December 2014

Three Investment Lessons from Coolio

“They say I gotta learn, but nobody’s here to teach me. If they can’t understand it, how can they reach me?” These words, written by the rapper Coolio, are from the title song of the 1995 film “Dangerous Minds” starring Michele Pfeiffer. The story of the idealistic teacher saving the souls of impoverished and neglected…

Do you Want to Make Money? Invest like George Costanza!

In a classic Seinfeld episode, the perpetual loser George Costanza decides to make a dramatic change to his life. Since his decision-making process has proven to be highly questionable in the past (e.g., pushing women and children out of the way to escape when a fire breaks out at a party), George decides to do…

Dear Santa

If anyone needs a batch of presents from the jolly fat man in red, it is the commonly abused individual investor. A wish list that would defend them from the charlatans, miscreants, and scoundrels that try to separate them from their money would fit nicely under the Norway Spruce. I have compiled such a list…

“Try Not to Be Consistently Stupid”

When asked about his firm’s investing acumen, Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s right hand man had this to say: “We continue to try more to profit from always remembering the obvious than from grasping the esoteric….it is remarkable how much a long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead…