Escaping the Credit Card Debt Prison

When you find yourself in credit card debt it can feel like a financial prison.  Suddenly, you can’t go out to eat, pick up a new shirt, or even go to a movie without worrying about the fact that you are increasing your debt or using cash that could have gone to paying down your [...]

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

A Hedge Fund vs. a Mutual Fund

In the next 2-5 years, depending upon what happens at the private businesses we own, I am seriously considering launching either a hedge fund or a mutual fund.  Both have significant advantages and disadvantages. A Hedge Fund The Pros: With a hedge fund, I could do almost anything I can do now in private business.  [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Secret World of Brooks Brothers

Before I “arrived” as they say, I had no idea how different clothes shopping was for men once they became successful.  Honestly, I never thought much about it but the assumption was that in terms of logistics, it would be just like shopping at Wal-Mart only with better surroundings, better service, higher quality and higher [...]

from Joshua Kennon

How to Solve the Trade Deficit – Part III

This is Part III of my special on How to Solve the Trade Deficit.  If you missed the earlier parts, you can read Part I or Part II first. How to Solve the Trade Deficit – Knowledge Workers vs. Manual Workers In many ways, your question about the trade deficit has very little to do [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Five Business Lessons I Learned from My Mom, Tammy Kennon, and Her Company, Chenille Appeal

This is my mom.  You’ve probably read about her but never seen a picture.  She’s the same one that would slip notes into my lunches in elementary school telling me how wonderful, intelligent and loved I was. Back in the early days when she and my dad started their company in a two hundred square [...]

from Joshua Kennon

New Wardrobe Additions for the Wedding

Aaron and I went shopping today for my sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law’s wedding gifts.  We also decided we wanted to wear something new that wasn’t parked in our respective closets so we headed to Nordstrom and a few other stores. I ended up going with a modern cut lavender white stripe dress shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Sugar Refiner Shares We Own Are Surprising Me (and More Portfolio Updates)

I hardly ever talk about the portfolios I manage (the last time was when I added Campbell Soup to the blue chip reserve portfolio in Some Changes In the Portfolio), mostly because investment ideas are rare.  Still, I write about it to the same extent I would be willing to discuss something over coffee with [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Final Third of the Year Begins!

I’m really excited that we are heading into the back third of the year and the schools are back in session. Third and fourth quarter generate most of our revenue and sales.  I love being well dressed, wearing a cashmere Ralph Lauren coat, and going Christmas shopping for family at my favorite high-end department stores.  [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Pew Research Center Completes Massive Study of Millennial Generation

The highly revered Pew Research Center has completed one of the most extensive studies it has ever undertaken.  It focuses on the so-called Millennial Generation, which consists of those who are currently 18-28 years old, and contrasts them with their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents on a wide range of economic, spiritual, social and cultural [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class – A Lecture by Elizabeth Warren

Want to know why the middle class is disappearing despite families now having two people in the work force instead of one? Here is Elizabeth Warren discussing in an hour-long lecture at Berkeley. She is the author of The Two Income Trap. The only thing I really take issue with is the fact the savings [...]

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

Is There a Separation of Church and State in the United States?

A friend from college and I have been discussing whether the separation of church and state is what the founders intended and whether it is a good or bad thing for society.  After a few years of studying the issue, here are my conclusions.  I’ll keep it as brief as I can. I despise intellectual [...]

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

A Change in the BP Situation Regarding the Dividend Yield Support

This morning, BP was trading between $30 and $31 per share, down more than 50% since the oil spill in the gulf began.  My “stupidly cheap” valuation was based at $33 per share but there is a slight monkey wrench thrown into the equation: The United States Government is exerting as much pressure as possible [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Problem with Tootsie Roll Industries for the Value Investing Crowd

For more than 15 years, I have watched the Tootsie Roll company and waited for it to be “fairly” valued or undervalued relative to the stable profits that churn out year after year like the chewy candies for which the business is known.  It’s the type of company that I would love to have a [...]

from Joshua Kennon

PPL Corporation Stock Risk Analysis

This is a risk analysis of PPL Corporation stock for a friend of mine that was hired by the company.  Those of you who want to know how I think about risk management are perfectly welcome to read it but it is specifically targeted so I’m not sure how useful you’ll find it. I’ve worked [...]

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

Our Value Investing Research Process for Stocks

A week or two ago, I wrote an article called Understanding Stock Repurchase Plans for About.com, a division of The New York Times, which discussed Sonic Restaurant and the massive stock buy back program that had taken place over the past few years. In it, I walked the readers through a lot of the math [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Kennon Retirement Insurance Plan

One of the Things That Helped Me … From time to time, you may come across reference to my “stupidity” insurance or my “reserve” fund.  I’ve had a bunch of readers write me over the years and ask about various comments I’ve made so I thought it might be useful to explain it.  My parents, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Misconceptions About Wealth

How The Marketing Industry Continues to Convince Average Americans They Know What a Millionaire Looks Like A few days ago, I quoted something from one of Dr. Thomas J. Stanley’s books: “In the United States, there are three times more millionaires living in homes that have a market value of under $300,000 than there are [...]

from Joshua Kennon

How One of My Family Members Used Shares of U.S. Bancorp to Build Substantial Wealth

A member of my close family has been using a technique to build substantial wealth that doesn’t require a high income or any specialized knowledge, extra work, or effort.  I was so impressed by the way he implemented this program, I thought I would share it with my other family and friends (as well as [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Tweedy, Browne Value Investing

For years, my family has maintained a substantial portion of our retirement accounts through Tweedy, Browne & Company, the oldest value investing firm in the world. Originally serving as stock broker to the father of value investing, Benjamin Graham, Tweedy, Browne & Company converted to a money management company and eventually launched several highly successful mutual funds [...]

from Joshua Kennon

How Investors Who Practiced Dollar Cost Averaging Were Richer Within Only 2 Years of the Credit Crisis Meltdown

Citing data provided by Vanguard, one of the premier mutual fund and 401(k) providers in the world, The New York Times recently reported that 60 percent of 401(k) accounts now have more money in them than they did before the stock market crash and worst recession since the Great Depression began two years ago. That [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Asset Positioning Asset Allocation Strategy

Did you know there is a unique tax strategy that can help improve your asset allocation investing by keeping more money in your pocket? It’s called asset positioning and it can be practiced by virtually anyone with investments.  I once wrote about asset positioning over at Investing for Beginners at About.com, a division of The [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Active vs. Passive Asset Allocation

A large debate has emerged in the money management field on the topic active asset allocation versus passive asset allocation. There are merits to both approaches, but the ultimate determination of what is right for your personal or business asset allocation portfolio is a decision only you can make based on your skills, knowledge, interest, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

International Asset Allocation 101

Most growth asset allocation model portfolios call for exposure to the international asset class. In fact, in the article Factor In Your Income Sources When Seeking Diversification, I explained that one of the ways my own family reduced the risk involved with having such a big part of our net worth invested in private businesses [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Why Income Inequality Will Always Exist as Part of the Post-Industrial Revolution Global Economy

First: Before we begin, the education system in the United States over the past few decades has done such a poor job teaching basic logic that by virtue of the headline alone, it is statistically likely that you have already made a decision about whether or not this short essay on pay inequality is “good” [...]

from Joshua Kennon