After 5 years as a proud minivan owner, my wife and I recently purchased an SUV. For simple trips around Raleigh the van was adequate, but with our frequent treks to see my parents in Florida combined with the taxing drive through the mountains of...
One of the joys of having our office at Five Points is the endless opportunity it provides to meet colorful people. Yesterday provided another one. About closing time, I heard some discussing the scene in our front parking as they headed out the door. Seems there...
Good financial planning is the process of making smart financial decisions over and over again. With time, these smart decisions compound on each other and give you the freedom to do more of the things that are important you. Just for fun, here is a...
A couple of interesting things happened this week that led to this blog, but before I get to them, I want to start elsewhere. I did a very bad thing before I sat down to write this, which was to get on Redfin and look at...
President Trump weighed in yesterday on one of the last truly apolitical federal institutions; the Federal Reserve. He bemoaned the possibility that their recent interest rate increases might derail his attempts to improve economic growth to what he believes is closer to its true potential...
The economy continues to plow ahead, despite the threat of trade wars and uncertainty of US trade status on this continent, Europe and Asia. For the year so far, stocks as measured by the S&P 500 and the Vanguard Total US Market index are up...
We just celebrated our 242nd year of independence from the tyranny of King George’s taxes, tariffs, and regulations. A brave few representatives from thirteen British colonies signed their names to a document that would have resulted in their deaths as traitors to the Crown should...
In Barbarians at the Gate, a thrilling tale of the buyout of RJR Nabisco in the late 80s, there is an account of the development of a smokeless cigarette product called Premier that, while being ahead of its time in some respects, was also a...
This year, some 45.5 million Americans will receive $63 billion in retirement benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. Of these recipients 65 years or older, 50% of married couples and 71% of unmarried persons depend on Social Security for more than 50% of...
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's famed right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway, is fond of using the phrase, "Invert, always invert." While Munger is often credited with the origination of the quote, he is borrowing from 19th century German mathematician Carl Jacobi, who coined the phrase as...
