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Stay Curious.
Make the most of your college experience.
Jeff Hulett
Curator, The Curiosity Vine
Stay Curious.
The Curiosity Vine is an idea incubator.
Our contributors have experience and interest in a variety of high-impact topics, such as science, technology, conservation, mathematics, data science, public policy, economics, and others. Our objective is to promote early-stage ideas, enable idea collaboration, and test idea purchase.
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TCV platform is curated by Jeff Hulett.
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Join our team - become a TCV contributor!
Learn about why you should join The Curiosity Vine.
TCV's ideas are used to provide seminars, write books, build businesses, and especially to help people.
So take a look around the site, feel free to ask or answer your own questions, and enjoy your own curiosity exploration!
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Featured Posts
The Geometry of Getting Rich: Why Mathematical Intuition is the Key to Personal Finance Success
In the realm of personal finance success, few skills prove as critical yet misunderstood as mathematical intuition. It represents the ability to grasp abstract concepts—compound interest, convexity, or the impact of time—not merely as equations, but as tangible, predictable forces shaping our reality. For many, this intuition remains elusive, a casualty of a mathematical education system focused heavily on formalization. The central challenge in personal finance is not in und
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Behind The Concrete Curtain: How Zoning Benefits the Few at the Cost of the Many
Concrete is the ultimate institutional metaphor. It begins as an agreeable fluid, easily shaped to conform to any purpose. When it's first mixed, it's sloshy and pliable, easily molded around any form or foundation. But then, it sets. It hardens into a rock-solid, unforgiving mass, freezing forever any shape or preference it was poured into. This is the apt metaphor for congealed preferences describing institutions. In politics, initially fluid intentions are poured into in
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The Illusion of Affordability: Why the 50-Year Mortgage Will Make Housing Less Affordable
The American dream of homeownership has never felt further out of reach. With a severe housing supply shortage driving prices to astronomical levels, a new proposal has emerged: the 50-year fixed-rate mortgage. The pitch is simple—by spreading payments over five decades instead of three, the monthly cost of owning a home falls dramatically, putting the keys back into the hands of young buyers. As an economist and a real estate investor who has spent decades studying how money
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Solving the blurry line between man and machine: Example of using GenAI as your thinking partner
I wrote the next speech and published the text on Personal Finance Reimagined. PFR is a sister platform to The Curiosity Vine, our idea incubator. The Time Traveler's Co-Pilot: Guiding Your Child Through the College Decision This speech is part of the program introduction for high school parents, as a kick-off for a SCHEV-sponsored Gear Up program at several Virginia high schools. It is an amazing program and we are proud to partner with SCHEV. This article is about how we
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The Geometry of Getting Rich: Why Mathematical Intuition is the Key to Personal Finance Success
In the realm of personal finance success, few skills prove as critical yet misunderstood as mathematical intuition. It represents the ability to grasp abstract concepts—compound interest, convexity, or the impact of time—not merely as equations, but as tangible, predictable forces shaping our reality. For many, this intuition remains elusive, a casualty of a mathematical education system focused heavily on formalization. The central challenge in personal finance is not in und
Jeff Hulett
3 days ago16 min read
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Behind The Concrete Curtain: How Zoning Benefits the Few at the Cost of the Many
Concrete is the ultimate institutional metaphor. It begins as an agreeable fluid, easily shaped to conform to any purpose. When it's first mixed, it's sloshy and pliable, easily molded around any form or foundation. But then, it sets. It hardens into a rock-solid, unforgiving mass, freezing forever any shape or preference it was poured into. This is the apt metaphor for congealed preferences describing institutions. In politics, initially fluid intentions are poured into in
Jeff Hulett
6 days ago10 min read
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Mortgage Rates Update: November 13th, 2025
After several weeks of favorable declines, the housing market faced a slight headwind for the week ending November 13th, 2025, as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate experienced a notable increase. The rate rose by 7 basis points (bp), settling at 6.24%. This move defied expectations set by the Treasury market, where the 10-Year T-Note rate actually decreased by 1bp. Upcoming releases: Â Next new jobs Oct 3Â Â Â (Fed Govt shutdown, no data released) Next CPI release is Nov 13Â Â (F
Jeff Hulett
Nov 141 min read
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Treasury Rates Update: November 13th, 2025
This past week in the U.S. Treasury market was characterized by a distinct lack of movement, indicating the market is taking a pause after the significant volatility spurred by the late October Fed rate decrease and the recent jobs data. Upcoming Key Economic Data Release:  Next net new job release is 11.7.25 (10.3.25 Fed Govt shutdown, no data) Next inflation release 11.13.25  (10.15.25 Fed Govt shutdown, data delayed to 10.24.25. no release 11.13.25) Next Fed meeting is
Bill Knudson
Nov 141 min read
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The Illusion of Affordability: Why the 50-Year Mortgage Will Make Housing Less Affordable
The American dream of homeownership has never felt further out of reach. With a severe housing supply shortage driving prices to astronomical levels, a new proposal has emerged: the 50-year fixed-rate mortgage. The pitch is simple—by spreading payments over five decades instead of three, the monthly cost of owning a home falls dramatically, putting the keys back into the hands of young buyers. As an economist and a real estate investor who has spent decades studying how money
Jeff Hulett
Nov 116 min read
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Solving the blurry line between man and machine: Example of using GenAI as your thinking partner
I wrote the next speech and published the text on Personal Finance Reimagined. PFR is a sister platform to The Curiosity Vine, our idea incubator. The Time Traveler's Co-Pilot: Guiding Your Child Through the College Decision This speech is part of the program introduction for high school parents, as a kick-off for a SCHEV-sponsored Gear Up program at several Virginia high schools. It is an amazing program and we are proud to partner with SCHEV. This article is about how we
Jeff Hulett
Nov 104 min read
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The Rewired Life: Seeking Better, Not Just More
Seeking is profoundly natural. In fact, it is a drive wired deep into our brains, a crucial part of our evolutionary biology. In many ways, seeking is why we exist today—it is the fuel for growth, discovery, and survival. So, this article is not about stopping that powerful, innate force; it's about channeling it. Are we seeking the wrong things? In a world saturated with curated lifestyles, comparison-driven ambition, and endless information, the impulse to achieve more  is
Jeff Hulett
Nov 516 min read
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How Not to Be Fooled by Statistics
Modern life is surrounded by data and statistics, from scientific breakthroughs and medical diagnoses to policy decisions and everyday purchases on consumer marketplace platforms. Statistical inference, at its core, is a future-focused process, designed to help us navigate uncertainty and make prospective choices. Yet, for all their power, statistics prove profoundly misleading if one does not understand the fundamental assumptions which underpin them. To truly navigate this
Jeff Hulett
Nov 39 min read
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