In Search of the Perfect Investment

Tech stocks have stumbled. The explanation? “Rotation.”

Is it reality or emotion?

Reality means lower growth. That’s serious.

Emotion means temporary unlove.

Tech isn’t suffering lower growth. If anything, growth is accelerating.

Hence I remain optimistic on tech. Today’s lower prices are a gift, a buying opportunity.

Here are the tech stocks which are in my recommended portfolio (see right hand column on the web site) which I would nibble at now.

“Nibble” because some may go lower:

ADBE, BABA, CRM, GOOGL, FB, MSFT, NFLX, NVDA, SQ, and TCEHY.

Rotations are scary — unless:

+ You figure they’re a factor of life, especially for heavy-emotional stocks like tech.

+ You have diversification — in index funds and in real estate.

+ When stocks spike (as Square did), you undoubtedly need to take something off the table. But the timing is very hard. I tend to sell after the drop, but before the bounce. Timing is hard. Square has bounced. You gotta have faith through “rotations.”

While  tech has torn at my emotions in recent days, I’ve had good news in real estate — one re-financing and a couple of sales, now being morphed into tax-free 1031 exchanges.

The upcoming tax “reform”

The consensus among my real estate gurus:

+ There is no meaningful impact from the proposed new tax legislation on real estate projects for profit.

+ We still can do 1031 exchanges, and deduct interest and real estate tax.  Electing the interest deduction would move the depreciation life of a residential property to 30 yrs from 27.5 yrs but such is minimal.

+ Personal real estate in high tax states, like New York and California, will get hit because we can (apparently) no longer deduct big real estate taxes. I have a house in mid-New York State. The high taxes on it go basically to fund the local public schools.

Hotels are ripped off

Expedia, Hotels.com, Priceline, etc. charge hotels 20% to 30% commission. Hence if you book directly with the hotel, you should be able negotiate yourself a 15% “booking directly” discount.

It’s worked for me. Saved big money.

The best aspects of my new Apple Watch and my new iPhone 8 plus

+ Their much longer battery life.

+ They have faster processors and do their work much faster. It’s noticeable.

I’m back in New York.

Moral of the trip: Anyone who doesn’t check Seatguru before they make a flight reservation and pick their seat is a moron. (That’s me.)

Rule: Always pay for extra legroom. If you can’t get it, check Seatguru. Some planes have extra legroom, but don’t charge for it. You can find those seats on Seatguru. For Seatguru, click here.

These come from the magazine BestLife

Some of my favorites:

Blue contacts. $19.

A helicopter ride around Hawaii.

A device to let you safely drink dubious water. This gadget can save your life.

Ghastly “sexy” shoes.

An electric bike $3,899. Last week I rode on two of them — from Trek and Specialized. Enormous fun. The new way to commute. Makes huge sense. You don’t arrive at work all sweaty, as you would on a normal bike.

For the entire 100 Wow gifts, click here. 

Kim Jong Un Fears The t G.O.P. Tax Bill Makes His Plan to Destroy U.S. Redundant

PYONGYANG (The Borowitz Report)-Kim Jong Un is concerned that his long-standing plan to destroy the United States has been made totally irrelevant by the Republican tax bill moving through the Senate, a source close to the North Korean dictator said on Friday.

The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Kim fears that his scheme to turn the United States into an uninhabitable hellhole has been to a large extent upstaged by a similar proposal from congressional Republicans.

“You have to understand, destroying America is something that Kim and his family have been plotting for decades,” the source said. “To see the Republicans swoop in at the last second and basically steal that idea –it’s got to hurt.”

According to the source, Kim has been watching C-span non-stop, praying that the Republicans’ plan to end life as Americans know it might come undone at the last moment, but he is “not getting his hopes up.”

“After having such a wonderful missile test, he should be on top of the world this week,” the source said. “Instead, he’s afraid that all his hard work has been for nothing. He now understands why so many Americans despise the Republicans.”

Harry Newton, who’s finally feeling great, after a week with miserable grandchild cold. How to avoid colds? Don’t have grandchildren. Now that really makes sense!