This week’s highlights: Raising an American Adult, colleges start the discounting game, and where did Jack Sparrow put $650MM?
Go Preds!
All of Nashville’s attention was focused last night at one place, Bridgestone Arena, where the Nashville Predators came from behind to tie things up, only to lose in overtime off a deflected puck. It’s pretty safe to say, and as Deadspin observed this week, Nashville Is A Great Place To Play Hockey.
Food for Thought:
- WSJ – How to Raise an American Adult – Credit WES – Many young Americans today are locked in perpetual adolescence. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse on how he and his wife are encouraging their own children to become fully formed, independent grown-ups
- Esquire – The Power of a Monthly Poker Game. Just one way to stave off a midlife crisis.
- Atlantic – My Family’s Slave. – Credit AC – She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was.
- USC – Will Ferrell’s USC Commencement Speech 2017. A surprisingly introspective address from the comedian.
- NYT – U Can’t Talk to Ur Professor Like This. Formal manners and titles aren’t elitist. They ensure respect for everyone.
Business/Economics:
- TII – My Friend is Beating Me. Going back to 2010 and assuming a portfolio that invested $1,000 into each of Apple, Amazon, Google and Netflix, and never re-balanced. That $4,000 would be worth over $35,000 today, a 784% gain, compared with the S&P 500 (total return) which gained 149% over the same time. Yet, the same portfolio would have seen 1 draw-down of almost 50% and 3 greater than 20%.
- AiCIO – Understanding PE’s Current Value Proposition. As more money pours into the sector, concerns regarding the erosion of the illiquidity premium have percolated.
- Marketwatch – Every time this happens, Amazon crushes another legacy retailer
- ZH – Hedge Fund CIO: “This Is Unprecedented… No Trader Has A Model For This” “People believe they’re leveraged to all these wonderful things happening in the world. But they’re simply leveraged to what happens in China.”
- WSJ – Private Colleges See Record Discounting Amid Pressure From Cost-Conscious Families – Credit DH – Big discounts from sticker prices help students, but schools aren’t seeing the growth they are after.
Culture/Tech/Science:
- HollywoodReporter – Johnny Depp: A Star in Crisis and the Insane Story of His “Missing” Millions What happened to $650 million? An explosive legal battle between one of Hollywood’s best-paid actors and the business managers he fired has laid bare tumultuous finances, outrageous spending and troubling behavior on Disney’s new ‘Pirates’ movie in a case that could even change how the industry does business.
- MJ – The Secrets of Tom Brady’s Personal Trainer
- MC – “I Was a Starter Wife”: Inside America’s Messiest Divorce In the middle of her headline-grabbing divorce settlement from Elon Musk, Justine Musk reveals the truth about her marriage to the multimillionaire cofounder of PayPal.
- Wired – How One Startup Built Better Health Insurance with the Magic of Data
- Harvard – To age better, eat better – Credit SF – Much of life is beyond our control, but dining smartly can help us live healthier, longer