The Future of Money

This was the year the job broke, the year we accepted a re-interpretation of its fundamental bargain and bought in to the push to get us to all work for ourselves rather than each other.

Even Black Friday sales are falling as more people shift their retail habits to online. Physical stores still have advantages, but we're quickly finding ways to replace them with virtual substitutes.

Some companies are moving away from the 1099 economy, recognizing that relying on temporary contract workers is bad for businesses, employees, and clients alike.

Walmart and Best Buy’s Apple Pay alternative has already been hacked. Your mobile wallet could be next.

The scariest thing about Halloween might be just how seriously we take it. For this week’s holiday, Americans of all ages will spend more than $5 billion on disposable costumes and bite-size candy.

U.S. technology giants have constructed international offices in Dublin in order to take advantage of favorable tax policies that are now changing. But Ireland might have enough other draws to keep them there even when costs climb.

A lot less. A survey of citizens from 50 countries found that the ideal ratio between CEO and unskilled worker pay would be 4.6:1. In the United States, it's a staggering 351:1.

In the 1099 economy, we all work for commission, hoping to find enough opportunities to piece together a part-time salary on full-time work.

With the recent introduction of Apple Pay, the Silicon Valley giant is promising to remake how we interact with money. Could iCoin be next?

For women, becoming a parent means you can expect to earn even less over your lifetime—unless you’re Marissa Mayer.

The ALS Association has raised nearly $100 million over the past month, 50 times what it raised in the same period last year. How will that money be spent, and how can non-profit executives make a windfall last?

As BuzzFeed puts another $50 million investment to use, some legacy media companies might be feeling left out. But BuzzFeed isn’t taking on journalism. It’s an entertainment, rather than news, company, because it knows stories are more compelling than scoops.

Despite advances in technology, we’re remarkably good at creating new forms of consumption, which lead to new work, and, in turn, new social hierarchies.

You’re so loyal to Starbucks—and the company knows it—that your daily serving of caffeine is already marked up beyond the reach of any fluctuations in supply.

It’s easy enough to turn yourself into a virtual celebrity, complete with fame and mansions—but it will likely cost you.

Normal wallets are simply too effective, no matter that the technology is millennia old.

Public transportation passes are one of the most common forms of non-bank money that we interact with on a daily basis, but it’s easy—perhaps too easy—not to think of them as such, until something goes wrong.

A tax on excess cash holdings—for corporations as well at high-net-worth individuals—could help spur development.

You know the $21 billion mobile gaming industry you contributed to by purchasing the latest iteration of Angry Birds? Look to it for clues about how we’ll soon consume all digital content.

Why haven't start-ups completely taken over the personal finance industry?

The aphorism is so ingrained in us that, unable to trace back its history, we consider it a part of our collective subconscious, but a new class of company is pushing industrial attitudes aside in favor of a healthier work-life balance.

Changing monetary policy in China reminds us that all national currencies are little more than constructions, open to manipulation and wild fluctuation.

The price of this renewable energy source is now competitive with older, dirtier alternatives—and getting cheaper by the day.

WhatsApp, Oculus, Instagram, Tumblr: These are just some of the technology companies recently valued at $1 billion or more. Whether we’re in a start-up bubble or not nobody can agree on, but one thing is certain: We have no idea what the future looks like, and an investment today could result in huge profits tomorrow.