As a teenager I took a summer job in Hawaii. I thought it would be a fun way to make some extra money while enjoying the islands. I had no idea when I signed up how very difficult it would be. My assignment was to plant pineapple. Planting was done by hand with a simple…
I have written much about how to avoid financial scams, but as soon as an article goes to print a new slew of schemes is already being introduced. There isn’t time or space to list all the ways criminals will try to separate you from your money. Recently, a new type of scam has started…
I looked around during an airline safety briefing and was amazed at how few people were paying attention. As a pilot in command of an aircraft, I never do anything without carefully briefing the action first. When I fly as a passenger I always stop whatever important thing I am doing before take-off to pay…
Last week I travelled home from a business conference in South Carolina. Shortly before heading to the airport, I received notification that my flight had been cancelled due to a winter storm in Denver. From my experiences as a pilot, I generally don’t book through Denver in the wintertime, but in mid-March during a fairly…
My mom loved root beer. Before she passed away a year ago at age 93, she wanted a McDonalds’ hamburger and a root beer. It was about that time that some of the kids and I stumbled upon a website that sold what they called, “Vintage Sodas.” One of the collections they offered was a…
At the age of 7, I decided I wanted to play baseball. I was living in beautiful Yorba Linda, California, and in my town, baseball was life. I was a little nervous as I watched games at the local ballfield because I was one of the smallest kids my age. In fact, in thinking back…
A visitor to my office asked if I thought the stock market was still a good place to invest given all its “recent volatility.” This frequent question carries with it the inference that there was once a time when the stock market was not volatile. When I first became serious about investing the Dow Jones…
One of my friends is a former fighter pilot. He loves to fly but as he got older it became clear to others that his skills were diminishing. Finally, his children made the very unpopular decision to take away the keys to his plane. He was initially very unhappy and it caused a significant amount…
When my son Jayden was only 8 years old, he had his brother drive him to the department store to pick out a special gift for Father’s Day. From doing various chores he had amassed a little over $16 – a tidy sum for a guy his age. He was unselfishly planning on spending all…
In our office we have been discussing our biggest concerns for investors in 2024. One of the topics of discussion has been the continuing growth of financial scams. Criminals keep getting more clever and bolder. New technologies are also making it easier for them to fool and scam people. Every year we need to add…