One of the reasons that economics is so interesting is that it really gets at what makes us tick as human beings.As far as I can tell, this science is the study of human incentive. Now I am not saying that human beings are motivated only by money . We are motivated by sex, and […]
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Better than Sliced Bread
Damn this is fun. Travel hacking in general, and manufactured spending specifically really hit a bunch of high points with me. There’s the illicit pleasure of doing something that you’re not supposed to do. It reminds me of raiding my parents’ liquor cabinet as a 13-year-old with my friends. Ahhh…. Manufactured spending plus geri curl […]
Spring Rolls and Loyal3
Spring is springing around here. Nettles and dandelions are poking through my raised beds. Grasses are stubbornly shooting through the cracks in between my patio bricks. There is a strange yellow orb in the sky where the clouds used to be. The air is warm and redolent with Pollen and other allergens. And the miles […]
Whitecoat Faceoff: Unballing your Yarn
One of the most valuable things about writing regularly, is that it frequently brings into stark relief my own biases. Many of the errors that I make come from a place of utter blindness. Although I’d like to think of myself as a fairly empathetic dude, it becomes clear that I spend all of my […]
Shangri-La
We don’t live in an ideal world. That’s for sure. Life is messy and requires compromises and grit and overcoming obstacles and all of that. No endeavor worth pursuing is without its own trials and tribulations. And of course the miles game is no different. If you play the miles game, as I play it, […]
Homerism (and notes)
I’m rereading The Four Pillars Of Investing by William Bernstein. This is a terrific book, that I highly recommend everyone interested in investing to read at least once. Bernstein is a remarkable mind who is able to take complex economic history and theory and calculations and distill them all down into a very readable and […]
Sacred Cows
Have I got an investment opportunity for you. You’re going to thank me for this one. Before I begin I want you to grab a piece of paper and a pencil and write down some important facts about this investment. I guess the first thing you’ll want to know is how to classify this investment. […]
The Impermanence of Miles
Convenience will cost you. Want a Mac instead of a PC ? Prepare to pay 50% more for its ease-of-use and slick styling. Want someone else to manage your money for you for a piddly 1% fee? Prepare to have a third less money by the time you retire. Want to frequently roll through the […]
Deja Vu All Over Again and Credit Card Stock Picking…
Another month, another churn. The Dividend family completed another seven Card churn last week (this time in my wife’s name.) And the results are in, so why not do a bit of a review? Below are seven cards that we applied for. If the cards look familiar its because they are identical to the “highroller […]
Random Miles Artifacts….
Warning: This will be sort of a bits and pieces post. You see I re-created the “highroller churn” for my wife last night and have a whole bunch of reconsideration calls to get to later tonight. But there are some interesting tidbits that I think are worthy of your attention. And while these subjects do […]
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