Yesterday I didn’t play here. I wish.
But I did play on a nice court in Columbia County, NY. It had nice trees and I hit two nice down-the-line backhands.
I also took two grandkids to Warren Buffett’s favorite place:
The kids ate frozen slushy, sugar Oreos, which mercifully they didn’t finish.
Oh yes, yesterday, my biggest holding. It was missing all its backhands.
Yesterday was my worst day ever in the stockmarket,
Every talking head had theories on the calamity — rotation, over-valued stock prices, Google’s YouTube ad miss, EV markets collapsing, climate change, etc.
It was the biggest drop since December 2022. One month later, it was flying again.
Being super prescient, I sold my CrowdStrike and my Vertiv — at higher price s than they are now. And I bought a few shares in Nvidia, which are now lower also .
Brilliant Harry.
You can’t time this market. You can sell companies doing awfully — like Crowdstrike. You can ignore your wounds (like those in Nvidia), knowing there’ll be a better day for the Magnificent Seven — despite the talking heads blurbing the latest conventional wisdom — nobody’s making money on the zillions they’ve invested in, and are still investing in AI.
Sadly we have to wait until August 28 for Nvidia to tell us how its sales have exploded and, are exploding. I am confident that, by then, Nvidia will be up nicely.
Today we are enduring another round of price falls by Google, Meta, Microsoft, and, sadly my two fat drugs — NVO and LLY.
Meanwhile I’m eyeing other places that might excite:
I hear Elon is getting gung ho on self-driving cars. I read:
Early on, the software had the regrettable habit of hitting police cruisers. No one knew why, though Tesla’s engineers had some good guesses: Stationary objects and flashing lights seemed to trick the A.I. The car would be driving along normally, the computer well in control, and suddenly it would veer to the right or left and — smash — at least 10 times in just over three years.
Then there’s this one:
Key, a 69-year-old former software entrepreneur, took a dispassionate, engineer’s-eye view of his own (Tesla) accident. “The problem with stationary objects — I’m sorry, this sounds stupid — is that they don’t move,” he said.
Start your own business
These days, no one today wants to be a boring company man. They want to start their own business.
I’m receiving invitations to invest in strange and stranger businesses.
I guess it’s happening to you, too.
My first advice is to say NO.
Seriously, you’re not a professional venture investor and, if you’re seeing it this money-seeking startup, it likely means that all the professionals have looked at the deal and rejected it. You’re getting the dregs. I’ve invested in a lot of dregs.
If you’re still hyped by the 100-to-one gain you may get on a shiny new startup investment, here are my best tips:
+ Two founders, with complimentary skills. Both working 24/7. Heady enthusiasm and oodles of charisma.
+ A product/service with a distinct appeal and potentially different to anything out there. You should be enchanted by the product, just as I’m enchanted by AI and Nvidia. The founders should have pivoted into the business because they saw a “gap/opportunity” from the business/job they were in previously. In other words, they should know something about they’re doing.
+ A business strategy with laid-out milestones and costs. Something that looks a little like the annual report of a public company, replete with risks. The one they send to the SEC.
+ A reasonable (i.e. low) valuation for investors. So you can see your way to 100-to-one reward.
+ It would be nice to see an actual product, and have some sales channels and some sales. Yes, real sales. On Shark Tank, they always ask, how many sales have you made?
+ Don’t fall for being put on the board or an advisory board. Most entrepreneurs don’t listen, especially to dummy investors — like you and me — whose main job is to give them money, shut up and disappear.
When you do say NO, don’t give a reason. If you give a reason, you’ll get into an endless discussion that won’t change your mind, will waste a lot of your time, and will leave a bad taste in your mouth. It’s not nice to say NO. It’s also hard.
Techie Tips
+ Turn on Wi-Fi Calling on your cellphone. That way your calls will go over your high-speed fiber connection — not pass through their miserable cellular airwaves.
+ Turn on Personal Hotspot. If you’re carrying a laptop, sometimes the easiest (and safest) way to get on the Internet is through your cellphone. You want to be careful about public Wi-Fi at airports, etc.
+ The Apple Watch is remarkable. I keep discovering more great things about it. Like it can record my heart rate, find my iPhone and take dictation to reply to a text.
The Republicans are certifiably nuts
Here is an excerpt from their 2024 GOP PLATFORM:
In the early days of our Republic, the Founding Generation defeated what was then the most powerful Empire the World had ever seen. In the 20th Century, America vanquished Nazism and Fascism, and then triumphed over Soviet Communism after forty-four years of the Cold War.
But now we are a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE. Our future, our identity, and our very way of life are under threat like never before. Today we must once again call upon the same American Spirit that led us to prevail through every challenge of the past if we are going to lead our Nation to a brighter future.
For decades, our politicians sold our jobs and livelihoods to the highest bidders overseas with unfair Trade Deals and a blind faith in the siren song of globalism. They insulated themselves from criticism and the consequences of their own bad actions, allowing our Borders to be overrun, our cities to be overtaken by crime, our System of Justice to be weaponized, and our young people to develop a sense of hopelessness and despair. They rejected our History and our Values. Quite simply, they did everything in their power to destroy our Country.
In 2016, President Donald J. Trump was elected as an unapologetic Champion of the American People. He reignited the American Spirit and called on us to renew our National Pride. His Policies spurred Historic Economic Growth, Job Creation, and a Resurgence of American Manufacturing.
“We are not a nation in serious decline. Donald Trump is not our savior. No one is. We’re all in this together.
Who writes this nonsense?
Read the rest of the Platform. Click here.
I’m confused about immigration
I’m an immigrant. I also married an immigrant, This morning I had breakfast at a wonderful local Mexican restaurant called Fiesta. Their breakfast burrito is to die for.
See you soon — Harry Newton
