October 1981 Treasury Bonds: Best Investment In History
With stocks, all good investment stories begin in October. Bonds are no different. In October 1981, the federal government of the United States of America auctioned off thirty-year treasury bonds at a...
View ArticleSonic’s Historically Disastrous Stock Buyback Program
Between 1998 and 2008, you may have noticed that Sonic drive-thrus didn’t change much. The same remote ordering technology. The same burgers. The same items. Prices that might have increased here and...
View ArticleIrving Kahn’s Beer Investing Insight
Irving Kahn was an incredibly fascinating man that received less than his fair share of media praise during his lifetime. An intuitive individual that invested during the Great Depression and lived to...
View ArticleTaking Charge Of Your Financial Future
The Irish Dark Ages last for approximately 400 years (!) – from approximately a century before the birth of Christ until approximately 300 years after that. It was an astoundingly poor period in which...
View ArticleHow Dollar Cost Averaging Through Life Reduces Risk
It is my contention that there are two ways that the average investor at home can gain an advantage over the algorithms, institutional investors, bankers, traders, and every other nebulous entity that...
View ArticleHow To Determine Your Best Business Idea
When Warren Buffett spoke to MBA students at the University of Florida in the early 1990s, he gave some of the greatest advice that budding entrepreneurs could ever hope to receive. He said that his...
View ArticleMerv Griffin’s Royalties From The Jeopardy Song
Even including successful lottery ticket purchasers, Merv Griffin had one of the most profitable minutes in the history of the civilization. You may recall the fortune that he made through his creation...
View ArticleSelling An Excellent Asset
Andrew Cherng, the Chinese immigrant who moved to the United States as a teenager, obtained a degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Missouri in 1972, and then moved to Los Angeles that...
View ArticleDisinheriting A Spouse: Understanding The Risks
The most interesting estate disputes to observe from afar are those in which those executing a will (called “testators” in legal parlance) decide upon a distribution of assets that is different from...
View ArticleThe Limitations of GEICO’s Liability Risk
The strong blue-chip stocks in the world are generally decentralized holding companies. For instance, when you buy Berkshire Hathaway stock, there are layers of separation between it and GEICO, its...
View ArticleThe Perils Of Too Much Debt
Clarence Saunders—an oft-forgotten early 20th century entrepreneur—is one of the five most important men in the history of American groceries. You could make an argument that he deserves a spot on the...
View ArticleThe Demutualization Secret of Credit Unions
You’ve probably encountered the general advice that the luckiest people are the most prepared. One of the basic, ordinary decisions that you make in your life is where to bank. Unless you are affluent,...
View ArticleChuck Feeney: The Billionaire Who Wasn’t
In 1960, Chuck Feeney and a business partner set up duty-free shops in airports to sell alcohol, cigarettes, and handbags produced in Japan to American travelers. The DFS Group, which was the holding...
View ArticleJordan Peterson’s Twelve Rules for Life
The psychologist Jordan Peterson, who has an enjoyable writing style that weaves scientific data with allegories and anecdotes, wrote a book titled the Twelve Rules for Life. There are two arguments...
View ArticleThe Well-Done Steak Problem
Most chefs learn pretty quickly that the customer’s idea of what tastes best is different their idea of what makes a good meal. More than any other food item, chefs are astonished by the amount of...
View ArticleRespecting Capital
Perhaps without exception, every dollar that you have in your possession originally was the product of your labor. That is significant. It represents your own time that could have been spent doing...
View ArticleHow To Improve Your Work Ethic
Samuel Johnson once said that courage is the most necessary of virtues, as without courage, it would be impossible to exercise any of the other virtues. In terms of leading a life of accomplishment,...
View ArticleWhy Waking Up Early Leads to More Productivity
Most of us are aware of Benjamin Franklin’s famous saying that early to bed and rise is the condition precedent to both health and wealth. What is less an element of the public consciousness is...
View ArticleThe Dixie Brewing Company’s Single Tulane Facility
In 1907, Valentine Merz founded the Dixie Brewing Company in New Orleans. Merz permitted a few dozen—which soon grew to a few hundred—investors to join in his original enterprise. After getting through...
View ArticleThe Risk of A Value Investing Strategy During A Financial Crisis
If you are a long-term investor, it usually provides opportunity than hardship when an investment you own is undervalued—i.e. selling for less than it is properly worth. If a business is worth $70 per...
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