Over the holiday, I spent time reflecting on my time in the insurance brokerage industry. One interesting area that drew some of my attention was the sale of Zenefits to TriNet Group Inc. I was personally invested into the impacts of Zenefits on our legacy employee benefits brokerage as Zenefits experienced its meteoric rise; The …
This morning, December 13, 2021, the @WSJ posted this article: Parthenon Capital to Buy Kroll Bond Rating Agency in $900 Million Deal. Given my recent blogpost on the debt ratings industry, I thought it would be interesting to delve a bit into this announcement. @WSJ has a good series of articles reviewing the history of …
It is a Sunday morning in State College, PA. I spent time this morning thinking about reading and research I have done over the past weeks about the business of credit ratings. I will share some thoughts. Background The US market for credit rating agencies, also known in SEC parlance as NRSRO, includes nine competing …
One person, on doing well by others, immediately accounts the expected favor in return. Another is not so quick, but still considers the person a debtor and knows the favor. A third kind of person acts as if not conscious of the deed, rather like a vine producing a cluster of grapes without making further …
I have been thinking about my experiences in the insurance business. As I have written about in this blog, I really enjoy the insurance business. I find it helpful to periodically review the financials of industry firms. Some examples of reviews that led to me posting on this blog: my review of GoodRx, my review …
The Loughran family lived next door to my grandparents in Paramus, NJ when I was a child. I have memories of sneaking, as a young boy, across the grass over to Mrs. Loughran’s backdoor to pick a few candies from a dish in her living room. Mrs. Loughran apparently shared that, when she asked me …
I had an inquiry from a friend earlier this week about my impressions of eHealth, Inc ($EHTH) as a possible investment. I was aware of the existence of this broker, but never looked closely at the business. So, I offered to take a look. I have been interested in the continued investments being made into …
I enjoy the slow pace of Saturday mornings during the pandemic. This morning included a casual stroll with Becca and Odie as well as some time invested into a Python project; I also listened to an interview with Niall Ferguson. Some meandering thoughts about experiences in personal finance I wrote in a blog post last …
I find value in reviewing SEC filings of competitors and vendors I work with. The process of reviewing the Management Discussion and Analysis and financial results, especially, help me feel more informed about the world around me. So, when GoodRX filed its S-1, I certainly intended to review it. Well, I didn’t get around to …
My mother is a real estate agent. In 1996, as a student at Penn State, I thought real estate might be the place to build my own career. During primary school, my brother and I would help market properties by stuffing flyers with details and photographs of listed properties into bags and distribute these bags, …