John T. Reed’s news blog

In my recent book An American Principal Residence is the Most Advantaged Investment on Earth: Maximize Yours!, I said the CA homestead bankruptcy exemption was $175,000 for 65 or older. To my surprise, I recently learned that it is now $600,000 for all ages.  California's System 1 homestead exemption in the California Code of Civil Procedure § § 704.710, 704.720, and 704.730. CA’s new homestead bankruptcy exemption is the HIGHEST IN THE NATION other than the seven states and DC that have no dollar limit at all. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/homestead-exemptions-by-state  State homestead bankruptcy exemption A homestead bankruptcy exemption says if you go...

Today's WSJ has an article titled "Finding New Ways To Beat Inflation." I'll save you the trouble of reading it. It says to scrimp. . I wrote a whole book on that subject without ever advising readers to simply cut back on consumption. The average Venezuelan has lost 24 pounds due to hyperinflation there. That is the precise definition of scrimping. People die from scrimping. . My advice roughly speaking is to convert USD into non-USD assets like real estate, coins, foreign currency, long-shelf food, milder climate location to minimize heating and air-conditioning inflation, borrow mortgages. The last one enables...

I am reading the book In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio. I continue to be amazed at supposedly smart guys investing in bonds and recommending bonds. I am now reading the late Jack Bogle (Vanguard) chapter. Even he owned bonds. . He even recommends that old chestnut that the percentage of your savings that is in bonds should equal your age. No. That percentage should always be zero no matter your age. . When there is inflation, you must look at the real (adjusted for inflation) yield. When the nominal (the interest rate written on the bond) bond yield is...

Football games do NOT only end on the game clock buzzer or the final whistle. . Games also end when the LEADING team has POSSESSION and ENTERS THE TAKE-A-KNEE PERIOD. (When the trailing team is in possession, the game ends on the final whistle.) . My book Football Clock Management book has take-a-knee and QB-sweep-slide tables that tell you when you are in the take-a-knee or sweep-slide period. Sweep slide is a take-a-knee play but one that takes more seconds than the quick take-a-knee. There are high school, college, and NFL tables because of different clock-operation rules at each levels....

Today’s WSJ has a review of a new book In Pursuit of the Perfect Portfolio—a survey of all the major academic experts on such things—although I was surprised to not see Burton Malkiel mentioned. . But the review and the book piss me off as I have been pissed off before for assuming that “portfolio” refers only to stuff you can buy from a securities broker. Actually, if the review was comprehensive regarding the nature of the book’s contents, it is not even that broad. It is only about broadly-traded common stocks, no mention of bonds. . This is outrageous....