They are growing! It’s working! The pink rose bush released a flush of roses today after only having one or two flowers, which I had cut for my desk. It’s gotten much bigger than it was only a week ago. I wasn’t sure if it would work in the spot because it isn’t getting as…
Here is a great question about first home buying and what to expect … Dear Joshua, I’ve learned a lot over the years reading your content, and I value your in-depth research and nuts-and-bolts discussions on a lot of the subjects you talk about. With that, I have some questions about home ownership. My wife…
Yesterday was reasonably productive, but not in the things I needed to get done. I blame the rose project. My obsession has grown to the level of total infatuation. It’s a thing now; just like investing, cooking, writing, and music. At least it’s not a really expensive hobby like horse racing. To give you…
My morning was spent reading the New Hampshire Bar Journal, Winter 2010 edition because I was interested in a piece by Joseph F. McDonald, III called Migrating Trusts to New Hampshire: The “Why” and the “How“. New Hampshire, along with a very few other states, allows the existence of something known as a “silent trust” or “quiet…
After planting the easy Knockout Roses, which are looking better and better with each passing day (they started as tiny sticks of wood and have blossomed so quickly I hardly recognize them), I made the leap into the more “serious”, higher maintenance rose families this afternoon. I went to my local nursery and bought two…
This is one of those deep, working essays that many of you won’t want to read that deal with understanding the underlying structure, changes, and direction of society. It is a response to a question by commentator Frat Man left on this thread. He asked: Hey Joshua, I had a question for you. As every…
In 1927, Hugh Roy Cullen was approached by Jim West, a wealthy lumberman who had invested in projects with Cullen in the past. On a Saturday, West called Cullen to his downtown Houston office, where he made the following offer: I’ve got $3,000,000 lying around. And I’ve got the West Production Company, which don’t amount…
This mail bag question is a tough one about the conflict between two competing freedoms when dealing with public accommodation laws. Thanks for sending it in, I enjoyed thinking about it during an ice cream break at the office today. It was a fun distraction. (But not nearly as fun as calculating the 25 year…
In honor of the new energy portfolio I’m setting up for my family, I thought I’d do a 25 year case study of an investment in Chevron common stock. The point is to illustrate how the biggest, most boring companies on the planet are not, in fact, so boring when you look at the remarkable…
The weather has finally turned nice in the Kansas City region so my day was spent in the landscaping section of several home improvement stores, picking up entire trees, flowers, garden supplies, and landscaping features. We ended up going everywhere from Lowe’s to local businesses to find what we wanted. I’m exhausted, and can hardly…