In Search of the Perfect Investment

Yesterday’s incredible journeys:

The on-again, off-again tax reform. That’s it. What else? Earnings are ebullient.

That’s why I headlined yesterday “Bargain time this morning.” Which it was until about lunchtime.

I’ve studied the tax reform for me. (Who else?) If they remove deductions for state and local taxes — real estate taxes and local and state income taxes — it will hurt me. But if they don’t, it will most likely be a wash.

My friends think tax reform is a “No Show.” It will never be passed. The Republicans seek a “victory.” Why not a small one — like Medicare for everyone 60 and over, versus today’s 65?

My favorite screen shot:

With a little more “volatility,” there is a little bargain hunting. This is VIX year to date:

I picked up some ROKU. It looks like an IPO that is succeeding. Everyone loves their ROKUs.

Weekend reading

+ A heartbreaking story about sexual harassment. I don’t believe harassing males have the slightest idea of the long-term pain they cause their female victims. The New York Times article is called My Life After Sexual Assault. Click here. 

+ The article is called Soothsayer in the Hills Sees Silicon Valley’s Sinister Side. He sees a sinister side. I see affirmation for my large position in Facebook. Click here. 

Phishing gets even weirder

A friend needed to wire money. He asked for their wire instructions. They came by email. They were wrong. They had been hacked. The hacked instructions were changed to benefit the hacker’s bank account. My friend called to verify the wire instructions — like some banks do  — only to find that the email had been changed. Lucky he checked. He would have lost several million dollars.

My motto of 50 years; CHECK. CHECK. CHECK. If you receive wire instructions via email, you should always verbally confirm those instructions on the phone with the source/beneficiary to ensure it’s going to the correct account.

My new iPhone 8 plus

Good things: It’s noticeably faster than my old iPhone 6. The battery is much better. The keyboard is a little bigger — easier to type on. The screen is bigger and better. The grandchildren look even more handsome and appreciably more intelligent.

Bad things: Moving from the 6 to the 8 plus is just plain horrible. Takes too long. Hours. Too fiddly. Too stupid. Apple keeps asking for passwords, again and again. And I’ve still lost half my text messages and 80% of my emails. And no one — including Apple — has any ideas why or — sadly — a solution. Fortunately I have backups.

Don’t even ask how long it takes to get your old Apple Watch synced to your new iPhone.

If you do buy a new phone, make sure you back your old phone’s stuff to the Apple iCloud — even if it means paying money. What you need to understand about Apple is that Apple likes Apple software. And while it “supports” iTunes on Windows, it’s half hearted.

Dining with the grandchildren

Breakfast is the best meal.

Don’t do something stupid this weekend, like pick up a heavy box. Don’t lift your bag into the overhead bin. Get a buff 25-year old to lift it. “Please help me.”

Eat only half of what they put on your plate.

Harry Newton, who’s writing a piece tentatively called In the Great Age of Digital Entrepreneurship. It’s all about how easy it is to start a new business today — with intense processing power in your laptop and smartphone, increasing ease of writing software, the ease of everyone getting onto the cloud — and the wonderfully flexible and cheap tools  Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce and others are offering in the cloud.

The best news is: What everyone is selling is “experience.” You can deliver “experience” with a little thought , a little effort and a little expense. The best on “experience” is Amazon. Why would you buy from anyone else when Amazon makes it so easy and has all that information you need and such incredible customer service? Tell your kid to work for a digital company or, better, start one.