Skip to content
 

One recommendation — but not mine. Someone far more intelligent.

The market is up today. But my biggest loser — today– is SQ. Still, in total, it’s up 69% for me.

Writing a daily column means I should have daily ideas. That’s what all the other investment blogs do.

I don’t have any investment ideas today, except one:

Buy your kids some VOO. Warren Buffett loves VOO, which is the S&P 500 ETF.  It’s averaged 14.74%  since its inception on September 7, 2010.

What’s there not to like?

Why I’m not buying Biogen, despite their promising new dementia drug

+ I’ve lost too much money on biotech. My hard-earned money has “cured cancer” a thousand times. Yup and pigs will fly.

+ Biogen’s new drug won’t be available for five years. In the next few years they’ll have trials, which might or might not fail.

Here’s my bottom line:

I want to invest in businesses whose management has control over their own destiny. That does not include messing with the FDA.

I like simple businesses, like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon. I know what they do. And I  can explain what they do in under a minute. Simple is good.

You can read more on Biogen and dementia here and here. 

I hope they get the drug approved. My father-in-law died of dementia. It was heart-wrenching.

Useful stuff

+ The speed of your Internet connection depends on many factors: your raw cable speed, your router (I prefer Netgear), and your equipment. An old iPad or old laptop will slow you down.

+ The sun is NOT your friend. Lather suntan cream everywhere — especially on your ears.

+ I drove my first Prius on the weekend. It’s super great. It handles well and uses thimbles of gas. At the end of every trip. it tells you how far you went and how much the trip cost you in gas. It’s a super feature. We did one trip for 23 cents.

+ Turo is Airbnb for cars to rent. It’s much better — cheaper, more convenient, better cars  — than renting from those horrors called Avis, Hertz, etc. Sign up. Click here. We rented our Prius from Turo.

+ Apple’s new 9.7 inch iPad is fantastic. The best they’ve ever made. Here’s their present lineup. It’s the third one from the left.

ipads

Amazon Alexa is taking over the world. Click here and see why. Play to the end. It’s hysterical.

The funniest cartoon ever

pschotherapidst

HarryNewton
Harry Newton, who’watching the Tour de France now on the NBC Sports Network. It’s an insanely grueling race. Here’s what happens to your legs when you bike that far for that long:

cyclistsleg

3 Comments

  1. Harry, I was wondering if you’ve had any experience or opinion of peer-to-peer lending sites like Peer Street. Short term loans, first leins, usually a year, 6-8% interest. Any thoughts?

  2. Two ways to play the biotechs: SBIO and CNCR, both ETFs with smaller companies that are acquisition candidates. That’s where the opportunities are as bigger companies look for new products and patents. I have a small position in SBIO– less risk than betting on one company.