In Search of the Perfect Investment

Cockroach stock

This bank deserves to go lower. It’s a horrible company, with one disaster another emerging. Fake mortgages. Stealing houses by pretending they were legitimately foreclosed. Fake accounts. Fake life insurance sales.

People and companies are taking their accounts away as fast as they can. Nobody wants to deal the bank. And no one in their right mind wants to own the bank. It’s a great short. Here’s WFC this year:

As I was thinking about why this bank is the classic Cockroach stock, I came across a piece in Seeking Alpha, which concluded:

WFC has proven a complete inability to manage itself and as the regulators step into that role given management’s failures, life is going to be tougher for WFC. It already faced an uphill battle for growth and that hill is only getting steeper. We’ve seen institution after institution pull back on business with WFC and as that continues, it is going to have an even harder time growing. WFC’s fundamentals are inferior to the other TBTF (too big to fail) banks and given the other problems WFC has, there is absolutely no reason to own this stock. If you want a bank stock you can pick virtually anything else at this point and you’re better off.

You can read the full piece here. 

This Wednesday the New York Times followed with a piece beginning, “Wells Fargo has run a foul of banking regulators once again…” You can read the full boring piece here. 

One billion of Yahoo’s accounts got hacked — the largest hacking ever. 

If you have a Yahoo account you should close it immediately.

You should also change your passwords and security questions on your bank and brokerage accounts. The hackers now have clues on you.

Yahoo’s disasters have been good for Verizon. There’s talk that Verizon will now drop its incomprehensible bid for Yahoo. VZ is up.

I wish I had bought it at $46. When it was down there, I thought the Yahoo takeover would actually happen. I don’t any longer.

We ordered take-out from Amazon.com/restaurant last night. It was good.

Susan and I are convinced that Amazon is the only shop remaining in the universe. I just bought a pair of boots (UGG Australia Mens Hendren TL Winter Boot)

and several cartons of Bigelow Constant Comment tea, which I love. Shoes, tea, toys, stationery, pens, batteries … is there anything you can’t buy at Amazon and get free delivery?

I continue to be impressed with Amazon’s “culture.” I’ve sent Jeff@Amazon.com several comments and suggestions. And — wonder of wonders — someone responds positively and politely. It’s not a robot. It’s a real person. And their email indicates they read my email and are forwarding my ideas to the appropriate team. In contrast, Apple sends a stupid reply saying their lawyers will not let them listen to their customers.

Watch out for investing in startups

They all fail. And you never get your money back. However, even if they don’t fail, you may still never get your money back. They prefer to pay their CEO big money than to pay their investors small dividends. Things can get weird. Some CEOs go nuts with the money they’ve raised and splurge it — on acquisitions, fancy advertising, bonuses, etc. I just had one that managed to go Chapter 11 in under two years — a huge “accomplishment.”

I’ve written on startups before. They’re not for individual investors, like us. They’re for VCs who can control their CEO’s most outrageousnesses, (my new word) and who can play games with valuation.

Open Box. Remember the words.

I buy something. I return it. It’s no longer new. But it works perfectly and looks new.

The retailer must now re-sell the product. They call it “Open Box.” They discount the item online and in the store.

You can see the “Open Box” items in metal cages on the retail floors of Best Buy. If you find something you want, you can negotiate the price.

You’ll also find cheap, new stuff online here:

+ Amazon Warehouse Deals. click here. 

+ The Best Buy Outlet. Click here.

Tesla overpriced? There’s talk about oodles of new competition in electric cars and Tesla falling behind in production schedule. I’ve never been a Tesla stock fan. Too volatile. Too much of a “cult” stock. This is Tesla this year.

Friends tell me that “driving” a self-driving Tesla is absolutely thrilling. See if you can avoid hitting the brake. Trust the car not to kill the pedestrian crossing the road. Go for a Tesla test drive. Do it.

Christies is having an online auction. It’s selling handbags. I guess they’re investibles. They’re certainly pricey. I don’t make this stuff up.

Favorite New York Post cover. December 13, 2016. Sumner Redstone is aged 93. He’s worth $5 billion. He has a libido I envy. The headline “Chick Magnate” is classic Australian journalism. I used to write headlines there. I never wrote one as good as this one. Savor it.

How simple things get so messed up.

Rosh HaNikra is in Northern Israel. Naqoura is in southern Lebanon. They’re about two miles apart. I asked Google Maps for driving directions. Google recommends driving 295 miles (474 kilometers). Why does this blow my mind?

Favorite New Yorker cartoons

Putin agrees to receive intelligence briefings in Trump’s place

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)-In what Donald Trump’s transition-team members are calling a further example of international coöperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to receive daily U.S. intelligence briefings in the place of the President-elect.

Trump, who had earlier decided that he did not need the briefings and had assigned Vice-President-elect Mike Pence to receive them, said on Tuesday that Putin was a “much better choice.”

“No offense to Mike, but Vladimir Putin is just a terrific, terrific guy to do this,” he said. “He knows all the players.”

Trump said that, while he was “totally uninterested” in receiving the briefings, Putin appeared to be “extremely interested.”

“He’s just terrific,” he said.

Trump also touted his deal-making prowess in securing the Russian President’s services.

“The American people are getting an amazing deal here,” he said. “Putin is doing this totally for free.”

Harry Newton who notes serious talk about a Euro dropping below par with the U.S. dollar — there is plausible talk it could hit 85 cents. Talking about Europe’s economic economy, I found this summary recently in the New Yorker:

The actual story is more nuanced, but ultimately perhaps even more alarming. Eight years after the great financial blowup of 2008, the European Union is still stuck in an existential crisis, which now has at least four aspects: the area’s economy, despite a modest recent upturn, is still locked in the straitjacket of austerity; the refugee issue is fanning resentment, racism, and fear of terrorism in countries large and small; the threat of an actual breakup in the union is getting more serious, particularly following the Brexit vote in Britain; and there is a growing deficit in democratic legitimacy.

A reader says I should add good dental hygiene to my list of how to avoid heart disease. He’s right. For my list on avoiding heart disease, click here.