Category: Experiences
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Stop talking about the stock market
“One time I came home from college for a vacation, and my sister was sort of unhappy, almost crying. The Girl Scouts were having a father-daughter banquet, but our father was out on the road, selling uniforms. So I said I would take her, being the brother (I’m nine years…
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Outside is always free
Here’s a thing to try: Set your phone and your wallet on the couch at home. Then put on some walking shoes. Then open up your front door. Then step outside. And then just stay there for awhile. Maybe right there on your porch, or maybe some woods, or a…
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Can Marvel teach us to be more ordinary?
Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page which shows the list of live-action films that have come out of the Marvel Comics universe. From 1944 to 2001, there were seven films. From 2002 through this year there have been THIRTY-NINE. Another nine are already planned through 2019. There’s nothing wrong…
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Why giving matters
My wife works for the YMCA in downtown Raleigh, which is the greatest YMCA in all the land. (Yeah I’m biased; so are you.) Anyways, every year around this time the YMCA raises gobs and gobs of money to help to kids in Raleigh who generally don’t get much from their…
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When to change your mind
Information is everywhere. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, much of it is open to interpretation. And the hardest thing to do with all of this information is to intentionally gather it from a wide swath of reputable sources, consider it carefully, and be willing to…
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Why do we go to the dentist?
I sat in a dentist’s chair for well nigh an hour this afternoon, fearing that my jaw muscles were going to start cramping, and cursing whatever gene I got that makes my teeth highly sensitive to the cold water they insist on spraying directly on to my teeth every five…
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Leaf season: Fasting and feasting for financial health
There are two twin maple trees near my office in Raleigh, beautiful old trees that greet me as I make the turn on to our street. And each year at just about this time, they start changing colors from top to bottom: dark green to greenish-yellow at first, and then…
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Million Dollar Baby and planning the end of your vacation
Have you ever seen the movie Million Dollar Baby? It won four Oscars, somehow, (including Best Picture) despite it being the worst movie ever. Seriously. The one line plot summary from IMDB is, “A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.” What it should say…
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The un-usual way to make it as someone who spends money
Farhad Manjoo, the inimitable tech-writer at the New York Times, wrote a wonderful piece last week about MailChimp, the tech company responsible for helping lots and lots of small businesses do email marketing. The title of the piece is “MailChimp and the Un-Silicon Valley Way to Make It as a Start-Up,”…
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How much money do you make?
Maybe a better question is: How does money make you? Seriously, what does it do to you? And what do the things you spend it on do to you? I’ll be honest. I wish my wife and I made more money. I wish the prospect of one of us staying…
Meaningful Returns 