On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer. What’s less well known is that originally there was a third co-founder, an engineer named Ronald Wayne. Wayne’s tenure at the company was short, though. Concerned by the risk—and by Jobs’s personality—Wayne sold his stake in the [...]
The center lane
What’s the first rule in personal finance? My suggestion: Always look for ways to stay in the center lane—that is, to take a balanced approach. As the new year gets started, here are 10 ways you could apply this principle. Housekeeping. Over time, many of us accumulate a mixed bag of investment [...]
Investment advice from the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency knows a thing or two about gathering information. That’s why a CIA publication titled The Psychology of Intelligence Analysis is, in my opinion, a valuable resource for investors. Of particular note is a section titled “Do You Really Need More Information?” which [...]
Avoiding regret
I spoke recently with a fellow who had climbed Mount Everest. The first question I asked: What was it like at the top? What I expected him to say was that the view was dramatic. Instead, he said, his time at the summit turned out to be less than he’d expected. For starters, it was 4:45 in the [...]
The good and the perfect
Last week, The Wall Street Journal carried a seemingly innocuous article by Derek Horstmeyer, a finance professor at George Mason University. Horstmeyer described an analysis he and his team had recently conducted. The question they sought to answer: Could investors achieve better results in their [...]
