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Sometimes, it's not the money but one has to do some physical activities to stay fit. I don't go to a gym, but work in the yard for some exercise. For older retirees, if a physical activity is not hazardous like getting on your roof to work on your chimney, or climbing on a tree with a...

I am not sure what 2024 will bring, but it's not likely to be a lower interest rate. The word on the street is that the Fed will keep the interest rate high till 2026. You read that right. 2026. Wowza! And that's why the S&P goes down another 1% today.

^^^ Yes, I have seen people, even some relatives being cheap and "cheatin' ". I have told my wife, we are now financially comfortable, we can afford to be more generous. In my last cruises, one of 12 nights, the other of 7 nights, the first occasion we saw the room attendants, I gave them an...

I am quite sure I will not say that I wish I bought a Ferrari or at least rented one for a weekend, or an Armani suit, etc... Who the heck cares? A guy has got to know his priorities, and those are not mine. I would hate to think back and regret that I was mean to somebody who did not deserve...

Years ago, I learned this from Andrew Tobias: "Frugal is how you treat yourself. Cheap is how you treat others". In 2010, we just came out of the Great Recession. A few posters ran into financial difficulties, posted their goodbye then faded into oblivion. Heck, back in 2008-2009, on this...

I believe that the Fed will knock down inflation. They talk tough enough. Enough to knock down the S&P by 1% today. :) Following is an excerpt from a Web report after the Fed meeting today.

On the other hand, I also played fair when it was not the seller's fault. I bought a replacement battery for my LG smartphone. When I received it, was impressed that it looked like a genuine LG battery, just the manufacturing date was a couple years old. Apparently the seller got a load of...

Recently, I bought some bars of industrial metals. The listing was cheaper than regular prices because the guy did not know what they were, and his listing did not have the right key words. I found the listing merely by chance. When the guy sent it to me, he did not package it carefully and 2...

I have been fortunate with eBay transactions over the year. One time, I bought a piece of electronic instrument that retailed new for close to $100. This seller started the bid for this used piece at $8 or something like that, with free shipping. I was the only bidder! What was weird about...

OK. Easy scammy money.

Many years ago, I drove 100 miles round trip to work every day. And in a car with 13 mpg. :facepalm:

Wow, dirt cheap LFP batteries from Sri Lanka, and with free shipping too. :) I looked at the sales history of this seller. He has sold mostly nail decals for a little more than $1. On July 1, he sold a sectional sofa for $71, again with free shipping. I bet the buyer is waiting and will...

At my boondocks home, the utility is not underground and each home has its own pole-mounted transformer. The individual transformers are relatively small, and can provide only 10-15 kW. If several homes share a pole-mounted transformer, then of course it is larger, but I doubt that it is...

Home chargers are owned by the car owners. These deliver much less than the 50 kW power of the commercial "slow" Level 2 chargers, but people charge overnight. Actually, you don't even need any charger. You can plug an EV into a common 115V outlet and get 3-4 miles for each hour of charge...

The world resources are less stressed with population decline. Eventually the world population will reach an equilibrium point, where the status quo can be sustained. However, during the transition there will be pain. Lack of growth will cause diminishing opportunity leading to youth...

2/3 of our assets are with Merrill Edge. I still have accounts at Schwab, and a bit in Vanguard. As an active investor, I like Merrill Edge trading platform the best, particularly for options. I was happy with Schwab service in the past when I had to call them for some assistance, so will...

Legal issues aside, is there enough power there to make it worthwhile? My home has a 200A meter, and at 240V, that's 48 kW. Let's round it up to 50 kW. A Level 2 charging point is 50 kW, and EV owners sneer at Level 2 chargers because they are too slow. A supercharger is up to 200 kW and...

Earlier, I talked about elderly care in Germany, and of German elders living in nursing homes in Poland. I just find out that German elders who can afford it hire 24-hour live-at-home aides from Poland, Romania, or Bulgaria. These aides all speak German, and are paid about US$1900/month which...

1 in 10 is older than 80. Is this scarier, almost 1 in 3 is 65 or older? Yes, as of 2023, 29% of the Japanese population are over 65, the highest share of elderly population in any country, followed by Italy with 24.1% and Finland with 23.3%. People are now worrying about 70-year-olds having...

What I care about when seeing problems in China is that the same demographic problems may develop in other developed countries. It's something to watch to see what we can learn from. About Musk, I doubt that he can be an effective father with so many kids that he hardly sees. Perhaps kids...

Wow, what an old thread! Many of the participants have long disappeared too. But if the thread topic fits, why not revive it? Being an active investor, of course my curiosity is piqued. These shipping stocks are not on my radar, but of course I knew about Maersk (AMKBY) even though it never...

China is also having a big problem. Youth unemployment rate runs as high as 21%, with many college graduates not being able to find work. Worse, some complained that they could not even find gig work like food delivery. This led to the phenomenon called "bai lan" ("let it rot") or "laying...

While the percentage of octogenarians is going up around the world, I don't think it's because longevity has gone up that much. I know plenty of people who dropped in their 60s and 70s. Rather, the octogenarian percentage goes up because of low birth rates everywhere, except in third-world...

Musk is exceptionally rich, so has no financial problems although one wonders about other aspects of raising kids. In many countries, the government has incentives to get people to have offsprings. Some years ago, at an RV park at the Grand Canyon I talked with a German couple. They were on...

The EVs have come down in price that I would consider one as a commuter car if I had to drive to work everyday. Don't know about taking one on a road trip though. About the other risks, it can be minimized if one can park the car outside, and if he does not live where it's cold and snowy in...