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Let's connect some dots from this week's notes...

It's Halloween, so naturally Brent Donnelly went and backtested the planets. It’s so good I read it twice, and anybody who thinks about odds or statistics should spend a minute on this. Check out Brent's Spooky Backtests for Halloween on Panoptica.

Rick Rubin answered a noise complaint from the student living upstairs by cranking his PA and vacuuming the ceiling, and he's the one who got to stay. I don't hold that up as admirable at all, but it lives in the same guy who loves pro wrestling and Deep Purple, and that range is what the Zen monk quotes leave out. OK, I'm a touch ranty, so blame Steve Sanduski, who got me going in an interview I was honored to do after listening to him talk with so many people (hopefully I didn't scare him off).

Quote from the Personal Archive - me on why Rubin fascinates me, warts included

I am fascinated by people with a wide range of input AND output.

Rob Majteles grew up in the Bronx working his father's hides and skins business, ran three tech companies, and describes his native tongue as "angry 16-year-old." That ear for what's underneath the anger is why he hears "are you making money or serving the planet?" and answers yes. A buddy handed me an ethics book in high school that rewired my brain in a similar way, so this one landed close to home. The "or" is a habit we picked up, and Rob is a good look at life once you drop it.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Rob on profit and purpose, from our Intentional Investor conversation

It's an idiot's question. The answer is yes.

I'll take the credit for getting Sisyphus's boulder back up the hill, at least in the case of my work at Jared Dillian's conference last week. Mark Lapolla had just opened day two of Dirtcon 7 with a presentation on the meaning crisis plaguing the modern world, which sent the rock rolling right back down (this is a compliment, it was thought provoking). Then Jared and I did an hour on literature at a finance conference. Jared started a newsletter at a Lehman desk and let a scene form around it, which explains the DJ night, and Jason Isbell playing "Vampires" at the Ryman (my wife and I quoted that song in our wedding vows) is still rattling around in my head.

Quote from the Personal Archive - me on Jared Dillian and Mattie Ross from True Grit

Nobody gives credence to the person who decides to go do the thing anyway.

The richest man in the world is still arguing with strangers on the platform he bought, and Tom Papa had the best read on it: "That sounds broke to me." Josh Johnson set it up on Tom's podcast, and it hit me harder than I expected, because Elon doesn't need more money to live on and still seems to be chasing an unlimited supply of approval. When someone who should be happy on paper clearly isn't, I take the lesson, and "could you be happy there?" is a thought exercise worth running on yourself.

Quote from the Personal Archive - me on money and happiness, using Elon as the extreme case

A lot gets abstract, fast.

Tom Papa asked Josh Johnson if he ever hits a Tuesday with nothing, and Josh said "Not really, no." Some weeks run stronger than others and he's fine with that, which is why "nothing" never shows up. It's the same conversation that gave us the Elon observation, and the volume I admire most is the kind where every piece still has his fingerprints on it. If you're reading this, you're probably sitting on more than you think.

Quote from the Personal Archive - me on Josh Johnson's well of creativity

The muse is always on.

"Jack and Diane" was supposed to be a folk song, and the solo Farm Aid version with just a guitar shows how different it could have been. In the studio they needed it to sound like anything but, chasing Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" with a drum machine, and Kenny Aronoff (who saw himself competing with that machine for his job) flipped his fill to run low to high. Julia Duthie, one of the non-Americans we asked to pitch songs, says those first chords take her straight back to road trips across the country. I love the whole story so much.

Quote from the Personal Archive - me on the studio story behind the song

Sometimes art happens in the editing.

Tony Greer and Jared Dillian had me on The Macro Dirt Podcast twice, which is a good follow-up to Nashville, where Tony directly trolled me with music references from the stage. In both episodes they cover the markets (bonds, gold, oil, AI valuations), and with me on, they wander into songs. In the first one, Dylan Ratigan's playlist brought up "Dancing in the Moonlight," so I sketched the story behind it, and Dylan also has a theory that inflation is a hidden default. In the second, Tony did the deep dive on that story, and then we got into favorite song lyrics across a huge range of styles. I dropped Isbell, the Geto Boys, Depeche Mode and more. Songs are stories, which is exactly what "Jack and Diane" taught us above.

Then Brian Portnoy joined me on Excess Returns to talk about How I Invest My Money Volume Two, where 25 finance pros explain what they do with their own money. This is the second book in the series and my first contribution to it, so consider this your reminder that I wrote a chapter: my own portfolio on the page, alongside some life lessons on getting from indebted to invested. Big cash reserves, paid-off mortgages, and bets on their own businesses show up a lot, and the gap between the optimal portfolio on paper and the one you can live with is the Elon question with a spreadsheet attached.

Also this week on Excess Returns: Kai Wu on what's hiding inside your funds, Daniel Crosby on why the winning fund can still lose you money, and the Weekly Wrap with Jack Forehand.

Where in your work or life have you been treating an "or" as a rule, when it might be a habit you picked up?

WHAT IS THE WIDEST RANGE OF INPUT YOU TAKE IN, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ALL OF IT?

Think of someone you've turned into a tidy quote. What would the fuller, messier picture of them include?

WHAT ARE YOU SITTING WITH RIGHT NOW THAT YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN A NAME YET, AND WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE ON A PAGE?

If money stopped being the question, what would you still be chasing? Write down what you'd reach for, and what you'd want to hear from the people around you.

WHAT STORY DO YOU LOVE THAT YOU'VE NEVER ASKED A SECOND QUESTION OF, AND WHAT DATA MIGHT BE MISSING FROM IT?

What does the portfolio you can live with look like, counting money, time, and the relationships you're compounding alongside them?

As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.

(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)

ps. Claude helped me organize and synthesize these thoughts from the week's posts. If you are curious how I use AI, read this post: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules