Mortgage REITs pay high dividends. They have been slowly reducing their dividends of late, but the yields are still high. And the stocks have been holding up — a function of the high dividends and rising NAVs (net asset value) of the stocks. AGNC and NLY have been big winners for me. I spent time reading their management reports, which are not easy to understand. NLY’s is obtuse. AGNC’s is much better. Last night I watched and listened to:
You should too. But you’d better listen soon, because they’re going to take the recorded presentation down on May 17. Download the PDF containing the slides, then listen to the presentation. For how, click here.
How goes commodities? Sometimes great. Sometimes not great. Depends on the timing. The moral of this chart is that the commodities game is for fools and gamblers.
For the larger. more readable version of his chart, click here.
Gold over the past five years:
The S&P over the same five years:
Gold did well until recently? It’s losing ground and is presently squirrely. Time to sell? No. Not yet. Gold is a hedge, at lest for now?
How goes solar? Solar is not a real business, yet. You cannot make money by building a solar plant and selling its electricity unless you sell it an artificially high price — e.g. to a government-owned utility. Solar cannot compete with plants that burn coal (the most common) or natural gas or diesel. The moral is: Don’t ever buy into a business that relies on the government paying you a ridiculous (i.e.non-economic) price or setting ridiculous rules.
Prepare for your own lack of Medicare. For most of us old foggies, Medicare works well. But the reality is that soon it will run out of money and start rationing its care. At that point us old foggies need to be prepared to pay our own medical bills. Each of us needs to put some money into our special Medical Fund. Monies we’ll need to say alive when we’re old and Medicare is broke.
Watch for missing manhole covers. You can get $30 for a manhold cover you steal. Thieves have stolen more than 30 in New York since March. Pedestrians walking and texting have fallen into manholes. Apparently it’s not pleasant to suddenly drop 15 feet. Pedestrians with ear buds and smartphones are now the biggest hazard for us bicyclists.
Apple is once again down 10% from its high. I bought a handful back after it bounced last time. And I’m under water a little now. I’m watching. The stock has lost much of its buzz.
Thoughts on Facebook. Not good that the founder is selling a billion dollars worth of his stock. Tells you something. Everyone and his uncle is gunning for Facebook. But for now, the IPO will be hot. Grab a few shares if you can. Then sell them quickly. This is NOT a long-term play.
The economics of Washington. The Secret Service scandal was discovered when a disagreement on how much a prostitute wanted for her services came to light. She wanted $800. The Secret Service Agent offered $30. How ironic is it that the only person in Washington willing to cut spending gets fired?
Harry Newton who marvels at the prices paid for art. Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” just fetched a cool $120 million at auction.
That makes it the most expensive painting sold at auction, but not the most expensive. Allegedly someone paid $250 million for Paul Cesanne’s “The Card Players” in 2011.
Chosen correctly, art has much higher investment turns than virtually all other investments — with the sole major exception of your own business.
What a joke! The decline in the jobless rate reported this morning isn’t a positive sign because it primarily came from people dropping out of the labor force.
One option I use on medical care is to be an MDVIP customer, costing me, I think, $1,600/year. These doctors only take on 600 patients, hence you get immediate and great attention, even having their cellphone number. There network is nationwide, should you need a doctor while traveling. Meanwhile, it would be nice if our incompetent Congressman/women would properly address Medicare and for those who need it, Medicaid. The current system seems modeled on our spectacular Post Office system!
Can you image waking up each morning to “The Scream”? Ugg.
Re your medicare prediction, Harry: prophecies, when passively accepted, become self-fulfilling.
Rather than being passive about this and other critical issues, let's put our energies into reviving and building a new vision of the common good. We went to the moon- we can figure out and create a society that embodies a safety net that provides for those who need it, and that includes people who contributed to the nation all their lives in various ways and those who are disabled.
Where's Iron Ore?
Rio Tinto is spending millions in mine expansions. There must be a reason!
Unfortunately the main stream media and the White House will only focus on the percentage falling
A “commodity” that I did not see on your list is W (Tungsten). It is a strategic metal that is relatively abundant in the earth's crust, but rare in terms of available supply. Buffet has recently started to invest in it through mining. It is worth looking at since it is critical in military and industrial metallurgy. Ignore the idiots hyping it for jewelry etc.