Thoughts on Business, Politics, and Life from a Private Investor
Sometime over the past ten years, I've realized that in the process of building our businesses and investing, I've come to maintain consistency in certain things. In other words, I make a ritual of my work so that specific items remain consistent ... only the ticker symbols and share prices change. The laminated dollar-bill bookmarks, which are now so difficult to find that it once involved me going to downtown Houston so I could buy out the entire inventory of one of the last … [Read more...]
It looks like the United States Congress is starting to grow some backbone? Hmm ... The House of Representatives just passed a bill with overwhelming margins (348-79) that will give the Obama administration the authority to harshly sanction Chinese imports if Beijing doesn't stop artificially depressing the yuan, reducing the United States trade deficit. It will go to the Senate, where it will stay until after the mid-term elections in November. Should we get excited? Everyone knows … [Read more...]
The older I get, the more I realize my mom and grandma are really smart in areas that, even still, just escape my "notice" filter. You can't replace life experience with book experience when it comes to people. This post can best be summed up as a lesson Grandma Ruby taught me a few days ago. She said her brother Melroy once told her, "Ruby, when a pastor harps on a particular "sin", watch out ... you better watch out." This whole Eddie Long scandal is making me realize that the other old … [Read more...]
I love to highlight intelligent behavior that can be emulated by other people to make their own life better. Today's bit of pure awesomeness comes from Holly, whom Aaron and I have known since we were 14 or 15 years old. (Remember Holly, the one that Aaron and I spent an afternoon with at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City a couple of months ago? We saw the Angelina Joli Salt movie with her.) Her financial plan: Being damn smart. That is the best way to summarize it. For her car, … [Read more...]
A series of events happened today that led me to disclose another grant issued by The Kennon Foundation despite my usual practice of keeping gifts silent. But this one is for a cause that needs to be highlighted. It is preventable and the damage caused to ordinary families in the wake of the tragedy is beyond my comprehension. As I was visiting my two-year-old niece today (when I came in the door, she ran up to me and asks, "Joshie? Do you want to play with me?" so we practiced colors and … [Read more...]
The most important part of success in life is: Get Started. Too many people wait until things are "perfect" or until they are completely confident in themselves. They are paralyzed by fear. They worry about the judgment of others; about public embarrassment if they fail. Don't. Set your sight on your future and what you want in life. Start walking toward your promised land; you can figure out the details as you go. The very first website we built, which generates a good amount … [Read more...]
Today, I woke up, took a shower and got dressed (wearing the clothes my parents gave me yesterday). Instead of working, like I was supposed to do, I ended up going to Borders Books. Writing about it yesterday in The Single Dumbest Investment We Ever Made put me in the mood to visit the store. I was struck how my own behavior in the store illustrated precisely why the investment in Borders Group failed. To make it easy to understand, I documented the trip in pictures. Read the captions … [Read more...]
Due to our disciplined value investing philosophy, coupled with our insistence upon diversification of income and assets, we haven't experienced a lot of big losses. When we do, we try and study what went wrong so we can understand if there was a structural problem or a blind spot in our mental cognition that should be avoided in the future. We never want to have to "return to Go" in Monopoly terms. That is just intelligent portfolio management. On the whole, we've done almost … [Read more...]
The cat continues her reign of dominance. There is a white English reading chair that I bought during college. She has taken it over and to avoid getting her hair on it, I finally gave up and put a towel down. Her response? She sat on the armrest. Can you see it in her eyes? She is saying, "I own you, mister. Why do we even play these games anymore? You know it's true. I'll shed where I want." … [Read more...]
We were both hungry and I wanted to get out for a few hours, so Aaron and I ran to a local pizzeria to have dinner. My parents called and ended up meeting us there to eat with us, then gave me some more gifts for my birthday last week (which I loved). … [Read more...]
This blog is a way for me to pass along some of the stuff I learn on the journey and the past year has taught me a lot about furniture, furniture buying, and what constitutes quality furniture. Tying that into our usual discussion of economics and finance, I think it provides a lot of valuable [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot about free trade, labor unions, American manufacturing, and free markets for the past few weeks. You know that, on the whole, American manufacturing is still as strong as it was in 1960. We still produce roughly $20 out of every $100 of world goods. The difference? Technology and, to [...]
Though the home renovations have gotten the most headlines due to their nature (constant onslaught of choices and tasks that need to be completed), one of the most important items on the agenda of the six-month project has been to drastically reduce my digital footprint. By the end of the program, I will have one personal presence [...]
This makes me sick. This high school is ranked in top 5% of high schools in the United States. The worst part of the video for me was the part where the kid says, “I was never taught that knowledge”. It’s not somebody else’s job to teach you, it is your job to seek out [...]
This is a great way to start the day … one of the reasons I love writing this blog. Joshua, [In American Households Continue to Deleverage But That Only Tells Part of the Story, you wrote] “The numbers are just figures on a sheet trying to explain human behavior. Study the behavior, what is driving [...]
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