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To Those of You In Oklahoma Who Were Hit by the Tornados, Call Your Utility Companies Immediately
If your home was damaged and you can’t live in it until it is repaired, call your utility companies immediately and suspend service. People often don’t think about this in natural disasters because their home is gone. However, many meters are estimated on a monthly basis with annual corrections to the total. If you don’t inform [...]
The 7 Great Cult Beliefs That Have Arisen Throughout Human History
Warning: This is the working essay I promised to release earlier tonight. It deals with certain common cult beliefs that arise throughout human history and civilizations. It contains mature themes, images, and concepts. It was written for myself as a way to process and understand these recurring patterns. Due to the length of the essay, I [...]
I Will Release One of My Working Essays Tonight
Many of you have expressed interest in the process I use to come to the conclusions I do. A big part of this is maintaining a set of working essays that are based upon the “orangoutang theory” – a human being ends up more rational, with a better grasp of a topic, if he is forced [...]
Debt, Tornados, and Is It Normal One of My Rose Bushes Started Growing Two Different Colors?
There are so many new articles on finance, politics, and philosophy on the backend I want to publish. Some of them were going to go up this weekend but were blocked by the gatekeepers. For example, you know I hate debt and very rarely use it. So many of you ask about it, though, that [...]
It’s Working! The Potted Roses Are Growing!
They are growing! It’s working! The pink rose bush released a flush of roses today after only having one or two flowers, which I had cut for my desk. It’s gotten much bigger than it was only a week ago. I wasn’t sure if it would work in the spot because it isn’t getting as [...]
What Do You Wish You Would Have Known Before You Bought Your First House?
Here is a great question about first home buying and what to expect … Dear Joshua, I’ve learned a lot over the years reading your content, and I value your in-depth research and nuts-and-bolts discussions on a lot of the subjects you talk about. With that, I have some questions about home ownership. My wife [...]
After Yesterday’s Projects and Distractions, I Need to Work This Afternoon
Yesterday was reasonably productive, but not in the things I needed to get done. I blame the rose project. My obsession has grown to the level of total infatuation. It’s a thing now; just like investing, cooking, writing, and music. At least it’s not a really expensive hobby like horse racing. To give you [...]
Don’t Silent Trust Funds Constitute a Massive Loophole in Financial Aid Calculations?
My morning was spent reading the New Hampshire Bar Journal, Winter 2010 edition because I was interested in a piece by Joseph F. McDonald, III called Migrating Trusts to New Hampshire: The “Why” and the “How“. New Hampshire, along with a very few other states, allows the existence of something known as a “silent trust” or “quiet [...]
I Picked Up Two New Types of Rose Bushes
After planting the easy Knockout Roses, which are looking better and better with each passing day (they started as tiny sticks of wood and have blossomed so quickly I hardly recognize them), I made the leap into the more “serious”, higher maintenance rose families this afternoon. I went to my local nursery and bought two [...]
The Matrix as Explained By Mom
A guy’s mom had never seen or heard of the classic film The Matrix, one the most important sci-fi titles ever released. He had her watch the movie with him and then recorded her explaining the plot. Watch it. It’s worth it.
This Is Why I Love the Midwest … or Maybe I’m Slowly Becoming a Farmer
In all the years I lived in the New York and New Jersey area, this is what I missed about Missouri, and the Midwest, in general. The big sky. The scale and scope of it is breathtaking. You are sitting there and suddenly look up to see these living, breathing, constantly moving oil paintings. As [...]
What Are Your Favorite Reddits?
Lately, I’ve found myself subscribing to certain sub-reddits that are filled with amazing content. Here is a short, impartial list of some of the Reddit’s I’ve been checking out lately. Explain Like I’m Five – Questions of all sorts explained by those who understand it in very simple terms Life Pro Tips – Useful tips [...]
Gun Murders Have Collapsed To the Lowest Rate in Decades
You all know one of my favorite ways to monitor what is going on with the world is from an independent data source called the Pew Institute. Did any of you catch the large and comprehensive study using the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Injury, Prevention and Control data set? Gun homicides have continued [...]
Living in a Culture Where One Politically Incorrect Slipup Can Cost You Your Career
This is one of those deep, working essays that many of you won’t want to read that deal with understanding the underlying structure, changes, and direction of society. It is a response to a question by commentator Frat Man left on this thread. He asked: Hey Joshua, I had a question for you. As [...]
Mail Bag: Why Don’t People Sell Stocks During a Stock Market Crash?
A question about stock market crashes and selling stocks or liquidating a portfolio during such an event … Dear Joshua, During market crashes that go on for a long time, like the Great Depression, why don’t people sell out at some point on the way down? How can all that money just disappear? Curious First [...]
The First Disney Shares I Bought When I Started the VSIP Are Now Up Over 100%
The original 100 shares of The Walt Disney Company I bought back in 2011 when I started the VSIP as a fun little academic experiment have now exceeded a 100% profit. For every $100 I gave Mickey Mouse, he came back with $200.21. Err … more specifically, I wrote him a check for $3,304 and [...]
Even More Posts
Why I Never Bought an Index Fund But Think They Are Probably Your Best Bet
I’ve had some people wonder why I talk about the utility of index funds, and how index funds are probably the best way for new investors to own stocks, but I, myself, don’t buy them. First, the obvious: This is what I do for a living. Not only is my knowledge of accounting, finance, and [...]
The Weather In Kansas City Has Gone Full On Crazy
The crazy weather that is about to hit Kansas City just made the front page of Reddit … and the Internet is making fun of the KNBC Action News graphics … but this shows the temperature difference in what we are about to experience. We went from having the air conditioner on this morning to having [...]
This Is Where You’ll Find Me Working All Summer
After the landscaping work we did last week, another beautiful day in the Midwest meant I found myself back on an endless round of trips to four or five local hardware stores, nurseries, and home improvement retailers. It wasn’t planned, but one of those “seize the day while you have the opportunity” things. Our mission: [...]
A Short Lesson on the Power of Compounding
My youngest sister is about to graduate high school. As many of you know, when she was in first grade, I bought her a share of Coke and setup a Coca-Cola DRIP account, while my parents kicked in $50 per month, to teach her about compounding so she could actually see the process. It was [...]
The Site Just Had Its 2,000,000th Visit Since I Installed the Globe Tracker
Though still tiny compared to my other shall-not-be-named sites, the personal blog just had its 2,000,000th visit since I installed the globe tracker. The rate of page views (not visits, so slight topic shift here) has been increasing by a multiple of 10 every year for the past three years, and we’re right on track [...]
My Prescription for Making Money, Portfolio Management, and Getting Rich
There has been a significant influx of new readers due to some popular articles. As a result, I think it’s time to rehash my general philosophy for how to make money successfully. I prefer real-world examples, because they are understandable and relatable, so let’s take a look at the only remaining original Dow Component, the original [...]
Never Underestimated How We Are All Connected
This morning, I attended the funeral of my brother-in-law’s sister. (That sounds a bit complicated but she’s not, technically, my sister-in-law proper because a few years after my brother-in-law was born, my father-in-law and my brother-in-law’s mom got divorced. Later, my father-in-law remarried and had two children (I’m married to the youngest). She (the first wife) [...]
Saving Money Tip – I Figured Out How to Get 67.6% Off at Restaurants Thanks to UPromise
If there were a money saving olympics, I would be Michael Phelps. I thought it would be interesting to delve into some of the lesser known areas of the Upromise program (clicking that link will let you see my shopping deals so you can get an idea of how great the discounts are and make me [...]
This Is the Kind of Business Behavior That Disgusts Me
How can people do this and live with themselves? This is the sort of thing that if I were running a company, I don’t care if we made millions of dollars a year in profit doing it, I’d shut it down. I believe it is immoral. Sure, it breaks no laws that I know of but it [...]
One of the Most Important Lessons About Life and Making Money You Can Ever Learn
In 1927, Hugh Roy Cullen was approached by Jim West, a wealthy lumberman who had invested in projects with Cullen in the past. On a Saturday, West called Cullen to his downtown Houston office, where he made the following offer: I’ve got $3,000,000 lying around. And I’ve got the West Production Company, which don’t amount [...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. 
