Weekly Notes
May 1 — “The Robots Aren’t Coming for Your Job” - Despite widespread fears about AI destroying the job market, history suggests that when technology makes professional work cheaper and faster, demand for those services tends to grow, not shrink.
May 8 — “Structured Products and the Appeal of Complexity” - Wall Street has a talent for packaging complicated, fee-laden investments into pitches that sound too good to pass up. Structured notes are a prime example of how added complexity almost always benefits the seller more than the buyer.
May 15 — “The Tax Tail Wagging the Portfolio Dog” - There are more tax-deferral strategies available today than ever before, but the history of tax shelters is also a history of investors who lost sight of the underlying investment. Low-cost fundamentals like loss harvesting and asset location remain the most reliable tools.
May 22 — “Our Instincts Are Terrible at Math” - Humans consistently underestimate the power of compounding. The penny-doubling problem, paper-folding to the moon, and 76 years of S&P 500 returns all tell the same story: time is the most powerful variable in investing, and interrupting compounding is costly.
May 29 — “Lessons From the Greatest Investor You’ve Never Heard Of” - Herbert Wertheim built a multi-billion-dollar fortune not through Wall Street connections or complex strategies, but through decades of disciplined buy-and-hold investing. The real lesson is the behavior, not the stock picks.
Quote We Love
“The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.” — Charlie Munger
Media Features
Crystal McKeon was quoted in a MarketWatch article on the truth behind tax-friendly retirement states, examining whether the tax savings from relocating in retirement are as significant as advertised.
Ladies Potting Social
Earlier this month, we hosted a Ladies Potting Social at The Flora Culture. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us.
