Tonight, I was at the Battle Born Republican Women event. Heidi Harris spoke. She talked about a lot of things, but what resonated with me is how the media (and people), just outright lie or shade the truth nowadays. It seems like they are doing it more than they used to. I notice it in politics. The effort to pass Voter ID in Congress is one example. Democrats are simply lying about voter identification. Almost 80% of America no matter what their party, what ethnicity they are, or even their...

Tonight, I was at the Battle Born Republican Women event. Heidi Harris spoke. She talked about a lot of things, but what resonated with me is how the media (and people), just outright lie or shade the truth nowadays. It seems like they are doing it more than they used to. I notice it in politics. The effort to pass Voter ID in Congress is one example. Democrats are simply lying about voter identification. Almost 80% of America no matter what their party, what ethnicity they are, or even their...

My friend Chris Gandy and I were talking. Chris used to play in the NBA. We both went to Illinois, and he reached out to me the first time we met. We are both good networkers and crappy golfers. When I stand next to Chris, it looks like I am in a hole because he towers over me. For the record, I am 6’5”. Chris recently became the president of NAIFA. He’s perfect for it. When you click the link to their site, you will see why. He and I have been concerned about people and finance for a long ti...

My friend Chris Gandy and I were talking. Chris used to play in the NBA. We both went to Illinois, and he reached out to me the first time we met. We are both good networkers and crappy golfers. When I stand next to Chris, it looks like I am in a hole because he towers over me. For the record, I am 6’5”. Chris recently became the president of NAIFA. He’s perfect for it. When you click the link to their site, you will see why. He and I have been concerned about people and finance for a long ti...

Startups are funny entities. In the beginning, there is only one title that matters. It’s “founder” or “co-founder”. They are responsible for everything. Startups don’t have the line and spoke command and control structures of a larger company. It’s every person for themselves. The CFO term is generally useless for startups until they transition to a different stage. The titles given to engineering, revenue, and operations are meaningful because they are actively engaged at a very early stage...

Startups are funny entities. In the beginning, there is only one title that matters. It’s “founder” or “co-founder”. They are responsible for everything. Startups don’t have the line and spoke command and control structures of a larger company. It’s every person for themselves. The CFO term is generally useless for startups until they transition to a different stage. The titles given to engineering, revenue, and operations are meaningful because they are actively engaged at a very early stage...

Last weekend, when we were in Lyon County, someone asked me why I didn’t consider running for Attorney General. I told them it was because I didn’t have a law degree. We had a good laugh at that. I don’t think anyone from either party should be AG without a law degree in any state. If I ran for attorney general, I might shout out things like “I will lock up prisoners, fight crime, and back the blue.” Those are table-stakes positions for any Republican running for AG. If you were a Democrat, y...

One of the things I have heard for years from both political parties is a lot of yelling. Partisans yell at the television. Or in groups, they will chat about the current thing and gripe about something. Social media elevates the noise and temperature. Out on the campaign trail, everyone hears a lot of that stuff. Not from constituents, but from candidates. They will talk about what they have done. It makes sense if you have been in elected office. It makes no sense if you have never held ele...

One of the toughest things to manage when you are in finance is exogenous shocks. These are elements that you have no control over. They happen out of the blue, but because they affect your portfolio, you are forced to make decisions. One of the reasons I am running for Treasurer is that there will be rapid changes in finance in the next ten years that we haven’t seen before. Another is that we are seeing ripples in worldwide finance that are going to create waves that come ashore in Nevada i...

In an effort to “make finance great again”, I thought about artificial intelligence. I had exposure to AI early. The first Trump administration selected four other people and me to attend the first-ever G7 summit in Torino, Italy, in 2017. Here are four of us, minus my friend and Viking fan Ted Ullyot, with Diego. Diego set the whole thing up and ran the show. It was an honor to be there from the US.The idea was to get smart people from all over the world in a room and set policy for the futu...

When you look at funding growth in private companies, it’s like going to the racetrack. You can bet Win, Place, or Show. In the case of finance, it’s Cash, Equity, and Debt. For governments, the choices are more limited. You can’t sell equity. Hence, governments never “invest”. They can only grow from cash, which is tax receipts, or from selling debt. Selling debt is a claim on the future tax receipts remitted by taxpayers. To simplify, a claim against your future income. Most people are awar...

Since I started on this journey, one of the things I have done is network. It’s come naturally for me all my life. I have an international network of finance pros that I interact with on a semi-regular basis. We bounce ideas off each other and, most importantly, become a conduit to get something done. I never asked for anything when I connected people. Ironically, many people do. They charge a commission or some other thing. They ask for payment explicitly. That’s not networking, that’s comme...

The past couple of days, we have been at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. If you haven’t heard of it, you need to put this on your bucket list. Elko is easy to get to, just off I-80. People come from all over the country. There is a long tradition of “cowboy poetry”. As one poet said, there is a lot of free time on the range. It keeps their mind occupied. Every day and night, there is poetry being recited, music being played, and people learning old Western crafts. There are custo...

Last weekend, when we were in Lyon County, someone asked me why I didn’t consider running for Attorney General. I told them it was because I didn’t have a law degree. We had a good laugh at that. I don’t think anyone from either party should be AG without a law degree in any state. If I ran for attorney general, I might shout out things like “I will lock up prisoners, fight crime, and back the blue.” Those are table-stakes positions for any Republican running for AG. If you were a Democrat, y...

One of the things I have heard for years from both political parties is a lot of yelling. Partisans yell at the television. Or in groups, they will chat about the current thing and gripe about something. Social media elevates the noise and temperature. Out on the campaign trail, everyone hears a lot of that stuff. Not from constituents, but from candidates. They will talk about what they have done. It makes sense if you have been in elected office. It makes no sense if you have never held ele...

One of the toughest things to manage when you are in finance is exogenous shocks. These are elements that you have no control over. They happen out of the blue, but because they affect your portfolio, you are forced to make decisions. One of the reasons I am running for Treasurer is that there will be rapid changes in finance in the next ten years that we haven’t seen before. Another is that we are seeing ripples in worldwide finance that are going to create waves that come ashore in Nevada i...

In an effort to “make finance great again”, I thought about artificial intelligence. I had exposure to AI early. The first Trump administration selected four other people and me to attend the first-ever G7 summit in Torino, Italy, in 2017. Here are four of us, minus my friend and Viking fan Ted Ullyot, with Diego. Diego set the whole thing up and ran the show. It was an honor to be there from the US.The idea was to get smart people from all over the world in a room and set policy for the futu...

When you look at funding growth in private companies, it’s like going to the racetrack. You can bet Win, Place, or Show. In the case of finance, it’s Cash, Equity, and Debt. For governments, the choices are more limited. You can’t sell equity. Hence, governments never “invest”. They can only grow from cash, which is tax receipts, or from selling debt. Selling debt is a claim on the future tax receipts remitted by taxpayers. To simplify, a claim against your future income. Most people are awar...

Since I started on this journey, one of the things I have done is network. It’s come naturally for me all my life. I have an international network of finance pros that I interact with on a semi-regular basis. We bounce ideas off each other and, most importantly, become a conduit to get something done. I never asked for anything when I connected people. Ironically, many people do. They charge a commission or some other thing. They ask for payment explicitly. That’s not networking, that’s comme...

The past couple of days, we have been at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. If you haven’t heard of it, you need to put this on your bucket list. Elko is easy to get to, just off I-80. People come from all over the country. There is a long tradition of “cowboy poetry”. As one poet said, there is a lot of free time on the range. It keeps their mind occupied. Every day and night, there is poetry being recited, music being played, and people learning old Western crafts. There are custo...