Evan Goldfine

My 2024 side project is a blog about listening to everything Bach wrote. These will be 200+ well-spent listening hours, and I hope my written reflections will be rewarding to write (and read). Intro post below. Come along! yearofbach.substack.com

@PlusEVAnalytics @realTomBayes One mile from the Manhattan Con Ed power plant?!

@IsThisMyMoney @realTomBayes Where was he born and how close was it to the nearest nuclear power plant?

Follow my son @realTomBayes for hot takes and podcasts on prediction markets before he graduates from middle school.

@PlusEVAnalytics @realTomBayes he’s been vegetarian by choice since he was 6 I don’t know what to tell you. Overall, I can’t keep up with him on a lot of this stuff.

@IsThisMyMoney @realTomBayes Sir what are you feeding this child?

@peteXLarge Thanks Pete!

@IsThisMyMoney Nice to see you active, Evan. (Enjoyed your series “why your landlord increases the rent.”)

My top 47 Albums of 2025. open.substack.com/pub/yearofbach…

On the troubling, greatest performance of Beethoven's Ninth, with @tylercowen. Full podcast link below.

@FuzzJack Thanks Jack!

Terrific listen. Enjoying these hyper specific podcasts.

Listen to me and @tylercowen talk about Bach, Beethoven, Beatles, hidden leverage in the financial system, and crossword puzzles. A true thrill for me. Link below!

@nickgraynews This is so great. I’m taking some credit. x.com/isthismymoney/…

I got engaged this past weekend. We're going to get married and then hopefully start a family. That might be enough of a post for most people But since I've been public with my dating life, I want to reflect on this for a moment A year ago, the thought of getting married wasn't even on my radar. And yet now I'm in love. So I'll tell you what I did. And I'll tell you how I changed my mental models on dating, why I love this woman, and what comes next. First, my life was pretty good Or at least it felt incredibly full. I built businesses and made some good investments. I lived in NYC, moved to Austin, and just generally loved the thrill of dating and hosting events. My freedom is what I valued the most. I could fly anywhere in the world on a whim I could pack a bag and go to Japan just for fun, and then leave the moment I got bored. Being single felt like absolute freedom. I loved it. But about a year ago, something changed. I did the Tokyo blind date thing. Then my sister had a baby. And all my best friends started having kids. I looked around at my life and things just felt a bit more flat. The dating experiences that used to thrill me were starting to feel empty. I was getting older, too, and I started to feel like my time was running out. I realized that I wanted more. I wanted to share my life with someone, and I wanted to start a family. So I got strategic about it. Which I know is super nerdy and doesn't feel romantic, but I had to change something major with my lens on dating I read books on relationships, I interviewed friends in happy marriages, and I thought a lot about what my non-negotiables were. I created a framework: big stuff versus small stuff. Small stuff was what I'd always focused on. Looks, style, wit. These are the things for me that create instant attraction. Big stuff was the foundation. Values, wanting kids, where they want to live, how they treat people, and what a successful partnership means to them. For too long, I'd screened for the small stuff first. Attractive? Check Fun? Check. Good enough! But finding a life partner meant flipping the order. I thought I knew what I wanted, but my intuition about what would lead to long-term happiness was often dead wrong. I had to look at the big stuff first and be willing to walk away if it didn't align, no matter how gorgeous or charming they were. So I started being direct on dates and telling people that I was interested in a serious relationship. Then came the hard part: showing up. One Tuesday evening, dead tired from work, my friend Katelyn invited me to Barton Springs Pool. Every bone in my body wanted to stay home and keep working. But I went anyway. Lauren was up on the hill reading a book. She looked supermodel beautiful and was exactly my type. The book caught my attention. She was reading Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, which is not exactly a fun poolside read. I walked over to chat her up. Small stuff got me there, but the big stuff kept me talking. She had a rare confidence and a quick wit. When she talked about her family, there was a warmth I didn't know I'd been looking for. Three hours into our first date, I asked her if we should get married. But that was too bold. She laughed it off and said she'd think about it. That was ten months ago. We've spent nearly every day together since and moved in together earlier this year. Now she's become my best friend. When I get too intense, she grounds me. When I miss details, she catches them all. She pushes me to grow in ways I'd never push myself. Lauren has a rare gift of social grace. She can talk to anyone about anything. Venture capital one minute and cowboy boots the next. The first time I joined her family for Rosh Hashanah they welcomed me with open arms. They roasted me, teased me about my affinity for name tags, and brought me into their world. Seeing how close they all are - how Lauren talks to them daily, how proud she is of her brothers and cousins and dad - I thought, "I want this. I like this." Last weekend was her birthday. We went out to California to talk about our future. About kids and about what building a life together really means. I asked her again if she'd marry me, and this time she said yes. It feels big. It feels right. And I'm super happy for what comes next.

My Bach newsletter has forked into a podcast! My first guest: author @HenryEOliver Listen to us fan out on a provincial genius, dead almost 300 years. Link below.

Someone actually wanted to hear me go on and on about Steely Dan. Unprecedented. Thank you, Jake! @ExpandingDan

@tylercowen A tight, two-minute "Not Guilty" would have been a Beatles classic. The White Album demo is so much better than George's version from 1979. Great talk with Ian!

My excellent Conversation with Ian Leslie, conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/ian-l…, #Beatles, #Cowenconvos

@ethan_iverson I haven't forgotten this awful piece of criticism. villagevoice.com/great-white-mo…

RIP Francis Davis. Good obit by Nate Chinen npr.org/2025/04/16/g-s…

@JasonVieaux Please record an SD cover album!

Man, #SteelyDan lyrics are more terrific the older one gets. I love it.

A moment in adolescence taught me how music can help me understand myself. yearofbach.substack.com/p/an-interlude…

@johnarnold When I learned about this practice from the Atlantic a few years ago I found it enraging. You’re doing great work here.

Civil asset forfeiture, in which police can seize one's property without any criminal charges, places the onus on the individual to retrieve it only after significant time and expense, and allows police to use any proceeds to fund their own dept, is so counter to American values that it shocks the conscious. Despite orgs across the political spectrum, from ACLU to Cato to Heritage, fighting for reforms, the practice persists. The only defenders of the action are governments. Both red and blue states are guilty of abuses, but reforms have been quickening across the states. The most effective org defending individuals against civil asset forfeiture is longtime @Arnold_Ventures grantee @IJ. Yesterday, they won another case, this time at the Michigan Supreme Court. This goes along with wins in GA, OK, NV, TX and IN, and against the DEA and FBI just in the past year. We support this work because the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendments also need defending.

@DataTracker87 What's your evidence here? The timeline makes sense given previous releases and stock bonus timing.

I believe $CKX is finishing up the due diligence process with shortlisted bidders and is now in the final bids and negotiation stage of its strategic alternatives process. I'd expect a deal to be announced by August 2024. $CKX is my largest and only position.