How to be interesting
I’m not the most socially skilled person in the world. But I’m a LOT better than I used to be. Although there are some situations where I’m still not good, there are some social...
Category: Defining Wealth
Situational ethics
Ethics is interesting The topics of ethics and morality, in the abstract, elicit eye-rolls in many people. But those same topics often provoke the most interesting and engaging conversations with these same people. Because...
The last safe investment is YOU
I love books that swing for the fences. They almost always include things I disagree with. And they’re not the sort of books that will average 5 stars on Amazon. That’s how I’d describe...
Baches (or: some terrible financial decisions can be great life decisions, and vice versa)
(File under: Some terrible financial decisions can be great life decisions, and vice versa.) A few months ago, I took my family on a road trip around the South Island. We stayed in various...
What does wealth mean to you? [VIDEO PRESENTATION]
This week I gave a 30-minute presentation to a group of engineers. I talked about investing and insurance, while emphasising the importance of making financial and lifestyle decisions that are in line with YOUR...
The copy and paste personality
The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not. – Kurt Vonnegut When I first heard the phrase “copy and paste personality”,...
Thought(crime)s on parenting
(Not directly related to money. But related to the greatest form of riches. I wrote this article several years ago but didn’t have a forum for publishing it. Thanks to school holidays I don’t...
Success is personal
“Success” for you is different to “success” for me. I’ve been reflecting on this lately in the context of my business. I celebrated the two year anniversary of Fairhaven Wealth a few months ago,...
Questions I ask clients (and why I’m not afraid of roboadvice)
“I’m not racist, or a Luddite, but…” If you want people to listen to what you have to say, a good gambit is to say “I’m not racist, but…”. The room will go quiet....
The myopia of compound interest
Compound interest is magical! But there’s a myopia that surrounds it, too. The magic of compound interest is something many financial gurus like to talk about. The Barefoot Investor is one of them. Below...