© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published as Borders in International Family Magazine Republished in Folks Magazine on 9/12/09. Dennis and I had never been to Canada. So, in February of 1971 we decided to hitchhike from Terre Haute, Indiana to Toronto by way of Detroit. A kindly gentleman in a pick-up truck offeredContinue reading “Rejection”
Author Archives: Brooke Allen
TV Fatality
© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine In 1960, when I was eight years old, my parents bought a television. It was a black and white console model and it cost my dad about a month’s take-home pay. It changed my life. I could now entertain myself without friends,Continue reading “TV Fatality”
Can You Afford It?
© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine It is important not to buy stuff you cannot afford. I attended a presentation by a professor who talked about how, as a child, his Dad drove their cars into the ground even though their less successful neighbors purchased new ones every fewContinue reading “Can You Afford It?”
Your Education is Your Most Valuable Asset, not Your Schooling
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine My mother was born in West Virginia and that made her an American citizen by birth. Her father was a naturalized German-American, and her mother was a native Italian. Her parents decided to raise her in Florence, Italy. When it became clear thatContinue reading “Your Education is Your Most Valuable Asset, not Your Schooling”
Trade or Profession
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine I have just returned from the annual meeting of the Chicago Quantitative Alliance (www.cqa.org) where one speaker made a convincing case that the brokerage and banking systems are bankrupt and another made the case that so is the Federal Government. The world isContinue reading “Trade or Profession”
Sincerity
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine When my grandparents lived in Bogotá, Grandma became bored. My grandfather told her that she could spend $1,000 (which was a fair bit of money in the Depression) on a hobby, but it would have to pay for itself. She decided to becomeContinue reading “Sincerity”
Why? Why not?
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine Someone said, “Mardi Gras starts today.” Six of us shared a table for dinner at the small engineering college in Indiana. I said, “Let’s go?” Four people said, “Why?” Roger said, “Why not?” Roger, who had grown up in Indiana, had only onceContinue reading “Why? Why not?”
Money
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine My father told me two things about money that had a profound effect on my life. They were: “Money should buy freedom, not chains.” and, “It is easier to make money doing what makes you happy than to buy happiness with the moneyContinue reading “Money”
When Pigs Fly
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine In 1977, American Airlines offered me a job in Manhattan in their Operations Research group and I took it. One of our projects was to build a mathematical model to determine how much we should overbook each flight so as to maximize profit.Continue reading “When Pigs Fly”
Three Phase Theory
© 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Experience has convinced me that there are three phases to the economic cycle: Phase I – A period when it seems that everything you do succeeds Phase II – A period when it seems that nothing you do succeeds Phase III – A period when success depends on whatContinue reading “Three Phase Theory”
Brooke Allen 