The Cooking Lane

Dinner tonight:
Roasted boneless chicken thighs, potatoes, onions, and broccoli topped with a cumin aioli.

My wife and I ran into some guys at Friction Brewing in Shawnee, KS today. Turns out they bicycled all the way to KC from Argentina to watch the World Cup. They were so nice and great to talk with some great beers. Their journey is absolutely incredible. I hope to help them navigate the world of craft beer and BBQ in Kansas City.

Lunch: Taco Salad

Lunch: Ms. Piggy from Kehde's Barbeque

A perfect end to a day of chorin’ is a plate of ribs.

Dinner tonight: Japanese Curry

Inflation is a real problem in this country, but if you are spending $28 on lunch all of the time, that is why you are broke.

Spending $28 on lunch while earning $70,000 a year is "just stupid," according to Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary. In a recent appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett, O'Leary argued that small habitual expenses are quietly costing young people a fortune in lost wealth.

"I can't stand when I see kids making $70,000 a year spending $28 for lunch," O'Leary told Bartlett. "Think about that in the context of that being put into an index fund and making 8% to 10% a year for the next 50 years." O'Leary broke down the math: investing just $28 a week into a low-cost index fund at an average 8% annual return would grow to nearly $800,000 over 50 years.

O'Leary's recommended solution is simple: automatically invest 15% of your salary before you have a chance to spend it. "If you're making $70,000 a year and you put 15% aside from when you're 25, you'll have over a million and a half dollars if you just invested it in the stock index in the S&P 500," he said.

Critics point out that saving at the rate O'Leary recommends is a tall order for many young Americans facing high rents, student debt, and stagnant wages. O'Leary, however, insists that building wealth is less about income and more about habits.

Raining and storming the last couple days so the wife and I made chicken and dumplings for dinner.

Dinner tonight:
Fried alligator, crappie, and bass, hush puppies, cheddar bay biscuits, baked beans, and coleslaw with a side of tartar sauce.