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DURING MY FINAL NINE years with the Coast Guard, I was involved in decisions regarding search-and-rescue operations. We were almost always working with imperfect information. For three of those nine years, I was responsible for all missions in one section of the Great Lakes and, in my last year, I made the final decision on when to suspend search-and-rescue operations in an even larger area.
To lower risk, we often assumed the worst, and threw copious operational resources at the situation.
IN JANUARY 1987, I was an unmarried junior Coast Guard officer just beginning the flight stage of U.S. Navy flying training. I decided to see a financial advisor who’d been recommended by friends.
This wasn’t just any advisor, but rather a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and fighter pilot. He worked for a firm whose advisors were comprised mostly of retired military officers, and they marketed their services primarily to military officers. If there was anyone I could trust,
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Oh my. Thanks for asking. Unfortunately she died young, at age 56, as the result of very heavy cigarette smoking. Her internist told my Dad it was one of the worst cases of emphysema he'd ever seen. She could never quit until it was too late. When I was about 4 or 5, I have a recollection of her having two cigarettes going in the house at the same time, unfiltered Pall Malls at the time, one at each end of our small house as she worked. She was a hard worker. My parents were of the "Greatest Generation", WWII, and so many of them smoked. Her mother, my grandmother, died of cancer at 76. As you can imagine, I never had anything to do with tobacco products.
Post: How Long Will We Live?
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
I agree. The cap on taxable wages makes the tax regressive. Warren Buffett has pointed this out for years. I live in a state that taxes groceries of all things. How regressive is that?
Post: Does Social Security work?
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
Thanks for the article William. "Tokenized" stocks are now trading in Europe and it's just a matter of time until that happens here as stocks will trade instantly and settle about as fast on a blockchain. As you note, settlement speed is very important. Ever since the creation of the telegraph, transactions could travel at the speed of light, however, settlement always took a relatively long time thus the need for banks, or some trusted third party, to keep the ledger. Gold fell out of use as money because of the difficulty settling transactions across large distances. Bitcoin solves this problem, by allowing very quick settlement across borders without the involvement of a third party. It's pretty cool.
Post: Trading 24/7?
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
One can always count on their cat for notifications of postal delivery. :)
Post: A Record Journey
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
I wonder how much of the inexorable rise of the stock market is due to the passive bid, every day, for index funds. Many people now just buy the market, on a regular basis, regardless of price, and so that money just keeps bidding stocks up. I sometimes sleuth around and take a deep dive on suspicious companies. One biotech company, a fraud in plain sight, had ownership by Vanguard, Fidelity, etc., and then I realized they were bought as part of a biotech index, or some other index. Thus, reputable firms like Vanguard were buying stock in a fraud because of the rote formula they must follow. Interestingly, on his last conference call before he was bought out, I heard the CEO and founder, a failed resident physician, threaten the shorts and anyone who authored unfavorable articles about the company. "We know who you are!", he said. Needless the say, the stock went from the $30s, to bankruptcy, but not before receiving millions of funds from Uncle Sam during the pandemic. While this was going on, analysts had a buy rating with a price target of $80. It was amazing to watch.
Post: Why Money is Taking Up More Space in My Mind Lately
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
My Dad lived to 95 and could still balance his checkbook. That's the only actuarial table I need. :)
Post: How Long Will We Live?
Link to comment from August 23, 2025
"The connected nature of the internet adds to the seeming cloudiness of truth." Very well said, Ken. I think now, and going forward, the ability to think critically about all the information we are flooded with may become some sort of survival skill. My kids, ages 35-27 have little to do with social media anymore. I think they realize so much of it is fake, or worthless information, or deceitful. We see so many assaults on objective truth these days that I wonder if we are transitioning to a post-truth society in which the weak may be vulnerable. Put another way, it's caveat emptor everywhere.
Post: Back to the Future
Link to comment from August 16, 2025
Thanks Howard. Very interesting. I was not aware Fidelity had this program.
Post: Free Lunch?
Link to comment from August 16, 2025
That smart guy, or gal, inside of ChatGPT says that about 11% of the money supply (M2) is in physical cash. Thus, all the rest is simply digits in an electronic ledger somewhere. I've become OK with that. What's more worrisome is the simple fact that 90% of your deposit at the bank isn't there. And, as depositors at Silicon Valley Bank found out in Mar 2023, your money really isn't there if everyone else wants their money back at the same time. Had the Fed and Treasury not backstopped ALL deposits, not just the FDIC insured ones, well, we may have had a massive run on the many banks, at that time, that had negative equity as a result of the fastest increase in the Fed fund's rate ever. This all happened within days of Mr. Michael Barr's testimony in Congress (Barr with the Fed Vice Chair for Supervision) in which he stated the banking system was sound as ever, with no systemic risks. You can't make this up. And nowadays, it's an electronic run that quickly overwhelms the bank. The whole system is based upon trust, trust in a third party. Fidelity I trust. They have no shareholders to appease, whereas the banks....Don't forget, in the fall of 2008 many of the major banks/investment banks such as BofA, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, WaMu, Wachovia, etc. were all insolvent and required a bailout or takeover. The whole system failed at once requiring the U. S. Govt, not just the Fed, to become the lender of last resort. So, I'm not surprised that some people self custody bitcoin which allows them to hold their wealth and transmit it to others without a trusted third party. For all intents and purposes now, it's all digital money. And sorry about the rant folks, it's just that a banking system that relies on fractional reserve lending will always have crises, and the regulators will always fail(1998, 2008, 2023), and the solution will be to print more money.
Post: Have you seen your money lately?
Link to comment from August 16, 2025
For years I had a George Costanza wallet and would periodically cull all the old receipts, gift cards, etc. out of it. My kids said it was affecting my back. I sometimes sat with a port list. On a lark, I bought a Ridge wallet which is nothing but a simple holder for the credit cards and DL with a money clip held between two RFID blocking panels. I highly recommend getting a Ridge wallet or something similar if you want to simplify. Also, it doesn't fall out of my pocket like my wallet used to and much harder for a pick pocket to find because I now carry it in my front pocket.
Post: Not Qualified to Carry This Anymore
Link to comment from August 16, 2025