[mainbodyad]As I explained in my investing lesson on how to read an income statement over at About.com, a division of The New York Times, gross profit and the gross profit margin are both important because they determine how much money out of each dollar sold is available for salaries, benefits, advertising, expansion, debt reduction, and…
DetailsI came across pictures from years ago of the very first office Aaron and I setup when we came back to Kansas City from New Jersey. It brought back fond memories. Other than problems with the temperature (the office was always too warm for my taste), it was a great space. Of course, being an…
DetailsThree weeks ago, Dylan sent me a message and asked the following (see below). This is my response. I’ve been meaning for a long time to ask what you specifically think someone in my position- a young person just leaving high school and entering college- should do to end up in a position similar to…
DetailsAnother addition to the Scrooge McDuck collection, reading a tobacco annual report, and picking up more books were on the list of things I enjoyed today.
DetailsFollowing the calculations I did last week, adjusting Monopoly for inflation as if it were real life, I began to speculate about what it would take for the average, regular, typical American citizen to “feel” rich. [mainbodyad]I think the average American would feel really, really well off at the equivalent of a light purple Monopoly…
DetailsYears ago, the Walt Disney Company released a limited edition Scrooge McDuck Cookie Jar, restricted to 250 copies. I spotted one at a good price a few days ago and bought it for the Carl Barks collection. It arrived and is now right where it belongs.
DetailsAdolphus Green was the genius that founded the modern day Nabisco, which was known as the “biscuit trust” after J.P. Morgan combined much of the nation’s bakeries under a single entity that Green controlled. He is responsible for most of the snacks America has enjoyed for generations. The thing that impressed me most about Adolphus…
DetailsFollowing up on the article I wrote about cigarette market share in the United States, I thought this was a great story about the legendary employee stock ownership culture at Reynolds Tobacco back in the first half of the 20th century. It comes from Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, which you should buy. It explains how R.J. Reynolds almost forced his employees to buy stock in the company and even created a special class of dividend shares for them!
DetailsThere is so much going on I don’t know if I’ll have much time to read, but the sunset and great lighting, combined with reading about R.J. Reynolds today, made me grab a copy of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, the book famous for chronicling the leveraged buyout that changed the…
DetailsFour Companies Control 94.8% Market Share of the Domestic Cigarette Industry in the United States On this blog, in my articles, and even in my books, I have often used the example of how capital allocation determines the wealth one ultimately has. Many times, I used the illustration of a married couple, both of whom…
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