I bought a little more BX yesterday and sold a little of my BRKA. There’s a Seeking Alpha piece on Berkshire here. I had previously bought more APO. The three barbarians — APO, BX and KKR — continue to do just great. This is their quarter as they ramp up dividends to pay their big management shareholders, following a wonderful year 2013.
It’s 9 degrees in New York, colder elsewhere. I bicycled to tennis. Not a good idea.
This bank by photo service has its downsides. It’s a super idea. Turns out there are “gotchas,” which they don’t tell you about. JPMorgan Chase has a $25,000 a day and $100,000 a month limit. Fidelity has a $25,000 a day limit, but no explicit monthly limit. Both can’t — or won’t — increase their limits for favored customers, or even unfavored ones, like me. One wonders why God invented computers if they apparently can’t be programmed to favor favorite customers. I need to check some of the other providers. It’s very depressing how inflexible even private, allegedly helpful, banks are.
Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas features:
1. Health stuff, like wristbands that motivate you to walk more, allegedly. My friends find them useless.
2. 4K TVs which have many more pixels, a much better picture and don’t have any content to show — yet. But it’s coming. If I were buying a new TV today, I’d only buy a 4K one.
3. 3D printers. These things are not as useful (or as cheap) as the 2D printers we have on our desk. But the trend is clearly in sight. There are huge opportunities for 3D to make spare parts.
4. Programmable wristwatches. The things alert you to your incoming emails and texts. They let you control your smartphone. Oh, and yes, they tell the time. They’re too big, too expensive and too clunky for my taste. But they are getting more interesting.
I’ll find other things in the next few days. I’m not in Vegas. I’ve been many times. Last year the effort of schlepping all over the show produced no products I wanted to buy and no companies that would let me invest in them — though I tried. The good ones were all funded by friends and family.
You should buy an Apple computer. Following my comments yesterday, a nice reader wrote:
Dear Harry,
You want the 13″ Apple MacPro with Retina, get the most memory, SSD and CPU config you can. You won’t like the non-Retina MaxAir display and the MacPro lets you attach two high density external displays. You also want to get Windows 8.1 by installing Parallels which works great and lets you run any Windows program, like Fidelity ATP, within OSX. I have this setup, works great. Plan to get a Apple TimeCapsule for seamless backups. I converted to Apple a few years ago when it was time to replace my old ThinkPad, Apple costs a little more (of course) but everything just works.
Gary S
Spam has exploded: Spam filters on software like Norton Internet Security (which I use) can’t catch them all. Something called spam botnets are sending the same spam but from different email addresses. The BIG solution is Google Gmail. You must get yourself an disposable email address. Use it for six months. Then junk it. Use it for online things — like buying stuff. But kill it in six months and then get another one. It’s a pain but there is no other simple solution. Spam email is out of control.
I have set up rules in Outlook to dump email from offenders directly into my “deleted” folder. But I can no longer keep up.
Harry Newton who nibbled at some muni bonds yesterday and got very frustrated with stupid vendors and endless crap that was designed “for my protection.” Whatever happened to building a relationship and simple customer service. Why is everybody now regarded with suspicion?
I was fortunate enough to buy some “PLUG” about ten days ago. Saw their hydrogen powered equipment working a year ago when touring the BMW plant in SC. Not sure high much higher it can go.
Our present federal tax code is a good example of a police state. Time to change the tax code base from production to consumption. Learn more at fairtax.org
“Why is everyone now regarded with suspicion.” True story: I recently tried to open an account at a bank a block from my home. The employee asked for identification. I presented a driver’s license. He said “That won’t suffice. We need a Social Security card. Original, not a copy.” I offered a paid bill showing I lived a block away. No dice. I offered to take the employee to the window and show him my house & have my wife wave out the window. No. I offered to go home & get my birth certificate. “WE can’t accept a birth certificate. Only a Social Security card. Original.” “But – that’d require me to wait in a long line at the Social Security office. And i’m offering YOU money. About 10 grand for a checking account. I’ve opened accounts at Fidelity and Vanguard for hundreds of thousands of dollars and one at T. Rowe Price for seven figures and they don’t require a Social Security card.” No go. I stomped out.
Banks employ some of the stupidest people on the planet. As a result, they have to make very stringent, very inflexible rules. I’m enjoying the same problems with trying to deposit checks by photo to them. they introduce a new service, then limit it so as to make it useless and unappealing to their customers. Go figure. I can’t.
Why BX?? Do you think there will be a lot of M&A this year?
“Why is everybody now regarded with suspicion?” I recently tried to change my voter registration from one city, where I own property, to another city where I own property. All in the same state. The “proof” of identity paperwork was enormous! When I asked the local folks I was informed it was all part of the Patriot Act. The Federal Government checking on it’s serfs. Kinda like in the City of David in the time of Herrod.
I’d be suspicious of Frank Derfler also. If you research his background, you’ll find it as clean as a whistle. He was even a major in the Air Force. He helps kids get into college. And he’s really great with his family. People can’t be that clean. Hence, I’d be suspicious, too.
Indeed, my Russian friends don’t believe it. They call it my сказка .
I don’t understand your advice about getting and then dumping a Gmail account. That seems like a clunky thing to do. I use Gmail almost exclusively and have since it started. The service does an outstanding job of protecting me against SPAM. Perhaps, at most, one a week sneaks through. I simply mark it as SPAM and the folks at Google add it to the list.
Ah, maybe you don’t know that Gmail does a great job of sorting out promotional emails that you might get from buying and researching on the Internet. The promotional stuff goes into a separate folder and you can look at it (or not) at your leisure. You can block those you never want to see again with a click.
Really, Harry, that beats trying to keep track of ever changing new email accounts, usernames, and passwords.
I agree with Fderfler. I’ve had the same GMail account for years and any spam is caught my the GMail spam filter. For others I either mark as spam or add a GMail filter to automatically delete it.
You guys are teaching me something about Gmail I didn’t know — namely powerful spam filters — better than Outlook and better and than Norton Internet Security. I need to check. But it does sound good.
Why is everybody now regarded with suspicion?
A. Because we live in a police state comrade. Comrade Obummer is watching you.