Che Guevara

Unless You Are a Proud Bigot and Anti-Intellectualist, You Probably Shouldn’t Be Walking Around with Che Guevara On Your T-Shirt

I believe in wild, autonomous levels of individual freedom.  Provided you aren’t harming anyone, neither your neighbors nor the government have the moral authority to prevent you from seeking your own happiness.  It is immoral for parents to force their children into marriages, as still goes on in parts of the world.  It is immoral…

BP Gas Station in Chicago

The Oil Tankers Are On Their Way

One of the tricks I use to think of the stocks I hold as real businesses, just like the operating companies we own, is to get a physical representation of the firm, putting it in an investment cabinet.  Now that I am building a 25-year energy portfolio as a personal side project for my household, I already have replica die cast oil tankers on their way from retailers and eBay.  I’m having a hard time finding a comparable quality Total SA tanker, if they are even manufactured.

Energy, Oil, Natural Gas, Pipelines, Refining, Coal and Timber Investments Header

Energy, Oil, Natural Gas, Pipelines, Refining, Coal and Timber

One of the ways I manage my life is to sit in a room several times a year, staring off into the distance, and trying to imagine 5, 10, 15, 20, 30+ years in the future.  I ask myself what things I wish I had done when I was younger, what things I would have wanted to avoid, what risks I would have wanted to take, and what experiences I would have wanted to have. A topic that has come up several times during these exercises is the concept of energy assets.  A portfolio of energy assets is fundamentally different in nature than almost any other security, business, or holding.

Life in the United States

You Wouldn’t Realize How Amazing Life Is in the United States By the Media Coverage

I’ve been thinking about life in the United States.  We are a massive nation that generates $15 trillion in wealth every year.  We have consolidated assets (personal, corporate, and government) of more than $200 trillion.  Our natural resources are abundant.  Our military power immense.   Going further, take a moment to consider the following: The S&P…

TreasuryDirect

If You Are Sitting on a Huge Pile of Cash, There Is Only One Place to Park It (and It Is Not In a Bank)

For the past day, I’ve been thinking about a 65 year old man named John Demetriou.  He was from Cyprus, but moved to Australia, where he spent 35 years working “days, nights and weekends in Sydney markets selling jewellery and imitation jewellery” according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Wanting to be in his home country, and…