Roads Less Traveled

I am talking to a cashier in the Wekiva Springs State Park canoe rental shop (northwest of downtown Orlando). She is telling me that there are no refunds if I become afraid of alligators and decide to skedaddle back, pronto. She also tells me that it isn’t their fault if you don’t know how to paddle a canoe or if rain ruins your day. But my favorite is that it’s up to me to understand that the river does not run in a circular pattern, so the renter must know enough to turn the vessel around at some point and come back to the shop. I guess some of the guests must have come straight from Disney’s Jungle Cruise to assume that the river was round. Or they’re just a very special kind of stupid. Continue reading →

Well, 2016 has been a rocky road for stocks, with all of the major market indices down. But as of this moment, about 2 o’clock Friday, our portfolio has perfumed remarkably well. If you’ve been following my advice, you’re up over 1.5%. Continue reading →

As I write, every market index is down. Again. Jitters about China’s contracting economy and near collapse of its currency have spread all over the world. A catastrophe was narrowly averted by their central bank’s intervention and emergency market stops. The commodity collapse continues to wreak havoc on economies throughout the emerging world and has badly hurt North America, and, especially, Canada. Continue reading →