Editor: Crass Cash

You need to be made aware that your insurance policy will not cover you in the event that your dog bites someone and it is of one of the following breeds.  For instance I read my policy and it excludes pit bulls and "wolf hybrids", so if my pug bites somebody I should be covered.  Unless maybe I lie on the application and say that he has never bitten anybody when in fact he has.  But he hasn't, so I should be good. 

However, if you own any of the following breeds, then you need to check your policy: great danes, pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans, chows, wolf hybrids, huskies, etc.  Be sure to click through the above link to see all of them and be sure to read your policy and ask your agent.  If your dog bites somebody it could cost you everything depending upon where your states bankruptcy laws.  

The "my dog would never do that" or the "it all depends upon how the dog is raised" doesn't matter after it's happened.  Insurance companies rely on numbers, not how nice you say you are to your dog.  They have no way of distinguishing between the two so they just exclude entire breeds in order to protect themselves.  Check your policy! 

Editor: Crass Cash

I sat down for a nice breakfast of spaghetti and meatballs this morning.  When a 300 pound woman told me that I should eat protein for breakfast instead of carbohydrates.  I don't take nutritional advice from fat people.  

Which also got me thinking... I've never taken and never will take financial advice from broke people.  

Yes, nutritional advice and financial advice can still be wrong when given by in shape and financial sound individuals.  But it's almost guaranteed to be wrong when it's given by a fat broke person. 

While it's easier to see if somebody is out of shape, it's much harder to see the financial shape that your financial advisor is in, since he doesn't wear his net worth around his waste.  Be cautious!  

Editor: Crass Cash

Humanity's ability to see patterns is one of our greatest skills. It's allowed us to see the changing of seasons before they happen. It's allowed for us to predict the migration of animals. It's allowed for agriculture.

However, this ability has a weakness. That weakness is randomness.  There's even a book on the subject named FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS by Nassim Taleb, which I highly recommend.  While we're good at picking up patterns and forecasting with them.  We're not very good at recognizing when those patterns are part of a larger logical system or if they are simply random due to their complexity.  In other words are we trying to predict the changing of the seasons, which are based upon simple astrophysics or are we trying to predict where and when a drop of rain will fall?  Both are rooted in physics with one being highly predictable and the other being completely unpredictable.  

What does this have to do with money??  Well what I'm referring to is the difference between predicting where the stock market will be in a politically stable country 30 years from now and what it'll do tomorrow.  Do I know where the stock market will be 30 years from now?  No, not exactly.  I also don't know if an asteroid will destroy earth in the next 30 years.  But I'm wiling to make a bet that the stock market will be a good bit higher and that the earth will still be around.  

However, I'm not about to bet one penny on where a rain drop will land or whether the stock market will be lower or higher tomorrow.  It's unpredictable, so don't waste your time or your money.