Category Archive

I’m pecking at the keyboard in the middle of a severe market correction in both the stock and crypto markets. Chicken Little is starting his “sky is falling” campaign and things could very well get worse before they get better. It’s a bit laughable that people forget that markets don’t go up in straight lines and are indeed cyclical – I’m sorry to say that this time isn’t any different. Everyone feels like a genius in a bull market, but these are the lessons “bull market geniuses” never learn: Leveraging Limits Optionality It’s a euphoric feeling (or so I’m told) when your returns are multiplied by debt. However…it’s catastrophic when leverage cuts the other way. Cash Isn’t Trash Cash looks …

2022: Wow! I can’t believe it has been three years since I went through this exercise for the second time in ten years to plant the seeds of what I desired my life to look like over the next ten. Here is the second of these letters, the one that I wrote in March of 2019. I’ll likely take the opportunity to write another letter in the next one to two years to continue this exercise as I find it very helpful to not only set direction but to force reflection periodically throughout the decade, which allows for any sort of course correction needed. I like a decade because my imagination can’t go much beyond that amount of time.  As …

Poof! The first six months of 2020 are officially in the rearview mirror along with the 15,724,800 seconds they represented. And you thought money was slippery? At the end of the day, money is only a measure of how much time freedom you have. If you think about the 4% rule, its basic premise is to accumulate 25X your desired annual burn rate in order to sustain you for a 30+ year “retirement” (in parentheses because everyone’s definition of what this looks like is different). You have to dive a level deeper to realize that 25X before any appreciation, dividends, interest, or rental income is really a measure of time. It represents 25 years worth of living expenses – in …

It didn’t even seem possible! We had all heard about this COVID-19 virus that was sweeping through China. And then it spread to Europe, Italy being particularly hard hit with its aging population, the majority of whom suffered several comorbidities (underlying conditions). The US responded by shutting off travel in and out of the country. We thought we were impervious – we are the mighty United States of America! Hubris at its best. Don’t get me wrong, I still do believe we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, but the virus has humbled us all. COVID-19 has quickly taught us that all humans, regardless of race or economic status, are vulnerable and at the mercy of …

You can find all of Zach’s previous posts here. Today, Zach introduces the “Go Around” principle. It reminds me of something I tell the guys that work for me on a regular basis and that’s “the value is in the solution, not in the problem.” Anyone can identify a problem. Anyone can complain about a problem. Anyone can come up with solutions to solve or “Go Around” the problem but choose not to. Please take Zach’s advice and embrace the principle of “Go Around.” I hope you enjoy Zach’s latest FIRE Starter post below. First, a Quick Reminder of Why I Started This Series For the astute observer, you will notice that I have added three new series to the …

Each of us walks our own path, and develops our own perspective on life. You may never understand me or my perspective, and you will definitely have your own. It’s inevitable because we come from different walks of life, were born into different families, different times and places, and have lived different sets of experiences. So although I can understand our differences, I can only share the world as I see it and have experienced it. I’m an optimist. My wife likes to say that I view the world through rose-colored glasses. That doesn’t mean my world is perfect, by any means, but I have observed that things tend to work out most of the time and that’s what I …