The Best of 2015

The Best of 2015

As 2015 comes to a close I thought that I would share some of my best investments, experiences and products purchased of the year.

1.  Best Financial Investments

Stocks, bonds and commodities all seem to have had a lackluster year.  Some of my best returns actually came from alternative investments.  While I wouldn't recommending investing a large percentage of your investments in these, they are good for some portfolio diversification. 

• Bitcoin (via Coinbase):  Up 34% in 2015.
• Upstart:  Consistent 6-7% ROI on a portfolio of loans.
• Sharespost 100 Fund:  Portfolio of late stage venture backed companies

 2.  Best Conferences/Events

• By far one the best experiences that I had this year was attending the Hive Global Leaders Program in August.  If you are trying to find or solidify your "why" I would highly recommended it.  You'll come away with a life plan and a supportive network of kindred spirits to help you make it a reality.
• Second on my list would be attending the 50th Annual Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder meeting.  Myself and 44,000 others made the pilgrimage to Omaha to see Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger for the largest attendance at the event ever.  I'm not sure that I would want to attend every year, but it is definitely worth attending at least once for the experience and knowledge you'll gain. 

3.  Best Products Purchased

• Audible by Amazon:  In early 2015 I grew absolutely sick of satellite radio, so I decide to turn my commute into a rolling classroom.  24 books for under $10 each through Audible's Platinum subscription have allowed me to listen 8-10 hours of audio books a week.  The best part is that if you don't like a book you simply return it (no questions asked).  If you are not already a member you can get one of the books below for free from me just to give it a try.  These are a few of my favorite books of 2015: 

             - Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters by John C. Maxwell

             - Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel

             - The Self-Made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value by John Sviokla

             - Bold: How to Go Big, Make Bank, and Better the World by Peter H. Diamandis

• Apple Watch:  No surprise here right?  While I can say that I haven't mastered all it's functionality yet, I am quite pleased with it's functionality and performance so far.

Happy New Year!!!

Gary Hoke

Dice Tech Salary Survey for 2010-2011 is out...

http://salary.dice.com/Documents/Dice_2010_11_TechSalarySurvey.pdf

Some surprise results with regards to salary drop for some roles and skills.

Gary Hoke

I just ordered "The Real Business of IT" this past weekend and I'm looking forward to reading it. I heard lots of positive feedback and it appears to have numerous positive reviews.

http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/media_products/REAL_IT/home.jsp

If you would like a preview Chapter 1 and Chapter 5 are available online. I'll post a review once I'm finished.

Gary Hoke

So what if you could take a pill and it could report back to your doctor when you took it, what was your heart rate, body temperature or other physiological information? Well that day is here (or at least really close). Proteus Biomedical has developed ingestible sensor technology that does just that.

http://www.proteusbiomed.com/proteus_technology.html

Imagine if you got a text message reminding you to take your medication, but only if you forgot to take it. This technology has the promise to significantly increase drug adherence thereby allow physicians to better determine if a drug was not effective as a result of poor drug adherence versus efficacy. This could be especially of interest in clinical trials when the assessment of efficacy is most critical.

Gary Hoke