We Americans tend to fear and diminish family money. We also confuse it with inherited wealth, two terms that I like to keep separate. “Old money”, “Trust fund baby”, “Rich snob”, “Spoiled rotten”, “Bum. These are all things we’ve heard people with inherited money called. In other parts of the world, particularly European countries, society… Continue reading Family Money and Inherited Wealth
Do You Have Enough Grit to Succeed?
Life can be a tough slog sometimes. You wake up, work out, fight traffic, put in your 10 hours, eat, play with the kids, and if you’re lucky, get an hour or two to spend with your spouse or a good book. Whoa, sounds brutal. That’s how I feel some days, as I’m sure all… Continue reading Do You Have Enough Grit to Succeed?
All Money is Family Money
The debate over whether to merge finances or not after a couple commits to a long-term relationship continues to rage. Seemingly every week, another article in a financial publication pops up discussing the merits of “to merge or not to merge.” For me and my family, the question was never open for debate. All money… Continue reading All Money is Family Money
Short Duration, Asset Backed Lending: A Primer
Disclaimer: I have no connection to or investments currently with any of the companies mentioned in this article, although I may in the future. Do your own due diligence before making an investment decision. It’s your money; you’re the best person to judge what is best to do with it.
Making Loans: Asset-Backed vs. Cash-Flow Lending
Disclaimer: I have no connection to or investments currently with any of the companies mentioned in this article, although I may in the future. Do your own due diligence before making an investment decision. It’s your money; you’re the best person to decide what is best to do with it.
Demonstrations in Optionality: Real Estate
Building optionality into a portfolio is key to generating solid returns while limiting drawdown risk. Obviously this sounds very attractive, but remember that there is always a cost to these options. Understanding what the costs are and finding the least costly and most efficient way to gain access to these options is important.
You’re Dead! What About Your Family?
If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely interested in personal finance, investing, and building a great family. And if your family is like my family, then you are probably the one that does the heavy lifting when managing your family’s money. Your spouse might be involved, but as with any other organization, family members tend… Continue reading You’re Dead! What About Your Family?
The Endowment Model: Why It Needs to Change & How to Incorporate Parts into Your Portfolio
In Part 1, I discussed the core tenets of the Endowment Model and how successful it has been for a few institutions (though not all by any stretch). In Part 2, I’m going to discuss why the Endowment Model will likely disappoint in the future, ways it can be changed and how to incorporate certain… Continue reading The Endowment Model: Why It Needs to Change & How to Incorporate Parts into Your Portfolio
Mental Accounting: Use Buckets to Your Advantage
The idea behind mental accounting is that people naturally separate money that has different intents from each other. For some reason, economists consider this a bad idea. From the website Investopedia (emphasis mine): “According to the theory, individuals assign different functions to each asset group, which has an often irrational and detrimental effect on their… Continue reading Mental Accounting: Use Buckets to Your Advantage
The Real Risk to Your Portfolio: Drawdown
Much of today’s investment advice is built on a concept of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), one pioneered by Harry Markowitz. Markowitz was an economist trained at the University of Chicago with the likes of Milton Friedman and won a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work.