MARKETS,Anybody even yet?

[case]

My biggest gain lately from an ETF is with IBIT. It is Bitcoin via an etf. I hit it perfect buying in a bit before the election. Of course I am bullish on crypto and the gains I have just on the crypto I have bought ….well….you would not believe it so I will leave it there.

[olds442jetaway]

. WTG. Case. Needless to say……The VP fund should be well stocked for awhile should the need arise.

[dinghy]

Of course I am bullish on crypto and the gains I have just on the crypto I have bought ….well….you would not believe it so I will leave it there.

I can try to imagine . It's been a sight to behold. I usually only look at the Bitcoin price; it's +50% since 11/5, and I assume that's tame compared to some of the other stuff in the cryptosphere.

You positioned yourself brilliantly for the election reaction. My assets peaked a couple of weeks prior, and haven't yet recovered. I'm happy to be scooping up bargains because I believe the orange honeymoon is on borrowed time. Obviously I would have enjoyed the gains available in crypto, but I just don't possess the motivation to participate. It looks like tulip mania to me.

If I can find something that stays the same price over the years that beats inflation or bank interest, I’m fine with it. At my age, I’m not looking for growth necessarily. In case of a crash, I don’t have 20 years to wait for a comeback.

Are you replying to my XYLD comments? You're not addressing any of my criticism. I was hoping I had my facts wrong.

[olds442jetaway]

The price in 2013 is the same as today. Roughly. I’m perfectly fine with that as long as it stays around there and I can pickup up the dividend. Another example is AWF that I have owned since 1993. It’s just a bit higher than what I paid for it back then. But all these 31 years, I have been collecting a 7-9 percent dividend. I’m fine with that too. Gone are the days when I could get a 18.5 percent. CD at our local banks. We called it the Jimmy Carter Special. Of course it was only good if you had no debt. We had small savings back then but there were bank wars so on our lunch hour we would bank hop at all of the downtown banks. For that extra 1/2 percent. No penalties back then either for busting whatever accounts we had. Sounds like a lot of work for little, but you could also buy a nice starter home for 28k and during the gas wars when the car dealers were desperate you could and I did negotiate down my first new vehicle 73 F100 sticker 3500. My price 2750.

[dinghy]

The price in 2013 is the same as today. Roughly. I’m perfectly fine with that as long as it stays around there and I can pickup up the dividend.

You're "fine" owning the red line (XYLD) instead of the blue line (SPY).



That's a total return chart including dividends.

If you're fine owning the red line, why would you not be fine owning the blue line?

[olds442jetaway]

As to the 28k starter home, a bit less than 200k today in today’s money, but the exact same house today just sold for 335k. Just my opinion, but being debt free is the key. Nobody had credit cards when I grew up. If you couldn’t pay for it, you just didn’t get it period. We did work like lunatics back then ( 2 jobs each ) , but that only went on about 8 years till we made sure if the worst happened, we had a house and 2 cars that were paid for. I hope the schools make money and finance mandatory soon in high schools. A few have started already.

[olds442jetaway]

Yes and there is one main reason. We all had parents that lived through the depression and crash of 1929. Even Warren Buffet says the stock market is just another form of gambling. We also had major recessions in the 1950s and 1960s So we were taught to work hard, save, put your money in the bank and if you did buy any stock at all it was usually something like a utility that paid a dividend better than regular bank interest. Above all. No debt and if you had to get a mortgage which we did at 9 percent, work hard and pay it off early. Everyone was gun shy on the market. I know it has managed at least a 10 percent return since 1926, and great for those out there getting rich on it, but we’re happy just being debt free.

[dinghy]

Yes and there is one main reason. We all had parents that lived through the depression and crash of 1929.

Summary. You don't want to own a stock fund, but will own a fund of stocks if it has obfuscatory nomenclature such as "covered calls."

Obfuscatory Nomenclature was almost the name of my high school chess team, but the vote went for the White Knights.

[olds442jetaway]

Got hit hard with fraud on individual stocks over the years. If not fraud, insider trades and the people never paid for it. Friends too got hit on on Enron that I never touched. I got nailed on US surgical, Annally mortgage, and many years ago Lyon Lake Mines. A gold mine. Took years to recover and to compensate took out big life insurance policies to cover that I’m still paying on. At least Uncle Sam paid for a nice chunk of my losses on my tax returns. Anyway doesn’t matter. Now I just dabble a bit here and there. Mostly all cash, but I do wish I could have wrapped myself around bitcoin. Around 103k now as Trump continues to pick crypto people. Congrats again Case! . Another shoulda coulda is Tesla…..I knew the Musk Trump buddy buddy party would drive it to near 400 and maybe beyond, but I disdain EVs and the Lithium batteries and everything Lithium connected. But Musk has lots of other ideas and as long as the friendship holds, I think Tesla will continue to fly.

[onemoretry]

The price in 2013 is the same as today. Roughly. I’m perfectly fine with that as long as it stays around there and I can pickup up the dividend.

But, if today's price is the same as it was in 2013, does that not mean that it has, in fact, lost value?