The kids are in charge. They have strong ideas about their brave new world and hey are aggressively exercising their pocketbooks:
+ Veggie burgers. All my kids are off real meat. That’s bad news for the meat processors. My kids don’t eat processed foods — stuff that comes in plastic bags. Bad news for the food processors.
+ My kids don’t like cannabis. But a lot of their friends do. Meantime, all my kids are off liquor. They drink beer. Good for local breweries which their friends are opening.
+ Streaming video. They’re cable cutters. They love Netflix and YouTube TV (Google). My $500 a night weekend hotel didn’t have HBO or the Tennis Channel!
+ They only go shopping for food. Everything else they buy from Amazon. Walk New York’s streets. You’ll be staggered at the number of empty stores. Store-based retailing is dead — except for stores with their own stuff and an “experience” — like free classes at LuluLemon or Nike’s incredible store on Fifth Avenue.
+ One on one is awful. American Airlines cancelled our flight this afternoon, then scrambled to find us seats on a later flight — killing our plans for dinner with the kids. What an awful business airlines. Your world is dependent on the weather and irresponsible suppliers like Boeing. And then this last night. I don’t make this up.
+ And cameras… Not a business you want to be in.
Keep these trends in mind as we journey through the next few months finding early-stage Amazons, Apples, Googles and Netflixes.
Smartphone cameras are killing the camera industry
My friend tells me Apple has more engineers working on its iPhone cameras than all the camera makers — like Nikon, Canon, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Sony — combined. Maybe that’s why I’ve given up carrying my trusty Canon G5X in favor of my iPhone 8 plus.
Central philosophy
+ It’s much easier the second time.
+ Google always has a solution, the second time you look. Be wary of those sponsored ads on top.
It’s a buyers’ market in houses and apartments
+ Don’t fall in love. You’ll overpay.
+ Offer 30% less. Offer cash. Offer your ability to close fast.
+ Be prepared to wait.
+ The best buys are estate and divorce sales.
+ Don’t get bamboozled by broker talk. Like talk about he 500 other “buyers.”
+ Don’t expect the price of your chosen apartment or house to necessarily appreciate in coming years. There are far too many forces arrayed against you — Airbnb, rich people downsizing, the ease (and cheapness) of building new stuff, especially with today’s low interest rates.
What you pay is the most important part of any deal. Buy cheap. Prepare to walk. Learn to say NO.
Don’t do stupid
+ Always wear shoes at home. You won’t stub your toe on that metal chair.
+ Hold the railing going down. Don’t fall on the last step.
What more can I say?
Meatless burgers are a great rage. I’m pleased. Feed animals are a huge burden on our world. Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5% and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Our kids have largely given up meat.
If Beyond Meat didn’t taste so awful, I’d buy the stock again. But meatless burgers are fun:
For the full delicious article, click here.
I test a Hauwei cell phone.
A Chinese fellow I met had one. He loved it. It was large. It had three cameras, two phone lines (one for the U.S. and one for China). It had a wonderful screen. It reminded me of the bigger Samsung models. In China (where he bought it) his Hauwei cellphone cost one-third the price of an iPhone.
I have no idea if Hauwei is a threat to the world. I feel sad I can’t buy such a nice phone here.
Happiness is not buying shoes for yourself.
It spikes your happiness, which quickly falls.
Happiness is buying shoes for someone who needs them.
Reader Nancy Klaus got the answer right.
Giving really works. As my professor, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar , said at our weekend reunion, “To give it to receive.”
Harry Newton. I’m seeing these two grandchildren, Zoe and Sophie, this evening (if American Airlines ever gets me to Boston). Their mother, Claire, is preparing a birthday cake for me with 77 candles. Should be fun. She has a new fire extinguisher.
Fortunately these two are too young to be drafted into our upcoming war with Iran. The tanker attacks remind me of the beginning of the Vietnam War. Yuch.
One of the two burning tankers in the Gulf of Oman today.
I updated the list of stocks I like. See the right hand column here.
