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Every two weeks, I share my writing on investing, career transitions, meaningful work, parenting, living intentionally, and other topics that engage me.

I'm still trying to figure stuff out.

New: Beyond the Cove Curiosity Conversations

Inspired by Brian Grazer and Paul Millerd's practices of the same name, I'm opening 30-minute slots on my calendar for no-agenda conversations with Beyond the Cove readers. I look forward to helping if I can and building deeper connections with friends, former colleagues, and speaking to many readers for the first time.

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Field Notes Edition #15

In these shorter emails, I’ll share a few things that made me think, smile, or look twice. Maybe they’ll do the same for you.

Please share any feedback or ideas. Just hit reply.

Let's go...

• Business Breakdowns With AI tools and podcasts like Business Breakdowns from Colossus, it's never been easier and quicker to ramp up on a new company. Last week, I listened to the interviews on Amphenol, Heico, and AJ Gallagher. The catalog features 155 (and growing) episodes, focusing on public and private companies, as well as occasional industry overviews. The deep dives dig into fundamentals and strategic drivers, ensuring that interviews with analysts and portfolio managers retain value for years. To keep the content evergreen, you won't hear any specific investment recommendations or references to valuation. It's notable that the Heico episode (link below), the podcast's most popular, was recorded in February 2024.

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• How to Squeeze the Most From the New SALT Cap Finally, a bit of good news for high-income earners in high-tax states like ME, MA, NY, and NJ. Not only will the higher State and Local Tax deductions help, but the change may also open opportunities for itemized deductions. This helpful article from the WSJ personal finance sections runs through the highlights, considerations, and tips. But, as always, seek professional advice.

• Ageing Homebuyer First-time and existing home buyers are getting older at an accelerating pace. The average age of first-time homebuyers is now above 40 years old, a record high. While correlation is not necessarily causation, it's not a big leap to assume affordability is the root cause here. Older buyers tend to have more money saved or home equity available as a down payment.

Small Sparks Sometimes it doesn't take much.

• Transition Wisdom In a recent group catch-up, J reflected: "Change is good. Transitions are hard." Her family of four recently moved to CO from the West Coast, seeking a better quality of life, not long after starting a new job. Having made a similar leap seven years ago this month, I can relate. It's been challenging at times, but it's definitely been worth it for our family.
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• Create Luck If you're looking to make a professional change in 2026, internal or external, it's time for a sprint. Right now, companies are deep in budget and planning season for the year ahead. In a couple of weeks, we enter the holiday season, and it'll be tough to make any forward progress until mid-January. Nothing replaces good planning and effort, but luck helps, too. George Mack blends all of the above in "How to Engineer Luck," a short essay with 13 great ideas.
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• Create Luck 2 Combine the essay above with this sage advice from James Clear on how to make an impact: ​
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  A few things you need to achieve exceptional results:
  1) Quantity: You take lots of shots.
  2) Quality: You take thoughtful shots.
  3) Consistency: You keep shooting for a long time.
  4) Feedback. You take better shots over time.
  5) Luck: You get a few favorable bounces."​
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• A Quote "If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's." - Carl Jung
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• A Travel Story On a recent flight (thankfully, spared of any FAA disruptions), I pulled out my AirPods, hoping to drift away with a podcast or a book. Seconds later, I promptly fumbled the right pod. Apparently, it entered a wormhole, because I couldn't see it on the floor, between the seat, in the cushion, or in my pocket. I checked my hands. Twice. No dice. While in flight, there wasn't much more I could do. The search would have to wait until we landed.
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  As the passengers rushed off to the plane to catch their tight connections, I began to poke around with a sense of urgency, deeper and deeper into the seat. I only had 20 minutes to get to my next flight in another terminal. With the inner workings of seat 34C now exposed, I finally saw a bit of white plastic and grunted, "Yes!" I stood up to rest my back. That's when I looked around and noticed half a dozen passengers hanging back to cheer me on. One asked, "Did you get it?" Another, "Can you see it?" Somehow, we were in this quest together.
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  With a partial view of "my precious," I fired my left hand deep into the mechanical guts of the seat and connected two fingers to the white molded plastic. I gently lifted, but the position was either too awkward or my fingers were just too fat for the space, and the AirPod slipped free, now more deeply lodged into a steel crevice.
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  Remembering I didn't have much time to make my connection, the pressure and frustration started to build. My seatmate to my left stepped in, demanding a chance to try. She also had a flight to catch and felt pressure to get moving. Still, for some reason, she fixed her focus on retrieving some stranger's pod. We hadn't even spoken on the entire flight. Why did she care?
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  We spent another five minutes trying to dislodge the pod, with no luck. All of the onlookers remained. In fact, two flight attendants joined us, offering to call a mechanical team to disassemble the seat. But that would take more time than we had. And this was an AirPod, not a diamond engagement ring.
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  After nearly ten minutes, it was time to let it go. I called off the search and offered my sincere thanks to our small crew.
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  Lately, it seems, traveling brings out the worst in people. Why should anyone have to listen to TikTok videos on speakerphone in a public place? Bare feet on planes? Hand-to-hand combat for scarce overhead space. You've probably seen this and worse, right? At least for now, on a flight from Portland to Denver, a small moment of frustration restored at least some faith in the decency of fellow travellers.

And a Farewell Photo...

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