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Friday, December 31, 2010

Nation of Wussies

Gift giving has taken a distant backseat to spending time with my family over the holidays. It is one of the few times of the year that we are able to assemble corporately and enjoy each other’s company. There is not much that I enjoy more than a good meal, watching football, and engaging in healthy conversation with my people.
The topics range from me getting chastised for being too unavailable because of work and school commitments, my looming engagement, to topics on what we have come to learn over time about ourselves. Probably one the most profound conversations were regarding the characteristics we develop as a result of our upbringing. How to prevent a generation of wussies?
My unborn children are destined to grow up more privileged than I. The sacrifices of my parents help propel me to be the first college graduate in my immediate family. Armed with the hungriness that can only be instilled within a poor kid, I have set out to crush all things I work on. Achievement in every field of human endeavor ;)
I’m always going to be thirsty. I’m constantly in pursuit of what I can do to make an impact. I’m driven to continuous improvement. So how do I inject my thirstiness into my children? I guess saying this aloud is that I show through my own hustle to model what I think are good behaviors.

Monday, December 20, 2010

All that Glitters

The debate is on as to whether gold is a viable asset class for investors to focus attention.

The reality is that gold has long since been held as valuable. It's shiny, precious, and available somewhat infrequently. Howard Marks goes on to argue that gold is or is not worth your time. But mostly worth your time, not as an investment that leads your portfolio mix. But it is something to hold just in case in turns out to continue to hold value. It has been the standard for years and is not likely to change in the near future. So grab shares of an ETF and ride it out.

But how do you value it? It doesn't produce cash flow. Really it's only worth what someone will pay for it. I guess that's like most other things.