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If you're talking to me, I majored in Econ and have moved beyond using classical theory as a framework for thinking through outcomes. I hate borrowing other people's quotes but when you can't say it any better. Jeff Bezos "The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it,"

Mainly, I consider anecdotes to be helpful and I'd like to understand where money is shifting i.e. Are ppl abandoning Bed Bath and Beyond and shopping on Etsy?

Sorry, I wasn't paying much attention to precision in explaining why a female perspective is helpful.

Anyone using restaurant delivery services like Grubhub, Instacart, Caviar more often lately? Anyone brave enough to admit that they're subscribing to WWE Network? The stock has quadrupled this year.

A female CoBF member (who wants to remain anonymous) PM'd me and asked why a female perspective matters? I'll answer here in case other females are reading but not participating: Personally, I care about diverse perspectives from a CONSUMER point of view. L Brands (Victoria's Secret) fell another 13% today while a stock like Etsy has more than doubled YTD. Both have exclusively female customer bases. Even though I will never have an edge on either of these companies, every successful investor has the basic habit of paying attention. You should seek the perspective of 50% of the global population on companies like Apple and FB. You might learn that guys spend most of their time on iPhones playing Fortnite and girls spend most of their time on social media and that they're ditching Instagram in favor of Snapchat. Perhaps, the prevailing narrative is wrong and far more girls play Fortnite than assumed. You get the point. As far as accounting and economic opinions, I'm not sure gender matters much. Accounting is accounting.

@LC That's a straightforward answer and I consider your answer and the other responses helpful. There's nothing actionable about it but they're all anecdotal datapoints.

CACC now at $461/share. Anyone still following this story?

I would recommend "Macroeconomic Essentials" by Peter Kennedy. I'm not interested in academic theory. I'm curious about how real people are spending money these days so hence my inquiry.

I would describe discretionary as non-essential. My inquiry is about thinking through the cycle. At some point fatigue sets in, nothing goes up forever i.e. spending fatigue, FB fatigue, etc. How many new cars, BBQ grills, or TV's can you buy? But I think smaller items i.e. concert tickets, cosmetics, sneakers, weekend trips can still have legs meaning when the economy is doing well you buy more expensive versions of what you used to buy.

Out of curiosity, wondering what peoples' last discretionary purchase was and where you purchased from? I recently bought a smartwatch from Amazon but returned it cause the battery life sucked. I also bought running shoes from Jet.com.

I was being sarcastic. One or two ladies on this and other financial forums does not change the overwhelming sausage-festedness. The thing is you see women on Twitter engage in political debate which can be as contentious or even more nasty than exchanges on financial forums. Which begs the question - Why don't women engage in financial forums? Avoidance of mansplaining? General disinterest?

I'm not buying it. There are dudes named Tracy, Shannon, Ashlee, Michelle, Whitney, the before mentioned Lacy, etc. https://www.verywellfamily.com/unisex-baby-names-2759884 More than likely Emily is a guy too.

I appreciate the commentary. LB isn't my type of stock but it's good to ask about because you never know what you'll learn. It would be nice to know when you're getting a female perspective. It feels like 99% on here (and other places like Seeking Alpha) are male but maybe that's because I'm assuming users with names like WarrenBuffettFan are guys. There are a lot people with names that can either be a guy/girl. I just learned about an economist dude named Lacy Hunt, so maybe a user named BigDick is really a girl. Who knows? It's also good to know if someone chiming in on what's trendy is 50 or older and also where they're from.

I wanted to ask about L-Brands (LB), maker of Victoria Secrets and other stuff, which has fallen ~46% YTD. Which leads me to the question - what percentage of users on here are female? Has anyone run polls asking about demographics on this forum asking age, gender, location?

I stay away from autos because of a couple questions: 1) How much better are conditions going to get after years of record sales and the stimulus from tax cuts? 2) With household debt at record levels, how much more discretionary spend does the consumer have left? Maybe other people agree with me or perhaps they avoid the autos for another reason.

I've started reading "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing" by Daniel Pink. So far it's about how to think about organizing your day to take full advantage of your individual internal clock. https://www.amazon.com/When-Scientific-Secrets-Perfect-Timing-ebook/dp/B072Q985YX/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1531179849&sr=8-2&keywords=when

Interesting article about how China is creating its version of a FICO score that will determine what type of punitive measures might be enacted on individuals. http://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4 I don't think it's a totally bad idea.

I see this book was written in 2005. Do you think any conclusions have changed since then?

TED talk titled 'Where in the world is it easiest to get rich?'

I find anything related to massive population trends to be interesting. Link is for Economist YouTube video documenting declining fertility. In the long run, developed countries are going to have less and less children and developing countries are going to account for greater percentage of population. I have a really hard time imagining wealth disparity not increasing.

I had a friend who's wife made him build a chicken coop too. Not say this applies to you but I hear that it's becoming a yuppie thing. https://sf.eater.com/2018/3/5/17081232/silicon-valley-chicken-coop-backyard-status-symbol

Not sure if this was already mentioned but "The Little That Beats The Market" by Joel Greenblatt is written in really simple language. Off the top of my head, the first example is about a kid who buys packs of gum and then sells each stick for 25 cents.

Yeah, it's a good read especially if you're clueless about the healthcare industry as I am. There are other Youtube videos about the author but link below is a shorter one. My main takeaway from the book is that making assumptions about behavior in the health industry is stupid. For example, unfortunately a lot of people over trust medical professionals. Shouldn't assume that hospital has patients' best interest at heart. Shouldn't assume stakeholders are rational ie profit maximizing Healthcare stocks did really well in past several years but a lot of that was from the Obamacare tailwind. The industry is especially susceptible to regulatory disruption. There's money to be made but the risks are plentiful. Also, no need to overthink with this thread. If it's timely and interesting, share it. I'm sure someone will find it helpful.

I'm starting this thread and hoping it will continue. I welcome people to post links for books, articles, blogs, Youtube videos, etc. I prefer current events material which disproves conventional wisdom or gives greater insight into specific industries/businesses/trends. To start off, I'll post a book about the healthcare industry given the news of Walmart/CVS talks - https://www.amazon.com/American-Sickness-Healthcare-Became-Business/dp/0143110853/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 And Bill Gates' recommendations

Thanks! Awesome