BHP Billiton, one of my favorite, permanent holding companies, reported better than expected earnings today. In an environment in which the prices of all 4 of their primary commodities are in the tank, the company continued to operate admirably. Continued cost cutting and inefficiencies were found (from god know’s where) and the company reduced debt, improving it’s balance sheet. …
What I’m Reading
Gene alterations are here (remember Gattica?) (MIT Tech) What happened to Peter Thiel’s dropout club? (Chronicle) Meet the Founder Trying to Start the Self-Driving Car Revolution (Inc) Stop asking me about your brand and start doing work (Gary V) 50 famous business books summarized in 1 sentence (BI) Pmarca’s career guide (great read) Passive investing is no guarantee (The Felder …
Book Review and Notes: Your Money or Your Life
I recently finished up a classic, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This is the progenitor of the entire Financial Independence movement (at least the modern version) and I’d never picked it up. I’m glad I did. While a lot of the information isn’t revolutionary 25 years later, I’m sure it was a game changer at the …
Beginning to look like Spring
I know Boston is still covered in snow and it’s freezing in most of the country, but it’s beginning to look a lot like spring here in Houston! I thought I would share a few snap shots of our suburban orchard and all our trees. I always love seeing the trees we planted start their annual process of growth. It’s really …
Lorillard (LO) Increases it’s Dividend
Lorillard, Inc. (LO), the third largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the United States, announced today that its Board of Directors approved a 7% increase in the quarterly dividend on its common stock from $0.615 per share to $0.66 per share. The dividend is payable on March 10, 2015 to stockholders of record as of March 2, 2015. Those boosts are …
Occupational Licensing
The Obama administration will take a stab in it’s new budget at important labor market impediment: occupational licensing. Econ blog readers will be familiar with these laws that set frequently overly burdensom rules for who can do certain jobs. They often require far more training than is necessary, expensive classes and tests, and sometimes even degrees before someone can legally …
Stealth Wealth and Badassity
Update: PhilosophicalEconomics did a fantastic post on the math behind Ronald’s portfolio and can you still do it today. One of my favorite kinds of stories popped up this week. I know it’s been covered in a lot of places, but I wanted to talk about it for a few minutes. I feel like I just found Mr. Money Mustache‘s long …
Yakezie Challenge
I’ve been writing pretty consistently since November, with a sum total of 58 posts (and another 38 sitting in draft) and am now trying to get my name out there a bit more. So I’ve decided to join the Yakezie Challenge started by Sam over at Financial Samurai. Below are the rules. Let’s see how far we can get on those …
My Travel Tools
Caitlin and I recently took a week off a week to head to the mountains. We flew in to Denver, spent some time with friends there, and then headed to Breckenridge to ski for a few days. It certainly wasn’t a cheap trip, but I did manage to save a decent amount of money using a few of my favorite …
This is why you save
As many of you know, I live in Houston. While most of the country is celebrating lower prices at the pump, the companies in this town are cutting budgets, lowering forecasts, and worst of all, laying off massive numbers of people. The stories are always heartbreaking and you never want to see somebody lose a job, but I also keep …
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