Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter C.P.A. And I know a father who had a son He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he’d done He came a long way just to explain He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping Then he turned around and he headed home again — Paul Simon, “Slip Sliding Away” Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories. — John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester You might get the idea from reading this book that being rich is synonymous with being happy. I’ve never seen any indication that that’s true. Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Money
Warren Buffett on Financial Reports
If I can’t understand it, the management probably doesn’t want me to understand it. And if management doesn’t want me to understand it, there is probably something wrong going on. Read more →
Calvin Klein Seeking Substance-Abuse Help
The fashion designer Calvin Klein said yesterday that he was seeking professional help for substance abuse, nearly two weeks after his erratic behavior during a Knicks basketball game at Madison Square Garden briefly forced a halt in play. — The New York Times Another blow to the theory that being rich and famous somehow makes it easier to live through the day, in case anyone other than my wife still believes it . . . Read more →
Rent Hikes Cause Homelessness?
I read a story in Time magazine about a family in Columbus, OH, evicted from their apartment and living in a homeless shelter because they couldn’t afford a rent hike on the apartment. The husband was unemployed at the time; the wife was a pizza delivery driver. Both are high-school dropouts and they have three kids. The lesson here, according to Time: All it takes sometimes is a sudden rent hike to push a working family into a shelter. Read more →
World Series Recap
Two World Series tickets: $220 Parking: $10 Program: $10 Souvenir apparel: $104 Rally monkey: $15 Two hot dogs, two sodas, one pretzel: $17 Watching home team win World Series, with son, after 41 years of futility: Priceless, baby. My son is 9, a little older than I was when my dad took me to my first Angels game somewhere around 1966. Read more →
Whatever Happened To . . .
Day traders? Read more →
Going Broke Peacefully
Let the world slide, let the world go; A fig for care, and a fig for woe! If I can’t pay, why I can owe, And death makes equal the high and low. — John Heywood, “Be Merry Friends” According to Tahira Hira, a professor of personal finance and consumer economics at Iowa State University, a big source of money problems is that people just don’t know enough about their own financial reality: They don’t know what they earn, they don’t know what it takes to live, and they don’t know their discretionary income. That is so true. Unfortunately, in my family, my wife is dead-set on managing the finances, despite the fact that her idea of financial “management” consists of writing checks when the bills come due. I used to fight with her about that, but I’m a very sensitive person — I can’t live in an atmosphere of… Read more →
Does an Elite College Really Pay?
This article concludes that the answer is no — that if you’re smart enough to get into, say, Princeton, you’re smart enough to make money wherever you go to school, even if it’s someplace a lot less expensive. Not to say that I wouldn’t be thrilled to have my kid get into an Ivy League school, but I’ve always thought that it’s no great feat to graduate “the best and the brightest” if you only admit the best and the brightest to begin with. Read more →
Coherence
The Vatican’s Fides news service weighs in on the fashion of wearing crosses decorated with diamonds and other precious stones: Is it consistent with the Gospel to spend millions on a copy of the sacred symbol of the Christian faith and perhaps forget that there are people all over the world who suffer and die of hunger? In other Church news, Time magazine’s report on church finances indicates that Boston’s Cardinal Law lives in a $130 million residence, the Detroit diocese owns an $18 million golf and conference center, and the Providence diocese owns a $22 million dollar mansion that it rents out for parties. Meanwhile, the cardinal of the Chicago diocese has to make do with a $10 million residence, which may need to be sold off to cover sex-abuse claims. Read more →
Convergence
Kmart Files Chapter 11 Amazon Posts a Profit Read more →
Disband Man
Former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale is disbanding his venture firm, the Barksdale Group, after two years of operation. Many of the firm’s investments received favorable publicity mentions, none actually made any money, and some are defunct. This guy is the kiss of death . . . Read more →
BZY CHIC
Dying with the most toys Saw a license plate in the office lot today on a BMW 535i: On the frame, it said “Hey Boys — This Girl Will Die With The Most Toys.” Read more →