Ross812

I use mainly a mobile wallet with Samsung Pay. I really like the US Bank Altitude Preferred which gives you 3 points/$ on mobile wallet, restaurants, and travel purchases. The points are work 1.5c each so it is effectively 4.5% back on all in person spending. I have had the Chase Sapphire Reserve for 4 years but canceled it after spending down 250k points on with the reimburse feature for grocery and home improvement stores introduces during the pandemic. The only cards in my wallet are the Preferred referenced above for restaurants and a 2% cash back Fidelity card. I have a Hyatt card for travel. I stay at Hyatt's often when I travel for work because the Globalist perks are pretty sweet, and the $95 a year for the card gets you a tax free hotel room.

5) loan periods are extended. Just like autos (8 yr) and boats (15 yr).

Enhanced unemployment is not UBI. The huge disincentive to working is loss of enhanced unemployment. If you are making $600 a week (15/hr at 40 hrs) in unemployment, why would you work for $15/hr and lose the easy money? UBI would pay you regardless. The person working a $15/hr job would be bringing home $1200 a week in wages + UBI. The incentives are completely different.

Yeah, If someone is trying to defraud you then they could probably do it. I think in most instances homeowners don't know their charge is low. If you can catch it (usually about $100 to have a HVAC tech check the unit), you can stipulate a leak check and charge/replace. Home warranties are pretty awful. In addition to making it difficult to file a claim, they instruct their approved contractors to do the minimum to remedy the situation like just charging the leaking HVAC instead of repairing the leak. A good home inspector can catch or call attention to a lot of problems, but they can't see through walls. You have to make sure you find a good one though, never use the inspector recommended by your realtor! If you have any real estate investor friends, find out who they use. On the investor side, home inspectors have the incentive to provide a good punch list of what needs to be fixed and allow their client to make a good financial decision. Home inspectors serving residential real estate have the incentive to not torpedo a deal and keep the real estate agents happy.

I am a little confused by "sat empty" for 8ish years and the last owner lived there for almost 10 years. If the place needs significant work then your plan will tell you what needs to be fixed, but it doesn't sound like a situation where the seller is going to pay for repairs. The real estate market is pretty hot where I am, and I would tell a buyer to pound sand if he asked for several high $ repairs. A good home inspector will catch electrical issues at the panel, reverse polarity sockets, and missing GFCI/AFCI. Idk what value a plumber will provide. With the no gutter situation, check that the soffits and tail facia are not rotted. You probably won't be able to detect water intrusion with infrared unless you are there as a thunderstorm is pouring a lot cold rain into a wall; I have a camera and it is good for air sealing, that is about it. You are not allowed to rip off siding to check for water intrusion, you can push on the siding and drywall and feel around for moisture or soft spots. Check the last few rows of siding at the bottom. There are several things that make a house more resilient - and exposed concrete foundation, 2 ft + overhang on the eves, house wrap with a rain screen (siding fired out off the walls to leave a airspace for it to dry out, siding will have a hollow sound). I'm sure there is a list somewhere. If you are talking intrusion in the basement, I wouldn't worry about it, gutters will probably fish the problem.

This happened to me as well. I advise my friends and family to hire an HVAC technician to hook up gauges and check pressures. A good home inspector will check the temperature drop between the return and supply, but this will miss a low refrigerant issue (leak). You will discover the low refrigerant issue months later when the unit isn't cooling/heating effectively or freezes up.

ADP, HD, GOOG

Added to BTI and RPAR. Added BABA a couple weeks ago - I want to be in the club too...

That's similar to the way I am looking at it. Also, no one really knows the long term effects from covid. My friend is an OBGYN and had one of her patients to in her late 20's catch a very mild case of covid about 6 months before her due date. Near the due date, the woman was extremely fatigued and had low blood oxygen saturation. They did an x-ray and her lungs were wrecked with the common glass like appearance from Covid. The woman would have been termed asymptomatic with a cough she thought was just seasonal allergies that only lasted a few days. She was only tested as a requirement for office visits. They think her condition will be permanent. I was able to get the shot I'm my 30s due to being an essential worker which extends to finance and lawyers in my state. I would imagine the vaccine supply is ample in my very red state with a liberal governor.

My wife and I are in our 30s and got the first round of the Pfizer vaccine 7 days ago. Though I don't like being sick, the main reason I got it as soon as possible was to prevent spreading the virus to more vulnerable friends and co-workers. I also like to travel internationally for work and pleasure, but don't want to extend my trip 2 weeks if I test positive. Typing this from a hammock in Costa Rica.

Maybe I am not understanding your point, but don't China and India have almost 1.4B population each?

It depends on the account. I manage an account that buys fixed income (PIMIX for those tax advantaged) and long dated options for a group of retirees. In my personal accounts I hold primarily: NTSX - 90/60 S&P/Treasuries LTPZ - 15 yr TIPS EMB - EM Bonds EDV - LT Treasuries VWO - Emerging Markets BAR/SGOL - Gold RPAR - Risk parity etf For individual stocks, I held my nose and bought quite a bit in last March- GOOG FB JPM WFC KMI ATCO H BRK-B V GS

I don't think wealth/income inequality is a bad thing as it incentivizes people to work harder. The problem is this inequality is becoming more pronounced. I would not say there is more incentive to work hard than in 1950, 1970, or 1990 than there is today, but the stratification between the top 1% and bottom 50% has grown tremendously since these dates. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/161221173430-inequality-piketty-1-780x439.png The economic boom of the past 40 years and 250% expansion in the economy has overly benefited the incomes of the to 20% which is further stratified toward the top within that quintile. We can state the poor have cars, iPhones, and flat screen TVs all day. Luxury items have gotten more affordable, but this doesn't change the fact 250% gdp growth has been captured by the top 20%, with only a fraction of those dollars have going the bottom 80%. The bottom 80% are include working professionals. Many engineering fields and accountants are making the same real income today as they did in 1980. The speed of stratification has accelerated over the past 40-50 years. Movements like occupy wall street and the rise of mainstream far left political candidates indicates a course correction is imminent.

They must be. Otherwise they wouldn't be so frustrated right now. But I would prefer to confine this discussion to COVID only. Fair enough. Just trying to get a feel for their emotions. I figured if they moved from cash to investments, perhaps that's a contrary indicator. I am really worried about the US sitting at 11% unemployment right now and I think the stock market is being propped up by savings from those who are employed and the system is stable because the government is essentially paying those prevented from working to stay home. Ex. As an employed person, instead of spending 10k on a hotels, eating out, and shopping this summer I left the money in the bank or moved it into an investment account. That 10k that would have went to the waiter, hotel staff etc. has been added to the government balance sheet. I think another round of shut downs will happen in the fall/winter once the northern states go inside for winter and I don't really see good behavior from the populace as a whole that is going to allow life to return to normal. If the payments to the 11% unemployed stop, we are going to see defaults on rents, mortgages, and other debt and fallout is going to pivot from the government to those holding the capital. I have been extremely conservative in how I have been investing for several years as I manage money for several retirees. My drawdown in March was 6%. I am sitting in a combination of CDs, Treasury Futures, PIMIX, PAIDX, IAU, and TIPS. I bought bull call spreads on FAANG stocks in March and called away in June. Since June I have been playing around with selling weeklys on KMI and WFC. I am waiting for a the VIX to drop in order to but longer dated call options on SPX.

Yes, I was initially not going to add the broker name, but then decided to fuck it and throw them under the bus. So it's not like the trade is legally not allowed in retirement accounts, right? I'm hoping then that they come to their senses and allow it because it's their own agents that approved and I really want to sue them for lost earnings if they force to unwind. Have you tried Interactive Brokers? They are the only brokerage I've used who will let you do pretty much whatever trade you want inside an IRA. Cash covered options spreads are calculated correctly. Cash used to cover the call is designated "maintenance margin" and is subtracted from cash available to trade.