Capital for Living a More Practical Life
I got an email from a college student this morning asking me for financial advice and tips as they near graduation. I always respond to emails like this and try to give people useful advice. But deep down in my heart I know I am mostly just repeating mundane and useless bull shit. You know,… Read More
I’m a staunch capitalist. I mean, I run a website called “Pragmatic Capitalism”. But here’s the thing – I know that capitalism isn’t a cure-all. It has to be implemented pragmatically. And while it works well most of the time there are times when capitalism isn’t the right answer. For instance, capitalism and national defense… Read More
This was a tough week for the human race. Between the Orlando mass shooting(s), the murder of a British lawmaker and all the usual murders (that don’t get so much attention, but are equally important) we didn’t do very well. It was all compounded for me as two people very close to me died of… Read More
The blogger wisdom series continued today with a question about diversity in finance. Tadas asks: It does not escape me that the entire distribution list on this “Blogger Wisdom” e-mail chain is entirely male. I have written extensively on why this is an issue for the investment industry. What, if anything, can be done to… Read More
Humans have an easier time understanding the world by thinking about things in relative terms. These comparisons help us better compartmentalize our thoughts and benchmark our performance. Relative thinking creates order in a seemingly orderless world. But it can be both productive and highly unproductive since, in addition to thinking in relative terms, we also tend to overestimate… Read More
It’s that time of year when millions of Americans will sit down at dinner and give thanks for mashed potatoes, turkey, loose pants and American football. I will be somewhere in Paris continuing my attempt to go from Ironman to Dougboy in record time (in all seriousness, how is everyone in France not 800 pounds?).… Read More
As I get older I find myself sometimes reminiscing about “the good old days”. I’ll listen to music and say to myself “what is this crap”? Or I look at the state of politics and I wonder to myself “things seemed so much better back when Reagan and Clinton were running things”. I can’t be… Read More
The study of macro is about big things. Really big things. I can only speak from personal experience, but I don’t spend most of my time thinking about money, investing and economics (for fear of death by boredom, I hope you are the same). I spend most of my time thinking about really big things.… Read More
It’s been a week since I competed in Ironman Cabo and my body and mind are finally feeling back to normal. The Ironman is aptly named as it’s a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike and then a 26.2 mile run. It takes the best competitors in the world about 9 hours… Read More