First, the good news: The economy and corporate earnings are booming.
Now, the bad news: The best time to invest is when things are awful — blood on the street and all that. That’s not now. The time to invest was exactly a year ago.
I can show you dozens of stock price charts in which the price went parabolic from March to end December. Then around the end of 2021, many prices went flat and many hot stocks edged down.
The perfect example is:
Cathie Wood’s ETF. It peaked the middle of February 2021.
In the old days you bought hot tech stocks — like the ones in our list — and you watched them go up — like ARKK did.
It’s not so easy today. I thought “Look at P/E ratios. Pick stocks with low P/Es and an ebullient story. Search outside tech.”
It’s called value investing. Not easy.
I like Ford. Look at this chart. It peaked the middle of April, then dropped — a common chart. But then, it released the F-15 Lightning electric and up it went.
See more on Ford below.
I thought I’d found another “Ford” when Susan came home yesterday with a trunk full of this stuff:
How could I not fall for a slogan as persuasive as this one?
Notice anything familiar about the chart of Scotts MiracleGro?
SMG does make a degree of sense. Its P/E ratio is 22.7. It pays a little 1.15% dividend. It’s not my best pick. But it’s powering the tomatoes, herbs and strawberries that Susan is growing and will keep me alive this summer.
I also bought starter positions in IP, CCI, OTIS, RTX and expanded my positions in GNRC (everyone is buying a Generac), NVDA (it’s splitting), LOGI (because I keep buying their stuff).
How to buy Bitcoin
Reader Eduard wrote me, “Harry, You may want to rethink bashing bitcoins.”
I accept that logic. I thought to myself. OK, maybe I’ll have a shot at buying some bitcoin. I asked Eduard how I should start investing in bitcoin. Here’s his step-by-step:
1. Attach standard Coinbase account to a baby bank account via ach.
2. Transfer dollars and purchase say $1k in btc (bitcoin) to get started.
3. Once credentialed by Coinbase, simply move on to their Coinbase Pro platform which is cheaper and easier to navigate.
4. Start purchasing on Coinbase Pro in small increments as price moves around. Take advantage of the volatility and 24 hour trading window. Watch how spreads and fees change at times.
5. Never leave any significant btc on Coinbase. Send it to a hard wallet. I use Ledger Nano. Meaning if someone wants to hack you they would need to get physical access to that USB key plus its passwords or your 21 word private key which you will write down on a piece of paper and hide. If you are capable of memorizing your private key, you can chuck both those and the only way someone can get access is by waterboarding you to reveal that key.
6. Once you get comfortable purchasing, trading and sending through Coinbase Pro you can start getting fancier using other wallets, exchanges and trading platforms. Their menu is limited, prices generally higher, but it’s the safest way to get started.
I hope that helps. I don’t quite understand it all. I’m not too sure I want to learn it all. In my reading, I ran across this Coinbase blog addressing “FACT CHECK: Crypto is increasingly being used for criminal activity and is a haven for illicit finance.” I don’t believe all their arguments, but they’re worth reading. Click here.
Bitcoin specifically and crypto in general is heavy on the Kool-Aid.
My new F-15 Lightning
I’m not a truck person. But I am an innovation person. This new Ford truck is loaded with innovations. I have not seen the truck. But I have seen Car and Driver’s photos of it. So here goes:
Let’s start with the gear lever. Pretty conventional?
Except it folds down.
Then you slide the cover over it and you have a huge desk.
There’s no engine up front. So now you have a nice big luggage space, called a frunk as in front trunk, which can hold two golf bags. The power opening/closing frunk is weather-resistant and features four electric outlets and two USB charging ports. Plus, the floor is drainable and can double as a cooler.
This is in the back (I think). You can run your house for three days or run power tools on the job. Ford is working with the SunRun solar company to offer an 80-amp Ford Charge Station Pro and home integration system, allowing the truck to be readily recharged at home with solar power. Never buy gas or electricity again.
Disgusted with AT&T (T)
They are a cell phone company — not a very good one, either.
But they’re a lousy entertainment company. They loaded up with DirecTV, Time Warner, etc. They messed up big-time. Now they’re re-arranging all their dumbly-acquired companies and cutting the dividend effectively in half. Which is really infuriating for the widows and orphans who live off their AT&T dividends.
I’ve never owned T. I smelled the developing disaster eons ago. I’ve never subscribed to their awful cell service.
But I am a customer of DirecTV, which provides lousy service, especially when a cloud has the audacity to creep into my sky.
On Friday I tried an old trick. I called DirecTV and said “I was paying too much and I wanted my bill by a third. But I didn’t want to lose any channels.”
Half an hour later, they cut my bill by 35% and assured me I wouldn’t lose any channels.
I had planned on writing the definitive manual on “How to Negotiate Your Way to a Cheaper Life.“
You just read the entire book.
The weekend
It’s been great. The key to my new happiness is the discovery that Susan, my wonderful wife of 45 years, has a green thumb.
See you soon, Harry Newton
