![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/AppleOneYear2.jpg\" "\\"AppleOneYear2\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAm I sensitive to criticism? Yes.<\/p>\n
But let’s look at Microsoft, for example. It’s done very well in the last few months:<\/p>\n
But over tenyears it’s done awfully. It’s done far worse than my Vanguard bond fund.<\/p>\n Intel has followed the same pattern. Like Microsoft it still sells for less<\/strong> than what it sold for in 2004, or in Microsoft’s case in late 2007.<\/p>\n I tend to get excited about stocks whose products and strategies excite me specifically and the world’s consumers generally.<\/p>\n But there aren’t many. I do like Nike, Home Depot, DHR, and AutoLiv (ALV). But none of these have given me anywhere near the returns Apple has.<\/p>\n The last six months have been great for equities — all of them with a pulse. But we\u00a0 are not out of the woods. Unemployment remains stubbornly high (see today’s numbers). Europe is a mess. China is slowing down. Congress remains dysfunctional.<\/p>\n Buy hot stocks in today’s hot market. Try LULU and KORS. But keep those stops tight — no more than 8%. And make sure you have a cash dividend. It can cover a lot of ills.<\/p>\n And watch out for gambling. Natural gas is a wonderful fuel. We make it here. Yet, yesterday it hit a ten-year low in price. That’s a testimony to how much of the stuff we have in the United States and how powerful the oil industry’s lobby is — petrol at the pump in California is well over $4 a gallon, even for regular.<\/p>\n By the way, my critic failed to answer my question about what he’s investing in today.<\/p>\n 25 ways to make travel easier, courtesy the Wall Street Journal. <\/strong>Some of the tips:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n + Never put valuables in a checked bag. The airline’s liability for loss and damage is quite limited, and airlines don’t offer any reimbursement for many lost items, including jewelry, electronics and valuables. If forced to check your bag at the gate because overhead bins are full, pull out valuables and electronics.<\/p>\n + Pack clothing with just two colors.\u00a0 That way, everything matches and you save room in your bag.<\/p>\n + Never check the suit you need for the next day, whether it is a bathing suit or a business suit. Bags get lost and delayed.<\/p>\n + Have a travel bag with toiletries so you’re not packing that every trip, and a bag with chargers and power cords so you don’t have to round them up or risk leaving them behind.<\/p>\n + Laptop goes on the belt last. If I get delayed at the metal detector, the laptop won’t be sitting out in the open for a long time.<\/p>\n + Never call home happy. I learned this the hard way many years ago. Out of town covering a big news event, I called home giddy. I was enjoying a fine meal with a large contingent of reporters. My wife listened quietly while I recounted the excitement of the story and the fun we were having over wine. And then I heard all about the two kids who had been throwing up all day. Big mistake on my part.<\/p>\n + Wear only natural fabrics– cotton, wool, linen. Never wear nylons. If there’s a fire they melt onto your legs.<\/p>\n + As a female, never wear a long skirt through security, it gets you a pat down.<\/p>\n + Never check a wedding gown. Can’t believe the dumb brides that do.<\/p>\n For the full article, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n New York City clothes and shoes are free of local city and state sale tax as of April 1.<\/strong><\/span> The exemption applies to stuff selling for $110 or less. Please come shop. Our retailers need the money.<\/p>\n Don’t pay your contractor until…<\/strong><\/span> He or she gives you full documentation on what he did. Item: the local genius plumber designed and installed an elaborate hot water and heating system in our new house.\u00a0 Sadly, the local “genius” has left town…\u00a0 You can figure the rest of the story.<\/p>\n Best downloads for the new (and old) iPads.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n + Bloomberg.<\/span><\/p>\n + Kindle.<\/span><\/p>\n + Skype. Do video calls with your kids. + The Weather Channel.<\/span><\/p>\n + iPhoto for the iPad.<\/span><\/p>\n + Yelp, for finding restaurants.<\/span><\/p>\n + Peggle, super fun game.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rescue of dolphins on a Brazilian beach. <\/strong>Brings tears to your eyes. <\/span><\/span>Click<\/span> here.<\/a> Harry Newton. Today is my last day in the California desert. Tomorrow I return to New York and the avalanche of bills, the insane vendors, the noise and the general stress of living in wonderful New York City. And worse, we’re traveling on JetBlue, which has at least one “freaking” pilot. You read about the JetBlue pilot who completely lost it? Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A reader commented yesterday, “On Harry’s behalf\u00a0 I’d like to apologize to readers of this column that followed his advice and invested in that Vanguard long-term tax free bond fund early this year. It’s basically flat on the year. If instead you’d simply invested in the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund, you’d be up almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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