The Chase
We chase returns. It’s in our blood. We extrapolate the recent past expecting it to continue just like it has. It feels good to imagine our money growing at the rate the stock market or some startup has over the past several years. “Wow, if we invested $10k in this three years ago, we’d have […]
Put it on the Line
I’ve built software. I’ve consulted. I’ve coached. I’ve been an employee. I’ve given interviews. I’ve written papers, blogged and podcasted for years. None of it compares to backing your own ideas with your own money and doing it for other like-minded people who trust you. “When you make something truly for yourself, you’re doing the […]
How’s Your Resolution Going?
As an avid sports fan my entire life, I’ve seen many great players never win the big one. Hell, I’ve seen many teams comprised of great players never win the big one. The in-fighting. Backstabbing. Competing egos. Power-trips. The overall locker room drama affects the quality of the end-product. No one can win under these […]
Volatility by Design
The past couple of months have been tough on trend-followers, myself included. The sharp reversals in interest rates, equities and currencies accounted for most of the losses. While the very recent performance has been painful, these “losses” from a trading perspective have simply been giving back some of the profits made over the past few […]
Where Do Trends Come From?
The answer doesn’t matter as much as much as actually being open to receiving them. We must be attentive and always adjusting the dial to sync up with them. One instance of missing out on a major move or holding on to a loser for too long is enough to crush our returns. The vast […]
It’s Not If, But When
In 2005, Warren and Pam Adams lost their home during Hurricane Rita. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they decided to protect themselves from the next storm. They moved to Gilchrist, TX and built their new house up to modern codes; designing it to withstand a much stronger storm than the older neighboring homes. No […]
House Pallet Syndrome
[Originally written in 2014, edited in 2024] My fiancé, Marisa, and I visited two small wineries in Napa. We went expecting to taste good wine, but we ended up getting a heavy pour of wisdom from a couple owners of small producers. At small wineries, you can talk directly with the person calling the shots. […]
What Do You Want to Hear?
We all want results, but too many people want it the way they want it and not the way it has to be. We’re suckers for a good story. We want to believe and feel the hope. To protect yourself against enticing stories and sales pitches, one question I recommend asking is “how do you […]
Plant Many Seeds. Make Lots of Small Bets.
One seed = one opportunity Many seeds = many opportunities Farmers plant thousands of seeds because they don’t know which ones will produce food and which ones won’t. Production studios fund a lot of movies per year. Venture Capitalists make dozens of investments. Amazon doesn’t sell one genre of goods. They sell literally everything. When […]
Respecting Investors
The markets have a way of stirring up our unresolved issues. If you don’t have a means of addressing your anger, for example, in a healthy way then you’ll find yourself using the markets as the mechanism to get in touch with it. This is likely to serve as a very expensive life lesson. Everyone […]