MAY 16, 2020. Any way you slice it investing’s about building on what you have. Long or short term it all adds up. Here’s how. Enjoy, because this story’s “DONE. Realized Gain +319%. One week.”
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Bonds Don’t Suck.
MAY 2, 2020. Bonds are Fa King awesome. Like losing money? Then don’t worry about bonds. Most enjoy protecting theirs.
Yet no one ever launches the real bond punchline. All we ever hear is “yields dropping” or “prices rising.” Only after losing money does one truly learn to value protection, and bonds. Thus the phrase “your first loss is your best loss.” Bonds are brilliant yet treated like some OTC digestive. Not here.
No savvy equity investor should ever rebalance or tie their shoes without the butt-simple bond truth.
Learn it once and own it forever. Bonds are not lame and safety and yield are only a slice. It’s only the safety story that’s lame. Why “Bonds Don’t Suck.”(Photo; Ryan McGuire)
Auto Insurance. Your Best Rate Awaits. It’s So Easy.
JANUARY 18, 2020. Let’s face it. Life isn’t a leafy lane a lot of the time. Life is challenging. Yet, once we accept that premise, it becomes easier. Often only a fine line lies between us and more–really. Car insurance is a prime example. You need it. They want an arm for it. We just saw through it, to a 29% lower premium, from a higher rated company, for the exact same coverage. Fact. You have as much say in the price you pay as they do. How? We made a choice, had an insight, took an action. That can change things. Did for us.
Turn the tables on how you think about auto insurance. Competition is alive and well. But the real competition is between quoting agents, regardless of the company or other price-carving details. The agent’s the end of the pipe. We exercise as much say over our premium as companies do, if we’re willing to walk. No one’s chained us to any particular agent, policy, or company. Switching’s not a sin. It’s called business.
A better rate and probably a better agent are out there ready to meet your motoring coverage needs. We found both, again, saving us 29% or $360.00 a year without bundling. Fact. And it was so easy. All it takes is a bit of time, a telephone, and an internet connection. “Auto Insurance. Your Best Rate Awaits. It’s So Easy.”
Moonbeam Metrics. Schwab Brings Out Light in the Night.
NOVEMBER 14, 2019. Who’s got your back, front, and middle, when you’re investing? You hope it’s your broker. When you wade into the retail investing world you’re holding hands with those in between you and the trading rig. It’s a complicated business and how they do it and what they’re bringing matters.
The world’s weird busy. We spend as much time beneath the umbrella of our broker as we do with our loved ones. How we’re treated and what we find there shapes more than the moment. Such shapes our experience of investing on a daily basis, and the returns we see at the end of each. We share some of how in “Moonbeam Metrics. Schwab Brings Out Light in the Night.”
Oops…Somebody’s Thinking.
JULY 21, 2019. Savvy people have no “betters.” They realize complaining accomplishes Fa King nothing. Savvy people only do so after the work is done, and just for fun. Shaking the robbers off of your money is like soaking the sump pump stink out of old shoes.
Wall Street’s job is to lie and steal, concoct and on occasion create, a moment you can actually use. No sump pump on the planet’s strong enough to suck that stink out of Wall Street. No juke you can throw will fully dodge their busy hands.
However, you can keep things relatively fair when it comes to your retirement and investments.
No one-time fix exists. It’s more about containment, while creating your own good. “Oops…Somebody’s Thinking.” Nice.
Blind Investing by Fidelity. It’s More Fun Without Those Pesky Facts.
JULY 18, 2019. Someone wants your help with their Fidelity retirement account you say? Nice. Fidelity’s literally got that covered. Their “Limited trading authority’s” darkly ingenious. Just close your eyes and select.
Who doesn’t enjoy a blindfold for a car rite, or while investing? Handcuffs and half-facts too. Relax, it’s only your nest egg. All mutual finds smell different over the phone. Besides, investing research grows dull when you can actually see the facts.
Admit it. Everybody loves game show-style retirement navigating. Details muck everything up. Fidelity’s unique Zero-View format is for anyone attempting to help a participant in any of the retirement plans they manage. How? Fidelity snaps off the lights and instructs you to ask questions, over the phone. Two ways past this bat-mad lunacy. “Blind Investing by Fidelity.”
JPM Beaten Like a Brexit Goat. “But Still All Good–For Now.”
JUNE 27, 2019. Alexander Bell wasn’t thinking banking when he unwound some wire to create a connection. Quaint it seems now, the notion of telephones for talking. Who talks? Phones are for textual grunts, photos, useless apps, and moving money. Nothing stays the same, and caring just gets in the way. That’s why there are museums. That’s also like our big, old, banks. Soon they will need parks, just like dinosaurs, for those who wish to remember.
Moving money used to be hard, and physical. Slow and expensive marred the experience while Western Union provided the piratical pricing. Western Union increasingly looks like Xerox, a company looking for a future. It’s about to get much worse for them.
JPM is far more than either of those dinos, and more then a money mover. But who cares?
Many would say JPM is the best at what it does However some of what it does is caught in a costly change, and under pressure. Should you want any? Commissioner Gordon could be about to hard-beam the Bat Signal over big banking.
Giddy Spring Joy. Blame it on Your IRA.
APRIL 13, 2019. April brings joy. It marks a turning point. Bubbles of inspiration tickle our spirits. Why not? Well, taxes? We’re here to remind. We’re simply brimming with four joys of this new season.
Our taxes are done and with very little pain. But what pays you? Everyone get the relief of finishing.
The federal forced march toward the 15th becomes merely a memory. Repeat our move, if you haven’t already. That pays you.
Many know the abiding truth. Available to you each year, and every year there after, is a safe place from which to file. Once done, it’s forever. That’s a joy right? You can simply be there, annually, at this very time of year. Birds sing there, and lunch is always Al fresco. The service is wonderful, and cheap. For many no trading reports are required. That’s a joy, right?
The blooms of spring lead to summer and airline tickets to places worth visiting. The money you save by the above hinted move, may just pay for your trip. Raise a glass. Our four summer kick-off joys, just for you. Two will pay you all year long. Enjoy.
Pay Yourself First. Signal To Launch.
APRIL 9, 2019. You often hear it. “It’s your money.” Is it? Only yours until you spend it. The spent becomes someone else’s. Learn to keep it, and create joy. Oops. Money doesn’t create happiness. No, it allows joy, something far superior. A thousand cappuccinos equals two shares of Amazon. More actually. Fact. Who knew? Long-time Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Yet living like Martin Luther during his monastic tour leads to little. Hair shirts are nonsense, and so is frittering all your hard-earned jack.
The clean soothing new car smell is outstanding. We love it, every time we load into someone else’s car. That’s because ceaseless car payments grow monastic, except for dealers and OEMs. Depreciating assets don’t pay. What does? Paying yourself first.
PYF is a skill set. No? Were it not, more people would be doing it. We pay ourselves straight off the top, like a Fa King blizzard. If you do also, you know exactly what we’re speaking of. Living better is no accident. Nor is it a money treadmill. Get your edge.
PYF is that edge. It’s about creating more than the sum of your days. Make your efforts accumulate. Again–it’s your money, and time. It’s also your life. Your name’s on all three. PYF means you’ll have more. More means you’re on your way to better. And there’s even more than that. That’s called the Gift of O. It’s simple. You can do this.
Here’s how it’s done.
Black Ops. “Retail This.”
FEBRUARY 27, 2019. Money is three-sided. We earn it on the front side, invest it in-between, and spend it on the back. Many ways exist to handle each. Standing tough on the front end is only a piece of the puzzle. Investing is an entire stand alone story. Leveraging it on the retail back side is a saga loved by all. Who doesn’t relish retail war stories?
Using simple brute dollar power is crap. Great news. Investors have special powers, powers about which others are clueless. No? Yes. Retailers do not exist in a vacuum. Any investor knows that. But what do you do about it? Use it to get more. You can, and your working dollar deserves the support. But we are responsible to learn those available angles.
Active investors know both markets and economic conditions. Example. Retail is struggling to meet the tricky brick-and-mortar and online balance. For many, it’s the physical store that’s suffering. Amazon’s a big part of that. When retailers struggle, you can win. It’s called business. It’s what they do to you–use it back. Here’s how to leverage slow sales using a BBBY example.
