Blind beginner's luck I'll never forget the first time I set foot in a casino as an unworldly teenager, as the mate I went with immediately won an improbable 35 to 1 payout on a single number bet. I strongly suspected he had no idea what he was doing, but… full article

Ladies, liquor, leverage I was having a yarn on Twitter this week with some smart finance types & recounted a Charlie Munger quote about there being only 3 ways to go broke: 'Ladies, liquor, & leverage'. Sidekick Warren Buffett quipped that Munger only added the first two because they begin… full article

No accounting for taste I rarely pause to consider how fortunate I am that my better half is financially savvy. We first met at work - she was my boss, sadly - and I marvelled at her ability to solve seemingly impossible equations & accounting disclosures when preparing consolidated group… full article

Like there's no tomorrow I think it's fair to say that you could have given the 18-year-old me practically any sum of money & I'd have found a way to spend it. After all, I had a theoretical wish-list as long as my arm, ranging from exotic holidays to an… full article

Life's little knock-backs It's interesting to look back and recall with extraordinary clarity so many of the times in life I've experienced rejection. And from such a broad spectrum of arenas, too, from not being selected for sports teams, University rejections, and being turned down by prospective girlfriends (especially cringeworthy),… full article

New horizons When I was 13 my parents told me we'd be moving house to another part of the country - my Dad's job was in probation and corrective services and he had to relocate for work - and this would mean a change of school for me, possibly to… full article

Matching Johnny do-it-all Many of us can recount envy of people for whom everything in life appeared to come all too easily, as epitomised by the charmed life of schoolboy character David Watts in the Kinks song of the same name. On the other hand, I know of people who… full article

Fussy suitors Imagine for a moment you're about to evaluate a line-up of prospective secretaries for a position, to be interviewed in a random order with a yes/no decision to be made about each applicant immediately after you've seen them. You'd likely mentally rank each applicant in order as you… full article

Leading by example During my career in professional practice I didn't always enjoy managing people, & with the valuable benefit of hindsight I can now see why. My approach worked well at the senior analyst level where mostly I could lead by example, but as I moved into senior management… full article

Shark attack It's always entertaining to regale European friends with tales of Australia's deadliest flora & fauna, from giant stinging trees, brown snakes, and the lethal irukandji jellyfish, to salties, funnel-webs, and - if you're feeling particularly vindictive - the vicious drop bears. Shark bites are a favourite scare topic, but… full article