I don’t really celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in any large or meaningful way. When I was a kid in school, I always remembered to wear green, and when I was a bit older in my single days, some friends (Irish and others) and I might do a pub crawl and drink green beer. But, in the spirit of simplifying holidays, St. Patricks is a good example of a fun holiday to learn more about Irish history, and not to create a big fuss or expensive accessories. Here are some suggestions:
–Take advantage of community activities — several towns will have a St. Patrick’s Day Parade or other activities. Check out the public library and see what Irish literature they are featuring.
–Host a potluck — rather than investing all of the time and energy into a lavish meal, prepare one signature Irish dish and host a potluck. Of course corned beef is traditional, but Irish stew or brisket with stout works well. Or host a dessert party to simplify even further.
–Skip the decorations — St. Patrick’s Day lends itself to shamrocks which are fun homemade decorations and great for kids to color or cutout.
–Skip the special outfits — most people have an item of green clothing. If you don’t find something suitable, look for a fun pin to wear.
–Use the evening for a group activity such as bread baking. Invite a group of friends over to make Irish soda bread together. Made with baking powder instead of yeast, this quick bread is suitable for a fun evening activity.
Most of all, have some fun and learn to observe various special days in an easy going, relaxed way.
I’ve been trying more ways to serve meatless or low meat meals. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of tofu. I tend to like it in Asian dishes like mapo tofu, but otherwise, I usually find it bland. A couple of years ago, I discovered baked, pressed tofu. Tofu where the water has been pressed out, and it is seasoned and baked to a chewy consistency. I like cutting the baked tofu into cubes and using it in stir fries and in a vegetarian fried rice dish that’s full of protein. I usually serve this rice with stir fried vegetables for a healthy and quick dinner.
Tofu Fried Rice
8 oz. baked pressed tofu, cut into small cubes
3-4 cups cooked rice, preferrably chilled
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup leftover cooked green beans, broccoli or asparagus (optional)
2 t sesame oil
1 T canola oil
3 scallions, sliced
1 T chili garlic sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee)
2 t soy sauce
1 egg, optional
In a hot skillet or work, add the oils, saute tofu, carrots, peas, leftover vegetables quickly for a minute or two. Add the chili garlic sauce and soy sauce and stir to combine. Add the chilled rice and toss to combine everything and mix well. Make a well in the rice and add the egg, scramble quickly and stir into the rice. When rice is heated through, turn off the heat and add scallions and toss. Serve immediately.
March 9, 2009, marked the low of global stock markets around the world. Since then, most markets have made a substantial (and fairly sharp recovery) and are up by about 80%. What have we learned since then and how will it affect investment strategy going forward. Here are some of my observations:
–Going down and coming back up are not the same — despite the sharp rallies over the past 12 months, most markets are still below their all time highs of a couple of years ago. The sharp percentage increases are somewhat misleading. After all, if a market declines by 50%, then from the bottom rises by 50%, you’ve only reached 75% of your original value. Unfortunately for typical investors, markets have returned poorly when a cumulative of 10-year performance is considered.
–Panicking does not help — I know of several investors (advisors and columnists) that scolded individual investors for having too much allocated to stocks and riskier investments during the sharp down drafts. This meant that many people bought bonds last year, and some shifted investments from stocks to bonds, which meant they didn’t participate in the market rally. I think this indicates that markets will continue to move upward over the next couple of years, although not as continuously as last year.
–Timing the markets are hard – markets tend to anticipate economic or earnings news. Thus, if you waited for positive news on the economy to dip your toe back into the stock market, you would have missed out.
–Markets recover unevenly — in my portfolio, emerging market stocks have done well. Unfortunately, some funds that I own have not recovered the bulk of their losses. I plan on spending the next few weeks deciding if I should prune some losers out of the portfolio. Laggards are fine, losers are not. I maintain an overweight position on emerging markets and commodity stocks, largely on a view of uneven economic growth favoring China and India.
--Transaction costs add up — as this is my third major bear market, I did not do too much tinkering with my portfolio. I know a lot of people who did. Not only were they a candidate for suffering from panic, they also incurred substantial transactions costs. Learning to sit tight in the face of volatility is something that has helped the performance of my portfolio over time.
A lot of people seem to be interested in the piece on surviving without television. I genuinely prefer not to have cable television now, and am happy that I made the shift. It also helps to save money. Digital cable around here is about $65 per month or $780 a year. Over a decade, if the money were saved and placed into an investment or account earning 5%, this would add up to over $10,000. I can think of a lot of things that I would rather have $10,000 for, including a retirement fund. Monthly recurring bills can add up pretty quickly. Here are some other examples:
–Expensive cell phone plan — as people design cooler phones and apps, the monthly rates also continue to go up. At $99 a month, the cost of some unlimited plans, this comes to $1188 a year. Reinvested at 5% as above, over a decade this would be $15,373. If a phone is essential, explore cheaper options, including group rates or combined plans.
–Gym membership — several gyms nearby have regular rates at $75 a month which include some time with the trainer and ability to bring guests. Over a decade, with reinvestment, this comes to $11,646. If you end up going rarely, you might see about if vouchers make more sense over a monthly pass.
–Netflix — seemingly cheaper than the above options, you can get unlimited movies for $8.99. This stil adds up and over a decade would be: $1396.
If you looked at these together: cable, cell phone, gym membership and netflix. The total bill for these recurring monthly items would be nearly $250 a month. Over a decade, with reinvestment, this totals to $38,508. See how compound interest (and monthly cash burn) can add up.
I don’t really celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in any large or meaningful way. When I was a kid in school, I always remembered to wear green, and when I was a bit older in my single days, some friends (Irish and others) and I might do a pub crawl and drink green beer. But, in the spirit of simplifying holidays, St. Patricks is a good example of a fun holiday to learn more about Irish history, and not to create a big fuss or expensive accessories. Here are some suggestions:
I’ve been trying more ways to serve meatless or low meat meals. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of tofu. I tend to like it in Asian dishes like mapo tofu, but otherwise, I usually find it bland. A couple of years ago, I discovered baked, pressed tofu. Tofu where the water has been pressed out, and it is seasoned and baked to a chewy consistency. I like cutting the baked tofu into cubes and using it in stir fries and in a vegetarian fried rice dish that’s full of protein. I usually serve this rice with stir fried vegetables for a healthy and quick dinner.
March 9, 2009, marked the low of global stock markets around the world. Since then, most markets have made a substantial (and fairly sharp recovery) and are up by about 80%. What have we learned since then and how will it affect investment strategy going forward. Here are some of my observations:
A lot of people seem to be interested in the piece on