Kennon-Green & Co. Global Asset Management, Wealth Management, Investment Advisory, and Value Investing

The Decluttering and Minimalism Project Is Now Turning Toward My Personal Library

I am committed to this minimalism and de-cluttering project.  Since beginning this change, it has been wonderfully freeing.  If something hasn’t been used in the past twelve months, it is donated or discarded.  Everything has a place and the systems at home were changed so that the basic act of living, going through the day, takes care of keeping everything maintained without any extra work. Now that this phase of the pantry is done, I am turning my attention to the library.  

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One of the Great Pragmatists of the 20th Century Has Died: C. Everett Koop Passes Away at 96

C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General of the United States, has passed away.  He was 96 years old.  The devout, conservative, evangelical Christian born the grandchild of German immigrants was one of the great pragmatist of the past few generations, proving that a fact-based, rational approach to life can improve standard of living, reduce disease,…

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Book Recommendation: The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933 by Barrie A. Wigmore

In 1985, one of the greatest scholarly works ever penned on the Great Depression was published by Barrie A. Wigmore under the title The Crash and Its Aftermath: A History of Securities Markets in the United States, 1929-1933.  Using actual data from the period that took years to acquire, analyze, and interpret, Wigmore takes 751 pages…

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Union Pacific: A Company That Looked Expensive But Was Undervalued

The developments on the income statement and balance sheet of Union Pacific between 2005 and 2013 are an excellent example of why it is important for you to analyze data yourself, and come to conclusions based on reasonable, rational, intelligently organized facts.  The willingness to take action when others do not agree with you, and to have your action backed up by solid evidence, can make the difference between being comfortable and ending up rich.  Two of the world’s wealthiest titans demonstrated this truth, not only when buying shares of Union Pacific, but other railroads, as well.

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Book Recommendation: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

The Intelligent Investor is the portfolio management book written for the masses, made famous, in part, by the fact that it was what attracted legendary investor Warren Buffett to study under author Benjamin Graham at Columbia University.  There are several different versions, updated to reflect the time in which they were published, all offering unique…

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Dutch Oven Cornbread Recipe

I don’t talk about my personal life often, but the few times things do come out about my past, it should not come as a surprise to know that my younger days were filled with something known in American cuisine as “soul food”.  Big, black cast iron skillets on a stove, with bacon fat drained off to save money, to be reused during cooking.  Fried chicken.  Sun tea.  Coleslaw.  Cornbread.  It’s the type of food that got poor folks by in the Great Depression, that was made in the farmhouses and back swamp shanties before Social Security was established.  It’s cheap, made with what is abundant, and took centuries to perfect.  It was the United States’ answer to the so-called Peasant Dishes of France.

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