In Search of the Perfect Investment

Here’s the last five days. They give volatility a whole new meaning.

First the S&P 500:

Here’s a chart comparing the three indices. The big volatility was in Nasdaq stocks — those shown in the green IXIC line:

The BIG lesson: Don’t watch the market every day.

If you own tech stocks, be prepared for gyrations.

Tech stocks are where the future is: AMZN, ADBE, BABA, CRM, DISH,  EXPE, FLEX, GOOGL, MSFT, NFLX, ORCL, SQ, TRVG and TSLA.

Yesterday, I received my second same-day delivery fromAmazon. I bought a voltmeter. My local hardware stock had some. But Amazon’s was half price, digital and better. I got Amazon’s last night. Amazing.

Here’s my guess on what happened to stocks in the last several days. The market’s present momentum has been buoyed by the promise of lower taxes. When health care reform got delayed (surprise, surprise), tax reform got delayed, infrastructure got delayed.

I believe none of this stuff is going to affect long-term stock prices. What will affect prices is business profits. They are improving.

If tech stocks are too volatile for you, put your money into index funds, like Vanguard’s VTI. Here’s it over the past five years:

Buffett sums it all up:

The Republican healthcare bill, he said, should be called the “Relief for the Rich Act.“

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour” on Tuesday, Warren Buffett said he thought the healthcare bill had one goal: To help rich people like him.

My friend, a talented and rich stock and real estate investor, figured health care reform would be worth an extra $40,000 in tax savings to him a year.

He does not need the $40,000.

This is not the way he lives, but it could be. He’s very frugal and he loves biking.

Ransomware threats, again

Ransomware is rogue software that locks your computer files and then demands money to unlock them (ransom). Paying the ransom may or may not unlock your files. But paying the ransom most certainly will not rid your PC of bad software. Solutions:

+ Update your Windows. Go to Windows Update. Get the latest fixes.

+ Copy all your working files onto a flash drive. Unplug it and put it in a safe place. Copy your working files at least once a day.

News on ransomware: Click here.

My birthday present to myself

I bought myself an X1 Carbon laptop from Lenovo. It has several huge advantages:

+ Ultra-light weight. Mine weighs under three pounds. It’s the lightest laptop I’ve ever owned.

+ Big 14 inch 1920 x 1080 pixel screen. Much more than others I have –which are 12 inches 1366 x 768. The X1 Carbon is super readable, especially for aging eyes.

+ Super fast Intel i7-7600U processor. This thing flies.

+ Nice keyboard. Lenovo has the best keyboards. Even better than Apple’s.

Disadvantages (and fixes):

+ It only comes with Windows 10. You can change it so Windows 10 will look like Windows 7. I did. It works fine. Click here.

+ You can change your idiot Windows Outlook login to a simple local login. I did. It works fine. Click here. 

+ All the Windows software I’m presently using on my Windows 7 machine works fine on my new Windows 10 X1 Carbon machine. This is good.

Conclusion: If you need a new laptop, this is the one to get.

Lyme Disease — A scourge beyond all. 

It’s a long weekend. Many of us will be outside.

I have friends who’ve had Lyme Disease for ten years. It’s ruined their lives.

It can be cured if you catch it in time. That’s the BIG IF. Most likely you can’t and won’t.

Lyme disease, transmitted by ticks, infects an estimated 300,000 people a year.

Rolling Stone just did a piece:

Lyme Disease: Inside America’s Mysterious Epidemic
Celebrities from Kathleen Hanna to Kris Kristofferson have revealed their diagnoses – and an unprecedented outbreak is expected this summer

In 2004, Kelly Osbourne was bitten by a tick. Her dad burned it off with a match and that, she thought, was the end of that.

But in the years that followed, she suffered from persistent body aches, headaches, stomach pain and trouble sleeping. In 2013, she had a seizure on the set of her show, Fashion Police. As her symptoms piled up, so did the prescriptions: Ambien, Trazodone, anti-seizure medications, even painkillers, despite her past addiction issues. The pills robbed her of her energy and emotions. “You know in movies where a mental patient sits in a rocking chair in a cardigan and nightgown and stares at a wall all day?” Osbourne wrote in her new memoir, There Is No F*cking Secret: Letters From a Badass Bitch. “That was me.”

For the full gruesome piece, click here. 

The Mayo clinic has advice on how not to get Lyme Disease.

The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to avoid areas where deer ticks live, especially wooded, bushy areas with long grass. You can decrease your risk of getting Lyme disease with some simple precautions:

• Cover up. When in wooded or grassy areas, wear shoes, long pants tucked into your socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a hat and gloves. Try to stick to trails and avoid walking through low bushes and long grass. Keep your dog on a leash.
• Use insect repellents. Apply insect repellent with a 20 percent or higher concentration of DEET to your skin. Parents should apply repellant to their children, avoiding their hands, eyes and mouth. Keep in mind that chemical repellents can be toxic, so follow directions carefully. Apply products with permethrin to clothing or buy pretreated clothing.
• Do your best to tick-proof your yard. Clear brush and leaves where ticks live. Keep woodpiles in sunny areas.
• Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks. Be especially vigilant after spending time in wooded or grassy areas. Deer ticks are often no bigger than the head of a pin, so you may not discover them unless you search carefully.

It’s helpful to shower as soon as you come indoors. Ticks often remain on your skin for hours before attaching themselves. Showering and using a washcloth might remove unattached ticks.

+ Don’t assume you’re immune. You can get Lyme disease more than once. (I know people who’ve had it three times. They are no happy campers.)

+ Remove a tick as soon as possible with tweezers. Gently grasp the tick near its head or mouth. Don’t squeeze or crush the tick, but pull carefully and steadily. Once you’ve removed the entire tick, dispose of it and apply antiseptic to the bite area.

Love this

$45 billion found in a Nigerian man’s flat. He’s spent 10 years trying get rid of it, but nobody answered his emails.

Harry Newton, who’s celebrating a long weekend with Susan’s birthday, a visit by Sophie, Ted and Claire, a concert at Tanglewood and lots of reading, writing and tennis.