As we begin preparing for our move we’ve been poking thru our various boxes and bins looking for stuff we don’t want to pay to move. Which, for me, is just about everything. I love getting rid of stuff. In one of those plastic bins (the oversized version) is my daughter’s collection of Beanie Babies. … [Continue Reading]
Selling the House and Adventures in Staging
Each winter up here in the wilds of New Hampshire we get ice and snow storms. Then the power goes out. Soon the neighborhood is humming with the sounds of generators as folks flip the appropriate switch and electricity flows back along its appointed rounds. Except at my house. After living here 12 years… [Continue Reading]
Index Investing, A Brief History of Vanguard, and the Case for Average Returns
Over on the post Magic Beans reader Mark had this to say in the comments: “Being a Boglehead myself, I read the ERE article to see what he had to say. I had to sigh when I got to this: “Index investing is basically equivalent to a buy and hold strategy with very low turnover of a… [Continue Reading]
Magic Beans
For supposedly rational creatures we humans seem irrationally drawn to Magic Beans. Being a geezer I’ve been around long enough to see quite a few flavors come and go. What they all have in common is that by the time you start reading about them everywhere, the end is near. Let’s see… I remember Growth… [Continue Reading]
Dividend Growth Investing
Update by JL’s Team Fact check time: If you’re considering single stock dividend investing (against JL’s advice, of course) versus index investing, in 10 years which will provide a better return? JL first published this post in December of 2011, and we wanted to see if his advice passed the test of time. JL references… [Continue Reading]
The Mummy’s head, Particle Physics and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”
Picking up the 5000 odd-year-old Mummy’s Head I vaguely wondered if I had brought down an ancient Egyptian curse upon my own. Since this was some 20 years ago and things have mostly gone OK since, either the curse has a delayed reaction or it passed me by. In any event, it has given me… [Continue Reading]
“It’s Better in the Wind” or why I ride a motorcycle
As mentioned in my last post my travels to Ecuador served to shift my priorities to Susegar, that wonderful state of taking it easy. Of course, it also has meant that I’ve hardly posted here at all. To my considerable amazement this short fall has generated concern and irritation on the part of some of… [Continue Reading]
Lazy Days and School Days
After I retired last spring it seems the “work mode” was still switched on. A lot of stuff between then and going off to Ecuador got done. Including getting this blog up and running. But Ecuador shifted my gears to “susuguar.” This wonderful word I picked up years ago. That’s likely not the correct spelling… [Continue Reading]
The road to Zanzibar sometimes goes thru Ecuador…
Stone Town — Zanzibar — Sand & Water If you have been reading this blog closely you will have noticed that my wife and I have been planning for over a year to travel to Zanzibar this summer. It is where she was born and raised. She and our daughter went back last year but… [Continue Reading]
Johnny wins the lotto and heads to Paris
Back in the day my pal Johnny ran a high stakes poker game in Chicago. Of course, he wasn’t my pal then. I was just a punk on a waiting list for about six months to get into this game. Got called to substitute a couple of times before finally someone died and I… [Continue Reading]
