Thoughts on Business, Politics, and Life from a Private Investor
Reorganizing the fragrance cabinet tonight, it seemed a perfect opportunity to answer this mail bag question from a fellow Creed collector. Dear Joshua, I found your blog due to your posts about Creed. I'm also a Creed collector. How large is your collection? Also, what is in the rest of the fragrance cabinet I sometimes see in the photos on the site? I'd love to know what other scents you collect and what's in the cabinet. Sincerely, (Anonymous By Request) After the Virgin … [Read more...]
Let me tell you something - no matter how rich you are, no matter how much stuff you can afford, no matter how successful you become - there is no better feeling than a completely random, awesome surprise that you aren't expecting that comes from nowhere out of left field! It's the grown-up equivalent of Christmas for kids. That's pretty much how I felt today when I was sent a bottle of Creed Royal-Oud a couple of months before it even launches in the United States. A few weeks ago, the … [Read more...]
After arriving back in Kansas City from my trip to New York, my office forwarded a package to me from a Vice President of Creed's North American distributor, my favorite fragrance company. It contained a very nice letter along with a sample drawn from the only bottle of Creed Royal Oud currently in the United States, sent directly from Paris. This scent won't be released until later this year and has been highly anticipated in the perfume world. Our (Aaron and me) adoration and devotion … [Read more...]
I've written about my Creed fragrance addiction in the past - we're up to something like 17 bottles, most of which have been purchased at Hall's Department Store in Kansas City. In the past couple of years alone, I've probably spent $4,000 or $5,000 on myself, not including any Creed that I've purchased as gifts for friends and family. During my month in New York, I'm going to make a point to stop by the new Creed Boutique and do some shopping, especially to see which of the rarer scents … [Read more...]
I am going to try and go through the comments from the past two weeks and respond to you all soon. I haven't forgotten, it is just that time of year, as you already know. Got a Great Deal Today on More Creed Merchandise The good news is that today, I got a tip off about a rare liquidation of high-end merchandise that allowed me to pick up two new bottles of Creed - the Creed Love in White and the Creed Spring Flower - for my collection at a combined price of only $238.75 including tax. Had … [Read more...]
After the trip to Halls Department Store yesterday, I have been wearing the new Creed Aventus samples. I am so hands-down, unbelievably crazy about it that it is unquestionably my favorite Creed fragrance of all time and, perhaps, even beats out Hanae Mori for men as my favorite scent by any perfume house, anywhere in the world. I think I'm going to take the dive and go with the huge 8.4 ounce flacon bottle, which retails for $370 plus get a black leather and silver atomizer for $165 to … [Read more...]
It's been almost a week since my birthday and I have worn the Creed Royal Delight fragrance I bought almost every day since it was purchased. According to the literature, the Creed Royal Delight scent was originally created in the 1880's. The Queen of Spain had lost her husband a year prior and, in those days, it was forbidden for the widow to remarry. The Queen, however, fell in love with one of her royal guards and commissioned Creed to create a scent for her new husband to wear on … [Read more...]
I couldn't resist grabbing a picture of the newly expanded Creed fragrance collection in my bathroom now that I picked up the "Royal Delight" fragrance as one of my birthday-gifts-to-myself. It's clear I have the collecting bug once I find something that brings me joy. Coffee cups, pens, Carl Barks artwork, stocks ... I like to build "sets" for my own enjoyment. At this point, the Creed collection includes: … [Read more...]
As I mentioned in the Amouage Jubilation XXV review yesterday, one of the Amouage fragrance samples we received from the company, which is the official perfumer to the King of Oman in the Middle East, was Amouage Reflection for Men. I said that if the Jubilation XXV was the King, then Amouage Reflection was the Crown Prince; a younger, fresher version with the same sense of wealth and luxury captured in a bottle. I happen to be wearing the Amouage Reflection for Men today so I thought it … [Read more...]
Today, the postman came bearing gifts; specifically, the package of fragrance samples I bought from Amouage, the official perfumer of the King of Oman in the Middle East. They shipped from the retail boutique in London via Royal Air Mail and arrived far sooner than I anticipated. My family came over and we broke out the Amouage fragrance box, going through each one and deciding which were our favorites. Some were not our cup of tea. Others were out-of-this-world amazing. One of those … [Read more...]
In economics, it helps to ask the questions, “What is really going on? What is the heart of what we are discussing?”. It surprises me that things most familiar are most often taken for granted and, in many cases, not understood very well. By reframing things through that lens, decisions often become clearer. Consider the [...]
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 [...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. Continue reading ...
Connect with Joshua Kennon
You can send mail bag questions, subscribe to updates on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest, where I track stuff I like, collect, study, and find amusing.
Investing for Beginners
To read my content for new investors on a wide range of topics including investing in stocks, investing in bonds, investing in real estate, and investing in mutual funds, head over to Investing for Beginners at About.com, a division of The New York Times, where I have thousands of articles and lessons.
Membership has its benefits. When you are logged in, you see the most recent version of the site (not an archived cache), you can post comments and join in the discussion, and more! It takes less than 10 seconds to join and basic membership is free.