Castanza

+33ish% across my IRA and Brokerage. Not amazing considering the market, but I'm happy with it. My positions haven't changed much this past year. Honestly haven't put much time into anything and have been piggy backing off a lot of really solid work you guys put in. Life has been crazy busy for me (school ,side jobs, work promotion, getting settled after moving, trying for a kid). If there was a tip jar, a lot of you would certainly be getting some beer money! So thanks to everyone on this board. New positions for the year APTS, T, LMT, VZ, PSTH Continued to add to ATCO, MSGE, MSGS and probably a few others. Core: MSFT, RTX, GOOG, drove results as a lot of stuff I've been adding too has been flat (looking at you Atlas ) Regrets FNMAS - Could turn out alright, but I regret having my capital tied up in this. Not holding my breath. PSTH - Free money sure, but same as above. There were other options and better immediate uses without having all the uncertainty. Wish I would have sized it slightly smaller than I did.

Meanwhile Germany still shutting down remaining nuclear plants. This makes now sense to me. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/germany-pull-plug-3-its-last-6-nuclear-power-plants-n1286771

Some remote cabin music for the post holiday winter blues stretch . Went to see Gregory Alan Isakov in Ithaca this past October. Absolutely killed it! vid from the concert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrpDlrLLjCc . Felt bad for Patty Griffin who toured with him. 3/4 of the audience left before her second song....admittedly she's lost it a bit, but damn she's a legend. If you only listen to one of the artists mentioned make it Gregory Alan Isakov. You won't be disappointed. One for you when you're forced to go back to the office https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymfcEcoIcXE https://youtu.be/vEzaVUwEBiU?t=107 One for the Canadians (The Deep Dark Woods) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNLPEyEbMI What Folk Music should be (John Mooreland) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwIWj0uNVCo @Spekulatius A real hottie Have tickets for this coming Feb. She's touring with the guy from the Civil Wars before they broke up.

It’s a shame since he has over 300+ lectures free online from pre Trump era. It’s really silly to dismiss great thinkers over their entirety simply because of some recent opinion you disagree with. His lecture topics are very interesting and offer fresh/different perspectives. Plus he give a lot of references to other works/individuals which are also very good. recently read “Ordinary Men” which is a damn good book. Hell I’m sure there are things Solzhenitsyn has done and said that we would disagree with today. But we don’t disregard his writing.

This is a great book, Solzhenitsyn and Dostoyevsky should be read by everyone. Audio book really helps sink in their thoughts as the reading comprehension can be difficult at times. Jordan Peterson (modern day politics aside) has some really good lectures from years ago 2014 on both of authors and the USSR from a sociology/psychology standpoint. Really helps bring to light some other characteristics and depth of their writing. They are worth a listen if you get a free hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u3aTURVEC8 @Spekulatius This is what I was talking about from the other thread regarding his work.

Merry Christmas everyone

You each need your own account

MSGS

I don't know much about wine but I enjoy a glass here and there. I think I avoid drinking wine because I hate opening a whole bottle and not finishing it. But I also don't always want to drink a full bottle....So I stumbled upon this product. Really worth it. Keeps wine fresh for a long time (indefinitely from what I understand). https://www.amazon.com/Private-Preserve-Wine-Preservation-Spray/dp/B0000DCS18

+ 1 on this. I’ve been buying in drips and drabs for months now. MSGS still looks interesting. Idk if it’s pound the table, but the price is attractive.

+1

Thanks for sharing this @Spekulatius. Just an FYI as I didn't see it mentioned above that the penalty exists for a 5 year period. When can I cash (redeem) an I bond if I need the money? You can cash your Series I bonds any time after 12 months. You receive the original purchase price plus interest earnings. I bonds are meant to be longer-term investments; if you redeem an I bond within the first 5 years, you'll lose your last 3 months interest. For example, if you redeem an I bond after 18 months, you'll receive the first 15 months of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=WkP0Esyfh54&ab_channel=JFI-JainFamilyInstitute Trying to keep this non-political This is an interesting listen for sure. Some random notes below. Purpose of NIA - Take pension under there wing for "guaranteed returns at a maybe slightly lower return rate" -NIA should be able to borrow from the FED to guarantee 100% principle returns on pension funds - Use federal funds to prop up failing companies which cannot obtain capital in the private markets - Fill the role of private market venture capital for companies which cannot get funding due to revenue/profit standards outside of private market expectations. "We want the NIH to be the patient investor" O&G O&G 35:00 "We want them to go bankrupt" "So that NIA can take over management of those companies" proposed similar structure to FNMA with GSE PIC Public Interest Counsel - Sounds interesting. A public counsel which has representation between regulators and private industry during times like nationwide financial crisis. Access to info, request info, provide to congress an annual report on it's assessment of NIA performance. Q What worries me is the NIA structure and the projects it chooses to take on. One of the listeners asked the question "What happens with projects that lose money (Ex. affordable housing). Her response is that the rest of the investments will be generating enough revenue to cover the cost burden of these projects. My question is, how tf can you guarantee this? We have private pension funds currently which are drastically underfunded and promised 14% returns etc. The NIA is supposed to promise 100% on principle, act as venture capital to private companies (which private capital wouldn't touch), take over bankrupt industries (with unions), and somehow backstop all of this with the FED? Perhaps my feeble brain can't comprehend this so I'm curious if any others on here have been following this? What impact would this have on the markets?

Merriam-Webster has been busy changing definitions the past two years. I think they should update the one for "transitory".

There is a debit card now where you can hold worth in physical gold and spend it in currency. Backed by some Swiss vault.

The question is what do banks say people can afford. A Coworker of mine makes the same as me. His wife also is a nurse so I have a good idea of their net income. The house they bought is probably 2.5-3x the cost of our. They drive two Audi and also have 80k in student debt. They bought their house after already owning those vehicles. Seems like banks will lend to just about anyone these days.

Still insane! You're talking 75-100% profit pre tax on a house in a few years. I guess I don't know the build cost, but as I said it couldn't have been ridiculous.

What the hell is up with Canada's housing market? I talked with my brother in law the other day who told me they are going to sell their vacation rental in Sauble Beach. They bought the lot for 200k in 2016/17. Not sure what it cost to build but I wouldn't imagine more than 200-250k. A lot of the work was done by themselves (and me). He said they were listing it for 799k?! I honestly don't believe that but I don't know much about Canadian real estate. Are people flooding into housing to hedge inflation? https://www.remax.ca/on/south-bruce-peninsula-real-estate/617-third-ave-n-wp_id305399172-lst

Haven't seen Biden's OCC nominee Saule Omarova mentioned yet on this thread or anywhere else. She holds some pretty radical views on credit markets and is a crypto skeptic. "By making transacting faster, easier, cheaper, and instantly adjustable to individual parties’ needs and preferences, new technology is empowering private actors to engage in virtually unconstrained financial speculation. Unless the public side proactively counters new technologies’ potentially destabilizing systemic effects, it may soon find itself in an impossible position of having to back up an uncontrollable and unsustainably self-referential financial system." Full Paper https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1545&context=yjreg

1 in 10 people have an IQ below 83. The poverty rate in the US is 11.4% of the population. Schooling has something to do with it, but there is also an entire other degree to this. The United States Military has an IQ threshold of 83. They have studied this extensively for decades and come to the conclusion that there is absolutely NO job in the military that can be done by these individuals which provides any semblance of productivity or value. It has also been shown that NO amount of training, funds, or time can help people below this threshold learn a skill etc. This has been well documented by clinical psychologists. This is a problem that nobody knows how to solve and everything that has been tried does not work *(funding, trainings programs, government jobs programs, welfare, etc.).

I concur, it’s a very good book and worth a read and re-read. @TwoCitiesCapital The Brazil news if passed is certainlysignificant, but I still thinking looking at it as “the 13th largest economy” isn’t the right way. BTC needs a truly influential country to adopt it. I don’t think Brazil quite fits that mold. But perhaps a segway?

Make sure to get your work from home agreements in writing @Spek, I was just in San Antonio for a wedding this past weekend and turned it into a mini vacation with the wife. Spent a few days in Austin and Dallas as well. Stopped in Waco to make the "white woman pilgrimage" to "Mecca" I mean Magnolia. All three cities worth visiting (Waco not so much), but completely different vibes. Dallas was my least favorite though. Hog hunts with former SEALs make for pretty good bachelor parties.

Go big or go home?

Jordan Peterson has done some really great work and covers some really interesting topics on thought sociology and philosophy. Some of his early lectures on the USSR and Nazi Germany are pretty fascinating. Also if your a fan of Dostoyevsky or Neitzche he is worth a listen as he has done some extensive work on them. His Sam Harris debate is also worth a watch. Honestly it’s a disservice to say he is a self help guru. Or compare him to “Dr. Phil” who doesn’t even have a degree.

I will say at least China understands the influence the “arts” have on a society