Most Recent Post
The Facebook IPO Explained By Asian Animation
Brilliantly done. There is a lot of symbolism in watching Asian-animated Mark Zuckerberg goring investors in the streets. To be fair, here is the Facebook road show video. I still don't think the people involved realize that now that Facebook is ubiquitous, a lot of people don't want anyone … [Read More...]
We Are Approaching the 3 Year Anniversary of the End of the Great Recession
In a couple of weeks, we will see the three year anniversary of the end of the Great Recession, which was the worst economic crisis to hit the United States since the 1930′s and ran from December of 2007 through June of 2009. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with the definition of the [...]
When You Borrow Money, You Are Renting Someone Else’s Savings
When people talk about “borrowing money”, it isn’t entirely accurate. What is really happening is renting someone else’s property. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about credit card debt or student loan debt. Imagine I own a $100,000 lake cabin. You want to take your family on a vacation this summer, so you approach me and [...]
What Hitler Couldn’t Accomplish Through Eugenics, Society Has Effectively Done Through Incentives
The United States is facing a significant cultural challenge driven by basic biology that could radically redefine our socioeconomic structure. That isn’t hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. Several years ago, I began reading research papers, essays, and other data on assortative mating patterns in human populations. In essence, people want to be around people [...]
Mail Bag: Should I Take Out Student Loans to Invest?
One of the single most common questions I receive from friends, family, and readers who are enrolled in college is, “Should I take out student loans and invest the excess above and beyond the cost of college?” No doubt spurred by the historically low rates – the interest expense on a typical government student loan [...]
Debbie Gibson Has Invaded the Office
This is the most bizarre thing that has happened to me in years. All day long, out of nowhere, I have had the 1988 hit song “Lost in Your Eyes” by Debbie Gibson in my head. It was released when I was 5 or 6 years old. I don’t even remember anything about it, nor [...]
Earning Money on Your Money
One old definition of “being rich” is when your money earns money. This afternoon, I was writing a piece and reviewing the dividend yields on some of the common stock holdings owned by my household personally, outside of the business, when I began quantifying that in the back of my mind. How much would it [...]
Martha Stewart, the Christmas Ham, and Status Quo Bias
Just Because Something Is Old Does Not Mean It Is Right A significant error in thinking comes from people using “It has always been this way” as justification for the state of things. As if, somehow, precedence confers legitimacy. Just because something is old does not mean it is right. Being long-established does not mean [...]
France Has Triumphed with a Cultural Victory!
For the past six hours, I have been playing Aaron, Ashly, and Ian over the Internet at a game of Civilization V. By the time it was done, I kept getting a feeling that the latter two were up to some devious machinations because my military adviser relentlessly informed me they could wipe my civilization [...]
Investing vs. Speculating
It isn’t uncommon for me to receive messages from readers who talk about how they are now investing. Most of these are cause for celebration; exciting reminders that people can take control of their own financial future by harnessing the power of compounding so they can focus on more important things in life than money. [...]
It’s Time to Bring Back the Glass-Steagall Act
In the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash and economic meltdown, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act. The purpose of the legislation was to ban the consolidation of securities firms and banks as a way to protect the public in the event of a financial crisis. By isolating deposit-taking institutions from those responsible for underwriting [...]
I Think the Facebook IPO Is Overvalued. I Think It Is Obscenely, Offensively, Immorally Overvalued to the Point I Think the Offering Banks Should Be Sued.
That’s my opinion, anyway. I believe the valuation put on the Facebook IPO is asinine. I am of the opinion this is the type of valuation that only a complete, total, idiotic moron who wanted to get screwed could accept. Again, this is entirely my opinion looking at the financials. I’m about to wrap up [...]
Nearly 50 Years Later, Mary Poppins Is Still One of the Best Movies Ever
My schedule was completely reshuffled this afternoon because my grandmother and four-year-old niece stopped by for a wonderful surprise visit. During the conversation, it came up that Ellie had never seen Mary Poppins. Completely unacceptable! We cancelled everything else for the day, bought it on Apple TV, made English tea with sugar and milk (though, [...]
The Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Discounts 101
The Berkshire Hathaway shareholder discounts at Nebraska Furniture Mart end in a few hours, with the discount at Borsheim’s cutting off tomorrow. The furniture buyer with whom I am working has spent the past week finalizing my spreadsheet, locking me into the enormous savings that are available. Taking advantage of the stockholder pricing is [...]
The Socialists Have Taken France
I’ve been watching the French election. Hollande won. He has promised a 75% income tax on the rich and vows to, “re-negotiate a European treaty on trimming budgets to avoid more debt crises of the kind facing Greece.” Looks like we’re selling the French stocks in the retirement funds. I’m not dealing with this s**t. [...]
The Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting Weekend Has Begun
The Berkshire Hathaway meeting weekend has begun. I easily live within driving distance and am debating about whether or not I should throw my shareholder credentials in the car and head up to Omaha. There really isn’t a reason; I had the Kansas City branch of Nebraska Furniture Mart handle my shareholder discount purchases for [...]
Business Strategy: The Best Weapon Is One Your Enemies Don’t Know Exists
One of the most useful business strategies, and life strategies, I know has to do with stealth projects, stealth accomplishments, and stealth resources. The strategy can be useful for games, in your own company, or in your own family. Showing you how it works might be the easiest way to explain it. Last night, Aaron [...]
Figure Out What You Want, Then Take Specific Actions to Achieve, Acquire, or Experience It
You have can almost anything you want in life. No one is going to give it to you. There is no calvary coming. Your parents, your friends, none of these people can live your life for you. Instead, you have to figure out 1.) What you want, and then 2.) Take specific, targeted actions to [...]
The Euthyphro Dilemma and the Nature of God, Goodness, Sin, and Evil
This morning, I woke up thinking about the Euthyphro dilemma. It was as if I had been in the middle of a debate, passionately arguing my case for the nature of goodness, when I was suddenly interrupted by the real world as a text message jolted me out of bed. I walked around, threw on [...]
As Taxmageddon Approaches, How Should Investors Prepare for 43.4% Taxes on Dividends?
Last night, I published my monthly updates for the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times. One of the articles I wrote has to do with something called Taxmageddon. As the law stands now, in eight months, Americans will face one of the largest tax hikes in history, with [...]
My Dad’s Latest Project Is Restoring a Classic Ford Pickup Truck
My dad likes building stuff. It’s actually one of the coolest things about him. Whereas I design things on paper, then work with people to bring it into reality, he pictures it and then does it himself. Since I was a kid, my dad has wanted to restore an old Ford pickup truck. He [...]
Google – The Hungry Beast
Interesting video. Watch and think. It’s intriguing, though Google still doesn’t scare me quite as much as Facebook. Perhaps that is because I make a great deal of money thanks to Google, I spend quite a bit of money with Google to place targeted ads for some of the online businesses we own, and I [...]
The Fountain for the Upper Balcony Arrived
Remember back in January when I posted an update of the six month project? We had decided to do the upper balcony in a Thailand paradise theme so we could eat out there, or I could spend evenings reading investment reports quietly. We almost have all of it cleaned out – there are still a [...]
Change the Way You Think About Business Ownership and You Can Change Your Life
Shortly after World War I, Raymond Poincaré, the Prime Minister of France, decided against partnering with Royal Dutch Shell to fund the energy needs of the French people. One of his military commanders, Colonel Ernest Mercier, worked with 90 banks and businesses to establish a new oil company called French Petroleum Company (er, technically, Française [...]
Five Minute Layered White and Milk Chocolate Oreo Pudding Dessert
Last night, we were in a hurry; were sponsoring a movie night and didn’t have much time to get dinner and dessert together. There would be no perfectly molded honey lemon bee hive cakes or unique custom icing crafted. Instead there would be delicious nachos and some sort of after dinner sweet. Whatever we did [...]
Asians Dominate California Colleges and Universities in a Post Proposition 209 World
This evening, I am sitting in my home study, drinking a cup of strong, freshly brewed black coffee, reading through the news, studying the annual reports of some of the major oil and natural gas companies, and, in a few moments, about to embark on a new game of Civilization V. One of the stories [...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. 
