Castanza

AMD - I think they will continue to expand their enterprise pipeline and take market share from Intel.

Bitcoin :P

Apparently they didn't do any consumer research. The Honda Ridgeline had a similar bed style with the high sides. Consumers complained because you couldn't reach over the side rail to grab whatever it was that your hauling in the back. I hope this isn't a final design.

Starts at 6:00

Sold 15% of my $AMD position to free up some cash.

Starter position in TPL and STOR

They're only releasing episodes from their original programs weekly. The first episode of the Mandolorian was done extremely well. No expense was spared in the special effects of the show and the ending of the episode had a very nice cliffhanger. The second episode is coming out on friday. At the conclusion of the series either a new Star Wars or Marvel original series will begin. A lot of the Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar movies/shows are being released in 4K and Dolby Atmos. Hopefully someone figures out that the binge watch model ultimately sucks for the consumer. At least I feel it does, when it comes to ongoing series. Its bad enough with shit like HBO where you wait 18-36 months for a new season. But with Netflix, you legit watch the entire season in a couple days and then are often waiting even further. At the least, killing that, and doing the one episode per week would be great. Or taking it a step further and not releasing the first 12 episodes until 18 or so are finished. This way, you can finish up season 2 while one is running, and then shoot season 3 in the lead up to season 2. That would significantly knock the lag time down and keep viewers plugged in. Yea, yea, I know its added cost...but with certain shows, there isn't exactly uncertainty regarding whether or not it will get renewed. From a consumer perspective who would want that though? It's like Pandora's box. With today's mindset of gotta have it now one would think it's difficult to keep subscribers if you shift your platform to the 1 episode a week model if the competition manages to pump out binge worthy content at a faster rate. The streaming wars is beginning to look like a race off a cliff. At what point will plethora of original content not keep the consumers satisfied enough to continue a subscription? Personally, I think the platforms that don't offer some form of live tv alongside original content will eventually begin to see their subscription rates dwindle if sub prices continue to rise. The amount of big names Netflix has been using can't be cheap. I've used Hulu Live for a year or so and have enjoyed the platform. It has some decent original content but also has live TV which satiates you when you're waiting for the next season of whatever it is you were watching. I do think the original content on Netflix is generally better.

Curious, does this also comes with mineral rights? I'll be traveling down there for work most likely in June and also will be visiting a sister in-law. Any recommendations of "non-touristy" things to do in Santiago?

Is there any breakdown of which subs are standalone vs bundled with other services (Verizon)?

Looks like it paid off well for you. Nice call!

Thanks for that. Also i guess if you live e generally healthy life and are lucky enough to avoid any significant medical expenses you wouldn't be getting reimbursed much to begin with. Does seem like pain to hold onto receipts for 20 years.

I recently opened an HSA and a guy I work with was explaining to me that you can pay for a medical procedure out of pocket and get reimbursed anytime from the funds in your HSA as long as you have the receipt. So basically you could use the triple tax free advantage merely for investing. Save every receipt until you’re “pick an age” (even before retirement age) and get reimbursed tax free. Now I’m not sure if there are big structural differences between HSA providers (besides the cash holding minimum for investment). Anyone with knowledge in this space?

CACC Earnings missed. Share price down 8% today and 2020 earnings projections are estimated to be down 30-60%.

Subprime auto loan "sector" is somewhat interesting. Possibly a play on Santander Consumer USA? Apparently they are only verifying like 8% of income for their auto loans. You have to think the auto sector would take a massive hit in a slowdown. Used car market is already quite saturated. Add in thousands of delinquencies and banks are stuck with newish vehicles (now used) at artificially high prices. I'm not an auto bug as some on here so maybe someone else who has followed this can shed more light on the topic.

It’s similar in Germany, corporate taxes aren’t much higher there than in the US. Also, health care isn’t free either, it’s paid for in taxes, which is a capped tax of 15.5%, 8.2% paid by the insured and 7.3% is paid by the employer. It’s not free by any means. Then what’s the benefit? Because rough math for someone earning 65k a year would be 5,330 (-960, -1k, -3k) and you’re basically at my insurance except I’d have $370 less. Make more pay more. I know my coworker makes somewhere between 100-120k usd so that would put him close to 10k costs in healthcare using the numbers you provided. It’s similar in Germany, corporate taxes aren’t much higher there than in the US. Also, health care isn’t free either, it’s paid for in taxes, which is a capped tax of 15.5%, 8.2% paid by the insured and 7.3% is paid by the employer. It’s not free by any means.

Those figures for health care costs in Czech republic sound way off base. Have you had a chance to verify that somehow. Keep in mind anecdotal evidence from taxpayers is not always true. For example, I cant count how many people I have met that dont understand fundamental personal finance stuff like marginal tax rates. Certainly! I generally take everything with a grain of salt. But I know about 20ish people who live here currently and only 1 of them seems to have an issue with the insurance. $80/m 1k deductible 3k max oop and $20 copay (none for preventative). For healthy people this is no expensive by any means. And I definitely don’t have the best insurance around.

Thanks for that simple yet insightful perspective.

I travel to Germany about 3 month total including Prague, Costa Rica, and Mexico for work. I work daily with many people from these countries and the ones who are here in the US on work visa beg and moan and cry not to go back when their visas come up for expiration (and I wish they didn’t have to go). They ALL want to have their visas extended. Not to mention that 80% of them have kids while they’re here. I was talking with a coworker Standa a little bit ago. He said he loves the US health insurance. He pays $80 a month company pays like $200ish where as in Prague he said he was paying 10k a year through taxes etc. Now Germany and Prague are not terrible in any sense. Beautiful countries. But the idea or argument that “oh well, the worst we can be is like so and so.” Is completely counterintuitive. Why does the US exist in the first place? It certainly doesn’t exist to be like Europe. If you all like Europe so much then why choose to live in the US? You sound like the homeschool kids who complain about missing out on sports that the local school offers. You can’t have the cake and eat it too.

Wouldn’t it be easier to start building a position in $GLD or some other gold etf if she gets the nomination? Not to mention going to more cash.

The entire market of big players trying to purchase small breweries is the equivalent of throwing s!&t at the wall and hoping some sticks. As the boomers age and the younger generations continue to gain market share I think these large companies will have some issues to address. Nobody says "Let's go out Friday night and get some Buds." They say "hey, lets head to one of the 15 local breweries in our small 100k population town. And don't let me forget to pick up a growler when we close out." How are big companies supposed to capitalize on this? Look at ABV passing on BREW's Kona brand a few months ago. Everyone thought it was a slam dunk deal. Economically the deal made sense. But are you going to make an expensive bet on a single brand and continued growth of that brand in this market? Why would I drink Kona when I can get beer from 5 different local breweries (+ a place to hangout and eat good food)? Pricing has also come down for a lot of craft beer. Why pay $5.50 for a Michelob Ultra when I can pay 6.50 for a Troegs Perpetual IPA at all local chains an non-chains? The premium aspect or "feel" of craft beer is lost when it reaches a certain scale. Just my opinion though.

I have to agree. The simplicity of this site is what appeals to me. No fuss straight forward raw information. It's a lot like the old SiliconInvestor site but with much more streamline functionality. One thing I really like is the lack of ability to "like" or "dislike" others posts. I think it encourages more conversation rather than some forums like Reddit that skew good and bad information. Either way I'm sure Sanjeev will make the right decision. Edit: Will buy a T-shirt for sure.

This is why UPS is utilizing USPS for last mile delivery. Anything under 5lbs and you're making cents on the dollar. Generally they are used to fill empty volume in the trucks not taken up by B2B. If you have to make a second attempt then you've already lost money. UPS tried to combat this in 2017 by changing the standards for what constituted a package that could be left regardless of location. I can remember managers chewing out drivers who didn't leave (DR) a 2nd attempt package on the stoop of a house or even a business that was in a rough area or simply a busy street with a lot of foot traffic. There was also push to get this done on the first attempt as well. Drivers hated it because for the most part they wanted to do their job well and keep the customers happy. Doing this made them look like lazy SOBs. I remember regional management coming in and saying "I don't care if the house is burnt down and there is nothing left but the front steps. If the DIAD says you can leave it you leave it." To me this mentality really shows the dichotomy between pleasing the customer/doing what's right and making money. This was an agreement between Amazon and UPS though and I'm not sure what the stipulations were on DR packages (price, etc). I'd wager it was something to do with odds of a package being stolen and having to pay for it vs not having to make a second attempt. This is also a double edge sword though because as a customer if you report a package as stolen you are automatically put on a list which requires a signature for every future delivery. Many wouldn't file because well, who is home during the day to sign for a package? A real catch 22.

Agreed that practice shooting is the easy part. Being in the right spot at the right time, not being detected, and controlling your adrenaline so you make a good shot is key. Kind of like investing in a way. Way to bring this conversation back to topic :P

Just bagged my first deer of the archery season this past Wednesday. 68lbs of lean organic free range meat for the freezer. If this is the only deer I get (unlikely) it will come out to $0.88/lb. Plus three glorious hours spent in the beautiful fall foliage instead of sitting behind a desk mashing a keyboard. Off topic but it's pretty impressive you bow hunt deer. How long did it take for you to get good? With the modern compounds today you could be good enough with a month or two of practice to get a deer within a 30-40 yard range. I've been bow hunting for about 5 years and hunting in general since I was 12. The local middle school lets me practice shooting on their football field during summer. I can hit a 10 inch group from back of end zone to back of end zone (sounds more impressive than it is). I'd never try to kill a deer at that range, but it's fun to practice at that distance. The bows today are quite impressive at 325fps+ it's basically a laser guided missile. But shooting is only half the battle. Being sneaky, downwind, and in the right spot at the right time is the hard part. :P

Just bagged my first deer of the archery season this past Wednesday. 68lbs of lean organic free range meat for the freezer. If this is the only deer I get (unlikely) it will come out to $0.88/lb. Plus three glorious hours spent in the beautiful fall foliage instead of sitting behind a desk mashing a keyboard.