charles brown

Comments:

• It's ok not to goosestep with the rest of the world. One's individual uniqueness is the willingness to follow the inner voice and be the authentic you; not the carbon copy of the masses. I commend you for the courage to follow that inner guide because it takes great bravery to create your own destiny while disregarding the noisy crowd. Kudos! Charles Brown.

  Post: A Quiet Life

  Link to comment from March 23, 2024

• Jeffrey: Congratulations upon the bold adventure of the self-managed option. I, too, shared such joy when I exercised a similar option many years ago. Unschooled in economics, I applied the same drive as I had exerted in my successful career and learned how to invest. I broke a few traditional rules, such as never invest over 4-5 % of total portfolio with a single company. While my friends boasted of multiple stocks with few shares, I chose to reverse it (via research) and go for fewer stocks with a larger share stake. My reasoning: If one has only a handful of shares and the stock triples, your gain is minimal. However, if one has loaded up the boat and the stock triples, then the gains are maximum. One caveat: This approach requires much research and monitoring of the few companies to ensure sound manage-ment, a protective moat, and a relevance of the product/s products by the companies.

  Post: Portfolio Builder

  Link to comment from November 18, 2023

• Jonathan: Such undisciplined spending could be a symptom of financial addiction, which is as real and debilitating as alcohol and drug enslavement. Consequently, it requires therapy for recovery. In fact, there are support groups, such as Compulsive Spenders with chapters located in 15 countries. Such spenders need to be encouraged to seek help before the financial roof caves in upon them. Kudos to you for highlighting the issue.

  Post: House of Cards

  Link to comment from October 7, 2023

• Excellent commentary, Craig! It confirms the human developmental cycle that one navigates through a series of passages throughout his/her entire life span, which requires endless adjustments necessary for a full and satisfying life. The truth is - we move beyond tricycles in childhood to embrace appropriate transportation for later life. The same is true for housing! From living in public housing as a married college student to home ownership after many years, I now am pondering downsizing as an alternative for senior living. To be sure, emotional attachment to a house, car, or stick of furniture must be secondary to what is realistically the best for me at this time of my life. The present moment, not past memories must be the determining factor in decision-making.

  Post: A Half-Century Later

  Link to comment from September 27, 2023

• I totally identify with your philosophy that one does not have to leave home to discover diamonds. As a child, I spent two weeks each year on my grand-mother's remote farm in order to have something to report to the fall "show and tell" class. Little did I realize that a taste of farm life would instill lasting values in my life: Value of hard work (picking cotton), appreciation for black persons and their labor who predated me, simplicity of life, trust-worthiness, healthy lifestyle (veggies galore), and importance of sleep. While I have toured Europe several times and learned much, the farm lessons in- spired me differently and lastingly. And I shall always cherish such experiences.

  Post: My Best Experiences

  Link to comment from September 20, 2023

• Oh, the woes that American prosperity produces! Here we are debating the merits of buying a new Mercedes (symbol of success) to appease one's narcissistic appetite, which provides a temporary fix in an adrenalin rush, when we could make a difference in the lives of people across the world by providing them food, shelter, and clothing in order to survive, which by the way produces a high unlike any Mercedes could ever do; for it is not just about me; rather, what can I do to make this a better world - to enable other people to simply survive? After all, I have never seen a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. If you can't take it with you, consider spreading your wealth around to make a major difference in peoples' lives. And prepare for an unbelievable "high" just knowing the difference that you have made in the world.

  Post: My Car Journey

  Link to comment from September 2, 2023

• Jonathan: I resonate with your insatiable urge to stay at the helm. I am 84 years old, enjoy excellent health, and serve as a healthcare insurance broker. I tell people that I MUST work, but not for the reasons they think. Rather, the intellectual stimulation that annual recertification provides, the pleasure of travel to appointments, the social engagement with the client, the emotional uplift of serving seniors, and the satisfying strokes for having done a good job. Tally them up! The accrued benefits yield more than money and provide what money cannot. The idea of retirement conjures the image of retreating into obscurity and going out with a whimper as T. S. Eliot declared. I much prefer the "bang" as offered via continued employment. CWB.

  Post: The Other Enough

  Link to comment from August 21, 2023

• The smart approach would have been to purchase the vehicle through your bank's Home Equity Loan account and receive a tax credit at the end of the year for interest paid. 6.75% is huge for an asset that depreciates the moment that you drive the vehicle off the lot. The idea of casting a large vehicle net across the area is cool. In fact, I cast it across several states and it has yielded great savings. Once a friend asked me why I would drive from TN to GA to purchase a car. I replied that anytime that I could save $2400, I would gladly make the day daily. Of course, the best deals were prior to the semiconductor shortage days. I yearn for those days to return. Once the balance between supply and demand resurfaces consumers' clout will return.

  Post: Driving Me Crazy

  Link to comment from August 7, 2023

• Rand: Thanks for sharing your adventuresome journey! Listening to the inner voice amid the cacophony sounds of your environment produced the decisive difference in mentality between "working to eat" and "eating to work." Such self-actualization (as Maslow described) empowered you to claim and express the vast potential that lay within, resulting in deeper personal satisfaction and the joy of assisting others in their search. The twin achievements constitute the enviable balance of life and reflect the Mount Everest of the human experience.

  Post: Following My Muse

  Link to comment from May 21, 2022

• Juan: A heads-up: With your strong compulsive drive, when retirement arrives at age 55, it will last three months at the maximum. Then, you will have the itch to launch other financial ventures. Why? For the simple reason that to reach a simple retirement goal such as 55 does not automatically shut down one's compulsively driven nature. I know! I have been there. At age 58, I launched a new career that has lasted 24 (and continues) on the heels of the original career that spanned 40 years. Compulsive people always find a way to perpetuate their involvement in enterprises until forced by circumstances (e.g., health, etc.) to walk away. Nothing beats being honest with one's self. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

  Post: A Bad Business

  Link to comment from April 9, 2022