Kevin Slater

So yesterday, S&P announced SpaceX won't be ramrodded into the index; it'll need to be four quarter GAAP profitable and meet other hurdles prior to inclusion. So indexes that follow the S&P 500 specifically won't be picking up any SpaceX and time soon. Various other etfs and funds have tweeted the rules to include SpaceX much sooner and at various points in time. Within the first few weeks, it will be around .5% of QQQ, FTEC and ONEQ for example, and ~.1% of VTI and FNILX (Fidelity's no-fee 500 large cap fund). I'm thrilled not to be forced into participating in a meaningful way as I am skeptical of SpaceX's governance. Kevin Slater

US stock have significantly underperformed international stocks ytd. Kevin Slater

Ticker symbol GSEW with a .09% expense ratio for those interested. Kevin Slater

I hate that they're considering altering the rules for S&P inclusion to get SpaceX in earlier than it otherwise would be. Kevin Slater

In general, it's not a great idea to take part in IPOs. Wait at least until the lock-up period is over (when all the insiders are allowed to sell their shares, which often tanks the stock). Kevin Slater

...or that the longs lock in their profits now? Kevin Slater

More precisely, whatever your donation, the first .5% of your AGI is non-deductible. Kevin Slater

Also, you only get to deduct the full appreciated value of the stock if you've held it a year or more, and you itemize rather than taking the standard deduction. Kevin Slater

Reminder: this is a forum to discuss the markets and finance, not other posters.

I would find that very hard to believe. Kevin Slater

Every five to seven years, people forget that the Dow has a correction every five to seven years. Kevin Slater

Inflation numbers will be suspect until we get a year away from the (previous) government shutdown. While the BLS wasn't collecting data throughout the shutdown, they simply assumed the same price as last time they checked. It'll take a full year for those acknowledged bad numbers exit the equation. Kevin Slater

There's a good argument to be made that gold is now just a meme stock. Kevin Slater

The formula is quite simple: a million more than you have today. Kevin Slater

I believe it's the converse, actually. Non-retirement (i.e. taxable brokerage) accounts get the stepped up cost basis (as of the date of death). Distributions from traditional pre-tax accounts are taxed to the beneficiary as ordinary income, regardless of what the investments were worth at death. For Roth accounts, there is no tax consequence. Kevin Slater