Diversification is investing’s free lunch. So goes the argument. But there are two downsides:
1. Only concentration brings real wealth. Diversification brings pablum returns.
2. Diversification brings management agonies. I have a pile of paperwork that needs attending to — states that want taxes on old investments, paperwork on stock swaps, etc.
I spent half of yesterday dealing with the latest paperwork and I’m still not through… Yuch.
GM did well yesterday. It’s not out the woods. It has pensions, a desultory car lineup and a weak car market. Now the IPO hype is over, the stock will slide from here.
I got allocated 250 and sold them at $35.2890. My broker said I could use the profits to buy a new tennis racket.. He buys more expensive rackets than I do.
Gold is holding up.
Richard Russell wrote yesterday:
Gold continues to raise the hopes of the gold-haters and the gold shorts. But each time it looks as though “gold is ready to fold,” buying comes in. We know that China and many Asian nations want to boost their ratio of gold to fiat paper, which is why I keep mentioning the “Asian put.” I wonder whether Bernanke will ever mention the forbidden (to central banks) word – gold. The dollar bill tells us, “In God we Trust.” But I tend to think in terms of “In Gold we Trust.” Does that make me a bad person? I trust both God and gold, but not money by fiat.
Harry’s latest recommendations:
+ Celeste, the best Italian Restaurant in Manhattan. No reservations. Cash only. Remarkably moderate prices.
502 Amsterdam Ave (between 84th St & 85th St). We had dinner there last night. Susan loved it.
+ Men’s Health Magazine. I like their obsession with health, sex and technology. What else is there? Their Tech Guide 2011 has 100 ultra-neat gadgets, toys and Olivia Munn, 30, talking about her favorite gadgets. Number 1 gadget is Apple’s iPad:
Olivia is pretty, but I prefer Susan, my wife. For the magazine’s web site. click here.
My Apple maven, Dan Good tells Apple recently opened a store in the Coachella Valley, California. Says Dan, “the store is jammed with 70-year olds buying iPads and Macs. They love Apple’s free teaching seminars. The latest fad is playing Scrabble remotely with your grandkids. The app is called Words With Friends. It costs a bargain $2.99 at Apple’s App Store.”
David Pogue’s Ten Favorite iPhone apps — click here.
Apple was up strongly yesterday. Based on the buzz, it’s got a long climb coming.
+ Sad, but well-done musical (of all things) on ..
For the Scottsboro Boys web site, click here.
Golf or sex?
A man is watching a game of golf on TV, but he keeps switching channels to a dirty movie featuring a lusty couple having raucous sex.
“I don’t know whether to watch them or the game,” he says to his wife.
“For Heaven’s sake, watch them,” his wife says.
“You already know how to play golf!”
Harry Newton who lost four pounds as a result of my recent dentist sojourns. My trim figure helped me play out of my head yesterday. I got to most every ball and whacked them back. It was one of those days. Chalk up one benefit to a week of tooth pain — from last week’s surgery.
