The Montaintop

 

It was a warm spring night in 1968, and I was seven years old and in the second grade at Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School in Memphis. We had been in our new house for six months, and I thought it was pretty cool that we now lived right across the street from my grandparents. Ferocious thunderstorms were rolling through Memphis, and my mother was typically anxious about bad weather. It didn't help that my father was not home. The wind was really picking up, and the thunder was louder than I had ever heard. Then the tornado sirens started to wail, sending my mother into a state of palpable panic. She grabbed me and said that we were going across the street to my grandparents' house to shelter in their basement. I remember thinking that we had our own basement, but I soon figured out that she really wanted to be with my grandparents. I don't know what frightened me more, the fear of being swept away like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, or just seeing my mother visibly scared out of her wits. I think it was the latter, and that is why this night is such an indelible memory for me.

The greater significance of that night did not occur to me until some years later, when I was reading Taylor Branch's trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement. Branch describes the speech King gave at the Mason Temple in Memphis on April 3rd, 1968. There was a raging thunderstorm moving through the city with intense winds rattling the windows. Tornado sirens were wailing. At the same time, I realized, my mother was dragging me across the street to my grandparents' house. This was that same night. As he got to the end of his speech, King uttered these prophetic words:

"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!"

The next day, April 4th, King was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

Martin Luther King had come to Memphis to support the sanitation workers in their srike for better wages and working conditions. And here is where I had something of a front row seat for the Civil Rights Movement as it unfolded in Memphis. My family, on my father's side, had been members of St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral for generations. The Dean of the Cathedral, William Dimmick, supported King's Civil Rights efforts. This stirred up quite a bit of discussion. My front row seat came from coming down with every childhood illness in the book that year. I would be home with fever for a week at a time while I suffered through chicken pox, strep throat, and a few other maladies. Plus, I was an only child, and my parents didn't mind my hanging around their adult conversations. So, my parents' friends would come over for a noonday Scotch, where every sip seemed to intensify their vitriol for King and Dean Dimmick. Be careful what you say around a seven-year-old.

I have to say this about my parents. I did not once hear them say anything negative about Civil Rights, Dr. King, or Dean Dimmick. I am certainly not suggesting that they were staunch Civil Rights advocates, just that they tended to keep their opinions closely held. My mother did always relish hearing some juicy gossip, however. Maybe if the Dean had been involved in something scandalous (read:sex), my mother would have been contributing more to the conversation. But supporting people in their quest for economic justice hardly rises to the level of scandal. For some members of the Cathedral, though, it was a scandal. The Cathedral lost a significant number of members in the wake of all this (they had plenty of churches where they would find like-minded men of the cloth).

Three days after King was killed was Palm Sunday, and Dean Dimmick delivered this sermon:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6086306ac9585824500dba86/t/60afa05959206513e2d4fef0/1622122586934/Dean+Dimmick+Palm+Sunday+Sermon.pdf

So, here we are 58 years later. We could reflect on any number of things, but I'll choose just one. People who study this history today may well ask, Did people really behave this way, think and say such negative things about their church, their priest? Be mindful of the opinions you expresss, because someone (like a seven-year old) will remember them. As you'll read in his Palm Sunday sermon, Dean Dimmick grabbed the Cathedral's processional cross and led others on a walk to City Hall. Where would you have wanted to be on that day--out church-shopping or following behind the cross?

Life is short. Get Busy!

Jim

Copyright 2026 James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.

Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:

jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com 

President Trump vs. The Haters

 

Raymond Chandler, my favorite writer, in Farewell, My Lovely describes something that really stood out as being "as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food." Chandler had a way with unforgettable imagery. President Trump may be a lot of things, but one thing he is not is subtle. But do you know who else is bereft of subtlety? That would be Trump's most vociferous detractors, people so vocal with their hatred of the man that they seem blind to anything else. There is now a name for this: TDS, or Trump Derangement Syndrome. I am convinced that if Trump found the cure for cancer, these folks would accuse him of engineering some sort of biohazard for his own personal profit.

I wish the Haters would focus more on critiquing Trump's policies and less on the emotion-fueled ad hominem attacks that seem to be the only arrows in their quivers.  Let's take a look at Trump's trade policies. He has this idea that revenue from tariffs could replace the income tax system. That seems like a fever dream to me. I have never favored tariffs as economic policy (I am very much a free market guy). But here Trump seems to be pursuing conflicting goals. He wants to address the affordability issue, but tariffs are likely to raise prices. The company that is importing the goods has to pay the tariff. That company, depending on the competitive landscape, can pass the cost onto consumers by raising prices. Or the company can absorb the cost, resulting in lower profit margins. No free lunch here.

Trump declared April 2nd, 2025, as "Liberatrion Day" in a speech where he announced sweeping new tariffs. The stock market sank faster than our fat Basset Hound going off the pool diving board. Why such a violent reaction? For one, concern over how various companies would be affected. Even though the Supreme Court has struck down many of the Trump tariffs, I imagine that Trump will continue to seek other ways to get what he wants. So, here it would be helpful to consider some stocks and sectors that could be somewhat "tariff-proof." That would lead us to areas where there are no physical imports, but where we could find high margins, recurring revenue, and pricing power. Examples in the software sector include Microsoft (MSFT, $400), Adobe (ADBE, $258), and Salesforce (CRM, $198). That brings us to another problem, because software companies are being hit by AI concerns--namely that AI could replace some of what is done by software. Everywhere where you go, you risk stepping in something else (like in our backyard, the gifts left by that fat Basset).

Another portfolio option here would be in asset-light financials: Visa (V, $316), where revenue is from transaction flow and not physical inventory. Keep in mind, though, that a slowdown in GDP would reduce transaction volume. Healthcare services (not medical devices) is an area of domestic and inelastic demand; UnitedHealth (UNH, $286) would be a fit here. In utilities, I favor NextEra Energy (NEE, $93), but there is interest rate sensitivity. Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin (LMT, $643) and RTX (RTX, $197) offer a haven from tariffs, as defense spending tends to be geopolitically driven and often rises during trade tensions. Finally, consumer staples companies like Procter and Gamble (PG, $164) and Costco (COST, $987), althought they do have some global supply chain exposure--but they also have strong pricing leverage. Now just be careful not to step in anything.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the Haters to offer up any thoughtful, reasoned arguments about why they disagee with Trump on anything. They'll instead just keep calling him a Nazi--and I personally find that offensive because my father fought the real Nazis in World War II. That's not a term that should be thrown at someone with such casual abandon.

But, the Haters are just going to keep on hating.

Life is short. Get Busy!

Jim

Disclosure/Disclaimer: My family members and/or I own shares of V, NEE, PG, and COST. Individual stocks are mentioned here for the sole purpose of illustrating investment concepts, and nothing stated here should be construed as the advice to buy or sell any security. ChatGPT was a source for some of the "tariff-proof" stock names.

Copyright 2026 James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.

Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:

jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com

So Close and Yet So Far: The Joys of Horseshoe Lake

 

Night view of Horseshoe Lake from our porch

I often tell people that one of the reasons I love Horseshoe Lake so much is because "all of the gunshot victims end up on the dinner plate." On one of our first mornings there, I was drinking my coffee on the porch and gazing at all of the birds making their way by on the water when I heard what sounded like gunshots. For a split second I thought I was back in Memphis, but quickly realized that those shots were coming from the private hunting club just across the water. No urban shootouts at Horseshoe.

My wife and I first got the itch for Horseshoe after spending some time there over the years at the lake house of some great friends who regularly invited us over for weekends. One reason we found it so attractive is that it is a 50-minute drive from our home in Memphis, yet it feels like a world away. I contacted a real estate agent there and met him so he could take me on a tour of homes around the lake. I quickly learned that there was very little for sale--at least nothing that would work for us.  Not long after that I was contacted by my friend, Walker Uhlhorn, who told me about a tract of lakefront land he had acquired, with plans to create 20+lots, each with 100 feet of lakefront. This land had never been developed for homes. We bought a lot and hired an architect. That was a smart move on Mr. Uhlhorn's part, because now all of those lots are gone--and most have houses on them.  

The economics of Horseshoe illustrate a classic case of supply and demand, I once heard a money manager say, when asked why he liked the stock of Vail Resorts (MTN, $137) so much: "Because God is not making any more mountains." Well, God is not making any more lakefront land at Horseshoe, either. The last lot I know of that sold went for 40% more than what we paid for ours four years earlier. 

As Scarlett O'Hara's father said in Gone with the Wind: "Land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for. Because it's the only thing that lasts." And here we're not talking about just any land, but lake front land. Would you want to have a weekend house at Horseshoe that wasn't on the water? You could surely get it for a whole lot less.

I know of several lake houses that are the full-time homes of their owners, but the vast majority are second homes, or what I like to call "weekend homes." This helps explain why there are not more commercial establishments in the immediate area. It doesn't make sense to own a store when there are no customers around during most of the week. This has implications for what you'll need to take with you for the weekend and what you'll need to keep stocked at the house.

Buying or building the lake house itself is only the first of many demands on your wallet. Most houses have a dock, and if you're going to have a dock, you might as well have a boat. My friend Hart Robinson owns the Boat Center in Memphis, and that is where we bought our pontoon boat. Hart also has a company called "Piling Row" that builds docks. So, one-stop shopping for us. It is always a pleasure doing business with Hart.

I have written in this space before about home generators, and how I think they will become a standard feature in homes. They are truly a "must have" at the lake, where the power goes out with some frequency. It's nice to have an extra refrigerator and freezer for stock-piling beer and meats. I really couldn't buy a load of steaks without the peace of mind that comes with the generator.  Of the houses near us that have generators, most of those are Generac. Ours is hooked up to the natural gas line and comes on automatically when the power goes out (I refuse to deal with propane tanks--too many accidents waiting to happen).

I have never been much of an "outdoorsman," but lake living is turning this city boy into one. If your wallet has anything left in it, you will want to get some useful supplies. We love Yeti (YETI, $45) products and now have several Yeti coolers of various sizes and a multitude of drinking mugs. The coolers are engineered to perfection. The cooler walls are thick, so a Yeti is noticeably heavier than, say, a Playmate cooler, but a Yeti can keep drinks cold for days.

Another company I am just learning about is American Outdoor Brands (AOUT, $9), separated from Smith and Wesson in 2020. The market cap is quite small at about $113 million.  I recently bought a small position, following my rule of buying only small positions in tiny companies--and this one has so far today, as I write this, traded only about 22,000 shares. They sell just about anything the aspiring outdoorsman might need, except firearms--they left that with Smith and Wesson. But AOUT does offer lots of products for the care and maintenance of guns.

One feature about Horseshoe that we have come to love is that a number of our Memphis friends now have houses on the lake, on that big swath of land that Mr. Uhlhorn developed. This gives the place a "neighborhood feel." We will be sitting on our porch and see people we know walk by on the lake path. They will typically be carrying a cocktail (in a Yeti mug, of course). And, being good neighbors, I always offer to refresh that cocktail for them. My nextdoor Horseshoe neighbor (yet another Uhlhorn) even introduced me to a drink I had never heard of. It's called a "paper plane" (why I don't know), and it's in a category of drinks known as "equal parts cocktails." As the equal parts name suggests, the paper plane has four ingredients in perfectly equal parts. Here's how you make it:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice (you'll need a cocktail shaker just for your lake house bar)

Pour in: 

one measure of good bourbon 

one measure of Amaro Nonino (an Italian liqueur)

one measure of Aperol

one measure of fresh lemon juice (that's right--the same amount of lemon juice as the other three ingredients)

Shake it up and strain into a glass

This is the best-tasting cocktail I've ever had. When I make one for a friend, he always wants a refill--which I am more than happy to oblige. Since everything in this drink, except for the lemon juice, is alcohol, you could get pretty wasted if you drank multiple cocktail shakers full. But you're at the lake and not driving anywhere.

When we first had our house, we liked to go out to eat at a place called "Kamp Karefree." It has closed and is now for sale. It can be yours for the small sum of $2.1 million. But it is 3.39 acres of waterfront property and turnkey ready as a restaurant and marina. We now dine out at Highwater Landing, which is behind Bond's Grocery and is usually open Thursday through Saturday. They have excellent fried catfish and cheeseburgers, among other tasty fare. Speaking of Bond's Grocery, it is a true Horseshoe landmark. They have a limited selection (this is not Kroger) but they are just a few minutes drive from anywhere on the lake.

By the way, my wife bought me a fishing pole, so this year I think I'll use it, maybe hook us some dinner. Now, which end goes in the water?

One final note. If you are interested in Horseshoe Lake history (and there is a lot of it), I recommend the book The History of Horseshoe Lake by Nikki Lentz Walker. It's a fascinating read and a most helpful resource. We actually met the author recently sitting at the bar at HighWater Landing.

Life is short. Get busy!

Jim

Disclosure/Disclaimer: My family members and/or I own shares of MTN and AOUT.  Individual stocks are mentioned here for the sole purpose of illustrating investment concepts, and nothing stated here should be construed as the advice to buy or sell any security.

Copyright 2026  James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.

Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:

jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com

It's a Mad, Mad World

 

Is it just me, or do there seem to be an awful lot of people out there who are mad at the world? I encounter such people, typically, where they work and I shop. I don't feel that they are mad at me, or at anyone or anything in particular. They just ooze a sense of, I'd rather be anywhere but here. And the places where they work, I have noticed, are not independent, small businesses, but stores that are part of a large corporation. They really don't care what you buy--or if you buy anything at all. They have no skin in the game. Maybe they are just biding their time until Prince Charming--or Elon Musk--comes along. I don't sense that profound dissatisfaction when I walk into a small business, where it is likely that I'll encounter the owner--the person who does have skin in the game. And it is that ownership that makes all the difference.

Economists describe the current American economy as being "K-shaped." The upward slope of the K represents those people who are doing well and thriving. The downward slope stands for those people whose economic lives are stagnating or falling behind. To invoke another bit of imagery, the rising tide is not lifting all the boats--in fact, it is lifting only a select few. What determines someone's place on the K? Ownership. And there are several forms of ownership--owning a business, having home equity or an investment portfolio. To put it another way, it's the difference between having a positive net worth or zero (or negative) net worth. That number does not have to be a million dollars--it just needs to be something. I have often said that the difference between having, say, a few thousand to $100,000 in net worth is actually greater than having millions in net worth. Of course, that distinction only goes so far. A lesser amount will not get you a vacation home or a yacht, but it does bestow finanical security and options for growing that net worth.

When I go to a fast food outlet, I understand that the people taking orders and flipping burgers are probably making minimum wage.  But there is a hopeful assumption that because this is likely a first job for many of them, they will, with age and experience, move up the ladder. This, of course, does not necessarily happen. My advice to any young person just starting out: Set your sights on becoming an owner, save money and invest something. I don't think this is taught in schools. Why? Because ownership is a decidedly capitalist philosophy, and that is not the mindset of many educators.

In a sea of unhappy people working at the bottom levels of large corporations, there is one company that stands out as an exception: Costco (COST, $982). Costco is known for treating its employees with respect and paying wages higher than what is the industry norm. The average hourly wage at Costco is about $26 to $30. The company also offers exceptional benefits and promotes mostly from within. This is all part of the company's long-term focus, while so many competitors are obsessed with the short term and the next quarterly earnings. Is Costco's corporate culture at odds with the interests of shareholders? I'll let the numbers speak for thermselves. Since January 2016, COST stock is up some 351%; $10,000 invested in the stock at that time would be worth about $45,000 today. That is more than double the market's (as measured by the S&P 500) return.

My wife and I pay the annual membership fee to shop at Costco, and that is the foundation of the company's business model. The nearest Costco is about a 20 minute drive from or house, so we go there maybe once or twice a month. But when  we do, our shopping cart rings up about an average of $500+ at checkout. People unfamiliar with Costco may not realize that they have excellent steaks and other meats. If you have good freezer space (and a home generator, which I strongly recommend), you can really stock up. Some years ago, my wife and I took our two-year old grandson to shop with us, and I took a picture and sent it to a friend of mine. He replied: "They sell toddlers at Costco now?" I replied: "Yes, but you have to buy two dozen of them."

Life is short. Get Busy!

Jim

Disclosure/Disclaimer: My family members and/or I own shares of COST. Individual stocks are mentioned here for the sole purpose of illustrating investment concepts, and nothing stated here should be construed as the advice to buy or sell any security.

Copyright 2026 James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.

Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:

jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com

Champagne, Black-Eyed Peas, and Resolutions

--Scarlett O'Hara

The custom of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring good luck in the year ahead. This may not be as reliable as the hangover from guzzling too much bubbly the night before, but I always say there is no harm in trying. As for resolutions, they usually take the form of adopting good habits and ditching bad ones: I will spend more time with my family and quit downing cheap scotch at the strip club. Many people resolve to get healthier, and I see this at my fitness center, when the place is packed in  January, but those crowds taper off by the end of February. Procrastination is the enemy of disciplined consistency. As Scarlett O'Hara said at the end of Gone With the Wind, I'll think about that tomorrow.

The turning of the calendar to a new year serves as what I like to call a lodestar--in this case, a set target date to make those positive changes. I have friends who say they are going to have a "Dry January," but judging from those Bloody Marys I see served with the black-eyed peas, I guess January starts a few days later for those folks. Here's an example from my recent experience. This past summer my wife and I were invited to join our good friends for a week on their yacht in the Caribbean. They sent us some information to prepare for the trip, and that was when I learned that there was no smoking allowed on the boat--not even on the outdoor decks. I quit smoking cigarettes 14 years ago (how I accomplished that is a story for another post), but I now enjoy cigars. So, I had to psyche myself up to give up cigars for a week. (It was well worth it, by the way.) I didn't need to choose my lodestar, as it was handed to me.

It's always a good time to think about getting our financial house in order, with a new year giving just the nudge to focus. I like to think of this in two parts: my income statement of income and expenses, and my balance sheet of assets and liabilities. Finding ways to increase income is more of an ongoing endeavor, so I try to take my scalpel to expenses in the immediate term. One example here is all the subscription charges I see on my credit card statement. How did I manage to get all those subscriptions?  I just start (or try to start) cancelling everything. If it's something I miss and need, surely they'll let me have it back. The charges may be insignificant, but they add up. It's like cleaning out my closet--if I haven't worn something in more then a year, then it's Goodwill, here I come.

Also, it's a good time for a portfolio check-up. Do the stocks I own make sense in light of what's going on in the world? Are they relevant, or are they just there because they've been there for a long time? Investments are not the place to form sentimental attachments. And what's missing? Unless you've been living untethered from all forms of communication (might need to try that), you know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ubiquitous topic in the investment world. NVIDIA (NVDA, $186) has been the star preformer here, up some 20,000+% over the past ten years--One thousand dollars invested in NVDA stock in 2016 would be worth around $250,000 today. Those are once-in-a-generation returns. And there are other companies like NVDA that make the technology that enables AI, but what about the companies using AI to become more efficient and profitable? That opens up an entire world of investment opportunities. The companies who can harness AI effectively will end up leaving the ones who don't in the dust. This is what really bears watching.

A portfolio check-up is similar to your exam at the doctor. There are certain things the doctor always checks--your heart, blood pressure, blood, and urine. In your portfolio, we'd be checking our diversification, the industries where we might be over- or  under-exposed. Do we have some reliable dividend-payers? My favorite stocks are those that are smaller and relatively unknown--and that have a promising growth runway ahead of them. I love to find one or more and add those to my portfolio. One such example here is Toast (TOST, $33). They make software and hardware that integrate a restaurant's operations into one ecosystem--ordering, inventory, payment, etc. Your server takes your order on a hand-held device, which transmits that back to the kitchen, and then generates your bill. It will keep track of which items need to be re-ordered. My friend Kelcie owns a casual restaurant here in Memphis called Wild Beets. They serve salads and other healthy fare (it's really good and tasty). Kelcie uses Toast and loves it, noting the "simplicity of the loyalty program and a very user-friendly backend."

When making those January changes, we should be mindful of qualities of a personal nature that we don't want or need to change. In the wise words of Dr. Seuss:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

Life is short. Get busy!

Jim

Disclosure/Disclaimer: My family members and/or I own shares of NVDA and TOST. Individual stocks are mentioned here for the sole purpose of illustrating investment concepts, and nothing stated here should be construed as the advice to buy or sell any security.

Copyright 2026 James Brinkley Taylor, Jr.

Email me with any questions, comments, or feedback:

jbrinkleytaylor@gmail.com