Let’s face the facts. Nobody likes to be called emotional. Nobody likes to be told they are acting irrationally. As Rory Sutherland in his book Alchemy says, “When we do put a name to non-rational behavior, it is usually a word like ’emotion’, which makes it sound like logic’s evil twin. ‘You’re being emotional’ is used as code for ‘you’re being an idiot.’” But investing exists in a world full… Read More
“Wealth is What You Don’t See”
One of my favorite books of the year was written by Morgan Housel titled, The Psychology of Money. It may be the most accessible lesson on money that I have ever read. I judge the quality of the book based on how much I highlight it, and I highlighted this book as much as any. Below, I will share a few of my favorite quotes from just two chapters. My… Read More
Using “Enough” to Find Contentment
Perhaps the greatest benefit (albeit it was unknown to me at the time) of contributing to the book, How I Invest My Money, was that I was sent a beautifully framed version of the personalized sketch Carl Richards put together for my chapter. Though this wasn’t the case for many of the contributors, it’s quite obvious where his sketch idea came from for my chapter. I said, “For me, enough… Read More
We Are the News We Consume
I am a willing consumer of the “self-improvement” section of the bookstore. After two decades of reading these books, it occurred to me why the continuous reading of these style books is helpful. It’s because we have short memories and need constant reinforcement of these ideas if they are to become a reality. As I have been writing this blog for almost three years, I believe this same benefit is… Read More
Half a Life Ahead
A couple of years ago, a friend offered an observation that has stuck with me and I think much of our lives (and financial perspectives) can be traced back to this one single idea. That is “We can only see half of our life ahead of where we are.” Meaning, if you are 20, the oldest you can truly see yourself being is 30. Thinking about my own experiences and… Read More
The Sky is Falling
I want to briefly rant about something I believe retirees should be aware of that can potentially run their portfolios off course. That is the subject of the permabear pundits. Surprisingly, it’s not the general pessimism that bothers me. My problem with these folks is two-fold: Their pessimistic position never changes (hence the name permabear). The record of a permanently pessimistic viewpoint is historically absurd. I was sent one such… Read More
Double Dip Recession Redux
The phrase “double-dip recession” is one I am hearing a lot recently given the economic data coming out detailing the impact of COVID on 2Q 2020. To me, this rings similar to the double-dip recession calls from 2011. For curiosity sake, I rang up the Google machine to go back in time nine years and came across the article below from the International Business Times: Global Recession 2011: It’s Real,… Read More
Unheralded Positive Events Every Year Since 1970
In the “Ends-of-the-World Every Year Since 1970” post, we focused on some of the most harrowing events over the last 50 years. Now, we get to explore the positive events since 1970. But before we do, it’s important to state the obvious here, and that is that the mainstream media isn’t interested in providing good news to you. Yet, it is these events that will likely have far more impact… Read More
Ends-of-the-World Every Year Since 1970
There always has been and always will be a reason not to invest or not to stay invested. This is all the mainstream media reports to us. Below you will find a list of some of the worst global events each year since 1970. I have some commentary to follow. 1970: War: US troops invade Cambodia.1971: Civil Unrest: Anti-war militants march on Washington.1972: Political: Start of Watergate Scandal.1973: Economic: OPEC… Read More
Quick Thought on the National Debt
Recently, I have seen the graphic below floating around and heard various comments about how dire the situation is and wanted to provide one quick rebuttal (for lack of a better word). But first, let me show you the apocalypse du jour graphic. This chart shows the National Debt growing from less than $1 trillion in 1971 up to our current debt of approximately $23 trillion. Alarming, right? Maybe. That’s… Read More
