What if your home hasn't actually appreciated nearly as much as you think? What if much of that increase is simply the result of measuring its value with a dollar that keeps losing purchasing power? Think about it this way: Imagine you own a 50-inch television. Every year, someone makes the inches on your measuring tape 5% shorter. You measure your TV again the following year, and suddenly it's bigger. A few years later, your 50-inch TV measures 60 inches, then 70, then eventually 100 inches. You might think your television has doubled in size. But it hasn't grown at all. The only thing that changed was the measuring stick. Now consider what happens when we measure the value of our homes in U.S. dollars. I recently purchased my childhood home, and its history provides a fascinating example. In 1999, the house sold for $152,000. In 2003, my parents purchased it for $178,000. In 2026, I purchased that same house for $439,000. Looking at those numbers, you might conclude that the home has appreciated tremendously. Since 2003 alone, its dollar value has increased 147%. But what happens if we change the measuring stick? Instead of measuring the home's value in dollars, let's measure it in ounces of gold. Here's what that same house was worth: 1999: 467 ounces of gold 2003: 494 ounces of gold 2026: 110 ounces of gold Read that again. The exact same house that cost approximately 494 ounces of gold in 2003 now costs just 110 ounces. Measured in dollars, the house appreciated 147%. Measured in gold, it DEPRECIATED nearly 78%. How can the same asset simultaneously increase 147% in value and decrease 78% in value? Because the unit you're using to measure it makes an enormous difference. We tend to think of the dollar as a fixed unit of value, just like an inch on a ruler. But unlike an inch, the purchasing power of a dollar isn't constant. And when the measuring stick itself changes, it's easy to confuse a higher price with an increase in real wealth. Now, gold isn't a perfect measure of purchasing power either. Its value fluctuates, and outperforming housing doesn't necessarily mean housing has lost 78% of its inflation-adjusted value. But that's precisely why this comparison is so revealing. It challenges the assumption that rising home prices automatically mean we're becoming wealthier. Sometimes the asset is appreciating. Sometimes the currency we're measuring it in is depreciating. And sometimes both are happening simultaneously. Before celebrating how much your home has increased in value, it's worth asking a simple question: Has my house actually become more valuable, or has the measuring stick become less valuable?

A fair question.

Trump is cramming for the midterms like a sophomore who just remembered he has a 15-minute presentation on the spread of potatoes through the Old World post-1492, having only recalled the assignment after overhearing classmates dreading it at lunch.

Me trying to snuggle with my wife before going to sleep 👇

Talk about tone deaf. Everyone knows oil and gas prices would be half of what they are right now if the US hadn’t started this conflict.

The right decision enacted in a terrible way feels like humiliation, but in the long run, this is going to be an improvement for Gulf states and the US.

Unchanged in months!