Official Investing Thread

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Joe Louis, Jul 12, 2010.

  1. Joystick Izzy

    Joystick Izzy Well-Known Member
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    VTIAX or VXUS for international
    VBTLX, TIPS, i-bonds for bonds

    "Mixing it up" for long-term goals when the market is down sounds like a losing strategy. Have a long-term investment plan and stick to it, imo. "Mixing it up" is fine with excess money that you want to invest for fun, but not for your overall long-term goals.
     
  2. dukebuckeye

    dukebuckeye I’m OK with your low opinion of me.
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  3. kinghill

    kinghill Cool American Flavour
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    gainz

    Ally my sweet girl

    Your Online Savings Account rate is increasing from 1.15% to 1.25% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on all balance tiers.
     
  4. Det. Frank Bullitt

    Det. Frank Bullitt God Bless Texas
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    What was its peak pre covid? like 1.50%?
     
  5. TAS

    TAS 20_ _ TMB Poster of the Year
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    1.5
     
  6. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Over 2%
     
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  7. dukebuckeye

    dukebuckeye I’m OK with your low opinion of me.
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    Why would I want 2% in a savings account when I can lose 65% of my portfolio on Coinbase?
     
  8. kinghill

    kinghill Cool American Flavour
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    I usually go for both as a highly complex hedge
     
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  9. C A N E

    C A N E Let justice be done though the heavens fall
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    Massive gain today… but down for the week.
     
  10. dukebuckeye

    dukebuckeye I’m OK with your low opinion of me.
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    Not if you're Nancy Pelosi!
     
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  11. brolift

    brolift 2sweet
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    Take it to the snake pit thread
     
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  12. Sportfan

    Sportfan From Six to Dumptime
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    Will say this weeks reaction to a massive inflation number was much better than last month.
     
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  13. bcuga

    bcuga Administrator
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    Curious to see the reaction at the end of July when the interest rate goes up again
     
  14. kinghill

    kinghill Cool American Flavour
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  15. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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  16. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Read an article where a guy who calculates inflation like they originally did Instead of leaving out food and energy and said inflation in basically over 17%.
     
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  17. ScFan27

    ScFan27 Well-Known Member
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    This spring, Caren Bordowitz of Macomb, Ill., sacrificed vacation time, hauling herself to a bank almost halfway across the state.

    With the stock market sinking and inflation raging, a once-obscure government bond is suddenly one of the hottest investments in the country. Nicknamed “I bonds,” these instruments are backed by the U.S. government and protected against inflation. They are virtually risk-free, yet currently pay 9.62% annually.

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    Some investors are so desperate to buy I bonds that they will put up with a weeks-long bureaucratic rigmarole that one likened to a “Bataan Death March.”

    To buy the bonds in electronic form, investors must visit the government’s TreasuryDirect.gov website. There they can enter their bank information and buy a maximum $10,000 annually per account. Most are able to do so in minutes, without a hitch.

    But some customers—the Treasury says it doesn’t know how many—aren’t instantly approved. If the information those people enter doesn’t match the data that the Treasury’s verification service has on file, they must verify their identity by getting their signature certified on a document known as Form 5444. The Treasury says banks and brokerage employees, among others, may do that. Then the customer has to submit the form by snail mail.

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    A Treasury spokesman said that these measures are intended to protect against fraud.

    When Ms. Bordowitz, 61, took Form 5444 to her local bank in late April, a manager she’d known for years said she couldn’t certify her identity. Instead, Ms. Bordowitz says she was told she’d have to get a special seal known as a medallion stamp, which authenticates signatures when securities are transferred.

    That required driving an hour and 45 minutes each way to another branch in Springfield, Ill. Ms. Bordowitz took the afternoon off from her graphic design job to get the stamp. She mailed the form and was finally able to access her account a month later.

    “I felt like it was ‘Legend of Zelda,’ ” she said, referring to a videogame, “where you have to go to one place to get an ingredient like, let’s say, a mushroom, and you have to take that to the witch, and the witch makes a potion, and you have to take the potion to the wizard…and the person gives you a medallion.”

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    [​IMG]
    Caren Bordowitz of Macomb, Ill., sacrificed vacation time to certify her identity and buy a U.S. savings bond.Photo: Caren Bordowitz
    Besides a medallion stamp, banks can also use similar procedures including something called a signature guarantee. But some banks are declining to certify the forms out of concerns about liability.

    A Treasury spokesman said the agency may soon permit any notary public to certify individuals’ identities.

    Through mid-June, the government sold $14.4 billion in I bonds—roughly 40 times as much as in all of 2020, Treasury data show.

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    More than 1.5 million accounts have been opened since November, according to the agency. Less than a million existed prior.

    Some people have gone to great lengths to buy the bonds, to no avail.

    Katie Loewen, a 34-year-old stay-at-home mother of four young children in Aurora, Colo., said about a dozen bank branches and her brokerage firm all shot her down when she asked them to certify Form 5444 for her and her husband.

    Ms. Loewen even called the local courthouse—TreasuryDirect.gov says a judge can certify the form—but “they had no idea what I was talking about,” she said.

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    Months later, Ms. Loewen is still trying to find somebody, anybody, to certify the signatures. On the $20,000 the couple would like to invest in I bonds, the delay is costing them almost $40 every week in forgone interest. Ms. Loewen, who used to work as a tax accountant, said she is “passionately frustrated.”

    Eric Wuestewald, 34, couldn’t get his form signed because he uses an internet bank that lacks brick-and-mortar locations.

    Mr. Wuestewald, a government contractor, got turned down by several other banks in the Washington, D.C., area. This spring, he waited at least a half hour at a crowded bank before being taken into a back room. A banker looked at the form and told him, “I’m sorry, I can’t give you that stamp,” Mr. Wuestewald recalled.

    “I probably lost my cool a little bit,” he said, before a bank manager finally agreed to certify his signature. But he still bemoans using the TreasuryDirect website, which got its last significant update in 2002.

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    [​IMG]
    The virtual keyboard to enter a password on the US Treasury website.
    “I’m half expecting the hamster-dance page to pop up,” said Mr. Wuestewald, referring to the viral 1990s web cartoon.

    Account holders must use a mouse or trackpad to enter their password on a ghostly gray online keyboard with no lower-case letters. Treasury officials say they are working on updating the website, which will take at least six to nine months.

    Calls to TreasuryDirect’s customer-service line are up 125% over last year, the agency said. With only about 40 full-time staff fielding more than 20,000 calls a week, wait times have regularly topped two hours. A spokesman said the agency has hired temporary workers to assist with the deluge of calls and hopes to double the staff for the next year or so.

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    Murray Berkowitz, 77, a retired advertising executive in West Palm Beach, Fla., likened trying to activate TreasuryDirect accounts for himself and his wife to “the Bataan Death March.”

    When he learned he’d need to submit the dreaded Form 5444, Mr. Berkowitz called TreasuryDirect’s customer service, but hung up after waiting on hold for an hour and 36 minutes.

    “Cruel and unusual punishment by any standard,” he said.

    [​IMG]
    Murray Berkowitz perusing the TreasuryDirect website.Photo: Riva Berkowitz
    He went to two banks and a brokerage office, and no one would certify the form.

    After Mr. Berkowitz repeatedly called and emailed TreasuryDirect, a Treasury employee phoned him, he said. She then called his bank for him, unlocking his accounts.

    After all that, he dreads logging in to the website.

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    “I’m so afraid of pushing one wrong key,” he said, “that I make my wife log on for both of us so she won’t blame me if I make a mistake.”

    Louise Andrews, a retiree in Williamsburg, Va., had to change the email address associated with her TreasuryDirect account after her old email got hacked. But the government’s website wouldn’t let her enter a new email address, because her old one was invalid.

    So she had to call the toll-free number.

    On one attempt, “the recording estimated an hour-and-a-half wait when I started,” said Ms. Andrews. More than an hour later, the estimated wait had risen to 2½ hours, at which point “the battery in my cordless phone went dead.”

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    After trying intermittently since April, in early June she braved two hours and 13 minutes on hold until a “very helpful” customer-service representative picked up and restored her access in a few moments.

    Ms. Andrews promptly bought $10,000 in I bonds for herself and $10,000 for her husband, saying she is pleased she lived “long enough to get this done.”
     
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  18. tjosu

    tjosu This is kind of like the breakfast club, huh?
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    Thanks. I’d have probably given up if I ran into those issues. I got a kick out of the screenshot of the keyboard, my mind was blown when I first went to login to my account and couldn’t just type my password
     
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  19. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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  20. bstaple12

    bstaple12 Nole World Order
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  21. brolift

    brolift 2sweet
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    Funny they think they can just buy their way to semiconductor factories domestically when there’s like 1500 people on earth that know how to operate one and fix them when they break and they don’t live here.

    There’s a reason AAPL had to go to China from Silicon Valley to build their computers.
     
  22. WC

    WC Bad Company, ‘til the day I die.
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    it seems like you’ve identified the exact issue they’re trying to remedy
     
  23. brolift

    brolift 2sweet
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    The issue is experienced talent.
    We don’t have the expertise and don’t develop it. Hopefully it’s more than a cash grab
     
  24. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    However this Nord Stream 1 saga plays out, it will have large implications in the investing world.
     
  25. dukebuckeye

    dukebuckeye I’m OK with your low opinion of me.
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    Explain this to me like I'm 8.
     
  26. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    ok I’ll give it a go, Russia provides nat gas to Europe especially Germany via a pipeline called Nord Stream 1 (you’ve probably heard about Nord Stream 2 over the years, that the US has attempted to block several times).

    Germany is the manufacturing and economic hub of the euro zone, a major part of this is due to the fact they get large quantities of cheap energy from Russia and Nord Stream 1. Germany has made terrible decisions in regards to energy policy over the last decade and are now essentially at the whims of Putin at the moment. Germanys gas storage supplies are not adequate if Putin shuts off the taps right now, unless Germany does a massive country wide conservation effort and reduces demand.

    A reduction in demand means the government decides how much gas businesses will get to operate, or the business can elect to operate at astronomical energy prices which for many will be uneconomical forcing them to shut down production. This means parts shortages, chemical shortages, inflation of certain components etc etc for the real economy. And this reverberates world wide as Germany manufactures components for lots of things including parts in peoples Teslas.

    In the financial economy this has repercussions because the dollar or dxy is compared against a basket of other curriencies primarily the euro and the yen. The euro makes up 57% of that basket I believe, when the euro zones major economic engine has no energy to produce economic goods the euro goes down in value there by boosting the USD. As the USD gets stronger it makes it harder for emerging markets to buy commodities or goods from American companies that are priced in USD.
    This tightens global financial conditions worldwide.

    Hopefully that makes some sense.
     
  27. Frankie Carbone

    Frankie Carbone eh che se dice
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    Cliffs:

    a weak $ is good for the markets
     
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  28. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    I’ll add on right now that currently Nord Stream 1 has a turbine engine that needs annual maintenance repairs, which normally gets done in Canada and said turbine is currently there. Well with sanctions there is now debate about this engine being sent back and if Gazprom (Russian energy company) will even accept it. So at the moment we are in a critical period.

     
  29. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    and a strong $ is bad for markets especially one that’s ripped as quickly as it has, if you look at a chart of dxy most of its appreciation the last 3-6 months has been due to the energy situation in Europe.
     
  30. Frankie Carbone

    Frankie Carbone eh che se dice
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    Yes, the inverse would be and is true. Look at the $ in comparison to other currencies pre Covid when the markets were ripping. A weaker $ is necessary for things to get back on track
     
  31. The Milkman

    The Milkman Send lawyers, guns and money, shit has hit the fan
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    There are 8 compressor (turbine) stations on NordStream. They don’t shut down the pipeline bc one station needs maintenance. There are redundancies. Maybe you see a bit less flow due to 1 or 2 stations undergoing maintenance, but from a BCF standpoint, it may be 5 % efficiency loss.
     
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  32. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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  33. The Milkman

    The Milkman Send lawyers, guns and money, shit has hit the fan
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    You’re right, I misread. Didn’t realize other stations were not being maintenanced
     
  34. brolift

    brolift 2sweet
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    The macro dweebs on Twitter have changed their tune from an end of the world depression.

    what a relief
     
  35. TAXTAXTAX

    TAXTAXTAX Well-Known Member
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    The Fed is raising rates. Strong $ will continue as long as the dominant narrative is inflation.
     
  36. Frankie Carbone

    Frankie Carbone eh che se dice
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    Yep. Hence why inflation at this level sucks
     
  37. C A N E

    C A N E Let justice be done though the heavens fall
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    Sofi 1.8% APY. [​IMG]
     
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  38. The Hebrew Husker

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    How quick/easy is it to transfer your funds to a regular bank? That’s the only reason I’ve stayed with my bank’s online option but it’s at 1.00% still.
     
  39. C A N E

    C A N E Let justice be done though the heavens fall
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    Very easy. I’m a sofi simp. Love their savings vaults. Have one for travel, insurance premiums, etc.
     
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  40. The Hebrew Husker

    Donor
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    As I say that I got an email mine is going to 1.50%
     
  41. Sportfan

    Sportfan From Six to Dumptime
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    Big few days for earnings. Expectations are so low maybe we get lucky.
     
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  42. dukebuckeye

    dukebuckeye I’m OK with your low opinion of me.
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    MMM holding up my portfolio today.
     
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  43. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    MSFT missed earnings.
     
  44. The Milkman

    The Milkman Send lawyers, guns and money, shit has hit the fan
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    Anxiously waiting on BA earnings
     
  45. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    And it begins:
    8DE632BF-CFD2-4545-B608-5F623AC931F2.png
    6D0D93F3-E44C-435B-AF06-B17A44A59CA3.png


     
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  46. Jake Scott

    Jake Scott Well-Known Member
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    apparently this is good
     
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  47. Sportfan

    Sportfan From Six to Dumptime
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    Used this moment to bail out of about $40k of QQQm and toss it into SCHD. Just call me a dividend whore from now on.
     
  48. Seavie

    Seavie Loading tweet...
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    SCHG is currently up 4.45%
    Fully expect a 3% loss on it tomorrow at this point.
     
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  49. DuffandMuff

    DuffandMuff Well-Known Member
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    20% of my Roth IRA is in SCHD.
     
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  50. Paddy Murphy

    Paddy Murphy Well-Known Member
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    Per a buddy the gusher today is a huge short resulting from positive sentiment from Fed against asset manager and hedge fund positions being as bearish as they have been in years. Idk, but this is a rocket ship.
     
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