diff --git "a/reddit_finance_43_250k_345.txt" "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_345.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_345.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + +[https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/RRPONTSYD](https://preview.redd.it/phz72r6w9h871.png?width=1155&format=png&auto=webp&s=b4be0e30077900cf7969918bd1e01a09e7bbd278) + +my theory is that as apes keep holding and causing failure to delivers, more and more participants are jumping in to the reverse repo market to borrow treasury so they can post collateral. its literally just a game of who can hold longer at this point + +but the real, economic and systemic, issue in America is the federal funds rate which has been getting obliterated **SINCE 1980**: + +[https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/FEDFUNDS](https://preview.redd.it/hbppeartah871.png?width=1157&format=png&auto=webp&s=297c7a4a31009d97f127739c3af83c1edfc1efd2) + +&#x200B; + +the [federal funds rate](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/federalfundsrate.asp) is what the [FOMC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Open_Market_Committee) (monetary policy body of the federal reserve) sets 8 times a year. its the interest rate that banks charge each other when they want to borrow from one another. it drives the rate of your mortgage, auto-loan, stock market sentiment, etc. + +since its been so low for so long, the rich / 1% got so fucking greedy that they just kept asking one another to borrow shit from since it was so cheap to and pumped up bubbles to get rich off of. now that a bunch of apes are holding GME and causing FTD, some of these fuckers had to dip in to the rev. repo market to borrow directly from the fed so they can post collateral. even the best of these banks are fucked - dont be surprised if even fucking JPM goes under. + +fuck you Jamie Dimon for [collecting 1.3 BILLION](https://maloney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/maloney-rice-call-on-jpmorgan-chase-to-return-overdraft-fees-charged) in overdraft charges during COVID in 2020. how you gonna charge someone for not having money, you fucking dick. + +&#x200B; + +the unfortunate truth is that the world and common men have been distracted by new iphones, sports, a mind-numbing collection of streaming shows, etc. + +while we were all easily engrossed in low hanging fruit, the rich kept getting rich.... but time is on our side - just buy and hold (not financial advice). + +&#x200B; + +Dr. Burry wrote to GME's board 3 times in 2019... on 7/28, 8/16, and 8/26. + +i couldnt find this filing on the SECs site (sus), but here is the link: + +[https://news.gamestop.com/static-files/46319871-7de8-4802-8f2b-3d7308badc40](https://news.gamestop.com/static-files/46319871-7de8-4802-8f2b-3d7308badc40) + +&#x200B; + +**\*\*READ PAGES 11 - 18\*\*** + +&#x200B; + +[page 13 - letter to GME on 7\/28](https://preview.redd.it/abg36pw3lh871.png?width=733&format=png&auto=webp&s=7cd20fb56b2578c78c685c51f741c7c8dc75766b) + +&#x200B; + +all that said, keep in mind that retail owns the float at this point, not investments funds.. let that sink in. ordinary people like you and me. and they need these shares... + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**DIAMOND.F\*CKING.HANDS** + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**edit @ 1128 pm CST:** + +&#x200B; + +wanna know why hes been buying land w water rights since 2008? ...bc thats all that will be left as climate change picks up. it is fucking scorching here in the US. see arizona, PNW, remember the fucking wildfires last year? wanna bet on what July will be like? remindme me. + +sure we can just not have gender reveals, but we dont even have the [infrastructure](https://twitter.com/BurryArchive/status/1408230349314957318) to put them out when they happen. what if we could contain quicker than it can duplicate? when the fuck is anyone gonna fix a problem around here? + +&#x200B; + +burry has been in favor of nuclear which is a cleaner and more efficient way to draw power. sure it could be less stable over time or even as-is, but imagine if the cost of literally all the stupid shit that has been pumped (what even is the upgrade from iphone 8 to iphone X, how much did apple profit?), would have been divested to generating technology to support? + +&#x200B; + +what do you know about the electric smart motor? + +&#x200B; + +imagine Earth not needing to excrete emissions to generate electricity/power. what would you do w all that extra cash? + +&#x200B; + +the logical thing to do is create technologies that prolong human life as long as possible on planet Earth, everywhere, all over, for everyone, equally at minimum. this is ordinary physics at play and it can never be beat. + +&#x200B; + +thats my take on what has happened here for the past 29 years. +So I'm looking at a great 3 bedder house in western Sydney but I can't afford it.. + +2003 sold for 340k + +2009 sold for 375k + +2018 they want 800k + +I offered 700k but apparently there are 4 offers greater than mine. + +Just wanted to share my despair. Have a good day. +I've been keeping an eye on cannabis for a while now, ever since congress made rumblings about legalization. I even posted a DD about it. + +But the *week* WSB starts to really invest in it, there's a [news article](https://www.reuters.com/article/canada-stocks/canada-stocks-tsx-drops-at-open-as-cannabis-stocks-fall-idUSL4N2KH2HM) released and suddenly a huge number of the stocks crater. + +Is there going to be a short-sell every time we might cause a rally? If that's the truth, then what's the point? Will WSB just become a new canary in the coal mine, used by brokerage houses to show when a sector or security on the rise and ripe for undermining? + +Will WSB every bounce back from this? +So we all know Satoshi Nakamoto made Bitcoin so that the value will go up exponentially forever. + +Right now Bitcoin dropped below $30k and I never seen this before (I am a crypto veteran since February 2021). Some YouTube crypto experts said Bitcoin was going to reach $200k by the end of this year. I am not sure what is happening right now, but it clearly is market manipulation. + +Even though we still have time to reach $200k end of the year, as a veteran, I think it is wise to sell now and FOMO back in when you see the price go up. + +This is not financial advice. I only know how to lose money. +Imagine VOO. Folks (like me) buy and sell the VOO ETF and behind the scenes Vanguard takes the steps to periodically rebalance the index. It's my understanding that this rebalancing happens on dates known in advance. As owners of the ETF, we hope not to see capital gains triggered by these rebalancing events because that means taxes. My question is, how this rebalancing happens and is there some aspect around the ETF construct which allows vanguard to (say) sell a stock at a profit (as part of the rebalancing) yet somehow not pass that capital gain back to folks holding the ETF? Or is vanguard leveraging tax loss harvesting as a means to counter capital gains and thus not pass gains to folks holding VOO? + +If vanguard is leveraging tax loss harvesting to counter gains in order to prevent capital gains from being passed on to VOO holders, can vanguard shuffle, behind the scenes, those tax losses between different ETFs or must those losses remain associated with the stocks tied to VOO? + +Just trying to understand the details here... +I grew up poor. Not in any extreme circumstances but single parent household, section 8, etc. + +I'm now 27 and I feel no closer to financial security. I've had bouts where I've worked two jobs and was able to afford my own apartment but those always ended in under a year. I've had periods where my credit was 750, I had limits of up to 9k, and my savings account held $16k. But I always fell back down because I don't know, circumstances I guess. + +I'm the only one without a kid and so usually everyone relies on me financially. I've paid $1600 rents, purchased groceries, given out hundreds and asked for nothing back. Which is fine, I love to help, but I know I am not in a position to. Everyone is doing well now, so they don't need my help as much anymore. But now I'm sort of struggling. + +None of my jobs have been careers, mainly retail where I work my butt off and penny pinch to save $1k a month. The work also never last too long, just had to leave a job recently due to a creepy guy stalking me at work. + +So of course I'm now back at my moms 1 bedroom apartment (its in terrible condition, almost nothing works). I sleep on the couch. I have a busted up laptop that I'm trying to do courses on because I know I need something to get me out of retail and package handling jobs. My car just crapped out on me. Overall, I'm just not sure what to do anyone but I'll keep trying. +I called the cable company and asked them to lower my bill, they tried to get me to bundle- I shouldnt have to pay for more service to save money. After 20 minutes they lowered it by $15.00 a month for a year. I also called Sirrius to renew (hubs has a 2 hour commute local radio blows) they reduced my next year by 43%, which equates to $10.00 a month savings. + +I also helped my mom with her Directtv reducing it by $35.00. And because she is on a fixed income moved some due dates around to fit in her pay schedule. She was running out of month with her money. + +Over all I probably spent 2 hours on the phone with the companies to get what I could from their customer service. I didnt take no for an answer and I didnt buy any extra product I didnt need. + +And another PSA always take a moment to check for pay subscriptions you can get for free. Mom was paying Equifax to monitor her credit when + Credit Karma and Captial One do it for free. +In 4 days time the Ropsten test merge will happen, turning the Ropsten testnet from POW to Proof of stake. On the 30th june, the difficulty bomb will go off, gradually increasing the difficulty for miners to mine blocks. The data can be found here: + +Http://wenmerge.com + +And in an as yet unspecified date in august, the real main net merge will happen. So why am I so bullish about the merge? Its largely Eth moving instantly from 3.3% inflation to -0.7% inflation. But it's also these. + +1. 99% reduction in energy cost per Tx. +2. 90% issuance reduction. 12500 eth a day to 1250. +3. Miner sell pressure drops from 14,000 eth a day to 0. +4. More eth locked in the staking contract for 6 months after the merge . +5. Deflationary asset. More eth burned than produced if gwei >20gwei. + +Number 3 is I think the most important. While it wont drop to exactly 0 on the first night, removing $30 million of sell pressure per day will have a massive effect. The market would need to refind this pressure just to stop the price going up. (Its guaranteed profit). It wont find this sell pressure. + +There won't be a 'massive selloff' on merge night. All eth remains locked into the contract until the next update. After that, there is a queued release. + +I believe that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are stores of value, but Ethereum is currently also the worlds largest and most secure crypto network. It is the foundation of web3. + +As a final note, it took 19 months to get 12.6 million into the deposit contract. In the last 2 months alone, 2.6 million of that amount was deposited. + +As a final final note, I'd like to thank Do Kwon for causing the luna crash and allowing us to buy Eth this cheap, this close to the merge. And also removing luna from the market and allowing Ethereum more room to grow in MC. You're a bastard, make no mistake; but you're a magnificent one. + +Edit: Thank you for all of your lovely comments. +Sorry if this is obvious/posted before but I couldn't really find anything that works. + +I'm looking for option data (major US stocks), it's a small research project so I'd prefer it free / cheap. It doesn't have to be real-time but I'd like to be accurate; if it's delayed then I'd like to know exactly how much delay I'll have. It doesn't have to be historical either - I can scrape and store myself. + +Yahoo finance has a page like [https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA200724C01475000?p=TSLA200724C01475000](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TSLA200724C01475000?p=TSLA200724C01475000) but it's not clear to me at which time stamp the price listed there is - it just says "delayed data". + +Same for [https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/TSLA%7C20200724%7C1455.00C/overview](https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/TSLA%7C20200724%7C1455.00C/overview) \- not clear what the exact time is of the data. +So, I'm a software engineer, extremely new to algo trading and ocassionally peruse this sub. Nearly every post in here contains criticism or some comment about how someone's algorithm won't be profitable in the long term or just doesn't work all together. + +Am I wasting my time here? Is it futile to attempt to design a profitable trading algorithm without enterprise-level resources? + +Just seems like everyone in here has tried and failed. +Pretty new to algotrading and I'm struggling to find an affordable source of data. I don't need anything in real time, I just want historical data that covers price, fundamentals, and dividends (including announcements). I'd also like data for as many exchanges as possible, not just US exchanges. I've looked at quite a few Reddit posts and I keep seeing the same recommendations: + +* IEX Cloud +* Polygon +* yfinance +* dividend.com + +They seem either too expensive, unreliable, or incomplete for my needs. + +I'm open to scraping as long as the source is reliable and not going disappear anytime soon. + +What would be recommended for my use case? Thanks for your time! +Working with SPY here, I thought it was possible to submit a market order before open and then get the opening print on open. But the fill I am getting does not match with the open on Trading View, although it does seem to match the close of the 1m bar before the open. Is anyone proficient on how the opening auction works? +As a Finance Major starting up my Junior year I'd like to get some real insight on real people's experience. + +Edit: Just got home and saw all of the responses. Thank you so much for all the insight and knowledge! It's really motivating to see how far along people have come. + + +[‘How can you not be’ bullish on Peloton, trader asks ahead of quarterly earnings](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/peloton-earnings-trader-sees-a-potential-50percent-rally-back-to-old-highs.html) 3:38 PM + +[Peloton shares tank after cycle maker posts disappointing earnings and outlook; cuts Bike price](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/peloton-pton-q4-2021-loss.html) 4:03 PM +I am normally a cautious sort of person, however this stock market cycle I am feeling VERY optimistic. My gut feeling is there won't be a recession, we might have a slow down, but not a 2008 type depression. + +There is simply too much money floating around, too many households making mega bucks and employment remains strong. + +Time to throw caution to the wind and plough it all in. ASX here we go. +Currently in the low cost index option with Hostplus but considering moving to a higher growth. Or am I already in high growth? I've been looking at their [products](https://pds.hostplus.com.au/5-how-we-invest-your-money#a38cce86-7cbc-44f4-b220-b8f6bfd29656) but am having confusion trying to reconcile the growth vs fee decision. +I was looking back yesterday trying to find 5 straight green days inside a bear market. I didn't find one single instance of this going all the way back to 2013 when I stopped counting. If you want you can go back and confirm this. Something I did notice was that 5 straight green days is also rare even in bull markets. The last time it's happened was April 8-12. Huge bullish signal for bitcoin. + +Edit: just realized that April 8-12 is only 4 days...it goes back even further than that + +Edit 2: I'm an idiot +Everything I've read says they don't work. But when I compare the returns it's significantly higher using them. I compared the last 4.5 years buying and holding a stock vs buying and selling whenever the indicator crossed over that same time period. A few of them like FSTO and ROC had around a 70% improvement in total return. Am I missing something? +I see so much that you must get a degree and it's now got me extremely worried that I will be a colossal failure without one and it's destroying. I can't even see a future for myself if things stay this way for me past 30.(I know its my fault) + +Instead of A levels I opted for a trade because I only got Cs mainly. I choose a trade in construction/building but hated all 2 years of it. I tried it also as a job(only a year but not ft) but still despised it. I did learn something out of it though, I'm not into manual work/hands on work. + +So will I be a failure without a degree? Can I not learn skills from working? Also will I be looked down upon by people with degrees? +Should we get earthquake insurance? We are in California in a high risk area. I've run one of the online calculators and it will probably be $1200/yr with a 10% deductible on a house worth about 450k. I've read the average claim for the Northridge earthquake was 9k to 18k. So maybe it would be better to expect the damage and have the money saved up in advance. +We need financial advice. My husband is 64 and I am 62. 4 years ago, I lost my career job. I went through severe depression and just wasn’t myself. During this time I had a major illness which ran up more bills and increased the depression. We didn’t have savings to fall back on, and soon maxed out our credit cards. We also were in the process of paying off a hefty IRS debt that began just before I lost my job. We were going to file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, but I’m feeling much better and think I can return to corporate life (and pay), but I don’t know how many businesses want to hire me at this age with 4 years out of business. Who can I turn to to lay out all of our financial info (income/debts) and give us good advice? My biggest fear is that we’re not young enough to recover. I just want to talk with an honest person that can give advice. +So I have a 800 stocks spreadsheet I update once a year with 5 year P/E low and high ranges. They are broken into 42 categories. I have a ton of stocks that dont make money or haven’t consistently over 5 years not included here and those I just swing trade. Before Wheeling I sort by cheap relative to itself then EPS growth then P/CF. I then look at Technicals then IV. I know a lot of you guys think this is a lot of work but when you retire at 40 you gotta do something and for 5 years it’s worked well. I just went through all 800 to scan for value and thought I would share. If you see anything on here you like please comment on what you like about the company. Thanks. + +Aerospace & Defense : AIR, DCO, MRCY + +Auto’s : BWA, CARG, F, HOG + +Bank’s : C, CMA, JPM + +Beverage’s : BUD, DEO + +Biotech : CRL + +Cloud : NOW , PRGS + +Consumer Package : FLO, IFF, MIDD + +Entertainment : META, PLAY + +Electric Vehicles : CRNC + +FinTech : ACIW,COF,DFS,MA,PAGS,SYF,V + +Food : ACI, DPZ + +Gambling : BYD + +Gaming : EA, TTWO + +Healthcare : AMED,AMN,CNC,DGX,WW + +Healthcare Equipment : BAX, GSK, MDT + +Industrials : AOS, EMR, OTIS + +Insurance : FTDR, MET, TRV + +Materials : ASIX, CSTM, IP, SCL, WRK + +Online retail : EBAY + +Pharma : BMY, CTLT, JNJ + +REIT’s : AMT, IIPR, MPW, STWD + +Retail : AAP, BOOT, CPRI, EL, FNKO, GOOS, HAS, HAYW, HBI, HD, LESL, PNR,TCS,ULTA + +SAAS : ADBE, CRM, NTAP, SSNC + +Semi’s : AMD, AMKR, AVGO, ERIC, QCOM, SWKS + +Streaming : AMCX, CMCSA + +Tech : CSCO, GOOGL, HPE, KN, MSFT, ORCL, PRFT, SCSC, ZBRA + +Transports : ALK, FDX, SKYW, UPS, XPO + +There are categories not shown here with nothing of a value nature. I hope this is a fun read for you guys !! Sorry for the messy post. +I've applied on my Fidelity account to increase my options trading to what they call Level 2 which includes CSPs, but they have denied me the approval. And worse, they won't say why. I literally spent over an hour on the phone with them (mostly on hold) and talked to three people who just told me they aren't allowed to tell me why I was not approved to sell CSPs. I already do this on my Ameritrade account and I can't imagine what they want from me on the application. + +So infuriating. + +It stinks too, because this account had previous been at Ameritrade and I'd transferred it because I like the Fidelity interface better and that's where I already have my 401K. Like, I get that they need you to apply, and I'm aware they don't want people to get in over their heads, but I've been doing this a while and should be able to trade how I want. +Just read an article about a survey of investment managers and almost all of them said they thought the probability of a correction in the next six months was high. + +So I'm trying to figure out, would I change how I wheel if I agreed with them. There are lots of ways to adjust but maybe bring in the DTE from 30 - 45 to 15 - 30. Maybe smaller delta or higher cash (I'm currently 23%), I don't know. + +Anyone have experience/data/backtest around this? For a 10% correction, three to four month duration according to Investopedia, not for a crash. + +Edit: as someone pointed out, tech stocks went down 10% or more already. So what happens when it's SPY down 10%? That's PLTR & ICLN (I own both) down 30%+ maybe. Do I change my wheel? +I'm selling covered calls at strikes above my entry price so I'm not worried about them exercising (covered calls 101), BUT do you guys who sell weeklies sell on Friday or Monday? Selling the following Friday calls this Friday can net you some extra theta, but you have to buy back your current open contracts even though they are cheap now. Selling calls on Monday means you collect all the premium from the last week's calls because they expired, but you lost some theta on the next play. How do you guys play it? +I got the money by getting lucky with a business I started 3 years ago. I'm thinking about playing the dividend game, so I will have a steady income? + +Sorry guys i'm a complete noob to this. + +**Edit:** Just woke up, and taking it all in :) any books worth reading? +My wife and I are moving into our new house in a few months and are planning to spend between $20k-$30k on assorted things for the house. What are the best Rewards cards I should use for spending this kind of money? We have an Amex platinum that we've reached the rewards for already +First forgive me mistakes, English is not my first language. + +I have been living in UK and paying taxes for the last 9 years but during pandemic became unemployed, my landlord knows it. + +I was in the middle of painful divorce when I moved in te flat I live in now, I had to ask council for help as my previous landlord was selling the flat and this landlord is cooperating with council, first year we had rent that we agreed on, the second year he proposed rent rise of 200£ a month, I absolutely couldn't afford to move so agreed for this extortionate rise. + +Our contract finished this September he was silent and suddenly last week I got email from council saying he proposes another rise of 100£ a month and they ask me if I agree to sing the new contract before the end of October. There should be some time before he announces the rise of the rent or I am misunderstanding something? + +I really don't know what to answer as I am shocked he wants more money for this flat, as we have pigeons living in the attic and this winter there were mice coming to the flat god knows where from, the window in the bedroom in not closing properly and I can't afford this perfect flat anymore if he does this to me and really don't know where to find information if this is lawful. + +I can't afford to move as I am not working at the moment and financially I am in worse situation than last year, he will have to start eviction process as it is not best time to look for a flat in my area now. Please share your experience if you have something to say, I will be grateful for any advice. +Hello, + +While I'm all very happy that apes are finally doing the DRS through ComputerShare (and I wish I could do the same from France -- the only country that's left outside). + +I think it's probably the way to initiate the MOASS, and own/reduce the "real" float leaving no room for lending shares. + +I think we cracked the code... yet, there's a **big risk of killing the momentum**.... and I would do the same if I were a SHF. + +**If I were a SHF, I would make shills post tons and tons and tons of screenshots of registering/transfering/buying their shares through ComputerShare.** + +**This way, it would trigger a very well known effect in psychology called the "Bystander effect".** + +For example, you see an accident on the road, you see dozen of people around you, and.. you move on. You're saying to yourself "nah, it's good, people in front of me have probably called for help already". + +The more the people, the more the bystander effect happens. There's a lot of studies on it, based mainly of the very well known case of the murder of Kitty Genovese. + +The poor woman, screamed, shouted, yelled all the way... at least 38 people interacted with her, yet... no one called the police. Everyone thought the next person had already done it. + +Imagine we are not 38, but 600K+ people in here. It's even worse and this is the big risk in here. If ComputerShare DRS is really the MOASS. **Then by flooding the sub with many-many-many people doing that.... you might think "nah, I'm good, no need to do that, other apes are already doing it".** + +That's how they can fuck us, big time. + +It's only my 2 cents and of course, not saying all the apes posting their registration are shills. I deeply thank you for your service and would do the same if I could from here. + +But no one should think that it's "enough", because the SHF could win very-very big this way. + +Cheers ! +This is the official $GME Megathread for r/Superstonk. Please keep ALL conversations contained to Gamestop and related topics. + +**Not enough karma?** Here's a [**quick guide**](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-get-karma-on-reddit/) on how to get it. + +# [announcements](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/announcements) + +* Make sure to check the Announcements regularly. 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Check the main page for the sticky post and vote now! + +**Want to learn more?** [**Check out our extensive Wiki**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) **and** [**FAQ**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq) + +Please review the [**Superstonk Rules**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/rules) before commenting or posting on r/Superstonk. + +*Daily discussion threads are created at 4:00 a.m. EDT* +In a nutshell, I may be offered a job where being a contractor is the easiest route - foreign company with UK subsidiary. Per the CEO, contractor would be best to "start." + +Of course, not an employee = no benefits. A while back, I asked US redditors what benefits are worth. The consensus was around $30,000/a year. Given US healthcare costs, I imagine the figure is lower in the UK. + +The offered salary is £60-90k DOE. I'm aiming for higher end, hoping to leverage the contractor setup to negotiate. + +**How much are benefits worth?** Basically, by how much could I "ask for more" on account of no benefits? + +So far, in my head: +Holidays, about 1/12th of the salary +Health insurance +Pension, 5% of the salary +Sick days +Not fussed about wellness crap +Anyone know the best alternative to an emergency fund with low <0.25 yields. I’m trying get around 3.2% but still keep it vary safe since it is still an emergency fund. I’m thinking muni bonds Don’t know +Hey + +It's just 2 years since I began investing in dividend stocks and I'm still learning. So I want to share something fun I just recently learned (for all the newbies and starters): Dividends don't just come in cash, they can be "in kind" i.e. goods or services. + +A pyjama producer in my country (switzerland) will give me a cash dividend PLUS a free pyjama every year, if I own 20 shares. (Calida; Caln.sw). A share is about 30 bucks. So 600 bucks will give me a 2.5% dividend (mostly stable in the past) plus a pyjama worth about 100 bucks (store price; very stable) p.a., resulting in a de facto dividend of 15% or more. + +Calidas finances look fine to me (even as I expect a recession because of covid); I love the thought of getting a free pyjama every year for the rest of my life for an investment of 600 bucks (or as long as the company exists). + +Other companies may + +* give free coupons for on board (carnival cruises; ccl; 100 shares) +* give you a suitcase full of chocolate (Lindt & Sprüngli; LISP.SW; 1 share ) +* give you a calendar (Novartis, NVS; 1 share needed) +* let you rent cars much cheaper / share owner sales discount (sixt; [six2.de](https://six2.de); 1 share ) +* give you free entrance/rides Zoos/Railway companies: +* ... +* (I'm excluding the companies that give you free food if you come to their assembly). + +&#x200B; + +Some aspects to consider: + +Positive: + +* Goods aren't taxable; so no deductions +* dividend de facto increased +* Fun + +&#x200B; + +Negative: + +* Maybe no dividend growth +* Owning more shares than just enough to get the item may not be worth it. +* No cash dividend / you would have to sell the item, probably for less than it's worth + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +What companies do you know give dividens as goods? + +What do you think about it? +I know it sounds like a terrible idea but has anyone ever have the courage to do it? Was curious and wondering how it worked out? Did it pay off doing it? Just thinking on methods to invest. Thanks everyone! +Currently using TD and putting $150.00 a week in to my roth. I have been buying 1 share of schd, a few of at&t, and Ford with what is left, But I would like to setup by percentage 60-40 vti and schd. Thinking with my low weekly deposit it would be better to do fractional buying. Is it realtivly easy to change brokers even with my roth or is it not worth it? +I know it sounds like a terrible idea but has anyone ever have the courage to do it? Was curious and wondering how it worked out? Did it pay off doing it? Just thinking on methods to invest. Thanks everyone! +Sorry it's a rant, just had to get this off my chest. + +While I was at work yesterday someone went into my bag and stole £65 from my purse. I'm really hurting from it, they left my purse, left my cards, even left the change, just took my notes. + +I never usually carry cash on me, but the day before I sold what few of my belongings I could part with in order to pay for a part time college course in my home town. I'm in a minimum wage job, I'm an independent, and it takes so much for me to have that kind of money spare. + +My work can't do anything about it, as a senior supervisor left the breakroom door open, which is against policy and how the money got taken in the first place. I've phoned the non-emergency police but they can't really do anything for such a small amount of money. I'm absolutely devastated, it like everytime I manage to get some decent amount of money something happens, the last time it was part of my ceiling caving in and destroying a load of my stuff. It just seems hopeless. + +Edit : The generosity of the internet is a little overwhelming, however I'm going to follow the advice I've been given here and and get into contact with the higher ups in my company and see if I can recoup my losses that way seeing as it was the fault of another employee. I wouldn't feel right taking from others, especially those that may be struggling as much, if not more than me. Thank you everyone, it really means a lot to me that people care enough to offer. You guys are awesome +Wholesale prices rose 0.2% in October, less than expected, as inflation eases + +https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/15/wholesale-prices-rose-0point2percent-in-october-less-than-expected-as-inflation-eases.html?__source=androidappshare + +Looks like premarket is up big on this news. Yet another sign inflation is slowing. +**TL/DR: Worth denying young children luxuries and time together now so we can FIRE and be with them full time by high school?** + +Background: Husband and I are both professionals, living in HCOL area, and we have three young children. We both like our jobs a lot but time at home with kids during the pandemic has made us rethink our priorities and I would love to be in a position for us to both leave our jobs and just be with our children (travel, etc.) before they go to college. We want to FIRE long before they move out of the house. But we'd be buying that future time with them by selling time now (side hustles take so much time!) and denying them certain luxuries like summer camp and extracurriculars. And I have some mommy guilt about that. + +Question: Is it worth it? Is buying time with them later worth the time we lose now, while they're young? +Here's Morgan Stanley: + +GoPro management has attributed weak response to the Session camera, and the associated price cuts (now $199 vs. original MSRP of $399) to poor consumer awareness exacerbated by poor launch timing (right around the July 4th holiday), minimal marketing, inappropriate pricing, and a host of other issues. We agree that all of those issues have contributed to poor demand, but believe that the bigger issue is that key challenges of off- loading, storage and editing content have not been adequately addressed for a product intended to be "taken anywhere to record everything." The fact that the Session is intended to be used more than the other cameras in the GoPro line-up just makes those challenges worse—there is likely to be more footage and therefore a lower percentage of usable content. +Hi everyone. + +With the increase of renewable energy power systems are gonna face an interesting problem: negative price. + +Negative price is the situation where there is a non flexible demand and a strong non flexible offer. + +In other words, it is becoming very common situation in which the production from renewable is high and at the same time conventional resources like nuclear power or gas power are kept on because the cost of temporary shutting down plants is costly. + +This is a global problem. Countries around the world have been or are gonna be experienced. + +Storage ti offset the grid when there is excess of production can be the solution. + +Any idea about stocks in this field? Only SIEMENS? +So we are currently FATFI, about $600k a year income with $4million in investments. Our spend rate is low, probably about $90k a year. I now have an opportunity with a start up that I founded, and it has huge potential (isn’t that what we all think), but it will cost around $3million to get off the ground and really take off. If it fails spectacularly and we lose everything, we’re still FI, and a few more years of work will put us back at fat status. I’m just curious if anyone risked a huge amount of their net worth to chase massive possible returns and how they felt about it. +I currently live in a MCOL area making 100k/yr salary. I have an offer for 150k with 40% bonus eligibility and company paid vehicle in Charlotte NC. + +Seems like a no brainer right? However, the health insurance is worse, the 401k is a huge step down (current company matches 100% of contributions up to 12%!!), no HSA opportunity, my current family and friends are local, and I would likely lose value on a home I just bought 10 months ago and all that sweet current company match as I am not yet vested. + +So my question to you is, what process do you use evaluating offers? What factors do you consider when making a potential major move toward a FatFIRE lifestyle? +So I grew up in a typical middle-class family in North Germany. Since my birth, my parents started saving money every month and whenever I got some money for free (birthdays and stuff) I saved it on some bank-account. + +So by the time I finished my apprenticeship (last summer), I saved about 20.000€. That being said, I have never been the guy that cared too much about money. When I wanted to buy something, I usually just did. I didn't order a small drink because it was cheaper and I had no problem with buying a new 700€ phone once per year (I wasn't wasteful tho, whenever I could save some money I did). + +So about a year ago I met my financial advisor and he is like the nicest guy I have ever met and I really trusted him (I am not sure if I am able to do so anymore atm). When I started earning real money (I work as a software developer, so my salary isn't too bad) he helped me with my finances and told me to invest the money I already had into some gold from a company, that basically sells gold and buys it back a few years later for a guaranteed price so you make some profit. The company was only a few years old but altogether people bought gold worth 60 million euros from said company. I invested 15.000€ for two years and 3.000€ + 100€ per month for 10 years. My mother also invested 10.000€, but she just cares for my money right now. + +Well, turns out the company didn't own gold worth 60 million and it was mostly metal or stuff. They now went into insolvency and told me I can't do anything right now but wait for a few month to years to maybe get a small part of my money back. + +So right now I am sitting in my room and for the first time in my life, I am truly afraid. I don't depend on the money right now (I still have about 4.500€ on my bank account) but still I am afraid to leave the house, cause I have to spend money. + +I just want to lock myself in for a few weeks, with no idea what to do. Any advice, help, tip or whatever will be greatly appreciated. +So, those who have retired and then decided to go back to work, what's your story? + +Personally I'm about 90% retired. I still do some investing and have one board position, but I keep wondering if it would be interesting to still start a new business or something. I keep checking the news about my ex-industry all the time. +Somewhat similar to [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/kb4822/privately_held_company_considering_options_to/), but with different questions. I would love some feedback from anyone here who has or is considering selling their business. + +Background: I have a 15 year old SAAS business. $10M revenue, $3M EBITA, growing 20%/year top/bottom line. I average $2M/year of withdrawals (dividends, salaries, perks). Have a great team in place and have been completely hands-off for the last 2 years. It's still a "small" business in relation to other SAAS businesses, but it is solid and the numbers are great (low churn, low cost of acquisition, thousands of happy customers). + +Recently a bunch of PE firms contacted me to see if I was interested in selling a majority stake. My accountant's believes that now is the best time to sell a business in the last 10 years. On his advice, I spoke with this PE firm, and also with a firm that assists with SAAS transactions in my price range. + +Personally, I have fatFIREd. $10M in invested assets, house paid, no debt. Haven't "worked" in 2 years. + +I am now trying to decide if I should pursue a sale. Concerns: + +First, how do I compensate key employees? There are 6 core members of the team that have been here long term. We pay them well, but have not set up any kind of stock option plan. My initial thought was to give them a big chunk of the sale proceeds, in some tax-efficient way. + +Second, again related to staff. For anyone who has sold a SAAS type business, what was the longer term outcome for the staff? I am focusing on PE firms that have a track record of holding their businesses longer term than most (5 years on average). + +Third selling vs holding. My business is growing steadily (20% / last year) and has a 15 year history of double digit growth. This isn't an exciting high growth startup, and as such I've received relatively low offers so far (\~8X EBITA). I'm certain I will be able to maintain my $2M/year of withdrawals for at least the next 5 years. I am torn between selling and investing the proceeds, versus just keeping the status quo. + +thanks for any feedback you can provide! + +EDIT: Thanks for all the feedback! Lots to think about both pro and con. Will take the holiday break to make a decision. +No matter how educated you become, and no matter how hard you work, if you appear to be lower class, you will not get the good job, the promotion, the nice house for rent or for sale. + +You may be saving money cutting your own hair, and wearing reasonable clothes, but people judge you by this, and they think less of you. They judge how you talk, where you live and who your parents are. Not everyone is classist, and there will be exceptions. If it weren't for the people who saw past my class and gave me opportunities, I would still be making minimum wage. I wouldn't have my current job if I wasn't able to at least feign a higher class at the interview. I was just looking to rent a house, now that I can afford it, and I realized that none of the nice places wanted to rent to me and my working class partner. We ended up moving to a bad neighbourhood because they agreed to rent. My daughter will go to a bad school. I resent it, but at least I am aware of it now, and can work to fight it. + +I think it's time we acknowledged the role of classism in keeping the poor down. + +edit: I am impressed with all the responses. I wanted to have a discussion about this, and it worked. It has allowed me to see perspectives I hadn't immediately considered, and I always appreciate that. I hope that people reading this don't feel discouraged. I agree that we shouldn't get caught up passing for a different class, and it shouldn't have to cost a lot to be presentable. Rather than being an excuse to why we can not succeed, it should help us to temper our expectations, and be smarter about strategies for success. Not everyone will accept us all the time, but many will. Sometimes you just need to double your efforts to find the right fit, whether it be a the right job, the right mentor, or the right home. If you can figure out how to fit in with a higher class, it can be to your advantage, but if you struggle with this, please know you are not alone. +Long story short - I stumbled across the concept of financial independence through this sub and others about a year ago, read heavily about investing and everything related to the stock market, and then finally decided to make the leap about a month ago. + +My net worth currently sits at 62k. The breakdown of my investments goes as follows: + +12k cash (more than enough for my emergency fund) + +VAF (12%) | $6000 + +VIF (12%) | $6000 + +VCF (6%) | $3000 + +VAS (31%) | $15,500 + +VEU (18%) | $9000 + +VTS (17%) | $8500 + +VAP (4%) | $2000 + + +So this brings me to the my girlfriend - I was on the phone to her this afternoon and I'd just finished investing my last 5k chunk earlier in the morning. She'd known that I had been doing 'stuff' on the stock market but that's about the extent of it. So, a little caught up in my moment of happiness, I dropped to her that I just invested my last 5k chunk, and now have 50k worth of ETFs.... And then there was silence, followed by 'are you an idiot? You're going to lose all of your money. What if your shares drop and you lose everything?' + +I tried to say all the things like, I'm not buying shares I'm investing in ETFs. And that even if the stock market does take a dip, it will recover and I will come up on top eventually. But alas, she wouldn't have a bar of it and the conversation pretty much ended up with me a being dickhead. + +I tried not to let this get to me, but it has. Please tell me that she's wrong and I won't lose all my hard earned moolah. She's the only person that I've somewhat told about my investments. Literally everyone else that I know, including family and friends of friends know zilch about the stock market. I fear that if I do go to someone else, they will say the same and cause me to second guess myself even more. + +Help reddit! + +Or better yet, do you? + +I used to keep the pen that I used to sign all my RE closings. But stopped this after several closings and I eventually lost them all. Except for the dried-up ball point pen from Closing #1 +My wife and I bought our first house. + +By the way, I am super embarrassed by this, so please don’t judge. + +We bought an old house and started renovating it. We demolished the bathroom, scraped the pop corn ceilings, torn up base boards and sanded the floors. The house now is in a pretty shitty condition with an unfinished bathroom. We are planning on finishing it, but the house is not really livable. + +On top of that, the roof started leaking. +On top of that, I started having severe depression and can’t work (remotely). + +The house price was 171k in April and that’s what we got the mortgage for. We owe 120k to the mortgage company. +After doing some electrical and plumbing, we have now 10k in our reno budget. + +There is also a 20k emergency fund. + +I feel like reroofing the house is a priority but it costs 10k. + +We make 90k. + +Please, don’t judge. My wife and I lost a pregnancy before the purchase and were in really wrong place to buy a house mentally. + Hey guys, + +Some of you may know me as the user that wrote a ton of DD regarding Bank of America this summer. + +Anyways I need a little help regarding a little project of mine. I have submitted multiple freedom of information act requests at the CFTC relating to [Chair Rostin Bedham.](https://www.cftc.gov/About/ExecutiveLeadership/RostinBehnam/index.htm) + +**The What:** + +As per the Lobbying Disclosure Act, anyone lobbying the Chair of the CFTC would need to disclose their activities. This is why Chair Gary Gensler of the SEC shares [his schedule](https://www.sec.gov/foia/docs/sec-chair-calendar.htm) and Janet Yellen of the Treasury shares [her schedule](https://home.treasury.gov/footer/freedom-of-information-act/electronic-read-room/calendars-and-travel-of-the-secretary). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/q50iups2qm181.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=74215becd2710d9f4b1e67810863862f45427511 + +What is different about the CFTC is that they do report their external meetings with lobbyists which can be found here. [Link](https://www.cftc.gov/LawRegulation/DoddFrankAct/ExternalMeetings) + +Now I understand most government agencies are underfunded and understaffed but it's been 221 days since this disclosure has been updated. Additionally, when it is uploaded it's done poorly. I highly doubt 50 meetings occurred on April 8th, while only a handful happened prior. US Citizens have a legal right to this information. + +**Now after waiting for months, this is the response I have received from the lawyer at the CFTC.** + +&#x200B; + +[ The CFTC has had \\"issues with outlook\\" regarding the chairs schedule for close to 3 months ](https://preview.redd.it/4gyzaz35qm181.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a371a63cf101670157221c7a2a6ace0a037659d) + + + +**There is no reason why the schedule of the Chair isn't accessible, and to blame outlook is a copout. As per the Lobbying Disclosure Act, all meetings the Chair has outside of the CFTC should be documented as well. His email has nothing to do with data retrieval.** + +From here I did reach out to the staff of a member of congress, and they were willing to submit an inquiry into my request. Unfortunately, as I am a Canadian Ape, house ethics rules prohibit congressional offices from placing inquiries with federal agencies on behalf of non-constituents. Foiled again. + +**The Why:** This information is important! We know that earlier this year the CFTC decided to turn off the reporting of swaps until 2023. The CFTC would not resort to such an action for no reason. Let's find out who is taking meetings with the chair and pleading for help. + +As the improper regulation and enforcements of swaps are likely a contributor to what caused this whole saga it's important to see what actions the CFTC have taken since the Jan run-up. I theorized that Morgan Stanley likely has a short position on GME by their heads of legal and compliance divisions meeting with Gary this summer (along with other supporting evidence in this DD [Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qm9tnr/bank_of_america_quarterly_update_morgan_stanley/) ) + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/h3erc358qm181.png?width=914&format=png&auto=webp&s=aef1a49e091ef22e6b8c73a9b823663adb94fc2f + + + +**The How:** + +Now I'm asking for help. This is a politically free subreddit that isn't Red or Blue so **no politics**. I'm asking for **US Residents** to reach out to their local representatives to inquire about updating their transparency page and to apply pressure regarding the delivery of CFTC request 21-00142-FOIA. You can find whom your representative is here at: [https://www.house.gov/representatives](https://www.house.gov/representatives) + +Below is my original FOIA request. Upon communication with the department, I have since narrowed down the search to Chairman Behman. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/p13i6y5aqm181.png?width=567&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d86b4e5577cbe19fbc557e018e0c31fc016550c + +https://preview.redd.it/q9m7to1bqm181.png?width=583&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d01b7edb913a92818b3983959cd6ba028fc15dc + + Thanks, guys. Let's figure this out together +I want to start this off by saying you guys are my heroes. I fully support everything you do, as long as you don't paper hand GME. Keep making memes and tendies and memes about tendies forever. But it's important to acknowledge this isn't for everyone. So lay off the guys at [r/stocks](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/) and [r/investing](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/). They're just putting away money they make into something with better than banks, which thanks you for letting them make billions of dollars with your money by giving you 0.001% of what they make with it. They're doing fine for themselves and sometimes I wish I was more like them.I'd like to state for the record that I was once one of you. Up 300% in September off of TQQQ weeklies. It was fucking great. I actually got back the 90% I lost on the Great Pump and Dump of 2017 (can't say which one, cause of the 1B rule, but it rhymes with Shmelios and Shmatheson) and then some! I was going to be one of the few who turn 2k into 2M in a year, I just knew it. I was picking out yachts already and I was *finally* going to live my dream of starting a business. Had to do more research, keep checking WSB and the financial sheets, have to find the next big play.  Which was GME of course. I doubled that again right as it popped up to $22 in December, up 600% this year. Almost had my first 10k, it just had to hit $25. Had to always check watch it, cause if you miss a big move, you could miss out.  So of course, my 25c'sexpired worthless. Down 50% now. + +This is where it hooks you. You know you're right, you just have to give it one more go. But you have to check your phone right now in case you miss the big event. One last try, more money, you'll make it big. I bought 1/22 $20c's right before the ICR conference, it literally couldn't go tits up. Just had to keep watching to see if what they say is good or bad. Had to watch the stock too, to see how people react. Had to watch after hours, cause someone might place a big order at 11:30 at night when you can't sleep cause you're thinking about GME.  + +But they never did. They never presented. Down 75%. Maybe it was too good to be true and the Tendie McTendface would never be mine. Didn't work all day to watch the market until 3:50pm on Tuesday, decided I was done. Can't do it anymore, my stomach hurts and I hate this, I'm out. 10:00am Wednesday, would have had all my debts paid off and at least a small canoe with the 35K that those options were worth. Now the dread and the FOMO and the self loathing kick in. I'm just now pulling myself up enough to say that I really truly am out. + +I know I missed out big, but there's always another GME. I know it's not too late to get int. There's always people making money and people losing money. I could have bought Tesla at $30 or the electronic currency that shall not be named in 2011. And maybe some day when I have a real job and less credit card debt I'll come back and blow stacks on ARKG calls, who knows?  But not this time. This isn't for everybody. You can always make money, but you can't make sanity or time. I know a lot of people on reddit are prone to anxiety and depression and nothing triggers dangerous behavior like giving an depressed and broke young guy the opportunity to solve all his problems by putting his financial security, or lack thereof, in the hands of a largely unpredictable market entirely outside his control. This shit gets addicting real easily, and I applaud those who can handle it and make it out on top, but just remember it's not for everyone. I saw a post where someone was asking for help about trading addiction and got laughed out for being a paper handed bitch. Don't be that guy.  + +Please just remember, this isn't supposed to take over your life. Yes, you can make $100k a year if you're really good and all you have to do is click some buttons and wait. Most people I know, if offered a job that paid $100k and "all they had to do" was constantly be agitaed and anxious and stare at numbers on a screen hoping you didn't make another stupid decision you stupid idiot I hate you you're always wrong and you're going to drive everyone away because of it... You get the point. I wouldn't take that job no matter how much you paid me.So be nice to the guys over at [r/stocks](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/) and [r/investing](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/), they're just trying to do good for themselves. And remember you can turn your phone settings "invert colors" and hold it upside down if you want a green line going up. + +I still don't understand [r/dividends](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/) though. Are those guys serious? Is that like a real thing? You made 15 cents this week? Great, get a job... idiots. + +TL;DR: GME 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 and be nice. +...as far as broad market indexes are concerned, and the calls for a 50% crash are completely absurd. + +Worst case scenario, market valuations return back to the high end of "normal" this year. Historically, forward P/E peaked around 16x to 17x. [Ed Yardeni](https://www.yardeni.com/pub/yriearningsforecast.pdf) currently has 2023 S&P 500 earnings estimates of 250. So, if you assume that earnings meet 2022 estimates and 2023 estimates don't change much over the course of the year (a big assumption, I know), and you take your 2023 estimate of 250 and a normal-ish fwd P/E ratio of 17x, you then have a downside case scenario with a year end price target of 4,250. That's only a 3.4% decline from where we already are. It's simply not worth selling or making large changes to your portfolio (and missing potential upside) when the downside is only 3.5% from where we are today, 1/22/2022. + +And that's the downside. Currently, 2022 earnings estimates are at about 225, so with a 4,400 S&P 500 we're at a 19.5x FWD P/E ratio. Last year, we beat the early earnings estimates from January by over 15%. Also, there's potential for FWD P/E to remain elevated and not retrace all the way to 17x. If you assume we only drop to an 18x FWD P/E ratio, and 2023 earnings estimates shift up by only 5% to 262.5, that gives us a 2022 year end price of 4,725 which is a 7% increase from where we are today...a completely normal 12 month equity return. + +And remember that even companies like Netflix that are giving bad guidance are still crushing earnings estimates. Additionally, Netflix raised it's price by $2 the week before it got killed for earnings. I highly doubt a significant amount of people are going to cancel over that $2 increase. This is to say, there is real potential for earnings to meet or exceed expectations. + +There will certainly be volatility along the way, and even if the fed makes a "policy error", they are going to just pivot. But I believe Powell is going to successfully avoid having to do a huge pivot like in late 2018/early 2019 where rates went up too quickly, credit markets froze, and the fed had to reverse course. + +Overall, markets are going nowhere fast. There is just no way that with nosebleed valuations and rising rates, the market is going to have another double digit year in 2022. This is why Is old $20,000 in stocks and maxed out 2021/2022 Series I bonds in December and January. Even still, there is no better alternative, and with inflation as high as it is and rates near zero, TINA. + +**UPDATE**: + +See the chart below to demonstrate my point. + +P/E Multiple Range: We spent most of 2021 at about a 21x FWD P/E multiple. As of 1/22/2023, we've compressed to about a 19.5x FWD P/E multiple. The high end of my sensitivity analysis assumes further compression to 19x, assuming that higher rates are already mostly priced in to earnings yields. The low-end assumes we get all the way back to a very normal non-bubblish 16x FWD P/E multiple. + +Earnings Range: Last year we beat January earnings estimates by over 15%. In my sensitivity analysis, I'm assuming that we are either +/- 5% current earnings estimates. I'm trusting the experts on this one and I think a +/- 5% range is very reasonable. Last year we were still emerging from lockdowns so the margin of error was going to be larger. Despite higher inflation, lower wage workers are getting raises, offsetting the loss of stimulus checks, and sparing company earnings as they flex pricing power. + +Conclusion: Personally, I think the fed has weak hands and thanks to a pivot we are going to end the year around 4,900. That said, I wouldn't argue with someone who says we could end the year as low as 4,000. 4,000 is another 9% drop from where we are and a 17% drop from the all time high. Either way, that wouldn't even count as a "bear" market, and is a far way from the calls for a big 50% market crash. And I stand by the thought that the fed is not going to let a 50% market crash happen for the sake of 7% inflation. A 50% crash doesn't happen without credit market dysfunction and if credit markets don't function then we're going to have deflation and as we all know, deflation is worse than inflation. + +*I would love to come back to this matrix at year end and see where we end up. First round is on me if we end up "off the charts" in either direction.* + +&#x200B; + +||19x FWD P/E|18x FWD P/E|17x FWD P/E|16x FWD P/E| +|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| +|262.5 Earnings|4,987.5|4,725|4,462.5|4,200| +|250 Earnings|4,750|4,500|4,250|4,000| +|237.5 Earnings|4,512.5|4,275|4,037.5|3,800| + +&#x200B; +In the past few weeks I've started selling CSPs on PLTR. (Currently holding 12/18 27p, with a cost basis of $24.85 if assigned, which is fine with me.) Watching the profit increase as the days go on, even when the underlying stock moves closer to the strike, is eye opening. It also makes it clear that theta occurs intraday; profit has increased today despite the underlying barely moving in the last few hours. + +Understanding an idea abstractly is great, but nothing beats seeing it applied in real life. This has highlighted the insanity of holding options anywhere near expiry. I previously didn't fully "get" how you can still lose when you're technically ITM. + +I highly recommend doing this experiment for yourself before buying or holding anything expiring in the near-ish term. +Hello, so after looking through this sub I’ve been keeping up with the tips that others are given. My parents kicked me out suddenly Saturday for reasons unrelated so I’m homeless. At this moment I’m staying at a cousin’s house for as long as I can. I don’t have friends or friends that would let me stay over. + +I’m a college student so school ends in two weeks. Once school ends I’m hoping to go to a temp service and get a job to save up for a down payment for a low income apartment somewhere. I do have a car which I’m able to sleep in if I need to. + +Funny thing is this year I had over $2,000 that I was going to put into savings, but was convinced by my father to do other things with it. I know I can’t dwell on the past but it hurts to know that I relied on one thing and person. + +My college has a food bank so I’m thinking of hitting them up to see if I could benefit from food. + +If I have missed anything in my plan I would appreciate any advice. + + +NY times posted [this](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/business/biden-taxes.html) at 11:51 AM + +Bloomberg posted [this](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-22/biden-to-propose-capital-gains-tax-as-high-as-43-4-for-wealthy) at 1:06 PM, literally 1 minute before the first red bar of today's drop at 1:07 +As I have scrolling through Superstonk, I came across a few screenshots that appeared to look almost identical to each other, only each of them was slightly cropped to make it seem as if they were completely different screenshots posted by different people. + +&#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/pxura0\/i\_heard\_we\_are\_the\_catalyst\/](https://preview.redd.it/ao6fau6emgq71.png?width=1132&format=png&auto=webp&s=eaad13adc11430e3a618086e4857eb3ee59ec1a7) + +&#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/pxs57i\/these\_are\_my\_shares\_there\_are\_many\_like\_it\_but\/](https://preview.redd.it/qv7kfsukmgq71.png?width=1132&format=png&auto=webp&s=61e07e38036176712a0fa00c855761eb8e7179bc) + +&#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Superstonk\/comments\/pxvbu5\/give\_updoots\/](https://preview.redd.it/wfg6vc8mmgq71.png?width=1132&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f1f5b1619531740a9b8fdb17299b42b0f31426f) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +As you can clearly see, those are three different users. One with a karma of 4,000+, the other with 5,000+ and one of which has a karma of over 40,000+. All of them are using the exact same screenshot, slightly cropped. + +Oddly enough, the screenshot that is the most cropped is the person that has a karma of over 40,000+ but they posted it hours before the other two. I suspect all three of these are fake and they are many more like these out there. + +Just because we are seeing an influx of people posting Computershare screenshots, does not mean they are all real nor does it mean that the people with the most shares (ie: XXX, XXXX+) are going to do the job for us. If you have one share, DRS it. If you have XX shares, DRS it. XXX shares? You guessed right, DRS it. “oH bUt wHaT iF i hAvE a FrAcTiOnAL sHaRe?” That’s right — D-MOTHERDUCKING-RS it. Each and every one of you count. DRS your shares. Don’t believe the influx of screenshots, a vast majority of them could be fake to make you think your shares won’t make a difference. + +YES. THEY. WILL AND DO. + +# + +# HOW TO DRS: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ptvaka/when\_you\_wish\_upon\_a\_star\_a\_complete\_guide\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ptvaka/when_you_wish_upon_a_star_a_complete_guide_to/) +After living paycheck to paycheck for a bit, I was finally able to reach one thousand in savings today. I’m so grateful for my new job, budgeting, and for all the resources I was able to use. + +I have my rent already, food already, and now savings! + +It feels so great being able to start building something. Five thousand next! +As we slide into the end of the world (either through this war ending in a chain of nuclear launches or through the hole in the o-zone letting in so much light that the glaciers melt and flood us), imagine human population as a stock. It would increase with time up until certain events wiped out a chunk of us. + +The ice age. Solar flares. Aliens. + +It would look like the SPY 10 year chart. + +But this time as we descend, we continue down, for a long time. We’re at the end of the hump, appropriately on hump-day. + +As Powell tells us from his castle whether or not we’re in a recession while we work overtime to hardly afford to feed our families, the pull out will begin. This has been happening for months. The only reason no crash happened yet is because the FED’s Plunge Protection Team bought the dips. + +Tomorrow, they won’t. + +The FED admitted last month that the word transitory should never have been used for inflation. It was 9%. The highest since Black Monday. That’s with their updated inflation formula which has less money budgeted to food and clothing. + +They blamed the inflation on everything but the kitchen sink, but the truth is, it’s their fault. In March 2020, covid started the overdue crash. Ol’ foresight Powell decided to print money and use it to prop the market back up. They essentially paid for everyones’ exit position and it cost so much money that 80% of US dollars were printed since March 2020. + +The FED will admit that we’re doomed and the panic sellers will appear. They won’t buy back because it’s unstoppable at this point. +Hi! + +I'm 25, living in London (Zone 1) on \~£37k. My fixed outgoings (rent, bills etc.) are around £1k a month. + +I've taken my finances pretty seriously for the past 12 months. I've got a budget, built an emergency fund (£4k), and been investing my money (£8k). + +Now, I'm not really sure what to do. + +I feel as though I'm not living far enough below my means to build wealth - and most of that comes down to the fixed costs of living in London. About half of my income is gone before I've done anything! Buying in London is obviously out of the question too. + +I like living here, but I don't see how I can set myself up for future life (build wealth, buy house) without either a massive pay-rise or by significantly cutting my costs (moving out of London, or moving to a cheaper part of London with less living space, higher commute costs, worse flat conditions etc). + +Especially given lockdown, I think whatever value London was giving me before (nightlife, culture, seeing people, going into work) has been dramatically cut. + +Has anyone had a similar situation and opted to move out of London to get a bit more from their money? + +Would be great to hear other people's experiences/thoughts on this. + +**TL;DR - I don't earn an insane amount of money, should I move out of London for a better quality of life?** +Just over a year ago, [I posted about my EFI “experiment”]( https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/3b98z4/phase_1_complete_i_quit_my_job_at_40/); I quit my job to become a stay-at-home dad while my wife (who earned more) continued to work. We were nearly FI, but I was becoming stressed out at my job, and my wife was overwhelmed with working her challenging job while also being “supermom” to our kids (8 and 9). Life was getting pretty miserable for all. . . and it didn’t need to be that way. + +I thought I’d post a bullet-list update to try to keep it brief. I'm happy to go into more detail on any of the subjects below (or anything else, really). + +* NW at Retirement: 1.8M +* NW Now 1.95M (mostly from wife's pension growth. . . see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/4adi6p/impact_of_benchmark_bond_yields_on_a_pensions/)) +* Home life is vastly improved. This alone makes it worth it. +* Wife: Stress levels dramatically reduced. There *has* been a bit of . . . envy, but not usually negative. She is very keen on FI and has maybe pulled in her retirement date from 5 years to 3 (so, age 43). +* Me: After nearly 25 years of doing what I am “supposed” to do, answering the question of what I “want” to do was/is much harder than expected and requires developing new attitudes and habits. Making good progress though! Volunteering more to start. +* Exercise is critical, your physical and mental health can really suffer in middle age otherwise. +* Kids are no longer in daycare and are only signed up for their 2 favourite camps this summer. Lots more “unstructured” time. Perhaps too much, will probably sign them up in music lessons this fall. +* Having kids to take care of during the transition is a big help, spending more time on them provides a good stepping stone to total freedom. Helps to prevent “the crazies”. I imagine retiring to an empty nest would be more of a shock. +* Went from 2 cars to 1, was nervous at the time but have absolutely no regrets. +* I do most cooking and cleaning now (she likes to cook on weekends). I like cooking and am getting good reviews. +* She doesn’t think I clean enough (she’s right, retirement doesn’t change everything!) +* I got a very part time gig in my field (10-20K /year, few hours a week). Keeps the brain active and plugs the hole in the resume if I want to go back to work. I find I’m not super passionate about it though, an interesting thing to discover. +* Freedom to say “no” allows me to be extremely frank and picky about what I sign up to in that job. I’ve recently seen more crass ways of describing this freedom ;) +* We were never extremely frugal and we don’t really intend to be going forward. We’re going for “sensible-but-comfortable-while-avoiding-the-big-consumer-traps”. +* We went from having no budget, while working, to a budget of $60k per year. We hit $69k but that includes a new water heater and we replaced all the windows in the house. I’ll call that a partial victory with caveats. +* A 20 year old house has lots of things come due for replacement all at once. Doing an inventory of all parts of your house and scheduling replacement dates for everything can be eye-opening. +* We found we still rely heavily on her benefits for dental, optical, physio. This needs to be taken into account, maybe up to 10k per year! + +Approximate details of assets when I retired, June 2015, Total $1,805K: + +* House Value ~350k +* RRSPs 525k +* Tax-Free Savings Accounts: $100k +* Registered Education Savings Program: $60K +* Commuted value of spouse's pension: $550k +* Other (after tax) Investments: $200k +* Emergency fund: $20k + +Approximate details of assets, June 2016, Total $1950K: + +* House Value ~350k +* RRSPs: 540k +* Tax-Free Savings Accounts: $110k +* Registered Education Savings Program: $60K +* Commuted value of spouse's pension: $650k +* Other (after tax) Investments: $220k +* Emergency fund: $20k + +If I exclude the house, the RESP and account for the tax implications of pulling out the pension early (which we intend to do) this leaves us with a ~$1.4M stash. 4% of that is $56k. That’s enough for a good life, so we’re FI, but my wife wants to work a few more years (between 2 and 5) since she still enjoys it, and build up a buffer, or maybe a cottage. + +The value of the pension is an interesting subject on its own, and [I wrote a post](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/4adi6p/impact_of_benchmark_bond_yields_on_a_pensions/) about how, in a way, it’s an effective hedge against the market. + +I’ll wrap it up there: if you want more details AMA. + +People have blown the whistle on naked short selling since before I was born. If thats all we uncovered in January, I'd be like: duh, no shit. Then I'd go about my day, knowing its unfair, but validating what I suspected. + +But after stopping retail from buying, hiding/resetting FTDs, infiltrating subs, shorting bonds, blatantly manipulating the market, the press lying, PFOF, HFT, the revolving door, bribes, the complete lack of punishment for breaking the law, dark pools, corporate espionage, pumping cryptos +5,000,000%, threatening to kill DD posters, shilling, sabotaging data, hiding money in the caymans, destroying the jobs of innocent people, not paying taxes, and everything else... + +How can anyone say America is anything except corrupt and morally bankrupt? They've meticulously built a system of thievery, illegality, and corruption. I knew the game was rigged but holy shit! This is next level fuckery. The entire system is designed at every level to fuck the poor. If I wasn't so disgusted, I would be impressed at the sheer lawlessness of it all. + +What do you guys think? Are you surprised? +Bought PINS Jan 21 2022 $50 call at $7, just one though. They are now worth $28.74 I would normally just sell half or a third to take some profit but since I only have one I'm trying to figure out the best way to take some profit while keeping a leap as I'm still bullish long term. I am thinking of rolling it up to ATM but not sure what the best strategy actully would be. + +Update: thanks for all the ideas, I decided to roll it up to $80 strike for a net profit of $500 and hopefully my bull thesis stays in tact and I can roll it again. +We're in an era of extremely low interest rates, which means even low risk passive investing is likely to make a return significantly greater than saving, and greater than paying off most debt like your average mortgage. + +Has this always been the case? + +I'm looking at the historic BoE base rate and throughout the 80s it was over 10%, often up to 13%! I assume savings accounts would have then had a higher interest rate, and debts too. But does that rate have any effect on the rate of return on investment, or are they completely independent variables? + +I suppose what I'm asking is: if you had a bit of spare cash in the 80's, would you be better off paying off your mortgage quicker, or would there be any reason to expect a greater return on investments than is currently the case? Might you even have been better off sticking it in a savings account than investing it? +What up Apes, + +u/Dan_Bren here wanted to apologize for the lack of posts been super busy but wanted to get the data out for everyone who's been asking. We didn't see any large block trades of DEEP ITM calls or puts the past 2 days. I will continue to monitor how the rest of the week plays out (data below) + +[GME Biggest Options Trades 5\/3\/21](https://preview.redd.it/3y6gvjt498x61.png?width=1227&format=png&auto=webp&s=29c414701855041e0c61a9f0d5d0383cbf5706bd) + +[GME Biggest Options Trades 5\/4\/21](https://preview.redd.it/6zxxn1t598x61.png?width=1226&format=png&auto=webp&s=05d0aeb980eb002072754ee74105b32f746651cd) + +Disregard the time in the images as I had pulled them after midnight which is why they are showing the next date. + +See ya tomorrow + +Edit: If anyone here is a strong coder/ blockchain coder please dm me +First of all I would like to start with saying that people really need to research more. This sub is so different compared to when I started in '17. Back in 2017 people were very helpful and actually listened to what others had to say. Right now you are getting attacked or called ' FUDster ' when you are just trying to explain something to people. Don't even get me started on the crypto tribalism where if you say ' I like coin x ' you are a shill and you get attacked by all the other tribes. + +Its a pity because I found this sub to be very helpful when I started myself. + +&#x200B; + +Anyways, what is this thread about? + +&#x200B; + +So remember when Binance ( [CZ tweet](https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1123048279124500480) ) was saying that it was moving its funds to another address with ***ONE LARGE transaction***? Well it turns out that did not happen! The original address has been drained with about 10 transactions to the new address. But hold on, the new address only has *42M Tether* at the time of writing this and the original one had over 780M! So where did the rest go?? The answer: Different addresses, thousands of them. + +&#x200B; + +[This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOX7Hcdrag&t=1s) explains all of it perfectly and has all the evidence you need ( skip to 1:00 if you dont want to hear the troll song intro ). Please watch the video before calling me a FUDster or shill or whatever. You guys have no idea what is going on behind the scene and the person in the video has done some solid research. There is no point in repeating everything he says in text form. + +&#x200B; + +I find it quite suspicious that this is all happening in the same period as when Ifinex is having difficult times. The parent company of Bitfinex called Ifinex owns both Tether and Bitfinex. For the people who didnt know Tether [is getting sued](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/attorney-general-james-announces-court-order-against-crypto-currency-company-under) by the New York State Attorney General for covering up a loss of $850M. + +All of this leads to uncertainty and no wonder that over 30k BTC has been withdrawn from Bitfinex the past couple of days as you can see from the photo below. People are getting their funds off the exchange and are putting it in cold storage/sending it to other exchanges. + +https://i.redd.it/bg93u5zh8dw21.png + +' Thats just a coincidence dude what are you talking about stop fudding dude. ' + +Well explain why not only BTC is getting withdrawn but Ethereum as well, and LOOK at how much is being withdrawn. Thats over 40% withdrawn in the last week on ***Ethereum***. The BTC price pump, Binance Tether transactions and the NYSAG investigation of fraud is all happening at the same time and no one is batting an eye. + +&#x200B; + +https://i.redd.it/ylomp8aa9dw21.png + +Like I said everything is explained perfectly in [THIS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOX7Hcdrag&t=1s) video. The youtuber called Chico Crypto has done tremendous and solid research on these topics. It would be a real pity if this thread would get flooded with the same old 'FUD allegations' instead of constructive criticism. I'm all for good research and discussions but the evidence shows that there is some serious stuff going on behind the scenes. + +Edit: Im not sure why the mods flaired my thread as misleading. As things stand no one in the comments was able to find the missing 100M tether and the rest of the bitfinex saga still stands. + +Like I said in one of my comments before I dont expect to be 100% correct. I just like to bring things to the discussion table to be able to talk about it. My intention is to discuss research with each other which should be done more in r/cryptocurrency. If Im wrong Im perfectly fine with that, but as things stand its all still not clear. +We just got off a phone call with our Vanguard advisor who is very happy with our situation. My wife looks like she wants to go die somewhere. FA says we can swap our equity for a house in a new location we're thinking about. All good there. Then she says with our savings and the social security that we'll receive in 12 years we can retire now if we can live on 50k. I would probably keep freelancing a bit to get us to 60k which is our current living expense after mortgage which is accounted for by the swap. My wife is instantly depressed because she associates 50k as being poor whereas I see it as essentially what you get from a 100k job after taxes and mortgage expenses. Am I wrong? Trying to get her to see this a different way. +To add to the question, mine and my partners Ariel broke so couldn’t watch any tv channels without major signal issues, plus the fact we never watched live tv or BBC Iplayer as anything on there is generally rubbish. + +So we decided to cancel it to save £159 a year on something we simply don’t use. + + +What are the chances of them coming round to investigate if I watch Live TV and decide wrongly that I do watch TV? - or do they need to prove that I am? +What did the volume on VW look like leading up to the squeeze? + +I'm asking for a friend. And I'm not sure where to go to look that info up. I'm also in bed but if this dies in new I'll try to look tomorrow. + +The bot said this is too short so I'll add that in a couple days my auto buy on computer share will go through! + +I just ate some chocolate cake and I had ice cream with it too. + +Text text text text text text. +At least once a week on /r/povertyfinance or /r/personalfinance, we have a highly upvoted thread extolling the pay of trade skill careers. These jobs are supposedly paying tons of money (the amount of the hyperbole varies by thread, but people claiming plumbers make 6 figures is not unusual). People also claim that there is some sort of huge demand for these jobs. + +So here is the data on the most popular trade skills and what they actually pay at the national median (including whether or not the occupation is actually growing): + +* Electricians - $26.53/Hour (Normal Demand - Average Job Growth Rate) +* Plumbers - $25.92/Hour (High Demand - Higher than Average Job Growth Rate) +* Carpenters - $22.40/Hour (Normal Demand - Average Job Growth Rate) +* Truckers - $21.00/Hour (Normal Demand - Average Job Growth Rate) +* Welders - $19.89/Hour (Normal Demand - Average Job Growth Rate) + +This is nationally representative data pulled directly from the [BLS Occupational Employment Survey](https://www.bls.gov/oes/). I'm posting hourly rates because every time this data is brought up, someone always claims the yearly rates don't take into account overtime. So lets just consider the hourly rates. These median rates are what the 50th percentile of the occupation make. Yes, it varies by metropolitan area. And yes, if you are in a union you will make more. But there just aren't tons of unionized very high cost of living metropolitan areas where you have large numbers of trade apprentice positions open. + +I really think its important for people to look at the facts before jumping into these careers. *In general, trade skill jobs do not pay a ton of money relative to an area's cost of living.* This makes sense if you think about it - a job cannot be (A) in high demand (B) be so easy anyone can do it and (C) pay large amounts of money. That isn't how labor markets work. + +Ultimately there is nothing wrong with trade skill work. Its a honest living, if you enjoy that type of thing. And although the pay is not great, it pays OK in most cases. But the number of cases where anyone in a trade is making the hysterical amounts of money that often get talked about on reddit is ***extremely*** low. Like any other career, someone has to be in the top 1% of the salary range. There are plumbers out there that really do make $100k a year. But it isn't normal and isn't a realistic pay level for 99% of the occupation. + +It is important to acknowledge what people are actually getting paid at the median - and that most of these careers are not in high demand. What people are doing instead is finding those handful of plumbers that make $100k a year and then imply that this is normal (or at least not unusual). It would be like saying being a cashier is a great career because there a handful of Costco cashiers in New York or California who make $80k a year. That is true - those cashiers do exist. But no one would take that information and then proclaim being a cashier is a great career option. Yet we're doing it with trade skill occupations for some reason. +Looking at AAPLs fundamentals and the pile of cash they are about to be sitting on due to the tax bill makes me think AAPL might be a good investment moving forward. The valuation is also excellent relative to other popular companies. Here's why I don't want to put my money in just yet. + +The biggest risk I see is that 70% of Apple's revenue comes from iPhone sales. I think iPhones are great, in fact I'm typing this on my iPhone right now. The iPhone X is too expensive and there has been bad publicity surrounding iPhone batteries lately which could eat into their sales numbers. Selling at over $1000 is a deal breaker for me and I would strongly consider taking my business to Samsung if it was time for a new phone. I can only imagine other consumers must feel the same way. + +Additionally, part of the reason the company is so profitable is because the profit margins on iPhones are huge at about 60%. Apple is clearly a master of marketing and maintaining a strong customer base. I worry that the next time there's an economic downturn, no one is going to be able to afford these luxury products and Apple will have to drastically lower its profit margins in order to stay competitive. Additionally, there may be new, cheap smartphones which may not be as powerful as an iPhone, but gets the job done. I'm thinking like how an amazon fire 7 for $50 is expected to compete with the Apple iPad for $300+. + +Lastly and least importantly, looking at the max history of the AAPL stock price charts shows that the company tends to fall out of favor for long periods of time every few years. I don't know much about technical analysis, but based on recent news it seems like the company could be at a turning point once again. + +I really do want to invest in this company based on the amount of cash they'll be sitting on for reinvestment, the amount of cash that continues pouring in, and the strength of the brand name, but for these reasons I feel like I shouldn't. + +I fixed my mortgage in May 2022 at 1.69% for 2 years. I’m considering breaking the deal early and fixing for 5 years because of the way the rates are increasing so quickly. There would be an ERC of £900 for me to do this, but I’m just scared of how high the rates will be by May 2024. Would you stick with it or change your deal now and pay the ERC? + +UPDATE - Thank you to everybody for your replies. I didn’t expect this post to get so much attention. For those asking why I didn’t fix for longer, it’s because I was going through a long-term break up around the time and wasn’t sure what the future held so wanted to be on the safe side and fixed for a shorter period. + +I’m going to do what most of you have suggested and ride it out, put aside some money and use it to overpay towards the end of my deal. I know that there are others who are worse off than me but I really hope everyone gets through this unscathed. Thank you again! + + +Background: I am graduating college in the spring and have a job in line to make 80,000 a year. While this is exciting for a starting salary, I don’t enjoy the corporate life and want to leave it as quickly as I can. For reference this is all in San Diego, so property won't come cheap. + +One option I am looking into is living in one room and renting out the others. That way my loan won’t be a renters loan and therefore better? Other than that I am without a clue. + +What kind of down payment am I looking at? + +Credit score of 752 if that matters. + +Few school loans. +The infrastructure bill past which will have a impact on many industries including real estate. + +Do you feel that the real estate market will continue to climb as new capital get introduced into the market? + +Which areas will benefit most from increased investment into public transportation, telecom services exc? + +What are some opportunities to look for in the near future to capitalize on this? + + +Background: I am graduating college in the spring and have a job in line to make 80,000 a year. While this is exciting for a starting salary, I don’t enjoy the corporate life and want to leave it as quickly as I can. For reference this is all in San Diego, so property won't come cheap. + +One option I am looking into is living in one room and renting out the others. That way my loan won’t be a renters loan and therefore better? Other than that I am without a clue. + +What kind of down payment am I looking at? + +Credit score of 752 if that matters. + +Few school loans. +Here's another sfh brrrr I bought for 132k 9 months ago I offered 50k earnest money non refundable with no contingencies. I was up against 25 or so investors on this deal it was a busy open house. + +I put down initially 10% down hml 13k plus 6k closing costs so 19k down. I asked for 40k rehab but only used 30k so my invested capital went down from 19k to 9k. This cashout I'm getting only 1k which leaves my invested capital at 8k. I recieved 2800 deposit so in my eyes that reduces my investment to 5200 of capital invested. In my view when these tenants leave I'll get a new deposit from next tenants but everyone will view this differently. + +I have 5k invested and 54k in equity within 6 months of purchase. In these past 6 months Ive cash flowed 900 a month(5400 total) so property is 100% COC . All within 6 months of purchase. + +I rehabbed the home completely from new roof, painted and repaired siding. Replaced few windows, new 100% kitchen from lights, cabinets and floor. Ton of rehab new water heater. All new appliances. The home will be trouble free for 10 years easy. The floor is vinyl plank waterproof. + +Before you ask why the rehab was cheap. I have my own full time crew. I didn't pull permits because that's a pain in the ass I prefer not to deal with. 1 permit(plumbing) alone can take 4 weeks to get approved and it extends rehabs to 3-4 months instead of 3 weeks. + + https://imgur.com/gallery/Virnmap + +Edit: I just remembered 2 years ago i was going to sell a property and had all electrical redone and water heater without permits and it passed both inspection and fha appraisal with no issues. I canceled the sale because buyer wanted extension so i just rented it out. Flipping to sell was horribly slow. +Honestly the amount of times ive heard this shit and no more than 5-10% of for an individual stock in your portfolio. + +Does anyone do this? I have 14 stocks at the moment im starting to think its way to much. About to sell most and go all in on 3 stocks. Yeh its good to hold onto a stock that could potentially make it big and you scored it at a dirt cheap price. But going all in on lets say Zip or NXT there is no waiting and wont be losing anytime soon. Guaranteed big profits +https://preview.redd.it/6vik9ko3pn891.jpg?width=256&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01c1629e89e146257d43050d58cf18eb80b23e9c + +What was your **unrealized & realized** return from the **ASX** between July 1st 2021 and June 30th 2022? + +The all ordinaries lost about 10% over that time frame, so I've included that bracket to compare the sub against the index[.](https://external-preview.redd.it/KP0WhRQYo0Qgs4cKdhQNRKWC8yo4GHxhFD3fuK5vwLg.png?auto=webp&s=3491fd49d651531e06e36fc944a028932bb5aa9b) + +[Last year's results](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/oas7wn/howd_your_20202021_financial_year_gains_end_up/). + +[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/vnun1b) +This is not a meme stock. FEX is the real deal and an absolute steal at the current SP. + +Iron ore company, has just mined some excellent, high quality iron ore. Shipping is delayed due to an oil spill (hence the stagnant share price) however this has been cleaned up and they should be shipping as early as Tuesday this week. This shipment is set to make them roughly $143m, well over their market cap. This will reflect well in the share price in mid-March. I’m expecting a minimum of 40-45c mid to late March. +Right, + +I'm curious now. Who do we think is doing the insanely large orders that went through at 15:06:55 and 14:59:37? + +Someone came along and literally bought the farm in one fell swoop, roughly 18.2m units at 0.028 and 11m units at 0.029 + +Is there something going on here, or am I just connecting dots like the madman my mother said I am? + +Thoughts? +ok: I know this is highly subjective and personal, but I want to get an idea of what you guys all do with your savings (apart from punt it on fish guts) + +I’m 30 years old and I have the majority of my savings ($30k) in a bank account earning 1% interest (some bullshit bonus accrued monthly as long as I don’t make a withdrawal in that month). + +now, everyone on ausfinance says a big cash buffer is important, but when I told my friend about this he said I was going to get fucked by inflation. unfortunately this friend wouldn’t elaborate too much as he says he’s wary of giving financial advice to friends. + +I worked hard for this money, and I don’t want to be too reckless with it, but I do want to put it to work. I have a stock portfolio of around $10k but I’m wondering if my ratio of investment/liquidity might be way off right now. + +I won’t consider it financial advice but I’d love to hear any thoughts on this situation. cheers guys. +Are the massive spikes in companies caused purely by day traders? Or do normal mum and dad investors have some involvement too? Classic example from this week is JPR. + +Sure, JPR has a combination of a small number of shares and tiny market cap, but honestly the news they released meant bugger all and I'm surprised anyone even knows about them? + +Will autists legit jump on any rocket, at any time? +I could actually sell at a tiny profit after buying on the hype train earlier, but I guess I’ll wait for it to go back down before I sell so I belong in the sub. Just wondering if anyone knows what happened. +Finally getting around to my tax return since I’m running low on money from MSB crashing. + +I’m not going to those fuckers at Ausfinance for advice. + +Does under 2k sound right to you? Claimed a fuck load of things... everyone I know got 3-4K.... + +Help this autist get more back so I can pay my z1p debt + +Tips please I haven’t lodged it yet +Fellow autists, hear my plea - I wanna buy 2 of the following stonks today but can't decide which 2, pls halp. + +* LRS +* NVA +* ADN + +Which ever 2 get the most upvotes i'll buy - Any dumbfuck discussion is also welcome +Ok I know you retards here are jacking off at VUL and your other shitty mining companies, but listen the fuck up. Those rockets have taken off and the fuel is almost exhausted. But guess what, GME meanwhile is still fuelling up. + +GME is going to the fucking stratosphere, I don't care. I ain't selling till it reaches $500 minimum 🚀🚀🚀🚀. + +I know you retards too well. You've seen TSLA everywhere and are like "fuck I should've invested in TSLA when it was $420 pre split, I should've seen the short squeeze coming. I would've been a millionaire." Want another chance? GME is that chance. GME is going to have the biggest short squeeze in the history of fucking forever. + +Do yourself a favour, get your dollarydoos out and exchange them for freedom bucks and go fucking buy some GME shares at market open tonight, you pussies. + +Positions: $10K AUD worth of GME shares. + +*Disclaimer because I don't wanna get raped by the SEC or ASIC: Do your own research, this post is for entertainment purposes only (but seriously, buy GME). + +🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Edit Proof: + +https://ibb.co/xz6f2F2 +By now, if you haven’t heard about cryptocurrency, you must be living under a rock. People young and old have been investing in cryptocurrency as of late. With the price of 1 Bitcoin pushing past 60,000USD for the first time earlier this month, experienced and non-experienced investors have been eager to get their foot in the game. + +But making a healthy profit from investing in crypto isn’t the easiest thing to do. You can’t expect to just throw all your money at Bitcoin or Ethereum and make a big profit. It's common for new investors to put money into a token that is at an all-time high because they don’t want to miss out on the profit, but then have the price dump down on them and leave them at a loss. + +Investing without any knowledge of the cryptocurrency environment is a dangerous game. With thousands of different crypto projects out there, it's hard to choose the right one to invest in at the right price. Doing all the research yourself is an option, but wouldn’t it be nice to have people do that hard work for you (without having to pay them fees)? + +You may have heard of ‘pump-and-dump’ groups before. These groups will all coordinate to put a lot of money into a crypto token at the same time, then quickly sell off all their holdings once they reach their desired profit (typically between 100%-300% gains and up to 1000% sometimes). + +The problem with these groups is that it's easy for newbie investors to lose their money during the pump-and-dump, either by not putting in their money quickly enough or not selling at the right time before the price goes below what they paid. Other times, people running pump-and-dump groups will pre-buy the token before everyone else so they can make a greater profit off of everyone else in the group by selling as the group buys. + +Plus, a lot of these groups use ‘bots’ that do all the buying and selling for them, so you’re at a disadvantage when you aren’t using a bot to do it. + +That’s where WhaleSpring comes in. WhaleSpring is a community of experienced and newbie investors that work together to choose great cryptos in which to invest. + +However, WhaleSpring is different from all of those pump-and-dump groups. WhaleSpring is an invest-and-hold group. You don’t have to worry about losing your investment to the ‘dump’. The team running WhaleSpring never pre-buys tokens before a pump so it is fair for everyone involved. Plus, you don’t have to worry about bots buying the token before everyone else because the token is always announced as an image that bots can’t read. It simply becomes a matter of how fast you can type the token into the exchange once it's announced and click buy. + +WhaleSpring has seen massive success in their investments. + +Vethor Token (VTHO) was one of the picks made in early February, and has since increased in price over 1000%. + +Audius (AUDIO) was another, with its price increasing over 500% since investment. + +The chosen tokens always have strong underlying value and fundamentals, and they have a tendency to be low-market cap so that the amount of money WhaleSpring community investors make is much higher. If you talk to those in the WhaleSpring community, you’ll hear how happy people are with the gains made from these investments. + +The WhaleSpring community is very supportive and friendly to everyone. They keep the community focused on investment and education. The community will answer your questions politely, however silly you think the question may sound. It has a real family feel. + +Besides the community investments that happen on Whalespring, you can learn a ton about cryptocurrency and other great projects in which to invest. + +To get started on a successful crypto investing journey, visit [WhaleSpring.org](https://WhaleSpring.org)! +In 2023, is Dave Ramsey still relevant? I find some of his advice outdated. It does not make mathematical sense in my mind to ignore interest rates when paying off your debts. + +Is Dave Ramsey for more “emotional” people who need to physically see the debt going down faster? In my mind the logical thing to do is pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first. Think about it… if you have a private student loan that’s 100,000+ with a 9% interest rate, you end up paying so much more in interest if you don’t pay it off fast. + +I also don’t think it’s smart to pay for cars with cash. Or wait until you’re 100% debt free to have investment accounts…. +I came across this and wanted to share it with you Apes, because it gives a very detailed **but easy to understand** rundown of everything we have seen in this saga. This seems to have been publised in or before 2007, and the site it originated from ([counterfeitingstock.com](https://counterfeitingstock.com)) does not even exist any more. But the information contained is as relevant now as when it first came out, and I think a great resource for **understanding the complexities yourself** or to **explain to friends/family/potential Apes** if you are having a hard time getting the message across: + +[https://www.petepetit.com/mimedx/downloads/Counterfeiting-Stock.pdf](https://www.petepetit.com/mimedx/downloads/Counterfeiting-Stock.pdf) + +Note that this is a PDF version on the personal website of an Atlanta businessman named Pete Petit, whose company had fallen victim to naked shorting. He seems to have kept a copy of the original document up on the site, although not something he produced himself. As a "sneak preview", here are some excerpts from it that I thought are particularly interesting: + +**"Short Iceberg" that shows how they circumvent Reg SHO and hide their naked shorts:** + +[How far down the list are we now...?](https://preview.redd.it/1iyf8en7w8n71.jpg?width=623&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=232af12eec1da2fcebd524335d0f90d213c55841) + +**A list of all the methods they use to drive down the stock price, including:** + +1. Ladder attacks +2. Media manipulation and attacks +3. Negative Wall St analyst reports +4. Planting moles in target companies +5. Tipping the SEC to investigate target companies +6. Lawsuits against target companies +7. Interfering with partners/customers/financiers of target companies +8. Pulling margin from investors who are long on the stock +9. Paid shills (the writer calls them "bashers") on internet message boards +10. Buying politial influence + +Any of that sound familar to you...? Each one of these is detailed in the **Appendix** **section** and if you have no time to look through the the rest, just go to page 18 and start there... + +Let me leave you with a preview of Appendix L, about how the SEC and other regulatory agencies have deliberately made their enforcement appartus so that they give the *appearance of doing work*, when in reality they are *not doing any meaningful work at all*: + +[A tale as old as time...](https://preview.redd.it/1ohwi371v8n71.jpg?width=628&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dad271f1900da6145af3f94150806047800026e4) + +Hope this is as enlightening and useful to you, as it has been for me! +It’s apparently owned by Mark Zuckerberg, The Rock, and Obama. I’m not sure on the details because there’s really not much information on it and no one is talking about it, but it is supposed to be able to teleport people through the blockchain like in Star Trek without any gas fees + +I read the white paper and I really believe in the tech. I’m hearing they’ve also got some really neat time travel projects on the go. Not to mention every Facebook user will get a free Loopring bandana or keychain (while supplies last) + +The market cap is only $10,000 right now and the dev team is fully doxed. They’re also the same people who created the original Palm Pilot and were instrumental in the development of the new Root Beer flavour of Pop Tarts. I’m not kidding when I say I think it could 1000x time easily by the end of December. + +Of course, as with anything, DYOR. But I’m shocked not a single person is talking about this revolutionary coin. +Original: +On mobile I will do my best. + +I went from making well below median income for my area, to almost $10K above median. How? I applied for my dream job with a Word doc resume I built using ATS (applicant tracking system software) to make sure my resume got into the hands of a person to get an interview, and didn't die in the hands of a HR robot using ATS. (The site if you don't know about it yet is jobscan.co I used 2 of the 5 free uses and you can get more free scans by referring yourself or friends or their surveys) + +Different perspective: I went from about $25 monthly wiggle room after base expenses, to nearly $3,000 saved in the bank in just 6 months. From paycheck-to-3-days-before-paycheck, to forgetting which day was payday because I had 0 money worries. + +And I hate it here so much I am going to quit. My old job loved me because how hard I worked, so the door is always open. But I am going to try applying other places because I can't go back to constantly worrying if I can get my bills paid and asking for extensions. + +It's crazy to think that if I have been in another department with the company I would have loved it here, but apparently this entire third of the company at this building (3 locations) are very poor morale and hate management because they're pretty terrible. And I'm no exception. My boss talking super loud about me before they even met me saying a lot of bad things about me to their boss,, **even making fun of my name**. Again, how? We'd not met yet. Boss's boss berating me for skipping a meeting they told me not to attend. The list goes on. + +Of the 8 in my training class, 6 completed training. 4 immediately transferred to other locations. The 2 of us are stuck at this site, and apparently my time off work for having COVID means I cannot transfer out because I have "poor attendance issues" and with the stricter, more difficult metrics at this location I now also have "poor performance issues" because I'm still doing the job per regulations which takes longer. The other person stuck here chose to cut corners (only way to meet the metrics at our job site) but their boss is constantly hounding them upwards of 30 times daily over every mistake they make while cutting corners. + +**TL,DR: The grass is definitely greener on the other side, but my better-paying job is a hellscape so I'm using HR's software against them to get out.** + +Edit: +This is a vent post. This has been my dream job for TEN years. Originally it was degree only and now you have to prove you have several years of experience which I have. My parents died in high school so like, wtf was I supposed to do? I eventually went and got my GED and no surprise to me, I was 96th to 99th percentile on all the tests because my problem was my damn home life fell apart when I was a kid. Not that I didn't know anything. There's a couple judgy fucks in the comments like oH wOrK hARdEr or saying yOuR aTtItUde iS wHy U hATe iT. Fuck off. I have friends and a relative of long-time employees that are in the union but they work in the other locations. Out of 7 people that were long term all 7 said this location cannot keep staff for long and when they were briefly assigned here they got out as soon as they could. One of the departments in the main site want me but their area is full and they're not allowed to replace union workers and no budget for more workers even though they're understaffed. + +I knew very intimately the type of work I would be doing years before I ever applied. I have worked very hard for everything I got, I'm usually a mom-type figure at work who performs in top 10%, example last job out of 60 people I did 4% of the work, so instead of 1.7% it was like 1 out of 25 people instead of 60. Job before that top 20%. Job before that top 15%, just before that unknown percentage but only the top employees got 1 free hour every month and I got it almost every time. But guess what THEY ONLY PAY $13 AN HOUR, RENT FOR 1BDR IS $1000 JUST FOR RENT, NO VACATION OR HOLIDAY PAY, DO THE DAMN MATH. I been homeless 5 times because it takes money to make money and when you have nobody and nothing you can't even pay to get a GED to get a job. Anybody who wants to see the title and the post and still try and say the management is my FAULT when it my PROBLEM but not my FAULT all I can say is stay classy. May all your glasses of water be room temperature and I hope your favorite pair of socks starts bunching up at the toes. + +edit2: thanks for the gold stranger +At 10k net worth, I wanted 100k. At 100k I wanted 1MM. At 1MM I wanted 2MM. At 2MM I wanted 3MM and now I’m here. With more money than I thought I’d ever had, but 4MM sounds even better. How do I stop! + +Financial freedom and security is what I want and more always sounds better. Anyone with tips on how to be happy with what you have? + +I know some will compare this to themselves or other who have considerably less, and say “most people have a fraction of what you have and are content”. But that scales at almost every level, to those with 100 million down to those with $100. There’s always someone with less whose reality is within those limitations. The question I really have is: how do you stop playing when you’ve won the game and enjoy the fruits? +My first child is due in March and the wife and I have agreed that it would be great to give her a head start in life by starting up a custodial trading account for her when she's born. My plan (so far) is to put Blue Chips and high quality dividends stocks in her account, hopefully buying at least one share a month and maybe a set dollar amount for her birthday and Christmas. + +Of course, with this we are planning on teaching her the value of financial responsibility and wise investing so that when she turns 18 she will be able to make good decisions with the foundations we've given her. + +Myself, I'm more of a swing trader than a long term holder so I'm a bit out of my personal wheelhouse when it comes to building a good dividends portfolio, which is what brings me here. + +Any advice would be greatly appreciated, what plans have you folks employed with success on finding the right stocks with the right potential and what do you see as being the most important things to consider when investing in dividends stocks? +My first child is due in March and the wife and I have agreed that it would be great to give her a head start in life by starting up a custodial trading account for her when she's born. My plan (so far) is to put Blue Chips and high quality dividends stocks in her account, hopefully buying at least one share a month and maybe a set dollar amount for her birthday and Christmas. + +Of course, with this we are planning on teaching her the value of financial responsibility and wise investing so that when she turns 18 she will be able to make good decisions with the foundations we've given her. + +Myself, I'm more of a swing trader than a long term holder so I'm a bit out of my personal wheelhouse when it comes to building a good dividends portfolio, which is what brings me here. + +Any advice would be greatly appreciated, what plans have you folks employed with success on finding the right stocks with the right potential and what do you see as being the most important things to consider when investing in dividends stocks? +* Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) declares $1.04/share quarterly dividend, 12% increase from prior dividend of $0.93. +* Forward yield 1.82% +* Payable Jan. 1; for shareholders of record Dec. 10; ex-div Dec. 9. +Hi everyone! + +I posted this first in /r/ASX_bets because they're an emotional bunch. At the risk of burning myself out, I'll post it here, too. Happy to answer questions, of course! + +US trading will be ready in full swing on 14th December 2020 but this week you can pre-register for a US trading account so it’s ready to go come Monday. + +**Notes** + +* You will need to do this for each portfolio you have and anyone with joint account needs to have both people accept the terms. Do it by clicking your avatar on the website and [clicking ’settings’.](https://secure.selfwealth.com.au/Settings) There will be an “Add US Trading” next to all approved ASX trading portfolios. +* W-8BEN forms are digital. + + * W-8BEN-E forms (note the ‘E’ on the end) are physical, these are for SMSFs, trusts, company accounts etc but [we’ve got some solid guides on how to complete these.](https://www.selfwealth.com.au/SelfWealthW8BENEFormGuide) WHEN SIGNING THESE PLEASE DO IT IN US DATES otherwise it creates problems. E.g. sign it today and it’s 12/07/2020. +* If we don’t have your TFN [you’ll need to update it](https://www.selfwealth.com.au/ChangeTFN-ABNDetails). We’ll be prioritising them this week so you’re good to go come Monday. +* US trading will not be on the current version of the mobile app, the new app (due to be released soon, once US trading is up and running) will support US trading. Therefore, you can only trade US on the website for the next few weeks until it’s released. You can log into the website on your phone. +* You can transfer stocks and cash from another broker, **but can only initiate this next week**. Cash can only be transferred as part of a stock transfer, you can’t transfer US cash directly into your SelfWealth US cash account. [Form here.](https://www.selfwealth.com.au/TransferUSStocksIn) +* Additional order types will come in the coming weeks, at the moment it’s day-only limit orders. We’re expecting to add market orders in December. +* After that, we’ll be adding conditional orders (stop loss, market on open, stop limit) but no timeframe on that yet. +* No, options aren’t on the platform and not going to be added in the short-term. +* Want cash before US market opens? Transfer it from your AUD account before 9 am. + + * At the moment, you’ve effectively got a 30-minute window if you’ve just transferred cash into your SWF account and want to go straight into the US that night. \~8.30am - 9am to get it moved over. We’ll be working on improving this. +* The custodian for your shares is PhillipCapital, a large Singapore-based group. All US trading from Australia is done under custodianship, there’s no CHESS sponsorship for US shares from here. + +**Features of US trading on SelfWealth** + +* USD 9.50 flat-fee brokerage. Your first US trade is on us if done before the end of Feb, we’ll refund the brokerage in the next month to your AUD cash account. +* A free USD cash account +* A massive list of securities to choose from (7,500+) +* Competitive FX spread (all brokers charge this) at 0.60% when moving cash between currencies +* No account, inactivity fees or withdrawal fees +* Live chat support during US trading hours (not the full hours initially) + +**New Mobile Apps** + +* Brand new native iOS and Android apps to be released in the next few weeks +* We’ll still be working on them over the subsequent weeks to release more features (better account control) +* We’ll also be open to feedback so please submit it if something’s not great and if there are enough voices, we’ll rework parts. + +**Other Answers** + +* We’ll be working on other features in the new year: live pricing and faster cash transfers into SelfWealth +* We’ll be then prioritising everything else to figure out what we’ll be working on next, such as options trading, IPO access and other features. +* We’re going to be redesigning the website (public-facing and trading platform) so it’s more in line with the app experience. + +If you have any investment questions (i.e. investing in ASX:SWF) I can answer them here otherwise Rob (Managing Director) will answer them via [shareholders@selfwealth.com.au](mailto:shareholders@selfwealth.com.au). + + +[This is the official $GME Megathread for r\/Superstonk.](https://preview.redd.it/gzy9yfftoov71.png?width=778&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ce125aa2d7455f994d74a4192f1a04b7d14448c) + +**Please keep ALL conversations contained to Gamestop and directly related topics.** + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Brand new to the sub? Start here! + +***You must read the*** [***Superstonk Rules***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/rules) ***before commenting or posting on*** [***r/Superstonk***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/)*.* + +https://preview.redd.it/u7nzd0m0pov71.png?width=1651&format=png&auto=webp&s=df5232178c4035ba1c069f9306b30453b42946cd + +The extremely talented and dedicated [u/zedinstead](https://www.reddit.com/u/zedinstead/) has created this beautiful collection of the most important, groundbreaking **D**ue **D**iligence in PDF format that can be easily accessed and shared. If your looking to familiarize yourself with the GME bull thesis or the underhanded tactics of the short sellers involved in this trade-- then this is for you: + +# [GME.fyi](https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/kosyg) + +[r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/) employs strict posting requirements to ensure our community stays moderately free from trolls and other such bad actors. As such you may find you have trouble posting if you haven't fully read and understood our rules. + +**Posts keep getting removed?** [Find out why.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/rules) + +**Not enough** [**karma**](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204511829-What-is-karma-)**?** Here's a [quick guide](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-get-karma-on-reddit/) on how to get it. + +**Want to learn more?** [Check out our extensive Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) and [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq) + +**Eager for more even more GameStop info?** [gmedd.com](https://gmedd.com/) is a spectacular resource. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Flair Links + +Check out our [**flair system**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mrwirc/updated_about_and_menu_flair_directory/), which is easily accessible via the sidebar button widget on desktop or the About menu on mobile. + +[📚 Due Diligence](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%93%9A%20Due%20Diligence%22) | [📚 Possible DD](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%93%9A%20Possible%20DD%22) | [📈 Technical Analysis](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%93%88%20Technical%20Analysis%22) | [🤔 Speculation / Opinion](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%A4%94%20Speculation%20%2F%20Opinion%22) | [💻 Computershare](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%92%BB%20Computershare%22) | [💡 Education](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%92%A1%20Education%22) | [📰 News](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%93%B0%20News%22) | [🤡 Meme](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%A4%A1%20Meme%22) | [👽 Shitpost](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%91%BD%20Shitpost%22) |[📳Social Media](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%F0%9F%93%B3Social%20Media%22) | [☁ Hype fluff](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/?f=flair_name%3A%22%E2%98%81%20Hype%2F%20Fluff%22) + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +***What's This Post All About?*** + +The first thing you'll notice is a stickied comment right at the top. We call this the "Front Desk". Every day a moderator will create a new sticky comment that includes links to community announcements, fantastic posts that deserve more attention, and generally the simplest and easiest way to interact with the moderators of this community. The rest of the post is designed for general discussion and content/questions that might not need their own post. + +If you are new please mention that when you comment. There are no stupid questions but "shills" (paid accounts with the intent to disrupt the sub) are real. This community sees a lot of trolls. If you do not distinguish yourself as someone with genuine questions it is likely that members of our community will assume you are just spreading "FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). I hate that I have to give you this warning but it is just the nature of the beast at this point. + +Please have fun, play nice and be civil. Many of our rules are heavily enforced. Debate is welcome but if it devolves into personal insults please report the comment. *Ape no fight ape!* +I'm new to this, early 20. I work at sales and I don't like what I do. I'm not happy. I don't want to go to bed early and get up early. I like taking pictures, I like playing guitar. I'm not keeping up with this life. I want to work from home but I don't know what to do. I'm at college but doing visual arts. +My wife and I are both in our late 20s. We both got a later start on retirement planning/investing but have been diligent in this area over the past 2 years. We both have Roth IRAs, a joint-investment account, and a comfortable amount in emergency funds. We have been thinking about opening traditional IRAs in addition to our current Roth IRAs. We could each max out both a traditional and Roth IRA annually. I just want to know if that is a good idea or if that additional money would be better invested elsewhere? + +Any advice is appreciated greatly 😃 +Bitcoin isn’t GameStop; it will never be GameStop. We aren’t here for short term profits, we are here to revolutionize the world. Please stop posting wallstreetbets style posts about Bitcoin. If you are looking to get rich quick, this isn’t the best subreddit for you. +I am coming to the realization that in the future I will likely be supporting my parents and it is freaking me out. + +Backstory on me: I am 36 with a great husband and 2 teenagers. Me and my husband have great careers and are financially secure. We are very good with our money and have done a good job planning for our families future. + +My parents: They have struggled my whole life with money and have never been good with their money. They are getting older and are not prepared for the future. Things seem to be getting worse for them financially. They have gotten desperate recently and against my advice pulled money out of their retirement to stay afloat. They seem to have gotten things back on track but still living pay check to pay check like usual. Not like they have a lot of options but still what I would consider irresponsible with the little money they do have. + +Now my fear is that due to their poor decisions and lack of planning I will end up taking care of them. Please understand I’m not trying to sound like some kind of entitled bratty child. It’s just that my family has worked very hard to put ourselves in a good position. It frustrating to realize that their bad choices and lack of planning is likely to be my family’s problem. + +Figured I’m not the only one who has been in this situation and maybe someone would have some advice. +I finished grad school in the early 2000s and immediately landed my dream job. For many years, I’ve felt like the lucky one. I enjoy 4 day work weeks, work only 7 hours a day, have extreme flexibility with hours (which is ideal with a kid), and I get to travel for work twice a year. But.... + +My salary has peaked at a straight $48k (no benefits). I work in a broad field, but a very, very tiny niche. This is what grants me the freedom I have, but limits my earnings. The niche doesn’t expand or contract. My 3-person company had nearly identical performance during the early 2000s boom through the 2008 bust to now. + +I’m 40, married, one child. Our net worth is about $250k. My wife makes $60k as an office manager (she has also neared her salary peak). We’re good savers and enjoy cheap entertainment with the kids. But I’m beginning to struggle with the thought that $48k is as good as it gets for me. I see many posts here about people leaving rat-race jobs to get what I already have. But, I’m beginning to feel like going the other way. + +At what point in this journey is it worth giving up time in exchange for more money (and benefits)? Did I mess up and do this whole FIRE thing backwards?! My wife and I have discussed this ad naseum, but I’m hoping some of you may have insights we’ve overlooked. Thank you all! +Some quick background - I'm in my late twenties and achieved a degree of financial independence through equity investments and side businesses. A friend of mine, an early employee at a notable SV company, and I are very interested learning all about and focusing on real estate deals, particularly very large apartment complexes. + +&#x200B; + +Recently, we've been approached by a number of friends with similar backgrounds who are interested in participating as a syndicate. We are now in the situation where we decent capital to deploy, and are comfortable waiting to monitor the market and get educated. + +&#x200B; + +While my partner and I are doing a lot of research (biggerpockets, etc.), the fact is that we are obviously very green when it comes to RE and there is no substitute for experience. For those of you who invest with syndicates or are sponsors, how did you get started and what tips do you have for someone starting out? We're running the numbers on apartment complexes in LCOL midwest areas, but at this stage I'm far from confident in investing other people's money without more preparation. + +&#x200B; + +Appreciate your advice and thoughts - wanted to hear about fatFIRE experiences. +A new token has been released ‘**Strike**’ ($STRIKE) and they have are working on a vast project. I believe this has massive upside for both short-term and long-term potential. + +The Strike Team are looking into creating a UK brokerage and global in the later stages. In this niche there is a high demand for a retail brokerage as online trading platforms are looking at exponential growth and will continue to do so for a long period. + +**Key Points** + +* The project is in the early R&D phase (Research & Development) +* High demand for a reliable application with lack of competitors/alternatives +* Determined, Disciplined & Transparent Team +* Great Supply Structure +* Growing community & cheap + +**Competitors** The available brokerages in the UK is extremely limited. The main competitors are Trading212, IBKR, eToro. As many have seen there are complaints about all of these trading platforms. + +T212 - restricting OTC buys, slow execution, no afterhours +IBKR - UI & app not user-friendly +eToro - no OTC stocks, slow execution, no AH + +Users are seen to be continuously complaining about wanting to leave these platforms but cannot do so because of the lack of options. This can be seen throughout social media, app store reviews and communities. + +**The Strike Team** The team at strike has dealt with some members leaving the project which has been resolved. This is a good thing that they are leaving early rather than the future where they are more dependent as they are not committed to the project. The issue of a developer selling has been resolved and all coins have been transferred to the founder where he has ; burnt 10% of the supply & time-locked 15% of the supply. + +[https://bscscan.com/token/0xbe2a26889ce30a1515055a192797083b1fde8844#balances](https://bscscan.com/token/0xbe2a26889ce30a1515055a192797083b1fde8844#balances) + +The team is transparent and occasionally communicates with the the holders through discord/twitter. + +[https://discord.gg/N2vSpkQde](https://discord.gg/N2vSpkQdeT)[T](https://discord.gg/N2vSpkQdeT) + +[https://twitter.com/trade\_strike1](https://twitter.com/trade_strike1) + +**Supply Structure** There are currently over 2100 holders. The total supply has been reduced from 1,000,000,000 tokens to 900,000,000. (10% burnt) The founder holds 150M+ coins which he will restrict a part soon, as he is using his coins to conduct giveaways/promotions/airdrops. + +*Airdrops* are currently being made daily on their twitter for holders to get the opportunity to win more free Strike Coins. + +**Up-listing to Trading Platforms** + +**^(CATALYST)** **CoinMarketCap** have officially accepted $STRIKE on the 14/04/2021 (Today). This means STRIKE should be able to trade on their platform within the upcoming days. [https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/strikecoin/](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/strikecoin/) + +**^(CATALYST)** **SolidityFinance** has made an offer to accept $STRIKE on their platform as well, but requiring $2000 for an audit. A fundraiser has been created for this and is already 50% complete within the first day. This will most probably be the next up-list as the fundraiser should be completed within the upcoming days. link to donate: [https://www.strikecoin.co/](https://www.strikecoin.co/) + +**Whitebit Listing** Whitebit is a cryptocurrency exchange app where $STRIKE will be listed in the near future. There should soon be a fundraiser of $60k for this to happen. + +This will provide huge benefits; + +* available to be purchased from 1.5M users +* email 350k users about $STRIKE +* display ads on crypto-related websites +* Announcements on whitebit’s social media channels (50k+ community) + +$STRIKE address: 0xbe2a26889ce30a1515055a192797083b1fde8844 + +How to buy(**Metamask**): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1gv3\_GAXBU&t=20s&ab\_channel=TradeStrike](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1gv3_GAXBU&t=20s&ab_channel=TradeStrike) + +How to buy(**TrustWallet**): [*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KALhl7K-5fA&ab\_channel=TradeStrike*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KALhl7K-5fA&ab_channel=TradeStrike) +QLC Chain is to resolve the data trust and security problem in the communication industry, it provides network automation of billing/reconciliation/settlement/payment/custody to telecom operators utilising blockchain technology. + +QLC Chain offers telecom operators with inter-carrier connection and financial consultancy services as well. + +From the ledger structure perspective: QLC Chain supports each account to have its own chain of ledger integrated with telecom service capabilities, named the multi-dimensional block-lattice structured ledger. + +From an adoption scenario perspective: QLC Chain’s mission is to create a secure and trusted environment for communication services and to narrow down the digital divide by leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology, enabling everyone to operate and benefit from network services. + +Since few months companies like "China Telecom", "PCCWG", "HCG" or "DC Connect" are doing a POC (Proof of Concept) and are now production-ready, which means that in Q1 2021 first 10+ Telecommunication Provider will go live. + +“MEF attaches a great deal of importance to introducing the standards for the use of DLT for billing and settlement into the digital service provider market which is led by many of our 120+ service provider members. MEF is very happy to have QLC Chain playing a central and invaluable role as a MEF member by bringing DLT expertise and telecom use cases into the MEF membership and specifically to this new standards project.” + +MEF is an industry forum leading the development of a global federation of network, cloud, and technology providers. QLC Chain is developing for MEF standard APi's which are needed for billing, reconciliation, settlement, payment, custody. Member are as example AT&T, China Telecom, China Unicom, Cisco, Ericsson, Microsoft Azure, Orange, Oracle, T-Mobile, Telefonica, Vodafone and many more. + +What comes next? + +QLC Chain will be a real game-changer when LSO Sonata APIs are adopted to a substantial degree across the service provider community. + +In the short term, the benefits to the customers include faster turnaround of quotes, online placement of orders, and faster service delivery. + +An own DEX will be ready too in Q1 2021! +The DEX will be for Telecom Operators and the Billing platform but also for publicly. +The support for QLC ERC20, USDT, Stable Coins and some other pairs will be available. +The DEX is really important, because the telecommunication provider need this platform as example for billing and many more services. + +At the moment a lot of informations are still under NDA and that's the reason, why there isn't much marketing in public sector. Soon after go live with all the products the price will explode, because the Telecommunication Provider have to install an own QLC Chain Node to support and use the blockchain. +This will reduce the supply of available QLC tokens. At least 1 million QLC tokens are required for 1 node and with 120+ telecom providers it will significantly reduce the offer. + +Website: https://qlcchain.org + +Last year in summer QLC Chain was recognized as a leading startup in the telecommunications sector. + +https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/5-top-blockchain-startups-impacting-the-telecom-sector/ + +A really interesting article about QLC was published in December 2020 on the MEF website about the technology and what will come next. + +https://www.mef.net/billing-at-warpspeed-using-dlt-based-smart-bilaterals/ + +The preferred platforms to buy QLC are Binance and Bittrex. Soon QLC (Q1 2021) will be implemented in Uniswap with the QLC ERC20 Token. + +A lot of more information you can find on following sources: + +Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/qlcchain + +Telegram Official Channel: https://t.me/OfficialQLCChain + +Telegram Community Channel: https://t.me/qlc_traders_unofficial + + +This information is not a financially advise. +Some of the warmer parts of Canada come with a HCOL. One can live in a LCOL area (usually colder climate) and then travel south often, but with kids in school this is not easy. + +Being based in a LCOL area but extreme cold 6+ months of year, my wife and I feel a move is necessary while kids are young. Any recommendations from those of you who did it or who’ve been in a similar situation? +The latest fiasco with Ortex has shown that their greatest fear is SS leaking out to other outlets. We've known this since the beginning, yet where is our official Superstonk Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok accounts? They want to limit us to Reddit cause the only people who use Reddit is us. We're confined, contained, and dare I say, complicit in keeping the information internal. + + +So I'd like to propose the mods make official SS accounts on other social platforms. Hell put us on Pintrest. Put us everywhere. We're constantly on the front page of Reddit cause GME holders flock to this one page and up vote the crap out of the latest DD or bullish news or market fraud. We should be doing the same for every platform so everyone can see every single time. + + +Just imagine everyone in the world ALWAYS seeing GME trending the way WE see it. ALWAYS seeing market "glitches", DRS progress, short insert rates, NFT Marketplace hype, DTCC stock fraud, rule changes, EVERYTHING. + + +I thought we were doing our part to fight this corrupt market, but I realize we are NOT doing enough. We have the numbers, the accessibility, the platforms. And it's SO easy too. Fighting corruption with awareness with click of a button. A like, a retweet, a heart, whatever. + +But we DON'T. WHY!? Y Y Y. We NEED a central place for apes to gather and like one single post from one single account just like SS. +That is all. Thanks for coming to my TT. + +&#x200B; + +Edit: Actually. Side note - We need a new flair. A "Call to Action" flair please + +Edit2: Here's a much needed reality check. Apes are the MINORITY. SS is a big group but still nothing compared to the rest of the world involved in making market decisions/rule changes/etc. + +So let me ask you this. If they are not listening now, why would they listen after MOASS? People were screaming back in '08 about the blatant market corruption, everything crashed, and then everyone forgot and moved on. Nothing changed. + +It's the same now. This information cannot keep being contained. It needs to reach the masses. Not stuck in this little soundproof box. Unless people are informed and outraged just as much as apes, nothing will change post-MOASS. It will just blow over, people will say oh wow those kids sure got lucky, the market will stay the same as it ever was. + +And if it does then this whole thing is for nothing. +My employer has a fairly standard 3% match (50% up to 6% of pay). A couple of years ago, they announced that they are changing how that gets contributed. Instead of matching contributions on each paycheck, they hold all the money for the year and deposit the match in January. I thought it was pretty lame at the time, since I lose out on all the gains over the year, but didn't complain too much about it. + +Now, however, I just recieved an email from our HR department that the company has decided NOT to do a matching contribution for 2020. Is this allowed? I have contributed my 6% expecting a 50% match for the majority of the year. Are they allowed to just cancel this? + +For context, my company is publicly traded and a recognizable brand name, roughly 9,000 employees. +Dubai has to be the next top contender for making Bitcoin legal tender. Here are a few reasons I could think of as to why. + +1) Their currency is stuck pegged to the US dollar which with inflation rising is horrible for them, they need an alternative to use along side their existing currency. + + +2) They have no capital gains tax or income taxes so no friction in terms of adopting Bitcoin. They are not losing any tax revenue by making it legal tender. + + +3) Dubai loves PR and marketing itself and this would be the best PR stunt they could possibly do. The entire world would be talking about them. + + +4) Their population is 95% immigrant expats, and of those expats most send remittances home to their families overseas, Bitcoin would make remitting money far easier for their residents and their residents families. + + +5) Dubai is a tourism based economy so allowing tourists to travel there without having to worry about cash or travel cards or currency exchange desks or credit cards would make life easier for tourists who would need nothing but a lightning wallet to be able to pay for everything in the country. + + +6) Dubai has proclaimed themselves as being the city of the world so they should then adopt the worlds one truly global currency. + + +7) They have an efficient government that could roll out lightning wallet support for merchants and residents extremely fast. + + +8) Dubai wants to be the worlds most futuristic city so they should therefore adopt the worlds most futuristic currency. + + +9) Making Bitcoin legal tender would attract the worlds fintech entrepreneurs and they want Dubai to become a technology hub where businesses headqarter their operations. + + +10) Their Sovereign Wealth Fund already invests in Bitcoin and the crypto ecosystem. + + +11) Solar powered miners in the middle of the desert with sun 360 days of the year could be a fantastic revenue generator for their government. + + +12) Dubai has ubiquitous usage of wifi and 4G data everywhere and every single resident has a smartphone so there's no technological barrier to adoption. + + +13) Bitcoin as legal tender would attract the crypto rich crowd looking for a pro Bitcoin country to live in, and Dubai always wants more wealthy residents to move there. + + +14) Dubai has a culture that loves Gold meaning they have a culture that truly appreciates sound money principles, so bitcoin fits in perfectly with their existing cultural ideals. + + +15) Dubai has a small and extremely efficient government which they are always looking to make even more efficient and more automated. Bitcoin allows instant money flows between all government departments and staff in a programmatic manner. + + +16) They have a value added tax and VAT collection could be completely automated with Bitcoin. Merchant terminals could be programmed to automatically send VAT to the government in real time as each transaction happens, effectively automating tax collection making life far easier for both the government and businesses. + + +17) Dubai loves being the first to adopt new tech and they take pride in doing everything bigger and better than anyone else. The same will be true of Bitcoin. + + +I don't think Dubai would let this opportunity pass them up while places like El Salvador and other central and south American countries take all the benefits of tourism immigration and business creation. If Dubai doesnt make Bitcoin legal tender this year they are letting other countries get a huge head start on them. + +I believe for all these reasons and more Dubai will announce bitcoin as legal tender before the end of 2022. +Hillary Clinton just said on a recent interview, one of the most bullish statements that I have ever heard about Cryptocurrencies especially Bitcoin + +*Quote:* "One more area that I hope nation-states start paying greater attention to is the rise of cryptocurrencies – because what looks like a very interesting and somewhat exotic effort to literally mine new coins in order to trade with them has the potential for undermining currencies, for undermining the role of the dollar as the reserve currency, **for destabilizing nations**, perhaps starting with small ones but going much larger." + +[Source of the Quote.](https://thecryptobasic.com/2021/11/19/hillary-clinton-says-crypto-could-devastate-many-country-economies-and-undermine-dollar-as-worlds-reserve-currency/) + +[Video of the Interview.](https://twitter.com/i/status/1461677237091115008) + +What does this mean, at least from my point of view. This it's just proof that crypto, it's putting the Fiat system to the test, and it's making noise to the people who have a huge stake at the current status quo of the financial structure that societies have been under, over decades now. Adam tracy also explains how the infrastructure bill is going to impact the crypto space here: +[https://youtu.be/I2989kkXfUQ](https://youtu.be/I2989kkXfUQ) + +And why is that? Why does crypto, and in my opinion specially Bitcoin, can disrupt so abruptly. It's mainly for the 5 services that money needs to provide to society in order to exist, and work for us as a medium of exchange. + +What are those 5 services that something has to have in order to become a currency? + +1.- Divisibility: Money needs to be divisible, it's a pretty obvious one, if you wan't to buy something expensive you won be carrying 2 trucks full of coins with you, you can just make bigger measures of money or smaller ones for cheap things like a can of soda. + +2.- Durability: It needs to be stand the proof of time, and I'm not talking about the agreement on a certain Fiat currency such as USD or EUR, I mean, if you store 5 apples in a bank they're going to be worth nothing in a few days (if you use apples for exchanging goods), but if you put coins, paper, or gold it will be there for a long, long time. + +3.- Recognizability: Each trading party can verify the authenticity of the money. Meaning that every transaction that I'm giving you money, you can be secure if it is real, by putting in into that light that reflects certain materials that they put into money, if it would be gold there are other ways to verify if it's real. + +4.- Portability: Pretty obvious one, you must be able to move it across time and space without problem. + +5.- Scarcity: This is the most important thing about money, and one of the best ways that crypto it's better than Fiat money ruled by Goverments. Scarcity occurs when the demand outstrips supply, so when there is a demand of a certain currency there will be a supply of that currency. + +Crypto, just makes the checkmark over these 5 services, and specially Scarcity. Why? Governments and the people who control the flow of currencies, **ALWAYS** takes advantage of the position where they are in, and just print more of that currency in order to have more for them, and less for everybody else, this is just human nature, and you can study a little bit of history and you will notice that this repeats over time on every society. + +In the case of Bitcoin, we just have supply of 21,000,000 coins, and no one can make more out of tin air like governments do, when they please. So Scarcity, it's the main advantage that crypto and bitcoin has over Fiat currencies. + +So if you ask me, for the reasons that I just gave, Hillary Clinton, just point out the fact that Crypto, it's making the work that we all expect it to be making over time, and it's doing it fast. + +Ps: This post was remake by myself, last one got deleted, for having no source. + +Also, In no shape or form this is a political attack on Hillary, it's just a perspective and speculation around the main reason on why Crypto was created. +We all know michael Saylor because he was the CEO of Microstrategy for a long time. He accumulated 17,732 BTC, which he bought at an average of $9,882 each. MicroStrategy owns 129,699 bitcoins as of June 28, 2022. The total purchase price for the bitcoins was almost $4B making an average price of around $30,650 per bitcoin. + +Currently, it seems like they are being sued for alleged income tax fraud by the DC Attorney General. This could be terrible for Bitcoin because he is often perceived as one of the big faces for Bitcoin and he and microstrategy own so many of them. Oh boy. Get ready to buy the dip, because this has to affect the price in a substantial manner. How can he not pay *any* income tax at all despite living in DC for 10+ years!? That is ridiculous. + +&#x200B; + +The DC Attorney General: + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/oselmv03b3l91.png?width=609&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ba4336717716614add1900b6d234aea1dc7a65c +I’ve been trying to dent my brain these last couple of months to get to understand what’s been going on and why I believe in GME so much, and then recently, I feel a bomb had been dropped on me with the talk about Payment for Order Flow and dark pool off-market buys. I’ve just started denting my brain by understanding how Fails to Deliver are hid in Out of the Money calls or puts or whatever and now I got to try and understand Payment for Order Flow?! Its like studying for the SAT and then someone knocks on the door and tells you, by the way, you are taking the MCATS tomorrow morning. WTF?! + +So, apparently PFOF was started by Madoff! I think on the surface it looks legit, but it is easily used for wicked purposes by moving it to dark pools and off market buys, which explains why there is so much buying but it doesn’t move the ticker at all, while sells plummet it in seconds. I guess the SEC looks at this and says, ‘oh cool, this was started by Madoff and is now industry standard, nothing to see here, would you like a sensual hand job or an angry one’? Is this why Wall Street and Main Street haven’t been the same street in a long time? Since 2008? Earlier? + +Its starting to feel like Wall Street is one big Ponzi scheme, I know we all know that, but when it happens for real its terrifying! Madoff has been butt fucking everyone since the early eighties, how deep does this rabbit hole go, how deep is his dick still in our rabbit hole? + +This is my favorite part of his Wiki. + +"Madoff founded a penny stock brokerage in 1960 which eventually grew into Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. He served as its chairman until his arrest on December 11, 2008.\[6\]\[7\] The firm was one of the top market maker businesses on Wall Street,\[8\] which bypassed "specialist" firms by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers." FUCKING GREAT!!! + +Then I went digging around and looking at the brokers who adopted this. And holy fucking shit, its almost all of them! TD Ameritrade where all of my funds are at are listed, and Vanguard\* who I was hoping to transfer to. And now I got to sweat moving my shares from TD, something that makes me extremely nervous, thinking that I might miss out on the rocket launch I’ve been so patiently waiting on. + +I remember when Apes figured out shorts were being hid in ETF’s and how big of a bomb that was, this PFOF stuff feels bigger! I don’t think its getting the attention it deserves because we haven’t had any time to catch our breath from all the other bombs dropped, short ETF’s, hidden FTD’s etc. Good luck ever getting this talked about in Congress, they can hardly even address Naked Short’s. They are still learning arithmetic when we need to be discussing Calculus! + +I’m so angry and frustrated and I don’t know who to blame. Citadel? SEC? Madoff? Myself for being so ignorant on what’s going on? I’m so confused and hoping some big brain apes can help. I’m just a homeless filmmaker, aren’t real adults supposed to be in charge of looking into this? What’s next, I wake up and there is Morpheus telling me to see with my real eyes? Have I become as crazy as all my friends and family think I am about GME? Have we become QAnon? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!!! + +This really is the biggest fraud in history and we are the only ones talking about it, isn’t it? This is Madoff, only this time, Madoff is all of Wall Street! + +Is every broker dealing with PFOF a toxic dumping ground? Is it worth it to move from TD? How long will it truly take? Is every broker fucked? Are we all fucked? All of these institutions are saying, ‘hey, trust me with your money, I learned everything I know from Bernie Madoff’. + +FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! I want out! And I don’t know who to trust! + +I’m angry, scared, exhilarated… Fuck it, no matter what, if I miss the rocket, if it explodes, if it launches me at 30 G’s into the sun, this has been a wild ride and well worth it. I hope I know what I’m doing, I hope that you do too. But, most of all, I hope that this changes things for the better! I hope all of you Apes are rewarded and safe on your Rocket ride! + +I’m so confused and don’t know who to trust. The only thing I know is that I believe in the DD and I believe in you fellow Apes. + +Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, Peace and HODL! + +TL;DR I think Madoff cut his teeth with fraud with PFOF before moving to bigger fraud feeding off the whales, in the mean time, Wall Street adopted his fraud methods with PFOF feeding off of retail. It really is a big Ponzi scheme. + +**Addendum:** You know the phrase, it isn't a loss until you sell? I think in Citadels' mind, it also isn't a buy, until you sell! (BOOM Ponzi!) + +\*There is conflicting reports on Vanguard's use of PFOF. However, they are listed as using it at [https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/which-investing-apps-receive-payment-for-order-flow?op=1&r=AU&IR=T](https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/which-investing-apps-receive-payment-for-order-flow?op=1&r=AU&IR=T) +You deposit $1K into your bank account. + +The bank, operating under fractional reserve, lends out 9 times that amount... Essentially creating $9K out of thin air. + +Now let’s say Bob and some other people got those $9K in loans. What will they do with the money? They, or the people they pay, deposit it in a bank. Now that same $9K of fake money is looked at as fresh deposits, so the bank can loan out 9 times that $9K. That loop keeps going! Eventually the bank has created approximately $100K from $1K. Great deal for the bank! They’re making interest on money that never actually existed! + +(EDIT: The creation of $100K is incorrect. The loop ends up creating around $9K from $1K. Thanks for the correction!) + +In the worst case scenario, if 1% of people want their money at the same time (within a few months of each other), there’s a run on the bank and the bank runs out of money. In the best case, if 10% of people go to withdraw within the same time period, the bank runs out of money. + +I hear you! You’re saying “Wait a sec Deepy420! I love the bank. They allow me to live outside my means. There is FDIC insurance for such cases.” Actually, FDIC only has 2% worth of deposits on reserve. They don’t have enough money to compensate more than 2% of the lost money when a bank (eventually) goes bankrupt (ah! This term! It was invented due to leveraged banks and now it is assigned to people and corporations since they are enslaved via debt to banks.) + +I hear you! You’re saying “The US government won’t let that happen. They’ll pay me back!” Shall I remind you that the US government, despite stealing 30% of the fruits of your labor with their monopoly on force (the alternative is being caged), is still $20 trillion in debt since they have no incentive to remain solvent when they can just print as much money as they want! + +I hear you! You’re saying “Ah hah! They’ll print more money and pay me back!” Sure, a few bankers in the private corporation, the US Federal Reserve, can decide to print more money. They’ll devaluate everyone’s cash by doing so, so they’ve not actually paid anyone back! They’ve just made everyone poorer. Well, not everyone, because the rich are not stupid enough to hold USD. Keep in mind that they can print this money and take other decisions - like manipulating the level of your enslavement via interest rates - without the ability of any US branch of government to question or prevent them. + +And this, my friends, is how banks enslave humanity. + +I work in IT at a smallish consulting firm in a very nearly titled senior position earning 110k. I get a lot recruiters hitting me up on LinkedIn but I’ve gotten a few lately saying they represent one of (duh duh duhhh) the Big 4. Working in IT I didn’t really know what that meant. Apparently it’s the 4 biggest tax consultancies(KPMG, EY, Deloitte and PWC). I had a bit of a search and it doesn’t seem like their salaries are amazing and their cultures are supposed to be quite grindy. Is there anything desirable about working for these guys for someone in IT with an established career? +Hello I'm looking for age appropriate financial lessons for kids. I wanted to start chores and 'good deed beads ' that can be cashed in for activities or treats. What payment for chores is reasonable? + +Any other ideas? +We all have to start somewhere. How did you learn to daytrade? Did you go to college for it and get a finance degree? Did you learn it on your own? And how long did it take you to get the hang of it? + +I’m currently going through a course for it. And will most likely paper trade for a few months for practice before putting in real money. The hardest thing for me is to get out of this “luck/lottery mindset” and aim more for incremental progress. + +What was your route to learning? +For some of the newer apes, or on-the-fence apes. Here's a quickie run down of the GME situation. There are PhD levels of DD written. This is not that. This is like story time during circle time level. From one very smooth brain to another. I am not offering financial advice. I had some friends over and we had some drinks and I attempted to explain things with GME a bit like this..... + +Simple wrinkle: Let's travel back to during the yo-yo craze in elementary school. I borrow your top-of-the-line $50 yo-yo. I sell it to my friend for $5 (even though it isn't mine). Then I wait until the craze is over, buy you the identical yo-yo for 1$ (craze is over, it's on sale yo), return it to you and pocket the 4$. You don't really know the difference, but I just made money off of you. --- That is short selling in a (smooth, like a pistachio) nutshell. + + --Side note, short selling is not *always* bad, it can help add context to the price. Why in the world did you spend $50 on a yo-yo?!?! It's plastic and string and a little metal bit. You spent $50 on the yo-yo because you wanted to be the coolest and not miss out on the hype. Was it worth $50? nump. Short selling can help put things into perspective. (Price discovery) + +Now let's revisit that scenario, but after I've sold your yo-yo, the craze isn't fading. People are starting to do Cats Cradle and Around the World and all that shit, so the price of yo-yos is actually going up! Ahhh! I start a rumor that people that like yo-yos are fart-lickers. No one really listens at first, so I get some of the cool kids to say it too. The rumor catches on and people start ditching their yo-yos. (Predatory short selling) Phew. I can buy one for cheap again. I buy the identical one for cheap, pocket the extra money, give you the yo-yo and feel that was a little too close.  + +Wait, no I don't. I grow up. I realize that with enough moxy I can treat shares of stock like yo-yos. I look for companies that once were cool, but might be fading a little, and I borrow the shares of stock. I wait for the price of the stock to go down, buy another share, return the borrowed one, pocket the difference, and laugh myself to sleep at night.  + +If the price doesn't go down like I wanted it to, I call my rich friends and ask them to help me drive the price down. We do it for each other all the time. It's great.  + + +Now, back to elementary school. I've repeated a couple of grades, so I've been around for a while. I know a good money maker when I see one. So when kendama comes to recess, I borrow yours that your mom just bought you for $20, take a picture of it first then sell it someone else for $15. Since it's such a good deal I text the picture to 5 classmates telling them I'll sell them each one for $15 too, and that I'll bring it in a few days. They venmo me $15 each. Cha-ching! I start the fart-licker rumor again, with a poop-sniffer twist, and pay the cool kids $1 each to help spread it (a little incentive this time). The rumor catches on HARD and soon kids won't dare be seen playing with a kendama. A few days later I tell my classmates I finally remembered to bring their kendamas to school (its a lie) but now they want NOTHING to do with them (bankruptcy- low/no value company) because mama ain't raising no fart-licker. So I pocket ALL the money and laugh myself to sleep. (Naked short selling. - I lied to the buyer. I never had enough to fulfill my promises, but I still took their money and waited until their purchase was worthless. Illegal) + +I grew up and started a hedgefund, and did the same things with stocks at companies. The cool kids that I paid the dollar to spread the rumors joined me. We all were getting super rich. A global pandemic hit and companies were in chaos. Companies that were very well known and had been around forever were struggling. Betting on them failing was awesome! Dollar signs everywhere!!  + +----‐----------------------------------- + +That is when the sights were set on GME. It was so perfect to fail. It got shorted BIG time. The hedgefunds got greedy. Predatory shorts had been so successful at making money, and no one could really call them out for being predatory, because they could argue that "trends end, companies age, they failed to diversify, etc, etc, etc." All of which could be true. BUT, do they *really* deserve to get the final nail in the coffin, fart-licker title and go bankrupt just because the people with money decided to spread that rumor?  + +Hedgefunds got so greedy, that they sold millions (this is an unknown number at this point in time) of fake "promises" (naked shorts) for every real one out there. Because they were *sure* no one would ever care, and they were going to buy super-duper-muper yachts. + +----‐------------------------------------------- + +So GME is primed to fail, value is waning, people don't really care about it......until.  + +Until someone did care. And he did see value in it. And he did like the STONK. And he was the kid in school that said, "who cares if I'm a fartlicker, yo-yos are awesome!!!!" And he bought the stock. And people wondered what value he saw, So they dug deeper and they found value too. And then they saw what the predatory short sellers were nothing more than bullies and they decided to rise up against them. And soon more and more people liked the stock. And then GME started making moves. It got rid of all its debt, is bringing on a new board, took a share holder vote, and is an awesome company again. So now even more people like the stock!! But that's not the end to this story. No, no. + +We still are left with the short sellers, and their millions of fake promises. School yard rules demand that if a kid has paid for something, they are entitled to that thing. -- If you bought a share, the short sellers MUST deliver a share (and we have definitely gone beyond school yard rules now). But, but, but ,but!!!!! BUT THEY DON'T HAVE THAT MANY SHARES! yup. Correct.  + +Enter the Short squeeze. They are required to cover each and every shorted share no matter how much it will cost them. Smooth wrinkle: as they buy 1 share to cover the promised one, the next seller says, "hmmm, so you have to buy this from me, no matter what because you are required to cover???" And the hedgefund replies with their middle fingers and a string of expletives. But yes, they are required to cover, so the seller sets the price. The next seller, says, "I'm going higher than that!", so does the next and the next and so on and so forth. As they do this, the price gets squeezed higher. Woo! (But because they were SO greedy in particular with GME and made up SO many fake promises, and because no one has ever called them out in this way, it's called the Mother Of ALL Short Squeezes; MOASS.)  + +So now as more people are learning about stocks, and Predatory practices and naked shorts and market manipulation, they are getting a bit of a wrinkle in their brain and saying, "Hey! This is the bedrock of our economy. This isn't right!" Bingo. And you watch their mouth drop open and them, say, "nah, really??? REALLY????" And you say, "yup." And you point them to some of the (way) next level DD on superstonk. Then give them a high-five as their brain goes from pistachio to peanut.  + +Truly, since this is the bedrock of your economy, learn more about it. Read some DD from the truly wrinkled brains. Watch the AMAs. You are getting college level classes for free! It's a fascinating spider web. Books and movies will come out about this, and you get a first row seat to history happening.  + +Again, no financial advice. Buy, hold, vote and be excellent. + Let me know, about your stories of how you became profitable, how long did it take you and your feelings before, the gut feeling if you had some, or if it just happened. Thank you!!! Have a wonderful day guys! + +&#x200B; + +Hey guys, my name is Michael, I got into forex about 7 months ago and since then, I studied NONSTOP. I'm talking being up until 4-5 am, watching videos, courses and really understanding the market, how to read it, purely with price action, no indicators. I'm 7 months deep now and just lately it is, when I started to trade my new day trading, trend trading strategy of breaks and retests on the M15. I've backtested countless hours and it really seemed to be working. I just recently started to apply this strategy on my smalll live account (actually yesterday) and honestly, I just feel like it's too good to be true. I just have this feeling, like everything clicked, the AHA moment, that I understand the markets finally and I'm super confident that I will make it. Of course, I will continue learning every single day, but I just feel like It has just finally clicked. Let me know about your stories, if you had some similar feelings and how did your crusade go! Have a nice day! (And of course, happy new year to everybody reading this post!) +I live in the UK and heard that you are best trading currencies in your time zone. As i am still learning forex i have narrowed my list down to these 5 pairs to use different strategies and find the best one. I would love to know what is the best time of day to trade GBP pairs and why? +I may or may not be qualified to give you this advice....However here it comes anyway.Get off demo accounts and start losing some real money trust me you will become a far better the more you feel the pain associated with losing money to the markets. + +Edit: + +Can't respond to all the comments so here is a generalized response...Demo trading and live trading are not the same not even remotely.Learning on a live account with real funds that have emotion attached has taught me that you cant override your emotions.THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS EMOTIONLESS TRADING IT"S A LIE...Your trading system has to incorporate your emotions not strip you of them....This is a mindset thing you won't be motivated to preserve capital if you don't really lose it. + + +A little background - when my sister was 4, she was stabbed in the eye with a stick and has been completely blind in her left eye since. My parents went to court and have secured her roughly $750,000 as compensation for the permanent damage. The money will be given to her in installments starting when she turns 18. + +My sister will turn 18 in 2 weeks, and on her birthday she will receive her first payment of $50,000. From what I've been told by my mom, She will receive $50,000 on her birthday every year for the next 15 years - however, I am not completely sure. + +Now, there are 2 major problems: + +1. Everyone else in my immediate family has known she was going to receive this money for years, but I had NO IDEA that my parents never told her about this. Her birthday is *literally in 2 weeks* and they **just** told her yesterday. How is a 17 going on 18 year old supposed to wrap their head around this? Especially since in 2 weeks, there will be $50,000 in her bank account? I think this was extremely ignorant of my parents to do this. +2. My father has told my sister that she will need to invest the money and that she should speak to me because I am currently studying finance, so he thinks I have experience? I am still a student, I have never invested, I have no business handling her money like that - I have no idea what my father is thinking. When I heard this yesterday, I told my sister that I will **not** invest her money, and that she needs to contact a financial advisor. + +I plan on requesting all of the legal documents surrounding this compensation from my parents and looking into hiring a financial advisor for my sister. I want to be involved in the process (I do not trust my parent's judgment at this point), but I am not living in the U.S. anymore so I think it will be difficult. I hope to come back to the U.S. in the early fall, so maybe I can put off any decisions being finalized until I am there. + +Overall, I feel overwhelmed by how naive my parents have handled this entire situation. This money can go such a long way for my sister if handled properly, and so far my parents have really let my sister down. I have no idea what steps I need to take - does she need to get this notarized? How do I make sure she does not get scammed by an advisor? + +I'm sorry if this post is all over the place, I will gladly provide other information as needed. + +Any and all advice is appreciated. + +The location is NY, USA. + +Edit: thank you everyone for your advice and kind words, I’m still going through the comments. I’ve spoken with my father and found out the payout terms are not what I originally was told, but most of your advice is still very much applicable. + +A lot of comments highlighted how I should not blame my parent’s approach to telling (or actually not telling) my sister about this money, and I also want to thank you for showing me the other side of their actions. + +As of right now, I feel much more confident in helping my sister navigate the world of investing, and we’ve already begun to build a saving and investing plan for her. + +Thank you again everyone! My whole family sends loves and thanks! +Good Saturday morning to all of you here on r/StockMarket. I hope everyone on this sub made out pretty nicely in the market this past week, and is ready for the new trading week ahead. + +Here is everything you need to know to get you ready for the trading week beginning May 31st, 2021. + +# **A big jobs report looms in the week ahead, as markets enter the often-weak month of June - [(Source)](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/28/jobs-report-looms-in-the-week-ahead-as-markets-enter-the-often-weak-month-of-june.html)** +***** +> May’s employment report is the big event in the week ahead, as stocks enter the often weak month of June. Stocks are finishing May with a mixed performance. Big cap indexes like the S&P 500 and Dow notched gains. The S&P rose a half percent, and the Dow rose 1.9%. The small cap Russell 2000 was flat, up 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.5%. +***** +> June is not historically a strong month for stocks. Bespoke Investment Group points out that over the past 50 years, the Dow has gained just 0.12% in June and has been positive 52% of the time. +***** +> But over the past 20 years, June was far weaker, gaining only 40% of the time. June’s performance is tied with September as the worst month of the year, with an average Dow decline of 0.7%, according to Bespoke. +***** +> The economy is front and center in the coming week with the important ISM readings on manufacturing and services sector activity, but the most important measure will be Friday’s jobs report. According to Dow Jones, economists expect Friday’s employment report to show the creation of about 674,000 jobs in May, after the disappointing 266,000 jobs added in April. That was about a quarter of what economists had expected. +***** +> “You know if we have two months in a row of not delivering on the jobs expectations, the market is going to get nervous,” said George Goncalves, head of U.S. macro strategy at MUFG. “Hopefully, we beat it and then that creates a positive buzz, and we go into the Fed meeting and then we’re, ‘Hey, the economy is still on track.’” +***** +> # Big June event +> The Fed meets June 15-16, and already market pros are anticipating it will be the most important event of the month. Fed officials have emphasized that they will keep policy easy as they watch to see signs that the economy is really healing. They also contend that higher inflation readings are temporary, since the data is being compared with a weak period last year. +***** +> Key for the markets is whether the Fed begins to believe that inflation is higher than it expected or that the economy is strengthening enough to progress without so much monetary support. Fed officials have said they would consider discussing tapering back on their quantitative easing bond purchase program if they see signs of improvement, and that would be a first step toward interest rate hikes, not expected until at least 2023. +***** +> If inflation runs too hot, the Fed’s main weapon to combat it is to raise interest rates. +***** +> The prospect of higher interest rates makes the stock market nervous, since it would mean higher costs for companies and less liquidity. In theory, higher interest rates also means that investors could potentially choose higher-yielding bond investments over stocks. +***** +> The next big read for the economy is Friday’s jobs report, and it looms large as recent inflation readings have come in much hotter than expected. The latest was the personal consumption expenditures price index Friday. It showed core inflation running at 3.1% year over year, the strongest reading for that measure since 1992. +***** +> The Fed’s beige book on the economy is expected Wednesday. ISM manufacturing data is expected Tuesday, and ISM services is released Thursday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks on central banks and climate change at Green Swan 2021 global virtual conference Friday. +***** +> # Inflation flare-up +> The Fed has said it would tolerate an average range of inflation around its 2% target until it sees inflation sticking at a higher level. Inflation has been running mostly below 2%, prior to the latest numbers. +***** +> “With the PCE number coming in like every other inflation number over the last six weeks, hotter than expected, the market is inching closer to calling the Fed out on its view that inflation is transitory,” said Julian Emanuel, head of equity and derivatives strategy at BTIG. +***** +> Emanuel said the speculative activity around meme stocks this week is a sign of froth and shows a large amount of liquidity in the hands of investors. One of those stocks, AMC, closed off 1.5% on Friday after rallying 116% in the past week, giving it a 2021 gain of 1,200%. +***** +> “The net net on the index level is basically it’s a stock market that’s moving sideways,” Emanuel said. “Our view continues to be that when you look at it longer term, the big picture is this is a bull market that started in March of last year that has further to run. When you look at it in the medium term, the market has every right to be concerned and we do believe they will amp up their concern that the Fed’s paying insufficient attention to price stability.” +***** +> Emanuel said he studied what happened to stocks when core PCE was above the Fed’s 2% target. “The average monthly return for months where the core PCE has been over 2%, going back to 1989 is (a decline) of 1.6%, with a decided bias toward more defensive sectors like health care outperforming and a very pronounced bias for technology of all kinds to underperform,” he said. +***** +> Technology stocks, as measured by the S&P information technology sector, gained 1.6% in the past month, and are up 5.9% year to date. The sector is lagging the S&P 500′s 12% gain. +***** +> The top-performing sectors have been cyclical year to date, with energy up 36.2%, financials up 28.5%, materials up 20.1% and industrials up 18.3%. Communications services, which contains some internet growth names, gained 16% since the start of the year. Health care has been outperforming information technology, up 8.6% year to date. +***** +> In the past week, the S&P 500 gained 1.2% to 4,204 and is within 1% of its all-time high. The Dow rose 0.9% to 34,529, and the Nasdaq was up 2% at 13,748. +***** +> # Red flag? +On the edges of the financial markets, market pros are paying attention to signs of a huge surge of liquidity in the financial system. In the past week, institutions have been placing unprecedented amounts of cash with the Fed, nearly a half trillion dollars Thursday. +***** +> “There’s way too much liquidity in the system, and it’s happening as a result of the Fed’s ongoing QE, but also disbursements from the fiscal stimulus,” said Goncalves. +***** +> He said the funds from trillions in stimulus, including to state and local governments, have not yet been spent but have found their way into the banking system. At the same time, institutions and individuals continue to move funds into money market funds, now holding about $4.6 trillion. +***** +> Those funds also put pressure on the system, since they put funds in Treasury bills. Goncalves expects the Fed to raise rates on excess reserves if the situation gets worse. +***** +> “There’s no precedent for this because it is totally a function of there being just too much money in the system,” he said. +***** +> “Institutions are redepositing cash at the Fed because they don’t have enough bills or short-term commercial paper. There’s not enough fixed income assets to go around,” said Goncalves. He said banks also do not want to hold the excess cash since it counts against their leverage ratio, and they would prefer to find other higher-yielding investments. +***** +> What it has done is sparked some speculation that the Fed would taper its QE program sooner than expected, he said. +***** + +# **This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL S&P TREE MAP FOR THE PAST WEEK!](https://i.imgur.com/KD7MPQq.png))** + +# **S&P Sectors for this past week:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE S&P SECTORS FOR THE PAST WEEK!](https://i.imgur.com/k70TaWF.png))** + +# **Major Indices for this past week:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR INDICES FOR THE PAST WEEK!](https://i.imgur.com/ejnuyH0.png))** + +# **Major Futures Markets as of Friday's close:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE MAJOR FUTURES INDICES AS OF FRIDAY!](https://i.imgur.com/RpFm5MB.png))** + +# **Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ECONOMIC CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK AHEAD!](https://i.imgur.com/LsQaubm.png))** + +# **Percentage Changes for the Major Indices, WTD, MTD, QTD, YTD as of Friday's close:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/aC5LGhg.png))** + +# **S&P Sectors for the Past Week:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/mDWtifN.png))** + +# **Major Indices Pullback/Correction Levels as of Friday's close:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/dLAoZVM.png))** + +# **Major Indices Rally Levels as of Friday's close:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/gEatszK.png))** + +# **Most Anticipated Earnings Releases for this week:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/4oQ7iOG.png))** + +# **Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i.imgur.com/HwU11dp.png))** + +# **Friday's Stock Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades:** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #1!](https://i.imgur.com/aKMtVsT.png))** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART LINK #2!](https://i.imgur.com/bSpGoCM.png))** + +***** + +> # Days After Memorial Day Improving + +> Our office will be closed for observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 31, 2021. U.S stock and bond markets will also be closed. As you spend some quality time off please consider taking time to commemorate those who have paid the ultimate price while serving in the U.S. military. Additionally, consider taking a moment to acknowledge first responders, nurses, doctors, law enforcement, firefighters, essential workers, scientists and everyone else that has tirelessly worked and sacrificed during the COVID-19 pandemic. + +> For decades the Stock Trader’s Almanac has been tracking and monitoring the market’s performance around holidays. The trading day after Memorial Day has a mixed record going back to 1971. Both S&P 500 and NASDAQ have declined more often than risen on the day, but average performance is still modestly positive. + +> Since 1986, the frequency of gains has improved, and average performance has also risen however, but S&P 500 declined five straight days after 2015-2019. The second trading day after Memorial Day has more advances than declines, but average performance is negative for NASDAQ. The third day after appears to have the best long- and short-term record combined with solid average performance. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://64.media.tumblr.com/128593e8de3dea981fe92bd2209366f9/0777e394efc97df0-c8/s640x960/e9a825d0575960801de0d7e68bf16cea848d88a4.jpg))** + +***** + +> # Post-Election-Year June: Third Worst S&P 500 Month + +> June has shone brighter on NASDAQ stocks over the last 50 years as a rule ranking sixth with a 0.9% average gain, up 28 of 50 years. This contributes to NASDAQ’s “Best Eight Months” which ends in June. June ranks near the bottom on the Dow Jones Industrials just above September since 1950 with an average loss of 0.2%. S&P 500 performs similarly poorly, ranking ninth, but essentially flat (0.1% average gain). Small caps also tend to fare well in June. Russell 2000 has averaged 0.8% in the month since 1979. + +> In post-election years since 1953, June still ranks poorly and its average loss for DJIA increases to –1.1% while S&P 500′s modestly positive performance becomes a 0.6% loss. DJIA struggles the most, advancing in just four post-election year Junes (1977, 1985, 1997 and 2017). Russell 2000 fares best, up seven times in ten years with an average gain of 1.2%. NASDAQ lands in the middle, advancing 50% of the time with an average gain of 0.4%. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://64.media.tumblr.com/baf2bcec363b55b19e25cde2661623df/feae79c5b2f9f78d-88/s400x600/6b9c15c89838e0b90c212cd3faa79d598c7bc187.jpg))** + +***** + +> # Checking the Gauges: Economic Surprise Indexes + +> In terms of whether economic data is either beating or missing economists’ forecasts, it appears conditions may now be a bit better overseas. Driven by some improving COVID-19 trends, the economic backdrop has improved overseas, while high economic expectations have proved to be a more formidable hurdle here in the U.S. This improvement has helped to steady the foundation in many non-U.S. equity markets, and has caused us to improve our outlook for developed non-U.S. stocks. We believe the improving COVID-19 trends in Europe could be particularly sticky as vaccine distribution becomes more widespread. + +> For several years now, being underweight European equities, relative to the U.S., has been a winning trade. A sea-change in that thinking could be approaching as value-heavy European indices have gotten some attention with the improvement from value, but a firm, constructive view of European equities may still be some ways off. + +> The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index, or CESI, tracks how the economic data fare compared with expectations. The index rises when economic data exceeds Bloomberg consensus estimates and falls when data is below forecasts. As shown in the LPL Chart of the day, economically, global conditions remain rather strong, as evidenced by these indices, which remain above the zero line. This reflects economic data coming in better than expected in several geographic regions. The repair of global trade activity, as supply lines are reconnected, has been notably key in non-U.S. data outcomes. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://i2.wp.com/lplresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/blog-chart-5.27.21.png?ssl=1))** + +> Looking ahead, we expect now elevated economic expectations, particularly in the U.S., may prove a tougher target. As a result “economic surprises,” both in the U.S. and abroad, may fade as we move through the year. However, the overall global growth trajectory is expected to continue to be robust through 2021. Global real GDP contracted 3.3% in 2020, and it is expected to rise to +6.0% in 2021, according to Bloomberg’s consensus estimate, before ticking down to +3.4% in 2022. + +> “Although high U.S. economic expectations could be tough to beat for the remainder of 2021, we still believe U.S. stocks should make up a material portion of equity portfolios. And even though economic expectations are being more readily exceeded overseas, it is tough to overlook U.S. companies’ innovation and profitability advantages.” explained LPL Financial Director of Research Marc Zabicki. + +***** + +> # More and More Investors Are Looking For A Correction + +> The S&P 500 has been hovering around 0.5% below its record highs this week, but without a true test of those highs, sentiment has not moved very far. The American Association of Individual Investors' weekly reading on bullish sentiment fell from 37% last week down to 36.4%. While that is the second week in a row with an absolute move less than a full percentage point in size, the marginally lower reading does leave bullish sentiment at the lowest level since the end of October. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-AAII-Bull.png))** + +> Bearish sentiment moved by even less, only rising 0.1 percentage points. At 26.4%, it still is below the reading of 27% from the first week of the month. Outside of that reading, that is the highest level since February. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-AAII-Bear.png))** + +> This week's moves left the bull-bear spread little changed at 10. That's down 0.7 points from last week but still above the 9.5 reading from two weeks ago. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-AAII-BB-Spread.png))** + +> Once again, the highest percentage of investors are in the neutral camp at 37.1%. As was the case last week, that makes for the highest level in neutral sentiment since the first week of 2020 when it stood north of 40%. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-AAII-Neut.png))** + +> Pivoting over to sentiment for equity newsletter writers measured in the Investors Intelligence survey, there were some more interesting moves. Bullish and bearish sentiments were not necessarily anything to gawk at similar to the AAII survey. Bullish sentiment has been on the decline with this week's survey showing a 3 percentage point drop to 51.5%, the lowest level since March 10th. Meanwhile, bearish sentiment moderated from 17.2 to 16.8%. That was the same level as the start of the month. + +> The percentage of respondents "looking for a correction" was more notable. Rather than simply asking whether or not respondents foresee a correction in the technical sense on the horizon (a 10% decline from a high), Investors Intelligence defines a newsletter writer as "looking for a correction" when they are bullish on a list of stocks but at a lower price point. Coming in at 31.7%, the reading is a few percentage points above the historical average of 27.6% and is in the top quartile of the historical range. In other words, it is an elevated reading albeit far from without precedence. What is more significant is that it has been over a year since this part of the survey has seen these levels. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-II-Correction.png))** + +> In the history of the survey dating back to 1963, there have only been eight other times that the percentage of newsletter writers looking for a correction has crossed above 30% for the first time in at least a year. The most recent of these was in April 2009. In the table below we show the S&P 500's performance in the year following those occurrences. As shown, performance has been generally positive across those past instances with average gains over the following weeks and months and moves higher at least 75% of the time one month, three months, and one year out. Additionally, while there were two times, 1982 and 2009, in which the S&P 500 rallied over the following year without looking back, there were another two times, 2001 and 2007, that at the following years' lows, the S&P 500 would end up lower by double-digit percentage points. + +> ###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](https://media.bespokepremium.com/uploads/2021/05/052721-II-Correction-Table.png))** + +***** + +# **STOCK MARKET VIDEO: Stock Market Analysis Video for Week Ending May 28th, 2021** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())** +(VIDEO NOT YET POSTED.) + +# **STOCK MARKET VIDEO: ShadowTrader Video Weekly 5.30.21** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!]())** +(NONE FOR THIS WEEK.) + +***** + +Here are the most notable companies (tickers) reporting earnings in this upcoming trading week ahead- + +***** + +> * **(T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.)** + +***** + +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S MOST NOTABLE EARNINGS RELEASES!](https://i.imgur.com/4oQ7iOG.png))** +###### **([CLICK HERE FOR NEXT WEEK'S HIGHEST VOLATILITY EARNINGS RELEASES!](https://i.imgur.com/4szLPk7.png))** + + +***** + +Below are some of the notable companies coming out with earnings releases this upcoming trading week ahead which includes the date/time of release & consensus estimates courtesy of Earnings Whispers: + +***** + +> # ***Monday 5.31.21 Before Market Open:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES LINK!]()) +(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF MEMORIAL DAY.) + +> # ***Monday 5.31.21 After Market Close:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR MONDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES LINK!]()) +(NONE. U.S. MARKETS CLOSED IN OBSERVANCE OF MEMORIAL DAY.) + +***** + +> # ***Tuesday 6.1.21 Before Market Open:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!](https://i.imgur.com/wZpRYOe.png)) + +> # ***Tuesday 6.1.21 After Market Close:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR TUESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!](https://i.imgur.com/ttwkqP4.png)) + +***** + +> # ***Wednesday 6.2.21 Before Market Open:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!](https://i.imgur.com/wJkCFCy.png)) + +> # ***Wednesday 6.2.21 After Market Close:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR WEDNESDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!](https://i.imgur.com/LjMcaO2.png)) + +***** + +> # ***Thursday 6.3.21 Before Market Open:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!](https://i.imgur.com/VFwpYdZ.png)) + +> # ***Thursday 6.3.21 After Market Close:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES LINK!](https://i.imgur.com/uGKKmG5.png)) + +***** + +> # ***Friday 6.4.21 Before Market Open:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S PRE-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES LINK!]()) +(NONE.) + +***** + +> # ***Friday 6.4.21 After Market Close:*** +> ###### ([CLICK HERE FOR FRIDAY'S AFTER-MARKET EARNINGS TIME & ESTIMATES!]()) +(NONE.) + +***** + +# DISCUSS! + +What are you all watching for in this upcoming trading week? + +***** + +> # (T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.) +**(T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.)** (T.B.A. THIS WEEKEND.). + +> #([CLICK HERE FOR THE CHART!](http://elite.finviz.com/chart.ashx?t=SPY&ty=c&ta=st_c,sch_200p,sma_50,sma_200,sma_20,sma_100,bb_20_2,rsi_b_14,macd_b_12_26_9,stofu_b_14_3_3&p=d&s=l)) + +***** + +I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and a great trading week ahead r/StockMarket. +Just remember that if even you did, there's an extremely high probability that you wouldn't have held on to it. You probably would have spent it, or lost it, or had it stolen. + +Then you'd feel even worse than you do now. +My apartment has a tonne of halogen and cfl lights, and to ensure that I can afford my morning cereal in the winter, I’m thinking of changing to a series of LED GU10s and B22s. + +To my utter horror, almost all the bulbs I’ve looked at across a series of stores all seem to have energy ratings of F or G. Nothing better. + +Am I missing a trick here, or is it just pointless to think I’m going to be able to save any money on this? + + +EDIT: THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND ADVICE. It's clear that this is a result of the change in the energy ratings in 2021 and that I better get LED bulbs with more than a 2 year warrantly. Really appreciate each and every one of you helping with this :) +With more users in the sub due to the crazy things that happened a couple of months ago there’s a lot more people who don’t know what the fuck they’re doing and just follow hype. I don’t exactly know what the fuck I’m doing, but there’s still an important lesson everyone has to learn at some point and I learned it early last year when I joined this sub. Many people learn this lesson the hard way, but once you learn you never do it again. If you haven’t had this happen to you yet this is your chance to never let it happen. + +Almost all penny stocks dump after a huge run. Most people who have traded penny stocks know that by now. If a stock is being talked about by a lot of people here then I would consider it a hype penny stock and it’s most likely already made a decent run up. + +The latest stock everyone was getting greedy with was EEENF. I didn’t get in that in time since I just got back on here after a break, but I was just waiting for the big crash where a lot of people learned the lesson. Happened to me my first hype penny stock. I went from 100% gains to a -50% loss in less than 5 minutes. Needless to say, I pull out in time now. Sure if 88 Energy hit oil it could’ve exploded, but it was running up anticipating that they do hit oil. Read the paragraph below and you might understand why it didn’t really matter. + +If a hype penny stock runs up in anticipation of news, if there is good news but it isn’t amazing news the stock usually still crashes. And even if it is the news everyone was hoping for it might explode a little more but it will eventually fall back down. This is super rare for penny stocks though. You’re taking a 1/100 gamble so you’re better off securing big profit. People double, triple, or even quadruple their money and STILL don’t secure profits. It’s unbelievable. The stock ran up because people were hoping and almost assuming they would find oil, so anything less than that it’s crashing. + +Like I said earlier, I learned that lesson before. The first hype penny stock I played, there was a conference call people were anticipating good news from. The news actually was good news yet the stock still crashed. I was confused at the time then I read posts from people saying “buy the rumor, sell the news.” That phrase should be common knowledge but it doesn’t seem like it is here. + +Hype penny stocks aren’t necessarily bad. If a stock has already run up it could run more if there’s enough hype and anticipation, but secure your profits after you make 25-50%+, and/or if there’s anticipated news. **If people are buying a stock based on something that will hopefully happen, then the price will be at levels that it would be at as if that news already happened.** Always have a realistic target (10-20x isn’t usually realistic) in mind. Always sell before the anticipated news conference, anticipated press release etc. + +We need greedy people to play the hype penny stocks to make money once a hype stock is already up 50-100% so it is what it is. But those of you who are truly disciplined and don’t want to get destroyed... live by that phrase when trading pennies. +## What is SafeGalaxy? + +Safegalaxy started off as a memecoin but it's becoming more then that. The team behind Safegalaxy is about to launch GalaxySwap this upcoming month. Which will allow staking and farming. But that's the tip of the iceberg. There been discussion of potential defi projects being connected around the Galaxy ecosystem. + +The team does AMA every week with updates to the projects and marketing. All the team members have their identity reveal. And you can visit their website and find their linkedin profile on the team page. + +They recently knock off many mile stones off their roadmap. To name a few they are a incorporated business within Canada, Smart contract audit, Coinmarketcap listing, and Coingecko Listing. We're about to get listed on many different exchanges as well. Such as Cointiger and probit. + +Can be bought on PancakeV1 [https://v1exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x6b51231c43B1604815313801dB5E9E614914d6e4](https://v1exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x6b51231c43B1604815313801dB5E9E614914d6e4) + +Set 11% slippage or higher. + +## Highlights + +* 75000k+ Holders +* 58M Marketcap +* 11000+ Telegram members +* Encourage Buyers to hold due to tokenomics. (I gained over 100b in over 30days so far) + +## Links + +* Subreddit - [https://www.reddit.com/r/SafeGalaxy](https://www.reddit.com/r/SafeGalaxy) +* Discord - [https://discord.com/invite/dq7m6R7UAz](https://discord.com/invite/dq7m6R7UAz) +* Twitter - [https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken](https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken) +* Telegram - [https://t.me/safegalaxychat](https://t.me/safegalaxychat) + +Remember to visit their website to learn more about this project! [https://safegalaxy.net/](https://safegalaxy.net/) +[GameStop.com](https://www.gamestop.com/) || Shop [Internationally](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/vyyzmx/gamestop_retail_international_nft_game_informer/) || [NFT Marketplace](https://nft.gamestop.com) + +GameStop [Investor Relations](https://news.gamestop.com/) + +# 🙋 ​[What's GME & should I consider investing?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qig65g/welcome_rall_looking_to_catch_up_on_the_gme_saga/) + +# 📚 Library of Due Diligence [GME.fyi](https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/kosyg) + +>A collection of over 200 of the most important, groundbreaking **D**ue **D**iligence. If you're looking to familiarize yourself with the GME bull thesis or the underhanded tactics of the short sellers involved in this trade– then this is for you + +# 🟣 [Computershare Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/x3byy4/drscomputershare_megathread_092022/) + +>Wondering what DRS is? Want to know how and why people are Direct Registering their shares? Here you'll find our guide and additional resources, as well as a welcoming community answering questions in the comments! + +🏴‍☠️ [NFT Marketplace & Wallet Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/vluysg/gamestop_nft_marketplace_wallet_megathread/) + +>Why is GameStop getting into NFTs? *WTF* even is an NFT? How do I set up a GameStop Wallet? How do I get a cool/custom wallet address? All these questions and more are answered here! + +**Read** [**the Rules & Wiki**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) **||** [**MOASS FAQ**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq) **|| Join our** [**Discord**](https://discord.gg/Superstonk) + +How to [feed DRSBOT](https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEOrphans/comments/qlvour/welcome_to_gmeorphans_read_this_post/). Low karma? Post your DRS on r/GMEOrphans + +How to [Filter by Flair & Search](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/v0oxp2/how_to_filter_by_flair_search_for_posts_on/) on Superstonk + +Tag u/Superstonk-Flairy for user flairs, find [custom emoji options here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/v89p0h/new_superstonk_user_flair_emojis_how_to_edit_your/) +I was a McDonalds manager for 12 years, the pay was solid ($15/hr plus 10 hours overtime per check), especially for the low income city that I live in. I'm married with two kids, and while we lived paycheck to paycheck, we weren't super struggling until xmas time. + +With a good referral from a friend, and a leap of faith from his boss, I got into a manufacturing plant running a digital press. The pay was $14/hr, no overtime, and hours would regularly be cut during the slow season. + +Why did I take the job? EXPERIENCE! A regular Monday through Friday, 1st shift job, and little to no stress environment. For everyone that has worked fast food, you know the stress levels, you know about working all different kinds of hours, working EVERY DAMN WEEKEND!! + +I eventually applied for the warehouse position at my current job and got it, came with a 50 cent raise, AND a forklift certification. I learned shipping, receiving, warehouse inventory, forklifting, among some other things. + +Now with my manufacturing job being set to lay everyone off, I have set myself up for another warehouse job as a forklift operator making $17 an hour. + +Making 300 to 400 dollars less a month hurt, it really did, I ran up 7 credit cards, we had to cut some expenses, spend less at xmas time etc. But it was worth it to get out of the grind that is fast food work. There is no replacing a set work schedule and being off every weekend. I can spend time with my kids now, I can play on our weekly softball league now. + +I dont know of this story would help anybody, but I'd thought I would post it anyway. Take a leap of faith, a risk, switch industries, it CAN work out. +https://i.imgur.com/yGe9LJz.jpg + +$170,000 cost basis, so a ten bagger (ten when you include the $20,000 in dividends with an ex-dividend date of 12/23 and a pay date of 12/31, so I'll get the cash Tuesday). A few thoughts ... + +First, I am glad I ignored all the WSB advice in my previous thread to sell it all at once. Always do the opposite of WSB, always. No one had any persuasive arguments other than take profits for the sake of taking profits. If I believed that shit, I would have cashed out in 2012. + +Second, I've readjusted my tight line of stops higher this week, I still expect to be completely stopped out in two months max. + +Third, I am already priced out of the 15% long term capital gains bracket for 2019, so strategically selling a $400,000 nub to avoid the 20% top rate would be pointless. Might as well hold into 2020 and wait to get stopped out. + +Fourth, I'll just add edits to this thread with updates until it all sells instead of making a new thread every month, to accomodate being asked for updates. Very looking forward to exiting this landmine trade ASAP. + +[EDIT] I explain my reasoning for making the trade in the first place here + +https://www.marketwatch.com/story/millennial-consultant-sees-extremely-risky-investment-deliver-a-13-million-return-but-hes-still-not-quite-ready-to-sell-2019-11-20?mod=home-page + +[EDIT 2] Hey, thanks for the gold. +[Full statement](https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-sets-the-record-straight-on-false-and-misleading-short-seller-report-96) + +Share down 10% in pmkt. To be fair it was down around 13% already before the statement. It's a fairly long response, addressing many of the claims made by Hindenburg. Applying Trump's "I never said quid pro quo" defence at various points (Nikola One, inverters, contract between Swift and dHybrid). + +**Few highlights** + +Nikola One: totally not a pusher. But we are not gonna say it was driving under its own propulsion in the "Nikola In Motion" video. In fact, we never did. So technically we never lied. And it was long time a go anyway. + +Hydrogen capabilities: Milton has claimed they have a 1,000kg hydrogen station at Nikola HQ - "can produce 1,000kg of hydrogen at site". At this point it seems they only have storage and dispenser, but have only just ordered the electrolysers. I wonder how Trevor can say they are producing hydrogen at below USD3/kg if they don’t have actual production yet. Note that this point is not disputed by Nikola. + +>**Short Seller Intentionally Underestimates Extent of Hydrogen Production Capabilities:** +> +>\-- The Company has also partnered with one of the most well-known hydrogen experts in the world, Nel ASA. Further, Nikola has already installed a 1,000 kg hydrogen storage and dispensing demo station at its headquarters and ordered over $30 million of electrolyzers to support the initial hydrogen station rollout. Read more in the Company’s [press release](https://www.nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-orders-enough-electrolysis-equipment-from-nel-to-produce-40000-kgs-of-hydrogen-per-day-79). + +Battery breakthrough: Claims that ZapGo was not related to the battery breakthrough announced last year, but is a confidential RnD partnership with “leading academic institution”. So we can look forward to hearing more about this at Nikola World 2020 in December. +I'm an accountant and I have a fun fact to tell you. A typical company has expenses of 0.5% of online transactions that are not honoured upon settlement by the bank. Visa and Mastercard actually take days to settle and are actually much slower than #Bitcoin. +So for a bit of context: I'm a 19 y/o dude from Melbourne who's currently studying full-time at uni, I've got 3 years left in my course studying computer engineering. I currently live with my parents so my expenses are very low. I receive Youth Allowance, so that essentially covers all my daily expenditures and the remaining amount ends up in my savings account. I'm looking at growing my savings more efficiently so I've started to read books about investments but I'm still unsure about which direction to head in, I've heard that index funds are a solid choice but I don't know which broker to choose and which specific fund would be catered best to my current situation. + +Also another question: I've recently been reading about the Student Start-up Loan, where you get $1,094 every 6 months during your study, just like HECS, this is interest free (but is still adjusted for inflation) and I won't need to pay it back until I earn above the income threshold. I was wondering if you could take the loan and buy government bonds with it to earn some interest? My four year course is around $40,000 and the loan would be another 6.6K on top of that. My parents say it's a bad idea to grow your debt any further and I'm not sure if this is just another one of my bad ideas. Sorry for the wall of text, it's just that I've had a few months of holidays to really think about my current financial situation. +I'm curious about whether a very simple system - think something like a long vs a short moving average crossover - is profitable. It seems to me that the basic idea that when a product's value is increasing, you should be able to jump on and ride the wave, which is what simple systems are designed to do... + +Any thoughts? +I have been getting some suspiciously good results from a backtest and wondered if anyone would be able to critique my approach, as clearly something must be wrong. + +\- I have a classifier, which uses various company fundamentals as features + +\- The target is stock price at T + 1 year, (1 = up, 0 = down) + +\- Model is trained on data from 2006 - 2012 (not shuffled) + +\- Tested on 2013 + +\- I buy a stock if it's predicted to go up and short a stock if it's predicted to go down + +\- This yields an outperformance of the SP500 by 11.6&#37; + +This seems, far, far too high... + +Answers to some initial questions: + +\- I have not taken into account slippage and trading fees. + +\- I make 357 trades over a year (equal weighting per stock) + +\- Have not measured the sharpe yet + +\- It is skewed towards longs + +\- I have good performance training and testing in different periods too + +Returns (trained on data from 2006 to T) + +2013 25.6 &#37; + +2012 27.1 &#37; + +2011 22.0 &#37; + +2010 18.3 &#37; + +2009 54.5 &#37; + +**Thank you for all the help so far, I'm going to gather more stats from my backtest and get some more data.** +A few months ago, I interviewed with one of the Canadian bank's quant teams. During the technical portion, one of the interviewers asked me if I could calculate `exp()` faster than the current function. I spent some time pondering the question, but was stumped. After I told him I couldn't solve it, he said the solution was to approximate `exp()` via the Taylor Series Expansion. + +Right now I'm reading Mark Joshi's primer on C++ OOP and derivative pricing, and wanted to add the Taylor Series approximation of `exp()` to my codebase. I found [this](http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/15537/) code for the calculation, but am unsure of how many terms I should input for maximum accuracy. Does anyone have a clean explanation/solution? +First time dividend investor here. I want to expose 30% of my portfolio (Around 5000$) to dividend stocks or ETF's. During my research I found these two ETF's, VYM and SCHD to be pretty similar. Should I go for either one of those or include both of them in equal ratio? Or am I missing an obvious difference between the two? Thank you in advance. +On NASDAQ website it doesn’t list a dividend for this month, and Ive recently read they decreased the dividend. Ive also seen quite a few people off-loading SPHD in favor of other divvies. I currently am sitting on a very small position of it, but still a decent amount of my portfolio (cause Im just a poor boy). Is it worth keeping, or moving into other ETFs and/or stocks? Thanks for your time and input! +Yesterday I was thinking about the 4% rule. Basically, you save 25 years of your expenses, invest them in bonds and stocks (taking some risk), and then the Trinity Study tells you you will be able to spend money for 30 years? It feels so underwhelming, considering you could just have saved the money with an inflation match and you would have 25 years of expenses saved up. + +Other people go for the 3% rule, which requires you to save 33 years of salary, for a potentially (not risk free) infinite withdraws. In my case (and this I guess is the case of most people) saving up 33 years of expenses will take me a really long time. I would end up retiring when almost 50. All of a sudden "infinite withdraws" becomes "about 40 more years". Again, just getting a match for inflation would provide me with 33 years of ensured savings. + +Are we paying too much risk in exchange for not much gain? Is the difference between 25 to 30 years (or 33 to about 40) worth the volatility and uncertainty of owning stocks? + +**Edit:** *Thank you for all your replies. My biggest take away from your comments is that a lot of people here value the average case scenario, while I focus in the worst possible case scenario (which is the only way to look at finances for early retirement, from my point of view). While some of you value "100% probability of having 0 money after 25 years" (cash scenario) vs "5% probability of having 0 money after 30 years" (investing scenario) what I really see is "0% chance of running out of money for 25 years" (cash) vs "5% chance of running out of cash before 30 years" (investments).* +After UST lost it's peg and briefly dropped to 0.92, it appears they are desperately trying to recover. + +[https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q9d4ywgfnd8h43da5tpcxcn6ajv590cg6d3tg6axemvljvt2k76zs50tv4q](https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1q9d4ywgfnd8h43da5tpcxcn6ajv590cg6d3tg6axemvljvt2k76zs50tv4q) + +They just transferred all their BTC out of their wallet, probably going to dump it on the market in order to try to save UST. + +Good luck to everyone who put money in UST. It will probably recover this time around because they got the BTC to sell or lend, but this just proves that UST isn't the great stablecoin that this sub portraits it at. + +Be careful with UST going forward, this definitely won't be the last time that it's briefly losing it's peg and one day it might not recover. + +&#x200B; + +Edit: 37,000 BTC that originated from the Luna foundation wallet is being transferred to Gemini exchange + +[https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/2195e45c27826de5ea6086ea5d35d0c00485079910d24b8dd96972f8d7faa7e0](https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/2195e45c27826de5ea6086ea5d35d0c00485079910d24b8dd96972f8d7faa7e0) +I was blown away. They interview Andy Greenberg, Amir Taaki, Cody Wilson, and extensively featured the Ulbricht family. They covered the cypherpunks, mentioned austrian economics, Mises, and anarcho-capitalism multiple times. They interviewed the head of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. They gave a very accurate and largely favorable explanation of Bitcoin. + +The focus of the film was basically the history of the Silk Road, the bust, and how unfair the government's trial of Ross was. + +They even mentioned OpenBazaar (I almost dropped out of my seat). + +Afterwards, they brought the director Alex Winters on stage, along with Lyn Ulbricht, Cody Wilson, Andy Greenberg and a few others. They talked and had a Q&A for ~20 minutes. Obviously, it was extremely positive towards Ulbricht's position and strongly attacked the trial. + +This wasn't a Bitcoin conference or a libertarian gathering, this was a major film premiere at SXSW. It was a massive theater (easily more than 500 people) and standing room only, I had to wait in line for a half hour for a ticket. + +I still can't believe what I saw. Amazing. Everyone needs to see this film. +Can someone help me understand why on earth you’d buy bonds right now? There are 2 year CD’s that yield the same percentage as 10 year bonds... is there an upside to selling them later or something? What if inflation takes off to say 4% are you just losing at that point... someone eli5 why someone with say a million dollars would invest in bonds now. + +Edit Actually the cd is 2.45% +&#x200B; + +# Part 0: Intro + +Hey guys. Looks like everything is great out there today (lol). Wanted to let you guys know about something I saw that looked a bit too off for me to ignore, so here I am to share… + +https://preview.redd.it/rdx43amiu7c71.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3b7d96c1fcbb9ab5a48307f05df37b7934263db + +# Part 1: The Company + +Support.com ($SPRT) is a company that has some pretty bad financials, which is probably the reason it has 60%-80% of its float shorted, has a 98% short utilization rate, and is hit with so many FTDs that it’s on the [SHO regulation list](http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/trader.aspx?id=regshothreshold). + +Vulture funds have been trying to expedite bankruptcy by shorting its [8.2mil float (yahoo)](https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/sprt/key-statistics?p=sprt) by an extreme amount. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Support.com will now take the form of a new reverse merger with [**Greenidge**](https://greenidgellc.com/static/greenidge-support-com/presentation.pdf) (closing GREE), a green mining player The merger is due to close any day now. + +I will refer to the top (1) and (2) miners on the NYSE as (1) and (2) + +**The Merger** + +* **Merger is set to close in Q3** \- basically any day now - at which point, all Support.com ($SPRT) shares become 8% of Gree’s outstanding. +* **Estimated** **$1.4bn-2.2bn** **market cap** on closing as a result of its $281mil EBITDA (5-8x) by EOY 2022. This is consistent with it’s competitors - (1) at $257m by EOY 2022 and (2) at $321m by EOY 2022. *As a result, fair value of Support.com at the reverse merger is at least $7.5 -- 85% higher than current valuation.* +* **The deal is practically done,** with Greenidge amending its [share registration](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521217543/d166032ds4a.htm) last Friday (July 16th) and Support having their annual shareholder meeting tomorrow ([July 19th](https://www.reuters.com/companies/SPRT.O/events)). The short bear case is blown. + +**The New Company: Greenidge-Support (GREE)** + +* **Power plant**: Greenidge owns an entire green power plant in upstate NY for the purpose of mining at rates **500% cheaper** than (1) or (2). They can dynamically switch between using the power generated to sell to customers or to mine, which puts them in an unique position relative to the rest of miners. Since they can switch to selling power on *NYISO's* wholesale electricity market when, for instance, a summer heat waves hits, and the spot price of energy peaks. So, they have a competitive advantage relative to other miners whose profits depend completely on \[redacted\] coins price. +* **Cheap costs**: It costs Greenidge $2.8k to mine 1 coin. This is nuts. As a reference, it costs (2) $15k to mine 1 coin (Feb quote). +* **Hash rate** **& rigs:** Has an estimated 1.1EH (mining speed rate), which was where (1) and (2) were as recently as Feb, and just announced the purchase of [more rigs last week](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521214711/d166032d425.htm) and a [new expansion into South Carolina](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521207191/d166032d425.htm). +* **Dual income**: Greenidge’s mining is already up running and Support.com will continue its work post-merger -- kinda like bonus money. Plus as said before, they can provide power to customers. +* **Additional revenue**: Energy markets, capacity markets, and waste heat will all provide additional income for Greenidge. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/pu500hk477c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e7af9f82ecb2a5dd93a113a481844464bf2abf1 + +Management knows what they’re doing. I mean they legit convinced pretty liberal NY senators to change a law and [allow a natural gas power plant near a lake](https://www.wshu.org/post/anti-cryptocurrency-mining-bill-dies-new-york-legislature#stream/0). It’s clean energy and safe but still, they lobby better than Nancy Pelosi knows how to trade yolo options, and that's saying something. + +&#x200B; + +[See art. Copyright u\/repos39™](https://preview.redd.it/ub13fmpm97c71.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=2de85ec349b913ee4f878879e7e79ca58299dfe2) + +The DD for the company can get quite long, and you can easily search around and find a more comprehensive valuation basis, but the company isn’t garbage. I’m not here to talk too much about fundamentals, though they are strong. I'm here to add to the existing knowledge with lizard brain technical setup theory. + +# Part 2: Lizard + +&#x200B; + +https://i.redd.it/awjbvp6s77c71.gif + +## Float + +The float actually available to the public is important. Yahoo uses 8.2m shares as float, but it differs depending on the website. **Turns out this 8.2m number is an overcount -- the actual float is just below 5.5m.** I’ll show my numbers and math below, but lowkey it’s pretty boring, so feel free to jump over it all. + +**Begin Math:** + +As a baseline I assumed the high estimate of 24m shares outstanding, though finviz says [shares outstanding is 20m](https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=SPRT). From there, I took a dive into some SEC 13f filings and merger filings -- funnnnnn. Btw 13f filings are released quarterly for fund managers with >100m in assets and show their individual holdings. + +&#x200B; + +1. **Greenidge Generation** + +Surprise surprise -- the company that Support is merging with owns a large stake. But how large is large? For this bad boi, we’ll look at the [​​S-4/A (2nd page, before Table of Contents)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521217543/d166032ds4a.htm). As part of the merger agreement, let’s note that 210 Capital, LLC has already acquired 3,909,871 shares of Support. Additionally according to the [S-4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521217543/d166032ds4a.htm), Greenidge holds 30% of shares outstanding. Quick math: 3,909,871 / 24,000,000 is 16.3%. 1 + 1 + 2 = 4, but if Bezos is going to the moon it’s 6. Sorry -- got distracted, but quick math shows that 30% + 16.3% = 46.5% of shares outstanding accounted for. + +**2. Radoff Bradley Louis** + +According to the [13D/A](https://sec.report/Document/0001193125-21-098531/) that Radoff Bradley, he owns 1,301,874 shares of Support: about 5.5%. Quick math: 46.5%+5.5% = 52% of shares accounted for. + +**3. Insiders** + +Though I prefer to look at filings to verify the accuracy of numbers, especially with respect to float, it’s tiring af reading through this obscure verbiage, so let’s just rely on the insider ownership reported [here](https://docoh.com/company/1104855/SPRT/insider-ownership-history). If we sum the columns, we get to 3,155,080 of Support held by insiders, with 922,223 of this number being non-qualified stock options. I’m not sure if this is the total number of options or the total number of shares that these options represent, so let’s ignore them, leaving us with 2,232,857 common + restricted shares held by Support insiders, or 9.3% of the company. Quick math: 52% + 9.3% = 61.3% of shares accounted for. + +**4. Kershner Trading Americas** + +In their last [13G/A filing they had 638,265 shares of Support](https://sec.report/Document/0001535384-21-000017/), down from the 1,240,957 shares they had in April, but shares are shares. So that's 2.6% of Support. Quick math: 61.3% + 2.6% = 63.9% of shares accounted for. + +**5. Renaissance Technologies** + +Oh this name sticks out. Their last filing was the Q1 [13F on 5/13](https://sec.report/Document/0001037389-21-000330/). If you download the XML, put it into your fave text editor (arhmm SublimeText), and search for Support’s CUSIP number: 86858W200, you’ll see our baby lil gem shining like a star. So Renaissance owns 831,549 shares of Support, or around 3.5%. Quick math: 63.9% + 3.5% = 67.4% of shares accounted for. + +**6. Blackrock** + +Ok ok big bad Blackrock is in the house! Same thing as Renaissance, [Q1 13F on 5/13](https://sec.report/Document/0001086364-21-000038/) \-- download the XML search for Support’s CUSIP number: 86858W200, you’ll see lil babes. Blackrock owns 388,037 shares, or around 1.6%. Quick math: 67.4% + 1.6% = 69% of shares accounted for. + +**7. Vanguard** + +Ah the people who came up with the concept of an ETF. Nice, safe, and friendly 1% YoY returns, ETFs those things, aka not Support. Check the [Q1 13F](https://sec.report/Document/0001104659-21-066511/primary_doc.html), and see babes Vanguard owns 824,888 shares, 3.4% of Support. Quick math: 69% + 3.4% = 72.4% of shares accounted for. + +**8. Geode Capital Management** + +See [Q1 13F](https://sec.report/Document/0001214717-21-000010/) see babes Geode own 149152 0.62% -- good numer. math add 73%. + +**9. Bridgeway Capital** + +Bridgeway capital [Q1 13F](https://sec.report/Document/0001085146-21-001703/) own 120k, .05%, number good me like total 73.5% + +I can’t continue looking at these filings. I’m starting to talk like an ape. Let’s wrap it up. 73.5% of shares are held by institutional investors or employees, so we’re at a 6.36m float. Since we’re trying to be precise, when the filing says “*Greenidge approximately owns 30% of Support*”, they actually mean [**31.8%**](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521097400/d145424dsc13d.htm). So it’s actually 75.3%, which makes the float closer to 5.92m. *But, it turns out institutions own a bit more through* [*mutual funds*](https://fintel.io/somf/us/sprt#)*.* + +Hmm ok, let’s do one more mindnumbing calculations. For mutual funds, if you calculate all the ones listed that are not Vanguard and Bridgeway, that’s approx 580k shares of Support owned or 2.4% of shares outstanding. 75.3% + 2.4% = 77.7%, which brings us to a 5.352m float. It’s annoying AF, but you have to calculate this by hand since the data online is sometimes off. Trust but verify. + +**End Math** + +**TLDR; the float is just under 5.5m due to institutions, merger deals, and mutual funds.** + +Variables impacting a squeeze include **(1) limited float,** (2) tightening short constraints, (3) price instability, and (4) major positive catalysts. Clearly number (1) has been addressed. Moving on to number (2)... + +## Tightening Short Constraints + +Support just made the [SHO Threshold Security List](http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/trader.aspx?id=regshothreshold) last week (July 16), a situation that experts ([this paper, pg 5](https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=460001024021101094085092067118001009096071084081032094122125066027002116091003082087118100026102007005055068066083017113126119122066055034084122098082006028078000066072020018127014005021125125023007018071121127069109079113087074112000079001014017106113&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE)) label as: + +>an exogenous shock that tightens the short sale constraint. + +This coincides with a major T+35 closeout period from a massive spike in Failure-To-Delivers coming due next week (more later). Historic volatility has been increasing and it has been getting more intense the past 5-10 trading days. Bullish flow is repeatedly met by short sellers (Ortex daily data shows increases) to keep the stock falling. Short sellers are aggressive, leaving Support on the Sho Threshold Security list for the last two days in their attempts. So, some short seller(s) is(are) pretty underwater and can’t afford the price to rise even 5%. + +**Short Interest** + +* **4.5mil shorts on loan** (of a 5.5mil float) +* **100% utilization rate** (no shares to borrow) +* **Soaring cost to borrow** (short demand is high / supply is low) +* **Bullish consolidation up** + +Why is it so hard to borrow? Even if the **5mil on loan** Ortex estimate is off, **exchange reported SI is 4.5mil (of a 5.5mil float)**. Shorts are completely maxed out unless they start working over 100% float short interest, which didn’t end so well for them last time . + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/okm4gzg877c71.png?width=1584&format=png&auto=webp&s=10d126205d88aa3e80017799c9c387a680b6febf + +All metrics that Ortex provides are soaring. Shares on loan, utilization, cost to borrow, even days to cover are peaking, indicating that shorting constraints are getting in a critical area. After the deep dive on filings, it’s clear that 4.51mil / 5.5mil shares -- AKA 82% of the float -- are sold short and shorts have taken a huge position. Note that 4.51m SI is the number reported by exchanges as of June 12th. In the my other DD, I made a case that FTD spikes correspond with shorts opening large positions. Support has had FTD spikes from June 9th to June 30th, and it has been on the Sho Threshold Security list since last Thursday, so we can infer that there are FTD spikes happening right now. So, considering the Ortex metrics are spiking and FTDs are off the charts to the point that Support has been on the Sho Threshold Security list for multiple weeks in June and is on it right now, ***the 4.51m SI number reported by exchanges as of June 12 is pretty conservative IMO.*** + +**FTD Squeeze** + +But wait, there’s more. In my previous DD, I made a case that FTDs can be used as an approximation for the point when shorts are the most vulnerable. How do FTDs translate to upward potential? + +The [SEC and SHO regulations](https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm) state that shorts **must** close out within 35 days (T+35) from hitting a Fail-to-Deliver. Excerpt from Section IV. 3 below: + +>Rule 204 provides an extended period of time to close out certain failures to deliver. Specifically, if a failure to deliver position results from the sale of a security that a person is deemed to own and that such person intends to deliver as soon as all restrictions on delivery have been removed, the firm has up to 35 calendar days following the trade date to close out the failure to deliver position by purchasing securities of like kind and quantity. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/knjet9k977c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2362c8f9b6533faed2f8301f5de269931674bd0 + +Guess when T+35 is from the gigantic spike in June? That’s right. + +June 15th + 35 days = July 20 (this coming Tuesday). Tuesday and the next two weeks should see solid volatility, and volatility is profitable. Let’s zoom in on this FTD activity. We see aggressive opening of short positions with a negligible effect on the price. Shorts are deep, which makes sense for the repeated attempt at forcing down any increase in price, protecting a fragile underwater position. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/ju37kjcb77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=8f8f3ebac8e12ec39bb57366b8b604ef1b80cb72 + +Usually, as you can see in the graph below for another stock im interested in, large FTD spikes are usually associated with rather deep depressions in price -- usually around local (or global) minimums. This is not happening with Support, so shorts are exhausting a lot of capital with marginal effects on the price. This is good. + +## + +https://preview.redd.it/bbh2sx5c77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ef7fba4eff57b154479cd02a3d91c36bff53dbd + +**Cost to Borrow & Short Availability** + +The borrow rate below concurs that shorts are becoming tight and locating shares to borrow is becoming harder and harder. Shorts are going underwater and this coincides with the major activity recently. They are spiking up the cost to borrow and depleting the number of shares available to borrow while the price bleeds up. + +&#x200B; + +[Red is cost to borrow and blue is number of shares available to borrow](https://preview.redd.it/hf9y4fke77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=da403f9df5de58b2e960083a660094906f57c829) + +No shares left to borrow after the shorts shorted down the 200k in call options when the market opened Friday. Last week Support had run out of shares to borrow multiple times, and this can explain the Sho Threshold Security List inclusion on Thursday / Friday since, if they could short by regular means, then Support would not be on the list. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/herbpjtf77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee5c260b72535a77fbb4dff595e551794f42bb5c + +## Price Instability + +Price is becoming increasingly more unstable -- AKA liquidity is drying up, which makes sense since so much of the float is locked up. Why is this important, BTW? Well quickly, before \[ unnamed ex penny movie theatre stock\] popped $70+ there was extreme after-hours volume in which tick data displayed one of the telltale signs of extremely poor liquidity & price instability (barcoding). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/71b4dfng77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=c51644aa1e3c9049229315ab5a43fa7c25603149 + +There are some good approximations for price instability. Intraday, Support is showing widening bid / ask spreads and a limited orderbook. Historic volatility is also increasing. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/gdv87n1k77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ddd37afac60f0fc56de7da31a530d5107237e805 + +I’ve also noticed that over the past 5-10 trading days, the price has become even more volatile. Last Thursday and Friday, you can look at the tape and see that the bullish flow of price peaks of 4%+ is met by immediate shorting. Normal players don’t get excited by a 4% intraday price move; that’s not an investor, and retail in this situation would be encouraged to FOMO and buy more. That’s a short seller protecting a price point in an increasingly unstable environment. + +Other indicators are even picking this up as well -- see below. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/9kc8u8dj77c71.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=95599ccf37a326e77d448137f6edfdc2e272669f + +## Positive Catalyst + +Why are these shorts so deep? Seems like they were hoping the merger would fall through before they needed to cover after trying to short Support.com into oblivion pre merger news in March. Now they need to cover their shorts before the merger happens or they’re in a bad position. + +Unfortunately for them, all is good on the GREE front. Greenridge updated their [share registration](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001844971/000119312521217543/d166032ds4a.htm) with Support.com on Friday. People have also noticed that there is now a scheduled meeting on [Monday at 11am](https://www.reuters.com/companies/SPRT.A/events). The entire Support.com team sent a message back in the winter to their team, holders, and investors, basically drooling over this passing, and we have confirmation it’s working its way forward. Also, Greenridge and their investors already own 46%+ of Support (see the float section). + +**The bear case seems to be on unstable grounds.** + +# Part 3: Technical Setup + +We touched briefly on the technical setup earlier. + +* Support is solid +* Bottom of trendline +* In a standard deviation channel and RSI is coiling on the 4hr +* FTD positive impact to be seen in following 2 weeks +* Upper resistance is easily broken with a move up from shorts closing +* Confirmed by recent 8/20 calls for 5.5c +* Cup and handle + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/z35sgqyk77c71.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e712eeddf027553eb4798c2a5bc0ac5759feb8e + +In addition to current short set up: + +* **SI is at an all time high.** 4.5mil short of an estimated 5.5mil-8.2mil float +* **Utilization is 97%** = no more ammo for shorts +* **3x daily volume** needed for shorts to close + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/2i2o5arl77c71.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78f3ee4def8b784570175e3aa840fe6d41a92b3b + +# Part 4: TLDR Positions + +Who knows what happens with price volatility, but the margin of safety is getting larger and larger (at least for me). Risk-reward ratio is good for me, and the probability of bullish action post merger, for me, seems pretty high; hence I’m betting on $SPRT. Position is crazy right now. I’ll update with further holdings on Monday. + +5c, 5.5c, 6c - shares + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* + +\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +**Part 5: July 20 update** + +Ok, so things are getting more wild and support is getting more volatile, and I’ve always held the position that price instability comes before a major price move, either up or down, and my view is up. So check out this super stable price screenshotted from robinhood when $SPRT halted. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/aq2ahj2vehc71.png?width=377&format=png&auto=webp&s=c10be60b80e9351afc235559826bfb5c59d1dfbc + +So, $SPRT has been out of shares since the 15th, I’ve checked Interactive Brokers and you can’t borrow. I mean right now there are 4k shares available but this is an exception not the rule. $SPRT has also been on the *Regulation Sho List* since Thursday (July 15th). So, I'm going under the assumption that a large percentage of short volume has failed to deliver. I assume this volume number is combining both the short who is covering and the reshorting player. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/324yfecyehc71.png?width=1078&format=png&auto=webp&s=bf3ec25afbe7632c57872057c98dbcb1f9e42cfe + +Regardless, who the shorter is (the same player resetting the clock or a second party) these shorts are going to FTD (since short contraints are very tight as argued) which means they must be temporarily closed out (by the broker automatically) due to regulations which are exacerbated by SHO guideline. The rule of interest is [Rule-204](https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm) in *Regulation Sho*, the SEC says short sells must be completed by beginning of T+4 which means on T+3 at latest. Individual brokers have their own policy below is a snippet from [Jeffries policy](https://www.jefferies.com/CMSFiles/Jefferies.com/Files/Policies/regsho.pdf). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/hc10syv1mhc71.jpg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=155b2abcf1eb354e7493d488aab29925e0035389 + +You can see that Jeffries policy is consistent w/ the SEC (obvi). So, any any shares shorted recently (this week), regardless of net SI increase, must be returned at T+3 due to FTD regulations set in place by the SEC via SHO regulation. So T+3 from 7/15 means that on 7/20 (aka today) potentially 894,312 shares needed to be closed out. This may explain some of the price action in the morning. Tomorrow, 375,741 shares (potentially) will need to be closed out, and the day after 1.2million shares. Just checked today and the short volume was a whopping 5.7m, already did the mindnumbing calculation days ago this is more than the float. So, short volume is peaking and is now above float, every ortex indicator is blinking red crazy, and the price is acting unstable af aka liquidity is drying up: + +https://preview.redd.it/6ssba351fhc71.png?width=2524&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9a6eec3eeda6a84f759775e16bc07adb11f9255 + +So if uh imo (3) scenarios tomorrow: + +1. We repeat what has been done since Thursday. Price peak in the morning then end close to flat. +2. The price is completely flat and slightly down. I call this pattern “the golden straightjacket to moon pattern”**™**. +3. We moon. + +For the other ticker that rhymes with egg, the price basically spiked around a constant value pre-squeeze, it was halted before the big move. So far, so good. 🙂 + +Oh and option flow is pretty bullish as well at 12:00pm PT, there were 15x more calls opened than puts, 2.6M in call premiums vs 200K in puts premiums, volume way above normal + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/0g6zb7yughc71.png?width=1972&format=png&auto=webp&s=ead674945397aa275efc73e23f4a5ad66f8dc28e +After many months of deliberations and waiting for full Computershare access, I have decided to start 'selling' my etoro shares and buying back into CS. + +I put selling in inverted commas, because I am of the opinion that any share held at eToro holds no weight, isn't real and does not affect the market one way or the other. Holding xx shares there that can't be drs'd has pained me for a while now. I want my hard earned money and shares to mean something, to contribute to the overall goal of locking down the float. This is my way of taking action. + +My overall position in GME will only increase with this process. Seeing as eToro never actually owned my shares, there is technically not going to be any shares being sold back to the SHFs. + +Buying and Holding (at least through eToro) isn't enough. DRS is the way. + +Happy 2022 y'all. Power to the Players! +Ok, I'm sick and tired of seeing all this loss porn of people who were up by what to any average human would be a LIFE CHANGING amount of money, I'm talking 10k, 20k, 30k, even 100 or 200k, and then they lose it all. + +Stop getting fucking greedy and WITHDRAW! + +Get it through your head, if you went up that high once, chances are you can do it again, but you'll probably lose a lot along the way, so would you rather lose 5k of 50k, or 50k having started with 5k? Withdraw your gains!!!!! + +Buy a house or a car or give your mom some money or buy your wife's boyfriend a nice big cockring for when he's doing loud yoga with her in your bed. + +This shit will fuck you up. If you make 40 or 50k a year from your job, making 10 or 20k will change your fucking life, but equally losing 20k when you could have changed your life? Devastating. Life shattering. + +I say this because I've withdrawn over 30k from RH, but this week I made 10k and then proceeded to lose about 20k, likely with more losses to come at open. But you know what? I can never lose the money that I FUCKING TOOK OUT and my All Time will NEVER show me negative. + +Withdraw your fucking gains, bois, pigs get slaughtered! +I've been losing money on options for 3-4 years now. I add options trading as my core business for tax purposes. To cope up with losses and make myself ready for the next day of losing, I hire strippers. Since those expense are there so that I can carry on the business of losing, can I consider them as business expense for tax purposes? +Mint has finally exhausted my patience. Their continual connectivity issues, and absolutely terrible support has finally pushed me over the edge. + +What is the current best competitor? I am okay paying a trivial amount of money as long as something consistently works. For example, Mint hasn't worked with Target cards for two months and they are no longer updating their thread on why. But, I also have connectivity problems with other accounts as well, it's not just Target. +Hey all. I'm 26 and from Surrey/South London. I grew up here and my parents still live here. + +However for the past 4 years I have lived up in the Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire area. I moved here for work and started out by renting a room. It was fine to start with but I really craved my own space after a while. + +Eventually I met someone and moved in with her at the start of this year. Things were good for a while, I left my job and got a new one a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's a place I can see myself staying at for a long time. I'm a maintenance engineer and work for a lovely private hospital. My base salary is £26k but once I have been there a while it will go up to maybe £30k depending on how many emergency callouts I have to do. + +We split up yesterday completely out of the blue and my life feels totally turned upside down because I no longer have anywhere to live near my new job. I drove back to my parents place last night in an emotional wreck and informed work what was going on. They seem OK with it in the meantime but I really don't want to mess them around. + +Looking at rental prices in the area, the average for a 1 bed flat is £750-850 and after all my bills are taken into account plus fuel and food etc I'd have around £500 a month left over to save or do whatever I want with. Is this enough for one person to survive on? I also have just under 6k in savings which I can use to pay the initial deposit and basic furniture/supplies. + +My parents are insistent that I should move in back with them rent free and search for a new job. However this would emotionally ruin me because as much as I love my parents my dad is difficult to live with and I really value my independance. I have a feeling I'd slip back into depression and I really don't want to risk going down that road. Plus I would hate to leave this new job as I'm actually really enjoying it and I don't have the motivation to start job hunting again. From a financial position it makes the most sense but my mental well-being would tank. The alternative is trying my hand at renting and seeing if I can survive. + +What would you guys do in my position? + +**Edit:** Thank you all so much for the supportive comments, I have read them all. I drove back to Buckinghamshire today (m25 was nuts) and viewed an amazing flat 10 minutes away from work. I also popped into work to show my face and everyone was supportive with what's going on. I put an offer in which the landlord is happy with, just waiting to get all the paperwork done now. My ex is letting me stay with her until it's all sorted and she's even offered to help move my things. Thanks again everyone +I'm a long-term casual for a company I've worked at for over 4 years. I am also a full-time student and commenced studies this year. During my entire employment I've worked 1-2 shifts a week, predominately weekends, now I've been asked to sign a contract (from my company) stating I will work 4 days per-week in order to be eligible for the JobKeeper payment. + +I would be happy to earn the payment, but working 4 days a week and studying full-time isn't feasible for me. I raised the issue I had with what the company was asking of me and, from what I could tell, it seemed as though it was a way just to be fair to full-time staff as we're all now getting a flat, government subsidized rate for varying levels of work. + +Is my company validated here? Or am I just misunderstanding the legislation? +Sorry for the first world problem. + +I bought my husband a very expensive watch before and he isn’t super excited. It’s fine, because whatever he likes he just buys right away. + +With Covid/kids, it’s impossible to take trips. We also don’t go to restaurants anymore— we do get takeout constantly. I encourage him to go on Scuba trip himself (we live in Miami so it’s not a big deal). He is looking forward to it. + +Anything you guys do to show appreciation to your SO? I want to make sure we are not burned being home all the time. +I'm in the process of buying a $1.6m house in Seattle and I wanted to move forward with a quick close and so am paying in cash for the house. + +My preferred route to finance the house after paying cash is to take a mortgage for $750k to maximize the tax benefits and take a line of credit from our bank for the outstanding balance. I understand we have 90 days to complete financing associated with the house purchase. + +However - my mortgage broker says the rates available will be much better pre-close than post-close. + +Below is what he said: + +>It is true that you are able to buy the home in cash and then get a loan immediately afterwards.  Towards the end of last year, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac instituted an “Adverse Market Fee” for any and all refinances, which causes rates to be higher on a refinance than on a purchase.  In addition, the refinance would be termed a cash-out refinance, which automatically carries higher rates with it as well.  I just quickly ran the figures and if you used a loan of $750k to purchase the home, the rate today would be 2.875%.  The rate on a cash-out refinance, however, would be 3.25%.  As such, you would be saving approximately 0.375% in the interest rate by getting a new loan at the time of purchase as opposed to after closing. + +Is it possible to get the same rate pre-close vs post close? +If they say the short interest is 20%, that means 2 out of every 10 shares are shorted. + +If you remove half the shares available to trade (DRS) that means 2 out of every 5 shares are shorted. Or 40%. + +Every share that is DRS'd is one they can't short AND one they can't buy to close a short. + +I'm very interested to hear the DRS numbers from the next GME update. I don't think we'll be at the half way mark but it's moving that way. + +Mark Cuban was correct: They're plan was to never close. + +They didn't have a back up plan bc the first one had worked every time. I legitimately think Hedgies have another year of life which is fine by me. Gamestop isn't going bankrupt this year and DRS apes will lock the entire float by 2023. + +Short interest to infinity. + +Hedgies are so fucked. + This will be cross posted in a few FIRE related reddits, so if you see it somewhere else, nothing is different. Slightly late this time, because I wanted to include a few lifestyle updates that weren't settled at the six month mark. + +I always begin these updates with the same disclaimer that I don't have a specific FIRE date since I was self employed before retirement and slowly dissolved my business over time and started investing in real estate. I use the 2010 time frame for reference because it is around the time I hired a property manager (thus leaving me zero active work to do unless I choose), but it certainly isn't exact. + +This isn't meant as a comparison to anyone else. This is strictly provided to the FIRE community because I know I would have liked to have seen real world example of how people handle their finances when I was trying to figure all this out many years ago. Another reason I post these is to show there is more than one way to do FIRE. I was able to accomplish this without ever making a high income during my working years. I simply lived very frugally and put the money I saved into individual stocks (hey, it was 80s - 90s...I didn't know better and stock investing was a completely different animal back then) and then converted that to buying rental properties in a low cost of living area in the 2000s. + +Quick stats: I'm 56, single, no kid's, about 11 years post FIRE. + +**WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE MY LAST UPDATE** + +Turns out a lot has changed this time! + +Bought a new car. A 2022 Hybrid Elantra. I swore I would never buy a new car, but this time the math actually made sense. The warranty is an incredible 10 year bumper to bumper, then lifetime drivetrain. So realistically no expenses outside of gas and routine maintenance (even that is covered for 3 years). So far I'm getting over 65 mpg...so between zero repair bills and much less in gas, it should pay for itself over those first 10 years. (for reference I was averaging about $2k per year in repairs on my other cars) Since I've been driving much more over the past couple of years, the savings should really add up. We'll see. My total all in price including licensing, taxes, and the extended warranty was right at $31,000. I chose to pay it off in cash after getting the $500 financing rebate. Over the next few months I plan to sell off a few of my previous driver collector cars to fully pay for it, but until then I am showing that as an expense for the year. My insurance is going up from the previous $45 to $125 per month (that is with all my cars that are not in storage still covered...I will drop some of those as I sell them.) + +I hired a cleaner. This is going to cost me $50 every three weeks...for simplicity lets call that $75 a month. I am not great at the deep cleaning of my house and things like dusting and getting in all the nooks and crannies, although I'm pretty good at keeping the clutter to a minimum and keeping the floors clean. I find it hard to justify a real house keeping service, so hopefully this targeted approach using an independent cleaner will do the job. She starts this weekend, so we'll see how it goes. + +I've continued to grow the real estate business, with several new projects now in the works keeping my team busy...while I sit around and enjoy the retired life, lol. In fairness, I do look at potential houses in person and discuss what I want done with my team, but after that I rarely have any hands on involvement outside of the rare big picture decision. + +**INCOME** + +I'll wait to go into net income details at year end. + +**GROWTH AND NET WORTH** + +My growth in my investments so far this year. Keep in mind this numbers reflect the sharp downturn in the markets. + +High Dividend Stock account began the year at $$169,774.19. I invest $100 per day into it. It currently is at $127,812.49 + +Broad Market Index fund account began the year at $394,610.11. I invest $200 per day into it. It currently is at $274,030.49 + +My Fundrise account started the year at $78,778. I invested a total of $14,000 so far this year. It is currently at $99,867 + +My real estate (rentals) is very difficult to estimate since I have partners on some of the houses and some I own outright. Not to mention it isn't a liquid asset. I usually just judge it by the income it produces...that being said it does have a value that adds to my net worth. I'll be conservative and say my real estate portfolio is worth $2M - $2.5M. I do not hold debt on the portfolio. Everything is owned outright without loans of any sort. This includes some sharp increases in property values over the past couple of years. + +My personal property (the house and 10 acres of land I live on) is worth about $450k - $500k...again as a conservative estimate. A house similar to mine, but in my opinion not quite as appealing, recently sold for over $750,000. + +I have misc. accounts totaling around $45K...this is a small Acorn account, another stock account I use for experiments in investing, and my liquid accounts that I use for personal and business expenses. I keep more in a "cash" bank account than most because I need to cover business expenses. I try to keep around $20K in there, but it will fluctuate greatly throughout the month to as low as $7 or 8K, to sometimes as high as $30k. I currently have another $4k in a money market fund. I have this for quick liquidity when needed. This also varies greatly and will be as high as $50K at times. + +Not going to bother with my cars and other misc. on this update. This brings my total net worth as of this update to around $3,00,000 (using the conservative estimates above)- $3,500,000. So, stocks are down since last update, real estate is up...which results in a fairly significant gain overall. + +**EXPENSES** + +I spent a total average of $672 per month on all non business related expenses so far this year. This came in slightly under my goal of $800 per month, or $10K per year. This does NOT reflect the new car purchase. I have not averaged that into the monthly expenses since I hope to offset that expense by selling some other cars before year end. It did result in higher insurance, but less gas...so those almost perfectly offset from the previous months. + +These numbers are updated to reflect the current expenses, even though these are some fairly recent changes. + +Phone/Internet $25 (Visible wireless with unlimited hotspot for internet) + +Insurance on my cars $125 (3 cars liability only, 1 full coverage) + +Food/groceries $100 (I've done some detailed food budget breakdowns if you're curious how I keep this so low) + +Electric $125 - $150 (average throughout the year/ all electric house) + +House cleaner $75 + +I have my own well and septic tank, so no bills for water, sewerage, and trash. + +Gas for cars $50. I spent quite a bit more on gas in the last few months before buying the hybrid, so my gas budget went up quite a bit. It was about $150 before buying the hybrid. This is mainly due to looking at more houses for the business, semi local trips for hiking/and or entertainment. (everything within 100 miles, but it does add up) + +Entertainment $100. I hate to give this it's own line in the budget, but I do sometimes spend on entertainment, so although this is no way a true reflection of what I spent last year, I am including it because everyone asks, lol. Most of my entertainment ends up being "free" or nearly free other than the gas it takes to go places. + +Health Insurance is a free (for now) catastrophic plan. Thanks to all my real estate deductions I get to write off most of my income, leaving me just able to qualify for the absolute worst plan available in my state for free. Of course, if one little thing goes wrong at tax time and I step over the threshold at the end of the year, that could change and I'll be left paying for a plan I've never used. + +That brings me to $600 or so monthly on "set" expenses, that give me plenty for any one time expenses that come up...and that $100 entertainment rarely gets used...so most months I have $300 for whatever comes up. Some months are under, so months are over, but my goal is to keep it under $800. I like my yearly spending to stay under $10K, but if I go over I'm not freaking out. I've been able to stay on budget with my personal spending for many, many years now, though! We'll see if the cleaner hurts my numbers, or if I can offset the car purchase as planned. + +I think that covers where things are now. + +**WHY DON'T I SPEND MORE?** + +I started including this section because I was asked about it so much. Same as last update, so nothing new here. + +I get asked this a lot. Why am I still trying to accumulate wealth 10 + years after I retired? Well, I'm still relatively young, and I have some big future goals that includes a large animal sanctuary with its own vet clinic and vegan restaurant. Even though I already have about 40 acres lined up for it, it is going to take a long time to get all the infrastructure in place. It might be 5 -10 years before it actually opens. I'm hoping to build as much as I can in the meantime. + +I'm also just frugal by nature. Most of the stuff I enjoy is free or nearly free. Hiking trails, video games, TV, movies, diving down rabbit holes of whatever interest me at the time, etc. Some of my hobbies even make me money. I've managed to buy cars that appreciate. I happen to be a decent poker player. My watches have done really well...same with my art collection. + +I don't live like a pauper. I live alone in a 4000 sq ft Mid Century house built into a cliff overlooking a river and beautiful valley with an indoor pool...so don't think my frugality always comes at the cost of the finer things. It is true until I recently bought my dream house I lived in a very modest house most people wouldn't associate with a millionaire (that house now rents for $750 a month), but I was patient and wanted to find the perfect house before I bothered to move. As I briefly mentioned before I have nice things like collector cars, art, watches, etc....I just try to spend as little as possible on depreciating assets or things like food. I appreciate good food, but being vegan makes it hard to eat out in my area. That is probably an understatement. There are maybe a handful of places I can eat at all (at least with more than salad as an option), and most of those only have one or two items on the menu I can eat. So I'd rather prepare great meals at home from cheap ingredients. I've gone into details in other posts about how I shop and prepare food, so won't make this post any longer doing it again. + +As always, I'll try to answer any questions you might have. Thanks for reading such a long post!! + I'd like to present my DD on why I think $X - US Steel, is going to the moon again. + +$X recently had their earnings report and recorded net income of $49 million or 22 cents per share in fourth-quarter 2020 compared with a loss of $668 million or $3.93 per share in the year-ago quarter. +Barring one-time items, adjusted loss per share was 27 cents compared with a loss of 64 cents in the prior-year quarter. This means the rising prices of steel and management actions have turned the company around and the future is looking bright. + +$X also only has a short interest of 11%. Due to improvements within the company. If you look up the short interest you will see a sharp decline as of late signaling bullish sentiment on the stock. + +US Steel also has EV exposure because what do you need to make cars? Thats right, steel. + +Who has stimulus exposure when papa Biden declares ware on climate and hands out more free money for infrastructure products? $X + +What do you need to make commercial buildings HVAC more efficient when papa Biden says its time to upgrade to more energy efficient equipment? Steel. + +If you look at the charts, $X had a nice run up pre-earnings and has consolidated nicely since crushing estimates in the $16 dollar range. Bull flag is present, charts suggest coiling with a major move to upside as America reopens this year. + +This is not financial advice. We like the stock +Positions: Short puts +New to this so I have a question regarding IV. Since it is so low right now, are you all still selling options? It does not seem to be making a lot of sense to me to do that right now. + +Take QQQ Jul16 30 delta iron condor for example: + ++357C +-354C ++307P +-310P + +This can be opened for a credit of .67 while risking 3. Only receiving 22% of width of strikes does not appear to be profitable considering this is a roughly 30 delta trade and 30%*3 (risk) > 70%*.67 (reward) + + +Apologies if this question is a waste of time. Like I said, I am new to this and trying to figure out how to be long term profitable using these strategies. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. + +TIA +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +UPDATE: it automatically exercised the 125 put. + +I did a 130/125 pcs on apple that was going to expire tomorrow and I was hoping to roll it the day of but instead I got assigned on the 130 put I sold. So now my account is in a deficit and I have 100 shares of AAPL. What should I do tomorrow? Should I sell those 100 shares and the 125 put I have? I am a bit freaked out since this is the first time being assigned on a spread. Any help would be greatly appreciated. +Theoretical: the shorts covered completely, volume stays low, we trade 4-6 mil volume moving sub-5% daily until GME completes transformation. + +If they have covered and we have still been staying above 170 then we are at our new floor. + +Strategy: buy and hodl + +Evidence against this theory: 3/10 and 3/25. What purpose was the 3/10 clearly synthetic crash if they had covered. 3/25 could potentially be normal market activity, but not likely. Recovery was swift which shows heavy money behind keeping a high floor. + +Theoretical: they covered January and reshorted making money on the volatility. Same as above. We have stayed above 170 our new floor and have the potential for a small short squeeze. + +Strategy: buy and hodl + +Theoretical: the dd on here is spot on and they didn't cover and are still under water. Low volume, strong floor at 170 prepping for take off. + +Strategy: buy, hodl, buckle in for liftoff. + + +**Not financial advice** +I have to remortgage soon, and looks like my best options today are a 4.89% 2 year fix or a 4.49% 5 year fix. Neither of these are particularly attractive to me. + +Another option is a tracker which is BEBR + 0.39%. I am quite tempted by this tracker to be honest as base rates would need to raise by a further 1.5% before it was the same as the 2 year fix. It’s a risk based decision but I feel it could be one worth taking. + +What are your thoughts? +Last week I loaded up on some shares of $BB. my avg price is $20.73. + +My plan was to sell some weekly CC and just get assigned. but of course that didnt happen. i didnt realize it should tank so fast. + +After hitting a $28 high, it has just kept dropping. + +is there any chance of it rallying up next week? what are peoples thoughts of $bb? +I’ve been thinking about this for a while and just curious if it will maybe affect my credit in a bad way. I have 1 credit card that I use just for gas and spend roughly $50-100$ a month. I got this just to build my credit and I’ve had it for 9 months and have a score of 738. I pay it off in full every month as I would do if I get another one. I want another one just for the cash back rewards. Should I just keep my one card or get another one? My monthly expenses are about $500-$700 and I would be using it on every purchase. && if I should get another card any suggestions? Background: 19 (M). +[look at this](http://imgur.com/a/nJes10V) +Today I got an alert for a stock I bought years ago (stock is in the picture) it jumped up 20$ in a couple seconds. This same stock had jumped up too over 300$ back in January 2019.[proof](http://imgur.com/a/2eRhFw3) I'm at work so cant do alot of research at the moment but Citadel upped their portfolio by almost 82% of this stock. [proof](http://imgur.com/a/AdNuWiF) +I'll look into this more, any thoughts on this.. + +Edit: horrible retarded grammar +Edit 2: Also forgot to mention I had 2 technical issues while signing into RBC investing app, then on the 3rd time it signed me in. Just heads up.. +I’m actually bored of GME. I don’t watch the price anymore, maybe check it once a day out of curiosity. I don’t get excited if it’s up 5%. I don’t get worried if it goes down 10%. I am completely neutral to what happens because they’ve burnt me out and made me so bored of following it. Hell, I hardly read the fresh DD anymore. I barely think about GME. I just live my life with my XXX shares knowing that someday they’ll be worth millions. + +I have a little bit of free cash left to trade options, and I use those profits to buy more shares, and buy a couple more every paycheck out of habit. But other than that, I’m so bored of this stock, and it’s great. In January I couldn’t get anything done out of my excitement and anxiety. Now I’m more relaxed about the stonk than ever. So I would really just like to thank citadel and co for the opportunity to help me learn the values of patience, mindfulness, and not being emotionally swept up in some hypomanic craze over money. Hedge funds have helped me grow as a person by keeping GME flat, and for that I couldn’t be more grateful. +I've read up a LOT about salary negotiation but all advice seems geared towards first entering a company, which isn't too helpful in a situation where you're already in the company. I am graduating in October and have been working in a software company in Europe. Because of my student status, the best they could give me by law was an internship contract and they pay all interns the same range ($2000 +/- 10%). + +All of this will be up for negotiation when they sign me on as a permanent employee after graduation. I like this job, company and my boss, and it will be a lot less of a hassle to stay with this company (I can't speak the local language well enough so I'm limited to companies/jobs that work in English). + +* My company tends to convert a lot of interns into permanent entry-level executives and I've scoped out salary range (seems to be around $2500-3000 a month). + +* However, most of their converted interns come from liberal arts/psychology backgrounds and/or no actual working experience (ie that would be their first full-time job out of college). + +* Edit 2: Most of the interns work with data entry, while several few positions work with development or managerial work. Based on this + experience, I definitely should come out at upper entry or mid-level, and make more than an executive at entry-level. + +* I will graduate with a masters AND already have over 5 years experience in relevant fields. I deserve much more than what they typically offer for "intern to permanent" transitions (which I hope they realize and won't try to lowball me). + +What makes me worried is being put at a disadvantage in negotiation since they already have a number (what they're paying me). Also the figure I'm looking for is upwards of $4000 a month as a permanent staffer (over double my salary as an intern and I'm not sure what they will think of that). + +Also since this is Europe, there's no 401k-like options, I don't think the company offers stock options, there's already 4 weeks min vacation by law, so I'm not sure what else I could negotiate for outside of salary. + +I'm already applying to other places as a fallback/negotiation leverage, but what can I do in negotiations for this situation? + +Edit: Holy shit didn't expect so many replies. Busy writing a paper today, will slowly read and reply to responses while I'm doing that! But in case I don't reply directly, know that I appreciate your advice! +https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/08/tesla-car-factory-collateral/ + +> NEW YORK — Tesla has changed the terms of its borrowing agreement with banks to allow it to pledge its Fremont auto plant as collateral — a move seen by some analysts as an effort to boost liquidity. + +> The electric car maker has just $543 million of the $1.8 billion credit facility left to use, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. But banks periodically review the amount they are willing to lend, and Tesla continues to burn through cash. + +> "While not clear at this point, we suspect that with the large upcoming cash burn in 2Q18, the banks have demanded additional collateral protection for Tesla to maintain its $1.8 billion facility," CreditSights analysts said in a note. + +>"In doing so the banks are protecting themselves." + +>A person familiar with the matter told Thompson Reuters IFR the amendment had not been requested by the banks and was at the company's discretion. + +> But the 5.3 million square-foot plant in Fremont, California, would give banks a claim on one of Tesla's most valuable assets. It is the production hub of Tesla's mass-market Model 3 sedan, which is seen as key for the company's path to profitability. + +> Tesla, however, is struggling to ramp up production of the car. It is trying to build 5,000 of the vehicles per week by the end of June and overcome manufacturing hurdles that have delayed its rollout. + +> "They are still going to burn cash for a couple of years," said Scott Roberts, head of high yield investments at Invesco, who does not own Tesla bonds. + +> "They are shoring up liquidity before they need to probably because they think they will need it." + +> Chief Executive Elon Musk has promised investors that the company will swing to a profit in the third quarter, after accumulating losses for several quarters. +I have a full-time job, been interested in doing real estate for a while. Have some savings that I could invest in a nearby market and thinking through whether I could switch into real estate. When I do some modeling, I believe I could retire into it, but I am curious at what point others on this community went into RE fulltime. (I know, I should get onto it gradually, but curious nonetheless.) + +Question is: at what valuation (i.e. property assets - liabilities) across your portfolio did you feel comfortable quitting your other jobs and doing real estate full time? + +[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/h7g1y6) +I would like to thank them for solving this crisis and curing the virus using the unlimited tools at their disposal to ensure that the American economy remains the best of the best, genius quantitative easing has ensured that we'll be NO#1 forever, regardless of how dire the situation might be. + +To celebrate this magnificent economic recovery I've decided to purchase more than $150,000 in shares in 30 different companies, including (but not limited to): + +* FB +* AAPL +* AMZN +* NFLX +* GOOG +* MSFT +* TSLA +* TWTR +* SNAP +* GM +* F + +I'm going long! So long! Longer than ever before! I'm the proud owner of so much wealth-building potential and capital earning property. I am a proud believer in the American dream and the American economy. + +Thank you, President Trump! God bless you! Only your guidance, skill, leadership and sincere love for the American people could have ever made this possible! And shout out to the (M)VP Mike Pence for staying the course regardless of what others thought! Longs and calls all the way! + +**TL;DR**: Long-dated $SPX inverse call to $4000÷2. + +**UPDATE**: Obligatory "\\s" for the retards. +Considering the ETC and BCH pumps I thought this might be worthwhile to those new to crypto. + +Ethereum Classic (ETC) is not the same as the real Ethereum (ETH). They forked a long time ago, which is why they share the name. But nothing is being done on ETC. All those ERC-20 tokens live on ETH, not ETC. Don't be fooled. + +Same goes for Bitcoin. There is only one BTC. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), etc are all forks of Bitcoin. Which means that they tried to make a change to BTC but failed, and ended up with a new coin. + +Just like ETH, the real Bitcoin network is the valuable one and that's why there is such a massive difference in price between BTC and the other Bitcoin forks. + +TLDR: Don't get fooled by similar names. There is only one BTC, and only one ETH. + +Good luck out there everyone! +With the notoriety of GAINS posts, such as from /u/WSBGod, there has been an influx of such posts with just a screenshot of gains and positions, which could easily be faked. While this was good enough when the community was small, and there could be at least some trust within the community, it's just not enough. I followed the speedrunning community and they had the same issue where with more and more people being interested in the subject, more strict proof rules had to be implemented. + + +I'm not sure exactly how strict it should be, and what proof would be enough, but not excessive, but these stupid "I started with $80 and now I have $10^9000 in a span of a week" have got to go. + +Personally, I would rather have people first declare their positions as they acquire them, with proof, and only after can they show off their gains & losses. +I know how hard it can be to ask for help, it's easy to feel selfish or maybe greedy. However, keep in mind that many organizations run off grants and they need to be able to "demonstrate a need" for their service to keep that grant going. + +Recently a friend told me that their non-profit was going to have to stop offering free transportation to medical appointments because not enough people used the service. + +It is a shame because we live in a very rural area and most medical appointments are a half hour or more away. With gas prices what they are, it seems like free transpo would be very needed. They tried all kinds of things to get folks to use their service, but people were very reluctant and always said they'd figure something else out. + +My point here is that you could be helping an organization demonstrate there is a need and that organization might keep it's funding because you utilized it. Maybe they could even get more funding next year. + +So, if you feel funny about using a service -- tell yourself that you are doing for the other folks who need it! +After bitfinex personally deleted all my posts on their page within 2 minutes I will try it here! +It's been more than half a year with headaches before I now decided to go public. +Bitfinex has frozen my account after a withdrawal request of about 2.1 BTC in February. By my standards that is a huge amount of money. Money I would have never dreamed of when starting with crypto to be honest. Back in the days (my account is multiple years old now) I used to trade crypto to crypto only. I have never encountered any problems concerning deposits and withdrawals at bitfinex back then. I probably wasn't anyone special to them because I was only juggling around a couple of thousand dollars a year (depending on the crypto prices). + +Anyways, as we all know crypto prices rose immensely in the beginning of this year. That was when I decided to withdraw my coins. Upon request they claimed to have frozen the account because of an automated KYC procedure. As much as I understand it, you would only need to verify if you started trading fiat currencies. I did not do that. However, I thought it might just be some security feature to protect me as the account owner. After all, this wasn't "peanuts" anymore and because it was (and is) so much money for me I happily agreed to verify. + +Since then I ran through an odysse of providing documents and declarations of all kinds. Some of them were super private. +They wanted me to proof my identity, which I did. The standard procedure with passport and proof of address. + +After that they wanted a proof, where I got the very first coins from that I deposited many years ago. Those coins they never cared about for so many years while letting me do many deposits and withdrawals in the meantime. +Since I originally bought those bitcoins 6 years ago together with my old roommate that was quite a task. We found the transaction and sent them all necessary files and transaction data. + +But not enough. I now had to proof that he was actually my roommate, which was quite difficult too because we don't live together anymore. Because of data protection regulations the landlord from back then needed a signed request from both of us in order to hand out the proof to me. (It's no joke, GDPR is taken serious in Germany.) +To clarify: I verified myself and my old room mate. I did not forge any documents and I did not lie anywhere throughout the process. + +I finally send them the proof from the landlord. +Not enough again. I now had to proof that I went to school with that roommate. So both of us had to send them our school certificates also. +Not enough again. They suddenly started asking me about other withdrawals from 3 years ago. I proofed that I sold the crypto for cash and transferred the cash to my bank account a week later. + +After that, they told me to wait again. That was almost 2 weeks ago. No reply. + +I'm just so tired of this. Just angry, exhausted and worried. By now, they probably know more about me than most of my friends and family. Financially and in general. Plus they have copies of my entire identity from A to Z. At the beginning I thought it's really just a way to prevent my account from getting robbed but after all I'm just worried about their real intentions. + +To bitfinex: +Please give me back my account and stop this shady practice. + +To the community: +What else can I do? + +UPDATE 1: Their support contacted me and is willing to unlock my Account if I upload yet another selfie in high quality. Instantly did it and they told my I will get full access within the next ours. I am hoping so much that all this really might be over soon. +Thank you for your support peeps. + +2 UPDATE: After all i got back the full authorization to withdraw my coins. You can't imagine the stress relief after 9 month. Immediately transferred all crypto to my ledger wallet. Thanks to bitfinex to finally solve the case. I think it's an remarkable coincidence, that I got my account back a few hours after i went public. +You really shouldn't do that to your customers. I will draw my consequences from it and never come back. +Massive thanks to the community, guess I owe it to you! That's the power of Internet! 😇🙏🏼 + +They also deleted the repost from their subreddit again. No bad blood but in my opinion those guys are legit criminals! Better stay away from Bitfinex. +I know many people who have the same unsolved struggles with them. My luck was that this got posted on the bitcoin subreddit so they had to to something. +Hi AusFinance, + +A friend of mine is a dual Australian and UK citizen. He lived in Australia most of his life and went to Griffith in Brisbane for uni and racked up the standard HELP debt. + +After his degree, he and his family moved back to London in 2014. He hasn’t paid any of the debt back or been contacted about it in anyway. He’s not actually sure how much he has. + +I know there were some law changes in the last few years to prevent people ditching their HELP when they moved overseas. + +He’s thinking of doing a holiday to Australia soon and even considering moving back. + +Any advice on the situation would be appreciated, is he up for a fine for not paying? Do the laws apply to HELP debt before they were implemented? +SEC RESIGNATIONS + +Chief of Enforcement resigned yesterday. +Two other Chiefs of Enforcement have resigned since January. +Chief of the Office of the Whistleblower resigned 3 weeks ago. +Chief of Economic and Risk Analysis resigned in January. +Chief of Staff resigned in January. +Chief of Investment Management resigned in January. +Chief Accountant resigned in January. +Chief of Corporation Finance resigned in March. +The SEC has had 4 different chairmen in the last 4 months. + +Ape no connect dots. But something’s going on. + + + + +Reposting from WSB cuz it got removed there for no reason early this morning 🤔 +On April 1 before Musk disclosed his ownership share of Twitter, TWTR closed at $39.31. + +Today it closed at $37.39. + +This reflects the increasing possibility that TWTR share owners do not believe Musk will be able to close his deal to buy Twitter, or that he will renegotiate to a lower price. + +For those of you wondering why TWTR traded below $54.20 after Musk announced his plan to buy at that price, this is why. + +Interestingly, there is a misconception that Musk can pay $1 billion and walk away from the deal. The $1 billion is if the deal fails for *any* reason (like regulatory non-approval). If Musk kills the deal he could be on the hook for a lot more. +As I entered the stock market I was dead set on my dividends and refused to learn anything else. Time went on and this subreddit opened my eyes to mixing growth and dividends. Recently I learned some options strategies and im using it to build my small account up. Intrested to know how many others do this and what kinda experience you have, do you think mixing the 2 strategies is a good or bad thing? +Have been following this subreddit all year and am slowly growing my dividend type holdings compared to my index and growth holdings. + +It struck me when looking at the long term price chart that SCHD may still be in a pandemic stage price bubble still.... +The Norwegian government shocked the country’s salmon farming industry on Sept. 28 with a proposed 40 percent tax on companies producing over 5,000 tons of salmon a year. The Norwegian Finance Ministry reports that the country is running multi-million dollar deficits and needs to close the gap somehow. + +https://www.nationalfisherman.com/national-international/norway-threatens-40-percent-tax-on-salmon-farms + +Share prices of the salmon farming companies Mowi, Lerøy Seafood Group, and SalMar dropped precipitously on the news. + +It seems that companies like Salmar (down 44%) will not be able to provide the same yield as before (if any). Do you think there’s still hope that they could e.g. relocate offshore farms to other jurisdictions or there would be an eternal bagholding from now onwards? + +P.s. it seems like Chile and other countries with salmon industries are also looking at introducing the similar tax. +I'm going to be at x100 shares fairly soon. As a way to make a little "extra" supplemental cash to buy more shares would it be beneficial to sell covered calls? I did have a quick question. I hadn't watched a whole lot but hoping a little information could be given if this is a sound idea. + +When you setup a covered call. I'm thinking of doing the 2wk which is avail. for $O. When I setup my 10% rise on the call and someone actually purchases it, does it automatically take my shares at that moment and pay me so I can quickly reinvest and repurchase those 100 shares (now, 100+ with that credit), or does it wait until the end of the contract time and I could be potentially paying a lot more per share so I end up losing money? + +&#x200B; +What resources do you use or how did you learn strong knowledge about dividend investing? I have asked questions about portfolio diversity or what stocks to pick over others and was wondering how you guys learned this type of information. Any information will help. Thanks! +Now this is totally hypothetical but, Pepsi merged with frito-lay so could coke merge with Mondelez? What would your thoughts be if this happened. Coke shares would probably go up to at least 100 right? +I've seen a couple of people post about giving up on trading in the last week, and they mostly complain about consistent profitability. I'm sure they are good traders, but may not have all the pieces to the puzzle. + +I really want to know if these people had a trading plan, or if they just had a pattern they liked. + +If you're one of those people, did you have everything listed below written down? + +- predefined risk level +- rules for raising and lowering risk (ex: after 2 months of profitability or loss I will raise/lower my risk) +- trade management (2R AON, EOD, PIVOTS) +- Max you can win or lose per day per week per month +- Signs of pattern strength (near EMA, in uptrend on daily, entry on volume, bottoming tail, etc.) +- What to do when those targets are reached +- clear outlined strategy for each pattern +- picture example of a perfect pattern +- what markets will you trade +- what timeframes and indicators +- Max spread and liquidity you can get in on +- How long into the day you will put entries in +- how you will track your trades +- how you will journal and write your emotions during each trade +- How you will study every day, every week, every month (books, talking to traders, reading your journal) +- How you will hold yourself accountable and objective when you break your plan (i.e. I will stop trading if I become filled with emotion) +- when will you SOH +- net worth statement +- REALISTIC goals for each year +- overall, a management that matches your personality + +I really hope to get an honest answer, though, I know people don't like to acknowledge their flaws. I am curious what made you give up if you did have everything listed in your trading plan. +I just saw a popular thread on the r/Bitcoin sub about somebody telling their neighbors that they bought Bitcoin. The whole thread was full of comments about how OP will have the last laugh. Yeah they were all joking but it’s all fun and games until your neighbors are struggling for money and you’re rich for “being lucky”. + +Being crypto rich is not like being fiat rich. You might have your private keys somewhere in your house and they can be taken from you. There will come a day when people will come looking for those keys. Especially if hyperinflation ever happens. Ten years from now people won’t know if you have $200 in Shitcoin or $2m in Bitcoin. They will assume it’s the latter. People will break in and rob you for a PS5, so do you think they will hesitate for a chance of stealing millions? Even if you keep your crypto on your exchange, burglars don’t know that. Even if you sell your crypto for fiat, they don’t know that. By the time people find out you have nothing, there could already be somebody in your house and they might even be angry that you wasted their time. + +For those of you that don’t know, there is a called company Ledger, who basically sells fancy USB sticks for you to store and access your crypto (it’s not actually on the stick itself btw). The Ledger database was recently hacked and the details of customers were leaked. This didn’t affect their crypto directly, but it did mark them as owners of crypto. Many of these people received death threats or harassment. I don’t know if anybody was hurt, but you don’t want to be in that situation. I was included in the leak, but fortunately I had already moved house. I can still be a target though. I get people trying to trick me via email and I also had to change my phone number. + +You do not want to be marked as a crypto owner. Even if you live in the safest neighborhood, how do you know one of your neighbors won’t report you to the IRS as petty revenge? You should pay your taxes btw, but everybody’s situation is different and you don’t want to be investigated for silly reasons. + +This advice especially applies to those in the USA where people have guns. Your local corrupt policeman might one day like to investigate “rumors” of you selling drugs or something silly. You just don’t know. It’s not worth it. + +EDIT: My main point is that it's better to avoid drama. Maybe you live in a safe neighborhood. Maybe you have hidden your private keys in the most obscure place. Maybe they're in a safe. There probably aren't any rogue cops out to get you. Maybe you have a gun and know how to use it - but why go through all of that? Why risk having to kill an attacker out of self-defence? Nobody knows your exact situation until they try to get your keys or unless you tell them (plus, criminals aren't always smart). By the time they're in your house it's too late really. Also, you probably won't get robbed. Robberies are not that common, but then neither are crypto holders. I'm just advocating being quiet about your holdings, not living in fear of a death squad out to get you. +Okay so, I know that net net investing in the US or LSE is incredibly difficult coz of the vast information available. + +But, in developing markets, i’m thinking like China, India or Japan, would it still be worthwhile to do it? + +I’m a subscriber to Buffet’s ‘quality business for reasonable prices’ school of thought. But, I look at these investors like Mohnish Pabrai and Li Lu who started with net-net investing and it feels like I should also be starting here… + +I mean I don’t know if it’s FOMO or smth because they’ve both went away from this type of investing and I also don’t know if the reason they were doing net-net when they started was because the market still had opportunity for these stocks. Any views on this would be appreciated (If I should even pursue net-net or just stick to quality for reasonable prices) + +But with that said, I do honestly want to know if these net-net opportunities are still available on developing markets like Japan and China or India. I’ve seen a few boutique, true value investment funds working primarily in these markets. Do share you opinions! + +Appreciate any advice! Thanks! +The Shiller PE ratio is very high and I’d like to shuffle my holdings to split of stocks and inflation securities like TIPS. Any suggestions? I’m on Fidelity. +I really like the information that guru focus presents. But $550 seems very steep for that information. + +Does anyone recommend it? + +Are the returns great enough to offset the costs? + +Are there enough alternative resources to keep people satisfied without purchasing something like this? +If so, what recommendations for other sites do you have? + +And sec filings of course are always important to look at. +Hi new to value investing so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I’m currently looking at these two businesses that have really been hurt by the Archegos fallout and I feel this might be what Phil Town calls as Rule #1 events aka short term overreactions that have not affected the fundamentals of the company. I understand that Discovery and ViacomCBS each have their own flaws but I believe there to be sufficient upside as mean reversion takes place over the next year or so. Both are currently trading at low FCF multiples which attracted my attention. + +Just today, Discovery released their earnings to underperform expectations. Viacom is releasing earnings this week as well if I’m not wrong. + +Is this a value play, and how should I be looking at their earnings and outlook to have a better understanding of their intrinsic value? +A friend said he's anxious about the drop in the value of his stocks today. The S&P isn't even down 1%. He asked if this is a good time to buy, bc this is a correction right? + +Oh boy. Reminds me of the quote that if a price drop causes you to sell out of your stocks, you're better off owning zero stocks than any, or just buy the damn index fund. The human mind is fascinating. When the market finally does correct, meaning >10% in some cases, I actually think my friend may shit himself. If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say 'do I buy the dip' or 'I'm nervous I think I'm gna sell,' I'd have enough money to buy cash secured puts on the world and jerk off the rest of my life. + +If you believe in the company, it shouldn't matter what the price is. Plain and simple. 'Get out of situations where the price has increased and the fundamentals have deteriorated, and into situations where the price has decreased and the fundamentals have improved. -Peter Lynch' - Michael Scott +So I'm about to do some research on Moderna, I actually don't think they have a long enough history for me to invest. But they have a low P/E, and no debt at all. + +Just wondering if other people here have done detailed research? Do they have other promising tech they are invested in? + +Basic numbers: + +P/E 6.2 + +6.8b in cash equivilants. + +13B in free cash flow during pandemic peak. + +75b in Market cap. + +They started in 2016 and obviously just timed everything perfectly. + +My assumptions before doing research: + +Pros: clearly, they possess practical tech, there will likely be future vaccinations needed, impressive ability to produce and roll out a vaccine, other countries still need vaccines in large quantities. + +Negs: Rich countries have the vaccine now three times over, Moderna will have to spend money downsizing. +Fellow investors, + +I am interested in opening up a short position on TSLA. Before I do so, three questions need to be answered: + +1) What is TSLA's fair valuation, assuming all the rosiest projections coming true? + +2) What are the possible catalysts that can mean revert TSLA's valuation during the relevant time horizon? + +The first question is simple enough. DCF suggest a $100/share today. To be safe, I will triple that number and assume a $300/share. + +The second question is trickier. Quarterly reports will keep showing double digit growth and that seem to be good enough for the TSLA bulls. Interest rate rising will affect tech as a whole, but TSLA price has been more resilient than anticipated. So what to look for in my DD? TSLA annual report in the Risk Factors Provision (see [TSLA 10K 2020](https://ir.tesla.com/_flysystem/s3/sec/000156459021004599/tsla-10k_20201231-gen.pdf), page 14) list many factors: + +* Macro economic conditions: ie. slowdown in economic growth of the countries in which it does business. Increased competition, etc. +* Much of this I think won't be a problem, but some factors are worth further research. + +3) Assuming I can answer (1) and (2), what should be the mean to carry out this short thesis? Painful experience of other shorters suggest that a put, as opposed to a straight short, is a better way to go: capping my potential loss at the expense of having a definite date and strike by which my thesis must play out. I am neither original nor a genius: the put options on TSLA even for far OTM (even for $400-500 strike) are quite expensive. Evidently, a tons of value investors have already piled in on this trade. + +Finally, I will leave you with a Michael Burry's quote: "**There is a world of difference between knowing that a stock is overvalued and shorting it.**" +Its the first one listed on magic formula investing site currently. +Anyone else had a look at this company? Seems undervalued, appreciate any thoughts +SoFi has been a very popular retail stock and I underestimated the amount of information that was available for it. It took me quite some time to differentiate what is important and what isn't and this post is a summary of my findings and it includes valuation at the very end. + +As always, the video is available for those who prefer to watch: [https://youtu.be/YkeEydywiiQ](https://youtu.be/YkeEydywiiQ) + +**What is SoFi?** + +SoFi is a Fintech company that aspires to be a one-stop-shop for financial services, that allows members to borrow, save, spend, invest and protect their money. + +Now, the main question is, well, **how is this different than a bank?** The management provides 4 differentiation points: + +1. Speed - being faster than the competitors when it comes to approval of loans, opening accounts, buying/selling stock through their platform, payments, etc. - In my opinion, although this industry has been around for hundreds of years, there's no doubt that certain parts of it have to be disrupted. However, my question is, assuming this is an advantage that SoFi has, is it sustainable for the next 5, 10, or 15 years? I don't think so. + +2. Selection of products - More products related to borrowing, saving, investing, and protecting money. I personally don't buy this differentiation point. I do believe cost-cutting is possible, but coming up with something new and innovative that's significantly different than the current offerings, I doubt it. + +3. Content - Financial education, research, insights - Even if SoFi has a platform that offers more financial education and research, this is something that is easily replicable. I don't see this as a huge long-term advantage. + +4. Convenience - Instead of having opening times between 9 and 5 from Monday to Friday, they want to offer the services 24/7. The company has an only online presence so they can cut some costs as they don't have to lease buildings for this purpose. + +&#x200B; + +**The 3 segments** + +The company has 3 segments and it is worth spending time understanding each one: + +1. The lending segment - self-explanatory - accounts for 75% of the total revenue +2. The technology segment - which is related to Galileo - accounts for 19% of the total revenue +3. The financial services segment - is related to all the products such as debit/credit cards, budgeting tools, investing, etc. - accounts for 6% of the total revenue + +All 3 sectors have been growing fast, but we need more information to understand the second one. + +The technology segment is related to an acquisition the company made back in 2020 (Galileo) and the purchase price was roughly $1.2b. At the time, that was almost 15% of the company's market cap. What SoFi got from the acquisition was a payment processing platform that uses AI for fraud detection, which is more efficient than the industry average. On top of that, it has an API that allows for app development. The revenue for SoFi will come in the form of platform fees and program management fees. This is one of their big bets and the management refers to this segment as the AWS of Fintech. The same way a business can be started on Amazon within a day, well, that's what they're aiming for, except for companies in the financial industry. + +&#x200B; + +**The growth story, the metrics, and the confusion** + +The company provides two key metrics for its growth in its annual report. + +1. The # of users - This has significantly grown from 1m back in 2019, to almost 2m in 2020 to almost 3.5m in 2021. However, it is worth mentioning that every one that is registered on the platform is a member and remains one unless the terms of service are violated. So, if there's an inactive member for 3 years, it doesn't matter, that person will be considered a member. However, what I'm missing here is the revenue per user. Having users is good, but if they're not being monetized, the metric is useless. +2. The # of products - If the first metric is not that useful, maybe this one serves a better job. If you as a member have a personal loan, well, that's one product. If you have a credit card, that's another one. If you are using their platform to invest, that's another one. The idea of the company to build a good relationship with its members and sell many of its products is great. Well, the number of products reported in 2021 was 5m. That translates to roughly 1.5 products per person. It did increase from 1.21 in 2019, but it isn't that impressive (yet). Although it sounds as if this could be a great metric, well, there's another trap here, not every product has the same value. 1m of these 5m products are related to the lending segment, which as mentioned above, accounts for 75% of the total revenue! The remaining 4m products bring in only 6% of the revenue as they're related to the financial services. + +So, we have metrics that are not that reliable. What's next? + +&#x200B; + +**The company's performance and what can we expect?** + +If we look at the company's performance, it is a money-losing company with a negative net margin of -48% for 2021 on its roughly $1b in revenue. + +A **mature** company in this industry has: + +\- a net margin that's between 10-15% + +\- high leverage (debt on the balance sheet being over 80% of the total passive) + +\- RoE around 16% + +Currently, the debt is around 50% of the balance sheet, so there's still a lot of room to grow. + +These numbers should serve as a sanity check later on for my valuation as if I forecast anything that's significantly above that, it might be unreasonable. + +&#x200B; + +**What's next?** + +The company made one large acquisition (Galileo) in 2020 for $1.2b. At the beginning of 2022, they announced the large acquisition of Technisys for $1.1b, which is a company that will serve as their core banking system. Both of these acquired companies have some presence in LATAM, so SoFi is acquiring new companies that have a presence in other geographical regions as well. + +The analysts forecast about 50% revenue growth in 2022, followed by 41% revenue growth in 2023. Great growth, but slightly declining. At the same time, the net margin is expected to improve, from -48% in 2021, to : + +\-21% in 2022 + +\-6% in 2023 + +\+5% in 2024 + +&#x200B; + +**The risks** + +Due to the actions being taken, there are two large risks that I see: + +1. **Execution** risk - Their big bet (The technology segment), currently accounts for less than 20% of the revenue and hasn't yet proven as successful. +2. **Integration** risk - Combining SoFi with Galileo and Technisys might sound great and there's always the amazing word synergy being used, but that's yet to be seen in the financials. There's an integration risk here that needs to be addressed. + +&#x200B; + +**The valuation** + +Taking into account all the information above, I used a DCF model to estimate the company's value. + +**Revenue growth** \- 898% in the next 10 years (following analysts' estimates for the next 2 years, then slowly declining). From $1b in 2020 to $10b in 2030. + +**Net margin** \- From -48% in 2021 to 13.5% in 2030 - Close to industry average + +**Discount rate** \- 12.8% (Based on cost of equity) + +**RoE** \- Based on the assumptions above and the development of equity, the RoE is roughly 15%, which is close to the industry's average. + +&#x200B; + +Putting all the numbers together, and adjusting for the equity options and the preferred shares, the value of the company is **$8.8b** (almost $8/share). The current market cap is $6.5b. + +It is worth mentioning that at the moment, I am looking at SoFi as a company that's not significantly different than the current ones in this industry. I am aware that I could be significantly wrong in my assumptions and if I see a better performance from their technology segment, my storyline would significantly change. + +I'd like to get your view on the company and I am sure there are plenty of pieces in this puzzle that I have to learn more about. +I was wondering how people are doing evaluations in bulk, I've found many videos on different models, but they are one off. It would be awesome to be able to get each model into a column with a row for each company. Any tools people use? +What stocks are on your radar this week? + +What's in the news that's affecting the market? + +Celebrate your successes, rue your losses, or just chat with your fellow Value redditors! + +*(New Weekly Megathreads are posted every Monday at 0600 GMT.)* +I'm curious about Finviz's fundamental company data. In your experience, how accurate is all the historical numbers, ratios, fwd est's etc? + +Any strong opinions one way or the other? +My current portfolio is composed of growth, value, and dividend stocks. Certain companies such as Microsoft I’ve held for almost 3 years and I will continue to hold for a few more years especially given their position in the industry (bullish thesis not provided here). + +Recently, I spoke to a friend of mine who is new to the stock market and she said that she wanted to hold the stocks that she bought long-term. However, when the market started to decline, she started panicking saying that she’s very worried because the price of her shares have declined. I told her that she does not need to worry if she’s holding a “good” company long-term since the price will recover. This didn’t ease her worries though. + +Such reactions seem to be more common right now from what I’ve been reading on Reddit. People are worried about stock prices even though they claim to be holding long. + +So the question is, what exactly does “holding long” mean to you? + +PS - I know that MSFT is not a value company. I simply wanted to use it as an example of me holding a company long-term. + +PS#2: If you’re one of the people who claim to want to hold long but are panicking right now, just take a deep breath. “Good” businesses will weather this storm. +Currently Deutsche Bank is trading at a 0.38 price to tangible shareholders equity. Why don’t they declare bankruptcy, slowly sell of all assets, pay of all creditors and do a final dividend payout of 1$ per 0.38$ of share? That would be a 163% return before fees and taxes. I must be missing something. +I'm pretty bull on AMC as a long term value play, but how much does the dilution affect intrinsic value? + +I tried to get my head around the debt restructuring for shares, and new shares issued. It's a lot it seems. + +AMC had to add cash to its balance sheet quickly through a series of stock and debt offerings. All told, AMC more than tripled its shares outstanding, up to 374,097,577 shares from 103,849,861 shares reported at the end of 2019, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. + +So if you bought before the dilution. Is the stock now 1/3 of value? +We must ban together and not let our gains be taken from us. Come brethren, let us unite to defeat our evil nemesis, Lord FOMO. No selling, stay strong! Hold the line! +I've been investing for close to 2 years now. I switched to pennystocks in December 2020. In 2 months I've made 200% gain which means I made about 18 months worth of paychecks. That's literally insane to me. However I don't have a consistent strategy. My strategy so far has been to literally lurk this subreddit, look at other people's dd and basically jump in if the stock hasn't already gone up 100% ( looking at you people posting about ZOM after nearly 600% gain). + +This resulted in around 80% of my trades being successful. In most of them i did sell to early, but i was looking for easy 10-20% gains and exited early on stuff like ABML and ALPP. + +Now the issue is my strategy completely relies on other people posting good dd and me doing the minum effort to not chase stocks that already ran up. I want to switch to MY actual strategy, not to rely on others. + +I've no idea how you people find stocks so early and filter through 100s of shitty companies to post dd about the good ones here. I'm curious and want to learn and would be grateful if somebody who has their own strategy would post their journey and what type of strategy they came up with. +Chinese market opens soon. What’s the over/under on a selloff? + +For the first time the Chinese market will have more eyes on it than the German market. + +Adding text for filler because I crack myself up, and think this will bring a few laughs to others as well. + +Gme go brrrrrrrrrrrrrr + +Just up + +Buy hold register + +Gme is very very very very very very good company + +Update 6:24 pacific. 6 min to open shcomp at 3613.97 + +Update at open: down 1.4% to 3563.21 + +5 minutes in: down 1.07% to 3575.18 - obligatory stonks only go up, duh + +15 minutes in: down 0.5% to 3596.48 + +1 hour in: down 0.74% to 3587.06 + +2.5 hours in: down 0.29% to 3603.41 +[https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/22/world/global-population-shrinking.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/22/world/global-population-shrinking.html) Scientists predict that towards the middle of the century deaths will exceed births. Was wondering what effect this may have on the the stock market and infinite growth model. Could the S&P 500 realistically be capable of sustaining a near 7% annual growth without more humans being born each year to drive up demand? Looking beyond that, wouldn't less humans mean fewer demand for goods and services, causing shrinking GDP and therefore assets prices to decline? In which case the stock market no longer works. +I can. The price is going to skyrocket. The time to Buy, HODL, and DRS is NOW. The day RC last bought in, on March 22, GameStop open to $23.85. Closed at $30.78. Increase of 29%. He has 30,000,000+ shares that he is able to buy still. It is also worth mentioning, GME has players like Carl Icahn thrown into the mix that could possibly turn up the buying pressure. This is not financial advice. +I've been doing yolo-ish plays with mining stocks for a couple of years and actually managed to make way more money than I lost :) +My biggest winners and returns have been from junior mining co's operating within the discovery/feasibility phases of the Lassonde cycle. At this early phase (and based on early drilling test results) I usually get in before institutional capital/big money, and ride the volume into gains. + +**Currently, these are some of the co's I'm researching/bullish on:** + +* Cortus Metals Inc. (CRTS.V) +* Newcore Gold Ltd (NCAU.V) +* Sokoman Minerals Corp (SICNF) + +Which mining penny stocks are you fine fellas currently looking at? +Would be great to share tips and intel! +28 yo male. I've only been investing for about 7 months, but man have I learned a lot since then. I wanted to point out a few main things for other newcomers. And I'm also open to any new advice anyone on here has to give. Like I said, I'm still rather new, so please don't be too harsh with any criticism. + +So I started investing with the intention of saving up money quicker than I would with a regular savings account. I still have money in a savings account since you never know what could happen with the market. Anyhow, here are a few things I learned: + +**1: Buying stocks and learning to stick with them (as long as you believe in them)**. So I had some stocks that I bought because I liked what I saw when I researched them. They weren't doing too much at first, and I would watch other stocks that I was interested in but hadn't yet bought that were starting to move up. I did what your average novice would do and sold my shares of said stock to buy the ones that were increasing. I didn't want to miss out on this opportunity while the other stock was just lying dormant. Problem is, and this is something that I didn't realize at the time, is when a stock shoots up suddenly, it's bound to drop back down a bit soon after. So I would buy that stock and watch it increase a bit, and as I said it would drop lower in price. Then wouldn't you know it? The stock that I previously had, then sold to get this new stock, started going up. Seeing this, I would then contemplate selling this new stock just to go back and buy back shares of my first stock. This is a good way to lose money, especially if you use a platform that charges fees for this. + +**2: It's okay to buy more expensive stocks, because it's more about the percentage increase**. My pricier stocks were ones that were my long term holds. I didn't care about the price of Apple because I didn't plan on selling it anytime soon and knew that it would be worth more than I bought it in the future. But there were some stocks I was looking at back around July/August that seemed kind of pricey to me. In actuality, they were maybe about $60ish, but I didn't want to fork over that kind of money if I could only afford one stock. As a result, I was looking more into penny stocks. These penny stocks tended to get me nowhere. Over time, the stocks that I thought were "too pricey" were now at about $100 a share while my penny stocks either went down or gained about 2 cents. Fast forward to today and I'm buying stocks that are about $200 like it's nothing (not literally) because I realized that a 20% increase of a $200 stock is more than a 20% increase of a $4 stock. Now the percentage increase doesn't mean everything when it comes to this line of thinking, but it's pretty darn important. There are many cheaper stocks that can take off but that typically takes time. And based on my own decisions as a novice, patience is something that you likely have to learn when it comes to the stock market. + +**3: It's less stressful/more sensible to buy 5 shares of 4 different stocks than it is to buy 1 share of 20 different stocks**. Some may disagree, and since I'm new I could be wrong, but this is how I view it. I decided to make my first real stock purchases with companies that I could hold for the long term. AAPL, MSFT, SQ, etc. After having a few long-term stocks, I began to look into short-term stocks. This would be stocks like DKNG, NIO, etc. Things were going well overall, but realized that I only had like 1-2 shares of each stock. I would see some stocks such as NIO and PLUG shoot up while they're still cheap, which was nice, but I only had 2 shares of them. Meanwhile, other stocks I had barely moved. Now I've only been investing for a few months at this point, but had I bought more shares of these stocks, I could have seen an even bigger profit. Instead, I chose to buy a share of this and a share of that, rather than stocking up (literally) on these stocks while they were cheaper. Point is, buying in bulk, or even adding to your current shares over time, is a smart move. Buying 1 share of 20 different stocks isn't necessarily a bad idea, but by the time you've bought that 20th stock, some of your other stocks may have seen big gains that you missed out on because you were busy spending money on others, just so you could have it in your portfolio. I ended up selling some stocks completely to buy more shares of others. + +**3: It's easy to become obsessed with investing**. I would constantly search new stocks online and see what the next big thing was. When I wasn't searching for new stocks, I was checking the ones I already owned multiple times a day. It's okay to check your portfolio throughout the day, but remember, if you have stocks that you believe in and don't plan on selling right away, it's okay to take a break every now and then. In fact, it wasn't until I adjusted my portfolio and got rid of some penny stocks, became more patient, etc. that I was finally at peace. I didn't think about or search stocks as much. It's a very great feeling to feel free of constant thoughts. If you're happy with your portfolio, there's no need to buy other stocks or sell your current ones. Just buy the dips. + +**4: Avoiding FOMO and impulse buying**. Man I wish I didn't even have to mention this one. But this is the biggest mistake you could possibly make, as least based on my experience. I had a great portfolio as of 2 weeks ago. Just a quick summary, I had: + +1 share of MSFT + +1 share of SQ + +5 shares of AAPL + +3 shares of SE + +1 share of DIS + +2 shares of NIO + +2 shares of PLUG + +2 shares of BE + +13 shares of DNKG + +10 shares of NNDM + +1 share of ARKF + +I was extremely happy and content with my portfolio. Then the meme stocks happened... Seeing GME shoot up overnight, then AMC starting to take off, I decided I wanted to get in on it. It's basically free money, right? That's what everyone's saying. WRONG. I bought some shares of AMC and BB, with AMC being the bulk of it. GME went from $40 to over $400 in a matter of days, so I invested heavily into into AMC, thinking it could go up a decent amount. AMC was about $20 a share at this point, as was BB. I needed money to invest in them so I sold ALL my shares of DKNG, BE, NNDM, and ARKF. Then I did a big no-no and took money out of my actual savings account. Something I told myself I would never do. Before I knew it, I'd spent about $1000 on AMC and $350 on BB. Turns out, I bought at the peak of both of them. I bought 44 shares of AMC at an average of $21.65 and 19 shares at an average of about $17. Now the DUMBEST thing I could've done aside from investing in this in the first place, was trying to "compete" with a friend or whatever you want to call it. He had 50 shares of AMC that he bought at about $2.50. So I wanted to also have close to that amount so I could also have big gains. Not so fast. Not even 1 minute after buying these shares the price went down for both stocks. I was hoping it would go back up and even told myself that if I broke even, I would sell. I didn't care about profits at this point. The AMC stock went down under $7 after hours and I was down quite a bit. I wasn't as worried about BB because I believed that would be a long-term hold anyways, but AMC was scaring me. I held it for about a week and a half, waiting to see if it would go back up and it didn't. At one point, it went up to $17 and I thought about cutting my losses and selling, but I figured if it went up that much then maybe it could go a little higher. Nope. It dropped down to $13. Then $10 the next day. Then $9 the next. I thought about holding for awhile in case something crazy happened and it went back up, but I just didn't have the stomach for it. Now for my next mistake; I bought 10 more shares for a total of 50, with the thought that maybe I could average down. This didn't even move my average price down by a dollar. Then I came to my senses. The next morning, I decided I made a mistake and to take a loss. I sold all of my AMC. About $670 worth. Now I can't even begin to explain how great I've felt since then. Sounds weird to say after taking a loss like that, but the idea of not being obsessed with checking my phone ever 5 minutes to see if the price went up so I could cut my losses was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Right after selling AMC I bought back a few shares of DKNG and tried getting some of my old portfolio back. There were a lot of mistakes made because of this, but they could have all been avoided had I not YOLO'd or bought because I wanted to make money that everyone else was making (or so I thought). + +**5: Learning when to cut your losses**. This one hasn't been an issue for me until the whole AMC debacle, but it's important to know. If it's becoming more and more clear that a stock price is dropping with no end in sight, many of you may panic sell, which in this case could be your best move. Others may continue to hold, with the hope that the stock will magically recover. And others will hold simply because you're scared to let go and lose your money. I had this same thought for the last 2 options, but think about this: you're down $300 and don't want to lose it so you hold. Next thing you know you're down $400. Now you could continue to hold and lose more. Likewise, you could continue to hold and maybe months, years, or even decades down the road you will finally break even. However, although you're down $400, there's still another way of looking at it. Say you sell and lose the $400. Sucks, right? Of course. Anytime you lose money it sucks. But instead of holding and you lose even more money, you take whatever money you have left from that loss and any other money you want to invest, and you buy shares of another stock. What if that stock ends up netting you a $500 profit? Now you've technically gained $100 since taking that loss, versus losing even more than that $400 had you continued holding. You also could have been missing many more investment opportunities while you were holding for a loss. Money could be passing you by while at the same time you're losing some. There's not one person in the stock market who hasn't taken some sort of loss. Some are bigger than others, but a loss is a loss either way. And sometimes taking a loss is the smarter move in the long run. + +There are a lot of things I've learned from investing, and I've made a whole lot of mistakes, but it's all a learning experience and sometimes you really have to make these mistakes yourself in order to learn from them. I never thought I would have been caught up in the AMC/GME craze, but here we are. Just remember that no matter the mistakes you make, there's always room to grow and ways to get back on track. Good luck out there. +My wife and I have been aggressively saving for retirement (maxing out 401K+IRA) for the past 6 years and thankfully it has put us in a position where if we never saved anymore for retirement I think we would still hit a normal retirement with enough to cover our expenses. We have about 400k in there now, are in our early 30s so if we decided to retire in 30 years, we should be able to safely withdraw 100k a year for the rest of our lives. + + +This has been especially helpful because I have been looking at transitioning jobs, and with the current market it might be a few years before we get back to the income we are currently at. Long term I will make more than both of us combined if things go to plan but I was terrified of this transition. + + +Hardest part for me has been stepping back and saying, it is not the end of the world if we don't max out retirement savings for a few years. I am willing to drive a beat up car, and live a simpler lifestyle, but the thought of not throwing 50k towards retirement really made nervous. + + +But the quality of life difference in switching jobs is substantial. It would mean much more time at home, and now with kids that is becoming more of a priority. + + +Overall, step back every now and then and evaluate how you are doing. If you are ahead of schedule, would changing things benefit in other areas of life? What are you sacrificing by pushing for FIRE? If you can pursue FIRE goals while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle with family/friends then great, but if not don't miss out on what is important just for a excel spreadsheet. +>After [announcing positive results of a study of its potential COVID-19 vaccine](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/modernas-stock-soars-on-compelling-early-data-for-its-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-2020-05-18?mod=article_inline) and seeing shares jump 20% to record highs Monday, Moderna Inc. [**MRNA,** **+19.95%**](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MRNA?mod=MW_story_quote) announced after trading closed that it will sell more than $1 billion in fresh shares. Moderna said it plans to sell $1.25 billion worth of stock to fund manufacturing and distribution of its vaccine candidate, referred to as mRNA-1273, if it can receive regulatory approvals. Moderna announced Monday morning that a phase 1 study of its vaccine was able to produce COVID-19 antibodies, and the company has laid out plans for phase 2 and phase 3 trials in the coming months. Shares closed at a record high of $80 Monday, up more than 300% from the beginning of the year, though the stock sank 2.8% in after-hours trading Monday after Moderna announced the impending arrival of new shares. Morgan Stanley is leading the offering, and Moderna expects to offer an additional $187.5 million in shares for overallotment. + +[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moderna-plans-to-sell-more-than-1-billion-in-fresh-stock-after-covid-19-vaccine-study-success-2020-05-18?siteid=bullytweet](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moderna-plans-to-sell-more-than-1-billion-in-fresh-stock-after-covid-19-vaccine-study-success-2020-05-18?siteid=bullytweet) +Haven't seen that yet. Most of the anti-btc rhetoric is from people who don't know what they're talking about. I just want to know if there's anyone really out there, like am I just in a silo? + +Also maybe this isn't the best subreddit to pose this question. + I have moved to a cottage in the Forest of Dean which has an oil boiler with oil tank in the garden. I was looking into the possibility of switching to a ground/air source heat pump. I spoke to a local service - Forest Eco Systems - which installs them, and based on my property's EPC they suggest that I could get RHI equal to £25000 over 7 years and the cost of the project would be around £20000. I have the money available, but as it is a big outlay I am looking to get more information about whether this is the best option. I could for example just continue with the old oil boiler for the time being or opt for air source heat pump which I have been quoted for £14000 from the same company (with £11000 RHI over 7 years). Any wisdom on this would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. +Hi fellow retards! + +My hypothesis and granted this may have already been postulated here is that the hedgers had enough liquidity in Jan to short GME and temper the price back down. Now it appears that they’ve run out of liquidity and are forced to sell their income generating securities to continue to short in an act of desperation. + +As a parallel - consider it from a mortgage perspective they’re trying to stave of foreclosure by first burning through savings and now they’re selling off their valuable possessions. So they can’t borrow off margin, they are out of cash and now they’re selling off their source of income. Which by the way hurts the passive investors that like their ETF stocks, but the hedges don’t give a shit. They just want to short GME no matter the cost. + +The mortgage allegory reminds me of say the 2008 crisis - I used to be a loan officer and the exotic sub prime mortgages were horse shit. You could qualify for a mortgage back then with a DTI (debt to income ratio) of 65%. For those unaware DTI is the ratio of your GROSS income vs the PITI of your home and all revolving and installment debt on your credit report. It does not factor in payments for utilities, food, gas. So they assume people can afford a house with the 35% of gross fucking income after their monthly debt is paid? No. Now the opposite is happening again. They deserve this for their insatiable greed and lack of compassion for anyone but themselves. + +Hedgies have no cash and selling their income generating stocks to continue this fight. Eventually they’ll run out of those and will have no choice but to cover no matter the price. They fucking deserve it. From their ashes I hope we can build a market that is free and open without their influence and heavy shorting a float will be illegal. If I want to pay x dollars for a stock, that’s my business. Shorting is bullshit. Think a company is overvalued? Then close your position and find another fucking stock. The government should be appalled. Trying to BK a company not only puts thousands out of a job, but reduces the income tax stream from them to the gov’t. Not only that but now they’re on the govt payroll via unemployment. All this so they can profit off of destruction. Fuck. You. Long post I’m sorry. + +TLDR: hedgies are going to burn for their atrocities. + +My position: 914 shares of GME and one 3/5 $100 call. The shares I’d be willing to part with for say a minimum of 4 figures per share. Maybe 5 who knows? 42,069 per share has a nice ring to it. I like the stock and this isn’t financial advice. Hedge funds are cucks. +My partner and I are desperate to upsize. + +We have enough for a 20% saved for the price range we are looking at. However, is it a terrible time to buy? I’m so scared about buying at current prices only to look back in a few years and think we should have waited if prices drop. Or am I dreaming that prices will drop? + +We are in Melbourne, looking to buy in the south eastern suburbs 15km from the CBD. +Welcome to the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- This thread is intended as a welcome place for discussion of all non-Ethereum related crypto. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Well, I feel incredibly stupid. :-( + +The bad news.. + +While I was looking at the contract's code casually one more time, a week after deployment, I've noticed that on one line, the comparison operator was facing the wrong way. "Hold on, this can't be right" I said to myself, especially after having paid 3 other devs review the code before me. Unfortunately, it was bug. In all, it was a embarrassingly simple bug, I should have caught that one myself. (Here is the git diff of the fix) https://github.com/CurrencyTycoon/hodl-dao/commit/0e5d7e4237a457468b8fa5bb139aac987a3e9e80 + +The good news... + +The deposits are safe and can be safely withdrawn. The only problem is with claiming the reward from the Fee Pot, if there is any fee in the fee pot, the reward would not be calculated correctly. + +What to do if you have been affected: + +Go to the old contract and hit the "30 Day" withdraw button or "Quick Withdraw", here + +https://www.hdao.org/old.html + +As a gift, I have credited each account with extra tokens, %50 on top of their balance, out of my own pocket. + +Moving forward + +All I wanted to do is learn a little about smart contracts and build something not-for-profit and put in a small contribution to the community, but I ended up falling on my sword. This is not acceptable, especially the guys who already locked their ether, who might have missed out on any reward - that is why I gifted them on their balance. + +Well, I guess here we are, lesson learned for me. Sorry :-( + +Peace and let me know if you have any questions. + + +Obviously it’s all just guessing but my plan is to accumulate some more ETH over the next year or so after we peak. Will it drop from $10k back down like $2k? Anyone have any good resources? Etc + +Thanks + +Edit: Everyone is bringing to my attention that Ethereum likely won’t have enough time to reach $10K by the end of the year. To be more precise when I say “year”, I really should’ve said “by the end of this cycle” or “bull run”. But if you don’t think it will reach $10K this year, but will reach it in like March or April then that’s fine too. + +https://gemini.com/auction-data/?filter=4PM-ETH-USD#auctionData + +The lack of activity on the weekends suggest that it is institutions buying. FYI the volume of 1K in the table is wrong, either divide the notional USD by the price or check the [API](https://api.gemini.com/v1/auction/ETHUSD) for the correct volume. +Total shitpost, but I mean it. Thanks for being a welcoming, kind community. Let's continue to push forward and remember that ethereum is so much more than 'internet money'. It's about empowering the 'little guy' and making the world a better place. Don't be afraid to take risks, we've barely crossed the starting line. +I'm in my third out of four years of my uni course and still don't really have much of an idea of what I want to do afterwards. Often its hard to see what sort of jobs are actually out there which is why I made this post. + +I'm interested as to: What you do? Do you enjoy it? How many hours do you work? Is the pay good? Is the progression good? Also what advice would you give to a uni student who wants to get into your job/career? + +I think this question will be quite useful generally for uni students who read this sub but if you want heres some info related specifically to me (any advice appreciated). + +I will probably graduate with a 2:1 MSci in Physics from a Russell Group Uni. I'd say I'm pretty good at maths and starting to get quite good at MATLAB. (Considering picking up some Python in my spare time but idk how useful this would be). I was told its a valuable degree when I signed up but I don't know how true that is. + +Thanks! + +Related to personal finance as one of the biggest influences on your finances will be the job/career you do. + +&#x200B; +I can't really share this with a lot of people in real life, so I'll share it with you fine folks instead. As of this morning, my mortgage is officially 100% paid off!!!! Woot-woot!!! + +The current iteration of my FI-journey started after my divorce. I was 28 years old, earning about $55k/yr and had $30k in debt. Over the next 5 years, I saved my ass off and made a strategic move across the country for a higher paying job. I bought my house at 33 and had $100k in the bank. I immediately started on an aggressive repayment plan that would have seen it paid off in about 10-15 years. A much larger and sooner than expected inheritance gave me the opportunity to pay it off even earlier. + +There was a lot of number crunching and going back and forth in the decision-making on paying off the mortgage. Initially, I was going to invest 100% of the inheritance and continue on with the mortgage as planned. After running the projections though, I was surprised to find that paying off the mortgage didn't negatively impact my FI-date. Plus it has the added benefit of freeing up enough monthly income to give me some breathing room and increase my savings rate. + +So here I sit, at age 36, with a $100k/yr salary, a paid off house, plus $500k in investments. Thanks to a lot of hard work, good decisions and some luck, I'm a looooong way from where I started 8 years ago :) + +**Edit** + +Some more details for those interested. I never really tracked my savings rate, as I never found it to be a useful metric. The inheritance was $480k. The relative who passed lived in a hyper-inflated real estate market, and they had no assets apart from their house. It was a little under a year from when I received the money to paying off the mortgage. Once I made a decision to pay it off, I elected to wait for the next renewal date to avoid penalties. + +**Pre-Inheritance Numbers** + +- Consumer debt - $10k +- Mortgage - $160k +- Personal Savings/Investments - $170k +- Company Stock - $30k (bonuses paid 100% by employer) +- Salary - $90k/yr +- Projected FIRE - age 50-55 + +**Post-Inheritance Numbers** + +- Consumer debt - $0 +- Mortgage - $0 +- Personal Savings/Investments - $190k +- Company Stock - $40k +- Savings/Investments from inheritance - $270k +- Salary - $100k/yr +- Projected FIRE - age 45-47 +As the title says, I've found a vulnerability in https://blockchain.info/ - and they're ignoring my contact attempts. I know the author reads this subreddit. + + +/u/zootreeves + +/u/blockchain + +/u/Mandrik0 + +Shame on you for not having a dedicated security contact when you're storing tens of thousands of users money. + +ED: I have some tentative contact with an assurance that my request has been received , but have not had a chance to actually report the bug or have it fixed yet. Thanks to reddit for getting me this far. That said, this shouldn't have been necessary if they'd had a decent security contact page like the one Coinbase offers. + +https://coinbase.com/whitehat + +ED2: I've now made contact with "roger" of blockchain.info sharing details, awaiting a response. + +ED3: Alright, as requested, here's the details. + +Essentially in a number of views blockchain.info shows the "decoded" view of a hex string, be that in the TX body itself or the coinbase of a block. In this case neither one was escaped or otherwise filtered, which leads to XSS on the root domain of blockchain.info, also where the web wallet service is run. + +Earlier in the year I attempted to notify them of this in the transaction view, but ultimately gmaxwell got there first. I only realised that they never applied the same patch for the coinbase view just recently when looking at the source of a generation TX page. + +There's a clean example of the TX view XSS here, though this is the one independantly reported by gmaxwell. + +https://blockchain.info/tx/59bd7b2cff5da929581fc9fef31a2fba14508f1477e366befb1eb42a8810a000?show_adv=true + +XSS on blockchain.info is particularly dangerous as, known to the user or not, the encrypted wallet is stored in localstorage on the users machine. Has this been exploited, it would enable a wallet to be completely stolen with no interaction. + +Ultimately I'm not comfortable how this one turned out, it's a very tricky to use bug, but still completely possible if you have the hashpower or bribe a pool into doing what you wish. I would have prefered this to be a quick disclose-and-close sort of deal, but with a bit of publicity though this one is patched, so all's well that ends well. + +ED3: I've since reported a second major XSS issue, which seems to have been patched by the team. I'll wait for their reponse on that one though before making any details public. + +ED4: I have recieved confirmation of patches for both vulnerabilities, and an assurance from Nic of blockchain.info that they will endevour to make their security contacts more avaliable in the future, directly as a result of this post. I was paid a combined bounty for both bugs. Thanks, Reddit. +Finally got a “career job” paying $75k after drowning in debt for some months. Yesterday, I received my first paycheck and just as my luck may have it, it was a live check not DD. Deposited it in my bank account, bank puts it on hold until 3/02. Usually when I deposit a check through the mobile app, at least half of the check is available to me. Nope, not this time. I could have easily went to my employer’s bank and cashed it for a few bucks. FML. SMH. I have bills thats due. I can’t even buy food or pay for bus fair. Not to mention my account is now in the negative due to bills on auto because I thought at least half of my check would be cleared. My Bank CS said they can’t do anything. I’m currently on hold, waiting for 4 hours, to speak to a 3rd CS. Because sometimes, you can get a different answer with a different person. +And if so, can you share your experience? + +&#x200B; + +A little background. + +&#x200B; + +I am on the verge of a liquidity event that would enable me to FIRE in the very near future, and a friend of mine who works for one of the big investment banks urged me to speak with one of their "Private Wealth Managers". I was curious to hear the pitch, so I went ahead with the meeting. + +During the meeting we covered a range of topics, ranging from risk profiles, tax strategies, investment products (of course), inter-generational wealth transfer, charitable trusts and so on. He also talked about his background and the types of clients he works (net worth starting at $30M - I am nowhere near that!) with along with the scale of some of their portfolios. He seemed like a nice guy. + +We also covered how he is compensated, which is unsurprisingly based on assets under management. Their fees start at 90 basis points and scale down as the portfolio gets bigger. + +During our conversation, we talked about financial independence, and he said that the likes to use "35 times expenses" as a guide, because he errs towards being conservative. That works out to about a 2.85%, which seems low to me. Than I thought about it...if you add on their .9% in fees, you end up at a withdrawal rate of 3.75%. Interesting. + +The term "private wealth manager" just sounds like a fancier title for "financial planner" for those with more money. The person I spoke with framed it as "the family CFO", where their services extend beyond investment strategy. + +&#x200B; + +I have always believed that "no one cares more about your money than you do" and I have never employed a financial planner. I have always taken it upon myself to be educated on the topic of personal finance and hold myself responsible for the outcomes. To say that I am deeply skeptical of this profession would be an understatement, and I would guess that many people here feel the same way. + +&#x200B; + +But! As I enter into a new financial phase of my life, I wondering if I am missing something. Do private wealth managers offer real value when the complexity of the financial picture get to a certain scale? Am I missing something? + +&#x200B; + +So I am curious if anyone here works with a wealth manager and if you can shed some light on how they added value? + +&#x200B; + +Thx. + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: Thanks everyone for all of the thoughtful replies - there's a lot of really good information here and a lot for me to think about. As for me, I have been investing in index funds for the past 15 years as well as real estate, and that has served me well so far (current NW $6.7M or thereabouts). I also work with a lawyer for estate planning and an accountant for tax planning so I feel I already have many of the bases covered. + +I do think PWMs offer value to some people and it was helpful to hear other perspectives on this. Based on my conversation, I think they are better suited to those who have larger portfolios and are willing to allocate a portion towards higher risk opportunities. I just don't think they are right for me at this point. + +&#x200B; + +Thank you again for all of the responses. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +What do you think of the primary residence tradeoffs between view+privacy/safety vs being centrally located in a city? I am posting this in FatFIRE since it's hard to find a good discussion of these tradeoffs for our price range. + +We are considering moving out of the center of the city and into a quieter, safer area with great views. I would love to hear from others who have lived in a range of houses throughout their life - and ideally who had kids. How did you make the tradeoffs? Did it go well - or did you have regrets? + +**Life stage:** retired 3 years ago, but might work again. One toddler. HCOL city. Looking at houses in the 3-5M range. + +**Status quo:** + +* House is very centrally located in the city, walkable to many things and 5-20min drive to the rest. +* Somewhat loud, between street noise and being under the airport flight path. Very noticeable when outside. +* Easy public transit access - something we've not used since we had a child. +* Easy bike trail access - also something we've not used since we had a child. +* Safety issues lately around the neighborhood - e.g. had a homeless encampment a few blocks away. +* Minimal views of nearby greenery. + +**New potential house:** + +* 180 degree unobstructed water view from all spaces we regularly use. +* Safe, private, and quiet. +* Great outdoor spaces. +* Not walkable to anything except the community beach access. +* Adds 10-20 minutes to getting into the center of the city, meeting friends for dinner, etc. +* No public transit. +* No bike trail access. + +Thanks in advance. +Good morning all. + +I'm a 27 year old single woman living in London on 24900 +I've always struggled with staying long term in jobs , impulsive spending and debt. +Last year I was diagnosed with ADHD and had to go private as I was about to be fired from another job( again) and the NHS waitlist was still 2-3 more years for me. +This is costing me a whopping £443 as I have a monthly psychiatrist appointment, adhd coaching and medication. +Expensive but without them I wouldn't even have a job. + + +I've got a degree and masters however have left this field due to being bored and no longer enjoying it and this is a constant cycle throughout life prior to my current job I was on around 33k. +To add to this I have a chronic lifelong illness which put me in hospital for a year as its triggered mainly by stress. Trying to work through a job I hated for a year meant I lost a year of my life. + +I can't save because I'm on a low income and have rent and meds to pay for (gp refused shared care so remain on waiting list) + + +I hate the prospect that life is just going to be me trying to get by. +No amount of money aids me to stick to a job, once I'm bored it's extremely physical and depressing and I struggle with executive functioning. + + +All my bills leave the day after pay day and I'm left with about £40 for food for the month so I'm constantly using my overdraft , pay it back once day comes and repeat. Impulsively isn't the issue either as I no longer spend on going out or hobbies as I can't afford it. I do pay for gym and Spotify and they are too beneficial to my life to get rid of as then I'd have nothing for myself. + +Do I have to be realistic and just accept that owing my own home one day is out of reach, especially as a single person or are there any success stories on here ? +I went to urgent care (in network) for a UTI, they apparently sent my sample to a lab that is out of network without my knowledge. Now I have a bill of $2000 for a stupid urine test. +Is there anything I can do? + +I tried calling my insurance and they gave me the runaround of “your plan does not cover out of network providers so you have to pay the full amount”. + +Would this be eligible for the “no surprise act”, it’s not an emergency so I’m thinking no. +So I did a lot of lurking and realized that in order to achieve what I wanted here at my (amazing) company, I would need to be more forward than what felt comfortable. Oddly enough I'm known as being extremely up front, honest, perhaps even brash but in a good way. For whatever reason, asking for help, asking for more money even when I feel I deserve it, never came as easily. I've been a complete work horse for the last year or so and it's being recognized. I made it known to my direct manager (who I have an excellent relationship with) that my pay was not appropriate given my output and the quality of work I provide. I make him look great and he realizes that so I think he championed this to a degree. I was passed up for promotion last week and was really disappointed, wanted to start looking elsewhere etc. Then just yesterday, my director sat me down and just said hey we're giving you this enormous raise effective immediately. I was told to keep doing what I've been doing for the past year. The reason they passed me up for the promotion is because they are looking for someone external who has a vast amount of experience leading people. It was acknowledged that I'm the best SME on the team and that a role for that type of leadership position will come around soon enough. Feels good man. Complete 180 from where I was at literally just two days ago. Now that doesn't mean I won't listen to other offers because I know I'm very valuable but for my salary to have grown well over 20% in less than two years is pretty awesome for being at the same place. + +Anyways, lots of incoherent rambling I know. I feel like I have no one to discuss this stuff with. I just wanted to thank you all for the number of threads I've read regarding raises etc. + +EDIT - Wow this is really blowing up. Thank you for all the kind words! This is really one of the best communities on reddit. +Welcome to the **/r/EthTrader** Daily Discussion thread. The thread guidelines are as follows: +*** + +- Discussion topics include but are not limited to general discussion, details related to events of the day, technical analysis, Ethereum Classic, and minor questions. +- Important content should be posted as a separate thread. +- Be excellent to each other. + +*** + +Thank you in advance for your participation. Enjoy! + +I recently headed over to r/BTC and r/Bitcoin to see what new developments they have coming up, if any, all they talk about is people paying high fees af, slow transactions, block size debate and shit news about China. I just can't believe 1 bitcoin is worth approx. 1 thousand USD and ETH with all its capabilities is worth around 11.25 USD. What gives? When can we see better price parity? +Think about it logically: + +* Massive connections into gaming / pop culture world +* Huge hires in the NFT space +* Tons of non-disclosures from artists/NFT designers, etc about working on yet undisclosed projects. +* PowerUp program consisting of 60 million+ players + +So how do you reach KING status here in the collectables market? You do these things: + +* Launch a platform that allows the selling of NFTs. This is a stripped down financial market with buyers and sellers. Each item up for sale will be tokenized and broken into lots of parts. +* You start buying up the cool stuff and commission artists/designers to create these projects. The sky is the limit here. A cool video game comes out and Gamestop pays $20 million for 100 exclusive images. These images are then turned into financial NFTs with 50,000 parts each and available as an exclusive on Gamestop's platform. +* The Wu-Tang album. Not many can afford the $7.4m price tag, but in 500,000 parts, this debuts at less than $20. Credit to u/silver7una on WuTang reference. +* Think of all the Disney, Funko, Pokemon, Marvel, Star Wars, Pez, movie props, etc. Hell, each of you could own a part of the Batmobile. + +Gamestop wins by taking a sliver of the transaction (say 5%). They benefit more on transactions where they buy up the underlying asset (take all the risk) and bring the item to market. Everything worth collecting ends up on GameStop's platform. +My brother who is new to this country is asking me to co-sign on his auto loan. Eventually within the next year I plan on buying a house. I already own a home but want to upgrade. I am already co-signing for my sister's mortgage. + +My question is how much does it hurt my chances for a new purchase if I am acting as a cosigner? Even if i am not the one making payments on the loans I am cosigning? Are the cosigned loans same as me being the primary loan holder and hurts my DTI? Or the fact that I am not making the actual payments doesnt hurt my chances for the new loan? +So I'm sure most have seen the implosion of WeWork in the past couple of months and I think it's a great case study that should be discussed here. [Here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/realestateinvesting/comments/cdcy8n/how_do_co_living_companies_work_im_assuming_they/?st=k21xfuk0&sh=1f77f19b) a thread I commented on about 3 months ago that probably a handful of people here read and only the OP replied to. It wasn't directly about WeWork but we moved into that direction pretty fast. Props to u/limache for bringing some good questions my way. + + +So what are my thoughts now? Well I'll admit I was wrong, sort of. I thought WeWork would actually get to the IPO stage and crash and burn in the next slowdown. Their long term liabilities vs. leasing coverage just didn't line up. Well now we know their cash burn and liability issue was WAY worse than everyone thought. Once they filed their S1 about a month after that post I commented on the wheels started to come off. + + +As I said in that post I worked on the commercial construction TI side of the business for some really big commercial RE companies. I interfaced with brokers that were in charge of millions of square feet of A class commercial space and none of them wanted to get on board with Wework. They were all concerned about their long term leasing ability in a slowdown vs. the huge liabilities they were taking on. + + +So where did all the money go? Well because of this hesitancy from buildings and even contractors working for them WeWork had to front A LOT of cash to get into many of these buildings. Way more than a regular tenant. I talked with one of my buddies downtown last month that did work with them and they were basically a COD client and were way overpaying because everyone was generally nervous about their liquidity for years. That's what happens when you don't show potential creditors a balance sheet that makes sense. They were in no way getting better deals because of their size. In fact it was the opposite. + + +One of the advantages of being 'big' is access to cash and getting bulk rate deals. They had the cash for a while, until they blew it all and had very little to show for it except a huge liability on the balance sheet. They never really got the bulk rate for anything. This is no different than your average RE investor with a bunch of cash who gets in over his head on a rehab or purchase that just isn't going to to make money. The only difference is the gargantuan amounts of cash they started out with and eventually blew. +I’m 19 with close to 30k cash saved up, I got my pre-approval letter from the back for an 110k loan 30 year fixed. And the banker set me up with an Realtor/ investor in the same market I want to be in (west Cuyahoga county/far east lorain county(middle class Ohio)). This is also where I live. + +He is legit, we are looking at a couple houses this Saturday for a flip(80-100k) range. I will be doing all the easy repairs such as flooring paint and other little such as I feel comfortable with. It will be my first house and I have no prior experience or knowledge besides YouTube University(lol). So any lessons, advise, pointers game plans, or anything is greatly appreciated. +Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. + +What you are about to read is probably going to sound funny, but you should know that I am young. Of course not a good excuse. You may make jokes at my expense, but I hope if you have actionable advice, please share it with me. Because I have no idea what I'm doing. Also 100% of the money I have put into this "deal" is money I have earned through saving and investing. My parents don't even know about it. + +I'm only going to spare the important details. I bought a house from a very large, reputable wholesale company for 70k using hard money with a 6 month loan, 12% interest only payments (so a little over $600 every month) in a state I don't live in. I put 10% down, so the balance for my loan is about 64,000. I planned to rent it out. Great start I know. It gets worse. + +The house had a tenant in it when I bought it and is paying below market rent and has an eviction from 7 years ago on their record and like four pitbulls, but their lease expires at the end of April, so they are planning on moving out (good thing). + +But I did 0 due diligence on the property bc the company had a good reputation. The wholesale guy said that to get a contract for the property, I would have to put down 5k with no contingencies. He said that the only thing that would need to be replaced is the roof. It turns out that the home isn't as updated as I thought. beginner lesson 1: always verify the information seller gives you. + +I am trying to refinance to get out of the loan which is due in full in September. But the appraisal came back at 55,000. I honestly think the comps he used were on the lower end and maybe a different appraiser would appraise it higher. But in the appraiser report, he said that it might take about 10k +to replace the roof, replace the roof for the detached garage, and to do a couple smaller things. And based on the report, it looks like the house would appraise for 71k after those updates. + +I was planning on replacing the roof anyways. So my plan is to get a few roofing estimates, fix the house roof and detached garage roof while the tenant is still there, fix the minor things the property needs. + +Also as for the security deposit, the property management company I am using talked to the previous owner and they apparently have the banking info to send the security deposit, but they haven't yet. I am going to call the previous owner on Monday asking him to send it. It seems like the title company should have handled this considering they knew there was a tenant in the property. But now I have to chase down money that doesn't even belong to me. + +I knew about most of these mistakes before I bought the property, but I was super excited and wasn't thinking clearly obviously. I learned and am learning a lot of lessons, so the next time I am going to be more diligent. + +I have a secure job though and I can afford the interest payments until September, but it's like throwing money away. So my priority is to refinance as soon as possible. My credit score is 720 and I have already been approved for a refinance and the appraiser was sent by the bank. But like I said, the appraisal came back low. + +I only have $26k in savings. So no matter what I do, it's going to be tight. But for example, if I spent 10k on the property updates, got a second appraisal for 70k, I would have to pay another 7k to bring my equity from 10 to 20 percent in order to refinance. Plus closing costs, so let's just say 4k. + +That would be around 21,000. I still have a 5k buffer in that scenario. Of course the biggest factor is how much the roof costs, so I will have to get a lot of estimates. + +I also am planning on calling the appraiser to see what he thinks and to confirm if this will work. + +What would you do in this situation? If you guys have any advice, please share. Or if you want to own half the house, let me know and we can put you on the deed (joking... kind of). + +Also have a good weekend! +So, I just bought a concrete drainage ditch in a residential neighborhood. It’s behind 4 single family homes, located in Pima County Az. It was a mistake, it was only $115. + +Anything I could do with this hunk of worthless real estate? +Current house would sell for $175-180k. Owe $69k with 6 years left on 15-year mortgage. Wife and I want to move into a house valued at around $400k. + +I am thinking I do a cash-out refinance extending current house loan to 15 years cashing out $50k (~30k for 5% down payment on new home and 20k in repairs to current home so it's in good shape as a long-term rental property - needs new roof, updated bathroom, etc.) + +Refinanced loan on 15 years would be $1,000/month. Could rent house for $1,300/month. + +So, I would have a rental property with a 15-year mortgage with rent covering more than the monthly loan payment and the minimum down payment for new house to move into + +What am I missing to make this not make sense? + +Rental (current house) is a starter house in a great part of town in a great school district. +I see homes that sold 1 month ago bought for 150-200k under its market value, but I can never find anything on Zillow/Redfin/mls below market value ever. These properties than get rented out instantly (1.15m range - sells for 930k) + +Do they just call home owners and offer a price? This is in Orange County. + +Just genuinely curious how this is done. +This is a warning after just being a witness to an uninsured loved one nearly die due to fear of medical bill's. Your life is worth more than the future bill. Please go seek care now if you any potentially life threatening symptoms. If you have something that could be potentially serious then get your ass to the ER now. They are legally required to treat you until you are stabilized if its serious, just try to go public versus private hospitals. Just search and go until you get checked out. I just left the hospital ICU after visiting an uninsured friend who was admitted the other day. She had a swollen leg for a few days and didn't go to ER until her family member who is a nurse told her to go to the ER asap based on symptoms she described. If she waited any longer she would be dead! She had a big blood clot in her leg that spread near her lung and heart. Stints were put in last night. If she had waited even less than a day she would've fucking died. Fuck the financial worries and fuck our healthcare system. I just FB'd live with her so she could talk to her baby before having another procedure done. If she hadn't gone I would have been holding a motherless baby at that moment. How fucked up is our healthcare that it nearly kills people b/c they won't go due to fear of costs b/c they know they may get care but will be screwed over once the Bill's come due. Sorry but I am still in a rage over how this could've turned out. I've always hated this system but I've always had jobs with insurance. I never thought I'd be in the middle of a nightmare that I've read uninsured go through. Worry right now about your life, everything else can be worried about while your still alive to deal with it. +So, all my stuff is second hand/Free. The most expensive thing is my wifes wedding ring, which she always wears. + + +I genuinely think we could replace all things fairly cheap. + +The only thing I worry about is, contents like: the stove top, the toilets, showers etc. + +&#x200B; + +Should I not bother with contents insurance? +ETC is a literal scam coin that has been 51% attacked not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. Imo this is far worse for the crypto sphere than Doge potentially flipping BNB and making it to the top 3 as a massive pump n dump. I don’t see how people don’t get wrecked on something like ETC. A lot of people think regulations will spark the next bear market, its coins like ETC that will spark the regulations. (I understand they’re coming regardless) +Here comes Elon giving people a chance to actually be able to buy stuff with Bitcoin and people are upset because "YOU SHOULD HODL YOUR BITCOINS DONT GIVE IT TO ELON" + + +Dude, you can buy a freaking car with Bitcoin... What are you planning on actually doing with yours? Not spend it/ convert it? Then why even have it? People should be happy this is even a thing. +[https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/4sc9qp/first_day_of_fire/] + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/4zhgfp/update_6_weeks_into_fire/] + +I'm ignorant about linking stuff, hopefully that works. + +Well, it's been 6 months since my wife and I FIREd - actually 7 months now, but the numbers here are as of 12/31/2016. + +Assets: $4.5M + +2016 expenses: $175K (includes ~$42K of one time expenses $13K down payment on second home, $15K charitable contributions above budget, $14K furniture and stuff for second home) + +FIRE is still awesome. First I'll get some questions out of the way in case anyone cares. + +Our budget in retirement is ~$150K/year, while we were working it was ~$120K/year, so with 6 months of work and 6 months of FIRE, it would have been $135K for 2016. Our total expense for 2016 was substantially higher as you can see, but it included about $42K of things that are only going to happen once, so we spent about $132K in regular ongoing expenses compared to the $135K budget amount. I was happy with that. + +The $15K of extra charitable contributions needs some explanation. We made normal contributions of $24K, but then I realized that our income was going to be MUCH higher in 2016 than in any subsequent year, so charitable deductions would be worth more. Also, we owned some appreciated stock, so at the end of December we donated that to get the 2016 deduction, but in my accounting that covers our 2017 contributions to charity. It's just accelerating the gift, so 2017 expenses should be $15K lower. + +Now to the more interesting stuff. + +The first couple of months I was having a hard time feeling anxious about spending money. Got over that. Now I just happily spend money we have budgeted and don't think much about it. It has helped that the markets have performed so well these past few months. It's good to start FIRE with the market up. + +I'm still not finding it hard to fill my time. My wife and I both like to play computer games (CIV, EU4, ESO for those interested), but we actually don't spend that much time doing it. Well, we've clocked a couple of 8 hour days on ESO, but mostly it's a couple hours most days and some days not at all. + +I did a project for my church where I spent about 20 over a couple weeks doing a review of staffing. I just had a meeting to discuss my written report. Felt like I was back in the business world for a bit there, but it was kind of fun. + +We just got back from a 2 week driving trip to visit my aunt and uncle in Phoenix (I'm near Fort Wayne, IN). We spent a couple days in Albuquerque and stopped off to see a few other things along the way. It was a pleasant trip, and we've got a similar trip scheduled to San Francisco in March to visit wife's cousin. + +In two weeks we are going on a cruise from Rome to Barcelona with my sister and brother in law. That should be a good time. We've never traveled with them before, but we can now because we can be flexible around their schedules. + +A typical day when we're not on the road consists of going for a walk first thing in the morning, usually leave the house around 7:30 or so. We try to run any errands we have for the day right after that like buying groceries, filling the gas tank, banking, whatever. Reddit/game/read news until noonish, then make lunch. Monday is lunch at a restaurant, the other days we make sandwiches/salads at home. After noon we do projects like cleaning, dealing with financial stuff, doctor appointments, etc. Usually that only uses up a couple of hours, then we can watch an episode of GoT, play games, correspond with people, stuff like that. Evening is usually movie or more messing on the computers. + +We haven't been to our second house since right after Christmas. I feel a little bad about that, but really we will use it a lot more when the weather is nice since it's located in Michigan. It is near my family though, so we'll definitely use it. All this traveling though is keeping us away. It's kind of amazing how hard it is to keep up with people even when I'm not working. + +The biggest downside I've noticed is that I'm not as motivated as I would like. I've always wanted to write a book for instance and I've not been motivated enough to get past page one. I thought I would volunteer more at my church and at the food bank. I did the project at church back in December, but I've not done much at all this year. It's hard to schedule volunteering around the travel schedule. First world FIRE problems. + +Any questions, please ask away. + +Edit: Crap, I forgot to mention time being weird. The days go by really fast for me. Yet, the 7 months I've been retired feel like forever. Truly it seems like I've been retired for ages. +I noticed that there was a lot of buzz about the Ethereum price surge recently, only to get followed by a hard tanking. I'm not worried about it, though. There's lots of interest in this thing from really powerful investor groups now and they'll probably see this dip as the perfect opportunity to buy in. If It goes in the 25 range, I'll probably buy a hundred more to add to the 200+ that I have already. + +In addition, I was also intrigued by the fact that the tech community, the smart guys, seemed *really* excited by this and seem more interested in creating a great product rather than just getting rich. That, my friends, is how you succeed and get rich. Those guys do not look like they're putting the horse before the cart. + +Just to be clear, I'm a layperson on this so I'm kinda just flinging gum at a wall here. But remember, my presence here means that there are other laypeople who are interested in buying in, and soon. Just some food for thought/optimism! :-) + +Edit: Spleling +http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/02/billionaire-investor-cuban-says-he-is-buying-twitter-as-an-artificial-intelligence-play.html + +Mark Cuban just said he has bought shares in Twitter. The stock has popped. Is Twitter ready for big things? + + +Hey everyone, + +every place I go, youtube channel, mentor video, forums, I see comments like "Hey, I'm new to trading, and....." + +Seems like this field is pumped with new blood every-day, day dreaming people who imagine themselves working from home 2 hours a day and making a living out of it, and especially hand full of scammers and fake gurus who provide those hopes. + +What do you think on that? + +The reason I'm writing it, is because I saw those two videos (I cant attach, because the moderators will remove this post, but I'm talking about Steven Dux and Alex Temiz). + +Now just for the sake of that example, the similarities are suspicious. + +They are both "famous", they are both 24-25 years old, both of them got dumped by their hot girlfriend which made them move into day trading, both of them failed and lose money at the beginning, both of them "found a way" to short penny stocks because anyways they were always wrong, both of them became millionaires from shorting stocks, and both of them are now "willing" to "help" new traders (just for a 300$). + +Like many people, I want also that all of this will be true, I want to become a day trader, but sometimes we need to be able to disconnect our feelings, and look at the situation objectively. + +Thanks for any comment. +Hello! It's now about 3 weeks since I started my interest in day trading and technical analysis. + +I have read 2 books about it and watched a lot of tutorials since then. I learned the theory of candlestick patterns, chart patterns and major indicators. + +When I start a new "session" I take these steps: + +1. I select an interesting asset (or a completely random one) +2. I look for major economic news about the asset or similar matters +3. I watch the asset using a large time frame (1 day) and I try to understand the major trend +4. I watch the asset using a 4h time frame trying to highlight the major support and resistance zones +5. I use just 3 indicators: volume, 20 and 50 moving average +6. I select a 15m time frame and I start drawing current support and resistance zones. I also try to detect known patterns or candlesticks + +Now, the last point is where I am completely stuck! My brain seems to stop because of too much data and I can't discover any useful pattern! Every candlestick seems so different from the book patterns or forms. + +Theory is completely different from practice and every time I think I got an interesting pattern or trend and I place an order (with stop loss and take profit, of course) I am almost always wrong... + +Do you have any helpful hints? + +Disclaimer: I am ONLY using a demo account for now! Don't worry! + +Thanks! +Hi everyone. Was hoping for some advice on 1) what type of accounts I should open (i.e. 529 and other) as well as 2) any tips on how you have navigated teaching your child(ren) about money, starting at a young age. I have thoughts and ideas, but transparently neither myself or my husband came from families who were the best at this sort of thing, everything we know is self-taught and both of us learned from mistakes along the way. So I know we may have gaps in knowledge. Was just curious what worked for you and what didn’t. + +Edit: Wow thank you everyone for your responses! I really appreciate this and you taking the time to provide very thoughtful responses. So much helpful information on the accounts and lots of creative ways to educate your child. My daughter will thank you. 😊 + +Edit x2: Also the comments about ensuring you take care of your retirement first are spot on and often overlooked. This really resonates as my husband and I are often concerned about our family members - it’s obvious they aren’t saving enough. I don’t want my child to think these things about us. Fortunately we are taking steps to make that not the case but it just drives the point home. +BEFORE READING THIS; I DO NOT SUPPORT CL ANYMORE. AFTER READING SEVERAL COMMENTS HERE, I DECIDED NOT TO TAKE THE RISK. THE WEBSITE LOOKS GOOD BUT THERE ARE TOO MANY RED FLAGS, HOPE THE REST OF THE PICKS COULD HELP YOU OUT (IN MOST CASES YOU ONLY NEED 1/2 TO WORK OUT) + +Your reddit colleague MagellanFall asked me to repost this article here:) After my recent successes on predicting altcoins like SUB, WABI, VIBE, FUN, LINK, LEND, GVT, PRL at their earliest stage; I am planning to start sharing my picks here as I know that most people are not investing fulltime and do not have the time to research all these companies/coins -------- please also follow me on twitter @NootFan where I will post more often and faster. + +My Picks and why: + +* CCO 4M: Already mooned from 1 to 4M since the last time I wrote about it. E-commerce technology that allows you to purchase online with cryptocurrency without paying any fees using their token. - Only started since November; a real underdog long-term hold but with the possibility for 100+ gains. Now only on Etherdelta and Mercatox but is expanding fast to other exchanges. + +* SEND 16M: Sharing Send coins through social media platforms it is a serious competitor for ReddCoin (RDD) which already has a market cap of 700M, so if it only goes half as big you are already 20X - They already integrated with Facebook and are very progressive in the roadmap and communicative on the different social media. - This one is a real steal as it is only on a few exchanges with not that much attention yet. + +* ICOS 26M: Making investing in ICO's easier and with a discount using their coins for other ICO projects. Now currently to invest in ICO's it is not that easy and this makes it easy; it is a kind of exchange for ICO's.... This company has really a dream team with advisors like the CO-Founder of LinkedIN and Techcrunch - This coin can sky rocket to 1 billion, when it gets to bigger exchanges. + +* ATL 18M: Real estate on the blockchain, being able to buy houses, cars in a decentralized way: looks better in most aspects than competitor Propy which has just mooned up and is at a 80M Cap - I see this coin easily 15x in these months + +* LUX 25M: Completely rebranded recently, with 3 products and just releasing a new PoS Web Wallet. Their coins uses10% less power due to their new algorithm which is a major concern, it is private and faster. (serious contester to Verge but without the FUD). - Very low circulating supply, very fast company growth/development, good whitepaper and a clear trackable roadmap. + +* OTX 6M: A real underdog project but very active; a venture builder company that develops several games where the OTX tokens will be used, the company, the company will be announcing new exchanges one of these days, which will shoot up the price really fast. - I believe it will 5/8 X in the couple of months. + +PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK ON OTHER COINS/COMPANIES IN A SIMILAR WAY! +What happens when we own the float? That’s right- *we set the price*. + +But what if we, as individual investors, don’t set a price? What if they could never buy back enough shares to close their position? What apeish numbers will reveal themselves to us? + +In an air doubt, you might believe that every ape has their price, that it would be a fruitless and an absurd attempt to truly hold the float to infinity, because somewhere in the millions it will end. ***However***, it just might be that they never will be able cover. 🙊 + +Recent Proxy information revealed a shrunken float of only [16 million shares](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mxu7lj/gme_float_is_less_than_161m_and_retail_owns_more/)! (edit: I am told that that it’s actually 26 million, which is fine because the maths I use later on are still based off the 26 mill float) It's believed that retail owns at least 1000% of the float, closer to [1800%](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mxkwlb/double_the_short_interest_half_the_anxiety/), and perhaps even much more! At 1900%, that's 19x, or **AT LEAST 95% of all shares they need from retail alone**, regardless of whether or not they buy back shares from the institutions. + +If you have pledged to have shares that you will hold forever, or planning on selling after you have **confirmed** the peak, you are already taking the necessary steps by effectively removing your price. Your hands made of pure cosmic diamonds will accelerate the remaining shares into the realm of what is theoretical. The thing is, I believe we are extremely close to reaching this possibility. There is already an overwhelming sentiment of those who will sell after the peak. + +&#x200B; + +[we are becom stonk](https://preview.redd.it/2mxlbcsnznv61.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c54ba17bfdbfd452075b4daf4e1e4e68fd8827c) + +With the need to buy back 95% of our shares, the average retailer only needs to lock out 5% of their shares, or every other would hold back 10% (since not every ape will read this subreddit or will hold forever). Since we don't know for certain how much we own, the more we lock up, the more certain our infinity becomes. + +I still have more icing to add. They most likely shorted many real shares, like the ones they borrowed from Blackrock. If they shorted half of all real shares in the float, then we cut that 5% leftover in half-- 2.5%. This isn't even including the shorts hidden in ETFs that weren't included in the proxy. This doesn't even include any of the call options that could be exercised and potentially add tens or even hundreds of thousands of extra shares into the raging fire. If retail owns closer to 5000% and they shorted half of all real shares, they would need to buy back **OVER 99.5%** all our shares. They would need to get right up to that very **last half percent** to fully cover. + +We lock up whatever that remaining amount is, and they will *never* be able to cover. + +**ARE YOU STARTING TO GET IT???** + +You will be able to ask for LITERALLY ANY PRICE you want until the government steps in to beg you for your shares. The real question is, when will they do it? At a billion dollars, a trillion dollars? We already know that 10 milly each can fit under that DTCC insurance, but what happens when the government cries uncle because they completely ran out of ink printing fresh new bills? It's the age-old question of when the unstoppable force meets the immoveable object- Which will give first? + +We are going to test just how infinite these infinite losses can be. + +Say again- *What's an exit strategy?* +the worlds largest porn company, manwin aka brazzers, are now testing accepting bitcoin on some of their sites. + +http://www.iknowthatgirl.com is the first site in their network to accept bitcoin. it is part of the mofos.com network, and joining that site gives you access to their entire mofos.com network of 13 sites. + +if this test does well they will roll out bitcoin across their network of sites. we **NEED** to support this test to make it a success so they roll it out across all their sites! + +helping to increase wider adoption and stimulate the bitcoin economy is good for everyone. these guys are the biggest adult operation on the planet, and the more merchants accepting bitcoin the better! we need to show them that adding bitcoin as a payment method was a good idea... i'm signing up, and if you like that sort of content you should as well. + +this is HUGE news, as they are the largest adult website owner on the entire internet! if you don't know who manwin is, here are just some of the websites they own... they basically own the entire adult web! + +* pornhub.com (20 million visitors to the site a day!) +* youporn.com +* tube8.com +* keezmovies.com +* xtube.com +* extremetube.com +* webcams.com +* spankwire.com +* brazzers.com network of sites +* mofos.com network of sites +* twistys.com +* mydirtyhobby.com +* realitykings.com network of sites +* they also run playboys sites, wicked pictures sites etc. + +**UPDATE: looks like some people in some countries don't get the join page with the bitcoin signup option. here is the direct link to sign up using bitcoin: http://enter.iknowthatgirl.com/signup/signup.php?step=2** + +**UPDATE 2: i just heard back that the test went better than they could have imagined! they plan on rolling out bitcoin acceptance across their entire network of sites now!** +Very smooth brained, but if I'm remembering correctly, SR-NSCC-2021-005 (the one that raises margin requirement from 10k to 250k) went into effect on 9/3. Margin requirements need to be met withing 2-5 days. Monday was a holiday. T+5 from 9/3 would put us at this coming Monday 9/13. This is speculation, and it would only be valid if margin calls happened as soon as it was enacted. Monday might be interesting. +I heard that Jim Cramer can't own stocks directly but can via his charitable trust. Ok. + +How come Jim Lebenthal, Josh Brown, Joe Tarrenova, and most others can own and recommend their own stovks then? + +And then one CNBC host (Brian Sullivan) said "it's one of the few stocks that we can own, as we're not allowed to own stocks directly." + +Then how come certain commentators come on and recommend their stocks and show them in those little black boxes as they're speaking? +A way I've chosen to save money is by keeping the same phone. I bought my Samsung S9 in 2018 and resolved that I would aim to keep it for at least 10 years. When the plan finished 2 years ago I switched to Aldi prepaid at $25 a month which was a good $50 discount from what I'd been paying per month with Optus (including my payments for the handset). + +I'm not sure this phone will actually last 10 years because a quick Google search says that smartphones aren't really built to last that long. + +So, if any of you are aiming to maximise the years you can get out of your phones, how long have you had them for? And what good deals are you guys getting once the handset is paid off? +>[Figures updated on Thursday show super funds are holding $14.12 billion of lost super, with a further $3.75 billion of unclaimed super held by the ATO. People can lose contact with their super funds when they change jobs, move house, or haven't updated their details with their super fund.](http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/lost-super-amounts-to-near-18-billion/news-story/f2ec61293f6e86341710b3fdc1e60a0f) + +A super account is deemed "lost" if the fund cannot make contact with the account owner and there is no activity on the account. Lost super accounts with less than $6000 in them are automatically transferred to the ATO. There are no fees on the accounts held by the ATO and the accounts earn the rate of inflation. The easiest way to search for lost or unclaimed super was by using the ATO's online services through myGov + + +Bear with me… so the late 80’s-90’s highs of 20% variable rates would be equal to +??% in todays terms? Can anyone please help me work this out… + +Is there a low, moderate or high chance that we will/could see 18% interest rates again? +I have had so many people tell me I'm a fool for not paying off my mortgage or a loan or something but I can't wrap my head around it no matter how much I try. + +If I have a 30 year fixed mortgage say at 3% or even 5% for that matter, why is it a good idea to pay that off? Instead I can put money into even an S&P index fund and get 10% YoY pretty much guaranteed. [https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/average-stock-market-return](https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/average-stock-market-return) + +This is just a simple index fund/ETF, you can easily make more than 10% if you are more aggressive even. + +This applies to all other kinds of loans too. Say I have a car loan with 3% interest, why would I sink my cash into a depreciating asset to just be happy it's paid off rather than invest that money and actually make more money in return? + +I feel like I'm just not following the logic so hoping someone here can explain it to me. +And, to top it off, the CCP is now discussing scrapping the Variable Interest Entity (VIE) structure through which foreign investors have "invested" in Chinese companies. [https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/ofexp9/china\_considers\_closing\_loophole\_used\_by\_tech/](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/ofexp9/china_considers_closing_loophole_used_by_tech/) + +(For a primer on the VIE structure and the risks it poses to American and other foreign investors looking to invest in China, see here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kuhibq/wallstreetsbets\_getting\_infiltrated\_by\_ccp/gisa27x/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kuhibq/wallstreetsbets_getting_infiltrated_by_ccp/gisa27x/?context=3) ) + +Wonder if American and other foreign investors will \*finally\* get the memo with Didi here. If the CCP wanted American and foreign investors to lose the maximum right out of the gate, they could not have timed this move any better. The SEC requires publicly traded companies to disclose substantial risks to the company’s operations or business. Is there any credible evidence to suggest Didi execs were completely unaware the app was at risk of an imminent shutdown when the company filed its 10-K? + +Someone lied. It's either the CCP or Didi itself (which, let's be honest, is likely little more than an alter ego for the CCP anyways, given the usual governmental presence required on boards and the like). + +This lack of reciprocity cannot continue. The US government cannot and should not let Chinese companies list here unless they meet the same disclosure requirements that American companies meet under the prevailing securities acts and implementing regulations. Foreign investors in China must have access to the Chinese courts to litigate securities fraud actions, just as happens here on the flipside in the US (recall that Huawei/CCP was able to judicially challenge the Trump Administration's proposed ban in American court). + +Unless and until that happens, the lesson is clear: stay away from Chinese offerings. The CCP shows once again it has absolutely no qualms about deceiving and pulling the rug on foreign investors. This is definitely part of a larger pattern of the CCP flexing on foreign investors (see here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kptiml/rip\_jack/gi0cl58/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kptiml/rip_jack/gi0cl58/); [https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kp3cg3/tsla\_gang\_heavy\_sigh\_of\_relief\_dont\_want\_to\_get/ghuxevt/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kp3cg3/tsla_gang_heavy_sigh_of_relief_dont_want_to_get/ghuxevt/)). The risk is just not worth it. [https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/o92524/why\_nio\_will\_be\_the\_next\_apple\_and\_the\_leader\_of/h38v0qm/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/o92524/why_nio_will_be_the_next_apple_and_the_leader_of/h38v0qm/) + +Edit: oh, right! I forgot to mention all the widespread reverse merger scams that plagued the markets a decade ago: + +https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_21st-century_Chinese_reverse_mergers + +INB4: + +1. Enron, Theranos, Your Hometown Deli, Lordstown, et al. Besides the fact Enron was decades ago, it spawned disclosure and accounting laws that American companies now must comply with. But more to the point, with respect to all of these, the US has securities fraud laws to protect investors here; if they've been injured, and lies or fraudulent statements were made, then the offending company can be haled into court to answer for it, \*including\* by foreigners who invested in them. Theranos, like Enron, has even spawned a criminal process in addition to the civil one. + +Tell me: do you, as a foreigner, have the right to demand a judicial remedy in Chinese court against the CCP or a SOE for, e.g., fraudulently rugpulling the VIE structure? Do you, as a foreign investor, have the right to hale Luckin Coffee into Chinese court for securities fraud? + +There is no reciprocity. And that's the nub of the problem. As a foreign investor in China, you will get burned, and \*there is nothing you can do about it\* (unlike foreign investors here in the US). + +2. Ohh, silly person, China wouldn't shoot itself in the foot and injure its standing in the world by bilking foreign investors and taking all their money, leaving them high and dry. Recall the National Security Law and Hong Kong, in violation of a treaty the CCP signed. The CCP more likely envisions itself as Bruce Willis in this scene from Die Hard 4: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHT2zdQT3Ps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHT2zdQT3Ps) . Yes, it injures itself, but it weakens or takes out its foreign competition in the process. The CCP has shown time and again it's more concerned above all else with consolidating its power. It is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. + +Edit + +INB4 no. 3: You and this post are racist. It’s racist to point out that either the CCP or Didi is bilking investors here of all ethnicities and creeds? I think not. Moreover, this is a common wumao tactic often used on social media. They’ve learned they can deflect from the CCP’s misdeeds by crying any criticism of the government or enterprise is racist. + +Edit edit: +Hell, let’s go even further! Assume I am indeed a racist (I’m not). How does that factually alter, rebut, or contend with the substance of *anything* I’ve said here? + +Edit edit edit: + +INB4 no. 4: You can take Chinese companies to Chinese court for securities fraud. All right. Now consider the following: A big reason for this latest Didi fiasco is, the US demanded that Chinese companies comply with typical US disclosure requirements. And this reluctance on China's part to disclose is because of the way the government has permeated the larger companies, so it refuses based on national security grounds. https://www.ft.com/content/feb85200-a7f1-4cab-bc8e-f02cd6fd0590 + +Given this linkage between the state and enterprise, and given the state's preoccupation with national security, an injured foreign investor likely wouldn't be able to obtain the information in discovery needed to make his case; it would all be withheld in the interests of safeguarding information related to "national security". The courthouse doors may as well be shut given such flimsy process. Not so here in the US, where there is no such outright permeation of the government in publicly-traded companies. + +Edit Edit Edit Edit: I do not have a position in Didi--have not bought or sold a single share or contract. + +Edit x 5. Here is a good Bogleheads primer/discussion on some of the differences between Chinese VIEs and the usual ADRs via which foreign companies are more usually traded. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=292674 +We have recently reached over 4 million users in the r/cryptocurrency which is nothing short of amazing. There has been a big influx of new users to this sub and as such I wanted to contribute something that will help those who are new to cryptocurrencies to understand a bit more about top 10 cryptocurrencies by researching the PROs and CONs of each of the top 10 crypto coins. For obvious reasons I skipped the stablecoins. + +&#x200B; + +Are you new to crypto? Welcome! Veteran trader with no emotions left? Welcome bud, have a seat and light up that cigar. + +This took a long time to research and write-up everything so if you enjoy it, I appreciate your feedback. + +&#x200B; + +Alright, bring your cocoa and get cozy, Papa is ready to tell you about these bad boys. Let's start from the top; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +# #1 Bitcoin - BTC + +&#x200B; + +**The grand-daddy of crypto. The biggest and the meanest. The all-father.** + +&#x200B; + +\+It is the biggest and most stable crypto out there, everyone knows it and the community that supports it is the largest. Institutions, funds and companies hold BTC and the number of them is increasing every day. + +\+Safest bet in cryptoverse and only 21 million of BTC will ever exist. A lot of that BTC has been lost forever and as such illiquid. + +\+It's a synonymous with the word crypto and digital gold for a good reason. It's considered one if not the best store of value to hedge ever increasing inflation! + +&#x200B; + +\-Movement is sometimes slower than altcoins. + +\-Transactions are slow and can get pricey even though Lightning network updated is trying to fix the scalability issues at the cost of + +\-Smaller potential for high returns + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #2 Ethereum - ETH + +&#x200B; + +**The original altcoin and second biggest crypto right after BTC.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Insane support for dapps, smart contracts, defi and so on + +\+Good support even in dips + +\+Very good support in community + +&#x200B; + +\-We are still waiting for full Ethereum 2.0 release + +\-Transaction fees can get outrageous, be vary when transferring to wallets + +\-Other altcoins are slowly gaining on ETH in terms of tech, smart contracts and other aspects + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #3 Binance Coin - BNB + +&#x200B; + +**Utility token that wanted to become more** + +&#x200B; + +\+Big popularity among Binance users and others + +\+Fast transactions, low fees and constantly getting burned which lowers supply cap + +\+Allows cross platform usage with Binance Smart Chain (BSC) + +&#x200B; + +\-Centralized AF + +\-Binance is a Chinese led company which is a concern on it's own + +\-BNB is almost a complete copycat of Ethereum and has had very few new developments over the years. + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #4 Solana - SOL + +&#x200B; + +**Recently Solana has shoot up the charts and claimed the 4th spot. Good base with a solid ecosystem and a bright future. Pun intended.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Solana Ecosystem is extremely fast and efficient + +\+The fees are extremely low, typically costing 0.000005 SOL, or about $0.001. + +\+It successfully hosts over 250 applications on its ecosystem and an unique Proof of History system. + +&#x200B; + +\-Very centralized which showed nicely on Sep 14, when team took down the network due to technical issues. Also heard in "D in Solana stands for decentralized". + +\-Proof of History consensus is still in early stage of development and hasn't been tested as much. Number of validators is low and has some really BIG whales. + +\- Same as other PoS systems it's typicalls prone to micro transaction attacks like Nano in 2021. + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #5 Cardano - ADA + +&#x200B; + +**Child of Charles Hoskinson which has been growing steadily despite recent dips. Recently implemented long awaited smart contracts.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Super easy to stake it and reap rewards with Yoroi and its DPos staking buit in right in the app! + +\+Cardano has support for native tokens without any need for smart contracts meaning that you don't need to pay for gas fees on it's network. + +\+Cardano has a massive support from the followers and Charles is a very likable face of ADA. + +&#x200B; + +\-Recent smart contract upgrade didn't live to the hype. + +\-Cardanos main thing was cheap and fast transactions which many of the other PoS coins now have and more. + +\-Staking on Cardano is great but competitors like DOT take it to a higher level. + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #6 XRP - XRP + +&#x200B; + +**The good ol XRP which SEC is still trying to take down and keeps failing at every step.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Close to 0 transaction fees (0.00001 XRP per transaction)) and super low environment impact with low energy consumption + +\+It still has a MASSIVE fanbase despite SEC fiasco and large organizations support it + +\+There is a lot of talk about XRP becoming a big gaming-oriented currency (unreliable sources) + +&#x200B; + +\-The lawsuit. + +\-Big market supply that was pre-mined by Ripple. + +\-There are many competitors that do most of what Ripple does with better tokenomics. + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #7 Polkadot - DOT + +&#x200B; + +**Let's Polka! Very popular crypto nowadays with their recent release of crowdloans.** + +&#x200B; + +\+It's already solving the scalability problem faster than ETH is! Excellent transaction speed and very low price. + +\+Amazing support by the developers and superb PoS consensus with crowdloans + +\+Amazing ecosystem that hosts over 490 projects that are built on Polkadot + +&#x200B; + +\-Crowdloans are locked for 2 years on DOT which is a LONG time in crypto + +\-Same as other PoS systems, there are WHALES and a lot of them. + +\-Absolutely foolish system of having to keep minimum 1 DOT in wallet to keep it alive . Also not very newbie friendly due to the massive amount of options that they give to users. (You can also count that as a PRO if you are experienced). + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #8 Terra - LUNA + +&#x200B; + +**A very hot L1 project that you probably heard about LUNA recently when it started it's rocketing to the...LUNA?** + +&#x200B; + +\+Fuels whole Terra network and supports Terra stablecoins and payments. And Terra has a really deep wallet and they are using it to support their project. + +\+Allows swapping of stablecoins which makes Terra awesome for cross border payements. The Mirror and Anchor protocols on Terra are impressive. + +\+LUNAtic community of supporters and some big names of the industry world + +&#x200B; + +\-Stablecoins are not backed by cash so it can crash the price of LUNA. Regulation on stablecoins can affect it. + +\-Regulators be eyeing Terra like (≖ ͜ʖ≖) + +\-Tokenomics are sketchy and we still don't know how exactly that went down back in the day + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #9 Avalanche - AVAX + + **The fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Easy porting of Ethereum Dapps or even other blockchain to AVAX + +\+Good decentralisation, low fees, superb customization + +\+Latency or "finality" of Bitcoin is 60minutes, Eth is 6 minutes but Avax claims sub 1 second finality that is completely irreversible and has ability to process 4500 TPS! + +&#x200B; + +\-Recently AVAX got overwhelmed by the sudden rise of users and the fees went almost ETH levels. + +\-Not as many projects built on AVAX compared to others on this list and staking options are odd and unflexible. Poor user experience and newbie unfriendly. + +\-Some people argue that AVAX security is poor since they dont enforce shared security across the network unlike Polkadot. + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +# #10 Polygon - MATIC + +&#x200B; + +**Polygon or formerly Matic is a L2 scaling solution on ETH network.** + +&#x200B; + +\+Enhancing ETH network with its solutions = ETH with cheap gas fees!!! + +\+Good support of the fanbase and strong DeFi integration support + +\+Extremely low fees (you get enough MATIC from a faucet to perform 10 transactions!) and great TPS on sidechains + +&#x200B; + +\-There is a doubt that Eth 2.0 could make it obsolute (Vitalik denied that though) + +\-Long, long, loooong accumulation time which put off some people from investing in Matic + +\-Many L2 competitors such as Loopring, Arbitrum (which our moons run on), Optimism and so on + +&#x200B; + +\--------------------------------------------------------------- + +&#x200B; + +This is it guys, Top 10 cryptocurrencies summed up! I've been researching for a long time and it took a few hours to write this up and try to present the pros and cons in an understandable way. I very much hope this write-up helps you and if it did, I highly appreciate your feedback. It helps immensely with my motivation to keep writing posts like this. Any thoughts, recommendations or anything are more than welcome :) + +&#x200B; + +Have a superb start of the week my people! Let's wake up into green. +Has anyone here completely removed all USD from the bank and put it into DAI? + +I am contemplating taking half of my savings (around 10k) and just putting into DAI. + +Advantages? Disadvantages? + +I would love to have a stable coin that is 1:1 USD and not actually have any of my savings in a traditional bank account. Is this feasible now? Does the space need to mature more before this is a good idea? What are the risks? + +Genuinely curious and trying to start a conversation about ditching a traditional bank and wondering if anyone here has done this. + +Edit: Doesnt have to be DAI, I'm not aware of any other stable coin except USDT though, and we know how that turned out. +Is anyone changing their positions or buying anything different with the looming recession? I wouldn't know where to look for information about recession survival for companies. Any suggestions about where to research or who to look into would be great appreciated. +Hello fellow investors r/dividends Long time lurker here, decided to make account earlier this year since everything went private and just causal browsing became almost impossible amongst all the market drama. I have decided to put together this DD, but I would appreciate any critical commentary if you see something I'm missing or if you know more on the topic. + + +**Disclaimer:** + +* I have been passive investor for most of my life, only this year, I have started being more active with trades and scalps. +* I have no professional financial training and I am not a financial advisor +* I could be just any random 13 year old kid from the internet telling you what to do. + +Take all the information here with the grain of salt and do your own judgement. + + +# About SHEN + +[SHEN](https://www.google.com/search?q=shen+stock&rlz=1C1GIVA_enDK879DK879&oq=shen+stock&aqs=chrome.0.35i19i39j69i57j69i60l3.1018j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), or Shenandoah Telecommunications Company is telecommunication company providing various broadband, wifi, fiber optic services. Totalling 1139\~ employees and being in business since 1902, you can see that we are talking about a company that has been around for some time, managed to adapt and be a relative success in oversaturated market. + +SHEN has few major streams of revenue: + +* Access, Local, and Fiber Lease +* Cable Service +* Wireless +* External revenues and investments + +I won't go deep into the all of these streams, briefly what you need to know is that the Company has sold their wireless asset sale to T-Mobile US and is focusing more on their broadband infrastructure, further expanding their main source of revenue. + + +# Fundamentals + +Remember reading [Intelligent Investor](https://www.google.com/search?q=intelligent+investor&rlz=1C1GIVA_enDK879DK879&oq=intelligent+investor&aqs=chrome..69i57j46j0j0i395l4j69i65.1819j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) or listening to any financial legend talking about P/E ratios, EPS, ROE and bunch of other things that you barely understood even though they seemed important ? + +In the times when everything is priced in several years ahead, it's really hard to find a company with solid fundamentals, that is still going under the radar. + +&#x200B; + +* Shares outstanding - 49.94 mil +* Market Cap - 2.84 B +* P/E - 17.24 +* EPS - 3.30$ +* Divi yield - 0.60% +* Avg. volume - 187K +* ROE - 29% + + +For a company in oversaturated market such as Telecommunications and controlled by giants such as T-Mobile, Verizon, Viacom, to keep such a great fundamentals is nothing but amazing. How did they achieve it ? Simple, while everyone was trying to dominate big cities and get the main piece of cake, SHEN was focusing on expanding their influence in the rural areas. + +Let's sum up why these fundamentals are a good sign of a healthy company. Anything with P/E under 20 is almost a unicorn nowadays, everything is being priced in several years ahead and on potential that might not be there yet, while SHEN goes under the radar this entire time. + +In Short, SHEN does better in fundamentals than most of the Industry respective to the company size. + +What this all mean ? In the most simplistic way, with 52 Week 38.77-57.65 you can be certain that the company is not going away anytime soon, they have been around for more than 100 years, they are slowly expanding, sure it's not Google, it's not T-Mobile, but they are keeping it lowkey in the rural areas where there is still plenty of room to expand, opposite to the big cities where you have to rival the giant companies. + +The company is beating expectations on quarterly basis + + +https://preview.redd.it/el6keryotm971.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=b257a1d818ea2dbc4284a5028ec10e05cb81d503 + +Seeing a lot of green, that's what I like. + +Regarding the potential market cap and share price targets. I believe the company just solely based on their fundamentals and stable revenue/earnings streams, could be worth much more. However, the average volume on the stock is barely 187K therefore it's been going under the radar for some time. + +**Why there seem to be no interest in the stock?** + +Even though it's only a speculation, we are living in the time where everybody wants to get rich quickly on the most notorious stocks or invest in the to known giants that took control over their respective industries. If you want something a growth stock, you can always just buy some giant company in the sector or just buy some index fund. + +That could be one of the reasons why it's hard to notice a company that had been around for a long time, is growing in the rural areas, expanding, closing deals and makes sure there is a stable income/revenue stream. However, that does not change the fact that the company has much more potential and could be undervalued. + + +# SPECIAL DIVIDEND - $18.75 / Share + +Now to the actual play. To be honest, I too haven't known about SHEN since this announcement, I had couple of dividend paying stocks, but this opportunity was too good to ignore. + +SHEN is focusing more and more on their main revenue stream - broadband and decided to sell of their Wireless assets and operations to T-Mobile in an [insane sale](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shenandoah-telecom-declares-special-dividend-122122682.html). The sale totaled 1.94 billion dollars which at the time was almost the amount similar to the company's market cap. + +SHEN is giving away 936.6mil of this sale back to the shareholders. ,making it 18.75$ per share, which is insane and will be payed out on August 2nd if you are a shareholder as of recorded date July 13th ! + +The rest of the proceeds they used to cover all of the debt and are expected more than 19.6mil to be reinvested back to the stock, further pumping the price up. + +Why is it such a big deal ? If you didn't just skim through the fundamentals, you would have found out that the company's fair value is around 56$/share. What is it trading as of this moment ? 56.81$ so even despite the news of crazy special dividend, we are trading around the fair value of the company ! + +**But but but, the share price will always rebalance itself after the payout date.** + +Yes and no, in some cases it doesn't have to, but if you enter anywhere under the 70$ in order for you to lose money on this play, the stock would have dump close to their 52 week low. This is basically free guaranteed gain. You don't have speculate if Richard Branson reaches the Space or if Elon finally delivers on the self driving system. This is almost free win. + +Just the fact that 19.6 mil is expected to be reinvested back. That's 345k shares bought at the current price, almost twice as much as your average daily volume. So even if the stock dumped right after the Dividend payout, you have guaranteed stock buybacks happening, all while the fundamentals and future outlook for the company is still holding strong. + +**But but but, I don't know a lot about dividend stocks.** + +One of the best metrics for the dividend stocks is to see if the company keeps increasing the dividend + + +[ https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/time-to-sell-out-of-these-3-small-cap-telecom-stocks-2016-07-25?mod=mw\_quote\_news ](https://preview.redd.it/gp2nty4cum971.png?width=815&format=png&auto=webp&s=f96b8570a46c3423b0952568abb83a6966c89295) + + [https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/shen/dividend-history](https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/shen/dividend-history) + + +# Final Thoughts + +Special dividends does not occur that often, they are here and there and can cause massive spike in the share price in the short amount of time while. Especially if the pay out is literally almost 1/3 of the entire market cap. + +I believe that any entry below 70$ / share is still amazing because in order for this to go terrible, the stock would not only have to drop close to it's 52 Week low (38.77), but also stay there, all in while being fairly valued at $56/share + +Moreover, selling a big portion of their assets to T-Mobile could make the company an acquisition target. Since they are popular in rural parts of the country, acquisition of SHEN could be an easy entry for any of the telecom giants to enter rural areas. Which in turn could further skyrocket the price, but that's purely a speculation. + +I am planning on holding after the special dividend pay out with selling a small portion of the position on the dividend payout and holding rest for the longer term. + +I would like to hear any opinions on this play, any bull/bear case is very welcome. Any criticism is welcome, let me know what you think ! + +# Buying Dates Disclaimer + +Due to special dividend being greater than 25% of comapany's value. You would need to hold through the ex-dividend date in order to receive the dividend. Therefore you need to hold shares from 9.7.2021 through 3.8.2021 in order to receive the $18.75 special dividend. + +There is a 2 day settlement period for transactions. Therefore your shares have to be settled in by this Friday (9.7.) the latest in order to receive the special dividend + + +# Possible play for traders who want it only short term: + +Givens: +\- SHEN share price $60 (right now) +\- record date 7/13 +\- payable date 8/2 +\- ex-dividend date 8/3 + +Since the market takes 2 days to settle. The shares need to be purchased by Friday, July 9th to be on record with the company. Due to the circumstances of this special dividend, in order to receive payment, you need to hold through the ex-dividend date which means tying up funds for a little over 3 weeks. + +**Play**: + +Purchase shares in multiples of 100, and buy an equal amount of puts with a $55 strike price expiring on 8/20. These currently trade for approximately $2/contract ($200 is the full value of contract). If purchased correctly your maximum downside potential is $7/share, even if the stock price falls below $53 after the ex-dividend date. However, here’s the kicker. You are entitled to the full $18.75 special dividend because you held shares during the appropriate time frame. Therefore you are guaranteed to net approximately $11.75/share which is a return of 20% with little to no risk over the course of 3 weeks. + +# TL;DR + +Company paying out insane special dividend 18.75$/share on August 2nd if you hold shares before July 9th, while maintaining solid fundamentals. + +**Position** 598 shares at 56.96 avg +So I started dividend investing last year at 27. I'm slowly taking some profits each year from the growth stocks I've had since I was 20 (TSLA, AMZN, NVDA etc...) and reinvesting those into safer dividend stocks. + +A year in I've started to realize the importance of dividend raises rather than current yield in a long term picture. And given that I plan on keeping my dividend stocks for the rest of my life and someday live off them - it's become more of a priority + +SO... + +Which of your positions are consistently raising dividends signicantly? I'm aware of and own many of the favorites of this subreddit like O and 3M, but they aren't raising dividends by more than the bare minimum each year. MSFT comes to mind, but I already own that one. + +EDIT: Since not all seem to quite get it, probably at my own fault: + +I love dividend aristocrats/kings and they make up my entire dividend portfolio currently. + +I'm looking for dividend stocks that do more than simply raise their dividend by the bare minimum to live up to those requirements. On the other hand they don't need to nessecarily have done it for 25+ years or be in the S&P, as long as they are consistent and have a good track record. +If you are still in the accumulation phase lower prices just mean you get more shares at a discount. If you are in the draw down as long as your investments continue to pay regularly you have no need to worry. The bears will try to convince you to lock in your paper losses, ignore them. +There appears to be people commenting on my [6-8 month old posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rqi33o/gamestop_nfts_and_their_own_metaverse_to_support/) this weekend so I'm gonna create a refresher for everyone catching up. + +I guess [the cyber crew hype is catching on](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/w3rspl/im_shocked_this_didnt_get_more_attention_epic/) + + +In hyped *the most* about metaverse stuff and said there's much beyond Loopring long ago. + +So here's what I've said; + + + +With more and more [Metaverse](https://twitter.com/ryancohen/status/1475551106071732227) and NFT hype rolling out by the day, I wanted to share this with more people. It hasn't had many eyes yet. + + +&nbsp; + + +I've said it [for a while.](https://reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qmkok8/gamestop_has_a_week_old_job_posting_where_the/) + + +GameStop are making their own metagame universe and all their partners are invited. + +My guess of what's happening is a metagame universe as a social platform where you can shop for anything [like in Ready Player 1.](https://imgur.com/JSEE0YA.jpg) You buy it there and the physical version arrives at your house, tied to NFT so you can wear it in the metaverse too. + +That place to hang out becomes the login portal for games or watching VR things with friends or desktop games etc.. or a [blockchain based stock market made by Loopring.](https://i.redd.it/q6tc253sgx581.jpg) + +&nbsp; + + Instead of logging on Facebook to see what your friends are up to. Or Steam to invite a friend to play a game. + +You open a "game" on your computer that's a universe where you and your friends walk around to socialize and catch up. If you find a game you like you all hop in that portal inside the universe and it logs you in. Your ID is tied to the character you logged in as kind of thing. + +Now you tie NFT cosmetics to it and you can wear or drive cool shit around the universe (or games that support it) and even gamble the NFTs if that's your thing (CSGO knives anyone.) Or even blockchain based real estate in the universe. + +It's the entire economy inside the Digital world, that is tied to physical items through blockchain and NFTs + + +These guys just said they are actually doing at least something with that, [mentioned metaverse specifically.](https://imgur.com/a/m2J2pGt) and since that image now accept LRC to buy stuff at GameStop. + + +Gamestop are partnered with everyone, Nintendo, Sega, [Funko,](https://www.funko.com/blog/article/funko-digital-pops-everything-you-need-to-know) and [Microsoft,](https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-announces-multi-year-strategic-partnership-microsoft) even [esports,](https://news.gamestop.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gamestop-makes-play-multiple-esports-partners-supporting-amateur) Pokémon, and whatever they [can interact with](https://worldcrunch.com/tech-science/magic-pokemon-nft-trading-cards) on a card table like [nft Legos](https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-tweets-mysterious-nft-tease-immediately-deletes-it/) or [Magic the Gathering/Hasboro](https://www.polygon.com/22406490/magic-the-gathering-nft-tokens-hasbro-ceo-quarterly-earnings) and [Atari NFT casinos](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/atari-casino-launches-virtual-party-133000509.html) that you can [drive your Lambo to](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-nft-drop-supercar-history-141556147.html), even your own bank with L2 tech, and make that the place that everyone socializes. + +&nbsp; + + +It now competes with Facebook, Steam, Tencent(QQ client), Amazon/Fry's, and clothing/retail, traditional banking and Wall Street, and you use your physical stores as login portals for those without computers. + +&nbsp; + + +Why else would [Nintendo need this job in Texas](https://imgur.com/DCLgJBV.jpg) + +[Nintendo has been releasing emulators](https://www.techradar.com/news/turns-out-the-nintendo-switch-onlines-n64-emulator-isnt-as-bad-as-it-seems) that should also be usable in a metaverse if programmed correctly, it should be very easy to buy say... a digital Gameboy and play all those emulators while waiting for friends to log online to play... have that save state tied to blockchain/NFT ID and you can launch the same game save on the Nintendo network on your switch. + +&nbsp; + +*So many companies have these hints* + +> When we think of SEGA, we think of its evolution from a pioneer in the video game market to one of the most prominent video game developers and publishers ever! Globally, SEGA has over 5,000 employees passionately working to bring the best gaming entertainment to players around the planet. We have one of, if not the richest, portfolio of original IPs – something we are very proud of and excited about as the market continues to change. + +> [New streaming technologies and shifts in the retail landscape are well poised for what will be the most disruptive and innovative time in our industry. Our IP strategy positions us well for this, and we are enthusiastic about the future!](https://careers.sega.com/jobs/brand-director/) + +> There’s never been a more exciting time in the company’s history to join SEGA! + +> [Sega's second-quarter financial results landed earlier today with plenty of good news for investors. Revenue and operating income for the owners of Sonic the Hedgehog are up, and Sega is now floating the notion that it's going to build future revenue from--you guessed it--non-fungible tokens (NFTs).](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/sega-s-getting-into-nfts-too) + +&nbsp; + +My bet is the initial versions will look something similar to [RuneScape3 (which is entirely browser based)](https://imgur.com/KnxgwoH.jpg) combined with fortnite art style to attract that crowd. + +Then they evolve with web3 technology from there until it looks like [ready player 1 eventually](https://imgur.com/JSEE0YA.jpg) and it's all social, shopping, playing physical games together, logging into other games, going to the bank... whatever you need to do.. show off your in game achievements with the NFT cosmetic they awarded you. Go flex that server first mythic kill in WoW on your metaverse friends. + + +&nbsp; + + +My first avatar guess: looks like [cyber crew is far beyond that](https://rarible.com/cybercrew/items) + +&nbsp; + +I think the initial avatars will be Funkos (if not more).. + They keep [tweeting these things out](https://twitter.com/GameStop/status/1471903185388322818) and Funko has technology to turn in game achievements into NFTs and physical rewards. + + +> Funko Digital Pop! will be available to purchase through the WAX platform using your WAX account and a credit card. + +> What is WAX? + +> WAX (Worldwide Asset Exchange™) is a leading decentralized video game and entertainment network. The WAX blockchain is a safe and convenient way to buy, sell, and trade virtual items. + +> WAX NFTs can be purchased in the initial drop using a credit card. Purchases must be made using a WAX wallet which is an account created on the WAX blockchain that will hold your Digital Pop! after a successful purchase occurs. The WAX wallet allows you to see your NFT inventory and interact in the WAX marketplace to buy, sell, or trade NFTs. + + +&nbsp; + +> How do I redeem my Digital Pop! for a physical Pop!? + +> 120 days after each series of Digital Pop!™ drops, each WAX account with a qualifying Digital Pop! will receive a Redemption Coin deposited into their wallet. (Psst… A Redemption Coin is a redeemable NFT that represents a collection achievement). + + +> The Redemption Coin NFT will be deposited into the account of the current owner of the Digital Pop! on the applicable date, not the original buyer. If you sell or trade a redeemable Digital Pop!, the Redemption Coin NFT will be deposited into the wallet of whoever holds the Digital Pop! on the 120th day. + +> Only one (1) Redemption Coin will be issued per redeemable Digital Pop! + +> Once a Redemption Coin is deposited into your account, you will have 30 days to redeem for your physical Pop! Redeeming a Redemption Coin "burns" the coin and it will no longer be in your wallet. + +> Redeemed physical Pops! will be shipped and delivered for free to all U.S. customers. International shipping fees may apply to global orders where available. Some restrictions may apply. U.S. shipping is expected to be fulfilled within 30 days after the NFT series redemption deadline. + +&nbsp; + +Then you gotta call in Ja Rule to tie it to blockchain and (not joking) for collectibles tied to a physical item with a chip for easy on boarding into the metaverse via a chip scanner. + + +>BCN: How did you get involved with the Flipkick market concept? + +> Ja Rule: Man, Flipkick.io is such a great idea. So as I got into NFTs I noticed a dope project and the whole angle was something different, which I really loved. [The angle of taking physical works of art and authenticating them in a similar way NFTs are authenticated on the blockchain but with a chip.](https://stockmarkettoday.org/hip-hop-star-ja-rule-discusses-the-growing-nft-space-and-crypto-i-like-the-fact-that-bitcoin-is-decentralized/) We have a patent pending on our technology, and when I say ours it’s because I’m part of the company. + +> It’s just a smart thing to be able to authenticate physical artworks cryptographically and let these amazing artists be able to enjoy the fruits of their work and it was never possible before in the past. So I really applaud what Flipkick is as far as the physical NFT space. + + +This is the tech his NFT company patented. Sounds useful for say... physical products with a chip tied to NFT/metaverses + + +&nbsp; + +And this + +https://twitter.com/jarule/status/1371851888270966789 + +Lambo [clearly knows what's up too](https://i.redd.it/etfz0mbbgx681.jpg) + +&nbsp; + +OK now go [look at GameStop's job description again] (https://imgur.com/v1VjDqr.jpg) + + + + + + +&nbsp; + +These are listed as partners of [Nintendo on their switch/marketplace announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161020005938/en/Nintendo-Switch-World-Premiere-Demonstrates-New-Entertainment-Experiences-from-a-Home-Gaming-System) goal of all 3rd party games. + +&nbsp; + + + +Gamestop is now launching an NFT marketplace that will support all these new game titles (if they choose to support NFT items) + +If they took that metaverse, made it open to mods (3rd party programmable) then at home developers could make entire games (like DOTA: Allstars or CS 1.6) inside the universe too, allowing for a full spectrum ecosystem where at home game designers could program a game in .LUA then find a few artists. Make a game and start selling NFTs from it together. + +Everyone makes money, gamers get direct access to games that normally wouldn't get published and there an entire ecosystem of things to do. That's *before* you start talking about what their partners can bring to spice it up. + +Gamestop also owns ELBO which has had this standing patent since early 2000s [seems like an interesting reason for someone to want to bankrupt the company, take the patent](https://uspto.report/patent/grant/10,933,314) combine that patent [with this one](https://uspto.report/patent/grant/9,808,714) - really though [they've held these for a long time](https://patents.google.com/patent/US8998719B1/en) + + +Then [there's the MGGA patents](https://imgur.com/a/psjExax) Microsoft, Google, GameStop, Apple + + + + +[Dish knows what's up] (https://imgur.com/aoRyKxb.jpg) + + +&nbsp; + +A reminder [GameStop's magazine has been giving you hints too](https://imgur.com/Je54jA3.jpg) + +&nbsp; + +For some reason [no one batted an eye at this](https://imgur.com/a/m2J2pGt) when it happened. + + +&nbsp; + +***What makes a good metaverse?*** + +&nbsp; + + +You now are in an online based social hangout where you can easily transition between games/products all connected to the metaverse (think of them as decorated/themed portals that you run into to log in, [(proxy environments if you will)](https://imgur.com/DCLgJBV.jpg) as you've already logged into your avatar for credentials) or if the universe supports title releases you could go hang out at the gate with your friends for the launch/countdown event (sounds like an NFT giveaway to me.) + +While you wait for your friends? Whip out your portable Gameboy and start playing an old game with its save state tied to NFT/blockchain and you could continue that game later on your switch after you load that state. (Or sell/trade it to someone else) + +Got a long way to drive to get to the other game you want to play? Whip out your Lambo NFT to drive the shrewd there. + +Maybe go visit the blockbuster to pick up an NFT movie to watch for the afternoon back at your meta-pad. + + +&nbsp; + +Then we get into the world of modding, or as you could word it. [Publishing games that might not get published](https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/25/how-gamestop-is-faring-as-a-video-game-publisher/) without the need of a game publisher. + +Think of this, an at home modder/game developer wants to make a new game... + +The current situation requires that person to join a company and give that idea away for scraps, or create a new game studio and try to be the corporate side of the thing to get it running. + + +With a correctly built metaverse you can change that completely. LUA programming, allow modders/devs to create portals for development. In that environment there's access to work for hire, other avatars in the universe with skills you need like 3d art or character rigging. + +You (the dev) select through a list of artists products, find the one that fits your game and use it. Or if you want it customized work with that avatar to fit your art style. It's tied via NFT to that avatar and revenue for the game upon launch is now shared with that artist who can go on to make more products while it's being launched. + +You create an ecosystem where entire games can be made from people at home, via NFT and blockchain contracts and you don't need publishers to get it to players. + +Make a good one, it gets enough players and it becomes a staple of other metaverses and gg you created a AAA game from home. + + +(This also works for board games, physical versions can be delivered to your house if you like the game with your friends in the metaverse) + +&nbsp; + +But now you've got people working entire careers and making real money for their work. + +Would they want to withdraw their funds and transfer it to a physical bank? Or does it make more sense to have a bank inside the metaverse that you can access your funds from. Transfer it if you need from there to your old account (for a fee of converting to $USD or your currency, gotta get it off of layer 2) so you can pay shit like rent, but what else do you need physical currency for at that point? + +Bills, other than that, the more things that show up in the metaverse ecosystem, the less things you need physical currency for, as buying the NFT comes with the physical version being delivered to your door. + +&nbsp; + +So if you've got banking, shopping and gaming all inside the same experience... one might [call that omnichannel](https://careers.gamestop.com/us/en/job/Req-131892/Full-Stack-Engineer-Remote-in-U-S) + + + +&nbsp; + +***A good metaverse will be:*** + +* partnered with other games/publishers for gaming options + +* allows for modding (making new games inside the universe, some of the biggest games ever are based off mods - LoL, CS:GO to name a couple) where a game dev can just hire artists, tie their nft art to the product and revenue is split according to contracts without a publisher required. + +* has enough warehouses to support delivering physical versions of the stuff, and got high end retailers/products on board to entice buyers + +* has an NFT/blockchain backbone to support not only item buying, physical versions and game save states as well + +* creates equipment to supplement the experience + +* brings in big outside products to the ecosystem + +&nbsp; + + +GameStop's game publisher: + + +&nbsp; + + +2016: + +> [GameStop unveils publishing label GameTrust](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-04-18-gamestop-unveils-publishing-label-gametrust) + +2017: + +> [GameStop has more than 7,000 retail stores for selling games, but it’s also diversified into publishing games under its GameTrust label.](https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/25/how-gamestop-is-faring-as-a-video-game-publisher/) + +> Instead of competing head-on with game publishers, GameStop is going after games that might otherwise not get published or noticed. It is targeting titles from seasoned independent developers whose games could sell for $15 to $40, rather than the $60 triple-A games. + +&nbsp; + +GameTrust has some interesting tidbits [on their site.](https://www.gametrustgames.com/) + +> GameTrust's collaborative planning approach delivers greater discoverability, by leveraging leading-edge physical & digital ecosystems, backed by the reach of the world’s leading video game retailer. We focus on the business, so you can focus on making a great game. + +&nbsp; + +Here's [their partners on top of more info](https://imgur.com/V5sWtG9.jpg ) + +&nbsp; + +If you look at the last partner on there, their [recent title is this (Creativerse)](https://imgur.com/EYZCtNG.jpg) + +Which just so happens to look [a lot like a metaverse](https://imgur.com/xNA9iyj.jpg) already - https://playfulstudios.com/ + +&nbsp; + +Then they're partnered with Tequila Works [which is making a League of Legends game](https://youtu.be/9E5BCiqg9Rs) + +Who has [already made VR games with GameTrust]( https://imgur.com/oq5NSAn.jpg) - https://www.tequilaworks.com/en/projects/ + + + +&nbsp; + + +Then you've got FrozenByte [who already has a space MMO with Interactive environments](https://imgur.com/QWzndBb.jpg) - https://www.frozenbyte.com/games/ + +&nbsp; + +Oh they're also partnered with [the guys who made Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart among other games](https://imgur.com/Q4xYtwa.jpg) - https://insomniac.games/games/ + +&nbsp; + +Insomniac games is [now part of Sony](https://insomniac.games/a-message-to-our-fans/) + +> Today we announced that Insomniac has a new home as we join the Worldwide Studios family at Sony Interactive Entertainment. It feels more like a homecoming though.  We’ve collaborated with Sony for more than 20 years — spanning all four PlayStation consoles, 20 total games and six franchises. We still work closely today with many of the same Sony teammates as we did when we released the original Spyro the Dragon in 1998. + +> The decision to join forces with Sony extends far beyond familiarity. Our studio vision is to create experiences that have a positive and lasting impact on people’s lives. As we look ahead to our future, we know that joining the WWS family gives us the best opportunities to fully achieve that vision on a much larger scale. Further, we believe that Sony shares a similar vision to positively impact players’ lives, their employees’ lives and the games industry at large. + +&nbsp; + +These are listed as partners of [Nintendo on their switch/marketplace announcement](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161020005938/en/Nintendo-Switch-World-Premiere-Demonstrates-New-Entertainment-Experiences-from-a-Home-Gaming-System) goal of all 3rd party games. + +&nbsp; + + +[GameStop owns Elbo](https://imgur.com/kOrLvKH.jpg) + + +Here's some trademarks by Elbo this year + +[Controllers for game consoles in the nature of game controllers for computer games; game controllers for use with electronic computer games; apparatus for electronic games other than those adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; apparatus for games adapted for use with an external display screen or monitor; computer games apparatus, namely, game controllers for computer games; computer game apparatus adapted for use with an..](https://trademark.trademarkia.com/gamestop-97157461.html) + +[Interactive electronic video gaming chairs and beanbag style gaming chairs optimized to increase performance in video games](https://trademark.trademarkia.com/gamestop-97043752.html) + +[Power to the players](https://trademark.trademarkia.com/power-to-the-players-97043755.html) + +TA:DR; GameStop owns GameTrust. Which is partnered with indie and 3rd party developers with the goal of + +> Leveraging leading-edge physical & digital ecosystems, backed by the reach of the world’s leading video game retailer. We focus on the business, so you can focus on making a great game. + +They've partnered with studios that have made essentially a minecraft metaverse, one who made intractable environments you can build on or blow up and are partnered with even Nintendo and possibly Sony studios through insomniac. + +The goal of the company is to allow 3rd party developers the ability to make games without jumping through the traditional methods of publishing, wonder where else you could release games.... [their own metaverse](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/rlq6ih/gamestops_metagame_universe_or_why_i_think/) if they took that metaverse, made it open to mods (3rd party programmable) then at home developers could make entire games (like DOTA: Allstars or CS 1.6) inside the universe too, allowing for a full spectrum ecosystem. +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/m259ngt28zw91.png?width=791&format=png&auto=webp&s=49c3e562180e58064f3019602d6461e1b6ec600f + +&#x200B; + +Stock price activity: + +Pre-pandemic (Feb/2020): $36/share + +Pandemic low (Mar/2020): $27/share + +Some support: $33/share + +Current share price: $47/share + +Price after earnings (Nov 1, 2022): ??? + +&#x200B; + +PFE's financials have been stellar during the pandemic. So stellar that they're being investigated for hiding profits. If true, investors should be livid as PFE also pays a dividend and they're opening themselves up to potential IRS back taxes, interest and penalties. + +[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-26/pfizer-pfe-hid-1-2-billion-in-profits-italian-investigators-allege](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-26/pfizer-pfe-hid-1-2-billion-in-profits-italian-investigators-allege) + +With Covid mostly behind us, they're mitigating declining sales with a price hike. + +[https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-expects-price-covid-vaccine-110-130-per-dose-2022-10-20/](https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-expects-price-covid-vaccine-110-130-per-dose-2022-10-20/) + +Pfizer has proven themselves when it comes to vaccines. They're fully able to develop, test, manufacture and distribute when other countries are still going into lockdowns. Let's also give credit to Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and the little guys for creating the competitive environment. Whatever PFE reports on Tuesday, it will surely drag these guys with them. + +My take on the future. Covid vaccine sales will continue to decline as we move forward and the other divisions within Pfizer will continue to flat line with little to no growth. But if there is another pandemic, investors will know where to throw not just their money but money on margin. The IV is too low for me to start a thetagang strategy; which is really odd as we're just days away from their earnings call and this is another pharma company. + +There's a lot of data to look at so I'm looking forward to your comments and any strategies to play this. Good luck out there. +I see a lot of people here are either doing CSP or CC. why is it not a good idea to do put/call credit spreads instead of CSP or CC. The advantage here is that you limit the risk on the downside. I made the following 3 trades on last Friday + +1. Sold TSLA 1095/1100 Call credit spread for $80 with $500 collateral +2. Sold LUCID 44/45 put credit spread for $26 with $100 collateral +3. sold SPY 445/450 put credit spread for $77 with $500 collateral + +I was successful in the first two trades but my broker closed my SPY position at a loss citing pin risk as this was on a expiry day. Even then, I felt selling spreads was a much better strategy if income is the main reason rather than trying to hold shares if things went wrong. + +Am I missing something here ? +Folks - ATOS is having a pretty good rally since the past 2-3 weeks and looking at the options chain, the premiums are pretty impressive. A $7.50 call with a 07/16 DTE has a premium of $2.35. So buying ATOS and immediately writing a CC brings the price paid to $4.65. If you don't mind holding this bag, this is a good play. +Source: [https://metrics.algorand.org/](https://metrics.algorand.org/) + +**Other cool stuff about ALGO Tech:** + +Algorand has amazing developer resources and documentation. + +You can program dApps on Algorand in any of these languages: + +Python, PyTEAL, Java, JavaScript, Go, Reach + +Source: [https://developer.algorand.org/docs/](https://developer.algorand.org/docs/) + +Additionally, Algorand is launching elegant and innovative "state proofs" that will allow for trustless interoperability between blockchains. Most don't realize how HUGE these state proofs are: + +>The Big Picture +> +>Algorand State Proofs fortify cross-chain applications with Post-Quantum security. By using advanced cryptography, ASPs can withstand attacks by powerful quantum computers that try to alter the reported state of the blockchain, providing a robust, portable source of truth about on-chain data. +> +>From trustless bridges that move assets across blockchains to decentralized oracles that export valuable on-chain data, people will be able to leverage Algorand’s fast, cheap, and reliable protocol in new ecosystems without trust in an intermediary–they only need to trust the [**security**](https://www.algorand.com/technology/security) of the underlying blockchain itself. + +Source: [https://www.algorand.com/resources/algorand-announcements/powering-blockchain-interoperability-and-post-quantum-security](https://www.algorand.com/resources/algorand-announcements/powering-blockchain-interoperability-and-post-quantum-security) + +**Other big announcements:** + +Nigeria(200m Population) just announced a technical partnership with Algorand: + +[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nigeria-launch-major-crypto-initiative-233000248.html](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nigeria-launch-major-crypto-initiative-233000248.html) + +Universal Music Group, the largest music corporation in the world is building a music NFT marketplace via Limewire on Algorand: + +[https://decrypt.co/100704/universal-music-group-nfts-limewire-algorand-marketplace](https://decrypt.co/100704/universal-music-group-nfts-limewire-algorand-marketplace) + +FIFA, the largest sports organization in the world(Billions of fans) announced a technical partnership with Algorand: + +[https://www.fifa.com/en/about-fifa/president/media-releases/fifa-announces-partnership-with-blockchain-innovator-algorand](https://www.fifa.com/en/about-fifa/president/media-releases/fifa-announces-partnership-with-blockchain-innovator-algorand) + +To me Algorand is the most reliable way to transact value with others. Cheap, Global, Instant, Secure. Large corporations and countries are realizing this and jumping on board. + +In the 2 years I've been using it, it has never once been delayed or down. Every time I press send, the transaction is complete in 4.4 seconds almost like magic. +Hello, + +I understand how rhe basics of splits work and I know the number of shares we have will be multiplied by 20, while the price is divided by 20. My question is what happens after to split to the shares we own that are not divisible by 20? Would we have, for example, 1.12 shares with the fractional shares or would we have 1whole share and the rest sold? + +My real concern is I do the Schwab stock slices and do not want any part of my holdings sold for cash at the split, especially since the price is down. + +Thank you! +I know that most of you worked really hard for your success. But is there also someone who achieved FIRE through pure luck? Like winning the lottery, crushing it in the casino or mining Bitcoin years ago. +61727054 Says Ken is Next + +I know that you know what that number relates to Ken. I know that you have a plaque in your NY office with that on it. Actually..It’s known that London, Chicago, New York all have 61727-054 cleverly placed and/or referred to. + +61727-054 *bold move* + +For the longest time you’ve done everything possible to exceed where they failed. For years now you’ve shared your goals and your ambitions when it comes to Citadel. To be the biggest you’ve gotta slay the legend. You’ve never shied away from letting those around you know what your aim is..what really fuels you everyday, every account, every trade. To be the king of Wall St. Bigger and scarier than the Wolf. A legend. A myth. + +...A genius. Just like xXx did it but better. They got tired and worn out. You’ve always considered that their weakness. They were only able to keep it going for so long, you’ve always felt as though you could get away with it forever. + +I must admit..you’ve been clever. You’ve taken what you learned and have adapted quite well. That was until you allowed two mistakes to be made. + +I didn’t catch it before in 2019 when I started to peek behind the curtains and peel back the layers. But I have now and day by day so do others. Just like you...plain sight. + +The more I think about it and the more research that I do into the books, I can’t believe that NO ONE outside a handful of others have recognized the patterns. But that’s okay..because 🦍’s are getting ever so closeclose. So many 🦍’s are on the path, they just haven’t stumbled upon the right trees and bushes. Yet. + +{Insert Rozay} *I remember being blind to it +Til the day I put my mind to it* + +Funny how alumni networks have become so clutch over the past year(Fuck Covid, amirite?)..Without them how would some dumb ape be able to gain access to the Citadel Securities Department of Computer Science at a certain uni..😳🤭🤫 + +jUsT me babooning but word on Sixth St. is that your frienemies on Congress Ave. are running out of leverage when it comes to that quiet little office in Austin. + +Just a matter of tick tocks ‘til the real show begins Ken. What’s your move then? + +Edit: Wrong Flair +It is important to have a complete picture of stablecoins and their continued innovation to understand why regulation will have no effect and not change what is inevitably going to happen, a complete replacement of centralized fiat currency. + +We’ll cover the uses of stablecoins, legacy banking (business model and asset erosion), how stablecoins work, the advantages and disadvantages of the different stablecoin solutions, how money is made with stablecoins, why they are the target of regulation and what does an unstoppable, regulation-proof stablecoin look like. + +**How are Stablecoins Used?** + +Cross-border payments occur in smaller, closed financial networks requiring middlemen to facilitate these transactions. These middlemen have made cross-border payments expensive, slow and restrictive. McKinsey & Company estimates that the financial system generates $2T annually from these payments. Ridiculous. + +Cross-border payments are made fast, easy and considerably less expensive than legacy banking systems by using stablecoins. + +With stablecoins, you can “stay in crypto” without having to go into a fiat currency to store value. This saves time, cost and keeps you in full control of your money because you are no longer in the banking system, while maintaining price stability. + +Leverage: Crypto-collateralized stablecoins can be used to increase your position in a particular cryptocurrency. If you own ETH, you can “mint” a stablecoin by pledging ETH as collateral to mint a stablecoin. With that stablecoin, you can now buy more ETH to mint more stablecoin and so on. This is a technique to leverage your crypto position. + +This yield farming concept became popular in the summer of 2020 when crypto traders and stakers were accelerating their returns in staking pools by leveraging up their position (to then stake in proof of stake and liquidity pools). + +**Legacy Banking:** **Middlemen And The Money Printer** + +The entire legacy banking system is built on fees and interest on money they don’t own. Many think that banks accept deposits to lend it back to you at a higher rate. There is more going on here. Banks take your deposits and use that as their reserve requirement so that they can borrow many times that amount from the federal reserve bank. Then, that capital is used for lending to yield much higher returns (because they leveraged up their lending capacity). It is ALL inflation. Meanwhile, you get sub 1% on your deposits. + +30-40% of all the U.S. dollars in existence today were printed out of thin air in a 12-month period. If the USD was a cryptocurrency, it might be one of the worse ones. With this and the talk of stablecoin regulation, stablecoins backed by the USD may not be so “stable” in the future. + +With the “bail in” laws passed by the Obama administration, depositors can have their capital seized if their bank fails. This law puts depositors first in line to cover any insolvencies a failed bank will have. + +It is unfair and dishonest that you may have to pay for a banker’s risk taking and not get the benefit from the endless inflation of fiat currency that is printed out of thin air. + +Yields in cryptocurrency are quickly eroding at the asset base (reserves they can use to borrow from the fed) of traditional banks. Consumers are moving to much higher yielding cryptocurrency staking to earn transaction fees in liquidity pools and rewards/interest for staking to validate blockchain transactions (Ex. Proof Of Stake Blockchain Consensus). + +**Types Of Stablecoins And How They Work** + +Understanding stablecoin innovation as the race to decentralization continues: + +**1. Centralized and Physically Asset-Backed.** + +Stablecoins like Tether and Paxos Gold physically back their cryptocurrency with USD and physical gold, respectively. You buy these on the open market or supply the physical collateral/USD for these protocols to “mint” new stablecoin. This is a great way to store value. However, centralized systems require faith that 1 Tether actually returns 1 USD when you redeem. Tether has come under scrutiny with claims that there is not actually a 1:1 Tether/USD ratio. Furthermore, systems like this are easily shut down by banks or regulators. Physical asset-backed stablecoins provide an attractive alternative to invest in the cryptocurrency market, while giving you exposure to another asset like gold. + +**2. Crypto-Collateralized.** + +The stablecoin market, then, evolved to take a step to further decentralization. Stablecoins like MakeDAO use ETH-based cryptocurrencies as collateral to mint their stablecoin. With systems like this, you are not relying on a centralized authority or entity to “back” the stablecoin. It is only you pledging collateral to a smart contract which is public proof that it exists as collateral on the blockchain. This gives you certainty that the system truly has underlying value that can’t be taken away or falsified (like the Tether accusations). However, in times of market volatility, your collateral can be liquidated if the “loan to value” ratio breaks a threshold. + +**3. Algorithmic** + +Purely algorithmic stablecoins rely on market forces and smart contract software rules to maintain the price of the dollar or whatever asset they are tracking. Terra Luna is a 2-token system (utility token and stablecoin) that allows you to burn one of the tokens to mint the other in times of stablecoin price instability. For example, if the price of TerraUSD is above the dollar, you can burn the utility token for TerraUSD at the exchange rate at the price it should be. Then, you can sell for a profit helping to bring the price back down of 1 TerraUSD equal to 1 USD. Incentivizing the market keeps the stablecoin at the price it should be. Purely algorithmic stablecoins have no underlying collateral. If market forces fail or there are issues with the software code, there is no recourse to get your money back. + +**How do you make money with stablecoins?** + +There are two ways: + +**Leverage and Trading. Staking.** + +**1. Leverage and Trading** + +Cryptocurrency traders use crypto-backed stablecoins to leverage up their position in a particular crypto as described in the MakeDAO example. This accelerates returns if the price goes their way. If not, liquidation and loss can happen quickly during market downturns. + +Stablecoins provide a “neutral” position for crypto traders so they can capture profits and be ready for the next trade. + +**2. Staking** + +Staking involves locking up your fiat-backed stablecoins where you will earn interest or rewards. The most well-known staking is in proof of stake blockchain protocols where you earn part of the transaction fees of the network. You could also stake in a decentralized lending platform like AAVE to earn interest or stake in a liquidity pool in a decentralized exchange like UniSwap. In UniSwap, you earn transaction fees for providing liquidity to traders of that decentralized exchange. + +**A Regulation Target** + +Let’s face it. Regulation of crypto is all about trying to maintain control and the threat to the US Dollar World Reserve Currency status. The US government would lose the ability to print money out of thin air for political control and to loan/donate to countries for “favors” and decisions that could potentially benefit the US. + +Crypto makes it more difficult to track transactions and people. This is not acceptable to the US government. Biden recently began tracking all USD bank accounts with more than $600, a complete violation of the 4th amendment and many other things. + +The “infrastructure bill” has provisions where everyone in crypto is a broker and subject to KYC compliance. How can a blockchain developer track who is using software that has been released to the world and has a life of its own (the nature of decentralization)? + +Stablecoins are the target because they remove the need to go back into fiat, where KYC and tracking can occur. Stablecoins are also widely used. SEC Chairman Gensler said **“that roughly 75% of all crypto trades involve some kind of stablecoin”**. + +For the first time in history, we have a technology that has the potential to change the relationship between man and government. This change is in favor of the individual so governments are fighting it. + +**Effects of Regulation Overreach** + +1. Innovation moves to countries that embrace the change. If the USA regulations go too far, it will cripple the chances of continued financial dominance and move it to other countries. The economic impact of the convergence of a multitude of technological platforms is going to have a 20X+ the impact of the Internet. (Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy Storage and Genome Sequencing) No country can afford to push innovation in this areas to other countries. +2. Blockchain protocol creators go dark and release anonymous projects. +3. Blockchain systems will move further to decentralization and be impossible to be captured. + +**What does decentralized finance mean in this context?** + +Since a stablecoin is a cryptocurrency in the government’s crosshairs, decentralization is crucial. It means that every aspect of the protocol cannot be influenced, seized or shut down by any government, bank or organization. Every part of a defi protocol needs to be capture proof. This makes it a safer choice for many people who want to keep their money safe from governmental interference and manipulation. + +**The process of decentralization** + +This is not easy, but it can be achieved by using distributed ledger technology. This is the technology that is used to record transaction history and information on many computers or “nodes” at once. When all nodes are updated with the same information, this data cannot be changed or falsified. + +This allows for a defi stablecoin to be fully transparent, unchangeable and accessible to all users. As you can imagine, this will be an excellent choice for anyone who wants to keep their money safe but also remain anonymous. + +Despite the progress in defi, a vast majority if not all blockchain dApps (decentralized apps) are not fully decentralized. Website servers, domains and server access to blockchains, like Infura for ETH blockchain access, are still centralized and can be captured. Case in point is when UniSwap delisted all stablecoins from its “decentralized exchange” front end at the potential threat of the SEC regulating stablecoins and investigating UniSwap. Liquidity pools for these stablecoins plummeted even though they are decentralized on the blockchain. The front-end access is not. + +Protocols like the Internet Computer and Cartesi have solutions to decentralize front servers and cloud computing. However, the crypto industry has yet to take the final step. + +**TLDR: A regulation proof stablecoin** + +To be truly decentralized, a regulation proof stablecoin needs to be both crypto-collaterallized and algorithmic. It cannot have any single entity in the process like what we see in all of the physically asset or USD-backed centralized systems. Having the stablecoin backed by other cryptocurrencies gives faith in the system that there is underlying value that can be redeemed at any time without centralization. Also, it must be algorithmic to provide further price stability. This is the best possible combination of stablecoin capabilities that exists in the market. + +All of the processes must occur in the smart contract on the blockchain making it unchangeable and visible to everyone. Front end website, website server and blockchain access also must be decentralized with multiple, capture proof access points. + +Furthermore, a stablecoin cannot be pegged to a fiat currency price since most will just be inflated into oblivion. Tracking the price of a physical asset, like precious metals, is a much better store of value. + +Philosophically, the creation of currency should be decentralized rather than a single entity controlling the money supply for a nation. Since the best currencies have an underlying asset, the collateral owner should be the one earning the interest. + +BankX is building this type of a fully decentralized, trustless, silver-pegged stablecoin where you earn interest the entire time it is in circulation. If you would like to learn more, join: r/BankX +I would like to make a relatively large investment into ETH and I'm looking for advice with my strategy. Obviously I would hate to make this investment at once now and then ETH immediately drops down to $120. At the same time if I wait and ETH jumps to $250 I would be equally pissed. + +Is there a certain strategy to making large investments to help mitigate potential losses in these cases. For example, invest x% then wait until y happens then invest z% more? +I know with the launch of Robinhood, prices should start increasing. I have $3k to sink and, I'm wondering if there's any reason I should hold off for a bit for prices to drop lower. + +Any speculation that would drop prices even more? +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. + +For those waiting for $3m+ before retiring: why? +For those looking to retire on $300k: how? + +I'm not here to judge. It's just fascinating that there is such a wide range of what is considered "FI" (not to mention RE-level) on this sub. The range highlights that the $1m goal many of us have is mostly arbitrary. + +I'd love to hear why some people are comfortable with $300k and others wouldn't dream of retiring early until they have at least $3m. +I sold my tech business and saw a really nice exit. Enough to retire on. But I can't bring myself to do it. I love running and building businesses too much. I find it interesting and it keeps my mind busy. That being said, I do not want to start another startup. Too stressful and risky. Instead, I've been thinking about "simple" businesses. Maybe a coffee shop, bike rental, storage units, whatever. Sell one thing in a good location and do it well. My goal is to use my business and technical skills to ideally buy such a business to make it more valuable by optimizing where the previous owner could not. Then perhaps buy more of the same business to create some economies of scale. + +Curious if anyone has done this. If so, what type of business? Looking for anecdotes and advice. +Any politician, political party, or government that is against or even ambivalent about self-custody of bitcoin is anti-freedom and anti-democracy. Period. + +Whining about environmental concerns, money laundering potential, etc is just misdirection. Don't fall for it. This test is simple. This test is accurate. + +If you are going to vote, make sure you know where your candidate or party of choice stands on this issue. + +If there are no candidates/parties who pass the test where you live, you know the system is rigged and you need to either a) demand better options or b) exit the system you are in. +**See edit at bottom for answers to common questions.** + +###PREFACE + +Obviously this is dependent on tax laws in your specific country. This post is primarily about the US and other countries with similar taxation laws. + +###WHAT HAPPENED + +In the 2017 bull run, people saw crazy gains (10x-100x) and then traded without considering the taxable events and liabilities being created. + +Then when the 2018 crash happened they did not have money to pay their HUGE tax bill that was owed and ruined their financial life! + +###HOW IT WORKS + +If you bought $10k worth of a coin and it 20x to $200k in 2021, and then you trade it for any other coins, you have a realized gain of $190k. + +Assuming a 20% effective tax rate, you would owe $38,000 in taxes! + +Now if your portfolio dropped 80% back down to $40k and you did not harvest the tax loss (sell to realize the loss then rebuy) before the end of the year… you would STILL owe $38k in taxes for that year, which is your entire stack!!! + +###WHAT TO DO + +If you had substantial gains this year and traded during the peak earlier this year, the smart thing to do is to: + +1. Use a crypto tax reporting software to calculate how much in realized gains and tax liability you may have. + +2. Cash out a portion of your stack and set it aside for paying taxes when they’re due OR if you're okay with the risk, you can even convert to a stable coin and hold on a lending platform to still earn some interest. (keep in mind this trade creates another taxable event so you'll want to factor that in) + +###CONCLUSION + +There were many stories of people in 2018 who owed HUGE sums in taxes that were near their entire stack or even more because they didn’t consider taxes and didn’t plan ahead. + +Learn from their mistake so you don’t repeat it! + +Hopefully we’re in a 2nd leg of the bull run but don’t risk being in this position if we're in a dead cat bounce and/or the market goes bearish. + +— + +**EDIT: Want to answer the same questions I keep seeing get asked:** + +- Yes, in the US, crypto to crypto trades ARE taxable events and are required to be reported. It’s not just if you sell to fiat. +- The info in this post only applies if you trade or sell (USA or countries with similar laws). If you just buy and hold or transfer a coin from wallet to wallet there is NO taxable event. +- I use bitcoin.tax for crypto tax reporting. There are other options if you Google. +- I use Celsius to hold/lend coins and stable coins to earn interest. +- Google “tax loss harvesting” to learn about how to reduce your tax liability and when it would make sense to do so. Wash trading IS allowed for crypto (unlike stocks). +Currently DEXTools is sitting at $0.10 with an $8.8M MC + +[https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dextools](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dextools) + +\[\[\[The app is currently in it's second and final beta phase. If you want the full experience you need to be holding 5000 DEXT to maintain BETA access. There's a free version still available to the public but has less features at this time\]\]\] + +What makes this tool so special? Well, for one, it fills a really desired hole that's been plaguing DeFi which is the ability to accurately and efficiently chart using a DEX. Uniswap & IDEX (devs also mentioned they're working on another major DEX integration) don't have traditional orderbooks so it's difficult to chart/keep track of whos buying & selling and for how much. DEXTools allows you to easily chart and keep track of wallets. They also have a pool explorer to use to find the newest uniswap picks as they come on to the market. Seeing how some of these uni tokens play out (even the scams) being first increases the chances of bigger gains. They are planning on implementing trading view charts soon and are constantly updating the app with new features and little tweaks. + +Secondly, and often most overlooked, is the fantastic tokenomics of the project. There's about 86M DEXT in circulation at the moment. After the release of V1 in a month or so, the team will begin to burn tokens based on fees generated by the subscription service. In order to use the app, you will have to pay in DEXT each month. The monthly cost is in USD so no need to worry about needing a certain amount of DEXT. Each month the team will burn 50% of the DEXT accrued in fees and, after 20M are burnt, will continue the burn but on a 10% rate per month thereafter. Also, since the project has exceeded the expectations of the team, they are considering a token burn of the team allocation as well. This was proposed to the community without us even asking. This, to me, shows how dedicated and community centered the team is. + +With a working product, excellent tokenomics, and a caring team, I think this is a great pick! + +A reminder to DYOR! +* AMA with CEO tomorrow +* Whitepaper imminent +* Mobile app Q1 or Q2 (pending whitepaper) +* Staking TBD +* Decentralization EOY + +And best of all, Bruno, the architect of the PRL scam (OPCT's predecessor), is in jail. +Hi Everyone - Been a lurker here for some time, and I really appreciate all of the perspectives in this group. Have you guys looked at tax-managed strategies like this before? [https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/separately-managed-accounts/tax-managed-US-equity-index-strategy/overview](https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/separately-managed-accounts/tax-managed-US-equity-index-strategy/overview) + +It's an interesting model in that it's a strategy that is intended to simply track large cap performance while leveraging some interesting tax loss harvesting simultaneously. I also follow the Bogleheads subreddit, and I feel like this straddles the fat/bogle world... What do you guys think? + +At the end of the day, I'm trying to avoid going with a full blown advisor (at the usual \~0.75%-1% wrapper fee), but I also see some merit in paying fees for strategies that have very clear payoffs (in this case, very meaningful tax loss harvesting). + +Thanks! +I’m going to experience around a 10 million dollar windfall in the near future due to IPO startup luck. + +My stock is all in RSUs so there isn’t much I can do to avoid initial taxes, but I’m not sure what to do once I have my stocks in-hand. + +My plan is to sell all the company stock and buy low cost index funds. I would use dollar cost averaging and sell off over a period of time (probably a year) in order to average out stock to market volatility. + +Am I being naive? Should I retain professional help when dealing with amounts of money that are new to me? Or can I keep using the same strategies that I’ve been using for my measly 401k? + +Thanks for the advice. +General info, I am in my mid 20s, looking to buy a house in maybe 5 years. Possibly married around the same time but no other big expenses planned. + +£4k (+£1k bonus) in a S&S LISA +£600 in S&S ISA +Both invested in FTSE Global All Cap. + +£4k (+£1k) in a cash LISA +£10k in cash spread across interest earning accounts (for now!). + +&#x200B; + +So roughly 30% of my savings are invested in 100% global equities, the rest is in cash. +I save roughly £1-1.5k per month, and only intend to invest around 15% of any future savings, so my cash pile will slowly grow as I come closer to buying a house. + + +Currently I do not hold any bonds at all. I understand they de-risk your portfolio. But isn't cash the lowest risk? + +So you could have something like 30% equities, 70% cash. Would that be equal risk to something like +25% equities 15% bonds, 60% cash? + + +So to me it seems better to just invest more in equities and retain more cash, rather than bothering with bonds. Unless you want to take the cash out soon and you're on your way to retirement (say 5-10 years from retiring, so start buying up bonds instead). + + +Any thoughts? Having to hold myself back from selling my S&S LISA shares. + +&#x200B; +Hey uk bois + +What's everyone's view on post covid situation . Personally I'm looking into the aviation and cruise company's to hopefully pick back up. Also I'm I stupid in thinking the FX market will see a rise due to the currency trades in the summer time ? + +Just speculation from a dumb fuck but would love to hear other people's views +Hi All, + +I just seen this mornings announcement from Chrysalis Investments (through London Stock Exchange), detailing that NAV is now at 208.16p. I found this very interesting, as it has been trading at around 16%-20% premium (to the previous NAV) for a prolonged period of time. + +Currently trading in the region of 199p-200p which would suggest it is now at a -4.6% discount, which I think represents great value! It has been on my watchlist for some time and I think it's time to get in for me now. + +For those of you that don't know, Chrysalis invests in early stage, private companies like Klarna, Starling Bank, and TransferWise. It is essentially a private equity type, growth capital fund. + +Would love to hear everyones thoughts! +Hello, I'm 22 and have just begun investing with £1000. I plan on investing up to £500 every month into these funds for the long term 15+ Years: + +VUSA (S&P 500) - 60% Allocation + +VUKE (FTSE100) - 20% Allocation + +VFEM (Emerging Markets) - 20% Allocation. + +Want some thoughts on this portfolio and whether maybe I should not invest in the FTSE100 and go for something else, whether that's a stock or another ETF. Only as I recognise the companies in the 100 are very old and have minimal growth and as I'm in it for the long term I'm wondering whether it may be better to put money elsewhere and have more risk. + +&#x200B; + +Thanks +It seems like there is no way to locate a reliable platform to do this in the UK, + +I have been trying to find something like this be it seems impossible without stories of people not receiving their money, I want to select my own stocks and have it at a low cost as possible. + +Does anyone have any suggestions around this? +My apologies if this is the wrong place to post. I currently have open a S&S ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown where I have invested heavily into Vanguards S&P500 index. + +As this is an American fund that tracks American companies and is therefore in $, what happens to my investment seeing as I am investing in £’s? + +If the £ continues to fall, will this make my investments worth less because the £ is weak, or will it not matter as I invested before the £ dropped? + +On the flip side, if the £ becomes stronger after brexit and recovers, will this have any significant impact on my investments? + +I am trying to work out whether this is a good buying opportunity, or if it is not a good time as the £ is weak. I’m not trying to time the market, just trying to work out how it reacts to these sorts of currency fluctuations and base my decision to invest off it. At the moment I am solely invested in Vanguards index tracker fund for the S&P 500, however I plan to invest in the FTSE when I have decided where I want to invest. +Use this thread to share your portfolio, purchases, sales, ideas, concerns, and anything else! + +This thread is also for asking questions about which is the best broker for you, which broker offers \[feature\] and other basic questions about platforms and their functionality. +Just wanted to gather peoples thoughts on investing in national express. They have a strong balance sheet, good history of dividends, return on equity greater than 10% and seem to be the strongest coach company in the UK (and I think most likely to pull through) along with the fact they get a lot of government funding. Are there any ‘skeletons in the closet’ or things I’m missing before I invest? +I’m selling a property and will hopefully have around £160k. Any investment advice for 6/8 months until we find and settle on a new property. Research is showing NS&1 seems to be the best bet. Thanks in advance +Good Morning all! + +Do you guys have any recommendations on understanding company reports and comparing their 'value' with competitors etc? + +Do you also have any recommendations on market podcasts which serve the UK? + +&#x200B; + +I already have money in ETFs etc and want to get a few positions within industries I am interested, but, tbh apart from reading news articles I am pretty clueless. I want to be in a place where I am confident that I made the best decision I could at the time with the information available.... rather than I picked a stock because I liked the logo and their product is cool! + +I listen to a few podcasts (mainly Motley Fool) but while they give useful insights into trends and are generally interesting they are focused entirely on the US, which while I don't view as a bad thing, from purely a personal interest I wondered if there were some UK/EU equivalents out there. + +Ta, +Hi guys, I have an Apple News+ subscription and usually make notes on articles I read. I thought why not make post on those notes for anyone/people who aren't as stupid as me to pay for news articles. Also would be a great opportunity to actually have people to discuss these topics with. If you guys like these I'll do more of them in the future. + +# What will happen to house prices? + +As the country prepares for lockdown 2.0, hopes of a neat V-shaped economic recovery — in which we promptly recover from a crash — have all but disappeared. + +https://preview.redd.it/3mi3qwgo0oq51.png?width=801&format=png&auto=webp&s=252b4118a988d04bd7866b81e0933ad74a325bf4 + +Events such as the replacement of the furlough scheme — an estimated 4.8 million to 5.3 million people were on furlough in July — with the job support scheme in November, Brexit in December and the end of the stamp duty holiday in March could potentially derail any recovery, and dampen the housing market. + +Howard Archer, chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, an economic forecasting group, is downbeat. “We never forecast a V-shaped recovery — we were always more pessimistic,” he says. “Consumer spending is up and there has been a marked pick-up in the housing market. But now Covid cases are rising and there is the possibility of another lockdown, the EU and UK’s Brexit negotiations are not going well and we don’t know by how much unemployment is going to rise. So it looks like there is no way that the economy will maintain this recovery.” + +Although there appears to be a disconnect between the dire economic data and the robust housing market figures, the two are inextricably linked. However, the economic data has been suppressed by the government’s job retention scheme, and the housing market has been buoyed by a temporary cut to transaction taxes. + +The Bank of England’s latest forecast, made last month, is that unemployment could rise from 4.1 per cent to about 7.5 per cent by the end of the year. + +The mortgage payment deferral scheme, through which almost two million borrowers took a holiday from paying off their home loans, is also coming to an end. The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, which represents 43 banks and building societies, says its members expect up to 5 per cent of borrowers coming off payment deferrals to go into arrears (money that is owed and should have been paid earlier), and 1.5 per cent to be able to afford to pay the interest only — and with interest rates already at a historic low this doesn’t bode well for the housing market recovery. + +There hasn’t been a recession without an associated fall in house prices. When unemployment rises, household incomes fall, people struggle to pay their mortgages, there are more forced sellers and repossessions, more houses are put on the market, and desperate sellers are more likely to accept a discount, all of which pushes property prices down. — Simple economics. + +Neal Hudson, an independent housing market analyst, says: “Following previous recessions, mortgage lenders are keen to keep repossessions to as low a level as possible. Lenders and policy makers are aware of the danger of flooding the property market with repossessions, or forced sales, which would put downward pressure on the market. Recent buyers are among the safest we have ever seen, mostly on repayment mortgages and stress-tested to a high degree.” — Unlike 2007/2008 buyers who were not stress-tested to anywhere near the same degree (increased liability to foreclose). + +Lenders simply don’t need to lend to riskier buyers because there are so many equity-rich ones in the marketplace. + +Regarding Brexit if we go to a World Trade Organisation trading agreement there will be a knock-on adverse effect on the economy. + +After Brexit on December 31, the next big hurdle is March 31, when the stamp duty cut and Help to Buy in its present form come to an end. Pressure is mounting on the chancellor to extend the stamp duty holiday in some form — previous changes to the tax show that it tends to skew the market by pulling forward transactions, causing a rise in sales followed by a dramatic fall. + +The stamp duty cut arguably wasn’t needed since the housing market was already riding high on pent-up demand. Hudson says: “The timing was terrible — it would have been far better to launch it in the autumn. I suspect he will try something in March. The question is will anyone be willing to come into the market who hasn’t done so already?” — once that demand is satisfied there is little reason for ongoing growth. + +Properties that will be almost impossible to shift are the 216,000 flats wrapped in flammable cladding and up to 1.5 million that are unmortgageable because they cannot prove their walls are safe. + +We will have polarisation between those who will thrive and those who will not survive — we haven’t seen the full impact of this yet on the housing market. People talk about a V-shaped recovery, but a more compelling outturn would be K-shaped recovery, with the rising slope of the K representing those who kept their jobs and saved money during lockdown, and the downward slope representing those who lost their jobs, took a pay cut or were furloughed. + +Whichever curve they are on, everyone is acutely aware that the government’s pandemic interventions need to be paid for — there has already been talk of a rise in capital gains tax. +All these sites are recommending BABA, saying it's a steal under $300. I want to believe, but it feels like marketing trying to get their own stocks up by getting their readers to buy. + +Any thoughts? +I've a six figures job. It's meaningful job but I don't enjoy it. and if I am honest I am not great at it, until this point I've always been good at why I do, but that's not here nor there. + +My plan is to stick with it for 3 years, to save enough money to buy 3 houses to rent out in my home country (not the US) and live from the rent. + +I would like to know if anyone has done something similar and how do you manage to stick with it? I just keep obsessively applying for other jobs, I've moved 3 times to 3 different states since 2016 (for the same type of job) so I am not making lasting relationships/friendships and feel a drift. +Hey apes, I think I'm tired of all these fucking posts if price hits X I'll Y. Price is fake anyway all that matters to me are how many shares are OWNED. So as the title says every time a threshold is reached I'll do something. Top comments decide what the next feasible, non bodily harming and non-illegal act I'll do. + +Edit: Also things I can afford 😅 + +Edit 2: Ope got some shill attention + +MODS +My father purchased shares in a company called Semiconductor laser international corporation (SLIC) roughly 20 years ago. Company was founded in 1996. He purchased with TD bank in Canada + +He has lost his statements a long time ago and is unsure how to track down the company and see if they are still active on the market, whether they have gone bankrupt or merged with some other company.. + +Is there any way to track this down? Who should he speak to? +We care about inflation. If every day goods and services get more expensive our standard of living falls (given constant wage growth). It's the exact same thing for property prices increases, yet no one really seems to care that much and I don't really know why. + +Let me illustrate this further, if it's not so obvious why property price increases are bad. For the below, let's consider wage growth and inflation to be zero which is pretty fair considering that's been the reality over the last decade. + +Consider both Bob and Sam are identical citizens, they have the same job, both want to buy a property but the only difference is that Bob will have $100k to put towards a house this year, while Sam will have $100k for a house in 5 years simply because Bob is 5 years older. Therefore Bob will be buying today, Sam will be buying in 5 years. + +Let's say the RBA constantly lowers interest rates such that housing affordability is roughly the same, but in 5 years time, property prices end up doubling in value. + +In Year 0 Bob buys his property for $500k by taking out a loan of $400k. In 5 Years his house is worth $1 million. + +In Year 5 Sam buys his property for $1 million but unlike Bob, now has to take a loan out of $900k, **an extra $500k**. + +What just happened? + +All else being equal, Bob has directly benefitted from **a completely free, unearned gift** of $500k in increased wealth. But this wealth didn't come from nowhere. Sam, who just bought his property will have an increased mortgage debt of $500k to pay back which Bob never had to. Sam is therefore indirectly, but nonetheless, **fully funding** Bob's increase in wealth. + +To illustrate how ridiculous this is in consideration of what's fair, let's pretend central banks did not lower interest rates and housing prices had not doubled over the 5 years but both Bob and Sam still went ahead with their purchases. In order to replicate the same level of unfairness, then Sam, in addition to taking out a loan of $400k to buy his house, **also** has to take out a loan of $500k in gift this directly to Bob for no reason at all. When put this way, no one would agree or expect unlucky Sam to have to do this, yet anyone that is buying a Property today is indirectly funding the increase in property values (ahead of wage growth) for those who got on the property ladder prior. + +&#x200B; + +We can see that a reduction of interest rates applied to **Non Productive assets** (i.e. housing) causes direct wealth inequality by transferring wealth from those not on the housing ladder to those already on it. It is a Ponzi scheme and not sustainable. + +Property prices should not be allowed to grow faster than wage growth over the long run. Any growth in excess of this is to promote wealth inequality and should be controlled, just like inflation. It appears we don't seem to care about this much, and it might be because so many Australian's have benefitted greatly from property, have most of their wealth in property, and don't want that to change. However for those not on the ladder yet, that should make you very angry. + +The recent double reduction in interest rates by RBA tells me they don't understand the costs high housing prices have on our standard of living, are too obsessed with the outdated, rigid and academic mandate of keeping unemployment at 5%. Citizens don't know this, and will again start to bid up housing, but one day there will either be a citizens revolt or the monetary system will be overhauled in a way to not unfairly promote wealth inequality from monetary policy. +After the powerball mania of last week (that continues), the funny posts in this subreddit about it, and those who can admit like me how it gets in your head even if you don't buy a ticket.. + +This New Yorker article about US state lotteries made me laugh for how numbers and chance can make us all go crazy (and the history of that craziness). Hope others find it a good read this weekend. + +[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/what-weve-lost-playing-the-lottery](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/what-weve-lost-playing-the-lottery) +What is your bread and butter, go-to trade? + +For me, it's momentum trades on low floats, typically pre-market: + +1. Stock has gapped up 25% or more +2. Volume is 50k on one minute candle +3. Price is above $2 +4. Stock has had a pullback 1 min or 5 min chart (shows that the move is less likely to be immediately parabolic if sellers are taking profits. And the pullback allows for a decent entry vs just buying the breakout at high of day) +5. Stop is trailing below prior resistance level, and if the stock gains and pulls back, below the pullback is the trailing stop (mental stop) since I'm typically in pre-market. + +This lets me trade in the AM and jump onto my 9-5 as well without being in trades during work hours. Win rate is below 50% but profit on winners makes up for smaller win rate. + +Let me know what your favorite plays are, always interested to hear. +I started educating myself last year, reading books, watching endless hours of youtube videos and papertrading using thinkorswim. After about 2 months I thought I was ready and had found my edge trading options. So I funded my account and I quickly got bitch slapped back to reality. Fortunately I did not blow up my account and I quickly realized that I really didn't know anything. I took a step back and went back to papertrading, reading and watching YT. + +I've spent every single free moment I had to learning. I know I still have a lot to learn but finally after 2 months of pushing back my Go Live date, I went live today. I copied my ToS workspace from PT to my live account and took my first trade which quickly went to 2R (the trade actually went to about 8R, but I was happy with my 2R). ToS was feeling a little sluggish so I reached out to tech support and while waiting for them to get back to me, I jumped into another trade. All was going well, but it was supposed to be a momentum trade, it went to 1R and then pulled back to BE, got nervous and got out for an insignificant gain. After that I was contacted by tech support and they helped me out with my RAM settings, graphics card and they basically told me that since I had imported my workspace from PT, there probably were some compatibility issues so I spent the rest of the morning rebuilding my workspace. + +Just wanted to come on here and share this with a community that has really helped me out a lot. I don't post much here but I do spend a lot of time reading. I also want to thank u/Kant_sleep13, I've been using his watchlist everyday for the past 3 months. This time I knew what I was doing, unlike the time I started trading options, I was all over the place and didn't really know what the hell I was doing. + +Even with the technical difficulties and that it really wasn't a big gain, I am very happy with my first day. I've wanted to do this since I was about 17 years old, but life circumstances and a pessimistic "it's too late" attitude kept me from doing it. 23 years later, other life circumstances has put me on this path and I'm very happy. +Virgin and Amazon are the only companies in history to have leaders to fly into outer space. The risk of death is real for both men. 1.4% of astronauts die during their flight, based on all data from the 1960s to present. + +* Challenger space shuttle explosion during flight, killing all 7 aboard +* Columbia space shuttle explosion on re-entry, killing all 7 aboard +* Apollo I caught fire on its launch pad, killing all 3 aboard. +* Soyuz 11 experienced explosive decompression in space, killing all 3 aboard. +You all helped me so much seven months ago when I posted this: + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/3faqr1/two_different_job_choices_two_totally_different/](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/3faqr1/two_different_job_choices_two_totally_different/) + +The vast majority of you came down on the side of giving up the tenured professorship, moving, and re-entering the corporate world. I did exactly that... and I truly could not be happier. I left the university in December, moved to the (bigger) suburbs with my family, bought a new house for half of what I qualified for, and put my son in a FAR better school system than what we had before. + +The biggest surprise of the move was just how much less stressed out I am. While I work far more hours than I did before, with much less vacation, it wasn't until I escaped academia that I realized how emotionally invested I was in the job. Every piece of bad news, every student who decided not to come, every year with a no pay raise, every faculty member that left whose position wasn't filled, every budget cut... it all took its toll. No amount of vacation was going to make up for that for me. + +I do miss teaching. I miss my students. I miss doing the things I love. But I've gotten my soul back. I live in exciting, vibrant area. My son is SO much happier than he ever was where we used to live. My wife is thrilled to be living so close to everything that she loves. And my resting heart rate on my Fitbit is down from 69 the last week of classes to 56 over the last four weeks. If that doesn't speak volumes for how much better this is for my life, I don't know what else could. + +Thank you. You helped me make what was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I really owe a lot to this community. +Most trustworthy traders say 15% annual returns are realistic. If that’s the case then it’s 100% impossible to grow a small account or even it to be worth it with a 100k account? All the hours you spend to make 15k? I’m just wondering how that works. The returns would be at the very very very bottom of the list of lucrative endeavors. I stop and ask because I’ve got loads of hours in it already and 15% ROI is laughable and actually a terrible waste of time. +I was a noob once and I wanted to make money just like you but here is the thing... Maybe you don't currently have the knowledge or the resources to make sound decisions with regards to forex algos at the moment, so here is a post I would have loved to read a few years ago... + +I'm a senior software developer with studies in robotics, geomatics and computer science and I have been testing software for the forex market for the past 2 years and I want to share with you some results. + +First I have downloaded and tested an archive of about 100 commercial expert advisors for Metatrader4. Those EA are the kind you see on those make a million dollar in a month for only $499 web sites, with a picture of a young women on a yatch in the bahamas with 100 dollar bills flying around in the wind.. you know the kind. The results: *not a single one of them worked* and no wonder, all of their web sites are now parked domains ;) + +Then I downloaded and tested the following EAs http://forexbad.com/fx-downloads/ (ie; the same kind). The results: *none of them worked* + +Then I live tested many of the very few EA that seemed decent enough to be worth checking on MQL4.com market place. The results: *only one of them seems to be somewhat working but I still need time to be sure*. The MQL4.com marketplace is more or less a scam site; there are no refunds and nothing works. But if you are going to buy from that marketplace, my advice would be this; if there is no 'rent for 1 month' option for the EA and/or there is no 'real money live account signal' of the EA, just don't buy it, I guarantee you it's not going to work. + +The bottom line is this; martingales, strategies that work only under impossible market condition or impossible spreads, holy grails & curve fitting, inevitable account blow up, you name it. As far as 'robots' and 'expert advisors' are concerned, the motto if it's too good to be true, it probably is has never been so true. + +It's not because it works in the 'strategy tester' that it really works. It's not because it works on a demo live account, that it really works. In fact, it's not even because it works on a real live account signal from the author, that it really works... ( Here, read this if you must https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/1413 ) + +The fact is this; 99.999999999999999% of 'robots' are scams written by scammers. + +Even in the domain of the 'popular strategies' and 'popular technical analysis' department, just because a lot of 'forex blogs' and 'forex books' says that a moving average crossover is a good strategy, it does not make it so. In fact, when you account indicator lag and total lack of perspective of most technical analysis oriented strategists, you end up with a very different perspective on things. + +The sad reality is that almost all blogs are filled with ads with which the authors make money using organic traffic when in fact, if you look a little bit closer are the content, it's pure BS even total nonsense sometimes. As far as books are concerned, well, it's not because it's a book that it's any different... Even if it has the words 'bestseller' and 'recommended by top hedge funds' or if it's written by a PhD, does not make it's content automatically true. C'mon, don't be easily impressed. + +Don't think the quant department is much better... It's all fun and games when you are learning statistics but when real money is in stakes, the room becomes really quiet... ;) + +Here is a very good blog that debunks many of these so called strategy in an empirical way http://www.oxfordstrat.com/rd-blog/ + +*A lot* of people make 5 trades and come to the conclusion that their strategy works and that they will become rich... yeah, I guess we have all been there, but you know what I have come to realize? For those who don't see the bigger picture, "On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."... + +So here, I hope you don't loose your money buying those 'get rich fast' schemes... + +There is no free lunch. + + +Inflation is absolutely out of control but the most hawkish fed analysts predict that the Fed raises rates by 1% this month. That's peanuts given the level of inflation we're seeing. + +When we had inflation this bad in the 70s, Chairman Volcker jacked rates as high as 10-20%. He curbed inflation quickly. We need serious action like that to curb inflation, not the insignificant 1% raises when inflation is soaring around 8%. + +Volcker's actions did cause a short recession, but they were necessary to defeat prolonged inflation. If our Fed does not take similar actions, then inflation will be with us for the long haul, and regular people will be much worse off than they will if they have to deal with a short period of high rates. + +Edit: I don't actually think we need 10% interest rates right now. Probably in the range of 4-5% higher than they are now would be good to combat the inflation we're seeing. + +**LATEST UPDATES** : 15 JUNE 2022: + +Celsius appoints Citigroup to advise on possible solutions after withdrawal freeze: sources + +https://www.theblock.co/post/152230/citigroup-celsius-advising-after-withdrawal-freeze + + +**LATEST UPDATES** : 14 JUNE 2022: + +Crypto Lender Celsius Hires Restructuring Lawyers After Account Freeze: https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-lender-celsius-hires-restructuring-lawyers-after-account-freeze-11655250575 + + +Crypto Lender Celsius Hires Restructuring Attorneys, WSJ Reports +: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/15/crypto-lender-celsius-hires-restructuring-attorneys-wsj-reports/ + + +https://twitter.com/celsiusnetwork/status/1536686121106649089 + +> CelsiusNetwork is working as quickly as possible and will share information as and when it becomes appropriate. Acting in the interest of our community remains our top priority. + + + +----- + +Celsius has halted withdrawals. + +Notice from Celsius: https://blog.celsius.network/a-memo-to-the-celsius-community-59532a06ecc6 + +Twitter: https://twitter.com/CelsiusNetwork/status/1536169010877739009 + +Article on Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-13/crypto-lender-celsius-freezes-withdrawals-fueling-market-rout + +Article on FT: https://www.ft.com/content/61334d19-fb25-4492-83d0-78c3cfec4df8 + +Other crypto lending firms like Nexo have offered to bail Celsius out: https://twitter.com/Nexo/status/1536217856815374337 + + + +Use this Megathread for discussions on this topic. + + +Updates: Nexo has announced a formal letter of intent. + +https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/13/nexo-proposes-celsius-buyout-as-rival-halts-withdrawals/ + +Document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlxlCKn2Ro0PDAco-Fjlsi0hWU8gwgBE/view + + +**Threads on the situation:** + +1. https://twitter.com/wassielawyer/status/1536192639112183808 + + +**Further updates:** + +A user on Celsius sub-reddit called Celsius support and this is the update: https://np.reddit.com/r/CelsiusNetwork/comments/vbi9md/my_call_with_support/ +Thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/4hzenx/tesla_hellbent_on_being_the_worlds_best/ + +You have to search to find anyone saying anything remotely negative and there are numerous highly upvoted posts to the effect of "BUY TESLA! I'd buy more if I could!" + +People pretty much seem top be assuming Tesla is going to be hugely successful and come to be a massive player in the auto market, but even if that does become the case it's pretty much already priced in. + +And something makes me really queasy about hordes of layman raving about how great a stock is. Something something shoe shine boys. +Hi, + +I'm looking to take permanent whole life insurance for both retirement planning and building bit of wealth. Because these are big commitments, seeking suggestions and any personal experiences anyone had or any alternates you suggest? + +I have few goals in mind.. +1. Have a son who is 6 years old now. I would like whatever money get built be usable(taking a loan or otherwise) if I need for his college. + +Considered 529 plan, but may not be a good for for me..as I'm not sure if I will stay in states by the time he comes to college or I go back to home country. So decided against 529 plan. + +2. Retirement income/withdrawals to support our living. + +3. Growth of investment while providing life insurance to me and my wife. + +I arrived at whole life insurance based on input received from a financial advisor looking at my needs. Love your inputs and suggestions so I will not have Oops moment once I committed. + + +Thanks, +I am currently in the process of getting approved for a mortgage loan. The bank wants me to show bank statements and pay stubs. Since I recently switched jobs in the beginning of July to one that pays more will it be wise to ask my current managers a letter to the bank reassuring them that I'm a good employee that is not going away. Also is it wise to ask my previous employer who I was on extremely good terms with a letter to the bank saying I'm a good employee and I can fall back and work at his place for slightly less pay but enough to pay for mortgage if things get bad. I been working at his place for 2 years before I left. Right now my credit score is 680. I have 5k in savings for downpayment. And 15k in investments which I can use as collateral for the loan. I am applying for the FHA loan (which requires a 3.5% downpayment). I'm asking for 100k for the loan. I'm working at Walmart making 21k a year I was working at Dairy Queen at 19k a year. Walmart had better growth opportunities that's why I switched. I am 18, the only credit I use is my credit card. The letter of recommendation in opinion can help with lack of credit history and low income. Are my odds in my favor or should I countinue saving up? Will the letter help with my odds? +I don't get it. What would be the incentive of investing in a company like IBM? The stock price has been depreciating since 2013. + +I realize they have a nice 4.5% dividend, but does that make up for losing your principle investment? + +What am I failing to see? +This is a megathread for all news related to US regulators subpoenaing Bitfinex and Tether. All related posts on the frontpage will be removed in favor of this megathread to focus conversation. + +As always, please keep the comments civil. + +The dates were updated since the news first went out, but the news is still relevant and the implications may still be large. They received a subpoena on 6 December 2017. + +--- + +"U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether" - [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-30/crypto-exchange-bitfinex-tether-said-to-get-subpoenaed-by-cftc) + +"Bitfinex and Tether said to be subpoenaed by CFTC" - [ForexLive](http://www.forexlive.com/news/!/bitfinex-and-tether-said-to-be-subpoenaed-by-cftc-20180130) + +"Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex reportedly subpoenaed by top regulator" - [Business Insider](http://www.businessinsider.com/cryptocurrency-exchange-bitfinex-reportedly-subpoenaed-by-cftc-2018-1) + +"Bitcoin crashes anew as Bitfinex, Tether probed" - [Macro Business](https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/01/bitcoin-crashes-bitfinex-tether-probed/) + +"Regulators subpoena Tether and Bitfinex" - [Mashable](https://mashable.com/2018/01/30/tether-bitfinex-cftc-subpoenaed/) + +"Report: CFTC Sends Subpoenas to Bitfinex, Tether" - [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/report-cftc-sends-subpoenas-bitfinex-tether/) + +"Why Tether's Collapse Would Be Bad for Cryptocurrencies" - [WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/why-tethers-collapse-would-be-bad-for-cryptocurrencies/) + +"Financial regulators subpoena major bitcoin exchange: report" - [The Hill](http://thehill.com/policy/technology/371432-financial-regulators-subpoena-major-cryptocurrency-exchange-and-token) + +"Bitfinex, Tether Get Subpoenas From US Regulators" - [CoinTelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitfinex-tether-get-subpoenas-from-us-regulators) + +"Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Companies Subpoenaed by U.S. Regulators" - [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/news/tether-and-bitfinex-subpoenaed-us-regulators/) + +"CFTC Looking Into Bitfinex and Tether As Digital Tokens Face Scrutiny" - [NASDAQ](http://www.nasdaq.com/article/cftc-looking-into-bitfinex-and-tether-as-digital-tokens-face-scrutiny-cm913325) + +"Tether Reportedly Subpoenaed by CFTC" - [ETH News](https://www.ethnews.com/tether-reportedly-subpoenaed-by-cftc) + +"U.S. regulator subpoenas cryptocurrency platforms Bitfinex and Tether: source" - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cftc-subpoena/u-s-regulator-subpoenas-cryptocurrency-platforms-bitfinex-and-tether-source-idUSKBN1FJ2ZK) + +"How Bitfinex, Tether are raising eyebrows in the cryptocurrency market" - [MarketWatch](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-bitfinex-tether-are-raising-nagging-questions-in-the-cryptocurrency-market-2018-01-30) + +"US regulators are investigating a major cryptocurrency exchange, raising suspicions of fraud" - [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16951928/us-cftc-subpoena-bitfinex-tether-fiat-stablecoin-fraud-suspicions) + +"Bitcoin subpoena news smells like insider trading" - [SlashGear](https://www.slashgear.com/bitcoin-subpoena-news-smells-like-insider-trading-30517491/) + +"Bitcoin Price Drops Below $10,000 As Bitfinex, Tether Get Subpoenaed" - [IB Times](http://www.ibtimes.com/bitcoin-price-drops-below-10000-bitfinex-tether-get-subpoenaed-2647425) + +"Bitfinex and Tether Receive U.S. Subpoenas (How is a USDT made?)" - [BTCManager](https://btcmanager.com/bitfinex-tether-receive-u-s-subpoenas-usdt-made/) + +"Bitcoin bleeds over news of US government subpoena" - [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/01/30/bitcoin-bleeds-over-news-of-us-government-subpoena/) + +"U.S. Regulators Send Tether and Bitfinex Subpoenas" - [Bitcoin.com](https://news.bitcoin.com/u-s-regulators-send-tether-and-bitfinex-subpoenas/) +Will we reach Peak Oil before we're ready to make the transition? Will we have enough raw materials to sustain our current or future tech? Has the science caught up to how much we consume? +I’m a second year university student and I’m majoring in economics in math. In my calculus class for economics, we learned the Lagrangian method for optimizing functions with a constraint. My professor and I found that it was usually not necessary to solve for the Lagrange constant because it added no information and you could just solve for the other values. So what is the significance of the Lagrange constant? Does the number actually have any meaning in economics? Or is it just a correction factor so that the constraint is accounted for? My textbook never discussed how to interpret the value of it and my professor was stumped. +Companies like Meta, Alfabet, Amazon, Microsoft, what is called Big Tech, but also large telecom or energy companies, banks in lesser terms because there is enough competition, are VERY important to the worlds social and economical stability. + +Are these companies allowed to stop? If the board of those companies agree on the fact that they don't want to continue, are they legally allowed to do so? +straight to the point, you can go to the end to see my 3 questions: i've been studying economics for 3 years in a good university in Chile, i don't like the way i've been taught economics, mostly chicago style economics. But, i love phsycology, philosophy and statistics, so econometrics is my favourite class. Also, i don't love politics, atleast not the emotional part of it. +I like some things about economics, the possibility of helping others on a big scale, learning how politics and the money behind buisness ( wich also affect politics) work, etc... but i feel like questions of a philosophical nature: "is capitalism as we know it moral?, what is freedom?, can we come up with big macroeconomic models based on non-rational expectations?, can econometrics/statistics in the way we use them today really proove/demonstrate models (of any kind) " , have either been (suposedly) answered by people 100 years ago or are just dissmissed as irrelevant. + +So i have a lot of questions: + +1- How can i learn more about econometrics so i can use econometrics/statistics in other disciplines, and how can i learn to question or accept the asumptions underlying econometrics/statistics." (maybe, philosophy of statistics?) + +2- Is economics the right path to follow if i want to have a say on public policies? can i be "respected" if i just study 4 years of economics and the PHD in philosophy/psycology/sociology/statistics? + +3- is there any room for economists who want to discuss about morality and ethics? who want to question democracy,capitalism,socialism, politics as we know it? +That's all thanks for listening you guys. + +4- not a question, i think my main passion is learning more about the human condition, more than helping others just for the sake of helping, i want to understand them, understand me and be a better person. +Salesforce will pay a premium for Slack's shares upon acquisition. In the interim period prior to acquisition, shouldn't there be nearly infinite demand for shares, as investors can collect the premium paid by Salesforce? +I was reading an introduction to game theory and this sentence came up. Also, why wouldn't there be bubbles if there was a common knowledge of rationality? +I am a bit confused between Political Science and Economics. Which one should I take as my undergraduate major? I want to keep my options open to different fields during grad school. + +For future career, job perspective, which one would be a better option? + +Also to add, I didn't have Econ in high school, so would It be a problem to cope up in uni? +The Bank of England is buying bonds as a remedial measure against Truss' mini budget disaster. But I can't find a clear explanation of what buying bonds achieves. All the analysis I've read simply says the aim is to 'calm the markets', but how exactly does buying bonds achieve that? + +I'm guessing it will increase the value of bonds and therefore bring yield down? + +I've also read that it's to prevent a fire sale of bonds by pension funds, but again Im not totally clear how buying bonds would achieve that. +This may seem like a dumb question, but why are perfectly competitive market models used in economics when we barely see them in the real word? For example, the marginal productivity theory only applies under markets in equilibrium, whereas in the real world we have monopsonies and monopolies. Are they really useful? +I am from Ethiopia and it was recently announced that my government has devalued our currency (the Birr) by 15% in order to boost exports and compete in the global market. I was wondering how that would affect me as a middle class worker and what it means for the rest of the population, and was hoping to get an overview of the short and long term pros and cons of devaluing one's currency. +The [personal savings rate](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=zm6f) is currently almost 2x what it was immediately before the pandemic. I would expect the opposite when the unemployment rate also spiked to all time highs. +Back in the day, a monarch who was in great debt may debase the currency (less gold in the coinage). + +This should have caused inflation, I guess, but it reduced the burden of the debt, as long as creditors did not complain about being repaid in debased coinage, and I suppose domestic creditors couldn't do much about it. + +Translated to now, doesn't this mean that governments with large debts have an incentive to allow inflation? Or putting it in terms of representative democracy, tax payers who are not lenders to the government, do they have an incentive to allow inflation to "reduce" government debt, which they must service with their tax? +As [Mankiw](http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-quick-note-on-univeral-basic-income.html) points out as well as [this sub's FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/wiki/faq_basicincome), any NIT can be converted into a UBI through a different tax structure. My question is, can this logic not be applied to other programs as well? Am I missing anything? Just swap out "NIT" and "UBI" for "means-tested college assistance" vs "free college" or even "public option" vs "Medicare For All." +I was recently watching a talk by a now infamous Canadian professor to the Oxford Union. In the talk the professor begins by going through a topic that is somewhat of a fixation for him - hierarchies and the merit of inequality. + + +The professor claims that an 'iron law' of distributions of success within hierarchies is stated by the Pareto principle and the Matthew effect. I'm not necessarily interested in the topic in general, as I think that a lot of things the professor says about how hierarchies work are actually pretty uncontroversial and banal. + + +What I'd like to ask about is the way he backs up his theory with this sense of 'scientific objectivity' by referring to 'iron laws' of economics without really ever touching upon the debate within economics about principles such as these (I'm an undergraduate with a joint major in economics, and these principles certainly haven't been taught widely in my experience). +So what do actual economists think about these claims? Is there a strong empirical basis to claims such as these or are they pseudo-scientific claims made to back up a wider ideological view of the world? +Yesterday, [Foxconn announced that it intends to build a LCD display manufacturing plant in Wisconsin](http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170726006467/en) that would employ 3,000-13,000 employees. The arrangement comes with [up to $3 billion in incentives from local, state, and federal governments](http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2017/07/26/scott-walker-heads-d-c-trump-prepares-wisconsin-foxconn-announcement/512077001/). + +In general, how well do these types of incentive packages work for state/local governments? + +What might be the effects on the Wisconsin economy and state/local tax revenues? +Sorry if the question is newbie but I've spent hours reading and just get more confused. To my understanding if T-Note yield is high, it means people are buying less long term bonds, which is great, they are buying stocks (bull market) and it also means the Tbill yields are comparetively smaller and we have a normal steep yield curve... But yet many sources say that the market started selling off because T-Note reached 3% first time in 4 years... Why is this not a GOOD thing? +I am currently getting a BS in economics. I work at a place that is almost solely populated by working age people who have some type of business (usually economics) major. Whenever they see me studying at work and find out that I am an econ major as well they'll tell me how much of a waste all the calc class I'm having to take is going to be. What is the point of these classes being required for my major then, especially when many other business majors don't require anything beyond basic calc 1? +let me explain, bacterias evolve to be resistant to certain antibiotics if used too much, one way to solve the externality it's a tax on antibiotics, but increasing the price of medicine isn't sensible, so what alternatives there are?, one thing i thought was a cap and trade policy, but that might also increase costs because ill people might have to buy the permits. + +so, what's the best way to solve it? +Im studiying at UDEM in Montreal. I had pretty good grades. So basically, I'll have a lot of free time this summer. + +* **What skills should I work on to increase my chance of finding a good job.**(I was thinking about taking programming lesson on internet. ) + +&#x200B; + +* **What theory should I remember from my bachelor and master degree in economics. I know I cant retain all the information. What is the most important ?** + +&#x200B; + +* **For those who studied economics and found a job, did the stuff that you learned at university was useful ? Or you learned to do your job with the formation they gave you?** + +**Thanks a lot!!** +Hey folks! + +The mod team is in the midst of preparing a Reddit Economics Network FAQ (modeled after the /r/AskHistorians FAQ). Our hope is to build a collection of well-researched answers to the most frequently asked questions, for reference and learning by our subscribers. + +To do this, we need your help coming up with the right topics to cover! Please comment below with the most common questions or misconceptions that you see here on /r/askeconomics. Thanks! +Met a girl who used to work at the central bank in x country. She told me they used to have shifts every once and a while to stand in line to burn paper money and I've been thinking about the consequences of stealing some of that money? Economically and morally.. + +what if you stole small portions, say 100,000 or a million? How's that a crime? And does it really have a damaging influence on the economy? How does that work with the quantity theory of money? +I'm reading *The Undoing Project*, Michael Lewis' account of Kahneman and Tversky's working relationship, and I keep crossing quotes like the following (after Richard Thaler compared salaries vs. life expectancy by industry, fit a model, and interpreted the intercept of $1.4 million as "in theory, what you'd need to pay someone to accept a 100% chance of being killed on the job"): + +> Later, he'd think of his methods as a little silly. ("Do we really think people make this decision rationally?") But older, more successful economists were happy to assume that, say, America's coal miners made some inner calculation of the value of their lives, and charged accordingly. + +Or this, from later in the same chapter: + +> Thaler began to keep a list. On the list were a lot of irrational things people do that economists claim that they don't do, because economists presume that people are rational. + +I know Lewis is telling a story about iconoclasts breaking through economic orthodoxy ... so the "economists" of these quotes sound suspiciously like Straw Professors sourced from urban legends for contrast and ridicule. + +Or maybe old-school economists really *did* think that way, and I've just never seen their work because I'm learning econ from the internet in a post-K&T world. + +Which is it? Is there any published research about attitudes inside the economics profession from decades ago? + +Why do so many economists think that automation will increase the number of workers unemployed for long periods of time? + +http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/robots-and-artificial-intelligence-2 +What is OR, and what are it's applications? How does it relate to Economics, and does it have any importance to Economic theory? I read the Wikipedia article on it, along with my college's description of it, but I still don't fully understand what it is. +I hope this is the right forum for this question. + +Quick background: I recently became very interested in macroeconomics and have been trying to educate myself to the best of my ability. I've noticed that I've been drawn to a particular set of talking heads that seem to appear everywhere: Lyn Alden, Jeff Snider, Raoul Pal, EB Tucker, Gareth Soloway, Brent Johnson, Lawrence Lepard, and outlets such as Stansberry Research, Blockworks, and Kitco News. All of these people all show up on all the same podcasts and YouTube videos I consume. They are all proponents of some combination of commodities, precious metals, and crypto, sometimes one, sometimes all three. + +None of these people are academic economists--they're all investment strategists, market traders, etc. But they all have a lot to say about the macroeconomic picture. I guess I'm wondering how much of a cul-de-sac I am in from the point of view of mainstream macroeconomists. Are these people seen as creditable in the mainstream or are they viewed as cranks? Or are they not really known at all? + +Collectively they have a pretty specific view of the near future--a pretty dark one--and I'm trying to figure out how widely their views are shared. + +EDIT: I hope I used the term "hard money" correctly. +From Wikipedia: + + +*Basic Principles* + +The Lange model suggests three levels of decision-making. The lowest level contains firms and households, the intermediate level contains industrial ministries, and the highest level is the central planning board. The board sets the initial price of consumer goods arbitrarily and informs the producing firms of these prices. The state-owned firms then produce at the level of output where marginal cost equals price, P = MC, so as to minimize the cost of production. At the intermediate level, industrial ministries determine the sectoral expansion of industry. Households decide how to allocate income and how much labor to supply by choosing between work and leisure. + +The key institutions of the Lange model include the central planning board (CPB), industrial ministries for each economic sector, and state enterprises managed democratically by their employees. + +Because prices are set by the central planning board "artificially" aiming to achieve planned growth objectives, it is unlikely that supply and demand will be in equilibrium at first. To produce the correct amount of goods and services, the Lange model suggests a trial-and-error method. If there is a surplus of a particular good, the central planning board lowers the price of that good. Conversely, if there is a shortage of a good, the board raises the price. This process of price adjustments takes place until equilibrium between supply and demand is achieved. + +The central planning board (CPB) has three major functions in the Lange model: First it instructs firms to set price to equal marginal cost, secondly it adjusts prices to attain market-clearing prices for goods and services, and finally, it reinvests the economic profit derived from state enterprises into the economy based on a target rate of growth. The central planning board also distributes social dividends to the population. + +Apart from setting prices, the central planning board allocates social dividends. Because all non-labor factors of production are publicly owned, the rents and profits of these resources belong to the public. The profits would be used to finance a social dividend scheme based on the individuals' share in the income derived from the socially owned capital and natural resources, providing a complimentary source of income for workers alongside their salaries and wages. + + +*Advantages* + +The Lange economic model has a number of theoretical advantages. One advantage is public control over investment. The rate of economic growth would be largely state-determined and a major determinant would be investment ratio. + +Another advantage argued by Lange was that externalities could be better accounted for, thanks to the state's ability to manipulate resource prices. Because the state controls all firms, they could easily factor the cost of an externality into the price of a certain resource. Because decisions are made at higher rather than lower levels, it is argued that these decisions are less likely to have undesirable environmental consequences. + +Furthermore, because the state uses marginal cost pricing and determines entry, Langean socialism can avoid monopolies and the accompanying lack of allocative efficiency and x-efficiency. + +The model claims to solve another main criticism of capitalism. Lange believed that his model would reduce cyclical instability because the state would control savings and investment, consequently eliminating a major source of inefficiency, inequality and social instability that arises from violent cyclical shifts under capitalism. + + + + +I have explored the other questions in this sub and on the thread discussing the masters degree, but I was hoping I could generate more discussion and insights. + +I am about to graduate with my BS in economics. I knew for a long time I wanted to go to graduate school, but before my senior year began, I decided I would work first, mostly because I have no debt out of my undergrad but would need to take out loans for grad school. I figured if I saved money beforehand it would make the process easier. + +About a month ago, still with no job prospects, I decided to apply to the MA program at my current institution. I have developed connections throughout my undergrad at the school, and was able to get a GRE waiver. I figured why not. + +I have been accepted and offered some scholarship money. I may have to take out some loans still, but relatives are also willing to help me out. All in all, it should not be too expensive. + +Should I go or work first? I really want to continue to study economics. That's why I want to go. But, the more research I do on the salary expectation, it seems like it's unreasonable to expect much more than 60k for starters. How great is the potential for growth and how long does it typically take? If I worked prior to getting my masters, would starting salary increase? + +Any help much appreciated. Any details on salary/unemployment/job outlook much appreciated. + +P.S. My interest lies in performing economic analysis to environmental problems. Eventually I want to get into a position doing this, but I am willing to work in other areas of economics to build skills and credentials first. +I think my initial post got removed, so trying again. + + I am currently in the early stages of separating from my wife, which is 100% her decision. Completely blindside so totally lost at the moment. We are now trying to figure out how to do that, seeing as our finances are so intertwined and also really bad. We live month to month. No savings. + +Salaries - £35k (me), £24k (wife) + +I'll try breakdown some figures:- + +Mortgage - £36k left (4 yrs) - both of us - monthly payment £759 + +Unsecured Loan - £24k left (5 yrs) - me monthly payment £518 + +Unsecured Loan £8k (4yrs left) - wife monthly payment £165 + +4 Credit cards - £27k (me) - monthly payment £700 + +2 credit cards - £7k (wife) - monthly payment £125 + +We have a kid who is in further education, so really needs to stay in our current house so I feel selling is not an option. + +Now I know the finances are terrible, one of our options is for me to contact my creditors and entering into payment plans and paying vastly reduced monthly amounts. This could potentially save £1k+ a month. + +My wife works in a bank so I don't think this is a viable option for her. + +My kid and I would remain in the house while the wife moves back home to her mums. + +I know doing this would result in me having zero credit facility for the next 6+ years. + +Could I get some opinions on if this is a viable option. At the moment it looks like the only way we can both separate and move on. + +And at some point in the future - 6+years, I would buy my wife out of our house... + +Any advice would be appreciated. I live in Scotland. +I'm looking for some strategies on building wealth and being wise with money and whatnot. +I'm pretty good at living frugally and have 10k in each VAS and VGS. + +But my salary is only 50k so I'd like to know what else there is I can do. +Is the barefoot investor good for this? Or is it just focused on tips to stop spending as much? +Hi, + +I read the $100k+ thread. + +I had a stroke last year and I’m 32, unfortunately. I need to retrain because I planned to go into tech sales before my stroke, but that’s not happening now since my stroke affected my speech. I can speak to anyone and live a good life, but it’s not good enough for a client facing role (ie. mortgage broking, project management, financial planning etc) or sales which I was intending on doing. + +I was a former investment analyst before my stroke. I don’t really want to go back into investment analysis again because I want to trade stocks more frequently and investment companies have strict compliance rules. I have amassed quite a large penny stock portfolio, but would like to do trading on the side at the moment - a lot has happened and I need a bit of stability in my life. + +Question: I have read lots of comments about people earning over $200k contracting Javascipt and C# etc. Should I learn one of this languages or something else? And how should I go about it to bring in the big bucks. + +I hope I get some replies since I’m totally lost. +Cheers +I’m fascinated with the concept of the Aspirational Australian. We know that they helped win Liberals the election with the “Death tax” fears (because these aspirational Australians aren’t rich yet but they are sure they will be soon, therefore they don’t want to remove the franking credits). + +I can apply this term with another real world example. My boss is likely on $110Kpa. He pays $400 discounted rate for membership to the Qantas lounge. He takes ~10 flights a year and when he goes inside the lounge is crowded. He gets free coffee/beer and toasted +Sandwiches. Each lounge visit costs $400pa/10visits= $40 for this experience. + +But there is more to it. There is the feeling of being separated from the rabble and be treated with a superior level of service. My boss has almost “made it”. Of course he never had any spare money as it all goes on bills. + +Meanwhile I spend $3.80 on a Krispy Kreme coffee (hot tip, it’s always the cheapest at the airport and the price isn’t inflated by airport prices). + +Any books on this topic of someone who has almost made it? And wants to live like a VIP because that’s who they will be tomorrow? Fascinating concept. + +TLDR: Aspirational Australians as a concept. No wealth but living the high life. Fascinating. Discuss? Any books on this? + +Edit: maths + + +The GAZA token is a deflationary liquidity generating protocol with a Charity tax function linked directly to a secure multi-signature Charity Wallet. The Total supply is 1 quadrillion Tokens, 30% of which will be burnt at launch. The Public pre-sale will be conducted via a public whitelist on a FCFS basis. + +The public pre-sale will be capped at 400 BNB with a maximum purchase of 2 BNB per wallet. + +Pre-Sale Price: - + +1 BNB = 1 trillion GAZA + +All proceeds from the pre-sale will be locked into the BNB/GAZA liquidity pool for an initial term of six months. Liquidity will then be divided to accommodate the new exchange listings where liquidity will again be locked for a further six months. + +The public sale will be announced and will commence within 24 hours of the pre-sale liquidity being locked. + +The GAZA token will be listed on Pancakeswap. Dependent on if the pre-sale hard cap has been reached, the opening price will be: - + +1 BNB = 500 billion GAZA + +A 10% transaction fee is charged on every purchase and sale, 4% of which goes to the charity wallet, 3% is returned in reflection to GAZA holders and the final 3% is automatically added to the liquidity pool. + +Find more info on: + +Website: https://gazatoken.com/ + +Telegram group: https://t.me/SavingGAZA + +Twitter: https://twitter.com/gazatokendev +🐱 CATOSHI NAKAMOTO 🐱 + +Satoshi Nakamoto’s cat has finally been found and has finally launched today! + +CATOSHI $CATS 🐱 + +We’ve seen and found plenty of dogs but has anyone been able to find our BTC founding father’s cat? 🐱>🐶 + +He has been missing since we last heard of Satoshi. Some say his cat has gone into hiding with him, others say that he was planning on working with Elon on SpaceX. 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Coingecko applied for and official audit in progress! + +CHARITY + +Petting cats is great for your mental health, we have a charity wallet committed to supporting charities helping those with mental health issues. We want the community to be involved in this too, we will be giving you the chance to have your say! + +🌎 Website: http://catoshi.cat + +📩 Telegram: @ originalcatoshi + +��� Twitter: https://twitter.com/OriginalCatoshi + +AVAILABLE ON UNISWAP! + +DEXTOOLS: https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0xabbcae34df06c9b530a49082d5a4616467d3460e + +CONTRACT: https://etherscan.io/address/0x6a00b86e30167F73e38bE086081b80213E8266Aa + +LIQUIDITY LOCK: https://team.finance/view-coin/0x6a00b86e30167f73e38be086081b80213e8266aa +The full team behind LadyDoge is doxxing themselves! Check out their Website! + +If you like Doge and BabyDoge then you’ll fall in love with Lady Doge! 💕 + +If you missed out on all those previous dog tokens don't you worry, Lady Doge has got you! + +You know how every one of these dog tokens have grown parabolically? + +Well… don't miss out on the next one and take this chance to be early for once! + +Important Links:  + +Join our Telegram https://t.me/LadyDogeBSC + +Twitter: https://twitter.com/LadyDogeBSC + +TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ladydogebsc + +Website : https://www.ladydoge.net + + +How to buy: Buy Lady Doge on Pancake Swap! +→ Set slippage to 12% + +Contract: 0x384f5a9B720349015A27251684C7a1510dD151ba + + And, of course, this is totally SAFU, with locked Liquidity🔒 + +DOXXED Team from Germany and Belgium +We are putting great effort into Marketing! + + +FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS! + +LET’S TAKE LADY DOGE TO THE UNIVERSE, WHERE SHE CAN MEET HER HUBBY AND BABY! 🚀 + + +As I always say. PLEASE do your own research before investing. Do not invest more than you are willing to lose. Any project is not without its potential pitfalls, so be smart! That being said, I highly recommend this project! +Decided to make a real post instead of on the goals thread since this was our main big goal. I don't post often so forgive me if I'm doing it wrong. + +We finally hit our main base FI goal of $800k last week! Shortly before my 27th bday, amazingly as projected in a spreadsheet I created 4.5 years ago when I got out of college. It was the slow and steady way of DINC high-tech working and extreme saving straight out of college, with no college loans - no special inheritance, jackpots, or giant IPO. I idolized the FIRElords, MMM, JLCollins, GoCurryCracker, Zuko, etc. and wanted to stick with the goal and be as strong as them. While we reached the goal, a lot of of self-sacrifice, deprivation, and mental sanity was involved to follow their footsteps. I wanted to share our honest journey for anyone who might get something out of it. + +--- + +Long background story (skip to the end if you're bored): + +When I was first asked what job I wanted to have when I grew up, I honestly wanted to say "nothing". I dreaded becoming a full-time office cog like my dad. He provided for us 3 kids and my mom and would be completely exhausted and grumpy at the end of the day. All I knew was I didn't want to be like that. + +We were upper middle class but my family was always cheap and hoarded everything that might possibly come in handy one time years down the line. Grandparents immigrated broke and lived cheaply, so they passed down those values. I didn't learn anything from my parents about money except to save as much as you can and never go into debt. I wasn't really allowed to get anything except for my birthday and Christmas. My mom would guilt trip me for the money she had to spend when I had to buy new clothes. My parents extremely enforced education and wouldn't accept B's, which was incredibly stressful, but at least I was able to go to an above average college. + +When I had to make a choice in major, I figured if I had to do something and equally didn't know if I'd like anything, I might as well pick the one with the highest paying job. Though the field was extremely difficult for me and I struggled a lot to grasp basics and get through it. I was what people described as a "try-hard" and managed to fake it til I made it and got into reputable internships despite. + +Fast forward to my last year of college, I wanted to make sure I didn't mess up with my finances when I entered the working world and came across MMM in my research. My husband (which I had just become engaged to at the time) and I had enough high tech internships over summer breaks to know that this wasn't the life we wanted. Once we learned about FIRE, I shut myself in and binge-read, made calculations, and planned obsessively. I wanted to make sure this was real and felt like I had found salvation. I pitched to my husband and we were 100% on board with going full steam to FI and reaping the benefits of the overinflated compensation of our programming majors. + +I made an elaborate spreadsheet of our FIRE plans with multiple goals. $400k if we wanted to give up and live in Thailand, $600k to live in the middle of nowhere in the US or expat to Canada, $800k to live in the US. We just used the standard MMM goal as our base goal. Ideally, we'd have $130k more for 2 future kids' college savings. Excitedly told my parents about my new plans and revelations only to be shot down and told by my dad that it's impossible and not that easy. Excitedly told my friends and some became converts. + +Got out of college with $20k between each other, which we had saved from our internships during college. Didn't have a wedding and went to the courthouse, partially to save money, partially to save myself from my mom bridezilla-ing of my own wedding. We were lucky enough to have no student loans. My dad was able to save up college payments for me and my two siblings. My husband's grandfather had created 529s for each of his extended children. + +We shot for name-brand companies with the best benefits/salaries we could get and moved to an expensive high tech city. To avoid high rent, we borrowed my mother-in-law's RV that she hadn't used in a decade and lived in an RV park - trying to be like JL Collins, minus the beans and rice. Rent for the RV space was $850!! Ridiculous for a freaking parking space, but cheaper than any studio around, which would've been at least double that. Living in the RV had it's disadvantages, though. We hated emptying the blackwater, showers took a long time to heat up, bathroom was tiny, walking around shook the place, my husband loved shouting to internet people when playing games and drove me crazy since there's no sound barriers. It was actually kind of lonely too since we were so used to always having friends around in college. + +Other spending was $600 on food since we went Paleo, but we skimped on everything else. Utilities+internet were about $125. We spent about $2000 per month total, shooting for MMM's spending (though it hadn't occurred to me that his $2000 actually didn't include rent...). The budget felt extremely tight and stressful pennypinching was involved, which caused tension between us and our friends (I don't recommend this). Income was about $90k base salary for each of us. We maxed out our ROTHs via ROTH rollover and maxed our Traditional 401ks. + +We hated our jobs. Huge companies which gave young people nothing important to do. Though husband got laid off a couple months later due to company downturn, but he found a $120k job shortly after. I left my company a couple months after that and went to a $110k job in a specialization that seemed more interesting to me. Unfortunately, that gave me an hour commute in traffic so we had to move out of the RV park closer to my new job. We lived with housemates found on Craigslist and paid $1100 for a tiny room. To keep our budget low, we spent $300, in food and stuck to $2000 per month. We spent an extra $2000 on an international trip per year (trip cost reduced from credit card bonus travel hacking) + +The company I joined had an awful company culture and was dreadful. I got laid off luckily after only a few months due to company financial problems. I changed jobs to a $105k company, slight salary downgrade, but the work looked very interesting. + +We didn't make as many friends in the area as we could have and lost a lot of potential friends due to frugality and not wanting to join in on regular bar hopping, eating out, happy hours, and expensive yuppy experiences. So, we convinced our friends from college to move up here, which are more of the hang-out-at-home, boardgame-night types. We moved to a $3000 3bd2ba house with them and paid $1200. Our total spending increased to $2400 at this point. + +More job changes happen - my husband's manager is awful so he switches to a $130k job, but it's 2hrs commute each way. I stay in my company increasing pay $3k each year. I love it for 2 years and then get a terrible boss and quit, but get a desperate counter offer to not leave for a salary increase to $120k and a different boss. My husband's new company is throwing money at him and promotes him to a senior role, despite only being 24, with a $138k salary and thousands in bonuses every few months. The commute is killing him though so we move close to his work with his coworker+spouse into an even more expensive city. Rent is now $2200 for one bedroom in a 2bd2ba tiny apt! A parking space is $280! But our housemates offer to cover it in exchange for the master bedroom. We've definitely gotten more loose with our spending and lifestyle inflated as we approached our number. We've now been spending $4000+ per month, being more relaxed about taking spontaneous trips with friends, even if it involves a short trip with flights or a place with expensive lodging. Groceries are sometimes $800 a month since I've started trying to remedy some food-related health issues, but it involves experimentation. + +I'm not sure what we'll do now. I'm very tempted to just quit now since my job is boring at the moment and the only reason I'm still staying is out of guilt that I told them I'd stay for a year after I took their gracious counter offer. I still have half a year to go and that feels like a very long time to bare for a silly reason. I know I should retire TO something, but I'm kind of too exhausted to search for what I actually might like spending my time doing, and need a good long vacation first. My husband may quit in June after some more bonuses. We may go do some long travelling, experience some odd jobs we've always wanted to do, and search for more community-oriented town to establish ourselves into. + +--- + +Lessons Learned: + +While the financial journey was fairly in the bag with high paying jobs and low expenses for as long as we worked, the primary difficulty for us over the years was mental endurance. We had our fair share of mental breakdowns and struggles dealing with a life of looking into the future and not living in the moment. When MillenialRevolution talked about being stressed/anxious/depressed with health issues from their jobs to the point of meds, I was hoping to not get to that point, but we ended up there anyway. We regularly felt trapped in our jobs as if we were sentenced to jail-time for a few years before we could experience freedom and actually live, which was a very unhealthy mindset. We didn't want to do these jobs but they were our golden handcuffs and best shot at fast FI. In hindsight, we likely could have not sacrificed as much in terms of leisurely frills and luxury and would have still reached FI a few months later. + +I'm not sure how much it was worth it to bare through so much unhappiness in unfulfilling jobs to FIRE asap. While I keep randomly hearing stories lately of 26yr olds dying suddenly and unexpectedly, it makes me worry that if I died now, I would have worked so hard at denying myself and never experience the fruits of our labor. Perhaps when I actually RE, I'll be able to answer whether it was worth it. Hope my story shows some potential dark sides to you aspiring young FIRE followers like me so that you can make your own educated decision on how to proceed. + +--- + +Edit: Since the topic of our frequent job changes seems to be such a hot topic, here's more clarification, so I don't have to respond to every shitty comment about it: +I glazed over discussion of my job changes for brevity. The average person between age 20-30 changes jobs every 2 years, and we were both approximately on that metric when we had the choice. Our shortest stints were due to company layoffs since they usually just axe the new people. +- My first job change was a strategic career decision to change to a specialization I was interested in. +- The second was a company layoff, which was out of my control. I was relieved because who wouldn't be glad to leave a manager who yells at everyone and blames people on a regular basis? +- The third leave was due to a manager handed to me later in that job, which I could not have predicted. He also yelled every day, micromanaged heavily, and blamed people. It was clearly not just me since I witnessed the effects taking a toll on my co-workers as well. I stuck it out for as long as I could because I actually did enjoy the work and did want to stay. I found myself crying every day from the verbal abuse, but stayed and tried to switch managers. Movement wasn't happening fast enough and I withstood 5 months of that treatment before it took such a heavy toll on me that I had to quit. My friends told me I should've left way before that. Giving my notice actually finally convinced the company to give me a different manager so I stayed and am there now. +My husband's story is similar. He got laid off by one, left the second due to a manager who yelled at everyone to the point of red faced screaming, and is still at the third. +I think switching from toxic work environments that negatively impact your mental health is a perfectly valid decision, so take it as you will. +Recently moved to a new apartment. I called to update my address using a welcome document from my landlord- zip code was incorrect by one digit. I remember the insurance rep wanting to clarify the correct zip code because it was showing the actual one when he entered it and I clearly remember saying “please go with (correct) zip code then.” I guess he entered the incorrect one that I pulled from my landlord’s document. Note the welcome document is not the lease, the lease has the actual zip code. + +So I got in an accident about a week later and my car was totaled. I owe $20,000 on it still. They are trying to FedEx me the title release and FedEx won’t deliver because the zip code is wrong. I call them to update the zip code with FedEx and they now tell me my insurance is void because my address was incorrect at time of accident. + +Wtf do I do?! +Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/a6zvbn/my_employer_has_promoted_me_but_my_salary_will_be/?st=JPWQDQVJ&sh=d8ad5aa0 + +Since so many of you helped me out after I posted about my promotion (with a low salary increase), I wanted to provide an update and say thank you to those who advised me on here! + +Since my direct boss said that salary negotiation was not possible, I decided to discuss the matter politely with my boss’s boss. I sent an email explaining that I am delighted to take the next step, but was expecting to be compensated in line with others on the next level, and asking if my salary could please be reconsidered. + +I sat at my desk (running on pure adrenaline) for about an hour until I got a reply - a congratulatory email and asking if I could pop to their office. They said that they completely understood the disappointment and that they have no idea why the Finance dep have not taken on board their recommendation - essentially, the salary I had been offered was not the one my department had put forward. She assured me she would take this up again with them and update me in due course. + +Today I have received an amended contract with a further small increase in salary (now 25.5k instead of 25k), but have been assured in writing that the wage is the official starting salary for this next-level position where I work, and annual pay reviews will take place in a year’s time. I feel reassured now and am glad that I acted quickly and politely, and that they did adjust it, even if slightly. + +This has all been topped off by a company wide email announcing my promotion and listing my achievements! I’m pleased to say my morale has increased and I’ll definitely remain here for the foreseeable future. + +Thanks again to all who listed my options and helped! +I have a full time job which pays fairly well, it is shift work at night. Overtime is very scarce at the moment so that option isnt viable. + +My working rota is pretty peculiar, 4 nights one week 3 the next, 1 day another week. So i get lots of time off. + +Is there any jobs that I could do to earn extra money and fill my spare time that dont require specific days to work? + +Or possible online jobs I can just jump on as and when I have free time? Any advice is appreciated. +Hello WSB, this is my first official post, but I'm very proud to see how we have all HODL together really strong. + +I have been in GME since 30 Oct 2019 with an additional 1670 shares on 29 May 2020 and I wish I could take a screenshot to prove my words, but my custodian account does not allow any screenshots out of "security" reasons. I currently hold over 6 digits of value in GME and I hope to reach my 7 digits and possibly 8. After what happened today, my 7 digits is certain, 8 digits possible. With more crayons maybe I'll reach 9. + +That being said I like to share and encourage with everyone why this nosedive drop we seen today is actually the BEST affirmation we really need. + +There's been wonderful DD that the Short interest are still extremely high and that the data in FINRA is entirely unreliable. Let's be honest, before what happened today, no matter how certain we are, we weren't 100% sure. + +I'm an expert in Chinese history, and I'll quote Sun Tzu, the famed author recognised for writing the Art of War over 2000 years ago. + +“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” + +Truth is we never really knew what the hedges were up to and this week was really fishy, with the absence of obvious short ladders and peaceful markets. Other than occasional dips everyday after reaching a peak, we couldn't tell much. Some people have speculated that maybe the hedges were buying calls in order to reduce their risks, but I think we can all agree now that there is a good possibility that the dips we've been seeing the last few days are just a test for hedges to see how much the price can be affected. + +And let's be honest with ourselves, that was a coordinated attack. I have no idea how long they have planned that, but looking from what we've seen, it's definitely a lot of time. At that scale it's not possible for 1 or 2 hedge funds to pull this off by themselves. And YET!! This is where we recovered strong. + +So what this means is this. The hedges are panicking. They are worried. And they have proven that the shorts *HAVE NOT BEEN COVERED*. If they have been covered to the large extent they claimed to, today's coordinated attack wouldn't have happened. + +Not just did they admit with their actions that they are fearing us, they also basically highlighted to us what stocks they are all massively shorting. AMC, KOSS, NOK, BB all are in this together with us GME Army! + +You know it's like Harry Potter, where Voldemort basically handed the weapons to Harry by his own hands. + +Based on Chinese History, there's this clever strategist Sun Tzu. For him before he executes any clever maneuvers for war, he will always test them first. If the hedges we are up against are the same smooth brain people like Sun Tzu, this fall is only a test. But it's costly to them and we have held strong. With the current prices, supposing they did buy some shares to cover their losses, all those buys from 180 to 250 are all gone. Now they are forced to buy shares above 260 and its only going to cost them even more. Much better for us. + +Fellow apes, they are really afraid of our gamma squeeze this week and next week. + +Now... We strike back, by doing NOTHING! + +Edit: +[to the skeptics who need proof for everything](https://imgur.com/a/aTaF8j6) + +I obviously have better things than to post everything on social media like a attention seeking person. I'm a retarded ape not a peacock. Your tongues will wag too no matter what even if my picture has shown my platform to be ancient. But that's nothing to do with my investing preferences. + +For you skeptics who need proof for everything and choose to always doubt and flake, here it is. "A confident man does not live for the applause and approval of the non-worthy". Your skeptical outlook has only said to me that you clearly did not see Gamestop for what it really was earlier on, and even if DFV's DD was shown to you in those days, you were a late adopter. It has also shown me that you have the paper hands tendency when you don't see potential and when the going gets tough. + +I thought I have surpassed and ignored most silly comments, but thanks to the 1% of negative words, you have helped me see I still react to silly nonsense and it's something I need to change in myself. You are a Hyena and this is a community of apes. Reflect on yourselves. +Just a thought! I don't hold any dogecoin but could it be possible that we see another pump over the weekend? I mean most people buying crypto are young and don't listen to covid restrictions so it wouldn't be crazy to think people get together this weekend and talk about doge since it's trending so much. Thoughts? I think it's at .27 right now +It's probably not the first time someone is asking this, but im down 25k and got 6k left on my account. I think i learned some valueable lessons along the way but it seems everytime i try to get in the market again i just lose more money. + +What would you do in my situation? What kind of strategy do you think i should follow from now on? + +Thank you. +I really find it funny how people will literally bash the living hell out of someone providing them with a free DD that they can expand and do their own research on. Yet, they'd rather blindly invest into something because "he told me to" (which he didn't) and then proceed to publicly bash them for something YOU decided to invest in. We aren't children, grow up and be your own investor. +With AT&T's (T) new dividend per share dropping by nearly half to 27.50c per share for 2 quarters in a row, is it no longer a good hold? I'm unsure on what this would mean for yield, but I would imagine it would still return approx. 6% seeing as their share price has also halved across the pandemic? + +What are people's thoughts on AT&T as a bag to hold? +I have about $250k in 7 dividend stocks, roughly same amount in each (between $25k to $30k) + +V, VZ, KO, BMY, RSD.H, SU, and C. + +All these are short term (less than a year). Some are around $1500 up, others are a bit down - $100 or so. But up overall so will be short term capital gains tax if I sell. + +I am curious if I should sell them and buy SCHD instead with that $250k. I have the rest of my money in VTI/VXUS so this amount is for Div only. + +I know there is no right or wrong on that but curious what you guys think. +Ok so I’ve been following this page for a week or so now and while I feel like I have the jist of dividend investment, a bit or clarity wouldn’t go astray. +I’m not completely new to investing. I’ve taken some inconsistent yet sizeable lumps at the crypto market and recently found divine intervention in Ethereums technology so have been investing there on a weekly basis. +From what I understand, dividend investing is like buying a piece of a company, that will pay me out monthly/ yearly dividends. This appeals to me a lot more than buying stocks because until you actually withdraw money from a stock it’s not real money, and as soon as you do, there’s the opportunity cost to consider. +So, my questions are: +- Does my above logic make sense? +- what’s the best platform to buy dividends on? +- What dividends would ye recommend to start off on +- Website/ subreddits/ news sources for further study +- How much monthly investment and for how long would return dividends of, say, $10 a month? +All help is much appreciated! +I'm an unmarried 36 year old American with a low paying job. I'm stuck renting and living with roommates. I don't qualify for a home mortgage loan because of my low paying job and subpar credit score. With the current price of bitcoin, I could sell all of my bitcoin and afford to buy a nice small house where I live, and I like the area where I live. + +If you were in my position, would you sell your bitcoin to buy a house right now? Or would you wait 4 more years? + +I believe that the price of bitcoin will be a lot higher in 4 years. So if I wait 4 more years, I believe I will be able to afford a nicer house and still have some bitcoin left over to save, but then I will be 40 years old, and I would also be stuck renting and living with roommates until 2026... I'd hate to sell most of my bitcoin. But I'd love to own a house. + +I'm so conflicted. I hate living with roommates and I've always wanted to own a house, but I'd hate to sell most of my bitcoin for only $62,000 each. I feel like they should be worth more and I think they will be worth a lot more in the future. Please give me advice and help me make a decision. What do you think I should do? What would you do? + +Edit: I forgot to mention that I was convicted of felony drug possession a long while back. Being a convicted felon has really limited my potential job prospects and made it a lot more difficult for me when trying to find a place to rent. + +Thank you for your input everyone. I've decided to keep waiting. But if the price happens to reach $150k this bull run, I will go ahead and sell 1.5 BTC to buy a small condo, and then I probably will wait 8+ years before selling my condo and upgrading to a house. Otherwise I will wait 4 more years before selling some of my bitcoin to buy a house. +It's possible there’s never been a better time in history to achieve FIRE. We're currently in a golden era of human existence measured by almost every social and economic indicator. + +Life expectancy has never been higher. Poverty has never been lower. People have never been healthier. Armed conflicts are at an all\-time low. Education has never been more accessible. + +In addition to those social metrics, the world is currently experiencing synchronized economic growth. The unemployment rate in many countries is the lowest in decades, and wages are finally starting to rise for the first time since the 2008 crash. The global economy is in a sweet spot of full employment, low inflation, and low\-interest rates. + +Have you taken advantage of the low unemployment rate to upgrade your skills, change to a higher paying job, or ask for raise? Employees haven’t had this much negotiating power for higher salaries and better working conditions for a long time. + +Have you changed your investments or increased your savings rate? +Each week I’ll be picking a random ASX stock that I’ve rarely seen discussed online that you voted for, for us to dive into for some Due Diligence (“DD”). + +This is for us to have a look at what it does, comb over their financials, and in the end discuss whether or not we’d buy into it. Not all of these stocks may be sexy or appealing; the whole point is to shine a light on what companies are doing out there on the ASX which never get much coverage – for good or bad. + +The main purpose being to add some more variety in coverage to the standard blue chips or meme stocks we see pumped day in and day out, and hopefully discover some hidden gems or innovative companies on the Aussie market. + +Here’s this week’s Random Stock of the Week. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +**Company name:** xReality Group + +https://preview.redd.it/laulryoue9k81.png?width=903&format=png&auto=webp&s=98aea3ec4e48111b7dd7c6f4b53d591aa0c8a2ab + +**Ticker:** XRG + +**Industry:** Entertainment/Tactical Services + +**Headquarters:** Sydney, NSW + +**Market cap:** \~$23m + +**Current share price:** \~$0.069 + +**1-year Performance:** \+430.77% + +**What they do, smoothbrain version:** Counterstrike:GO, except for actual badasses instead of neckbeards… oh, and indoor skydiving. + +**What they say they do, wanky version:** “xReality Group Limited builds immersive XR products and experiences that enhance lives. xReality Group’s portfolio includes physical and digital simulation used across the enterprise, defence and consumer markets.” 🍆👋 + +**What they do, actual version:** Sydney-based **xReality Group (XRG)** are a mixed consumer entertainment/defense technology company who formerly solely specialised in operating “indoor skydiving” retail experiences around Australia. + +They were previously listed on the ASX under the ticker **IDZ** as **Indoor Skydiving Australia** before rebranding as XRG in late 2021. + +The company was founded and is largely run by experienced Australian ex-military (with SAS experience) soldiers in command positions, and while retail was obviously a main driver of revenue, their connections to the armed forces & their training always played a significant part in the lifeblood of XRG. + +https://preview.redd.it/g9m3fndze9k81.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7abe037b1449cf61be6c715e464f8a87357d874 + +During the bulk of the company’s listed history, their core offering were their iFLY-branded series of indoor skydiving facilities in which customers could pay for sessions (around 1 minute in length), suit up and hop inside a high-powered vertical “wind tunnel” and simulate the sensation of free-fall experienced in actual skydiving. + +This is actually a company that I was randomly semi-involved in personally at the time of their launch & in the subsequent following few years, as I worked for a company that handled the marketing of their skydiving experiences to retail consumers. They were quite innovative for their time and were anticipated as decently inventive new tourist attractions for their respective locations. + +Their original centre launched in Penrith in Western Sydney in 2014, with the Gold Coast following a couple of years later, and indoor skydiving centres rolling out in other locations across the country afterwards – as well as one in Malaysia. + +Unfortunately, getting each of these facilities up and running proved highly capital-intensive and often prone to delays in their rollouts or blowouts in setup and engineering/electrical costs, as well as regulation & safety requirements. + +Despite being quite popular as experiences in themselves, the business model often required a heavy diet of both debt and capital raises throughout the company’s history to get each new centre up and running. + +While revenues steadily climbed for several years, profit did not follow, and the share price continually sold down after an initial two-year rise following its IPO. + +https://preview.redd.it/ty9pzlb2f9k81.png?width=1153&format=png&auto=webp&s=93ac48288e88e23b88ed8a8b3c97840bc434ae4c + +This culminated in the price of shares hitting an all-time-low of $0.013 in early 2019 following a period of ongoing issues, be it profit downgrades, some legal disputes, a breach of financing facilities and a number of director resignations. + +During this period the company tried a range of initiatives – ‘frequent flier’ type loyalty programs, launching gift cards, optimising its online booking system and more – and eventually ended up selling off its Perth facility in early 2020 as part of its “recovery strategy” to reduce its liabilities. + +Just as the company was beginning to roll this out, in March 2020 Covid-19 hit and forced the closure of its facilities – another crippling blow to what was already looking like a sputtering business. + +https://preview.redd.it/c0ucwv63f9k81.png?width=869&format=png&auto=webp&s=86e8bc514cfd009280d549d49870e7c09f39708a + +Fortunately in the background, XRG had been working on ways to diversify their business model. The company had been orienting more of their time and money towards branching out into Virtual Reality experiences, launching their FREAK Entertainment line soon thereafter. + +These are centres offering consumer-oriented simulations for highly-lifelike car racing, as well as more involved VR experiences such as escape rooms, virtual arenas, futuristic laser tag and various other digital adventures. + +XRG currently have 3 of these centre locations in Sydney (including the newest-launched in Macquarie Centre in Ryde in November 2021), and one on the Gold Coast. + +They also introduced a “home delivery” version of the product during the company’s Covid-19 lockdowns, which proved quite popular. + +https://preview.redd.it/0xd8mm74f9k81.jpg?width=963&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c6f5eb1e1eb8eb384d2260f8ce10f87f5dfc872 + +None of this really had much impact on the stock’s share price, however, and XRG went under some debt restructuring in March 2021 in order to accelerate their recovery plan. Covid lockdowns also impacted much of 2021, including their second half in which they lost 54% of opening hours for their operations due to closures. + +What really started to turn the tide for the company sentiment-wise was their acquisition of VR gaming/tech company Red Cartel, which was made in order to aid in the commercialisation of a new line of simulation technology oriented at the military. + +The company onboarded a new director in November 2021 – again, with prior extensive military experience, and connections throughout the global defense supply chain to accelerate the launch of their new Operator Tactical Solutions software & hardware suite. + +This new, defense-focused arm of the company is designed to provide tactical VR training for military and law enforcement units via their VR Tactical Trainer, Mission Rehearsal System, and Weapons Integration programs. + +These allow military organisations to drill & train their staff in various tactical scenarios through a mix of physical & virtual interactions, including close-quarters battle drills and much more while integrating seamlessly onto existing military hardware via VR headset. + +https://preview.redd.it/wmm4a4z5f9k81.png?width=1005&format=png&auto=webp&s=80a287682a96bf1a3c1b1af1f41e4436827c14af + +They can then debrief and analyse performance and outcomes from a variety of angles, and conduct drills across various building and floorplan layouts that would be extremely expensive to create through actual physical means – pretty cool tech, to be honest. + +The market certainly liked this. It meant what was formerly oriented purely as a ‘fun-loving direct to consumer tourist attraction’, had made a strong potential reorientation towards the defense sector in one of the more unusual rebrandings/tactical pivots seen on the ASX in recent years. + +It also meant focusing on growth via a far less physically & capitally-intensive growth avenue vs. the drawn-out and expensive process of setting up more indoor skydiving wind tunnels. + +Its share price jumped up substantially for the first time in years as a result, with the company also having recently completed the rebrand of their business to xReality Group/XRG to reflect their newly-diverse product line. + +https://preview.redd.it/jpbfdmp6f9k81.png?width=897&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d2e547d0e54a30047477e42096274e30419b48d + +Whether this newly repositioned military-and-VR focus will result in a great increase in revenue (and profitability?) remains to be seen, but at the very least the company’s outlook is finally looking fresh/positive for the first time in a while. + +XRG are based in Sydney, listed on the ASX in 2013, and has returned -11.02% p.a. annualised (with no dividends paid) since its IPO. + +**What looks good:** + +* Like many businesses that are customer-facing, the company got hammered due to Covid restrictions. Almost immediately after these were repealed, they saw a strong rebound in hours/sessions across all brands, and luckily were able to operate unrestricted over the 2021 Christmas/school holiday period. The loosening of QLD border restrictions also benefitted the Gold Coast iFLY centre, as will the return of international tourists given the Gold Coast’s popular status as a travel destination. +* As a result, they’ve returned to levels of revenue around what they had in March 2021 after dipping again due to the impact of the Omicron variant. +* They’re aiming to roll out four more FREAK sites at various Westfields over the next year; these are far less capital intensive to get up and running than their skydiving offerings (which cost around $10 million each to set up), and represent a more viable/scalable growth strategy on the retail side moving forward. +* They generated a 29% increase in NTA per share from Dec 2020 to 2021. Much of the improvement came from XRG undertaking some important debt restructuring earlier in 2021 which allowed them to improve their overall cash position. +* Their Operator Tactical Solutions segment will be conducting trials with various international defense force arms & law enforcement agencies, with the aims of attaining contracts after exhibiting at a range of military and defense conferences throughout the year. +* Management still have a decent amount of insider ownership of the stock, and are incentivised to turn things around for their own benefit as well as that of retail shareholders: + +https://preview.redd.it/epu1ygqaf9k81.png?width=855&format=png&auto=webp&s=d4b55af9fec3be9c132277f4e9cb7566ab2eca24 + +* Insiders have also shown a ‘decent’ level of stock purchases themselves over the past year showing some confidence, even though the numbers are small buys (but then again, perhaps not so small relative to how tiny the company’s market cap is). +* At a mere \~$23 million market cap, purely given the value of their assets, internal IP creation potential, and level of in-place revenue generation, this looks fundamentally undervalued. The raw value of their skydiving centres alone make up a significant chunk of this value proposition, let alone everything else they’ve expanded out into. +* Their Macquarie Centre’s VR revenue has not yet been factored into their numbers, and should start showing up as an addition to the bottom line in their next financial report. +* Their acquisition of the Red Cartel software arm will allow XRG to develop their own IP. This would have the dual effect of providing new licensable product, while also cutting down on existing licensing fees. +* This in-house development team have also already released their first software game oriented at a younger audience, helping to open up their existing VR offerings to a wider potential customer base (kids) for extra revenue. +* Even despite all of the fragmented issues Covid caused in the end quarter of 2021, they still were able to report positive EBITDA despite this – even with additional investment being made in their tactical product development & setting up their newest FREAK Entertainment facility during the period. +* They also were able to be cashflow positive, ending up with a cash balance of over $1 million as of their Dec 31 2021 update. This may stave off the need for any capital raising for a while depending on how aggressive they’re planning to be with future expansion/product R&D. + +https://preview.redd.it/shj941rjf9k81.png?width=830&format=png&auto=webp&s=e329f97b35aa43f24f3ef4ae9a8aaff13908ef4b + +* XRG have made recent efforts to inject their board with more financial/private sector expertise rather than solely consisting of the more military-focused/experienced side of things, adding more diversified skillsets to management. +* VR is something of a “hot topic” product line at the moment given all the sentiment from giants such as Facebook around the ‘Metaverse’. We’ve already seen similar effects of the hype around this rubbing off on other ASX-listed stocks such as Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) which experienced a massive share price jump after becoming affiliated with big US tech such as Facebook & Webex. +* By association, the company’s name change was essential in creating more investor interest; it’s likely people in the past were simply turned off by the IDZ ticker/business name and not realising the full scope of what XRG actually does/is aiming to do on the VR side. +* In the micro-cap space, all it takes is one significant contract to send a share price skyrocketing, and XRG are now equipped with a product they’re able to pitch to many cashed-up government clients around the world. +* Globally, major countries have continued to increase their military spends over the first portion of the 2020’s, particularly the likes of the USA, China, India & the UK – all potential clients for what XRG is offering product-wise. + +**What doesn’t look good:** + +* The core skydiving part of the business has been an eternal struggle to make profitable while still aiming to expand. While the company has had admirable growth plans, it hadn’t translated into a story that was appealing to investors, and those who got in at IPO would have been down massively on their initial investment just a couple of years later. +* They received around $650k worth of government JobKeeper assistance combined during financial year 2020 & 2021, which artificially inflated some of their numbers for the period. +* Their Sydney indoor skydiving centre being based in Penrith means that it gets far less mainstream brand recognition than if it were based somewhere more central to the Sydney CBD. Being more centrally located would allow it to more easily draw in larger group bookings for corporate clients, garner more media attention from city-based media, etc. +* *Debt* is by far my biggest concern with this company’s prospects. They’ve always carried a significant amount of debt to go along with all this expansion, and at some point they will need to start paying some more of it off considering how high the interest rate repayments are. The debt levels are already concerning as is, but become even moreso in a potentially rising interest rate environment: + +https://preview.redd.it/yt4hqusqf9k81.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=3175a2a661f33275c4cf3ba5e3267e5ec34d910e + +* Given their already high level of debt facilities, they have also often sat on a concerningly small amount of cash available at various periods in the past. This feels like a capital raise may be due very soon depending on whether or not their most recent revenue figures can hold (or grow), particularly with the share price at strong levels recently. The company may wish to take advantage of this to conduct a raise & sure-up their financial position. +* A lot of the future potential of this stock is relying on this new military-oriented pivot actually working practically & commercially, as opposed to just theoretically. Shareholders are/will be banking on their ability to achieve at least one significant government/private contract for their tactical training suite, in order to set the precedent and establish a baseline of revenue for this arm of the company. +* Branching out into VR is a field that, while it is less capital-intensive to grow, also has far less of a competitive ‘moat’ vs. the arduous task of constructing the indoor skydiving wind tunnels. The skydiving centres are harder to set up, but also harder for competitors to join the scene by association. +* The company has had a fair amount of board turnover and turmoil over recent years in order to get to its current position. Stock markets typically reward stability and don’t like uncertainty, especially where management is concerned. + +**Summary:** While their existing indoor skydiving and VR centre venues continue to produce solid revenue especially now that Covid lockdowns appear to be a thing of the past, all eyes of shareholders current and aspiring are on the new military-centric arm of the company. + +XRG have taken a position in a current worldwide climate in which their new flagship product line certainly has an elevated degree of relevance. + +In this increasingly tense global environment, countries around the globe (including Australia) have begun allocating more and more of their GDP towards defense and military spend in recent years. + +[AUSTRALIA’S MILITARY BUDGET SPEND BY YEAR: IT CONTINUES TO CLIMB UNDER THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT](https://preview.redd.it/rv063o6wf9k81.png?width=901&format=png&auto=webp&s=51aa5d65828aa42c6c8efa255d75b4651c2b60d0) + +The ability for XRG to leverage existing board member relationships within the defense sector & onboard contracts for their software will obviously be key moving forward, as all of these potential customers and revenue for the product are only theoretical at this point. + +Domestic contracts would be nice enough given their potential ability to generate ongoing revenue, but it’s overseas where the real “rocket fuel” might come from. + +[THE POTATO HAS SPOKEN.](https://preview.redd.it/5z8fd64yf9k81.png?width=641&format=png&auto=webp&s=a610440731c600d6a5a8efa366b53763e26927a2) + +The USA is the potential golden goose when it comes to defense spending, and establishing even one decent contract there should give the company (and its shareholders) a much more confident outlook and make pitching other countries easier moving forward. + +As a company, this is also simply just a pretty unique offering on the ASX. + +They don’t have any real direct competitors, and their increased diversification now means that they’re less subject to circumstances out of their control (such as another Covid variant) entirely crippling their business. + +**Conclusion:** The decision to buy into XRG probably largely depends on two things at this point. + +The first is how confident you are in the company’s ability to properly monetise the Operator Tactical Solutions line, with no track record, income or revenue to base the decision on. + +You’re essentially taking a leap of faith on its commercial viability, and placing trust in management’s words of how desirable the product truly is. + +The second is if you believe they are soon to conduct another capital raise, and if so to wait until the share price drops to cap raise price, and buy in then. + +[WILL XRG’S SHARE PRICE END UP FLYING... JUST LIKE ITS CUSTOMERS? 🍆👋](https://preview.redd.it/ywrtqwq2g9k81.jpg?width=795&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed7937ac25e7009597c7d943467c5e6d52dce544) + +The company’s latest results showed that the business is now a stronger cashflow generator since free of Covid restrictions, so they may just be able to survive from quarter to quarter as is without dipping into shareholders’ pockets. + +It doesn’t leave much room for any other major acquisitions or expansion however, especially considering how tapped-out XRG already are debt-wise. + +With the debt levels they have, it could be argued they may be better served conducting a cap raise while the share price is in a stronger position just to pay down some of their debt anyway; not something existing shareholders likely want to hear given the potential dilution. + +It’s probably the debt that is scaring many investors off, because fundamentally the assets they own (just under $40m) make XRG’s market cap look very low; sucking it up and addressing this may be cause for a re-rate. + +Much of the near-term future performance of this company likely will depend on how their exhibits at the various conferences they have booked this year (starting in February 2022) are received, and if anything commercial comes of them as a result. + +I’d personally be interested in diving deeper into XRG based on its combination of assets & potential moving forward. It’s certainly looking more promising as an investment than it has in the last several years, at the very least. + +However I would likely wait to see what the company reports during the upcoming quarter and/or what they do in regards to debt and capital first, even if it costs me some initial profits by buying in slightly later. + +**Link to web version:** [https://ausinvestors.com/xrg-stock-of-the-week/](https://ausinvestors.com/xrg-stock-of-the-week/) + +**Vote for next week's Random Stonk of the Week:** [https://ausinvestors.com/poll](https://ausinvestors.com/poll) + +**Links to previous Stonks of the Week:** [https://ausinvestors.com/category/random-stock-of-the-week/](https://ausinvestors.com/category/random-stock-of-the-week/) + +**Company website:** [https://xrgroup.com.au/](https://xrgroup.com.au/) + +**MarketIndex page:** [https://www.marketindex.com.au/asx/xrg](https://www.marketindex.com.au/asx/xrg) + +Feel free to add your own opinions on XRG in the comments below. + +**Would you buy this stock? Why or why not? Feel free to vote in the poll.** + +[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/t29xcq) +Continuing my recent exploration of companies at the “we could totally buy this out” end of the market (see [Part One](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ntkrje/not_quite_dd_australias_smallest_market_cap/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) and [Part Two](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ny26mu/australias_smallest_market_cap_companies_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) here), I noted some gems in the one-sentence “principal activity” description that I presume the ASX makes companies fill out. + +(Warning: Don’t buy shares in these companies, or do. Entirely your fault if you do and you lose money. I aim to provide amusement and haphazardly conducted “research”, not financial advice. DYOR YOLO OMG LOL BBQ.) + +*QUE rockets update* + +Last time I concluded that Queste Communications Limited (QUE), a company not in any way involved in communications, was Australia’s smallest listed, going concern, can buy shares in this, company. However, it does not appear that any shares have been traded since then, which is disappointing. Has anyone checked whether the HotCopper people are hoarding them, or Next Pumpers is preparing an email? + +*What do you do around here?* + +Transcendence Technologies Limited (TTL), suspended (not in a trading halt - my mistake, now edited), describes its principal activities as “being an administrative entity in the technology sector and proactively identify and review acquisition and investment opportunities, while conserving cash.” + +Sure enough, it is sitting on cash reserves of about 40% of its market cap so…mission accomplished! + +Q Technology Group (QTG) describes itself as follows: “QTG's Principal Activity is the it is now an investment Company with discussions progressing to recapitalize the business.” + +I wish them well with the recapitalisation, and also the proofreading. + +Triple Energy Limited (TNP) says: “TNP's Principal Activity is the exploration for natural resources.” + +It’s a broad remit, but it just might work. + +Connected Io Limited (CIO) says: “CIO's Principal Activity is the focused on sales and marketing of the Connected Groups products and further product development.” + +The sales, marketing, and development of…whatever it sells, markets, and develops? + +Agricultural Land Trust (AGJ) thoroughly baffled me with this one: “AGJ's Principal Activity is the to earn income from the exploitation of its investment property, Linkletter's Place, located near Esperance, Western Australia, including from the sale of harvested timber and previously to earn a net interest margin from debentures which the Group has issued, which were subsequently on lent to another party at a higher interest rate.” + +Indeed. + +Finally - can someone tell me what this means? “BIR's Principal Activity is the ongoing development of Pulse equity capital markets and brokerage activities.” + +Anyway…that’ll give those of you heading into lockdown something to DD and blow your money on next week. Enjoy! +It's banning time and the ban hammer is hungry. + +&#x200B; + +**UPDATES** + +\- u/silvertigar has donated a *nice* amount [to the koalas.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y9ll3p/donating_to_the_koalas_with_may_profits_on_behalf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/blisser_the_sniff survived deadly robots on their trip into the [big smoke](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/yac08e/short_tesla_something_tells_me_the_self_parking/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/dskoh1 continues to ride their top 20 holding into the [gangrenous garnet ground](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/yd0tgz/it_will_take_me_down_or_make_me_rich_i_wont_cash/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/Particular_Love_8811 has won [their bet](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/xz9lfj/comment/irlzccp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) single-handedly beating a child and the education system with the [results here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/xz9lfj/comment/itaz08v/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). + +&#x200B; + +\- u/fameluck has created an ASX\_Bets Dog Race competition. Rules are in [the post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ybisk7/the_first_asx_bets_dog_race/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/dancingbeavers has cleared their first hurdle [the second looks dubious.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/vh81k7/comment/id87ktl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**NEW BETS** + +\- u/Mitchuation has decided [risk 2 weeks](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y3l4xe/comment/isa4wkc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) to inverse [u/AltruisticCurtains](https://www.reddit.com/u/AltruisticCurtains/)' bet [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/xrvkqm/comment/iqpr34n/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/fameluck has bet on **BRK 2.4c** by 24th December, or they'll drink [a concoction](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y3l4xe/comment/isaduz9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) from a fish. If their history of quality shoeies and losing track record is anything to go by we're in for a real treat. + +&#x200B; + +\- u/Acrobatic_Mud_2989 bet **MAY** will hit **18c** by the end of November or a [holiday with Plucky](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y3r0ru/comment/is9wjwi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) til the new year. + +&#x200B; + +\- u/w-j1m and u/mapabi went head to head with [Liz Truss vs Lettuce](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y5a36c/comment/isjn385/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). As a result, u/mapabi is banished for 2 weeks. + +&#x200B; + +\- u/w-j1m went 2/2 on UK politics taking down u/prettyboiclique with a 2-week [Johnson vs Sunak](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y8r20n/comment/it563yx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) bet. Not to worry though, Plucky takes good care of prettybois in the banned lands... + +&#x200B; + +\- u/ewanelaborate and u/builtdifferant went toe to toe on an **IVZ** [suspension](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y5a36c/comment/isl627s/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Ewan lost and [charity won](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_banned/comments/y5uywo/scotty_you_son_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/nodufftrading has bet **MAY 25c** in 6 months or a [6-month ban](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/y6pc6x/comment/isr6xnf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/bigrigcrash has bet that **IVZ** touches **20c** this week or a month in the [naughty corner.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ybaq42/comment/itfl1kk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) At the time of writing that looks like it's aged like milk. + +\- u/__unbannable has taken [the other side](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ybaq42/comment/itfqq0p/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and is looking true to their username. + +&#x200B; + +\- u/leapietope has bet on **IMU** below **.16** by the end of October [or a 1-month](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/yc4h2z/comment/itnd2d5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)[ ban](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/yc4h2z/comment/itnd2d5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). + +&#x200B; + +\- u/franksareforcucks and u/meatyogre have gone head to head betting on the CPI being lower than expected and the ASX 200 up and CPI higher and XJO lower respectively. Luckily they both lost so they'll be able to hold hands so they don't get lost on their [2-week vacation](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ycy9y2/comment/itp504c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). + +&#x200B; + +\- u/ChZakalwe has blessed us with the possibility of some peace and quiet betting the **XJO** to crack **6700** by the end of the week or a [week of quiet time](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ycy9y2/comment/itpoxbk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- u/maximumgirth343 has made their first ban bet betting **ICT** to go past **30c** by the end of the year or a [3-week ban](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/ydrebm/comment/itwppsl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**BANS** + +\- u/Seoulprince101 will be put to sleep [permanently](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/wllrrr/comment/ijxatvq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for their failed bet + +&#x200B; + +\- u/drail85 be saying goodbye for [3 months](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/x09spc/comment/im7k41x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +\- [u/a380-king](https://www.reddit.com/user/a380-king) will have an i~~c~~onic month as Pluckys [new toy](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/xkv5kx/comment/ipg4t99/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**TICK-TOCK** + +\- u/ballermania18 owes us some ANL proof + +&#x200B; + +**TL;DR** καληνύχτα γλυκό πρίγκιπα +Ok sex kittens, listen up. + +Our dark lordships have given consent for the ASX_Bets Koala to get his kink on in the murky underworld that is.... + + +Online dating.... 😳😳😳 + + +As of Friday, I will be creating a ASX_Bets Tinder profile for our resident mascot and I need some assistance from the autistic army to really sex him up... + +In comradeship with our locked down Victorians autists the campaign will be named: + + ‘KEEP VICTORIA SEXY ’ + +This has nothing, I repeat 100% nothing to do with garnering illicit tinder hookups using our sex crazed mascot as clickbait. + +(The above statement is probably about 17% true. I’m no good with numbers, which is why I love stonks...) + +So far, I have decided the following: +- our koala will be ‘gender fluid’ (if you read that as a dirty play on words then that’s how I meant it) he loves the ladies, the fella’s and the Alphabet people, very non discriminatory + +- He will have a ‘broad’ dating range, within the 20-99 years range... + +- He is going live for a short time only, like a swing trade... + + +What I need from you degenerates is: +- suggestions on a name (no one uses their real name on tinder right?) + +- Occupation (so far I have dish pig at hooters/part time day trader/scomo teet nibbler etc...) + +- Suggestions on likes/dislikes ( don’t suggest AusFinance as a dislike, I already covered that in his profile ) + +- Some of your worst pick up lines for anyone who is brave/foolish enough to swipe right (it is right, right?) + + +If you could leave any comments for the above in the comments that would be dandy. +If someone already wrote your suggestion, just up-doot it... + +I will update y’all on his progress weekly in a shit post under the ‘keep Victoria sexy campaign’.... + +Once he goes live, I’ll post a pic of his profile on the sub. + +Yes, read the flair, it’s shit-posting... +You know, for laughs.... + +Let the mutha fuckin sneaky perv games begin... + + + +Edit: u/plucky26 I am expecting poetry from you in the comments, just don’t get yourself banned again... +TGA decision on moving MDMA from a schedule 9 drug (prohibited substances) to schedule 8 drug (controlled substances) is meant to be published on the first week of December. Thoughts on this announcement and what will it bring to the psychedelic industry? +First-time homebuyer here, trying to decide on mortgage details, and I'm having trouble determining how to weigh the two big mortgage choices while trying to consider investment money for an early retirement. With FIRE in mind, how do you decide between: + +--15-year term, with lower rate (4.99%), where we'll expect to pay ~$143k in interest over the life of the loan, but since our monthly payments will be higher we'll have less to stow away in accounts for FIRE + +vs + +--30-year term, with higher rate (5.75%), where we'll expect to pay a whopping $374k in interest over the life of the loan, but will be able to put more money, sooner, into investment accounts + +Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated -- thank you in advance! +Hey all, just some thoughts I put together on Financial Independence. All opinions welcome :) + +\--- + +**I. Thou shalt remember that a penny saved is MORE THAN a penny earned** + +When you save money that you would normally spend, you embrace the double whammy of savings. First, you get one step closer to having the amount of savings you need. Second, you shrink the amount of savings you need. A less expensive lifestyle means a smaller amount of money can sustain it indefinitely. It’s as if you were sprinting toward the finish line and the finish line was also sprinting toward you. Now that’s what I call a twofer! A worked example: If you spend $40k per year, then if you follow the 4% rule, you need $1 million in the bank to sustain that lifestyle indefinitely ($1,000,000 \* 4% return = $40,000). If your car insurance costs $1000 per year and you make that call to save 15%, you get $150 closer to your $1 million dollar goal, every year. But wait, there’s more! By reducing your annual expenses, you now only need to save $996,250 to sustain your lifestyle ($996,250 \* 4% = $40,000 - $150). So, the finish line has moved closer by $3,750, and you’re getting there $150/year faster! + +**II. Thou shalt know thy expenses** + +You can’t measure what you can’t see. Okay, so that might not be 100% accurate in light of modern physics, but bear with me here. How much money do you spend each month? Does that count the car you need to replace in 3 years? The couch you bought 6 months ago? That dental procedure that you’ll never need again? What about your mortgage principal? Aren’t you paying that to yourself? Understanding your expenses is not as easy as it seems. To get the full picture, you need to amortize your expenses over their applicable period of use. Before you run away screaming, it’s not as hard as it sounds. Remember, you’re planning for a sustainable long-term livelihood, so you need to factor things in correctly. If you’re going to get a new car every 10 years, apply 1/120th of the cost of the car to each month. That couch you’ll replace in 5 years? Apply 1/60th of the cost each month. That dental procedure? If nothing like it is ever happening again, ignore it. Knowing whether you have enough money is composed of two parts: knowing how much is enough, and knowing how much you have. If you’re like most people, you don’t really know the answer to either of those questions. Knowing your expenses will enable you to know how much money is actually enough to sustain your lifestyle. + +**III. Thou shalt know thy net worth** + +Do you really know your net worth? Does that factor in future taxation of your retirement accounts? The closing costs if you sell your home? Don’t add apples to oranges. Boil everything down to one number and track that number’s progress. Knowing how much money you have is the other half of knowing whether you have enough. Once you know both how much you have and how much is enough, you’re way ahead of the game. + +**IV. Thou shalt value time over money** + +*“Better is one handful with some rest than two hands full of toil and chasing the wind.” -Ecclesiastes 4:64* + +*“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run” -Henry David Thoreau* + +Money is only as valuable as you make it. If you work all day and leave no time to enjoy the fruits of your labor or the presence of those you love, your bank account doesn’t do you any good. So far, understanding your finances sounds like a lot of work and calculation. But it doesn’t have to be. As it turns out, if you distill all of your finances down to one number that makes sense to you, you can move those considerations and calculations into the background and just focus on making that one number move your way. The number that makes the most sense is phrased in units of time. Forget dollars and cents, just understand the amount of time that matters most to you. Planning for retirement? Watch your countdown to retirement accelerate as you improve your habits. Switching jobs from high pay to high fulfillment? Watch the years until your self-actualization melt away as you focus on getting to what matters most. Taking some time off to care for an aging parent or start a business? Track the amount of time until you will run out of money. $1 million means different things to different people. 1 year of life is a precious thing to everyone. Make lasting changes by tracking the thing that means the most: time. + +**V. Thou shalt embrace simplicity** + +*“The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.” - Andrew Carnegie* + +Confusion is paralyzing. If you have a day job, odds are you don’t have time to devote the hundreds of hours necessary to truly understand every aspect of your financial life. Don’t scatter your attention. It is far easier to boil everything down to as few metrics as possible. It’s like trying to get someone to run faster than they’ve ever run. You could tell them to stay low at the start, focus on turnover, and use their arms efficiently. Or you could take their wallet and run. If you’re only tracking one thing, then everything else snaps into place. + +**VI. Thou shalt understand thy goals in their entirety** + +*“There’s only two kinds of people in the world: the kind of people who think there’s such a thing as enough money and the kind of people who have money.” - Fran Lebowitz* + +Fill in the blank: “As soon as I \_\_\_\_\_\_, I will be happy.” Fact is, you have what it takes to be happy now. However, there may be something to what you put in that blank. If it is worthwhile, then stop dreaming and start doing. You know where you are, so now figure out all the important details about where you want to go. What will cost more? What will cost less? What will it do to your income? What will it do to your hourly wage? Come up with a fulfilling goal that is about more than money. “Enough” money will never come, so don’t fool yourself. + +**VII. Thou shalt live in the moment** + +*“That the present is all we have to live in. Or to lose.” - Marcus Aurelius* + +You know that time is more important than money, so it is time to start acting like it. If you are unable to enjoy the present moment, what makes you so confident that you will enjoy all the time you’re saving up for the future? Opt in to each moment of life, dive into the relationships that matter to you and don’t lose focus on the things that are truly most important. + +**VIII. Thou shalt act in thine own enlightened best interest** + +So you know where you are, where you are going, and what the right steps are to get there. Now it comes down to execution. When you’re on a diet, you know the chocolate cake is not the right choice. Don’t succumb and let your plans go to waste. Take your newfound knowledge and execute the plan. If you’re content to be a cog in the machine, just keep doing what you’re doing. If your life is more valuable than that, have the courage to take responsibility and start living in the direction of your plans. + +**IX. Thou shalt not deprive thyself excessively** + +Financial Independence is all about sustainability. When you’re cutting expenses, it is important to distinguish between fat, flesh, and bone. Maybe dropping your weekly pizza delivery will get you 6 months closer to your dream life. But if your dream life isn’t so dreamy without pizza, don’t fool yourself. If you deprive yourself now, then the impact on your expenses is only valid if you plan on depriving yourself forever. Don’t lie to yourself about the price of your optimal life. + +**X. Thou shalt produce** + +Financial Independence does not mean never working again. It means having enough money to live your ideal life without worrying about money. If you’re someone who is interested in putting in the time and effort to achieve Financial Independence, the chances are pretty good that you’re also someone who is not going to be satisfied kicking their heels up until you kick the bucket. The key to a happy experience with Financial Independence is to use your newfound independence making tangible progress working on something that is meaningful to you. Work is not something to be avoided, it is something to be embraced, provided that the work is wholesome, meaningful, and fulfilling. The good news is, that means Financial Independence is even closer than you think. You don’t need to solve for having enough money to never make money again. You just need to solve for having enough money to supplement the income that will be the byproduct of the fulfilling work you do after achieving Financial Independence. + +Thanks for reading! +I remember an interview to a trader that turned $800 into $240K or something like that in matter of days, and he mentioned that he has a strict philosophy of trading ONLY when there is an important catalyst/event/news that makes the trade to have a high probability of making profit. + +I thought about that recently when news affected the price of DOGE and MATIC, and sometimes I wonder if I should trade less often. As Warren Buffett says, in a basketball game, you have to hit the ball within a few times is it thrown at you or you are out, but with stocks you don't have to, and you can wait for the perfect ball coming to you. I think about this but applied to trading crypto. + +Does any of you trade ONLY when there is an important event/catalyst/news? +Hi everyone! I’m not too sure if this is really the correct sub for this but I wasn’t sure where else to ask. + +I’ve always been an ambitious person, I worked so hard in school and then uni and threw myself into finding a ‘proper job’ right after graduating. I worked all throughout uni and have never really taken a break. I was supposed to travel last year but had to put that on hold because of the Panasonic. + +I’ve recently had a couple setbacks at work and in my personal life, and have probably been at my lowest for the last month or so. Because of that I’ve been reevaluating where I’m at right now and what I wanted to achieve. The things that used to seem so important just don’t seem to matter now. Things like having a well paying job, saving for a mortgage so I can have a nice home, and saving up for a decent car just seem so ridiculously insignificant. Maybe it’s because these are all materialistic things, but there’s other things as well. I wanted to have a job I was passionate about, I wanted my parents to be proud of me, to get the ‘value’ out of all the time I spent working towards having these things. This combined with living in Sydney and having never ending anxiety about the cost of living and just the way the world is going in general I don’t know how people can function like this for a whole lifetime (I’m 22) and that’s without even factoring in trying to make good financial decisions and set myself up to have the kind of life I’ve always wanted. + +Right now I just want to pack up my car and drive away to somewhere peaceful and quiet and live a smaller, more comfortable life. But then I have that voice in the back of my head telling me I need to spend every second of every day working towards the goals I’ve set for myself. At this stage I don’t know if I’m just being dramatic, if it’s depression, burnout, or a combination of all of it. My question is has anyone done this, what drove you to it, and how do you feel about it now? +# Let's look at where we currently stand with the TA: + +Starting with the 15-month historical price range: + +&#x200B; + +[15 Month Technical Fair Value: $225 per share \(currently a 58.2&#37; discount\)](https://preview.redd.it/xyvw8w5wfvo81.png?width=906&format=png&auto=webp&s=23b59440186e0e42157eb33703e7619c54c9eb71) + +Now let's look at options IV: + +&#x200B; + +[Rising Support of Implied Volatility, with Impending IV Gain due to 1 Year Peaks](https://preview.redd.it/bl1n2q0yfvo81.png?width=818&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c05715c6cb5f1b37b388940438890cca5dea9eb) + +&#x200B; + +Let's look at the Call Options: + +&#x200B; + +[Unusual Options Activity Starting, with now a Quick Rise to 1.84 : 1 Calls to Puts Ratio](https://preview.redd.it/h2jwpjmyfvo81.png?width=726&format=png&auto=webp&s=9681aa9170f19f7c28ef127d01568901e6b22e66) + +&#x200B; + +Now, RSI, Schaff, and basic charting: + +&#x200B; + +[Price: 94.45 \(after hours\). Intra-day Box-Plot outliers are on the high side, revealing that a price increase has begun but has not yet taken hold. RSI is coming off a double rolling bottom and now indicates oversold but rising. Schaff is beginning to flip positive.](https://preview.redd.it/nuo0t84xfvo81.png?width=753&format=png&auto=webp&s=34378f3e40e5a3d281366d2d77faa2df50b739f6) + +&#x200B; + +Now let's analyze the Ortex Data: + +&#x200B; + +[Ortex Reveals a return to January 2021 levels of Days to Cover and Cost to Borrow \(now 6.86&#37; on average and jumping daily\). 100&#37; Utilization for 30 days in a row. Further, we see a 138&#37; rise in Ortex Estimated SI &#37; of FF since 08NOV2021.](https://preview.redd.it/8hqsxg4uivo81.png?width=1092&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2eea187188c0d61b1729ee3cfbe1c47b012fe5e) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +|**Quick Ortex Stats:**|| +|:-|:-| +|Days in a Row of 100% Utilization:|30| +|Cost to Borrow (average):|6.86%| +|Days to Cover:|6.68| +|Ortex Estimated SI % of FF (reported only):|21%| +|Rise in Estimated SI % of FF (reported only):|138% increase over 4 months| + +&#x200B; + +**TLDR**: Technicals for $ G M E stock indicate a rising Relative Strength Index, a positive flip beginning with the Schaff Trend Cycle, and a double bottom clearly shown in the chart. We have a visual rebound that is pure green over 5 days, with statistical outliers on the high end- showing that any gain in price has not yet taken hold. Ortex data shows SI% maxed out for a historic 30 days in a row, a 138% increase in reported-only short-interest over a period of 4 months. Options activity is on the rise again, with calls jumping ahead of puts in a 1.84:1 ratio. Implied Volatility supports are rising with a shown historical discount in IV based on historical peaks (currently 0.95 versus 2.1) meaning call options are very discounted here but demand is beginning for them. And finally, the 15 month price is $225.00 per share, which shows the stock is now at a 58.2% discount to the split-range. + +Edit: [I am now long GameStop](https://imgur.com/a/fijTW0J) with play monies and DRS, yet I may invest more into it with my tax return based on discoveries in this technical analysis. This edit is in compliance with WSB Mod: Dan\_inKuwait's deleting of the post. +The title says it all. Last year from December 14th to January 8th (roughly 3 weeks), the price of BTC went from $19,000 to $40,000. + +I am not saying $100k by year end is going to happen but it isn’t too hard to see how it could get there within the next 3-6 weeks. + +A month ago everyone was wishing they would have bought more in the $40,000s when they had the chance and everyone one was convinced that we were headed to $100k very soon. What has changed in the last couple weeks? Price. Fundamentally nothing has changed. If you believed in $100k a month ago, you should be extremely bullish today. Stop looking at the red in the charts as your gauge. Buy more, hodl, repeat. +I've been working in a relatively remunerative industry for the last decade and after a few job changes, I find myself in what I perceive could be a terminal position. Even with zero stock market growth, I'm projected to have about 30x my annual expenses saved in about 3-4 years. If I move to a lower cost of living area, I could easily retire right away, or more comfortably later. + +My boss, of course, knows none of this. At some point he'll ask me what my career goals are at the company to understand what track I'd like to advance, or if there are other roles and responsibilities that may be more suitable. But the limited upside in compensation that comes with any change of role, combined with the likely added stress of any adjustment, make me very unenthusiastic about making any change. I'm basically just trying to wait out the time until my stock fully vests. + +In fairness, I don't hate my job; it just kind of bores me and I don't see it as something permanent, and if I wanted to try something more interesting I'd likely to have to take a significant pay cut and move somewhere else. Yet if I get asked where I see myself in 5 years, I don't feel like I can give the honest answer, "Retired" -- it would obviously backfire and make me seem like an undedicated employee. + +For those of you who are pursuing accelerated FI, how do you have this kind of discussion with the person who has the decision-making ability to get you there? + +I've been working towards selling my company for about 9 months, just finished the valuation study and have a M&A attorney I like so far. My long time accountant is still cautioning me to wait a while as my kids are still in college and while today none of them are interest in taking over she keeps telling me they may change their minds once they start working for someone else. + +In the process of rolling all this around my wife finally came out and said she's worried about me hating losing my sense of identity today. I've pretty much devoted myself to building the business for 18 years, but in the last 5 I pretty much have given up my hobbies other than traveling to focus on growing the business due to a major growth opportunity I couldn't pass up. + +I think about starting back with hobby farming, but that's just 3-4 months out of the year. Her father got into local politics after he retired, it might be fun to try to fix things rather than just complain. Finding a way to get involved in business mentoring or local charities are possibilities I will explore. + +I can sit on a beach drinking rum for a while, but eventually liver disease or skin cancer will get me. What do you do for fulfillment post retirement? +24 y/o here with a question related to an upcoming career decision: + +&#x200B; + +I've been offered an opportunity to move from a HCOL city to a MCOL city in the south with an associated pay raise and bonus offer. Tech job and the new role is with a large F50 company. + +&#x200B; + +I am wrestling with the decision based on my current quality of life and general comfort. I am sure that if I stayed at my current job I could perform well, keep an active social circle, invest moderately etc. The decision to move is a significant shift towards an investing first mindset, steep dropoff in current social circle, and basically a self-imposed exile to chase wealth. + +&#x200B; + +I frequent this sub fairly often and understand that a large amount of the FIRE (and specifically FAT) mindset comes from liquidity events after years of hard work and/or selling a business. + +&#x200B; + + My question is: how has your end goal affected the journey to get there? Do you feel as though the pressure to work hard in the beginning of the career was justified by the payoffs? I am going to accept the offer, but would appreciate any anecdotal stories or experience to help frame my own mindset for the next 3-5 years as I begin to accumulate significant wealth. + +&#x200B; + +Thanks in advance +TL:DR: updated list of brokers that *do not* lend shares. + https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oajg67/629_list_of_trading_platforms_that_will_not_allow/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share + +I'm transferring to Vanguard and called them. 45 minute wait for a call back but whatever. I asked them LOTS of questions, namely, will they ever lend shares out. The answer was something like this: We are one of the few trading platforms that will not participate in stock share lending, ever. Your stocks are your stocks. + +I'll take them at their word and I'm initiating my transfer. Now my question tomorrow to Webull when I call during business hours, will be the same thing. Will they ever lend out shares. I will post back if anyone is interested. + +I'll sleep better tonight knowing my stonks are safe. For now. + +Here is the list: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/oajg67/629_list_of_trading_platforms_that_will_not_allow/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share +After a series of losses in my early trading career, I thought I'd be humbled enough to realize that any gain is a good gain, no matter the trajectory of a stock. Even after being in deep red earlier this year, and finally realizing some profits, I can't help but think about the "could haves". + +I need to realign and shift perspectives, even though I know that's the path to heavy losses, how do you guys deal with? + +&#x200B; + +Edit: damn, this blew up, I really appreciate all of the advice in this thread. You guys are all amazing people. Thank you, +I've asked a similar question on [**r/financialindependence**](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/) but wanna hear your opinion as well. + +I've read "Millionaire Next Door". I agree and apply the principles in the book and I've already seen massive results from doing that. + +I'd like to broaden my perspective and read a book that has a very different point of view and that you've found incredibly valuable in your journey. + +What's that book for you? +I'm seeing a lot of posts from young investors (as young as 18), taking first steps into the stock market. Of course their capital's very small, often less than $1,000, and they are all excited to make big bucks fast. + +I'm just genuinely worried that a lot of these investors are taking the stock market as a place to gamble, and not put any thoughts into the stocks they purchase, and take actions very emotionally. Too many of you are eyeing on penny stocks, or companies that have been beaten down so much from COVID, even filed for Chapter 11. + +Sure you may get very lucky and double your bank account in a week, and think to yourself, "man I'm a good trader." I believe there are people out there who are truly good traders. However, chances are that you are not one of them, and 99 percent of yall will lose money if not all in a few months. This is gambling and not any different from taking your $1,000 to Vegas and putting it into a slot machine. + +What I really want to tell you guys is, try to be patient, and buy stocks with a very constructive reasoning behind it. You spend hours thinking about how to spend $20 on clothes or shoes you want to buy. Then, why can't you put just as much thought, if not more, into stocks you will be investing hundreds of dollars in? If you are spending so much money on something, you gotta be able to convince not only yourself, but also your parents, friends, people, with a load of information, take constructive criticism, etc.! + +And really, keep buying, and get a habit of buying often. 1st of every month could be your investing day, and you will transfer like $50 dollars to your account to buy another, i don't know, Coca Cola stock. These small things will add up with the compound law, and in 10 years you won't believe where you are at. (If your initial investment grow 10% every year for 10 years, you will be up 150% in total, and S&P 500 does grow approximately 10% every year on average). + +So summing up, young investors, you started early and time is on your side. Always be patient and be thoughtful with your decisions! + +Good luck to yall! +To all newbies from a fellow noob. + +I decided today that I was going to put a small amount into a penny stock for a long haul with intentions of adding more later. + +I’m currently using fidelity so I do not know how this works with other companies but... + +I purchased $20 at $0.12.. (I know not a lot) thought all was well.. checked a little later and saw that my gains/losses for the day was -$49.50???? + +After checking into it a little more I realized that I jumped the gun on a foreign stock and fidelity has a $50 fee for each foreign stock transaction.... + +So now I need this stock to go up to at least $1.00 a share to make a small profit and to account for the transaction fees. + +Moral of the story, do not invest in foreign stocks unless you are putting up an amount of money that will easily account for these transaction fees. + +That is all, thank you. + +Edit** +Link to fidelity fee list +https://www.fidelity.com/trading/commissions-margin-rates + +Second edit since I really didn’t think this would get this much attention** + +I’ve seen comments on here about how if the ticker has a F at the end then you will get charged this fee. +I can confirm that this is true as the stock I purchased does have a F at the end. (ZBISF) +https://imgur.com/gallery/fUWtF86 + +Original post: https://reddit.com/r/options/comments/iulgoq/someone_please_help_my_spy_debit_spread_got/ + +WE’RE OFFICIALLY GOOOD! + +**UPDATE: Robinhoods Response, they’re working on a UI fix:** + +https://imgur.com/gallery/pVHMQFx + +**SECOND UPDATE ROBINHOOD CALL:** +Robinhood called and I had a conversation with them. Basically asking me if I was okay and about what had happened. The guy was pretty nice over the phone and asked me to reach out for whatever reason and if I had any other questions. That was most of the conversation though. I explained about me posting here and that everyone helped me with what was going on. Nothing out of the ordinary just a “How are you holding up” conversation and if I had any questions. I’m just relieved it’s over really. Also pretty sure they were calling to make sure I was still alive, even though that sounds horrible to say. + +I want to personally thank each and every one of you especially u/MichaelBurryScott who helped me throughout this whole fucking thing and u/chknbscts who helped me out from over at WSBs + +Thank you all so much for the helpful advice and amazing comments. You all helped keep me EXTREMELY call compared to what would’ve happened if I were to have gone through this alone + +You have no idea how stressful this was the first night of this happening. I received absolutely ZERO sleep and had some pretty dark thoughts pop in my head + +I’d like to take this time to reach out to NEW traders and highly HIGHLY recommend you search this sub and ask questions, research and most importantly NOT trade and options until you have an exact idea of how much it is you can both profit, lose and how to execute everything + +I would also like to take this time to remind us all that ROBINHOOD is an absolute shit platform that has YET to reach out to me and say anything about this while this sub has handled this situation better than anything I could have ever dreamed of. + +Another reminder, LIFE is a precious thing. I’d like to take this time to remind everyone that a couple months ago a 17yr old boy took his life by something exactly like this happening to him. He did NOT reach out for help and instead took his own life because of a bad UI on Robinhood and poor experience with option trading. I have to admit that this situation has taught me some extreme life lessons and I am probably the only person in this world that really understands why that guy took his life...I can’t tell you that I would have the stones to do it to myself but let me tell you this, there were absolutely some insanely dark thoughts that were positioned in my head. + + +Thank you all. Apart from potentially saving my life you saved me from debt and ignorant positions that I had no business opening in the first place. I am debted to all of you. +I've been using them for 8 years, then tonight I tried making a small purchase on my debit card to add some more BTC. I got locked out and said I had to verify my identity. + +Spent the next 4 hours, repeatedly sending the same drivers license they had on record. + +Then they had my hold up signs with writing and the date. + +Then finally, I'm told I've been verified but "you'll be unable to send any crypto until some unknown time in the future." I go to see, and when I clicked "Send" it showed restricted. Couldn't give me any reason why. The first guy I spoke with could barely communicate clearly. + +Immediately liquidated everything to USD Coin and cashed it out via my debit ASAP. + +Now I'm looking for a reliable alternative....if there is one? +Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you can't make money in it or that there are potential legitimate uses for it. But I think stuff that people like Michael Saylor try to sell about Bitcoin is total bs. + +You'd think you're listening to a religious pastor when you hear him spread pretentious ideas about how bitcoin is the future of finance. Lmao. + +I'm sure bitcoin still has big bull runs in its future but I don't see any evidence of what libertarian hard-core crypto people claim about it happening. + +Ultimately though I think much of the massive money that gets put in by whales is to pump up the market and eventually cash a lot out when it gets big enough, and leaves retailers in many cases screwed over. + +What do you think, whether you agree or disagree? + +🐻 🐄🐮 +I constantly see modern shows on TV and I see people living in destitution but they're living in these really nice houses. A shining example of this is when I see the show "Kobra Kai" and I see one of main female leads "Tori Nichols". And then she's living in a huge house in LA. However, the character is dirt poor and constantly being fired from job to job. I'm like, "You'd never be able to afford that". Anyone else having similar thoughts +We hear about property prices growing all the time, but is anyone actually seeing it with their own eyes? I bought an apartment in the inner west in late 2017. 4 years later The places in my area are still selling at a 10% discount to where they were in 2017. + +Now people are talking about rate rises and just recovering to break even is looking even less likely +Edit: **WE ONLY HAVE TO HOLD AND DRS** \- but the last one not with the arguments I mentioned in my post + +I have been thinking about how to phrase this for days. + +Of cause we should drs , but the rest of this theory is bullshit for our goal. + +Please read this at first from + +[u/-einfachman-](https://www.reddit.com/user/-einfachman-/) + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/wnqsy8/comment/ik70ms6/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/wnqsy8/comment/ik70ms6/?context=3) + +All these posts with "brokers will delete your shares and you are left behind if you didn't drs" will only do one thing: since not all shares can be registered directly, there will be millions and millions of shares left, the owners will get nervous and scared when the time comes and will think: "I'd better sell now than wait for my broker to liquidate the shares", and that will reduce the much needed pressure on the very brokers who have to buy back shares. + +It will do the exact opposite of what we want to achieve. + +And guess who wants exactly this . Or this posters don´t think about the consequences. +I've just moved flats and Octopus automatically put me on their flexi tariff (Occupier Flexible Octopus). I got given no choice and they put me on 30p per Kwh + 30p standing charge per day. Their estimated energy usage for the property is around 30,000kwh / year. If my maths is right that comes to 30,000kwh \* 30p = 900,000p = £9,000 per year (and that's excluding the standing charge). + +It doesn't seem right at all - I live alone, this is a one bed and this bill is electric only (excluding heating which I have to pay separately). We paid around £60/month on our previous two bed flat in the same building (it's cat b for energy efficiency) literally last month, on a contract we entered into last Nov. + +Does anyone have any idea what on earth is going on here? I will literally be unable to pay my bills if this is right (after the next rise my electricty bill will be almost equal to my rent if this is correct). +there are over 2000 cryptocurrencies more if you count the inactive ones. this sub is great, but i wonder what other resources you guys use to find potential moonshots? + +The only other i know its bitcointalk forums, but there is so much garbage on there its hard to find quality posts. + +Curious on what resources / sites used to find gems. even great ones like quant. they took times to filter into this sub it seems, though i could be wrong and i missed it. people mention so many coins on here, its hard to remember. ive started keeping a file of coins mentioned here to research later. + +to add to that, whats your approach to researching all the coins flown around here? each coin often takes a lot of time to investigate, sometimes it can be dismissed outright as it doesnt make sense to use for blockchain. stuff like quant, thats a weekend of reading. +I got into crypto in the crab market last summer - Bitcoin was ~$9300 and a movement of $200 in either direction was a spectacle. Crypto spaces were dominated by technical discussion. Debates were about the viability of proof of stake instead of the character of billionaires. Right now it feels like emotion drives the discourse and while often compelling, it’s a waste of time. There’s a lot of excitement entering the space. If you’re a newcomer, the best thing you can do for yourself is try to familiarize yourself with the underlying technology. Help bring some reason to a chaotic environment. +We sold last year and we have been renting so we could take our time to find the perfect house. + +We can’t stay where we are at the moment because of a long boring story about school catchments and a tween wanting to spend to high school with their friends + +I found a house, in the catchment, that I really like but I am worried that the real estate market will fall off a cliff. +We have been looking for a few years and nothing has really rocked out boat so I am excited to find something that ticks all our boxes. +I have also found a rental that we could move into instead. We could wait 6-12 months and then buy when the market cools/collapses. + +This is our forever house so no plans to move again for 10-15 years. + +I guess that I just don’t believe that the banking regulators, the banks and the government would allow it to crash. + +I would really value your thoughts and insights. +Hi All, + +My partner and I are beginning to look at buying a home in Brisbane for around 650K. I've done some research but would love wisdom of the crowds to help us make sure we are not fooling ourselves. This is our ceiling from my perspective and I wouldn't justify anything beyond this. I'm mindful that we could wind back some of our present expenses and could also consider a much cheaper place further out. I would love to get your thoughts/experiences! + +**Finances** + +* $200,000.00 combined annual income (before tax) +* $180,000.00 in savings +* $10,739.00 after tax per month +* $3,000 in monthly expenses (excluding rent, inclusive of utilities) + +**Target Home** + +From what I understand, this should mean: + +* $520,000.00 mortgage +* $130,000.00 deposit (20%) +* $20,000.00 in upfront costs (approx) +* $3,000 per month for mortgage, council rates, home and contents (assuming $600 per week mortgage) + +**Final figures** + +* $30K leftover (roughly 5-6 months of expenses) +* 27.6% cost of home +* 27.4% living expenses +* 45% savings rate, so 57K in savings per annum +Key Points +- GE is planning to cut about 13,000 of jobs in its aviation unit this year amid a dismal market for new jets. +- Boeing has warned that a recovery in travel demand could take years. +- The 25% cuts will be permanent and include involuntary measures and voluntary ones like early retirements. + +[Full article on CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/ge-aviation-plans-to-cut-its-global-workforce-by-25percent-this-year-as-coronavirus-hurts-travel.html), [GE stock price](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=GE) +Hey /r/personalfinance! + +Its a little long down there sooooo lets start with the readers digest version...Also throwaway account because finance talk ;) + +**TLDR:** In 4 1/2 years I went from being 20k in debt to [surpassing 100k net worth](http://imgur.com/aRQi970) thanks to /r/personalfinance by: + +1. Increasing my income from $0 to $100k per year without increasing lifestyle/expenses +2. Living well below my means +3. Eliminating Debt +4. Not taking on new debt +5. Saving and Investing in Retirement +6. Being proactive and positive in my career + +I cannot believe I actually hit 100k net worth today...its seriously surreal. Words can't describe how grateful I am... both for the financial security I have today and the help /r/personalfinance has given me along the way. Without you guys I have no idea where I would be. I had zero financial knowledge before... like nothing. + +In the past 4 1/2 years the financial advice and expertise you've provided has opened my eyes to a future I couldn't have dreamed of before. I wanted to share my success and offer my story/help to anyone else struggling financially this year. I promise things can and will get better with patience, a little perseverance and of course hard work :) + +**My Life Before PF (2011)** + +In the interest of keeping things clear and concise... i'll just give you the key bullet points. + +* $20k of Debt (Student Loans - BA in Sociology) +* Unemployed (Lost Social Work Job during the recession) +* Credit score - Around 350-450? (BoA would not give secured CC to me) +* Broke and on food stamps +* Only income was selling T-shirts on the street + +**Moment of Revelation** + +The moment that pushed me to take control of my financial destiny was being denied a secured line of credit and needing to sell my favorite surfboard for rent on the same day. I had never had a credit card before, knew nothing of credit scores and didn't understand why I was denied. I also had no money in the bank and $20 in food stamps for a week of food. + +I realized I needed to understand the financial forces in the world to live the life I dreamed of having. I also realized that those forces were already working against me. If I didn't learn to make them work for me I realized I would be destined to a life of insecurity, doubt and fear at every unexpected expense. + +I was 27 years old. + +**Creating a Plan** + +1. I started reading and learning as much as I could about personal finance, credit, loans, debt, etc. +2. I discovered /r/personalfinance and immediately posted about my financial situation and asked for advice. +3. Based on that advice I did the following: + * Decided to transition careers and started applying for internships and entry level positions in new fields. + * Requested my free credit report and created a game plan to tackle outstanding debt/negative marks + * Organized student loans according to interest rate and created a plan to aggressively highest interest loans and work my way down. + * Once I had steady income, resolved to establish an Emergency Fund that would give me a 3-month cushion should I lose my job. + * When all of the above was completed...start saving for retirement and building credit + +**Step #1**:***Increase Income and Career Potential*** + +Increasing my income potential and career prospects longterm were of utmost importance to get my finances under control. As such, **I resolved to start from the bottom and work tirelessly develop my skill set.** No matter how much pride/sacrifice it might take... I decided I would find and excel at a new career. I jumped right in and... + +* Identified my transferable skills and polished my resume +* Decided that I wanted to work with startups/companies developing exciting new technology +* Immediately started applying and interviews. +* NO JOB WAS ABOVE OR BELOW ME...If it seemed interesting and like I had even a few relevant skills I would apply. +* This process was essential in refining my personal pitch and honing in on the positions/areas that interested me the most. +* Not to mention all of the phone interviews/in-person interviews we invaluable training for future job searches + +After a few weeks I was offered an internship and a great company for 20-hours a week at $10 an hour. All of the other interns were still in college, most couldn't even drink and despite feeling like an OLD ASS MAN at 27... I knew this was a great opportunity and jumped at the offer. + +**Step #2** : ***Work Hard, Move Up*** + +From the interview my internship it was explicitly stated that no interns would be hired. I decided my new goal would be to change their minds. My performance would convince them to keep me around. **SO I PROCEEDED TO WORK MY ASS OFF!** By the end of the internship: + +* I'd learned more than I could have imagined +* I had two full-time offers on the table from companies I'd applied to over the internship +* When I told my intern supervisor, he said "Do not accept another offer... we want you here." +* The next day I signed an offer letter at the company I interned with starting at $50k a year. + +IMPORTANT NOTE: + +I've continued working with the same zeal and dedication. As a result, I've been promoted several times and my salary has increased from 50k a year to 100k a year. I believe a strong work ethic can make anything a reality. + +**Step #3** : ***DONT LET MONEY CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE. LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS*** + +My new salary allowed me to immediately start saving and tackling debt...BUT ONLY BECAUSE I DIDNT SPEND THAT MONEY ELSEWHERE. If I was living on food stamps before... I should be able to keep my expenses low right? + +I continued to live well below my means and put all of my extra money into paying down debt, then saving. **This meant no new cars, no new debt, and no frivolous spending sprees.** I had to keep my eye on the prize even if I wasn't under such intense financial pressure. + +Within 1-year I had: + +* Paid off ALL OF MY STUDENT LOANS + +* Increased my credit score by over 100 points + +* Established an emergency fund of $1000 + +* Begun utilizing my companies 401k match + +* Promoted and given a pay raise + +**Other Essentials** +1. I have found that YOU HAVE TO BE PROACTIVE to increase your income, salary and position. + * I initiate salary reviews on a yearly basis with my superiors + * Jump at the opportunity to take on new responsibilities + * Being proactive doesn't mean forcing you're way on others + * I always look for the right and appropriate moments to further my career goals while remaining teachable + * I NEVER FORGET THAT EVERYONE IS REPLACEABLE and work hard to be an asset to my company + +2. Pay CC off in full every month and don't take on new debt + * If I want a car... I buy used and wait until I have the cash on hand + * Same goes for any consumer product + +3. I now MAX OUT ALL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS THAT I CAN + * 401k + * ROTH IRA + +4. I maintain a liquid emergency fund that will cover EVERYTHING AT MY CURRENT LEVEL OF EXPENDITURE for 6-months + * I dont touch it + +There is so, so much more I could add... so if you have any questions at all please ask away... I love helping people with this stuff since it the advice I was freely given here literally changed my life. Anyone can do it! I swear! + +Last but not least... THANK YOU ALL AGAIN. If it wasn't for /r/personalfinance I'd still be lost in life! + +EDIT: WOW..the skeptics are strong... I didn't immediately respond to comments with questions because i posted this at 2am... then went to bed. I am going to go through today after work and respond to everyones questions one by one.... even if it takes me till 4am. + +EDIT #2: I did not win the lotto or inherit any money + +EDIT #3: Job progression and salary information ... + +* Assistant Community Manager: $50,000 K +* Community Manager: $66,000 K +* Operations Manager: $80,000 K +* Head of Operations $100,000 K + +NEW YEARS EVE EDIT #4: +I just realized its new years eve so I just wanted to let you all know that I plan on hammering through comments tomorrow afternoon/evening... I have not forgotten about you. You all are my first priority for the new year. + +https://www.axios.com/pinterest-ipo-terms-private-valuation-430d186d-56d5-4a07-acc0-dda415b11734.html + + +This company is going to get bulldozed by Instagram. Reminder that within the same days Pinterest officially filed to go public, Instagram conveniently leaked this upcoming feature: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/22/instagram-make-collection-public/ + +Bazinga. +I’m still numb from this, but yeah, I paid off all of my high interest CCs today. (I used a lower interest personal loan to do so, but still.) + +I just want to celebrate this significant milestone for me without having anyone put me down, criticize, or diminish this moment. + +I can’t believe I actually got this done a few months before turning 30. +The current situation is a paradox where seemingly bad news is actually excellent news. We all want this to pop off but the diamond handers need more time to rescue shares away and put them into the unassailable diamond vault. Don’t you get it ape? A delay in the MOASS is your desired outcome, something you should be cheering for daily and relieved about at closing bell. +So much confusion, so much FUD, for something that is done all the time; the process should be very simple and well understood by the participants, and yet the markets and social media are ablaze with flaming bags of shit. + +So what just happened? + +Split as Dividend, what is it? A stock split as dividend is a standard forward stock split (as being reported by many brokers), with the important difference of utilizing the delivery mechanism of a Dividend. + +Split - in this case and any other, the shares of holders was to increase by the given ratio prescribed by the firm, everyone should understand this. In the case of standard splits, the shares are multiplied, price divided, Bob's your uncle. + +Dividend delivery - with this mechanism, the firm "creates" new shares in the ratio determined for delivery to the **shareholders of record**. This is an important distinction. The shares of the company are held in 2 places. Legitimate shares are either owned by individuals and institutions at the transfer agent (Computershare) or they are owned by Cede and Co. That's it. ^((excepting for deprecated paper shares that may still exist but are being phased out)) + +So the splividend shares are created by the company and delivered to Cede and Co. for distribution via the transfer agent. All the shares not owned at CS by individuals and institutions are owned by CaC, who use the DTC to do the accounting of the allocation of shares to beneficial owners through brokerages. This process is described by the SEC as such: "DTC holds... securities in "fungible bulk," meaning that there are no specifically identifiable shares directly owned by DTC participants. Rather, each participant owns a pro rata interest in the aggregate number of shares". + +As the DRS shares are removed from the Splivi shares, and the pile is significantly reduced, we expected pressure to be put on the DTCC in the distribution of the shares. What we see is that they've used the same business-as-usual process as always, but with very abnormal effects. + +What did they do? + +If they are all held in fungible bulk, how could the difference in reporting of share source occur? As this data carves an ever deepening wrinkle in my marble smooth brain, it occurs to me that the false accounting may not be at the DTCC but at the brokers themselves. So the DTC has the correct number of fungible shares held in bulk with a pro rata interest allocated to each broker in line with the 4:1 ratio of the splividend. However, as we've discovered since the sneeze, most brokers likely haven't bought all the shares held by their customers, and some (CFD) never bought any of them. Not to even bother mentioning rehypothecation and naked shorting. + +So as the number of fungible shares owned by the broker increased by 4, so did the number of shares SOLD NOT PURCHASED by the broker. From an accounting and reporting perspective, if a broker is reporting dividend, then they likely own the shares their clients hold and as such can report appropriately, whereas the split reporting brokers have likely not purchased the full obligation of their customer shares, and thus need to manage their books independently as a normal forward split to keep from being forced to go in to the market and purchasing the shares to deliver. + +Why is this all so fucky where others weren't? + +We are seeing an effect from this splividend where there was nothing noted in previous split-as-dividends exactly because of apes involvement. No one cared what kind of shares they had in G00gle, 4pple, or T32la. They see the adjusted shares in their account and move on with their day. + +Here we have a million apes at a million keyboards pounding out RC's space symphony in unison, searching for every last real share. DTCC can't hide from us. So brokers who've had to split as usual are getting a lot of heat from apes. We can see in real time, even if veiled, the level of naked shorting present in this stock. How many brokers/shares were delivered as splits? That is likely how many naked shorts are in the market, except now 4x more. + +And the confusion and uncertainty surrounding these is very likely driving many apes as well as non-ape, by standing investors to start, or finish their DRS journey. I expect the numbers to grow exponentially over the next quarter (if we get there). + +WARNING, conjecture ahead: *I believe that 741 is a magic ratio. ONU esrever. There is a point where it will become clear that there are not enough fungibe aggregate shares owned by Cede and Co. to cover all of the "pro rata interest" obliged to participants in the DTC and their customers, much less the outstanding contents of the obligation warehouse. At that point, the non-buying brokers will see the idiosyncratic risk to their survival in too few shares being available to cover their stake, and call in the IOU's. From a fiduciary and mathematical standpoint, I would consider 25% liquidity in the asset as an emergency minimum, so as the liquidity crossed under 26% (25.9), the broker would want to move to a buy/recall position, igniting the rocket if it's still on the pad. From this the MOASS will be launched, if by nothing else, as the tradeable shares \[Float - (Insiders + Institutions + DRS)\] approaches 25.9%*. + +That's it, we've done it. By OWNING a stock that we like, the simple act of a patient ape, a characteristic that retail has been derided for lacking over many decades of market action, we have guaranteed the implosion of these outmoded, obsolescent and inescapably corrupt market mechanics. + +**Tl;dr: Hedgies R Fuk.** + +&#x200B; + +Edit: Tl;dr 2: as requested + +Gamestop sells 100 shares. + +Hedgies short sell 200 shares. + +Apes DRS 25 shares. + +Gamestop 4:1 splividend + +Now 400 shares. 100 shares DRS, 300 @ DTC. + +But brokers hold 1100 obligations against 300 shares. + +Hedgies must buy back the outstanding shares at any price when the brokers decide not to go bust. + +Hedgies are Fuk. +I just bought 4,000 more shares to bring it up to 10,000. Am I officially one of the bigger players now? Can I get a shout out from our GME gang? GAMESTOP going to bankruptcy? I'll fucking do it again and make it 15,000. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/p66uqv0hed561.png?width=815&format=png&auto=webp&s=5f7b632665569ea28a293ff09a2feb499e39615d +All I have is a medical assistant certificate. I make about $21 an hour but its in a HCOL area so it dosen't pay well. I filed bankruptcy last year so I have bad credit. My car payment is $400 a month and I owe about 10k on it. When I applied to nursing school I got waitlisted. I can't afford to go to college fulltime and if I go part time it'll take forever to get my degree meaning I'll tread water for 6 years. I'm jealous of seeing people my age getting married and buying homes and I still have roommates and I still feel like a kid. I'm just frustrated with everything. +When searching for a company to do a DD on this week for this Discord, I initially was struggling to land on a company. There are just so many dividend growth companies on my watchlist that I didn’t know where to start. Initially I was wanting to do a write up on HanesBrands, ticker $HBI, due to everyone needing underwear and socks but then I realized I hadn’t put on underwear since I got home from work on Friday, so I just couldn’t bring myself to break that streak to product test this company as thoroughly as I would have liked. However, this did lead me to throwing away some older underwear from the back of my drawer and having to race out to get them in the bin before the truck picked up this morning. Funnily enough, it was this little act that led me down the rabbit hole of America's first, largest, and objectively best waste management company, $WM. This write up will attempt to go over some of the reasons I view $WM as a prime choice for any dividend growth investor who is seeking to add to their industrial holdings by buying a company worth holding for 20+ years, including some basic financial information, how WM can grow into the future, as well as some potential problems with the stock that I see. Finally I am not a financial advisor and this is written purely for the purpose of sharing some publicly available stock info in the form of a poorly written, weed induced WM DD, I hope you enjoy. + +The aptly named Waste Management, ticker symbol $WM, is an industrial sector powerhouse with first mover-advantage specializing in the waste management sub-sector that has been slowly and steadily raising its dividend over the last 18 years. Waste Management operates primarily with four different revenue streams consisting of waste collection, landfill operations, waste transportation, and finally, recycling. It is with these four primary sources of revenue that allow $WM to boast a current dividend yield of 1.68% with a yearly dividend of $2.30 paid out quarterly in March, June, September, and December. This dividend represents a payout ratio of only 53% which is not very high at all and is actually very sustainable. In fact, it has a dividend safety score of 98 from simplysafedividends.com and is over where management is aiming for their dividend to be (between 40-50% according to their 2020 Investors day presentation.) In addition to being very sustainable, a payout ratio of 53% also leaves room for growth, and $WM has been doing just that. While it's 4 year average dividend yield is just slightly higher at 1.98% compared to todays at 1.68% the amount that yield represents has been growing at an average rate of 41.46% over the last 5 years, 28.24% over the last 3 years, and even in the shitstorm that was 2020, WM raised its dividend by 6.34% just showing that this company not only cares about it's dividend growth, but that it can easily afford to raise its dividend as one important thing to note is that during the last 18 years (since 2004) of consistent dividend increases, the payout ratio has more or less remained unchanged, maintaining managements preferred 40-50% payout ratio with occasional outbreaks such as where we are currently due to a contagious outbreak that rocked the entire world. Finally, Waste Management has a Current Price of ≅ $138, an analyst price range of $125-$160, and an average analyst price target of $144 showing some room for this stock to still raise or fall to a better entry point if it does fall to test the lower analysts prediction. + +Moving on from the dividend and surface level stock price breakdowns, $WM has a current P/E ratio of 37.7 and I know this might seem very high, it actually isn't when you compare it to other waste management companies. For instance, WM’s next three largest competitors are Republic Services, with a P/E of 35.2, Clean Harbor, with a P/E of 36.7, and Waste Connections, which has a huge P/E of 141.13 (this is the only one of the three that I went and checked multiple sites and yes, it really is that big...) As you can see, a P/E ratio in the low to mid 30’s basically comes with the territory of being in the waste management sub-sector. Just as the P/E ratio comes with the sub-sector; growth in the form of acquisitions will almost always bring some additional debt as its +1, and this is the next aspect of $WM’s balance sheet that I want to touch on. In 2019 Waste Management achieved a major milestone for any company, it officially made enough to fully pay down it's yearly short term debt and pay off future long term debt, an achievement it had not completed since at least 2016 (and possibly before but this is the furthest back I could find regarding short term debt payments). Regardless, this is still an important feat as it shows that $WM is making enough money to support not only a growing dividend, but also additional amounts of debt to fund new acquisitions now and in the future. Now how can I make the claim that they can afford to take even more debt on? Well in 2020 (yeah the shitiest of shity years for businesses) $WM paid off all their short term debt and an additional $7.8 Billion in long term debt as well, just showing the strength of it's balance sheet and how the acquisitions it's made are paying off in time. + +Finally the last bit of financial digging I did resulted in me coming across something that did cause me to pause and I feel that any decent DD should include some potential negatives to put the positives into a better, more complete light. The elephant in the room in regards to Waste Management is it's unusually high P/B ratio of 7.7ish. While this ratio is generally not as important in the industrial waste management compared to say the financial sector, it is still important to compare it to its peers. The same three competitors mentioned above all have lower P/B ratios than $WM. Ultimately this just means it is slightly overpriced compared to its book value, this can be explained away simply by the fact that in 2019, seeing that it could pay off all it's short term debt, Waste Management added a large amount of debt to its balance sheet so that it could buy new acquisitions, one such acquisition was Advanced Disposal for 4.6 Billion. This higher P/B ratio also explains Morningstars 2 star rating. However my response to this information is just this: If you plan to buy and hold a stock for 20 years, isn’t it better to open your position early, accrue dividends and price appreciation, while buying dips, than to just wait for its P/B ratio to dip down to a level you’re more comfortable with? Especially considering that there is a very good chance that as the debt goes down as the acquisitions begin paying for themselves, so too will the P/B ratio fall. + +Moving on from financials and more towards hard assets, Waste Managements true strength starts to take form as it truly lives up to what one imagines from a company with first-mover advantage in its respective sub-sector. The company services over 20 million residential and 2 million commercial customers in 48 US States, Canada, DC, and Puerto Rico. $WM has a total of 293 active landfills with an average remaining lifespan of 22 years per landfill. They also have 346 waste transfer/consolidation stations, 146 recycling centers making it the largest recycling network in the nation , 16 waste to energy facilities that burn up to 23,000 pounds of trash to generate up to 670 MW/hour of electrical/steam energy, enough to power 660,000 homes. Waste Management also boasts 4 new Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facilities that have already created more than 16 million gallons of RNG since coming online. This is enough RNG to power 1/3 of their 26,000 strong fleet and sell the remaining to local energy companies that then use the RNG to power roughly 460,000 homes. Finally every other landfill that WM owns and operates that isn't a special waste-to-energy or RNG facility also has some more basic ways to capture the methane that comes naturally with decomposing trash and sells that to local gas-to-energy companies that use the supplied methane to help power an additional 180,000 homes per year, bringing the total number of homes powered by trash to a whopping 1.3 million and WM only plans to raise that number to over 2 million in the coming years. + +The last aspect of Waste Management that I want to discuss is their future growth prospects and why I am bullish on them as a company overall despite the higher than average P/B ratio the company currently has. Everyone creates waste and we all need that waste taken away somewhere so that we can live the normal lives we have become accustomed to. In addition to being the largest, the first, and objectively the best waste management company, $WM is also investing heavily into renewable energy by harnessing the naturally occurring methane and other RNG’s that are simply by-products of their primary business. In addition to selling the naturally produced energy that they found themselves having on their hands, $WM has also found a way to make money off of full and capped landfills by taking advantage of existing power lines that run to and from local electrical infrastructure turning them into solar farms and boosting the local power supply. Waste Management is also currently undergoing a change in it's payment model, a shift away from a flat rate bundled model that didn’t take into account the costs of processing and holding the waste $WM picks up, and is changing to a fee-for-service model which will take into account everything from pick-up to transport, to recycling to even the costs it takes to turn that waste into energy. This move will essentially turn every action $WM takes into a way to make money. By providing such an essential service that no-one is exempt from needing, $WM has positioned itself amazingly to continue being the industry leader in waste management for decades to come. And that is no understatement, Waste Management has proven to be a very sticky company with a customer typically being a customer for 10+ years. The final aspect of $WM’s growth potential I want to dig up hits closer to home for me and those in Texas than others, and that is Waste Management basically has a monopoly in Texas. Yes there are competitors here, but between being headquartered in Houston which is the 4th largest city in the nation and rapidly growing, and having cornered the market in the new silicon valley cities of San Antonio and Austin, $WM can rest easily knowing they have future customers for years to come. + +Overall I am extremely bullish on Waste Management and see this as an investment to hold for the 25 to 30 years I have left until retirement and honestly, with $WM I might get to retirement early, and while investing in trash might not be a dirty job, as someone who grew up watch Mike Rowe, I think it's only fitting that I make my portfolio get a little dirty to make money. +I have been holding Bitcoin for over 5 years. I truly want to know, almost in as layman's terms as possible, how is it that the price of crypto in general fluctuates with the United States stock market? It would be ludicrous to suggest when the market goes down in the USA 5% that BTC and other cryptos going down near 5% also is just always a coincidence. . . + +Is it really as simple as when times get tough people tend to sell crypto before they sell their stocks? The reason I am asking is because I feel like BTC is going to dip lower if and only if the market keeps going down (which is will in my opinion). I feel like the S & P 500 will be at 3,000 at year end. Which ratio wise would put BTC around $13,500 per coin. + +So, as someone who has been holding BTC before it was even known by 10% of the first world population, explain what I am asking please. + +The CanYa app will become publicly available this Friday. After an extensive search for freelance and digital nomad pioneers around the world the alpha app is now finally ready for use by the public !!!! For further information please join the CanYa community channel on telegram or discord and browse the CanYa website ! +I'm sharing my story with the hope that I can prevent people from following in my path, so gather round for a tale of youth and financial irresponsibility. + +I began investing in crypto in October 2017 when some co-workers of mine started getting into crypto. I didn't invest too much at first, but I almost made 10,000 dollars from XRP within two months, decided to ramp up my investments, then almost made another combined 10,000 from other coins. Well, I say "almost" because I never cashed out of course. I felt like things were only getting started in December 2017 and that my gains would skyrocket in 2018. I was getting more greedy and my mind ran wild with the financial possibilities of crypto. Days at work would be spent researching crypto and daydreaming about retiring before I'm 30. I felt like a Cryptodamus and that every crypto I invested in would produce crazy gains. I would always read "don't invest more than you can afford to lose," but would idiotically dismiss it just because I made lucky gains on some shitcoins. + +At first I would make Coinbase purchases with credit cards, then I moved on to taking out loans after Visa started considering credit card crypto purchases as cash advances. My dumbass figured "hey, I'll just use credit cards for everyday purchases and take out loans so I have money to invest in crypto now." Within the span of about 8 months I took out three loans totaling about 15,000 dollars. I treated crypto like a glorified casino and would constantly "buy the dip," telling myself it's just a really short bear market and the next bull run is just around the corner. What do I have to show for my crypto investments? A portfolio that's 77% down. I still buy crypto every now and then, but it's only a very little in order to DCA some of my investments. I should've been smarter and put just a little into crypto from each paycheck. The moment you start putting in more than you can afford to lose is the moment you need to step back and reevaluate your life. + +My reckless gambling has put me in a hole where I can barely stay financially afloat. Oh, did I mention I emptied out my savings back in 2018 to buy crypto? Yes, that was another blunder I strongly suggest no one else does. I managed to build my savings a bit back up, so now I'm almost 2 missed paychecks away from financial ruin instead of 1. My friends, family, and girlfriend have no idea how financially fucked I am right now. + +At this point I just want to cash out to pay back my loans and credit cards, but I'm at a point where cashing out wouldn't be enough money to pay them back, so it's not worth it. I figure I'll just weather the storm until a bull market returns. If it doesn't, I'll be picking up the pieces of this gamble for years. Good thing I'm only in my mid-20's I guess. Just don't do what I did. It's not fun having financial burdens (that you yourself created) looming over your head every day. + +TLDR: Recklessly gambled like a dumbass. Got rekt. Also, have a game plan for taking out profits. +I came across this article from an economics professor that basically goes into more detail on the topic I used in the title. I’m curious as to everyone’s feedback on this idea because it seems to combine the two things typically advised against the most: taking money from your 401k and paying off your mortgage. + +The author proposes using the latest 401k tax adjustments from the CARES Act that waives the 10% early withdrawal fee, but also claims it would be savvy even with the fee. + +Do these rules continue to hold strong and this is a doubly bad idea or would unprecedented current events make you reconsider? + +I thought this was relevant to FI because housing costs are typically the primary concern for many. If paying off a mortgage earlier rather than later allows you to focus on additional savings and financial independence, is it worth it? Especially if you plan to stay in the same house for the next 10+ years and have another 20 or more left in your career. Personally if our mortgage were $500 a month, we would have a lot of freedom to decide what comes next and not necessarily take the highest paying job. + +[Read the article here. ](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2020/04/08/given-current-rates-cashing-out-your-401k-to-pay-off-your-mortgage-can-make-you-a-bundle/#6ef7ed24b09b) + +Under the act, loan limits have doubled from $50k or 50% of vested balance (whichever is lower) to $100,000 or 100% of your account balance (whichever is lower) total without the 10% early-withdrawal penalty. + +I am by no means an expert on how the CARES Act work, but there appears to be two kinds of applicable benefits in terms of your 401k: + +1) Withdrawal - under the act, you don’t pay the 10% penalty normal to individuals under 59 1/2. Additionally if you replace the money within 3 years, you are able to recover the federal and state income taxes that apply to the withdrawal according to the American Retirement Association. + +2) Loan - To qualify, the loan must be made within 180 days after the act was passed. The participant won’t owe income tax on the amount borrowed from the 401k if it’s paid back within 5 years according to the American Retirement Association. +The quote in the title is common when people are bullish after good news. I’m not going to go against it, if it works it works, but I’ve always had one question(also obvious in the title lol): where do you get the rumor? + +You can’t download a news app and get rumors off there, because isn’t that news? + +Do I listen to random people on reddit who are balls deep in a penny stock nobody’s even heard of(no, no I don’t)? Or who are posting bullshit charts and qualitative analysis trying to pass it off as DD(shoutout to the people who post real DD on here, i acknowledge the dedication & skill it takes for one of those posts)? + +Where do I get these rumors? Should I start a joint account with a homeless guy who claims he has a 1000% per year guaranteed strategy? +# WE DID IT!!!!!!!! APES STRONG TOGETHER! + +Tweet from Nordnet: + +[Translation: \\"Nordnet wil register a \\"non-vote\\" in the general assembly of gamestop\\"](https://preview.redd.it/1dplrvq7ov171.png?width=537&format=png&auto=webp&s=665c23b9133a5e755360aa51727814e9c6634fcf) + +I lOVE ALL OF YOU! Thank you for making this post visible! thank you all! + +# This is for the 329 812 shares to be voted for! Help us spread this! + +I have been mailing, teksting, calling and Facebook posting them for some time. and today i finally received the following comment from them: + +Facebook OP: + +[Facebook comment](https://preview.redd.it/c4pmobghcu171.png?width=497&format=png&auto=webp&s=7a4a5dc8763f43d306a375e8a688831136bee5f3) + +**Translated:** + +From me: + +"Dear Nordnet - Please let us vote. listen to your customers and take your responsibility! If we are not able to vote, make an effort to at least vote blank for us so that the vote count goes through!" + +**Answer:** + +Hi, we are investigating the possibility to register a "non-vote". We will give out information to all shareholders when we have reached a conclusion" + +&#x200B; + +**How can you help?** + +Continue to add pressure. Not to be a big ape d\*\*k, but to help motivate them. Without us, they don't have a company! GO GO GO + +Not financial advice!!! + +Buy, Hold, Vote! + +Edit 1: typo's + +**Edit 2: WE DID IT - information added!** + +Edit 3: Added correct amounts of shares (thank you u/nioxstar for the information) +BACKGROUND: S.O. and I have been wanting to get a better financial plan in place for a number of years. Biggest goal for the near term is to buy a house, but frankly we've been overwhelmed by how to properly spend the decent chunk of cash we've been lucky enough to be able to save up. Add to this, S.O.'s career has been taking off as of late, and it seems likely that we'll have more income coming in than we've had in the past. We've both saved for retirement, but I'm sure could do better. + +NOW: A colleague recommend we talk to his financial planner (fiduciary). We had a very long "getting to know you conversation" with her this week, and came out of it fairly impressed. + +Her rate would be 1.25% annually of the retirement accounts she would manage (\~$200K), plus a yearly fee of $500 (more the first year). I've always subscribed to the low-cost interest funds approach, so this feels like a lot to pay, but the comfort of having an overarching plan, particularly in areas BESIDES the retirement arena seems particularly valuable to my S.O. and I at this moment in time. + +Obviously, going forward with this would be a luxury. But are there any red flags here that we should be aware of? +Let us just take a moment in time and appreciate what a fantastic year Eth has had. It is easy to lose sight, especially with all of the crazy shitcoins that are pumping and dumping lately and the Scams such as Squidcoin that is taking up most of the headlines, but let us not forget that this time last year Eth was $383.68!!! And now 1 year on we sit at over $4300!! Let that sink in all you so called Eth killers! + +Eth has been on an absolute rocket ship for most of this year and with Eth2.0 just around the corner 2022 could be even bigger! This just goes to show investing in legitimate projects long term is almost always the best way to go. + +Eth killers be warned ⚠️ the old girl is not stopping anytime soon! +[GameStop.com](https://www.gamestop.com/) || Shop [Internationally](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/vyyzmx/gamestop_retail_international_nft_game_informer/) || [NFT Marketplace](https://nft.gamestop.com) + +GameStop [Investor Relations](https://news.gamestop.com/) + +# 🙋 ​[What's GME & should I consider investing?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qig65g/welcome_rall_looking_to_catch_up_on_the_gme_saga/) + +# 📚 Library of Due Diligence [GME.fyi](https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/kosyg) + +>A collection of over 200 of the most important, groundbreaking **D**ue **D**iligence. If you're looking to familiarize yourself with the GME bull thesis or the underhanded tactics of the short sellers involved in this trade– then this is for you + +# 🟣 [Computershare Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/wedijp/drscomputershare_megathread_082022/) + +>Wondering what DRS is? Want to know how and why people are Direct Registering their shares? Here you'll find our guide and additional resources, as well as a welcoming community answering questions in the comments! + +# 🥢 [4:1 Split/Dividend Megathread](https://redd.it/vtvbl8) + +>On July 6, 2022, GameStop Corp. (the “Company”) issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors had approved and declared a four-for-one stock split in the form of a stock dividend. Each Company stockholder of record at the close of business on July 18, 2022 will receive three additional shares of the Company’s Class A common stock for each then-held share of Class A common stock, to be distributed after the close of trading on July 21, 2022. + +# 🏴‍☠️ [NFT Marketplace & Wallet Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/vluysg/gamestop_nft_marketplace_wallet_megathread/) + +>Why is GameStop getting into NFTs? *WTF* even is an NFT? How do I set up a GameStop Wallet? How do I get a cool/custom wallet address? All these questions and more are answered here! + +**Read** [**the Rules & Wiki**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) **||** [**MOASS FAQ**](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq) **|| Join our** [**Discord**](https://discord.gg/Superstonk) + +How to [feed DRSBOT](https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEOrphans/comments/qlvour/welcome_to_gmeorphans_read_this_post/). Low karma? Post your DRS on r/GMEOrphans + +How to [Filter by Flair & Search](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/v0oxp2/how_to_filter_by_flair_search_for_posts_on/) on Superstonk + +Tag u/Superstonk-Flairy for user flairs, find [custom emoji options here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/v89p0h/new_superstonk_user_flair_emojis_how_to_edit_your/) +Greenwich Lifesciences (GLSI) has already ran up like crazy over the week which is great. Tomorrow ought to be a great day which is great. Money is great. + +But even better... + +Breast cancer just took a kick in the teeth!! + +You can find all of the info here as well as a 2 min audio explanation from the man himself: https://greenwichlifesciences.com/clinical-trials/ + +FUCK CANCER +I feel I need to post this to deflate my ego. I lost some money on the hype of GME/AMC and humbly cashed out after reading a post on here saying to cut loses and move onto the next possible money maker. + +I immediately started researching and better educating myself on options trading, which is how I ended up here. I'm taking the time to learn different strategies and WHY those strategies are implemented on certain stock trends. Learning the "Greeks". I'm trying to learn as much of the fundamentals as possible so I don't make the mistake of the above mentioned ever again. + +I've checked out the sidebar and FAQ, which has a lot of great information for beginners such as myself. I feel like a sponge and want to learn as much as possible. Thus, if anyone has links, informative websites, or just personal experience they recommend for a new trader, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn. + +I have a portfolio on E-Trade with $3500 to start (10% of my liquid portfolio, -5% lost on FOMO GME/AMC). I have long investments <250k that is managed through a financial advisor. Thus, I'm not learning options trading with money I absolutely need for Daily needs. My goal is to breakeven, or make 10% in my first year while learning the fundamentals. I hope this is a reasonable goal to obtain?. + +I guess what I'm getting at is, I appreciate people in this sub taking the time to help educate new traders. Thank you once again, and I'm truly appreciative of the seasoned veterans taking the time to help out the new guy! + + + +Edit: Wow!! Thank you to all the strangers that gifted awards and took the time to write such detailed and helpful comments. I think I just found the community I want to be a part of and help grow with. Its such a breath of fresh air in here! +From California, finally got a job a month ago with insurance, so I got my teeth checked after years of not having insurance. I got quoted: + +$600 for cleaning +$1200 for root canal +2x $2000 for crowns +9x $400 for filling + +I was just stunned in the dentist chair when the dental hygienist was explaining the cost and that was with insurance already. + +I guess I will just be wearing dentures I my 30s. + +My plan was to save up and go overseas to get dental work there. I estimated even with flight and accommodation it is still going to be a lot cheaper than what I was quoted. + +How in the hell are people getting their dental work done nowadays?! $600 for cleaning? $400 per tooth to fill it?! + +Edit: + +Thanks for all the replies. Some additional info, I went to a dentist walking distance from my work in the Bay Area, around Palo Alto. Them charging the bourgeoisie tech bros in the area might have an effect on their pricing. + +I also double checked my insurance, it was the basic one, a $1000 annual maximum, but the cleanings should be 100% covered and filings 70%. They just charge $1600 to the insurance that's why I still have to pay $600. + +I will not deny I haven't been the best at regularly brushing my teeth, but I'm no slob either. I don't have any pain nor any problems with my teeth, I just went to the dentist since I thought ill let my insurance take care of it. + +Like most of the people said here, going to Mexico or other countries is my plan right now. For the minor stuff like cleaning or filing, ill go to another dentist and get 2nd or 3rd opinion and find one that will not overcharge me for basic procedures. +As someone who thinks of himself as somewhat financially literate, this was an absolute shocker. + +I received my CC bill for ₹27,750 on 12th Jan. On 30th Jan (the due date), I did not remember the exact amount I had to pay, and was too lazy to search for the statement, so I paid ₹25,000. I knew it was less than the bill amount by 1000-2000 bucks, but I was like 3% monthly interest on 2000 is 60 rupees, I'll check and pay it in a couple of days. + +THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS. + +If you miss a payment by more than a couple of rupees, what effectively happens is that your interest free period is suspended, from the date of generation of the previous statement. In effect, since my previous statement was generated on 12th Jan, all transactions from then until today were accumulating an interest of 3% per month. I *also* need to pay interest on the 25,000 I *did pay* from a period of 15th Jan to 30th Jan. + +There is absolutely no warning or alert from the bank that my credit card is accumulating 100 rupees in interest daily. They do explain it with an example in the T&Cs, but the numbers used are so innocuous that what you see is 134 rupees in interest levied on a non-payment of 3000 rupees in bill, and you think to yourself - this is not too bad (for a rainy day, that is). + +Worst part is that you don't have a legal basis to fight this. You owe the bank the transaction amount from the day you executed a transaction. At 39% pa. The only reason you can get away with not paying until the end of the month is because the bank, as a _goodwill gesture_, gives you a grace period. This grace period is at the liberty of the bank, and can be withdrawn when specific conditions (mentioned in the T&Cs) are met. When that happens, they recover all the points and cashbacks you slaved away for. + +Checkmate. + +**UPDATE**: _Called Citibank and the agent said that they have put in a request for a reversal, but it's not guaranteed. Fingers crossed_. + +**UPDATE 2**: _Charge reversed, and a valuable lesson learnt. Thanks /u/theblahking11, /u/hapuchu, and everyone!_ +recently got interested in the stock market. I started looking in YouTube videos of intraday trade using technical analysis. Since these videos weren't structured I ended up buying this book "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets". I got the impression that the examples that were given in the book were only those examples where the "rules" actually worked. Even though the book mostly talks about long term trading, I started watching price movements everyday at the market open. Trying to implement some of the rules I read about to real Markets. The trendlines seem to fit pretty well to the past prices, but when it came to predicting stock prices I had no idea what I was doing . Eventually I started to feel predicting stock prices just by reading charts seemed like a long strech . But people do make money using technical analysis. What are your thoughts on this? +What is the standing of your portfolio compared to the peak at January? + +Till which value of index/month do you think the downtrend will continue? + +Any site where I can track the p/e of smallcap and midcap indices? +The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has picked up stakes in companies such as Swan Energy, Granules India, Rajesh Exports, Omaxe India, Future Lifestyle, Tata Coffee and Gateway Distriparks at elevated prices at a time liquidity dried up at smaller counters. + +LIC has also increased its holding to 11 per cent in Indiabulls Housing Finance and 3.4 per cent in Dewan Housing Finance by the end of September, just before the two stocks crashed. + +&#x200B; + +Public money, who cares! + +&#x200B; + +full article [here](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/lic-stocked-up-vakrangee-dewan-indiabulls-housing-just-before-crash/articleshow/67137729.cms) + +&#x200B; +What do your daily goals look like if you set them? + +I'm shooting for $1,000 a day this week. Stop by the free stream and see if I hit it. Will be live trading on stream 9:30-4pm market times. + +https://twitch.tv/jtradez +https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/occ/2022/34-94165.pdf + +# What is proposed? + +>this proposed rule change would: + +>* (1) implement a new model for incorporating variations in implied volatility +within STANS for products based on the S&P 500 Index (such index +hereinafter referred to as “S&P 500” and such proposed model being the +“S&P 500 Implied Volatility Simulation Model”) to provide consistent +and smooth simulated volatility scenarios; + +>* (2) implement a **new model to calculate the theoretical values of futures on +indexes designed to measure volatilities implied by prices of options on a +particular underlying index** (such indexes being “volatility indexes”; +futures contracts on such volatility indexes being “volatility index +futures”; and such proposed model being the “Volatility Index Futures +Model”) to provide consistent and stable coverage across all maturities; +and + +>* (3) **replace OCC’s model to calculate the theoretical values of exchange traded futures contracts based on the expected realized variance of an +underlying interest** (such contracts being “variance futures,” and such +model being the “Variance Futures Model”) with one that provides +adequate margin coverage while providing offsets for hedged positions in +the listed options market. + + +# Why? + +>the volatility changes forecasted by OCC’s **current Implied Volatilities Scenarios Model are +sensitive to large, sudden spikes in volatility, which can at times result in overreactive +margin requirements that OCC believes are unreasonable and procyclical** (for the reasons +set forth above). Such sudden, unreasonable increases in margin requirements may stress +certain Clearing Members’ ability to obtain liquidity to meet those requirements, +particularly in periods of extreme volatility, and could result in a Clearing Member being +delayed in meeting, or ultimately failing to meet, its daily settlement obligations to OCC. +A Clearing Member’s failure to meet its daily settlement obligations could, in turn, cause +the suspension of such Clearing Member and the liquidation of its portfolio, which could +harm investors. + +So new model to "protect investors" by not having a scenario where certain clearing members fail to meet sudden increases in margin requirements. **Do we have any wrinkle brains that understand this stuff and can give a better analysis of the proposed changes**? Is this another proposal veiled as "it'S fOR InVeStOrS pRoTeCtIoN" when in fact it is to protect the clearning members and the OCC org itself? the OCC proposal even goes as far as to explain the current system vs the new proposal, but without being a quant or something, it's tough to tell whether they present only the facts they want you to read. all these legalese with "the OCC *believes* the new proposal is in compliance with existing laws", so who's to make sure it actually does? lying by omission and all that.. + +Paging /u/MauerAstronaut u/Zinko83 /u/Criand /u/sweatysuits /u/gherkinit as authors or contributors to [the variance swaps DD](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qoz68k/how_variance_swaps_can_explain_oi_in_far_otm_puts/)s + + + +&nbsp; + +The OCC does not want comments on this proposal + +>Clearing Agency’s Statement on Comments on the Proposed Rule Change +Received from Members, Participants or Others + +>Written comments on the proposed rule change were not and are not intended to be +solicited with respect to the proposed rule change and none have been received. + +&nbsp; + +but the SEC does + +>Solicitation of Comments + +>Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views and arguments +concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule change is consistent with +the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods: +Electronic Comments: + +>• Use the Commission’s Internet comment form +(http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or + +>• Send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File Number SROCC-2022-001 on the subject line +I read u/possibly6 (Elliot Wave Guy) update from today and the SPY puts being Citadel's largest position, along with all the others holding those same puts, got me thinking. + +They obviously see the coming crash, to think they haven't seen it coming far longer than us, is criminal self-deception. They are preparing to make as much money on the way down as they possibly can. + +On the way down in a collapse they created. They are going to make even more money after they cause the market to implode. Let that sink in. + +Even if they didn't do anything that lead to the collapse (hardly likely), they stood by and did nothing while the rest of the industry went right ahead and fucked main st and ruined lives, again. When you stand by and let illegal things happen when you are in a position of responsibility, you are just as complicit in the crime being committed as the actual perpetrator of the crime. More so if your job is to stop said illegal activity and you knowingly let it continue. (Looking at you SEC and Finra) + +FUCK + +THESE + +FUCKING + +FUCKS + +EVERY + +FUCKING + +LAST + +FUCKING + +FUCK + +To any employee inside one of these firms that could actually blow the whistle on these guys, be the hero humanity needs. Gather all that damning evidence and release it onto the internet before you go into hiding. +I asked this in FIRE but was told to come here. + +I'm 22 years old. Started doing online marketing for a friends dad's restaurant at 17. From there I got referrals, then more referrals, and 5 years later I have almost 200 small business clients. I have picked up a hobby of buying and selling a few luxury watches a month as well. + +I didn't go to college. I didn't buy dumb shit. I just saved my money and worked hard. + +My family (Mom, Aunt, Uncle, Grandparents, Cousins etc) are a normal working class family with lots of debt, especially student loans. We had a lot growing up until I was 4 when my parents divorced because my Dad owned a successful business. + +Besides my Mom, there's a lot of snide comments. There's a lot of asking for money, asking me to pay for shit, guilt tripping of 'We're all family", etc. "You paid more for your Range Rover in cash than we owe on our mortgage? That's disgusting after all we've done for you" + +It's almost like money has ruined my family - and it honestly sucks. And no I'm not saying I'm wealthy, especially compared to some of you in this sub, but to my family, having $10k in the bank might as well be a billion. + +Has anybody else here had similar experiences? How did you deal with it? + +\*I'm in Los Angeles, they're in the mid-west. This happens when I see them IRL and when I talk to them on the phone\* +**Discovering my core values** + +I was born and raised in an upper-middle income family in Mexico City under catholic values but turned agnostic as I grew older. I kept the values that made sense, such as the importance of charity and giving back, and threw away the ones that were outdated, such as the focus on guilt as a motivator of change. + +As a kid, I remember how conflicting it was to see other kids working in the streets, starving, drugged, and abused. I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t focus on their education the way I did. That planted a seed in my spirit that still grows. + +**Seeing in economics hope** + +As a teenager, I entered the rabbit hole of economics with hope. Economics seemed to be this mystical force capable of solving the world’s biggest problems: poverty, corruption, global warming, and many more. I knew that the way we were doing economics was wrong and I wanted to change that. + +Just think about the horrible things that have been done under the name of communism, such as the Cambodian genocide, or how the United States, the crown jewel of capitalism, makes of fundamental rights, such as healthcare and education, profitable businesses instead of granting everyone equal access to them. + +While studying my undergrad, I quickly fell out of love with the idealistic idea of economics as an almighty force that can conquer all evils. I saw how economics was often used as an excuse to force simplistic representations of culture and society into complex problems. I never understood how that approach of thinking about problems in a vacuum could be useful. + +**Understanding the power of financial services** + +Later in my life, while working as a consultant for McKinsey, I finally understood the importance of financial institutions. They decide who should do business and have access to goods and services and who shouldn’t. And financial institutions don’t grant everyone that right. It was clear to me that that was a problem that needed fixing. That’s why I devoted so much time studying this industry back then. + +I came to Berkeley to Business School more out of inertia than out of will. I was sponsored by McKinsey and had an offer to go back. I didn’t know exactly what to do with the experience, but I knew I wanted to keep exploring financial services. During my MBA, I heard about Bitcoin in a serious academic environment for the first time and it immediately caught my interest. + +Via Berkeley-SkyDeck, UC Berkeley's accelerator, I heard about lastbit (lastbit.io) for the first time. I read everything I could about the project and about the founder, this cool, heavy-metal lover, who wanted to change the world with the disruptive power of Bitcoin. I could see myself in him. I had to meet him. After failing to meet him in person at an event, I just cold emailed him praying for him to answer. He did. + +That’s how I came in contact with Prashanth for the first time, this impressive 25-year-old genius who managed to get Charlie Lee on board of his project with little more than a prototype. There’s a reason why he managed to do this. Today Bitcoin is almost impossible to spend. With Prashanth’s his solution, anyone will be able to swipe a card or tap their phone and pay with Bitcoin instantly anywhere where they are able to pay with their credit card today. Something not so long ago possible only in bitcoiners’ dreams. Through Prashanth I finally understood what Bitcoin really is. It blew my mind. + +**Unveiling the real meaning of Bitcoin** + +Bitcoin is not an investment asset, it’s the possibility of a new social contract. Bitcoin is a decentralized, transparent, and auditable network to store and transmit value to which everyone in the world can have access to. This presents a real opportunity to redefine money, which today is inherently centralized, first by central banks, and then by financial institutions. The centralization of money has at least three critical problems that Bitcoin solves. + +First, there is a macroeconomic problem that has to do with monetary policy and that today with the COVID-19 economic crisis is more relevant than ever. Money is supposed to be a reflection of real economic value, but some central banks print money arbitrarily. Bitcoin’s monetary supply is limited by design. Second, centralized financial services are discriminatory and don’t allow free access to everyone. Bitcoin is universal and free. This means that for the first time in human history, everyone will be able to participate in the global economy. And participation is the pillar of democracy. Third, central authorities control private information. The recent attacks to high profile account on Twitter illustrate how vulnerable private information is when stored in centralized networks. Bitcoin allows people to have full ownership and control of their personal and financial information, protecting both their identity and their wealth. + +As such, Bitcoin emerged in front of my eyes as a way to instrument basic democratic principles in a way in which everyone can have equal representation. Money as we know it will soon be a thing of the past because money as we know it not fair nor egalitarian and now people can choose. + +I had to quit McKinsey. I had to leave Mexico. I had to stay with lastbit. I had to give this project my all. +Bro idk why you guys think raising it slowly and dropping it hard and then lowering it slowly over time and bringing it up a tiny bit and then dropping it again is going to work on us LMAO + +We play video games. We spent our whole lives trying to understand the patterns of bosses so we can finish them. + +I spent DAYS trying to beat certain bosses and then when their pattern became clear, it was a breeze. + +Your pattern became clear a long time ago. + +You are pathetic. Honestly. I'm not trying to psyche you out. I'm being completely transparent. We see right through this. And why am I typing this? Because I'm a bit underwhelmed. I'm feeling disappointed. I wanted the fun of watching it dip to $5. But you can barely manage a $100 dip with ALL your might. + +This is sad. +Bro idk why you guys think raising it slowly and dropping it hard and then lowering it slowly over time and bringing it up a tiny bit and then dropping it again is going to work on us LMAO + +We play video games. We spent our whole lives trying to understand the patterns of bosses so we can finish them. + +I spent DAYS trying to beat certain bosses and then when their pattern became clear, it was a breeze. + +Your pattern became clear a long time ago. + +You are pathetic. Honestly. I'm not trying to psyche you out. I'm being completely transparent. We see right through this. And why am I typing this? Because I'm a bit underwhelmed. I'm feeling disappointed. I wanted the fun of watching it dip to $5. But you can barely manage a $100 dip with ALL your might. + +This is sad. +**Short backstory:** My father developed Parkinson's after having a near death experience. He now no longer can work, and my mom is not working to take care of him. Right now their only "income" is unemployment, and they're struggling to get him disability. + + +**The issue:** My parents want to buy a cheap house, because the mortgage would be much more affordable than any rent in this area. The problem is that they can't get any financing with neither of them working. Thus they came to me to purchase a house in my name. I've never purchased a home before, and there are "first time home buyer" benefits in my state, such as the state matching up to $10k of the downpayment costs, waiving certain fees, etc. + + +However, I have a lot of personal debt (student loans, medical bills due to pre-existing condition, monthly bills, vet bills, etc.), and have even assumed some of their debt to help them out. I'm doing the best I can, but it's not the greatest financial situation. I want to help them and ensure they're taken care of, but I'm worried that buying a house in my name that I'm not living in could negatively impact me financially. Either due to taxes, or potentially hurting my credit and jeopardizing my chances of getting a home for myself, someday. + + +Are these legitimate concerns, or am I just being paranoid? I want to help my parents the best I can, but I don't want to be ruining my financial future in the process. +# Solving the Blockchain Trilemma + +Algorand (ALGO) is a blockchain network (i.e. like ETH, ADA, SOL) that attempts to solve the "blockchain trilemma" - the ability of a network to be simultaneously scalable, secure and decentralised. ALGO's transactions per second (TPS) is 1k, with a 4s finality. Transactions cost 0.001 ALGO and the network already offers L1 smart contracts. However, the network will be upgraded in Q3-Q4 2021 to 45k/s TPS and 2.5s finality, ranking it toward the top for speed and scalability [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/120720-Algorand%202021%20Performance.pdf). ALGO is currently experiencing \~1m transactions per day, placing it close to ETH in usage. + +**Main Conclusion**: ALGO is, along with other projects, building and pioneering "Blockchain 3.0". + +# Academic Rigor + +Algorand was founded by the Turing-award-winning, MIT professor Silvio Micali - and is backed by an excellent team with solid peer-reviewed academic prowess and publication record [(Source 1)](https://www.algorand.com/technology/research-innovation/research-papers) [(Source 2)](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=silvio+micali&btnG=). Silvio Micali conceived of and pioneered zero-knowledge proofs (among many other concepts) - a key and integral part of many cryptocurrencies. ALGO's respectable and trustworthy team boosts ALGO's chances of mass adoption, especially in the financial/institutional sectors - which appears to be ALGO's key target demographic. + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO's reliability, technology and ability to form partnerships is bolstered by the prestige and talent of its team. + +# Pure Proof-of-Stake + +Algorand uses pure proof-of-stake (PPoS) as a consensus mechanism, which employs **algo**rithmic **rand**omness and an improved form of Byzantine agreement to achieve decentralisation + security. PPoS differs from regular, delegated PoS (dPoS) in a number of ways, including: + +* No pooled validators (i.e. holders do not pledge their coins to a minority of super-validators). Theoretically, this minimises the drive toward centralisation that dPoS suffers from. +* ALGO node running is permissionless (i.e. anybody with >1 ALGO can run a node, be a validator and participate in consensus). +* PPoS is extremely lightweight (an ALGO node can be run on a low energy, $50 Raspberry Pi 4 - no expensive hardware or upfront cost is required). + +A key feature of PPoS is the use of a randomised, weighted lottery that selects validators - known as VRF. This prevents any malicious actor(s) from attacking the network since the identities of the currently selected validators (who must be corrupted in order to carry out an attack) are not known until the block is already finalised. At 1-4k validators, PPoS is paradoxically superior to dPoS in terms of decentralisation - even if the latter had 50,000+ nodes. This is because validators under the dPoS system are long-lived and known. By contrast, ALGO's random selections vary on both a *round* and *subround* basis - that is, block proposers, voters, vote certifiers all vary, across all steps of creating a block - making it incredibly secure and decentralised. + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO is fast, scalable, secure while remaining decentralised. + +# Staking Rewards & Governance + +ALGO currently offers liquid and seamless staking with an APY of \~5.75% - you simply hold ALGO in a non-custodial wallet and there is no lock-up period. On Oct 1st 2021, governance is launching and this will gradually replace staking. In exchange for voting on proposals, you will be rewarded with 7.5-33% APY (depending on the number of participants). For the initial 3 months, this APY will be ***in addition*** to the passive 5.75%, meaning you could theoretically earn up to \~38.75% APY. Governance will not only allow ALGO holders to vote on changes to the network, consensus mechanism or tokenomics - but also select projects to receive developer grants (see below). + +**Main Conclusion**: ALGO offers highly competitive staking APYs and will further decentralise by handing voting power to holders. + +# Carbon Negative + +PPoS is extremely lightweight - consuming \~0.000008 kWh per transaction [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/blog/sustainable-blockchain-calculating-the-carbon-footprint). That's \~70,000x less energy than ADA, and 116250000x less energy than BTC. + +The energy that is used by ALGO is 100%+ offset via carbon credits. An on-chain sustainability oracle analyses the energy utilised by each node and a partnership with ClimateTrade (and others) then channels this funding into reforestation, peat management and wind-energy projects [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/algorand-announcements/carbon_negative_announcement). + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO is eco-friendly, and the world's first carbon-*negative* blockchain network. + +## Developer Friendly & Ecosystem + +Algorand is extremely accessible to developers [(Source 1)](https://developer.algorand.org/tutorials/) [(Source 2)](https://developer.algorand.org/docs/reference/sdks/). Most importantly, it supports development in **Python, C++, GO, Java, Javascript and RUST** \- removing the need for developers to retrain or learn new languages. ALGO's smart contract language, TEAL, is incredibly intuitive and can be accessed via Python (PyTEAL). **As of TEAL 4.0, the language is now fully Turing-complete.** In addition, Algorand offers comprehensive, detailed documentation and tutorials (for free) - see Source 1. + +Moreover, \~$200-250m is available to support developers and 50+ grants have already been issued [(Source)](https://algorand.foundation/developers/developer-incentive-awards-program). In total, \~600-650 companies are currently developing on ALGO and intend to deploy DApps/ALGO-based services [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/). + +Yieldly, ALGO's first DeFi app launched, \~2-3 months ago and has enjoyed a high TVL since. A number of high profile projects, including ALGO's first DEX are launching shortly this year. Tokenized, real-estate projects (e.g. [Lofty](https://Lofty.ai)) are also currently operating successfully on ALGO. + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO has the ability to instantly attract developers, and is poised for an explosion in its ecosystem. + +## Real World Use + +A key feature of Algorand is that it is *forkless* \- it is mathematically impossible for ALGO to fork [(Source)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439751930091X). This is extremely important for real-world usage. Businesses accepting ALGO will not only experience rapid finality but can trust that the transaction is not on a forked branch of the blockchain that can be lost. This is even more important for NFTs. Thus far, ALGO has seen major adoption, recently including: + +* 70M South Americans (potentially 200M soon) using ALGO to issue + store COVID-19 passports [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/vitalpass-vaccine-tracing-latam/) +* BNext adopting ALGO for its $100b/year Spain<->Latin American remittance service [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/bnext-announces-next-generation-remittance-service/) +* MAPay adopting ALGO to power $800m/year in healthcare payments for Bermuda [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/mapay-to-implement-blockchain-based-solutions-on-algorand) +* SIAE, one of the largest and oldest digital rights management companies in the world, launched 4.5m NFTs onto ALGO - representing the work of 10,000 artists and which will involve $100m/year in royalties [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases/siae). +* ALGO was recently featured in a World Economic Forum (WEF) report on cryptocurrency - listed as a recommended "VIP" blockchain that solves issues with BTC/ETH and proof-of-stake [(Source)](http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Getting_Started_Cryptocurrency_2021.pdf). This document will be seen by institutions, banks and economists worldwide. + +The list goes on and on [Here.](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases) + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO is already being deployed for large-scale and institutional solutions. + +# Tokenomics + +ALGO has a maximum supply of 10,000,000,000 (10b) coins, and \~57% of the supply has been released so far. The schedule for coin release is detailed here: [(Source)](https://algorand.foundation/the-algo/algo-dynamics). In addition to this, ALGO operates an 'accelerated vesting' algorithm: if the 30-day moving average (30MA) reaches a new ATH, the rate at which new ALGO is introduced into circulation is accelerated. The combined effect of this is a significant rate of annual inflation - and artifical suppression of price i.e. **ALGO is not a short-term investment.** Inflation will ease over time for 2 reasons: + +* Accelerated vesting is estimated to end in \~mid-2023 +* Coin release slows over time (see the above source), and we are already \~18-24mo ahead of schedule - so it's very unlikely that it will take until 2030 to finish the process. + +Eventually, suppression of the price will cease. Until then, ALGO exploit this stability to build large-scale partnerships since less volatility is often viewed favourably. + +**Main Conclusion:** ALGO's tokenomics are less than ideal, and the project is to be seen as a long-term investment only. + +# Relay Nodes & Initial Distribution + +ALGO relies on a set of \~100-120 relay nodes to maintain high-speed transactions. Relay nodes are distinct from participation nodes (which participate + drive PPoS consensus) - they simply direct traffic (i.e. an ISP). In order to reward early backers (i.e. relay node runners), a large amount of ALGO was allocated to them. This raises concerns of centralisation. Algorand have acknowledged this, and are now opening up relay node running to the community [(Source)](https://algorand.foundation/news/community-relay-node-running-pilot). This will, however, require more expensive hardware. The details are listed in the above source. + +Moreover, the Algorand Foundation also own a significant portion of ALGO. However, the foundation is non-profit and this ALGO is used to fund R&D directly and issue developer grants. Because of this, the % the foundation own is diminishing over time. + +**Main Conclusion**: ALGO appear to have favoured developing a stable blockchain and securing major partnerships first, before moving toward decentralisation second. + +**Final Conclusion:** For a chain that launched only \~2y ago (June 2019), it has accomplished a great deal and its future, to me, seems extremely bright - however - only consider it if you're prepared to hold. + +&#x200B; +[Post 1: Basics: CALL, PUT, exercise, ITM, ATM, OTM](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdft5z/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_1_of_4/) + +[Post 2: Basics: Buying and Selling, the greeks](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdg9xc/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_2_of_4/) + +[Post 3a: Simple Strategies](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgomwv/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3a_of_4/) + +[Post 3b: Advanced Strategies](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgp05y/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3b_of_4/) + +**Post 4a: Example of trades (short puts, covered calls, and verticals)** + +[Post 4b: Example of trades (calendars and hedges)](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hu8uh9/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_last_post_part/) + +`---` + +In parts [1](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdft5z/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_1_of_4/) and [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdg9xc/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_2_of_4/), I explained the basics for options. In parts [3a](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgomwv/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3a_of_4/) and [3b](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgp05y/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3b_of_4/) I explained simple and more advanced options strategies, but all of this does not help much without concrete examples. These two last posts (4a and [4b](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hu8uh9/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_last_post_part/)) conclude my introduction related to options. I will show some of my key trades, explaining the why, the how, the entries and exits, and potential mitigations in case of losses. Most gave great returns, and I had a few small losses. Overall, in the past few months, I have been lucky to play along with the market, and the high volatility had a positive impact. Hopefully, nothing r/wsb worthy (although few of them might qualify :)). I wanted to explain the basics first, then show the trades last, as I did not want anyone to try to emulate these without understanding how/why they worked. + +First, here are the high-level idioms that drive my investments: + +* Over time, the market is going up. +* It can fall down violently, or it can jump high without obvious signs ahead of time. +* When the market goes down, it will go back up over time, and that can be very quick. +* A single stock will be more volatile than the markets and can go up or down even more violently. And unlike the market, if it goes down, there is no guarantee it will ever go back up. +* After a significant market move, the market often, but not always, reverts to the mean. + +These idioms are pretty straightforward, and should not be too controversial. Overall, I am pretty market neutral, with a bullish tint. And as I explained before, I prefer selling options than buying them. My trades reflect that, and I avoid making trades that could damage my portfolio significantly if the market went up or down significantly. People who get ruined with options do not take this into account and are just gambling. + +Other key things about trading in general, and options in particular: + +* Always have a clear idea of your max profit and your max loss, and the probability of that to happen. Failing to understand this means that you will take more risk than anticipated, and one day you could blow up your account and get ruined. +* Keep your trades small, don’t have a “sure thing” trade that risks 10% or more of your portfolio. Don’t cripple your portfolio because of one bad trade. +* Don’t trade for the sake of trading, wait for the conditions to be right, then wait a bit more, and wait again, then when things look the best, then trade on your own terms. Do not get sucked into gambling with a poor profit/risk profile. +* Watch out for your leverage, it can be very easy to take too many risks, and use too much of your buying power. If you mix your bearish and bullish bets, you can close one side at a profit to free some buying power and reduce overall risk. + +Now the moment we have been waiting for, some of my trades: + +**The short naked puts or covered calls:** + +I only do pure covered calls when the market has dropped significantly, and use the recent market conditions as a floor. March dropped quite hard, and I am not convinced that we would reach it again soon, but I still have to prepare for it. That being said, the months of March to June have been really good for covered calls as the market traded up first, then sideways, with high implied volatility. I usually target shares that are solid or did not go up too much, so the March floor is not too far lower than my strike. I usually sell naked puts after a few down days in a row and covered calls after a few up days in a row. And if the market is farther from the floor, I trade safer names when the market goes up, and target high beta when the market dropped significantly. + +I am not giving you a full list, but let’s say that it was not hard, and still is, to find good names that return 1-2% per month AFTER accounting for a 15-25% share drop. Yup, you read that right, it does not work in normal markets, but it is the case right now. Even if **$WM, $WMT, $INTC, $NNN, $EWW, $DLTR, $COF, $BAC,** etc. dropped by around 20%, I would gladly pocket my 1-2% premium, and scoop these at a huge discount. Even if it dropped further, I can continue rolling the puts until the market bounces back. Some of the high beta names include **$CCL, $REM, $DIG, $BUD, $JETS, $XOP**, etc. For a high beta, I am targeting 3-5-10% or more of premium, but I usually try to offload them when they go up significantly. + +But there are few other riskier trades that are worth calling out: + +**$DKNG - DraftKing: 11.8% in \~3 weeks.** + +I forgot about the IPO, and got in the game 5 days later. Although, I am not a gambler, and the stock went up already, but I had a feeling that RH fams would jump on it (gamblers beget gamblers), and that would give a floor to the stock. Volatility was high, so selling naked PUTs made sense. + +May 7: SELL -1 DKNG 100 15 MAY 20 22.5 PUT @ 1.06 + +Per contract - Max risk: $2144 - Max profit: $106 (4.9% of max risk) + +May 8: SELL -1 DKNG 100 19 JUN 20 22.5 PUT @ 2.15 + +Per contract - Max risk: $2035 - Max profit: $215 (10.5% of max risk) + +As you know the max risk of going to $0 is possible but highly improbable, so RORAC (Return on Risk-Adjusted Capital) is much higher than these 4.9 to 10.5%. + +The $1.06 premium was one week before expiration! I sold the MAY and JUNE PUTs at the same time. And the price was at $24 already. If the price dropped, I would continue rolling my PUTs until I am profitable. The price went up, I rolled my MAY PUTs just before earnings (and a day before expiration), to take advantage of the earning volatility, and avoiding expiration day. + +May 14: SELL -1 DKNG 100 15 MAY 20/19 JUNE 20 22.5 PUT @ 2.15 + +Per contract - Max risk: $2035 - Max profit: $215 (10.5% of max risk) + +So one week later, I bought back my MAY PUTs for $0.25 (pocketing already 3.7% of the profit) and sold the same JUNE contract as the week before with a better price and an overall premium of $2.15 (same as the week before, despite paying back the $0.25! And the stock was already up in a week. Can you believe that shit? Volatility increase definitely helped. Thanks RH gamblers!). + +June 1: BUY +1 DKNG 100 19 JUNE 20 22.5 PUT @ 0.05 + +After a bit more than 3 weeks of holding, I decided to buy back all my contracts for $0.05 per share, for an overall 11.8% profit on risk. I pretty much reached max profit already, no need to take more risk, with 19 days to go to expiration. FWIW the stock was at $44 by expiration. It was way too much for my taste, with no premium worth the risk of any new trade. + +Could I have made more profit buying shares, calls, or synthetic shares? Sure. But there was no guarantee on the direction, timing, or amplitude of the move. Here, I won almost 12% with a high probability of success, even if the stock barely budged or dropped a bit. And since 6/19 expiration, the stock dropped to $33 now. It’s hard to predict when to sell. I want many singles and doubles with few losses, instead of once in a while home runs with many losses in between. + +As it dropped for 5 days to $33, I recently sold some PUTs for a $22.5 strike again: + +June 29: SELL -1 DKNG 100 21 AUG 20 22.5 PUT @ 1.25 + +Per contract - Max risk: $2125, max profit: $125 (5.8% of max risk) + +Because the PUT was deep OTM, the premium was low. The stock will have to drop by more than 35% for me to start losing money, and I can still roll my PUTs then. That seems a good trade. Wish me luck! + +You can see here, that you have to look at your max risk, your max profit for every trade you are getting into, as well as the chance for them to be profitable. + +**$USO / $DBO / $USL: 12% in 2 months** + +Here is one that **absolutely did not go to plan** initially, but I was able to turn it around. + +First, the trade that led to the disaster: + +April 17: SELL -1 MAY 15 20 4 PUT @ 0.35 + +Per contract - Max risk: $365 - Max profit: $35 (9.5% of max risk) + +Remember that USO split 1:8 on April 29, if you want to look at the numbers. On 4/17, USO was worth $4.20. Oil kept dropping and dropping for weeks and weeks, until that Friday where I decided that it was finally a good time to get into oil (like a bunch of other suckers). The lowest oil price in 40 years, etc. My trade could absorb a 14% loss in USO before I started losing money, so it did not feel too risky, and I could roll the PUTs if needed. USO rolled all their future contracts earlier that week, they were already into May Futures. Yeah, contango was a concern but seemed manageable (or so I thought). + +Well, except that on Monday 4/20, oil blew up. What was bad, became an awful day. Oil tanked hard because April futures dropped, and some people paid to get rid of their contracts. Tankers started to get full, too much oil, and not enough space. USO dropped to 3.75, it was still above my break-even point of $3.65, but the volatility spiked, so the value of my short put increased a lot, that was some heavy losses. Why did I go into that trade on Friday, gosh?!? + +The volatility was so high, every oil trader was running around like a headless chicken, RH gamblers were taking much heavier losses than mine (because they started buying USO long before me, oil was going to go back up, that was a sure deal! Right?). I decided to wait one more day, to see how the dust would settle. On Tuesday, USO dropped even more because now it started impacting next Month's Future (May). Tuesday was the April Future expiration, so trading was all over the place. USO dropped to $3, well below my break-even point, volatility was still high, my losses were twice as big. There was a strong possibility that May Future expiration would behave the same as April, and the rollover of May Futures to June Futures would end up in a real quagmire due to an even higher contango. USO was not the right tool, I messed up, no way moving forward, even rolling my PUTs are not going to do it, USO will drop faster than the premium I can collect. Get out, get out, get out... + +April 21: BUY +1 MAY 15 20 4 PUT @ 1.42 + +I bought back my short PUT at more than 4 times the premium price. Gulp. That hurts. + +Taking a step back, this was an extreme situation and not a normal loss with a stupid long term thesis. And I lost a bit of money jumping at the wrong time. A negative future price is not a common occurrence. + +USO was the wrong instrument to profit from oil, it even dropped down to $2.11. And never recovered its value from 4/17 despite oil being higher than that day. I made a mistake, but there must be better instruments that can tackle contango. Enters DBO and USL. DBO has a 6-12 month away contract, so very little impact from contango. USL has the same number of contracts from all months (next month, month after next, etc..., until the 12th month). It is mostly impacted by the contango on the front months (so for 1/12 of the value, or a bit more), but it is not as volatile as USO (USO since changed their composition too, to buy multiple months futures). + +Oil blew up, volatility is extremely high, many oil traders (and RH gamblers) got ruined, but oil is bound to go up eventually. The initial trade to sell volatility through selling naked puts, and rolling as needed until oil goes back up, without being killed by the contango still seemed sound with even less risk and better rewards this time around. + +April 20: SELL -1 DBO MAY 15 20 6 PUT @ 0.63 + +Per contract - Max risk: $537 - Max profit: $63 (11.7% of max risk) + +April 20: SELL -1 USL MAY 15 20 12 PUT @ 1.05 + +Per contract - Max risk: $1095 - Max profit: $105 (9.5% of max risk) + +April 21: SELL -1 DBO MAY 15 20 5 PUT @ 0.90 + +Per contract - Max risk: $410 - Max profit: $90 (21.9% of max risk) + +April 21: SELL -1 USL MAY 15 20 11 PUT @ 2.25 + +Per contract - Max risk: $875 - Max profit: $225 (25.7% of max risk) + +Notice that I sold the first batch on April 20, as I was still losing money from USO. The volatility spiked, and it was too good to pass. This is a key reason why you should never put all your money on one trade, but only a few percents at most. That way if the things are not going as planned, you don’t lose a ton, and if you can find a more advantageous position, you can double down if you have some dry powder left (but DO NOT overdo it!). It’s all about the proper sizing of trades and overall risk. I sold the 2nd batch when I closed my losing USO trade when oil dropped further and volatility increased even more! 22% to 26% potential profit on ATM puts? Just wow! + +The plan for the exit is to close for $0.05 or roll to the next month for further profit. I sized my DBO and USL trades a bit more than my USO trades, so I would make up for the heavy losses. And I did roll in May and closed the June contracts for $0.05 both DBO and USL. Their prices both creeped up slowly, and the volatility dropped to something normal. DBO and USL trades were extremely profitable, and despite the heavy USO losses, the overall profit was still quite good. + +Today, the price of DBO and USL is a bit high for a good profit/risk profile with naked short PUTs, however, we have some other strategies. + +**The verticals:** + +Most of my bread and butter is on selling naked puts, and/or selling covered calls, but sometimes I dabble in verticals. Here are some examples: + +**$UBER: 13.2% in a month** + +This is an example of waiting for the right time before you trade. End of May, the market went up by 36% since the bottom, it started to be over-extended. Although SPY could continue higher, it was time to think about a reversion to the mean. I needed to find a share that would continue to struggle for a long time, even as Coronavirus was lingering. I hear the news that LYFT is taking over UBER’s market and that UBER is still struggling, with potential layoffs. That seems a good candidate, and UBER has a good day at $36, let’s see what we can make of the numbers. + +May 29: SELL -1 UBER JUL 17 20 42/45 CALL @ 0.40 + +Per contract - Max risk: $260 - Max profit: $40 (15.3% of max risk) + +So I keep my $40 profit per contract as long as UBER is under $42 at the July 17 expiration. I did not pick $42 randomly, this was actually above the top that UBER reached in February. So the struggling UBER would need to go over its pre-corona numbers for me to lose money. Unlike naked puts / covered calls, where you can just be patient and roll over and over, sizing for verticals is important, the potential for full losses is a real possibility, and will happen. Sure, you could try to roll your short call and hope that the stock price will drop, but you may just end up amplifying your losses. If you really want to do that and continue with the risk, it’s easier to roll your short puts in a bull spread as the market will eventually go up. + +In any case, UBER continued to go up a bit, struggled at $38 (so not even close to my vertical), then reversed. I put an order to close my position at $0.05, as there was almost a month left until expiration, and I already almost reached my max profit. + +June 22: BUY +1 UBER JUL 17 20 42/45 CALL @ 0.05 + +**$SPY: Various** + +I also have been using SPY verticals directly as the market bounced back like crazy. I earned more than I lost, and because I am overall positive delta, even if I lose a bit of money on my edges, I am still very profitable. + +For shit and giggles, one trade to show how you can take advantage of the high volatility: + +June 5: SELL -1 SPY JUL 17 20 330/333 CALL @ 0.91 + +Per contract - Max risk: $209 - Max profit: $91 (43.5% of max risk) + +June 26: BUY +1 SPY JUL 17 20 330/333 CALL @ 0.08 + +Profit of $83 per contract (39.7% of max risk) + +June 5, SPY was $320, 45% higher than the bottom 2½ months ago, and I had hard time believing that after the market really thought that SPY would go back to pre-corona level with still phase 1 not over, no clear treatment, vaccine many months away, and potential for a 2nd wave (News flash: It’s happening before even the phase1 finished). Trees don’t grow to the sky. Again being, overall positive delta, even if this vertical had a loss, I would still profit from SPY going over my short calls. As I said earlier, I am a reversion to the mean guy, with a bullish tint. I can’t stand losing money when the market is going up (because the market could always continue going back up). + +Here is another trade, not so good this time, so I don’t paint an overly rosy picture: + +May 12: SELL -1 SPY JUN 19 20 305/308 CALL @ 0.79 + +Per contract - Max risk: $221 - Max profit: $79 (35.7% of max risk) + +June 18: BUY +1 SPY JUN 19 20 305/308 CALL @ 2.48 + +Ouch - loss of $169 per contract (76.4% of max risk) + +SPY blew way past my short and long calls. It dropped a bit before expiration, so I was able to avoid a full loss. + +My verticals above are bearish spreads when I think the market will revert to the mean. But here is an example of a bullish spread: + +April 6: SELL -1 SPY DEC 16 22 200/180 CALL @ 4.85 + +Per contract - Max risk: $1515 - Max profit: $485 (32% of max risk) + +May 12: BUY +1 SPY DEC 16 22 200/180 CALL @ 3.95 + +Profit of $90 per contract (5.9% of max risk) + +I sold the vertical a couple of weeks after the bottom, with blood in the street, even some of mine, volatility was still very high. With this trade, I would have lost money if SPY was less than $195 in more than 2 years. Heh, I could even roll the puts if the short put was still ITM in 2 years. The only reason I bought back and closed the trade was that it was using a non-negligible buying power for the next 2 years. That is a long time to earn the full $485 per contract. Have to watch out for opportunity costs too in some other trades. + +**The hedge:** + +Here is another construct that I found interesting. Again, taking advantage of the current high volatility. Back in early June, as the market bounced to $320, I wanted another bearish hedge, but this time more efficient than just selling a vertical. I wanted a good protection for my long delta, but that’s not free. And I don’t like to lose money if the hedge is not used, so what to do? + +June 5: SELL -1 SPY NOV 20 20 370/380 CALL @ 0.57 + +Per contract - Max risk: $943 - Max profit: $57 (6% of max risk) + +I picked November expiration because I expect that we will still be in the middle of the Coronavirus quagmire. $370 is almost 9% higher than the SPY top. I doubt that the economy will be back full speed by then. Again, I am positive delta, so if SPY somehow reaches $370, I may have to forgo all my overall gains between $370 and $380, but I won’t lose money overall. And then I bought this bearish vertical: + +June 5: BUY +1 SPY NOV 20 20 245/250 PUT @ 0.57 + +Per contract - Max risk: $57 - Max profit: $443 (777% of max risk) + +Here, I used the money from my short bearish CALL spread to buy a long bearish PUT spread. As long as SPY does not end above $370 by expiration, my hedge is free. If the market drops significantly my bearish PUT spread will be very profitable. + +&#x200B; + +Once again, it's a long post, so that's all for today. + +In the second [part](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hu8uh9/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_last_post_part/) of this post, I will show how I used calendars to make some very profitable trades. + +I will also explain a more advanced trade that I used to hedge against big losses in a normal market (setup in low volatility), so you can handle more gracefully bear markets ahead of time, and not sell in panic. You can’t use it now, but it could be helpful next time everything is great, and the market is getting overheated a bit. + +&#x200B; + +And finally, remember to always size your trades properly. Do not let one trade create a big loss in your portfolio. Do not overextend! It's way too easy to be over-leveraged with options, take the full risk into consideration. + +`---` + +[Post 1: Basics: CALL, PUT, exercise, ITM, ATM, OTM](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdft5z/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_1_of_4/) + +[Post 2: Basics: Buying and Selling, the greeks](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hdg9xc/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_2_of_4/) + +[Post 3a: Simple Strategies](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgomwv/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3a_of_4/) + +[Post 3b: Advanced Strategies](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hgp05y/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_part_3b_of_4/) + +**Post 4a: Example of trades (short puts, covered calls, and verticals)** + +[Post 4b: Example of trades (calendars and hedges)](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/hu8uh9/how_to_not_get_ruined_with_options_last_post_part/) +Throwaway here. + +I'm in my late twenties renting a studio with my girlfriend in a HCOL city here in Toronto. I make 70k a year and have about 200k saved up between an ETF, stocks, and crypto. No debt and no car. + +In the near future I may be receiving a large windfall in the form of a $800k house and cash we believe to be somewhere between 1-2mm. + +I'll be splitting the value down the middle with my father, netting me just shy of a million dollars should we sell the house. What should my next steps be, and how do I not screw this up? + +I know $1mm parked away at a 5% withdrawal rate is $50k a year which I could comfortably live off, but I'm not sure if that's the best use for the money. + +I'd like to meet with a financial advisor for some insight as to what my options could be, and would love some insight as to where should start looking. +after no big purchases these last two or so years I find myself wanting to buy a couple things like a motorcycle maybe an electric unicycle etc and I'm just wondering under what amount typically or what percent of your income do does a purchase have to be under for you to not give any second mind about it you just buy and try sort of situation? +* **1.9MM index funds (80\% VTSAX // 20\% VTIAX) in Taxable account-** I'd allocate some to bonds, but this is all in a taxable account and bond funds are tax inefficient. +* **700k Cash (Ally Savings)** \- Just sold my paid off house for a more location independent lifestyle. + +My job earns me $250k+, but I don't think this income lasts forever (probably the next 5-6 years if I keep grinding). I'm a commercial director (I make TV ads). It's about 6-7 months of work per year, so I have lots of time "off". I could theoretically fill this with the job of a real estate investor. + +I've read books about Multifamily and understand enough to know the returns can be phenomenal, but that's if you make this into a full time job (at least while you're acquiring and then a part time job if you set up property managers). Problem is, I'm pretty lazy and I like to be creative. I know I could excel at REI, but I feel like I could do the same if I became a Dentist/Lawyer/Engineer/Etc. I wouldn't want either of those jobs. No offense to those who are it's just not me! + +I like to make stuff. I want to explore standup comedy. I want to travel and live in a different place every few years. So, it seems like a no brainer that I should avoid REI. BUT, I am scared of not owning tangible assets if the world goes to shit. What would you do? Any real estate investors in here that can attest to creating a passive empire they can leave behind while they travel for years? + +***TLDR: I want to grow my money and live a comfortable life, but not setup a complex empire to beat out index returns. Any REIs with success stories of truly passive income and how much better are your returns than the 9\% average returns of the markets?*** +We've seen the utilization skyrocketing in the last couple of weeks. So I decided to dig a little deeper and try to find out what the actual F is going on. + +Here is the graph of utilization going back to early 2019 (Orange line). + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/ifn4gpvlbbi81.jpg?width=1586&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=215ac46eada8ff0d9c5cbbfd28089bde808465d6 + +&#x200B; + +As you can see the utilization starts increase rapidly in early 2019 and going on a steady climb throughout the year and then almost flatline 100% until the January sneeze. This move right here, is what I think is the turning point and when hedgies started to get ***UTTERLY*** FUKD. + +&#x200B; + +What move did Gamestop do in 2019 you might think? **SHARE BUYBACKS** + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/d3x0mk3obbi81.png?width=698&format=png&auto=webp&s=90d3567c30748b1b5b1407f5b78d5f7101f804f7 + +To me it seems like utilization correlates with share buybacks/offerings. + +***Buyback*** \- Utilization increase + +***Offering*** \- Utilization decrease + +Here is a more detailed graph showing that utilization starts dipping when Gamestop did share offerings in April and June. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/haibwoivbbi81.jpg?width=1586&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7761da041a8cf9d975bd7131d8d135229b0aa92f + +&#x200B; + +**So what to expect?** I believe if we keep seeing the utilization at 100% we will soon start to see FTDs numbers go bonkers again. As the hedgies will have a harder time clearing those FTDs as there's no shares available for them to kick the can. If you take a look at the graph below you can see pre-sneeze that the utilization was 100% for quite some time and the FTDs (Organe bars) very high. Which later led GME to be placed on the Regulation SHO Threshold Security List and then.. **Kaboom.** + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/9nrjwu49cbi81.jpg?width=1005&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05de1d06b3deb78167e54e47c7df7610ae3f4f54 + +We might see a more rapid scenario this time as there's a totally different scenario having the Utilization at 100% pre-sneeze than post-sneeze. + +&#x200B; + +So what could be reason of the rapid increase of utilization this time? I think I know what I'll bet my money on. It's a share buyback and RC loading up on more shares right infront of our eyes. + +We know Gamestop have set off ($100M?) to buy back shares and I think that's exactly what is happening right now. + +&#x200B; + +**Moon soon 🚀🌕** +Like all of us, I'm bracing myself for higher energy prices and looking at ways to cut down unnecessary consumption. I find myself looking at the energy certificate of any new electricals before purchase. + +Those of you who have measured the energy consumption of your electricals, have you found any good or bad surprises? +u/Dan_Bren DEEP ITM calls you know what it is. + +Were there any large purchases? No + +[GME Biggest Options Trades 4/28/21](https://preview.redd.it/otxd0ghen0w61.png?width=1223&format=png&auto=webp&s=edf36746144054f0251f435f5291353fbbe982da) + +Since there's no new news on the DEEP ITM call front (which is always good news). I wanted to take this time to give a shoutout to my fellow ape [u/YoungbloodAA](https://www.reddit.com/user/YoungbloodAA/) for the kickass background. My setup wasn't truly complete until now. + +[Disclaimer: I did not pay for this setup with GME stock because that would require me to have ever sold a share](https://preview.redd.it/kbmp96lzo0w61.jpg?width=3818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=540511231bf94874a88b3e04d0a0d70e06dd5e76) +This post will be comprised of only screenshots and pictures, as I want to keep it straight forward and simple. Also, my brain is having a bit of a fit trying to etch-a-sketch words after digging through some of this. + +*credit to* u/CuriousCatNYC777 *for sending me down a* [rabbit hole of controversy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mzrm44/did_a_weekly_pull_on_otc_dark_pool_trade_data/gw2sv5y?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +https://preview.redd.it/cxprdlhtyrv61.png?width=609&format=png&auto=webp&s=622681d3ff2c84a8a788ba2988294d16eaa24577 + +[Directly from the DTCC's leadershit page.](https://www.dtcc.com/about/leadership/board) + +[Previously spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs. Boring..ok.](https://preview.redd.it/lsov18ykxrv61.png?width=244&format=png&auto=webp&s=315deb59e712f227ff535793dfff9ae0cd2e9be1) + +&#x200B; + +[Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he worked at Bear Stearns and Price Waterhouse. \(Price Waterhouse you say?\)](https://preview.redd.it/ydpxguyj1sv61.png?width=251&format=png&auto=webp&s=005a0d4442a2a52a632a33f54cda77175b383c16) + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/16/2021|13F|[4,275,838](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/morgan-stanley)| + +&#x200B; + +[Previous titles include Lead Director of E\*Trade, Senior Executive at Citigroup, and \*wait for it\* Chief Financial Officer of Shearson Lehman Brothers... Yes, the firm whose bankruptcy kicked off the 2008 global financial crisis](https://preview.redd.it/cm700gi32sv61.png?width=248&format=png&auto=webp&s=05f351b027e995698296c1dd59313b8d017ca25b) + +[Also served as President of Capital Markets for Fidelity Investments. Prior to Fidelity, Craig had 15 years of diversified experience with \*\*\*WAIT FOR IT\*\*\* Lehman Brothers. -.-](https://preview.redd.it/jnqo5xsqxrv61.png?width=245&format=png&auto=webp&s=a77c58e87c2e1483ad12caba595abb486030f874) + +[https:\/\/otctransparency.finra.org\/](https://preview.redd.it/8bpwsx9sxrv61.png?width=1064&format=png&auto=webp&s=c504cec23380126ab0b2bc2e81d428c54b603c55) + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +| 2021-02-24 |13F|[36,450](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/virtu-financial-llc)| + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/a8aksooxxrv61.png?width=246&format=png&auto=webp&s=58fb58dcd85db4df8a43e4587fda962231ad4680 + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/12/2021|13F| [923,636](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/goldman-sachs-group)| +|2/12/2021|13F| 593,800 Puts | + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/2182z5pzxrv61.png?width=243&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4e39cfa471353b175fb68cc1a0170c93183bb54 + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/16/2021|13F| [2,445,216](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/state-street)| + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/5l6ovso5yrv61.png?width=619&format=png&auto=webp&s=43d4f63ce2cd2269bbf5c3a793b8490402078636 + +https://preview.redd.it/bw9zvov6yrv61.png?width=250&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ef6a261fb55ee49fe0d198ac82ddb56de741c19 + +[https:\/\/otctransparency.finra.org\/](https://preview.redd.it/mvugcntbyrv61.png?width=1075&format=png&auto=webp&s=31fc5297a48b3b7c20c67f21abc34a4742e92b34) + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/11/2021|13F|[186,772](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/ubs)| +|2/11/2021|13F|92,200 Calls| +|2/11/2021|13F|3,815,800 Puts| + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/1ahpa1xdyrv61.png?width=242&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca43b932d3c2d6e4633389ae21f777fb1d17c9fa + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/10/2021|13F|[413,650](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/bank-of-america-corp-de-)| +|2/10/2021|13F|550,000 Puts| + +&#x200B; + +[ Prior to joining Barclays, he held a variety of treasury and business roles at SHITADEL, JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, and Prudential. ](https://preview.redd.it/hdjs23qfyrv61.png?width=246&format=png&auto=webp&s=51949b8dad9c858f819244fbffa444b99c3d5b75) + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/11/2021|13F|[192,839](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/barclays)| +|2/11/2021|13F|3,700 Calls| +|2/11/2021|13F|228,300 Puts| + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/gfjgglujyrv61.png?width=516&format=png&auto=webp&s=beae23d5de102f73cdec55ac2908cc11941ca277 + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/11/2021|13F|[115,507](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/jpmorgan-chase-)| +|2/11/2021|13F|84,300 Calls| +|2/11/2021|13F|65,000 Puts| + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/umlx2upmyrv61.png?width=250&format=png&auto=webp&s=a692182f934d664fe8ec5acae706276c18030457 + +&#x200B; + +|Date|Form|Shares| +|:-|:-|:-| +|2/11/2021|13F|[97,833](https://fintel.io/so/us/gme/citigroup)| +|2/11/2021|13F|570,300 Calls| +|2/11/2021|13F|1,715,200 Puts| + +I'm gonna go home now... Much [more to be discovered](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/mw6vl2/dtcc_the_foxes_guarding_the_henhouse/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), as this was all in plain sight. +I'm running into a weird issue. + +The wife and I have been on the FI path for a while now. It’s been a lot of effort and focus for a few years, and now it seems like the problems of our life are, for lack of a better word, solved. There's no issues left for me to address, problems to answer, or spreadsheets to set-up. "Life" is a solved equation and now I just need to keep inputting time until the results come back as I’ve calculated. I keep checking in to make sure everything is on track, but that’s it – my tinkering is done. + +Honestly, I've gotten most of my life on autopilot now – savings and investments set-up to auto-invest, financial goals consistently met on or ahead of schedule, bills and retirement savings are taken out without me doing anything. Family is doing well, relationship with wife is strong. Work is well acceptable. + +It sounds weird, but there is little to no friction in my life, I've spent the last few years eliminating all of it that I can (left a shitty job, stopped trying to keep in touch with toxic 'friends', paid down debt, increased eFund, etc). I’ve done my best to remove useless crap from my life and have replaced it with more time for my family and hobbies. + +However, there isn’t as much enjoyment in these things anymore. Not from a “need to keep up with the Jones, this needs to be shiny” perspective, but more a “well I always get to read now, why is this supposed to be special or relaxing?” I feel as if I have some form of mild depression that is starting to set in; an ever growing feeling of ‘ehh’ and muted gray tones that are coming to define me of late. + +I've been trying different things the last few weeks, and nothing is keeping my interest. I've tried to rekindle some of my old hobbies that I dropped due to no time (realized it's more I didn't like them so never wanted to put time into them). Put more focus on hobbies I find fun, and while I still get a ‘high’ from doing them, it isn’t lasting. Tried completely different things from my norm and nothing has stuck. Reread old books, replayed old games, read new books, played new games, nothing once they were finished. + +I'm not sure what the real problem is, but there is something missing. I'm doing well in life, have it set up to continue to do well regardless of my actions - and it feels like I'm an empty shell just being pushed along the road. I can't take joy in normal milestones as I knew it was coming months ago, so why does it really matter. When I was younger being able to put an extra $100 towards debt was a great feeling. Last week the wife got a bonus and we put an extra $5k towards debt and I was more annoyed I needed to log in to pay it rather than being excited to be that much closer to being finished with it. I know that's a shitty mindset, but that's where I am. + +The main problem is I’m only getting more depressed at the fact that I am depressed, which is feeding into the spiral. I’ve spent more time this week at work just staring at my computer. Not wasting time on reddit or some other website. Not doing work, not even watching random youtube videos. Just sitting there staring at the screen for literally hours, barely making clicking sounds to appear to be working. Not even thinking of stuff, just mindlessly existing. + +And before I get the “build the life you want then save for it” – I already do that. So far this year the wife and I have had 2 different mini-getaways, a couple of weekends visiting friends and family, have 3 more long weekends planned for the summer, have passes to the science center and take the kids regularly, monthly date nights, take the kids to the park or just playing outside, etc. In all aspects, I lead a great life. I always enjoy the activities in the moment, but the problem is once the moment passes, I get right back into this gray feeling. Playing with my kids is great, but once they go to bed, I'm stuck in a gray box for the rest of the night. + +I guess one of my main issues right now is trying to classify the problem so I can start trying to address it. It’s not burnout, it isn’t stress. It almost feels like since it’s “easy” there isn’t a point to focus on it, and also knowing that the finish line is years away and there isn't much else I'm willing to do to get there sooner. + +Anyone else start to feel/become depressed once you had the road set out before you, knowing that you are now one of the minor pieces to the puzzle of your life? + +https://youtu.be/-nAco9ZGiAE + +Just thought I'd share it. It's definitely a growing movement and gaining more attention. + +The comment section is a cesspool though... +I've been a long time lurker, first time posting outside of the odd comment here and there. I'm married with 2 children, work in a sales position which has been my career for most of my life, except for the 6 years I spent teaching English as a second language over seas. From reading the posts and advice in this sub I kept seeing the same advice over and over again: "Pay off your debts, build an emergency fund, save like you're possessed.." + +I hit a milestone this week. I had set up automatic payments on debts using my base salary, not taking into account commissions which I earn randomly throughout the year. I had maxed out what I could afford to pay on debts per paycheck and still pay the bills. This required a lot of sacrifice; from cutting out the weekly case of beer, to not going out for dinner more than once a month, to reducing random expenditures (ie coffee at a drivethru.) It's been about 2 years since I really started to get serious, with only the past year where I had a decent enough income to afford some real investments towards our finances. Starting with switching our credit card to a low-interest card, paying that, then our line of credit, as we have already paid off student debt in the last year. My most recent pay check afforded me the opportunity to drop the last $600 to pay off our last bit of credit, and go debt-free aside from our mortgage! + +I have a few friends (Canada) that have been bragging about how great of a return they've been getting on investing in weed corporations jumping on the green rush coming. I was so tempted to take a chunk of cash and invest it, but realistically it would have been a huge portion of our finances. + +We will be celebrating with a nice brunch at our favorite local restaurant today, and I had to post this to say THANK YOU FI!! Being subscribed to this sub and reading the random posts from others in a similar position celebrating their achievements it helped to keep me motivated and focused on realistic goals. We now have a net worth of about $80,000, with no debts, older vehicles paid off completely, equity in our home, and looking forward to the next goal of saving our 6 months emergency fund. I know I could have taken a short cut with a few investments, but I really wanted to stay focused on the proper steps before risking anything. + +I've read before "don't invest what you can't afford to lose," with this in mind I haven't let myself get upset over missing some investment opportunities. Even if I could be a little further ahead with some high-risk investments, I am happy that we've followed our own plan and stuck to it. Thanks folks, can't wait to post our next milestone. Wish me luck, and good luck to all of you! +One of my current goals is to simplify my trading strategy. I spend a lot of screen time scanning for tickers, and if I can cut this down by having a core group of tickers I trade that would be great. I'm looking for modest, scalable gains on names with plenty of volume and enough action to feasibly grab \~1%+ gains (to long side or short) within the first 2 hours of open. + +If you have a strategy along these lines, please share which stocks or ETFs you trade, and why you chose them. +Have shares of a company with a cost basis of $45 and it’s currently trading at $31. To sell calls is minimal profit as any strike price over $45 is merely worth pennies. +For months, i have been on Reddit searching for the next GameStop. I’ve been chasing plays that’s left me bag holding, my wife was even getting angry with me for losing so much money. + +Reddit has become so toxic, I feel like everyone treats it like a shitty casino. People think it’s cool to bag hold, no one wants to help, just laugh at each other pains. I highly recommend for anyone that wants to learn option strategies or better yourself with option trading join a trading community. + +Now I have joined a trading community group, I have started to make profit on spreads and other plays. I made huge profit on MRNA, CHWY and SPY spreads, I’m feeling so much better now and my wife has been giving me the courage to do more trades. + +For noobs like me celebrate your successes, whether big or small. Keep on going, you’ll only get better as time goes on. And try to avoid Reddit sometimes you’re never going to feel confident if you keep getting these shitty fools constantly saying negative commentary every time you ask a question. +This is an idea I've been trying this week and I'd like to learn from you what conditions this strategy is good for and not suited for. + +**Does this strategy make sense in an IRA?** + +The idea is to sell weekly 16-Delta puts on both TQQQ and SQQQ in equivalent amounts of buying power. Since I'm doing this in an IRA account I cannot use leverage. This seems like a nice way to collect weekly theta where the two 3X leveraged ETFs off downside protection against each other. It's kind of like a leveraged Strangle on QQQ. + +In the example below, I'd sell + +* 4x of the SQQQ puts for $280 (4 x $0.70 x 100) +* 10x of the TQQQ puts for $280 (10 x $0.28 x 100) + +[SQQQ \~16Delta puts for one week](https://preview.redd.it/zx7j1r6wxkw91.png?width=1684&format=png&auto=webp&s=55963209bc6a248ccd60958ba7da51e61c521742) + +[TQQQ \~16Delta puts for one week](https://preview.redd.it/jbqep1qxwkw91.png?width=1684&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c7a85ee001347acd6a0fcc35e7b0c38c28f8a74) +So I know they say to sell CSPs on a stock you wouldn't mind owning at a given price, and I don't think the meme stocks are worth owning at anything close to their current prices… but I had a thought. The IV on meme stocks like AMC is astronomical, which of course cuts both ways. On the one hand, the premiums are quite high, but I really don't want to get stuck bagholding if I get assigned and the stock subsequently drops. So my thinking is, if and when I end up getting assigned, I buy a LEAPS put at maybe $1-2 OTM and start writing covered calls. At that point one of three things happens: + +1. My shares get called away and I sell the LEAPS at hopefully not too much of a loss, since their value is entirely extrinsic anyway and they shouldn't have had much theta decay at that point (or else I've made so much in terms of premiums that I don't care). + +2. The stock price drops like a rock, I sell the LEAPS for a profit to recoup a substantial portion of my losses, and then either continue wheeling if the IV is still high enough or dump the shares and find something else to do. + +3. The stock continues to trade sideways, I make a nice profit selling covered calls, and after a while I roll my LEAPS out and keep going. + +The two risks I see myself being exposed to with this plan are the stock price dropping suddenly while I'm in the CSP phase of the wheel, which I can theoretically protect against to an extent by setting stops (so let them get assigned if the price drops a little, but buy them back and take my lumps if the stock drops a LOT all of a sudden), and IV crush on the LEAPS, which I think isn't going to be a huge risk if the stock price drops 50% or more in a short timeframe. + +Is there something obvious I'm missing with this plan? Am I just finding a way to fool myself into thinking I'm being responsible while wheeling diamond hands YOLO junk stocks? Is there a better way to reduce this risk? Or am I just worrying too much about nothing? I've never actually done the wheel before, so I don't know if this is a real risk I'm trying to hedge against or if as a practical matter it's not really worth worrying about. +So hear me out. I am aiming for 6% YoY return to meet my goals. My portfolio is mostly buy and hold index funds. But I wanted something to keep me entertained so I do not mess with my core holding to much, haha. + +I was looking for some good value stock to wheel. Criterias were like this: Price of one share had to be under $50 so, you know, to not get under water if it goes tits up. I like it to be a value stock with decent dividend yield, but not over 3,5% so it does not mess up with share prices around ex-dates too much. Solid, recocnized company for at atractive valuation. Buybacks were very wellcome, obviously. + +So I found that BAC - Bank of America corp to tick all of the boxes and some more. And guess what, the premiums were pretty juicy, for such a boring stock. I was not surprised, a lot of shit was going on, but you know, it is BAC... + +So far I have done one full cycle, net $50 (lol) after commissions in 4 months, so cca 4,2% yearly return on $3600 required capital. It is not much I know, but I am aiming for 6% yearly return in the long run, so this kind of fulfill my aim, accounting for my mistakes I am aware of. + +The trades in short were like this: wrote the Put at $36 for $0.52 in April, got put shares in May. Wrote 2 calls, which expired worthless for $0.54 total. Finally I wrote the last call at $35 in July for $0.29 and my shares were called away in August. Got the $0.21 divi meanwhile. + +I am aware of my mistake with the last call under the original put strike. But the shares were so heavy under water. I was selling the cca 17 delta calls just to do something. And then the last bull run came. Few more days and the stock price was under strike price again. I let the call expire ITM (did not roll) because I was feeling like the bull run was out of steam at a strong resistance and wanted the cash to be more flexible. + +What do you guys think of this all? It feels weird, but I kinda like it. The shares were heavily under water. And I came out pretty well. Of Course it is not thanks to my genius, I am aware of it, lol. But I was ready to hold the shares for a long time at attractive valuation and write the calls against them, while receiving dividends. + +I am probably going to write September put $32 for cca $0.32. + +Give me your thoughts on this. I will appreciate them all. + +P.S.: English is not my native language. +Keep it friendly and civil; this is not WSB and automod will censor your posts at will for unsavory and unfriendly remarks. Try to keep shit posting and bragging to a minimum. +Made 93.85%+ out of my 284$ first wheeling experience selling covered calls , I would say I got very lucky and now sitting on 550$ . +Had my best trade on theta gang strategies , even when it went down I was up 5% so looking to wheel another stock if MFA doesn't give me some good premiums . Any suggestions? I would say UCO is the best pick I've found by now. +Haven't seen red since joined the almighty theta gang . +New year’s resolutions come in two forms: losing body fat or building capital. + +What are your top personal finance resolutions for 2022? Are your investments a mess? Are you drowning in debt? Embarrassed that you still don’t know the difference between an ISA, LISA and SIPP? Worried that your pension plan might have you working until you’re 80? + +Personally, I’m thinking of selling all my stocks and buying Bitcoin… just kidding. But you get the idea. + +Let’s use this space to gather the most common concerns and help each other get off the the best start to 2022. +I wanted to see how my stock picks could perform over a year without actually risking money on them. Setup was simple. I made a bookmark to pull 11 stock symbols on Yahoo Finance and set it in my browser this time last year. the stocks were carefully chosen, picked because I thought they would significantly outperform the market over the course of a year. It was very educational for me. You can see the results in charts at this link: + +https://finance.yahoo.com/quotes/T,MMM,NKE,SBUX,INTC,COST,LPI,OAS,PFE,M,CAT/view/v1 + +AT&T did not vary much. I would have lost $1 per share but would have made up most of it on dividends. + +3M was a solid performer giving a 24 percent return. + +Nike was a net loser dropping $2 for a 4% loss + +Starbucks gave a small gain of 7% + +Intel gave a small 7.5% gain + +Costco gave a small 6% gain + +Laredo Petroleum was an 11% loss + +Oasis Petroleum was a sharp 21% loss + +Pfizer was break even. + +Macy's gave a harsh 32 percent loss + +Caterpillar was a very substantial 40% gain. + + +What is interesting in this? Just that two stocks were winners overall and would have been worth holding. Caterpillar and 3M would seem on the surface to be very staid and predictable companies yet they solidly outperformed the rest of my picks. +Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! + +Have a look at the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq) for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. + +Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. +I'm not sure about everyone else, but my strategy to getting to higher and higher savings rates is just to continuously up the money that I automatically put into investment vehicles. Basically, every month for the past 12 months, I've added a % or two of what comes out of our take home pay automatically, and then tried to make that month work. + +Our "emergency" fund is being dipped into every other month or so for things that come up that aren't a part of the plan. That feels like a red flag to me, but at the same time, isn't that what an emergency fund is for? + +So what's your philosophy? Save 'til it hurts, then ease up? Save 'til it hurts, but enjoy the pain? Would be great to hear others thinking on this one. +My father recently gave me about $4M in a blue-chip legacy stock which has a very low cost-basis from over 40 years ago when he inherited it. Even though the stock is stable, it's now 3/4 of my overall portfolio which means of course that all my eggs are in this basket and yet if I sold it I would owe a ton of capital gains. + +Should I hold onto it and FIRE off the dividends or diversify despite the tax hit? Or some of both - and if so, how much? I'm 33 and a little new to this level of investing. Here are my goals: + +1. **Diversification** - I'm way over-exposed on this one stock. +1. **Gains** - The stock has been fairly safe and delivers nice dividends, but it hasn't gained anything for over 3 years and traditionally performs below the market. I'm torn between doing FIRE on dividends vs. 4% rule. +1. **Reduce Taxes** - I live in California so I could end up paying over 30% in combined capital gains and state taxes if I sold it. + + +Here are my ideas so far: + +1. **Diversify with dividends & offset other losses** - I'm already doing this, but it would take decades to properly diversify, and in the meantime this stock won't keep pace with the market. +1. **Move to a no-tax state & sell** - If I moved to a no-tax state for a year before selling some or most of it, I could at least avoid California's huge tax burden. +1. **Sell it slowly** - If I sold it in $425,000 chunks I could at least only pay 15% cap gains (and avoid the top rate of 20%). +1. **[Exchange funds](https://www.robinsonsmithwealth.com/blog/using-an-exchange-fund-to-diversify-concentrated-stock-risk)** - I don't know a lot about these yet but they seem like a decent option for someone in this position. But they seem a little complicated and expensive. + +Obviously I'm working with a financial advisor but even fiduciaries are always trying to steer you into some service or product their company offers. I'm hoping the objective internet hive-mind will have some good ideas... + +**Edit**: Several clarifications + +**PS**: Thanks for all the great feedback - y'all are some smart fuckers. +Just a word of warning. GME has become much harder to borrow with the rates to borrow going up. This means you are at more risk then usual for early assignment on deeper in the money short calls. + +If you are assigned early you will have to pay hard to borrow fees until the position is covered. + +If you see your short call is trading with no extrinsic value, you may want to cover your position. + +&#x200B; + +Edit to ADD: + +Sorry, haven't been able to respond to all questions. + +When I say short call, I don't mean just naked short. If you have a call vertical, a call butterfly, or any spread with a short call you are at risk of early assignment. + +If you have been assigned on a short call from a spread, you can either exercise your long call or close the position as a spread (you would place an order to buy the stock you were assigned and sell out your long call). If there is no extrinsic value left in your long call, easiest is to exercise. If there is extrinsic value left do the latter. + +Make sure your broker hasn't closed out the position for you before you act. + +Edit again: I added that your risk in early assignment is for short calls. Didn't put this in at first as you can't be assigned on long calls so I didn't think it was necessary, but for those who didn't realize this, this clarifies. +Last Friday Google changed the json API format a little of https://www.google.com/finance/info?infotype=infoquoteall&client=ig&q=NASDAQ:GOOG so that it only accepted q=GOOG but then last night it seems to have gone completely. This has broken a bunch of projects & apps. Anyone know whats happening at Google? Ive been using that url for years, did they change the url formatting or are they short on webservers? I dont live too far from Mountainview perhaps I could drive over and drop one off for them if they are hard up. /s Perhaps they could use it to run all the [other services they abruptly cancelled](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discontinued_Google_services) after people built projects and apps around them. + +In all seriousness though where do we go from here? Yahoo and now Google. I saw that [Robinhood had an unofficial API](https://github.com/sanko/Robinhood/blob/master/Quote.md) but its missing alot of the fields I was getting from Google's json data. +According to Alpaca's website and as ONLY documentation I could find (or anyone else from their forums) they are commission free BUT charge the regulatory SEC/FINRA fees. From SEC and FINRA I have: + +1. SEC $22.90 per $1 million sale +2. FINRA $0.000130 per share for each sale of a covered equity security, with a maximum charge of $6.49 per trade + +So just as I started making real money with my algo... here comes something unexpected and very opaque: Many times the SEC fees for no reason at all. + +Typical example: I made a volume of $ 2 million trading on a certain day... bam! $200 fee. And the worst is that they classify those $200 as REG fee on the statement I downloaded. FINRA is $1 which is in line. + +Contacted support and they are pretty silent after redirecting me to their generic page which doesn't mention anything and after I confronted them with a math showing I should have been charge $40 bucks not $200. + +Anyone else has this issue? Thankfully I have other options. + +I also made a complaint to [investor.gov](https://investor.gov) so the SEC will contact them regarding this. +As a bit of background, I'm currently an undergrad CS major with a business minor at a top 20 university. I've taken a decent amount of introductory/intermediate classes related to ML/Stats/Finance (obviously a bunch of CS courses, Linear Algebra, Matrix Methods in ML, Intro Finance, Intro Stats for Engineers). + +So, basically, I have a bit of background in CS, Linear Algebra/Calculus, Finance, and Statistics - but no idea how they'd all kind of interact, so to speak. + +I'm looking to get into algorithmic trading, and while I **have** read the sidebar and looked at resources there, I still feel like I'm having trouble figuring out what path to take to learn on my own. I'm the type of learner that needs to be shown something at a basic level before trying to work on something myself, or at least have an example path someone followed to model my own learning off of, so just jumping in and starting to code isn't a great approach for me. + +I'm thinking of taking Andrew Ng's ML course on Coursera to solidify my knowledge of that area, but then am not sure where to go from there or if that's even necessarily the right place to start if I'm looking to get specifically into algorithmic trading. + +\*\*\*If anyone could give kind of a general timeline of what **THEY** did when delving into this field, it would be much appreciated so I have even somewhat of a clearer path to follow. \*\*\* +Is there anyone doing cross-exchange arbitrage on crypto? What strategies are you following and is it possible to really backtest cross-exchange strategies in crypto ; ex lags in trade execution can eat theoretical profits +Is there anyone doing cross-exchange arbitrage on crypto? What strategies are you following and is it possible to really backtest cross-exchange strategies in crypto ; ex lags in trade execution can eat theoretical profits +30-40 years later where are they now? Management, retired, rehab? + +I recall reading book Liars Poker where author claimed many were glorified gambling addicts. + +Oddly, or accurately I'm listening to Billboard Top 100 of 1985 which stemmed the 80's-esque question. Surface level corporate rock. +Please include researching the OP when performing your due diligence on a ticker they brought to your attention. Things are whack right now with garbage being pumped. And if you're unsure, the answer is no. +I recently started at a new company and am a bit antsy about getting laid off. First in, first out. I picked up my old tutoring job again on the weekends to bank extra cash. It'll add up to $600 a month - the hours are long, but my anxiety is much lower. The tutoring will dry up probably when the recession hits, so I'm trying to fit in a lot now. Thinking about getting another job, if possible, on Sunday just doing landscaping or working at a garden centre. I like that kind of work anyway, so might as well get paid. Also thinking about getting another roommate. If the recession really hits in January, I'll have an extra $1800 saved with just the tutoring job and it'll be about $4200 if I pick up work on Sunday. Not much, but at least it's something. + +Also thinking about selling the TV now (we don't really use it) and an old phone I have lying around. I figure, better to do it now before the market is flooded. + +What is everybody else doing to prepare? +So I've had a reasonably successful time with my side hustle income, and I've previously been asked by several people over DM how I got into it and built it up. I figured this might be a useful way to spread some advice. According to my partner, I tend to waffle so sorry if this is long -- I will use subheadings to try and break it up. + +Disclaimer:: I'm creating this on a throwaway account as opposed to my main, as I frequent this sub. and don't want it to be seen as a humble brag. + +**Stats:** + +I will cover in more detail how I got to this point, but our household earnings are £2,500 / £1,600 after tax from PAYE salaries. But in terms of side-hustle, we get **£800** a month from a private copywriting client. And approximately **£1,500 - £2,000** per month from another online, private copywriting client, solely dependent on how fast I can work and turn around the copy. + +**How I got there -- starting out:** + +I finished university (English) a year earlier than my partner, suddenly having to deal with full-time rent, council tax, utility bills and such whilst she finished her final year. I didn't get a great new-grad salary either, so we were for lack of a better word, *skint.* I needed to find a way of making some additional cash. + +This is when I found **textbroker** \-- textbroker is a "content mill", a website where you can freely sign up to write and pick orders from a pool. There's no selection criteria. You write a trial article and get a star rating, which determines the quality -- and thus payment -- of the types of jobs you can select. There are plenty of these websits around. On this platform, I was writing around 500 words for 5-6 Euros. After conversion and withdrawal through PayPal, it didn't amount to much. But I got into an exclusive team that meant higher paid orders for a while, and I made around 2-3000 Euros writing eBay buying guides that year. + +Then I left that town and moved home a year later with my partner. I didn't write for a while -- in the face of 2 salaries coming in, it felt too much like the payments from that platform were a pisstake. I freelance tutored for a while, which was great cash, but far too time consuming in terms of lesson prep. + +**New platform -- upping the earnings:** + +A couple years after I moved home, I found **Upwork**. This platform works differently; you don't pick from a pool of orders freely. Instead, you can browse jobs and 'bid' for them. Essentially you're writing a job application. And you're up against heaps of second language speakers from developing countries who will complete work for pittance. + +I started out copy-pasting applications for a number of copywriting jobs, but had very little success -- i.e., *"Hi, my name is X, I'm an English grad. I have XYZ experience. Let me know if interested"*. + +After no success for 1-2 months, I watched a YouTube video from somebody who claims to have earned thousands on Upwork. He sold the benefits of writing long, tailored bids for each role, ensuring that your bid couldn't have been pasted and was clearly written custom for that application. + +**Then I landed my first job on Upwork**. I got paid around $800 for writing a few content pages for a website in Hong Kong. In the face of the pittance I had earned in the past, it felt absolutely insane. I continued with some smaller jobs so that I could build up a work history on my profile. $40 for checking a job application and resumé, $50 for proofing a dissertation. + +Clients can leave you feedback and a score out of 5, so it's important to do a great job and remain open to quick communication. I continued bidding very low for quick jobs, so that clients would feel they were getting a great deal for a strong / native English speaking writer. + +After a while, I felt I had enough feedback to go for bigger fish. Developed my bids into very strong proposals for each job. Landed my first long-term client, getting $250 for every batch of 10 product reviews (approx. 10k words) that I wrote. Finally, I got my now-client, who pays approx. $700-800 for every 5,000 words I write. + +On the side of all this, I pitched some blog ideas to local businesses, and landed a long-term arrangement with a local friend of a friend, for whom I write regular blog posts for abou £800 a month. + +**TL;DR** + +Basically, anybody with a good command of English can get into this kind of thing. It takes time to build up, and patience, but it can be done. If you're a software developer, well then I envy you. The pickings on Upwork for you are insane and you could make more than me with ease. + +Happy to field any questions anybody has, but I hope this has been useful! + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +Self explanatory. I’m dumb and don’t understand grandma ramps and theta. Really just red and green and even then I’m slightly colorblind. But nowhere have we seen him sell when he could have made bank. I believe in the company, I believe in the transition, and I trust someone who keeps his mouth shut, puts his head down, and goes to fuckin work. + +Only two options, HOLD AND HODL. + +Edit: yes people are saying I’m an idiot he can’t sell whatever. But to that I have a question which if I’m proven wrong, then I can own that. + +So RC bought the 9 million shares through RC ventures as an independent investor. No role in the company at the time. Now there are restricted stock units that the directors are awarded as part of their role in the company which is subject to the restriction and the 5 year accumulation rule which I get. But RC chose to not receive any of that compensation. Would that not free him up to do what he chooses with those shares? Per company policy all directors are required to maintain $275k worth of stock to signify their investment in the company's success. So how exactly does this look idiotic? Misinformed if I'm wrong, which I can admit, but you gotta do better than just saying someone's an idiot. +If you are in the tech for the future, and are building for several years, a drop of 20% should be celebrated. It's weird to think about it, and can even be difficult to look at the sea of red, but its true. + +Whether its caused by cascading liquidations rippling across the entire market, or a ban from a foreign country, its irrelevant. If you believe crypto is the future and your greatest chance to financial freedom, then **you should be absolutely cheering at this point**. + +Call it a dip, a fall, a crash, a fucking doped up junkie grizzly bear carrying a scythe wearing a black executioners hood. Call it whatever you want, compared to the ATH in Novembers, the tech you believe in **is now selling at a 'buy one get one free' pricepoint.** + +People riot over price discounts that big on Black Friday sales. Why should this be any different? +Follow them on Twitter to get the link when they go live [https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken](https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken) + +This will be their 4th AMA, and the project is only 1 week old. + +74 more holders away from burning 1 trillion [https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken/status/1377220140815761409](https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken/status/1377220140815761409) + +Last 3 days SafeGalaxy has burned 5,481,019,983,889In the last 24 hours just on redistribution its burned 1,026,141,891,491 + +In comparison, SafeMoon has burned 1,471,608,692,407 in the last 3 days + +The importance of getting in on 1 of these projects early is crucial. The burn rate on redistribution also tells you how much more redistribution you would be getting by holding SafeGalaxy early vs holding SafeMoon now. + +&#x200B; + +SafeMoon and SafeGalaxy are both run by incredible team members and the community for both is really strong. I believe both will survive in the long run. + +&#x200B; + +SafeGalaxy has more room to grow, check out their AMA and make your decision then. + +[https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken](https://twitter.com/SafeGalaxyToken) + +Twitch [https://www.twitch.tv/safegalaxytoken](https://www.twitch.tv/safegalaxytoken) +Edit: it seems I’ve angered some HOGE boys, my apologies. You’re right, they are both great buys :) + +Edit 2: from dev (fuk)- +“one last thing, rocket bunny is not like feg, hoge, shiba, etc. the only thing we share is large token numbers. the platforms released and TO BE released is a whole ecosystem. real fucking utility. so keep that in mind as you tell people about us.” +So my apologies to the dev for not giving this project the credit it deserves. + +Rocket Bunny $BUNNY- massive supply(7 quadrillion if I’m doing that right?) but 4% removed each transaction, 1% back to holders, 1% burned, 1% for auto liq and 1% extra for LPs. + +Obviously this is degen shit, no need to take out a second mortgage. But if you have a few hundred bucks to gamble you could be a BUNNY billionaire like me. + +Check out Rocket Bunny https://www.coingecko.com/coins/rocket-bunny +OpenDAO (OPEN) is a sleeping giant that will completely revolutionize global finance. + +Here’s a quick overview of the basics before I get into the specifics of how big this project will be: + +* They are creating a multi-collateral stablecoin that will enable real world assets to interact with the DeFi ecosystem. +* 10m marketcap. +* Already minting stablecoins for multiple top 100 projects. +* Non-anonymous team with experience in tokenizing off-chain assets. Very responsive in telegram/discord. +* Haven’t started marketing yet, but a marketing blitz is planned for the near future. The team has said that multiple tier 1 publications and well-known YouTubers will be creating content about OPEN. They’ve also mentioned that they’re in talks to get listed on multiple big exchanges. +* The token’s primary utilities include being a reward to LPs as an incentive to provide liquidity for the stablecoins and governance of the platform. The team is discussing adding other utilities as well. + +And here’s their website and social accounts: + +* Website: [https://opendao.io/](https://opendao.io/) +* Medium: [https://medium.com/opendao](https://medium.com/opendao) +* Discord: [https://discord.com/invite/SpFwJRr](https://discord.com/invite/SpFwJRr) \- the team has a “VIP” chat that you can join and receive updates about partnerships and the project’s progress before they’re publicly announced. You need to hold at least 1 OPEN in your wallet to join. + +Now that you’ve got the basics, let me explain what the OPEN project is doing and why it’s such a big deal. + +The OPEN team is creating a suite of stablecoins that mirror the value of real world currencies; so far they’re working toward creating USD, EUR, GBP, INR, AUD, and SGD stablecoins. + +These stablecoins will have the ability to be backed by any type of collateral, including cryptocurrencies, stocks, real estate, vehicles, and gold/silver. They will accomplish this by creating tokenized versions of those assets on-chain. + +The creation of these multi-collateral stablecoins would allow anyone in any country to tokenize their real world assets and use them to transact globally. As real world assets are currently unable to participate in the DeFi ecosystem, OPEN will have enormous implications for the financial world. + +First of all, it would provide a gateway for the vast majority of the world’s wealth to utilize DeFi’s innovative tools and protocols. + +About 75% of the world’s wealth is in off-chain assets like real estate, stocks, and precious metals. Here’s a breakdown of how much of the world’s wealth invested in each type of asset: + +* **Global real estate: $280 trillion** +* **Traditional money: $95 trillion**. This includes cash, coins, bank accounts, money market accounts, and checking/savings/time deposits. +* **Global stock markets: $89 trillion** +* **Gold + silver: $11 trillion** +* **Cryptocurrency: $1.6 trillion** + +*Data sourced from* [*Virtual Capitalist*](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization-2020/)*.* + +At the moment, anyone with non-fiat off-chain assets who wants to utilize the value, innovation, and decentralization that DeFi provides - whether they be a financial institution, individual investor, or average Joe - would be forced to sell their asset for fiat and buy crypto through an exchange, losing a decent percentage of their holdings in the process from the exorbitant exchange fees. + +If those real world assets were able to be tokenized and used as collateral for loans, investors could keep their assets and take advantage of a global DeFi bank that can create secure, stable money backed by real world productive assets. + +The other massive implication is that it will fix a critical problem within traditional finance: access to inexpensive credit is largely dependent on where you live and the laws governing your country. + +Getting a favorable line of credit - whether it be for a business venture, a home or car purchase, or anything else - can be nearly impossible if you live in a country that lacks access to cheap credit, even if you have a perfect financial track record and have a valuable asset to offer as collateral. + +The introduction of a multi-collateral stablecoin provides access to credit that isn’t dependent on the laws governing your country. It also benefits those in financially advantaged countries, as they will have a much larger pool of companies and investors they can transact with. + +**How will the OPEN team accomplish this?** + +The OpenDAO roadmap consists of four phases: + +* Phase 1: Create stablecoins for liquid on-chain assets (Bitcoin and altcoins) +* Phase 2: Create stablecoins for liquid off-chain assets (stocks) +* Phase 3: Create stablecoins for small illiquid off-chain assets (vehicles, precious metals) +* Phase 4: Create stablecoins for large illiquid off-chain assets (real estate) + +At the moment they’re almost finished with phase 1: creating USDO stablecoins backed by altcoins. + +This is not theoretical; multiple top 100 projects are already minting stablecoins with OPEN, including: + +* Algorand (3b mcap): [Algorand and OpenDAO: Joining Forces](https://medium.com/opendao/algorand-and-opendao-joining-forces-8dd9ae9150a2) +* Elrond (2.3b mcap): [Elrond + OpenDAO: $EGLDO Stablecoin](https://medium.com/opendao/tokenised-gold-silver-in-defi-a2f305afae80) +* Ravencoin (1.7b mcap): [Ravencoin + OpenDAO: $RVN Backed Stable Coin](https://medium.com/opendao/ravencoin-opendao-rvn-backed-stable-coin-7b4f15b47abb) +* Ocean Protocol (600m mcap): [Ocean + OpenDAO: A New Stablecoin](https://medium.com/opendao/ocean-opendao-uma-a-new-stablecoin-269241dd8c5d) + +They're also working closely with UMA (1.3b mcap) to use their protocol to track prices, protect from flash loan attacks, and accept new tokens as collateral. + +They’ve *also* made progress on phase 3 as well; as of March 22nd, they’ve added tokenized gold and silver to the Binance Smart Chain thanks to a partnership with [Ainslie Bullion](https://www.ainsliebullion.com.au/) (announcement: [Tokenised Gold & Silver in DeFi: Ainslie Bullion + Value DeFi + OpenDAO](https://medium.com/opendao/tokenised-gold-silver-in-defi-a2f305afae80)). + +This tokenized gold is 100% backed by Ainslie. If you own the token, you can exchange it for real gold or silver. + +The technical aspects of how they’re going to complete phase 2, 3, and 4 are pretty complex, but you can read their full whitepaper here: [OpenDAO Whitepaper v2](https://opendao.gitbook.io/whitepaper-v2/). OPEN also has a pair of explanatory videos that make everything pretty easy to understand: + +* Explanation of the benefits of altcoin-backed stablecoins [https://vimeo.com/524695458](https://vimeo.com/524695458) +* Explanation of the off-chain enforcement protocol (CashBox): [https://vimeo.com/478731239](https://vimeo.com/478731239) + +This is a real opportunity to get in on a game-changing project before it takes off. + +Given the enormous projects already minting coins with OPEN and the many projects that will inevitably follow, OPEN is incredibly undervalued at its 10m mcap. + +The flood of altcoin stablecoins alone will bring a lot of utility to the crypto market, and the exposure to the communities of the many projects that will mint stablecoins is essentially free marketing to a large percentage of the crypto world. + +And that’s only the beginning. Once tokenized houses and cars start going on-chain, this is going to skyrocket. + +Knowledge of and excitement about this project WILL go up, and the price will go up with it. + +You can currently buy OPEN on Uniswap, PancakeSwap, Bilaxy, and Hitbit. + +Here’s the Uniswap link if you’d like to buy in before this moons: [https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x69e8b9528cabda89fe846c67675b5d73d463a916](https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap?outputCurrency=0x69e8b9528cabda89fe846c67675b5d73d463a916) +**UPDATE FROM THE OFFICIAL TWITTER** + +>On Sunday 8PM UTC We Have Scheduled Our Biggest DEX Release.. EVER +> +>One of these functions is going to be going live Sunday 8PM UTC. +> +>⚡️Smart Limit Orders +> +>⚡️Cross Chain Bridge +> +>⚡️Advanced Charting + +So the team has once again shown us they are serious. This will be the first of many functionalities that will distinguish themselves from PancakeSwap and other DEX'es that are out there. + +Before I tell you something about the project itself let me give some points on why buying **now** will be the best investment you had in a long time: + +🔥 **Low marketcap < 10M** + +🔥 **Insane bullish chart (link below)** + +🔥 **Not a shitcoin, real usecase behind token** + +&#x200B; + +**What is Windswap ($WINDY)?** + +$WINDY takes full advantage of BSC cross-chain features in order to power trading between multiple currencies. The token will be used in functionalities that are soon coming to their live DEX platform which has been released a few days ago. + +[https://app.windswap.finance/](https://app.windswap.finance/) + +**Deflation?** + +*Yes, but not forever.* + +WindSwap charges a small levy for every transaction. For every 2.5M volume traded there will be a rebase. This rebase will burn 75% of the tokens that were taxed, and the remaining 25% of the tokens will go to the holders. There will be a total of 192 of these cycles which will cause the supply to drop to 8.8M tokens. Everyday $WINDY gets more exposure and therefore more trading volume, which means every next cycle will be completed faster than the previous one. + +**Why should I invest?** + +I did some research about DEX tokens, and you can basically divide them into two categories. Those who do deliver, and those who don't. So far the WindSwap team has delivered on every promise they made. Therefore I believe that the market cap is absurdly undervalued: Literally 10M for a working DEX market cap. To sum it up: + +* Low Market Cap - Currently just $10M +* Rug Proof - 80% of Tokens are being used for liquidity on Pancake Swap (99% Liquidity Locked on Unicrypt) +* High Organic Growth +* Holders are rapidly growing +* Early investords get rewarded until all cycles are completed (somewhere May). +* A functional product with very promising things to come. + +**Why is this platform different from all the others?** + +The Windswap team has shown us some things they wanted to implement, they are very active in the telegram group. Here is a list of things they are working on as we speak: + +* Slippage slider (**Already in**) +* Cross-chain swapping +* UI Improvements +* Charting tools +* Automatic Slippage +* Limit Orders +* Due Diligence / Rug Checker + +**Conclusion:** + +A new competitor on the DEX market with very promising features, with a token that rewards early adopters through the aggressive early on cycled burn pattern. By the time the burn cycles are completed more than half of the features should be implemented (May). They are not aiming for a quick buck, they are aiming for a good product that will be active in the market for years to come. + +**Links** + +Contract: 0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2 + +Bscscan: [https://bscscan.com/token/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2](https://bscscan.com/token/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2) + +WindSwap: [https://app.windswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2](https://app.windswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2) + +Dexguru: [https://dex.guru/token/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2](https://dex.guru/token/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2) + +Poocoin: [https://poocoin.app/tokens/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2](https://poocoin.app/tokens/0xd1587ee50e0333f0c4adcf261379a61b1486c5d2) + +Liquidity Locked: [https://unicrypt.network/amm/pancake/pair/0xb6EC86562E0cd125b4a1586036b6f13D47Fd09B6](https://unicrypt.network/amm/pancake/pair/0xb6EC86562E0cd125b4a1586036b6f13D47Fd09B6) + +Discord: [https://discord.gg/8guFEsrJ](https://discord.gg/8guFEsrJ) + +Litepaper: [https://windswap.finance/whitepaper/litepaper.pdf](https://windswap.finance/whitepaper/litepaper.pdf) + +Telegram: [https://t.me/windswapmembers](https://t.me/windswapmembers) + +Site: [https://windswap.finance/](https://windswap.finance/) + +DEX: [https://app.windswap.finance/](https://app.windswap.finance/) +Wayyy back I bought a coin called xtrabytes - it was actually popular (shilled) for a short period on this sub in 2017. It was hailed as the next ethereum. The team was talking about a patent - everybody was waiting for it… but it never came. Apparently the founder died too lol + +Anyway it’s clear that it’s a shitcoin and it never recovered this bull run. It’s still 99% down and still bleeding. I bought such a small amount it doesn’t matter to me but it is kind of funny in hindsight. + +Here’s a reminder that not all coins recover from a bear market. If you want to gamble on a shitcoin then go ahead but don’t expect a recovery like btc or eth in the next bull market. + +Stay safe out there my humans! +Ausfinance seems to be all about complaining about property prices or ragging on the RBA. I would like a change of pace and to hear about peoples small business stories. How you got started, where you are now, successes, failures etc. +Can I have multiple Solo 401k accounts at different brokerages? I'm not saying going over the contribution limits or doubling the contribution limits. If I have a solo 401k with an advisor that I funded in previous years but not this year, can I open a solo 401k for the same LLC and fund that one this year instead? Or is there some sort of rule that you can only have 1 solo 401k account open per person/LLC? I'm not currently looking to roll anything over, just start funding the new one and keep the old one with the advisor for now. +I was super frustrated with GG at first, but I started noticing how he was answering questions. + +'Thpse are your words not mine' + +'Congress writes the laws, we enforce them' + +'I love our democracy' + +Super canned, generic answers. He was being careful. He even said it: 'I want to be able to do my job.' + +If he said what he might be thinking, there's a good chance there would be more cuts to the SEC to hamstring them even more. + +My tin foil theory has been that he passed most of the investigation off to the DOJ because he knew that he'd never be able to do what needs to be done to prosecute. + +I think this was just him trying to keep his job....for now. +I've been holding tata motors for some years now and its dropped almost 60% in that time. The fundamentals are screwed up, negative ROCE, Low revenue growth etc but the promoter holding seems steady ans they keep expanding well into the passenger segment while the commercial vehicle segment is supposed to do well also. What is a good steo to take, hold or sell? +As the title says, I am looking for opinions on how people here in India manage the stocks granted by their employer. In the past two years, decent amount of stocks have vested for me, and currently they form about 30% of my net worth on paper. + +* I work for one of the FAANGs, and although the stock growth has been tremendous in the past, and currently the company looks great, but, not sure if the same performance can be repeated in the future. +* Another aspect is, although timing the market is not possible, but the general consensus is that after the longest bull run we are nearing the end of cycle, and there will be a major correction soon in the future. +* The concentration is going to increase since the stocks vest regularly and are a major part of my compensation. + +So, just looking for opinions on how people manage this around here? Do you regularly sell your employee stocks? How do you invest the money that from the proceeds? How often do you look at it? +I'm looking to connect with other Indian people who are planning to retire early in their life. I'd like to know what are your investment strategies? + +How much do you save every month and where do you invest your money? + +Thanks. +As the subject says, it would be nice to peep into the psychological aspect of a trader/investor during such highly volatile times. + +What happened? + +What worked? + +What did not work? + +Any learnings for the future? + +Thanks! + +**SUMMARY:** + +* Brokerage site overload stopped people from executing trades. This could be both good and bad! +* While the move was sharp, it was too quick for many people to take any action. +* It was just another day for guys who woke up late! +* Few people did make money!!! + +**Question:** + +Does it bother people who faced this issue? Are they worried that they might get stuck in a wrong side of trade because of broker's infrastructure issues? + +Say person A has land and person B wants to buy it. Both are strangers to one another and have met through a broker. What are the steps followed usually so that both get what they want without being duped? + +Example: there's a possibility that person B (buyer) gives a cheque for the full amount of the land, in exchange person A (seller) signs the land deal papers and hands them to B, only to later find that cheque had bounced due to insufficient funds. Of coarse there might be legal recourse here, but how does either person avoid these situations? +Link here: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/personal-finance-news/tata-housing-offers-home-loan-rate-of-3-99-pc-to-new-buyers/articleshow/61596855.cms + +>The campaign gives home buyers the opportunity to own a Tata Housing property "at a special, one-time home loan rate of 3.99 per cent", the company said in a statement. + +>This special home loan rate would be valid for the first five years. + + +what rates after that? +When is the delivery of flats? + + +Getting ready to close on a new build investment property and need a refrigerator, washer, and dryer. I didn't look at exact numbers, but I probably just spent about 60% or more than when buying equivalent appliances just a couple years ago. + +Just a heads up when calculating the initial cost. + +Supply chain is still hurting. + +Pretty much the title. I have a ~1,200 sq ft. Condo in NV as an out of state investment. It looks like the upstairs unit is currently leaking into mine. This is the 2nd or 3rd time the upstairs condo has had a leak, causing damage to my unit. + +The last time this happened, there was ~400 sq. Ft damaged, in various parts of my unit, requiring massive drywall work, cabinet replacement, mold remediation, etc. The root cause was a rusted through toilet valve, so I was able to claim liability insurance for pretty much the full damages (~$20k, miracle I know). + +Is there any action I can take to prevent this from happening again? + +Tips appreciated as a long time lurker. +Just got a rental under contract and only getting interest rates north of 7% with 25% down, low DTI ratio and stellar credit. My last rental in Jan 2020 is at 2.85% but the same broker is now quoting 7.125% for a similar property with not much changes in anything else. I know the rates have gone up but was hoping to lock in before another fed hike next week but is the market pricing it in already? I got multiple quotes and they’re not much different. +I havent posted in a while - i am still ok, still zen - still drsing. however a few interesting developments have happened. + +TL: DRS- can you please go to my dashboard or sort the sub by top and submit a post that you like to archive.is - thank you so much. I am ok, just busy. Still zen though. archive.is is similar to archive.org but some posts from archive.org seem to dissapear. + + +&#x200B; + +1-I quit coffee, alcohol and all forms of snacking - thats 50$ a month for the bot - see post. + +2- Due to some insane cost increases and anticipated cost increases in my hosting (which is projected to effectively triple in the next 6 months) I have come to several conclusions which i am outlaying below in caps so its easy to read. + +# before i continue i want to make it clear - this entire plan was always my own decision, i am not looking for any donations, or anything else like this. if you want to you can use my dashboard and site - thats helpful enough. + +# Conclusion number 1 - the last tranche of drives that i purchased was the absolute last tranche - i have 30.71 TB left and its decreasing by about 2 tb a week at the moment. so at most i have maybe 3 months of storage left before i start running out of space. Due to this - i am spending more time deduplicating the archives and less time posting. but it wont really help in the long term because i am collecting many other data sources for this as well. I will still be backing up posts, but i just wont have much extra storage space for probably another 6-9 months minimum. + +# Conclusion number 2 - due to rising electricity costs in the UK i am realising that I wont be able to host absolutely everything on IPFS for the foreseeable future - but i will be able to host as many posts as i can. I hope that will change in the coming months as I do some cost cutting. + +&#x200B; + +Due to these 2 points and the realisation that currently - there is only myself who has the entire archive - i wish to ask for an ape or two to safekeep the export CSV that is used to build the powerbi dashboard - its about 1.3gb for the whole thing and its super easy to rebuild, should something happen to my dashboard or to my hosting. before you say yes please have a think if you would be prepared to rebuild the dashboard so its accessible if anything were to happen to me and to be available for the long haul. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[the main dashboard with pages](https://preview.redd.it/dbhnpzov5qw91.png?width=1765&format=png&auto=webp&s=140e1ee174e20710ef4207d073e1a219f72c454f) + +&#x200B; + +Can you then click on the [ARCHIVE.IS](https://ARCHIVE.IS) link - its called archive\_IS\_LINK and see if that post has a home on that site - + +&#x200B; + +[the archive dashboard](https://preview.redd.it/wypgdtka6qw91.png?width=1709&format=png&auto=webp&s=1b11a4944267b7946c1ade0fa7a1066a13133c42) + +&#x200B; + +[thabats archive from archive.is.](https://preview.redd.it/l41f3x7j6qw91.png?width=1210&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb3f0e2c0906f2c13075106fcb7b5f8bdad4d43c) + +as you can see /u/thabat has a good number of backups of that post. - which means if reddit were ever to dissapera you can still visit the post - EVEN if my account is gone or my backups are gone. + +This would also help me massively and put my stress levels at peace that there is another more central backup. + +I will be sharing an export of all posts that I have so that if something were to happen someone can rebuild the powerbi dashboard. + +&#x200B; + +P.S: I am not going anywhere, this is not a goodbye. But I now have many other issues at hand which need to be deal with and I am asking for all OG apes and all the posters to just take the extra 10 seconds and submit their post to [archive.is](https://archive.is) and [archive.org](https://archive.org) themselves so that it is preserved for sure. + +currently there are 3 forms of redundancy , not including the original posts themselves.-which should be sufficient. + +Thanks, + +Ape historian. + +Destroyer of hardrive space. 30.71tb remaining and counting down. lets hope its enough before moass. + +&#x200B; + +ps- link to dashboard is - [https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMDljZTA3NGUtMjJiYS00YjQwLTk5MTktM2VlNWQ5ODViYjM5IiwidCI6IjI4YzVlNGJkLTVkNmMtNGI1OS1hMGU5LTBhMjQ0Mzk4OTNiZSJ9](https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMDljZTA3NGUtMjJiYS00YjQwLTk5MTktM2VlNWQ5ODViYjM5IiwidCI6IjI4YzVlNGJkLTVkNmMtNGI1OS1hMGU5LTBhMjQ0Mzk4OTNiZSJ9) + +it will update tomorrow morning with latest data which i have (up to 13th of October) +The channel "BitBoy Crypto" is unfortunately one of the biggest channels about Crypto on YouTube. He has many videos about CryptoCurrency which seem to be decent but don't get fooled. This channel seems to be causing many Pump and Dumps and it is a source of a lot of FUD and misinformation. + +His Phantasma video was the first thing I noticed. + +MCap of Phantasma coin doubled during 24 hours before the BitBoy released his shilling video. It went from 35 million to over 80 million. The price of token doubled in a matter of hours. Once the video was released the Phantasma started to dump in price losing ALL profit in under an hour. + +His meltdown on Twitter a couple months ago after losing a poll to Guy from CoinBureau will show you his true character. + +&#x200B; + +There are also rumors (?) that (quoting) + +> he also bribes to shill shitcoins; the current rate is anywhere between 15 and 25 thousand dollars. So when he comes up with his next suggestion to buy and watch moon, realize that he was paid to pump it. + +Now BitBoy is starting to FUD on BTC. + +Do not listen to people like this. They are here to leech off your losses. Be smarter than they are. The bar isn't high :) +I am looking for investments that have the best chance of ending the year positive (from current prices, including dividends). Tech stocks are volatile. Most of the returns of the SPY are due to a small % of companies. This leads me to being interested in REITs. + +REITs are an alien sector to me. I would like to see what are considered the safest, highest quality, best positioned (in current times) REITs as a starting point. E.g., if you're going to learn about stocks, study a quality stock first and then in the future, you can compare new stocks you find to those first, generally accepted, highly recommended stocks. + +I've learned that mREITs are more risky, because the fed will sell off it's MBS... so I don't want those. I'm a bit worried about residential REITs because there are moratoriums on evictions. Retail REITs might also be facing headwinds too as people people do more online shopping, malls are dying, etc. + +What type of REITs are going to be safest from present day through the end of this year? Ones that have big, safe, reliable tenants that won't go out of business or stop paying their rent. + +What REITs are the safest, highest quality, backbone of your portfolio, if any? Also, if you hate REITs and prefer dividend stocks, same question, what are your safest, highest quality "I'm not worried about this one" type dividend stocks? + +Thanks +I was thinking about investing in the following etfs--> QYLD, SCHD, SDY, HDV and VYM. Would this be a good idea compared to investing in individual dividend stocks? Is anyone else doing this? +I was thinking about investing in the following etfs--> QYLD, SCHD, SDY, HDV and VYM. Would this be a good idea compared to investing in individual dividend stocks? Is anyone else doing this? +I've been invested in MAIN for the past 7 months and the monthly payments have really supercharged the compounding effect with the added bonus of acting as a motivator to keep investing. + +Would anyone recommend other monthly payers? +Hi, + +I'm looking for European stocks or ETFs specifically for dividends. I use Degiro, so I can't buy a lot of the ETFs mentioned on this sub. Any ideas? +Hi guys! + +This is my first post; I'm an avid reader for several months now, but I've just started dividend investing 10 months ago and was learning / practicing along the way. +I'm an EU citizen, 40 years old, and due to EU regulations I can't have exposure to all the wonderful ETFs you have in the US, but I have access to NYSE/NASDAQ stocks through IBKR pro. Since March 2020, I've been purchasing every month about 500$ worth of stocks. Some months I've managed to even put around 1000 $. My portfolio is currently at around 9,000 $ (about 10% unrealized profit), current dividend yield 4,6%. +My largest positions: T - 10%, ABBV - 9%, LMT - 8%, AMZN - 7%, MO - 6,5%, AAPL - 5,5%, MSFT - 5%, STX - 5%, PPL - 4%, WFC - 4%, DOW - 3%, XOM - 3%, INTC - 3%, O - 3%, C - 2,5%, KO - 2,5%, EPD - 2%, MFA 1,5%, ET - 1,5%. The rest are all below 150$: PAA, GOOGL, IBM, JPM, DUK, CVX, IRM, KSS, FB, KHC, ARR, TRGP, IVZ, AGNC, SLB, NLY, LTC. + +As I was purchasing and learning along the way, I'm aware I have too much different positions. I still haven't sold any position that I have (for the better - some losers are becoming winners; specifically - WFC, MFA and ET). I'm getting ready to trim down to about 20-25 stocks, and then strengthen the positions that remain. But, given the fact that I currently have 36 positions, I frankly don't know where to start. + +I would really need some advice. My time horizon is at least 10 more years of investing. + +Thanks in advance! + +🧨 Do Not Miss this opportunity to jump in on this Passive Income Generation Project, to build up wealth & create a sustainable income stream. + + +💰Binance-Peg BUSD income! + + +🎩 4 Dynamic Core Team Members comprised of: + +💥 2 x Expert Bankers + +💥 1 x Insurance Agent + +💥 1 x Lead Software Developer + +🧳 Highly Active Devs / Mods to answer any & all questions about the project or it’s future in our TG Group / Discord. + + +🪢 The Project was created as a Rewards Token to distribute dividends back to the holders in BUSD Stable Coin. + + +🌪The project growth exploded from day one and an Active Whale Fund was born to provide a 2nd Passive Income Stream for the holders. This is independent of the Tokens Performance. + + +👥 Since launch (roughly 7 weeks ago) the community has grown to almost 2900 TG users. The community is engaged, active & Diamond Handed 💎🙌 in their trust of this project. The Community gets to vote on upcoming investments after the team has successfully vetted new projects. + + +How do you Buy this Token? + +✅ On Pancake Swap + +✅ On Poo Coin + +✅ On our website via an integrated Swapper + + +📜 Contract address: 0x966f75a3A48BD6133220Bf83A62429bf04Adf29f + + +📲 Daily AMA’s where investors can ask any questions about the Token, WhaleFund, Roadmap and discuss all project updates. + + +📊 Tokenomics + +📌- 8% Reflected in PEG BUSD-T to all holders + +📌- 1% Liquidity + +📌- 2% Buyback and burn wallet + +📌- 4% Marketing + +📌- Anti-whale mechanism, no wallet can hold more than 3% + + +🐳 BankersWhale Breakdown 🐳 + +🔴 - The first community idea which has been implemented into the system is BankersWhale. + +🔴 - 1.5% of the marketing tax will be used as a community investment fund. The BankersDream team will use this money with community suggestions to invest in various altcoins and meme coins. + +🔴 - New projects can also reach out to BankersWhale to apply for an AMA with the BankersDream community, in which they can present the idea and receive an early investment from our fund. + +🔴 - 75% of the yield generated by the fund will be distributed to holders, applying the same logic as for the BUSD rewards. + +🔴 - 25% of the yield will be kept for further development costs of the ecosystem. + +🔴 - The BankersWhale fund is a risk-free way for their community to generate another form of income. + +🔴 - Only BankersDream Holders will receive the participation in the yield! + + +💻 Socials: + +🌏 www.bankersdream.org + +🖥 Subreddit r/Bankers_Dream + +🐣 www.twitter.com/bankers_dream + +🔗 https://linktr.ee/BankersDream + +TG https://t.me/BankersDreamOfficial + + +⏰ Daily AMAs at 3PM EST in our TG. +📢 MISSED EARLY DOGECOIN OR SHIBA INU? +If you're reading this you are super early! A 100x is a 100 million MC from here! + +Shibonk has a lit community and active Devs. Partnership with PIXL COIN and Broadcast West. Shibonk is taking the quality of memes to a whole 'nother level. Straight Studio Quality! We have commercials ffs! WEEKLY AMAS EVERY THURSDAY! +Past AMAs and content posted on YouTube(shibonk token) + +A+ Audit from Dessert Finance, check out our bonk paper (whitepaper) as well as road map on the website shibonk. Net + +Active on all social platforms! + +☆Twitter +☆Facebook +☆TikTok +☆YouTube +☆Reddit +☆Telegram +☆Discord + +TOKENOMICS: + +●5% REFLECTIONS PER TRANSACTION + +●5% BURN 🔥 PER TRANSACTION + +●CONTRACT OWNERSHIP RENOUNCED + +●LIQUIDITY LOCKED 🔒  AND BURNED 🔥 FOREVER + +●1 Quadrillion total supply (40% already burned 🔥 + +● LOW MC <2 Million + +NFTS with staking and gaming releasing soon! + +This is a true 💎 and the potential for 1000x is there. So undervalued it should be ILLEGAL 🚫  Hop on the 🚀  Shibonk is aiming for MARS! + +Connections to Shiba Inu. And future plans on the Shibarium Network. Future metaverse gaming to bring actual utility to the MEME token world 🌎 + +Shibonk has an organic community NO marketing tax! And not a P&D! + +Contract: + +0xf224ade71c20f9823e34e0792f72437596b4e28c +https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/04/facebook-data-on-more-than-500-million-accounts-found-online.html + +The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social media sites, and the limits to how secure that information is. + +This is an old news, Facebook said "We found and fixed this issue in August 2019." Suddenly many people think fb stock price will go down on Monday due to this news. It won't affect facebook stock price because this is an old fixed issue. Now facebook stock is having momentum as the stock is trading near 52 week high. Economy is reopening and ads growth will comeback strong. There is no other way more effective of placing ads other than facebook. It is also the cheapest among faang. Investors should keep holding facebook stock and ride the momentum. + +Thanks for the awards. + +Edit: Facebook is trading around $303. There is no selloff, investors are still buying facebook. +VIENNA—The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led allies on Wednesday agreed to slash two million barrels a day, delegates said, in a move likely to push up already-high global energy prices and help oil-exporting Russia pay for its war in Ukraine. + +The decision could undermine a plan by the Group of Seven wealthy nations to [cap the price of Russian oil](https://www.wsj.com/articles/g-7-rolls-out-plan-to-cap-price-of-russian-oil-11662124852?mod=article_inline) on the global market, a key part of the [West’s economic battle with Moscow](https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-oil-producers-stay-one-step-ahead-of-sanctions-11654076614?mod=article_inline). It came less than three months after President Biden visited Saudi Arabia, the OPEC’s de facto leader, in a bid to repair relations between the world’s biggest oil consumer and its biggest crude-oil exporter during a period of rising inflation driven in part by high energy prices. + +The oil-production cut is the biggest from the group collectively known as OPEC+ since April 2020, signaling its intent to keep prices high after enduring seven years of a relatively subdued market, oil-industry analysts said. + +After surging above $100 a barrel in the first six months of the year over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, oil prices have fallen 32% over the past four months on [global economic worries](https://www.wsj.com/articles/sharp-slowdown-in-global-trade-points-to-possible-recession-lower-inflation-11664964002?mod=hp_lead_pos1&mod=article_inline), with international benchmark Brent crude dropping below $83 a barrel for the first time since January. Brent rose 0.6% to $92.38 on Wednesday, after having risen steadily on expectations of a production cut in recent days. + +[https://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-agrees-to-biggest-oil-production-cut-since-start-of-pandemic-11664978144](https://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-agrees-to-biggest-oil-production-cut-since-start-of-pandemic-11664978144) + + +As the title says - I'm1/3 beneficiary of a 75m estate with 25m in taxes due. + +&#x200B; + +My late relative passed about a year ago in my most recent conversation with the trustee (who is also 1/3 beneficiary) they estimate that the current tax balance is 10+ million after what they have calculated with the accountant etc. The rough numbers of from what the estate is bringing in is 1.2m a year NET. + +&#x200B; + +All the assets (primarily real-estate) is paid off free of all encumbrances. They seem more on the side of wanting to hold on to all the property and wait to pay off the taxes. Our rough math on in our chat put us at roughly 10 years to do that. The trustee will ultimately have final say but we have a good relationship and I think they value my input. + +&#x200B; + +Personally, I'd rather not wait that long to start receiving any cashflow from the inheritance. + +&#x200B; + +I also understand not wanting to sell paid off real-estate. At the same time... I think... what's the point. + +&#x200B; + +If we were cash flowing that would give more opportunity for other investments to grow in that 10years time? + +&#x200B; + +Assets are all in CA. roughly 3 multiunit apartment complexes, A hotel and property on the coast, 1/2 ownership of a shopping center and other misc. partnerships/LLC's etc. +LEAPS ARE ABOUT TO PRINT TOMORROW !!! + +Apple reports another blowout quarter with sales up 54% + +>EPS: $1.40 vs. $0.99 est. + +>Revenue: $89.58 billion vs. $77.36 billion estimated, up 53.7% year-over-year + +>iPhone revenue: $47.94 billion vs. $41.43 billion estimated, up 65.5% year-over-year + +>Services revenue: $16.90 billion vs. $15.57 billion estimated, up 26.7% year over year + +>Other Products revenue: $7.83 billion vs. $7.79 billion estimated, up 24% year-over-year + +>Mac revenue: $9.10 billion vs. $6.86 billion estimated, up 70.1% year-over-year + +>iPad revenue: $7.80 billion vs. $5.58 billion estimated, up 78.9% year-over-year + +>Gross margin: 42.5% vs. 39.8% estimated + +https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/28/apple-aapl-earnings-q2-2021.html + +Other things to note, dividend is rising as expected to $0.22 per share (7% increase). They also announced $90billion in share buy backs. +ETC is a literal scam coin that has been 51% attacked not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. Imo this is far worse for the crypto sphere than Doge potentially flipping BNB and making it to the top 3 as a massive pump n dump. I don’t see how people don’t get wrecked on something like ETC. A lot of people think regulations will spark the next bear market, its coins like ETC that will spark the regulations. (I understand they’re coming regardless) +I have seen countless of people saying they have doubled, tripled, quadrupled(or more) their positions since they voted. + +This includes myself. + +Besides that we only had around 400.000- 450.000 members when we were voting. + +We are now above 700.000 members. + +My point here being, that even **IF** we didn't own the float 6 months ago, I most certainly belive that we do now. +Should this sub introduce a minimum karma requirement before being able to post/comment? Almost every post right now is just people shilling coins and brand new accounts spamming “to the moon” “1000x potential.” I feel that many new people here could actually fall for this. Let me know what you think. + **♻️🚀Decentralized Community Investment Protocol ($DCIP)🚀♻️** + +&#x200B; + +The BEP20 network’s very first token featuring fully decentralized investing to token holders. + +Don’t bother falling for yet another token advertised as being the next DOGE, ELON or INU token. With DCIP’s unique offerings, DCIP is all your portfolio needs. + +&#x200B; + +**Links:** + +📲Official DCIP Telegram – [https://t.me/DCIPfinance](https://t.me/DCIPfinance) + +🌐Official DCIP Website - [https://dcip.finance](https://dcip.finance/) + +🕹 Official DCIP dApp - [https://app.dcip.finance](https://app.dcip.finance/) + +📄DCIP Litepaper - [https://dcip.finance/DCIP-Litepaper.pdf](https://dcip.finance/DCIP-Litepaper.pdf) + +📺Explained in 60 Seconds - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-GymG1JWs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-GymG1JWs) + +🔍DCIP Audit – [https://dcip.finance/Audit\_CTDSEC.pdf](https://dcip.finance/Audit_CTDSEC.pdf) + +💲Pancakeswap Listing - [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x308fc5cdd559be5cb62b08a26a4699bbef4a888f](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?inputCurrency=0x308fc5cdd559be5cb62b08a26a4699bbef4a888f) + +📈Financial Chart - [https://charts.bogged.finance/?token=0x308FC5CdD559Be5cB62B08A26a4699bBef4a888f](https://charts.bogged.finance/?token=0x308FC5CdD559Be5cB62B08A26a4699bBef4a888f) + +🗝DCIP LP Lock (10 years, $450,000) - [https://app.unicrypt.network/amm/pancake-v2/pair/0x4799b0d36b421df620daFeBdE3ba19C2C2c2fC5c](https://app.unicrypt.network/amm/pancake-v2/pair/0x4799b0d36b421df620daFeBdE3ba19C2C2c2fC5c) + +🦎Coingecko Link - [https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/decentralized-community-investment-protocol](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/decentralized-community-investment-protocol) + +💹 Coinmarketcap [https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/decentralized-community-investment-protocol/](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/decentralized-community-investment-protocol/) + +&#x200B; + +Let’s skip the small talk, DCIP is not built around any hype or meme. Unlike most of the BSC tokens, we have an actual long-term use-case: Decentralized investments. + +DCIP operates in a DAO-like way, meaning that the full day-to-day business is decided by the token holders. As long as the majority of the tokens holders agrees on a certain path or investment, that action will be executed + +&#x200B; + +**To summarize our use-case, this is what we offer:** + +1️⃣ First IaaS offering fully decentralized investment fund on the BEP20 BSC Network. + +🤵 Fully community-led decision making backed by a smart contract + +📈 Passive rewards based on the performance of the investments we make as a community + +💹 Rewards paid out (automatically) in BNB or BUSD + +🕹 Functional dApp for making proposals, keeping track of the investments and your balance + +&#x200B; + +Our first investment just went live, more investments are being executed in the coming days. Currently, our investments are limited to assets and tokens on the Binance smart chain network, we will continue to expand investment opportunities across all major chains, with the ultimate goal of investing in real-world assets. + +&#x200B; + +**Current possibilities for investments:** + +Investments in closed private and pre-sales of tokens + +Investing in established tokens + +Investment into pegged tokens (For example BTCB) + +Investment in NFT(s) on the BEP20 chain + +&#x200B; + +**Future investments:** + +🔀Cross chain investments in any supported chain + +🏛 Investment in Real-estate, Hotel (chains), Casino(s), Private-islands + +⌚️Investments in Watches, Art, Literally any appreciating investment asset + +&#x200B; + +Curious about more? Please check our latest dApp commercial: + +[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifjDF7dv\_5M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifjDF7dv_5M) + +&#x200B; + +✅The team behind DCIP are: + +• Fully Doxxed + +• Audited + +&#x200B; + +**🔄 Tokenomics Information:** + +➡️ 10% Standard Tax + +• 3% Liquidity + +• 1% Marketing Wallet + +• 2% Community Investment Wallet + +• 2% Burned + +• 2% Redistributed to holders who wish to hold longer than a period of 24 hours. + +&#x200B; + +➡️🆘 7% Punishment Tax on swaps within a period of 24 hours: + +• 4% Community investment wallet. + +• 1% Burned + +• 2% Redistributed to holders who hold longer than a period of 24 hours. + +&#x200B; + +Any questions? Feel free to ask us in our telegram chat: [https://t.me/DCIPfinance](https://t.me/DCIPfinance) + +&#x200B; + +YouTube ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-GymG1JWs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me-GymG1JWs)) + +DCIP | Decentralized Community Investment Protocol Explained + +What is DCIP? This video will explain DCIP (Decentralized Community Investment Protocol) in a nutshell. +You've probably seen ASKO mentioned a few places over the past few days but lemme tell you why this is as legit a moonshot as you'll ever see (and I was the first to call Parsiq (PRQ) here a few months ago). +Currently only 15M market cap. + +You get what AAVE is, right? take a bank and make it decentralized, where the liquidity comes from the users and they earn fees from borrows. But with AAVE you only get one option: lend it out, hope you don't get liquidated. ASKO is more like a proper suite of financial products with different levels of risk and reward.. like in the real world where we have loans and credit cards and mortgages and bonds. And where AAVE only has \~10 assets, AAVE has already lined up 30+. Their vision is to let people lend or borrow anything on Uniswap. That's huge. + + +The developers are dOrg, who worked on The Graph, Balancer, even eToro. Everything they've done has been gold. Some quick mental gymnastics: + + +ASKO is currently at \~$15M market cap / $0.15 per token. +Balancer - is at $295M. So that would be a \~15X from here. $0.15 \* 15 = $3.77. + +Same devs also worked on GRT. GRT market cap = $2.1bn, so that would be a \~140X from here, = $21. + +It's a direct competitor to AAVE, with greatly enhanced functionality. In a unicorn scenario (not likely but not impossible) it reaches AAVE market cap: + +$6.5BN, = a 433X from here, = $64.95. + + +Launching in 2 - 3 days. + + +[This is the official $GME Megathread for r\/Superstonk.](https://preview.redd.it/gzy9yfftoov71.png?width=778&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ce125aa2d7455f994d74a4192f1a04b7d14448c) + +**Please keep ALL conversations contained to Gamestop and directly related topics.** + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Brand new to the sub? Start here! + +***You must read the*** [***Superstonk Rules***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/rules) ***before commenting or posting on*** [***r/Superstonk***](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/)*.* + +https://preview.redd.it/u7nzd0m0pov71.png?width=1651&format=png&auto=webp&s=df5232178c4035ba1c069f9306b30453b42946cd + +The extremely talented and dedicated [u/zedinstead](https://www.reddit.com/u/zedinstead/) has created this beautiful collection of the most important, groundbreaking **D**ue **D**iligence in PDF format that can be easily accessed and shared. If you're looking to familiarize yourself with the GME bull thesis or the underhanded tactics of the short sellers involved in this trade-- then this is for you: + +# [GME.fyi](https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/kosyg) + +[r/Superstonk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/) employs strict posting requirements to ensure our community stays moderately free from trolls and other such bad actors. As such you may find you have trouble posting if you haven't fully read and understood our rules. + +**Posts keep getting removed?** [Find out why.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/rules) + +**Not enough** [**karma**](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204511829-What-is-karma-)**?** Here's a [quick guide](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-get-karma-on-reddit/) on how to get it. + +**Want to learn more?** [Check out our extensive Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index) and [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/wiki/index/faq) + +**Eager for more even more GameStop info?** [gmedd.com](https://gmedd.com/) is a spectacular resource. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +# Flair Links + +[📚 Due Diligence](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%9A+Due+Diligence%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [📚 Possible DD](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%9A+Possible+DD%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [💡 Education](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%92%A1+Education%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) |[📈 Technical Analysis](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%88+Technical+Analysis%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on) | [🗣 Discussion / Question](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%97%A3+Discussion+%2F+Question%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on) | [🤔 Speculation / Opinion](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%A4%94+Speculation+%2F+Opinion%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [💻 Computershare](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%92%BB+Computershare%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [📰 News](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%B0+News%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [🤡 Meme](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%A4%A1+Meme%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [👽 Shitpost](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%91%BD+Shitpost%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [📳 Social Media](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%B3Social+Media%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [☁ Hype fluff](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%E2%98%81+Hype%2F+Fluff%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [HODL 💎🙌](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22HODL+%F0%9F%92%8E%F0%9F%99%8C%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) + +You can also find the main flairs in the sidebar on New Reddit and under the "About" page on mobile. + +**Mod Flairs** + +[📣 Community Post](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search/?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%A3+Community+Post%22&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=relevance) | [📆 Daily Discussion](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%86+Daily+Discussion%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [🏆 AMA](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%8F%86+AMA%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [🚨 Debunked](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%9A%A8+Debunked%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [📖 Partial Debunk](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%93%96+Partial+Debunk%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on) | [🔔 Inconclusive](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%94%94+Inconclusive%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [⌚ Pending Review](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%E2%8C%9A+Pending+Review%22&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) | [🥴 Misleading Title](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search?q=flair%3A%22%F0%9F%A5%B4+Misleading+Title%22) + +**No CS/DRS Mode** + +[New Reddit Filter](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search/?q=-flair_text%3A%22%F0%9F%92%BB%20Computershare%22&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=) | [Old Reddit/Mobile Filter](https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/search/?q=-flair_text%3A%22%F0%9F%92%BB%20Computershare%22&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=) + +To filter out CS/DRS posts, click the links above or type `-flair_text:"💻 Computershare"` into the search bar. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +***What's This Post All About?*** + +The first thing you'll notice is a stickied comment right at the top. We call this the "Front Desk". Every day a moderator will create a new sticky comment that includes links to community announcements, fantastic posts that deserve more attention, and generally the simplest and easiest way to interact with the moderators of this community. The rest of the post is designed for general discussion and content/questions that might not need their own post. + +If you are new please mention that when you comment. There are no stupid questions but "shills" (paid accounts with the intent to disrupt the sub) are real. This community sees a lot of trolls. If you do not distinguish yourself as someone with genuine questions it is likely that members of our community will assume you are just spreading "FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). I hate that I have to give you this warning but it is just the nature of the beast at this point. + +Please have fun, play nice and be civil. Many of our rules are heavily enforced. Debate is welcome but if it devolves into personal insults please report the comment. *Ape no fight ape!* +I'm graduating at the end of the year and am applying for graduate positions at the moment. Hypothetically if I'm able to successfully land a full-time graduate position that starts in February, would it be frowned upon if I took 2 weeks leave in May? My family is planning on booking tickets soon as May 2020 marks 1-year of my grandma's passing and I would really want to go visit my grandma's grave. I may be thinking too far ahead, but should I hold off on booking tickets or will it not affect me career/job-wise if I were to go on leave? + +Some extra context: I'm currently being considered/have progressed through to the next rounds for one of the big 4 companies (though obviously not 100% on getting the job, high competition), and I heard it's going to be *very* busy as a graduate. Of course I am also applying for many others :) +Not sure if this is the right sub but you guys are always insightful so hopefully I don't look like an idiot right now. + +If a bubble is created when an asset is traded way over its intrinsic value, and student loans are not collateralized (as far as I know?), aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy (for the most part), and are essentially supported by the federal government, how can this be a bubble? + +If anything, wouldn't a college degree be the overpriced asset? And even if it is, I don't see the federal government stopping or even minimizing access to college loans to "burst" the "bubble." + +Is any of this on point? +I hate the idea of paying 4-6% commission to sell a million dollar house. I can pay a pro to take pics and list on mls for a flat fee. Is there a service that will do both ends of the deal for a flat fee? Say I have a buyer and we agree on the terms and we need someone to draw up legal docs and do the escrow process. Is there a one stop shop for this? +I hate the idea of paying 4-6% commission to sell a million dollar house. I can pay a pro to take pics and list on mls for a flat fee. Is there a service that will do both ends of the deal for a flat fee? Say I have a buyer and we agree on the terms and we need someone to draw up legal docs and do the escrow process. Is there a one stop shop for this? +>The $912 million-funded fintech giant will provide compensation to all customers of its Robinhood Gold premium subscription for borrowing money to trade plus access to Morningstar research reports, Nasdaq data, and bigger instant deposits. It’s offering them three months of service. + +>A month of Robinhood Gold costs $5 plus 5% yearly interest on borrowing above $1,000, charged daily. Before a pricing change, the flat fee per month could range as high as $200. However, compensated users will only get the $5 off per month, for a total of $15. That could seem woefully insufficient if Robinhood users missed out on buying back into stocks like Apple that went up over 9% on Monday. Robinhood is calling it a “first step”. + +[Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/03/robinhood-outage-cause/) +https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/03/11/who-declares-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-global-pandemic.html + +How do we move forward from this boys? Thinking everything is going to get affected now. +Hey guys and gals! + +When I started writing this it was mostly a kind of pep talk to myself, so it feels a bit silly posting this - but here goes! I've been seeing a few posts lately from people just starting out, and among them from those who feel a little rueful about where they are financially (and maybe about how they got to be there, too). I myself am no stranger to those feelings of inadequacy that can sometimes creep up on you when you read about other peoples' financial affairs. We all know everyone has their own problems, but you will never really hear about them and that can make it seem as though everyone is better off than you... so I guess I just wanted to write something that hopefully might resonate with you, and who knows - perhaps even make you feel a little better about your prospects (and you DO have prospects!). + +So, a little about myself first. I'm just shy of 28, and in the grand scheme of things I don't really have very much to my name. I don't own any property (no one in my immediate family does), I don't have a savings aside from some shares (worth about 2 k), and I don't even have a career (yet... still working on getting my doctorate - who knew it would take 8+ years of uni to get to entry level specs in my dream career!). I realise you may already be rolling your eyes because let's be honest - that's not BAD. But I'm very proud of that, because I came out of 'bad', and now doing 'not bad' is cathartic. And the hardest lesson I've learned on my way to 'not bad' is that it wasn't 'bad' because of some unavoidable cosmic fate, it was 'bad' mostly because of my cycle of ignorance and terrible decision making (and fine, maybe a little bit of unavoidable cosmic fate...). It's really hard to see when you're on a destructive path like that, and before you know it, you're up to your eyeballs in credit card debt and struggling to plug all the holes. This is human (!), it happens often, and I decided to forgive myself for that and do something about it. + +Here's the thing though - I went through the motions, did the reading, did the snowball method, ditched the avocado on toast and daily coffee, and very slowly and VERY painfully paid off all my debts... and lo and behold I was fucking *disappointed.* All that work just to get to zero, to fix my own mistakes which I could have just not made in the first place. My thought process every night in bed was as follows: "Oh man, I wish I didn't spend all that money on \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ over the years, what a waste! I would be absolutely SWIMMING in money by now, that would have been at least a 30 % deposit on the house of my dreams and instead I'm paying someone else's mortgage! Why didn't I just \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ or \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_? If only I knew then what I know now AAARGH!" And after thinking about it really hard, I would go on my phone to obsessively check every single account I had just to make sure my money hadn't pissed itself away while I was obsessing over the money I had already pissed away. + +Hindsight is 20/20, but indulging it is pointless - so instead, use it to gain perspective and momentum to propel you towards. For me, that meant reminding myself that I'm a human and that I've worked really bloody hard to claw my way to a much less precarious position, and gain strong footing for my future. Education (UKPF and MSE!) helped me immeasurably, and just by being here right now you are doing yourself a world of favours regardless of how good or bad your situation is. Good habits and hard work WILL cause positive changes to happen, and as a human you will always find a way to make the best of what you have! + +Thanks and good luck! +[Source](https://investor.amctheatres.com/newsroom/news-details/2022/AMC-Entertainment-Holdings-Inc.-Announces-Special-Dividend-of-AMC-Preferred-Equity-Units/default.aspx) +[Source](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001411579/3f3ec8db-88e0-4c69-8bfb-11ee45ab6932.pdf) +[Source](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001411579/d143ef2b-7a84-47d2-a8a1-7930f7527930.pdf) + + +I was going to stay out of this whole mess, but what Adam Aron is doing here is absolutely disgusting and I need to piece out whats going on here. + +So to preface, AMC is in dire straits: + +* Its bonds are trading at 60 cents on the dollar. This basically means the markets don't believe AMC will be able to pay out its debt +* The company has roughly $1B cash vs roughly $5B in debt and $5B in lease liabilities +* They lost money this quarter despite travel and service oriented companies just killing it. +* Additionally all signs point to a weaker Q3 and Q4 going forward so it is likely Q2 will be their strongest quarter +* And to top it all off, they are unable to issue any shares because retail investors have blocked off any common stock dilution + +**So how does a company get out of this without declaring bankruptcy?** They don't. Unless you're Adam Aron. + +Well here is Adam's master plan. [The $0.01/share special dividend.](https://investor.amctheatres.com/newsroom/news-details/2022/AMC-Entertainment-Holdings-Inc.-Announces-Special-Dividend-of-AMC-Preferred-Equity-Units/default.aspx) + +The Preferred Equity Unit. + +Here are its important takeaways: + +* Each Preferred Equity Unit can be exchanged for 1 common share, but only if **the Company proposes and investors vote to approve an increase in the number of authorized shares of Common Stock** +* Each Preferred Equity Unit represents one hundredth of a share in the company's Preferred Stock (Note: Preferred Equity Unit =/= Preferred Stock!) +* Each Preferred Stock is in turn potentially convertible into 100 shares of Common Stock + +Well retail will never vote for dilution... lets move onto the filings. + +* Holders of the Preferred Stock will initially be entitled to one hundred (100) votes per share and will vote together with the holders of common stock [Pic](https://i.imgur.com/1AnTszC.png) +* We may offer and sell, from time to time in one or more offerings, shares of our Class A common stock, par value $0.01 (the “common stock”), **preferred stock**, subscription rights, depositary shares, warrants +and units, in amounts, at prices and on terms determined at the time of offering [Pic](https://i.imgur.com/DFe2WwM.png) +* Authorized capital stock of 50M shares of Preferred Stock (45M after the ~500M Preferred Equity Units are delivered) [Pic](https://i.imgur.com/JDTyXjV.png) + +Here is where things get dicey. The company is going to issue up to 50M of these preferred shares that have 100 votes per share versus the current 510M common shares outstanding. What this means is owning 5.1 million preferred shares gives you the same amount of votes as all 510M common shares. Additionally, you the shareholder, will receive **Preferred Equity Units**, **not** **Preferred Stock**. **They can issue Preferred Stock, but are only giving you Preferred Equity Units.** + +Circling back to the beginning, why does Adam Aron care about these votes so much? Its because AMC needs cash bad. AMC really, really wants to issue more shares, but retail traders understand that dilution = bad and is not willing to allow AMC to screw them over. Well here comes their fix. With these preferred shares, retail traders will not have a choice in the matter when share issuance comes up for a vote the next time around. + +Adam Aron is selling you this whole special dividend as a good thing, something to hurt the short sellers, when in reality its anything but. The Preferred Equity Unit will result in massive dilution for common stock owners. **This is not a good thing.** If you are buying in the hopes of a short squeeze, AMC's actions today directly work against that happening. +Here’s my situation: I currently drive a 2006 Subaru Outback. It’s a great car that will last several more years. However, I am needing a truck for work. Hauling tools, wood, and equipment in my Subaru is doable but very limited space and it gets very dirty. + +My goal for a truck is a $150 monthly payment (I know it’s low), and currently the best way to achieve that is through leasing a Toyota Tacoma and putting down 10k. My plan to put down 10k will come partially from the resale of my Subaru and partially from saved money. With insurance I’m looking at around $210 each month which is within my budget. If I do this, I plan on purchasing the truck after the lease is up. + +Is this plan smart financially? I want to do the right thing and this seems like a good option to pursue for my current situation. Thanks + +Edit: I’m unable to store a trailer where I live due to HOA regulations + +Edit 2: thanks for the input. It looks like I probably need to explore my options outside of a new car first. If I elect to do a lease I will not be putting 10k down. I didn’t know that money could be lost if something happened +So there is a whole hour of work that I have to do after market close. And since I couldn't watch the ticker anymore and ran out of crayons I started wondering what to expect once the rocket launched. +Everyone is saying the rocket will take days. But how many days is it? + +Also a lot of people may be afraid of missing the rocket. +And I have seen a lot of dd recently about the 5-10 minute break strategy. (Which I think is brilliant) + +This is not advice. I'm an idiot. + + + +So the market will freeze at a 10% increase in price. And it will freeze for 5-15 minutes. + +So if the rocket started at the 4/15/21 closing price of $156.44 and did nothing but go up, without any dips how long would it take? + +So lets say it goes up 10% and there is a freeze, then it goes up another 10% and freezes again. + +It will take 117 10% increments like that to get to my rock bottom floor of $10 mil a share. + +Assuming it takes 1 minute to increase 10% (just because that is what my candles are set at and I love those crayons) + +So if they only froze for 5 minute intervals the whole way up: + +117×6 (1 min of shreck dick and 5 min of freeze) = 702 minutes. +That's 11.7 hours, or 1.8 trading days. + +What if they froze for 10 minutes each? + +117x11=1287 min. Or 21.5 hrs. Or 3.3 trading days. + +How about freezing for the maximum of 15 minutes each time? + +117×16=1872 min. 31.2 hrs. 4.8 trading days. + +What if your floor is $100 mil a share? + +$100 mil a share is 141 10% increases from our current $156.44 closing price. + +So at + +5 min freezes: +846 min, 14.1 hrs, 2.2 trading days + +10 min freezes: +1551 min, 25.9 hrs, 4 trading days + +15 min freezes: +2256 min, 37.6 hrs, 5.8 trading days + + +I wanted to know these and thought others might as well. I know it's not as impressive as other dds. + +But my take away from this is that it will not require any immediate or fast action. +When the rocket launches take a walk for 5-10 min. Eat some crayons. Look at memes. Whatever you want. There is no rush. Just relax and hodl to the top. + +A lot of people are getting impatient for the rocket to start. I am one of those people. I am absolutely jacked to the tits! +But the rocket will happen when it happens. And even then tendies are DAYS away. +These calculations aren't even taking into consideration any slowdowns or valleys there will be along the way. + +Just be patient, relax, drink water, think before you do anything, and I will see you on the moon. + +TA;DR: It will take days to reach the moon. There is no rush. Relax and enjoy the ride. + +Edit: I don't know how to format this better. +Sorry. +I’m looking to buy a car and my first thought was that I’d put down 33% of the car. However, my wife made a good point; why should t I keep that money in our account if we’re going to pay off the car within the 60 months promotional financing period anyway? +Edit: definitely a lot of thoughts on this. Thank you everyone. I’ll work out the math and figure out what’s best. +Hello, this is me celebrating my 20 karma points. + +I’ve been lurking this sub for quite a while whithout the ability to express myself. + +If it is of any interest; here is a little bit about my background: I am no developper nor IT man. I even don’t consider myself as tech savvy. I am a regular guy with a huge curiosity. I am not a trader by any means nor a professional investor. Eth is actually the first thing I ever invested in. I did so with a small amount of money a little more than a year ago. It was before the DAO crowdsale and subsequent hack. The perspective of the DAO was actually an important parameter for me to want to get onboard. Unfortunately (turned out to be some kind of luck in the end), I wasn’t quick enough to hop on the DAO train. + +I “hedl” my Eth since then...because I always thought of it as a long-term investment. Well, I didn’t even see it as an investment really. It was more about supporting the project (...well, maybe that’s what an investment is...or, at least, should be...). + +At some point in the previous weeks, i thought that i had reached the karma points i needed and tried to post what follows. Turned out i didn’t understand it properly. So my celebration is posting it again. Some of it might seem irrelevant as it was related to some discussions taking place at the time. The rest, i think, remains of a certain pertinence (sorry if that sounds pretentious). +Anyways, thanks to all of you for many useful insights and more light-hearted bits. I learned a lot not only about Ethereum but also about blockchain and Cryptos in general... But also about many other things that are impossible to express. It has been very interesting for me to be the witness of a lot of things that took place here. + +This is me celebrating and paying it forward. + +Also; please keep having this open-mind that is the most valuable thing in this community. You don’t need ennemies if you are just positive about the thing you believe in. And if someone takes aim at you for whatever reason, don’t be silly enough to get into a fight, just let the animosity fade. Negativity is a powerful magnet that sucks a lot of energy. Don’t let yours be drained in that spiral. + +Peace. +---------------------- +There is no comparing this to the dotcom bubble. Because the thing we invest in is the dot between “dot” and “com”. + +The growth we see is just the growth of a big pool where everybody who believes in a system puts money into it. We are not betting on the ones who are going to get benefits from this system (or new paradigm) because we feel that this system, or protcol...or whatever, is going to be beneficial for all mankind. + +That’s just how bullish we are about it. + +We are a community based on the promising perspective of a sharing/exchanging system we believe in. + +To me ETH is not an “altcoin”. It is not even actually a coin. I believe it’s a share of our future. +Sure i am bullish on Ethereum because i am bullish on blockchain technology. But you know, all of us have to start somewhere. + +And to me Ethereum is not only the best placed in the blockchain technology race but also the entity that rose my awareness about the potentialities of blockchain technology in the first place. + +Some day, Ethereum might be forgotten. But for now, it’s leading the way and it’s catching us all in its wave. + +On the matter of knowing how much of a bubble this all is, the crypto-economy might be the perfect answer to the system that sustained the dot-com bubble. + +Cryptocurrencies swell and burst all the time. And they have since they were born, whenever Satoshi’s paper was published. + +“Bitcoin” might sound like a silly name. But it’s a perfect name. It tells you everything you need to know about it. + +It is a code scripture that you can trust as much (or more, actually) as you trust the most trust-needed item of society: money. + +The twist being, once that is made is possible, you can put anything on it. +Bitcoin is a digital coin (or bill) for exchanging value. It is the digital iteration of value. + +What Ethereum is bringing forward is that anything can be put directly on this coin, or bill. +It’s like, instead of exchanging millions of any means of exchange (insert currency here), you would only exchange one note with everyting that bonds you together written on it. +But, even better, this note would, through only algorythmic programmation, make sure its value is respected. + +You know what, we sound crazy because we probably are. We really don’t know where this leads us...but we want to keep pushing to find out. + +Fuck it, humanity needs some kind of reboot anyway. + +We are all on our digital islands. +Patiently building ships. +For the rising tide. +And when it’s high enough +We’ll sail it together. + +To wherever, be it the moon, the outer space...or just deep in what we are. It’s all for the best. + +Buying ETH is not really buying. It is transforming your money into something else. It is, today, exchanging your currency for the fuel of the future. + +You can think about it in two different ways: + +what could become the value that i put in this today? +Or +Should I care about value at all ? + +Sorry for the versatility of this post, its inconstancies and the mistakes. English is not my mother tongue and I am just bursting out of the frustration of being unable to express anything here. + +TL;DR: Happy with my karma points, wanted to express myself. This whole thing is less about flying to the moon than diving deep in the core of today’s humanity. + +EDIT: "hedl" instead of "hodled"... + + +In a closed press conference at the ongoing ETH Seoul 2022 Hackathon, the co-founder of Ethereum (ETH) spoke on the future expectations of the Ethereum blockchain and the crypto industry in general. + +>“I think the next 10 years is when crypto has to transform into something that is not based on promises of being useful in the future but is actually useful,” he said. Because a lot of applications are promising in theory, but they’re just completely not viable because of scaling issues today,” he said. + +[source](https://timestabloid.com/vitalik-buterin-speaks-on-what-ethereum-eth-and-crypto-should-become-in-the-next-10-years/) +Note: +The platform is Zerodha. +All trades were CNC(Cash and Carry) + +On 26th of October i.e. today morning. I was holding 100 RIL shares with total average of 2218. I saw the news yesterday that Amazon has put RIL-Future deal on hold. And I expected market to react sentimentally so I sold all my holding at 2087/share at 9:20 early morning. + +As expected, retail holders reacted and reliance started going down. + +At 3:20, when market was about to close. I bought 20 RIL shares at 2029. And order got Executed for the same. + +Now, in my Positions tab 100 RIL shares which I sold in the morning changed to 80. And in my Holdings section I have 20 shares averaging around 2218 whereas I bought them at 2029. + +This also started to show loss in my holdings tab. + +What and why is this happening? Did I miss out some Zerodha rule? Is it a big in the app? +I am from Goa. + +I am planning to acquire Portuguese citizenship. +Are there people on this group who have changed their citizenship? + +I want to know what happens to my Investments in.. +Bank FDs +Mutual Funds +stocks +PF + +I will be getting OCI card after I get Portuguese passport. +I will not be moving out of India immediately. I'll still be residing in India for upto 6 months after I change my citizenship. +Rather than getting paid on the AUM, shouldn't they be incentivized to increase their long term performance? For example, by being paid on their average returns over the last 5 years? + +The AUM metric, even though its meant to incentivize long term performance, is easily gamed by distributor commissions, marketing etc. Shouldn't we (regulators) manate other metrics that align the interests of investors and managers? + +&#x200B; + +Edit: clarified that I'm looking for a regulator's perspective. +Anyone posting about themselves being tired is just spreading FUD. Tired? Take a nap. You know what I’m tired of? The crooked financial system having its way with retail investors and manipulating prices. I’ve been an ape since end of January and I’m not tired at all. My tits are jacked to their tits. + +Pepridge farm remembers when we were down at $120 and no one blinked. PF remembers the drop from 350 to 180. If that didn’t make us tired then how is a constantly rising floor and the head of the NYSE admitting price manipulation making you tired? Seriously have a nap. Walk your dog. Circle jerk for all I care, just don’t post this FUD and hodl. Logging off and waiting is the easiest damn thing to do. Play a video game, smoke weed, sell your kidney for tendies fuck if I care just don’t tell me you’re tired. +Apes, I used to be a scientist. I have a PhD in a non-finance field and used to do research and write scientific publications. + +A keyword that you might have already heared as a scientific principle is "peer review". This means if you want to publish your research in a prestigious journal that many scientists read, your research publication needs to get reviewed by an independent panel of experts in the field. For GME, e.g. Atobit had HoC2+3 reviewed by Dr T, Dave L, etc. + +A less known scientific principle (maybe because there's no specific name for it) is what I wrote in the title: + +Collective DD is much more reliable as any single DD! That's why our overall thesis is very likely to be true! + +Even with peer review many scientific articles turn out to be wrong over time. This can be because of methodologies used evolving over time allowing deeper insights or simple mistakes in experimental set up or interpretation. + +But what holds much stronger than any individual finding is the overall big picture of how things work for a particular topic, since this is a mosaic of independent viewpoints re-enforcing the overall direction. There can be bias, that's why counter DD and myth busting are important. + +But overall I feel the de-centralized nature of our DD is exactly what gives it high confidence. If it were just a few people it could be a scam. Also importantly, public data like FTDs, buy ratios, short volume all also are supporting the different DDs. + +The reason I wrote this is I sometimes see apes getting worked up over details of this or that DD or blaming mods or other individuals for getting something wrong. My message: It's ok to be wrong on individual points occasionally. What's much more important is the big picture which gets supported by many pillars! + +TL;DR see title +Currently make 70k for a large company with about 4.5% 401k match and ~20 days PTO+sick off the year. It’s a 1 hour drive once covid ends but may be able to negotiate WFH. Only been here for 5 months. + +New company is a much smaller company offering a much better title with 90k salary, 2% 401k match about 15 PTO+sick. It will be officially WFH from now on. + +I enjoy the work I’m doing now and I also think my current job industry now will be in high demand for the next 10+ years but it is niche so less available opportunities but high demand (but could easily find a job in any major city just not as many as the other role) The new role is in a different job function but within the same overall industry with more current opportunities and job function has less growth in the future. Both roles I’ll be primarily responsible for content development (ie slide deck development). + +I also have a mentor in the new company who has been a great help and is a great connection. So personal development growth in the new company could be exponential + +To get to 90k in my current role will probably take 2-3 years if I stay at my current company but could probably hit 85k if I switch to a new company in 1-2 years while staying in my current job function/industry + +Could probably always switch back to current industry as skill sets are highly transferable and only difference is that current industry requires a more specialized knowledge set. + +TLDR: new company is offering +20k salary with slightly less benefits and is in a different industry that has almost been fully developed(compared to high growth in current industry). Personal growth/moving up the company ladder will be better in new company too + +Leaning toward new company but what are your thoughts? +In the movie “The Big Short” Steve carrel and his team drive around to inspect the property sector, they have a real estate agent in the car advising them on the insane house prices hikes over the previous 3 years. + +The housing market is here so similar I’ve keep thinking to myself, it’s uncanny. + +Afterwards they inspect some house that have faulted on mortgage repayments, empty houses abound, with scenes of dinner plates still on the table and furniture left in situ…. + +Yesterday I took a drive around my area (1hr north of Sydney) I was met with a not so dissimilar situation….. + +Empty constructions sites everywhere, the builds have ceased in large building estates, similar outcomes to the scenes in the movie though different motivating factors. + +After the tour of the defunct housing market they make contact with some loan managers for a bank, they bank sees brag about how many loans they handed out under dubious circumstances and how they falsified details. + +Well I’ve long suspected a similar thing happening in the Aus market, maybe not as illegal, though definitely a situation involving incorrect data entry. + +Nothing adds up when I watch the news or read the articles, from what I see on the ground dooms day is coming and it’s starting us in the face though we are only paying attention to the lagging statistics approved to us by the people who are putting us in this situation. + +Thoughts? +In the late 90s, I was making a great salary, aggressively saving, living frugally, but for investing was risk averse, by nature. I did not want to lose money I had earned and saved. I still don't. + +Full blown dot com mania rolled around when the globe.com went public in late 1998. I played around with an ETrade account during the .com bubble, making harmless $5k trades, no options, took profits way too early, but followed the market action very closely. I dabbled lightly and did some IPO trades, some premature shorting, and mostly used it as a positive learning experience. No harm, no foul. I was mostly a coward, happy to have my money safe on the sidelines, CDs and bonds, but the dot com bubble was spectacular on the upside and the downside. + +However, the experience left me very distrustful of the entire game. Investment banks underwriting bogus websites with no earnings to sucker bagholders which turned out to be mom and pop mutual funds, pension funds, and day traders who didn't actually daytrade. Insiders cashing out of bogus IPOs to the retail sucker. The whole thing seemed like a huge scam. A bullet that I dodged since I didn't get too caught up in the game. I had a day job and did not quit it, and kept earning and saving. + +The moral of the story is that I never really went full hog into the stock market. I am one of those people. Missed out on tons of tech gains for the next 20 years. All due to the skepticism developed during the dot com bubble. Threw the baby out with the bathwater. And I didn't even lose any money!! + +Fast forward to COVID bubble, and some new investors have gotten clobbered in the last year. Meme stocks, SPACs, and scam IPOs are down 50% to 75% of peak values. It's the exact same thing. A lot of people will hold underwater stocks until $0 or until they die, if they never break even. But, that's another conversation. + +I get the feeling this recent bear market will scar some of the victims for life. My advice is to learn from your mistakes (YOLO options trades, bag-holding meme stocks, invest in diversified ETFs, etc) ....Whatever you see as the lesson for you and move forward with your financial lives. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater and stuff cash in your mattress for the rest of your life. Because there are a bunch of people reading this who are at risk of doing exactly that, which to be fair, isn't the worst thing in the world. + +Please don't hate on me. I am just sharing my experience for those who may find it useful. I am happy to answer any further questions about the pros and cons of overly cautious investing, LOL. +Unemployment fell 3.7% to 3.5% + +[https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/10/07/september-jobs-report-unemployment-inflation-interest-rates/8195709001/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/10/07/september-jobs-report-unemployment-inflation-interest-rates/8195709001/) + +&#x200B; + +Brace yourselves for a red Friday +I still can't believe that I won a scratcher, but the deal is "$1k/mo for 10 years" which translates to $12k(one payment)/year for 10 years, or $60k upfront + +I'm roughly $8k in debt ($20k including my car), I plan to use this money to help finally put me through college (while still working of course, but far less hours) + +Should I take the 60k lumpsum, or take the 12k/year? + +***EDIT:*** *Added clarity + +thanks guys for all the suggestions, I decided to go with the annuity. I've been working towards fixing all of the problems above, and I figure an extra 12k/year definitely wouldn't hurt. Thanks again everybody, I really appreciate your advice. + +ALSO! In my state I don't have to put my real name, and can cover my face with the check. What name should I put? I'm thinking something like "Check Berry" or "Phillip McRevis" + +****UPDATE**** It's done, [Checky McCheckface](https://imgur.com/a/pQQF76l) won, I went with the 1k/month (it's actually one check per year). I feel like I've been waiting for something like this, but when I got the check today I felt more like an idiot, it shouldn't take a 1/1000000 chance to become motivated to pursue happiness. Please don't wait for your lotto ticket guys. + +Thanks again for the support, I can't wait to get back on track. If I can remember the password for this throwaway, I'll give you a 10yr update. +Sadly by a cruel twist of fate I technically don't qualify for SNAP or I would be looking into that. Otherwise, the title says it all. Does anyone have any advice on. Hey to make this work? I'm literally (thisclose) to trying to sell my plasma but would rather avoid it if possible. +During the whole FTX debacle, I've watched normies asking how can they take their corn out of exchanges and the most common answers were "easy, just buy a ledger and transfer them there". + +That is not the most useful advice for several reasons: + +* it might take weeks for their ledger to arrive, it can be already too late +* in this scenarios, people are scared and fragile, they will most likely make a huge mistake in the rush of the moment (buy from a 3rd party because it's cheaper/faster, storing the seed in their computer, etc) +* using a hardware wallet is confusing and magical for normies, most of them will not heed that advice if they are scared of loosing their funds. Most people don't even understand what they are, they think their bitcoin is stored there, they don't understand it's just a transaction signing device. + +There is a much simpler message to broadcast: install bluewallet on your phone, transfer your funds there, worry about getting it to cold storage later after researching the topic with more time. + +As things stand right now, a hotwallet from a foss app on your phone is infinitely more secure than an exchange. Modern phones are actually extremely well hardened security wise, much better than PCs. + + +Doing the above is orders of magnitude easier and simpler than going from a CEX to cold storage on a whim. + +1. Install bluewallet +2. Write down your seed in 2 pieces of paper. +3. Generate a receiving address. +4. Profit +5. Learn more and get deeper into the rabbit hole. +I know everyone is hoping it's the next tesla and is FOMOing on every EV, but a company that barely made ANY deliveries , having the 3rd highest market cap in the car industry (140B+) , is plain ridiculous for me... And I don't care about the Amazon rumors. +The cell provider in question is Google Fi. I've been with them a long time and love their service because I travel a lot. Through this promotion they try to convince you to pay an extra $6/month for a device protection plan, for a total of $15 per month, but it's easy enough to opt out. And I noticed in the terms that they do do a credit check. I always buy my phones outright. Lastly, they offer a free upgrade to another Pixel phone at the end of he 24 months, which I suspect would have to be through another subscription offer like this one. But if I have excellent credit, plan on staying with Google Fi for the long term, and never lose or damage my phones, what is the downside to taking the subscription offer without the device protection plan? I'm having trouble seeing one, which in itself makes me extra wary, like there is something important that I am missing. +Free concerts for holders, free live studio sessions and songs/albums as NFTs for your favourite + +rappers. + +&#x200B; + +🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵 + +\- Liquidity locked + +\- Ownership renounced + +\- Contract verified + +\- Fair launch + +\- 40% Burnt at launch + +\- 10% Locked and burnt in 2 weeks + +🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵 + +&#x200B; + +Launched 24 hours ago, excellent team and bulletproof community building. If you’re looking for a + +project to get into early, you can stop gem hunting, because this is THE token that will shoot your + +portfolio past the moon. + +&#x200B; + +$RAPR’s aim is to fund rappers and labels with free concerts, free studio sessions and any other + +expenses they may have, exchanging for a shoutout. There are many rappers who are open to crypto + +and talk a lot about it on their social medias such as Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty and Logic (many many more). + +Another goal is to help more rappers get into the crypto space and start benefiting from things such as + +NFT’s, when releasing an album or song, or even a live performance. + +&#x200B; + +Further down the line, RAPR plans to make an exclusive free concert to it’s holders as well as a meet + +and greet for holders with their favourite artist. + +&#x200B; + +🦄Tokenomics🦄 + +&#x200B; + +5% fee automatically added to liquidity forever. + +&#x200B; + +Website: [rapr.io](https://rapr.io) + +Telegram: [https://t.me/raprofficial](https://t.me/raprofficial) + +&#x200B; + +Contract address: 0x4B933c6c3BA07CA94D70022Cd2791E0E0AcDad0f +Wall Street is where people go when they want money and don't care about power. After all, money can buy a lot of power. + +But there's a power money can't buy. And what's worse, it's the place where people go when they don't give a fuck about money, only TRUE power. And that's the Department of Justice. + +**Lemme say it again for those of you in the back:** + +#**The Department of Mother Fucking Justice** + +# + +The REAL swinging cock and balls in town. If you're on the DoJ's radar, you're already fucked. The DoJ, and the FBI doing their bidding, do **NOT** fuck around. + +What we got today was confirmation that things are indeed bad enough that toothless fines and regulations aren't going to cut it when **"The Greatest Depression"** hits. + +Heads will **NEED** to roll, and they're circling the guillotines now. If the Bastille is to continue standing, the dregs of Wall St will be thrown kicking and screaming from the parapets. + +Complain about or praise Gensler all you want. He's irrelevant. + +**Dad's awake.** + +Enjoy the show, Ladies and Gentlemen. We've earned what comes next. + +Stay Safe. Stay Ape Strong. Stay Stonky. + +But most importantly: Stay Excellent to Each Other. + +Have a safe landing on the Moon. + +I love you all. **DRS from your individual non-retirement account and take the taxable event**. +Hi! The financial sector is one where money is almost guaranteed. Large institutions are backed by the government and they generate a lot of revenue year over year. + +Canada is recognised for having an **unshakable banking sector**: thanks to the high amount of **regulations** and the **low amount of competition**, each bank of the big 5 (RBC, TD, CIBC, Scotia and Bank of Montreal) have been very stable and safe investments in the last decades. + +While the US financial institutions may not be as safe and as regulated as their Canada counterparts, they have access to a **much larger market** (almost 10x) and reign over a **stronger overall economy**. + +Since **Canadian banks figure on the NYSE**, I figured it would be a great idea to compare them to their south cousins, so that they could be considered as **potential investments**. So, to the menu: the two largest of each country, the Royal Bank of Canada - RBC (RY) and the Toronto Dominion - TD (TD) VS JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and the Bank of America (BAC). + +&#x200B; + +RBC (RY) + +https://preview.redd.it/991wkcixsuk91.png?width=1897&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff3fc45b1dfcbb0c71f7b32fc8b97c05cd30ce15 + +[Historical data and graphs taken from thedataprinter.com](https://preview.redd.it/jyskn56hvuk91.png?width=1903&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e56973dc3a1acd9b0a5c95df0a494df74f443e1) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +TD (TD) + +https://preview.redd.it/uibmsky0tuk91.png?width=1908&format=png&auto=webp&s=069c0837223b4f7736328677a8eed2bb7a86680b + +[Historical data and graphs taken from thedataprinter.com](https://preview.redd.it/vtscwxaivuk91.png?width=1906&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e191c152bd91ced61165d0e598f3481fd1e9961) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +JPMorgan (JPM) + +https://preview.redd.it/vr1w84i3tuk91.png?width=1907&format=png&auto=webp&s=d57280f00ab0f05e7d4f67cb9fe8349a1635ad2f + +[Historical data and graphs taken from thedataprinter.com](https://preview.redd.it/lnel9h1jvuk91.png?width=1908&format=png&auto=webp&s=b50ece3b5d1f81c9ec9e5ffdff526e4bb0635bc3) + +&#x200B; + +Bank of America (BAC) + +https://preview.redd.it/fo957jkrgwk91.png?width=1896&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1881b2cf6dd1a861cd1df6e2d1443c8b39fbc3d + +[Historical data and graphs taken from thedataprinter.com](https://preview.redd.it/0emyof4sgwk91.png?width=1902&format=png&auto=webp&s=0054446db191cc4fd854e1413b7856b073c2337c) + +&#x200B; + +\--- RBC --- + +RBC has very great current numbers. It is cheap ratio-wise, a very good EPS 5Y expected growth with over 11%. The Royal Bank of Canada offers a 4.11% dividend with a 55% payout ratio. That is rarely seen. + +Since 2009, the profit of RBC has only been growing. The profit margins have increased and the valuation ratios have stayed relatively the same. + +https://preview.redd.it/vvyqrs82wuk91.png?width=1391&format=png&auto=webp&s=aa79539a275608358cbac712e6c9fb66e38c8d51 + +&#x200B; + +\--- TD --- + +I hate to be that boring guy, but the Toronto Dominon has almost the same story as RBC. Very cheap valuation for now (the same thing for almost every bank), a 4.16% dividend with an outstanding 42% payout ratio: VERY good. The only difference will be the lower expected EPS 5Y growth. + +Historically wise, revenues and profits have only been rising. No share buyback for the Toronto Dominon too, but levels of debt and share dilution are non-existent. Finally, the margins have slightly risen, and valuations stayed the same, even after some great growth. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/p4fecf8awuk91.png?width=1344&format=png&auto=webp&s=531c21107c807fb540d973fe441f9a8934d6a498 + +&#x200B; + +\--- JPM --- + +JPMorgan definitely seems like a great investment. Low valuations ratio wise, 3.50% dividend for 31.30% of payout ratio. Right now, the only negative forecast I could make is their lack of expected EPS growth: only 1.07% for the next 5 years. + +In the last 12 years, JPM does not seem to have increased its revenue by a large margin, but look at the net income: a rocket. The profit margins have explosed, the number of shares is always diminishing, and the amount of debt has not climbed. + +https://preview.redd.it/s6ua0w5khwk91.png?width=1393&format=png&auto=webp&s=89841c5bd0a0dd9aeeb861c7c519cc419e72db11 + +https://preview.redd.it/jdu2g6mmhwk91.png?width=1364&format=png&auto=webp&s=060a36fac60eb994641aa7306b101ba265eff4d3 + +&#x200B; + +\--- BAC --- + +Finally, Bank of America. Like other banks, compared to the market's average, the ratios are good. All banks seem to have low ratios, but at least, none of the four banks stand out. The dividend is lower than the 3 others at 2.60%, but again, payout ratio of 26% is very great for such a yield. Finally, the expected 5Y EPS growth is much better than JPM at 6.97%. but still lower than the Canadian banks. + +Unfortunately, revenue has drastically reduced since 2009. From 150B to 94B last year. Net income has increased, margins have increased, and debt stayed the same. Not that bad. Less revenue, but much more profitable than before. + +https://preview.redd.it/c80bkuyzrwk91.png?width=1375&format=png&auto=webp&s=c080a35580a12c2aa9134e95602646ff3ffc2ff0 + +&#x200B; + +\--- THE END --- + +In resume, I think both countries offer great opportunity for investing in the financial sector. The dividends are good, the valuations look-alike, and one thing is constant: growth in profits. + +Althought the US of A has great stocks in JPM and BAC, I think, in today's time, that i would rather invest in Canadian Banks for these reasons: + +* Better projected 5Y EPS Growth +* Strict policies makes it so the banks can take on less risk +* They do not face a lot of competition +* The big 5 are starting to expand internationally: growth is not stopping overall + +&#x200B; + +So here you go guys, an alternative to the traditionnal US-only stock and funds we see around the investing subreddits. Also, even Americans should be able to access it through the NYSE! + +&#x200B; + +From wherever you might be, I hope you have a very great end of day. +Hi! + +So I recently invested into Qualcomm. Not because of their dividends, but because of growth. I'm not a dividend investor, so I really don't know if this subreddit is the right place, but you know a lot about dividends. + +I don't have much money since I'm only 13, but I've bought 10 shares of QCOM. When they pay dividends, I'm going to get $6,8, but what do I even do with it? People always say reinvest, but my broker doesn't allow fractional shares, and I can't buy a whole share of QCOM or basically any other stock with $6,8, so I was wondering if I should just take the money out of my brokerage account and go buy some ice cream for me and my little sister lol? I could also just wait and gain a bit of money every quarter until I had enough to buy a share of something. +I’m trying to cover monthly expenses (mortgage, etc.) with dividends. I own PEY, O, MAIN, EOI, ETG. I realize the last two are closed-end funds, and the second two are individual stocks. I’m trying to get out of the closed-end funds over time. What are other ETF favorites (any focus) that pay monthly? +Hi! + +So I recently invested into Qualcomm. Not because of their dividends, but because of growth. I'm not a dividend investor, so I really don't know if this subreddit is the right place, but you know a lot about dividends. + +I don't have much money since I'm only 13, but I've bought 10 shares of QCOM. When they pay dividends, I'm going to get $6,8, but what do I even do with it? People always say reinvest, but my broker doesn't allow fractional shares, and I can't buy a whole share of QCOM or basically any other stock with $6,8, so I was wondering if I should just take the money out of my brokerage account and go buy some ice cream for me and my little sister lol? I could also just wait and gain a bit of money every quarter until I had enough to buy a share of something. +I got laid off in 08. The job market was shit then so I started looking into how to make some side money online. + +I found upwork.com (formerly elance) and mturk.com and realized people would pay me to transcribe. I made 15k that way over 4 months doing it from home. This is something I would definitely recommend to anyone because we can all type. And while it is slow at first, I eventually got to the point where I could type 1 hour of audio in 75 mins. + +I chose transcribing. But what's great about upwork is there's literally hundreds of things people are willing to pay someone to do. Whether that's grammar, editing, graphic design, website building, literally anything and everything. So think of what skills you have and search on upwork to see if people will pay for you to do it. + +Once you've found something someone will pay you for, the hard part is actually getting the gigs. There will definitely be other people trying to get the job too, and everyone submits an application with what's called a bid. Which you have to pay for, but they are cheap. + +Here's how you can increase your chances of landing your gigs. It will be slow at first, but as soon as you complete a couple you will get reviews and it will become much easier to land others. + +First things first, whatever thing you decide to do or focus on, look at the profiles of top workers / freelancers in that space and try to make yours as similar and professional looking as possible. There's good advice on YouTube so I recommend checking out some videos (both when it comes to crafting your profile, and submitting proposals for gigs. However, you can do just fine by using others as an example or starting point.) + +Next, you need to craft your proposal. This can seem daunting at first. But instead you can be smart about it. Create a separate account on upwork as a job lister and list your job for free. (You may even be able to list your job w/ the same account.) Find people who submitted and are the highest rated and craft your proposal after theirs. You should be able to list jobs for free still. + +Once you have your proposal, the next is getting jobs. It will be tough at first. But to get around this in the early stages I always told people I was willing to do it for a discounted rate of 30% or more if they would leave an honest review. After I did 5 of those and finally had some reviews, it then became much easier to get jobs. + +Another thing I would focus on is getting repeat business. When I sent the work to the job provider I would tell them if they are happy with the work I would be happy to continue to do any future work for them so they knew they would have quality they rely on and so they wouldn't have to go through the hassle of listing a job each time on upwork. They could just email me and I'd get it done right away. Once I obtained their private email address, I would then take jobs outside of upwork and accept payment via PayPal and google and Amazon payments. I would also offer them discounts if they referred anyone. This encouraged people to send their friends my way, especially because I always focused on making it the best quality I could. Which, you should focus on quality too. Good work makes happy customers and happy customers makes more customers. PLEASE NOTE: UPWORK OBVIOUSLY DOESNT LIKE THIS SO DO NOT SAY UT ON THEIR SYSTEMS. BECAUSE IF YOU GO OUTSIDE UPWORK, THEY DONT GET PAID. INSTEAD BE COY ABOUT IT. SAY YOURE HAVING TROUBLE SENDING THE FILE ON UPWORK OR THAT YOU WANT TO SEND THEM A THANK YOU EMAIL OR SOME OTHER REASON AND GET THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS. + +After a while, I was able to charge a premium for my work because I had so many reviews. I went from making $20/hr of audio to $60-$80 minimum depending on the job. Sometimes I even made $100 or more per an hour of audio. So while it does take a little elbow grease at first, consider it as an investment in yourself that will pay off a little down the road because you'll be able to charge a premium for your work. + +Whatever you do, if you decide to take this route, DO NOT get involved with the people who promise to show you ways of making money online if you buy their book or whatever. It's 95% of the time a scam and they are very good at manipulating people to spend money they don't have. + +After a while you will have a consistent list of repeat customers, a strong profile with good reviews, and you'll even be pulling in more work through bids. You can then hire people to work under you, or simply work as little or as much as you want. + +You could even take this formula and make a business out of it full time if you wanted. That's up to you. + +But this is by far the easiest way you can make side income or even a full time income on the computer. I hope this helps! I'm happy to answer any questions about running an online business or starting a freelance business. + +EDIT 1: There are other sites that job providers post. Freelancer is a good one. Wherever people are posting jobs that's a place you want to be. The same methodology applies! So absolutely don't hesitate to use more than one site. + +EDIT 2: Someone asked what jobs they could do if they aren't good at programming. But upwork isn't limited to programming so here was my response: There's so many options. I have barely any programming skills either. But I can still type. I can still edit videos. I can still create videos. I can still install Wordpress. And on upwork people will pay you for that it's not limited to programming. I recommend searching by job category to get an idea of just how vast the list of jobs available are. If you're good at something, chances are someone is trying to get someone like you to do it for money. +Write a list of things you can do. Even if you don't think you're good at them, as long as some other people might not know how to do it(like installing Wordpress or cropping a video), add it to the list. Then search for jobs like that on upwork to see which are viable. +You can even get jobs proofreading. And we can all read! + +EDIT 3: I'm off to bed but will continue answering questions in the morning. :] + +EDIT 4: Transcription Is just what I chose to focus on. There are many other things you could do instead, and the same focus and methodology applies as above. Someone commented saying they made a full time business via upwork through voice acting. Someone else made money doing investment presentations. There's tons of possibilities. Also keep in mind there will always be people trying to lowball. But they get what they pay for which is a ESL person who may not speak well or even do the work well. There are good jobs out there. Be sure to broaden your scope to other freelancing sites as well. For example I have friends on Fiverr who make $1k to $2k sales doing video animation with a software and it only takes them a day of work. There's plenty of money to be made. + +EDIT 5: There's a handful of skeptical people. That's fine skepticism is good most of the time. Especially if someone is selling something. I'm not selling anything though. Take a look at some of the people in the entrepreneur subreddit confirming what I've written. There's also some good advice too! https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/6y6fgj/ive_been_working_from_home_as_a_small_business/ +# Overview + +\[[Youtube Interview with Jason Polun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5wOWxVD7Yc) \- DD breakdown Video\] + +This post has been a long time coming, but I am finally confident in my research enough to describe in complete detail my theory for how to detect when a short squeeze has been set up in the market, and how market makers tip us off to when these squeeze opportunities have presented themselves. This theory is a methodical, mathematical approach to determining when a stock is primed for a short/gamma squeeze. + +None of this is financial advice. I'm not a financial advisor. This strategy is based on unproven theories which I cannot definitively prove and are based entirely on speculation and observations that are subject to the accuracy or inaccuracy of the data sources, which is never guaranteed. Further, no trading strategy is ever perfect or guaranteed, so you should do your own DD and make your own financial decisions. I can't be held responsible for any losses you sustain as a result of the use or misuse of this strategy. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck in your trading future, and may tendies rain upon you all forevermore. + +# What you need + +This theory requires that you have access to paid [Ortex](https://www.ortex.com) data, and potentially an options screener such as [Unusual Whales](https://unusualwhales.com), or at least a live-updating options chain such as through WeBull, Fidelity Active Trader Pro, or Tradingview.com, because this method also highly relies on being able to read accurate, timely options data. + +# What are Short Exempts + +You should already be familiar with what [short selling](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortselling.asp) a stock is, but most traders are unfamiliar with what [Short Exempts](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortexempt.asp) are. + +Short Exempt is a short position taken that is exempt from typical [Regulation Short (REGSHO)](https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/regsho.htm) requirements, namely the "Locate Rule" and the "Uptick Rule." Feel free to read the [full REGSHO documents here](https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/34-50103.htm). (fair warning, it's long...) Short exempts are a tool exclusively reserved for market makers due to their special status and role in "making the market." + +The Locate requirement requires that "When taking a short position, the short seller must be reasonably confident that a share can be located to borrow before selling the stock short." This is to prevent [Naked Shorting](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nakedshorting.asp), a term which we are all extremely familiar with by now. + +The [Uptick Rule](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/uptickrule.asp) goes into effect when a stock is placed on the short-sale circuit breaker list, known as "[Short Sale Restriction](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsalerule.asp)" or SSR. The purpose of SSR is to prevent a "dog-piling" effect by making it more difficult for shorts to open a short position on a stock that is already in a significant downtrend. A stock goes on SSR whenever it falls below 10% from its previous day's closing price. Following this, the stock is placed on SSR for the remainder of the day, and for all of the next trading day. When this happens, shorts are only permitted to open a short position during an [uptick](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/uptick.asp). + +# How it is abused + +Here are two facts about short exempts that are particularly troubling... + +1. Market makers define their own rules regarding when, how, and why they are allowed to take a short exempt. They are not prevented from taking one at any time, and are only required to justify having taken the short exempt after the fact, but only during an audit or inquiry by the SEC... which rarely happens. Basically, they can do it whenever they want, and as long as they have an excuse for why they did, the SEC considers it "no harm done." +2. **As long as a market maker can justify taking the short exempt, they are exempt from all of the rules which apply to typical shorts.** Meaning, even if they take a short exempt because a stock is on SSR, they are also allowed to take the short without locating a share first... So basically, it's a license to take naked shorts, *as long as any criteria for a short exempt is met*. + +# Why is it abused? + +To understand this, you must understand a few things about options, such as [the options greeks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxmIvvROge4), and [short option/straddle strategies](https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/investment-products/options/options-strategy-guide/short-straddle). + +Market makers have a vested interest in keeping stocks from making massive moves in either direction so that they can profit off their largest money-making strategy... selling calls and puts. Market makers often open short (selling) option positions in both directions to profit from volatility. Ideally, market makers will sell calls and puts in massive amounts, but they want the stock to close at the same price they opened the position at, as though the price never moved at all. This is because as long as volatility in the stock is high, but it doesn't move, the value of the option will decay rapidly over time due to Theta taking value away from the option as it approaches its expiration date. This strategy has been proven extremely profitable to hedge funds and market makers because they sell us dumb-money retail investors deep [out-the-money (OTM)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/outofthemoney.asp) options for huge premiums because volatility on our favorite stocks is ridiculously high, but they have the ability to pin the price and keep the stock from moving, causing our options to expire worthless. + +How do I know this? Because Barclays and their fucking quants already figured out how to game the system to rip us off and profit from our delusional expectations. Here's their [report](https://www.docdroid.net/5gM68EW/barclays-us-equity-derivatives-strategy-impact-of-retail-options-trading-pdf#page=5) on how they do it, and if that pisses you off...good, you should be pissed, because they fucking cheat us every day out of our money... I digress... + +# But there is a catch + +Sometimes, market makers open up more options contracts than what they can reasonably deliver in either direction. The human psyche tends to gravitate towards positive things happening, which is a big reason why retail often bets towards bullish divergence in stock prices. As humans, we want good things to happen because it gives us a dopamine hit. For that reason, retail tends to buy more calls than puts. In some cases, there can actually be more call contracts open on a stock than the number of shares available to buy. How is that possible? Because of naked calls. + +[Naked calls](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nakedcall.asp), as opposed to a [covered call](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/coveredcall.asp), is when you sell a call option without buying or owning 100 shares per contract of the underlying stock. This can be profitable when you do not wish to spend money on a stock that you believe is going to trade sideways or sell-off, and you can collect the premium as a credit immediately. However, your risk is significantly higher than with a covered call because if the naked call you sold runs [in-the-money (ITM)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inthemoney.asp), and the buyer of your call chooses to exercise their contract, you will be forced to purchase the stock at its current market price, whatever that is. So, if you sold a naked call for $5 strike expiring a month from now, and it squeezed to $20, then you would have to buy 100 shares at $20, and sell them to the counterparty for $5, a $15/share loss, or $1500 loss total. + +Market makers must do something called [Delta Hedging](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deltahedging.asp), which means to buy the stock they sold calls for, when they see the stock price is threatening to go ITM. Rather than allowing the situation to happen where they would be forced to buy those shares at $20, they see the stock is going from $3 to $4.50, so they decide to purchase the shares at $4.50 to convert their naked calls to covered calls and "hedge" the position, allowing them to sell the shares at $5 for a $0.50 profit per share instead of a $15 loss. + +# But wait there's more + +Remember the short exempts? That's right, market makers have an incentive to not move the stock. So what do they do? + +They "[pin](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pinningthestrike.asp)" the stock by rapidly shorting it during upward momentum to hold it at or near their ideal strike price to maximize their profit on the options they sold. The reverse is also true of massive put contracts, but doesn't happen as often as with calls due to the above psychology I cited. + +So now is where the short exempts come in. + +Remember when I talked about how market makers have that special short exempt tool, which is useful especially during SSR? So if a stock goes on SSR, market makers can use short exempts to continue shorting without locating the share and without regard to the uptick rule. Normally, this plays into their favor because they can use it to control the stock price and force it to stay at or below their ideal strike price for the most profit. But what if they lose control of it? Before we get to that, we need to learn a little bit about Failures To Deliver. + +# Failures to Deliver and how they help us draw a consistent trend line + +I covered this information in two more detailed DD posts [(part 1)](https://www.reddit.com/r/amcstock/comments/onndkr/possible_amc_rip_prediction_trend_analysis/) & [(part 2)](https://www.reddit.com/r/amcstock/comments/opq8wc/extremely_plausible_amc_rip_prediction_trend/) and in an [interview with Randall Cornet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYyM364k6rg&t=759s). Highly recommend those if this part interests you... + +Market makers are still subject to a few rules which they can delay, but cannot avoid completely. I'm referring specifically to [Failures-To-Deliver (FTDs)](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/failuretodeliver.asp). + +I've often referred to the T+35 settlement cycle (Date-of-Transaction + Trading days) in my previous DD posts, but most people don't know where this number comes from. It comes from RegSho... + +Brokers are given T+15 settlement days to deliver FTDs Market Makers are given T+6 settlement days to deliver FTDs The Clearing Houses are given T+14 settlement days to deliver on FTD's + +Altogether, this adds up to Brokers + Market Makers (T+21) + Clearing House FTD close-out cycles (T+35). + +There is a correlation between short exempts and FTDs because of one simple truth that market makers cannot avoid. **A short exempt that is taken without a locate is still a naked short and therefore an FTD**. For Market Makers, because FTDs must be closed out every T+6 cycle, lest they lose their ability to short the stock, they are forced to borrow more and more and more. As a result, short interest goes up and up and up; however, because they are borrowing shares to deliver as they continue taking more short exempts, the FTDs continue rising higher and higher. + +**Oh but it gets better...** A huge signal of high FTDs is when a stock goes on the Threshold Security List. The [Threshold Security List](https://www.theocc.com/Market-Data/Market-Data-Reports/Series-and-Trading-Data/Threshold-Securities-List) is a list of stocks that have 0.5% or more of its outstanding shares have failed-to-deliver for 5 consecutive days. Even better? **When a stock is on the Threshold list for 13 consecutive trading days or more (T+13), then entities with outstanding failures to deliver are subject to FORCED CLOSURE ON THEIR POSITIONS**. This means that the broker, SEC, or clearing firms (whichever is the next direct authority) can come into the entity's account and force the entity to buy-to-close the FTD positions to close them. This applies to ALL entities at ALL times and can be triggered at ANY time for ANY reason! So for this reason, spotting stocks on the threshold securities list with a lot of bullish sentiment automatically makes it an easy place to start picking potential squeeze candidates. + +**Back to the market makers dilemma** + +The main reason market makers must close out FTDs every T+6 is because after T+6, if they have outstanding FTDs, then they lose the ability to short the stock completely, which would cut into their profits massively because they could not continue performing market-making activities. So, rather than buying the shares and causing the price to move against them, market makers borrow a share from the pool and deliver it to whomever it is owed. Eventually, this effect gets out of control, and they are unable to borrow any more shares. So finally, left with no other alternative, they buy, buy, buy as fast as they can. + +As it happens though, I've noticed a trend specific to T+6 and short-exempt volume that indicates that short-exempts likely make up the bulk of failures-to-deliver on stocks on an intra-week basis. AMC is the perfect pattern example of it, beginning first in November through January. + +&#x200B; + +[$AMC December - January](https://preview.redd.it/e5zjg9l331m71.png?width=1273&format=png&auto=webp&s=37e9b307ea90b05bddf3e242c6c80aa2dc679be3) + +Here it is again in May-June for $AMC, except this time, what I believe we are seeing are multiple T+6 cycles overlapping indicating that *many* market makers are doing the same thing, and their T+6 cycles are beginning to overlap and cause FTDs to accumulate more rapidly. + +&#x200B; + +[$AMC April - June](https://preview.redd.it/lb3edsa631m71.png?width=1264&format=png&auto=webp&s=8675169a0f92c10d95a1e8f86346b0385ed36447) + +At the end of it, suddenly the FTDs almost disappear for a T+14/T+15 settlement cycle, and we see the price consistently start running like crazy up until we come to the end of that T+15 and the mother of all FTD spikes cause the price to skyrocket as shorts, exercised options, and naked shorts ALL fail to deliver, and I suspect either the brokers or the clearinghouses are forced to make deliveries. + +The problem with this is that FTDs aren't disclosed to us until the 1st and 15th of every month for the previous half of the month, which is slow as hell and near useless in terms of predicting these movements. + +# The Short Exempt signal theory + +So without having live FTD updates, we must find another trend that indicates when a high number of FTDs are going to appear. Well, thankfully FINRA has graced us with REGSHO daily [volume data](https://www.finra.org/finra-data/browse-catalog/short-sale-volume-data) and [daily files](https://www.finra.org/finra-data/browse-catalog/short-sale-volume-data/daily-short-sale-volume-files) which we can check every day an hour after the closing bell. + +If we assume correctly that a majority of short exempts taken on a given trading day are taken without locating a share, then we know that after T+6 days, these short exempts will be considered FTDs because of the "Fail to locate" violation, so as short exempts accumulate rapidly, market makers back themselves into a corner where inevitably buying the stock is their only escape. + +When this occurs, retail quickly catches wind of it, and we see people FOMO-ing into the stock and buying up a ton of calls. + +When THIS occurs, we see open interest rise rapidly on multiple strike prices of a given stock. Let's look at my current pick, $BBIG, which meets these criteria perfectly. + +Here's the ortex trend playing out with the FTDS... + +&#x200B; + +[BBIG FTD cycle March - Present](https://preview.redd.it/3fesbl6931m71.png?width=1730&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7c1d6a6c7242d3f397ca7bdadac2fe47094b2aa) + +And here's the short exempts from last week, which hit historic highs + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/tkog6hfe31m71.png?width=1380&format=png&auto=webp&s=3461e8a7ab8bf71eeb1ac109c28d7ddbc02f9e31 + +What we can extrapolate from this data is that the short exempt volume, when it rises above roughly 3% of daily short volume **and** the price action remains bullish despite the heavy amount of shorts, it indicates that market makers are losing control of the stock price and are not able to pin it due to retail FOMO, the insanely high options interest, and options rapidly running ITM, forcing delta hedging to de-risk the market maker's positions, not to mention any short-sellers that may be in the process of buying-to-cover their short sales to avoid massive losses. + +All these factors combined result in many, many squeezes of astronomical proportions that short-squeezes alone could not reach. + +The beauty of this is that the data required to predict these moves is remarkably easy to obtain and understand, even for smooth-brained apes. The problem was finding the pattern, and now I am happy to present it to you all. + +# My Checklist for squeeze candidate stocks + +**Fundamental data you need** + +1. Market Capitalization (Yahoo Finance/Public) +2. Outstanding shares +3. Floating shares +4. Short Interest % of Free Float +5. Options Interest +6. Average Days on Loan +7. Utilization +8. Short Volume/Exempt data from FINRA + +**Have the following formulas so you can calculate some important data** + +* Average short position (cost\_price): Subtract average days on loan from the current date, and mark the closing price on that day. That's your average short's position. +* [Short-Sale Profit/Loss %](https://byjus.com/profit-and-loss-formula/) = (Current\_Price - Short\_position) / cost\_price x 100 +* Sum of shares ITM in call options (add up all ITM call Open Interest, and multiply by 100) +* `Call percentage of Float = ((sum_of_calls x 100) / free_float) x 100` (Calculate ITM and OTM separately, ITM is for determining momentum, OTM is for determining potential) +* Short exempt percentage of Short Volume: `(short_exempt / short_volume) x 100` +* Short Volume of Total Volume: `(short_volume / total_volume) x 100` +* Calculate simple moving average (SMA): `(sum_of_closing_prices / number_of_days)` + +**Ask the following questions. If most/all of them are "yes" then you might be onto something!** + +1. Is Utilization over 90%? +2. Is Short Interest (SI) extremely high (20%+)? +3. Cost to borrow above 100%? +4. Is a significant portion of the Call Options chain ITM? (10%+ of OI is ITM?) (20%!?) (50%?!?!?!?) (`call percentage of float formula`) +5. Are shorts down more than 100%+ on their position? (`short P&L formula`) +6. Are people talking about the stock? Does it have a lot of retail support? +7. Is the stock on the Threshold Securities List? Has it been on longer than 13 trading days? + +**The following are the Critical Signal Triggers. If these are all true, then a squeeze is imminent!** + +* Utilization is 95%+ +* Short Exempt volume is 3% or more for 3 consecutive days, or above 10 +* Simple moving average (SMA) is increasing at a rate of 5% daily for 3 consecutive days + +You can test this theory for yourself by checking historic data on Ortex on the following stocks: + +$GME December 15 - January 28 $AMC December 15 - January 28 $AMC May 15 - June 3 $SENS May 15 - June 4 $SPRT June 5 - Aug 30 + +# Stocks that have hit all three Critical Signal Triggers recently: + +**$BBIG** \- Triggered 8/20 & 9/01 + +I may update this as more plays pan out like this. + +# TL;DR + +If this was too long for you, but you like DD videos, check out the link at the top of this post. I did an interview with Jason Polun on YouTube to help explain this in the simplest terms. + +This is a method and mathematical approach to how you can spot and prove a short squeeze thesis. There's no way to TL;DR it sadly. If you want to learn, and you want to make money, then you must read and put in the work. There are no free lunches. Sorry. + +P.S. Just like all my other posts to WSB, this has been blocked by the mods, so I've put it here.Honestly, fuck WSB. I give up. + +P.P.S... They actually banned me now. + +&#x200B; + +Edit: Included YT interview links +I get saving for retirement is important. I get that super offers tax benefits. But what about setting yourself up for when you’re not too old to actually do things in life? And heck - even set yourself up for retirement with the wealth you’re able to generate as a result of investing outside of super? Im young(ish) and want to be able to set myself up for when I’m 45, not 75! Who knows, I could be dead by the time I hit 65. Interested to get perspectives here. +Hi all, + +I'm (31) in a relationship and living with my partner (36). He owns a flat with a mortgage in London - we live together. + +I'm in a very good situation at present financially. I have around £45k in savings, no debt save my student loan, and as I'm only paying the bills (he pays the mortgage) and earning £47k, this means I am able to bank around £1500p/cm in savings. + +My partner and I have been together for just over two years. I don't think we're quite ready to buy a property together yet, however he has been here for 6 years now and is very keen to move. He earns quite a bit more than I do, has equity in his flat and pretty set parents, so upgrading to and financing a house without my involvement is more than possible for him. + +Realistically at my current savings rate, salary and good overall history with credit, I would be probably able to buy a small 1-bed flat in London in the next 6-12 months. However, I'm currently grappling as to what is the best idea. + +On the one hand, I have always wanted to own a flat and the security that comes with it. Right now, as good as my situation is, I've been in enough relationships to know that things can turn on a dime and if they did I could be homeless and trapped in some £1000 p/cm flat share haemorrhaging my savings pretty quickly. My partner has previously told me that he would fully support me if I felt I really wanted to buy a flat - if we did this we would both pay into our own mortgages but I would stay living here. + +On the other hand, it doesn't seem to make much sense putting myself through the rigmarole of buying a flat that I may never actually live in and would probably come to sell anyway in a few years time. + +I don't think my partner and I are a million years off buying something together, but I know how much he wants out of this flat now so I don't want to hold us back by making us stay here until our relationship is at the right point to take the leap together. + +I'm aware I'm in a spectacularly good position here so I hope this doesn't come across as crass, especially as I know how much some people are struggling right now. Would just like some rational advice on if there is a way I can look at this from a financial perspective and make an informed decision based on that. + +edit: have realised via the comments that this is somehow relevant, so for context we are both men in wonderful homosexual relationship +The following will be a list of the many reasons why I still hold and am still extremely bullish on ETH. This is the third updated version of this post since the [first one I made in 2020.](https://np.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/jhrqv1/a_detailed_summary_of_every_single_reason_why_i/) + +#This is an extremely long post. If you just want the hopium without the detail, read the TL;DR at the bottom. + +#~~ETH 2.0~~ The Merge + +The switch from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake also known as “The Merge” (formerly known as ETH 2.0) has numerous enormous benefits for Ethereum. These include: + +- A 99.9% increase in power efficiency, making Ethereum by far the largest environmentally friendly blockchain. +- Greater network security than PoW provides due to efficiencies with PoW and the new ability for the protocol to “slash” or punish dishonest validators/attackers. +- An ~80-90% drop in ETH inflation from around 5%pa to well below 1%pa and these inflation numbers are excluding ETH burned from transaction fees which based on recent fees will turn ETH into a deflationary asset. This will reduce the current daily sell pressure of $20,000,000/day of new ETH being sold by miners to offset electricity costs to just $2,000,000-$5,000,000/day going to stakers who will sell less due to not having any significant operating expenses to pay off. Furthermore, these stakers won’t even be able to withdraw their earnings until after a later hard fork months after the merge. +- An increase in ETH 2.0 staking rewards from the current 4-5% to [possibly as high as 7.5-15% due to miner/validator extractable value and network fees/tips.](nitter.snopyta.org/drakefjustin/status/1384124998084792324) ^(The 25% value in that tweet is out of date and no longer likely.) + +At this rate, the merge will go live later this year, likely in September. Lately there has been a series of successful shadow forks for merge testing as well as the Ropsten testnet which has successfully switched to Proof of Stake. + +#Extended Ethereum Roadmap + +The extended Ethereum roadmap includes a wide range of very promising and forward thinking features which will keep Ethereum on the bleeding edge of blockchain tech for a long time. The roadmap was recently outlined by Vitalik and along with the aforementioned merge upgrade, it includes the following categories: + +- **Surge:** Scalability for rollups through data sharding. This effectively allows rollups to scale another 100x from their current levels. + +- **Verge:** Introduces stateless clients which means the blockchain can be verified without needing the complete history of the blockchain which came before it. This allows validators to run without the need for a large hard drive, dramatically reducing the hardware requirements to run a node, thus improving decentralisation. + +- **Purge:** Technical debt elimination and elimination of historical data. This comes in multiple forms such as historical data expiry, state expiry and the removal of numerous other unnecessary functions. Much of this will make node operation and validating much easier as well as simplifying the wider Ethereum codebase. + +- **Splurge:** Numerous miscellaneous upgrades such as proposer builder separation, account abstraction and zkSNARK-ifying everything. These will further lighten the load for node operators and give smart contract wallets more functionality. + +It is worth noting that these upgrades won’t all rollout together under the above names like the merge. The above names are simply categories for different upgrades. These upgrades within each category will come at different times. + +#EIP-1559 and ETH scarcity + +As I covered a while ago in [a previous post of mine,](https://np.reddit.com/r/ethfinance/comments/izhkvk/minimum_viable_issuance_why_ethereums_lack_of_a/) ETH doesn’t have a supply cap like Bitcoin. Instead, it has a monetary policy of “minimum viable issuance”, not only is this is a good thing for network security, but with the recent addition of EIP-1559, net ETH issuance is variable due to its fee burning feature. During times when network demand is high, transaction fees can rise to levels at which the amount of fee revenue being burned is greater than the inflation rate from new ETH issuance going to miners (and stakers post-merge). In effect, this fee burn acts a lot like a company such as Apple using profits to perform share buybacks, except instead of Apple using money from selling iPhones to reduce the supply of Apple shares, Ethereum is using the profits it makes from selling scarce, decentralised block space to reduce the supply of ETH. This creates a constant negative supply side pressure which without a matching reduction in demand, will lead to ETH price appreciation. + +So what does this mean for ETH scarcity? It means that if the Ethereum economy is healthy and there is a constant demand for Ethereum’s scarce, decentralised block space, there will be a sink in the form of the fee burn which reduces the supply of ETH. If the fee burn is high enough, the fee burn can outweigh the new issuance being minted for miners and stakers. This threshold is around 100-150 Gwei under Proof of Work and around 10-15 Gwei post-merge/under Proof of Stake. + +The long term prediction for ETH supply according to Ethereum researcher Justin Drake is that supply will peak just before the merge just below 120 million ETH before decreasing post-merge where over time the burn will lessen relative to new issuance before ETH supply eventually floats around 100-120 million ETH or continues to decrease at a slow rate. You can create your own post-merge issuance models by playing around with the variable inputs on [ultrasound.money.](https://ultrasound.money) + +#Layer 2 Scaling + +One of the most under appreciated aspects of Ethereum is its forward-thinking rollup centric scaling roadmap which is sometimes referred to as a “modular blockchain” architecture. Meanwhile many “Ethereum killers” or alternative layer one general purpose blockchains are still trying to scale with the outdated “monolithic blockchain” architecture and are having to compromise on one of the three elements of the blockchain scalability trilemma, scalability, decentralisation and security. But I won’t go on about this, I’ll let u/Liberosist convince you about the superiority of [Ethereum’s rollup centric roadmap and the modular blockchain thesis.](https://polynya.medium.com/rollups-data-availability-layers-modular-blockchains-introductory-meta-post-5a1e7a60119d) What’s important here is that this model of scaling effectively flips the blockchain scalability trilemma on its head, allowing Ethereum to scale, become more decentralised and secure all at once. + +Optimistic rollups and ZK rollups have been live on main net Ethereum for a while now. Arbitrum and Optimism have a very wide range of DApps and can offer transactions for less than a dollar and token swaps for not much more, all while retaining the Ethereum main chain’s security guarantees. Meanwhile, ZK rollups such as ZK sync offer even cheaper transactions at less than 10¢ per transfer with full Ethereum base layer security. Finally, rollups are only just getting started. There are many optimisations which have been proposed and will soon roll out such as EIP-4488 and call data compression. Together, [these could boost throughput and cut fees by as much as 50x.](https://np.reddit.com/r/ethfinance/comments/r26hhv/rollupcentric_ethereum_roadmap_november_2021/) As previously mentioned, rollups flip the blockchain trilemma on its head, meaning that the more people that use them, the cheaper they get and the more secure Ethereum becomes! + +#DeFi and Composability + +If you’re reading this, I am sure you are aware of the phenomena which is Decentralised Finance (AKA DeFi or more accurately, open finance). Ethereum was the first and is still by far the largest platform to offer permissionless and immutable financial services which when interacting with each other, lead to unprecedented composability and innovation in financial applications. A whole new world of possibilities are opening up thanks to this composability as it allows anyone to take existing pieces of open source code from other DeFi projects, put them together like lego pieces (hence the term money legos) and create something the world has never seen before. None of this was possible before Ethereum because typically financial services are heavily regulated and FinTech is usually proprietary software, so you don’t have any open source lego bricks to build off and you have to build everything you need from scratch. That is if what you want to do is even legal for a centralised institution! + +#NFTs and tokenisation + +NFTs or “Non-Fungible Tokens” – We’ve all heard of them by now. This once niche aspect of the Ethereum community has exploded into the mainstream through almost unprecedented hype and speculation in the modern era. Since then, they have received a lot of flak, and in some cases, rightfully so. The reality is that the future is not buying a JPEG of a cartoon ape which gives you nothing more than commercial rights to said JPEG and being able to flex your ownership of this NFT to others. The NFTs which have staying power and create real value will be the ones which have utility. This could be something directly practical like an [ENS name](https://ens.domains/) which allows you to use a human readable address for your wallet such as vitalik.eth, or it could be something more innovative and subjective in its value like a community token released by a musician which gives you many perks like private groups, special deals and even financial benefits such as tokenised song royalties. + +#Institutional Adoption + +Ethereum is by far the most widely adopted blockchain by enterprises. Ethereum’s [Enterprise Ethereum Alliance](https://entethalliance.org/) (EEA) is the largest blockchain-enterprise partnership program and Ethereum is by far the most frequently leveraged blockchain for proof of concepts and innovation in the blockchain space by enterprises. Meanwhile, there are protocols like the [Baseline protocol](https://docs.baseline-protocol.org/) which is a shared framework which allows enterprises to use Ethereum as a common frame of reference and a base settlement layer without having to give up privacy when settling on the public Ethereum mainnet. This framework makes adopting Ethereum much easier for other enterprises. Another example is EY’s “Nightfall”, a Zero Knowledge optimistic rollup which provides full privacy and cheaper transactions for enterprise use. + +#Institutional Investment + +This latest bull run was characterised by the beginning of institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies as an asset class. Exposure to the space is becoming easier and easier for large institutions with custodial firms for institutional investment and hedge funds exposed to crypto offering their products left and right. But it doesn’t stop there with Ethereum. As businesses transact on Ethereum and better understand it, not only will they buy up ETH to pay for their transactions, but they will also realise that much like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a scarce asset. Better yet, a scarce asset which offers yield when staking. The first major mover in this field is Cloudflare who [recently announced](https://blog.cloudflare.com/next-gen-web3-network/) that they are buying and running their own staking nodes to help secure the network. + +#Improvements in user onboarding and abstracting away complexity + +Ethereum has started making huge leaps forward in terms of usability for the end user. The aforementioned ENS names is a huge UX improvement which is equivalent to the huge leap forward for the internet which was DNS. No longer do you have to check every character of your ugly hexadecimal 0x43AB96D… ETH address to ensure you’re sending your ETH to the right person. Another major improvement is the advent of smart contract wallets like [Argent wallet](https://www.argent.xyz/). Argent allows for users to access their wallets and interact with DeFi self-custodially from an app on their phone without having to record a private key or recovery phrase. Instead, they offer social recovery and their UI is straight forward enough for anyone who uses a smart phone to understand. Finally, for the more experienced users, DApps like Uniswap have pretty, super easy to use graphical user interfaces and can be used by anyone who knows how to run and use a browser extension like Metamask. While at times the Metamask UX still has a way to go to get to mass adoption levels of user friendliness, there have been improvements in the last year such as EIP-1559. EIP-1559 has removed the old gas price guessing game and subsequent waiting for an uncertain length of time for your transaction to be accepted. Metamask has also added a feature which allows you to switch networks to other chains or L2s in once click instead of having to manually add the RPC endpoints. + +The user experience will continue to get better until it gets to the point where it is just like email today. So easy that even your grandmother can tap a couple of buttons and use DeFi without even knowing anything about how it works. + +#The lack of an obvious #1 ETH killer + +One of Ethereum’s biggest threats is for it to be overthrown by a so-called “Ethereum killer” blockchain which claims to do everything Ethereum can do and sometimes more. However, one of the biggest hurdles to overthrowing Ethereum is finding consensus over its biggest competitor. Ethereum is by far the biggest, most decentralised and politically neutral smart contract platform which gives it a snowball effect of attracting most of the new users and builders in web 3.0. Furthermore, this gives it a stamp of legitimacy which other projects don’t have. + +The best way to measure the adoption of a layer 1 chain is to compare the fee revenue. This is because blockchains sell block space and the fee revenue is the sum of money which people are willing to pay to access that block space. Ethereum’s fees in the last 24 hours (while I am writing this) total $3.9 million. Compare this to BNB (a network which doesn’t try to compete with Ethereum as a truly decentralised platform) which had $600,000 in fees in those same 24 hours. The next largest smart contract platform (one which actually claims to be decentralised) is Avalanche at just over $30,000. This means that Ethereum provides 100x the value to its users than its closest true competitor does. Source: https://cryptofees.info/ + +#Network effects + +This is another topic which I made a [previous post on.](https://np.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/comments/guffdj/the_network_effect_is_king_what_i_have_learned/) The network effect is why Bitcoin is still the number one cryptocurrency and by such a long way. Bitcoin is not the most technologically advanced cryptocurrency. However, it has the most widespread name recognition and largest market cap. The network effect is also why most people use Zoom and Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp despite the existence of free, private, end to end encrypted alternatives which have all the same features (https://meet.jit.si/ for a Zoom alternative and Signal for the private messenger app. I highly recommend both. Let’s get their network effects going!). It is the same for Bitcoin. People have heard of Bitcoin and many understand it already. Many people don’t want to have to learn about or set up a wallet for alternative options. People like what is familiar and what other people use. Nobody wants to be “that guy” who makes you download yet another app and account you have to remember the password/private key for. In the same way, Enterprises don’t want to have to create a bridge between their existing systems and a dozen different blockchains. Developers don’t want to have to create DeFi money legos from scratch on a new chain if they can just plug in to existing services like Uniswap and AAVE. Likewise, users don’t want to have to download another browser extension to use DApps on another chain if they already use Ethereum. This is also why the vast majority of Ethereum killers are effectively just Ethereum clones with different specifications. The reason for this is of course because it is easier to build and onboard new users and apps if the experience is familiar and developers can port over existing applications rather than build them again from scratch. + +#Ethereum is the most decentralised and provably neutral smart contract platform + +Ethereum is also the most decentralised and provably neutral smart contract platform. Unlike some of the competing smart contract platforms, you can’t round up everyone at the Ethereum Foundation or any select group of people and expect to be able to stop the network. Not only this, but the Ethereum foundation doesn’t have the ability to print more ETH or push through changes on a whim like some people would lead you on to believe. The community would reject detrimental EIPs and hard fork. Ever since the DAO hack, the Ethereum community has made it clear that it will not accept EIPs which attempt to roll back the chain even to recover hacked funds (see EIP-999). + +Attacking Ethereum’s Proof of Stake beacon chain would be extremely costly and require a very large amount of money or influence over staking entities. In its current state, an attacker would need to control 66.7% of the >400,000 validators on the beacon chain to control the network. At the current moment, even the largest four custodial staking providers such as Coinbase and Kraken only add up to 34% of the total stake. + +Finally, with the US dollar looking like it will lose its reserve currency status and the existing wire transfer system being outdated, superpowers like China won’t want to use US systems and the US won’t want to use a Chinese system. Enter Ethereum, the provably neutral settlement layer where the USA and China don’t have to trust each other or each other’s banks because they can trust Ethereum. While it may sound like a long shot, it does make sense if Ethereum hits a multi-trillion dollar market cap since it will be the most secure and politically neutral way to transfer value between adversaries. Not to mention if much of the world’s commerce were to be settled in the same place — on Ethereum — then it would make sense for governments to settle on the same platform. While this future is a long way away, it is very much a possibility. + +#ETH distribution is decentralised + +Thanks to around 7 years of proof of work — a system where miners have to sell newly mined ETH to pay for electricity costs — newly mined ETH has found its way into the hands of everyday people who buy ETH off miners selling on exchanges. As pointed out by u /AdamSC1 in [his analysis of the top 10K ETH addresses](https://medium.com/@adamscochran/the-10k-audit-42c100dd32bb) (I highly recommend reading this if you haven’t already), the distribution of ETH is actually slightly more decentralised than Bitcoin with the top 10,000 ETH wallets holding 56.70% of ETH supply compared to the top 10,000 Bitcoin wallets which hold 57.44% of the Bitcoin supply. This decentralised distribution means that the introduction of staking won’t centralise ETH in the hands of a few wallets who could then control the network. This is an advantage for ETH which many proof of stake ETH killers will never have as they never used PoW to distribute funds widely throughout the community and these ETH killers often did funding rounds giving large numbers of tokens to VC investors. + +#The community + +Finally, while I may be biased, I think that Ethereum has the friendliest community. Anecdotally, I find that the Ethereum developer community is full of forward thinking people who want to make the world a better place and build a better future, many of whom are altruistic and don’t always act in their best interests. Vitalik is one of the best examples of this. Vitalik holds less than 0.3% of the total ETH supply, a remarkably small percentage for any founder of a multi-billion dollar company or cryptocurrency (for reference, Jeff Bezos owns about 10% of Amazon and Satoshi owns about 5% of all Bitcoins). Not to mention his many charitable donations, including $1 billion dollars worth of SHIB sent to the Indian COVID relief fund (sure, there wasn’t $1 billion worth of liquidity in those SHIB tokens but it’s still a hell of a lot of money) and $5 million to aid in Ukraine among many other charitable donations. Compare this to the much more conservative, “at least we’re safe while the world burns” attitude which many Bitcoiners have. I don’t want to generalise too much here as the Bitcoin community can be great too and there are some wonderful people there. But the difference is clear if you compare the daily discussion of r/Bitcoin to the incredibly helpful and welcoming daily discussion of r/EthFinance who will [happily answer your noob questions without calling you an idiot and telling you to do you own research](https://np.reddit.com/r/ethfinance/comments/jh3zyy/daily_general_discussion_october_24_2020/g9vg1jw/) (there are plenty more examples in any of the daily threads). Or the very helpful folks over at r/EthStaker who will go out of their way to help you set up an Ethereum beacon chain staking node on the mainnet or testnet. Don’t believe me? Head over to those subs and see for yourself. + +**Please don’t hate on me if you disagree about which project has the best community, it is just my very biased personal opinion and I respect your opinion if you disagree! :)** + +#TL;DR: +- **The Merge** - A ~ 90% drop in ETH issuance, beginning the era of deflationary ETH, AKA [ultra sound money](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FDyjJE5u.jpg&f=1&nofb=1). Furthermore, staking yields will rise post merge. Plus, the merge starts the more secure and more environmentally friendly future of Ethereum. +**Extended Ethereum Roadmap** - The surge, the verge, the purge and the splurge offer a wide range of benefits and features which will dramatically increase Ethereum’s capabilities. +- **EIP-1559 and ETH scarcity** - Ethereum is now the first actually profitable blockchain which doesn’t need constant inflation to pay for network security. This translates to ETH the asset actually remaining scarce and the Ethereum network secure. +- **Layer 2 Scaling** - Rollups and a “modular blockchain” architecture flip the blockchain trilemma on its head to allow Ethereum to scale while maintaining, or even increasing security and decentralisation. +- **DeFi and Composability** - Money legos and open source code allowing for fast development and unprecedented innovation in the world of finance. +- **NFTs and tokenisation** - Tokenise everything. No, seriously. NFTs will be so much more than just art NFTs. +- **Institutional Adoption** - Ethereum has the most enterprise partners (EEA) + the Baseline protocol and Nightfall are bullish AF. +- **Institutional Investment** - We have seen the beginning of institutional acceptance of crypto as an asset class but understanding is still very poor. It is a matter of time before more yield chasing institutions discover ETH, the deflationary, dividend paying/stakeable, environmentally friendly, more advanced version of Bitcoin. +- **Improving UX and abstracting away complexity** - Human readable addresses and smart contract wallets which even your mother could use. Even MetaMask and DApps are getting easier too. +- **The lack of an obvious #1 ETH killer** - No ETH killer clearly sticks out from the rest. This makes it hard for one of them to create a big network effect. Furthermore, their actual value created is more than 100x lower than Ethereum’s. +- **Network effects** - Ethereum has by far the largest network effect and as Bitcoin has shown us, the network effect is extremely important. +- **Ethereum is the most decentralised and provably neutral smart contract platform** - Super secure under Proof of Stake, no more tolerance of DAO like forks and a neutral platform for geopolitical adversaries on the world stage to settle on, removing the need for them to have to trust each other’s banking systems. +- **ETH distribution is decentralised** - Years of proof of work have put ETH in the hands of many. In fact, ETH supply is more decentralised than the supply of Bitcoin. +**The community** - Super duper mega friendly. Shoutout to r/ETHStaker and r/ETHFinance! + +------------------------- + +Extra Sources: + +Bankless Podcast Episode #99 - Vitalik Buterin - Endgame + +Bankless Podcast Episode #57 and #44 - Justin Drake - Ultra sound money +Recession will end around mid 2024. Then, Elon will dump again. If the recession ends quicker, he will dump sooner. + +Every bubble eventually bursts. + +It's not a matter of IF he will dump, it's a matter of WHEN. + + +https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/12/22/musk-promises-not-to-sell-more-tesla-stock-but-hes-broken-vow-before/?sh=5da98b1a5266 + +Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Thursday he does not plan to sell any more shares of Tesla for at least the next two years, after the billionaire and nascent Twitter owner offloaded nearly $3.6 billion worth of stock this week as Tesla's share price tumbled. + +Musk said during a Twitter Spaces audio call he will stop offloading Tesla stock after selling nearly $40 billion worth of it in the past year. + +Tesla's share price dropped nearly 9% Thursday to close at $125.35, as investors grow increasingly concerned about demand for the company’s electric vehicles and leery of the massive amount of time Musk is devoting to running Twitter. + +The drop put Tesla nearly 70% of its all-time high in January, when the stock at its peak traded above $400 and Tesla's market capitalization swelled to $1.2 trillion—pushing Musk’s net worth, which is mostly made up of Tesla shares, above $300 billion. +Hi Reddit community, + +I am posting this to Reddit because I have a month-old 100+ BTC withdrawal at Liqui that they have not processed yet. I highlight that I have used Liqui for some time and they have been great -- this is the first time that something like this happens. + +Liqui, if you are reading this, the withdrawal ID is #270313. I have opened several support tickets, and have had only one reply, incorrectly saying that no transactions are stuck. However, I can right now in my screen the transaction with the status "Processing", since September 16, 2017, when I asked for the withdrawal. + +Hopefully, someone from Liqui will read this and help me withdrawal my BTCs. + +Thank you all very much. +Bitcoin just made a 31% off its lowest wick of about 17.5k while ETH went up 18% too and some alts also made massive gains in the past days and hours. Soany very quick enough to call this the bottom. But literally everything higher than the 4 hour Charts are looking bearish as hell right now. With the stock market too looking even more bearish than Crypto right now. + +Also if you just think logically of we reverse now this would be the shortest bear marjet Crypto has ever had. And all that in the midst of probably the worst macro-economic outlook since 2008 or even way further down. Also while we are on the brink of a recession that every politician is denying just like they denied inflation a year ago. + +I don't wanna be bearish or so, I'm just trying to remain realistic and obviously we can't predict the next word events or so. But right now it's woukd be a way safer bet to go with the trend and not oppose it. +I'm going to compare a few things here. GME shorts r fuk because we're not going bankrupt. The same can't be said for those other 2. + +**Debt to Equity History & Analysis -** + +Red - Debt + +Blue - Equity + +Green - Cash & Equivalents + +**Look how much DEBT GME has paid off! Now look how much debt the other ones have.** + +The more debt a company has, the more INTEREST they're paying per year on that debt. + +**GME debt/equity ratio - 3.1%** + +**Cash & Equivalents - $908.9 million** + +[GME ](https://preview.redd.it/vm745utsrbz91.png?width=739&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff8979912eca951cd55e5d980a2aad9bbfa90883) + +# Popcorn's debt is a SHOCKING $5.32 BILLION! + +**Popcorn debt/equity ratio - NEGATIVE 206.5%** + +**Cash & Equivalents - $684.6 million** + +[AMC](https://preview.redd.it/vod3t7kwrbz91.png?width=724&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb56046635daac42228547be0a5e4cda44a2eec2) + +**Towel stock debt/equity ratio - NEGATIVE 299.5%** + +**Cash & Equivalents - $135.27 million** + +[BBBY ](https://preview.redd.it/g5mcj2b0sbz91.png?width=734&format=png&auto=webp&s=5b5b60411381f5352c2b2582166dea9a5f45768f) + +# GME has the MOST CASH and LEAST AMOUNT OF DEBT -- here's some more charts to show you how GME blows these other stocks out of the water: + +**Financial Position Analysis** \- You want to see more assets than liabilities - there's only ONE + +[GME](https://preview.redd.it/j3yyfzj3sbz91.png?width=745&format=png&auto=webp&s=81d0af9d22bc65e80f7a5c03dfb5ffa7677079c0) + +[AMC](https://preview.redd.it/l92cwna4sbz91.png?width=735&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b019571f17bfdda998c2d8ebea0d663d87c2996) + +[BBBY ](https://preview.redd.it/vnkguv85sbz91.png?width=740&format=png&auto=webp&s=79bc48f120e11d0938b25058f4b2d0a7b528d893) + +**Balance Sheet** \- Green is Good + +[GME](https://preview.redd.it/vz5rnyfasbz91.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2a7153efde268812ffa682e1bdea137671d0757) + +[AMC](https://preview.redd.it/ohu73fkbsbz91.png?width=739&format=png&auto=webp&s=268d25ea8fccada651ad75a9543276e9fca6cfd5) + +[BBBY](https://preview.redd.it/s07wc3qcsbz91.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=26f3f7bdf72d81176267a45db9472bbf3ee6f7c8) + +**Earnings and Revenue History** \- GME is the closest to becoming profitable. We know GME had higher than normal selling, general, and administrative expenses ("SG&A") due to transformation initiatives. + +[GME](https://preview.redd.it/x57515vdsbz91.png?width=722&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5e18f09a425b35136f26f3a5a59185c41e12eee) + +[AMC](https://preview.redd.it/41uqt9bfsbz91.png?width=738&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f5ed9ab4f262e629b5a5fb304211b6d28e6aa33) + +[BBBY](https://preview.redd.it/l7q2qhagsbz91.png?width=733&format=png&auto=webp&s=9b8fb1a25a8077dc8ae527f2dfd9a4e914236f24) + +**Insider Trading Volume** \- this tells us how employees feel about the company. Are they HODLing💎🙌? + +It's a good sign to see buying. It means they believe in the future of that investment, and find value in that price point. + +When Insiders are selling, it can be a red flag. + +# There's ONLY ONE COMPANY whose insiders bought during the year and didn't sell for profit: GME + +[GME - only sold for tax purposes](https://preview.redd.it/nmxxmklksbz91.png?width=757&format=png&auto=webp&s=05242f63c25ac216bc19f04de0962947a81c87bb) + +[AMC](https://preview.redd.it/ul0ma37msbz91.png?width=744&format=png&auto=webp&s=a97c0232fa9b122bc9e842b35d23c4d75b31b356) + +[BBBY](https://preview.redd.it/i37lu6cnsbz91.png?width=748&format=png&auto=webp&s=304724b395e8cfa8d5f5978a649bed2262df73ba) + +There's only ONE company with an Investor base who care enough to register shares in their names, and that's a SUPER BULLISH indicator imo.. it's another set of INSIDERS BUYING and not selling💎🙌 + +[GME](https://preview.redd.it/b16vu61qsbz91.png?width=643&format=png&auto=webp&s=7fa4b38b10c575cad20bec6c8fa6e6d7bdfa3d56) + +^(additionally, there's only one stock whose shareholders aren't suing them) + +&#x200B; + +edit to add: this has nothing to do with other subreddits and everything to do with JUST THE STOCKS + +&#x200B; +With the ongoing discussion about Book-entry vs Plan-entry and a lot of half-knowledge that sneeks around, I've decided to look out for information myself to make my own decision. First of all I'd like to give credit to u/[There\_Are\_No\_Gods](https://www.reddit.com/user/There_Are_No_Gods/) that explained the whole situation pretty detailed already a year ago! So here we go: + +Straight out of (old) Computershare FAQ; + +**Q:"Are there any differences between shares held on the register in direct registration format via DRS and shares purchased and held in book-entry via a direct stock purchase plan (DSPP)?"** + +A:"... Computershare holds a portion of the aggregate DSPP book-entry shares **via its broker in DTC for operational efficiency**, i.e. to enable any sales to be settled efficiently (**and Computershare determines the portion needed for operational efficiency reasons**. Such shares are not available for lending. These shares are eligible to be withdrawn from DTC). + +So it seems like an undisclosed fraction of the Plan-entry shares are still held in the DTC to assure "operational efficiency". This portion of the FAQ actually got deletet during the last year but it still can be found on the web-archieve under: [http://web.archive.org/web/20211221153014/https://www.computershare.com/us/becoming-a-registered-shareholder-in-us-listed-companies](http://web.archive.org/web/20211221153014/https://www.computershare.com/us/becoming-a-registered-shareholder-in-us-listed-companies). + +Also note that the term book-entry is kinda used misleading in that answer since DSPP or direct stock purchase plan is commonly refered to the so called Plan-entry shareholdings. + +Also really interesting, this time out of the Computershare FAQ as of today (29.11.2022); + +**Q1:"Are there differences between shares that are held directly and those that are held in a direct stock purchase plan (DSPP) are reported?"** + +A1:"... Computershare��s issuer clients have a complete view of the total number of shares including DRS and DSPP shareholder accounts." + +**Q2:"Are shares held in a direct stock purchase plan (DSPP) not included in the tally of directly registered shares?"** + +A2:"Computershare provides its issuer clients with **separate tallies for DRS and DSPP shareholdings**. **It is up to individual companies what information on shareholdings they disclose to its investors** or the general public and in what format (within the confines of relevant legislation and regulation)" + +So in conclusion Computershare does seem to distinguish between DRS (Book-entry) and DSPP (Plan-entry) shareholdings whereas a fraction of all DSPP shareholdings stays close to the DTC to ensure efficient transactions. Gamestop recieves separate tallies for DRS and DSPP shareholdings and it's up to them what they want to disclose and what not (inside of the regulatory obligations). Remember that Gamestop provides the public quarterly with the actual DRS numbers -*\[I repeat: The DRS number. Not the DSPP number and also not the DRS + DSPP number. They only provide the DRS number which is the number of total shares held in Book-entry on Computershare! If that's the case imaging how much the DRS-count could be elevated only by people putting their holding in Book-entry instead of Plan-Entry!\]* And also: Why did Computershare delete that part of the FAQ?... There are also other questions in the old FAQ that now have been removed/deleted that are highly interesting. But have a look yourself. One is about Dark-Pools for example ;) + +*\*Speculation in brackets \[ \]* + +I don't know maybe it doesn't matter if you're a Book King or not, but I'm all book now for certain! + +**TL:DR On Computershares old FAQ they explain that a fraction of Plan-Entry shareholdings is still held with their broker in the DTC to ensure operational efficiency. That part has now been deletet in the FAQ but you can still find it in the web-archieve (link above). Also there are some nice bonus Information to find in the FAQ!** +And no it isn't just because he hasn't tweeted since they started showing tweet views. You can see other peoples' views from old tweets just fine. But when you go to RC's profile you don't see the views at all. Go check it out for yourself... [@ Ryan Cohen](https://twitter.com/ryancohen) + +What's more is that I tried to post on this last night and my post got removed by the mods for no reason at all, I think they are compromised and have been for a while considering they were pushing heavily against booking shares. + +Anyways I digress.. the main reason for my post was just to point out the fact RC is being suppressed and I'd love for some apes to raise hell about it, because it's not right. Whatever the f happened to freedom of speech? + +Anyways love you sexy apes, + +\-Cheers +Instead other less developed countries started true adoption. + +Just this week three countries started moving towards a massive adoption + +>-Panama is working on a proposal to embrace Bitcoin and other cryptos in the country. + +>-The announcement came after El Salvador’s move to make Bitcoin a legal tender. + +>-Paraguay too is following El Salvador’s lead. + +>- Cardano, Algo and others doing massive work in Africa for the good of their residents + +Meanwhile we have Trump saying how Bitcoin is bad and FUD from biggest news channels in US and EU alike. + +I honestly thought its going to be either USA or Japan that will lead the way of crypto adoption bit boy was I wrong. I am so very happy for this constant influx of the crypto adoption. + +I cant wait to see what future brings us. + + + +More about this is here :) +https://coinquora.com/after-el-salvador-paraguay-hints-at-making-bitcoin-a-legal-tender/ +Hello All + +I am actually scared to post . +I have underlying health issues that currently only make me be able to work 3-4 days a week +That's why I choose to go freelance. +For the last 3-4 months I have not been getting enough work coming in putting me at £500 a month +I have -£250 overdraft which I took out .(first time) +So this leaves me with £250 each month to live off. + +I have payments due to other people around £1k and also my PayPal credit account £1.5 ,k in payments ( I put a courses on this) + +I do live at home. But I came back in 2020 having live in shelter for 3 years .it was roughly the same as now e.g live off £300 a month bills , rent , transportation food + +I really wanted to avoid JSA at all cost , I have managed to stray away it for 1.5 year even though it was extremely difficult freelancing without the support. + +My plan was to do anything I can to get work online from sep - Dec and hopefully balance my payments but my body keeps shutting on me. + +So that why I needed the extra help financially but brain is resisting the job centre as being harassed at the job centre is not nice. + +The only reason I felt the need to go back on Benefits, as I have been reading on here how people even a 40k salary are struggling and had to go on it for the extra support. So.i was like why not . But the distress.... + +Sums things up. +£500 income +-250 overdraft +£1k payments +£1.5 paypal credit (courses) + +Outcome: to be able pay everything off and balance out overdraft but on low income and need help with how I can out of situation. + +I do have dyslexia also. + +Please be nice 🥺 this is hard enough for me already. +2020 had me lose my job, be unemployed for 6 months, and start a new job in an industry I know nothing about. Needless to say my savings were completely drained. I had to get rid of my dream car for something more affordable. Also accrued quite a bit of credit card debt as well as a few personal loans during the pandemic. With the start of the new job it was daunting thinking of how to pay these down. So, I got involved with crypto trading again end of December with a very small investment into Lumens at .11 a coin. Made it a point to invest whatever I could comfortably invest every paycheck. Bought more Lumens, bought whatever bits of BTC I could, bought some doge (before Elon tweeted, glad he did), and then some VET and VTHO. Also started using my PC to mine small amounts of ETH while I was at work. This last month or so has been incredible. Seeing the small bits I put in grow to what they have has allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. I started collecting my profits and just got the final payment confirmation for the last unpaid credit card. All of 2020 debts, gone in 2 months. Thanks to crypto and its communities. I know that crypto is way larger than the dollar amounts they trade for, and I truly believe that blockchain is the future. Crypto hasn’t made me a millionaire, but I sure do feel like a million bucks. +My mother is going to prison for 8 years as of this morning. I (22) have a 14 year old sister that lived with her who has no one to turn to but me. I have no family for support, and she only has a father who wants nothing to do with her. I currently live three hours away in a college town with a job as a server. There's zero chance of my income supporting both of us. I'm currently in the process of picking up a job with slightly better income, but it's a far-cry from being able to support us both. Ideally, I would like to take custody of my sister, obtain child support from her father, and ensure that she lives a normal life for the next four years. I just don't know where to start. I'm not looking for charity or pity. I'm just in need of solid advice. I"ll update this post with any info needed. + +edit: The custody portion of this should be taken care of on /r/legaladvice. Sorry about that. The financial advice is still needed. Thanks again everyone. + +edit 2: My sister is in a stable situation right now until a more permanent solution is reached. I have literally read every single reply in this thread (as of 2:45AM CT) and sifted through every single link provided. I would reply to every one of them like I want to, but I'm completely exhausted. I'll be using all the information provided to me through the community to build a solid future for my little family (sister and dog). I still won't be accepting any donations because I'm confident I'll be able to provide for my sister using the info here. It's not a matter of pride, I wouldn't risk her future on such a silly notion. I will be using provided services and job hunting to immediately increase my income as much as possible. My sister and I have experienced much worse than this so everything is relative. Life continues and you learn to appreciate the smaller things. I don't have a way to convey the way I feel after reading the responses here. It's like a Snuggie for the soul. + +TL;DR: Things will be fine. I love you people. +I had 2 recent IPOs (one with lockup expired, one pending lockup) and sold 1/4 of the first one during an early lockup period but otherwise still have most of it just sitting in my brokerage account now. + +For those who have similar experiences did you rush to sell all of it as soon as you could, hold, or sell a little every so often? + +The stock took a bit of a beating like most of the new “growthy” tech stocks in the last few months and was generally not planning on incurring more cap gains this year than I need to but who knows where the market is headed. +So here is the situation. Sold my company in late 2020 to a PE firm for 16M, with majority in cash and 3M in financial performance based earnout over 3 years. I am now 18 months into earnout and hitting desired milestone does not seem likely based on some strategic missteps and lack of focus of the PE firm post acquisition. Fed up I put in my notice last week. Note, the earnout is not dependent on whether I stay, but is more likely if I stay. They want me to stay and are taking corrective action on focus and strategy. I’m willing to stay provided I can renegotiate the earnout and they execute on the corrective action needed, though part of me says it’s time to walk and enjoy the next phase in my life. Anyone have success renegotiating earnout or been in a similar situation? What would you do? +Welcome to the Daily Altcoin Discussion thread of /r/EthTrader. + +*** + +The thread guidelines are as follows: + +- All sub rules apply here so please review our **[rules page](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/about/rules/)** to become familiar with them. The rules page is also linked in the announcement bar above. +- This thread is intended as a welcome place for discussion of all non-Ethereum related crypto. + +*** + + Resources and other information: + +* Newcomers who have basic questions about Ethereum can find answers by visiting /r/EthereumNoobies or our Ethereum Education wiki page, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ethtrader/wiki/education). + +* To view live streaming comments for this thread, [click here](https://reddit-stream.com/comments/auto). Account permissions are required to post comments through Reddit-Stream.com. + +*** + +Enjoy! + +Ethereum broke out on heavy volume from a well-established cup technical pattern day before yesterday, with solid gains following the next day. What's especially bullish about this event is the fact that Bitcoin and Litecoin are rallying as well. This is fresh money coming in from new investors rather than money being transferred between cryptos. +I'm in the process of selling my modified V8 VE commodore and replacing it with something more reasonable as a daily driver, and have hit a bit of a catch22. + + +I've been looking at small cars for low running costs in the under $7500 range (trying to pocket some cash from the sale of the commodore in the process), things like Kia Rio's, ford focus, Peugeot 407/307, Mazda 3, that kind of size car, everything has to be an auto as the Mrs doesnt drive manual, and still needs to fit two adults and two kids, even if its not exactly comfortable doing so (we have a 7 seat ford territory for family stuff). + + +And what i've come up with, is that almost always unless looking at something in the i20/ mazda2/ ford Fiesta size, and in manuals a dedicated gas ford falcon is almost always cheaper to run, even taking into account the higher insurance costs and tires, and that is assuming $1 per liter for LPG, $1.65 for petrol and $1.75 for diesel, and this is looking at cars in the 08-2013 range and all of them at around 150-250k km so it makes no sense to buy a small run about when a large car is so cheap to run. + + +Year's ago found the same, I owned a VE holden V6 ute with an aftermarket LPI gas system installed on it, and an Hyundai Excel, and the ute was cheaper to run. + + +So considering how much LPG infrastructure we have here in Australia, why hasn't more manufactures jumped on it? +Out of curiosity, various changes often come into effect Jul 1. + +Is there anything anyone in the know would like to share that may help or is worth knowing? + +For (a completely made up) example, farmers will be slogged with a yearly $2500 sheep levy potentially meaning wool will go up or something. +$70,000/year. +Living at home. Single. +Deposit of $25,000. +Looking at borrowing $330,000. +Body corp $900/quarter. +Parents will go guarantor so no LMI. +I have $30,000 saved so I’d have a $5000 buffer after the sale. + +Basically mortgage + body corp + rates works out to be 53%~ of my take home salary. + +Based on my calculations, after all my bills are paid I’ll have $100/wk left over if I go on fixed. Like $150 or so if I go variable. + +Should I hold off until I have a bigger deposit? I’m seeing people say that this figure should be more like 30% and I don’t know if I’m preparing for financial suicide making a decision like this. + +Thoughts? +The media are speculating property prices to go up, every average punter here and some very well informed punters here (At least they sound well informed) are expecting things to slide or 'plummet' further. + + +Objectively speaking, is the media misinformed or intentionally misinforming? + + +OR + + +Is it that no one has any clue? +Is Solar 30% rebate the only opportunity if you're "earning over 150% of an area’s median income"? + + I've been delaying HVAC upgrade but it seems like there is an income limit to getting a lot of the going green upgrades. There really needs to be a site that summarizes the benefits based on your income. +Earlier in life I inherited a decent sum of money. I knew it was coming and learned a bit about finance to prepare. When I received the money I set aside 5% or so in cash and invested the rest with a 4 fund portfolio (standard 3 and REIT) that spins off ~2.5% in dividend yield. Out of that yield I pay taxes, replace spent cash, and reinvest the rest. This gives me more money than I care to spend, and I generally spend little time thinking about my finances. + +Here’s my issue. At least once a quarter some VP of whatever from my brokerage custodian calls to pitch me on “upgrading” to full service wealth management. I do not want to do that because I do not think I need to change anything. While 50 basis points would be more or less negligible to me considering my spend, I’m annoyed because 50 basis points of my money clearly isn’t negligible to them. (Damn near the first thing they said this last time was “we’d only ask for 50 basis points.”) + +This custodian shop is both as big and as respected as it gets (which is why I picked them in the first place). If they’re going to treat me like this, I fear going somewhere else would only make matters worse. + +My questions to you all: am I actually missing out on something? Should I fold and have a “team”? I don’t think “take me off the list” is going to work here, but I’d be lying if I said this treatment hasn’t made me think I’m in the wrong. + +TYIA +Hiring manager here about to make an offer to a candidate. Position budgeted at $150-170k with ability to negotiate up plus equity. + +Unfortunately in that very first conversation with HR, they disclosed that they made $120k and are looking for $125k. + +Guess who's getting an offer for exactly $125k? I'd like to make a fair offer in the midpoint but can't as HR won't let me. + +Just one or two sentences in that first screening call is costing this person about $70k in 2018. + +(Major company in high tech in a coastal city) +Guten Morgen to this global band of Apes! 👋🦍 + +Apes, last week closed with some tit-jacking volume. +It wasn't that volume was particularly high or low. +It was that the volume was coming in huge chunks. +This is the signature of a whale buying into the market. + +Of course, this opens up a large number of questions. +Is this a new whale, or someone who already has a large position?Will we soon see disclosure forms indicating who is now the proud owner of millions of new shares? +I am just as eager as you to learn these things. +As we await answers, let's see if the German markets provide any insight. + +Today is Monday, December 19th, and you know what that means! Join other apes around the world to watch infrequent updates from the German markets! + +###🚀 Buckle Up! 🚀 +*** + + +- ⬜ 120 minutes in: **$20.87 / 19,65 €** *(volume: 6508)* +- 🟩 115 minutes in: $20.87 / 19,65 € *(volume: 6483)* +- 🟥 110 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 5973)* +- ⬜ 105 minutes in: $20.92 / 19,70 € *(volume: 5946)* +- 🟩 100 minutes in: $20.92 / 19,70 € *(volume: 5926)* +- ⬜ 95 minutes in: $20.86 / 19,64 € *(volume: 3136)* +- ⬜ 90 minutes in: $20.86 / 19,64 € *(volume: 3136)* +- 🟩 85 minutes in: $20.86 / 19,64 € *(volume: 3136)* +- 🟥 80 minutes in: $20.86 / 19,64 € *(volume: 1776)* +- 🟩 75 minutes in: $20.90 / 19,68 € *(volume: 1776)* +- 🟥 70 minutes in: $20.87 / 19,65 € *(volume: 1776)* +- 🟩 65 minutes in: $20.97 / 19,74 € *(volume: 1261)* +- 🟩 60 minutes in: $20.83 / 19,62 € *(volume: 1254)* +- 🟩 55 minutes in: $20.82 / 19,61 € *(volume: 1226)* +- 🟥 50 minutes in: $20.82 / 19,61 € *(volume: 1226)* +- ⬜ 45 minutes in: $20.82 / 19,61 € *(volume: 1226)* +- 🟩 40 minutes in: $20.82 / 19,61 € *(volume: 1216)* +- 🟥 35 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1216)* +- 🟩 30 minutes in: $20.79 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1216)* +- ⬜ 25 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1216)* +- 🟥 20 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1216)* +- 🟩 15 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1180)* +- ⬜ 10 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1049)* +- 🟥 5 minutes in: $20.78 / 19,57 € *(volume: 1029)* +- 🟥 0 minutes in: $20.79 / 19,58 € *(volume: 956)* +- 🟩 US close price: $20.80 / 19,59 € *($20.90 / 19,68 € after-hours)* + + +*** +FAQ: I'm capturing current price and volume data from German exchanges and converting to USD. Today's euro -> USD conversion ratio is 1.0619. I programmed a tool that assists me in fetching this data and updating the post. If you'd like to check current prices directly, you can check [Lang & Schwarz](https://www.ls-tc.de/de/aktie/gamestop-aktie) or [TradeGate](https://www.tradegate.de/orderbuch.php?isin=US36467W1099) + +Diamantenhände isn't simply a thread on Superstonk, it's a community that gathers daily to represent the many corners of this world who love this stock. Many thanks to the originator of the series, DerGurkenraspler, who we wish well. We all love seeing the energy that people represent their varied homelands. Show your flags, share some culture, and unite around GME! +Let me start off by saying Michael Burry is not some genius despite how the Big Short made him out to be. A lot of small hedge funds employ these kind of strategies, as far out-the-money options are usually underpriced during period of high liquidity and low volatility (see: the past 5 years) and so a few are expected to pay out big every now and then. He is NOT a big name in finance at all and only well known because of a movie based on a book written by a good comedic writer with a limited knowledge of finance (source: my friend’s father worked with him a Salomon and he was consistently bottom of the class). Scion Capital has probably seen some outflows so Burry is now using this much-discussed issue in finance to flog his Japanese midcap stockpicking skills. + + + +HOWEVER – there is some merit to his argument. This comes down to 2 points: + + + +1. Systemic overvaluation of indexed financial instruments, given the massive shift from active to passive-managed funds over the past decade. I run a trading desk at large bank that deals in instruments some of which are indexed, and the change in valuation when anything is included in a widely tracked index is huge. 5-10% for smaller market caps is not unheard of. So – yes, when you buy an index you are probably overpaying fundamentally for what is in there. That being said, unless you think indexation will reverse (which I don’t) this will probably not have an effect for a long time to come. There is a lot of sellside research written on this but unfortunately it is only available to institutional clients. + +