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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.
TCV platform is curated by Jeff Hulett.
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
Money, Math, and Mistakes: Training Sophisticated Neural Networks for the Realities of Banking
Introduction: Bridging the Gap at JMU This narrative is based on a program designed for undergraduate students in the James Madison University Business Analytics program. As you begin your journey into the world of data science, it is easy to focus entirely on the "how"—the code, the math, and the algorithms. However, in the world of banking, the "why" and the "where" are just as important. This session is intended to provide you with the professional context for how neural n
Beyond the Resumé: Decoding the Biological Signals of Leadership Success and Burnout
This article explores my leadership story through the lens of neurobiology. At the time, I was a young leader in my 30s. I lacked the vocabulary to describe my own neurodiversity, but I was acutely aware of my "differentness." I was fortunate to navigate those internal challenges in a way that eventually empowered my amazing teams and fueled our collective success. I offer these insights to help you connect your own unique neurobiology to your work environment; we all possess
The Stability Premium: Navigating the Four Nevers of Banking Data
Banks and consumer platforms like Amazon share one significant asset: they both sit atop vast reservoirs of consumer data. However, this is where the comparison ends. The differences lie in the geometry of time, the weight of impact, and the persistence of uncertainty. Amazon’s feedback loop is near-instant; a "full cycle" from purchase to delivery is measured in days. In contrast, banking lives in the long-view. It may take years for credit card behavior to reveal its risk p
The Invisible Moat: Modern Zoning and the Persistence of the Feudal Mindset
In the Middle Ages, the architecture of exclusion was honest. If you were a feudal lord seeking to protect your status and wealth from the "unwashed masses," you built a castle. You surrounded that castle with a deep, water-filled moat and a drawbridge remaining resolutely upright. The message was unmistakable: We are in here; you are out there. Our safety depends on your exclusion. As we examine the modern American housing landscape, it is tempting to believe we have evolved
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The Mechanics of Emergence: Signal Integration in Neurons
What does Neuroscience have to do with Personal Finance? Everything! My journey into personal finance has led me to a crucial realization: the vast majority of our challenge to achieve long-term wealth begins not in spreadsheets or investment accounts, but within our own minds. The reasons we are either successful or fail are often rooted in the deep mechanics of how our brain operates and how that operation ultimately presents in our personal finance decision-making. This a
Jeff Hulett
Dec 15, 20257 min read
De-Moral Hazarding: The Strategic Use of Commitment Devices to Achieve Moral Benefit
I. Introduction: The Asymmetry of Risk and Incentive Distortion Despite the substantial welfare gains provided by risk-transfer mechanisms, the phenomenon of Moral Hazard (MH) represents a persistent challenge, contributing to systemic inefficiency and escalating costs. MH fundamentally describes the incentive distortion created when agents are insulated from the full financial consequences of their actions. Drawing from a long-established definition, Moral Hazard is understo
Jeff Hulett
Dec 10, 20258 min read
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
Nov 19, 202520 min read
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 10, 20254 min read
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 5, 202516 min read
The Real Failure of Financial Education: We Don't Teach Students to Invest Their Time
The Real Input to Wealth: Time and Attention As a personal finance professor and the president of Personal Finance Reimagined, I'm constantly talking about wealth generation. It's the "output" we all strive for, but the conversation around it, particularly concerning wealth inequality, often misses the mark. It focuses too heavily on the outcome and not enough on the fundamental inputs that drive the entire system. Every four years, the Federal Reserve releases its massive st
Jeff Hulett
Oct 31, 20255 min read
When Maps Melt: The Limits of Knowledge in Decision-Making
At Personal Finance Reimagined (PFR) we often remind students and entrepreneurs of an essential point: Good decisions depend on clear thinking, yet one recurring confusion is between probability and frequency. The error arises because historical frequencies—what has happened—are often incorrectly treated as certain probabilities for the future. As the physicist E.T. Jaynes suggested, frequency is merely an observation of the past terrain, while probability is the map we use
Jeff Hulett
Oct 1, 202511 min read
Embrace the Power of Changing Your Mind: Think Like a Bayesian to Make Better Decisions, Part 1
Why Changing Our Minds Matters Changing your mind is not weakness; it is disciplined strength. We live in a world rewarding certainty, slogans, and quick takes. Yet the choices shaping our careers, finances, health, and relationships usually unfold under uncertainty. The risk is obvious: when we cling to yesterday’s belief in a shifting world, the accuracy of our future judgments drifts away from reality. The result is avoidable regret—missed opportunities, inefficient effort
Jeff Hulett
Sep 24, 202528 min read
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