Note to Washington: You Cannot Separate Human Psychology from Economics

The Huffington Post is talking about Obama’s handling of the economy and the world view of his economic advisers now that Larry Summers is resigning. Those policies — the bailout of Detroit automakers, an $814 billion stimulus package, subsequent programs under TARP, Cash for Clunkers and the administration’s unlimited backstop of Fannie Mae and Freddie [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Free Trade Isn’t Always Fair Trade

A few days ago, I wrote a five-part essay called How to Solve the Trade Deficit in response to a reader question about trade policy in the United States. The reader, Adam, responded on his blog.  Here is my followup to his commentary. I Would Love to Run Trade Surpluses But It Isn’t Going to [...]

from Joshua Kennon

A $1,000,000 Municipal Bond Dilemma

Those of you who follow my writings at About.com, a division of The New York Times, know that I’ve written about municipal bonds at the Investing for Beginners site including one article that detailed some ways to help you determine if a specific municipal bond was “safe”. At the wedding this weekend, I was discussing [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Thierry Mugler, I Love You

Designer Thierry Mugler unvieled the 2010 winter men’s collection and I am seriously considering spending a couple grand and buying the tailored red suit (ref: Look No. 8 – Young American).  I mean, the fact that it isn’t conservative: Who’s going to be stupid enough to say anything to me about it?  I don’t work [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Social Loafing

If you were starting a project or business, common sense would tell you that you could produce 5x as much output if there were five people working on your goals than if there were just one person.  If you are running a counseling program, ten counselors should be able to do 10x the work as [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Here Is One of My Secrets to Making Money (Or, How I Once Bribed Women to Code for Me with Diamonds, Rubies, and Chanel)

The Secret: Strike Deals Where Everyone Has Limited Downside and Harness the Super Power of Incentive Some of you have been writing to me privately and asking about the early days when we started out and were trying to build our companies.  I thought it would be useful to share some of the things we [...]

from Joshua Kennon

“Dreams Become Reality One Choice at a Time” – A Lesson on Life, Business, and Money

Isn’t that a fantastic quote?  I got it from Tara Beth Workman a few days ago and I’ve been thinking about it since.  I realize that it is entirely true and that my life is a reflection of that.  All of our lives are reflections of that.  Let me explain. This afternoon, Aaron and I [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Creed Fragrance Counter Is One of My Favorite Places in the World

This morning, I walk into my kitchen to find my grandmother and mother sitting there waiting for me, wanting to know if I want to go out and eat or spend the day together.  Long story short, the three of us, plus my youngest sister, who is in high school, end up at the Country [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Health Care Reform Taxes Will Hit Top 1% of Households

I don’t think there is any reasonable chance health care will be overturned as unconstitutional because it is written in such a way that you aren’t technically required to buy health insurance, you will just be subject to a special excise tax if you don’t. A lot of very, very expensive lawyers made sure the [...]

from Joshua Kennon

It’s Comforting How Oddly Predictable Humans Can Be on the Small Things

A few days ago, Aaron got a message from one of our friends, Jimmy, at about 4 in the morning.  We were both still up working on a project that’s going to have some fairly large financial ramifications for us in about a year or two, so we happened to read it in near real-time.  [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Basics of Dollar Cost Averaging

Dollar cost averaging is an investing technique that can lower your risk, increase your profits, make market volatility less emotionally painful, and help put you on the road to financial independence.  When combined with asset allocation, it’s a nearly unstoppable force that can grow your wealth far beyond what you ever imagined.  This guide to dollar [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Psychology of Human Misjudgment by Charlie Munger

By Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner at Berkshire Hathaway) Speech at Harvard Law School (1995) Transcription of The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, comments [in brackets] by Whitney Tilson.  Note from Joshua Kennon: I’ve written a lot about Charlie Munger over the years, especially the influence he has had on my life and how we run [...]

from Joshua Kennon