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and way smarter then me. Watch this especially if you think you are really a good trader: Not trying to spoil the fun. But it's food for thought.

I learned somethings from this Ben Carlson article: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2024/02/is-the-u-s-stock-market-too-concentrated/ He goes on to discuss the concentration in other developed markets.

I've made our reservations and found that 2 hotels in Italy were listed in the Rick Steves books as giving discounts with his book. I'm not sure you really need to bring the book. The discounts are something like 10% and are listed as RS% in each hotel's details in the book. Both hotels...

I think that the answer is "yes". When the Fed even pauses things can get really good for bonds: see article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-navigate-a-fed-pause-get-out-of-cash-now-110001332.html My own data from 1995 after a bad 1994 bond market shows strong bond returns even...

Every morning I brew a nice pot of coffee. Especially good in the winter months. You can see my "coffee altar" below. It has been upgraded by buying a container that easily keeps a pound of coffee fresh. It's an Airscape (bright blue container) that allows you to remove most of the air...

I got this old SAT test problem wrong for the same reason discussed by Derek Muller in this Veritasium youtube video. There is interesting history associated with this SAT problem which is discussed. This isn't just about the answer but goes on to talk about some associated applications...

Just thought I would mention this for those using Lastpass and traveling outside the USA (assuming this is your account country). I believe that it may not be possible to login to Lastpass from a foreign country without enabling Lastpass for the country you are visiting while you are in the...

Go ahead but be honest. :);)

Pre-covid when we traveled we used very little non-US cash. We'll be in the UK (pounds) for a 9 days and then in Euro countries, major cities for 17 days. I know I will need a few pounds for a tour tip. How much cash do people get for their travels? Usually we would get the cash at Heathrow...

If I enter my master password while on an insecure network is it seen by a snooper? I would think that it is not transmitted and just local to my device.

We settled on buying Premium Economy, non-stop from SFO to Rome. For us this is a good weather alternative period and DW wants to avoid economy on this 12 hour flight. She also "feels" that it might be safer as she is Covid shy and would wear a mask. Business class is just too pricey. There...

Background: So I'm thinking we can get PBS on Amazon at $6/month with a subscription and I don't think they show the irritating upcoming shows info (or do they?). Does Amazon PBS have all the shows compared to the Roku app?

A Reuters news article gave me a few laughs. Some German firms would like to hire Silicon Valley people who have lost jobs: They fire, we hire Some amusing points: I don't know much about the German tech industry but experiences with booking on Lufthansa was an ugly experience some years...

Will the stock market have a soft landing in 2023 or will it be a hard landing? Here is what a soft landing looks like: And here is a hard landing: See my next response for statistics of previous bear markets.

In our area and apparently other US areas viruses plus Covid are on the rise. Apparently there is a spread of flu viruses and RSV due to reduced herd immunity (or something like that). For our area January of 2021 and 2022 were very bad for Covid and now it is rising in December 2022 in...

With all the negativity I am trying to think more positively for next year. I am reminded that the markets have a history of doing quite well in the 3rd year of a presidential term. The stats since 1933: Year after the election: +6.7% Second-year: +5.8% Third-year: +16.3% Fourth-year: +6.7%...

Our local Chase Bank is closing and Chase corporate has decided not to offer safe deposit boxes any more if that happens to your branch. We just have documents, paper iBonds, and a few minor somewhat valuable items. Most of this can be recovered with some annoying troubles such as iBonds if...

Holloween is scary enough without cosmic bats! Happy Halloween to all. ------------- I visit this NASA site every day. See it for more information: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

I have been buying TIPS for my future RMD's going out a few years. Yesterday I bought 4/15/25 maturity TIPS at 2.27%. The TIPS yield curve is strongly inverted right now. TIPS yields have been going up a lot and offer better positive numbers they we have seen in several years. So this is a...

Mrs Lsbcal Wants a new SUV Wants some bells and whistle like heated seats. Maybe sporty. Wants a hybrid for the feel good (environmental) factor. Also she points out the hybrid has more pickup (more horsepower) and might be quieter (was so in 2022 CRV model) Lsbcal Wants a new SUV too. Is OK...

I sold my investment grade short term bond fund (VFSUX) in early January. I knew it would be a good idea to buy it back at some time. Maybe this is about a decent time to wade back in? VFSUX now yields about 3.9% for a duration of 2.7 years. I'm thinking maybe to do this buy back after the...

I wanted to compare the decline from the November 2021 peak to previous recessionary market declines. It appears we are not currently in a recession but one could come about in future months. Unemployment is declining and should that reverse it would be very negative I think. So I took daily...

I find that if I can reduce some of my competitive activities and urges then my anxiety level goes down somewhat. Maybe this is not an issue for some or they actually thrive on competition. Our modern society really does seem to encourage intense competition. For instance, I was playing...

We have had two periods of Fed Funds rate being ramped up by the Federal Reserve. The 3 month Treasury bills closely follow these ramp ups. These periods were roughly the 2004-2006 period and the 2016-2019 period. Here is a chart of the Fed Funds rate showing the two periods (yellow...

Here is an article for today on the boom-bust cycle of commodities: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2022/03/the-boom-bust-cycle-in-commodities/ A friend has some XOM Exxon-Mobil stock that he inherited and has held. It went way down but has done a round trip. Still over recent years it has...