In Search of the Perfect Investment

Obama says he has “a mandate” and is going to tax the hell out of us, kill our businesses, ruin our families, destroy the economy and devastate the world.

Some of my disappointed friends are mouthing this stuff. I suggested to one a small island off the coast of Australia. The natives speak English (of sorts), and are friendly (when they’re not hungry).

He replied, “I’m not interested in living with a bunch of Aussie cannibals.”

Bit narrow-minded, I thought. But there are worse things. Like Obama’s taxes.

When I sold my company, I wrote a check to the IRS for $40 million — more than twice what I would write today in 2012.

Which brings me to today’s end of the world.

Here’s what you do:

You move all your taxes to 2012.

That’s it. No more.

The logic is simple. You’ll pay percentage-wise much less in 2012, than in 2013. You’ll end up with more cash.

There are a bunch of “strategies,” including selling all your big gainers before the end of 2012 to delaying all your expenses to 2013.

There’s another side to this: As the end of the year approaches, there could be some bargains. Maybe real estate? Maybe even equities.

Gambling is fun. But keep your stops tight. I bought some RIMM (Research in  Motion) yesterday. It seemed cheap and there are stories — once again — of an imminent takeover at 50% or so above where it is now. The key to something like this is a tight stop loss (maybe 3-4% and take a quick profit (if you get one) of 3-4%. While I personally think the company has no future under its present management, a new bunch might save it.

The most useful Windows tool.
Along the bottom of Windows is something called the taskbar. When it’s big, it shows the date and time. When it’s big, it’s too big. When it’s small (i.e. when the icons are small), it doesn’t show the date, which is irksome and another one of Microsoft’s many annoyances. To solve this you need a piece of software called 1st Clock 4.0 Classic, which I’ve now tested for several weeks on several machines and it works flawlessly. It makes your taskbar look like this:

Pick up your copy here. I just noticed that they have an update. It’s now 5.0. I’m guessing it will be fine. I love 4.0. to get to small icons, you right click on an empty space on the taskbar and hit Properties.

The TV Set in the bedroom. The ongoing sage of Newton household.

Susan: You didn’t change the channel, did you?

Harry: I would never change the channel. A happy wife is a happy marriage.

Susan: No. A happy wife is a happy life.

It’s only a matter of time
An elderly lady was invited to an old friend’s home for dinner one evening. She was impressed by the way her lady friend preceded every request to her husband with endearing terms such as: Honey, My Love, Darling, Sweetheart, etc. The couple had been married almost 70 years and, clearly, they were still very much in love. While the husband was in the living room, her lady friend leaned over to her hostess to say, ‘I think it’s wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your husband all those loving names.’

The elderly lady hung her head, ‘I have to tell you the truth,’ she said, ‘his name slipped my mind about 10 years ago, and I’m scared to death to ask the cranky old asshole what his name is.’

Harry Newton who is pleased he never tried those caffeinated pick-up-up drinks called 5-Hour Energy and Monster Energy. There are reports tying  the drinks to death, though both makers deny that drinking their concoctions cause you to die. My feeling: It’s not worth risk. I prefer short naps.