The Private Equity for Families Blog

Over the last several decades a profound shift has occurred in the world of investments and responsibility for investment risk. Once upon a time when I started my career in the 1970’s, the risks associated with investment decisions were squarely shouldered by investors themselves. In this traditional model which

Reddy Kilowatt was the creation of the electric utility industry in the 1930’s when it was trying to spur consumer adoption of electricity which, for many, was simply an abstract invisible commodity. Here is Reddy Kilowatt circa 1930: By the end of WWII Reddy Kilowatt’s likeness was global and

I first learned about debt jubilees when I took a religion course in college.  The concept is rooted in the bible, but it also has antecedents in the way religious leaders and kings curried favor with their subjects to remain in power and avoid rebellion. I asked ChatGPT to

I have been monitoring many of the favorite investment names in the U.S. stock market like Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Progressive (NYSE: PGR), Facebook (NASDAQ: META) and Alphabet/Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). After a significant downturn in 2021 these stocks and many others have rebounded and, in many cases, have exceeded

Many of our blog readers have asked about Bitcoin (Ticker: BTC). This corresponds to the development of multiple ETF’s earlier this year, the halving of the reward paid to Bitcoin miners in April and Jamie Dimon rendering his annual opinion that Bitcoin is a “fraud”. Background On Bitcoin Here

I have always loved Triscuits and peanut butter. It was a staple of the McCreary family diet for more than 20 years.  As time passes, I have noticed less salt, less fat, and less taste in modern day Triscuits but most of all I think the volume of Triscuits

In the 1980’s, against the backdrop of 18% interest rates, politicians and the financiers each staked out their turf. The financiers ceded the power to legislate, tax and create entitlement programs to the politicians and the politicians let the financiers run a legal monopoly known as the stock and

A career in financial services has been a wonderful place to be for the last 40 years. Powerful macrotrends like 40 years of falling interest rates, Moore’s law with the doubling of computing power every several years, the emergence of a sophisticated credit economy, a plethora of worldwide investable

As we start a new investment year and take inventory of bad habits to avoid and good ones to enhance, I come back to some value investing principles foremost of which is first do no harm or spoken in investment language, avoid losses. However, had you burrowed into your

As a recent user of ChatGPT I was not aware my version 3.5 which is free is much less powerful than version 4.0 which costs $20/month. So, I bought the upgrade and put it to a test. I have been slightly disappointed with Chat’s ability to search data and

Can you recall your first experience with bubblegum in your hair? It was stickier than you thought and your attempts to eradicate it only spread it more? More painful, however, was you looked like a dork for two weeks after your mother cut out patches of your hair. Inflation

Howard Marks, the founder of Oaktree Capital, is a prolific communicator. He has written letters to his investors since he began managing capital in the mid- 1980’s. While he started with a very stable asset class – corporate bonds – over time he moved into a much riskier neighborhood

This was the first summer I can remember when there was not a stretch of good weather for more than 5 days in a row. What I mean by good weather is also being redefined. Endless rain, big winds, small craft warnings almost every day, and serious flooding were

Depending on whom you ask you will get a different perspective about having the U.S. Dollar as the reserve currency for the world and the medium of exchange for oil and other essential commodities. If you live in Turkey, Venezuela, or Argentina, and have persistent, high double-digit inflation, holding

One of the smartest investors I know taught me “you don’t bank percentages” so even if your bonus is ten percent, if it is applied to below market base pay you likely would be earning less than someone who got 5 % bonus on a higher base. In addition,

Chevy Chase immortalized the American vacation with the Griswold family’s cross-country journey to Wally World.  That was the travel scene in the 1980s before Covid-19, inflation, forest fires, thermal inversions, flash floods, passport processing snafus, sold out National Parks, double digit lodging taxes, shortages of hospitality workers, road construction

When I was first introduced to the stock market by my aunt, a securities analyst for a leading regional securities firm, her formula for success was picking companies that were growing revenues fast and also paying dividends. In the 1960’s the so-called “Nifty Fifty” had many of those attributes

This Monday I was anxious to scour the news for one of the greatest emerging conflicts of my lifetime. I raced right past the war in Ukraine, tensions in the South China Sea, the Wagner Group’s march to Moscow and China’s burgeoning spy base in Cuba. The real news

I attended my 50th college reunion earlier this month and had the good fortune of listening to a dozen subject matter presentations by reunion alums from class years ending in “3” or “8”. I was really interested in a presentation by several of my class members and a gentleman

I am always keeping an eye on a backwater of the U.S. financial system called Zombie Companies. There is a general consensus that “Zombies” are businesses that do not have the cash flow to service the interest on their debt. For example, the biggest zombies in the world right