Kennon-Green & Co. Fiduciary Financial Advisor, Wealth Management, Global Value Investing


The Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner in the Happiest Place on Earth

I experienced investor nirvana this morning.  I was standing on Main Street in Disneyland out here in Southern California, taking a photograph of The Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, with the cart vendors selling Nestle ice cream, and the loudspeakers begin playing, “The Wells Fargo wagon is a comin’ down the street”.  It’s as if my investment portfolio…

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What Bearded Ladies Can Teach Us About 18th Century Borda Count Voting Systems and Making Money

The Washington Post this morning had a story about the political discontentment in Russia over the outcome of the 2014 Eurovision competition.  Given that a few days ago, I outright said I’d personally emigrate were I living in Russia, this confluence of events is particularly timely.  I’m going to use it as an excuse to talk about something known…

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To The 1,850~ of You Who Live in Russia, I Offer a Serious Suggestion: Emigrate. Now.

When I wrote this post a year ago predicting the decline of individual freedom in Russia, I never could have imagined how far the country would descend in a mere eleven months.  In addition to the Ukraine conflict, the anti-free speech laws that make it a crime to insult certain religious beliefs, the criminalization of any outward sign that you are gay under the guise of protecting minors, the ban of any potentially offensive words in film and art, and a host of other development that look like something out of a 20th century dictator’s textbook, the country has now passed a so-called “bloggers law” that requires any site with more than 3,000 visitors every day to register with the government.

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Famed Value Investor Christopher Browne’s Estate Becomes Most Expensive Home In American History At $145,000,000

One of the most famous value investors of the past 100 years was a man named Christopher H. Browne.  His father started a small firm, Tweedy, Browne & Company, that was Benjamin Graham’s stockbroker.  It was through Tweedy Browne that Warren Buffett bought his personal shares of Berkshire Hathaway, taking control of the textile mill he would…

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The Rationality of Irrationality

When I adopted rationality more than a decade ago, discovering that the only intelligent way to go through life was to base decisions on the preponderance of evidence, critically attacking ideas to improve thinking, and working to constantly remove assumptions from my analysis, it was akin to the conversion of Saul in Acts 9:18; scales falling from my eyes and seeing the world for how it really was for the first time.  I never anticipated how painful it would be to see others remaining behind in Plato’s cave given my natural inclination to teach and help people.  Even reading the articles on news stories can be unpleasant.

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