A tale of three species part II

Published in October 31st, 2008

If my writings have helped you, the best thing you can do is to pay it forward by walking the talk or spreading the word. If you really want to do something directly, writing a review of the blog here would be much appreciated.
Soon the sheeple and the bears were worrying about an [...]

A tale of three species

Published in October 30th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Finance

1 Comment

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away there was a strange planet upon which lived three different kinds of creatures, bulls, bears, and sheeple. The bulls were eternally optimistic risk-takers and speculators, always willing to strike a quick a deal, forever living in the present, and sometimes borrowing to increase their standard [...]

In praise of small spaces

Published in October 29th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Philosophy, Strategy

6 Comments

As I write this, I’m sitting at the dinette of our RV. From here, without getting up, I can

Open the window to my right
Adjust the blinds
Turn on the large fan with the switch behind my head
Reach around me to check the room temperature
Plug things into 4 outlets
Get the dog’s bowl
Turn on the lights over [...]

What if you lived forever

Published in October 28th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Philosophy

12 Comments

Would you live differently today?
I submit that your expected life span greatly influences your actions and that those actions in the aggregate greatly influences the behavior of civilization. In nature, there are different kinds of sea animals, fish, whales, turtles, that all live more than 200 years. Mollusks have estimated life spans of more than [...]

Hedge fund manager calls it quits

Published in October 27th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Finance, Personal, announcements

1 Comment

Andrew Lahde, the manager of a small hedge fund, who returned 800%+ by betting against the subprime mess, decided to end operations at the peak. He left this goodbye letter. While I do not agree on the tone of the letter, I think 90% of his points are valid and that they need to be [...]

The benefits of less space

Published in October 25th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in How to, Philosophy, Strategy

2 Comments

One of the, perhaps not so surprising, benefits of moving into a smaller place — two persons and a small dog in a 34′ RV — is that the question is no longer whether we can afford to buy something. Thanks to the difference between living in a house and living here, we have $1000+ [...]

Early Retirement Extreme for sale: $85,000

Published in October 24th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Early Retirement, Finance

16 Comments

It is now possible to buy extreme early retirement for under six figures. No, it’s not what you think. I’m not talking about selling my site (*), rather I’m talking about the ongoing decline in the market which has made dividend yields very high compared to just a year ago
(*) If someone wants to buy [...]

I’ll be back on Wednesday

Published in October 18th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in announcements

3 Comments

That is, if AT&T will let me.

Why we bought an RV to live in

Published in October 15th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in Personal

17 Comments

The answer is that is simply comes down to the optimal choice for our personal situation. We paid $14200 out of the door and about 20% on top of that in repairs and equipment. We pay $475 a month + electricity and gas (water is included) to park it. Compare this to $1100 a month [...]

Market is crashing, sky is falling, and still no internet

Published in October 11th, 2008

Posted by Jacob in announcements

3 Comments

To make a long story short. After 11 days and 5 hours on hold with AT&T, they still have not transferred our DSL connection to our new address. Future posting will continue to be sporadic.
In other news, the market continues crashing. It is a small consolation that while I’m down as well I generally beat [...]

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