Blog Archives

The Benefits of Being Swindled - Ulysses S. Grant and Leonard Cohen

swindled

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.”

-Ulysses S. Grant

“When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig.

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The Only Way Out Is Through - Lessons From Africa Applied at The Dead & Company Concert

There is a line from a Grateful Dead song that says:

I remember on our recent long sojourn to Africa and Asia there were a number of days when we are out on excursions and it was oppressively hot. The temperatures were close to 100° and the humidity was well over 50%.

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Creating Gifts that Keep on Giving

Gifts making Memories

35 years ago on the night of June 27th, a friend of mine and I slept on very uncomfortable concrete outside of Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin. The catalyst for this was fear of missing out as we were intent on doing our best to position ourselves to secure a great location for the next night’s concert being put on by the Grateful Dead as all seats were general admission.

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What You See Is What You Get? LIBOR & The Flat Yield Curve

Under most economic environments longer-term debt instruments yield more than shorter ones. This is the case in order to compensate investors for risks related to purchasing power eroding and more uncertainty and volatility that can increase the probability of default (outside Treasuries). In addition, our banking system is based on banks accessing short-term deposits and being able to make longer-term loans and investments which necessitates longer rates being higher than shorter ones so banks can be profitable.

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Resistance is The Enemy of Creativity

Shortly after publishing my book I was in New York City and did a brief interview with Gregg Greenberg from TheStreet.com which was quite fun and then I had a meeting with investment legend Howard Marks which was such a treat. He was kind enough to write a testimonial for the book and made the time to let me thank him personally.

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Quantum Phases & Locking Rate

Quantum Phases

The last few weeks have been a good representation as to why I have an aversion to fixed-rate loans when doing a refinance or an acquisition. Assuming fixed rate loans from sellers when acquiring properties, however, is a different story and worthy of its own write up so I won’t address the distinctions here.

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10-year Treasury Note & Argentina's 40% Interest Rate - An Interesting Week

10-year Treasury note

What a difference one week makes. Last week I was concerned that the 10-year Treasury note yield had breached its previous cycle peak. I used some questionable, but fancy statistical analysis to justify that the peak I should really be worried about was 3.16% versus the previous cycle peak of 3.04%.

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Fake News - The Reality Is Not What You Think

Fake News

I recently completed Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow and it is a wonderful read about the fascinating life and times of John D. Rockefeller. Ida Tarbell, one of the great muckraking writers and profilers who gained her fame while writing for McClure’s was personally impacted by Standard Oil’s brash business tactics.

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Shift Happens

In my over 30-year investment career, I have found that it is a more logical flow to go from micro to macro. What I mean is that there is no substitute for experience to help formulate a set of theories and overall investment philosophy versus the other way around. It may sound good on paper to read what others have written and postulated and from these wise teachings form a prism through which to make key decisions,

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Rand, Soros, Munger, Dalio, and The Founding Fathers

Rand

Like most people, especially investors, I’ve been wondering about whether there is a philosophical prism through which Donald Trump sees the world other than through deals and negotiations. In business, especially in real estate, there are often objective outcomes to shoot for to know if you are winning,

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