When I read these articles, I always begin to question if I am a passive or active investor. I strongly believe in keeping a diverse portfolio, mainly because I

When I read these articles, I always begin to question if I am a passive or active investor. I strongly believe in keeping a diverse portfolio, mainly because I am keenly aware of my own ignorance as it relates to understanding complex stock moves and changes. Warren Buffet encourages novices to invest in index funds, since they outperform individual picks. Understanding asset value and free cash flow changed my life and my entire investment thesis about 10 years ago. Developing my own version of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" I now seek to buy or build assets that make a return to me. Some return cash, others good feelings or emotions. I find that my financial situation is far more stable this way, I am semi-insulated from group-think (markets); and I look at re-applying net proceeds on a regular basis. That is a fun activity, using cash from one investment to build a new investment that will hopefully also return cash and build an asset. It takes precious little to do this, and the most fun of all has been teaching my daughter how to make money. At 8 she looks at apartments, hot dog stands, and many small businesses as an opportunity to "make cash". We now have interesting conversations in the car about what it would take to start "X" business.