Marital Advice ***** HAPPY EASTER! ***** Words of Wisdom   One of the things that readers and book reviewers of Marital Advice to my Grandson, Joel  have said that they like best are the short quotations sprinkled throughout the book.  Here are a few samples: Just think - of the billions of men in the world,  your wife chose you. That's how special she thinks you are. Make it your life's mission to prove her right.  When your wife gives you that steely-eyed,  clinched-jaw scowl, known as "The Look," it means that you have obviously done something wrong, but what? You will find out as soon as she gets you alone.  Maybe your wife is a first-rate cook and housekeeper; maybe she's not.  Even if she isn't, keep in mind that you didn't marry her for her domestic skills, anyway. You married her for the companionship and the love and joy that the two of you share. Copyright   ©  20...

Marital Advice ***** You're Going to be Rich, Rich, Rich! ***** (Part 3 - The Plan) In the last two weeks' posts, I presented investment advice that I gave to my grandson in the book, Marital Advice to my Grandson, Joel.  This included noting some of the potential pitfalls of investing in the stock market, bonds, and commodities. The Quiz Two weeks ago I posed a quiz: What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average and how many stocks are in The Dow ?  If you didn't know the answer, did you check it out?  Well, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is one of most most widely-quoted indicators of the performance of the stock market.  It includes thirty stocks of well-known companies such as Exxon Mobile, General Electric, Coca Cola, Apple, and Nike. Last week, The Dow  had its biggest drop in around two years, dropping more than 1,000 points.  Yikes!  This is proof of my statement that picking individual stocks and knowing when to buy and when ...

Marital Advice ***** You're Going to be Rich, Rich, Rich! ***** (Part 2) Some of the most important advice that I gave to my grandson in the book,  Marital Advice to my Grandson, Joel , deals with how to avoid investment money traps and, in fact, how to become rich through investing.  Last week, in Part 1 on this topic, I discussed investing in stocks.  This week, let's take a look at two completely different investment possibilities: Investing in Bonds   We'll make this short.  There are a lot of investments, like government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, treasury bills, and money market certificates that pay interest on your investment. My Advice: Normally, the interest rate is too low for a young person to invest in these.  Four or five decades from now, when you want to be more conservative with your investments, you might consider it. Investing in Commodities   This is certain to happen, so pay attention.  Som...

Marital Advice ***** You're Going to be Rich, Rich, Rich! ***** (Part 1) Some of the most important advice that I gave to my grandson in the book, Marital Advice to my Grandson, Joel , deals with how to avoid investment money traps and, in fact, how to become rich through investing.  I'll just summarize some of the main ideas here. Investing in Stocks:   There are thousands of companies in which you can buy part ownership in the form of common stocks. There are three potential problems with investing in the stock market: Problem Number One:  The prices of stocks go up and down on a daily basis like a yo-yo as investors react to good news and bad news about the weather, interest rates, politics, the weather, foreign countries, and dozens of other things. Basically, investors are a bunch of chickenshits who live and die on each day's news.  If there's good news, they jump in and buy stocks like crazy and prices go up. If there's bad news, they panic...

Marital Advice ***** Chivalry ***** Joel, that goofy look on your face right now apparently means that you have never before seen that word,  Chivalry , have no idea how to pronounce it, and have no clue about what it means.  It probably also means that you're a fairly normal guy for this day and age.  But, I'm about to change all that. Chivalry  (pronounced "shiv-ul-ree") is the act of a man extending to a woman courteous, honorable, polite, respectful, attentive, gallant, and well-mannered behavior.  A chivalrous man might even be thought of as being charming, polished, and dashing–something like your Grandpa, if I may say so myself. The Chivalrous Man In Action If walking down the sidewalk with a woman after it has rained, the chivalrous man will walk on the outside, along the street, so if water splashes from a passing vehicle, it will splash on him and not on her.  If there is a water puddle in front of her on the sidewalk, he mi...