It's too nice a day to think about stocks. It's summer, there's sun and birds and similar things going on outside, so I'm going to take advantage of one of the fundamental benefits of Rule Maker investing. I'm going to totally ignore the portfolio for a while.
Instead, I'm going to listen to Earl Semones, a reader who e-mailed me to praise one of the older columns from the archives and ask how many other worthwhile reads are buried back there. It's true: We need some way to rank the archives and make the "five star" columns stand out. I've long thought we could do an entire book of nothing but the best of the daily columns from the past few years.
In the absence of a ranking system where people can vote on archive material (an idea mentioned repeatedly at last weekend's Foolish anniversary party), here are a few links to articles I wrote in the first year of this column. Most of these cover their topics thoroughly enough that I've been reluctant to write about them since. But, our readership has grown a bit since then, and many current readers have probably never seen these columns. Rather than repeat myself, here's an index of some of the highlights from the older stuff.
I've written a couple of series to help nontechnical people understand what Intel does for a living, which (judging by my e-mail) were generally well received. The first batch is about how microchips are actually manufactured:
- Inside Intel (4/21/98)
- Moore's Law (4/22/98)
- How Intel Makes Money (4/23/98)
- Fools on Kurlak (5/19/98)
- Intel Is Sizzling (8/18/98)
One investment can guarantee a fixed, tax-free rate of return: paying off your debts. Here are a couple of columns about that.
- A Guaranteed Winner (3/26/98)
- Downsize Your Debt (5/22/98)
- To Believe or Not to Believe (5/20/98)
- Forming a Corporation (6/23/98)
- Running a Business (6/24/98)
- Companies Growing Up (6/25/98)
- Drips and Cash Kings (7/23/98)
- When's the Bear Market? (7/24/98)
- Buying Schering-Plough! (8/20/98)
- Defending the Castle (8/21/98)
- A New Cash-King (9/22/98)
- Running the Value Chain (9/24/98)
- Diversifying in One Company (12/23/98)
If this index has been useful to anybody, bug me and maybe I'll do one for 1999 or (at the end of the year), 2000. If you want some of the other authors to index their content (Phil's been around as long as I have, and Tom used to write for us regularly), e-mail them or ask on the discussion boards.
-- Oak