Sorry for the growing pains recently!
As you saw in the last Weekender, I had wanted to move to a VPS this year... but my timeline was a few months out (the reason will become obvious in the near future). Please bear with us a while longer, and let us know if things break in the meantime!
This week we'll have an exclusive preview for you folks of something Cameron and I have been working on, then we'll be back to our normally scheduled programming.
Links We Liked!
- The big worldwide news this week has been, of course, the so-called Panama Papers. They've exposed how (and who) tax evasion happens with overseas front companies in Panama, but it's generally avoided big names in the United States - sweeping up everything from politicians to FIFA officials. So far the biggest fallout has been the resignation of Iceland's Prime Minister. As you read this, there are also protests in Great Britain ongoing due to Prime Minister David Cameron's father being in the leaks. Here's a map of which countries have been affected:
By JCRules - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47960271
- Even though some corners have demanded or suggested retiring the $100 bill due to its role in "crime", Political Calculations points out that most of the money at stake in the Panama Papers was moved through the modern conveniences of electronic banking.
- Between the Fiduciary Rule and the growth of the passive investor, is the financial industry having its Napster moment? Bloomberg discusses.
- New construction mid-century modern homes coming to Austin? Is this the next stage of poaching talent from Silicon Valley? You know we have MCM homes here, most actually from MC 1900. (Full disclosure: my house is basically half MCM, with a flat roof on one side, and a modern California style ranch with clerestory windows and a steep sloped roof on the other).
- Ben Carlson at a Wealth of Common sense discusses the dynamic between protecting and growing wealth, and how Advisors are (or should) deal with it.
- Afford Anything discusses micro-improvements, where small "1%" improvements have massive benefits over a long enough time-frame.
- Boomer & Echo discusses how 'average' returns in mutual funds aren't average when compared to the 'average' investor... we've got a problem with applying the word average here!
