What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Financial Thought: Investing is Hard
3. Life Thought: Friendship Pitches
4. Good Sh*t: Spindrift

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Photo From My Life:

Financial Thought:

Investing is Hard: Investing is hard. When I was in high school, I thought it was as simple as reading the news, opening a brokerage account, and I'd magically become Warren Buffett. Boy was I wrong! The modern news flow is designed to be loud, fast, and one dimensional. It pushes you toward the most dramatic storyline, even when the market is reacting to something else entirely.

Look at 2025. The headlines were dominated by tariffs and trade threats. And yet emerging markets quietly put up a very different result. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index returned 34.36% in 2025, while the S&P 500 total return was about 17.88%.

That gap is the point.

Tariff news is simple to process and easy to trade emotionally. But emerging markets are often driven by a wider mix of forces: currency moves, commodity cycles, local rates, and global liquidity. In 2025, a weaker US dollar was a meaningful tailwind for unhedged US based investors in emerging market assets, and it mattered alongside the tariff narrative, not instead of it.

So the takeaway is not “buy emerging markets.” The takeaway is that a single headline can dominate your attention while a different set of drivers dominates returns.

That is why diversification is such an important strategy. To win at investing over a lifetime, you need exposure to everything.

Life Thought:

Friendship Pitches: Friendship is weird as you get older. When you are 22, you can see your buddies on a random Tuesday because your calendar is 100% free. Then you add a spouse, kids, school schedules, work travel, and increased fatigue! All of a sudden, seeing your best friends requires the same planning rigor as a small military operation.

My wife and I did the Big Ass Calendar this year and it was awesome. We mapped out the year in one sitting and it immediately showed us two things. First, we are busier than we think. Second, there are certain pockets of time where we can try and make the important stuff happen. Try and sneak in trips to see friends and business partners (which are basically one and the same).

I think most of my friends are starting to realize this. This past weekend my good friend Nate showed up with an official friendship pitch. Like, an actual presentation. The goal was simple: one trip a year where our two families get together, no excuses.

Sure, it was goofy. But it was also exactly what we needed. Because the truth is, adult friendship does not fade because you stop caring. It fades because you stop scheduling. So we are committing. One trip a year. Put it on the calendar. Treat it like it matters, because it does.

If you want a good chuckle, you can see the presentation here.

Good Sh*t:

Good Haircuts: I finally upgraded my haircut life. I’m usually the guy who happily pays $25 at Great Clips and calls it a day. But last time they literally forgot to trim one side of my head.

So I went to a nicer salon this week and paid $45. And yes, I know, that’s almost double. But it was so worth it. The cut was cleaner, the whole experience felt calmer, and I walked out looking like someone who has their life together.

So if I get 5 haircuts a year, that's an extra $100. Seems like a simple worthwhile upgrade to my life.

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