Does Having $2.5 Million Make You Smarter? (or: Is the SEC Smarter Than a 5th Grader?)

Do you think that the SEC is looking out for you? Yes? Then you are naive. Period.

There is strong indication that the SEC will change the rules and requirements of the "accredited investor" rule soon. " Never heard of that rule? Then you probably aren't currently worth $1,000,000 or have an annual income of over $300,000. That's how much money you have to legally have to invest in things like:
- Hedge Funds
- Futures Funds
- Specialized REITs
- Other "alternative" investments

Put another way, you have to already be rich, to invest in the investments that give you the most money. (Ok, fine, allegedly give you the most money)

That seems a little backwards, doesn't it? Never fear, though, the SEC is thinking of changing the rules.

Instead of having a hurdle of a mere $1 Million (including your home equity) to qualify to invest in the most lucrative investments, the new rules hurdle will be $2.5 million, and now you won't be able to count your house as part of the deal.

As usual, there are two sides to the argument, and the SEC argues that having a high net worth is a way of verifying that only "sophisticated" investors who understand the risks of alternative investments get into those types of funds.

To which I would reply "Would having $2.5 Million dollars make me smarter than the people who came up with this ridiculous rule in the first place?"

Which scenario do you think is more likely:

A) The Chairman of the SEC is so worried about the cattle rancher in Wyoming (individual investor) being approached by some unscrupulous Wall-Street-pinstripe-suited 28 year-old and being talked into an investment that is too risky for him, that he wakes up in the middle of the night thinking "how can I protect all these un-sophisticated millionaires?"

B) The ultra-rich in the country want to stay ultra-rich, and they own enough influence over the SEC to get them to change the rules in their favor.


I'll let you make the call, but I think the government should get out of our way and stop trying to protect us from ourselves.

Does My iPod Play Favorites?

Occasionally while at work when working on a particularly big spreadsheet I like to flip on the iPod and jam to some tunes. I naturally use the "shuffle songs" option so that I can have my own little private commercial-free radio going.

This is where things get a little . . . conspiratorial. I could swear that my iPod likes to play some songs more than others.

Why, for example, do "Standing Outside the Fire" and "Smooth Criminal" come up almost every single time I use the shuffle songs feature? By contrast, the random feature has never queued up Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" to be played (...to the left, to the left...).

I did a little internet search to see if I was missing something, forgetting to turn off the "smart shuffle" feature (check), or . . . my ipod really just like Garth Brooks & Michael Jackson way more than me? Turns out I'm not the only one that thinks the game is rigged:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6854309/site/newsweek/

The apple engineers swear that "random" truly is random. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for a little more Aerosmith.

Reward For Good Behavior

What made this one of the best weeks in memory? On Monday morning Natalie and I awoke around 6am with the realization that Wes had stayed asleep since we laid him down around 11pm the night before! Wow!

So, all this week we've been enjoying the blessing of a full night's rest. (okay, occasionally we have to put his pacifier back in, but that's relatively painless compared to our previous routine)

As a reward for being such a good little guy, we took Wes about an hour northwest of us to a strawberry farm. He wasn't much help in the actual picking, but it was still a good times for all!