Category: Money
-
What’s the shape of your life?
I heard Marc Rowan say on a podcast recently that “in the absence of policy, many things seem arbitrary.” He was speaking in the context of decision making as a fiduciary board member of a university, but I think the content of his statement is true in general. When it…
-
When automatic is bad
I was in the restroom of a local grocery store this afternoon, when I realized that one of the automatic faucets–the kind where you wave your hand under the faucet to turn it on, it dispenses water for a given time period then turns off–was just turning on every five…
-
Unlisted prices
Kevin Kelly says, “What you actually pay for something can be twice the listed price because the energy, time, and money needed to set it up, learn, maintain, repair it, and then dispose of it when done all have their own cost. Not all prices appear on labels.” At the…
-
Is gambling bad for you?
I have never been what I would consider a prude when it comes to gambling, though I have not historically been much of a gambler outside the confines of NCAA tournament bracket pools. That being said, gambling as a cultural idea has changed rapidly in the last few years as…
-
Skip the performance
It’s customary to live a lifestyle that matches your profession and income and all the accoutrements that come with those, but while it is completely natural to “look like” a person who does what you do, it’s also important to be able to step back and see where the “look…
-
Prosperity gospel re-do
What if less really is more? What if those of us who are rich would become richer in the truest of senses by becoming poorer? This is the model of Jesus. Too often just about the only thing I hear in wealthy Christian circles on the topic of generous, sacrificial…
-
Time and checks
Part of the journey of generosity is slowly allowing the walls we put up around our most precious resources to be torn down. For some of us, being generous with our time and presence is hardest. For some of us, giving money away in meaningful amounts is hardest. But this…
-
Asset bloat
A mathematical fact for investment funds of all sorts–private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital, etc.–is that growth and outperformance do not go hand-in-hand and are often negatively correlated. The more money a fund manages, the harder it can be to find opportunities that will make a material impact on…
-
Bono and radical living
Many things worth doing are hard, and everything you do should not kick you in the teeth. This is the basic tension you have to navigate in all areas of your life, including your finances. Bono describes his attempt to navigate this tension in his memoir. He and some of…
-
Watch the incentives
It is a terrible time to own a commercial property and be trying to lease it, and yet if you talk to anyone involved in the process of signing tenants to leases, you would never know. You would hear about all the tenants about to sign leases, the necessity for…
Meaningful Returns 