Happy Sunday! It was a busy week for this new Dad so this week's episode is a smidgen shorter. My latest article was published 2 weeks ago so if you haven't read that, check it out and let me know what you think. I always appreciate feedback.

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On to the Stir!

The World of COVID News

We've got some incredibly good news about COVID. Two letters to the New England Journal of Medicine were published 2 weeks ago:

• Pfizer says new data shows 1 dose is 93% effective after 2 weeks, almost as good as 2 doses. They urge a change in policy to single dosing.
• Moderna is basically saying their vaccine is good against all variants except possibly S.A.

It's time that we start expecting life to start to turn back to normal by Summer. We can't keep feeding into the fear, people getting the vaccine and then still staying home out of fear. Let's get excited about this good news!

The World of Investing

Looking to basically learn everything about investing? You can learn from Warren Buffet on this website. It's compiled from years and years of interviews, lectures, and Q&As with him. If you like Buffet or you're looking for a thorough way to learn more about investing, this is it!

Here's one for an example: What's your opinion of gold as an investment?

We’re not enthused about gold. People say it’s a hedge against inflation, but that’s also true of oil, land, Coca-Cola, See’s Candies, etc. I’d much prefer to own land in Nebraska or an apartment house or an index fund as a store of value. We’d rather own an asset that will be useful even if the currency drops to 10 cents on the dollar. People will always need to drink and eat [referring to Coke and See’s]. We wouldn’t trade ownership of businesses for a hunk of yellow metal.

The World of Entrepreneurship

@awilkinson One of the hardest things to figure out: Do you want to chop wood (individual contributor) OR Build a sawmill (start a business). Chopping wood is tiring but satisfying labour. You can work quietly and get into a flow state. But...It's 100% dependent on you. If you get sick, you can't chop wood, and therefore your income dries up. No breaks. No delegation. Limited to your personal output. Hard to get wealthy. On the flip side...Build a sawmill and you can delegate. Build systems. Have others eventually do the work. You can massively increase your output and become wealthy. But...You have to deal with endless people and operational problems. You take significant personal risk (debt/leases/etc). You don't actually get to do the task you originally loved in the first place! (chopping wood). There are a variety of levels of this...everything from: Chopping solo, to hiring a few friends to help you, to having a single local sawmill, to having thousands of employees across a chain of sawmills held in a public company. Which are you?

I loved this simple analogy and how it broke down the benefits and trade-offs of each path. There's going to be negatives no matter which path you take. One path is not more correct, by the way. It's up to you and your personality which path you choose for yourself. I've chosen entrepreneurship but it isn't for everyone. You have to decide what makes more sense for you.

The World of Wisdom

"Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence." - Thomas Sowell

Make sure you're thinking for yourself and not falling prey to groupthink. Just because things are repeated over and over in the news, in the workplace, and on social media doesn't make it true.

End Note

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Live free,

Brennen