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John T. Reed’s news blog

Letter from a young man who decided not to go to West Point and my response

Posted by John T. Reed on

Dear Mr.Reed, For my Freshman-Junior summers of high school, I spent a week each attending various military camps of my own volition. My parents, particularly my mother, were strongly against me pursuing a military career. However, I am very thankful that they permitted me to attend the camps to generate a more informed decision for myself. It helped that because of academic achievement, the three camps were all expense paid and the government foot the bill for my attendance. I spent a week at Annapolis my freshman summer for a STEM education camp and absolutely loved it. It seemed immaculate...

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On getting into a gun fight with rioters

Posted by John T. Reed on

My wife is lately getting a lot of inquiries about guns. . I have a lot of readers who are infantry vets and therefore more knowledgeable than I but I see little from such experienced guys. I was a communications officer in the Army. Like all West Point cadets I had lots of infantry and other types of training there and ranger school was infantry. So I will take a stab at it. . 1. Your home defense guns should be unified so they all use the same ammo. 2. Home defense would likely be short range which is generally...

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brief debate about my forthcoming book on investing only in principal residences

Posted by John T. Reed on


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brief debate about my forthcoming book on investing only in principal residences

Posted by John T. Reed on

Mr. Reed, congratulations on deciding to write a new book, especially one that challenges your previously-held beliefs. I would recommend that you name your book Movin’ On Up. However, I take issue with your newfound book's premise, namely for the following reasons: 1. Transaction costs: Loan fees, RE broker commissions, and closing costs. That would be at least a 7% loss every time one sells and buys. That’s an aggregate 35% loss over one’s lifetime if there are 5 transactions, using your every 7 years for 40 years strategy.  1.a. This can be ameliorated by using a lower-commission brokerage such as Redfin, becoming an RE salesman/broker yourself (which might be worthwhile if this...

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Intellectually-honest and intellectually-dishonest debate tactics.

Posted by John T. Reed on

Copyright by John T. ReedI welcome intellectually-honest debate. It is one of my favorite ways to test my theories and learn.  That is the way we were trained at Harvard Business School where all lessons are taught by the case method and my wife and I got our MBA's. When Harvard Business School was founded in 1908, it was modeled after Harvard Law School, which also uses the case method of instruction.. https://www.johntreed.com/collections/how-to-spot-dishonest-arguments-and-keep-your-own-thinking-straight In college, I was on the debate team during my freshman year. Retired general and unsuccessful presidential candidate Wesley Clark was on that debate team as well. He was my “Table...

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