In Search of the Perfect Investment

I’m not buying a house in Andalusia, Spain, though they’re much cheaper than they were five years ago. I’m not retiring here, though half of England seems to be. I do like the place. The Spanish have done wonders with the infrastructure. Roads. Highways. Tunnels. Bridges. Railways. Modern fast trains. Everything is top-notch and new. It makes you wonder what God could do if only he could borrow all that money.  Pity there’s no enough people to use it all.

“AGNC,  AMTG,  IVR,  MTGE,  and  TWO  have  the  lowest  and  most  stable prepays in the mortgage REIT sector.” For the full report click here. And also here.

The tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 will expire at the end of this year. Some may be extended. But the reality is that your and my taxes will rise. If you’re old (i.e. between 60 and death), you should give more to your children NOW. That will save them paying huge taxes to the Feds when you and your spouse do die. Right now you and your spouse can each give up to a $5,000,000 estate tax exemption.   Without further Congressional action, the estate tax exemption is scheduled to decrease to $1,000,000 per person. If you figure estate tax at 50% or more, that could be expensive. Talk to your estate lawyer about trusts. I need to address all this when I get back next week.

All about Apple. Pre-orders for Apple’s iPhone 5 smashed the company’s previous sales record, with more than 2m people placing reservations for the device. Apple’s share price closed above $700 for the first time. There are now some Wall Street analyst reports that say Apple will hit $1,000 and more. I’m not arguing. They may actually be right, for a change. I hope so.

You can unlock your iPhone and replace its SIM card with a cheaper card to use when you’re traveling overseas. Frankly, I wouldn’t. It’s too complicated. You are likely to lose much of “life” — even if you backed it up on iCloud. Easier: Buy an unlocked GSM phone on eBay and use it overseas with a local $25 pre-paid SIM card.

You should upgrade your iPhone (all models) to iOS 6 — Apple’s new upgraded operating system. There’s a lot of neat new stuff. My friend emails me: “If you haven’t downloaded and installed 6.0 on your iPad you should do so now from the App Store. It speeds it up ( 2X?) and brings SIRI to the iPad as well as 200 other improvements.” Some of the critical ones are listed here.

My friend, the walker, loves the app Trails for his iPhone. The site — http://trails.lamouroux.de/ —  says Trails is the first GPS iPhone app that allows you to record, import and export tracks onto your iPhone. Trails was featured as an iTunes Staff Favourite! Record maps while hiking, on bike trips or while jogging directly on your iPhone. Easily import tracks and follow hikes of others!

Cramer (and I) are wrong about Facebook. we both think it’s worth under $20 — perhaps $15 to $18. But ever since Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg went public with words about his upcoming mobile strategy the stock has risen. Why? The “strategy” wasn’t anything except an apology for old screwups — like trying to develop your own mobile strategy. I do know I’m not playing Facebook any more. I’m too old to understand the company and its users. You can’t be a xenophobe (i.e. me) and love Facebook.

The Gold Bug. From the Economist:

With the central banks of Japan, America and the euro zone all loosening monetary policy (and the Bank of England expected to follow), gold prices hit six-month highs as investors turned to the metal, which is seen as a hedge against inflation.

Check. Check. Check. That’s the motto I used in my business. As a serious blogger, that’s the mantra I try and follow. But CNN? Here’s the map I got from CNN and ran yesterday of AT&T 4G coverage:

Several readers said it is was BS and they had 4G from AT&T in Portland and Seattle, which aren’t shown in the CNN map. Here’s AT&T’s map:

It shows a somewhat different picture. Whom should you believe? I carry an AT&T iPhone because it had the iPhone years before Verizon. AT&T iPhone is GSM, so it works well (if expensively) in Europe. In the U.S. an AT&T iPhone is not as reliable (or as useful) as a Verizon iPhone. But now we all have a choice — Verizon or AT&T iPhone with 4G/LTE Despite my new, improved AT&T coverage map today, it’s still clear to me that a Verizon iPhone 5 with Verizon 4G/LTE makes far more sense than an AT&T one, especially around the U.S. I will switch when I get back and iPhone 5 supply eases.

The Jewish Elbow
A Jewish grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.

“You come to the front door of the apartment. I am in apartment 301 . There is a big panel at the front door. With your elbow , push button 301. I will buzz you in.

Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow push 3. When you get out, I’m on the left. With your elbow , hit my doorbell.”

“Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?

“What …. You coming empty handed?”

Harry Newton who divulges everything he learned yesterday about visiting the Alhambra, Granada, Spain. The Alhambra is boring. The only thing to see (and it’s truly spectacular) is the Palacios (Palace) Nazaries. You buy a ticket to visit the Alhambra (boring) and then for a special add-on price you are given a time to visit the Palace. You have only half an hour. You line up and tootle through the Palace at high speed.  Don’t visit the Alhambra without a ticket to the Palace Nazaries. The Palace is the only place in the Alhambra you’ll see Islamic art at its finest.

Like this ceiling

Or this 3D ceiling

Or this incredible room in Throne Room:

Or this wonderful door:

This stuff dates back to the 10th century. So it’s pretty special. I took these photos with an Canon G1X and sharpened them in Photoshop.