"Simple" : As in the "Simple Life":

Almost every home in America must have at least one picture of an Amish carriage with driver and son winding up a simple path midst some trees, surrounded by lush farmland. For the winter season there are the plain four square homes in black cast against the snow...It would seem that Americans want to find a simpler, cheaper life and in doing so find some peace of mind.

However....if one reviews...the actual cultural context....the Amish believe and will tell you so that they are superior to corrupted folks because they are simple...they avoid electricity and other forms of corruption...and yes they just borrow the rides to town from one of their friends. So peace is not part of it.

Years ago, in a seminar by Phil Laut, who wrote the book "Money is My Friend" he had all the audience close their eyes and picture their favorite scene from youth. That was pretty simple for me. It was a picture of my C-boat, the C-Wolf that my dad had purchased in my sophomore year of high school that we refinished together and sailed on White Bear Lake. I used to sign my postcards to my girls with a picture of the C-Wolf, in stick form, as a trademark of sorts. It was a reminder of what my Dad always called "Peace at the Lake."

These pictures of the lake are in vogue now...by relatives and friends on facebook...but mostly they are sent during the winter months from Florida to the relatives back in the frozen tundra to remind them that the chosen ones are on vacation. Even in the 1920's the rich of the Gilded Age, sent pictures from their journey on the Flagler Railroad back to the relatives in St. Paul via the St. Paul Pioneer Press Society page.

That brings us to the other meanings of the word "simple". Yes the first definition is "without ostentation." But the other definition is "dumb". "Without education". Without sophistication.

My conclusion....most who are reflecting these days are mostly using scenes of high life boating to celebrate rightousness, and those who are reflecting on Amish carriages are doing likewise.. Meditating on "dumb" leads to nowhere. or as my relative once asked me: "What is the point of the simple life?"

A little Bit on Career Counseling....and a bit on Iowa: a true story

Some years ago, 1981 or so, I owned a small computer store in Minneapolis. Those were the days of the TI994a, and the introduction of the Apple II etc, when prices and models were changing daily...Very stressful times indeed, and I was hoping to sell my business and find something else...but what?

A friend of mine, Mike Wraneshay, who then worked at Minnesota Federal, knew a psychologist, Tom Vessey, who was also by the way the team psychologist for the Minnesota Vikings, and was just creating his practice in the IDS building downtown...and suggested I contact him...and I did...Our family had a long tradition of never seeking anything but tax or religious advice, so this was reaching up....but my experience was to be a key moment for me.

After taking a couple of tests, we met for a follow up interview in his office...He explained to me that yes these tests might have been taken earlier in life, but in addition to the resulting score, it takes a session reviewing what the test means for the person that can make the difference...

The first thing he asked me to do was imagine the job that I was seeking....what did it look like? He then suggested that there was an old Testament text that described a tree in a courtyard that grew and flourished with the seasons over a long time...and that the atmosphere of nurture and growth was what I should look for....

Then he asked about "Where"...where do you want to work...I replied that I had a job interview in Iowa...Iowa City at an ag firm as an underwriter of loans....and also one in Madison, Wisconsin for a stockbroker....After a long pause, Tom said, "Imagine that you are visiting in a coffee shop in Iowa with the locals....what will you be talking about?"

After a pause, I replied, " I can't imagine what we would have in common at all." "Yes" he said....and I said"I think I will cancel the appointment."

We then went over my appointment in Madison, Wisconsin, and then to one also in Chicago for the stockbroker position. One of the flags in my profile was an index called the "sensitivity index".....It was quite high, and he pointed it out at the onset.

"Some folks call this the sensitivity index, but it really is the "creativity index". Your employer knows that you have this, and they are expecting that you will bring it to the table on the job....so when and if you are asked the tough questions in the job interview, be prepared to respond with that creativity. Then we reviewed the profile of the guy that was interviewing me and what I could expect.

Yes I went on to a short career with E.F. Hutton, but more importantly, I found a fun hobby that has grown over the years with new technical strategies and new instructors via web based learning...

And so when you might ask what my best investment was? It was the $250 or so that I spent for the services of Tom Vessey......what a wonderful bargain.

Shared Governance...the bobblehead doll:

The latest rage in management of corporations is "shared governance.
... or Everybody is incharge....whereas in a perfect nirvana state, where everyone could listen to each other and process a group consensus...maybe this could work, but in the real world: a system with a supervisor who talks and everybody else nods...and if anybody so much as provides some input that everybody is not expecting...such as actionable ideas...look out...the heads will roll...the shared governance that I have seen in retail has been laughable...and the shared governance in the health care business has been scary....trust me, I have worked in both fields....stay tuned.

"Too Much in the Wanting, Waiting...and the Getting"

I remember well the effort to get through college...and the objective of getting through debt free...working my own way...and back in 1967 this was possible...with lots of focus...and then the objective of doing very well academically at the same time...but after graduation I experienced the usual letdown after all the hubub was done, and all the job interviews and resumes began....

After marriage, I began, we began, the task of raising three children...and I remember well the thought that once the children were grown up, and on their way, it would be sweet...but then was that at 18,28 or 35....

Just a warning to all of you that might be delaying some self indulgent "Peace" and delaying it to later...go ahead and find some "Peace" along the way...

Having the most, and Being the Best Compared;

Years ago, when I was a financial advisor in training, I located a prospect that was far too wealthy for me to present some options to---so my boss suggested that I take an experienced pro and watch how the presentation should go....he was a millionaire in his own right, this broker, and his family had made a fortune in Madison, Wisconsin.

After we sat down and exchanged chit chat, my mentor just said: " Well...let's review what you've got"...and the prospect listed one asset after another...it was kind of a litany of sorts....and yes there was some cheering along the way...for this man had amassed a fortune...

Eventually we all sit down to do the list...with the guys doing the list somewhat differently than the gals...the gals probably list the kids, grandkids etc...successful marriages....trips away....ah those trips to Hawaii....and yes some list their career accomplishments or professional achievements.

Years ago when I was in the hospital business, at the annual recognition dinner, one of the Vice Presidents, who was into numbers I presume, always gave the guests a recap of the year....so many loads of laundry in the last year, so many meals prepared, so many outpatient admissions, so many births etc....

The numbers do not cut it somehow...and though we cling to the numbers, we all strive to figure out what it all means....yes the book "Man's Search for Meaning" comes back from my college days....

What to do when all the institutions fail:

Recently we have been following the news about the Ukraine, where all the country in the Eastern section has been in civil war...and only once a week, when the guys put their Kalishnakofs on their shoulders and go to Church, does the gunfire ratchet down a bit...pretty alarming picture..

But back here, we have been in the midst of a more subtle disintegration....the destruction of all the major institutions of our country...the press, the politics, the organized religions, the local governments, not to mention health care and the infrastructure of our roads and trains, or whatever is left of them...You can always tell that religion might be in trouble when there is a canonization of a pope that protected the abusers in Rome...nice....

Tire Check: Memories of Finneman's Retread Tires in Willernie

Guys love to talk tires...or at least the guys in my family. My brother is a specialist in tires, which one to buy and which ones to avoid...Years ago when we were young, we lived in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, and just down the street was Finnemans Tire Shop, where Mr. Finneman was one of the first to manufacture "retread" tires...and they were very cheap...like $20 or so...and lets face it...if they did not work out, the retread top would just unravel in the heat of the summer and litter Highway 36, and you could always call for help...or walk for help since there were no cellphones.

As we have gotten older, we have gravitated to quality tires...and yes discussing endlessly which is the best tire for the various vehicles...I think this is because when one has traveled during the holiday heat on the freeways like I90, and faced the backlogs and bumper to bumper traffic...the prospect of breaking down from a flat is very alarming...and besides...coverage and response of AAA is only theoretical during these peak rush times...so quality tires matter..

But still I wonder...as old guys I wonder whether all the tire talk might just be a little fear and wonder about how long our life will last when we are meeting the roadway of life...and just when we think we could "last forever", presto...the day of reckoning arrives...

So there it is....buy quality tires...and when you hear the endless talk of tires...just smile.

"I'm Sorry"---the most powerful words of all time

Many years ago, in 1968 when I began my first real job after college...I worked for an Insurance Company in Minneapolis as a Casualty Underwriter....those were the days when insurance policies were rated manually, and assembled manually, and one had to know all the endorsements that were neatly filed in the back room...anyway....this was my day job, and after work, I had a lot of catching up to do from all the years of heavy study during college...and I specifically remember some great bands that played at the Scotch Mist, a little pub on Nicollet Ave.

To put it mildly, I was burning the candle at both ends...and I remember one morning when I came to work, my boss stopped me and asked to talk, and went over several mistakes that I had made in rating some policies....In a heartbeat I knew what had gone wrong...I was so tired from all the night life that I had lost concentration...so I said QUICKLY: "I am so sorry...it will never happen again." And I made sure it never did..

Years later, my supervisor was my best reference for a wonderful job in Wisconsin....I know because the guy in Personnel said: "I don't know what you did back in Minn, but your boss certainly gave you glowing marks." I just smiled....I knew....I had used the most powerful words available.

Germany struggles to remember what the deal was: Tales From Normal, Mn.: FICTION

Interesting...seems that former prime minister Schroeder of Germany had a little party in Russia with Putin for his 70th birthday...seems that in the cozy party with a little bonding..there seemed little regard for the Jews of the Ukraine that had gotten threatening letters about leaving...and in it all, little regard for what World War II was all about...pretty sad...what a loss of memory can do....and loss of courage too...

so...Is Sen. McCain the only one to notice the lack of courage...is anybody going to do a redo of the history of Joe Kennedy and his recall to the USA because of his failure to understand the threat of Hitler?..hello.....

The walking sticks

Years ago...when my grandmother died, I was given two Irish walking sticks, shalaleighs as an heirloom....and I thought nothing of it, for I presumed that an Irish gentleman would like to take a walk of sorts with a cane from the old country, and have something to fend off the cats and dogs...but in the recent years, I realized, that with the "lamplighters" coming each night to light the lights, if one ventured out to take a walk...the cats and dogs were the least of the problems..so...I keep the sticks as a symbol....of a little protection...make a note of it....

"Don't Jump": Memories of 1987

Back in 1987, I was a stockbroker with E.F. Hutton...yup...that was the firm that bragged that when E.F. Hutton spoke,...people listened...anyway...as the market opened on the day of the big crash...as the selling progressed, a senior broker came on the "squack box" and told us that we should not panic in this day of panic...that there was a lot to our lives besides money...and to consider what these assets were...ok...there was not a two way conversation...so the quants on wall street could not try to calculate what those intangible assets were...but still...in retrospect..it was a nice touch...

"Real Sugar"

Yesterday a major soft drink maker announced that they would be changing their product so that they have "real" sugar in the product...nice...and that is the beginning of a revolution of sorts...

Imagine

A whole world emphasizing "real" not fake in their food...and now that we have "real" cheerios and real Pop, we can move on to refashion all the other "fake" items of our lives...like the "fake" politics, the fake open government, the fake educational institutions, the fake religions...ok I leave the rest up to you ...as an addition to Jerry Lee Lewis, "We've got a whole lot of fake going on":----

It's time to get real

The Courage to Be...the book...and the reality

Back in 1965...as a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, I took a humanities course, and in one brief semester was reading all at the same time, "The Courage to Be" by Ivan Illich, "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse, and "The Art of Zen" by Alan Watts....all I can say in recap, is that it was quite a semester....

Later, I got a little life lesson on how to merge all three books in real time..in real life...as my college friends went on their special chosen paths, and our lives separated...and I made choices that I needed to make....to define my self...

I always have treasured that semester at the University of Minnesota...and went on a little expedition in Zen and in Herman Hesse to see what I could find.

"Thank God for your Problems": Memories of Don Sheehan; 1982

1982 was one of the worst of all years...it hearkened back to 1929...and interest rates were sky high....and I had decided to start a business...how astute was that? anyway...one Saturday morning I enrolled to attend a seminar by Don Sheehan, a famous Dale Carnegie salesman...and the seminar was held in St. Paul at the Village Buffet near Snelling and University...I was really looking for some sage advice that would be helpful.

After a short intro, we had a coffee break and I met the other business owners, maybe 20 or so...and they were all over 30, and all facing some business life or death decisions...all were looking for guidance...

Then we started the first session...Don Sheehan called it "Thank God for your problems."
Don began by noting that all those attending were facing problems...and then asked whether we knew of a place where there were no problems...nobody answered...then he said" At 30th and Lyndale in Minneapolis is a spot with no problems.".....silence in the room as the seminar attendees looked at each other in amazement and wonder....then one guy said...."Isn't that Calvary Cemetary?".....

"YES", Don Sheehan replied...and everybody in that cemetery has NO problems..."

I was just a little stunned..and at first thought, I pondered that maybe I had spent the seminar fee in vain....

"Because you are alive and kicking..you face problems...and every day you should be kneeling down and thanking God for your problems, cause...if you look around you for just a few minutes, you will see a whole world of folks that have larger problems than yourself...so


"Thank God for your problems"...

and be confident that the Lord will give you the strength to face them.

I was just a little shocked...and imagine when I went home and told my wife that we should be thankful for our problems...ya .....she was shocked too...but after 30 years or so, I can still remember how stunning that seminar segment was, and how much it helped me....

Thanks Don..

Admitting Loss...and the energy it brings.:

Recently I have been reviewing some old investments that have gone bad, and over the years I have just persisted in the belief that to hold "long term" was the hard core integrity thing to do....but just last week, I felt that enough was enough..and sold...and presto...in the admission of the loss, or in the recognition of simply a bad financial idea, I was freed to begin again....and that albatross was lifted...and I felt an energy to "get back" ...ya like when was young, and one had broken up, and was trying to begin again...and thus I saw that in recognizing loss,,,,there can be an upside...nice...

Memories of "Sharp Investment" Club: a true story

Years ago, maybe about 1973, I worked a brief time at a CPA firm in Minneapolis...and one of the nice things that happened during that time was that the employees of the firm, a CPA and some "juniors" all formed a stock investment club, called "Sharp Investment". I eagerly joined and began meeting with them monthly, where we would each bring an idea, some graphs, and then after a presentation, and debate, we would vote on how to use the money that we had each contributed monthly to make a purchase...Yes...some of you might remember those days...when Medtronic was selling for $10 a share maybe, or Cardiac Pacemakers was just going public, or maybe St. Jude Medical...going public for $5.00 per share...yes I remember St. Jude very well since I could have bought 100 shares for $5, but alas did not have the spare change...

The leader of the club was Rollie Anderson...he was a CPA, and well respected, and soon there were tons of folks that wanted to join our club...but to this day, Rollie still asks me when me meet: "How is your "Suave Shoe" stock doing?" Yes, that was one of my first stock picks...

During the weekdays, I would pour over my latest book I had mailordered which was the "Magic of Stock Charts" or how candlestick charting could be the path to millions...and yes I even began ordering stockcharts in paper form sent weekly by special delivery on Saturday...

Our broker during those years was Jim Goebel with Craig Hallum downtown Minneapolis...You could drop in his office, and sitting in his chair, you could see the electronic tape going across listing all the trades...there was something called "tapereading" that I for the life of me could not figure out the significance of...but all the old guys in old tweed sportcoats that hung out at the brokerage offices seemed to know how to do it, and I wanted to learn how, since some day, maybe in Florida, I dreamed of being one of those guys, making a few trades and then slipping out to the boat for a spin...ah the dreams of youth.

One special memory I have is my purchase of 100 shares of Medtronic...I think I paid $15 per share....Immediately the stock went up three dollars...I was thrilled...so..I called Jim and asked him to sell..It was Friday afternoon...and he was hesitant about selling so soon, since he had thought of me holding for years and growing my investment...anyway, he said he could sell it...and I asked whether I could get the check for $300 at 4PM that day...he said yes, but it would cost a $25 fee, which I said was fine...When I picked up the check, I went across the street to the First National Bank, where I cashed it, and asked for all $1 bills....and then took my future wife out to dinner at the Pagoda restaurant in Mahtomedi off Hwy 244. I think that restaurant still exists....I still remember how alarmed my future bride was when I took out my wallet with all those bills in it, and how small the check at the restaurant was...and from that day, I knew the thrill of short term trading...for just a little bit, and to keep the other 99% far away....

So much for managing "winners"....I always like to take the winners, and then "manage losers".....it seems to make more sense..

A Dividend A Day keeps the doctor Away: a True Story

Thirty Four Years ago my wife and I were beginning our family in a newly bought home on Grand Ave in Mpls....and our new neighbors were Bill and Minnie....in their eighties...it was a neighborhood of stucco homes...built after the war...all one by one looking a lot like each other...with the expansion on top...two bedrooms down....and just after the birth of our first child...Bill had a habit of coming over and checking on her...he thought she was the most beautiful child he had ever seen...and yess..we agreed...but I digress..every day bill went on a walk around the block and walked to the local post office....I wondered why he seemed so upbeat each day...my other neighbor, Mort, mentioned that Bill and Minnie had been married for 60 years, and had both worked for the same company, and had invested a lot in company stock, and other stock too, and he had arranged to have a stock dividend every day of the week....and as Mort saw it, Bill could live "forever."...Immediately...I liked the concept...anyway...

Years later, when I worked for an investment firm, E.F. Hutton, there was a program that identified stocks for each day of the month, so that if a person wanted a dividend each day, one could know the stocks to buy...and the idea of each day, getting a little income in that would add sparkle to ones day, outside of just one employer...wow...what a wonderful concept...

Best for Your Child

You Want
What's Best for
Your Child
Love
Faith
Hope
More Things
Paid for Things
Because
All that is
Priceless
is
Free

A bit about "Superman"

I always loved the Superman movies...and yes the comic books too....and it seems that all the time...Superman would get himself in trouble when he was doing good, or courting his girl...and the evil forces would find the kryptonite that was his weakness and put Superman in a weak spot....but then Superman would fly off to his home planet...meet with his family so to speak...regroup and then go back and save the world, and yes Lois Lane too...I like this theme...when I was a young man living with my grandmother in St. Paul...after venturing off to live in an apartment....I just called and said, "Nana I need to come home for a bit...." she just said..." I will leave the light on for you." So---going home...going to a warm place far from the frozen tundra...regrouping one's strength and then proceeding on .....that is the plan...and read those old Superman comics...what a role model they were.

The Bourne Identity and You

One of my favorite movies is "The Bourne Identity."....yes it has non stop action that can keep me awake....but besides...there is a favorite scene, where Jason Bourne says to his girlfriend, "I don't know who I am"....she replies.."Just figure it out....we will just figure it out...."....and then she stands with him in his quest to find out what has happened to him, and what his life means for a future....As an older guy, I find that theme attractive...that we do not know exactly what the end will be, but need to search each day for what the mission might be today...now...