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…
I believe in wild, autonomous levels of individual freedom. Provided you aren’t harming anyone, neither your neighbors nor the government have the moral authority to prevent you from seeking your own happiness. It is immoral for parents to force their children into marriages, as still goes on in parts of the world. It is immoral…
One of the tricks I use to think of the stocks I hold as real businesses, just like the operating companies we own, is to get a physical representation of the firm, putting it in an investment cabinet. Now that I am building a 25-year energy portfolio as a personal side project for my household, I already have replica die cast oil tankers on their way from retailers and eBay. I’m having a hard time finding a comparable quality Total SA tanker, if they are even manufactured.
One of the ways I manage my life is to sit in a room several times a year, staring off into the distance, and trying to imagine 5, 10, 15, 20, 30+ years in the future. I ask myself what things I wish I had done when I was younger, what things I would have wanted to avoid, what risks I would have wanted to take, and what experiences I would have wanted to have. A topic that has come up several times during these exercises is the concept of energy assets. A portfolio of energy assets is fundamentally different in nature than almost any other security, business, or holding.
I’ve been thinking about life in the United States. We are a massive nation that generates $15 trillion in wealth every year. We have consolidated assets (personal, corporate, and government) of more than $200 trillion. Our natural resources are abundant. Our military power immense. Going further, take a moment to consider the following: The S&P…
Margaret Thatcher has died. She was one of the most influential figures of the past century, and one of the most powerful women in history.
Earlier this week, my grandma came down for chicken tikka masala. Tonight, it was take two, only this time, the chile seeds were partially retained in the sauce to increase the spiciness to the point it burned, but was enjoyable. It was delicious. This is definitely a permanent recipe we’ll be making several times a year.…
The biggest mistakes are often not seizing the huge opportunities that are right in front of you. One of my least favorite stories of this economic tragedy involve a man named Ed Toman, who lived in Southern California back in the 1940s and 1950s and played an important role in the early days of the McDonald’s restaurant empire.
All morning long, I’ve been getting letters in the inbox about my “latest” article at Investing for Beginners. I have no idea what they are talking about because the article in question, which isn’t even an article, it is a “quick tip” template that was meant as a side bar to another piece, was published years ago and has not been featured anywhere on either of sites.
For the past day, I’ve been thinking about a 65 year old man named John Demetriou. He was from Cyprus, but moved to Australia, where he spent 35 years working “days, nights and weekends in Sydney markets selling jewellery and imitation jewellery” according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Wanting to be in his home country, and…