By now, all of you know what happened recently with the Swiss Franc, Euro, and, as an extension, the price change of Nestlé shares in the United States. It caused a stream of messages to come in through the contact form like I haven’t seen in a long time, all with the same theme. Here…
One of the reasons I haven’t been around much this month is I’ve been working with members on both sides of my family, adjusting portfolios now that we are in a new tax year, reviewing plans to make sure everyone is on track for retirement, and dealing with some paperwork that includes a nightmare of an annuity transfer that has gone so wrong, I had to have the annuitant involve the regulators of two different states.
The Night Black Wall Street Burned to the Ground When I became obsessed with investing as a child, convinced it offered me the greatest probability of escaping what I saw as an economic dead end due to the community in which I lived, I spent years reading everything I could about any and every event…
We’re at home wrapping presents, baking cookies, and getting ready for the family dinners that are coming up in the next couple of days. Since Aaron and I are gifting stock this year – almost all of the transactions were completed yesterday with a settlement date of the 26th – there isn’t a lot left for us to do. However, to give the kids something tangible they can open under the tree from us, we went and got industrial size boxes of their favorite candy along with an explanation of how their stock in The Hershey Company is going to work.
The average healthy adult should eat roughly 2,000 calories per day to maintain a recommended weight. In the United States, all else equal, the average male, at 5’8″, should weigh between 140 pounds and 172 pounds. The average female, at 5’4″, should weigh between 114 pounds and 151 pounds. In study after study, the typical person underestimates…
A friend of mine, a nuclear engineer, once explained that he doesn’t bother to contribute to forums or message boards when the topic of nuclear energy is brought up anymore because people are irrational about it, interested in their own confirmation bias rather than learning or having an honest discussion. Almost everyone I know working in…
[mainbodyad] With all of the talk of gas prices falling, I’m reminded of the situation a couple of years ago when fuel costs were on an upward trajectory. Everyone from the little old ladies at church to major economic commentators were lamenting the “record high” energy expenses. Very few people noticed that, as per the U.S. Energy Information…
We’re making Christmas candies, chocolates, and cookies as part of our gift strategy this year. I’m probably most excited about trying my hand at the Jacques Torres Nougat Montilimar, which is going to require a deft hand.
Ten or eleven years ago, I went to a steakhouse in Omaha, Nebraska during a trip home from college. The chef that day had decided to make either a brandy or cognac reduction sauce using the drippings from the beef. Feeling adventurous, I decided to order off menu and see what it was like. The word incredible doesn’t even do it justice.
As we approach the end of 2014, I’m looking back on the year. One of the major changes from an investing perspective what a modification Aaron and I made in the investment policy manual. That doesn’t happen often. We added a handful of companies to the list of permanent business; those companies we consider so…