Yes the light display looked good above….really neat. We are in football playoff mania now, with the NFL and the College Champ coming up soon too. Good times. I enjoy both sports. I also like some college basketball. I used to like the NBA back in the old days, but I just can’t get into it with today’s type of game. Good luck to those that still have a team in the mix.
Your Seahawks are looking pretty dominant right now....oldmanram. Up by 27 to 6. My Broncos won earlier. WELL....I have never been a Broncos fan. But....I followed Bo Nix for two years when he was a Duck. I saw a lot of him and thought he was SEVERELY underestimated by the media and scouts going into the pro draft. My view of him was that he could make all the throws needed as a pro......and.....he had that unique ability to "WIN" that some rare people have. He has definately shown that so far this year.....yet the media continues to constantly disrespect him and his ability. I am not a card collector....but.....I put together a little collection of PSA 10 rookie cards on Nix.....just because I had a strong feeling that he would be much more successful than anyone realized in the NFL. In as lot of ways he reminded me of Brady. So I have long term money riding on him with my PSA 10 graded rookie cards.
BUMMER.....LOL. So much for my rookie card strategy.....for now. Nix broke his ankle late in the game and will have surgery tomorrow.
I have a busy week next week. On Monday I have a mid morning meeting with a studio engineer. I have some good solid material from the primary national/international touring band that I played with. I want to produce it into a full concert CD. I will take the material in to him, download it onto his computer, and discuss with him my plan for mixing and mastering the material. I am hopeful he will be just what I need for this job...since he was recommended by a friend that I trust who is part of the full time road crew for a Grammy winning group. Since the raw material is in pretty good shape I expect that the engineer and I can get this live CD produced into final form in about 10-12 hours of studio time. After it is done I will be sending it to the record label that we were under at the time of the concert....and...hopefully they will want to use it. I have been putting this project off for a couple of years now. I will also be in the studio with a different band tomorrow (Sunday)..... all afternoon. On Tuesday I have to go to Dallas with an art friend. We each have paintings that will be in a museum exhibition in the Dallas area starting in a few weeks. We need to get the paintings delivered so they will be there when they hang the exhibit in about ten days. Next Sunday I have another art event that I have to attend in the afternoon....being put on by a statewide art group that I am on the Board of Directors. SO.....I will not be around much on Monday or Tuesday. I always welcome any excuse to IGNORE the markets.
You dont often hear much about this....but is is a huge benefit for seniors.......$12,000....for a married couple. BOOM. New $6,000 senior deduction offers an ‘incredible, valuable opportunity,’ CPA says: How to make the most of it https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/18/big-beautiful-bill-senior-deduction.html "Key Points President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” tax law provides a new senior “bonus” or deduction of up to $6,000 per individual or $12,000 for married couples. The temporary deduction applies to taxpayers ages 65 and over whose income is within certain thresholds. Here’s how experts say older taxpayers can manage their income to best take advantage of the tax break."
A nice little look in the rear-view mirror at 2025 below. Charts, Charts, Charts, Charts, Charts - A Wealth of Common Sense
Smokie, Good Point ..... And we did have 2022 ............ Not the 4-5 year flushing you were talking about , But, it was a substantial flush ........ your thought's ?
WXYZ, thanks for the accolade, don't tell my wife but I ordered some more lights yesterday afternoon. Shhhhhh , maybe she won't notice ........
On to investing talk "When should we sell a position ?" and I don't mean the easy reasons , the stock is going down for years , change in the company fundamentals etc. What about those stocks that seem to keep going up ? I have had some of my positions since the turn of the century..... sounds impressive doesn't it But seriously , How do you know ? With ETF's my thinking is keep them until I NEED the money ....... I think I have some QQQ in an old account that I bought way back in 1999 !! VOO/ VOOG / MGK / SPY / WXYZ's FIDELITY FUND / just keep them forever. But what about positions like : MICRON SMCI IONQ SMR Smaller companies that COULD go very big ....... I have had my GOOGLE stock since 2012? or thereabouts , it is up over 1200% ( not a typo) If had sold it last year I would have missed out on 65% growth over the last 12 month's ..........and I would have been kicking myself almost every day as well ...... WXYZ why did you eventually get rid of Honeywell ? That was a long time hold wasn't it ? Another example would be NVDIA .... When would you sell that ? Anyone's thought's ............
Yes, we did for sure oldmanram. Thinking back over some of that time period, it seems muddled together almost. We had a quick recovery prior to that time frame, and then kind of got the past due bill a bit later in 2021-2022. It almost "ran together" at least in my mind, however, I think historically now it is counted as two events. As you pointed out, it was a pretty good flush out, and I certainly felt it as well. I am an optimistic investor and subscribe to the long-term investing mantra. It has worked for me and appears to have worked well for many other posters within our little thread. I, do however, toss out an occasional reminder about evaluating risk and knowing oneself and their plan. Sometimes I think we can get a bit carried away and forget about it. As we know all too well those times are out there somewhere down the road and if we take the time to evaluate our plans periodically, we might be prepared a bit better when it does. I like to balance our thread a bit with some of that from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the good returns and the long-term wealth they have brought over the many years of investing. So, I hope I did not come off as rooting for hard times or dismissing some of what we have been through.
No worries , I didn't think you were rooting for the BEAR I took a look at the article on the past year 2025 with charts ..... It is good to look back, it was a good year BUT who foresaw the international returns ? Not Me , I tend to stay away from international / foreign stocks. Around the turn of the century 2000 or so, Emerging Markets were taking off. I was talked into some .......then about 2010 or so they just went flat, so I just stay away from them. Some people say you have to have a BLANCED portfolio, WHY ? If the S&P500 gets beat by a couple of points by the EM / Foreign stocks , I don't really care , as long as the S&P is still managing to chug along at 10% or 12% or 15% returns, why risk it for that extra few percentage points? And as people have pointed out , you never know when a WAR may break out (Europe ?) , or some south American country elects a guy who decides to NATIONALIZE all the companies. (Venezuela comes to mind , back in the day) Just my 2 cents worth , spend it any way you like OW just had another example come to mind, Petrobas (PBR) ? I think, the Brazilian oil company, I owned it for a few years , decent returns, but the corruption in some of those countries is mind blowing. I think the female president of the country was in bed with the owners of PBR or something like that , I sold it , too much drama for me I googled it : here is what came up : The high points ........ The massive Petrobras scandal (Operation Car Wash) involved a decade-long scheme where executives, construction firms, and politicians rigged bids, inflated contract costs, and skimmed billions in bribes, causing huge asset overstatements, massive financial losses for PBR stock, immense damage to Brazil's economy and politics, and significant investor fraud, leading to investor lawsuits and large settlements. While resolved in large part, the legacy includes ongoing concerns about government interference and political influence affecting PBR's future, even as it pays settlements and faces governance challenges. The Scandal (Operation Car Wash) Scheme: Senior Petrobras managers colluded with major construction companies to inflate contract prices, skimming up to 3% per deal. Purpose: Funds were used for personal gain and to finance political campaigns for Brazil's ruling parties. Scale: Allegations suggested billions of dollars in fraud, with former executives confessing to taking bribes. Impact: The scandal led to major overstatements on Petrobras's balance sheet, huge financial write-downs, investor lawsuits (including class actions in the US), and political turmoil in Brazil. Impact on PBR Stock Price Decline: The public disclosure caused significant drops in PBR's stock price. Investor Fraud: Investors were defrauded as assets were overstated, leading to significant losses for shareholders. Class Action Lawsuits: Law firms filed large class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders who bought Petrobras ADSs (American Depositary Shares). Legal Actions: Petrobras agreed to pay over $850 million in settlements for FCPA violations (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). Aftermath & Ongoing Concerns Political Fallout: The scandal contributed to the impeachment of then-President Dilma Rousseff. Government Interference: Even after the scandal, concerns persist about the Brazilian government's influence prioritizing political goals over shareholder value, impacting dividends and capital discipline. Value Trap: Some analysts view PBR as a potential "value trap" due to these ongoing governance and political risks, despite low valuation metrics. NO THANK YOU !
Yeah, international did well. There were a few clues that it might early on. I have held some international a few times throughout my investing journey. This has been the first time it has outperformed US for me. I stick to a broad index fund and keep it at developed markets only which reduces some of the risk you brought up. Will I keep it long, long term once again? I might....we shall see.
You know me...I have no interest in companies outside the USA......since I consider my big cap AMERICAN companies as international companies. As to selling.....well over the past seven years I sold HON, BA, CMG, NKE, WMT, and a few others.....see my first few posts on here for my older portfolio. Some were only "TRIAL POSITIONS" that were small. I tend to sell for two reasons: Some change in the business or fundamentals of the stock that lasts more than a year.....example....NKE, BA, HON, etc. OR.....some very negative event that makes me doubt management and the medium term future for the company....example....CMG, BA, etc. At times I do sell when I need or want money for another investment that I think has a better future. I sold my small position in WMT and other little things over past years to get money to buy more NVDA and PLTR and others. I also take profits once in a while for a purchase outside investing. For example I sold a nice "chunk" of NVDA....to finance the purchase of a significant painting that I bought at auction. I decided to take the capital gains tax hit and consider it "profit taking"....which it was. It was also to reduce exposure to a single stock that had come to DOMINATE my entire portfolio.......over 30% of the whole portfolio.....due to massive gains. I dont use any hard and fast rules to decide to sell.....it is often just a process of being worn down and not seeing any fundamental change on the horizan.....especially when I am happy to make a lateral move into a more productive stock. COST is a good example.....they did nothing last year. BUT....I have ZERO, ZERO, ZERO plans to sell any of that stock....because it is still an amazing company with great management and a great business model......and....it is one of my few non-tech holdings. A bad year or two does not matter to me....I still strongly believe in the company and their future. THEY NEED TO SPLIT THE STOCK....it is way too expensive right now for the typical retail investor to buy it.
Some good discussion topics today by you oldmanram. The core index type funds or ETF you mention are likely a hold forever type deal. They are like the anchor, but in a good way. Individual companies are a single, concentrated type of risk. Nothing wrong with having them, but it does introduce a different type of management and decisions. My view would be to manage the allocation or weight in the overall plan. For me, I am not going to allow a single company to drive the whole plan. I can still keep a company that I like, but in such a way that I am not overly exposed by it. So, one could still keep NVDA in their plan at a reasonable allocation without necessarily selling it all. What that is remains highly dependent on the individual. Small positions or companies that might hit it big….as you mentioned….I don’t know. My thought is you’d have to have a significant amount in these to move the needle anyway for it to payoff. As I have gotten further down the investing journey I have found I avoid having complexity and don’t want too many decisions or things to follow. Good topics to discuss though.
As SMOKIE mentioned.....the markets are closed tomorrow. It will be MLK day. I will be busy elsewhere.....anyway.
