The Philosopher and the Cartoonist The Middle-Eastern philosopher is Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Taleb is a Lebanese-American author, academic, statistician, and philosopher. He achieved riches in bond trading and fame from his best-selling books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. He is pretentious, overbearing, and arrogant. He believes he has the world figured out and…
My latest post, titled “You Can’t Beat the Market” is currently running on Rockstar Finance, “A Collection of Awesome Money Articles.” If you haven’t read it yet, check it out below, and then go to Rockstar to read some of the other great personal finance articles there.
Charles Dickens is one of my favorite authors. In fact, The Micawber Principle, after which this blog is named, comes from one of his books. Perhaps Dickens’ most famous book is A Christmas Carol, the classic tale of the transformation and redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge. I have always enjoyed A Christmas Carol but never thought…
It was Labor Day, 1966 and a young father, with his wife and four-month old baby boy, were driving across the high plains of Wyoming late at night. The father thought he had enough gas to make it to Rock Springs but with the lights of the town in sight the car sputtered and rolled…
I have always believed that sharing what we have with others is an important part of personal finance. This idea was reinforced in an unforgettable manner for me and my family in December of the year 2000. My wife Alice and I had four children ranging in age from 3 to 12. I had quit my…
I hope everyone is enjoying my posts, and more important, learning how to better manage your money. I enjoy writing and am confident I have a lot of important and helpful information to share. My last post, Thanksgiving Thoughts on Gratitude and What it Means to Have Enough, was included as an “Editor’s Pick” in the “Carnival…
This Thanksgiving season I have been reflecting on our constant quest for “more,” on what it means to have “enough,” and on gratitude. So this week I am going to depart from offering practical advice on money management and instead turn philosophical. We Want More, We Want More! Many of you have seen the popular…
Speaking on a topic that had nothing to do with personal finance Dieter F. Uchtdorf , a counselor in the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said the following: The what is important in our work, and we need to attend to it. But it is in the why……
