In Search of the Perfect Investment

As fees rise, it’s time to say NO.

And NO, again.

It’s time to check our vendors

Especially the ones we have on auto-pay.

Auto-pay is a licence for them to steal our money.

Check your cellphone, cable, phone, Internet bills.

They’re all too high and wrong.

If you threaten departure, many vendors have special “Customer Retention” Departments.

Transfer over and savor the deals. At worst, snag higher a Internet speed and free airline miles.

I found one technique: “This is the most I’ll pay per month. You figure what it will take to get me there.”

Credit card conclusions

+ Accumulating airline miles is useless. You can never use them. My friend Lucas Mendes writes, “I agree with your daughter Claire. Very disappointed with airline miles cards and miles in general. I have 400.000 with Delta and can’t go anywhere. Lucas

+ Paying high annual fees will buy you a fancy metal credit card, but nothing much else.

+ Credit cards without annual fees and without fees on foreign transactions are the real deal.

+ Long live cash back.

+ American Express Blue Cash Preferred charges $95 a year and 2.6% on foreign transactions!

+ Costco’s card works if you shop there a lot. There’s no Costco close to where I live. Bummer.

+ The two best cards appear to be Fidelity Rewards Signature Card and Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card.

You can read a little more CNBC today. Click here and here. The pieces are not comprehensive. They are semi-useful.

Don’t do stupid with your phone or your emails

Don’t open attachments — without checking with the sender.

Is the attachment legit?

Follow Harry’s Golden Rule:

When in doubt, throw it out.

Don’t open attachments from Saudi Princes. Especially ones with bone saws.

Don’t do stupid in the NYC subway

Everyone and their uncle is dropping their cell phones and Air Pods onto subway tracks.

People are jumping on the tracks, which is stupid — especially when the train is approaching.

It’s gotten so bad, I spied a fellow with one of these on the Columbus Circle station.

He’s paid by the MTA to pick up fallen junk safely. Apple Air Pods are dropping like flies onto the subway tracks. don’t wear them in the subway. Wear the cheaper corded ones.

Speech recognition on the iPhone is really good

Talking to your phone is much faster than typing with your fat fingers. The iPhone’s translation to typed words is almost flawless.

Keys:

+ Question mark. Say “question mark”

+ Comma. Say “comma”

+ Period. Say “full stop”

+ New line. Say “new line”

My favorite app is Captio. I dictate a note to myself and hit Send. I get my thoughts as an instant email. No addressing. No nothing.

Coco Gauff is still 15 and amazing

Here’s Coco beating Venus Williams. Look at her muscles and her concentration. Wow!

The Australia Open is playing on ESPN2 and The Tennis Channel.

Tasteless humor

The market is weak today. But this should help. Latest news:

I thought Republicans were conservative and believed in balanced budgets. I guess re-election is more important.

See you tomorrow. — Harry Newton