{"id":39554,"date":"2017-08-08T10:23:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T14:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=39554"},"modified":"2017-08-08T10:25:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T14:25:51","slug":"how-do-i-retire-on-50000-how-not-send-powerpoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=39554","title":{"rendered":"How do I retire on $50,000? How not to send PowerPoints."},"content":{"rendered":"

“I have $50,000. I want to retire. Next year we’re going to have a recession. Hence, I should buy gold bars and treasury bills.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

No. No. No. And No.<\/p>\n

You can’t retire on $50,000.<\/p>\n

Next year, we’re not<\/strong> gong to have a recession.<\/p>\n

No one should own gold bars. They ‘re too hard to sell. And they’re too costly to sell.<\/p>\n

Treasury bills pay far too little to retire on.<\/p>\n

The speaker was a old friend, nearly as old as I am.<\/p>\n

Why didn’t he buy a Vanguard index fund 30 years ago and drop $1,000 into it each month?<\/p>\n

He’d now have his nest egg.<\/p>\n

Yuch.<\/p>\n

Please harass your kids into thinking about retirement early on — from the first day of their first job.<\/p>\n

Yesterday was a milestone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I received a proposal to invest money in an industry I’ve been in for 48 years — namely telecom.<\/p>\n

Yet I didn’t understand one word of what they did!<\/p>\n

I did see fancy hyper-optimistic financial projections.<\/p>\n

If they achieve half of what they project, I will kick myself for not investing. But they won’t.<\/p>\n

It got me thinking. What should they have done?<\/p>\n

+ Stop sending me only PowerPoints. PowerPoints are not prose. They are lists, with no explanation and no logic. PowerPoints raise more questions than they answer.<\/p>\n

+ Stop overloading me with acronyms. I write a dictionary. But I avoid 99% of acronyms. Anyone can make up an acronym. And anyone does.<\/p>\n

+ Stop telling me how gigantic your market is. I know there are 323 million people in the U.S. and probably more in the rest of the world. Many of these people will buy anything, even what you’re selling — maybe. If I understood what you’re selling, what your benefits are and who your competitors are, I can make my own mind up.<\/p>\n

+ You should should have written a mini-red herring. The good ones have great one-page summaries and endless pages of “risks” explained. Also useful.<\/p>\n

+ There should be a video demo — like what you see on YouTube.<\/p>\n

+ You should have a simple budget showing what you’re going to with my<\/strong> money.<\/p>\n

+ You should commit yourself to quarterly reporting to me.<\/p>\n

+ You should talk about an “Exit Strategy” — even if it’s theoretical and far in the future. Remember investors like to see a cash profit on their investments, eventually.<\/p>\n

Learned<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

+ Sennheiser wireless headphones save marriages. I have proof. To buy a set, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

+ <\/strong>Please include your email address and wiring instructions on your invoices.<\/p>\n

+ Anything that isn’t an envelope will cost you a minimum of $2.67 postage. You have to take your package \u00a0to the post office, hand it to them, and swear on a stack of bibles your “package” is not going to explode. It’s really silly. UPS and FedEx are much better. You can hand your package to their drivers.<\/p>\n

+ “Alexa, Play The Sound of Music.”<\/em>\u00a0For the next two hours, we listened to The Sound of Music many times. Alexa is great for grandkids. Alexa will also tell the time, the weather and wake you up when the next Game of Thrones<\/em> is coming on. I like my $50 Amazon Echo Dot.<\/p>\n

Best Buy is amazing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

How it survives is beyond my tiny imagination. Yesterday I had to buy a powered USB 3.0 hub. I walked to Best Buy. They had only one in stock. It was too small.<\/p>\n

I asked did they have anything larger? They said NO.<\/p>\n

I looked quizzical.<\/p>\n

They replied “Tough.”<\/p>\n

Great customer relations.<\/p>\n

But I needed something. So I bought it.<\/p>\n

Their retail price was $49.99. Their online price was $46.99. Amazon was selling it for $39.88. Which is what I finally paid Best Buy after showing them my iPhone with the price Amazon was selling it for.<\/p>\n

I wondered if Best Buy is routinely 25% more expensive than Amazon?<\/p>\n

This chart of Best Buy this year blows me away.<\/p>\n

\"BBYThisYear\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Lynch said buy stocks whose products you like. Fortunately he didn’t say “Sell stocks whose products you don’t like.” Otherwise I would have shorted Best Buy eons ago…. and lost oodles of money.<\/p>\n

Now to buying stocks whose products you like …<\/p>\n

Here’s why you should own Berkshire Hathaway<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I took my granddaughter to Dairy Queen (which Berkshire owns) for a<\/p>\n

\"DQCone\"<\/a>(also called a grandfather treat<\/em>).<\/p>\n

This is the result:<\/p>\n

\"IceCream\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With much begging, she reluctantly let me have a taste.<\/p>\n

DQ’s chocolate dipped cone is really good. I am addicted.<\/p>\n

Absolutely criticial reading:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This article shows how a small group of ultra well-heeled people can turn the nation’s thinking using money and effort. Fascinating on the one hand and depressing on the other.<\/p>\n

How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click\u00a0here.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Testimonials from readers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Buck writes:<\/p>\n

\n
I used Turo last week in California and rented a Tesla Model X with all tolls and unlimited miles included for $125\/day.\u00a0 Communication through the app was easy and it was a splurge car at a decent price for 4 people and all our luggage.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I was able to take a Tesla factory tour the same day as the big reveal of the Model 3 and saw a couple being delivered before the festivities started.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Lucky Marr writes:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The 2017 Subaru Outback “LTD” is indeed a very nice car and fun to drive. In heavy traffic it automatically slows down and speeds up according to traffic providing the cruse control is set. When changing lanes (blind spot) or backing out of a parking spot at the mall it warns you of cars and people approaching on either side or walking behind your car. Lane departure warnings are good on the open road…I suspect it might be irritating in city traffic where you might be changing lanes often…of course it does not activate if your signal light has been turned on…you can shut it off. I have had mine for 4 months and it is great little car with lots of cargo room. The cross bars on the roof swing back to eliminate noise…neat.<\/p>\n

While driving in traffic with the cruise control engaged my car automatically slows down when the vehicle ahead of me (even a motorcycle) slows down\u2026when it speed up again my Subaru resumes the pre-set speed\u2026car ahead slows again so does mine…speeds up, so does mine.<\/p>\n

If a vehicle or animal jumps out in front of me my car automatically breaks and I receive both a visual and audible alarm\u2026this has actually happened to me once when a car cut in front of me too close in traffic\u2026my car automatically braked.<\/p>\n

When I wander across the white or yellow line (either direction) without putting my turn signal on to change lanes I receive an audible and visual Lane Deviation Alert.<\/p>\n

Also, when I wish to change lanes I am alerted audibly and visually in my side mirrors that there is a car in my blind spot and I should not change lanes yet.<\/p>\n

When I back-up out of a parking space at a mall or supermarket, let\u2019s say, I receive both visual and audible alerts that cars or people are approaching from either side or the rear. My backup camera, of course alerts, me visually as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How to stay in good shape<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/stayinshape.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n
\u00a0Two new favorite granddkid books<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
\"curiousgeorge\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"RoomOnTheBroom\"<\/a><\/div>\n
I like Quora. It tells me all the bad (fascinating) things that happen\u00a0to people.<\/strong> <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0And occasionally funny things.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What is your most interesting encounter with the police?<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A cop pulled me over for driving without a seat belt and, during our discussion, he said, “You’re not arguing, sir.”I said, “It’s bad enough getting booked but the FA Cup Final starts in 10 minutes and if I stand here arguing with you I’m going to miss it.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Since you’re taking this so well can I suggest that you don’t pay the fine before next Wednesday.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Why is that?”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“I heard on the radio that the world is going to end on Tuesday.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I reckon a cop who can make me laugh while he’s booking me is doing a pretty good job.<\/div>\n

\"HarryNewton\"<\/a>
\nHarry Newton, who loves Square and dislikes Intel. \u00a0CNBC interviewed Intel CEO this morning on Mobileye, which Intel had bought for the humongous sum of $15.3 billion. If Intel ever makes money out of Mobileye, I’ll eat several large hats. The only thing \u00a0Intel has ever made good money on is chips for PCs. And that they do a very good job of. ..<\/p>\n

I’ll post more often, now that my granddaughter is safely back with her mother, who doesn’t believe in Chocolate Dipped Cones for her precious daughter.<\/p>\n