Such excitement. The S&P 500 is up 10% this year. But most of my money (outside of real estate) is invested in treasuries paying 5% or so.
I could have earned 10%. But I earned 5%.
Such brilliance.
Diversification is my “wealth preservation technique.” That’s a fancy name for opportunistic investing — in other words, investing in what comes along that’s interesting and not investing in stuff that that looks uninteresting. Very sophisticated.
I don’t know how real estate will pan out. But I am diversified with residential, offices and some retail. Offices in some places are doing awfully. But in others they’re doing just fine. Residential is dong spectacularly. There’s a huge shortage of housing in the U.S. Everyone wants to live in the sunbelt and work from home beside a lagoon. Rents are skyrocketing. Retailing is coming back after the covid hiatus. Industrial is slowing after the covid boom. Not easy to keep up since real estate is so location specific.
You typically do best when you work and invest in your own business. When you invest in other people’s businesses, diversification makes sense. There are many ways to diversify — industries, geographies, etc. You do what you can find. The big word is opportunistic.
Two technologies I’m excited by — AI and VR
First, AI. Frankly I can’t keep up. Every industry is embracing AI — and not just for the value of the boost to the stock price, but because there are genuine benefits in every aspect of their business — from marketing to internal efficiencies, like writing code faster, or planning your trip to Switzerland.
Second, VR is virtual reality. You can buy Facebook Oculus headsets on eBay for a couple of hundred dollars. I’ve had one on loan for a few days. It great for porn, for games, for adventures (e.g. rock climbing and mountain bike riding). It’s also going to be very useful to learn to fly a plane, drive a train, repair a jet engine, assemble Ikea furniture, remove someone’s gallbladder, to fix a broken leg, and my favorite (I wish), hit a decent topspin forehand (like Nadal or Federer).
On Monday, Apple will introduce its first VR headset. I bet it has developed some really neat applications. I’ll be watching the keynote:
Your short-term monies
JEPI, a JPMorgan CD like thing, is yielding 11.2%. Nice.
Three month treasuries are paying 5.38%. Six month treasuries are paying 5.46%.
My best medical modifications
+ Removal of my gallbladder – thank you Dr Kelvin Higa.
+ Cataract lenses.
+ Teeth implants.
+ Daily pills: 10 mg statin (atorvastatin), Prilosec, and one D3 2000 IU.
Good news for Nvidia
There’s a story floating around that Intel may one day make Nvidia chips.
To diversify the manufacturing of Nvidia chips is a good idea. Right now Nvidia is massively reliant on Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which makes 92% of the semiconductor chips in the world and is based in Taiwan which China regularly makes threatening noises against.
Here’s the most important investing lesson ever.
Take a gander at this chart — NVDA stock versus Intel over the past five years.
What’s the difference? Nvidia is run by its founder. Intel isn’t.
I have followed Intel for 50-odd years. I have constantly been surprised at the dumb decisions the company constantly makes.
I could write a book.
In contrast, Nvidia, is run by Jensen Huang, its founder. I love what he’s doing.
Huang just gave a brilliant commencement address in Taiwan.
For a summary, click here.
For the actual address (which is in English). Click here.
Here’s Huang explaining why Nvidia is betting big on AI.
My favorite performer –Taylor Swift
Taylor appeals to to two demographics — women between 15 and 30, all of whom have been treated poorly by men. And second, grandfathers (like me) who appreciate the brilliance of her marketing and her music.
My favorite song is Shake It Off. I play it when I’ve lost at tennis or made a bad call on the market (like my Nvidia). When you’ve had a bad day, this is the song to play.
A year ago she gave the commencement speech at NYU:
Google says she’s worth $740 million. I bet it’s well over a billion. She deserves every penny.
Favorite cartoons
Brilliant marketing
Tennis and the post office
I played tennis at 6:45 this morning. What a pleasure to play in the coolness of the day.
Sadly, (for all my detractors), NVDA is still going up. I don’t know why. It’s still overpriced. But heck, AI has barely started.
Now you know why I love Instagram. I love Mark Smith’s birds.
That poor fish didn’t stand a prayer.
This morning, nice red flowers outside the Spencertown Post Office in mid New York State.
Handsome safe stairs outside the Spencertown Post Office. Hold both railings and watch that final step, going down.
It will be a glorious weekend. Hug the kids and the grandkids. — Harry Newton
