The Oft Mash

     It must be once each week, or at least once every fortnight, where someone at work becomes utterly befuddled at my lack of having seen (or heard of) a movie.  There must have been some kind of grand union afforded those GenX'rs who just so happened to be born at the right time to all watch similar shows and know similar movies. That last statement a somewhat emotional diatribe, though I could just as easily place my lack of cultural knowledge on the culture itself.  Perhaps it is not I who find movies to be lacking, rather they are justly lacking.  Realistically, there are probably many great films in production today. I doubt I have the technical expertise to appreciate most of the carefully crafted frames, the perspective manipulation, the lighting prowess, or the foley audio. I merely know some buzz words, but the art is lacking still. For me, these diamonds are just rocks. (I should watch one of the movies they talk about, he mentioned "Shooter" to...

 I was going over a theoretical conversation I planned answering in my head if hypothetically anyone ever asked me in public what I was up to these days or doing. Now if you're a young man, you will realize how much of a fascinating waste of energy our brains love indulging in this activity. Regardless, I was playing over answers in my head and acknowledged a pattern I seem to embody.      I operate almost on a sine curve where the vertical axis is the how well things are relatably going. I specify relational well-doing as that's what we (socially) tend to use as the foundation for whether our day/week/month is going well. Nothing in relation to progress towards actual own goals.      So my sine curve naturally progresses with one cycle of up completed in about one month, with the down lasting about the same amount of time. While I understand the mentality behind "you have no weekends", I'm coming around to the belief that the vicissitudes of life are ...

      As an undisciplined person, or well, if you were to ask someone that knew me they may not say so; however, if you ask me I may just say so. Therefore, as an undisciplined person grasping at an end I'm uncertain I want (though it's better than the alternative, I believe), I will start journaling.  I started with saying that "I made the decision to..." start journaling, but had to rewrite. Currently, my word is not my bond (liability? origin). I do not always do the things I say I will and that is something I'm working on. I ask people on occasion when my industry comes up, "how do you know your accountant is good?" As an accountant, I don't really have a good answer. I always think reputation.  I think I'll do a video on Reputation and Honesty is the Best Policy in the coming quarter. I've really always questioned that adage. It's like Heaven in a way, almost sounds too good to be true. To be rewarded for behaving in an approved mann...

I’ve heard on a podcast I enjoy (EconTalk) that “whatever you did or graduated with in college is your favorite way of looking at the world.” That being said, as an accountant, all I think about are ways to manipulate numbers and what incentives are present in everything. My professional skepticism (as it’s called) is set off ad infinitum by the constant advice that investing is easy or one should just use the vehicles in place created by the experts. As a zoomer (Gen Z), I am absolutely sick of being told to “trust the experts”. In short: I don’t believe investing is easy. I don’t think it’s all luck. And I don’t have a definitive plan with answers. But I do have an idea on how to start. My idea is three pronged: Read a series of books to establish and refine my Investing Philosophy, Make five stock selections in a new industry/sector every fortnight, and  Check-back in after one year for each set of investments and learn what I did that worked and what did not. I started like ...