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Sep 2018There’s No Such Thing as Mosquito Week
“Headlines, in a way, are what mislead you because bad news is a headline, and gradual improvement is not” – Bill Gates What would you guess if I asked you what is the longest running cable TV event in history? Congratulations if you answered “Shark Week” which first was televised way back in 1988. Not surprisingly many of us are scared of sharks. Even I,…
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Jun 2018Execution is (almost) Everything
“If more information was the answer, we would all be billionaires with perfect abs!” – Derek Sivers Derek Sivers is one of my favourite sources of wisdom because of his uncanny ability to communicate complex concepts in easy to understand words and numbers. So it is with his explanation that the importance of ideas is valuable only if they are coupled with proper execution….
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Apr 201810 Things Investors Can Expect in 2018
Admittedly, referencing the title of this post and the date of this missive, perhaps I am writing a bit later in the year then I should. Then again, the title could refer to any year, or any month, when it comes to your portfolio. Hopefully, you will agree when you click through to read Ben Carlson’s excellent article. “Things Investors Can Expect in 2018” My…
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Mar 2018The Wealth of Sapiens
“The most important money we spend is not the Lambo (the car) money. It’s avoiding-misery money.” – Daniel P. Egan What is wealth? For each of us it can mean many different things. I came across this thoughtful blog in which the author suggests that the true definition of wealth is when you have, ” … the option to buy what you truly need”. What is wealth? For…
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Feb 2018The Return of Normal
“In bear markets, stocks return to their rightful owners.” J.P. Morgan Welcome to the “new normal” in regard to volatility (to the downside) when it comes to the stock market. Coincidentally, it bears a striking resemblance to the “old normal”. The steady increase in markets around the world, with no significant corrections over the last couple of years, is most definitely not how stock markets…
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Jan 2018Why 2017 Was the Best Year in Human History?
“The more perspective you have, the better everything looks. And the less … the worse!” – Nick Murray It has been my tradition with these monthly missives to begin every year with a brief commentary on how our world is making tremendous progress on just about any metric you care to focus on. Unfortunately, it does seem many of us truly believe the planet is…
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Dec 2017Merry Christmas from Monty the Penguin
For each of the last ten years the British retailer, John Lewis, has aired what has become an iconic holiday season commercial. Although this year’s #MozTheMonster was clever, in my opinion nothing comes close to 2014’s, “Monty the Penguin”. Admittedly, it is a rather slick piece of marketing directly targeted to tug on our heart strings … and open up our wallets and purses! Having said…
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Jul 2017Why You Are Wealthy?
“Like all of life’s rich emotional experiences, the full flavor of losing important money cannot be conveyed by literature. You cannot convey to an inexperienced girl what it is truly like to be a wife and mother. There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin by words and pictures.” – Fred Schwed Jr. (Author of “Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?” First…
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Jun 2017The Success Circles
“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made a difference that you lived at all.” Leo Rosten I have a wise friend who shared with me how he helps individuals…
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May 2017The Pyramid of Investment Success
What is the secret to multi-decade, inter-generational wealth creation? Fortunately, it can be summed up in one easy illustration I call “The Pyramid of Investment Success”. I am utterly convinced that over 80% of one’s long term investment success comes down to a single variable … one’s individual behaviour. In other words, for many of us, our single greatest enemy in our quest for wealth creation is the…
