Photo courtesy of Billy Kaderli “Funny, no one has a crystal ball, no one knows the future but all say the stock market WILL go up in the future. Maybe we’re the generation that our kids will also look and say: ‘They gambled everything in the stock mar...
Photo by anvesh baru If you are surprised to see two “case study” posts from me in a row, your reaction is no more than my own. For the last one it could be charged that I succumbed to flattery and bribery in taking it on. No case to be made for that h...
Photo courtesy of Van Trapp Farmstead It has been a long time since we’ve done a Case Study around here, but recently I responded to an email that feels like a good one to share with you. It reflects an interesting dilemma and it allows me to, mildly a...
I’ve some very exciting news to share with you today. I just inked a deal with Harriman House to publish my third book. Its working title is: PATHFINDERS: Travelers’s Tale on the Simple Path to Wealth and… I’d like you to be a part of it! If tha...
It is 2008. Imagine you are a woman alone on a road trip. Passing through the center of Nevada, a fairly desolate place, your car breaks down just outside of this town… You have no way of knowing it just yet, but this was once the largest city in...
To be clear right from the start here, Chautauqua is an awesome event. Indeed, and in many ways, precisely because it is a terrible business model. But it is a terrible business model. Why? It is not scalable. Precisely because it is such an awe...
After two long years of being sidelined with covid issues, like the rest of the world, Chautauqua is finally back. And we are returning to South America — this time: Colombia! We sent Alan and Katie there on a scouting mission for several months l...
In the beginning… Forgive me if you have heard this tale before. I’ve told it several times now on various podcasts. It is the origin story of this blog. Back in 2011 I began writing a series of letters to my then college age daughter abo...
Before the day slips away I just wanted to take a moment to wish you and yours…. A very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Holiday Season Here’s to a Happy, Healthy(!) and Prosperous New Year! ************************...
Check out the ultra cool cover by Jess LaGreca This is a very visual book. It is the painful tale of my very first real estate purchase and how it morphed into an even worse real estate investment. It is a litany of almost all the mistakes one can make...
In some corners of the investment world, word is bonds are toast. Truth be told, they have been out of favor for some time. Now, with interest rates on the rise — fueled by resurgent levels of inflation not seen since the 1980s — investors’...
That sounds improbable, right? After all, I wrote this book and published it back in 2016. Indeed, in one sense I have probably read this book more than any other person on the planet. I spent three full years writing and rewriting it over an over agai...
Guest post from AR (Accidentally Retired) Growing up, my Grandpa was a “financial advisor.” Or perhaps he was a stock broker? I’m not sure. Whatever you want to call his profession, there was no doubt that he was a brilliant salesman, a lov...
50 years ago, I was putting myself through college working with a tree crew outside of Chicago taking down huge, majestic elm trees. They had been infected with the tiny beetles that caused Dutch Elm Disease. In an effort to stop their spread, the mome...
Pull Your Head Out of the Sand By Vicki Cook and Amy Blacklock Before I sat down to write this post, I re-read The Simple Path to Wealth. This quote from JL… “As individuals we only have one obligation to society: To make sure we, and...
It is always wise to be careful in choosing with whom you associate and do business. The older I get the more this has proven true. I’ve known Jonathan and Brad, the founders of ChooseFI, for a long time. I was one of their first podcast guests and hav...
Ever since publishing The Simple Path to Wealth, the idea of publishing another book has been rattling around in my brain. I’ve just needed time for the memory of how awful a task writing a book is to fade. So far it has taken half a decade....
In my last post I shared with you my thoughts on cryptocurrencies. As I said in it… Now I figure you might want to hear from someone who actually has researched these things. Someone who has invested in them and who knows the arguments against them pro...
Since I keep getting asked, here’s my take on… It all feels very much like a religion to me. Believers revel in the glorious revealed truth of it. Nonbelievers think they are batshit crazy, and maybe dangerous. I am not a believer, but I am intri...
Running from 1955 to 1965 Alfred Hitchcock, the famous director of The Birds and Psycho, had a weekly TV series. It was focused on crime, mostly murder. If you have cable, you can catch these as reruns even today. It is surprising how well they hold up...