diff --git "a/reddit_finance_43_250k_465.txt" "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_465.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_465.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + +But when the DTC senses trouble, it will stop clearing trades on a stock temporarily. + +A chilled stock can still trade — as long as the market participants handle the physical certificates themselves. But it can be a sign that something is gravely wrong. The DTC states on its [website](https://www.dtcclearning.com/learning/assetservices/products/issuer-services/how-issuers-work-with-dtc-faqs/678-what-does-it-mean-when-a-security-is-chilled-at-dtc.html) that it chills stocks “when there are questions about an issuer’s compliance with applicable law.” + +That doesn’t stop Knight from buying and selling them, though. Its chief legal officer, Thomas Merritt, [acknowledged](https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/microcap/microcaproundtable101711-transcript.txt) at a 2011 Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable that the company actively traded chilled stocks, saying that as long as the security still trades, “we are going to be involved in that business.” And DiIorio found numerous examples of Knight trading chilled penny stocks. + +“I didn’t know they did that,” said Jim Angel, a Georgetown University business school professor. “I’m kind of shocked to think that Knight would be working with paper stock certificates.” + +He suggested that Knight might simply want to accommodate customers trying to get out of chilled stocks. “Or maybe they feel there’s enough interest in a security that they can trade profitably, even if they have to shuffle the certificates.” + +Because most other market makers flee chilled stocks, however, this means Knight can assume even more control over the stock price. + +## Naked Manipulation + +The thing about naked short sales is they can’t stay naked forever. + +Even if you don’t have the stock when you sell it, at some point it is expected that you hand it over. + +And even with its market-maker exemption, Knight is required by SEC rules to eventually deliver the shares in a naked short transaction to the buyer and close out the trade. + +Not doing so results in a “fail to deliver,” which DiIorio describes as the securities version of an IOU. And that IOU comes with rules: Under the SEC’s  [Regulation SHO](https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm), short sellers have to cough up the stock within one day of incurring the fail. Routine failures to deliver can lead to [fines by the SEC](http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2014/33-9522.pdf), or even a ban from the securities markets. + +Instead of complying with the rule, however, DiIorio alleges that Knight circumvented it by manipulating an obscure process within the machinery of the nation’s clearing system known as the “[Obligation Warehouse](http://www.dtcc.com/clearing-services/equities-clearing-services/ow).” + +This service facilitates the matching of self-cleared trades (often known as “ex-clearing”) that don’t go through the DTC —  for instance if the stock was chilled. + +The Obligation Warehouse instead simply asks the buyer and seller of these ex-cleared trades if they “know” the transaction. If they both agree, the trade gets confirmed with a journal entry — and the buyer receives their stock purchase. *It actually shows up in the buyer’s brokerage account.* + +The trades still have active IOUs, but according to DiIorio’s theory, buyers wouldn’t clamor for the trades to be closed because they would’ve already received their purchase. + +If true, this would allow Knight to bury its naked short trades. + +“They set up a shadow clearing system,” DiIorio said. + +Furthermore, DiIorio recognized what he considered a persistent cycle in the stocks Knight traded. After being beaten down through what he suspected was naked shorting, they would often engage in a reverse stock split or reverse merger, like E Mobile did with Best Rate Travel in the trade that ended up losing DiIorio over $1 million. + +This, he observed, could enable Knight to rerun the scheme over and over again, pummeling the stock price and then letting it move back up like a yo-yo. + +Laura Posner of the New Jersey Securities Commission said constant reverse splits would require a coordinated relationship between the penny stock issuer and the broker-dealer. “I know that there are situations in which fraudsters will take advantage of a stock split to commit fraud,” Posner said. “But it’s different than a typical pump-and-dump, where you don’t have to have a personal relationship.” + +Alternately, the cycle could be a cat-and-mouse game playing out between the short sellers and the stock issuers. Hawk Associates, a consulting firm to small companies, recommends that penny stock issuers victimized by naked shorting engage in reverse mergers and/or reverse splits to stop the rapid degradation of their stock price. “It may be useful as part of a larger strategy to deter naked shorting,” [the firm writes on its website](http://www.hawkassociates.com/ir/white/shorts.cfm). “This may be more trouble than it’s worth, however. Once the new shares are in circulation, there��s nothing to stop a new round of naked shorting by determined parties.” + +Knight’s involvement with suspicious stocks following this same pattern kept cropping up. + +For example, NewLead Holdings ([NEWL](http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=NEWL)) — a shipping company with a mining concern on the side that was [accused in federal court](http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/13ac3koo6/new-york-southern-district-court/transasia-commodities-limited-v-newlead-jmeg-llc-et-al/) of having “no coal mines, no coal, and no ability whatsoever to engage in the coal business” — engaged in 1-1,125,000 worth of [reverse splits](http://www.stocksplithistory.com/?symbol=newl) over nine months in 2013 and 2014, meaning that 1,000 shares prior to the splits were equivalent to 0.0008 shares afterward. NewLead did another [1-300 stock split](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/newlead-holdings-ltd-announces-1-131500494.html) just this spring; it now trades as [NEWLF](https://www.google.com/finance?cid=698789), at 0.00030 as of August 23. Its [2015 annual report](http://www.newleadholdings.com/annual-reports.html) admits, “There is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.” + +FreeSeas ([FREE](http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=FREE)), another penny stock, did a 1-60 [reverse split](http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/FreeSeas+(FREE)+Announces+1-for-60+Reverse+Split/11221193.html) on January 15 of this year, and then another [1-200 split](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1325159/000121390016012468/0001213900-16-012468-index.htm) on April 13, changing its stock symbol to [FREEF](http://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FREEF?ltr=1). The company has engaged in seven reverse splits in the last five years; someone with 900 million shares five years ago would have one share today, trading at less than a penny. The company’s [annual report](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1325159/000114420415026586/v408409_20f.htm) says it currently has no employees. Private equity firm Havensight Capital [made an alleged bid](https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2016/06/16/849242/0/en/Havensight-Capital-makes-Tender-Offer-for-Free-Seas-Inc-and-Launches-theSuperMallofWebsites-com.html) to purchase FreeSeas in June at $0.43 a share, about 80 times its price at the time of this writing, which FreeSeas [called](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1325159/000121390016014304/f6k061716ex99i_freeseasinc.htm) “false and misleading.” + +While one might think this cycle of splits and price declines would trigger red flags with federal regulators, Joseph Borg of the Alabama Securities Commission doubted they would pay attention. “It’s like asking the SEC, of all the 35,000 private placements issued, you look at how many? And if they were telling the truth they would say we’re putting them in a drawer,” Borg said. “Anything like that on miniscule levels, they just get filed away.” + +Furthermore, while there are “circuit breaker” rules preventing short sales when a stock loses more than 10 percent of its value in a day, these swings were more gradual. Knight made a lot of money on these plays, not just from the spread in trading profits, but because it often traded on its own account rather than on behalf of customers, DiIorio concluded. When the stock dropped, Knight got rich from the short. And it could rerun this repeatedly + +“He’s got a theory that, without studying it, I see theoretically where he’s going with it,” concluded Borg. “It’s an interesting idea.” + +Knight is now known as KCG. Its spokesperson Sophie Sohn declined to comment when asked about this and other matters. + +Attempts to reach spokespeople at FreeSeas have proven unsuccessful. Elisa Gerouki, corporate communications manager at NewLead, asked me to prove I wrote for The Intercept; after I did so, Gerouki failed to respond to questions. + +## Where Naked Shorts Go to Die + +DiIorio also spotted a significant, seemingly toxic byproduct of this sort of activity. + +Reverse mergers and reverse splits typically result in a change in the [CUSIP](https://www.sec.gov/answers/cusip.htm), the nine-digit identification symbol assigned to a public stock. + +Once that CUSIP changes, the naked shorter has no apparent way to close out the naked short position. No stock under the old CUSIP number exists anymore; it all automatically converts to the new CUSIP. + +Those trades can sit in the Obligation Warehouse forever, in theory. But the “aged fails” — essentially orphaned naked short transactions — remain on the naked shorter’s balance sheet as a liability to be paid later. + +By DiIorio’s reckoning, then, the cycle of naked shorting and reverse splits would inevitably result in an ever-increasing number of aged fails. And if that was happening, and those liabilities grew bigger and bigger, then federal regulators could see the outlines of the scheme on any financial statement. + +DiIorio believed Knight accounted for its aged fails in the “sold not yet purchased” liability on its balance sheet. That’s supposed to be an inventory of stocks for use in future market making, which goes up and down as orders are filled. But DiIorio says it was a hiding place for a billowing structural liability. + +And consider this: According to its [own financial reports](http://www.zonebourse.com/KINGSPAN-GROUP-1412393/pdf/299641/Kingspan%20Group_SEC-Filing-10K.pdf), Knight’s “sold not yet purchased” liability jumped from $385 million at the beginning of 2008 to [$1.9 billion](http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.q6JC3.htm#1r02) by mid-2011. + +Jim Angel, the business professor, said there could be other explanations — such as Knight’s growth as a company during that period — for why the “sold not yet purchased” liability ballooned. But, he said, market makers are typically “in the moving, not storing, business, and like to keep their inventories as small as possible.” + +DiIorio had no such doubts. He saw the fact that Knight was blowing a hole in its own balance sheet as undeniable evidence of the naked shorting play. + +KCG spokesperson Sophie Sohn was asked specifically about that claim and declined to comment. + +If DiIorio was correct, Knight was driving penny stocks down over and over again with naked shorting, then not actually closing the trades, and racking up enormous paper liabilities. + +This was even more complicated than he thought. It was time to call the cops. + +## CONTACT THE AUTHOR: + +[David Dayen](https://theintercept.com/staff/davidd/) [ddayen@​prospect.org](mailto:ddayen@prospect.org) [@ddayen](https://twitter.com/@ddayen) + +&#x200B; + +edit1: My first attempt at this post was removed since the source for the quote " The company has engaged in seven reverse splits in the last five years" had a link to an investing website that is banned by this reddit. I will not try to circumvent the rules and provide the link here, however if you wish to know just go to the original article. + +edit2: a fellow ape made a fair point about The Intercept's relationship with Glenn Greenwald, and so their record is not unblemished....so oopsies about being too absolutist dear apes. The spirit of it was to simply pre-empt a discussion in here about The Intercept (or the news itself), as a means to dismiss the article out of hand. + +edit2b: I've moved the original opening down here for recordkeeping...there was no real usefulness other than it being unnecessarily combative. *"First off, I will not accept any backhanded criticism of this news source. The Intercept is one of the best and most vigilant investigative reporting journals in the world. Their integrity is not up for debate imo."* +$ATOS dropped a little over 10% yesterday, so SSR has now been invoked. Short selling to manipulate the price will be limited today. The price now sits at $5.68. There are currently 42,605 calls sitting at the $6 strike which expire today, and 66,915 calls for the $7.5 strike. A price increase above $6 will force the coverage of 21.9M shares (with a net increase of 3.4M shares added to what should already be hedged) and a price increase above $7.50 increases that number to 28.6M shares (with a net increase over what should already be hedged of 10.8M). Since it's the final day of trading, extrinsic premiums to buy calls are largely reduced. Now that ATOS is part of the R2K, an estimated 37M of the 120M shares are now locked in place by index funds, so liquidity is very limited. Additionally, short interest has been steadily climbing and is estimated to now be over 30M shares. IF retail holds strong and a whale or two jump in, this could be the gamma storm predicted months ago. Verify these numbers and do your own DD! This is simply to give you an idea of something worth watching. +I have been back at work barely a week since we went into lockdown for 2 weeks last march. 5k in savings depleted in that time. Had to sell car as well to literally put food on the table, still, I've been lucky and have/had my health. + +Bought an electric scooter to travel to and from work, yano being economical, saving the planet and all that and the fact they are ridiculously fun. Well some twat that doesn't know where to speed smashed into me and I broke both my elbows in several places, require surgery, ligament damage, pretty banged up. Pretty fucking sore. + +Ignoring the fact I can't even butter toast or wipe my ass, although I'm fashioning a device the will let me get that job done, and I have literally no one to help me, what is the protocol for when sick pay doesn't even cover rent, I've nothing to my name after pandemic? + +Honestly pretty scared, I'm in a lot pain and have never felt as hopeless in my life. + +There must be help out there for people like me? Any tips on where to begin. Thank you +I am a 24 year old managing director of a small business (circa £1,000,000 turnover per annum since it was started 4 years ago). A foreign company in the same industry have set up in the UK and offered to purchase 100% of my shares for circa £500,000. My company does not have a brilliant net profit margin but we have a some high profile clients who are loyal to us and this is one of the main selling points. + +We have been in negotiations for a few months and their directors have flown into the UK to meet me on several occasions. They have one employee in the UK who is currently running their UK operations. They want me to remain with the company as I am quite integral to the work we do. They have appointed an independent accountancy firm who are currently carrying out due diligence. + +I have owned 49% of the shares in the company for a little over a year. I have owned the remaining 51% of shares for under 3 months. The deal is due to be finalised in March. + +I have a few questions and if you feel that you can answer any of them it would be greatly appreciated. + +1. What tax can I expect to pay on this £500,000 given my shareholding situation outlined above. +2. I want to gift half of the money to my parents who have helped me get to where I am - what tax implications will arise here? +3. I want to put the remaining money into an ISA and an investment fund as a contingency so I know I will be comfortable when I retire. Where can I find more information on this and is this recommended? +4. I took a small business loan circa 12 months ago for £100,000 and put a personal guarantee down for £45,000. Is there a way for me to get out of this? + +Any other advice is welcome. I am new to this subreddit so I apologise to the mods if questions like this get asked a lot. If you think this would be more suited to another subreddit, please let me know. + +Thanks + +Edit - the company is profitable but struggles for cash flow. The new owners are injecting capital to overcome this problem. I however have had to work with this cash flow struggle and have drawn a tiny salary over the last ,2 years (literally enough to feed myself and go to the cinema once or twice a month). As such, I am not in a position to commit to paying any professionals until I am certain that I am going to be able to work with the heads of terms being prepared by their lawyers. In an ideal world I would have brought my own lawyer and accountant into the picture far earlier than this. As such, I am scouring the web for help because that is all I can do at this point. +I have my finances budgeted, I currently only pay $60 dollars a month to pay my phone bill. I also pay for my own gas which seems to be a money sucker, but for now I'm stuck with that. Anyway, I sometimes have some money left over after I've had my "fun". It's not much, but it's about $10-$20 dollars. Is there anywhere else I can put this little extra cash other than my savings? Somewhere where I can see it grow a little more than just a savings account? +Edit 1: I am going to college, and I do have money saved up for it. I also will be working during it to cover the cost. I'm not a tight ass either, I do spend money on fun stuff, like eating out. I already put away a good percentage into my savings. This paycheck I put in about 38%. I would just like to put some money away that I can't immediately access that will grow. I didn't expect this much response! There's a lot to read so I'm slowly taking it in over the school day. I'll probably read more after work to see what I ultimately decide. Keep the info and opinions coming! There's never too much! + +Edit 2: I leave for work and you guys get my post locked. :l I'd like to thank everyone that contributed in any way they could. I learned a lot from your answers and I'm excited to try some of these out. For anyone that's interested, I'm going to continue to put money into my savings account. I said this once, and I'll say it again. I'm not a tight ass, I spend money and have fun with it. I don't want you guys thinking I'm a no life. To anyone that suggested a bike, thank you! I am buying one this summer for college, but currently that's not an option. I live 7 miles by highway from where I go to school and work. I will try to play some invest stuff right now. With the idea of I'm young and can mess up. If loose some money now, it won't haunt me in a year or so. I do understand that high risks can me high rewards. When I start earning more money, I'll come back to this post and read up on some of the bigger investments and stuff like that. Also, I will read Richest Man in Babylon, it looks interesting. +Once again, thank you to everyone! Good luck on your finances :) +My dealings today have been frustrating enough I figure I should name and shame. + +**The bank is Barclays and the product involved is the AAdvantage Aviator Red MasterCard.** + +Not too long ago, I noticed some odd charges on one of my credit cards. Someone had made a couple of PayPal transactions for nearly $500. I checked my eBay and PayPal accounts and there was no recent activity. The card in question is on my PayPal account, but there had been no transactions in a good while since I don't use either service much. + +I called my bank and disputed the charges. They said they'd look into it and I'd probably see a credit soon. The credit soon posted, but in addition the merchandise from the fraudulent transactions was delivered to my home address with my name. The shipping labels had 'eBay' on them, so I called eBay. I gave them the USPS tracking numbers since sellers have to log those when shipping. They would only say that they couldn't see any recent activity on my account and that I should contact my bank if there were unauthorized charges. + +I opened a case with PayPal and told them that there were charges on a card added to my PayPal account, but no activity showing under my PayPal account and gave them the tracking numbers as well. PayPal responded that the account associated with the transaction was closed and that there hasn't been any unauthorised access to my PayPal account. They also said to contact my bank to get refunded. + +So the credits post and now I'm stuck with this merchandise I don't want or need. eBay and PayPal wouldn't put me in touch with the sellers to return it, so I sent letters to the return address on the packages. I said that they had sent me stuff I hadn't ordered, and that it looked like someone had stolen my credit card number and had it shipped to me, and I imagine that the scammer had hoped to steal it from my doorstep, but couldn't because the packages were left in a parcel locker. I told them I'd gladly give the merchandise back, and asked for a return shipping label and provided my email. + +Nothing happens for several weeks. Today I got a call from my bank saying the merchant responded and they will reprocess the charges. I told the rep the story, but she said if I disagreed, I'd need to write a letter and ask them to reopen the case, and that they'd send me the info the merchant had sent them. She read notes that said something to the effect of ip location and purchase history were consistent with past activity. + +Before the fraudulent charges, the last time I used the card was at my dentist's office. I suspect someone there may be behind this. They have my personal info like address and SSN, so they could open accounts with my info. They're also close to my home so they could easily go by and pick up packages from my front door if there were any there. I've read about similar ship to the fraud victims where a return label or ups pickup to get the item to the scammer shows up a couple of days later, but I haven't seen anything like that. + +I still have the merchandise they sent me. It's sitting in a box at home unused. I have no use for it and I'm happy to give it back to the seller. I just don't want to pay expensive shipping fees to do so. How should I proceed? I'm thinking about going to the police station after work today to file a report and including that when I try to reopen the dispute. + +**Tl;Dr Someone stole my credit card info and had merchandise shipped to me. I disputed with the bank, but the bank is saying it looks like a legit charge.** + + + +**Edit to add** :This started 2 months ago. The reprocess call came yesterday. My account number was changed immediately and no other odd charges have shown up. I've checked my credit report and nothing else odd is there. I called the police this morning and filed a report. + +**Additional edit from reply below** : + +After being hung up on several times, I started the call saying that I intended to file a CFPB complaint if the issue wasn't resolved in this call. One agent I spoke with even told me I just have to ship the stuff back at my own expense before the bank can do anything. + +Eventually they transferred me to the 'disputes' department. Apparently 'fraud' is step one and 'disputes' is step 2. Fraud says that since the merchandise came to me and that I have a PayPal account, they can't find in my favor. The disputes guy sounded like he was in an outsourced call center. He told me that I need to write a letter to reopen the case and that the bank can use that as evidence when going back to MasterCard to refute the info from the merchant. + +I told them I intend to follow through with a CFPB complaint because I didn't consider the issue resolved and that I had received conflicting information from previous reps. He said not to worry and that the bank always has my back. (It certainly doesn't feel like it.) + +**Edit** : +To everyone saying contact eBay/PayPal/the seller -- I've tried. eBay and PayPal say the transaction was not on my account so they can't do anything and that I should contact my bank to be reimbursed. They won't give info about transactions on accounts that I don't control. I wrote letters to the sellers asking for return labels and they didn't respond. + +**Edit 5/26** +Someone PMed me an executive email yesterday and I received a preliminary response that they were looking into it early this morning. + +**Edit**: +Update posted: https://reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/8nj2zg/update_im_a_victim_of_credit_card_fraud_scammers/ +As per the title. It has been discussed here before but most of the comments are in the likes of "co\*e and h\*\*kers". I'm in for the serious answers and plans here. :) + +In recent discussions, the boredom aspect of being wealthy emerged. Planning ahead would be a nice thing to do. + +I want to know if you have such plans and the specifics of it: What will you study? What would be your main activity? Would you tell friends and family? Would you re-invest? If so, would it be in crypto? In short, what have you pondered about becoming rich? + +Have you also heard about the Sudden Wealth Syndrome? According to Wikipedia, it is a "condition where the overwhelming pressures of unexpected and/or abrupt fortune can develop into emotional and behavioural afflictions". + +Would you consider your wealth sudden or, since you're expecting it to happen, not that much? + +In addition, many people who win it big time just lose it all due to the lack of planning and headlines are everywhere (here using the lottery as an example): + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/hssl3jvjin8a1.png?width=1537&format=png&auto=webp&s=7aca4f06f25f4503d564d1c4627e554ddbeb136d + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/wppopcpkin8a1.png?width=1300&format=png&auto=webp&s=e82a129a37474d0564ace8f05ae3c92368b6019c + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/r89jszclin8a1.png?width=1409&format=png&auto=webp&s=c908328aae8e683b45bba3b2981aacdef77123ab + +How would you not lose it all? + +Thanks in advance for your insights! +Friends in Florida just informed me that there is no food (meaning, shelves are emptied daily) because people are hoarding to avoid the "daily/weekly" price increases. + +In other words, they are buying today because tomorrow it will be more expensive. + +This is exactly what happened in Venezuela when Hyperinflation kicked in. + +Scary to be in this situation. Uncertainty daily. + +I pray for every ape over there. + +Now more than ever Apes together Strong, and DO NOT LET GO. + +Protect yourself, DRS. + +Not financial advise. +You can see here that there was a nearly two million call that is 1900% up: [link](https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1349408988509720576?s=21) + +How? There was some small $CHWY news but nothing big. [Link to news](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/heavily-shorted-gamestop-soars-most-ever-as-day-traders-circle) + +What and why is this happening? How are there short squeezes now with stores closed? +I made a [post yesterday](https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/twsgmn/last_day_of_the_tax_year_is_today_5_april_has/) where there is clearly quite a lot of confusion about tax relief on pension contributions for higher rate tax payers. Therefore I wanted to dedicate a post to clarify this for anyone who is still confused. + +I note there is some good [background reading for pension](https://ukpersonal.finance/pensions/#Tax_relief_on_pension_contributions_%F0%9F%92%B8) in the Wiki. Here I'll give some illustrated examples to bring it to life a bit. + +# TLDR + +There are two main types of pensions scheme that determine if you need to make a claim for additional tax relief as a higher rate taxpayer. + +**Relief at source scheme** \- higher rate taxpayers must claim the tax back. + +Basic rate tax relief happens as an automatic pension top-up/tax credit in your pension (you’ll see this), the higher rate relief comes from a tax refund you need to claim from HMRC. + +**Net pay arrangement** \- relief is automatic and higher rate taxpayers need to do nothing more. + +*Note salary sacrifice is something the employer may also opt into to save employers and employees national insurance, this works similarly to net pay arrangement, but also saves the NI by reducing your pay by the value of the pension contribution. You don't need to do anything more for salary sacrifice schemes.* + +Claims can be made by [calling or writing to HMRC or filing out a self-assessment tax return.](https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/pension-tax-relief#:~:text=Claim%20tax%20relief%20in%20England%2C%20Wales%20or%20Northern%20Ireland) + +*Note: while this can be done by calling/going online and adjusting your PAYE code, this is often an estimate and may still need truing up at year-end.* + +# How does this work? How do I know which I have? Let's see some examples. + +For the examples assume your Gross pay is £60,000, and your pension contribution is 5% (£3,000). + +( we won't focus on employer contributions as it's not relevant to make this point) + +**Relief at Source** + +This is for schemes where contributions have been made AFTER tax has been taken from your gross pay (i.e. contributions are out of your net pay). + +Relief at source arrangements are used by personal and stakeholder pensions (that is, pensions set up with an insurance company), and some auto-enrolment workplace pensions. Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) also work in a similar way. + +You can recognise if your scheme is Relief at source because your pension provider will give you a tax credit every time you make a pension contribution. You can also check with your employer to be sure. + +This tax credit in your pension will always be 25% of your contribution because HMRC assumes that you are a basic rate tax payer, and want to credit back the 20% tax they took from you (not currently realising you are a higher rate tax payer). So assuming your contribution is 80% of your gross pay since 20% is assumed taxed, 25% x 80% = 20% tax you were charged and will be given as a pension top-up. + +However in this illustration, for the £9,730 of pay over the £50,270 basic rate band, you actually paid 40% tax. You need to inform HMRC to get the additional 20% tax they owe you. + +***Part automatic relief*** + +You probably contribute monthly £250 x 12 = £3,000 a year. + +Your pension provider will gather from HMRC through pension top-up/tax credit £3,000 x 25% = £750 additional tax in your pension across the year (or £62.50 a month). + +So in total from the £3,000 contributions you made, you end up with £3,750 with the £750 tax relief automatically coming from the pension top-up/tax credit. + +***Part manual relief*** + +When you inform HMRC of the fact you have made these contributions and need higher rate relief, they adjust your basic rate band by the GROSS pension contribution (i.e. £3000 + £750 tax credit awarded = £3,750 adjustment) + +So your basic rate band, in this case, would become £50,270+ £3,750 = £54,020, saving you £3,750 x 20% (40% higher rate -20% basic rate extension) = £750 in tax. \` + +This £750 will be refunded to you by HMRC after the tax year-end as a result of you writing/calling them or filling in your self-assessment tax return (asumming you didn't have your PAYE code adjusted). + +The result is you that paid into the pension scheme £3000 contributions - £750 tax refund after year-end = £2,250 net cash contribution + +But you got in your pension £3000 + £750 = £3,750 to invest in your pension. + +Therefore HMRCs overall contribution was £3,750 (you got) - £2,250 (you paid net) = £1,500. + +£1,500 benefit from HMRC/£3,750 in your pension = 40% (i.e. the higher rate tax that you paid). + +It's a bit complex, but you can see it does work, and if you don't make the claim, here you would be £750 worse off! + +An easy way to think of this for a higher rate tax payer in a simple example such as this one, is where you are paying higher rate tax: + +For every £100 contributed, you'll get: + +\-£25 (25%) automatically as a tax credit in your pension + +\-£25 (25%) tax refund from HMRC + +&#x200B; + +**Net pay arrangement (often called salary sacrifice scheme)** + +For higher rate taxpayers net pay arrangements tend to be the better scheme as tax relief is all upfront. This is because instead the pension contribution is made BEFORE tax is deducted which means the contributions automatically receive the highest rate of tax relief you've paid. + +Net pay arrangements are used by many traditional occupational (‘works’) pensions and also some workplace pensions set up under the recent auto-enrolment programme. + +You won't see pension top-up/tax credits for each contribution you make in these schemes. + +In our example here. Ordinarily, without the pension contribution, you would pay tax on your salary of £60,000. + +So you pay: + +£12,570 x 0 (personal allowance) + + +£37,700 x 20% (basic rate band, £50,270-£12570) + + +£9,730 x 40% (higher rate band, £60,000-£50,270) + += 0 + £7,540 + £3,892 = £11,432 in Tax. + +But with the pension contribution under net pay arrangement you will be assessed for £60,000- £3,000 pension contribution = £57,000 earnings. + +£12,570 x 0 (personal allowance) + + +£37,700 x 20% (basic rate band, £50,270-£12570) + + +£6,730 x 40% (higher rate band, £57,000-£50,270) + += 0 + £7,540 + £2,692 = £10,232 in Tax. + +So you made a saving of £11,432 - £10,232 = £1,200 (or £3000 contribution x 40% relief = £1,200). + +As you can see, no extra claim is required, the 40% relief happens automatically. + +You'll notice the £1,200 tax saving here vs the £1,500 in the relief at source is due to the contribution being £750 more (£750 x 40% = £300 more tax-saving) under the relief at source scheme. So remember you need to only contribute 80% of what you want in your pension to invest with a relief at source scheme since HMRC will always give you your tax credit/pension top-up. + +You're probably wondering why your employer may not be using a net pay arrangement, it could be because they can [disadvantage employees on a lower salary](https://www.linklaters.com/en/insights/publications/uk-pensions/2020/august/uk-pensions---relief-at-source-versus-net-pay) that do not pay tax (they won't get the 20% tax relief they'd still get under the relief at source scheme). + +***The 2021/22 tax year ended yesterday so if your pension scheme is Relief at Source, make sure you get your tax refund! You can claim anytime from now, and you have up until 4 years after the tax year the claim is in respect to ended (i.e. 5 April 2026).*** + +***So if you've missed this in previous years, you can still claim back the tax refund for the 5 April 2019 tax year-end for the next 12 months.*** + +UPDATE: +FOR THOSE ASKING HOW TO FILL IN THE SELF ASSESSMENT TAX RETURN FOR RELIEF AT SOURCE SCHEME SEE [HERE](https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/u3upg3/how_to_fill_in_selfassessment_return_to_claim/) +## + +[IBKR trading platform](https://preview.redd.it/ptjcq959wem61.png?width=1019&format=png&auto=webp&s=4987571f1f000156ea2faccc767301eb4c45a7b5) + +## According to Investopedia: + +## The Uptick Rule (also known as the "plus tick rule") is a rule established by the [Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sec.asp) (SEC) that requires [short sales](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsale.asp) to be conducted at a higher price than the previous trade. + + +Guys pls note that March 12, 5 am GST means March 11, 8:00 pm EST +I mean considering the market? Are they underquoting regardless or are the prices more realistic? + +I imagine at the very top, they're overquoting but what about middle and bottom? Anyone know. + + +Important Changes to your Raiz Invest Account + +From 1 August 2019 the monthly maintenance fee increases to $2.50 for active account balances up to $10,000. For accounts with balances equal to or greater than $10,000, the account fee remains the same at 0.275% a year. + +This is the first fee change since Raiz Invest launched in Australia in February 2016. It will not affect Raiz Invest Super accounts. + +This fee increase is necessary so Raiz can continue investing in our core technology and our team to meet the growing demands of you, our customers, who expect high levels of operations, corporate governance, new features and cyber-security protection. + +To help offset the maintenance fee, Raiz is doubling its referral reward to $5.00 per referral and $5.00 for the referee, effective 1 July 2019. + +We are grateful for your loyalty and support over the years and we will continue to focus on providing the best user experience, products and benefits you have come to expect. +I recently inherited some money and I wanted to get a small home loan but I've had a lot trouble because brokers just seem to want to give me a larger home loan than what I want and encouraging me to take on more work to do it. Saying that I won't be able to get an apartment in the range I'm looking unless I go for more. + +I found the banks to be pretty non responsive too. The guy I was talking to just stopped responding to my emails. + +Like, I only need $100-$150k and the brokers keep saying to go for $200-$250k. I might have to go back to banks again because the brokers get a cut of the loan so they keep trying to go bigger. I don't want a big loan, I'm still in Uni and work part time. +Just found out the other day about FHSS and used an online calculator to find out I could save myself $3182 a year through doing a salary sacrifice setup rather than save for a house traditionally and I love the idea of it. I want to start doing this when I pay off my car loan debt so I can buy a house in 2 years. Wanting some extra advice on the subject if anyone has personally done this method or if anyone knows a lot more about that could give me a better understanding? Or would it be best to go speak to a financial advisor before I take this path +Hi guys, + +I'm a first year studying full time at uni. Through youth allowance twice a year I can take out a ~$1000 loan that goes on my HECS debt (interest-free, indexed with inflation). + +I have no real need for this money currently, but since it's essentially interest free I thought it'd be best to place on an ETF or something for a few years to make some money off it. + +What are your thoughts? + +Link: https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/student-start-loan +I feel like without obamacare being in the constitution, we can't rely on it, and we should probably not count on it, which means we should probably not expect any sort of subsidy / pre-existing conditions might be a problem, and perhaps expect 2x costs? Thoughts? +I want to highlight a cool volunteer opportunity that I think fits very well with the FIRE community. There is always plenty of discussion here asking how to give back, how to occupy your time after FIRE, and most importantly, how to learn about taxes. + +&nbsp; + +I posted this last year and it received some interest so I wanted to send out another reminder to the community that this program is gearing up again for the next tax season. + +&nbsp; + +I'm starting my second year with an agency as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistant (VITA) with a local refugee agency. The program trains you on tax screening so you can provide free tax prep services to people in need. You don't need to have any prior tax experience, they train you on everything. I started last year with very little understanding of how the tax system works (always had someone else file my taxes), and now I've gained deep understanding of the tax code. VITA programs offer an impactful way for people in this community to use their skills and their passion to give back. + +&nbsp; + +I'm not advocating for a particular program, but if you google VITA in your local area I bet you'll find some programs. A lot of them are even fully virtual. Seems like a great way to help out whether you're FIRE'd or not. + +&nbsp; + +Cheers! +First of all, Eth 2.0 does not exist. It is named "The merge" and is the second of 3 Ethereum upgrades. "The merge" and "Shard chains" are yet to come out. The first upgrade, "The beacon chain" is currently live. + +The most common misconception on this subreddit is that when eth 2.0 comes out, transaction fees will be lower or even non-existent. That is completely false. + +The upgrade will have an impact on the consensus layer. Gas fees are paid on the execution layer of Ethereum. So, unfortunately, gas fees will not be cheaper and we must stop having wrong expectations. + +More activity on Ethereum blockchain = higher fees + +Less activity on Ethereum blockchain = lower fees + +Those fees that you are paying now will simply go to staking Ethereum instead of miners as it does currently. + +&#x200B; + +What the merge WILL do, is make Ethereum eco-friendly. The transition to proof of stake makes the network 2000 times more energy-efficient, requiring 99.5% less energy to process transactions. + +Security will be better, and the merge will most likely have a positive influence on ETH price as staking is encouraged. In the transition to POS, fewer Ether tokens will be minted thus lowering inflation. + +For comparison, ETH is staked at around 8.3%, while ADA is at 73%, so there is huge space for upside. + +All in all, still bullish on Ethereum +**Broader Markets** + +The S&P 500 closed the shortened holiday week at new highs, up about 1.1%, about in line with the 1.1% the options market was pricing. With that, the VIX closed at 17.30, its lowest level in a year. + +**SPY** options are again pricing in about a **1.1%** move in either direction for the upcoming week. That corresponds to about $396.50 to the downside and $405.50 on the upside. + +The expected move from **QQQ** options is about 1.7% for the week and **IWM** about 2.2%. + +&#x200B; + +**In the News** + +**Tesla (TSLA)** reported first quarter vehicle production numbers on Friday while equity markets were closed. Options are pricing in a roughly 6% move for the upcoming week, and about a 12% move for the month of April. The company is due to report earnings the last week of April. + +With the stock near $660, this week's expected move corresponds to about $620 for a bearish consensus and near $700 for bullish. That is much smaller expected moves being priced in TSLA options than what the stock has seen in recent week, both in its options and in its actual moves: + +&#x200B; + +https://i.redd.it/gnj0065fm6r61.gif + +The Archegos story had an effect on both its holdings at the center of the liquidation as well as the financial institutions affected. Below is a comparison of the one month expected moves for two of the stocks at the center of the story, Baidu (about 11%) and VipShop (about 14%). Comparisons like this can be accessed via the free [Options AI expected move calculator:](https://tools.optionsai.com/expected-move/BIDU?compare=VIPS) + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/damo27xpm6r61.png?width=556&format=png&auto=webp&s=4218e97e124f0f3bc317606a50804637281f81ef + +**Earnings This Week (light) and a look ahead** + +Earnings season picks up in earnest the second week of April, beginning with some of the large financial institutions like **JP Morgan** and **Wells Fargo**. The latter part of the month features some of the largest tech names including **Netflix**, **Apple**, **Tesla**, **Amazon** and **Facebook**. + +Here's an example of April 20th, with both **Netflix** and **Snap** (unconfirmed): [April 20th](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings-calendar/2021-04-19?day=2021-04-20) + +The calendar is pricing in expected moves in the weeks leading up to those earnings in late April so as the confirmed dates approach the options will begin to isolate the events themselves more and more. + +This Week: + +[PAYX](http://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/BNTX) / Expected Move by April 16th: 4% / Recent moves: -2%, -2.5%, -5% + +[CAG](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/LULU) / Expected Move This Week: 4% / Recent moves: -5%, 0%, +4% + +[STZ](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/STZ) / Expected Move This Week: 4% / Recent moves: +2%, -3%, +6% + +[LEVI](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/LEVI) / Expected Move by April 16th: 7.5% / Recent moves: +5%, -8%, +9% + +&#x200B; + +Let me know of anything else on your radar in the comments. This week is light on earnings but everything changes next week and by the end of April it will be a full-on onslaught. +Wrote originally for WSB. Someone suggested it would be applicable here as well. Some important lessons gained through course of time with options: + +1. **Profits are never profits until you realize (book) the gains:** I see many posts here saying 100k to 2k whereas they actually started only with 10k: 10k->100k->2k. So it is actually 10k to 2k, not 100k to 2k. So never shy away from booking profits. If not entire gains, atleast a fraction of it. It's okay to be greedy but combine some common sense with it. Best would be to take out your initial amount and let the rest ride. +2. **Do not buy puts/calls when the market is gone too much down/up. Think opposite**: A classic mistake that many of us make here. Me as well and lost a lot due to this. So when your options become deep ITM, your portfolio bloats up showing amazing gains?!? but what are the gains when you have not booked them? Here is where the greed+FOMO kicks in and we end up buying more OTM options for the same direction because we have made amazing gains (but they are not realized). When the market swings to other direction, you have lost a lot: your ITM becomes OTM and your new OTM purchase becomes impossible. So again, never feel shy to book profits! +3. **Cannot daytrade?** So tracking the options throughout day can be distracting, if you have a job. If this is the case, there is nothing bad in set limit order with profit margin acceptable to you. Set this thing and let it roll. If market swings to your direction, you are going to make it automatically. Have a look near EOD or aftermarket and get an idea how markets are moving. You can fine tune your sell limits, if needed. +4. **Gain/Loss porn:** As we see, our sub is growing crazy and will continue so. This is because the markets are going to have strong gradients till EOY. Gains are only possible when the market moves and has gradients. So some will cleverly/luckily make some good gains out of this. Gain porn is going to attract a lot more people especially. Of course, equally or maybe more people are losing here, and are probably keeping quiet. This being the case, I down vote the gain porn and upvote loss porn. I am happy for your gains but there should be more light on the loss to prepare the noobs here. +5. **Never FOMO**: Missed the train? It's okay. Let's wait for the next one. We are not handling stocks here that you have a residue value that stays over the time. We do options here and if you are OTM on the expiration date, you are fucked. +6. **Play monthlies or longer**: Playing weeklies without any significant upcoming news is sheer gambling. Considering this, the theta decay will fuck you over the time. My suggestion is to play atleast a month out and close them before the very last week. +7. **Keep track of max pain**: This might be controversial. I take this as additional info but not sole one for decision making. Have a look into opricot.com to check max pain before options purchase. For example, max pain for spy: [http://www.opricot.com/ticker/spy/optiongraphs](http://www.opricot.com/ticker/spy/optiongraphs). +8. **Try avoiding herd mentality**: As a believer of max pain theory, try avoiding buying same options as someone YOLOing ,for example $100k, into specific options. If max pain is true, there is much more at stake for market makers. They will try swinging market in the other direction, atleast for that expiration date. + +Obligatory loss porn: Total invested 8k. Started with 2k and added 6k after crash. That 6k evaporated. Exited my 4/17 puts today and withdrawn about 1k today. Peak was 23k. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/26k383tes2t41.jpg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ce6b1c3b552145ee5719df21bbac6c8ef8fe998 + +Edit: Many have asked about max pain theory: + +It’s a theory that option sellers try to influence the underlying stocks to cause maximum damage to option holders. In other words, sellers optimizing their profits: + +https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/maxpain.asp +Most of the selling pressure since mid-Jan has come from F2Pool (largest Chinese mining pool) affiliated wallets and it is now becoming clear why. The Inner Mongolia region of China is banning bitcoin mining. This region is responsible for 9% of the world's BTC mining. It's a coal powered region however, which is the problem. Beijing has come down on them for not meeting carbon neutrality targets. They have until end of April to shut down, but it would appear they first got notice of this back in mid-January based on the BTC selling history. Most will likely either move to the surplus hydro power regions of China or they will sell their rigs and shut down. Apparently some will even be moving overseas. Many of these miners secured loans using their mining rigs as collateral, either to pay their bills so they didn't have to sell coin while the price was rising, or to buy more rigs or bitcoin...but either way many are forced to sell some or all of their bitcoin to pay back loans or pay for their move. + +[https://decrypt.co/59811/inner-mongolia-to-ban-bitcoin-mining-what-it-means-for-the-industry](https://decrypt.co/59811/inner-mongolia-to-ban-bitcoin-mining-what-it-means-for-the-industry) + +The big question is, when will this selling stop? End of April seems like the logical answer but I suspect it will taper off well before then. Anyone moving, would have started the process by now I suspect. + +There does also 'appear' to be F2Pool affiliated manipulation selling at times as well, like when there is heavy selling prior to the month end futures expiry they are involved. However, there does seem to be a lot of coordinated FUD around this same time period which has me thinking other players are involved in this end of month manipulation and it's possible that some or all of the F2 selling at end of month could just be panic selling, like if they were waiting for a higher price to sell, but pulled the trigger when they saw the price starting to plunge down. Hard to say for sure. When it comes to futures expiries and for example call options, there is usually a particular strike price that jumps out at you in term of open interest. For example, for tomorrow's weekly expiry, $50K is the price that jumps out at you. I told a friend a few days ago don't be surprised if the price is 49K on Friday. If that theory holds, the following week, the magic price is $66K, so let's see if we see a very strong next week. + +One thing I've noticed of late is that the only time BTC price goes down is when there is selling pressure from F2Pool and whenever they are not selling the price surges higher. So the big takeaway is that when they stop selling, we should see a moon shot. + +&#x200B; +Title. This was the first year that I claimed myself on my taxes. My parents weren't exactly happy about it, even though I do not fit any of the qualifications for being a dependent. I am 22, support myself, and have my own apartment, etc. That being said, my parents told me that their tax preparer said they need a copy of my return. If they are not claiming me, why would they need that information? + +Edit: Thanks for the info guys, pretty much what I expected. + +Edit 2: I guess their tax guy says if I file as dependent they can get the size of my return + $1400 so they want me to do an amended return and then they will just give me what I would have gotten originally. I don't think this is possible because they did not provide more than half of my financial support for the tax year, nor did I live with them. Edit to edit: he did not have all the information about my income at the time of this option. He was suggesting that my parents get all the facts to determine the best way to file. + +Final Edit: I have cleared the situation up, they understand not only that they cannot claim me, but also *why* they cannot claim me. Thank you for the input everyone. +So at the moment barely a day goes by when we're not coming across some new argument for why we're due a downturn and/or recession [*] + +It got me thinking to how equivalent coverage fared in the lead up to our last crash, I'd love to compare it to help see if there's any validity in the claims we see today. + +Did anyone foresee 2008? Apart from the likes of the Big Short guys, I'm really thinking about the mainstream media that average joes like us have exposure to. + +This time around, it seems everyone thinks they're an expert while predicting a downturn, but instinctively it feels like the more people that predict the slump, the less likely it is that they're correct. + +Thoughts? + +________ + +[*] +>Decade long boom drawing to an end: + +https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-global-markets-cbanks-analysis/tide-about-to-turn-for-markets-as-easy-money-decade-ends-idUKKBN1L11HJ + +>3/4 of big investors predict a recession within 2 years: + +https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/19/75-percent-of-the-ultra-rich-forecast-a-us-recession-in-the-next-two-years-survey-finds.html + +>IMF predicts slowdown in the economy in 2019: + +https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/17/news/economy/imf-global-economy-outlook-slowdown/index.html + +> Forecasting the next recession for late 2019-2020: + +https://www.guggenheiminvestments.com/perspectives/macroeconomic-research/forecasting-the-next-recession + + + + +&#x200B; + +[OP](https://preview.redd.it/qtjg4lft1kz51.jpg?width=1267&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=83ec425cd54cce651d649bb38c4a08ff3f65bc26) + +**The first reply almost a half an hour later was, "I'll offer $20"** + +&#x200B; + +[reply](https://preview.redd.it/na9wz5yx2kz51.jpg?width=1263&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08b25d71b1311e1b8b7a1444d17a1ad7fdd0c1ea) + +In 2010 $50 for 10k Bitcoin is overpriced. Now it's grown 3,000,000x in 10 years. + +Just thinking where is this guy and what he used to tell his stories about bitcoin that "I had that much bitcoin years ago" + +At that time Bitcointalk was a real gem hunting platform +**After spending hours on their community platforms this is my conclusion:** + +&#x200B; + +1. They are putting too much attention on the price over ways "shitcoin" could be actually useful in real world +2. Mostly their websites have vague information about goals and usually it is followed by graphics with astronauts, moons, stacks of money, people climbing to the clouds, flying in a spaceships etc. +3. I have a feeling that 90% of them didn't read the white paper, and the ones that did and saw that *"shitcoin"* white paper doesn't cover any real world use are being downvoted to eternety +4. When you ask them why you should buy *"shitcoin"* their biggest focus is on how the seller's fee and manual burns of tokens should be good for the price +5. Shilling their *"shitcoin*" from a celebrity who has no idea about cryptocurrency is presented as a valid reason to for buying +6. There is atleast one post of someone going *ALL IN* on the *"shitcoin"* and most of the people are acting like it is the next best thing right after the Bitcoin. The ones who don't think the same way are getting downvoted to eternety in old fashioned way +7. The coin is the most undervalued project...*this counts if there is actually a project behind it, if there is not they will keep talking about manual burns etc.* +8. All of their community platforms like Telegram, Discord, Viber, WhatsApp etc. are full with memes, pictures, and jokes. Any serious question goes unoticed in purgatory. +9. Any red flag, like an enormous drop in price when everything else pumps is justified with a *"great time to buy the dip"* +10. Their devs team are crypto gods, and they possess knowledge like nobody else in the world +11. All the flaws in the coin are ignored while any good thing is celebrated like it is going to change the world to better at that very moment + +Don't let the early returns fool you. Trading shitcoins is as risky as it gets. **Nobody** here likes shitcoins. The people who love them are the ones that will buy the coin as soon as it launches and get out as soon as they can. People who are telling you to HODL are probably the ones that are too deep in it to sell at loss. They want you to stay so they can get out. + +**Holding shitcoin for a long term will most likely result in a loss of money -** ***Losing money made me wiser****, take this seriously even if I am not your* ***financial advisor.*** +hi, hope everyone is well + +i recently got a summer job and now that i’ve have some money i’m thinking of investing half of it. it’s not a lot of money and i don’t really want to take any risks. was wondering what the best long term stocks / funds were? + +i was looking at buying a few of the following TD, RBC, XDIV, VLB, ZFL. are these the best possible option? or should i go with something else? + +thank you so much for your help +Hello, my spouse setup a managed TFSA investment account with TD with moderate risk. We currently have all our savings with EQ bank who just lowered their interest rates. + +Obviously TD can't guarentee or even suggest how much return we'd get with the account, but I was hoping other people have anecdotal reports on how the account has performed historically. I understand this past year is really an oddity though. +I'm curious to hear from the community here, what is your strategy for buying on Mondays? + +I find I usually like to see what shakes out in the first few minutes before entering any orders for stocks I may have identified as buys over the weekend. But last week I held off from buying GDNP on Monday AM, waiting for a dip... And it just kept going up and up! + +Curious what folks here do? Do you put in a limit order before markets open for what you hope is a good / realistic price for a stock you've identified over the weekend? Do you wait to see the direction in the morning and then buy? Do you hold off buying until the afternoon? Or do you just wait patiently and look for dips? + +Thanks all! +Hi all. + +Does it make sense for me to choose one stock with a high yield like BMO (Bank of Montreal), and put $7000 into it? I have a steady income and Looking at the price of the stock right now and comparing that to its 52 week high, id say its pretty cheap to buy. I wouldn't care too much about short term gains or losses as im just gonna leave it there and reinvest the dividends. I have other investments, and I wouldn't need this money anytime soon. Hopefully if it reaches back to its ATH id be pretty happy and I wouldn't care about missing out on any other stocks. I'm starting to get tired of checking my stocks everyday and I just want to not worry about it. +You want out of the city life. You and your spouse work-from-home full-time. You're looking for land, out in nature, with a new or newer (<5 year old) detached home. Obviously not so far that it would be impossible to travel to a hospital or access basis necessities - but at least 50kms outside of any major city centre. + +Where are some of the best real estate opportunities in Canada right now for those of us working from home, and looking to move completely away from city life? + +Both from an investing and quality of life perspective. +Hey all, + +Forgive me if this is uneducated but I am relatively new to investing/trading and have been looking at Dollarama as I believe them to be a relatively recession proof company. That said they have 3.45B in gross debt? Is that correct? And their total assets have been exactly the same as their liabilities year after year why is this? With cash flow of \~$500M a year does this risk them diluting the share price at all in order to pay off debt? + + +I know [DOL.TO](https://DOL.TO) has been widely discussed in this subreddit, my first reddit post but I am strongly considering investing. + + +Thanks in advance :) ! +Assuming that when the bank earning reports are released, the results are significantly more negative than expected, would we see other industries lose value as well such as energy, retail, tech, real estate, etc? + +My initial thought would be that most other stocks would be negatively impacted (potentially only by small amount) since banks are a great indicator of the economy’s performance. + +But I also do not know enough about the subject or of any historical cases. +With everything dropping like crazy, it's probably a really good time to start dollar cost averaging weekly if you haven't started investing during the crash yet. My two cents. What does everyone think. Started this morning. BMO, NWH and CNQ. +Euro banks made some noise this morning, how will this same pandemic affect Canadian banks? + +&#x200B; + +Euro banks scrap dividends - [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/european-business/article-euro-zone-banks-scrap-dividends-to-shore-up-coronavirus-war-chests/?cmpid=rss&utm\_source=dlvr.it&utm\_medium=twitter](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/european-business/article-euro-zone-banks-scrap-dividends-to-shore-up-coronavirus-war-chests/?cmpid=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) + +&#x200B; + +Ing bank suspends dividend - [https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/ing-bank-suspends-dividend-payments-due-to-coronavirus-outbreak](https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/ing-bank-suspends-dividend-payments-due-to-coronavirus-outbreak) + +&#x200B; + +Now add to this the Oil and Gas dilemma. What will this all imply to Canada? +Does anyone here trade with Wealthsimple? + +&#x200B; + +I know the trading commission is free there. Does anyone know what is the fee they show on their site? + +&#x200B; + +Ex: when I was trying to transfer fund, it will show the projected money I will have by 65 years old. There they say assuming 5.1% to 5.45% return on the stock, 0.74% to 1.05% on bonds and 0.5% after the fees. + +&#x200B; + +Does anyone know will they increase the fee over the term? Is there any catch? + +&#x200B; + +I want to make sure what I'm doing before I transfer my funds. + +&#x200B; + +Thanks. +If the US legalizes, won't US companies jump on the bandwagon? I imagine they could put up greenhouses real fast. Do the Canadian companies have enough of a head start to remain global leaders? +I made a bad investment last year and am down 92% -- it wasn't much money, and I always hoped it would regain a little steam. Right now it's looking like the company is going under. + +When that happens, do the shares in my portfolio just disappear? +Morning! So i really need some help and thoughts here. Im 27 and on the verge of panic after hearing so many people talking about how this is the end of the United States and our economy in the coming months between inflation, interest rates and the housing bubble that isnt sustainable. And how we are heading for a full collapse and great depression we cant recover from. I honestly dont know how to feel or what to believe. I have a dog and i just cant imagine seeing him starve to death because i cant find food or because i cant even afford it. Im so scared and honestly feel hopeless :( + +And then of course you stumble on to the Preppers or Collapse subreddit and they add thats its all part of the Great Reset and how you will "own nothing and be happy". And that this is a controlled collapse of our economy by the government on purpose. + +So seriously, whats the state of the economy and what the hell should i even be doing with my life right now +https://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-the-the-one-thing-costco-has-that-amazon-lacks-according-to-charlie-munger-200739515.html + +"Costco, I do think, has one thing that Amazon does not," the billionaire investor said during the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Daily Journal Corporation (DJCO) in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "People really trust Costco to be delivering enormous values." + +"That is why Costco presents some danger to Amazon — because they've got a better reputation for providing value than practically anybody including Amazon," he added. + +Costco have been competing well against amazon. Costco is improving the e-commerce operation while also renovating the warehouses. It is a good non tech stock, with the recent selloff, people can consider to starting a position. + +Thanks for the award. +Post says it all. TSLA is now worth $1.1T after the Hertz announcement. The market cap increased from $864B to the $1.1T in 4 days. That's a total of $236B increase in less than a week. The four day increase alone is worth more than Ford, GM, Nissan, and Honda total market caps combined ($67B, $79B, $22B, & $54B respectively). Four days....it increased by the size of some of the largest car producers in the US combined. It's total market cap is nearly 5X those same companies combined (you could own each of them 5X with TSLA market cap). + +All of that for a company that has less than $4b in operational income YTD, which by the way is about 8X less than the combined income generated by the aforementioned car producers. To also put that into perspective, it is now worth more than Facebook by $150B (that's a whole AMD market cap) which has generated 10X the net income YTD. + +I'm not a bear or a bull, I'm just watching this from the sidelines at this point. I just wanted to point out how crazy that is. +[https://fintel.io/i/scion-asset-management-llc](https://fintel.io/i/scion-asset-management-llc) + +What are your thoughts on Tailored Brands (TLRD)? + +It seems incredibly cheap to me, but perhaps I am missing something? +It's been so obvious what has been going on, yet no one seemed to care. The whole purpose of exchange-issued coins like FTT, BNB, etc were to raise capital in an IPO-like way, but without being regulated and issuing securities. I mean, did no one ask themselves why it makes sense to give a discount in an exchange coin? There is no need. If you want to give people a discount, you just charge them less. Coinbase does this via volume. Doesn't matter what you pay in. Your fee is just lowered at the time of trading, not based on how you paid it. + +This is how it works and how it always worked: + +1. Create a large supply of coins that give people savings on trading fees of they pay in those coins. + +2. Only distribute a percentage of those coins, retaining a lot. + +3. Give a discount on fees such that the coins have some real value when compared to fiat fees. + +4. Use that "created value" to create value on the balance sheet from the holdings of those coins. + +5. Use that balance sheet, in-house coin stack as collateral (get loans in USD, USDT, USDC, ETH, whatever people will give you). + +You've now essentially created securities whose value is directly related to trading activity, which is arguably directly related to revenues/cash flows. The value of the coins is related to the success of the business (just like securities would be!) + +Congrats, you've created illegal securities and "raised capital" without giving away voting rights or dealing with actual regulation. + +Congrats, your coin now failed and that balance sheet is worth shit. Now the margin calls come in, now the creditors come knocking. Now you are insolvent. +I think it’s worth starting this post by talking about the impact social media has in pumping penny stocks. You have many of these accounts on twitter, Reddit, stocktwits etc., who are shareholders in such companies. Their goal is to get more people to buy in so that the share price rockets. + +In these posts, people will often post so called “DD”. Looking at the research people post on stocks such as CBBT and VPER, it looks like they have very solid prospects for growth. But does any of this DD post the flip side - potential things about the company to be wary of? Of course not, and if you dare post something negative about the company, you get herds of pumping shareholders having a go at you. Cultish. +Most of these pumpers aren’t experienced traders by any measure, but they will still be giving crazy price targets...”this stock is going to $1 very soon, get in now or miss the boat!”...Based on what? This is textbook pumping. +Now, I have personally bought shares in companies like this, initially you may see some profits due to the hype (which is when you should take your money and go, don’t get tied to shitty tickers), but when the hype starts dying down, so will the price of the stock as these companies have little fundamental strength to keep them climbing. + +The case with many OTCs is that they’re not great companies, which is why we do the digging to find the better ones. But companies like VPER and CBBT aren’t the better type. If you go onto their OTC Markets pages, you will see that they are under the “Delinquent SEC reporting” titles. For a company like CBBT who is said to be acquiring a much larger company (who knows when this will actually happen), you would think they’d be keeping their filings up to date. Same with VPER, who allegedly have large scale city projects. Pumpers will keep making a point about how CBBT are seeking approval on its Alzheimer’s drug - except there is no real info on what stage they are at with development because the fact is they haven’t made much progress at all. Something as serious as Alzheimer’s, so many labs are trying to research into and find potential cures, but people are really trying to suggest that this shady Pink Sheet company is the future for this disease? And VPER - a company with big plans of developing LED and solar lighting for city projects, 5G products and a mobile messaging app etc. But the company hasn’t filled financial statements in two years and at that time had barely any revenue. The CEO personally messages shareholders on Facebook Messenger about their plans to uplist onto Nasdaq (ridiculous considering they are a non SEC reporting pink sheet at this point). Plus, for a company which is so technology driven, their website looks like dogshit. + +Anyway, this post was a bit of a rant, but the aim of it was to draw attention to these huge P&D schemes that a lot of OTC “traders” are promoting. ALWAYS do your own DD, because the information other people post will likely be one sided in order to promote the company. And always check the OTC Markets website to see the financial status of a company before investing in them, especially if you’re interested in holding long term. Personally, I avoid these delinquent non-SEC reporting companies as I believe that there are plenty of companies on the OTC that have a lot more solid fundamentals. And never believe the price targets that these people post, most of them aren’t even able to read a chart, let alone make PTs! + +Edit: to the CBBT pumpers who are downvoting my post, get a grip. I’m simply pointing out information that that none of you care to share on your “DD” posts. I’m not even claiming that this is a DD post, I’m just shedding light on the reality of these hyped tickers so that people can carry out their own informed DD. There is plenty of other info out there which points to how shady these companies are, and I’m just trying to make people aware that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with these tickers, otherwise they wouldn’t be pink sheet pennies. +I think it’s worth starting this post by talking about the impact social media has in pumping penny stocks. You have many of these accounts on twitter, Reddit, stocktwits etc., who are shareholders in such companies. Their goal is to get more people to buy in so that the share price rockets. + +In these posts, people will often post so called “DD”. Looking at the research people post on stocks such as CBBT and VPER, it looks like they have very solid prospects for growth. But does any of this DD post the flip side - potential things about the company to be wary of? Of course not, and if you dare post something negative about the company, you get herds of pumping shareholders having a go at you. Cultish. +Most of these pumpers aren’t experienced traders by any measure, but they will still be giving crazy price targets...”this stock is going to $1 very soon, get in now or miss the boat!”...Based on what? This is textbook pumping. +Now, I have personally bought shares in companies like this, initially you may see some profits due to the hype (which is when you should take your money and go, don’t get tied to shitty tickers), but when the hype starts dying down, so will the price of the stock as these companies have little fundamental strength to keep them climbing. + +The case with many OTCs is that they’re not great companies, which is why we do the digging to find the better ones. But companies like VPER and CBBT aren’t the better type. If you go onto their OTC Markets pages, you will see that they are under the “Delinquent SEC reporting” titles. For a company like CBBT who is said to be acquiring a much larger company (who knows when this will actually happen), you would think they’d be keeping their filings up to date. Same with VPER, who allegedly have large scale city projects. Pumpers will keep making a point about how CBBT are seeking approval on its Alzheimer’s drug - except there is no real info on what stage they are at with development because the fact is they haven’t made much progress at all. Something as serious as Alzheimer’s, so many labs are trying to research into and find potential cures, but people are really trying to suggest that this shady Pink Sheet company is the future for this disease? And VPER - a company with big plans of developing LED and solar lighting for city projects, 5G products and a mobile messaging app etc. But the company hasn’t filled financial statements in two years and at that time had barely any revenue. The CEO personally messages shareholders on Facebook Messenger about their plans to uplist onto Nasdaq (ridiculous considering they are a non SEC reporting pink sheet at this point). Plus, for a company which is so technology driven, their website looks like dogshit. + +Anyway, this post was a bit of a rant, but the aim of it was to draw attention to these huge P&D schemes that a lot of OTC “traders” are promoting. ALWAYS do your own DD, because the information other people post will likely be one sided in order to promote the company. And always check the OTC Markets website to see the financial status of a company before investing in them, especially if you’re interested in holding long term. Personally, I avoid these delinquent non-SEC reporting companies as I believe that there are plenty of companies on the OTC that have a lot more solid fundamentals. And never believe the price targets that these people post, most of them aren’t even able to read a chart, let alone make PTs! + +Edit: to the CBBT pumpers who are downvoting my post, get a grip. I’m simply pointing out information that that none of you care to share on your “DD” posts. I’m not even claiming that this is a DD post, I’m just shedding light on the reality of these hyped tickers so that people can carry out their own informed DD. There is plenty of other info out there which points to how shady these companies are, and I’m just trying to make people aware that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with these tickers, otherwise they wouldn’t be pink sheet pennies. +10yr annualized returns for US stocks are about to double from 7% to 14% while bonds languish. A lot of novice investors use these figures heavily to weigh their investment options - I certainly did when I started. Even if they aren't the main market movers, this may have a psychological pull on the whole market. +Daniele's wonderland project is in full blown collapse, falling 50% today after already plummeting over 90% from its highs. Color me shocked that a project that promised 80,000% apr turned out to be a complete rugpull. The cherry on top is that after falling so much, the creator, Daniele, decided to airdrop huge quantities of this token to a bunch of FTM holders as part of his ve(3,3) promotion, whomst immediately sold and is part of the reason of this current freefall. + +@danielesesta has gone private on twitter and word is he backdoor sold all his holdings in the last few days by putting his shares into Abra, borrowed MIM against it, transferring it to eth, swapping it for USDT, and exiting via bitfinex. + +Complete rug LOL +I know for sure that mine would be joining the great satoshi in the sky. My wife and children have no idea about crypto apart from the fact that Bitcoin is mentioned on some shows they watch. + +Mine is tied up in CEX, DEX, DEFI, Staking, multiple wallets, OHM’s and everything else. How do I do possibly leave instructions on how to retrieve this? I’m not even sure how to leave them my mnemonic phase without my lawyer draining a first, let alone how to cash it out. + +What is your plan if the worst happens? +Basically, it's anti-FUD, doesn't support centralisation (because NODES quarantee decentralisation!) and is ultimately no different to some Mining Pool saying they're using green energy. Which is something that should be encouraged to silence the press bullshit and make Bitcoin more appealing to the concerned public. Climate change and green energy usage IS a big deal and if the public thinks it's a dirty coal coin, that's going to hamper adoption massively, like it or not. + +The idea that this would cause two different Bitcoins, one that's green and one that isn't and therefore is worth less, is at this point a weird conspiracy theory. There's ways to address that, like making Bitcoin more anonymous and less trackable, which should happen anyway (Taproot already does that, to an extent). + +Basically, if there's issues arising in the future, we can rightfully critisize them, but so far this is just good publicity and freaking out over it seems weird. + +tl;dr Bitcoin getting centralized because of this is FUD. +I was daydreaming about a person 50 years from now that is gonna generate a new wallet and freak out when they realize they won the fucking jackpot! + +How likely is this to happen? Has it ever happened yet? + +Satoshi said “Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.” Does that mean that when you accidentally sent bitcoin to a non-existent address you just donated to the future bitcoin billionaires lottery? +Happy to admit I've never bought property. But is it dumb to sacrifice capital gains to have something positively geared from the start. + +Negative gearing means about nothing to me as I am an arts worker and therefore I rarely would earn enough to take advantage of schemes like that. HOWEVER, in Brisbane right now there are a couple of great cheap apartments popping up in inner city suburbs (4-6km from CBD) for around 250k + +I have a 20% deposit and would live there for a year to avoid capital gains tax (First Home Owner) and after then would rent it out (currently tenanted for $280 a week). + +As well as the 20% deposit I have enough to put another 20k in an offset account. From what I can figure out my repayments would only be around 700-800 a month plus body corps rates etc. The place has super cheap body corp/admins of around 2k a year. + +I know units don't get much capital gains but at this end of the market surely it can't go down a whole lot, plus rent would cover repayments.... I don't foresee interest rates going up much over the next 5 years at least as well.... + +Thoughts? +We are looking to upsize (3br PPOR -> 4br PPOR) and will need to use the proceeds of the sale (400k) for the new house (1.2m). We cannot keep our current house and be eligible to borrow that amount so I'm wondering: What options do I have that will let me avoid living with my in-laws or renting while we search for a house. + +Do I just have to make sure settlement periods line up well or is there other better ways to approach this? +Let’s say a company has a massive shorting problem, drives down the stock price/ market cap and someone comes in for an offer to take the company private, and it’s accepted. What happens to the naked shorts? Do they have to close? Or do they get away clean? +Not saying twitter had a naked shorting problem, but if someone came in to a company with a low market cap and made a successful offer to take it private, if there were billions of naked shorts, what happens to them? +Help India fight the Covid emergency! + +With the Covid-19 situation escalating in India faster than anyone expected, an unprecedented health crisis arises. + +We decided to build [covid.lastbit.io](https://covid.lastbit.io) to help the crypto relief fund in India, with the mission to help them alleviate the Covid crisis in India by helping them get funds to provide healthcare and essentials to those suffering from the pandemic. + +We built the site on top of the Bitcoin Lightning Network which means we enable anyone to donate anything starting from a few sats or cents. This wouldn’t be possible without this technology. + +Help us help them. Every sat counts. + +Let’s show the World what this community stands for! +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +I Sat all Saturday decided as a goal I want to learn about day trading. Guess what, everyone say different things and literally everyone blames other, saying how everyone learn you the wrong thing but I am in luck, because the channel I found say the thing that no one else tells you. + +Also, I'm pretty sure those standard trading tactics won't work since it's machines that trade mostly and not humans anymore. + +When that is said, anyone actually have a good video explaining day trading for beginners? I'm not interested in anyone who yells and talk shit about how others are doing it wrong, "what is up guys" and stories about your life for 8 mins how successful you are. I got it, you are very good! And I don't mean negative here, but I wasted my entire Saturday of hearing stories and motivation speeches. It's simply not what I am after. Keep that in different videos. I just want to hear about day trading. + +No one so far explained the candle sticks. What are the thinner "rope" at the end. Why it sometimes doesn't have this "rope". Does the candlestick meaning means something different if the volume is different? Stuff like this I tried find answer to for long time. + +Also, is it safer to day trade without shorting, and if day trading doesn't work in your favor, you know that stock in future will go up anyway? + +I think people don't understand how little we know, we that click on your video. It say "beginner", but some of us like me, are really a beginner. I have done stocks for a while, but it's all long time investment and dividend, so I never had to bother about chart analyze much. + +I cannot read as I have problems reading and taking up information from that, so I highly prefere videos. Thank you. +Welcome to another daily Unusual Options Activity post. Why do DD when you can see what other people are heavily investing in? + +Recap – SPY ended down -.61% today. The picks yesterday did worse than the SPY with FTCH ending at -.42 or -2.70% and EVRI -.50 or -6.42%. If you entered this morning you likely got these shares at a discount. I entered after hours near the close of the day on each of these so I am currently at a loss. EVRI I have decided to shift into a medium term hold with a TP of about $10 and a SL around 6. There was significant volume at the Jun 19 ’20 10C and 12.5C today. FTCH still had some Jun 19’20 16C volume of 3.43k and an OI of 8.43k. I will check tomorrow morning for the OI change. If the volume today represents investors exiting their calls I too will likely exit the position in the AM. If the stock and OI increases I will likely hold through the day and look for movement. Their investor Conference is June 11th (mentioned in last post). Stop loss is around 14.50 on this trade. + +Site update – The resources section was updated with a collection of useful links I’ve seen on reddit. Shout out to /u/blazespinnaker who provided a nice initial list. The resources section will continue to be updated but I suggest checking it out, I am sure you’ll learn something. + +Here’s the Option Activity Summary for today – + +**June 8th, 2020 Option Activity Fast Facts (Stocks >$6)** + +**Highest Multiple over Daily Avg (with ADV >5k) –** **VNQ with 8x it’s ADV of 11k. 80k puts and 4.8k Calls.** + +**Ticker with most contracts Traded – AMD with 717k contracts traded and \~2x it’s ADV of 329k. 582k Calls and 134k Puts.** + +**Largest Put to Call Ratio (w/ Option volume over 10k) – AER with 23 P/C ratio, 21k Puts and 945 calls.** + +**Largest Call to Put Ratio (w/ Option volume over 10k) – ADT with 298 C/P ratio, 19,423 calls and 65 puts.** + +**MOMENTUM OPTION ACTIVITY** +…I am taking the written CDL-A exam tomorrow! Start school for driving on Monday - thanks to my state’s retraining program. + +Worked in offices and sales all my life. Decently educated, but after years of struggling to get ahead and playing office politics, I am ready for a career that actually earns. + +Excited and nervous. It’s a huge departure. + +I became unemployed from my last position after a relentlessly hostile work environment basically caused a breakdown. I lost my apartment, was steps away from living in my car. +Unemployment insurance in my state works with WIOA. They provide living costs, and pay for retraining in some fields. +When my husband was dying, money was really tight. We needed food and I had only ever shopped at Wegmans. I learned about Aldi's and decided to go see what it was about. Imagine how excited I got, when I had a huge bag of groceries, healthy foods, for $30. I almost cried. Our budget was so tight, and I was so worried about how to feed us. Aldi's was a God send for us. + +&#x200B; + +I had friends that made fun of Aldi's when I shopped there. They made comments on how they thought the store smelled like pee and how the food couldn't be any good. It hurt so bad and I am not completely sure why. So, I was wondering, if anyone here has had an experience like this. +I’m considering buying a modest house for my parents but having them pay some level of rent. They’re retired with a modest fixed income. They have a mortgage now on a house that’s maybe half paid off. I was thinking of buying them around 30% more house but keeping their expense the same or so. + +Could we talk about the pros and cons? + +For those who have done it, what are the particulars? Should I set up a holding company, have a mortgage, or start with it owned in cash, etc? I’m still working so I could easily have a mortgage in my name, or I could pay cash, so all options are available +Hello! My wife and I have a liquid NW of about $15M and hold private stock that is currently valued somewhere in the $50M range post taxes. We plan to sell the stock in 7-10 years and anticipate that when that happens it will be worth somewhere in the $100-150M range, and while the company is reasonably stable we don't want to count our chickens before they're hatched. Our family's W2 income is currently 300K, but it could go down to zero in the next few years since we plan to RE. + +We're planning on moving soon to a higher cost of living area and are struggling to figure out how much money we should reasonably spend on a house -- before we had the level of wealth that we now have, we followed a "as long as the mortgage is less than a third of your income you'll be fine" rule of thumb, but now that we have more assets we're uncertain how those should play a role in our decision. + +Is there a formula to calculate how much primary residence you can buy? + +In addition, how would you balance between liquid and illiquid assets in making that determination? (We're less curious about what a bank would approve, since in our experience they often approve more than is fiscally responsible, and more what would be prudent). + +This isn't necessarily our forever home but we will likely have children while we live there, so we want to buy a bit more space than we currently need -- and the amount we spend really impacts how much we can do that (in addition to how good of a location we get). My wife wants to stick to 3M or less, I feel comfortable going up to 5M, but that's really based on emotions not logic. +A recent [Reuters/Ipsos poll](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-inequality-poll/majority-of-americans-favor-wealth-tax-on-very-rich-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN1Z9141) suggests that as many as **two thirds** of the American public support wealth tax on the wealthy. + +This could have an impact on those of us planning to retire with a high net worth, especially if the threshold of wealth to be taxed starts dropping, combined with inflation. + +What are your thoughts on this impact? Would an eventual wealth tax force the FatFIREd to drop their standard of living? + +**EDIT:** for perspective and comparison, there are currently [four European countries](https://www.businessinsider.com/4-european-countries-wealth-tax-spain-norway-switzerland-belgium-2019-11) that impose a wealth tax, and their threshold is so low that it would impact not just FatFIRE, but regular FIRE, and even leanFIRE: $174,000 in Belgium, $251,856 in Switzerland, $553,000 in Belgium, and $774,000 in Spain. +Hi Apes! + +Yesterday I posted [that facebook is removing specific information off of their feeds](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mof0qx/this_is_fucked_up_this_image_is_being_removed/). A lot of people pointed out that the data is outdated, not valid, can't be trusted etc. + +I understand that and agree, thus tried to upload the same image, just with a lower number of % in the post - down from 192% to as low as 10%. + +I did a test of the Facebook auto removal AI and it gets removed whenever the top 4 lines is getting shared on facebook: + +[**r/wallstreetbets**](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/) + +**new/uAfraid-Test7779** + +**New finra update: GME institutional** + +**ownership at 192%** + +Sharing just the wallstreet bets, title of the post, or the report itself does **nothing**. So they are censoring the combo of the subreddit name (pressumably WSB) + the finra report title. Anything on top of it gets auto removed. + +Faking the number in the end to be 112% still gets it removed. Its triggered no matter the %. Even if you take the number down to 10%. Posting with no % in the end keeps it. So it has to be "xxx%" or "xx%" for the algo to trigger. + +Try it yourself - here's an original and a 10% one, post it to your feed and you'll see both gets auto removed within 3-5 seconds: + +&#x200B; + +[192&#37; image ](https://preview.redd.it/idy1j2lftis61.png?width=445&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2652f4f3821b9bded9c3aeaac3e1c028ff7c4d1) + +&#x200B; + +[10&#37; image](https://preview.redd.it/ijrrlgrgtis61.png?width=445&format=png&auto=webp&s=95f2f022853ceaeb31af4601ceb5cb0c1664c01c) + +I have two theories around this: + +* People has been reporting this and Facebook fed this into their AI algorithm as fake news / misinformation, which even after you modify the number to be much, much lower still gets caught up in that filter. +* An Ape posted in my previous post [that mevlin has a long position on facebook](https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/mof183/this_is_fucked_up_this_image_is_being_removed/gu3d3n1/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) thus a Melvin margin call would surely affect FB share price, thus it's in FB best interest to keep this low. So it's not an automated AI response, but a manual way to supress this information. + +I remember reading FUD will get worse the closer the squeeze. I think it's pretty damn close now. +You can read the post on r/reddit ([link](https://np.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/vtkmni/introducing_collectible_avatars/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)) + +For the most part people seem to not like the idea of reddit selling nfts, it also seems like reddit avoided calling them nfts for this very reason and called them collectibles. + +The artist seem to like it as a way to get their work out and make some extra income. + +comments vary on the main thread but here are some highlights. + + + +* They already missed the train for the NFT Ponzi scheme too. The Reddit devs were too slow +* This works much better as an April Fools idea +* One day there will be a post here that will make me say, "oh good, I can see me actually using this new feature ever." That day is not today. +* Noone wants this. First the post about the video player and now this bs is the thing you worry about apparently. Are you serious? + + saved the best for last + +>This feels like one of those things where in a few months there will be an update post where Reddit Admins are apologizing for ‘missing the mark’, and telling us ‘we hear you’ when they announce its going away. +> +>NFTs are cancer, even if you go out of your way to not say the word NFT. + +so I personally like the one I bought (first NFT I've bought) but the non crypto general population on reddit seam to really hate the idea of NFTs. +Hi Everyone, + +I inherited some money and, after paying for a few necessary home renovations, have around $20K left that I plan to invest in my RRSP. I'm looking for an investment that I can buy and leave alone until retirement (\~30 years from now). In the past, I've purchased VGRO in both my TFSA and RRSP (based on Vanguard's investor questionnaire), but I'm wondering whether another option might be better for me given my circumstances. + +I don't mind taking on additional risk, but I'm also a bit concerned doing a relatively large lump sum purchase with the market near an all time high... that being said, I realize that sitting on cash and waiting for a crash probably isn't a good idea. + +I know there are numerous posts that cover similar topics already, but after reading many of them, I'm still left unsure. Any suggestions for what to do with this money would be helpful. +With bank accounts paying close to nothing in interest, is anyone out there able to realize year over year gains that exceed 4%? I've heard several times about the stock market 8% historical average, but let's be real, it has a huge spread. I for once have a high interest savings account yielding 1.45% and wealthsimple which almost a year after signing up is hovering around 3%. Just wondering if others are able to exceed this in this market, or is it a long term vs. short term discussion? +I have been sitting on close to 70k in savings in a regular savings account at Scotia. I think it is time to invest some of this but I am having a hard time in figuring out where to start. I have spoke to many friends who have given some good advice, but just trying to get more feedback before I make a decision. + +I'm in my 30's, no debt, no properties, etc. I have a good pension plan through work so I currently do not have any RRSP's. I have a small chunk of coin in a TFSA and that is all. + +I am not saving up for anything in particular, would just like to invest some of that savings to that it grows and doesn't just sit there. I am open to stocks, rrsp and tfsa, etc. + +Suggestions?? +I’m expecting to pay around 85k in capital gains this tax year through selling a rental property. + +My RRSP contribution room is 50k does it make sense to contribute 50k to my RRSP to reduce that tax amount? Any other ideas to reduce it? +Hello friends, + +Looking for some input on leveraged investing. I recieved a call today from an advisor telling me it would be a great time to take a leveraged loan and invest in Manulifes mutual funds. I was told they could secure a 100k loan for me and I would be paying interest only. + +Does anyone have any experience with this? If so could you please shed some light on some of the pros and cons in doing this. + +https://www.manulifebank.ca/personal-banking/loans/investment-loans.html + +Would this be bad longterm play? 5-10 years. It would have to be invested by them in their approved mutual fund. +Hello everyone, + +As the title says I recently started reading a bit about REITs and am curious to know your thoughts on this. As you all are aware it's not easy and really not affordable to own a property in Vancouver, Toronto so I am wondering if investing in REIT ETF like XRE/ZRE will get us exposure to real estate in a more affordable manner and get some passive income through dividends. + +What are the caveats with investing in REIT's am I missing something?? +Done alot of research into the smith maneuver and seems like a good option to earn a little extra. Thinking of going dividend route. Any suggestions on which Canadian stock to start with ? Thinking Enbridge, one of the banks, Fortis, or bell/telus +I want to pretend im retired right now. Let's say I have 300k and want monthly passive income. What is a realistic expectation of my return? + +Is this idea dummy or is it wiser to buy condos and rent them out? + +Or a house and not pay rent? + +I like the passive income idea as my money is not stuck in a physical object. + +Thank you +Hello friends, + +Looking for some input on leveraged investing. I recieved a call today from an advisor telling me it would be a great time to take a leveraged loan and invest in Manulifes mutual funds. I was told they could secure a 100k loan for me and I would be paying interest only. + +Does anyone have any experience with this? If so could you please shed some light on some of the pros and cons in doing this. + +https://www.manulifebank.ca/personal-banking/loans/investment-loans.html + +Would this be bad longterm play? 5-10 years. It would have to be invested by them in their approved mutual fund. +19 year old here working in construction. I started investing earlier this year with a high risk tolerance but I have made some goals to buy a house within two years and am now looking for something relatively low risk just to park my money instead of leaving it in the bank. Which funds/etfs would have relatively low volatility over the next few years? +As per title, I've researcched every reit in canada and I am now stuck with 5. + +Ideally I would put it all in one maybe 2 but willing to spread accross more if judged better. I already have rental properties so being afraid of some doomsday real estate scenario can be taken out of this cause I am not worried. + +Here are the reits; + +Dream Industrial (DIR.UN) +Allied Properties (AP.UN) +CAP reit (CAR.UN) +Summit Industrial (SMU.UN) +Artis reit (AX.UN) + +Which 1 would you pick and why? Or would you pick 2? Id love some insight from others perspective in case Ive missed anything. + +Thanks for taking the time to reply its greatly appreciated. +I know that people generally say they rebalance their portfolios every 6 months to 1 year. I follow a CCP portfolio with 20% VCN, 40% XAW & 40% ZAG. I purchase those funds with that split twice a month (every paycheque). After 1.5 years of doing this, the market value of these funds in my account is 18.9% VCN, 39.7% XAW & 41.4% ZAG. + +With the values pretty close to the target split, it doesn't really seem worthwhile going through a rebalance, but maybe there is some standard guidance on when the difference becomes large enough to make it worthwhile. Thoughts? +To make this short as possible, I’m 17 and from Ontario. my sibling (25) made a lot of money from stocks and was wondering what I could do at this age to teach myself about the market. + +I’ve heard a lot of success stories revolving around self teaching and whatnot but I don’t want to fuck shit up and lose all my money. + +Any advice on how to start off? +Cryptocoinsnews is a thinly veiled spam and troll site with frequent submissions here. The occasional upvotes they do get are not for original content, but for plagiarized content sprinkled between troll posts. + +Here is the submission history from cryptocoinsnews: http://www.reddit.com/domain/cryptocoinsnews.com/new/ + +Information about automoderator: http://www.reddit.com/r/AutoModerator/comments/q11pu/what_is_automoderator/ + +I point to this post as an example of the poor quality & misleading submissions from cryptocoinsnews.com: http://www.not-cryptocoinsnews.com/2013/07/10/florida-bans-bitcoin-wallets-mining-rigs-and-clients-are-now-illegal-to-use/ (link has been disabled to prevent page views for the offender.) + +I suggest this ban because cryptocoinsnews does not provide relevant content to match the volume of misleading, inaccurate, or false postings. + +***** + +**Update 7/11/2013 1830EST Mod /u/jesset77 responds [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1i0962/this_is_my_petition_to_ask_the_mods_to_configure/cb0r7np):** + +Well, I did comment on /u/PLURFellow's thread last week. :3 /u/TonyBuddz commented there as well and got called out on the one-shot accounts. While there's no proof those are his, any other explanation is quite unlikely. + +The front I have taken thus far with ccn is that submissions which directly break the rules (including obvious plagiarism which we enforce while not having a strict rule for) get individually marked as spam. /u/PLURFellow and /u/xrandr in particular have been quite helpful at reporting and disambiguating rulebreaking posts. + +I view banning an entire domain as a big step for a number of reasons. Not least of which is sparking an arms race of throwaway domains and url shortners, not dissimilar from the battle we are already waging against the mtgix/bitswing/emocoe operators. But if our community feels the effort of calling out the individual submissions as we have done is too great, then you'll have my vote. + +We do already have a bot mod that is cousins with Automoderator. /u/theymos runs it so ultimately he's the chap you'd need to sell on the idea of opening up the domain-banning can o worms. :3 + + +Hello fellow degenerates, + +in the last few days, we've seen a surge of posts claiming that GS should definitely take action to "protect shareholders" from the manipulation of the financial institutions we all know. + +So today I want to address this concern. + +Let's start by saying that we ALL (even GS's management team) want the same thing: a profitable company worth tens/hundreds of billions of dollars, so that we're able to squeeze those shorts and enjoy our sweet sweet gains. + +Considering this very simple concept it should be obvious that the people working at GS are well aware that they are the ones that must work towards the accomplishment of this objective. + +Now I don't get why people are complaining in such a way, that seems to indicate that the company isn't taking effective measures to make this possible. + +Why the f- would the management team pass on such a fantastic opportunity to delight their shareholders and, ultimately themselves? The answer is short and simple. + +They aren't passing on this opportunity. They are actively working towards it in the best possible way they can. + +Remember that they have far more experience in every possible matter of business management than us, and furthermore they have much more pieces of information on their stock than us. + +They are taking great steps to achieve a successful turnaround of the business (which usually takes years for such huge firms), as we can all see and appreciate (NFTs marketplace, refurbishment program, competitive pricing, fast shipping, tapping new addressable markets, new collaborations...). We just have to trust the company and they will surely reward us. + +SHORTS ARE GOING TO BE SQUEEZED ALSO THANKS TO LONG-TERM GROWTH! + +Just look at what happened to Tesla with short interest being just 13-15%. Thanks to Elon focusing on improving the business Tesla mooned, destroying one short position after the other and taking Tesla's stock price to the stratosphere, showing that this is definitely THE WAY! + +We're on track to do the same thing, except potentially on a bigger scale, as we're in a very early stage. + +Bonus: + +Don't forget that the insider's portfolio is bleeding just like ours, and if you don't trust me, you surely trust DFV, who bought almost 8 MILLION dollars (50 000 shares) at the price of 155$ and didn't sell any shares when we were at 350$, indicating that the company has surely the potential to be worth much more than that. + +TL:DR: The company is taking the right direction to squeeze the shorts and take us to the moon. +I see loads of people on here talking about working in tech or software making $200k salary and $300k equity a year. + +I’m at the start of my career in software development at a large UK bank, however I’m fairly certain that even some of our executive board don’t make even close to that kind of money, let alone someone working tech/software. It seems that super high incomes are much more common across the pond. + +Is there anyone from the UK here working towards fatFIRE who could give some insight into the plausibility of achieving this in the UK? +How do you deal with sudden 0 motivation to continue? I don't want to retire but I also don't need any more money. All business goals for this year that kept me going are finished. Now I found myself with 0 new goals in business and 0 goals in life. Also 0 dreams about buying houses, cars whatever.. This started affecting my work recently because I barely make myself do anything. Usually I go into new projects when I get bored but seems like even that can't make me interested anymore, adding that my country is getting heated for a possible war. + +Did anyone else have this period and how did u get out + +Edit: Thank you everybody, this community amazed me with understanding and kindness and I'm happy to have something in common with people like all of you here. Reading comments seems like most of us experience this stage at least once in our careers. I concluded that for most it is because we forget who we are outside of business and by selling it or taking a break most of you searched and discovered who you are and what you want from life. I'm on my way to find myself again, thank you once again. +Just wondering how many people had coins disappeared and if anyone has gotten them back yet? 1/3 of my total investment is gone. I think it is very weak that there is no official announcement from polo. +I actually want to know how many people are ballsy enough to use it and if they have made a fuckton off of it. Everyone always joked about getting rekt on there but theres got to be a few winners making absolute bank +I'm less interested in hearing about the overnight millionaires here, I see those posts all the time. I'd like to hear from anyone making small but reliable(?) returns and living off of it. + +How much did you start with, and how much are you making a month on average? And of course, whats your strategy? +I have seen golem go up and down the last couple of months. I really think it is really cheap right now, especially with Brass still coming. + +What do you guys think? + + +• Bitcoin is losing its Currency use case – Bitcoin transaction volumes have reached a new two year low even after the much awaited implementation of SegWit. It appears SegWit has arrived too late to the party to make a real difference and build on BTC’s use case of one day becoming a currency used to trade… +o Why are transaction volumes dropping though? My thoughts on this are simple. The HODL effect and FOMO. Crypto investors have become so fearful that they might miss out on the next big parabolic move upwards that no one is using their Bitcoin, or Altcoins to buy anything with besides other coins, essentially creating a rotation of FIAT in Crypto. +o The HODL effect has now reached an all time high. Volumes are at a two year low and we are sitting at a Market Cap of $450bln. We had the same transaction volumes in March 2016 when the Market Cap was just $8bln. The market is paralyzed. Very little new money is entering the market since the recent lows back in early February. The market is in a stagnation period with no one wanting to move. +o Add to this the $250bln that entered the market back in December at all time high prices and we have even more HODLERS awaiting a potential breakeven point before they potentially liquidise their positions. +o All the time transaction volumes fall/stagnate, one of the fundamental use cases for Crypto, being a means to trade with is being diluted. Which will indirectly or directly affect the perceived value of the coin inquestion. It feels as though we are in a vicious cycle now with no one wanting to make the first move. +o How do we get out of this? We need a catalyst. We need a partnership or real world infrastructure disruption. The Novelty is over and now it is time to bring Crypto to life. We urgently need to get out of Project/ICO mode and move onto implementation and disruption mode! +o We need real world application or a partnership that everyone can get behind and remember that Crypto has a use case and that is to improve upon current infrastructure. It needs to demonstrate clearly and practically how commercially and socially valuable it can be in day to day living/working/playing. It only takes one of the 1500 in circulation… C’mon Crypto - I’m still Bullish! + +Personally, I can’t see that happening anytime soon. I mean these coins have had their moments and congrats to anyone who made profit off of holding them. But right now, both of them have some huge market caps of $22 billion and $17 billion respectively, and I cannot see any room for growth anymore. + +It might not be impossible, but personally I believe it’s a far reach to be honest. Meanwhile other memecoins are having a better chance to pump now. I’ve invested in ELON last month, right before it made a 100x. Lmfao lucky me. I’m actually still holding a bag now, since it still has a low market cap of less than a billion. Hopefully another pump is on the way. + +What I’m trying to say is that Doge and Shib are nowhere near their all-time highs now, and I they might never be going to pump again, so it’s obviously time wasting to keep on waiting on them, instead one should be finding new opportunities in this market. + + +BTC and ETH defi were on the road to becoming adopted by institutions, but I think we are about to be sent down another crypto winter because of Elon Musk. When DOGECOIN rugs overnight on all these whiney Wall Street Bets kids, they are all going to cry foul and we are going to have congress and the SEC regulate cryptocurrency into oblivion. + +See you in four years because Elon and Doge has made winter come early this year +So obviously there are way more awesome projects out there today. And I am not saying it should be any top 10 or top 100. Obviously you are free to make exceptions. Personally I wouldn't look down below top 100 7 months ago and finding myself looking at the top 250 nowadays, I would say a big chunk out of those are worth investing in with obvious exceptions if you DYOR. +I don't know if there's a sticky thread on this somewhere but I've seen frequent recent questions about savings come up and time-and-time again I hardly see Roth IRA mentioned. + +If you + +1. Qualify for a Roth IRA +2. Can't afford to invest in the Roth IRA +3. Are building or have built an emergency savings fund + +prioritize a Roth IRA as your emergency savings account. + +*"WHAT?! Why?"* + +**Reason 1:** Because (as of 2022) Roth IRA has a yearly maximum contribution cap of $6K and you can't go back in time and put in $6K for years you missed. Stick with me. + +Lets say in 5-10 years from now, you're able to max a 401(k), have emergency savings, and have disposable income. Often times, people will go, *"Gee, really wish I had stuck money in that Roth IRA 5-10 years ago so I could have been investing."* Well guess what - you could have been. + +**Reason 2:** *"But wait - I want emergency money to be liquid! This doesn't sound safe."* Roth IRA **contributions** can be withdrawn from, penalty free, at anytime. And no, you don't have to pay yourself back. + +*"So how do I allocate the emergency savings?"* You leave the amount of money that satisfies your emergency needs as **uninvested.** You only invest an amount that is **excess** to your emergency target, once you've reached it. If your emergency target is $18K and you have $20K total in the Roth, you'd invest $2K while leaving $18K liquid. + +Example: Your emergency savings target is $18K. In 2022, $6K goes from current emergency fund to Roth. In 2023 and 2024, do the same. **You do not invest this**. + +By 2025, you've reached your goal of $18K emergency savings and can still put another $6K into the Roth account for the 2025 year. So now, any additional contributions will be **invested.** + +*"Okay so why don't I just open a Roth and invest with Roth funds while keeping my savings in a typical savings account?"* + +**Reason 3:** Because most people don't have the luxury of doing that. They usually only have enough, if at all, to start building an emergency savings account. Then they reach stability at some age and have excess income but can't go back in time to max out the Roth. For this individual, **the Roth IRA starts as an emergency savings account and then evolves into an investment vehicle.** + +Using this strategy, you'll have been allocating money in the Roth for years. If in an emergency, you can pull from it without friction. If not in an emergency and with excess cash, you can start investing those years of savings for tax-free gains while putting a savings fund elsewhere. + +**EDIT:** *I wasn't clear about one situation. Suddenly, you are in a position where you can afford to not only max out the year's Roth contribution, but have another, say, $1.5K left over for investing. You have $20K total sitting in the Roth IRA with $2K invested and $18K of it liquid. This $18K is emergency savings. You could put that $1.5K into an individual brokerage account and face taxes on your earnings or...* + +*Put that newly acquired $1.5K in some High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA). This HYSA, in conjunction to your liquid-portion of the Roth IRA, will act as your emergency savings. Then invest $1.5K from the uninvested portion of your Roth IRA. You do this repeatedly until you now have the HYSA meeting the needs of your emergency fund target, with 100% of your Roth IRA now invested.* +What's up retards, I have spent the past 2 WEEKS finding the best stock play to make YOU RICH, and it looks like CRSR is ready to go to the MOON! + +NO MORE will your wife’s boyfriend bully you for your micro-penis! After CRSR you will be rich enough to get penis-enlargement surgery and FINALLY have a dong BIGGER than his!!! + +Now before you retards go gamble all your life savings on the chance to get penis-enlargement surgery, let me explain why CRSR will go TO THE MOOON + +&#x200B; + +**First, the Fundamentals:** + +Now bare with me, I know you retards don’t like fundamentals… So I will make it as short and colorful as possible! + +Fundamentally, this company is one of the MOST undervalued companies I have EVER seen + +https://preview.redd.it/mznix9b2uhk71.png?width=1380&format=png&auto=webp&s=c29960c932cbd9af0f993eaaf0b124f918960fac + +CRSR has grown at 24.3% Y/Y despite chip shortages, re-openings, supply-chain shocks, commodity inflation, and last year being especially good for them cause of lockdowns + +They also own Elgato which specializes in studio equipment for streamers, and Origin PC which builds custom pc’s + +These two additional companies have been growing rapidly and allow CRSR to capture the whole gaming peripheral market + +Despite being a well run, profitable company in a growing industry, they are priced at HALF the S&P 500's P/E! + +https://preview.redd.it/izz273f4uhk71.png?width=825&format=png&auto=webp&s=efe189f52a2c6e4b7afd394465e64fb915cc0320 + +Additionally the float is only around 88M... so unlike some plays on here, WSB could LITERALLY buy the ENTIRE FLOAT + +I could go on for SO much longer about why CRSR is a Deep F\*cking Value play... But since you retards have an attention-span worse than a goldfish, I will move on... + +&#x200B; + +**Option Chains:** + +Corsair has an insanely bullish options market which is primed for a Gamma Squeeze + +https://preview.redd.it/3778p8t6uhk71.png?width=1290&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c9838491bb87c9d27bdacb7759ff9fe87f37ae5 + +If CRSR gets above $35.00 by 9/17, up to 2,037,800 shares will need to be purchased! This is even before WSB has gotten their greasy hands on it. I’m sure by 9/17 the open interest will be MUCH higher + +Having so many options sold just OTM is PERFECT for a gamma squeeze + +Additionally due to delta hedging, the more IV on options and options that go ITM, the more stocks MM's will need to buy to hedge against the options that they sold + +Having so many options contracts sold on a smaller market cap stock is perfect for a gamma squeeze. IV will go through the roof once WSB buys in causing MM's to hedge creating a feedback loop + +CRSR options are SUPER cheap which gives a good entry point for WSB retards, and makes it much easier to increase the open interest + +&#x200B; + +**Short sellers:** + +Over the past month, short sellers have been getting TOO greedy and have been adding a shit ton of positions around 26$. This means shorts will be underwater if the stock price increases AT ALL + +CRSR has a short interest of around 24% which, albeit still large, would not be a huge issue on its own... but because most of these short positions were opened at the literal bottom, those short sellers will be much more likely to close their positions and/or be margin called + +For the past few weeks, around 40% of the volume has been sold short + +https://preview.redd.it/e9foib1cuhk71.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd43fab041475611218d946812efb0dc47a2d786 + +At the same time as shorts have been adding positions, large institutional investors have been buying in HEAVILY + +https://preview.redd.it/a7284jjduhk71.png?width=820&format=png&auto=webp&s=22a94571d7c932f4439a5587301cbcfca8fc41ff + +This high of a short interest combined with strong financials, a bullish options market, and large institutional investors being on our side means shorts are absolutely fucked and this stock is going TO THE MOON + +&#x200B; + +**How to Profit:** + +I recommend buying a mix of 9/17 ITM/OTM calls, leaps, and shares + +Buy 9/17 calls if you believe this has a chance to squeeze + +Buy leaps/shares if you believe in the underlying company + +&#x200B; + +**Positions:** + +10 $27.5 C 9/17, 13 $30 C 9/17, 50 $32.5 C 9/17, 20 $35 C 9/17, 106 shares, 2 $25 2/18/22 C + +&#x200B; + +**TLDR:** + +https://preview.redd.it/u1dcgm1iuhk71.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=15cd932f87fe52287b37262ec396341363afc910 +LMT Lockheed Martin. if you want guaranteed easy money. Their current fair value is $415 and the sit at $350 they pay some of the highest dividends on the market as well at 3%. Not to mention Biden will keep dropping bombs and the company is essentially the research and development arm of our military and the very definition of too big to fail (74% of business is US) not only due to their size but because of the extremely sensitive national security secrets they possess (if aliens are real these are the people reverse engineering their craft). + +They build the F35 which will bring in 406 billion dollars in sales as well as 1.1 TRILLION dollars in operations and Maintennace. They have embedded options in space which is another trillion dollar market. Oh and they are merging with Aerojet Rocketdyne one of the biggest missile/rocket manufacturers. They will make most of the bombs as well as the planes that drop them. The have not recovered their pre COVID price because they are so fucking big and expensive and had nothing to do with pandemic. Q4 2020 saw record shattering sales across all 4 business sectors (aeronautics +11%, rotary and mission systems +9%, missiles and fire control +11%, space +9%. They shave also substantially reduced debt as well as shares outstanding. Did I mention a 147 billion dollar backlog (up 3B from last year)? + +TLDR: this is the very definition of a value play. Buy and hold as much as reasonably possible below $350 ideally, but anywhere below $400 will do. Hold. Hold. Hold. Until the US decides to go a year without increasing the defense budget, the country goes bankrupt, or world peace suddenly breaks out. I'd take this over a savings accnt anyday. + +I am not a financial advisor and this is totally not financial advice. The stocks listed in this text are fictional and this post should not be viewed by anyone +**Preface** + +This post may be received as a rant or a pity post, this kind of is/isn't the case. This post will be aimed at the London home-owners, nevertheless, any experience and counsel from anyone is welcomed and encouraged. + +**Background (skip to question below if not interested)** + +I am 18, finished Sixth Form, right now Gap Year, next year reading Law. I read an article^(1) it listed a table of values^(2) which demonstrated the incredulous incomes and deposits required to own a home in London. I've been running the numbers again and again in my head all day for the past month, like a mantra, and it just seems like homeownership is almost unfeasible. + +Right now, my goal is to just attend Uni for 3 years (after my gap) and graduate. But after that, not only will I have a student debt tied around my neck and will have decimated any savings, I will have to begin thinking about where to live. I'll have the option to: + +A. Live with parents, until I can recoup savings and a healthy home deposit. + +B. Rent independently, flat-share etc. + +Regardless, both scenarios pretty much guarantee that I may not end up owning a home till my late 20s or early 30s. And I don't suppose, in scenario A, my parents will enjoy having me home for at least another decade. + +When I turned 18 in May, I opened an HL LISA (£1k) and a Vanguard S&S ISA (£800), and I have a Club Lloyds bank account (£2.2k). I'll be able to top out the LISA this tax year (and for next year too). But besides that, when I attend Uni, I won't be able to do much saving, least of all any depositing into my Vanguard or HL during those turbulent years. I live at home with parents (parents were SE Asian immigrants, now citizens for over two decades) and I don't have any grandparents - what I am trying to get at is that I don't have relatives who can help me much in this department. Whilst I live with parents (Zone 6), I am financially independent in the regard that I pay for anything I need/want and don't receive any assistance - "I eat what I hunt" essentially. + +Just looking at the table of values^(2) and the amount needed for deposits and incomes is eye-watering. It's not unheard of that some city solicitors/trainees earn a substantial income, but even when (and if) I become a solicitor, there's no guarantee that I'll earn anywhere near the quoted £75k income needed for the LTI, or that I'll have enough tucked away for a decent deposit. + +I don't have many friends my age or family to talk to this about. It's like no-one understand the numbers are so abstract and unimaginable. I've looked at the flowchart. All I can think about is in my head is that the odds, the table of values^(2) and everything is stacked against me and my hope of owning a home :( + +**My question** + +If you plan to own a home soon (or own a home already) how did you work to achieve your goal (aimed at Londoners). Unless you have a sizable helping hand, its such an abstract dream to own a home here. + +What steps did you take to: + +1. Lessen the time taken to own a home (i.e. raising your salary substantively) +2. Get your head around the massive numbers on Zoopla. + +Cheers + +\- + +^(1)Home Prices in different commuter zones in London: [https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/buying/new-homes/london-travel-zone-house-prices-which-boroughs-in-zones-16-offer-the-bestvalue-property-for-buying-a-a127541.html](https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/buying/new-homes/london-travel-zone-house-prices-which-boroughs-in-zones-16-offer-the-bestvalue-property-for-buying-a-a127541.html) + +^(2)Table of values: [https://imgur.com/a/J08vAWF](https://imgur.com/a/J08vAWF) +What are your Top 3 stock picks to buy for 2019? + +&#x200B; + +Here are on my radar (Don't hold any yet), but will probably own 1 of these in the future: + +&#x200B; + +1. **AT&T (T):** Dividend >5%, P/E ratio at 11.28 (below average), and recently invested to gain streaming rights to show original movies and television series from Warner Bros., Turner and HBO. Taking into consideration the overall success Netflix, a successful launch could help charge up AT&T's share price, but this would be a slow process as competition will be fierce (Amazon Prime and Disney), and i doubt many people will be willing to have multiple streaming services accounts. + +2. **Apple (AAPL)**: I believe apple will continue hitting new lows, the Chinese market has lost its appetite for apple cellphones, specially after Trump's Tariff and how pricey these devices have become. + + +Long term catalyst would be the introduction of 5G network (as I am hoping for AT&T) which should get a lot of people willing to upgrade their phone, apple also has the highest retention of cellphone users (\~96%), but I want to see how they plan to regain the Chinese market or if they will expand to other emerging countries like china to continue its growth. + +&#x200B; + +3. **Paypal (PYPL) -** As more people prefer to buy online (E-Commerce), companies like Paypal, Visa and Mastercard are bound to benefit. In its last quarter, the company reported 15% increase of active accounts. It is currently trading at a higher P/E ratio than i'd prefer to buy it at, so I will be looking for significant dips in the future. + +&#x200B; + +Please note that this is just my opinion, and wanted to share it to get your feedback and hopefully read what stocks you are planning to buy and why. +Hey everyone, + +I am a senior at University and I need some help. I am currently enrolled in a class that takes a trip to meet Warren Buffett every year. I was super excited until I learned that there are a lot of students enrolled in this class and only a few people actually get to go. The selection process is based solely on the strength of the question they want to ask Warren. I’ve been brainstorming all day but was curious what you all think! + +So my question for you all is: if you got to ask Mr. Buffett one question, face to face, what would it be and why? +I was a moron today and over leveraged myself to try and meet my net worth goal for the year (instead of waiting another couple of months had I continued my usual savings routine) and lost ~30% of my portfolio in a few minutes. All in all, I lost about 4 months of after tax pay. Luckily I don’t need the money at this moment, but it sucks thinking about the opportunity cost that I am now missing out on because I tried to YOLO. + +I guess I’m just wondering if those of you who lost a ton of money 1, 5, or 10+ years ago trying to trade, do you feel like you came back and don’t miss that money anymore? Did you try to win it back, or stick solely to investing? I could really use some solidarity right now lol. +**https://np.reddit.com/r/Stellar/comments/7rkco2/stellar_lumens_xlmstr_investment_in_my_humble/** + +Hello, I am writing this post for everybody interested in Stellar network/XLM investment and I am going to present you my point of view on Stellar. Please do not care about my English, as it's not my native language. I am new to Reddit, but I have been a huge fan of crypto since a few months and before putting my money in any coin I make a solid research everytime. This is what convinced me to invest in Stellar and may convince you as well. + +**In my opinion XLM will be huge due to many reasons:** + +**1.** FairX exchange is being built on Stellar network. This exchange will be released probably in Q1-Q2 2018 and will allow you buy cryptocurrencies instantly with fiat currency. In may opinion it may just kill Coinbase because: + +**a)** you will be able to buy much more cryptocurrencies than just 3 (Coinbase) +**b)** Stellar network processing rate is 1000 operations per second (so they probably won't suspend deposits/withdrawals/transactions like on many other exchanges +**c)** Stellar network transaction fee is a fraction of a cent (0.00001 XLM) e) You won't have to pay any extra bank fee for conversion to EUR/USD from your local currency unlike on Coinbase + +**2.** It has IBM's support, which is a major IT company. I really doubt that they would back up/invest in something that isn't worth it. + +**3.** Stellar's team is full of great names, for example + +**a)** Jed McCaleb who is a: +-co-founder of RIPPLE and probably still holding a few billion XRP coins, +-co-founder of Mt. Gox - one of the biggest BTC exchanges from the past, +-creator of eDonkey - big file sharing platform +**b)** Stellar is being backed up by advisors such as: +Patrick Collison - CEO of STRIPE +Matt Mullenweg - a founder of WORDPRESS.COM +Naval Ravikant - CEO and co-founder of ANGEL LIST + +**4.** In my opinion Stellar is very undervalued project. It's somehow similar to Ripple, but still doesn't have as much attention as it deserves. Once they will announce new partnerships/customers people will start to see, that Stellar has great potential as I am trying to show you now. It's worth noticing that XLM has 2x less coins in circulation than XRP at this moment, that means that if we reached Ripple's market cap, the price would be 2 times higher. + +**5.** It's now in top 10 coins, so it's gaining more and more attention and investors. I see a hundreds of newcomers everyday on Telegram group and Reddit, Twitter etc. and as you probably know that if more people know about it, the more money will be pumped in it. Newcomers are more likely to invest in something in top 10 rather than something with small market cap. + +**6.** Ripple and Stellar use similar code and fundamentals of these two projects are similar in some aspects, anyway Ripple is more for banks, when Stellar is more for people and companies. I met some people that are against banking systems and that's why they entered crypto world. Even though they see potential in the value of XRP they won't invest in it, just because it's very related to banks. They have their rules. + +**7.** They had a significant number of meetings in December 2017 in Dubai, Singapore, Abu Dhabi etc. it may just be a sign there is something big going to happen. + +**8.** ICOs - something that Ripple can't provide. ICOs can be built using Stellar. Recent ones are SureRemit, Mobius and Ternio. + +To sum up; I wouldn't expect XLM to go in double-digit this year, but I think that $3-4 is reachable as far as crypto market won't crash due to any reason. Just buy, hold and forget about it for a while. Check the price in Q3-Q4 and in my opinion you will be surprised. I could point some more reasons why XLM is a great investment, but I picked up the most important ones in my opinion. +I am not any kind of professional financial adviser and I am far from that, I just wanted to present you my thoughts about Stellar. Thank you for reading! :) + +**BTW: The roadmap for 2018 is going to be released this month on 25th. It may bring us even more fantastic news/facts, so stay tuned :)** +A long overdue update to my post over a month ago. + +I'm well on my way to my first home purchase! It's been pretty stressful couple of weeks as I'm pretty much in unconditional territory now, it's more of a relief because I finally have some certainty and able to share news/updates with friends. + +The first thing I want to say is my experience with a broker wasn't exactly positive, to begin with sending a lot of personal financial information to a 3rd party was initially off-putting, I was expecting a bit more attention to my circumstances and didn't line up at all with how I wanted to approach moving forward in this endeavor. + +I found this broker group from positive Google reviews, I didn't really have any other metric to measure on so that's pretty much how I ended up meeting with this group. I think the initial part was good explaining the basics, but where I felt it was going wrong was when he seemed to be insisting I should go with Bankwest, over and over again, because they had the best rates, I might add, the rates he was sharing were not comparison rates. It seemed very obvious to me there was more likely better commissions with Bankwest.. and while I had said at the outset I probably wouldn't be considering preapproval so soon (because I know it would make a hit on my credit history), it seemed like that's where I was being pushed towards. It was only after I really pressed it that I had long term dealings with my current bank, that that option would be an acceptable route. + +Some of the information he provided was useful, like what QLD housing contracts looked like, and important pages/terms, which he provided example offers and wording, that was good... But some things he mentioned to make me 'more competitive' where very unrealistic in my current experience. Such as putting '7 days finance approval' and '7 days building and pest' and I think settlement date quite short... The best advise in my situation actually came from the real estate agent, advising me to adjust my term dates, even though I added 'buffers'... + +&#x200B; + +So about the place I've found, it took me about 3 weeks of going to inspections to get the vibe of the areas and houses I was looking at, I reached out for lots of advise from people I knew living in the area which was really vital in the end for narrowing down my search. Basically my ambitions for looking at acreage is matched with people who want to have horses, which drove up the prices for these properties, and not very nice houses to live in. The advise I got from friends is it would have to be a balance of usable land to nice house factor which helped a lot. Very situational to me, but I thought it worth mentioning. I had a pretty fixed budget, now for better or worse, it was suggested I look above this, and found a property that I was interested in, but had also been on the market for over 6 months, it was a little slower to arrange inspection and a bit daunting being only person inspecting with the agent but overall the experience was much more relaxed than I expected. + +The agent had a very good knowledge of the area (which I did as well) and had known the property through sales over the years, I was upfront with position in the market with budget and wouldn't be able to meet the 'offers over' value, I had insight from the length of listing and vendors purchasing interstate that they were motivated to sell, I'm not sure on how much the 'falling' housing market played into it, but I can only imagine if you've taken a job interstate and need to move, how that might play. + +The pressure I got from the agent is that they were moving, and had someone wanting to rent the place asap, I'm 50/50 on this, I'm sure they were looking for options, but I'm not sure how immediate someone renting really was.. + +Long story short, I did speak to my parents about financial assistance that they could offer for deposit, making my 10%->20% to avoid LMI. And made an offer on the place, eventually finding a middle ground. Fast forward, my Building and Pest completed (within 14 days) found 1 main issue that was mediated, finance '21 days' was approved on day 14, but it would have been way more stressful if I didn't adjust this for the extra week. (Now in my case, because I already made an offer, they skipped pre approval and went straight for application, I don't see how it would go much faster..) Oh... and yeah, if it wasn't obvious I ditched my broker, and went through the process on my own.. + +I decided to go with my own bank I've been with for years, the idea being they have access to all the information, and would be the path of least resistance, not the most competitive rate etc, but I see it as foot in the door. The only thing I want to mention, is the most positive experience I've had actually came from the most unexpected place, my conveyancer has been amazing, the only reason I mention this is because everyone told me to be weary of that side of the process. I think I hit the lucky jackpot there. (Contactable, Knows my mobile number when I call, keeps me updated ASAP within minutes of a email/issue that pops up, good advise and has generally been working well with me). I also found him from positive google reviews, but I think the difference is the named mentions in the reviews vs' generic positive reviews, ie not spammy... + +&#x200B; + +So thanks for reading, I'm pretty much unconditional, first home buyer, doing it \*almost\* on my own, and feeling great right now. Now all I need to do is get to settlement and work hard for the next 30 years.. :o +Hi, my former employer is refusing to provide payslip on the grounds that they have provided STP to ATO. + +From my understanding, even if I log into ATO, I won't have access to my hours worked. Could anyone advise? +We had to get private health cover as a condition of our visa when we first came to Australia and transitioned to a plan when we became permanent residents (Bupa medium cover with bronze extras). My question is what do we actually get from it, and is it worth it? It doesn't seem to cover any prescription medications or the gap when seeing a GP. I have been referred to a specialist, and that is also not covered so will cost me almost $200 out of pocket. So for $260/month, I seem to get a free dental check and a discounted pair of glasses each year. + +Presumably it covers something if you go into hospital as an inpatient? Does it just get you a private room or also better care? + +Is it worth maintaining the insurance? If I lived in the UK, I would not even consider paying for private insurance. If in the US, I would not consider going without. I am 35M, wife is 33F. No kids yet. +I am 20 years old, currently living rent free w/ my parents. I have saved up 10 thousand in cash and currently have 9 thousand in amazon stocks. I have been looking at possibly just putting my money into a vanguard account. I just wanted to know what other good options you guys think are possible for someone in my situation. Thank you in advance! +What are some large hidden costs that shocked you, when you purchased a home, that you did not budget for or even foresee, but stung you quite hard financially? +i.e plumbing, garage door, foundation issues, other misc issues +Most of us on this subreddit are trying to improve their returns on their portfolio which can most reliably done by buying statistically undervalued stocks and holding them for a certain amount of time to get high returns. + +In addition, everyone usually has a few favorite stocks that he/she really believes in. + +So, I got a very simple question: What are your personal favorite undervalued stocks? And why? + +Please let me know, I would be really interested to find out. + +Also, let me start: +My favorite undervalued stocks: + +1.) Pandora A/S : +The Danish jewellery is trading at a 2017 P/E of 10,5 and a yield of 6,35% with share buybacks. It is expected to grow at roughly 10% for the next year and increased revenue from China by 91% year on year. It has low debt, a Warren Buffet-ish moat with high customer return rates and a product concept that encourages future purchases. My biggest tip right now. + +2.) Marine Harvest +The Norwegian fishing company is growing their own salmon and selling it. +It is trading at a 2017 P/E of 12,64 and a dividend yield of 7,95%. +It also has managable debt and is expected to grow rougly at ~10% yoy over the next couple of years. +You have less natural salmon, so artificially grown salmon becomes more important, more chinese wanting to buy fish+ more health obsessed ppl in the west resulting in higher salmon prices and increased long term harvesting volumes. -> more profit. +Even more than pandora a long term holding but definetily a nice stock, currently making up around 20% of my portfolio. + + +So what are your tips? :) + +(sorry for potencial mistakes, not a native english speaker) +I’m looking for a “safe” place to put 3k. Arguments can be made for a lot of stocks but the ones I see mentioned most are these three. AAPL/MSFT because they’re titans and historically just keep going up. FB because as much hate as they get, they’re apparently undervalued. + +So if you could pick one, which would it be, and why? + +EDIT: A lot of people just posting tickers… I was hoping to get some discussion going on the reasoning behind your pick. Also I’m getting a lot of mixed answers so I’m even more confused now lol +IBM 5.56% dividend yield +Exxon Mobil 4.81% +Verizon Communications 4.36% +Chevron 4.12% +The Coca Cola Company 3.31% + +https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/345153/5-dogs-of-the-dow-stocks-for-2019 + +Just remember: Buy/invest at your own risk. +Happy New Year to you guys. + +Long time reader. First time poster. + +I'm trying to figure out the following: + +If I have an extra $1, $10, $100 or $1000 at the end of a given month, what is the cost benefit of applying that money against my mortgage? In other words, what kind of return would I need to get on that extra $1, $10, $100 or $1000 in order to do better than simply putting it towards my mortgage? It seems that the answer to that question changes on a monthly basis as the ratio of interest-to-principle changes with every payment. + +Secondly, given that those extra dollars paid towards my mortgage lead to a guaranteed future savings (e.g., if I put an extra $1000 against my mortgage every month, I could pay off my loan by Oct. 2023 and save $87,000 over the life of the loan): how does one quantify what I should hope to get for that same "extra $1000 per month", if I choose an alternative investment? + +If you need specific details regarding my situation to answer this question, here they are: + +My wife and I purchased our home in March, 2012. We took a $256,000 30-year fixed mortgage at 3.75%. We currently make 13 payments on our mortgage annually. We pay our mortgage monthly and every March make one extra payment. Here is an amortization schedule that describes our loan and payments: http://bit.ly/16zT4kN (shorten link to bankrate.com with all those details already entered). + +Thank you in advance! + +**EDIT**: I just want to thank everyone for sharing their advice and thoughts. You are all very kind to give me some of your time and you've each influenced my thinking a lot. Have a wonderful holiday season. + +Gap Inc. (GPS) - Get Report shares surged Friday after the struggling retailer unveiled a clothing and marketing partnership with entertainment mogul Kanye West. + +Gap said the new 'Yeezy' clothing line, which is wholly owned by West and was recently valued at $2.9 billion, will appear in stores next year. West will receive loyalty payments and "potential equity' related to sales targets of the brand over its ten-year timeframe, Gap said. + +Thoughts on this? For those who don't follow streetwear or fashion, Kanye has an incredible influence over culture and current trends. After signing with Adidas in 2015, the stock has surged 300% +Firstly I will point out I have autism and can struggle to understand some things, googling stuff normally comes up with a ton of answers and I get lost in what is worth reading or what I am able to do by myself. + +With that said, can anyone here give some really basic advice/suggestions on what I could do to save/invest money, I have been told about postoffice bonds so far which sounds really safe and easy to do. + +I am hoping to save money to start towards buying a house/flat as I fear I will be trapped renting all my life overwise but right now I have the chance to save money. + +I am currently trying to work out exaclty how little I can live on each month and how much I can save, so far it seems I should be able to save minimum of 600£ a month if I do 6 nights a week where I work, I thought if I did this for a year then hopefully I would have a good amount to put into...something, I just don't know what and am scared of losing the money by investing into something risky. + +Best thing I can think that is going for me is that I am happy to wait a long time for returns and there are schemes (don't know exactly what they are) where you put money in and have a minimum of 6months before you can take anything back if this makes sense. + +I had a support worker in the past but not for years and unless I pay for one I am not allowed one as I am not classed as vulnerable by the council so this kind of stuff, forms, banking related issues all gets a bit overwhelming for me. +Sorry for the long/rambling post, any questions please ask, hopefully this makes sense. +Early 30's and will max out about $44k (457, 403b, IRA) each year into retirement accounts for the next 20 years. I plan to work for another 20 years until I'm in my 50's. If I have a pension that I can start withdrawing from at age 55 with penalty ($28k) or if I wait until I'm 63 (full pension $56k), how will that change my FI magic number? Will I be overdoing it? I plan to live a life between lean and fatFIRE. +As much as I'm into saving and maximising the efficiency of my money, I'd like to travel a bit as I haven't really to this point. + +I'm aware of friends and people online managing to go on trips to Europe for as little as a few hundred pounds for several days to a week at a time. What are your tips for getting the most value out of travelling? This applies to Europe and further abroad. Where to avoid and where are under appreciated locations? +Out with the safety drivers, in with the remote overseers. + +[https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/waymo-finally-launches-an-actual-public-driverless-taxi-service/](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/10/waymo-finally-launches-an-actual-public-driverless-taxi-service/) +original post: [here](http://redd.it/2mnxr3) + +I met with my mother yesterday. + +The scammers got her pretty good. Several posters were very accurate in detailing what happened even before *I* had the details. She was told she won the lottery, needed x amount of money to pay taxes, insurance, etc...etc... + +She cleared out her entire retirement. It's gone. And the HELOC on the house, also cashed and gone. Although I did my best to explain to her that the way she sent the money- in cash, through the mail- is untraceable, she is mostly convinced that since the state police reported it to the FBI, that the government will be able to get her money back. + +I assessed her current financial situation and while it's not good, it's manageable. She still has enough money to pay her current expenses. + +I got her scheduled for a Dr's appt and will be attending the appointment with her, and providing them with this information beforehand because I do want her screened for dementia and for depression. But honestly, I don't think she has dementia, or even early-onset issues. I think she was just lonely and gullible and maybe greedy and was a perfect victim. it's incredibly sad. + +I am ordering her a whitelist device to prevent more phone calls. I'm not taking charge of the mail just yet. I am following the advice of the posters who suggested I not add my names to her accounts, but I will be arranging POA so I have access to that information. + +I do have a few questions that I know you can answer: + +My mom has a car loan for approx $200/mo for about the next 4 years. Should I be encouraging her to take money from what (limited) saving she still has to pay off this debt NOW, or keep that money as liquid resources in case of other emergencies? Other than the HELOC and some minimal credit card debt of less than 1k, this is the only money she owes anyone. + +Could anyone direct me to layman-friendly tax information? My mother was able to withdraw her retirement without early penalties, but I'm not well-informed on what taxes she may owe on that money anyway. I have encouraged her to discuss the scam with her tax prep person, because one poster suggested she may not have to pay taxes on that money if we can prove that it was stolen, so to speak. I'm paraphrasing, sorry. + +Last question- need some feedback. My mother is at an age where she could retire and have about the same amount of income on social security as she does working. I don't want her to retire until the moment she sells the house and is ready to move- to me it makes sense for her to keep working for as long as possible while she is (hopefully) healthy and able to do so. If anyone has helped their parents make this decision, I'd appreciate some advice on how to address this further. + +I did put a fraud alert on her credit. She insists that the scammers never asked her for her DL, SSN, or any banking/credit information. + +It turns out my mother was the one who contacted the police. Apparently after she had already mailed them nearly $300k and they still wanted more money, she felt as though something was not kosher with the situation. (insert crazy laughter here). Oh and I'd like to point out that my mother went to a different bank than her normal one for the HELOC, so the new bank wouldn't have suspected anything unusual was happening. According to my mother, the scammers told her to use a different bank because "as a new customer you will get a better interest rate." How nice that they were looking out for her! UGH + +Guys I am just so sad about all of this. The money is gone and she doesn't quite realize that yet. The plans we were tenatively making for her to sell her home and buy another outright are shot now that there's a HELOC to pay off. So $100k off of whatever she might get for her current home goes toward that loan, and she's got whatever is left to live on. I don't think she'll get enough to buy a house in my area outright (at least not a decent house!!) so now we are looking at renting, downsizing- things she is not mentally prepared to do. It's going to be awful. It already is awful. + +I want to thank everyone again for your advice and help that you've already offered. I also want to tell everyone that when they are home over the holidays to talk with all their relatives about this story and make them aware of these scams, and emphasize how important questioning these types of "windfalls" can be in protecting yourself. If my mother had told me she thought she won a prize but needed to send in $ to claim it, I could have put the brakes on this hundreds of thousands of dollars ago. +My partner and I went to order our sofa and carpets yesterday from a major department store as the sale was due to end at 8pm last night. We wanted to spread the cost over 4 years interest-free and I started the process of filling in the finance application. The application took more than 20 minutes to be assessed by the underwriters, which was strange as this company uses the same finance provider as a well known electronic department store that I've used in the past. The manager tried to phone the finance company to see what the hold up was and couldn't get through so we left and they said they would call us today/tomorrow to finalise everything. We left knowing that we'd locked in the price and was happy. This morning the same sofa suite has been reduced even further by £300 and some carpets have been reduced further (unsure whether or not the ones we chose have too). Because we left the store with the finance application with the underwriters am I still within my rights to go in and ask for everything at the new lower price or am I now tied in to the original higher price? + +I spoke with family last night who said if I go in asking to pay cash for the sofa I may get it even cheaper. I'm also going to look at a local carpet dealer to see how their quote compares to the 'sale price' of the carpets. The reason we didn't do this previously is because we were made to think that the sale ended last night at 8pm. +Hi all, + +I have a 401k pension scheme from working a temporary role in the US for a few years (value around $80k) and I’m wondering if there were any benefits/rules/other factors meaning I should move it to a UK provider sooner rather than later? + +If I were to transfer it I’m assuming it wouldn’t take up any annual pension allowance? + +I’m not asking market timing questions but aware of some factors there. + +Cheers! +I own shares and one mid year call. Likely going to pick up more shares next week, but thought it may be wiser to go with LEAPs as I'm looking term horizon for PLTR. + +That said, I think PLTR will definitely be hitting $60-80 by 2023. Should I go with deep ITM LEAPs or deep OTM LEAPs. My understanding is the delta is closer to one the deeper ITM I am, thus allowing me to "control more shares" with needing to settle for buying less shares with commons. However, what's the benefit of deep OTM LEAPs? Appreciation/higher gains/more contracts per dollar? + +My brain isn't getting this right now... +Connecticut's congressman Jim Himes made a couple of comments during the May 6^(th) hearing that I think we shouldn't just gloss over. We should definitely pay attention to the not only incorrect, but inappropriate stance that he took. + +* He claims that retail investors should have restrictions, leaving Wall Street as it is. + * This implies that "dumb money," really is just that, and it helps push market inequalities that we are **currently** fighting against. + * This is **not** how one establishes a fair market in this day and age, and this is exactly what causes corruption through uneven distribution of power. +* He had the audacity to claim that Alex Kearns was trading irresponsibly, and that was what prompted his untimely death. + * Alex Kearns fell victim to poorly handled data by Robinhood, and attempted many times to call customer service. + * As we've all heard, Robinhood's "customer service" line will simply say "go to the website lol" and hang up on you. + * Jim Himes made assumptions about a real person's death without knowing the full story, **in front of congress.** + +These comments are coming from a real person who has the power to present them in a hearing, showing that not only has he not paid any attention to the real issues at hand, but he's willing to do the bare minimum and dilute the discussion with his uninformed and **absolutely inappropriate** input. Jim Himes does not understand the situation, and has had ample time to read the truth, but he would rather take the easy way out and make uninformed suggestions in an extremely important hearing. + +I'm not a professional writer, and I don't have much information on this guy besides what I've seen in the hearing, but this is inexcusable, and I'm glad others are talking about it on Twitter **(his handle is** [**@jahimes**](https://www.twitter.com/jahimes)**)**. + +**Residents of Connecticut can call his office with this number: (203) 333-6600** + +He's inactive on Reddit, but his account is u/RepJimHimes + +If you live in Connecticut, this man should not be able to speak in congressional hearings on important matters that he doesn't do sufficient research on, especially while misrepresenting the tragic death of a young person as an example. This absolutely infuriated me, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. + +Retail, Main Street, is just as capable as Wall Street, and we deserve the same access to market resources and trading tools. + +Edit: Added Twitter link + +Edit 2: More information about who's contributed to Mr. Himes - [Rep. Jim Himes - Campaign Finance Summary](https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00029070) + +Edit 3: Jim Himes in the hearing - [https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6560](https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6560) + +Edit 4: + +* Starts talking about restrictions on retail - [https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6702](https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6702) +* Lies about the death of Alex Kearns - [https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6733](https://youtu.be/vX2X8xxHEns?t=6733) + +Edit 5: Added phone number for CT residents + +Edit 6: It appears that Mr. Himes worked for Goldman for a decade: [Wall Street's Favorite Democrat - Bloomberg](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:12DEEtQUIaYJ:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-04-26/wall-streets-favorite-democrat+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) + +Edit 7: Here's the Wikipedia article that also describes his time spent at Goldman - [Jim Himes - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Himes) + +Edit 8: Adjusted link in Edit 6, no more paywall! + +Edit 9: First paragraph of Alex Kearns' suicide note. Unbelievable. - [https://twitter.com/BillBrewsterSCG/status/1273292130769932288?s=20](https://twitter.com/BillBrewsterSCG/status/1273292130769932288?s=20) + +Edit 10: More about Alex Kearns - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/n6q7sw/alex\_kearns\_successful\_trader\_earning\_200\_return/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/n6q7sw/alex_kearns_successful_trader_earning_200_return/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +Edit 11: Added Jim Himes' (inactive) Reddit account +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/sq0e33nvh3691.png?width=6966&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d31dae4a734cb42f3a482c136a301e449fded8d + +I thought I'd remind everyone with this quick MSpaint job. + +There you have it. Bitcoin to $0 by around 2032 by my calculations. So you can all pack up and go home, peak has already been reached. + +In all seriousness though, be very careful when looking at these type of charts as they can be retroactively drawn to fit just about any narrative and the size and shape of the rainbow can be adjusted to fit any kind of pattern you can imagine. + +This is not financial advice, I'm not a neither a meteorologist nor a financial advisor. Oh there's an advice flare? just ignore that. +***Corruption is legal and Cryptocurrency is Illegal*** + +&#x200B; + +Not a great writer + +&#x200B; + +So yeah this does exist and you can go to jail for trading/holding cryptocurrency. You maybe wondering which country it is. It's located in South East Asia called Nepal. I've been into crypto space for almost a two year now and it's like living in the future. Recently Three people got arrested and four member of the same family got arrested for trading cryptocurrency. Kudos to those who got arrested. May satoshi be with you. Fuck this country man so tired of this fucking government fuck the system. I'm so frustated and deperessed reading these types of news warning about cryptocurrency. The government doesnot give a fuck about development it's all corrupted from the root. I want to keep a low profile now but fuck man talk about freedom nothing like this actually exist we are just bind by the shitty rules made by government. kudos to those who live in a country where you can hold and trade cryptos freely and can experience financial freedom. I have huge respect for those country. I want to get out of this shithole country and do what I want freely. So yeah good bye to the r/CC community but I'll be back when they make crypto Legal or meet a point where I don't give a fuck and keep trading and holding crypto. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/5avwrsbuz7e81.png?width=847&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b7fa19d4a25a48121756c92499a094425f35e02 + +https://preview.redd.it/ihxg5vbuz7e81.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=302b853ad5746fa4fd30f68dbdd5a3435c79ba89 +Year to date, NASDAQ is up ~17%, S&P 500 is up ~21%, DJIA is up ~16%. + +Are you beating the indices? + +If you aren't beating the indices, why not just buy a fund that tracks the indices and save yourself headaches? + +You read stories about someone 1000x their investment because of pure luck, but that's not the normal. I'd be curious to hear from regular people how they are really doing so far this year. + +EDIT: Holy crap, fuck my in-box. Was not expecting this many responses. + +**EDIT2.0:** A few people have pointed out that if you have, say, $5000 invested and you pump in another $5000 to buy more stocks, that's not the same as doubling your money if your stock doubled in price. Pardon my ignorance on the terminology but how do you account for this and how many people here are overstating their gains by including that extra buying power? Plus, how does one adjust for that when looking through the tools available on their brokerage's website? +In Nov 2016, I bought a car. The car was $9,500, and I put $2,000 down and financed the rest. There were apparently some hiccups with the initial rate I was given, and the BMW dealership I bought it from wound up financing me through a different company than the one we had agreed upon. + +Well, I'm looking and I see the amount financed was over $12,000. But I got to looking today, and the loan term is 72 months, with payments at $238.18 a month. + +That means a $9,500 car is going to have cost me $19,148.96. + +What the fuck?!?!? + +What in the HELL am I missing in this equation? I'm going to find all of the paperwork from the dealership when I bought my car, but I cannot possibly wrap my head around how this could be accurate. It's a nice little fuel-efficient car, but I bought it used. + +Assuming this is all correct, and the dealership got me a worse loan than the one agreed upon when I signed the paperwork, do I need to contact a lawyer or something? Because this shit is clearly out of hand. + +EDIT: I appreciate all you guys' comments, and it is abundantly clear that I'm in this mess due to sheer ignorance on my part. I thought about deleting this post, but I figure I'll leave it up as an example that hopefully others can learn from, as much as I have. +Hey all! + +Currently I’m 22 years old. My risk tolerance is **HIGH!!** + +I have been learning the market for a while now, and have been in the stock market for a year! + +I’m up 4% !! (Which I know isnt the best, but its a start, right?) + +#What would you do if you were in your 20s? How would you invest? + +Hope everyone has an amazing night. + +Just curious to read your answers !! :) + +** I will do DD / Research !! +Hello Investors, + +I am tempted to buy some solar panels and I was wondering what you thought of this math. + +I can install 5KW of solar for $10,000. pvwatts suggests that at my location, angle etc, I would get at least 5,000Kwh produced annually. In BC we buy power for $0.10-0.18/kwh - so it would be a 'dividend' of at least $500 per year - or 5%. + +The ten year ROI on favourite local investments like REITS, Banks, Telecoms and O&G are all around 6%. Better - but not by a lot, and they feel a bit shakier than this investment. + +I don't think that there is any way to buy solar as an RRSP (but if you have a trick I'd listen) but the 'dividend' is tax free like a TFSA because I am saving money, not actually banking it. + +Also, Solar Panels are cool. Also $10,000 won't ruin my emergency fund. + +But no one else has solar panels? Do they know something I don't? +Every company has so many ETFs and I am looking for something specific but don't feel like reading through every companies long list to find the names of ETFs to research. There is something similar for GIC rates. + +I am looking for an emerging markets/Asian dividend paying ETF that trades on the TSX. Any suggestions? +Happy monday all! + +&#x200B; + +Question about the TFSA: + +&#x200B; + +My TFSA is almost maxed out and come december, I was thinking of pulling $10k out of it. Assuming the market is down (my account is in the red), would I lose contribution room even with a partial withdrawal? I know I would definitely if I took all of it out, but how does the that apply when just taking a bit out? Would the $10k be seen as $10k of cash that I've put in over the years and wouldn't effect anything, or since the account is in the red, would I lose some contribution room? Sorry if it's worded poorly, it's monday morning and tired AF +Canada will accept 400,000 immigrants per year over the next 3 years. this is bound to drive up property values in Ontario (Which accepts almost half of all immigrants). what are some good REITs to buy to take advantage of this? do you think this is an intelligent play? thanks +A while back I asked about tech stocks because I needed some more exposure in that sector. + +Some user recommended TXF so I bought a little on a whim. I just got a massive dividend today and looking through their history they pay sweet dividends consistently. + +So what is the catch? This seems to be good to be true. Any insights? +I'll preface by saying that I'm fairly new to self directed investing so please be kind. I've be told that real estate can be a good option for TFSAs due to their dividend yields and monthly payouts. I only have a few shares in the HR.UN REIT but would like to hear more opinions on REITs in general or other REITs that you like/dislike. Cheers! +Curious to know what your spouse is entitled/not entitled to in the event of a divorce, looking for insight on: + + +Is your spouse entitled to the funds in the the tfsa/rrsp/non-registered account +What about the funds you amassed prior to the marriage? +What about future additions to the tfsa/rrsp/non-registered account? + +Basically asking is there a way to essentially say all funds in these 3 accounts are off limits as part of a divorce. + +Any thoughts from anyone or past experiences +Since April, I have been dipping my toes into investing, and learning as I go. I started building my portfolio by buying stocks based on market cap weight from the TSX60 index with the idea that I would be "index investing" while still scratching the itch of picking stocks and also removing any MER fees (Even though XIU is only 0.18%). + +Over the past year i have accumulated 40 individual stocks distributed among 23 tickers from the TSX60 (As well as 18 other stocks distributed among 4 non TSX tickers). Ive also being tracking 2 pretend portfolios in spreadsheets investing exactly the same amounts into A) only XIU and B) only HXT for a comparison. + +To date, my portfolio is up 7.14% vs both ETF portfolios up 5.43%. On average I am ahead of the ETF portfolios by 0.11% on any given week. This is hindered partly due to my non TSX speculations being the majority of my portfolio for the first few weeks. If you ignore those first few weeks I am ahead by an average of 0.35%. + +I guess technically this would be considered an active portfolio, although aside from the few speculative stocks. My stock selection has been based only on which whole stock is furthest away from its TSX market cap weight without dipping into fractional shares. + +As Ive learned more about investing Ive started considering switching my TSX stocks for a more ETF based portfolio. My question is, Are there any reasons I should just keep doing what Im doing? Any reasons I should definitely change my strategy? The only answer I wont consider is the time and effort spent tracking the index manually as I have a pretty automated spreadsheet and I am enough of a data nerd to enjoy the process. Im pretty sure Ive already made up my mind, but wanted to hear input from others who have more experience/knowledge. + +Thanks in advance. +So I (22 M) just setup a Wealthsimple TFSA and am looking to purchase some ETFs. + +From what I’ve seen in this sub, most Vanguard ETFs (VFV, VBAL, VTMGX, etc) have a BlackRock equivalent (XEQT, etc.) +I’ve noticed slightly higher MERs with Vanguard but higher net assets. + +Is there a firm you prefer and stick to, and why? + +Thank you for your input. + +Cheers +I just read the numbers that Toronto’s real estate board released this week, things like the average price of a detached home increasing by 20.9. I've also heard similar stats in Vancouver. + +What's driving all this, it can't be all foreign investment, can it? I also understand rates are at a historic low but shouldn't that also mean accelerated sale prices across the rest of the country? + +I mean look at this quote: +"In Vancouver, the (already sky-high) price of a detached residential property jumped 27.9 per cent in January compared to the same month last year, to $1.29 million." + +Nuts. + +Are we pumping air into a bubble? +So I had a blow up day yesterday + +[https://tradigro.com/social/user/peter5/accounts/639975e81c3c2800e5d2d71e/days/63ac56481c3c2800e5d2d8c9?c=yt1r](https://tradigro.com/social/user/peter5/accounts/639975e81c3c2800e5d2d71e/days/63ac56481c3c2800e5d2d8c9?c=yt1r) + +and today has been a similar down day (although I didn't hit the -$1k lock out today): + +[https://tradigro.com/social/user/peter5/accounts/63adabbf1c3c2800e5d2d919/days/63adabc71c3c2800e5d2d91c?c=yt1r](https://tradigro.com/social/user/peter5/accounts/63adabbf1c3c2800e5d2d919/days/63adabc71c3c2800e5d2d91c?c=yt1r) + +For me, it seems that a blow up day is followed by either another blow up day, or a small winning day, and very rarely I'll have a big winning day to make up for the blow up day. My biggest mistake seems to be not listening to my PnL as I trade. That is, if I have two losing trades I don't consider flipping my direction, even though the PnL is screaming at me that my current direction and plan is wrong. + +I had 8 or so green days in a row, but these last two days wiped all that away after fees. I know I have to take it easy and be patient, but I'm curious what kind of mental tricks you all use to keep from blowing up? +Hi all, + +Just wondered if any of the experienced guy had any top tips for us new guys. ie ‘if you could go back in time what would you do different/avoid/focus on? + +Thanks!! +I see alot of people talking about how they quit their day job because of trading. I really enjoy trading even though I am a beginner. What kind of steps do I need to take if I want to get to where I can day trade for a living? +The numbers: Some 326,000 people who recently lost their jobs applied for unemployment benefits in early October, marking the first decline in a month and pointing to further improvement in the U.S. labor market. New jobless claims paid traditionally by the states fell by 38,000 in the seven days ended Oct. 2 from 364,000 in the prior week, the government said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would drop to a seasonally adjusted 345,000. + +Before the most recent decline, new applications for jobless benefits had risen three weeks in a row, raising questions about whether the delta variant had forced more businesses to lay off workers. Yet most of the increase took place in California and suggested the problems were not widespread. The rest of the states have largely seen applications for unemployment benefits flatten out or decline over the past month. + +The number of people already collecting state jobless benefits, meanwhile, dropped by 98,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.71 million. These so-called continuing claims are near a pandemic low. Altogether, some 4.17 million people were reportedly receiving jobless benefits through eight separate state or federal programs as of Sept. 18. That’s down sharply from 11.3 million at the start of the month, mostly because of the end of temporary federal program to help the unemployed. + +The critical U.S. employment report for September that comes out on Friday could shed light on whether more people are returning to the labor force. Wall Street economists predict job creation will more than doubled to around 500,000 from just 235,000 new jobs created in August. + +[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-jobless-claims-sink-38-000-to-326-000-in-sign-of-improving-labor-market-11633610565?mod=mw\_latestnews](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-jobless-claims-sink-38-000-to-326-000-in-sign-of-improving-labor-market-11633610565?mod=mw_latestnews) +As house prices drop I'm very interested to hear local examples of behavioural changes compared to the boom time years of 2015/16. Ie; is your local Bunnings dead when it used to be packed, are there less tradies driving around your area or less people in the coffee shops etc? + +I'm in Melbourne and have definitely noticed more sale prices for renovation items that would previous never go on sale (50% off premium vanity units for example). +Background here- I live in one of six units. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, one of the tenants went on holiday with his wife back home to India to catch up with family. Great guy, we used to catch up at the bus stop. They were working on getting their permanent residency. + +Anyway, they were due back at end of March. That hasn't happened. I've heard India is in a much tighter lockdown than us, and don't think they were able to get out in time. He worked as a cook in a casino and those are closed down, so would be unemployed when he comes back. + +Although his fire alarm battery warning beep is driving me a little crazy, I wanted to hear from this subreddit if they are aware of others (to get an understanding of numbers) that may be in this situation? + +And in the keeping with the finance nature of this community, what do rental agencies do when no rent is paid and they can't get in touch with the tenant? The furniture hasn't been removed and naturally I don't know if there has been any communication with the REA, but I am curious how widespread this may be, and what happens. + +TIA! +[https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/how-property-lenders-keep-turning-the-screws-on-borrowers-20220621-p5avhu](https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/how-property-lenders-keep-turning-the-screws-on-borrowers-20220621-p5avhu) + +Lenders are cracking down on property buyers and renovators by tightening borrowing conditions amid growing concerns about increased risks because of rising mortgage and building costs. + +Residential property buyers are having to provide lenders more details about spending and income as living expenses soar, experts say, squeezing their capacity to meet rising mortgage costs, particularly in high-cost Melbourne and Sydney. + +Renovation and construction borrowers are also having to provide bigger deposits as labour and material bill blowouts double construction costs, forcing many to renew their loans or postpone the development. + +“Borrowers and lenders are growing nervous as cheap loans come to an end and regulators turn up the heat,” says buyer’s agent Phoebe Blamey, a director of Clover Financial Solutions. + +The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) recently wrote to lenders warning them of the need to tighten scrutiny of “higher risk residential” borrowers, such as loans at a high debt-to-income multiple or high loan-to-value ratio. + + It follows the [regulator’s analysis revealing that nearly one-in-four of new mortgages](https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/banks-put-on-notice-by-apra-to-rein-in-risky-mortgages-20220614-p5ato8) had a debt-to-income ratio of six times or more, which is the level it considers “risky”. + +## Lenders get tough + +Latest policy changes by lenders to tighten terms and conditions for mortgage borrowers include: + +* Increasing deposits and reducing the amount lenders can borrow; +* Tightening evidence of income, particularly for contract and casual workers. For example, many lenders have scrapped the use of overtime worked or any bonuses as evidence of capacity to pay. +* Replacing the ATO notice of assessment, which reflects taxable income after deductions, with the more up-to-date income statement that shows year-to-date salary and wages plus any withheld tax. +* Updating verification of all loan commitments from “latest statement” to “latest statement dated within 30 days from the application date”. Others are reviewing up to two years history of borrowers repayments for all loans, including personal loans and credit cards. +* Providing evidence of deposits for any other loans, regardless of the loan-to-value ratio. +* Adding the location of the property to the living expenses’ section in the loan application used to review an applicant’s household expenditure measure (HEM), which is used to determine available income for repaying a loan. Major cities, such as Melbourne and Sydney, have much higher living costs. + +Household budgets will continue to be squeezed as rising energy costs and continued inflationary pressures are expected to push inflation to about 7 per cent later this year, the Reserve Bank of Australia says. + +Exclusive analysis by RateCity, which monitors lending rates, reveals the maximum borrowing capacity of individuals and families will shrink by up to around 18 per cent as rates continue to rise. + +It shows that a family with an annual pre-tax income of $150,000 with no additional debts and minimal expenses will have its borrowing capacity reduced by more than $163,000, or around 17 per cent. + +## Shrinking borrowing capacity + +The analysis is based on April’s average variable rate of 2.41 per cent and the 4.66 per cent estimated rate by next April. It assumes a family of four seeking a 30-year, principal and interest loan. + +For the same family with a pre-tax income of $400,000 the reduction rises to more than $515,000, or about 18 per cent. + +For a single person earning a pre-tax income of $100,000 with no additional debts and minimal expenses the reduction in borrowing capacity is about $129,000, a decrease of about 17 per cent, rising to about $314,000 for a similar person earning $250,000. + +Other analysts, such as Carlos Cacho, chief economist at investment bank Jarden Australia believe rising rates and pressure on discretionary spending will result in a 25 per cent fall in borrowing capacity. + +Cacho expects [property prices will fall by around 20 per cent nationally](https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/aussie-house-prices-could-fall-more-than-30pc-20220617-p5auhv) with even bigger falls in Melbourne and Sydney, which would be the biggest drop since 1980, when Malcolm Fraser was prime minister and the average house price was $76,500. + +## Renovation cost blow-out + +A record boom in home renovations and unprecedented demand for timber and other building materials is increasing costs by about 80 per cent, with many renovators and those building their own homes facing even higher increases. + +Renovations and construction loan lenders are increasing deposits by more than 10 per cent and have recently increased loan rates broadly in line with recent moves in the cash rate, says Canstar, which monitors interest rates. + +Some renovators “[are in shock](https://www.afr.com/property/residential/rate-rises-prompt-homeowners-to-put-off-renovations-20220505-p5aisb)” because rising costs of materials and labour are causing originally quoted prices to double, says Yelena Smetannikov, an architect at Urban Den Architects in Sydney. + +Smetannikov says demand was booming for new kitchens, bathrooms and home offices, which include additional room for an assistant and audiovisual equipment for video conferencing. + +“It is really tough for renovators,” she says. “Some are postponing any construction for a couple of years until the market calms. They are claiming it is not worth it in current market conditions.” + +Disputes can arise because renovators do not have a clear idea of what they want or how much they want to spend, which can mean changes midway through a project, says Phil Dwyer, a builder and national president of the Builders Collective of Australia. + +Dwyer recommends checking the builder is a registered practitioner for the type of work being planned and has a current certificate of domestic building insurance. + +Also check home and contents policy cover in case extra cover is needed, he says. + +Some renovators are having to reapply for new loans because their original financing is not enough to pay for revised project costs, warns Anita Marshall, managing director of mortgage broker Advanced Finance Solutions. + +“It is a big headache,” Marshall says, adding that borrowers should either consider a fixed price or borrow extra money as a financial buffer. + +Dwyer says builders and renovators need to negotiate a “reasonable and equitable” solution if rising prices for materials causes the original price quoted for a renovation to blow-out. + +“Use your negotiating skills to get the best outcome you can to get the project completed,” Dwyer says. + +“No-one is a winner if lawyers get involved and there is litigation. Everything comes to a standstill for months and months and months and costs are going out to lawyers.” +Hi all! + +I am in the process of getting a significant boost to my take home pay. Currently earn about 50k as a sole trader. Signing on to work with a company around 26 weeks, which will add 100k to my income. This 26 weeks is flexible enough that I can’t see myself earning any less than 50k through my sole trader activities, and may likely take home more. + +I’ve got plenty of questions for my accountant about being placed on a retainer versus being employed, how my tax will work etc. + +But I am also thinking about long term. I live comfortably on 50k, but I don’t really save significant amounts of money. An extra 100k a year will be a massive boost- and I feel like I should start thinking about what exactly to do with it. I’d like to buy a house in the next couple of years, but I am clueless as to what steps to take. + +Could anybody tell me how to find a good financial advisor (assuming this is who I should be speaking to), and give me a ballpark cost? Any advice is much appreciated. I’ve just started browsing this subreddit, and it has been a real education. It’s an amazing resource that I will definitely continue learning from. + +Cheers! +Jake +With the next RBA monetary policy meeting now only a little over a week away, what is your prediction of the interest rate change to be announced? No change, -25bp, -50bp, something else? + +Extra points for your predictions on how much of any rate cut will be passed through to borrowers by the big4. + +I’ll start by predicting (perhaps uncontroversially) a 25bp cut, and a lot of JoFry foot stomping urging the banks to pass on the full cut, and them responding by passing on approx half the cut on average. + +Over to you AusFinance, your thoughts? +I have a 2010 Volkswagen GTI with 55,000 miles. I bought this car 6 months ago and have been looking for ways to get out of the payment. It has 2-3 door dings, front bumper has been curbed, back bumper has a large scratch, and all rims are curb rashed. Also has one less than $500 accident on record. + +Posted on craigslist, but no takers so I took it to Carmax for an appraisal. They offered me $13,000 which was valid for 7 days. I did not take it at the time and the salesman assured me that if I don't take it, the next appraisal will drop to at least $11,000. + +I came back in 10 days later for a second appraisal and was prepared for a low ball offer. They offered me $13,000 again. + +My experience has been pretty good and I think they were very fair with their offer. Average condition Edmunds is 10,900 trade-in...12,300 private. +Kbb is 12,500 trade-in... 14,200 private. + +I am writing because I searched everywhere looking for carmax second appraisal advice and couldn't find it. Maybe someone will find this helpful in the future. +Zombie stock Sears was up 46% on Halloween I believe. Yesterday, I noticed it became delisted. Does this have any meaning or rippling effect? How many words do I need to type? No one knows!!! Call in the wrinkle brains to decipher if this even means anything at all. +Guys, we’ve had it bad the last two trading days. +Many of us are now learning the sad reality that stonks don’t always go up. + +Yes, they can indeed go down too. +That red you’re seeing on screen isn’t a glitch. + +Im a seasoned trader since March and wanted to give you guys a pro tip thats helped me manage my losses. + +If you uninstall robinhood you can also delete your losses. + +Now gtfo of here and dont cry too hard into your pillow tonight, it might make your wifes boyfriend hard. +Hi everyone, thanks for checking my post. I am simply looking for a very close alternative to YNAB. I just saw an announcement they are doubling their yearly cost, and I am in need of an alternative app/program that is the same previous cost ($50/yr) or less. It's not so much that I can't afford it, it's the principle. I'm sure I will get downvotes for that, bring it on. Also if you could bring on answers for my question, that works just as well. + + +Edit: this blew up beyond my expectations. I wanted to thank everyone for commenting, pitching ideas, and telling me I’m wrong. + +Edit 2: I wanted to circle back in case this comes up in a search result for anyone else. After spending some time looking into a majority of apps suggested here, I found that Copilot was likely to be the most similar in interface and ease of use to YNAB. I am as of early November on a free trial, not truly sold on it yet, but it is still early in my use. Of course, now I am questioning the difference $30 makes between Copilot and YNAB on the yearly subscription cost - And may just end up going the free spreadsheet route if Copilot doesn't scratch the YNAB itch. +For a bear market to happen, it would take a lot more than just -42% over a period of 2 months. We've seen as much as -41% being wiped off the market in 2017 in a matter of weeks, yet the bull run kept continuing for months. It is not unrealistic to expect the same thing could happen now in 2022. + +# Comparing the May correction to the current one + +https://preview.redd.it/5ks3gv1qtsc81.jpg?width=1247&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fbf56939bbe923c429c47518b6f608fe18a7ebb + +Bitcoin has also hit a pretty significant support level and is refusing to go below it. This is the same support level that Bitcoin held in late September before hitting a new all-time high. + +The bearish price action we're seeing is still nothing compared to what happened from May - July. In June/July almost everyone was calling for a bear market, but Bitcoin still recovered within a few months. + +# Hash rate shows market is undervalued rather than overvalued + +https://preview.redd.it/q3oxrse2ysc81.png?width=1273&format=png&auto=webp&s=f764e0eea23cb0b849bbe263a3456f9ec3d57033 + +Moreover, a bear market usually comes when the entire market is overvalued, which seems far from the truth considering Bitcoin hit a new hash rate high. If Bitcoin was overvalued, hash rates reaching new highs would be completely irrational as Bitcoin is not cheap to mine. + +**TLDR**: There is still hope in the market because there's still a high likelihood of the market bouncing back like it did in July and September. A -42% loss over a 2 month period is more of a correction than a bear market, and the metrics also show only one thing, and that is we are still far from a bear market. +Please help my father might die I have no relatives he’s the last of my family not sure how to pay the bills all the bills are under his name. + +I’m 29 had a really strange upbringing but it left me not having any education and have only Done odd jobs I don’t have a GED either + +I’ve never paid any bills before and don’t have any credit + +My father was in the Air Force for 27 years he is now on a ventilator Because of heart failure + +All I know is he’s paid off the mortgage of the house. I found his birth certificate and social security number. I also have his computer login and emails? + +What do I do Im the only family member left? And only have 120 dollars But I do have ebt + +Was told + +Estate attorney (I’ve looked it up and can’t afford it I only have 120 dollars) + +Human services + +Not sure what else to do it’s all overwhelming and confusing + +My dad might be weaned off the ventilator tomorrow what should I ask him? If he dies? + +(Edit) also I don’t think my father has a will I live in New Mexico and it says this if you die without a will + +When someone dies without a will (or intestate), New Mexico probate law designates the surviving family members to whom the estate will pass. ... If the deceased left no surviving spouse, then the deceased's surviving children (both biological and adopted) receive the deceased's property in equal shares. + +Would everything just go to me then maybe this is why he didn’t write a will? +All 4 of us (my wife, me, in laws) have a goal to remove them from the loan. What is the best way to accomplish this? + +Lon assumption isn’t an option because we have a conventional mortgage. + +Refinance is another option, we could take cash out at the same time. The reason I say this is because I’ve seen some where you can keep the same terms of the loan (more info on this pls). + +We could refinance but I don’t want to deal with the fees/costs and now higher interest rate. + +Thanks in advance! +Title says it all, wish it were me but, this dude I know is going to receive a 2.4M inheritance and was asking me for advice. Im still a bit of a novice but I'd split about 1Mil in Vanguard Mutual Funds (VFINX, VIVAX, NAESX) for long term, 1Mil in some dividend paying stocks to generate income, and keep the other 400K for savings or property investments. What would you advice this lucky bastich? +Hey guys, It’s your boy- bvttfvcker. + +I want to address the people in this sub and how these events over the past year have affected all of our lives; whether you just showed up to the party recently or have been an avid investor in the greatest company in the world since pre 11/2020, this has been a BIG, SLOW MOVING TRAIN. + +This whole journey has been a literal deployment- exciting things have happened every day, there’s been drama left and right, idols have been deemed as false- we’ve even had to cast some bad actors off our little island over the past almost full year now. + +It’s okay to think of this as taking a while- between when Dr. Burry found (and hedged) the massive flaws in our housing market, it took some 2 1/2 years before he saw a return. + +And most of us are committing ourselves to a trade that we expect to have a certain percent return for in the end (no matter how seemingly ridiculous or how long it takes). + +I was a day-trader before GameStop, and a really shitty one. I got lucky on COVID. I have not and will not sell a single GME share until this is done. + +If you are ever having doubts and just want to vent, find one of my shitposts. I will always talk to you :) + +Edit: I want to drive the point home on a closing note that I understand the frustration in not seeing massive gains right now. I felt cheated in March during the flash crash. I felt serious pain in January. This may be the last chance most of us have at seeing retirement. God bless all of you. +https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2021/05/24/elon-musk-and-michael-saylor-lead-effort-by-bitcoin-miners-to-address-environmental-concerns/ + +Is this the coalition to control your crypto? Is Micheal and MonkeyTroll starting up SEC2: Electric Boogaloo? + + +AT&T is a company that I'm sure doesn't need explaining. It is familiar to all of us as a telecom company that has branched out to providing internet, entertainment (HBO Max being one of their more recent ventures), and more. + +**Why this is being posted now & the potential:** + +* Q3 reporting is set for 22 October. +* At its current price AT&T is in a position to provide significant growth prospects alongside a safe, high-paying dividend. + +&#x200B; + +Looking at it current chart (16 October for reference) we can clearly see here that the stock is trading at its lowest levels since Q1. This provides a great opportunity to buy quality company at much higher yields to lock in superior long-term returns. It is unlikely they will drop much lower than this point due to the effect downward pressure has on dividend paying companies. If we look at the older charts, when AT&T has reached these lows the stock has a strong tendency to rally from this 27-28$ support area. Additionally AT&T has a lot going for it, let's quickly take a look. + +**What AT&T has going for it:** + +* It has increased its dividend payout for the last 36 years and has the means to continue to do so. +* Consistent revenue growth. +* Lots and lots of cash on hand. +* They are a leader in the US for 5G. +* They are working to replace old top management (This is particularly important). +* Warner Media and HBO Max + +Warner Media and HBO Max may be points of controversy here. Let's look at it from this perspective. These get AT&T into new markets, HBO in particular into the saturated streaming market. Netflix has dominated this particular sector, however Disney and AT&T are cracking Netflix's business model by pulling back their streaming to their own platforms. This is the reason Netflix is creating so many of its own shows/movies and increasing it's subscription price. This pressure is allowing AT&T to slowly claw its way in. (Very slowly though, obv HBO Max is no Disney Plus). Additionally this will be the first full quarter of HBO Max on the books for AT&T, with 36 million new subscribers reported it is likely to have a positive effect on the report. + +The safe dividend is a strong factor to remain bullish on AT&T. Even with the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, AT&T's balance sheets show recurring profitability and consistent cash flow generation can easily cover the quarterly payouts. + +**Two big issues:** + +* A lot of long-term debt (At extremely low rates, so fortunately it doesn't impact their cash flow too much) +* Terrible acquisitions over the last 10 years (Direct TV, which they are looking to sell) + +It could be a good sign that AT&T is finally looking to sell the underperforming Direct TV. Sure they bought it for $67 Billion and would likely sell for $20 Billion but off loading legacy segments can allow them to focus on growth and expand into markets that are actually relevant for today and tomorrow while being less of a drag on their current debt. + +**Final Comments:** + +Please extend this by doing your own research on top of everything else you have read here, there were many points only briefly touched on. + +Thank you for taking the time to read! + +EDIT: Thanks to all that posted constructive comments! As several have pointed out, yes, AT&T has underperformed the S&P, it should be avoided if you aren't seeking out a high paying dividend stock. +I am writing a backtesting engine that uses a lot of the same code used by my trader bot. So far, I have only been looking at if strategy is profitable but there I've seen other metrics that are typically reviewed as part of backtesting. Can anyone comment on what these are or point me where I can read more about them. I am having hard time finding on Google what they are. +I think that given the AH activity, we certainly should have stayed in the red today. Something feels different, like maybe we suddenly have a lot of big buyers. + +Did you know that leading up to an earnings call, anyone with insider knowledge of the numbers is in a blackout period, meaning they cannot buy or sell the stock? Usually the day after earnings that blackout period ends. This would be an awfully good time for RC and possibly other GS execs to buy in at this huge discounted price. I’m pretty sure they are and we are going to see some SEC filings soon! +Bought France 30 Put 5550 options (expire on 18/03) from plus 500 at the start of the month. + +On the 05/03, plus 500 removed France 30 options from their service, my puts were priced at £225. + +I have contacted them multiple times about updating its price since. This was their most recent response: + +*I would like to emphasize that we represent the market as it is. Another thing that can be considered is the matter that as we get closer to the expiry the options with irrelevant strike price get less liquid.* + +*Once the expiry date is reached, all positions are closed on the last available rate on which the option was traded. You are welcome to check the expiry in the Details section of your position.* + +Surely something about this is illegal, they clearly aren't representing the market the way it is. FCE is currently trading at 4700, making each option worth ~£800. + +**In the email plus 500 say they won't pay the difference between the strike and current price, is this allowed?** + +Also, I was told they aren't receiving quotes for these options due to a lack of demand. They are restricting demand by removing them from their platform. + +Please advise me on the best thing to do, don't want to lose out on £2000 here. +Hi Reddit, what I have experienced is so absurd that I have to post this. + +On Jan. 23rd, I initiated a wire transfer of $25k to my wife from my Chase account to her BofA account. That day is a Saturday so we waited until the following Monday. On Jan. 25th Monday, the money was taken out of my Chase checking account, but it did not show up in my wife's account. We finally decided to call our banks on Jan. 30th Friday, after not receiving the wire transfer after 5 days. + +We first called Chase bank, whose representatives (we called many times) claimed that the wire transfer had been completed and the money should be at the recipient bank. We then called BofA, who then claimed that they had never received any wire transfer, and that we should follow up with the sender bank. OK, so we went back to Chase telling them this story, who unsurprisingly insisted that the wire transfer had been completed. One of the Chase representatives brought up that I could start a recall request, but in the disclosure she read that the recall is not guaranteed. That sounds fishy? I asked: "so you're saying there's a chance the money is just lost?" and received affirmative answer. This person simply did not care where the $25k was and where it would end up. Anyhow, I started the recall request on the phone. + +The next Monday we decided that we couldn't wait at home and headed to the banks' local branches. We first went to BofA, where a banker helped us do some research. What shocked me was that the banker needed to call the SAME phone number that we had been calling and had to wait for around half an hour before anyone picked up. Before the phone call, the banker assured us confidently that we would find our money, but after she hung up, we were back to square one: the wire department said that they had not seen any money coming in, or on the transit. + +Some context here: the BofA banker told us a story that in the past sometimes the name gets messed up, so the money would be stuck on somewhere called the "transit", which is basically a middle ground for wiring transfers. Someone just needs to go and find it. + +Ok, so the BofA banker, again, told us to follow up with Chase bank, since the sender bank would have more information and can "trace the money in the terminal". + +We then went to the Chase bank. + +I guess I should have been used to it by that time, but it was also shocking to see that the Chase banker, sitting in a glass door office, had to dial the phone for customer service number and waited on hold for 15 minutes to get anything done. Apparently they could not find the money either. Just when I was dreading about the matter, my Chase private client banker heard about this and came in. She told me that she had already started working on the recall request and that we would for sure get the money back. They showed me an internal email that showed the expectation should be around 3-5 business days. My CPC banker also suggested that I send an inquiry through their online banking "secure message center", which apparently goes into a different department and can possibly get me some answers. + +The next day, Jan 31st Tuesday, my CPC banker called me and explained that the reason the wire transfer did not go through initially was that BofA had asked for additional details: my full legal name and my date of birth. Well that's weird, doesn't Chase have that information? Why would the money be stuck for a whole week? I was not able to get these questions answered. + +Around the same day, the secure message center got back, with the following message: + +>Thank you for contacting Retail Wire Servicing. We received your request dated 02/02/21 for wire transfer in the amount of 25000/USD dated 01/25. We have acknowledged your request to know the reason why the wire was not credited to beneficiaries account there is a case follow up for this wire transaction/reference number.xxxxx The update is as follows: • On 01/26 message received from BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.stating "REQUIRE ADDL DETAILS PLEASE PROVIDE THE FULL AND COMPLETE LEGAL NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH FOR \[My name\]. +> +>They were waiting for these details from you in order to credit the wire to beneficiaries account . + +They were waiting for these details from ME? + +The whole time I received zero communication from Chase bank, email, phone or text message saying that I need to provide ANY info for my wire transfer. Every status on Chase shows that the transaction has been completed, so did every Chase representative tell me. Now Chase is sending a message telling me that I should have done something? The absurdness is blowing my mind. + +I replied pointing this out and asked for a written apology and monetary compensation for the time lost. No human response. Only another update that says + +>We have acknowledged your request for a case follow up for this wire transaction/reference number.xxxxx The status update is as follows: • No response yet from the other bank but we just sent a follow up regarding our recall request + +I asked for updates twice this week, and received basically the same message like below: + +>Regarding debit to your account xxxx for 25,000.00/USD dated 1/25/2021 your payment reference number PPL OF 21/01/25 our transaction reference number xxxx .We have been advised by ReceivingBank of the following message quote PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED YOUR CANCELLATION REQUEST. HOWEVER BEFORE WE CAN CANCEL AND RETURN THE PAYMENT WE WOULD NEED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION. PLEASE PROVIDE THE FULL AND COMPLETE LEGAL NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH FOR xxxx. REGARDS, BANK OF AMERICA INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT xxxxx unquote. + +The last one was received today. So BofA is asking for my name and DOB again and has not received any answer it seems like, and Chase is neither asking me for the info (nothing is needed from me from the message) nor replying to them. I replied to this message giving Chase my name and DOB (which is ridiculous) and I suppose I'll see what happens. + +In the meantime, I have called my CPC banker multiple times, every time it sounds like she's sincere and has been working on it, but the lack of update is draining my patience. + +Thanks to Reddit, I filed a cfpb complaint last week (around Feb 2) and have received a call on Feb 9th from someone from "Chase executive office" and got a verbal apology for the first time. The person on the phone claimed that they would start an investigation. + +To this date (Feb 11 Thursday), my $25k is still not back in my account. + +Pardon my writing. Immigrant here. + +**TLDR: Chase lost my wire transfer of $25k, claimed transaction complete when I asked for it, and still has not got it back in my account.** + +**Edit(2/12/2021**): CPC banker left me a voicemail this morning. Apparently the secure message capitalized above IS their way of asking my full legal name and date of birth. I'm still wrapping my head around how that's a question/request for me. Maybe I don't read English? Every time I read it, I interpret as a status update, saying "BofA is saying **this** (asking for blah)". The whole thing looks like a bot message and nowhere in the message are they asking **me** to reply to them with my info. I'm lucky I got used to the way they do things and guessed their intent yesterday and responded with the info. However, shouldn't they have my legal name and date of birth in the first place? How else do they verify my name and date of birth when I call? + +Still mindblown right now. I filed an OCC complaint yesterday (I had already filed a CFPB complaint earlier). + +No money back yet. + +Since I filed two complaints from two different regulartory agencies (CFPB and OCC). There had been a moment when it crossed my mind "this will cause them to make some duplicate effort", but then I thought, why the \* do I care? I did not initiate any of this. + +**Edit(2/12/2021 9:46AM PST)**: The money is back! A different Chase banker called me and on the phone call she noticed that the $25k has been credited on my account. I informed the banker of my ongoing complaints and she said that she would esclate the complaint. At this point I don't trust Chase's own complaint handling system and will follow through with my regulatory agencies complaints. I told the banker that their wiring is horrible and embarrassing. I also made sure she knew that the complaints were not targeted towards her but her company. + +I want to say I won't stop until I get a formal apology, but in this world, you don't get what you want/deserve most of the times. +Man, the glowing optimism around here in the beginning of the year was surreal. It was hypnotic. I was down on the corner sucking hopium for bus fare and then walking home. + +I remember when it crashed, 2 stories in particular: + +1. A newly wed couple who made an excited post about how they were taking the plunge and putting a significant portion of their savings into Bitcoin. This was shortly before that sunday morning crash +2. A guy who had convinced a buddy to invest into btc, his buddy put 5k in and then it crashed - the poster said his buddy deleted him off everything and wouldn't talk to him and was telling mutuals that he ruined his life. + +On the very off-chance one of these people reads this... did you/they hodl? Anyone else have a similar story of possible current redemption thanks to new ATH's? +I've noticed that everytime I mention XMR on this subreddit my comments get down voted to oblivion, is there a particular reason that this community doesn't like XMR? And if so what are the reasons. + +Personally I believe is one of the strongest projects out there with an actual useful usecase. +It can be actually used today in the real world to buy services with privacy. I really don't see why people wouldn't like that. It's true that as am asset is not performing well but the technology is actually really good. + +Is the XMR hate a meme that I'm too slow to get? + +Shower me with your opinions I'm ready. +Over the last year, the antiwork movement has been picking up speed. One of the things that gains a lot of upvotes on there is business owners complaining about how “nobody wants to work anymore” which I believe is the surface level reference. + +This has been fuelled most likely partly by the treatment of workers post covid, and in my opinion, apes who seeing the possibility of no longer having to work, or at least doing something they see as valuable and enjoyable that contributes to the world, have joined a community that shares in the belief that our current way of living and the way we work just isn’t right. + +For these reasons I see this as a joke or a reference to something else. I’m so shocked at how many people took it seriously! + +I don’t know what it could be referencing, although I like the theory that its related to $work/Slack and their company being sued by investors, and it being related to popcorn, but I 100% do not see it as a serious tweet or him actually being mad about something. + +This is all just my opinion, but I do honestly believe I am right, and considering apes have taken literally everything else as a coded message, I’m surprised at the response. +So, it’s safe to say that many people in this sub follow @ryancohen + +Q - Has anyone else noticed the compete and utter lack of notifications or updates from Twatter when Papa C Twats? + +I’m not a regular Twatter myself, but I follow a lot of Twats that are linked with the SuperStonk saga. + +Papa C is the only Twat who I have notifications turned on for. + +I get notified when other Twats twat, but never see notifications for Papa C. Not to my phone and rarely in my feed. + +I often only know he’s Twatted when it’s mentioned on SuperS. + +What. The. Twat? +With Robinhood you make trades for free. With brokers like Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, you can usually trade their own ETFs and mutual funds for free. With companies like Etrade, you generally make trades for a couple of bucks. + +Are there human brokers who make commissions based on their clients trades anymore? I just saw Wolf of Wall Street and they were talking about 50% commission on penny stocks or even 1% commission on blue chip stocks. I know the penny stock stuff was scams but are there legit brokers who still make money on marking up stock and selling it to people (broker dealers)? + +And as an aside, is there anything I need to make sure of to make sure I'm not being scammed? I've bought investments from Robinhood, Vanguard and Wealthfront at various times. Do I actually need to go through all the statements to make sure everything is on the up and up? +Hi there friends from Reddit. Have been a tough year: my wife passed away just a few months ago and now I need to take some decisions... + +I'd like to explain my situation: I've had two jobs for almost 7 years, one is in a startup (total freedom, love it, 50k) and the other is at corporate (one of the largest insurance companies in the world, another 50k). + +I have two flats, the first one is rented (650€) with 160€ mortgage + 55 euros monthly expenses. The second one is 45 min from Paris and could be rented for around 1200€ (with a 650 mortgage and 160€ monthly expenses). Currently, this second flat is not rented, I'm waiting until I have my decision taken about if I'm gonna go live there or not. Total mortgages pending are around 50k and 120k for each flat. + +Also, I have a national pension for the loss of my wife, about 1800 a month before taxes. + +So basically I can have a very high level of quality with both flats rentals + pension + other projects, but my questions are: + +* Should I leave my corporate job? This is a yes with 80% certainty, but I'm not sure. That will give me a more flexible schedule, time for my own projects, etc. +* Should I rent my flat near Paris or sell it? Is there some excel template to make some numbers about pros and cons? It's 500km away but I have contacts that could help me (paying them of course) in order to manage everything. + +I'll try to add more data once you ask. Sorry if something is not clear, but I'm trying to use this also to put my feelings and data in order. It's not easy to take decisions even if Excel shows you everything will be ok. + +Thanks in advance, + +R. +“This green line is secretly the most ambitious act” + +We are making waves even outside of our main sticker! + +Groups are actively trying to incorporate the line. And conversations about GME are everywhere. Thanks for the effort apes! + +https://www.reddit.com/r/place/comments/tv2n39/this_green_line_is_secretly_the_most_ambitious_act/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf +I broke down and decided to read a personal finance book, "I Will Teach You To Be Rich." (not an endorser, just a poor 20something) Im going through the first few pages when I come to a part about getting out of debt. + +Essentially, he says to call your credit card companies and simply ASK to lower your APR. He said it worked 50% of the time with a good argument. + +I thought this was nuts, not going to lie. However, I had an extra hour to kill. So, I called up my 3 credit card companies with a script in hand and 30 minutes later... + +YALL. I got one credit card permanently reduced to 14% APR and TWO credit cards to do a 0% APR promotion for 12 months. My credit cards were pushing 25% APR before these calls. + +This may not be for everyone, but I encourage you to try if you have some time. +&#x200B; + +[tl;dr](https://preview.redd.it/cy00u0q5b49a1.png?width=1388&format=png&auto=webp&s=576c4ca67d42c5783a7f68bca6c95e2640ade768) + +I started donating plasma in April of this year and it seriously saved my a\*\* with the rising costs of pretty much everything. I know not everyone is eligible, but if you have a center nearby I encourage you to check it out. + +Here's a [guide](https://imgur.com/a/kgRF2Gx) I wrote based on my experience. A post I made in the summer has a lot of discussion (both pro and con) of other users' experiences: [July pay schedule! Don’t be afraid of selling your plasma 💉. It can mean an extra $800-$1k your first month (& every time you start at a new center)](https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/comments/vq4fkm/july_pay_schedule_dont_be_afraid_of_selling_your/). I would check that out as well :) + +Wishing all of us a... better(?) New Year 🎊🫂 +**This is a follow up to /u/Greytoc's post here:** https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/mw4jei/psa_stock_promotion_and_suspicious_stock/ + +I'll make this short - we all have seen the strong uptick in "DD" posts on this and every single other financial subreddit. A significant portion of these posts are coming from either new users or suspicious accounts (extensive history posting porn, no prior engagement in financial subs, etc). It's our understanding that a significant portion of these posts are the result of interested third parties compensating people to raise visibility of a stock on Reddit. + +----- + +**Effective immediately, we are implementing the following guidelines:** + +DD (Due Diligence) posts, for purposes below, are any long form posts reporting on specific stocks. Special attention to anything between a 500M and 10B Market cap, as that's where we've seen a lot of this activity. + +**1) If a user is posting their DD post across multiple subreddits it's going to be removed from here.** + +**2) If a DD post is coming from a new user, or one with little to no history participating in any investment/finance subs it's probably going to get removed** + +**3) DD posts must include a legitimate bear case, not lip service to risks, but a genuine examination of risks and adverse outcomes. It must also include actual financials - cashflows, balance sheet items, etc.** You don't need to do a full valuation model like you're an analyst, but you do need to discuss the actual financials of the stock. + +Ultimately this is just a framework - because much of the interpretation of intent here is subjective the mods may still remove a DD post on a given stock if things just feel wrong. I think the constraints on who can post DD should be sufficient to prevent much of the spam/shill type DD posts we've been seeing. + +------ + +**In addition I'm working on an automod sticky that would replace our normal new thread sticky** - this would warn users that DD posts are not to be taken at face value, and that the potential for misleading statements about a security to be made on Reddit is quite high. + +We chatted a bit over this and the above requirements are where we landed, we're still open to feedback or suggestions - the ultimate goal isn't to prevent people from talking about stocks they're interested in - it's to prevent bad actors from utilizing reddit to drive interest in stocks they may have financial interest in. + +People are still free to make discussion posts on a given stock, but those should at least show that you've done a starting bit of research on the stock. But we won't scrutinize something like "what are your thougts on XYZ, here's what I came across" nearly as much as "Full review on this 2B mkt cap generic chapstick manufacturer, it's set to explode". Ultimately this shouldn't impact anyone looking to just chat stocks in good faith - we're only aiming to get rid of a lot of these super suspicious posts that have popped up post GME. + +Unrelated: We've eased up the automod constraints on advice/beginner posts to hopefully encourage more complex questions to come through. +# The bull case + +1. WMT has partnered with Shopify. Thousands of sellers from that platform would join in Walmart Marketplace, which would help increase traffic and generate more revenue from fees and selling its own product. +2. Walmart is speculated to open some forms of banking service which will help bank the millions of unbanked in USA. +3. Walmart's partnership with Instacart and ThreadUp will help it create a dominating position in the online grocery market for the former partnership and a good positioning for high end clothes for the latter partnership. +4. Walmart's positioning in India through Flipkart was a genius deal in hindsight. This is only the beginning for the Indian market so we can expect huge growth in Flipkart. There could be a time where Flipkart could become the most important part of Walmart. +5. Walmart's expansion in Africa and China is also noticeable. +6. My own DCF estimates point out that Walmart is at least 10% off from its fair value, taking most of the growth factors out of the equation(mostly, due to them being incredibly hard to actually give a value) and using fairly conservative estimates. +7. Walmart+(recently launched) and Sam's Club could have a further good impact on its bottom line. +8. Recent venture by Walmart to launch a fintech startup shows that management is hungry for growth. They are also launching it just like a startup. +9. Walmart's management has shown good competency unlike most of the companies at this stage as a business. They are integrating various services somewhat like Amazon and this is very bullish. +10. There is the possibility of multiple expansion in Walmart. +11. Walmart is also setting up for more automation in its supply chain. And this will ultimately reduce cost and increase its margin. +12. Lotto ticket case. Walmart cancels its dividends and says they are focusing on growth and are a tech company. +13. u/JayArlington pointed out and I completely forgot to include this in my DD. Walmart is also targeting the health care sector. Walmart can actually prove to be a huge boon as it could probably reduce prices of medicines by using the various strongarm tactics it does with its suppliers. While this is nothing much positive/negative for us shareholders in the near term, taking everything into consideration, we will have to see how much Walmart will decide to push in this sector. + + +# Bear case +1. The various expansions and investments Walmart is making is very expensive in their very nature so one might say this is negative if they fail to succeed in their ventures. +2. Raising of minimum wage will also impact its bottom line(although I tried to take that into account in my valuation). +3. Redditors with huge disposable income may not like Walmart as a company because of moral relativism and herd mentality. +4. Also, as some users pointed out, they don't like the cluttered scenario of Walmart and Amazon's marketplace offerings. This is a very much emerging scenario where specialty online stores may have an edge over generalist marketplaces in certain cases. +Hypothetical scenario. (The scenario isn't really important, just the outcome) + +Recession hits in 2020, it's global and it's a bad one. The FED slashes interest rates and runs the deficit up even higher for very marginal return. + +Nobody wants to/can lend the US money. Global trade has slumped, demand for dollars is already very low. + +The Fed is forced to print dollars. + +Cue a mass sell-off of US dollars overseas. + +The dollar is plummeting. + +How would you profit in this scenario? + +EDIT: If your answer is "that would never happen, because.....", Then you don't understand how hypotheticals works. + +EDIT2: If your answer is "Just short the dollar", that's also not helpful. +This is from this Bloomberg article [The Black Hole Engulfing the World's Bond Markets](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-13/the-black-hole-engulfing-the-world-s-bond-markets-quicktake) + +>A bond can have a modestly positive coupon when issued by a government, institution or company, but once it starts trading, high demand by investors can push its price up -- and therefore its yield down -- to such an extent that buyers no longer receive any payment. Some funds track government bond indexes, meaning they must buy the bonds regardless of the yield. + +The whole article is informative and a quick read. +Hi, + +I'm thinking of quitting my full time "IT" role (the job isn't really IT, but it was initially advertised as IT but all I do is spend time looking at website metadata and creating logins) that is currently paying 60k a year so I can work on learning SQL, Python, and the Google Data Analytics Professionals Certificate full time, and I already have a Bachelor of IT, majoring in Information Systems and Business Analysis. + +I'm fairly fed up with how I am treated at work, I was the new guy and no one really tried to make me feel welcome or anything. When we were previously in the office after lockdown ended last year, I would always try to make small talk to just try to get to know the team a little more better and to feel included but it always felt one sided. They would regularly go get coffee and lunch together without asking me if I want to join. After the Christmas closure no one told me that they would all be working from home so the first work day of this year I went to the office and had to find out for myself that everyone is working from home again. Sometimes when I message them asking for help or some clarification, my messages would sometimes be left ignored on multiple occasions. + +Currently I'm on a PIP review because I was tested on my knowledge of the product and I forgot a very, very niche thing so now the manager keeps mentioning that I may be terminated if I'm not up to standard. The thing is that I don't even really get help anyway and this is seriously affecting my mental health at times. I don't really see a future for myself in this company or any progression as a coworker told me that he's only jumped from 55k to 60k in the almost three years he's been in the team. + +So that is my situation right now and I think I've lost a bit of interest in IT, and want to become a data analyst instead. I don't mind just hopping on jobseeker for a while and apply for part time roles while I study. I also have other potential prospects at the moment with a graduate role that a friend is referring me to and an IT role at Google. + +I live in social housing with my family and my portion of the rent is calculated to be almost $300 which is a third of my after tax income a week so if I'm on centrelink my income in no longer calculated anymore, but I would still help with my mums portion of the rent with my centrelink income. I hope no one thinks less of me for wanting to go on centrelink for a while and living in social housing because my parents came to australia with nothing and we still have nothing I guess. + +So anyways do you guys think it might be a reasonable idea for me after all the reasons I've listed above to just quit my job, go on centrelink, study full time for another career path, and look for part-time work to supplement my income? I'm also thinking of delaying my resignation until I'm asked to go back to the office as well. +Just wondering if there are any people out there with properties in Australia paying off their mortgage completely with the rental income? Does such property exist? If not, how much do you personally chip in additionally to pay off the mortgage + +Cheers +Looking at the /r/financialindependence targets for FIRE (financial independence retire early) do they seem excessive to people here in Aus? + +They often seem to target well over 1 million USD in a country where cost of living is lower on average than Aus. I'm wondering if their shitty healthcare and insurance system is driving up the cost of FIRE? + +I feel like in Aus, with universal healthcare to fallback on and relatively cheap private health insurance that I could more than happily live off of the returns on half that ($500,000). Particularly if you supplemented your income with a part time job or work for food and board type situation. + +Is there something I'm missing here, do you need a million+ bucks to FIRE in Aus? + +As I look at apartments and units, everyone is quick to chime in reminding me about "strata" and the things I can and can't do but no one has told precisely what it is. + +I understand it's some kind of fee for upkeep of a set of units. + +Does that mean I can't build a pergola? Paint? Rip up the garden? +According to credit savvy I have had the top rating ‘excellent’ credit score for 7+ years now. I just missed one small monthly credit card repayment for the first time in all these years due to an admin error on my behalf and my score crashed to two whole tiers to below average. + +I took pride in my credit score but this just goes to show it’s all a bit of BS. I have a near perfect history of servicing hundreds of thousands dollars of credit card/mortgage debt and I miss one $35 monthly payment and my credit score tanks. + +I’m sure my score will revert to normal for me soon enough but I see a lot of people posting on here worrying about their score and I just wanted to share my story to show how fickle it all is and hope those worried don’t stress too much if your score takes a hit, it’s no big deal. +Like many others on here, I’ve seen so many incredible stories and thought wow how did people do that. No doubt a lot of hard work and smart budgeting went into it, but I think it’s also important to acknowledge that there was a lot of luck - the stock market has been on an amazing run the last 10 years. If you started working and saving 10 years ago, the S&P 500 was just over 1000. It’s now over 3300, and that doesn’t account for dividends. Compare that to the previous 10 years when it was basically flat. Just something to keep in mind. We all do the best we can but somethings are out of our control. +Can someone explain to me what this means? I am regarded so sometime I have trouble understanding. Bezingies says shorts have risen 130%. Is this good for squeeze or ? This was from Thursday.. + +" The company recently reported that it has **30.76 million shares sold short**, which is 108.86% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, **it would take traders 0.9 days to cover their short positions on average."** + +&#x200B; + +What does this mean??? + +(PS. This is a re-post my other one got removed for some reason.) +I'm 27, maxed TFSA with 85% in VEQT and about 15% in some actively managed funds (FID3481, FID5982, FID670, FID675). + +I have about $8k in my RRSPs split between 2.5k cash, \~1k in AC and the rest in VEQT. I'd like to buy into some tech sector or other higher risk long term ETFs. Wondering if anyone has any advice on what to buy and if I should buy now or buy over the next bit. I'd also take advice on how much to hold vs my other holdings. +My father passed away a few months ago and I'm currently trying to plan my family's/mother's investments since my father is the one who take care of investing for our family. I'd really appreciate any help/suggestions since I'm still in university and don't have that much experience investing yet. + + + +My mom plans to retire in about 6-8 years and has no major expenses left since their mortgage was paid off. Once retired, she probably won't exceed more than the 15% marginal tax rate on income (\~$49k) and will probably spend less. All of my father's investments have been transferred over and I will refer to everything as hers which is \~$1.2M in investments, not including our home. + + + +We've already allocated 6 months worth of emergency savings outside of this \~$1.2M and plan on investing the rest. She's maxed out her TFSA and RRSP, so we have \~$260k (21.7%) that we plan to put in a non-registered account. + + + +Summary Breakdown: + +\~1.2M in investments, not including home + +\~260k (21.7%) cash that we plan on putting in non-registered account + +\~550k (45.8%) individual TSX60 stocks, mainly banks + +\~90k (7.5%) individual US stocks, US Banks + Pfizer + +\~50k (4.2%) Apple + Amazon + +\~195k (16.3%) ETF indexes and mutual funds that are 70% Canadian, 25% US, 5% International + +\~105k (8.8%) GIC/Bonds + + + +Questions + +1. When my mom retires she plans to pull from her RRSP first (\~590k right now) so she potentially won't need to touch the non-registered account for 12-15+ years. Does this mean she should purchase something like VGRO or even entirely equity ETFs like VFV and ZNQ in this account? +2. Should she use the Horizon swap based ETFs like HXT, HXS, and HXQ in this non-registered account for the tax advantages? +3. I noticed the current percentage of GIC/bonds is pretty low compared to somewhat conservative Canadian Couch Potato portfolios like VBAL and VCNS. Would this matter for her situation? If the emergency savings + existing 105k should be able to sustain her lifestyle for 3 years, I assume there's no need to purchase an amount amount greater than this? +4. The percentage of international exposure in this portfolio seems very small to me and based off of emerging trends I'm seeing in China, South East Asia, Taiwan, I feel it might make sense to allocate some percentage of the portfolio to this as well. What's an international exposure percentage that would make sense in this case? +5. Any ideas for how it might make sense to restructure this portfolio or anything that sticks out as odd? +6. Are there any good guides you recommend for helping me learn more about investing? + + + +Thank you so much for your help, I genuinely appreciate this so much. +Hi everybody, + +For those of you that have maxed out your RRSP & TFSA accounts, what other options have you considered to keep your taxes to a minimum? + +With the upcoming budget on April 19th, do you think government will take some measures to cool down this crazy hot real estate market? + +[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-24/canada-s-biggest-bank-says-the-housing-market-is-overheating](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-24/canada-s-biggest-bank-says-the-housing-market-is-overheating) +I've been using Questrade for about 5 months and part of my strategy includes buying stocks at no less than $1000 in value because the $4.95 USD commission both ways will hurt my value on the stock and increase risk. How do you invest monthly? Should I be setting up automatic payments to an ETF? Looking to hear some of this communities thought, I'm pretty new. +Hello everyone, + +I have recently filled both my tfsa and rrsp and want to move to the next step which I’m guessing would be a taxable account. + +What types of stocks would be best in this account? + +Does anyone have a spreadsheet to keep track of everything to make it easier once tax time comes around? + +When next year hits and I have another ~$20,000 of room in the registered accounts, do you move the money from the taxable to the registered accounts or just leave it and put it “new money”? +I'm planning to switch to Disnat or NBDB from Wealthsimple Trade in the near future. On most points that I care about, both brokers are more or less level. I wanted to clarify a couple questions: + +\- Do either of these brokerages charge any additional fees (besides the inactivity fees) for USD accounts (cash/tfsa for example). I wasnt able to find anything on this so my assumption is no, just want to confirm since platforms like QTrade do have additional fees for USD accounts. + +\- What are peoples general experiences with each platform? + +\- Disnat specific: Does the $15,000 cutoff for the RRSP fee waiver refer to your RRSP balance, or total portfolio? (Note, this is different from the inactivity fee) + +I'm leaning slightly towards NBDB because they're more generous with their fee waiver (5 trades a year) and that they have a greater presence outside QC/ON, but I like that Desjardins has an app. Curious to hear any input or insights. + +Thanks +Hi all, + +&#x200B; + +After my previous post on here where I asked for advice on setting up the retirement portfolio for my parents, and after reading [this MoneySense article](https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/a-better-way-to-generate-retirement-income/), I came up with the following three possible allocations, each very different from the other. Was wondering if it's a solid plan? Appreciate any and all advice, thanks! + +&#x200B; + +Background info: + +* Parents are early 60's, semi-retired, lowest income tax bracket +* As per their request, they want to live off the portfolio *without touching the principal* to leave as much as possible for kids (I realize my possible conflict of interest here but this was their request) +* Their goal is to get **4%** from their investments each year and use that as a cash flow stream (can be adjusted for market performance) + +&#x200B; + +**Option 1** (dividend/distribution-based approach): + +* Invest portfolio entirely in a dividend ETF like Blackrock's [XTR](https://www.blackrock.com/ca/individual/en/products/239495/ishares-diversified-monthly-income-etf/) (\~ 5 - 5.5% yield) and use dividends as cash flow +* Withdraw only 4% annually and remaining yield re-invested into buying more XTR + +&#x200B; + +* Advantages: don't need to touch principal +* Disadvantages: not much potential for growth because of how dividend distributions affect NAV + +&#x200B; + +**Option 2A** (total return approach, 5YR GIC ladder): + +* This approach is like what was written up in the MoneySense article, allocation in table below + +&#x200B; + +* Advantages: steady stream of income, adjusted for inflation // can also be variable spending depending on how portfolio is doing that year +* Disadvantages: possibly dipping into the principal in long-run; 5YR GIC ladder (explained below) + +&#x200B; + +**Option 2B** (total return approach, 3 YR GIC ladder): + +* Advantages: shorter GIC ladder, more potential for portfolio growth + +&#x200B; + +**Option 3** (total return approach, 5YR GIC ladder at first then 3YR GIC ladder): + +* This approach is similar to Option 2, however for the first two years we wouldn't replenish the GIC ladder by selling VEQT/VAB, but rather once a GIC matures (after 1st year, for example) that would be transferred to the HISA and used for monthly income +* This way, I believe it mitigates some of the risk associated with the markets possibly not doing well in the first few (2-3) years while the GIC ladder starts at 5yr and then eventually becomes a 3yr ladder +* Once there are only 3 years worth of GIC ladder left, we would stick to that 3 year GIC ladder plan and keep purchasing a new GIC each year with 3 year maturity by selling off VAB/VEQT when rebalancing +* Allocations in the table will vary after first year depending on VAB/VEQT performance... + +&#x200B; + +* Advantages: mitigates risk associated with early years of retirement, not knowing how the portfolio/markets will do +* Disadvantages: possibly dipping into the principal in long-run + +&#x200B; + +|Cash (in HISA)|4%| +|:-|:-| +|5YR GIC Ladder|4% x 5yrs = 20%| +|VAB|16%| +|VEQT|60%| + +&#x200B; +If you want to DRS but can't, I understand. However anyone who is too lazy or is just waiting, you will definitely fold in the 1k-5k range. + +A big benefit since I've been direct registered is not seeing potential losses and gains infront of my eyes everyday, this will make it a lot easier when gut wrenching amounts of gains are fluctuating in my account. + +I still can't believe the amount of people who haven't direct registered despite all the hints by Gamestop, they're giving us high score targets every earnings call, a year ago we were just direct registering in the dark. + +Now we have verified concrete numbers that continue to grow yet some people still sit on the fence, how? + +If you haven't understood the DTCC's level of complicit fraud and that realistically they were the source of the buy button removal, through the NSCC or Apex or whatever scapegoat used and you STILL trust them to hold your IOU shares? + +Would you keep paying your life savings to a corrupt accountant? Because you are If you're not direct registered. +[GOTS, part 1.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nud0so/gods_of_the_sun_part_11_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +GOTS, part 1.2 + +[GOTS, part 1.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nv333e/gods_of_the_sun_part_13_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Hey apes. + +tldr: part 1.1 of this series introduced the market media manipulation of the meme stock narrative to paint retail investors and GameStop in a negative light, the possibility that RC's Sears tweet points directly at predatory vulture funds, and a big finance play to coordinate a massive meme stock pump and dump that crushes retail and gives the SEC an excuse to regulate Wall Street's retail investment competition, a scheme that centers around AMC and it's CEO, Adam Aron. Part 1.2 dives deeper into vulture funds and specifically focuses on **Apollo Global Management, a vulture fund founded by Leon Black, the Apollo founding CEO who stepped down as CEO and from the board for paying Jeffrey Epstein $158 million dollars.** Why is that relevant to our favorite stock? Apollo Global tried to orchestrate a leveraged buyout of GameStop in 2019. It also attempted a leveraged buyout of AMC in December 2020. **And Adam Aron? He's been with Leon Black and Apollo for 30 years and was an Apollo Global vulture fund Senior Partner when Apollo sold AMC to Chinese vulture fund, Wanda Group.** + +**This post also sets the stage for an exploration of why a company's senior note debt is as important to future company projections as its ability to control the dilution of its shares when attempting to maintain shareholder value. This discussion aims to shed light on the importance of RC paying off GameStop's outstanding senior note debt,** though market media has attempted to thoroughly obscure how important that event was in the meme stock narrative, and why. + +And thanks to everyone who took the time to read GOTS 1.1 and leave comments and point deeper down rabbit trails. Please continue. Apes together strong. + +Let's go. + +**ENTER APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT** + +Apollo Global Management is a predatory vulture fund that has a long history with AMC. Here's an article that paints a clear picture of [Apollo entering the AMC bankruptcy sweepstakes written by Mark Hake for investorplace.com](https://investorplace.com/2021/01/cash-infusion-amc-stock-fighting-chance/) before price action in January; here’s a big chunk of Hake’s article: + +>One more piece of news to factor in is that The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 6 that **AMC was trying to leverage the assets of its U.K. Odeon cinema group.** The article said AMC was seeking 300 million GBP (about $408 million before expenses) in **new credit facilities from Apollo Global Management** (NYSE:APO). + +>**Typically in these kinds of deals, the private equity funds providing the capital have horrendous fees, large amounts of warrants and odious covenants, collateral, hurdles and maintenance ratios.** On top of that **AMC will have to prove to its investment committee they can produce enough cash flow to cover their interest charges and stay out of bankruptcy. In fact, I have seen situations where the hedge fund / private equity fund provided the debt capital to a struggling but valuable company even when it knew the company couldn’t handle the debt. It fully expected bankruptcy.** + +>But **being the most recent capital provider it can supersede other debt investors.** It can obtain the rights to the collateral. **Either that or it knew it would have a controlling stake in the company simply from a large amount of debt provided.** + +>**I can envision a situation like this where Apollo Capital wants to be the biggest stick at the bankruptcy table. To get there, it has to provide the most recent pre-bankruptcy capital.** + +In other words, Apollo Global Management would like to saddle AMC with debt that gets portrayed as capital in order to take profit from the company going bankrupt, which is still expected, the epitome of the parasitic corporate raider ethos. Only this time they’re able to milk retail investors they can rug pull at any time with share dilution they portray positively in the media. Again, encumber the company, distress the company into a survival struggle or capitalize on a naturally occurring survival struggle, pump the price as high as you can, take as much money as you can, let the bear raiders circle, then crush the price into the profit windows of the short hedges while you bankrupt the company. Easy. + +To reiterate the points above, Apollo Global [tried to buy AMC in December 2020 through a leveraged buyout](https://nypost.com/2020/12/11/apollo-circling-amc-as-chain-scrambles-to-stay-afloat-sources/); from the article: + +>AMC Entertainment is being circled by a trio of investment firms including Apollo Global Management as the movie-theater chain scrambles to stay afloat amid the pandemic, The Post has learned. + +>**Apollo, which along with Canyon Capital Advisors and Davidson Kempner Capital Management are holders of AMC’s first-lien debt, are urging the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy** and have offered $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing, according to sources close to the situation. + +Being circled by predatory vultures... + +Apollo Global [also tried to perform a leveraged buyout of Gamestop in 2019](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-and-the-art-of-the-non-deal-11548779069); from the article: + +>GameStop said Tuesday that it has ended its efforts to find a buyer. In its filing, **the video game retail chain blamed the decision on “lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer.”** The Wall Street Journal had previously reported the company was talking with private-equity firms Sycamore Partners and **Apollo Global Management LLC** about a potential deal. + +>Put another way: Financial backers weren’t exactly lining up to take on a retailer whose core business—selling new and used game disks—is slowly vanishing thanks to the rise of digital downloads. + +Something fascinating to me has been looking at how the media drove sentiment about GameStop at this time when vulture funds were seeking to enter it into a bankruptcy path, a time we know also coincides with bear raiders like Melvin already shorting GameStop into the abyss. For instance, let's look at [the article titled “GameStop ends search for a buyer, shares plunge](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-ends-search-for-a-buyer-shares-plunge-11548771564?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1) again. Just focus on the title. What’s the connotation? GameStop needed a buyer and failing to find one caused a massive stock price fall. But what’s the reality? GameStop sidestepped a leveraged buyout with likely horrendous terms that would have massively hampered the company’s effort to move forward. How do we know that? GameStop’s statement also recorded in the article: + +>“GameStop’s Board has now terminated efforts to pursue a sale of the company due to the lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer,” the company said. + +In other words, GameStop avoided financing on terms acceptable to a vulture fund buyer, those terms realistically a guaranteed bankruptcy bid while predatory short hedges were already coordinating a GameStop bankruptcy yolo and hammering GameStop through their media channels. And how did GameStop avoid this fate? It’s also in the article. The sale of Spring Mobile. However, this cash influx gets framed as a company problem by referring the sudden cash influx back into the need for a buyer; to this aim, the author writes: + +>As part of its strategic review, GameStop reached a deal in November to sell its Spring Mobile business to Prime Communications LP. The sale of nearly 1,300 wireless phone stores closed earlier this month, netting GameStop roughly $735 million in cash. + +>The company said Tuesday it is still determining how best to use the proceeds, including reducing debt, buying back stock or reinvesting in the business. + +>**Without a sale, GameStop’s future remains uncertain** as its options range from becoming more active in esports, competitive video game contests, to focusing on how it can diversify revenue at its existing stores. + +Here’s [another article from this time period that really drives the point home that GameStop was on the brink of failure](https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-videogame-market-shifts-gamestop-struggles-to-boost-sales-11546561467?mod=article_inline), a definitive manipulation of investor sentiment. The article asserts: + +>“GameStop has become irrelevant in the video game market,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst at BenchMark, in a research note. + +And: + +>“Their strength is in their loyal customer,” Mr. Sebastian said. “They are in a challenging spot, but they have, for now, retained the vast majority of their customers. That window is not going to be open forever.” + +To step into GameStop bullish mode for a moment, it sure seems like we’ve overcome the reasons to be a GameStop bear. I also hope it’s starting to work through you how coordinated the manipulation of the stock market has become because a few bad people developed a profit model that considers driving companies toward bankruptcy good risk management. Just remember this statement: *"I can envision a situation like this where Apollo Capital wants to be the biggest stick at the bankruptcy table. To get there, it has to provide the most recent pre-bankruptcy capital."* I also hope you’re realizing that debt notes are important to a company’s future, just like the potential use of its shares to raise capital. + +And I said the “bad people” word… but surely Apollo Global aren’t bad people, right? + +Wrong. + +Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica. + +We’re about to get really dirty together. + +So [here’s RC dunk tweeting on Jim Cramer to get you through it](https://twitter.com/ryancohen/status/1336775515101949963?s=20). + +Or just [take in this beautiful shitpost by u/cui-ui](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nrkjle/rc_tweet_easter_egg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and buy more GameStop and hold it for your innocence every day and [ev](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/na3akt/all_the_confirmation_bias_i_need_right_here_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)ery night if you like the stock. + +Sorry apes. Sometimes shit gets dark. + +**LEON BLACK, JEFFERY EPSTEIN, AND ADAM ARON** + +Leon Black is the co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Just [listen to this horseshit on Bloomberg YouTube in a video titled “Why Leon Black is the Most Feared Man in Private Equity”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8lMILoFVYk) now that we know what a vulture fund is and how it functions. The reporters skirt the application of the word “ruthless” to Apollo and Leon, then refer to “the magic of Apollo” referencing an insurance scheme. Someone please look into the insurance scheme the reporters talk about that BlackStone and Carlyle Group are also hawking, keeping in mind that Carlyle Group is the vulture fund that spawned Jerome Powell for us. And [here’s the article about Leon Black from Bloomberg that led to the Bloomberg YouTube discussion titled “Nobody Makes Money Like Apollo’s Ruthless Founder, Leon Black”](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-16/nobody-makes-money-like-apollo-s-ruthless-founder-leon-black). + +The man is a financial predator and “predator” seems like a theme that runs through other facets of his life. For instance, Leon Black got removed as Apollo’s CEO in early 2021 for his deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, though he still remained on the board until March; this [Financial Times article titled “Why Did Leon Black Pay $158m to Jeffery Epstein”](https://www.ft.com/content/23448802-3ee8-4c3c-bb46-fc02e304f3ed) gets right into it: + +>Mr Black is one of the most successful financiers of his generation, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, a group that ranks among the most powerful on Wall Street. Yet **the billionaire attributes a sizeable part of his family wealth to Epstein, estimating that as much as $2bn in benefits can be traced back to the late paedophile’s financial acumen.** By comparison, Forbes magazine estimated Mr Black was worth $7.7bn at the time of Epstein’s 2019 suicide. + +>On Monday, lawyers for Apollo pointed to that professional relationship to explain why its founder had paid $158m to Epstein over a five-year period ending in 2017 during which the disgraced businessman served as Mr Black’s high-priced adviser on issues ranging from audits by the tax authorities, management of his yacht and private plane and a dispute over the ownership of a sculpture by Pablo Picasso. + +>**Over two decades, Mr Black confided in Epstein regarding personal matters, leaned on him as an “architect” of, and “strict taskmaster” for, the private office that managed his investments. The men socialised or held meetings at Epstein’s Caribbean island** and his other properties in New York, Paris, Florida and New Mexico. + +Hmm. They went to an island together. I wonder why? But then their relationship deteriorated. And how did it deteriorate? Here’s the characterization that sounds decidedly like being caught up in a honey trap: + +>As their relationship deteriorated, **Epstein was not above invoking his friendship with Black in an attempt to extract more money. According to the report by Apollo’s lawyers, he did so “by referencing personal matters that Black had shared with Epstein in confidence”.** Their report added: “There is no evidence that those matters had any relationship to any of Epstein’s criminal activity or to any of Black’s payments to Epstein.” + +But surely I’m just drawing conclusions, right? Nothing to see here, right? It was just business, right? + +I don’t think so, and here’s why. + +An interesting coincidence happened this week while AMC started to pump. What was it? Leon Black reentered the news cycle. Here’s [a Miami Herald investigation into allegations Leon Black sexually assaulted (I'm using that language because the other 'r' word is banned on posts) a woman and paid her hush money while trying to intimidate her into silence](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article251827913.html) that got released [June 1st](https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1399727581369409539?s=20); here’s the intro to the article: + +>A New York woman has filed a defamation lawsuit against Leon Black, alleging that the hedge fund titan sexually assaulted, harassed and intimidated her, then paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money for more than a decade to keep her from going public. + +>Guzel Ganieva, a former model who went on to earn a business degree from Columbia and attended law school, **claims that Black, former CEO of Apollo Global Management, was a “predator” who “forced sadistic sexual acts on her without her consent,” then demanded she sign a non-disclosure agreement, telling her he would “destroy her” if she ever told anyone about his conduct,** according to the suit. + +>Black, 69, stepped down as Apollo’s chairman and CEO in January, amid revelations that he paid sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein more than $150 million for financial advice. + +That’s as much as I’ll quote from the Miami Herald article at this point. I encourage you to read the article though, but with a SERIOUS TRIGGER WARNING before you do. It gets pretty graphic with what Leon Black is accused of doing to Guzel. It also helps us pivot back into what it looks like when a media company tries to control a narrative. How? Because [Verizon just **sold their media business including Yahoo and AOL to Apollo Global** for $5 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/verizon-sells-yahoo-and-aol-businesses-to-apollo-for-5-billion.html) as reported by the May 3rd article I linked, and we can check out the historical record of how Yahoo has covered Leon Black to see if there’s been a change of tone since the ownership transition. + +The first indication of a FUD campaign on Yahoo is [this article titled “Woman accuses Leon Black of defamation, violent behavior”](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/verizon-sells-yahoo-and-aol-businesses-to-apollo-for-5-billion.html). To start, no. He’s accused of the 'r' ward and years of intimidation, and you can see the extra effort to steer around the ‘r’ word when the article author phrases an 'r' word allegation as “subjecting her to sexual violence.” And let’s just break down this Apollo media characterization of Guzel and Leon together: + +>The complaint said Black subjected Ganieva over several years to numerous instances of unwanted sexual conduct. It referred twice to his alleged "sexual assaults and r-pes" of her, and specifically described one alleged ['r' word] from 2014. + +>"Ms. Ganieva's allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior are categorically untrue," a spokesman for Black said in a statement. "Mr. Black emphatically denies each and every spurious allegation put forth in this lawsuit and looks forward to disproving them in court." + +>The spokesman also said Black made "substantial monetary payments" to Ganieva based on her threats to go public about their relationship. He did not specify a dollar amount. + +>Ganieva said in her complaint that she received unspecified "regular payments" from Black for 5-1/2 years after she signed a nondisclosure agreement in October 2015. + +>She said Black moved to silence her for his alleged misconduct by coercing her into signing the agreement, **in exchange for forgiving $960,000 of loans he had made and which she could not repay.** + +How this reads to me is Leon used his leveraged buyout vulture capital experience to bend a victim to his will. Why? We know that Guzel is a “former model who went on to earn a business degree from Columbia and attended law school” from the Miami Herald article. However, this Yahoo article deliberately frames her as “a Russian native now in her late 30s” after contrasting Leon and Guzel’s perspectives of the allegations. What I detect is a subtle/not-so-subtle narrative building device that appeals to the idea that Leon is the victim getting coerced, the psychological hook being that mention of Guzel’s complaint (that has to be mentioned because it’s public) that includes “sexual assaults and r---s” is immediately followed by the suggestion statement that "Ms. Ganieva's allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior are categorically untrue.” That hook is couched as a quote that also doubles as an appeal to authority. The appeal to authority functions through a subsequent reference to courtroom action to defend Leon Black from what’s presented to look like an extortion attempt. Again, it reads, “Mr. Black emphatically denies each and every spurious allegation put forth in this lawsuit and looks forward to disproving them in court.” But again, Guzel is characterized as just a Russian woman who is making untrue allegations to extort money rather than an immigrant lawyer who is making allegations that will be heard in court. + +Reaching? No. How do you know? Here’s a *before Apollo purchased Verizon* and an *after Verizon purchased Verizon* comparison of Yahoo’s coverage of Black and Epstein to hammer the media FUD point home. In January, before the Apollo buyout, Yahoo reported Black’s Epstein relationship as follows: + +**Black provided support for Epstein’s lavish lifestyle over a five-year period that ended in 2017 — long after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a prostitution charge involving a teenage girl**, the review found, according to The New York Times. That report noted that Black — who will step down by the end of July — viewed Epstein as a “confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes.” + +However, in the article about Guzel’s allegation of r-pe and coercion after Apollo bought out Verizon, Yahoo characterizes Black’s Epstein relationship as follows: + +>Black, 69, stepped down this year as Apollo's chief executive and chairman, after an independent review conducted by the Dechert law firm said he had paid the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning. + +>The Dechert report found Black was not involved with Epstein's criminal activities. Black said at the time he deeply regretted his involvement with Epstein. + +Draw your own conclusions. Here’s a March news cycle [that characterizes the media probe into Black’s Epstein relationship as a ‘relentless’ difficulty](https://ca.style.yahoo.com/leon-black-leaves-apollo-executive-112205510.html) for the billionaire Apollo founder. And there’s a wrinkle that I hope blows your mind. This article [from the BCC in the ‘relentless’ March cycle talks about Black stepping down from the board of Apollo](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56487833); first the characterization of Black’s plight for being scrutinized for paying over $150 million to a known pedophile who he spent time on islands with: + +>"The last weeks and months have been deeply trying for me and my family," 69-year-old Mr Black wrote in [a letter to the Apollo board](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001411494/000119312521088432/d114836dex992.htm) explaining his plans to speed up his departure. + +>"The relentless public attention and media scrutiny concerning my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein - even though the exhaustive Dechert Report concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing on my part - have taken a toll on my health and have caused me to wish to take some time away from the public spotlight that comes with my daily involvement with this great public company." + +Second, the BBC provides a mind blowing regulatory capture nugget. Who’s replacing Leon Black as Apollo Global’s executive chairman? This guy: + +>Mr Black said he also no longer planned to remain as executive chairman of the company's board. He will be replaced by **former SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton.** + +I actually just read that part myself. I’m having dark humor giggles while I write that feel pretty close to tears. An ex-SEC Commissioner became Apollo’s executive chairman because the founding CEO and executive chairman is a central figure in the Epstein scandal. + +So let's just ask the real question: how does this all relate to [retail investor’s Silverback, Adam Aron, our AMC hero](https://nypost.com/2021/02/07/how-amc-staved-off-bankruptcy-before-reddit-rally/)? + +**Adam Aron is Leon Black’s protege.** + +With a long history at Apollo Global. + +Seriously. + +Here’s a Forbes article from 1998 describing how Leon Black and Adam Aron [destroyed small business culture in Vail, Colorado after performing a leveraged buyout of Vail Resorts and weaponizing it against the community](https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1998/1019/6209070a.html?sh=6e4a5c9d2a78). We’ll get into this article later in this series. + +The point I’m getting at: Adam Aron’s history shows a decided disregard for apes. + +I’m actually angry watching these motherfuckers get predatory with our memes while attempting to set us up for a regulatory fucking with them. + +It also makes me wonder [what Jeffrey DFV was referring to with this tweet](https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1400522985375780872?s=20), especially considering [what a “Jeffrey” is](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20ingredients%20in%20a%20jeffrey) in Get Him to the Greek. + +There’s also a curiosity in the data about Adam Aron and AMC. This [article titled “AMC’s stock price is detached from reality and its CEO loves it”](https://qz.com/2010310/amc-entertainments-stock-is-growing-again-thanks-to-reddit/) showed up in search engines as “AMC Entertainment’s stock is growing again thanks to Reddit” while hitting news tube websites with the on article title in the search engines. And what’s the curiosity? It could mean nothing, but it’s written by Adam Epstein. + +The article brands Aron a “meme lord.” He’s not. But the article does show him co-opting memes. For instance, making the donation to a gorilla rescue, something Reddit pushed in February with GameStop; from Epstein’s article: + +>“Just go on Twitter, just go on Reddit, just go on YouTube, read what these people write. They love AMC… I love the idea that we have a compassionate, committed, enthusiastic shareholder base,” Aron added. Aron donated $50,000 to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a charity that protects endangered gorillas—a sum AMC matched, he said. + +But is all this meme lording for the benefit of retail investors? After all, Adam Epstein writes: + +>Retail investors on Reddit continue to pump up the stock price of the movie theater chain, and now Aron is publicly declaring his allegiance to those millions of shareholders. “They own AMC,” Aron said on an earnings call last week. “We work for them. I work for them.” + +No. I don’t think so. Why? Because debt equity and because the article concludes with an important piece of information; Epstein writes: + +>**The apes have helped — AMC’s surging stock price allowed Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm to which AMC is indebted, to convert $700 million in corporate bonds into AMC stock.** But it’s unclear how much more they can materially impact AMC’s finances. The best way for the apes to support AMC and their “Silverback” leader might be to actually go see a movie in a theater. + +And who is this Silver Lake Partners that apes helped along with AMC? + +A vulture fund. + +Here’s [an article about Silver Lake raiding Expedia with Leon Black guided Apollo from July, 2020](https://skift.com/2020/07/07/expedia-to-deliver-early-payday-to-private-equity-investors/); from the article: + +>Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake Partners rode to Expedia Group’s liquidity rescue in April with a deal to provide $3.2 billion in financing. As its bookings rebounded somewhat, Expedia was looking Tuesday to pay off these firms early, and refinance the debt at a significantly lower interest rate. + +And: + +>If all the pieces fall into place — if Expedia finds takers for its senior notes — then it could pay off the private equity firms, and save a bundle in dividend payments. Apollo and Silver Lake would retain their Expedia warrants, which entitled them to each purchase 4.2 million shares of common stock at $72 per share. If the two companies exercised those warrants, their stakes wouldn’t result in any kind of game-changing ownership. Expedia shares Tuesday were trading mid-day at around $84. + +Wow, eh? + +Get your popcorn, apes. + +*Part 1.3 dives into the difference in RC and Silverback's approach to company capital. We also take a look at a fascinating wrinkle in GameStop's senior note debt that RC settled. As well, we explore the difference in company outlooks because of the way Silverback is planning to utilize the capital raise from At the MC's share dilution that he promised retail investors he wouldn't go forward with.* + +[GOTS, part 1.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nud0so/gods_of_the_sun_part_11_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +GOTS, part 1.2 + +[GOTS, part 1.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nv333e/gods_of_the_sun_part_13_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) +Just got back from Paris and wanted to share this with everyone as I thought it was pretty cool. + +While vacationing in Paris, I stumbled upon a bar in the back streets of Paris one night and I saw that they accepted ‪Bitcoin on the window. When I got inside, I ordered a beer and some other drinks and I was messaging my friend on facebook back home in Miami at the same time telling him that I was about to pay in bitcoin for some drinks I just ordered. Shortly thereafter, he responded and told me to send him the public address for the tab and he would pay for it instead. After my friend sent the btc, the bartender held up his iPad and showed everyone else sitting at the bar the confirmation on his ‪#‎blockchain‬ wallet and explained in French what had just happened; everyone freaked out and tried to wrap their heads around it. They were stunned that someone in Miami just paid for my drinks instantly while I was in Paris. The bartender/owner gave me a hug and a free shot and I was smothered in drunken high fives by the others in the bar...all of this because of a paid tab...oh and ‪‎History‬ was just made. ‪ + +TL;DR: Friend paid for my drinks at a bar from another country. + +Pic link: http://imgur.com/5yZC4iD + +Sof's Bar in Paris: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sofs-Bar/186530834694794 +I had over $5,000 in credit card debt. I was able to take out a personal loan with a low interest rate and just paid off all my credit card debt. I was paying $300 a month to capital one, $60 to Best Buy, and $30 a month to PayPal. Pre-Covid and Ukraine War inflation, I was able to easily make those payments. Then, it got increasingly difficult. Now thanks to my loan, I was able to pay everything off, cut my spending habits off on frivolous things (while still treating myself every once and awhile) and now I am making payments of $200 a month and saving $190 a month which should ease inflation. My credit score is currently at 740 and rapidly increasing. Personal loans can be very smart to minimize monthly bills, and save you money. I hope this tip helps someone struggling. +My partner and I never normally disagree about finances but for some reason arranging savings for our young kids has caused us problems. + +Kids 6 and 8. Up until now we haven't done any proper thinking at all. Simply because we created a nationwide junior cash isa and left it. The grandparents have both been doing a bit of pre inheritance gifting since birth and both kids now have a lot in there. (15 and 20ish) + +We have been reviewing all our savings and decided to start adding maybe 100 quid per month ourselves. But this led us into discussion about where, what and why. + +My thinking is that the cash isa needs to be converted (or at least partly) into a stocks and shares isa. As by the time they are 25 that will be a big chunk of money for a house or whatever. My wife doesn't want to switch the money to investment "as its not our money it's the grandparents". She is also adamant that the money is for university as she doesn't want them leaving with a lot of debt. Instead she wants to set up a SIPP for them. + +My suggestion that we paid for university from whatever student loans existed horrified her. + +So basically she wants to provide early and late life assistance. +I want to provide a chunk of cash for the 20s to get set up. I think the opportunity costs (is that the right term?) of having 50k in your early 20s is better than being debt free with the promise of a pension. + +Is there a right answer to this? Also I realise that it could all be academic in any case as it's there's at 18 to do with as they want anyway. +So im high and taking a massive dukie and it dawns on me................. we are gonna be talked about for generations to come. + + +Just like the story of a town in Florida who became rich due to them buying a soda company before the depression or some shit like that. + + +Or the people who say i should have bought a certain digital coin in 2013 when it was dirt cheap and someone used it to buy pizza. + + +GME investors are going to be the greatest investors of all time and many people will say we got lucky but I know it wasnt easy, I held and continue to do so becasue I did my research, i read and learned a shit tone over this 1 +year that has gone on. I dont become the very least scared when the price drops, it excits me and makes me wanna get my paycheck faster so i can dump it in my favorite stock. + + +I work with children and man it hurts to see them not have their own school or playground, so after MOASS thats one thing im gonna do, im gonna help kids have a stable school which they can revisit years after they graduate, FOR A BETTER FUTURE, CHEERS! + + +Sorry if a little ranty i just wanted to share my stoner thoughts, peace! + +Edit: holy shit I didn't expect this to get this much attention, thank you so much and I'm going to try and reply to the comments. + +Edit2: I just got out of work and find my phone blowing up, thank you all for the kind words and awards i really appreciate them. I have never had a post blow up like this and it feels so awesome to see many who think like me and for those who dont or only spread negativity, please stop, it helps no one. +MOASS IS TOMORROW! 🚀🚀🚀🚀 +So I bumped into a Defcon video that explains how every SIM card in the world is actually a mini-computer by itself - it can run Java apps called "Applets" and it can even talk to the phone's networking stack via an API. + +Could this be made into Bitcoin wallet "Trezor Style"? + +The much-discussed M-PESA applet is one of the applications that runs on millions of African phones... even the legendary Nokia 3310 can run these apps that can sign, verify and do cryptography stuff. + +**Resources** + +[1] Watch this video for some very interesting insights - http://simhacks.github.io/defcon-21/ + +[2] More Code examples, makefiles - http://simhacks.github.io/ + +Edit: I notice a lot more people sharing way better stories (extended 0% over many more months). I want to be clear that I have a huge balance. There is no way I’d expect to get a free pass. So I’m still very happy, and happy to hear others have similar unexpected positive surprises too. + +After telling them my situation, the support person offered me a term of 1% APR repaid over 5 years, as long as I don’t miss payments and close my credit card account. + +This is extraordinarily generous. There was no screaming either. The support person’s kindness reverberated over the phone. There was maybe a 2 minute call wait. + +This may sound like an ad, but it’s not. I just feel really grateful. I know many of you own Discover cards too, so it’s worth sharing. + +If there’s one bank you can skip calling it’s Chase. It’s confusing to get a call, the wait time is long, and they have a hard policy of offering relief only in the form of delaying minimum payments. +Considering what the average person in London pay for bills , responsibilities, housing , treating themselves time to time, etc. + +If you had to put down a salary of what an average person in London should be content with - please share below - would love to hear everyone’s opinions on this + +Thanks for your time + Let me just start by saying that I’m a moron. + +Normally I’m a pretty careful guy, but this time I fucked up. I THOUGHT I was logging in my MetaMask account on a NFT marketplace to place some bids. I was actually on a spoof page that looked identical to the original site. + +In retrospect, I know exactly what I did wrong. Laziness won, and instead of going on the site directly I actually clicked on a Google Ad. The site gave no red flags at all and it never even crossed my mind to double-check the link or anything. + +So I pretty much handed my credentials to these people and therefore full access to my account. + +$5K was drained before I even realized what I’d done. + +It’s not a lot for many of you, but things aren’t going that well right now. Not to mention, I feel really crappy about the whole thing. + +I reported the incident to MetaMask and got my account back. They’ve been documenting the incident but so far I don’t think there’s much they can do to help. + +Again, and I can’t stress this enough, I KNOW it’s on me, but is there any way to recover my losses? +Does anyone have any suggestions or experiences with small kids (ours are 2&4 right now). I'd love if there were a resort with a great kids club, where they really feel like they're on vacation as well (not just being babysat)-- and my wife & I can enjoy the vacation as well. Right now every "vacation" just feels like a bit of a chore. +I’m one of those tech startup guys that built my net worth by building and selling a company. 2 actually. I sold the second right before covid hit, and coincidentally, right after my first child was born. I’m financially independent and could theoretically embrace the stay-at-home-dad life and retire but in doing that over the last 6 months I’ve realized... + +... I miss working. + +Has anyone else felt this? Has anyone retired and not looked back? I’m just past 40 if that helps. + +Edit: these are great responses everyone - thanks for the feedback! +As someone who’s got a target networth of 10-15M now. I’ve hit 7 figures all on my own, without networking just working for myself. All my friends/surrounding is all poor/working class. I have maybe 1-2 good friends who have good jobs ie doctor. + +People always say your network is your networth. The people around me don’t have my mindset and are friends from school days, I have really outgrown them. + +However, a lot of people make it out like networking and having lots of connections helps get shit done and helps you build wealth faster ect… + +How important is it to have a network of other high earning individuals ? How do I go about doing so? +Assuming a lot of us here have held relatively senior corporate/professional service jobs. Probably more so than on any other subreddit. + +How have you dealt with your ego in the course of your career? Has it led you down the right or wrong paths? Have you had to swallow your pride to reach fatfire? Or has your ego fueled your journey to freedom in a positive way? + +I ask because this often comes up in my career. I'm not proud of it at all, but I have an ego when it comes to work and my value. It drives me to outperform, but it also makes me envious of others who play the political game better. + +For example, it has caused me to work extra hard and strive for promotions that, looking back, just hurt my health and wellbeing without necessarily turbocharging my path to fatfire by more than a year at best. Ego usually lends itself to striving for a higher place in the corporate pecking order - a better title, more power, more money. Ostensibly this is good for fire (more money), but can be bad for the independence and health parts. + +I also find it really hard to separate the competing goals of ego at work (promotion etc.) vs. just coasting in an easier role that still makes good money but allows others to pass me by and advanced ahead of me. In a vacuum I'd be happier coasting and retiring two years later but my drive/ego wont have it. I'd almost rather be overworked than bitter at what could have been. It's weird. + +I don't love this about myself, but I know a lot of it is human nature especially for high achievers. It's been ingrained over the years. + +Has anyone else struggled with this? Any words of wisdom or experiences you'd like to share? + +Thanks. + +Ps for what it's worth, I actually don't think I'll feel this way when I pull the plug and FIRE. At that point I'd be in an entirely different lane on the highway... No longer competing directly for the same roles or status at a company. It's more of an issue while I'm still in this corporate subculture. +> With Ghash.io pool fluctuating between 40% and 50% of market share we are looking to set up our own pool (p2pool) or divide our hashrate over several pools, we will do some testing and experimenting before making a switch/final decision. Several criteria are important: +> +> Pool variance: A small pool has much more variance which has a direct effect on block finding and payout. +> +> Merged mining: pool should at the least allow merged mining for NMC +> +> Pool stability: pool should be stable, protected against DDoS attacks, no network latency, efficient work distribution etc. +> +> Of course, the most important thing is that the Bitcoin eco-systems remains healthy, and to avoid a 51% attack. + +http://www.peta-mine.co/ + +https://www.havelockinvestments.com/fund.php?symbol=PETA + +This would be quite an upgrade for P2POOL. Last time I checked they were around 500 TH/s +This guy... + +Oh well, I'm glad Amazon is rebounding because my stocks are doing better now, but it'll be a shame to have my shares called away at $130. + +But that's the wheel for ya, 🎶 wheel in the sky keeps on turnin' 🎶 +Before, if I thought a stock was going up, I’d buy a call. But instead I’m thinking about selling a put. I never hold anything near expiration. Since most contracts tend to expire out of the money, I feel like I would have a better shot at making money, since theta would work for me, not against me. + +Thoughts? Any drawbacks? + +I believe that the best way to diversify in international funds is though having USD denominated investments as opposed to investing in Indian mutual funds such as Kotak or Motilal Oswal nasdaq 100. + +Have started to invest using interactive brokers account in US ETFs. Used icici a few times to transfer USD and it costs forex markup plus 1k INR. + +Is there a better way? +**Context:** Rich Dad and Poor Dad book advocates investing in income generating assets. Assets can be anything that bring in flow of money. Thus your house and your car is not an asset, it does not bring in flow of money. Some of you may not agree with this because your bank lets you state your house and car as an asset. I invite you to read the book for detailed explanation. + +**My plan to have better financial future:** Invest in businesses. I have a job of my own but I earn enough to pay someone around 20k per month which I think is not too bad for a II or III tier city. I want to take advantage of this. I am now looking for low investment business ideas in which full time employee can make money for me. I plan to invest the profit in the business itself to make business or businesses bigger. The goal is to come have a substantial income from the assets through investment (yes, I am considering bussiness as asset). Business can be anything, from tea stall to an IT project literally. + +Do you have any ideas or do you want to brainstorm together? +Domestic money is now flowing into the Indian market at a steady pace. That's both good news and bad news. + +https://www.valueresearchonline.com/story/h2_storyview.asp?str=33410 +According to recent news, Chinese banks are defaulting due to the real state Ponzi scheme bubble over the year will burst soon, and other factors too. +The US has a major dependency on imports from China, and the inflation rate of the US is not decreasing as much as it should. UK's inflation is at 40 year high. + + +If there will be a major collapse in china, it will reach India also, how should we prepare for it or should not? What to do? NIFTY is not breaking out it's just a false breakout and jumping around 17,522 - 17,700 pts. +Anyone who's following the world economy please give your opinions and share your thought on how we Indian Investors should prepare for the coming of market uncertainty. Although everything right now is chaos, but still from chaos we can estimate some patterns, not predictions. +I am a stock market learner and was looking at the market during last 2 decades. 2008 and 2020 make sense to me. + +But 2011 doesn't make sense. There is some news about crash in August in USA and some countries, but in India, it went down during the whole period of Feb 2011 - Feb 2012, even before US stock crash. + +Was there any reason for the terrible performance for the whole year? + +I believe that the best way to diversify in international funds is though having USD denominated investments as opposed to investing in Indian mutual funds such as Kotak or Motilal Oswal nasdaq 100. + +Have started to invest using interactive brokers account in US ETFs. Used icici a few times to transfer USD and it costs forex markup plus 1k INR. + +Is there a better way? +I know there's a general dislike for them on the sub and they're usually not recommended for insurance purposes, but what are the reasons against using them purely for investment and tax cuts? +[https://zerodha.com/z-connect/zerodha/why-zerodha/on-conspiracy-theories-about-zerodha](https://zerodha.com/z-connect/zerodha/why-zerodha/on-conspiracy-theories-about-zerodha) + +First off, I am glad Z is addressing this issue. I have two comments: + +1. While technical glitches do happen, I did not see any steps to make sure that it doesn't repeat. Infact the tone was - *our systems are perfect and there is nothing to upgrade*. +2. Reg privacy: There are two things going on here - + +* What was mentioned in the public blog: aggregate and anonymous does not imply privacy. A hospital does not say 2% of our visiting patients have AIDS. Point is all those minute *stats were not needed* to drive home the point about having SL. Author could have stated his trade, position in Yesbank & that's it. Always err on the side of caution. +* How those stats were obtained: This is more worrying. Some of the stats mentioned in the original blog requires access to granular & large amount of past data. "1.96 lakh of our clients who currently hold Yes Bank have bought the stock on an average at least 4 different times" - that any Zerodha employee has access to such information is worrying. Personally I started receiving calls/text for stock tips the day after I signed up with Zerodha. You can't control all employee from leaking data. Control should be at source (hash everything - user, stock, units, trades). +Having stayed invested for a few years, it seems to me that most debt funds including corporate debt funds (other than credit risk ones) give consistent returns over time and is a good alternative to FDs when it’s excess money. + +So when is a debt fund risky? When should one be worried about capital erosion in a debt fund? +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +Following a discussion on the biweekly advice thread, I feel that many of us who're invested in Mirae MFs might have missed this update from the AMC like myself. Driven by the SEBI regulations, Mirae has implemented some changes to the features of its schemes that have resulted in change in fundamentals across some schemes. + +One such change is in the Mirae Assets Emerging Bluechip Fund that I believe a lot of us are invested in. In brief, the change is that this will be more oriented towards large cap now. + +* Old: ...investing in Indian equities and equity related securities of companies which are not part of the top 100 stocks by market capitalization and have market capitalization of atleast Rs. 100 Crores at the time of investment. + +* New: ...investing in Indian equities and equity related securities of large cap and mid cap companies at the time of investment + +I'm sharing the links to the notices for different MFs below. + +* [MIRAE ASSET EMERGING BLUECHIP FUND!](http://miraeasset.tcmail8.in/tr/r/2/586729/288814/cHJha2hhci5iYWpwYWlAbGl2ZS5jb20=/1/W10%3D) + +* [MIRAE ASSET PRUDENCE FUND!](http://miraeasset.tcmail8.in/tr/r/2/586729/288814/cHJha2hhci5iYWpwYWlAbGl2ZS5jb20=/2/W10%3D) + +* [MIRAE ASSET GREAT CONSUMER FUND!](http://miraeasset.tcmail8.in/tr/r/2/586729/288814/cHJha2hhci5iYWpwYWlAbGl2ZS5jb20=/3/W10%3D) + +* [MIRAE ASSET SAVINGS FUND!](http://miraeasset.tcmail8.in/tr/r/2/586729/288814/cHJha2hhci5iYWpwYWlAbGl2ZS5jb20=/4/W10%3D) + +* [MIRAE ASSET CASH MANAGEMENT FUND!](http://miraeasset.tcmail8.in/tr/r/2/586729/288814/cHJha2hhci5iYWpwYWlAbGl2ZS5jb20=/6/W10%3D) + +As I'm personally invested in their Bluechip fund, I would really love to hear what everyone thinks about this fund's future. I would also invite you to share similar updates (if any) on other MFs that others may not be aware of. +I am holding 4 shares of Asian Paints with an avg. price of Rs 2650. + +Today, I purchased additional 4 shares of Asian Paints at an avg. price of Rs 2600. + +I then placed an sell order (AMO) for 4 shares of Asian Paints on Monday when the market opens. + +I have two questions, if anyone can guide me: + +1. Does the sell order of 4 shares work on a FIFO basis? + +2. If that is the case, then wouldn’t my new avg. price of the remaining 4 Asian Paints shares be Rs 2600 on Monday afternoon? +Was talking to my uncle who lives in tier 3 city and gist of the discussion was + +>**Bank FD has fixed but almost guaranteed return with No expense cut like Mutual funds and No risk like the direct stock investment. And you get compounding interest in Bank FD too.** +> +>**We spend all time to research about MF, Stocks etc just to get little more than bank FD, right? No knowledge required to create an FD in the bank and it safe too. Use this time to develop a skill for active income.** + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +Came across this article: https://www.thegalacticadvisors.com/post/9-reasons-cleartax-or-quicko-itr + +Some valid points - A CA should be able to help you plan your taxes better than you doing it yourself. + +Obviously, for those who know what they're doing these websites make life much easier. But for the rest of us, does it make more sense to work with a CA. Might avoid the headache. + +Edit: Sudden Quicko promotion all in one day seems suspicious. Just saying. +The paywalled article is here: [https://the-ken.com/story/nse-bse-and-the-benchmark-blues/](https://the-ken.com/story/nse-bse-and-the-benchmark-blues/) + +They have quite a few comments to make on MSCI indec since it has to rememeber the foreign holding limit in each stock. The main Nifty and BSE indeices are market cap weighted and don't suffer from distortions. It would have been mice if the article has explicitly stated this. + +I presume that the summary below is OK for quoting. + +"NSE, BSE, and the benchmark blues + +&#x200B; + +With a US$3 trillion market cap, India’s stock market is the world’s eighth largest. And investors navigate this sprawl through benchmarks such as the S\&amp;P BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50. They provide context in a world of seeming chaos. + +&#x200B; + +The power of these indices cannot be understated. A company that is chosen for an index is likely to see a huge surge in investments, especially from passive funds, which simply track these indices. With passive funds seeing their assets surge to US$44 billion over the past year, the unspoken power of indices only grew. + +&#x200B; + +Take the case for Bharti Airtel—India’s second largest telco. In August last year, MSCI slashed Bharti’s weightage in the MSCI India Index from 3.5% to 1.8% and in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index from 0.285% to 0.144%. Bharti’s shares slid 4% in response to the news and analysts estimated that between Rs 3,500 crore (US$470 million) to Rs 3,800 crore (US$510 million) would be pulled out of the stock. + +&#x200B; + +This sort of fallout naturally means increased scrutiny of the methodology of indexes, as any distortion on a large index can have a far-reaching ripple effect. But while the European Union already regulates indices, most other markets,... + +" +So lately I have been pondering a lot on whether consumer credit in the form of credit cards is good for the economy or not. I recently watched Ray Dalio video on how the economy works on a macro level (https://youtu.be/PHe0bXAIuk0). It's a beautiful explainer video for beginners to experts alike and I would 100% recommend watching it. + +In this video he goes over the impact of credit on the economy in detail. My main takeaway from the video is that credit is a double edged sword. + +If I am a farmer with limited resources to take full advantage of my farm, I could buy a tractor on credit and eventually it would lead to greater utilisation of my farm and I would be able to pay off my debt and then profit off from the higher productive capacity of my farm. The same argument goes when a government or a company uses credit for capex in hopes of benefiting from bridges roads or factories giving us higher productivity. + +But where does consumer credit fit into all of this? + +If I buy a non productive asset like a phone or something else which I can't buy right now on a credit card, I am ( as explained in the video) taking away from the purchasing power of my future self. It is obviously a very bad deal financially. + +Credit cards are big business for banks and this obviously means that consumers are as a whole losing out on this zero sum game. + +I know you can buy stuff to improve your productivity with a credit card too but 90+% of credit card purchases are not like that. + +This is not a question of whether you should use a credit card or not. I make most of my purchases using a credit card because I know how to not fall into it's traps. + +My question is whether credit cards as a whole are bad for the economy? + +And if so, why are they tolerated by regulators when they are obviously bad for consumers and the economy as a whole? +If you're new to this, please read [this page](https://www.dicgc.org.in/FD_A-GuideToDepositInsurance.html) and [this page](https://rbi.org.in/SCRIPTS/FAQView.aspx?Id=64) + +TLDR: Our money in bank SB,FD,RD, etc is insured (upto 1lakh per branch per holding capacity). +[thanks /u/ankitb124 for catching the error. fixed it.] + + +When a bank goes belly-up, my deposits upto this amount shall be repaid to me using this insurance. +This is exactly what everyone refers to when they say **"bank deposits are safe"** + +---- +Now, looks like this new bill is looking to modify this, and in case of bank going belly-up, the depositors shall be given _"preferential shares, with no guarantee of dividends"_ in lieu of the deposits they held with the bank. + +There is more. + +Read this shared by /u/ramjet_scram in r/India : + +[TIL- Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill-2017 presented by the govt. has a clause of Bail-In **with an option for banks to simply refuse repayment of a depositor's money** or instead issue securities such as preference shares to compensate such deposits.](https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/7d3n3n/til_financial_resolution_and_deposit_insurance/) + +The [new legislation](http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Financial%20Resolution%20Bill,%202017/Legislative%20Brief%20Financial%20Resolution%20Bill%202017.pdf) in case of a critical failure (in a too big to fail institution like banks) arms resolution corporation to go for Bail-In. + +>“bail-in”, whose purpose is to provide capital to absorb the losses of a bank and ensure its survival. Here, survival does not mean safety of depositors’ money, but restoration of capital of the bank. The bail-in empowers the proposed Resolution Corporation to cancel a liability owed by the bank or change the form of an existing liability to another security. + +>Money in a savings or fixed deposit account is a liability owed by the bank to its customer. Since the customer has not taken any security from the bank when handing over his money, legally, the customer is an unsecured creditor of the bank. With a ‘bail-in’, the bank simply refuses repayment of a customer’s money or instead issues securities such as preference shares (with no guarantee of fixed dividends) to a customer. This is in lieu of his deposits which are then used for recapitalisation of the bank. + +>The only money owed to depositors that cannot be bailed-in is the amount covered by deposit insurance. The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 **which has been repealed by the cabinet.** The FRDI Bill further empowers the Resolution Corporation to decide the amount insured for each depositor. Thus, it is possible that the insured amounts will not only vary for customers in different banks, but may also be different for different customers of the same bank. + +Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/banking-on-legislation/article20005363.ece +What could be the implications of this news on market sentiment? + + +https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/dhfl-appoints-ca-firm-to-probe-cobrapost-claims/article26141975.ece +Most young people dream of Early Retirement, many think of quitting their job and then get involved in something which they love. Some are forced to quit their job. Here is a story from my own family. + +One of my cousin's husband was working in Hong Kong in the "80s and '90s. Hong Kong was to be handed back to China in mid '90s and they had to leave Hong Kong. They had the option to migrate to the UK or Australia but they felt they had accumulated enough money and could relocate to India , my Brother-in-law decided to take Early Retirement. + +They returned to India with a decent sum of money and thought they would live a comfortable life. Then the problem started. +He got bored with retired life ( he was about 45) He invested a large portion in a RE venture with one of his brothers but that did not work well. He booked a flat but the builder did not complete the project for more than 10 years... So much of his money was wasted. Obviously he did not invest in equities and MF was not popular those days. So in a space of less than a decade they lost a big portion of their money and were forced to take up jobs to support their two young daughters. By then they were both quite aged and they did not have the required work experience and thus had to settle for low paying jobs. Today, they realise that he should have worked much longer even if that meant to go to the UK or Australia and start a new life or should have started working in India immediately. + +Lesson learnt form this + +1. Inflation is deadly, You have no idea how the cost of living will change in the next 10-20-30 years. Similarly the return and tax assumptions are just assumptions and actual may be quite different. + +2. Handling large amount of cash is very difficult for most people, you will tend to lead a lavish lifestyle and spend much more in the initial years and thereby reducing your nest egg at a unsustainable rate. Once that happens it is steep downward slope with no handbrake. + +3. There will be a lot of well-wishers and people who will give you ideas to get great returns, sometimes they will be your close friends and families. Most of them are looking to grab your money or have fanciful ideas which do not work. + +4. You may get bored in retirement and get into costly habits like drinking and other vices. + +Anyone considering early Retirement must be aware of the risk involved in Early Retirement and prepare themselves adequately. + + +Source : Facebook. +DSP, BlackRock set to part ways in mutual fund ventureThere has been speculation in the business media about the split for the last couple of weeks. http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/mutual-funds/dsp-blackrock-set-to-part-ways-in-mutual-fund-venture-2564155.html +Guys, Does anybody have any insights on Weizmann Forex? +Current stock price is 512. Numbers in Q4FY18 look bad(-86%) but otherwise it has been a consistent grower over the last few quarters. + +Average return on equity 5Years: 21.67 %; + +Average return on capital employed 5Years: 30.37 % + +Debt to equity: 0.64 + +Sales Growth (3Yrs): 19.90 % + +Promoter holding: 74.77 % + +It was quoting at 110 in Jan 2017. Went to ~1400s In Jan 2018 and it corrected massively now. I read the AR of weizmann… studied their balance sheet and the only red flags I see are + +a sudden increase in trade receivables to (5,741.34) in FY18 from (1,258.66) in FY17 + +Other comprehensive Income increase to 2,012.83 in FY18 from 650.14 in FY17. + +Otherwise the company seems to be growing quite well over the past few years. No other information is available anywhere. Is anybody in the know of the what is happening? + +They also recently announced a buyback of 3.77% at price of 702. +[Quant Mutual Fund](https://quantmutual.com/) is very small AMC that apparently invests using what they call "predictive analytics" and take a computational approach. + +Their funds have provided very high consistent returns in the past but their tiny AUM and exorbitant TERs are putting me off. Has anyone invested in these? How has your experience been? Is it safe and worthwhile to invest in their funds? +I know I may sound a bit ignorant but please hear me out. So I was keeping track of Godrej Consumer Products stock for a week now, and I noticed that on 12/09/2018, the price of the stock went from 1300s to 830s. Now, this is a major drop for a stock price. Was this because of the divestment of their stake in Godrej U.K? If so, how are the shareholders going to get compensated? +I started investing this year, Jan to be precise. So, I've only seen red! But, this is something else! + +What are your thoughts? Many stocks look attractive because of the correction from their highs. What's the right thing to do here, buy now or wait for the tide to subside? +Seriously. The crying in Facebook and Twitter is laughable. Did you think that Bitcoin was just going to run parabolic nonstop for months? I am glad we had this dip. Any pullback was long overdue. Get this straight: THIS DIP IS HEALTHY FOR BITCOIN. For all you MOON BOYZ, I still think a REAL correction is long due. If you can't handle Bitcoin going below $6500,... Motherfucker. Get out... . now. This is the wild West. This is Bitcoin. It doesn't wait for anyone and it will crush the upside or downside at any given moment. +Seriously. The crying in Facebook and Twitter is laughable. Did you think that Bitcoin was just going to run parabolic nonstop for months? I am glad we had this dip. Any pullback was long overdue. Get this straight: THIS DIP IS HEALTHY FOR BITCOIN. For all you MOON BOYZ, I still think a REAL correction is long due. If you can't handle Bitcoin going below $6500,... Motherfucker. Get out... . now. This is the wild West. This is Bitcoin. It doesn't wait for anyone and it will crush the upside or downside at any given moment. +More importantly, they also even specified the following in the email body copy 😱 + +“Student loans are not like other types of borrowing. For example, unlike other borrowing, what you repay depends on your income and not how much you borrowed. You should not make voluntary repayments if you do not expect to fully repay your outstanding balance by the end of the loan term because your loan will eventually be written off.” +I was unlucky enough to never receive proper financial education. Recently, I learned about S&P 500 and it seems that investing small amounts (£100 or £200) a month would grow into a significant amount in 20 or 30 years. +Some of my work mates suggested that starting it at 33 is way too late and I should try my luck in crypto instead. + +Is it really not worth it at this point? + +If its not too late, I would appreciate some advice on where to begin i.e. which broker/website/app? + +Or should I drop this idea completely and try to get into crypto instead? +I work in a contract job, fixed term 2 year, full time. I earn 18,000 GBP. + +I plan on saving 10,000 GBP within 12 months. + +I then plan on attempting to get a mortgage on a property worth no more than 100,000 GBP, and paying 10,000 GBP as a deposit. + +I have no other debt. + +Will I be accepted by anyone, do you think? And if so, what sort of repayment term would be considered? + +[EDIT] Thanks for all the helpful responses - some great ideas there, so I'll look to getting a high interest savings account in the meantime and just pay as much as I can in each month, and see a mortgage advisor just for clarification some time along the way. + +Also, thanks for the gold, kind stranger :) +**What am I doing?** + +I do technical analysis and selling cash-secured-puts 3 to 5 weeks out on stocks that are nearing key levels of support. My goal is to collect premium, but should I get assigned I have absolutely zero problem running the wheel on stocks I want to own. + +I watch over 200 stocks, I would say its 90% waiting game and 10% true technical analysis. My levels work, but it's normally because I am patiently waiting for an entry point. Yes that's a lot of tickers to watch, but I research my stocks on weekends and then monitor additional plays & levels during the weekday to see if there is an obvious setup I want to participate in. + +**Here's a few things regarding my strategy** + +**1.** I don't over-leverage with selling multiple spreads because if the stock price blows past your long strike and you assume max loss you need a lot of capital to actually be assigned the shares. For that reason I don't really see selling multiple spreads as a "Theta Gang" play and is still very high risk. If I do open a spread it will be a protective put for $1-5 just to protect myself should the company randomly announce bankruptcy. + +**2.** I only sell cash-secured puts with the capability to be assigned if need be. My goal is to never take a loss on a position and always wheel it back to profitability. If something has changed fundamentally with the stock then yes I will close the position and realize the loss. + +**3.** If IV on a ticker is very low, then yes I will outright buy shares instead. + +**4.** I only aim for 1-4% per week collecting on theta and an occasional earnings theta yolo. No call-buying, no spreads (unless buying a covered put), only put-selling and shares! + +Honestly, that's about it. I'll go through some tickers on my watchlist this weekend and what I currently have open. + +# Open Positions From Last Week + +It's earnings week and premiums are still high. Last week I talked about meme stocks. The only one I ended up entering was BB because IV was high and it was the only from the group that wasn't a "meme" per say. If anyone's been following me since the beginning of my posts you'll know I started around November when my account was $75k. I just hit $115k on Friday and am pretty pumped. This is all from selling puts. The positions I'm currently holding are all winners, except for FEYE which I was assigned at my break-even, and so I will focus on next week's plays. + +https://preview.redd.it/0qbn2mh8r3g61.jpg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=122888c0d081444a91ee73a5a71a1d1be6a652a0 + +# Chart Rules + +**Pink Lines** = Trading range & channel. I find stocks typically trade within certain channels until an event, such as earnings or some news which changes the fundamentals of the stock price changes the trend and a new channel is formed. + +**Blue Lines** = Key areas of support/resistance. I don't like focusing on supp/res levels every $2 down like some people do. I look at the bigger picture and find where where key levels of buyers come in to grab the stock. I'll try to sell puts there. + +# Master Plays This Week + +I just want to preface this by saying these are not recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. These are stocks that have come through my scanner and met a few criteria for me to sell puts to collect premium. I won't execute on every trade, but if the timing is right I will enter these, that's why they are on my "watchlist". My intention here is to sell the put, collect the premium, or get assigned the shares. If I am assigned the shares, I sell covered-calls trying to lower my cost basis and remain profitable on the play. + +&#x200B; + +\*\* Please remember I am selling cash-secured-puts. If you are unsure what those are then google is your best friend. I am locking in a price to buy the stock at, if the stock price stays above my strike price I collect all the premium. If not I baghold or HODL until profitable. I just need to shares to stay above my break-even share price to remain neutral or slightly green. + +**U - Unity ($128)** + +https://preview.redd.it/xjkb9uz2u3g61.png?width=1776&format=png&auto=webp&s=4973bfb9f956a6caf91ba48efe0bc3f95cb5600c + +Unity had a big drop last week off a less-than-stellar earnings report. Stock price broke down below the some of the lower ranges of the trend and channel. IMO this sell-off might be over-done and we could see fair-value back around the $130 level. Obviously nobody knows where the stock will go, but I'll take my chance selling a $125 strike put. + +**Positions on the watchlist** + +19 March, 2021 $125 strike put sold to open for $10.50 or $1,050. + +Return: 8.4%, break-even share price: $115 + +&#x200B; + +**PTON - Peloton ($148)** + +https://preview.redd.it/rg5nvvz3u3g61.png?width=1782&format=png&auto=webp&s=48d39b18bc8c09536ea9320f4257dda8fd64b9a6 + +PTON is trading right at the support it's bounced off a couple times recently. After the stock got into the $160's and $170's it's somewhat stalled out. In my opinion their strong earnings and company brand will get some dip-buyers to come in if the stock drops too much. Just like how it's been trading the last 6 weeks I think the current level would be called fair-value. I am also happy to own these shares if it drops more. + +**Positions on the watchlist** + +5 March, 2021 $142 strike put sold to open for $7.10 or $710. + +Return: 5$, break-even share price: $135 + +&#x200B; + +**SOLO ($8.75)** + +https://preview.redd.it/ouielwr4u3g61.png?width=1782&format=png&auto=webp&s=f80842ab1619551c5b56d215dc16554b4e4afea0 + +Can't say I know much about SOLO, but it seems to be a name people like. Sometimes that's how it is with investing, you need to go with stocks other people are liking or else you'll spend an eternity reading through every detail on each company. The $6 level has held off well here and the stock is continuing it's uptrend. Sitting right in the middle of the trend/channel I think I can try to sell some puts at the first blue line and support. $8 would be a good entry should my cash-secured-puts get assigned. + +**Positions on the watchlist** + +5 March, 2021 $8 strike put sold to open for $1.15 or $115. + +Return: 14.3%, break-even stock price: $6.85 + +&#x200B; + +**BB - Blackberry ($13.23)** + +https://preview.redd.it/x9faul95u3g61.png?width=1786&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f2319eaf0e4555628d9ffb769bf2c57282aac8b + +Lastly, Blackberry. Anyone that's been reading up with this company knows it wasn't part of the meme gang last week because of "short interest" it's been having solid news come out and the company is looking stronger than ever to make a comeback. The main catalyst is security features in electronic vehicles. Yes BB is a boomer stock, yes in the end it might not prove to be a great play. How I see it is worst case scenario it goes back to $6 a share like it was before, best case it picks up momentum and we see the $20's or $30's again. I like the risk to reward I can get on that one. + +**Positions on the watchlist** + +5 March, 2021 $13 strike put sold to open for $1.90 or $190. + +Return: 14.6%, break-even share price: approx $11.30. +Hey everyone! I posted a little while back about a small project about to meet its presale cap. Laughed off the page. Back then, 1 Chonk = $.63. Now the project has momentum and the price is around $6.5. It has already done a x10, but still has room for a lot more. + +They are just about to release their NFT farming platform and also announced an exclusive 400 $CHONK holders club that will receive an airdrop of NFTs from established artists along with being able to vote and a bunch of other cool stuff. They aren't on Coingecko yet, haven't done an AMA, and still have some marketing to do so it looks like they aren't on the radar yet. They are planning to do all of that in the next few days, so yet another reason to pump. + +TL;DR: $CHONK - I think if you haven't heard of it, this is probably your last chance to get in while the price is under $10-$20 + +# Details about Chonk: + +Medium article: [https://medium.com/@chonkfinance/introducing-chonk-collectable-nfts-defi-chonkiest-coin-ever-33fa9adb8486](https://medium.com/@chonkfinance/introducing-chonk-collectable-nfts-defi-chonkiest-coin-ever-33fa9adb8486) + +**Telegram:** [https://t.me/chonkerfinance](https://t.me/chonkerfinance) + +**Etherscan:** [0x84679bc467DC6c2c40ab04538813AfF3796351f1](https://etherscan.io/token/0x84679bc467DC6c2c40ab04538813AfF3796351f1?a=0xB79eB097e7C066092e2258B39F46316B28f16E40) + +**Unicrypt:** [https://unicrypt.network/uniswap-browser/pair/0xa22A11D16187C2833B6067C1a666E6fA9317836f](https://unicrypt.network/uniswap-browser/pair/0xa22A11D16187C2833B6067C1a666E6fA9317836f) + +**Total Supply:** 39,000 + +[Price](https://app.astrotools.io/pair-explorer/0xa22a11d16187c2833b6067c1a666e6fa9317836f) +With the **AMA Completed** and **Devs Doxxed** Super Shiba is very bullish now. **Next stop 5m Mcap** + +**Dedicated Devs** and **Community** are not selling a thing as **$SSHIBA** continues its journey to the moon. Now is the perfect time to invest in the Super Shiba Token as its continuing to reach new ATH on a daily basis. + +**CMC Submitted -** Awaiting Feedback + +At 48hours old **$SSHIBA** reached a $1M Mcap and the marketing is only Just getting started. **.** + +Key Notes from the **AMA** + +**The NFT Marketplace** \- this is something that everyone agreed is essential to bringing some much-needed utility to the BSC space and a lot of strategies were agreed upon to make this happen**.** + +**DEX prototype -** A DEX generates trust and trust generates growth. There were some excellent ideas regarding how to build a new DEX that would exceed the efforts that have come before. + +**Doxxed Dev and Team** \- Again, this is all about trust, something that is lacking in the dapp realm. The Admin Team are willing to put faces behind their names because they believe that their project is solid. + +**Influencers and Marketing proposals confirmed** \- We’ve already seen an influx of crypto influencers buying in at 500k, they didn’t do so on pure goodwill. The team is actively seeking more and collaborating with those we have currently to ensure that we communicate the vision and goals as effectively as possible. In addition to this, they have identified some key Chinese crypto influencers that are ready to take this to the next level in the Chinese market - stay tuned!! + +**In summary** \- it has been really encouraging to sit in on the creative, structural and technological decisions that have been made today by the Shiba leadership; it’s not often that we see that sort of positive collaborative engagement when scrolling through CryptoMoonShots... + +**AMA LINK** [**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWSgjfohTVY**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWSgjfohTVY) +If national debt is no longer an issue, the market would basically be completely disconnected from the reality of how the company actually performs. Where does that leave the WSB? +I signed a contract with a third party personal trainer company "Lighthouse fitness" at my gym back in january. Was informed last week the gym "Bfit" is closing its doors and the training company is moving to another gym I have no interest in joining, poor hygiene is one of the reasons, however they won't cancel my membership without a $300 fee. + +I live in Oregon and was wondering what state agencies would be best utilized to deal with this company so that people have recourse during a pandemic? +More code leaks confirming Gamestop & Loopring (LRC) collaboration on blockchain and NFTs. + +Lots of defined variables in the code refer to gamestop, lrc, meta(verse), nft etc. + +https://web.archive.org/web/20211028000950/https://github.com/Loopring/loopring-web-v2/commit/de1601d253991fd4c493a8d5629c02c7d38b5e23 + +This leak has blown up in Gamestop sub. + +https://www.np.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qnrmxx/more_leaked_github_code_confirming_lrcbased_nft/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf + +I’m jacked to the tits in LRC. + +As always, do your own due diligence. There’s lots of good discussion in the linked sub. + +Disclaimer: not financial advice. +Today I found out that due to an accident that happened in January, my insurance premium was going up to $92 a month. + +I couldn't afford that, obviously. So I did a search online and found another company. $51 a month after $100 down. That's even better than what I had with my old company before the accident. + +You never know what you can find when you look around. So look around. I'm glad I did. +I’m a first home buyer and had two unsuccessful offers on properties in the last couple of months and the takeaway from the REA was the sellers went with another offer because it was unconditional. My offers have had subject to final approval and a building and pest inspection. I’m a little more cautious as I’m a single buyer and it’s my first place but I thought these were two fairly reasonable clauses?. I have pre approval and bank has gone through all my documents etc and have a letter of approval from bank. But it’s still only pre-approval and I have heard stories where people think they are good to go but then bank rejects their loan and I do not want to be In any position where I’m stuck financially. + +Is there anything else I can add to my offers to make it more enticing while keeping these two clauses in there, am I being too cautious? TIA! +Just received a courtesy call from my bank to mention the fact that my savings aren't earning much interest, and that they were curious to know what my intentions were - i.e. was I saving up for a property? They offered to set up an appointment to get an estimate of how much I could afford to loan, and to provide pre-approval for that. + +I'm not particularly serious about purchasing a property at the moment, but it is something that has crossed my mind as a possibility. Therefore I'm thinking about accepting the offered appointment, as it would be useful information to have in my back pocket when I start to do more research. + +Any words of warning for a property noob? I'm acting on the assumption that this will not lock me into anything nor cost me any fees (they said it wouldn't)? + +(FYI - the phone number matched that of the bank, they didn't ask for any personal details, and also offered an in-person appointment at the branch, so I figured it seems legit) +I hadn't seen this raised here. Ch. 9, owned by Nine Entertainment Co., who also owns Domain, rarely do a negative property story (i.e. stories are about property strengthening). For this reason, this story the other night stood out. + +Matthew Hassan, Senior Economist at Westpac, says that an indicator in a survey they run (an indicator that, thus far, has never been wrong) suggests confidence in buying is very low and dropping steadily. + +The indicator is the question "Is now a good time to buy?". There has been a steady decrease in those responding "yes" with a 14% drop in October. + +Thoughts? + +https://twitter.com/9newsmelb/status/1449275138675982336?s=21 +Been bracing for a dip in the markets for a while now, what with all the uncertainty going around, and then pow, Ukraine. Correction territory! Banked some higher geared assets before I lost all gains, and then.... + +So what, that's it? Everyone's confidence is restored because Ukraine didn't fold in a day? +Not sure when it changed but I've been checking every few days since the last rate cut. [Ubank is down from 2.4% to 2.1%](https://www.ubank.com.au/campaigns/savings-and-transaction-accounts?cid=ser|cpc|pad|dr|ggl|5336634|sav|brd|22559330|savings&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwoqDtBRD-ARIsAL4pviBxQQGKrEZeuMKQE7bEJ16bxMmzrwQKd1BJe9SamVhk6z61loYOjOsaAtz6EALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8569!3!309498731492!e!!g!!ubank%20savings%20rate&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoqDtBRD-ARIsAL4pviBxQQGKrEZeuMKQE7bEJ16bxMmzrwQKd1BJe9SamVhk6z61loYOjOsaAtz6EALw_wcB) now. Would be nice if they told customers directly. +So like most folks here I've read the gloom and doom about the soon to be market crash, over values stocks, too much US consumer debt, 🐒 business at the fed with interest rates etc. +And it seems.like an enventual correction will happen, but my question is this something in line with a traditional 20-30% pullback or are we likely to see something more cataclysmic? And if so what's the one most pressing concern.. +I have safe FIRE projections that only factor in my existing income, but I want to also have a FIRE spreadsheet that tries to anticipate my future income and expenses. If I pursue my career goals, then I can definitely see my income going up over time, but I'm not sure how to estimate that. How do you predict your future income and expenses? +When I was young, broke, foolish and scared I walked around on pins and needles all the time around people who had any power over me. If they had any power over my standing in the community, at work, or in school I was scared to death that I would not impress them or say the wrong thing and it would hurt my career growth, reputation and most importantly ability to feed and house my family. Not being financially independent made me a nervous wreck. + +At about age 30, I found a mentor who gave me some good advice on life. I asked him how he could be so self-confident in his dealings with everyone at work and was not afraid to challenge his boss, a very intimidating woman. He told me he had FU Money and really did not need to work to live a good life. He told me he had never moved from his starter home, stayed at motels vs hotels when he traveled, rarely ate out and drove used cars until they died. And invested a good percent of his income. + +His story left an impression on me and I decided to do the same. I became more confident in my interactions with all the people in the office, including my bosses, as my investment account grew. Eventually, as I became financially independent my personality changed. I was still friendly but got tougher and did not suffer fools like I used to. I no longer interact with people on needles and pins. + +So, as your investment account grew onto financial independence how did your personality change? +I make $25 an hour as a business/data analyst (no opportunity for overtime) and I'm thinking about taking a second job to pay down debts quicker (already throwing every spare cent at them), but I can't wrap my head around making ~ a third of my regular income in a second job, it seems like a strange use of my time. + +What are people doing as second jobs? I've looked at flipping but after several fruitless trips to goodwill I don't think I'm cut out for it. +Remember, as long as apes do not paper hands, apes set the price floor. + +Even if WORST case ALL the financial institutions holding GME paper hand at 1k, or 10k or whatever, we still hold atleast 2x the shares shorts need to cover once margin comes calling. + +I suspect institutions could dip out fairly early in the rocket, which could cause big fluctuations in the price. This is when ape needs to remain strongest. + +Like many have said, there is no straight up and down with the moass, price action could be all over the place as institutions could offload millions of shares on the way up because they don’t have diamond balls and hands like us. + +If we remain strong: IT WILL NOT MATTER WHAT INSTITUTIONS DO and we can still hit 10 million+. + +Obviously, this is speculation and I could be wrong but I’m thinking in a more worst case scenario, which is still extremely bullish for us. Apes hold, apes win big. That simple regardless of big institutions. + + +Hand in hand, ape demand 🍌 . + + +This is not financial advice, I snort crayons with monopoly $500 bills. +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. + +Hey Guys, January Ape here and I just wanted to mention something that remains a persistent concern. + +Periodically there have been posts reminding people that hodling through MOASS is going to be a challenge, as we all see the ticker hitting prices we’ve never seen before and potentially making corrections before continuing to go up again. I personally think these post are extremely valuable in mentally preparing individuals for what may come. + +However what concerns me is almost every time I will see the majority of the top comments being something along the lines of: +- “That will be the easy part.” +- “If ape theories are confirmed holding will be easy” + +and the most dangerous assumption… + + -“Once SHFs fail their margin calls and face liquidation covering will happen automatically without any more fuckery or price manipulation.” + +I love the bravado and confidence of apes and I truly believe individual investors of GME will surprise the world with the fortitude of their Diamond hands. However, I think individuals should mentally prepare themselves for extended periods of sideways trading or even significant corrections EVEN AFTER major SHFs are liquidated and the ticker hits prices only apes believed possible. + +I have no reason to believe that the DTCC or whoever is left holding the bag and overseeing the closing of shorts, will not attempt to engage in their own form of fuckery to try avoid the price reaching its full potential or my personal price target of xx,xxx,xxx.xx. + +I also have been unable to find anything indicating how rapidly the closing of these positions must occur once under the control of the DTCC. Also given their reputation, I have no reason to believe they may not at least try and drag it out with the hopes many will paper-hand, potentially even dropping the price by spacing out the closing of positions. + +I guess all I’m saying is, assume shit can get bumpy even once apes clear the atmosphere otherwise you might hit the eject button if there is some turbulence when you didn’t expect it. As the homie Oscar Wilde once said “expect the unexpected” + + Love you all 💜🦧 + Wow that week flew by! Almost like it was only four days or something… In all reality we pretty much had a sideways week with the price action between 436.65 and 445.75, a 2.19% range but with the majority of the time spent between 438 and 443 for a $5 range or 1.1% range up/ down. That’s a really tight range for the week. Which also provided us with one of the lowest total volume weeks (granted we missed a whole day) of 346million. Lowest volume week since December. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/cio9ln7hflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6341cee5fca725516b490fe8c3609d999237b07 + +Tuesday, Wednesday and Today ALMOST make me think that we have finally returned to a “normal” spy. What do I mean by this? Well historically SPY opening hour can be a little chaotic but then its settles into a trend. So like today we saw a pop then started to sell off and that was confirmed by closing candles below the 8ema on the 15min chart. The historical predictable SPY then continues that trend until it rests (like we saw at 1115/ 1130) where SPY closes a candle body (or one candle) above the 8ema to “rest” before it pushes lower. However, then we have the 130pm time frame today. This one was a very convincing reversal that we have been seeing time and time again on SPY. The only difference this time looking back is how the VIX did not fully unwind. + +Historically one of my strategies that I have coined as the 123 rollercoaster involves what today did. It involves a trend move… Spy dipping to 440.6 à it involves a rest period… SPY breaking back above the 8ema… Spy breaking to 442.3 à then it involves spy pushing past the first trend move… so this case would be Spy breaking to 439.6. Before the last id say two or three weeks I would play this strategy almost daily and be very successful with it. The only issue is that right now this market has no problem doing a 180 and reversing trend mid day. I have over the last few weeks been burnt numerous times trying to play this move. Of course today is the one day I sold and prepared myself for calls and got double burnt -\_\_\_-. + +My point in this is that the last three days of SPY have been very strong trend moves that have held true to their trend all day (once established around 10 to 11am). I will be watching going into next week if the same holds true or not. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/c8h8ej4iflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ea8b77b7f188c63f25e79ae4d66395aa0582fc1 + +This mornings pre-market TA (available on the server) I mentioned that I re-worked my 15min bear channel. It held true today. We saw SPY top out at 444.73 before falling all the way to 437.68. Yesterday it had appeared to have broken the channel but upon analyzing my points and readjusting we have now a very strong downward channel that dates back to March 29th, nearly two weeks of downward movement overall). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/udpxd0oiflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=7807896bcf9822df90230ffdd41447ab1391a039 + +I also mentioned it was KEY for bulls to keep it above the purple support line if they wanted to key bullish momentum going into next week, however, they failed to do so today. It was quite the fight at 439.5 support but ultimately the bears won the day. We now finish the week dead center in the red downward channel with room to go either way next week. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/5ymauq9jflt81.png?width=778&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a059fc52ec174f92c827f777165c1e43652b396 + +I had mentioned in my daily TA last night that I thought we could see a red day today (though I actually was bracing for a bull day). I drew the four arrows which showed one green candle followed by two or three red candles. If this trend holds true, and the three day weekend does not flip the trend we should see another red day come Monday. But looking at apple, QQQ and SPY I am not convinced we see another red day. + +Bull case for spy next week- We have found incredible support here at the 437-438 range closing three candles bodies right here. After three days of rejecting the daily 8ema we FINALLY wicked above the daily 8ema. We also tested resistance at the daily 50ema today again. With yesterday low being 437.84 and today closing at 437.79 (with a low of 437.68) its safe to call this a double bottom Wednesday candle saw very similar price action in this area too with a close at 438.29 and a slightly lower low at 436.65. That is nearly a triple bottom. Bulls will need SPY to have a green day Monday, closing the candle ABOVE the daily 200 ema (440) and then follow it up with another green candle closed ABOVE the daily 8ema (443.53) to get some bull momentum flowing. + +Bear case for spy next week- bulls failed once again to close a candle above the daily 8, 20, 50 and 100 ema. Bears also were able to close the candle below the daily 200 ema for the third time this week and the fourth candle body below the daily 200ema. Bears have formed a nice channel going into next week also. Bears will look for Monday to keep the candle completely below the daily 200 ema (440) and close somewhere closer to the 435 range. Ultimate goal for bears will be to get SPY down near 425 to 430 EOW. + +We have no more fed news that I can see (unless a surprise thing happens) until May 3rd. We are approaching earnings season here now though over the next two weeks. Next week brings a slue of more financial based and bank earnings. + Tuesday- Airlines, Lockheed martin, casino stocks, Netflix (oof we all remember that last earnings lol), J&J + +Wednesday- abbott labs, airlines, proctor and gamble, TESLA (hmmm) + +Thursday- more airlines, at&t, SNAP + +Friday- nothing too notable + +So the big ones going into next week will obviously be Netlfix on Tuesday, tesla on Wednesday and then SNAP on Thursday. It will be interesting to see how TESLA does and how they kick off earnings for big tech. I do think they will set the tone. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/vuprdkyjflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1cd1b8ad68306239b8ef30fcd1ab24ad15ac11d + +Apple had a just awful day today. I have never seen apple fall so much but so slowly at the same time. This was not the usually massive red candles down we see this was a very slowwwww drop all day long. Crazy to see for sure. I had mentioned last night had they not been able to break 171 this morning we would look for next natural support at 168.5 (daily 50 ema) which we did bounce at for a while before ultimately losing that and closing BELOW the daily 100ema. Apple had one hell of a day today (in a bad way). We are still well within our bear channel for apple. + +Bull case for apple- I lean towards a bullish bottom being in this week for apple. Monday we saw a bottom of 165.5 amd a close of 165.75 following by todays bottom of 165 and a close of 165.29. This very well can be taken as a clear double bottom and a clear double bottom at a crucial support such as the daily 100 ema which is already pretty darn low for Apple to be trading at. Bulls also were able to once again break the daily 8ema (this time with a candle body) before falling down. + +Bulls will look to get apple Monday back above the daily 50ema at 168.44 and close the candle ABOVE that. They would look to follow that up with a candle closed above both the daily 8 and daily 20ema at 169.76. + +Bear case for apple- overall since March 30th apple has failed to make a new higher high. Price action is downward in nature with a two new lower lows this week (Mondays 165.5 and todays 165.04). Bears also managed to close two FULL candles below the daily 100ema this week which is a big hit to the bulls. Bears will look to make a new lower low Monday breaking Apple down near the 161 range before ultimately trying to get this back to the 200ema at 157.51. + +Today I loaded my IRA with Apple Shares as I found this to be a good buying opportunity. I am waiting for level 2 approval coming next week at which point I most likely will convert them to some Jun 21 2024 (799DTE) calls. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/26zknsokflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4b2440a681ad0dfa92531d0312733dab9e34476 + +AMD is continuing its path to the bottom of the earth. AMd attempted to make an early morning run for the $100 line again but failed to reach even $99 before it was rejected lower. Bears ultimately brought it all the way down to its lowest recent closer of $92.92. + +This will be the last TA for AMD for a while as I no longer will be holding a position in it. But here is a quick case for many of you to watch and how I MAY play it. + +Looking at recent price action there is a case for support to be had around $90 à $85 à 80 à and ultimately my target I mentioned of $75. Unless we see a total market collapse these next two weeks I suspect AMD to find support near the $80 to $85 range. + +For the last four earnings in a row AMD has surpassed all expectations and continues to always BEAT earnings. MY thoughts is that we will see AMD continue to trickle down for the next week and/ or find support near one of those happy places (probably $80-$85 at this pace) and then will see a bullish recovery once AMD has earnings sometime before May 3rd. A strong earnings after such an incredible beat down seeing a drop from $126 to $92 in two weeks would make sense. AMD just has not found a strong enough support bounce yet… some of which is related to the 10year yield sky rocketing, inflation and overall market fuckery. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/le4t2h9lflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d4d3ae2552a305061d84fe6e99b9951d0488ee5 + +Someone asked me to include a TA on NVDA which relates to AMD here so im adding it in hopes they see it… Overall NVDA has been getting its dick slapped by everyone too. Seeing massive drops over the last two week too. NVDA looks to have finally found a support range. However the $209 is the bottom of what I would call strong support (think $100 level for AMD). A dip below that and it may keep selling off for a while into earnings. Overall if NVDA (and tech in general) can get their feet back under them and hold the line at $209-$210 and see the range of $220 again I believe NVDA is a hell of a good buying opportunity here. Being 28% of its recent highs and 40% from its 52 week high. + +I make the same case for AMD also. AMD is currently 27% of recent high and 44% of its 52 week high… that’s a hell of a discount. If and when these two finally find a bottle and I suspect it may be soon some long long dated calls (think 1 year out+ ) would be a hell of a great opportunity. Even two or three years out in case we do see a recession would be a great idea. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/h8k4jlslflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=21ade6e90a21ceceb6651b89edb70f2d7cd1a474 + +Ford actually started to show some recovery like movement this week and I went ahead and closed my Ford puts also. + +I will be watching for ford after four attempts to break its daily 8ema and looking like it could today, close a candle above next week. Looks like Ford is projected to have earnings on April 28th and that will be very interesting to say the least to see how they end up. + +Ford is 40% of its 52 week high… Another one that could be seen as a great LEAP canadite over the next week or so. I would definitely wait until May when earnings are done to see if it catches a bad earnings and you may get an opportunity to buy closer to that $13 range I mentioned before. + +I will be out of my FORD puts now and not planning to re-enter so I will not be including it in future TA right now either. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/veyi3jemflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=fedc19d035e4e1d34b65070dbff86f44a16370c4 + +Ah yes last but not least… the QQQ’s. These bad boys are like apple and SPY looking poised for a recovery here soon in my opinion. Looking at the daily chart you can see we managed to remain IN the bear channel however we did touch the upper resistance for the first time in two weeks. I also want to point out (while hard to see) if you follow the red close line all the way across the chart you see QQQ just touched the lows of January 24th to January 28th this week. There is quite the case to argue this is a massive inverse head and shoulders bull pattern (see pic below). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/35jctnxmflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=64d806624a52018dd264c7c3912604a55329bc54 + +Its one of my LEAST favorite patterns to trade but when its actually accurately found it plays out hugely. I just feel the head and shoulder type patterns are so arbitrary and so self fulfilling I do not like to utilize them but when Its very obvious I will point it out. There is a small case for this pattern that we could see QQQ hit as low as 334ish this next week before it would start its ultimate climb back to ATH. The one very interesting thing above QQQ having this pattern is that Apple and SPY have the EXACT same pattern, however, the only difference is that Apple and Spy have not reached the “shoulder” yet like QQQ has. Apple would need to see 155-160 and SPY would need to see 427-432 (which if you remember I was calling for 430 this week and was anticipating a pattern move like this… I do wonder if I was maybe one week too early). + +Bull case for QQQ- this finally saw an official daily 8ema resistance line test at 346.91 today which is the first official test in nearly two weeks (when it broke below it). The daily 100ema failed to cross below the daily 200ema this week. Bears failed to break lower lows this week with all four candle bodies bottoms near 339.9. There is an arguable double bottom at 338.21 (today) and 338.04 (Tuesday low) that could see a bounce back towards 345-350 come Monday. + +Bulls will need to see a big move back up Monday near the daily 8ema (I doubt they would see a close above it unless they had some wildly amazing day). They would look for the follow up candle to close ABOVE the daily 8ema at 346.91 and then continue the momentum end of week to close above the 100/200 ema near 358-359. + +Bear case for QQQ- Bulls failed to breakout above the daily 8ema when the opportunity presented them. Lower low was made once again this week with a failure to make a higher high than last week. + +Bears will need to see another level down Monday to make an official lower low with a target of 332-335 Monday and follow it up with an end of week target near 315-320. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/48v3whlnflt81.png?width=975&format=png&auto=webp&s=d122d9475ec35e83d48b6a253a13cc3b87adcbc0 + +The VIX is always the star of the show but today it was quite interesting to see that it was trading within such a tight range seeing only 8% of range movement compared to its average of nearly 14-15% the other three days this week. As you can see by my “levels” on the VIX chart it has really been seasawig from about 18.7 to 24.8 for the last really month now. The VIX happy place really seems to be this 23.9 to 20.9 range though which seems to be where it has spent most of its time. The VIX appears to be on an upcycle right now headed back towards 25 which could spell more downward movement for SPY and the market next week unless it is able to see a clean gap down Monday at open and start its way back to 19. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/vc8gmehoflt81.png?width=591&format=png&auto=webp&s=673e76a87a32db3f5abe82c361ac9edf6611a26e + +I am currently holding NO positions over night right now. Someone made a great comment on my TA post the other day that said something along the lines for “you are a great trader but you aren’t a weather forecaster.” Me being me who is dead inside and doesn’t get hurt by what people say really took some time today to analyze that comment as it kinda caught me off guard. Then I really did start to analyze why I was in these Ford, AMD and even the Apple longer DTE puts. Did I really think I was correct? Was the risk worth the reward? The answer I came up with was no it was not. + +The one apple put which became a 0dte today I had to close for -90% because it got burnt and ate up by theta so badly. Of course it was a “small” position but that L turned a great week into an okay week. + +I had the 15dte apple puts that were down I believe about 30% at open that crawled to as high as 20% (and woulda been more like 50% EOD) but I ended up closing them for 5% gains around the 130pm bull trap that I fell for. + +I close my Ford and AMD puts both for 5-6% gains end of day today too. The AMD put was getting all sorts of IV crushed and beat up with the way AMD swings. I was happy to salvage green on that. The Ford put was really the most stable of them all trending only as low as -10% at one time today before I was able to salvage a small win when the market dumped EOD. + +Why did I close all these? Did I lose my conviction in them? Was it a bad play? Yes and no really. I wouldn’t say I lost my conviction in them, but watching my puts go from up 20% to down 30% over night and the apple puts that were once green at 20% having to be closed at -90% really doesn’t sit well with me. + +I am a day trader. I do very well and have a fairly successful day trading win rate and profits to show for it. I do not do well with swings nor do I do well with tolerance on them and “commitment” on them. For me its not worth the risk to reward to be swinging options right now. With that being said I do want to see the market get to a place where I feel comfortable picking up and holding LEAPs for QQQ, SPY and maybe MSFT or APPLE. Overall in the end the market goes up and at some point I do need to stop fighting that trend. + +I have no idea what this crazy wild market is going to do, if the feds will tank it with too many rates, if we will see a recession or not. But the one thing I can tell at least right now is that the market is holding its own weight. I mentioned I added Apple shares to my IRA currently and that is my plan for now to just add shares of apple to that. My non-ira account I am still sitting all cash but once I feel we have a better direction overall of things I will look to go long on some LEAPS most likely after this earnings season and the next FOMC meeting May 3rd/ 4th where we get another 50bps hike and will have another CPI rate upcoming. The market overall is holding its own but I do not trust it. + +Weekly trade log- + +I made 33 total trades this week (28 puts and 5 calls.. quite the difference). + +My total weekly win rate was 72%. + +Put win rate was 79% + +Call win rate was only 40%. + +My biggest losses also came on puts and my biggest wins too. + +My weekly profit goal is $2500 but with the short week was only $2000. + +Realized profits were $2004 this week. When I factor in the swing puts on apple and spy and overall over trading I should have seen 2-3x that realized profits. This week I worked on taking a step back from trading the opening bell and I would say that was moderately successful. + +20 of my 29 (excluding the 4 swing trades) trades were 0-2 DTE for a win rate of 65% + +10 of my 29 trades were 3+DTE for a win rate of 70%. So realistically my 3+dte has a better win rate. + +This is the first time ive analyzed my weekly trades this much. + +Looking back at the last month of data for more information… + +76 trades made for 0-2dte with a win rate of 64.5% win rate + +30 trades made for 3+dte with a win rate of 73% win rate. + +That’s quite the difference in win rates. This next week I am going to challenge myself to trade strictly 3-5dtes. My theory here knowing my trade style is that most of this 0-2dte are quick scalps where im a little higher risk on and usually slightly smaller position size vs. when I do a 3-5dte is usually a larger position size and subsequentially a more established and confident trend. + +I look forward to next week to see how things will shape up. + +NOTE- Next week Friday I will be out of town for a bachelor party. I will try and get a weekly TA up on Sunday night if I can and have time but there is a good chance I just wont be able to post one as I have a pretty long drive back home from there. + +This also means on Friday I will NOT be trading that day. I will be mobile driving to Nashville for the weekend and may make some trades mobile if I see something super great but will definitely not be on the server. + +Thursday morning I am also picking up my friend from the airport for this weekend trip so I will be gone in the AM for a little while near opening bell but will update about the specifics come Thursday but wanted to give everyone a heads up. + +I hope everyone has a great weekend! See you Monday! +This is probably a really stupid question, but can someone explain to me why 1% a day isn’t possible, and actually rather easy? + +Yeah, I know, interest compounds and that would make me a millionaire within a year and a half if I started with $25k, but I just don’t get why it would be difficult. + + +Literally every time I’ve thrown money into some stupid r/wsb or r/penny stocks day trade, the price of the stock has gone, at least some point during that day, above where I bought at. Isnt that all that matters? Can’t I just follow whatever stupid stock is gaining today without looking at fundamentals and then pull out when it gains a few cents (because I have never seen it not, only times I’ve lost is when I was chasing gains, I’ve never tried the 1% thing). Wouldn’t the only thing that matters be that I didn’t buy at the high point? + + +I know I’m wrong but I can’t wrap my head around why +So Ive been day trading for around 9 months now and throughout this time I have bounced between being red and green and I was wondering why I wasn't improving. Sometimes I would start to gain some confidence, only to be crushed when a stock completely went the opposite way. It may not help you in your trading but it helped me so much that I have been able to cross 10% profit weekly. So I track every trade that I make in great detail including quantitative and qualitative data. When I went and looked through the data of my losses I started to discover a pattern. 90% of the trades that I lost on were me buying at a support after a bounce only for it to keep going down. What this made me realize was that trading against the trend isn't worth the small profit margin you'll gain. Once I realized that I was consistently making money on the long side during an uptrend I started to solely trade in the direction of the trade using the VWAP line to determine the strength of the trend. I also made a percentage gain goal for each trade so that I wouldn't get greedy. I tried to make 2% every trade. Once I passed the 2% gain on a trade I set a stop loss at that point and then try to find an exit as high as I could by determining when the trend started to lose momentum and the distance between the price and the VWAP collapsed. With this strategy I was able to make way more than 2% since I had a safety net at 2%, my emotions were clear and I could find a good exit. This one change to my trading style really changed the way I trade and made me very profitable. I hope this helps! +I apologize if this isn’t allowed to ask. I just started with this and I have out around $1000 today in a few different stocks. Is that not nearly enough? I just didn’t feel confident with anything today (if that makes sense) + +Thank you any help. I guess I’m just trying to justify my actions +I've been very hands off with my investing to date. I know, I'm not proud of it and I'm starting to pay a lot more attention. I'm looking through my RRSP statements and half of the fund are sitting in a 'investment savings account' that pays dick. It's been there 4-5 years. My wife's RSP is the same, so it's not an insignificant number. We've told the advisor several times that we want to get the funds invested, but nothing's happened. I can't think of any reason for having investments in a vehicle that's done nothing. On a scale of 1 to10, how pissed would you be? Any advice would be welcomed. +What's your investment/make money strategy? And why? What brought you around to that decision? What's your journey been like, what lessons have you learnt along the way? Are you a day trader? A dividend investor? Maybe GICs are your game, what's your jam? + +I started in the weedstock craze, got in early and made some fantastic returns. Was making ridiculous money with no real plan or effort. Greed helped me ride it almost all the way back down. I got out having made some money but lost a fair amount of unrealized gains. During my research in my beginning phase I was drawn to dividend investing as it suits my personality better and to be fair, my knowledge level. I consider myself an absolute beginner as far as knowledge goes. + +My current strategy is buying in large enough chunks to DRIP full shares of whatever I buy. +In my early 20’s, looking to start putting more money into my TFSA while I finish school in the next year and plan to keep adding money after that. For the next 3-5 years while I’m getting started in a career am I just best off to buy VEQT and keep it simple until I’m more established with my career plans/goals? I use Questrade so would only be paying the 0.22% MER and no commission fees on buying at all. If I wasn’t buying VEQT I would be looking for a 100% equity portfolio that has exposure to Canada (dividend aristocrat stocks) the US (small and mid cap) and emerging markets probably. Is the 0.22% just taken from my annual returns every year e.g. 6% return, 5.78% after fees? Thanks! +Hey guys! + +I'm just about to start my journey towards financial independence, but am having second thoughts on this specific ETF that I'll be investing in - XEQT. + +The reason for my doubt is that most of the posts that I'm seeing regarding the Smith Maneuvre says you need to invest in Canadian companies that produce dividends. The thing is, XEQT does pay out dividends, but since it's exposure is international, the dividend payouts may not come from a Canadian company. + +Is this a cause for concern? Or am I just overthinking it now? Just as long as the investment pays out dividends, doesn't matter how much or where the dividend originates from, then we're good right? + newbie here in options comprehension + +I know this is basic for most of you so please be patient. + +i work at a major Telco here in Vancouver BC + +for helping with a project a group of us was given 300 a few months back @ $28.95 + +...expiration date Aug 2028. + +so does this mean i can cash them at that 2028 date and make a profit off of the difference from the current price to what they will be 7 yrs from now (hopefully of course increased in value)? + +Forgot to add... Before when we were given options (we've been given them in the past before in blocks of 300 or 400) I know I think we could have cashed them out 3 years later... But this time I would like to just move them to one of my accts to keep growing. +So I'm with TD, and apparently, to get equities in my US TFSA, this is the process: +US CASH --> CAD TFSA (in kind) --> US TFSA (journal). I'm in this process right now. + +I'd like to buy some US equities today, but I don't have time to go to the bank and do all this nonsense. If I just fund my US CASH, buy my stuff, and in-kind xfer it to my CAD TFSA and leave it there until I have time to get it journaled, will there be any unforseen consequence? +Many, many income stocks are down a lot from their highs. Usually, it's not a good idea to buy stocks that are falling, especially not during the 1st month it has started falling, but many of them have fell for many weeks and most are now down 20% to 50% from their highs. Guests on news channel BNN are sad about those stocks. We got to be close to maximum pain? + + +For sure, stocks can go to zero, but they can't **all** go to zero can they? Look at Bell and Telus for example, those seem to finally be going up, after dropping 15%. + + +* Vermillion (VET.CA), in the energy sector, is down over 40% at near multi-year lows while the sector sentiment is as bearish as it gets. +* Then there is PizzaPizza ([PZA.CA](https://PZA.CA)) that made a quick bounce after a 40% drop. +* A&W is another option in the space, but those one is not down much +* REIT(s) are good for income but those are not down much (surprisingly) +* Cineplex ([CGX.CA](https://CGX.CA)) this morning in the discretionary sector. + + +What do you guys think? It seem that odds are low that higher yielding stocks can keep going down while bond yields struggle getting above 3.20%? + + +&#x200B; +I'm already set on a few ETFs: ZAG for bonds, VRE for Canadian REIT exposure and ZPR for Canadian preferred shares. + +However, I'm missing a few components: Dividends from Canadian companies, US companies, and international companies. + +Are there any ETFs that would cover these? I'd like ETFs that don't employ return of capital (like XTR, which I do not like at all, it's too active and returns capital). Most dividend ETFs I find return too much capital to try to generate a "stable" stream of income, but I don't want that. +Hello Everyone, a few weeks ago I won a $1,500 bathroom remodel prize drawing. I came here to ask if it was a scam and lots of people told me that it sounded legit and was an awesome prize! + +https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/9pa4we/we_won_a_1500_bathroom_remodel_is_this_a_scam/?utm_source=reddit-android + +I thought I would give you guys an update so that others can watch out for things like this. It was absolutely a scam... They tell you that you won and get this great discount. My first hint that it was a scam was that they called both me and my girlfriend to tell each of us that we had won. We both had entered into the drawing. When I asked them about it they said oh well we had 2 winners this time. I was sceptical so after the quote came in I asked for the breakdown of prices. The quote they gave me felt way too high for the remodel I was wanting. They were charging me things like $800 for the faucet alone that should have been $200 max. After seeing that, I got another quote from a local company for the same remodel that came in almost $3,000 cheaper. + +Moral of the story is that you should always get another quote, ask to see the price breakdown, and be skeptical if you are "winning" a prize like that. They clearly were raising their prices to compensate for the "discount" making there be no real discount and they just tricked you into getting a remodel that you may or may not have wanted in the first place. + +Thank you for the advice guys! + + +Edit: I'm a terrible writer +A big german bank, no wait hold my beer, the biggest german bank for (retail) savings just announced that they will setup a Crypto trading service for all their customers in Germany. + +That’s not just big but huge. It means that there will possibly up to **50 million** flowing into the crypto market. We are not talking of Dollars or Euros, we are talking of **bank clients**. + +And it’s more than likely that other German and/or European banks will follow sooner than later. + +Here is the source of the announcement. It’s in german, will add an English source later once I have found one. + +Source (🇩🇪): https://t3n.de/news/sparkassen-wollen-handel-bitcoin-1436902/ + +Source (🇺🇸): https://cryptopotato.com/german-savings-banks-association-may-offer-a-crypto-wallet-in-2022/ + +*Edit 1:* [This comment](https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/rfemdl/really_big_news_coming_from_germany_today_50/hodvw0f/) by u/DazingF1 adds valuable context to this post in general and to my bullish sentiment in particular. + +*Edit 2:* And yes I know market is down again right now. However, I am not bullish for the next 3 hours but for the upcoming 3 years. + +*Edit 3:* Dec 14, 2021. **Here we go, more german banks following:** https://cryptopotato.com/two-more-german-banks-planning-crypto-services-following-sparkasse/ +Who doesn't love waking up extra early in the morning than usual to drive a total 2 hour daily commute in a time of high gas prices and having no time to prep food in the morning so i'm forced to starve during the day or spend money eating out. All this to go into office only to do the same crap that I already do at home! God Bless America. +Im a Malaysian in my early twenties who would like to start investing his savings. I figured it would be wise to diversify beyond buying a house. After reading a variety of books on stock investing, I find the methods proposed by the likes of Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett to make the most sense. +However, I'm not sure if some of their arguments are applicable to Malaysian investors or not: +1. US stocks have shown a long track record for outperforming other asset classes. While the Malaysian stock market is relatively young and has been generally a "sideways" market +2. Great businesses will always be valued accordingly sooner or later. This had shown to be true in the US for many companies. Would things be different in Malaysia? + +I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Does value investing only work in America? +http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/10686698/Bitcoin-exchange-MtGox-faced-150000-hack-attacks-every-second.html + +Does anyone actually believe this? They had been having liquidity issues for almost a year, but all the coins were stolen in the final days? + +I can't be the only one who hopes Mark Karpeles spends the rest of his life in prison. +PRPL guy fucks up and now you retards want to hang him. This is why we only get pumpers who write "DD" with a bunch of colored rockets. + +It's no one's fault but your own. Investing in a mattress company? what a joke. The real money is in corn. +**How it happened (feel free to skip):** + +When I worked part time at a hotel, they told us in the employment paperwork stuff that they contributed to a retirement account for us. I assumed for years that this mostly referred to full-time or management positions, so when I got occasional letters updating terms and conditions or whatever, I simply ignored them. + +I quit that job 5 years ago. After a particularly terrifying couple months with money issues, I decided.. "eh, what the heck, maybe I'll call the number on the paper and see if there's a couple hundred dollars or something". When I called, I joked to the nice lady that I figured "there's probably like 8 cents in there", to which she replied: "Well, you have the 8 part right!" + +So, all of a sudden, I found out that I have a $11,081 IRA sitting out there for me. This is a ridiculously huge amount of money to me and I'm gobsmacked. I always thought of IRAs as something "rich people" do/have. + +**So, here's what I do know:** + +* Don't touch it, for the love of god, don't touch it. +* If I wait until I'm 59.5 years old, the penalties for taking it out disappear and the tax burden on the money is much lower (presumably. Due to income) +* There is a $35 annual fee. This is apparently not outrageous, but some IRAs without fees do exist. +* I can contribute up to (around) $5,000 a year if I want. That money is tax-free until taken back out. (I don't have enough to do this, but I can do maybe $1,000 to $2,000 a year if I really try!) + +My CPA suggests that I consider rolling over the IRA, since (1) the company it's currently with is apparently a "no-name", and (2) I can possible get a better deal on the fee. He declined to suggest a particular company since he's not a financial advisor, but said that he has lots of clients that use etrade.com and Fidelity. + +I spoke to my bank and they basically said that I'm not going to see a huge difference in return on the money if I roll to them unless there's $50,000+ in the account. (the annual fee is $10 cheaper, though, and at least I'd be with a company I know and trust.. as banks go lol) + +**My questions** + +* Is there a particular "best" place to starting looking for a rollover option? +* Is there any hidden dangers or bad types of places I should keep a lookout for? (hidden fees, etc) +* Anything else I might not know to ask? + +TL;DR **I just found out I have a IRA with what is (to me) a ridiculous amount of money. Now what?** +Her situation is pretty simple. +Only income is from Social Security. +Only bills that I can think of are the basics (rent, electricity, cable/internet). + +My thought (I have Power of Attorney) is that I'll have her check deposited to an account (maybe even her existing account, and removing her from it), that I will pay her bills from. +She has a credit card that she can use for groceries, gas, and incidentals, that I would pay as well. + +I feel like I'm missing something though. Any advice? + +UPDATE: +The scammer didn't get in as I thought... apparently, they asked for a password, she didn't know it, and they gave up... I was trying to find out what exactly was taken, and in doing so, found nothing amiss. We had a long talk about "if ANYONE contacts you about money or accounts, get their name and number and let them know I will be calling them... if they refuse or argue, it is because they are scammers." +I've been thinking about this for a couple of years now. I'm 25/M, currently work in wealth management, 65k+, mortgage a house, paid off car, currently pursuing my mba (nontarget GMAT 660), and am in a healthy relationship. In paper everything sounds good. + +In reality, like everyone, I work long hours and on free time I study for the MBA. After the MBA come the CFA exams. I have had no time to really enjoy leisure time, travel, parties, vacations, nothing. I feel guilty when I put off anything work related. Its become harder for me to enjoy simple things and I believe i'm falling victim to society's standards. I've slowly alienated all my friends and family. + +What I do for a living doesn't seem to benefit society as it is very sales intensive with very little concern for client's outcome. My question is, will this path lead to happiness? Something I've been asking myself for a year now since I've become more familar with the industry... + +EDIT: Thanks for all your comments, looks like most of you have found happiness within finance. I will continue to work hard. Thanks. +Hi guys, + +I have a question that I could use some help on. + +I am working on a case study as part of an interview process. It is to evaluate an investment opportunity in a hog farm in Romania. I believe that part of the assignment is to take a stab at the valuation. As such, I will look for trading comparables, precedent comparables and build a DCF. For the DCF, my understanding is to pull trading comparables to find a levered beta (which you then unlever and relever using mean / median market D/E ratio) etc. + +However, I have spoken to two people who have told me this: since you are dealing in a fairly specific market / geography for which comps may be difficult to come by, and where the data can be quite spotty (for example, there are 2 Greek companies with D/E ratios >= 1000%), it is fair to simply use the required return rate as the discount rate. That is, if the PE firm says they are seeking 25% return, you can just discount the projected cash flows over 25% to arrive at a post-money valuation, then take out the equity investment amount to get a pre-money valuation. + +From my understanding though, if I discount my FCFE at 25% IRR, the return on the deal is essentially 0, right? + +This goes totally against what I learnt in my training and MBA, but an MD at a PE firm attached to a bulge bracket iBank (he runs their infra investing bucket) said that this is acceptable. + +I would really appreciate it if someone could please shed some light on this! + +Thank you +So far I'm familiar with Black-Scholes, Merton Jump-Diffusion and Heston's stochastic volatility model. + +Are there situations when one is better than the others and are there other option pricing models out there that are worth looking into? +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. + +I have just started reading this book, and I think it should be like, required reading for FI'ers. It's a systematic approach to going through every item you own and deciding which ones to keep. Once you have ruthlessly done this, in one big "marathon," you will have a "tidy" house - you'll own only objects that bring you joy. This is supposed to improve your mood enormously, which I hope it does (I'm starting this weekend!). From a FI'er perspective, though, I also think it will be a very helpful attitude adjustment . . . It should be much easier to decide not to buy things, once I've gone through the marathon of getting rid of all the shit I already bought but never use! + +I am taking notes as I read which I will post here as a comment later. Has anyone else read this book, and/or gone through the process? Did it help you with FIer? +Im so glad the promotion of crypto finally got banned from the app, some of the creators got paid insane amount to promote complete shitcoins and that crap Came flying over to Reddit in no time. + +Just wanted to say that here cus i got nobody to talk to lol. +Hey reddit, I would like to have an idea about how everyone is doing with their spending/saving. Given $1000 ( after tax) per week, how would you spend it? +Mine first: (single, renting, no kid, no pet) +Rent $250 +Car $100 (insurance, fuel, maintenance etc) +Groceries $150 +Phone and bills $35 +Clothing shopping etc $65 (on average) +Insurance and other expense $100 +Family support $100 +That left me with roughly $200 to save each week. Am I spending too much? + +Thanks guys +Hi All, + +I bought a house last year in the northern suburbs of melbourne. Im currently living alone with a cat. I dont own a car and dont have any other crazy expenses apart from a 15k hecs debt + +My Repayments currently are $1700 a Month. I make $4400 a month. Im fixed till next year so I cant put it in an offset account. (I might even just wait till next year then put it all in an offset account). + +My savings are currently sitting in an everyday account with ANZ basically doing nothing. + +I have 100k in my account and im not sure what to do with it. Friends have said vanguard? While others have said use it to buy another property (Which I think is a crazy idea) + +Does anyone have any recommendations? + +Thanks +I have a decent income and pay a sh#itload of tax per year. + +I am becoming increasingly frustrated by people in my immediate/distant social circle of which I am aware are working cash jobs and not paying tax on that cash income. + +Not sure if this is the right platform to express my anger, but how do you deal with people like that. (Particularly those that like to flaunt/flex). +We have had a huge lifestyle change in the last few years. My ex left me and, in a tale as old as time, me and my kids were left in a different income bracket than what they have been accustomed to. I have done everything in my power to keep their day to day lives normal. I have started going to the store when they aren't with me so I don't have to tell them that they can't have a toy that they want. I do go to food banks and clothes closets but I do it, again, when they aren't with me. But, I still feel like I am doing so much wrong. So, if you grew up like this, what do you wish your parents had done differently? +Super sad about what happened...he had a heart attack and was only 55 years old. That got me thinking about my family. We just bought a home in Southern California and def need 2 income for us to pay mortgage. I started worry if something awful happened and one of us died, we would be able to pay off the house not even with the insurances we got through our employer. Plus we have a 18 month old toddler to care for and 2 Goldens. Should we be having another life insurance outside of our employer? If so what package should we be buying? How do we ensure that the other will not feel the burden especially our daughter? Many thanks +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +Curious as a newer trader, I know things come with time, learning, mistakes, & DD but I am interested to see how long some of you more experienced traders were into trading before your first big trade. +The Ark Innovation ETF ARKK, +0.21%, the flagship fund of Cathie Wood's Ark Investment Management, purchased nearly 1.3 million shares of Robinhood Markets HOOD, -8.37% during its first day of trade, worth roughly $45 million. Robinhood shares slumped 8% as the initial public offering, targeted to Robinhood's own retail base, was greeted with tepid demand. + +Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ark-innovation-etf-bought-45-million-worth-of-robinhood-on-first-day-of-trade-2021-07-30 + +What is everyone’s thoughts, opinions, and takes on this move by Cathie Wood and Ark? +So, i'm at that point where me and my wife are combining income and i'm looking for advice. We have been together for 5 years and don't see a separation anytime soon (but then again, who does?).Neither of us are stupid enough to believe divorce is not a possibility in future, we can't predict the future but we obviously don't believe it will happen. We have lived together for years and understand each other's money usage. We have split all bills, food, etc. for a long time now. There is no debt besides the mortgage between the two of us. No credit cards, no student loans, no car payments. + +Up until this point we have basically used my bank account for everything and she writes me a check twice a month for "half" of what we spend. I say "half" because it's a set amount each two weeks and obviously spending fluctuates month to month but the amount we have done is a good average month to month. This has become annoying and pretty troublesome. + +One thing that we want is to have transparency but yet also independence. We want to be able to know what each other are spending from "our" money but also want the ability to have money independent from each other. I think this is good for each other's independence and ability to spend personal money without each other knowing about it. If I want to buy her a necklace I want that to come out of my money, not our money. Likewise, she wants to buy a dress from her money, not our money, without me knowing which i fully understand and support. + +So i'm looking for how you guys have your bank accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, etc. set up with your wife/girlfriend/husbands/boyfriends. Any and all advice is welcome. + +Thanks +So my portfolio is down from 1.2m to 350k this year. I was devastated and have been depressed for quite some time now. I make a humble income and this portfolio is most of my networth, so this has been incredibly difficult for me. + +That being said, I would like some advice from here. Some may think I trade high-risk options with that kind of money. Actually not really, my holdings include Nio, Tesla, Eyes, Joby, Sofi, Aht, Btx, Mp, Cpe, Arkg, Arkk, Spce, Dkng, Fubo, Amc, Clov, Rlx, etc. I used 10-20% margin at some point that looked like buying opportunities which I shouldn’t have of course. + +Most of the time I just buy and hold (I didn’t even buy at the highest price). When stocks keep going down, I buy more. I don’t know how it happened but many of these stocks have gone down 70%+?? I don’t have any cash now and my portfolio is down 70%. I even sold some covered calls to hedge. + +What’s incredibly scary is that many experts keep saying a crash/recession coming soon. I don’t know what I’m supposed to think or do. Cutting losses now??? My stocks have crashed so hard already except Tesla, Mp, Cpe. I really don’t know what a crash means for those ultra growth stocks which have gone down 80% already?..and it’s been very difficult for me to cut losses at this deep (and I don’t know if there’s still a point in doing so) + +Luckily I’m no longer on margin and I didn’t invest all my savings. So I’m not desperately in need of the 350k right now and can wait maybe 3-5 years. But what to do now? should I sell everything or keep my holdings or revise my portfolio? I can’t really afford to lose the money in the long run. And all this in the past year has been hurting my mental health. Anyone has any advice? + +EDIT: thanks guys for all the advice. I feel better and calmer now about the situation. I know I was gambling and was not looking for sympathy. Thank you for everyone who’s concerned. + +The reason I picked those stocks was that I followed some popular financial analysts bloggers and joined their discords. They recommended some of these stocks and think my holdings are relatively safe and suggested me to hold whenever I was attempted to sell (they say some of these are to be held for 3-5 years like Sofi, Joby, Nio). I followed their advice because I reached 1.2m from low six figures in 2020 using margin buying SPACs and penny stocks I found online (risky behavior paid off…) I sold most of them and got into the stocks I mentioned above. I also had INTC, QQQ, Netflix, AMD, NVDA, CCL, JWN, Microsoft, etc, however, I sold them at some point to average down the “bad stocks.” Apparently, I didn’t anticipate things could go this wrong. + +Anyway, that’s my story and lesson. Don’t fully trust those “experts” who’re so sure about some small-cap opportunity… + +Edit 2: lots of folks are saying about I should have sold stocks and changed my portfolio at 1.2m. I was considering it but the taxes I would have to pay for selling those winners deterred me (like half of my gains come on, but if I wait it out till a year, it would save me a lot)…and then March hit and then May hit and then things went to hell… + +Edit 3: Since many asked, I started small in 2018 and only deposit a lot more into my account around august 2020 I think? The portfolio was worth 250k then. Yea what a crazy year…THANK YOU again for all the great suggestions. + +Edit 4: peeps keep saying why I didn’t realize the stocks I were holding were high risks. I DID. I only said I didn’t buy “high-risk options” (I didn’t buy any options at all). And I thought only AMC and clove are meme/wsb stocks?? Correct me if I’m wrong. I was hoping for a quick gain and then failed to cut losses. + + +Talk about your plays today or things you are on the lookout for. This is where you belong if your comment includes a ticker. + +*keep it civil please* +Peter Rizun (head BU dev): + +"To have a fee market with no block size limit you need Bitcoin's inflation rate to be nonzero" + +http://np.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/61a4uk/to_have_a_fee_market_with_no_block_size_limite/ + +"I don't believe a fixed supply is a central property of Bitcoin." + +https://i.supload.com/r1pdI_mDg.jpg + +Roger Ver has also said that he is okay with the risk of bitcoin becoming paypal 2.0 + +I think if this was more widely known there would be much less support. +Bitcoin 0.1 was amazingly complete. It had few bugs, and even fewer *really bad* bugs. Additionally, it had great forward-compatibility, with explicit support for future softforks in the form of the OP_NOPn opcodes. Before anyone knew how a decentralized cryptocurrency would even work, Satoshi was figuring out how to add to Bitcoin things like smart contracts and payment channels. This is incredible, and a lot of people look at Satoshi's amazing accomplishments with Bitcoin and say stuff like, "Satoshi must be a crypto super-genius, the next Einstein." This, I think, is very much missing the point. + +When Satoshi was working on Bitcoin in 2007-2009, almost all of the core ideas of Bitcoin were well-known in the cryptography community. In 1996, [a summary of previous academic work on electronic cash](http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm) was published, talking at length about most of the low-level cryptographic primitives used in Bitcoin and using familiar terms like "double spending". Hashcash proof-of-work was well-known, and I remember reading about it prior to Bitcoin as an idea to prevent email spam. git uses the same unbreakable chain of hashes as Bitcoin's block chain, and was first released in 2005. Satoshi made one major leap: combining all these pieces to prevent double spending through a PoW block chain. This was impressive, but the same flash of brilliance could've happened to anyone who was following this stuff. + +Satoshi is not awesome because he was watching the crypto world and had a brilliant idea. He's awesome because upon having this idea, **he carried it out**. You know what I would've done if this idea had come to me? I probably would've mentioned it to a few people, maybe written some very basic code if I was feeling especially ambitious. You know what Satoshi did? He *spent 2+ years contemplating every possible aspect of the system he could think of, and wrote code that worked brilliantly in the real world*. Satoshi's code was good, but anyone who had read a good book like *C++ Primer* could've written similarly-good code. Anyone who had taken an intro crypto course or read a few books on the subject would understand Satoshi's usage of crypto primitives. The task of creating Bitcoin required a small flash of brilliance, moderate skill, **and an unbelievably huge amount of dedication** to thinking about, coding, and testing the system until it worked exactly as envisioned. + +Satoshi's lesson is that you *don't* need to be the next Einstein in order to change the world. You just need to be put in the effort. Satoshi, probably just an ordinary hobbyist like anyone here, saw that something was lacking in the Universe, and he fought tooth-and-nail for 2+ years until this imperfection was corrected. We should strive to do the same (and not just in Bitcoin). +Just wondering what monthlies you guys are buying now? I have been buying up a few. + +Here is a list of my holdings: + +[CHR.TO](https://CHR.TO) (Jazz Airlines) - they have a contract with Air Canada until 2035, AC will pay them regardless of performance + +[DIV.TO](https://DIV.TO) \- company that collects royalties from mr.lube franchises, nurse next door...etc + +REI.UN - RIOcann Reit, stable good history of div payments + +[DFN.TO](https://DFN.TO) \- a fund designed to pay investors divs, major holdings are fin and nat gas + +Ino.un - another reit, major holdings are in the European real estate market + +what other good value dividends do you guys recommend? +Hello, I have a question for you that I have been wondering about. I currently own about half of my home and have a very good interest rate and 4 years left on my locked in mortgage. I am also putting away money to the maximum that the company I work for matchs. I would like devote another 150-200 biweekly to one of these two buckets. Everyone always says you are better to invest money but with interest rates changing substantially over the last few money has this rule of thumb changed at all? +Anyone use google sheets for their investments? Recently came across the function GOOGLEFINANCE() and all its features. Seems like it'd be very easy to create a portfolio and quickly share it to someone else. Wonder if its widely used or not. +Speculative plays are on a decline since that mid-February peak. A lot of us are left holding heavy bags. Crypto stocks, renewables, gambling, etc. + +Post your success stories after holding bags for months / years. +So they charge more on interest...but they pay more on interest. + +Bank rate goes up 50 basis points, they make LESS money on all the fixed rate mortgages out there (most are probably fixed rate) + +They make EQUAL money on variable rate mortgages. + +Even on variable rate mortgages their margin% decreases since the variable rate goes up by the amount of the bank rate increase so if their margin was .0015 on a variable rate of .02 now its .0015 on a variable rate of .025 so the margin dropped. + +&#x200B; + +Where is the benefit to bank earnings? +Is it worth getting a $20,000 GIC, 18 months at 3.35%? If not, is there something better, other then TFSA or RRSP, to do with that amount of money? + +&#x200B; + +edit - not TFSA or RRSP because those are maxed. Money is just sitting in bank account. So the question was really; sit on it, GIC now, GIC later, other... + +&#x200B; +One of the main pros I hear about a platform like QT is DRIP. For a simple investor like myself, I understand it as an automated way to reinvest dividends. + +I'm currently on WS and they don't have DRIP. I've been manually reinvesting my dividends every month/quarter when I get them. + +Is there any other advantages to DRIP I don't know about? +This stock has been beaten up so badly over the last 52 weeks, and bad news follows this company unlike any I've seen before. + +There is A LOT of negativity surrounding Enbridge, and very little positive to help it's share price stay afloat. + +Does anyone know if it's even possible for them to recover to their previous 52 week highs at this point, or are they done for? + +Every other month they make a new 52 week low, and my bags get heavier. I hear so much conflicting information, that I just don't know what to do or think anymore. + +Is this another buying opportunity, or a value trap? + +Hello! + +I’ve been a lurker on this sub for a while and this will be my first post. + +Just started investing late last year with $100 here and there. + +I work a minimum wage job but I’ve got savings because I’m in a relatively cheap city and I’ve got a roommate. + +I started investing about 50% of my savings and I woke up this morning to a 70% gain. It’s really nothing much. It’s basically a penny stock and that will net me about $90 if I sell but I’m so happy!! Just wanted to share. + +Btw, I’m starting a new job (not minimum wage) so if anyone has any advice for investing, please feel free to share. + +Thank you. +Hey all, + +I have been an part time investor for about 10 years now and I am no way an expert. I trade and do securities analysis as a method to make money on the side and have a hobby interest in the area. + +With that said, I have been monitoring various social media platforms especially the investment topics and subs to see what the general sentiment is towards the market. While reading I have noticed a huge trend in rookies getting into the market, asking what should I buy or is this company good? Some come in with small amounts to invest and others with larger amounts. Either way the number of individuals has increased. I also have a fair amount of friends who have recently opened trading accounts, most of which have come to me asking for advice. Some of these friends event frequent the casino but with those closed they have turned to "day trading". (That might be a different conversation for later) + +This really got me thinking about the current state of the market and the big swings we are seeing. The two largest topics I have read/talked about have been oil companies and airlines (One that shall go unnamed due to its excessive use lately). Now of course there is natural volatility due to the current events but I think there is another factor also at play. + +I have a hypotheses that with the large amount of rookies getting into the market they are actually causing increased volatility in prices. + +With the ease of creating an investment account such as Robinhood, QTrade or even with your local bank we are seeing an increased number of rookie investors. Now I think they are somewhat smart for getting into the market now due to the lower prices but sadly I think their inexperience is causing larger swings. With the additional time on their hands they are constantly watching the market and reading the news about the oil/airlines dramatic rises and falls, even hearing about the TSX and DOW having record days. They rush into the market with their savings taking a quick look at the price now and the price from a year ago. They buy, telling themselves in 3 years this stock will be worth 2x/3x my investment. Now I don't disagree with them on this, I am going long with a percentage of my portfolio but with my few years of experience I know to set it and forget it and remove my emotions. + +Now back to these rookies, when they see the stock rise they get excited, then the price rises again and their FOMO kicks in and they tell themselves "it won't go this low again". They decide to buy as they don't want to miss out on this run, causing prices to rapidly increase. Now some of them might sell and make a profit but this can also create a false sense of security, they did it once they can do it again. They are now telling themselves I can make money timing the market, maybe they even put in more money next time. This is where their original intent of buying and holding for 3 years has gone out the window and they are now playing the swings. + +Now maybe they bought and didn't sell when it was up, they are still in the green and feeling pretty good; or maybe they decided to sell when it was up, made that profit, and are confident it will rebound like before. All of a sudden the price starts to drop erasing those gains, some rebuy at this point thinking they can turn it around again. Then it drops again, some sell to limit their losses and then it drops again and now it is in the red they don't like seeing that they have "lost" money. They panic and rush to sell because they don't want to lose more money. This causes a rapid decline and resulting in the stock to drop even lower. + +Now a few days goes by and the stock starts to recover, these rookies are watching the market and hearing the news they see the prices rise again, they are kicking themselves why did I sell and they get that FOMO again and the cycle repeats itself. The rookie will keep doing this either until they learn from their mistakes or leave with their losses. + +Now I am talking about one rookie with a few hundred dollars or maybe I am talking about a rookie self-managing their TFSA or RRSP with a few thousand dollars but if multiply this by a few thousand rookies it really starts to add up. + +**TLDR;** So with the ease of creating an investment account and markets at all time lows we are seeing an increase in rookies that are contributing to added volatility in the market causing increased dips and spikes to stock prices. + +**So am I wrong, do you agree? Do you have more to add? I would love to hear your thoughts or comments.** + +I would also love to see the data of new enrolments from brokers over the past 6 months to see if this is true. + +My comment to rookies reading this: Do your research, create a strategy, stick to your strategy and "stay calm and don't panic". If are are going to "gamble" on stocks be safe and only invest what you can afford to lose. +I want to point out the distinction between investing and trading. Investing (institutional or individual) is when someone enters the Stock Market with the intention of growing their capital over a longer period: you buy part ownership of one or more companies, presumably because you find their discounted future earnings to be valuable to you. Contrast this with trading which in the case of every day Canadians, means speculating on the current price of some asset with the anticipation of taking profits at some later date. + +When people on this sub talk about individual transactions (as a recent example someone bought 3 shares of SHOP), I encourage them to think of these as \*\*investments\*\* rather than trades. Before, during, and after the purchase of a Stock (or ETF), consider what you like about that investment, and what your time horizon is. If your time horizon is shorter than 3 or so years, you might want to consider a less risky vehicle for your money such as HISA or GICs. + +If all you know about a ticker is the price, then it's not a well researched investment. +Quick background: +I’m in my mid 20s making approximately 100k, and I am currently saving for a downpayment. I have approximately 45k saved for my downpayment, and wanted to get my feet wet with some long-term investing (10-20+ years). I’ve put 5k into my Questrade TFSA to start my portfolio and plan to contribute an additional $250-500 monthly. This will allow me to still meet my downpayment goals and get started on some investing. I’m still trying to figure out how to do my DD on ETFs, but I wanted to get some perspective on a potential ETF portfolio based on some rudimentary research. + +1. Globally diversified ETF: 75-80% VEQT or XEQT. I believe the main difference here is that XEQT has a lower MER and higher US exposure. I was leaning towards XEQT based on the higher US exposure. +2. Healthcare: 5% ARKG. ARK seems to be all the rage these days, and I wanted to get some exposure into the innovative pharma/biotech sector. I have a background in this field and the technologies ARKG is emphasizing have been academia for a long time and seem to be slowly transitioning to industry. I think 5% is an amount that I am okay with gambling on a risky ETF like ARKG. +3. Clean Energy: 10% ZCLN. My choice on ZCLN is based on the fact that Clean Energy “should” be the future. ZCLN is based on ICLN, which has been doing well since it came out. Although I am a bit concerned how ICLN has tripled in value since pre-COVID. Does it make sense to get into this now, will it go down...? I don’t think anybody knows. +4. Tech: 10% TEC or 5% ARKG (K/W/Q). I understand that I am getting a decent amount of tech exposure through VEQT/XEQT, but I’m wondering if some extra exposure is worthwhile here. I’ve read that the future value of TEC has already been incorporated into the price, and the gains here wont be as substantial anymore. So, I’m not sure if 10% TEC is worth it, and I don’t really know what the future of tech holds. I feel confident in AANG (fuck FaceBook) as a tech enthusiast. My other alternative for tech is 5% ARKK (not sure if ARKQ/W/K make more sense if I’m going 5% ARKG to avoid any additional overlap). My faith in ARK is based on their innovative approach, but I am very new to this, so I’m not sure its a good idea. Also, the 10% TSLA in ARKK concerns me - I can’t see why Tesla is worth so much...I might take a look at putting 5% in some other ARK ETFs. + +Other Questions: + +1. Should I DCA my $5k into the these ETFs? I personally want to get my $5k into the ETFs this month and start with my monthly contributions of 250/500 starting next month. How would DCA work anyway - do I simply buy 1500$ of ETF every Monday this month, for example? + +2. How does balancing my portfolio work - do I buy whatever keeps my allocations at 85/5/10/5 every month? + +3. The vanguard risk assessment gave me 80% equities/20% bonds. I was originally leaning towards X/VGRO, but a lot of people here recommend the slightly higher risk of X/VEQT due to my age and time horizon. I’ve seen a lot of mixed opinions regarding bonds as well. + + +Thanks for reading. Please point me in the direction of any resources that can help me learn about investing. +28 year old, started investing back in March after. I'm focusing on a dividend portfolio in my TFSA, currently have $4000 invested and looking to invest another $1000 every month. Focusing on long term investing and reinvesting every dividend payment, low to medium risk is my preference. I've made a list of the stocks/ETF's I would like to buy, my plan is to put $1000 every month and buy one of the stocks/ETF's every month. Looking for any advice and tips, thank you. + +Currently own +Enbridge - ENB.TO - $1000 +Toronto-Dominion Bank - TD.TO - $3000 + +**Telecom** + +TELUS Corporation - T.TO + +Rogers Communications - RCI.B + +Bell - BCE + +**Real Estate** + +RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust - REI.UN.TO + +Brookfield Property Partners - BPY.UN.TO + +**Energy** + +Suncor Energy - SU.TO + +TC Energy Corporation - TRP.TO + +Canadian Natural Resources Ltd - CNQ.TO + +HydroOne - H.TO + +**Mining** + +Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd - KL.TO + +**Insurance** + +Great-West Lifeco - GWO.TO + +Sun Life Financial Inc - SLF.TO + +Manulife Financial Corporation - MFC.TO + +**Railroad** + +Canadian National Railway - CNR.TO + +Canadian Pacific Railway - CP.TO + +**Financial** + +Bank of Nova Scotia - BNS.TO + +Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce - CM.TO + +**ETF** + +BMO US High Dividend Covered Call ETF - ZWH.TO + +BMO Canadian High Dividend Covered Call ETF - ZWC.TO + +iShares S&P TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF Units - XEI.TO + +Vanguard US Total Market Index - VUN.TO + +Vanguard S&P 500 Index - VFV.TO + +Vanguard Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF - VDY.TO +With a little effort, you can justify any purchase. But, if you're buying things you know you don't need because you're sad or anxious, you might have a spending problem. It won't go away if you ignore it, it will just get worse. +🌐 Website: [https://www.everrisecoin.com](https://www.everrisecoin.com/) + +✍️ Bsc Contract: 0xc7d43f2b51f44f09fbb8a691a0451e8ffcf36c0a + +📢 Telegram: [https://t.me/everriseofficial](https://t.me/everriseofficial) + +EverRise has established the new standard of DeFi tokenomics with its innovative Buyback system and game changing use-cases. + +EverRise will soon release their first use-case, EverOwn, which will help developers build trust in their community by giving them the ability to renounce their contract while maintaining the ability to make improvements with a community vote to return the contract. + +**EverRise’s CEO and Developer “TITAN” and The Legal and Business Director "Guard" will be doxxing themselves live on Youtube on the 31 August.** + +☀️THE BUY-BACK SYSTEM☀️ + +On the EverRise protocol, $RISE tokens are bought back from the market, resulting in an immediate effect on the price. + +These repurchased tokens are then instantly burned, permanently removing them from the circulating supply. + +The EverRise buyback function, also known as The Kraken, is funded by the strategic buyback fee. The tokens are converted into BNB and securely stored in the EverRise contract (while also sending the project sustainability percentage to the marketing wallet). + +The BNB locked and stored in the EverRise contract is known as the Kraken’s Strategic Reserves. The EverRise contract is coded so that the Kraken’s Strategic Reserves can only be utilized to buyback $RISE from the open market via the liquidity pool. + +These funds cannot be sent to any external wallet. + +Once the $RISE tokens are bought back, the new BNB amount is added to the liquidity pool and the $RISE tokens bought are immediately burned. This creates a true burn and guarantees the price per token will increase every time a buyback is activated. + +🔥35K+ BNB used so far in strategic buy-back burns (23.56% of circulating supply)🔥 + +The Kraken Strategic Reserves are deployed at specific moments to create stable floor prices during downward market trends, chart manipulation, or whale dumps. + +Holders are additionally "auto-staked" instantly receiving 2% of the transaction volume and you can watch your wallet grow in real-time. + +💎 THE EVERRISE ECOSYSTEM 💎 + +EverRise’s game-changing ecosystem and EverRise dApps will bring a true revolution to the cryptocurrency space. + +Our dApps: EverOwn, EverWallet, EverSwap, EverLock and EverSale will solve key problems in the crypto industry and will bring a new dimension in personal and project security for crypto. + +All dApps are coming to both the Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20) and the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). + +The EverRise Kraken Strategic Reserves will be fed both by the volume of transactions on RISE/BNB and the external ETH and BNB revenue from the dApps. + +This provides stability not only for the EverRise native token, but all projects within the EverRise ecosystem through their required reserve holdings of EverRise. + +This further protects EverRise ($RISE) investors and allows more power for the true price increasing buyback burns that the Kraken performs. + +📄 TOKENOMICS AND PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY 📄 + +The EverRise contract is coded to collect 11% in fees from all transactions (buys, sells and transfers), to be dedicated into the following: + +\* 6% for strategic buyback funds + +\* 2% as commission to holders (rewards through reflection) + +\* 3% contribution to project sustainability: enhancements, operations and marketing ✅ ACHIEVEMENTS ✅ + +\* Blue Checkmark Verified on BscScan + +\* CoinPayments integration for payments on Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce + +\* MyCryptoCheckout integration for payments on Wordpress Sites + +\* Listed on CMC, CoinGecko & Blockfolio + +4K BNB Presale sold out in 10 seconds + +\* 78K+ Holders + +\* 33K+ Members on Telegram + +\* $30m+ Market Cap + +\* 4.4K BNB ($2.1M+ USD) "Kraken" Strategic Reserves + +\* 35K+ BNB used in Strategic buy-back burns (25.5%) \* Code audited by Certik(85) and Techrate + +\* Included on PancakeSwap Top 100 List + +\* Most searched token on CoinMarketCap [https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1411859090964467714](https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1411859090964467714) + +\* The most engaged community in the crypto world and the most trusted Dev & Team + +\* Just hired experienced a Legal and Business Director 💰 MARKETING 💰 + +\* Big marketing wallet for non-stop promotion + +\* DAVID GOKHSHTEIN joined the Core Team as Branding Consultant + +\* Wasso from Hodge finance (Marketing) has joined the Core Team + +\* Marco Calicchia from CertiK (Business Development) has joined the Core Team + +\* 2nd July NY Times Square Billboard + +\* Luna PR as agency of record + +\* Donated $100,000 to Binance Charity Fund + +\* 11th July Btok ads in China started for 5 weeks \* Certik AMA with Doxxing on July 15th + +\* 21st July London Billboard on the dominating Europe’s largest financial district, The Screen @ Canary Wharf \* Poo Coin and BTOK Ads running 24/7 🔼 NEXT STEPS 🔼 + +\* EverRise to become a registered company + +\* Ads campaign on more platforms \* dApp EverOwn (Contract locking; allowing community vote to unlock if fixes need to be made) + +\* dApp EverLock (Liquidly locking) + +\* dApp EverSale (Pre-sales) \* dApp EverWallet (Wallet) + +\* dApp EverSwap (Swap) \* More big announcements coming soon + +🌐 Website: [https://www.everrisecoin.com](https://www.everrisecoin.com/) + +📢 Telegram: [https://t.me/everriseofficial](https://t.me/everriseofficial) + +🐦 Twitter: [https://twitter.com/everrise?s=21](https://twitter.com/everrise?s=21) + +✍️ Contract: 0xc7d43f2b51f44f09fbb8a691a0451e8ffcf36c0a + +🔝 Or type EverRise into PancakeSwap and select RISE from "Top 100 List" + +📋 Certik Audit: [https://www.certik.org/projects/everrise](https://www.certik.org/projects/everrise) + +🔒 Liquidly locked for 1 year (Connect wallet to see it correctly): [https://dxsale.app/app/pages/dxlockview?id=3651&add=0&type=lpdefi&chain=BSC](https://dxsale.app/app/pages/dxlockview?id=3651&add=0&type=lpdefi&chain=BSC) + +🔐 Dev wallets locked until January 2022 + +☀️ With #EverRise, we all $RISE together ☀️ +#🐯 BabyWhiteTiger - Be Strong, Be Brave, Be Loyal, Be With Us + +## No 1 on Poocoin - Vetted Promotions + +Welcome to BabyWhiteTiger - **We are already listed on CoinGecko within 24 hours of launch** and will soon be on CoinMarketCap as well. + + +- Total Supply: 1,000,000,000,000,000 +- 1.6 Mil Market Cap in 24 hours +- Almost 3000 HOLDers in 24 hours +- 6.5k Members on Telegram +- #1 on Poocoin - Vetted Promotions + +---- + +##BabyWhiteTiger Links: + +Contract: 0x4329f1fbb62dea8960237fd975a794a604c57ff7 + +Our Website: https://babywhitetiger.io + +Our Telegram: https://t.me/babywhitetiger + +Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/babywhite_tiger + +Buy Now: https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x4329f1fbb62dea8960237fd975a794a604c57ff7 + +-------- + +##BabyWhiteTiger Tokenomics: + +- Buy: 8% BWT Rewards / 2% Liquidity Generation + +- Sell: 10% BWT Rewards / 3% Liquidity Generation + +##BabyWhiteTiger Distribution: + +- 45% - Presale +- 31.5% - PancakeSwap-LP +- 11.5% - Burn +- 8% - Founder +- 3% - Marketing + +#We are already listed on CoinGecko within 24 hours of launch + +---- + +##BabyWhiteTiger Links: + +Contract: 0x4329f1fbb62dea8960237fd975a794a604c57ff7 + +Our Website: https://babywhitetiger.io + +Our Telegram: https://t.me/babywhitetiger + +Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/babywhite_tiger + +Buy Now: https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x4329f1fbb62dea8960237fd975a794a604c57ff7 + +-------- +🌐 Website: [https://www.everrisecoin.com](https://www.everrisecoin.com/) + +✍️ Bsc Contract: 0xc7d43f2b51f44f09fbb8a691a0451e8ffcf36c0a + +📢 Telegram: [https://t.me/everriseofficial](https://t.me/everriseofficial) + +EverRise has established the new standard of DeFi tokenomics with its innovative Buyback system and game changing use-cases. + +EverRise will soon release their first use-case, EverOwn, which will help developers build trust in their community by giving them the ability to renounce their contract while maintaining the ability to make improvements with a community vote to return the contract. + +**EverRise’s CEO and Developer “TITAN” and The Legal and Business Director "Guard" will be doxxing themselves live on Youtube on the 31 August.** + +☀️THE BUY-BACK SYSTEM☀️ + +On the EverRise protocol, $RISE tokens are bought back from the market, resulting in an immediate effect on the price. + +These repurchased tokens are then instantly burned, permanently removing them from the circulating supply. + +The EverRise buyback function, also known as The Kraken, is funded by the strategic buyback fee. The tokens are converted into BNB and securely stored in the EverRise contract (while also sending the project sustainability percentage to the marketing wallet). + +The BNB locked and stored in the EverRise contract is known as the Kraken’s Strategic Reserves. The EverRise contract is coded so that the Kraken’s Strategic Reserves can only be utilized to buyback $RISE from the open market via the liquidity pool. + +These funds cannot be sent to any external wallet. + +Once the $RISE tokens are bought back, the new BNB amount is added to the liquidity pool and the $RISE tokens bought are immediately burned. This creates a true burn and guarantees the price per token will increase every time a buyback is activated. + +🔥35K+ BNB used so far in strategic buy-back burns (23.56% of circulating supply)🔥 + +The Kraken Strategic Reserves are deployed at specific moments to create stable floor prices during downward market trends, chart manipulation, or whale dumps. + +Holders are additionally "auto-staked" instantly receiving 2% of the transaction volume and you can watch your wallet grow in real-time. + +💎 THE EVERRISE ECOSYSTEM 💎 + +EverRise’s game-changing ecosystem and EverRise dApps will bring a true revolution to the cryptocurrency space. + +Our dApps: EverOwn, EverWallet, EverSwap, EverLock and EverSale will solve key problems in the crypto industry and will bring a new dimension in personal and project security for crypto. + +All dApps are coming to both the Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20) and the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20). + +The EverRise Kraken Strategic Reserves will be fed both by the volume of transactions on RISE/BNB and the external ETH and BNB revenue from the dApps. + +This provides stability not only for the EverRise native token, but all projects within the EverRise ecosystem through their required reserve holdings of EverRise. + +This further protects EverRise ($RISE) investors and allows more power for the true price increasing buyback burns that the Kraken performs. + +📄 TOKENOMICS AND PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY 📄 + +The EverRise contract is coded to collect 11% in fees from all transactions (buys, sells and transfers), to be dedicated into the following: + +\* 6% for strategic buyback funds + +\* 2% as commission to holders (rewards through reflection) + +\* 3% contribution to project sustainability: enhancements, operations and marketing ✅ ACHIEVEMENTS ✅ + +\* Blue Checkmark Verified on BscScan + +\* CoinPayments integration for payments on Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce + +\* MyCryptoCheckout integration for payments on Wordpress Sites + +\* Listed on CMC, CoinGecko & Blockfolio + +4K BNB Presale sold out in 10 seconds + +\* 78K+ Holders + +\* 33K+ Members on Telegram + +\* $30m+ Market Cap + +\* 4.4K BNB ($2.1M+ USD) "Kraken" Strategic Reserves + +\* 35K+ BNB used in Strategic buy-back burns (25.5%) \* Code audited by Certik(85) and Techrate + +\* Included on PancakeSwap Top 100 List + +\* Most searched token on CoinMarketCap [https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1411859090964467714](https://twitter.com/CoinMarketCap/status/1411859090964467714) + +\* The most engaged community in the crypto world and the most trusted Dev & Team + +\* Just hired experienced a Legal and Business Director 💰 MARKETING 💰 + +\* Big marketing wallet for non-stop promotion + +\* DAVID GOKHSHTEIN joined the Core Team as Branding Consultant + +\* Wasso from Hodge finance (Marketing) has joined the Core Team + +\* Marco Calicchia from CertiK (Business Development) has joined the Core Team + +\* 2nd July NY Times Square Billboard + +\* Luna PR as agency of record + +\* Donated $100,000 to Binance Charity Fund + +\* 11th July Btok ads in China started for 5 weeks \* Certik AMA with Doxxing on July 15th + +\* 21st July London Billboard on the dominating Europe’s largest financial district, The Screen @ Canary Wharf \* Poo Coin and BTOK Ads running 24/7 🔼 NEXT STEPS 🔼 + +\* EverRise to become a registered company + +\* Ads campaign on more platforms \* dApp EverOwn (Contract locking; allowing community vote to unlock if fixes need to be made) + +\* dApp EverLock (Liquidly locking) + +\* dApp EverSale (Pre-sales) \* dApp EverWallet (Wallet) + +\* dApp EverSwap (Swap) \* More big announcements coming soon + +🌐 Website: [https://www.everrisecoin.com](https://www.everrisecoin.com/) + +📢 Telegram: [https://t.me/everriseofficial](https://t.me/everriseofficial) + +🐦 Twitter: [https://twitter.com/everrise?s=21](https://twitter.com/everrise?s=21) + +✍️ Contract: 0xc7d43f2b51f44f09fbb8a691a0451e8ffcf36c0a + +🔝 Or type EverRise into PancakeSwap and select RISE from "Top 100 List" + +📋 Certik Audit: [https://www.certik.org/projects/everrise](https://www.certik.org/projects/everrise) + +🔒 Liquidly locked for 1 year (Connect wallet to see it correctly): [https://dxsale.app/app/pages/dxlockview?id=3651&add=0&type=lpdefi&chain=BSC](https://dxsale.app/app/pages/dxlockview?id=3651&add=0&type=lpdefi&chain=BSC) + +🔐 Dev wallets locked until January 2022 + +☀️ With #EverRise, we all $RISE together ☀️ +**Story time** + +About a month ago I first stepped foot in the world of shitcoin trading, better known as Binance Smart Chain. I was lured in by the promise of many moons, but there were no moons to be found. After being rugpulled *several* times my wallet plummeted from 3 BNB down to 0.2. At this point all hope was lost, I had completely given up. In one last ditch effort I randomly threw my last .2 BNB ($60 at the time) in to a coin called $Bingus. + +I didn't look at the website, telegram or do any research whatsoever. I just bought in and went to sleep mad at myself for falling for all these obvious scams (Pokémon coins are my weakness). I woke up the next day fully expecting to have 0 BNB left, but to my surprise it had done a 5x overnight! I popped in the telegram to see what kind of coin Bingus was. There was so much energy and so much hype, I had never seen so many people working together and having so much fun at the same time. + +Bingus is far greater than a meme token. The community is so wholesome, you wont find a harder working team *anywhere* I can promise you that. Mike, the doxxed head developer, always takes the time to answer any questions people have, no matter how silly or small they may seem. Several of the AMAs have lasted over 4 hours just from Mike not wanting any question to go unanswered. + +And last, but definitely not least, the main goal of Bingus is donating to animal shelters across the world. The coin has been out for barely a month and we have already given out close to $50,000 to shelters with much more to come. In the last 24 hours they’ve made two donations, check out the links below. + +I'm not even telling you to buy Bingus either, look at the endorsements they’ve had, check out one of our AMAs (linked below) or come ask some questions in our telegram. Once you do that the decision is yours. + +tldr: buy bingus, money go up and save animals + +Holders: 10,000 + +Market Cap: $8million + +**Token Links** +============== + +$Bingus website [bingus.finance](https://bingus.finance/) + +**Buy $Bingus on PancakeSwap** [here](https://v1exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xda20c8a5c3b1ab48e31ba6e43f0f2830e50218d8) + +[HowToBuyBingus.com](https://howtobuybingus.com) + +[Bingus chart](https://charts.bogged.finance/?token=0xdA20C8a5c3B1AB48e31ba6e43f0F283050218D8) + +[Litepaper](https://bingus.finance/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Bingus_3.pdf) + +[Stake](https://takodefi.com/farms) $Bingus-BNB pair to earn $Tako passively! | [Staking Guide](https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikcii098o5f273k/Staking%20guide.png) + +[Reward pool](https://apeswap.finance/pools) with ApeSwap — stake $GNANA to earn $Bingus passively! + +[CoinMarketCap](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bingus-token/) + +[CoinGecko](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bingus-token) + +[Audit](https://dessertswap.finance/audits/Bingus%20Token%20BEP-20%20Audit%206489097.pdf) + +[CryptoTalkz AMA](https://streamable.com/h2w51l) + +[Satoshi Club AMA](https://t.me/Satoshi_club/715632) + +**Social Links** +============= + +[Telegram](https://t.me/bingustoken2official) | [Telegram News & Announcements](https://t.me/bingustoken2official) + +r/BingusFinance on Reddit + +[Discord](https://discord.com/invite/qKdZdd558F) + +[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/bingustoken/) + +[Twitter](https://twitter.com/bingustoken/) + +[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/BingusToken/) + +**Charity Donations** +================ + +Donation 1 (**$350**) [Wright-Way Rescue](https://imgur.com/gallery/fKuZQoQ) | +Donation 2 (**$1000**) [Forgotten Animals](https://imgur.com/gallery/quIDx6z) | +Donation 3 (**$3000**) [Reversed Rescue](https://imgur.com/gallery/lLlKTzQ) | +Donation 4 (**$2500**) [Jersey Animal Rescue](https://imgur.com/gallery/njxAINv) | +Donation 5 (**$3000**) [Sterling Shelter](https://imgur.com/gallery/VXPICLP) | +Donation 6 (**$10,000**) [The Real Bark](https://imgur.com/gallery/kJ9M4Ya) | +Donation 7 (**$10,000**) [Hope for Paws](https://imgur.com/gallery/H8FfkJo) | +Donation 8 (**$10,000**) [Maui Humane Society](https://imgur.com/gallery/wFT94nB) | +Donation 9 (**$500**) [Over and Above Africa](https://imgur.com/a/J8lFlph) | +Donation 10 (**$500**) [Rogue Active Duty Animal Rescue](https://imgur.com/a/FjkAjmd) | +Donation 11 (**$500**) [Orangutan Outreach](https://imgur.com/a/Mvtvxj7) +Hey, + +Was anyone here watching the markets in the late 1990s and early 2000s? + +I am wondering whether before the tech bubble popped, most people were calling it a bubble? If they were, did itcontinue to go up anyway and for how long? + +Why did the bubble eventually pop? Were people expecting it to do so? + +Thanks + +Another thing, why the fuck have apes been so passive with the bullshit thats been going on!? + +They were literally cleared from the obvious corruption with buying prevention from jan. Why were the apes jus like "meh"??? Why werent we spreading the news of this like wildfire like apes did in january, which caused the biggest fomo? + +After a year now, When these cunts realised they could get away with that shit with no backlash from us such as simply spreading the news, they realised apes are pacified. Thats why they shut down market for gme early on friday with no explanation. You give them an inch, they will take a mile. + +Enough is enough. Its been a year of this bullshit now. We dealt with being robbed from colluding brokers in broad daylight, to mods here being sellouts. + +You wanna know why earlier this year SEC went from investigating reddit for market manipulation, to pretending to make it seem they wanna help us?? PUBLICITY!!! We kept spreadin news of the collusion so they made it seem like SEC had some reformation and that they will now deal with this properly, when really theyre just making it look like theyre helping us to stop us complaining again. We need publicity. + +Do you ACTUALLY wanna see your tendies you have waited a fuckin year for now?? + + THEN MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE!! + +Apes went from skywriting shit, to "ooPsY, HeDgeFuNdS gOt tHe OkaY tO do MaRkeT ManIpuLatIoN agaIn :( whAt eVeR Can We dO??" + +You do what we did back in jan. We make some noise. Whatever social media there is, we publicise whats goin on instead of complaining in one corner of the internet. + +Idgaf, im DRSing 100% of my shares. Stop expecting ppl to drs so you dont have to. Literally the same thing happened with the vote count, on brokers like degiro apparantly many ppl called about voting for gme but didnt actually do it as they expected everyone else to do it. This is the bystander effect. + +Im sorry for the rant, i dont mean to sound condescending im saying this for myself too because im gonna actually follow through with what i said. Idgaf about upvotes either. Im jus pissed off that not only do they do this stuff openly, they are now getting more confident too because their attempts to pacify apes have been working. FUCK THAT. We make noise like we did before. +Not financial advice +Forgot I already owned shares in a penny stock (gtc sell order). Bought in an other account when news hit so I ended up buying my own shares albeit it's not the same account/broker. Is that gonna cause any issues? it was one trade not several. +Good Afternoon Apes, + +Sorry for no post last Friday but everyone needs an off day once in awhile. I will dump that data below today's info. First, WHO HAD A GREAT MONDAY? I know I chomped down a couple celebratory crayons at work. Love to see some green always good for the morale. + +There were two large block purchases of DEEP ITM calls today at the same time (3:18pm) out of PHLX (Philadelphia): 400 of the $15 calls with expiration 4/30/21 and 280 of the $5 calls expiring 1/20/23. If these were all purchased (i.e. none were sold) this would amount to a $10,758,800 transaction. + +[GME Biggest Options Trades 4\/26\/21](https://preview.redd.it/ph97ls8golv61.jpg?width=1226&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a90447ff3870f29505b4db81bc92a6330bff826b) + +I'm curious if we will see another large wave of these appearing this week and historically some of the largest purchases of these DEEP ITM calls has occurred on Wednesdays and Fridays. It will be interesting to see how things shape up this week and my TITS ARE JACKED to say the least. + +Here is the data from last Friday as well, as you can see there were no large block purchases of DEEP ITM calls. + +[GME Biggest Options Trades 4\/23\/21](https://preview.redd.it/9jwn28hmplv61.png?width=1227&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f882d6184f45e9344819d47925e9bea4feaa2d9) + +See you all tomorrow if my wife's boyfriend lets me use the computer. + +Edit: Forgot to mention there were some ITM puts bought out of ISE on Friday. Don't really know what to make of these yet but I will continue to monitor the data and see if they reappear. +In the daily yesterday, there was a small discussion about OP's health issues. This lead me to ponder various things that one could consider more important than FIRE. I propose the following list and would love to hear other's thoughts. + +Things more important than FIRE: + +* Health + +I would argue that if you do not at least look after your health, your ability and/or length of time to enjoy the fruits of your labor are decreased or eliminated. + +* Safety + +If you are in an abusive relationship or war-torn country, your savings rate doesnt matter. + +* Family + +This one might cause some disagreement but I do have a fairly strong opinion. I would go into the depest debt if it meant keeping my parents from starving or experiencing hardship (and NOT blowing the money on lottery tickets). I think parents would agree they would spend all sorts of money on their kids. I would also blow all sorts of money on my dog if he needed surgery or something. + + + +These things dont nessicarily directly conflict with the quest for FIRE but I think they should take higher priority. + +What do you think? +Sums it up pretty well to be honest. Could have included the dystopian housing stock numbers from the OECD for both social and private housing but it's good enough. + +[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqFPhsO-2W0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqFPhsO-2W0) +I’m in my late 20s so missed the entirety of the last recession period and have been reaping the rewards of hyper growth over the last 7-10 years. + +I’m wondering if anyone has any lessons or took any steps during 2008 to come out stronger afterward. +Hi all, + +As the subject reads.. I'm currently on $55,000/pa gross and right now have roughly $2,300 in recurring monthly expenses and try and put $400 aside for savings, leaving roughly $1,000/m for what I have classed as "irregular expenses" like groceries, fuel, activities with my son, etc with anything left by next pay going into savings + +&#x200B; + +But I have found that I often eat into that $400 I put aside because of fluctuated costs of things like petrol. + +&#x200B; + +From that $2,300 in recurring monthly expenses, $420 is debt (credit card, personal loan, private loan, zippay). + +In an ideal world I'd like to be banking $600 in savings as a minimum, is this a realistic target when I clear my debts? + +\----- + +I could potentially get a sankey diagram done up if it makes visualising cash flow easier for you guys? + +https://i.redd.it/anerai4spf231.png + +edit: sankey added for insight as requested. +I'm a landlord (downvotes to the left) renting out my old PPOR while I rent myself closer to work and I've noticed that anytime any work is required on the property the costs seem to be a lot higher than normal. + +For example, I had two old taps that would leak from time to time. Before I left I had a spare one in a drawer so I went outside, unscrewed the old one and screwed on the new one, good as new. Skipped my mind to fix the new one so had the agent get someone out to fix it for the tenants and it cost me $350. + +The tenants were having trouble getting tv signal so the agent asked if they could have someone out to look at the tv aerial. No replacements but it still cost $230. + +When I left I obviously cleaned up the place but it needed a vacuum still, agents charged me $550. for a 110 square metre property. + +Stuff like this happens almost every month so a good 30-40% of my rental income is being taken up by this. I want to be a good landlord but it's hard when I feel like I'm getting ripped off. When I lived there and had people come out for stuff it was no where near this expensive. I issues with the evaporative cooler on the roof and it cost me a whopping $50 for two guys to come out and replace a part in it to fix it. + +Is this a case of the agent getting kickbacks from the contractors? Maybe a case of them charging more knowing the landlords not there? Is it worth trying to swap agents or does this match your experiences? +I am wondering if this would constitute the fundamental reason why property growth will stall or even reverse: + +Over time the median income of Australians have grown approximately in line with CPI (2 to 3 percents). + +However, the growth in property value has averaged 5 to 6 percents. + +IF this trend continues indefinitely, eventually only the multi-millionaires and billionaires could afford houses and this is simply untenable. (The property value to income ratio will grow exponentially.) + +>**EDIT 1:** +> +>Some commenters below are suggesting that increasing credit will solve the problem, but this doesn't answer mathematically that within our lifetime, people will simply not be able to pay for their house even with their entire lifetime's income! +> +>To put it in more concrete terms, note that (1.06/1.03)\^25=2.05. This means that if property continues to grow at 6 percent per year and wage continues to grow at only 3 percent per year, in 25 years' time, the "dwelling price per income ratio" will hit 18, i.e. a typical Sydney dwelling will cost 18 times the median annual household income. Give it another 25 years (i.e. 50 years from now), the typical Sydney dwelling will then be worth 36 years of annual household income! +> +>How is credit going to solve this fundamental problem? +> +>**EDIT 2:** +> +>A few drawbacks with my pretty basic mathematical "model": +> +>\- The majority of the unaffordable property price problem concentrates in major cities i.e. Sydney and Melbourne. Many other cities will not reach this point within the next century. +> +>\- I kind of deduced that the "market force" would lead to the slowdown of property capital growth in these cities - this assumption is not necessarily correct. It may in fact continue indefinitely and people simply have to live further and further, and only the filthy rich and those lucky enough to have inherited an urban property would actually live in the city. +> +>\- My numbers do not really point towards whether we are in a property bubble, which is a related but different topic of discussion on whether properties are becoming unaffordable, and whether economically the lag between property growth and wage growth would actually produce economic force to slow the property growth (or to make it a less desirable investment). + +Source: + +[https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/030E8BEF4B0B915ECA2582EA00193B04?OpenDocument](https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/030E8BEF4B0B915ECA2582EA00193B04?OpenDocument) + +[https://www.abs.gov.au/household-income](https://www.abs.gov.au/household-income) + +[https://www.aussie.com.au/home-loans/property-reports/25years.html](https://www.aussie.com.au/home-loans/property-reports/25years.html) +BACKGROUND: I’m sick of the cost of owning an investment property, I’m getting the idea it’s a bad investment, and I don’t have income left to do anything else like invest or attack the mortgage. Built in 2008, good quality boutique 10-dwelling apartment building in West Leederville, which is close to the CBD and good amenities. + +(1) Will the apartment drop significantly in relation to the median price over time, meaning that I will see less benefit of any long term market rise? +- E.g. I assume that if the market went up 20% over 10 years, my apartment would go only up say 15% because the market would keep getting topped up with newer apartments. + +(2). I think it’s expected the market will drop in the short term because of unemployment and other impacts of COVID-19, but is there much to be hopeful about in the apartment market in Perth? +- My guess is selling while there is a temporary bump as we emerge from restrictions is my best short term hope, because there’s still oversupply in the market so growth will be slow over the next 5+ years. + +(3) I should kill it and move on with life..? I make 5-8k profit after getting my tax return, but the mortgage, rates, strata, fees, etc. chew up my income so I’m not left with anything to invest elsewhere with or attack the debt with throughout the year. I’ll be making a loss of at least 75k but I would hope to make losses back over time by investing in shares and boosting super contributions (I’m 30 so I have a long time left to work). + +(TLDR) Thinking about selling an investment apartment. Will my apartment increase less in value (if the market increases) over time as it ages? Is there much hope in the Perth apartment market? Am I better off copping the loss and starting to invest in shares? + +Thanks in advance (I hope this is the right community for this)! +The ABC statistics of young people came out not to long ago and said that 30% of people aged 18-29 had a "side hustle" (a form of income outside their primary job). Just wondering what different people are doing. is it investment, are you delivering pizza at night, are you teaching something? +I am a 19 y/o college student, I currently attend a State college for free and live with my parents. + +Am currently working two jobs. Both of these jobs combined makes me an average of 54k average. I've been working these past jobs for two years, moving on to my third. Both of these are restaurant jobs. About 50-60% of this income is in the form of cash tips at the end of the day. So it's basically undocumented. The other 50% I make about 20-23k from hour wages+%of tips. Both jobs pay $14 an hour. + +All my bills are covered by my parents. From phone to internet. I do not own a car so I do not have to pay any insurance or have monthly car payments. + +The money I earn I would spend most of it on very dumb minute things, like very expensive speakers that I do not use, or the 6 gaming keyboards that I have laying around covered in dust, or those $1,000 jackets just to be cool. +My parents never asked me to pay any bills or anything, they never really bothered. Back when I started working when i was 17, I would buy a lot of things that I do not need, my parents would scold me for it, but they had given up at this point. +I do not understand money like how adults do, i am a very big spender because I have no bills to pay at all, and I live with my parents. This type of spending is very bad, I understand that. +I was thinking i would try to save at least 80% of the money i earn. Which is very unlikely to happen because of the nature of my spending. I keep track of how much i make, but not how much i am spending which is quiet ironic. + +How could I stop this type of spending? I do not want to carry this type of bad habit into adult hood. + +I worked there long enough to vest a little over 1/4 of my stock. My feelings about working there are irrelevant (but worth talking about in a different sub)— what do you guys think? I don't really have any business sense. Is this company worth throwing my money at and try to profit off them, or does anyone with experience in this field (media, content farms, the future of entertainment?) see that place as a big mistake? +Here's the article: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/24/trump-to-advance-keystone-dakota-pipelines-with-executive-order-on-tuesday-nbc.html + +My question is who will this benefit that we can invest with, if anyone? How speculative would it be? What are your thoughts? +I have always bought cars with cash up front used. But I'm friends with a car dealership finance worker who says that the car payments typically work out to about 20% of take home pay because they qualify people for loans with pre tax income. + +I feel this is predatory and he is biased because he makes commissions on larger sales. Am I weird and just don't understand the economics of buying a new car? + + +Edit: I'm sorry I meant car everyone. I do understand that cats do not need financing. +I recently signed up for Tradervue, and I've been looking at my metrics. And I'm red on Fridays. From Mondays to Thursdays, I'm green. But my Fridays, im red about $92K YTD (I'm profitable on the year but I just found this metric really interesting). + +I mostly short stocks, sometimes I scalp. But am I missing something? I feel like Fridays are just not good days to short, or maybe Im risking too much on Fridays. Maybe mental fatigue? Who knows. My strategy is to take Fridays off from now on, or cut my size by 80%. I feel like its a win- win. Thinking back, I've had my 3 biggest red days, totaling over $120K on Fridays so maybe thats why, but I'm starting to think Friday is just not a good day to trade for me haha. + +How do you guys perform on Fridays? And what are you best days? + +&#x200B; + +Best Day: (Pretty Even throughout the week but right now) **Tuesday** + +Worst Day: **Friday** +https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/Intel+%28INTC%29+Stock+Pops+on+Upgrade+to+Outperform+at+Northland/19421880.html + +Now they're getting it. It was intensely obvious to me that Intel was extremely undervalued at 9-10x PE as a key provider in the growing cloud and edge space already, and even a moderately successful GPU lineup could add billions of dollars of growth to the company. + +Still looks cheap af to me, and it provides a yield. I'm going to keep getting it here, I think 2023 will be a big year for them. + +Look at Microsoft and Satya to see how a good CEO can turn around a company full of smart people that were just mismanaged for a while. Looks like Pat is more open to Intel embracing other ISAs, using other foundries, and selling capacity in their own foundries, even licensing x86, this flexibility is all good to me. Much different than the whole x86 or bust mentality that led to busts like Larrabee. + Howdy yall + +I am a young professional looking to get into AirBnb Investing. I have about $200k saved from work and investing, and would like to be able to create a solid passive income stream from operating multiple AirBnB's. Where have you found success if you've done this? What cities and locations are favorable? I am based in the NorthEast but will invest anywhere the $ talks. +Hey everyone, + +I've been lurking in this subreddit for a while and would like some feedback on a recent deal that I got an offer accepted on, after two years of putting in over 15 offers - all of which have been rejected! + +Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated! + +**Property/Offer Details:** + +Two-unit property in a B-class neighborhood listed for $300k, offered $350k. Waived appraisal contingency, inspection for information only. Putting 30% down, financing rest as an investment property, rate locked in at 3.375%. Expecting \~20k out of pocket for repairs. Appraisal will most likely come back lower than $350k, but I have cash to cover. + +Tenants pay all utilities aside from water + sewer. Planning on self-managing the property + +**Financial Analysis** + +Would like thoughts to see what I'm missing or if anything is off! + +*Rent per unit:* $1600 ($3200 total) + +– Assuming 10% vacancy ($320/month) + +– $4,500 in annual taxes ($375/month) + +– allocating $300/month for CapEx + Repairs/Maintenance (not sure about this number) + +– $1,500 annually for insurance (quoted, $125/month) + +– $1,200 for water + sewer ($100/month) + +This brings my monthly net operating income down to \~$2,000. My mortgage payment monthly will be $1,000. That leaves \~$1,000 left on the table in monthly cash flow. My cap rate is at \~7%, with a cash-on-cash ROI of \~7.5% + +**Does anything look off here and is there anything I should account for that I haven't? Thanks in advance!** +Out of curiosity... can anyone living in Houston explain why there are good houses under 150k and yet rent is 1500/month+?? + +Houston is a regular party spot for us and am thinking of investing there as the profit margins seem to good not too. Anyone having success there? + +(FYI living in Canada) + +Edit: thanks for the insight guys! +I have a 4-unit in a Providence, RI suburb. Easy to rent, attractive units, good rates. I'm a buy & hold investor. There's enough room in the backyard to build another similar-sized building and still have ample parking spaces for 4 - 8 units. + +I can't divide the lot and sell the open space because it's the backyard. I could build a single-family, a duplex, a three-plex, a four-stall garage. (I don't see garage spaces for the existing four units adding more than $50-$100 to each rent.) + +I'd love to have more units, but with new-construction costs and hassles, it seems I could just buy another duplex or triple somewhere else in the area for much cheaper and less work. How do you make a new-construction duplex make financial sense? 2-beds go for $1400-1600 in the area. + +Anybody have any bright ideas or angles on how to utilize this space? Storage? Rent it out for winter boat parking? Airbnb treehouse? Ice skating rink? + +(I have not yet checked what zoning would allow. I suspect they'd want more rental units in this area.) +J.L. Collins (author of *The Simple Path to Wealth,* which advocates the Boglehead philosophy to investing) [says home ownership is a terrible investment](https://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/). What do you all think of this take? +Update: told them we would be moving on if payment hasn’t arrived by a specified time. They paid immediately after I sent that lol… wish me luck over the next year with this individual… smh + +Had an applicant who will be moving here fly in from out of state to view the property, got background and credit checks and proof of income, everything checked out. Have sent them the lease agreement through docusign which they have signed. I also sent them a request to pay the deposit and first months rent. + +I should have waited for them to send it BEFORE I signed, but I mistakenly did not. They are now not responding. What can/should I do? +Hi all, + +Apologies for the length, but I am in a bit of a predicament on my first deal. This first one has NOT been easy and we have been under contract for nearly 2 months now, but I am committed to make it work because I still think it is a good deal (if more work than I thought I was getting myself in to). + + +I am under contract for an off-market 4bd1.75ba property in a desirable location of my city (SLC, UT) for 400K that needs some TLC but is certainly livable. I was planning on house-hacking and renting out the mother-in-law duplex basement to friends (more updated than the upstairs), and rehabbing the upstairs while I live in it, some DIY and some contracted out. For those unfamiliar with this market, this is a pretty good deal. Nothing ridiculous, but pretty good. I was expecting to use a 10% down payment on a conventional loan (I don't believe the property will qualify for an FHA loan) which admittedly is nearly all of my liquid funds. + + + + ‎‎ +‎ + +Now, the problem arose when we discovered it was entirely knob-and-tube wiring in the upstairs. I am not able to insure the property except for an expensive fringe policy with the stipulation that I entirely rewire the upstairs within 25 days. I received bids from 3 different electricians and all were right around 20-25K for the work. I checked the numbers and even at 425K, it's still a good deal, but the problem is I do not have an extra 25K on hand for the rewire within 25 days. + + +For whatever reason my lender says because the electrical affects the livability of the house, we couldn't just bump the purchase price to 425k and receive seller credits/concessions for it. Is this true with many lenders? + +‎ +‎ + +What is the best way I can come up with 25,000 in a month? I have considered lowering my down payment (though am not certain I can), or maybe a 203K/Homestyle loan, or even hard money for the electrical+rehab budget – though I'm pretty sure this is not the best situation for that given I don't plan on selling and am not 100% sure ARV is enough for a cash-out. Any help would be **sincerely** appreciated as this has been quite a stressful first deal! +Hey all, + I'm interested in a piece of property with a metal building on it that is owned by a local bank. From what I can tell through the tax assessor website the bank has owned the property since 1994 and hasn't done anything with it since then. It is not on the market and isn't listed on the banks site as property for sale. The building is in poor condition and the property is maintained by the bank (grass cut). It's a prime piece of real estate and I would love to have this as an investment property. My question is, how do I go about inquiring on this property? Who should I speak to at the bank and what pitfalls should I look out for? Also, the tax assessors site has the market value listed as $176k and the assessed value at right under $19k. Thanks! +I read on SideHustleNation that this Austin Miller guy wrote Free Houses: How To Build Your Real Estate Investment Portfolio With No Money and I don't want to buy a book I'll regret afterwards. It's about 'creative financing' and the blog post implies 'riskless' but also mentions repaying the original loan, which screams clickbait to me. Other non-scammy gurus love promoting real estate but I wonder how many e.g. millennials could actually take their advice since so many of us are worse than broke (not always because we waste our money on e.g. beer and fancy cars). +So I’m sure someone else has asked this already but I’m just not sure how to move forward with investing so I would like some advice. + +Currently I have one property, which I did a conventional loan on and put 20 percent down. My mortgage + property is around 2100. The property is comprised of a studio apartment (850 rent), 2 bedroom apt (1350 rent), 3 bedroom (1400 rent), and a finished basement where I rent 3 rooms individual (400 a room so 1200 in total). After I pay the expenses on the property, mortgage + property tax I bring in around 2k. + +I think I’ve done well on this property but I would like to collect more as quickly as possible. Im tired of my 9 to 5 lol. My broker suggest putting down 25 percent on the next property. I have around 50k saved. + +But is that the only options I have, just saving money and buy slowly? + +I see people here with 100s doors, how is this done? + +Should I aim for larger properties as time progresses? +Thoughts on taking out loans against your 401k? Got about 30K spending power outside of my 401k but I can take a loan out of my 401k of 50k max. 30K feels weak but I’m also hesitant about pulling from my 401k. Would be great to hear from anyone who has done so successfully with no regrets. Need a little reassurance. +My fiance and I are looking at buying a multifamily. A close friend is willing to pay towards the down payment but doesn't want to be in the loan application. + +For example: 300k house, they give 60k for down payment, we apply for loan but they have 20% equity. + +Is this possible and if so by what means? A lien? If it is possible I'd love to hear of pros/cons or experiences with this. Thanks! +My wife and I currently own 7 doors of rental real estate, a 9-unit storage building, and are under construction on 2 AirBnbs. We tried applying for another loan recently on a SFH, **but the bank denied us, as we're close to hitting 50% DTI.** + +On paper, I feel like we should be perfect candidates to lend to. We have A+ credit (750s), are high-income W2 earners ($135k/yr), have \~$130k in cash reserves, \~$850k in combined equity in all our properties, and we have literally zero personal debt (no auto loans, CC balances, nothing), aside from our primary residence. + +But the bank is correct. We're very close to 50% DTI. Our monthly PITI on all mortgages (both personal and investment) total right around $8,000/mo, while our gross monthly income is \~$17,000/mo. This brings us to 47% DTI, and attempting to qualify for another SFH pushes us over the 50% threshold. + +How do other investors scale past this point? Is this the point where we need to begin looking for a portfolio lender? It seems that the defacto answer for most real estate financing issues is "OPM", but at this point, I don't think we could even refinance to pay off OPM if we wanted to. + +Many thanks in advance. +I got a Contract for Deed ( lands contract) offer for $15,000 down and $700 per month on a $70,000 home. This offer was given from the realtor. She wants her full commission up front. Is this normal? + +I have a problem with this because they’re taking one third of the initial down payment from the buyer and I have to wait another ~10 years to get the full money. I don’t understand why the realtor should get their full payment immediately. + +What can I say to the realtor? Is it possible that they just get the percentage of the down payment based over the years that it’s paid off and I send them a payment monthly? + +House is in Minnesota +Hello /r/realestateinvesting! + +&#x200B; + +A friend from my REIA was talking to me about how to make offers, and he (and other sources I've looked into) suggest making 2- or 3-part offers to increase the odds of my offers being accepted. As an example, he suggested: 1) All cash; this would be my lowest offer 2) A seller-financed offer $33k higher at 8% with 5.5% down that balloons at 5 years 3) A seller-financed offer $80k higher with no money down at 6% with no balloon and the option to refi at any time I want. + +&#x200B; + +I've also seen this suggested on Reddit: 1) All cash 2) Title changes hands 3) Lease option (title stays in seller's name) + +&#x200B; + +I'm very curious to know if the more experienced investors out there have a set strategy or formula they use to develop their 2- or 3-part offers. I realize that deals will vary based on the market, the current owner's situation, the type of deal, etc., but I'd like to streamline the process of putting together an offer once I've analyzed a property. + +&#x200B; + +TIA! + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +Wondering if buying a duplex in cash is a bad idea. I know that the standard route seems to be mortgaging them and using the rent to pay them off. If I cannot get a mortgage but have a large enough reserve to buy a duplex, live in one and rent the other - is this miscalculated and reckless? + +I recently purchased a property through a cash loan that I plan to refinance. I am currently living in the property for a total of roughly 8 months, leaving this coming summer. I will most likely refinance early 2020, depending on if the banks will use purchase or appraisal prices. + +I know I will most likely have the clause of living in the primary residence for 1 year. Will this include the time prior to acquiring the mortgage? Either way, will I still be able to rent the property out say 8 months into the year? + +Obviously this is breaking the agreement, but are there serious consequences for this sort of thing? Especially if all payments are always made and no issues are caused? +//**Edit** IOTA shills prove me right. They keep harrassing and sending me abusive private messages for posting accurate information cited with objective sources + +[IOTA shills sending me abusive messages](https://imgur.com/a/nHFDgQ9) + +Please check my response to their post in r/cryptocurrencymeta. + +https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrencyMeta/comments/p4yhip/serious_we_should_stop_tolerating_the_spread_of/h94v5oe + +I cannot respond to their new post in r/cc harrassing me because they will mass downvote and bury my comment immediately.// + +I am making this post for one reason. To stop newbies who don't know about IOTA history from getting scammed by the IOTA ads from Linus Naumann who is a MOD of official IOTA sub. + +Look at [this most recent post](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/p46tqq/a_future_day_with_iota/) from Linus Naumann. + +You can look at every post in this sub made by him. + +As soon as he makes these advertisement posts for IOTA, it gets brigaded within just a few minutes to hot with upvotes and awards for a coin which is pretty much dead and almost nobody cares about. + +If you write any critical comment then it will get instantly downvoted to hide them by the IOTA brigaders who come here with him. Every reply from Linus gets instant 5-10 upvotes. + +This is nothing new for IOTA foundation. They play nice to shill their shitcoin but if you ask tough questions or disagree they will attack or try to silence you. + +Linus Naumann probably gets paid by IOTA foundation to make these IOTA shill posts in this sub full of lies, empty hype and false promises. + +Take a look at [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Iota/comments/l74il1/does_anyone_else_find_the_new_iota_underwhelming/) from r/Iota. Someone who invested in this scam is asking a critical question and see how the IOTA sub MOD shuts that person down in the top comment. + +**A short backstory for people who don't know about the history of IOTA.** + +In 2017 during bull market, IOTA started doing heavy marketing with fake partnership announcements with Microsoft etc. + +They also kept making a series of overhyped posts in the IOTA blog just like Linus is making here without even having a working product just to pump the price during bull market. These fake announcements and false hype caused a lot of retail traders to get rekt last time. + +Eric Wall, CIO of the Nordic cryptocurrency investment firm Arcane Assets who researched the project described the project as “the worst coin to have gotten as high as it did. They’re pushing the boundaries of the fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to the extreme.” + +IOTA only pumped from empty marketing hype and announcements. During the following bear market there wasn't any serious development till the current bull market and now the marketing train is back with brigading tactics but still no working product. That's why nobody takes it seriously anymore and it's ranked below SHIB. + + +**IOTA foundation harrasses and attacks people for criticizing them** + + +The MIT Tech Review ran a scathing review of the IOTA protocol’s insecurities 4 years ago. The founders constantly harrassed and attacked the person who wrote that review. + +In 2018, IOTA Foundation became known for scandalous emails between IOTA Foundation co-founder David Sonstebo and Neha Narula of MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative. + +Members of the IOTA community earned a reputation for routinely harassing women security experts, like Open Privacy founder Sarah Jamie Lewis, who found flaws in IOTA research. + +They also harrass people on social media and try to mass report and ban their accounts for criticizing the project. + +https://news.bitcoin.com/faced-with-criticism-iota-fans-try-to-bully-growing-list-of-detractors/ + + +**IOTA is a centralized scam without working product, gets repeatedly hacked and founders fight over tokens** + +IOTA foundation since the beginning has been using single controlling node called coordinator. The coordinator is authority node operated by the IOTA foundation and it's a single point of failure for the IOTA network, which makes the network centralized. + +IOTA has suffered attack after attack and network outages as a result of bugs in the coordinator and it is proven to be insecure to DDos attacks. IOTA first used a custom made hash function which was broken from the start and let you forge transactions. + +Last year the coordinator had outage for 20 days after their wallet got hacked. The network did not process any transactions during that time. Private keys of users and associated IOTA tokens worth around two million dollars got stolen. + +https://www.coindesk.com/iota-being-shut-off-is-the-latest-chapter-in-an-absurdist-history + +Just few weeks before this outage one of the founders Sergey Ivancheglo AKA Come-from-Beyond/CFB decided to quit the project and had a fight with other founder David Sonstebo over splitting the founders IOTA tokens. + +As they were fighting the third founder who is Dominik Schiener claimed that he “single-handedly conceived” the IOTA brand. It was a messy fight and they were all trying to claim the founders tokens for themselves. + +Now since bull market is back IOTA is saying they are doing tests without coordinator. Thats the DevNet testnet. IOTA said the same thing in May 2019. Quote from founder David Sonstebo in 2019: + +“We have been working towards the removal of the Coordinator since IOTA's inception. Now with the maturity and growth of the protocol, and the quality of our research team, we are bringing that promise to fruition.” + +Guess what? It didn't come to fruition. Another false promise. Now IOTA foundation is claiming they have a new solution to replace coordinator. IOTA is full of claimed research and pilots but no working product and there are no clients using the protocol. + + +**Will IOTA ever work?** + +I have no idea. I would say not because of how founders behaved in the past and repeated false promotions and announcements. Even if it did there are million question marks from the code to security of network. + +Imagine if Satoshi hyped Bitcoin in 2000 without any idea how to solve BGP but he took money from investors with false hopes? Then if Satoshi was a group of people and they all started fighting over the money? + +Satoshi simply gave us Bitcoin and left. Now we have all these selfish scammers doing empty social hype for projects without even working product for over 6 years. + +**P.S. I will link tweets from Sarah Jamie Lewis and CFB in comments since twitter links are blocked in posts** + +**EDIT** If you observe in the comments almost everyone attacking this post in comments gets their comments immediately upvoted with 5-10 upvotes and critical comments get immediately buried. If I reply, it's immediately buried. Classic IOTA mob behavior. + +I don't care about their mass downvotes. In a time of deceit, speaking the truth is a revolutionary act. + +They can brigade all they want. People need to know the truth about IOTA and who is this Linus making IOTA shill posts full of lies and false promises everyday. + +Even redditor for 1 hour accounts are here 😂. Imagine if these guys spent this much effort on development as social engineering. +”On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data supporting the view that the COVID-19 Delta variant can cause infections even among fully vaccinated people. +The CDC report was based on a COVID-19 outbreak in Massachusetts, where 69% of the eligible population are fully vaccinated. +Out of 469 COVID-19 cases, 74% were among those who had received both COVID-19 shots from Pfizer (PFE -0.1%)/ BioNTech (BNTX +4.4%) and Moderna (MRNA +2.9%) or single-dose vaccine from Johnson &amp; Johnson (JNJ -0.0%). +After genetic sequencing 133 individuals, the Delta variant of the coronavirus was detected in 89% of samples, indicating the prevalence of the highly contagious variant. +Notably, 274 (79%) of vaccinated patients with so-called “breakthrough infections” were symptomatic. Out of five hospitalizations, four were fully vaccinated, but there were no deaths, the federal agency said. +The CDC calls the vaccination the most important strategy to prevent the severe form of COVID-19 and death. +However, citing the findings of the analysis, the agency says that tougher public health measures such as indoor masking are likely irrespective of vaccination status even in areas “without substantial or high COVID-19 transmission.” +Early this week, CDC updated guidance recommending indoor masks for those in areas with substantial and high levels of COVID-19 transmission” + +Short summary, resurgence of Covid has not been priced in stock market today. Buckle up with shorts on NDX, DJI &amp; SPX! + +P.S. because of low karma I can’t comment in my own post 🙁 + +[source](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/30/cdc-study-shows-74percent-of-people-infected-in-massachusetts-covid-outbreak-were-fully-vaccinated.html) +There are a few aspects to this. About 10 months ago I bought a house with my partner. I put down 75% of the deposit, and she contributed the remainder (we have a declaration of trust stating that we would get our respective deposits back before split the remaining equity 50/50) She was only able to put down the 25% because that's all she had (even though she was earning almost double my salary). + +I took out a loan of about £7k to help with the initial house "set-up". Being an employee of HSBC at the time, I qualified for their lowest interest rate of 3.3% regardless of the term or size of the personal loan. I took it out for 5 years, with the intention of making overpayments and clearing it in 2. This was our first house, so basically I had to buy a full set of new furniture, from hob to bed. I ended up buying everything myself with no contribution from her. Before actually moving in and me buying these things, her car was having issues and she decided to get a new car. She needed 14k for the car but of course, didn't have the money, so decided to take out a loan. Wanting to take advantage of my staff rate, meant we had to apply for a joint loan, and increasing the loan term to 8 years (paying off my £7k loan, to retake it again as a joint loan) of £21k. She had no intention of overpaying, which meant I was pretty much stuck in this for the whole 8 years too. I resented her a little that she would want to borrow so much for herself when I was putting myself into debt for "us", but I just went with it (see title), and that's another story. + +She started working at a new company, and I hated working at HSBC, so when I saw that her company was hiring in a relevant department for more money, I took the opportunity. It was after working there for a couple of weeks that we found out we could get a referral bonus of £3,000 (taxable) once I complete my probation of 6 months. + +Neither of us really watch television, I personally haven't watched it in over 10 years. I just stick to Netflix, and I have a HD projector I would always use. She was practically begging that we get a TV and bla bla bla see title. She picked one out that was £3,000! of course, I said no, but she talked me into it by saying it was almost a free TV because we'd be using the referral bonus and just paying a small amount on top. It was one of those buy-now-pay-in-6-months type deals, so with my probation ending in 5 months, we could pay it off before the 19% interest kicked in. She tried getting it in her name but didn't qualify for enough credit, so we had to get it in my name. + +fast forward to now, my probation has ended, the relationship is over, and a few days ago she said "say goodbye to your referral", which is fine, I mean technically it was hers for referring me, and it was her choice to split it. But the 6 month period on the tv ends in a week, and she also told me that she's moving back home to London and not taking the TV with her, and that it's my problem now. I told her she could have the referral, but she also has to take the TV. She said she will be willing to give me £1500 towards it, as she is "essentially buying it second hand" + +She wants me to buy her out of the house after a fresh valuation from an estate agent. She knows I wouldn't be able to afford it, especially after all the time and money I poured into doing the house up. + +I have no idea what to do, she's really got me by the balls here. Even though I own 33% of the joint loan, on paper I'm obligated to pay half since it's a joint thing (really I'm obligated to pay the whole thing if she ever decides to stop paying for anything). HSBC has said that to split the loan, we would both need to apply again for fresh individual loans. Not working for HSBC anymore would of course mean that I wouldn't qualify for the low-interest rate again - which I'm not really worried about. What worries me is that if we applied for individual loans, she wouldn't qualify for anything at all since she's not working anymore! I told her I want to split the loan, and she's said she won't do it because she's not obligated to. + +Any guidance at all would be greatly appreciated. I hope this is the right sub for this, apologies if it isn't. + +Thank you. +Hi All, + +I'll try and summarise this. I am 41 years old in June and had a wake up call exactly a year back - I HAVE ONLY 31K IN MY PENSION! + +I earn around 69K a year and with company shares per year that bring my total salary to around 100K per annum gross. + +I decided to go hard on my pension and through my employers pension scheme decided to salary sacrifice and live off 35K gross per year. + +The employer only matches up to 5%. + +My total including the 5% comes to around 3K per month to the pension. I figured I'd benefit from the 40% tax thingy. Sorry don't know the technical terms. + +Today an elder leader of mine stated that I am mad to be sacrificing that much and that I should only match the 5% and throw the rest into an ISA. + +So his advice is to send approx 500 to the pension, which includes the 5% and shove the rest into an ISA. That won't be exactly 2500 since I'll now be susceptible to the 40% tax for anything over the 50K threshold. + +He said I could make more through going with an ISA and not have to wait until an age where I might be alive or not. Live life a little. + +What are your thoughts? +My job provides a 401(k) with a 4% match. There are two types of accounts: something simply called a “before-tax,” and a Roth 401(k). + +Right now I put 17% ($490) of my paycheck into the before-tax and 10% into the Roth ($288) (total: $778 per paycheck). My employer contributes $115 per check. We get 26 paychecks a year. + +I was fiddling around with my ADP app, and I saw a bunch of investment options ranging from high risk high reward to relatively safe investments. All of the options have similar names just with different numbers. + +It also says my account is 100% “growth and income” in a “Fidelity Freedom Index 2060 Fund - Premier Class.” The numbers look decent. 18.57 inception-to-date, 11 five year. They’re obviously bad for this year, -7, but I’m not putting much stock into that given the current events. + +Should I be moving this around or actively doing stuff with it? +Hello, + +&#x200B; + +Long story short, me and my partner currently have £4500 in 0% interest debt, the debt repayments for all of this combined is £360 a month. This is 4 separate loans/credit cards used to mainly buy furniture and other general moving related costs when we moved earlier this year. All of the arrangements we have with theses debts mean they'll all be paid off before any interest kicks in. + +&#x200B; + +Our take home pay fluctuates slightly between £3000-£3200, so currently these debt repayments are taking up over 10% of our entire income, is it worth us attacking this debt Dave Ramsey style, so that we have an improved cash flow position, or as these are inflationary times we sort of see it as 'healthy debt' and just chip away at it as we've been doing. By the end of 2023, £3500ish of the £4500 would've been cleared. + +&#x200B; + +Basically, are we missing anything with this in terms of a precedent in terms of what to do, or does it entirely depend of personal preference/situations? +### UNITED STATES + +* The market sprung 2% following the midterm elections with the **VIX** deeply dropping off  + * **Healthcare** stocks may benefit with Democrats in control of the House and Medicaid expanding in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah +* The 10-year **treasury** **yield** is back up near multiyear highs  +* [New **mortgage applications** have continued their downward spiral ](https://www.mba.org/2018-press-releases/november/mortgage-applications-decrease-in-latest-mba-weekly-survey) +* Expect a pullback this morning, futures are down ahead of the **Feds** latest policy announcement at 2PM today +* [Support for **marijuana** **legalization**](https://news.gallup.com/poll/243908/two-three-americans-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx) continues to trend upward with over half of Republicans now in favor, up from a third just 4 years ago. Nearly 80% of Democrats support it, up from two thirds 4 years ago. + +### OTHER + +* Robyn Denholm replaced Elon Musk as Chairman of **Tesla** +* The sell-off in **oil** continues and the [US stockpile of oil is on the rise again](https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/) + * With [pipeline](http://campaigns.richardsongmp.com/rv/ff00e4d778b49655f9e1e0fc9949b4285d40f863) [capacity improving in the Permian basin](http://campaigns.richardsongmp.com/rv/ff00e4d778b49655f9e1e0fc9949b4285d40f863), those supplies should increase further +* Industrial production in **Germany** improved slightly (Actual 0.8% | Expected 0.5%) +* The European Commision released forecasts for the **eurozone** in 2019 + * **Growth** is predicted to slow from 2.1% to 1.9% + * Q3 GDP growth was at its slowest rate since 2014 + +### CHINA + +* **Exports** were a pleasant surprise (Actual 15.6% Expected 11.7%) + * Probably because companies were rushing to ship orders before tariffs hit + * But a cheaper yuan and diverse trading partners outside of the US also helped +Hey everyone thank you for the advice and for sticking up for me in the comments. I’ve gotten the advice I’m looking for and decided to delete/edit. + +I know the abuse part is alarming and it’s not as easy as calling social workers and the police on someone I grew up with and loved +I don’t have the strength mentally to do that right now and it doesn’t always work out it the way some of you think. + +A roommate sounds good but is last resort for and for a reason thank you + +What I will do right now is leave whether it be in a vehicle or an apartment and take those extra steps in a better headspace. Thank you for your support and for your financial advice!! +I almost gave up on my dream tbh. All I've ever wanted is to buy a house, support my family and make video games for a living. Thanks to $GME, that dream could actually become reality. + +I'm extremely grateful to all of the DD authors out there. Without ya'll, I wouldn't have had 100% confidence in this stock. We know /r/Superstonk at least owns the float, and I trust that all of you have hardened your diamond hands enough to not sell for anything less than family generation changing money. + +I've had this dream my entire life, so it doesn't bother me that I have to wait. Plus, I really like this stock! I'm ready to hold onto this stock for many many years if it takes that long to moon. +The cap on individual’s IRA contributions is 6k/yr. However, a 401k contribution is 19,500/yr for employee contribution (let alone employer match). I’m not looking for optimizing strategies or anything like that. + +I want to know WHY is that cap so low compared to an employer-sponsored account. It feels strange that the ability to “properly” save for retirement is tied to employment and your employer’s retirement plan options. + +Is there an economic reason why the contribution limits are so different? +The lowest point of my life is here. The biggest culmination of fucks. 36 years old, had a good job, bought a house, got a few cars, and got married. About a year ago, I lost my job. Difficulty finding a job resulted to maxed credit cards. Trying to start a business but hasn’t been profitable. + +Today I received priority mail from a creditor with Judgement and 14 days days to respond. After hours of research, I’m completely and utterly scared of what’s to come. I am powerless. I am sick to my stomach. My pregnant wife who is working will soon quit her job because it’s something we agreed on after childbirth. Her insurance apparently will not cover hospital bills if she does not return to work. I’m afraid to tell her about the judgement because stress is the last thing a women in maternity needs. + +I cannot file bankruptcy because I have enough mortgage equity to force a sale which will render us homeless. Doing nothing will get my wage garnished, bank accounts garnished, can lose our car, have our home forced to be sold, etc. All this during the course of pregnancy and the start of fatherhood. + +I’m so lost and bewildered that I’m on here sharing because I really don’t know what else to do. I just want to cry...I know I have to keep level headed and try to find a solution no matter what. But I really don’t know how right now...I have no money to pay the debt, I can’t file bankruptcy, and doing nothing will get everything I own and every dollar left in our bank accounts get taken away. Checkmate. + +I look at my wife and she’s so peaceful next to me...I’m so lucky that she’s staying positive with all this. But she doesn’t know time is running out fast...I just want her to stay happy and to keep the confidence she has in me. I’m so afraid for what’s ahead of us. I’m trying so hard to focus even with the stress and occasional cold sweats. I can keep typing here but that’s basically the sum of it. Wish me luck. +1. Stock split has not yet been ~~announced~~ decided; they may do so in the future + +2. All current board members got majority votes and are re-elected + +3. 1B shares approved + +4. 2022 GS plans approved + +5. Incentive plan approved (i think this is the receiving shares for bonuses one) + +6. trying to bring the GME wallet to other web3 developers + +7. Unfortunately IRA shares won’t be able to be DRSd anytime soon + +8. “there are present at this meeting, in person, or by proxy, more than a majority of all the shares entitled to cast votes at this meeting” + +Basically everything was approved that was asked about + +The split comment is a shorter version but they don’t have a split planned yet; or they’re playing 5D chess and will just do it later. The media only needs a 10 minute notice according to a redditor below (Please fact check this with a source) + + +ADMA Biologics is a commercial biopharmaceutical company that is currently fighting to enter the Intravenous Immunoglobulin Market. They have 3 FDA approved products; Asceniv, Nabi-HB, and Bivigam. Asceniv and Navi-HB are both extremely high margin products but require specific plasma donors to produce, and cannot achieve the same scale of production as Bivigam. The company currently operates by procuring most of their source plasma through a plasma purchase agreement with Grifols, but also has 4 plasma collection locations in operation, with 2 already being fully approved by the FDA, and an additional 3 in various stages of development. Each of these plasma collection facilities costs roughly $5million to build and attain approval. Completed and approved plasma collection facilities currently cost $10-15million when purchased on the open market based on recent deals regarding similar facilities. + +I have been following this company for the past 2 years and have watched their share price get obliterated as they funded their entrance into a high barrier industry through the issuance of additional shares. In May of last year, they submitted applications for expanding their plant capacity by utilizing expanded containers for production, with no other alterations to the production process. During the same period, they installed a Vanrx Sa25 fill finish machine and submitted an FDA application to complete 100% of their manufacturing process in house. Their current fill/finish needs are being completed by a third-party vendor and are likely adding substantial costs to their costs of product revenue. The Vanrx Sa25 is utilized in other IVIG manufacturing plants in the U.S. and has a strong precedent for FDA approval. I anticipate both FDA submissions being approved by June of 2021. + +ADMA’s most recent 10-k shows an ugly loss at a quarterly rate of nearly $20mil, which may increase in the near term. This can be attributed to the hiring of additional staff during their production ramp and the production of 4 test batches of Bivigam for their capacity expansion submission to the FDA, which they will be able to sell if they achieve approval. These issues will be largely absolved with the new manufacturing approvals, which they state will double plant capacity from 400k to 800k liters per year with very little additional required labor, reduce production time by 3+ months, and greatly improve gross margins. Each processed liter of plasma creates 3.5grams of IVIG. Bivigam, ADMA’s cheapest product, is sold for $130 per gram. This comes out to 800,000\*3.5\*130= $364million annual revenue. While these approvals are not guaranteed, they seem to be extremely likely, and the company has a strong history of attaining FDA approvals for their products. If achieved, these approvals should double the future revenue outlook for the company and should provide a huge catalyst for an increase in share price and increase the likelihood that they are acquired by another IVIG producer at a hefty premium. For perspective, Shire/Takeda recently paid $1.2billion to build a 3million liter plant in Georgia which would value an 800k liter plant at $320million. + +[https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/10/12/irish-bioscience-company-opens-new-1-2-billion.html](https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/10/12/irish-bioscience-company-opens-new-1-2-billion.html) + +If these approvals are achieved ADMA will still need to double their current inventory levels to reach plant capacity. They also have $100 million in debt through a long-term loan with Perceptive which will be due in 2024. Their current quarterly cash burn is ugly, and it will likely take another 1-2 years to become profitable. All of these factors point towards an extremely high risk of additional dilutive funding. They are also in the process of expanding their total amount of authorized shares from 150million to 300million. + +ADMA’s cash account as of December 31, 2020 was $55.9million, but the company likely sold another 25million of shares during this quarter through an outstanding At The Market Secondary Offering agreement and will show more cash on hand for next quarter, as TD Ameritrade shows 123million shares outstanding Vs. the 96million shares reported on the 10-K. When the company achieves profitability or gets bought out it will be a windfall, but there is still a fair amount of uncertainty around their trajectory. This stock is largely overlooked based on their current financials, which has caused a unique value opportunity in the market as I believe that they will be generating future annual revenues that are much higher than their current market cap. +With pump and dump, they want you to believe, people paper hand for a silly 20% gain. +With pump and dump they want to proof, this is just a "MEME" stock +If you now see the stock goes quick up and then quick back, you think, why didn't you sold at peak and buy back at support. That's what they WANT +If we all do this, moass sadly will NEVER happen. Then you are their toy for a bit money. +Some famous broker restrict short selling on GME and naked sell options. It means, they expect MOASS. +You can daytrade every other stock of other company, EXCEPT GME!!!!! +The only way, they lose control, is if we BUY, HOLD and DRS your shares! +When I FIREd lots of people asked for updates, so this is the first one. + +Quick recap of some data. Married male, 50 years old. DINKs. Live in low cost of living area. Assets ~$4.4 million, estimated annual expenses ~$150K. + +First I'll talk about money. Market appreciation has been good since FIRE. Assets have increased $170K - nice. Spending has been high though. We bought a vacation condo, and getting set up to spend time there is costing a fair amount. Not unexpected, but I'll talk about my feelings on this later. + +Other spending issues have come up. Got a $450 ticket for speeding in a construction zone. I haven't had a ticket since I was 18 years old. Also, the electricity in our basement suddenly stopped working. It's not simply a breaker, so getting it repaired might be pretty costly. No idea yet. + +Time issues. Holy crap, I am so busy. Each day I try to do at least one useful project, like clean out a closet, or deal with annoying pieces of paperwork, or something. Beyond that though, it turns out that I have no problem filling my days so far. In fact, many days I have to make decisions among several alternatives all of which I want to do. Boredom is not an issue yet. + +I've noticed that my attitude about spending money has changed. My wife and I both had fairly high incomes, so while we were working I didn't sweat spending money that was in our budget. Even when we had to spend money that we hadn't budgeted for, it wasn't really a big deal. I could measure emergency expenses in additional hours of work. $1K car repair = about 1 days work for wife and I after tax - no big deal. + +Now, however, I can't just work an extra day to pay for something unexpected. All expenses come out of my finite supply of money. Even stuff that we've budgeted for just feels different when I pay for it. I know logically this shouldn't bother me because I'm living on a 3.5% WR. But my animal brain still doesn't like it. I have the urge to hoard money. + +On the brighter side, we took a 10 day driving trip. Visited my retired aunt and uncle for a few days - quite cheap except for the wine purchases. + +Then we visited this couple we met on vacation a couple years ago. They are my FIRE role models. They are about 70 and have been retired about 20 years. Each year they spend a month in the northeast just to get away from the Florida summer. We met them on a cruise in Europe, and they are just cool people who have a really relaxed outlook on life. I'm hoping we're on the path to be in their shoes in 20 years. + +Feedback is appreciated. If no one wants to read this stuff, I can forgo future updates. +Hi everyone. In short, I had a crack to a windshield on a recent rental through Hertz. They sent me an invoice for $934.67 🙄. My Chase card covered $705.72, but did not cover Hertz “Diminished Value” fee of $228.95. In a follow-up email, Hertz explained that this fee was for the recovery of “immediate reduction in a vehicle’s market value due to collision or comprehensive loss”. Any recommendations on how to fight this? My insurance carrier doesn’t even view replacing a windshield as a comprehensive loss. Thank you. +I found the site bitmillions.com a couple weeks ago and decided I would try it. I thought I purchase 0.05 btc worth of tickets with the following transaction: +https://blockchain.info/tx/a2d1e19331f4ea274079c94382560bbb4f32165ed647a33adad651a604e7caa2 +but somehow, I sent all of my 20+ bitcoins. I'm kind of a mess over this right now and I was hoping you all here at r/bitcoin could help me. +How is it that I accidentally sent more than I intended to? The transaction seems to show the amount I originally put in? +Also, I know I am probably never going to see these bitcoins again, but does anyone know the folks at bitmillions or know how I can plead with them to return my bitcoins, since the amount sent didn't even have enough digits to be a proper bet? + +Edit: Turns out I accidentally sent my bitcoins to P2Pool in fees... If anyone knows how I can get in touch with the pool operator at P2Pool I'd really appreciate it. + +Complete idiot here. I’m saving up money to move in with my girlfriend at the end of July. $135 a week is about what I would need, but in case I mess up I’m going to be putting $150 into it. I currently make about $2,000 a month working at a gas station. I’m going to DoorDash for a 2nd job while going to college. My rent is $1,087, my electric is $125, my bills are about $525. My gasoline cost is about $120 an usually my groceries cost me about $50 a month. Before DoorDashing I would only have $93 left over. I do get paid tomorrow, but as of right now I have $1 in my bank account. +I know this is completely stupid an extremely risky to basically make my savings account my investment portfolio, but really what choice do I have? If you don’t generate capital in a capitalist system then you can never get ahead. +I’m going to try to have some fun with my piss poor reality. Each week until I move out in July, I’m going to be buying $150 worth of different stocks, using different techniques an I will be selling them all at the end of July. +Here are the current shares I have: +NAKD - 7 shares - $5.40 +PROG - 16 shares - $2.25 +PTON - 1 Share - $35.20 +SIRI - 2 Shares - $6.36 +BIOL - 4 Shares - $0.42 + +Wish me luck, I will detail my journey each week +i just cant find a brokers thats good enough for forex trading so what do most people use for forex? im looking for something i can trust and can be used outside of the US. +Just thought I'd get some opinions on whether or not you think trading is gambling because you "speculate" whether the price is going to rise or fall, but then what becomes the difference between speculation and gambling? +Hey guys , iam already learning forex trading after firstly blowing my account i realized that its not get-rich-quick scheme but i need to learn so i started i already know technical analysis i use MACD and RSI i look also on news etc. but i doubt if i can trully make slowly but surely make money , because some people are saying that forex is scam that all those forex gurus are only earning money through providing courses etc. that only some bank analysists can make decent money ..... What do you think guys? Can even a simple guy that is ambitious like me , learn it and make money by myself? +I’m 19 and after working many jobs managed to convince a branch of a local bank to open me a bank account. I was excited to try forex and I am ashamed to admit I wasn’t taking it seriously and was doing it to feel the thrill and the rush, but I went past it and studied then played some video games and forgot it even happened. Also another admission… I was doing it with the 5 seconds option. So I’m order to get my wits together I am requesting some advice mixed in with a little harsh insults so that I may improve. Thank you. +I'm really curious as to what the average LIVE trader gains weekly/monthly. I hear such horror stories about how 90% fail and other make 1-5% a month. Is this REALLY average. I ask because i started trading 3 months ago and have never had a red week yet and average aroun 7-13% a week. ($2000+ acct.) + +Is this really that unheard of? I feel like it's not crazy because I only make couple hundred a week. Drop your thoughts. +So last week there has been heavy buying for chf against other currencies. Ive been trying to look for news but unable to find any. Is it just the Euro performing really badly that the franc has gone up or is there another reason for it ? +Hey so I've opened an account with tallinex and deposited 100 I noticed my trades were really weird and I realized that when I click trade it was automatically put it on AUDUSD while I was looking at EURUSD I'm down 18 bucks but I could care less because I could always earn that back. The way I like to trade is scalping, I feel like I have a good grasp on my own trading strategy but what would be the best leverage and lot size to earn money with a deposit of 100 dollars I've been trying to figure out the best lot size and leverage to minimize my risk and make consistent money I'm fairly new to this but I've been studying graphs for the past week all day while I got my wisdom teeth out and I've noticed a few that I could profit a bit off of and decided to put some money in, just struggling on what leverage and lot size to use. Could someone please give me some insight on this? +I am newer than new, haven't finished reading through the educational materials in the sidebar or anything, but I started a dummy account just to see what it was like. I know I know nothing, but this thought occurred to me: If you simply bought or sold the same pair over and over again, setting your limit higher than your stop, would you not be guaranteed to profit eventually? +So let the pictures show what I mean. +EUR/SGD Pair, All taken same time. + +1) Trading View 1Hour. +https://www.tradingview.com/x/OJJcDKaH/ + +2) Oanda View 1Hour +http://prntscr.com/5n04ol + +3) Trading View Daily +https://www.tradingview.com/x/HbBdFgZI/ + +4) Oanda View Daily +http://prntscr.com/5n04y8 + +So.. How come?! + +EDIT: Opps NOT MAJORLY Different, but it does show some differences between both, so why? E.G. trading by price action, one shows a nicely formed doji but the other doesn't, wouldn't it affect entry/plan? +Hi everyone, it seems a year or two that profitable successful traders with a funded ftmo account appear always more often. + +Now, I get that someone can be successful… but all those people? I mean there are a lot, a lot of people, there are even courses on how to pass the challenge and a lot of testimonials with the certificate of the funded account. + +Dont get me wrong, I do t want to piss off those people, but I simply can’t believe that they are all professional traders. If you watch some ftmo interviews on YouTube you will easily notice how little experienced are some of the guests. + +Now, my hypotesis are 3: + +1. They are really professional traders (very unlikel, maybe 1 out of 1000). +2. Ftmo is a scam +3. Passing the challenge is easy with a bit of luck but 99% of those who pass the challenge can’t manage to keep the account for more than a month since they would break the rules because they simply don’t know how to trade. + +I’m very curious about this phenomeno, never took an ftmo challenge, would like to hear your thoughts and experiences. +Hi Guys, + +I stumbled on this video as a recommendation on YouTube. It was fun watching it because i felt like it was a polar opposite of what i consider proper trading. +https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Gdzjdqw6o + +What are your thoughts on it? +Hello all + +I am a full-time Forex day trader and used to set daily targets for profits. However I'm trying to steer my focus from profits and focus more so on percentages. After a few devastating losses I have reached a point where I c*an* make 10% as a daily return, however I am wondering if setting this as the standard has the potential to be quite dangerous as it could be considered to be unrealistic. What is a good and realistic gain to aim for daily? I have a £10k account and can step down the exposure if needs be. I'd love a second opinion on this... + +&#x200B; + +Many thanks and best of luck ladies and gents. + +&#x200B; + +\[EDIT\] + +What do you guys aim for? (This is assuming of course that you are also fulltime traders like myself) +I've been trying to find a solid, reliable broker to start working with. No matter which broker I google, there is people accusing them of scam. Any suggestions? +I am new to forex trading. I focused on the currency market. + +My plan is as follows: + +1. Follow only one strategy and gather information around it + +2. practice a lot on a demo account + +3. Make a stable trading account without the desire to get rich quick + +4. Connect with people who have a similar trading philosophy and are more successful than me + +&#x200B; + + I want to learn from experienced traders how they started, how long it took to be able to say they are successful in trading. + +Why am I wondering this? There are a lot of scammers, self promoters, unregulated trading sites, more indicators than the stars in the sky + +so I'm interested in the information of an ordinary man ... who has learned, persevered, and now succeeds?? how? +Hey all, + +I was listening to a podcast with John Kruege on Chat with Traders and he talked about using ATR to let him know if the market is exhausted for the day. + +So from what I understand you look at where the line is in correlation with parameters set up on the side. + +So mine is set to 0.0115 and 0.0063. The middle of these two being 0.0089. So from my understanding this is what price has moved, measuring up and down, or is this showing which way price has changed since the beginning of the day, meaning long or short, not measuring the in-between? + +Is there any indicator that displays this in bar form? + +Thank you! +I have $300 and am hoping to invest in forex.I have been on demo and have perfected a good strategy on USD/CAN and USD/Japan pairs with 70% success rate so far.Is there a better strategy with higher success rate you know? +The general narrative seems to be that the vast majority of traders are not profitable and the small percentage who are have pushed through significant adversity in the form of multiple accounts blown and whatever else to get to that point. + +I’m curious if anyone here has had a relatively smooth road to consistent profit. Maybe a person is particularly talented and/or has simply put the necessary work in and followed the correct risk management from the start. + + +Here* +I have a target of gaining 0.3% a day (five days a week) trading Forex. How difficult would it be to achieve this target by scalping? For my broker, I will be using [XTB](www.xtb.com) and will mainly trade the [EUR/USD](https://www.xtb.com/en/trading-services/range-of-markets/forex-trading/eur-usd) currency pair, which on the standard account has a spread of (around) 0.7 pips with no commision. + +With these conditions how difficult would it be to scalp 0.3% every day? +Readers who got to the point where you could live pretty much anywhere, and wanted to live (or remain) in a very walkable urban location without shared walls, what did you do? How'd you find ultra-walkable housing in a big city? + +The "If I won the lotto, I'd live…" stereotype is a trophy mansion in a remote location with an Instagram-worthy view\[1\]. That's not what I'm after. I live in a big city where: + +* most single-family houses are in less-walkable neighborhoods (or the suburbs). If someone is lucky, they can walk to neighborhood retail. +* even the walkable houses are often 10-15 minutes (by foot) from the retail areas, not 2 minutes. +* I don't need a huge amount of space and I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'd just like to make more noise than I could in a condo or townhouse, and am willing to pay for the privilege. + +Those of you who prioritized walkability above size or site/view, what did you do? Compete with developers to buy land, then build something custom? Accept less walkability (or shared walls)? Buy 2 places, 1 in-city and 1 outside? + +\[1\]: Related questions from r/AskReddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8tens6/assuming\_money\_was\_not\_an\_issue\_what\_feature/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8tens6/assuming_money_was_not_an_issue_what_feature/), [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=lotto&restrict\_sr=on&sort=top&t=all](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/search?q=lotto&restrict_sr=on&sort=top&t=all) +Hi Fellow Fatties, + +I spent most of my career attempting to stay out to the media. Although I've been in several publications, it wasn't important to me. I have really pivoted hard into charity/ profitable philanthropy and getting others involved has become a passion. That said a positive media presence helps. I have a contact who has written a few articles about me who asked if I'd want to do a book deal with advantage/Forbes books. The book would be ghost written and would include a book tour/ media tour/ the red carpet.... I am curious if anyone has ever gone this route, what it did for you, was it worth it. + +Im spitballing asking the Internet as my Ben Franklin evened out. +I’ve been seeing tech taking a massive dump the last couple of weeks, and as it’s been dumping I’ve been spending about 1k in there every time it hit a new low, but I’m not exactly sure why it’s happening. + +I can perfectly afford to keep buying the dip since I was holding a bit of cash in reserve, but what exactly is happening that tech is slipping while other industry seem to be pretty ok if not doing well the last 2 weeks. + +And yes I perfectly understand I’m asking for short term information. I’m jus trying to learn, I’m in it for the long haul always and forever. + +Thanks! +You've become a man today. A fully fledged member of wsb. + +In many of the worlds cultures and communities a boy needs to undergo a ritual to become, and be accepted as a man. Now I sense many of you here though you're gonna do this the Christian way. A quick dip in the bath of gains 🛁💹 where you gulp a mouthful and escape with some tendies. + +Not so fast fellow autist. You're doing it the way of the Hebrews and the Muslims. That red you see in your portfolio? Thats the blood off your dick 🩸🍆. Your financial foreskin getting stuck in the dentures of that old whore Walda Street right as you were about to pull out. + +Chin up my friend. Tuck that little peepee in and carry on shining 👊. +Seeing that SNAP has taken a big hit after it's bad earnings report, is it a good time to buy? + +Update: Tencent has also invested in SNAP for 12% of the company +Obviously nothing is full proof, but thought be worth having a discussion on what stocks, and sectors would be minimally affected by the Corona virus and an economic slowdown? I don't have a ton of cash on hand, but would like to deploy some in the smartest manner possible + +Here are some of my thoughts... + +'Safer' buys: +-Utilities; such as aqn, h, fts, enb. Regardless need hydro/etc even if quarantined and economy is crap. +-Advertisment based tech: Stocks like FB, Google, Twitter, etc. I can't see Corona having any effect on them. Same with an economic slowing, people will still be browsing their social media and Google searching the same. +-Construction companies; such as ARE. Not as confident with this, but we still need roads in either scenario, and during a recession the government could easily dump money into infrastrure projects to try and stimulate the economy. +-Residential REITs: IIP.UN, MRG.UN, etc: Regardless people need somewhere to live. Would stay away from commercial REITs though. + +Neutral buys: +-Telecoms, BCE, T, etc. If we're in quarantine these shouldn't be affected. People need entertainment. But during a recession, people will cut their cell/tv plans; if things get bad. +-Rail; CNR, CP. Still needs things moved but could get hammered in a real recession. + +'Bad' buys: +-Banks; RY, TD, etc. Maybe not bad, and they're going no where but as interest rates fall, I'm sure there profits will follow. +-Oil and Gas; HSE, SU, etc. I did buy some of these early January when things weren't as bad as now. But in a big slow down I could see them getting hammered and even possibly having to cut their dividend (hurting share prices even more). +-Consumer discretionaries and companies reliant on imports/China: Apple, automotive, travel, etc. These are thing that people can live without in a recession, and I think Corona could affect them due to quarantines/slowdown within China. + +Be interested to hear other people's thoughts on this. Whether you think I'm off the mark, or have other companies or sectors they'd recommend to buy or stay away from? +Kinda embarrassed by how little I seem to understand, but here goes... + +BTCC hasn't moved above $10.83 since inception (i.e. 8% up), whereas Bitcoin is up 13% over that same time period. What gives? + +Also, I was looking into moving my BTCC to EBIT, and saw that: + +* EBIT's NAV is $26.40, and it is trading at $28.00. + +* By contrast, BTCC's NAV is $12.08, but it is trading at $10.83. + +What is driving this difference? +>A comprehensive review of the dividend policy has been completed by the Board of Directors, and approval has been secured to **reset the monthly dividend to $0.08 per common share** or $0.96 per common share annually, to improve financial strength and ensure greater funding flexibility. This represents a **56 percent reduction**.  + +https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/altagas-announces-its-2019-balanced-funding-plan-including-financial-outlook-and-capital-plan-702672562.html +Let me begin by stating that there are many of you who, despite any evidence to the contrary, I will not be able to convince. There are those of you who were, or know somebody who was, burned by Bombardier in the past. Maybe you bought in just before the 2015/2016 bankruptcy scare, or maybe you bought in at the peak of 2018, or maybe you bought in just before COVID, only to watch your investment wither down to a quarter, and maybe some of you sold on the way down, and lost a lot of money just to get the heck out. Listen, I get it, it hurts, it’s like a kick in stomach, it’s a rough game man, it’s like a casino out there, and sometimes the house wins. Fast forward a few months/years, and now, after all your pain, and all your suffering, those incompetent, crooked, nepotistic, family and friends of the family get bailed out with taxpayer money, in fact, not only are they getting bailed out, they’re giving themselves bonuses because they were able to get the bailout, so they pat themselves on the back and congratulate their brilliance with taxpayer money! Those fuckers. And to top it all off, afterwards, the share price goes back up, way up, so far up it doesn’t even make sense. So you say to yourself, “well, it’ll go back down, just wait and see.” And in the mean time, you think to yourself fuck it, it’s too volatile, management is corrupt, it’s going bankrupt, and they’ll never get another penny from me. If this is you, then please know that I understand why I will never convince you. No amount of reason can change a person’s core belief, especially when that belief is forged in pain, and tempered with deep losses. And please understand that this post is not for you. If you’re ready to get hurt again, read on, if not, all good, thanks for your time so far, I wish you the best of luck, don’t bother reading the rest. + +&#x200B; + +Okay, now that that’s out of the way let me be perfectly transparent about a few things. Number one, I own approximately 335,000 shares of Bombardier, which I purchased at around $0.60 CAD. I want to see, and will benefit tremendously from, an increase in their share price. If you decide to read this post, and agree with my point of view, and subsequently decide to buy shares, and thus increase the share price, I will directly benefit. Number two, this is a very volatile, and hence very risky company to invest in. I have not YOLO’d my entire portfolio in to this, and neither should you. Number three, this is not a short squeeze, or a pump and dump, or a meme stock, or any of the other type of harebrained *DD* that seem to have flooded every investment sub recently. This will not double your money overnight, nor even in a year, this will take three to four years and might not even happen at all, and you probably shouldn’t be day-trading this. And lastly, I am not a professional, farthest thing from it. In fact you would have to be incapable of rational thought to pay me for any kind of advice. I am a university student who has only completed one introductory accounting class, one corporate finance class, and am half-way through a financial derivatives course. I am in no way qualified to give any kind of advice, including life advice, and I’m probably not even qualified to brush my own teeth. All clear? Alright, now who wants to make some god damned money! + +&#x200B; + +My plan is to lay out my position in about 4 steps. First I will show why Bombardier is not immediately about to go bankrupt. Then I will briefly touch on, but not in detail as I leave this to you, their projections. Then, I will show why I believe the 250% increase in share price has already been factored in Bombardier’s preferred shares. Then, I will use enterprise value and projected EBITDA to derive my projected share price. + +&#x200B; + +A series of common complaints about Bombardier is that they’re broke, they have too much debt, they can’t afford to pay their debt when it comes due, they’re going bankrupt, etc.. I assert that, **Bombardier is not teetering on the brink of bankruptcy** **due to their debt**. Why? Because all of Bombardier’s bonds are currently trading either between 3% and 5% above par, OR are within pennies of trading at par. As far as the bond market is concerned, Bombardier’s ability to pay its coupons for the foreseeable future is not in question, and the bond market’s confidence is back to pre-pandemic levels. Bankrupt companies, companies that are soon to be bankrupt, or even those whose ability to manage cash flows for interest expenses DO NOT HAVE BONDS THAT TRADE ABOVE PAR VALUE. Here is a screenshot showing all of the currently listed Bombardier notes with their symbols and CUSIP numbers for anybody who would like to check for themselves. + +[https://imgur.com/gEL1R4c](https://imgur.com/gEL1R4c) + +And, here is a series of screenshots of the bond price charts. Sometimes seeing is believing. What do you notice about the shape of all of the charts? Something spooked em real good a few months into 2020, but whatever it is seems to have faded away. Again, go check this out for yourselves. + +[https://imgur.com/2CGg5os](https://imgur.com/2CGg5os) + +The yield on Bombardier’s debt is between 5.5% and 8.75%, with the majority being close 7%. This means that should Bombardier need to raise money through a debt issuance, in order to say, roll over a maturing note, that they could very easily find money at non-usurious rates of interest. So, to anybody who says “well what about 20XX when XX million/billion comes due?”, the answer is very simple, they pay it down with cash, or they roll the debt over into a new offering, most likely at a better rate, and continue on with their day. The bond market is much, much larger than the stock market, and they employ veritable armies of very smart analysts whose job is literally to quantify the risk of default, and they know waaaaaay more about a company’s financial health than any of us do. They’re sentiment appears to be that Bombardier is not going to go bankrupt (in the near term, like say less than 3 years at least). + +&#x200B; + +Alrighty, so they’re not bankrupt, great, where do we go from here? Welp, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass, no sir, I’ll let Bombardier do all the smoke blowing themselves. Here is the link to their Investor’s Day 2021 presentation. + +[https://bombardier.com/en/Investor-Day-2021-Presentation-20210304-en.pdf](https://bombardier.com/en/Investor-Day-2021-Presentation-20210304-en.pdf) + +In short, they have put together a fairly convincing path forward, and are projecting EBITDA at $1.5 billion by 2025. They have laid out how they will increase EBITDA by expanding aftermarket service and manufacturing efficiencies. They explain why they have made the switch to just business jet manufacturing, and why it’s a good thing. They also explain that they’re aware of the issues that the size of their debt causes, and state that they plan to make de-leveraging the balance sheet a priority. They also state that they don’t plan to de-leverage via an equity offering (thank God). Of course this is all stuff we’ve heard before from Bombardier, and that’s where the risk in this investment comes from. With that being said, their new management team is devoid of the usual friends of the family we’ve come to know and hate. They seem to know exactly what they need to do, and frankly, in my opinion have been making all the right moves. Read through their presentation yourselves for the details. I don’t remember if it was in the presentation or if Eric Martel said it during the Q&A, but he expects Bombardier to be a $7 Billion company by 2025. It���s extremely important that you read what they’ve put out yourselves, especially if you’ve been hurt before. If you don’t believe they’ve got a chance then you might as well stop reading now. + +EDIT: for anybody who's looking for a quality write-up on the bullish case for Bombardier, give this post, and all of the comments a read through. + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianInvestor/comments/m0l9by/why\_bombardier\_tripled\_in\_5\_months\_and\_why\_i/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianInvestor/comments/m0l9by/why_bombardier_tripled_in_5_months_and_why_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +Still here? Cool, wait, what’s that? Yes, I did say they expect to have a $7,000,000,000 market cap by 2025? Hang on a minute, if I recall… there’s about 2.4 billion shares, and so a market cap of $7 billion would give us something like $2.90/share, right? But like, if anybody actually believed all this, then the stock price would start to reflect that, right? But it isn’t, so it must not be, right? Well, I’ve already shown how the bond market believes this to be case, now let me show you why I believe this confidence is already priced in to their series 2, “B”, preferred share. I have analyzed (i.e.: plugged into Excel) close to 15 years of price history of BBD.B and BBD.PR.B (and the C and D series, more on why I don’t use them soon) and determined that there is a 0.91 coefficient of correlation between these two shares (for the last 14 years, I don’t have access to daily records prior). For any who don’t know, the coefficient of correlation (C.o.C.) is a measure of how strong the relationship between the movement of two variables is. It can range from -1, which means perfectly negatively correlated (when one goes up, the other goes down), to 0 (no discernible correlation at all) to 1 which means perfectly positively correlated (when one goes up, the other goes up as well). This is very easy to check for yourselves using the historical prices of both shares and Excel. Anyways, back to the C.o.C., a 0.91 C.o.C. can be considered to be an extremely strong positive correlation. So they tend to move together. Have a look at the chart I made from Excel and you can see for yourselves. + +[https://imgur.com/oR0r00I](https://imgur.com/oR0r00I) + +Pretty darn cool isn’t it? But here’s the fun part. Look at the trajectory of BBD.PR.B (the orange line) from April 2020 onward, and look at the trajectory of BBD.B (the blue line). Can you guess where I’m going with this? But first, a little more about the comparison. A preferred share is like a hybrid between a stock and a bond. They pay a fixed dividend every month/quarter, but they typically don’t get to participate in capital appreciation the way a common share would. I chose the B series preferred share because: of the three (B, C, and D) it had the highest coefficient of correlation, it cannot be converted to common shares at the option of Bombardier, and is fairly liquid. When I made this chart I noticed that the distance between the two follows a pattern, when things are good they’re relatively stable and maintain a similar distance, and when things are bad, they’re close together. So in the good times, I suppose this means there would be some kind of stable ratio between the two, and this might be useful in deriving the common share price. From this, I collected the ratios for the last 14+ years, dumped them into a histogram, and noticed the shape was similar to a log normal distribution (really, really cool!), with the mode ratio being in the 3.3-3.4 bin, then I found that the median ratio was 3.52 (if anybody wants to see the ratio histograms let me know). For my calculations I used the mode and the median, but not the mean as it’s very heavily affected by the high ratios from the COVID era, for any who care to know the mean ratios are 4.49 including COVID, and 3.64 when excluding COVID (March 6, 2020 and prior). I believe that this ratio can be used to derive the price of the common share because (I’m assuming) Bombardier’s preferred shares have, similar to the bonds, already priced in the pandemic recovery. BBD.PR.B closed at $8.99 on Monday April 5, and $8.99/3.35 = drum roll please… $2.68/share, and $8.99/3.52 = $2.55/share. This isn’t far off from $2.91/share projection using Martel’s numbers. The other two series of preferred shares yield very similar results. But wait, this isn’t really a meaningful analysis is it? Haven’t I just stumbled upon some kind of fascinating coincidence? Any kind of statistical analysis on this ratio doesn’t have any real value since the ratios aren’t really random, right? I mean, clearly my own bias would lead me to seek out something that would fit my own internal narrative, right? Friend, you’re absolutely correct! + +&#x200B; + +You won’t find my previous analysis in a textbook. Why? Well, probably because it’s junk, and some idiot just came up with it at home. But do you know what you will find in a textbook? Enterprise value and EBITDA multipliers! First, the formula for enterprise value is: **EV = Market Capitalization + Market Value of Debt – Cash and Equivalents.** That’s straight off of the Corporate Finance Institute’s website. + +[https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/valuation/what-is-enterprise-value-ev/](https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/valuation/what-is-enterprise-value-ev/) + +We should note that the debt and (mostly) equivalents to be included should only be those that are not used in the day to day operations of the company. Anyway, I calculate Bombardier’s current enterprise value to be about $14.8 billion USD. Yahoo Finance has it at $13.66 billion USD. + +[https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BBD-B.TO/key-statistics?p=BBD-B.TO](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BBD-B.TO/key-statistics?p=BBD-B.TO) + +I’m not sure why there’s a difference, but in the end my numbers end up being more conservative. Anyways, what we’re looking for here the difference between EV and the current market cap. I calculate this to be about $12.95 billion USD. Since we know this difference, and we know how many shares there are, then if we knew what the enterprise value was in the future, we could derive an appropriate share price for the future as well. Well, how do we determine the enterprise value in the future? With EBITDA multipliers, that’s how! Also, I want to point out that I’m going to assume that the difference between EV and market cap is the same in the future. This is a conservative assumption as a decrease in debt yields a lower difference, and thus a higher share price in the end. Now, depending on where you look you will find a range of EBITDA multipliers for the aerospace industry. The lower end seems to be around 12. + +[http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/\~adamodar/New\_Home\_Page/datafile/vebitda.html](http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/vebitda.html) + +And the upper end seems to be about 14. In the link Bombardier’s current EV/EBITDA ratio is hidden, but you can see that they’ve got the aerospace industry at 14.66. + +[https://www.infrontanalytics.com/fe-EN/20001NC/Bombardier-Inc-/financial-ratios](https://www.infrontanalytics.com/fe-EN/20001NC/Bombardier-Inc-/financial-ratios) + +During Bombardier’s last peak in 2018 their EV/EBITDA ratio (the multiplier) was 18. I will of course use the conservative end of the range, 12. Okay, so now we’ve got a multiplier, and we’ve got an EBITDA projection from Bombardier (1.5 billion, from their own projections), so let’s find this projected enterprise value. $1,500,000,000 times 12, gives us an enterprise value of $18 billion. From this we need to subtract the difference between EV and market cap ($12.95 billion) which leaves us with a market cap of $5.05 billion USD. Now we can divide that by the number of shares outstanding (2.43 billion) and we get a projected share price of close to $2.07 USD. When we convert this into CAD (divide it by 0.8) we arrive at a CAD share price of, another drum roll please … $2.59! Hot dang diggity, that’s awful close to Martel’s projection, and even closer to my bogus preferred share ratio hocus pocus. For anybody who would like to check my math, or how I arrived at my original enterprise value, here’s a screen shot of my Excel calculations. + +[https://imgur.com/uAQMuYN](https://imgur.com/uAQMuYN) + +I’m not banking on this, but I feel like I should point out that if you use the upper end of the average EBITDA multiplier, or Bombardier’s previous ratio, the you get a projected share price of around $4, and $7 CAD respectively. Again, probably not going to happen, but it’s inside the model. + +&#x200B; + +So, there it is. My case for a 250% increase in the current share price ($0.97 CAD). Let me know what you think. Oh, and I’ve tried to provide a well reasoned argument, so I would appreciate well reasoned responses. Of course I know that some of you will simply reply with: nope, pass, turd alert, etc.. To which I will point out that if you can't articulate a point, especially after reading through 3000 words, you probably have a child's understanding of the situation, and ought not to be taken seriously anyway. To everyone else, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you choose to invest in! +Let me begin by stating that there are many of you who, despite any evidence to the contrary, I will not be able to convince. There are those of you who were, or know somebody who was, burned by Bombardier in the past. Maybe you bought in just before the 2015/2016 bankruptcy scare, or maybe you bought in at the peak of 2018, or maybe you bought in just before COVID, only to watch your investment wither down to a quarter, and maybe some of you sold on the way down, and lost a lot of money just to get the heck out. Listen, I get it, it hurts, it’s like a kick in stomach, it’s a rough game man, it’s like a casino out there, and sometimes the house wins. Fast forward a few months/years, and now, after all your pain, and all your suffering, those incompetent, crooked, nepotistic, family and friends of the family get bailed out with taxpayer money, in fact, not only are they getting bailed out, they’re giving themselves bonuses because they were able to get the bailout, so they pat themselves on the back and congratulate their brilliance with taxpayer money! Those fuckers. And to top it all off, afterwards, the share price goes back up, way up, so far up it doesn’t even make sense. So you say to yourself, “well, it’ll go back down, just wait and see.” And in the mean time, you think to yourself fuck it, it’s too volatile, management is corrupt, it’s going bankrupt, and they’ll never get another penny from me. If this is you, then please know that I understand why I will never convince you. No amount of reason can change a person’s core belief, especially when that belief is forged in pain, and tempered with deep losses. And please understand that this post is not for you. If you’re ready to get hurt again, read on, if not, all good, thanks for your time so far, I wish you the best of luck, don’t bother reading the rest. + +&#x200B; + +Okay, now that that’s out of the way let me be perfectly transparent about a few things. Number one, I own approximately 335,000 shares of Bombardier, which I purchased at around $0.60 CAD. I want to see, and will benefit tremendously from, an increase in their share price. If you decide to read this post, and agree with my point of view, and subsequently decide to buy shares, and thus increase the share price, I will directly benefit. Number two, this is a very volatile, and hence very risky company to invest in. I have not YOLO’d my entire portfolio in to this, and neither should you. Number three, this is not a short squeeze, or a pump and dump, or a meme stock, or any of the other type of harebrained *DD* that seem to have flooded every investment sub recently. This will not double your money overnight, nor even in a year, this will take three to four years and might not even happen at all, and you probably shouldn’t be day-trading this. And lastly, I am not a professional, farthest thing from it. In fact you would have to be incapable of rational thought to pay me for any kind of advice. I am a university student who has only completed one introductory accounting class, one corporate finance class, and am half-way through a financial derivatives course. I am in no way qualified to give any kind of advice, including life advice, and I’m probably not even qualified to brush my own teeth. All clear? Alright, now who wants to make some god damned money! + +&#x200B; + +My plan is to lay out my position in about 4 steps. First I will show why Bombardier is not immediately about to go bankrupt. Then I will briefly touch on, but not in detail as I leave this to you, their projections. Then, I will show why I believe the 250% increase in share price has already been factored in Bombardier’s preferred shares. Then, I will use enterprise value and projected EBITDA to derive my projected share price. + +&#x200B; + +A series of common complaints about Bombardier is that they’re broke, they have too much debt, they can’t afford to pay their debt when it comes due, they’re going bankrupt, etc.. I assert that, **Bombardier is not teetering on the brink of bankruptcy** **due to their debt**. Why? Because all of Bombardier’s bonds are currently trading either between 3% and 5% above par, OR are within pennies of trading at par. As far as the bond market is concerned, Bombardier’s ability to pay its coupons for the foreseeable future is not in question, and the bond market’s confidence is back to pre-pandemic levels. Bankrupt companies, companies that are soon to be bankrupt, or even those whose ability to manage cash flows for interest expenses DO NOT HAVE BONDS THAT TRADE ABOVE PAR VALUE. Here is a screenshot showing all of the currently listed Bombardier notes with their symbols and CUSIP numbers for anybody who would like to check for themselves. + +[https://imgur.com/gEL1R4c](https://imgur.com/gEL1R4c) + +And, here is a series of screenshots of the bond price charts. Sometimes seeing is believing. What do you notice about the shape of all of the charts? Something spooked em real good a few months into 2020, but whatever it is seems to have faded away. Again, go check this out for yourselves. + +[https://imgur.com/2CGg5os](https://imgur.com/2CGg5os) + +The yield on Bombardier’s debt is between 5.5% and 8.75%, with the majority being close 7%. This means that should Bombardier need to raise money through a debt issuance, in order to say, roll over a maturing note, that they could very easily find money at non-usurious rates of interest. So, to anybody who says “well what about 20XX when XX million/billion comes due?”, the answer is very simple, they pay it down with cash, or they roll the debt over into a new offering, most likely at a better rate, and continue on with their day. The bond market is much, much larger than the stock market, and they employ veritable armies of very smart analysts whose job is literally to quantify the risk of default, and they know waaaaaay more about a company’s financial health than any of us do. They’re sentiment appears to be that Bombardier is not going to go bankrupt (in the near term, like say less than 3 years at least). + +&#x200B; + +Alrighty, so they’re not bankrupt, great, where do we go from here? Welp, I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass, no sir, I’ll let Bombardier do all the smoke blowing themselves. Here is the link to their Investor’s Day 2021 presentation. + +[https://bombardier.com/en/Investor-Day-2021-Presentation-20210304-en.pdf](https://bombardier.com/en/Investor-Day-2021-Presentation-20210304-en.pdf) + +In short, they have put together a fairly convincing path forward, and are projecting EBITDA at $1.5 billion by 2025. They have laid out how they will increase EBITDA by expanding aftermarket service and manufacturing efficiencies. They explain why they have made the switch to just business jet manufacturing, and why it’s a good thing. They also explain that they’re aware of the issues that the size of their debt causes, and state that they plan to make de-leveraging the balance sheet a priority. They also state that they don’t plan to de-leverage via an equity offering (thank God). Of course this is all stuff we’ve heard before from Bombardier, and that’s where the risk in this investment comes from. With that being said, their new management team is devoid of the usual friends of the family we’ve come to know and hate. They seem to know exactly what they need to do, and frankly, in my opinion have been making all the right moves. Read through their presentation yourselves for the details. I don’t remember if it was in the presentation or if Eric Martel said it during the Q&A, but he expects Bombardier to be a $7 Billion company by 2025. It’s extremely important that you read what they’ve put out yourselves, especially if you’ve been hurt before. If you don’t believe they’ve got a chance then you might as well stop reading now. + +EDIT: for anybody who's looking for a quality write-up on the bullish case for Bombardier, give this post, and all of the comments a read through. + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianInvestor/comments/m0l9by/why\_bombardier\_tripled\_in\_5\_months\_and\_why\_i/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianInvestor/comments/m0l9by/why_bombardier_tripled_in_5_months_and_why_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +Still here? Cool, wait, what’s that? Yes, I did say they expect to have a $7,000,000,000 market cap by 2025? Hang on a minute, if I recall… there’s about 2.4 billion shares, and so a market cap of $7 billion would give us something like $2.90/share, right? But like, if anybody actually believed all this, then the stock price would start to reflect that, right? But it isn’t, so it must not be, right? Well, I’ve already shown how the bond market believes this to be case, now let me show you why I believe this confidence is already priced in to their series 2, “B”, preferred share. I have analyzed (i.e.: plugged into Excel) close to 15 years of price history of BBD.B and BBD.PR.B (and the C and D series, more on why I don’t use them soon) and determined that there is a 0.91 coefficient of correlation between these two shares (for the last 14 years, I don’t have access to daily records prior). For any who don’t know, the coefficient of correlation (C.o.C.) is a measure of how strong the relationship between the movement of two variables is. It can range from -1, which means perfectly negatively correlated (when one goes up, the other goes down), to 0 (no discernible correlation at all) to 1 which means perfectly positively correlated (when one goes up, the other goes up as well). This is very easy to check for yourselves using the historical prices of both shares and Excel. Anyways, back to the C.o.C., a 0.91 C.o.C. can be considered to be an extremely strong positive correlation. So they tend to move together. Have a look at the chart I made from Excel and you can see for yourselves. + +[https://imgur.com/oR0r00I](https://imgur.com/oR0r00I) + +Pretty darn cool isn’t it? But here’s the fun part. Look at the trajectory of BBD.PR.B (the orange line) from April 2020 onward, and look at the trajectory of BBD.B (the blue line). Can you guess where I’m going with this? But first, a little more about the comparison. A preferred share is like a hybrid between a stock and a bond. They pay a fixed dividend every month/quarter, but they typically don’t get to participate in capital appreciation the way a common share would. I chose the B series preferred share because: of the three (B, C, and D) it had the highest coefficient of correlation, it cannot be converted to common shares at the option of Bombardier, and is fairly liquid. When I made this chart I noticed that the distance between the two follows a pattern, when things are good they’re relatively stable and maintain a similar distance, and when things are bad, they’re close together. So in the good times, I suppose this means there would be some kind of stable ratio between the two, and this might be useful in deriving the common share price. From this, I collected the ratios for the last 14+ years, dumped them into a histogram, and noticed the shape was similar to a log normal distribution (really, really cool!), with the mode ratio being in the 3.3-3.4 bin, then I found that the median ratio was 3.52 (if anybody wants to see the ratio histograms let me know). For my calculations I used the mode and the median, but not the mean as it’s very heavily affected by the high ratios from the COVID era, for any who care to know the mean ratios are 4.49 including COVID, and 3.64 when excluding COVID (March 6, 2020 and prior). I believe that this ratio can be used to derive the price of the common share because (I’m assuming) Bombardier’s preferred shares have, similar to the bonds, already priced in the pandemic recovery. BBD.PR.B closed at $8.99 on Monday April 5, and $8.99/3.35 = drum roll please… $2.68/share, and $8.99/3.52 = $2.55/share. This isn’t far off from $2.91/share projection using Martel’s numbers. The other two series of preferred shares yield very similar results. But wait, this isn’t really a meaningful analysis is it? Haven’t I just stumbled upon some kind of fascinating coincidence? Any kind of statistical analysis on this ratio doesn’t have any real value since the ratios aren’t really random, right? I mean, clearly my own bias would lead me to seek out something that would fit my own internal narrative, right? Friend, you’re absolutely correct! + +&#x200B; + +You won’t find my previous analysis in a textbook. Why? Well, probably because it’s junk, and some idiot just came up with it at home. But do you know what you will find in a textbook? Enterprise value and EBITDA multipliers! First, the formula for enterprise value is: **EV = Market Capitalization + Market Value of Debt – Cash and Equivalents.** That’s straight off of the Corporate Finance Institute’s website. + +[https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/valuation/what-is-enterprise-value-ev/](https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/valuation/what-is-enterprise-value-ev/) + +We should note that the debt and (mostly) equivalents to be included should only be those that are not used in the day to day operations of the company. Anyway, I calculate Bombardier’s current enterprise value to be about $14.8 billion USD. Yahoo Finance has it at $13.66 billion USD. + +[https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BBD-B.TO/key-statistics?p=BBD-B.TO](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BBD-B.TO/key-statistics?p=BBD-B.TO) + +I’m not sure why there’s a difference, but in the end my numbers end up being more conservative. Anyways, what we’re looking for here the difference between EV and the current market cap. I calculate this to be about $12.95 billion USD. Since we know this difference, and we know how many shares there are, then if we knew what the enterprise value was in the future, we could derive an appropriate share price for the future as well. Well, how do we determine the enterprise value in the future? With EBITDA multipliers, that’s how! Also, I want to point out that I’m going to assume that the difference between EV and market cap is the same in the future. This is a conservative assumption as a decrease in debt yields a lower difference, and thus a higher share price in the end. Now, depending on where you look you will find a range of EBITDA multipliers for the aerospace industry. The lower end seems to be around 12. + +[http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/\~adamodar/New\_Home\_Page/datafile/vebitda.html](http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/vebitda.html) + +And the upper end seems to be about 14. In the link Bombardier’s current EV/EBITDA ratio is hidden, but you can see that they’ve got the aerospace industry at 14.66. + +[https://www.infrontanalytics.com/fe-EN/20001NC/Bombardier-Inc-/financial-ratios](https://www.infrontanalytics.com/fe-EN/20001NC/Bombardier-Inc-/financial-ratios) + +During Bombardier’s last peak in 2018 their EV/EBITDA ratio (the multiplier) was 18. I will of course use the conservative end of the range, 12. Okay, so now we’ve got a multiplier, and we’ve got an EBITDA projection from Bombardier (1.5 billion, from their own projections), so let’s find this projected enterprise value. $1,500,000,000 times 12, gives us an enterprise value of $18 billion. From this we need to subtract the difference between EV and market cap ($12.95 billion) which leaves us with a market cap of $5.05 billion USD. Now we can divide that by the number of shares outstanding (2.43 billion) and we get a projected share price of close to $2.07 USD. When we convert this into CAD (divide it by 0.8) we arrive at a CAD share price of, another drum roll please … $2.59! Hot dang diggity, that’s awful close to Martel’s projection, and even closer to my bogus preferred share ratio hocus pocus. For anybody who would like to check my math, or how I arrived at my original enterprise value, here’s a screen shot of my Excel calculations. + +[https://imgur.com/uAQMuYN](https://imgur.com/uAQMuYN) + +I’m not banking on this, but I feel like I should point out that if you use the upper end of the average EBITDA multiplier, or Bombardier’s previous ratio, the you get a projected share price of around $4, and $7 CAD respectively. Again, probably not going to happen, but it’s inside the model. + +&#x200B; + +So, there it is. My case for a 250% increase in the current share price ($0.97 CAD). Let me know what you think. Oh, and I’ve tried to provide a well reasoned argument, so I would appreciate well reasoned responses. Of course I know that some of you will simply reply with: nope, pass, turd alert, etc.. To which I will point out that if you can't articulate a point, especially after reading through 3000 words, you probably have a child's understanding of the situation, and ought not to be taken seriously anyway. To everyone else, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you choose to invest in! +In the last month Royal Bank and BNS down 10%, TD down 8%. + +Anyone adding more or starting new positions at these prices? + +I have a position in TD but was thinking of adding BNS +Like the title says, I'm in my mid 30s and exploring the options to retire early, as I'm also considering retiring in a fairly LCOL country/town - just pointing that out to clarify that I don't need a massive portfolio to succeed with this idea. + +In order to achieve that, my strategy - which probably works more in my head than it does in reality - is to invest in high yield ETFs such ZWC, ZWS, ZWE, VDY, VYM, VRE, etc etc. + +That would enable me to experience the consistent monthly (and/or quarterly) income first-hand, while keeping me easily motivated as well as making the progress tracking extremely simple. + +Now, while I don't need any of that income during the portfolio-building years, I would re-invest every last cent back into the portfolio and let the compounding help my regular monthly contributions. + +So I would watch my portfolio yield $50/month, then $100 and then $200 and so on until I reach the number I'm comfortable with and can live off of for the rest of my life. Just for comparison with my next paragraph and question, let's say it is $30k/year and that I'd need roughly a $600k portfolio. + +Is this completely crazy at this point in life? Or would I be better off investing in something like VGRO (which is currently 100% of my portfolio) and then convert into high yield ETFs when I reach the portfolio value of said $600k? + +Thank you very much in advance and I'm looking forward to suggestions and comments! + +P.S. I've read a ton of articles and posts, as well as watched dozens of hours of Youtube videos lately, and I got the sense that there is some tension when income investing is mentioned. Having said that, I'm not looking to start a war here, I'm just thinking income investing suits my psychological profile better and therefore it has greater chances of success for me. But also, I want to keep an open mind and do the smart thing in the end - without just listening to my gut feeling. Hope this makes sense. If you've gotten this far - thanks again for reading all this! + +\-- + +EDIT: Just got through all the replies - thank you so much guys! Not only have you helped me tremendously, but I've also found a lot of replies very inspiring and motivational. + +For now, until (or unless) I devise a better strategy, I will simply stick with VGRO. I feel like most of you opted for growth here, so I think I can't really go wrong with that approach. And honestly, I'm still not certain if I should hold individual dividend stocks, or high dividend ETFs, or covered call ETFs, REITs or any combination of those. Finally, as some of you have said, I can always convert/rebalance my portfolio into income, once the target is reached. + +So yeah, for now just VGRO and keep learning and researching. + +Thanks again, I hope you're all safe out there and have a great holidays! Cheers. +My first thought is to pick something focused on dividends but I have not come across any advice that shares this thought. I would think that would help compound the growth over time and then aid in extending the useful life of the fund when it's time to start withdrawal. + +I should mention to assume this person's TFSA is maxed out and just focusing on a plan for the RRSP. +My first thought is to pick something focused on dividends but I have not come across any advice that shares this thought. I would think that would help compound the growth over time and then aid in extending the useful life of the fund when it's time to start withdrawal. + +I should mention to assume this person's TFSA is maxed out and just focusing on a plan for the RRSP. +Hi everyone I am trying to convert $200, 000 Canadian to USD. I have successfully done this using the instructions on this video + +https://youtu.be/uGGLNj9wkqU + +I waited a few days for everything to settle and now I have us funds in my RSP account. I'm trying to transfer back to my USD savings account and I am being told 30% will be withheld. + +What did I do wrong how do I fix this? I need the money for a real estate purchase in the u.s. next week. + + Thank you +New to investing (just TFSA for now) and this group. Any suggestions for Canadian podcasts/videos/resources to improve knowledge/get more insight about long term investing in Canadian stocks/Canada based US market ETF's and potentially US stocks? Not interested in day trading. + +Thanks in advance! +Hi everyone, just a quick question as I was questioning my strategy due to the "new" no fee brokerage in Canada. I always used VEQT/XEQT, in my RRSP to optimize fees. With the annonce of no fee transactions of some major banks in Canada, I am wondering how much would you save by switching money with Norbert Gambit (0$ fees) into my RRSP USD account and buying something like VT. I assume I would save on fees (0.2% vs 0.08%) but is it right to assume I would also save on dividend withholding tax (15 %) therefore another (approx. 0.2%) ? +I am well aware that the holdings in VEQT vs VT are not the same as there is little Canadian equity in the VT, but the no fee transaction brings this possibility of small contribution over time using Norbert Gambit which was not the case before. +Hello.. a noob here. I make 33k annually after taxes, and would like to start my long term investing.. would dividend stock be a good idea for someone that doesn’t make much? Can anyone give me advice for long term portfolios? Thanks in advance :) + +EDIT: thank you everyone for your answer! I had a great time reading them and helped me learn a lot! Thank you again<3 +I know there are a lot of new people entering crypto and trying to understand how to value altcoins and their growth potential. However, it seems like many people do not understand that the price of a coin does not equal it’s valuation or potential. + +For example, I saw a tweet today from someone from someone who believed privacy coins will be a trillion dollar market and so he recommends Verge (XVG) because it has the lowest price per coin and has the most room to grow! And he was making a BUY recommendation to 2k+ followers based on this mistaken understanding of valuation! + +So I thought it would be worth sharing a quick overview on how to approach valuation when looking at cryptocurrency. In fact, it’s not that different from stocks. + +**Price ≠ Valuation** +First off, the price of the coin is virtually irrelevant. Price is not the same as valuation or market cap. One coin can have a price of $0.15 and another can have a price of $15 and the latter can still have a lower valuation/market cap. + +**How to calculate market cap** +Price * Supply = Market Cap (i.e. Valuation). + +It’s that simple. So if you are comparing valuations of coins on CoinMarketcap.com, ignore the price and look at the column called “Market cap” https://ibb.co/g78fGb + +**Also Look At Max Supply** +In addition to looking at the current market cap, you will want to look at the circulating supply vs max supply. What many people don’t realize is that many coins only have a small percentage of their max supply in circulation today. The implication of this is that as supply continues to increase, the price is more likely to decrease. So in addition to looking at the total market cap today, I like to look at the potential market cap based on max supply. + +Max market cap = Price * Max Supply. + +This will give you an even better idea of relative valuation and future valuation growth potential. A coin that has a high market cap and only has a small percentage of its max supply currently circulating would have less potential of maintaining (or growing) market cap than an identical coin with a higher percentage of its max supply already in circulation (all else being equal). + +On CoinMarketCap.com: https://ibb.co/diQz9w + +So, for example, while Ripple (XRP) has a market cap of over $88b today (crazy!), if you look at the max supply you would have to believe the future valuation potential is higher than $227,000,000,000 ($2.27 price * 100,000,000,000 max supply) to believe that today’s price is justified long term. If you don’t believe that XRP can support that valuation, then the price has to decrease at some point. (I’ll let you make that call for yourself). + +**Inflationary Coins** +The next point of consideration is PoS (Proof Of Stake) coins with no max supply. This means that the coin has an infinite supply. While this sounds bad, it really depends on what the actual inflation is. Many PoS coins (NAV, PIVX, XSPEC, etc) reward wallets staking coins with 5% annually. This means the max inflation is 5% on those coins. However, that assumes every wallet is staking 100% of their coins. In reality a much smaller % of people are staking (I’ve heard about half). This means that the actual inflation is closer than 2.5%. This should not be a major near term concern for most currencies. Plus, if you’re staking you earn new coins in proportion to the inflation so it does not deflate you. + +Other coins pay much higher rewards (I believe ARK pays 10%?) which would create more of a concern around inflation. + +I hope that helps some people better understand how to evaluate market cap and growth potential when comparing coins! +I was working fulltime before the pandemic. I'm on job keeper but working part time hours. My workplace is quiet but really slowly picking up little by little. I work in sales in food manufacturing. + +Not sure if things will get to normal this year, but if they pull job keeper in September I most likely will be out of a job. They haven't really told us anything really of the plans or anything. I am also applying for jobs but there is really not much out there. + + +How is your workplace doing and what industry? Do you think your workplace will recover by September? Or is too early to tell? What are you predictions ? + +How are you doing on Job Keeper? Is it enough? I'm not saving anything and it stresses me out. +Seeing as the thread about 'what made you scream inside' is so popular, I thought it would be interesting to hear stories of wins, large or small, long term or short term. + + +Did you or a friend take a big chance and have it pay off? + + +Did you or a friend diligently invest small amounts into ETFs over many years and retire comfortably? + + +You get the idea +THANK YOU! Like seriously thank you so fucking much for driving the share price down. Individual GME investors can double up their positions for much cheaper. The new Netflix movie will have a much more interesting plot now too. + +I couldn't really recommend GME to my non investing friends because at 2-300 it was overvalued. But at 90? You best believe I'm getting all the homies into the game now. Because GME could be a growth / value play at these prices. Albeit a growth/value play with a hefty premium. But I don't think my friends will mind. They like watching you squirm just as much as I do! + +You hedgies should do your research before spamming the subreddit with bots and getting your shills in the media to bash the members of this community. Do you know who we are? Do you know what we do? I've been on this sub for the better part of a decade now. Our investment tool of choice is 0DTE options! We eat volatility for breakfast and shit it out by noon. We YOLO into far riskier bets than this. + +In my tenure as a proud Theta Gang ambassador I've seen many a millionaire minted in these hallowed halls of ours. I've seen people iron hand (the OG 💎🙌) calls during the Coronavirus crash, and puts during the coronavirus recovery. We have a risk tolerance your puny manipulative brains couldn't even fucking comprehend. + +I've seen the lads here make and lose money at rates I didn't even think were possible before joining this sub. (Shout out to u/1R0NYMAN ) You hedgies think you're hot shit because you went to an elitist school and have a lot of capital backing you up. Well I'm here to tell you, the only thing more dangerous than an enemy with unlimited resources is an enemy with nothing to lose. WSB is about the risky bets that either win big or lose big. That's what we're fucking all about. At 3-400 per share you had us in our comfort zone. At 90 per share you're basically begging us to fuck you. + +It costs us exactly … (the Square Root of Jack fucking shit) to hold. It costs you millions to keep your retarded bets open. You guys are supposed to be the smartest guys in the room how'd you play into our hands so fucking easily? Like god damn this is some "I'm going to dump my life savings into gourd futures" levels of autism. + +Like you retards realize that by executing short ladders we can just eat up liquidity even faster right? By eating up liquidity the swings up and down will be even more massive. **Individual** investors are buying in from North America, from South America, from Europe, from Asia, from Africa! Honestly it's just a matter of time until an arctic researcher drops a few bucks in to complete the set. + +You tried to pull a fast one on us but ended up shooting yourselves in the leg to do so. + +We'll outlast you. + +This doesn't happen for weeks? No worries +This doesn't happen for months? No fucking worries +This doesn't happen for years? (Thanks for saving us a bunch on taxes!) Again **NO FUCKING WORRIES** + +We've cornered you. It's buy or die. (Buy *and* Die for some of you retarded fucks lmfao) Buy our shares or die to fees and your clients leaving. + +The first one of you hedgie fucks that closes out your short position is going to close for the least amount of money. There are bag holders even on Wall Street. WSB is a "community", can you really say the same for your wall street buddies? Sure they'll help out in a pinch but they'll leave you out to dry in a heartbeat if it no longer becomes worth it. There's a reason they say "*There are no friends on Wall Street*". + +Thanks for the free money. I'll be buying more shares (5 figures worth) when Schwab clears my deposit. + +*Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor and nothing that I say should be construed as financial advice.* + +*Disclosure #2: Every time I say 'we' or 'our' or 'us' it is out of convenience or shared community. All investment choices made in the subreddit are made by individuals who act of their own accord. I nor anyone else in this community has the right to 'speak' for this community as a whole. All* ***opinions*** *expressed in this post are mine and mine alone.* + +Not an edit just a note: Internet stickers are cool and all but I'd rather you spend that money on $GME or to just give it to charity. Covid hit a lot of people hard and they need money more than reddit does. + +PS: Mods give me a flair god damn it. I didn't really care when the sub was small but now that we're north of 8 million members I feel a bit left out. A good flair and I'll give ya a little something something in the alley behind Wendy's. +I have loved the FIRE discussion and groups for some time, but only recently came upon FATfire from Physicianonfire/Samurai. I seemingly want to vomit up all of my thoughts and let you comment on them but then again, smaller more focused discussions are often better. So I'll give you some basics and we can see what works for folks? + +I grew up with a family of 4 that suffered bankruptcy twice. First job washing dishes at 14, bought a $200 moped to get to work. I didn't stop working at least 1 and usually 2 jobs through HS, in college where I paid my own way, summers in college (construction for the $$, health related for resume, genetics research grant summer) and then continued the side-hustles in med school (ekg tech at nights, organ harvest surgical team at nights), residence ( I programmed HTML in the late 90s at night when moonlighting to double dip) and fellowship (staffed long-term venilation facility). Last year of fellowship I did >700 hours of moonlighting. Etc. + +Met a girl. She was tops in her law class, took the corporate job until offered partner, we had first kid and bought first house at @250k at age 29 during downturn in Tech, flipped it to make $65k at end of 3 years before leaving for my first actual job at age 32. Used the proceeds as down payment on $450k home (3k sf, 3 bed) She SAHM since, and we first paid off our combined $350k school loans and did a remodel 5 years later on home that doubled size/cost. Then hit recession in '08. + +Our financial advisor was recommended to us by a fellowship friend. He was horrible, costly and really cost us by selling in 08 at the bottom. I put everything I could muster in at the bottom and it helped make up for his losses and taught me a very valuable lesson. By this point, we had 2 more kids. And I started reading finance more seriously for the first time. + +I managed our finances for over the next decade, 6 index funds + large cap individual equities ($MS, $AAPL, $AMZN, etc) and then rolled the dice on a number of high-risk investments (two as a part of healthcare startups that failed, one in solar and one in the IPO of a little known company called Tesla). + +My annual income from salary and business related investments hung out around $1M/ year for a while where they stayed until COVID. And I have an equity stake of around $500k in the business. But we also spent 6mo on sabbatical in 2012 which was a massive cost/opportunity cost and worth every penny. + +We have saved $200k per kid for 529s, paid down our principal mortgage to $250k and estimate the equity in that home to be near $1.5M now. We bought a cabin with my wife's family of which we own half, nearly paid off and equity of $500k, which we don't rent currently. We bought a shack at the beach for $150k and spent another $200 rebuilding it, which is almost paid off. Equity likely at $500k now and it is generating $30k net annually. We have also bailed out my parents again twice, each about $50k and bought them half a house with equity of $250k and no mortgage to be used for end of life care (they have no LTCI). My in-laws OTOH are wealthy, we do not consider their finances as a pro/con because it is theirs to do with. + +So here we are, NW approaching $6 - 7M at 49 years old. My partner is PRACTICAL, and I cannot stress enough how much this has helped. We also both see financial independence as the freedom to next do what we want for ourselves. We have many, many interests outside of current work situation and have been cultivating options to work in entirely different fields once we are able. We estimate we could both make about 100k/year working 3-6 mo/year. We both feel we have missed the opportunities to do what we really wanted when young, and see too many get surprised with bad health past age 55 to wait. So we aren't "retiring", we are hoping to finally get back to seeking what we wanted to do when we were young (renewable energy and climate advocacy for me, family law and possible in-house counsel for wife). + +I've worked so long, so hard, afraid of being without money because I didn't have any for so, so long. I've taken care of parents, a sister who passed including her funeral costs, my own kids and thousands of patients. Our parents will need care as they enter their mid 80s with dementia and morbidities. + +So the question: Do we have enough? + +1. We cannot answer the "what would you spend/yr". It DEPENDS. If our kids or parents need, we will have to provide. We agree w others you don't support kids too long. We plan to sell the primary residence in 5 years or so when youngest leaves for college and move to WA for income tax purposes on a lot big enough to homestead near Canada. We'll use half the equity and store the rest. We can work more or less as needed during our interim phase (55 or so until 65 -70). This is key to our FIRE. Finding the work that allows us to still accomplish other goals on our terms, doing more to help others and make an impact while we can. But also allowing us to travel and be active while we can. We travel in our cheaply converted Sprinter Van a lot, and want to do extended trips. We also sail and plan to spend 5 years if possible on a boat for 3 mo a year in low COL areas doing charity work. We'll sell the boat at the end. We collected the few homes to allow us to house swap, and during the period we have a mountain, beach, WA small farm and boat we will trade these for accommodations to avoid cash exchanges for another 3 mo of LCOL. + +2. We went back to a FA! OK, this was tough. But we felt that this was the last crucial 5 years or so of our finances. We will still be raising kids these last 5 years and though I would have LOVED to SAH when they were younger the truth is as teens those times have passed. They are much too independent for it to make sense. IF you want that kid time, do it before about 13/14. Age 4 to 13 was GOLDEN. With 5 more years, we need to understand our retirement withdrawals and tax implications. These are areas I have not studied nearly as much as investing. And at lower rates (.7), with the right firm (very little active trading, not timing market, cheap index/mutual funds rebalanced) it has been so so. We only have them manage our retirement investment accts and keep Tesla separate. They have been useful in thinking about interesting ways to get to our next phase for sure, including networking other clients. + +3. Tesla is 1/6th my total NW. Recently. I've researched the company and industry since 2010 and give advice to others, including my FA. It is unsettling knowing I should diversify, but at what point and how much keeps me up at night. I took premiums playing options for a while, but it wasn't needle moving. This past year has left a lot of investors who cashed out behind for sure. This isn't really the right place to discuss this individual investment but know I do as much as possible to consider my exit strategy. + +4. So, the FIRE part? It really stems from the desire to do what we want instead of our current work. Sort of. And we've tried every angle, ending up making mistakes and getting some luck and well, here we are. We made smart car purchases, put money to work in RE in a way that may work for us and really ignored getting sucked into so many other versions of get-rich-quick schemes when money started flowing suddenly. We limit our travel currently for carbon emission reasons, and it helped our goals. We made sacrifices to spend way less than our purchasing power except for a too large house that appreciated too little with too big a price tag. But it may still work out OK because we intend to right-size that property ASAP. We aren't the best, most diligent FIRE folks I know. Which is partly why I'm here...to learn more. + +I appreciate those here greatly from reading a few years worth of top posts. Thanks for your time and input. +I plan to retire in 6 to 9 years (depending on how much I still like my job, and my financial situation). I have a 2.5% 7/1 ARM with 5 years left, for $1.4M (will be $1.2M when the ARM resets). I currently have $3.7M in investments (700K in retirement accounts, of which 500K is bonds, the rest in brokerage) and add $200K/year to investments. $60K/year of that is to 401k plus backdoor Roth, which I'll be doing no matter which path I choose. + +Does it make sense to aggressively pay down the mortgage now? If I were decades away from retirement, keeping a 2.5% mortgage would be a no brainer, but I need to pay it off sooner than that. + +One school of thought is that in the next 5 years, it is very likely (but not guaranteed) that the S&P500 has returns 2.5% per year or more, and also an ARM reset to a new interest rate is manageable. Keep the 2.5% loan as long as possible. Put all new investments into the market and then start paying down the mortgage 2-3 years before retirement, paying 23.8% capital gains. The downside is that there could be a big crash at the worst time. + +The other school of thought is to reduce risk as much as possible. Vanguard predicts 4-6% US stock returns, and the interesting thing is that if I have to sell the stocks I buy today in 5 years, 4% returns after tax is a wash with paying off a 2.5% loan. 2% is dividends which are taxed at 23.8%, so total return is basically 1.5% dividends plus 2% price appreciation. So 1.035^5 = 18.7% total return, but only 14.2% after capital gains. Meanwhile, money spent paying off the loan after 5 years is effectively 1.025^5 = a 13% return. + +Earlier this year it was possible to get 2.5% in tax free bonds, which would preserve liquidity, but that is no longer possible. + +Is anyone else in a similar situation looking at how to best pay down a big low rate mortgage? +This one is my favorite so far: billboard near LA http://imgur.com/05kvmBh + +I also really like the TV spots where the lay out ribbons and make things really simple. I bet they really have motivated people to save more. + +There is a cool story behind them too: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-make-a-smart-tv-ad-a-new-freakonomics-radio-episode/ + +What's your favorite one? + +This one is my favorite so far: billboard near LA http://imgur.com/05kvmBh + +I also really like the TV spots where the lay out ribbons and make things really simple. I bet they really have motivated people to save more. + +There is a cool story behind them too: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-make-a-smart-tv-ad-a-new-freakonomics-radio-episode/ + +What's your favorite one? + + +Evergrande: + +Anyone notice how silent MSM is regarding Evergrande... Nothing to see here... + +There are few articles and many seem to be translated with typos or in foreign language. Also, keep scrolling through Google if you wish to find anything. 1st page...? Yeah, just Old news.... it's "over". + +March 27th, 2022: "Evergrande is bleeding more widely across the market, and may make it prohibitively expensive for companies in the sector to either raise new debt or refinance existing borrowings." + https://www.afr.com/world/asia/evergrande-crisis-locks-chinese-developers-out-of-global-debt-market-20220327-p5a8cc + +China's Economy: + + +"The People's Bank of China lowered the reserve requirement ratio for most banks by 25 basis points and for smaller banks by 50 basis points, according to a statement published Friday." + + +"Stringent measures to contain the Covid outbreak [currently taking place in China] have disrupted production, strained supply chains and curbed consumer spending, prompting several economists to downgrade their growth forecasts for the year to well below the [Chinese] government’s target of around 5.5 per cent." + +https://wap.business-standard.com/article/international/china-s-central-bank-gives-lenders-cash-boost-to-spur-growth-122041600044_1.html + + + +Moody Says Russia may default... Who is Moody? + +04/15/2022: (19 hours ago from this post time) "Russia’s economy is on track for its worst recession since the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, with soaring inflation and capital flight." + +https://news7h.com/moodys-says-russia-may-default/ + + + +Largest economies of the world by GDP + +https://researchfdi.com/world-gdp-largest-economy/ + + +1. USA +2. CHINA +11. RUSSIA number 11 largest world economy per GDP + +Edit: I don't know why this shows up as 3... it is number eleven when I go to edit it... + + +I am assuming everyone suspects that the US economy is either + +1. Headed for ression +2. In a recession (under reported inflation) +3. About to see a major stock bubble (largest bull run in economic history. +4. Headed for a possible major depression. +5. There is a massive problem with over leveraged entities. + + +OR - You think we are headed for another rally/nothing wrong. Guess then this post is irrelevant. + + +What happens if these three countries go into financial crisis? + +I don't know... too smoothie here, but trouble for the world economy I suspect... Liquidity crisis? What happens when large institutions lack Liquidity? + +TLDR: Liquidity crisis as a result of three major world economies going belly up. Buckle Up. +Because this subreddit has turned into teaching Finance while babysitting, I'd like to make sure you guys understand something. There's no such thing as paper hands vs diamond hands. + +This isn't some kind of socialism or collective we vs them thing. "paper hands" are the people who sell for a profit and leave people bags. Now depending on the situation, they might not leave bags, and people with diamond hands make more money. Sometimes, paper hands are right. + +That is because... drum roll... it's all about supply and demand. This is especially true in options, because they are zero-sum. That means someone will come out a loser. This idea that if we all hOLd tHE LiNE then the stock will keep going up is simply untrue. This isn't your modern dodge-ball where everyone comes out with participation trophies. Someone will be left with the bag, and that will be you if you don't start being skeptical and selling the top. + +There are people that FOMO'd into weed yesterday. This is the result of people thinking stonks only go up. + +Last note: Lots of you. I mean, lots of you entered into the stock market for the FIRST time due to GME. Your first impression is that all hyped stocks will go from $4 to $450. Not at all true. What happened with GME is a once in a decade play. Whether you argue it's alive or dead isn't the point. Stop speculating that every stock will be like GME and lock your damn profits! +## + +[IBKR trading platform](https://preview.redd.it/ptjcq959wem61.png?width=1019&format=png&auto=webp&s=4987571f1f000156ea2faccc767301eb4c45a7b5) + +## According to Investopedia: + +## The Uptick Rule (also known as the "plus tick rule") is a rule established by the [Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sec.asp) (SEC) that requires [short sales](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsale.asp) to be conducted at a higher price than the previous trade. + + +Guys pls note that March 12, 5 am GST means March 11, 8:00 pm EST +**Week of , August 13th– Swing Trades Watchlist,** **Technical Analysis ONLY** + +1. **ATVI – ACTIVISION** + +o Saw a large drop after earnings report, beat on EPS, very possible an over-reaction (3 day rule), after the drop we saw it hit the 200SMA near 70$, with the dip under that MA being bought, with 2 consecutive green closes after. Good risk/reward in this area. + +o Entry would be in the area that it is in now, 70-71, would be small, and would want to scale on the way up if the trend holds. + +o Mental stop loss would be under that 200SMA around 69$ (maybe even a tad lower) so that you wouldn’t get shaken out by an MM sweep. If it goes under that 200SMA, I wouldn’t touch it, would wait to see where the floor is. + +o Resistances to watch would be 73, 75 (65SMA), 76 (50MA), 80, and then watch for the high break of 82. + +o Support to watch is only that 200MA, otherwise I would be a spectator. + +o Will keep this on high watch Monday morning to see what the market does, If I enter it would be SMALL and I would respect the stop loss/mental if it doesn’t work out. Plan your trade accordingly! + +**2.** **CGC – CANOPY GROWTH** + +o One of the many marijuana stocks trying to get a piece of the pie with the upcoming legalization in Canada this fall + +o Was only watching this stock because it was getting close to reclaiming that 50SMA (28.75), however on Friday, it hit that 50MA and bounced off, and closed red. + +o Will watch to see what happens around that 50SMA, and ONLY take a position if it can break and hold that 50MA. + +o If it were able to re-claim and hold that 50SMA, I would use that area as an entry, and a mental stop loss, similar to ATVI. This is ONLY if it can re-claim that 50SMA. Keep this on watch for the next couple weeks, could see a nice run if it can re-claim that 50SMA to the double top high of 36.50. + +**3.** **BIDU – BAIDU (“GOOGLE OF CHINA”)** + +o This is one of my favorite “expensive” (don’t like that word) stocks that I keep on my watch list. It is finally back in the buying range (look at the 1/2/3 year chart to understand the patterns). + +o It is near that support of 220-215 that I have been watching for, played this last time in was in the 220s + +o Has seen this drop because of the competition that GOOG could be bringing into China, which BIDU hasn’t faced before. + +o Has strong support in the 215-220 range, where 216 was the previous resistance (zoom out and youll see). + +o This is gonna be a high watch for me this week to see what happens, if I enter it will be in this range that it is currently in, with a mental stop loss near the 210-205 range, which if it broke, would tell me that this move is done and it is going back to the old support/resistance (zoom out!). + +o Really like the r/R here, potential 15$ loss, for a 60$ gain (resistance is 270-280 (ATH is 284), with a 4/1 ratio. + +**4.** **TEAM – ATLASSIAN CORP** + +o This stock has been a monster recently, up over 100% inless than a year, but don’t let that scare you! + +o After the earnings beat, we saw the old resistance (69) obligterated, with the stock hitting a 52 week high of 79.82. + +o Since that we have seen a pullback back into that 69 resistance area, which was then converted into the support area. Therefore the trend is still in tact and I will be watching this closely. + +o Ill be specifically watching to see if that 52 week high can be broken, currently at 78$, or if it cant be broken, watching for another pullback towards the 69$ range. + +o If it breaks that 52 week high, watch for the pullback back to the 79-80 range to see if that acts as support + +o Most likely will not be entering a position this week, but I think this is a great stock to keep an eye on for the near future and what these next few weeks can bring us. Watch those sup/res levels closely. + +***Other Stocks I Will Be Watching*** + +o MTCH, DBX, SEND, ALRM, SAIL, CUTR, DOCU, YEXT, KEM, SHOP + +**Disclaimer= Everything I write on here is my personal opinion, and shouldn’t be taken as 100% true. Make sure to do your own DD and not to blindly follow others, no matter how “good” of traders they are. All traders are wrong, so don’t be surprised if something on my watch list doesn’t happen exactly how I wrote it down. The important thing is to make a plan, stick to it, and if something changes, adjust it accordingly. Making a plan helps curb your emotions when investing, and keeps you objective. Good luck, hope this helps.** + +If you enjoyed this post, feel free to DM me and I can get you some resources/cheat sheets or other material that can help you become a better trader. Cheers +So it has been a mystery, until now why drugs that are coming on the market adressing plaques in Alzheimer's do not work. It turns out that the original studies done 16 years ago may have been fraudulent. + +This obviously is important for comapnies that are betting on their next release to be a big thing especially after their last one was a flop(I am looking at you Biogen). + +What bothers me is that people in the field obviously know this so why keep pursuing it and basically committing fraud? + +Here is a link to the article describing this: + +https://wallstreetpro.com/2022/07/23/two-decades-of-alzheimers-research-was-based-on-deliberate-fraud-by-2-scientists-that-has-cost-billions-of-dollars-and-millions-of-lives/ + +Edit spelling +# TL;DR => (All very low ball estimates) 1.6 billion to 2.4 billion shares shorted from June 2021 to Aug 2021. Grand totals from Dec 2015 to present: 3.8 billion to 4.6 billion. + +# TA;DR => + +[ By u\/Archisaurus, https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/oev08e\/this\_is\_my\_brain\_going\_through\_the\_due\_diligence\/ ](https://preview.redd.it/cr3ozr2uijk71.png?width=942&format=png&auto=webp&s=5aba424d5c533491ef6cf4754f5d2326d19e3833) + +\--- + +^(Disclaimer: Not financial advice. I've put a disproportionate amount of time into this for free, I clearly do not make good decisions. Though I continually strive to improve this model it is, at best, just fancier napkin math. I am not an economist, and have no qualifications other than a long time math background. I just like the stock.) + +# Foreword + +All my estimates are very low ball estimates. Finnerty's model is solid, but my application of it can get very borderline speculative so I tried to compensate for that by choosing the lowest reasonable answers + +I personally believe the real share count is much much higher than any number listed here, I just don't have strong enough evidence to prove it. + +# Quick Background + +For the past three months, I've fallen down a rabbit hole in the form of a 2005 academic paper called [SHORT SELLING, DEATH SPIRAL CONVERTIBLES, AND THE PROFITABILITY OF STOCK MANIPULATION by John D. Finnerty](https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-08-08/s70808-318.pdf). + +[Finnerty's Abstract](https://preview.redd.it/r38xhft1jjk71.png?width=797&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b45979b217911d29b447875d69dfb4b5ca8455b) + +[Finnerty](http://www.finnecon.com/), a [finance professor](https://www.fordham.edu/gabelli-school-of-business/faculty/full-time-faculty/john-finnerty/), lays out his analytical model describing naked short selling and mathematical equations governing it. + +Over the course of several posts, I examined his theories then applied them to get an estimate of shares shorted from December 2015 to April 2021. + +**Here is a** [**POST DIRECTORY WITH TL;DRs TO ALL THE PREVIOUS POSTS AND MY CURRENT ESTIMATES**](https://www.reddit.com/user/nydus_erdos/comments/p8xu12/post_directory_summaries/)**.** + +I hadn't planned on adding to the estimates because I thought the hedgies had shifted more towards options fuckery than naked shorting (which they did during May), but after Criand's revelation about them basically naked shorting by proxy through swaps I figured the game was back on. + +Now, Finnerty's method is analytical. Let me explain... + +\--- + +# Why I Prefer Anal(ytical) Methods + +There are two main ways to solve a problem: + +1. **Numerically** \- a numerical solution means making educated guesses at the solution and testing them to see how good the solution is. This can involve framing the problem and using trial and error across a set of candidate solutions. ([This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nvshu8/short_interest_calculation_based_on_share/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) is a perfect example of a numerical solution to the same question we're asking here) +2. **Analytically** \- an analytical solution involves framing the problem in a well-understood form and creating a set of logical steps to follow to calculate the exact solution. + +Both of these methods can be useful, but because I'm a simple ape who also happens to be quite lazy, I try to avoid complexity as much as possible without sacrificing the accuracy and/or precision. A powerful equation that is quick, relatively simple and can be applied in general cases is always preferred. For me its always the anal(ytical) route. + +https://preview.redd.it/3afu5z39pjk71.png?width=501&format=png&auto=webp&s=2ab292521c924bf0f7fbd4b9ed74805b3009faf6 + +The only data I use in these calculations is price data. If you've read the past posts you know that one of Finnerty's main points is that there is a pattern to the price decline when naked short selling is present. + +What? Basing calculations on patterns and price? The two things we've found to be impossible to apply and wrong, respectively? Just hear me out. + +The manipulator controls price by saturating supply. There is no other way for the naked short seller to directly influence price. It stands to reason that by studying the price behavior we can surmise the quantity needed for that price drop. + +**The price is wrong, but HOW the price is wrong can tell us a lot too.** + +There are downsides to an analytical approach. If you frame the problem incorrectly you're fucked from the get go and probably won't find out till much later when you've wasted a bunch of time on it. That makes it especially difficult if no one's done any previous work on the topic you're working on. Fortunately for us, that isn't the case since we have the Finnerty's equations and well laid out model. + +If this method ends up being correct (which we'll only really know after all this is done) than that means there's a way to calculate an accurate short interest using easily available price. All the hedgies' efforts to obscure data would be moot. + +\--- + +# Quick Restatement of Main Assumptions: + +[Detailed list of assumptions in this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ogi75b/the_chronicles_of_short_shorter_ep_1_before_the/), [and this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oh8fcz/the_chronicles_of_short_shorter_ep_2_during_the/) + +*(1) SHORTS HAVE NOT NET COVERED* + +[ I DID NOT MAKE THIS! IT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED BY u\/MisterFinishLine https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/nii1s6\/short\_shorter\/ ](https://preview.redd.it/xlgv7hrcqjk71.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e23e78ba39e1a50aa1349b8bea69703d79aae82) + +* They may have rolled over FTDs, but their short position has not decreased. The short position's net growth has always been positive +* They have had very little incentive to cover (until recently) as naked short selling has zero cost and provides immediate cash returns +* **The Finnerty equations take into account whether shorts would've covered or not based on the size of their short position at that time. The equations indicate they have likely not covered.** + +*(2) MONOPOLY MARKET* + +* Kenadel-Sus72 have sole control of GME shares (a monopoly) +* Monopolies have no supply curve +* **Output decision of a monopoly is only based on market demand curve and marginal cost curve** +* Monopolies usually sell on the elastic part of the demand curve + +*(3) SHORT SELLILNG ON AN INELASTIC DEMAND CURVE* + +* Normally, a monopoly wants to work on the elastic part of the demand curve. However, if Kenny & Co. naked short sell an elastic curve they'd drive the company to bankruptcy with less shares shorted. +* **I say Kenny & Co. figured they could maximize profit by naked short selling on an inelastic demand curve, as they could short more shares over time. More shares sold means more profit.** + +*(4) DOUBLE-HALF CONJECTURE* + +* **The strategy of shorting usually leaves a pattern. The first attack drops the price sharply by about one-third (\~33%), the second attack slowly bleeds that price in half (\~50%) and the third kicks it down close to zero** +* **As the amount of naked shares increase, the magnitude of the price drops in the following attacks decreases, but the pattern is the same: sharp drop, slow bleed and final kick** +* I assume that around the time the price is cut in half the manipulator has naked shorted the same amount of shares outstanding +* Going on this I assume that every time the price is approximately cut in half, the naked short seller has doubled the shares in existence + +*(5) PRICE ELASTICITY OF TIME IS ANALOGOUS TO PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND* + +* Because monopolies output decisions can be based on the market demand curve, I assume that price behavior over time is highly related to market demand +* The elasticity (normalized/unitless) from the Price vs. Time charts is analogous to the elasticity on the market demand curve (Price vs. Quantity) + +[Elasticity is denoted as a lower case epsilon](https://preview.redd.it/bdkkzl29hqk71.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=1dabe4e58aaefcd332f86755b9b92d752f93a7c1) + +*(6) CONSTANT ELASTICITY* + +Although our demand is not completely inelastic, I do think it is relatively constant. + +\--- + +# Time Frame + +Since this is the 4th complete short attack cycle the magnitude of the price drops has decreased significantly and the amount of shares needed to achieve the price drop has dramatically increased. The price drops still follow a pattern, but with much lower amounts of decrease. + +These dates and prices are approximate. They're only need to capture the general price decline (for explanations of the times check [my first post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nw8281/math_black_magic_vol_1_why_it_is_mathematically/)) + +* *Time 0 - 6/9/2021* + * Initial conditions + * Price at time 0 => P(0) = $ 302.56 +* *Time 1 - 6/10/2021* + * Price at time 1 => P(1) = $ 226.92 + * 25 % drop, should be 33 % +* *Time 2 - 7/15/2021* + * Price at time 2 => P(2) = $ 170.19 + * 25 %, should be 50 % +* *Time 3 - 8/4/2021* + * Price at time 3 => P(3) = $ 145.88 + * 14 % drop + * Normally, the third amount does not cut the price by a specific amount, but it is always much more than this. When the amount of shares is undiluted, the third attack is powerful enough to kick the price close to zero. (Check previous posts to see how the price drops diminish) + +https://preview.redd.it/r45j5d25ljk71.png?width=869&format=png&auto=webp&s=47f018c164875eba888151f0b9ca9fe6b625a6e9 + +&#x200B; + +# Equations & Variables + +I'm not going to spend too much time here. Check previous posts for more detail on the equations and variables, particularly [my first post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nw8281/math_black_magic_vol_1_why_it_is_mathematically/) which covers all the basics. + +&#x200B; + +***Finnerty Equations*** + +[Finnerty Equations](https://preview.redd.it/l6s7qv79njk71.png?width=919&format=png&auto=webp&s=9662c890c2bb5017002b65d1d68030c7ebbe8f06) + +***Variable A*** + +It represents initial price at time 0. + +A = $ 302.56 + +&#x200B; + +***Variable B/Elasticity*** + +Variable A is pretty straight forward, Variable B? Not so much. + +This topic requires a little more explaining. The only reason I'm including it is because of how important it was to getting consistent answers. + +Variable B is essentially the elasticity of the demand curve. [This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/of1lz2/malleus_oeconomica_a_compressed_primer/) covers elasticity more in depth. I'll just review the high points really quick. + +Elasticity is the percentage change in a variable in response to a given percentage change in another variable. Why is it necessary? Because elasticity is unitless (i.e. normalized), so we don't have to worry about errors coming from changes in units. + +**For example, say hypothetically there an ape in another country doing the same calculations I am. Since we are using different currency, we would not get the same answers unless we normalized our answers first.** + +Throughout the whole process our demand has been fairly inelastic, meaning price change doesn't influence the level of demand (FOMO IS OUR STRENGTH). + +However, unless a curve is perfectly inelastic, the curve will become more elastic as price rises. Good news is, while our curve has become more elastic, the values do seems to confirm there is a sort of floor they can't push us past. + +**The demand curve below is not our demand curve!** I don't know what our demand curve looks like at this point (have some theories), but I highly doubt its linear. However, most demand curves do have the three sections pictured below. + +&#x200B; + +[Example Demand Curve. NOT OUR DEMAND CURVE!](https://preview.redd.it/ktgmdfbafkk71.png?width=528&format=png&auto=webp&s=b5eee4207a0af3078bcd4ce2a51a053304c3c0d7) + +&#x200B; + +Basically, they can't (or won't) push price to the inelastic area of our demand curve. I'm not sure if this is the only reason for the floor, but I def think its part of it. + +Recall, there are two ways to calculate elasticity. This time point elasticity gave the more reasonable answers and I chose the most inelastic value: + +&#x200B; + +[Variable B](https://preview.redd.it/s5jp5ekclqk71.png?width=143&format=png&auto=webp&s=3815f15333ce44183e248ed909b9f13982e6d554) + +&#x200B; + +*Variable H* + +Think of H as the price the the stock wants to rise to during that time frame. It changes each time we analyze a new attack cycle. + +H = $ 390.22 + +&#x200B; + +*Constant of Proportionality & Log-Liner Form* + +If you've read my previous posts, [I believe that exponential floor guy is still correct](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oji000/short_shorter_interlude_why_i_still_think/). The exponential price and logarithmic trend was as follows: + +[Former Exponential Price Trend](https://preview.redd.it/ifgi2eixmjk71.png?width=294&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a76b227ef8ea791bb51ca124abf3ff1301c8439) + +&#x200B; + +[Logarithmic Scale ](https://preview.redd.it/ptogyjpumqk71.png?width=220&format=png&auto=webp&s=04052d87b1af12bcd37c9bd585956a03d2a1add5) + +What caught my eye was this: + +[Constant of Proportionality](https://preview.redd.it/1jzob1prlqk71.png?width=630&format=png&auto=webp&s=7628d29308a5f54d7b12d6d8652662afd41b6daa) + +And this: + +[Log-Linear Form](https://preview.redd.it/cfh8imc5nqk71.png?width=1130&format=png&auto=webp&s=358e1ac8c63a99e3108dbc573757cc5c66f74664) + +&#x200B; + +Particularly this term: + +&#x200B; + +[Elasticity times log of price](https://preview.redd.it/2plawgaynqk71.png?width=73&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b99a5f32bf977077bc041ade1e0efdba9f6ec3e) + +This supports the theory of some sort of multiplicative demand shock ([discussed previously](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oji000/short_shorter_interlude_why_i_still_think/)) is being applied somewhere. As in past calculations I'll be using the the constant of proportionality to represent the multiplier that has to be applied to overcome the diminishing power of their attacks. + +The Finnerty equations are slightly modified + +[Multiplicative Demand Shock](https://preview.redd.it/06f3v4unpqk71.png?width=428&format=png&auto=webp&s=974c852c246528b0e0a1204af78bb43b42885d51) + +&#x200B; + +The value of n depends on the scenario. I'll let you know the value. + +# Results + +(Share Counts in Millions, unless otherwise indicated) + +I got high and low estimates by considering two scenarios: + +1. Banks and SHF were unable or unwilling to bypass the new rules/regulations and were conservative in their naked short selling (lololololol). \[For these calculations n =2\] +2. Banks and SHF say "fuck that shit, I'm a filthy thief!" and continue to blatantly counterfeit shares. \[For these calculations n =3\] + +&#x200B; + +**Table 1: Shares Shorted (Conservative Shorting)** + +|Time (t)|Quantity shorted (Q)| +|:-|:-| +|1|407.96| +|2|407.96| +|3|762.56| + +**Table 1A: Totals & SI % (Conservative Shorting)** + +|Total Shares Shorted June to August|\~1.57 billion| +|:-|:-| +|Accumulated Shorted Shares (Dec. 2015 to April 2021)|\~2.25 billion| +|Total Shares Shorted Cumulative|\~3.83 billion| +|Cumulative SI %|\~4977 %| + +&#x200B; + +**Table 2: Shares Shorted (Normal Shorting)** + +|Time (t)|Quantity shorted (Q)| +|:-|:-| +|1|611.94| +|2|611.94| +|3|1.14 billion| + +**Table 2A: Totals & SI % (Normal Shorting)** + +|Total Shares Shorted June to August|\~2.36 billion| +|:-|:-| +|Accumulated Shorted Shares (Dec. 2015 to April 2021)|\~2.25 billion| +|Total Shares Shorted Cumulative|\~4.62 billion| +|Cumulative SI %|\~6000 %| + +# + +# In Closing... + +I know these are huge numbers, but ask yourself this: How many shares could be short through a HFT algo if you started at premarket open and shorted all day until after hours close. Now imagine doing this for 8 months. This is a oversimplification, but that is essentially what they've been doing. + +The other question I get asked is how could they hide the massive amount of shares. I'll just name a few: + +1. Shorting through ETFs (they don't have to report that any of that shit) +2. Swaps +3. Offshore Accounts +4. Shell companies/Foreign Shell companies +5. Married puts and calls + +Something, something, something tip of the iceberg +I used to get downvoted for posts and comments about Tesla but I've noticed that people are willing to discuss it more reasonably now. I welcome all points of view. But tonight I wrote out my Long TSLA thesis and I figured it was worth sharing. + +&#x200B; + +Assume that Tesla hits Wall Street estimates for 2022 Deliveries this year (bear in mind that Tesla has consistently outperformed Wall Street expectations, so this is likely conservative). That would be 1,460,906 deliveries. + +&#x200B; + +Tesla states that they will be able to comfortably surpass 50% delivery increase YoY for the next several years even with current supply chain bottlenecks. This is not a pie-in-the-sky Full Self Driving promise, this is the expectation that he has laid out in the past that Tesla has delivered on consistently, despite Covid issues and supply chain issues. This would be 2,191,359 deliveries in 2023 and 3,287,039 deliveries in 2024. This is likely conservative, given that Tesla has been supply chain constrained for the past year and still achieved 69% YoY growth, they have two new huge factories in Berlin and Austin ramping up, and Shanghai is going to add 450,000 cars/year capacity (announced yesterday). + +&#x200B; + +For purposes of this DD, we will assume that (EPS/car delivered) will remain at Q1 2022 level despite Tesla's strong uptrend in margin. Beginning in Q2, we will see the Average Sale Price of a Tesla increase dramatically as the price increases that were introduced months ago finally start to have their cars delivered. But let's keep it conservative. Based on Q1 2022, the ratio was 3.22 EPS / 310,048 cars = 0.00001039. + +&#x200B; + +If we use the above EPS/Car ratio on the conservative 50% YoY delivery estimates for 2023 and 2024, we get: + +2023 EPS 22.76 (45% above current Wall Street Consensus of 15.62) + +2024 EPS 34.14 (75% above current Wall Street Consensus 19.43) + +\*Consensus # source: Bloomberg\* + +(Note that it is normal for Wall Street to underestimate Tesla earnings like this. EPS estimates for 2022 and 2023 have gone up 50% since 12/31/2021--as share price dropped 18% along with the rest of the market) + +&#x200B; + +The next question is: What is an appropriate P/E for Tesla in 2024 when they deliver nearly 3.3 million cars per year? + +&#x200B; + +Some will argue that Tesla will be ending their hyper growth stage and should see an appropriate P/E compression. Perhaps that's fair, but everything points to growth remaining strong throughout the decade. Elon has stated that Tesla's goal is 20 million cars produced by 2030, which would mean sustained 35% growth from 2025 to 2030 after growing 50% per year in 2023 and 2024. + +Based on my EPS estimate above, at TSLA's current price, at the end of year in 2024 share price would be: + +$1024.20 at 30 P/E + +$1,707 at 50 P/E + +$3,414 at 100 P/E + +$4,028 at current P/E of 118 + +&#x200B; + +Remember, this is all based purely on EV deliveries, and Tesla has a proven track record of consistently hitting goals and the company is developing into an agile EV manufacturing monster. + +&#x200B; + +Here's where it gets nutty... + +&#x200B; + +Elon has repeatedly stated that he believes Full Self Driving (100K full self driving beta testers on road today ... goal of no-steering-wheel and no-pedal Robotaxi in production in 2024 as stated in Q1 2022 earnings call) will be worth more than the EV production business discussed at length above. Think: chauffeur service at a cost per mile of travel that is less than the cost/mile of owning a car-- and eventually less cost per mile of a subsidized bus ticket. + +&#x200B; + +Elon also believes that the Optimus project they have in development (with the goal of replacing jobs with menial tasks--similar to how FSD replaces driving) will be larger than both the car business and the Robotaxi business. How much would a company be willing to pay for a Robot that can replace 3-4 $35K+benefit salaries per year? How much would a transport company be willing to pay for a Semi that dramatically reduces gas cost and can replace the cost of paying two $100K/year semi truck driver salaries each year? + +&#x200B; + +I understand that a belief that Full Self Driving and Optimus will come to fruition requires a lot of faith in Elon Musk's ability to get things done that have never been done before. And I agree it's probably unreasonable to think that the potential numbers for these projects should be thrown into the current valuation. But as a shareholder, you should appreciate the fact that Tesla is making progress on projects that could double or triple its EV-maker valuation, and these projects are being pursued under the leadership of \*arguably\* the greatest visionary of our time with nearly unlimited capital and first pick of Engineering and AI talent. + +&#x200B; + +You can do the math on what will happen if Tesla develops 1 (or 2) businesses that eclipse the profitability of their car production. But the purpose of this was to show that it is well worth being invested in Tesla even for the car business alone. And by investing for the cars, you gain exposure to the moon shot possibility of either FSD or Optimus. + +&#x200B; + +Disclaimer: I'm not qualified whatsoever to give out any advice or analysis. I have invested in TSLA since 2018 and my portfolio is... very heavily weighted toward TSLA. + +&#x200B; + +Thanks for reading! :-) +I've heard all the advise out there about just investing in index funds and holding for the long term, but the market just seems high enough right now, that I feel I'd lose a good amount of money going all in. I'm just trying to figure out what I should do, details: + +Age: 20s + +Job: self-employed + +Net worth: $2M + +Investments: $1M + +RE, Loans, Stocks (wealthfront), few specific stocks + +Cash: $1M + +I don't plan on retiring anytime soon as I'm just too young for it, I just want to be FI and am looking for sources of cash-flow so I don't have to worry if my business fails. My grandpa worked until he was 90 years old (didn't need to) and was one of the happiest people I've known. I have no debt at the moment. + +I have extremely low cost of living at the moment and a pre-tax income >$1M/year. My income is pretty uncertain and could be higher next year or significantly less. + +I'm just afraid if I dump all my money in the markets now, it could have a 20-30% collapse that may not recover for years. I also see with equity prices going down, a decrease in luxury home purchases, which will make those a good deal as well. + +I guess I'm just looking for advice, I've just been piling up cash and don't know where to put it. + +Hypothetically and using the knowledge and your experience, what is the coin that you would pick in order to achieve maximum profit. + +I don't want to hear ETH or BTC as the goal is short/medium term gains. + +What is the dark horse that you guys will pick? + +Goodluck to everyone. + + +Edit: Damn that's a lot of coins that I need to track + +Edit 2: You guy are crazy, so many comments, RIP my inbox + +##Edit 3: Well I wasn't expecting 1,4K comments. I'm gonna try to track the maximum number of coins that I can, can't guarantee tho) +I work at a school district and started also driving a bus for them too. They trained me and helped me get my CDL. My district pays more than most around here, so numbers may not be the same everywhere and bus routes could be longer/shorter, but my routes are some of the longest in our large rural district. But if I drove 2 routes a day, it would be about 15-16 hours of work a week with routes that pay $51.23. This is roughly $34 an hour. I'm not a full time driver, but the one's who are get pension paid into and vacation/sick days(unfortunately no Healthcare as the drivers chose benefit days over Healthcare). Then there's also opportunities for extra curricular activities, like sports. With how our pay schedule works, on Dec 15th I'll get a 3 week check, I'll make around an additional $1,200 on that check from driving for less than 40 hours of work. This will not only help us with Christmas, but allow us to give back to a program in our town that helped supply us with gifts last year when things weren't going great. + +There's a shortage for driver all over too with many now helping train because of it. Just know that depending on the state, there could be classes, like Illinois requires an 8 hour class as part of getting your license, then a 2 hour refresher once a year. +We are in a huge correction. I've been doing the wheel for a while and will get assigned soon. I'm not afraid as I stick to my principles: only selling CSP on stocks I'm willing to hold. However, I'm wondering if there's any other preferable strategy in this current market? + +Edit: My bad this might not be bear markey yet, but still the main question remains +Let’s say you open a spread with 30 DTE and collect a $100 credit. If the spread hits 50% of max profit before the 15 day mark, usually the idea is that you close it, because there’s not enough credit remaining relative to the time value of the spread, gamma exposure in expiration week, etc. + +That’s at least the strategy I’ve seen a lot of people use. + +Does anyone close their spreads as soon as this ratio between time value and % of remaining credit becomes uneven? + +For example, let’s say the first day you’re holding the spread it hits 10% of max profit. Your option has only burned around 4% of its time value, but you’ve collected 10% of your max profit. Do any of you close it then? + +I guess the logical counter argument is that options are priced efficiently, and therefore it’s equally likely that this asymmetry between time value and % of max profit will hurt you with a losing trade. However, doesn’t that also mean the “close at 50% profit” idea doesn’t really do anything? +Currently own 160 of the infamous $GME. Looking to make a quick play selling a covered call. I’m currently thinking Oct 14 $30 call. Never sold a CC before and am very new to the theta gang strategies/options in general. + +Before you tell me that I shouldn’t be trading options if I don’t understand them, let it be known that I am truly regarded. + +Any advice welcome. +Do you keep them in cash until you have enough money to sell more puts, or do you reinvest the premium into the stock you're wheeling until you have enough shares to sell covered calls? + +Thanks Fam +Hi - I have a put credit spread that went against me and both are ITM - aside from taking max loss or holding and hoping for the best, what are some other ways to manage the position if I am still bullish on the trade and want to stay in it, but rolling for a credit at this point is not an option since its deeper ITM? I still have 39 DTE so I am still patient but would like to be ready when time comes to act. +For example, if someone has a goal to earn $250 on a $2500 account per week, that is a 10% gain. + +put how can you change that mathematically to a monthly, or even to an annualized gain rate? +Do you all just basically ignore options prices in the morning? I find it very hard to get orders filled in the morning. For example, I have a call credit spread on Ebay right now and at the open until about 9:45 I was $5 shy of my 50% profit target so I adjusted the closing order to take it off the table but it never got filled even though the mark was a few dollars above my limit for several minutes. Then it swung wildly in the other direction and now it's back to a more normal value. +Haven’t seen many people here sharing positions that AREN’T meme stocks. Thought I’d get some people to share their positions with “regular” stocks. +What stock, and which strategy? +I like a good read but I didn’t start down this path until watching tastytrade’s videos on YouTube and reading article on the web and reddit until finding this sub. So what books would you recommend or avoid? Or other content you found useful. +I was just browsing the option chain on GME and there are some really juicy premiums for selling calls with high strikes ex. $800. There was even a Jan 2023 call with a $950 strike + +Does anyone actually see GME hitting a price like that for a sustainable amount of time? + +Edit: I’m relatively new to options and I’ve only sold CSPs CCs and used some condors so far. I appreciate you guys giving me insight to what I didn’t see. +This doesn't make sense. It should've expired on Friday, but I got an email today that I got assigned. Did the buy execute it on Friday for a loss? + +IBRK has code `A;O` meaning for Assignment and Opening Trade. + +Edit: thanks everyone, it's clear now. +So I've been trading options on and off for a number of years, but until recently I was always a very cautious options trader. Generally, I would buy lottery tickets on stocks that had upcoming catalysts (overall, did fine with this strategy, probably hit 60/40 and made more than I lost) and also sold covered calls on my long positions. I did much better selling covered calls. The stocks in my portfolio have mostly been good to me over time and I was playing with very low deltas (<0.2 generally) so the risk of assignment was at a minimum. Obviously that means I missed out on some premiums but also dodged assignment in some cases where being a bit more aggressive would have led to assignment. + +Wanting to get a bit more aggressive with my options strategies I've been expanding my horizons a bit and r/thetagang was something I ran across. I have added CSPs to my bag of tricks and have been using those on stocks I generally like and wouldn't mind owning if I lost the bet. I also like the idea of selling covered calls at deltas closer to 0.3 for the increased premiums and am trying to wrap my head around rolling, which is something which wasn't part of my repertoire in the past. On the occasions where I had options expire ITM, I simply accepted assignment and either looked for a re-entry point on that same stock or simply removed it from the mix. + +Now, having read through a number of posts and the wiki here, I'm very interested in the concept of rolling out my ITM calls for higher strike prices. In fact, I happen to have CC right now that is basically ATM (it's a semi-meme stock that I have owned for several months and I've cut my CB roughly in half with the covered calls I've written against it). I have a few weeks still before expiry and there's definitely a good chance it will expire OTM, so I'm not necessarily planning to roll it out today, but I'm thinking ahead to my plans over the next couple of weeks, as theta decreases on the CC I sold and the opportunity for an attractive roll manifests. + +If you've read this far, thank you, I promise I'm getting to my question now. I am running the scenarios through my head and I'm really having a hard time grasping the downside to this play, it feels like it's too easy and I realize that means I'm missing something. On the positive side, I see that I can roll out even just 1 week and up $1 in strike price and still and collect a premium even today. Obviously as theta decreases and I'm looking to roll out 30-45 days that premium will be even better. Looking at ATM calls that expire this week vs. the calls 45 days out, assuming a similar position I could be looking at collecting an additional $2 in premium while rolling up $2 in strike price at the same time. Obviously on the risk side, I realize that the underlying could devalue between the time when I roll out and the new CC expires, but that's a risk I willingly take every time I sell a CC and as I said, I've done really well with this underlying so I'm happy to hold it longer. I also recognize that the premiums may not be as attractive in a couple of weeks when I'm ready to make the move if IV decreases, but as I stated at the beginning it's a semi-meme stock so in all honesty, I'm not too worried about loss in IV. So, given all of that, what downside am I missing? There is clearly something that makes rolling out not quite as easy as it seems in my head. Please give this new theta gang member an education. TIA +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +I’m having a hard time deciding between investing 70% of my capital and selling spreads with the remaining 30%, or just wheeling the whole portfolio. + +The issue is I only have $15k, and wheeling even AAPL would take 90% of my capital. + +With spreads I could reduce my risk down to just 3-5% per trade while keeping most of my cash in boomer/growth stocks. + +This would also generate many more occurrences. + +I like the idea of owning stock and feel like going long and trading with 30% would be more profitable long term as it’s hard to beat the market. + +However wheeling would be more consistent growth. + +Do you guys diversify with stocks & options or just options trading? +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +QS is going crazy. Closed my old position, resold, closed that position, resold. Latest position was sold during 300 IV and around 28 delta. Return was 11.9% for 10 DTE. This was amazing because a half day for Xmas eve and market closed Xmas day. Free time value with no exposure to the market. QS will probably crash. It dips a ton but has steady support. Due to insane IV, my breakeven is 88.90 and its at 114.66 right now. I don't expect these support levels to hold though, and I'll probably switch stocks after next week. But for now, it's too good to pass up. These plays boosted me up to a 46% total return. This style of wheel is extremely risky but the reward is insane. Currently averaging 5% a week. Wish this was sustainable. + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +**12/22/2020** + +QS 100p 12/31 (x2) Premium: 2,380 Assign: TBD + +&#x200B; + +**12/21/2020** + +QS 75p 12/31 (x2) Premium: 876 Assign: No + +QS 59p 12/31 (x1) Premium: 70 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**12/17/2020** + +QS 60p 12/24 (x3) Premium: 900 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**12/8/2020** + +PLTR 26p 12/18 (x7) Premium: 728 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**12/3/2020** + +PLTR 22p 12/11 (x8) Premium: 568 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**11/24/2020** + +PLTR 21p 12/4 (x8) Premium: 760 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**11/19/2020** + +PLTR 17p 11/27 (x10) Premium: 350 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**11/13/2020** + +NIO 33p 11/20 (x5) Premium: 325 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**11/6/2020** + +NIO 37p 11/13 (x4) Premium: 346 Assign: No + +ACB 6p 11/13 (x2) Premium: 54 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**11/5/2020** + +ACB 5.5p 11/6 (x28) Premium: 308 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**10/30/2020** + +NIO 27p 11/6 (x5) Premium: 230 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**10/23/2020** + +NIO 25p 10/30 (x6) Premium: 174 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**10/21/2020** + +TQQQ 129p 10/23 (x1) Premium: 83 Assign: No + +&#x200B; + +**10/16/2020** + +APHA 4.50p 10/23 (x2) Premium: 14 Assign: No + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Green energy sector is going to rally in the coming year +Tell me my flaws. + +Buy 100 shares of $10 stock. ($1000) + +Sell weekly calls for $11 strike, collect $25 premium. + +Your option gets assigned and they pay you $1100 for the shares ($1125 - $1000= $125) + +Your profiting $125. More if its not assigned right away. + +Repeat with $11 stock or find another $10 stock. +So I've been trading options on and off for a number of years, but until recently I was always a very cautious options trader. Generally, I would buy lottery tickets on stocks that had upcoming catalysts (overall, did fine with this strategy, probably hit 60/40 and made more than I lost) and also sold covered calls on my long positions. I did much better selling covered calls. The stocks in my portfolio have mostly been good to me over time and I was playing with very low deltas (<0.2 generally) so the risk of assignment was at a minimum. Obviously that means I missed out on some premiums but also dodged assignment in some cases where being a bit more aggressive would have led to assignment. + +Wanting to get a bit more aggressive with my options strategies I've been expanding my horizons a bit and r/thetagang was something I ran across. I have added CSPs to my bag of tricks and have been using those on stocks I generally like and wouldn't mind owning if I lost the bet. I also like the idea of selling covered calls at deltas closer to 0.3 for the increased premiums and am trying to wrap my head around rolling, which is something which wasn't part of my repertoire in the past. On the occasions where I had options expire ITM, I simply accepted assignment and either looked for a re-entry point on that same stock or simply removed it from the mix. + +Now, having read through a number of posts and the wiki here, I'm very interested in the concept of rolling out my ITM calls for higher strike prices. In fact, I happen to have CC right now that is basically ATM (it's a semi-meme stock that I have owned for several months and I've cut my CB roughly in half with the covered calls I've written against it). I have a few weeks still before expiry and there's definitely a good chance it will expire OTM, so I'm not necessarily planning to roll it out today, but I'm thinking ahead to my plans over the next couple of weeks, as theta decreases on the CC I sold and the opportunity for an attractive roll manifests. + +If you've read this far, thank you, I promise I'm getting to my question now. I am running the scenarios through my head and I'm really having a hard time grasping the downside to this play, it feels like it's too easy and I realize that means I'm missing something. On the positive side, I see that I can roll out even just 1 week and up $1 in strike price and still and collect a premium even today. Obviously as theta decreases and I'm looking to roll out 30-45 days that premium will be even better. Looking at ATM calls that expire this week vs. the calls 45 days out, assuming a similar position I could be looking at collecting an additional $2 in premium while rolling up $2 in strike price at the same time. Obviously on the risk side, I realize that the underlying could devalue between the time when I roll out and the new CC expires, but that's a risk I willingly take every time I sell a CC and as I said, I've done really well with this underlying so I'm happy to hold it longer. I also recognize that the premiums may not be as attractive in a couple of weeks when I'm ready to make the move if IV decreases, but as I stated at the beginning it's a semi-meme stock so in all honesty, I'm not too worried about loss in IV. So, given all of that, what downside am I missing? There is clearly something that makes rolling out not quite as easy as it seems in my head. Please give this new theta gang member an education. TIA +Hey there theta gang, I was curious on what you guys recommend I wheel for an account with 5k. I plan on doing the wheel and closing at 50% profit. Thanks! +Hey Guys + +So I am not new to options but have an idea I am new too. I am bottom 99 percent of smartness on this sub so want to hear from the smart guys in the room: + +I've been playing around on paper with wheeling options and chose a couple big boy stocks and need to hear what I'm missing bc it seems too good to be true: + +so we have a flat(bit choppy) market more or less and I paper played with tsla and aapl. Decent premiums with not super- high IV BUT no major movements like 2020. + +I played with 100k and over several weeks I flipped back and forth between selling CSP and CC's. I additionally included a far OTM put on IWM to offset and hedge for a black swan event. + +I ignored for this exercise cost basis and subsequent tax implications. Important I know but just for this exercise and getting a feel for it. I also chose to ignore potential upside that I would "miss out on". Tsla is not going to run 15 percent in 4 days like it did 2 yrs ago. I don't care how many cars they deliver. PS TSLA fanboys don't come at me bro with the troll vibes. I hold TSLA long and I get it. I also ignored the aspect of tying up cash. It would be with a chunk I am fine being tied up. + +So overall with using stable stocks and the strategy above, I feel like making 5 percent a MONTH is possible. There will be months you collect 12 percent in premium and some outlier moves some weeks but I feel that 5 as an avg in a year is doable. Too good to be true so What am I missing? + +Last two things I don't understand: + +If strikes get zoomed by on the up or the down Can shares get assigned early either way and if so can't you just jump in another trade midweek for that week's friday expiry? + +AND + +I was assuming the options I sell would just expire Friday mid day PST like usual options but some forums talk about "Friday post market shenanigans" to worry about and saying you should close out but Friday close if it's your expiry date wouldn't you be out of the trade? Need to know when a weekly option expires and you can get in another trade. + +I'm a basic bixx I know I know. + +Really appreciate this community taking the time and helping others along. I'm not pulling any triggers till all holes are poked in my approach. +Hi, + +<TlDr; how do you use/distribute your monthly theta gang profits.> + +I'm wondering how to deploy the monthly profits I'm gaining from wheeling. I've been (somewhat consistently) making $3-4K per month. I'm thinking of ways where/how to distribute these monthly profits. This is what I've in mind: + +* Keeping aside for tax: 30% +* Donation/Charity: 5% +* Long-term investment like SPY/VTI/VXUS: 30% +* Additional monthly payments to home mortgage: 25% +* Keeping for more theta plays: 10% + +Ideas and suggestions are welcome! +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +Do you keep them in cash until you have enough money to sell more puts, or do you reinvest the premium into the stock you're wheeling until you have enough shares to sell covered calls? + +Thanks Fam +Good morning. +What percentage do you use to close out winners for your weekly CSPs? +I know TT has tagged 60% as the target using 43-days out. I was wondering what you might have luck with on your weekly CSPs. + +The Market Measures episode which indicated the 60% target: +https://www.tastytrade.com/tt/shows/market-measures/episodes/managing-winners-varying-profit-targets-12-04-2015 +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +##Goal +During December I will donate 25 Bitcoin, 1 each day leading up to Christmas, to a cause suggested by r/Bitcoin. +It can be a charity, open source project, crowdfund or anything else. + +&nbsp; + +I am hoping that these daily posts and donations will encourage others in the community to give Bitcoin this Christmas. +Especially people who have benefited from the rise in price recently. +&nbsp; + +##Get involved +Submit a suggestion in the comments of a cause you would like to see donated to. Also post a link to their Bitcoin donation page (not address) if possible. +Even if your suggestion is not donated to by me this month hopefully it may be seen by others here who may choose to donate. + +&nbsp; + +Each day I'll pick a cause from the suggestions, likely the most upvoted one, and donate 1 Bitcoin to them. +I'll ignore any scams, begging, college fund requests etc. + +&nbsp; + +I will try to send donations as fast as possible but there may be times where I have to do more research or checks to verify the suggestions are legit. +&nbsp; + +If you wish to give but don't have the time to check Reddit for the rest of the month you can send Bitcoin to my address: +&nbsp; + +**34WbSyrtibUJiFbRa7ukLC8RGdFMnQRn4b** +&nbsp; + +I will divide the extra Bitcoin sent to that address by 25 and donate it to each of the chosen causes on the 25th or the 26th. + +##Proof of funds +Message: "Give Bitcoin this Christmas" +Address: 34WbSyrtibUJiFbRa7ukLC8RGdFMnQRn4b +Signature: I8vZgsyOb1CKbTjo/Mravp03yIFnC94GNTVYOkBbhIUPUajfKPg4nh8zj7dWu5qzev2nsAtByLwpHHDnVwyAxsI= + +Note that the address above doesn't contain 25 now due to sending donations so the funds moved to change addresses. +You need to verify it using Trezor. + +##Donations + +| Day | Cause | Proof of donation | +|:------|:------------|:------------| +| [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7gpe1q/give_bitcoin_this_christmas_ill_start_with_25/)|[EFF](https://www.eff.org/)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/bf4b8cdb8f11a347cede1eb121fa8fb4750d2827bd58cd69b2ddd4cdb07382cf) , [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/bf51b214767b6d95dab4f0665cb9d3d7a332577a72f63b55f504fd895da885b8) ,[tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/3fbea4e956c296f311d08410b7ef06d3dd0d434187b2cc5877bf09610fd2f68d) , [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/32f1e3ef6568148d2c2749965fa45d1444c5a8f8e9676df954ffd512b163004c) | +| [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7h4cny/give_bitcoin_this_christmas_ill_start_with_25/)|[Khan Academy](https://www.khanacademy.org/)| awaiting deposit address | +| 3| [Give Directly](http://www.givedirectly.org)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/address/1KhQ2Vt43DeEp7mynDo3vwk3rKmC1agJya)| +| [4](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7hgpr0/im_donating_25_bitcoin_to_good_causes_this/)| [Andreas Antonopoulos](https://antonopoulos.com/)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/2ad69f6513fea80ab3635344f56e98faea99adf05dcd9325d236e98b83b8e0f7)| +| 5| [MAPS](http://www.maps.org/)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/71cfc5af49aa29cc16994c7f8d18fbf81ce46a70d36b1f547752b72eaf441593)| +| 6| [help venezuelans](https://helpvenezuelans.com/)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/0ff2c5363ca7430d91bfe93a993d3660ec3d884c1104a72e19b1b43038792148)| +| [7](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7i5u2u/im_donating_25_bitcoin_to_good_causes_this/)| [Wikipedia](https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home)| [tx](https://blockchain.info/tx/03337c44e9c944e6d1aab1600dff07a093832eaa7b3f9da628b9e39f6495cc6a)| +| 8| TBD|| + +&nbsp; + +Warning: Don't send to addresses I have without checking donation pages first. Some of those were temp wallets produced by their payment processor. + +Article is https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-dow-tops-25000-individual-investors-sit-it-out-1515099703. Interesting quote: + +"The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 25000 for the first time on Thursday, punctuating a record-setting period nearly unmatched in U.S. history. Yet throughout the nearly nine-year surge in share prices, individual investors have continued to yank money out of funds that own U.S. stocks. + +Nearly $1 trillion has been pulled from retail-investor mutual funds that target U.S. stocks since the start of 2012, according to EPFR Global, a fund-tracking firm. Over that same period through Wednesday, the S&P 500 soared 116% and, along with the Dow Industrials and Nasdaq Composite Index, rose to 190 all-time highs." + +The article interviews various people of all ages who have "sat out". . most/all are variations on "2008 was so bad that I am afraid to get back in". +This subreddit has really been a savior for me. I have learned that it might be a little too strict. However, if nothing else, it forces you to listen to the worst-case or argue your take. + +Due to advice received here and confronting the realities of my current/possible circumstances, I recently opted out of buying a home. I only currently spend ~21% of my take home on rent and utilities. While arguing for buying a home, I realized that I’d be spending 35.5% on mortgage/tax/insurance. 44% if I include utilities/internet. 53% if I set aside a reasonable amount for maintenance. While I think that math doesn’t fairly compare how much I can invest with free money versus how much I’m investing into equity, it’s still a stark realization. + + +But, it’s tough seeing people who are doing things less responsibly getting things you’re too cautious to opt into. Of course you tell yourself that some of them will either be forced out of their situation or even lose everything. But some will pull it off. And I’m jealous of them. + +I’ll continue to rent…and share a place with two roommates. I’ll save money for another year — maybe even more. I just hope that I don’t regret these decisions when I finally spend the capital I’ve been working towards for so long. + +EDIT: sorry I bailed on this, everyone. I’ll re-visit after work. I’m glad it’s a topic that’s spurring on some discussion, though. +For the past year, the sentiment around memecoin holders has been *”I feel bad for them — pouring their life savings into this and will lose it all”* but anyone still holding is likely into large profits on a few of them. They didn’t take your advice, they didn’t apply your logic and it worked out for them. + +If you truly felt bad for them before, be happy that it worked out. If you’re upset for not doing what they did, that’s kinda silly.. coins pump everyday without us on board some of us just have a less chaotic strategy. + +This isn’t unique to crypto, people invest their time, energy and money into risky things that pan out all the time. In life there will be daily choices you make and don’t make that land you more or less money — it’s just less measurable than it is in Crypto, you’re less aware of the exact decision and what the alternative would have gained you. +For the past year, the sentiment around memecoin holders has been *”I feel bad for them — pouring their life savings into this and will lose it all”* but anyone still holding is likely into large profits on a few of them. They didn’t take your advice, they didn’t apply your logic and it worked out for them. + +If you truly felt bad for them before, be happy that it worked out. If you’re upset for not doing what they did, that’s kinda silly.. coins pump everyday without us on board some of us just have a less chaotic strategy. + +This isn’t unique to crypto, people invest their time, energy and money into risky things that pan out all the time. In life there will be daily choices you make and don’t make that land you more or less money — it’s just less measurable than it is in Crypto, you’re less aware of the exact decision and what the alternative would have gained you. +I have worked at a dealership in Texas for nearly 5 years now and we just got a new General Manager. He has decided my position isn't worth keeping and had has informed me that I have to move to one of 2 different commission based jobs. I am currently on a fixed salary/hours position. Either new position would result in significantly lower pay and more hours for me. + + +If I were to refuse to change departments and he then fired me, would I qualify for unemployment? +Found this little gem while watching a documentary called The Prize. Just a little background history, prior to the North Sea and North Slope finds, OPEC was able to effectively set the price of oil and they did that by reducing supplies. During the Iranian revolution (1979), oil production from Iran collapsed and world production dropped by 4%. This gave OPEC a huge upper hand in terms of setting oil prices and they used their production to make oil prices high. The price of oil had risen to $39/barrel. During the 1980s there was a huge need to find and develop non-opec fields. These fields were developed in Alaska and the North Sea. This is referred to as the 1980s oil glut. + +Also the documentary starts by talking about, "falling demand." They are talking about the falling demand for OPEC's oil. + +[documentary here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgt1ZLDIy1M#t=2326) +I was talking with a friend about Bitcoin being awesome and stuff. +And then he said that it being manipulated and controlled by whales. +And I didn’t really have any good counter argument. +I know it’s being manipulated so what is stopping the whales from not letting the market dicide what Bitcoin is worth? +Basically, title. I'm relatively good friends with three guys and this is the first time any of us have lived in a leased apartment. The bills are rent, electricity, and internet/TV. Is this idiotic? +So I'm being relocated from Darwin to Sydney with work. I'm looking for rentals and geeze they're mental down there. Do you think I have a good case to request a payrise due to the difference in cost of living down there? If so, how much do think I'm due? An extra $100 a week or what? +I wasn’t keeping up to date during the GFC but back then I think interest rates were somewhere around 4%? So when the stock market goes down at least you had somewhere you could park your money. Right now property is too expensive, interest rates are next to zero and the ASX keeps falling. + +I guess what I’m getting to is, how much further can the stock market actually fall when there’s nowhere else to put your cash? Are people just filling up their bank accounts for no return? +Over the last 12 months we've seen a lot of indications that investors should be concerned both locally and globally. I've historically been very bearish. However the last 6 months have shown massive upwards momentum. + +I'm starting to feel more bullish - but my concern is that I'm bullish because of the momentum, even while the bearish indicators are strong... + +This is starting to feel to me like the old adage of "be fearful when others are greedy"... + +Are their other bears on here who feel bullish when they shouldn't be? What are your thoughts? In theory we should ignore the momentum and be guided by reality - but then we may still get tripped up by missing out on time in market... +I’ve been trying to find historical data to ascertain how house prices generally fair during recessions, particularly in Sydney/Australia. + +Anyone have any sources or ideas? +First home buyer here looking to purchase a place to live in Melbourne. + +Im in my mid 30s, single, and planning to live there long term. I want to get a place that I comfortably afford without having to make sacrifice my lifestyle, and still have some funds left over to put towards savings/investment/paying down the mortgage sooner. In addition to that I would like to stay nearby to most my friends and family, with good access to shops/transport/ and local parks for when I get a dog. + +Based on that, going against the common advise to not buy an apartment, I've decided an apartment is the best choice for me currently. I'm looking at getting a 2 bedroom apartment located in a smaller apartment buildings (2-3 levels) about 10-15km in Melbournes east. + +I figured if at some point I need to upsize due to having a family, I can sell or rent this out and utilize the equity to help get a new place. I know there won't be much capital growth in the apartment so might be an issue but I rather not worry about something thats not currently a factor in my life. + +Ive considered purchasing a house or townhouse further out, however its not somewhere I would want to live. I've also considered buying to rent, and rent where you want to live. But I rather not have to worry about the added uncertainty of finding tenants as well as find a place to rent yourself. + +Lastly I know owning an apartments comes with strata fees that can be expensive, but I'm hoping getting one in a smaller building will be cheaper, along with lower council rates and not needing to get home insurance (I might be wrong on this part) will keep the on going cost similar to owning a house. + +Please convince me I'm still making a mistake in buying an apartment, in case I've overlooked something. + +As an aside, personally I believe Melbournians need to embrace apartment living more, less infrastructure needed, easier to service more people locally, less need to drive, better for the environment. +I never studied economy nor finance. + +I understand the concepts of mortgage bonds, and standard loan rate swaps. + +I understand how basic short selling operations go through. + +But how did they do it? And in the end when the banks didn't have the cash to pay ther part of the credit default swap, how did they find buyers? Where or when did their operation gain value? Did they own all the CDOS involved? But weren't those worthless? +First off, thanks for your abiding and constant support of both Bitcoin and reddit. I've been a long-time lurker of /r/bitcoin myself and have always viewed it with great interest, both from a macroeconomic cryptocurrency standpoint (my first job out of college was in online payments), as well as from a technical perspective. It's a really great piece of technical work, actually. + +As you can see, [we've recently launched support for using BTC to buy reddit Gold](http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/18j91l/new_gold_payment_options_bitcoin_and_credit_card/). You can see in the comments on that blog post that a lot of people still don't understand bitcoin, so this is a great opportunity for the Bitcoin community to educate reddit and the world about what Bitcoin is and how it's beneficial. + +Next, I do want to set some expectations: despite its considerable potential, Bitcoin is still very new, experimental, and no one really knows what will happen with it and what people will do with it. It is this way with all new technologies. This means that there is the possibility that unexpected or bad things happen, and we may have to modify or suspend our implementation of Bitcoin support if that happens. We think that adding Bitcoin support is very worthwhile, but having worked in the online payments industry for awhile for a player (PayPal) which in its early years hoped greatly to reform and revolutionize the global money system, I know that things can be complicated and not always turn out the way you intend them. I hope things go well, and so I ask the Bitcoin supporters here to help us make that happen. I believe that adding Bitcoin support to reddit will help it gain a fair bit of press, and spark more widespread discussion and understanding about it. + +Finally, don't think I've forgotten about the pledges all y'all were so quick to make [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/12vg6t/the_admins_are_considering_bitcoin_as_a_new/). I'll be checking to see who really buys reddit gold! ;-) +Hey everyone! + +Hope you all had a great day! + +Today was a blood bath, but a good one! + +#What stocks did you buy on Sale?! + +— I’ll go first... ENB, K , and AQN. + +**What about you?** + +———- + +Hope all is going well! + +Remember - its not a loss until you sell — and if you’re panicking... you should just turn off the phone , and relax... if you bought into companies you believe, everything will be okay! + +Take care. + +Have an amazing night! +Greetings everyone, been reading on Reddit for a while, however, I believe this is my first post. I was hoping to get some insight from others on here. + +Like most people I would like to set myself up for the future by making appropriate financial decisions now. I’m not the most financially literate (does reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad count?). Growing up my parents did a great job providing and excellent quality life however, they grew up very poor and were risk averse. More likely to hide money in the mattress then a tfsa. + +At this point, I’m thirty years old and live in Toronto. I bought my house 3.5 years ago for $770000 and put $$235000 down on the house. I immediately put a basement unit in that brings in $1000 cash per month. Several similar houses have been selling for $950-$1.1. + +I became eager to invest a couple years ago and started a self directed tfsa through cibc. There is about $62000 in that account. I got ahead of myself, bought one stock and it didn’t do well. Needless to say I never looked at it again. In addition to the tfsa I have about $60000 in various accounts and a $20000 emergency fund. + +I’m sure there are a lot better steps I could be taking. Recently I read a bit about HELOCs and the smith maneuver which kicked my ass a bit to revisit getting my finances squared away. + +I’ve read about peoples apprehension here related to using the banks advisors. I have an account who is wonderful but pretty old school and doesn’t bring much to the table besides filing my taxes. I’m not really sure where to begin and was hoping the good people of Reddit could open my eyes a bit. + +TIA +Subscription required, but title of article gives the general idea. +https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sun-life-to-add-medical-marijuana-coverage-to-group-benefits-plans/article37988860/ +Like the title says, I have about $300,000 and I would like to invest it in such a way that I earn some passive income. I have a TFSA and a margin account with Questrade. I'm in Ontario. No job right now and low living expenses. + +My TFSA is almost maxed and I want to use it to buy some higher risk stocks. The rest I would like to invest into blue chip stocks/bonds/funds that pay dividends. I am hoping to make $10,000+ a year in passive income from this. I would also like the principle to grow, obviously. Is this realistic? + +I am not in a rush to do this as I want to do it right. I would like to research this properly and manage my own investments. I have no debt at all nor do I have a career plan. I do have an education and a good resume, though. + +I like having freedom to travel and move around, which is why I am looking for passive income. Not quite sure where I belong in the world and want to be able to try different jobs to see what I like while having the financial freedom to quit if it doesn't work out. + +Any suggestions or links to get me started in my research? Thanks for any help. + +Go easy on me, guys. I'm a beginner. +Is my financial advisor being a jerk? I have almost 40K in mutual funds with 2.5% management fees. The fees are too high so I'll rather sell them and buy a Vanguard's Balanced ETF Portfolio (VBAL) or an iShares' Core Balanced ETF Portfolio (XBAL ). But my financial advisor is advising against it. I repeatedly told him I wanted to move away from the mutual fund, but he's being emotional and wouldn't let me sell my mutual funds. Seriously, he wouldn't give in and kept pressuring me to not touch the mutual funds. An argument he's hanging on to is that there will up to $400 dollars of redemption fees because I still have about 3 years left before I could sell the mutual fund without those fees. I don't care about the redemption fees because it is cheaper than keeping the mutual fund. Because he wouldn't give in to my wishes, we've discussed to keep the holdings that have redemption fees (about 25K) in the mutual fund and sell the rest to buy the ETF. I haven't given him the go yet. I really want to sell the entire mutual funds to buy the ETF. Am I making a bad decision or is the financial advisor being a jerk? +2019 was a great year for investing in stocks but I'm curious to ask this group about their own investments and how their investments have performed across all accounts relative to the broader markets indexes? Have you been able to outperform the index? Statistically, I'm hearing that very few people can actually outperform the broader market indexes after fees. Have you? What about your advisers have they been able to do better? + +Market Statistics – 2019 (YTD) + +• Canadian 22.8% + +• US 24.84% + +• Developed 16.45% + +• Emerging 12.98% + +[https://www.pwlcapital.com/resources/market-statistics-december-2019/](https://www.pwlcapital.com/resources/market-statistics-december-2019/) +2019 was a great year for investing in stocks but I'm curious to ask this group about their own investments and how their investments have performed across all accounts relative to the broader markets indexes? Have you been able to outperform the index? Statistically, I'm hearing that very few people can actually outperform the broader market indexes after fees. Have you? What about your advisers have they been able to do better? + +Market Statistics – 2019 (YTD) + +• Canadian 22.8% + +• US 24.84% + +• Developed 16.45% + +• Emerging 12.98% + +[https://www.pwlcapital.com/resources/market-statistics-december-2019/](https://www.pwlcapital.com/resources/market-statistics-december-2019/) +Sure, they got a bail out from the feds. But pre covid they were rocking it. + +And though I hate flying with them they are always the cheapest and offer the most routes in Canada. + +If these vaccines allow travel again I expect to see a holy moly bump in the price. + +I loaded up after the fed loan price drop. Anyone else? + +I'm already green so feel free to shit on me. + +Edit: sorry guys, ended up working on my house this weekend. I'll get to dd questions and comments as soon as I can. +There is tons of variables that affect the stock market but due to this virus affecting lots of major companies in China or supply chains of other companies should we expect a decent drop in earnings/sales in Q1 reporting ? Would this be enough to dip the overall market? +I currently have \~$2,500 invested in this experiment and I'm about to significantly increase that amount to \~$100,000. + +Before I do that I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. + +Here's what I've done so far: + +Deposit $2,500 in Interactive Brokers account. + +Buy $2,500 of ZWC and an additional $2,500 on margin. + +ZWC Yield - 6.5% +Monthly Dividends \~$27.00 +Monthly Interest \~$3.50 +Monthly Profit $23.50 + +Dividends are reinvested to buy more ZWC each month. + +Margin Maintenance is $1,500. + +By my calculations, ZWC price would have to drop below $11.20 for a margin call. + +It's currently at $18.47, the lowest it dipped during the big sell-off in early 2020 was $12.42. + +Is this a (relatively) low-risk way of getting 13% returns? + +Am I missing anything here? + +Thanks!! +The title pretty much states it. IBKR has been one of the best low-fee brokerages in Canada especially when it comes to options trading. With the GME trading scandal, what brokerages other brokerages would you recommend for alternatives? +Hi there, I'm just wondering what are the ways people are taking advantage? Few basic thoughts: + +- exchange Cdn to get USD into your bank (for future use) +- buy USD stocks at lower cost that will grow (vs dividends as those will be lower distributions into Cdn bank) +- certain stocks or companies that earn in Cdn but expenses are from USD (ie Suncor).. + +Any other suggestions? Also for the first point what is the lowest cost way to exchange dollars? What do you use? + +Thanks! +I currently have \~$2,500 invested in this experiment and I'm about to significantly increase that amount to \~$100,000. + +Before I do that I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. + +Here's what I've done so far: + +Deposit $2,500 in Interactive Brokers account. + +Buy $2,500 of ZWC and an additional $2,500 on margin. + +ZWC Yield - 6.5% +Monthly Dividends \~$27.00 +Monthly Interest \~$3.50 +Monthly Profit $23.50 + +Dividends are reinvested to buy more ZWC each month. + +Margin Maintenance is $1,500. + +By my calculations, ZWC price would have to drop below $11.20 for a margin call. + +It's currently at $18.47, the lowest it dipped during the big sell-off in early 2020 was $12.42. + +Is this a (relatively) low-risk way of getting 13% returns? + +Am I missing anything here? + +Thanks!! +Hello Everyone, + +I've been having issues and not sure if it's something I'm misunderstanding, or Wealthsimple thing. + +I've been selling stocks through *Stop Limit Orders* to prevent my stocks from dipping too much. Yet I've found my stocks are selling before even hitting the *Stop Limit*. + +Example: + +I set SCR to sell at $4.70, and Wealthsimple trades it at $4.75. + +I understand SCR dipped to $4.67, but the trade happened before the dip. + +What ends up happening is I would simply just repurchase the stock again because it didn't actually go down. This has happened with FTL as well. + +It *could* be that the delay on Wealthsimple is messing with my timing. + +Overall I'm down a bit because I keep buying back stock. +I've been looking at bunch of company financials, especially GRN, HITI, and GDNP. Their revenue is growing but their net income is always in the negative. Is this necessarily a bad thing? +There. I said it. + +I get it: you don’t want to be held responsible for any loss if shit goes wrong. But please, don’t try to fool anyone (or yourself) by writing a disclaimer at the end of your extensive argument to invest in a certain crypto. I see this happen way too often. + +Encouraging someone to buy/invest, literally IS financial advice. Writing ‘not financial advice’ does not take this away. +Hello friends! I have been investing on the stockmarket for a while now and I am 17% above. My question is if in order to consider those returns, do i need to sell? My strategy is mainly a long term investment (\~30yrs.). I just can figure it out how does investing really work. + +Thanks! + +sorry for bad english +Forgive my newb question but....why? Seriously why? + +It should go down with bad news followed by further down with even more grim news. People should be selling like mad while masses lose their jobs but the market keeps going up. + +Why???? + +Edit: is the government involved? +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +I don't know if there's a sticky thread on this somewhere but I've seen frequent recent questions about savings come up and time-and-time again I hardly see Roth IRA mentioned. + +If you + +1. Qualify for a Roth IRA +2. Can't afford to invest in the Roth IRA +3. Are building or have built an emergency savings fund + +prioritize a Roth IRA as your emergency savings account. + +*"WHAT?! Why?"* + +**Reason 1:** Because (as of 2022) Roth IRA has a yearly maximum contribution cap of $6K and you can't go back in time and put in $6K for years you missed. Stick with me. + +Lets say in 5-10 years from now, you're able to max a 401(k), have emergency savings, and have disposable income. Often times, people will go, *"Gee, really wish I had stuck money in that Roth IRA 5-10 years ago so I could have been investing."* Well guess what - you could have been. + +**Reason 2:** *"But wait - I want emergency money to be liquid! This doesn't sound safe."* Roth IRA **contributions** can be withdrawn from, penalty free, at anytime. And no, you don't have to pay yourself back. + +*"So how do I allocate the emergency savings?"* You leave the amount of money that satisfies your emergency needs as **uninvested.** You only invest an amount that is **excess** to your emergency target, once you've reached it. If your emergency target is $18K and you have $20K total in the Roth, you'd invest $2K while leaving $18K liquid. + +Example: Your emergency savings target is $18K. In 2022, $6K goes from current emergency fund to Roth. In 2023 and 2024, do the same. **You do not invest this**. + +By 2025, you've reached your goal of $18K emergency savings and can still put another $6K into the Roth account for the 2025 year. So now, any additional contributions will be **invested.** + +*"Okay so why don't I just open a Roth and invest with Roth funds while keeping my savings in a typical savings account?"* + +**Reason 3:** Because most people don't have the luxury of doing that. They usually only have enough, if at all, to start building an emergency savings account. Then they reach stability at some age and have excess income but can't go back in time to max out the Roth. For this individual, **the Roth IRA starts as an emergency savings account and then evolves into an investment vehicle.** + +Using this strategy, you'll have been allocating money in the Roth for years. If in an emergency, you can pull from it without friction. If not in an emergency and with excess cash, you can start investing those years of savings for tax-free gains while putting a savings fund elsewhere. + +**EDIT:** *I wasn't clear about one situation. Suddenly, you are in a position where you can afford to not only max out the year's Roth contribution, but have another, say, $1.5K left over for investing. You have $20K total sitting in the Roth IRA with $2K invested and $18K of it liquid. This $18K is emergency savings. You could put that $1.5K into an individual brokerage account and face taxes on your earnings or...* + +*Put that newly acquired $1.5K in some High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA). This HYSA, in conjunction to your liquid-portion of the Roth IRA, will act as your emergency savings. Then invest $1.5K from the uninvested portion of your Roth IRA. You do this repeatedly until you now have the HYSA meeting the needs of your emergency fund target, with 100% of your Roth IRA now invested.* +So long story short, Chase sent me a letter and broke up with me, and gave me 30 days to withdraw cash and finish any other transactions needed. They also said I can't open a new account with Chase anymore. I called and asked for a reason but no one provided me one. I went to a branch and same thing. Has anyone experienced this and is it weird? +Hi all, + +First time poster here. Basically the situation is we currently have a couple living with us as lodgers. They have recently decided they want to move out and have given the agreed upon 10 days notice (they specifically asked for this when they moved in). But they are now saying that we owe them the remaining money they paid in rent. So they paid a month in advance but are moving out before the end of the month. + +You can view the signed contract below: +http://imgur.com/a/WIwUZ + +Edit: Contract was amended in person to 10 days. + +Can anyone advise on what we can do. We still need to pay rent and various bills and can really not afford this expense. +I'm in my mid 20s currently on 45k and hoping to hit 50k by this time next year through reviews and raises. I have a clear career plan set out and I've been very motivated to try and climb the almost endless ladder in terms of responsiblity and salary. + +Looking at the numbers of getting in higher rate tax territory of 50k+, it almost doesn't seem worth the extra responsibility and effort for what it translates to in my back pocket each month. But the thought of stagnating at my current daily routine for the next ~35 years until retirement isn't appealing either. + +Do you think its worth busting your balls to jump an extra 20k if it'd only mean an extra 1k take home? Or is my time and attention better focused elsewhere? + +Cheers +Thanks for all the great advice reddit friends. My wife and I read through the comments last night and discussed some very good points that were made. Thanks to everyone that took the time to write something! +I'm looking to see what behaviors and decisions make the difference between being ok financially, to being better than just ok. +Id love to hear specific stories of what you did to get where you are. + +Edit: Thanks for all the great advice! +[Source](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/bcreg20210805a.htm) + +>Following its stress test earlier this year, the Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the individual capital requirements for all large banks, effective on October 1. Those capital requirements ensure that the large banks tested will hold roughly $1 trillion in high-quality capital—enough to survive a severe recession and still be able to lend to households and businesses. +> +>Large bank capital requirements are in part determined by the Board's stress test results, which provide a risk-sensitive and forward-looking assessment of capital needs. The below table shows the total common equity tier 1, or CET1, capital requirements for each bank, which is made up of several components, including: +> +>Minimum capital requirement, which is the same for each firm and is 4.5 percent; +> +>The stress capital buffer, or SCB, requirement, which is determined from the stress test results, and is at least 2.5 percent; and +> +>If applicable, a capital surcharge for global systemically important banks, or G-SIBs, which is at least 1.0 percent. +> +>The Board also affirmed the stress test results for one bank that requested reconsideration, HSBC North America Holdings Inc. The reconsideration process involved an independent group—separate from the stress testing group—that analyzed and evaluated the results. While affirming HSBC's stress test results for this cycle, the Board also directed the staff to conduct a closer examination of issues raised in the reconsideration process to inform continuing improvements in its stress testing methodology for next year's stress tests. + +&#x200B; + +Large Bank Capital Requirements - August 2021 + +Under the Federal Reserve Board’s capital framework for bank holding companies and U.S. intermediate holding companies with $100 billion or more in total consolidated assets, capital requirements are in part determined by the supervisory stress test results. Table 1 shows the total common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital requirement for each large bank, which is made up of several components, including + +* a minimum CET1 capital requirement of 4.5 percent, which is the same for each bank; +* the stress capital buffer (SCB) requirement, which is determined from the supervisory stress test results and is at least 2.5 percent;[1](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/large-bank-capital-requirements-20210805.htm#fn1) and +* if applicable, a capital surcharge for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), which is at least 1.0 percent. + +&#x200B; + +|**Bank**|**Minimum CET1 capital ratio**|**Stress capital buffer requirement**|**G-SIB surcharge**[\*\*\*\*\*](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/large-bank-capital-requirements-20210805.htm#xt1p1f1)|**CET1 capital requirement**| +|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| +|Ally Financial Inc.[†](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/large-bank-capital-requirements-20210805.htm#xt1p1f2)|4.5|3.5|n/a|8.0| +|American Express Company†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Bank of America Corporation|4.5|2.5|2.5|9.5| +|The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation|4.5|2.5|1.5|8.5| +|Barclays US LLC|4.5|3.6|n/a|8.1| +|BMO Financial Corp.|4.5|3.0|n/a|7.5| +|BNP Paribas USA, Inc.†|4.5|6.4|n/a|10.9| +|Capital One Financial Corporation|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Citigroup Inc.|4.5|3.0|3.0|10.5| +|Citizens Financial Group, Inc.†|4.5|3.4|n/a|7.9| +|Credit Suisse Holdings (USA), Inc.|4.5|6.9|n/a|11.4| +|DB USA Corporation|4.5|4.5|n/a|9.0| +|Discover Financial Services†|4.5|3.6|n/a|8.1| +|DWS USA Corporation|4.5|7.2|n/a|11.7| +|Fifth Third Bancorp†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.|4.5|6.4|2.5|13.4| +|HSBC North America Holdings Inc.|4.5|7.5|n/a|12.0| +|Huntington Bancshares Incorporated†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|JPMorgan Chase & Co.|4.5|3.2|3.5|11.2| +|KeyCorp†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|M&T Bank Corporation†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Morgan Stanley|4.5|5.7|3.0|13.2| +|MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation|4.5|3.3|n/a|7.8| +|Northern Trust Corporation|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|RBC US Group Holdings LLC|4.5|3.4|n/a|7.9| +|Regions Financial Corporation|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Santander Holdings USA, Inc.†|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|State Street Corporation|4.5|2.5|1.0|8.0| +|TD Group US Holdings LLC|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Truist Financial Corporation|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|UBS Americas Holding LLC|4.5|7.1|n/a|11.6| +|U.S. Bancorp|4.5|2.5|n/a|7.0| +|Wells Fargo & Company|4.5|3.1|2.0|9.6| + +\* The G-SIB surcharge is updated annually in the first quarter.   + +† Firm did not participate in DFAST 2021. The SCB requirement is based on DFAST 2020 results.  + +n/a Not applicable.  +My wife and I are planning to buy a house this year but with utility bills rocketing and the house prices at an all time high I’m wondering if we should delay? Is anyone else feeling the same? + +We are looking at a monthly mortgage cost that will amount to about 40% more than our current rent due to house size and location. We’re fortunate enough that this new monthly cost would be about 20% of our take home pay. + +Our energy bills are currently fixed until next summer and seeing the quotes people are getting on here I wonder if it would be foolish to give this up? + +That all being said there is an opportunity cost at play here, delaying means we will pay another year or two in rent and then mortgage rates may have increased a lot by then too. Not to mention if house prices keep going up we will have to pay more for the same house. + +I know no one know what is going to happen in the future but interested to hear the thoughts of this community. +Following on from my last post, I have discovered that I broke the ISA limit of £20k - wasn't aware this was an overall limit. + +As of right now, I have invested £20,862 across two ISA's since 06/04/2020: + +\- HTB ISA: £1,800 + +\- S&S ISA: £19,062 + +I was planning on continuing to pay into my HTB, max out a LISA (£4k, I was going to later choose which to use to purchase a house). I wanted to ask: is there anything I need to do immediately? + +If I sell off shares in my S&S ISA to bring me below the £20,000 limit before the end of the tax year, will I be alright? I have not gained anywhere near the tax-free limit of £12,300, so it's not like I've gained anything from exceeding the limit. + +Moreover, I would potentially sell of enough in the S&S ISA to then place £4k into a LISA. Selling £6k in my S&S ISA would bring me below the £20k limit, and putting £4k into a LISA would still leave me below the limit. + +EDIT: I have almost £3000 in my S&S ISA uninvested, sitting in cash. Will this still be added into my ISA limit? I earn no interest on this. + +Thanks in advance + +:) + +UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the advice! I called HMRC and (after being put on hold for 45 minutes) got through to a gentleman who essentially said exactly what was advised on here: do nothing, wait for HMRC to get in touch. He said there should be no issue in transfering my already-deposited money from my HTB to a LISA. He advised I book a holiday after COVID to celebrate actually maxxing it out. + +&#x200B; + +Thanks again for all your help :) +Hey, folks. I just received multiple tickets from users informing me they had funds stolen. They all linked to the same transaction, and these were all stolen from vanity addresses. When I asked for further details they all confirmed that they used the same site to generate the address. + +Vanity address generator: +bitcoinvanity(dot)appspot(dot)com + +Address that is piling up stolen funds from vanity addresses (multiple transactions so far): +https://blockchain.info/address/17Hnusfws7KsofWyZcNgTZ2hrWPrKuQ2na + +If you ever used this site, then I'd move funds out of the generated vanity address ASAP! + +edit: report the site here - Report the website here: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?rd=1 + + + +Thanks, + +-Mandrik | Blockchain.info User Experience Expert +Anyone here willing to share what was it like during those scary times? + +Did you have to go back to work? Was your passive income still functioning? + +If you relied on dividend, did you get any? If you relied on pension, did you get any? + +Or did you double down, took the opportunity and became even wealthier? +I don't know how much this has already been discussed here, as I'm somewhat new to this sub and I don't read everything here. + +I still have five years until FIRE but it's fun thinking about what that means for me. I'm fairly confident that I want to leave my suburban community lifestyle in Missouri where I have lived my entire life. + +Today my utility bills are roughly $500 a month. Clearly it would be awesome to not have to pay for electric, water, and sewer. When I FIRE I would be capable of either buying and developing my own off grid property, or I could buy something turnkey. I also might be interested in living in a sustainable ecofriendly commune style community. Even though I've lived in suburbia most of my life I imagine myself a closeted hippie. + +I really like the notion of living in a community with shared food and meals. That would be very supportive and emotionally healthy in my opinion. + +Does anyone here have plans to do something like this, or already have and can share your stories? + +I know a lot of times this kind of retirement is in concert with frugal FIRE, but I'm more interested in the community aspects. I am not going to frugal FIRE but living in a community like this as a home base, while we continue to travel, certainly has a romantic appeal to me. + +My other fantasy along these lines would be to live on a remote island, like Culebra Puerto Rico. + +Anyone tried a more off-grid and/or commune style lifestyle? +About a year and a half ago I got one of those fitness trackers that would measure your heart rate. I've also had a lot of life changes (move, better job, etc) over that period of time. Recently I graphed out my resting heart rate as recorded by the tracker every day, and noticed that I could see the effects of my changes on my heart rate. + +[Graph here!](http://imgur.com/a/A9w2u) + +(My physical activity levels did not really change over this time except for that very last half rectangle). + +Seeing this made me think of this sub because I feel like it demonstrates how being able to retire early and not deal with things like commuting and job stress could really affect your health in the long term. Just thought it would be a neat thing to share. +What do you guys think about superdividends? Recently, I’ve been looking into $SDIV, and noticed it has a nearly 13% yield. Surely this etf must be high in risk with such high yields. I’m looking at its composition, it seems to be a little bit disproportionately heavy in REITs, hence the super high dividends. Would you guys steer clear of these? +So i’ve only started looking into dividend investing recently but i’ve seen a few posts on this sub about investing a certain amount over time rather than all at once. + +For example lets say I have 5k to invest in T, why is it better to invest it over a few months or years rather than invest that full 5k now on a dip, or is it even better? + +Thanks for any responses! +Long time lurker first time poster. + +My grandma passed leaving me a portfolio containing the following: + +PSF +FSD +THQ + +Bug yields on all but…I am 37…keep or liquidate? I don’t really understand these funds so interested in learning more. Thanks! +I’m just under a year into investing and have 50ish shares of SPHD in my portfolio amongst other dividend yielding companies. I keep hearing great things about SCHD, and am considering buying into it. However, I’m wondering if I should sell my holdings in SPHD to fund SCHD. + +Any input is cool. + +Thanks 😎 +The bottom line is the bottom line. If you make money but dividends or by appreciation in share price, you have still made money. + +What is the interest/philosophy/goal that makes *you* choose dividend stocks or funds? +Dividends (from my understanding) are taxed as ordinary income tax and if you're currently working a day job then you think you're getting say 5% as a dividend, but after your taxes (let's say 25% to keep it simple) it's really only 4%. + +Now if you've already quit your day job, then your income will drop and this might not be as bad of an issue if you're trying to live (in part) off of dividend income. + +Does it make more sense to buy growth stocks in a taxable account and dividend stocks in tax protected accounts? +Hey, quick back story.I'm 24 yrs old, never had a stable job, loved the markets so threw my 10k of life savings 2 years ago into the market and learned options. I had a wild ride, peaked at 130k USD (i'm canadian but trade US markets) and as the saying goes, easy come easy go. I'm now sitting with no money in my portfolio and $1000 to my name. On the flip side, i've had a huge learning experience and i now have a stable job at a bank (low paying but opportunity to grow for now). + +Although i have not lost the knowledge on actively trading options, i'd like to rebuild a solid foundation through a dividend portfolio and only trade spare money when it presents itself. + +I'm going to attempt to contribute 200-400$/mo towards the dividend port and would like to start with stocks below $100 until i can increase my monthly contributions. + +So far, i'm looking at DIVO, O, STAG, UVV & looking for a few in other sectors to balance it out. + +I'd mostly like your thoughts on DIVO as it seems like a pretty attractive place to start and allocate most of the contributions at first. + +Any advice in the dividend world is welcomed, along with any resources. +So I have been doing dividend investing for just about a year, and I have about $2,600 so far. I have talked with my wife and we are able to add about $100 per month to the account consistently. I have 31 companies that I own now and another 60 that I want to add into my portfolio. + +Should I add to the positions I have right now or add new positions? Or is there another way that would be better? Thanks in advance. +&#x200B; + +* Do you plan on having your portfolio consists mostly of dividend stocks for most of your life? +* Are you near retirement age and don't want the risk of growth companies? +* Don't you have to pay tax on the dividends? (I'm assuming your annual salary qualifies you for annual taxes) +* Do you use the dividends as income? + +Genuinely curious and not trying to shitpost. Sure I agree in a rate-hiking environment it makes sense to park some cash to dividend companies . I just don't get the point of devoting most of the portfolio to dividends. In a 20 year horizon, having mostly dividend stocks would underperform a diversified portfolio consisting a mix of growth and value stocks. +Hi, + +i have 30k parked on the side and are looking for dividend investments. i am european and maybe biased.Time horizon is 6 years till retirement and i will add up some additional cashflow to my pension then. + +adidas and vonovia (2 german stocks) are hit pretty hard now and worth to investigate.are there any us dividend stocks on sale ( with similar marketcap) now with similar plunge? any hints are welcome. +Long time lurker first time poster. + +My grandma passed leaving me a portfolio containing the following: + +PSF +FSD +THQ + +Bug yields on all but…I am 37…keep or liquidate? I don’t really understand these funds so interested in learning more. Thanks! +Ive been stocking up on shares of both KO and O, but both have been very red lately. I am new to dividend investing and have mostly been doing growth stocks. How much should I take into account if my dividend stocks are red verses just keep loading up and wait for dividends? Thanks! +Personally, I like it because I find it much more scary to invest in something that doesn't pay me money. I find it scary to hold a an asset and just anticipate that I will be able to sell it for more money in the future. This is definitely a bias of mine that may cause me to miss out on returns in the future. But at the end of the day, knowing that I will (most likely) receive my dividends helps me sleep at night. I think for me, that makes the tradeoff worth it. + +I encourage you to share why you like dividend investing below. Perhaps the conversations will help you to discover a bias in your decision making. I certainly hope to identify more of my own! +I have had a hard time getting a job. Right now, just want to either cut my expenses further, or get a part time job, to help pay for life + college. + +I am lucky and sad that my parents are supporting me, and I want to as soon as possible, get out from under that, so that I can be fully financially independent. + +I have no debts, use a visa debit card. + +I have two bank accounts, one a high-rate or semi-high rate at IngDirect now Capitol One 360, whatever that means lol. And a checking account locally. + +About half my bills are automatically paid, the others I get in the mail and have to pay online. + +I do not have a checkbook, since they are so easily stolen, and an easy temptation for me, to get out of control. + +I am rather frugal, and always looking for ways to cut spending. + +My current bank balance is: + +1. Savings: $1567.51 +2. Checkings $2581.59 + +About 90% of my bills are medical, mortgage, comcast, verizon. + +I currently have a basic/dumb cellphone, and recentally talked to Verizon, and I have the best phone/plan that is available atm. + +I have no basic cable TV of any kind, but I do pay for cable broadband internet. + +I do tend to buy books alot, but I always go to used book stores or thrift shops to buy them. + +But then every couple weeks I go take a few bags of books and sell them back. + +I don't think I'm a big spender, but I obviously need another source of income. + +To keep busy, I go once a week to a Toastmasters meeting, and do volunteer work for ESL. + +I have a brand new revised resume, reference letters. + +But my problem is that only seems to be fast food, or retail crap jobs out there. But I can't think of anything else that is tolerable. + +I am very cynical about working for other big companies, because I rarely find good managers to work for. So that makes working there less tolerable. + +So any suggestions to either cut my spending, or increase earning? + +I really hate selling stuff, or pushing myself onto other people, really pisses me off, so I have no desire to do any sales work. +Just going to put this out there, and not as a doomer or anything, but omicron has probably spread everywhere and not just 1 of 2 cases here and there. It's been running around probably for several weeks and we just now know what we're looking for. It's popped up in 3 different continents outside Africa in the four-ish days since it was publicly announced so you can safely say these new cases are not the first. + +I'm not saying it'll get as bad as delta, but you can bet your already fisted asses that governments are going to impose a shitload of overreactive (potentially who knows right now) restrictions. + +Very bullish for covid stonks. Dow might continue to shit the bed and drag spy with it, but ol' nassy should bounce. + +By the by, I'm not an epidemiologist, but I do covid testing in a hospital so i do have some actual knowledge in the area. It is really fucking hard to track variants because most people who walk through our doors that get tested never have samples sent to the state. If it's positive we do 0 further investigation and I've worked in several facilities in the country who follow the same protocol. Most of the cost efficient and widely used tests (see Abbott Id now) don't go any further than testing for all variants and it would be really impractical to go further and send every positive sample out. + +Early covid we had to send samples to the state labs or ref labs and it would take 8 to 10 days to get results back. We won't run into this issue specifically again, but if we were to send out every positive sample for specific genotyping would likely develop a decent backlog. After a certain period it does very little good because by the time we know we need to do contact tracing it's already spread once, maybe twice depending on how backlogged they get. Not to mention that biotech companies would have to design and manufacture en mass the kits to do it. The lag there would put us in the middle of a wave if this thing really ramps up. Now it is easy to design new pcr primers, but again you still need them in bulk and it's really tough to do it in a high throughput capacity because it actually takes skilled labor which we are really, really short on. + +Tl;Dr it very likely in multiple states and we will see it pop up widely in a couple weeks if it spreads as fast or faster than delta. It's hard to track properly and there will be a shitload of fear-mongering and knee jerk reactions. + +🚀 🚀 🚀 covid stonks over the coming weeks.us. + +Edit- sorry I didn't include position! Nflx 12/3 670/675 call spreads. It's bounced off support recently after being beat up unlike the other megacaps and its tried to go on a run the past two market opens. Pretty confident itll push an ath if the fear mongering continues. That is barring a true market crash, but this isn't the black swan you are looking for. + +Edit numero dos- I am strongly assuming this won't bring about a horrible death-toll or put us at essentially a new game + version of covid. My concern is labor disruption due to the unvaccinated population getting run through (even if it is mild) and breakthrough infections. A lot of work places demand you stay home if infected or if you're the responsible type and test positive and decide to quarantine your employer can't say anything because it's an osha violation. This is the big concern on the market - how will it further fuck supply chain issues because of staffing issues. Past that I'm not saying it's a nothingburger, but it's probably just more of the same as delta is. + +Edit 3 because I'm tired of explaining it - I'm a medical lab scientist, but its easiest just to say lab tech and far less pompous. I have a 4 year degree with upper level courses in immunology, infectious disease, and a lot of other shit that's not completely relevant to covid. I'm not a doctor nor do I claim to be, but I work 20 feet from an ER and see critical covid cases on the reg and do play a role in those cases. I'm not a high-school grad making minimum wage who can barely be trusted to pipette things. I've also done a few years research in micro, molecular and biochemistry. So needless to say, I'm not talking entirely out of my ass. +I can't name just one since there were so many. Those are mine: + +1. Buying a lot of Cardano before the launch of smart contracts. + +2. Trying to time the market to make profit from Doge/Shib by rumors + +3. Thinking day trading is easy money lying on the floor. + +4. Buying too many different coins instead of investing in a few good ones. + +5. Panic selling/buying + +But I guess those can be summarized to our favorite buy high sell low and believing rumors/upcoming news. + +What were your greatest fails with crypto? +We can't afford legal advice at this stage and I don't know what else to do. + +This is the situation in short: + +\- My mum and dad have been married for 20 years. + +\- My dad wants to leave my mum because he no longer loves her. + +\- They own a shared house together with a mortgage. £20k is outstanding. The house is worth £200,000. + +\- My mum has been unemployed for 20 years. She has run the home and looked after my dad. + +\- My dad earns - and has earned - £30,000 a year for 15 or so years. He is the sole earner. He has supported my mum and raised two children with her. + +\- My mum is FULLY dependent on my dad. She doesn't have her own bank account or any cash savings. + +\- When they first met, my mum had more money than my dad. My dad was in debt. My mum helped him pay it off and she paid the £25,000 deposit on the house they now own. She also paid for a roof replacement and brought two cars over the years. + +\- My brother is 20 years old. He still lives at home. He works part-time but does not earn much money. He is also dependent on my dad. + +That is the situation in a nutshell. + +My questions are: + +\- I understand the house will be split 50/50 because of the marriage. Is that right? + +\- What happens to other assets, like cars? I believe they are in my dad's name but I know my mum paid for them. Although, I do not think this can be proved. + +\- Can my dad be 'forced' to pay my mum spousal maintenance on an ongoing basis? I ask because she is fully dependent on him and she has no resources or prospects. She is of very ill health, is frail and is 65-years-old. She cannot work. My dad is 56-years-old and works full time and will be continuing that. + +If anyone can help me with this I would be extremely appreciative. Thank you so much. +For about a year after I moved into my flat I didn't bother with a TV licence as I never watch live TV or iPlayer and didn't fancy paying the fee. + +A couple of months ago I decided to get a license to see how much I would use it and watch a handful of things that I liked the look of on the BBC. But that was about it. I decided the other day that it still wasn't worth my money so looked to cancel the license and boy do they try to make that difficult to do. + +You have to write a note to the TV licensing people explaining why you want to cancel and wait for a reply from them. I did that and of course they had to warn me that I most probably did and it was 'advisable to modify my TV set' if it' s not used for watching live TV. + +They've said that they'll need to send someone round to check that I don't need a licence! + +So my questions are: +Has anyone had experience like this in the past? How can I prove that I don't watch live TV? (There is an antenna and cable that is not plugged in). And do I need to let this person in my home? I'm happy to do so if it means they won't bother me again. + +In February 2020 I made a money claim against someone who owes me just over £1,000. We had the loan agreed in writing. In March 2021 I finally was heard in court and the judge decided in my favour. The defendant admitted my initial claim, but falsely rebutted the amount owed. That's why it went to court. + +The guy received a CCJ and I'm really happy about that. The debt can be found on the Trust Online register and will be there until 2027. I then paid to have High Court Enforcement Officers on the case which took a few months, but they were unable to retrieve any money from him. I had to pay them the £75+VAT fee for it. + +So in addition to the amount owed, I've spent money on court fees, bailiffs, trace agents (to confirm the debtor's address). I suppose the trace agents is on me, I was 99% sure of his address but just wanted to confirm. The defendant changed it on the claim form to a false address anyway, which actually worked in my favour in court. I've been unable to recover any fees from the debtor. + +I have no idea where he *currently* works and trace agents have been unable to find out either, so the option to claim for the money to be taken out of his wages is out. I could try other HCEOs, but I'm not sure how successful they would be. I could make a claim to freeze his bank accounts for the money, but I don't think he has/keeps that much and I risk gaining nothing. + +Any more actions will cost me. I'm 25 and saving for a house. I'm just wondering if it's even worth it? Maybe I'm just chasing him because I'm salty. Maybe I'm wrong. I could live without the money, I have almost £30k in savings. The guy is in other debt too. I have the CCJ which is registered and probably ruining his credit even more, right? I'm not in contact with the debtor. Do I just let it go? +**This live chat is to discuss the Shareholder meeting today. Please see all official GameStop information here:** [**https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-announces-first-quarter-fiscal-2021-earnings-release**](https://investor.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-announces-first-quarter-fiscal-2021-earnings-release) + +* GameStop Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2021 Earnings Release Date and Confirms Annual Shareholder Meeting Date + * GRAPEVINE, Texas, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- **GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME)**, today announced that it will report first quarter fiscal 2021 earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. The Company will host an investor conference call at 5:00 pm ET on the same day to review the company’s financial results. This call and any supplemental information can be accessed at GameStop Corp.’s investor relations home page at [http://investor.GameStop.com/](https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=e2exx5RBaQ-UBOdhtRDh5us9Hc6wZZGTbIOVD30Myim17kYxdprmwVHHsE7rNdBCP8mXV3hqNNrXh_yVWEHtN3T8Uz2DpdijdxNi_UF9HvE=). The phone number for the investor conference call is 877-451-6152 and the confirmation code is 13720011. The conference call will be archived for two months on GameStop’s corporate website. +* **Annual Shareholders Meeting** + * The Company also confirmed that its Annual Shareholders Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 625 Westport Parkway, Grapevine, Texas. The meeting, which is not open to the media and requires shareholders to provide proof of ownership through legal proxy and valid identification, is expected to take place at 10:00am CT/ 11:00am ET and conclude at 10:15am CT/11:15am ET. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed.  Chief Executive Officer and director George Sherman will attend the meeting in-person with the remainder of the Board of Directors attending virtually. +* **About GameStop** + * GameStop, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is a leading specialty retailer offering games and entertainment products through its E-Commerce properties and thousands of stores. Visit www.GameStop.com to explore our products and offerings. Follow @GameStop and @GameStopCorp on Twitter and find us on Facebook at [www.facebook.com/GameStop](https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=4bO3kkKz09W3iNToGtCpxVkNQNYjwIugZeeJS-JC3wGj1C8rBv8TiBofupr7vyDRW8gk4O3pwL-SVK4bEtSEtRAB1QjUscTO2k6HMOTzvDk=). + +\--- + +**Additionally, make sure you check out the** r/Superstonk **Live programming:** [**https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nvrab6/rsuperstonk\_live\_69\_programming\_gamestop/**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nvrab6/rsuperstonk_live_69_programming_gamestop/) +We recently refinanced our house - the interest rate is now a little under 2.4% and it is a 15 year fixed loan. Paying extra principal payments, I figure we can have this house paid off in about 6 years no problem. (We also have a 6 months emergency fund, no debt except the mortgage, retirement investments in good shape) + +However, my wife and I are talking about selling this house when our kids finish school (which is about 6 years from now). This is a 2-story and we both want a ranch (and a different neighborhood with more privacy). + +I'm about 15 years from retiring. I think I kind of know the answer to my question, but seeking advice from others. Should I continue on this road of making extra payments or put the extra money aside for the new home? (I'm thinking now it makes sense to save the extra money instead of paying off the house) + +A few things I'm considering as facts: + +* The housing market will eventually cool off. Can't predict when, but I believe we will see a drop in home demand again. I don't know what I will get out of this house when it sells. If the new home is cheaper, assuming I'll get less when I sell this one. Kind of a wash. +* Not sure what the new home will cost. I'm thinking it will be similar to the current home, perhaps a little less. We want a smaller home but we want more privacy. +* Having the money to put down on a new home instead of having it tied up in the sale of this home will be better when it comes to buying the new house. +* I'd like the new home to be paid off within a few years of purchasing it it. I don't want a mortgage when I'm retired. + +If the money goes into a savings account, I think a HYSA or maybe a CD would be my best bet. 6 years is not a lot of time for a riskier investment. Any thoughts here? + +Appreciate any feedback. +Currently my student loans equal my auto loan. Since student loans are federal they are currently sitting at 0% interest until November. + +SL is normally 6%. Auto is 2.99%. Remaining time on each is also equal. + +I’m saving half of my income right now. + +Should I dump money in the auto loan and bank on SL forgiveness or dump money into SL? + +Edit: oh my gosh the room is so split on this! I can’t decide. SL seems to make the most sense unfortunately! +I currently have a 401k I contribute to through my employer, have recently REALLY buckled down on saving money (I try to put away $225-250 every week). Basically, I know there will constantly be a never ending battle with “saving money” for the rest of my life, but I would love some advice as to how I could be planning and setting myself up for the future! +Thankfully in a good financial situation and have about $75k of "extra cash". Looking for a long term investment plan. + +Cars, mortgage, insurances all accounted for. + +Someone mentioned the idea of buying whole life insurance (already have term) for the benefits of additional death benefits as well as an investment strategy. Any thoughts on this? Better to just do a mutual fund? +I am currently a 20 year old dude living with my parents and earning 14.50/hr part-time while taking college classes. Am about to finish my associates degree which means in about 6 month I’ll be moving out. My tuition per semester would be something around 5-6k plus housing which is about 700-800/month + insurance and gas for my car(paid off) and my daily living expense. I live and school in the state of Va. Currently I have more than 11k in saving but am still very overwhelmed. I need a job that pays at least 20/hr but it’s hard finding part time roles that compensate that much. Any advice given will be very appreciated. +First of all, it is a bank and a brokerage combined. Like you can have your checking account, savings account, Ira/Roth Ira, taxable trading brokerage, and even more all with them. This seems very convenient as everything is in one area and you can easily transfer your money around. And there are 0 fees for almost everything that the average person would need. + +Does anyone else agree/disagree? +I’m actually asking this on behalf of someone else who doesn’t use Reddit. Self employed (real estate broker + investor), files as S-Corp, owns the following accounts: + +- Solo 401k (pre-tax) +- Solo 401k (after-tax) +- Solo 401k (Roth 401k) +- Roth (with $8500 in it) +- Traditional IRA +- SEP IRA (with $10k in it) + +To keep the math simple, assume $100,000 annual income. If I wanted to max everything out, what can I put where? I’m aware of the $19,500 401k limit and $6500 Roth limit. But... + +- Can I double dip using both the Roth and 401k Roth (6500 in each?) + +- I know that employer contribution (profit sharing?) goes into the pretax account. Is there a limit to what the profit sharing can be, and does that limit apply separately for the 401k and Roth matches, or combined? Can I double dip on matches, utilizing both my 401k and Roth 401k? + +- if I can’t double dip on the Roth’s, is there an advantage of one over the other? + +- any other creative ideas I haven’t mentioned? + +YES, we’re seeing an accountant about this, but thought we’d add some data points perhaps from someone who may have experience in this area. + +What are the things you've always wanted to know about but have been too afraid of asking? What do you need to retire? Is your financial advisor working on your behalf or just raking in fees? What does it all mean? + +Remember - this is a safe place. Upvote those that contribute, and only downvote if a comment is off-topic or doesn't contribute to the discussion, **not** just because you disagree. + +Consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +I have a student bank account with santander and have an over draft of 1500 available this is a 0% interest overdraft so if I'm in it I dont pay anything unless im still in it after my 3 years of uni. + +I opened a savings account (also santander) with a 2.5% interest rate (the best you can get apparently) and am keeping my student loan inside this savings account to gain interest I'm just worried that because I'm using my overdraft to pay for food despite having the money in another account that it may affect my credit score . Would I be better off moving £50 a week out of savings into my account or just continue on the overdraft? +I'm currently enrolled into community college and live in housing that technically had some type of agreement with the community college but since then has gone through a bankruptcy and 2 changes of management. I have recently been giving 30 days to move out due to an incident of trespassing into the complexes club house, where a party was held and now they're claiming that damages were sustained. My credit is not the best, i have mid to low 500 credit rating on two agencies and low 600's on the other one. I have exactly 547 and 60 cents. I live in Illinois, what are steps i can make to improve my situation? +Just a PSA for the newlyweds out there. If you both have an income, you both need to fill out your W-4 to reflect your new tax situation. Your employer assumes your income is the only income for your household; now that you have a second earner in your household, your tax situation has likely changed. + +Somehow I never got this information and I just got a $10,000 tax bill as a result. AND now that I've adjusted my withholdings [fewer allowances = more withholding], our income is a lot less every month than we thought. It has caused enormous headaches. + +tl;dr - Marriage changes your tax situation. Don't wait until April to find out how. +Every heard of a [Fiver Birthday party](https://www.debtdiscipline.com/fiver-birthday/)? It's a party where you request a $5 cash gift and could be used as a teachable money moment for your kids. +Hi everyone. I'm seeking any advice on what would be my best course of action to get out of debt and set up foundation for my financial future. + +I'll get straight into my financial situation: + +\- College student in Canada, halfway through a BBA Finance degree at a smaller university. + +\- Make anywhere from $500-$1,000 per month teaching group fitness classes. $0 in savings. + +\- Living alone: Rent is $1,000/month, car payment and insurance combined is just under $650/month. Additional expenses add up to another $600+ a month. + +\- Debt includes $10,000 on a credit card, $9,000 on a car loan (car is worth about $9,000), and $35,000 in student loans. + +\- No financial assistance from friends or family, just student loans. + +I feel like I'm treading water and barely getting by. I rely on student loans and scholarships & bursaries to get my education and pay a lot of my living expenses. I feel like if I take a full course load each semester I have less time to earn an income and I owe more in tuition, and whereas if I take less courses per semester I will graduate later (I'm already a year behind and in my late 20's) but I will have more time to work and graduate with less student loan debt. + +I'm lost on how to handle my situation. I don't really know how I should approach my schooling and work situation. + +Any advice would be appreciated. +My wife and I are currently renting, the rent is $1000/month and we feel like the price will increase soon. We have been looking into buying a house, but the house prices are out of reach. + +We initially decided against getting a trailer home, because it's a depreciating asset, but I had a thought a few days ago. If we were to get a used trailer home the lot rent + trailer financing would cost $350/month. If we were to stick the extra $650/month into an S&P 500 index fund, after 10 years we'd have around $135,000. + +Does anyone here have any experience doing anything like that? +i’m a college student who pays for essentially everything except for rent. i pay for car insurance, college, food, phone bill, and any other necessities. i only have 1k in my savings and im worried it is not enough. i pay 4k a semester for school and i put 5000 in doge last year which is still in there because i have hope it will increase. Should i have more money in my savings at this age? i really need advice. at the moment the income i have allows me to pay for all of my necessities but i barely have anything to save +I'm currently enrolled into community college and live in housing that technically had some type of agreement with the community college but since then has gone through a bankruptcy and 2 changes of management. I have recently been giving 30 days to move out due to an incident of trespassing into the complexes club house, where a party was held and now they're claiming that damages were sustained. My credit is not the best, i have mid to low 500 credit rating on two agencies and low 600's on the other one. I have exactly 547 and 60 cents. I live in Illinois, what are steps i can make to improve my situation? +I started working in a call center for a bank in the UK in August this year and have been enrolled into the pension. Its is a defined contribution pension that invests in the L&G PLC Multi Asset Fund 3. + +I absolutely hate the job and only took it as i was desperate for money. I will not be staying there longer so i wanted to know if i should opt out or continue with what little i have already invested in the fund. I have no idea how much is in there but it is likely a few hundred pounds if that. + +I'm not struggling for money or anything so i wanted to get people's opinions on the matter. + +Thank you +So the idea I had in mind was if the fed had wanted interest rates to hit a goal of maybe 6% over 3 years, why couldn't they just raise it using a formula like (interest rate goal)/(length of time in days)? +Hi, I understand there is already a number of posts questioning renting vs buying, however I don't think any of them cover this specific scenario. + +Now here is the scenario, keep in mind I intend on living in this location for at least the next 5 years. + +Renting a 1 bedroom apartment that I am satisfied with in my suburb costs approximately $375 per week. + +Buying a 1 bedroom apartment that I am satisfied with in the same suburb costs $350,000. + +Now, let's say that I can get the first home loan deposit scheme, meaning I only have to pay a 5% deposit ($17,500). And as I it is my first home, I would qualify for the stamp duty concession, and thus not have to pay any stamp duty. My loan from the bank would be $332,500. At a 2.99% interest rate, my weekly repayments would be $324 per week. Let's say body corporate is $4000 per the year ($76.92 per week). This would make my weekly cost $400.92. + +Of course there's property maintenance and rates that I would need to factor in as well. + +But ultimately, I'm seeing it as a better financial decision to purchase a 1 bedroom apartment as it will only cost me an extra $25.92 per week ($6739.20 over 5 years). However the money I'm putting into my mortgage is going to an asset I own, as opposed to a landlord (dead money). + +Now, I understand that the money I will ultimately be paying a considerable amount in interest (dead money), however I still see buying as a better decision. Here's why. + +Let's say I live in this apartment for the next 30 years (highly unlikely!). The interest I will pay is $211,586. If I rented and rent stayed the same price over the next 30 years (highly unlikely, it will most likely rise with inflation), than I will have paid $585,000. Although, I also would be saving $1347.84 per year (25.92\*52). + +Now, let's say I rented, and invest the $17,500 deposit in an index fund and annually invest $1347,84 (the difference I'd save each week if I rented) and receive a 7% return. In 5 years time, this sum would be $32,300, and in 30 years time it would be $260,000. + +So as I see it, in 30 years time- + +If I rent, I'm down $325,000, (-585,000 +260,000). + +If I buy, I'm down $211,586, however, I now own an asset (let's assume in this topsy turvy world the value of the apartment does not go up at all, highly unlikely), a $350,000 property. (+138,414). And I guess over the time, that $138,414 could be used for maintenance and rates etc. + +It seems like buying is the most logical option financially by a country mile. Am I missing anything!? + +If you made it this far, thanks for reading. If you provided a detailed response, picking me apart or supporting my argument, you're a dead set legend and I appreciate your time! + +&#x200B; + +EDIT - I've re-done my calculations, and when adding in Contents insurance, Rates, and a slightly higher body corporate fee, I believe renting is ultimately cheaper IF the property price of the apartment does not increase. +Hey, just wanted to get an idea on what people think regarding houses near high voltage transmission lines. Buying my first house in Diamond creek and it backs onto transmission lines * about 50m away from the fence, not visible from the house* and worried about the investment value of the house. Personally don't care as there are no evidence-based risks in long-term studies, but that doesn't mean everyone knows that. Am I better off staying away? I like the place, but wanna park my money where it can grow. Any thoughts appreciated! +If you have ongoing mortgage repayment, how are you handling with it? As the title says, I'm paying 47.98% of my net income to mortgage repayments. It says that someone paying more than 30% of their income on housing is deemed to be in "Mortgage Stress". Is it 30% of after-tax income? + +Here are my home loan details. + +|Loan Type|Amount|Interest rate|Repayment (fortnightly)| +|:-|:-|:-|:-| +|Variable|$141,868|3.74%|$328.22| +|Fixed (3 years)|$450,000|3.79%|$1,047| +|Total|||$1375.22| + +I chose to pay fortnightly for 30 years. It should be $1,270.72/fortnight. However, my lender divides the monthly repayment($2750.44) by two and I have to pay $1,375.22 fortnightly. So, I ended up paying the full monthly repayment amount in 4 weeks. Does it mean my mortgage will be paid off earlier? + +I have the mortgage stress but I'm handling OK as I am not a big spender and I don't have any other outstanding loans. My grandmom taught me "to differentiate between what I need and what I want". +Hey guys! + +Trying to show the folks how bad the lottery odds are, I found a lottery calculator once upon a time that tracked weekly spend against potential winnings (it was a strange small website) does anyone have that or something like it? + +Cheers +https://www.barrons.com/articles/ark-etf-funds-performance-51641424042 + +The new year didn’t bring a fresh start for Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, a fund company known for its focus on innovation stocks and high price targets. + +The firm’s flagship ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund (ticker: ARKK) plunged 7.1% in Wednesday trading, marking its worst day since Sept 3, 2020. All of ARK’s other ETFs, including the latest, ARK Transparency (CTRU)—launched in December—are also deep in negative territory. + +Growth stocks fell on Wednesday after the latest minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting were released, suggesting that the central bank’s rate increases might be earlier and faster than market has expected. + +Investors were spooked as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell shifted his tone to emphasize the risks of inflation—after months of describing rising prices as “transitory”—as a new Covid-19 variant is rampaging across the country and causing supply-chain disruptions. + +The S&P 500 lost 2% in the last two hours of Wednesday’s trading, growth stocks within the index tumbled 3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.3%. + +But the ARK ETFs were some of the worst-performing funds amid Wednesday’s decline. Besides ARK Innovation, ARK Genomic Revolution (ARKG) was down 7.1%, ARK Fintech Innovation (ARKF) dropped 6.6%, and ARK Next Generation Internet (ARKW) fell 6.2%. Other groups of growth stocks, such as blockchain, cannabis, clean energy, and technology, were also deep in the red. + +Wednesday’s loss was just the latest stretch of ARK funds’ year-long struggle. ARK ETFs were some of the best-performing funds in 2020, soaring an average of 150% as the pandemic accelerated the adoption of many emerging platforms and technologies that companies in its portfolios own. + +Since peaking in February 2021, however, the funds have been tumbling downhill, shedding much of their gains from the year before. Rising inflation has made the future cash flow of growth-oriented innovation firms less valuable today, and investors were seeking returns from safer corners, such as cheaply traded cyclical stocks. + +With the Fed’s hawkish pivot, it looks like the volatility in growth stocks and ARK funds will continue. But if inflation can be somewhat contained following the Fed’s tightening policy in 2022, innovation stocks might embrace some rebound—though that won’t be anytime soon. +I thought this would be interesting since I've seen a number of people worried about the current bear market. A short article from Vanguard about "staying the course" and not panicking, for those of you who invest for the long term. Hope this is allowed. + +[Here is the article "Why it's best to stay calm when markets are weak"](https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/investing-success/staying-calm-when-markets-are-weak?cmpgn=ET0622UKPICEC0101) + +Here is another about ["Investing in inflationary environment"](https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/investing-success/investing-in-an-inflationary-environment?cmpgn=ET0622UKPICEC0104) + +Hope this is of help to those of you who are not completely familiar with long-term investing. +They stole my fucking catalytic converter (Gen 2 prius). February was finally going to be the month that we got a little bit of financial padding after a year of begging from Peter to pay Paul and working my fingers to the bone. We had some petty theft recently and I told my SO we needed to get a shield because that would be next and we just couldn't afford it. We couldn't afford protection, so now we have to pay 10x as much to fix it. I just hate this so much. I hate always being behind. I hate that every time I'm close to catching a break, something knocks me down a peg. Last year it was my SO being on deaths door needing me to take a month off work. The year before it was the hybrid battery in the car. This car cost me $4k almost 5 years ago, and now I get to spend half that amount because some piece of shit can't conceive of a better way to support themselves than taking from people who already don't have enough. + +I'm so over it. I'm so done with knowing all the smart moves and being able to make none of them. Fuck this failing shitty country that's pushed people this far and our worthless systems that can't help make people right in anyway. Nothing cops can do. Nothing car or renters insurance will pay. Just a big ol fuck you to me for existing. +There are a lot fewer cars on the road, fewer trips, fewer miles traveled. Does this mean there has been a massive drop in claims while we continue to pay our same premiums? I also wonder if they have let staff go and are seeing their payroll costs go down? + +Are car insurance companies going to be reporting record profits or am I missing something? +So yesterday I went to take out the money I have invested from this product. You may remember me from last week where I said I discovered my financial advisor, from one of my banks, was advising me to invest into funds that the fees were at 5% subscription + 1-4% fee / year. I discovered I was "being scammed" and sold everything on my first bank. Yesterday I went to my second bank to withdraw everything but before I asked for a detailed sheet of where my money was invested, and for my (non) surprise, I was "being scammed" aswell. + +Below is my $700k portfolio. Fees info were added by me - I didn't check the fees on all of them, but you get the picture when you get to the stock funds part, they are all the same. I apologize for some info being fucked up, but I used an image to text converter to put all this info in text. + +**Bonds - From Corporate to Government** + + CCE 0.75 16-05/22 XS1415535183 Europe + GASSM Var 14-11/49 XS1139494493 Europe + HSBC 0.875 16-09/24 XS1485597329 Europe + KPN 0.625 16-04/25 XS1485532896 Europe + SAUDCR Float 21 PTSDRCOE0002 Europe + SAUDCR Floatl 7-12/19 PTSDRDOM0001 Europe + EDF 5% 14-01/2049 FRO011697028 Europe + VW 3.875 17-06/49 XS1629774230 Europe + EGLPL 4 18-01/2023 PTMENUOM0009 Europe + EGLPL FL 18-06/2021 PTMENVOM0008 Europe + INVESCO PAN EUR HI E LUO243957742 Europe + NB Opportunity Fund LUO256571018 Global + NN L A IAN DBT -XC LU0546914242 Asia eg. Japan + SISF-GLBL CONVERT BD _UO351442776 Global + SALAR FUND PLC E3E IE00B50VYD81 Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.30% / year + PTRAMX0MOCK)6 + T 1.5 15-05/20 US912828XE52 USA + W006257461 0 + SUE/MR 7.5 16-06/27 XS 1422866456 + BUENOS 5_75 16-06/19 XS 1433314231 Emerging + GAM L EMERG LU0107852195 Emerging + TAGST 2009-ENGY PTTGUAOM0005 Europe + VERSE 3 SNR PTTGUOOM0017 Europe + RAM LUX SYS LNG/SH LU0705071453 - Fee of 2% initial charge + 2.28% ongoing charge + SCHRODER GAZA EGERTO LU0463469048 Global + ELEV- • BS Lin EUR FD LW 331972494 Europe + RUFFER SICAV TOT RET U06385587 1 7 Global + LM WA MACRO BND E00BC9S3Z47 Global + + +**Stock funds - HOLY SHIT the fees are insane. For me to turn a profit all or most of these would have to make atleast 20% / year for me to get atleast 10% profit return.** + + JUPITER GLOBAL FD-EU LU0260085492 Europe Fee of 5% initial charge + 1.72% / year + INVESCO PAN EUR ST LU0119753308 Europe Fee of 3% initial charge + 2.53% / year + BLACKROCK STR-EUR OA LU0313923228 Europe Fee of 5% initial charge + 1.89% / year + FIDELITY ACTIVE AA LU0363262121 USA Fee of 5.25% initial charge + 1.94% / year + NB MOMENTUM CL R LU0058464982 Global Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.44% / year + JPMORGAN EUR STR LU0117858752 Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.52% / year + LM-ROYCE US S C OPP IE00619Z4617 USA + LU0119753308 Europe + LUO260085492 Europe + LU0571 085413 Emerging + VF-MTX SUST EM BUSD LU0571085413 Emerging + JPMor an Funds - Eur LU0117858752 Europe + BlackRock Global Fun L 00329593262 Global + BGF-World Fin USD LUO329593262 Global + FIDELITY FDS JPN AGG LU1060955314 Japan + MS US EQ GROWTH USD LU0073232471 USA + Va uard Investment lE00803HCY54 USA + VANGUARD-US OPP INS lE00B03HCY54 USA + +**Futures - I have no idea what these are and what they do.** + + #SX.5E Drvid FUTDec20 DEDZO + #EURO STOXX 50 Dec18 VGZ8 + #S&P500 IMINFT Dec18 ESZ8 USA + #NASDAQ100 MIN Dec18 NQZ8 USA + + +**Now these were recommended to me yesterday when I went to take out my money from the bank. I have close to $700k invested there.** + + Pictet-Nutrition I dy GBP LU0448837160 Fee of 5% initial charge + 1.22% / year + Pictet-Biotech R EUR LU0255977539 Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.70% / year + Pictet-Health R EUR LU0255978859 Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.72% / year + Pictet - Global Environmental LU0503631714 Fee of 5% initial charge + 2.07% / year + +So since 2016, I have lost close to 10% of my money just to pay fees, and had a return of maybe 5%, when I could've had maybe 10%-20%. + +If you have any kind of money, from $1 to $1M NEVER EVER trust banks, even the ones that seem to have good services. YOU ARE BETTER OFF DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH and investing on your own terms by reading and asking around and studying yourself. + +Now I just need to find a good plan and where I want to put my money. + +TL;DR: Banks are garbage. DYOR and study yourself. +Haha no, I have not become FI at age 26. But after posting about how much I should spend on a car in /r/personalfinance, I got some feedback and realized what I truly want is freedom. + +I've only been out of school for a year and have already come to dread the idea that I will have to do a job I don't like for essentially the rest of my life. At the same time, I don't want to waste the schooling my parents paid for and take the risk of starting my own venture. + +Reading the stories on here has opened my eyes and has shown me that the life I've wanted is within reach. + +My journey is just getting started. I have roughly $75K saved up right now and have been reading all about where to put my money to use. Seems like $1-2mil is where people feel comfortable quitting their job. + +I'm so happy I found this sub I could not be more excited to be a part of it! +This week I hit my FIRE numbers and pretty stoked about it. Am early 40's and now trying to decide what the next couple of years look like. My numbers were hit by selling a company I started 13 years ago so will still work in it for at least another year while working out what I what to do. Wanting to decrease to 3 days per week though to get back some extra time. At that point I will probably take at least 6 months off with no work, then decide what to do from there. I will probably do something totally different to my current career. I have always wanted to own a bar. + +The numbers: + +Approx $2 million in external investments + +Approx $1 million in shares in new company + +Own house worth approx $1 million + +No debts or mortgage. + +I was planning on hitting FIRE several years earlier, without selling the company, however life never goes as planned. A separation from my wife meant a large hit to FIRE numbers, including having to buy a new house etc. I was lucky enough that because of the financial position we were in, there wasn't a huge stress about how we were going to handle that. I also know that my kids will be well looked after by both of us due to our prior financial planning. + +Its both scary and exciting not knowing what my plans are for the future. FIRE has been a strong motivator for many years now but now I have to decide what to do with it. + + +The Federal Trade Commission’s officials traded stocks and funds more than those at any other major agency, including going heavily into tech shares, The Wall Street Journal found + +WSJ Article +https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-regulators-of-facebook-google-and-amazon-also-invest-in-the-companies-stocks-11665670207 +Oct. 13, 2022 10:10 am ET + +The top watchdog of American business is also home to Washington’s most active Wall Street investors. + +The Federal Trade Commission in recent years has opened investigations into nearly every major industry. It has launched antitrust probes into technology companies, examined credit card firms and moved to restrict drug, energy and defense-company mergers. + +At the same time, senior officials at the FTC disclosed more trades of stocks, bonds and funds, on average, than officials at any other major agency in a Wall Street Journal review of financial disclosures at 50 federal agencies from 2016 to 2021. + +Many of the investments overlapped with the FTC’s work. + +A third of its 90 senior officials owned or traded stock in companies that were undergoing an FTC merger review or investigation, based on actions the agency has made public. + +FTC officials owned stock in 22 of the roughly 60 large companies the FTC brought cases against in the period reviewed. + +The officials were most heavily invested in technology, an industry that has come under increasing scrutiny by the agency. Nearly one in four top FTC officials owned or traded individual stocks of tech companies such as Amazon. com Inc., MetaPlatforms Inc.’s Facebook, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. + +An FTC chairman owned Microsoft, Oracle and AT&T Inc. while the agency was conducting sensitive reviews affecting the tech and telecom sectors. + +The head of the FTC’s international division bought and sold Facebook stock through a financial adviser as his office coordinated with overseas enforcement officials on an investigation involving Facebook. + +And an FTC consumer-protection official owned stock in more than 10 companies as the agency scrutinized mergers or acquisitions involving the firms. + + +Full article through archive:https://archive.ph/tv7Xm. + +TLDR: FTC trades companies they investigate. I would paste the whole article, but it's very long. +* Chart: https://imgur.com/0j5zI0Q +* Source: *The Economist*, [The age-old strategy of buying cheap shares is faltering](https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/09/19/the-age-old-strategy-of-buying-cheap-shares-is-faltering) + +Quote from article: + +> Since 2010 the Russell 1000 value index, which tracks American stocks with low price-to-book ratios and low expected earnings growth, has risen by just 87%, compared with 171% for the market overall. Rather than falling back down to earth as value investors might have predicted, shares in the priciest American companies in 2010 have for the most part kept soaring. +**Welcome to the Daily Discussion. Please read the disclaimer, guidelines, and rules before participating.** + +*** +- + +###Disclaimer: + +Though karma rules still apply, moderation is less stringent on this thread than on the rest of the sub. Therefore, consider all information posted here with several liberal heaps of salt, and always cross check any information you may read on this thread with known sources. Any trade information posted in this open thread may be highly misleading, and could be an attempt to manipulate new readers by known "pump and dump (PnD) groups" for their own profit. BEWARE of such practices and exercise utmost caution before acting on any trade tip mentioned here. + + +**Please be careful about what information you share and the actions you take.** Do not share the amounts of your portfolios (why not just share percentage?). Do not share your private keys or wallet seed. Use strong, non-SMS 2FA if possible. Beware of scammers and be smart. Do not invest more than you can afford to lose, and do not fall for pyramid schemes, promises of unrealistic returns (get-rich-quick schemes), and other common scams. + +*** +- + +###Rules: + + - All [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/about/rules/) apply in this thread. The prior exemption for karma and age requirements is no longer in effect. + - Discussion topics must be related to cryptocurrency. + - Behave with civility and politeness. Do not use offensive, racist or homophobic language. + - Comments will be sorted by newest first. + +*** +- + +###Useful Links: + + - [**Beginner Resources**](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/wiki/beginner_resources) + + - [**Intro to r/Cryptocurrency MOONs 🌔**](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/gj96lb/introducing_rcryptocurrency_moons/) + + - [**List of MOON proposals that have been implemented**](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/wiki/moon_proposals) + + - [**rCryptoCurrency Discord**](https://old.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/kth255/join_the_crypto_currency_discord/) + + - [**r/CryptoCurrencyMemes**](https://www.reddit.com/r/cryptocurrencymemes) + + - [**Prior Daily Discussions**](https://old.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/search?q=title%3A"Daily+Discussion+-+"+&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) + + - [**Monthly Skeptics Discussion thread**](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/mhj2sb/monthly_skeptics_discussion_april_2021/) +Hello All, + +Every now and then I do stock screens to see if there are any companies that would be a good value investment. Thanks to the bull market, the opportunities have been few and far between over the last year or two. However one company has consistently popped up in my screens. I initially ignored it as the company is in a sector I personally don't like to invest in due to the large capital requirements. The company is Toyota Motors (TM). + + +Simply put, the valuation seems too good to be true. + + +First off, let me show you what I am talking about. Here are the heat maps from FinViz: + +* [P/E](http://www.finviz.com/publish/021414/all_pe_large1600.png) +* [Forward P/E](http://www.finviz.com/publish/021414/all_fpe_large1600.png) +* [P/E/G](http://www.finviz.com/publish/021414/all_peg_large1600.png) +* [P/BV](http://www.finviz.com/publish/021414/all_pb_large1600.png) + +Now as you can see, the general trend of the market is giving you discounts to Financials, Utilities, and Basic Materials, more specifically oil and gold. + +Of those sectors, I really only like Financials as big oil has been in a downward trend over the past three years. Both Exxon and Chevron have produced less oil than the previous years and are both spending at near record high CapEx levels with no turnaround yet. I have continuously looked at both of them as I don't have any oil in my current portfolio, but haven't got myself to buy either of them. + +Financials will continue to be attractive at these levels as investors still don't trust their book values since the financial crisis even though asset quality has continued to improve on a broad base. Over the next 5 years, interest rates will rise which will increase their spread which in turn increases their profitability. + +For the most part, it appears healthcare, consumer goods, and services are currently overvalued. + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Now, let's look at Toyota. Below is a quick multiples valuation against TM's peers. These are from Yahoo! Finance as GM isn't on FinViz for some reason. + +P/E + +* Toyota Motor Co. (TM): **7.81** +* Honda Motor Co. (HMC): 10.87 +* General Motors Co. (GM): 15.11 +* Ford Motor Co. (F): 8.65 + +Forward P/E + +* Toyota Motor Co. (TM): **9.11** +* Honda Motor Co. (HMC): 9.30 +* General Motors Co. (GM): 7.35 +* Ford Motor Co. (F): 7.90 + +P/E/G + +* Toyota Motor Co. (TM): **0.29(!)** +* Honda Motor Co. (HMC): 0.37 +* General Motors Co. (GM): 0.52 +* Ford Motor Co. (F): 0.97 + +P/BV + +* Toyota Motor Co. (TM): **1.02** +* Honda Motor Co. (HMC): 0.91 +* General Motors Co. (GM): 1.34 +* Ford Motor Co. (F): 2.91 + +As you can see, the whole sector looks cheap on a multiples basis, but of that bunch Toyota seems to win out on an overall valuation based on multiples. + +*Per my own investing rules, as I am a long term shareholder, I won't touch a company that has recently been bankrupt, therefore I rule out GM for any potential investments.* + +Now Toyota is too big of a company to do a full report on in a couple of days. However, of what little research I have done, this is what I have found. + +First of all, on a macro perspective, the yen has weakened against both the US Dollar and the Chinese Yuan. Over the past two years, the Dollar and Yuan have both gained over 30% to the yen and over 10% this past year. This is a great thing for a Japanese multinational as North America and Asia is TM's second and third largest markets which combined are 46% of 2013's sales. + +* [USD/JPY](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=USDJPY%3DX+Interactive#symbol=;range=2y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;) +* [CNY/JPY](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=CNYJPY%3DX+Interactive#symbol=CNYJPY=X;range=2y) + +Because of this, profitability should be higher within Toyota which is also a reason to buy them over GM or Ford as the american automakers will lose money with a strong dollar overseas. + +Over the past three years, TM has a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.12%. Last year, North America saw 32.8% sales growth and Asia saw 30.22% sales growth. This compounded with the yen weakening is a one-two punch. + +Due to the strong demand in both North America and Asia, Toyota has had a surge in Consolidated Net Income for Fiscal Year 2014 of 135% in which ForEx is responsible for 123% of that growth alone. In this latest quarter, Net Revenues are up 23.9% with Net Income up 118%. + +[Toyota's Shareholder Presentation](http://www.toyota-global.com/investors/financial_result/2014/pdf/q3/presentation.pdf) + +Margins have increased across the board with their Gross Profit increasing from last year: + +TM's Gross Profit Margin + +* 2013: 15.51% +* 2012: 11.81% +* 2011: 12.52% + +As for a quick look at the balance sheet, Toyota has been de-leveraging over the past 5 years with Total Debt / Equity of 1.25 in 2009 to 1.16 in 2013. Book Value per Share has stayed relatively flat but grew 15.14% from 2012 to 2013. Compare that to a one year increase in share price of only 12.25% I believe we have a winner. + +This is only what I have found off of a couple hours looking at this tonight and have only scratched the surface as to the information on this company. + +However after just a small amount of research I firmly believe this is a truly undervalued company and should be bought right away. + +References: +[Quick Stats pulled from TM's Annual Report](https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=8DDDE01AC2383407!2625&authkey=!AOcem9NVPa1KxXA&ithint=file%2c.xlsx) + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- +**EDIT** Thank you all for the replies. I should state that this is just beginning due diligence and there are several assumptions with this thesis, mainly that the Yen will stay depressed at least over the next year. This type of condition is a **short term catalyst** only and not a long term theme. As some have mentioned already, FX has been almost entirely behind TM's profit and there are real geopolitical risks between Japan and China. + +Next week I will put together another post looking more into the actual underlying company's long term performance and management's strategic plan going forward. That way we can get a glimpse of what the company might look like in the future. + +Again thank you all for the kind words and the intelligent discussion around this topic. +It's getting flooded with posts and comments with everyone of those trying to educate the 'common investor' of the 'state of the market' and how economics works. + +A lot of it is hogwash. They try to connect fiducial actions/decisions/strategies taken by different government agencies (and for some reason these tend to be very US centred) to be the next doomsday event trigger. Also tend to overplay the role of institutional investors, while in Crypto the whales are generally early investors or the exchanges themselves, NOT OLD MONEY. + +FINALLY, everyone tends to forget Cryptocurrencies are supposed to be technology first. The first whitepaper put 'coin' in its name and 'currency' is appended because it's a relevant and direct use case, but the MOST PROMISING PROJECTS are doing more than solve just for currency. + +My 2¢ - please atleast DYOR into some of the tech of the coins you hodl. + +Case in point. This post. Getting downvoted. +https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/brute-overval-op-crypto-verzamelaar-overvallers-sloegen-de-code-uit-me~a00672d7/ it's in Dutch but you can use Google translate. + +This guy told some of his family members he invested in crypto. Eventually he got robbed and beaten in his own home. They kept hitting him until he gave away his codes. This is why you don't disclose how much you have invested or that you even invested at all. You don't know what people will do for money. Let's hope authorities catch those responsible. +Hello r/CanadianInvestor! + +What’s the sub’s general sentiment on gold, and more specifically Kirkland Lake? The recent slide in $KL (currently trading under $50 a share and a > 30% fall in 3 months) makes me think the stock is being oversold to invest in growth, tech, etc partially due to the vaccine news. I own about 100 shares of $KL at a $56 average price and I’m fully confident in holding, or perhaps even adding to my position as this is potentially a great buying opportunity. + +Yes, we have a vaccine that is coming and we all hope the world is back to normal sooner rather than later. But the reality is the logistics and distribution will be a nightmare, not just in Canada but especially in the US. You’d be silly not to be exposed to gold in your portfolio right now and here’s a few thoughts as to why. I’d love to hear additional inputs or whether my rational is sound or if you disagree. + +1) Weak USD: https://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-bet-on-more-dollar-weakness-11606386601 + +2) Hedge against inflation. With all the money printing that has already happened earlier this year (23.6% of all USD have been printed in 2020), changes to monetary policy, a massive federal deficit, pent up demand due to quarantine restrictions, inflation should be expected in the short term. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-way-2021-means-170015175.html + +3) Low/ Negative Real Interest Rates. This will last several years. The price of gold in year-over-year percent change terms tends to inversely correlate strongly with real interest rates, as measured by the 10-year Treasury yield minus the official inflation rate. + +4) Economic Uncertainty. This one is obvious, nobody knows what’s going to happen to the markets in 2021. We’re riding ATH’s and there’s talks of bubbles, crashes, etc. The economic impact of COVID19 will have an impact for a long, long time IMO. + +5) Expected Stimulis. Liberals expected to continue spending in Canada. Diversifying with gold seems like a logical move, especially when you also tie in the expected US stimulus package (whether or not it’s before or after the Dems are in office is TBD) + +I look at Kirkland as a fantastic company. Major gold miner in Canada. National bank recently upgraded $KL to outperform the sector ($72 target price), projected to continue aggressive growth for the next few years, expansion of mines which will become operational in the next few years, pristine balance sheet (sitting on 848M in cash and over 1B in current assets.. over 349M from prior quarter), 276M in free cash flow. With that type of cash, the company can increase their dividend, share buy backs, acquire more mines and expand even further. + +Solid company. I expect gold to trend up for the next few years. What am I missing? +https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ontario-takes-steps-to-become-global-supplier-of-critical-minerals-844134221.html?fbclid=IwAR0dnqqxNf5NH7RYM8xmSYpvNezRaDZQ_JBP8oF0R8hkluMdOhxnmU6Irco +Starting to look tasty. Jumps under 30 and it will be the buy of a lifetime. Great balance sheet and little exposure to poor oil prices. 98% of there cash flow comes from locked in long term contracts. +What I mean is, growth in the Canadian market seems to be mostly dead, except for Shopify, CSU, and maybe pot stocks (though you could argue those are speculative more than growth, because there's no proven track record yet). + +That leaves Banks, Telecoms, Utilities, and Energy. Mining feels like a bunch of penny stock pump and dumps, so that's no good. Everything else has been around for ever, pays a healthy dividend, and likely isn't going to grow much, but will provide good stable income, which hopefully grows each year. + +I feel like growth investing in Canadian markets is mostly non-existent, leaving value investing and Dividend Growth investing as the only viable strategies. + +Is this correct or am I missing something? + +&#x200B; +Based on the daily threads it seems like the majority are either holding all in one ETFs or index ETFs , US and cdn tech stocks / ETFs, dividend Canadian blue chips (REITs ,banks , energy, utilities / renewables , Telco ) and penny/ small cap, niche, speculative plays (weed, mushrooms , sports gambling , green energy , mining etc ) . How are you dividing your portfolio among the above groups now and going forward. What are all your holdings exactly. +My wife and I will be looking to buy our first home, in Toronto (gulp), soon - we'll start looking actively in March, a couple months before our lease turns month-to-month. + +Between us, we *just* have enough saved for the down payment and surrounding fees. I'm talking about $200 000 flat, aiming to buy something in the $800-$850K range on the outskirts of the city. + +My question is, should we just hold cash right now? Is there any kind of short-term GIC we should buy? I definitely don't want to lose any of our down payment - even a 2-3% drop in a low-medium risk mutual fund would really hurt right now, since that's your land transfer tax right there! + +Edit: thanks everyone for the great advice. Consensus seems to be to sit in cash, or put it into a HISA. Because a tonne of this is already in our TFSA's, I'm going to leave it there, just in case we don't need the purchase and then I wish I hadn't taken it out chasing a super low return. Didn't know r/personalfinancecanada existed so thanks for pointing that out, too. +I’m pretty new to investing but currently have some money invested in Activision/blizzard and I’m a little confused what I should do. WOW Classic is doing great and something like over 100million people downloaded the new call of duty mobile game, which all seems like it’s going on a good direction. But they just banned some people for supporting Hong Kong and it’s getting a lot of backlash, so I ride it out or abandon ship? + +Edit: thanks everyone for their input, I’m new and panicked a little bit thinking it was going to crash.. but with a calmer head came clearer thoughts and I agree with what most of you said, just ride it out +This came up once before on here, but it didn't really get a full discussion. It's a very interesting topic and I think it has a rare obvious upside for long investors. + +In August, it was [reported](http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/08/31/dow-chemicals-1-in-1000-stock-action-works-in-warren-buffetts-favor/) that a Yale professor had found pretty clear evidence that the price of $DOW was being manipulated. It would hit a ceiling multiple times, barely ever going above $53.72, despite hovering around there frequently. This is visually evident from this [six month](http://imgur.com/a/566bR) and [three month] (http://imgur.com/a/Q9gub) view. Here's a [histogram](http://online.wsj.com/media/dowhisto0831.jpg) of closing prices from 2014 to 2016. Pretty obvious manipulation right? That distribution should be closer to normal. + +Now, due to the Dupont merger talk, the price closed above the threshold 9 times. What's the significance of $53.72? Well back in 2009, Warren Buffett struck a deal with Dow for 3 bn to get preferred stock that happened to come with an 8.5% dividend. That yields a solid ~$225 m per annum for Warren. The deal has a buyback clause though. If the share price trades over ... you guessed it... $53.72 twenty times in a 30-day period, Dow gets its stock back and doesn't owe that 8.5% dividend anymore. So while Warren might have had some September jitters over the loss of his stake, 9 times wasn't enough to trigger the buyback. Phew. + +Some analysts say that Warren/BRK aren't exactly passive observers in all this. That they deliberately shorted the stock with enough capital that they drove down the price whenever it threatened to hit the threshold. It seems likely from the study done by the professor. It's not illegal, just shady. The agreement BRK signed prohibited them from shorting the stock until April 2014. Which just precedes the suspicious activity. Coincidence? It's a classic Buffett move - either he keeps his juicy dividend or is forced to sell at 53, having bought at 6. + +The conclusion for us should be somewhat evident: **go long on Dow**. Or buy puts (I don't trade options, so I'm not exactly sure of the mechanism here). If the price is being artificially suppressed, it stands to reason that it's undervalued and that its fundamentals will eventually win out. Buffett can't keep it up forever. + +Some discussion questions: + +* Does the Dupont merger completely overshadow the significance of this price suppression? +* Do you believe that Dow's price is being manipulated? +* If it is, is that immediate cause for a buy? +* Will it cease now due to the bedding in period of the merger? +* How best to exploit this? + +Disclosure: I don't have a stake in Dow, but I am strongly considering taking one. They pay a nice 3.4% dividend and have near-monopolistic control of their industry. Economies of scale are massive. I haven't fully investigated the implications of the merger yet though. Interested to hear your thoughts. + +Edit 2: I was totally wrong about a bunch of stuff, including Dow's market share and how to trade options. Still learning... +I've seen that on Cardano they hope to make it so that you could buy a coffee in Starbucks and then tip directly to the guy who picked the beans. + +Well, if I paid my tax with an ada coin, could I then watch it move round the blockchain and see that it either ended up buying bricks for a hospital or cheese for an army soldier? + +If so, that's pretty cool. We could literally vote what we wanted our taxes to go on. + +Would a smart contract enable us to ensure our coins only went to roads and hospitals, and not to guns or dams or whatever? + +If so, the future will be very interesting. +I was thinking about how much the value of RC's portfolio would be fluctuating on major red and major green days. Then it dawned on me. + +Back on March 10, the world watched as GME went from 348.50 to 172 in a matter of minutes. **Ryan Cohen took a hit of nearly 1.6 billion dollars in that same time span.** + +So now we have 9,001,000 x $55.55 price increase = $500,005,550 increase in value. That's a half BILLION dollar price fluctuation in a single day. + +For every dollar GME share prices changes, he has unrealized gains or losses of 9 million dollars. + +Anyways, my titties are jacked! +Our mission is to empower Adult Content Creators by protecting their content via the blockchain like an NFT. Our platform will be powered by our deflationary utility-token $PORN. Our platform will allow credit card transactions which will allow you to stake our token and get some exclusive drops from your favorite creators. We are looking into ways to have $PORN be a payment system for adult entertainment content platforms in the near-future. Admittedly, this is a longer term goal, but something we're invested in. + +Join us, before it's too late! + +🍑 Website: [https://buyporntoken.com](https://buyporntoken.com/) + +🥞 Purchase: [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x31b9773f225408129a90788ef013bd449e283865](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x31b9773f225408129a90788ef013bd449e283865) + +📈 Chart: [https://charts.bogged.finance/?token=0x31b9773f225408129a90788ef013bd449e283865](https://charts.bogged.finance/?token=0x31b9773f225408129a90788ef013bd449e283865) + +📞 Telegram: [https://t.me/porntokens](https://t.me/porntokens) +Karen Coin is one of the youngest meme tokens to ever launch on BitMart which is happening within the next 24 hours. They have just announced their first use case which looks like a total game changer. Close to 10,000 stable holders and growing quickly along with listings on Coin Market Cap, Coin Gecko and more. The next big project? + +This project is doing things almost no other project I’ve seen has done in such a short amount of time. The are listed on both CMC and GC along with many others, they have over 8000 holders which are all super committed to the project and that number is growing fast and they just announced their first use case which sounds awesome. Multiple marketing channels which include big influencer giveaways on Twitter, Youtuber's have more content coming up this weekend along with Poocoin banner ads and more. They also have a massive reach on TikTok with over 53 million reach capabilities with their current influencers. +To be honest the most impressive thing i've noticed is the community support behind the project. Read their group chats like Telegram, the " Karen Army " as they call themselves is behind the project 100%. +Their use case is something I think will change the game in how meme tokens are launched. Here is a snippet from their announcement along with the website link: + +The devs are finally ready to release something that will revolutionise the way meme tokens are launched and exchanged globally. + +The community has decided to build the first ‘Meme Tokens Launchpad Ecosystem’, powered by Karen Coin! It will host new meme tokens for the whole process right throughout presale, launch, audit, use cases and marketing. The ecosystem will comprise of three main parts; a swap function, an exchange and an ICO portal, all in one place just for meme tokens.  + +For anyone holding Karen, you will be at the very beginning of the ecosystem that creates and hosts all verified projects in the crypto world. Any new meme tokens can apply to the Launchpad and will be subject to a rigorous vetting process that needs the Karen tick of approval to exist. Karen’s goal is to have authenticity and verify all tokens and keep them in check. Karen will be creating tools to allow for the community to make smarter buying decisions and be safe within the ecosystem of safer tokens that are released and brought on board. + +Karen will officially going to become the QUEEN OF THE MEMES  + +You as a Karen Coin holder will benefit through two ways: + +1.  All tools on the Platform will be utilized by paying in Karen Coin such as marketing, audits, security, etc. so this will in turn increase the value of your holdings as more people use the platform  + +2.  The dev's are currently working on a lifetime discount system for all current and future Karen Coin holders where you will have access to discounts on all ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings). Stay tuned for this  +Only holders of Karen Coin will benefit from this  + +As to how Karen Coin’s above use case will be defined, the community will release a version 2 white paper soon which will explain this in greater detail for transparency. + +In a nutshell, Karen Coin will open up the universe of Meme Tokens creating an ecosystem of safety and opportunity. This ecosystem comprises of 3 components. One is an exchange, the second is a swap and the third is an ICO system for all new tokens being released. We will be creating security systems and due diligence checks for all tokens released and will be at the forefront of the meme tokens industry helping create legitimate use cases to bring the world closer to cryptocurrency with complete transparency and safety. + +Website here https://www.memetokens.app/ +To sum it up: +- 100% Anti-Carpet Pull +- Tokenomics making it Anti-Big Fish +- No pre-sale, launched directly on Pancake Swap for all to participate equally. +- No dev wallets or dev assigned tokens prior to launch. +- LP-tokens burnt ( not locked like most others which eventually become available to the devs ) +- Contract ownership renounced making it 100% community driven. + +- BitMart listing within 24 hours ( one of the youngest meme coins to ever list on BitMart +- First use case annouched ( huge ) +To learn more visit their thriving Telegram chat, the link is available on their website below.  +Website: www.karencointoken.com +This 25 day old token is primed for another major takeoff 🚀 DragonMusk is a rug free project that was started after the developer abandoned when it floored. + +NOW the incredible community has taken charge - led by a group who have BIG things in store! We are no pump and dump, rug-pull shitecoin. After shedding a problem whale, being invested in by a top fitness athlete AND getting listed on CMC & Live Coin Watch we have nothing to stop us! We are already in takeoff and going all the way up!!! 📈 + +It is our genuine aim to follow in the footsteps of Safemoon and Bonfire, with a anti-scam charity token that has genuine utility and an awesome community that is more like a family than anything else. Primed and ready to go, there has never been a better time to jump in and join the friendliest community you have ever met. + +Let us take you to moon on the back of a Dragon! ���� + +Address: 0x338196a509b4c66749c3f44c21c00501e6acf7bc +Token Features: 10% taxFee 5% for directly add to the LP 5% for directly add to all diamond hands HOLDERS +🔒 LP Lock https://bscscan.com/tx/0xb1961bb04461bf4d728589f288f820affecc7eb852139c86029a7ea5b24855c9 +🔥 LP Burn https://bscscan.com/tx/0xb1961bb04461bf4d728589f288f820affecc7eb852139c86029a7ea5b24855c9 +Ownership = Reounced +Check from RugScreen.com = safe! Can check by yourself. +🔢 Supply = 100,000,000,000,000,000 +Let's go get it! As usual, DYOR! +🚀 Buy on Pancakeswap https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x338196a509b4c66749c3f44c21c00501e6acf7bc +Remember to set slippage to at least >10%< +They also are active on- +📩 Telegram https://t.me/DragonMuskCommunity +Reddit /r/dragonmusk/ +Twitter https://twitter.com/dragonmusk/status/1391040413411299328?s=21 +🔥 +Technology uses laser-based monitoring systems to measure the integrity of infrastructure and structural materials, including pipeline monitoring, perimeter, and structural surveillance, aircraft structural components, and mining safety. + +Essentially allows for visibility into any damage that may exist deep within hard to reach places. + +The company is not expected to produce revenue until Q3/Q4 2021 but the stock is gaining steam based on the recent news below: + +DPLS Feb 8th - Signs Lease For Arizona Based Manufacturing Plant - [https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-02-08/darkpulse-to-open-u-s-manufacturing-engineering-facility](https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-02-08/darkpulse-to-open-u-s-manufacturing-engineering-facility) + +Potential downsides: + +\- Company fails to market technology effectively and does not generate revenue. + +\- NYC brokerage firm who is pushing this stock pulls a pump/dump. + +&#x200B; + +I'm in for 50k shares since Jan 20th, 2021. +Hey guys! Posted a little while ago about my project that invests based on sentiment analysis (I know you've seen sentiment trackers abound) and wanted to give an update and some new numbers. Long story short for the week -- you'll $WISH you had $AMC in your portfolio last week, and...eh I got nothing. **IMPORTANT:** Most of the below is a repost of stuff I've posted before (other than the new numbers), but I've added/trimmed down as I get better at explaining the right stuff. + +Here's the [source code](https://github.com/tstewart161/Reddit_Sentiment_Trader)! **Note: I include this in case there are algo-traders here, but neither the code nor the algo is the focal point of this post.** Also, this does need to be edited according to your needs (how many of the top you want to invest in, how you want to deploy it, etc.) + +I rebalanced my portfolio last week to include the 15 stocks below (equal-weighted), giving me a **2.18% return week over week (net of any fees/slippage), compared to a 0.39% loss for SPY and 0.66% loss for my benchmark, the VanEck BUZZ Social Sentiment ETF**. Important to note that not every week is a breakout win (even if some member stocks in the ETF are), and not every week is a win at all. I've had some weeks where I've trailed both SPY and BUZZ by a lot, but overall I'm beating SPY YTD and BUZZ since its introduction on March 4. This algorithm has returned 52%, compared to SPY's 10% and BUZZ's 7%. + +Your typical sentiment analysis stuff coming through. I do this stuff for fun and make money off the stocks I pick doing it most weeks, so thought I'd share. I created an algo that scans the most popular trading sub-reddits and logs the tickers mentioned in due-diligence or discussion-styled posts. In addition to scanning for how many times each ticker was mentioned in a comment, I also logged the popularity of the comment (giving it something similar to an exponential weight -- the more upvotes, the higher on the comment chain and the more people usually see it) and/or post, and finally checked for the sentiment of each comment/self text post. + +&#x200B; + +**How is sentiment calculated?** + +This uses VADER ( Valence Aware Dictionary for Sentiment Reasoning), which is a model used for text sentiment analysis that is sensitive to both polarity (positive/negative) and intensity (strength) of emotion. The way it works is by relying on a dictionary that maps lexical (aka word-based) features to emotion intensities -- these are known as sentiment scores. The overall sentiment score of a comment/post is achieved by summing up the intensity of each word in the text. In some ways, it's easy: words like ‘love’, ‘enjoy’, ‘happy’, ‘like’ all convey a positive sentiment. Also VADER is smart enough to understand the basic context of these words, such as “didn’t really like” as a rather negative statement. It also understands the emphasis of capitalization and punctuation, such as “I LOVED” which is pretty cool. Phrases like “The turkey was great, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the sides” have sentiments in both polarities, which makes this kind of analysis tricky -- essentially with VADER you would analyze which part of the sentiment here is more intense. There’s still room for more fine-tuning here, but make sure to not be doing too much. There’s a similar phenomenon with trying to hard to fit existing data in stats called overfitting, and you don’t want to be doing that. + +The best way to use this data is to learn about new tickers that might be trending. This gives many people an opportunity to learn about these stocks and decide if they want to invest in them or not - or develop a strategy investing in these stocks before they go parabolic. **Although the results from this algorithm have beaten benchmarked sentiment indices like BUZZ and FOMO (on a risk-adjusted basis), sentiment analysis is by no means a “long term SPY-beating strategy.”** I’m well aware that most of my crazy returns are from GME and AMC (and more recently, WISH). These tickers do show up in BUZZ, but after they do on Reddit and at a lower weighting. + +So, the data from last week: + +**Reddit - Highest Sentiment Equities This Week (what’s in my portfolio)** + +Estimated Total Comments Parsed Last 7 Day(s): 300k-ish (the text file I store my data in ended up being 55mb -- it’s nothing crazy but it’s quite large for just text) + +&#x200B; + +|**Ticker**|**Comments/Posts**|**Sentiment Score**\*| +|:-|:-|:-| +|WISH|5,328|2,839| +|CLNE|4,715|1317| +|GME|4,660|904| +|BB|2,216|780| +|CLOV|2,094|777| +|AMC|2,080|646| +|WKHS|936|295| +|CLF|908|269| +|UWMC|855|165| +|ET|804|153| +|TLRY|569|116| +|CRSR|451|79| +|SENS|282|75| +|ME|82|36| +|SI|59|35| + +&#x200B; + +\*Sentiment score is calculated by looking at stock mentions, upvotes per comment/post with the mention, and sentiment of comments. + +&#x200B; + +Happy to answer any more questions about the process/results. +I’ve been a huge lurker in this community for the past year or so and credit it to helping me getting started to become financial independence while still young. + +I wanted to share my experience since I see so many high paid tech workers posting here but few blue collar workers. It’s possible to earn a great living trucking and become financially independent. + +I started truck driving a year ago with a $4,000, 4 week CDL “school”. I applied for a T.W.I.C., hazmat background check, passport and got all endorsements on my license (tanker, double/triples, hazmat). Within about 5-6 weeks I was all set to begin a career in trucking. + +Now there is a myth that you need to start trucking with a crappy company and work your way to a good one after you “pay your dues” for a year or two. That is completely false. + +You have several types of truck drivers. + +Dry Van + +Refrigerator Van (dry van with a a/c unit) + +Tanker (think gas trucks) + +Flatbed + +Oversized and/or overweight + +Dump truck drivers + +You can be a local truck driver or an over the road (OTR) truck driver. I am and have been doing OTR driving for the past year. + +Now to make good money, about $75k-$110k, you need to specialize: flatbed/tanker/oversized/oil fields will make you that type of money. + +Husbands and wives can drive the same truck together and “team”. This can effectively double a single truck drivers income. So $150k+ going to the same household. + +I have averaged about $1,700+ a week this year. I’m on track to do about $90k for the year. I specialized and got hired on at a great company from day 1. + +I was previously married, owned a house, had high credit card debt, etc I filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Moved all of my belonging into a relatives house and took up the job. I went from nearly 300k in debt 18 months ago to having 0 debt (thanks to bankruptcy) and a NW of about $60k. + +I have very little expenses, cell phone, food and child support. + +If you want a high paying job, want to cut your overhead expense and be homeless like me, go for it! It’s insane that in a bit over a month nearly anyone can be trained and ready for a career making this type of money. + +I’ve made stupid mistakes in the past but I have learned from them. Thanks to reddit and the many books I’ve read, I’m certain I will be financially independent in the future. If I can help or pass on any knowledge about being or becoming a trucker please don’t hesitate to ask. +https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-set-to-raise-rates-by-0-75-point-and-debate-size-of-future-hikes-11666356757 + +Federal Reserve officials are barreling toward another interest-rate rise of 0.75 percentage point at their meeting Nov. 1-2 and are likely to debate then whether and how to signal plans to approve a smaller increase in December. + +“We will have a very thoughtful discussion about the pace of tightening at our next meeting,” Fed governor Christopher Waller said in a speech earlier this month. +Yes, a rather callous title, in the hopes that people will come in here to tell me why I'm wrong. See the bottom of this post for a TL;DR. My thesis is that cryptocurrencies relying either on PoW or PoS, cryptocurrencies with inflation, fees & staking, cryptocurrencies with block subsidies and reward schedules are all screwed in the long run. My reasoning for this is that cryptocurrencies using PoW, PoS, or anything like it, actively undermine their own goals by incentivizing centralization over time at their core. In doing so, these protocols encourage a loss in stall resistance and a loss in security. I also argue that at least 2 cryptocurrencies (IOTA and Nano) solve this issue through their feeless/inflation-free proposition. + +# Why Bitcoin is screwed + +Bitcoin mining offers rewards. These rewards consist of a block subsidy (money supply increase, currently 6.25 BTC per block) and fees. These rewards (mostly) go to those with the highest hash power. + +Bitcoin mining is a business. It's a business focused on cost efficiency, because the revenue side is largely unchangeable by miners. Total costs consist of energy costs, ASIC purchases/writedowns, capital costs, rent of the location, maintenance, etc. + +Almost all these costs have economies of scale associated with them. If I'm a large miner, I have a stronger negotiating position for ASICs. I have a stronger negotiating position for energy contracts. I have access to cheaper capital, I can more efficiently maintain my ASICs. + +Combine mining rewards with economies of scale for mining, and what you get is centralization over time. The largest miners have the lowest cost-base, making the most profit, being able to reinvest more in ASICs, increasing their share of consensus over time. + +This isn't some radical, unsupported take. The theory is quite clear, and is why we tend to have anti-trust legislation in most countries. Research also backs this up, I'll link to some papers on it at the bottom of this post. + +**FUD, China is banning mining so miners will disperse more broadly, we have Stratum V2 coming, miners will join different mining pools, nodes are the ones that matter not miners, we don't see 80% belonging to one miner now!** + +None of the above changes the centralization in consensus power over time. It doesn't change the economic rationale. China banning mining means there is **less** dispersion, as there are now fewer locations where mining is possible. Stratum doesn't fix the incentives. Miners can join different mining pools ([though history shows they don't](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GHash.io)) but it's about the underlying miners, not the mining pools. Not to mention that mining pools themselves are far more centralized than most people think (see 3) in the links below). Nodes can check the chain all they want, those with the consensus power decide whether to include transactions. If I had a majority of mining power, I wouldn't outright show it. I would send in increasingly higher fee transactions, forcing people to pay a lot for me to process their transaction. Unbelievable? Check [Miner Collusion and the Bitcoin Protocol](https://cowles.yale.edu/3a/parlour-miner-collusion-and-bitcoin-protocol.pdf) to see that hundreds of millions in excess fees are already being paid. + +**Good thing I'm not in Bitcoin but in -insert other PoW coin here-.** + +The incentives and trend aren't different for other PoW coins. It's just less visible as Bitcoin has a larger market cap, so the incentives are biggest here. + +**Mining is terrible for environment anyway. Good thing I'm in PoS coins!** + +Right. + +Without economies of scale in consensus, PoS is immune from this centralisation over time, right? No, and this series of steps should be even easier to follow than that for Bitcoin. + +When you stake the most coins, you get the most rewards. Those that get the most rewards grow fastest. In many PoS cryptocurrencies you need a minimum amount to stake in the first place. As a regular user using the network, you might not want to lock up your stake but rather use your coins to transact, paying fees while doing so. Some cryptocurrencies try to make the network seem more decentralized through maximizing the size of a single pool, which is a bit like saying that we can increase Bitcoin's decentralization by splitting AntPool into Ant and Pool. Nothing has changed, if anything it's simply muddying the waters by obscuring how centralized the system really is. + +All this might not matter much to those in crypto for trading/short term gains. However, the literal defining property of cryptocurrency is being decentralized. It's the mechanism to ensure security, it's what provides the underlying value in the store of value narrative for Bitcoin. It's why we are okay with sacrificing some performance relative to centralized payment processors/apps. By becoming ever more centralized over time, cryptocurrencies' security and underlying value is decreasing over time, rather than increasing. + +# Possible solutions + +The common thread in both PoS and PoW is that there are mining rewards. These rewards are offered in compensation for investing in hash power, for locking up a stake, for securing the network. It's the incentive that's needed to make people spend money, render their coins less usable, or otherwise take some form of risk. + +The simplest solution then is to remove these mining rewards. Remove block subsidies, remove fees, and there is no centralization over time inherent in the protocol as the big do not get bigger. As far as I know, only two major cryptocurrencies are both feeless and inflation-free: Nano and IOTA. Both chains rely on other incentives for transaction validation. In Nano's case, the theory is that wanting trustless access to the network and deriving value from the network [incentivises people and businesses to run validators](https://senatus.substack.com/p/how-nanos-lack-of-fees-provides-all-the-right-incentives-ee7be4d2b5e8). In IOTA's case, the incentive is that by validating others' transactions, you give yourself the option to transact. [See here](https://luka99.medium.com/the-tech-behind-iota-part-1-introduction-b8f82775325a) for a longer take. + +Does this have trade-offs? In both IOTA and Nano's case, the feeless proposition meant needing to look for a different transaction prioritization and anti-spam mechanism. In both cases, a small (tiny, rather) PoW is needed to create a transaction. In IOTA, prioritization under congestion is done through [mana, which can be rented](https://blog.iota.org/explaining-mana-in-iota-6f636690b916/). In Nano, since recently prioritization is done through a combination of [account balance and time since last transaction](https://senatus.substack.com/p/nanos-latest-innovation-feeless-spam). + +It needs to be said that this IOTA implementation is still mostly theoretical on mainnet. They've had trouble the past years actually getting IOTA working without a central coordinator (making IOTA's mainnet centralized for value transfers), because the Tangle that IOTA uses is notoriously complicated and difficult. The IOTA Foundation claims to have found the solution now. As someone who has been following IOTA for a while and gotten burned during that time by believing the timelines they announced, I take a wait and see approach here. That being said, the lack of centralization over time is clear. + +In Nano, a [recent spam attack](https://medium.com/nanocurrency/nano-digest-new-exchanges-development-updates-partnerships-team-updates-and-more-510d65e15f65) lead to issues following which the aforementioned prioritization by account balance and time since last transaction began to be implemented. However, Nano's proven to be able to handle [millions of transactions per day](https://www.publish0x.com/cryptowriting/the-spam-attack-on-the-nano-network-summarised-xykoqpz) on its mainnet. More importantly, having had a decentralized mainnet for years, Nano is proving more than any other cryptocurrency that it is possible to have a decentralized cryptocurrency without fees and without inflation with high security. Over the course of \~120 million transactions, Nano has never had a doublespend nor chain re-org, something many other cryptocurrencies can't say. Over the course of these years, there have consistently been many validators running, validating the theory that without fees and inflation, there is enough reason to run validators. Without mining and without staking in Nano, centralization over time is absent from Nano at a core level, leading me to believe that unlike 99% of cryptocurrencies it's not screwed in the long run. For more information on the design and consensus of Nano, [see also this article](https://senatus.substack.com/p/the-basics-of-nano-why-its-such-an). + +# Making a long story short + +Every cryptocurrency that has fees and/or inflation has a trend towards consensus centralization over time. This centralization degrades the security and underlying value of a decentralized network over time. This may not be obvious yet, but without countervailing forces there is no reason to believe this trend will reverse over time. Feeless cryptocurrencies like IOTA (theoretically) and Nano (in practice) solve this through a lack of mining rewards. I believe this is the best (only?) way to ensure true decentralization in the long term, and believe that true to the title of this post, cryptocurrencies that centralize over time are screwed in the long term. + +I'd love to hear what PoS/PoW coin supporters think of this, and where the mistakes in my reasoning are. If there are other cryptocurrencies that are also feeless/inflation-free, I'd love to hear so too. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +1. [Trend of centralization in Bitcoin's distributed network](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Trend-of-centralization-in-Bitcoin's-distributed-Beikverdi-Song/469072daa94eff4a9ea88c7f828cbdf1269768dd). +2. [Decentralization in Bitcoin and Ethereum Networks](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1801.03998.pdf). +3. [A Deep Dive into Bitcoin Mining Pools](https://weis2019.econinfosec.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/05/WEIS_2019_paper_30.pdf). +4. [Centralisation in Bitcoin Mining: A Data-Driven Investigation](https://medium.com/tokenanalyst/centralisation-in-bitcoin-mining-a-data-driven-investigation-7fb0caa48157). +5. [Miner Collusion and the Bitcoin Protocol](https://cowles.yale.edu/3a/parlour-miner-collusion-and-bitcoin-protocol.pdf). +Ok, so my situation is this, I'm following the basic advice given on the sub. I've gotten rid of almost all debt except for a car loan. I've established an emergency fund, I'm saving in my 401k, saving up a for a down payment on a house, etc. I feel like I'm at a point where I can start maybe investing "disposable" income into something. + +I saw how well the Debt Snowball concept worked and I wondered if it could be re-engineered and put to use on the other side of the equation for income, an 'Income Snowball' if you will. + +I have absolutely no financial background, so I wanted to put this in front of the experts on this sub to see if this is a waste of time and resources or not. + +The basic goal for this 'Income Snowball' would be to: +1. Find my smallest monthly bill. +2. Invest some of my disposable income into something that would generate enough interest or dividends for me to use to start paying the smallest monthly bill entirely with interest or dividends generated from my investment. +3. Take the money saved from not paying that bill with my paycheck anymore and invest it on another investment to cover the next smallest monthly bill. +4. ‎Repeat steps 1-3 until all bills are paid by investment income. + +The end goal would be to live completely off investment interest. Does this make sense? Is it feasible? Would it take a million years? + +Here's an example of how I would implement it personally: + +Say my smallest bill is Netflix. Say it's $10 per month. If I invested $3000 in an investment (ETFs, bonds, stocks, whatever) that made 4% ($120) annualy and paid my Netflix bill every month using the income generated by that investment from now on, essentially, I will never have to pay my Netflix bill again with my regular paycheck income. Now that Netflix is covered, I move on to my Internet bill. It's $45 per month ($540 a year). A $9000 investment generating 6% annually would cover it. Now I have $55 more per month from those two bills (now that I'm not paying them) to invest in the next investnent for the nexr bill on the list, and so on and so forth. + +At the same time this is going on, I'll be trying to cut all non-essential monthly expenses to help with my goal (and yes, I know Netflix is non-essential to most people, I was just using it as an example of a small bill.) + +Is there a better method to accomplish the same goal? Any input is appreciated. +My wife and I have been saving really hard since we started working and have always wanted to buy our first home, especially since having a baby. We recently bought a home at a very HCOL area and paid a lot over asking price. The location is good, close to work with good school, but I realized we've overpaid too much and I don't really like the house upon moving in. I have since felt pretty depressed and lost interest in other things. + +Financially we're okay, we only used 1/3 of our NW as downpay and we can afford the mortgage, but I still feel helpless because we can't really sell the house now that the market is not as hot; I am probably going to be stuck here for a few years after the price goes up to resell the house. The feeling is simply paralyzing. + +How can I get over this? Thank you. + +**Update:** + +Wow, I really didn't think this would have so many replies! Thank you all so much for your kind advice and support, I feel much better now. I'll try to focus on the positive and get out of this rut. + +The main issue I had with the house is road noise. The street is supposed to be a small road inside of the community but since our house is close to the entrance there's still quite some traffic. We have large window facing the street that brought in a lot of light but it also doesn't block the road noise well, although being double-paned and new. I'll check how to better soundproof the windows/house to make things feel better. I used to rent a small townhouse not on the street so there's no road noise at all. +My wife and I are starting to save up for a deposit, and we aim to save 100k in 3-4 years. Where can we save this money in the meantime so that it will yield better than a savings account? + +I don't feel comfortable putting it in an index fund, considering the volatility of the markets at the moment. + +I'm currently banking with the commonwealth, and have a savings account with an interest rate of 0.85% pa. + +Any info is greatly appreciated! +I work for a company that's potentially going to be sold. On sale, I am entitled to a low to mid 6 figure sum depending on the sale price. + +&#x200B; + +I was wondering if there is something that I can do before this happens to minimise (legally obviously) my tax in the event this happens instead of being liable for the top marginal rate. My employer is open to structuring the payout in the most appropriate way for me. + +&#x200B; + +Also moderators, if this is not the appropriate channel for this question, could you please point me in the right direction? + +&#x200B; + +Thanks, + +Edit: just a point of clarification. I have no equity to transfer. All I get is a payment after the sale is completed. +Had a stressful few weeks, I got a letter a few weeks ago from the ATO saying that in 2017, our income of $200,000 was under-reported and should have been $500,000, they then attached a transaction list of payments from an overseas company I do receive money from, totaling $500,000. It was quite a while ago now so I've been pretty stressed thinking I messed up and I was going to owe a huge sum of money. + +I met my accountant today to go through all the payments from the companies statements and my bank statements, and I found many of the payments the ATO listed on their transaction list did not exist, I never received them in my bank account and I have no statements from the issuing company saying I made the income. + +Just curious if anyone else has had similar experiences like this? I'm also feeling pretty relieved and pissed off at the stress, so just wanted to vent about it. +Throw away here... + +I'm finding it very hard to find a good advisor to help me with allocations in my portfolio. Having over 30mil to allocate, I’m not talking about super so much, but rather a good range of funds that have low correlation, and are tax efficient for Aus residents. + + +Im also quite international in my view as I’ve lived abroad for many years and will likely do so again in the future. The tax situation however prevents me from using overseas advisors and many funds. + + +Local planners/advisors however are overly Australia focused, many aren’t savvy enough to run a correlation matrix, or have very high fees or a too-active trading outlook. + + +Has anyone found a good planner/adviser that overcomes these issues? +Wondering how to properly model retirement fat spending and lifestyle creep. We spend about 200-220K year, this have been the average last 2-3 years and it doesn’t feel like a stretch for us. Includes all expenses. Still save >28% of post-tax income after spending 200-200K year. This can go up if we upgrade to a bigger house and kids go to private. + +**Questions:** + +* Folks who have fatfired or close to it did, were there any surprises in retirement spending (shot over or under) +* What lifestage did you use for modeling your ideal retirement spending. 20-30, 30-40, 40-50.. +* Which lifestyle creep generally remains through your retirement. +* What additional things you did not anticipate showed up in retirement (other than healthcare) +* Generally I noticed mortgage and childcare makes my 50-60% of our spend, I wonder what will replace that (perhaps travel, healthcare) if you have paid off home, kids in college. +* I hear from my financial adviser to use 85% of current spending to model retirement spending, how true is this ? +I want to add real estate to our portfolio (direct ownership) and have as good a grasp on the basics and financials as you can get from the literature. As far as actual experience, I have none. Most sources recommend starting out small-- single family homes. Does that hold true for the fatfire crowd? That I should build up experience dealing with SFHs before going commercial? Ultimately, I'm seeking a buy/hold strategy as hands off as possible using property managers. I'm happy throwing everything into possibly overpriced stocks right now, but I want the flexibility of adding something like real estate to the mix if the numbers work out (or we hit another real estate downcycle). +I made an excel sheet that tells me when I will reach my target SWR income based on how much I invest each year, my annual ROI, and an assumption that inflation will stay constant. + +&#x200B; + +These were my parameters: + +\- A contribution of $100K to the retirement fund each year (Assuming a net income of 160K with yearly expenses of 60K) + +\- A target SWR income goal equal to the 90th percentile of individual/single income (adjusted for inflation) that is less than 4% of the retirement fund ([which is $114,068.00 for 2017](https://dqydj.com/united-states-income-brackets-percentiles/)) + +\- Assuming that my yearly ROI will be 7% + +\- Assuming that yearly inflation will be exactly 2.1% and not vary + +&#x200B; + +Based on my calculations and assumptions, the target SWR income will be met with \~$5 million in the bank, after 20 years of work and yearly $100K contributions. At that point, no additional contribution will be needed, and the fund will continue to grow even with SWR and inflation, if ROI remains at 7% (In fact, ROI can be as low as 6.2% and the fund will continue to grow). + +&#x200B; + +Now, that's all well and good, but how realistic is it to expect an annual ROI of 7% every year, an inflation rate that is exactly 2.1%, and that income brackets will look similar to today? Income inequality is worsening, so who knows what a 90th percentile income will look like in the future. And how much does healthcare cost in old age really? Nursing homes cost an arm and a leg, but would an income like this be enough to cover it? +Early 40’s. We’ve been fortunate to build up a ~$20M NW based on entrepreneurial and W2 activities. We also expect with high confidence that we will inherit a similar amount, and some of it has already been put into trusts in our names for estate planning purposes. Parents are still healthy, so it will be some time until we inherit half of it, and a very long time until we inherit the other half (very grateful for this - we hope it’s many decades). + +We don’t need these assets to fund our lifestyle. But, I’m curious how others would think about including this money in tracking and projections. I know exactly what they’re invested in (typical portfolios for 70+ crowd - reasonably conservative real estate, stocks and bonds). Would you rebalance the rest of your portfolio accordingly, in terms of asset classes and risk tolerance? Personally I think bonds is a silly place to keep money that won’t be touched for decades, but I would feel impertinent even bringing this up and would rather sacrifice returns than harm the relationship by looking like I’m looking forward to a “transition day.” So, I don’t plan to suggest any changes to those portfolios, only my own. + +And, would you include this money in NW and passive income projections, since it’s known with pretty high confidence? I expect people will point out that the assets could be drawn down dramatically, but they’re substantial enough (the $20M is just our share in estates split across multiple siblings) that I doubt that will happen. Also, all the grandparents are still gainfully employed and haven’t started touching even their passive income. +Early 40’s. We’ve been fortunate to build up a ~$20M NW based on entrepreneurial and W2 activities. We also expect with high confidence that we will inherit a similar amount, and some of it has already been put into trusts in our names for estate planning purposes. Parents are still healthy, so it will be some time until we inherit half of it, and a very long time until we inherit the other half (very grateful for this - we hope it’s many decades). + +We don’t need these assets to fund our lifestyle. But, I’m curious how others would think about including this money in tracking and projections. I know exactly what they’re invested in (typical portfolios for 70+ crowd - reasonably conservative real estate, stocks and bonds). Would you rebalance the rest of your portfolio accordingly, in terms of asset classes and risk tolerance? Personally I think bonds is a silly place to keep money that won’t be touched for decades, but I would feel impertinent even bringing this up and would rather sacrifice returns than harm the relationship by looking like I’m looking forward to a “transition day.” So, I don’t plan to suggest any changes to those portfolios, only my own. + +And, would you include this money in NW and passive income projections, since it’s known with pretty high confidence? I expect people will point out that the assets could be drawn down dramatically, but they’re substantial enough (the $20M is just our share in estates split across multiple siblings) that I doubt that will happen. Also, all the grandparents are still gainfully employed and haven’t started touching even their passive income. + + +Hoping to get the perspective of this sub on housing in our situation. + +Married under a year, both 31. +Wife and I each make 200-250k, combined income 400-500k annually depending on bonus. +NW 600k between cash, retirement accounts and index funds. + +I recognise our NW is low for our current income, we've both had decent increases in the last couple years and had student debt to clear. + +The housing market in Toronto has exploded in the last decade (100%+ increase). In some ways I feel like we missed the boat. A liveable detached house within a 1hr commute of downtown is about 1 million, with the more desirable neighborhoods/school districts closer to 1.5m. These aren't mansions either, in many cases we're talking bungalows at this price. + +The thought of a mortgage that large gives me nightmares, I don't understand how people are doing it. + +Curious to hear from people in other HCOL cities if you can relate and perhaps share some advice. Thanks! +Not quite at fatfire but I’m planning ahead. I’m considering taking some crypto profits out at a tax haven. I know about what constitutes a taxable event etc. I want to do it legally. I have looked at the New Zealand tax service website (IRD) and they say once you leave the country you can then no longer have to pay taxes on anything from about six months. This is so long as you are not planning on coming back (I’m ready to move on from New Zealand personally). I know Portugal and potentially Cayman Islands are options, along with Dubai and Singapore. A lot of the questions here are US based people who are subject to different rules but I have multiple passports and am keen to consider all options. Anyone had any experiences of this? I might end up doing the tax haven as an intermediate step prior to landing in Australia or some other place after a few years. Not quite ready to quit work! +Hi all, +I joined the 7 digit club sometime last year and I cannot talk about this with anyone except my wife. So I will write about this here. +I am 44 years old, married (since 16 years) without children (we tried but did not succeed. Even had four tries with IVF) and living in Germany. I work as a self employed software developer all my life since university (so I never paid into the normal government retirement system). I had the pülan to retire early when I was in my early thirties but I did not make a real excel plan until 2006. At this time it really started. As I made a lot of money with my job we did not have to live frugal and could still save a lot. I already had some life insurances which made 3,5% since 1999 and 2000. Currently I pay in €780/month (it went up 5% per year in the past). Additionally I saved in stocks (around €2000/month). But the real kicker where the appartments I bought. Luckily my wife insited on this. We bought the first in 2009 €118,000 for a small two bedroom appartment in the outskirts of Munich. Made a 20% down payment and it will be paid back in 15 years. Interest rate is 3,8% on this one. Then a one room appartment for €75,000 in 2011 (10% down, 3,1% interes rate, paid back within 14 years) and another two bedromm one for €140,000 (20% down, 2,3% interest rate, paid back within 14 years). In the last few years the prices went up insanely. When I compare my appartments with what is sold right now I would estimate that they are worth €660,000. At the end of the year we should have €220,000 left to pay so net value for the appartments is €440,000. Of course I cannot access this money right now because in Germany you have to pay tax on the money you make from selling your house/appartment (if you donÄt live in it by yourself). +Next we bought our house end of 2014. Price was €540,000 but as prices went up so crzay I would estimate it at €750,000. €430,000 left to pay at an avergare interest rate of 1,1%. Have to refinance it after 5 years (end of 2019) so I hope the interest rate stays so low. Altogether net value of the house is €320,000 +Then we have our life insurances. If we would sell them today I woulg get back €160,000. +And the last big block is our stock account. Right now it is at €176,000 + +So altogether our net worth is currently nearly 1.1 million Euro. +In my first plan 1 million was the goal. But then we get used to more luxury and I don't want to reitre and live frugal. +So now our goal is 2023. By then I am still 50 and my wife 47. The apartments will be paid back (and the last one sold). The house will be paid back completely using the life insurances and our stock account should be at around €600,000. The other two appartmens should give us €1,100/month. And as we don't have children we can theoretically use up our money. +We want ot buy a house in Thailand around this time (maybe work for another year just to get a more luxury house there). And retire completely to Thailand when I am 65 and sell the house in Germany. And use up this money during the next 20 years. And then in case I still have the two appartments and I will inherit the house from my parents together with my two siblings. + +So this is the plan. Hopefully we will stay on track. + +Thanks for listeing - I just had to explain it to someone. + +I know that the most common answer is probably “just save/invest all the new cash”, but I’m just looking for guidelines on when it’s not always the case. + +My girlfriend and I are house shopping (currently renting for $1400 a month). Up until recently I’ve had between $1,000-1,500 left over at the end of the month after all bills. +We want our total monthly payment for a house to be <= our current rent. + +I recently got a ~40% raise at work, and would be able to save/invest all of that extra money (it’s about $1k extra take-home a month) if the expenses stayed the same. But at the same time, the houses that would have a maybe $100-200 higher mortgage are **much** nicer (e.g. we’re currently looking at houses in the $200-250k range, but the amount of good looking houses increases by a lot when we move than upper limit to like $275-280k). + +At what point this increase in allowed budget becomes lifestyle creep? What’s a “normal” increase in spending vs raises etc? I can provide more info if needed. + +**EDIT:** + +- Combined income was $105k, now it’s $135k +- Total debt is around $35k, ($20k total left on 2 cars, $15k in student loans). +- We both contribute to 401k up to the max company match. +- After house down payment we’ll have a good emergency fund left, and I’ll have some money in a (taxed) Fidelity brokerage +Look, I hate the government just as much as the next guy. I also think Yellen and the White House have every incentive to spew propaganda, that said, NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) is the private organization charged with business cycle dating. + +See [here](https://www.nber.org/research/business-cycle-dating) + +You ever look at a graph with time on the horizontal region and there’s thick grey vertical regions that denote a recession? The NBER determines those regions, not the GDP. GDP is a factor, of course, but not the sole determinant. + +Think about March 2020. We entered a brief (but devastating) recession. The NBER declared a recession that lasted from March to April of 2020. That’s not even one quarter none the less two. + +Two quarters of negative GDP is a sign of fragility, but it’s not sufficient to declare a recession. + +If you already made up your mind that Yellen is lying to screw the little people, you will disagree with me and that’s okay. If you happened to be unaware of the NBER, hopefully you learned something. +As you all know, John McAfee bet that bitcoin would be $1 Million by the end of 2020. + +If it were an asset rising steadily with a fixed percentage, it would only be $ 7,000 today. Despite all the volatility, FUD, we are above that curve. So relax and HODL. + +https://fnordprefekt.de +A douche bag with a 238 Million dollar apartment wants to talk smack about Bitcoin. Scumbag! Modern day Marie Antoinette. + +Buying more Bitcoin. Screw this system and screw the media with their Billionaire worship. Most of these Billionaires got rich by insider trading, backhanded favors and corruption. That's it. The petrodollar is just an index of corruption, slavery and war. Enough! +When computers, the Internet or email first emerged, the value they presented was self-evident. + +This is why the growth of these technologies was exponential. + +A modern example would be Artificial Intelligence and ML, the value and practical applications - self-driving, machine translation, robotics and so forth are easy to see and understand. + +As such, AI and ML is every day more and more integrated into our daily lives. + +Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla, Nvidia, Samsung, Intel.... + +I cannot think of a single meaningful Blockchain project from any of these companies. Which is not a little side project for pleasing the teenage son of a big shareholder. + +If Ethereum is the world computer, then why aren't any of the tech giants using it? + +I personally believe the **only self evident** value of blockchain is a decentralised, permissionless payment gateway. And Bitcoin already does this, and has done for a while - it's success is debatable. + +People also like to say that it's "early days", but we can say objectively that's not true. I think only reason people say this is due to the failure of crypto tech to scale beyond it's very early or initial concept (Bitcoin/payments). + +I think someone said; if all the blockchains in the world disappeared overnight, would anyone care (beyond bagholders)? +NFTS already dint make much sense to me, but these bored apes NFTS just seem like the ultimate popular because money thing. + +The way I see it, with absolutely no research is that some rich people decided to make these, then paid other rich people to promote them which lead other rich people to want them so they can seem like they are still on the forefront of cool things. + +Then after an the rich people are posting and talking about bored apes, regular celebrity worshippers also want ask these NFTS and merch. + +Am I the only one that feels this way? + +I'm losing hope in humanity. +# SEC Awards More Than $3 Million to Whistleblowers in Two Enforcement Actions + +**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** +**2021-70** + +*Washington D.C., April 23, 2021 —* + +The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards totaling more than $3 million to two whistleblowers in separate enforcement proceedings. + +In the first order, the SEC awarded approximately $3.2 million to a whistleblower who alerted SEC staff to violations, identified key issues for staff to focus on, and provided subject matter expertise to the staff that conserved SEC resources. + +In the second order, the SEC awarded a whistleblower more than $100,000 for significant information and ongoing assistance.  The whistleblower’s information and cooperation helped the SEC detect and stop an ongoing fraud preying on investors. + +“These whistleblowers provided new, important information that aided the SEC in learning about and understanding the violative conduct,” said Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “The continuing assistance and cooperation offered by whistleblowers can prove critical to the successful resolution of an enforcement action.” + +Link: + +[https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-70](https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-70) +Putin signed a new decree on April 16 that requires Russian companies to remove their listings from overseas exchanges. + +Now, billionaires won't be able to collect foreign-currency dividends from depository receipt programs. + +The decree also means foreign holders of the canceled receipts must receive normal shares placed in non-resident accounts in Russia. + + +https://finance.yahoo.com/news/putin-signs-decree-remove-russian-135326392.html +Sorry if this is a naive question. With the current CAD to USD exchange rate, would it be wise to invest in US stocks with Canadian Dollars? Would there be any added advantage to CDR in this context? +Some really juicy values in the energy sector right now, names I'm looking at: + +[VET.TO](https://VET.TO) \- Gotta think this dividend will be cut in the near future, but nice ROE in this envronment. A little more debt than I would like but still a solid company + +[ARX.TO](https://ARX.TO) \- Will probably be cutting dividend soon, but looking like great value on cash flow metrics + +[HSE.TO](https://HSE.TO) \- Looks insanely cheap, just a cash generating machine for this price + +[CNQ.TO](https://CNQ.TO) \- Another company looking cheap, should be stable going forward + +[IMO.TO](https://IMO.TO) \- Feels like I never hear them talked about but again looks cheap + +[SU.TO](https://SU.TO) \- Shareholder friendly company, like having some downstream exposure too + +[TOU.TO](https://TOU.TO) \- Really like their financials and management team + +&#x200B; + +Obviously those are some pretty brief comments but there is clearly value here. The broader questions remains though that with the current state of the energy industry, and in particular Canada's energy industry, it is really tough to see any positive catalysts, seems like there is always negative news and these companies have just been getting hammered. +Hi everyone, + +I’m in my early twenties and started investing in my Questrade TFSA in the last couple months. I currently hold some weed stocks and am looking to diversify into different sectors to reduce the risk for my portfolio. Next summer I’ll be taking out my pension from my student internship as a payment of around $10,000 and putting it into a mid cap US ETF, Russell 2000 ETF, and probably an Aristocrat ETF as well (all mentioned by my financial advisor). + +I notice lots of investors on here are big fans of blue chip dividend paying stocks and using DRIP as it is a very efficient investing method. I’ve been looking into the following stocks and would like to start positions of $1,000 each (all I can currently afford and to keep fees low) into 2-3 of these in the next 6 months. I read the DRIP link on the sub and it says buying stocks for DRIP without a share purchase plan or if you are buying under 100 shares is a waste of money, why is this? What happens if I don’t have enough money from my dividends to pay for a full share of the company that doesn’t use a purchase plan, I’m assuming it gets paid as cash until I have enough for a share? + +In buying these, I’m looking at a long-term investing outlook and my main goal is increasing my personal wealth to use this money for either retirement, using it towards a home in a few years once I’m done school, or just holding it long-term. Thanks in advance and happy holidays. + +ENB +TD +CM +RY +FTS +GWO +CP +Hi could someone help explain how and when XEQT/VEQT rebalances? +- Does it rebalance based on a geographical or sector target? +- Would it ever change the underlying ETFs it holds or just change the % amounts? +- What other market factors would trigger a rebalance? +Hi, I have a few questions about investing in Canada. I have very limited knowledge though, so please feel free to correct me where I'm wrong. + +From what I gather in these threads, the options for index funds are very "limited" compared to the USA here, so many people seem to vie for ETFs because they have many more options, and lower MER. This seems like a painful trade-off regardless though, as ETFs seem to force you to do the trading yourself, even if you can use a roboadvisor. (Something you'd never need to bother with in the extensive choices of index funds in the USA) + + +So here are my questions: + + +1). Why is everyone in this subreddit so obsessed with CCP when their returns seem overrated? + + +I mean sure, true to their name they seem good for a lazy investor. But their returns ... don't look so good. +For starters when you look at their ETF portfolio examples, their 10 and 20 year annualized returns are between 5-6%. I don't know if 20 year annualized returns work different in Canada, but in the US that is less than optimal. + +If you look a 30 year period for the S&P index it's average is 11%, and IFA's 100 index portfolio is 12% (literally double what I'm seeing from CCP) + +Also, why are their 20 year annualized returns almost the same across the board from their most conservative portfolio to their most aggressive?? +This kind of struck me as a huge red flag, unless I'm missing something very basic here. Again, I'm probably far less learned than many of you on these subjects. + + + + +2). Why are Canadian portfolios' diversity so funky? + +Every "example" portfolio I see in Canada seems to fly in the face of what I learned in the USA. + +they all seem to have WAY too much equity in mostly Canada (or the US and Canada), rather than worldwide, and so much of the equity seems to be large-cap, bonds, and growth stocks + +From what I've seen through data, these stocks have some of the LOWEST returns in the long run. +I've read that small-cap, value cap, global market and things of this nature all have much higher return when you look at them across a decades-long period of time. +Yet these choices always seem scarce at best in all the Canadian options I keep seeing. What gives? + + +3). Why are there so many bonds? + +Where can I find more 100% equity options? I'm planning on being a very aggressive investor, but all the portfolios everyone seems to recommend are full of "safe" bonds. + + + + +4). Is it possible for a Canadian citizen/resident to invest through a U.S. broker, like Vanguard? + +Or is there some very simple reason I shouldn't do this? such as exchange rates, or taxes? + + + + +5). Considering the returns, why does this subreddit think Canadian ETF's are superior to US index funds? +Or are you just doing the best with the options you have available in this country? I'm genuinely curious. + + + + +Thank you for taking the time to read this, +I really hope someone can help clear some of this up for me. +Really appreciate any responses I can get. +The Conservatives tried to kill Bill C45 today but couldn't garner enough votes so the plan for legalization in the summer is still on... How is this going to impact cannabis stocks? Will we see huge rallies? + +Link: https://globalnews.ca/news/4100321/marijuana-legalization-bill-c45-passes-senate/ +I’m looking to increase my exposure to the US and I’d like to hear recommendations or pros/cons of the different index options available. Specifically, I’m looking at TD’s e-series: Nasdaq Index, DJIA Index, and US Index. Thanks! +For Aritzia lovers & fans: + +https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/video/we-re-looking-at-a-serious-expansion-of-our-product-line-aritzia-ceo-brian-hill~1976643 + +Video: Brian Hill, founder and CEO of Aritzia, joins BNN Bloomberg to talk about how the company has been navigating COVID-19 as some of its stores reopen. He says that the accelerated shift to e-commerce will lead to the company seriously expanding its product line. +The company recently announced some major acquisition news and the stock has gained nearly 25% in the last 5 days. I think this is only the beginning for the company and I see them becoming a telehealth giant within Canada. +Hello personal finance saviors + +My story is: + +Me and my fiancée decided to move to the United States[Kansas] (she's a US citizen while I am from Egypt) the system of finance in my country is totally different I have been always relying on debit cards and saving account hence spending only what I have and managing to save as much as I can. + +The situation is that I managed to save around 5k USD (not that much but that's around 50k of my national currency). +My fiancée in contrary is spending a lot on lots of unnecessary stuff for example buys new clothes every month or so and she is in big debt (university loans and whatnot) but since we are marrying soon after I come to the US (next month) I am totally in the dark side of the financial stuff like what do I do with my savings? Just open a normal savings account? Which bank do I use[Kansas state]? and what are the investment opportunities? Is joint account going to be risky for me giving the inputs above ? Taking into consideration that I won't have work until I get my permission. I am not asking for specific tailored responses I am willing to put as much research as I need I just need some guidance on where I can search for options to choose from. Some responses that could familiarize me with the financial sector would be great. +(I apologize if there are any mistakes in my post) + +TL:dr : moving to the US with my future wife having small savings of 5k USD but know absolutely nothing about financial life in the US + +Edit: correcting two words +* I didn't expect so many comments and recommendations thank you everyone * +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +Please use this thread to discuss how amazingly cheap you are. How do you keep your costs low? How do become frugal without taking it to the extremes of frupidity? What costs have you realized could be cut from your life without pain? Use this weekly post to discuss Frugality in general. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are more relaxed here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +**Official announcement here with details:** https://basicattentiontoken.org/dow-jones/ + +>The two companies also aim to collaborate on and experiment with blockchain-based technology in media and advertising. They plan to test a number of innovative solutions in the news and information space, including delivering content via Brave’s blockchain-based digital advertising and services platform [Basic Attention Token]. + +Dow Jones will use BAT's blockchain-based digital advertising platform (Basic Attention Token). + +Free subscription to Market Watch and Barron's (Wall Street) for Brave users too. + +Dow Jones owns the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street Journal, MW, Barron's, a bunch of other major Wall Street names. + +Basic Attention Token (BAT) is from the inventor of the Javascript programming language, and founder of Mozilla and Firefox. + +________ + +**Featured just now in AdWeek:** http://www.adweek.com/digital/dow-jones-media-group-is-experimenting-with-a-blockchain-platform-that-wants-to-wipe-out-the-ad-tech-industry/ + +**Edit:** Just came out on CNET: https://www.cnet.com/news/ad-blocking-brave-browser-gets-big-partner-publisher-dow-jones/ "Ad blocking Brave browser gets big partner: publisher Dow Jones" + +Edit2 (/u/cryptojennie): **REUTERS:** https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-dow-jones-media-group-partners-wit/brief-dow-jones-media-group-partners-with-brave-software-idUSFWN1RV0VH + +**PR Newsire:** https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dow-jones-media-group-partners-with-brave-software-to-offer-premium-content-to-users-and-test-blockchain-based-payment-technology-300631972.html + +EDIT #3: Just hit MarketWatch itself, which has huge readership in the financial world: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-jones-media-group-partners-with-brave-software-to-offer-premium-content-to-users-and-test-blockchain-based-payment-technology-2018-04-18 + + + + +## With the market way oversold, I expect a dead cat bounce or counter-trend rally in the next week or two. My thesis is that a 10%-15% rally is possible. With the VIX so high, I hear that calls are more expensive than puts now. + +I am thinking about buying ITM calls 30 days out on QQQ and IWM. I want to close out after a 50% gain if possible. + +Would these even be worth it? + +QQQ Jan 25 143 C @ 6.41 + +IWM Jan 25 126 C @ 4.75 +Unless they monetize their viewing habits data by selling it to outside content creators, I don’t see how they could ever justify even close to the valuation they currently have. +A link to my previous thread - +http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/2d8hpj/huge_increase_in_income_what_to_do_with_excess/ + +I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the advice. + +The job offer DID happen. I was expecting 80-85k, maybe a little less, but hoping to negotiate up to that high. +The number I was offered was 101k. My jaw almost hit the floor, and I accepted immediately, no negotiation. + +So here we are family of 3 with one on the way, 6 weeks ago, barely skimming by on my 37k a year. Now my wife is working at 44k a year after 3 years unemployed, and my salary has bumped to 101k with 15% bonus annually. +I don't know where to start, but I will try my best to soak up all the FAQ's here and would love love love to invest some of my disposable income into some self sustaining ideas like real estate, etc. + +Sorry for the ramble, I'm just overjoyed and again, wanted to say thanks for all the advice and well wishes. + +tl/dr Went from 37k/year to ~160k/year. +Today I hid something that felt like rockbottom. I got unexpected news regarding my salary (I'm a student with a part time job). I got less than I though I would and a got a bit panicky. +I decided to clean up in my monthly expenses to see if there was anything I could live without or switch to something cheaper. + +I'm terrible with my money, so I surprisingly discovered I paid for things I really didn't use at all. + +So as of today I am going to save $40 a month. It was a lot of small things that added up to $40 a month - money which could be used better. It's a huge weight lifted off my chest and I suddenly see a light at the end of the tunnel. +If you are in any kind of doubt, do yourself a favor and take a look through your monthly expenses, the small things matter and you may be able to save. +I'll go first. For me, I think it was around the time that I got a promotion at work with more responsibilities and a little more pay and while the pay increase was helpful and I've been able to improve my financial situation a bit, it wasn't really enough to change my circumstances. For example, at this rate I can't foresee ever being completely debt free or ever being able to purchase a home, hell I dread the day my 16 year old car gives out or is in an accident because there's no way I could afford a car payment. I then noticed colleagues at the next level up and their circumstances were better than mine but not by much. It was then I realized even if I make it to the highest levels in my field I would still be far from rich but definitely more comfortable. +https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/home-lenders-brace-for-up-to-15-million-u-s-mortgage-defaults + +> As many as 30% of Americans with home loans – about 15 million households –- could stop paying if the U.S. economy remains closed through the summer or beyond, according to an estimate by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. + +It's a vicious cycle here, landlords who depend on renters who can't pay their rent now will result in landlords not being able to cover their mortgage--and anyone with a service job that is a homeowner that's furloughed/laid off will also likely face default as well. + +While I'm not sure if this will "dwarf '08", there most certainly has to be major action taken to prevent even something that's half as bad as '08. +I'm in the market for a used car, I was wondering if there are ways to sort out the best car to buy via a data setthere are no doubt much smarter people in here that may show me how they use stats to pick the best option in a given set of data like [carsales.com](https://carsales.com) + +there is no right or wrong answer, I just want to know how other people approach the problem of car buying, as the whole thing is pretty stressful - there are so many variables and I really don't want to make the wrong decision with so much money + +1. my idea was to take a sample of the cars from the market and use the odometer reading and market price of the vehicle to better understand where fair value is located in a trend line, +2. I also thought it might help show at what odometer reading the vehicle depreciation curve flattens out, so I could theoretically buy the car at the point where the previous user has copped the most depreciation and I would not + +ill upload my chart and if someone could have a look at it and offer any ideas or other ways I can skin this cat + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/4awhz2nkkmg91.jpg?width=1393&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=034990ecd452cbae13fb08d1ab7998b98b6c00a9 +&#x200B; + +[ 2018 \\"Index Fund\\" EXPERIMENT - Tracking Top 10 Cryptocurrencies of 2018 - Jan 2020 Update - Down -80&#37; ](https://preview.redd.it/mtayomqbobf41.png?width=666&format=png&auto=webp&s=a69ce97a2a0a0f9c993e96ab0e3cd99ea6916cf7) + +[Full blog post with all the tables](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-twenty-five/) + +\*\*NOTE\*\* - I usually like to release the updates a day apart, but I'll be spacing out the Top Ten 2018, 2019, and 2020 a bit more as readers have mentioned they've been removed by the mods (no offence taken, mods - the content is similar, I assume the posts are being removed because they're seen as identical). \*\*END NOTE\*\* + +tl;dr - Alt-lead rally in January, but **Bitcoin** still in comfortable overall lead. **NEM** still in the basement. **Dash** crushes competition in January. January 2020 was easily the best start to a year since the experiments began in 2018. + +# The Experiment: + +Instead of hypothetically tracking cryptos, I made an actual [$1000 investment](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-one/), $100 in each of the Top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap on the 1st of January 2018. The result? The 2018 Top Ten portfolio ended the year [down 85%](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-twelve/), my $1000 worth only $150.   + +***I then*** [***repeated the experiment***](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2019-top-ten-month-one/) ***on the 1st of January 2019*** with the new 2019 Top Ten cryptos, then again in [2020](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2020-top-ten-month-one/). + +Think of the Top Ten Experiments as a lazy man’s Index Fund (no weighting or rebalancing), less technical, but hopefully still a proxy for the market as a whole – or at the very least an interesting snapshot of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 crypto space. + +I am trying to keep this project simple and accessible for beginners and those looking to get into crypto but maybe not quite ready to jump in yet. I try not to take sides or analyze, but rather attempt to report in a detached manner letting the numbers speak for themselves. + +This is not investing advice – as a matter of fact, the vast majority of the reports will show that the Top Ten approach under performs other strategies. This is experiment is designed to be documentary in nature, describing a specific period in cryptocurrency history. + +## Month Twenty-Five- Down 80% + +After two straight down months to end last year, 2020 started off with a bang.  Every 2018 Top Ten crypto finished the month in the green, a rare event for the 2018 Top Ten and something this grouping hasn’t seen since [May 2019](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-seventeen/).  The “worst” performing crypto still gained about +25% in January (**XRP**). + +## Ranking and January Winners and Losers + +Six out of the Ten Top cryptos were on the move this month, most gaining ground.  **Bitcoin Cash** climbed back to 4th place, up one from last month.  **Cardano** and **IOTA** both advanced three places to #10 and #20 respectively.  **Dash** made a massive leap this month, gaining 10 places from #26 to #16, the largest month to month move for any coin (in any direction) [since this experiment began in 2018](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-one/).   + +On the other hand, even though they both had great months, **Litecoin** (+68%) fell one spot and **Stellar** (+34%) slipped three spots to settle at positions #7 and #14 respectively. + +***January Winners*** – **Dash** blew everyone out of the water during the first month of 2020 gaining an astounding +184% and climbing 10 positions in the rankings.  **Bitcoin Cash** and **IOTA** finished in a virtual tie for second place, both up about +87%. + +***January Losers*** –  **XRP** under-performed the pack, but still finished January up +24%. And **Bitcoin,** despite receiving most of the headlines in early 2020, couldn’t keep pace with its altcoin peers “only” gaining +31%. + +For those keeping score, here is tally of which coins have the most monthly wins and losses in the first 25 months of the 2018 Top Ten Crypto Index Fund Experiment. Most monthly wins (6): **Bitcoin**. Most monthly losses (5): **Stellar**. All cryptos have at least one monthly win and **Bitcoin** now stands alone as the only crypto that hasn’t lost a month (although it came close in January 2020). + +## Overall update – Bitcoin still with healthy lead, alts recover a bit, NEM still at the bottom + +Down -46% just last month, **Bitcoin** made up a lot of ground in January 2020 and now is down -29% since the beginning of the experiment in 2018. **Litecoin** is now safely in second place at -68%, then comes **Ethereum** in third, down -75%. + +**NEM** remains stuck at the bottom, down -95% despite a strong +48% gain in January. **Cardano** and **IOTA** join **NEM** as the three cryptos that are down over -90% since [January 2018](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-one/). + +40% of the cryptos that started 2018 in the Top Ten have dropped out, specifically **NEM, Dash, IOTA**, and **Stellar**. They have been replaced by **EOS, Binance Coin, Tether,** and **BTCSV**. + +## Total Market Cap for the entire cryptocurrency sector: + +The overall crypto market gained approximately $67B in January 2020, up about +36%. After two months under $200B, the overall market cap is now back over $250B, a level not seen since September 2019.  So, yes a good January 2020, but for some perspective: since January 2018, the total market cap is down -55%. + +## Bitcoin dominance: + +As could be inferred by its relative under-performance compared to altcoins this month, **Bitcoin** dominance dropped to 66% in January 2020. It was near this level a few months ago, in early [December 2019](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2018-top-ten-month-twenty-four/). + +For context, the range since the beginning of the experiment in January 2018 has been quite wide: a high of 70% in September 2019 and a low of 33% in February 2018. + +## Overall return on investment since January 1st, 2018: + +The 2018 Top Ten Portfolio gained about $65 in January 2020.  If I cashed out today, my $1000 initial investment would return $202, down -80%. + +Here’s a look at the entire experiment, month by month: + +As you can see, nothing but red. The closest this group has come to breaking even was after the very first month. + +The 2019 Top Ten Experiment and the just launched 2020 Top Ten Experiment are both doing much better: + +* [2019 Top Ten Experiment](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2019-top-ten-month-thirteen/): up about +63% ($1,631) +* [2020 Top Ten Experiment](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2020-top-ten-month-one/): up about +55% ($1,549) + +(Yes, this feels like the world’s slowest dollar cost averaging) + +Taken together, here’s the bottom bottom *bottom* line:  + +**After a $3000 investment in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Top Ten Cryptocurrencies, my portfolios are worth $3,382.** + +That’s up about **12.7%**. + +## Implications/Observations: + +As always, the experiment’s focus of solely holding the Top Ten Cryptos continues to be a losing approach. While the overall market is down -55% from January 2018, the cryptos that began 2018 in the Top Ten are down **-80%** over the same period.  This of course implies that I would have done a bit better if I’d picked different cryptos. + +At no point in this experiment has this investment strategy been successful: the initial 2018 Top Ten have under-performed each of the twenty-five months compared to the market overall. There are a few examples, however, of this approach outperforming the overall market in the parallel 2019 Top Ten Crypto Experiment and, spoiler alert, the [first update of the 2020 Top Ten Crypto Experiment](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2020-top-ten-month-one/) shows that focusing on the Top Ten was a good strategy in January. + +I’m also tracking the S&P 500 as part of my experiment to have a comparison point with other popular investments options. The S&P 500 is now up +21% since the beginning of 2018. My initial $1k investment into crypto would have yielded about +$210 had it been redirected to the S&P. + +Taking the same $1,000 per year in January approach with the S&P 500 would yield the following: + +* $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2018: +$210 +* $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2019: +$290 +* $1000 investment in S&P 500 on January 1st, 2020: +$0 + +Taken together, here’s the bottom bottom *bottom* line for a similar approach with the S&P:  + +**After three $1,000 investments into an S&P 500 index fund in January 2018, 2019, and 2020, my portfolio would be worth $3,500.** + +That’s up about **+17%** (compared to **+12.7%** with the Top Ten Crypto Experiments). + +## Conclusion: + +After whimpering across the 2019 finish line, crypto has begun 2020 with a roar. A rare all green January for the 2018 Top Ten cryptos is hopefully a good sign for the year to come. + +Thanks for reading and for supporting the experiment. I hope you’ve found it helpful. I continue to be committed to seeing this process through and reporting along the way. Feel free to reach out with any questions and stay tuned for progress reports. Keep an eye out for my parallel projects where I repeat the experiment twice, purchasing another $1000 ($100 each) of two new sets of Top Ten cryptos as of [January 1st, 2019](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2019-top-ten-month-thirteen/) then again on [January 1st, 2020](https://toptencryptoindexfund.com/tracking-2020-top-ten-month-one/). +So, I'm a pretty extreme introvert in that I genuinely enjoy spending the vast majority of my free time alone as opposed to being around other people. This isn't due to any past trauma or hard life circumstances or anything, I actually consider my upbringing to be pretty fortunate as I was brought up in a sort of traditional family with a mom and dad who emphasized family values, good education, hard work and basic common sense. + +I also worked to overcome my natural shortcomings while growing up. I had horrible stage fright and didn't like talking to strangers, so I took lessons in public speaking and forced myself to interact with other people to break out of my shell. It worked, high school was pretty miserable overall but I made a bunch of friends in college and after that I got a job where I was responsible for a number of people and have done well since then. + +However, while I may have learned to interact with other people, I still enjoy being alone. I'm single, no kids, and have no desire to get married or to try and start a long term relationship. I couldn't care less of what people think of me outside the work place (most of my co-workers just think of me as the weird person who lives a very boring life but it hasn't negatively affected my work in any way). My entire aesthetic basically revolves around functionality rather than fashion or trends (I realized how stupid fads and flavor of the month stuff was in middle school, after spending years of allowances trying to get the "cool stuff" like everyone else and having nothing to show for it in the end) and saving money to me was like a game, I got a higher score the more I was able to save. I do have hobbies but they are very low maintenance (reading, writing, music, games, jogging, TV shows etc). + +This was all before I had even heard of the term Financial Independence. I discovered this subreddit only a couple of months ago and realized I had basically been walking to road towards FI pretty much all of my adult life because it had mostly just come naturally to me. Furthermore, to me the ideal life was relaxing at home enjoying my hobbies and not having to worry about much else (AKA a job/money) so I started working towards earning a lot of money to support that goal. + +In the end, my personality basically made me fit right into the FI lifestyle very naturally. I do consider myself pretty unusual personality wise and most of the people I talk to say they would go crazy if they went without human interaction for extended periods of time like I do in my personal life so I'm curious as to what other people's experiences have been in regards to this. +Hi all, +I'm currently renting a flat which the landlord wants rid of (they are the freeholders for the entire building) and they have offered to sell it to me if I want it. I have done a bit of research into leaseholds but I'm very unsure as to whether or not this is a good investment. + + +A couple of red flags to start: Neither the landlord or the estate agent know how long is left on the lease or how much the ground rent is but are still pushing to sell it to me. I'm not budging until I find this information out. + + +Key info: +The landlord wants to sell the flat for £125,000. I have suggested a price of £115,000 but we haven't started the haggling phase yet. +I earn £18,500 a year and are in full time employment. + + +The reason I am interested in buying it is because it's close to where I work and I've lived here a year and it's a super quiet area. It's also not a block of flats; it's a converted office building (2 floors, ground and 1st. I live on 1st) and is built like a fortress. Also, I am 21 years old and I can honestly see this being the only time in my life where I will be able to afford property due to the current economical climate, and the fact that if I want to get anywhere above minimum wage I'm going to need a degree, which I can't afford whilst I am renting. My current rent is just under 70% of my monthly wage (for a one bed flat, nowhere near the center of town) and I know that any mortgage plan is going to be a lot less than this meaning I can save real money. + + +If anyone can offer any advice without trying to sell me something (the issue I'm currently having with a mortgage broker) it would be massively appreciated. +I'm male, 25 years old. + +I'm wondering if I should be saving for getting married? In the future that is. I don't have a partner right now but would eventually like to. + +My parents say that the woman pays for this, but is that right? Sounds odd to me. + +Just curious what the minimum/average accepted overall payment costs for getting married is. +Hi everyone - 6 years ago I signed a contract with a landlord that included bills. In the contract it states + +> **Payment of council tax, utilities and other charges** + +>2.1 The landlord agrees to pay all bills: electricity, gas, water and council tax for the duration of the tenancy agreement. + +The problem is he didn't. When we moved flat we found out about the council tax that hadn't been paid as we moved locally - I took the tenancy to the council tax office and they accepted that as proof. At this point I should have been more proactive in checking if there was anything else outstanding but I didn't. + +I have now been contacted by BW Legal a debt collection agency about an outstanding water bill with Affinity Water for £340. + +This is the first I've known of this and it's six years on. In the rental I moved to after this in the same area that didn't include bills I had a contract with Affinity Water that I paid in full but at no point was this outstanding debt mentioned or notified to me. + +I rang BW Legal and had a good conversation with their phone operator who agreed that it sounded as though the landlord was at fault and that they would send my proof to Affinity Water and see if that moved the debt over to the landlord. I emailed a copy of the tenancy to BW Begal. I've just heard back now that Affinity Water don't accept that as proof that the debt isn't mine. If a tenancy isn't proof enough what is? + +The landlord opened an account with Affinity Water in my name without my knowledge or permission despite the tenancy including bills and then failed to pay the bill. There's now also debt collector fees on the charge. + +What are my next options? If Affinity Water won't accept the tenancy as proof what the hell other proof is better than that? Do I need to go the small claims route? I'm about to ring Affinity Water to start a complaint procedure. + +Any help or advice is appreciated. + +Thanks +https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/13/greenspan-says-there-is-no-barrier-to-negative-yields-in-the-us.html + +Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said nothing is stopping the U.S. from getting sucked into the global trend of negative yielding debt, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. + +"There is no barrier for U.S. Treasury yields going below zero. Zero has no meaning, beside being a certain level," Greenspan told Bloomberg on the phone. +https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/13/greenspan-says-there-is-no-barrier-to-negative-yields-in-the-us.html + +Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said nothing is stopping the U.S. from getting sucked into the global trend of negative yielding debt, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. + +"There is no barrier for U.S. Treasury yields going below zero. Zero has no meaning, beside being a certain level," Greenspan told Bloomberg on the phone. +GME has so much going for it I'm not even going to attempt to make a list. There is a literal library of DD on the matter. Those in the know are already diamond handed and won't sell until MOASS happens. + +Take the price down to $1, I'm not selling. Take the price to $1000, cool still not selling, Wipe Reddit from the face of the earth, guess what still not selling. Weekend FUD is the shits, always has been. For those who are getting shaken and worked up by the latest event just know that there are thousands upon thousands of apes who have been through far worse than this latest minor event and it changed nothing for them. + +Mark Cuban said if the reason you initialy invested has not changed why would you sell. (Not the exact quote, I'll update if someone can link it). + +I know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm not going to give that up for anything no matter what FUD they throw my way. I've read the DD, made my bets, now I'm just waiting patiently for it to play out. + +Do the research, make your bets, and let it play out. Until MOASS happens everything else is just noise. Stay grounded, take a step back, look at the big picture, think logically and relax. +Read through Dr. Marco Metzler's latest comments on the Evergrande Clusterfuck and needless to say the tits remain ever so firmly jacked. + +The best bits for you below; + +*"An Evergrande bankruptcy is likely to* ***worsen economic problems in China and the world***. *Due to the failure of Evergrande being able to pay its creditors, devastating consequences for the global economy and the banking system could result. Supply chains could be put under even greater strain than they already are today. This, in turn, would then inevitably lead to galloping inflation in the USA and Europe and other countries*. + +*It even has the potential to lead to extreme distortions of the global financial system - with bankruptcies of players that are still considered rock solid today. Triggered by a Chinese financial virus called Evergrande, the world may face a "****Great Reset****" - the* ***final meltdown of the current global financial system***. *However after the old financial system broke down we have to regenerate a new economic system which is build on trust and honor and in balance with the nature and the universe. We need now to team up bringing all the truth to the public as we see the old economic system falling. There will be a great opportunity after the "Great Reset" to rebuild a better world. This should be everybody\`s mission now*." + +[https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-marco-metzler-403341163\_insolvency-petition-on-evergrande-will-be-activity-6869615636763418624-jnkP](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-marco-metzler-403341163_insolvency-petition-on-evergrande-will-be-activity-6869615636763418624-jnkP) + +\#APESNOTLEAVING #kengriffinlied #HedgiesAreFucked +When I first got into crypto it was an addiction. I would stare at Binance all day. At work at home wherever I would just stare and see if I was making or losing money. I would get happy or slightly sad depending on the day which was worry some. It felt like being on drugs or being hungover the next morning. + +I started in October and my money was climbing quick which brought on the addiction. + +But after I lost %60+ percent in like 5 or so days, I just stopped looking. Haven't traded at all just started Hodling and got back to my old life before crypto. I look at my crypto maybe once every 3 days on blockfolio and man it feels great. I was always stressed out about not making ridiculous gains each day, but now I couldn't care less if it goes up or down I just let it sit there. + +Don't let crypto take over your life that is what I did and I am glad that January crash happened or I would just be glued to my computer screen at all times. +sources- + +[Coindesk](http://www.coindesk.com/santander-vies-become-first-bank-issue-digital-cash-blockchain/) + +[Huffington post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-seaman/ubs-santander-announce-bl_b_11683838.html) + +[International Business Times](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/devcon2-santander-ethercamp-building-bridges-between-bank-accounts-ethereum-1582242) + +[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-banks-blockchain-ubs-idUSKCN10Z147) + +edit - [context](https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/devcon-day2-sees-crowd-erupt-enthusiastic-applause/) +IMO this is completely unacceptable. Even if the phishing attempts seem obvious to you, stop supporting this incapable company who's entire business model is security that they have failed to provide. +[https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/lvz596/bitcoins\_staggering\_energy\_consumption\_raises/gpexqoe?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/lvz596/bitcoins_staggering_energy_consumption_raises/gpexqoe?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +I was downvoted insanely quickly when I started explaining what bitcoin and how it fits into our world. The ignorance is shocking. How people follow a technology sub and shun one of humanity's biggest breakthroughs is utterly astounding. +It's been so obvious what has been going on, yet no one seemed to care. The whole purpose of exchange-issued coins like FTT, BNB, etc were to raise capital in an IPO-like way, but without being regulated and issuing securities. I mean, did no one ask themselves why it makes sense to give a discount in an exchange coin? There is no need. If you want to give people a discount, you just charge them less. Coinbase does this via volume. Doesn't matter what you pay in. Your fee is just lowered at the time of trading, not based on how you paid it. + +This is how it works and how it always worked: + +1. Create a large supply of coins that give people savings on trading fees of they pay in those coins. + +2. Only distribute a percentage of those coins, retaining a lot. + +3. Give a discount on fees such that the coins have some real value when compared to fiat fees. + +4. Use that "created value" to create value on the balance sheet from the holdings of those coins. + +5. Use that balance sheet, in-house coin stack as collateral (get loans in USD, USDT, USDC, ETH, whatever people will give you). + +You've now essentially created securities whose value is directly related to trading activity, which is arguably directly related to revenues/cash flows. The value of the coins is related to the success of the business (just like securities would be!) + +Congrats, you've created illegal securities and "raised capital" without giving away voting rights or dealing with actual regulation. + +Congrats, your coin now failed and that balance sheet is worth shit. Now the margin calls come in, now the creditors come knocking. Now you are insolvent. +*This* [*post*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/smlmzb/this_deserves_its_own_post_everybody_can_complain/) *of a screen shot titled ' This deserves its own post: Everybody can complain - progress takes real effort ' received 15.5k upvotes. However, I have submit this fantastic quick reference 'official complaint' resource post several times and it can't make it out of new! Please save it for future use and show it some love so it gains traction for other apes to see and save too!* + +\--------------------------------------------- + +# An extensive QUICK LINK RESOURCE to file a complaint for all illegal, unethical, unfair, deceptive, abusive, and anticompetitive business practices uncovered in our markets and against GME. A reference for both domestic and international investors. + +&#x200B; + +* *Question: "How can apes bring change on the government level to ensure the stock market and the governing bodies are fair and are for the people instead of the one percent?"* +* *Answer: "Write your congressman. Write your senators. Send letters to the SEC. Get on the internet. Educate people. Demand transparency. Demand change."* + +*WES CHRISTIAN in interview by LUCY KOMISAR, Superstonk YouTube, June 2, 2021* + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/jw6qfngejug81.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f6fa78dfa0736fd48d51a9952f95798d5f27c39 + +**TDLR:** By lodging an official complaint, you can hold the MMs and SHFs accountable and help initiate changes to the current market structure & regulatory environment. There is a fast, trusted official way to make your voice against the manipulation heard - *beyond* limiting the DD and complaints within reddit. By lodging an official complaint - you can help end the corruption in our markets. This post is a composition resource of links for the appropriate agencies to lodge a complaint. + +&#x200B; + +>***Retail CAN communicate the truth and change the GME narrative by lodging 'official complaints'.*** The more apes individually choose to ’Share the Story‘’ of the benefits of DRS and the manipulation of our markets outside of Reddit, the better position retail investors are in to actually hold the MMs and SHFs accountable for their illegal, unethical, unfair, deceptive, abusive, anticompetitive, and unfair business practices. + +&#x200B; + +***Share the Story:*** *When you submit a complaint, where appropriate it may be beneficial to contact the agency you reported to through another of their social media platforms like their Facebook or Twitter pages to let them know to check their inbox about the complaint. That way your complaint is official and internal to the agency - and at the same time your complaint is made public. You can also include screenshots or time stamps of your complaint on these other social media platforms for all to see.* + +If an official complaint is not made, the 'powers that be' have **plausible deniability** and can say they didn't know about the issue, or it obviously wasn't as important to investors against some other topic they prefer to focus on. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/rivzla8gjug81.png?width=200&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b61a72b6c3f676960b27e55df56c510daa4b89c + +# A resource of links to file complaints for the misconduct and fraud uncovered within our markets: + +# Securities Exchange Commission (SEC): + +The mission of the SEC is to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. The SEC strives to promote a market environment that is worthy of the public's trust. The SEC encourages reporting suspected securities fraud or wrongdoings. + +Common violations that may lead to SEC investigation include: + +* Manipulating the market prices of securities +* Misrepresentation or omission of important information about securities +* Violating broker-dealers' responsibility to treat customers fairly +* Insider trading + +[https://www.sec.gov/tcr](https://www.sec.gov/tcr) + +>NOTICE: We strongly encourage the public (whistleblowers and non-whistleblowers) to submit any tips, complaints, and referrals (TCRs) using the SEC's online TCR system and complaint form. If you submit your TCR using the online TCR system, you will receive a notice confirming that your submission has been received successfully and providing the submission number for your records. + +[https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html](https://www.sec.gov/oiea/Complaint.html) + +[https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower/submit-a-tip](https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower/submit-a-tip) + +Template: [Oct 19nd, 2021](https://old.reddit.com/qb4raa/) + +Proposed Rule Changes plus link for comments: [https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml](https://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed.shtml) + +SEC social media accounts for Twitter, Linked-in, Facebook and YouTube: [https://www.sec.gov/opa/socialmedia](https://www.sec.gov/opa/socialmedia) + +# Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA): + +FINRA is dedicated to protecting investors and safeguarding market integrity in a manner that facilitates vibrant capital markets. FINRA investigates complaints against brokerage firms and their employees. FINRA is empowered to take disciplinary actions, including fines, suspensions and other sanctions.  Through its Complaint Program, FINRA investigates complaints against brokerage firms and their employees. FINRA is empowered to take disciplinary actions against brokers and their firms. Sanctions may include fines, suspensions, a barring from the securities industry or other appropriate sanctions. + +Before you file a complaint with FINRA, contact your firm. Immediately question your broker about any transaction that you do not understand or did not authorize with your broker.  If you are not satisfied with your broker’s response, contact the firm’s branch manager or compliance department. If you lost money or there was an unauthorized trade made in your account, you should complain in writing. Retain copies of your letter and of all other related correspondence with the brokerage firm. + +[https://www.finra.org/investors/need-help/file-a-complaint](https://www.finra.org/investors/need-help/file-a-complaint) + +[https://www.finra.org/contact-finra/file-tip](https://www.finra.org/contact-finra/file-tip) + +Official Complaint brochure: + +[https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/InvestorDocument/p011944.pdf](https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/InvestorDocument/p011944.pdf) + +Proposed rule changes and link for comments: [https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rule-filings](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rule-filings) + +1. **Submit comments online**To submit a comment online using FINRA's comment form, access any Regulatory Notice out for comment, and click on the orange button that reads, "Submit a Comment." +2. **Email written comments**Send your comments in text, PDF or Microsoft Word to [pubcom@finra.org](mailto:pubcom@finra.org). + +Social media accounts for Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and email: + +[https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/key-topics/social-media](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/key-topics/social-media) + +# Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): + +The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is an independent agency of the US government created in 1974, that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures, swaps, and certain kinds of options. The mission of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets through sound regulation. + +The CFTC Whistleblower program provides monetary incentives to individuals who report possible violations of the Commodity Exchange Act that lead to a successful enforcement action. + +[https://www.cftc.gov/complaint](https://www.cftc.gov/complaint) + +[https://www.whistleblower.gov/overview/submitatip](https://www.whistleblower.gov/overview/submitatip) + +Federal Registrar for rule changes and comments: [https://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/FederalRegister/index.htm](https://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/FederalRegister/index.htm) + +# NFA: + +NFA is the industrywide, self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry. Designated by the CFTC as a registered futures association, NFA strives every day to safeguard the integrity of the derivatives markets, protect investors and ensure Members meet their regulatory responsibilities. Investor confidence is crucial to the success of the derivatives markets, and the best way to ensure investor confidence is to demand the highest levels of integrity of all market participants and intermediaries. + +Complaint option drop down menu: Futures & Options on Futures; Swaps ; Security Futures, more + +Provide a detailed summary of complaint or suspicious business practices in section box provided: + +[https://www.nfa.futures.org/complaintnet/complaint.aspx](https://www.nfa.futures.org/complaintnet/complaint.aspx) + +# Federal Trade Commission: + +The FTC is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC pursues vigorous and effective law enforcement; advances consumers’ interests by sharing its expertise with federal and state legislatures and U.S. and international government agencies. The FTC Mission: Protecting consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education without unduly burdening legitimate business activity. + +[https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc](https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc) + +[ReportFraud.ftc.gov](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/) + +# Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): White Collar Crime Division + +White-Collar Crime is characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage.  The FBI’s white-collar crime work integrates the analysis of intelligence with its investigations of criminal activities such as public corruption, money laundering, corporate fraud, securities and commodities fraud, financial institution fraud, bank fraud and embezzlement, and mass marketing fraud. + +FBI special agents work closely with partner law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, among others, targeting sophisticated, multi-layered fraud cases that harm the economy. + +If you have submitted any whistler blower complaints to either the SEC or CFTC, you can also submit the same one - via the FBI's Financial Crimes Section. + +[https://tips.fbi.gov/](https://tips.fbi.gov/) + +# United States Department of Justice (DOJ): + +[https://www.justice.gov/doj/webform/your-message-department-justice](https://www.justice.gov/doj/webform/your-message-department-justice) + +General Fraud and Other Criminal Matters: **Contact the FBI** at (202) 324-3000, or online at [www.fbi.gov](https://www.fbi.gov/) or [tips.fbi.gov](https://tips.fbi.gov/). + +# Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB): + +The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a U.S. government agency that makes sure banks, lenders, and other financial companies treat you fairly. "We protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law." + +"Complaints give us insights into problems people are experiencing in the marketplace and help us regulate consumer financial products and services under existing federal consumer financial laws, enforce those laws judiciously, ..." + +[https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/) + +[https://complaint.consumerfinance.gov/submit-a-complaint/s/products](https://complaint.consumerfinance.gov/submit-a-complaint/s/products) + +# Better Business Bureau (BBB): + +As a consumer of a business, you can file a complaint against a bad business by contacting your local Better Business Bureau. "BBB welcomes the opportunity to assist you with your marketplace challenge. File a complaint, post a review, tell us about a misleading advertisement, or report a scam." + +The BBB sends your complaint to the business and asks for a response within 14 days. Your complaint may be publicly filed on the BBB's website. If the company is a member of the BBB, it is required to respond to all better business bureau complaints so it doesn't lose its accreditation. Other companies are not required to respond, but many do so when they consider that a complaint could become available for everyone to read online. + +[https://www.bbb.org/](https://www.bbb.org/) + +# North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA): + +The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) represents state and provincial securities regulators in the United States, Canada and Mexico. + +NASAA members are the closest regulators to local communities, small businesses and the investing public throughout North America. Members of NASAA have a multifaceted mission of protecting investors from fraud and abuse, conducting investor education, providing guidance and assistance via the established regulatory framework, and ultimately helping power the North American economy by ensuring the integrity of the financial markets. + +[https://www.nasaa.org/contact-your-regulator/](https://www.nasaa.org/contact-your-regulator/) + +# United States Senate: + +All questions and comments regarding public policy issues, legislation, or requests for personal assistance should be directed to the senators from your state. Please be aware that as a matter of professional courtesy, many senators will acknowledge, but not respond to, a message from another senator's constituent. + +[https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm](https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm) + +[https://financialservices.house.gov/forms/form/?ID=3107](https://financialservices.house.gov/forms/form/?ID=3107) + +# United States House of Representatives: + +Find Your Representative. Not sure of your congressional district or who your member is? This service will assist you by matching your ZIP code to your congressional district, with links to your member's website and contact page. + +[https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative](https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative) + +Templates: [May 7st, 2021](https://old.reddit.com/n70rg1) , [Jun 13nd, 2021](https://old.reddit.com/nysfda), [Jun 13nd, 2021](https://old.reddit.com/nz31hy), [Jun 30st, 2021](https://web.archive.org/web/20210701004512/https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/obak1s/help_me_clean_up_a_letter_to_my_state/), [Aug 6rd, 2021](https://old.reddit.com/ozc0ls), [Jan 25st, 2022](https://old.reddit.com/scq9k1/) + +# Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen): + +FinCEN is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. FinCEN’s mission is to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the strategic use of financial authorities and the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence. \[Primarily focus to combat money laundering and terrorism financing\]. + +[https://www.fincen.gov/contact](https://www.fincen.gov/contact) + +# Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): + +The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Title 5 of the United States Code, section 552, provides that any person has the right to request access to Federal agency records or information.  All agencies of the United States government are required to disclose records upon receiving a written request for them, except for those records that are protected from disclosure by the nine exemptions and three exclusions of the FOIA. This right of access is enforceable in court. + +[https://www.cftc.gov/FOI/foiarequests.html](https://www.cftc.gov/FOI/foiarequests.html) + +# Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA): + +The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is the umbrella organization of Canada’s provincial and territorial securities regulators whose objective is to improve, coordinate and harmonize regulation of the Canadian capital markets. + +While the CSA co-ordinates initiatives on a cross-Canada basis, provincial or territorial regulators handle all complaints regarding securities violations in their respective jurisdictions. This provides a more direct and efficient service since each regulator is closer to its local investors and market participants. Enforcement of securities regulations is also done on an individual basis by each province or territory. + +For more information or if you wish to make a complaint contact your local securities administrators: + +[https://www.securities-administrators.ca/about/contact-us/](https://www.securities-administrators.ca/about/contact-us/) + +# Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC): + +IIROC regulates all investment dealers in Canada. They set and enforce rules regarding the proficiency, business and financial conduct of approximately 174 Canadian investment firms and the more than 31,000 registered individuals. IIROC monitors all equity and debt market activity on all Canadian marketplaces, including stock exchanges and alternative trading systems, to detect manipulative trading practices and other breaches of the marketplace trading rules. While IIROC regulates the trading activity of public companies that trade on Canada's marketplaces, the public companies are regulated by the provincial securities commission that has been designated as their principal regulator. + +[https://www.iiroc.ca/investors/how-make-complaint](https://www.iiroc.ca/investors/how-make-complaint) + +# European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA): + +The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is an independent European Union (EU) Authority that contributes to safeguarding the stability of the EU's financial system by enhancing the protection of investors and promoting stable and orderly financial markets. + +[https://www.esma.europa.eu/investor-corner/file-complaint](https://www.esma.europa.eu/investor-corner/file-complaint) + +# European Union Financial Conduct Authority (FCA): + +The FCA is the conduct regulator for around 51,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK. Financial markets need to be honest, fair and effective so consumers get a fair deal. The FCA aims to address harm and add public value through the use of statutory powers to investigate and, where appropriate, take civil, criminal and/or disciplinary action where there has been a contravention. Preventing, detecting and punishing market abuse is a high priority for them. + +The FCA works closely with the financial services industry, law enforcement agencies and other regulators to combat market abuse and other related financial crime. They also aim to educate market participants. + +[EU Market Abuse Regulation](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/market-abuse-regulation-eu-no-596-2014_en) + +[https://www.fca.org.uk/markets/market-abuse/how-report-suspected-market-abuse-individual](https://www.fca.org.uk/markets/market-abuse/how-report-suspected-market-abuse-individual) + +# Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC): + +ASIC is Australia's integrated corporate, markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator. They regulate Australian corporations, financial markets, and financial services organizations and professionals. ASIC's role under the ASIC Act is to maintain, facilitate and improve the performance of the financial system and entities in it. + +[https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/asic-investigations-and-enforcement/asic-s-approach-to-enforcement/](https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/asic-investigations-and-enforcement/asic-s-approach-to-enforcement/) + +[https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/contact-us/how-to-complain/report-misconduct-to-asic/](https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/contact-us/how-to-complain/report-misconduct-to-asic/) + +## Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA): + +AFCA considers complaints that [previously ](https://www.afca.org.au/about-afca/rules-and-guidelines/previous-edr-schemes)would have been handled by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. They are the dispute resolution scheme for financial services. + +[https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint](https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint) + +# Escalation to the Office of Ombudsman: + +Ombudsman institutions protect people from maladministration and violation of their rights in more than 100 countries worldwide. The Ombudsman promotes fairness, accountability and transparency in the public sector by investigating public complaints and systemic issues within their jurisdiction. The [*Ombudsman Act*](https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/what-we-do/the-ombudsman-act) sets out the Ombudsman’s powers of investigation, which include the authority to issue summonses, request documentation from public sector bodies, require evidence under oath, and inspect premises. It is an offence under the [*Ombudsman Act*](https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/what-we-do/the-ombudsman-act) to mislead the Ombudsman or to obstruct an Ombudsman investigation. Government (regulated) organizations must co-operate with the Ombudsman’s investigations. + +If your complaint with your broker or FINRA is not resolved to your full satisfaction, you can easily escalate it to the Ombudsman. You can hold your broker accountable, and ensure they action your requests in a timely manner. Brokers *must* provide you with the information on how to escalate further, but generally try to avoid this happening at all costs as they do not want unresolved complaints escalated. Take a look at the annual escalations that actually make it to the Ombudsman. + +[https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/Office\_of\_Ombudsman\_Report.pdf](https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/Office_of_Ombudsman_Report.pdf) + +# + +# Lodge an official complaint with your broker's compliance department: + +Adjusted Cost Base (ACB) Issues on transfer? Margin calls without having a margin account? Questionable activity around your GME holdings? Refusal or delay in DRS transfer requests? + +***Brokers typically make every effort to resolve your concerns when you lodge an official complaint as they become a matter of public record.*** *For official complaints, they must action and respond quickly, and if you are not satisfied with full resolution of your complaint* y*ou can escalate to the FINRA, the SEC and the Ombudsman.* + +# DRS Transfer issues and an escalation resource: + +***Legally, your broker must still EXPEDITE your transfer request to Computershare, even though Computershare is not a broker and does not fall under the ACATS 3-day rules.*** You should not have to transfer between brokers only to transfer to Computershare. You can hold your broker accountable through FINRA Rule 11870 (2) by lodging an *official complaint,* and escalating to the Ombudsman if they do not resolve your complaint in a timely manner. + +From the FINRA website: FINRA regulations for broker to broker transfers and non ACATS transfer requests: + +[https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/11870](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/11870) + +>(2) If a customer desires to transfer a portion of his or her account *outside* of the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS), authorized alternate instructions should be transmitted to the carrying member indicating such intent and specifying the designated assets to be transferred. Although such transfers are not subject to the provisions of this Rule, ***members must expedite all authorized account asset transfers***\*\*\*, whether through ACATS or via other means permissible\*\*\* *under this Rule*, and coordinate their activities with respect thereto. + +&#x200B; + +***When filing a complaint with one of the agency links above, the most common pre-identified*** **options to report on are complaints we see posted about here on this sub on a daily basis.** ***So many of the posts could be an official complaint on record:*** + +&#x200B; + +* Fraudulent investment scheme, such as a Ponzi scheme or the promise of high-yield returns +* Unregistered securities offering +* General trading practices or pricing issues +* After hours trading +* Algorithmic trading +* Bankrupt companies, trading in +* Front running +* Market Maker activities +* Pricing information: inaccurate quotes +* Trade execution +* Manipulation of a security +* Abusive naked short selling +* Orchestrating trading by multiple parties +* Pump & Dump scheme +* Suspicious end of day trading +* Wash sales +* Insider trading +* Material misstatement or omission in a company's public filings or financial statements, or a failure to file +* Municipal securities transactions or public pension plans +* Specific market event or condition +* Bribery of, or improper payments to, foreign officials (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations) +* Initial coin offerings and cryptocurrencies + +&#x200B; + +>**TL;DR: Retail CAN communicate the truth and change the GME narrative by lodging 'official complaints'. The more apes individually choose to ’Share the Story‘’ of the benefits of DRS and the manipulation of our markets outside of Reddit, the better position retail investors are in to hold the MMs and SHFs accountable for their illegal, unethical, unfair, deceptive, abusive, anticompetitive, and unfair business practices.** + +&#x200B; + +*Note:* *This post is meant to highlight the benefit of an official complaint and to provide a consolidated quick reference of the agency links to report misconduct and corruption within our markets. Please advise of any additional agencies you are aware of that should be considered for addition.* + +*Credits: A special thanks to* *u/*[*jkhanlar*](https://www.reddit.com/user/jkhanlar/) *and* *u/*[*yesbabyyy*](https://www.reddit.com/user/yesbabyyy/) *for their contributions to this post.* + +&#x200B; + + DISCLAIMER *:* Information contained in this post has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable in nature. No representations or warranty, express or implied, is made by as to it’s accuracy, completeness or correctness. All opinions, estimates, and comments contained in this post are subject to change without notice and are provided in good faith but without legal responsibility. This is not financial advice, and neither I, nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of this post or the information contained herein.** + Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Buys Over 1.5 Million Shares of Palantir + +[***Chris Lange***](https://247wallst.com/author/chris-lange/)***May 4, 2021 11:53 pm*** + +One ARK exchange-traded fund run by ETF star Cathie Wood bought over 1.5 million shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. ([**NYSE: PLTR**](https://247wallst.com/companies/pltr/)) shares on Tuesday, as the prices of this ETF traded down over 3% in Tuesday’s session. The ETF is up well over 100% in the last year. + +ARK Innovation ETF ([**NYSEARCA: ARKK**](https://247wallst.com/companies/arkk/)) bought 1,514,080 shares of Palantir. At Tuesday’s closing price this would have valued this purchase at roughly $32.8 million. This is only a small fraction of the total holdings. ARKK is up 112% over the past 52 weeks. + +24/7 Wall St. [**recently reported on Palantir**](https://247wallst.com/technology-3/2021/02/18/goldman-sachs-raises-price-targets-on-sizzling-momentum-tech-stocks/): + +>This company came public as a direct listing and struggled out of the gate, but the stock seems to be taking off now. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PLTR) builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community in the United States to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations. +The company offers Palantir Gotham, a software platform for government operatives in the defense and intelligence sectors, which enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals to intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants, as well as facilitates the handoff between analysts and operational users, helping operators plan and execute real-world responses to threats that have been identified within the platform. +The company also provides Palantir Foundry, a platform that transforms the ways organizations operate by creating a central operating system for their data, and it allows individual users to integrate and analyze the data they need in one place. + +Catherine Wood, the CEO and CIO of ARK Investment Management LLC is a minority and non-voting shareholder of 24/7 Wall St., LLC, owner of 247wallst.com. +I am never one to tell people my predictions of great big hulking mystery that is the stock market. + +But logically I cannot fathom how this continues to rise. It dropped over fears of economic lockdown and its risen as case numbers have decelerated. Lockdown or a partial version is still on the cards for much of the world for a long time. + +There are two ways it ends. With a vaccine in 18 months, time or herd immunity and 200,000,000 people infected across America. Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanely originally predicted that Q3 growth will be 19%¹² and 29%¹³ respectively. The idea that we are going to get over the bump and then everything can be turbocharged back is insane. + +Either the coronavirus is far less deadly than the estimations of every expert and study or we have a long time yet under the economic restrictions of partial lockdowns and uncertainty. + +Sources: + +[The Market's Optimism Is Naive](https://medium.com/@langtonjb/the-markets-optimism-is-naive-1c7b2516248c?source=friends_link&sk=582591b984d1571499e1fcbee9465ddd) + +[How Does The Pandemic End](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-03/when-and-how-does-the-coronavirus-pandemic-end-quicktake) + +[There is No Plan For The End Of The Coronavirus Crisis](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/there-is-no-plan-for-the-end-of-the-coronavirus-crisis.html) +I'm a little sour at the moment. When I was hired, I specifically asked about the 401k and I was told they offered tremendous fund options that you don't find elsewhere. + +I just got my 401k enrollment and I'm kind of floored. Our cheapest fund is a vanguard funds with an expense ratio of 1.41%. What the fuck! The cheapest fund in something I would actually want is 1.8%. Funds range from 1.4-2.1% with all of the growth stock funds in the 1.8+% group. The funds are offered by valic. + +I don't think the people in charge at my company understand what a 2% fee does to their returns. Hell, can you even make money when someone is eating 2% of your investments, during periods of gains and losses? + +I brought this up with my manager, who has a finance degree, and he didn't see the problem. It's only 2%, a piddly amount, in his mind. Unfortunately I've only been here for three months, so I'm not sure I have the presence to be rocking the boat on the company's 401k choices. Am I wrong to be pissed that they're upcharging funds so damn much? Why is this even legal? +Hi all, + +&#x200B; + +So, in Denmark, there is soon a contest where you get 500.000 DKK in virtual currency (74,000 USD or 67.000 EUR). + +You have from 17. september until 20. november to turn this into as much as possible. Shorting is not possible. + +&#x200B; + +Any recommendations into what to invest into? + +&#x200B; + +It is strictly stocks, so no oil, gold or the likes. +I currently have a S&S ISA with Vanguard, with around £5000 in the ftse 100 index and £5000 in the S&P 500 ETF; im also building a fund in the developing markets. I also have a steady emergency fund which will cover 3 months of expenses should the worst happen. + +So, I have decided I want to curate some selection of stocks to a more personal degree than that which is covered in the Vanguard ISA. + +My question is, which trading apps are the best to run in conjunction with my established ISA? + +Apologies if this is a question that has been neaten to death. + +Edit: As pointed out in the comments i don't want to trade stocks, rather find a provider that will allow me to curate my own investment portfolio. +Hi all, I had a quick look in the trading sub but it all looked a bit serious and complicated. I have been following the ongoing Elon Musk/Tesla situation and thought it would be fun to buy a few shares. I’m not looking to make money and would only spend what I can afford - a bit like gambling. + +Could anyone point me in the direction of a method I could use from my tablet \phone or is it not as easy as that? Would I need to sign up to say Hargreaves and Lansdown? + +Thanks in advance for any tips. +Vitalik Buterin withdrew 30,000 ETH from his public wallet today, fueling investor skepticism. Proponents anticipate that the sale of 30,000 ETH by Buterin will have a negative impact on the Ether price. + +The co-founder of Ethereum has alarmed investors by transferring 30,000 ETH tokens from one of his multisig wallets. Buterin has previously used the destination wallet to make sales, gifts, and charitable donations. + +Buterin's multisig wallet "Vb 3" noted a 30,000 ETH transfer to an unidentified wallet. + +The public wallet address now holds 290,000 ETH, which is interpreted as a bearish move or as Vitalik Buterin cashing out his Ethereum. While simply transferring a cryptocurrency from one wallet to another is not considered an indicator, Buterin's transfer is out of his Ethereum holdings. + +Proponents believe he may wish to sell a portion of the 30,000 ETH. + +Ethereum is currently trading at around $2,086. At this rate, the transferred ETH is worth approximately $62.58 million. If these tokens are listed on an exchange, there may be a significant increase in selling pressure on the altcoin, causing prices to fall. + +Even though the token has retraced more than 50% of its all-time high, John Roque, an analyst at 22V Research, believes Ethereum remains bearish. According to Roque, + +The analyst believes Ethereum price could plummet another 80% from the current price levels and target $420. + +The truth is there is almost no crypto including those with large ecosystems like Solana which saw major rise in value in 2021 and Exeno whose ecosystem including access to NFTs and a staking platform; unaffected by the current bitcoin drop. Bitcoin has seen a major drop from 68,000 to 25,000 before it climbed back to 30,000. + Putin has signed a decree that creditors will be paid in Rubles according to a report from Bloomberg today. This will apply to sovereign and corporate debtors paying countries who are hostile to Russia. List of countries to be published later today. Guess all the NATO countries will be on the list + +Edit: Check Bloomberg.com - article is behind a pay wall +&#x200B; + +[BTC](https://preview.redd.it/ivhmzfcbuo991.jpg?width=760&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fa8a059a043c34651a3e64972f560eb61a7c786) + +And if I give a specific number instead of percentages, it becomes even scary. + +In six months, 82,602 bitcoin millionaires have lost their status as a result of the negative dynamics of the first cryptocurrency. + +&#x200B; + +At the time BTC ATH reached $69,045.00. - there were 108,886 bitcoin millionaire addresses. + +You can count for yourself, how many of them there are now. + +&#x200B; + +Also there are much less whales (wallets with value more than $10 million) - from 10,587 to 4,342 addresses. + +&#x200B; + +But, at the same time, the number of wallets with at least 1 BTC increased significantly. Their number increased by more than 13,000. + +&#x200B; + +During these trying times, its interesting to watch the strategy of El Salvador’s Bitcoin-boosting president. His recent tweet on Twitter was, “Bitcoin is the future! Thank you for selling cheap.” and he keeps buying the dip. + +&#x200B; + +I read somewhere( not verified) that he buys the dip from 'Public funds'. Either he is a visionary or a disaster. Only time will tell. Meanwhile I see a true Diamond hand in him. + +&#x200B; + +What are your thoughts? +Don't think of it as a loss, think of it as promoting a united community. 92% of the mining power helped get your Segwit passed. But they also made a promise to increase 2x. Don't make them have to choose to go back on their word or divide the community. Please do not cause a civil war. + +This is a graph of the block size: +https://blockchain.info/charts/avg-block-size?timespan=all + +Everyone can see we are bumping into a glass ceiling at 1mb and the network needs more space. +Looking at historical commodity prices, every time we've had high inflation in the past, gold and silver have shot up. It makes a certain sense, as their value is essentially static, so when currency loses relative value, then they should go up, at least in dollars. + +Why is this not happening now? The low-hanging fruit answer would be that CPI (which doesn't care about precious metals, and only measures things that people actually need, like food and housing) increases are in fact due more to supply shortage than excess demand. + +If investors really were afraid of runaway inflation, wouldn't they be at least partially putting money into such historically safe inflation hedges? But gold is barely up since we started seeing high inflation (March '22), and silver is actually down. + +I would love to hear some well-informed economic theories about why today's inflation spike is bucking the trend that has been pretty steady over the past century. + +No political talking points, please. +Daniele's wonderland project is in full blown collapse, falling 50% today after already plummeting over 90% from its highs. Color me shocked that a project that promised 80,000% apr turned out to be a complete rugpull. The cherry on top is that after falling so much, the creator, Daniele, decided to airdrop huge quantities of this token to a bunch of FTM holders as part of his ve(3,3) promotion, whomst immediately sold and is part of the reason of this current freefall. + +@danielesesta has gone private on twitter and word is he backdoor sold all his holdings in the last few days by putting his shares into Abra, borrowed MIM against it, transferring it to eth, swapping it for USDT, and exiting via bitfinex. + +Complete rug LOL +This is your safe place for questions on financial careers, homework problems and finance in general. No question in the finance domain is unwelcome. + +Replies are expected to be constructive and civil. + +Any questions about your *personal* finances belong in /r/PersonalFinance, and career-seekers are encouraged to also visit /r/FinancialCareers. +I have about 3 years of experience as a Financial Analyst with an F100 company but have found myself disliking finance more and more every day. What other careers could I transition into with this experience? + +I truly want nothing to do with Finance, I prefer something more client facing or to do with marketing/communications. How best can I emphasize the transferrable skills from Finance but start in a completely different field? +I feel like any time a discussion on high frequency trading comes up on reddit, the top comment is always something to the effect of "Financial Transition Tax. Slap 10bps tax on each transaction and kill HFT for good." +Don't get me wrong, I understand there are some real concerns to be had about HFT. The way I see it, it is both good and dangerous at the same time. But I don't understand why the outrage is pointed specifically towards high frequency trading. What separates HFT from other algo traders or day traders doing tech analysis that warrants the desire to completely slash HFT trading volumes? +Hi, + +I just finished my one-month internship in a credit risk management agency. I had access to Barclays Macro Daily reports, which are very interesting and helpful, and I was wondering if there were any resource like those reports available for free, or at a low cost, on the Internet ? + +I already have a subscription to the FT, I go to Seekingalpha, Zerohedge daily, but I feel like those website lack the depth and 'graphical analysis' provided by the Barclays reports. Could anyone help me ? Thanks ! + +I graduated college last year with about 80k in cumulative debt between financial aid and private loans. My entire life, my dad told me he'd pay for my college, but unfortunately during my sophomore year of school he was laid off from his job of 25 years and needed to use most of his savings and liquid cash for our family. We basically came to an agreement that we'd take out loans and split the balance. I think I'm at approximately 35k now after paying $450 each month since I entered repayment on the loans. The average interest rate is like 6.5%, and I'm in a 10 year repayment plan. + +&#x200B; + +I also work in the city, approximately 1:15-1:30 by train away from my house. I'm currently making 65k/year and renting an apartment thats \~20 min walk from work for \~$900/month including all utilities. My lease is about to be up and one of my roommates is moving out, so my rent will go up to $1200/month. Honestly, I can easily afford it, but I was doing the math and realized that if I move back home, I can use that money as a loan payment each month and be done with my loans in 3 years, saving myself \~$10k. + +&#x200B; + +I've been living in this apartment for about 5 months now (short term lease) and I was commuting to work from my house for the first half of my first year at work; it sucked SO MUCH. I was waking up at 5am to make it in to work by 7:30am, there were never any seats on the train due to the high volume of commuters, and I'd have to transfer trains 3 to 4 times. I'd come home late and exhausted and I would never be getting enough sleep, which led to both my work and social life suffering a little. Not to mention the cost of the train tickets was about $400/month and it's gone up since I moved. + +&#x200B; + +Living so close to work means I get those 3 hours of my life sitting on the train everyday back, which is huge to me. It also means I don't have to live with my parents, which was a really tough adjustment after a great 4 years of college with awesome roommates. However, being able to pay off my student loans in such a short amount of time (about 2-3 years) and using that freedom to travel and do whatever I want is also a big deal. Does it make a lot of financial sense to make this tradeoff? + +&#x200B; + +Edit: Wow thanks for the helpful suggestions guys! To answer a few questions + +1. My rent is actually $2400 split b/w 3 people. It's a NYC apartment so this actually considered cheap here. One roommate is moving out, the other is renewing and is in different towards having 1, 2 or 0 roommates (rich parents). We will likely be getting a third roommate, I just mentioned using this new sum of money as if we were splitting the apartment two ways as my potential debt payment because when I initially saw it I thought "surprisingly, I can actually afford that." +2. My commute wound up being 1.25-1.5 hours each way because I had to transfer trains 3 to 4 times in the morning in order to get to my office. NYC is laid out kinda weird and if your office is in Queens or Brooklyn and not Manhattan, commuting can be a fucking nightmare. My days were essentially; wake up at 5am, get home by 7pm, and you have 3 hours to do basic human stuff like eat and exercise before you have to go to bed. Not much time for anything non-essential. +3. Cost of commuting was no joke. I was spending $300/month on the railroad ticket, $121 on my metrocard, and \~$100 on gas to get to the train station in an old beater car. So it is something to consider that I forgot; if I moved home, I'd actually be saving a net $300 due to travel. This isn't super cut and dry though, because living at home means that my food costs go down by a TON (literally only paying for lunch, parents stock the house and Mom likes cooking) so I'd probably actually be saving \~$600/month. +It wasn't supposed to be like this, a very small group of people already holds (sort of) control of the fate of the system, which was supposed to be ruled purely by supply and demand. And now there's a conflict of intere$ts. It's not a technical argument, otherwise we would all arrive into consensus. + +At the end of the day, this whole BIP148/UASF argument is confirmation that the Bitcoin project had a great start, proposing a fantastic currency system, but it is bound to flop, not because of a technical limitations, but interests. I mean, what's the matter? If a small group of people can decide the fate of something, then the system ain't that special. + +Bitcoin should just exist, without control whatsoever. No one should possibly be able to interfere with it. Unless somebody finds a solution that completely nullifies the purpose and existence of *Jihans*, it will be a matter of time until BTC dies. +I jumped on the train like everyone else, but began to notice a lot of malice and discord between people who think differently about the future of these meme stocks. + +The important thing people need to remember is everyone on here is a stranger. We joke and talk shit which is fine and all, but you have no idea what people are doing outside of what they commented. The majority of people here are likely in it for themselves. You don't know what their motivation is, be it telling people to buy/hold for those looking to cash in, those who "just like the stock", or those that say sell because they are "shills" or have some other ulterior motive. Maybe they are trying to look out for you. Maybe not. + +At the end of the day stop letting emotions and the temperature of this and other subreddits dictate your choices. What happens here might influence the market, but I've seen too many posts about diamond hands and monkey grips with the stock continuing to decline to think we have any significant role in what happens with the price. Don't put in what you can't risk to lose; it isn't worth it. + +TL;DR - If you want to buy - buy. If you want to hold - hold. If you want to sell - sell. But for fuck's sake be careful. + +First, in order for this to work they would have had to file with the SEC and not yet announced. Now, onto the reasoning. + +What do you do on the Fourth of July in America? Get together with friends and family and chat with a little bit of alcohol in you. + +Releasing an announcement on the 4th of a crypto dividend with a 14th execute day would be absolute genius because everyone in America understands the idea of taking back our independence and wealth - especially on July 4th. + +It would give GameStop maximum FOMO and the people maximum chance to get in because word of mouth will never be stronger than when we are all with our loved ones. + +It could be our Declaration of Independence from Wall Street, signed by Ryan Cohen and the apes. + +No longer will be stand by while you rob us blindly. Fuck you, pay me, go to jail, do not collect your $200 on your way to re-start - because it’s ours once again. + +This is a once every event. We should treat it as such and do something that meets the moment, so that everyone remembers FOREVER what happened here and why. Let it stand as a reminder for our country and the world that all people, not just the wealthy, should be treated well. +I contribute the max 6k a year to my Roth, mostly into VTI and VOO. I have QYLD and O in brokerage, and both combined are less than 10% of my total portfolio. + +What do you do? Does it make sense to have these here? I understand it raises your cost basis when you eventually do sell, but wondering which is most effective long term. +Good day all. + +I’ve recently started venturing into investing outside of a passive index fund. + +Ive asked this question to other groups regarding dividends but they tell me total return is greater than getting dividends. I wanted to see if I could get any reply here. + +I’m 37. I was interested in SCHD in a taxable account and with time I could build it up and receive a small but supplementary dividend from it. I was discouraged from dividends and told that if I ever needed the money from a share I could just sell the share versus getting dividends from them. But at the same time I see so many people on Twitter with names such as “dividend investor” and “dividend lover” and “dividend hustler” etc. etc. + +Wanted your opinions if possible on dividends versus growth/total return? + +Thank you all! My apologies if my thinking wasn’t cohesive. +Hello there, I was looking into dividend investing. However, choosing a company is hard considering that I want to take a hands off approach. My question is what to look for in balance sheets and other metrics to, at least, make a more informed decision. + +Thanks! +I always hear the super rich borrow against their stocks to avoid being taxed on cap gains but I’ve never heard about borrowing against future dividend income. + +Haven’t thought too much into this and if this would even make sense from a tax standpoint but would a bank give out a loan to borrow against future dividend flows? And has anyone done this? + +Obviously you might have to worry about dividend cuts but could you build a case if you had very diverse and stable divs coming in. +Is it possible to average a 8-10% return in my dividend portfolio with a 3.5% yield and a 5-7% dividend growth a year? + +If I can get a stable 8-10% a year i don’t care about speculative high growth stocks. I can save 60% of my income and put it in this portfolio for 20-25 years and retire. + +My holdings: +SCHD +JNJ +PEP +KO +MCD +JPM +CVX +XOM +HD +MMM +PG +CAT +ABBV +PM +DUK +TXN +VZ +AAPL +SO +O +Hello, + +Thoughout this subreddit, I've heard a lot of advice mentioning it would be beneficial to have your dividend stocks in a tax-advantaged account such as a Roth IRA. I have a couple of questions as this doesn't make any sense to me. + +To start, I'm aware the DRIP is tax free when reinvested, but what happens if you want to cash out the dividend before you hit the 60ish age requirements (aka, FIRE)? You would still be taxed plus a 10% penalty right? + +Secondly, you are hard-capped at $6,500 per year into your Roth, a value that is WAY lower than I'm currently contributing to my portfolio (like 10x lower). + +Is there a benefit I'm missing? My Roth is being maxed every year into a pure growth etf like VTI and all my dividend stocks are in a taxable portfolio with all dividends reinvested. + +Thank you in advance! +I'm still fresh meat to this field considering that I'm turning 21 soon. Regardless of my lack of experience, my goal is to take my first step into building a dividend portfolio. I have done a good amount of research on companies that I personally understand as well as companies that I believe will do well post-covid. I have relatively 4k starting off, and I plan to add as much as I can each month after covering any other expenses. This will be a slow burn since I'm still paying for college, but hopefully, this work will pay off in the future. + +My holdings: JNJ, NVDA, VTI, SPHD, NEE, MSFT, AAPL, SMH, ICLN, JPM, STOR +Maybe pile(Still researching, unsure): WFC, KO, + +Not sure if there are any must-haves that I should look into, but I would love to know! + +Since I'm still very new to this, I'm not quite sure if this is a good starting point. Whether it's not a good value, if it's not diverse enough/too diverse, or if they're poor choices and there are much better alternatives, any feedback or ideas would be greatly appreciated! +Upon scanning most of this subreddit I’ve found that the most revered picks are SCHD, JEPI and O. + +I don’t have the time to manage and research every stock or ETF on the market so my question is, if i were to allocate and even amount of money towards these 3, could i set it and forget it for the next 5-10 years? +Starwood Property Trust(STWD) has been a really compelling stock that has been greatly overlooked until it's recent run up to $17 on vaccine news. Barry Sternlicht, the CEO, thinks the company is incredibly undervalued at current prices. I have to agree, as he gave his reasoning behind his valuation of the company which seems to be spot on. I've been holding this baby since $11 but am considering buying more if it pulls back, would love to hear everyone's thoughts. + +"So if you believe our $3 of fair value that's not in the undepreciated book value, bringing our fair value above $20 a share, let's take the $15.86, let's take the $3 out of it, that's $12.06. That's the $3 of equity assets that are largely either fully leased industrial buildings or affordable housing assets that are in some of the best markets in the country and stay completely full because rents are 30% below fair value of garden apartments of market-rate apartments. And then take out the accumulated depreciation of $1.30, you're buying our stock at $10.76 against the GAAP book value of $15.86 That's 66% of the GAAP value of our company. + +Our average loan is 61% LTV. So you're buying these assets in the loans at $0.41 at par of the fair value of the asset. And for that, you're getting a 13% dividend yield. Seems a little ridiculous. + +So there's no way property values and what we have linked against are down 60%. So I don't think anyone's even considered that as a possibility. So our issue has always been the same issue. We could pay our dividend forever, and forever is a long time." -Barry Sternlicht in Q3 CC +[https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2020/11/06/starwood-property-trust-stwd-q3-2020-earnings-call/](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2020/11/06/starwood-property-trust-stwd-q3-2020-earnings-call/) + + +The only argument you could make against these guys is their debt, but that just comes with the territory, another lockdown which seems unlikely even with the rising cases, or if their portfolio really has taken a huge hit in value... This may be a bit speculative but seems like it could offer great long term value/income when we come out of the pandemic. +Does anyone have any insight into why the market is dipping hard today? I thought yesterday’s news from the fed was favorable and I dont see any news today that would cause things to turn down this hard! Thanks! +Can someone help me understand how dividends work? I thought how it worked was for each share you own, you get a certain percentage of the share value every quarter/month (depending on the company). I recently bought 12 shares of MAIN which is currently at $32.33 and a 7.6% dividend of $2.46. Since MAIN is a REIT, I thought I would be getting 12 dividends of $2.46 ($29.52) per month. I checked my account and saw that I only got 1 payment of $2.46. Can someone explain what I am missing here? +Hey guys, +So I've pulled about 600$ out of crypto to put them into stocks, this is my first time going into stocks, but I've been loving doing research about this. +I was thinking of investing 400$, to keep some $ in case of dips, but I just can't let any of the options of my list out. The list: + +name, (dividend%), invest amount + +AAPL 50$ +, MSFT 50$ +, TSLA 50$ +, INTC (2.53%) 50$ +, T (6.51%) 50$ +, ABBV (4.31) 50$ +, O (4.34%) 50$ +, SPHD (?) 50$ +, SCHD (?) 50$ +, DIS (0.99%) 50$ +, KO (3.07%) 50$ +, DIV (?) 50$ + =600$ + +honorable mentions that I left out: + +IBM (4.62%), SVX (4.85%), VZ (4.28%), XOM (5.8%), PM (4.96%), F (5.3%), LTC.US (5.83%), Stag (4.16%), MO (6.93%), BTI (6.59%), SPG (7.1%), EPD (7.6%), MPW (5.29%) + +Should I proceed with these orders? Would you recommend I move some out, others in, got any other honorable mentions? + +Also should I just buy them once I can, or should I take ex dividend date into consideration? + +My goal is to get the $ out in 10+ years most likely, I'm a 25M, who is about to get a bachelor's, and a job soon (hopefully). + +**the first 4 companies are ones I want to have stocks of, but if you think those $ could be spent better somewhere else, I'd like to hear your opinion. + +**I'm going to start trading in etoro, once I get verified. +Hi all - + +I am new to the world of dividend investing and wanted to get your thoughts (if any) on Dividend ETFs. As I was doing research on investing in equites for dividend yield purposes, I came across Dividend ETFs such as VIG, VYM and DRGO. Has anyone looked into these? Thanks for the help. +First, what do I mean by losing direction and becoming fractured. Before the whole GME explosion and influx of subscribers, there was pretty much one theme on the subreddit: make huge gains or go down trying. **When the GME proposal came up, everyone was pretty much in sync to make huge gains or go down trying.** Now the subreddit has been split by a variety of different camps: + +\- The OG WSB crew + +\- The fresh first time investors looking to start big + +\- New lurkers/spectators checking out the show + +\- Seasoned investors looking to pick up the next big stock + +\- Corporate accounts/bots looking to astro turf + +**You'd think that with more people, WSB would grow as a force, but the problem is so many people are split:** + +\- Some people are holding/buying GME for another explosion + +\- Some people are holding/buying AMC, BB, NOK, etc. + +\- Some people are selling because they CAN'T or SHOULDN'T be making any more losses (totally fine) + +\- Some people are selling because they just want to go back to other stocks (totally fine) + +\- Some assholes are selling/buying puts and then laughing at anyone buying/holding GME, BB, etc. + +**Whatever the "right" move is, I think it's important to remember and to let new people know that the core of the WSB has been and should continue to be: make huge gains or go down trying\*** + +If you made money off of the recent decline of GME, AMC, etc. then congrats! But if you made money and then came here to call others idiots, then get lost + +If you lost money off of the recent decline of GME, AMC, etc. then I'm sorry. But if you lost money and then came here to insult people who didn't/couldn't want to buy/hold, then get lost + +**Regardless of the Gamestop event, this sub has and will continue to make huge gains and huge losses. It happened last year during the pandemic. It happened two years ago with tech (AMD anyone). It WILL continue to happen. Embrace the swings and don't put others down** + +As for the proposal: + +Before people, I'm not calling for people to sell GME. While I'm skeptical GME can rise to $300 again or sustain mid $60s, I'm more than happy to be proven wrong and screw the cheating hedge funds. So if you're holding/buying for those diamond hands, more power to you + +**What I am suggesting is that new/returning people on the subreddit look at investing in AMC.** I think focusing on AMC is the right call because: + +\- The stock is pretty cheap in comparison to GME. It's simply easier to have everyone join in a mid $7 amc stock versus a mid $60 Gamestop stock. NO APE LEFT BEHIND + +\- The stock does still have significant volatility to make huge swings. Compared to Nokia for example, AMC has the potential to rise significantly in a short amount of time + +\- The company itself is on the upside and people are getting optimistic that the stock could naturally reach $20 long term without the help of this subreddit (theaters opening up, vaccine rollouts, etc.). Meanwhile, rallying people to Gamestop is a tough sell when Gamestop probably won't maintain $60+ value in the long term (again, happy to be wrong here) + +\- It's received a bunch of coverage. It's simply easier to get people informed compared to some random stock + +\- The argument could be made that there's still value to be made off of a short squeeze + +In short, **I'm proposing AMC as a stock with potential to get everyone on the same page, but any low priced stock with potential would work (as long as the subreddit is united). We have a bunch of new people and attention now. Let's not waste it by tearing each other down or splitting into various factions** + +**TLDR: in bold** + +\* It's important to note that you should always make huge gains or go down trying within reason. NEVER invest money that you are not prepared to lose. NEVER put yourself at risk of bankruptcy or depression + +Edit: + +Just wanted to clarify a few things: + +\- The divide in the community I'm talking about is with users of this sub insulting one another based on their stock positions. There are examples of people insulting me in this thread itself that prove my point. **Don't let money turn you into an asshole** + +\- **The AMC recommendation is just that. A recommendation**. The same way people hyped up Tesla on this sub, I see potential in that stock and it's cheap so that's why I'm recommending it to new people over GME, but I'm just an ape so what do I know ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ + +\- **To people thinking that I'm desperately trying to bump up the value of my positions: no**. If I really wanted to make money, I'd be on r/stocks not here playing it risky. As someone that works in software, the couple hundred that I invested is not gonna make or break me, so losing it is fine with me. When DFV talked about GME, did y'all accuse him of trying to make a quick buck off of his stocks? I'm not a legend like him, but you get the point +Holy smokes. I had a stellar week, only to give it all back due to emotional trading, over sizing, and all those horrible things. I don’t know what got into me. I just couldn’t close out with a 1k loss on the day after being up 3k in the morning. I was upset that I didn’t stop after a killer day. Ended up losing 4K today due to my stubbornness. + +I’m stuck as a break even trader because of this problem I have. I have an edge and can make money. But I can’t control my dang emotions and stay disciplined enough to stay consistent long term. I was up 6k on the week after this mornings gains, only to end it -1k now after losing 7k the remainder of the day. + +3k was definitely enough and I was able to stop myself from trading the other days and be happy with a few hundred dollars profit, etc. Today was just different and I literally couldn’t stop myself. It’s like something changed in my mindset today versus other days in the week. + +I think what I’m doing to myself mentally is thinking that I have a cushion of profits to use as an excuse to over position size and go for much riskier trades. I get burned and continue to dig myself into a hole. Then the cycle restarts the next week with being more careful, smaller positions, making consistent gains. Until I have another cushion and get too cocky and lose it all again. + +Any wisdom, advice, stories, etc is welcome. + +Have a good weekend all! +Since it's nearing the end of the year, and 8% is a nice round number... + +On 20feb, Sydney property dropped to 0Yoy price increases. + +https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/7yrwaz/happy_donut_day_sydney_0_house_price_growth_in/ + +Now it's theoretically -8%. + +In 281 days, that makes it... ~10.4% annualised. + +https://www.corelogic.com.au/research/daily-indices + +For comparison, on 23 July, Melbourne got to -.02% + +https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/912pu1/happy_negative_day_melbourne_02_house_price/ + +It's now theoretically -5.68 + +In 128 days that makes it... 16.1% annualised. +I noticed a real estate ad appealing to "renovators, developers and land bankers". This was a dilapidated house on a big block. A renovator would fix it up and live in it while a developer would knock it down and build apartments or villas. Am I correct in imagining that a land banker would buy it in order to keep it empty? And just use it as a place to store money. + +So unless I'm wrong this doesn't seem ethical really, and I'm surprised that agents are directly marketing to "land bankers" now. +Hello again you wonderful apes! I'm hoping someone with some wrinkles can help determine if this is just an interesting pattern or something more noteworthy. + +No way is this financial advice. I'm just a guy that likes the stock and can't stop seeing $X.**00** everywhere I look. + +**TL;DR:** buy & hold. I felt like I was seeing .00 price points everywhere I looked, turns out, I was. + +https://preview.redd.it/ooat0l313b571.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=6323ed400dd89e3edd63ef14adecfb71f79d45a7 + +At first, I thought it was a fun coincidence. A 1/100 chance of ending at .00 (I'm sure it's not exactly that statistic with the stock market) for our 1/100,000,000 stock?! I took every 1 in 100 close at .00 as a win, because why not, I like having fun and celebrating things. + +I'd text my friends, "Another day of GME closing at .00!" or "Whaddya know, we bounced off a .00 floor/wall again." + +Surely, this was just confirmation bias, I told myself. I would be more likely to remember days with .00 key prices (close, open, high, low) and would simply forget about how many days did not. That's what I told myself for the last 6 months anyway. + +Today, I couldn't put off that nagging feeling any longer and had to see just how common this .00 price point is. + +&#x200B; + +**The data source:** [https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GME/history?p=GME](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GME/history?p=GME) + +**My process:** Export the data from yahoo, import into excel, break into yearly segments, total occurrences of prices with $X.00 values for open, close, high, and low metrics. + +**My minor mistake:** My date range is from June to June starting in 2002 to 2021. Some users may have preferred me to look at a calendar year, but I did not. I did include 2021 as a stand-alone year. + +**The data:** + +https://preview.redd.it/7inf7jfdfb571.png?width=1348&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2b156c804b4e309ded9b3856865d90373535fb9 + +We've seen a tremendous increase to open, close, high, and low price points ending in .00 over the last 12 months. That's undeniable. In 2021, the stock has had a key price point ending in .00 on over 50% of the trading days. + +**H.00ly M.00ly...** + +In 2021... +16.96% of trading days opened at a .00 price point. The 18-year average is 2.71%. +8.93% of trading days closed at a .00 price point. The 18-year average is 1.43%. +16.07% of trading days' highs were at a .00 price point. The 18-year average is 2.58%. +17.86% of trading days' lows were at a .00 price point. The 18-year average is 2.05%. + +&#x200B; + +**Cross-Checking Another Stonk** + +I also wanted to do a quick check to see how many occurrences of $X.00 price points there were in another stock as a reference. + +I could only go so far back because of what was available for export, but unlike GME, this stock has had no unexplained increase in $X.00 price points over the last 12 months or 2021. There was a spike in 2016 - 2018, the same timeframe the stock saw a massive drop of $20, but I can't comment on that anymore and it's outside of my initial mission. + +https://preview.redd.it/5bdzmxhgfb571.png?width=1350&format=png&auto=webp&s=1b9dc514faa496c6abe8b4a5c3dccc8276df0a88 + +Unlike GME, I see no increase to the average open, close, high, or low at a .00 price point. For these two stocks that are often compared, I see no trending correlation. + +&#x200B; + +**Summary** + +There is no doubt that we are seeing an unexplained increase to occurrences of key prices ending in .00. Why that is, I'm not sure. I'm hoping a wrinklier ape can use this data to go further - or simply dismiss it as an anomaly. + +At the end of the day, this changes nothing. Buy & Hold. This was merely scratching an itch that turned out to be real. I wanted to share with you all in case there are others out there who had that same itch. +Assume an average salary of $70,000. +After taxes, rent, expenses (including debt/loans), and miscellaneous other expenses, I don't understand how anyone is able to save enough money to afford a house, a college fund for kids, a car, rental properties/side businesses, etc. + +Even assuming 0 debt, the take home pay after most expenses will have to accumulate for seemingly many, many years just to afford a down payment on the average home in my area ($500k). And after that, all of those savings are consumed with the house and you are back to 0 to save up for the next big purchase (now also deducting mortgage payments from your income). + +Can someone break down how this may be possible. I'm not talking about my financial position below, but it just seems totally unrealistic to me for someone in my area and I don't know how anyone can do it without family money, getting really lucky, or sinking yourself into super debt (mortgage, loans, credit cards). + +Basic assumptions: $70k salary. 0 Savings at year 1. 0 debt. +Want to: purchase $500k house, start a small business (think convenience store, liquor store, other small business) for maybe $400k(?), a car ($20k-$30k), support a kid/kids (maybe college fund), save for retirement. + +Can anyone provide insight or maybe lay out a potential plan that someone looking for these things might follow? + +Thanks +Someone please explain this to me, at this point I believe i may have a learning disability. + +Can anyone help me understand the implied volatility on the options chain? Im watching an old video mentioning this was an annualized % however the expected move is the expected price fluctuation given the days till expiration. + +Example: $AAPL was trading at 160.01 . The implied volatility of the Aug. 12th 2022 expiration was 33.10% and the ExpectedMove was +/- 6.82 + +Does this mean that $AAPL is expected to move +/- 52.96 within a year and +/- 6.82 by Aug. 12th expiration?? + +Im having a hard time understanding this concept intuitively. I cant seem to understand the correlation between the iV% and Expected Move on TOS. Thanks in advance! + +https://imgur.com/a/OjcdTFN +https://www.shacknews.com/article/126849/sec-charges-two-individuals-in-wash-trading-meme-stocks-options-scheme + +After reading through this, what got my attention is the scale of people investigating this fraud + +The SEC's investigation was conducted by Andrew McFall, with the assistance of Matthew Koop and Mandy Sturmfelz, of the Market Abuse Unit, and Maxwell Clarke, of the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. The case was supervised by Paul Kim and Mr. Sansone. The SEC's litigation is being led by James Connor and Mr. McFall, and is being supervised by Stephan Schlegelmilch. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. + +Market Abuse Unit, Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, some big names for such a drop in the ocean of financial fraud. + +I firmly believe that through the ongoing investigation into meme stock market manipulation the two guys above just got uncovered and dealt with quickly in the grand scale of the fraud ongoing + +This alongside Michael Burrys subpoena and RoaringKitty/Ryan Cohens complete silence shows me something big is 100% going on behind the scenes. + +Gamestop have no Q&As and the earnings have been abrupt as fuck, this is all deliberate and part of a big investigation. + +The SEC report was deliberately vague also this makes me believe it was on purpose as to not disclose any ongoing investigations + +Thoughts? +I see a lot of people saying "I moved everything to ETFs" or "I sold all my stocks and have pillows for my couch now with all the cash". + +Am I crazy that I am going to buy some on the dip and just hold? Shit sucks right now, but fundamentally, companies falling haven't had their future change. + +My big holdings: BRK.B, AAPL, SQ, BABA, DIS, MSFT, CRM, BA, SBUX, MCD, NVDA, CVS, UBER, QQQ, SPY, MGK, VTV, DSTL, VIG, SPYD, VUG, VXUS, VNQ. +I don’t know who needs to hear this or what, but there’s some turbulence in the markets right now. It has a lot of people spooked, a lot of “experts” bewildered. We’ve seen times like these before- and the one we are in is not even close to the worst. + +Work on increasing your income, lowering your expenses, Diversify, and DCA. I promise you’ll all be okay. + +The people who are getting wiped right now are the overleveraged, and those who chased trends. +Moons are r/CryptoCurrency's version of Community Points. [Community Points](https://reddit.com/community-points) are a way for users to be rewarded for their contributions to the subreddit, and they can be used on premium features in the community. + +Moons are distributed every 4 weeks based on contributions people make to r/CryptoCurrency. For every distribution, Reddit publishes karma data as a default measure of contribution. The community can review the data and optionally propose an alternative distribution, if they wish. + +This distribution is based on karma earned from 2021-09-29 to 2021-10-26. [Here is the data.](https://reddit-meta-production.s3.amazonaws.com/distribution/publish/CryptoCurrency/round_19_proposed.csv) + +To propose an alternative distribution: + +* You can create a CSV with alternative contribution scores or propose changes to the algorithm used to calculate them from karma (as long as the changes can be implemented easily). +* The amount of Moons distributed to a user will be proportional to their contribution score. Contribution scores cannot be negative. +* Make a poll to have the community vote on your proposal. Include an accurate description of the changes you are proposing. +* In order to pass, the winning option in the poll must meet the decision threshold (minimum number of Moons in support). If it is in favor of the change, it becomes the official contribution measurement (unless there is evidence of abuse in the vote, such as bribery). Algorithm changes will carry forward to future distributions. +* In case of multiple competing polls passing, the one with the most Moons cast in favor will be the official one. +* If no alternative passes, the data provided here will become official. + +The contribution scores for this round will be finalized on 2021-11-03. Any poll proposing an alternative needs to be completed by then. + +After the scores are finalized, Reddit will sign the data and publish the final, official data. After that, people with a registered Vault will receive Moons directly into their Vault. Other users will receive their Moons when they create and register a Vault. +With the option of a 401k , IRA, HSA there is a substantial amount you can save (tax advantaged ) a year. As the title says at what salary can you realistically max them out and live a decent life style. And what ~$ left do you have as disposable income? + +I know there are a lot of unknowns and assumptions that can be made, but assuming "regular/frugal" expenses. + +Bonus- 2 people married/couple whatever. Is it simply double or can you get away with less? + +Thanks ! +At these advice of some other posters here I have been running scenarios in [firecalc.com](https://firecalc.com). It is really a great tool as it allows you to put in nearly all of your financial data (portfolio balances and composition, when to start retirement and how long, income needed, pensions, SS, future contributions and windfalls, etc.) and figure out historically if your situation would be successful based on all of the starting years for which they have data. + +In my situation, my retirement will be funded by a combination of 401k/457b, pensions, SS, and a windfall I expect when selling my house before moving abroad. I am toying with the idea of retiring in 3 1/2 years at age 55 so I wanted to see what income I could generate. + +Without boring you with the details I looked at the differences in withholding my pension from age 55 to 63 (thereby increasing it from less than $13k to more than $26k) and withholding SS from age 62 to 70 (thereby increasing it from less than $25k to more than $43k). Much to my surprise holding out those 8 years to nearly double my income resulted in a less successful retirement by every metric that firecalc shows. I ran the scenarios with a starting income of $84k running to age 90 with CPI increases to see how it worked out. The results show the early payouts (55 and 62) vs waiting (63 and 70): + +Odds of success: 92.7% vs 85.4% + +Average money left at the end: $8.2M vs $7.3M + +High money left at end: $19.3M vs $19.2M + +Low money left at end: $-1.9M vs $-3.9M + +Worst case minimum number of years before being broke: 22 vs 14 + +I also figured out what the maximum amount of money to spend each year at historical 100% success and the early pensions/SS won there as well at $78k vs $72k. + +The only situation where the late payments works out better is if I hit the worst case scenario and exhaust all of my 401k/457b. The worst historical year would put me at 14 years (age 69) so I could still end up with my pension (more than $26k, only slightly inflation adjusted) and SS at $43k (or about $40k if I had to start at age 69). I would also have another pension that would also pay out about $13k (not inflation adjusted) leaving me with about $79k decreasing effective value annually as my pensions won't keep up with inflation. Whereas if I took the more historically effective route of early payout from my pension and SS, and I still crapped out 22 years later at age 77, I would only have less than $25k (SS) + $13k (pension 1) + $13k (pension 2) = less than $51k, also losing value from inflation. It would be a lot tougher to live on that $51k than $79k if the need arose, although like I said there has never been a scenario where the early withdrawal plan didn't succeed in giving me $78k (inflation adjusted). +I saw there was interest in contracts that sells GNT, so I made some! They sell GNT at 2x and 3x the crowdsale price. You just send ETH to them and they send you GNT back! Be sure to check through the code and test with a small amount first! + +2x: https://etherscan.io/address/0x399156ee3339f4b29a53e307b98cce09fda3bac7 + +3x: https://etherscan.io/address/0x4104e4b12e73bc99dd4f20a39525d07aa395c0d4 + +Edit: Both contracts sold out, so I added another 100,000 GNT to the 3x contract + +Edit2: Added more GNT to the 2x contract! Current balances are: 77,500 in the 2x contract, and 43,500 in the 3x contract. + +Edit3: Added another 300,000 GNT to the 2x contract! + +Edit4: Made a new thread at https://redd.it/5cz3e6 since this one's more than a day old +**Disclaimer:** *This post discusses the problem with overfunding, using EOS as an example (yes we're all tired of hearing about EOS but this is more about over-funding - it just makes sense to use a practical exmaple). It's obviously subjective & this is not advice.**note:** many other ICO's are also to blame. **note:** overfunding doesn't mean the tech/business is bad ..but it does usually mean the valuations & investment is bad for the investors/token-holders.* +*If I have misunderstood anything about EOS feel free to explain my mistakes in the comment section - I'm always happy to hear opposing views &, frankly, I would love to be wrong about EOS (given how large a player it will become in the crypto ecosystem).* + + + +**Problems with EOS Structure:** + +>1) **open-ended:** unnecessary + +>2) **over a year:** unnecessary + +>3) **allocation formula** – games higher contributions e.g. on the first daily raise we have already seen naive/greedy investors trying to guess which daily allocation is below market price for a quick flip. Zero care about the actual project ..do EOS really want these type of investors? Their structure specifically attracts them (even *more so* than the average ico ..which is saying a lot). + + +Consequences of this structure are highlighted below (the implication is that EOS have *either* reckless intentions **or** they don’t understand the ‘problems’ of their structure …given the abounding intelligence in their team I would argue the former [reckless intentions]). + + +>1) **This structure leads to over-raising funds** – overpaying for an asset is a fundamental risk for VC funding because: (Unrealistically) High initial funding sets (unrealistically) high expectations (investors expect value to be created in proportion to their investment). Also, if/when these expectations aren’t met, it causes loss of faith & given EOS size (huge) the potential loss of faith is equally more severe. I’ll use the ironic analogy of Bear Sterns in the global financial crisis, there were smaller domino's that fell before Bear ..but Bear was big enough to matter. + +>2) **EOS claim the structure is to enable fair distribution** – there are simply better ways to achieve this without the risk of over-raise. subjective examples: OmiseGo, Civic, CoFoundit. + +>3) **Negative incentives are now high** (within EOS) for at the least waste & mismanagement, at the worst hack-target/internal direct-misuse. + +>4) **ICOs (like EOS) don't seem to acknowledge that they could easily do later rounds** (..once they have actually achieved progress which *benefits* the token holders): e.g. concepts are proven, users have been adopted & profits are being generated. + +>5) **The token utility of EOS is explicitly worthless** in which case, what, are EOS asking for donations? then say you are asking for a donation. Some have argued this is *only* a disclaimer for legal protection - then; have developer engagement with investors to assure inestors that they actually matter (depite no legal protection) & that their tokens will be useful/valuable if the project meets x,y,z goals. + +>6) **EOS advertise in a part of the US where they can't legally source investors.** Tacky or a wasteful mistake. Devil's advocate argument: "bad publicity is good publicity & Times Square has an international crowd" + +>7) **Free-market justification:** many people have said "let EOS make as much money as they can, while they can" – frankly this structure isn’t making money; it’s taking money (for every cent they raise over the amount the project actually needs) – this attitude of ‘take what you can get while you can get it’ causes risks to the whole crypto system, people don’t get their desired return, trust is lost. The problem is that EOS isn’t just another ico ..it may likely be one of the largest in 2017. + +**I fully appreciate that the problem (of over-raising) is *primarily* to be blamed on the greed / ignorance of the actual investors/speculators. But investor stupidity doesn’t automatically vindicate EOS. EOS are certainly not short of Intelligence (even surface research shows Dan Larimer has a ridiculously strong understanding, not only of the tech but of the political systems that go with blockchain – if any of his videos are an accurate indication): EOS clearly understand the market demand, which means they are likely taking advantage of these investors where they raise more than their project requires. People argue that naïve speculators deserve to lose their money ..I don’t disagree.. but how does this (independent issue) justify the irresponsibility of EOS team in over-raising? An ethical approach would be to raise as much as they *need* instead of as much as they *want* - if their project is as good as they say, then they will always be able to raise more later on, once their platform is proven** + + +*Finally the sentiment of being an "ETH killer" [one of many examples: https://np.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/6fwxxt/eos_positio +] ..perhaps I got a bit emotional/subjective on this one but it pains me to see ETH investors turning their back on BTC, it pains me to see BTC in-fighting and it pains me to see new projects aspiring to be ETH-killers. ***imo the whole of crypto just isn't big enough yet for this kind of fracturing***. Perhaps I'm just overreacting and these are standard/normal teething issues. I appreciate we are in tough competition but the crypto 'industry' is sitting on a world-changing opportunity and in-fighting has, imo, severely hindered progress of the original pioneers (the crypto market we know). Anecdotally: I know one or two corporates that don't trust crypto because of the politics, they prefer to wait for mainstream corporates to launch blockchain products. Let's up our game to compete with mainstream corporates ..the crypto pioneers deserve market-share for their groundbreaking innovation.* + +**Overfunded ICO's (like EOS) are a stumbling block to crypto progress, but certainly not a death-sentence imo. I look forward to seeing our crypto-pioneers evolve their ICO's structures through internal innovation (not 'mainstream regulation') - this evolution couldn't come soon enough.** +TLDR: +The battle between BTC vs BCH will weaken both coins creating strength in support for ETH resulting in flippening and beyond. Some charts at the bottom. + + +I can already feel people getting upset at the "For Now" part of the title, which is great, normally emotions aren't good for trading however having a strong community is an incredibly important piece of a coins success so let me assure you I'm not forecasting any negativity towards the future of Ethereum, I'm just keeping an open mind and making decisions based on the information I have at this time and at this very moment it seems ETH is the best bet. + +I suspect in 2018 that not only will the flippening occur but in the mid range future Ethereum will be competing to be the most expensive coin in crypto. + +I have cashed in all my Bitcoin for Ethereum for a few reasons which I'll mention but the main reason is that BCH isn't going away. This will be a long battle filled with FUD, lies, attacks and smear campaigns on television which has already started with Roger Ver on CNBC recently. This was expected but wasn't expected was a $568 billion dollars coming into crypto in 2017, a whopping 3200% market cap increase. + +That's a lot of new money and new people coming into the crypto community and the majority of them haven't found a home yet. This new money is what Roger Ver will be targeting, these people will be listening to the smear campaigns and FUD and a lot of them will become BCH enthusiasts. As more and more people start buying BCH, more and more BTC owners will start to (secretly most likely) start buying BCH to hedge resulting in a legitimate war for "top Bitcoin" for lack of a better phrase. + +Now you might be asking what does this have to do with Ethereum? Well, I also believe A lot of BTC people like myself will start to see the writing on the wall and realize that they are more investors than BTC maximalists and will also be looking to hedge but would never invest in BCH. Thats where Ethereum comes into play. A lot of people here seem to get frustrated that ETH follows BTC and are waiting for the moment that it breaks away from BTC correlation. Ironically, I think the correlation with BTC will be a big factor in breaking away. Why hedge with BCH and wait for one to win when you can just go all in with Ethereum and not have to pick the "right coin" so to speak? + +People will be jumping ship and hedging for a while until they realize its just easier to stay in ETH. Its fast, its cheap and its decentralized, its what both BTC and BCH want to be but aren't. As soon as people start to realize this and ETH starts to pull away, the majority will follow suit. ETH will become every the majority of investors main coin. Alt charts will start to become traded against Ethereum instead on BTC because people are using ETH to buy alts anyways because BTC is too slow and expensive to send to exchanges. And by the end of 2018 (prob sooner, my guess is summer) ETH will be the first coin you see at the top of the list when you open coinmarketcap.com. I also believe ETH will be close to being the most expensive coin at one point due to fomo but will fall soon after but still holding the highest market cap. + +Other Reasons To Be Bullish For ETH: + +-Coinbase/Gdax: +It is very obvious Brian Armstrong sold his Bitcoin and is highly invested in ETH along with other alts and is aiding in the attack on BTC. (Not adding segwit, supporting BCH and 2x, calling gdax an Ethereum exchange etc etc) + +-Community and Fundamentals: +The ETH community is strong and enthusiastic (just spelling Ethireeum wrong is enough for some backlash on twitter and message boards) and has also experienced major crashes without bailing. They are supportive of changes and upgrades which leads to better fundamentals, development and innovation. (I won't go into details with fundamentals because there is a lot and there are people who are much more knowledgeable on this than me who have posted great stuff in this subreddit) + +-TA: +ETH against BTC just broke out of a massive falling wedge on the monthly and just bounce off long term support. The last two winters Eth has broke out against BTC, its looking like history is repeating itself once again. + +https://www.tradingview.com/chart/ETHBTC/rQJlUwr7-Ether-Falling-Wedge/ +https://www.tradingview.com/chart/ETHBTC/iaFColnp-Multi-Year-3-Drives-Could-Bring-ETH-to-0-5-in-2018/ +https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQ6Es8RW0AAD3tV.jpg + + +TLDR: +The battle between BTC vs BCH will weaken both coins creating strength in support for ETH resulting in flippening and beyond. + + +EDIT: +These are not my charts and it’s hard to see the creator names. Credit to zippy1day on trading view, @CarpeNoctom, @VentureCoinist (listed in order of links up top) +Hi guys, im not an expert in this situation and also im not from US, but in my country if you want to comunicate with an institution you need to do it by the proper channels using their official phone number or email, then if they dont answer you can set a complain about that, well at least thats the way it work in my country. + +So please if you are trying to get some answers from them do it properly and push more, like commenting to SEC in their (i dont remember how is called) but i think you know what im trying to explain. + +I hope you guys support me on this one. + +&#x200B; + +Edit: As a fellow ape just mantioned, BOTH so we rise awareness but also have the possibility of showing they are not listening to people. +Nothing but good news this week. Evergrande continuing to implode risking domino effect, RC tweeting to invigorate the apes to keep holding with him, pennant breakout, etc. This was queued up to be a great week, and the price movement on Monday had my tits jacked. + +&#x200B; + +Tuesday morning, Shitadel and buddies short it almost back down to $200? With a 100% Buy sentiment? How much more blatant can the market manipulation get? + +&#x200B; + +How much longer is this blatant market manipulation and corruption going to go on? + +&#x200B; + +We all know Gary is complicit, clearly, in his inaction. We know the market is rigged, clearly. How much angrier are they going to make us? They're not shaking paper hands at this point, they're creating angry hulk apes that will destroy Citadel and friends at any cost. Can't speak for other individual investors, but this point, I'm gonna hold forever just to spitefuck Kenny and Stevie and all the other pathetic little boys having a tantrum and buying one more day at a time because they bet on destroying businesses rather than building them. Phone numbers or bust. + +&#x200B; + +Pretty big precedent that you can lie to government and walk free while manipulating markets however you fucking want, illegally. Good to know that it's totally fine, Gary. Great precedent to set. +Apes, + +We should be inviting experts to do AMAs so they can shed some light on information specifically pertaining to their specialty. When GME squeezes, most financial experts will essentially be archeologists. They will fully understand the dynamics of GME’s Short Squeeze after the fact. With that said, instead of asking questions like..”Ooh ooh ahh ahh. Dr. T. Will GME squeeze”? We need to focus on asking questions about the market manipulation preventing GME from squeezing. + +Thanks, +Thought experiment here. They say it's hard to consistently beat the market, but I often wonder how hard the opposite would be to intentionally pick a basket of stocks that would lose you money. If daytrading and intentionally selling at a dip is not allowed, is it just as hard to pick a portfolio of losers as it is to pick a bunch of winners? +I'm wondering if it's possible to live off REIT's for the long term. I know plenty of real estate investors who do live off rental income or have a business based around investing in real estate, but I've never personally met someone with $500k+ in REITs. + +Is there a reason not to have a large portfolio of REITs for the purpose of sustainable income? +Bitcoin + Lightning being used as payment rails at major US retailers and shopify integration. + +Follow the signal and ignore the noise. Mallers just gave us the brightest signal we have seen since El Salvador. + +Buckle the fuck up, the next few years are going to be very very interesting and if you’ve already booked a seat aboard the best monetary network on earth, congrats. + +Edit: I don’t care that the price didn’t pump, this is genuine adoption and this is what we want for the long term. I’m just pointing out the very obvious signal. + +Gradually, then suddenly. +EDIT: I have called to cancel the transaction. The employees at Snap said it would take up to 5 days for someone to review our request. I'm paranoid that they will not contact me, and the first payment for 260$ will post. It's set to auto withdraw on the 17th. +My bank said they can put a "stop payment" on that dollar amount, (for a 40$ fee of course). Please wish me luck on getting the whole part agreement canceled quickly. + +We bought a sofa and loveseat today for 1800 (1975 after tax) and we are scheduled to pick it up tomorrow. I just have a bad feeling about this. We are planning on paying the 1975 within the 100 days, to obviously avoid interest. I've read multiple reviews of people online who are still charged more money after paying the balance in full WITHIN the 100 days. + +I haven't even picked up the furniture, I can try to call in the morning and cancel. +I know my responses will be weighted towards the positive (you'd probably be less likely to stay on the sub if you regretted FIRE), but I'd love as many responses as possible. +Hoping to get some advice on what I can do to maximize my financial future and improve my situation. I just got out of a very toxic five-year relationship, with someone who was very bad for my financial health. I learned a great lesson though. I want to do everything I can to get ahead and out of this financial rut I’m in. + +I’m currently a nurse. I make just over 80K and take home about 1200/week. Particularly wondering if I should get a cheap apartment so I can maximize my investments and savings going forward. + +My current financial picture: + +Federal student loans: 60K +403B retirement: 13K +Savings: 6K +Credit card debt: 2K (was up to 7K but has been my #1 priority since getting out of my relationship) + +Rent: 1700/mo for 1 BR apartment. Rent sucks where I live, especially being single now. My lease is up next month and I’m really considering getting a cheap studio for about 1000/mo. Thoughts? +Car payment: 270/mo +Car insurance: 115/mo +Student loans: 300/mo + +What can I do to maximize going forward? Should I rent a cheaper place? I feel so behind my peers. Especially when most of them are making a lot more money in tech and engineering. I’m far behind due to my relational and personal decisions over the last 6 years and I am ready to buckle down. Really struggling with comparison and feelings of shame. But all I can do is improve going forward and I’m hoping you guys can help me! I really appreciate any help. Cheers! +Hey everyone, + + +Hoping there are some expats reading this - I’ve been living in the UK and my company is moving me back to the US soon. I’ve been getting paid in Pounds and have accumulated about 120k of savings here over the last 5 years. Recently, with the pound devaluing I’ve gotten absolutely crushed, so I definitely am looking to transfer everything to my BofA account in Dollars when I move. This is where the fun starts. + + +I checked with HSBC, and they are going to charge me around 2,800k to convert - 2.14%. This seems wildly expensive. I’d also need to visit a branch with a bunch of documentation, as the max transfer I can transfer online is 25k a day. I’ve also asked BofA if they can receive pounds, and it sounds like its potentially even more expensive and less transparent. + + +Has anyone done a big move like this recently who has ended up transferring a large amount of savings across borders, who has other ideas? +Made some nice money over the past couple of months of these and other holdings. Wondering if others are taking the gains while they are there prior to any dip and waiting on the sidelines to buy back in when earnings lack and COVID reports come in, or would you stay the course and DCA into these funds monthly still? +Reposting here because r/GME seems a bit odd this morning. Need to get more visibility on this, so people aren't alarmed by the news. It's a good thing! + +TLDR; Gamestop is positioning to kick HFs in the teeth, as they climb on board the rocket too. They don't plan to sell the new shares for less than $285, in fact, potentially they will sell them for way more ($10M each even); Shills and Media will attempt to spin this into a negative (dilution is laughable with how concentrated we are from the synthetic shorts). I'm convinced the GME board is mocking the HFs at this point. It's beautiful. + +\*\*\*\*\*\*\* + +Ok, I'll keep this brief, but I wanted to share what I see in this Gamestop announcement. + +https://preview.redd.it/p4yqr09ocdr61.png?width=2185&format=png&auto=webp&s=10e8e87eca417e7e8d90040f90dfd01936c67bab + +Words are important. Also, timing. They tell a story. Put yourself in the mind of Gamestop's new CFO and board. You see an imminent squeeze coming, you've already projected it in your SEC filings, and you most likely (disclaimer, theorizing here) are about to set in motion the event that will lead to the world seeing this for what it is (share recall, voter count) within the next few days. + +Could this motivate you to announce that you are allowing Jefferies to raise $1,000,000,000 dollars on up to 3.5 million shares. **They are not saying they are going to sell 3.5M shares, they are saying in "no event" will the company "sell more than" 3.5 million.** + +Gamestop doesn't need cash quickly, but they could certainly use it in the long run to roll out their plan to dominate the Electronics ecommerce business. They aren't in a rush to get more cash, because as we saw in their Q4 Earnings Report two weeks ago, they have over $600M in cash on hand already. + +So why now? Why raise $1B when you have $500M on hand. Why pre-market on a Monday prior to the new 005 rulings? Timing is everything... + +My take on this, is that Gamestop knows it's about to launch, and they want to be on the rocket. Having (up to) 3.5M shares ready to sell for HFs that may be after 20M, 100M, 500M shares shorted is a way to raise $1B for the business easily and launch Gamestop on it's path to ecommerce nirvana. This will do next to nothing to slow the launch (feel free to dispute this in the comments, I'm happy to debate :) ). + +A word about dilution, because you'll read it all over the news. It's the word used to put fear in investors. This is different. GME is so concentrated, from the SI (all those fake shares floating around) that calling 3.5M new shares a dilution is laughable in comparison to how many shares need to be bought back that are fake. + +# Ape Analogy Time: Bananas On Sale + +Imagine... owning 100 banana's... you're the guy in town people turn to for banana's when they need them. Now a snake (Kenny G) crawls into town proclaiming to have 900 banana's and offering IOUs to everyone in town, selling for cheap, then trying to sneak away with the cash (but you've got him by the tail). When you come across 3 new banana's this snake screams to everyone! "Hey, now that guy has 103 bananas, not 100, he's charging you guys too much, lower the price!" Snake is trying to deflect from his situation... owning 900 banana's he doesn't have, so he's telling everyone to focus on your 3% increase in banana's instead. In this situation, you wouldn't sell your 103 banana's... you'd wait for snake to make due on his 900 banana debt. You also wouldn't worry about the 3 new banana's until he did. + +# Important To Note + +Not putting a price on anything... not putting a date on anything... but how many shares would it take to raise $1,000,000,000 if GME were $10M a share? Just a simple question :) + +Stay safe out there Apes. Much love to you all. + +**\*\*\* Edit 1 \*\*\*** Uncle Bruce brought up a good point this morning. This $1B offering has no time limit, and might become a bidding war from the shorted HFs, all of them trying to get a ticket out of their horribly position. Problem is, there aren't enough shares for them all. It could be that this offering, that Jefferies has been given the rights to sell, will go up for bid and may price way way higher than $300, simply because many HFs would love to get their hands on a large position of shares without having to go on the market to cover their shorts (think of it as say buying your way out of a 1M short mistake for $1B)... again, they can't all do this, at the shorted ratios we're potentially seeing. The bidding war could actually drive price of GME higher than it would have otherwise been without this offering. I'm convinced they are likely to raise $1B for less than 3.5M shares when this is all said and done. + +**\*\*\* Edit 2 \*\*\*** typos; formatting + +**\*\*\* Edit 3 \*\*\*** I'm convinced the GME board is literally mocking the HFs -- it's quite hilarious to watch this play out in real time. Why do you think we're back up at last weeks levels so quickly after the media negative reporting of this wore off? It's people opening their eyes to see how positive this is for Gamestop. + +**\*\*\* Edit 4 \*\*\*** + +# The fight over these shares might go something like this: + +Hedge Fund 1 - "ok, I'll take your 3.5M shares for $575,000M seems fair, that's kind of like current price ($165ish a share)" + +Hedge Fund 2 notices GME is up from open (eek, those apes are buying more despite the media reporting!) "Wait a minute... I'll buy them for $650,000 ($185 a share) + +Hedge Fund 3 notices other two HFs are bidding and sees opportunity to unload it's 2M fake shorts without spooking the market... "Hey! I'll give you $1B for 2M shares!" ($500 a share) + +Hedge Fund 1 realizes this is getting ugly and doesn't want his HF competitor to get these shares: "Wait, wait... I'll revise my offer to $1B for 1.5M shares" + +Hedge Fund 2 noticed launch engines igniting, Gamestop just recalled shares for voting: "Ok, ok... I'll give you $1B for 1M shares! but only if you take my offer right now!" + +...this continues... Gamestop sits back and laughs: + +*"You guys do realize I don't have to sell any of these shares, yet...* 🚀🌗 *"* +https://youtu.be/4muv-srvjRY + +So Biden is giving a address today I’m regards to his administrations action on controlling inflation and how important it is and that he’s taking it seriously. + +Given how CPI numbers come out tomorrow, does that suggest he’s trying to calm people down as it will be a bad inflation data for the month of April ? + +I personally saw a lot of increases of inflation last month. + +Thoughts ? +Basically I just set up an account with wise, opened a US checking account, deposited some money via debit card. Copied my new US banking details into my CS account and soon I'll get some more stonks directly and honestly. No more 200 EUR and 3 weeks of waiting for DRS. + + +The future is now. + + +If I can do it, you certainly can, too. + + +[Eazy like a sunday mornin'](https://preview.redd.it/9t9u319ow3l91.png?width=1418&format=png&auto=webp&s=48124201a5abff5b2fbc992383c1caa64a9120a5) +Today my dad called me telling me a county sheriff stopped by his house asking if I was there. Obviously I wasn't there because I don't live there but the deputy I guess was trying to serve court papers about a medical bill. I went to the ER last year and thought I payed everything but I guess not. My dad went through his mail and found that this debt collector has sent him letters and that I owe 800 dollars. I definitely have the money. Now that there was an attempt to serve me what is my next step? Do I just call up and pay the bill or is this now out of my hands? + +Edit: +They never gave the papers to my dad because his name wasn't on them, he did get the officer to tell him what it was about though. Medical bill. +I was about to give money to Wikipedia but they won't even give me the option to input where I'm donating from because Coinbase's checkout system where you write your name/address doesn't include at least Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia (didn't check for others) in their list of countries that they allow you to select from. Are they not allowed to take donations from such countries? Bitcoin is global and so is the information found on Wikipedia. I wouldn't know a lot if it wasn't for Wikipedia and am grateful for it, but if they and Coinbase don't recognize all countries then shame on them. I live in one of these places and I hope to see this fixed. It puts people like me who want to donate off. [Picture](http://image-upload.de/image/0vNfEC/1526d0fb0e.png) +Hello, i only a couple years into learning about investing and i am sort of trying to figure out what exactly causes a company to be broken up. Ive been reading up in a few places like investopedia on the subject. I understand there are two general types: Via anti-trust action or Via spinoffs. For various reasons, some obvious some not, Amazon is incredibly unlikely to split via spinoffs. + +It also appears that in many cases new legislation is made or even required to enforce anti-trust rules or make new ones. + +>The FTC focuses on segments of the economy where consumer spending is high, such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, professional services, food, energy, computer technology and Internet services... + +Amazon is in almost all of these sectors, it also disrupts sectors it gets into as we have all seen with the aquisition of whole foods. KR recieved a 33% drop just on news of the aquisition. Amazon leads in Voice Assistance, Cloud Services, Ecommerce, and studios. And is a big player in Entertainment and video. Theres already rumors of another aquisition soon. Their entire strategy is undercutting competitors even if it makes them a loss on a particular item or service. + +And lets not forget what we did to [Microsoft](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.) when it started killing small companies off + +It seems like the valuation of Amazon is based on this thinking that it will eventually be in every market, every sector, pervasive throughout the world. This seems unacceptable for a captialistic economy. + +www.investopedia.com/terms/a/antitrust.asp + +*I guess my question comes down to where is the line drawn, and amazon is broken up?* Or any company for that matter. + +Further, Why has Amazon been allowed to dominate in such a way? Will it take legislation to break them up? Will the US or European governments take action? + +Disclaimer: I hold *no* stock in AMZN im just observing, trying to figure out how these systems work. Or if they work. + + +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +Biotechs/pharma down. + +"“I’m going to bring down drug prices,” Donald Trump told Time in his “Person of the Year” cover story. “I don’t like what has happened with drug prices.” + +http://www.marketwatch.com/story/president-elect-trumps-promise-to-bring-down-drug-prices-sends-biotech-etfs-slumping-2016-12-07 + +People thought that only Clinton was bad for drug stocks. The situation with healthcare costs in this country was going to have to be addressed no matter who became president. +I’m not panicking guys. You guys are a rough bunch, but I appreciate the feedback and “love”. I would appreciate constructive discussion please. + +I go through all of the financials for every company I invest in. I look for companies that are at a discount in line with multiple valuation models, in industries that I can understand. + +I’m not new to investing. I am, however, somewhat new to investing in individual stocks, having previously opted to robo invest in a 60:40 well diversified portfolio with betterment and wealthfront. I also hold about 15% in GLD. I have real estate and am also invested in some real estate syndications. + +I’ve been holding onto about ~280k cash to deploy for a market crash or recession, all the while reading and learning about valuation. Obviously, there are things I don’t know, but that’s why I’m asking the questions here. I’m looking for opportunities for no less than 3-5x in the next 5-10 years. + +I don’t want to lose money but I have a high risk tolerance for the next 5 - 8 years. As a physician, my profession won’t be effected drastically by economic downturn. + +I’m having a hard time finding good information about cash burn for companies. How are you guys doing this estimation? + +In particular airline (DAL, UAL) and hotel (MA) companies. How much cash is really burned by leaving cruise ships docked. Also with the governmental stipend they are working on now, will employers still have to pay to keep their employees? +Quote here: + +Thanks to u/PoMo-G + +https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l7wkd9/michael_burry_there_wont_be_another_like_gme/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share + +The only play against the 2008 crash was to short the US housing market. + +The man that made that play was Michael Burry. + +The same man who said that GME is the only play against the upcoming market crash. + +I love all the TA, I love the DD, I have formed a wrinkle or two, but to know this man said this is all the confirmation bias I need. + +He waited nearly two years for that to happen. I'll be honest, I don't want to wait another year for this to blow, but by God I will if it means financial security for my entire family for generations to come. + +I believe in GameStop, I believe in Ryan Cohen, I believe in Keith Gill. + +But this is all I need to know to rest easy, sit wait and chat shit with you apes. + +Buy, hodl, gme. + +Edit: I can't find the tweet. I'm sure it was screenshot and put on Reddit months ago but can't find that either. Found this interesting post though + +https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/cthume/dr_michael_burry_and_the_big_gamestop_short/ + +This is basically excess cash being deposited by banks. Some people have said that it’s not coming from banks….but YES it is. Money market funds still have to put their extra cash in banks! +Every time a share of GME is sold short by a hedge fund whether it’s an illegal naked short or a legal put, these hedge funds collect the money up Front!!! And we know they are not covering and they love FTD’s. So they have literally just been collecting money for a year or so to the tune of probably about $1.9 trillion +/- (probably +). I read that hedge funds put this extra $$$ in money market accounts bc it’s the safest place for it. BECAUSE the extra $$$ is really a liability to the hedge funds! So the money market funds end up with extra cash deposits into their banks…you follow yet? Yep then banks trade this extra cash for U.S. Treasuries! + +I have yet to read any argument that correctly disputes this. + +Thoughts??? + +EDIT: I keep seeing this get downvoted, which is only confirms that someone doesn’t want people to see this! FUCK YOU shills, fuck every hedge fund, fuck the sec, fuck the dtcc, and congress bc they are all corrupt! I’m a hardcore republican and I trust no one in any government position with any type of authority (and republicans are probably a bigger part of the corruption with Wall Street than democrats). + +Happy New Year! +I've never had my own apartment before and unfortunately im staying with my family at the moment. Recently i got a better job and now that im making enough money i can finally see myself moving in couple of months however my credit score is not where i want it to be. Can I still move in a nice apartment or do i need to work on my credit score first? +Edit: requested info; + +-Salary 65K (50k as a performer / 15-20k as part time office employee) + +-Loans are private loans and are in default + +-Vehicle downpayment was paid 1/2 in cash (poor credit score) and is necessary to transport my child to school and also used as a work vehicle + +-Tried to file bankruptcy at one point and the law firm went under.... so they took my money and I never heard from them again..... + +Why am I loser musician? +Because I’ve worked countless retail and sales jobs over the years. I play music in professional settings for high-end clients at corporate events. It’s very consistent work in my market - I fill the gaps with studio/freelance work and my day job. This is most consistent and most reliable money I’ve ever made - + +The reason I work these jobs is to support my child. I’m a single parent dealing with the fallout of a divorce and a natural disaster that has completely tapped my savings... I’ve made so many financial mistakes in the past I just want to start over but feel like it’s hopeless and fight everyday to not end it all... +Hello everyone. No one seems to touch base for those of us that don’t get a 401k match. If my employer doesn’t match does that change the order of investments ? What would be the ideal order? My employer adds a contribution, but not sure how much. +I have access to 401k this month. I’m working on maxing out my Roth IRA and next year I’ll have access to HSA. Any help would be great. Unfortunately super late to the investment game. I’m 37 and just now starting 😩 +Hello, this is my first post here. I’m 33 M living in Canada, my life has been a horrific mess and I don’t know where to begin in repairing my situation. I’m really hoping to find some advice and suggestions on how to get back on track. Here is my life story in a nut shell: + +I grew up poor, there were people who had it worse but we didn’t have much money. There was a roof over our heads and food to eat, but at a young age I learned to never ask for anything or expect choices. You’d think this would help me in the long run to change my future, it did the opposite. + +I was never taught about saving money, or paying bills on time, nor the importance of credit. After high school I got hard into drugs and snorted all my money every week. At 25 I financed a new truck which has since been repossessed.. I owe $30000 on it to this day, as well as $2000 on a pay day loan from years ago. I am completely clean now but I smoke weed and cigarettes, which I keep trying to quit but fail miserably. + +I have two children now and a loving girlfriend. I have a decent job but we live paycheck to paycheck. Only I make money so it’s difficult to save. I know there are things I can do to make it a bit easier but I feel like I will never own a house and that’s all I want, just for my children to grow up in and be proud of.. how can I get out of this hole. It’s hard not to think suicidal thoughts sometimes, just because I’ve ruined multiple lives and not only mine. +Moving out at 18 + +My family is poor physically and spiritually, toxic and emotionally draining. I live in Ottawa. I am leaving on Feb 1st with 3k saved up, a payed off car and a full time job secured. this is the budget I’ve come up with: + +Monthly Salary: 2,400$ +Monthly Expenses: + +- 650 rent all utilities included (renting a room) +- 350 car insurance, gas, parking +- 350 food/gorcery bill +- 200 braces +-125 gym membership +-50 phone bill +- $500 savings + +> Which leaves me with a little over $150 a month to spend on miscellaneous things. I’m also not afraid to dip into my $500 savings in case of emergencies. + + +My budget seems veryy tight and what I’m MOST afraid of is having to move back in with family because I can’t “make” it on my own at 18 in the “real” world. If I leave that’s it. I can’t come back they will disown me and hate me for not supporting them. Has anyone moved out on a salary/budget close to mine and how did u stay afloat? What’s some advice you have for me? Should I go and thrive on my own or stay in a toxic household home to save a couple thousand each month? +I have had a checking/savings with Chase Bank since 2007 and a credit card since 2015 with them. This year I moved to a state where there are not very many Chase locations (1 within a 50 mile radius) and I am considering closing this account because of the monthly fees and lack of accessibility. + +I have an account with a local credit union and two other credit cards with another bank in town that has many locations. I have never carried a balance on any cards, and have a credit score in the 750s. + +How bad would it hurt my credit, long term, to just close my entire account with Chase? + +I don’t want to keep paying the monthly fees and keep the account since I don’t plan to ever really use that account/card much again. +Currently have almost $3000 in my credit union savings account at 0.15% quarterly interest. I really want to move it to something with higher interest. + + +I've been looking at Discover since I already have a credit card through them, and it's 1.01% APY with $0 fee which seems decent but there's a lot of options out there. Just looking for opinions and options, what do you guys use?? +I am a college student and I was wondering if not being able to pay my rent would affect my credit in any negative ways in the long term. If there is a period where it would not due to the national emergency, is there a time where this “grace”period will end and it will start affecting my credit? +My car loan is 3.09%. My Roth IRA is *currently* earning 6.98%. Does it make any sense to pay off the car loan before maxing out my Roth IRA? + + + +I don't like debt but if I'm making 3.89% more from the Roth IRA, I should max that out; correct? +Just bought a second house to raise a family in (we're in our early 30's), trying to decide to rent or sell my first home. + +I owe ~150k w/24 years left at 2.8% interest, it's worth approx 350k-400k. I have a real estate agent friend who would sell it for only 2.5% rate. Alternatively, I could rent it at around 1.5k-2k and profit 0.5k-1k over the mortgage/tax/insurance every month. + +Getting second home depleted our savings but we still have 3 months of run way but will be able to build that back up to 6 months over the next year. We also still put away 12% each to our 401k/Roth IRA. Plan to have kids in 2-3 years. +My wife and I got married last year and she has about $75k in student debt. About $29k of that is in a tier with high interest rates (about 5.9%) that will basically have us paying those for the next 30 years unless we were to pay them off. + +I have the ability to pay that high tier rate off now but it will wipe out a decent chunk of our savings leaving only about $30k left behind. My advisor is recommending that we do pay those off now while we have the ability to do so to save in the long run but I’m hesitant. I may be overly optimistic when it comes to student debt forgiveness but I have this fear that I’ll pay off a huge amount and then a decent chunk of student debt will be forgiven leaving me out the ~$30k lump sum payment I’m considering making now. + +Just wanting a second opinion on this as I am mostly relying on my advisor’s projections and numbers he’s provided. + +What is everyone’s opinion on how to approach student debt of that amount? +I have had a checking/savings with Chase Bank since 2007 and a credit card since 2015 with them. This year I moved to a state where there are not very many Chase locations (1 within a 50 mile radius) and I am considering closing this account because of the monthly fees and lack of accessibility. + +I have an account with a local credit union and two other credit cards with another bank in town that has many locations. I have never carried a balance on any cards, and have a credit score in the 750s. + +How bad would it hurt my credit, long term, to just close my entire account with Chase? + +I don’t want to keep paying the monthly fees and keep the account since I don’t plan to ever really use that account/card much again. +Hello! + +First time poster in this sub. Obligatory “I’m on mobile so formatting could be weird.” + +My great aunt passed away last July and she left her estate to my mother, my siblings, and myself. + +We are finally finishing up the loose ends that have been stopping us from getting the inheritance. Such as closing on her house. + +My sister was told a number from my great aunt’s brother, who has been handling all of the lawyers and what not, that we all should be getting. + +She told me and it’s a decent chunk of money. + +As a college student, my first instinct was “Hey I could pay off some student loans” but this chunk would only put a dent in them, and I already don’t have to touch those until I graduate. + +So, plan B. Take most of the chunk of money, 95-90% of it and throw it in a mutual fund and then add 10-20% of my paycheck into it every month. + +However I know basically nothing about mutual funds. My personal finance teacher taught us a lot about them but this was well over a year ago. + +I’ve been looking at HSA ones, through my bank, but I don’t know if there is a good place to look for them outside of this or not. + + +Any help will be appreciated! + +TL;DR +Inheritance is a decent chunk of money and I want to put it into a mutual fund. Don’t know where to start looking. + + + + +So my fiancee and I are trying to buy a home. We are looking to sell our current place and move into a larger home. My fiancee makes double the money I do and our family income is around 90k-110k a year ( her income fluctuates as it is commission based ). + +If I apply for a mortgage by myself it will only show my income as 33k, if I include my fiancee it will be over 90k. My credit score is 801 but hers is around 580. + +Would it be best to apply together or by myself. We are looking for a home within the range of 600k-750k and I am planning to put down a down payment of 250k. +His tourist insurance won’t cover for pre-existing conditions, he has high BP which caused the stroke. He was taken to Kaiser emergency and then to the ICU(he was there for 3 days) and he’s since been moved to general care from ICU. I’m afraid the bill will be pretty huge. This is his first visit and he doesn’t have any assets here in the US. I’m clueless and looking for any kind of advice on the best way to proceed financially. +I'm a 21 year old Australian warehouse worker who has accumulated around $4,000 of debt in different places because I'm an idiot. I lost my old job and by the time I had found another, contracts and bills piled up. Some of the places I owe money to are contacting debt collection agencies. + +When I was around 18 I was irresponsible as hell with bills and my credit rating is terrible. I want to apply for a bank loan but am afraid that I'll get denied instantly. Is it safe to go with a third-party loan, or will I just dig myself into a deeper hole? +I finally have some savings. While I am considering investing in property at some point, it will not be in the next year. Where should I put my money in the meantime? Any advice is greatly appreciated. +Learned late in life about the foundations and benefits. Now above the standard Roth IRA income limits. + +Looking to open two this month (1 for me, 1 for wife), repeating the back door strategy annually until they take the option away. {Currently maxing out 401k with a Fidelity target date fund} + +Recommendations on what shop to use? + +Best practice and advice on most ideal fund strategy for the next 15-25 years given the shorter time for compounding growth? + +(Would you recommend the same fund strategy with an HSA?) + +Thanks in advance! +I'm slowly chipping away at debt. Should be completely debt free within 1 year or two, quicker if student loans get cancelled. A long time ago, I planned to save $5000 and then start a retirement account. Now I'm wondering if I should bother taking the extra year to save or just start it with the $3,000 in savings I would already have. + +What are the things you've always wanted to know about but have been too afraid of asking? What do you need to retire? Is your financial advisor working on your behalf or just raking in fees? What does it all mean? + +Remember - this is a safe place. Upvote those that contribute, and only downvote if a comment is off-topic or doesn't contribute to the discussion, **not** just because you disagree. + +Consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +Hello! Can anyone please point me in the direction of free (or very low cost) financial? I’m retiring in about 3 years and have no clue on what to do. I know I may be late in the game, so please don’t judge me; I’ve had some difficult moments in my life. +I am a 20 year old from Australia who has invested hundreds of hours into learning how to secure my financial freedom and early retirement and working hard now so it's easy later. + +I want to teach people my age to do the same thing and through a lot less time then what it took me, but even though I am 20 I don't know how to excite them of the benefits of learning. + +If you are young, what would excite you? + +Please help! Lets make the world an awesome cool place! + +So long story short - I (22M) used to have my own online business and last year was making pretty good money that I would never imagine making at my age. My best days I was bringing about 1k / day. + +But I wasn’t very smart with money - constantly buying things I didn’t need, spending it on restaurants and clothes - and expensive things I shouldn’t have been buying like ipads, tech, expensive car rides, etc. + +I was saving and investing also but it reached a point where my spendings were so high and I started pulling out from my investments. + +By march of this year, my business had stopped bringing any income and for about 3 months (until I found a job) - I kept living this lifestyle that was way above my means, so by about summer - I ended up with 0$ in my bank. + +Luckily I had a 9to5 job already and it brings enough to live. But for some reason - it’s been extremely hard to lower my lifestyle - so I still blow every penny of my paycheck (although I know I could save some of it). + +Any tips what I should be doing? +I tried budgeting and always track my spendings through an app - but it doesn’t really helps me decreases my spendings and wants + +Perhaps, somebody has been in a similar position or knows what would help? + +Super thankful in advance. +Title. For context: I’m 24 years old, have a bachelors in biology (recent grad), live in HCOL area, and make about $54k annually as a lab manager + +Of course, how you spend your money influences how much you can save. But at the same time, you can only save so much if you don’t make a lot of money. + + +What advice do you have to someone in a position like mine who wants make serious money in the next 5-10 years? Should I try for a masters? How do I join the 6 figure club so that maybe one day I can get out of this renters trap and can retire someday? + +So long story short - I (22M) used to have my own online business and last year was making pretty good money that I would never imagine making at my age. My best days I was bringing about 1k / day. + +But I wasn’t very smart with money - constantly buying things I didn’t need, spending it on restaurants and clothes - and expensive things I shouldn’t have been buying like ipads, tech, expensive car rides, etc. + +I was saving and investing also but it reached a point where my spendings were so high and I started pulling out from my investments. + +By march of this year, my business had stopped bringing any income and for about 3 months (until I found a job) - I kept living this lifestyle that was way above my means, so by about summer - I ended up with 0$ in my bank. + +Luckily I had a 9to5 job already and it brings enough to live. But for some reason - it’s been extremely hard to lower my lifestyle - so I still blow every penny of my paycheck (although I know I could save some of it). + +Any tips what I should be doing? +I tried budgeting and always track my spendings through an app - but it doesn’t really helps me decreases my spendings and wants + +Perhaps, somebody has been in a similar position or knows what would help? + +Super thankful in advance. +I recently came into some money and am trying to decide whether to pay off my student loan or invest. Loan balance is $9500, payments are $125/mo, and interest rate is only 1.6%. + +It seems logical to invest since even conservative returns over the 10 year repayment period would more than make up for the low interest, but there’s also the psychological benefit of being completely debt free for the first time in my life. (I paid off my credit cards and other debts first.) +And no words can describe how crazy this is. + +At the same time, Bitcoin dominance has just dropped below 50%, which hasn't happened since June 2018. + +This is history in the making. Please, sit back and think about it. +Hey guys, + +After living with a beater car since college, I was finally in a position to purchase my first new car from a dealership today (don't worry, I understand the implications of buying new vs. slightly used, that's a different topic altogether). The resources on /r/personalfinance allowed me to feel completely in control of my purchase and helped me avoid common pitfalls that some folks may run into. Here's just a brief overview of my car buying experience: + +* I did a lot of research on the quality index and reliability of certain makes/models to help narrow down the specific car I wanted with help from the [Long Term Quality Index](http://longtermqualityindex.com/) + +* I read up on two very helpful reddit posts: [Step by Step Guide on how to buy a car](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/3898f1/step_by_step_guide_on_how_to_buy_a_car_my_friend/) and [3 Tricks Car Salesman Use to Take Your Money] +(https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/36pnp0/3_tricks_car_salesmen_use_to_take_your_money/) + +* After finding the exact car I wanted, I submitted my information through TrueCar (my employer has some sort of affiliation/deal with them). I submitted a Google Voice phone number an email address that I don't use for anything else so I wouldn't be constantly harassed by calls/emails. I also calculated the exact loan terms and out the door price that I wanted and looked up the auto loan rates at my local credit union. + +* After receiving offers from the local dealership (3 of them in my case), I sent the lowest offer to the other dealerships and asked for their lowest out the door price (including taxes, title, and fees). This happened about 4-5 times. + +* After receiving prices that were within ~$100 of each other, I scheduled an appointment at the dealership with the lowest OTD cost for a test drive of the car + +* I printed out the emails from the dealership with the price I negotiated and went for a test drive. All went well so we sat down to talk about the price/options. I was then given a quote with an additional freight fee ($895) and some added paint-protecting clear-coat ($850). I said I wasn't interested and that the freight fee was included in the Truecar cost already (which was in the email correspondence). They removed both charges. + +* I then went to the finance office. The finance manager initially gave me an interest rate of **4.65%** which was WAAAY too high. I advised her that my local credit union could do 1.79%, so I would go with them if they couldn't match it. I told her the exact loan term that I wanted and emphasized the total cost of the car over the monthly payments. She went over the warranty options multiple times, but I stayed firm with my choice of not wanting any additional coverage. They were able to go down to 1.8%. I went with their financing because I also got an additional $500 incentive through Honda for being a recent graduate. + +In the end, I walked out with the car I wanted at a great price and felt completely in control. I just wanted to personally thank all the posters at /r/personalfinance for empowering me with the knowledge I needed! + +If anyone has questions about my experience, feel free to ask. + +Edit: Missed a word in the title. Should be "First NEW car purchase" +Edit2: It was a 2016 Honda Civic EX for those who were asking. +Welcome to the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- This thread is intended as a welcome place for discussion of all non-Ethereum related crypto. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +I am so excited about this shit man... I have money waiting to buy so much Eth when it bottoms out. + +Could it go back to the 100s ??? Imagine. My dreams would come true. + +Where is it likely to stop considering were not simply in a bear market but in a global recession, I hope that drives the thing back to 80$... man im so excited. + +Im gonna buy so much shit this year. I just took on a second job for crypto money. +Experimentation time! + +Following [an earlier post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/azfm8l/the_rethtrader_community_talk_series_need_your/), I'm happy to kick off the first "episode" of our community series with /u/jtnichol. Please submit your questions in this thread (or upvote others' questions) and /u/jtnichol and I will go through them, and post an audio/video recording (and transcript). + +The goal of this series is to get a (short, or longer!) insight into some of our favorite /r/ethtrader members. As outlined in the first thread, a few introductory questions will be asked, followed by submitted questions, and closed with a rapid-fire round. + +Thank you for participating! +Krok +Welcome to the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- This thread is intended as a welcome place for discussion of all non-Ethereum related crypto. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Welcome to the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- This thread is intended as a welcome place for discussion of all non-Ethereum related crypto. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Welcome to the **/r/EthTrader** Daily Discussion thread. The thread guidelines are as follows: +*** + +- Discussion topics include but are not limited to general discussion, details related to events of the day, technical analysis, Ethereum Classic, and minor questions. +- Important content should be posted as a separate thread. +- Be excellent to each other. + +*** + +Thank you in advance for your participation. Enjoy! + +https://www.np.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/4svuqp/metamask_public_developer_beta_begins_our/ + +>MetaMask is a browser extension that turns Chrome into a full Ethereum-enabled browser, like Mist. It lets the user manage their own accounts and exposes those accounts to any website they visit via the Web3 JavaScript API, which lets dapps talk to the blockchain. +There's been some recent excitement over BlockFi's [launch of interest accounts](https://blockfi.com/crypto-interest-account/) at 6%. While there is no FDIC protection, it does appear Gemini are the custodian. + +I'm incredibly tempted to use this but how safe is it really? + +Fellow Apes, you may remember me from my post on Friday analyzing [why hedge funds couldn't have repositioned on the 28th, and why they couldn't have covered on the 29th](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/ldjbg1/analysis_on_why_hedge_funds_didnt_reposition_last/?ref=share&ref_source=link). My post gained a lot of interest and I am glad you all appreciated my analysis.🦍 + +This post has been automatically removed several times at WSB so I have decided to post it here. If any of you are able to post it to WSB then feel free to. + +Last night something interesting was brought to my attention, and I think you guys might want to take a look. After the post gained popularity on the 6th, Fintel significantly altered the short volume of GME. + +[Fintel GME Short Volume Screencap from the 6th](https://imgur.com/a/TiI74zM) + +[Fintel GME Short Volume Screencap from the 7th](https://imgur.com/a/pXvXEN6) + +**As you can see, GME short volume was REDUCED BY HALF on the 7th** + +I was curious if this was simply a normal thing for them to do, to alter short volume randomly on weekends, so I checked the short volume for Tesla to see if it was also reduced. **It was not.** + +[Fintel TSLA Short Volume from the 28th](https://imgur.com/a/NEChJTk) + +[Fintel TSLA Short Volume from the 7th](https://imgur.com/a/77eAhMG) + +**As you can see, all of the GME short volume was reduced by half on the 7th, but none of the TSLA short volume was reduced. Why would that be?** + +Well, the same thing was done for AMC. + +[Fintel AMC Short Volume as of the 6th](https://imgur.com/a/0frCcji) + +[Fintel AMC Short Volume as of Today](https://imgur.com/a/jVOvqsL) + +**AMC reduced by 50%** + +**But not for Apple** + +[Fintel AAPL Short Volume as of the 28th](https://imgur.com/a/ec41CAY) + +[Fintel AAPL Short Volume as of Today](https://imgur.com/a/YCSYiRe) + +Honestly, all I can say is **very sloppy Fintel, very sloppy.** + +I’m not sure what your explanation for this is, but it looks like you’re manipulating the short volume of specific stocks. + +I presume the analysis from my original post was pretty spot on to warrant the alteration of short volume for particular stocks. + +Why would hedge funds be going nuclear with media FUD, disinformation campaigns and bots? Why would seemingly reliable sources of financial statistics be altering specific stats for tickers that gain public attention? + +Here are some additional sources of people talking about this, [1](https://youtu.be/uJuHEsemSqo),[2](https://twitter.com/TradesTrey/status/1358620225500020740?s=19) + +TLDR: Just read it guys, this one was quick. Fintel appears to be caught red handed altering the short volume of stocks like GME and AMC, but not for stocks like TSLA and AAPL. I have provided the receipts and it is clear what they have done. Think critically about every source of information you come across, because they hedge funds may be covering their tracks. Start keeping your receipts. + +Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, nor am I licensed or in any way qualified to dictate or advise your trading decisions. This is not financial advice. This analysis is not meant to influence, inspire, or inform you regarding your trades. This analysis was written purely as speculation and could be entirely incorrect. I found my own analysis interesting and wanted to share my unprofessional opinion. Furthermore, while these numbers are accurate as per their sources, they may not account for other factors that relate to the stock’s activity. This is only a healthy criticism and review of one potential source of financial information. I own shares of GME, TSLA and AAPL. + +Monke Storng 🦍🚀🦍🚀🦍🚀 +You are probably checking the bitcoin price, sweating. Maybe you bought this month and are down, maybe you bought a few months ago and until recently, you were up big. I hope you aren't selling. + +I'm not rich, but I had a condo and sold it. You know what I bought? Bitcoin. And guess what-I'm not selling because this is just getting started. + +Most people want to keep you down, to not reach your full potential. To be part of the system, but need the system. Ask yourself: what are the rich doing? I'll tell you what they are doing-they are buying bitcoin, gold, and luxury real estate. + +The system has taken it's logical course and it's worked for a while-about 70 years. Can we break covid and go back to "normal". Sure. Debt will be 30 Trillion. By 2025 50 Trillion and debt to GDP at 200%. And by 2030, the game has fundamentally changed. There's a huge demand for all the cash in the world, and it looks like bitcoin is going to be one of the exits. + +Most people love the system. It comforts them and gives them structure. I'm fine with that. I like comfort too. + +Don't get this twisted-the people at the top aren't smart. They inherited an amazing, once in a 1,000 years system 80 years ago. And what did they do? They destroyed the system and gave the future generations the problems. They have kicked the can of debt down the road. + +I don't think you will ever see a mortgage at 4% again. EVER. +Inflation? Minimum wage will be $15-and that's not even enough. +Imagine paying $20 for a burger/fries/coke. It's coming. + +The traders will tell you "it's going to $25k". I kick myself for not DOLLAR cost averaging over the last 4-5 years. Huge mistake. + +The problems of society will not go away. At best they are delayed. You know why? because our debt is growing much faster than our taxes. And it's about to go exponential. + + +Bitcoin is my insurance policy. +Hi guys, + +I am 21 studying full time, working part time. + +Currently I have $500 to invest and can afford to invest an additional $600 per year (saying I save $50/month to invest and invest at once at the end of the year). + +I am wondering - Should I start investing now or wait till I have more money when I graduate at the end of next year? + +And should I invest in VAS, VGS or VHDG to start? I already have an account with selfwealth + +Id really appreciate all the help I can get as I am lost haha +Hi + +Can anyone explain to me how inflation works. + +It doesn't matter what I buy the price has gone up. + +Everything from tobacco,child care,health care,building materials,petrol, The list is endless. + +The local coffee shop put their coffee up from $5 to $6, + +The Sunday paper $3 to $3.50 + +Even the local club I drink at, up their prices 0.60 a beer. + +I am a salary earner, now the government want me to put more Superannuation away. + +For me that's a cut in take home pay, and this is going to happen for the next 3 years. + +Can someone, anybody please explain to me how the RBA says inflation is 0.9 % +Disclaimer - not hating, just genuinely curious. +CSL seems to be one of the only companies people on here recommend when people request 'quality' companies to invest in. Why is this? I'm pretty new to the world of finance (only started paying attention at the start of 2020), but I don't understand the apparent obsession with this biomed company. +I'm considering buying an investment property somewhere in Australia. The thing that strikes me most is the lack of data. You can do postcode by postcode searches on most real estate websites but you can't get bulk data nor individual sales data. + +It seems to me that trying to outsmart the market, ie beating average rental returns and average capital gains is more or less the same as the stock market. There is no consistent way for the vast majority of us to do this? + +I get there are micro things about the property itself you have good control over, but trying to pick specific areas seems more like just feel? + +I'm just a rookie so chances are I'm wrong but I just can't see where. I've read many articles and watched many YouTube videos and they're all really just full of shit. Is there any actual practical advice? +It has come to my attention that people have been listening to bad advice on this sub and have been losing money. + +For example, there have been multiple posts this morning talking about “Dont sell SLS, don’t paper hands, we’re going to the moon”. People followed this word for word, and they didn’t think for themselves. + +Please, if you’re going to make a decision, do not blindly follow what others say and even if someone says “If you sell you’re a pussy”, still make the decision for yourself. These people are pumpers who do not have your best interest in mind, and they don’t care if you make or lose money. The only person who will be sad when you lose money is you. + +So please, don’t blindly follow other’s advice and think for yourself. <3 + +Good luck trading, +