This post originally came out in the late 2000s. During that time, RSS feeds were breaking. Blogger was king. I still thought I might accidentally become rich by being clever.
Fast-forward to 2025: RSS is basically a fossil. Online government services mostly work, shockingly enough. I’ve learned something important. Most “investing advice” is just confidence wrapped in a nice font.
Since I have started with the new site, a few new folks have asked me questions. They wanted to know where I should invest my money. Let me be very clear: I have no bloody idea, and I should be one of the last people you ask about investing. I have links to some very smart people’s websites, whom I use as research for investing, but I can say that I am the Luis Pujols of investing. I will on occasion voice an opinion on investing (like at the end of this post), but please do not invest your hard earned money on the basis solely of what I say (you will be very disappointed).
Online Government
My beautiful wife pointed out over the Christmas Holidays that I can renew my car registration online with the Ontario Government. They will mail me my renewal sticker. I tried this Ontario Government online service, and I am here to give it a thumbs-up. The process worked fine with no worries. The system operated smoothly. My only complaint is that since I have two cars, it involves two separate transactions. It would have been nice to do both in the same shopping cart.
Personal Finance for me
Days without spending at work: 3
Amount spent this week at work: $0.00
Apologies to RSS Readers
Sorry folks, I am still learning how to do this outside of the world of Blogger, and had my RSS feed set up incorrectly. You should not get a full feed if you subscribe to my site. I did not intend to change how this all worked. I offer my humblest apologies to you, my valued reader. Explanation of what I did to bugger up my RSS over here.
Thought for the Month (in 2008)
I bought myself a personalized calendar from Despair.com and this month’s statement seems quite apropos in terms of investing and the problems I have sometimes:
The Honest Truth About My Investing Skills (Redux)
Let me be clear (again, because repetition helps when money is involved):
I am not an investing expert. If I were, would I be sharing with folks? I am not that good a person.
At best, I am a grizzled veteran of bad assumptions and mediocre timing. I’ve read a lot. I’ve tried a lot. I have made enough mistakes to qualify as "experienced." This is not the same thing as "smart." I know smart people, and I try to hang out with them, for as long as their patience allows.
If you’re looking for:
- Hot stock tips ❌ (International Buggy Whips might make a comeback, Excellent!)
- Crypto moonshots ❌ (do those happen still?)
- “This one trick beats the market” ❌ (who is really beating whom here?!?!)
You are in the wrong place.
If you want:
- Common sense
- Lessons learned the hard way
- A reminder not to do anything stupid with your life savings
Keep coming back for my home-spun rhetoric.
Overconfidence: The Real Financial Killer
The best investing quote I ever saw came from a snarky calendar:
“Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you.”
Some snarky calendar
I like that a lot. People used to talk about the Stock Market that way, but that kind of stoic perspective seems to have evaporated.
Most people don’t lose money because they’re unlucky. They lose money because they think they’re smarter than everyone else.
Classic symptoms:
- “This time is different!!”
- “I’ve done my research!” (translation: read 3 Reddit posts)
- “It can’t go down much more!” (oh yes it can)
Overconfidence is how people:
- Will absolutely do it again in the next cycle
- Rode Nortel into the ground
- Got wiped out in 2008
- Bought meme stocks at the top, or NonFungible Tokens! (remember those!)
Final Thoughts (Redux)
If anything has changed since the original version of this post, it’s that investing has become too accessible. Apps, zero-commission trading, and social media have made it easier than ever to act quickly and regret it immediately. The fundamentals haven’t changed, but the speed at which you can make a mistake definitely has. High-speed destruction of wealth is far too easy these days.
Don't get me started on the whole Betting Industry either.
