January 2012 Archives - Joshua Kennon

Mail Bag – Opportunity Cost and Enjoying Your Money

January 30, 2012 By Joshua Kennon Leave a Comment

Opportunity Cost and Imperial Dragon Teavana Tea Pots

The best message I received all day in the usual flood of reader submissions ... Hello Mr. Kennon, I am 24 yr old who has saved/invested incessantly since I was 18, and my portfolio just recently breached 6 digits! I have always had a similar mindset to you when it comes to the future value of money because my Dad is a "next-door millionaire" type of person. Since I found your blog, I have learned a great deal more than I could have ever imagined from one person's personal blog, and I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mail Bag

Signing My 11th Year About.com Contract

January 30, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 6 Comments

Joshua Kennon About.com Contract Reading

I'm working from home this afternoon, in part because I plan on making a beautiful corn chowder recipe for the family's dinner tonight. I needed to take a break from what I was doing to review the new About.com contract that will govern the licensing of my copyrights to The New York Times subsidiary for the Investing for Beginners site. As I looked through the pages, highlighter in hand, I decided to brew some sweet tea to enjoy in my few hours of solitude before the rush this … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Day In Pictures

The Master Bedroom Renovations Are Mostly Done!

January 28, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 5 Comments

Green Pinpoint Hotel Carpet with Chocolate and Gold Silk Fabric Walls

The master bedroom is done! One more thing to mark off the six month project. Thank you all for your great thoughts on carpet selection. I finally grabbed as many samples as I could, took them home, and then made a decision based solely on feel ("hand", as I've learned it is called in the carpet industry) without looking at the material or the price. We looked at the carpet that was used in The Plaza Hotel during their recent renovations, as well as the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We looked … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interior Design, My Day In Pictures

E. Dehillerin Delivers When Williams-Sonoma Doesn’t

January 28, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 2 Comments

In early December I ordered a 10-piece set of Mauviel Professional 2.5mm copper pots and pans from Williams-Sonoma. They were backordered until December 26th. Then, they were supposed to be delivered January 5th or 6th. Then, they were pushed back to February 28th. On the morning of January 20th, I received an email telling me they may not be delivered until August. As in nine months after they were originally ordered. Even then, there are no guarantees. There are no explanations. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gourmet Food, My Life

Making a Beef Stew at 10 p.m. Might Not Be the Best Idea … But I Wanted to Try the Staub Cookware

January 26, 2012 By Joshua Kennon Leave a Comment

I'm disappointed I haven't been able to keep up on the blog or my messages this month because there have been some wonderful memories and experiences the past few weeks, from putting on a puppet show for my nephew to having an Auntie Mame movie night with pizza for a few members of my family. We've burned the midnight oil working on the secret project, which is now mere days away from being fully operational in a very big way. We're trying to get one of the spare bedrooms at home ready in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Day In Pictures

I’m Stumped on a Real Life Opportunity Cost Calculation: We’ve Hit a Snag Choosing the Wall to Wall Carpeting

January 23, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 14 Comments

The economists among you will enjoy this. I've run into an opportunity cost trade-off that has me stumped. The fact it has me stumped has me frustrated. That is distracting me from more important things. What is my problem? Carpet. Carpet is my problem. I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of nicer carpet, mostly because I spent a good portion of my day sprawled out on the floor reading, even if a perfectly good chair is nearby. Nice carpet feels great, and allows me to focus … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interior Design

I’m Working on a Recipe for Spinach Salad with Blue Cheese Crumbles, Whole Almonds, Fresh Chicken, White Onions, Tomatoes, and Drizzled with a Cinnamon Pear Balsamic Vinaigrette

January 20, 2012 By Joshua Kennon Leave a Comment

We're working on dinner salad recipes tonight and my dish of choice was a spinach salad with blue cheese crumbles, whole almonds, fresh chicken, white onions, tomatoes, and drizzled with a cinnamon pear balsamic vinaigrette. It's not perfect but it is a very good starting point. One option is to take it more in a harvest salad direction, introducing freshly cut apples and pears instead of tomatoes and onions. Another is to add a bit of lemon juice to the chicken to sharpen the flavor … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gourmet Food

Mail Bag (Two Parts) – Which Financial Ratios Would You Use to Value Airline Stocks?

January 20, 2012 By Joshua Kennon Leave a Comment

A question about airline stocks and performing financial statement analysis on an airline company: If you were asked to perform a financial statement analysis for an airline what 5 ratios would you use and why are these the most relevant ones? - Pauline I wouldn't. Airlines are notorious commodity-like businesses that require large capital expenditures and generate very little net cash flow adjusted for those outlays. Even at a 5x price-to-earnings ratio, I'm not interested. There … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mail Bag

The Sitting Room – Before and After (In Progress) Home Renovation Photos

January 18, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 2 Comments

The home renovation or home upgrade project continues to progress. There is still much to be done so these aren't really before and after pictures ... more like before and in-progress pictures, half of which are taken at night in low light. I decided to post them, anyway, for Aunt Donna because it will give her an idea of what I've been working on until the wee hours of the morning once my ordinary responsibilities are done. In other words, this isn't the finished product. Things are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Day In Pictures

Mail Bag – What Drives Successful People and How Do You Overcome Discouragement?

January 16, 2012 By Joshua Kennon 2 Comments

This is a Mail Bag question from back in December. I'm using it for several people, who wrote asking about many of the same concepts, which is why it got bumped to the front of the line even though I still have old messages from September and October to which I am working on responses. Hi Joshua, sorry to keep pestering you during a busy season, but school's out for the holidays so I have a lot of time to think. I've always wondered what it is that drives you and other successful people. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mail Bag