There's Something Funny About Money
The Inaugural Post
Well hello there, good lookin’! I want to make one thing abundantly clear- this ain't your father's money blog, and I'm not your father's financial advisor. I've been obsessed with money and markets my whole life, and I've read tons of finance books. Most of them are boring as hell. Lucky for you, I also moonlight as a shitty standup comedian, so hopefully this is at least entertaining.
I chose to start this because despite the fact that we live in the age of information with the collective knowledge of the human race at our fingertips, a lot of that information sucks. That’s not to say that bad information is intentionally misleading (some of it is), but that it is the natural consequence of the democratization of media (where everyone gets a voice). This is because, well, some of us are idiots. Actually, all of us are idiots, most of the time, about most things.
The truth is, we can only be a domain expert at so many things in life, but we have opinions and beliefs about everything, despite the fact that each of us are subject to the Dunning-Kruger effect. The more ignorant we are about something, the more confident we are about that thing. As we learn more about it, we realize that the universe of knowledge about that thing is much bigger than we thought, and are forced to rethink our beliefs (or become entrenched in false beliefs because we refuse to believe we are wrong). After wading through all the bullshit, we get to the right end of the curve, where we know what we know, and more importantly, we know what we don’t know, but have a good framework to process and assimilate new information. So follow me, fellow idiots, and let’s explore one of the few things I don’t suck at.
So what is this all about? If you guessed something other than money, you are… really bad at guessing. Of course it is about money, but more specifically, it is about the human side of money. There will be plenty of technical pieces for the DIY people out there, but a lot of my focus here is to make you more comfortable with your money, not confuse you with a bunch of jargon.
This is also about how to use money to live a more meaningful life. After all, life is about more than just trading bits of paper until we die, and I believe that if we use those bits of paper more thoughtfully and intentionally, we can create a world around us that is truly our own. I see financial planning as the ultimate exercise in Existentialism, so this is as much a work of philosophy1 as it is finance.
As you might have also guessed, this blog is also about memes. Money is a serious topic… and serious is boring. When I first started this career, everyone wore a suit and tie, and they were neurotic about appearing professional. No original thoughts, no sense of humor, just bland human beings with the personality of wet cardboard. And it fucking sucked. The compliance department2 would have not only rejected the premise of this blog, they would have fired me on the spot. So I went out on my own, against the advice of literally everyone I asked. It has worked out, but that is a story for another day.
So, here we are. We’re going to have fun together. I promise. But we are also going to learn some shit along the way. Money doesn’t have to be boring, and I won’t let it be that way. Some of this is going to be technical, but most of it is going to bring an emotional honesty that is missing from most of our financial lives. Let’s do it together. Ultimately, this is an exercise in philosophy and existentialism, because money allows us to create meaning. That is a topic for another time, but for now… subscribe and share with all your friends. This is how I make my “dent in the universe”, or at least shake my fist at the sky.
Kyle Thompson, MBA, CEPA
Founder/Lead Advisor
The content contained herein is intended as education and entertainment, and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Please consult the relevant advisor before making any decisions. Additionally, any opinions expressed here are solely those of the author, and do not represent the opinion of Leetown Advisors or its affiliates.
My undergrad major was Philosophy, which qualified me to ask why you want fries with that. It came as great surprise to me after graduation that there was no such thing as philosophy factories.
The compliance department is where your sense of humor and creativity go to die.