PE4FAMs Blog

Mark Twain is credited with saying “History Does Not Repeat Itself, But It does Rhyme”.   So, as we enter year 2020, I looked for the last year in the United States history that repeated, and also the only other year in the Julian calendar which both repeats and also follows the first decade. What I […]

Financial literacy is a hot topic right now. It should be. A large swath of the younger population in the United States could not pass a basic financial literacy test, much less debate the pros and cons of capitalism. In recognition of this deficiency, Barrons devoted a Special Report, “Kids and Money” in its December

When the Houston Astros aren’t allegedly stealing signs, doing advanced analytics, or deploying infielders like short fielders in slow pitch softball, they are obviously sniffing the air of change in the wage and hour world. Recent articles from The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Fan Graphs all confirm Major League Baseball is reorganizing

I have never been good at betting on NFL football.  Invariably, I am on the wrong side of picking the over/under or the winner, especially Superbowl games. I always thought it was my lack of information. So this season I entered two NFL football pools sponsored by a friend, and I was determined to do

There is always a large dose of wonder and a small amount of dread about travel to developing parts of the world. The electrical grid and connecting your devices usually mean at least 5 different connector models, none of which really work when you actually get to your destination. Cell service is spotty even if

Every year The World Series of Poker hosts the finals of the Texas hold ’em competition where the best poker players in the world compete for a multi-million-dollar purse. Unlike most other poker hands, the players in Texas hold ’em get 2 down cards which they alone can see, and then 5 up cards, which

In the movie “Terminator” machines with artificial intelligence provoke a nuclear holocaust with the objective of eliminating humanity. While they almost succeed, the future reveals a small, but determined, human resistance led by John Connor. In that future Connor is on the verge of eliminating the machines when they dispatch a cyborg assassin back in

There are only a few financial occurrences in my lifetime as confusing as negative interest rates.  In September 2015, I wrote a blog about living in a Bizarro World where everything is reversed ( https://capitalworks.net/i-am-living-in-a-bizarro-world/). Negative interest rates are just the latest Bizarro example where you have to pay more for a bond or bank deposit

I did not appreciate Elon Musk until I read Ashlee Vance’s biography entitled “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”. The author is clearly a Musk advocate and he looks past Elon’s shenanigans to find a once in a century mind working from what he calls “First Principles” on important projects