Have you noticed? The internet makes everything look easy. Just DIY yourself a home remodel in 24 hours! Sure, no problem! Done in a jiffy! Start your online business today and you’ll be making millions in mere weeks!
Simple as pie! And that’s how the world works on the internet.
Unlike in the real world, absolutely everyone on the internet is incredibly confident, with super amazing skills and talents…
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With plenty of cash on-hand, I’m always on the lookout to add to my existing stock positions… or find new stocks in which to invest. Generally speaking though, I don’t consider myself a “sector” style investor. I don’t buy sector ETF’s or sector index funds… but sometimes the market will put entire sectors on-sale.
It happens because investors take-on a kind of “group think” around certain industries. This lemming-like behavior can sometimes be completely right…
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August is normally a month for travel… but 2020 is anything but a “normal” year. Despite the crazy pandemic situation, the Tako family did manage to do a little traveling this August.
With hot temperatures blanketing most of the Pacific Northwest, we first decided to escape the summer heat by heading out to the coast…
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As I write this, the S&P 500 just set another new all-time high. A new record itself isn’t unusual (The S&P 500 has been setting new records for decades), but to do so in the middle of one of the world’s worst recessions AND during the middle of a pandemic is strange. Okay, it sounds more than just strange, it sounds downright crazy.
Year to date, the S&P 500 is up about 5% … yet nobody I know is willing to say the world is in a better place than it was a year ago.
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Are you feeling a bit bored with life right about now? With many parts of the world still under pandemic restrictions (due to the COVID-19 virus), I frequently hear people complaining of boredom — both in real life and speaking with acquaintances online.
People are bored with the lockdown life. They want things to get back to “normal”, with its free international travel, movie theaters, indoor restaurants, bars, as well as concerts, conventions, and other social meetups….
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“It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times”… as the saying goes. July fit this description quite accurately. Much of July was a very good month, but we had to deal with some costly equipment failures and a health scare. It was a difficult month for my mental health…
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As a perpetual student of the stock market, I’m always keeping tabs on what’s moving and shaking in the world of finance. Lately it’s been a group of stocks I call the “COVID-proof” stocks — Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Tesla, Zoom, Microsoft, and Google, that are doing most of the moving and shaking. (Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is almost flat for the year — down a mere 1.4%)
All of these stocks have seen incredible price gains since the market lows of mid-March…
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June was an exceptionally good month. Life was good. Really good in fact! Our financials held-up well (all things considered) during the pandemic, and the kids finally finished school in June. Which means we have the resources and time for some family adventure!
In Washington State (where we live), our “stay-at-home order” has finally ended. Things are definitely not “back to normal”, but we can at least get out of the house a bit more…
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Argh! Believe it or not this is the second time I’m writing this post. I was just about ready to publish the first (original) version last Friday, but upon hitting the ‘publish’ button, the post disappeared into a puff of digital smoke.
Damn! Hours and hours of writing completely gone due to some strange technological fart.
But my little blogging mishap is a very very small problem compared to the incredible difficulties many people are living through at this very moment. It’s been a very difficult year.
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