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Five lessons from recent “volatility”

+ Can’t time this market. Or any market.

+ Panic is for idiots. I’ve been there. Done that.

+ Bottom fishing makes sense. Put in multiple orders, especially at 20% and 25% lower. You never know what you might snag. Had you snagged AMZN at 25% down, you’d now be 8% richer.

+ Ultra-disciple works. Don’t buy when it’s rising. Buy when it’s falling and ultra-low.

+ When in doubt, stay out.

+ Play tennis. Nap. Bingewatch Netflix or Amazon.

Here’s Amazon over the past six months. Paints an instructive story:

More madness

At the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Toyosu market, a 612-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record $3 million. That’s about $4,900 a pound, which literally makes no sense. The fish, according to the Associated Press, normally sells for up to $40 a pound. To boot, bluefin tuna is also a threatened species.

All about wiring money

Every bank/broker lets you wire out from your online account. That’s good.

If it’s for a decent amount — say $5,000 more  — best to call and tell them what you’re going to do.

Yesterday’s meeting with my nice bank produced more horror stories than you can ever imagine. Samples:

+ Emailed wire instructions got intercepted, changed and directed to a new recipient — one in China. Lost $100,000!

+ People being mugged at ATM machines and being forced to hand over all the money. Hence the irksome limits on ATM withdrawals. So, you literally can’t get too much money out to give to the mugger.

To buy, or not

+ Only buy LG washing machines and dryers. My son has done extensive research.

+ Roku Ultra. Solid construction. Improved processor. Best for binge-watching.

+ When cashing in miles, some flights on some days are much cheaper in miles. Be flexible.

Selling something?

Before you hire a broker, try the neighbors. They might want your apartment for their aging father. it just happened to me.

Great priorities. 

President Trump speaks this evening.

Shopping at Amazon — Beware

+ Roku Ultra is cheaper at Best Buy.

+ A package of four anything can be much more expensive than four packages of one anything. Amazon’s pricing is getting weirder.

Government shutdown

+ Get to the airport in plenty of time. Unpaid TSA employees are calling in sick. (Wouldn’t you?). As many as 170 TSA workers at JFK called out last week.

Tech Tips

It can be faster to plug in directly. First wired. Then WiFi.

Then WiFi on 24 GHz.

Then WiFi on 5 GHz

Always try your 5GHz network.

Huge difference. Depends on location and walls. Check your own speed here. 

Greatest idea since slice bread:

A smaller Coke can. 7.5 ounces versus the old 12 ounce can. Fewer calories.

Buy the smaller one.

I like redneck “jokes”

You are an EXTREME Redneck When..

1. You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.

2. The Blue Book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas is in it.

4. You think a woman who is out of your league bowls on a different night.

5. You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean.

6. Someone in your family died right after saying, ‘Hey, guys, watch this.’

HarryNewton
Harry Newton, who could spend his life unsubscribing from lists I never signed up to. Never sign up. Never give money online to a political party. Send them a check. But don’t sign up. You’ll never get off their lists.

4 Comments

  1. KC Chuck says:

    I am a retired USA veteran who opposes any new $s spent on a wall whatever its made out of. Trump has not spent the millions already approved. He has already wasted millions sending active duty troops to the border to put up barbed wire. I can not fathom what he as draft dodger has done to this country and our global allies.
    Don the Con for sure!

  2. Lucky says:

    Give Honey a try for price comparison checking on Amazon or others. Automatic price comparison while you are online with Amazon,,,https://www.joinhoney.com/

    I never subscribe to any lists, but, somehow get on lists anyway. If I cannot unsubscribe I simply block the sender and they go directly to my spam file…until they change their ID then I do it all over again. Good idea to check the Spam file for possible good messages then dump it often or it can build up pretty fast sometimes.

    • Omer Acikel says:

      Hey Lucky, I have been using honey for about a year now. I probably saved more than $100 on purchases. On amazon, savings are usually from tax free purchases from another supplier. But I have also saved by putting an item on price watch-list. You set your price and when price drops below, you get an e-mail. It also have price history on an item.