Blog
Financial journalism from advisors who rather dislike Financial Journalism™
The Iron Law of Bond Math
A few thoughts on interest rates, money cannons, and Silicon Valley Bank...
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Kids and Money #2
The second blog of how it's going with teaching my kids about money.
Read MoreThe Resolute Investment Philosophy
Our 10-point investment philosophy.
Read MoreThe 2nd Law of Large Numbers
Just how good of an investment is an NBA team anyway?
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The Winner's Trap
Picking stocks is hard. Even if you win, you may still lose...
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A Secret Little Formula
Sometimes portfolio performance doesn't tell the whole story...
Read MoreA Different Model
A different business model in the wealth management business.
Read MoreThe Political Portfolio
A short story on mixing politics and portfolios
Read More2023 Annual Client Letter
A different take on an annual letter to begin the year...
Read MoreKids and Money #1
An ongoing blog about how my journey of teaching my kids about money goes.
Read MoreHarvey Dent's Wisdom
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain...
Read MoreHow to Buy a Lambo!
Buying that Lamborghini may be easier than you think...
Read MoreFTX, Ponzi Schemes, & Custody
There are a lot of things to be said about the recent blowup of the crypto exchange FTX. I suspect much of it is irrelevant to the readers of this blog. I don’t think they have much invested in the crypto space. I’m happy...
Read MoreCredit Cards Points
If you could take a trip to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Is it a domestic trip? International? Why haven’t you done it yet? Could it be the cost, or time, or...
Read MoreHabits...Good and Bad
A quick internet search of “How to build good habits” yields a lot of results. ~399 Million actually. Dang, that is a lot of info. It’s funny because I think pretty much everyone knows how to...
Read MoreThe Impact of Mistakes
I don’t consider myself a good golfer. I’ll play and then think, if I just cleaned up my mistakes, I would be awesome. That is what separates pros from amateurs. I played with a...
Read MoreAdventures in Financial Journalism
A quote from TIME Magazine published on September 28th:If America’s economic landscape seems suddenly alien and hostile to many citizens, there is good reason: they have never seen anything like it. Nothing in memory has prepared...
Read MoreThe Peril of Responsibility
An interesting study was published in the Journal of Economic Psychology in 2007. The authors examined the behavior of soccer goalies during penalty kicks. We’ve all seen the videos. Penalty kicks are difficult to block. Just as...
Read MoreIgnore the Dog
Bill Bernstein recounts hedge fund manager Ralph Wanger’s brilliant analogy of the markets:He likens the market to an excitable dog on a very long leash in New York City, darting randomly in every direction. The dog’s owner...
Read MoreRafiki's Wisdom
“The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.” The enduring words of Rafiki, the eccentric baboon, spoken after walloping Simba on the head with his staff. Sound advice for the lion...
Read MoreThe Good & The Bad
Rory suggested I join him training Jiu Jitsu about a year and a half ago. I liked the idea of becoming proficient in a martial art. Of being able to handle myself. And I’ve seen the John Wick movies. Who doesn’t want to be...
Read MoreAn Anniversary of Infamy
Inflation has been the dominant narrative in the markets of 2022. Inflation is up and everything else is down. Equities? Down. Bonds? Down. Gold? Down. Bitcoin? Down.I believe a well-diversified portfolio of equities is the greatest...
Read MoreThe Difficulty - Duration Paradigm
Rory, my business partner, shared something recently that struck me. He thinks doing something moderately difficult for a long period of time is far more difficult than doing something extremely difficult for a short period of time.I...
Read MoreThe "R - Word"
You probably heard the news. At 7:30am CST this morning GDP for the 2nd quarter was reported to be a negative number. That’s two consecutive quarters of negative GDP prints. That meets the technical definition of the “R...
Read MoreNumbers & Dollar Signs
Suppose you commission a psychological study. Recruit a handful of participants and find a few cameras to record facial expressions and an electroencephalogram to measure brainwaves. Then measure emotional reactions when the...
Read MoreThe Ingenuity Discount
People like to make forecasts. Predictions. Models. It’s quite easy to make a prediction seem plausible. We all try to think logically. If events A and B occur, then C will be the result. But we’re poorly equipped to...
Read MoreWe Don't Understand, Pt. I
You and I have a common flaw. We think linearly. No fault of our own, we were designed that way. Most of the time it’s helpful. When investing, it’s not. It makes sense that you and I are linear thinkers. We perceive...
Read MoreWe Don't Understand, Pt. II
I wrote recently about compound interest. Everyone thinks they understand compound interest. They remember some quote from Einstein about it.My point is that we don’t understand it. Our linear brains register exponential...
Read MoreSchrodinger's Portfolio
Remember learning about quantum mechanics in high school? Neither did I. Until I picked up a book on the subject a few years ago. Quantum mechanics is the study of subatomic particles. It’s… weird. Trying to understand...
Read MoreCrystal Ball
The most difficult part of investing is the uncertainty. Investing requires faith in the future. But the future is unknowable. It’s difficult to have faith in the future. There’s no shortage of negative news. Plenty of...
Read MoreJust Another Day
It was another Friday night in August of 2015. I lived in Nashville (still do), and I was single and in my twenties. So I went to a concert. Just another Friday night in Nashville. NEEDTOBREATHE was playing at Ascend Amphitheater...
Read MoreThe Commoditization of Miracles
I normally use the bathroom sink first thing in the morning. I presume that’s typical. For a reason I can’t recall one morning the first sink I turned on was in the kitchen. Turned the knob, and… nothing. Uh oh. I...
Read MoreSilver Platter
People say you can’t predict the market’s short-term moves.But sometimes the market serves you a trade on a silver platter.At least that’s what the market timers and the folks vying for attention on CNBC thought...
Read MoreDefining the Opportunity
Do you believe the market will eventually recover to its previous high? If you have a well-diversified portfolio – one invested in hundreds of companies across dozens of sectors and countries, I believe you ought to believe...
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