“E.J., we’re going to be in town for the Newport Flower Show, are you available to meet?” asked Anne, a client of mine. “Of course, I am,” I replied. And just like that a wonderful weekend was booked. Lucky them. What are you waiting for? You have plenty of reasons to come to Newport. Not only is today the beginning of the world renown Newport Flower Show, but, most kids in Newport are still in school. No beach crowd traffic to deal with, yet. And I mean yet. Which is why late June, the Flower Show, and perhaps you, go hand in hand with your perfectly timed mini-vacation. If you want … [Read more...]
Growing-Up in Mattapoisett/Rochester/Marion: Going on Survival, Part III
You learn a lot about life and investing by simply putting one foot in front of the other. Today is day five of my nephew’s outward-bound excursion called “Survival.” It’s a legendary trip for seventh graders at Old Rochester Junior High School, in southeastern Massachusetts, from the towns of Mattapoisett, Rochester, and Marion. It’s a wet, sticky morning here in Newport, RI. At this point on the trip my nephew and his classmates will either already have accomplished the required two-days of survival or they will be waking up for day two of it. If it’s day two, hopefully they … [Read more...]
Growing-Up in Mattapoisett/Rochester/Marion: Going on Survival, Part II
As I wrote to you yesterday in Part I, my nephew is on a week-long camping trip called Survival with his seventh grade class from Old Rochester Junior High School—the tri-town regional junior high school for kids from the towns of Mattapoisett (where I’m from), Rochester, and Marion, Massachusetts. I remember like it was yesterday boarding the yellow school bus and driving several hours not knowing where we were going, but seeing fewer and fewer houses and then no houses, and realizing we were a long way from home. When the bus stopped we lined up at the base of a rural dirt road and found … [Read more...]
Crisis at Vanguard: Part I
Originally posted August 1, 2016. Vanguard Dividend Growth Closes to New Investors No, it is not the end of the world, but if you are a loyal Vanguard investor, as am I, having one of the few dividend-based funds in the world I advise for purchase close is a “Vanguard Crisis” for me as well as for many individual investors. How is this “Crisis at Vanguard” going to play out for the individual investor? I have been anticipating this “Crisis at Vanguard” for a long time. And it is going to become a broadening industry crisis, not just a “Crisis at Vanguard.” The handful of big mutual … [Read more...]
Survive and Thrive June: Knife Attack: Your Survival Guy in Paris
“Did you hear the gun shots?” a friend asked. “No,” I said. When the knife attack occurred, we, like many other families on a Saturday night in Paris, were out to dinner. In fact, we didn’t learn about the attack until much later. In retrospect, I’m surprised no one at our restaurant told us about it or warned us. Part of me believes they knew the situation was under control and didn’t want to ruin our night or scare us. Or they just didn’t know about it. We learned about the attack back in our hotel room, flipping through the channels on the TV. Seeing the live report brought mixed … [Read more...]
The Case Against Education
The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money written by economist Bryan Caplan points to the billions of dollars spent on education by government. It seems like everyone needs a diploma these days. For what? An excuse to drink beer? But, as Caplan explains, that degree is valued by employers. Without a degree, whether you learned anything or not, you automatically are branded or placed in a separate, lower paying, jobs pool. Who are the big winners in this game? Tenured professors like Caplan. Stossel: The College Scam Originally posted on … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Live like a Billionaire Here
Originally posted on April 30, 2018. You don’t have to be a billionaire to live like one. In Montana, there are billionaires who own ranches that seem like they're the size of Rhode Island, but they don’t have a monopoly on: camping, hiking, bike riding, kayaking, fishing or skiing. Nature can be enjoyed by one and all. As an aside, you know what’s interesting about that rural life? It is alive and well. The same is true of the suburbs. Not everyone wants to live or retire to the city life. The resurgence by Millennials moving to the burbs is proof of that. For young families, there … [Read more...]
Big Government and Globalism: Small Town America in Despair
Small-towns are the casualties of globalism. Industries have been shuttered. Big government, meaning both sides of the aisle, have failed America. Just take a look around on your next road trip. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School, explains in the WSJ’s Weekend Interview why he had students visit a failed middle America town: “I wanted the students to go to a place that had experienced industrial decline,” he says. “And they came back with a clear sense that there’s no silver bullet to our problems, but that people there had real points—that a lot of what you read about their … [Read more...]
Knife Attack: Your Survival Guy in Paris
“Did you hear the gun shots?” a friend asked. “No,” I said. When the knife attack occurred, we, like many other families on a Saturday night in Paris, were out to dinner. In fact, we didn’t learn about the attack until much later. In retrospect, I’m surprised no one at our restaurant told us about it or warned us. Part of me believes they knew the situation was under control and didn’t want to ruin our night or scare us. Or they just didn’t know about it. We learned about the attack back in our hotel room, flipping through the channels on the TV. Seeing the live report brought mixed … [Read more...]
$50 Lobster Roll?
A $50 lobster roll? Talk about sticker shock. But that’s the reality in Boston. “A combination of lousy weather, international demand, and iced-over Canadian fisheries has created a shortage that has driven whole hard-shell lobster prices to as high as $15 a pound this spring, up from about $8 a pound last year,” reports Janelle Nanos in the Boston Globe. “For chefs buying pre-shucked lobster meat for their rolls, the price has been hovering at $40 a pound, or about $8 more than a year ago, several said.” Nanos continues: Typical pricing for a lobster roll at North Square Oyster in the … [Read more...]
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