Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Digital Currencies

I have struggled to put together a summary of Bitcoin and other digital currencies that might help people think about how it might be used in their own financial plans. 



However, a good friend of mine from South Dakota - Rick Kahler, CFP® - published an article this week that really helped. I have some additional thoughts on this, but for now there’s no need to muddy the water any further.



Food for thought: “If the perfect currency were to fall from the sky, no one would become instant billionaires.”



Happy reading!





** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Thought Experiment: Energy

The other day I was sitting at my desk thinking (as I often do), and I caught myself wondering: 



What would the world look like if we had super cheap, abundant clean energy?



It's a thought that keeps circulating in my brain, so let's think out loud together...



How long would it take if we found that "magic" energy source today? Let's say we could literally have free, clean, abundant H2O.



What would the world look like? What would work look like?



Well, the cost of everything would go down, that's for sure. Some things drastically (except debt).



The earth could certainly be renewed more quickly. We'd still be constrained by all the other resources, but it would give greater access to recycling and those harder to reach options.



And who would fight against this energy source?



Most people would work less and still have a higher quality of life...



I think ultimately we have to ask ourselves which we value more: stuff or spirit?





** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Sign of the Times


About 15 years ago, while at a National Financial Planning Association board meeting at the Aspen Institute, I copied this from where they had it prominently displayed on the wall. 

 
I have kept this on my bulletin board all these years, but it seems a little too appropriate for today’s times.



** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Homeownership 101

Recently a client couple of mine, relatively new homeowners, had some repair work done on their house. 



Oh the joys of homeownership – we’ve all been there!



It all started when they called a plumber to come and inspect their pipes after that epic cold storm we had in February. Fortunately, their pipes looked good, but he was troubled because even with the water not running in their house, their main water meter was showing that water was definitely flowing…somewhere.



That prompted the wife to show him a mysterious bit of outside pipe at the side of their house. The pipe was surrounded by concrete and stuck up only about an inch out of the ground. They have been in that house a year now, and during all that time, water was continuously trickling out of that pipe. No one they’d called previously could tell them what it was, but all had assured them that it wasn’t causing damage to the house, so they’d let it be…That is until the plumber made the discovery that the leaking water was tied to their main water line and was the reason their water bill had been so high lately. So they scheduled to have the source of the leak identified and fixed. 



While this was going on, the toilets in all three bathrooms started to clog. They called the plumbers back out to clear their sewage pipe and discovered that the clog was caused by something blocking the line. The source of that problem turned out to be the main city sewage line. A piece of it had broken off and had caused the blockage. 



When all was said and done, it took about a month to get everything fixed. And in the meantime, they’d gotten a whole crash course’s worth of life lessons. 



They’d never thought about a house’s sewage system before, but oh boy are they aware of it now! And they have a much better understanding of it. 



“It was like Christmas come early when we had the ability to use our water again!” the wife said. “You know having running water is important, but we didn’t fully appreciate just how dependent we are on it until we suddenly didn’t have it anymore. Even something as simple as pouring ourselves a glass of water was out of the question.”



They also learned a bit of street smarts for when it comes time to purchase a new home in the future. Their biggest lesson was purchasing a home “as is”.



Right now, pretty much every house on the market is being sold “as is”. It’s the new norm, so to speak. 



Keep in mind: “as is” does NOT preclude inspections. You as the potential buyer are free to do inspections before purchasing the home. Take advantage of that, and do some of your own inspecting too: look everywhere, open every drawer, go into the attic, etc. My clients did inspections before they purchased their new home, but in hindsight realized there were things missed simply because they didn’t think to check on them. 



Double down on those inspections, be picky! You can’t be too careful because with “as is”, once you sign off on it, that’s it. And it’s so easy to miss things, especially if you’re buying a house Speedy Gonzales style. So aggressively inspect a house and then make the decision about purchasing. It’s impossible to catch everything, but what you do catch could mean the difference between a great buy and a money pit. 






** All written content is for information purposes only. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources. No representations are made by our firm as to another parties’ informational accuracy or completeness.  All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant or legal counsel prior to implementation. ** 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Kiss the Ground


Here is a NASA video I saw on the movie “Kiss the Ground”, a Netflix documentary released earlier this year that focuses on the importance of cultivating healthy soils. 

When watching the video, pay attention to the date clock on the bottom left – in March or so you can see when farmers start discing up their fields to bare dirt. Later, in June, you see the colors going blue over the USA, which is when the crops are growing in the fields and absorbing the CO2. 

Here’s a breakdown on my thoughts while watching the movie: 

  • Synthetic farming is a man-made fertilization process where we take inorganic compounds (usually derived from the oil & gas industry) and add them into the soil. These chemical fertilizers add nutrients to the soil, but nothing else. 
         In other words: with synthetic farming we get “special dirt”.
  • Regenerative agriculture is a conservation approach to farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration and strengthening the health & vitality of farm soil. Practices include recycling as much farm waste as possible and adding composted material from sources outside the farm. This allows yield to increase over time.
         So with regenerative agriculture, we get healthy soil that can yield better 
         products. 
  • Only 5% of farms are managed for soil health. 
  • There are 3 main contributors of CO2:
            1. India v. China – Neither country signed on to the French plan to change 
                farming.
            2. Regenerative Farming – Most land being farmed is NOT owned by the 
                farmer.
            3. Federal Farm program – It’s the most detrimental thing to regenerative 
                agriculture.
  • Cover crops & no-till can regenerate soil 19x faster, if done intentionally.  
Overall I’m left wondering…..What can we do TODAY to ensure our children can flourish in the FUTURE?

And how amazing would it be to have OKLAHOMA as a state known for CARBON sequestering after all these years of being the wild west of oil and gas?