stock market

[PandaBear]

I know someone with a legitimate $10M net worth.

He says all the money in the world means absolutely nothing if the person is morally bankrupt....

.

I do not think upper middle class can be a credible source of what is considered "all the money in the world", despite I agree with the later part of his statement.

You are referring to the broader bond market; I am referring to a CA Municipal Bond Fund which you might think of as a product.
In my case, I could lose all my stock portfolio and still have a fund that I could live off and not touch my initial investment.
Double tax free is also big for me because I pay Federal and at least 10% CA State Income Tax.
Obviously buying this product is not for everyone, and there very well may be better choices for me. Trust me, watching other assets skyrocket over the past 12 years has made me wonder...
This is the very nature of diversification. Risk management...

That's the thing, investment strategy is heavily influenced by tax. In many foreign nations capital gain is not taxed but the purchases or sales of certain equities like stocks and real estates are taxed to the sales price. Personally, if I am in a high tax state like CA I would definitely focus more on capital gain stock or real estates, instead of buying dividend stocks. I would likely do the opposite if I live in a low tax state.

Having said that, the most important investment most people should do is to themselves, and make them more valuable in the job market or as business owners / investors. You can cut corner on your education or your children's education to save a few bucks, but if you are doing that to buy a boat that would be worse than any stock gain or dividend you get.

 

[PandaBear]

I keep hearing people say that but I dont know what they mean exactly.

Let's say you go to Safeway to buy milk or eggs. Sometimes they have sales, or special coupon that give you one free unit on Saturday Sampler, while other times there is no sales and people need to pay full price.

This does not mean the dairy or egg farmers are doing super good this week or horrible last week, it just means Safeway bought too much or too little, or Walmart did and Safeway has to match their prices and coupons. It is no guarantee this price will last forever or you missed the boat, and will never be discounted again.

In the long run if you average out the prices you can kind of tell what make sense or not, in the long run.

 

[Astro14]

"Your statement above clearly stated the one, and only, cause of inflation: a strong economy."
I specifically said "a result" not the "the result".
I followed up with a more detailed discussion of inflation. This was not meant as a walk back, but to address the economic complexities.

I apologize for any misunderstanding I may have created.
Another point: inflation seems to be considered bad; this is not necessarily the case for a myriad of reasons.
A little inflation can lead to new opportunities in business and the economy.
Inflation is a naturally occuring condition in a growing economy because there is more money in spenders hands. It tends to be a driver of change.
When spending outpaces output, there will be winners and losers.

Jeff - Two major points:

First, I agree with what you said above and appreciate your clarification. What you meant in the first post I quoted is clearly not what I read. Thank you for taking the time to clarify.

Second, and more importantly, you really do a good job of keeping your arguments, positions, and posts free of emotion. You stick to the facts and the discussion. The mature way in which you handled your response is part of the reason why I have such great respect for your opinion.

cheers,
Astro

 

[Dave Hess]

You understand inflation is a result of a strong economy, right?
I won't speak to politics as I agreed not to per forum rules.

Well done on your whopper tax burden last year. I hope this year's is bigger!

I would rather have to pay big taxes than be in the same tax bracket of a shopping cart collector at a Walmart Super Center, no shade towards hard working Walmart employees.

Taxes are a necessary evil, just like paying tolls when I’m driving on the Turnpike.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Jeff - Two major points:

First, I agree with what you said above and appreciate your clarification. What you meant in the first post I quoted is clearly not what I read. Thank you for taking the time to clarify.

Second, and more importantly, you really do a good job of keeping your arguments, positions, and posts free of emotion. You stick to the facts and the discussion. The mature way in which you handled your response is part of the reason why I have such great respect for your opinion.

cheers,
Astro

Astro, I appreciate the kind words.
Actually, questioning my "a good economy causes inflation" statement is an important challenge, as I made a pretty darn general statement.
My post was spurned by the notion that inflation is a bad thing. In fact, this too is a pretty darn general statement.

Inflation can be viewed positively or negatively depending on the individual viewpoint (affect) and, importantly, the rate of inflation.
Generally, people with tangible assets (houses, etc) like some inflation as it raises the value of their assets. People who stock large inventories tend to like a little inflation to cover the inventory carrying costs and to maintain profit.
Of course, if one is seeking to attain those same assets, that inflation may not be see as positive.

When a certain good or service becomes too inflated (scarcity vs buying power), innovation can occur. When profits increase due to inflation, competitors arise. Opportunity!

Economics deals with the allocation of (ultimately) scarce goods. It is certainly a complicated school of thought. There is so much more. Interestingly, some consider economics a sad science due to product scarcity. I don't...

 

[JeffKeryk]

I would rather have to pay big taxes than be in the same tax bracket of a shopping cart collector at a Walmart Super Center, no shade towards hard working Walmart employees.

Taxes are a necessary evil, just like paying tolls when I’m driving on the Turnpike.

Well said Dave.
Regarding Wally World employees, all work is honorable.
I flat out guarantee those employees work far harder than a lowly programmer like me.

Paying high income taxes is a great problem to have.

 

[Zee09]

I would rather have to pay big taxes than be in the same tax bracket of a shopping cart collector at a Walmart Super Center, no shade towards hard working Walmart employees.

Taxes are a necessary evil, just like paying tolls when I’m driving on the Turnpike.

I agree.
I don't spend any of my stock market earnings at all so paying taxes is not an issue. Taxes are nothing new to the average American.

 

[Dave Hess]

I believe there will be one more stimulus this year even if they said all stimulus has ended.

Stimulus will happen just before the Xmas shopping season.

Just my 2 cent opinion and observations....

 

[Wolf359]

I believe there will be one more stimulus this year even if they said all stimulus has ended.

Stimulus will happen just before the Xmas shopping season.

Just my 2 cent opinion and observations....

Ok, noted for future reference. Do we get 2 cents if you're wrong? Or we only get it if you're right and you'll have an extra 2 cents for all of us?

 

[JeffKeryk]

I believe there will be one more stimulus this year even if they said all stimulus has ended.

Stimulus will happen just before the Xmas shopping season.

Just my 2 cent opinion and observations....

Does the free-money interest rates count as stimulus?
Asking for a friend...

Like @Wolf359 sez, cough up the 2 cents.

 

[dblshock]

Love this Crypto..bought some tokens Sushiswap and UniSwap today...all good

 

[dareo]

Love this Crypto..bought some tokens Sushiswap and UniSwap today...all good

Yeah it’s a good sign. Too bad i paperhanded out of my HUT shares i had. I’m too greedy to hold onto things. It will just dip at some point and let me back in, and if not, oh wells.

 

[dareo]

I would rather have to pay big taxes than be in the same tax bracket of a shopping cart collector at a Walmart Super Center, no shade towards hard working Walmart employees.

I worked at Walmart for like 7 years, saved my way into a 4 plex. I used to work 80 hours for a paycheck that i can clear in a decent day of trading. That was a whole lot of tires and oil. Crap jobs can still build a future if your a tightwad. Investing for the win.

 

[Wolf359]

I worked at Walmart for like 7 years, saved my way into a 4 plex. I used to work 80 hours for a paycheck that i can clear in a decent day of trading. That was a whole lot of tires and oil. Crap jobs can still build a future if your a tightwad. Investing for the win.

Life is full of tests. Lots of people don't even know they're taking it and fail.

 

[Dave Hess]

I worked at Walmart for like 7 years, saved my way into a 4 plex. I used to work 80 hours for a paycheck that i can clear in a decent day of trading. That was a whole lot of tires and oil. Crap jobs can still build a future if your a tightwad. Investing for the win.

Yep. + 100%
I was unloading Publix produce trucks at 4AM when I was still in high school on the weekends and not sleeping like my fellow classmates. I needed to save for a car and would not ask my parents for any money.

Crap jobs are very important when you are younger. Just ask Jeff Bezos about his egg cracking skills working at McDonalds.

 

[Doc8404]

Yeah it’s a good sign. Too bad i paperhanded out of my HUT shares i had. I’m too greedy to hold onto things. It will just dip at some point and let me back in, and if not, oh wells.

Hmmmmm Dogecoin is 359% for me right now.

did I sell when it was up 1000%?
Nope. I will remain a dummy and hold it.

 

[Dave Hess]

Has the economy officially reopened yet ?

 

[OppositeLocK]

Just remember, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. And nobody will tell me the market is rational right now with the insane valuations going on.

Crypto is a joke, driven by speculation entirely. You buy it in the hopes that there will be a bigger sucker the next day who's willing to pay more for it. When this cycle will crash, nobody knows, but it will for sure. Obviously the people invested in it will be its biggest proponents: "Have fun staying poor," and "do your research," or "you just don't get it." How many people "yoloing" crypto even understand what SHA256 is? Literally buying someone's hashes that do nothing. Worst of all is those people that try to sell "investing in crypto" as "investing in blockchain technology".

If market movers actually cashed out of these crazy valuations the whole market would tank. So they're slowly selling off in tiny chunks while the prices are sky high. Once they trim their positions to that sweet spot we might see another decade of no growth just like we did after the dot-com craze.

 

[Wolf359]

Just remember, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. And nobody will tell me the market is rational right now with the insane valuations going on.

Crypto is a joke, driven by speculation entirely. You buy it in the hopes that there will be a bigger sucker the next day who's willing to pay more for it. When this cycle will crash, nobody knows, but it will for sure. Obviously the people invested in it will be its biggest proponents: "Have fun staying poor," and "do your research," or "you just don't get it." How many people "yoloing" crypto even understand what SHA256 is? Literally buying someone's hashes that do nothing. Worst of all is those people that try to sell "investing in crypto" as "investing in blockchain technology".

If market movers actually cashed out of these crazy valuations the whole market would tank. So they're slowly selling off in tiny chunks while the prices are sky high. Once they trim their positions to that sweet spot we might see another decade of no growth just like we did after the dot-com craze.

So how much do you have invested in it now?

No one can determine anything about the stock market. Just when you think you know which way it's going to go, it does the opposite.

Crypto doesn't seem to have any controls on it. You can buy on margin at crazy high amounts, like 10 to 1. That's what brought the roaring 1920's to a halt. People used margin at 10 to 1 so that if the market dropped 10%, you got completely wiped out. Now it's just down to 50%. No such controls on crypto as those exchanges are in other countries that don't have any control over them.

 

[OppositeLocK]

So how much do you have invested in it now?

No one can determine anything about the stock market. Just when you think you know which way it's going to go, it does the opposite.

Crypto doesn't seem to have any controls on it. You can buy on margin at crazy high amounts, like 10 to 1. That's what brought the roaring 1920's to a halt. People used margin at 10 to 1 so that if the market dropped 10%, you got completely wiped out. Now it's just down to 50%. No such controls on crypto as those exchanges are in other countries that don't have any control over them.

Everything because there's really no good investments anymore, and sitting on money is crazy in this environment. I have a long horizon, but even then I honestly don't care anymore. With the instability in the world it might not even matter in the end.