To Trade or Not to Trade

First they tell us not to trade our investments often and then they say we don’t trade enough.   The tone of this Wharton article implied that it was bad not to actively manage your portfolio.  From everything I have studied about investing, I disagree.  You should make smart choices, leave them be and check them a couple of times a year, rebalancing if necessary.

Hands-off: Holders of 401(k) Retirement Accounts Are Not Your Typical Investors – Knowledge@Wharton.

Sleep on it, don’t overanalyze it

Scientists have found that making simple choices (like what
kind of dessert to have) are best done in the traditional "analyze the
pros/cons" approach.  However, for complex decisions like which job
to take or which house to buy, you are better off gathering the data and then
letting your unconscious mind make the decision.  You can either
"sleep on it" or, as they did in the study, you can occupy your conscious
mind with other things.  An important point is that in order for your
unconscious mind to do a good job, you need to know you have a decision to make.

New Scientist Breaking News – ‘Sleeping on it’ best for complex decisions.


Mindhunters: don’t bother

We watched a movie called Mindhunters tonight.  It’s about a bunch of FBI agents training to be profilers when something goes wrong and they start to be killed one by one.
My first thought was that who ever made the movie had obviously never seen CSI.  My second was that nobody that has ever watched CSI would ever believe or like this movie.
I was wrong on both accounts.  The movie was made well after CSI debuted (CSI came out in 2000 and the movie in 2004) and the movie got lots of decent reviews on both Amazon.com and IMDB.
I suppose it did have a lot of action and suspense … but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Do you miss your dog?

Would you take a pay cut to be able to bring your dog to work?  Would you work longer hours?  Bringing pooch to work | News.blog | CNET News.com.

I’d certainly like to bring my dog(s) to work, but I really wonder about all the people/dog and dog/dog interactions that would happen.  If you’ve ever stepped into a doggie daycare place, you know it can get kind of wild with dogs running around and barking at each other.  If you have a bunch of dogs at work, do you have to hire a doggie nanny?

Modern day kids

This morning I was typing away on the computer when our 5 year old asked what I was doing.  I said I was writing a letter.  He said "which one?"  I said a letter.  He said "which letter?"  When I realized he thought I was typing just one letter of the alphabet, I tried to explain what a letter was and how you write them to people that aren’t here.  He said, "OH!  An email."