Other Stuff.
That is the worst title ever in the history of blogging.
For me, creativity comes in waves. Sometimes, I’m overflowing with ideas. Other times, I come up empty. Sometimes, I can come up with 5 great post ideas in 5 minutes. Other times, I think all day and can’t come up with a decent title. I’m in a trough today, at least when it comes to clever titles.
Anyway, I thought that I’d fill you in on some of my other appearances around the web.
Adventures in Stock Picking (@ InvestmentZen)
I don’t discuss it very much, but I used to pick stocks. I still hold most of them. And, I’ve done really well. This year, I’m beating the S&P 500 by 10% in my stock trading account. The green line represents me:
In 2015, I beat the S&P 500 by 26%:
As an experiment (more on that later), I opened an account with Motif and created my own mini-portfolio. This experiment is young, but I’m killing it there too:
Despite my success, I’m an indexer now. Why would I change? The reason is simple and timeless; I think that I’ll make more money over the long term as an index investor. Read why over at InvestmentZen.
Mad Fientist
In case you missed it, the Mrs. and I interviewed the Mad Fientist for his own Financial Independence Podcast.
In the interview we discussed:
- the Fientist’s childhood
- how he acquired Fientist superpowers (nuclear accident)
- why someone would get an advanced degree from an Ivy League school right before retiring (the Mad Fientist isn’t really mad, but I think this is slightly insane)
- the joy of reading IRS documents
- boxers, briefs or unfurnished basement?
I’m in South Africa!
Not really. However, I am on a blog that is based in South Africa. My friend and TEDx speaker Angela, featured me in her Spotlight On series. In the interview, you’ll learn about why we downsized homes, but 40 months later, are still decluttering.
Less is powerful. Less is beautiful. Less is great. Less is more.
Except when it comes to blog titles.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
Ha ha ha…you should definitely visit SA for real at some point Mr 1500!
Titles are hard! For my post today I could only think of titles that were vaguely sexual sounding or made it seem like I had a drug problem. Lessons learned on my back, lessons learned in recovery… Sometimes you go with the least worst.
Mrs PoP recently posted…Lessons Learned From Bed…
Hahha those are some funny titles . I don’t see anything wrong with them.
Mr. 1500 I wish I could help you declutter . One good tip is to get outside help. A fresh pair of eyes helps you ask more questions.
🙂
Wow, I didn’t realize you were a closet Warren Buffett. You’re crushing the S&P 500! I still have some individual stocks too, but feel much better now that I’ve offloaded most of them. Index investing is so much easier and I don’t get sucked into monitoring the stock prices.
Biglaw Investor recently posted…Why Should You Choose Vanguard?
That wave chart looks uncomfortably like my company’s performance. Highest of the highs, lowest of the lows. Hopefully, it’ll go back up like I know your blog titles will hah!
It is really interesting to see someone that has had success with stock picking recommending indexing. I feel like most of the folks recommending indexing (myself included) have not spent much time in the picking world, and so the advice feels like it carries less weight.
I am excited to listen to the Mad Fientist podcast. It is next up on my listening list!
Matt @ Optimize Your Life recently posted…Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
I think it depends on how far you look back. In the last decade or so index investing has been all the rage, but 20 years ago when I bought my first stock it existed but it was not the hot thing. For the record my first stock was Nvidia which I bought at IPO. I sold for a 5x return ,though a small investment amount. Sadly my second stock evaporated in the dot com bust taking almost all the cash with it. Interestingly that stock was acquired by yahoo search.
I love a good round-up post! Thanks for sharing. Going to check out your post on picking stocks now. Thanks for sharing!
Well, even though you’re an indexer now, I’m sure those stocks aren’t hurting your net worth. 😉
And I’ve seen worse blog titles! I would have liked a string of clever profanity, but “Other Stuff” works too.
Mrs. Picky Pincher recently posted…Our Favorite 7 Frugal Fall Dinners
Haha! This is the most random blog post yet Mr. 1500… Still, it was interesting! Looks like your stock picks are killing it.
So, don’t you think you can replicate your success in the future? That would be my main guess as to why you went full-on index investor…if you didn’t think the results were repeatable.
Still, remarkably good “other stuff” 😉
Seriously impressed by the stock picking thou….
Titles are the hardest. I would happily outsource that duty, because I am bad at it. Funny how different that skill is from writing posts!
Our Next Life recently posted…You Don’t Need That Thing // On Cachet Vs. Value
That’s a pretty impressive run, but I’m glad to see that you realize it for what it is, a case of good stock picking. How many stocks in the portfolio? That has to be a major temptation to your indexing.
I keep a small percentage of my savings for picking stocks. Luckily for me it has taught me to index and stick to medicine 🙂
I too like to trade a small percentage of my portfolio. You are doing much better than me. I am only beating the market by a couple of points. Seems like you really know what you are doing right now.
Personally I like playing around with the stock market because I feel like it teaches me more about finance and in some ways a fun way to learn. But like I said it’s only a small allocation of my total portfolio.
Mustard Seed Money recently posted…Teaching Kids About Money
I think you are being much too modest…I’d say you are beating the S&P by almost 200% this year (5% vs 15%)!
Love the interview and before you know it you might be able to get to South Africa. I am actually going in two months. Here’s to your investment experiment continuing to do well.
Just caught this interview on my drive back from a work trip – great job! I loved how the Mad Fientist enjoys reading and breaking down tax documentation. I’ve done that before both for myself and my co-workers. One time that sticks out to me is when I had coworkers spreading around inaccurate information about what could be paid by a 529 plan (they thought room and board were not eligible because Form 1098-T doesn’t list it). So I cracked open the IRS website and read through Publication 970, and e-mailed them the appropriate parts of the tax code. I’m sure they thought I was lots of fun!
I don’t know, I think that it’s a great title.. :p
I’m always amazed at how you’ve been able to get great gains in investment gains. I think Warren Buffett is looking for people like you, wink wink..
Ha ha, Buffett and Munger would shudder at my holding!