I feel hopeless. I have been thinking about how to unwind my positions in the permanent portfolio. One should not invest in something that makes them feel hopeless.  That said, one should also have realistic expectations when it comes to investing.  If a gradual decline of less than 5% over one yea...

I've been back and forth on this about 100 times. I'm naturally inclined to pay off my mortgage, as I'm nearing an early retirement (within a year if I play it right) and really like the ideas of minimizing necessary cash flow and having zero debt from an antifragile perspective.  That said, I lucke...

Take the anthromorphic connection of your question out of the picture for a moment, and think of it in terms of natural selection. "It seems to me that a large amount (not all) of the mutations and adaptations that we put so much stock into create no real lasting benefit to the species. We expe...

This portfolio is a gem...down when the equity markets are up and when the equity markets are down. Definitely consistent. An investment portfolio that historically generates reasonable returns with low volatility while remaining largely decoupled from any one dominant market is one feature I reall...

I grew a stubble beard and never looked back.  When I first grew one it itched at first, but there are 2 tricks to help that: 1) The itching really goes down after you trim the beard a few times with clippers.  If it starts to itch again, just trim it.  I trim mine about once a week. 2) Trim the mus...

IMO, every child has a particular motivator or deterrent. Spanking definitely kept me in-line when necessary and I have no real issue with it. My parents would only resort to that once they had tried every other means to effectively discipline me, and never hit me in any other way. Once I was old en...

Naive question from a non-techy: If it's just a peripheral, how does Apple stop an unauthorized product that is engineered to connect to an Apple device? Is there some permission that needs to be unlocked? First, they control exclusive production of their proprietary connectors (lightning, MagSafe,...

Just for perspective, I sometimes like to remind myself of relative risks. Physical gold certainly has far less counter-party risk than a gold ETF.  But IMO the counter-party risk of a gold ETF is still a lot lower than many popular high-yield stocks, munis, and international funds.  And it's also l...

Makes me think we'd probably still all have traditional Blackberrys if governments tried to standardize technology (thus preventing innovation). Regarding innovation, one of the side effects of the licensing arrangement with Apple connectors is that they effectively have veto power over any product...

True, but micro-USB is inferior to what they built... Fair enough.  I'm just pointing out that Apple also has a huge business model built around controlling access to their products that goes beyond the quality of the connector.  Even if a new high-quality USB standard came out tomorrow, Apple won'...

If you look at the Lightning cable, it's a perfect example of what he said. Apple didn't develop it just to give the finger to people with million of Micro USB chargers; it was to address a variety of deficiencies with Micro USB cables: From my experience in the Apple accessories business, that's n...

Welcome! I personally use VTI/TLT/IAU/SCHO, but have no issues with your choices. I like VTI as a total market fund vs a typical S&P500 fund, and Vanguard has been in that business forever. TLT is best-in-class from a PP perspective (other than buying bonds directly, of course) and I do like it ...

Meh -- I think Cruz/Palin wouldn't get very far.  Regardless of whether you agree with her, I personally think Palin on a ticket is a total non-starter.  Hillary would have a field day with her. I'm more inclined to think about who would be a strong VP on a Rand Paul ticket.  Interestingly, Obama's ...

People can always recite "buy low, sell high" but rarely do it in practice.  Rebalancing is simply buying low and selling high without selling completely out of a position.  You lock in gains and minimize downside risk while leaving open the possibility that your hot investment will contin...

True, but at the end of the day what seems to be emerging is a wealth based de facto caste system. Why is there a lack of motion between classes and is this a concern? If we believe that people should win or lose based on their individual merits....is it fair to expect people to start 50 yards behi...

IMHO, whether the PP is right for you comes down to what you want out of investing. I used to want my investments to make me the highest return possible. I would read up on market trends, research fund managers, and watch investing shows to help me determine where to best put my money every year. I ...

Here's a great blog post to complement the discussion here:

An interview with The Man

http://tinyurl.com/ketxvl5

Most fashion designers and chefs should feel the same way you do. New fashions for dresses, shoes, handbags, etc. and fancy new culinary inventions have to be redesigned every year as people's tastes change. Instead of feeling like their work is pointless, though, I imagine most fashion designers a...

When you see your individual work clearly reflected in the final product, it's hard to feel like your job is pointless (unless the final product itself is pointless). That's sorta where I'm at.  I've designed consumer products for a while, and always felt a great sense of pride when I would walk do...

Is health coverage via employer (which even before the ACA cannot deny coverage based on preexisting conditions) insurance or charity? It's not insurance, but I wouldn't call it charity; more of a job perk. I mean in some cases they pay 100%! One way that the ACA may help me is it will allow me to ...

If you are covering people for any pre-existing conditions, it does not fit the definition of the word insurance.  It is then charity.  Now I'm all for charity, as long as you call it that. Is health coverage via employer (which even before the ACA cannot deny coverage based on preexisting conditio...

Bean wrote: I lost all my gold in a terrible sharknado accident.

LOL.  Nothing to add -- just wanted to acknowledge your genius.

I always find it interesting when someone lists every possible reason why gold shouldn't work as a productive part of a portfolio, but skates over the fact that it does work.  Quite well, in fact. I enjoy learning as much as I can about the inner workings of the HBPP because it's well thought out.  ...

MediumTex wrote: I didn't change anything.

Just same old boring PP.

+1  And I'm very satisfied not fretting about investments so much.  To the extent I think about changing anything, it's mostly looking into how I might start buying some physical gold. 

Most consumer electronics these days are just cheap junk, not built to last more than a couple of years. Actually, expensive junk.  I work in product design and have direct experience designing consumer electronics for retail.  You'd be surprised how little effort is put into quality.  So many thin...