PhileasFogg

If you missed the market's 10 best days over the past 30 years, your returns would have been cut in half. And missing the best 30 days would have reduced your returns by an astonishing 83%. This is a quote from Hartford Funds. I’ve validated it in the past, but not recently. You’re right. Timing simply doesn’t work. One can’t win a game sitting on the bench

Yes, Ellen and Portia are heading to England. Can’t wait for Whoopi, Joy, and Sunny to follow. Beyond that, nada.

This was billed as the new "Pretty Woman".... nope. It had some cute moments but took a very dark and depressing twist in the last 20 minutes (it's 2 hr and 20 mins long) The end was so abrupt and depressing that I verbally exclaimed "oh $h!t" in a silent theatre.

What is toxic to the veins becomes toxic to the lungs

No, you’re not prevented from doing anything - legal or not legal, right or wrong. i know you’re referencing a hypothetical, but while I avoid judging, if you waived cash in front of a poorer person, flaunting it and taunting or mocking them to have sex with you to make that cash theirs, I’d probably make an unfavorable judgement of both you and your behavior.

Thank you for schooling us in advance on how to process (or not) your grievance. As a side note, if it were true, it would never be bad form to share it. But, I don’t fish and victimhood was not the first thing that came to mind this time. But what did come to mind: my personal trainer has this issue the woman who cuts my hair has this issue my chiropractor has this issue and so on They also have overhead in different ways that they need to cover with their time. But yes, there are differences. They aren’t dealing with an activity that might be done on the DL They don’t travel long distances to do their chosen trade they are in established physical locations where deposits carry lower risk to the customer I completely understand your angst. I just see it as part of the business risk for your chosen business - and that seems to be a continuing theme as I process your posts about these challenges. FTR, I’m fairly new to this hobby and I’ve given a deposit once and only one and it was a unique situation that worked out fine. But, I would definitely not make a habit of it unless I was asking the provider to modify their plan to accommodate me.

Yes. He offered a vague explanation that RM can’t provide a good reason. I can attest that his photos were his own. This is someone I’ve considered travel with Trust is important to me and I’m trying to connect the dots So far, none of these explanations are connecting the dots

What could get a guy banned from RM? Someone I met once through RM is banned now and I’m curious what could conceivably lead to that on a platform I understand to be pretty loose in enforcement

The pictures in the ad are either old or of a younger brother. Similar but not the same. At my visit, he was very hairy and very tattooed with big tribals. He’s a bit of a narcissist and was anything but smooth with attempted upsells. Despite all this, he was a nice guy, but the surprises really killed the mood.

I’m still processing recent events, but I’m not long term bullish At least not yet. we know to expect bias toward lower taxes in coming months. If that doesn’t come with spending cuts, then it’s inflationary - and inflation isn’t good for financial assets. If we swallow austerity and make spending cuts, that’s recessionary because GDP=C+I+G+(x-m) and G is Government. A big reduction in G would need to be offset by outsized growth in C (Consumer) or I (Investment). I doubt net Exports (x-m) will do much. So, I’m going to take my time making projections until I see out things shake out in Washington.

I’m not anxious, I’ve spent my life adjusting my sails to recognize reality rather than deny it. I hope the winner unites us and doesn’t divide us. Political remarks redacted. Either way, I believe this is THE greatest country in the world!

Update: Oral surgeon reviewed photos and wants a biopsy

I didn’t know E. coli survived the salt

God Bless America!

His life outside of the White House ranks among the greatest humanitarian impacts of modern times.

Low 60’s

You already know me soooo well 😂

WSJ Article on Friday Afternoon: The millions of people who bought I bonds when inflation peaked have a decision to make: Hold them, or redeem them and buy new ones. In most cases, the right move is to exchange. Inflation-linked government savings bonds were a hit with investors when they offered a guaranteed return of 9.6% in 2022, stoking so much demand that it took down the website where they are sold. That rate was short-lived. I bond rates reset based on inflation every six months. Any purchased back at that peak now have a more modest 1.9% rate. New I bonds issued as of Friday come with a yield of 3.11%, a drop from the prior rate of 4.28%. But the current yield on new I bonds is only part of how to determine whether to hold or trade in an I bond. The return of your I bonds is calculated based on a fixed rate determined on the purchase date and a moving rate based on the current level of inflation. Since inflation peaked in 2022, the moving rate went down but the offered fixed rate went up. This difference between the fixed rate when you bought and the current fixed rate is the most important factor to determine your next move. And today, the fixed rate is more than a percentage point higher than two years ago. Financial advisers say this gap means investors who bought and held during the heyday would be wise to trade now, even though there is a penalty for redeeming I bonds within five years of buying. Much like refinancing a mortgage, you pay something upfront to make the exchange. You forfeit three months of interest when you redeem I bonds. But you earn it back over time, and in this case it won’t take long. I bonds purchased now will outperform the ones issued at peak inflation within seven months, even after accounting for compounding interest. If the bonds you hold are from many years ago and the difference in the fixed rate is closer, advisers say it still often makes sense to redeem, though it will take longer to break even. The big caveat here is if you want to hold a lot of money in I bonds. You can buy up to $10,000 in electronic I bonds for yourself each year. If you redeem bonds to purchase new ones, it will count toward your cap and limit your ability to buy more. You may not be able to reinvest all the interest on old bonds if it exceeds the cap. In addition to trading an old I bond for a new one, you can redeem the bond completely for another investment. The current I bond rate is the lowest it has been since 2021 and many other investments offer higher interest right now. The benchmark 10-year Treasury currently offers a fixed yield of 4.3%. Old vs. new Investors are required to hold I bonds for 12 months before redeeming. Interest is exempt from state and local taxes. You pay taxes on the gain when you redeem I bonds. Investors can avoid paying taxes if the proceeds are used for qualified higher-education expenses and their income falls below certain thresholds. The Treasury Department resets both the fixed and moving portion of the rate of return on I bonds twice a year, in May and November. Investors who bought bonds between May 2020 and October 2022 and still hold them are stuck with a fixed rate of 0%. Their interest rates are decided solely by the inflation rate. The Treasury Department has since boosted the fixed portion. New I bonds currently have a fixed rate of 1.2%. A high fixed rate creates a buffer between your interest rate and inflation’s ups and downs. When the inflation rate goes down, it drags down the inflation-linked interest the same for both old and new bonds. But if your fixed rate is 1.2%, you are earning that much more interest for the life of the bond. For example, a $10,000 I bond purchased between May and November 2022, earned a little less than $400 in interest over the past year, including compounding. The same amount purchased one year later earned about $450 because of the higher fixed rate. Before exchanging old for new, consider how long you plan to hold the new I bonds. If you take an interest penalty for selling the old ones, then buy new ones and sell after only a year, you will be hit with two interest penalties in quick succession.

McDonald’s corporate is a franchisor. Corporate owns the real estate (often just land) and leases it to a franchisee who owns the operating assets. This is another means of controlling the franchisee. McDonald’s is a different beast and one can’t compare a QSR to an FSR So you think Private Equity is one of the great evils? Who’s the victim? While a business is treated like a person under law, it’s not a living breathing creature. Edited to add: Sorry, I'm veering into the Money and Investing realm. But, I'd do draw exception with characterizing any "chain" restaurant as "fine dining"😕

Wait…huh? Private equity isn’t the problem, debt is. The debt was used to buyout the owners and give them back value on their investment. The lenders can take care of themselves. I should know, I used to be one. It one of many in a bucket of high yield loans. Some win, some lose, in aggregate it’s still profitable activity. I’ve not followed this one closely, but I did know one of the lead investors. I think there’s a number of contributing factors. 1) high leverage taken on before the pandemic 2) the death of a meaningful shareholder a couple years ago (Michael Price) may have contributed to a change in shareholder bias 3) there was never a lot of fixed assets as you suggest. Five years ago, the company had no tangible assets and a $h!t ton of debt. No restaurant should be in the business of owning real estate. They should be users of assets, not managers of them. Their revenue cycle is short and their asset mix should conform accordingly.

“Fine Dining” 🤔

I’m intrigued. I’ve not met him or corresponded with him, but I’ve heard that he is 100% legitimate as an escort. Can you say more about your experience? Was it a session where he didn’t meet agreed to expectations?

Note: when I said bad reviews here, I meant on this forum…in some cases, by regular and frequent posters

Every president has an escort….some even have “guides” 😅