The Philosophical Investor's Blog

Inverting James Taylor: The Fan

Gary Roneet James Taylor

Every couple has its idiosyncrasies. One of those in my long relationship with Roneet was her insistence every night that we sleep with the portable standing floor fan on no matter how cold it was inside the house. I am pretty sensitive to being cold at night so when she would insist that the fan be on,

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Turn and Face the Strange(r) - My Hippie Uber Driver

Hippie Uber Driver

In David Bowie’s song Changes, the protagonist tells himself to “turn and face the strange”. Change is inevitable and in order to drive change or adapt to it, one has to go outside of the comfortable and familiar and take risks.

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Sorry Jack: Strong Economic Headwinds - Now What?

strong economic headwinds

Last week was one of those data weeks that corroborated the bond market’s view that the world is facing some strong economic headwinds. The news on the international front was particularly dismal with Chinese exports dropping by 20%, and German factory orders contracting as well.

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The Art of Improvisation - Liberating Your Artistic Genius

Improvisation

I want to continue focusing on books that resonated with me. A while back I was doing a mental exercise and thinking about some of my most memorable experiences. I was trying to determine if there was some sort of common thread weaving throughout all of them.

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Hope Is Not A Strategy - Don't Discount Liberal Arts!

hope is not a strategy

This will be my last blog post related to Andrew Carnegie. All good things must come to an end. When I started at CWS out of college my first boss asked me what my major was and I told him political science. He had an engineering background and kind of snickered and asked what I planned to do with that degree and if I considered “opening up a political science store.” I laughed it off and gave the standard retort that I thought it would help me be a better writer and think critically.

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Strangers Stopping Strangers: 7 Benefits of CEO's Having Hobbies

“Strangers stopping strangers

Just to shake their hands”

-Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter

I recently went to listen to a Grateful Dead cover band at a local bar/restaurant. I was immediately impressed by how good they were and the joyous atmosphere they helped create.

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In Sickness and Health

sick

It was a year ago that Roneet and I, along with her parents went on a trip of a lifetime. We took a five-week cruise that stopped in 11 countries in Africa and Asia. I am so glad that we took that trip as we were able to spend such a glorious time together and I ended up with such beautiful memories and hundreds of pictures to remind me of our special time.

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Mastery Often Starts at Home - Proud Father

Embed from Getty Images

In the melancholy song Black Peter, Jerry Garcia sings:

See here how everything

Lead up to this day

And it’s just like

Any other day

That’s ever been

This post is about a proud father acknowledging his daughter,

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Federal Reserve Response to the Market’s Beseeching - Power of Structural Forces

Federal Reserve

It’s been a very busy three weeks of travel so I’m going to keep this one pretty short and sweet. And while I often write a thousand words or more, this post will hopefully support the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

The Federal Reserve finally responded to the market’s beseeching that it pauses its rate increases and not be on a “damn the torpedoes” path of raising interest rates and shrinking the balance sheet.

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The Skyscraper Indicator - Is the Luxury Home Bubble Bursting?

skyscraper-indicator

A little while back I read an article by Ron Insana regarding New York luxury condos and how he believed that the top was in and the bubble was bursting. This is in conjunction with another article I read on Bloomberg.com about the weakening London luxury home market.

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