In Search of the Perfect Investment

It looks like we’re due for a little dip.

The economic pundits are in disarray. Some (like Richard Russell) see the U.S.’s national debt of over $12 trillion and  freak.  Some see the world attacking its massive problems and digging itself out of its massive debt hole. Personally, I’m optimistic. But I recognize the recovery process will long, and hard. There won’t be a new boom for some time. Meantime, our role as investors  is twofold:

1. Sit patiently and await true bargains.

2. Invest in the family and enjoy ourselves.

Apple versus Microsoft. Apple’s customer service is stunning. They refunded me $8 because of a minor thing (and because I wanted to see if they would). They completely replaced for free a friend’s dying computer with a new $3,000 one. They upgrade their computer operating system so the upgrade is painless and all the old stuff still works. I defy you to find anyone in Microsoft’s customer service department — if  there is such a department. And Windows 7 is not a painless upgrade. Your old stuff often won’t work and you, the customer, will be left scrambling for help you won’t get from Microsoft. I’m not telling you anything you didn’t know. Once Apple’s stock was lower than Microsoft’s. Now Apple is seven times higher.

How have stocks done? The Leuthold Group studied stockmarket  returns during various ten-year periods. Here are the annualized return for the S&P 500:

1930 to 1939 …… +0.0%
1940 to 1949 ….. +9.2%
1950 to 1959 …….+19.4%
1960 to 1969….. +7.8%
1970 to 1979 …..+ 5.9%
1980 to 1989…..+ 17.5%
1990 to 1999……+18.2%
2000 to 2009…. -0.9%

The Nissa Xterra is great. I’ve never liked SUVs. But this one is different.

It’s comfortable, powerful, has great brakes, four-wheel drive when you need it  and cheap.  Around $23,000. We rented one from Hertz, though when we got there, we had to fight for it.

Stop using all that soap powder — in both your dishwasher and your washing machine.  All that soap wrecks your clothes and your machines. Read more.

Hard to find a recession. When Indian Wells Tennis Tournament is completely sold out with everyone paying $35 or more.

What’s amazing to me, as  a New Yorker: there’s no public transportation. Everyone comes by car. Which means on any day there’s at least 10,000 bright, shiny and clean cars parked on every inch of nearby vacant land, including the local church’s parking lot.

One vendor at the tennis was peddling odd things, including this $95,000 custom Harley Davidson:

The bike makes you wonder what God could do if only He had the imagination, the money and the chrome.

Indian Wells is idyllic. The weather is perfect. The views of the surrounding mountains are stunning

You can even sit on the grassi and watch the matches on the big screens

Or eat yourself silly

It’s my ten commandments phase. I love these two cartoons.

Harry Newton, who has great tickets to Indian Wells today, but meantime is still reading investment docs that don’t persuade.