next Warren Buffett is probably sitting on a couch somewhere in the world right now, holding not stocks, bonds, or crypto - but a controller. When I was a kid in the early 80s, back when the only global pandemic everyone seemed worried about was Pac-Man fever, they told us video games would rot our brains, that playing them would make us somehow both hyper-violent and hyper-lazy. That was all mostly nonsense, it seems.
Are we measuring the economy all wrong?
GDP is one of the oldest metrics in the book. For nearly a century it, and GNP before it, has been the preferred gauge of economic growth and progress - but for almost as long economists and policy makers have questioned whether painting by these numbers actually produces a good picture of our world.
Best New Ideas in Money: The new science of changing your financial behavior
Sometimes I wish I could edit myself as easily as a Google Doc. I would trim my own story to be clearer, more coherent, engaging, and focused - and take a big Ctrl + X to my anxieties, self-criticism and paralyzing doubt. If only it were that simple.
How a ‘Self-Nudge’ Could Help You Make Better Money and Life Decisions
Oct. 12, 2021 12:30 am ET Order Reprints Print Article Photo by Phil Cole/Getty Images These past 18 months at home, staring blankly into Zoom windows while my dogs stare blankly at me, I found myself pondering that age-old philosophical question: What really is the difference between humans and animals? Rousseau said our desire for self-improvement sets us apart from all other beasts. Nonsense, wrote Gertrude Stein: “The...
How a 'self-nudge' could help you make better money and life decisions
By Jeremy Olshan These past 18 months at home, staring blankly into Zoom windows while my dogs stare blankly at me, I found myself pondering that age-old philosophical question: What really is the difference between humans and animals? Rousseau said our desire for self-improvement sets us apart from all other beasts. Nonsense, wrote Gertrude Stein: "The thing that differentiates man from animals is money." Maybe...
Want a richer, happier life? Learn how to invest.
The most important thing to know about investing is that you’re already doing it. Every decision you make about how to spend your time and money is an investment. Our education is an investment. So are our relationships and careers. Our passions and procrastinations, our workouts and our lazing-abouts, and the meals and media we binge, are all stocks and bonds in our portfolios, all just as important to our futures as anything in our 401(k)s.
To age and retire well, try to have a plastic mind and a rubber soul
Best New Ideas in Retirement Last Updated: March 20, 2021 at 10:40 a.m. ET First Published: March 15, 2021 at 12:07 p.m. ET MarketWatch’s Best New Ideas in Retirement Illustration by Rose Wong “Who run the world?” Geezers. And it should be that way, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin says. The complexion of world leaders and CEOs may be too white and too male, but his research suggests it’s definitely not too gray. “Boomers should be running everything,” Levitin told me.
The simple way to raise your financial IQ in just three days
Published: Jan. 27, 2021 at 7:37 a.m. ET Join us for MarketWatch’s free Mastering Your Money series One of the first topics to be addressed by the Mastering Your Money event series — on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 1:25 p.m. Eastern time — is efficiently paying off student loans and wisely managing debt generally. robyn beck/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Money is simple, really.
Virtual reality made me want to get into bed with Glenn Close - how it could change storytelling forever
Last Updated: Jan. 15, 2021 at 8:50 a.m. ET First Published: Jan. 15, 2021 at 8:46 a.m. ET The short VR film Baba Yaga, released on Facebook’s Oculus headsets, shows off the new medium’s narrative potential Glenn Close in a scene from the VR short film Baba Yaga. Baobab Studios Virtual reality made me want to get into bed with Glenn Close. Well, I had to do something. She laid there right in front of me, dying. I stepped to the edge of the bed and reached out, wanting to comfort.
Meritocracy isn’t an alternative to inequality - it’s a justification, says this Harvard philosopher
The meritocracy began as science fiction. British sociologist Michael Young coined the word in his 1958 book, “The Rise of the Meritocracy,” to describe the dystopian society of the year 2034, ruled by an elite of the most educated and talented. These titans of merit enrich themselves and demoralize everyone else, but the suffering and anger of the poorer and less educated eventually comes to a boil.
Will Trump quit? A chess master, pro poker player, boxing coach and Monopoly champ on the art of throwing in the towel
George Washington could have run for reelection until he died, but had he stayed put for a third term the country probably wouldn’t have seen its third century — nor would Lin-Manuel Miranda have written a song about it. This peaceful transfer of power was and is the radical idea at the heart of American democracy. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Losing money is more painful to us than gaining it is pleasurable, behavioral economists have shown.
Donald Trump's Retirement Plan
November 3, 2011, 12:13 PM ET By Jeremy Olshan The one person Donald Trump says he’ll never fire is himself. Though he turned 65 this year, the real estate and reality TV showman insists the thought of retirement never occurs to him. “My father, who worked until he passed away at 93, used to always say, ‘to retire is to expire,” Trump told SmartMoney.com. “And I feel the same way.
The hardest job at tonight’s presidential debate? Typing the closed captions for Biden and Trump
Last Updated: Oct. 22, 2020 at 3:10 p.m. ET First Published: Oct. 22, 2020 at 3:09 p.m. ET MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images/iStockphoto No one is more thrilled about the addition of a mute button at tonight’s debate than the closed captioners. These fleet-fingered stenographers are unsung heroes of American politics, tasked with making sense of the candidates’ verbal jousts and volcanic interruptions in real time. “And it is not easy,” captioner Susan Hahaj, 58, told MarketWatch.
MarketWatch subscription - a good investment - MarketWatch
Published: Oct. 22, 2020 at 4:08 p.m. ET Join MarketWatch on the path to a better financial tomorrow MarketWatch illustration News is money. Information about what’s happening in business, finance and the economy is an asset. But, unlike money, there is far too much news for our own good. If data is the coin of the realm in the information age, most of those coins accumulate like loose change between the sofa cushions of our mind.
‘Democracy punishes solutions that take time’: How food can fight COVID-19 and racial inequality
America is what it eats: Food fuels the pursuit of happiness. It powers our ambition, ingenuity and constitutions. We spend tremendous time and money filling our bellies. After putting roofs over our heads and paying for transportation, food is Americans’ greatest expense. But America’s feast is not dished out equitably on our dinner plates.
To fix the world and the economy, normal may not be good enough
The universe is mean. Average. A man who wins the lottery will feel a million times happier at first, but research shows this mood windfall is short-lived. Even if he manages not to blow the money, his level of happiness will soon settle back to that of his crabby, pre-jackpot self. The same gravity awaits the fund manager who beats the market for eight quarters, the dieter who loses 15 pounds in January, or the backup catcher riding high above the Mendoza line in April.
YANKEES & METS WANT THEIR CUT$
The Yankees and Mets are in secret talks with the city to buy their old ballparks before the wrecking balls hit – so they can plunder them for lucrative memorabilia to peddle to fans, The Post has learned. A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg confirmed the negotiations but would not say how the deals might go down – specifically, whether the city would hope to get a lump sum from the teams or a percentage of the profits of any sale or auction of items.
Money alone won’t close America’s racial and wealth gaps - we first need to wipe out the value gap, ‘the belief that white people matter more than others’ - MarketWatch
There’s a ride at Disney World called the Carousel of Progress in which a cast of animatronic Americans on a revolving stage tell of all the technological upgrades to our lives since 1900: indoor plumbing, flight, television. It’s one of Walt’s original attractions, dating back to the 1964 New York World’s Fair — and the name could not be more apt. Carousels, for all their dizzying motion and calliope music, mostly just spin in place. “Progress” is like that, too.
In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday today, I’m going to share a true story about the Bard and Donald Trump… Stick with me on this. It…
THREAD: In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday today, I’m going to share a true story about the Bard and Donald Trump… Stick with me on this. It was March 2004, my very first week as a reporter at the @nypost, where I had been hired to cover my home borough of Queens... That morning the @nytimes had a hilarious front-page story by @robertfworth on Queens’ failed search for a poet laureate...
Everything is insane. Everything is normal - The key to making sense of these dizzying times
It’s one of civilization’s darkest hours, and all I can do to help is the dishes. Life hunkered down with my family in our cozy suburban gulag is marked by equal parts helplessness and household chores. Each day, the stories and statistics grow more terrifying. And yet, each day is bookended, as always, by picking up after the dogs. I am not complaining.
Lesbian flings, prostitution & abuse lies: Oprah’s ‘hidden’ life
Oprah Winfrey — who built a billion-dollar empire persuading everyone from celebs to average Joes to reveal the truth about themselves — is a big phony when it comes to her own past, an explosive new book charges.
Mike Bloomberg tells MarketWatch about his approach to money, when to take a pay cut, and what’s in his wallet
They say the best way to understand a politician is to follow the money. But tax returns and campaign contributions only tell part of the story. The real window to the financial soul is the wallet. People reveal a lot about their characters and priorities by how they handle money: what they splurge on, what they are frugal about, how they use it, and how they don’t. With that in mind, MarketWatch asked each of the presidential candidates the same personal-finance questions.
Pete Buttigieg tells MarketWatch about his approach to spending and saving money - and not getting scammed
They say the best way to understand a politician is to follow the money. But tax returns and campaign contributions only tell part of the story. The real window to the financial soul is the wallet. People reveal a lot about their character and priorities by how they handle money: what they splurge on, what they are frugal about, how they use it, and how they don’t. With that in mind, MarketWatch asked each of the presidential candidates the same personal-finance questions.
Perfect platform to make his pitch
By Jeremy Olshan November 23, 2009 | 5:00am Enlarge Image COMMUTER SALE: Eric Klarman greets a potential insurance customer last week at a Brooklyn subway station. NY Post: Chad Rachman Stand clear of the closing salesman. When Eric Klarman first tried selling life insurance in the subway, he knew he’d be harassed and largely ignored. He never imagined it would actually work.
‘My lips have never brought down a president,’ says Washington’s champion whistleblower
Until last week, Chris Ullman was Washington’s most famous whistleblower. The four-time international whistling champion, who’s performed with symphony orchestras, for billionaires and before members of Congress, concedes that nothing in his extensive repertoire or résumé can compete with the current news cycle. “My lips have never brought down a president,” Ullman, 56, told MarketWatch.
A TOUGH ROLL: MY DAYS AS A STREET PEDALER
I “pedaled” my body on the streets of Midtown for two days, and all I have to show for it are sore legs, a bunch of black-and-blues and less than a hundred bucks. My brief, exhausting career as a pedicab driver began at the Fifth Avenue storefront offices of BicyTaxi, one of the more than half-dozen rickshaw fleets that have set up shop here in recent years. Interviewing for the job was short and simple: Mehdi, the manager, basically just asked to hear my résumé.
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