Random Words: The Smattering Newsletter

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to The Smattering Newsletter.

We’d love to be able to tell you what this newsletter will be about, but there's not one single answer. The reason our podcast is called The Smattering is because we wanted it to be about a bunch of different things. So this newsletter will be similar. Sometimes we’ll write about the topic of the most recent podcast, other times we’ll just share what’s on our minds. Sometimes it will be about investing, other times it won’t. Kind of like the pod, you’re gonna get what you get.

Here’s what we can tell you. You’ll get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday morning, and it will be free. And it’s likely we’ll make fun of each other occasionally consistently.

Thanks for subscribing!

Jason and Jeff

Jeff’s Random Words

Here’s something I have been thinking about recently.

We talk a lot on the podcast about the advantage of being slow to act (read: lazy). I’ve been especially busy at the day job and with family stuff lately so I’ve been checking in on my investments less than usual. And it’s been….nice. I found that my level of calm/anxiety about my investments is way lower when I’m paying less attention. I think there’s a lesson there.

I’ll also share something on the flip side of that. I was recently home during the trading day after taking my son to a doctor’s appointment. So I had the time to log in and see what was up with my stocks, and all of a sudden I felt super compelled to trade. I was looking for stocks to sell, trying to convince myself it was time to trim the weeds. I was starting to plan what other stocks I would buy with the proceeds. Then…I stopped.

I suddenly became aware that the ONLY reason I was really looking for things to sell is that I was bored. So I walked away from the computer and found something else to do.

I recently have been purposely spending less time on my phone (that’s a story for a future post) and I think because of that I’ve become more aware of the things we all do because our brains don’t know how to be bored anymore. I will continue to fight that urge, and I’m sure I’ll continue to fail. But I’m determined not to let bad stock trades be the outcome of my boredom anymore.

Jeff

Jason’s Random Words

I do two things consistently every week: I make a new episode of The Smattering podcast with Jeff, and I think of a ton of things I wish I had said in the hours and days after we record. It happens every single time.

One of my motivations behind doing this newsletter is this reality. I'll never say everything I wanted to or should have said every time we make a show despite my best efforts — well over 2/3 of the talking each week is me. Honestly, I should probably be saying less; at least one person who gave us a 1-star review on Apple certainly thought this was the case. Screw you, Veemal!

Anyways. Back to motivations. Expect to see a regular "Smattering of Hindsight" from me here, exploring some of the ideas and things from prior episodes that I missed. Like Jeff, I'll also write about new and different things as well, within the framework of creating additional value for our listeners and (now) readers.

Let's talk about incentives, too. When Jeff and I started the podcast in August of 2023, we didn't have any grand vision (beyond the obvious: Create a global media empire), so long as we were enjoying the process and our listener count was growing. Both things remain true. In large part, this is because of you, our wonderful listeners. And this has created some incentive to make the podcast better, to create more value, and to deepen our connections with you.

But with this additional effort comes additional financial pressure in exchange for our increased time commitment. In other words, we do want to make some money from this. So that means you should expect to see ads in this newsletter, and ideally for things that you – "you" in aggregate, of course – are actually interested in. You'll also probably start hearing more ads on the podcast, too. Frankly, Jeff and I have put more of our financial resources into this venture than we have earned from it. But that's been by design so far; we are anticipating this will begin to change, and I expect that will motivate us to keep making great content. Money is an excellent motivator, after all.

Here's to making money by creating something of value,

Jason