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You are here: Home / Life / You, too, can be conned

You, too, can be conned

by jlcollinsnh 35 Comments

I made an enemy this week.

She is the widow of an old friend.  Before he died, I promised to try to look out for her a bit.

During our recent conversation she said I made her feel small.  She said I made her feel stupid. There were tears. I’m very likely guilty on both counts.  I’m not always tactful.  But, hopefully, I saved her two million dollars.

Her husband died a while back.  Over the years he worked hard and had acumulated the aforementioned $2,000,000.  He loved his wife dearly and he knew he would very likely leave her a widow.  The money was an act of love.  He wanted to be sure she would be financially secure.

But he also knew three things that scared him no end:

  1. His wife believed in the “free lunch.”  That is, she was always open to come-ons.  Free cell phones were an example.  Every time their cell phone contract expired the provider offered a “free” cell phone which she proudly grabbed.  Somehow she seemed to miss the two year contract it locked them into, over and over again.  While small potatoes, it is a bad sign.
  2. The world is filled with predators looking for precisely people like her.
  3. Money and this belief in the “free lunch” attracts them like sharks to blood in the water.

It was this topic that set me off and brought her to tears.  I was trying to gently coax her into appreciating the risk.  She is a very bright woman and seemed to understand.  But then she said, “Don’t worry.  I can’t be conned.”

“With that you have,” I said (and by this point my voice I fear was raised) “just violated the first rule of not being conned!”

SnakeOil1

Make no mistake.  You can be conned.  So can I.

Here’s one I came across many years ago.  Fortunately I read about it.  In those days, I might well have taken the bait.  Here it is:

One day you get a letter, or maybe these days an email.  In it, an investment advisor introduces himself and  offers you a stock tip.  ABC Corp is going to dramatically rise in price over the next week or two.  Don’t invest, he cautions, without doing your homework.  But his proprietary metrics are pointing to this one as a strong buy.

You’re no fool but you decide to maybe keep an eye on it.  Just to see.  Sure enough, it sharply spikes up.  You could have made 50, 60, 100% on your money in a just couple of days.  Damn.  Letter 2 arrives.

This one says, BCD Corp is poised to take a sharp fall.  Our metrics, it says, say short (shorting is  a way to sell stock you don’t own on a bet it will decline in price) this stock.  You are a careful investor.  Again you decide to watch and see, although with a keener interest now.

Sure enough, this one collapses as predicted.  Had you acted, big profits would have been yours.

Letter #3 arrives.  Then #4, #5 and maybe even #6.  Each is dead on.  The stock rises, or falls, exactly as predicted.  Maybe you even took a chance and profited from one or more.  Hard not to be impressed by now.  I would be.

Then you get an invitation to dinner at one of your area’s finer restaurants.  You and a hand full of other “executive level investors” are invited to an informal meeting with Mr. Hasn’t-Missed-One-Yet.  He’ll be discussing his proprietary investment metrics and how they’ve made him rich.

At dinner, Mr. HMOY is soft-spoken.  He is warm, kind and concerned.  He has all the trappings of wealth, but in a tasteful, understated fashion.  Charts and graphs are presented.  The exact investment approach is unclear, but then it is proprietary.  This is to be expected.  Oh, and barely mentioned in passing, it just so happens a couple of slots remain open in his latest investment pool.  There is certainly no obligation but, of course, “based on our experience” they will be snapped up by tomorrow.  So, if you are interested….

Can you see the trick?  (and like all magic, it is a trick) If you can and this is the first you’ve come across it, you are a better man than I.  But don’t get cocky.  If not this one, there’s another that will fly under your radar.  In can happen to you.  Fail to understand this and it will.  That’s the first rule.  Here’s the full set:

Rule #1:  Everybody can be conned.  Certainly stupid people are marks.  But so are the exceptionally bright.  The moment you start to think that it can’t happen to you, you’ve become a most attractive target.  The easiest victims are those that think they are too smart, too knowledgeable to be taken.  This means you, bucko.

Rule #2:  You are likely to be conned in an area of your expertise.  The reason is simple:  Targeting and Ego.  When con men pick a scam they look for people to whom it will naturally appeal.  Those are people in the field.  People feel secure and safe in those areas they know well.  They believe they will be too smart to be caught unawares.  Smart people know the areas they don’t know and tend to be far more cautious there.  Most of Bernie Madoff’s victims were financial professionals.

Rule #3:  Con men (and women) don’t look like con men.  This isn’t the movies.  They’re not going to have slouch hats pulled low over their shifty eyes.  Successful con men look like the safest, most trust-worthy, most honest, most stable, most comforting people imaginable.  You won’t see them coming.  Or rather you will, and you’ll be warmly welcoming them.

Rule #4:  99% of what they say will be true.  The best, most effective lies are surrounded by truth.  Buried in it.  The con, the thing that will leave you broke and with a real reason to cry, is carefully hidden.  It is deep in the proverbial fine print.

Rule #5:  If it looks too good to be true, it is.  There is no free lunch.  Not ever.  Your Mama taught you this.  She was right.

Listen to your Mama.

Of course, not all cons are clever.  An email from a Nigerian stranger offering you, random old you, millions to accept his money transfer should be obvious.  Right?

The stranger knocking on your door and offering cut-rate home repairs because we “just happen to be working the the neighborhood” if only you pay in cash up front, is a con man.  You know this.  Right?

Those are the kinds of simple cons my friend’s wife was thinking about, and she’s right.  She is much to smart to fall for those.  But those aren’t what had her husband worried.  It is the Mr. HMOYs of the world who seek out the smart, the rich and the lonely.

If you have not already done so, have these conversations with your own spouse.  Don’t leave it to a tackless (although honest) friend of the family like me.

Given the actuarial tables and her good genes, my own wife will likely also outlive me by a couple of decades or more.  Since I handle our investments, we have this conversation on a regular basis.  We review what we own and why.  Fortunately, she understands the principles and their importance.

As an aside this is one more reason I’m a fan of index funds.  I want to leave her with a simple portfolio she can leave on auto-pilot.

So far these discussions haven’t lead to my making an enemy of her.  Yet.  I think.

How’d he do that??

Investment scams are so common, and successful, that even the Canadian Government has set one up as a cautionary tale.  2-Cents shares it with us here:

http://balancejunkie.com/2012/03/12/what-you-need-to-know-about-online-investment-fraud/

Oh, and if you know how Mr. HMOY did it, post it in the comments.  If no one does, in a week or so I’ll add a post script with the answer.

Update:  Aaron nailed it right out of the box.  See his comment below.

Addendum: Here’s a story of a near-con from James Altucher

Related

Important Resources

  • Talent Stacker is a resource that I learned about through my work with Jonathan and Brad at ChooseFI, and first heard about Salesforce as a career option in an episode where we featured Bradley Rice on the Podcast. In that episode, Bradley shared how he reached FI quickly thanks to his huge paychecks and discipline in keeping his expenses low. Jonathan teamed up with Bradley to build Talent Stacker, and they have helped more than 1,000 students from all walks of life complete the program and land jobs like clockwork, earning double or even triple their old salaries using a Salesforce certification to break into a no-code tech career.
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  • Betterment is my recommendation for hands-off investors who prefer a DIFM (Do It For Me) approach. It is also a great tool for reaching short-term savings goals. Here is my Betterment Review
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  • Vanguard.com

Filed Under: Life, Money

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Comments

  1. Matt @ RamblingFever Money says

    March 9, 2012 at 6:08 am

    That is unfortunate, the way your relationship with your friends widow is turning out. Hopefully she understands at some point that you are just trying to help.

    Your statements about con men lead me to wonder, what if they themselves are being conned? What if the con man thinks that he is an actual salesperson selling a useful product or service? I immediately think of a vacuum cleaner salesperson. A couple of years ago, she agreed to let the Rainbow vacuum people do a demonstration in our home. We were supposed to get a week long vacation in the Caribbean (or something like that). We never got it, and we’ll never get back the 2 hours we wasted listening to their spiel. $3,000 for a vacuum cleaner!!! No thank you.

    Were they trying to con us into paying that much for a vacuum, or were they conned into thinking that they were selling a product that is actually worth that much?

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 9:44 am

      Thanks Matt….

      I hope so, too. but I also need to work on softening my approach.

      Interesting question and the answer probably ranges all over. my guess is most employees have probably drunk the kool aid and are true believers.

      but I have also known guys who worked in “boiler rooms” selling bogus investments they knew were crap. they reveled in the fact the stuff was crap and took delight in cheating their customers. not to mention the big money they made.

      There are a lot of very unpleasant people out there….

      Reply
    • David W says

      January 18, 2013 at 12:39 pm

      I had a friend in HS who got a job selling Kirby vacuum cleaners and as part of his “training” he offered to clean the carpet at my house. Since all the floors were hardwood I suggested cleaning the upholstery in my car. I will admit the vacuum worked well, but it was also clear that something shady was going on.

      After the demo I obviously was not interested in paying the $1600 for the vacuum cleaner (what HS kid would be?) so he got on the phone to his boss who agreed to temporarily knock $200 off the price if I committed to the purchase right then. I told him I would pay $50 total for it *grin* and my friend relayed the message. This went back and forth until his boss was offering $400 for the vacuum and we could even set up a payment plan.

      A few weeks later my friend quit the job saying that the more he learned about it the more he felt scammed. He was working commission only and never made a sale. Point being… I think he was the one being scammed as well as any customer willing to pay $1600 for a vacuum cleaner.

      Reply
      • jlcollinsnh says

        January 18, 2013 at 1:00 pm

        Here’s your friend’s problem: He has a conscience. Kirby needs to do a better job screening out those hires with (that) pesky character(istic)

        Reply
  2. aaron says

    March 9, 2012 at 6:32 am

    Its a pyramid. Each week fewer letters are sent out…only to those who received accurate forecasts the past week. By the end of 5 or 6 rounds, a few thousand letters have netted 10 or 20 patsies who have received perfectly accurate predictions each week. Pure chance and the dwindling size of the letter pool allow the seeming “accuracy” to persist.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 9:39 am

      and we have a winner! that didn’t take long. congrats, Aaron. How long you been running this scam? 😉

      the only thing to add is each time the scammer has to find a very volatile stock. all he needs is a big move, either way. Each batch of letters is divided into two: one predicting a rise and the other a fall.

      Reply
      • Bella says

        March 16, 2012 at 3:29 pm

        Oh holy crap! I have an engineering degree – and statistics was one of my favorite classes – but that is some smart con math!

        Reply
        • jlcollinsnh says

          March 16, 2012 at 6:49 pm

          yep, these folks are no dummies.

          thanks for stopping by, Bella!

          Reply
    • Stockbeard says

      November 9, 2015 at 3:52 pm

      Wow, this is clever and so simple.
      My company does A/B testing all the time and I didn’t even think of it. Wow.

      Reply
      • jlcollinsnh says

        November 10, 2015 at 5:50 pm

        The best cons always are. 😉

        Reply
        • Cameron says

          July 5, 2022 at 2:02 am

          The best way to beat a con artist is to have a few as friends. Not only are they incredibly interesting, but the old saying “you can’t bulls–t a bulls–ter” will have you fit and poised to recognise a scam a mile away.

          I have a few mates who are mad gamblers. The trick JL describes above is common in that industry, with sports tipping services.

          Know thy enemy… keep them close.

          Reply
  3. Trish Rempen says

    March 9, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Oh, and being conned can be painful!
    I speak from experience….and what you say is right. It’s in your area of expertise, because you think you know what’s going on. It’s people you feel you can trust, because otherwise – well, you wouldn’t trust them. Your guard would be up. Ah well!
    “There’s a sucker born every minute,” as I think PT Barnum said, and he’s right.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 11:33 am

      If you’ve been conned, and I know you, I rest my case. It can happen to anyone.

      Reply
  4. DollarDisciple says

    March 9, 2012 at 11:33 am

    I was going to say that it’s a “pump and dump” scheme but the way Aaron described it is even more clever! Why didn’t I think of that?! Maybe because I’m not a con man 🙂

    I would rephrase rule #5: If it looks too good to be true, it *probably* is so do more research

    Sometimes, you really *can* have runaway success. Look at Google or Apple!

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 11:39 am

      OK, DD….

      …you just earned yourself an assignment. 🙂

      Explain the “pump and dump” scheme.

      Reply
  5. Andy says

    March 9, 2012 at 11:40 am

    Hi Jim,

    I just read you latest blog on not being conned. I thought it was very good. Fortunately, I’m smart enough to know that I can easily be conned so I try to live by the rule if it’s too good to be true it probably is. The Nigerian’s stopped emailing me after I replied “Nice try” to the last email they sent me.

    I wanted to tell you that I took your suggestion and I am turning my articles into a book. I’m sitting at about 37,000 words right now and I suspect that by the time I finish fleshing out the articles, I’ll be close to 60,000 words. I actually signed up with a book writing, publishing, and speaking coach that Mark Matteson recommended. I am working with Patrick Snow and he is going to help me self-publish the book through a publisher in NYC. Patrick is an international best-selling author; he has sold over 100,000 copies of his book, Creating Your Own Destiny, so he knows how to do it. He suggested that I mock up a cover for the book, put it on my wall so I could look at it, and visualize the finished book. So I created an attached image in Photoshop and pinned it to my computer desk where I see it every day. I also secured the website,http://www.businesssecretsthatwork.com to promote the book once I finish it.

    I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

    Thanks,

    Andy

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 11:59 am

      Hey Andy,

      Great to see you here and thanks for commenting. Now I know why the Nigerians have stepped up their emails to me!

      Great news on your book. I can’t wait to read it! I’ve always been impressed with your ideas and thought process. Post a link to the cover if you can and keep us posted.

      I’ve also been thinking about a book and the disciple of writing this blog is helping get me there. Self publishing will be the route I take as well. You might check out this on the subject, it’s the advice I plan to follow:

      http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/05/why-and-how-i-self-published-a-book/

      Reply
      • Andy says

        March 9, 2012 at 12:18 pm

        Jim, Thanks, I may try to incorporate the potential cover art onto the landing page for the book but for now I’ll have to email it to you.

        The strategy on self-publishing is simple,

        1. you get to keep 100% of the profits.
        2. use the book to generate speaking engagements
        3 use the speaking engagements to sell more books, generate more speaking engagements, develop coaching and consulting sessions
        4. use the book to sell more of your products, other writings, other books, ebooks, etc.

        That seems to be the simple formula that the successful entrepreneurs are using. Most authors will tell you the money is not in the book, it is what you do with the book that makes you the money. I’m hoping it will add credibility to my consulting company. I enjoy speaking in front of an audience, and I miss not doing that so I’m hoping that this will help get me doing that again too. Who knows, maybe our old friends at Penton might hire me to speak at an upcoming Comfortech.

        Reply
        • jlcollinsnh says

          March 9, 2012 at 1:08 pm

          Yep. That’s my understanding, too. It also has synergies with a blog.

          There’s no money in bloging, for me anyway, although I guess there is for some. I also wouldn’t expect the book to make much, if any. So far this is just a hobby that I’m enjoying.

          but, who knows?

          Back in the day, I very much enjoyed my speaking gigs although it is a lot of prep work to do it well. as you know.

          Where is Comfortech this year?

          Reply
  6. milfordmarineTom Kemper says

    March 9, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Is that widow still available?

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 9, 2012 at 1:01 pm

      dunno. she’s not speaking to me and, besides, last I heard you were spoken for. 😉

      Reply
  7. femmefrugality says

    March 10, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    Oh, no good! I’m sorry it’s souring the relationship. I have no idea how he did it. But you’re right…so many free things; none of which are free. If an opportunity’s too good to be true, it probably is. I guess I’m just full of cliche’s today…

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 10, 2012 at 3:38 pm

      It’ll mend, FF…

      ..but thanks for the concern.

      Aaron came up with the solution in the first of these comments and you’ll find it above.

      I see your town has been named a retirement haven:

      http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-10-best-places-to-retire.html

      I lived in Cleveland for a number of years and always liked Pittsburg during my visits.

      Reply
  8. Kathryn C says

    March 12, 2012 at 11:39 am

    When anyone says “proprietary” in their pitch, you know it’s horse sh-t. Proprietary just means “we have gobs of money to build systems that may or may not ad any value to you, they just look fancy.”

    Am I Mr. HMOY’s worst nightmare? Probably.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 13, 2012 at 11:39 pm

      LOL. proprietary is one of those ‘warning words’

      sometimes it just means “we want you to think we have gobs of money….”

      thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
  9. Shilpan says

    March 13, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    JC, I love this post. As that age-old adage, “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. You can’t learn common sense in school, but you can by becoming a street smart.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 13, 2012 at 11:40 pm

      thanks! glad it struck a cord. what’s that saying? “common sense aint’ all that common.”

      Reply
      • Lagerbaer says

        March 12, 2013 at 12:16 pm

        I actually like the version “It might be common, but it certainly ain’t sense” better 🙂

        Reply
  10. Heather Hartmann, Communications Advisor, Alberta Securities Commission says

    March 14, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    Thanks for the mention of our securities regulators’ investment fraud campaign – it’s great awareness is spreading!

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 14, 2012 at 6:57 pm

      My pleasure, Heather……..

      glad to see the ASC is reading jlcollinsnh. who knew? 😉

      Reply
  11. 101 Centavos (@101centavos) says

    March 15, 2012 at 6:26 am

    I had a good friend at work whose son-in-law was bilked out of a good chunk, northwards of 200K. I hesitate to call it a “typical” forex long-con, but that’s what it ended up being. I heard later there were similar set-ups going on in Florida. For a $20 million payday, which is what the con men eventually skipped town with, I imagine the costs for set-up and the operation were substantial. They had software programs written and swanky offices leased downtown for quite a while.

    Reply
    • jlcollinsnh says

      March 15, 2012 at 6:50 am

      stories like that make me wish my mother hadn’t instilled in me this pesky conscience. 😉

      Reply
  12. Cameron says

    December 26, 2015 at 6:34 am

    Where I’m from, bookmakers offer cash bonuses to new clients who sign with them, sometimes up to $1000. When you multiply that by the number of players in the market, this becomes lucrative… you make a no-strings-attached $6000 or so and go on your merry way. When I tell people about this, lots think there’s a catch. Doesn’t matter how I explain it, they just don’t believe me because it sounds too good to be true. Their loss (or opportunity cost) I guess.

    On the other hand, I got an email from my ageing Dad (who lost a sh!tload of his life savings in the 2008 crash) saying Iraqi dinar were going to revalue to $3 each (it’s currently cheaper to buy than Monopoly money) and if I gave him $1000 he’d make me millions by the end of the month. That was March 2010. I declined but unfortunately for him, so has the value of the dinar and the good will of those closest to him ever since.

    Incredulously, my Dad’s had more luck recruiting for the dinar scam than I’ve had for the bookmaker cash grab!

    Reply
  13. Trev says

    August 14, 2019 at 11:32 pm

    I noticed a “con” in my local Hong Kong mutual funds market recently, not sure how long this has been going on. There are a large number of bond funds that claim to pay very high dividends (about ~8% ). Upon closer inspection, there is a small but worrying clause buried in the fund fact sheet:
    “Dividend payments may, at the sole discretion of the Investment Manager, be made out of the Fund’s capital or effectively out of the Fund’s capital which represents a return or withdrawal of part of the amount investors originally invested and/or capital gains attributable to the original investment. ”

    Such an arrangement is fraught with moral hazard. A cynical way to look at this is the fund manager without much skill or effort can create high dividends and use it to attract buyers – charging them a hefty sign on fee, and then literally pay the investors their money back in installments while charging them another fee each year.

    The way they report performance supports the cynical view:
    “Fund performance is calculated on NAV to NAV basis in denominated currency of the respective share class with gross dividends re-invested.” My understanding of good accounting practice should not include dividends in NAV – I believe they are trying to obscure the fact that dividends are paid out from capital.

    Not surprisingly, the actual performance of the fund is mediocre.

    I am surprised that it is legal for fund managers to pay dividends out of capital, I’m pretty sure it is illegal for say a listed company to do this. I see some parallels between such an arrangement and pyramid schemes a la Madoff.

    Check it out for yourself: https://hk.allianzgi.com/en/retail/our-products/fund-in-focus-landing/allianz-income-and-growth-fund-rdb

    Reply

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      • Part XXXVI: Estate Planning 101 -- The Simple Path to an Estate Plan
      • The Simple Path to a Lucrative Career
    • ► July (1)
      • Help Wanted: a new book
    • ► June (1)
      • The Top 9 (Bad) Arguments Against Bitcoin
    • ► May (2)
      • Collins on Crypto
      • The Alfred Hitchcock Path to FI
    • ► April (1)
      • Time to sell?
    • ► February (1)
      • Mariah International: All that glitters…
  • ► 2020 (11)
    • ► December (1)
      • Season's Greetings!!
    • ► June (1)
      • How to give when you have a business
    • ► April (4)
      • Investing with Vanguard for Europeans: 2020 update
      • Part XVII-B: ETF vs. Mutual Fund -- What's the difference?
      • Reviewing the comments on my post of April 1st
      • Why I will no longer be writing this blog
    • ► March (4)
      • My move from VMMXX to VBTLX
      • COVID-19: The unvarnished truth from Doc G.
      • Chautauqua sits out 2020
      • Taking advantage of Mr. Bear
    • ► February (1)
      • Mr. Bear, Podcasts, a good book and why I should be in 100% stocks
  • ► 2019 (11)
    • ► November (4)
      • How we bought our new car
      • The House Hacking Strategy
      • What does buying a new car really cost over the years?
      • Why we bought a brand new car
    • ► August (1)
      • A Guided Meditation for When the Stock Market Is Dropping
    • ► June (2)
      • 7 Days in Heaven: or Why Slowing Down Will Get You There Sooner
      • Quit Like a Millionaire
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXV: Investing for Seven Generations
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2019 - UK & Portugal - Tickets Now Available
    • ► January (2)
      • Mr. Bogle passes
      • "I wanted the unreasonable"
  • ► 2018 (16)
    • ► December (1)
      • Happy Holidays! and a bit on Mr. Market
    • ► November (3)
      • Truly Passive Real Estate Investing
      • Car Talk: An update on Steve and looking at Leafs
      • Chautauqua 2018 Greece: A week for the gods!
    • ► October (1)
      • On Twitter, gone for Chautauqua and dark on comments till November
    • ► September (2)
      • What we own and why we own it: 2018
      • Tuft & Needle: Our Walnut Frame and Mint Mattress
    • ► August (1)
      • Kibanda Part 5: Pretty, and pretty much done
    • ► June (3)
      • Stocks--Part XXXIV: How to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Tracking your holdings
      • Stocks -- Part XXXIII: Optimism
    • ► May (2)
      • Kibanda Part 4: Quicksand!
      • My Talk at Google, Playing with FIRE and other Chautauqua connections
    • ► March (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXII: Why you should not be in the stock market
    • ► February (1)
      • Chautauqua 2018: Mt. Olympus, Greece
    • ► January (1)
      • An International Portfolio from The Escape Artist
  • ► 2017 (15)
    • ► December (2)
      • The Bond Experiment: Return to VBTLX
      • How to Invest in Bitcoin like Benjamin Graham
    • ► October (1)
      • Kibanda Part 3: Running the numbers
    • ► September (1)
      • Sleeping soundly thru a market crash: The Wasting Asset Retirement Model
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXXI: Too hot. Too cold. Not pure enough.
      • Kibanda, Part 2: Negotiating the deal
    • ► July (2)
      • Time Machine and the future returns for stocks
      • Kibanda: Mr. Anti-house buys his dream house
    • ► June (2)
      • Is there an interior designer in the house?
      • The Simple Path to Wealth goes Audio!
    • ► May (1)
      • Life on the Beach
    • ► April (1)
      • Sell! Sell!! Sell!!! Sell?
    • ► March (1)
      • Vicki comes to Chautauqua: United Kingdom
    • ► January (2)
      • Chautauqua - Ecuador 2017 open for reservations
      • Chautauqua - United Kingdom: August 2017
  • ► 2016 (22)
    • ► December (3)
      • Season's Greetings and other cool stuff
      • Angel Investing, or Angel Philanthropy?
      • Mr. Bogle and me
    • ► November (1)
      • Where did you learn about money?
    • ► October (2)
      • Buy Your Freedom; Rent the Rest
      • So, what do you drive?
    • ► September (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXX: jlcollinsnh vs. Vanguard
      • A visit to the Frugalwoods
    • ► August (1)
      • What the naysayers are missing
    • ► July (1)
      • Reviews of The Simple Path to Wealth; gone for summer
    • ► June (2)
      • The Simple Path to Wealth is now Published!
      • A peek into The Simple Path to Wealth
    • ► May (1)
      • It's better in the wind. Still.
    • ► April (3)
      • Cool things to check out while I'm gone
      • Stocks — Part XXIX: How to save money for college. Or not.
      • Help Wanted: The Book
    • ► March (1)
      • F-You Money: John Goodman v. jlcollinsnh
    • ► February (2)
      • Q&A - V: The Women of Amphissa
      • jlcollinsnh gets a new suit
    • ► January (3)
      • Chautauqua 2015 Reviews, 2016 registration open
      • Case Study #15: The Scavenger Life -- Freedom first, then Financial Independence
      • 3rd Annual (2015) Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2016
  • ► 2015 (18)
    • ► December (2)
      • Q&A - IV: Strawberry Patch
      • Seasons Greetings! and other cool stuff
    • ► October (2)
      • Personal Capital; and how to unload your unwanted stocks and funds
      • Stockchoker: A look back at what your investment might have been
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #14: To Dream the Impossible Dream (and then realize it)
      • Hotel Living
    • ► August (1)
      • Mr. Market's Wild Ride
    • ► June (4)
      • Gone for Summer, an important note on comments and random cool stuff that caught my eye
      • Around the world with an Aussie Biker
      • Case Study #13: The Power of Flexibility
      • Stocks — Part VIII: The 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
    • ► March (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVIII: Debt - The Unacceptable Burden
      • Chautauqua October 2015: Times Two!
    • ► February (2)
      • YNAB: Best Place to Work Ever?
      • Case Study #12: Escaping a soul-crushing job before you're 70
    • ► January (3)
      • Case Study #11: John, a small business owner in transition
      • Trish and Stan take an Intrepid Sailing Voyage
      • 2014 Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest results, and my forecast for 2015
  • ► 2014 (29)
    • ► December (2)
      • Diamonds and Happy Holidays!
      • Micro-Lending with Kiva
    • ► November (3)
      • Chautauqua February 7-14, 2015: Escape from Winter
      • Stocks -- Part XXVII: Why I Don’t Like Dollar Cost Averaging
      • Jack Bogle and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
    • ► October (3)
      • Tuft & Needle: A better path to sleep
      • Nightmare on Wall Street: Will the Blood Bath Continue?
      • Help Wanted
    • ► September (1)
      • Chautauqua 2014: Lightning strikes again!
    • ► August (2)
      • Stocks -- Part XXVI: Pulling the 4%
      • Stocks -- Part XXV: HSAs, more than just a way to pay your medical bills.
    • ► July (3)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIV: RMDs, the ugly surprise at the end of the tax-deferred rainbow
      • Summer travels, writing, reading and other amusements
      • Moto X, my new Republic Wireless Phone
    • ► June (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXIII: Selecting your asset allocation
    • ► May (1)
      • Stocks -- Part XXII: Stepping away from REITs
    • ► April (3)
      • Q&A III: Vamos
      • Q&A II: Salamat
      • Q&A I: Gaijin Shogun
    • ► March (2)
      • Top 10 posts
      • Cafe No Se
    • ► February (4)
      • Chautauqua 2014 preview, closing up for travel and other random cool things that caught my eye of late.
      • Case Study #10: Should Josiah buy his parents a house?
      • Case Study #9: Lars -- maximizing some good fortune and considering "dollar cost averaging"
      • Case Study #8: Ron's mother - she's doin' all right!
    • ► January (4)
      • roundup: Some random cool things
      • Stocks — Part XXI: Investing with Vanguard for Europeans
      • Case Study #7: What it looks like when everything financial goes wrong
      • 1st Annual Louis Rukeyser Memorial Market Prediction Contest 2013 results, and my forecast for 2014
  • ► 2013 (41)
    • ► December (4)
      • Closing up for the Holidays, see you in 2014
      • Betterment: a simpler path to wealth
      • Case Study 6: Helping an ill and elderly parent
      • Stocks -- Part XX: Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategies and Roth Conversion Ladders from a Mad Fientist
    • ► November (3)
      • Death, Taxes, Estate Plans, Probate and Prob8
      • Case Study #5: Zero to 2.6 million in 25 years
      • Case Study #4: Using the 4% rule and asset allocations.
    • ► October (3)
      • Republic Wireless and my $19 per month phone plan
      • Case Study #3: Let's get Tom to Latin America!
      • The Stock Series gets its own page
    • ► September (2)
      • Case Study #2: Joe -- off to a fast start!
      • Chautauqua 2013: A Week of Dreams
    • ► August (1)
      • Closing up shop plus an opening at Chautauqua, my new podcast, phone, book and other random cool stuff
    • ► July (1)
      • They Will Kill You For Your Shoes!
    • ► June (4)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII-b: Should you avoid your company's 401k?
      • Shilpan's Seven Habits to Live More with Less
      • Stocks -- Part XIX: How to think about money
      • My path for my kid -- the first 10 years
    • ► May (5)
      • Why your house is a terrible investment
      • Stocks — Part XVIII: Investing in a raging bull
      • Dining with the Ghosts of Sarah Bernhardt and Alfons Mucha
      • How we finally got the house sold
      • Stocks — Part XVII: What if you can't buy VTSAX? Or even Vanguard?
    • ► April (4)
      • Greetings from Prague & a computer question
      • Swimming with Tigers, a 2nd chance on the Chautauqua, a financial article gets it wrong and I'm off to Prague
      • Storage, Moving and Movers
      • Homeless, and a bit on the strategy of dollar cost averaging
    • ► March (4)
      • Wild Turkeys, Motorcycles, Dining Room Sets & Greed
      • Roots v. Wings: considering home ownership
      • How about that stock market?!
      • The Blog has New Clothes
    • ► February (5)
      • Meet Mr. Money Mustache, JD Roth, Cheryl Reed & me for a Chautauqua in Ecuador
      • High School Poetry, Carnival, cool ads and random pictures that caught my eye
      • Consignment Shops: Best business model ever?
      • Cafes
      • Stocks -- Part XVI: Index Funds are really just for lazy people, right?
    • ► January (5)
      • Social Security: How secure and when to take it
      • Fighting giraffes, surreal landscapes, dancing with unicorns and restoring a Vanagon
      • My plan for 2013
      • VITA, income taxes and the IRS
      • How to be a stock market guru and get on MSNBC
  • ► 2012 (53)
    • ► December (6)
      • See you next year....until then: The Origin of Life, Life on Other Worlds, Mechanical Graveyards, Great Art, Alternative Lifestyles and Finding Freedom
      • Stocks -- Part XV: Target Retirement Funds, the simplest path to wealth of all
      • Stocks -- Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks Part XIV: Deflation, the ugly escort of Depressions.
      • Stocks -- Part XIII: The 4% rule, withdrawal rates and how much can I spend anyway?
      • How I learned to stop worrying about the Fiscal Cliff and you can too.
    • ► November (2)
      • Rent v. owning: A couple of case studies in Ecuador
      • So, what does a month in Ecuador cost anyway?
    • ► October (4)
      • See you in December....
      • Meet me in Ecuador?
      • The Podcast: You can hear me now.
      • Stocks -- Part XII: Bonds
    • ► September (6)
      • Stocks -- Part XI: International Funds
      • The Smoother Path to Wealth
      • Case Study #I: Putting the Simple Path to Wealth into Action
      • Tales of Bolivia: Calle de las Brujas
      • Stocks -- Part X: What if Vanguard gets Nuked?
      • Travels in South America: It was the best of times....
    • ► August (1)
      • Home again
    • ► June (4)
      • Yellow Fever, closing up shop for the summer and heading to Peru y Bolivia
      • I could not have said it better myself...
      • Stocks -- Part IX: Why I don't like investment advisors
      • Happy Birthday, jlcollinsnh; and thanks for the gift Mr. MM!
    • ► May (6)
      • Stocks -- Part VIII: The 401K, 403b, TSP, IRA & Roth Buckets
      • Mr. Money Mustache
      • The College Conundrum
      • Stocks -- Part VII: Can everyone really retire a millionaire?
      • Stocks -- Part VI: Portfolio ideas to build and keep your wealth
      • Stocks -- Part V: Keeping it simple, considerations and tools
    • ► April (6)
      • Stocks -- Part IV: The Big Ugly Event, Deflation and a bit on Inflation
      • Stocks -- Part III: Most people lose money in the market.
      • Stocks -- Part II: The Market Always Goes Up
      • Stocks -- Part 1: There's a major market crash coming!!!! and Dr. Lo can't save you.
      • You can eat my Vindaloo, mega lottery, Blondie, Noa, Israel Kamakawiwo 'Ole, art, film and a ride on the Space Shuttle
      • Where in the world are you?
    • ► March (7)
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part V: Sold! and the taxman cometh.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part IV: I become a Landlord.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part III: The Battle is Joined.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part II: The Limits of the Law.
      • How I lost money in real estate before it was fashionable, Part I: Impossibly Naive.
      • You, too, can be conned
      • Armageddon and the value of practical skills
    • ► February (6)
      • Rent v. Owning Your Home, opportunity cost and running some numbers
      • The Casanova Kid, a Shit Knife, a Good Book, Having No Regrets, Dark Matter and a bit of Magic
      • What Poker, Basketball and Mike Whitaker taught me about Luck
      • How to Give like a Billionaire
      • Go ahead, make my day
      • Muk Finds Success in Tahiti
    • ► January (5)
      • Travels with "Esperando un Camino"
      • Beanie Babies, Naked Barbie, American Pickers and Old Coots
      • Selling the House and Adventures in Staging
      • The bashing of Index Funds, Jack Bogle and a Jedi dog trick
      • Magic Beans
  • ► 2011 (22)
    • ► December (1)
      • Dividend Growth Investing
    • ► November (2)
      • The Mummy's head, Particle Physics and "Knocking on Heaven's Door"
      • "It's Better in the Wind" or why I ride a motorcycle
    • ► October (1)
      • Lazy Days and School Days
    • ► July (2)
      • The road to Zanzibar sometimes goes thru Ecuador...
      • Johnny wins the lotto and heads to Paris
    • ► June (16)
      • Chainsaws, Elm Trees and paying for College
      • Stuff I’ve failed at: the early years
      • Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat
      • The. Worst. Used. Car. Ever.
      • Top Ten reasons your future is so bright it hurts my eyes to look at it
      • The Most Dangerous Words Your Customer Can Say
      • How not to drown in The Sea of Assholes
      • What we own and why we own it
      • The Ten Sales Commandments
      • My ever so formal and oh so dry CV
      • How I failed my daughter and a simple path to wealth
      • The Myth of Motivation
      • Why you need F-you money
      • My short attention span
      • Why I can’t pick winning stocks, and you can’t either
      • The Monk and the Minister

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