about
Personal finance, minus the gatekeeping.
Most money advice is either too vague to use or too jargon-heavy to follow. Basecase is the opposite: one concept at a time, in plain language, with a custom chart and a tool you can actually play with — right inside the article.
Why this exists
You don't need more money to start — you need to understand the money you already have. The basics of compounding, diversification, and index funds aren't complicated. They're just badly explained.
Basecase strips each idea down to its simplest honest version: one analogy, one chart, one number that matters. No upsells, no hot takes, no “this one stock will make you rich.”
How every concept works
Read it
One concept per article, explained with one analogy and zero jargon. Five minutes, not fifty.
See it
Every concept gets a custom chart. If a number matters, you see what it does — not just what it is.
Try it
Interactive calculators live inside the articles. Change the inputs, watch the chart move, keep reading.
What you can trust here
Every number on this site is sourced, and every article lists the sources it used at the bottom. Where a figure is an estimate or a round number, it says so.
Basecase carries no ads, no affiliate links, and no sponsored concepts. Nothing here is financial advice — the numbers describe what markets have done, which is not a promise about what they will do.
Basecase is written and built by one person, in the open. If something here is wrong or unclear, mail [email protected] and it gets fixed.
Start with one concept
The S&P 500 explainer is the best place to begin — read it, see it, then play with the calculator.