The Artful Codger

In the past ten or so years, I've been a regular attendee at what would be considered 'artistic' community events.  Specifically, these events include attending traveling Broadway shows in Des Moines, and the annual Des Moines city arts festival.

Prior to the past decade, my interest in the fine arts was mostly limited to excessively complimenting my kids on their mandatory elementary school art projects.  If you go back far enough, you might also include watching MTV -- you know, back when it was still a music video channel and not whatever it's trying to be today.

These days, however, I've become at least a little bit more interested.  I've seen dozens of live stage performances, mostly Broadway musicals, and I'd say at least half of them were quite entertaining.  I'm more drawn to the contemporary, adapted musicals than to the old-school classics, which are almost entirely singing and dancing.  I even watched some of the Tony Awards on TV this year -- yikes.

As for the Des Moines Arts Festival, it's a way to be open-minded about people who do creative things, be it painting, photography, sculpture, or music.  Every year, I run across something that I think would be a cool conversation piece, or something with vibrant colors that must stimulate the right side of my brain.  Also every year, I wonder about how these poor artists are able to charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for something will zero utility value, which is why I'm only a viewer and not a customer.

No one would say that I've become an aficionado of the fine arts.  Far from it.  I can't think of anything I'd rather do less with my leisure time than go to a ballet, or listen to a symphony orchestra.  Plus, I do think too much public money is channeled to the arts, when it could be better served to help human suffering.  (Those able to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars a year on show tickets or artwork can surely fund the arts privately.)

That said, I can also say I’ve matured enough to appreciate artistic talent and output.

Dear Graduating Class of 2019

It's time to give some more life advice to the early-twenty-somethings out there with brand new college diplomas.....

To the graduates of 2019:

It's probably difficult for you to go a day without seeing a news story about the crushing amount of college debt that most of you now have.  I can think of two exceptions to this: Some of you were lucky enough to have had your college paid for you by a parent or other family member or scholarship, while some others simply never read the news.

For many of you -- not all, but many -- there's a good chance that the main reason for this debt is you.  You probably could have studied harder in high school, creating a better chance for scholarships.  You probably could have studied harder in college, and completed it sooner.

Try not to ponder why you have this debt.  Your generation isn't about to blame yourselves for your own (in)actions anyway.  Better to focus on how to eliminate it.  I'm here to help.

1)  Get a job and start making money.  Any job.  No waiting for the job you want.  Listen to my (stolen) old saying:  If you wait to take the job you love, you'll never work a day in your life, because you are never getting that job.

2)  Work hard, and keep working hard.  Find a way to be indispensable, and you'll be fine.

3)  Stop spending money you don't have.  This may be a hard habit to break, because it's essentially what you've been doing throughout college to create the debt you have.  The living-on-credit monster doesn't need to be fed, it needs to be starved.

4)  Don't worry about saving for retirement now.  There are financial advisors out there who will try to convince you that saving now means you won't have to save as much later, which is true.  But it's also stupid, because eliminating high-interest debt is more important, and gives you more bang for the buck.  Also, let this be your first lesson that advisors mostly only care about giving advice that makes money for themselves.

5)  Repeat.

That's it!  You'll have your college debt paid off in no time, and have learned good life-long habits.  Of course, one alternative to all of this is to move back in with your parents.  Don't do it.

Berky Meeting Nuggets 2019

Yet another Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is in the books.  This year I didn't feel like waking up early enough to get there before the doors opened at 7am, so I didn't get there until around 8am.  The downside to this was an upper deck seat for the 8:30am company movie and morning session, and no time to look at the exhibition hall beforehand.  The upside was more sleep, there were still plenty of complementary breakfast danishes and beverages at my super-secret place behind the stage, and I got a great seat for the afternoon session anyway.

This year's observations:

There was only one side-question about CEO succession.  I guess everyone has become bored with that.  However, Warren Buffett went out of his way this year to have a couple of questions each answered by the Vice-Chairs, Ajit Jain and Greg Abel.  One of these guys will be the next CEO.  I've heard Abel answer energy questions before, but it was unusual to hear Jain speak on insurance issues.

Charlie Munger was as engaged and funny as ever with his comments, at least until later in the afternoon when he nodded off.  (That was not unprecedented, I've seen it before.)  I thought the best exchange of the day happened when a questioner identified himself as a 27-year-old from San Francisco who fancied the idea of starting his own investment fund.  Buffett took him quite seriously, to my surprise, talking about how he was young when he started his investment partnership.  But Charlie didn't bite -- he instead told a joke, which was classic Munger, and maybe the highlight of my day:

"Let me tell you a story that I tell young lawyers who frequently come to me and say, 'How can I quit practicing law and become a billionaire instead?'  So I say well, it reminds me of a story they tell about Mozart.  A young man came to him, and he said, 'I want to compose symphonies.  I want to talk to you about that.'  And Mozart said, 'How old are you?'  And the man said, 'Twenty-two.'  And Mozart said, 'You're too young to do symphonies.'  And the guy says, 'But you were writing symphonies when you were ten years old!'  Mozart says, 'Yes, but I wasn't running around asking other people how to do it.

It used to be the meeting questions were dominated by Europeans who traveled to Omaha, but now they are dominated by Asians, more specifically, Chinese-Asians.  There's even a room at the arena complex that has a Mandarin-language translator.  Not sure how this came to be, but Munger especially keeps tabs on China, and has encouraged Berky to invest more there.

This was the first year I can recall that the Omaha World-Herald newspaper wasn't distributed free to those entering the meeting.  It was most noticeable before the meeting in that the paper sections couldn't be used by those trying to save seats.  In that regard, it was kind of nice, and anyone wanting to read the paper can get use their smartphone anyway.

Post #400

This is my 400th blog entry since I started it almost 10 years ago(!)  (I'll have to throw a party in July when the actual 10th anniversary arrives.)  I'm going to do what I've done in past 'century' posts, which is to review some of what I wrote about since my 300th entry.  The time gap between the 300th and 400th is going to expose how I don't write as much as I used to -- it's taken me twice as long as the prior 100.

I wrote about several recurring annual topics, including the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (soon to be post #410), my advice to graduating seniors, RAGBRAI musings, and things for which I'm not thankful. 

I wrote about how smart people have many advantages in the world, but are disadvantaged by a lack of numbers, and so many stupid people holding them back.

I wrote about new cities and regions of the country I visited, including attending the Rose Bowl.

I wrote about how great social media technology and platforms could be, if not for the all of the people who use social media for evil and not for good.

I wrote more about our country's slow, inexorable march toward decriminalization and legalization of marijuana, which can't come soon enough.

I wrote a few more times about financial issues, and starting my own firm.

I wrote a handful of times about great songs and songwriters, a dying breed with the exception of a few hip-hop and country artists, to which I rarely listen.

Nearly 100 entries apart, I wrote about my observations at the funerals of my father and mother.

I wrote about how religion separates people (and in many cases, harms people) at least as much as it brings people together.

I wrote about the dysfunction and hatred of this decade's politics and politicians, which is in many ways related to the last item.

I wrote about how today's baby boomer parents are ruining not only their kids' lives, but society in general, with their awful parenting.

I wrote a few items of self-reflection, on what happened in the past, and what I might do differently if I knew then what I know now.

400 posts.....bring on the next 100!

Too Many Goodbyes

I've had one of the longest, if not the longest, time gaps since my last blog entry.  The main reason is, the past month has been consumed by my mother's failing health, death, and burial.  She was 90 years old, long enough that she survived not only her spouse, but every other sibling and and in-law of her generation.

More on her life later. When my dad passed away not quite four years ago, I made some observations about the overall funeral experience.  All of those observations held true again with my mom's passing, but now I have more to add:

Unlike for my dad, I had a chance to preview my mom's obituary and suggest changes.  While I did provide my two cents worth, we should have been more focused on adding a sentence that any memorials be made to one or more designated charities.  I'm not sure why that wasn't done, but anyone who's ever had to later help sort out the flowers and wind chimes and cash (for Catholic mass intentions) should know it's needed.  There are better ways for others to help leave a legacy.

I have new respect for the embalming skills of funeral home staff.  Toward the end of her life, a variety of afflictions had turned my mom's body into a hand-clenched, hunched-over state.  But in the casket, she appeared straight and calm.  Having said that, the better way to go about a burial is still cremains, eliminating the unnecessary and ridiculous cost of caskets and vaults.

The burial service at the cemetery was unique, at least for me.  This time we were not asked if we wanted to stay to watch the casket / vault lowered into the ground.  I didn't need to see it, but I'd never seen it done before, and I paid attention to how it was accomplished.  My main takeaway was that there was a lot of pressure on the funeral directors, because there were a lot of things to move around, and so much could have gone wrong with a lot of mourners watching.

There were too many 'goodbye' moments for me before, during, and after the funeral.  I said goodbye to my mom before she died (on more than one occasion) when she was facing imminent death.  Then our family said goodbye to my mom's body before the service when the casket was closed, then again during the service at the final blessing, and then again at the end of the service when the casket was lowered.  Then later, we had to start saying goodbye to relatives and friends who had attended.  These final salutations all come at a small emotional cost.  I would have preferred not to say goodbye that many times in such a short period, especially to the dead.

As with my father's death, I've been very contemplative about my mom's life, and how she spent it.  I certainly don't want to dwell on the past couple of years, which she basically spent losing motor function, and dying inch by inch in a nursing home.  And I kind of hate that most of my memories of her relate to taking care of her spouse's and children's domestic needs, even in retirement.

In the end, though, her family's happiness was her happiness.  So I've concentrated on that, and the fact that she no longer needs to be concerned about others' welfare, or by the limitations of her own body.  I'm going to miss Mom, but I will always carry a piece of her and Dad with me.

The View From My Back Window

A few years ago, I made a blog entry about the neighbors across my back yard, whom I often observe from my deck during the summer.  At that time, I noted some issues they each had with family members who just didn't want to move out.

Now that I'm working from home, I have a chance to observe these neighbors more frequently -- not by choice, but by virtue of simply looking out my window a few times a day.  My update on them is, so much has changed, yet so much remains the same.

My elderly widowed neighbor to the east is rarely seen outside anymore, but there's more activity there than ever.  Her disabled son is no longer around, and neither is her prodigal granddaughter and boyfriend, but they've been replaced by others.  Now her recently separated or divorced adult grandson lives there, and from time-to-time, he's joined by his kids and girlfriend.  You'd think this living arrangement would have the grandson taking care of their house and yard, but this would only be true if you defined 'taking care of'' as letting the property look like an unkempt trailer park.

My neighbors to the northeast haven't changed the number of occupants (unless you count the dog dying), but therein lies the problem.  Their adult, mostly unemployed, high-school dropout daughter still lives there.  In the past year, in addition to the usual shouting matches, there have been multiple visits by police, fire, and rescue units.  Her dad has admitted these are attributable to the daughter's addictive lifestyle, but he and his wife won't kick her out, because, well, they're bad at parenting.  Their house and yard were TP'd this week, which I thought was only a high school thing, but at least it's better than hearing gunshots.

Like I said, much has changed, yet much remains the same, and none of it is good for my property value.

A Taxing Occupation

It’s tax time, meaning more work for me both personally and professionally.  This year more than ever, I find myself talking to – and about -- tax preparers.

Tax preparers are a little bit like financial advisors, in that some are better than others, and credentials matter.   If you need help doing taxes, you probably get what you pay for.

Alternatively, though, most tax preparers are alike in one major way.  That is, they are concerned with minimizing their clients’ taxes in the current year.  Seems like a good idea for everyone, right?

The thing is, not everyone should be worried about minimizing taxes now; they ought to be worried about minimizing taxes later.  While always subject to change, it’s a fact that the current tax law expires in 2026.  Without changes, this means tax rates will go back to the higher 2017 brackets.

In this environment, tools like a Roth IRA can be of great use, where you pay taxes now in return for not paying taxes later.  Unfortunately, when tax preparers do suggest an IRA, it’s almost always a traditional IRA, since they want the immediate tax deduction.

Part of this is that some tax preparers are compensated in part by the amount of refund they generate.  Gosh, imagine that, doing something that’s better for them than for the client.

This is why many people would be better served by a credentialed, fiduciary, financial / tax planner instead of the run-of the-mill tax preparer.