Web Server Rack

We Survived an Influx of Roughly 187,000 Reddit Users Caused By an Old Post on Secret Coca-Cola Millionaires

Announcements16 Comments

As tends to happen once every year or two, the unexpected “make the front page of Reddit” event occurred last night, in the midst of the site renovations; an inopportune time but I’ll take it. Aaron and I were watching Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell on iTunes at around 2 a.m. when I saw the MySQL server straining under an incredible amount of requests.  It was the old post about the secret Coca-Cola millionaires in Quincy, Florida.  Something like 90 requests a second were slamming the data center up in Michigan.  Traffic source: Reddit.  Short investigation later, turns out it became the number one post of the “Today I Learned” subreddit and made the overall front page of the site.

Quincy Florida - The Town of Secret Coca-Cola Millionaires

How Quincy, Florida Became a Town of Secret Coca-Cola Millionaires

Case Studies & Profiles25 Comments

In the 1920s and 1930s, a banker named Pat Munroe in the small town of Quincy, Florida noticed that even during the depths of the Great Depression, otherwise impoverished people would spend their last nickel to buy a glass of Coca-Cola.  With good returns on capital, and a once-in-a-century valuation so low that the business was trading for less than the cash in the bank, “Mr. Pat”, as he was called, encouraged everyone he knew to buy an ownership stake in the firm.  He would even underwrite bank loans, backed by Coca-Cola stock, for his responsible depositors to encourage people to acquire equity.

Park Avenue Millionaire

Lewis David Zagor Leaves Behind an $18,000,000 Secret Fortune Amassed from Investing in Stocks and Mutual Funds

Case Studies & Profiles25 Comments

It’s no secret that most wealth in the United States is so-called stealth wealth.  We now live in a country where roughly 1 in 5 families earns six-figures a year or more, which most people wouldn’t believe, and for those who put aside money, something like 80%+ of millionaires hide their net worth from friends and…

Coca-Cola Plant

How Thomas and Whitehead Used Synthetic Equity To Build Massive Fortunes, While Simultaneously Creating Thousands of Coca-Cola Millionaires in the United States

Case Studies & Profiles33 Comments

In the late 19th century, a man named Benjamin Franklin Thomas decided he wanted to be rich.  He became obsessed with business, investing, and finding a single opportunity that would set him up for life, allowing him to live off his capital.  According to Constance L. Hays in her book The Real Thing: Truth and Power…

Oil Tanker Oil Stocks

Let’s Talk About Investing in Oil Stocks and the Oil Majors

Portfolio Management, Stock Market, Stocks, Value Investing53 Comments

I’ve received a significant number of requests over the past few months asking that I discuss what is happening with oil, natural gas, pipeline, and refining companies; to explain how I look at the situation and the sorts of things Aaron and I discuss when we’re allocating our own capital or the capital of those who have entrusted their assets to us. It’s a big topic with a lot of niche considerations but I want to take some time today to address the oil majors; the handful of mega-capitalization behemoths such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ConocoPhillips / Phillips 66, and BP.

Re-Opening Private Archives

I Will Be Re-Opening Selected Posts from the Private Archives (Sticky)

Announcements2 Comments

I have decided that one of my personal projects is going to be revisiting the thousands of posts we put into the private archive prior to launching our asset management firm and, to the extent reasonably possible, release them back to the public blog if we feel they might be useful from an academic, entertainment, and/or historical perspective.  NOTE THAT THIS POST WILL BE FEATURED AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG HOMEPAGE WHILE THE PROJECT IS ON-GOING. NEW POSTS WILL APPEAR BEHIND IT UNTIL THEN.