The Best Advice I Ever Received

The best advice I ever received came when my parents dropped me off at college.  As they were getting in the car, my dad looked at me and said, “Your mom and I have done everything we could for you.  We fed you, we clothed you and you have a high school education.  From now [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Factor In Your Income Sources When Seeking Diversification

When it comes to diversification, you have to look at your entire life and not just your portfolio.  Several years ago there was a book I really enjoyed that dealt with this topic called Are You a Stock or a Bond?: Create Your Own Pension Plan for a Secure Financial Future. It explained some professions, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

How We Used Shares of Coca-Cola to Teach My Youngest Sister About Investing (and Why the Cycle of Consumption and Financial Stress Starts as a Teenager for Most Americans)

When I was a senior in high school, I bought my youngest sister, who was first grader at the time, a single share of Coca-Cola common stock for her 6th birthday.  I had it framed with an engraving of the first part of Deuteronomy 8:18 placed under it, “You shall remember the Lord your God, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Think Like a Spider Web, Not an Organizational Chart

Here is the best thing I heard all day … Life is not an organization chart. Life is more like a spider’s web. Things happen in strange ways. – Ross Perot There is a lot of truth in this. You cannot think lineally about your life or business. You need to think in three-dimensions. This [...]

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

The Reason I Love America …

In the past 30 or 60 days, the amount I charged and then immediately paid off on the company’s American Express card for small costs like office supplies, software, and hosting fees was more than the current market value of the house where I grew up as a child … and it is the slowest [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Does Geographic Location Influence Success?

I was speaking to a relative of mine when this person (who shall remain nameless) expressed horror that after living near New York for so long, I would buy a house near my parents in the Midwest.  “I thought you were going places!” they basically decried in exasperation. It was then that I realized how [...]

from Joshua Kennon

My Parents and Brother Are Off Playing at Some Golf Resort … (In Other News: Hell Just Froze Over)

My parents, who are the type of people who work 18+ hours a day, decided to take a week off and go stay at a condo on one of those $30+ million Payne Stewart luxury golf course complexes, where they met up with my younger brother who is out of state for more military training. [...]

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

My Reflections on Christian Legal Society Chapter of University of California Hastings College of Law v. Martinez Supreme Court Ruling

Back in college, when I was the student body treasurer and chairman of the finance board, a Christian group known as Campus Crusade for Christ threatened to sue the university because they wanted to be officially recognized.  The problem was they required that their elected leaders leaders sign a personal “Statement of Beliefs” pledge that [...]

from Joshua Kennon

You Can Tell I Grew Up in the Embroidery Industry …

Not only do I own Mount Olympus Awards and MOA Team Supply, but my parents own a company called Chenille Appeal, which is one of the nation’s largest wholesale chenille businesses (they started it when I was in junior high and it has grown exponentially over the past 16+ years). Anyway, I was on MacRumors.com [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Four New 64 Gigabyte iPads for the Business!

After dropping Jocelyn off at the airport yesterday morning, Aaron and I went to Barnes & Noble to get a range of additional business books. We then returned home, Aaron decided to go to his parents’ house and paint Easter eggs with his nephew and mom. A series of events then lead to my parents [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Virgin Money Social Lending – a New Revolution in the Debt Markets

First, I would never loan money to friends or family (with only a handful of exceptions*, one of which is my parents) under any circumstances. To me, money isn’t important – I just want to build and create like a little kid with a Lego set or a real-life version of Sim City. Other people, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Does Religion Have a Responsibility to Look to Science?

Here’s an interesting question: Does religion have just as much responsibility to examine scientific evidence as it does religious tradition and scriptural text? Put another way: Throughout history, religion taken as a whole has lagged behind scientific discovery and development, only to redefine itself decades, or even centuries, later.  In the case of Christianity, the [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Bosendorfer Strauss Grand Piano – A Real Life Lesson in the Time Value of Money

The Opportunity Cost of a Bosendorfer Strauss Grand Piano I’m going to teach you a financial technique that can help empower you to make informed choices about your own life and keep more cash in your pocket.  I’ve been using it since college and it’s done wonders from my bank balance and investments. From the [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Would You Please Stop Blaming the Banks?

Everyone in the media is blaming the recession on the fact banks were willing to make bad loans.  Yes, they were.  And most of the stockholders of those institutions (re: the owners) have been wiped out, or effectively wiped out so the term “bail out” isn’t appropriate except for the idiots in the executive suite [...]

from Joshua Kennon

My Mom at the Billy Joel and Elton John Concert

My mom wasn’t allowed to go see Elton John as a kid.  She came from a very fundamentalist household and seeing a “homosexual” wasn’t something God’s people did, or so they were told.  So, she would wait up at night and watch him on television instead of going to bed.  Once she was old enough, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Billy Joel and Elton John Concert in Kansas City at the Sprint Center Tonight Was Great

There’s a Good Chance That Were It Not for these Two Men, You Wouldn’t Be Reading This Blog Right Now My mom, arguably as big of an Elton John fan as I am, took Aaron and me to the Billy Joel and Elton John Concert in Kansas City at the Sprint Center.  (Thanks again mom!) [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Wholesale Chenille Letters, Patches, and Varsity Jacket Business Launching

A few months back, I told you that we were launching a new division of Mount Olympus Awards called MOA Team Supply.  I explained that we were going after an entirely new market, specifically athletic directors and schools that want to purchase wholesale chenille letters, chenille patches, and even wholesale varsity jackets.  We’ve finally got [...]

from Joshua Kennon

On Tonight’s Menu: The Julia Child Beef Bourguignon Recipe

Two of our best friends are visiting from Ohio this weekend and so we decided to try the now-famous Julia Child beef bourguignon recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  After seeing the movie Julie & Julia last Sunday with my mom, everyone thought it would be fun to give it a go. We [...]

from Joshua Kennon