In Search of the Perfect Investment

My fear is that many of Trump’s “policies” — especially trade wars and big tariffs on imports — will hurt American business.

One day, the stockmarket will wake up to The New Trump Economic Reality and drop 25%!

I watched his interview with ABC News — the first he’s given.

The interview is frightening. The headline on the Washington Post story is “In his first major TV interview as president, Trump is obsessed with his popularity.“

The size of the inauguration crowd. Three million fraudulent voters. Who gives a rats’ a*ss? Except someone whose ego is even bigger than mine and whose ego drives his every action.

Worse is his view of the world: It’s dystopian — which means “An imaginary place or condition in which everything is as bad as possible.”

Bad is not the way I’m seeing world. Employment is up. GDP is up. Read the Post story here.

I want to believe that world will be here in six months. I want to analyze stocks, bonds, real estate, and other investments.

Will the world be here in six months?

Remember, we’re being lead by a man who gets his news from Fox News, knows more about ISIS than the Generals …. and wants to cut off immigration.

This is Frederick Trump.

Wikipedia writes:

Frederick Trump (born Friedrich Trump; March 14, 1869 – May 27, 1918) was a German American businessman. Born in Kallstadt, in the Kingdom of Bavaria (now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany), he emigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and started working as a barber. Several years later in 1891, he moved to the Northwest. He made his fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in Seattle and a mining town to the north, and in the Klondike Gold Rush. He later returned to Germany and married. When authorities found that he had emigrated when young to avoid fulfilling his military service, he lost his Bavarian citizenship; he and his family returned to the United States.

He worked as a barber and hotel manager, and began to acquire real estate in Queens. He was the father of Fred and John G. Trump, and grandfather of Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.

You think Frederick Trump could make it into the U.S. with his grandson’s proposed immigration policies?

Stay in stocks? Move a little more to cash? Turn off the TV? Watch Fox, ESPN2 and The Tennis Channel.

None of my friends have an answer. You have one?

But … I do like what AMZN, DIS, FB, FLEX, HD. HON, MSFT, NFLX, SQ, and UNH are doing.

Though, I’d rather be watching tennis — especially this weekend.

Don’t do stupid, again. 

Repeating this message again gives boredom a whole new meaning. But too many people are not listening.

+ My dearest friend just fell down stairs and messed up his back. He fell on the last step going down — the most dangerous one.

+ My roofing contractor punched a punching bag so hard he broke several bones in his hands. He was not wearing the gloves he normally does when he exercises.

The New York Times took on falling — and how to do it somewhat safely (my bolding):

The Right Way to Fall

Rare is the individual who hasn’t tripped over a pet or uneven pavement, tumbled off a bike, slipped on ice or maybe wiped out skiing or skating.

Some get injured, while others go unhurt – often claiming it’s because they knew how to fall.

According to paratroopers, stunt professionals, physical therapists and martial arts instructors, there is indeed a “right way” to fall – and it can save you a lot of grief if you know how to do it.

Although often associated with older people, falls occur at any age and account for more than a third of injuries seen in emergency rooms in the United States. …

“As physical therapists we talk a lot about preventing falls, but what we don’t talk about is what to do when you actually do fall,” said Jessica Schwartz, a physical therapist in New York City who trains athletes and people with prosthetic limbs to fall without hurting themselves. …

The number one thing to remember, she said, is to protect your head. So if you find yourself falling, pivot to your side and tuck in your head.

“Have you seen those slip and fall cartoons where the characters fall flat on their back or face? Don’t do that,” said Dr. Schwartz. “You’ll hit your head like a coconut and get a concussion,” and the reverse motion, or bounce, of your head after impact “will give you something like whiplash.” Moreover, falling straight forward or backward raises the risk of damaging your spine and vital organs.

The other thing to avoid, she said, is “foosh,” an acronym for “falling onto outstretched hands.” If you do that, all the force of impact will be concentrated there, raising the risk of breaking your wrist. You similarly don’t want to come crashing down on your knee so you break your kneecap or do that maneuver where you kind of pedal with your feet to catch yourself, which can lead to broken bones in your foot and ankle.

Instead, if you feel yourself falling, experts said you should bend your elbows and knees and try to take the hit on the fleshiest parts of your body, like the side of your thigh, buttocks and shoulder. “Aim for the meat, not bone,” said Kevin Inouye, a stuntman and assistant professor of acting, movement and stage combat at the University of Wyoming.

The key is to not fight the fall, but just to roll with it, as paratroopers do. “The idea is to orient your body to the ground so when you hit, there’s a multistep process of hitting and shifting your body weight to break up that impact,” said Sgt. First Class Chuck Davidson, master trainer at the Army’s Advanced Airborne School at Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Paratroopers’ goal is to fall sideways in the direction the wind is carrying them – in no way resisting the momentum of the fall. When the balls of their feet barely reach the ground, they immediately distribute the impact in rapid sequence up through the calf to the thigh and buttocks. Then they roll over on the latissimus dorsi muscle, the large, flat muscle running laterally down the side of your back, and kick their feet over, shifting their weight so they end up supine with legs bent in front of them.

The procedure is strikingly similar to how martial arts practitioners learn to take a fall when they are, say, thrown over someone’s shoulder or have their legs knocked out from under them. “I would say the principles we follow are: Accept that you’re falling and go with it, round your body, and don’t stiffen and distribute the energy so you take the fall in the widest area possible,” said Paul Schreiner, a black belt jiu jitsu instructor at Marcelo Garcia Academy in New York City. …

Difficult as it may sound as you’re hurtling toward the ground – medical bills and disability flashing through your mind – experts said it’s important to relax as you fall. You’re less likely to hurt yourself if you soften up all your muscles and exhale. Rigidity is your enemy, while pliability is your friend. “As unfair as it is, that’s why people who are drunk” tend to be the ones who “don’t get hurt in car crashes,” said Mr. Inouye. “They are loose and just flop around.”

Of course, you will be better able to loosen up, pivot to your side, tuck and roll if you are in good physical condition. “If you have a room full of soccer players and computer desk workers and go around knocking people over, you can bet the soccer players are going to be less likely to get hurt because of their superior strength, agility and coordination,” said Erik Moen, a physical therapist in Kenmore, Wash.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be an elite athlete or paratrooper to fall the “right way.” Young children are arguably the best fallers because they have yet to develop fear or embarrassment, so they just tumble and roll without tensing up and trying to catch themselves.

Physical therapists can be helpful in assessing your weaknesses and prescribing do-at-home exercises to improve your strength and agility (for example, jumping from side to side and on and off platforms or steps) so that you will be better able to execute a fall as well as lessen the risk that you will fall in the first place.

For the full New York Times article, click here.

Auto-Pay revisited.

You need one credit card with a short expiration — say one or two years. You put all your auto-pay accounts on it. When they expire, they won’t be automatically renewed because your credit card is dead. You’ll get a reminder. Then you can officially close the account — if you can reach them, through their Eternity Hold.

eFax gives you a phone number you can receive faxes at. It answers the phone, captures the fax, converts it to a PDF and emails you the fax.

Useful service — except for one minor point. No one has sent me a fax in the last two years. No one.

Fax  was one “hot” technology — once. How fast the world changes. Not one fax in two years!

Slingbox is most useful technology. Attach this thing to your cable box and the Internet. Bingo, you can watch your home TV and what you recorded on your cable box from anywhere in the world.

It’s really useful out here in California where I can watch New York TV and the shows recorded on my FiOS cable box. With Slingbox I can watch on my laptop or pipe it via HDMI to my big screen TV.

Slingbox M2 costs a one-time $99 — and is worth every penny. Click here.

The Australian Open Finals is on this weekend. You’ll never see these matches again. This is a historic weekend

Saturday: The Williams sisters in the women’s finals. Start at 3:30 AM Saturday morning EST.

Sunday: Raffa vs Federer in the men’s finals. Start at 3:30 AM Sunday morning EST.

I make no forecasts. But I’d like Venus and Fed to win.

Kindly thinking Scottish husband

A thoughtful Scottish husband was putting his coat and hat on to make his way down to the local pub. He turned to his wee wife before leaving and said, “Maggie – put your hat and coat on, lassie.”

‘She replied, ‘Awe Jock that’s nice. Are you taking me tae the pub with you?”

‘Nay,” Jock replied “I’m turning the heater off while I’m oot.”

Harry Newton, who played tennis yesterday at California’s Coachella Valley’s Mission Hills Country Club, where the view is  — shall I say — spectacular.

Taken with my trusty iPhone 6. … Still working on how to use covered calls to double XOM’s 3.5% dividend yield.