This weekend, I traveled several hundred miles to visit one of my grandmothers, who hosted a family dinner. On the drive, we went through some extremely poor communities; places where a family of four or five might live in a $22,000 house. This caused me to think about poverty for the past couple of days.…
DetailsWhen Peter Lynch was 33 years old, he was put in charge of the obscure Magellan fund, which had $18 million in assets. This was 1977, so today that is about the same as $63 million. The amazing thing about Peter Lynch is, it would have been effortless for him to raise billions of dollars…
DetailsI was reading an argument earlier about how Europe needs a “Lehman Brothers moment” to scare the member nations into swift action. It reminded me of one of my favorite passages from Barbarians at the Gate that discussed the merger of Lehman Brothers and Shearson.
DetailsIf you were going to take a family vacation, you would never just get in the car and start driving, picking random turns at intersections. If you did, you would be lucky to end up anywhere meaningful. The chances of stumbling upon a Disneyland or New York would be remotely small. Instead, you decide where…
DetailsWith the season premier of True Blood upon us, I began thinking about how lessons on life, money, and success are all around us if you just pay close enough attention. If you understand how compounding works, it is so easy to get rich if you have enough time. Consider Sam Merlotte, the Bon Temps bartender and resident landlord. His character is around 30 years old, give or take several years, when the show began.
DetailsIt’s a fairly consistent thing that I get messages asking about the morality or ethics of investing in a certain type of company. Right now, there is a mail bag response I’m working on that deals with this topic. We’ve also talked about the fact that the Bri Institute thinks Jesus hates my portfolio. Though,…
DetailsI once read somewhere that you should measure the success of your day by the seeds you plant for a better future. Over time, you keep planting, your life radically changes for the better. I came across a perfect illustration of that concept through a bit of serendipity.
DetailsAs we approach my 30th birthday, I thought about taking a look at what has happened to the economy of the United States in the three decades I’ve been alive to gain a sense of perspective about where we have been. This is the time period during which I went from childhood to adulthood, and…
DetailsI went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City to see the new Rodin exhibit with Aaron and Jimmy. You already know Aaron, but Jimmy is a mutual friend from college. I had a fantastic time, especially in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century furniture exhibits, for reasons that will be no…
DetailsMy family is having a houseguest fly in from Houston this weekend, but since the house is still under renovation, we had to improvise. An extra bed was put in the formerly empty guest room, which had been vacated as part of the redesign, and we spent all day yesterday running around Overland Park looking…
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