Look, there are some good reasons for not playing The Miles Game. We’ve already covered them, but let’s rehash. If your credit score is below 700 it will be difficult for you to get approved for multiple cards at one time. It’s a better idea to first get your score up above 700 and then […]
Archive | November, 2013
Death and Taxes
If I were to design a tax system it would be simple and progressive. The rates would be largely lower than the current rates because there would be no deductions. Income would defined simply. Any money earned in any manner would be income and there would be no distinction made between money earned by labor, […]
The Rebirth of Churn
It may be useful to give some real-world examples of credit card churns. Not because these were particularly well-thought-out, or executed. Indeed were I to do it all over I would certainly choose different cards. The value here is more about giving a granular view of the actions and reactions of a real-world churn. Let’s […]
E-value-tion
In William Bernstein’s excellent book The Intelligent Asset Allocator, he really gets into minutiae on a host of market issues. Almost every aspect of portfolio theory is inspected, weighed, run through models, graphed, and dissected. You had me at “inspected” Dr. Bernstein. One section which I particularly enjoyed was his discussion of value investing. In […]
Cheapskates
In any endeavor there are of course risks. In playing the miles game, and pursuing early retirement one such risk is becoming a cheapskate. Becoming a frugal spendthrift is not a risk at all. It is a positive attribute. Being frugal in my book can be seen in a similar light as being successful. Frugality […]
Cogs
One of the peculiar things about life these days is specialization. On one hand it makes an awful lot of sense. Crafting something in an artisanal manner is not the most efficient way to produce things. A factory is. With each person or machine doing specific acts over and over again. Linked together by an […]
Code
Just as fences make good neighbors, a little structure makes your life easier to live. An example: I am by nature a procrastinator. But if you procrastinate too much at work as a doctor, It can all snowball pretty quickly and you can end up with a mountain of unfinished charts . So I instituted […]
Top Secret
Tonight I introduce you to my top-secret portfolio. To read this is to understand my values. I am laying bare my innermost investment secrets. And without further ado: Overall Makeup Total stocks 72%. (68.5%– 75.5%) Domestic stocks 43%. (40.5%– 45.5%) International stocks 29%. (26.5% – 31.5%) Total bonds 28%. (25.5% […]
Plain Vanilla
I’ve used up a fair bit of bandwidth on this blog discussing the bluebird card and loading Visa gift cards onto it at Walmart. This is the bread and butter of manufactured spend for me. But this is not a Portland, Oregon specific Blog. And this sequence might not be the the most convenient route […]
Blowing Up
I’ve got to come at this one with caution. There’s a high risk of sanctimony here. Must… Resist… The…Urge… To… Get… On…My… Soap… Box. I want to talk about lifestyle inflation. There… I said it. To be sure there are more extreme examples of it. The high school basketball player who becomes the first pick […]
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