Mail Bag: How to Read Large Numbers on Financial Statements
A college student wrote asking a question involving a conflict he had with one of his professors. The student was right. The professor was wrong.
Joshua Kennon is a Managing Director of Kennon-Green & Co., a private asset management firm specializing in global value investing for affluent and high net worth individuals, families, and institutions. Nothing in this article or on this site, which is Mr. Kennon's personal blog, is intended to be, nor should it be construed as, investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell a security or securities. Investing can result in losses, sometimes significant losses. Prior to taking any action involving your finances or portfolio, you should consult with your own qualified professional advisor(s), such as an investment advisor, tax specialist, and/or attorney, who can help you consider your unique needs, circumstances, risk tolerance, and other relevant factors.
Crown Maple Syrup from Madava Farms Should Be In Your Pantry (and a Case Study for Your Entrepreneurial Files)
After my recent semi-annual rant on the sorry condition of the maple syrup industry in the United States, which began with our discussion of the food industry polluting its products last Autumn, it should come as no surprise that, lately, we’ve been on a quest to find the ideal luxury maple syrup; honest-to-goodness, real, from-the-Earth maple tree sap with nothing else added that will become our go-to syrup for enjoying with breakfast, cooking in recipes, or using as a sugar substitute when the occasion calls for something with a different flavor profile.
The S&P 500’s Dirty Little Secret
Over the past couple of decades, quiet, subtle, barely-noticed changes in the methodology of the S&P 500 have resulted in the index barely resembling the one that produced the historical returns investors now seem to implicitly assume they will earn in the future.
You Can Get Free Pancakes If You Go to IHOP Today!
March 3rd, 2015, is the 10th anniversary of National Pancake Day. If you head to an IHOP, you can get free pancakes. They ask, but you are not required, to make a donation to charity in lieu of paying for your meal, with the goal being to raise $3,500,000 this year for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
You might want to consider bringing your own maple syrup, though. As you know, one of the few things in life that irritates me to no end is the (what I consider) stupidity of the pancake industry, which has now, in 2015, nearly completely replaced every single store brand maple syrup with “pancake” syrup instead, which is really dyed corn syrup.
Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola Investment Returns Over My Lifetime
When Aaron and I were at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, we thought about buying our niece and nephews some gifts from the retail store but ultimately decided to give them something more valuable: Stock. We’ll make another transfer to the custodianships I setup last year, modeled partly after the one we established for my youngest sister more than a decade ago.
The Earliest Known Clip of Warren Buffett Unearthed
It is absolutely nuts to me to see this clip of Warren Buffett that was discovered. In it, he was just shy of 32 years old, roughly the same age I am now. He was completely unknown outside a tiny circle of people, though rich, wasn’t one of the richest men in the country (let alone…
Lunch at Raglan Road in Walt Disney World with Old Friends
On the way back from spending the week with friends, Blake and Karen, on Captiva Island, we decided to take a detour to meet up with two other old friends we don’t get to see very often, who happened to be at Walt Disney World. We were heading toward Tampa and re-routing to Orlando would only a few of hours to the trip, so we arranged to have lunch in a pub at Downtown Disney before we had to get back on the road, again.
Visiting Our Friends at Otter Banks on Captiva Island
We stayed at a rental house called Otter Banks on Captiva Island, Florida, when our friends got married and invited us down for the week.
On Holy Ground: We Visited the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia
We woke up in Atlanta, Georgia this morning and decided to go to one of the most sacred spots in the entire Western Hemisphere: The World of Coca-Cola. What might appear as a mere beverage to some is practically a cult in the South. Coke reigns over this city like royalty thanks to the fact…
About That Proposed One-Time $280 Billion Tax on Foreign Corporate Profits …
President Obama’s administration has announced that he wants to impose a one-time tax levy of up to 14% on the $2 trillion in foreign profits American companies have built up and not repatriated in exchange for making repatriation on future foreign profits that were subject to at least a 19% tax rate tax-free, encouraging domestic…