*Investors Blog*

Costco now offering a Buy Now Pay Later option for online purchases.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/busin...buy-now-pay-later-option-for-online-purchases
Ok, let's keep the economy and stock market humming along for all those people who buy stuff they shouldn't!

The shock factor wore off me when I saw mattress stores that offer financing to buy mattresses many years ago. I was like "REALLY" taking out a store loan to buy a mattress? Nothing needs payment upfront anymore, same for appliances, anything and everything. Costco will take that to the next level for others to join in too. I dont think anything is left after this!

RIght now, the latest thing I am seeing that I never saw in my so far long life is communities of rental homes being built. At first I couldnt believe it now I am seeing more being built. Communities of single family and multi family homes being built. I can almost see it making sense maybe for some retirees as I re-think this but whatever. I suspect it will catch on, will see or has it already.

Just another excuse for the youth and people of all ages to no longer strive to buy a home, just give your money to a corporation and let them profit from the equity and you, end up with nothing. Many People are like rodents they will take the easy path if offered. Except as humans, then they complain yet it was all their immaturity handling money.
 
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Ok, let's keep the economy and stock market humming along for all those people who buy stuff they shouldn't!

The shock factor wore off me when I saw mattress stores that offer financing to buy mattresses many years ago. I was like "REALLY" taking out a store loan to buy a mattress? Nothing needs payment upfront anymore, same for appliances, anything and everything. Costco will take that to the next level for others to join in too. I dont think anything is left after this!

RIght now, the latest thing I am seeing that I never saw in my so far long life is communities of rental homes being built. At first I couldnt believe it now I am seeing more being built. Communities of single family and multi family homes being built. I can almost see it making sense maybe for some retirees as I re-think this but whatever. I suspect it will catch on, will see or has it already.

Just another excuse for the youth and people of all ages to no longer strive to buy a home, just give your money to a corporation and let them profit from the equity and you, end up with nothing. Many People are like rodents they will take the easy path if offered. Except as humans, then they complain yet it was all their immaturity handling money.


Many builders have accepted the fact people can’t buy new homes so these new communities are now rental communities.
 
Many builders have accepted the fact people can’t buy new homes so these new communities are now rental communities.
I would like to word that differently and I know we are on opposing sides when it comes to this. That is OK.

I’ll word it like this. Many builders have accepted the fact that people are not mature enough to work hard, save, struggle and strive to purchase their own home. They want everything but unwilling to work for it..

Many have become complacent and lazy spending money on things that bring them instant gratification instead of saving. They are living in the present instead of looking forward to the future.

However, this has nothing to do with the builders. The builders are building houses and people are buying them except in some cases corporations are the buyers.

If someone can’t buy the house in the United States, they should look at themselves and figure out what they’re doing wrong
 
Everything I have read about single family build to rent (its been around a while), is they start looking pretty shabby pretty quickly. Maintaining a single family home is monumentally more expensive than maintaining a apartment complex.

I have to think these investors seem to think they will be able to ride the appreciation or something? Most people I know who own single family rentals - and I know a few - are thinking of selling since there appreciation over the last few years is so high.
 
TODAY, May 19th, was a remarkable market day. Last night, the DJ, SP & Nasdaq futures were all down, largely due to the Moody downgrade of US Treasury debt. The market opened down, but climbed all day to close positive on all three indexes. There was no significant positive market news during the trading session.

This is a market that can swim upstream against opposing currents of bad economic news. I'm in, holding zero cash.
 
TODAY, May 19th, was a remarkable market day. Last night, the DJ, SP & Nasdaq futures were all down, largely due to the Moody downgrade of US Treasury debt. The market opened down, but climbed all day to close positive on all three indexes. There was no significant positive market news during the trading session.

This is a market that can swim upstream against opposing currents of bad economic news. I'm in, holding zero cash.
Fitch and S&P downgraded our credit rating one notch, Fitch in 2023 and S&P in 2011. No big deal to the markets ultimately. Its like your personal credit score going from 825 to 800, or something like that. Doesn't materially change much. I am not "zero cash" but have about 80% of my portfolio invested.
 
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Not saying you are wrong, you might be very right but I ran across this. Insiders are buying.



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-stock-rallies-5-lows-220105004.html

If you really like the stock then go for it. It’s half what it was a month ago.

I have tried this route most recently with INTC. Held 6 months - did nothing. I just about tried SBUX a year ago. Some folks here talked me out of it. Not directly just general discussion. It also has done nothing. I think the big issue is once these companies fall half - the passive bid inflows and float are all out of whack. So they have no chance to melt up. That’s my guess. I have no way to track the flows to prove it.
 
I did some buying this AM. Seems ok at this point just small stuff

I looked at selling some cash covered puts. Will continue to look. I mean I think I should only sell the requirement, the contract, for shares I would not mind holding and overpaying- so to speak - if the premium is nice for that strike. Am I holding my head right now?
 
I have about 2% of my investment portfolio (or 1% of my whole portfolio including real estate) that I speculate with. I really, really don't want to lose that 2% but if I did life would go on. I bought UNH three days ago. I'll hold it for a year plus probably, and give it some time.
 
UNH is a point of tension in our household. The wife works for UNH and insists that we not touch it with a 10 foot pole because they are crooks. I insist that crooks usually end up winning in the corporate world and that UNH shapes the US health care policy.
 
They assume the dividends will continue. But they are losing money on medical bills - after the CEO was whacked, they started paying for the care their members received and reduced denials.

I'm sure they have the bargaining power to increase the premiums on Medicare and the employers in the next couple of years, though.

Fun fact: When the feds were distributing corona funds, it was Optum that was the intermediary in distributing the monies to the hospitals and the police.
 
But they are losing money on medical bills - after the CEO was whacked, they started paying for the care their members received and reduced denials.
I am excited to hear they are starting to pay more claims but kind of don't believe they actually changed their practices. Maybe the new CEO is thinking twice about denials. Is this hearsay or are there any articles to support this? I know a few people in the medical community, I'll have to ask them as well.
 
From everything I see about UNH, better put the dividend checks on auto deposit. If you got physical copies, you would have to back up to the teller window when you went to cash them.

[Explanation for the younger folk. During the early days of the last millennium you had to take paper copy checks to the bank to cash or deposit them. The implication being you would be too embarrassed to let anyone see you collected dividends from a company like UNH].
 
I am excited to hear they are starting to pay more claims but kind of don't believe they actually changed their practices. Maybe the new CEO is thinking twice about denials. Is this hearsay or are there any articles to support this? I know a few people in the medical community, I'll have to ask them as well.
They got sued by the shareholders for paying their medical claims. The new CEO was allegedly involved in Medicare fraud in the past so there is still hope that UNH will turn its finances around.
 
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