2021

August 09, 2021 This past week I took a canoe trip with my brothers into the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. The Boundary Waters is a million-acre wilderness in the Arrowhead Region of northeast Minnesota. Bordering Canada, the area contains…

August 02, 2021 The Masters family skipped town last Thursday and headed to the mountains of Western North Carolina for a long weekend with some bicycling friends. We had been planning this trip for a long time, drawn by the…

July 26, 2021 If it were not for the pandemic, I would be in England right now, teaching our annual program Money & Responsibility at Cambridge University. Instead, this week I will share one of the basic mathematical principles that…

January 25, 2021 Language is hopelessly imprecise but often fun to play with. Ask any lawyer. There are countless phrases that don’t make sense if you think about it. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, for example, is 5,593 pages…

June 28, 2021 For many years venture-backed tech companies chose to remain private for longer, relying on available capital in the private markets instead of completing initial public offerings (IPOs). Recently, robust public markets appear to be luring some companies…

June 21, 2021 Over the past 12 months, many individuals have decided to move to a new residence. For all those who have contemplated selling, refinancing, or purchasing, one thing has been abundantly clear – the housing market in the…

June 14, 2021 Our nation’s population is aging. According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ annual report, “within the next two decades, the number of households headed by people age 75 and over is projected to double from 14 million…

June 7, 2021 Last week Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a new policy for remote working. Starting September 1, Apple employees will be required to work in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  Wednesdays and Fridays can be “flex”…

June 1, 2021 For the Masters household, May was a month of reflection on all the serendipity and good fortune that has come our way over the years. For starters, my wife Kathy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.…

May 24, 2021 I was intrigued by a recent survey conducted by CNBC.com on Americans’ views about the ‘net worth’ needed to be considered wealthy. The average answer was $1.9m but differed by age groups. Millennials (ages 24 to 39)…