Build - Preserve - Endow

• Cruising: Tips for smooth sailing
• For the cheats among us: "No-fax" and "no-spam" rules please!
  

Issue #39, May 15, 2006:

•  What to look for in an enduring business
  
• What to be wary of in business
  
• How to “walk the field”
  

• Examining our system of wealth allocation
  
• Market behavior and personal behavior
  
• Too much disclosure
  
• Not enough resources
  

• Katrina
  
• Do as I say, not as I do
  
• Prediction?
  
• The national debt
  
• Shooting the messenger
  
• A request to readers
  
• Price, the predictor?
  
• A loss for us; a lesson for all
  

• Security—or permanent irrevocable isolation?
  
• Great CEOs—Vision you can’t see
  
• Unethical counsel—red flags you can see
  
• The stock picker
  

• Biography of Tim Wright
  
• Credit card sense
  
• Pitfalls of instant charities
  

• Welcoming Tim Wright and Paul Coan
  
• Saving money and some philosophy
  
• Estate planning
  

• Privacy is a body with five arms
  
• WP&M's privacy policy
  
• Ideas to save money
  

• The rule that is true in all things
  
• The "look alike" principle
  
• Criticizing private philanthropy
  

• Fair pay for an honest day's work?
  
• Questions about what we "know"
  
•  Truth in fiction—LeCarré revisited
  

• The Sidewalk Café investment club
  
• Short takes on zero-sum games, literacy, taxes, privacy, and market aversion
  
• Aging gracefully
  

• Personal finance: "I was taken!"
  
• The chaotic nature of rate-of-return statistics
  
• In the unlikely event of a crisis, a plan
  

• All about bonds for the public good
  
• The folly of high compensation in the executive suite
  
• A few factors that affect the market for tax-exempt bonds
  
• When realizing loss makes sense
  

• About mutual funds and fees
  
• Truths for both bull and bear markets
  
• Fear’s invasion of the psyche
  
• Another service worth the taxes we pay
  

• The incredible importance of commitments
  
• On not getting a second opinion
  
• Looking positively at the down market
  
• A service worth the taxes we pay
  

• A famous American's Thirteen Virtues, modified for investors
  
• Coincidence and Confidence in investment choices
  
• How should investment services be marketed?
  

• Excessive executive compensation
  
• Histo-Tourism, an odd commodity that can obscure real histsory
  

• Lessons on Listening
  
• Saving for College
  
• Harmony
  

• Learning from Howard's Success
  
• Wandering--Thoughts on Perspective
  
• Personal Security
  

• The Ad Was Enticing. . .
  
• Whisper Numbers
  

• The Fear of Loss
  
• Prognostication--Easy Money
  
• The National Speculaton Safety Board
  

• Two New Associates
  
• Observing the Supreme Court
  
• The Year 2000 in Review
  

• A Visit to the Supreme Court
  
• Investor Alice in Wonderland
  

• Thoughts While in Philadelphia
  
• Speculation--Avoiding the Tricks of the Illusion Trade
  

• Parental Love and Family Economics
  
• The Skinny on IPOs
  
• Accepting Change
  

• To Cut or Not To Cut
  
• Investing In Vacations
  
• Performance Information, Trustees' Dilemma
  

• "What is your philosophy?" she asked. "I do not know," he replied.
  
• Oh, those wonderful misconceptions
  
• Advice from Shakespeare
  

• Uses of stock market data; enough is enough!
  
• To buy or to rent, continued.
  

• Mining for Data
  
• The Past is Past
  
• To Rent -- or Not to Rent
  

• To Nurture Dreams
  
• Secrecy in Investment Committees
  
• Seeking New Advisors, Relationships Compared to Performance
  

• Prognostication is not investment advice
  
• Calling other advisors to task
  
• Improving net worth by reducing taxes
  

•       How the "patient" must be patient
  
•       A summary of Modern Portfolio Theory
  

• Should you follow the great? (History of The French Panama
  

• Show me the value. "Immensely Valuable Advice"
  
• On the nature of a bear market.
  

• The Spice Trade--formation of The English East India Company
  
• Sunbeam, a classic speculation, a 'straw hat in winter?
  
• Do you know where your net worth is tonight?
  

• Predicting is fun, but futile
  
• Company comments: Loral and ServiceMaster
  
• A Tale of Good Intent--the dangers of giving good advice
  

• "Style" compared to "temperament"
  
• The culture of investing
  
• Memories endure only ten years
  
•  Automatic Data Processing, Inc., a company that affects your life
  

• The costs of anger and other investor emotions
  
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store: A place to eat and to invest
  
• Michael O'Higgins changes horses, from Dow Dogs to Bond Dogs
  

• Risk explained by reference to Verifone, Gentex, CyberCash and Amazon.com
  
• Why government will break up Microsoft
  
• Buy when you do not want to buy
  

• Portfolios of individual securities such as common stocks give investors a greater net
  worth than portfolios of packaged investments.  
  
• Absurd beliefs of the investment business.  
  
• Invest in the manufactured buildings industry.
  

• The importance of mental lists. How negative mental lists restrict thinking,
  observation and profit.  
  
• Opportunities in the paging industry.  
  
• History of the American banking crisis and opportunities therein. Moral: the best 
  time to buy is when you do not want to buy.