{"id":60710,"date":"2023-06-02T14:22:47","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T18:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=60710"},"modified":"2023-06-02T14:29:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T18:29:39","slug":"the-two-biggest-hypes-ai-and-vr-the-most-important-investment-criterion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=60710","title":{"rendered":"The two biggest hypes — AI and VR. The most important investment criterion."},"content":{"rendered":"

Such excitement. The S&P 500 is up 10% this year. But most of my money (outside of real estate) is invested in treasuries paying 5% or so.<\/p>\n

I could have earned 10%. But I earned 5%.<\/p>\n

Such brilliance.<\/p>\n

Diversification is my “wealth preservation technique.” That’s a fancy name for opportunistic investing — in other words, investing in what comes along that’s interesting and not investing in stuff that that looks uninteresting. Very sophisticated.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how real estate will pan out. But I am diversified with residential, offices and some retail. Offices in some places are doing awfully. But in others they’re doing just fine. Residential is dong spectacularly. There’s a huge shortage of housing in the U.S. Everyone wants to live in the sunbelt and work from home beside a lagoon. Rents are skyrocketing. Retailing is coming back after the covid hiatus. Industrial is slowing after the covid boom. Not easy to keep up since real estate is so location specific.<\/p>\n

You typically do best when you work and invest in your own business. When you invest in other people’s businesses, diversification makes sense. There are many ways to diversify — industries, geographies, etc. You do what you can find. The big word is opportunistic.<\/p>\n

Two technologies I’m excited by — AI and VR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First, AI. Frankly I can’t keep up. Every industry is embracing AI — and not just for the value of the boost to the\u00a0 stock price, but because there are genuine benefits in every aspect of their business — from marketing to internal efficiencies, like writing code faster, or planning your trip to Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Second, VR is virtual reality. You can buy Facebook Oculus headsets on eBay for a couple of hundred dollars. I’ve had one on loan for a few days. It great for porn, for games, for adventures (e.g. rock climbing and mountain bike riding).\u00a0 It’s also going to be very useful to learn to fly a plane, drive a train, repair a jet engine, assemble Ikea furniture, remove someone’s gallbladder, to fix a broken leg, and my favorite (I wish), hit a decent topspin forehand (like Nadal or Federer).<\/p>\n

On Monday, Apple will introduce its first VR headset. I bet it has developed some really neat applications. I’ll be watching the keynote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Your short-term monies<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

JEPI, a JPMorgan CD like thing, is yielding 11.2%. Nice.<\/p>\n

Three month treasuries are paying 5.38%. Six month treasuries are paying 5.46%.<\/p>\n

My best medical modifications<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

+ Removal of my gallbladder \u2013 thank you Dr Kelvin Higa.
\n+\u00a0Cataract lenses.
\n+\u00a0Teeth implants.
\n+ Daily pills: 10 mg statin (atorvastatin), Prilosec, and one D3 2000 IU.<\/p>\n

Good news for Nvidia<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There’s a story floating around that Intel may one day make Nvidia chips.<\/span><\/p>\n

To diversify the manufacturing of Nvidia chips is a good idea. Right now Nvidia is massively reliant on Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which makes 92% of the semiconductor chips in the world and is based in Taiwan which China regularly makes threatening noises against.<\/p>\n

Here’s the most important investing lesson ever.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Take a gander at this chart — NVDA stock versus Intel over the past five years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What’s the difference? Nvidia is run by its founder. Intel isn’t.<\/p>\n

I have followed Intel for 50-odd years. I have constantly been surprised at the dumb decisions the company constantly makes.<\/p>\n

I could write a book.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Nvidia, is run by Jensen Huang, its founder. I love what he’s doing.<\/p>\n

Huang just gave a brilliant commencement address in Taiwan.<\/p>\n

For a summary, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

For the actual address (which is\u00a0 in English).\u00a0Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s Huang explaining why Nvidia is betting big on AI.<\/p>\n