Welcome to Memoirs of a Money Manager. In early 2010, I started writing down significant experiences from my life: my memoirs. My motivation was the specter of Parkinson’s Disease-related dementia. This awful condition strikes many Parkinson’s patients about ten years after diagnosis. My doctors do not think I am a good candidate for this malady. I was diagnosed in 2005, so now, in 2017, I am ahead of the odds and cross my fingers that I will stay there. Spending time in my past has brought me pleasure, especially on the days when my legs do not work so well, but fortunately, my fingers do. It also has brought me insight as to what aspects of my youth influenced my thinking as an adult. Now, I see more clearly the source of my feelings about risk-taking or why certain personality characteristics make me leery.
I started my memoirs with my recall of first being interested in finance. No surprise, it was through money. Born in 1942, I was an avid collector of Lincoln copper pennies and Buffalo head nickel by age six. By the age of eight or nine, common stocks and commodities became my passion with a special interest in Dow Chemical and wheat. Dow Chemical stock was natural because I lived in Dow’s hometown, Midland, Michigan. My interest in wheat prices was more unusual. My best explanation is a gift from a neighbor of a chart of wheat prices in England going back hundreds of years.
I am not shy about my financial mistakes and tell of what I learned from being cheated. I have written about gold and how to consider risk. And I have written about the personal. Three favorites describe another kind of gold, honey, and my experiences as a beekeeper, my memories of my last deer hunting trip with my father, and, a most difficult experience to relive while backpacking in the White Mountains.
As long as I defy the Parkinson’s cognitive impairment statistics, I will spend time recalling the agonies and joys, people and places, and the collections of memories from my years as a money manager. I do this because I can, and because looking back helps me look forward. I invite you to share my memories and profit in whatever way you can. You can start here.