Interesting thoughts from Greg Mankiw's blog

The link between income and happiness is mainly an illusion.

Alan Krueger and Daniel Kahneman, two scholars at my alma mater, tell us that the "link between income and happiness is mainly an illusion."

So Shakespeare, The Russians, and almost everyone who has ever taken pen to paper are right!

How to beat the market:

These comparisons ignore taxes. On an after-tax basis, the superior performance of index funds would be even greater, because index funds are particularly good at deferring realization of capital gains.

According to Morningstar, over the past 10 years, Vanguard's S&P 500 Fund beat 74 percent of comparable funds on a before-tax basis and 86 percent on an after-tax basis. Even better is Vanguard's Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation Fund, which is essentially an index fund that keeps one eye on the tax system. It beat 90 percent of comparable funds on an after-tax basis

But human nature being what is it, expect looks of amazement from others when you tell them that you follow a mostly passive investment strategy.