Since 2010, I've made an annual blog entry about what I saw while riding my bicycle on that July's RAGBRAI, a/k/a the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Had I started this blog before August 2009, there would have been many other entries like it; aside from one missed year due to injury, my best guess is I've ridden at least a day on 18 of the last 20 RAGBRAI's.
Make that 18 of the last 21, because I didn't participate this year.
There wasn't anything stopping me -- I still cycle a lot, I had the time, and the ride came through central Iowa, making it fairly easy to jump onto it. I just didn't have the passion for it this year, and decided not to go.
I told people after the 2015 RAGBRAI that I was retiring from the ride, that I didn't care to do it anymore. After riding in it another day in 2016, I said the same thing.
Last year, after renouncing retirement for the second time and riding my third career 100 mile day on RAGBRAI, I said it again. Apparently this time, it took.
I had some FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) worries, but I was glad to say it never bothered me. The only time I gave it much thought was when I went to a meeting in a town that the ride would later go through. Watching all of the townsfolk out sprucing things up reminded me about how the red carpet is always laid out for the rolling party of RAGBRAI riders. That's part of what makes it fun.
Who knows if there will be another RAGBRAI in my future? Until then, I hope my fellow riders, such as Team Crack-A-Noon and Team Wasted Potential, will be able to carry on without me.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
The Iowa Lakers
There comes a time in the life of some upper middle class (or higher) folks when they decide it would be a good idea to buy a second home. It may be a small condo in a multi-story tower in a warm climate, it may be a log house in the mountains, it may be mansion on a beach estate in the Hamptons, it may be a lot of other things. Whatever it is, it's usually a getaway from an already very nice dwelling somewhere in suburbia.
Here in the Midwest, where there are no mountain or oceans, a lot of folks are gung-ho about spending time somewhere else, but not always over 1000 miles away. To fulfill this desire, many local jurisdictions have allowed small lake areas to be developed for housing and recreational purposes.
More specifically to where I live in Iowa, only a few of these lakes are natural, notably the so-called Iowa Great Lakes around Okoboji, Iowa. This is an area that would accurately be described a summer resort, with plenty of restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues to justify a premium, vacation home price point. There are perhaps one or two others like it in the state.
Most of Iowa lakes, however, are small and man-made, the result of damning rivers and streams for flood control. All of these lakes also contain a higher content of agricultural fertilizer run-off of both the natural and man-made variety. And none of them have the restaurants, shops, or entertainment venues to be considered anything close to a resort.
This is where it goes wrong for me. I've no problem with owning more than one property. I may well want that for myself one day (preferably on a golf course in the Southwest). Also, I've no problem with those who want to live on a lake; that isn't for me, but it's different and calming, and I get it. But what I find confusing is the number of people willing to pay inflated prices for a small, very part-time second residence, in a remote location on or near a dirty lake, in basically the same climate in which they already live.
Over the years, I've known quite a few people with these type of second homes, most of them with mixed feelings. It's no exaggeration to say that at some point, I've heard every one of those people complain about that extra home at some point. Either the cost, or the maintenance, or the lack of amenities, or the fact the weather only allows for a few months of lake enjoyment to begin with.
Regardless, they believe the serenity of a lake house - on any kind of lake - is worth those downsides. It also helps that over the last 10 years, most of those properties have skyrocketed in price, due to a good economy and plenty of maturing buyers. That's a good thing.
At least it is until we have another recession. Then it could be a very bad thing. It could be a major depreciating asset that can't be properly monetized, next to a polluted body of water, in the middle of nowhere.
But hey, at least it has a view for a few months a year.
Here in the Midwest, where there are no mountain or oceans, a lot of folks are gung-ho about spending time somewhere else, but not always over 1000 miles away. To fulfill this desire, many local jurisdictions have allowed small lake areas to be developed for housing and recreational purposes.
More specifically to where I live in Iowa, only a few of these lakes are natural, notably the so-called Iowa Great Lakes around Okoboji, Iowa. This is an area that would accurately be described a summer resort, with plenty of restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues to justify a premium, vacation home price point. There are perhaps one or two others like it in the state.
Most of Iowa lakes, however, are small and man-made, the result of damning rivers and streams for flood control. All of these lakes also contain a higher content of agricultural fertilizer run-off of both the natural and man-made variety. And none of them have the restaurants, shops, or entertainment venues to be considered anything close to a resort.
This is where it goes wrong for me. I've no problem with owning more than one property. I may well want that for myself one day (preferably on a golf course in the Southwest). Also, I've no problem with those who want to live on a lake; that isn't for me, but it's different and calming, and I get it. But what I find confusing is the number of people willing to pay inflated prices for a small, very part-time second residence, in a remote location on or near a dirty lake, in basically the same climate in which they already live.
Over the years, I've known quite a few people with these type of second homes, most of them with mixed feelings. It's no exaggeration to say that at some point, I've heard every one of those people complain about that extra home at some point. Either the cost, or the maintenance, or the lack of amenities, or the fact the weather only allows for a few months of lake enjoyment to begin with.
Regardless, they believe the serenity of a lake house - on any kind of lake - is worth those downsides. It also helps that over the last 10 years, most of those properties have skyrocketed in price, due to a good economy and plenty of maturing buyers. That's a good thing.
At least it is until we have another recession. Then it could be a very bad thing. It could be a major depreciating asset that can't be properly monetized, next to a polluted body of water, in the middle of nowhere.
But hey, at least it has a view for a few months a year.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Pulling (Me From) The Thread
First, there was the alphabet.
Then there was the printing press.
Then there was a messenger system.
Then there was a postal service.
Then there was a telephone.
Then there was facsimile.
Then there was email.
Then there was text messaging.
And that’s where we reached the point at which communication started to be less than good.
What makes me say this? Bad habits, for one. Non-verbal communication has always been worse than verbal, or in-person communication.
But lately, what makes me say this is being included in large group text message threads. This week, and many others before it, I’ve been included in group texts in which certain group members feel compelled to reply to all, again and again and again. So my phone goes off again and again and again, for messages I don’t want or need.
I probably should be glad to be considered worthy of being included in these threads. Instead, I can’t wait until the messages fade away, assuming I can’t extract myself from the conversation beforehand.
Listen everybody: If you are included in a large group text (or email message), do not feel compelled to reply to everyone unless it’s requested. Otherwise, just reply to the sender individually.
No one else needs to know what you think.
Maybe even the original sender.
Then there was the printing press.
Then there was a messenger system.
Then there was a postal service.
Then there was a telephone.
Then there was facsimile.
Then there was email.
Then there was text messaging.
And that’s where we reached the point at which communication started to be less than good.
What makes me say this? Bad habits, for one. Non-verbal communication has always been worse than verbal, or in-person communication.
But lately, what makes me say this is being included in large group text message threads. This week, and many others before it, I’ve been included in group texts in which certain group members feel compelled to reply to all, again and again and again. So my phone goes off again and again and again, for messages I don’t want or need.
I probably should be glad to be considered worthy of being included in these threads. Instead, I can’t wait until the messages fade away, assuming I can’t extract myself from the conversation beforehand.
Listen everybody: If you are included in a large group text (or email message), do not feel compelled to reply to everyone unless it’s requested. Otherwise, just reply to the sender individually.
No one else needs to know what you think.
Maybe even the original sender.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
You Learn What You Work
I love the adage, "You learn what you live" which is based on an old poem titled Children Learn What They Live by Dorothy Law Nolte. ("If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn....if a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love....") I use it to explain behavior all of the time, and now I may be ready to adapt and apply this adage to occupations as well. In other words, you learn what you work.
I recently had dinner with a former professional colleague from many years ago. We worked together at a large, multi-national insurance company in the 1980's and 1990's, and while neither of us work there any longer, we've managed to stay in touch.
I recently had dinner with a former professional colleague from many years ago. We worked together at a large, multi-national insurance company in the 1980's and 1990's, and while neither of us work there any longer, we've managed to stay in touch.
For the better part of two hours, we discussed a number of common individuals and personalities we worked with at that company. Many of these folks had more lofty job titles than we did at the time, which is also what made them commonly known to us. And most of them were lousy at their jobs.
After swapping stories about those mid-to-upper level management people, it became obvious to us that their work had little correlation to organizational success. Most of them had far exceeded the Peter Principle, reaching a level even beyond their competence. They were actually better examples of the so-called Dilbert Principle, meaning they were promoted to management because they would do less harm there than on the front lines.
However, what really struck me is how they didn't do any better managing their personal lives. It was notable how many of them today are divorced, and/or obese, and/or still working because they can't afford to retire. If there was any correlation, that was it -- if you aren't that good at your occupation, you probably aren't that that good at life, either.
Maybe you learn what you work?
However, what really struck me is how they didn't do any better managing their personal lives. It was notable how many of them today are divorced, and/or obese, and/or still working because they can't afford to retire. If there was any correlation, that was it -- if you aren't that good at your occupation, you probably aren't that that good at life, either.
Maybe you learn what you work?
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Dear Graduating Class of 2018
Another school year ends, another commencement-style address begins:
To the college graduates of 2018:
Are you paying attention?
Not to me, not to any words of wisdom you might get from thousands of different college commencement address speakers. Are you paying attention to what's going on in America? To what's going on in the world?
Paying attention to civilization is the most important thing you should be doing now. I know, it wasn't your strong suit the past several years. You did enough to get your degree, but listening to long, boring lectures doesn't lend itself to paying attention. For anyone.
If paying attention hasn't been your thing the past four (five? six?) years, it needs to be now. Bad stuff is happening. Stuff that has the potential to make your future miserable. I'm not just referring to your job future, but your future of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Through a mixture of inattentiveness, conniver-y, and outright lying, certain individuals have been given power that far exceeds their ethical and moral capacity to handle it. This has led to them placing other ethically- and morally- challenged people in powerful posts.
The not-so-surprising result is a government that isn't actually working for the people. It's only working for, well, let's just say your chances of success are currently for less dependent on whether you have a college degree and for more on whether you are a white, heterosexual, Christian male.
Are you paying attention now?
The way to fix our broken government is to know what's going on. The best way to know what's going on is to stay abreast of current events, and I don't mean by keeping up with your Instagram or Twitter feeds. That isn't nearly good enough.
Watch the news, nationally and locally, and preferably on more than one channel. Read a bunch of different papers, articles, and books. Talk to a lot of people, and not just to your friends, who probably already think the same way as you do, or they wouldn't be your friends.
Show a little bit of passion for having a government and political system that works the right way, under the rule of law -- after all, you're paying for it, even if you don't have a job. Then, when election day rolls around, vote.
Pay attention!
Oh, and congratulations.
To the college graduates of 2018:
Are you paying attention?
Not to me, not to any words of wisdom you might get from thousands of different college commencement address speakers. Are you paying attention to what's going on in America? To what's going on in the world?
Paying attention to civilization is the most important thing you should be doing now. I know, it wasn't your strong suit the past several years. You did enough to get your degree, but listening to long, boring lectures doesn't lend itself to paying attention. For anyone.
If paying attention hasn't been your thing the past four (five? six?) years, it needs to be now. Bad stuff is happening. Stuff that has the potential to make your future miserable. I'm not just referring to your job future, but your future of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Through a mixture of inattentiveness, conniver-y, and outright lying, certain individuals have been given power that far exceeds their ethical and moral capacity to handle it. This has led to them placing other ethically- and morally- challenged people in powerful posts.
The not-so-surprising result is a government that isn't actually working for the people. It's only working for, well, let's just say your chances of success are currently for less dependent on whether you have a college degree and for more on whether you are a white, heterosexual, Christian male.
Are you paying attention now?
The way to fix our broken government is to know what's going on. The best way to know what's going on is to stay abreast of current events, and I don't mean by keeping up with your Instagram or Twitter feeds. That isn't nearly good enough.
Watch the news, nationally and locally, and preferably on more than one channel. Read a bunch of different papers, articles, and books. Talk to a lot of people, and not just to your friends, who probably already think the same way as you do, or they wouldn't be your friends.
Show a little bit of passion for having a government and political system that works the right way, under the rule of law -- after all, you're paying for it, even if you don't have a job. Then, when election day rolls around, vote.
Pay attention!
Oh, and congratulations.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Berky Meeting Nuggets 2018
I managed to attend another Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting this month. I'm still not sure how many of these I've been at over the years, but I have a Warren Buffett-signed program from 2003 hanging on my office wall, so it's been more than 15 years now.
A general observation: I've never seen as many people at this meeting. Attendance had seemingly reached a peak once the meeting began to be live-streamed a couple of years ago. However, this year there were more folks than ever waiting to get inside the arena at 7a.m., and more than ever in the overflow rooms. I had my worst arena seat in years (although not bad) and I was a single. But I got a great seat after lunch, and that's when the best Q & A happened anyway.
Some other observations:
On Buffett and Charlie Munger's active oversight of the organization
Buffett joked that he'd been semi-retired for decades. He said, "I think, actually, semi-retired probably catches me at my most active point." Charlie Munger then adds, "Warren is very good at doing nothing."
On Berky's huge investment in, and impression of, Apple
Buffett liked that Apple is spending a lot of money buying back shares. That means Berky's stake will grow on its own. Apple is similar to Berky in that they both have over $100 billion in cash to invest, and it isn't easy to find companies to acquire that are large enough to move the needle.
On cryptocurrency
Buffett and Munger couldn't say enough bad things about it. "Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings," said Buffett. He mentioned how it's similar to gold as in that it's not a productive asset, so price was dependent on people who want it, not actual value. Munger was more blunt, with what I though was the best line of the day: "(It's like) someone else is trading turds and you decide you can't be left out."
On Amazon and Google (Alphabet)
Buffett and Munger both said they admired those companies, although Munger said he had been to the Google campus and thought it looked like a kindergarten. They wished they'd have invested in them, but they took their lack of foresight in stride, with Buffet saying, "There is not a penalty in investing if you don't swing at a ball in the strike zone as long as you swing at something eventually."
A general observation: I've never seen as many people at this meeting. Attendance had seemingly reached a peak once the meeting began to be live-streamed a couple of years ago. However, this year there were more folks than ever waiting to get inside the arena at 7a.m., and more than ever in the overflow rooms. I had my worst arena seat in years (although not bad) and I was a single. But I got a great seat after lunch, and that's when the best Q & A happened anyway.
Some other observations:
On Buffett and Charlie Munger's active oversight of the organization
Buffett joked that he'd been semi-retired for decades. He said, "I think, actually, semi-retired probably catches me at my most active point." Charlie Munger then adds, "Warren is very good at doing nothing."
On Berky's huge investment in, and impression of, Apple
Buffett liked that Apple is spending a lot of money buying back shares. That means Berky's stake will grow on its own. Apple is similar to Berky in that they both have over $100 billion in cash to invest, and it isn't easy to find companies to acquire that are large enough to move the needle.
On cryptocurrency
Buffett and Munger couldn't say enough bad things about it. "Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings," said Buffett. He mentioned how it's similar to gold as in that it's not a productive asset, so price was dependent on people who want it, not actual value. Munger was more blunt, with what I though was the best line of the day: "(It's like) someone else is trading turds and you decide you can't be left out."
On Amazon and Google (Alphabet)
Buffett and Munger both said they admired those companies, although Munger said he had been to the Google campus and thought it looked like a kindergarten. They wished they'd have invested in them, but they took their lack of foresight in stride, with Buffet saying, "There is not a penalty in investing if you don't swing at a ball in the strike zone as long as you swing at something eventually."
Friday, May 4, 2018
Old Business / New Business
I’ve taken the last month off of blogging because I’ve been a little busy with something else. Over the past month I've started my own financial planning firm.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I didn't until now thanks to a need for medical insurance. In this case, Necessity was truly the Mother of Invention. (That's a long story, and maybe one good enough for a separate blog entry another time.)
Thanks to a lot of planning, I only had about 10 different things that needed to be done in the last month, down from a list of more than 20 when I began. While I probably had a few more things to do than other start-up businesses thanks to state and federal securities regulations, I have new respect for anyone who starts their own organization.
In my case, I'd compare starting your own business as similar to building a new house rather than moving into a nice existing house. It doesn’t take anywhere near as much time to buy an existing home, and frankly, you get more bang for your buck with fewer problems. The house has settled, the landscaping is done, the window treatments are in place, etc. It’s just a much simpler process.
But that existing house isn’t going to be exactly what you want. Maybe it isn’t quite in the right location, or maybe the layout isn’t exactly the best, or maybe it could use new appliances. In the end, if you really want to customize your lifestyle, you have build your own house, and that comes with a lot of extra time and expense and contracting headaches. For all that work, however, you’re going to have things the way you want them, or at least very, very close to it.
When I joined another financial planning firm in the past, it was analogous to moving into an existing home. The branding was completed, the accounting was set up, the compliance work was done, and so forth. It could have used a few updates (people), but it was really only a matter of moving in the furniture in getting started.
Starting my own firm, though, I had to build or re-build all of those things from scratch, and it takes a lot of time and effort. I fully expect it will be worth it.
In the future, I’ll probably write more specifically about a few of the decisions I made -- some that worked, and some that now only seemed like a good idea at the time.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I didn't until now thanks to a need for medical insurance. In this case, Necessity was truly the Mother of Invention. (That's a long story, and maybe one good enough for a separate blog entry another time.)
Thanks to a lot of planning, I only had about 10 different things that needed to be done in the last month, down from a list of more than 20 when I began. While I probably had a few more things to do than other start-up businesses thanks to state and federal securities regulations, I have new respect for anyone who starts their own organization.
In my case, I'd compare starting your own business as similar to building a new house rather than moving into a nice existing house. It doesn’t take anywhere near as much time to buy an existing home, and frankly, you get more bang for your buck with fewer problems. The house has settled, the landscaping is done, the window treatments are in place, etc. It’s just a much simpler process.
But that existing house isn’t going to be exactly what you want. Maybe it isn’t quite in the right location, or maybe the layout isn’t exactly the best, or maybe it could use new appliances. In the end, if you really want to customize your lifestyle, you have build your own house, and that comes with a lot of extra time and expense and contracting headaches. For all that work, however, you’re going to have things the way you want them, or at least very, very close to it.
When I joined another financial planning firm in the past, it was analogous to moving into an existing home. The branding was completed, the accounting was set up, the compliance work was done, and so forth. It could have used a few updates (people), but it was really only a matter of moving in the furniture in getting started.
Starting my own firm, though, I had to build or re-build all of those things from scratch, and it takes a lot of time and effort. I fully expect it will be worth it.
In the future, I’ll probably write more specifically about a few of the decisions I made -- some that worked, and some that now only seemed like a good idea at the time.
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