Today our tech stocks are up. Yesterday they were down.
There is no joy in watching the daily gyrations.
There is no joy in figuring out where the “Tariff Trade War” will go or who it will affect.
My simple idea is to stay away from companies at the center of it, .e.g.
The Internet is The Big Growth.
In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee developed the software for the World Wide Web and then gave it away for free. Initially, Berners-Lee’s innovation was intended to help scientists share data across a then obscure platform called the Internet, a version of which the U.S. government had been using since the 1960s. But owing to his decision to release the source code for free – to make the Web an open and democratic platform for all – his brainchild quickly took on a life of its own.
Tim now estimates that sometime this November, half the world’s population — close to 4 billion people — will be connected online, sharing everything from résumés to political views to DNA information. And buying endless stuff they often don’t need and searching for answers to life’s riddles.
Hence FANG, Square, Salesforce, and Microsoft, etc. My list of favored stocks is in the right hand column on my web site. Click here.
Sometimes some of my favorites mess up, or are perceived as messing up, e.g. Netflix:
All my friends are salivating. Netflix is cheap. They want to own more Netflix. But at what price? Some have limit buy orders in a $320. Some have already bought (at higher prices, like me). Good strategy: Put some orders in at various prices. See what you can snag.
The biggest bargain in tech stocks is clearly Apple. I eye my friends. Some have Apple’s latest phones. Some don’t. I don’t know anyone who has the top of the line X model. (My friends are cheap.) There’s little reason to get it. I have iPhone 8 plus.
But next year, Apple will introduce a 5G iPhone and that will be worth buying. Figure speeds of maybe 50 to 100 times faster than what you’re getting now. You’ll be watching movies and crunching your business’s customer data — giving you huge competitive edge. And a million other uses not yet discovered.
My first laptop had a top speed of 300 bits per second. It was a Radio Shack TRS-100. I sent stories in on flimsy phone lines. Every time we’ve had a boost in telecom speed (as we went from copper, to coax, to wireless, to fiber, to satellite — we’ve found and grown fantastic new uses. I think of the Apple Store and the Cloud. and I think of Netflix and Salesforce and Amazon and Shopify.
I’ll the first buyer of Apple’s 5G iPhone. But I’ll be standing in a long, long line.
If I were young I’d spend this summer learning how to code, and making a list of all the idiocies (also called opportunities) of the big guys. I’d probably move to Silicon Valley, too.
I couldn’t be more optimistic for what’s happening to us.
To repeat. Stocks not to own:
+ Biotech
+ Marijuana (despite being 100% legal in Canada in October and many U.S. states)
+ Cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin and ethereum
+ Miners
+ Banks
+ Energy companies
+ Tobacco companies
+ Most retailers — except those with their own proprietary products
+ Companies caught in Trump’s crosshairs, e.g. Harley Davidson, Ford and Pfizer
Wonderful cartoons from the latest New Yorker:
How to fix DirecTV
Our roof antenna got hit. One of the four satellite pointing things is dead. DirecTV uses four satellites. That meant for us no HD on local channels. Two solutions: Fix the dish — if you can get to it. Ours is on the roof and hard to get to. Or use your remote thus: Menu/Settings & Help/Settings/Display/Preferences: Show all channels.
Harry Newton, who will shortly write a book on dealing with contractors. The first rule is: Never give them significant money up front. I have no idea how to motivate them to show up on time….That’s for smarter minds. Nick, are you listening? Please come over and do what you promised you would do.
Praise the lord and pass the bacon. MAGA.
Harry, I see that you list Facebook in the right-hand column as a favorite stock of yours to own. Then you list companies to stay away from – banks, energy, etc. How funny it is to see a stock that dropped 20% in ONE DAY and set an ALL TIME RECORD for money lost on your list of “favorite stocks to own.” I’ve said it on here before, but Bitcoin is better than any stock you’d ever want to own. I’ve got Silicon Valley knowledge.
Am dealing with contractors almost every day. No–never, ever hand them significant money up front. But obviously you’ve already had this no-no burned into you bank account.
Harry, What you want to do with contractors is to give graduating deduction in what you pay them for every day or week, depending on the job that they are behind schedule. For instance, for every week they are late, you deduct 2%.
Your list of sectors to stay away from makes sense Harry.
But what about the energy sector, specifically alternate energy such as wind, solar, etc.?