I’ll Have What He’s Having – Behavioral Personal Finance

Behavioral Finance Tricks I Use on Myself

So, I have not written a ton about personal finance topics on this blog. In my mind, I am kind of holding off on those topics until and unless I am able to accumulate a significant amount of financial assets and reach “financial independence.” If there is an interest in more discussion of these sorts of topics, drop me a comment and I will try and oblige.

A few weeks ago, Daniel Egan who is with Betterment (a robo-advisor) shared a recent post he published on the Betterment blog. By the way, Egan is a good follow on twitter (@daniel_egan). The post was about how he uses lessons from behavioral science to help him manage his personal finances.

Continue reading!

December 2018 Savings Update

Happy New Year!  It is time, yet again, for the monthly airing of my private financial laundry.  My hope is that maintaining a journal of my savings will help provide additional motivation to save and allow me to spot trends.  It will also serve as a record, so that I can look back and analyze.  Continue reading “December 2018 Savings Update”

November 2018 Savings Update

It is time, yet again, for the monthly airing of my private financial laundry.  My hope is that maintaining a journal of my savings will help provide additional motivation to save and allow me to spot trends.  It will also serve as a record, so that I can look back and analyze.  Continue reading “November 2018 Savings Update”

October 2018 Update

It is time, yet again, for the monthly airing of my private financial laundry.  My hope is that maintaining a journal of my savings will help provide additional motivation to save and allow me to spot trends.  It will also serve as a record, so that I can look back and analyze.  Continue reading “October 2018 Update”

Gone to Cash…

The equity markets have been more turbulent of late.  As I type, most markets outside the U.S. are around 20% off their highs and the U.S. markets are in a ~10% drawdown.  Today, the NASDAQ is off more than 3%, apparently based on earnings reports from Amazon and Alphabet which were not well received.  I am dropping a quick note during this market turbulence to update on a “tactical” move I made in one of my accounts.  I went to cash… Continue reading “Gone to Cash…”

Einhorn Versus Buffett: a Great and the GOAT on AAPL

David Einhorn recently issued his investor letter for the third quarter, generating media reports concerning the contents.  He reportedly compared Tesla to Lehman Brothers (I recently discussed Tesla here).   He also went on to discuss his decision to liquidate his Apple (“AAPL”) position.  See CNBC story reporting on letter.

Einhorn’s stated reasons for this move, the process and circumstances surrounding this action, as contrasted with those of Buffett’s AAPL investment, led to a couple of observations. Continue reading “Einhorn Versus Buffett: a Great and the GOAT on AAPL”

Reading, Watching, Listening, and Learning: Elon Musk and Bruce Flatt

I have decided to modify the Podcast/Media curation series of posts to focus on resources and media that I want to catalogue here to assemble for our future reference.  I am creating a separate post category for these “Reading, Watching, Listening, and Learning” posts.  Over time, I will pull in my prior posts on podcasts, presentations, articles, and books to help us quickly find the post/links.  This time, I’m going to share a couple of videos and related thoughts, concerning Elon Musk and Bruce Flatt. Continue reading “Reading, Watching, Listening, and Learning: Elon Musk and Bruce Flatt”

The Grind is Real: September 2018 (Savings and Investing Diary)

It is time, yet again, for the monthly airing of my private financial laundry.  My hope is that maintaining a journal of my savings will help provide additional motivation to save and allow me to spot trends.  It will also serve as a record, so that I can look back and analyze.  Continue reading “The Grind is Real: September 2018 (Savings and Investing Diary)”

I Pick Things Up and Put Them Down: August 2018 (Savings and Investing Diary)

It is time, yet again, for the monthly airing of my private financial laundry.  My hope is that maintaining a journal of my savings will help provide additional motivation to save and allow me to spot trends.  It will also serve as a record, so that I can look back and analyze.   This time, I’m also going to sprinkle in some investing observations and curate some finance media for you. Continue reading “I Pick Things Up and Put Them Down: August 2018 (Savings and Investing Diary)”

A Curious New Pod

A week screamed by and I did not get to post.  If you were bothered by this…great!  Also, I apologize.  I have a young kid, a career, and a dog (two, actually) that is literally hitting my leg with his stuffed chicken toy, insisting that I play with him, as I type this.  In between diapers and toy tosses, however, I was able to get through some pods.  Continue reading “A Curious New Pod”