I kick myself when I think back and remember how the philosophy behind one of his confidents stunk to the high heaven.

My philosophy is simple, buy for next to nothing, use this built in equity to renovate the property to a high trouble free level.

That is my philosophy.

The California politics of Reagan's time that ended up in budget surpluses and had the philosophies of "send the welfare bums back to work" and "clean up the mess at Berkeley" - YOU BET I AM!

They seem about right to me.I agree with the philosophy @Steven Maduro is promoting.

My philosophy is, I am building a house, I can't go anywhere, you can place a lien, and you can easily track me down. 

If it is just for extras then you need to know your end of life philosophy on pets.

Take a look at the homes that have sold around you for top dollar, before taking on any additional cost (obviously rental & flip principles call for different trains of thought here)  If comps sold within the top 5% of your area are all selling with older cabinets, it's definitely a no-go regardless of investing philosophy. 

This made me totally change my philosophy behind when to purchase buy and hold, and when flipping is more profitable.  

In my own investment philosophy I basically apply a REI twist to a famous quote by Karl Von Clausewitz:  "The enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan".