Well, that was fun, while it lasted.
First, the Trump Boom.
Then, today, The Trump Bust.
Today my portfolio bears the ravages of my large positions in Nvidia, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google — all of which are down between two and four percent.
I will admit to owning some bitcoin, some Palantir, some Coinbase and some Tesla, which are all up. Them’s the new Magnificent Four.
Their gains do not offset the hideous losses in my larger positions.
I deal with today’s shrunken net worth by assuring myself it’s only temporary (based on past performance) and next Wednesday Nvidia reports.
I’m also playing tennis outside tomorrow. It will be a balmy (ha!) 52. Tennis keeps me alive.
And all that despite Donald Trump’s specially egregious picks — Matt Gaetz, who wants to kill the FBI and the Justice Department and RFK Jr who wants to kill our children, but only after rotting their teeth.
Life, otherwise, is immensely satisfying. My backhand down-the-line is improving. My health is holding up. There were no banana chocolate chip muffins this morning. Hence, the pressure on my waistline is easing, at least for today.
Rosie is more excited in her 13 years than ever.
These things are magic treats.
God knows what we’re treating her. Look at the horrific ingredients:
You get them on Amazon. Click here.
Life is weird. American Airlines threatens to take my miles away. Why? I hadn’t used them in years.
A thought: my family is having a Bar Mitzvah in Sydney next March. Bingo, I can use all my miles up on a business class roundtrip down under. Is that why American sent me an email to tell me they were going to spend zillions in jet fuel schlepping my expanding frame (think chocolate chip muffins) all the way across the world and back. Cheaper to let my miles expire! Who can figure the corporate mind?
Though I was born in Australia, I need a visa. Last time, it took three months because I did what a travel agent told me to do. This time I filled out what they needed using their app. Susan photographed me and bingo, I got a visa — though I had to check the app to find that out. They didn’t bother telling me.
An Englishman arrives in Sydney for his first visit to Australia.
The passport control officer asks, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”.
The Englishman replies: “Is that still a requirement?”
Palantir is up 9.27% today. It makes jolly good sense. They do business with that part of the government Elon and Donald are not planning to shut down. PLTR’s P/E ratio is the highest of any stock I own — an eyepopping 299. I’m guessing by Monday it will be 400. Nvidia’s is 69.It fell only 3.26% today.
Life goes on. One of my real estate syndications got sold at a handsome profit. Cash coming in, soon. Fingers crossed. I’m being pitched zillions of new syndications. My real estate mavens have figured out how to build apartment high rises in Florida without them being flooded. Lift the first floor 18 feet or so off the ground. Let the garage and retail stores get flooded — retail has its own flood insurance. I guess cars do, too.
I’m seeing a many proposals that extol the virtues of making boatloads of money with new AI startups. Sadly, this stuff is way over my head. The time frames are long and drawn out. There’s the Polish story.
What does a Polish girl get on her wedding night that’s long and hard?
Answer: A new last name.
Remember SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son?
At one stage he was Nvidia’s largest shareholder with a 4% stake. Sadly, he sold his entire stake for less than $4 billion. Today that stake would be worth $180 billion. Which is one reason why I’m not selling my Nvidia. Think next Wednesday night when it reports its blowout numbers.
Today Bitcoin is up more than Nvidia is down. But my allocation sucks. Remember that word “allocation.?” If you have a lot of something you can lose a lot. I don’t have a lot of bitcoin, so I’m not making a lot. Coinbase is up 9.7% today, which is a lot more than my portfolio is down 2.72% I have a little Coinbase.
It was all about eggs
60 Minutes quickly figured that the election was all about inflation. They visited a diner in PA. In 2020, the average tab was $24. It’s now $38.
The Democrats did polls, then did “data analytics.”
John Della Volpe is the director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. He wrote in the New York Times:
While data analytics have their place, this near-blind faith in random control trials and modeling has created more than just an illusion of scientific precision — it has built an algorithmic fortress that isolates Democrats from the very voters they seek to represent. The irony is stark: a party full of voter data yet starved for true voter understanding and connection.
Think eggs.
For two years plus, I’ve been waiting for Intel to introduce a faster chip for my favorite Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop. They just introduced a new chip. It’s slower (yes, slower) than the X1 Carbon laptop I bought two and a half years ago. It’s a third slower but will last a couple of hours longer on battery.
Why didn’t they call me? Nvidia has increased the speed of its processors by about a million fold in the last ten years. Here’s their stock price performance. Intel is the one one I show in kaka brown at the bottom:
Laptop fixes
Jose Lopez at Lincoln Business Machines in New York fixes my laptops. He’s brilliant. I asked him: “What do you most fix?”
+ Dirt. The fan blocks. The vents block. Pretty soon the laptop is acting weird. Open the machine. Brush the dirt. Bingo. Amazing. Like new.
+ Keyboard spills. Keep liquids away.
+ Hacking. Jose’s advice: Don’t call anybody. Don’t respond to suspicious emails. Look at the sender’s email: If it’s not coming from BestBuy.com or whoever, then it’s a scam.
+ You don’t owe any money for something you didn’t order — from Best Buy, Norton, PayPal, etc. PayPal scams are the worst.
+ Don’t respond to “We’re just checking. Is this invoice accurate?”
Technology fixes
+ Perplexity.ai is a better search engine than Google.
+ Windows 11 sucks bigtime. Its goal is not to improve your life, but to improve Microsoft’s life and give it (Microsoft) a platform for selling your more stuff you don’t need.
+ X1 is the best credit card. With its app on your phone, you can create one-time credit cards. They die when you’ve put one charge on them. Great for introductory offers that increase a zillion percent the following the month — without telling you.
+ YouTubeTV is still the best streaming service. I love being able to wind live TV back and catch what they really said.
+ Verizon cell phone service is awful. Mint Mobile is much better and cheaper. Mint Mobile is T-Mobile.
+ “Note To Self” is the best note-taking software ever written. You can talk to it. You can type on it. When you’re done, it sends your email address your note. It’s brilliant. I use it every day.
+ All subscription services increase their prices regularly without telling you. If you call them, they will often cut your monthly nut by two-thirds. I speak from experience.
Apple stuff fixes
I sent back my new Apple Watch because it’s missing the Blood Oxygen software (patent problem Apple hasn’t solved). Reboot your Apple watch by holding the two buttons simultaneously for 20 seconds.
I sent back my new AirPods Pro because the battery life on the hearing aids is only three hours. I need all day battery life on hearing aids. Bluetooth sucks up battery life.
I have the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which I love. I went looking at the iPhone 16 Pro Max. But all the new AI software isn’t out yet. And the Apple salesperson gave desultory a whole meaning.
I have a lot of Apple shares. Once upon a time, the Apple stores were exciting. Now they’re boring. They need a refresh. I am not sanguine about Apple stock. Its P/E is 38. Too high.
My Updated stock holdings
They’re on the web site of this blog. If you didn’t watch Jensen’s video in my last blog, watch it. He’s brilliant. Click here.
I send the grandkids a weekly junk box. They like the stuff I send them. But I like sending it more. The most popular item recently was a fake beard. Amazon has plenty:
See you soon. — Harry Newton
