In Search of the Perfect Investment

Our Robins family has returned. It’s going to be a bountiful year.  We’ve never had more than three eggs.  The Newton family is ecstatic. Today:

Here’s picture of not a parent. But it’s close enough. Courtesy Google.

Amazing how a bird this small can produce such big beautiful eggs:

We’ll have babies shortly. They’ll leave the nest in two weeks. Then she’ll be back to lay another batch.

God bless compound interest. I wish my stocks did as well as my Robins.

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The family had a Zoom art auction

Granddaughter Sophie, 5, is a brilliant artist. Here are two of her most recent pieces:

Sophie had a brilliant idea. She’d auction off the paintings, with the proceeds going to

So the family organized a Zoom video call yesterday for all the bidders — family members — to see and bid on Sophie’s work.

Sophie raised $485 for the hungry children of Maine — her idea.

Go Sophie. Sophie will sell you this piece for $250 — all money to the Food Bank. Send me an email.

Zoom tips

+ Light in front, not behind. Don’t have windows behind you.

+ Don’t get too close to the camera.

+ There are two views on Zoom — Speaker and Gallery. Sophie gets a higher bid on her artwork when she shows it on Speaker view.

Zoom conference calls with the family are fantastic. Much better than Thanksgiving or Christmas. Make some artwork . Auction it on Zoom for a good cause.

The gotchas we live with

+ My car battery went flat. I went to AutoZone. They told me (predictably) my battery was dead. I fell for the pitch. They showed me how to install the new battery. They were wrong.

Rule: Before you do anything — and I mean anything — check the “How to do it” video on YouTube. It will detail the “gotchas” — like you have to keep power flowing to your car, otherwise you’ll lose half your electrical functions — like my right window will no longer open!!

YouTube’s How To videos are brilliant. Auto mechanics use them.

+ Today I got my $1,200 present from the Federal Government. I didn’t ask for it. I don’t deserve it. But I’m not sending it back because I have no idea where to send it — except maybe “Donald Trump, White House, Washington, D.C.” Susan didn’t get $1,200. I guess that’s because we file a joint return.

The government sent it to a bank account I rarely use — but fortunately have kept open.

Here’s how to check where your $1,200 went:

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

That link actually works — a first for the Federal Government.

I’m going to use the $1,200 to buy Susan a new iPad Pro 11 inches with 256 gigs of memory and  Apple’s new Magic Keyboard, which my daughter, Claire, loves.

+ A new scam. I opened a Chase Amazon Prime Visa credit card account. They never sent me a bill — electronic or paper.  They never put my charges on “auto-pay.” By the time I checked last night, I had late fees and purchase interest charges that now amounted to 25% of the bill! I’ve never heard of purchase interest charges. Heck, what do I know? My credit cart bill is exactly 0.0089% of what I have in cash in Chase.

+ Our small tennis court business may get $4,500 from Payroll Protection.  We filled in all the papers and I signed everything yesterday on DocuSign. It was remarkably efficient. That stock has done very well. I’m up over 100%. Who knew?

 Totally stupid

Even more stupid

And now for totally stupid

Morons. Morons. Morons.

Here’s today’s funeral in Brooklyn for Rabbi Chaim Mertz who died from COVID-19.

No social distancing. My God. Where did these people check their brains?

Where the market is going

For the moment the market is going up. Don’t fight the Fed. The “stay at home” stocks continue to do well, except Zoom, which is falling. Here’s the last ten days:

Should have sold Zoom at $180. If it falls further, I’ll buy some more.

See you tomorrow. — Harry Newton