What a MORON. He had the big name, big money clients.....he had it made. He could have leveraged those clients to get even more big money clients.....by doing a great job. GREED, greed, greed. These poor professional athletes. Many of them dont have the time or ability to manage or watch over their own money. On a vaguely related issue.....I think one of the greatest mistakes any business owner can make is having someone doing your business banking or for you. When I was in business I had a friend in the clothing manufacturing business. He had a business manager running the day to day business so he could spend his time on sales. Sales was his strength. He just finished building a brand new view house and was on vacation to Hawaii when he got a call from the business manager that there was no money. It was not fraud....but simply the business manager not telling him about business issues. He had no idea of what was happening in his own company. They had to sell the new house....it was a big psychological and financial impact on him and his family. At my business.....no one....I mean no one....had authority to sign checks but me. I would have all the overhead checks typed up each month for all the bills and than I would review and sign them. Once you allow some accountant or business manager to write your checks, pay bills, etc, etc, you are on a very slippery path to not knowing what is happening in your business.
Yes. It is really amazing when you think about it. Some of these folks have such a blessing to be in such a great position financially….yet it is never enough. My deal…was it worth it?? Ruining a really good life for just the greed of a bit more. Obviously, the answer is no, it certainly is/was not.
HAPPY FRIDAY....as we approach the end of March. Three months down (soon) and nine to go....to see how we fared as investors this year. HERE are the top stories of the day as we wait for the markets to open today. Deutsche Bank and UBS shares hammered as banking fears keep tight grip https://finance.yahoo.com/news/deutsche-bank-ubs-shares-hit-102450490.html The Fed gave stocks a reprieve, but the all-clear is a ways off: Morning Brief https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-...ar-is-a-ways-off-morning-brief-093016419.html MY COMMENT Read them if you are interested. I heard one person on business TV this morning talking about all the derivatives that are out there in the world economy. Banks are heavily involved in these.....especially the BIG USA banks. Being interested I looked up a little bit on this.......they appear to be about $700TRILLION......world wide. AMAZING and SCARY....if you dont trust the computers and people that manage and create these things. A MASSIVE and little talked about system that underpins the entire world economy and banking system. Here is some info: "Financial derivatives are financial instruments that are linked to a specific financial instrument or indicator or commodity, and through which specific financial risks can be traded in financial markets in their own right. Transactions in financial derivatives should be treated as separate transactions rather than as integral parts of the value of underlying transactions to which they may be linked. The value of a financial derivative derives from the price of an underlying item, such as an asset or index. Unlike debt instruments, no principal amount is advanced to be repaid and no investment income accrues. Financial derivatives are used for a number of purposes including risk management, hedging, arbitrage between markets, and speculation. Financial derivatives enable parties to trade specific financial risks (such as interest rate risk, currency, equity and commodity price risk, and credit risk, etc.) to other entities who are more willing, or better suited, to take or manage these risks—typically, but not always, without trading in a primary asset or commodity. The risk embodied in a derivatives contract can be traded either by trading the contract itself, such as with options, or by creating a new contract which embodies risk characteristics that match, in a countervailing manner, those of the existing contract owned. This latter is termed offsetability, and occurs in forward markets. Offsetability means that it will often be possible to eliminate the risk associated with the derivative by creating a new, but "reverse", contract that has characteristics that countervail the risk of the first derivative. Buying the new derivative is the functional equivalent of selling the first derivative, as the result is the elimination of risk. The ability to replace the risk on the market is therefore considered the equivalent of tradability in demonstrating value. The outlay that would be required to replace the existing derivative contract represents its value—actual offsetting is not required to demonstrate value. Financial derivatives contracts are usually settled by net payments of cash. This often occurs before maturity for exchange traded contracts such as commodity futures. Cash settlement is a logical consequence of the use of financial derivatives to trade risk independently of ownership of an underlying item. However, some financial derivative contracts, particularly involving foreign currency, are associated with transactions in the underlying item." https://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/fd/index.htm
To continue... I am not worried about the above. Not that there is no risk or danger. BUT......the TRILLIONS involved and world wide connection to all these products.......make this one of those topics that is beyond the ability of anyone to understand how they all intertwine and connect. It is also one of those topics like nuclear war or a killer asteroid hitting the earth or the eruption of a super volcano like Yellowstone. Not much you can do.
Nicely.....as we wait for the markets to open....the Ten Year Treasury is way down at 3.313%. Pretty amazing considering where the FED is right now on rates and where rates were a few weeks ago (just over 4%).
This.....free shipping.....is a HUGE part of the AMAZON business model. No doubt they have more ability than most companies to use this to capture market share by being comfortable with losing some money on shipping. Amazon, other retailers revamp 'free' shipping as costs soar https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-other-retailers-revamp-free-100518379.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - There is no such thing as free shipping. Even so, Amazon.com Inc and other online retailers who use so-called free delivery to cultivate customer loyalty are scrambling to keep it from draining profits as costs climb and e-commerce contracts. They are adding fees for faster service, raising minimum purchase requirements and making other changes that shift more costs to consumers who are struggling with financial issues of their own. "The days of free delivery are numbered," Ken Morris, managing partner at Cambridge Retail Advisors, said of the fast-changing retail marketing tool. Retailers are beginning to look more like some airlines, which charge for better seating, transporting luggage and also restrict use of frequent flyer points, Morris said. It is an open secret that most retailers raise product prices to subsidize free shipping. Still, product inflation and soaring shipping costs are making the service unsustainable as the prospect of recession threatens to wallop already-flagging online spending. Amazon marketed free shipping as a differentiator and used pricey Prime subscriptions and fat profits from other businesses to underwrite its package delivery costs - forcing other retailers to follow, even if they lacked Amazon's advantages. With retail margins shrinking and shipping rates for United Parcel Service Inc, FedEx Corp and the U.S. Postal Service hitting record levels, the industry where nearly three-quarters of e-commerce companies offer some sort of free shipping is rethinking the financial cost of habituating shoppers to free shipping. Retailers' top priority is lowering shipping costs, with speed a close second, said Lee Spratt, CEO of DHL eCommerce Solutions America, which provides logistics services. Retailers from Amazon to dog treat seller Einstein Pets and ubiquitous apparel chains like Zara, Abercrombie & Fitch and Foot Locker are drawing the line at losing money on a service consumers have come to expect. That is translating into shipping cost reduction goals of up to 25%, said Mingshu Bates, chief analytics officer at consultancy AFS Logistics. After forcing both free and fast shipping on the e-commerce industry it dominates, Amazon's latest moves are instructive. The online retailer, which recently hiked the annual Prime subscription price by $20 to $139, is now offering "free" same-day shipping for Prime members in at least a dozen U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. There are strings attached, however, as the service is free only on orders of at least $25, and costs $2.99 when orders fall below that. At the start of March, Amazon also raised the minimum threshold for free Prime shipping from its struggling online grocery business to $150 from $35 and added charges of $3.95 to $9.95 for orders below the new limit. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in February said the company is streamlining costs across the business and that shipping speed would not be a casualty of its efficiency push. A spokesperson on Thursday added that Prime delivery speeds got faster from 2021 to 2022 and are improving further this year. 'WHAT ARE WE PAYING FOR?' Meanwhile, some consultants and customers are noticing service changes. "Getting things to people same-day or within a certain number of hours doesn't seem to be first and foremost anymore" at Amazon, e-commerce consultant Chris McCabe said. Dozens of Prime subscribers, including upstate New York middle-school teacher Bryan Fabiano, have taken to social media to question the value of their Prime subscriptions due to late package deliveries, particularly during the holidays. "My wife and I are Prime customers because of the shipping (benefits). If they're not going to deliver on that, then what are we paying for?" Fabiano, 48, told Reuters. Indeed, shoppers who do not subscribe to Prime get free standard shipping on Amazon orders over $25. Walmart Inc and Target Corp, which have delivery subscriptions of about $100 per year, offer free shipping on orders above $35 for non-members. Nearly three-quarters of the top 1,000 U.S. retailers offered free shipping on at least some orders, with 45% requiring a minimum purchase for that perk, according to August 2022 survey results from industry research firm Digital Commerce 360. While retailers like Amazon and fashion purveyor Asos Plc have raised thresholds for fast shipping, others are dropping free shipping altogether or taking product prices up again. Einstein Pets in Atlanta was caught "between a rock and a hard place" according to owner Kelly Ison. She moved to protect profit by ending free shipping in mid-2022 on purchases of Einstein's specialty dog treats, including flavors like PB’N Jelly Time and Pumpkin Time. "We can't compete with Amazon," she told Reuters. Ison switched to flat-rate shipping of $8 to help defray fast-rising delivery costs and avoid price increases that would hurt her competitiveness. She lost some customers, but remains profitable. Toronto-based United Filter Co raised prices on its furnace filters so it could keep offering free shipping for sales through Amazon, Walmart and Ebay and it has never offered across-the-board free returns because they are too "cost-prohibitive," owner Darrin Landau told Reuters. The company split the difference, he said. "People are just addicted to free shipping."" MY COMMENT A true competitive advantage for AMAZON. this is one of those business items that can be used by a GIANT DOMINANT company to as a loss leader to capture market share. BUT....this is a HUGE budget item that management needs to be REALLY on top of managing the cost.
The Ten Year Treasury is still going down somewhat today.....it is now at 3.296%. As people, banks, business, countries flee to safety this is evident in the yield of the Ten Year Treasury. When the chips are down......on a real and/or psychological level.....when people are uncomfortable or nervous.......the USA is, as usual, where they go. I doubt that there are a lot of people fleeing to Chinese financial products for safety.
The testimony of the Tik Tok CEO yesterday was a TOTAL DISASTER. It actually confirmed all the FEARS that everyone has about China and the company. It definitely moved the needle forward on the odds of the company being banned. My view is that is SHOULD be banned. As an investor I have ZERO interest in any of these Chinese companies. I dont care to partner my money with the worlds most brutal communist dictatorship. When the chips are down the Chinese government will simply SCREW YOU. Business risk is one thing....but investing in the whims of a communist dictatorship......nope, not for me. In my former life as a business owner......I had the opportunity to testify in various legislative committee meetings at the state level on businesses issues impacting my business niche......at the request of my industry lobbyists. Those events are extremely scripted ahead of time. To do as poorly as the Tik Tok CEO did is rare and a total disaster. Although....I am glad....this company is simply a Chinese Trojan Horse.....they dont even try to hide it. TikTok wants to distance itself from China — but Beijing is getting involved https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/24/tik...ina-but-the-governments-getting-involved.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Key Points China would “strongly oppose” a forced sale of TikTok from its Beijing-based parent ByteDance, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said Thursday. This comes after TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by U.S. lawmakers in an intense five-plus hour hearing in Congress on Thursday over concerns of the app’s links to China. “At the end of the day, it was clear from the testimony that Mr. Chew reports to the CEO of ByteDance. ByteDance controls TikTok,” said Cameron Kelly, visiting fellow at Brookings Institution, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday. BEIJING — China says it would “strongly oppose” a forced sale of TikTok, making clear the government’s involvement with the social media giant that’s trying hard to distance itself from Beijing authorities. The Ministry of Commerce said Thursday that a sale or spinoff of TikTok from its Beijing-based parent ByteDance is subject to Chinese law on tech exports — which requires licenses for the export of certain technology based on national security concerns. ByteDance also owns Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok that’s popular in the country. “The Chinese government would make a decision in accordance with law,” said spokesperson Shu Jueting in Chinese, translated by CNBC. Shu was speaking at the ministry’s weekly press conference, hours ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives committee. Lawmakers questioned Chew for more than five hours, and wanted clarity on TikTok’s ability to operate independently of Chinese influences on its parent. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Chinese Commerce Ministry’s remarks. The questioning did not appear to relieve U.S. lawmakers. “At the end of the day, it was clear from the testimony that Mr. Chew reports to the CEO of ByteDance. ByteDance controls TikTok,” Cameron Kelly, visiting fellow at Brookings Institution, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Friday. Kelly used to be a general counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2009 to 2013. Kelly said the evidence that ByteDance has legal control of TikTok increases U.S. lawmakers’ doubts over how well the app can demonstrate its independence through restructuring. TikTok has a “Project Texas” plan to store American user data on U.S. soil — in a bid to show the company’s claims that mainland Chinese authorities have no access to them. “I don’t think a shutdown a ban or a complete divestiture [of TikTok] is needed. But I do think you have to separate that legal control,” said Kelly, noting that could be done through a trust structure. But the commerce ministry’s claim of control over a TikTok sale or spinoff indicates Beijing wants to be involved. “The Chinese government’s public declaration that it would block the sale of TikTok in the U.S. has little to do with protection of Chinese algorithms and technology and a lot to do with giving Washington a taste of its own medicine,” Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy, Asia Society Policy Institute, said in a statement. “Beijing, having heard [U.S. Commerce] Secretary Raymond’s lament that banning TikTok would infuriate voters under 35, is now double-daring Congress and the Administration to ‘make my day,’” Russel said. The U.S. has increased restrictions on the ability of American businesses and individuals to work with Chinese businesses on critical tech for high-end semiconductors. When asked about the commerce ministry’s remarks Thursday, TikTok’s CEO said the app isn’t available in mainland China and is based in Los Angeles. But he said the company did use some of ByteDance’s Chinese employees’ expertise on “engineering projects.” Chew also told U.S. lawmakers that China-based employees at its parent company ByteDance may still have access to some U.S. data, but that new data will stop flowing once the firm completes its Project Texas plan. Official Chinese comments have previously emphasized that China-based companies should comply with local laws and regulations when operating overseas. It’s not immediately clear how China’s export control law, enacted in December 2020, might apply to TikTok. Different types of exports are managed by different government organizations, “each of which has a separate regulatory system,” the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said in its latest position paper. It called for greater clarity on the roles of the different bodies involved with implementing the export control law. What’s next for TikTok? The U.S. and China have increasingly invoked national security as a reason to control tech. “To be fair, there really are indeed genuine national security risks associated with [TikTok] — and that is one reason why a ban of the app from government phones and military phones makes sense,” said Glenn Gerstell, senior advisor at Center for Strategic and International Studies on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” Friday. Gerstell was general counsel of the National Security Agency from 2015 to 2020. “As to the general public, I don’t see the strategic value in China understanding what the dance moves of a teenager in Minneapolis are. So the general public ban doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. TikTok has more than 150 million users in the U.S. — or about half of the country’s population. It’s unclear whether the U.S. will ultimately force ByteDance to sell TikTok or prohibit use of the app in the country. The wildly popular app is already banned from federal government devices. “We see a 3-6 month period ahead for ByteDance and TikTok to work out a sale to a US tech player with a spin-off less likely and extremely complex to pull off,” Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note. “If ByteDance fights against this forced sale, TikTok will likely be banned in the US by late 2023.”' MY COMMENT YES....this is not just a "DARE"....it is a DOUBLE DOG DARE by China. On a broader level this issue will go a long way to showing the world what country is truly the current......and future.....world leader. See my remarks above for the rest of my view.
We open down today with all the averages. The level of fear and psychological discomfort is obviously having an impact at least as to the open today. It will be interesting to see if the markets can come back or if the day simply deteriorates from here. Investors generally LIKE low yields on the Ten Year Treasury....but.....the yield today being down in the 3.2% range is a total reflection of the risk fears and psychological discomfort that is rampant today and over the past few days. How we do and how we close today will be a good indicator of the depth of this fear and psychological discomfort. That is how I see the markets and stocks today in a nutshell. Not much else is going to be in play today....it is all about FEAR.
Yes it appears in this type of environment anything goes at the moment. I suspect peoples general nervousness about things guide the narratives at this time. We really no longer have a rational, middle of the road type of information available. It is one extreme or the other. It is either a hair on fire moment or a drunken party. This is not to dismiss any of the issues at this time or any particular time, but over the years we have become accustomed to such a negative, divisive, and just plain crazy narrative. We see it everywhere...politics, general news, financial media, tv programming, and the list goes on. It kind of goes with your post above regarding some of the social media and not just the one you mentioned....but all of them. There is a narrative to be served to all sides and they are successfully doing so at the detriment to all of us quite frankly. Everybody looks for their own little camp to be in and fights with anyone outside of it. To keep on track of investing, we have to look no further than any financial media site. Look at all of the BS being spouted and promoted daily. Sure, we can cover the stuff with the FED, the economy, market, inflation, and so on...but they simply can't bring themselves to do it in a rational way. I'm not talking about constantly being rosy about all things either. I can handle bad news or even terrible times. We don't get an accurate picture on either side of it.
Anyway, aside from my little rant above, I went into to my portfolio today and had a look around. Actually, I went in to make some additional contributions today. That is what really matters to most long term investors. Controlling the things that you can. Savings, making contributions, and staying with a well constructed plan designed for your goals, tolerance level, and managing it in a rational way. Maintaining that plan and believing in what you are doing. Having the confidence to carry it out despite all of the noise out there. As a long term investor you have to have that belief and confidence, otherwise what is the point of investing if you do not believe it will be worth the effort in the long run. As I have said many times, we can be aware of the many issues and acknowledge it, but remain reasonable about it as best you can. This is not the first time for uncertainty and I can assure you there will be another after all of this. It has been that way as far as you want to look back. When I look back at some of the "terrible" times in my investing life, I too sometimes thought the event may never pass or at least it seemed so. It did. This will too. So, carry on with your plan. Manage it to match your investing goals whatever those may be. Control what you can control and let the rest of this stuff find its on way out.
Well the markets took their time....but...eventually fought their way back to an EPIC victory today. The big averages ended in the green. There was a lot of negative overlay on the markets today and I am somewhat surprised that we ended the day with positive averages. I was able to end in the green with my stocks.....in spite of only having four of ten stocks UP today. COSTCO was my hero today....with the best gain in my portfolio. My other stocks that were UP today were AAPL, MSFT, and HON. I got beat by the SP500 by 0.37%....but am very happy to have made a moderate amount of money today. A very nice end to a very good week.....at least for me. This week and last week were big gains for me since I own NO bank or financial stocks and happen to own the BIG CAP stocks that were in favor.
We actually ended with a killer week for the averages and general markets. DOW year to date (-2.74%) DOW for the week +1.18% SP500 year to date +3.42% SP500 for the week +1.39% NASDAQ 100 year to date +16.78% NASDAQ 100 for the week +1.83% NASDAQ year to date +12.97% NASDAQ for the week +1.66% RUSSELL year to date (-1.49%) RUSSELL for the week +0.52% If you had no idea what was going on it looks like a nice powerful, positive week. You would have no idea of all the FED and banking drama. This reflects the REALITY of the long term...the current events will be long forgotten over the long term.
I hope so. Gen Z is coming for the housing market https://www.businessinsider.com/gen...-investing-mistakes-buying-homes-early-2023-3 (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "Soli Cayetano finally had some time on her hands. The soon-to-be college graduate was stuck at home in the spring of 2020 and coasting through Zoom classes. Normally her part-time job leasing out office space kept her busy, but those services weren't exactly in high demand at the time. Cayetano, a self-described "hustler" who got her first job at 14, wasn't one to stay idle. So after doing a bit of research and dipping into her savings, she flew from her home in the San Francisco Bay Area to Cincinnati to check out her big pandemic purchase: a two-bedroom house for which she paid just under $100,000. She was 22. Cayetano had no plans to move to Ohio. Instead, she did what many real-estate investors do: She touched up the property and threw it on the rental market. After the home sat vacant for a couple of months, she fired her property manager and found a tenant by listing the property on Zillow and paying an investor friend in the area to do showings. Almost three years later, she not only manages that first property from her home in California but has built a mini real-estate empire of 36 units. While many aspects of Cayetano's foray into real-estate investing followed a well-worn path, her methods — and mindset — were decidedly of a new generation. She's a member of Gen Z, the cohort born between 1997 and 2012. Unlike millennials before them, Gen Zers have grown up during a boom in home prices. As the older members of the generation embark on careers, a growing number are turning to the world of real-estate investing as an escape from the shackles of a desk. With technology and know-how that previous generations could have only dreamed of at their age, these Gen Zers are eager to get in on the real-estate action, and they're poised to reshape the housing market as they claim their slice of the pie. The new American dream There's a lot we still don't know about Gen Z when it comes to the housing market, since a large chunk of the generation is just starting out on their own. But compared with millennials, who came of age in the shadow of the Great Recession and the housing bust, Gen Zers have been lucky: They largely managed to avoid economic calamity when the pandemic struck, thanks to government support and a strong job market. They also don't bear the same battle scars from the housing market's collapse in 2008, since the oldest among them were just 11 or 12 when the wave of foreclosures began. The pandemic, which threw a wrench in many Gen Zers' postgrad plans, has also nudged more members of the generation toward alternative investments like real estate. That could help explain why Gen Zers have a rosier view of real-estate investing than their immediate predecessors. In a 2020 survey by Gen Z Planet, a research and advisory firm, 87% of Gen Z respondents said they wanted to own a home in the future, while just 63% of millennial respondents said the same. The survey suggested that 68% of Gen Zers viewed homeownership as a way to build wealth, compared with 60% of millennials. Another 2021 survey by online lender RocketMortgage found that 86% of Gen Z respondents want to buy a home, and 45% wanted to buy within the next 5 years. "We learned a lot from that recession" in 2008, Cayetano told me. "One of the things we learned is that real-estate values bounce back and keep going up." Gen Zers haven't had the chance to do much with that knowledge yet, mostly owing to their youth. But the ranks of Gen Z homeowners will almost certainly grow in the coming years as they scale corporate ladders and amass savings. Millennials accounted for about 43% of all home purchases in the US in 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors. Gen Z made up just 2% of homebuyers that year, though the NAR counted only members of the generation who were born in 1999 or later. A separate study by LendingTree, which looked at Gen Zers who were born in 1997 or later and who used LendingTree's platform, found that these Gen Zers accounted for an average of 10% of homebuyers in the 50 largest US metros in 2021, up from nearly 6% in 2020. We learned a lot from that recession. One of the things we learned is that real-estate values bounce back and keep going up. Gen Zers have numerous sources of information at their disposal as they look to get started in the business. Before she graduated from college, Cayetano began listening to real-estate podcasts, reading books, and combing through online investing forums like BiggerPockets. She posted about real estate on Instagram, where she quickly found a like-minded community happy to exchange tips. She managed to stash away $20,000 for a down payment by working jobs throughout school. When the time came to select a property, she wasn't bound by the limited options in her high-priced region of California — she looked to Cincinnati, confident that a combination of FaceTime, local connections, and online listings would allow her to select the right home without visiting it in person. Cayetano manages the home remotely using landlord software, another departure from previous generations of mom-and-pop landlords who typically lived near their properties. Cayetano parlayed that initial purchase into partial or full ownership of 36 units in Ohio and Georgia, including a small apartment building, a couple of duplexes, and single-family homes. She and her business partners have financed most of their purchases by raising debt from individual investors and hard-money lenders. And she continues to document her investments on Instagram, where she has more than 100,000 followers, as well as her website, Lattes & Leases, where she offers courses for other investors to follow in her footsteps. "I think there's a really big disconnect between my parents' generation, who worked at the same job for 40 years, and people my age that want to go wherever they want," she told me. "They prioritize things differently in life." Cayetano said she isn't alone in her search for financial independence through real estate, and added that the people jumping into the housing market are getting younger and younger. "I'm old now!" Cayetano said with a laugh as she described the 18- and 20-year-old investors she meets online. New tools A seismic change is underway in real estate: Individual investors now have the ability to purchase and manage properties from thousands of miles away. In the wake of the Great Recession, private-equity firms began scooping up thousands of distressed single-family homes at dirt-cheap prices. They needed technology to efficiently manage all those properties scattered around the country. Now the companies behind these tools are making them available to smaller investors. Companies like Mynd and Roofstock cater to large institutional investors and the smallest buyers, enabling both groups to buy homes remotely and manage them as rentals without ever even stepping through the front door. Investors in high-priced markets like San Francisco, New York, or Seattle are now able to pour their money into cheaper areas with fast-growing populations, like the Sun Belt region in the southern and western US. All this new technology and information is fueling the real-estate-mogul dreams of ambitious Gen Z investors. Mynd's CEO and cofounder, Doug Brien, told me he's seen a growing number of young investors seize on the opportunity to diversify their investments by living in one area and owning real estate in another. Kurt Carlton, the president and cofounder of New Western, a marketplace for investors to find properties across the US to purchase and rehab, had a similar assessment. "What we see with Gen Zers that are buying is they generally have a high income but they live in an area where home prices are very high," Carlton told me. Instead of looking locally, many younger investors can make their money go further by buying properties in cheaper locales. Ryan Lehman, a 25-year-old software engineer in Seattle, bought his first home there in October 2020, shortly after graduating from college. He used savings from internships, earnings from years of trading stocks, and the signing bonus from his job to cover the 5% down payment on the five-bedroom house, which he purchased for $620,000. Lehman said he decided to "house hack," meaning he rents out rooms in the house to make the mortgage payments. He said it was initially a struggle to find tenants, but once he'd found steady roommates to cover his expenses, Lehman began looking for properties in areas where the cost of entry was lower. He eventually settled on Columbus, Ohio, where he recently worked with New Western to purchase a duplex for $260,000. "If something goes south, maybe I'll lose some money on it. But I want to at least try to take the risk," Lehman said of his mindset at the beginning. "Honestly, it's just about a ton of research. The more research I do, the less stress I have." For those less willing to take on that kind of risk, or without the money to do so, crowdfunding companies like Fundrise or Crowdstreet allow them to own a stake in a real-estate portfolio — and reap all the associated tax benefits — for as little as $10. A spokesperson for Fundrise said it had more than 225,000 Gen Z users signed up on its platform, about 13% of verified accounts. "Every generation is getting more economically screwed in some ways," Ben Miller, Fundrise's CEO, told me. "But they have way more knowledge and information than previous generations — way, way, way more. That's got to count for something." Rising barriers And yet the road to homeownership isn't that simple for many Gen Zers. Older members of the generation are more likely to have student debt than millennials did at their age, which could severely limit their housing options. And some members of Gen Z are already discouraged by their housing prospects. In a Freddie Mac survey conducted last year, about 34% of Gen Zers indicated they didn't think they'd ever be able to afford to buy a house of their own, up from 27% who said the same in 2019. Respondents described their biggest hurdles as saving up for a down payment, lacking a credit history, and having unstable jobs. The boom in home prices due to the housing shortage has carved out sharp divisions between those already building equity through homeownership and those still hoping to make their first purchase. Gen Zers could see that gap widen if developers and politicians don't respond to the demand for housing. Jessica Lautz, a deputy chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, told me that Gen Zers, like millennials before them, are more likely to depend on financial help from family and friends when buying a house. That trend could compound the disparities among prospective buyers. "It becomes a housing economy of haves and have-nots," Lautz said. 'An incredible opportunity' Months before she was set to graduate from college in Iowa, in the spring of 2020, Grace Gudenkauf secured a job as an engineer at an aerospace firm in Carlsbad, California. But the move never came to fruition. She remained in her hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she lived with her parents and worked remotely during the first few months of the pandemic. "I'm selfishly really excited for this time in the market" Gudenkauf's well-paying job allowed her to save up money, and she spent the bleak winter months learning more about how to capitalize on the relatively cheap real estate in her area. She began buying houses — first one for herself, then others she fixed up and held on to as rentals. After about a year, Gudenkauf quit her job to focus on managing the properties and growing her portfolio, which has swelled to 20 units. Without the pandemic, Gudenkauf told me, "I think I would have found real estate later in life, in my 30s, and then probably taken five to 10 years to quit my job." She added, "I think I would have gotten golden handcuffs very quickly." Gudenkauf's parents are also small-time landlords, but their strategy is "completely different" from hers, she told me. Their goal is to "get a couple houses, pay them off as soon as possible, and that's your retirement," Gudenkauf said. "Mine is cash flow right now and that retirement." For Gen Zers who've spent years watching their predecessors profit off the housing market, it's finally time to take a turn. "I'm selfishly really excited for this time in the market," Cayetano told me. "Everything has been going crazy, it's been extremely competitive, people have been overpaying for properties. And now's the time where it's shifted to a buyer's market. There's an incredible opportunity to build wealth."" MY COMMENT Good for them. No doubt in spite of all the articles you are going to see about how Gen Z is so amazingly different than other generations......they will end up about the same. As they get married and have kids they will end in in the suburbs like all generations do. The good schools will be the primary draw as well as nice neighborhoods with amenities and a culture of young families with kids. I HOPE they do focus on real property. I am now in my final home. At age 73 I hope to be able to live here for at least another 15 years. i would welcome a booming property market during that time to drive up values. As to housing being about the haves and the have nots.....it has always been that way. Family help is very important as is a good job and income. In the end like most things it is ....PERSONAL DRIVE....that will be the primary factor.
This is how we ended the week. Stock market today: Stocks rally, closing in the green to cap bumpy trading week https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-march-24-2023-123438023.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "U.S. stocks reversed earlier losses to close in positive territory on Friday as markets cap off a bumpy week following the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday and further pressure in the banking sector. The S&P 500 (^GSPC), which fell as much as 1% in early Friday trading, the most in a week, flipped into postive territory later in the session to close up 0.57%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) did the same, ending the week up 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively. WTI crude oil (CL=F), which was down 3% in earlier trading, pared losses by 2% to settle at $69.20 a barrel, putting oil back near its lowest levels in nearly two years. Brent crude (BZ=F) dipped about 1% to settle at just around $75 a barrel. The pressure in oil comes after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told lawmakers on Thursday refilling the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may take several years and that it will be "difficult" to utilize the current decline in oil prices. U.S. government bond yields pared losses heading into the close with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield falling about 70 basis points to trade near 3.38%. On Wednesday, the Fed raised rates by 25 basis points, bringing the range for the fed funds rate to 4.75%-5%, the highest since October 2007, in addition to suggesting its aggressive rate hiking campaign to quell inflation was winding down. "The Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time," the Fed said in its policy statement, doing away with language for "ongoing rate increases" in interest rates. "Powell stuck with the Fed's narrative that there is still a path toward a soft-landing or returning inflation to target without pushing the economy into a recession," wrote Ryan Sweet, Chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, in a note on Wednesday. "However, that path has become narrower because of the pressure on the banking system." On Friday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard raised his 2023 interest rate projection to 5.625%. This would outpace the Fed's latest "dot plot" projections, which suggest rates will continue to tick higher in 2023, but only slightly, with benchmark interest rates seen peaking at 5.1% this year, on par with the Fed's previous December projection. Bullard, while speaking in St. Louis, said he's optimistic stress in the banking system will abate, explaining: "I would put 80% of probability on the case where financial stress abates." "If it doesn't abate, that's a completely different world where financial stress gets more intense, and I would be willing to react to that," he added. Bank sentiment waffled on Friday as investor concerns surrounding financial stability remain heightened following the stunning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which trigged a ripple effect across the entire financial system. Big bank stocks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), and Goldman Sachs (GS) closed in the red on Friday; however, Bank of America (BAC) reversed prior losses to close flat on the day. Regional bank stocks including PacWest Bancorp (PACW), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), and Regions Financial (RF) turned positive in midday trading and stayed that way through the end of the trading session, recovering from steeper losses earlier in the day. First Republic Bank (FRC), which briefly flipped into positive territory at around 2 p.m. ET, saw losses accelerate into the close with shares ending the day down more than 1%. Shares of European bank operators Deutsche Bank (DB) and UBS (UBS) pared losses, but still closed down about 3% and 1%, respectively, as Euro banks continue to feel the aftermath of Credit Suisse's downfall. According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank's credit default swaps, a form of insurance against default, jumped to a four-year high, adding to greater stability concerns overseas. However, analysts appeared calm on Friday: "We have no concerns about Deutsche’s viability or asset marks. To be crystal clear - Deutsche is NOT the next Credit Suisse," Stuart Graham and Leona Li, strategists at Autonomous, a subsidiary of AllianceBernstein, wrote in a new research note. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced on Friday she will convene with members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council for a previously unscheduled meeting in an effort to calm banking sector jitters. Block (SQ) fell another 2% on Friday, after falling 15% on Thursday, as Wall Street continued to sift through a new piece of short-seller research out of Hindenburg. Hindenburg Research levied accusations of fraud against the company, which was founded and led by billionaire Jack Dorsey. In response, Block said it intended to work with the SEC to "explore legal action against Hindenburg Research for the factually inaccurate and misleading report they shared about our Cash App business today." "We had hoped Block's response/refutation would be more detailed and believe 'exploring legal action' will likely not be enough to settle investors' concerns," Citi analyst Peter Christiansen wrote in reaction to the Hindenburg report, echoing shareholder sentiment. Coinbase (COIN) bounced back on Friday, with shares up as much as 5%,after slumping 14% on Thursday following the company's disclosure it received a Wells Notice from the SEC, which warns companies of pending action from the regulator. Netflix (NFLX), which led the S&P 500 on Thursday with the stock surging more than 9%, saw shares settle on Friday, up 2.5%. Activision Blizzard (ATVI) climbed 6.7% at the open, the most since January 2022, after European Union regulators said on Friday it was narrowing the scope of its probe into Microsoft's planned $75 billion takeover of the video game developer. The stock climbed roughly 6% to end the trading day. Shares of Silvergate Capital Corporation (SI), which soared as much as than 90% on elevated trading volume, closing the day up 52%." MY COMMENT A very nice day once it turned around and a very nice week. Hopefully we will start next week with a bit more positive confidence.
I had high hopes for this week and the markets did not disappoint. Now we just have to make it through the weekend with no more crisis banking stories....and......we will have a shot at a multi-week rally building on the positive returns of the past couple of weeks. I am off on a couple of little road trips this weekend....about 100 miles today and about 175 miles tomorrow.....for shows. We are on track to meet or exceed 100 shows this year. That will be the most since the pandemic killed live music. Ideal would be about 125 to 150 per year. Have a great weekend everyone....try to forget about those pesky banks. Lets come back on Monday and....MAKE SOME MONEY.
Nice close yesterday. I do believe thar bear market lows were made last year in October, November... After that we have been seeing NAS doing higher lows and higher highs. To me seems clear that NAS has been performing in a stronger way than SPX. I have been adding some names to my "long term portfolio". A few months back I added one ETF that replicates SP, following some advice I read here, more recently adding some Amazon and Google to existing portfolio, that seems to me in a decent price range. Have a great weekend you guys. @WXYZ yes, you're right Sir, I´m from Europe (south Europe), Portugal that is becoming overcrowed with americans living here (no joke)!
Note: amreicans are mainly "digital nomads" as they called them now and senior people, retired, using their golden age in a nice place.
Surely some nice buys rg7803. As W has pointed out earlier with his holdings, some of the Tech stuff which was hammered last year have been doing really well since the start of the year.
I agree....sounds like some good moves for you rg7803. You are definately right about the NASDAQ......it is doing very well over recent months.
