Kevin Slater

Per annual tradition: Revenue declined 12% again in 2024 (same as 2023). 62% of 2024 revenue came from the year’s top three clients, up from 44% in 2023. (Two of 2023's top three placed in 2024 as well.) 4% of revenue was from clients newly acquired in 2024, replacing the previous (pandemic) low of 11% in 2020. Kevin Slater

One simple, easy to read book to cover the basics is The Elements of Investing. http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Investing-Burton-Malkiel/dp/0470528494 Kevin Slater

There have been some articles about how hard it is to redeem paper bonds. I can't imagine it getting any easier over time, so maybe start the process now? (That being said, I'm still holding a shit ton of paper bonds.) Kevin Slater

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0DGNTZMR3/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r Kevin Slater

Fidelity reimburses foreign atm fees as well, although they don't come out and say so. Not sure why they can't clearly state that policy. Decades ago I had accounts strewn all over and a few wanted to start having monthly fees. I realized that if I threw all the funds into one, it would be of sufficient size to wave those fees. So now it's just Fidelity with a couple dinky checking accounts that I just use as a passthrough between Fidelity and Venmo, CashApp, etc. (I don't want those apps having direct access to my Fidelity.) Kevin Slater

I've never used Vanguard but always had a high opinion of them, mostly around their low fee ETFs I guess. I've been with Fidelity for (ahem) over 30 years and have been extremely pleased. They offer four mutual funds with truly *zero* fees and scores more with exceptionally low fees. I get 2% cash back on everything with my Fidelity Visa. The other place you'd want to check out is Schwab. Kevin Slater

Yeah, paper I-bonds go away January 1. Kevin Slater

Yeah, I'm not a fan of timing the market. (As they say, time in the market is more important.) I would dollar cost average my way in. Kevin Slater

This would be a great time to launch a competitor site. Should Mastercard cut off Rentmen as well, whichever site was sitting as a distant #2 would become the de facto leader. (That's what happened to Rentmen when Rentboy got shut down.) Kevin Slater

It's available for rent or purchase on AppleTV and Amazon Prime. I watched it this weekend. Quite good. Kevin Slater

Yup, I just got a notice that my recurring payment couldn't be processed. Typical of their lack of customer service, they didn't bother to send an email to their membership with a heads up explaining the situation, just an automatic rejection message when the payment cannot be processed on their end. I suspect Visa cancelled them because of too many chargebacks. I know rentboy was always terrified of this as well after a few warnings from the payment networks. Kevin Slater

Gents, this is the Finance Forum, not politics. Several posts have already been hidden, and I don't want to have to lock this thread. If you want to refute someone, simply post your data and let that do the talking for you. Better yet, just stick to personal finance free of any political agenda. Admin

Yes, especially if the top is uncut. Kevin Slater

No opinion on whether you should use it or not, but want to point out that Orajel has the same active ingredient at a much lower price. Kevin Slater

Huh? How would one party purchasing equities fund dividend payments to shareholders? Kevin Slater

Moderator's note: Let's get back to personal finances. Kevin Slater

VOO and SPY are virtually identical, except SPYs expense ratio is triple that of VOO. SPY is somewhat more liquid, so if you're looking to day trade or use complex derivatives it may be a reasonable choice, but if you're looking to buy and hold, VOO (or IVV) makes more sense. Kevin Slater

VOO Tracks the S&P 500. .03% expense ratio. VTI Tracks the total stock market. .03% expense ratio. VO Midcap stocks. .04% expense ratio. VB Smallcap stocks. .05% expense ratio. IDEV International large cap. .04% expense ratio. /investment-products/list//pkg/1.1.0/web/favicon.ico Vanguard Investment Products List INVESTOR.VANGUARD.COM Kevin Slater

NVDA reports after market on Wednesday. That may make waves. Kevin Slater

GLD has the highest expense ratio of all the Gold ETFs at .4%. GLDM, for example, is .1%. Kevin Slater

Moderator's note: Let's address the issue, not other members.

I'm an idiot. I posted the 2023 article and rate. Thanks for the correction. Kevin Slater

No, the reports showed GDP growth decreasing. GDP is still increasing, albeit at a slower rate. Kevin Slater

Fiscal Service Announces New Savings Bonds Rates, Series I to Earn 4.30%, Series EE to Earn 2.50% — TreasuryDirect WWW.TREASURYDIRECT.GOV The new rate will be 4.3% (down from 5.27%), with a .9% fixed rate (down from 1.3). Kevin Slater

I don't like holding very much gold. It produces no income and in fact takes money to store and secure (even if in the form of an etf). Kevin Slater