John Train Broadside

Category: Columns

  • The Imprudent Child

    Billy is about to receive a large inheritance, but he isn’t good with money. A trust can help, as explained in this 1990 column.

  • Letter to a Grandson

    Dear Henry, At your christening the other day, I told a story that I asked your godparents to repeat to you at the right time. A Miss Gresham of Richmond Virginia, who was a friend of the family, once described for me the christening of her father, in about 1870. During the ceremony, General Robert…

  • Visiting Harvard

    I graduated from Harvard College in 1950, and can probably say that if it weren’t for the buildings, an old grad of my vintage would not recognize the place today.

  • How Real Are The Deficits?

    In the old days in the investment business when you were studying a company you would sometimes send a young fellow out back of the factory with a clicker to count the widgets emerging to be shipped. Easy enough to check production. Quite different now!

  • The Shortest Possible Course in Reading a Financial Statement

    To invest sensibly you need to understand what the company is trying to tell you in its financial statement. Though the elements are fairly simple, I observe that many of my clients have trouble reading one. So here is a simple guide to help get started.

  • Protect Yourself Against Yourself

    Column in Forbes explains two ways to protect ourselves when we aren’t able to handle our financial affairs.

  • The Case for Studying the Classics

    In school the subjects you learn are less important than developing character and learning how to think. Working your way through classical texts forces you to be accurate in a way not required in any other study except math.

  • Twelve Choruses of a Market Cycle

    Major market cycles have a life of their own, like the ups and downs of a manic depressive patient. The choruses sung at each stage are not based on objective data. They are just rationalizations.

  • C. Northcote Parkinson – An Appreciation

    Few management philosophers have combined so much wit and wisdom, and none was as charming, as Professor C. Northcote Parkinson.