Michael l Berard

Comments:

• Number 6 is the one that stands out. Lotteries guarantee anywhere from a NEGATIVE 30 % to a NEGATIVE 50% return. And, no more comments are required on that subject. Except maybe those triple inverse , leveraged etfs are like - rock solid treasuries ,in comparison. And Cathie Wood looks a bit better, also, compared to lottery results! Many folks will not invest a single penny in anything other than FDIC insured accounts, because of the fear of (temporarily) losing perhaps as much as 50 % in value, even though losses of that magnitude are rare. If they would be a bit patient, etc., they would almost certainly see their account values return to the previous levels, and then being continually patient and so forth, would clearly be a winning strategy. If they were prudent and added more as the markets dropped more and more, they would be rewarded, over time. However, they never view scratch tickets, powerball, Keno and the like, as anything but a winning strategy, after all, " somebody has to win", " if you do not play, you cannot win," " a lady just won a lump sum of $500 million", " I missed the big win by a tiny bit, if I had picked a 13 instead of a 14, I would have won, ", etc. Please, why are you happy to lose huge amounts with virtually zero chance to recoup the losses,by gambling, but terrified to accept any losses in investing, which are always temporary, and if you were wise and invested more at lower levels, that would be a great way to build wealth? Also, a paradox which puts other paradoxes to shame, by a landslide, that is, my state of Massachusetts has the highest percentage of college-educated people adults the nation. Something like 54 % have some type higher education, and that is tremendous. Alas, we also spend the most per capita on lottery tickets , close to 1,000 bucks per year. In a state with institutions like Harvard, MIT, Holy Cross, Clark, Assumption, Boston College and Boston University. Williams , Tufts. WPI, Amherst, etc. I surmise that here many somehow feel paying both state and federal income taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, death taxes, license and registration fees, trash fees, etc., is not sufficient. They insist on giving more. And the state thanks you,very much. Especially the honchos whom run the lottery. I will guess that they are making far above the minimum wage.

  Post: Say This to Them

  Link to comment from December 13, 2024

• Many on social media are also convinced that they are far wiser than both Einstein and Isaac Newton, and they are sure that the moon landings were all fake. Really, they insist that they have found errors in Einstein's theories, and disagree with Newton in that they feel rockets fail in the vacuum of space. And more. They are also sure that a UFO , by definition, has to originate from an alien planet and species, many light years distant. They do not understand that the "U" part simply means " Unidentified." Social media is filled with nonsense about the higher your income and/or net worth,the less income taxes you pay. Both as a percentage and in dollar amounts.They have loopholes, etc. Really though, Isaac Newton created Calculus, and Einstein's theories have been tested and proven many times over the last 120 years. It is then not surprising to me that so many are vastly erroneous about health care, and so forth. I have totally given up on social media to save a lot of precious time and energy. Finally, a quick update on the United Kingdom and its "free", ahem, National Health Service. Last year, well over 120,000 people died while awaiting medical procedures. That is about 2,307 a week, 329 per day , 13 an hour, 1 every five minutes.

  Post: CLUES LEFT BY A KILLER ECHO WIDESPREAD ANGER AT HEALTH INSURERS

  Link to comment from December 10, 2024

• I just read in The Wall Street Journal, that the British National Health Service is not the panacea that so many are convinced. Very often referred to as " free", which is not accurate, and, sadly, well over 120,000 sick people died last year, as they waited for treatments and procedures. It seems that citizens of The United States have no issues paying way too much for so many common items and services, but, balk at virtually every single facet of health care. Mr. Quinn , I agree with you, 100 percent. Water, sometimes as high as 160 a gallon, ( 20 bucks a pint at many venues), a single hot dog for 12 at the TD Garden. Useless tattoos and blue hair. There are now so many people buying vehicles for 50,60, or 100 grand, then financing them for 8 years. A friend has a 1500 monthly payment or her Corvette,for 8 years at 8 percent, then whines about paying tiny co-payments at doctors visits and even smaller amounts for prescriptions. Her family has to pay zero monthly premiums for health insurance. And, she also complains about having to buy premium fuel for the sports car, and she resides in Texas. Alas, she is lucky to get even 10 k miles from the tires, but she is fine with that. So many expect health care to be perfect and "free", and they also feel that fuel prices shall never rise, even as houses have soared 75 percent over the last 4 years, and just about everything else has gone up tremendously. Last time I checked, the casinos were packed, the package stores are getting very busy, here in Massachusetts we spend the most per capita on lottery tickets at nearly 1000 bucks a year. Talk about a paradox, we have the highest percentage of college educated adults, yet, we spend the most on items that guarantee anywhere from a minus 30 to minus 50 percent return. Yet, we balk at every single facet of health care costs, procedures and so forth. There are many great reasons why America has 63% of the global stock market cap, even though we are only 4% of the population. And why our treasuries are the gold standard for safety and liquidity. And our dollar is the worlds reserve currency. And murdering anybody, for any reason, is an insane act, and it matters not what his or her job was. Killing an innocent CEO of a health care company has no place in a civilized society. I hope the cowardly , misguided individual is soon caught. And, no matter his punishment, it will not be adequate. Nothing will bring him back. Consumers, pay your health care costs, the same as you buy tickets, and over priced food and drink, and tattoos, and body piercings, and the like. Even if we had universal ( not "free"), coverage, I suspect those whom complain the loudest , would not be better off. They probably wouldn't save and invest the savings, rather, it might be spent on trinkets and other non-essentials. My wife and I are both on Medicare, our premiums are about 300 a month. Together we have had 3 major surgeries, our total cost was about 7500. The insurance paid $ 143,000. Prior to age 65 , I had to pay my premiums for a few years, it was 854.00 monthly, which I gladly paid. No different from paying property and income taxes, home and auto insurance, grocery bills and car repairs and many more. A recent trip to the vet with the dog was 500, car repairs recently $1825, work done to the 2 furnaces was 1900 bucks, and lawn mower services were 400. And Medicare 300. all good.

  Post: CLUES LEFT BY A KILLER ECHO WIDESPREAD ANGER AT HEALTH INSURERS

  Link to comment from December 9, 2024

• Yes, this site is not the proper forum for ranting , political and angry comments, complete with exclamation points and too many capital letters. I will continue to invest in the 95 nations that enjoy stock markets. And, I will also continue using short and mid duration Foreign indexes tend to have a higher dividend yield, also. And the foreign nations seem to be ok with investing in our nation’s treasuries, also. They own a few trillion worth. Even though we are only a tiny 4% of the population, our market cap is over 60 percent. But, there is no guarantee of that in the future. I suggest 30 percent in foreign markets. And , yes, 6 percent in two companies, is much riskier than 40 percent in 20,000 foreign ones. To quote Yogi Berra, “ The future ain’t what it used to be,”, and , It’ s very hard to make predictions, especially about the future!” “ Sometimes, you can see a lot, just by looking.” And if I never read the “ word”, “ fanboys”, again, it will be too soon. The United States business model appears to be working well, thank you. Those whom have been betting against us for a couple of centuries have no doubt been frustrated., I hold zero animosity to our country and none to the other nations. I tend to keep my head down and attempt not to lash out , with bitter comments and so forth.

  Post: Stuck at Home

  Link to comment from November 30, 2024

• I also feel that many, perhaps, younger investors, think the world is far too unstable at present, to invest globally. The United States has global interests, and clearly unrest around the world affects Americans, dramatically. I do not think there will ever be a time of perfect stability and no worries, and it it a winning strategy to invest when pessimism it at a maximum. Last century was a tad unstable. Two world wars, a devastating depression, pandemics, the dot com collapse. So, invest globally, rebalance, a mix of stock, bonds and cash. Do not buy a boat and/ or loan money to your cousin for his “ cannot fail”, start up. Avoid any lottery tickets, unless you feel our governments are perfect stewards of our money , and you feel all the taxes and fees are inadequate. Is it really necessary to have an estate tax? At any level? Please, when a loved one dies, how about not taking any money, a “ death tax”, is not needed. Really. Our elected officials defend the death tax. The state that it is only paid by a tiny portion of estates and generates very little revenue. So, if it is so insignificant, make it go the way of the dinosaurs. And the dodo bird. My father was a veteran of two wars, yet, when he passed, we had to pay Massachusetts $ 67,000 dollars, we had a very low estate tax threshold in 2007. $650,000! Thankfully , the federal exemption was double, I believe, at the time. And no money owed to the feds.

  Post: Stuck at Home

  Link to comment from November 23, 2024

• Thanks, Jonathon. I was on the fence, figuratively, about lowering the foreign allocation. It is at 42% currently. ( If I was “ literally, “ on the fence, there would be a broken fence. No matter how well built it might be. ) I was focused too much on past performance,* and gave little thought to what future returns may bring. Mr. Buffett also feels no foreign stock is needed, but , at his level, I surmise he will not be ragged and homeless if our stocks fall dramatically. ** I feel that the smaller the portfolio, the more critical diversification is. And, in my case, there cannot be enough diversification. * According to Einstein, the only way to travel to the past , and then invest based on the known future, is to travel faster than light speed. Alas, at 5’8” tall, and a tremendous 250 lbs. ( even kilograms at 114 is scary) , there is no chance of yours truly moving beyond a snails pace. In lieu of that, I shall henceforth keep the global portfolio. Also, there are many foreign brands that are critical to my survival. Heineken, Nestle, et.al. Need to keep them afloat! ** If his holdings were to tank 99.99 percent, he would be down to 14.7 million. Oh boy.

  Post: Stuck at Home

  Link to comment from November 23, 2024

• Sure., you are spot on . I agree. And he , too , errs on occasion. He said a huge mistake was buying Dexter Shoe with BRK stock, and another was never buying Wal-Mart , decades ago. But his average is excellent!

  Post: Be Like Warren Buffett, And You Will Do Great ( Most likely on a smaller scale, though)

  Link to comment from November 21, 2024

• Thank you. I will never favor real estate instead of stocks and bonds. Just one reason, the main reason, for me is, the lack of liquidity and the tremendous hassle to buy and sell. Especially selling! Last year, I sold a house that had been in the family for years. I did not need to hire a realtor, a buyer approached me. It still took six months. Lawyers. It was in a trust and I was trustee. And more. I have sold 6 houses, 3 primary residences and 2 family homes, and one rental that the ex had when we married. It was tremendously liberating when I brought the sale checks to the bank. I truly hope my current house is it. In contrast, I was able sell some funds to transfer to my checking account, the total time, including turning on the device, was 3 minutes and 45 seconds. And the fund company provides the cost basis. No inspections, no smoke detector certificates, no lawyer fees. Also, I needed to open a Roth brokerage account. All done in under ten minutes. And the funds I sold had an after tax gain of a bit over 9 %. The house that I sold was built in 1924 and the cost basis was about 15,000 . I sold it for 150 k. It only gained ten times, minus all of 98 years of expenses. In the markets, If I did the math properly, , if it doubled very 10 years, 7 % a year. Ten times compounded, 30k, 60, 120, 240, 480, 960, 1920, 3840, 7500, 15 million? But, some of the cost was added over the years. Let’s reduce by half, still 7.5. At only 7 %. As opposed to 150 k. And that 150 is gross. Check my math, the house was 2% as lucrative? Anyway, thanks very much. One house is plenty and often, even one house is too many. If money was no object, I would rent. Yes, Bill should be happy . Beautiful vacation house on Nantucket. Hopefully, he will smile one day soon.

  Post: Be Like Warren Buffett, And You Will Do Great ( Most likely on a smaller scale, though)

  Link to comment from November 21, 2024

• That is a great song. She's leaving Home, Blackbird, In My Life, Don't Let Me Down. Rain, ( The backwards lyrics at the end), Paperback Writer, the frere Jacques backing harmonies,etc.

  Post: Munger and Buffett, Lennon-Mc Cartney, etc.

  Link to comment from November 13, 2024

• Rick Beato explained how she writes, etc., that Taylor has a few songwriters to assist her. I give her credit for appealing to the masses and she is a tremendous crowd pleaser. She is extremely talented, but, I do not listen to her, ever. I guess the polar opposite to her might be Bob Dylan,and I listen to him all the time. To each his own, I guess. Paul Mc Cartney has stated many times that the best song ever written, in his opinion, is " God Only Knows', The Beach Boys. Lennon wrote the walrus song because he was tired of fans always trying to figure out the meaning of the lyrics of other songs. He said, " Let them try and find out what those words mean. Ironically, " Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," contrary to common belief, had zero to do with LSD. Son Julian came home with a painting, and he told dad it was Lucy In The Sky... But the initials LSD ! All of The Beatles tried LSD, but that song was not inspired by that. And Lennon was addicted to heroin , for a time. That did inspire, " Cold Turkey." Julia song about mom. Dear Prudence and Mia Farrows sister, Mr. Kite about a circus performer ,and so forth.

  Post: Munger and Buffett, Lennon-Mc Cartney, etc.

  Link to comment from November 13, 2024