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.
The masterpiece Middlemarch, a Study of Provincial Life is considered by many literary critics and academics to be the greatest novel written in the history of the English language. A work of historical fiction, the story is set during the years 1829-1832 and follows the lives of the inhabitants of a fictional town, Middlemarch, as threads, both visible and invisible, weave the fate of their their homes, marriages, businesses, fortunes, happiness, and misery together.
So many of our clients, friends, and acquaintances bike, including for pleasure, exercise, and/or commuting to work, and we had grown so accustomed to seeing people on their bikes all the time out here given the near year-round perfect weather, Aaron and I decided that one of these days we were going to visit a nearby bike store in Costa Mesa, California. Yesterday, we finally checked this off our task list and we’re so happy that we did.
Walk into a French café and you might discover a dish called Croque Monsieur, which translates as “Mr. Crunch”. Add a sunny-side up egg on top and it becomes a Croque Madame, or “Mrs. Crunch”, the gender shift occurring because the egg resembles the sort of hat women would frequently wear in a by-gone era. Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame can range from the easy and convenient to the rich and decadent depending on the money, time, and calories you are willing to sacrifice.
One of the benefits of our relocation to the West Coast was going through boxes and containers dating back to early childhood, discovering things that we didn’t realize we had; toys from our nursery, birthday cards from elementary school, choral music from high school and college. This included migrating old computer archives before destroying the physical drives, resulting in large amounts of data we now need to organize and catalog over the coming years as a part-time personal project
We spent our Saturday morning reading and enjoying cinnamon roll French toast at the Oak Grill at the Fashion Island Hotel in Newport Beach.
Politicians, central bankers, and academics around the world are engaging in a conversation that could have massive real-world consequences for both middle class families and retirees; conversations that could result in substantially higher taxes, and/or substantially reduced benefits for entitlement programs such as Social Security, depending upon how the matter is resolved. The average American is not paying attention to this at all. It matters. This is a technical debate that will transfer huge amounts of wealth from various stakeholders depending upon who prevails.
I want to officially thank the people of The Netherlands for one of their greatest contributions to human civilization: the Stroopwafel. How I managed to go 36 years of life without ever experiencing the joy that is this amazing combination of toasted waffle, caramel, cinnamon, and vanilla is beyond me. My Stroopwafel obsession has gotten to the point that Aaron laughs at me because I just can’t help myself. It’s so bad that because I try to limit my daily consumption of sugar, I actually look forward to going to bed just knowing that I can get up and have another Stroopwafel. This is out of control.
With the changes going on in my life and career, it’s been several years since I’ve posted a breakdown of the blog community so I thought now would be a good time. Thus, I present the Blog Demographics 2019 Edition, otherwise entitled, “Opulence, You Own Everything”.
There is a bubble tea shop called Omomo in Irvine, California that Aaron wanted to try. He mentioned it for a few weeks then, on a whim back on March 20th, we decided to go discover for ourselves why it is so popular.
If you ever wanted to try the infamous “New Coke” that resulted in global boycotts of Coca-Cola when it briefly replaced the classic formula, now is your chance. Of course, me being me, this post ended up turning into an academic discussion about long-term investing including a mini-case study of Coke over the past 34 years.