I once had a huge research report due for clients and the deadline was quickly approaching. My computer had just frozen and I thought the best thing to do at that point was to reboot. But my computer wouldn’t start up. That was my only computer and the document, which had about 100 pages, hadn’t been backed up in quite some time.#-ad_banner-# It turned out I needed to reinstall the operating system, which would wipe out my current hard drive. At that point, getting access to my document had become priceless. That episode taught me an important lesson: Save early… Read More
I once had a huge research report due for clients and the deadline was quickly approaching. My computer had just frozen and I thought the best thing to do at that point was to reboot. But my computer wouldn’t start up. That was my only computer and the document, which had about 100 pages, hadn’t been backed up in quite some time.#-ad_banner-# It turned out I needed to reinstall the operating system, which would wipe out my current hard drive. At that point, getting access to my document had become priceless. That episode taught me an important lesson: Save early and often. Well, this lesson doesn’t just apply to backing up data. It’s also a key ingredient for successful investing. Just like certain documents and pictures, in business, a few irreplaceable assets have significant value and no adequate substitute. Take pipelines for example. Once they have been built, it’s simply not feasible for another company to come along and build a new pipeline next to the existing one. Add the fact that pipelines have a valuable use as they carry oil, natural gas, fuels and other commodities across the country, and it really becomes… Read More