When Buying Stocks, Don’t Chase Yield – Or You Will Quickly Get Burned

If you are going to buy stocks, you are at some point going to become infatuated with dividends.  It’s part of the process.  But here’s a tip.  Don’t chase yield. If interest rates are at two percent, and the overall market is yielding, two percent, there is a reason why a specific stock is yielding […]

Aim High–And Get Your Foot in The Door

I’ve written before about the value of institutions, how they impact your life and very sense of self, and why you should think hard about which institutions you associate with. Now. I want to make sure you are aiming high enough. No matter who you are, if you are going to work for someone else […]

Don’t Run From Institutions

I have learned some hard lessons in life.  One is the value of institutions. For much of my adult life, I always had one foot out the door of whatever institution I was affiliated with.  In college, I enjoyed being there, but wished I was more challenged.  I also found the politics on campus infantile.  […]

Think Hard About The Institution

Think hard about the institution you will join.  What will you learn?  Whom you will interact with?  The institution’s values and behavior will likely rub off.  Do you like and admire the people who work there?  Do you want to be like them?

Stocks Are The Perfect Investment

For me, stocks are the perfect investment.  Here’s why: Over time (20 years or more), stocks as an asset class have almost always performed better than any other investments.  (This is for investments in the developed, western countries). Stocks pay dividends.  I like the cash in hand.  Dividends receive favorable tax treatment over earned income.  […]

Pray For A Bear Market – If You Are A Net Buyer Of Stocks

You Can Invest – Right Now

A Mighty Investor is not just someone who owns stocks, index funds, or other financial assets. Yes, we love investing in financial assets and building a giant financial buffer.  But a Mighty Investor is much more than that. Don’t have any money?  Here’s where to start investing. How’s your health?  Invest in it.  Seriously.  Go […]

Zig When Others Zag–Go Countercyclical

When I was a kid, I loved celebrating Christmas.  The shiny presents.  A stocking hanging over the fireplace.  Small, colorful lights wending their way around the Christmas tree…. There was just one thing.  Santa Claus made a big exception for our family.  I didn’t know this at the time, but Santa often came to the […]

Plant. Cultivate. Harvest.

Somewhere along the way, as modern life shifted from an agricultural society to what we have today (should I call it a consumer society?), the basic rhythm that defines rural life, “plant, cultivate, harvest” was lost to many of us.  Instead we embrace a “want, get” ethic.  The problem is that in life many areas […]

That Smug Upper Middle Class Mindset

This post might offend you.  So be it.  I want to shift your thinking. When I first became a diplomat, I was working insane hours.  Honestly, it was sort of funny.  I had had this notion that federal government jobs were cushy and that an air of permanent vacation would pervade the work environment.  That […]