Speakers. I would invest 10k in some new speakers.
And maybe a turntable.
Wooo Whooo! Thanks. Hopefully those speaker will appreciate, yes?
Consider these:
Amgen 2.65%
CVS 2.51%
3M (MMM) 2.36%
Procter & Gamble 3.06%
Qualcom 4.32%
Tiffany 2.09%
Tex Instruments 2.49%
Union Pacific 2.35%
United Technologies 2.36%
WalMart 2.56%
The Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Fund yields 1.91% with only a 0.08% expense ratio.
Thanks Jack.
Okay so the Vanguard DAF if you want a fund. I assume that the
1.91 % is only the dividend payout not considering the equity appreciation
of the funds shares, etc.
Also if there are any bond investors careful of future now that we've had the
FED begin to raise the interest rates.
Interest rate UP
Bond price DOWN
Know too that interest rates alway go UP
faster than they come down.
If you have bonds that your likely to sell in the coming years
you might consider selling them now while the prices are higher
then they will be in the next few years.
With each FED rate hike the bond price decreases.
Okay so the Vanguard DAF if you want a fund. I assume that the
1.91 % is only the dividend payout not considering the equity appreciation
of the funds shares, etc.
Also if there are any bond investors careful of future now that we've had the
FED begin to raise the interest rates.
Interest rate UP
Bond price DOWN
Know too that interest rates alway go UP
faster than they come down.
If you have bonds that your likely to sell in the coming years
you might consider selling them now while the prices are higher
then they will be in the next few years.
With each FED rate hike the bond price decreases.
Thermo Fisher, Agilent, Mettler Toledo. Agilent of course traces its roots to Messr's Hewlett and Packard.
Trucking -- Schneider went public a few months ago -- when Don Schneider died they had to bring it public probably to pay estate taxes. I thought it was priced a little cheap and there may have been a purpose to this!
I like to look at the companies which come into our plant and pitch the general manager on some new product (which we probably cant afford).
Pitching Product? count Thermo Fisher there.
I got a little deep freeze of theirs. Talked to the
a local supplier of nitrogen...This thing takes so
much that he's unaware of anything that large.
I got it to cryogenic treat chips, tubes, even big block engines
will fit into it, calibers brake pads, shoes, etc.
Only problem is my budddy who received it, needed forklift
and dock high...didn't follow instructions when receiving.
He didn't note the damage that was on it. So, this big
hunching piece of gear, the fron't plastic switch and
board...are 3,000 -$4,000 for the parts. And they
really dont' want me working on it so have to pay
big money for one of their techs.
Still sitting in the buddy's ware house.
Any way thanks for the info Jack.
Cheers,
I got a little deep freeze of theirs. Talked to the
a local supplier of nitrogen...This thing takes so
much that he's unaware of anything that large.
I got it to cryogenic treat chips, tubes, even big block engines
will fit into it, calibers brake pads, shoes, etc.
Only problem is my budddy who received it, needed forklift
and dock high...didn't follow instructions when receiving.
He didn't note the damage that was on it. So, this big
hunching piece of gear, the fron't plastic switch and
board...are 3,000 -$4,000 for the parts. And they
really dont' want me working on it so have to pay
big money for one of their techs.
Still sitting in the buddy's ware house.
Any way thanks for the info Jack.
Cheers,
Not so sure that's a good deal
So assume there is $1M under management, you would be paying $15,900 per year for advice. $159,000 for ten years if the market was flat. Maybe the guy is spending 2 hour each quarter on your account, if that. These guys doing the same thing all day, recommend one of maybe five baskets of stocks / bonds / funds to every client based on your risk tolerance and what his firm is pushing. You're paying $1987.50 per hour. You might consider finding a Fee Only Certified Financial Planner who works for an hourly rate. A guy charging $300 / hour could save you enough money to buy some nice speakers every year, and you would still sleep great.
So assume there is $1M under management, you would be paying $15,900 per year for advice. $159,000 for ten years if the market was flat. Maybe the guy is spending 2 hour each quarter on your account, if that. These guys doing the same thing all day, recommend one of maybe five baskets of stocks / bonds / funds to every client based on your risk tolerance and what his firm is pushing. You're paying $1987.50 per hour. You might consider finding a Fee Only Certified Financial Planner who works for an hourly rate. A guy charging $300 / hour could save you enough money to buy some nice speakers every year, and you would still sleep great.
Greenspan sounding the alarm bell again:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/04/gre...because-of-abnormally-low-interest-rates.html
Yes, he does.
btw. did you read his paper yet ?
He was interviewed and had a very frank discussion at the Counsel of Foreign Relations a while ago. His remarks about currencies in particular the US Dollar floored me.
I hope my post is not violating any Rules (again), I apologize.
No, I haven't read it yet.
It's important to note that the US Dollar is not backed by
anything other then the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.
It is called Fiat money, that is money that is not backed by gold
or silver etc. The danger is the govt, that is any govt, can just keep
printing out bills when they need more money. It soon becomes
worthless paper and sends inflation through the roof.
Rarely discussed is the reason Nixon took the US off the gold standard,
it was to keep the US Gold reserves in the United States and not being
claimed by foreign governments during the oil embargo.
The Swiss Franc is used to be backed by gold, but even that has
been subject to dilution. The former safe haven currency has since
been diluted a couple of times, if I recall correctly.
Switzerland used to have zero inflation.
Can anyone tell me which county also has zero inflation?
NOTE: Please folks may we please keep the topic of conversation
here civil? We could benefit many members of our DIYAudio community.
Cheers,
It's important to note that the US Dollar is not backed by
anything other then the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.
It is called Fiat money, that is money that is not backed by gold
or silver etc. The danger is the govt, that is any govt, can just keep
printing out bills when they need more money. It soon becomes
worthless paper and sends inflation through the roof.
Rarely discussed is the reason Nixon took the US off the gold standard,
it was to keep the US Gold reserves in the United States and not being
claimed by foreign governments during the oil embargo.
The Swiss Franc is used to be backed by gold, but even that has
been subject to dilution. The former safe haven currency has since
been diluted a couple of times, if I recall correctly.
Switzerland used to have zero inflation.
Can anyone tell me which county also has zero inflation?
NOTE: Please folks may we please keep the topic of conversation
here civil? We could benefit many members of our DIYAudio community.
Cheers,
I tried googling a bit and the latest statistics seem to date back to November 2016. Apart from Switzerland, there are Japan, Liechtenstein, Ireland, Israel and, ladies and gentlemen - Greece! I was surprised to find it on the list (from here) Though lately I've been stumbling across information about the revival of Greece after the crisis and that it creates favorable environment for investors (for example it's a piece of cake to get Greek residence permit https://tranio.com/greece/residence/) with the economy growing and so on. And with their never ceasing tourists, beautiful sceneries and paradise like weather people should be able to make good money there
In the US physical currency accounts for about 20% of retail transactions, but it isn't dying as fast as predicted only 5 years ago! As i stated earlier in this thread, most US Currency is held abroad, and your caddy in Ireland will happily take USD, EUR, CHF and GBP!
I can remember Nixon applying wage and price controls (at the same time that the Gold Standard was suspended) -- watching it on TV with my dad -- he said it would be a disaster and it was. I think that the "price-escalation" mentality wasn't broken until the 1990's even though all controls were eliminated in 1981.
Spain experienced tremendous inflation in agricultural products when their physical gold reserves balooned in the 16th century. "Helicopter Money"
Trying to stay on the pleasant side of the moderators.
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There are currencies, and there are Currencies. The USD does not follow the normal currency trading and valuation factors, as it is a "World Currency" that you have to own if you trade internationally, and in some cases Nationally (generally where the local currency has failed in some way).
Prior to WWII the same role was exhibited with the UK Pound. Despite the efforts of the EU, the Euro has not displaced the USD in that role.
A World Currency is not subject to the same market forces as other currencies, for example retaining value (due to demand; people buying dollars in the currency market) when other currencies under the same national economic conditions would fall in value.
This stubborn valuation has stymied attempts by the US to devalue it's currency to make it's exports more attractive and make imports less attractive to American business and consumers. For example lowering interest rates by a Central Bank should cause the currency to be less attractive and therefore fall in value.
That's how it works in other countries. But not with the USD. The US Treasury can lower interest rates all day long and little change in the USD value results. Because no nation wants deflation, the Treasury department comes up against a wall where it can't do anything further to try an influence dollar values.
The other factor with the USD is that sellers of goods to the US market accumulate dollars. There is only a few things you can do with dollars if you are not resident in the US ... trade (sell on the currency market or buy goods priced in USD), hold, or buy assets in the US.
We've seen it before when Japan was buying Real Estate in the US in the 80's, the Brits still own a staggering amount of US assets from the days when they were the trade leaders, and now China is buying assets in the US with the dollars they accumulate from business transactions.
Why is Foxconn building a huge factory in the US? Automation takes care of most of the employee wage difference between China and the US in their industry, plus, they are spending some of their accumulated US dollars on US assets ... real estate, factories, etc.
Prior to WWII the same role was exhibited with the UK Pound. Despite the efforts of the EU, the Euro has not displaced the USD in that role.
A World Currency is not subject to the same market forces as other currencies, for example retaining value (due to demand; people buying dollars in the currency market) when other currencies under the same national economic conditions would fall in value.
This stubborn valuation has stymied attempts by the US to devalue it's currency to make it's exports more attractive and make imports less attractive to American business and consumers. For example lowering interest rates by a Central Bank should cause the currency to be less attractive and therefore fall in value.
That's how it works in other countries. But not with the USD. The US Treasury can lower interest rates all day long and little change in the USD value results. Because no nation wants deflation, the Treasury department comes up against a wall where it can't do anything further to try an influence dollar values.
The other factor with the USD is that sellers of goods to the US market accumulate dollars. There is only a few things you can do with dollars if you are not resident in the US ... trade (sell on the currency market or buy goods priced in USD), hold, or buy assets in the US.
We've seen it before when Japan was buying Real Estate in the US in the 80's, the Brits still own a staggering amount of US assets from the days when they were the trade leaders, and now China is buying assets in the US with the dollars they accumulate from business transactions.
Why is Foxconn building a huge factory in the US? Automation takes care of most of the employee wage difference between China and the US in their industry, plus, they are spending some of their accumulated US dollars on US assets ... real estate, factories, etc.
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Well, if the concept of Fiat currency bothers you, you won't like what happens next.
The advent of Fiat Currency allows the introduction of Credit.
When you borrow money from the bank, the bank simply writes a check and creates that money out of thin air, based on your credibility and ability to pay only. They don't sell any gold, or go to the vault and dig out some dollars. The money they lend you did not exist yesterday, and exists today, like magic.
There is a little bit of paper shuffling that night with the Central Bank, but that's it. Instant money created out of nothing.
The more credit in the economy, the faster the economy grows (because each dollar is spent on average ... or at least this is what they told me in Economics class ... seven times in each year). Sometimes the advent of easy credit to unqualified borrowers leads to ... well, we saw it in 2008.
Credit to qualified borrowers enriches the economy (and it's obvious; the banks increase the money supply when they lend), but if greed sets in with those who profit from credit (and the pool of willing, qualified borrowers is already taken) your only choice is to lend to people who might not pay it back.
Because these increases in the money supply are not backed by any increase in most tangible assets ... there is still the exact same amount of land to sell within a nation's borders for example; they are inflationary.
For your "zero inflation quiz", without checking, I'd say Japan.
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Growth in the Grecian economy is largely the result of ex-pats returning for retirement. Remember ... if the banks won't lend, you can have zero inflation (or deflation). It's not necessarily a good thing for the economy; it can go both ways.
I know a few resturant owners who have moved to Greece after selling the business they worked in all their lives, basically. It's incredibly cheap to live there. As economies go, "incredibly cheap" isn't exactly the catch phrase of the economic powerhouses of the world.
Gross National Product and Gross Domestic Product can be reflected in a high cost of living. If Country A's hotel rooms are $100 and Country B's hotel rooms are $500, the GNP of Country B might be 5x higher. If the same number of workers can afford the same number of domestic hotel rooms in each country, then wages in Country B would also be 5x higher. Which means there will be a lot of tourists from Country B visiting Country A, and not many the other way around.
Do you want to double the GNP of your nation? Simple. Double the wages and double the prices, and your GNP will double. People on fixed incomes will suffer (retirees) but everyone else will just take more exotic vacations.
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Good answer, in 20yr. a can of Boss Coffee went from 100Y to 150Y. A silly example but in general my observation. A decent average work day lunch did not seem to vary much above or below $10 US from 1988 to 2008. The full course meal at a top Ginza restaurant is almost the same 24,800Y today as it was in 1988.
The resiliency of the population in general to the ups and downs is interesting during the 1980's bubble it was not uncommon to find 2 or 3 Rolls and Bentleys at every good restaurant and exotic cars could be spotted all day. Secretaries were buying condos in Hawaii just to use a few weeks of the year, and didn't they buy Pebble Beach for $1B just to dump everything a few years later at .10 cents on the dollar.
OTOH I had to come back empty handed from my last trip to China, friends had ordered art supplies and in the last 5yr the prices have inflated unbelievably on anything that is actually real. Genuine Red Star paper went from $0.35 to over $4.00 a sheet.
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I remember getting my Boss Coffee from the vending machine and going down to wait for the Shinkansen at Shinigawa to go to Osaka. July - hot as hell - I would hold the can against my neck. Shinkansen would arrive bang on time. I spent over 5 years living in Tokyo.
If there is one thing I miss, it is Japan. Awesome place. My some came to visit us after university in 2007. He never left and lives in central Tokyo with his partner.
Gambate Nihon
If there is one thing I miss, it is Japan. Awesome place. My some came to visit us after university in 2007. He never left and lives in central Tokyo with his partner.
Gambate Nihon
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