diff --git "a/reddit_finance_43_250k_456.txt" "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_456.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/reddit_finance_43_250k_456.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ +——————————- +Full text for who does care. + +I have made my first post about it +https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/buid2i/over_300_btc_binance_user_lost_after_hackers/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=ios_app + +Then posted screen there. Silence. + +Facts: +- 300+ btc became 0 btc and 1.2 btc on two my accounts on 16th of May just after opening withdrawal on Binance. +- 1 unauthorised login into each account on 15th of May. No confirmations of entrance by email or mobile were received. Binance tells my to ask Gmail and Protonmail whether I have received such emails or not (look screens). Crazy. +- Last year Binance did well with supporting one user’s 50k hack. Now almost 3m of my loss and whole ignorance. +- History of deposit and withdrawals is empty in April and May (screens are in first post). +- Have contacted support. Answers are ridiculous. Check in screens below. + +Outcomes: +- This time period makes me a victim of May hack of Binance. +- Binance is not secure? 2PA..? +- My loss has not been covered as CZ told (are going to be covered all losses from their fond) and I am ignored by support. +- Binance does not know situation with my account?? It is insane. + +Links of screens of emails with support: +https://ibb.co/BPtBhS1 +https://ibb.co/XbKY2g9 +https://ibb.co/qdf1TBK +https://ibb.co/Kj5j5KB +https://ibb.co/Q9Zd1Pd +https://ibb.co/BGqYgRB +https://ibb.co/gR8xX9P +https://ibb.co/SNtmcns +https://ibb.co/6tQ5T4c +https://ibb.co/hD0xWNs +https://ibb.co/HBqFBdf +https://ibb.co/KLrVD6Z +https://ibb.co/r48CjD7 +https://ibb.co/qB7r3wF +https://ibb.co/Xx2mrFP + + +Try to understand! I am trying to find help to recover my funds since Binance accidentally (or not) wasting time. + + +My account +Dim.push38@gmail.com +[Big Haul](http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/investing/wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-200-million/index.html) + +The thing that irks me is that one of the oldest parallel banking frauds that a branch can run is using inactive and dormant accounts and routing transactions through these accounts under the radar. + +But that is a really old thing and relied on the customer never knowing or reporting and hence it never coming to light. This is/was a piecemeal thing that individuals would pull in branches to make a little extra cash, park it here or there and get some interest of it, in some case even play the stocks or ponies and put it back in a day or two and no one was the wiser if things went well. Now a days, one place the money disappears is between the till and the ATM and some jokers have a running balance, as long as the ATM keeps getting replenished, nobody knows. If you don't check its a good time to see what in the cash dispensers :D + +Running dormant/inactive accounts is old and Being an old trick, with modern centralized systems and central processing units, it has become obsolete because dormant and inactive accounts and their transactions are automatically flagged and observed by the Fraud or compliance guys. These accounts are also regularly reported to the regulator and any dollars or cents left in them rounded up and surrendered as unclaimed deposits. + +This is a regular activity. + +The scrutiny on accounts linked to credit facilities is even more stringent for obvious reasons. + +Needless to say, creating Accounts for the sole purpose of trying to meet sales targets and get bonuses does not gel because the first thing that is analyzed about such new accounts is that they are opened with fresh funds and the growth in the Liability side because of these funds is actively monitored. + +The thought that the bank would pay out bonuses and accept these accounts as targets is ludicrous because its the first thing that is looked at. + +So the idea that "Oh . .this is nothing great and only $2.6 million etc etc" does not fly. 2 million of these accounts is no joke and there is noway that such a thing would be tolerated unless there was something very big happening in the background. Money laundering Big. + +To really find out what it means, and its by no means a difficult task with centralized systems, a transaction record of these accounts should be investigated, to see what sort of activity was generated via these accounts. + +Thats where the actual fun will be found. + +[Mean While in the world of the Perpetual Money machine](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/23/the-feds-costly-failure-is-leading-to-a-2017-bear-market-economist-says.html) + +Don't believe the I don't knows + +You lot seem to cop a lot of flak for posting about your big earnings from some of the "older" folks here. + +When I was in my late teens and early twenties, (00's era) most people I knew were in uni, working in bars, or slogging through low paying apprenticeships (I did not grow up in a major city, fwiw). +The internet, at least as we knew it at that stage, was not yet useful for making money, and influencers did not yet exist. When I got a job at 22 earning 60k my mind was blown thinking I was so rich! My friends were earning $18/hr then, so of course it was a large step! +For the sake of full disclosure, it was common for people to move out of home as they reached their late teens/started uni. Rent was a lot cheaper back then and it was doable, although lots of us still lived with roommates. +But earning $150k+ and owning houses and things like that? Yeah nah. Just a dream for me at that point. (Yeah I know, some people did this back then too, but that's not what this post is about). + +It may just be comparison of circumstance, for example my parents (boomers) didn't have the same job opportunities as I did when they were young either. + +So tell us! What's your experience been like? What do you do, and how did you get there? Genuinely curious :) + +(No negativity in this post please) +TL;DR Is this the best Australia can do to maintain security and efficiency with personal Gov department information? + +Has anyone else had issues with this platform? I need to apply for Director ID. I apply on PC with MyGov. Need to get access code from MyGov app. To open MyGov app I need SMS code for 2 Step Varification. I'm in! Need to link to ATO. Asks for answers to at least one of the following questions - + +What is your address + +What is your TFN + +\- I answer both, tells me it's incorrect. Second attempt, I put in postal address (accountant's address stated in my ATO details information). Nope, locked out for an hour. Decide the way around is by using the "linking code". Need a passport for ID. Wait 2 months for my passport to be issued. Get passport. Have passport, Drivers License, Medicare Number standing by to provide to ATO rep for varification. They are too busy and robo tells me they will call me back. + +Get the call, didn't catch her name (it wasn't Mary or Susan, about 5 syllables long) I ask for the linking code. She asks me what I paid in tax last month. I log into Xero to see what I paid in tax last pay. I do my pays fortnightly. No good. + +She starts getting snippy at me saying I have already wasted 6 minutes of her time. I tell her I've already wasted half an hour of my time on this today. + +She asked me what my Centrelink number is. I have no idea if I even have a Centrelink number. She is getting pretty irrate at me at this point and asks me what my private health insurance number is. I tell her I don't have the details on me (feeling under pressure given I'm wasting so much of her time I didn't want to start sifting through emails for the number). + +She says she's going to hang up because I don't have the required ID. I quoted to her the ID docs the ATO website said to have handy which I had. She starts telling me I don't know any of the questions she's asking me therefore I'm probably not me. I tell her again all I need is the linking code for my Directors ID application. She reads out my linking code which I feverishly type in so that I can get back to enjoying my life. Wrong code. I read the code back to her using NATO phonetic alphabet. Yep, she just hung up on me. + +I would imagine there are absolute horror stories of people's experiences dealing with this mob that would humble my frustrating experience and I wonder, why can't Australia do better than this? +Long story short, I have a regular CitiBank account with a debit card and I am trying to use the debit card to top up my Revolut & Transferwise accounts. CitiBank is blocking the transaction and after I requested to speak with their card division I have received this response. + +EDIT: I AM NOT GAMBLING OR NEVER GAMBLED, I am just trying to top up my revolut account because I need it for traveling abroad. Other citibank customers have reported that citibank does not allow them to send money to their revolut account. + +&#x200B; + +Our records indicate that the below transaction is not allowed: + +&#x200B; + +>01Jan2021 Revolut GBR LTU $100 +> +>Please be advised that as a responsible financial institution, Citibank +> +>does not encourage gambling and similar activities. +> +>Cardholders must not, or won't be able to invest in shares or other +> +>financial products or use the card for the purpose of gambling or in +> +>connection with unlawful activities. +> +>We may decide not to process any transaction if we have reasonable +> +>grounds, including if we reasonably suspect a potential breach of these +> +>conditions or of any law. However, we cannot detect and prevent all +> +>fraud on your account. + +Is this even legal? Is there any law that allows a bank to prevent a transaction because the bank claims that is related to "gambling or illegal activities"? And particularly for such small amounts? Is there anything I can do aside from closing this bank account ( which I will do as soon as I transfer all my money out of it )? +Hi - I'm a freelance business journalist who's written for the The Guardian, The New York Times, the Economist and a bunch of geeky trade titles you haven't heard of. + +My trade sector is a dead horse nowadays so my career is totally unviable unless I diversify. Its not difficult to work out how: I've held bitcoin since 2013 and my financial security is 90% built on crypto anyway. I'm in a great position to write about bitcoin & how it can democratise global finance. + +Here's the problem: I've been furiously pitching commentaries about the El Salvador news - which I believe will sweep across Latin America first, then Africa - and the wall of silence is deafening. + +The exact same pitching style that landed me commissions for a decade is suddenly ineffective. Commissioning editors, senior editors and publishers in mainstream media outlets *do not want stories about bitcoin changing the world*. They're embarrassed by their poor commentaries on bitcoin in years gone by; they're beholden to financial advertisers who rightly see bitcoin as the enemy; and they're too mentally lazy to think about the big picture. FT Group is by far the worst offender. + +Freelance journalism is a brutal existence, but with persistence it has good days where you feel like your voice matters. I have a comment piece inside me that I know that can create one of those days. + +I'm sure many, many other freelancers & staffers feel the same way, but are powerless to act. + +What the fuck do I do? Don't just bitch about journalists - one is reaching out sincerely, so engage with him and help him get to work. +I guess this would be scalping. I have a very pedestrian setup which I deserve flack for: Using a $30k account on Robinhood to scalp quick moves in the SPY. I purchase near the money, 0-3 DTE, basically whatever has good volume so I can get in/out quick. It feels like gambling, but I basically just watch the price action and try to determine a trend, current psychology, what the bigs mm's, want you to think etc. I was 5 for 5 today and made about $3500 but I could see how this could bite you (i.e can't get out of a trade). I wait for mini pullbacks and then would buy in at around $1.40, sell at $1.50 -- 100 contacts for $1000 gain. + +Any advice from people who use this strategy, concerning IV, volume, or platforms. I know RH is the worst but I like the interface +Hello, dummies + +It's your old pal, Fuzzy. + +As I'm sure you've all noticed, a lot of the stuff that gets posted here is - to put it delicately - fucking ridiculous. More backwards-ass shit gets posted to r/wallstreetbets than you'd see on a Westboro Baptist community message board. I mean, I had a look at the daily thread yesterday and..... yeesh. I know, I know. [We all make like the divine Laura Dern circa 1992 on the daily](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8251/8661496232_2df568ba28_n.jpg) and stick our hands deep into this steaming heap of shit to find the nuggets of valuable and/or hilarious information within (thanks for reading, BTW). I agree. I love it just the way it is too. That's what makes WSB great. + +What I'm getting at is that a lot of the stuff that gets posted here - notwithstanding it being funny or interesting - is just... wrong. Like, fucking your cousin wrong. And to be clear, I mean the fucking your \*first\* cousin kinda wrong, before my Southerners in the back get all het up (simmer down, Billy Ray - I know Mabel's twice removed on your grand-sister's side). Truly, I try to let it slide. [I](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fopuyx/daddy_where_does_money_come_from_birds_bees_long/) [do](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fplquv/something_fishy_fuzzys_seas_covenant_breakdown/) [my](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fqk15o/fallen_angels_shitty_cars_worse_debt_and_what_it/) [bit](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fsbto9/the_ballad_of_big_dick_vick_onions_futures_and/) to try and put you on the right path. Most of the time, I sleep easy no matter how badly I've seen someone explain what a bank liquidity crisis is. But out of all of those tens of thousands of misguided, autistic attempts at understanding the world of high finance, one thing gets so consistently - so \*emphatically\* - fucked up and misunderstood by you retards that last night I felt obligated at the end of a long work day to pull together this edition of *Finance with Fuzzy* just for you. It's so serious I'm not even going to make a u/pokimane gag. Have you guessed what it is yet? Here's a clue. It's in the title of the post. + +That's right, friends. Today in the neighborhood we're going to talk all about **hedging in financial markets** \- spots, swaps, collars, forwards, CDS, synthetic CDOs, all that fun shit. Don't worry; I'm going to explain what all the scary words mean and how they impact your OTM RH positions along the way. + +We're going to break it down like this. (1) "What's a hedge, Fuzzy?" (2) Common Hedging Strategies and (3) All About ISDAs and Credit Default Swaps. + +Before we begin. For the nerds and JV traders in the back (and anyone else who needs to hear this up front) - I am simplifying these descriptions for the purposes of this post. I am also obviously not going to try and cover every exotic form of hedge under the sun or give a detailed summation of what caused the financial crisis. If you are interested in something specific ask a question, but don't try and impress me with your Investopedia skills or technical points I didn't cover; I will just be forced to flex my years of IRL experience on you in the comments and you'll look like a big dummy. + +**TL;DR?** Fuck you. There is no TL;DR. You've come this far already. What's a few more paragraphs? Put down the Cheetos and try to concentrate for the next 5-7 minutes. You'll learn something, and I promise I'll be gentle. + +Ready? Let's get started. + +**1.** **The Tao of Risk: Hedging as a Way of Life** + +The simplest way to characterize what a hedge 'is' is to imagine every action having a binary outcome. One is bad, one is good. Red lines, green lines; uppie, downie. With me so far? Good. A 'hedge' is simply the employment of a strategy to mitigate the effect of your action having the *wrong* binary outcome. You wanted X, but you got Z! Frowny face. A hedge strategy introduces a *third* outcome. If you hedged against the *possibility* of Z happening, then you can wind up with Y instead. Not as good as X, but not as bad as Z. The technical definition I like to give my idiot juniors is as follows: + +*Utilization of a defensive strategy to mitigate risk, at a fraction of the cost to capital of the risk itself*. + +Congratulations. You just finished Hedging 101. "But Fuzzy, that's easy! I just sold a naked call against my 95% OTM put! I'm adequately hedged!". Spoiler alert: you're not (although good work on executing a collar, which I describe below). What I'm talking about here is what would be referred to as a 'perfect hedge'; a binary outcome where downside is totally mitigated by a risk management strategy. That's not how it works IRL. Pay attention; this is the tricky part. + +You can't take a single position and conclude that you're adequately hedged because risks are fluid, not static. So you need to constantly adjust your position in order to maximize the value of the hedge and insure your position. You also need to consider exposure to more than one category of risk. There are micro (specific exposure) risks, and macro (trend exposure) risks, and both need to factor into the hedge calculus. + +That's why, in the real world, the value of hedging depends entirely on the design of the hedging strategy itself. Here, when we say "value" of the hedge, we're not talking about cash money - we're talking about the intrinsic value of the hedge relative to the the risk profile of your underlying exposure. To achieve this, people hedge ***dynamically***. In r/wallstreetbets terms, this means that as the value of your position changes, you need to change your hedges too. The idea is to efficiently and continuously distribute and rebalance risk across different states and periods, taking value from states in which the marginal cost of the hedge is low and putting it back into states where marginal cost of the hedge is high, until the shadow value of your underlying exposure is equalized across your positions. The punchline, I guess, is that one static position is a hedge in the same way that the finger paintings you make for your wife's boyfriend are art - it's technically correct, but you're only playing yourself by believing it. + +Anyway. Obviously doing this as a small potatoes trader is hard but it's worth taking into account. Enough basic shit. So how does this work in markets? + +**2. A Hedging Taxonomy** + +The best place to start here is a practical question. What does a business need to hedge against? Think about the specific risk that an individual business faces. These are legion, so I'm just going to list a few of the key ones that apply to most corporates. (1) You have commodity risk for the shit you buy or the shit you use. (2) You have currency risk for the money you borrow. (3) You have rate risk on the debt you carry. (4) You have offtake risk for the shit you sell. Complicated, right? To help address the many and varied ways that shit can go wrong in a sophisticated market, smart operators like yours truly have devised a whole bundle of different instruments which can help you manage the risk. I might write about some of the more complicated ones in a later post if people are interested (CDO/CLOs, strip/stack hedges and bond swaps with option toggles come to mind) but let's stick to the basics for now. + +(i) Swaps + +A swap is one of the most common forms of hedge instrument, and they're used by pretty much everyone that can afford them. The language is complicated but the concept isn't, so pay attention and you'll be fine. This is the most important part of this section so it'll be the longest one. + +Swaps are derivative contracts with two counterparties (before you ask, you can't trade 'em on an exchange - they're OTC instruments only). They're used to exchange one cash flow for another cash flow of equal expected value; doing this allows you to take speculative positions on certain financial prices or to alter the cash flows of existing assets or liabilities within a business. "Wait, Fuzz; slow down! What do you mean sets of cash flows?". Fear not, little autist. Ol' Fuzz has you covered. + +The cash flows I'm talking about are referred to in swap-land as 'legs'. One leg is fixed - a set payment that's the same every time it gets paid - and the other is variable - it fluctuates (typically indexed off the price of the underlying risk that you are speculating on / protecting against). You set it up at the start so that they're notionally equal and the two legs net off; so at open, the swap is a zero NPV instrument. Here's where the fun starts. If the price that you based the variable leg of the swap on changes, the value of the swap will shift; the party on the wrong side of the move ponies up via the variable payment. It's a zero sum game. + +I'll give you an example using the most vanilla swap around; an interest rate trade. Here's how it works. You borrow money from a bank, and they charge you a rate of interest. You lock the rate up front, because you're smart like that. But then - *quelle surprise*! - the rate gets **better** after you borrow. Now you're bagholding to the tune of, I don't know, 5 bps. Doesn't sound like much but on a billion dollar loan that's a lot of money (a classic example of the kind of 'small, deep hole' that's terrible for profits). Now, if you had a swap contract on the rate before you entered the trade, you're set; if the rate goes down, you get a payment under the swap. If it goes up, whatever payment you're making to the bank is netted off by the fact that you're borrowing at a sub-market rate. Win-win! Or, at least, Lose Less / Lose Less. That's the name of the game in hedging. + +There are **many** different kinds of swaps, some of which are pretty exotic; but they're all different variations on the same theme. If your business has exposure to something which fluctuates in price, you trade swaps to hedge against the fluctuation. The valuation of swaps is also super interesting but I guarantee you that 99% of you won't understand it so I'm not going to try and explain it here although I encourage you to google it if you're interested. + +Because they're OTC, none of them are filed publicly. Someeeeeetimes you see an ISDA (dsicussed below) but the confirms themselves (the individual swaps) are not filed. You can usually read about the hedging strategy in a 10-K, though. For what it's worth, most modern credit agreements ban speculative hedging. Top tip: This is occasionally something worth checking in credit agreements when you invest in businesses that are debt issuers - being able to do this increases the risk profile significantly and is particularly important in times of economic volatility (ctrl+f "non-speculative" in the credit agreement to be sure). + +(ii) Forwards + +A forward is a contract made today for the future delivery of an asset at a pre-agreed price. That's it. "But Fuzzy! That sounds just like a futures contract!". I know. Confusing, right? Just like a futures trade, forwards are generally used in commodity or forex land to protect against price fluctuations. The differences between forwards and futures are small but significant. I'm not going to go into **super** boring detail because I don't think many of you are commodities traders but it is still an important thing to understand even if you're just an RH jockey, so stick with me. + +Just like swaps, forwards are OTC contracts - they're not publicly traded. This is distinct from futures, which are traded on exchanges (see [The Ballad Of Big Dick Vick](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/fsbto9/the_ballad_of_big_dick_vick_onions_futures_and/) for some more color on this). In a forward, no money changes hands until the maturity date of the contract when delivery and receipt are carried out; price and quantity are locked in from day 1. As you now know having read about BDV, futures are marked to market daily, and normally people close them out with synthetic settlement using an inverse position. They're also liquid, and that makes them easier to unwind or close out in case shit goes sideways. + +People use forwards when they absolutely have to get rid of the thing they made (or take delivery of the thing they need). If you're a miner, or a farmer, you use this shit to make sure that at the end of the production cycle, you can get rid of the shit you made (and you won't get fucked by someone taking cash settlement over delivery). If you're a buyer, you use them to guarantee that you'll get whatever the shit is that you'll need at a price agreed in advance. Because they're OTC, you can also exactly tailor them to the requirements of your particular circumstances. + +These contracts are incredibly byzantine (and there are even crazier synthetic forwards you can see in money markets for the true degenerate fund managers). In my experience, only Texan oilfield magnates, commodities traders, and the weirdo forex crowd fuck with them. I (i) do not own a 10 gallon hat or a novelty size belt buckle (ii) do not wake up in the middle of the night freaking out about the price of pork fat and (iii) love greenbacks too much to care about other countries' monopoly money, so I don't fuck with them. + +(iii) Collars + +No, not the kind your wife is encouraging you to wear try out to 'spice things up' in the bedroom during quarantine. Collars are actually the hedging strategy **most applicable** to WSB. Collars deal with options! Hooray! + +To execute a basic collar (also called a wrapper by tea-drinking Brits and people from the Antipodes), you buy an out of the money put while simultaneously writing a covered call on the same equity. The put protects your position against price drops and writing the call produces income that offsets the put premium. Doing this limits your tendies (you can only profit up to the strike price of the call) but also writes down your risk. If you screen large volume trades with a VOL/OI of more than 3 or 4x (and they're not bullshit biotech stocks), you can sometimes see these being constructed in real time as hedge funds protect themselves on their shorts. + +**(3) All About ISDAs, CDS and Synthetic CDOs** + +You may have heard about the mythical [ISDA](https://www.isda.org/a/23iME/Legal-Guidelines-for-Smart-Derivatives-Contracts-ISDA-Master-Agreement.pdf). Much like an indenture (discussed in my post on $F), it's a magic legal machine that lets you build swaps via trade confirms with a willing counterparty. They are **very complicated** legal documents and you need to be a true expert to fuck with them. Fortunately, I am, so I do. They're made of two parts; a Master (which is a form agreement that's always the same) and a Schedule (which amends the Master to include your specific terms). They are also the engine behind just about every major credit crunch of the last 10+ years. + +First - a brief explainer. An ISDA is a not in and of itself a hedge - it's an umbrella contract that governs the terms of your swaps, which you use to construct your hedge position. You can trade commodities, forex, rates, whatever, all under the same ISDA. + +Let me explain. Remember when we talked about swaps? Right. So. You can trade swaps on just about anything. In the late 90s and early 2000s, people had the smart idea of using other people's debt and or credit ratings as the variable leg of swap documentation. These are called **credit default swaps**. I was actually starting out at a bank during this time and, I gotta tell you, the only thing I can compare people's enthusiasm for this shit to was that moment in your early teens when you discover jerking off. Except, unlike your bathroom bound shame sessions to Mom's Sears catalogue, every single person you know felt that way too; and they're all doing it at once. It was a fiscal circlejerk of epic proportions, and the financial crisis was the inevitable bukkake finish. WSB autism is absolutely no comparison for the enthusiasm people had during this time for lighting each other's money on fire. + +Here's how it works. You pick a company. Any company. Maybe even your own! And then you write a swap. In the swap, you define "Credit Event" with respect to that company's debt as the variable leg . And you write in... whatever you want. A ratings downgrade, default under the docs, failure to meet a leverage ratio or FCCR for a certain testing period... whatever. Now, this started out as a hedge position, just like we discussed above. The purest of intentions, of course. But then people realized - if bad shit happens, **you make money**. And banks... don't like calling in loans or forcing bankruptcies. Can you smell what the moral hazard is cooking? + +Enter synthetic CDOs. CDOs are basically pools of asset backed securities that invest in debt (loans or bonds). They've been around for a minute but they got famous in the 2000s because a shitload of them containing subprime mortgage debt went belly up in 2008. This got a lot of publicity because a lot of sad looking rednecks got foreclosed on and were interviewed on CNBC. "OH!", the people cried. "Look at those big bad bankers buying up subprime loans! They caused this!". Wrong answer, America. The debt wasn't the problem. What a lot of people don't realize is that the real meat of the problem was not in regular way CDOs investing in bundles of shit mortgage debts in **synthetic CDOs investing in CDS predicated on that debt**. They're *synthetic* because they don't have a stake in the actual underlying debt; just the instruments riding on the coattails. The reason these are so popular (and remain so) is that smart structured attorneys and bankers like your faithful correspondent realized that an even **more** profitable and efficient way of building high yield products with limited downside was investing in instruments that profit from failure of debt **and in** instruments that rely on that debt and then hedging *that* exposure with other CDS instruments in paired trades, and on and on up the chain. The problem with doing this was that everyone wound up exposed to everybody else's books as a result, and when one went tits up, everybody did. Hence, recession, Basel III, etc. Thanks, Obama. + +Heavy investment in CDS can also have a warping effect on the price of debt (something else that happened during the pre-financial crisis years and is starting to happen again now). This happens in three different ways. (1) Investors who previously were long on the debt hedge their position by **selling** CDS protection on the underlying, putting downward pressure on the debt price. (2) Investors who previously shorted the debt switch to **buying** CDS protection because the relatively illiquid debt (partic. when its a bond) trades at a discount below par compared to the CDS. The resulting reduction in short selling puts upward pressure on the bond price. (3) The delta in price and actual value of the debt tempts some investors to become NBTs (neg basis traders) who long the debt and purchase CDS protection. If traders can't take leverage, nothing happens to the price of the debt. If basis traders **can** take leverage (which is nearly always the case because they're holding a hedged position), they can push up or depress the debt price, goosing swap premiums etc. Anyway. Enough technical details. + +I could keep going. This is a fascinating topic that is very poorly understood and explained, mainly because the people that caused it all still work on the street and use the same tactics today (it's also *terribly* taught at business schools because none of the teachers were actually around to see how this played out live). But it relates to the topic of today's lesson, so I thought I'd include it here. + +Work depending, I'll be back next week with a covenant breakdown. Most upvoted ticker gets the post. + +\***EDIT 1\*** In a total blowout, $PLAY won. So it's D&B time next week. Post will drop Monday at market open. +So I just recently stated coming to this website. And I don't do much on it, except answer a question or two and make a post every now and then. I'm on the older side, and I've been trading for a couple of decades. +This whole "meme" stocks concept is new, and undeniably unpredictable. + +How do you feel about trading these stocks? + +Of course, anyone is welcome to answer. But I'm very interested to hear the opinion of veteran traders who don't do "chat room" trades. + +Truth be told, I've traded BBBY every day this month, to a profit. But it's a different challenge because of the unpredictability of it. I'm not sure I like it too much, and I might go back to my regular setups and prepped stocks. +Sharing that (in my opinion) one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent history takes effect today: the No Surprises Act (NSA). The NSA aims to reduce surprise medical bills such as those received when you go to a hospital in an emergency. The hospital may be in your insurance plan's network, but there is a good chance that one of the treating doctors or labs you come into contact with is out of network. This has resulted in Billions in surprise medical bills over the years. + +Read to learn more: + +[https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/no-surprises-act-implementation-what-to-expect-in-2022/](https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/no-surprises-act-implementation-what-to-expect-in-2022/) +Based on the available pattern the bull market is closing to it's end soon. (At least the past data predicts it.) Do you think there will be another two years of bear market waiting for us? + +If someone starts to invests now, would it be wise to buy ETH, BTC or some of the popular alt coins now, or it would be better to wait for an inevitable drop in prices? (Since they are around their ATH) + +I know it would be fortune telling to predict this for certain, but I'd like to know what do you think. +Years ago I learned about how terrible financial advisors were for the common man. How the same stat got thrown in my face over and over, "95% of traders don't beat the market." From what I understand, there is merit to this fact. + +Because of this I've stacked up VTI/VTSAX, VGTSX, and VOO. Since inception, I've averaged 13% YOY. The gains are impressive since I started in about 2011-2012, with heavier contributions each year as my job came with higher salary over the years. Easy to look good in the beginning of a decade long bull run. + +"Time in the market" > "Timing the market" - This is another one that seems to stand the test of time. Constantly seeing advice on liquidating so they have "cash on the side to buy the dip." Is that not just timing the market? Why sell unless to spend or spend during retirement? + +My question is why are subs like [r/stocks](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/) and [r/investing](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/) and such so popular, constantly everyday people posting about their super niche tailored portfolios with DD on random companies. And it seems there is a herd like mentality in these subs as well. + +Tech stocks go up - all the DD and posts are about tech stocks - everyone is bullish in tech....until its not + +Tech stocks go down - tons of QQ and posts about "how is the market going up and I'm down 15%?" - with comments talking about OP lacking diversification. + +**Again if 95% of traders don't beat the market, why are so many people trying?** + +Some things that I may not fully grasp: + +* Are regular people building their custom portfolios, picking individual stocks not considered traders? +* The market has inefficiencies - does this invalidate the "95% stat?" +* Does the "95% stat" only apply to professionals? And by some weird way allow retail average Joes better opportunity? +* Why does the consensus on all the finance subs seem to be centered around building your own portfolio? +* Are 19/20 people in these subs really failing to beat the market? +* Why not just VTSAX and chill? +So to start I discovered option trading a couple weeks ago and wanted to try it. I did some research and found out about implied volatility, the Greeks, insider trading. My portfolio is not big so I wanted to start my first option off small. I bought 1 Buy Call/Put and 1 Sell Call/Put. Total was $14, it expires tomorrow and I decided to close it and like an idiot I closed it and lost $18 and did not receive its market value of $12. In total I lost $32, so in conclusion you guys have my respect because I couldn’t imagine losing over $10,000 and not bat an eye. You guys on here are geniuses, this stuff is kind of confusing. +I call it the 'bitcoin retirement plan'. Whereas the government retirement plan is to work every month until you will be paid a big enough retirement cheque, my plan is to stack sats every month until the stack becomes big enough to comfortable retire with. Obviously I also need to participate in the government Ponzi but I have no doubt it will be the bitcoin plan that will actually give me retirement and in a much shorter time too. + +Been on this road for 5 years now and I'm documenting my journey on this blog so if you're interested in doing something similar or curious of how it will turn out for me, you can read the monthly posts here. Enjoy reading and keep on stacking! + +[https://er-bybitcoin.com/stacking-em-volume-29-december-2022/](https://er-bybitcoin.com/stacking-em-volume-29-december-2022/) +While I never thought that Ben Bernanke was on our (retail/main street) side, how in the last year and a half did I miss that he is now a senior advisor to Citadel?! I was tootling around on their website for a report I'm preparing for work and there it was. REALLY?! + +I was under the impression that a Great Depression scenario was one of his biggest fears, and here he is shacking up with the people who are likely to cause exactly that. + +Why is it that the people I had a crumb of admiration for always turn into scumbags? +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/q14lc0v4iaw81.png?width=960&format=png&auto=webp&s=7f359e877d276d12f0260ea234d1079fe0ac8b0c + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +# Hi guys (I'm posting under Education because I need some), + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Some of you all might vaguely remember me as the Angry Marine Vet who was super active in here back in Feb until I had to take a step back from r/Superstonk . I literally hit my limit of how much fuckery that I was learning about our US Equities Market and it had enraged me to the point that I wasn't being a good human being. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +My wife, made me promise I wouldn't talk anymore about GameStop at dinner every night or at dinner parties/bbqs. (I still do though.....shhhh) + +&#x200B; + +[I still talk about GME when my wife isn't listening](https://i.redd.it/09czj8yfjaw81.gif) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +# Today, I am an just asking a favor of this community. I need to speak to some wrinkle brains or people who understand "how the sausage is made" better than me. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +# + +# + +**If you feel like you have a really good grasp on market fuckery, I'm just asking if you can contact me directly. That's it. I need people who know the market mechanics better than I do to assist me with something.** + + + + + + + + +If someone could just DM that's fine, won't take up anyone's time on here. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Thanks so much, + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Love you guys!! + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/0vx2zig0maw81.jpg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1c624009867173e3fa215306195b31bef90de32d +Some 19 year old in a BMW hit me while trying to change lanes in front of a red light. I don't know how, but he claims he couldn't see me(lol). He is 100% at fault. + +Today Geico called me and told me the other driver's insurance policy was purchased 15 minutes after the crash happened. My claim against his policy is worthless. I took my car to the shop and was quoted $5000 in damages. My car is worth maybe $4000. Is there anyway I can get my insurance to give me the damages in cash and I go buy a new car instead of paying a shop to fix it. +Some 19 year old in a BMW hit me while trying to change lanes in front of a red light. I don't know how, but he claims he couldn't see me(lol). He is 100% at fault. + +Today Geico called me and told me the other driver's insurance policy was purchased 15 minutes after the crash happened. My claim against his policy is worthless. I took my car to the shop and was quoted $5000 in damages. My car is worth maybe $4000. Is there anyway I can get my insurance to give me the damages in cash and I go buy a new car instead of paying a shop to fix it. +Quick summary: Evergrande is a real-estate developer from China that has $305 billion of liabilities and cannot pay of their debt. They are not the only company though, other real-estate companies are also facing liquidity problems and it looks like the property bubble in China is collapsing. Right now, the Chinese government is doing what they can to control the situation (allowing them to default on loans, setting a price floor on property). [https://www.reuters.com/business/fitch-says-possible-china-evergrande-default-may-have-broader-effects-2021-09-15/](https://www.reuters.com/business/fitch-says-possible-china-evergrande-default-may-have-broader-effects-2021-09-15/) + + +Given this scenario, how would you try to make a play here? There are 3 possible outcomes here: (1) Chinese government bails them out; (2) Chinese government step in and guide them to deflat slowly; (3) Full collapse. + + +(1) I think this is unlikely as there are too many real-estate companies in financial difficulties right now to bail all of them out successfully. Also a bit uncharacteristic of the government to do so. + + +(2) I believe this is the most likely scenario, but that would transfer the burden onto banks (both Chinese and international) as they will not be getting repayments for their loans to Evergrande. Would shorting bank stocks be a good idea here? + + +(3) Unlikely for now but could happen if scenario (2) goes badly. If so, the entire Chinese market will be bearish, so $YANG might be a good choice here. + + +Any other ideas they you can think of? +I've been in crypto for \[x time\] now, mostly holding \[x crypto\] and not much \[other crypto\]. I know that this isn't a huge achievement compared to everyone else on this subreddit, but my \[low income/ illness/lack of time\] has made it quite hard for me. However, finally after \[x time\] I was able to reach \[x goal\]. + +My friends or familily don't understand crypto, so I just wanted to share this with you guys because I'm super proud of myself after reaching \[x goal\], but most people I know wouldn't really care.I think everyone can reach their \[x goal\] by holding and DCA'ing for \[x time\], after doing their own research. Moons, Incesting and Vitalik good, binance and Elon bad, not your keys not your coins, Bitcoin 100K till the end of the year, ETH flippening is coming. + +Thank you for reading + +We are early ! +GME Short Squeeze What Comes Next Part 3 + +Hello all, + +Before I begin I would like to address something I have been encountering on my posts in the comments section. I keep receiving some hate concerning my opinions and I want to be crystal clear that they are just that; opinions. I also want everyone to know that is is meant to be a dialog. I am not trying to pump this stock because truthfully, this goes far beyond us retail investors at this point. What I want is a dialog between all sides to examine this truly fascinating phenomenon that is occurring. + +I would also like to clarify something, I am not a bagholder. I do currently hold bags because I own 336 shares at a $194.34 cost basis, however, that total amount is house money that was used from my profits on the first go around. + +I also understand some people are tired of hearing about this because it's the same regurgitated form of someone else's post as it keeps circulating in an attempt to retain hype and drive future buying; this is not what this post is about. As investors and individuals involved in the world of finance, this situation should absolutely intrigue us whether or not we are involved. I am here to present my logic on the situation but encourage healthy discussion and debate. + +This brings me to my first claim. This is **not** over. Now, I am not claiming that a squeeze will still occur, I am simply claiming it is not over, for better or for worse. Several things need to take place for this to be completely over, at which point I will either post my gains or my losses from the adventure. + +When I say "it" I am referring to this entire phenomenon, not one short squeeze. I do not think these events, "it", is over. This is largely due to retail and institutional purchasing not really changing all that much since we found the bottom and established support at a staggering $60. This support was lost today and found new support at $50. There was very interesting ATH action and I'm not sure what to make of it. + +Millions of bag holders (not just WSB) are still holding and in fact, averaging down, thereby purchasing more. These same bag holders are absolutely refusing to sell for such massive losses and in turn are becoming long term investors on the stock if another squeeze isn't to occur. People are picking up speculative positions in the off-chance of another squeeze. Others are determining this as a fair value for the company, not fundamentally, but based on the future prospects of Ryan Cohen and team. Finally, it is nowhere near leaving the global stage with important upcoming dates that we will discuss later. + +To examine why it isn't over let's look at both sides of the argument: + +1. Bulls claim it's not over for many reasons that you can find in the hundreds of other bullish posts, so I won't bore you with those details. My argument on the bull side is more along the lines of what I listed above. +2. Bears claim it *is* over because there was a 2250% price increase over the course of two weeks, therefore this must be a short squeeze. + +I think we can all agree, bear or bull, that *something* happened. A 2250% increase certainly isn't nothing. The question is...what? I see several possibilities and would like to discuss them in the comments. + +1. The shorts in fact covered and this was a short squeeze. +2. The shorts partially covered and this was a partial short squeeze, but the price increase was mainly hype and gamma squeezes. +3. The shorts didn't cover anything and this was a globally hyped price increase in conjunction with several gamma squeezes. +4. Some combination of the above 3. + +**First, the data:** + +Based on [morningstar](http://finra-markets.morningstar.com/MarketData/EquityOptions/detail.jsp?query=126:0P000002CH) the short interest is showing 78.46%. Now, I think the website is having some issues storing cookies because it will show the outdated 226% unless you open it up in incognito. + +[Market watch](https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/gme) is showing 41.95% + +This spread is interesting for sure, my thoughts are some of these calculations are including "synthetic longs" introduced by S3. + +It is extremely possible to manipulate these numbers via illegal methods and even legal methods using options. [Please see this SEC document to explain how this would work.](https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-08-08/s70808-318.pdf) I am not trying to convince anyone to fit my narrative, but these things occur far more commonly than one would expect. The reasoning is because the fines for committing the crime are far less costly than letting the event take place. Please see [FINRA's website](https://www.finra.org/media-center/newsreleases) for the long, and frequent list of fines being dealt out due to manipulation. A common culprit? Lying about short volume. + +Let's use the absolute worst case scenario being reported of 41.95%, which mind you is still extremely high for one stock: + +**The shorts in fact covered and this was a short squeeze** + +What's interesting here is even if the shorts 100% covered all of their positions, they very well could have shorted on the way back down. Why wouldn't you? It would be insane to not open a short position when this hit nearly $500 especially if you lost half of your companies money; what better way to get it back? For the remainder of this thesis, I will be assuming that some of the short positions that exist are newly opened positions at a higher price unless someone has a counter-claim as to why that wouldn't be possible/probable. + +That would mean 226% was covered on the way up and another 41.95% was reopened on the way back down. Based on the volume and price changes throughout the past two weeks this simply doesn't pass the math check. + +**The shorts partially covered and this was a partial short squeeze.** + +Again, using 41.95% this is highly likely and the most reasonable case. Some, probably the worst positions, were covered on the way up. + +I think this is precisely what happened, we had some partial shorts covering but for the most part it was gamma squeezes, hype, and FOMO whereby the price started climbing so rapidly it became smarter for the shorts to just wait out the bubble than to actually cover all of their positions. + +Again, we fall into a "what-if" scenario regarding shorting on the way back down. + +**The shorts didn't cover anything and this was a globally hyped price increase in conjunction with several gamma squeezes.** + +This scenario does not pass the math check using the 41.95% figure. + +If the data is being manipulated then this becomes very interesting because if some of the worst positions are still open then that means all of these HF's losses that were reported were strictly interest and they are simply waiting this out for as long as it takes making back their losses on their newly opened short positions in t $300-$400 range. + +Sadly, this puts us in the guessing range yet again. We can do the math and see it's possible this scenario exists, however, we would be comparing it against losses reported by the entities that were being squeezed. + +There are way to many what-if's for me to me consider this a possibility, but I can't write it off completely. + +**Some combination of the above 3.** + +Truthfully, this isn't worth examining just yet. There would be far to many "what-if's" to address, this is something that could be address at the later dates that we will get to shortly. + +Now, I've heard it a lot regarding the 02/09 data. "It's two weeks old". Well, that is always the case. The FINRA short data is always two weeks old and suggesting that we can't pull any information from it at all is asinine. Where it gets quite murky, is the data includes 01/27 information. This was a day unlike any other in this saga. + +I will take this moment to address the following upcoming catalysts and when I truly think this will be done; one way or the other. + +Today's data 02/09, was very important because if it showed an extremely low percentage then we know shorts have exited and did not re-enter and this is completely done. Given the data does not reflect that, we now must turn to several events that could act as catalysts for either a further squeeze or a complete shutdown. + +**02/19 -** In [my last post](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/lbuhp0/gme_short_squeeze_what_comes_next_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), I discussed the Failure To Deliver (FTD) conundrum. I do need some help figuring out the exact expiration date. From [here](https://financialreview.poole.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Fails-to-deliver_before_and_after_the_implementation_of_Rule_203_and_Rule_204.pdf) "The close-out requirement states that a participant of a clearing agency needs to take immediate action to close 4 out a fail to deliver position in a threshold security that has persisted for 13 consecutive settlement days by purchasing securities of like kind and quantity." + +The exact date is slightly irrelevant because I highly doubt all of these FTD's are going to deliver on the same exact day. [This site](https://wherearetheshares.com/), while it isn't an official channel seems to be doing a good job of tracking data. If you want to learn more about FTD's and the implications there please visit that site or review my last post which has links to follow for further reading. + +**02/18 -** Keith Gill aka u/DeepFuckingValue will testify before congress and RH CEO Vladimir will be attending. This can go several ways which can lead to an SEC trading halt on GameStop or with evidence that proves foul play occurred. Who knows? It will certainly be interesting and I don't even to speculate on the market reaction to this even because it could go a ton of different ways; it will be an important date nonetheless + +**02/24 -** The next FINRA short interest information will be made readily available to the public. This will be far more interesting and helpful information because it won't include the insane volatility of January, but it will also highlight the newest short positions. This data will help further drive where I think this is all going to end. It's possible that shorts opened new positions at $50 thinking it was going back to $12. Let's not speculate too much here either, it's just another dataset that will bring light to the direction this is headed. + +**03/25 -** GameStop ER. This is big too for several reasons. First, this will include the console sales cycle which historically has done well for GameStop. A typical buy the hype, sell the news event. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts leading up to this ER, maybe people won't even touch GME leading up to then due to the recent volatility, but if they do, and if there is still a lot of short interest, this too could force shorts to begin covering. Another critical part of this ER is Ryan Cohen. This will be the first time this new board addresses the public with their plans for the future and for the first time since this entire adventure began, the "dying brick and mortar" narrative will finally begin to change in the public eye. That is still the common misconception regarding GameStop, that it is a dying brick and mortar retailer where nothing has changed. This hasn't been the case for around 6 months now, but this will be the first time it is publicly address. The headlines surrounding GameStop's future plans will be very interesting to read and the markets reaction will be far more interesting. + +I have been asked a lot what my PT is and when I expect the squeeze to happen, but let me be clear. Very seldom do squeezes "just happen". In fact, short squeezes are far more common than one would think, they just typically happen over months, if not years and the shorts cover on dips so you don't even notice it's happening. In order to force a squeeze, you need to hold a decent amount of shorts underwater. Soon one will crack and start closing their position, this leads to a series of shorts closing their positions skyrocketing the price until more and more shorts need to cover. This is **rare.** + +I hope this narrative of purchasing heavily shorted companies comes to a close soon because a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money simply buying up companies because they are heavily bet against. Catalysts and massive changes need to occur like overhauling your entire business as is the case with GameStop. + +Normally, shorts will close their positions one at a time, covering on dips and you don't even notice it's happening. In times where you see a price rise of seemingly no news could very well be shorts closing their positions because their research led them to realize this company is on the road to recovery. + +I digress. Given the most recent data and the multiple upcoming catalysts I am still very bullish on a GME short squeeze. My [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/k3p4bc/when_will_the_gme_squeeze_happen_answers_here/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) from quite some time ago illustrated the importance of catalysts regarding a short squeeze, this is still very much the case. The first run was interrupted and the second run won't happen with magic, it requires a catalyst. Another post was titled [For those who do not understand the inevitable GME short squeeze](https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/k688qv/for_those_who_dont_understand_the_inevitable/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), was at the time "inevitable" because math. That is no longer the case. It is no longer inevitable but it is still possible. + +I want to be clear: This is not nearly as close to a sure thing as it once was and it depends on a lot of different factors. One of the largest is the people. Granted, a lot of what's happening now is in the hands of institutions but millions of retailers holding their positions to the grave certainly helps the institutional buyers have more faith in their play to continue a squeeze. + +**SO WHAT DO I THINK** + +I think shorts certainly covered some of their positions, but not all. I also firmly believe a significant amount of short positions were opened on the way back down by both HF's and individuals. Some certainly positioned high, but based on sentiment, it appears a lot of people think GME is fairly valued around $20 (which I disagree with but let's use that for the time being). That would mean shorts would have no problem opening positions at 100,70,60, even $50. + +42% is *still* very high which means a squeeze is inevitable so long as the company continues in a positive path. However, squeezes typically aren't as abrupt as people think. They are actually quite common, in fact another position I'm heavily invested in is SPCE and they have been going through a squeeze for several weeks and will continue to squeeze so long as news continues to be positive. + +How would we get an abrupt short squeeze? A massive bull run. The new shorts that entered at lower levels wouldn't be too hard to catch, however, they are probably low volume, so when they buy to close, it won't be large enough volumes for massive peaks, but a bull run very well could lead to these lower tiered shorts closing, triggering a gamma squeeze. If gamma squeezes are made week over week then shorts at the higher end would have two options: + +1. Close early and take profits +2. Wait it out because they are positioned so well that interest means nothing and they don't think there is any hope of us rising to those levels. + +In the first case, them closing early would be a nice short squeeze to probably several hundred dollars, but it wouldn't break $1000. + +To break $1000 we would need a big bull run to catch the shorts, trigger gamma squeezes, and keep momentum until they are caught and underwater. This is highly unlikely unless there is another global sentiment. + +**NOTE:** ALL OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS I AM MAKING ARE BASED ON THE 42% REPORTING. IF IT IS IN FACT 78% THEN THE POSSIBILITY IS TREMENDOUSLY INCREASED FOR THESE THINGS TO HAPPEN. + +**SO WHEN DOES IT ALL END** + +My though is if by the end of March these catalysts were not enough to reignite the hype and squeeze, then it will essentially be over except in the case of a few circumstances: + +1. A VW/Porche moment occurs where a large buyer picks up a large portion of the company. +2. Some other currently unknown catalyst appears seemingly out of thin air +3. The data was in fact manipulated. Regardless of what the data says, if the shorts did in fact lie about their short int to take the fine over being squeezed, then they will be squeezed regardless. + +It is quite possible, that these catalysts and moments aren't enough to force a squeeze anymore especially if the shorts have repositioned really well. I will retain the mindset that this fateful January 2021 was **not a short squeeze.** However, that does not mean it will ever actually happen. + +**SO WHAT IS YOUR PLAY HOOMAN?** + +Well, I am long on GME which is why I didn't mind hopping back in even at outrageous prices. I will continue averaging down and don't plan on selling for quite some time, probably several years. The reason for this is I believe in Cohen and his team to turn this into something unexpected and I imagine an eventual ROI. Once this is all said and done and I think either the shorts truly have covered or they simply got away with it (Beginning of April), I will be posting my DD for GME as a long play regardless of the squeeze mechanics. + +Thank you all for joining me on this wild journey. I hope we can discuss some of these points in the comments like adults and truly try to grasp this wild situation we are all in. There are extremes on both sides from "get over it, the squeeze happened" to a cult like mentality on the other extreme. I hope through discussion we can find the moderate approach and further understand the market mechanics at play. + +Thanks for your time + +**WARNING: Until the squeeze business is over for good, this is a very volatile and risky play. Joining now for the hope of a potential round 2 squeeze should only be done in a speculative manner with money you are willing to lose. This is more akin to a gamble than it is investing. I think the current market price is fair given the future prospects of the company but do your own DD, I will not be releasing any until this squeeze is put to rest.** + +**TL;DR**: I am still bullish on this scenario even at 42%, if it really is 78% then I am extremely bullish. There are a plethora of upcoming catalysts that could reignite the squeeze but even if none are powerful enough, with Cohen's new direction we could expect good news for quite some time forcing shorts to exit on a more spread out timeline. + +*Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. I do not wish to sway your opinion in either direction. I simply seek to examine this interesting and volatile situation via crowd sourcing. What you do with your money is entirely up to you.* +I obviously want to start the new job making more money as soon as possible. I would like to give two weeks notice at the very least. I have already arranged for a paid week off with my current employer whenever the baby arrives. My current employer knows the baby is on the way soon. I am concerned about lapse in insurance coverage and know that COBRA is more expensive out of pocket. Any guidance would be appreciated! +I am leaving Wells Fargo after decades of banking. The recent scandal was the last straw after several other reasons to leave. I am looking for long term baking for my wife and I. What are the benefits of choosing either a local credit union or another major bank? +Two months ago, I wrote a DD here about AITX when it was traded at 0.0010[Looking for the next TSNP? $AITX is ready for it. : pennystocks (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/jwdoz9/looking_for_the_next_tsnp_aitx_is_ready_for_it/) + +People were skeptical rightfully so; I mean look at it it got only 17 upvotes then. I managed to turn my 11k into over 450k in two months and my DD proved itself despite naysayers. + +I went on to research other hidden gems that bottomed out with big upwards potential. I have found 2(maybe 3) penny stocks that might rip the sky in 2021.Edit: As I promised the second DD about another penny stock is here : [https://www.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/l5gvv8/iwsy\_imageware\_systems\_biometric\_security\_company/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/l5gvv8/iwsy_imageware_systems_biometric_security_company/) + +Here is the first one. + +SSFT : [**Sonasoft**](https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=NIu7x5Ehf09v9HcReQzmQUSg3OMIdA8ZevvpNjhGoqb1qFtm1Oydut3hb2P_spYUFG2qDI04BSF1cRcqmeH4bAsb8JPVvMqE-Dh_xlsxjtGa1SNSLB_7iHKbWB2Ymy6UBrCKcIpoK-3Kk7p4sZ55iuTjqDrLEkU63B-ERAhesTuEKzkFhZx2BVp41GrwL71NH3_eF9lVwWlIdTf2Wt9B4i49ydQTaH7ENP3bL6NObYw=) Corp. [https://www.sonasoft.com](https://www.sonasoft.com/) + +**Why:** Company has been founded by tech veteran Andy Khanna in 2003 in Silicon Valley. Their initial focus was Data migration, Data storage and Data management. With AI tech growing and expanding Big Data business company started to invest in AI technologies and in 2018 acquired Silicon Valley IT solutions company [Cornerstone](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/09/25/1575568/0/en/Sonasoft-Corp-Announces-Completion-of-Cornerstone-Technologies-Acquisition-and-Discusses-eDiscovery-and-Artificial-Intelligence.html) and and [AI company Hotify](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/09/25/1575568/0/en/Sonasoft-Corp-Announces-Completion-of-Cornerstone-Technologies-Acquisition-and-Discusses-eDiscovery-and-Artificial-Intelligence.html) thus became an A to Z, IT, Big Data, AI company offering a unique expertise. + +**News**: [SSFT - Sonasoft Corp. | News | OTC Markets](https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SSFT/news)**Share Structure :** [SSFT - Sonasoft Corp. | Security | OTC Markets](https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SSFT/security)**Last reported financials 09/30/2020** (click on Quarterly) [SSFT - Sonasoft Corp. | Financials | OTC Markets](https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SSFT/financials) + +On December 30th 2020, company released a year in review PR outlining these developments. You **MUST** read it. + +[Sonasoft 2020 Year in Review | SSFT - Sonasoft Corp. | News | OTC Markets](https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/SSFT/news/Sonasoft-2020-Year-in-Review?id=284772) + +One thing i'd like to point out in the release is this part; + +>2020 saw Sonasoft sign some key strategic partnerships. The biggest of these will see Sonasoft building AI bots for one of the world’s largest financial services companies. This will place AI analytics at the very center of the financial data ecosystem. + +Guess who is one of that largest financial services company.**$FIS Fidelity Investment Services.** An 80 billion USD financial services behemoth. + +https://preview.redd.it/b7kf4t8g5hd61.png?width=1108&format=png&auto=webp&s=78aabdabf286d5275ec3c0987c32292b37db439b + +And in june they dropped the biggest bomb that was completely overlooked. + +https://preview.redd.it/cc62w79jchd61.png?width=703&format=png&auto=webp&s=3655b5689f00dc9ff4b892b25774821503179101 + +FFING streaming revenues from **Fidelity and Google!!!** Could there be a better reference for an AI company? + +Furthermore, Sonasoft owns important IPs related to Artificial Intelligence that are either patented or patent pending, those alone are this company's biggest asset for the future.Also in 2019 company created a new management team along with the new direction. Co-founder Mike Khanna(and I assume Andy's son) became the new CEO representing the new generational direction. + +**Technicals**: I'd like to point out to the increasing volume in the past couple of weeks since it hit the bottom. Currently its 117% higher from the recent bottom and 312% lower from the recent highest signalling a great entry point. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/95a8shjz7hd61.png?width=1626&format=png&auto=webp&s=78e625f55b95919765567ea190ce6279144f89d1 + +**Comparison with AITX** + +I think this comparison can alone show you how much of a hidden potential we have here. As I said I was the earliest caller in AITX, I love that company but boy it made a huge run for a company with not event decent financials. IT might still continue going up but the exponential rise is getting harder in the short run because of 2.5 billion outstanding shares. + +**Market Cap:** AITX $228 million, SSFT $55 million. SSFT here has much more room to increase its market cap. + +https://preview.redd.it/vyg44dhu8hd61.png?width=1289&format=png&auto=webp&s=977d0c573190cb2bf4c61ef60efc1360b8779dea + +**Outstanding shares:** AITX is at 2.5 billion SSFT is at 472 million. Multiplied by the current price the market cap can give you a clue of how much SSFT will run in the near future. + +https://preview.redd.it/c21jteu69hd61.png?width=1287&format=png&auto=webp&s=73ea1b7ad500188d90f8f35aa7780c83c793027e + +**Quarterly Revenue:** Maybe the single most important metric here to measure the potential. Both companies have bright futures when it comes to generating sales but SSFT has currently over 17000x more revenue based on the last q. And while AITX trades around $0.09 SSFT is at $0.11, it's simply UBER cheap for this revenue. + +https://preview.redd.it/wzqtwkqj9hd61.png?width=1297&format=png&auto=webp&s=ebb3ff23c0af119e446eb1ad777ddf0489044429 + +**Debt:** Currently AITX is carrying over $8million debt with 120k quarterly revenue, SSFT has $1.3 million debt with $2.1 revenue. + +https://preview.redd.it/8064o7r9ahd61.png?width=1284&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d04580b09bdbe5429f6ffb7ea6c9d4c00b60fb8 + +As someone who have witnessed the number of followers exponentially increasing in twitter and Stocktwits for AITX along with the price I have to say SSFT is not known by anybody yet. Last thursday there were only 78 followers on Stocktwits and during the weekend it reached 200 followers. + +So what is the short term target price? + +I hope this to reach **$0.5 in 1 or 2 months.** Which is the highest this stock got. + +And then I expect them to file for getting listed in NYSE or Nasdaq that will push their price over $1 and beyond. + +When you are investing, if you're a beginner PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, don't put all your money in one stock. Dont put ALL your money in several stocks either. Always spare some in case it makes a dip, so you can buy more at a cheaper price. This is penny stocks, it's the Amazon jungle of investments, anything can happen so be really careful. + +And please do your own DD. Good luck! + +Disclaimer: I own 380k shares and planning to add more. + +**Also I will post 1 more or 2 more gems that I found so follow me or check back this post because I will add a link here for those. <<link at the top>>** + +# Not Financial Advice + +I'm not an investment advisor. All investment opinions are from my personal research and experience and intended as informational & educational. I put my best effort to make sure that all info is up to date, I post my source links for you to confirm it but unintended errors might occur.Do your own research. Don't rely solely on this information or others to make big investment decisions. To be safe, you should go out and research the subjects on your own and/or consult a professional in order to make a truly educated decision. +I called Fidelity today to DRS my recently purchased shares as I do (I use this method for immediate price discovery as opposed to simply purchasing through CS). Standards call, I tell the rep that I want to transfer my shares to CS. He asks for the number of shares and from which account - all standards stuff. + +Then he asks me if I have done this before. I assure him that I have, so he says, "Okay so you know about the liquidation risk and all that." + +I ask, "What liquidation risk, exactly?" + +He replies, "In the event the stock tanks or something, you'll have to transfer these back into Fidelity before you can sell them." + +&#x200B; + +So our friendly rep over here may simply be misinformed, or they're intentionally trying to spread misinformation to prevent people from pulling their shares away. + +Either way, it's something I felt important to share with the community. + +As always, hodl the line. +By Senad Karaahmetovic: + +Toni Sacconaghi, a Senior Analyst at Bernstein covering U.S. IT Hardware, has discussed implications for Tesla (TSLA) shares amid an ongoing saga concerning CEO Elon Musk and his deal to acquire Twitter (TWTR) for $44 billion. + +Musk may “ultimately elect or be forced to purchase Twitter going forward,” Sacconaghi told clients in a note today. The analyst took note of Musk’s deal to acquire Twitter which should be completed via debt, equity, and a margin loan. + +Sacconaghi pays special attention to $12.5 billion that will come from a margin loan facility tied to Tesla stock. + +“Following the recent drop in TSLA's stock price, Musk appears to have just enough value in his unencumbered Tesla shares to fund the margin loan portion of his proposed Twitter financing. That said, at a TSLA share price of $621 or less, Musk would technically not be able to borrow the full $12.5B against his shares - in fact, if TSLA's stock price were to drop to $500/share, he would be ~$2.5B short. If the agreed upon deal price for Twitter is ultimately haircut by 10%, Musk could still borrow enough, even if Telsa shares dropped to ~$400,” the analyst wrote. + +However, the bigger - but also less probable - financial risk for Elon Musk is there is a deeper pullback in Tesla shares, in combination with him completing the deal. + +“If the TWTR deal were to close today and subsequently TSLA's stock price dropped to $350-400, Musk could be forced to sell ~13M Tesla shares.” + +In other words, Elon Musk would get a margin call. + +Sacconaghi rates Tesla with an Underperform rating and a $450.00 per share price target as he struggles to justify TSLA's valuation, “which appears to imply huge volume AND industry leading profitability going forward, which is historically unprecedented.” + +Tesla stock price is indicated to open 2.5% lower today, or at $657.90. + +[Source](https://m.uk.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/margin-call-alert-tesla-stock-falling-below-400-would-force-elon-musk-to-sell-13-million-shares-of-ev-maker-to-fund-twitter-deal--bernsteins-sacconaghi-2655243?ampMode=1) +I remember there being speculation on r/GME that DFV was awarding posts with things like the All-Seeing award for posts that supported the fight. It's possible that RC is doing the same thing so that us apes can be steered in the right direction. Seeing as how RC tweeted u/ButtFarm69's masterpiece 5 hours after the original post, it's possible that RC himself visits this sub frequently. Also seeing as how the second great migration of apes happened recently, RC may have been frequenting r/GME with us as well, applying the same tactic of awarding posts for more visibility. + +&#x200B; + +[This is how I feel when I think of this possibility.](https://preview.redd.it/o7mu96ikk1s61.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=e44303b543d93cdabf7cb12656b650ae86f80fa7) +I’ve noticed, whether I’m on Wi-fi or not, home or at work or out and about, a lot of the stuff I’m upvoting will indicate that I’ve upvoted it, but then a few seconds later I get an error saying something like “couldn’t upvote try again later.” And it’s been happening more and more frequently over the past week or so. I’m just wondering if anyone else is having the same issue? + +I try to upvote all the good stuff so it helps to get the important stuff seen by all of us apes. Maybe some other apes have noticed the same as well? Just strange as this has rarely ever happened in the past. + +Edit: As u/jkhanlar commented, another thing I noticed that I didn’t include in the original post, is that I’ll upvote a post, and later on in the day when I’m scrolling through I’ll see the same post and it’s not indicating that I upvoted it. I didn’t think anything of it, but now that I see a few other apes commenting that they noticed this, it seems like something is up. It’s like “they” don’t want certain posts to be high up on the homepage, so they get less eyes on it. I don’t know if Reddit is behind this, or how it’s happening, but it’s definitely strange... +[Budget of a 35 year old](https://www.mamamia.com.au/pr-salary-australia/?fbclid=IwAR0W5yOoEiNx5o6rKDJAhUx4sNFBKFVwWCfFf_MUaY-F2XTkLpEnqBn6YYc) + +I grew up in a frugal household and have always been money conscious. Reading the above article kind of shocked me - I always thought ubers and eating out were treats and isn't this common. + +What does everyone think? Does this align with anyone else's budget? +I am just beginning to dip my toes in the stock market at 23 years old and I dont really see myself stopping. Im curious of where I could be at 30 if I keep on track, learn, study, and just continue to invest. So Im wondering if I could hear some stories from anyone in their 30's who started in their early 20s. What has the stock market hobby done for you so far? +I am just beginning to dip my toes in the stock market at 23 years old and I dont really see myself stopping. Im curious of where I could be at 30 if I keep on track, learn, study, and just continue to invest. So Im wondering if I could hear some stories from anyone in their 30's who started in their early 20s. What has the stock market hobby done for you so far? +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[https://www.guildofguardians.com/?ref=thorbenberndt](https://www.guildofguardians.com/?ref=thorbenberndt) + +https://preview.redd.it/dyrkryf7qlq91.png?width=742&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0b86a22be3ed5e95ca00f6d486791c731c92a6b + +BEYOND thrilled to share that Guild of Guardians (an Immutable Studios game, launching soon on GameStop) has just announced the largest esports partnership in web3 history, with eight of the world's biggest orgs. + +Read about it here: [https://venturebeat.com/games/guild-of-guardians-teams-up-with-top-names-in-esports-to-grow-web3-game/](https://venturebeat.com/games/guild-of-guardians-teams-up-with-top-names-in-esports-to-grow-web3-game/) + +Twitter announcement: [https://twitter.com/0xferg/status/1570403686622412801](https://twitter.com/0xferg/status/1570403686622412801) + +You can register here for Guild of Guardians: [https://www.guildofguardians.com/?ref=thorbenberndt](https://www.guildofguardians.com/?ref=thorbenberndt) + +Profit with my referal link +Hello. + +I was due to begin working on a behavioral health unit for a hospital tomorrow. They contacted me Friday and informed me that, due to a misdemeanor DUI on my record, they could no longer continue the employment onboarding process. I communicated my DUI, my substance use disorder, and explained the role addiction has had in inspiring my pursuit of a career in mental health. I ensured this was addressed both in my application and in my interview. + +In accepting the rescinded offer, I turned down four separate opportunities for employment. + +I would appreciate any experience and advice that this community could offer. + +Thank you. +I'm not going to ask the question "should I pay towards lowering my mortgage outstanding" etc because there are multiple threads on this already. I don't think I'll do it because the maths doesn't work out for me. But I do want to know what does it feel like to have paid off your mortgage/be debt free. Just as a motivation or something. Looking forward to your replies. This reddit rocks, thanks in advance :) +Edit: I think this would a crucial milestone on the path of achieving financial independence so it would be relevant to this reddit. +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. +Been lurking here for a while, mostly because I don't want to link my normal reddit account with this hobby. + +I've always been pretty frugal, and was lucky to get a stable and well paying job out of college. My wife has been a student most of her life and never made much money, but that didn't matter because through a combination of luck and really hard work, I made enough to more than make up for it. I never could figure out what to do with the surplus, so first I saved for a house and then just started accumulating money (and then started investing it in index funds). Always maxed retirement accounts. + +A few years ago my wife found out about FIRE via MMM and hooked me. The money surplus clicked and now I had a goal to put it towards. We cut some expenses (really not that much given we were already frugal) and focused on FIRE for a while. Life happened, wife finally graduated, we had a kid, and we started settling in for the long haul, when everything changed. + +First, Brexit happened and I decided to refinance my mortgage because of the drop in rates. The appraisal unexpectedly came in at double what I paid for it a few years ago. I knew prices had been going up, but this was a bit of a shock. The math showed that I was pretty close to FIRE! + +Then, the startup I work for got bought out! When the deal closes, I'm looking at a significant but not tremendous amount of money. In addition, my office will be changing to the busiest part of NYC, and I'll lose a lot of flexibility. All of a sudden my job is not as attractive. + +The thing is, during the last few years my job has been incredibly stressful. A gigantic project, horrible management decisions, my boss and my boss's boss changing a few times, combined to give me pretty regular 80 hour work weeks or more (sometimes less, to be fair). I've gotten to the point where I am probably the most valuable person in the company objectively (based on knowledge of our systems, competence, experience, relationships), but not compensated as such. I've had serious stress issues, causing multiple chronic conditions which I'm slowly working on fixing. + +At this point, you're thinking, why not go? + +Well, there are a lot of upsides. I am an expert at what I do here, and a lot of the job is really fun. I manage the best team I've ever had of fantastic people, my boss knows I hold things together and work hard and mostly leaves me alone. I don't have the official authority to do everything I want to do, but I have enough built up relationships and influence that I can generally do what I think needs to be done. Recently, I've drastically cut my hours to focus on destressing, which I've been able to manage better given certain projects closing out. + +With the buy out, there's a chance I could take my boss's job, which would be pretty interesting, because I'd get to fix some things that I've always wanted to fix. I really think I could make a tremendous difference. Alternatively, we'll probably be expanding in hiring which will give me a chance to operate in a more sane environment, I think, rather than the overworked mess the company has been in now. + +Despite the equity, though, the offer from the new company is pretty underwhelming, for everyone. Basically flat with worse benefits, which is a slap in the face for everyone on my team that's worked so hard this year. Going forward, bonuses are more predicable but low as well. Raises are likely to be tiny going forward. Several people on my team have hinted that they may not stick around if I don't. If I were to leave, I'd probably be screwing over my team in more ways than one, as I either don't have a high opinion of the possible replacements for me, or they would be thrust into a very demanding role without good mentoring. + +On top of it all, because I thought I was still several years away from FI, let alone RE, I'm not really prepared for what I want to do. I have a ton of things I would love to be doing, hobbies I've neglected and such, but no concrete plans, and was still thinking about more kids, which could change the financial picture more. I have tracked my expenses and income in Gnucash religiously, but I don't have a deep understanding of my real expenses or all of the crazy things I'd have to consider to retire, like health care, insurance, padding for unexpected costs, figuring out what costs I might expect, etc. I hate being in a city and love nature, so I'd want to get out of NYC - but where to? It's a huge world out there (btw, thanks Earth Awaits guy). + +So, I have a few options: + +1) Stay on, no change. + +2) Can take the offer, ride it out until my equity gets paid out, and then quit. + - safest option to retire, because I won't be potentially fired early so they don't have to pay my equity out (need to be employed at the time to get +the payout - this company has a very mixed track record, sometimes very generous, sometimes very shady - see management comment above) + - gives less time for my company and team to figure this out + - no leverage to negotiate at that point + +3) Can ride it out to a small retention bonus in 6 months + - might see promotion at this point instead... like I said, that would be pretty interesting for me. I'm not totally sure I'd go for it, though, if it were offered right now. + +4) Can say no to the offer. + - might be able to negotiate something better, although company is really inflexible. But I might be able to get something significant out of it. + - might lose equity if they fire me before I get paid out. Even if that isn't legal (which I'm not sure), I wouldn't put it past them and wouldn't really want to deal with a lawsuit. + +5) Can switch to a different role with a different work environment, say fully remote working or reduced hours. + - would be a nicer transition to FIRE if remote, bills paid! + - reduced hours would let me cut down some on the stress, not a small consideration + - would probably mean abandoning my team - even if my boss were ok with remoting with the same role (he's not really) I don't think I'd be very effective at this job remotely. Managing people is hard enough face to face to do right. + +More info: +Current average expenses are ~$1700/month in a HCOL area, not including housing, but including $500/month investments in a 529 for the kid. From some very very rough calculations I'd expect $250-$350/month health care costs, assuming the stress reduction from quitting would let me finally fix these chronic conditions (I'm very highly confident about that), and assuming the second kid is similar to the first (if we do that...). + +I expect to have around $1m net worth after selling my place, with maybe $1.1m or 1.2m when the equity comes. With the 4% rule, that gives me 40k/year to spend safely, which means sort of conservatively $1300/month to spend on housing going forward. I'm pretty sure I can make that work given I want to get out of big cities (at least by the numbers). + +The kicker - early next year my wife will reach a point in her career where she could switch to a lucrative part time role and probably pull in $1500/month working one day a week, which she wants to do. Obviously that's not guaranteed and things could happen. Could be less, could be more. But her skill is in high demand so I'm fairly confident. I'd probably also want to keep my feet wet a bit. I haven't looked into it at all, but I imagine I can and will make some money in retirement after I destress for a while. However, I don't really want to count on this fully, because I'd want to earmark a good portion of this for future college expenses. + +As you can see, I'm a little overwhelmed by this whole thing. I am at a real loss as to what to do. + +TLDR - In the past, I stuck at this company despite the crazy work environment because of inertia, naivete, enjoying some parts of the job, and to be completely honest because I can be a bit of a workaholic. Things are better now, but it might be getting worse again in different ways. And unexpectedly, I could probably retire now. + +So: +1) Am I missing anything critical, in that I'm right that I can retire right now? +2) Am I missing any options that I'm not considering? +3) What would you do? +I want to go back to school to finish my Bachelors degree. I am 5 semesters away from completing my BA in Human Services. My husband fully supports me going back to school and wants me to quit my job in order to go back full time. Part of the reason that I would have to quit is that this degree requires intern hours in order to graduate and I would not be able to complete those while working 40+ hours a week. + +My husband makes 4 times my salary. I make $30,000 a year and the only benefit from my job is my retirement plan. Our health insurance is through my husband's job. However, I worry that taking away $30,000/year from our income will financially screw us. We just paid off over $20,000 of debt, and are working towards buying a house this year. We only have one car payment (his job provides transport for him so we don't need another). + +Edit: Thank you to everyone who has responded so far! There is a lot of amazing advice that is cementing all of the doubts I was having about this already. + +Some more info, getting a BA would earn me a pay increase at my job as I would qualify to complete more trainings. I work in finance and I am currently working on getting my insurance license. + +2nd edit: As this seems relevant to many of the responses I am getting, I am 24 and have no children. +I've been putting £4k per year for the last 3 years into my LISA. The idea was that I'd use it for my first purchase when my gf and I bought together. However, we like where we are right now and would be happy to stay for a good few more years, so we've discussed getting my name added to the mortgage. Obviously I have to look at my options with this and how to go about it, but my question in the meantime is, what do I do with my LISA? Do I keep adding 4K per year and just wait until retirement? Is it worth me withdrawing anything and reinvesting (even despite the penalty)? I'm under the assumption that I won't be able to use it for a first-time purchase in future once I'm on the mortgage. + + +It's also worth noting that with regards to retirement, I've got an NHS pension. + + +Many thanks! +EDITED + +I think I've made a couple of posts to this effect in this sub before, but it's been a while so I'm going to do it again. + +One of the biggest concerns for Americans right now is putting food on the table for their families. I saw on the news yesterday that the cost of a Fourth of July cookout has gone up by 17%. I feel like that's a bit of a lie because I know for a fact that a lot of goods that my family regularly buys have doubled in cost over the past year or two, and that's being generous. + +I have a job where I make very good money, but I also have an extremely large family. I'm not just talking about partner and kids, I come from an area of the country where it's considered common for a brothers and sisters and extended relations and even close friends to share a lot of resources. And the biggest issue that we are all having right now is how expensive it is to feed the kids. + +We're all pitching in. Those of us with space are contributing yard space. Those of us with money are contributing to the cost of buying seeds and topsoil and tools. Those of us with time are contributing time. Those of us with knowledge are contributing knowledge. + +We all know what we eat, And we know that collectively we have the resources to get the thing done, so that's what we're doing. + +Over the next couple of years, if we can find the space, we're going to start adding small livestock, mostly chickens and hopefully some goats. + +I have a friend who lives in an apartment, and she's turned entire room into a space to grow greens and herbs and other small plants. + +It was a big decision for us to make. we all grew up with parents and grandparents who kept gardens, and we're not strangers the lifestyle, but we get so wrapped up in work and paying the bills that we feel like we don't have time for it most of the time. But somebody made the really good point that if our jobs aren't paying enough to put food on the table, in a very literal sense, why should we give a damn if our boss gets upset that we show up tired a few times because we were building beds the day before or harvesting? If they don't want to see us showing up tired then they need to start paying us enough that we have time to sleep. + + + +If anybody is having issues feeding their family, I promise you there's enough time left in the year if you live in the northern hemisphere to get a lot of really good stuff in the ground and grow into maturity. A lot of things that we eat every day take only a couple of months to be ready for harvest. + +Talk to your relatives and neighbors. Tell them that you want to start a community or a family garden project. Tell him you want to come up with a plan, get everyone's input, and get down to work. See who's along for the ride. + +Y'all take care now + +EDIT + +obviously, not all advice is for all people. I thoroughly apologize if I don't have points specific information about your particular situation and therefore you yourself do not personally profit from what is being said. Next time, I'll make sure to ensure that everything I say is for every person on the planet. + +that being said, the reason I make these post isn't to bully anybody or make anyone feel like what they're doing is an adequate or to act as if the only solution for somebody situation is gardening. Gardening has a lot of mental health and physical benefits that are often overlooked in these conversations, and that in itself is helpful in life. + +no, the main reason I make these post is so that people can start conversations if they have questions. I understand that there are better subs for this, and I am definitely on those subs. But, in my own personal life and in other places I've been scrolling I do see that a major issue a lot of people are having right now is the literal cost of food. I know rent is going up, I know fuel is through the roof, and there are million and one different things that people can do that don't have to do with starting a garden. I'm just trying to start a conversation. + +so, once again, if you don't like the conversation, if you don't want any part of it, then please save your energy and everyone else's time and just go somewhere else +I recall listening once to Phil Town where he mentioned once that Buffett (i.e: folks are Berkshire) would often limit buy order at $400 range to avoid tilting the stock market one way or the other. Does the SEC actually enforces such a rule? That being said, $400 seems a bit tad low but needless to say, I presume Buffett doesn't move millions on a buy order or does he? +I never thought I had to say this, but stuff like "best coin under 1$ to buy" has been popping up a lot recently so I had to. + +Alt coins are not the same as penny stocks. Basing the moonshot ability of a crypto on its price alone is not a good idea. + +Circulating supply, demand, tokenomics, fundamentals, project development and use cases play a role in its growth or decline. The reason why bitcoin per dollar is in the tens of thousands because there are only 18.6m in circ. Compare that to 51c XRP which has 45 billion. XRP did worse than BTC in the past 90d. +Trying to find some info for a friend in need. + +Spent Friday at Cheltenham races with a big group of my mates. One of my close friends admitted he was in a bad place with gambling and is bricking it that his mortgage will be revoked after his mortgage review in a couple months. + +It’s his first mortgage (joint with his partner). He’s only had around 8 repayments so far. + +He’s recently taken out a £4K bank loan to cover gambling debts. He’s also borrowed £3k from a mate. As far as I’m aware, he doesn’t owe anything else other than the mortgage itself. + +At his mortgage review (I didn’t know this was a thing?) The lender will obviously see massive spending on gambling. + +My question is: As long as he keep up with his payments, is there any chance they could revoke his mortgage? + +Cheers All. +I have some years where I did not earn enough to pay NI to go towards my pension. When I log onto HMRC it says that I can pay some more to make up for my lower earnings but I cannot find where to do this. Does anyone know how I do this? +Hello guys, + +I was planning to get a new iPad and Apple offers 0% finance on the purchase. I can afford to pay it cash upfront, but is there any downside to finance it at 0% for a year, put the £600 in a savings account and let them grow? + +Am I missing anything? +Will the finance impact my credit score? +Am I not seeing the elephant in the room? +I moved into a rental property on September 13th on a 6 month contract. One of the other occupants is aggressive when I use the kitchen and is generally a pretty unpleasant bloke, so about a week ago I decided to leave. The landlord was understanding and has agreed to help me find a new tennant. + +This was my intention until yesterdays announcement, and now getting rid of my room will be quite difficult. One option i've thought about is moving out, not paying the rent due on the 13th, telling him im leaving and sacrificing the deposit. + +Is it likely he will try to get a CCJ against me over this? Or will he just cut his losses and try to find a new tennant, obviously keeping my deposit (one months rent, £750). + +One detail to note that may be useful is that he is not keeping my deposit in a protected scheme, or not at least that he told me about. There is no mention of it on the contract and I haven't received a letter from a deposit protection scheme like I have with previous private rentals. + +TIA for everyones help :) +I don’t get it. How does this make sense? Peak inflation that’s going to stay around 10% is a good thing? And record interest rates hikes on the table is bullish? Why is the market not making any sense right now.. +http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1105366_automakers-not-even-trying-to-sell-electric-cars-tesla-says + +The problem, perhaps, isn't in automakers. What if today isn't ready for electric cars? +1. The WSJ says the Saudi's dont want US$ anymore. Thats basically the same as saying the US $$ is trash - its probaly the end of the US$ as a reserve currency and a transfer to the Chinese... Of Course the U.S central bank is going to pump up their market - everyone know's its a farce even the Saudi’s. Its the end of the Petro Dollar System... + +&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#x200B; + +[https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/saudi-arabia-considers-accepting-yuan-instead-of-dollars-for-chinese-oil-sales-11647351541](https://preview.redd.it/2frhr16muln81.png?width=1138&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;format=png&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;auto=webp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=7d93857597f513ee2cc1deb5752ee979f9aff185) + +2) Russia is about to default on their Debt... + +[https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/15\/business\/russia-debt-bonds-default.html](https://preview.redd.it/264quscsuln81.png?width=1224&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;format=png&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;auto=webp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=d4e2fe9f200c4b35368abd65cecfe75a97150c1c) + +If Russia Defaults on their DEBT its more than $100bn... nothing like U.S $30 Trillion hahahaha... But this will F### Banks if it happens... + +3) One of the Sub Fav's "Evergrande China" is still gonna get you more than 23,600% if you can hold it for a week and they dont go out of business... + +[https:\/\/www.bondsupermart.com\/bsm\/bond-factsheet\/XS1580431143](https://preview.redd.it/y73zhtp8vln81.png?width=1734&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;format=png&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;auto=webp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=9cd270910dc09b39a63ebdbe63b8524937a2ecfc) + +They need $2bn next week they don't have. This bond matures on March 23. A 23,500% return is not real so its going to default, again. + +\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ + +But U.S Stocks just had an awesome day in the markets... despite any of this... + +[DJIA, SPY, QQQ and IWM](https://preview.redd.it/0b42mpgkvln81.png?width=2018&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;format=png&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;auto=webp&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=fb2f62c674ac74cdb1577d2ed2bb17aa13dd2cf3) + +**TLDR: The U.S stock markets is the U.S last flex to the world before this market gets flushed down the shitter... once retail starts to sell... and pull their accounts from Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan - thats when this shits gonna tank - They are milking it as long as possible... The US markets are terribly miss-priced and about to get theirs... this is not FA im an idiot and snort crayons.** + +Here’s an idea for our retarded leaders - let moass happen - take the taxes and apply that shit to the debt - pay down trillions - it’s the only way we can survive - USA is $30 trillion in debt and will never be able to get out of that - unless you fools let MOASS happen - then take the tax money and pay that shit down - stop ducking about the Saudis don’t want your $$$ any more - too bad you clowns missed the short term gains (well some of them) + +Oh the crime - maybe if billionaires paid their fair share - and didn’t steal from retail - then the USA wouldn’t be broke - so - wall st and the FED derailed USA from its status… clown show - but at least everyone else is broke 2 - I need GME more than ever - + +One other thing - that sec warning means the sec is willing to let it play out - I fucking loved that Bloomberg are you okay post - op is a g - + +———��————————— + +Fed meets on Wednesday - if they raise rates we might hear around 2pm? But maybe 11am - and then the market will fall - unless they try to get a head and it’s c### pasted from the get go - Tomorrow is spicy - + +We have earnings on Thursday - +Right now, as we've all seen, there are 2 separate realities in the financial ecosystem: + +1. QE has finally brought the economy to satisfactory levels of recovery, and The Fed (plus all major Central Banks) are tapering large-scale asset purchases in an effort to tighten monetary policy. Traditional view would suggest this leads to yield increases along the Treasury curve - given they will not be taking away from the available supply *quite* as much - which in theory would allow for the eventual lift in interest rates, alleviating inflation - all while not 'shocking the market' +2. The entire world is loading up on short-term, high-quality liquid assets (USTs) driving yields down to the floor, and real yields into the negative territory. Because 'recovery' in fact is not what we're now seeing, and QE actually **doesn't increase the quantity of money supply** but only changes its form from Treasuries to Bank Reserves. In actuality, deficit spending has increased money supply and we're just finally seeing the results. + +The Fed announced a taper, after months of warning, and there was a slight uptick in the short-term yield curve.... but was it actually significant, and will it continue? + +[still yet to see yield levels from even late 2020](https://preview.redd.it/cu62l2cpfoy71.png?width=1549&format=png&auto=webp&s=50e10e16d9376c0d5cb4d3829779bfe4d3c0dff8) + +It's hard to think that a slight decrease in LSAP, each month until June, will actually help unwind this: + +[it, in fact, will not](https://preview.redd.it/anhvjjeifoy71.png?width=676&format=png&auto=webp&s=46bb67a223526492793d8e061dfc2aa87335a188) + +or this: + +[The Fed can't control that orange bar](https://preview.redd.it/w6b5s8z6voy71.png?width=994&format=png&auto=webp&s=8098ce00ae5aa3ffa32d64a9711f16269fbd0ba4) + +See while the Fed hopes that the announcement of a taper (after months of suggesting it) will help quell inflationary *concerns*, the reality is that prices are only going to keep going up as more and more people continue to spend this influx of cash. But note the divergence in these 2 lines - total expenditures up, while actual goods consumed starts to decrease: + +[price inflation in 1 picture](https://preview.redd.it/fzx5czwtgoy71.png?width=676&format=png&auto=webp&s=fc38cceb5016702d8c49ef149ae7ff3b95e46447) + +If we apply the lens to a production output for goods, as it relates to price for a particular domestic sector, say 'industrial production and commodities' there is also a divergence in correlation: + +[recognize a pattern?](https://preview.redd.it/ah7junqdjoy71.png?width=1167&format=png&auto=webp&s=b733ed519e7c9a489ffe21fbaa022e34809b3b1b) + +However, there is something that strongly correlates with the Producer Price Index above: + +[up up and away](https://preview.redd.it/zhv6r1unjoy71.png?width=1174&format=png&auto=webp&s=b609b7e85478ae62c544892bf1cff0f38cb714f8) + +Not just in the US, here's a look at our German friends as an example - which illustrates a stark inverse between production and price across all sectors. + +https://preview.redd.it/je91bns1loy71.png?width=1171&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b86359ebd0025b88e1f4cf8a8968c2d5e2e173c + +*edit: further reading on Germany* +[(https://economic-research.bnpparibas.com/Views/DisplayPublication.aspx?type=document&IdPdf=44717)](https://economic-research.bnpparibas.com/Views/DisplayPublication.aspx?type=document&IdPdf=44717) + +So despite an unprecedented reaction to the latest economic crisis, it's safe to say that no - we have not made a strong recovery, or are anywhere near pre-pandemic levels - as some might have you believe. And no, while it's not QE to blame for an influx of cash, that cash is out there and it's being spent across a smaller amount of goods. The dollars will disseminate along the struggling supply chain, fueling inflationary pressure globally, and devaluing the reserve currency over time. + +The Fed's plan to massage the taper narratives to avoid any tantrums may have worked too well this time... or maybe they don't have quite as much control over the situation as they thought, or hoped - and at this point it's too little, too late. + +As more consumers realize that inflation is here to stay for a lot longer than they were led to believe, inflationary psychology will only speed up the clock. + +But maybe that was the point all along, not to actually fix anything - just prevent things from getting much worse... how much longer can they maintain their control of the [narrative](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/ospk5c/maintaining_the_public_perception_what_the_fed/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)? + +To quote an expert and former Fed Desk Trader, 'The Fed Guy' - + +>The current context is tremendously inflationary. Households gained trillions in cash, their [assets values are all time highs](https://fedguy.com/wealth-sideeffects/), and they feel confident enough to [quit their jobs at record rates](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSQUR). They are very likely to keep spending (lots of) money. Supply chain constraints are also real, as are [rising energy costs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-27/europe-s-energy-crisis-is-about-to-go-global-as-gas-prices-soar). Should the public begin to realize that it makes sense to buy today rather than tomorrow, then inflation could really skyrocket + +buckle up. +As you all know, Gox "found" 200k bitcoin. + +[I want to call attention back to an old thread and specifically one comment in that thread.](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1za9sf/found_at_least_150k_btc_of_mt_goxs_stolen_coins/cfrvm76) + +On that thread, dated March 1st or 2nd, the community claimed to have found between 150k and 400k btc in wallets that still belonged to Gox. According to [this article](http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/21/technology/mt-gox-missing-bitcoin/), Gox reported it on March 7th, and it was just made public today. + +There's no way to prove it, but we may have prompted them to give it up in an "oh shit!" moment. + +Keep digging and hold them accountable! Not only at stake is the remaining 650k bitcoin, but also the first ever community-based investigation! If we could find and/or prove where all the of the money went, imagine the implications in the media! No more of these crazy banks scamming people, because we, the community, have people who will track and find out where it all went! If we identified the coins or addresses, we would have them monitored. If they claimed to have lost the keys, the addresses could never be touched, thus they either a) actually lost the keys, or b) can never remove any btc, thus "freezing" their stolen assets. They would basically admit guilt simply by attempting to move any amount of btc out. + +The implications are big! So keep your eyes on the prize, and let's continue to crackdown on those who try to abuse our new technology. +I had been deliberating initiation of a post discussing mistakes. +I’ve tried and recalled by mistakes, errors of judgement in my short exposure to capital markets. I'm a resident of India. Hence, some terms may seem foreign. Please bear with me. + + + +Lesson 1: +I started taking a keen interest in markets in 2012. +My trading and investment decisions were based on stock recommendations offered by analysts on TV channels. + +The returns generated were decent. I truly wondered why people thought trading/investing was difficult. I thought I had discovered the recipe for success in stock markets. It was easy. It required little effort from my end. All I had to do was imitate the analyst’s stock pick. + + +My condition was great. Until one day. The stock picks recommended for intraday started failing. It was unfathomable to me that I was losing so much money. I resorted to revenge trading. Lost even more money. + + +Whatever profits I had generated were evaporated in a relatively short duration. I could’ve never imagined such an outcome. +In hindsight I should’ve thought that there’s never a free lunch. Why would anyone offer their stock picks without anything in return? + +Lesson: Trust no one blindly. Assess, examine trading/ investment decisions. + +Every action of assistance, guidance towards us in the stock market should be looked at with glasses of cynicism. It’s a brutal place. + + + +Lesson 2: +On a popular stock app there’s a bustling interaction medium. Stock picks are often offered for free and people wax eloquent about the tremendous potential the company possesses to multiply our wealth. + + +I came across one such message recommending investment in an investment company. It’d be inappropriate to share the stock pick. + + +The stock was described as being at the cusp of a great transition to being a large cap company. Messages loaded with superlatives describing the management bombarded the board. It seemed like the ideal investment opportunity. + + +I trusted them and invested 10 % of my portfolio. +The stock went from X to 3X in 5 months. +My happiness knew no bounds. I was ecstatic. +I continued averaging at upper levels expecting even more upside. + + +One day, the stock began its downward slide. Lower circuit after lower circuit. Surveillance measures were taken by the exchange and moved to 5% circuit. The fall was excruciating. It stopped when it reached 1.5 X. + + +I continued to average. Since, I had purchased heavily at upper levels my average price became very high. Losses incurred were significant. The fall wasn’t arrested yet. It kept falling. The stock formed 35% of my portfolio. + + +My portfolio was painted in red. There was little chance the stock would regain its past glory. I had to book my losses. It dawned on me that the stock move was a meticulously engineered operation by bigger investors. + I had invested by trusting someone else. + + +Summary of Lesson 2: If possible avoid excessive concentration in any stock pick. Conditions can deteriorate at any point. +Introduce adequate safeguards to protect profits. + + +Booking profits will reduce cost of carry. +It was my greed that destroyed my portfolio. +It’s difficult to tame greed but those who succeeed at doing so will likely emerge victorious in the market. + + + + +Lesson 3: +In 2016, I came across a petrochemical company which was showing some signs of a turnaround. +Imposition of an anti dumping duty was expected which would enable an improvement in the company’s financials. + + +I invested based on this thesis. Management seemed to be decent. I invested 15% of my portfolio. It was my first turnaround investment. + + +When the results were declared the turnaround wasn’t very convincing. Instead of waiting and appreciating that turnarounds take time I exited my holdings. + + +I had purchased at X. I exited at 1.3 X. A 30 % profit. It seemed a healthy return to me in 3-4 months. +The same company, in the next 7 quarters underwent an extraordinary turnaround. From losses to double digit profit margins. And, the stock went from X to 5X. + + +I couldn’t believe my eyes. I blamed my luck and derived solace that I had some profit. But, heart of hearts I knew I had made a massive error of judgement. + + +Lesson: Be patient. If you’re convinced about a stock after enough research stay invested for some time. Investments take time to mature, to grow. +In investments without conviction profit booking would be sensible. But, if enough conviction has been developed- Be patient, do nothing. + + +Sometimes inactivity is better than activity. +Here, I was a victim of fear of losing money. Hence, sold too early. +Fear and greed are major causes of bad decisions. + + + +Lesson 4: +An important lesson I learned is on appreciation of the role of luck and the limitations of our expertise. + + +I have often mistaken my luck for skill. And, it has cost me a lot. +Stock trading/ investing is an incredibly complicated activity. There are so many variables involved that it’s difficult for linear thinkers like us to piece the information and take rational decisions. + + + +To simplify the task, we resort to substituting difficult questions for easy ones. +Instead of analyzing a company based on its financials I’ll check if I like the product manufactured by that company and invest based on that. + + +I’ve succumbed to it often. +And, needless to say, I lost money. +Also, being rigid is harmful to us. +Despite knowing that a strategy doesn’t work, I refused to accept it. I suffered from the illusion of validity. + + +Acceptance is crucial for success. +Most factors are beyond our control. Frankly, there’s hardly anything in our control. + + +I stopped thinking of myself as a person who has everything in control and accepted the fact that I was at the mercy of variables I could do nothing about. +This change in behavior, approach helped me. +I started appreciating the contribution of luck in success. + + +From where we’re born, the upbringing we receive , the socioeconomic status are rarely in our control. +And,these factors play an instrumental role in moulding the future behavioral patterns of a person. + + +Summary of Lesson 4: The lesson I learned was that I should shed my delusion of being in control and acknowledge that despite my best efforts there will be consequences totally opposite to my expectations. + + + +Lesson 5: +The most important lesson I learned is that I should have realistic expectations. +Stock markets aren’t get rich quick schemes. +It’s a way to participate in the growth story of a real business. + + +For an ordinary person like me it’s impossible to sustain 20% CAGR for long durations. +I tempered my expectations to 10-11% over the long term. + + +After all, what causes pain- When expectations are not met we suffer from pain, grief. +Solution is to have low expectations. If the outcome is better than our expectations our joy will be indescribable. + +I humbly share the lessons I’ve learned. This forum has played an instrumental role in my growth as a person. My heartfelt thanks to each and every member here. I've realised that there's always something to learn. +Yet again, my gratitude to all. +My apologies if I’ve erred. +Best wishes. + +This strategy combines collecting dividends along with premiums from writing [covered calls](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covered_call). + +First, we need a relatively stable stock that pays relatively high dividends. Stocks that are largely [institutionally owned](http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/investing/institutional-ownership-975) tend to be relatively low risk investments and will also tend to have lower swings compared to market in general. + +[I compiled a list of stocks from the S&P 500 that meet this criteria.](http://imgur.com/qFtaU) + +I chose LMT because it has the lowest volatility of any of the stocks seen here. It's presently at 81.07, its three year low is 68.79 and its three year high was 86.90. As volatile as this market has been, this really isn't that much. [Over the past year, except for August and its subsequent recovery, LMT has actually stayed in a rather narrow band between 79 and 82 a share.](http://imgur.com/5tAsS) + +LMT, at the time of this writing, sells for 81.07 a share. $50,000 gets us 600 shares. We could actually buy a little more than 600 shares, but options are sold in lots of 100, so it's only useful to us to buy in lots of 100. + +Now we consider the dividends. They recently raised their dividend to $1.00/share. It was last paid on Nov 29th and will be paid again around Feb 28. + +Our 600 shares will net $600 in dividends every quarter (600 * 1). + +Now for the option premium. Now that we own 600 shares, we can sell someone the right to buy them from us for a period of time. One agrees on both an expiration date and a price, known as the strike price. An option won't get exercised (i.e., the stock bought away from you) if the stock doesn't reach the strike price. As such, for LMT, we'd want to set a strike price of about $82.50. It's far enough away from the current market price that given the volatility it won't be at that price in 2-3 months. + +Ideally we also want to sell this option right up to the next dividend payment, so we'll be picking options that expire in February. [Here's the option chain for Feb.](http://imgur.com/EJl3D) + +The current market price for Feb options at $82.50 go for $1.23. This is per option share. So for 600 options, you'd make a premium of $738 (600 * 1.23). + +Once those options expire, you sell more options right up to the [ex-dividend date](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-dividend_date). On that date, the stock usually drops equivalent to the dividend payout, or in this case about $1. It'll recover, but that'll take time and will give you extra room in making sure your calls don't get exercised. + +In summary: $50,000 gets you 600 shares of LMT. Quarterly dividends will be $600. Earned covered call premiums will be $738 quarterly. Total quarterly income will be $1,338 or $446/month. + +Risks to this approach are that if the stock declines, the value of your portfolio will decline. This isn't necessarily too bad unless you really need the money. As this strategy is based on money made from dividends and options, so long as the dividend payout doesn't change much, you're still covered. + +Another risk is if the stock takes off for whatever reason. If the company's stock skyrockets, your sold options will get exercised. Your shares will be bought away from you (at a profit, but not much) and you'll miss most of the run-up of the stock. + +EDIT: For those interested in ETF's that mostly automate this process, see PBP and BWV. [Here's a report on how those ETF's did last year in a relatively flat market.](http://etfdailynews.com/2012/01/04/covered-calls-finish-strong-in-2011-pbp-bwv/) +I’m 28 and making decent money. I always see posts of people in their mid 20s saying they bought their first home. + +I’m just wondering is there a financial incentive to do this, or is it just a case of it’s just what they wanted? + +My reasoning for renting is that I am single and don’t like the idea of buying a somewhat “permanent” location so soon in my life. Buying a home seems like a big commitment and I quite enjoy having the flexibility that renting gives you. + +But was just wondering is there an angle on buying a home that I may be missing? +Hello UKpersonalfinance, my family is going through a tough time and whilst my family naively consider me the 'financially savvy' of everyone - a lot of what I learned has been from this sub, so I'm hoping I can get your advice/ideas because I haven't thought clearly in about 2 weeks and I'm out of my depth. + +My mum (54) found out about 11 days ago that she has stage 4 stomach cancer, it's inoperable and whilst she can have chemotherapy to prolong her life, there won't be a cure. We currently don't know how long she has left, because she wasn't ready to hear it at the last appointment with the oncologist. She's been signed off work since mid-July as she's been in/out of hospital whilst they investigated the stomach issues, which turned out to be the advanced cancer. + +My Dad used to work part-time doing house clearances, but work has slowed to a crawl, he's 58 and becoming increasingly physically unable to manage, he's a type 1 diabetic, has sciatica, been a laborer near all his life, poor writing/reading/maths skills and is a carer to my younger (24) mentally disabled brother. He mainly sells bits of junk he's had in his garage for years at boot sales/gumtree - it's a pittance. He receives carer's allowance and we've just started the process of moving my brother from Disability Living Allowance to PIP. He's also a T1 diabetic, severely autistic and can't (won't) self-medicate. + +I (26) still live at home, earn £26.7k a year working in Z1 London, my parents allowed me to not pay rent to aggressively save to move out. Mum earns 30k a year, her HR manager is coming over to get mum to sign a death-in-service form that apparently will pay out 1.5x her salary on her passing. They've compassionately extended her sick pay from 8 weeks full + 8 weeks half to 12 weeks full and 12 weeks half. Her September pay next week will be week 8, and 2nd payment of the 3-month full pay. + +The house was fully paid off March 2018 so no mortgage (worth 450k+ we reckon, Z6 London, 4 bed semi-detached with 3 garages), but my parents aren't married, jointly owned but my mum mentioned the other day she's considering passing her half to her 4 kids (older two half-siblings who aren't my Dads). Will my Dad pay tax if they're not married? Could my siblings force him to sell if they want their money from their house share? + +&#x200B; + +All house bills are in my mum's name, they added my Dad to mum's current account yesterday and they already have joint savings of around £24k. Mum has a life insurance policy that will pay out £24k as well (I assume to my Dad). Will my Dad automatically keep access to this money when she passes? Idk what my Dad's pension is, he cashed in a private pension to pay off the house. + +My brother's DLS and Dad's carer's allowance is paid into my mum's current account (My Dad didn't have a current account until yesterday, only ever a credit card paid in full each month from Mum's money/savings account) - My mum has carried every financial action and basically withdrew cash for my Dad to use. + +&#x200B; + +We need to fully sit down look at bills but off top of my head: + +Council tax (Band D) £1,200+? + +Gas/electric: £200 per month (4-bed house) + +Virgin Media: £100 per month + +TV license + +Water rates £400 per year + +There's house/contents insurance but can't remember the amount. There's a few others, car + van insurance, Mum's life insurance payment. + +A lot of the Macmillian financial advice doesn't really apply as my parents have too much in savings to qualify/aren't married so the benefits my Dad would seem to receive I assume he can't get. We also need to move my brother's savings (£4K) out of an 0.06% interest trustee account that's been going since 1996 - my parents are clueless for new accounts and he can't sign anything, so it's likely this will move into my Dad's/my name to hold for him. + +There's a lot of information above, I don't know where to start with sorting my mum's affairs/how my Dad will support himself and my brother after mum is gone. I was intending to move out in a few years, I have around 40k saved for a deposit but won't go far in London - but I already feel like it's going to fall to my shoulders to support my immediate family which my older half-sister mentioned and my mum admitted worries her. + +My outgoings are fairly low, take home £1,600 + +The commute is £200 per month + +£10 phone + +£20 Weight Watchers (7st 7lbs down) - this tackles a food addiction + +£5 Spotify + +£17 Odeon Card + +£8 Netflix + +£200 to H2B ISA + +£800-1000 to savings, left over pays for socializing/treats +RETARDS DID YOU READ THE TITLE?!?! + +Big Banks are Big Mad at us Autists. We have figured out how to make a fuck ton of money in the stock market. One Call option = Market maker buying 100 shares. We have impeccable leverage in this market fueled by our YOLOs. + +Big Banks do NOT like this. There are class action lawsuits against Robinhood for targeting inexperienced traders. + +https://twitter.com/carlquintanilla/status/1339224048811827202?s=21 + +EVERYONE deserves to be allowed to trade in this financial system. Just because we found a way to compete with BILLIONAIRES does not mean we deserve to be taken away our rights to trade. First they’re going to try and shadow ban Robinhood, then they are going to up the restrictions on options trading. Free market my fucking ass. Big Banks put their fingers in the government’s asshole, they are their bitch. If they are losing money to us, they are going to get their way. + +This is bullshit, we need to all take out loans and hire lawyers to fight back. Keep using leverage to our advantage. DONT FIX WHAT ISNT BROKEN AND FUCK GREEDY BOOMERS. + +ARKF $50 7/16/2021 +SPLK $200 5/21/2021 + +Edit: To all the boomers that are saying “jUsT sWiTCh tO AmErITraDE”, sorry I don’t still use Windows XP. It’s 2020 bitches. +My friends and I have recently worked out this life hack with our local casino and I thought I would share it here just in case your local one does something similar. + +So our casino has a membership club that's completely free to join, and it's a points based reward system. They have this game you can play for free once an hour and you get a minimum of 100 points and can even get 200 or 300 points if you score well. So we just spend the time we would usually spend hanging out at one of our houses anyway just chilling at the casino and accruing points. + +The casino restaurant offers free meals if you have enough points, and it's only 300 points for one. The meals are pretty high quality as well, for example they have a burger and chips that honestly rivals the high end burger joints in our city. They also offer a completely free post mix stand, and so in combination with these two things we've been eating quality meals completely for free 2-3 nights a week for the last month or so. + +I have no idea whether there is a standardised approach to casino memberships that could make this a widespread hack, but just thought I would share this in here anyway and hope it can help somebody out. +I want to preface this by saying I make less than 50% of the average income in my area. I work just above minimum wage, full-time, and still can barely afford to live due to medical bills and a cocktail of competing mental health issues. + +And I really...really...*really* struggle with visualizing my budget on a day-to-day basis. + +I can't keep track if I can afford to pay a little more for nicer groceries that month or not. So either I tend to just not buy anything out of fear I won't be able to pay my rent, or I decide to pay a little extra and then feel guilty about it. I couldn't stop thinking about my bank account. + +I've tried *everything* and I'm an obsessive budgeter, but again due to an executive function and mood disorder I have trouble actually carrying through. But, I figured out how to hack my own brain and maybe this will be helpful for somebody else. + +Open up a second checking account (or keep an envelope of cash). Calculate how much you can afford to spend for that paycheck on unfixed expenses (for me it's my cats, groceries, transportation, and an eeny-weenie teeny tiny spending budget just so I don't go insane). When I get paid, I transfer that money into my "allowance" account and leave the rest on my "billing account". I don't carry a card for my billing account with me. I *only* carry a card for my allowance account, so it's literally physically impossible for me to spend money that was meant for my bills. + +This has taken a huge load off of me. I no longer have to worry about whether or not I will be eating into my rent money or my emergency savings if I buy some microwave popcorn. Since it's a small, tangible number, I can see "oh, actually, I only have $2 left until payday. I'm out of money." + +It's a really simple hack but it works wonders for me. I don't use cash because I don't really visualize it well, but for me a number in a bank account means a lot more, and seeing I have $2 left rather than seeing that I have my rent money + $2 left makes it much clearer to my piece of garbage brain that I can't spend anything extra. + +Anyway, TLDR: I have two checking accounts. One for bills, and one for an allowance of non-fixed expenses. I can't access my billing account except for bills. This keeps my dumpster fire monkey brain from spending more than I'm supposed to. + +I hope this helps somebody. Thanks for reading. +Reminder to dispel confusion around your rights as a tenant. + +For properties in England, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 means that in addition to rent, lettings agents can only charge tenants (or anyone acting on the tenant’s behalf) the following permitted payments: + +1. Holding deposits (a maximum of 1 week’s rent) + +2. Deposits (a maximum deposit of 5 weeks’ rent for annual rent below £50,000, or 6 weeks’ rent for an annual rental of £50,000 and above) + +3. Payments to change a tenancy agreement eg. change of sharer (capped at £50 or, if lower, any reasonable costs) + +4. Payments associated with early termination of a tenancy (capped at the landlord’s loss or the agent’s reasonably incurred costs) + +5. Utilities, communication services (eg. telephone, broadband), TV licence and council tax + +6. Interest payments for the late payment of rent (up to 3% above Bank of England’s annual percentage rate) + +7. Reasonable costs for replacement of lost keys or other security devices + +8. Contractual damages in the event of the tenant’s default of a tenancy agreement and + +9. Any other permitted payments under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 + +The Act also states that agents and landlords don’t have to pay back any fees they have charged a tenant before 1st June 2019. So, if an agent or landlord requires a tenant to pay a fee linked to a contract that started before the ban came into force, such as check-out or renewal fees, they can continue charging those fees until 31st May 2020. + +Rightmove: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/what-does-the-new-tenant-fees-act-mean-for-you/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=campaign + +MSE: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/01/letting-fees-to-be-banned-from-june/ +Edit: please stop commenting saying I need to repair the relationship. I have no intention of doing that and it isn't why I posted here. + +A few years ago my father told me I (23) needed to open a SIPP with Hargreaves lansdown, which I did, and then invested a little bit of that money. However, at the time he refused to explain any of it to me and said he would just review it for me every few months and so I didn't need to understand it. + +Well now I haven't spoken to him in almost 2 years and have just been buying into things because I think they sound like the right thing to do but honestly a beetle probably knows more about this stuff than me. + +Details of the account/ finances are: +(I'm aware it's not a lot of money but I have just had a baby and was unemployed for the majority of my pregnancy) + +Total worth of the account is £1164.22 with £242.59 available to invest at the moment. + +£164.52 of pictet USA index class I +£357.67 Morgan Stanley Sterling corporate bond class f accumulation +£203.98 artemis strategic bond class MI accumulation. + +I pay in about £50 a month to the account as this is what I can afford right now. I do also have various pensions I started in employment but many of those were only a few months and then I changed jobs so I doubt they're of any significance over a few hundred pounds at most. However I am using pension bee to try and consolidate them to actually find out what I have. + +I also have a stocks and shares isa that he made me open that has +£159.45 of bny Mellon sustainable real return class w accumulation +£105.63 tb enigma dynamic growth income class b +£201.87 fidelity moneybuilxer income class w + +I would really appreciate any advice, I've tried to look things up but this really isn't my area of expertise and I just don't understand what I should be looking for when investing, or even if the choices I have made were any good. +Currently, GME has 97,098 calls expiring tomorrow, that are currently ITM. That is 9,709,800 shares that need to be bought, by the sellers (usually MM), by the end of the day. + +Todays entire volume was just 57M, mostly retail. + +At 500/share this becomes 11 million shares. Theres absolutely no way they cover all that. That is over 2 billion dollars worth of buying, at 230/share. **5.5B at $500/share.** + +Rumor has it that at $600, Melvin goes tits up and get a margin call. Meaning they liquidate, and buy back their short. +So I recently calculated my win percentage and it turns out I only make money 45% of the time. I trade options intraday and for the month I am doing ok I am in the green. My Average winning trade however is higher than my average losing trade which is good. However I think a win percentage of 45% is quite pathetic and this definitely needs work. My thinking is this could stem from my problem of Impulsive trading, revenge trading and anger trading. These are my biggest weaknesses which what leads me to think these are the issues holding me back. I really need help I try so hard to stop this behavior and I’m so aware of it but I just can’t stop pulling the trigger too fast I think if I can really get this under control it will help me out so much and relieve so much stress. Has anyone else gone through this?? And if so how did you finally break the chain because this is holding me back. +Hi! I want to know how to day trade crypto as a side gig. I want to know how I can turn 50-100 dollars to 300-500 a week. Is it possible? I’ve watch some YouTubers but they don’t know how to explains things well to BEGINNERS, mainly just focus on the viewers.. smh, but help!!! +Hello, + +My parents are getting a bit older (60's) and have asked me to find them an estate tax attorney/financial advisor/CPA to help them structure their assets in a more safe and tax friendly way for inheritance, etc. Assets total ~30MM, 1/2 in RE and 1/2 in retirement accounts. + +However, I am having trouble finding people, and to me they all look pretty much the same. I have looked at https://www.napfa.org/find-an-advisor# and https://www.feeonlynetwork.com/, but I might as well be cold calling, if that makes sense; it is just a list of names. Specifically, I am looking for one that specializes in both Oregon and Washington estate law/tax, as they own properties in both states, but it is quite hard to satisfy this aspect. Also my dad has mentioned the idea of having trusts set up in Delaware that have better protections, but I have yet to do any research; is this worth pursuing? + +Any tips on how to find these people, and who would I be looking for exactly (i.e. job title)? Or even better a rec, but I don't expect that on reddit. I really don't want to waste their time with someone not worth their salt, because then they feel the need to manually re-do the grunt work that they paid for. They have been dropped from a few CPA offices like this, just from being anal about mistakes. Thanks. +Batting around the idea of buying my parents a Model 3 next year. + +To those who have done something similar, what are some intricacies you should be aware of before doing something Iike that? + +We're in Canada, if that matters! +NO. + +The bitcoin logo is already too big of an established brand logo. + +Don't make it even more confusing for new people. + +Industry people (Circle) don't know jack about marketing I guess. + +Edit: our current symbol should be added to unicode as a solution. +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. +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. +Spouse and I think it's wrong, and the security of having a job, to us, is worth the "pay cut". So far, our opinion is extremely unpopular. Others say it is just plain stupid to take a job when you're making more on unemployment. What do you think, PF? + +Edit: I'm employed, I merely wanted to start a discussion. +Hello, + +I recently graduated from QUT in Brisbane with a Bachelors in Business (Management). + +I didn’t have solid work experience history as I am not originally from Australia. + +This job that I have now did not advertise a salary, and I was desperate for a job. When I told my manager I would take 50k.. I did not account for the rising costs of everything. He did say that my role would be a “junior” role as well. + +That being said I have been in this role for half a year as a data analyst, I am a lot better at analysing data than the guy who has been here the longest and a new hire who has 15+ years of experience in the industry(I build the analysis tools they use & they are not really good at data analysis/solving problems). + +I would like to be compensated fairly. The people here are very nice and I like the environment, I just don’t know how to bring it up. + +Should I try to find another role? Should I ask my boss for a raise? What should I even ask for? All opinions are welcome. + +Thank you. +I'm 50, married and own my own home outright (est. value $850k). Have an IP worth about $450k (owe about $380k on it). + +I only have about $180k in super, wife has about $80k. + +Due to various health issues I'm only working part time, earning about $50k pa.......wife has a similar income. + +I have about $200k to invest, looking at opinions on putting it into ETFs or Super......or both? + +I currently hold about $80k in various ETFs (VAS, VDGR & VGS), as well as about $10k worth of QAN. + +Any input would be welcome! +**Warning:** This is the one rare post on this sub where I'm actually going to be serious and leverage my education and experience. Will return to full spectrum Monday. + +**Background:** I've seen a lot of posts and talk about recessions and how to profit on them. I just want to point out every recession is different, the tech bubble burst was different from the 2007/8 financial crisis. While you can place bets on which companies will go up and down, there are a few facts that will remain true. People will lose their jobs, there will be foreclosures, repossessions, and debt balances that go unpaid. This is unfortunate but all you autists want to know how to profit. I will try to explain why my thesis is a less risky play than betting on one specific point of failure. + +**Thesis:** While consumer confidence droops are in the headlines, it's still at a pretty healthy level and doesn't impact the thesis at all. We've been in an economic boom for almost a decade, people are spending money on things they do not need and over-extending on credit. While it might be harder to get a mortgage than it was pre-2008, car loans and credit cards have basically flooded the market. Spending on luxury goods for 2018 was $294B ([Source](https://www.barrons.com/articles/chinese-spending-represents-one-third-of-the-global-luxury-market-01553273079)). Take a look at this article for auto loans ([article](https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/are-subprime-auto-loans-at-a/01271628132)). The average credit card debt in the U.S is right around $6,000. **Regardless of whatever industry collapses, there will be unemployment and wage cuts, credit balances don't just vanish because you lost your job.** + +**Investment Opportunity:** + +# GO LONG ON DEBT COLLECTORS. + +**Encore Capital Group**, an international specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions for consumers across a broad range of assets. Through its subsidiaries, the Company purchases portfolios of consumer receivables from major banks, credit unions, and utility providers, and partners with individuals as they repay their obligations and work toward financial recovery. Through its subsidiary in the United Kingdom, Cabot Credit Management, the Company is a market-leading acquirer and manager of consumer debt in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. Encore's success and future growth are driven by its sophisticated and widespread use of analytics, its broad investments in data and behavioral science, significant cost advantages provided by its highly efficient operating model and proven investment strategy, and the Company's demonstrated commitment to conducting business ethically and in ways that support its consumers' financial recovery. + +**PRA Group:** Our business was created in 1996 as a U.S. consumer debt-buying and collections company. Over time and by design, PRA Group has expanded and diversified throughout its 20-year history. PRA returns capital to banks and other creditors to help expand financial services for consumers in the Americas and Europe and provides a broad range of additional revenue and recovery services to business clients. + +**Specific Tickers:** + +**$PRAA** + +**$ECPG** + +**Scenario 1:** Buy puts exp march 2020 since previous behavior for both has shown that when a recession occurs they bottom out. It might be due to the fact that people stopped taking on debt or that they were unable to collect since people claimed loss of job in court and differed payment. After puts profit by close to ITM call LEAPS since they will begin to collect as the economy rebounds. + +**Scenario 2:** March 2020 calls. Both stocks went inverse $SPY this past month. + +&#x200B; + +**Disclosure:** This post should be viewed as satire and is not investment advice. I assume no liability for any actions taken as a result of reading this post. Individuals should conduct their own due diligence or speak to a financial adviser before taking any action. + +&#x200B; + +**Side note:** I don't have positions in any of the aforementioned companies yet. Just got back into trading 2 weeks ago and won't be depositing any money into my trading account for a month. + +[Additional Reading](https://www.wsj.com/articles/debt-collectors-wage-comeback-11562319002) + +Edit: Conclusion, they will go up. It’s just about timing and if they bottom or not. In 2008 they bottomed before climbing. Money made on puts and calls. Don’t know if that process will repeat again. +I'm a beginner investor learning all the basics currently and educating myself as best as I can to be successful and was wondering: what do you guys think are some vital concepts/methods/tools that led to your successes? Most importantly, what led to your biggest failures and how did you recover? Failure is truly a teacher and I want to hear about yours! I figure that I could go into the market and fail again myself (down 46% already lmao), or I could utilize the failures from the three million investors on here! + +Edit: thanks for all the support and knowledge! It definitely helped me a lot! :D +Dear fellow retards- as much as we would all like to diamond hand to the Moon, Mars and beyond -some will run to take profits and that's a given, perfectly normal ape act. But what would your greedy ape mind do with all this cash? +Luckily BB comes to help -options volume and rising 20- 22 strike prices cost imply some volatility in the upcoming days and weeks but as many ape bag holders need 20+ price to break even -paper hands would be less and next temptation could come in at 30-40..70+ or maybe moon itself? +If I knew what to do -I would have done it, so obviously no financial advice here but I'd like BB at 40+ by 11 June. + +edit: BB does indeed ignite just now and all looks promising, heavy volume could be expected by apes pouring in gains cash but how would one know where the exit comes for the meme stonks (except options volume)? +All 3 to the moon 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 BB at 100+++ +The S&P500 is market cap weighted so it holds 6% in Microsoft, but only 1.27% in Visa, because Visa has a much smaller market cap than Microsoft. + +I want to build my own **market cap weighted index**, but only of the stocks I select. So I'm looking for an app/site that will **calculate the % to allocate to each stock** for a portfolio of selected stocks. Does this exists? + +If not, I might build it. Would anyone be interested in using something like this? With free trades and fractional shares, it would be easy to build your own index funds with a tool like this. + +**TL;DR:** To be clear, I am looking for a site that will tell me what my target allocation should be - not a site that lets me enter my target allocation. + +&#x200B; +I'm on board with the FI movement and I'm saving up, but there's one thing that's always puzzled me in the logic behind it. + +They say any income (or spending) above $60k or so doesn't bring excess happiness, because any spending above this level is more keeping up with the Joneses than spending on things that actually matter (food, etc). Also MMM says avoiding lifestyle inflation will make you no less happy. I totally buy these ideas and agree. + +But if we can control our happiness internally without the need to spend a lot of money (think internal locus of control), shouldn't we also be able to control our happiness at work? I've always felt happiness is more a state of mind rather than something that external forces control - so why would retiring make you happier? +Good Evening, long-time FI lurker contributing on a throwaway account. + +I've seen a few posts about how bad a market crash could be (Ex. -50% Drop), but I have not seen too much discussion about the duration of such a drop, and how to survive it. So, I ran some numbers using the S&P 500: + +[https://imgur.com/a/7hOr47r](https://imgur.com/a/7hOr47r) + +**The charts and table detail 4 of the past market crashes, and their durations. From left to right:** +Max Date - The date of the peak (prior to the drop) - i.e. 0% Net +Min Date - The date it finally bottomed out - Usually between -30% and -55% +Recovery Date - The date it returned to peak value prior to the drop - i.e. back to 0% Net +Max Value - Price of the Max and Recovery Dates +Min Value - Price of the Min Date +Max Drop - Net % loss at the bottom since the Max Date. +Drop Duration - Total amount of time the market was dropping in years +Total Duration - Total amount of time from beginning market crash to end of market recovery - i.e. back to 0% Net +Average Loss - Total market crash averaged out over total duration. + +The first chart shows a simplified recreation of four crashes major crashes in the past 45 years. You can see when the bottom happened, and how long it took to recover back to 0% loss. + +The second chart takes the integral of the first chart's respective trendlines, and represents the equivalent average loss you'd experience each year. For example, if you were down 0% to start, 10% in Year 1, 20% in Year 2, 10% in Year 3, and 0% at Year 4, you'd see an average of 8% loss for the duration. + +With those charts in mind, it brings forth a few questions to ask ourselves in our FI planning, assuming we have already determined our FI numbers: + +Can I survive 3-6 months on 50% of my FI income, without having to liquidate positions at the worst possible time? +Could I go 7.5 years on 85% of my planned FI income? + +I hope the charts and data help you all in your planning. + + +Howdy all. Long time shitposter in the daily attempting to provide some clarity into when RC's Standstill Period is over. + +I created a [discussion / question](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qye97y/rc_standstill_period/) post earlier hoping to gain some clarity (I was also reported as being suicidal because of the post lol). Mods, please let me know if I should remove the other post - I'm not trying to be spammy or karma farm. + +If you refer to this SEC Filing: [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000132638021000006/a101-gamestopxsettlementag.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326380/000132638021000006/a101-gamestopxsettlementag.htm) + +You can find the following in the Standstill Provisions: + +**2.Standstill Provisions.** + +**a.RC Ventures agrees that, from the date of this Agreement until the earlier of (x) the date that is thirty (30) calendar days prior to the deadline for the submission of director nominations by stockholders for the Company’s 2022 annual meeting of stockholders pursuant to the By-Laws or (y) the date that is one hundred twenty (120) calendar days prior to the first anniversary of the 2021 Annual Meeting (the “Standstill Period”), RC Ventures shall not, and shall cause each of its Affiliates and Associates not to, in each case directly or indirectly, in any manner:** + +\- - - - + +As you all might remember, the Annual Shareholders Meeting was on 06/09/2021. + +If the 1 year anniversary of the meeting is 06/09/2022, then 120 days (as mentioned in "Y" above) prior to that would be February 9th 2022. + +\- - - - + +As for (x), + +u/perfidiousfox noted the following: + +"For the first clause, according to the proxy statement nominations for the board must be submitted at least 90 days prior to the first anniversary of June 9th 2021, so 90 plus 30 from the standstill is 120, which means Feb 9th." + +However, I also interpret this to mean that if GameStop were to hold their Annual Shareholders Meeting EARLIER than 06/09/2022 then the first clause (x) would be the earlier date. + +\- - - - + +I'm not even sure how folks landed on November 23rd as being when the Standstill Period is over, to be honest. I'd be happy to make edits and include the counter DD to everything I've posted above. + +\- - - - + +Sorry if this unjacks any tits. But it shouldn't. As many have noted, including RC himself, GameStop will be judged by their actions and not their words. + +Until then, I'll catch y'all in the daily... and on the Moon sooner rather than later! + +\- - - - + +EDIT: here's the post that originally stated November 23rd + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qqwyxl/rc\_can\_speak\_in\_under\_2\_weeks](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/qqwyxl/rc_can_speak_in_under_2_weeks) + +which refers to this document + +[https://news.gamestop.com/node/18846/html](https://news.gamestop.com/node/18846/html) + +I'm still inclined to believe that February 9th 2022 is the earliest the Standstill Period will be over - being that the SEC filing refers to RC Ventures specifically. But perhaps this is somehow superseded by what is mentioned in the Proxy Materials? + +&#x200B; +This is not financial advise. This is my opinion only. Draw your own conclusions. My brain is smooth. + +&#x200B; + +If you are currently short GME, every aspect of the short thesis has been destroyed. Fundamentally speaking, in 2019 GME was a dying brick and mortar that was full of debt, no clear vision of the future, at risk of missing the next console cycle, and little perceived brand value. Fast forward to today. + +1. GME has no debt and the ability to raise capital as needed +2. RC and crew have completely replaced leader and established a clear vision for the future. Online sales more than doubled in 2020, with that type of growth possible for many years. +3. GME has arguably the strongest, most recognized brand in the world at the moment. How much higher must all valuation multiples be expanded and given to one of the worlds strongest brands with triple digit growth rates in their targeted market segment, that also happens to be a debt free company with seemingly unlimited access to capital? GME currently trades slightly higher than 2 times TTM revenue. CHWY is nearly 5x TTM revenue. TLSA is 19 times TTM Revenue. + +GME currently is fundamentally undervalued today and in the future will be a case study in B schools for the rest of time regarding fundamental transformation, pivoting, and how to execute a full corporate turnaround. If you are a prudent HF manager, you may be hesitant to buy GME given the recent rise, but would be more hesitant to bet against or short the company. If, on the other hand, you thought you didn't need to be prudent because you can rig the game in your favor, you don't care about fundamentals, you only want to drive the price in the direction you need it to go. And I say need very purposefully there. + +&#x200B; + +While you have cheated and stolen before dear naked short sellers, it only takes getting caught once and your time has come. If you let the squeeze run it's course, GME would have no doubt reached 1,000, perhaps 5,000, and it would have hurt badly, but the world would have moved on at this point. Instead, you pulled the fuckery you did to restrict free thinking people the right to invest their money the way they choose while you had no such restriction. You were able to drop the price 90% in weeks, but there were too many shorts, and the price quickly recovered to 300+. New fuckery had to ensue, so please lets have a moment to remember March 10, 2021. Since that moment, the dark pool really began to have new light, and now somehow one of the most talked about tickers in the world trades a mere 3 million shares per day. And guess what, we know now more than ever you are still short. Why? Because more than 3 million 🦍across the world are buying this thing everyday, and every time the price drops they buy more, every time they get paid, they buy more (especially Fridays), every time they find an extra banana, they buy more. Apes at the minimum own the float, but likely own much more. We don't know the true number of shares short, but we don't need to. At this point, in theory all it would take is a single share to cause a squeeze because the float cannot be purchased away from the apes. The reality? Millions of shares are still short, and new regs are going to force the number of shares outstanding to be reconciled with shares GME has actually issued, meaning many shorts must cover. When the MOASS initiates, many zeros will probably be needed behind the old peaks numbers. + +&#x200B; + +History doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it does rhyme. This is not financial advice. - + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/38xf77jeduw61.png?width=1010&format=png&auto=webp&s=74358874f59aa06e3d706a78bbc8de236202d4c6 +Windtree Therapeutics Inc. shares were down 26% to $2.87 after the company priced its previously announced public offering of 9.2 million common shares, together with warrants to purchase up to 9.2 million shares. + +Each share of stock is being sold for $3.25 a share, together with a warrant to purchase one share of common stock. + + +A swing trade is when something is severely tanking (usually around 25%) on the announcing of an offering. The price normally tanks towards or near the offering price. In this case, that price is $3.25. A direct offering is better than a public offering because public offerings dilute shares, however the public offerings are still viable swing plays. In this case, it is a public offering. The object is to get in at or around the offering price and wait for the correction of the stock back to it's price before it was oversold. This is a genuinely easy way to watch your portfolio grow by 15%-30%. It may take a couple of weeks + +Current price is $2.80, substantially lower than the offering price which often but not always the new bottom. + +Good luck, happy trading. + +tHiS iS nOt FiNaNciAl aDviCe +I have multiple stocks in Apple, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Visa a few other smaller stocks. They all are doing negative, and it seems that Trumps trade war could send them plunging even further. Would selling out now and re-buying later when they are lower be a good option? +Obligatory: Not financial advice. \[Insert wity comment about tiny pea brain and 4th of July hangover here\]. + +**Tl&dr:** The CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail) "Operating Committee", comprised of major exchanges and FINRA, has submitted an amendment to the CAT NMS Plan to reduce their exposure in the event they are caught cheating the system... Oops, I mean, if inaccuracies are found in their reported information. Lowering the exposure, means less costly fines. As we all know, lower fine $ amounts DO NOT lead to firms following the rules stringently and could lead to manipulated securities or markets (shocked, I'm sure you are). Link at the bottom of the post to submit comments to the SEC on the amendment. + +# OATS & CATS - Am I in a Fucking Barn? + +Not long ago the SEC finally approved the long overdue CAT (Consolidated Audit Trail) in place of the current system, OATS (Order Audit Trail System). This change is to take place on 9/1/2021. + +OATS is a very manual system where “FINRA member firms are required to develop a means for electronically capturing and reporting to OATS specific data elements related to the handling or execution of orders.” As we all know, “mistakes” are frequently made using this manual reporting system which results in “fines” that businesses are required to pay years later. These fines are just simply a cost of business to these firms because the fine $ total is never close to the amount of money the company profited from those mistakes in most all occurrences. [OATS Rule](https://www.finra.org/filing-reporting/market-transparency-reporting/order-audit-trail-system-oats) + +CATS “tracks orders throughout their life cycle and identifies the broker-dealers handling them, thus allowing regulators to efficiently track activity in Eligible Securities throughout the U.S. markets.” This is a very electronic tracking system with near real time tracking of handling/executing orders with more stringent reporting requirements and will lead to a market functioning closer to the letter of the law UNLESS the fines don’t match the crime… [CATS Plan](https://www.catnmsplan.com/) + +Here's a quote from Lucy Komisar's work [The Gamestop Mess Exposes the Naked Short Selling Scam](https://prospect.org/power/gamestop-mess-exposes-the-naked-short-selling-scam/): + +"AFTER THE “FLASH CRASH” IN MAY 2010, where stocks sharply dropped in a matter of minutes, the SEC said it would create a consolidated audit trail (CAT) on trading in stocks and options. The order and trade execution information it collected would identify and enable punishment of illegal trading activities, including naked short selling." + +# Amendment to CAT NMS Plan + +On 1/6/2021, The Operating Committee of CAT containing all of the major players (Major exchanges/FINRA), have added an amendment to this plan to limit their exposure in the event they continue to make “mistakes” with their filings. On 6/25/2021, the SEC announced an extension to continue reviewing the amendment before approving or denying: + +[ ](https://preview.redd.it/sx7ambuj5h971.jpg?width=851&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a634f07f67f3b79fa95a0902904752fc2aeef717) + +[https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nms/2021/34-92266.pdf](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nms/2021/34-92266.pdf) + +# What are Limitation of Liability Provisions? + +A limitation of liability clause is a **provision in a contract that limits the amount of exposure a company faces in the event a lawsuit is filed or another claim is made.** **If found to be enforceable, a limitation of liability clause can "cap" the amount of potential damages to which a company is exposed.** The limit may apply to all claims arising during the course of the contract, or it may apply only to certain types of causes of action. Limitation of liability clauses typically limit the liability to one of the following amounts: (i) the compensation and fees paid under the contract; (ii) an agreed upon amount of money; (iii) available insurance coverage; or (iv) a combination of two or more of the above. [Define Limitation of Liability Provisions](https://www.bakerdonelson.com/The-Sky-is-Not-the-Limit-Limitation-of-Liability-Clauses-May-Be-the-Solution-to-Cap-Your-Contractual-Liability-05-10-2007) + +So, let's just say, a company is found to have fraudulently (naked shorted) shorted 1 billion shares of a hypothetical company to artificially suppress the share value in order to prevent themselves from going bankrupt due to a short squeeze from a rise in the security price. This amendment would allow them to cap the fine out at a maximum $ total... I say again, **This would allow them to CAP THE FINE $ TOTAL**. There should be no cap. This company should get fined OUT OF EXISTENCE. + +# How to Submit a Comment on the Amendment: + +The comment period for this amendment is open until 9/3/2021. If you have any thoughts on the amendment and would like to voice your concerns to the SEC, let me help you: + +1. Go here: [https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nms.htm#4-698](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nms.htm#4-698) +2. Submit Comments on amendment with this button: + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/oyj62lfa7h971.jpg?width=632&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a96544fb88b9c8d7e7d7479b17102564cf1633e1 + +That's all I've got for ya. Tanks fo' readin' +There are a couple of things going on with my post here... + +1. I am not kidding, I told my mother about Bitcoin and since then she is asking me constantly how she can exchange her spare money to Bitcoin. + +2. That's actually cool, but I constantly have to install a fresh Windows installation on her notebook as she is a master to destroy things (I am not kidding, it's actually less work to just reinstall Windows freshly on her PC after the data backup) + +3. This implies I don't trust her to hold value, so called Bitcoins on her PC with any wallet. This also implies that I rather would suggest to hold her private keys and passwords. + +4. This also implies that I actually maybe even would suggest her to use a middleman... Coinbase. She did at least never did something awful with her PayPal account, that means I she probably also wouldn't mess with Coinbase, at least not if there is SMS authentification like on PayPal (don't know if Coinbase does offer this). + +5. And the point, something I realize... I do not think that the average people will ever understand how to use Bitcoin, unless they use a middleman like Coinbase. Thus, only a centralized Bitcoin can go mainstream, that's what I do think at the moment. + +Of course, I assume some hardcore people here will flame me to hell for this opinion. But I do more and more think that this is exactly the case. If something will ever go mainstream, then it will most likely not be Bitcoin, it will be a payment provider like Coinbase that makes use of Bitcoin. + +Thoughts? +You are probably checking the bitcoin price, sweating. Maybe you bought this month and are down, maybe you bought a few months ago and until recently, you were up big. I hope you aren't selling. + +I'm not rich, but I had a condo and sold it. You know what I bought? Bitcoin. And guess what-I'm not selling because this is just getting started. + +Most people want to keep you down, to not reach your full potential. To be part of the system, but need the system. Ask yourself: what are the rich doing? I'll tell you what they are doing-they are buying bitcoin, gold, and luxury real estate. + +The system has taken it's logical course and it's worked for a while-about 70 years. Can we break covid and go back to "normal". Sure. Debt will be 30 Trillion. By 2025 50 Trillion and debt to GDP at 200%. And by 2030, the game has fundamentally changed. There's a huge demand for all the cash in the world, and it looks like bitcoin is going to be one of the exits. + +Most people love the system. It comforts them and gives them structure. I'm fine with that. I like comfort too. + +Don't get this twisted-the people at the top aren't smart. They inherited an amazing, once in a 1,000 years system 80 years ago. And what did they do? They destroyed the system and gave the future generations the problems. They have kicked the can of debt down the road. + +I don't think you will ever see a mortgage at 4% again. EVER. +Inflation? Minimum wage will be $15-and that's not even enough. +Imagine paying $20 for a burger/fries/coke. It's coming. + +The traders will tell you "it's going to $25k". I kick myself for not DOLLAR cost averaging over the last 4-5 years. Huge mistake. + +The problems of society will not go away. At best they are delayed. You know why? because our debt is growing much faster than our taxes. And it's about to go exponential. + + +Bitcoin is my insurance policy. +Friday I turn 31. Just a few days ago, my last official day with my company was going to be this Thursday. I work for a Fortune 250 company. If the client doesn't renew, everyone on the account is out of a job and low and behold, our client is the first in 15+ years, if not ever, who we didn't only not renew, but had to terminate prematurely due to major contract breaches. In a way, you can call this a "layoff". + +I work my butt off as an employee and never thought being laid off would happen to me. The entire meltdown has transpired over the past 3-4 months and I've known much more than most of the employees on the account as I work in finance. Much of our field team has been left in the dark until recently and was only given a 30 day notice. We have individuals making $40-50k with mortgages, car payments, expecting mothers, and plenty of others living paycheck to paycheck. I have one employee under me who supports his wife who's still in school, has a mortgage, and just bought a new car in the last 6 months. + +I often go into our client site and 95% of the employees there are being let go. Many of which make $30-40k and are in similar predicaments. Daily, they were pulling people into conference rooms and people were walking out the building. Entire divisions were being let go. Morale was near zero and no one was actually doing work the last week I went in. + +Relatively, I'm in a good place. Zero debt, one year of cash on hand, if not more. 5+ years expenses in available in taxable mutual funds. More in retirement accounts. When talking to my colleagues, I kept my mouth shut about my financial situation. Everyone has been freaking out about how they'll make payments or keep their head above water even 2-3 weeks after Friday. + +**Here's what I learned:** + +* Even if you work for a great company, things can happen and you can always be laid off. You're never 100% secure. I have no idea how people live paycheck to paycheck because even I was heavily stressed about not having income with years of living expenses stashed away. +* START A SIDE BUSINESS. I always wanted to do this, but kept putting it off. Could be in case you get laid off, could just be for extra income. I started thrift reselling on eBay about 2 months ago fearing it might be my only income at some point. I've sold a few hundred in profit and plan to increase that. +* Networking is key. I'd glad to say I have a temporary position lined up within the same company as on another account through knowing people. The majority of our employees effected don't. HR was supposed to help everyone, but they've been slow and unhelpful from everyone I've talked to. +* Don't forget the important of an emergency fund in cash. I kept about 2-3 months in cash, but as I saw the writing on the wall, I quit maxing out my 401k and other investments temporarily. Everything went into cash. I now see the importance of keeping 9-12 months on hand in cash, when I used to think keeping more than 2 month's was a bit nuts. + +The biggest change in my thinking is why I want to hit FIRE now. I don't want to be dependent on a company for my livelihood. You can get axed at any time due to a number of reasons. I want to be in a position that I work because I want to work and keep busy, not because I have to. + +With all that said, I'm very lucky to have a temp position lined up after Friday. I only have this because I had 2-3 months advanced warning this was going to happen. Most with 30 days notice don't have anything lined up and I feel really bad for them. +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 see everyone talk about “their” spreadsheets for tracking X, Y, and Z. I’ve made spreadsheets to track things in the past but as of right now I’m not tracking, projecting, or estimating anything. Everything currently is quick back of napkin calculations. I know I can’t be the only one. I was hoping maybe some of you fine people would be willing to make a copy of your spreadsheet(s), scrub them clean (optional) and share them with the group. I saw /u/wannabe_fi shared their Google Sheet last week. + +I just hate to re-invent the wheel and most likely leave things off my FIRE spreadsheet(s) that I would otherwise not think of with-out you guys! + +Note: You can import your spreadsheet if Excel into Google Sheets for easy sharing, or upload it to your favorite file sharing site. + +THANK YOU + +Have been having a horrible streak trading and decided to go all yesterday, on some deep OTM TSLA puts expiring today. I believed that speculative investors would be seeing to withdraw from TSLA in the present market environment, esp. given that it didn't decline as much as the market did yesterday. + +Tesla went up 1% with the whole market also up, and my losses were accelerating. At that point, I believed that my deep OTM puts had no chance of paying off and decided to take whatever I could get. Portfolio vaporized. + +About 30 minutes later, Tesla became the worst performing NASDAQ stock today. It is now the second worst performing stock, and if I had held on, my FDs would have been worth 190k in the green; instead of 46k in the red. + +I blew $7867 a minute. + +FUCK ME. + +I'm so upset. + +I don't know what to do. + +I still have money in the bank and will be financially okay but this really hurts. + +I need some support. Please help. +Reposting after getting approval from a mod because of low karma, because, well, I’m just a lurker! + +From those of us quietly lurking since Jan 2021: + +We bought into the hype last January with the little bit of money we could spare, we are an “X” holder (maybe now an “XX” after the splividend), and definitely don’t have the ABILITY to financially contribute the way many of you have indicated… + +But we’re here. + +We hang around, read some DD when we can, and get just as angry about the corruption as the rest of you. We may not comment, we may not award, and sometimes we may not even thumbs up a post because we didn’t fully read/understand it and don’t want to accidentally “sponsor” bad posts or information. + +But we’re here. + +We PROBABLY haven’t DRS’d our “X” or “XX” shares, because we didn’t think it would make a difference, or it seemed too complicated at the time. For those of us that did do it, we may not have posted about it. + +But we’re here. + +I am one of those people and am seeing too many of the lies after this splividend to stand it anymore, so I’m going to try and find time to figure out how to get my few shares DRSd. For others like me, it looks like it’s not just for protection of your investment, but potentially the only way to actually show the markets for what they are. If we’re right, we were part of a world-changing story. If we’re wrong, all it cost was a bit of time. + +Last question for those with way more knowledge - even if we DRS 100% of the float… how will that change anything? Is there anyone to actually ENFORCE the fact they’re playing with fake shares? If DRS is 100%, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to close, so part of me expects the corruption to just let it keep happening in front of everyone’s faces, as if saying, “your facts don’t matter to my money.” + +From all of us lurking, thanks for being an awesome community. +People often say some crazy shit on this subreddit, but if you weed out the noise, there is some decent advice here. + +A few months ago, I saw some numb nuts post about PTON going moon and exploding in his pants. I did some research and took the bet. I sunk $84K at $60.90 per share. + +The quarterly report came out and its going to hi $100 tomorrow!! + +I was laidoff in march and still without a job. I've been super depressed lately. But this bump with PTON makes me very very happy!! + +I would buy you all BJ at a sleazy massage parlor if I could. Thanks guys!! + +https://preview.redd.it/9ulshs4ibem51.png?width=1593&format=png&auto=webp&s=f3c8768b2bf9f8693b1139a4db65746b43af1394 + +10/9/2020 + +Just an update fellow gambling junkies...I just hit 100% return on this stock. I bought on July 6, 2020. Pretty amazing ride and I'm still going to bareback this bitch into next year. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/j95qh3bu05s51.png?width=1794&format=png&auto=webp&s=1b6e7eb197975a11192b98c1b92aca82e56807e0 +I'm starting to firmly believe that Citadel is **actually** fucked. Not fucked as in financial trouble, fucked as in they're going to jail. + +* We know there has been an investigation involving Gamestop and other entities (likely Citadel, RH other brokerages) +* We know the "report" did not talk about this investigation, **at all**. * +* Gamestop has not responded to anyone about the official ledger since? I dunno, since this whole thing started I suppose. +* Burry was subpoenaed in September. +* Burry was 100% involved in the 2019 (or 2020) Gamestop buyback per his tweets. He wrote open letters encouraging them to do so. +* GG has not updated his schedule since September. +* GG has met with top banking execs who INCLUDED their entire legal team. +* SHF has announced they've banned hiring Citadel employees? Why? Likely because they're all under investigation???? + +Something is brewing. My only concern is these investigations usually take years to play out. + +edit: + +* Citadel announced today that James Yeh, President and Co-Chief Investment Officer, will retire after a distinguished 25-year career at the firm. +Outspoken economist Nouriel Roubini described crypto and some of its major players as an “ecosystem that is totally corrupt.” + +On a panel hosted by CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the Abu Dhabi Finance Week on Wednesday, the New York University professor said there were “seven Cs of crypto”: “Concealed, corrupt, crooks, criminals, con men, carnival barkers,” and finally, Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, who spoke on a prior panel at the same conference. + +“The lesson of the last few weeks is these people should be out of here,” Roubini added. CNBC has contacted Binance and Changpeng Zhao for comment. + +Recent turbulence in the crypto market has seen the collapse of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, FTX, with the revelation of highly risky and unsustainable borrowing and lending by the company and related investment funds. + +The price of bitcoin has plunged below $17,000 for the first time since 2020, and some fear the contagion could spread to topple other major players, such as Crypto.com. The CEO of the company has denied this. + +Binance has repeatedly centered the story around FTX, with the company initially suggesting it would buy its failing rival before pulling out of the deal. + +“I can’t believe that CZ and Binance have a license to operate in the UAE. He’s banned in the U.K., he’s under investigation by U.S. Justice Department for money laundering,” said Roubini, who was nicknamed “Dr. Doom” for his prior pessimistic forecasts, including a prediction of the property market crash in 2007-2008. + +Full article: [https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/crypto-an-ecosystem-that-is-totally-corrupt-says-nouriel-roubini-.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/16/crypto-an-ecosystem-that-is-totally-corrupt-says-nouriel-roubini-.html) +When describing my FIRE goals to others I have often encountered these kinds of questions: "Why save and invest all your money now? What if something happens that prevents you from enjoying it in the future?" I assume they mean death or an economic crash. The reason I do it is in the hopes avoiding the hell (forgive the hyperbole) of having to toil away at jobs I hate until I'm in my 60s. If I die before I retire, then so what? Spending all my money before that point wouldn't have made me any happier. If the economy crashes, it would have to be the worst economic environment the U.S. has seen in modern times for my method to fail (mostly VTSAX and total international). When I described these thoughts to a good friend he said "Kind of like a financial Pascal's Wager". To which I replied "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude" (we were stoned). Even after the high wore off I thought it was pretty insightful. + +First thing that popped up when doing a google search for Pascal's Wager: + +The argument that it is in one's own best interest to behave as if God exists, since the possibility of eternal punishment in hell outweighs any advantage of believing otherwise. + +FIRE version: It's in my own best interest to save and invest with the hope of achieving FIRE, since the possibility of working into old age far outweighs any benefit of doing otherwise. + +I actually think it makes more sense in the context of FIRE than the existence of God. +Right now Detroit (or similar mid-west cities) has some of the lowest property values of all time and I don't think that it can get much lower. I am looking for a publicly traded Real Estate sector company that is based in Detroit. Or any publicly traded company that would directly benefit from a future increase in Detroit property value. + +Does anyone know where to look for such companies? Sorry if my grammar is bad. +**Cycle Energy Industries (OTC: XFLS)** is one of the most undervalued plays in the OTC markets, and that is about to change in the next few weeks. After extensive due diligence, it has become abundantly clear that XFLS is overdue for a significant upwards move. The company boasts multiple integrated verticals, an incredibly experienced management team, massive partnerships and acquisitions in the pipeline, and numerous other upcoming catalysts upon reaching Pink Current status. + +&#x200B; + +**Company Overview:** + +\- Microfloat of 290 million outstanding shares, 180 million unrestricted shares. + +\- Market Cap: $8.7M + +\- Pink No Information (Currently in process of being uplisted) + +\- Verified Profile on OTCM in mid March 2021. Filings coming very soon. + +&#x200B; + +**Immediate Catalysts:** + +\- The merger of Cycle Industries and Xfuels will be made official as soon as XFLS is uplisted to Pink Current. Paperwork is being prepared and will be submitted to OTCMarkets very soon. + +\- Filings and merger closings were announced in a Feb. 17th 2021 shareholders meeting confirmed. + +&#x200B; + +**Subsequent Catalysts:** + +\- SRP Program Grant Funding + +\- Future oil & gas acquisitions + +\- Blue Hydrogen technology developments and commercial release + +&#x200B; + +**Verticals:** + +\- Cycle Oil and Gas: Exploration & Production subsidiary. Licensed in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Current production is around 150 barrels/day. “Focused on maintaining and aggregating low decline conventional oil and gas reservoirs that can support a predictable cash flow stream.” + +\- Cycle Energy Services: Works with third party abandonment services, providing ongoing support to Cycle Oil and Gas through well services, end of life reclamation, which gives the E&P company unprecedented advantage over competitors. + +\- Cycle Energy Technologies: Provides both R&D and previously developed/licensed tech to increase production, reduce production costs, and provide gas/oil field intelligence. + +&#x200B; + +**Management Team:** + +\- **Charles Iggulden:** CEO Cycle Energy - CEO of Infinity Energy, Made CEO of Cycle Oil and Gas on January 28th 2021. Past includes 35 years as CEO of Landing Trail Petroleum, 8 years as Corporate Manager at Flint Energy. + +\- **Michael McLaren:** President, CEO and Director XFLS - over 25 years of high-tech industry experience. Double Master’s degree in Science and Business. Developer and patent holder for Cycle technologies. Previous work on military and government projects, advanced robotics, and weapon design. Wrote papers on Selective Oil Agglomeration for Ecological benefits on Coal Water Oil Fuel (CWF) and the preparation of various fuels for the non-thermal Plasmatron reactor. + +\- **Ing. Rudolf Edlinger:** President and Director of Cycle Energy Technologies Inc., Cycle Energy Industries Austria- Decades of experience in engineering contracting. Currently holds multiple positions in renewable energy, engineering. Successfully managed $100m+ projects for general utility. + +\- **Prof Dr. Olev Trass:** Chief Technical Officer- Professor Emeritus at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry University of Toronto. Holds several patents in energy; one of the core technologies of Cycle Energy is based on his R&D work. Honors from MIT and Princeton. + +&#x200B; + +**Competitors and Similar Companies:** + +\- **MDM Permian, INC (OTC:MDMP)**: Energy company with multiple verticals, including production of oil/gas, re-working depleted oil fields, and waterflooding of energy depleted zones. **PPS $0.21** + +\- **Allied Energy Corporation (OTC:AGYP)**: engages in the oil and gas industry. Allied Oil & Gas, Inc. has contracted to acquire a one percent 5 (1%) overriding royalty interest in eleven (11) oil and gas leases that have productive oil wells situated thereon. **PPS $0.38** + +&#x200B; + +**Products / Services:** + +\- Oil out of the ground ○ Over 100 wells under XFLS accounting for Leases, Working Interest, and ORRI (Overriding royalty interest). ○ Current production estimates 100-150 barrels per day. + +\- Well Servicing/Abandonment ○ When companies decide to stop using wells for oil/gas, they are “abandoned”- companies are responsible for cleaning sites and returning them to their natural state. ○ If a company goes bankrupt, Cycle Energy steps in and runs the show. + +\- Site Rehabilitation Program ○ The Canadian Government grants money to companies to do closure work on oil and gas sites. ○ This is one of the government’s top priorities- it generates jobs, it stimulates the economy, and it’s a sustainable practice. Therefore, there is lots of grant money in this area (hundreds of millions of dollars). ○ XFLS just received a $1.1M SRP Contract. + +\- Blue Hydrogen Tech ○ Hydrogen production is made from breaking down natural gas. XFLS plans to install pilot plants at their well sites, allowing them to achieve oil, natural gas, and hydrogen production all in one facility. ○ This technology is currently being pushed towards commercialization ○ Blue hydrogen market is being initiated by the Albertan government- the CEO of Cycle Energy believes that their product is an ideal fit for the project. + +&#x200B; + +[Canadian Government has invested heavily in well abandonment projects in Alberta, Canada](https://theconversation.com/the-growing-cost-to-clean-up-abandoned-and-orphaned-wells-143673) + +&#x200B; + +XFLS already has oil production of approx. 150 barrels a day and a very small float. I expect this stock to move towards a fair valuation of at least $0.25 PPS once filings hit and the company becomes pink current. +TL;DR: same shit different day - Buy, HODL, Vote. But set up some limit orders (sub 150, 100, and 50 are my suggestions) to buy that dip. + +——————————————— + +I’m not omniscient and this is not financial advice, I’m just trying to think as maliciously as possible. + +So first off if I’m a hedgie my only win is paperhanding en masse. That and I need liquidity to make a last stand. + +So last stand liquidity has been staked. I don’t think there’s a way to get the liquidity they need outside of crypto. That cow has been milked and they’ve got their trillion. + +So what’s next? + +I think the next thing is a crash *coupled with* comms blackout. + +My thought is that with the crypto situation there’s been an exodus of sorts, but it’s an exodus of potential paperhanders (vs us seasoned apes). So if I were a hedgie I’d try to use this to break us. Pump the stock a bit, then tank it and nuke comms. Well see the stock tanking and maybe paperhands on various forums, but with no way to communicate their hope is that we all go lemming and just pile on and paper hand. + +So let’s use that to our advantage! Mentally prepare for it and buy the fucking dip. Set up limits to buy it before it happens so you don’t even need to worry about capitalizing off it. + +I could be wrong, but remember - they just got ~$1Trillion and we got a bunch of noobs. Aka they’ve reloaded and we have some people we gotta educate. I anticipate fuckery. +My ears had to hear this from a boomer who has known about BTC since 2013. + +They still haven't read the whitepaper, but they were 1000000% sure of their above statement. + +If you are this ignorant this far down the road all I can do now is laugh at you. +We had these types of corrections in previous bull runs too, I won’t talk about 2017 even if you go back to May 2021 or March 2020 look how much we dropped you will see this correction is nothing like we have not seen before. In March 2020 and May 2021 we had almost 50% correction, was it a bear market? + + +I know history might not repeat itself but If you are in for long term, you shouldn’t panic over every single drop, crypto market is pretty volatile and that’s what you signed up for when you joined it. If you are holding good projects you will survive. +Massively important topics of discussion are not seeing the light of day due to this sub's obsessions with bitcoin's price. Recent examples: [innovative talks](https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7b45o2/scaling_bitcoin_2017_talk_nick_szabo_elaine_ou/) from the *ScalingBitcoin* conference, threads about other technological innovations (e.g. [Bulletproofs](https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7ax2x4/bulletproofs_efficient_range_proofs_for/)) and threads about Bitcoin's [environmental impact](https://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7av6l2/can_someone_please_explain_why_bitcoin_isnt_an/). All posts that to me, someone who has been with Bitcoin for over four years, should be at the very top of this subreddit for discussion. + +Some, like me, come here for the developments around Bitcoin (be that technical or societal), rather than memes and price discussion (go to /r/BitcoinMarkets!). Bitcoin for me is not about price, it is about innovation. Right now, /r/Bitcoin is no longer the right place to soak up all the developments and discuss them. + +I don't have enough time to set this up. Can someone set up /r/BitcoinTechnical, a subreddit aimed at technical bitcoin discussion (technical developments and meta developments) that filters (yes, censors! omg!) price talk and moon speeches? +I'm too late to be an early adopter of BTC, I screwed around in my CompSci classes a decade before the Genesis block instead of helping. +I'm too late to mine BTC on my CPU, by almost a decade. +I'm too late to mine BTC on my GPU, by several years. +I'm almost too late to mine BTC on my ASICs, they'll be out of date in a few years. Maybe less. +I've made TWO purchases with BTC, both to buy another ASIC. +I'm sold some BTC. Ok, I'm too early there, but regret it just the same. + +I just spun up a testnet BTC node and installed the Eclair Lightning Network client. + +I did it on an OS I'm really not familiar with, Ubuntu is just different enough from Win10 to make me struggle. I could have done it on Win10, I chose the harder route. + +I'm NOT too late to do my little part to make this happen. I opened a channel between a testnet Core wallet and an online testnet wallet and bounced Lightning transactions back and forth for an hour, taking only a few seconds between transactions. Paid only 2 miner's fees. + +I could have sent transactions to anyone running a connected Lightning client just as fast. And vice versa. It took half an hour to fund the channel, yes. And another half an hour or so to secure my funds when I closed the channel. Had I done those transactions without Lightning, it'd have taken most of a day. Not even Bitcoin Cash's large block size could have done that, its limited by the same 10 minute heartbeat Bitcoin has. + +THIS feels like the future. I am NOT too late. Noone is. + +Edit: Holy moly my inbox. Thank you for the Gold, now I have something more to research. :) I did NOT expect this post to get that many hits overnight! It took me a while to read thru the comments, every one of them to this point, and I'm glad to see so much agreement, discussion, arguments, and even veiled insults to my username. Its all good, I get far worse on a good day IRL. A few more people know about LN, some good explanations were given, that is the kind of thing we're going to need to bootstrap the LN network. The complexity is a problem compared to standard bitcoin transactions and wallets...but you realize just how complex those wallets and transactions are? Maybe not, well-designed software hides all the gorey details. I imagine LN wallets will be the same given more development, all the channel business hidden to anyone using Easy-mode and the refunding of channels handled behind the scenes. + +Probably not the best place to put something like this, in an edit, but oh well. Again, thank you everyone, I'm gonna go do something not-BTC related for a few hours now, have fun! +Someone on Bogleheads did an analysis backtesting a worst case scenario where an emergency occurred during a severe market crash (2002, 2008), where both investors lost their jobs and had to rely on either their emergency fund or stocks (100% VTI/VTSAX). The person who had to rely on stocks did better than the person who had an EF over a 20 year period. Obviously best case scenario where both investors maintained a full time job, 0% cash / 100% equities beats x% cash / 100-x% equities. + +[https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=311324](https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=311324) + +So it seems that cash really is trash. Even in situations where you need to deploy a lot of funds immediately, you can use credit for that, and then just pay it off after selling stocks or wait until next pay period. + +Another benefit of not keeping cash is that it also protects you from people asking for loans. Can't give any loans if you barely have any cash in the first place. It's probably useful to always have some cash on hand, but not so much that it covers 6-12 months of living expenses? What do you think? +Match group owns Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, and [Match.com](http://match.com/?fbclid=IwAR0Jx4nxne2hrFLd_pb2Yq9tr9Pd-daCRrZFbp5FiH8C7jI1gxNvtTFeYIA). I think Facebook Dating will probably take a ton of market share from them. + +&#x200B; + + Facebook Dating announcement: [https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/09/facebook-dating/](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/09/facebook-dating/) +Good afternoon everyone! I have now officially completed my first week as mod and I thought that I would share excerpts from my private diary of my journey so far. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/lpkkeywwgik91.jpg?width=1910&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=631c0ee159b6cb1dcef7539934880237b8ed00bb + +**Day 1:** + +So excited to start my first day of modding! I cannot wait for the shills to reach out and offer me compensation for pushing their narratives. I hope the bribes are as large as I have been dreaming of! This addition onto my house won't build itself after all! Haven't found where u/BadassTrader keeps the Doritos yet. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/184yat5ygik91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51b7cacb6e3a1214b0383a4e27b0899271daef76 + +**Day 2:** + +Everyone seems nice enough. u/Goldielips and u/platinumsparkles are very nice and helpful, u/bah2o and u/half_dane haven't talked to me yet, and I think there's something wrong with u/justind123's keyboard, all he does is communicate with seal emojis. Still no word from SFHs or large banks yet but it is the weekend so I'll give them a few days. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/2vlq33tzgik91.jpg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=886b884a99de1ef06d2f6c4a3952e0f7582f48a1 + +**Day 3:** + +Got my first "mods are sus" post directed at me! Those damn Knights of New seemed to intercept it and the post never got much traction. Still going to print it out and frame it, hopefully more to come! + +Still not a word from u/bah2o and u/half_dane to me, but I see them typing to others. Maybe I'll start pinging them directly. + +I haven't gotten to mod anything yet; I'm confined to spit polishing Satori (she gets really grimy during the week), bringing coffee to the senior mods and replenishing the mini bar. I can't wait to start banning people for disagreeing with me! + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/ug1u1yz0hik91.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a83564f8b3037db48b054ab0d8e243a555ae28c0 + +**Day 4:** + +OH GOD MAKE THE BBBY POSTS STOP! My remove-post finger hurts and all I see is BBBY when I close my eyes. I did get a DM from u/Doom_Douche, apparently bah2o and Dane like to pretend that new mods don't exist... real funny... + +Still no sign of Doritos or potential bribes. Bullshit imo. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/g9da8wk2hik91.jpg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5e6ccf1bbb8af4363ffabb93bf74b85a56afab6 + +**Day 5:** + +Got to tackle mod mail for the first time today. I immediately was introduced to the duality of man. + +Modmail 1: Thank you mods for taking down the BBBY posts. You guys are doing a great job. + +Modmail 2: BBBY should be allowed, it's linked to GME via \*insert tinfoil theory here\*. You mods are fucking up and suppressing information! Compromised much?!?!?!11!!1! + +Modmail 3: Completely written in Wingding font. + +I'm getting the feeling that modding is much more about weeding a garden than the nefarious plotting of secret agendas. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/ih2995d3hik91.jpg?width=850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=396b6fcbccf28d89644c3b805352ae3dfebb09f7 + +**Day 6:** + +Bah2o and Dane are now talking to me and are quite helpful. Unfortunately, they only refer to me as Crycry when speaking to/about me. I think I preferred the silent treatment. + +I have almost given up my search for any sort of snacks at all and am beginning to think that the Dorito is actually a metaphor for something TA related.... so much to learn. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/6ygx56s4hik91.jpg?width=1498&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b32c4236a44030ed49180563457368dd5eb190d8 + +**Day 7:** + +Tried to change my first flair today on [u/VictoriousVTT](https://www.reddit.com/u/VictoriousVTT/), first I deleted my flair, then I misspelled his flair, after the 4th attempt, I got it correct. Apparently there are a lot of buttons available to me now (still no ban button yet damnit) + +Bad news. Apparently, there is no snack bar, no secret agenda, no fat payouts, just the "pleasure" of trying to keep the sub operating within the rules. I'm actually surprised at the self-moderation that happens purely on upvotes/downvotes. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/58wnizd5hik91.jpg?width=298&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b38128741864f75247bdbc67c3df90de0d08d83c + +**Summary of Week One:** + +Public Sentiment - mods are sus/doing a great job. Mods let too much stuff get posted and mods remove too much stuff. + +Within the mod team - Great resources and very welcoming, at the same time asshats. + +Personal notes - This job may not be filled with glory and riches, but I'm super excited to be here. I hope to be here from now until MOASS and beyond. I'm still pissed about the Doritos though..... + +&#x200B; + +**Disclaimer:** + +This post is satire. All, some, or none of the things happened above. Hope you all have a great week. +Hi there, I’ve been looking to invest some money in the FXAIX index fund, but I’m confused about how these shares are priced and traded. + +From what I read, mutual fund share prices are updated after market close each day, which is also when shares are traded. Does that mean I won’t know the price of the shares I’m buying until they are calculated after close, or am I buying them at the price they’re listed at during the day? + +Thank you! + +Edit: man, I gotta say, this is the nicest and most helpful sub I’ve ever seen! Thanks everyone! + +Edit2: Despite the strong case for ETFs, I decided to invest 70% in FXAIX and 30% in FSPSX because lower volatility or something. Idk I’m still learning. +URL: https://www.change.org/p/coinbase-coinbase-prioritize-segwit-implementation-on-the-coinbase-bitcoin-wallet-gdax-exchange + +I will continue to push this until we get some answers from Coinbase. I’ll also be recommending alternative services to new users in the meantime. + +Thanks r/bitcoin +So a few seconds ago while reading another thread it hit me... about a decade ago I read the book [The Richest Man in Babylon](http://www.amazon.com/The-Richest-Babylon-George-Clason/dp/1505339111) and was like "yeah yeah let's do this, let's pay myself first, let's make my money work for me!" and then the car ride finished (road trip with a buddy) and the enthusiasm faded and I ddin't really think about it much again. I think after reading it I went ahead and started contributing to my 401k... a whopping 1% of my salary (which at the time was about 25k) and started having 5$ a check go to a savings account that takes days to get money out of. + +That was it. I never took the message to heart. Damn, do I hate myslef for that. After a couple of months here on /r/financialindependence I really wish for the past 9-10 years I'd have been applying those ideas to my life. Paying myself first by funding retirement accounts. As it stands I only have 17k or so towards retirement (not including my pension, I pretend it doesn't exist as well, pensions haven't been reliable in the past so it's more of a 'surprise I'm still here!' for me when I leave this job/retire) and at 30 it just kinda depresses me. As I've mentioned before I only have a GED, I tried college but it's just something I can't see myself doing (I hated every second of it, writing papers isn't my thing etc) and I can't afford to just quit my job and take 2-3 years to go to a vocational school full time (nor do I really want to do blue collar work, even if it means doubling my income, I dug graves at 18 and 19 and cut grass. I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I'm a desk-kinda-guy) so hitting FI is going to be a hard road for me (unless one of my side gig ideas ever takes off good). Damn, why didn't I listen to that book 10 years ago, my return would be contributing more toward my FI goal than my income would be by now! + +**Are there any lessons, advice, principals that in hindsight you wish you would have listened to/applied? Was it from a book, a friend, a family member, a mentor?** +So i was making 27k a year as a pest control tech. But I built up enough experience over a year and a half to work as a pest salesman for 55k in my first year. FIRST YEAR!!!! And looking at these other guy who have been there for 5 or 10 driving old expensive cars I can tell I finally found an actual career at 19. +I am 33, male and FI. + +I am looking for somewhere to live permanently which is akin to living in an all inclusive hotel. + +In other words, somewhere when you own a unit in the complex and they have buffets for all meal times. Ideally there would also be sports facilities present as well such as tennis courts, swimming pool and gym, which you’d get free access to. + +I know this immediately sounds like living in some sort of retirement community but obviously that is not quite what I am after, given my age! + +I am both British and Canadian, if that makes any difference... + +Thanks! +I live in a suburb of Houston, Texas which as you are probably aware has been experiencing catastrophic flooding for days, with more to come. There is an unimaginable amount of human suffering going on right now. It's every bit as bad as it looks on TV. + +My wife and I are some of the lucky ones. Our house and street have not flooded, due to the high elevation of our home. This may change in the next 48 hours when the Brazos river crests, we will probably be trapped in our subdivision and our street may flood, although our house should be fine. I am understandably concerned about this. + +What does this have to do with FI? I am not concerned about money right now. We are able to afford and have flood insurance, even though (under normal circumstances) we don't live live in a flood plane (by comparison, only about 15% of flooded houses in the Houston area have flood insurance). If we have to leave our house if the worst case scenarios play out, we can afford a hotel, so we won't have to set foot in a FEMA shelter. We will not be able to work for a week or more, and we work in luxury sales, so I don't imagine sales will be good for a while, but we have a healthy emergency fund, so we can pay the bills and mortgage without worry. We were able to stock up on water and food before the hurricane hit, so we're set on provisions for at least two weeks. Because we are a two income family and live on one income, our near-term economic outlook is that our net worth simply doesn't increase for a month or two, but doesn't drop. + +Times like these are incredibly stressful on their own. Not having financial stress makes it much easier to deal with the current situation, and it is not easy to deal with the current situation. + +Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to ask that if you can spare it, please consider making a donation to one of the many charities doing relief work already in Houston, Rockport, and Corpus Christi. There are thousands of people out there who have only the clothes on their backs and have lost all their homes, cars, and possessions. +Hey Reddit, + +I’m a 15 year old in high school, and although I’ve always thought about investing in stocks, I don’t understand it that well and I don’t have that much free time (I’m in school when the market opens and closes) so I never invested. I have a custodial account, and I was wondering if taking the time to invest 100 dollars will be worth it in the end. I don’t have a job yet, so any money is better than no money for me. I also fear that I could lose most of this, so if someone can give me some advice for the current stock market, I will appreciate it. + +Thanks! +An excellent read. Well worth the 20 minutes. because it might educate some of the folks on this board, there is a strong possibility the Mods will remove it. + +*There is currently a short squeeze affecting most of the global economy, slowing its growth. This has been the case well before the impacts from the trade war and the coronavirus.* + +https://www.lynalden.com/global-dollar-short-squeeze/ +If you’re passionate about business, investing and making money, I feel you can't share your successes and general progress with them without appearing vain and making it uncomfortable. Really you’re just passionate and proud of what you’re doing and like sharing ideas and growing as a person. + +Is it better to just keep it to yourself or find friends on a similar level and talk about it with them? Simple acts like going out for a high end dinner or buying things which are very expensive to them, but not for you, can make it difficult. + +Who do you talk to about best managing your personal wealth? +Do you guys know any sex doll stocks to invest? +I think there is a huge potential for these companies if you think of controlling these dolls with apps or AI. +They’re going to drop the price under 120 on payday?? What are they insane?? Are they testing us mentally?! I don’t know what the play of the market makers are today but wow what a fucking discount… + +Thank you market makers for your stupidity. +Thank you Melvin, shitidel, Sus, and all the other dumb money hedge funds who shorted our favorite stock. I couldn’t have had such fun investing in a stock if it wasn’t for you! Can’t wait for you to cover!! Then the real fun starts! + +P.S. go fuck yourself Ken Griffin, vlad, Jeffrey Yas, Steve Cohen, ect. +Rant over + +Apes strong together 🦍 🦧 💪🏽 +Diamond hand forever 💎 🙌🏽 +We’re not fucking leaving + +Edit: DRS!!! COMPUTERSHARE!! +Edit2: can’t stop buying won’t stop buying GAMESTOP + Is This the End Game for Crypto? https://nyti.ms/3UOeCmq + +It's a laugh riot! + +It features such gems as, "It has never been clear exactly why anyone other than criminals would want to do this." (Referring to sending payments without going through a bank.) + +And "Why should an industry that at best has simply reinvented conventional banking have any fundamental value?" + +The appearance of such a simple-minded and misguided screed has got to be a negative indicator. Therefore $100,000 BTC is coming soon. +[Protocol.Gemini](https://www.protocolgemini.com/) is a project that will be coming out of stealth mode shortly to make public appearances and announce partnerships, Gamestop is likely one of their unannounced partnerships. With the NFT released today on the marketplace featuring the GME astronaut, the Cybercrew Clone, and a mystery guest crashing a Cyberbike into a Gamestop store, things are starting to move quickly in the upcoming inception of the Gamestop Metaverse. While there are numerous games that build on decentralization, giving players the ability to own their own assets, and take their assets with them from game to game, I wanted to focus this post on the Protocol Gemini project and why this insanely ambitious startup has the ability to change EVERYTHING if they do it right. + +Gamestop building out a vast Metaverse featuring gaming studios, artists, creators, pioneers, and defi has the potential to literally change society and how we all interact with each other. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, these are all essentially Web2.0 tech companies that dictate how we all interact with each other as a society. Enter the new iteration. ENTER THE RENAISSANCE. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/wx3oo8r51s2a1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dd8b0cfb1167d51cefccbd4cb1f2e8b2a55dc46 + +Taken from the Protocol Gemini BlackPaper (they are thinking REALLY BIG picture!): + +"The development of society and the individual in the post-industrial era is directly related to new ways and means of disseminating information. The widespread introduction of the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies has completely changed approaches to thinking, communication, creativity and other aspects of human life. However, these transformations not only failed to solve all the problems but also led to the emergence of new ones." + +"Ordinary people who saw the future in new technologies and were pioneers in the development of relevant protocols and systems were replaced by large companies and megacorporations. At present, Big Tech completely determines the appearance of cyberspace and the opportunities in it for each of us. Megacorporations own the rights to the technologies and software products used and strive to maintain the monopolization of the digital space. Promising new solutions are acquired and concentrated in the hands of Big Tech, who use them for their own purposes." + +"For these reasons, real users are forced to use a limited set of software products and to adapt to the way corporations want you to see the world. This leads to a limitation of the creative potential of people who are driven into a given framework and deprived of the possibility of a real choice. The result of this process is the concentration of control in the hands of a narrow group of people, and the neglect of the personalities of ordinary users. Such a disproportion inevitably leads to increased stratification and an uneven improvement in people's living conditions." + +&#x200B; + +So you have this project that believes in giving back power to the players and power to the creators. Sound familiar? They not only envision a shift in the power dynamic, but they have an exciting way to create our own future, enabling freedom away from the Web2.0 powerbrokers who own all our content, own all our data, and give us little choice. + +The actual protocol gemini project is very exciting, they aim to build an Augmented Reality on top of our own physical world. A very popular game that might help describe a use case is Elden Ring or Death Stranding. In Elden Ring you can indirectly interact with other real gamers by seeing a message they left behind, or see a hologram of how they died. Similarly, with AR technology users will be able to leave unreal items in places in the real world, like songs, images, objects, displays or messages. Our physical real world in the future will be enriched by unreal things, providing new experiences and opportunities to interact with other real people in previously impossible ways, both across time and space. + +Unlike Mark Zuckerberg's weird-ass metaverse, the protocol gemini seems to be centered on AR (augmented reality) and not just VR (Virtual Reality). You know who else believes in AR as the future, as opposed to VR? APPLE! [https://www.apple.com/augmented-reality/](https://www.apple.com/augmented-reality/) + +"**What if the line between your imagination and the real world didn’t exist? With augmented reality, not only is that possible, it’s here.** + +**AR transforms how you work, learn, play, shop, and connect with the world around you. It’s the perfect way to visualize things that would be impossible or impractical to see otherwise.** + +**Apple has the world’s largest AR platform, with hundreds of millions of AR‑enabled devices, as well as thousands of AR apps on the App Store. And because Apple hardware and software are designed from the ground up for AR, there is no better way to experience AR."** + +Apple is working on Apple headset, and that will eventually usher in the Apple Glasses. Much like how we all carry around incredibly powerful smartphones, it is only a matter of time before we all have devices like Apple Glasses to augment and enrich the reality around us. And I truly believe that by investing in Gamestop and the vast network of tech companies and defi creators, this is our chance to be a part of the revolution. Sure, we are all going to be rich as fuck. But this is also an incredibly exciting time to be early in a movement that could change it all! +I saw a post on here about how fitness is expensive, and while it can be, you don't have to go to the gym in order to exercise. + +All you really need is your own body. While having things like treadmills would be nice, you don't truly need them. + +Go on a walk around your neighborhood. Do some yoga exercises, there are plenty of free online courses. I use MadFit, she does a lot of exercises, but I do them at my own time and I don't do them all, but I always feel the difference after a workout. + +Get a jump rope, get a backpack and fill it with stuff and wear it while you're walking. Go to the park, or if a park isn't nearby, walk around your neighborhood. + +Once a Milk Galleon is empty, fill it with water, and you can use it for weights. Make your own homemade weights, there's a lot of creative ways you can have weights. + +Look around Craiglist and Facebook Markets for free or inexpensive exercise equipment (if you truly want some to get started). + +All it takes is discipline, you don't truly need a gym. Lots of Free Youtube Channels and Free Apps for your cell phone to use. Also, look through yard sales and garage sales, you never know what you might find in the exercise equipment department. +So about a week ago I was kicked out by my stepdad because he ‘doesn’t want me in his life anymore’. Sooo now I’m taking temporary refuge at my uncle’s house but I would like to get out of here ASAP! I never thought growing up would be like this, but my time has come to grow up and I need your advice, tips, anything really on how to live on my own. +I'm new to all of this, so maybe this is a dumb question. Does GE operate GE Capital only to make profits off the interest on loans, or to have more control of the industries its involved in, or... to have a positive impact on society (lol)? + +I was confused here. The wikipedia page says: + +>GE Capital focuses primarily on loans and leases that it underwrites to hold on its own balance sheet rather than on generating fees by originating loans and leases, then selling them to third parties. + + +EDIT: Also, why is Goldman Sachs held in such high regard? +Over the last year I've seen passionate people in Reddit's Bitcoin forums calling for either Segwit activation (likely locking in today[1]) or a fork to a bigger block size (already happened August 1st)... so what users exactly are calling for *another* hard fork in 3 months time? + +Genuine question as either they are very quiet or there are very few users who actually want it and the disruption it will cause. + +[1] Near enough - In 91 blocks it will reach the 95% of blocks needed to then move to locked in next period - where its activation is inevitable. +Im on 24k now. New job is 25k, MUCH better benefits. however new job is going to cost an extra £120/month to drive to. + +I am going to hand in my notice, i doubt my current employer will offer me more. + +That said- i would still like to ask the new company to up it to £26k, should i lie and say my current employer has offered me more- but i would be willing to move for the middle ground due to the better career implications at the new job? + + +If so, how should i phrase this? + +Please advise!! Thanks in advance for your help! + +Edit: current employer wants me to pay £1700 for a course they enrolled me in that hasnt finished. Want to finish for transferable skills. Told new employer this, asked for £1500 more to help pay for my course on the advice of a sibling. + +Update: got offered an additional £750- accepted. I understand this is not much- I asked for £26500. The job was posted at 20-25k. I feel like this is a small increase of course, but that's £750 more than i was originally offered. + +Double Update: There is a company based bonus scheme of an annual 5% dependant on company performance on top of basic - + +**Triple Update** - As no contract regarding my course has been signed- I don't know the legalities of the requirement of paying my current employer back for the course... Might seek free legal advice? +I currently work full time as Manager but I'm seriously struggling in every way possible financially. I'm lucky if I eat one good meal a day because all my money goes toward bills and debts every week. + +I need to get a part time job but my schedule makes it very difficult to find anything. + +I was looking into being a Cam Girl but that's really not my thing unless I can be completely anonymous. I've looked into data entry jobs, those stupid (and obviously fake) survey things, but no luck. I can't make and sell things on etsy because I don't ever have enough money for materials, which aren't even guaranteed to sell. I don't have any talents I can use to make money and I'm not a fan of children so tutoring is not something I'd like to do. + +Does anyone have experience making extra cash online? If so, what did you do? + +Edit: Wow guys, thank you all so much!! I didn't expect this to blow up but I'm really glad it did! There's some really great stuff here and I hope it helps others as much as it's helped me. + +You're all amazing! +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. +Hi FI, I'd like to ask you for feedback on a decision I have to make soon. I am a 30yo working for a large consultancy, where I work 60-70 hours a week. I am earning a very decent salary for my country, with prospects of it increasing +20% per year - but I'm losing motivation in this job mainly due to burn-out. + +I am now faced in making the following decision: +A) Stay in my current job, which (by my calculations) should let me FIRE when I'm 40 yo. +B) Change to another job with my current pay (no growth), with a 9-to-5 working time, which would delay FIRE to 50-55 yo. + +So basically it's a question about having a terrible work-life-balance for ~10 yrs and retiring early vs. having a decent work-life balance and retiring not so early. + +Have you ever had to take a similar decision? Any advice will be really appreciated! + +Updated to add information asked in the FAQ: +- 30 yo with a 30yo partner +- Planning to have 1-2 kids in the next 3-4 years. +- Living in Southern Europe +- Current assets: 150k€ , no house, living in rented house +- Yearly income of me and my partner: ~100 k€ after taxes +- Yearly expenses: ~50 k€ , of which ~15 k€ rental +So I’ve been trying to read up on LEAPS and all I can find are positives and not many cons. I’m interested in what real cons are bc LEAPS aren’t talked about much, if they’re as good as I think they are then everyone would be buying them. + +One con I read is that you don’t get the dividend - to me that’s kinda like saying a con to stock trading is you have to pay taxes. Sure it’s a “negative” but you still get a lot more positive out of it. If LEAPS save you a lot of money then I don’t think missing out on a small dividend is a real con. + +So what is a main con of buying LEAPS? Why shouldn’t everyone buy LEAPS instead of shares for a longer timeframe? Thanks for any info. +After so many holidays and very long weekends the past weeks and also lockdown here made me feel a little bit boring. Although, I still had a great time spending with my family, ate a lot. I really missing investing in stocks and can't wait till tomorrow. Every day I follow my routine and read the financial news, stocktwits, reddit, but those last weeks there aren't much news, so I finish those tasks quite fast. + +Are those some symptoms of addiction to investing? + +Do you have the same? + +Because I made some profits (in penny stocks), it gives me a lot of motivation to do it, and that is why I might be tested positive for that haha. +It seems like all you see are these categories, and rightly so based on recent performance. + +What are some of your favorite stocks outside of these sectors with high growth potential over the next fews years? + +A couple picks: + +TTCF + +DS + +ASO + +MTZ +Hi all, + +I currently have a conundrum that my small brain is clearly struggling to understand. +I will try to explain this as best as I can: + +My parents have suggested an idea that will help my sibling and myself to get on the property ladder, they want to sell their house and buy a property 3 ways (myself, my sibling and them) they will pay for the deposit and and their 3rd outright. My sibling will struggle to get on the property ladder themselves so they will buy into the property in the form of a mortgage but not having to pay a lump deposit as my parents will pay it. +I want to be involved but I don't really want to live with all my family. So this basically means that my sibling will own half and my parents will own half. My parents have mentioned that they partly want to do this so that when the inevitable happens they can leave us with something. + +Based on this, my sibling will be left with 3/4 the property and myself will be left with 1/4. I just feel that although on face value this is equitable and fair. But I don't think that it necessarily is. As I see it my sibling will profit greatly from this as they will be in on a decent house that in 20+ years will be worth loads more than they put in. I'm not sure if I am making much sense, but I would like suggestions on how I could make it more equitable in the future. + +I have suggested that I perhaps get a mortgage too but not live there and treat it as an investment. But this might not be possible. + +Does anyone have any explanations or suggestions on how to work this out so that what is left in the end is fair. As I see my sibling owning 3/4 of the property will just mean that they will profit in a much greater way than me even though they will be paying for half the mortgage, this is because they would not have ownership in such a property in the first place if it wasn't for my parents forking out the deposit, and obviously the deposit when returned to myself and my sibling won't increase in 20 years but the value of the property will grow substantially. + +If anything doesn't make sense I will try to explain further, any informed suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated! + +Thanks. + +Additional edit; + +It is quite convoluted and difficult to put down on paper but basically my parents are in their mid to late 50s they own their current property outright. They intend to sell their house for £140,000 and use this money to buy a house that they can convert into two or three flats depending if I want to live there or just my sibling. + +They will use their money to gift/loan us our deposit for the mortgage and buy a property for either 2-3x roughly £120k (after gifting us our deposit money). They will pay their part outright and not mortgage, and my sibling and myself will then get a mortgage each to live in this larger house. Trying to make 3 flats for like just over £300k seems outright impossible. As I have a good chunk of money from good investments (£40k) I would be the one to drop out and try to let my parents and sibling to buy a house and convert it into 2 flats for about £240k as this would be slightly more possible. This means that they would not gift/loan me anything for a deposit and my sibling will borrow this gift, get on the ladder and possibly profit from getting a property without having to fork out an initial deposit. + +Trust me, this is pie in the sky in the first place I know. But if they want to go through with it, do you think I should try to get involved or just steer clear? + +Perhaps asking for a gift/loan from my parents at the same amount that will be given to my sibling and I do my own thing? +### The Broader Markets + +**Last Week –** **SPY** closed about 1.2% higher on the week, in line with the 1.2% move options were pricing. The VIX closed lower on the week, down to 16.70 from 18.60. + +**This Week – SPY** options are pricing a **1%** move (in either direction) for the upcoming week. That corresponds to about **$418** as a *bearish consensus* and **$427** as a *bullish consensus*. + +**Expected Moves for This Week** via Options AI + +* SPY 1% +* QQQ 1.6% +* IWM 1.9% + +With lower implied vol comes tighter expected moves. QQQ and IWM expected moves are also less than last week. + +### Expected Moves for Companies Reporting Earnings + +Earnings season continues with reports from Alibaba, Disney, Palantir and more. Here is a look at this week's notable earnings (links go to the Options AI Calendar / Expected move page where you can search for anything I missed) + +**Workhorse** WKHS / [Expected Move: **13%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/WKHS) / Recent moves: +7%, +10%, -8% + +**Novavax** NVAX / [Expected Move: **14%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/NVAX) / Recent moves: -14%, -13%, -16% + +**Virgin Galactic** SPCE / [Expected Move: **10%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/SPCE) / Recent moves: +2%, -12%, -1% + +**TradeDesk** TTD / [Expected Move: **8%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/TTD) / Recent moves: +7%, +27%, +3% + +**Palantir** PLTR / [Expected Move: **10%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/PLTR) / Recent moves: -13%, +8 + +**Electronic Arts** EA / [Expected Move: **5%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/EA) / Recent moves: -5%, -7%, +2% + +**fuboTV** FUBO / [Expected Move:**14%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/FUBO) / Recent moves: -19%, +2% + +**Lemonade** LMND / [Expected Move: **9%** ](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/LMND)/ Recent moves: -17%, -12%, -12% + +**Wix.com WIX** / [Expected Move: **9%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earWIX) / Recent moves: +8%, -5%, -1% + +**Alibaba** BABA / [Expected Move: **4%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/BABA) / Recent moves: -4%, -3%, -1% + +**Coinbase** COIN / [Expected Move: **7%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/COIN) / Recent moves: none + +**Disney** DIS / [Expected Move: **4%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/DIS) / Recent moves: -2%, +2%, +9% + +**Airbnb** ABNB / [Expected Move: **8%** ](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/ABNB)/ Recent moves: +13% + +**DoorDash** DASH / [Expected Move: **10%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/DASH) / Recent moves: +2% + +**Luminar** LAZR / [Expected Move: **10%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/LAZR) / Recent moves: none + +**Yeti** YETI / [Expected Move: **7%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/YETI) / Recent moves: -8%, +17%, -2% + +**XPeng** XPEV / [Expected Move: **8%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/XPEV) / Recent moves: -4%, +33% + +**Aurora Cannabis** ACB / [Expected Move: **10%**](https://tools.optionsai.com/earnings/ACB) / Recent moves: -13%, +15%, -29% + +These expected moves can help with strike selection, as well as a gut check on any positions going into the event (for instance if you have an OTM call way beyond the expected move). Stocks tend to stay within their expected moves around 65-70% of the time, but often those surprise moves beyond expected can be big ones, obviously. But when long options, and not getting a move beyond the expected move you are faced with an overnight vol collapse. Conversely, when short options via credit spreads, you're essentially rooting for the stock to no move beyond the expected move. + +Let me if there were any other stocks that I missed in the comments. +I've been a long-time lurker of this sub, and a large FIRE proponent for the last 3-4 years of my professional life. This past winter, things took a bit of a turn as I was diagnosed with lymphoma. I just recently completed my treatment and am now in complete remission, but the past 6 months have been less than stellar. I'm currently looking forward to slowly returning to normalcy and getting my life back on track. + +I was curious if others on here have experienced similar life-threatening medical issues during their quest for FIRE, and how that, if at all, changed their financial motivations. As for me, I'm probably more eager than before to jump back on the horse (and maybe shave a few years off my previous FIRE date). + +Cheers! + Please excuse my utter nievety on the topic. + + +My wife and I currently rent, and have done for the last 8 years since we were students. + + +We have no current finance and save our money each month. We're at the point where we're aiming to have £20k saved up and are looking at getting a mortgage in the next 6-12 months. + + +Can someone tell me I have the right idea about the way this works as I've heard conflicting reports + + +\- We save the despoit, lets say £20k (15k for a deposit, few grand for associated fees etc) +\- We go to a mortgage broker, who says "You can lend x amount", lets say £200,000. This is our agreement in principle? +\- Once we know how much we have to play with we start with viewing places. We'd be looking at viewing things in the £130k-£150k range +\- We find a place we like at say £150k. We then call the broker again and say "yep, this is the one we want" +\- We tell the estate agent we'd like to make an offer + + +Have I got this right? Am I being a fool? + + +At what point do we get a survey done? I assume we make an offer and then if it's accepted we arrange a survey? If that's the case, what happens if the survey comes back with a host of problems - can we decide not to go with it? Alternatively, do we get a survey prior to making an offer? + + +At what point do the bank actually release the money? + + +Sorry for the stupid questions, I'm someone that has done nothing but save a bit of money each month and pay my rent and bills each month, suddenly looking to get a mortgage has opened up loads of questions I didn't know I'd have! + + +Feel free to offer any tips you wish you'd known when you took your mortgage out, that'd be really helpful +Hi Everyone - I'm fortunate enough to have been able to save up a typical emergency fund. My concern is that it's been sitting in a cash ISA for the last couple of years, slowly being eroded by inflation while I enjoy a tiny (but tax-free) interest rate. + +What's the standard for keeping your emergency fund relevant? Do people typically top up, or should I consider putting it somewhere else? I'm not super excited about putting it in a S&S ISA given the risk. + +Thanks in advance. +Hi [redacted]: + +With the IRS Free File program surpassing its founding goals of e-file and tax preparation, Intuit has elected not to renew its participation in the Free File Program for the upcoming tax season. This decision will allow us to focus on further innovation and to continue exploring how to best serve the complete financial health of all Americans through our products and services. Learn more. + +In the past, you have used TurboTax through the Free File program to prepare and file your taxes. Although Intuit is no longer participating in the program, if your Adjusted Gross Income is $73,000 or less, you may still qualify for other IRS Free File Offers at www.IRS.Gov. + + +------------------------ +I've used the free file for the probably the past 10 years. TurboTax, you have just lost a loyal customer. +And just like that BTC is back to $38k, peaking at 39.9k. This is higher than BTC ($36.5K) was before the war was declared, +How many posts did we see embracing crypto winter? Telling people not to catch a falling knife? Not to buy the dip because the war will escalate? + +I'm not saying the dip is over or the war is over or anything like that. But it's evident that sentiment flips on a dime in this sub. And you should never ever take financial advice from the general consensus in this sub. The sub as a whole is wrong so many times per month, yet people keep making the same posts with the same confidence saying "This time BTC is done, the winter is here" ETC. +How many times are you gonna be wrong before you realize it's impossible to predict where this wild ride is going? + +I lived at a complex that is part of a big chain of apartments. During the summer, I had a roach infestation from roaches coming from outside, as I always kept the apartment impecable, but I could not control the roaches as they found a way in. I submitted a request for pest control (which was an additional $15/month fee on top of rent) for 4 consecutive weeks, the apartments did send a pest control specialist however the infestation was not controlled at that time. Sick of having the problem, I bough an industrial strength roach killing product and sprayed every corner of the apartment, and also added traps and baits. These final actions from my part controlled the roaches. + +Fastforward a couple of months, when I moved out and the apartment complex is charging me $1700 to replace the fridge, range and dishwasher because of “roach damage”. I CANNOT afford to pay that, nor do I believe I am responsible because that damage happened while they were providing pest control services. Does anyone have any advise for me regarding how to confront the situation? Thanks ahead for your time to read this, I am desperate for an answer as I cannot afford to pay my current rate plus those charges. +I'd love to create a collection of everyone's favourite podcasts related to budgeting, saving, investing, gaining more income or any other section of personal finance. + + +My favourites include: + +* Money Box (BBC) +* Meaningful Money +* Millennial Money + +What are some of your favourites? +One of the challenges of the pandemic is maintaining financial discipline. It seems there is a considerable amount of public debt now. It is like someone cancelling their gym membership because of the pandemic and just completely forgetting about exercise and diet. Once discipline is lost, it is a slippery slope. + +This debt will need to be paid off in the future through taxation. If the government prints money, they will increase inflation, so it is still a form of taxation. Many argue that government has been printing money yet inflation is low, but I think this is because government is printing money during a time when there is a risk of deflation, so even if printing money does not increase prices, it avoids prices goes down, which is a tax on people because they would have saved money by paying less for goods and services. + +The bottom line is that more and more burden will be put on the next generation. I will not be having any children, so my children will not suffer, but many will have children, and their children and grandchildren and descendents will suffer. +I'm curious and have been wondering, can prop firms with funded accounts actually provide a long-term career? + +How many active traders have successfully been with a prop firm for longer than a year, and have made a decent salary from it? +I'm not asking about passing a challenge or two, or getting a few payouts. I'm talking about the long term potential, and how realistic it actually is. +Im interested in know how those of you who trade and have a full time job (Note: I dont mean trade as a full time job). + +Do you find yourself missing trades? +Do you just do reaearch after work for the next day and set limits and stops? +Do you check your trading a lot at work? +Basically, whats your routine? +Why did USD weaken on all currency pairs? Even the ones with uncertainty(gbp) or the ones ?which economies are failing ...? + +Going to need a better analysis than "because everyone expected a rate hike" +I have a sentiment indicator telling me that everyone (85%) is bullish USDJPY, as is supported by the extremely high price point. + +I can’t understand why. Here are my arguments : + +- The Nikkei has risen up significantly over the last few days. +- USDJPY is the highest it’s been in over 5 years +- I can see no fundamental reason why it’s hiked up so high + +Please change my mind +I have a sentiment indicator telling me that everyone (85%) is bullish USDJPY, as is supported by the extremely high price point. + +I can’t understand why. Here are my arguments : + +- The Nikkei has risen up significantly over the last few days. +- USDJPY is the highest it’s been in over 5 years +- I can see no fundamental reason why it’s hiked up so high + +Please change my mind +To me prop firm challenges are generally a game of luck and not skill. So you may have a profitable strategy but to make 10% in a month is quite difficult. + +How best to approach these challenges then? +I was watching [FW’s video](https://youtu.be/fna0XgW_iWQ) on creating a system using 4 factors: + +- Trend +- Momentum +- Volatility +- Support & resistance + +For some of those you can pick from a dozen different indicators, like for trend and momentum. + +In the video he uses Bollinger Bands for volatility, but generally I have not found that to be too reliable, at least not for entries like he used in his example (though his example did work quite well). What I see is that usually if price breaks out of the BB then it also usually goes over bought/sold, so you get conflicting indicators and you would rarely see entry signals. + +It seems like you can use volatility quite well for exits, for example using an ATR trailing stop. But how might you use volatility in combination with other factors to find entries? What other indicators can I research aside from BB and ATR? +I'm asking because I want to give it a try, but I don't want to put the needed time and money into it as long as I'm not sure of it's even possible. + +I work full time as a data analysis, and I've done some analysis and backtesting of forex and stock markets on my spare time. And to be honest, I have yet to find something good enough to use - despite a lot of effort the last two years of so. + +So is it possible for an individual to make a living of trading these days, or is it just waste of time and money? Is anyone in here really trading for a living? +So emotions got the best of me yesterday. I blew an account because of greed even though I had reached my daily target. The thing is whilst I was on the journey to lose the account I knew I was being greedy and revenge trading but I just couldn't stop. How do I manage this and how can I prevent it in the future? +I’m somewhat new to forex trading. I got into it when Covid broke out. Right now I trade with practice money and look at the charts through trading view as well as watching wicks don’t lie every day I can. I’ve been hearing about people putting their trades in a journal to learn from them. Does anyone know of any platforms/websites I can use to do this? +Heads up to newbie traders. + +Do not get sucked in to Greg Secker's learn to trade training courses. I went to one of their seminars just to see if the bullshit is true because I had a long lunch break the other day in London. The guy is a marketer, not a trader. His background is IT (not to say that you can't be a good trader if you work in IT though). They charge £995 per strategy. One strategy is an MA cross with entrance on a break of support or resistance. + +In the demo video, he was using MF Global, a web trader, with £2,000,000 in his account. Anyone worth their weight as a retail trader would quickly identify this as bullshit. The guy leading (a salesman not a trader) was using shit old sales tactics to draw people in. I was angry I wasted a lunch break. +Just sharing a recent trade I took to get another set of perspective from you guys. + +I day trade support and resistance levels. There is a strong resistance level which has rejected price 4 times. I waited for a rejection candle and entered a short position on the next, without a strong confirmation. + +My stop loss ended up getting hit and then price continued downward. If you were in this trade, what do you think could have been done better? + +Perhaps: + +* I should've placed my stop loss a little bit higher? +* I should've reentered on the strong bearish candle? + +Any thoughts/constructive criticism would be appreciated. Thanks! + +Edit: Added the chart screenshot. + +https://preview.redd.it/y3e14k1uiyc71.png?width=1586&format=png&auto=webp&s=db97e2bd52ec0b460c6db0a5929550ff512f0d25 +I'm asking because I want to give it a try, but I don't want to put the needed time and money into it as long as I'm not sure of it's even possible. + +I work full time as a data analysis, and I've done some analysis and backtesting of forex and stock markets on my spare time. And to be honest, I have yet to find something good enough to use - despite a lot of effort the last two years of so. + +So is it possible for an individual to make a living of trading these days, or is it just waste of time and money? Is anyone in here really trading for a living? +Im interested in know how those of you who trade and have a full time job (Note: I dont mean trade as a full time job). + +Do you find yourself missing trades? +Do you just do reaearch after work for the next day and set limits and stops? +Do you check your trading a lot at work? +Basically, whats your routine? +I was searching for ‘Forex’ on instagram and the literally 10s (if not 100s) of accounts with the word ‘forex’ in the username came up. + +Almost all were posting the same content, pictures of luxury brands’ products, cars and just loads of cash with computer screens with some charts on the background or sides. + +Almost all of them claim to be between 18-25 years old forex traders. + +What’s the deal with such account and why’s there so many? For example you don’t really see much similar accounts about trading stocks. +Comment below the best technical indicators that everyone here would recommend i would love to test some with my strategy this weekend thanks in advance +Really I am just looking for setups and trades after trade, I really dont know what I am doing. + +I really dont understand the market, why did price move to this area? Why did price bounce off this area? I have absolutely no fucking idea. + +Yea, because it bounced of support, but what the hell does it mean? There is demand from smart money? + +Almost always I find that I do not know what is happenin, I just look for 3 different market structures, downtrend, uptrend, consolidation. + +Downtrend? Short. + +Uptrend? Buy. + +Consolidation? Trade on extremes or if it is messy, stay out and wait for breakouts for direction. + +I feel as if I do not know how to read and understand price. + +EURUSD - http://prntscr.com/b9tdst - Downtrend, be wary of uptrend line. + +GBPUSD - http://prntscr.com/b9tdjd + +NZDUSD - http://prntscr.com/b9te23 - Downtrend, nice shorts. + +EURGBP - http://prntscr.com/b9tel4 - Downtrend, nice shorts. + +GBPJPY - http://prntscr.com/b9tf3w +I have been learning about the market for around 2 years now and I have not been able to see ANY results. I've studied numerous courses and backtested my strategy countless times. My backtesting proves that my strategy clearly works. however, I can't replicate my results that I practiced live. I always find myself saying, "this is what I should have done instead" after numerous SL's hit. The only reason I am still in the game is because of my risk management. I know that only about 5% of traders actually are profitable long term and although I have dedicated a part of my life to learning how the markets work, I still find myself losing trades from liquidity grabs and other silly mistakes that I used to make in my early days of trading. + +&#x200B; + +I know the outcome and impact that learning this skill can have on the life of an individual but I am starting to feel as though I am not cut out to trade and I should work the rest of my life instead. (am 21yrs old). What emotions, psychology, or witchcraft do I have to learn (or unlearn) so that I can consistently profit in the markets? + +Could use some advice from the handful of those who are in the 5% of profitable traders in the world. +I recently started learning how to trade forex and I am on a demo account and I heard from a friend that I should learn wyckoff and supply and demand. I was wondering if anyone could tell me where I should look or what material I should use +Just sharing a recent trade I took to get another set of perspective from you guys. + +I day trade support and resistance levels. There is a strong resistance level which has rejected price 4 times. I waited for a rejection candle and entered a short position on the next, without a strong confirmation. + +My stop loss ended up getting hit and then price continued downward. If you were in this trade, what do you think could have been done better? + +Perhaps: + +* I should've placed my stop loss a little bit higher? +* I should've reentered on the strong bearish candle? + +Any thoughts/constructive criticism would be appreciated. Thanks! + +Edit: Added the chart screenshot. + +https://preview.redd.it/y3e14k1uiyc71.png?width=1586&format=png&auto=webp&s=db97e2bd52ec0b460c6db0a5929550ff512f0d25 +Hi All, + +First post in this group from a not so active redditor. + +I have been building and exploring strategies for trend following. So far, have been quite successful with stocks, metals and crypto which have natural inclination of going up. I have noticed that, traditional indicators underperform - even in long term trades. Hence, I have built lots of custom indicators - which can give better outcome and continuously improving them. + +But, forex is very difficult instrument to build strategies based on TA. I have been trying from several months and unable to find a strategy which can work efficiently for multiple fx combos. + +Questions from me: + +1. What timeframe you generally use? I do not enjoy trading on timeframes lower than 1d. But, it is very difficult to find long sustaining trends in daily charts. (Unless it is TRY combo) + +2. Does TA ever work on forex? I have heard few commentaries which suggest TA do not work on forex as these are majorly influenced from big banks. + +3. Any input you can give me in building strategy for forex trading? I have gone through few free video series such as NNFX. Which gave me idea on what may not work. But, still have no clue how to build decent strategy despite trying it for several months. + +4. If you can suggest/PM me details of any genuine fx trading tutors, that will be great too. I am more interested in learning methodology at this stage and not interested in black boxes or get rich schemes. + +Thanks in advance and appreciate any response. +For these types of pairs - e.g. NZDCAD or SGDJPY or GPBAUD, are they actually just triangulated through the USD? + +I'm trying to work out if I actually have USD exposure by buying one of these pairs. +Why does every Guru/Course/Mentorship say to trade with no emotions. ELIMINATE ALL EMOTION. + +That shit is impossible... Are they just saying that to seem more legit? I feel like emotions are inevitable in every single trader in this entire industry from the 1000$ retail trader to the millionaire billionaire traders. Acknowledging why your emotions became a factor in your trading and how it affected it is way more important than trying to act like emotions=bad must eliminate. They really try to coat trading with this specific type of paint and I find it weird. Sure emotions can be dulled down to have less of an effect on trading but totally taking away emotions is just psychologically impossible. + +Sorry. In short just learning why you felt that way and what made you feel that that way is better than trying to go full patrick bateman no emotion ded inside. +Have you ever missed a great trade and promise that you would never miss a great trade again only to enter less mindfully and lose money. Sounds familiar? How can one fight it? Personal experience, philosophy approaches, and mind tricks are welcome. +Im currently using 500% leverage with usually 1 lot size. Honestly i get heart attack every time i enter. And my issue is that i go out to early in many trades just to secure profits. Do you guys have any tips on what you guys do to stay longer in a trade. And how you justify that. It’s easy to get emotionally attached to the trade. +Do you have any tips for scalping and dealing with the spread, in general perfecting my entry as best as I can to maximise the profit? +I try to trade pairs with 20 spread (maximum 30-40 like Gold for example), but I find it hard to make good profits. + +There is probably no way around it, but I would still like to hear some ideas, if there are any. +I'm just curious. + +Extremely knowledgeable people and experts are commenting everywhere and technical reports can be found easily and they are updated in real time. +Economic calendars tell me the outcome and impact of different events all around the world. + +The whole thing seems like a huge neural network so why do I feel like people are telling me to go rogue on the market? + +I just followed some advice on USD/JPY yesterday morning and it turned out to go exactly where people predicted. I earned profit using someone elses research and knowledge. + +I guess there is always a risk no matter what, but not compared to the fuck ups I would manage to do on my own. +This most likely just boils down to personal preference, but I am curious. I want to make this clear right now I am NOT knocking anybody that trades/watches multiple pairs. I have been trading Forex for around one year, looking back on my unprofitable days I always traded and watched multiple pairs (3-6). This for me leads to a spinning mind and confusion, for some reason I can't focus on trading more than 1 pair even two and I begin to lose focus. Which one do I enter? Where is my money going to be better off today? etc. My shift from being a confused and unprofitable trader came when I decided to focus on only one pair being EUR/USD. Since then I am very comfortable trading Forex and I take around 2-4 entries and week and that's all I need. Some people may say well trading more pairs equals more pips and that is true if you are taking multiple entries, but multiple entries means more risk as well correct? My questions are if you are trading/watching multiple pairs (2+), why do you do it and how has it shaped you into the trader you are today? How many did you start trading/watching when you started vs now? +Met this person through a language exchange community, and we've been speaking for the past week or so. She does forex, what appears to be her full-time job. She's proposed creating an account and then just talking about it so she can help guide/mentor me. Naturally I'm a bit hesitant because 1) I barely know this person, and 2) I've got a lot to learn about forex + +She hasn't asked for any private information that would set off any alarms, but I'm not familiar with the scams that are pulled in the forex community so I'm just trying to be extra aware. Thoughts? +Hey my dewds. + +&#x200B; + +I was doing a write up recently that may seem trivial but looking back at the last 10+ years of trading it really hit me hard. + +It was really the difference between when I was doing really well - in trading and outside of trading and when I was doing really poorly in both. + +I found some pretty basic stuff but it could resonate with other traders: + +**"Exciting Trading"** + +* Taking on positions that make you feel uncomfortable. You feel elated when they win and devastated when they lose. A clear sign you are trading too large. +* You are at the edge of your seat: You literally are bracing for every tick of the market, watching it go up and down. This is it you are about to become a millionaire! Oh boy. +* You can't sleep because you are worried about the position. Truly exciting stuff.... I really don't miss those nights. +* Your mood swings from Mr.Generous to Mr. Kick the cat off a balcony. +* You bought this sucker because it was going up. And you were right. It keeps going up, you sir are the smartest man alive. Congrats, oh wait... it's going down. It must be the market's fault, it will come back. + +I think the media and the "guru" wannabe types perpetuate the above. Also, it's why most people get into trading day 1 + +**What Does Professional Trading Look Like** + +* You have a specific **set of rules** that determine when you buy a stock, when  you sell a stock and at what point you will enter or exit the trade. Example of a trading process [here.](https://blog.redpilltrades.com/building-a-winning-trading-strategy/) +* You write this down in your grey and [**boring ass spreadsheet**](https://blog.redpilltrades.com/how-a-trading-journal-changed-my-trading-and-life/) the evening before the market opens. At this point you are the least excited you've ever been. Coffee from the workday has worn off, the kids are crying and it will be okay if you let it go one day. +* You understand your **position size** and how much risk you are taking in every position. +* You know that this is a **probability game** and that you have literally no influence in a game of **random outcomes.** +* You acknowledge that all you can do is **follow your rules**. Follow your trading plan and **execute your strategy.** +* Your diary is full of **trading stats** that you review regularly to understand how you are trading, where you need to improve and how best to express your edge. +* When your strategy is working you don't fucking YOLO trade your life savings into one trade and get your "Hail Mary" pay day. +* You consistently win more than you lose in more or less regular time intervals. +* Your trading diary is honest and if someone audited your account they would find the same numbers. +* You now have a statistically higher probability of being wealthy in a shorter time-frame but acknowledge that nothing is certain hence your constant psychological self-development enabling you to change as required. + +I know it's trivial but I've coached far too many people who are hooked on the dopamine response reaction and swing for the fences. + +One simple shift I made that was life changing was playing with a trading journal and changing position size. Realizing I couldn't outperform probability distributions forever and it will eventually catch you out if not understood. + +Maybe TLDR for most but hopefully a good message nevertheless. + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: Honestly in disbelief someone gave me a little award thingy!! Thanks so much! Also, to the people pointing out I have a blog... okay? I literally don't want any money from you - in fact, that is the exact mentality of someone who will lose in the market, open your mind ;) +I see lots of comments regarding edge, many which revolve around how true traders won't share their edge because it could be countered, or something to that affect. + +True edge, is understanding how the market works. Understanding what makes buyers eager, or sellers step in. Understanding why buyers enter at certain levels and when sellers give up. Understanding why selling continues lower than the previous low. + +Being aware of market participants and what they are looking to do. A Goldman Sachs trader may be tasked with selling 5000 contracts of ES in one day. So that's what they're going to do. But he'll want to get those at good prices. So they may let price trade up, as more traders step in to buy, an uptrend is generating. And at some point the Goldman Sachs trader will see *value* in selling at these levels. And he may hit the market in one order, which may well push price down. Or he may incrementally sell, in large lots, which results in little downwards pullbacks, each time he waits longer for the upturned to continue before entering large orders, each time getting slightly better prices for his lots. + +Conversely, the market could be in a downtrend, other large participants are already selling, and price is falling. Market makers may be hedging due to option activity. So he's forced to enter his lots near the the bottom, without the time to wait for prices to retrace to a higher level for better prices. This results in further explosive downwards momentum as anyone looking to sell is worried they may not get a better price that day. + +Being able to identify what is happening in the market, and the interaction between buyers and sellers is **true edge**. *And it cannot be countered or eroded* because buying and selling in the market will **always look the same**. The market is a facility to introduce buyers with sellers, and buyers buy when price looks below value; and sellers sell when price looks above value. The rest are just speculators and algorithms. + +An edge, is not a secret formula. It's not a single candlestick pattern. It's not magical trick which will result in winning trades. There are backtested statistical advantages, which you may observe and be able to capitalise on, but learning what drives the market, what influences the market and how to identify when buyers or sellers are entering the market is your true edge. + +Market mechanics can absolutely be learnt and taught. Don't listen to anyone who thinks that *true traders don't teach anything because they have some secret formula which they cannot divulge*. It's not true. There's no secret. There is just time spent *learning to read the market and identify mechanics*. +This may sound crazy, but I have had success in my efforts by following a few simple rules. Maybe these exclude me from actually being a day trader, (maybe I'm more like a week trader) but im seeing positive results every week and month. + +1. I only trade in a stock that I'm okay with keeping long term. (Meaning if the stock dips then I will be okay holding for several days or weeks while it makes it climb back up, or it's a long term hold) + +2. I stay below the 4 trade rule in 7 days. ( in fact I only do a maximum of 3 trades in 7 days, the goal here is to stay off the radar) + +3. I'm not afraid to hold a stock overnight ( the 1st rule, it's a healthy stock remember) + +4. I don't need to make a profit in 5 minutes, it may take several hours or 1-2 days to get the fluctuation in price im looking for. + +These are my simple rules that keep me stress free and I have seen a weekly return of about 5-6%. Nothing crazy.... but healthy small returns. + +Good luck! +I wanted to provide a picture of her story, but unfortunately you cannot post pictures in this sub. Bassically, Kim Kardashian just promotted a shitcoin called ETHMAX on her instagram story with the premise of being a good coin because half of the supply was burned recently. Frankly, I'm surprised the people behind this coin had enough money to pay her for this promotion. What do you guys think about this? +Two months ago I alerted you when our share price was $0.39, the post can be found [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/kittlk/kavl_an_extremely_undervalued_ticker_please_load/). As of today, February 16th, 2021, the current price per share is $2.78. To review Kaival Brands Innovations Group's share structure, [OTCMarkets](https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/KAVL/security) is my preferred choice. + +Since KAVL [released news after hours on February 12th](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kaival-brands-q1-revenue-resumes-upward-trajectory-management-reaffirms-2021-revenue-guidance-301227810.html), in connection with the [filing of their 10-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001762239/000173112221000225/e2440_form10k.htm) moments before, I was afforded the entire weekend to review and reflect on where we were, where we are, and where we are going. + +My initial reaction to the [10-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001762239/000173112221000225/e2440_form10k.htm) was not good. I was on my lunch break (I typically take it right before market close) and was not able to fully dive into it. $10m in revenues for the 4Q. For most OTC's, that is amazing. For me, it was not. I was very disappointed, to the extent of immediately becoming short-term bearish and making it known. Reacting out of emotion can be such an ugly thing. My expectations were high, to the tune of $65mm estimated revenues for 4Q. I'm sure I mentioned it somewhere in the recent past. But I was not planning to sellout. Just like $OPTI, I had to weather some major price fluctuations. Gut-wrenching stuff. + +So this weekend, while lovers made valiant attempts at romance after stuffing their bellies full of heart-shaped pizza, focusing more on holding in their farts than the pleasure and company of their significant other, I buried my head into the PR & 10-K. ^(I still can't decide which is more romantic.) + +KAVL's 4Q revenues, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with lack of demand, and as an investor of any company, I have to take into consideration all factors (not just revenue) when evaluating its strength and growth potential. The reason for the depressing revs was that the Bidi Stick went through a major overhaul with repackaging and labeling under the recommendation of [Blue Star Strategies](https://www.bluestarstrategies.com/about/our-team), a Washington D.C. regulatory consultant for Kaival Brands. Blue Star looks pretty legit to me and also, their dedicated FDA counsel, [Keller and Heckman](https://www.khlaw.com/). + +Fortunately, Bidi Stick was already compliant with current FDA and APPI guidelines but "weren't willing to proceed until these significant changes were complete." With almost a complete halt in sales for 4Q, the company *still* finished the year with a net income of almost $4mm. And this does not include the addition of the [#4 Distributor in the U.S., H.T. Hackney](https://www.cspdailynews.com/tobacco/kaival-brands-partners-ht-hackney-distribute-bidi-stick), and the 25,000 retail locations they distribute to. Kaival Brands has announced that the **current guidance for 2021 revenues is $400 to $450mm**, and despite the 4Q drop in sales, the company recently reaffirmed those numbers. + +As an investor, it is my opinion that management is making the right moves for an OTC that has prepared and signed the application for Nasdaq uplisting, and the process is being guided by [Morgan Lewis and Bockius](https://www.morganlewis.com/), with over 2,200 attorneys internationally. Aside from the FDA guidelines, major retailers will want to see exactly what Kaival and Bidi are doing to meet regulatory requirements before agreeing to any major commitments. + +Plans for expansion into the UK, Australia, New Zealand, have been announced. The Bidi Pouch, with its non-tobacco synthetic nicotine, [officially launched February 1st](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kaival-brands-debuts-bidi--pouch-product-301214996.html). [Spencer Stuart](https://www.spencerstuart.com/) has been retained for the search and fulfillment of Kaival's Executive Board. If we add a major west coast distributor, a new country entirely, or new products, Kaival Brands becomes a multi-billion dollar revenue generator. **We are currently at $2.78 per share with a $775mm market cap.** + +There are too many upcoming catalysts and open opportunities for me to ignore the legitimacy of KAVL and its march into the Nasdaq. We are marching in a direction to be a major and viable option to vape, tobacco, non-tobacco, and smoking cessation brands. Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival, also notes on his LinkedIn "vape and CBD", which in my opinion, puts them in a position to partner, acquire, or simply distribute the products of any CBD manufacturer looking to get into Circle-K or 7-Eleven - when and if that time comes. + +In any event, the only time we ever truly have is right now. And right now, it is the calm before the storm. + +*I have no price predictions or targets to offer you. You can hope for a dip on a bid or you can jump in on the ask. I don't know how the market will react to the 4Q numbers because on paper, it looks horrible. But when you look at the whole picture, it's beautiful.* + +**PREVIOUS ALERTS** + +PREVIOUS PREDICTIONS/ALERTS (links to my old posts): + +**8 Months Ago** - [$OPTI alerted @ .0042pps is now $0.329 per share = 78X](https://old.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/h0ylpj/today_should_be_an_exciting_day_for_opti/) + +**5 Months Ago** - [$CBDD alerted @ .0013pps is now $0.0291 per share = 22X](https://old.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/iotee8/why_cbdd_should_be_on_your_radar_otc_pink/) + +**2 Months Ago** - [$JNSH alerted @ .0065pps is now $0.0253 per share = 4X](https://www.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/kaez1i/and_for_my_next_otc_trick_let_me_introduce_you_to/) +We've been working on this project for a good part of last year and we're finally reaching a stage where we have something to show for it. + +The idea was to build a tool that would allow people to automate their trading strategy using powerful customisation in an easy to understand package. Some of you have given some amazing feedback a while ago and we're doing our best to implement it into the platform. + +Right now the logic, database and all the other backend bits are pretty much done (still largely untested though). + +We're now working on finishing the front end and it looks like we might be ready for closed beta by the end of April! + +The interface might still change up until then but here are some sneak previews: + +[Trades dashboard](https://preview.redd.it/k3lt9ffwz4n81.png?width=1181&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d8542ad371bd21c9dbaa990d3506bc25d1ddfe6) + +&#x200B; + +[Detailed bot configs](https://preview.redd.it/8z0dcz5wz4n81.png?width=702&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c095a6f30ee1b8073e16e75e930d7c69a7fdfe9) + +&#x200B; + +The tool would allow you to create custom signals by combining a multitude of sources (indicators, volatility and even social media analysis in the future). + +We're also planning to add copytrading in the future where you can just simply copy a profitable bot and run it yourself. + +Join us at /r/aesirofficial for more updates and to join the closed beta +I’m looking to buy my first home and am pretty overwhelmed by the process, but after *many* tours, I found a condo I’m in love with. I’m just worried about the price. The total cost is $345,000. I only have 40k for the down payment, so my monthly cost will be around ~$2,200. + +**Income: $110k** ($5,200 monthly take home after all deductions/taxes). + +**Current Expenses:** + +$20 streaming services + +$70 electric + +$60 Internet + +$70 phone bill +$400 groceries/restaurants (I know, we eat out a lot) + +$20 vehicle gas + +$10 renter’s insurance + +$75 car insurance + +$1450 rent + +**Total Current Expenses: $2,175** +Leftover gets put in general savings (majority), travel savings, and entertainment. + +It’s worth pointing out that my boyfriend and I live together and he pitches in ~$700 a month for expenses, but I’ve presented our total expenses here and only my income. I sure hope we don’t break up, but I’m the one buying the place and only want to factor my salary into whether I can afford it. + +At first glance I feel like I would be ok, but I do worry because I’m breaking the rule about not buying a house that costs more than 3x your salary. Also, the monthly payments would be around 40% of my take home, which also sounds like a bad idea. It’s just frustrating because like many places, the housing market in my city makes it difficult to find a decent home that doesn’t break any of the common-sense rules of finance for a young professional. Thoughts? + +PS: for reasons I won’t waste time on since this is already a wall of text, renting another year to save more is not going to happen. +I've seen some people in the comment sections saying how they thought it costed 300 dollarydoos to direct register. Dont be fooled, that's the case only for wealthsimple, not Fidelity. As someone who's been registering their shares in batches over time, here are some quick pro tips for direct registering with fidelity (attack its weak point for massive damage!): + + +1) tell the robot at the start of the call (and later the human rep) that YOU ARE CALLING TO DIRECT REGISTER SHARES, not that you want to transfer them. They're two different processes, and asking for a transfer confuses the newbie reps who dont know that computershare isnt a broker. + + +2) FIDELITY WILL MAKE A CS ACCOUNT FOR YOU when you ask to DRS. You can then claim your shares by signing into computershare using your personal info. + + +3) YOU DONT HAVE TO WAIT FOR YOUR CREDENTIALS TO COME IN THE MAIL. you can make your account online. It definitely feels weird because you dont give them like a code or anything to connect you to your account, just your personal info. If you're nervous about this (I know I was), just call CS and they'll stroke your hair like a scared horse until you're ready to claim your account. + + +4) THE PROCESS IS INITITATED SOLELY BY FIDELITY, NOT COMPUTERSHARE. if they tell you that you already need an account, or that computershare must initiate the 'transfer', this is not true. This is again because they dont realize you're DRSing, not transferring. You could try to get the rep to understand that it's direct registration, or you could just call back later. + + +Every time I've done this, the shares have shown up in my computershare account within a few days. That's DAYS not weeks. Over all a pretty easy process. Remember also that the reps are people, be nice to them! If they shuffle your call around it's not because they're trying to screw you. They just have a lot of new hires and before now it's been an uncommon request. GLHF! + +🦍🦍💎✊ +#EDIT: BUCKLE UP + + +First I want to start with quoting Wes Christian, he said that if there is an over-vote, they CAN'T report it. With that being said let's check some other things. + +Given that they can't report an over-vote, the numbers are still juicy. The vote count is 96.6% of float. Yeah 96.6%. + +And besides that, these numbers are not accounted for in the 8K filing: + +- Shares held by institutions that did not vote +- Shares held in brokers that did not offer voting +- Not everyone voted (Etoro,WeBull ~60-63% voted) +- A lot of brokers declined to offer a broker non-vote +- Shares exchanged hands after April 15 (50-75% more now?) + +And also 7.3 million non-broker votes?? when it was 20+ million last year and the year before that?? something is def wrong with this 8K filing and as we always do we will find out. As Wes Christian said, they can't report it. + +We have to realise that even though the numbers are EXTREMELY off, they still look juicy. Look at it that way. I know better, you know better. Take a deep breath. We might be retards but we ain't stupid. +You knew they would pump crypto before GME went to the moon. + +Why would DOGE randomly get pumped and blasted on the front page of reddit? + +Why would Robinhood have articles about "Recent GME news" about DOGE of all things? + +This. Is. A. Trap. Boys. PLEASE DON'T INVEST IN DOGE. + +I like the stonk a lot. I'm buying more as soon as I submit. That is the way. + +Edit: Please upvote to fight the downvoted bot army. I need you apes 🚀🦍🚀🦍🍌 + +Edit 2: Coinbase IPO is pumping a bunch of crypto. That still doesn't explain the attention MSM/Twitter is giving it on GME pages. + +Edit 3: CNBC feature on crypto w/ that fat +40% DOGE on the side lmao. "oh-oh please don't see gamestop's rise" +You knew they would pump crypto before GME went to the moon. + +Why would DOGE randomly get pumped and blasted on the front page of reddit? + +Why would Robinhood have articles about "Recent GME news" about DOGE of all things? + +This. Is. A. Trap. Boys. PLEASE DON'T INVEST IN DOGE. + +I like the stonk a lot. I'm buying more as soon as I submit. That is the way. + +Edit: Please upvote to fight the downvoted bot army. I need you apes 🚀🦍🚀🦍🍌 + +Edit 2: Coinbase IPO is pumping a bunch of crypto. That still doesn't explain the attention MSM/Twitter is giving it on GME pages. + +Edit 3: CNBC feature on crypto w/ that fat +40% DOGE on the side lmao. "oh-oh please don't see gamestop's rise" +I'm an older ape. Worked since I was 14 years old. I have worked fast food, washed dishes, flipped burgers, all those "high school" jobs. I have cut tobacco, thermo-formed plastic, baled hay and busted my ass at manual labor. I spent 10 years in two different branches of military, did a couple of years at school and spent 30 years after that doing IT work. I make a comfortable living, but I will never really be able to retire. I didn't think so anyway, until now. Now I have hope. Now I have a steadfast belief that a system that has taken advantage of my labor my entire life is finally about to give a portion of that value back to me. Not voluntarily mind you, oh no, taken by force under their own rules. The very rules they have used to extract wealth from the working class for the last 50 years. + +&#x200B; + +So here I am to say thanks. Thank you to all my fellow apes first and foremost. Without all of you this would not be possible. + +Thank you to u\\DeepFuckingValue, for showing us that if you truly believe in what you know, if you are absolutely unshakeable in the knowledge that you are right about something, that you can stand your ground in the face of doubters, in the face of peers, in the face of "professionals" laughing at your ideas, in the face of your own corrupt government singling you out and interrogating you regarding your CRAZY stock strategy of "buy and hold." Who does that? + +Thank you to all of the people who produce quality DD on this sub and others. You put in the time and do the research for those of us who are not wrinkly brained enough or whose other burdens in life don't allow the time to dig into things the way you do. + +Thank you to the moderators of this sub, for putting up with us. For putting up with each other. For shepherding us through the drama and changes and shills and even the Reddit admin changes. + +Thank you to Reddit, believe it or not, for without their platform and the communities it allowed us to create we never would have been able to come together to expose how corrupt our markets are. + +Thank you to the guests who have been interviewed here. They have allowed us to expand our horizons, pointed out some things we missed, bluntly told us we were wrong at times but always seemed happy to contribute to our madness. + +Thank you to Robinhood, who got many of us our first taste of trading. Thank you 1000 times to them for removing the buy button back in January. They could have sunk this whole thing by simply allowing us to buy the stock and sell for our "Big" gains at $1000 a share. + +Thank you to WeBull, Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab, E\*Trade, and anyone else who removed that buy button. Thank you, instead of paying off my car I will pass generational wealth to my children. + +Thank you to Fidelity, for giving us a home and for not hassling us as we DRS our shares away from you. + +Thank you to the SHF who refused to cover at $5, $10 or $20 a share. Guess what? We aren't fucking leaving. I planned on working until I died. Now? Now I will work until you die. + +Thank you to the SEC. It was a real eye opener to see you in action. So many times we point out obvious manipulation to you and instead of applying a simple fix like shutting down dark pools, you investigate and prepare a "report". Looking forward to seeing that one by the way. To this day, when I imagine someone at the SEC I have mental picture of the sloth at the DMV watching Pornhub. Thanks for that, I am scarred for life. + +&#x200B; + +[SEC employee logging into Pornhub for the day.](https://preview.redd.it/mpid91xkojo71.jpg?width=806&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43b0f34def18565d1c8619fa1d24d8d6071d2568) + +Thank you to Ryan Cohen. Not just for being a genius at what you do, but for understanding us as a community. For the humor and perhaps hints you provided when we needed them but mostly for saving a company that for many of us is a part of our childhood. + +I am thankful to Ken Griffin, Steve Cohen, and any other vulture capitalist out there who have taught us that being rich is not what life is all about. You can be the richest of the rich and still be an absolute turd. Yeah, I'm looking at you Jeff Bezos. + +Last but not lease, I am thankful for my wife. For supporting my investments in GME, for laying in bed with me reading DD, for putting up with my ranting about how corrupt our entire system is and laughing with me when we have a green day now, 9 months later after "The shorts covered." + +Much love for all my fellow apes, regardless of stock. Now lets go to the damn moon! +It felt like it would never crash. Now that it's a bear market people feel like it will never go up again. Just want to point out that the current state always feels "permanent" but the market never is. Nobody knows if we are going up, down or trading sideways but we should know that no state is permanent. +https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/25/amazon-shareholder-meeting-investors-want-worker-safety-disclosures.html + +A group of Amazon shareholders plan to press the company on its coronavirus safety measures at its annual meeting on Wednesday. + +Investors want Amazon to release a report detailing the outcomes of its investments in worker safety during the pandemic. + +Tensions have been growing between Amazon and workers at facilities across the country, as the number of positive cases and deaths from the virus continues to rise. +You can read it on their new T+Cs about the segwit2x CSTs + +> 1.1“BT1” means a CST representing the Incumbent Bitcoin Blockchain; + +>1.2“BT2” means a CST representing Segwit2x consensus protocol; + +>1.3“B2X” means a Digital Token converted from BT2s at or after Contract Settlement, as set out in these T&Cs; + + +>1.8“Incumbent Blockchain” means the currently existing Bitcoin blockchain that is exclusively used based on the consensus protocol as set out from time to time in the repository https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin; + +>1.9“Segwit2x” means the anticipated Bitcoin blockchain that will be exclusively used based on the consensus protocol as set out from time to time in the repository https://github.com/btc1/bitcoin; + + +>3.Settlement—Generally & BT1s: At Contract Settlement, CSTs shall be converted on a 1:1 basis to Digital Tokens on their respective blockchains at Contract Settlement. In the case of BT1, the blockchain shall be defined by the consensus rules used on the Incumbent Blockchain, currently designated with the ticker symbol BTC. If no Incumbent Blockchain exists pursuant to these T+Cs, BT1 tokens shall be deemed to have a value equal to zero and shall be removed from the platform. All open orders for any BT1 trading pair will be canceled at Contract Settlement. + +>4.Settlement—BT2s: In the case of BT2, Segwit2x shall be deemed to exist only if a blockchain has diverged incompatibly from the Incumbent Blockchain. Any settlements of BT2 shall be to B2X. If no Segwit2x blockchain exists pursuant to these T+Cs, BT2 tokens shall be deemed to have a value equal to zero and shall be removed from the platform. All open orders for any BT2 trading pair will be converted into open orders for corresponding B2X trading pairs to ensure pricing continuity and minimize disruption for users trading BTC pairs on leverage prior to the Chain Split Event. + +link: https://www.bitfinex.com/legal/cst/segwit2x + +Here is the 8-K for the votes: [https://news.gamestop.com/node/18956/html](https://news.gamestop.com/node/18956/html) + +If we confirmed that the number of votes is equal to the amount of stock the public could hold at that time, then there should be non concern in the theory that GME has experienced heavy naked shorting. Is there a reason we have not more closely examined this or that it has been forgotten about? It seems to be a remarkably significant piece of evidence that fuckery has occured. + +Does anyone else have an 8-K of a proxy vote performed by other companies where 100% of the shares were not voted on? Would be interesting to compare. + +Edit: Please take a look at the comments. It appears I misunderstood. +A lot of things are currently being posted right now all pointing towards a potential correction in the market today. Situations with Evergrande getting worse, resulting in it *right now* plummeting another -14%, China’s Hang Seng Property index sinking -5% lower, S&P E-MINI futures already down... + +A lot of things are lining up, but remember this has all merely been the beginning of what we have been waiting for. Holding from $20 to $480 to $40 to $150 to $350 back to $150, was the easy part. All it took was patience. + +If this truly is the beginning of this all, remember the squeeze will truly test our resolve. We will no longer be seeing numbers that we can truly comprehend. The squeeze will last at least two weeks, and possibly even longer with how deep the SI % is, so be ready to Diamond Hand through some *STUPIDLY* high numbers. + +We only get this ONE chance at this changing our lives forever. + +We all deserve this. God Speed fellow Apes. +Hey All.  Just want to throw out a quick thank you to this sub. I have learned so much and it has really helped me in my Financial Journey. + +I posted a couple of years ago with good feedback and I wanted to circle back around now that we are in a higher income bracket and with lifestyle creep, higher expenses! Update on our financials : + +Income 2020 - 750k, 2021 1.2M, 2022 forecasting 1.65M, next year forecasting 2M+. + +3M house Purchase in 2022 worth 3.5M (got a great deal as I'm in the RE game) 2.4M loan. + +550k in Retirement + +1.5M in cash across multiple accounts mostly checking and savings. I know I'm gonna get slaughtered for this one but I hold cash for RE deals and am looking actively for a commercial piece of property that I can accelerate the depreciation on this year to offset our taxable income. + +1M in commercial real estate, put 230k down 1.5 years ago, value add deal, cash flows 45k/year. + +100k in student loan debt @ 5.5%. To me this is cheap money, if I can go out and earn 20%+ on RE deals. + +Net worth is about 4M + +Our income continues to climb, and I foresee this maybe leveling out around the 2M mark, but also possible for it to increase to 3M+. + +Here is what we spend on a monthly basis + +Fixed Spending + +Mortgage PITI - $13,400 + +Umbrella Policy 5M - $95 + +Student Loans - $949 + +Car Insurance 3 Cars - $500 + +Comcast / Sonic / Hulu - $155 + +PG&E Home - $700 (charging 2 EV) + +Water Home - $100 + +Garbage Home - $74 + +Dog Walker - $448 + +Dog Insurance - $115 + +Nanny - $3,850 + +Gardener - $150 + +House Cleaner - $480 + +Preschool - $1,350 + +Car Payment 1 - $1,050 + +Car Payment 2 - $875 + +Total - **$24,291** + +&#x200B; + +Variable Spending + +Alcohol / Bars - $72 + +Gas / Auto - $52 + +Groceries - $1,423 + +Restaurants - $899 + +Delivery Food - $306 + +Health / Doctor - $445 + +Shopping - $2,302 + +Vacation - $1,000 + +House R&M - $1,955 + +Other - $1,544 + +Total Monthly Exp - $9,998 + +**Total Monthly Spend - $34,289** + +**Income** + +Monthly Income Average 2022 - $130k, Post tax $78,000 + +Total Monthly Expenses - $35,000 + +One Time Expenses - $15,000 (currently upgrading and furnishing our house) + +Total Cash Flow - $28,000 + +Savings Rate - 35.8% + +Savings Rate once Rehabbed and Furnished - 55% + +Wanted to see if any others have similar income / expenses? My wife is much more chill about finances and thinks that since we are making a lot of money we can spend a lot. For me, coming from a lower middle class background it's really hard to swallow a lot of these purchases. For instance, this year we bought two 75k cars, and recently we bought a 4k mattress and a 2k bed frame. This seems outrageous to me, but at the end of the day it's a drop in the bucket and the cars are write offs for the businesses. We don'y buy any expensive clothes or jewelry or anything like that. Am I out of my mind to be worrying about spending 75k furnishing our new house? Or spending $1500 on a coffee table? Our income is likely to keep increasing and I'm wondering if this is more of a psychological issue with me than an actual income / expense problem. When we are spending 35k / month plus another 10-20k on house upgrades it feels like we are being foolish, are we? + +Thanks, all! +First post on this subreddit, just wanted to throw this out there. (Also, English isn't my first language) + +Over the past few months, US stocks have been fluctuating hard. Over all some (tech) stocks have gone up in value quite a lot. The value of the USD on the other hand, has been freefalling. + +An example: + +I'm an EU citizen, we work with euro's. To buy US stocks, we exchange our euro's for dollars, and use those to buy stocks. My portfolio currently has quite a bit of stocks that suffer from the USD drop. For example: + +**Ticker: Buy price / Current Price / Total change (taking EUR into account)** + +JNJ: $142 / $148 / -1,2% +MMM: $158 / $166 / +0,05% + +As you can see, these individual stocks went up quite a bit in value, but due to the dollar dropping, when converting back to EUR still have a significant loss. It's hard to make gains knowing your stocks need at least a 7% increase before you have anything. + +On the other hand, most of us are in for the long run, so hopefully the USD recovers. + +It's hard to find nice graphs for currency, but what i could find was that in the past 1Y, USD value (compared to EUR) has dropped almost 7%, almost all of which was in the last few months. + +TL;DR: Stocks go up, USD value drops. + + +Edit: +Obviously this only matters when you sell short term. The post was mostly meant as a discussion starter. Where do you think the USD value will go short/long term? What impacts it? (Maybe the stimulus checks?). I’m interested in hearing your opinions! Also, do you consider this when calculating profits or FI targets for example? +I attempted to scalp call options for a total of sixteen times last week. I applied the same strategy to a single company for every trade. Here are my results (all times are ET): + +**Monday 8/2/2021** + +Scalp 1: \[9:52:35, 9:53:40\]: +$49.28 in 65 seconds + +Scalp 2. \[10:08:48, 10:11:17\]: +$9.28 in 149 seconds + +Scalp 3. \[10:34:43, 10:35:38\]: +$99.28 in 55 seconds + +Scalp 4. \[10:44:35, 10:48:45\] +$54.28 in 250 seconds + +Scalp 5. \[10:50:53, 10:52:15\]: +$143.28 in 82 seconds + +Scalp 6. \[10:57:23, 11:00:45\]: +62.28 in 202 seconds + +Scalp 7. \[11:02:27, 11:03:02\]: +$179.28 in 35 seconds + +**Tuesday 8/3/2021** + +Scalp 8. \[10:02:44, 10:04:46\]: +$48.28 in 122 seconds + +Scalp 9. \[10:21:58, 10:22:20\]: +$209.28 in 22 seconds + +Scalp 10. \[10:29:09, 10:50:10\]: +$65.28 in 1,261 seconds + +Scalp 11. \[10:55:12, 10:56:05\] +$92.28 in 53 seconds + +Scalp 12. \[11:01:26, 11:03:07\]: +$94.28 in 101 seconds + +Scalp 13. \[11:06:18, 11:08:27\]: +$20.29 in 129 seconds + +Scalp 14. \[11:13:22, 11:14:21\]: +$109.28 in 59 seconds + +**Wednesday 8/4/2021** + +Scalp 15. \[11:11:16, 11:13:08\]: +$136.29 in 112 seconds + +Scalp 16. \[11:18:06, 11:30:39\]: +$126.29 in 753 seconds + +Win rate = 100% + +Total captured = $1,498.51 + +**Observations** + +Anecdotally, it seems that the longer that these went, the more difficult that they were (or, at least, the more scared I got). Scalp 10 was notorious; I was down by $377 at one point, but held on and pulled the trade out with a win. One of the others (I forget which) saw me down about $230, but I eventually won that one, too. + +The difference between winning and losing a scalp can come down to a split second, so even if someone were sitting next to me and trying to mimic my every move, they might have had losses. There's also a certain blind aspect to it: I was buying a call contract using a limit order, always below the bid price (never the midpoint), and selling at the market price (because the trades generally happened too quickly to even think about using a sell limit order). This only makes sense to do in a highly liquid stock with lots of options volume. + +During one of the days, the underlying stock was in a downtrend. I made money by using RSI and MACD, using a very short holding time, and relying on micro-bursts of momentum. + +In general, my success was made possible by the fact that the stock I chose was trading in a very, very, very narrow range during the very brief intervals in which I held it, and it seemed to oscillate above and below the mean price in that interval, like a sine wave. Thus, I could use the MACD as a pretty reliable signal for buying and selling. + +Psychologically, this took a lot of energy and focus. Monday trading lasted one hour and eight minutes. Tuesday lasted one hour, eleven minutes, and thirty-seven seconds. Wednesday lasted nineteen minutes and twenty-three seconds. On Monday and Tuesday, I just couldn't handle any more trading, even though I won every trade. On Wednesday, a day that I hadn't wanted to trade but snuck in those two trades, I didn't want to push my luck; I did it to top things off. I really hate options scalping, as a strategy, because it's so intense, but if you need cash right this minute, it's probably your best bet. My favorite strategy, on the other hand, is shorting put options, with an expiration date several months out. + +I strongly advise against trying something like this on a Thursday, and you absolutely can't do it on a Friday, due to theta decay (and gamma and vega), or you'll lose your shirt! Although I've never held a scalp overnight, I've considered the possibility of buying on a Monday and waiting possibly three more days, if that's what it took, for a substantial gain. In this way, with a bunch of days to rely upon, you might give yourself multiple opportunities to win, should one day not prove favorable. I prefer an intra-day scalp, though, because you never know what could happen in after-hours trading. + +I honestly don't know if winning all sixteen of the trades, consecutively, was (almost entirely) dumb luck or (hardly any) latent skill, but it seems unlikely, from a statistical perspective, that it was entirely dumb luck. I don't plan on trying this again anytime soon, either way. I like to design winning options plays very carefully, and take lots of time executing them for slow, easy wins, so it was interesting to try to emulate the scalpers. Everything considered, I'm just grateful for the unexpected success using a style that isn't natively mine. + +What are others' experiences with scalping? Do you have any tips? + +Artem +Walt Disney said subscribers to its sports network ESPN have fallen to 92 million as of Oct. 3, down from 95 million seen in fiscal year 2014. + +DIS stock is falling on the news. Looks like a good pre-Star Wars gift. +As you may know we have reached a new all time high for Bitcoin. Some of you have not woken up yet. The stimulus check by the United States government also started arriving yesterday to some people via direct deposit and will continue in the following days. + +Americans got $1,400 for every person in the family, adult dependents being included for the first time ever. + +Since people from all over the world hold Bitcoin and crypto in general they also made some gains. The crypto economy was stimulated for people all over the world. + +Enjoy your gains! + +Let's see what the rest of the day brings. +Hey all! A very well off relative has (generously) offered to give me a $100k interest free loan to go towards a house deposit, with the understanding it would be repaid after 10 years. + +Just wondering if there are by implications with accepting such an offer (e.g. tax)? +https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-22/microsoft-rallies-to-join-apple-in-exclusive-2-trillion-club + +>Microsoft Corp. took its place in the history books as just the second U.S. public company to reach a $2 trillion market value, buoyed by bets its dominance in cloud computing and enterprise software will expand further in a post-coronavirus world. +> +>Its shares rose as much as 1.1% to $265.64 on Tuesday in New York, enough for the software company to join Apple Inc. as one of only two companies trading at such a lofty value. Saudi Aramco eclipsed that threshold briefly in December 2019, but currently has a market value of about $1.9 trillion. + +I for one am STOKED and never selling this monster. +I run the restaurant from 1996, its a family business. I work here with my father and my mother. We only cook traditional Greek food. We accept Bitcoin for payments. + +The place is called Tavern Agelos. www.agelos.gr + +Proof: https://imgur.com/6dIftnB + +My English is not so good but I will try to answer all your questions. + +**Edit** + +Thank you for all your questions, it was a lot of fun. Hope to see you come to my restaurant. +https://imgur.com/G6lQM1a (Me and Felix, Bitcoin Traveler, who helped me with the AMA) +I just read another comment post that brought up a great point: SHF’s scare tactics (FUD, price drop manipulation, etc.) typically would have worked on boomers, but not this generation of regarded investors. And it got me to thinking, SHFs like Shitadel are ran by boomers. They are the guys that “do things this way because THAT’S JUST HOW IT IS AND HOW IT SHOULD BE”. They know it all, and the younger generation doesn’t know shit 🙄 + +However this was their biggest mistake: Underestimating who they are up against. This generation of Ape is able to see through the BS, not fall for the games and manipulation, and be diamond handed AF. This sub has the most impressive collective minds and investigators that the SEC should dream of. + +Boomers from these SHFs are arrogantly bringing about their own demise. And tbh I can’t wait to see this outcome. Not just the inevitable MOASS, but the overhaul of our shady financial system. The markets will be much better off without these guys, and the world will someday thank Superstonk for bringing them down (or blame SS for bringing down the financial system). One of them will be true lol. +Alright everyone listen up - here to offer some consolidated information for your potential gambling habits. + +&#x200B; + +$PULM - Pulmatrix, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on developing inhaled therapies to address serious respiratory disease. The Company designs and develops inhaled therapeutic products based on its dry powder delivery technology, iSPERSE (inhaled Small Particles Easily Respirable and Emitted), which enables the delivery of small or large molecule drugs to the lungs by inhalation for local or systemic applications. The iSPERSE powders are engineered to be small, dense particles with dispersibility and delivery to airways. iSPERSE powders can be used with an array of dry powder inhaler technologies and can be formulated with a broad range of drug substances including small molecules and biologics. + +Now thats the brief here is the fun part: ~~They have P3 trials with the FDA less than a month away.~~ **(This source cannot be confirmed.)** + +Today they will close a DO worth 40M with 'stute' investors (they purposefully targetted bio-pharm investment companies for this DO) this gives them 70M total on hand. Not many mid-stage bio-pharm companies are sporting this much cash on hand afaik. + +They have a product that they are about to bring to FDA conclusive trials - and managed to convince big companies to spend 40M on them. I would imagine they have something available for the trials we don't get to hear about. + +The PT is set to $10.00 based on 1-analyst. + +They have a decent volume and are coming off a %25 dip (discount?) + +That concludes my crap DD - I would suggest doing your own bit of research and at least giving this ticker a glance. + +NOTE: This is my first real start of a DD - please let me know what type of information you would like to see in posts like these, I know it doesn't hold a candle to some of the efforts that are made on this subreddit. + +NOTE2: I am not a financial advisor - this is not financial advice. Do your own research come to your own conclusions. + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: POS @ 1.99 +Hello, I'm 25 and just starting to look in to the stock market/retirement. I opened a Roth IRA with Fidelity and feel I can max out the $6k yearly for VTI or similar (don't entirely understand yet). + +My parents are insistent that the market will drop in the next 18 months and that I absolutely shouldn't put anything in until then. + +My understanding of the general consensus is that now is better than later regardless of market activity when it comes to these low risk index funds? I'm looking at a 40+ year investment, so the relatively minor market tumbles won't mean much in the long run. Additionally, if I wait 18 months, would I just be wasting a chance to put in my yearly 6k in to the Roth? + +I feel like I'm right but don't know enough about any of this. Additionally, after my Roth is maxed, where should I look for additional investments? + +Thanks. +All the shitpost quotes are getting old AF. People don't come to this sub for daily inspirational quotes from random people on Twitter or dudes who were actually talking about the stock market when they made said comment back in the day. They come here for news and information about the crypto world. + +You're not gonna single-handedly start another bull run with some dumb quote about how great a bear market is, how people need to be buying right now, or how some dude 100 years ago said banks are bad. + +Shit is beginning to have a cultist, echo chamber, need-for-affirmation, ponzi scheme vibe ("just keep throwing money at it guys, so I can cut my losses!"). That may not be your intention, but that's how it comes across to many. + +Just stop. If you need daily inspiration and reassurance to make yourself feel better about all the digital money you lost this past year, download a daily quote app or something. Stop spamming the sub with this shit and let's stick to actual news and updates. + +EDIT: To everyone who fits what I'm describing and is saying I'm just salty cause I lost money - I actually didn't. I got lucky with the timing and flipped my initial investment along with about 15K in profits back out to FIAT last January, and everything else I left in just to see what happens. It IS possible to be tired of seeing shit and recognize the cultism without having had something happen to me personally. Being bullish long term isn't my complaint, it's the execution. Get technical when trying to prove your point to the masses, don't just post a bunch of inspirational quotes that weren't even made in reference to crypto in the first place. It's not a good look. +M33 LCOL. My spouse and I have lived off of my salary for the last several years pretty comfortably (110-125k) depending on bonuses. + +This year we decided to send her back to school (nursing school) we live in Houston which is the biggest healthcare market in the US. RNs won’t get hired into hospitals here typically without a BSN. + +The bright side of this is she will most likely be making 80k or more her first year out of school. However right now with her not working, I am not only footing the bills but paying for school out of pocket. It’s really put a damper on our savings and any amount I can invest. + +Do you consider education an investment? I’m trying to convince myself that is what we’re doing to make myself feel better about our lack of savings right now. +The mod team has done a tremendous job facilitating these AMAs, and Lucy stood out as the best guest by far. The breadth of knowledge she had on our GME situation in particular was extremely valuable, and I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking we could use more time to really dig into her thoughts on why GME is *different*. I.E. why the MOASS is inevitable despite all the past fuckery. + +If we are able to get her back again, it would be really nice to see her discuss what recourse we have to make sure the system's failures are fully exposed and what her thoughts are on current and upcoming variables (Gensler? Bringing our DD to the big stage?). While the AMA had some golden nuggets, I can't help but feel like we fell short. Confirmation bias is great, but we're in the endgame now and the reinforcements are walking through the portals. + +Now let's get those sons of bitches. +Since the Game squeeze has everyone interested in stocks, and the way regular folks are kept drown by the big money investors, why don't we all band together to lobby for the elimination of day trading restrictions? 25,000 dollars is just out of reach enough that most people will not be able to afford to day trade. + +This rule is in place only to keep poor people from making money in the stock market. Period. + +In USA we supposedly value the "free market". Let us use democracy to make the stock market accessible to the rest of us. + +Help get this post trending or make your own better, more convincing post. + +EDIT: I guess what I want personally is instant settled funds to not be subject to the restrictions, not necessarily margin accounts +Suddenly a 22% crash has turned in to an 8% dip, has anyone ever seen btc recover like this before? + +I know btc usually rebounds strong but this seems like it’s on another level, I wonder how the people that panic sold down at 42k are feeling now. + +Looking at Binance, ETH is down a whopping 2.5%, that’s literally just normal daily volatility at that point. It’s crazy how quickly things can change in this market. + +Perhaps we’ll drop a bit more again before we hit 50k but to me this seems incredibly bullish. + +What do you think will happen next? Was this just the shakeout before the next rise? Could the 100k btc by eoy predictions still be valid? Would love to know what everyone’s thinking now! +Once again a hint of reality is setting in, oil below 14 dollars is the blame today, time for the FED to step in with a new great plan, cough, I mean cash. Just hope it actually makes it to small businesses. The market is a stupid scary unpredictable place right now +My partner and I live in a low income complex in a major metro that charges $1300 a month and will be $1450 next year. Obviously we're going to be moving because that's excessive, especially for a low-income complex, but still... + +That comes out to $15,600 in rent payments annually. + +[According to the HHS's poverty guidelines, you only need to make over $18,310 annually for two people to be not considered in poverty.](https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines) + +That would leave us with 2710 after just paying rent, or 225/month. If we made anything above that, we wouldn't be poor anymore. Apparently. +Hello traders, + +If you remember my previous post, I'm the one who's working on the day trading with $350 challenge. + +In this last week, I had my first red week due to these "meme stocks" like WEN, CLOV, CLNE + +My daily screener scans for stocks between $10 and $50, with market cap above 1B. I would then watch for gap up/down plays. + +However, these meme stocks showed up on my screener these past week and some showed buy setup that quickly reverse (which i bought into and got tapped out). I did not know they were meme stocks until i browse WSB the day after. + +How can i filter these stock out from my screener and pick stocks that i can trade more reliably? + +Thanks! +*** EDITED*** for a clearer explanation! + +One of the best setups I use is called a 2nd entry. + +This setup works going long or short, and here’s how to maneuver it: + +This example is for going long In an up trend. + +Start by watching for a swing high candle (that candle becomes the count candle). From that candle there will hopefully be two successive pullbacks (not always though). The first pull back will start as the candles come down. You could have several candles coming down from the count candle, but there needs to be at least two to validate this setup. + +Eventually the candles will start to climb oince again. What you want to watch for is the first candle whose high takes out the previous candles high, but does not go above the count candle. That's leg one, "1st entry"... don't take it. + +As the candles form and pull back again (if they do) you want to watch for the next candle that takes out the previous candles high. The candle that gets taken out becomes the "signal" candle, the candle that takes it out is the "entry candle (2nd entry). You want to enter the position on the break of the signal candle, and set your stop loss on a break below the signal candle. + +Any candle can be the next signal candle, so you have to be watching. You know it’s the signal candle because it’s high is always lower than the previous candle, and it becomes the signal when it's high gets taken out by the current candle. + +Things to watch for: in this example you’re going long: + +1. Is the signal candle bullish or bearish? Did it close above (or at the high) of its open? Did it close in the upper 1/3 or the candle. A red bar can be bullish too if it charts a small hammer with a decently long tail. + +2. Are you sure of the trend? In this example you should only be going long in an uptrend. + +3. As an added bit of probability if the setup happens at or near the 21 EMA that’s a great set up. I’ll post a pic of a beautiful setup I took last week a bit later. + + +Good luck if you learn and take this setup!!! + + +https://www.tradingview.com/x/apAW8OlA/ +I have little experience with day trading. And I really don't want to jump in without knowing what I'm doing. First of all, what broker should I use? I'm from Sweden but maybe I should use one from the US anyway? I really need advice about the broker and what I should look for when choosing one. What do you guys recommended for learning? What books should I read to learn the basics and for patterns etc. Should I take any online courses if so which ones? + +I was thinking about Ricky Gutierrez but I don't know if those kind of courses are scams or maybe a bad approach to day trading? When I say those I mean the kind of get rich quick schemes that a lot of social media traders put out in form of courses. I was thinking about this new guy I've heard about called Steven Dux but then I realized his entire site is just a complete copy paste of Timothy Sykes which I really don't trust at all. Mostly because they use manipulative methods of getting people enrolled onto their programs like dragging out the enrollment period to make the person commit easier when they actually ask for the payment. And how much should the portfolio I open be with? Should I start with 10k so incase I fail I still have my remaining 13k savings. +I am trying to buy out a Mercedes Benz lease (of which I have 8 months left on). I did a cash up front lease so I have no monthly payments and a paper that indicates the lease end price. The dealership says they need to inspect the car prior to me buying out the lease. Why is this the case if I am going to buy the car? Does this seem odd? +Just curious what kind of income is required for a $1.3 million property. We are on $180k combined with 2 dependants. Current house has $140k left and conservative valuation of $850k. +I looked through a lot of donation posts and it seems like not everyone is getting the recognition they deserve. To those who are giving back to the community, your actions are not going unnoticed! If there are any I left out, post them in the comments! + +The media needs to realize that we're not a mob, we're not a collective hedge fund, we are regular people who realize that hoarding the money for themselves isn't the best way to go about things. + +* [Donation of nintendo switches and games to Children's Minnesota Hospital](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l90oq6/i_am_proud_to_do_my_part_in_paying_forward_our/) +* [Donation to St. Judes](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l91iiv/i_wrote_5_amc_550c_on_monday_thinking_i_was_a/) +* [Donation to help build water wells](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9fnu2/paying_for_a_well_with_gme_gains_redistribution/) +* [Donation to a cat rescue shelter](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l91ywn/this_is_the_way/) +* [Paying for the heart surgery of 2 kids](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9ffvd/paying_for_heart_surgeries_of_2_children_from/) +* [Random Donation](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l93bgq/because_of_work_restrictions_i_cant_buy_gme_but_i/) +* [Donation of nintendo switches to a Children's Hospital](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8c0u4/used_some_of_my_gme_tendies_to_buy_nintendo/) +* [Crazy donation to Children's Hospital!](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8rd1n/i_find_myself_in_a_position_to_pay_for_a_service/) +* [$500 for every $50 increase in GME to St. Judes](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8ldes/500_donation_for_every_50_increase_in_gme_price/) +* [Donation to Children's Hospital](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8os8k/donated_half_of_my_amc_gains_to_my_local/) +* [Donation to local food bank](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kwjv2m/sharing_the_gme_wealth_donated_2000_to_local_food/) +* [Donation to an autism charity](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9i24q/mods_keep_removing_but_lets_try_again_i_like_many/) +* [Bought out a tamale vendor and donated it](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9eybm/everyones_posting_about_their_gains_but_what_to/) +* [Gave GameStop employees bags of peanuts with $100 on them](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l8q37u/delivered_bags_of_peanuts_to_gamestop_employees/) +* [Left $100 to a GameStop employee](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9ix4o/paid_a_benjamin_forward_to_the_first_employee/) +* [Donating GameStop Gift cards](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9jnk7/giving_out_20_50_gamestonk_gift_cards_power_to/) +* [Donating nintendo switches and games to St. Louis Children's Hospital](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9k0yg/just_donated_6_nintendo_switches_games/) +* [Tendies for lunch at a Children's Hospital](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l9klih/tendies_with_your_tendies_100_tendie_lunches_for/) + +To everyone who donated, thank you for doing so! To those who still have BANG stocks, don't forget to hold 💎✋ +I was just fired today from a Court Clerk position at the end of my probation. I took a pay cut with this job to be sure I could get a job with insurance for my family and now that is gone too. I have already started mass applying for any job I can but really need to get something in the $15 or more range as we have been TRYING to get a house for us and my in-laws (both in bad living situations). What options do I have that I may not realize? +A little background info on me.. I'm a single 19 year old male, with absolutely no debt. My income exceeds my living expenses and I'm able to save at least 800$ a month. Please help me invest my money! + +EDIT: Thanks for all the advice! Even though I have no clue what a Roth IRA is. Also I forgot to mention that I live by myself in Japan. I'm an American working for the government. P.s. gambling is illegal here.. Idk what 19 Red means :( +I currently have a STR in TX. Last year I made about $35K profit after everything. This year haven’t even made $10K, spent about $6K on new furniture and a new management team, so from July - September it was vacant. Had a month long listing from September - October and only made $1200. Which means I was still in the negatives because my mortgage is $1300, electricity + water about $150 on average a month. At this point should I give it more time or switch to LTR. It’s a 3bed/2bath completely renovated so I believe in this current market and the location I could get about $1700 for it. Not a huge cash flow but then I wouldn’t be paying the mortgage anymore and losing money. My fiancé and I live OCONUS and We are looking at moving back stateside in April. Should I give it until April to get momentum or just put the furniture in storage and rent it as a LTR to save more cash before we move back? TIA +I have plans to leave the w-2 life in the near future and just want to know if I NEED to have it in order to get a commercial loan for a small multifamily property. +It’s all about this graph below: + +https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/housing/vis/01_01_01/index.html + +What can you infer from it? Germany bad for investing in real estate, Romania good? The other way around? + +What positive/negative signs should I get out of it and why? +Some brief context, my wife and I have been diligently saving for the last several years and plan to have about $50k in cash on hand by spring of 2021. We both are extremely interested in investing in real estate as the first house we bought to live in has done well for us over 5 years and we believe that it is a viable area to grow our wealth. We live in Texas and are outside of the Dallas suburbs market. Tried to glean info from this sub but a lot has been more general. I'm interested in what specifically you look at before making a purchase on a rental. Appreciate any and all insight! +I own several single family home rentals and am in the process of selling one to utilize the equity. Because I show little/no income, selling was the only way to get the equity. I will clear about $100,000 from the sale. I am trying to decide what to do next and am hoping someone can offer me some direction. I am interested in multi family, but can't decide if I should aim for buying du/tri/fourplexes or something like an 8 unit property, or my other option would be to buy out my parents' half of a rental we own together. That rental brings in $1250/month, we owe $60k on a 15 year mortgage (9 years left) and it's worth about $250,000. They would like to sell it in the next few months, so I could buy out their half OR use the money I expect to get from selling it (my half would probably end up around $70,000) to purchase additional properties. The most important thing to me is cash flow. Living in one of the multi family units is not an option. Thanks in advance for guidance/tips/advice! +Cash buyers - where do you keep your cash when it's not currently in a deal? Are you using 100% of your own funds to purchase and rehab - or are you using hard money? + +I have no deals yet, and I'm trying to purchase rentals this year using the BRRRR strategy. I have an LLC that I will be putting my rentals in. Currently have a large sum of cash in checking but it's not getting any interest sitting there, however I use my bank statement when I'm making cash offers on foreclosed homes. Am I doing it wrong? + +Currently I'm considering keeping this money in an S&P index fund until needed or high interest savings account. +A little background before my question. +Prof Inspector since 2015, active in home services, have realtors in family, have been investing roughly 4 years. Just finished Appraisal school and am staying positive as to the outlook of RE investing. +Mainly DFW area and west. Like many I started with $0.00 got some wholesale deals, got some rehabs developed relationships and now find myself in a spot where money is easy to find for projects but the acquisition side is dry. + +Since mid 2020 the number of distressed properties available has seemingly disappeared, become overpriced or have fallen under foreclosure moratorium. I come across plenty in disrepair, absentee owner, vacant etc. I am running into a wall of overpriced and under estimated repairs from wholesale sources. Many prospective sellers are going with realtors for a higher return and people are buying crap deals like they are gold... everyday I see ads for new "systems" rebranded software etc but with access to MLS I don't see the need. +The guys I know having some success are finding properties word of mouth. Marketing has never really brought anything in any area of services I provide in RE. +The success I do have inspecting and Home services are 99% word of mouth generated so I am thinking that investing isn't any different and I need to continue to grow my network... +What am I missing, overlooking etc? Are yall seeing a good return on Marketing dollars? Or is your network the most valuable tool. + +***I do see mobiles pop up more often but admittedly they scare me*** + +Any advice, insight is appreciated. +Thank you in advance... +For someone who is new to real estate investing and the BRRR strategy - how soon can you refinance the property? Can someone share a timeline for each phase Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refinance? +If you inherited $1 million and your goal was to turn it it into $5 million within the next 10 years, what would you do? + +From my research I've found a few interesting options + +#1 Use the million as a down-payment for a $5 million mortage and buy commercial property in the heart of a city with high demand for office space etc. + +#2 Use the BRRR method to build a portfolio of houses + +#3 Invest in a couple of ETF stocks like the S&P500 and VTI + +#4 Invest in more aggressive ETF stocks like ARKK + +#5 Wait for A 50% market crash and go all in on a stock like AAPL or NVDA + + +These might be stupid ideas but theor the best I could find so far. + + +I'm sure most of you guys have more experience in investing than me so I'm keen to hear your opinions also +I've posted here before. Quick recap, I've inherited my childhood home free and clear and finally have cleaned it out and using a property manager until I get my feet wet being a landlord. My plans are to build capital and purchase a duplex in a couple of years. + +My question is should I start an LLC now even with one property? +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 ask myself this question daily. + + +Assumption: + +Path to FIRE = High-Paying Job over a long period of time + + +I’m mid-twenties with a job that has decent advancement opportunities and I’m motivated to build a good career, but I feel I’m wasting youth slogging 40 hours 9-5, even though I do fun stuff after work and on weekends and I also use my vacation time wisely. + +I’m not ecstatic about my current position, but it’s a step in the direction I want to go. + +I’ve been planning a long trip for 2018, to combat my “wasting youth” fixation, but I’m worried how it would set me back career-wise. + +Will I scare off potential employers/miss opportunities with this move? + +Further, I question wether I should care this much about a career at this stage in my life. Should I say “fuck it”, quit my job, and go on this trip? Or become more established, then take a sabbatical? + + + + +Im looking on trustpilot and it has such a low review of 1.4 + +This adds doubt as to whether I should put in money into premium bonds if I can't access the funds when I need it. They state 8 days, but plenty of complaints that it takes months to cash out. +I'm 28 and I've spent £48,000 on rent since I moved out of my parents house. + +My current savings are at £42,000 - and it is massively depressing to see every month, the total I've spent on rent is constantly ahead of the total I can save. I rent in London. + +My bedroom in my shared flat is currently around the same size as a medium SUV. + +So historically the idea has always been to buy a cheap property to get on the ladder, but that simply isn't possible any more. Even the smallest, roughest studio in the area I'm looking is £300,000 minimum. **Essentially, looking in London on my salary, I'm going to need a £100,000 deposit.** + +**My proposal, and why I'm looking for advice:** + +* Buy a reasonably sized car using the 'house deposit' I've saved outright for £42,000. +* Car is 1 or 2 years old with less than 5,000 miles on it, to avoid the immediate depreciation of buying a new one. Probably an ex-demonstrator or display car. +* Compress my working week into 4x10hr days - so no Fridays. +* Park near work and sleep in the car Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed nights. +* Shower at work or Gym. +* The car has a standard UK power outlet as standard - so Microwave/Kettle is no problem. +* Small camping hob can be used if I require that level of food prep. + +**Logic for buying the car outright:** No outstanding loan/finance agreement - No interest to pay. Although with interest rates being so low - maybe there are some good options now? + +**Logic for not buying a cheaper car:** + +* If I'm going to live in it, it should be comfortable and reliable. +* If I buy a car for £20,000 and sell it for £15,000 - I've lost the same as selling the £42,000 car for £37,000. Generic example - but I don't think the depreciation will scale too badly. +* I'd like to travel Europe/UK in it. Again, comfortable and reliable are key. +* I have slept in cars a few times on roadtrips and never had an issue with it. I quite enjoy it. + +**Problems/Questions:** + +* Legality - is this even legal? +* Insurance - I mean I guess they don't even need to know - but any advice? +* Parking - any advice on this? Ideally I'd just find somebody with a cheap space to rent. +* Running costs of the car - this is meh really, as it will still only be 10-15% of the rent I pay. +* Laundry - There are a lot of places in and around London to do this...but what is the best/cheapest? +* What things have I missed? + +**Goal:** + +* Living in the car I'll save £800 a month that I usually spend on rent +* Travel the UK and Europe in the 'vanlife' style +* The car should maintain 75%-80% of its value - so I'm able to sell it +* When I'm not using the car (if I'm away), I can rent it out on Turo/HiyaCar for extra income + +It is an idea I've had for a while. Looking for some insight from people who've tried it! + +Thanks. +So Wall Street gone and try to fuck us again? You're surprised?! After everything you've learned, you are still surprised?! This is what they do. They kick the can. Survive just one more day. Their time is running out and it will run out. When it comes to the squeeze... #Ibelieve. I have several reasons to still know without a doubt that we will squeeze? Why? Well tell m3 you didn't forget about RC's call options! He bought a bunch of bathtub call options at strike prices of $60 and $80 expiring in January 2023. + +&#x200B; + +I think he knew all along that this would take time. I think RC knew it, and played into the hand holding the royal flush. So let's flush some knowledge. Let's say, hypothetically, that a brokerage firm Fails to Deliver your splividend shares. Well... that become an FTD. So they have T+35 to make it right, no questions asked. They are supposed to have T+2 for settlement, so end of day July 25th. T+35 from there is August 30th, but I'm giving a couple days of leeway. I think that's when it all comes to head. Tesla didn't rocket up right away. It took some time, so sit back and relax, and don't get your panties all bunched up on your gooch. + +&#x200B; + +RC has been playing 4D chess for almost two years. Trust in him. We are going to be just fine. The system was designed for can kicking. Everyone knows that, which is how they exploit everything. Oh, and speaking of can kicking, we just learned this year that they can get an extension for OpEx as well. Their goal is to can kick, to survive one more day, to never cover, and yet everyone is surprised?! GTFO of here! + +&#x200B; + +I'm proposing a new "no date". We've been in this since January 2021. We have fought, we have survived their psy ops, we have held from $340 to $40 and back up. We have seen Corporate Media tell lies and never mention DRS, and yet we're still here. AND I bet that you are willing to prove you have more fight left in you. + +&#x200B; + +Trust our chairman, trust the positions he took with BBBY, and trust that we are mooning before January 2023. He put his money where his mouth it. Hell, even our CEO said they are fighting for us. Don't get discouraged. The end game is not a short game. It's a daunting road, where you have to wear a ring that weighs you down. We are going to moon, and we are going to win. + +&#x200B; + +Water can cut through rock; not because it is strong, but because it is persistent, and you are a persistent MFer to have gone through all this and still be here. The game ain't over. You're a gamer, and you just entered the last level of the game. You still need to get to the boss, but this is the last level. So buy, hodl, DRS your shit. Get them out of the shitty brokerage for Christ's sakes, and let's win this game. + +&#x200B; + +Stay strong. Stay vigilant. Never give up. Never surrender. + +&#x200B; + +If we finish the greatest game ever played without winning it our way, without systemic change, and without prison for all these asshats.... then we have failed. + +&#x200B; + +We can only do this because we all learned what is going on, and we all know, individually, that the floor is when the price is a phone number. Ape together Strong. No cell = No sell. + +&#x200B; + +Fuck Kenny; get money. + +&#x200B; + +edit: changed 2021 to 2023 in first paragraph +Tesla (TSLA) beats Q3 expectations, reports 5th straight profitable quarter. + +Here is how Tesla performed versus analyst expectations: + +* **Earnings per share (adjusted):** $0.76 vs $0.57 (estimate) +* **Revenue:** $8.77 billion vs $8.36 billion (estimate) + +The company reiterated guidance to hit 500,000 deliveries in 2020. + +Tesla also kept its sales guidance for 2020, saying in a letter to investors that while its goal “has become more difficult, delivering half a million vehicles in 2020 remains our target.” + +Source: CNBC Now and smp-500.com +Hi UKPF, long time lurker here. I’m not usually one to post (literally this is my first reddit post!) but my parents financial situation is coming to a head as their mortgage is due to expire next year and I’m hoping someone can give me some advice as to help them. Here’s the situation: + + +My parents live in the south of England and are both approaching mid sixties, dad is in fulltime work on about 26/7k a year and mum is unemployed due to her health and currently receiving PIP. Due to a combination of just bad luck and bad choices, they’re now in a situation where they still owe £125k on the mortgage and have been paying interest only for quite a while (about £220ish a month). The mortgage is due to run out in August next year. + + +On top of that, the house isn’t in the best condition. They never really had the money to get professionals in to sort things and while my dad can do some of it as he’s in trade – he has a bad habit of never finishing things. There is quite a bit of damp in various places, no central heating etc. If they were to sell the house I’m not sure how much equity they’d have to perhaps go elsewhere and downsize. They’re worried about having to rent because they don’t know if they’d be able to afford it. + + +They also have two IVA’s which they’ve been paying for about 6 years, I don’t know very much about IVA’s bar what they’ve told me but apparently this is not due to finish until 2024. One still has 5k on it and the other 14k, though apparently if they want to clear the IVA it’s more complicated than just paying the 5k or 14k. They spoke to another Iva firm/debt management person yesterday about this as they were concerned about a few things and she seems to think she can get them out of the IVAs in a year... not sure how legit this is and I do worry because they’ve done things like this before, putting their trust in someone, and it often never works out or puts them in a worse situation. + + +They also have about 24k sitting in savings in 2 separate ISAs. + + +My dad is really hoping to retire (or semi-retire, he wants to do the odd private job) as soon as he can. However, he doesn’t have that much in the ways of pensions having never really looked into it when he was younger and as he’s been on and off self employed he has a few workplace pensions that he acquired in between working for himself. He has about 16k spread between 5 pensions and a current workplace pension with Nest but he’s not sure how much is in there (I doubt it’s massive as he’s only been at his current job a 2/3 years). + + +I looked into the state pension for both him and my mum. Dad is due to get about £9.1k a year and mum is due to get about £5.9k a year. My mum has 5 years missing where she hasn’t been able to work. + + +This has been a constant worry for all of us for many years but honestly they’ve just never known who to talk to. While I've learnt so much following UKPF I'm just so nervous to give any wrong advice and put them in a worse situation. I’d really love to be able to give them some peace of mind that it’s all going to be ok and help them through this situation. + + +Couple of questions: +- Their savings are currently sitting in ISAs, where would you suggest they move it? I'm sure there's somewhere better it could be but due to the specifics of their situation I'm hoping those with a bit more knowledge can advise. + + +- Is it worth my mum paying towards those 5 missing years for the state pension? The 5 years are due to her being unable to work due to health, but she’s only been on PIP for 2 years. + + +- I know this depends on a lot of factors like their lifestyle (which is pretty frugal because they've never had a lot of expendable income) but generally speaking will they be able to retire and survive on the state pension as mentioned above if they had to rent? + + +- Any other advice on how we can best approach this situation, or any reassurance that it will be ok, will be much appreciated. +I dont know who needs to hear this but, stop living in the past! + +Ever heard the saying coulda' shoulda' woulda'? Well it will eat you alive if you let it. + +It doesnt matter that you missed out on buying bitcoin at $100, $1000, or $10,000. All that matters is that you know about it now and from this day forth you are able to partake in one of the most empowering technologies ever invented. From this day forth you can secure your wealth from inflation, seizure, and censorship. + +So stop worrying about missed opportunities and look forward, keep stacking, and appreciate that you have that opportunity. +Hello r/investing friends, FinanceTLDR here, + +I recently backtested a "volatility managed strategy" from Alan Moreira and Tyler Muir's 2017 paper ["Volatility Managed Portfolios"](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jofi.12513). My results show that following their methodology for a little over the past decade would have significantly outperformed the market. + +Specifically, starting from 2010, the volatility managed strategy saw a total return that was more than four times greater than the buy and hold strategy. Put in other words, $100 invested in said strategy in 2010 would have turned into more than $1700 today, while $100 invested in a buy and hold strategy would have turned into just $480. Even better, this strategy appears to be relatively accessible to a retail trader through the ETFs: SPY, UPRO, & VGSH. + +Backtest results: [https://i.imgur.com/kzHv5Av.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/kzHv5Av.jpg) + +# TLDR + +The general idea behind the strategy is to weave in and out of SPY (ETF for the S&P 500) based on market volatility. If the market is volatile, we stay in safe US government bonds (VGSH, ETF for short term US treasuries), and if the market is calm, we buy into SPY with leverage. + +The reason this works is that the US stock market generally goes up, especially in low volatility periods, and low volatility also significantly reduces the cost of leverage. + +We can measure market volatility by calculating the recent variance of the price of SPY. + +Here’s a high level summary of the process: + +* If the variance of SPY is below a certain threshold (low volatility): + * Invest in SPY with leverage +* If the variance of SPY is above a certain threshold (high volatility): + * Invest in safe US government bonds + +# Diving Just a Bit Deeper + +In their paper, Moreira & Muir suggest that over the past \~100 years, investors would have been able to achieve positive alpha in their portfolio by regularly adjusting their equity exposure as realized volatility fluctuates. In low volatility periods, you want to be invested in the S&P 500 and with leverage (low volatility means cheaper and safer leverage) and in high volatility periods, shelter in safe US treasuries. + +Our backtest showed that most of the time, using this strategy, you'd be leveraged in S&P 500. This is because volatility in the past decade has been extraordinarily low. + +This paper was written in 2017 yet the strategy they put forth worked incredibly well during COVID. The strategy shifted exposure almost entirely into US treasuries at the beginning of the pandemic and remained there until around June before returning to its normal leveraged position which allowed it to take advantage of the bull run that occurred in the back half of that year. + +To put this in practice and make it easily accessible for a retail investor, we chose to use the 3 ETFs: SPY, UPRO, and VGSH. For cheap and simple leverage with S&P 500, who use a mix of SPY and UPRO (3x leveraged S&P 500 ETF). However, this also means that you can leverage up to only 3x but this should be enough. + +This practical strategy tracked the ideal strategy in the paper pretty closely and only slightly underperformed. + +# Full Analysis and Replication Instructions + +Please DM for the full analysis, backtest, and strategy replication instructions. + +I hope you've found this analysis informative and helpful! +Hello everyone! + +Today I'm happy to introduce you to a project I've been working on since the past few months: [Joltfun.com](https://joltfun.com) + +This is a store that offers you to buy games with the Lightning Network for popular venues such as Steam/Origin/Uplay/Battle.net. + +Not only can you use bitcoin as a currency, but over Lightning it comes with the advantage of instant delivery: no need to wait for lengthy confirmations, you get game codes in seconds, ready to be activated. + +See it in action with this video: [https://youtu.be/R1fvHS8D5ew](https://youtu.be/R1fvHS8D5ew) + +Feel free to open a channel to one of our nodes \(if you have issues with one like force\-closed channels, that may be due to interop issues, try the other one in that case\): + +* 02977901c53b5299c7641acf11d49a46f0957e9e3f8191e6171d1222486d872317@54.37.22.216:9889 \(c\-lightning, main node\) +* 0374ecf61ed6c1208c42339f47decde2bc0c4393ac95f07827b3471e939d7eb961@54.37.22.216:9735 \(LND, additional node\) + +If you don't feel #reckless enough to use Lightning yet or if it's not working for you \(remember, the network's still pretty much in beta\), don't worry on\-chain payments are supported as well. We process transactions directly to our own Segwit\-enabled wallet and without going through nasty intermediary payment processors charging high fees \(if you know what I mean\). In that case, orders are processed after just 1 confirmation. + +Please note that since our node is brand new, it's currently lacking some channels, so don't be surprised if routing fails at first. Hopefully as more channels are opened that's going to improve over time. + +Enjoy! +[Short, balanced article from former IMF chief economist.](https://piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/brexit-what-happens-next-week-next-month) He highlights a concern I think is under appreciated here, how this one-day drop could just be the beginning of short-term turbulence. +A lot of tech stocks down really big today and many of them are not popular retail stocks. + +Alteryx down 10% +Billcom down 12.5% +Chewy down 9% +Docs down 7% +Servicenow down 7.6% +Palo Alto down 5.8% +Snowflake down 13% +Toast down 8.9% +Amyris down 7% +Cardlytics down 19% + +There are a lot more that I could list but considering the markets are barely down, it seems odd that so many non retail stocks would be down as much as they are. +My mother just came clean to myself and my brother about the amount of money she's got herself into debt on her credit card. £30,000. + +She's in her mid 50's and has been living as a single mother (to my half-brother) for 25 years now, and has racked this up over the past 12 or so, by her estimation, just supporting herself and trying to take care of him as he's been growing up. + +She's always struggled to make ends meet as she's never had jobs that pay fantastically well, and has been primarily concerned with keeping a roof over her and my brother's heads. I've helped out on many occasions with loaning and gifting money to make sure that she has what she needs and can pay her rent. I'm the guarantor on my brother's student accommodation lease, and bought her a laptop for work (self-employed audio typist) and her car, and anything else that I feel that I can be of help with. + +But she's slowly managed to get £30k in the hole on a single credit card and I had no idea as she was too ashamed to mention it, and now I have no clue how to help. I only just discovered this this afternoon, so I'm yet to really investigate what the best option might be to somehow...handle this. There is no way that she will ever re-pay it. She's been apparently 2.5-3k short every year for the past 10-12 years, never mind ever having enough money to get a debt like this down when the minimum repayment is £500+/month that she can no longer service and which is almost as much as her rent. + +Off of the top of my head, entering into an IVC or going bankrupt are the only things that I can think might help...but is that even viable? + +And...is it normal for a bank to lend a single mother with no tangible assets borrow this much money?! I cannot fathom how it's happened. I earn a lot more than my mother, and my credit limit (that I've never been half way to touching, even with purchases that I pay off at the end of the month) is not 1/3 of what she owes. The money is secured against nothing at all but her guilt. It seems like some shady and ultimately misguided practice if she has to enter bankruptcy in the end. + +Any advice greatly appreciated. Apologies is this ^ is all a little 'stream of consciousness'. This has come as a bit of a shock! +Hi everyone + +Not sure if it's the same for everyone, but for me, I get my bonus next week. Got me thinking, what do you actually do with your bonus? Is it purely a holiday fund? Replenish the emergency fund? Invest it all into a S&S ISA? +My parents are in their late fifties and will be reaching the end of their 35 year mortgage in 5 years. The house is worth about £200k, but after years of making only the minimum repayments (plus several remortgages), they are expecting to still owe £70k when the mortgage reaches its deadline. They will then need to make this payment in full with money they don't have. If they don't, it means selling the family home and making a significant downgrade. + +They have suggested that I get a mortgage to buy the house from them. They would continue to live in the house and the £130k they receive (that's the £200k value of the house, minus the £70k they owe the bank) would then be given to me and my 2 siblings as a sort of "early inheritance". When they eventually die, the house would belong to me. + +I am in my 30s and live in a house that was paid for by my wife's family - it's in her name. As a result I don't have any debts of my own, hence the proposition. However I don't like the idea. What if I get divorced one day? I'll be unable to afford my own place as I'll be stuck paying for a house I don't even live in. There also the obvious issue of having less money to spend every month on things like my child's future education, holidays, etc. + +Is this a terrible idea? Are they any pros and cons I am missing? +My wife and I both earn around £51000 a year before tax and receive £1650 child care for two kids. Is it worth upping our pension contributions to take us under the 50K threshold? We're not sure if that money will be safer in our pension or if its easier just to pay the tax. I'd prefer to avoid doing a tax return. + +I'm also a bit unsure on whether both of us would have to pay the tax, as we both earn above the 50K threshold. If the person who earns the most (my wife, by £1) paid the tax, is that us settled? Or would I have to pay too? The UK gov website example states "the person with the highest wage" pays the tax but there isn't an example to cover our situation. + +Cheers +I've been reading about people creating dividend snowballs. I understand the thought, but not how it works in theory. Has anyone successfully done this or is buying a fund like vig/vym better. +We don't hype the games that are going to be utilizing our favorite stonks NFT marketplace much, which is kind of weird. But I just watched this gameplay video by the Illuvium devs showcasing their Overworld beta and I gotta say...It looks SWEEEET. I am so stoked to try this game out and start collecting some Illuvial NFTs. Highly recommend watching this because I'm feeling pretty excited about this game right now. Finally a unique game in a clusterfuck of repetitive open world games: + +[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raffGmCZ0QM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raffGmCZ0QM) +[Edit: Part 2 with further clarification found here...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7ikhon/futures_vs_the_future_who_exactly_is_betting_for/?sort=new) + +Cryptoctopus here for your weekend-prep: + +So here we are, already Friday night (for Asia!). The end of a very crazy week. You already know the past two-day history of insane gains, so I will only speak to the past 8 hours for those of you who have been sleeping (shame, shame...) + +So, having a $2,000+ decline in one "day" is not unusual, especially for the start of the weekend. + +As someone who has lived in Korea, I can tell you first hand that the off-duty times for the working class (read: everyone) are of vital importance. Work hard / play hard, and all that jazz. + +If you have read anything recently in the news, you know about the pressure that exists for the Korean need of an immediate securing of local fiat into a storage of long-term wealth. Bitcoin obviously fulfills that need, and has caused a feeding-frenzy for cypto for the last 72 hours. With the start of the weekend, that frenzy has has slightly lifted up, but expect it to pick back up in full on Monday. + + Consider this weekend your last big chance to pick up some big gains during this "bottom dip". + +Also remember that as Westerners, we will hit Monday morning a whole half-day later than Asia, so they will get the jump start on us Monday. The working morning for them will be approximately 4:00-5:00 PM EST on Sunday Night. + +Keep in mind, I know that there are a lot of other factors at play here. Institutional, public awareness, first initial bitcoin-binges, etc. However, those things are still at their infancy when it comes to price manipulation. It is important that you alert yourself to the power of the global market, and that its timezone will even more continue to affect Bitcoin's short term market swings very greatly. + +This is a very good thing for bitcoin in the end, as the international participation is going to strongly hedge against not only Wall Street and US based institutional investors, but also against all of the "public" that are recent buy-ins. + +There is a lot of recent talk about the "new money" coming into Bitcoin because of all the media. However, the last thing that you need to concern yourself is the "friends and family" demographic. The amount of money that they are putting in is being astronomically dwarfed by all other sources that, for now, is a guaranteed non-concern. + +Specifically, the average person's disposable investing/gambling income that is dipping into Bitcoin can in no way compare to the million/billion funds being poured in through quantitative investments on the institutional level. + + +Prepare for a strong return of previous gains from the stalled weekend. Also, do not fear the upcoming Monday futures release, as the rest of the world has been betting on Bitcoins future success for quite some time. There will be volatility, but speaking as a previous institutional wage-slave, it is in their best interest to keep riding the bull. + +If you are long, stay long. If you were waiting for "the dip", or a time for a first entry; this is it. See you at the top! +Ok firstly I want to disclose I don't hold any nano BUT I do see some advantages / interesting features as well as disadvantages. + +I like some of the technical around the coin but no disrespect to the people but the user base seems very cult like evangelical. And I honestly dont understand it I cant think of another instance of this type of user attitude with any other crypto (BCH is kinda like that but not as bad) + + I've researched alot around the coin and it seems like the people who love it LOVE IT so much and the other crypto user communities dislike it. + +I'm not for or against I am completely confused at the disconnect. Like did I miss a rap battle feud? +**on mobile fucked up the title :(** +"Why do we only see different coins boasting one feature about them? Why don't we see one coin with all of these features?" + +For example, monero is good for anonymity. Litecoin is basically an improved Bitcoin. Iota has no fees. Qtum makes it easier for contractors to pay each other. Some coins like Golem are there because their companies need something to pay people with. But why can't one coin have all of these features? Or at least most of these features? + +Can you see a "google" coin in the future that hosts tons of these features? Or at least a company with a monopoly on multiple coins that have different purposes? +I'm looking for a in depth analysis of this two cryptocurrencies, mainly to understand if it is really worth to own some LTC for the long term. + +Sorry if this is not the right sub, but I couldn't find any more appropriate. + +Thanks in advance. + +I've got a decent bit in BTC and some in NEO and XRP. Just wanted to gather thoughts on OMG, if it's worth holding onto long term. + +Any gurus out there that can give some insight please? +If you look at the charts for some of the most popular or well known coins including coins like Doge, the markets blew up and it seems we're riding whatever wave happened in May up until now. + +Was there some big news or something? It seems very weird that even small, hate to use the phrase but "shitcoins" like Doge getting a massive boost alongside Bitcoin, Litecoin and all other alts. + +edit: some visual aid +https://imgur.com/a/5KiWz +https://imgur.com/a/UZp9a +Here it is: +https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-97WZtvCIU + +For me, I love what Monero does and it has got a solid track record. However, personally I find them too technical and not so user-friendly. Zcash feels more approachable, but it's fairly new and has a lot to prove. PIVX even more so, but I will surely test their "Instant" claim shortly. Because that could be a game-changer. + +I am curious to your favorites, please let me know! + +I'm expecting this to be a stupid question... but here goes: + +How can IOTA be up 11% on a $1.2bn cap with only $6m in volume? Even if all $6m were buys wouldn't that only have a 0.5% impact on the cap? + +http://coinmarketcap.com/ + +Edit: this question appears to apply to all crypto listed, it just occured to me looking at IOTA because the huge cap and low volume stood out. +I currently live in Chicago my salary is ~60k with an assumed 3% raise year over year. Monthly expenses are 975 for rent 500 for student loan, ~110 for utilities, food/entertainment ~250. Take home pay is 3,365/mo. My current car is paid for and will likely survive 3 years with regular maintenance. I have about 17,000 left on my student loans and Mint.com projects I will have them paid off by 9/2017. + +The car is slated to cost $35,000 however, I am assuming that is including the $7,500 in tax incentives, making it a total of $42,500. Based on previous Tesla vehicle research they require a $5,000 down payment/reservation fee. I would probably not trade in my current vehicle as I would like to have it for winter driving, and in 3 years it will be worth VERY little. What would my budget look like to make this dream a reality? + +EDIT: I am 25. +I purchased a Amazon gift card from Gyft.com for $125 via Bitcoin. + +After placing my order, Amazon closed my account with no e-mail/reason what so over. + +After contacting Amazon telling them I cannot log into my Amazon account, they sent me the following e-mail: + +"Hello, + +We have closed your account and canceled all outstanding orders. + +We took these actions because you have submitted invalid gift cards as payment for Amazon.com orders. + +Sincerely, + +Account Specialist +Amazon.com" + + +I contacted Gyft.com support and received the following reply: + +"Hello, + +Thank you for contacting Gyft! + +We are so sorry but gift cards sales are final sale. Unfortunately, we cannot refund a gift card once the code has been revealed. Please see our terms of sale: http://www.gyft.com/terms-of-sale/ + +You will need to contact Amazon directly if they have closed your Amazon account. Since you are the owner of the account and the gift cards, they will be able to provide you with more information. + +So sorry for the inconvenience. + +Regards, +Brittany" + + +What do I do???? See links to proof below: + +http://imgur.com/a/lnypF +http://imgur.com/22fwCS6 +TL: cashback sites: best way to use + +So a few months ago I started using one of the main cashback sites (The main ones are TopCashback and Quidco) I’ve been quite happy so far, they’ve been a steady little “earner.” I would like to start a discussion on is how to optimise the money recived as cashback from these sites. I’ve throw together some rules that I’ve come up with and would welcome anyone to add/amend or discuss. + +-Only buy what you would have bought originally without cashback + +-Accept that cashback is never guaranteed and not a basis for making a purchase decision + +-Sign up with a friends referral code to get a joining bonus (where applicable) + +- Chose your first cashback offer wisely, there is generally a selection of offers that are for first time users only + +- Withdraw your cashback once it has cleared as there is no protection to your earned money if the site collapses + +- be prepared to wait 1 day - 12 weeks for cashback to clear + +Edit: grammar +Title covers it in a sentence, I've been in crypto for a few years and I'm hearing the same tired excuses this January that are repeated every time the market dips/corrects/crashes. + +"This time it's over" + +"The experts are saying that the stock markets are going to crash any day now" + +"BTC was funded by printed money is the only reason it pumped, it will never pump again" + +Blah, blah blah. Every time these lines of reason are rolled out and every time crypto pumps back up again. You wouldn't get this in the regular stock market, people don't see a recession and be all like "well that's it for stocks, it's been all pump for 100 years but it's over forever now" + +&#x200B; + +Well I've read it all before and I don't see anything to worry me. The markets already down almost 50% from ATH and has been stable for 9 days and counting meaning huge gains when we set a new ATH and despite the painting the FUD want's to share I see that ATH hitting in this year with no issue. +Mentioned early retirement by 35 or 40 and financial independence in passing during a conversation with a couple coworkers and one of them basically scoffed and said it wasn't realistic. Explained in 30 seconds the ideas of financial independence and he said something along the lines of "but is that any way to live," I just smiled and said I'd let him know how it's going in 10 years or so. + + +I'm new to the sub, but not to living below my means and saving. Any of you encountered naysayers in your life? + + +Edit: getting alot of unsolicited career advice that while apreciated and generally good, isn't necessary. Let me worry about my career and relationships with my coworkers. From some of your comments some of you seem to have extrapolated from this post that I am a moron who will be fired next week because I briefly mentioned FI to a peer I trust. I think before I speak and act. +I'm going to be posting this to /r/legaladvice as well considering my situation involves running for the hills and divorcing an emotionally abusive spouse. Anyway, onward to my situation . . . + +I got married in 2011. About six months after getting married I found out my husband was a drug addict (heroin), and had most likely been an addict since the day I met him and well before. We had partied during the time we were dating, but he never let on that he was addicted to opiates. He barely drank, but did occasionally smoke weed and we took acid back in 2009 and 2010 on rare occasions. Looking back I can see the signs now, but at the time nothing tipped me off that something was wrong. + +I've been married to him now over 7 years, together over 10. When I moved in with him before we were married I should have seen his manipulative behavior for what it was but, again, didn't see the signs at the time. I have no idea why I was so blind, but I let him convince me into overdrawing my accounts, maxing out cash advances on my credit cards, all so that he could have money for "gas" for work or cigarettes. I went months without proper clothing for work, shoes falling apart, unable to afford basic health and hygiene products. I watched as I maxed credit card after credit card out just so I could eat or have sanitary napkins (pardon the TMI). During through the financial issues and the emotional manipulation and abuse, I met someone online here who was going through the same thing. She lived a few towns over from me, and her story was practically the same. She was worse off financially than me, and he was more abusive based on what she told me but I found some comfort in finding someone with a similar story. The reason why I'm posing here today is because after she posted a vent/update in r/divorce where both she and I lurked quite often, she ended up being practically torn apart for posting periodically for 4 years off and on and not "just leaving" her husband. Less than 24 hours later she deleted her account and took her own life. She'd been depressed for years, and I think this coupled with a few things that had happened that day just pushed her over the edge. She was 30. + +The reason why I'm posting this is because I've been terrified I'll end up doing what she did. Financially I'm a mess. I've been able to pay off a few credit cards, but the damage to my credit is going to take a long time to repair. I alone make just under 2k a month, my husband makes more than double that. Yet due to his drug habit and my bills, we're scraping by paycheck to paycheck, and usually going into the red thanks to the overdraft protection on my account. I have, including my car loan, nearly 30k in debt. I have three cards maxed out and several others that I've been able to refrain from touching so I can pay them down. Rent is 750 monthly, utilities a little over 200 monthly during winter and summer months due to heat and AC. I also have rental insurance for 40 a month, car insurance for 240 a month (he's on my insurance). Internet is 89 monthly. Phone for both me and him is 150. I look at all these and when I add up everything, plus cc debt I would be in the red. I have been able to sneak some money away into a savings account to afford either A.) a lawyer or/and B.) a down payment for a place of my own or 1st and last for an apartment. It will take me months and months to get anywhere significant with the savings but it's money he can't touch. I could make a down payment on a prefab/mobile home in a nice area in about a year, depending on my situation then. + +I apologize for the wall of text, but wanted to add some context to this. I've got a basic outline of what I want to achieve in the next two years, but it's slow going. I'm a bit impatient since the STBX is getting worse as time goes on and I just want to be done. So, any advice would be appreciated. +Can someone explain to me what this means? I am regarded so sometime I have trouble understanding. Bezingies says shorts have risen 130%. Is this good for squeeze or ? This was from Thursday.. + +" The company recently reported that it has **30.76 million shares sold short**, which is 108.86% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, **it would take traders 0.9 days to cover their short positions on average."** + +&#x200B; + +What does this mean??? + +(PS. This is a re-post my other one got removed for some reason.) +Just a reminder as the GME squeeze starts winding down and WSB begins to return to normal. + +For some reason the media has been presenting this like we are 'targeting' wall street on some sort of holier than thou crusade reversal of fortune thing. Guess what. We aren't. We would also be more than happy to take jobs at any fund you can name. We just like the stock. Our goals around here include buying blow and hookers. Maybe the occasional boat or private jet. Think the wolf of wall street, those are our aspirations. + +**If retail had shorted 220% of GME's float we would be squeezing them just as hard** + +Sure, its funny to take down some stuck up fund managers, but thats a side bonus. We make fun of Citron because Andrew Left got his wife stolen by a green energy billionaire, we make fun of Melvin cuz they tried to short a meme stock. + +We have shorted plenty of stocks. Nobody cares. Last year we all made a killing riding the markets down while the normies lost their jobs and lived off stimmy checks. We ride the trends in whichever direction they point. The markets are a zero sum game. Welcome to the club. + +But anyways, we owe you a thank you I suppose. Without you getting super jazzed for the 'revolution' we would have never had the capital to squeeze like we did. You may hate millionaires but you certainly made a ton of new ones this week. + +&#x200B; + +Edit: It's important to note that WE LIKE THE STOCK + +Edit 2: I'm having a lot of fun watching the upvote war between the r/all crowd and people who have been here longer than 2 weeks + + +Today AMTD Digital released the following news. “NEW YORK & SINGAPORE & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AMTD Digital Inc. (“AMTD Digital” or the “Company”) (NYSE: HKD), a comprehensive one-stop digital solutions platforms in Asia, today announced that underwriters of its initial public offering (“IPO”) of American depositary shares (“ADSs”) had exercised in full their option to purchase up to an additional 2,400,000 ADSs at the IPO price of US$7.80 per ADS, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The Company expects to close the issuance of the additional ADSs on August 8, 2022, subject to satisfaction of customary conditions.” This comes from their website. [https://ir.amtdigital.net/investor-news/investor-news-details/2022/AMTD-Digital-Inc.-Announces-Full-Exercises-of-Greenshoe-in-Initial-Public-Offering/default.aspx](https://ir.amtdigital.net/investor-news/investor-news-details/2022/AMTD-Digital-Inc.-Announces-Full-Exercises-of-Greenshoe-in-Initial-Public-Offering/default.aspx) + +If you remember from a few days ago, it was discovered that Anthony Chukumba’s (the guy that sells now and asks questions later) Loop Capital Markets LLC acted as underwriters for the HKD IPO. + +HKD closed today at 721.23 and these shares were purchased for 7.80 per their contract. + +721.23 x 2,400,000 = 1,730,952,000. + +That’s one point seven Billion dollars. Pretty interesting that they paid 18,720,000 and have made 9,246% in unrealized gains to use as additional collateral against any potential short positions they currently have. + +I dug through their investor news and there were 5 results of IPO. Through a bit of research, Black Spade Acquisition CO seems to be another sus IPO they underwrote and I am trying to look deeper into to see if it may be another fountain of collateral waiting to happen. Their mission statement is another buzzword filled pile of jargon. + +“Black Spade Acquisition Co is a special purpose acquisition company focused on identifying a business combination target that can benefit from the extensive collective network, knowledge and experience of our founder and management team that is related to or in the entertainment industry, with a focus on enabling technology, lifestyle brands, products, or services, and entertainment media. While we intend to pursue opportunities globally, we will focus on opportunities with existing or future growth potential underpinned by the transformative consumption forces in Asia.” + +It seems to be mostly held by a Hedge Fund called Millennium Management. I searched this with Ken Griffin, and it appears the search results paint these two as rival funds that have both increased the amount of time required to have investors pull their money out of their hedge funds. What does this mean? I don’t know. + + + +Another IPO for Magic Empire Global happened August 5th. It is currently up 2,150% from IPO on the day. It is underwrote by a company called Network 1 Financial. The CEO is named Richard Hunt and he has been CEO since 1988 according to LInkedin. There are no pictures available of him. There are no videos of him on the internet that I can find. On the Network 1 website it does not list a CEO. It lists a William R. Hunt as President, CFO and COO. His Linkedin account says he is the Founder of Network 1 Financial in 1988. Strange because the Network 1 site says that it was founded in 1983. + +[https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/13577](https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/13577) lists their main address as + + +MAIN ADDRESS + +THE GALLERIA, SUITE 241 +2 BRIDGE AVENUE +RED BANK, NJ 07701 UNITED STATES + +It is a small office rented out of an old mall that is full with a list of corporate entities. Network 1 has a Chinese branch that I can’t dig too far into since I can’t understand the language. + +In summary, I haven’t found a connection between these two, but I am going to keep digging to see if I can learn more. + +Edit: Changed ticker symbols to avoid confusion. +That should be a fucking poster on Melvin Capital’s - hell, every major fund’s - wall by opening bell tomorrow. If we gotta be safe with our money so we don’t retire in a box in the side of the road, a fucking multi-billion dollar hedge fund should be safe with theirs. Shame on them for your damn near criminal position, blaming it on retail, and then trying to catch a falling knife and doubling down. + +Stop playing games with the livelihood of companies by shorting their ability to raise capital into the ground. Stop playing games with people’s retirement by taking risky positions that can be clapped by social media interest and some hype. We gotta thank the pioneers of retail trading for taking the power away from etfs and funds and creating a stock picker’s market. There’s never been a better time to leverage the hive mind of the human race and technology to control your own financial destiny. + +The market - “You should invest for the future.” + +The market 5 minutes later after we pick our investment - “No, not like that!” +At this point the squeeze is inevitable. We already know who will win the biggest gains from this: the major shareholders and DFV. + +But there's still another game to win. When the squeeze happens, ONE OF US is going to sell the highest cost per share order. Is it gonna be 5K, 10K, 100K?!?! Who knows. But one thing is for sure, we are in the midst of a pivotal moment in not only financial history, but human history itself. And one of us is going to hold that mighty 1st place prize of "I sold the most expensive GameStop share." + +So ladies and gentlemen, set your sell limits really fucking high and let's see who takes that crown. I am requesting that whoever wins it uploads the picture and they should get a flair for being the luckiest and greediest fucker out of all of us. + +Godspeed, my fellow smooth brains. I'll see you on the moon 🚀🚀🌝🌝🛸💎👐 + + +This letter struck us all as very strange. Why would any investment firm take the risk? We all know that even without MOASS that GME is easily worth much more. So this evening I decided to go down this rabbit hole. When google searching the article two things seemed out of place 1) Why was this small HF getting so much play 2) Why is the article/letter was placed with on one web site? + +Who is Glacier Capital? They report having 4 employees and located in Luxembourg and have exactly 37 followers on LinkedIn and a reported about 150M under management and are lead by a lawyer turned Fund Manager. There was no Q4 2020, Q3 2020 or Q22020 letter to investors on the company web site so this stuck me as strange as well. Not exactly impressed so far. The company is located at 11-13 bd de la foire Luxembourg, Luxembourg 1528, LU. A pretty standard looking 5 story office building (no drone coverage needed). + +So I decided to see who else has offices in the building. Lots of insurance and financial office as we as a Swiss bank office. But browsing the web sites of the companies lead me to one key find. Vector Asset Management [https://www.vector.lu/en/](https://www.vector.lu/en/). Going the Vector History page lead me to this find " Vector moves its depository bank from Edmond de Rothschild to **Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) . "** Now I ask you who holds a major position in RBC none other that **Citadel Investment Group.** The plot thickens as this ape scratches his smooth brain. + +Further exploration of the Vector Asset Management web site shows the profile of the 3 Portfolio Managers for the company. Turns out the profile for Thierry Vandeghinste has this interesting tidbit He holds a Master in Engineering degree and a Master in Applied Economics degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and a MBA-degree from the **University of Chicago**. You see where this is going? + +So I decided to check the Shitadel roster to see who was at the University of Chicago Business School at the same time. Well look who I found Matt Culek. Now most of you will be asking who the f is this Matt guy is. Let me introduce you to the COO of Shitadel Securities [https://www.citadelsecurities.com/leadership/matt-culek/](https://www.citadelsecurities.com/leadership/matt-culek/). + +IMHO this story is total and absolute FUD. Placed as distraction. Please keep an open mind ask and do not let your confirmation bias get the better of you. + +To the MOON🚀🚀🚀 + +My Fellow Apes please BUY, HODL and VOTE. A round of Canadian Beer for all 🦍wen moon. +Inspired by u/swede_child_of_mine's DD "The Sun Never Sets On Citadel -- Part 1" I digged into this. Finding a footprint in Germany. (DD-Link: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o2xz48/the\_sun\_never\_sets\_on\_citadel\_part\_1/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/o2xz48/the_sun_never_sets_on_citadel_part_1/)) + +It's just a footprint. + +The following are not my words. They are quotes from the linked sources. I don't add my own opinion and I'm not a financial advisor. I am just doing a brief summary of the source timeline in my own words. + +**TLDR: Source Timeline** + +* 2007: **Berlin Stock Exchange** took a majority stake in **EASDAQ** NV, which operated under the name **EQUIDUCT** +* 2009: **EQUIDUCT** enters into strategic partnership with Citadel Securities +* 2012: **EASDAQ** adds four new members to board (3 from Citadel) +* 2019: **Tradegate** takes over **Berlin Stock Exchange** +* Tradegate is majority owned by Berliner Effektengesellschaft AG. **90 percent price increase since November 2020** + +Sources: + +>Berlin Stock Exchange took a majority stake in EASDAQ NV, which operated under the name Equiduct, in September 2007. The goal for the deal was to offer the exchange's customers a wide range of European financial products. +> +>Source (English): [http://www.marketswiki.com/wiki/Equiduct\_Systems\_Ltd](http://www.marketswiki.com/wiki/Equiduct_Systems_Ltd) +> +>2009: Equiduct enters into strategic partnership with Citadel Securities + +&#x200B; + +>The Citadel Securities platform includes investment banking, multi-asset class market making, order execution services and Citadel Solutions, a leading hedge fund management company. Securities market making, investment banking and securities trading execution services are provided in the US by Citadel Securities L.L.C., a member of FINRA, and in Europe by Citadel Derivatives Group (Europe) Limited, regulated by the UK FSA. (translated from German Language) +> +>Source (German language, please use translator): [https://www.pressebox.de/inaktiv/boerse-berlin-ag/Equiduct-geht-strategische-Partnerschaft-mit-Citadel-Securities-ein/boxid/277846](https://www.pressebox.de/inaktiv/boerse-berlin-ag/Equiduct-geht-strategische-Partnerschaft-mit-Citadel-Securities-ein/boxid/277846) +> +>The agreement between Citadel Securities and Börse Berlin AG will provide funding to Equiduct for developing its platform into one of Europe's leading execution venues. +> +>Source (English): [https://www.jugendchor-speuz.ch/docs/ba4883-b%C3%B6rse-berlin-live](https://www.jugendchor-speuz.ch/docs/ba4883-b%C3%B6rse-berlin-live) +> +>2012: Easdaq adds four new members to board +> +>Easdaq N.V., owner of the pan European retail trading platform Equiduct, today announced the addition of four new members to its board. +> +>The new board members include Jonathan Graham, Managing Director at Citadel LLC; Jamil Nazarali, Senior Managing Director at Citadel LLC; Daniel Pouget, Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD and Peter Randall, CEO of Equiduct Systems Limited. +> +>Source (English): [https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/43272/easdaq-adds-four-new-members-to-board](https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/43272/easdaq-adds-four-new-members-to-board) + +&#x200B; + +>2019: Tradegate takes over Berlin Stock Exchange +> +>The trading platform Tradegate Exchange, which specializes in private investors, is being taken over the Berlin Stock Exchange. The company, which is also based in the capital, will in future control 100 percent of the shares in Berliner Börse AG, as both announced on October 9, 2019. +> +>Source (German language, please use translator): [https://www.berlin.de/wirtschaft/nachrichten/5934420-3912379-tradegate-uebernimmt-berliner-boerse.html](https://www.berlin.de/wirtschaft/nachrichten/5934420-3912379-tradegate-uebernimmt-berliner-boerse.html) +> +>Announcement according to Art. 5 subsection 2 of the German Exchange Act: Tradegate Exchange GmbH is the sole owner of Börse Berlin AG. +> +>Equiduct Trading serves as the full electronic trading platform of Börse Berlin and is technically provided by Equiduct Systems Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (registered number 02937847) whose registered office is 50 St Mary Axe, London, EC3A 8FR. +> +>Source (English): [https://www.equiduct.com/imprint](https://www.equiduct.com/imprint) +> +>The Tradegate Exchange is a securities exchange specialized for private investors. Currently, around 30 trading participants from Germany, Austria and Great Britain are directly or indirectly connected. +> +>Source (English): [https://www.deutsche-boerse-cash-market.com/dbcm-en/secondary-market/tradegate-exchange](https://www.deutsche-boerse-cash-market.com/dbcm-en/secondary-market/tradegate-exchange) +> +>Berliner Effektengesellschaft: What a story +> +>The shares of the Berliner Effektengesellschaft (BEG) are among the price miracles of the current bull market that are not quite as in the limelight as Lang & Schwarz or even flatexDEGIRO. Nevertheless: 90 percent price increase since November 2020 alone and a stock market value of around 935 million euros is more than impressive. The investment story is quickly told: The Berliners hold 56.2 percent of the Tradegate trading platform, in which Deutsche Börse AG is also involved. The number of securities transactions processed via Tradegate is currently soaring upwards that nobody would have thought possible. (translated from German Language) +> +>Source (German Language, please use translator): [https://boersengefluester.de/berliner-effektengesellschaft-was-fur-eine-story/](https://boersengefluester.de/berliner-effektengesellschaft-was-fur-eine-story/) + +[Screenshot from Link above.](https://preview.redd.it/8a12jdq2x6671.png?width=630&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7bb188fd54a7f0f44c7bfb3efbbd6466fda0e9f) + +Edit: Writing +WSB is a thing. It isn’t us. They YOLO on a all or nothing bet. They brag about the risk. They pride themselves in losses. + +Good for them. Respect. Live and let live. + +But Bitcoin isn’t about YOLO, or taking wild risks or being reckless for tendies. + +We aren’t retards (their word) or autists (also their word). + +Properly understood, Bitcoin isn’t a risky investment or a swing at the fences one time big play. We will make money because we are early adopters, but that is a side benefit of being part of something that is fundamentally strong, secure, and the future. + +WSB is diamond hands. We are not. +While seeing a recent video on Ben Mallah ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC94m18wtI9QAYrXKXqFPWDg/videos ) I saw that 'Force Majeure' has been invoked for certain housing tenant contracts. This is going to have a big impact on rents being paid and eviction. No eviction is possible now and evictions planned is frozen. + +Coming to India 'Force Majeure' will not be invoked by Insurance companies on the deaths due to Coronavirus. + +(Ref: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/insure/life-insurance/force-majeure-clause-wont-apply-to-coronavirus-death-claims-in-life-insurance-policies/articleshow/75004294.cms) + +However a lot of contracts are going to go through this test. This is obviously going to impact a lot of businesses which depend on rentals. + +Ref: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-coronavirus-may-cause-legal-wrangles/articleshow/74815141.cms?from=mdr + +Ref: https://thewire.in/law/force-majeure-india-economy-covid-19-lockdown + +I was wondering how a movie theater opposite to my house is managing and looks like PVR Inox have invoked Force Majeure to delay rent payments. + +Ref: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/inox-joins-pvr-to-invoke-force-majeure + +What is this sub's experiences on this? Does Force Majeure come into play in some of your contracts? +So here is the thing. + +I started investing in LIC policy long back and now I am contemplating to cancel it. Not sure if it's a good idea. + +Policy name: LIC Jeevan anand + +Since : 2010 + +Each year : 56K premium + +Now it completely messed up my name in the portal and the premium paid receipts are just so messed up. I am having a headache just to contact their customer service. My agent is a middle aged neighborhood uncle who is clueless. + +Bonus is that maturity term is 2082 when I would not even be alive (TBH I don't know what it means either) and I have to pay till 2056, by which I am not sure I will be earning either. + +I am so frustrated, that I want to withdraw everything and just buy a term insurance (which would cost me 20K for 1 crore cover whereas I am having 21 Lakhs cover right now). I will get better returns if I invest saved amount in Mutual Funds / Stocks. + +Please advice me, if this idea is Good or Bad. + +thanks for reading :) + + + + +It's that time of the month. Some of us just received cash from salary or business income. What are you planning to invest in? What did you sell, and why? If you are continuing to hold onto existing investments, what are they and why do you hold them? Are you avoiding anything? Again, why? + +The discussion is not just for individual stocks of companies, but also for mutual funds and other investments. Feel free to share your investment rationale. This thread does not exist not only for disseminating knowledge on investment decisions (the why?). Others are free to assess your rationale. + +Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. None of this is investment advice or a stock recommendation. Kindly do your due diligence and/or consider seeing a registered investment advisor before making any financial decisions! + +Previous [Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=monthly+discussion+thread+&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) + +PS: Be friendly. Be civil. +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +Hi! + +This is a long shot and I have no idea how it will unfold but I am experimenting with a new project called the "Wisdom of the Masses". + +As we know, the secret sauce in making a buy/sell decision for a company are its future growth estimates! Markets have discounted the past and are constantly trying to discount the future. If we can "predict the future" then we can get a good idea about the return expectations from a company. + +Problem with estimating the future is: It is difficult! :-) And not matter how much effort we put in our research we will still have our doubts. + +That is where "Wisdom of the Masses" comes in play. This technique is used by various TV channels where in they talk about "average estimates". Even the election pollsters have a "Poll of Polls" to better represent the future outcomes. Sites like [Estimize](https://www.estimize.com) do something similar and claim an out performance of 70% + +I want to apply the same to the bunch of companies that are of our common interest. If we can all enter our future estimates for a company then the "Average Estimates" will be a good estimation of the future growth of the company. And with help of that we can also find the estimated CAGR from current market price. + +Thing is, for this to work we need enough participation! Yes, initially the sheet will be empty and motivation will be low. But if we get over this initial hump and collect. + +So if you are interested in participating, click on the following link: + +https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eDZM85OtARWY2t6dN7c9dGliWI9jphjE0wZfvfZS2RQ/edit?usp=sharing + +Before updating, please do read the some notes that I have put in the sheet itself. (Ping me if you are not able to update the sheet.) + +Also please share this link with the wise people you know. + +Thank you! + +PS: Please do tell me if this idea is not as good as it looks! + +I own a lot of high dividend stocks like ntpc, ITC and hpcl and irb invit. They pay 5-10% dividend and I fall in the 30% bracket so I end up paying a lot of tax. I have no use for the money, I will end up reinvesting it. + +I had a plan of selling one day before the ex dividend date and buying on the ex dividend date, this way I end up paying only stcg@15% + +Two issues I see immediately are: +1. The stock doesn't always fall equal to the dividend amount, the irb invit would usually fall less. +2. Initially the stcg will be higher than tax on dividend because of all the unrealised gains + +I thought about things like cpse etf but I don't want those other stocks + +Is this a good idea or is there another way to go about this? + +Edit: if you think about this is really beneficial, earlier the company used to pay 20% DDT, if this works we're paying 15% stcg+ brokerage +Recent e commerce policy can be a big change. + +Also, the brand is recoginse everywhere. + +Plus if consumption is the big story of India, future group can act as a great B2C company profting from it. + According to [investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/10-k.asp): + +>A 10-K is a comprehensive report filed annually by a publicly-traded company about its financial performance and is required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The report contains much more detail than a company's annual report + +[and](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/10q.asp): + +>SEC Form 10-Q is a comprehensive report of financial performance that must be submitted quarterly by all public companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the 10-Q, firms are required to disclose relevant information regarding their finances as a result of their business operations. The 10-Q is generally an unaudited report. + +For example, [this](https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001018724/000101872421000004/amzn-20201231.htm) is Amazon's 10K report and [this](https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001018724/000101872421000010/amzn-20210331.htm) is Amazon's 10Q report. + +I want to know if something similar (annual and quarterly annual reports in HTML format) is available for Indian stock exchanges? + +I mainly want official textual information of the company, its current affairs. (Official means the one provided by the company itself.) +You can discuss something like these, ITT: + +- What brokerage are you using currently? + +- Is the brokerage structure suitable to your needs? + +- How is the availability of the brokerage service? + + Do you experience issues with login/authentication? Do you experience issues with posting trades to NSE and BSE? Do you experience issues with executing trades at NSE and BSE? + +- How do you rate the brokerage reports provided by the brokerage house? + +- How are the ancillary products and services provided by the brokerage house? + +- Do you use Smallcase to manage your portfolio, and how was the service? + +--- + +You can ask for a general review of a particular product, or service that you are researching - _Is X good? Is it recommended for long-term delivery trades?_, but please avoid asking for personal advice. + +The discussion is for consumption by a broader audience. For advice regarding your personal situation, the bi-weekly advice thread is recommended. + +Personal advice queries and comments will be removed to ensure that older threads provide sufficient historical reviews on products and services. + +Reviews posted here can be relied upon by newer members to evaluate customer experience with these products. Please confine the thread only to reviews or requests for reviews of products and services. + +[Previous Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +You can discuss something like these, ITT: + +- Which fund houses are you currently investing with? Why did you invest in the funds? +- Reviews on the funds offered by the fund house? +- Provide your opinion on the investment services offered by the fund house. Do you avail their instant redemption features of the liquid funds? Do you use a "smart" SIP offering? +- How easy it is to navigate & use their app / websites? +- Does the fund house provide periodic communication regarding the markets, fund performance and strategy? +- What PMS scheme / AIFs are you currently invested in, if any? Why did you choose it? +- What does the PMS / AIF fee structure look like? +- Does the PMS manager provide periodic communications regarding portfolio selection and performance? + +--- + +You can ask for general review of a particular product or service that you are researching - _"What is the investing style of fund X? Is it recommended for long-term retirement needs?"_, but **avoid asking for personal advice**. + +The discussion is for consumption by a broader audience, not just specific to you. + +For advice regarding your personal situation (like "I have 25L saved up currently for retirement purposes in 30 years. What fund / PMS / AIF should I choose?"), the bi-weekly advice thread is recommended It's stickied at the top of the subreddit. + +Personal advice queries and comments will be removed to ensure that older threads provide sufficient historical reviews on products and services. + +Reviews posted here can be relied upon by newcomers to evaluate customer experience. Please confine the discussions only to reviews or requests for reviews of products and services. + +[Link to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +There are many formulae/concepts around debt : equity allocation decision, however, is there any method to determine within equity asset allocation? Like, % of large vs mid-cap vs small-cap, etc. What do you guys do? + + +Do you monitor and rebalance for within-equity asset class allocation as rigorously as you do for across-asset class? Any study/article around that? +Hello everyone, + +I have been using Kuvera for last 2 years now. I like the platform, although I have some reservation with there selected funds. + +But what I want to know what are there plans on how to earn money. I don't see a way them making it now. They introduced coins but still I don't see how they are making money. +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://discord.gg/hqBNg4u) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +We encourage all our visitors to ask those investing related questions they were always too afraid to ask. This thread will be moderated, to ensure it remains free of harassment and other undesirable behavior. + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +If you are looking for which brokerage to use, which fund house is more capable and trustworthy, which investing platform to use, which insurance company is reliable etc., you may want to read the reviews for [banking and financial services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), [mutual funds and asset management services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), [brokerage products and services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), and [insurance products and services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new). Generally speaking, there is no best company, or fund, or bank. Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product or service. You, may then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is "I have 10,000 rupees, what do I do?" or anything similar. There is no single answer to this question, but we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to give some sort of answer + +* How old are you? +* Are you employed/making income? +* How much? What are your objectives with this money? +* What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?) +* What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors?) +* Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Expensive partner? +* What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +* Any big debts? +* Any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer. + +Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered financial rep before making any financial decisions! + +Previous Threads [Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1) +We encourage all our visitors to ask those investing related questions they were always too afraid to ask. This thread will be moderated, to ensure it remains free of harassment and other undesirable behavior. + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +If you are looking for which brokerage to use, which fund house is more capable and trustworthy, which investing platform to use, which insurance company is reliable etc., you may want to read the reviews for [banking and financial services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), [mutual funds and asset management services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), [brokerage products and services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), and [insurance products and services](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new). Generally speaking, there is no best company, or fund, or bank. Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product or service. You, may then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is "I have 10,000 rupees, what do I do?" or anything similar. There is no single answer to this question, but we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to give some sort of answer + +* How old are you? +* Are you employed/making income? +* How much? What are your objectives with this money? +* What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?) +* What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors?) +* Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Expensive partner? +* What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +* Any big debts? +* Any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer. + +Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered financial rep before making any financial decisions! + +Previous Threads [Links](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1) +* Holds the monoploy over the whole coal market in India. +* Pays dividend annually, has a dividend yeild of 6.7% +* Has Govt as the main promoter. +* If the share appreciates in the meantime, that will be a big bonus, considering it has the highest of arnd 303 and currently at 245. +So here is the thing. + +I started investing in LIC policy long back and now I am contemplating to cancel it. Not sure if it's a good idea. + +Policy name: LIC Jeevan anand + +Since : 2010 + +Each year : 56K premium + +Now it completely messed up my name in the portal and the premium paid receipts are just so messed up. I am having a headache just to contact their customer service. My agent is a middle aged neighborhood uncle who is clueless. + +Bonus is that maturity term is 2082 when I would not even be alive (TBH I don't know what it means either) and I have to pay till 2056, by which I am not sure I will be earning either. + +I am so frustrated, that I want to withdraw everything and just buy a term insurance (which would cost me 20K for 1 crore cover whereas I am having 21 Lakhs cover right now). I will get better returns if I invest saved amount in Mutual Funds / Stocks. + +Please advice me, if this idea is Good or Bad. + +thanks for reading :) + + + + +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +So the much awaited first REIT has listed and now trading at premium of Rs 13 to its IPO price. Currently at Rs 313 + + +Tried buying but apparently only lots can be bought and each lot is Rs 1 lakh. Atleast thats my understanding, someone correct me if Im wrong + +What are the pros and cons ? + +How much do you think it can appreciate or depreciate? + +Ill start some points + +Pros: First REIT, so a novel instrument that may attract a lot of interest. Dividends at around 6% . backing of known group and over 3000 crores raised in IPO + + +Cons: Again first REIT so not sure if it will be a flop. globally REITS seem to be doing OK but new market risks are always there. For example Index investing though big world wide is a tiny market here + + +Regarding dividends, is my understanding correct here - if rate is 6%, investing 100,000 means each year we will get Rs 6000 from it ? + +Financial news channels very often announce if a stock has been upgraded or downgrade by say Morgan Stanley, CLSA and so on. Where can I find these reports? +I own a lot of high dividend stocks like ntpc, ITC and hpcl and irb invit. They pay 5-10% dividend and I fall in the 30% bracket so I end up paying a lot of tax. I have no use for the money, I will end up reinvesting it. + +I had a plan of selling one day before the ex dividend date and buying on the ex dividend date, this way I end up paying only stcg@15% + +Two issues I see immediately are: +1. The stock doesn't always fall equal to the dividend amount, the irb invit would usually fall less. +2. Initially the stcg will be higher than tax on dividend because of all the unrealised gains + +I thought about things like cpse etf but I don't want those other stocks + +Is this a good idea or is there another way to go about this? + +Edit: if you think about this is really beneficial, earlier the company used to pay 20% DDT, if this works we're paying 15% stcg+ brokerage +Large + Midcap; Open-ended + +&nbsp; + +30 - 35% domestic large-cap + +35 - 40% domestic mid-cap + +<=35% foreign equities + +&nbsp; + +More info: + +https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/axis-mutual-fund-to-launch-growth-opportunities-fund-on-october-1-offer-to-end-october-15-2989171.html + +What do you guys think? + + + +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +I want to get a hold on the daily happenings and learn about how finance and investing works and also gain knowledge about the economy. +I would like to make a career as a finance professional, but I feel my knowledge is limited. I want to be updated about the current happenings, develop deep understanding about economics and markets and develop good analytical skills. +What resources - newspapers, magazines, blogs, articles, books, websites podcasts, tv channels, etc - should I refer to? +I have started reading The Economic Times though I don't understand much of it. +What else should I do? Are subscriptions to magazines such as The Economist or websites like the Financial Times useful? +Also are there any blogs or websites that offer good analytical and intelligent content? Any good longform articles that I should refer to? +Are there any good apps/websites that aggregate or curate news? +Ask your investing related queries here! + +The members of /r/IndiaInvestments are here to answer and educate! + +Alternatively, you could [join our Discord](https://indiainvestments.wiki/discord) and seek answers to your queries + +If you're looking for reviews on any of these following, follow the links: + +- [which bank or brokerage to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which fund house is more capable and trustworthy](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20mutual%20funds%20and%20asset%20management%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +- [which investing platform to use](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20Brokerage%20products%20and%20services&restrict_sr=1&sort=new), +- [which insurance company is reliable](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20%22Reviews%20of%20Insurance%20products%20and%20services%22&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) + +Generally speaking, there is no best stock, or fund, or bank, or brokerage, or investment platform. + +Answers are always subjective to your personal needs, but use those threads a starting point for you to look at what other Redditors have to say about a company, product, fund, or service. + +You can then ask a more specific question about what product or service to buy, once you are able to frame your personal situation. + +**NOTE** If your question is _I got 10k INR, what do I do to get most returns out of it?_, or anything similar; there is no single answer to this question. But we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to provide some sort of answer: + +- How old are you? +- Are you employed/making income? +- How much? What are your objectives with this money? +- Do you have any loan, or big expense coming up? +- What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know it's 100% safe?) +- What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Have you invested in equity before?) +- Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Partner pushing you to spend more? +- What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs? +- Any big debts? +- Any other relevant financial information about you, that will be useful to give you an informed response. + +Beware that these answers are just opinions of fellow Redditors and should only be used as a starting point for your research. This is **NOT** financial advice, in legal sense of the term. + +You should strongly consider consulting a registered fee-only financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Ideally, such advisors should be registered with SEBI, and have a registration number. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search/?q=advice%20thread%20personal%20situation&restrict_sr=1). +I know many of you out there are relatively new to crypto. For a while now, everything has been incredible and hopefully it will continue to be for a long time. However, this run will end eventually and when it does, you need to know how to position yourself to come out the other side with your portfolio intact. + +**Do not try to time the market** - Obviously the most optimal thing to do is perfectly sell the top and buy back at the bottom, but realistically that won’t happen and I don’t think anyone advises that you try to do this. You will never time the market correctly and you will likely shrink your stack in the process. Crypto is unpredictable, but the only thing we know for sure is that it will eventually trend higher as we move towards global adoption. + +**Tend your crypto garden** - Crypto as a whole will always trend upwards long term, but individual coins may not. When the Bear Market comes, it may be more comforting to disengage from crypto and avert your eyes from the carnage in your blockfolio, but this is a bad idea. Many alts will not survive to the next Bull Run. Your job is to keep up with your projects, see which dev teams are still active and which were just cashing in on the Bull Run. Dead projects won’t come back. + +**Identifying zombie projects** - If a project is dead, the devs won’t just come out and tell you. They will still keep up appearances on social media, so you really have to dig to find out if anything is actually going on. A major telltale sign is announcing “partnerships” that are basically the devs self-dealing with their own projects or pooling their resources with other desperate crypto devs. They’re just trying to look active and stack partnerships on their website. Look for actual partnerships with established companies and real utility/synergy. Shitcoins on life support will often attempt publicity stunts by massively overstating news or baiting the crypto press with nothingburgers. (Verge was notorious for this) Good projects don’t need to exaggerate or deceive you. + +**Buy the dip, but later** - You should absolutely buy the dip, but don’t be in any rush to do so. Bear Markets are long. Rather than try to buy the dip all the way down, take some time, wait until the despair has really set in and then double your stack. If you feel like you’re “catching the knife” you’re buying too soon. Wait until things are nice and slow and depressing. If you hold your fire and keep your powder dry, you can have some optimism that the lower it goes, the more you’ll have for next time. + +**Take some profits while you can** - If you bought any time in the last few months, you should have gains that any reasonable person should be proud of. There’s no shame in taking some profit. This will lessen the mental anguish of seeing your portfolio at half its current value at some point. Personally, I bought an engagement ring and a nice watch. I’m never going to feel bad about that no matter what the price does after I sold. + +TLDR: Crypto as a whole will always come back, you just need to pay attention and make sure you’re in coins that won’t die during the Bear Market. Sell some now, buy some later, but much later. You can’t time the market, but anyone can tell a Bull Market from a Bear Market. We’re currently in a Bull Market. At some point in the future there will be a Bear Market. Plan to have many of both over your lifetime. +* **PayPal stock fell 6% on Monday following the company's botched acceptable use policy update.** +* **The company faced backlash over the weekend after its updated policy included a $2,500 fine.** +* **PayPal has since rolled back the update, saying that its misinformation policy was incorrect.** + +PayPal stock fell as much as 6% on Monday after the company botched the roll-out of an acceptable use policy update that included big fines for the promotion of misinformation. + +The new acceptable use policy expanded the company's list of prohibited activities on its platform to include "the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials" that "promote misinformation." + +Users that violated the policy would have been subject to a $2,500 fine that PayPal would automatically debit from their account. The policy was originally slated to go into effect on November 3. + +But the updated policy created a firestorm on social media over the weekend, with several former PayPal employees weighing in and criticizing the policy, including PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. + +Former president of PayPal David Marcus tweeted, "It's hard for me to openly criticize a company I used to love and gave so much to. But Paypal's new AUP goes against everything I believe in. A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity." + +PayPal immediately rolled back its policy update to exclude the new misinformation policy. The company told media outlets: "PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and the language was never intended to be inserted into our policy." The payments platform said the policy update "went out in error that included incorrect information." + +Source: [https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/paypal-stock-price-blowback-misinformation-policy-2500-fine-error-musk-2022-10](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/paypal-stock-price-blowback-misinformation-policy-2500-fine-error-musk-2022-10) +I know Papa Elon is in here and he will give everyone gold itt. + +What a fucking amazing TSLA rally this week. Elon is sending astronauts to space, the moon, Mars, AND retard's portfolios along with it. I bet against TSLA back in May and Elon whooped my ass for it. Never again did I touched TSLA... until now. + +Since Tuesday and Wednesday, I was in and out of TSLA when it was around $1000. After realizing the potential upside of the delivery number's momentum and the pure koolaid power behind TSLA investors, I made the yolos of all yolos, around \~800k on TSLA 7/2s. + +I had 1100 7/2s that I paper handed which would've been 1000% gains but that's in the past. Yesterday at close, I was -20% on these because I bought high during the chase. I decided it's either going to be $0 or 1m and left my fate in Elon's hands. + +Betted on 2 things: + +1. SPY gaps up due to good unemployment numbers and because America wasn't gonna end the week red on the most patriotic weekend. TSLA gaps up with SPY. +2. I saw 1200 7/2s in the flow and gauged the market sentiment on StockTwits (gotta figure out what all the rest of the retards are doing). + +These 1200s were getting hit throughout the day all the way until closing for 50k - 200k amounts. I was already all in on my current positions so I didn't jump in these but out of all the flow, these stood out to me and I kept seeing comments about open at 1200, gonna be 1250 EOD... + +Woke up this morning and SPY was $315, TSLA $1200. Jumped outta bed and took a cold shower to get this wonderful day started... + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/cfo8gwvwhi851.png?width=625&format=png&auto=webp&s=0730a5cc3d2b09e8ba8f5f6c6d597b441b26658a + +RH position, 310k on 1150 7/2. Netted 1.1m - 356% gains. I closed these out at the near top at $74/contract. Cost was $14.67/contract. + +&#x200B; + +[TSLA 1150c 7\/2 +356&#37; - 1.1m profit](https://preview.redd.it/363l24m3hi851.png?width=828&format=png&auto=webp&s=88a9d5202537755d5a75c75b9e7711d165becb04) + +&#x200B; + +My 3 month RH chart. This chart tells the story of pure autism, persistence, and yolos. I started this game on 4/20 and got my first big gains on 5/1 with DFS puts. Right after that, I chased TSLA puts on the same day and took a -150k loss. + +Constant ups and downs 4 times back and forth. DIS calls got me back up again only for the mouse to take it all back the next day. Then I moved on to BABA for ER only to get fucked by CHYNAH, not once, not twice, but THREE times. + +At the very bottom, I was -700k in the hole (-72%) + +https://preview.redd.it/5mdgnpshii851.png?width=828&format=png&auto=webp&s=e51cffa239edeff7091b7090c8e19adcf1179aab + +&#x200B; + +TOS account. Last 500k all in. + +https://preview.redd.it/vg9qazgyji851.png?width=994&format=png&auto=webp&s=9378ee407f56bf1f35dd59fb6d1aa53932d4784d + +&#x200B; + +All in all, I went from all time lows of -1.7m to now +1.1m. I'm taking this 3 day weekend to journal all my past trades and reanalyze my process/risks. Papa Elon gave me a second chance and I'm gonna take a break... until MONDAY. + +Lessons learned? I've truly learned nothing valuable in terms of fundamentals. The losses and wins have taught me more about trader mindset and keeping myself in check after a huge loss and to fucking keep going back for more. + +I've had FB weeklies of $250k expired, I've had calls I held that were -99% and came back from the dead, only to get greedy and lose it the next day. It's hard to explain but you get tunnel vision and your mind just goes blank when shit like this happens. + +Alot of you will give me hate for playing recklessly with amounts of money like this and it's understandable. Everyone in here is going through their daily trading days on their own, refining their process, their mindset, and dealing with their losses and wins in their own ways. + +My perspective was really simple. I was ready to lose it all and already accepted that end of day yesterday. But I was ready to take the loss, regroup, and get back in after I pick myself back up. I've already done that 4 times in the past 2 months. + +The MAIN taking point of all my wins and losses for me was to TRUST MY GUT more and stay CONVICTED. + +**Notable positions that had I held and stuck with would've been big gains.** + +1. SPG 65c 7/17 - Had 100k in this and closed to break even, a few days later they were up 1000%. The play was on mall recovery, reopening. +2. FB 220 7/2, FB 230 7/2, FB 240 7/2 - Bought last Friday and opening Monday. Got too impatient and closed it for loss. FB rallied huge yesterday. The play was FB was oversold from ads boycotting and will rally back up. +3. SHOP 800c 7/17 - 100k in, sold for 30k profit the next day. The play was SHOP is pure retard strength and every mom and pop retailer is on e-commerce. (I use SHOP for my e-commerce biz) + +The key lesson in these 3 were that I had the right idea but no follow up plan. + +**My advice to you retards:** + +NEVER. GIVE. UP. +\-If you are down big, step away and regroup +\- Analyze what went wrong and what went right. +\- Build a checklist for your process to keep you on the right path. +**- IF IT IS GOOD ENOUGH TO SCREENSHOT. IT IS GOOD ENOUGH TO LOCK IN GAINS.** + +Have a good 4th of July weekend all, cya Monday! + +tldr: I'm retarded and Papa Musk saved me from -1.7m to +1.1m. Just placed 2 orders for Tesla X + Cyber truck. + +**SEC can suck Elon's CAWK.** +**IRS, fuck you too!** + + +My retarded V shaped / Nike just yolo it recovery. Total +680k on RH, and another +400k on TOS. That adds up to 1.1m right? + +https://preview.redd.it/cvwmc7syoi851.png?width=810&format=png&auto=webp&s=780f0c52ee80c881ca083f6cadb85608c73a4745 +My wife (28) and I (32) are getting to the point where we'd like to begin looking for home, but aren't sure if it's the right move for us. Here are a few things of note to be considered + +- Salary: $92,000 (combined salary. We also have a small business on the side where brought in about 30k last year before taxes and we expect it to be similar this year). We just got raises that put us at this salary + +- Debt: We currently have zero debt + +- We own two cars, both paid off. One car will probably need to be replaced within a year or two. + +- We have about $15,000 in savings and about $17,000 in our 401k + +- We will not be having children + +- We just recent paid off my student loans + +The last piece of information is probably one of the most interesting. + +We are currently living in a church for next to nothing + +My wife’s father is a pastor of a medium sized church which has an apartment inside of it. We moved in about 4 years ago and have been paying $400 a month in rent ever since. We do not have to pay internet, gas, electric, trash, etc. The only thing we are asked to pay is $400 a month for rent. It’s a really great set up and helped us get out of debt and begin our savings. + +I’m fine to live here as long as possible, but now that we are out of debt, my wife and I are getting a little antsy to have our own place. Is that silly? Should we stay here as long as possible? Because we won’t be having kids, we just need a 2 bedroom home, but we want it to be nice. Based on our financial situation, when should we expect to realistically move out? I don’t want to live here forever. + +We’d like to have a house in the 150k range + +Any recommendations? + +UPDATE: Just to clarify a couple things.. + +This time last year we were making 67k. When we first got married 6 years ago, the first 3 years of marriage, we both made 30k (60k total). My wife and I both got our raises within the last month which bumped us up to 92k. + +We paid off our newest car a year ago ($373/month) + +We paid off my student loans this past spring ($800/month) + +I had some medical bills that I finished paying off over the summer + +We are considered caretakers of the church. We both do a lot of work for the church. The pastor lives about 20 minutes away, so he likes having us there to make sure things are also locked up, lights are off, if alarms go off to check them, etc. When we first moved in, the rent was higher, but we added on some additional responsibilities around the church, which dropped our rent to $400/month + +UPDATE #2: Thanks to everyone for all of the great responses and suggestions. I have read every single response and I appreciate you taking the time to help me. + +Hearing everyone tell me that we are in a pretty good situation makes me feel better - I knew that I suppose, but actually hearing strangers (who don't really care about you enough to lie) say it makes it more real. + +I think what we plan to do is to stay here for as long as we can stand it. I spoke to my wife's father and he told us to stay as long as we want and save as much as we can, which made me feel better. I felt like he would want us to move on soon, but with that not being the case, I feel better about staying longer. So the plan is to stay as long as we can and save as much as we can. I'm hearing people saying that we should be able to save $3,000 a month or so - perhaps we aren't saving as much as we'd like, but that seems tough to us. We currently are putting about $700 a month into our 401k, $600 a month into savings (before my wife's $500 a month raise), I know not everyone agrees with paying tithes, but we pay 10% of our income back to the church, so that takes a chunk each month and the rest we live on. We are planning on saving that additional $500 which would put us at $1,100 a month in savings. We need to do a better job of not eating out as much, which really is a lot of money - we just need to get into a better habit of eating at home. + +I think we could get to saving $1,500 a month with ease, which would put us at $54k in 3 years, not including any side business money we could end up adding to it. + +Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! I feel much better about our future! +Currently my wife and I each put a defined amount of money in a joint account each month, and then use that money to pay our Morgage, bills, food, etc... We then each retain a personal account we use to buy personal stuff (clothes, gifts, car payments, etc) but I also know a lot of people who don’t even have their own account... everything is joint with their husband/wife.... Curious what systems other people use +This is sort of a combined business and inheritance conundrum, and any help would be so appreciated. + +I am the youngest of four siblings. My parents, now deceased, owned a high-value lot in City X. Sibling 1 and 2 still live in City X. Sibling 3 has moved to a different country. I live in City Y, which is about 10 hours away from City X. + +So far, Sibling 1 has temporarily converted the lot into a space for their small business (which everyone was fine with). We are now discussing how all siblings might profit from this lot. + +Sibling 1 and 2 are proposing that we put up a commercial building where everyone can house their business of choice. However, this feels impractical for Sibling 3 and me, since we no longer have any presence in City X. + +Might anyone here be able to suggest something outside of selling/leasing out the lot? + +Some kind of profit-sharing scheme maybe? I don't know if this is wishful thinking, but I really want to settle this amicably. I don't desperately need the money, and I doubt I can get "my fair share", but it would be nice to have a small revenue stream from this. +I think the halts today that took all our goddamn momentum are fucking crooked. How many stocks were halted today? Why were they halted? Who halted them? How long were they halted for? + +The halts kept freezing Robinhood so I couldn’t buy OR Sell my shares. Shares, not options, I couldn’t buy or sell shares, the orders wouldn’t fill....with shares. + +That’s fucked up and I want answers. Are there any videos explaining the halts today? Those halts today cost us massive profits on the way up and on the way down. Anybody trying to sell GME at $159 probably didn’t get their sell order accepted. Anybody buying on the way up couldn’t get their buy orders filled. + +Who did the halts help? The fucking market makers and short sellers. Again, fucking over the little guy. + +We always say the markets are rigged but today we saw it clear as day and we saw it multiple times. It’s extremely fucked up. End of rant. +Post all your GME-related positions, prayers, memes, stories, ~~death threats,~~ and shitposts here. + +> GameStop (NYSE:[GME](https://www.benzinga.com/stock/GME#NYSE)) reported quarterly losses of $(0.53) per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $(0.85) by 37.65 percent. This is a 8.16 percent decrease over losses of $(0.49) per share from the same period last year. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.00 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.09 billion by 7.83 percent. This is a 30.18 percent decrease over sales of $1.44 billion the same period last year. + +\- u/backdoorcover + +[Full Report](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/08/2141775/0/en/GameStop-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results-A-Positive-Start-to-Fourth-Quarter-with-November-Comparable-Store-Sales-Increasing-16-5-And-Sustained-Progress-Toward-Long-Term-Strategic-Obj.html) + +[Link to Conference Call (Starts at 5pm EST)](https://viavid.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1400100) + + >”The phone number for the conference call is 877-451-6152 and the confirmation code is 13713035.” +> +> +>call in and tell them your name is robin hood and work at wallstreetbets + +u/robinhoodkid +You fucking degenerates kept squeezing Melvin today, and they're hurting. + +So, let's take a look at Melvin's AUM and what they own: + +https://aum13f.com/firm/melvin-capital-management-lp + +You'll notice two fairly liquid stocks: $1.5B of BABA, and $1.2B of EXPE. + +Let's look at BABA after hours: + +https://i.imgur.com/lkWpvSB.png + +And EXPE: + +https://i.imgur.com/8FlqDtP.png + +Yes, my fucking DD is literally Google. Fuck you. + +Anyway, coordinated sell off at 4:50PM after hours of both of their stocks. Could be coincidence, or it could be MELV struggling to breathe with the schlong of WSB so far down its throat that it's having its last death throes liquidating its assets. + +Who knows. We only know one thing: + +Diamond. Handz. +Closing in on purchasing a home and will need to convert to fiat for a down payment, I want to thank all the beautiful people who've been involved in crypto to make it possible. + +In early 2017 I put in about 10k in to btc, eth and nem. Since then I have gone back to school for civil engineering and worked a job that payed peanuts compared to the housing price growth where I live(GTA), the only thing keeping me in the game was crypto. I'm now able to afford a good home, not in the GTA but the nest egg is the reason I can move, fuck Toronto and everything 100km around it. + +I first started following crypto on the [bodybuilding.com](https://bodybuilding.com) forum and their thread back in the day but moved to reddit to lurk later. Either way I'm hoping to regrow my coins while paying down other bills, fiat in Canada isn't worth fuck all compared to the wild inflation of real metrics, I hope to be back on the space elevator soon, god speed you bastards, one day the down payment will just be in btc no questions asked. +I know Burry already called this out awhile ago but it's become very clear that all the twitter accounts with laser eyes in their profile photo are paid by unusual whales to promote their content. + + +Interestingly, unusual_whales follows every single one of them... + + +I think we need to start calling this shit out because it's honestly a little disturbing. I'm fairly certain they are required to divulge if they are pushing a product that sponsors them, but please correct me if I'm wrong. + + +Everyone reading this post should read this: + +https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/q7cjmp/unusual_whales_are_not_credible/ + + +TLDR: One of the shill moderators that got kicked off the Superstonk mod team is a moderator of Unusual Whales. Seems like UW is pump and dumping our community and has used insiders to influence it. This makes me angry. + + +Ultimately none of this matters tho, just fucking DRS so we can make this thing happen. Not financial advice. +Hello, + +I’m not sure if this is the correct place for this post but I was hoping to pick some brains for ideas and suggestions regarding this issue. Thank you in advance! Located in California + +My boyfriend needs dental work urgently and he does not have health/dental insurance. He isn’t exactly sure what the issue is, but it is more serious than a cavity or filling (we think it has something to do with a wisdom tooth growing the wrong way) and there is facial swelling. + +He doesn’t have insurance and we were looking into filing for Medi-Cal but he makes slightly more than the income cut off. I was looking at dental plans he could sign up for but most of them don’t cover oral surgeries or anything more serious than fillings and basic teeth cleanings. If anyone has tips on cheap dental plans or what to look out for when sighing up for insurance, that would be really helpful. Thank you!! + + +Hi everyone, + +Thank you for the helpful advice and suggestions! I’m gonna call different dental offices/dental schools first thing tomorrow and get an in-person appointment. We will most likely go with the care credit idea. Hopefully this won’t kill the bank accounts but regardless the most important thing is to seek attention ASAP. Thanks again! :) and tyvm for the awards too +I ran into a bit of extra cash recently, I decided I'd like to pay my rent in advance. I called up my landlord and said "I'd like to pay 6 months rent up front now and get 1 month rent free" + +To my surprise he agreed. So for the next 7 months my rent is paid for :) + +I consider this a return of 16% on my money...which IMHO is a good return. + +Anyone else ever do this before? + +Also I got it in writing as well, signed and witnessed. +In 2014 I started a business with my wife. Our net worth is now around 5M EUR (plus family house). Have the option to sell the (small) company now and get another 3 to 4M EUR to comfortable fire. + +Until now the company has been built on the basis of our own sweat (long hours, stressful life, firefighting on a daily basis...) and we are still very active on the operational side of the (service driven) business. + +We are in a growing industry and our ambition is now to grow the business with more employees (we now have 10) and a more strategic role for ourselves. This means extra investments (lower profit margins, bigger financial risk,...) and a change of our role. We do not want to work 80 hours a week or more. + +Looking for tips from people who took the same decision in how to approach this best +Hi, I am not interested in paying a financial advisor a fee to manage my assets as I am already comfortable managing my own allocations. + +&#x200B; + +However, I am not as educated on tax code and how to minimize my taxes today and in the future. For example, how to approach after-tax 401k contributions and how to account for that down the line with roll-overs, etc. + +&#x200B; + +Has anyone here specifically hired a tax planner (not to do their one year income taxes, but to help with long-term tax strategy), and had a good experience? How would I go about finding one that is top notch? I live in NYC but honestly would be just as comfortable using a remote/phone-based service if there is a good one recommended. Thanks. +We are considering making a $20k donation to a particular non-profit organization. This will be the largest donation we have made to any single organization before. We aren’t sure if we should just write a blank check or if we should try to do something to help the organization more in the process. As an example, I have heard of wealthy people offering matching donations to help the organization fundraiser from other people. I’m not sure if this gift would be too small to consider something like that? At what gift level do you get more involved than simply writing a check? I don’t mean volunteering as well as giving, but being more involved in the giving process. We are already involved time wise a bit and plan to be more involved over time. +I recently discovered a condo for sale in a so called condo hotel ([wikipedia link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condo_hotel)). + +It's an interesting investment proposition, but I'm not sure how to judge it's economically sound. You can only spend a third of the year occupying it, and the other two thirds plus gets rented out as a hotel room. Then, revenue is split between the hotel and the owner. + +Has anyone looked into or purchased a condo in a condo hotel? What sort of questions should I be asking the realtor? (In my case, this condo is right next to my office and will help partially alleviate an hour+ commute as well, so I will be able to use it as more than an investment property sometimes) +Hello fellow fatFIRES I am reaching out to the ones out there who have done it before so I can make a much better decision in terms of owning a jet. Here’s the background: + +Recently turned 30 M, residing for the most part in Texas but consistently traveling to the east/west coast and some cities in Mexico. NW is sufficient enough to make the purchase for a better transportation method that would allow to cut unnecessary waiting/travel times or sometimes connection (in the case for some cities in Mexico). I’ve chartered Jets before for business purposes mainly and that I’m familiar, however in terms of buying a membership I haven’t come across something that sounds financially reasonable yet with the companies I have dealt with in the past (ex 100k USD for 25 hrs in a phenom 300) or shared ownership through them costing 750k USD for 1/10 and having 50 hrs p/year). + +I have friends who I know they would benefit from having access to a jet and I think that would be the smartest route to go (3/4 ppl max). My thought is to purchase it on my own and charter flights to my friends at a reasonable but less than market price where my payments are very minimal or to purchase it between 3/4 people and split everything accordingly. + +Things to consider: +-Keeping the jet in Mexico or a regional airport in Texas (pros/cons) what costs are associated with stationing a jet, maintenance, customs, flight crew, etc etc. +-We are thinking a light size/midsize jet such as Hawker400xp or 800xp USED acquired through a reputable brokerage firm (PLEASE RECOMMEND any good starting point) +-Jet will be financed and owned by one of my companies. + + +I would greatly appreciate all the guidance and advice this group can provide related to this important decision. Thank you in advance fatFIRES!!! +If you're new and haven't been around atleast a couple cycles, it's easy to let the charts get to you when you're down. I used to check them constantly trying to find the "dip" (I didn't really understand what that was at the time) in the middle of a bull run... it was even more after it had a major, prolonged (actual) dip. I was off the ATH by less than 5% on the buy in. + +I remember feeling like a fool for learning FOMO the hard way. I also made the mistake of telling 2 people I got into Crypto, and was up. I was green for less than a week and was constantly asked 'how much was I up now?' In the following red months. + +Those months did end though. I kept buying, lowering my average purchase price. Even with recent 'crashes' (I use that term loosely) I'm still green. + +Now not every coin does this, but some do. DYOR to find out which ones. + +Edit: This ofcourse excludes shitcoins. +https://nathantankus.substack.com/p/the-stock-market-is-less-disconnected + +*If you're not following Nathan Tankus by now, you're missing out on key, relevant economic commentary.* + +>There is one big area you can say that the stock market is disconnected from the economic outlook— size. By definition, it tends to be bigger companies which are on the stock market. So inevitably the stock market can’t capture the thousands of small businesses that are failing. Yet, even here, disaggregation of the S&P tells us a lot. Again, there is a wide and sharp dispersion right now, with average returns for large firms a lot higher than smaller firms. This wasn’t the case in February. More than half the companies in the index have less than $25 billion in market capitalization, and the average year-to-date return for all these companies (equally-weighted) is negative. + +**This wasn't a surprise for me.** + +>Once returns are broken down by sales growth, we see dramatic differences based on sales growth and decline. Returns are in fact highest for companies with the strongest year-over-year sales growth. Among those with sales growth greater than 20% are familiar companies like Amazon and Netflix, but also much smaller companies like Nvidia and Paypal. In other words, tech stock returns are being driven by tech sales. + +**This was a surprise, and the graphs on the link explain it succinctly.** + +>This does not mean that stocks, especially the ones that have really run up in price, are avoiding overvaluation. However, that is a different question. If there are overvalued stocks, it is likely caused by companies that have seen the biggest sales growth leading to overoptimistic expectations of future sales growth. Overconfidence reflects the economy and beliefs about the economy, while none of us know the future. But this is a generic point, not an argument for setting aside consideration of the stock market. Stocks with the highest valuation, as measured by forward price to earnings ratio, have in fact gained the most year-to-date. + +>Meanwhile, the momentum has flipped in the other direction over the course of September. Stocks that were up the most year-to-date, through 9/2/2020 fell the most on average as of 9/18/2020. If at some point this year Federal Reserve interventions propped up the stock market by “financing speculation”, it doesn’t seem to be now. + +>Of course, if the stock market doesn’t do a great job of capturing the fortunes of small businesses, it really doesn’t do a good job of capturing how well workers are doing. But workers are not the economy. If people really mean that the stock market doesn’t reflect workers' economic circumstances, they should say it. That mismatch is also something that’s obvious, and clearly true all the time. Even here, overall sales were supported by the now expired ‘stimulus’ checks and supplementary unemployment benefits, as Joe Weisenthal pointed out six weeks ago. + +>To the extent those elevated sales represented labor’s economic circumstances, the stock market reflected it. Without making any predictions, it’s likely the stock market will continue to reflect sales as they taper off. More generally, workers do tend to benefit from high sales growth. Those factors spill over into a tighter labor market, as J.W. Mason’s new paper points out. The lesson here is that to understand what’s going on, we have to peer past the price indices, and examine the stock market in far more detail. +📣 $FUZZY has officially been live for 24 Hours 📣 + +Hello Fuzzies! I just turned one day old! 🎊🎉 Here's what I have accomplished: + +&#x200B; + +* 800 Holders 👫 +* 800 Telegram Members 👫 ( +* $2 million Market Cap 💸 +* 2% Redistributed to the holders per transaction +* Liquidity Locked / Ownership Renounced +* Active And Transparent Dev +* Organic Shoutouts From Major Influencers + +I hope you all will join us on our mission to create a Community to combat the sea of evil rugs. + +🔔Dev will be available to speak EACH DAY for at least an hour on Voice Chat. As promised, we are hosting DAILY AMA's with Dev available to answer any and all questions. Remember, TRANSPARENCY is the main tenant of this token. As many of you saw earlier today, Dev is an honest and straight shooter. 💪 **Dev will host AMA's on Voice Chat for an hour Between 4-7 pm UTC−06:00 each day.** + +💁‍♂️ You can even go through the Devs wallet (top holder in Etherscan) and see that his wallet is seasoned and you can see all the coins he has been RUGGED on. We are sick and tired of the rugging. + +🎤 We have an always on voice channel in Telegram to answer any questions and help new people buy the token through Uniswap. + +**Remember our advantage:** + +&#x200B; + +* Extremely Low Market Cap (less than 2 million right now) +* Brand New - Exactly 24 hours old. Charts looking good for steady growth, not a pump and dump +* Liquidity Locked / Ownership Renounced +* Active And Transparent Dev (he is the top wallet holder and is willing to lock more liquidity if the project progresses. 1% of his wallet is for marketing) +* Organic Shoutouts From Major Influencers +* A Mission To Create A Community Done Right To Combat The Sea Of Rugging Happening + +Helpful Links: + +&#x200B; + +* Telegram: [http://t.me/FuzzyInu](http://t.me/FuzzyInu) +* Twitter: [https://twitter.com/FuzzyInu](https://twitter.com/FuzzyInu) +* Website: [https://www.fuzzyinu.info/](https://www.fuzzyinu.info/) +* Reddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/FuzzyInu](https://www.reddit.com/r/FuzzyInu) +* Organic Honorable Mentions: [https://twitter.com/1goonrich/status/1394663618122240002?s=21](https://twitter.com/1goonrich/status/1394663618122240002?s=21) +* Renounced Ownership: [https://etherscan.io/tx/0x21dc9d28114fc01d5e695cfe893db000d0a53efa0528987f2af15b11e8666984](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x21dc9d28114fc01d5e695cfe893db000d0a53efa0528987f2af15b11e8666984) +* Liquidity locked: [https://etherscan.io/tx/0xaf0f91da2e9a61960b2ecc68417248fd66f9e95b93a2483ac97bd3a9fb529de6](https://etherscan.io/tx/0xaf0f91da2e9a61960b2ecc68417248fd66f9e95b93a2483ac97bd3a9fb529de6) +* Contract: 0x4bCDdFCFA8CB923952BcF16644b36e5dA5CA3184 +* Dextools: [https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x513f6bb1d10b06315cf130e452fcc7da51a9318f](https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0x513f6bb1d10b06315cf130e452fcc7da51a9318f) +* YouTube Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV5xN6U0hx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV5xN6U0hx0) + +NOTE: There was no token 🔥 burn as we don't feel like that provides any value. It is just a marketing gimmick for other coins. + +I hope this coin makes you as Warm and Fuzzy as it makes me (heh) +Edit: By "Top 50" I meant top 50 coins by market cap, not top 50 coins with the highest losses. Thanks to those that pointed out this ambiguity. + +&#x200B; + +After seeing several articles claiming that meme coins are the "biggest losers" of the recent market crash, I looked at the top 50 coins (by market cap) to see which ones really suffered the greatest losses from 2021 highs. Below is the data. Coins marked with an asterisk (\*) are ones that did not set a new ATH in 2021. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[Honorable mention: Safemoon, at rank 54, is down 74&#37; from its ATH.](https://preview.redd.it/lt6b5lx2ulb71.png?width=1492&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d6d213b51ec1998a2aa8f549e10262cb9221389) + +&#x200B; + +So what does this tell us? Let's take a look at the best and worst performing coins in this timeframe. + +&#x200B; + +The 10 **best** performing coins/tokens (excluding stablecoins, compound tokens) out of the top 50 are: + +* LEO: -26% +* CEL: -31% +* ALGO: -50% (the sub is gonna love this one hahaha) +* SOL: -50% +* ADA: -50% +* BTC/WBTC: -51% +* BNB: -54% +* COMP: -55% +* ETH: -56% +* CRO: -58% + +Aside from a few outliers, these are serious projects that are highly regarded in this sub. + +&#x200B; + +The 10 **worst** performing coins/tokens out of the top 50 are: + +* ICP: -95% +* SHIB: -82% +* AVAX: -81% +* FIL: -80% +* KLAY: -79% +* VET: -75% +* OKB: -75% +* DOGE: -74% +* EOS\*: -74% +* BSV: -74% +* (SAFEMOON: -74%) + +This is a bit of a mixed basket. There are definitely some meme coins., as well as some coins that were obvious PnD vehicles during the bull run. There are also some serious projects in this list, too (poor VeChain). + +&#x200B; + +In an effort to keep this as objective as possible, I'm not going to analyze these results or attempt to draw any conclusions from them. I just wanted to throw some facts in the ring with all the FUD-fueled articles that seem to dominate the front page. +Edit: By "Top 50" I meant top 50 coins by market cap, not top 50 coins with the highest losses. Thanks to those that pointed out this ambiguity. + +&#x200B; + +After seeing several articles claiming that meme coins are the "biggest losers" of the recent market crash, I looked at the top 50 coins (by market cap) to see which ones really suffered the greatest losses from 2021 highs. Below is the data. Coins marked with an asterisk (\*) are ones that did not set a new ATH in 2021. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +[Honorable mention: Safemoon, at rank 54, is down 74&#37; from its ATH.](https://preview.redd.it/lt6b5lx2ulb71.png?width=1492&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d6d213b51ec1998a2aa8f549e10262cb9221389) + +&#x200B; + +So what does this tell us? Let's take a look at the best and worst performing coins in this timeframe. + +&#x200B; + +The 10 **best** performing coins/tokens (excluding stablecoins, compound tokens) out of the top 50 are: + +* LEO: -26% +* CEL: -31% +* ALGO: -50% (the sub is gonna love this one hahaha) +* SOL: -50% +* ADA: -50% +* BTC/WBTC: -51% +* BNB: -54% +* COMP: -55% +* ETH: -56% +* CRO: -58% + +Aside from a few outliers, these are serious projects that are highly regarded in this sub. + +&#x200B; + +The 10 **worst** performing coins/tokens out of the top 50 are: + +* ICP: -95% +* SHIB: -82% +* AVAX: -81% +* FIL: -80% +* KLAY: -79% +* VET: -75% +* OKB: -75% +* DOGE: -74% +* EOS\*: -74% +* BSV: -74% +* (SAFEMOON: -74%) + +This is a bit of a mixed basket. There are definitely some meme coins., as well as some coins that were obvious PnD vehicles during the bull run. There are also some serious projects in this list, too (poor VeChain). + +&#x200B; + +In an effort to keep this as objective as possible, I'm not going to analyze these results or attempt to draw any conclusions from them. I just wanted to throw some facts in the ring with all the FUD-fueled articles that seem to dominate the front page. +Seriously, + + +I unsubbed months ago because of all the brain-dead reposting. Yeah yeah yeah you just like the stock, shorts r fuk, delight customers blah blah... I got it the first 100 times. Every now and then I drop in to see what's new and most of the time it's nothing. Just another re-post of a Tweet, DRS, a dead meme format or some other shit. + +Or worse off, people here will find an interesting lead and just make a post to ask someone else to look in to it for them. Holy fuck. + +That's exactly why I know you mf'ers are going to hold. Ain't no way people who put that little effort in to their posts will pass up an opportunity to make a lot of money. You were made for holding - literally just holding and doing nothing. I'm 100% sure that people here will refuse to sell even at ATH because selling would take more effort. Y'all refuse to look at YouTubers/Twitter clout chasers pumping other stocks because that means monitoring more than one stock and that's too much effort. + +In a way, it's annoying. In another way, there's no way something like this can ever be successful without a community this fuckin' stubborn. + +Never change, SuperStonk. +https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-can-be-thanked-creating-a-growing-ev-market-2020-10 + +A decade ago, no major automaker was going to bet on a non-existent electric-vehicle market. Big Auto was happy to sit back and watch Tesla try to create a new segment. But now, almost every carmaker has announced significant electric-vehicle ambitions for the coming decade. + +Make no mistake: Without Tesla, this wouldn't be happening. We'd still be asking the circa 2006 question, "Who killed the electric car?" if Tesla hadn't reset the EV race in the years before the financial crisis, narrowly avoided bankruptcy, and positioned itself to deliver half a million vehicles in 2021 (and gift investors with a 9,200% return). + +Now, the global EV market is poised to grow, especially in China, where auto sales are already millions more annually than in the US, with the potential to top out at twice what the US sees every year, around 16-17 million new cars, trucks, and SUVs. A large percentage of those new sales could be electric, and automakers don't want Tesla to capture them all. + +Thanks for the awards. +I just had nowhere else to rant but I finally got approved for food stamps a couple of days ago and I just got my card in the mail today and I'm so happy I could cry! I can finally go grocery shopping for something other than ramen yay! Just to make the most of it, can anyone recommend cheap meals that are still relatively healthy? +We fatfired a couple years ago in our late 30s in the US, and just recently had a baby. This is taking us from a relatively simple estate plan (distribute everything to family/friends and non-profits, no long term trusts) to something that provides for the child through their life if something were to happen to both of us. + +I'd love to hear how others in a similar situation have thought about it. + +We've been thinking of it in a few dimensions: + +1. How do we use money to increase the chances of our child having a better life? +We live in interesting times, and it's unclear they will have the same opportunities as I've had. At the same time, we worry that too much of a cushion will lower their drive or turn them into, for lack of a better word, an asshole. +2. How do we ensure the money is not exhausted early through poor decisions? +This is low 8 figures - enough to support someone in perpetuity at a reasonable lifestyle, but also easy to burn through with poor decisions. +3. How do we avoid unknowingly doing damage through inflexible decisions we make today?Decisions that make sense today might not do so in 20 years. For example, one could imagine requiring a university education to receive some portion of the money - but one could also imagine universities being far less relevant in 20 years. + +The parts that seem obvious are having an irrevocable trust, with child as beneficiary. Trustees and backup trustees who are very close friends in a similar place in life. We are fortunate to have a few people we trust at that level. + +The hard parts are not the mechanics, but rather the factors that influence the above points: how much should the child know, and how much control do the parties (child, trustee, child's guardian) have over how the money is used. + +Thanks in advance, and I hope this spawns an interesting thread. +Canadian Citizen, HCOL, Toronto +24 years old +CAD $6.8M NW +- $2.5M house, 800k mortgage remaining +- $4M CAD in a corp, profiting around $2.5M per year. All consulting income, no passive income or assets. +- $300k CAD in personal accounts and investments + +I’m looking to become more tax efficient for my corporation and looking for advice on professional accountants/financial advisors who can be self sufficient so I can focus full time on making money, which is what I am good at. + +Any introductions or tips are welcome +Google Finance gets redesigned, finally dumps Adobe Flash + +https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/google-finance-gets-redesigned-finally-dumps-adobe-flash/ +Hedge Funds are in real trouble with the market turning down as we head into what is clearly a huge recession. They are selling off all future bets to stay afloat. Thats where we're seeing all this sell pressure. Nothing has changed about the technology. In fact, it's gotten better over the years and the network effect has only gotten stronger. More wallets, more transactions, more users than ever before. Bitcoin is cheaper better faster stronger money. Do what you need to do during these rough times ahead but I don't have a shadow of a doubt that Bitcoin is the future. +https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/13/tesla-shares-fall-after-company-announces-2-billion-common-stock-offering.html + +Tesla announced on Thursday it plans to offer $2 billion of common stock. + +CEO Elon Musk will buy as much as $10 million of stock in this offering, while board member Larry Ellison will also purchase up to $1 million. + +The raise comes two weeks after Musk declared that Tesla did not plan to raise any more capital. + +Edit: Tesla is up 4% now. +My daughter is 2 years old and has been blind in one eye since birth. She has an ophthalmologist that she sees on a regular basis. She has undergone a surgery and regularly has EUAs (Exam Under Anesthesia) done to check on her good eye. These can be expensive even with insurance. They billed her primary insurance 18k for her last EUA, and without Medicaid I'm still responsible for 10% of that. + +Currently I make $12.50/hr full time which comes out to to $26,000/yr before taxes. The Medicaid eligibility cutoff for a family of 3 in Texas is $26,952/yr (also before taxes). A $2 raise will bring me to $30,160, bringing in an additional $320/mo, and putting me over the eligibility limit. + +I'm enrolled in my employer's health insurance which is $160 biweekly for the 3 of us. Since my daughter qualifies for Medicaid, the state reimburses me those premiums through a program called HIPP. If she loses Medicaid, I'm also out of the HIPP program. This completely negates the $2/hr raise. + +As is, I'm struggling to make ends meet and require food stamp assistance. We get $315/mo. I'd most likely lose this benefit as well or have it reduced. + +So in summary, if I get this promotion, my daughter will lose Medicaid, I will have to pay the insurance premiums, deductibles, copays, and coinsurance out of my own pocket. Resulting in a net loss all around when I'm already struggling even though we live modestly. + +I'd LOVE to get off all government assistance, but a $2/hr raise will not get me there, and it's something I will not even see after losing the other benefits. I only want this promotion so I can further my career and continue onto the next stepping stone. I'm just worried this move will destroy me financially since I'm already struggling. + +What is your advice? Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is there some type of special Medicaid my child can apply for? If my daughter can keep her Medicaid I don't care about the food stamps since the raise will cover that. It'll instead be a lateral move financially instead of a net loss. +I still owe about $5,500 on a Chrysler 200. It keeps trying to die. I've had to replace the engine, alternator, and a wheel hub (ABS wasn't working) recently. Now it looks like the starter is going out. I'm definitely going to need a new set of tires before winter. At this point I honestly think I'd be better off getting another car because the repairs to this one cost more than the monthly payments... I can't imagine it's worth much on trade in at a dealership, and I don't really have time to shop privately (I'm getting a lot of OT for the time being). Should I buy another car and keep this one until I can get rid of it? Try to trade it in? Guuhhh, I hate cars. +I made a [post with my plays on Sunday](https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/k818np/i_draw_with_crayons_so_you_dont_have_to_last_week/) and entered position on most of them by Tuesday morning. Monday was difficult because most stocks on the list were up 4-5%. Here are my current positions and plan for each of them. It's important to have an idea of what you want to do with your positions. If you aren't comfortable holding something at it's current price point then its time to re-adjust your positions. + +I had great gains Tuesday by market close, which got blasted yesterday, and up yet again today. Beauty of this all is by selling these puts I dont mind getting assigned, but I'm also collecting premium on theta while the market decides to play chop with itself. + +# Positions + +**CRM:** This was from last week's earnings YOLO. Looks like I will be assigned tomorrow around $221 level. My break-even price for the shares when I get assigned will be around $225. I can sell the $225 covered call next week and collect a decent premium, maybe 1%. I'm not worried about this position. + +**DKNG**: From my plans this week DKNG was looking at a great target to sell puts at. Currently up 25%, I will close the position once it hits 60% profit. + +**FROG**: Honestly, I don't know much about this company. I saw it dropped a decent amount from the highs recently so I sold some puts. This one is kind of a YOLO but premiums were incredible. + +**PLTR**: Opened this position yesterday even though it wasn't on my list. It was down a good amount yesterday so I saw an opportunity to sell puts here and collect some premium. + +**RKT**: This one has gone according to plan. $20 level is like a brick wall for this stock, I view selling puts around that level to be nearly free money (nothing is ever free). It's up a good amount here, I'll continue to hold to get a bit more out of it. + +**SFIX**: This was my earnings YOLO this week and I hit smack on the nose. Stock soared 50% on earnings WTF. + +**TDOC**: Teledoc is going to be a good long-term hold and something I will continue to sell puts against. Profit has been slow and steady on this one, but will close out around 60% profit. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/nmqyx4fn2f461.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=14924423b695aa9d4fb99f3d3f1ee4936cc48f8c +Seriously, why are we even talking about fundamentals when there are a lot of shitcoins that are sitting in top 20 without any fundamentals? + +I used to care a lot about fundamentals and utility when I was investing in coins but now I just don't see the point of caring about fundamentals. Some person creates a shit coin and pays influencers to shill his coin in order to create a fake hype and boom, that coin is in top 20 without any use case and utility. Excuse me but what the fuck? + +We almost lost our most important values, fundamentals, utility, a good dev team etc. + +In a market where shitcoins sit easily in top 20 without any utility/use case, no one cares about fundamentals anymore. +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 searched a little, but didn't find anything that looks like any sort of consensus, definitive best practice for FIRE community to plan on optimizing FAFSA the way we optimize federal taxes. Is it Cunningham's law that says the fastest way to get the right answer is to post the wrong one oneline? Anyway, this post is sort of my attempt at that. + +Apologies in advance for being long-winded. This started out as my own notes for myself (posted to my personal blog with readership of exactly 2 people), but once I realized how much I'm probably misunderstanding, I thought I'd post here. + +ETA: as u/Zphr points out in the comments here and in their post from a year ago, starting Fall of 2023 (Edit2: for FAFSA forms filled out in Fall 2023, for the 24-25 school year) there is a new path to auto-zero EFC. It'll be based on ~~2021~~ 2022 tax returns, but is much more generous than previous stuff, and probably is the primary thing that FIRE folks should optimize for. Rather than repeat the details here, please follow [this link](https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/mn3d83/possible_fire_impacts_starting_immediately_from/) (also linked below, but I hadn't appreciated how big a deal it was). +---- + +I have recently become very interested in how FAFSA works, and college finances more generally. I had a general notion of things, but between my oldest kid (whom I'll call Sonny in this post, and I'll call the next oldest Sister, so that I can repost this to reddit if I want) actually applying to schools, and my friend asking me lots of question about *his* kids, I have recently spent time getting a better handle on it. This post is meant to capture what I've learned. I'll update it as I find errors or learn new things. Perhaps others find it useful, but as with most of this blog, it's for me more than anyone else. This is all written to parents, so students and grandparents need to adjust accordingly. + +<!--more--> + +### Executive Summary + +If you want to fund your *grandchildren's* education expenses, set up a 529 with *you* as the beneficiary as soon as your last child is done filling out FAFSA forms. If you want to fund your *children's* education expenses, first make sure you are maxing out IRAs and 401ks, and only then should you fund a 529. If you will have "low" income during any of the years your kids will be in college or grad school, there might be some benefit to keeping non-retirement assets minimal. As with all things personal finance, optimization requires a little forecasting. + +### "Rich" Schools vs "Regular" Schools + +Some schools are very expensive, but also have large endowments. At these schools, FAFSA might still be used to calculate how much the school gives a student, but (a large portion of) the aid is coming from the school, not from the government. To quote [Stanford's page](https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/index.html) on why their net cost numbers differ from information published by the Federal Government (emphasis added): + +> The federal data is based only on federal aid recipients. Because Stanford meets need for eligible students without expecting them to borrow, **only a small portion of our aid recipients receive federal aid** and are included in the federal report. + +I'm fuzzy about how things work at regular schools, but I think there is a big difference between federal aid in the form of subsidized student loans and direct aid in the form of reduced tuition (or "need-based scholarship" or similar). If you "optimize" your situation and that results in you qualifying for $50k of subsidized loans instead of $30k, sure, that saves you interest. But it's not nearly as relevant as qualifying for $50k of tuition reduction instead of $30k, which is worth the full $20k. + +Sonny is applying to rich schools that are very expensive. Stanford's sticker price, for example, is $82k per year. I'm not totally sure that the same optimization tradeoffs apply to regular schools, and my thinking is mostly based on Stanford-like schools (for now). + +### Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Heuristics + +The aid calculation roughly follows a simple formula: (School Costs) - (Expected Family Contribution) = (Total Aid) + +The EFC is divided by the number of students simultaneously enrolled in college. If Sonny goes to a very expensive school during the same year that Sister goes to a very cheap one, Sister might receive no aid even while Sonny receives a boatload. Since "Total Aid" can't be negative, this can only help the family as a whole. + +EFC is based on 4 things, namely the assets and income of the parents and student. In each case, some of the category has an "allowance", so, for example the first $7k of student income has absolutely no affect on EFC. But at the margin, the categories' affects aid are as follows: + +* Parent After-tax Income: 47%. + * "After tax" gets tricky. The allowances for taxes are actual federal income tax, 9% for NY, and 7.65% for Social Security (up to $137,700). + * If you are in the 12% federal bracket, then the 47% is really 33%. + * If you are in the 22% federal bracket, then the 47% is really 29%. +* Parent Assets: 5.64%, in two parts. Assets are converted at a 12% rate into "adjusted available income" and then the 47% applies to that. 12% x 47% = 5.64%. +* Student Income: 50%. +* Student Assets: 20%. + +The allowances for each category are in the EFC Formula Guide (linked below) and depend on a few things such as family size, but for Sonny's situation, they are: + +* Parent Income Allowance: All federal income taxes paid, plus 7.65% SS tax allowance, plus 9% for NY taxes, plus a value from Table 4 which for us is $41,670. +* Parent Asset Allowance: I can't believe it, but if I'm reading it right, just $3,300. +* Student Income Allowance: $7k. +* Student Asset Allowance: None. + +### Optimization for Regular People + +I don't know what "regular" means. If you're sending a kid to college at all, you're probably not early-career, and you're probably not working minimum wage. Probably you've saved for retirement, but maybe you don't have too much saved outside of retirement accounts. + +If you have income of $100k and relevant assets of $100k and four kids, your EFC is about $13k. "Hiding" those assets somehow would drop it to $7.5k. So paying off your mortgage early, or spending a few years maxing out 401k contributions and spending the regular savings is probably a good strategy. Just about any school is going to cost more than $13k, so this is all useful effort. If your kid is making bank and saving for college, saving in a 529 makes the money look like parental assets instead of student assets. $10k in a 529 compared to $10k in the student's bank account affects aid to the tune of about $1,400. + +If you have income of $200k, no relevant assets, and only two kids, then your EFC is about $41k. In that situation, you probably won't get any aid for "cheap" schools, so the optimization only matters if your kid goes to an expensive school, or if you can easily hide a *lot* of income. **In other words, the best optimization for high-income folks is simply to send your kid to a cheap school.** + +Although EFC is calculated based on all 4 categories, what you end up with is just a single number for computing aid, and no one forces you to draw on the 4 categories in the way the formula suggests. If you expect income to be constant through four years of college, then there is a benefit to using assets to pay for tuition instead of income. That is, if you have $100k in assets and you normally pay an extra $500/month on your mortgage, don't redirect the $500/month to tuition when your kid starts college. Instead, spend down that $100k on tuition (or better yet, spend *all* $100k on paying down the mortgage, since your home value doesn't count for FAFSA). Similarly, if your kid earns $5k their freshman year and has $5k in the bank, you (as a fiscally responsible, long-term thinker) might want them to spend the $5k of income on tuition, and graduate with $5k still in the bank. If, instead, your kid spends $5k on a toga party with their fraternity (or a car, or whatever), it affects EFC by $1k per year and therefore only costs them $1k. Money is fungible and this gets complicated, but the point is that the EFC formula incentivizes some weird behavior. I'm not a fan of crazy shenanigans to exploit the system, but the formula certainly pushes people in the direction of shenanigans, and we each draw our own line for what counts as crazy. + +FAFSA looks at your tax returns from two years ago for the purposes of income (though it looks at your present assets). It would cost you an awful lot to have a taxable windfall that shows up in AGI occur two years before a kid goes to college. For example, if your siblings decide to cash out Mom and Dad's life insurance policy early, creating a large taxable event, and then two tax-years later your kid goes to an expensive school, that windfall increases EFC by roughly 37% (assuming no SS tax on it), on top of whatever taxes you paid at the time. + +Because FAFSA estimates a percentage for state tax allowance based solely on your state, not your actual state income taxes paid, 529 plans (and other state tax deductible things) can be slightly more valuable than things that provide federal tax deductions, though federal taxes are so high that it's usually still better to get a federal deduction. + +Here's a tip about 529s. Beneficiaries are easily changed to any member of the family, and the account value only shows up if the owner is the student or their parent (and in both cases it shows up as parental asset). If the owner is someone else, then distributions show up as student income. Since there is a delay on how income affects FAFSA, and since there is a lifetime max of $10k for using 529s to pay down student loans, the best strategy is usually to use up to $10k of 529 money to pay down student loans *after* college, and if there is more than $10k available, use it for tuition during the last two years that the student would otherwise be borrowing money. A grandparent can set up a 529 with themselves as beneficiary, and easily switch the beneficiary to their grandchild at the appropriate time. I'm not sure how this works for multiple grandkids of the same age, but it does seem like you can do transfers in a way that makes this workable. If an older sibling is the owner and beneficiary and has leftover money, wait to switch to the younger sibling until the younger sibling is almost done borrowing. + +### Optimization for High-Asset, Low-Income People (ie, Early Retirees) + +Suppose you are considering early retirement, which might drop your income dramatically. If your child will go to college in Fall of 2023, then you want your 2021 tax return to reflect that lower income. But also, you need to check whether your non-retirement assets already push you out of aid range. + +If you have no income (which you won't, but let's pretend) and $1M in relevant assets (meaning, $1M outside of IRAs and 401ks) and four kids, then your EFC is about $30k. Note that available income can go negative, so even though there is a $41k allowance for income, it is not the case that your first $41k of income has no effect. If the contribution from assets pushes your adjusted available income above $35k, then the 5.65% marginal rate still applies. + +Anyway, $30k of EFC means cheap schools won't give you any aid, but it's close enough that if you can easily get it down a few hundred $k (paying off mortgage, buying that car, taking that huge vacation, whatever) it might help. And of course, expensive schools cost way more than $30k, so everything counts. + +If you can spend money on something you were going to buy *anyway*, spend that money before you fill out FAFSA. + +If you can delay/defer income until your (youngest) kid is a junior or senior (and they aren't planning on using FAFSA in grad school), delaying and deferring is very valuable. + +If you plan on giving your kid money that will show up on FAFSA, giving it to them after college to help them pay down student loans is probably FAR more valuable than giving it to them before college to pay for tuition. This is especially true if your are a grandparent or aunt and don't have FAFSA stuff of your own at the time. + +### Links and other Resources + +* Obviously, fsapartners.ed.gov in general has all the official stuff. But for easy reference, I link the [EFC Formula Guide](https://fsapartners.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2021-08/2223EFCFormulaGuide.pdf) and a [mockup SAR](https://fsapartners.ed.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/2019-10/2021SARMockupEnglish_1.pdf). +* According to NYSaves.org (as of 2022-10-16) you can easily transfer the beneficiary to a family member. The IRS defines "member of the family" as: + * Son, daughter, step-child, foster child, adopted child, or a descendant of any of them. + * Brother, sister, step-brother, or step-sister. + * Father or mother or ancestor of either. + * Step-father or step-mother. + * Son or daughter of a brother or sister. + * Brother or sister of father or mother. + * Son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law. + * The spouse of the beneficiary or any individual listed above. + * First cousin. +* The value of a 529 plan generally is an investment asset of the owner of the account (not of the beneficiary). The exception is when the owner is a dependent student, in which case the plan is considered an investment asset of the parent(s). [source](https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/where-to-report-529-plan-in-fafsa) +* Up to $10k from a 529 can be applied to student loans. [source](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/020217/can-i-pay-student-loans-my-529-plan.asp#:~:text=Under%20the%20SECURE%20Act%20of,pay%20down%20student%20loan%20debt.) +* This whole post was prompted by the discussion on [this one](https://old.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/y56tgi/considering_creating_a_529_with_my_niece_as_the/) over on r/personalfinance. I don't actually think 529s are that great as far as parents saving for their children, though they do seem very good as far as children saving for their own college expenses, and it seems like they might work well as far as grandparents saving for grandkids in certain situations. +* r/FI has a handful of posts in the same vein as this one. People who aren't experts, but are sharing what they learned and seeking feedback/correction from the community. Posts like [this](https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/mn3d83/possible_fire_impacts_starting_immediately_from/) and [this](https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/75wvxj/question_about_planning_for_dependents/) have useful content, and the comments are also great, though I spotted a few incorrect/outdated things as I skimmed them. Feel free to point me at other threads (or other resources in general) if you know of any. +I know it was speculated that SHF’s did some sort of pump and dump to try and kill momentum. I’ve also heard that maybe GameStop only reported Book holdings. Maybe there were other theories as well, not sure. Did we every figure out (with any sort of proof) what the reason in such a low increase was? I/ I’m sure we all find it very hard to believe apes were selling their shares, and I think we know for a fact we DRS’d more than what was shown in the report. +Weed stocks are completely out of my field but I’m curious about them. For those of you who invest in the sector, which do you like and which are junk? How do you look at the sector and decide? +Feel free to also discuss other tickers in this thread - don't forget it's mainly dedicated to GME/AMC + +Also make sure to join our Discord server to chat along with fellow WSBN'ers: + +[https://discord.gg/wallstreetbetsnew](https://discord.gg/wallstreetbetsnew) +To preface, I am NOT planning on selling my index funds (Global All Cap) as I'm in it for the long game, I just want to understand and be reminded why that wouldn't be the sensible thing to do right now. + +With things as they are currently across the globe, I'm struggling to understand how a recession isn't inevitable at this point with global spending grinding to a halt and no end in sight as yet. This feels like a case where the usual timing the market rules might not apply as they normally would. + +I guess all I'm asking is...why haven't YOU sold? +So for years me and my wife have struggled with money. We have had two kids close together and we were both in low paying jobs. I have worked my way up the ladder and have started to earn a decent wage. Also we have paid off all of our big debts. I have a long term savings plan. I also have a short term savings plan that we will use for Xmas. + +I read a while back on reddit that one of the most important things to have is a buffer. I totally agree with this. The only problem is me and my wife are shit with money. We are getting better. Like I said we have short and long term savings plans but this has just happened at the end of the last year. I need something where I could put £500 and not get it unless it's an emergency. + +Anybody know of anything like this? +Soo... + +10 years ago I signed up for a martial arts class. 150/month for 1 year. (I actually got my money's worth and more) + +But... + +1) The instructor made a trans-Union account under my name? Wtf? + +2) It's showing as a cash advance for the year amount, and a payment of 150/month. + +It's fully paid off and closed, but I'm finding out this is a ding on my credit. Technically it's not wrong, just messed up. Can I dispute it? +Every few weeks there is a question to the effect of "can I lower my savings rate?". I've also been thinking about the things I can control in the journey to FI. This is mostly a) spending and b) savings amounts. Market returns have a really large affect, but we can't control them. So the question then becomes "what effect does varied savings amounts change the time it takes to reach $xxx amount?". + +It turns out that after a while of saving, the answer is "not much". Those first dollars you put in really do matter the most. The last dollars - not so much. + +I know this is obvious in math, but plenty of us are visual learners and could stand to see this in actual numbers. + +[Imgur Link](https://imgur.com/75Rx8FR) + +What I've done is an NPER based on a few scenarios. We usually save $55k annually. Questions are: + +* What if we Coast to FI? + +* What if we save $40k, $50k, $60k, $70k, or $80k instead of $55k? + +* How does that play into hitting $2M, $2.5M, or $3M in cash+investments? + +Notes: I've held the return rate at 5% and the target values at those values so as not to have to account for increased spending in our "FI number". +A bear market is when the market drops at least 20% here’s a look at how long bear markets have recovered: + +Shortest ever - 33 days back in 2020 + +Longest ever - 929 days (2000 - 2002) + +Current - 288 days + +Average - 388 days + +We got about 3 months until we reach the average. + +Also consider this: + +• ⁠Sellers want the stock price to be high + +• ⁠Buyers want the stock price to be low + +Ask yourself, are you a seller or are you a buyer? If you are a buyer you should be happy you are getting stocks at a very cheap price. + +Wealth is generated during these down periods for those who focus on their finances. Grow your income. Limit your expenses. Aggressively invest. + +You will be handsomely rewarded when the market inevitably recovers. +I’ve bought mortgage for a house after years of saving, and this just keeps nagging at me - comparing house prices relative to both average income and inflation, house prices rapidly outpace both. + +Does this mean the entire market is overinflated? + +Purely anecdotal: My grandparents paid around £15k for a 4 bedroom house 60 years ago; my parents paid £110k for a 4 bedroom just 20 years ago; and I’ve just paid £232k for a 3 bedroom house today. I simply cannot imagine a world where my children will pay ~£400k (almost half a *million*) for their first property - growth of this scale just doesn’t seem sustainable yet every person I’ve talked to about this just rolls their eyes and says to buy property because “it always increases in value”. + +Have I got the wrong end of the stick here? It doesn’t seem unbelievable to me that as time moves forward first time buyers will find it harder and harder to enter the market, with homebuilders resorting to cheaper builds with a race to the bottom mentality that will, worst case, pull the market down, or at least cause it stall. + +I’m also well aware that £232k is nowhere near the more expensive prices you can get for starter homes in the UK, but that kind of just adds to my point - how is this possibly sustainable? +When Satoshi Nakamoto was making bitcoin, he thought mostly of us, ordinary people with low incomes. + +He was thinking on people living in corrupt states or dictatorships and had a vision of how his project could help the common man to be financially independent of such systems. + +That is why you should be proud if you invest in some quality cryptocurrencies because you invest money that you can afford to lose. YOU are contributing a small part to the future of that idea. + +Of course, in order for the price to be favorable, in the beginning it was necessary to invest large sums of money from people who had it. But, without ordinary people, then and now this would not exist. + +All the stories, all the hype, every community, the news on television, this sub, all the miners. That's all us. + +Also, if your $ 100 investment is significant for you, then your profits will also be significant. I honestly didn’t invest smart and I learned my lesson the hard way. Ever since then, when I see the opportunity and the price drop I’ve been investing around $ 30- $ 50. I hope that in time it will grow and that I will be able to invest even more. Or also, find a better paid job.For now, I know my limits and I feel great. + + So don't get discouraged when you see all those people investing thousands and millions of dollars, just keep doing your thing and stay smart! +Like in the tittle, let's raise at 2 MB right now to find compromise and give us time so that we can work on scaling solutions instead of all this unproductive infighting. + +* We get the block-size increased. + +* The block size stay with a low limit. + +* We can see the effect on nodes, miners and decentralization. + +* It give time to work on scaling solutions who are not just a block-size increase. + +* We can handle more TPS in case we have a bubble in July's "halving". + +* No controversial hard fork. + +* Chinese miners will accept. + +* We can do research and data analysis on how the network will behave with a block increase (orphan rate, fees, nodes counts, etc, etc). + +So, what do you think about that ? I am curious. +My father is a retired high school economics teacher. He has previously sort of gently made fun of Bitcoin, but I have to admit in a reasonably sophisticated way. He said it would only work if people started exchanging "real money" for it at exchanges... + +Well... here we are then. + +So at last tonight we had a LONG chat about Bitcoin and how it actually functions as a system. No the economics, the technology. I managed to get him on board with the blockchain, with mining, with the halvening, with how there will only be 21 million (well, actually only not-quite-21-million), etc etc. + +He is definitely the oldest person I know, at 71, who has not just gone "pffft what a load of crap." Reassured by external data - the current price - he now understands that it is real and it can work. He accepts that the design is self-consistent and that it has features that allow it to function as money. + +Now all I had to do was explain the details. + +I took him through Satoshi, the genesis block, the blockchain in general, addresses, how coins are generated, how inflation is kept under control, how miners are incentivised, why we need miners at all... + +And then I explained wallets and private keys and at that point, he said: "Uh huh but... why would you want to send your bitcoin to someone else's wallet?" + +This is not a failure in his intelligence. It is a failure in his ability to inuit what these metaphors - wallet, key, address, block, coin - mean in the context of Bitcoin. To him, when I talk about a shop and two bitcoin wallets, his mind paints a picture of TWO CUSTOMERS standing in front of a third person - the merchant. Because merchants don't use WALLETS, they use tills or registers. Except of course, when it comes to BTC, they use wallets. + +I was able to explain to him that it's like I took $20 out of my wallet, passed it to him, and he put it in his wallet EXCEPT that Bitcoin instantly "teleports" the money from my wallet to his. But also everyone can see that happen. But also no one can see that it was me and him who did the transaction. + +Hell... it hurts my brain even typing this. + +As an economist who learned his trade in the 1960s, his mind-map of the very nature of money is just too different. The lack of a third party - the lack of a bank, or point of sale system - broke his understanding of how Bitcoin works at the point where *wallets* transmit *keys* to make *coins* change *address*..... bllaaarrg! + +To someone who spent 40 years teaching kids the fundamentals of commerce and money, Bitcoin is deeply deeply weird. Not because it's baffling. Quite the opposite - because fundamentally it makes sense to him. It's the details that hurt. + +To us, Bitcoin is easy. To the world out there, it's baffling. Never forget that. +I'm getting into my third year with Tesco Pet Insurance and every year we get a huge increase in fees. A HUGE one. It's because my dog has a diseases that requires him to get pills everyday but still. + +We started with £150 in the first year, up to £230 in the second year and now after the renewal it will increase to £390. + +I'm kind of trapped because of my dog, no insurance company will handle us now. + +&#x200B; + +Is there anything I can do? +[Here](https://www.biopharmcatalyst.com/calendars/fda-calendar). + +It's ordered by date of when things will be reviewed by the FDA and will be announced. Obviously it's not all penny stocks, but you can have a scroll through the companies and do some DD if you think there's a good chance for something to dynamite. + + +—————————————————————————— + +**Problem** + +Current Special Membership (Paid in MOONs) is not being used due to the simple fact that: price is 1,000 MOONs or 5$, no one will choose to pay 1,000 Moons - equivalent to paying \~118$!. + +—————————————————————————— + +**Solution** + +Realistic Special Membership Cost, First step is changing the price to 100 MOONs. + +Admins are now allowing updates to membership pricing, but do not yet support dynamic pricing. Once Moons can support this or mods are able to change the price monthly, we will use the following: + +Subscription price will be algorithmically updated each month, after snapshot day and calculated like this: + +.. + +**P \* 100 / (1/R) = Membership Price in MOONs.** + +*Where P is subscription price in USD.* Membership Price in Fiat is 5$ + +*R = MOON/Karma Ratio , R bigger than 0* + +After simple operations this can be reduced it to **500 \* R** which is much more convenient for users to calculate. + +.. + +For example previous month ratio was [0.233](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/rrinwg/new_moons_are_ready_round_21/?utm_source=share&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_name=iossmf): + +**Final Formula: 500R** + +**500 \* 0.233 = 116.5 MOONs** + +.. + +This month ratio is [0.277](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/s81naj/new_moons_distribution_round_22_proposal/?utm_source=share&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_name=iossmf) : + +**500 \* 0.233 = 138.5 MOONs** + +.. + +—————————————————————————— + +You may think that keeping 1000 MOONs per membership is better because these MOONs gets “burned”. + +These MOONs are not really getting burned, instead they get reintroduced in later rounds. This is artificial and temporary scarcity, why burning 1,000 and not 10,000 MOONs? 1,000 points was the initial default price that is supposed to be changed, after a year and a half there is still no change and it’s time to do so. + +On top of that, 1,000 MOONs are getting burned from the Community Tank - wallet that is not affecting the market anyway. If users start to actually buy special membership using MOONs, these MOONs get burned from users - something that have impact on the market. + +—————————————————————————— + +[For Consideration in The Future](https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrencyMeta/comments/s6c6cj/advanced_solution_algorithmic_moons_pricing_for/?utm_source=share&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_medium=ios_app&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_name=iossmf) + +[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/s8dq31) +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. +So about a year ago I was a victim of domestic violence and estranged from my parents during the summer I was doing my A level Exams. I went to the council who redirected me to a charity that works with the council to house under 25s. + +The charity helps young people by finding someone who has a spare room and can offer some guidance or support for the young person. They also help you apply for universal credit which I did as well as going to the job centre. The key worker I was appointed to also insisted very aggressively at each visit that I must quit my job otherwise I wouldn't get any help which I was very upset about.  + + I stayed with a nice lady although a stranger who I grew fond of while I completed my exams and waited to find out if I was going to university. Both the charity and universal credit were aware of my relatively short term need of assistance. But after talking to the people at the job centre and and other people beside my key worker I was told that I never needed to quit my job and it was false information, I was very upset by this.  + + +I also received a reduced payment because I had worked two months prior to asking for financial assistance. This meant I had £50 to live off for a month, half of which would be paid to the charity who made me quit my job and half to my phone bill. As you can imagine I was pissed off. But as soon as I got my next monthly payment I stopped eating 30p noodles and paid the service charge to the charity in full. + +I paid the charity a weekly service charge but I tended to pay it monthly for convenience (as you couldn't do it online or via the bank, always in person and they issued the reciepts) I tended to overpay. A week before I was leaving they told me I had overpaid and would pay me next week. I went to collect the overpayment and they said I owed them money  (like 7 quid).  + +I didn't pay it because I didn't believe them and I had the receipts and I showed them but they continued to deny it. When I showed them reciepts I was very rudely shouted at: "Look at you, you were homeless and crying when you came to us and now you're rude and ungreatful". I was very upset as this was said in a room of about 20 people and I didn't want to relive the memories of having no family or friends around while coming back from an exam to break down in tears and tell them I'm homeless after sleeping on night buses. + + In addition I learned from the woman I lived with Amy who had worked with them for over ten years that they make many financial mistakes and owed her money also. When I pay rent I pay it to the charity directly from universal credit and the charity is supposed to allocate this to Amy on a weekly basis, they did not do this for about three months (almost the entire time I was there) and paid in the last two weeks of me living there. + +When I had moved to my new place at university the charity called me (another woman not my key worker) and said I have a debt in my name that I must pay immediately. They said I owed them council tax and must pay it to them. I don't trust them at this point and I'm also not eligible for council tax. I called the council and I don't owe them any money and I'm not eligible for council tax. So I called again and told them this, my key worker happened to be on the phone and said it's not a debt in your name just that Amy was very upset as she received a council tax bill and said out of good will I would pay the charity half and they would pay half. + + I distinctly recall Amy telling me one of the benefits of working with the charity is that you don't pay council tax. I stringed this together and realised the charity had made another financial error by not registering Amy as a carer when they should have (thus the late payments to Amy and her council tax bill). I refused and told them this financial error has nothing to do with me I have no debt in my name or council tax bills as confirmed by the council. My key worker than asked which advisor I spoke to and insisted she needed to talk to her. I didn't remember the advisors name. A flood of emails ensued with essentially the same conversation as had over the phone. My position had not changed. They keep calling me over the year and I haven't answered. + +About a year later I've received a text from ccscollect with a reference number and my name. I click the link and it's to pay a debt, It's a debt collection service for the local area in which the charity operates. + +Perhaps I was foolish for being curious but I put the reference number, my name which they already have and the post code (for Amy's address not my current one because I suspected it was them). The next page said they had stored this information and asked for my bank details and the exact amount the charity had asked for me to pay in (good will). I am tempted to email my key worker and request they stop haraessing me for money they owe Amy. + +What should be my next course of action? And will this affect affect my future finances like taking out loans or mortgages, or anything like that? + + + + +As title. Someone has registered a car financing agreement at our address. On the document he claims to have lived here for 6 years. We’ve been here for 11 and, unless he lives in the cellar, I’m calling bullshit. + +I’ve called them (Black Horse Finance) but they we’re sketchy and non-committal about resolving and removing my address from the contract. So other than continuing to harass them to chase the guy who’s financing a car to get the contract address changed, is there anything else I can do to try and ensure there isn’t any black mark against my address? + +Alternatively if this is a non-event and I don’t need to worry then that’d be cool to know too! + +Cheers all. Bon weekend. +I have a Coinbase account where I use google Authenticator app for two factor login. I Recently got a new phone with a different number, and I lost my Authenticator seed. + +I can’t login. I followed their instructions in regards to account recovery on this page https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2488794-troubleshooting-2-factor-authentication. I specifically followed the section “ +I no longer have the same phone number”, but the "Code not working?" Button doesn’t exist. I tried clearing the cache and incognito mode but still no button. If I go through the “lost Authenticator app” step for account recovery, it prompts me for my old phone number which is no longer valid. + +I have created several tickets with support, and have been on the phone with three support people and they all keep directing me to the same instructions: login, and click the “code not working” button. + +I’m not sure what todo. I have a feeling I will never see my coins again. + +Update + +Coinbase got back to me and they requested I create a new account, so they can confirm my identification. They claimed they will transfer all my coins to the new account once confirmed. Not sure why they can't grant me access to the old one, but as long as I have access to my investments I can't complain. +About 85% of that is a windfall and the rest is from working. All I know about options is that calls are of you want it to go up and puts if you want the stock to go down. My positions are all long or cash +They seem to be grabbing up e-commerce, brick and mortar, wholesale companies left and right. Seems like they could be the dominant force in the weed accessories market. Financials look good to this layman. Are there any other companies occupying the same industry that are growing at the rate they are? +Recruiters and employers playing the tactic of reducing the salary because "no need to commute"? Can anyone explain this logic? I thought I am being paid for the value I bring. + +It seems like a cunning tactic for them to pocket even more money by marketing the opportunity that way, +I really love this sub & getting a chance to hear about how other people are taking steps towards FI. My favorite part is discussing the now vs later tradeoffs we all make. This is one of the best places to hear a wide range of opinions - each of which causes me to think a little more about my options & how I'm approaching them. + +Lately there has been an increase in threads that are basically just asking for the 101 course. I think that is great and am excited they've discovered FI so early in life, but the threads are a bit repetitive. + +Maybe we come up with a wiki 'FI 101' post and point them to that rather than surfacing those threads up to the top every time. That way the front page could focus a bit more on new and unique threads with broader general appeal. + +Once again - nothing against those people who've just discovered FI & want to get started - I think their and our needs would just be better served by a static page since the responses are almost always the same. +So, my wife and I just got told that a settlement from my former job will give me $600 a month for life, or a complete settlement of 200K. I also am receiving about 3K a month after taxes from my former job for at least 5 years. This comes at the perfect time, as I'm going back to school and felt worried about finances earlier. + +I am over the freaking moon, as this will allow me to find new revenue streams, as well as ensure that my family is taken care of. I used to go without so much, like food and new clothes and stuff like that. Now, I'll be able to afford those new clothes (like hell I'll ever spend $20 for a T-shirt, or overpriced crap, but it's comforting). I don't want to buy Gucci crap, or anything, but turn this money into more money. So, I wanted to hear what you guys and gals would do with the money either way. + +I will say, I'm gonna splurge on a personal trainer for my wife and myself. We need to lose some weight, and we have discussed it as well. +I am starting over so to say, starting a new job next month and want to make sure I stick to the best path. Keeping expenses low, not having a car (I truly don’t need one) and I have a roommate. I’m 27. + +Right now my new employer will match up to 50% of contributions up to 5K per year, so at a minimum I would be contributing $10K a year into my 401K. + +Although my plans are flexible, I want to save as much as possible to catch up. + +The only set plan I have is receiving the maximum 401K match. My gross income is going to be 130-140K. I’m single. + +Should I do the usual, max out Roth IRA & Max HSA? should I max out my 401K as well? Of course want to make sure I’m taking full advantage of my tax benefits where I can.. + +Biggest thing I’m focused on is starting my own business at some point. So probably in the next 10 years or so. When I start with my new employer I’m going to then set my 401K to receive the maximum match for 2022 and then contribute to filling up a 6 month emergency fund. Then what’s the best plan for continuing past that? + +Thanks! +Hello... I have a job with a 401k I don’t max out because I’m trying to save for a house.. I’m contributing about 6 to 8% of my income into my 401k but would like to contribute more in the future... However, depending on how expensive the home I buy , I may not be able to increase contributions much or maybe I want to focus more on paying off the house.. how does one balance mortgage payments with retirement contributions??? +My mom is a single mother in nursing school. She will graduate next year. She is filing for bankruptcy and has to surrender her vehicle. She wants to buy a vehicle in my name, I absolutely do not want to do this. She says she can’t buy a cheap vehicle nor will she be able to have a co-signer because of her credit. I have tried thinking of ways to help her out but I can’t seem to think of anything. + +Thank you in advance for any advice you have. +I'm nineteen, living on my own and trying to save. + +I make $13.20/Hour, and I work 40 hours a week. + +My costs are: + +Rent - $600 + +Food - $300 (that's what I budget, I often go under that) + +Misc - $100 + +Leaves me an average of $700 to do whatever else with (invest, hopefully.) + +I currently have 4.8k in checking (because I plan to move into a new apartment soon, they'll want two months rent up front plus deposit; Hence having so much in cash.) + +I have 1k I just put in Capital One's 360 Savings (2.15% APY). + +I have a credit score in the 700's. + +&#x200B; + +Is there anything else I can do with my money to grow it? I've looked into the stock market as an option but from what I'm reading it's not uncommon to lose several grand on it, and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with just losing a few months of money on it, not to mention I work full time so I'm not home during open market hours. + +I intend to put at least $200 in my savings account at the end of each month. + +&#x200B; + +TLDR; I'd like to learn where to invest my money because I have no higher education to get a better paying career, and investing reads like a good way about that. +I want to have $30,000 in ten years for a specific goal. I’m in college now and have an E*Trade individual brokerage account for long term savings and a checking account for monthly expenses. + +I’m thinking of opening another brokerage account for this specific goal rather than general savings. I don’t know too much about investing and have the automated portfolio for my current E*Trade account. Should I wait until the market gets better or open the account now? Should I do another automated portfolio, or should I set up something entirely different? +Throwaway account, not sure if this is the right place to post due to larger dollar values vs. what is usually posted on this subreddit... anyway... + +My wife and I haven't directed any $ specifically for college savings yet. With 3 kids coming up to college age starting in less than four years, how should I be investing moving forward? + +Let's assume I have the following: + +* Kids are 15, 12, and 9 +* Wife and I are in our mid 40's, make $150K+ annually, and have a $161K mortgage w/17 yrs remaining. +* $250K in checking and savings. +* $900K in retirement plans (401k's, IRA's, etc. - 85% in S&P 500 index funds) +* $200K in my company's stock (accrued via ESPP) +* $0 in any other stocks/bonds + +What I know I'm going to do for sure: + +* Don't touch the retirement funds +* Keep $100K as an emergency fund +* Keep $50K as free cash (regular savings) + +Changes my gut says I should do: + +* Reduce my investment in my company stock down to less than $100K +* Put the max $140K into the 529 account (lump sum max for 5 years as per 529 tax rules). Initially invest 50-75% S&P 500 index fund, the rest in government bonds, and reduce down the stock exposure as my youngest gets to 18 years old (9 years from now). +* Invest the remaining from company stock into... cash? more index funds? + +Thoughts? Again, trying to figure out how much we should throw into a 529 (or a new 529 account) or skip it altogether, what funds we should be investing in (and with what ratios), and how much we should divest from my company stock (and when). Also, should I consider anything else? + +Apologies if there's a better place to post this, just let me know where... +I live at home and am starting community college in the fall. I make $7.25 and hour and make about $100 a week getting paid every 2 weeks. Paying $1000 a semester with parents paying other half. Idk if this info will help with responses but I appreciate anything you guys can tell me. +Hello... I have a job with a 401k I don’t max out because I’m trying to save for a house.. I’m contributing about 6 to 8% of my income into my 401k but would like to contribute more in the future... However, depending on how expensive the home I buy , I may not be able to increase contributions much or maybe I want to focus more on paying off the house.. how does one balance mortgage payments with retirement contributions??? +Let’s say 300k minus 20 percent in taxes. We were told there was a way to not take the 20 percent hit if we put that directly on an IRA. Is that true ? Are there better options? We also heard it was better to go with REIT? (Spelling?) + +Would really appreciate your insight +Hey all, I've been lurking on this sub for awhile now and have acted on most of the basic advice I've seen, I'm sure you'll let me know what I missed. ;) I have little debt, live well within my means. I can put about 2k a month away after paying my bills. + +I'm in my 40s, Single, CF in the PNW and own a house. + +As the year comes to an end I'd like to get your thoughts on my current position and where I should focus for the next year or 5. Goals have always been difficult for me, in general I'd like to become financially independent and travel a little before I reach an age where that's not possible anymore. I've had a couple financial advisors in the past and was generally unimpressed by the stock printout they handed me as their "advice". + +I've put all my finances together in what I hope is an easy to read format here.[https://imgur.com/a/qnlEL9K](https://imgur.com/a/qnlEL9K) +edit: income is Bi-Weekly vs Monthly as stated - thanks all who pointed out the error. + +I'll try and respond to any clarifying questions y'all ask.Throw away for obvious reasons plus I'm a bit nervous throwing all this out there in general. +Not sure if too much info, but looking for some guidance - + +In contract currently for a house at $601,000. The 10% ($60,100) is in escrow currently. Recently, my current home has gone to contract for a sale price of $731,250. Gotta love this market! We will be netting \~$220,000 from the sale of the home, which will close either before or the morning of the closing on our new home purchase. + +Our rate for the new mortgage is 2.875. My wife and I are considering all options and trying to figure out what to do re: the remaining down payment on the new home. We want to use the some or all of the proceeds from the sale toward the down payment. Trying to figure out which way is the smartest, given the extremely low rates that are available now. We're talking 20%-30% total down payment (we considered 35%-40% too, but want to see some proceeds of the sale of our home go into our "pocket"). + +We were a ton less knowledgeable and didn't utilize resources such as forums like this, speaking with advisers, requesting advice from successful family members during our last home purchase process, so we are trying to explore all avenues. The difference is anywhere from $100-$350 a month. + +We are on the frugal side when it comes to spending money on non-necessities monthly, have a fully funded 6 mo emergency fund and \~$90,000 in our savings account, which we use for projects, paying property taxes, vacations, and bigger purchases. $200,000 in a 401k, $10,000 in a 529 for our 1 yo son. + +Putting down 20% and netting more from the sale of our home would bump our emergency fund up to 9 mo coverage, jack our savings up to $150,000, and allow us to invest \~$20,000 into a mutual fund through vanguard like VTSAX. + +Putting down 30% would allow us to do all of the above mentioned, except on a smaller scale. + +No major (planned) projects on the horizon in the new house for at least 2-3 years. + +Tried this in r/PersonalFinance, but might have gotten lost in the mix. Hoping for a more fruitful discussion here. +***tl;dr - this proposal is aiming to accomplish one broad goal: ensure that the NSCC can oversee and clear SFT trading through a centralized framework that would limit market disruptions caused by decentralized risks (aka bad shorts). The NSCC has identified issues with current market structure that could result in fire sales, in which liquidation of a defaulting member would cause other non-defaulting members to liquidate similar positions without due cause. More importantly, the NSCC has identified potential issues with securities lenders reinvesting cash collateral which significantly raises the likelihood of a lender defaulting. If a lender were to default on a large short position, this could result in massive selling of shorted securities and further exacerbate liquidity and FTD issues. While this proposal may limit some aspects of a short squeeze, it also helps protect against downward price pressure caused by irresponsible short selling and would likely severely decrease the amount of FTDs observed in the market.*** + +[This is a massive proposal.](https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/nscc/2022/34-94694.pdf) I’ve read through a sizable chunk of it and, while I’m in no way certain as to the actual effect or consequences this would have on the market, I can confidently say that many people are misunderstanding the central concepts and purpose of this rule change. I got through the first 40ish pages of what is almost a 200 page document and realized pretty quickly that claims of this proposal being used to can-kick FTDs or skirt responsibility are severely misplaced. We’ve been asking for more regulated markets and this is what it looks like, for better or worse. + +**Note: this is by far the largest doc I've ever seen from either the SEC or NSCC + subsidiaries. It's massive. Because I haven't read all of it (and I imagine no single person has), I can 100% be wrong about how I'm interpreting parts, or all, of it. Please call me on it.** + +**As I understand it, this is a proposal that seeks to regulate $150+ billion dollars of daily trading activity which poses a severe risk to the market as a whole, as well as individual securities, and the NSCC hopes to address this issue by centralizing and ensuring clearing between NSCC members.** This proposal has broad market implications for security lending and short selling, but only serves to provide more regulatory oversight and clearing framework. It would arguably be harder to skirt trade settlement obligations under this rule change than as it currently stands. There is a whole section (pages 30 - 41) that describes how SFT membership would be regulated, and the NSCC goes into great detail about the different procedures they considered and are fairly transparent about what elements of each proposed method would benefit the interest of certain parties over others. + +It's also important to remember that the NSCC is a clearing house and nothing else. It's primary role in the market is to ensure that parties can settle trades correctly, which it does by facilitating transfers of cash and securities. It's not concerned with brokering trades, nor does it benefit from allowing risks to grow in the market. If they let risk grow to the point where it affects their ability to clear trades, the market is fucked and the Fed is forced to step in. + +Anyways, I welcome you to read my summary of the main talking points and welcome any insight. + +## SR-NSCC-2022-003 Summary + +On page 1, the NSCC provides an overview that we can use to understand the scope of this proposal at a glance: + +>*The proposed rule change consists of proposed modifications to the NSCC Rules & Procedures (“Rules”) that would (i) establish new membership categories and requirements for sponsoring members and sponsored members whereby existing Members would be permitted to sponsor certain institutional firms into membership,* ***(ii) establish a new membership category and requirements for agent clearing members whereby existing Members would be permitted to submit, on behalf of their customers, transactions to NSCC for novation***\*, (iii)\* ***establish the securities financing transaction clearing service (“Securities Financing Transaction Clearing Service” or “SFT Clearing Service”) to make central clearing available at NSCC for equity securities financing transactions, which are, broadly speaking, transactions where the parties exchange equity securities against cash and simultaneously agree to exchange the same securities and cash, plus or minus a rate payment, on a future date (collectively, “Securities Financing Transactions” or “SFTs”)****, and (iv) make other amendments and clarifications to the Rules, as described in greater detail below.* + +I’ve bolded the items, ii and iii, that apes are most concerned about. I won’t go into much detail on item i because it's essentially just a way for the NSCC to define membership within the framework of a new clearing service they are providing (item iii). It's essentially just needed context for the rule to exist. Item ii is similar to item i, in that it provides a framework for brokers to submit transactions for novation with the NSCC through the amended sponsorship rules outlined in item i. Most of our attention will be focused on item iii, but first I would like to spend a few moments going over novation. + +&#x200B; + +## Novation Contracts and What They Mean in this Context + +Item ii of the proposal explains how SFT parties can enter into a **novation contract.** It’s… really not that big of a deal. Novation is a broad term which refers to replacing old contracts or agreements with newer updated contracts — typically as the result of a new party entering into outstanding agreements. + +In the context of the proposal, Novation is referring to the process in which “agent clearing members”, or brokers, can represent their clients (borrower or lenders) with respect to the SFT Clearing Service. **All this is doing is giving brokers and investment banks that are NSCC members the regulatory wherewithal to operate as either transferor or transferee on behalf of their clients, who themselves may not be NSCC members.** Doing so requires the NSCC member to enter into a contractual agreement with the NSCC, which is plainly a novation contract by definition. + +Ape 1 lends Ape 2 some bananas. Ape 2 takes the borrowed bananas and loses them on FD call options. Ape 2 asks Ape 3 to help him foot the bill, so they both approach Ape 1. Ape 1 wants his bananas back and knows Ape 2 can’t provide them, so he agrees to take Ape 3’s bananas instead. All 3 apes get together to amend the original banana contract to include Ape 3’s involvement. Boom. Novation. + +## SFT - Securities Financing Transaction Clearing Service + +Item iii of the proposal is really what this is all about. This proposal is hoping to establish a “securities financing transaction clearing service” (or SFT clearing service) as a function and responsibility of the NSCC. + +An SFT refers to transactions where parties exchange equity securities (stonks) for cash, under the agreement to exchange these same equity securities and cash again at a later date (plus or minus rate payments or handling fees). It’s exactly what it sounds like — **an SFT clearing service is legalese for the process in which stocks are lent, returned and paid for. It’s VERY relevant to GME.** + +So the NSCC is saying they want to be able to provide centralized clearing for NSCC members who are borrowing and lending stocks. They go into more detail about SFTs on page 3: + +>*SFTs involve the owner of securities (typically a registered investment company, pension plan, sovereign wealth fund or other institutional firm) transferring those securities temporarily to a borrower (typically a hedge fund). SFTs are often facilitated and intermediated by broker-dealers and agent lenders (i.e., custodial banks or other institutions that lend out securities as agent on behalf of institutional firms). In return for the lent securities, the borrower transfers collateral, and a net rate payment is typically transferred to either the lender or the borrower that reflects the liquidity of the lent securities, as well as interest on any cash collateral.* ***NSCC understands that SFTs provide liquidity to markets and facilitates the ability of market participants to make delivery on short-sales, and thereby avoid failures to deliver, “naked” shorts, and similar situations***\*. On a typical Business Day, The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”), an NSCC affiliate, processes deliver orders related to securities lending transactions on securities having a value of approximately $150 billion.\* + +In no uncertain terms, **the NSCC** **is stating that SFT trading is already happening at a rate of** ***$150 billion per day***. This proposal aims to define and create processes that would establish the NSCC as the primary legal counterparty responsible for clearing SFTs. Currently, the DTC is the one clearing SFTs, but only through bilateral transactions that lack proper framework, transparency and legality. This proposal isn’t seeking to create SFTs as a financial instrument — they already exist and the market is already there. The NSCC wants to ensure they can clear these transactions in a way that limits risk and liquidity issues. + +>*NSCC believes central clearing of SFTs would be able to address these constraints, which may otherwise impair market participants’ ability to engage in SFTs. For example,* ***NSCC believes it is uniquely positioned to create balance sheet netting opportunities for market participants (i.e., the ability to offset cash payables and receivables versus NSCC) by becoming the legal counterparty to both pre-novation counterparties to an SFT through novation***\*. Specifically, market participants that borrow securities through NSCC and then onward lend those securities, or other securities, to another NSCC Member through the proposed SFT Clearing Service may have the ability to net down the cash collateral return obligations and entitlements related to such SFTs. By contrast, for bilateral SFTs, market participants may be required to record those payables and receivables on their balance sheets on a gross (rather than netted) basis. A netted balance sheet can create significant capital benefits for market participants because it can reduce the amount of regulatory capital they must hold against SFTs under the U.S. “supplementary leverage ratio” and other capital requirements that favor a netted balance sheet.\* + +So this is where things get interesting. The NSCC is stating they’ll be able to provide better ways to clear SFT trades by becoming the legal counterparty to all parties involved in a given trade. + +The main advantage of using the NSCC SFT clearing service is that they can facilitate balance sheet netting. Essentially, rather than having to track trades independently between parties the NSCC will simply track all outstanding agreements, measure collateral and transfer net differences. This net balancing would ultimately accomplishing the same thing as gross balancing, but could avoid situations that may arise from large trades causing liquidity issues — as well as provide remediation for when parties can satisfy collateral agreements but not necessarily material agreements (this sounds like sketchy territory, but is fundamentally sound). + +Edit: some people asked about the *sketchy, but fundamentally sound* line from above, and it's a valid concern, so I'll explain. The NSCC outlines a situation where parties can satisfy collateral but not material obligations at the end of page 19: + +It is occasionally the case in the securities lending market that a borrower is solvent and able to satisfy its general obligations as they become due but unable to deliver the lent securities to the lender within the timeline requested by the lender. The contractual remedy that has developed in the bilateral securities lending market for these situations is a “buy-in.” Under this remedy, the lender may purchase securities equivalent to the borrowed securities in the market and charge the borrower for the cost of this purchase. + +If borrowed shares are recalled by the lender but the borrower can't deliver the securities within the appropriate timeframe for whatever reason, a buy-in typically occurs (skreli actually talked about this being a particularly shitty situation for short positions, which would be good for GME). A buy-in is pretty simple: the lender of the shares simply buys the shares they are owed on the market and the borrower is charged the cost of the sale. This sounds sketchy because the borrower isn't locating shares nor are they actually returning these shares, but it's fundamentally sound in reasoning because the lender is buying back the same number of shares on the market. All shares are accounted for, none are being created or any fuckery like that. The NSCC didn't find any issue with this remediation process, so they are allowing this as an option in lieu of typical securities clearing. + +You can read more about this service, along with examples of trade settlements, on pages 11 - 31. For now, it’s important to understand the implications this has in moments of default. + +&#x200B; + +## Fire Sale Risk Mitigation - Implications of centralized SFT Clearing + +On page 6, the proposal outlines fire sale risk mitigation. This has become another hot topic that is sorely misunderstood: + +>*In addition to creating capital efficiency opportunities for market participants, NSCC believes that broadening the scope of central clearing at NSCC to SFTs would also reduce the potential for market disruption from fire sales. In the case of securities lending transactions, the primary risk of fire sales relates to the reinvestment of cash collateral by institutional firms that are the lenders in securities lending transactions.* + +The NSCC defines a fire sale risk under footnote 13 as “**the risk of rapid sales of assets in large amounts that temporarily depress market prices of such assets and create financial instability.**” So the NSCC is saying that centralized clearing would help avoid depressed market prices (i.e. red stonk days) caused by people unwinding risky positions. + +More importantly, re-read the last sentence from the excerpt above. **The NSCC seems to be expressing concern over market risks caused by institutional lenders reinvesting the cash they receive as collateral from borrowers.** This scenario carries a lot of nasty implications, mainly being that the lender has exposed themselves to added risks that aren’t being represented by pre-novation contracts with the borrower. Similarly, the borrower is subject to, though largely unaware of, added scrutiny because the lender has YOLO’d the collateral meant to serve as insurance. + +The NSCC further explains why we should *all* be concerned about this: + +>*Those institutional firms will typically reinvest the cash collateral they receive from the borrower into other securities. If the borrower of the securities thereafter defaults, the institutional firm lenders generally need to quickly liquidate the securities representing the reinvestment in order to raise cash to purchase the originally lent security. A substantial number of disconnected and competing liquidations by multiple lenders can create fire sale conditions for the securities being liquidated, which can harm not only the institutional firm lenders by potentially lowering the amount of cash they can raise in the sale of such securities, but also create market losses for all holders of such securities.* + +In their depiction, the NSCC is describing how liquidation of a defaulting borrower can cause non-defaulting parties to liquidate unrelated positions in a market-wide fire sale. Boo-hoo, should have done better risk assessment. + +But this goes both ways. According to the NSCC, + +>*If an institutional firm lender should default and fail to return the cash collateral back to its borrowers, the borrowers would typically be looking to liquidate the borrowed securities in order to make themselves whole for the cash collateral they delivered to the institutional firm lender. Competing and disconnected sales of such securities could similarly create fire sale conditions and not only harm the borrowers to the extent the value of the securities decline, but also create market losses for all holders of the borrowed securities.* + +So, in the current market structure, we’re dealing with decentralized SFT trading between lenders who frequently reinvest the cash collateral and borrowers who are assuming undisclosed risks as a result. Under the current system, trades that are completely separate and removed from one another can also largely influence each other in basically unpredictable ways. More importantly, if a lender’s investment strategy doesn’t pan out they’ve flushed the collateral and their default could cause widespread selling of a security. + +&#x200B; + +## The NSCC’s Role and Closing Thoughts + +In the event of a fire sale risk, or a default, the NSCC would conduct a “centralized, orderly liquidation of the defaulter’s SFT positions”. In a very idealized sense, this would avoid situations where, as a result of market disruptions caused by a defaulting party, multiple independent non-defaulting parties are racing against one another to liquidate their positions. + +The NSCC states that they would be able to facilitate SFT trading through a few broad methods: + +1. They can raise a war chest to serve as emergency collateral for trade settlement by requiring that all SFT members contribute a minimum deposit of $250k, along with ongoing collateral requirements for leveraged positions. +2. The NSCC would track and calculate the margin of SFT positions separately, allowing them to manage the risk of individual positions uninfluenced by broader portfolios or other trades +3. As the primary counterparty for overnight SFT clearing, the NSCC can limit the ability of lenders to access cash collateral to be used for reinvestment by only paying out the net difference in value of underlying lent securities plus any additional rates — essentially the lender is only receiving net profit from the loan while the SFT novation contract is in effect. +4. If a default occurs, the NSCC can use net balancing to liquidate net positions, as opposed to a typical default scenario where both a broker and lender liquidate gross positions. + +The remaining pages (approx. 43 onward) refer to the actual rules being amended and the specifics of implementation within the existing bylaws/legal framework. I don't have the time or patience to go through the rest, but hopefully someone will and can provide additional insight. + +Take all of this for what it is, this is already far longer than I had hoped it would. ~~I won’t be answering any questions because I’d rather others do their own research~~ Welp, seems I can't help myself lol. I'll answer *some* questions, but I would still rather everyone does their own research and I encourage discussion. Besides, there are likely many other apes who are far better suited to answer technical questions about how the NSCC operates. + +**Regardless of what you choose to do or how you feel about my interpretation, remember to BUY & DRS. DRS. DRS.** +I did it! You guys rock, follow the flowchart and it will lead you from debt and no savings to having lots. +I placed an offer on my first place, and it was accepted, £13,500 under the asking price. +the question is; once I am in and have all my bills sorted (on the Santander cashback account) where do I allocate my "free money"? + + +Look at Vanguard for low cost and see if I can beat the mortgage rates and pay off bigger chunks as I go, or something else? I would love to hear your thoughts.. +(slightly over excited!) +This post is in direct response to: + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/t3rqfq/citadel\_still\_has\_no\_clothes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/t3rqfq/citadel_still_has_no_clothes/) + +Consider it a corollary to the DD that u/atobitt has done. + +Initially I wasn't necessarily going to share this information, because it's not specific to GME, but... fuck it. Because fuck Citadel. Here's my theory on Citadel's business model. + +\--- + +We all know Citadel Securities is the Market Maker. A Market Maker's responsibility is tO pRoViDe LiQuIdItY. They buy and sell stock AND options to "make a market." + +We also know Citadel Advisors is a hedge fund. That means they raise funds into a pool, and use that pool to invest (in the case, in the stock market). Their "value" is their ability to devise a strategy, algorithm, trading platform, etc. that yields a profitable return (and the more profitable the return, the more successful they are as a hedge fund). + +\--- + +Now here's where it gets dodgy as fuck. Citadel also pays for order flow (PFOF). What does that mean? It means that they are the first ones to "execute" a trade. The idea is that they "skim" money between the bid/ask spread. In theory, it's like showing up at a used car lot, pulling the buyer to the side and asking them the max they'll buy. Pulling the salesman to the side and ask the lowest they'll sell. Then buying the car from the used car lot, and selling it to the buyer. Collecting a nice little fee just for showing up. + +&#x200B; + +**But Citadel doesn't give a fuck about profiting off the bid/ask. That's not their business model.** + +\--- + +Citadel uses PFOF in order to be the ***absolute first*** one to the party in order to have full information. They want to have the "god mode" of all the orders that are placed on the market. They want, in real time, complete and unfettered access to exactly what trades are being made, **and in what dollar amount**. + +Citadel uses the order book, the open interest of the options chain, and the options flow in order to plug into an algorithm to find out where a stock needs to go in order to make the most money from the options premiums. Why options premiums? Because options contracts have an expiration date. A stock HAS to move up or down (or not move at all) within a SPECIFIC time horizon, or else the contracts lose a dramatic amount of their value until they expire worthless. + +So what does Citadel do? They USE contracts in order to push the stock in the direction that they need it to go in order to make money. Let's say 1,000 traders all take positions on AMZN, and it turns out that AMZN needs to go up 5% in order to make money for CITADEL (and the majority of options traders will lose money by extension, as Citadel is the counter-party). + +So what will Citadel Advisors do? They'll buy contracts in order to leverage the stock in the direction they need. But they're greedy, they'll push it DOWN first (so that all the options traders that are long on calls get stopped out or sell at a loss), then when sufficient call holders jump ship, they'll send the stock up to the 5% they need. + +Citadel Advisors will BUY or SELL (long or short) ACTUAL CONTRACTS. They will USE DERIVATIVES (these options contracts) in order to move the market. Example, if you need the stock to go up, you use a shit ton of your capital to buy delta-hedged calls. These are ITM or close to the money calls. That way, a market maker (Guess who? It's fucking Citadel Securities) will "have" to buy a bunch of the stock in order to be delta neutral. This buying activity will send the stock up. Or down. Or whever Citadel needs it to go for Max Profit. + +Because Citadel is often times also the counter-party to options trades, that means they are casino. It would be like if every gambler in the casino played the roulette wheel and bet on red. Citadel would see the bet, and rig the roulette wheel to ONLY roll black. Then, a few of the gamblers get smart enough to bet on black. As soon as a bigger aggregate bet is placed on black, BOOM. Citadel rigs it to ONLY roll red. + +**THIS is why their holdings are almost all derivatives. They don't give a fuck if a stock goes up, or down. They don't care about longs or shorts. They utilize the Market-Maker wing in order to leverage the underlying stock, so that their hedge fund wing can print the most money.** + +This is also why they have such a big call position in TSLA. If you need me to spell it out for you, they don't give a FUCK about TSLA. They don't give a FUCK about Elon Musk. Before TSLA's prolonged short squeeze, a ton of traders piled into put contracts on TSLA, because everyone thought TSLA was going bankrupt. Naturally, Citadel was the counter-party of these put contracts, and they're not in the business to lose money. So what do they do? They load up on calls so that they can leverage their capital and push the stock upwards, so they can collect all the put premiums. + +Similar situation with GME. They don't give a fuck about shorting GME, they were just the counter-party to a Gamma Squeeze, and when they found out they were in a losing position... they did what they always do. They fucking cheated and rigged the game by calling up Vlad. They INHERITED the short position from Melvin. The thing is, they have more money so they can sit on their thumbs longer. + +Citadel's business model is "fuck you, pay me." +Market profit margin ratios are around 10% vs perhaps 7% historically. Combined with PEs being high (although Birnyi associates has 17 for 1 year forward (not bad but a lot due to tax cuts, repatriation, and oil comeback). Trailing 12 mos p/e is 24...way high. CAPE way high also but still somewhat due to economic collapse years ago. + +So since everything reverts to mean eventually (?), including profit margin ratios and p/e ratios, and since int. rates rising, and unemployment low which may result in wage gains and lower profits...is the outlook for stock prices as good as it is for the economy? Lower profit margins plus lower p/es (reverting to historical mean) would be a double whammy, in that lower profit margins would require *higher* p/e for stocks to even stay where they are. Or is there some reason profit margins and p/e will stay elevated permanently- a "new normal"? +https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500margin.pdf + +http://www.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3021-peyield.html + +Edit- And this: http://fortune.com/2017/12/07/corporate-earnings-profit-boom-end/ + +Second Edit- and this, maybe CAPE is not mean reverting, or maybe it is. http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/2016/08/mean-reversion-gravitational-super.html +Are REITs ETFs a good investment right now? I see interest rates going up, home builder sectors under a bit of pressure and home prices slightly going down. Lumber and materials are cheaper though. + +I was looking to invest in an ETF like Schwab’s SCHH (Schwab US REIT ETF) or something more long term like Fundrise (https://fundrise.com/) + +Thoughts? +Question about covered calls and potential monthly earnings. + +Brand new to the world of options so I'm trying to understand everything before I put money down. + +I'm looking at Realty Income Corp. We'll take last nights share price at 67.44. If i bought 2 contracts, that would cost me $13,488, and purchased the $67.50 strike price for 1 month. I see that the premium is $1.50, meaning $150x2(contract)=$300. So basically if the share price hit $67.50, my contracts would be exercised and I would have received $300premium and my initial $13,488 back BUT I lose my 200 shares. Doesn't seem too bad to me! Maybe I'm just completely wrong haha. + +Also, if you wanted to minimize risk. Could you just buy a higher strike price, the $67.50, and a lower strike price, the $65.00. You win either way minus some premium? + +Thanks! + +https://preview.redd.it/bvw2nc4y3fi81.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=51eef6ab6178a73a9c6144192cfad017ed16703d +Specifically in india.... +Like US treasury bonds..is considered to safe and stable. +The last time a recession happen the safest instrument were the once that failed. + +- Which bank do you recommend for savings account or fixed deposits? +- How's your experience with wealth management services? + For example, you can discuss your experience with Citigold / CitiPriority, Kotak Privy League, DB WealthPro, Axis Burgundy, ICICI Bank Wealth Management etc. + +- What bank offers the best forex rates? + +- Discuss the quality of the bank's mobile apps and the services they offer. + +- How are the lending practices at your bank? Did your home loan / car loan / education loan get approved on time + + Were you required to purchase additional products (like insurance) to avail a loan? + +--- + +You can also ask for a general review of a particular product or services that you have been researching: + +> Is bank X good? Is it recommended for basic services no-frills accounts? + +but please avoid asking for personal advice. + +The discussion is meant for consumption by a broader audience. + +For advice regarding your personal situation (like _My family is pressurising me to take a home loan, what would you suggest?_), the bi-weekly advice thread is recommended. + +Personal advice queries and comments will be removed to ensure that older threads provide sufficient historical reviews on products and services. + +Reviews posted here can be relied upon by newcomers to evaluate customer experience. Please confine the thread only to reviews or requests for reviews of products and services. + +[Links to previous threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaInvestments/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Reviews%22%20Reviews%20of%20banking%20services%20and%20products&restrict_sr=1&sort=new) +A student right now, have received 1L in my account as a gift from someone. + +I get recurring pocket kharcha from my family which takes care of all my needs and I manage to save in that as well. Such that this 1 lakh is not going to be touched. + +I want to park it somewhere. +I want your advice on. Three possible options. + +1) keep for 1 year. + +2) keep somewhere where I can take it out whenever I want. + +3) keep for 2-3 years depending on state of return. + +Risk is not an issue.. Open to extreme risks. +So, I have just started getting some knowledge on income tax and investments, mainly by reading a lot online. I do have a noob query though. A few months, I got a hike in salary that took me from 0% tax range to 20% tax range. That month's salary was some ~5k less than what I was expecting. So I talked to HR. He told me to fill form 16A, declare some investments to save on taxes. I did so, and the next months salary was close to what I was expecting. + +So here's the question. The only thing I did was put down some figures on a piece of paper declaring I will invest so and so amount in so an so scheme. My next months salary had less taxes cut from it just by making that declaration. I did not actually put any money anywhere? So how does this thing work? Do I need to do anything more here? Can't talk to HR since I have changed jobs now. +I was comparing gold's returns from 2000 to now vs SENSEX. Both have appreciated about 11-12%. So in the Indian context, is gold really a bad investment? +I've been struggling with the idea of raising potential children when I'm retired early. It might be hard as a child to understand why your parents work or don't, and it's possible they could learn the wrong things from other children and adults, or even me, as a result. + +Do any of you have parents who are FI/RE? What lessons have you learned from them that you think have helped or hurt you for FI/RE? + +Would you be willing to share a bit about your background? + +* Do you have parents who were or are becoming FI, are they still? Do you plan to become financially independent? +* Did they retire early? Are they still? Do you plan to retire early? +* Were both parents onboard with FI/RE? +* How did you end up learning about FI concepts? From your parents or somewhere else? +* Any FI/RE lessons learned from your parents that stuck with you. + +--- + +To start it off, here is my background: + +My parents are not FI and are not RE. They have high income, but also high expenses. As a result, I never really understood that money was something to be saved, their income was high enough that at any moment we could buy most things, but without understanding the repercussions of debt and future bills. It took until I left to college and my 20's to learn even basic personal finance like not carrying credit debt and eventually FI concepts. I was able to teach my mum about some of these, and she is on her way to FI as well now. + +I would never have gotten as far without the financial support I received from my parents, however I've also seen other extended family never learn independence and are solely dependent on their parents. I could have become like that if some opportunities had not been there. A lucky mentor in a hard time, a lucky internship, the right techno-socio-economic climate. + +One lesson I learned from my parents on the topic of privilege: + +Even though our family is privileged, and thus have the luck to be handed many opportunities, it still rests on us to be capable of taking those opportunities, through things like the appropriate education, social skills, and physical health. +New to Reddit. Thanks in advance! + +As we know, for options we need two things: timing and direction. + +With that timing, I like playing around events. This usually eliminates one variable. Now, just need direction (call or put). + +Across several threads, I’ve seen multiple posts on these four. + +CRSR: Pre-market earnings 2/9. + +SPCE: Test fight 2/13 and likely inclusion in new ETF ARKX. + +APHA: Merger and implied discount on calls + +MVIS: r/MVIS + +Curious on your, of course non-financial advice, thoughts. + +Thanks! + +Right now, I only have 1 APHA $15C 2022 + +Due to earnings, 2/9, was leaning towards CRSR first for quick play around earnings. + +Edit: Fix typo + +Edit 2 09FEB2021: +Learning: + +This has been great leaning. My fundamental initially strategy is a great way to lose money in options, and after reading many threads (which I should have done before posting...sorry), the very common mistake new option traders make. Thank you for saving me money on CRSR. Hopefully, this will educate others. + +I’ve also learned about applying credit/debit spreads to reduce downside risk, but capping profits. I also didn’t fully appreciate how this allows you to buy a significant number of contracts with your money. In my case with my funds and a debit spread, I could get approximately 4x the buy contracts by selling the calls, which is a nice multiplier for the max profit (if it works out). I’ll need to map it out in excel to exactly see the break even price equivalent of just buying calls and not selling the spread calls. + +Again, thanks! I’m in APHA 2022, MVIS 2022, and PSTH Mar 2021. + +Edit 3: If I did my math right, my head just exploded with the power of the spreads. + +$1350 spending power + +Debit Spread +Buy MAR $35 Calls @ $3.70 +Sell MAR $40 Calls @ $2.80 +Results in 15 contracts spread. Is there a ratio of strike price spread to contract price spread that is an ideal minimum? + +Just buying MAR $35 Calls would be equivalent of 3.65 contracts. + +The stock would have to get beyond $51.85 (from ~$32) by MAR to make calls only the better strategy. + +Did I do that right? Crazy. +Lmao. What is there to lose? + +Most people are debt slaves on cars, homes, student loans, medical bills, credit cards... + +I can see why gamblers or scratch tickets/lotto addicts start. There isn't a fucking way out, especially for any generation after boomers. Considering home prices are retarded, inflation blew out whatever I gained in pay increases and daily expenses, and medical costs being shit in the US with more and more medical professionals leaving the field, I don't see much more I can lose. + +My downpayment for a fucking decent home means absolutely nothing if a shit house is around $350k (requiring me to work in my workplace and at home with time I don't have), and anything decent goes $500k and up (Requiring me to live paycheck to paycheck, with no emergency fund to save me from losing the home.) + +Economy is going to be fucked someday because of "bull" financial institutions being way fucking over leveraged with the average person's money. Oh yeah, the government is a cuck for their bull, so they just watch as everyone else is fucked. + +I want my fucking chance. + +- I don't want to worry about being fucked over financially until the day I die. + +- I don't want the only inheritance to my family to be debt. + +- I don't want to settle for living less even with a good job and a degree. + +- I don't want to rent my entire life. + + +We're fucked. All in for a fucking chance to escape this nightmare. Anything I don't need to take care of myself is going into GME from this point on. Rent, food, gas, bills; that's fucking it. All my savings is in GME. + +Why live in a false sense of luxury? Why buy shit you don't need? Greed and pride got the world into this mess, what do you think is the best way to get out? + + +Food for thought for everyone. This is my plan, and I don't really give a fuck if you want follow it or not. I legit am a moron**, not a financial advisor. + +**DRS motherfuckers** +Without further ado, these are the 10 winners of [the Nano giveaway](https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/pztksp/hi_redditors_im_giving_away_110_nano_500_and/): + +u/_ButterCat + +u/zemadd + +u/redchanterelles + +u/FuckTheMankind + +u/GarethGore + +u/serpico_75 + +u/Kernal_Cletus + +u/SPOGSTER + +u/LitePenguins + +u/AccomplishedWasabi54 + +Congratulations to all! The prize pot started out at 110 Nano, but thanks to a lot of generous donations, it increased to 172.158623 Nano, equalling roughly $1000 at current Nano prices. This means ~17.22 Nano to every winner, or roughly $100 each. The prizes have been sent out to the winners. + +The generous donations lead me to the next thing I want to mention: I'm so genuinely impressed with the community on this giveaway. We had set this up with just three people sending me some Nano for funding (thanks a lot!), and with Shryder (u/redsilverbullet) setting up a bot to send out the tips. The giveaway then shot so far out of control that comments were flooding in at literally 1 per second at some points, causing Shryder's bot to run into Reddit API limits after which a dozen people offered to help him out. + +Then the bot started running out of funds, and at least twenty different people (that I know of) sent Nano to keep it going. I couldn't respond to all the questions in the thread myself, and saw a dozen people jumping in to help answer. When people went to r/nanocurrency with questions, there were yet more people there answering and helping. + +All in all, it felt like one of the better showings of cryptocurrency and I'm pretty happy that we got r/cc to #1 on r/popular with such a positive post. + +# Facts and figures + +At the time of closing, the thread had ~38,433 comments. That's 1601 comments per hour on average, or 26 per minute. The tipping bot sent out 20,909 tips of 0.01337 Nano each, for a total of 279.55333 Nano (~$1,600). Add to that the 172 Nano sent out for the winners, and a total of ~$2,500 was sent out. All community funded. + +As this was done with Nano, not a single cent was paid in fees for these 20,000+ transactions, and every transaction sent was fully confirmed within a single second. The energy network usage for this was ~2.4 KwH, roughly equal to a single cycle on an electric dishwasher. + +# Proof of random selection + +Transactions for all tipping were sent from nano_1senatusn5a1kutkt91pr1czefki47ed56g495syg1uf6dghqokrmczgy4cy. A total of 20,909 transactions had been made when I decided to close the contest (a little after 24 hours). + +I then did a transaction from the prize pool address (https://nault.cc/account/nano_1cmgewwzg1eiwroib8btqtcgaw7yox8dsc8kikb8t95anb4qpi6byfibaapk) to itself, to create randomly generated hash: 434C0A154CC45F2E75554A7CC05B6598A3421D12DF67BF372E604DD470A7FFF4 + +Using https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Java/Html/sha256Rand.htm to use the hash to generate 10 random numbers between 1 and 20,909: Seed 434C0A154CC45F2E75554A7CC05B6598A3421D12DF67BF372E604DD470A7FFF4, current sample number 0, draw 10 objects. + +Result: 953,1442,5966,6590,9292,14940,15575,16973,17704,18910 + +You can validate this for yourself. + +Looking up those block heights: + +953: https://nault.cc/transaction/1E6AD44A5A1752C301EB91F87176AD094D8E7C1211C974DC1EC054194E348299 + +1442: https://nault.cc/transaction/F479CC71D98F0B9A5F4A31798B8555187899783E0B6CDC31E83C39D131D7C7B1 + +5966: https://nault.cc/transaction/87DFE09B3A03BC62D7B1C72039B75ECA2403E5483D133FBD36EA91CC7D3FA4D8 + +6590: https://nault.cc/transaction/2555004F840C3F9F7A1D048458044077BE430AA3F512DACC14555C5D9F8A82BB + +9292: https://nault.cc/transaction/06F0190DF76E7F324F33661C4B950F0A4CE89E9896BEA2E7E06D135789098155 + +14940: https://nault.cc/transaction/E802E01969ACA8EF26BF714D8C8E77F719444A0DEABDF9002EA36167E8789724 + +15575: https://nault.cc/transaction/D17B77C0AD6819EB6C29FAD47D3B5FB1043ECAB2E59BB7719AA545F190D0AE1C + +16973: https://nault.cc/transaction/6BCA39761B1317D0904B180560D28F42F37B1EB842D662BC28C7E2F11ABE8F08 + +17704: https://nault.cc/transaction/790EC1F4F35BD496030EDC25DF357D1DC1864D21A236E5DD8C9637788103038D + +18910: https://nault.cc/transaction/71DD70639E58B2E8C4FF4746D42DBDB029391691EDA188993F2A70C87F34BC94 + +Corresponding addresses: + +nano_34qyxdwoqayey4cpuee6yjn7k57e48cuuaj5txhfmns3egjqott1a6edt795 + +nano_1zxbxfobctmjybh5ogjx38fjsxc5cmpnh7j7qdwsxfsapenxzajtyzr3tnrb + +nano_1i7o4haizc8an1z67wcdpph6sjmcsudgqyd81bqps6rerywmzmbgysmhszs3 + +nano_1si978mo8thhc1h4j5izzs7i5tdednapiac5sw44phzutxuf4w5zmn8wdqn8 + +nano_1jiige5m3t8qzeiiia8wiig5tnd3y6a6849d3cbuozgin36qyyjk9cwa8fgj + +nano_1tby4etqi34tw835xdspfqamcoc8fgptcf93rd6qxen744uxujgcpbtgtqyf + +nano_1przt41uci93kcywdw1ihimrxxyn5w1g1no657uzu3n5rqqmtgf3jhtadm6u + +nano_1jcm3mm4oryd66oakhbco7noz7e8wkmkzco84sae9nsedrofknt6jmpd3yik + +nano_3mt5kcwk7x5y6g4a3a9tt9bsqph8d9i5m64d6pqfkeruxud7dzeoziz3r7tr + +nano_3fyfdzz9zae9nm7kqxez6otu1azigy961w6ceag7e7tk35dboh446tjq9ty5 + +# For those that missed it + +The bigger giveaway is over, but you can still try Nano for free by grabbing a wallet (Natrium (**[**iOS**](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/natrium/id1451425707?ls=1&mt=8) **|** [**Android**](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.banano.natriumwallet)**) or** [**www.nault.cc**](http://www.nault.cc) **(desktop) are recommended) and visiting one of the faucets handing out free Nano below. + +https://nanocafe.cc/faucet + +https://freenanofaucet.com/ + +https://nanodrop.io/ + +https://www.trynano.io/ + +Thanks to everyone who joined! +Facebook Inc. was valued at $242.7 billion as of late morning trading, its share price up more than 2 percent at $86.59. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., meanwhile, was valued at $233.8 billion, its stock price down 21 cents at $72.58. + +Facebook has been on a roll this past year, its shares up about 32 percent in the past year compared with just 8.2 percent for the S&P 500 index. Its quarterly results have consistently surpassed expectations. [\[1\]](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/facebook-now-worth-wal-mart-stock-market-31967404) + + +In some recent discussions it's becoming very clear to me that one of the biggest issues in the ongoing debate about the future of bitcoin (on-chain vs. off-chain scaling), is that the on-chain scaling crowd thinks this is primarily a technical issue when, in fact, it's really a political one. + +Is it technically possible for the bitcoin network to function with much larger blocksizes than today? Yes, of course, it is technically possible. Lots of people have fast computers, good bandwidth internet connections, and access to cheap disk space. + +Along with various optimizations already being done to the code base, substantially larger blocksizes are probably technically feasible. + +What they are not, however, is politically feasible. + +There is a war coming. Whether everyone realizes that or not, they need to start realizing it quickly. + +To date, every single attempt by a business to create a value transfer network that could operate independent of government regulations has been shut down. Every single one. And many of the people involved in those attempts are sitting in jail. + +The only way bitcoin works, is if there is no 'person' or 'business' that the government can attack. Instead, today, the governments focus on the onramps and offramps, where bitcoin is converted to fiat currency and back. + +However, as bitcoin continues to grow, eventually, more and more people are going to skip fiat all together. Once a large amount of value is moving through the network that is never converted to fiat and back, and once more organic markets develop, such as Open Bazaar and others, once more people are willing to just accept bitcoin as payment for goods and services without converting it into fiat along the way, then the war will begin in earnest. + +The only true defense is to keep the cost of running a bitcoin node as small as possible. + +Ideally to run a bitcoin node would require: + +* Minimal CPU +* Minimal bandwidth +* Minimal storage requirements +* Capable of operating either hidden over the existing Internet or, ideally, capable of running on a parallel network which can entirely bypass the existing internet itself. + +If the State started making a concerted attack on node operators and miners today, the resource requirements are still small enough that a reasonable defense could be mounted. For every person shut down, we could fire up ten other nodes elsewhere. And we would. + +However, as the bandwidth, CPU, and storage requirements grow, we create an ever larger, and easier, attack vector for the State. The larger that surface area, the easier it is to attack. + +And, what do I mean by 'attack'? Simple. They start throwing people in jail if they don't institute AML/KYC, whitelists and blacklists. + +The state may well allow bitcoin to exist, but only if it is neutered and controlled to such an extent it will be unrecognizable. + +The primary directive for bitcoin should be to protect the network from attack, not only from hackers, but also by state actors, regulators, and others. + +They have not attacked it heavily, yet. Because it is still a manageable problem; with the vast majority of all users operating through onramps and offramps that already have a significant amount of regulations. + +However, if the market cap grows much larger and, in turn, people start bypassing fiat entirely, the attacks will be much more profound. + +You can't 'undo' a blocksize increase. That's not something you get to 'take back' by hitting control-Z. + +The current SegWit change already almost doubles the blocksize as is. The current cautious approach by the core roadmap is prudent and safe. + +I'm all for experimentation. I would love to see a value transfer network that has 20mb blocks, fast confirmation times, and low fees. Just don't do that experiment on the bitcoin network, because the risk of killing it in the process is high! +A lot of new investors have flooded the stock market recently and both new and old have been swooped up into the short squeeze bets. + +To whoever needs to hear this.. your losses are pennies on the dollar in comparison to your future financial successes. Whether this be the right stock picks, working hard at a new job, or even working hard in college for a promising career. Don't give up. The only way to be successful is to work hard for it. + +I've been reading posts here and there about people becoming mentally unstable, suicidal, etc over losses. Please talk to a close friend or family member, call a mental health provider, hell message me even if you really need to. + +For those of you who are successful, please keep an eye out for those in need of help. + + +We can make money AND support our communities. + + +Love, + +"Just another guy who lost a fuck ton on the squeeze" +Coinbase customers affected recieved this email this morning: + +>Unfortunately, between **March and May 20, 2021**, you were a victim of a third-party campaign to gain unauthorized access to the accounts of Coinbase customers and move customer funds off the Coinbase platform. At least 6,000 Coinbase customers had funds removed from their accounts, including you. +> +>In order to access your Coinbase account, these third parties first needed prior knowledge of the email address, password, and phone number associated with your Coinbase account, as well as access to your personal email inbox. While we are not able to determine conclusively how these third parties gained access to this information, this type of campaign typically involves phishing attacks or other social engineering techniques to trick a victim into unknowingly disclosing login credentials to a bad actor. We have not found any evidence that these third parties obtained this information from Coinbase itself. +> +>Even with the information described above, additional authentication is required in order to access your Coinbase account. However, in this incident, for customers who use SMS texts for two-factor authentication, the third party took advantage of a flaw in Coinbase’s SMS Account Recovery process in order to receive an SMS two-factor authentication token and gain access to your account. +> +>Once in your account, the third party was able to transfer your funds to crypto wallets unassociated with Coinbase. + +From a shareholder perspective, I think this is very egregious that this was happening around the time of the IPO, but they didn't disclose this until just now. This news was withheld and kept under wraps for months, and could be related to the heavy selling we've seen from company executives since the IPO back in April. +In­di­vid­ual in­vestors who re­cently piled into GameStop Corp. are tak­ing a vic­tory lap this week af­ter shares of the strug­gling com­pany doubled in the last two days, putting the stock on pace for its best weekly per­formance on record. + + +For weeks, mem­bers of Red­dit’s pop­u­lar WallStreetBets fo­rum have been tout­ing GameStop, en­courag­ing oth­ers to scoop up shares of the videogame re­tailer and be­gin making bull­ish wagers. Sev­eral posts on the forum had noted that short sell­ers’ bear­ish Game­Stop bets had been at el­e­vated lev­els. + + +Short in­ter­est, which in­di­cates the in­ter­est of investors bet­ting a stock will fall in value, has hovered around 138% of the stock’s free float this year, Fact­Set data show. This makes it the sec­ond-most-shorted com­pany by that met­ric across the New York Stock Ex­change and the Nas­daq, ac­cord­ing to Dow Jones Mar­ket Data. That had some Red­dit users pre­dict­ing that the stock might rapidly rise if short sell­ers had to cover their bets by buy­ing back shares should the stock sud­denly in­crease in value. + + +This week, that fore­cast fi­nally ap­peared to take shape af­ter news of changes to Game­Stop’s board sent shares climb­ing. + + +On Mon­day, the com­pany said it had struck a deal to add Chewy Inc. co-founder Ryan Cohen and two for­mer ex­ec­u­tives to the GameStop board. + +The an­nounce­ment pushed shares up 13% on the day. On Wednes­day, gains ac­cel­erated, and Game­Stop cat­apulted 57% higher, its big­gest share-price jump in his­tory. Game­Stop gained an ad­di­tional 27% on Thursday. + + +On Red­dit on Thurs­day, Wall­Street­Bets users were cel­e­brat­ing Game­Stop’s gains. Many posted screen-shots of big wins from bull­ish options bets. Sev­eral talked about how they would spend their prof­its. One user posted that the ex­pe­ri­ence demon­strates that the WallStreet­Bets fo­rum “runs the mar­ket.” + + +(Continued...) + +[link](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-stock-soars-and-social-media-traders-claim-victory-11610653679?st=ocww1w39v9r3lar&reflink=article_copyURL_share) +I think retail owns the float and the vast majority are 100% going to hold for 6 figures or more. We have diamond handed this far, ive been here since January when i bought in over $100 and when it crashed to $40 the following month + + +Lot of people lost hope back then, look at r/gmemeltdown and the shills. But the people here now who bought back in or held from the start or before..... i think all the dd and bullshit has conditioned us to hold. + + +Lets get rich!!! 😎 and be better people than who those fucking assholes have been who have been manipulating markets and not helping a single person. + +It actually amazes me that gme holders have done more in 3 months than what wealthy people have done for others in their whole selfish lives. Donate to saving apes, donate to charities, buy consoles for hospitals truly inspire each other. + +💎 ✋ people!!! + +Edit: geez alright the floor is 10,000,000 but straight up kind of surprised by the negativity + +Edit 2: I cant change title of the post guys +........................ + +Edit 3: straight up downvote this post if you dont like the post title, I went from posting this on a positive note to thinking shit wtf is with these responses and negativity. Its a fucking zero dont cut off my balls for it! this had the intention of just saying everyone in this is still in this for the HODL and right reasons like fuck .. +\#ONE, safe to APE + +$8K MARKET CAP AS OF POSTING THIS! Earliest you're gonna be on anything! + +COINGECKO SUBMITTED + +Trade Here: [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xbf95b7730eabacfee75382ccbf09cd81a881f8a6](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xbf95b7730eabacfee75382ccbf09cd81a881f8a6) + +Contract: [https://bscscan.com/token/0xbf95b7730eabacfee75382ccbf09cd81a881f8a6](https://bscscan.com/token/0xbf95b7730eabacfee75382ccbf09cd81a881f8a6) + +Renounced Ownership: [https://bscscan.com/tx/0x9c8ba622a9379763bb518588254fc9c9a95a51c8faebdd31b5f743901424b7b7](https://bscscan.com/tx/0x9c8ba622a9379763bb518588254fc9c9a95a51c8faebdd31b5f743901424b7b7) + +Liquidity Locked/Burned: [https://bscscan.com/tx/0xaa3f246ee9045799094e6b21f724b68524a8d187a9e8ddcf9a2397af844795ca](https://bscscan.com/tx/0xaa3f246ee9045799094e6b21f724b68524a8d187a9e8ddcf9a2397af844795ca) + +About #ONE + +The price matches the marketcap! + +MCAP IS $8k RIGHT NOW!! + +&#x200B; + +COMMUNITY OWNED!!! + +&#x200B; + + \-0.3 BNB add to the pool + +\- 5% team reserve tokens + +\- 2% tx fee distribute to all token holders + +&#x200B; + +\- 1 (ONE) total supply + +&#x200B; + +\*NOTE\* + +The price looks great right now, yeah. + +&#x200B; + +But please know that the price, dips and pumps don't matter at this low of a marketcap. They are indeed fun to watch, but the real gains are in the holder count, visible on bscscan, that's what you should be watching. + +&#x200B; + +Don't panic if the price drops, because at this low of a cap, that could be just one person trying to scare your hand and they'll eat your tokens right up. For every sell, there's a distribution to all HODLrs, so relish in that thought! Don't let anyone take your tokens in a panic sell. + +&#x200B; + +Buy your token, and HOLD no matter what, I can't emphasize enough that the PRICE IS WILD AT THIS CAP, just hold and watch the fireworks. + +&#x200B; + +If you get an error attempting to buy, try raising your slippage! +# Greetings dear Crypto Enthusiasts + +**i'm no Financial Adviser and Buy Crypto what you can afford to loose!** + + +Cumrocket Leading NSFW Crypto with 50+ Models and many more Creators! +But why CR? +Maybe the following help a little to Understand : + + +* The Lead Dev is a Doxxed Female Software Engineer who dropped her 9-5 Job to work 24/7 on that Coin +* Rugpull? An audit with Solidity Finance was just completed, which entailed a 5 user multi-sig security. The majority of funds are in a locked dev wallet, with the remaining unlocked portion funding ongoing development, marketing, and upcoming exchange listings. The CEO, Lyd, has a publicly traceable identity and jurisdiction allowing one to proceed with investor fraud suit, if necessary; along with the rest of the core team. +* Every transaction pays a 5% fee, 2.5% of which is reflected, and 2.5% of which is burnt. The reflect is distributed to all CUMMIES holders proportionally, and the burn decreases supply -- increasing your slice of the total pie. +* 87K Holders 03.June.2021 +* Disrupt Monoplastic Adult Industry, Empowering the Content Creators! +* Upcoming NSFW Website (Onlyfans alike but with plenty of more Features!) + +This is the Information i have so far you can ofc. visit the Website yourself and check everything out! +**Always do your Own Research!!** + +You can see the Succeed! There are so many NSFW Token Copy Cats and they are causing FUD, Manipulating Polls, Reddit Posts, Mass Reporting Twitter Accounts & Botting the Coinmarketcap Rating from 97% Good to 12% Bad it's Ridiculous. But i guess that is the Price to be the Leading NSFW Token. Plenty of those Fake Coins already Rugged their Community so i will say it again **Do your Research** + +&#x200B; + +There are so many Upcoming Updates & Upgrades and the Sky is the Limit in a 97$ Billion Industry! +ATH was ath 29cents with 380mil Market Cap + +1$ Billion Cap would be 1$ back then now its getting more and more! + + +That is why i'm hodl my Cummies + + +TL,DR : Cummies Numero Uno Fap Token + +PS: English is not even my second Language so please don't Judge my Spelling or Gramma :) +Decentr ( $DEC ) + +&#x200B; + +This is going to be the next 50x defi project. The idea is huge-monetize your own private data. Current Market Cap just under 5 million. This train is leaving the station soon. + +&#x200B; + +Description: + +Decentr unlocks the value that data holds by providing three services. First with the DEC token it projects the value of user data, platform data and lending data (more can be found in the “ Token Utility” section). Second through its dEX it provides a platform for the exchange of data for fiat (using the DEC token).Third through its dWallet it will allow users to buy products and services online, cheaper, but also take out loans through dLoan with impressive APR. + +&#x200B; + +Basic information: + +Token: DEC + +Seed : 1 DEC= 0.01 USD + +Private sale Price: 1 DEC= 0.0141–0.02 USD + +Public sale Price: 1 DEC= 0.022–0.03 USD + +Total money raised: $1,224,650 + +MVP: Q1 2021 (The latest) + +Platform :Ethereum + +Total supply: 1,000,000,000 DEC + +Tokens sold: 7.15% + +Initial supply: 61,500,000 DEC (no new tokens from any token tranche entering the circulating supply until 2021) + +Release date: 13th of July 2020 + +Token type: Utility + +Additonal information: [https://medium.com/@DecentrNet/decentr-token-sale-metrics-and-distribution-483bb3c58d05](https://medium.com/@DecentrNet/decentr-token-sale-metrics-and-distribution-483bb3c58d05) + +&#x200B; + +Partners: + +Holochain + +Blackedge Capital + +Bisite + +PTechnology + +&#x200B; + +Token utility: + +DEC is the fuel of the Decentr Deconomy. DEC captures the value of user data, and activity of all users on the platform performing payment (dPay), lending or borrowing (dLend). A deeper dive on dLend and dPay can be found here. + +The DEC token is used on the Decentr platform for (and for now) - + +A tradeable unit of value that is both internal and external to the Decentr platform + +A unit of conversation between fiat entering and exiting the Decentr ecosystem + +A way to capture the value of user data and combines the activity of every participant of the platform performing payment (dPay), or lending and borrowing (dLend), i.e A way to peg PDV to tangible/actionable value + +A method of payment in the Decentr ecosystem + +A method to internally underwrite the “deconomy” + +Decentr has a recent legal opinion that the DEC token is a utility token and is not a security token. + +&#x200B; + +There is alot of info to unpack here but you can read more here: + +[https://medium.com/@ioannissourdis/two-bright-stars-in-the-defi-universe-part-2-decentr-b8082fb9e7ca](https://medium.com/@ioannissourdis/two-bright-stars-in-the-defi-universe-part-2-decentr-b8082fb9e7ca) +&#x200B; + +\# Tether printer + +&#x200B; + +Are you tired of finding out about tokens when half the world has already bought in? Do you have so many rugs in your wallet that it looks like a discount furniture store? Does the very prospect of making money evade you like you have covid? Well, it seems that TetherPrinter is for you. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\## Why is it different? + +&#x200B; + +We believe that when it comes to tokens, tokenomics is the most important aspect of a token, right after its community. Based on these two axioms, we decided to do some technical and psychological research on several key aspects related to these topics, culminating in Tether Printer. We believe have come up with a set of rules that will punish early dumps and bots while substantially rewarding hodlers in a more meaningful way than other coins. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\## Print-o-nomics + +&#x200B; + +Each transaction is charged a fee of 15% out of which: + +&#x200B; + +♻️ 10% is shared among all token holders. + +&#x200B; + +💧 5% is added to liquidity. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +This makes Tether Printer deflationary while passively rewarding those hodling, which in turn keeps the printer whirling. Brrrrrrrrrrr! + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\## Anti-whale by design + +&#x200B; + +Maximum hold per wallet limited to 300m tokens, with a transaction cap of 100m. This means whales can't throw their weight around. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\## Marketing Plan? + +&#x200B; + +We plan on getting listed on coingecko and CMC soon. After securing more funds, we will be running paid ads on Poocoin and Twitter, as well as partnering up with Crypto Youtubers. We will also further increase our target audience by branching out to more platforms once a strong community of holders has been established. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +\## Relevant links + +&#x200B; + +🔒LP locked🔒: [https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3b2e4ac5317e144265578e0a1ac2cb18847a7b59b3d3542e8660c248e02ae7c4](https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3b2e4ac5317e144265578e0a1ac2cb18847a7b59b3d3542e8660c248e02ae7c4) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +🔥Token burn🔥: [https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xdb5fb0d6dcba94f96a68c694cb4c05c3811c7aebc13838a19c3525d0cdf481ed](https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xdb5fb0d6dcba94f96a68c694cb4c05c3811c7aebc13838a19c3525d0cdf481ed) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +🔑Ownership renounced🔑: [https://bscscan.com/tx/0x23f0eb9e1d10906776a9a85300b403e141c91e25efbe5c4c386b3d56715b34da](https://bscscan.com/tx/0x23f0eb9e1d10906776a9a85300b403e141c91e25efbe5c4c386b3d56715b34da) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +🥞Pancakeswapv2🥞: [https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xBD7FD674a8b5aB1A0357A2983f407E5E6C824b62](https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/#/swap?outputCurrency=0xBD7FD674a8b5aB1A0357A2983f407E5E6C824b62) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +💸Contract address💸: [https://bscscan.com/address/0xBD7FD674a8b5aB1A0357A2983f407E5E6C824b62#code](https://bscscan.com/address/0xBD7FD674a8b5aB1A0357A2983f407E5E6C824b62#code) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Website: [https://tether-printer.me/](https://tether-printer.me/) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +Telegram: [https://t.me/tetherprinter](https://t.me/tetherprinter) + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +If you have any questions, feel free to hop into our telegram channel and the staff will help out. As always, DYOR. +$Mora +I’m a long time cardano holder. If you looking for a long term project check out $mora. -2.3m circulation Staking starts next week 50-90apy Please check it out and comment it + +$MORA is now listed on Uniswap! Hard Cap is reached in 2 minutes! + +Uniswap: https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap?inputCurrency=0xb64cd4f56043f8d80691433e395d08b1bebdadf0 + +DexTools: https://www.dextools.io/app/uniswap/pair-explorer/0xf84d901abdf28b46262ea7d0c7a5b37973214fd5 + +Liquidity Lock: https://etherscan.io/address/0xe3e69247baB6C3f87c4921AF4565eedCcc970E34#code + +Uniswap Listing Price: 3453 MORA per ETH (0.0002895) Total Token Supply: 5500000 MORA Initial Circulating Supply: 2375000 (43% of total supply upon Uniswap listing) + +Meliora is a cross-chain atomic swap platform which aims to eliminate the current risks and problems that DEXs and CEXs create. Meliora will be one stop trading solution for multichain swaps. Meliora will support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Cosmos, Polkadot, Tron, Avalanche blockchains. Traders will be able to exchange any of those blockchain assets against any each other from wallet to wallet in a trust-less, permission-less and secure way. + +🌐 Useful Links 🌐 + +Website: https://meliora.finance Ann Channel: @meliorachannel Medium: https://medium.com/@meliorafinance Twitter: https://twitter.com/meliorafinance Github: https://github.com/meliora-finance + +💠 MORA - Native Utility Token of Meliora 💠 + +Total Supply: 5500000 MORA + +🔹 Governance 🔹 Staking 🔹 Fee Discount 🔹 Revenue Generator + +👥 Team & Admins 👥 + +@adhoc_meliora @James_Meliora @TheoMeliora + +🔻 House Rules🔺 • English only. • No spam, referral or unrelated links! • Admins never PM you first. Always compare the admin usernames with those above in this message! • No swearing or any abusive behavior directed at other people. • Only Meliora related topics! • No advertisements or forwards! • Trolling or fudding is strictly forbidden! +I’m new to stocks, yadda yadda yadda. + +Been watching NIO grow and all this hype around it as well as TSLA. + +Worth the purchase? Looking to buy about 10 shares, nothing crazy. + +Just curious on others opinions who’ve been doing this longer. + +Thanks +Most projections seem to assume you will die around 80. What if people under 30 today live to 110 or even longer that's 30 years of not having saved for along with 30 extra years of inflation devaluing what you have saved. I was just curious if anyone has plans in case lifespans increase and say the new retirement age becomes 85 instead of 65. +Tl;Dr….Ah Shit! + +In his appearance before the senate committee, Mark Zuckerberg was asked some of the most basic questions imaginable. + +These included “How does Facebook make money?” and “Why do I keep seeing ads for chocolate?”. + +I have no faith in their knowledge and people always try to destroy what they don’t understand. +Decentralisation + +Neutrality + +Transparency + +Open networks + +Permissionless innovation + +Network effects + + +And most importantly, immutable and automated sound money principles always win against an arbitrary, centralised, corruptible, manipulated, manual supply issuance. + +Bitcoin will become the worlds global standard for money whether academic keynesians like it or not. +All right folks for those of us who bought very cheap for a few thousands, "last chance to buy at 30k" can also very well be "last chance to sell at 30k". + +So reality is -25% is nothing for a bitcoin correction so if you believe you want to sell part of your portfolio to rebuy cheaper, just do it, and if you want to HODL for ever without taking this risk, good for you we will meet again at 150k anyway but don't spread intox like this. + +&#x200B; + +by the way I am posting here after several removals from r/bitcoin, we do have different opinions but this censorship needs to end if we want cryptos to be taken seriously. + +Please use this thread to discuss various methods of filing taxes. This can include: + +* Tax Software Recommendations (give detail as to *why!*) +* Tax Software Experiences +* Other Tax Filing Tools +* Experiences with Filing Manually +* Past Experiences using CPAs or other professionals +* Tax Filing ProTips, Tricks, and Helpful Hints + +If you have any specific questions, or need personalized help with taxes which don't belong here, feel free to [start a new discussion](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/submit?selftext=true). + +Please note that affiliate links and other types of offers will still be removed in accordance with our [Subreddit Rules](http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/rules). If you have any questions, please [contact the moderation team](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpersonalfinance). + +## [Sam Bankman-Fried: The Rigged Wall Street System that “Valued” His Company at $32 Billion](https://archive.ph/zduXD) + +By [Pam Martens and Russ Martens](https://archive.ph/ODR8L): December 5, 2022 \~ + +If you have been following the Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX crypto exchange story since the company filed for bankruptcy on November 11, you have likely read the phrase “a valuation of $32 billion” dozens of times to describe the “valuation” of FTX as recently as February of this year. (We [pulled up 47,600 results from a Google search](https://archive.ph/21tpL).) + +But here’s the funny thing. No media outlet has bothered to explain how FTX came by that $32 billion valuation or precisely how Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and CEO of FTX, became a billionaire overnight. FTX wasn’t publicly traded so its share price wasn’t determined by millions of investors buying and selling its stock on a public stock exchange five days a week. + +And here’s another funny thing: mainstream media reported in late September that FTX was looking to raise $1 billion more from venture capitalists while keeping its valuation at $32 billion, the same value that it had in February. But between February 1 and September 30, Coinbase, a crypto exchange that actually did trade on a public exchange where millions of real people bought and sold its stock, had lost 67 percent of its value. + +To understand how FTX came by that magical $32 billion valuation, let’s use the example of a chain of privately-owned lemonade stands. The owner says his lemonade is the best in the world because he uses only organic lemons. He puts together a slick pitch deck and shows it to a bunch of venture capitalists. He wants to keep 55 percent of his company so he is willing to sell investors 45 percent of the shares. To keep things simple, let’s say that there are 1,000 shares in total in the company. To get to a $32 billion valuation, each share must be valued at $32 million. + +If the lemonade stand owner can get some well-known venture capital firms to pay that $32 million per share, then Wall Street and the business press is happy to say that the firm has a valuation of $32 billion – even though price discovery on a public stock exchange has never occurred and only a small amount of the shares are actually sold. + +In the case of FTX, only $1.8 billion in shares were actually sold to outside investors. But the $32 billion valuation was thrown around as if market forces had genuinely determined what the company was worth. Likewise, Sam Bankman-Fried was said to be worth $16 billion based on the shares he retained in FTX and related companies. + +It’s impossible to say that the outside investors in FTX did any real due diligence to determine what valuation to place on FTX. The company did not have a functioning Board of Directors or even a CFO. The related-party transactions were so outrageous that they made another huckster, [WeWork’s Adam Neumann,](https://archive.ph/M9upP) look like a Boy Scout. FTX was [using company funds to buy up to $300 million in real estate in the Bahamas](https://archive.ph/QAnLQ), putting some of the properties in the names of executives and one $16.5 million “vacation home” property in the name of Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents. + +FTX’s outside investors included some high-profile names on Wall Street: SoftBank (also a big investor in the WeWork fiasco); Sequoia Capital – which has written down its $214 million investment in FTX to zero; Third Point Ventures, Tiger Global, BlackRock, Thoma Bravo, and others. + +Venture capital firms have a vested interest in grossly over-valuing a private firm that hopes to eventually go public on a stock exchange. [The more over-valued the company is the more money the private investors make when they cash out their shares](https://archive.ph/U7occ) during or shortly after the IPO (Initial Public Offering). In the case of Coinbase, some of its private investors cashed out of their shares at more than $300 per share on its first day of trading on April 14, 2021. (Coinbase went public as a direct listing. In a traditional IPO, early private investors and company executives are not allowed to sell their shares for several months due to a so-called lockup period. There’s no such prohibition in a direct listing.) Coinbase closed last Friday at $47.67. + +The big Wall Street mega banks that underwrite IPOs are also incentivized to keep their mouths shut about wildly inflated valuations, because they collect a fee based on the dollar amount of the offering. And Big Law firms that serve as legal counsel to the underwriters don’t want to rock the boat out of fear they’ll be cut out of future deals. + +Just 14 years ago the United States experienced the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression of the 1930s because of fast-talking hucksters on Wall Street pushing unregulated derivatives backed, in many cases, by little more than air. Millions of innocent Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings in the crash. + +Congress was supposed to write legislation that would make sure this kind of wholesale looting of the American people could never happen again. And yet, here we are today with millions of Americans’ life savings being looted by hucksters peddling cryptocurrencies backed by air – or stolen customers’ money in the case of FTX’s crypto token, FTT. + +In his 1841 classic on market bubbles, *Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds*, the Scottish journalist Charles Mackay wrote this about the Dutch Tulip bubble in the 17th century: “The rage among the Dutch to possess them was so great that the ordinary industry of the country was neglected…” + +The legitimate business of Wall Street is to allocate capital efficiently to solid companies that will grow the U.S. economy, create good-paying jobs, and keep America competitive on the world stage. But despite Wall Street’s willingness to bring crypto dogs public and venture capital’s willingness to fund crypto startups, there has been [a preponderance of evidence that crypto has been a scam from the very beginning](https://archive.ph/dKHjI). + +Investors who thought that investing in crypto mining companies that used massive amounts of energy to solve complex mathematical problems that served no socially-beneficial purpose whatsoever have seen their investment dollars evaporate this year. The chart below shows the share price performance of ten crypto miners over the past 12 months versus the S&P 500 Index (Ticker SPX): Argo Blockchain PLC (ARBK), Bitfarms Ltd. (BITF), BIT Mining Ltd. (BTCM), Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HIVE), Hut 8 Mining Corp. (HUT), Greenidge Generation Holdings (GREE), Iris Energy (IREN), Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA), Riot Blockchain Inc. (RIOT), and Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG). + +Tulips anyone? + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/8mv2s7gzb74a1.jpg?width=577&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e52b23b97bce0bc3a2986bf59104aed7fe3a1eb +So I thought I'd do something a little different today and post my watchlist going into open. + +Today I am watching into open: + +**1) JWN (Nordstrom)** \- Gapping lower after earnings. Watching for a breakdown through the 22.08 daily level for a short. Or a long if it breaks above the 25.92 daily level. + +**2) GPS (GAP)** \- Gapping lower after earnings. Watching for a breakdown through the 18.30 daily level for a short. Or a long if it rallies through the 20.20 yesterday post-market high level. + +**3) ADSK (AutoDesk)** \- Gapping lower after earnings. Watching for a breakdown through the 257.32 daily level for a short. Or a long if it breaks out above the 271.09 daily level. + +That is what I'm watching into the open. I also watch my momentum scanners for anything that is moving with volume after open. + +Have a great day and stay green! + +PS: Let me know if you want more of this, or if it is a waste of my time. :) + +**After Open Update:** I went short ADSK on the back test of the 257.32 daily level after the breakthrough. Covered in pieces down through 250. Quick $1,200 winner to start the morning :) You can check out the trade review post I made about it here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Daytrading/comments/r19apk/112421\_trade\_review\_adsk\_short\_this\_morning/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Daytrading/comments/r19apk/112421_trade_review_adsk_short_this_morning/) GPS had a large liquidity pool around 18.00 and couldn't break it at open, and JWN just never moved much. +I've been thinking about this for a couple of years now. I'm 25/M, currently work in wealth management, 65k+, mortgage a house, paid off car, currently pursuing my mba (nontarget GMAT 660), and am in a healthy relationship. In paper everything sounds good. + +In reality, like everyone, I work long hours and on free time I study for the MBA. After the MBA come the CFA exams. I have had no time to really enjoy leisure time, travel, parties, vacations, nothing. I feel guilty when I put off anything work related. Its become harder for me to enjoy simple things and I believe i'm falling victim to society's standards. I've slowly alienated all my friends and family. + +What I do for a living doesn't seem to benefit society as it is very sales intensive with very little concern for client's outcome. My question is, will this path lead to happiness? Something I've been asking myself for a year now since I've become more familar with the industry... + +EDIT: Thanks for all your comments, looks like most of you have found happiness within finance. I will continue to work hard. Thanks. +This is a topic that i'd like to see more discussion about - where's the ideal place in the U.S. to retire early with the following goals? + +* FIRE income of 30-40k +* No kids / school proximity not a concern +* Not a big traveler / airport proximity not a concern +* Not a fan of very hot summers +* Don't mind cloudy/rainy weather +* Any size town (provided amenities such as decent broadband, grocery stores over dollar stores, etc.) +* Goal is to maximize LCOL with a baseline of quality + +Part of the problem searching/filtering for LCOL areas is you also get a lot of places that are suffering for other reasons, such as the opioid epidemic (KY, WV), or economic loss (detroit). How do you avoid picking a place with these kinds of problems when searching for a LCOL retirement spot? + +It looks like Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana could all be good options. + +EDIT: To clarify, I have lived in WI so I know what game of thrones winters feel like. +Coinbuddy is a free product with no registration required and is focused on helping users easily navigate the cryptocurrency space. + +After last year's crypto boom, I made it my personal side mission to help my friends and family invest in crypto without getting scammed by potentially shady services. I also wanted to make it completely free, so you won't see an advertisement anywhere on the site or app. There's a single referral link to Coinbase, but you also get $10 if you sign up through it. + +I compiled data on the best exchanges to buy any coin based on most volume, lowest trading fees, and lowest withdrawal fees. For any coin, you can see the best wallets to keep your crypto safe and accessible. It also has easy\-to\-use iOS and Android apps to track your crypto stash and keep up\-to\-date on the crypto markets. + +I really hope you find value in using Coinbuddy because I spent every single one of my weekends from early January up until now making it. Please do let me know what else you’d like to see by emailing me at: team@coinbuddy.co + +- + +- + +https://coinbuddy.co + +- + +[iOS App](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coinbuddy-track-your-crypto/id1271644974?mt=8) + +- + +[Android App](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.threecommastudio.coinbuddy&pcampaignid=MKT-Other-global-all-co-prtnr-py-PartBadge-Mar2515-1) +Let’s go through the positives first. + +• Reverse Split would only happen if it were to take us to the Nasdaq, which is a huge catalyst for us and accomplishment for the company + +• The Reverse Split would reduce our outstanding shares/float making the stock price easier to be moved once on the Nasdaq. Simple supply and demand here folks. + +• Because we are on the OTC exchange High Tide is fairly unappreciated as it is unavailable to some of the biggest brokers (Robinhood/Webull and many more). After uplisting to the Nasdaq through an RS we would be able to be traded on more brokerages and have a wider outreach to more investors that like the stock. + +• A reverse split to get onto the Nasdaq would undoubtedly give us a larger social media presence among investors on the likes of YouTube/Reddit as it would be available to more investors. + +• Nasdaq uplisting would put us at a share price that would be attractive to more institutional investors and ETFs (Currently 0% institutional ownership). + + +Now let’s go through the negatives from what I’ve gathered. + +• News of a reverse split could potentially cause a temporary short drop in share price as the uneducated paper handlers sell out because they’re scared it’s going to cause the SP to drop, which shouldn’t be the case with High Tide as we are reverse splitting for a very positive reason. + +• Possible Stigma that comes with reverse splits as people have experience with failing companies going through an RS to not be delisted from an exchange, which again is not the case here. + +• For some reason people care about having a higher share count even though the shares still hold the same value? I know sounds crazy doesn’t it. + +I personally see no real negatives with going through with a reverse split and I’ll welcome it with open arms when the time comes. Why would you want to stay on the garbage OTC exchange when you could be up there on the big boy exchange with the other respected cannabis leaders? Just ask yourself that question please. + +FYI a reverse split up to 20:1 has already been previously approved by the Company in relation to listing on the Nasdaq. + +(Disclosure 21k Shares long) +I haven't posted in a while, but I've continued to watch the dark pool transaction data to identify potential bullshit. **I've found something that looks and smells like shit, and I need additional help analyzing and interpreting**. + +Typical disclaimer: I am retrieving Finra ADF (OTC dark pool) data from Fidelity using Time & Sales and running it through some spaghetti code I threw together for analysis purposes. As always, if you notice any errors in my data please point them out as **I am prone to making mistakes and I'm no wrinkle brain**. + +[What is the NBBO?](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nbbo.asp) + +>The NBBO shows the best available (lowest) ask price and best available (highest) bid price available to customers from multiple exchanges. +> +>The SEC mandates brokers fills to customers of at least the NBBO per Regulation NMS. + +[Understanding Price Improvement](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/priceimprovement.asp) + +>Price improvement is when a securities order is filled at a better price than quoted. +> +>Price improvement is more likely to occur in highly-liquid, actively-traded securities. + +https://i.redd.it/kw485pngprx61.gif + +While looking through the **FADF data for Thursday (5/6)**, I noticed an unusually high amount of transactions of 1 share trades being executed below bid price and above ask price (see purple box). I expanded my code to further analyze total number of transactions below bid, above ask, and within price for the time increments that I have been utilizing in my spreadsheet. Here's what I came up with. + +https://preview.redd.it/f7mgsw5esrx61.png?width=1538&format=png&auto=webp&s=0931bedc341bf4af67dd97a637acb09b73e60539 + +Key observations (red boxes): + +* The majority of trades **below bid** occurred between **10am-12pm** and again between **3pm-4pm**. +* The majority of trades **above ask** occurred between **8am-10am, 12pm-2pm, and afterhours**. +* \>26% of 1 share trades were executed **outside the NBBO** over the dark pools. +* Typically, >97% falls within the NBBO (see data for other days below). + +Here is the chart for 5/6 with the time blocks outlined accordingly. + +https://preview.redd.it/40upmds9vrx61.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff3d5538b5ebe0650ca59e0cd14cb9dd6ef1fcd4 + +**The transactions above ask correspond with downturns and the below bids correspond with upticks**. This appears to be the opposite of price improvement. 1 share transactions are being channeled to the dark pool above asking price during downward movement (ripping customers off - fuck you whomever is doing this) and then below bid price during upward movement. **If this isn't price suppression combined with price gouging, then what the fuck is it?** + +Edit: Here is the data for NYSE transactions for that same day. + +https://preview.redd.it/u0hkv90s7sx61.png?width=1524&format=png&auto=webp&s=b7643d0878a921696426b9cb0b2fc90fc129f7ce + +**96.3% of 1 share trades over NYSE were within the NBBO.** + +&#x200B; + +I have been exporting and analyzing this data for 3 weeks now, and **this is the first occurrence of this** that I have witnessed. Here is the **FADF data** from the other days of this week for comparison purposes (compare the purple boxes). + +https://preview.redd.it/qi60kdvctrx61.png?width=1520&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5c70e65fd18eb60929f14840cd43d05bf875717 + +https://preview.redd.it/7v3npic3urx61.png?width=1517&format=png&auto=webp&s=2ffcc4a586604a676946425c150dc04d450550f9 + +https://preview.redd.it/fk30s954urx61.png?width=1513&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ad4d00125a601c9687418060f85714480ce73f0 + +https://preview.redd.it/kdhjc125urx61.png?width=1510&format=png&auto=webp&s=3e567aefece2d6050c8ab33a753d9b9df435d317 + +Edit2: + +For the AMC crowd, I was curious whether they encountered the same shit on Thursday as GME. Well, here you go: + +https://preview.redd.it/lspu1v21psx61.png?width=1540&format=png&auto=webp&s=d1f6df831d745c26ca80296e8b818ac0f4c100ed + +**>30% of 1 share trades over dark pools were outside the NBBO.** + +Here's AMC dark pool data for Friday (5-7): + +https://preview.redd.it/suge76xjxsx61.png?width=1540&format=png&auto=webp&s=59341c584034feb2d2eff6842c70baa8568c3725 + +**Only 4.5% of 1 share trades over dark pools were outside NBBO.** + +&#x200B; + +Edit3: + +So I ran 2 other stocks (PTON & NVDA) through my code and came up with the exact same situation for both of them as well. + +https://preview.redd.it/b0s22fhv6tx61.png?width=1546&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab2bf0c37f0b6bc3a7632313c51be617f02a8767 + +**Nvidia also had >28% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside the NBBO.** + +https://preview.redd.it/io3u9xew6tx61.png?width=1537&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6b8c845c64f70e8110e58fc707913e4157ec296 + +**Peloton had >35% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside the NBBO.** Also worth observing that **over 40% of PTON's dark pool trades are over 100 share size**. + +Edit4: + +Decided to check Citadel darling, RKT: + +https://preview.redd.it/7xdylmpxbtx61.png?width=1546&format=png&auto=webp&s=0109aa9ed2279958b8212d2899ea21ddcef94c14 + +Looks like **RKT encountered the same increase outside NBBO** for their 1 share transactions as well. I'd also like to observe how **less than 10% of their trades are at 1 share and over 50% are over 100** shares (how the dark pool is intended to be used). Surprise, fucking surprise. **Eat a dick Ken.** + +Edit5: + +Expanded my search into other large Citadel holdings (FB & IVV ETF): + +https://preview.redd.it/yx1qhneogtx61.png?width=1542&format=png&auto=webp&s=bfa030faf1a659f3b2065e6ae071f7849b230903 + +**Facebook had 47% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside NBBO.** + +https://preview.redd.it/noqg0f7pgtx61.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=df530a428397669d2e9cf059e8303ae0ec955dc3 + +**IVV ETF had 22% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside NBBO.** + +Edit6: + +Here's some additional evidence! Adding Microsoft: + +https://preview.redd.it/c0s63pg7czx61.png?width=1542&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e0594f404c13e6dfe95047b17fb16d3420c2ac3 + +**MSFT had \~38% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside NBBO.** + +Edit7: + +Here's Tesla: + +https://preview.redd.it/smxtydhvhzx61.png?width=1546&format=png&auto=webp&s=e5a9e76cdc6b2096bedc04382e583f048f8ea76a + +**TSLA had \~47% of 1 share trades over the dark pool outside NBBO.** + +Edit8: + +Ok, I watched the AMA with u/dlauer 3 more times and read the transcript. At 24:07 into the video, Dave states: + +>**When trading happens in an internalization system, or in a dark pool, It has to have traded between the national best bid and offer (NBBO).** + +And shortly thereafter: + +>When you have these lit exchanges, providing a mechanism for price discovery, but then in dark pools and off-exchange trading, you're trading within the NBBO you are free-riding off that lit quote. You're taking advantage of it. + +So then, what explains the rampant outside NBBO, for specifically 1 share transactions, through the OTC dark pools for, what appears to be, every stock on **only Thursday**? + +I'm honestly not convinced on the argument that its due to a delay in reporting off-exchange trades to the TRF. Maybe for the 3-5% standard deviation for most days that is a probable argument, but >20% NBBO deviation for every stock I have checked, and only occurring on Thursday? Plus, many of these deviations exist outside of 10 seconds within NBBO price ranges - some are minutes and some are in excess of $1.00 value difference. + +[Here is a google sheet with the GME data compiled for Thursday.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lNMmsu0ZHZvbuew4CFVYr5AucunR3S6p41a3c5xbyBI/edit?usp=sharing) + +I would love Dave's input. + +&#x200B; + +This is the 1st time since I've started tracking this data that I've noticed such a massive discrepancy (>5% outside the NBBO). I'm no wrinkle brain so I need help from you all in analyzing this. + +Updated to include additional stock data information. + +**What the fuck happened** **~~yesterday~~** **Thursday to suddenly cause >25% of trades @ 1 share to happen outside the NBBO? This** **~~is starting to look like~~** **appears to be a market-wide occurrence.** + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; +[GOTS, part 1.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nud0so/gods_of_the_sun_part_11_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +GOTS, part 1.2 + +[GOTS, part 1.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nv333e/gods_of_the_sun_part_13_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Hey apes. + +tldr: part 1.1 of this series introduced the market media manipulation of the meme stock narrative to paint retail investors and GameStop in a negative light, the possibility that RC's Sears tweet points directly at predatory vulture funds, and a big finance play to coordinate a massive meme stock pump and dump that crushes retail and gives the SEC an excuse to regulate Wall Street's retail investment competition, a scheme that centers around AMC and it's CEO, Adam Aron. Part 1.2 dives deeper into vulture funds and specifically focuses on **Apollo Global Management, a vulture fund founded by Leon Black, the Apollo founding CEO who stepped down as CEO and from the board for paying Jeffrey Epstein $158 million dollars.** Why is that relevant to our favorite stock? Apollo Global tried to orchestrate a leveraged buyout of GameStop in 2019. It also attempted a leveraged buyout of AMC in December 2020. **And Adam Aron? He's been with Leon Black and Apollo for 30 years and was an Apollo Global vulture fund Senior Partner when Apollo sold AMC to Chinese vulture fund, Wanda Group.** + +**This post also sets the stage for an exploration of why a company's senior note debt is as important to future company projections as its ability to control the dilution of its shares when attempting to maintain shareholder value. This discussion aims to shed light on the importance of RC paying off GameStop's outstanding senior note debt,** though market media has attempted to thoroughly obscure how important that event was in the meme stock narrative, and why. + +And thanks to everyone who took the time to read GOTS 1.1 and leave comments and point deeper down rabbit trails. Please continue. Apes together strong. + +Let's go. + +**ENTER APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT** + +Apollo Global Management is a predatory vulture fund that has a long history with AMC. Here's an article that paints a clear picture of [Apollo entering the AMC bankruptcy sweepstakes written by Mark Hake for investorplace.com](https://investorplace.com/2021/01/cash-infusion-amc-stock-fighting-chance/) before price action in January; here’s a big chunk of Hake’s article: + +>One more piece of news to factor in is that The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 6 that **AMC was trying to leverage the assets of its U.K. Odeon cinema group.** The article said AMC was seeking 300 million GBP (about $408 million before expenses) in **new credit facilities from Apollo Global Management** (NYSE:APO). + +>**Typically in these kinds of deals, the private equity funds providing the capital have horrendous fees, large amounts of warrants and odious covenants, collateral, hurdles and maintenance ratios.** On top of that **AMC will have to prove to its investment committee they can produce enough cash flow to cover their interest charges and stay out of bankruptcy. In fact, I have seen situations where the hedge fund / private equity fund provided the debt capital to a struggling but valuable company even when it knew the company couldn’t handle the debt. It fully expected bankruptcy.** + +>But **being the most recent capital provider it can supersede other debt investors.** It can obtain the rights to the collateral. **Either that or it knew it would have a controlling stake in the company simply from a large amount of debt provided.** + +>**I can envision a situation like this where Apollo Capital wants to be the biggest stick at the bankruptcy table. To get there, it has to provide the most recent pre-bankruptcy capital.** + +In other words, Apollo Global Management would like to saddle AMC with debt that gets portrayed as capital in order to take profit from the company going bankrupt, which is still expected, the epitome of the parasitic corporate raider ethos. Only this time they’re able to milk retail investors they can rug pull at any time with share dilution they portray positively in the media. Again, encumber the company, distress the company into a survival struggle or capitalize on a naturally occurring survival struggle, pump the price as high as you can, take as much money as you can, let the bear raiders circle, then crush the price into the profit windows of the short hedges while you bankrupt the company. Easy. + +To reiterate the points above, Apollo Global [tried to buy AMC in December 2020 through a leveraged buyout](https://nypost.com/2020/12/11/apollo-circling-amc-as-chain-scrambles-to-stay-afloat-sources/); from the article: + +>AMC Entertainment is being circled by a trio of investment firms including Apollo Global Management as the movie-theater chain scrambles to stay afloat amid the pandemic, The Post has learned. + +>**Apollo, which along with Canyon Capital Advisors and Davidson Kempner Capital Management are holders of AMC’s first-lien debt, are urging the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy** and have offered $1 billion in debtor-in-possession financing, according to sources close to the situation. + +Being circled by predatory vultures... + +Apollo Global [also tried to perform a leveraged buyout of Gamestop in 2019](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-and-the-art-of-the-non-deal-11548779069); from the article: + +>GameStop said Tuesday that it has ended its efforts to find a buyer. In its filing, **the video game retail chain blamed the decision on “lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer.”** The Wall Street Journal had previously reported the company was talking with private-equity firms Sycamore Partners and **Apollo Global Management LLC** about a potential deal. + +>Put another way: Financial backers weren’t exactly lining up to take on a retailer whose core business—selling new and used game disks—is slowly vanishing thanks to the rise of digital downloads. + +Something fascinating to me has been looking at how the media drove sentiment about GameStop at this time when vulture funds were seeking to enter it into a bankruptcy path, a time we know also coincides with bear raiders like Melvin already shorting GameStop into the abyss. For instance, let's look at [the article titled “GameStop ends search for a buyer, shares plunge](https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-ends-search-for-a-buyer-shares-plunge-11548771564?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1) again. Just focus on the title. What’s the connotation? GameStop needed a buyer and failing to find one caused a massive stock price fall. But what’s the reality? GameStop sidestepped a leveraged buyout with likely horrendous terms that would have massively hampered the company’s effort to move forward. How do we know that? GameStop’s statement also recorded in the article: + +>“GameStop’s Board has now terminated efforts to pursue a sale of the company due to the lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer,” the company said. + +In other words, GameStop avoided financing on terms acceptable to a vulture fund buyer, those terms realistically a guaranteed bankruptcy bid while predatory short hedges were already coordinating a GameStop bankruptcy yolo and hammering GameStop through their media channels. And how did GameStop avoid this fate? It’s also in the article. The sale of Spring Mobile. However, this cash influx gets framed as a company problem by referring the sudden cash influx back into the need for a buyer; to this aim, the author writes: + +>As part of its strategic review, GameStop reached a deal in November to sell its Spring Mobile business to Prime Communications LP. The sale of nearly 1,300 wireless phone stores closed earlier this month, netting GameStop roughly $735 million in cash. + +>The company said Tuesday it is still determining how best to use the proceeds, including reducing debt, buying back stock or reinvesting in the business. + +>**Without a sale, GameStop’s future remains uncertain** as its options range from becoming more active in esports, competitive video game contests, to focusing on how it can diversify revenue at its existing stores. + +Here’s [another article from this time period that really drives the point home that GameStop was on the brink of failure](https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-videogame-market-shifts-gamestop-struggles-to-boost-sales-11546561467?mod=article_inline), a definitive manipulation of investor sentiment. The article asserts: + +>“GameStop has become irrelevant in the video game market,” said Mike Hickey, an analyst at BenchMark, in a research note. + +And: + +>“Their strength is in their loyal customer,” Mr. Sebastian said. “They are in a challenging spot, but they have, for now, retained the vast majority of their customers. That window is not going to be open forever.” + +To step into GameStop bullish mode for a moment, it sure seems like we’ve overcome the reasons to be a GameStop bear. I also hope it’s starting to work through you how coordinated the manipulation of the stock market has become because a few bad people developed a profit model that considers driving companies toward bankruptcy good risk management. Just remember this statement: *"I can envision a situation like this where Apollo Capital wants to be the biggest stick at the bankruptcy table. To get there, it has to provide the most recent pre-bankruptcy capital."* I also hope you’re realizing that debt notes are important to a company’s future, just like the potential use of its shares to raise capital. + +And I said the “bad people” word… but surely Apollo Global aren’t bad people, right? + +Wrong. + +Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica. + +We’re about to get really dirty together. + +So [here’s RC dunk tweeting on Jim Cramer to get you through it](https://twitter.com/ryancohen/status/1336775515101949963?s=20). + +Or just [take in this beautiful shitpost by u/cui-ui](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nrkjle/rc_tweet_easter_egg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and buy more GameStop and hold it for your innocence every day and [ev](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/na3akt/all_the_confirmation_bias_i_need_right_here_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)ery night if you like the stock. + +Sorry apes. Sometimes shit gets dark. + +**LEON BLACK, JEFFERY EPSTEIN, AND ADAM ARON** + +Leon Black is the co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Just [listen to this horseshit on Bloomberg YouTube in a video titled “Why Leon Black is the Most Feared Man in Private Equity”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8lMILoFVYk) now that we know what a vulture fund is and how it functions. The reporters skirt the application of the word “ruthless” to Apollo and Leon, then refer to “the magic of Apollo” referencing an insurance scheme. Someone please look into the insurance scheme the reporters talk about that BlackStone and Carlyle Group are also hawking, keeping in mind that Carlyle Group is the vulture fund that spawned Jerome Powell for us. And [here’s the article about Leon Black from Bloomberg that led to the Bloomberg YouTube discussion titled “Nobody Makes Money Like Apollo’s Ruthless Founder, Leon Black”](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-01-16/nobody-makes-money-like-apollo-s-ruthless-founder-leon-black). + +The man is a financial predator and “predator” seems like a theme that runs through other facets of his life. For instance, Leon Black got removed as Apollo’s CEO in early 2021 for his deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, though he still remained on the board until March; this [Financial Times article titled “Why Did Leon Black Pay $158m to Jeffery Epstein”](https://www.ft.com/content/23448802-3ee8-4c3c-bb46-fc02e304f3ed) gets right into it: + +>Mr Black is one of the most successful financiers of his generation, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, a group that ranks among the most powerful on Wall Street. Yet **the billionaire attributes a sizeable part of his family wealth to Epstein, estimating that as much as $2bn in benefits can be traced back to the late paedophile’s financial acumen.** By comparison, Forbes magazine estimated Mr Black was worth $7.7bn at the time of Epstein’s 2019 suicide. + +>On Monday, lawyers for Apollo pointed to that professional relationship to explain why its founder had paid $158m to Epstein over a five-year period ending in 2017 during which the disgraced businessman served as Mr Black’s high-priced adviser on issues ranging from audits by the tax authorities, management of his yacht and private plane and a dispute over the ownership of a sculpture by Pablo Picasso. + +>**Over two decades, Mr Black confided in Epstein regarding personal matters, leaned on him as an “architect” of, and “strict taskmaster” for, the private office that managed his investments. The men socialised or held meetings at Epstein’s Caribbean island** and his other properties in New York, Paris, Florida and New Mexico. + +Hmm. They went to an island together. I wonder why? But then their relationship deteriorated. And how did it deteriorate? Here’s the characterization that sounds decidedly like being caught up in a honey trap: + +>As their relationship deteriorated, **Epstein was not above invoking his friendship with Black in an attempt to extract more money. According to the report by Apollo’s lawyers, he did so “by referencing personal matters that Black had shared with Epstein in confidence”.** Their report added: “There is no evidence that those matters had any relationship to any of Epstein’s criminal activity or to any of Black’s payments to Epstein.” + +But surely I’m just drawing conclusions, right? Nothing to see here, right? It was just business, right? + +I don’t think so, and here’s why. + +An interesting coincidence happened this week while AMC started to pump. What was it? Leon Black reentered the news cycle. Here’s [a Miami Herald investigation into allegations Leon Black sexually assaulted (I'm using that language because the other 'r' word is banned on posts) a woman and paid her hush money while trying to intimidate her into silence](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article251827913.html) that got released [June 1st](https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1399727581369409539?s=20); here’s the intro to the article: + +>A New York woman has filed a defamation lawsuit against Leon Black, alleging that the hedge fund titan sexually assaulted, harassed and intimidated her, then paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money for more than a decade to keep her from going public. + +>Guzel Ganieva, a former model who went on to earn a business degree from Columbia and attended law school, **claims that Black, former CEO of Apollo Global Management, was a “predator” who “forced sadistic sexual acts on her without her consent,” then demanded she sign a non-disclosure agreement, telling her he would “destroy her” if she ever told anyone about his conduct,** according to the suit. + +>Black, 69, stepped down as Apollo’s chairman and CEO in January, amid revelations that he paid sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein more than $150 million for financial advice. + +That’s as much as I’ll quote from the Miami Herald article at this point. I encourage you to read the article though, but with a SERIOUS TRIGGER WARNING before you do. It gets pretty graphic with what Leon Black is accused of doing to Guzel. It also helps us pivot back into what it looks like when a media company tries to control a narrative. How? Because [Verizon just **sold their media business including Yahoo and AOL to Apollo Global** for $5 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/verizon-sells-yahoo-and-aol-businesses-to-apollo-for-5-billion.html) as reported by the May 3rd article I linked, and we can check out the historical record of how Yahoo has covered Leon Black to see if there’s been a change of tone since the ownership transition. + +The first indication of a FUD campaign on Yahoo is [this article titled “Woman accuses Leon Black of defamation, violent behavior”](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/03/verizon-sells-yahoo-and-aol-businesses-to-apollo-for-5-billion.html). To start, no. He’s accused of the 'r' ward and years of intimidation, and you can see the extra effort to steer around the ‘r’ word when the article author phrases an 'r' word allegation as “subjecting her to sexual violence.” And let’s just break down this Apollo media characterization of Guzel and Leon together: + +>The complaint said Black subjected Ganieva over several years to numerous instances of unwanted sexual conduct. It referred twice to his alleged "sexual assaults and r-pes" of her, and specifically described one alleged ['r' word] from 2014. + +>"Ms. Ganieva's allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior are categorically untrue," a spokesman for Black said in a statement. "Mr. Black emphatically denies each and every spurious allegation put forth in this lawsuit and looks forward to disproving them in court." + +>The spokesman also said Black made "substantial monetary payments" to Ganieva based on her threats to go public about their relationship. He did not specify a dollar amount. + +>Ganieva said in her complaint that she received unspecified "regular payments" from Black for 5-1/2 years after she signed a nondisclosure agreement in October 2015. + +>She said Black moved to silence her for his alleged misconduct by coercing her into signing the agreement, **in exchange for forgiving $960,000 of loans he had made and which she could not repay.** + +How this reads to me is Leon used his leveraged buyout vulture capital experience to bend a victim to his will. Why? We know that Guzel is a “former model who went on to earn a business degree from Columbia and attended law school” from the Miami Herald article. However, this Yahoo article deliberately frames her as “a Russian native now in her late 30s” after contrasting Leon and Guzel’s perspectives of the allegations. What I detect is a subtle/not-so-subtle narrative building device that appeals to the idea that Leon is the victim getting coerced, the psychological hook being that mention of Guzel’s complaint (that has to be mentioned because it’s public) that includes “sexual assaults and r---s” is immediately followed by the suggestion statement that "Ms. Ganieva's allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior are categorically untrue.” That hook is couched as a quote that also doubles as an appeal to authority. The appeal to authority functions through a subsequent reference to courtroom action to defend Leon Black from what’s presented to look like an extortion attempt. Again, it reads, “Mr. Black emphatically denies each and every spurious allegation put forth in this lawsuit and looks forward to disproving them in court.” But again, Guzel is characterized as just a Russian woman who is making untrue allegations to extort money rather than an immigrant lawyer who is making allegations that will be heard in court. + +Reaching? No. How do you know? Here’s a *before Apollo purchased Verizon* and an *after Verizon purchased Verizon* comparison of Yahoo’s coverage of Black and Epstein to hammer the media FUD point home. In January, before the Apollo buyout, Yahoo reported Black’s Epstein relationship as follows: + +**Black provided support for Epstein’s lavish lifestyle over a five-year period that ended in 2017 — long after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a prostitution charge involving a teenage girl**, the review found, according to The New York Times. That report noted that Black — who will step down by the end of July — viewed Epstein as a “confirmed bachelor with eclectic tastes.” + +However, in the article about Guzel’s allegation of r-pe and coercion after Apollo bought out Verizon, Yahoo characterizes Black’s Epstein relationship as follows: + +>Black, 69, stepped down this year as Apollo's chief executive and chairman, after an independent review conducted by the Dechert law firm said he had paid the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning. + +>The Dechert report found Black was not involved with Epstein's criminal activities. Black said at the time he deeply regretted his involvement with Epstein. + +Draw your own conclusions. Here’s a March news cycle [that characterizes the media probe into Black’s Epstein relationship as a ‘relentless’ difficulty](https://ca.style.yahoo.com/leon-black-leaves-apollo-executive-112205510.html) for the billionaire Apollo founder. And there’s a wrinkle that I hope blows your mind. This article [from the BCC in the ‘relentless’ March cycle talks about Black stepping down from the board of Apollo](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56487833); first the characterization of Black’s plight for being scrutinized for paying over $150 million to a known pedophile who he spent time on islands with: + +>"The last weeks and months have been deeply trying for me and my family," 69-year-old Mr Black wrote in [a letter to the Apollo board](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001411494/000119312521088432/d114836dex992.htm) explaining his plans to speed up his departure. + +>"The relentless public attention and media scrutiny concerning my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein - even though the exhaustive Dechert Report concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing on my part - have taken a toll on my health and have caused me to wish to take some time away from the public spotlight that comes with my daily involvement with this great public company." + +Second, the BBC provides a mind blowing regulatory capture nugget. Who’s replacing Leon Black as Apollo Global’s executive chairman? This guy: + +>Mr Black said he also no longer planned to remain as executive chairman of the company's board. He will be replaced by **former SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton.** + +I actually just read that part myself. I’m having dark humor giggles while I write that feel pretty close to tears. An ex-SEC Commissioner became Apollo’s executive chairman because the founding CEO and executive chairman is a central figure in the Epstein scandal. + +So let's just ask the real question: how does this all relate to [retail investor’s Silverback, Adam Aron, our AMC hero](https://nypost.com/2021/02/07/how-amc-staved-off-bankruptcy-before-reddit-rally/)? + +**Adam Aron is Leon Black’s protege.** + +With a long history at Apollo Global. + +Seriously. + +Here’s a Forbes article from 1998 describing how Leon Black and Adam Aron [destroyed small business culture in Vail, Colorado after performing a leveraged buyout of Vail Resorts and weaponizing it against the community](https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1998/1019/6209070a.html?sh=6e4a5c9d2a78). We’ll get into this article later in this series. + +The point I’m getting at: Adam Aron’s history shows a decided disregard for apes. + +I’m actually angry watching these motherfuckers get predatory with our memes while attempting to set us up for a regulatory fucking with them. + +It also makes me wonder [what Jeffrey DFV was referring to with this tweet](https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1400522985375780872?s=20), especially considering [what a “Jeffrey” is](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the%20ingredients%20in%20a%20jeffrey) in Get Him to the Greek. + +There’s also a curiosity in the data about Adam Aron and AMC. This [article titled “AMC’s stock price is detached from reality and its CEO loves it”](https://qz.com/2010310/amc-entertainments-stock-is-growing-again-thanks-to-reddit/) showed up in search engines as “AMC Entertainment’s stock is growing again thanks to Reddit” while hitting news tube websites with the on article title in the search engines. And what’s the curiosity? It could mean nothing, but it’s written by Adam Epstein. + +The article brands Aron a “meme lord.” He’s not. But the article does show him co-opting memes. For instance, making the donation to a gorilla rescue, something Reddit pushed in February with GameStop; from Epstein’s article: + +>“Just go on Twitter, just go on Reddit, just go on YouTube, read what these people write. They love AMC… I love the idea that we have a compassionate, committed, enthusiastic shareholder base,” Aron added. Aron donated $50,000 to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a charity that protects endangered gorillas—a sum AMC matched, he said. + +But is all this meme lording for the benefit of retail investors? After all, Adam Epstein writes: + +>Retail investors on Reddit continue to pump up the stock price of the movie theater chain, and now Aron is publicly declaring his allegiance to those millions of shareholders. “They own AMC,” Aron said on an earnings call last week. “We work for them. I work for them.” + +No. I don’t think so. Why? Because debt equity and because the article concludes with an important piece of information; Epstein writes: + +>**The apes have helped — AMC’s surging stock price allowed Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm to which AMC is indebted, to convert $700 million in corporate bonds into AMC stock.** But it’s unclear how much more they can materially impact AMC’s finances. The best way for the apes to support AMC and their “Silverback” leader might be to actually go see a movie in a theater. + +And who is this Silver Lake Partners that apes helped along with AMC? + +A vulture fund. + +Here’s [an article about Silver Lake raiding Expedia with Leon Black guided Apollo from July, 2020](https://skift.com/2020/07/07/expedia-to-deliver-early-payday-to-private-equity-investors/); from the article: + +>Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake Partners rode to Expedia Group’s liquidity rescue in April with a deal to provide $3.2 billion in financing. As its bookings rebounded somewhat, Expedia was looking Tuesday to pay off these firms early, and refinance the debt at a significantly lower interest rate. + +And: + +>If all the pieces fall into place — if Expedia finds takers for its senior notes — then it could pay off the private equity firms, and save a bundle in dividend payments. Apollo and Silver Lake would retain their Expedia warrants, which entitled them to each purchase 4.2 million shares of common stock at $72 per share. If the two companies exercised those warrants, their stakes wouldn’t result in any kind of game-changing ownership. Expedia shares Tuesday were trading mid-day at around $84. + +Wow, eh? + +Get your popcorn, apes. + +*Part 1.3 dives into the difference in RC and Silverback's approach to company capital. We also take a look at a fascinating wrinkle in GameStop's senior note debt that RC settled. As well, we explore the difference in company outlooks because of the way Silverback is planning to utilize the capital raise from At the MC's share dilution that he promised retail investors he wouldn't go forward with.* + +[GOTS, part 1.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nud0so/gods_of_the_sun_part_11_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) + +GOTS, part 1.2 + +[GOTS, part 1.3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/nv333e/gods_of_the_sun_part_13_manipulating_the_meme/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) +We all know the highs of last January and the $483 peak. We all know that the price is significantly lower than that now. Be prepared for loads and loads and loads of MSM articles and TV shows to be slamming the stock. OMG GME is down 80% since last year. Apes must have left and shorts must have closed. + +We all know it's BS. Gamestop mentioned in their last two (may be more) quarterly reports that they may be victim to incorrect media speculation. This is specifically what they warned shareholders about in that statement. + +Stay zen. It's complete BS. If the reason you believe in Gamestop hasn't changed, then there is no reason to sell. +I know this gets posted a lot in other personal finance subs, but YNAB has helped me with my finances more than anything else. + +If you're not familure with YNAB (You Need A Budget) I recommend you check it out and give the 60 day extended trial a shot. I prefer the desktop version personally, but try both and figure which one works for you. + +Good luck. +I have GME in each of my three kids-future accounts. I told my financial planner who ultimately works for TDA about my intention to buy back in March and I directed him to get XX shares for each child’s account. He asked what the strategy was and I told him buy and hold is the strategy to which he replied: “ That’s going to be a guaranteed loss”. I directed him to buy the twenty anyway and to make it so I had access to the online portal so I could trade them if MOA55 should occur…I gave him the rundown on the Bull thesis on GME and he seemed intrigued and eventually bought in himself but paper handed not that long after bragging about his 53% gains. He said I was a madman for HODLing through. +Time goes by. March,April,May and I’m adding to their positions in their TDA accounts along the way. I settled on XXX as the number I wanted to have for them and ceased adding to their positions. +Tonight I get a text from him saying the kids accounts are down 14% with GME in them and what’s the strategy. I say HOLD like I always say and he says… + +“I don’t know if you know - but I sold 1/3 of all the kids GME stock and locked in gains of 100%-200% when I saw a CLEAR exit when price was $250-$350 --- so if you’re this bullish, shall we put the gains we made from the sale back in at this entry point?” + +Record scraaaatch!!!!…. + +WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY??? +Yep, I wasn’t watching the account daily for something like that and since I wasn’t adding to their position I didn’t even know! +He fucking sold XX shares without asking permission on June 9th and I don’t find out until now! +I’m livid and pulling my money outta there ASAP! +I wanted to relay this story to Apes who like me think they are calling the shots with regards to their finances only to possibly realize someone who thinks we don’t know what we’re doing (dumb money) is undermining our positions behind our backs. +Might be worth a look see into your own accounts just to make sure all is as you think it is… + +Now I’m not a tin foil hat guy normally but who is to say he isn’t paid off to try to push me out of my position and if that doesn’t work, to sell some of my position for me telling me he’s locking in those gains for me…. + +Trust no one. +BUY and HODL +The halvening is not a big deal and naturally works itself as the price increases. The same goes for those asking how poor miners will be compensated decades from now when the reward drops to single digits. If Bitcoin is still relevant by then, the reward will be more than adequate. They won't need to be supplemented with fees. +Idiots on here trashing the company after a 10% correction at earnings. PRPL is still trading higher than it was just 2 weeks ago! If you were dumb enough to buy OTM calls just days or even hours before earnings then that's on you - but don't act like this wasn't incredible DD. Anyone paying attention and not just riding the hype train should have made money. +# Hello Superstonk + +Dave has given me another opportunity to meet for a live AMA to continue to answer questions and help educate us! + +This one will be all about the We The Investors SEC Letter 2: [https://www.urvin.finance/advocacy/we-the-investors-sign-on-letter-2](https://www.urvin.finance/advocacy/we-the-investors-sign-on-letter-2) + +If you haven't done so yet, please have a read through it and sign it you would like! The first letter has really made an impact and this next one expands on more the transparency issues in the markets. + +This letter is a roadmap for change. There is a lot there and the SEC isn't really looking at any of it. So we really have an opportunity here to bring these issues to the forefront if we can make our voices heard! + +# Topics + +Please read through the letter and reply below with any questions you think would be ideal to expand on. + +The 3 main topics that will be discussed are: + +1. Securities Lending +2. Direct Registration +3. Settlement & Clearing + +We will also open up with some talk about PFOF and the impact the first letter has had, and where things are at/going from here regarding PFOF. + +Thank you for the input and I look forward to putting together a very educational and productive AMA. + +I will not be sharing the link of where it will be due to self-monetization rules. If mods would like to share it so you can attend I will let them handle that. + +🦍🎤🦍 +I went hungry as a kid. Not all the time, but sometimes. Child hunger statistics suggest I'm not the only American kid who did, but sometimes it feels like I'm alone in this. + +It seems like 90% of the time when I read or listen to someone relate their experience it goes like, "we didn't have a lot, but there was always food on the table," or "I never went hungry, but money was always tight." + +It's great and all for those folks. I certainly don't wish hunger on anyone. But as an adult who has recently been trying to come to terms with the emotional impact of my experience of childhood poverty, every time I read yet another "never went hungry" disclaimer, I feel even more alone about my experiences. + +Edit: To clarify, I'm not gatekeeping here or saying you weren't poor if you didn't go hungry. We should all be free to discuss our experiences. But statistics say like 1 in 7 kids in the US go hungry, yet it feels like people who've had that experience are relatively invisible even in discussions about poverty. And that feeling of invisibility/isolation is (for me) increased by the common practice of adding the "we never went hungry" disclaimer to discussions. Every survivor group of anything looks for evidence that they aren't alone, and that's all I'm talking about. +I see so many new people saying they have "30 shares" of a coin or token. Let me clarify one thing for you: + +Coins are digital assets that run on their own native Blockchain. Examples of this are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano and Polkadot. + +Tokens are digital assets that are built on top of a Blockchain. For example, LINK is an ERC-20 token build on top off Ethereum. + +Shares represent an ownership of a company. If Apple has 100 shares, and you own 1 share of those 100, you own 1% of Apple which makes you entitled to 1% of their Intellectual Property, Cash Reserves, Real Estate, etc. + +If you have a partial ownership of Apple, you have shares. If you have 200 LINK, then you simply have 200 tokens of LINK (a.k.a Stinkies) which does not entitle you to Chainlink's profit nor Sergey's burger trips. + +I also hope if you are new that you are playing with.. well, play money. With that being said, welcome to Crypto and I wish you the best. TO THE MOOOOOOOOON 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 +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. +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. +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 months now it has been pushed on here, and other subs, that us in any way coordinating to fuk the HFs is illegal market manipulation. The law says we are not allowed to "conspire to manipulate prices," and at first glance that may make it seem like maybe what we are doing is sketchy. ***This is not true at all.*** The definition of conspiracy requires that we are doing this in private, like how banks/HFs/the Fed all operate. They *conspire* behind closed doors. We are on an open forum on the internet that anyone has access to. By definition, we could all agree to buy stock on a certain date, and it would not be illegal. It would be stupid, as this is an open forum and we would likely get played by other parties, but it would still not be illegal. If anyone wants to show me any actual proof that coordinating in the open to buy assets is somehow illegal, I am more than interested in seeing it! I don't like echo chambers, which is why I wrote this post. I'm sick of everyone echoing the "I'm not coordinating with you guys" sentiment, as this is completely fucking legal and just makes us look stupid. + +/end rant + +Edit: Why is it that every single shitpost and steve cohen meme can get 5k+ upvotes, but the second I try to call out FUD I get downvoted like crazy? Really bums me out. +As the Dalai Lama once said "AusFinance is for herded sheep and brain-dead losers. The greatest opportunity in life comes from ones spiritual ability to channel and harness pure autistic trading abilities - only then can one be free from regret and money". + +Being the reputable sub for stringent and level-headed market analysis that ASX_Bets is. I now look to you, fellow wombat-fucking autists. + +What say you! Do we ride into valour upon the noble steeds of BBUS or BBOZ? + +Serious replies only.... pros and cons of either fund. +Your markets are run by bots. Now your daily threads are too. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](http://discord.gg/2sQBNuM) +Your markets are run by bots. Now your /r/Asx_bets daily threads are too. + +Read the [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/asx_bets/wiki/index/) people[.](https://styles.redditmedia.com/t5_2hqqj5/styles/communityIcon_41pmnaqp4zn41.png?width=256&s=59bf38425fb316fdcba30365b272a5f19352f370) + +[Posts relating to the "Is /r/ASX\_bets about finance or effect your mental health?" etc will lead to a ban of the mods chosing. You have been warned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ASX_Bets/comments/l0l9et/the_does_asx_bets_effect_your_finances_emotions/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) + +Automoderator may provide "Guidance" for Lazy and zero effort posting. + +[We have an active official/unofficial discord. It's open to all discussions, stonks related and non-stonks related.](https://discord.gg/ywAGqfUAQE) +I have some money in property, ETF's and even a couple of stocks that some guy in a bar probably recomended. + +But this is my first time doing my own DD on a company. So please be as savage as necessary. + +**Grange Resources Limited.** (Iron ore mining and pellet producers) + +I was roughly following a DD guide that someone here had written and shared. Using the trading view website stock screener I started to narrow in on some companies with a good P/E ratio that have been profitable over the last year and more so over the last 6 months. + +I ended up stumbling across GRR and punching the ticker into [tradingview.com](https://tradingview.com) [marketindex.com.au](https://marketindex.com.au) and [simplywall.st](https://simplywall.st) + +**7 Day** \-3.6% **30 Day** 43.2% **90 Day** 73.8% **1 Year** 226.0% **3 Year** 278.8% **5 Year** 815.8% + +All the numbers I could find look solid, so I kept digging and there is one section on simply wall street (future growth) that was not assessed. + +" In this section we usually present revenue and earnings growth projections based on the consensus estimates of professional analysts to help investors understand the company’s ability to generate profit. But as Grange Resources has not provided enough past data and has no analyst forecast, its future earnings cannot be reliably calculated by extrapolating past data or using analyst predictions. + +This is quite a rare situation as 97% of companies covered by SimplyWall St do have past financial data." + +This seemed a bit odd, so I went to their website and downloaded some financial/company reports for 2017 2018 2019 2020. Profit and revenue were down in 2018, but the last few years have seen significant growth well above the industry standards, and a large increase in sales last quarter. + +Their assets far outweigh liabilities and their management team are all long term tenure (6.3year average), with the ceo buying a significant amount of shares last year. + +So. With this being my first real attempt of vetting a company, I'm very curious to get some opinions on what I might have missed, or what you guys think? + +I've thrown $10k into it because I feel pretty confident with my DD. + +Feel free to destroy that confidence. +Had no idea BNPL even existed before co-vid, still got no interest in it at all and would never use it.. if I can't afford something I just won't buy it.. not going to mentally trick myself that something is cheaper because I'm paying in 4 different payments.. + +I'm guessing shopping centers must pay the BNPL company similarly to how they pay credit card companies and BNPL companies try to compete with each other to have the larger customer base so that they have more negotiating pull when charging the shops?... am I right?.. + +Every shopping I do now I see 5-6 different BNPL icons pop up...most of them random companies I never even heard of.. seems the BNPL companies must be easy to set up and there's already heaps of competition on the market since co-vid began....how could one company get a competitive edge in such a market? + +I think most suppliers will either go with the BNPL company which provides the cheapest quote or they will go with the one who they will benefit the most from in other ways.. e.g. the supplier already owns a large amount of shares of that company.. + +My dumbfuck discussion opinion is that it's an industry where competitors are not going to survive for long..there will be 1 dominate BNPL company which has financial ties with all the major shopping centers and suppliers.. and all the other competition will die out.. +This is 10% up and down fluctuations each day, your return vs the index. + +Bottom row are the dollars left for buying tendies. + + DAILY CHANGE| | +10%| -10%| +10%| -10%| +10%| -10%| +10% +---|---|----|----|----|----|----|----|---- +INDEX | 100| 110| 99| 109| 98| 108| 97| 107 +2X LEVERAGED BEAR ETF | 100| 80| 96| 77| 92| 74| 88| 71 +Blaze Int. is currently in a Trading Halt since Friday awaing a Capital Raising announcement. If that doesn't give you spontaneous rocket fuel ratios and formulae revolving your brain idk what will. + +Their plans to start mining are only as recent as a month but the section of land they are mining in is a very sought after and known for being quite the gold dense spot. + +Although it is a penny stock currently sitting at 3¢ with a Market Cap of $6mil, you have all seen what retaredness these types of companies have been pulling in the past week with 1000% up deep space type missions. + +Since the announcement of their future drilling endeavors it has been in a somewhat steady upward trend, this means it's a guaranteed bagger no matter the hold. + +DYOR but once this halt lifts it's BLAZE 1 to Mission Control. Get in quick for them Tendies and maybe a Meat Pie and Coke if you're lucky. + +🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀🔥🚀 +It occurred to me that I don't know how to sell my stonks. Story time! + +*When I first arrived at the casino I was scared. I didn't know how to buy stonks. So I got some advice from some old codgers who knew a thing or two about it.* + +*This real nice grandpa told me to forget about stonks and buy his ETFs he invented. Then don't look at them for like 30 years, he said. That was fun for a bit, but I like looking at them and they don't really do much. Bit like owning a pet tortoise, I guess.* + +*Another bloke told me to buy a stonk and then never sell it. He said he had a knack for losing billions selling his airlines stonks, so he definitely was an expert on the matter! I wasn't sure why he didn't take his own advice.* + +*Then there was this old bastard that hung out with him. He reckoned buying stonks wasn't about being smart. "Just don't be stupid!", he said. Problem is, I'm kinda retarded, so I don't know what that means.* + +*Eventually with the three wise men's teachings, I learned that if you buy high and sell no, you can't lose!* + +*It got pretty boring if I'm honest, sitting around in the casino with my blue chip stonks stacked up. Maybe it would be fun to sell... just once? The old guys didn't know much about it, so I was on my own. I thought long and hard about how selling stonks works.* + +**TL;DR** The main problem with selling stonks is that the fuckin' man comes in with CGT and takes a cut. Coward gains are bit like Super, they are tax deferred, so probably best to hold forever? But if selling, it's interesting to look at it in terms of the return needed on a new equal weight position to offset/justify the tax loss. + +Thought you autists might like the quick math I did below to game it out. + +https://preview.redd.it/2vwt160fb1g61.png?width=569&format=png&auto=webp&s=23f2f103e9d829724f8936d44b3a0ee6e547a23e + +Note: I've given <1year and 1year same level of gains to clearly show CGT difference. Interesting takeaway is that it would seem exactly 366days is most efficient tax wise (assuming consistent and equally distributed gains). + +What do you guys reckon? I hope I did my math right. + +Disclaimer: I'm a bogan. Do not take my advice. Best listen to those old codgers on the internet, mate. +My dogshit actually does alright, if you have proof of it otherwise please destroy me with it. + +Now, you guys may have seen a post about ROTOGROW. Rotogrow is in the vertical farming market and is cheap as piss atm. For those of you that don't know about vertical farms, the tldr version is that you can stack crops on top of each other in a building like hydroponics. + +Why I'm bullish on companies like these even though they are a far shot is because of the fucking future. We all like to take a punt, that's why we are fucking in this sub righttt??? The benefits of indoor vertical farms is that there's no pest problems therefore no pesticides. No environmental factors so crops are guarenteed and personally I think it will eventually be the future of how humans will farm leafy greens. I'm not here to convince you to buy this shit but if we have a look at companies that can shift what humans will be using like solar panels and renewables vs coal and oil, this will eventually be the new norm. + +Cons of vertical farms right now is cost. Fucking takes a lot of energy to power these things but it can be offset with solar power and what not. Personally I believe in the future we won't have to worry about power because of our advancing tech. + +TLDR +Rotogrow and vertical farms will be the future of farming eventually. I don't own rotogrow yet, it jumped too high in a day when I was wanting to buy in. You're probably thinking what a fucking idiot pumping a stock he doesn't own. I did it with KLL at 14c + +Make your own decisions. Gamble responsibly. + +Edit: holy shit I forgot to add rockets 😂🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 +Stupidest fkn stock, I’m a serious bag holder and every couple of weeks it’ll shoot up 20%, only to drop -15% in a day, and every single time I don’t cash out 🤦‍♂️ +My wife and I have a technology company with our current revenue around $5.5 million a year growing at 10% a year for the last few years. I am contemplating a possible sale to a strategic buyer. I haven't decided if I will approach the deal with just our attorney and CPA or find a boutique M&A advisor. Are there good sources to dig into EBITA multiples for a specific industry besides dealstats? Should I talk to a few industry specific M&A advisors and see if they will shed light on multiples for their past deals? Any insight would be appreciated! +## + +[IBKR trading platform](https://preview.redd.it/ptjcq959wem61.png?width=1019&format=png&auto=webp&s=4987571f1f000156ea2faccc767301eb4c45a7b5) + +## According to Investopedia: + +## The Uptick Rule (also known as the "plus tick rule") is a rule established by the [Securities and Exchange Commission](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sec.asp) (SEC) that requires [short sales](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortsale.asp) to be conducted at a higher price than the previous trade. + + +Guys pls note that March 12, 5 am GST means March 11, 8:00 pm EST +I've never read about a successful "soft landing" in the past; every recession I've read about seems to have had some sort of "hard landing" somewhere. Is such a "soft landing" achievable at all? If not, why does the Fed keep acting like a scared turtle with the interest rates? +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. +**TLDR:** + +JC Penney Board Members are LITTERED with BCG Consultants. + +JCP is trying to acquire Kohl's. + +JCP just lost Sephora to Kohl's. + +BBBY activist investors Cohen is fighting for BBBY are the same ones as Kohl's. + +And of course Kohl's investors added a BCG consultant to their board. + +Bad actor consultants/directors are trying to get rid of the only thing that separates these companies from any other retail company (Buy Buy Baby + Sephora). + +^((fuck spelled title wrong)) + +&#x200B; + +**Karl Wash (BCG 2019):** + +https://preview.redd.it/z4s0a0gy2rv81.png?width=870&format=png&auto=webp&s=70682e7acce73aa107562e1e03a69c33c716dedb + +**Katie Mullen (BCG 2022):** + +https://preview.redd.it/sthv7tn23rv81.png?width=526&format=png&auto=webp&s=87d218f5f02deccdd6f722bb7fb52fa267f5fd61 + +https://preview.redd.it/97y0sif43rv81.png?width=506&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d5a83ea238216547c82e86c6242d1826f97b9d3 + +**Why would BCG want JCP?** + +https://preview.redd.it/wlp01b9c4rv81.png?width=854&format=png&auto=webp&s=b613e7ebebd67458623f031db3743a5e05ca46b4 + +Sephora sets themselves apart from retail, and brings in insane revenue per sq ft. + +https://preview.redd.it/qr4fkure4rv81.png?width=637&format=png&auto=webp&s=f1a016a49cf69bdc3a1e4e3b02f122edf1bc1108 + +https://preview.redd.it/3cgy03ok4rv81.png?width=656&format=png&auto=webp&s=a270542b1f3b835d5a67fd252da8eca0b0f6fcbb + +**Pulled from JC P's BCG Matrix:** + +https://preview.redd.it/5lsscyln4rv81.png?width=684&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b425a0740b1c22a2d4e7748e8ba0a6da7bca1de + +So why let the contract of Sephora run out? Its generating $600 per sq foot! Thats incredible. + +&#x200B; + +**Meet Macellum (Kohl's + BBBY "Activist Investors"):** + +https://preview.redd.it/u6ctvda05rv81.png?width=715&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ec3324d1559985c961d749bc21cedd55cd3f710 + +Interesting, Macellum is wanting BBBY to cut out Buy Buy Baby.. + +Even more interesting.. + +Macellum is the same activist investor trying to strong arm Kohl's. + +https://preview.redd.it/lwoytf6c5rv81.png?width=679&format=png&auto=webp&s=72ab081d7d7cfbe31f29615a498cd47a1d2e6fac + +https://preview.redd.it/3ry810od5rv81.png?width=815&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c41bc1143762d0ba02acc99898db5119b0183eb + +Since Macellum took their stake in Kohl's they have appointed a few board seats. + +**Of them we find this gem:** + +https://preview.redd.it/ktu0uipi5rv81.png?width=1202&format=png&auto=webp&s=c178ac1789005054d26af6cbb8eba639cefa6676 + +**BCG** + +**McKinsey & Co** + +**Lehmen Brothers** + +Jesus fucking Christ lmao this charade is getting old. + +Kohl's is out here FIGHTING FOR THEIR FUCKIN LIVES to keep their board seats and not be overtaken. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Enter Ryan Cohen: Time For Pillow Fights and 60's Music..** + +https://preview.redd.it/nhralu416rv81.png?width=665&format=png&auto=webp&s=a301111e7ae0b02529f5fc9e17c9cd4fc3f3927b + +Since this post we have seen Cohen fighting for Bed Bath and Beyond board seats and winning successfully. + +Whats the 60's music? + +Motherfucking Kohl's (**$KSS**) + +**KSS=Koss** + +Not only do they share the SAME bad actor investors trying to take board seats but we also have this: + +https://preview.redd.it/siarvu2j6rv81.png?width=418&format=png&auto=webp&s=319784b09e0642fbb4ea21e7a32dafeace6027f9 + +https://preview.redd.it/nslx0gxk6rv81.png?width=401&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8773f8a0af62af048eaadfb4ddc6d344a790691 + +Koss didn't have anything that separated them from the pack. + +They were an audio company, but at that point everyone was a successful audio company. + +The Beatlephones separated them from the pack by giving them an edge no one else had. + +They all had the same product but they had a product exclusive to them, which others could not compete with. + +This lead to Koss gaining insane amounts of worldwide press, new customers who have never even heard of their company but liked the Beatles. + +**The edge, without these they are just any other fuckin company:** + +Buy Buy Baby + +Sephora + +Beatlephones + +&#x200B; + +Amazon+Griffin need to get these niche companies out of their way to steal their market cap. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/cz2d7anobrv81.png?width=328&format=png&auto=webp&s=7211fee1857ab2b5dbb2e1d9efa2bb345e305f12 + +Amazon can't compete with niche big companies like BBBY+Buy Buy Baby or Kohl's/JCP+Sephora + +Amazon gets to centralize more assets + +Griffin gets to add gains to his long AMZN + +Griffin gets to add gains to his "everything retail short" + +Amazon lowers their risk because well... they own all of it. + +Also Griffin and friends get to take advantage of these "consultants" urging these companies to issues convertible bonds to "stay afloat" + +[https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/d\/deathspiral.asp](https://preview.redd.it/q16x2v1lirv81.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=db26e46e4699fa19cfd17e1804dfd360c02d40f0) + +**END, BYE** + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Tinfoil below, grab your hard hat:** + +This shit gets even weirder man but I'll leave the rest for weird connections i haven't tied together quite yet. + +\#1. I've been following Joann Fabric closely and Amazon is trying to acquire their wholesalers for fabrics and textiles. I have comments spanning the last few months talking on this. Connections to fake "locally owned" companies that amazon tries to make people think they're buying from them but its just Amazon in a fake blue-collar mask. + +People laugh at Joann's but sleep on the fact that **the textile industry is already conquered and a trillion dollar industry and growing exponentially ever year.** You can review my search history, all their board members have sketch connections to private equity firms trying to bankroll Kroger, which Amazon is trying to acquire because thats Whole Foods industry niche competitor.. then I look deeper and Joann's has board members have connections to consultants+private equity "investors" that use to work for Whole Foods and Kroger.. weird. + +One main guy I've kept my eye on that is a board member of Joann's I believe doesn't have the company's best interest at heart is Jonathan Sokoloff. + +He gained his seat buy using his private equity firm to get him an in. + +https://preview.redd.it/muoq3dpyarv81.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fb856b78d59f734e485e82c8130a06b5a1e2c15 + +Lets try to not make it look so obvious Mr. Sokoloff. + +He and his private equity arm just dumped ass in insider trades. + +**THE ONLY BOARD MEMBER SELLING, and yes that is an M at the end.** + +&#x200B; + +Apparently **JCP new COO was Joann's old CEO**. Somebody see the writing on the wall? + +https://preview.redd.it/za1xkgkv7rv81.png?width=562&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbe3c72480277e701246dd3cb7eb58b023d9210e + +&#x200B; + +\#2 Apparently Apple used Beatles as inspiration of their logo and even went to court over it + +https://preview.redd.it/32cpesb99rv81.png?width=350&format=png&auto=webp&s=b32a0e17872ff15045ae4daa59c27a67800a6a6f + +https://preview.redd.it/e2tkod7f7rv81.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=28115b96140a7b000560355b159792c769cd3065 + +All these Apple references are getting wacky, thats for another time. + +But yeah, top=legit facts as fuck + +Bottom=Future speculation I will pull some strings and see what I can find +**TLDR:** + +JC Penney Board Members are LITTERED with BCG Consultants. + +JCP is trying to acquire Kohl's. + +JCP just lost Sephora to Kohl's. + +BBBY activist investors Cohen is fighting for BBBY are the same ones as Kohl's. + +And of course Kohl's investors added a BCG consultant to their board. + +Bad actor consultants/directors are trying to get rid of the only thing that separates these companies from any other retail company (Buy Buy Baby + Sephora). + +^((fuck spelled title wrong)) + +&#x200B; + +**Karl Wash (BCG 2019):** + +https://preview.redd.it/z4s0a0gy2rv81.png?width=870&format=png&auto=webp&s=70682e7acce73aa107562e1e03a69c33c716dedb + +**Katie Mullen (BCG 2022):** + +https://preview.redd.it/sthv7tn23rv81.png?width=526&format=png&auto=webp&s=87d218f5f02deccdd6f722bb7fb52fa267f5fd61 + +https://preview.redd.it/97y0sif43rv81.png?width=506&format=png&auto=webp&s=5d5a83ea238216547c82e86c6242d1826f97b9d3 + +**Why would BCG want JCP?** + +https://preview.redd.it/wlp01b9c4rv81.png?width=854&format=png&auto=webp&s=b613e7ebebd67458623f031db3743a5e05ca46b4 + +Sephora sets themselves apart from retail, and brings in insane revenue per sq ft. + +https://preview.redd.it/qr4fkure4rv81.png?width=637&format=png&auto=webp&s=f1a016a49cf69bdc3a1e4e3b02f122edf1bc1108 + +https://preview.redd.it/3cgy03ok4rv81.png?width=656&format=png&auto=webp&s=a270542b1f3b835d5a67fd252da8eca0b0f6fcbb + +**Pulled from JC P's BCG Matrix:** + +https://preview.redd.it/5lsscyln4rv81.png?width=684&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b425a0740b1c22a2d4e7748e8ba0a6da7bca1de + +So why let the contract of Sephora run out? Its generating $600 per sq foot! Thats incredible. + +&#x200B; + +**Meet Macellum (Kohl's + BBBY "Activist Investors"):** + +https://preview.redd.it/u6ctvda05rv81.png?width=715&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ec3324d1559985c961d749bc21cedd55cd3f710 + +Interesting, Macellum is wanting BBBY to cut out Buy Buy Baby.. + +Even more interesting.. + +Macellum is the same activist investor trying to strong arm Kohl's. + +https://preview.redd.it/lwoytf6c5rv81.png?width=679&format=png&auto=webp&s=72ab081d7d7cfbe31f29615a498cd47a1d2e6fac + +https://preview.redd.it/3ry810od5rv81.png?width=815&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c41bc1143762d0ba02acc99898db5119b0183eb + +Since Macellum took their stake in Kohl's they have appointed a few board seats. + +**Of them we find this gem:** + +https://preview.redd.it/ktu0uipi5rv81.png?width=1202&format=png&auto=webp&s=c178ac1789005054d26af6cbb8eba639cefa6676 + +**BCG** + +**McKinsey & Co** + +**Lehmen Brothers** + +Jesus fucking Christ lmao this charade is getting old. + +Kohl's is out here FIGHTING FOR THEIR FUCKIN LIVES to keep their board seats and not be overtaken. + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Enter Ryan Cohen: Time For Pillow Fights and 60's Music..** + +https://preview.redd.it/nhralu416rv81.png?width=665&format=png&auto=webp&s=a301111e7ae0b02529f5fc9e17c9cd4fc3f3927b + +Since this post we have seen Cohen fighting for Bed Bath and Beyond board seats and winning successfully. + +Whats the 60's music? + +Motherfucking Kohl's (**$KSS**) + +**KSS=Koss** + +Not only do they share the SAME bad actor investors trying to take board seats but we also have this: + +https://preview.redd.it/siarvu2j6rv81.png?width=418&format=png&auto=webp&s=319784b09e0642fbb4ea21e7a32dafeace6027f9 + +https://preview.redd.it/nslx0gxk6rv81.png?width=401&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8773f8a0af62af048eaadfb4ddc6d344a790691 + +Koss didn't have anything that separated them from the pack. + +They were an audio company, but at that point everyone was a successful audio company. + +The Beatlephones separated them from the pack by giving them an edge no one else had. + +They all had the same product but they had a product exclusive to them, which others could not compete with. + +This lead to Koss gaining insane amounts of worldwide press, new customers who have never even heard of their company but liked the Beatles. + +**The edge, without these they are just any other fuckin company:** + +Buy Buy Baby + +Sephora + +Beatlephones + +&#x200B; + +Amazon+Griffin need to get these niche companies out of their way to steal their market cap. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/cz2d7anobrv81.png?width=328&format=png&auto=webp&s=7211fee1857ab2b5dbb2e1d9efa2bb345e305f12 + +Amazon can't compete with niche big companies like BBBY+Buy Buy Baby or Kohl's/JCP+Sephora + +Amazon gets to centralize more assets + +Griffin gets to add gains to his long AMZN + +Griffin gets to add gains to his "everything retail short" + +Amazon lowers their risk because well... they own all of it. + +Also Griffin and friends get to take advantage of these "consultants" urging these companies to issues convertible bonds to "stay afloat" + +[https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/d\/deathspiral.asp](https://preview.redd.it/q16x2v1lirv81.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=db26e46e4699fa19cfd17e1804dfd360c02d40f0) + +**END, BYE** + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +&#x200B; + +**Tinfoil below, grab your hard hat:** + +This shit gets even weirder man but I'll leave the rest for weird connections i haven't tied together quite yet. + +\#1. I've been following Joann Fabric closely and Amazon is trying to acquire their wholesalers for fabrics and textiles. I have comments spanning the last few months talking on this. Connections to fake "locally owned" companies that amazon tries to make people think they're buying from them but its just Amazon in a fake blue-collar mask. + +People laugh at Joann's but sleep on the fact that **the textile industry is already conquered and a trillion dollar industry and growing exponentially ever year.** You can review my search history, all their board members have sketch connections to private equity firms trying to bankroll Kroger, which Amazon is trying to acquire because thats Whole Foods industry niche competitor.. then I look deeper and Joann's has board members have connections to consultants+private equity "investors" that use to work for Whole Foods and Kroger.. weird. + +One main guy I've kept my eye on that is a board member of Joann's I believe doesn't have the company's best interest at heart is Jonathan Sokoloff. + +He gained his seat buy using his private equity firm to get him an in. + +https://preview.redd.it/muoq3dpyarv81.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=3fb856b78d59f734e485e82c8130a06b5a1e2c15 + +Lets try to not make it look so obvious Mr. Sokoloff. + +He and his private equity arm just dumped ass in insider trades. + +**THE ONLY BOARD MEMBER SELLING, and yes that is an M at the end.** + +&#x200B; + +Apparently **JCP new COO was Joann's old CEO**. Somebody see the writing on the wall? + +https://preview.redd.it/za1xkgkv7rv81.png?width=562&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbe3c72480277e701246dd3cb7eb58b023d9210e + +&#x200B; + +\#2 Apparently Apple used Beatles as inspiration of their logo and even went to court over it + +https://preview.redd.it/32cpesb99rv81.png?width=350&format=png&auto=webp&s=b32a0e17872ff15045ae4daa59c27a67800a6a6f + +https://preview.redd.it/e2tkod7f7rv81.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=28115b96140a7b000560355b159792c769cd3065 + +All these Apple references are getting wacky, thats for another time. + +But yeah, top=legit facts as fuck + +Bottom=Future speculation I will pull some strings and see what I can find +I have been working a steady part time job for about 6 months and I have a good amount of money saved up that I am not going to spend. It is going to set in my bank account doing nothing, but if I wanted to start investing it I have no idea where to start. + +I do understands you meed to be 18, however I figure I can just set up a joint account with my dad if recommended. + +I’m not sure if this is the place to post this but I have no idea where else to ask this question. Thank you, any advice is appreciated. + +Edit: Thanks to all the very helpful advice, I am setting up a Fidelity custodial account with my dad who already has his 401k through Fidelity to start a Roth IRA. I appreciate the help, I did not imagine so many people would be this supportive! +I am reaching a point in my investments that I am focusing more on diversification. I understand at a high level that bonds are good to lower volatility in your portfolio and provide a buffer during a market downturn. But unless I misunderstand how they work (and that’s very possible) the returns don’t even keep up with inflation. + +So my question is why are bonds so heavily recommended compared to other opportunities. Real estate immediately comes to mind. Even if you’re not interested in rentals, you can invest in debt (bonds are debt investments, right?) using notes. I would think most on this sub would be eligible for syndication investments as well, and you can pick the flavor that best compliments your portfolio. + +I suppose the only big advantage that bonds have are low/no risk. Though I would say performing note investments are pretty low risk. +I am curious as to how every is investing in their portfolio. My current pre and post tax brokerage accounts is hover a little over 3mil but I really just have about less than 200k only in ETFs. Rest of my allocation would be in individual names +10% in MLPs (energy/ infrastructure) +20% in REITs +30% “blue chip” stocks +20% high growth tech stocks +20% speculative stocks and options + +Would you feel this is overly aggressive for someone in mid 30s? The rest of my portfolio are all individual names, has anyone out there retired with purely a stock pickers portfolio or is the standard investment portfolio of fatFire just mainly index funds? +Are there any other subreddits that are useful for relatively high net worth / high income individuals? Bogleheads? + +&#x200B; + +I've really appreciated the forum here but it's been my only place to discuss questions around investments, financial planning, etc. However, I'm not sure I want to retire TOO early... maybe there should be a /r/fatpersonalfinance ? +Armchair quarterbacks: + +Last weekend, my family took a local adventure and ended up at a really nice little beach. On a really nice warm and clear day we walked onto the sand, my wife and I took a seat, and the kids ran off to play. As we were sitting there, I decided to take the idea of a weekend/vacation home much more seriously. We've debated the idea of a beach or mountain place for a few years. Our incomes & NW clearly support it, but there was a value concern. + +Now, I'm getting serious about the potential purchase and am looking for perspective. Clearly, this won't come cheap. I estimate pushing my fatFIRE date out by a maximum of 2 years to pull this off. We will see how that really turns out when we get the place and see what the AirBnB income/expenses/maintenance start to look like, but for now, I'm planning for the worst. + +Here are the cost assumptions I'm working off of: + +* Planning on building a 2500 sq ft luxury home @ $250 sq ft = $625k +* Land cost = $300k +* Mortgage payment = \~$3500 @ 4&#37; +* Cash invested = $400k + +On the benefits side, the list is stacked. The biggest thing is the experiences of friends who have had a second home like this. They all talk about how much family time and memories come from their time at the cabin. In our case, I could imagine exactly the same. When we do an AirBnB or vacation like this, we always have a great time. + +Here are the anticipated benefits: + +* 1.5 hrs to the cabin make it accessible 365 days per year. +* I've always had a dream of building a home +* Kids are 3 & 5, so we still have a number of good years before they turn into monsters +* There is a lot to do in this spot: beaches, hiking, dining, ... + +All in, I know we can afford it, but it comes as a cost for sure. Here's our situation: + +* 40 & 41 yrs old +* 2 kids: 3 & 5 (not having more) +* Base & Bonus Income: $700k +* Unvested equity (3 yr vesting): $2M +* Assets: $6.5M +* Liabilities: $1.1M +* fatFIRE number: $10M +* current spending: $240k/yr + +Anyone pull the trigger on a second home? Please tell me your experience and family situation. Would you do it again? Did anyone build their dream home? How'd it go? etc... + +UPDATE: + +Thanks so much all for your thoughts. + +It is hard to argue with a lot of what has been said. Here's my take based on the feedback: + +* Location lock-in + * I'm fine with this as it is so close. It would be much more of a weekend home than a vacation home. I think we'd be there almost every weekend in the summer and once a month in the winter. Fall and spring would be somewhere in between. I don't think we'd get any more bored than we do of our primary residence, and it is definitely somewhere I would consider retiring. +* AirBnB/VRBO + * See above. + * Additionally, I think you get compensated for the abuse a place takes. Clearly this is dependent on a number of factors that drive the types of people, but most AirBnBs that I've stayed in are totally fine. I'm fine spending more money on maintenance and upkeep like painting and wall repair. In the end, it doesn't matter that much. We can afford it without renting, so if we find that it isn't worth it, I don't know how much that would change our decision. +* Hassle + * I'm living in a bubble right now on this one. I've lived in 2 new build places and find unplanned maintenance to be virtually non-existent on new homes (after the initial burn in). After that, we'll see. I'm fine with it for now as I like DIY and have no problem farming stuff out. +* Build vs Buy + * There are a couple of points here. First is getting something that is exactly what I want would be a huge bonus. I'm willing to go through the pain. I've done major renovations before (while living in the house), so I know the minutia that I'm signing up for. Second, the options available are really limited, so finding something that ticks enough boxes is a lottery ticket. I'm not closed to the idea at all; I just have a romance with building. +* Finances + * We can afford not to use it. We can afford not to rent it. I'm trying to balance the financial impact, lifestyle impact, and emotional benefits. I realize only we can make that choice, but I appreciate both the supportive and critical comments as they help me get to the heart of my decision making. +So the news is out that Walmart is raising a lot of people's wages. The investment thesis is based on this: wages have been flat while profits have been up. Consumer spending in the bottom 50% has been restrained. If this starts moving in the other direction, who is going to benefit? + +If this is the first shot in a volley of companies sharing the wealth with employees/consumers, where is a good place to have investments right now? + +Edit: Not talking about Wal-mart employees specifically, talking about the US consumer possibly getting up off the mat if this is the start of a trend. Sorry it got misread. Never mind. +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 used to be covered by Anthem BCBS through my employer and my employer has a policy that all employees will continued to be covered through the last day of the month that their employment ended. My last day of employment was August 4th so I assumed I would be covered for a doctor's appointment I had August 31st. Anthem has rejected covering it and is claiming my coverage ended on the 30th, I have filed an appeal and they took 3 months to tell me they declined my appeal. + +Questions I asked a rep from Anthem: +- when you're covered through the month is it inclusive or exclusive of the last day of the month? +- how would someone gain coverage on the last day of a month if prior coverage ended the second to last day of the month? (As far as I know COBRA doesn't kick in until the 1st of the next month) +- in a billing cycle is the last day of the month included on the next month or the current month? I.e is August 31st considered part of September? + +Everyone from Anthem I've talked to has been super unhelpful and unapologetic. I contacted my previous employer and they confirmed I should've been covered August 31st. I'm not sure what to do at this point. + +**Update: Here is the exact wording Anthem sent me in their denial of my appeal: +"Please be advised, the services that you were rendered are not eligible for coverage under your plan. The reason for this is because services were rendered after your coverage termed. Our records confirm that your plan policy terminated on August 31st, 2020, which means any services rendered on this date are not considered eligible for payment." Then they quoted part of their documents: "Not Covered. Services received before your effective date or after your coverage ends, except as specifically stated under EXTENSION OF BENEFITS" So because my policy terminated on August 31st theyre saying I have no coverage that day. + +**Update 2: The exact wording from the paperwork I signed with my employer: +"If you were enrolled in _____ medical, dental or vision plans, your coverage will end at midnight, the last day of the month in which your employment ended." + +**Update 3: COBRA coverage is dated to start September 1st. So this appears to be an issue between my employer and Anthem. +As the title says! + +27 year old work full time in the family business. + +Earn 25k with some benefits (mileage etc) + +No real major debt apart from a 96k mortgage with the other half. + +Not sure what my best plan of action is, got a family member who is and IFA so I’ll be off to them soon. +someone please help...I mean I'm not on a bridge ready to jump yet...but I think I'm just in denial...I'm just like it was profit taking. Just hold. It'll come back. When it sinks in...I might be on a bridge. I was intoxicated by the marijuana...I know it was a stupid buy...now...but I mean hindsight...jesus that was stupid. Chasing profits!!! +A short while ago, I made a post calling out the problems with Algorand. Despite the post itself gaining some traction, pretty much every comment/reply I made to users [incurred a wrath of downvotes](https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/xj7yhh/the_algorand_shillers_have_been_relentless_about/). + +I outlined several data backed reasons justifying why Algorand has no future. The reasons included: + +* High inflation +* Significant drop in daily active users +* Marketcap rank drop +* Departure of disinterested CEO +* Plagiarism of other projects +* Incessant shill posting + +&#x200B; + +Three months later, here is some different data to consider: + +(Source: [Intotheblock](https://app.intotheblock.com/coin/ALGO/deep-dive?group=financials&chart=all)) + +&#x200B; + +**In and Out of the money** + +It's gone largely unnoticed with the crash of FTX, but the price of ALGO is back to its price from two years ago. + +There are now only 0.28% of ALGO wallets in profit. That means more than 99% of people who have bought ALGO, are now down on their investment. + +[ALGORAND In\/Out Money](https://preview.redd.it/0ewgtyjlyl5a1.png?width=1328&format=png&auto=webp&s=c570e34ef9046946748caf94d51afa0f251d0380) + +&#x200B; + +**The Breakeven price is at the worst ever value** + +The number of addresses that could sell their entire load right now and still turn a profit is less than 7%. In the graph below, the red shows how many ALGO holders are at a loss. + +[ALGORAND Breakeven](https://preview.redd.it/r4cucp2xyl5a1.png?width=1326&format=png&auto=webp&s=347622667ed575baf1f18c2ad4c3fa5eb610b256) + +&#x200B; + +**Whales and large investors are selling to retail** + +For the past two years, the largest holders have been slowly offloading all their ALGO. The only people that have increased their allocation of ALGO over this time period is retail investors. Whales previously more than 70% and have since sold off to a point where they now cover approximately 33%. Retail has gone from a fraction of a percent to almost a third of the circulating supply in this time. + +Whales - Green + +Large investors - Blue + +Retail - Yellow + +[ALGORAND Concentration](https://preview.redd.it/ubzd0aa20m5a1.png?width=1338&format=png&auto=webp&s=489a18127360d083083b47d4ba61a2936f574e3c) + +&#x200B; + +**The circulating supply is still increasing too fast.** + +Too much ALGO just keeps getting minted. They increased the supply by 6x in 2021 (blue line below), and it is still increasing now. This won't stop until 2030. + +[ALGORAND Circulating Supply](https://preview.redd.it/ekk34byg0m5a1.png?width=1333&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fb30f752e0baada12c330c3efcf8f72b05a45e3) + +&#x200B; + +**Pretty much nobody is using the chain** + +The active address ratio and daily active address charts show negligble growth in two years. In fact, the green line is almost flat. + +It is in almost every sense - a ghost chain. From a peak of over a million address processing transactions per day during the bullrun to just a couple thousand today. + +Shillers point to this being a bear market, but look at other chains and you'll see utility has not dried up anywhere near this bad. + +[Daily Active Addresses](https://preview.redd.it/1yqkpium1m5a1.png?width=1333&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb9b34225054686de4cf95bd4637e0c5bab5486a) + +Put another way, + +Of the ALGO wallets created on chain, only 0.3 % are actively doing anything. + +[Address Ratio](https://preview.redd.it/bvk6v2uo1m5a1.png?width=1329&format=png&auto=webp&s=323bc258b75be3d36c9180e1ceb349cada71b7d1) + +&#x200B; + +Is it all bad? No. + +**Development is marginally increasing** + +Github Commits have been increasing all year. Albeit slowly. + +[ALGORAND Commits](https://preview.redd.it/qpa4zzf80m5a1.png?width=685&format=png&auto=webp&s=d345fc5f47dffac65f048f5ff146ba7ce6a27fd9) + +&#x200B; + +Conclusion: My original thesis stands. While there is actually nothing wrong with the chain (despite nobody using it), there are multiple red flags abound for the foundation. Stay away. + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: I have tried to respond to the critiques in the comments, but every reply I make just gets heavily downvoted, so I give up. + +EDIT2: People keep tagging me on the post about the Italy agreement. I’m not sure partnering with a country’s banking industry aligns with the philosophy of crypto. +UPDATE: All withdrawals have all cleared! For the time being we will manually process all transactions through a personal float until a proper hot wallet solution is implemented. Thanks to everyone for the comments, suggestions, and support. + +Unfortunately, due to a massive delay in processing at Bitstamp, and ZERO response to repeated contact requests from anyone in management or customer service there, we've had to shut down the buying option at Vancouver's Bitcoin ATM at Waves Coffee. We are dealing with a backlog of 45+ BTC that are "waiting to be processed" and have not been processed since as far back as Tuesday. + +We will not bring the ATM back online until this backlog clears and we get a response from Bitstamp. To any customers waiting for their coins to come through we apologize for the inconvenience and confusion, and we thank you kindly for your patience. We can also assure you that you will not lose any money or coins as a result of this. + +The ATM's status can be seen on the front page of www.Bitcoiniacs.com, and we will update it, along with our Facebook page, as soon as this issue is resolved. + +As you might remember, last month, I took all Top100 coins and categorized them into their 12 markets. https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/8a8lnr/which_are_your_top_5_favourite_coins_out_of_the/ + +This was all done with the goal in mind to find a portfolio that can return 100x in 2018. + +The assumption for this portfolio is that Bitcoin will go up by 4x ($32,000) until the end of 2018 amassing a total market cap of 3$ trillion as a conservative estimate in comparison to our 6 last bull runs, which were + +Number|Multiple | Period |Year | Price | Correction |Correction period +:--|:--|:--|:--|:--|:-- |:-- +1|9x|5 days|2010|$0.008-$0.08|0%| - +2|10x|5 months|2010|$0.08-$1|-30%| 2 months +3|40x|2 months|2011|$0.07-$30|-90%| 5 months +4|14x|3 months|2013|$15-$213|-65%| 3 months +5|12x|2 months|2013|$139-$1132|-85%| 13 months +6|20x|7 months|2017|$1000-$19,800|-70%| 3 months +7|17x|4 months |2018|$5,800-100,000? |-70%| 5 months + +Source: www.99bitcoins.com/price-chart-history/ + +As you can see, a 17x bull run on Bitcoin happens on average around once a year. Many altcoins went 100x in the last bull run, since altcoin always grow much stronger than the behemoth Bitcoin. + +Building a strong portfolio always boils down to the following 3 factors: + +1. Pick the best assets. +In order to do that, I analyzed all top 100 cryptocurrencies, and picked the best ones within each market. Then, I looked for other coins that are within the Top1000 and that are actually better than the leaders in each market from the top 100, due to their short time in the market and being underdogs +2. Diversify +The whole portfolio is designed to catch 2-3 really good coins that return 300x-1000x. The rest of the coins will probably return 20x, 50x or some even only 2x. That's why you need at least 10 coins to make sure you to catch your top performers. 5 coins would be too few, since you might only catch 1 top performer if at all. +3. Centralise +You need to diversify, but also don't diversify too much, because then you are spread too thin. That's why 20 coins would be too many, because even if if you catch 3 top performers, you would only have 15% of your money in it. + +For these 3 reasons, the number of coins is set at 14 and is divided into + +1. 26% High risk high return coins +2. 50% Medium risk medium return coins +3. 24% Low risk low return coins + +_______________________ +##Portfolio +All coins are listed on Binance or KuCoin and their weights are listed on the second tab of my excel spread sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1s8PHcNvvjuy848q18py_CGcu8elRGQAUIf86EYh4QZo/edit#gid=1597706888 + +**High risk high return 26%:** + +The point of a high risk high return portfolio is to catch one 1000x-coin among them. These 3 coins give a 1000x return when going to a $10B market cap for BNTY and Elix. These are the best <$10M from my research. Other contenders were Xspec, Sumo, Snovio, DeepOnion, Masari. + +1. 10% BNTY is a platform where you can earn money through finding bugs, a bug bounty. BNTY soon wants to expand into “bounties” for gigs, to become the new fiverr/freelancer.com. +2. 10% Elix is a lending platform with a unjustified tiny market cap in comparison to its competitors LEND, SALT. +3. 6% Havven is a stable coin. There are already 3 other stable coins with higher market caps, Maker, DGD, Bitshares, however, Havven is the 4th one with a 30x smaller market cap. Investing in a stable coins isn't investing in the coin itself obviously, since it is supposed to stay stable, but in the company that launched the stable coin. + +**Medium risk medium return 49%:** + +These coins are the backbone of the portfolio. They are all legit projects with a product out already, a strong team, strong community and a potent market. All of these coins will probably make a 20x return and some a 100x-200x return, possibly PRL, GAS and ENJ, that’s why they have more weight than the others. + +1. 10% PRL is in the decentralized data storage market as Siacoin, Gbyte, Maidsafecoin, Storj, only that it has a 5x smaller market cap and that it actually makes the storage useful by allowing people who store other people’s files to renounce ads and instead make their money through storing files. +2. 13% It has been rumoured that GAS market cap will surpass NEO’s. For that reason, investing in GAS it is the same as investing in NEO, LISK, ARDR, etc. only that is has a 20x smaller market cap. If GAS ever only to 50% of Neo's market cap, it will have returned 7,5x more profit than NEO. +3. 8% ENJ is the investment in the gaming market. Enjin has a platform with already 20 million players and has is already being used as a currency in Minecraft since 1 month ago. +4. 6% Enigma is privacy for smart contracts on Ethereum +5. 5% Req is in the currency and liquidity exchange market just as QASH, Loopring, Cryptonex, Bitshares, Kyber network, Bancor, ZRX, Achain, only that Req has probably the strongest community of all, best partnerships and is also more feature rich +6. 6% Steem is a social network, very similar to reddit, only that you can upvote with tokens/money. Steem has already an Alexa rank of 1,000. What's more, Steem also has a stablecoin, Steem Dollar, which adds additional potential to this investment + +**Low risk low return 25%:** + +These are the safest bets with a working product, a large community and among the most potential within the Top100. Out of these, BNB is probably the safest bet of all, because it is directly tied to Binance, the exchange that has made it as the undisputed number 1 exchange due to excellent professionalism, transparency and intelligent leadership. + +1. 8% Vechain is a supply chain platform and the coin with the most and strongest partnerships closed within the cryptosphere. +2. 4% Nano is probably the fastest and most lightweight cryptocurrency right now with instant transactions, zero fees and one millionth the energy use of Bitcoin due to it’s 3rd generation blockchain, the block lattice. +3. 8% IOTA is similar to Nano with instant transactions, zero fees, very low energy usage thanks to its 3rd generation blockchain, the tangle. While it has bigger potential than Nano, it also still has some bugs and security issues to work out. +4. 5% BNB, is probably the safest of all bets. It is among the only 5 cryptocurrencies that have turned a 10%+ profit this year. https://www.cointimemachine.com/top-100-best-cryptocurrency-list-2018/ + +Here are the coins categorized into their respective markets. + +Currency 12% + +1. 4% Nano +2. 8% IOTA + +Platform 26% =38% + +1. 8% Vechain +2. 5% Req +3. 13% GAS + +Ecosystem 10% = 48% + +1. 10% ELIX + +Misc 10% = 58% + +2. 10% BNTY + +Privacy 6% = 64% + +1. 6% Enigma + +Data Storage 11% = 75% + +1. 11% PRL + +Gaming 8% = 83% + +1. 8% ENJ + +Fee token 5% = 88% + +1. 5% BNB + +Social Networking 6% =94% + +1. 6% Steem + +Stablecoin 6% = 100% + +1. 6% Havven + +The only market not served is Cloud computing. Apart from that all other 11 markets are served, yielding a balanced portfolio with the best coin(s) of each market. +____________ + + +I published the portfolio on cryptocompare at an investment of $1,000 for comparison: https://www.cryptocompare.com/portfolio-public/?id=385438 + + + + + + + +My wife recently gave birth and we're attempting to look at ways we can set our child up well for the future and really not sure which route to take. I've been given advice on setting up a brokerage account, 529 Plan for Education, a simple savings account (although not sure how much that will appreciate), IRA (not sure if that's even an option). Ideally I'd like him to be able to access it in his early 20's for any potential needs (college, car, travel, ongoing savings etc.). Probably only looking at investing $1000 to begin with and then a few hundred whenever it's available.. Thanks for any help! +Hi all, + +I am looking to move out and closer to central London (work in Victoria). I earn roughly £2,900 a month. I have been looking at rent, expensive, and just to see how I could afford have been making hypothetical budgets. + +Since I have little experience here I wondered if I am missing anything or have anything massively wrong with this budget: + +* Rent £1,300 +* Electricity: £50 +* Water: £30 +* Council Tax: £150 +* Cosmetics (haircuts e.t.c): £50 +* Groceries; £300 +* Eating out: £150 +* Drinks/Beers: £50 +* Spending money: £200 +* Train: £120 +* TV Licence: £12.12 +* Netflix: £12 +* Internet: £45 +* Mobile phone bill: £30 +* Pension: £300 + +Thoughts? Thanks :) +We are so early in the advent of the cryptocurrency world. All of the prices we are seeing today were unthinkable a few days or weeks ago, let alone back in 2009. Who knows what they will look like in 2030? So many studies - and schadenfreude anecdotes - reveal that the people who do best across the world of investing are those who simply hold through everything and restrain themselves from ever trading. (I think there was a famous Felicity study about the stock market that found that dead people's accounts usually outperformed living people's accounts, however I cannot find a source for this upon doing a cursory google search, so if anyone has heard of the same study, please let us know what it was.) My game plan is simply a little bit of euro cost averaging each month for the next few decades, never selling, and using a bit of cash on the side whenever there are huge dips or if a new cryptocurrency with potential pops up and I find myself particularly compelled by it. + +Is anyone else the same? I feel like this should be the textbook method of making the most out of your money. And it also means that you lose nothing if, say, in twenty or thirty years, the world had completely converted to cryptocurrencies and government-backed fiat monies became obsolete. +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. +[Several](https://redd.it/3xt52t) [recent](https://redd.it/3xrvvr) [posts](https://redd.it/3xl5af) indicate there's still widespread confusion over mutual fund distributions. + +In short, and keeping this very high level, mutual funds are required to return capital gains and dividends to the investors of the fund. Mutual funds accumulate capital gains when they have to sell holdings to maintain whatever asset allocation they are aiming for. Dividends are accumulated when the underlying holdings issue dividends. + +**When a mutual fund makes a distribution, the share price will always drop by the amount of the distribution. You have not lost any money.** If you've set your accounts to reinvest the distributions, your broker will automatically purchase more shares of the same fund. The alternative is to have the distributions go into a cash substitute (or sometimes as cash, depending on what type of account you're dealing with) for reinvestment later on. + +Many funds are distributing dividends and capital gains between now and the end of the year. If you're the type that frequently monitors your accounts (not a good habit), you owe it to yourself to not panic if/when you see a big drop in the share price unless you've checked that fund's distribution history. +https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/traders-await-futures-open-after-fed-cuts-rates-launches-easing-program.html + +The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,997.10 points lower, or 12.9%, at 20,188.52. The 30-stock Dow was briefly down more than 3,000 points in the final minutes of trading. The S&P 500 dropped 12% to 2,386.13 — hitting its lowest level since December 2018 — while the Nasdaq Composite closed 12.3% lower at 6,904.59 in its worst day ever. + +“The markets are getting no break with yesterday’s historic Fed actions and COVID-19 dominating the world’s headlines,” Frank Cappelleri, executive director at Instinet, said in a note. “While the news continues to worsen and with the price action doing things we’ve only seen a handful of other times in the last century, it’s nearly impossible to keep things in perspective.” +I am finally beginning to grasp this whole btc business. I don't have much money to send anywhere but to essentials so I am starting small. Y'all are the pros here. Don't laugh but I put $75 in btc but also try to maintain regular deposits to a high yield savings. +So, I will probably never own 1 btc... is it worth it being a poor dumbo like myself if I cannot attain just 1? + hey there. Now that I have a few spare pennies a month, I am looking to setup a monthly donation to a worthy charity (I know that all are). Ive done the whole SPCA stuff etc, but those are massive charities. Can anybody here recommend a smaller charity which is close to their hearts or really does outstanding local work? + +Odd question I know, but I am sure that due diligence has been done by others on the charities they support +I spent the better part of an hour trying to find the old post made about all the things that would happen before MOASS, but couldn’t find it (if anyone has the link please post it). + +So the hype build up, the DRS posts, the NFT marketplace are all cruising right along. Vibe seems relatively solid. + +Which makes my spidey sense tingle. + +We all know a market BOOM is gonna happen, as much as we can all see it…and when it does the after effect is going to be the margin calls out the wahzoo… + +BUT first 29.6 milly shares get borrowed? + +I think as the prophecy of the MAJOR crash before MOASS foretold we may be about to get the biggest discount since over 2 years. + +I get the sense these scum bags are going to time a massive flash crash with the greater overall market collapsing and try to tie their crime into the rubble. + +Like hiding the dead bodies from your basement at a recent bomb site. + +I have a huge stack of back up reserves ready for a super deep discount, and I hope you all have some reserves ready cause I feel these idiots are going to time the mother of all dips making it look like ‘market sentiment’ +When the market responds to the recession and subsequent fed rate hike of 75 BPS. + +I also have a weird feeling we are going to get a ton of BOTS trying to post them selling on CS to try and induce panik. + +Most of you guys are familiar with this type of nonsense and couldn’t careless, but I think this is gonna be the last and most vicious attempt to hide the crimes and blow up the whole thing. + + +Some wrinkly ape posted about this way back and I am too smooth to find it, but I get the feeling we are about to get the last attempt at a shake before she ultimately takes off for Uranus! + +If we dip back down hard, I’m gonna see if I can get my cost basis back under 40 🤡 + +You know what to do boys: buckle up, prepare your anus, and make sure the cabin is cleared for take off it may get bump but we are going into orbit. + +🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Edit: this is not an encouragement to stop or even pause buying! I am loving all the uptick in purple circles…just something feels funny about that 29.6 million… +and i remember an old ape talking about GME going down with the market AT FIRST before lift off… +It was a great post but back over a year ago i believe and the recent activity has me recalling dudes prediction. + +Please post it if you know what I am talking about + +Edit 2: Not sure if received snek award in traditional way or new watered down way. +4% of the Outstanding according to the SEC data has to be bought today. + + + SEC: "If a FTD 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." + +The 744,847 is the most number of FTD’s up to the SEC data of 6/14/2022. Dont trust me do your own DD. +We are animals governed by habits, desires, and intuitions. Although we might think we can look at every single purchasing decision in a vacuum, we don't. + +It's never **just** a matter of this thought on one single day: *Should I sleep in an extra 15 minutes, and buy breakfast on the way to work instead of cooking it myself? It's only $5.* + +The effects of the decision we make in that situation are not simply limited to that morning alone. That decision shapes our habits, and over time our habits shape our **character**. + +* Yes, the $150 sign-up bonus I got for switching checking accounts is just a drop in the bucket. +* Yes, going with the free version of Pandora only saves me $5 a month. +* Yes, making my own coffee in the morning only saves me $1 a day. +* Yes, going to a different grocery store only saves me a few cents on bananas. +* Yes, biking to work only saves me $2 a day. +* Yes, doing this drywall repair myself only saves me $400 and costs me a whole weekend. + +But these things fucking **add up**, and none of them are done in isolation. Doing one of them out of discipline, actually makes me enjoy doing the next one with a bit less discipline. Eventually, these things build up enough that it doesn't take *any* discipline, because it's actually fucking FUN to churn credit cards or repair my own plumbing leak, and it becomes part of my personality to look for these opportunities. + +Enough drops can fill a bucket. Each behavior can snowball, they are positive feedback loops in the way they shape my personality, and actually mold by BRAIN to enjoy different things! + +____________________ + +Don't ask the question "Do I enjoy biking to work instead of driving". Ask "Do I want to become the type of person that enjoys biking to work instead of driving". And then start taking the actions that will shift your personality over time in that direction. +My wife wants a pool. Badly. She'd probably say it's her #1 desire at our house. I struggle with the idea of one because I'm cheap. I'm enlisting PF'ers to help add some clarity to the debate. + +**Background info:** + +* We've lived at our house for more than 5 years. We owe about $250k. Based on recent comps, it's worth $425k. So, theoretical equity is about $175k. + +* Gross income is about $160k. Jobs are stable. + +* Six month emergency fund is taken care of. + +* Week-to-week, we put 18% of our gross income into retirement savings (401k, IRA, etc.) + +* Total assets is about $1-million (house, vehicles, retirement, brokerage, etc.). Total debt is about $260k (house and car). + +Now that we have that out of the way... + +* Pool cost would be between $50k and $75k. + +* We'd rather have our kids have their friends over to our house than have our kids going to other kids' houses as they get older. Easier to supervise. + +* The pool would get used between 6-8 months per year. + +* I understand that utilities, supplies, and insurance, etc. would cost about $200 per month. + +* I understand that if I put in a $50k pool, my home value doesn't go up by $50k. + +So, now my questions. + +1. Am I crazy to entertain this idea? We work hard and are in a good place in life. You can't take it with you, right? + +2. How do you pay for this? HELOC? Personal loan? + +3. Some people say pools are like boats (two best days are when you buy it and when you sell it), and other say it's the best decision they've ever made. Those with pools, where do you sit? + +4. What pool-related considerations should I be aware of? Fountain/bubbler? Heater? Cooler? How deep? Pavers vs. painted concrete? Salt water vs. chlorine? Gunite vs. fiberglass? +Hade has more of a working product than some top 20 coins and a tiny market cap. I find it very hard to see this not making a profit. + +They strive to be the "Bloomberg of crypto" and have a rather broad approach: + +Hade Platform: Media company focused on stock and crypto content, where users receive HADE token for contributions from Hade Pay. + +Matrix: Breakthrough analytics and investment research platform driven by artificial intelligence, accessible with HADE token using Hade Pay. + +Hade Pay: Buy tokens & pay for services with a network of digital currencies, licensed with HADE token. + +Verifie: Premium subscription with Hade Pay to identify fake news, cyber threats, and potentially misleading areas of the digital world from blockchain technology. + +Mark Lynd is one of the advisors. +With $50k for trading, how long would it take someone new to scale to $500/day profit? I assume paper trading, getting a good grasp of rules and back testing strategies would take months to years? Just wondering if this is an attainable goal with hard work. +As the headline states. +I’m really only curious to hear from the novice traders who went back into trading after losing when they first got started. + +I lost a lot of money when everything went to hell but I did not blow up my account and still have like 7,000 to trade with. +I still want to trade and it’s eating me alive thinking that I might not be a able to do it. +I know I’m a good trader and see profits, I just messed up and held onto those crappy trades hoping it would bounce back. +I’m not looking for advice in my trading. + +As stated above I want to hear from the traders who lost money when they first started going, I wanna hear from the traders who did not back down and kept going. +Hello all, + +I have been trading for about 20 months and the last 8 has been full time trading. I have made enough and I have been disciplined enough to believe I can continue trading full time moving forward. + +My question here is: what do you put for your job on LinkedIn? What job title and bullet points do you add? + +I know it might be silly to keep a LinkedIn, but I want to keep in professional contact with some of my network and I basically just kept my old job in there for now. + +Any examples or help would be greatly appreciated!!! +I started about four months ago. In the last month or so I was making consistent profits everyday, however I got too cocky, and in the last two weeks gave all my profits and then sum because I started gambling with options. Now I am 2,200 in the hole. To say the least, I am very discouraged and disappointed in myself. I’ve been taking a break, reading, listening to a few traders about how to bounce back from a huge loss. I’ve also printed out a check list to remind me to stop trading. Things like, stop trading if I lose .5% in a day, or if I make 1% of my account, and absolutely not touching options until I become a better daytrader. I am doing my best to actually make a living out of this since I was let go from my job a few months ago, haven’t been able to find another job, and I am taking care of my grandparents, so any help is appreciated. +Hello I have trouble with writing and listening and reading and I cant speak. I have tried to be clear but if this confusing I' will try to explain clearly again sorry. Please use small words and only short sentences if you can thank you. + +&#x200B; + +I am 29 now. I have saved up 14000£ from working. I dont know if this is a real lot I have never talked to other people about money before I just found this website and the other numbers seem bigger so maybe I think maybe its not a huge if I thought it was. + +&#x200B; + +I live with also disabled other people and have no family and children and no pet anymore and I dont go out so it is cheap. How do I make more money out of it if I dont use it. One day I want my own house the normal way how do I do that. I would like simple step by step if you can maybe with pictures if you can sorry. + +&#x200B; + +I have tried to read the other things here but the messages are too long and confuconfused by the words. government is useless. I cant read much thank you. Im trying +I just watched The Retirement Gamble frontline documentary([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkOQNPIsO-Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkOQNPIsO-Q)) and was blown away about the high fees a lot of Americans are paying in their retirement accounts and completely unaware of. I checked my index funds and am thankfully in a good place but my fiance discovered he is paying way too much and will be transferring to something better ASAP. I cannot believe it is still legal for indexes to have such crazy fees. Are there any other hidden ways people could be taken advantage of that I should check? +Ok, so I thought about making this a comment in the weekly Noob Thread, but then just decided to make a separate post documenting my options trading journey. + +Last week I opened up my first account solely for options trading ($5,000 in Tastyworks). + +I hope to update this once a week so long as people are interested (myself included), and as long as I don't blow up the account, *fingers crossed*. + +**My Goals (in priority order):** + +* To not blow up my account +* To become more comfortable trading options +* To help others learn from my successes / failures + +**Strategies Used:** + +* Cash-Secured Puts + +**Future Strategies (to apply):** + +* Covered Calls +* Credit Spreads + +**Week One Starting Cash Balance: $5,000.00** + +**Current Trades (Open):** + +* Ford: Sold 1, 1/17 F Put @ $9.00, ~~16 DTE~~, net credit received (after fees) $5.85. Cost Basis: **$8.95 per share** +* GoPro: Sold 1, 1/17 GPRO Put @ $4.00, ~~16 DTE~~, net credit received (after fees) $3.85. Cost Basis: **$3.97 per share** + +If assigned either Ford or GoPro shares, I will sell covered calls against them. (I believe this is referred to as 'The Wheel' around here.) + +~~Week One Ending Cash Balance: $5,009.69~~ + +**Week One Net Liq: $4,994.69** + +**Week One P/L: -0.10%** + +**Total P/L: -0.10%** + +**Future Trades (Upcoming week):** + +* CenturyLink: Thinking of selling 1 CTL Put at the $12.00 strike + +Please let me know what you guys think, any advice or suggestions are appreciated, though applied at my own discretion. + +Edit: nursing a sore throat in the middle of the night, see this got a lot of feedback and will be responding in the morning! + +Edit2: Appreciate the Gold and general solid feedback I've received, thank you all. + +Edit3: Wow, top of the subreddit, nice. +I have \~$25,000 sitting in my (100%) offset account, and from my understanding thats just as good as if i like, paid that into the loan as extra repayments, but with the ability to very easily take the money out. Is that correct or am i missing something? +High interest rates are here to stay it looks like based on the upcoming budget + +https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/24/australian-budget-2022-preview-what-we-know-so-far +There's a steady stream of news around increasing Chinese interest in Australian wine, and anecdotally I've seen it myself at cellar doors. In addition, China has reduced tariffs on Australian wine imports to 0% as of January 1st 2019, where EU and US still have high import duty to China. + +What are the thoughts on exposing oneself to this market? To be honest, even if it were a good idea I'm not really sure how. Though I'm fairly confident just buying blue chip Australian wine to auction at a later date isn't a good strategy. +There's a steady stream of news around increasing Chinese interest in Australian wine, and anecdotally I've seen it myself at cellar doors. In addition, China has reduced tariffs on Australian wine imports to 0% as of January 1st 2019, where EU and US still have high import duty to China. + +What are the thoughts on exposing oneself to this market? To be honest, even if it were a good idea I'm not really sure how. Though I'm fairly confident just buying blue chip Australian wine to auction at a later date isn't a good strategy. +This isn't so much a complaint as it is an observation. + +Pre-covid, I would find people on airtasker to clean my 2bed, 2 bath apt for about $120. It would take them between 2 and 3 hours. + +Now, I struggle to find anyone under 200 for the same task. + +In other words, I now clean my own house! I appreciate that's now what the market sets, but jeeeezus. + +I also must say that I appreciate how privileged I am to be able to afford to have had someone clean my house for me, but I work long hours to be able to afford it (or at least did). + +Anyone else find this? +First time buyer who had their mortgage approved a few weeks ago. Saw an email from L&C saying mortgage rates were dropping and just thought it'd be worth enquiring with my broker to see if anything changed. At the very least, I could sleep knowing I tried. + +Spoke to the broker and turns out the rate had changed from 3.34% to 2.59%! + +Obviously not life changing money although every little helps. Extra ~£70 a month for exactly the same deal on the same house. + +So yeah, just a quick one to say even if your mortgage is already approved, it's worth checking! + +EDIT: + +More information for everybody. + +My broker said lowering interest rates have been a thing for the past month so if you have a MIP and not checked in the past month, it's worth doing. + +The process for me involved applying for a new mortgage with the same lender. I had to upload bank statements and pay slips for the past 3 months and they said it should be straightforward. Before trying to buy a house, I was pondering about a broker although fully endorse them as they deal with all of this. I'm with Habito and they've been good so far - I messaged them today asking to check if there are lower rates, got a reply within two hours, and now they're cracking on with the application. +When I look back at where I was financially a year ago, the difference is incredible. I was at the maximum end of my overdraft (£2500) from when I was a student, £1200 into my credit card, and had a £1500 laptop to pay off (it was a stupid luxury, but I don't regret it). Budgeting and financial planning has put me in a position now, where my only old debt that's followed me is my overdraft, which still stands at £1500, but should be gone by the back end of July. I've gone from £5200 debt to £1500 in the space of a year, and soon enough that student overdraft will be left behind me. As a long time lurker in the community, I've picked up so much good stuff that will put me in good stead in years to come when saving for a house. So thank you :) +So as a New Year starts to envelop us all, it is time for me to update my work online guide that I have been keeping up for going on two years. Thanks to another top post on the sub this morning, I was reminded of tax time fast approaching. This brought up the ways I need to make money to pay for taxes, that I still need to file, and a whole slew of other anxiety inducing thoughts. So, rather than sitting around and freaking out about it, I am writing out a modified guide with new info and hoping it helps someone else. I will also point out the sites that offer free and paid tax services as I discuss them. + +Before the main post, I am including the best deals or opportunities that I have found online recently. This is all stuff I have verified as working in the last few weeks. These are all 100% legit ways to get free money and most are pretty easy. I am including ref links as some of them require it, but also including non-ref where I can. + +---- +Top deals for January 2020 +---- + +---- + +[Swagbucks $28 Hulu deal](https://www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=50837036) + +Right now SB has another deal (they always have it) where you get credits to sign up to Hulu with the $5.99 plan. It usually is between $18 and $35 when you check, as they seem to change it day to day. Since this deal has new terms, the credits might be paid out immediately or after 32 days. The credits can be used for Amazon GC or PayPal credit (both take a few days to get processed). Not only that, but you can get a $25 Amazon GC for $22 worth of points, so you can make even more. You can cancel the subscription after 8 days, but no sooner so you don't lose the points. So, five minutes of work for the equivalent of $12-$29 and a free month of Hulu. [Non-ref](https://www.swagbucks.com) + +---- + +[$25 from SoFi for opening an account and depositing $100](https://www.sofi.com/share/money/2641744/) + +This one will require you to have $100 that you can do without for a few days. SoFi Money is a savings account, fee-free, 2% APY annual; so typical bank account. This deal will require you to use your SSN, link a bank account, and do a soft pull with Experian to complete. You just need to create a SoFi Money account through the link, deposit $100 to the account, and wait for a few days. This is different than most bank account bonuses because it doesn't need direct deposit, just a regular $100 deposit. After the deposit clears (1-2 business days), SoFi will instantly give you $25 bonus. After you get the $25 bonus you can pull out all $125 and close the account or keep using it. Requires ref use for bonus. + +---- + +[Another $100 from SoFi but for stocks](https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2641744/) + +Even though most of us don't have an extra grand laying around for this deal, I will include it for the people that do. After you get the $25 sign up bonus from SoFi Money, create and fund an invest account with $1,000. Since I (and you now) already had an account, it literally took under 5 minutes to set up and fund the account. Either way you do it, SoFi will give you an additional $50 in free stock of your choice. Keep it and hope it grows, or sell it for the quick $50 profit. Requires ref use for bonus. + +---- + +[$50 from Chime for opening an account and depositing $200](https://chime.com/r/roberthurst8) + +Pretty much the same exact set up as SoFi. This one will require you to have $200 that you can do without for a few days. You just need to create the Chime account through the link, deposit $200 to the account, and wait for a few days. It says direct deposit only, but this tested and worded with just connecting a bank account and doing the deposit. After the deposit clears (1-2 business days), Chime will instantly give you $50 bonus. After you get the $50 bonus you have to wait until your new debit card arrives and is activated before you can move the money out. Requires ref use for bonus. + +---- + +[$50 from eToro](https://etoro.tw/31a5o9b) + +This is a crypto trading account. The same deal as the other ones. Fund the account using the ref link and get $50. The wait time on this one is usually around 7 business days. Requires ref use for bonus. + +---- + +[$10-$150 in crypto for watching videos and answering quiz questions](https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/v1dmgc5t) + +Pretty much just watch and answer videos for varying types of crypto. The crypto you earn will get deposited into the wallet you create, which can then be cashed out into USD. Depending on the day, you can earn up to $150 if all free tokens are available. [Non-ref](https://coinbase.com/earn) + +---- + +[$10-$40 for signing up with OhmConnect](https://ohm.co/7secondman) + +A great website if you have one of a few utility companies in California, Texas, or Toronto. OhmConnect supports PGE, SCE, SDGE, Smart Meter Texas, and Toronto Hydro. You essentially just connect your utility account, and earn points. You earn $10 after signing up and getting to a status level of Silver (took me like 10 minutes). $10 more if you connect a smart device like NEST. Requires ref use for bonus. + +---- + +[$50 for test driving a Hyundai](https://m.hyundaiusa.com/test-drive-offer) + +Pretty easy. Click the link, get your code, test drive a car, and get $50. I did this the last two years and I was in and out on my lunch break. Keep in mind to check all of the local big dealerships around you. In 2019 I hit up Hyundai, Ford, Kia, and Subaru for $200 in bonuses and tons of free coffee. No ref link included. + +---- + +*The following are ref links that I am putting in for a random Redditor or two, just to spread goodwill and try to give back to all of you. I get nothing from these and will be doing this for one or two random people every month. The Redditor(s) for January* + +[Still looking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) + +I am currently looking for ref links from other users to put here this year. I try to do new people every month, so if you have something LEGIT that can benefir you and someone else, drop me a PM. + +---- + +Ok. On to the main post content. I will be using the same format I have used since 2018, with updates and any small changes needed. So if it looks familiar, that's because it is. + +---- + +Hey everyone. This is an all-inclusive write-up compiling all of my past posts on how I am making upwards of $1,000 a month through the use of beermoney sites. Beermoney is, according to Urban Dictionary, "Extra money for non-essential payments, available for spending on luxuries, hobbies, or a fresh pint of your favorite draft." I use this definition, because this is (in most cases) not intended to be a primary source of income. This is a way to supplement what you already have. There is no way to know what you will make any given month, so do not count on it. My worst month I only made around $500 and my best I made over $4,000. You can also check out my post on [using apps to save money and earn cash back](https://www.reddit.com/user/SuperSecretSpare/comments/au5am7/saving_money_online_in_2019/). I need to update this post, but that is a job for another day. + +As I have stated in my other posts, this is not a definitive list of everything a person can do online by any means. Do your own research on the subs I list, use Google, ask other people, and find what works for you. What I talk about works well for me, my family, and my schedule. Below I will include time requirements to make this money, provide a quick recap of the revenue streams that I have found to work, and provide payment proof for what I can. + +I personally invest anywhere from 20 to 30 hours a week doing these sites, on top of my day job. Some days I will make $20 all day, and others I will make over $200. I prefer this, as opposed to a second job, because I can pay partial attention to a laptop and 'clock-out' when I want to focus on family or Netflix. This works better for my temperament and preferences. + +---- + +Tech required: A working laptop, a cellphone (in some cases), an internet connection, and a fairly good amount of patience to learn. If you are in a position where these tools are not available, you can also do many of these from a library. + +---- + +I put all of this info into an e-book, plus a TON of other stuff that was either written by me, or compiled from others (with their permission). [Here](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W795PBP) is a link to it. If you tried even half of the stuff in the book, you would make your money back in less than a day. + +---- + +The dollar amounts next to each site are what I made in 2018. I haven't made the time to update all of this, but it is substantial. In 2019 I cleared over $20,000 in additional income working online. Anyway, on to the revenue streams: + +---- + +**[Respondent.io](https://app.respondent.io/r/brunihurst-171379f42e11)** ([$4,300](https://imgur.com/a/oSpkC5o)): Studies - Most countries - This site allows users to screen for online or in-person surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The pay is amazing, easily averaging $125 per test. You take the qualification survey and if you score 100% on it you have about a 10% chance to get invited to take the survey by the coordinator. The site as a whole pays extremely well, but you have to fill out quite a bit of the qualification questionnaires to be invited to anything. I have personally filled out over 500 of them and have participated in about 40 actual surveys. It's more of a numbers game than anything else. Thankfully, each screener only takes me a few minutes to fill out and the pay for time invested is definitely worth it. Unfortunately, there has recently been a screener cap put in place, so choose wisely. I have made up to $300 with one hour of work doing an in person focus group. Most focus groups are done through webcam, so you don't even have to leave your house. They payout via PayPal 7 days after the activity is complete. For two of the last four years, I have used this site to find focus groups to file my taxes. They have both been paid for by Intuit. Not only do I get to file for free, but I get paid $200 to do it. I will definitely be on the look out again this year. [Non-ref](https://app.respondent.io) + +---- + +**[SwagBucks](https://www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=50837036)** ([$775](https://imgur.com/a/kwwoLyS)) Surveys – Majority of countries– This is more of a catch-all for stuff to do when you want to make and save money. You can do surveys, play games, and watch videos to earn points. You can also get cash back from using SB to visit and buy from different stores. You get paid in points which can be used to purchase gift cards or sent directly to PayPal. Each point is the equivalent of $0.01. Usually, SB will have deals where you can get certain gift cards for less. For example, a $20 Amazon gift card for 1800 SB points. The payout can be slow, but if you don’t mind running ads in the background, using a plug-in to save money while you shop, or killing time playing a game, SwagBucks can be a great way to earn $20 a month. [Non-ref](https://www.swagbucks.com) + +---- + +**[Market Force Secret Shopping](https://shopper.marketforce.com/)** This is a new one for me that I just started a few weeks ago, but has shown to be pretty awesome so far. There are a ton of projects that I qualify near me and even a few to audit tax services. This means they will reimburse for the fee to get your taxes done, as well as pay you $75. If I cannot qualify for Respondent this year, I will be going here. You can also mystery shop fast food places, sit down restaurants, and normal shopping. All jobs show how much reimbursement you can get, as well as the flat rate. The only down side here is a pretty long wait for payment as they only pay out once a month. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[Mturk](https://www.mturk.com)** ([$3,142](https://imgur.com/a/AhWXpuw)): Small tasks and surveys - US mainly. Confirmed also in Canada, Europe, & Aus. - I no longer do this as often as I used to, but money can still be made here. This site lets humans perform small tasks that robots still cannot do well. It is owned by Amazon. Downside is there are slim pickings on weekends and when colleges are out on vacation. I typically stick to surveys, but once in a while do batch jobs which there are more of. You have to wait a week for your first payout, which will go to an Amazon payment account. You can the get payouts one time per day after that. Approval for mturk can sometimes be a pain in the ass, almost impossible if you are not from the US, but is definitely worth it in my opinion if you can get approved. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[Secret shopper US](https://app.survey.com/account/merch?referral_code=roberthW77D)** and **[Secret shopper UK](https://uk.marketforceshopper.com/register)** ([$485](https://imgur.com/HfQ7PZw)): In-person store evaluation - US and UK only - These links will take you directly to a sign-up page. US version populates with my ref code. Feel free to delete it before signing up, if you want. You will be taken to the app store where you can download the actual app on your phone. Essentially, you go to stores near you that are identified in the app and take pictures or videos of specific items. I like this one because I have the ability to make a few extra bucks if I am already out shopping. The pay for this one averages about $15/hr. Note: I have not tried the UK version, but it was recommended by another Redditor. [Non-ref](https://app.survey.com) + +---- + +**[Usertesting](https://www.usertesting.com)** ([$800](https://imgur.com/a/ab5ptaN)): Website evaluation - US & maybe select others - This site allows you to review new websites and apps. The pay is usually $10 per recorded test lasting 10-15 minutes. Sometimes the pay is more, but never less. I average a few tests a week. Some weeks I will get a dozen tests, other weeks nothing. This one is great to practice your feedback skills, which open up a lot of other doors. Pay is through PayPal, one week (to the minute) after the test is complete. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[Redbubble](https://www.redbubble.com/)** ([$305](https://imgur.com/wobuyuz)) [25% off ref code for first order over $40](https://www.talkable.com/x/VznBIO): T-shirt creation - Worldwide - After getting rejected by merch by Amazon, I came here. You design and publish t-shirts, phone cases, and about 20 other mixed products, with each sell netting you a few bucks. They are based in Australia, and do pay-outs once a month on the 15th via PayPal. You do all of the uploading and just wait for people to find it with keywords or searches. Great if you are artistic or know how to use any creative software. This site is usually hottest for me around the holidays, but averages me about $40 a month in completely passive income after a dozen hours of uploading stuff. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[Prolific.ac](https://www.prolific.ac)** ([$3,500](https://imgur.com/a/V8GXSTt)): Based in the UK, this used to be one of my favorites because they pay in Great British Pound (GBP) which is the equivalent to 1.25x the USD. Prolific is similar to Mturk (listed earlier) in that all you do is fill out surveys. Pay is better than Mturk, but the availability of surveys is not as great. In fact, I personally haven't seen a survey in months, but see others get them often. The initial questionnaire you have to fill out is a bit long taking me about 20 minutes, but ensures you qualify for every survey they show you and will never get disqualified for not meeting the demographic. You have to hit £5 before you can cash out, but you get this after a few days of watching for surveys. Leave it open in a tab and check it throughout the day. I wish I could do this one all day because the pay rocks, but I only see a few a day. They pay out in PayPal anytime you request it and have a balance of over £5. No rel link included. + +---- + +**[Ebay](https://www.ebay.com)** ([$190](https://imgur.com/a/SVhmvu5)): Selling goods - Worldwide - Not much explanation needed here. You buy stuff in-person low, and sell online high. [Here](https://www.amazon.com/eBay-Beginner-money-knowledge-inventory-ebook/dp/B07HT4Y9J6/ref=sr_1_15?keywords=ebay+for+beginners&qid=1553285100&s=gateway&sr=8-15) is a $2.99 beginner's guide dedicated to flipping that covers absolutely everything you need to know (also mine). No ref link included. + +---- + +**[PlaytestCloud](https://www.playtestcloud.com/signup)** ($190): Video game testing - Many countries - This is just simple game testing. It is super fun, very quick, and you get to test new games before anyone else. They send you tests for different listed devices, you download the game file, and they record your screen and voice. The only issue I have with this one is that you are only able to test 3-4 games per month, at $9-$11 each. Paid almost immediately after each test via PayPal. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[UsabilityHub](https://www.usabilityhub.com)** ([$15](https://imgur.com/a/U4FhJIQ)): App testing - Many countries - This one lets the user take quick one or two minute surveys on your opinion of an app screen. They pay for this averages to about $.10 a minute, so it is nothing spectacular. Just leave it open in another tab and take a quick survey when you hear a new one come available. No ref link included. + +---- + +**[UserInterviews](https://www.userinterviews.com)** ($50): Studies - US & maybe select others - Similar to Respondent, but with less approval when filling out the demographics for each study. + +---- + +**Product Testing** ($1,500): Mainly US & some UK/CA - There are places online that will pay you to leave positive/negative reviews for companies or purchase products. This is actually a big business model in China and other S.E.A. countries. Personally, I already know that Amazon reviews, Yelp, BBB, and everything in the middle are at least half fake reviews; so I may as well monetize on it. If this is something that sounds interesting, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/u_SuperSecretSpare/comments/cfoud7/manufactured_reviews/?ref=share&ref_source=link) is more info. + +---- + +**Reddit subs**($2,300): It is super simple to use Reddit as more than a social media tool or news website. Knowing the right subs to subscribe to, and what to look for, can help you make a few extra hundred bucks a month. There are a ton that you can find small or medium jobs on, but I am only going to outline the top four that have worked for me. + +---- + +/r/slavelabour: This sub is normally dedicated to doing cheap jobs for people, at cheap rates. I have both had things done for me here, as well as completed a lot of tasks. It may seem daunting at first, with people offering $2 to write an essay (seriously though.. no homework here), but there are gems to be found. Two of my best jobs have been creating meal plans for $60, and [finding the name of a book for $80](https://www.reddit.com/r/slavelabour/comments/92k4n0/task_find_one_of_my_favourite_books_80/?ref=share&ref_source=link). + +---- + +/r/WOIncomeReports: A gold mine of information on different websites to check out, gift card survey opportunities, and other generally helpful tips. I have never made money directly from there, but have gotten tools that have helped make at least a thousand over the last year. This section used to be for the original Work Online sub, but that has deteriorated. This sub has kind of died recently, but feel free to contribute. + +---- + +/r/signupsforpay: Since slave labour does not allow paying people to sign up for websites, this is where to go to make a few bucks with signups. From connecting your gas and electric information, to signing up with Acorns, I have probably made a grand total of $100 here. Nothing overly special, but $100 is $100. + +---- + +/r/giftcardexchange: This is one of my favorites, because you can buy and sell all of those gift cards you have/want. Have a $20 gift card from a family member that you will never use? Sell it here for 80-90%. Want to buy Amazon gift cards for less than face value? Get 'em here. I do a lot of buying on Amazon, so this sub has easily saved me hundreds over the course of using it. Caution: Trade carefully. + +---- + +I know this is a lot of info and a bunch of it is repetitive from my last dozen posts, but if it aint broke, don't fix it. I wanted to provide as much info as possible for the compiled post, so I took what worked and added to it. Hope it helps and Happy 2020! +Last night my dads house was broken into and his safe was stolen. The thieves simply threw a rock through his back sliding glass window, rummaged around in the house until they found the safe and dom hemingway'd it right off of the foundation it was bolted onto. Inside of his safe was an uncommonly large number of bitcoins (he is an early adopter) on a non password protected paper wallet. I am his technical prowess on how to save and secure his bitcoins and I felt like a complete failure for not setting him up with bip38 when i had the chance. I figured that setting him up with a wallet in his safe in house and a safety deposit box was enough. **wrong.** I got a panicked call at midnight last night saying his house was broken into and his safe was gone with all of the bitcoins in it. I have never felt so helpless in my life as the only other copy was locked away and the bank wouldn't open up for another 9 hours. The robbers had 9 hours to crack into it, figure out what the hell they were looking at( assuming he wasnt explicitly targeted)... and then transfer the bitcoins off into their own address. We were both sweating bullets and did not sleep at all (unsurprisingly). Luckily for my dad and I, they were either not successful cracking into the safe, didnt know what they were looking at or blew up the paper wallets inside trying to break into it. Either way this morning shortly after the bank opened i had the paper wallet in hand and was able to safely transfer the coins off into a fresh bip38. Moral of the story: Safes, however secure they may seem are not guaranteed to stay put. Please be extra careful if you store your coins at home. +I find arbitrage in stable coin genius because the risk is so low - what could be less riskier than something that literally tries to peg itself to fiat 1:1? Anyways, the idea is not that hard, which is to look for price when the stable veers away from 1.00. Also important to look for one with high enough liquidity. I found this article here [source](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/08/12/first-mover-how-a-defi-trader-made-an-89-profit-in-minutes-slinging-stablecoins/) a very fascinating read - in summary this is what happen. + +Basically someone started out with 45K USDC and then borrowed another 400K. Then setup a bot to look for temporary differences in UST from 1 dollar. When the opportunity arose the trader then used Uniswap to exchange 450 USDC for 492 USDT, instantly netting 42 K. When it it eventually dropped back to 1.00 which he/she then swapped back to USDC. The total transaction fee was only 2K, netting 40K, not bad for a day of work. + +This story was written up here. [source](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/08/12/first-mover-how-a-defi-trader-made-an-89-profit-in-minutes-slinging-stablecoins/). In the article they also showed the transaction details detailing exactly each of the transactions. incidentally is another reason why blockchains are great because all records can be easily observed. + +**Importantly this was completely legal and was not unethical** because the trader only took advantage of the price difference which is similar to buying low at one place and selling it somewhere else for a higher price. Arbitrage is standard practice only in this instant its done with stable. + +edit: had this been a flash loan then the person would not even need to start out with 40K since the loan would only execute in real time if the the contracts are filled. In other word he/she did not even have to hold any collateral to start with. Also less riskier since the loan would only go through if the contracts were filled. Neat. + +&#x200B; +So a little while ago this article came out: + +https://www.barrons.com/articles/gamestop-amc-russell-1000-51623883459 + +For those who missed it the TLDR of it is that GME will be significantly less heavily weighted in the Russell 1000 ETFs then it was in the Russell 2000 ETFs. They then presented this as FUD by saying this will lead to net sell pressure on the ETF rebalancing day as more shares will be sold by the Russell 2000 ETFs then will be bought by the Russell 1000 ETFs. + +Apes then got so caught up discussing whether or not this would lead to net sell pressure on ETF rebalancing day, that they missed an important take away. I personally am unconcerned about whether or not we will see net sell pressure on ETF rebalancing day. Given the short sales by SHFs and ATM offerings by gamestop since January, it seems clear to me that all apes know is buy & hodl and everyone here is addicted to snorting crayons and riding the volatility rollercoaster. Institutional sell pressure for one day wont matter in the long run when apes buy the dip and diamond hand it. So what is the takeaway that we should have from this article and why are my tits so jacked they are chafing? + +GME will be significantly less heavily weighted in the Russell 1000 ETFs then it was in the Russell 2000 ETFs. That means that SHFs shorting the Russell 1000 ETFs will be SIGNIFICANTLY LESS EFFECTIVE AT SUPPRESSING GME STOCK PRICE MOVING FORWARD. The fact that this will be expensive as they would have to open all new short positions on the new ETFs, and that it will be less effective at suppressing the stock price, it effectively takes this strategy off the table for the SHFs to suppress the stock price. + +Just look at the article to see how less effective this will be, GME is going from being weighted 0.5% to less than 0.005% in these new ETFs. That means that moving forward shorting ETFs will be 100 times less effective at suppressing GME. Looks like hedgies will have to reevaluate their playbook. + +TLDR; because GME will be less heavily weighted in the Russell 1000 ETFs it will only be a fraction of a fraction as effective to short the ETFs to suppress GME SP. + First of all, I’d like to say that recovery is possible. It just takes serious dedication, support, and a lot of time. Also, it’s never too late to start learning how to invest. I started out broke and just kept adding money when I had extra to invest. Not financial advice. + + I went from being a pretty normal kid in high school, smoking weed, decent grades whatever, to a complete failure after I got addicted to opiates. Kicked out of school, kicked out of home, friends cut contact , all the good stuff. It took me 7 years of being completely depressed and hopelessly addicted before I was finally tired enough to make a change. I knew I would either die or go to jail for a long time. So finally I decided to get serious about getting clean. I had tried many times before this, multiple trips to inpatient rehabs, a few to jail. + + A friend of mine had an aunt that used to be an addict, she had used the methadone program to get clean. I always thought “yeah okay whatever” and brushed it off. Until I had tried everything else and I was so hopeless and tired of the lifestyle I was living. Eventually I got myself into the program. Going to the clinic daily to get my medication, it took a while to get used to, but eventually I was at a stable dose, I felt normal and could function through the day without worrying about using other drugs. Now, I do understand that it’s trading one drug for another, but this comes with nurses, groups, councilors and all the accountability. A whole support system. Stability. Something I’ve always lacked. I got stable, got a job, even got a girlfriend and ended up moving into my first apartment with her. These were all contributing factors in keeping me clean, it wasn’t just one thing. + + Eventually we broke it off, and I got a puppy to keep me sane because now the pandemic had started. + + Start of the pandemic, lose my job, get on unemployment, start saving as much as possible. Around this time is when I start learning about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. I start DCAing into BTC, ETH, and after doing some reading, ADA. Continue stacking. Get stimulus checks from the government, pay off debts, then buy more ADA. Eventually I started moving from ETH more into ADA, Then same with BTC until I was at a 80/20 ADA/BTC portfolio . I ended up spending about 5K over the course of 6ish months. Then I just waited for ADA to pick up steam as I figured it would eventually, even though I did not think it would be so soon to be honest. Now I’ve got more money saved up than I’ve ever had before . Will continue to HODL to the moon as this is only the start of a long journey into the new exciting world of cryptocurrency! Thanks for reading, I apologize for the long post. + +Don’t forget, Only invest what you can afford to lose. Me being able to invest this much was only because I had enough saved up and didn’t have any real bills to pay. Not financial advice. Just sharing a personal struggle . + +EDIT: I still smoke weed. Will always smoke weed just FYI when I say recovery I’m only talking about harder drugs. As I know people will check my page, I started growing as a hobby this year also. Help save some money for crypto 😜 + +Also I apologize if a post like this isn’t allowed, I just want to show some of the newbies that it’s possible to come up off just adding a little at a time, as well as struggling addicts to know recovery is possible. If your struggling with an opiate addiction just know there is always options. Even if you feel like you’ve tried everything you can possibly do to get clean, there’s always hope you can make it out. Don’t let the stigmas of a medication assisted program deter you from trying it to see if it works for you. We all need to think about ourselves , don’t worry what others may think or how it may look. The methadone program gave me the stability I needed to get my life back. And I wouldn’t change that for the world. My parents have their son back, my siblings have their big brother back. And it’s thanks to the methadone program. Keep your head up. Change is possible + +2nd EDIT: Thank you guys so much for all your positive comments and support. I was really nervous about posting my story so I really really appreciate that. I know some people would say I’m still not clean, and I agree to an extent. The main thing is now I have structure in my life. It’s not all addicts and chaos everyday now. + +TLDR: Bought ADA a year ago, helped change addiction from drugs to crypto +This whole project was a cash grab. They tweeted their NFT project will be 3D characters which will be interactable. Well take a look at 3D modeled NFTs. + + +[Worth 3 ETH](https://preview.redd.it/ym536tcv46k81.jpg?width=976&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f137a96c705061038f7e94ae94c7ece89a05da9b) + + + + +[Bored ape?](https://preview.redd.it/cs7qnuux46k81.jpg?width=975&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82d5ba9abddbd5b9489fa00f17e0f88dc3a300f3) + +&#x200B; + +[I don't know what the hell is this.](https://preview.redd.it/um9w30g056k81.jpg?width=482&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be179530458fc92856ce2f76561506eb314bdd63) + + + + +[I wouldn't pay 1 penny for this. ](https://preview.redd.it/f4b9hb5w56k81.jpg?width=482&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fb3f177a91f83ced9892349ec4944a58179c7a9) + +People on Discord mentioned one of the devs wallet went on buying spree of other NFTs after receiving 400 ETH from multisig. + + +&#x200B; + +[Dev Wallet](https://preview.redd.it/sr7sgzih56k81.jpg?width=2184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d570ce768925fb5783d98712a943b1a2f621a24) + +Here's their twitter handle: [https://twitter.com/Pixelmon](https://twitter.com/Pixelmon) + + +Whole thread if you want to read more: [https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1497370216690503687](https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1497370216690503687) +I use to game 247 but lately crypto has been my new game. I have been staying up later then usual reading and learning lots about crypto on this sub and on YouTube and Google. I am glad it got me out of video games because it's rewarding compared to gaming all the time to build an acct just for respect. Crypto is amazing everything about it I am glad it finally is making an impact and hope everyone has a great day. +Literally ford maverick base model is cheaper or close enough to the new Honda Civic. +The mileage is also unreal… (hybrid). + + +Ford: $21,000 USD + +https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.caranddriver.com/news/amp36647519/2022-ford-maverick-price/ + + +Honda: $21,700 USD + +https://www.honda.ca/buildyourhonda?province=ON&model_key=civic_sedan&model_year=2021&gclid=CjwKCAjwqvyFBhB7EiwAER786azXlpqcLDXsK3fW8h8RjNmhHdMvYXuyjyGCtaxW4cyXhqHT2ipETRoC2hsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#/trims + + +Ford is disturbing the market with its new makers. Next thing to expect is the ford bronco electric… California loves the bronco, they pay $100-$200K for original broncos to drive them to surfing beaches. An electric bronco will kill it in California. + +Ford is doing it right. +Most states have a website available that will list all the unclaimed property and cash of its residents and others who have done business there. You may have nothing to claim, but I've found quite a few names by searching family and friends. For myself, it turned out I had $25 unclaimed. I took 60 seconds to fill out a form and in a week or so I had a shiny new check to cash. Here's the site for my home state of Maine: http://www.maine.gov/treasurer/unclaimed_property/ + +It amazes me every time I tell people about this. They might have money just waiting to be claimed, but most of them never even check. I've even sent some of them links to money they're owed, yet it still goes unclaimed. Laziness has few limits. +https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/domestic-market-operations/monetary-policy-implementation/treasury-securities/treasury-securities-operational-details + +With all of the memes and jokes about "money printing" going around, and the news about the federal reserve possibly buying corporate bonds, I think it's very easy to develop a distorted view of what's going on at the federal reserve. Just from social media, you may be inclined to believe the federal reserve is ramping up it's rate of "Money creation"- I've seen that sentiment reflected heavily on this subreddit. But that sentiment conflicts with the stats. + +At the start of the pandemic panic in the states, The federal reserve was Buying $75 Billion in treasuries per day. + +As you can see from the link above, this has been significantly wound down throughout April. By mid April they were down to $30 Billion per day, and now, they're only planning to buy $8 Billion in treasuries per day. +I mean seriously, every freaking time that I come to the starting line of the financial stable race, when I just open a saving account and put my money in, when I just see a significant drop in my monthly expenses and an increase in my disposable income, there will be some unexpected things. + +My motorbike will magically stop working (this just happened this morning after 4 months in quarantine). My phone will die (had to purchase a brand new phone just last month and of course, credit card debt). Your laptop, the only tool that will create your only source of income just decide it's not gonna power up (this happened last night, just a false alarm, work normally now but I don't know if it going to happen again). And for people like me, where my monthly income can only scraping by each month, 1 unexpected expense is enough to ruin every plan. + +Edit: The thing is I understand unexpected things happen in daily life, I do have my emergency fund and saving account, both total 2 months expenses without any shortage and still increasing. I can confidently say that I am not poor anymore. I still have credit card debts but they are still under control. But what I am trying to say is, one of the reasons these things keep happening to low incomers is because of...our lack of income (or income sources). We tend to (need to) focus on a short term cost and benefit analysis to make decisions. Like choosing a cheaper car which tends to break down more likely, eating crappy foods (this is also true even if you cook at home), which will affect your health, buying secondhand electronic devices which will have a shorter life span...The way this modern world is built puts poor people in a cruel circle where you either have to keep moving forward or...giving up entirely. +IMO, the whole post is kinda fud, so I won't be linking it or talking about it much. The TLDR version is that apes want to predict when other apes will sell, try to sell a bit before, and that will kill the MOASS, and the writer doesn't leave a conclusion, so most people will think that you better sell really early. + +I'm here to debunk that post. + +The whole post is just a really fucking long way of describing the prisoner's dilemma, which looks like this + +\----------------------------------You betray -------------You cooperate + +Partner betray--------------3 years in jail----------4 years in jail + +Partner Cooperate---------1 year in jail-------------2 years in jail + +So betraying looks like it's always the best option, but if you both betray, it would be better to simply cooperate. Since we won't know what the other person does until after the fact, we have to somehow convince them to cooperate, but we can still betray, as there are no penalties. + +However, this isn't applicable to the situation, because the best outcome is if we both cooperate. It looks more like this. + +\------------------------------------You betray----------------You cooperate + +Partner betray---------------- a few tendies----------Very few tendies + +Partner Cooperate-----------Some tendies----------Infinite tendies + +In this game, if the majority cooperates, then we win. Therefore, this IS an incentive to cooperate. So which will people choose? The "safer" bet where you betray and get a few guaranteed tendies, or go big? This is where we want to get into game theory, specifically, how you want to be playing every single game. + +When you play a game, you seek out win conditions. If you are likely to win if you change nothing, then you go for the safe play. If you are losing, and are going to lose if nothing changes, then you take riskier plays because that is the only way to win. + +For many of us, and society as a whole. We're losing, and we're going to lose if nothing changes. Hedgefunds and banks will fuck our economy, take our money, and leave us in poverty for generations to come. With the MOASS being pretty much the only chance to escape wage slavery and live a good life, modest returns won't cut it. We need life-changing, and possibly world changing money. + +Remember, just because a few million might be enough for YOU, is it enough for the millions of others who got fucked by banks, but didn't buy GME? If we want to see change in the world, or even generational wealth, to help out our kids, a few million isn't enough. We need more, we have to be greedy. + +This means the ONLY win condition is if everyone cooperates for 30 million. Every other value is simply a loss. This means the graph now becomes like this. + +\-------------------------------You betray-----------------You cooperate + +Partner betray----------Lose-----------------------------Lose + +Partner Cooperate-----Lose----------------------------Win + +At this point, it should be fairly obvious what you should do if you want to win, and I think we could all use just one W in our lives. + +&#x200B; + +TL;DR: It is in everyone's best interest to keep holding, so people are going to keep holding. People aren't gonna try to time the peak and sell early and peanut prices, because anything below 30m a share isn't enough to create generational wealth and change the world. It's stupid to take small profits when this is our only shot. + +Edit: Wow the post killed my fucking formatting, attempt number 2 +A few years ago, I started tracking the penny stock SEFE. It has had some large fluctuation, ranging from fractions of a cent to $23. It is now at 0 dollars, and I'm wondering what happened to it? Why did it disappear? Furthermore, they released a "8-k form" saying they issued "200,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share." Why would the company do this instead of offering a more reasonable price of a few dollars per share? + + + +[link for form](http://biz.yahoo.com/e/140828/sefe8-k.html) +I am a high school graduate from the east coast and my parents have sent me on a yearlong dedicated religious program located in California. I am strongly against the religion/beliefs. After attending the program for 3 weeks, the directors have asked me to leave. My parents were infuriated and do not want me home until the program's duration is over (early August 2016.) + +I'm near San Fransisco and have 2 days before the program leaves me. What should I do? + +~ I will be turning 18 within the next month. + +Update: found a place to stay for the night on the outskirts of the bay area. Found housing in Southern California until I get back on my feet. Sorry I haven't been saying much here, there's just been so much going on. Thank you all for the support and suggestions! I really appreciate everything. +The SEC didn't approve those single stock ETFs. Don't take my word for it, just look at the second page of the [Prospectus](https://www.axsinvestments.com/download/575/axs-single-stock-etfs/6515/prospectus-18.pdf) for the inverse Tesla ETF (TSLQ) ([Here is the source page](https://www.axsinvestments.com/TSLA-bear-etf/) if you don't want to download the PDF from a link here): + +>Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. + +Similarly, look at [Commissioner Crenshaw's statement](https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/crenshaw-single-stock-etfs-20220711) on these ridiculous products: + +>Speaking generally, many complex products do not qualify for listing under exchanges’ generic listing rules. Rather, depending on the product, the listing exchange may be required to adopt a specific listing rule for the relevant product, which requires Commission approval. This process gives the Commission and the public an opportunity to evaluate, among other things, the product and its likely impact on investors and the markets. ... In contrast, products qualifying as “exchange-traded funds” under Commission Rule 6c-11 automatically qualify for listing under exchanges’ generic listing rules—without a corresponding opportunity for public notice and comment—despite the fact that leveraged and inverse products qualifying under that rule may present many of the same risks to investors and the markets. In other words, because of the operation of Rule 6c-11, these single-stock ETF products can come to market without any specific Commission vote or approval, and without public notice and comment. + +As Crenshaw says in her statement, it is disappointing that the SEC has not used their rulemaking authority to fix this problem, but it is worth pointing out that the SEC has actually done a lot recently. They've been so busy and *moving so quickly to implement significant change* that it is getting a lot of pushback from the financial industry. Just check out this [pissy article](https://www.sifma.org/resources/news/the-secs-current-far-ranging-aggressive-rulemaking-agenda-will-raise-regulatory-uncertainty-and-risks-unintended-negative-consequences/) from a pro-Wall Street organization: + +>As of last fall, the SEC had 54 separate items on its rulemaking agenda, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ (OIRA). This represents “one of the most ambitious agendas in the SEC’s 87-year history,” according to Bloomberg. +> +>... +> +>The volume and velocity of SEC rulemaking are especially concerning given that many of the proposed rules include sweeping changes that could require significant shifts in industry operations and practices. +> +>... +> +>Companies might be forced to wait to offer new products, invest in infrastructure, and generally be more cautious about their investment and hiring decisions. + +Boo-friggin-hoo. You know what the world doesn't need more of right now? New, increasingly outlandish ways of wrapping up Wall Street's gambling debts as "investments". I want to invest in a company, not a Honey-baked-ham-flavored-company-alternative. Even this sub recently got in a serious huff about another Order the SEC recently implemented, although that anger was misplaced because the [actual content of the order is good for retail investors](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/vyj6up/hester_did_not_get_what_she_wanted_this_is_a_good/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) (despite what the memes say). + +The reason why these ludicrous products are coming out now is because some Wall Street lawyer out there got super creative in reading a rule that was made *in 2019, under Chairman Jay Clayton's leadership.* Crenshaw's statement is professional, but doesn't pull punches on this issue: + +>In 2019, the Commission adopted Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act of 1940. In combination with changes to the listing standards at stock exchanges, that rule created a framework that allowed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) meeting certain criteria to come directly to market without first obtaining permission... from the SEC. +> +>**Nowhere in Rule 6c-11 is there a discussion of single-stock ETFs; there is no indication that the rule contemplated such products. However, single-stock ETFs are nonetheless coming to market under the auspices of that rule.** + +We might seriously benefit from going through all the rule changes under that Jay Clayton & looking to see what changed, because his "achievements" are all basically just gutting protections for retail investors in favor of Wall Street. + +The rulemaking process at the SEC is incredibly slow. That's how government works, and in general that's *how it should work.* Rule changes like those that were happening under Clayton have been incredibly destructive. That's what happens under a system of regulatory capture. If government moved even faster, allowing the damage he did to be addressed more quickly, then he could have done even more damage during *his* tenure and we'd be even worse off. Apparently the current SEC agenda is one of the most ambitious in history, which makes sense if they're trying to undo the damage of regulatory capture *and* trying to actually gain some ground in that fight. + +Yes, I still think the SEC should do even more, but our blood pressure would benefit a lot from taking a broader view of what's happening. + +If major players in the market today are gonna go up in flames while the world's attention shifts toward DeFi, how much do these single stock ETFs even matter? The future is in DeFi anyway, and when these greedy turds find themselves under pressure it isn't like they'll come out squeaky clean. Will these financial products make the difference for them going to jail or being prosecuted? No, I can't imagine they would make much difference one way or the other. + +The SEC is focusing on fixing the rules that Wall Street goons broke, and on increasing transparency. Things aren't going as fast as I would like, but the SEC was intentionally built to be slow and weak. I would love to see more support for the SEC (and the IRS) to enable them to go after the most difficult and most complex issues. Barring that, I want them to focus their feeble, limited, old-man energy on transparency and enforcement rules that can actually do some good in the long-term view. Since the SEC *can't bring criminal charges against anyone*, it is important to understand that whatever crimes they *do* uncover can only be forwarded to the FBI and/or the DOJ for prosecution. + +I don't get the blanket SEC hate right now. This is what it looks like when the SEC is actually doing their jobs. The SEC *can't* bring criminal charges and they can't move quickly by design. If you want somebody to do more to actually police the markets (like I do) then you need to look at the FBI and the DOJ. Catching criminals isn't the SEC's job. It doesn't make sense to blame the SEC for the criminal justice system's failings. + +If you want the SEC to be *able to do more,* your anger should be directed at the politicians who constantly fight against your interests. This most recent good rule change came literally 9 days after it was announced that Mark Uyeda became a Commissioner after the resignation of [Commissioner Elad Roisman](https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/peirce-roisman-staff-report-2021-10-18) (the guy who joined Hester Peirce in undermining the content of the SEC report & generally supporting ridiculous stuff like PFOF). Fingers crossed that this is the beginning of an even more aggressive SEC. + +**TLDR** + +The SEC didn't approve that single stock ETF nonsense, and one of the two anti-retail Commissioners has just been replaced. A pro-transparency rule change happened almost immediately after that. "The SEC" isn't one monolithic body, at least one Commissioner changes every year (sometimes more), and this updated batch is already setting records for pro-transparency changes. If you want them to do more: Great! Me too. The only way they will be able to do that is if they're given the power. Until then, blame the perceived lack of law enforcement action on *law enforcement agencies*, like the FBI and the DOJ. The SEC doesn't even have the power to bring criminal charges, so there's no point in being pissed at them for failing to do the FBI's and/or the DOJ's job. +I've been a long timer supporter of $AMD. It seems like the stock has been taking blow after blow after last week's earnings call. Sub $12 is an all-new low. I'm starting to get worried. +**The Evolution of Monetary Policy: Age of the Bailout** + +In the years leading up to 2008 Wall Street had been celebrating massive gains; top finance executives were awarded up to $53 billion dollars in total compensation in 2007. Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, made $68 million himself. These profits were the result of financial innovations and financial derivatives, specifically mortgage backed securities (MBS). A mortgage backed security is an asset backed security which is secured by a collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and securitized so that investors can buy them and receive periodic payments similar to a bond’s coupon payment. Mortgage backed securities were doing so well in the years leading up to 2008 that lenders were running out of people with good credit to lend to. Everyone was buying and building houses so much so that the real estate market became a bubble and all the prices inflated. + +At first everyone was celebrating the gains in housing prices, since price increases generally meant profits for home investors, mortgage brokers, and even big banks. Not too long after the party, the real estate bubble burst. Everyone was immediately impacted; mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were on the verge of bankruptcy. Some of the biggest investment banks in the world, each having upwards of $10 trillion assets under management, such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch were about to collapse. The whole financial sector was in shambles. “In a period of 18 months, Wall Street had gone from celebrating its most profitable age to finding itself on the brink of an epochal devastation.” Banks were heavily involved with mortgage securities. Most of these securities were financial derivatives which means they derive their price from an underlying asset. “Banks were creating increasingly complex products, many levels removed from the underlying asset.” + +The first bank to really be shallow waters was Bear Stearns. Bear Stearns was a global investment bank whose main area of business was capital markets, wealth management, and investment banking. In 2008 Bear Stearns had roughly $13 trillion in derivative financial instruments, $2 trillion of which were in options and futures contracts. The company had a highly leveraged balance sheet with a lot of illiquid assets that were potentially worthless. Bear Stearns was the seventh largest securities firm in the world. Since their business was highly intertwined with other huge financial institutions, their potential collapse would be detrimental for the global economy. + +U.S. Treasury secretary Hank Paulson knew that if Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed there would be a domino effect across the financial sector and other huge financial institutions such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and others would fail while consumers would start to lose confidence in the banking sector, more banks would be subject to bank-runs. In order to prevent the worst from occurring the U.S. Treasury Secretary put together a task force which included Jamie Dimon, CEO of J.P. Morgan Chase, Ben Bernake, Chairmen of the United States Federal Reserve, and Tim Geithner, Head of the New York Fed. After pondering possible loans and other solutions in order to rescue Bear Stearns, they deemed that there was no way to save Bear Stearns. This is not because of insufficient capital but because confidence had been lost in Bear Stearns. J.P. Morgan Chase ended up acquiring Bear Stearns for $10 a share, much less than their 52 week high of $133 per share. + +After Bear Stearns fell the next bank about to collapse was Lehman Brothers. Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest investment bank in the United States. Its CEO at the time Richard Fuld blamed the declining stock price on short sellers. However the short sellers argued that the way Lehman viewed non-liquid assets such as mortgages was disturbing. Fuld refused to accept that the bank essentially had a bunch of junk mortgage backed securities on their balance sheets and tried to solve Lehman’s liquidity problem with more cash. He reached out to Warren Buffett to try and secure a loan, but Buffett said it was too risky. Richard even reached out to the U.S. government for a bailout, but Treasury Secretary at the time Henry Paulson refused to bail out Lehman with public tax payer money and instead said that the bank must secure funding from the private sector. Paulson gathered all the CEO’s of major banks and told them to come up with a solution for saving Lehman Brothers. Likely contenders to buy out Lehman Brothers were Bank of America and British bank, Barclays. However neither of which were willing to take on the Lehman’s real estate assets which were basically worth half of what Lehman was valuing them at. After failing to secure capital, or merge with another bank Lehman Brothers filed for chapter eleven bankruptcy protection on September 15th, 2008. Chapter eleven bankruptcy protected some creditors and most employees. In the bankruptcy agreement, Lehman Brothers’ shareholders paid the ultimate price and watched their fortunes from a year prior be worth a fraction of what they were. + +At the same time Lehman Brothers was crashing, insurance giant American International Group (AIG) and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were tumbling down cliffs of their own. James Lockhart, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a plan to make the two mortgage giants into a conservatorship as government sponsored enterprises. The two mortgage companies were now and still are U.S. government enterprises who facilitate the secondary mortgage market. The United States Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, both agreed with the housing agency's decision. + +On the other hand, AIG executives were assuring everyone that the company was in sound financial standing. At the time, AIG had $1 trillion in assets and roughly $40 billion in cash. In addition, executives argued that they had an extremely profitable business supporting insurance on collateral debt obligations (CDO). A CDO is a financial tool that banks use to package individual homeowners, credit card, and auto loans into securities sold to investors on the market. CDOs at the time were mainly used to refinance mortgage backed securities.. Most of AIG’s business was traditional insurance products such as health, life, and home insurance. However during the real estate bubble the company began taking a lot of risks in the form of credit default swaps (CDS). A CDS is a financial exchange agreement where the issuer of the CDS will compensate the buyer if the buyer’s asset defaults (similar to investment insurance). Essentially investors were buying credit default swaps as insurance for their mortgage backed securities. Once the real estate bubble popped, everyone came to claim insurance for their MBS that just went bankrupt. AIG had over $500 billion in subprime mortgages on their balance sheet. Its officials were revaluing credit default swaps and losses started to pile up at AIG. By May of 2008 AIG had suffered a first quarter loss of roughly $8 billion, their largest loss ever. Hank Paulson knew that if AIG went bankrupt it would trigger the collapse of financial institutions that bought these credit default swaps. + +As the MBS tied to the swaps defaulted, AIG was forced to come up with the capital to repay their investors. Shareholders started dumping their shares which made it even more difficult for AIG to produce the capital it needed. Even though they had the assets on their balance sheet to cover the losses, AIG could not liquidate them fast enough before the swaps were due. It was clear that they were about to go bankrupt. Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke did not want AIG’s huge influence to hurt lower and middle class families since AIG sold lots bonds, annuities, and insurance products to these people. An AIG bankruptcy would’ve hurt lower and middle class families as well as the whole financial sector which owned credit default swaps issued by AIG. They were just too big to fail. So the Federal Reserve along with the U.S. Treasury planned a bailout of an $85 billion loan to AIG. To put that loan amount into perspective, “Eighty-five billion dollars was more than the annual budget of Singapore and Taiwan combined; who could understand a figure that size.” + +The loan itself was not enough to calm the markets. Investors were left puzzled as to why the federal government would bailout one company and not the other. What were the rules for a bailout? Did Hank Paulson’s background as a top executive at Goldman Sachs have anything to do with the government allowing Lehman Brothers, a competitor of Goldman, to collapse? These questions forced Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Tim Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, to come up with a solution to calm confusion. Now with the whole financial sector on the verge of collapsing the Treasury and Federal Reserve came up with a fiscal policy to purchase toxic assets from nine of the largest financial institutions in order to stabilize them. The institutions include J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and State Street Corp. The program to bail them out was known as TARP. However congress was not too attached to the idea of bailing out Wall Street. Republicans saw a bailout as socialism creeping into the United States, and Democrats saw it as Paulson bailing out his Wall Street buddies. Congress voted against TARP and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell roughly 800 points that day. + +Paulson, Bernanke, and Geithner went back to the drawing board. Now desperate for a solution Paulson decided to follow the advice of his assistant Neel Kashkari, which was to purchase equity in the nine largest banks in the United States. Paulson reached out to Sheila Bair who was the head of the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and told her about the Treasury Department’s new plan. Sheila agreed to increase the nine bank’s coverage limit. + +Without wasting any time Hank Paulson, Treasury Secretary of the United States, called all the nine executives together for a meeting at the NY Federal Reserve. “It was the first time - perhaps the only time - that the nine most powerful CEOs in American Finance and the people who regulate them would be in the same room at the same time.” Without knowing what the meeting was about, the CEO’s of all nine banks had shown up. To stress the severity and seriousness of the meeting, Paulson had brought along with him the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the president of the NY Fed, and The head of the FDIC. Paulson unveiled his plan to purchase up to $250 million in preferred stock in the leading banks in order to stabilize them and restore confidence. He strong armed all of them into taking the deal even though a few of them claim that they did not need the capital, such as Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan. He also informed the banks that the collapse of Lehman Brothers will spillover into other banks, Merrill Lynch was of most concern. Paulson agreed to let Merrill get bought out by Bank of America in order to save them. They were sold to Bank of America for $29 per share or $50 billion far from their 52 week high of $88 per share. The banks had agreed to the deal and so did Congress on October 3rd, 2008 President George Bush signed the TARP program into law. The program normalized the big banks and brought back investor confidence in Wall Street. + +The following year, President Barack Obama introduced legislation that would transform the whole financial regulatory system. This act was known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One specific provision known as the Volker rule forbids banks from making speculative investments that do not benefit their consumers. This type of overhaul has not been seen in the U.S. financial system since the Great Depression of 1929. In regards to the subprime mortgage crisis, the United States’ Congress, Treasury, and Federal Reserve acted appropriately however they should have acted more quickly and effectively like Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve has during the COVID-19 crisis. + +Some say because of the catastrophe in 2008 and the lessons we have learned, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve acted the way they did in 2020. Thus far, they both have combated the current financial market crisis with immediate action. If the Federal Reserve and Treasury could’ve bailed out Bear Stearns, Lehman, AIG, and Merrill Lynch the way that they bailed out Boeing, that would have been the best case scenario. In March of 2020 Boeing Co. the airplane manufacturer went to Washington with its hands out begging for a bailout. The company had spent $50 billion on stock repurchases within the past year and now was asking for a $60 billion bailout. Instead of giving the company a direct handout, the Federal Reserve boosted liquidity in the credit markets by purchasing corporate bonds, thus, Boeing was able to secure $25 billion from private investors via the corporate bond market and withdrew its original request for a government bailout. Despite the 33 million unemployed, many people are applauding Jerome Powell and Steven Mnuchin for quickly passing emergency monetary policy measures. Like 2008, these policy measures have insulated the financial markets from total ruin. + +Author: #$%\^#\^%, Economist + +Editor: @#$%!\^&\*, J.D General Counsel + +Any constructive criticism, feedback, and opinions are greatly appreciated. +>GoPro lowered guidance Monday and confirmed that it will **lay off of at least 250 employees.** + +>**The company also said it was leaving the drone business, citing future regulation and intense competition, ending sales of its Karma camera drone.** + +>"GoPro is committed to turning our business around in 2018," Woodman said in a statement. "We entered the new year with strong sell-through and are excited with our hardware and software roadmap. We expect that going forward, our roadmap coupled with a lower operating expense model will enable GoPro to return to profitability and growth in the second half of 2018." + +>**GoPro said it expects fourth quarter revenue of $340 million, up just slightly from $330 million revenue in the prior quarter.** + +>**The company also reduced the price of its newest premium adventure camera, the Hero6 Black, by $100.** + + +[CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/gopro-issues-weak-guidance-to-reduce-global-workforce-from-1254-employees-to-fewer-than-1000-shares-halted.html), [GPRO share price](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=fin&ei=lpRTWtCHNqrojwT57pmYCw&q=gpro&oq=gpro&gs_l=finance-immersive.3..81l3.771.1308.0.1577.6.6.0.0.0.0.109.423.0j4.4.0....0...1c.1.64.finance-immersive..2.4.423.0...0.NiYfuXnO8Fs#scso=uid_mpRTWsj2DqHLjwS2l4iYCg_5:0) +>GoPro lowered guidance Monday and confirmed that it will **lay off of at least 250 employees.** + +>**The company also said it was leaving the drone business, citing future regulation and intense competition, ending sales of its Karma camera drone.** + +>"GoPro is committed to turning our business around in 2018," Woodman said in a statement. "We entered the new year with strong sell-through and are excited with our hardware and software roadmap. We expect that going forward, our roadmap coupled with a lower operating expense model will enable GoPro to return to profitability and growth in the second half of 2018." + +>**GoPro said it expects fourth quarter revenue of $340 million, up just slightly from $330 million revenue in the prior quarter.** + +>**The company also reduced the price of its newest premium adventure camera, the Hero6 Black, by $100.** + + +[CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/gopro-issues-weak-guidance-to-reduce-global-workforce-from-1254-employees-to-fewer-than-1000-shares-halted.html), [GPRO share price](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=fin&ei=lpRTWtCHNqrojwT57pmYCw&q=gpro&oq=gpro&gs_l=finance-immersive.3..81l3.771.1308.0.1577.6.6.0.0.0.0.109.423.0j4.4.0....0...1c.1.64.finance-immersive..2.4.423.0...0.NiYfuXnO8Fs#scso=uid_mpRTWsj2DqHLjwS2l4iYCg_5:0) +My tax situation is pretty straightforward, and I am pretty much ready to submit my taxes. Except Vanguard doesn't apparently release their tax statement until the end of September, and I have quarterly or so dividends from VDHG and Vanguard International Shares - hedged (VAN0105AU). I know I owe CGT (and I have not held for more than a year). + +Do I really need to wait around until the Tax Statement is released? Why does this take nearly 3 months after the tax year ends? + +The only part I don't understand is like franking credits? Are these affected/discounted by that... or is this a simple CGT on my dividends calculation? + +Thanks. +My tax situation is pretty straightforward, and I am pretty much ready to submit my taxes. Except Vanguard doesn't apparently release their tax statement until the end of September, and I have quarterly or so dividends from VDHG and Vanguard International Shares - hedged (VAN0105AU). I know I owe CGT (and I have not held for more than a year). + +Do I really need to wait around until the Tax Statement is released? Why does this take nearly 3 months after the tax year ends? + +The only part I don't understand is like franking credits? Are these affected/discounted by that... or is this a simple CGT on my dividends calculation? + +Thanks. +Hi all. So I'm a kiwi (20f) and I'm in Aus on a PR visa. Sometime next year I really wanna go back for a week with my partner to visit family etc. While I'm on an ok income of about 40k I don't think I can save up enough for the trip as I'm also trying to save for a car ( currently at around 5k) + +I've been looking into Qantas frequent flyer points to reduce the cost a bit, I currently have around 3000 points and wanna try and boost it up to around 30k for the trip. So I was looking into the Qantas credit cards. + +I can get the premier everyday card at 49$ PA. 8k points on sign up and 0.75 points per dollar used. It has a 4k credit limit and 19.99% retail purchase rate. + +I would only use it on small expenses such such as fuel or groceries and pay it back well before the 55 day interest free period of 55 days. + +I've never had a credit card before and am nervous as I don't want to fall into debt with it. + +Is this a good idea? Are there other options I could look at etc. TIA. +Hi all. So I'm a kiwi (20f) and I'm in Aus on a PR visa. Sometime next year I really wanna go back for a week with my partner to visit family etc. While I'm on an ok income of about 40k I don't think I can save up enough for the trip as I'm also trying to save for a car ( currently at around 5k) + +I've been looking into Qantas frequent flyer points to reduce the cost a bit, I currently have around 3000 points and wanna try and boost it up to around 30k for the trip. So I was looking into the Qantas credit cards. + +I can get the premier everyday card at 49$ PA. 8k points on sign up and 0.75 points per dollar used. It has a 4k credit limit and 19.99% retail purchase rate. + +I would only use it on small expenses such such as fuel or groceries and pay it back well before the 55 day interest free period of 55 days. + +I've never had a credit card before and am nervous as I don't want to fall into debt with it. + +Is this a good idea? Are there other options I could look at etc. TIA. +After today’s market rout the market bottom and timing questions are popping up all over reddit. I am bored of saying this but I will say it once more and then stop. + +You cannot time the market. Anyone tells you “buy the dip” or “it’s a good time to buy” just ignore them. They don’t know. Jim Cramer doesn’t know. Trump doesn’t know. No one knows. So please stop asking. + +Buy companies you’re comfortable buying and holding for a very long time at a reasonable price. Reasonable price is relative for each sector and also depends on prevailing interest rates. If you’re not comfortable making this judgement and picking stocks this way, buy the index. + +Buy over time. Enter when you feel comfortable but not with your entire capital. Wait a few weeks and buy again. Only use money you can forget about for several years. If you ignore the noise and buy companies you’d be happy with as a private owner or accumulate ownership of an index fund, you will accumulate wealth over time. If you try to get rich you will most likely mess up. Avoid leverage if you can. + +Last but not least, if you cannot tolerate large losses, and I mean 40-50%, equity investing is not for you. Accept this and buy real estate or other private assets that don’t have daily price quotes. + +Good luck. +Anytime i make a post or sometimes comments even i get people offering to pay off my debt or help me out financially. I understand why it makes you a target but dam man relax. +The way govt and it's institutions going against Crypto, Blockchain perfectly makes sense, because it's a biggest threat right now not just to Banks, but to the ruling govts. + +3 years ago, A former CIA covert intelligence officer did an AMA on reddit, on being asked what is the biggest national threat to United States, North Korea or some other country? + +>The answer was Blockchain technology superpowrful,No joke. First one to bring it down or manipulate it wins hands down +Here is the link : +https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/a8c03j/i_am_andrew_bustamante_a_former_covert_cia/ec9leqg?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 + +Don't be surprised when you see govt going against Crypto and Blockchain technology because it threatens their monopoly and the power they are holding. Expect more attacks on Crypto and Blockchain technology in coming days. +Airbnb IPO Valuation by Aswath Damodaran +Dec 2020 + +Airbnb has brought the sharing economy to housing, connecting home owners (hosts) who own units or houses that they want to rent with renters (guests) online, collecting a percentage of the transaction revenues from both sides of the transaction. Its low capital intensity model and extended reach has allowed it to expand not only to expand to almost every part of the world (220 countries) but also provide an unmatched range of offerings. + +The growth in gross bookings has started to slow down, as the company gets bigger, and the COVID shut downs made 2020 a regressive year. That said, as its competitors in the hotel business have been damaged far more by the crisis, Airbnb will be able to recover quickly from the crisis, and continue on its growth path. Economies of scale will allow for only mild improvements in revenues as a % of gross billings, but the brokerage-based business will generate high margins, in steady state, and require relatively little reinvestment. + +Source tweet with all the numbers used in the analysis: https://mobile.twitter.com/AswathDamodaran/status/1334356017820311556 +https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/07/altria-to-invest-1point8-billion-in-cannabis-company-cronos-group.html + + +Altria Group said Friday it agreed to buy a 45 percent stake in leading cannabinoid company Cronos Groupfor about $1.8 billion.  +**Disclaimer** +&nbsp; + +I'm a physicist, but by no means an expert. Just a strong interest in both quantum computing and cryptography. I've also simplified a lot of concepts, because they are complex and don't really bring anything more to the discussion. + + +**Introduction** +&nbsp; + +With IBM announcing their new quantum chip with 127 qubits, I thought I'd clear any misunderstandings concerning quantum computing as a threat to cryptocurrencies and cryptography as a whole. For this, we need to do a quick physics and cryptography recap. + + +**The physics** +&nbsp; + +Qubits form the fundamental unit of quantum information, just like the bit is the fundamental unit of information in classical computing. Classically, the bit may take 2 values, either a 1 or a 0. In a quantum system, the qubit may be in a coherent superposition of both states. If this seems counterintuitive to you, I highly recommend the Computerphile [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv-YXKRUheQ) on superposition, which will give you a much more intuitive notion of superposition. Quantum computing has an edge over classical computing via the implementation of quantum algorithms, which perform better than classical algorithms for a certain class of problems. + + +**The cryptography** +&nbsp; + +Cryptographic functions are used in different ways in the bitcoin protocol. I won't get into too much detail as it is beyond the scope of this piece, but will go over two main types. + + +1st - The public-private key pair. When you generate your seed phrase, you're creating a public-private key pair. These are interesting because both can be used to encrypt or decrypt a message, and consequently, to prove ownership of something. For example: + +* Alice has both a public and private key +* Alice encrypts her message using the private key +* Alice shares her public key to the world +* Bob takes Alice's public key to decrypt Alice's message +* Bob therefore knows Alice is the one who wrote the message + + +We can see how this can be used in the bitcoin protocol. Simply put, each UTXO belongs to an address (which is derived from your public key, more on that later) and can only be spent by the holder of the corresponding private key (by signing the transaction). + + +2nd - The hash function. Hash functions are used for the proof of work part, where to mint a block, a hash of pending transactions and a nonce is generated (this is a gross simplification). The first person to generate a hash with a leading number of 0's may add his block to the blockchain and gather the rewards. Difficulty is adjusted by adding or removing the amount of leading 0's, and is a function of the total hash power of the network. Hash functions are also used to derive your wallet address by taking the SHA256 hash of the public key, and then taking the RIPEMD-160 hash of the previously SHA256 hashed output. A hash of a hash. + + +**The Threat ?** +&nbsp; + +SHA256 is a time-tested hashing algorithm, which is widely thought to be secure and quantum resistant. Therefore, both mining and freshly generated wallets are immune to any attack, quantum or not. The issue comes when spending UTXO's. When you spend your bitcoin, you are broadcasting your public key to the network. In a classical world, this wouldn't be an issue, as computing the private key from a public key is an NP-hard problem, i.e it is computationally too expensive to solve with a classical computer. This is where Shor's algorithm comes along. In 1994, Peter Shor showed that prime factorization can be performed in polynomial time using a quantum computer. In other words, with sufficient logical qubits, one could derive the private key from a public key. Even though ECDSA, the digital signature algorithm which is used in the bitcoin protocol, uses elliptical curves, both class of problems have similar properties which makes elliptical curve cryptography vulnerable to Shor's algorithm. + + +**Now for the reality check** +&nbsp; + +IBM's computer is comprised of 127 PHYSICAL qubits, which are subject to decoherance. Simply put, these qubits don't behave like the idealised LOGICAL qubits. It is my understanding that a true implementation of Shor's algorithm was not able to factor out the number 35 see [here](https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/59795/largest-integer-factored-by-shors-algorithm) and [here](https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.100.012305). You can access the paper using scihub to find the following quote in the article: "Eventually, the algorithm fails to factor N = 35. This is due to the cumulative errors coming from the increasing number of two-qubit gates necessary to implement the more complex MEF needed for this case". + + +Furthermore, modern software wallets can generate a prohibitively large amount of private keys from a single seed phrase. This means that if Alice has 1 Bitcoin and sends Bob 0.1 Bitcoin, the remaining 0.9 are moved along as well to another address, in a manner which is completely transparent to Alice. With an average time of 10 minutes between minted blocks, this would leave very little time for an attacker to steal funderus (provided the transaction is included in the next block). It should be noted that in 2018, there were approximately 30 % of bitcoins linked to "public" public keys [source](https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/faculty-of-engineering/computing/public/1718-ug-projects/Dragos-Ilie-Making-Bitcoin-Quantum-Resistant-(Iain-Steward-and-the-Centre-for-Cryptcurrency-Research-and-Engineering\).pdf). + + +**Does this mean Bitcoin is safe for ever ??** +&nbsp; + +Definitely not. Although according to most predictions we are still years if not decades away from breaking ECDSA, measures should be taken to implement quantum resistant digital signatures. One can hope that it will be implemented in the coming years through a BIP. I hope I've clear up any misunderstanding with bitcoin and quantum computing, and hopefully quantum resistant digital signatures will be implemented in the coming years. + +Another thing, why the fuck have apes been so passive with the bullshit thats been going on!? + +They were literally cleared from the obvious corruption with buying prevention from jan. Why were the apes jus like "meh"??? Why werent we spreading the news of this like wildfire like apes did in january, which caused the biggest fomo? + +After a year now, When these cunts realised they could get away with that shit with no backlash from us such as simply spreading the news, they realised apes are pacified. Thats why they shut down market for gme early on friday with no explanation. You give them an inch, they will take a mile. + +Enough is enough. Its been a year of this bullshit now. We dealt with being robbed from colluding brokers in broad daylight, to mods here being sellouts. + +You wanna know why earlier this year SEC went from investigating reddit for market manipulation, to pretending to make it seem they wanna help us?? PUBLICITY!!! We kept spreadin news of the collusion so they made it seem like SEC had some reformation and that they will now deal with this properly, when really theyre just making it look like theyre helping us to stop us complaining again. We need publicity. + +Do you ACTUALLY wanna see your tendies you have waited a fuckin year for now?? + + THEN MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE!! + +Apes went from skywriting shit, to "ooPsY, HeDgeFuNdS gOt tHe OkaY tO do MaRkeT ManIpuLatIoN agaIn :( whAt eVeR Can We dO??" + +You do what we did back in jan. We make some noise. Whatever social media there is, we publicise whats goin on instead of complaining in one corner of the internet. + +Idgaf, im DRSing 100% of my shares. Stop expecting ppl to drs so you dont have to. Literally the same thing happened with the vote count, on brokers like degiro apparantly many ppl called about voting for gme but didnt actually do it as they expected everyone else to do it. This is the bystander effect. + +Im sorry for the rant, i dont mean to sound condescending im saying this for myself too because im gonna actually follow through with what i said. Idgaf about upvotes either. Im jus pissed off that not only do they do this stuff openly, they are now getting more confident too because their attempts to pacify apes have been working. FUCK THAT. We make noise like we did before. +Not financial advice +Saw a headline today on Yahoo finance that asks "Will EXC crush estimates at its next earnings report?" and made me think - doesn't that mean that the analysts just F'ed up? +I don't yet own any shares of AAPL and I bought the contracts to lock in the price in the hopes to exercise all of them. Now I'm unsure of the best strategy as my liquid has dried up and my portfolio has not performed to expectations. So now sorting out my best plan of action, any advice is appreciated. I'm thinking of selling 2 of the contracts and exercising the other 2 and want to (of course) sell the contracts at their peak. + +Thoughts, outlook or advice anyone? +Thank you +[https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/16/fed-chief-powell-orders-ethics-review-after-multimillion-dollar-trades.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/16/fed-chief-powell-orders-ethics-review-after-multimillion-dollar-trades.html) + +I'm sure Powell will make it so Fed presidents can't profit from their positions. /s +Okay so I'm just getting into crypto, and this sub has been AMAZING help! None of my girlfriends know anything about it, so I haven't been able to talk to anyone about it. I've earned a little bit of extra money to put in, so I've built up a very small but steadily growing portfolio. I still feel like I'm far away from any sort of large sum, but slowly DCA'ing into something meaningful. It's about $20 a month (things are slow right now), but when I have the cash I make bigger deposits. Maybe in a few years I'll be where a lot of you guys are :) + +&#x200B; + +I've learned so much just from reading posts here, thanks to you guys and your advice. Staking, whale tracking, NFTs, Ethereum 2.0, smart contracts, dApps, remix, Solidity, all that stuff. I want to learn more because every day something new comes up and again I feel like I know NOTHING. I know a lot of people come on this sub and like to joke and troll, but just keep in mind there are people here who truly want to learn!! So please keep an open mind of that and keep on doing what you do. + +Just wanted to say thanks :) +My wife is about to receive an $15,000 inheritance from a deceased relative that she was not expecting. We’re wondering what to do with the money (invest in an IRA, standard mutual fund, or pay against the mortgage). Below is our financial background: + + +-We live in Iowa. + + +-My salary is $119,000, with a 12% yearly bonus (adjusted for company performance, so after taxes around $7-8k). + + +-My wife’s salary is ~$50,000. + + +-So combined income puts us in the 28% tax bracket. Someday I could see us reaching the 33% bracket, but that’s gonna be awhile (we’ll never be higher than that unless tax brackets drastically change). + + +-We both contribute the minimum amount to our 401ks to receive the company match (8% in my case, 6% in her case).   + + +-We built a new house in 2015 for $389,000 (5 br, 3 ba). We have two mortgages, one with original balance $309,500 (30 year, 4%) and one for $58,000 (15 year balloon, 4.75%). The minimum payments come out to be $1660 and $302 respectively (the 1660 will probably rise to 2200 once full property taxes kick in). We’ll eventually need to pay more on the balloon so that the remaining amount doesn’t hit all at once at the end of the period, but we’re not too worried about it since it’s a much smaller amount (was notionally planning to just put my yearly bonus against it for the next 7 years). + + +-We just had our first child, and opened an Iowa 529 Savings plan. + + +-We have a $550 a month auto payment, but it’s a 0% interest loan for the life of the loan. + + +-We have a reasonable emergency fund stashed away already. + + +-One of our main goals is to eventually buy / build an even better house. Not talking basketball courts or bowling alleys or anything, but stuff like a theater room, bigger kitchen, etc. Right now houses like that around here are probably in the $500k range. + + +So given all this, I started researching what to do. + + +Option 1: Roth IRA / Backdoor Roth IRA + + +My initial thought was that it’s a no brainer to put the money in a Roth IRA. However, after 5 minutes of research I found that Roth IRAs have salary limits ($117k for single, $184k for married). While we don’t hit the $184k limit yet, I expect that within 5 years we would exceed the phase out limit. I also found that even while under this limit, the yearly contribution limit is only $5,500. Since we would only have ~5 years investing time while under the married limit, that’s “only” $27,500 that we’d be able to contribute to the Roth account before phasing out. + + +I then started reading about Backdoor Roth IRAs. This seemed like a good way to get around the salary limits, but there are a few problems. For one, you need to have a traditional IRA account to convert. Aside from our 401ks, neither of us have a traditional IRA account. After some quick searching it appears the traditional IRA also has a $5,500 per year contribution limit. So even if we went this more complicated route we’d be stuck putting the $15,000 into checking and only contributing $5,500 a year to the traditional IRA, then converting that to a Roth.    + + +Option 2: Traditional IRA + + +After looking into it a bit more, a traditional IRA might make more sense for us than a Roth, since we're already in a higher tax bracket (not really saving by getting taxed later). I haven't done a detailed spreadsheet yet figuring it out. Regardless, I was bummed when learning you can only contribute $5500 a year to this as well. So again, we'd be stuck putting it into checking now, then contributing the $5500 the next 3 years. + + +Option 3: Pay against the balloon mortgage + + +This was actually what we assumed we’d do before thinking about investing. However after using some online calculators, the total interest of the $58,000 loan is “only” $23,206, for a total loan cost of $81,206. Since the $15,000 would really only help us pay off the loan 2 years earlier (6 years instead of 8 years), it doesn’t really seem worth it. I haven’t done the math to figure out what 2 years’ worth of interest is, but my guess is not really that much. We’d probably make more investing the money in anything than we would save in interest payments. + + +Option 4: Mutual Fund + + +My old manager at work advised me to simply invest the money in a decent mutual fund (Ex. something based of S&P 500 or Berkshire Hathaway). His reasoning is that in his personal experience he’s found it nice to have more liquid sources of cash. He felt like he has all this “wealth” locked up in his 401k, but when big events happened (daughter’s wedding, etc) he sometimes felt cash poor. To be honest I hadn’t even thought of this option, since I assumed the tax benefits of an IRA outweighed all standard investing options. However looking into this it seems we won’t be able to deduct our contributions to the traditional IRA since we’re already covered by a 401k and make too much income. So it comes down to paying taxes on capital gains when we eventually sell (mutual fund) vs. tax free gains but paying income taxes on all distributions (traditional IRA). The mutual fund option would also have to report the dividends as income, but with “only” $15,000 starting investment those would be tiny. + + +Given all of this I am leaning toward just investing in a regular mutual fund. My reasoning is that by doing this and paying off the balloon loan in 8 years we’d have enough equity and could use the mutual fund “liquid cash” as a down payment towards a better house. + + +Does anyone have any advice on what to do here? Thanks in advance! +Hi everyone! I was hoping to get some opinions on investment apps. I like the idea of them but wondered if they are really a good idea. Tbh I don’t have much experience with investing, just my 403B and a Roth IRA. Do any of you use apps and if so do you like them? Which ones do you recommend? I’ve seen Acorns mentioned a few times but I’d appreciate any input on that one and others. Thanks!! +Hi all, I have a little extra cash I want to pay towards my student loan and I'm unsure which one to pay first. Here's the options. + +Loan #1: $20,500, 6.6% interest, 10 year monthly payments + +Loan #2: #3,000, 7.6% interest, 10 year monthly payments + +It seems that for some reason, if I put $1,000 towards each loan today, I am better off doing the small loan (#2), but if I spread out the $1,000 over the next ten months @ $100/month, I am better off paying off the higher loan (#1). + +I know that the general rule of thumb is to pay off loans with higher interest rates but I thought that because the higher interest rate loan is so small, that that rule wouldn't apply here? Idk my (obviously) flawed thinking is that 7.6% of accruing interest on 3,000 is a heck of a lot smaller than 6.6% on 20 grand. Anyway, I would appreciate any help and a small explanation would be really appreciated! Thx! +I make $30k/year, have about $10k left to pay on a car, and have a savings account with about $6/7k in it. I have no other debt than the car payment. I was hoping to invest/grow the savings account. + +The financial advisor basically told me that I don't need to budget or invest because my problem isn't a planning problem, it's an "income problem". He was very kind but basically told me I have to get a higher paying job or get another part time job in order to make any kind of headway financially. When I asked him if we could discuss investing my savings, he said no and that I would be better served putting it towards paying off my car. + +I have no interest on the car payment and am on track to pay it off well before any interest would kick in so I don't feel like using my savings for that is my best option. + +So was he right? Is my savings account too little to start investing with? + +I am 28 and don't really want to wait around when it comes to investing or building a retirement fund for myself outside of what I'm already building with my job. I'm just looking for advice on whether I should continue to look for an advisor that will help me or if this is the answer I'm going to get wherever I go and I just need to come to terms with it. + +(I also just want to say that I \*love\* my job dearly and the value of my mental health is personally not worth more to me than leaving it in order to make more money.) + +Thanks! +First time home buyers here... I have a credit score of 790 and make $42,000/annually. He has a credit score of 650, and makes around the same amount. Our lender recommended I take the loan out in my name since our interest rate will be 4.62%, instead of almost 6% if we consider my husband's credit as well. + +We live in a beautiful area by the beach... currently rent is $700 due to knowing people and having friends. We are not sure how long this will last, however, which makes us antsy to purchase a home if it's a steal. We had planned to save for a long time, but a house came up on the market for $200k and the buyer wants to accept our offer of $190k (and buyer will pay closing costs). We are only able to put 3% down, which is fine due to the type of loan we qualified for. + +I really wanted to save up more for a down-payment (at least 10%), BUT we are not sure how long we can stay at our current place for $700/mo... and anywhere else nearby is at LEAST $1300/month to rent. Our estimated mortgage payment for this house would be $1200 including everything but utilities. It is also attached to a ton of land which is very uncommon for the area. It's a beautiful home, VERY small (800 sq feet), but perfect for us and in a decent area. Our budget for a home was no more than $270k (after estimated 3-4 years of saving), so $190k sounds amazing. Any other home, even at $250k, needs extensive work and is probably not in the best area. Prices are just going up and we are afraid we will be priced out eventually. + +The house is awesome and newly built... inspection was perfect. It seems like a steal and a safe bet considering we don't know how long we will be able to continue renting at our current spot. If we had to move, we'd likely be paying the same amount as we would need to put toward the mortgage. + +Any thoughts?? It's tough navigating this never having bought a house before. My main issue is the minimal down payment, but I don't want to pass up a good deal!! The lot has plenty of space and enough to even add another massive house (which we wouldn't). RS-2 zoning, so not sure if we could ever do long-term rentals if we did build another house and also lived on site at the current house... + +&#x200B; + +EDIT: Monthly mortgage with taxes/hoa/mortgage insurance included ($1200) would be roughly 20% of take home pay. +My wife and I are in our early 40s. We’ve worked hard and we didn’t come from money. Just want to see if there is anything we’re missing as far as budgeting/saving/investments + +Household income $510000 + +Monthlies: +Mortgage $6700 (HCOL area) +Property tax $2300 +HOA $289 +Home insurance $235 +Cars $2050 (electric) +Student loans $1100 +Food $1700 (family of 5) +Child care $1600 +Misc $1500 +Utilities $700 +Savings $8000 + +We max out our 401s and we both have pensions. We have considerable side hustles but there can be burnout. We started making this kind of money last year; previously we were at $300-350k. I know I’ll get slaughtered for the cars but we used to eat tuna straight from the can with plastic forks so we need to live a little. Savings about $100k + +Any feedback is appreciated. + +Thanks +I make $30k/year, have about $10k left to pay on a car, and have a savings account with about $6/7k in it. I have no other debt than the car payment. I was hoping to invest/grow the savings account. + +The financial advisor basically told me that I don't need to budget or invest because my problem isn't a planning problem, it's an "income problem". He was very kind but basically told me I have to get a higher paying job or get another part time job in order to make any kind of headway financially. When I asked him if we could discuss investing my savings, he said no and that I would be better served putting it towards paying off my car. + +I have no interest on the car payment and am on track to pay it off well before any interest would kick in so I don't feel like using my savings for that is my best option. + +So was he right? Is my savings account too little to start investing with? + +I am 28 and don't really want to wait around when it comes to investing or building a retirement fund for myself outside of what I'm already building with my job. I'm just looking for advice on whether I should continue to look for an advisor that will help me or if this is the answer I'm going to get wherever I go and I just need to come to terms with it. + +(I also just want to say that I \*love\* my job dearly and the value of my mental health is personally not worth more to me than leaving it in order to make more money.) + +Thanks! +And I have absolutely no clue what I am doing. I started casually investing last year when I found out I was going to be having a baby, was going to try Acorns and ended up with Robinhood. I had zero clue about trading before and only minimal knowledge even now. + +I've got a pretty strong gut and can handle huge increases and decreases in my investments, its required in our current geopolitical climate but I feel like maybe I'm becoming too emotionally invested to the best calls for my family. + +Here is a [snapshot](http://imgur.com/a/jQHBChZ) of my trading portfolio, I'll go through later hopefully to itemize trades and whatnot. Initially my investment strategy was to buy, gain, dump and repeat but ACB and YETI which I had the most stake in decided to fall and I lost a few bucks. Currently invested in puts for GME, GRPN for 10/18 and AEO for 6/14. I deposit about 10$ weekly into this account. + +These photos detail through the large ups and downs, currently I have decided to stick with options for quicker way to making money. I understand options really requires a *lot* of speculation but I feel like maybe I'm losing more than I should. + +I expect to come into 100k+ within the next 30 years from my Grandmothers estate. 100k isn't enough to retire on, or really to do anything with for that matter. I'm not a fool with the legal aspects and making myself protected. + +I have no 401k, savings, retirement. My 1000$ is my wages + a small savings from tax time. I have maybe 8k in debt including my no interest financing on my cellphones, 500$ credit used to fix my car and about 6k from a motorcycle I bought 4 years ago. + +TL;DR I'm broke and have no idea how to invest smartly to maximize small/med wins to build my investment account. I understand IRA/401Ks are safe, simple and make sense for saving but I'm 10 years behind at this point and I have a lot of excuses to give you why I won't start saving now and let compounding interest do its thing. +Hi there! I am looking for some advice about putting a savings account in my name, instead of my mom's name. My grandma is giving her $14k from the sale of a family house. Unfortunately, my parents have some financial issues and owe a lot of money. My mom and grandma want to put the cash in a savings account under my name and I would withdraw money when my mom wanted it. + +My grandma also mentioned potentially putting money in a trust under my name for my mom. + +I'm mostly ok with the idea but I'm wondering if there are disadvantages that I'm not thinking about. +My father went missing without a trace about a month ago and he handled all the finances in the house + bills. I lived in California (this is in Florida) and moved back to help family; I don’t know what bills he had to pay and what cards he used for them etc. I don’t even know how to phrase this question in google so I’m kind of lost. Who would I need to get in contact with in order to help me take over all his finances and change things to my name? He is still reported as missing as no trace has been found, so there is death certificate etc. +I am extremely wary of financial advisors, even when acting as a fiduciary. I have not encountered one worth 2% of Assets Under Management. My brother and my parents use a financial planner that has not returned even the market average over the past 5 years, never mind earning back their own fee. They both claim the planner keeps them focused and from doing anything irrational, and there is benefit to that, but I don't need to give someone 5 figure check each year to keep me from doing anything crazy. I'm not a single stock buyer, I don't believe in crypto, etc. + +&#x200B; + +However, my wife and I have now achieved, well, not financial independence but we have gotten all of our ducks in order and are making progress; only debt is mortgage and small car loan; both under 3%. We recently came into a windfall inheritence (see my history asking for help last week). + +I feel like I have a really good grasp on the things people need to do in their 20's and 30's to get themselves on the right course, but now I am lacking in planning for my 40's and 50's. I don't entirely understand how to, potentially, retire early and not deplete our investments. + +I am feeling like I need a financial road map for the next 10 years and I would be willing to pay for professional guidance (setting up accounts and a framework of what to do, how to check ourselves in short and medium term, come up with realistic 10+ year goals based on where we are today, explain different options and their tax implications, etc.). + +Once you get the basics squared away, it's a whole different world of anxiety trying to figure out how to preserve and grow wealth, how to shelter it, and how to make sure the money is working for us and not against us. + +&#x200B; + +Your thoughts and opinions appreciated; am here to learn and participate in civil discussions. +I've always been told it's best to start investing into the future while you are young, but I barley know where to start. As of now I am investing into a Roth IRA fund right now and planning on starting a certificate of deposit with my bank... I just feel I could do so much more, should I look into the stock market? If so who should I talk to? Do I visit a broker? Do I start real estate? If so where do I begin? I just want to take advantage of my youth right now, I currently make about 1.2k a month but I would like to make good decisions so in about 10 years I'll look back and say Im glad I posted on this subreddit. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you :) +Hi all! On Friday I was laid off from my manager position at a call center. I was in the position for 7 months and before that worked the front lines for a year. This was due to budget cuts and I can get a few letters of recommendation. + +I made 3369 a month after tax and currently have 2K in savings and just got paid Friday for my first half of time in Feb. Essentially if I take the 1 months pay severance and cash out my paid time off, I will have about $10,500. + +I was also offered a job at $17.50 which is a $12 pay cut with the same company. The company laid off and gave a similar offer to almost 20 out of 150 people. + +What I am wondering is if I should take the offered job from the same company or if I should say fuck them and find a new job and take the package. It will be difficult to find a job at the same pay rate as $17.50 but I also have a bad habit of selling myself short. This is getting kinda long so I am happy to share my work experience if you are interested. It should be noted that my PTO payout will be much less if I take the job while searching for another. + +As far as bills go, I have a car to pay off (my payout could pay it off and eliminate that payment entirely), insurance, and a phone bill. Otherwise, I work for my bills like rent and power as a resident manager. I have a partner that makes good money who is telling me to quit and he is happy to take on the bills while I find a job. We have been together 5 years and plan to marry so I'm not worried about resentment. + + +I'm genuinely not sure what to do. My ego wants me to take the severance package and tell them to fuck off but the logical and scared part of me says its better to have a high paying job than no job or to take such a massive pay cut. Any help is appreciated. +Hi Everyone! + +My wife and I have a second child on the way (due in July). Yay! + +We both work. Daycare is expensive. Boo! + +We had created our budget. It was a little tight but we were able to make it work. + +Recently we had roof problems. Cheapest to fix is $11,400. + +This wasn't in our budget and I'm going to need a new car soon. So between me needing a new car, the roof repair, and the cost of another kid (mostly medical bills and daycare). I am kind of hard up. I know it's not ideal, but I was thinking of tapping into retirement accounts. + +I started a roth 401K (with employer contribution) when I got this job in 2014. Companies merged in 2019, blah blah, and the roth 401k turned into a roth IRA and the employer contribution turned into a regular ira account. We started up regular simple IRAs in 2019 with employer contributions that same year. It's completely separate (it's even a different company) + +I was wondering what penalties and taxes I would be facing if I take the money from the original accounts that rolled over into the IRAs. I heard you can take money out without penalty due to having a child, but I'm not sure if that 5 year rule applies or not. I've got 6,000 in the roth and 5,000 in the regular. If I could pull that money out, it would get me to a much more comfortable spot. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! + +&#x200B; + +Thanks! +I'm talking about things like Art, sculptures, jewelry, etc... Not something like a house or stocks and bonds. + +My father has at least 60% of his net worth in non liquid assets like art and jewelry. Why would people do this? +Hi all. + +I'm a 20 y/o recent grad who was fortunate enough to land a job right out of college. Very soon, I will have a full-time job and a consistent, generous pay that quite frankly I have no idea what to do with. + +Aside from car insurance and some recurring expenses, I do not have many financial obligations and am very fortunate in that I will be able to save most of my income going forward. + +I have researched different investing options as well as financial planning options, but there is so much contradictory information online that I do not trust any source. Frankly, I am not comfortable with blindly throwing my money into an account and hoping that a random website had good advice. + +Does anyone know of any **online** financial planning services that will work with me to create a plan for investing, saving, buying a home, and retiring? Bonus points if they specifically work with young adults recently entering the work force (if this is even a relevant criteria). + +Thank you! +Hi all. + +I'm a 20 y/o recent grad who was fortunate enough to land a job right out of college. Very soon, I will have a full-time job and a consistent, generous pay that quite frankly I have no idea what to do with. + +Aside from car insurance and some recurring expenses, I do not have many financial obligations and am very fortunate in that I will be able to save most of my income going forward. + +I have researched different investing options as well as financial planning options, but there is so much contradictory information online that I do not trust any source. Frankly, I am not comfortable with blindly throwing my money into an account and hoping that a random website had good advice. + +Does anyone know of any **online** financial planning services that will work with me to create a plan for investing, saving, buying a home, and retiring? Bonus points if they specifically work with young adults recently entering the work force (if this is even a relevant criteria). + +Thank you! +I will be posting this in /r/personalfinance /r/financialplanning and /r/financialadvice just to give it the best chance of getting seen because I just don’t know what to do or where else to go. I do apologize if this breaks Reddiquette so please let me know if there’s some other way I should do this. + +&nbsp; + +Hi all, + +&nbsp; + +I’m in a bit of a mess and I am super lost and just don’t know what to do. I work 30-35 hours at Arby’s in a “Crew Leader position” (in between Crew Member and Assistant Manager), and make about $1000/month. + +&nbsp; + +My expenses include: +$239/Month car payment +$80/Month gas +~$140/Month food, I am not comfortable or always welcome in my kitchen due to my current familial standing so I eat out at places with $5 specials or similar pricing a lot. I know it’s not good for me health or money wise, and I plan to switch to buying cheaper food I can make depending on my future living situation +May eventually start paying for my phone bill, don’t know if/when/how much + +&nbsp; + +My parents have said that they want me out of my house my the start of my Sophomore year in college (so basically this summer), my father later told me that my mother did not know that I had to pay for college room and board all by my self (scholarships didn’t cover it) so she may be receptive to letting me live there for longer and pay them rent, but not to bring it up because it could upset her and she needs to figure this out on her own. So, I have no idea if I’m being kicked out or not + +&nbsp; + +I had two plans, Plan A was to split a 3 bedroom apartment 4 ways, but that fell apart after one of said friends didn’t get a job for a very long time and only recently started a $9/hour job at which he works for less than 30 hours/week. Plan B was for a friend to let me live at his house, but someone else has moved in and basically has the okay to stay there indefinitely. So, now I have no plans what so ever. + +&nbsp; + +Current options include: +Room at my college, about $6000 plus food costs +I have an old teacher who may let me live with him, I believe we said $300/month, but my worry is that he has said that he can’t promise that nothing will change and if need be he may give me a months notice that I have to leave, just depending on what happens in his life +An assistant manager I work with has offered me a job, however she is a very avid drug user and her boyfriend is a drug dealer. +Another manager has possibly offered me a room but she is not the best at thinking financially, and very very strongly wants to purchase a house and have a child even though given what I know she is certainly not financially stable +That friend from Plan B has offered me a room at a family friend of his. Apparently she is the nicest person he knows, but she smokes, and maybe I’m being more picky than I can be in my situation but the higher susceptibility to cancer and the fact that I know the smoke will eventually permeate everything I own there are huge turn offs +I could start searching through CraigsList for homes and rooms for rent, though I am not sure how to exactly be sure the person I am moving in with is safe and sane + +&nbsp; + +I am debating dropping out of college to work full time. If I continued working at Arby’s full time I would be making about $200 more, which I don’t know how much it would help, but I also may get a promotion to Assistant Manager quicker and that would be a raise of up to $1. I could also look into finding another job which pays more that I could now attend with my no-school full time availability. I just thought of this while typing this up so I need to look into it, but I also have Stafford Loans out for college, so if I drop out presumably I’d need to start making payments on those, too. + +&nbsp; + +I just don’t know what to do in my current situation. I don’t know what’s best or if there are options that I am unaware of or haven’t considered. Now that both my plans failed I just feel really lost an anxious and unsure. I appreciate any help or opinions other resources that anyone has or recommends. Thank you all so much + +I want to make this post to highlight common Forex ideas and teachings you find online, and why they don't work. + +Feel free to add your own: + +**Risk-Reward** +I hear a lot online about having positive R:R ratios. If you make 2x more when your right then when you're wrong you only have to be right more than 33% of the time! + +While technically true. What they don't tell you is that the market is extremely noisy. At any given moment in Forex any pair can swing many pips in any direction because some company decided to buy engine parts for their factories. You can't predict this. There is always underlying noise. + +Given this. The smaller your stoploss the the more likely it is you will get taken out by random noise and the further your TP the less likely the noise will carry you to profit. + +This means that by setting your TP further than your stoploss your edge is now fighting directly against market noise. You might have a 51% edge.. but the noise will fuck your trade over 90% of the time, because the price will fluctuate into your stoploss before your TP. + +The amount of noise is questionable but in most cases it is so high that trading on anything less than the daily chart, noise fuck over any positive edge given R:R ratios of anything higher than 1. + +This is why most new traders that see a decent edge, look at history and see that it works, then go to the hourly or 4 hourly chart. Set their SL to 1 and their TP to 3... End up blowing their account and it feels like they only have a 10% win rate despite only needing a 25%+ to be profitable. + +Because market noise gaurenteed that 90% of your trades get fluctuates into the SL well before your edge can play out. + + +**Confluence of Indicators** +There's a lot of talk of confluence of Indicators. Make sure that this indicator does this, while THAT indicator does this other thing. + +What you don't realise a lot of the time is the indicators are just math bieng applied to the price. + +When you add two indicators and they both say the same thing, you cannot yell "Aha! Confluence!" + +What youve essentially done is saw the price line increase above 50. Then changed the color of the line to blue... And been like "The blue line is also above 50! CONFLUENCE!" + +Or more realistically you can't have one indicator that adds 5 to the price, and another indicator that multiplies the price by 6... And then treat these as two different indicators that can be confluence with each other. They and almost every other indicator is BASED on the price. To have true confluence you need an indicator that ISNT based on the price. + +**Trading the news** +The problem with trading the news or any sharp event is that the Forex market is a competitive environment. It appears like it's people Vs. the price. But it is not. It is people vs people. + +Given this. People are eating people. You saw the CPI numbers go up? People KNOW you saw it go up. There's a trader sitting at the bank waiting for you to long the USD because the CPI went up... He is sitting there waiting to use your buy order as liquidity to buy $40M of AUDUSD for the bank of china.. and just like that your USD long hit SL instantly despite you 'doing' what the news told you to do. Even if your listening to your squak... He is sitting there waiting for volume to sell into. He doesn't care about the news. He only cares what the news will make YOU do so he can exploit it. + + +**Risk management is the most important thing** +I thought this as well. It is true you cannot succeed without risk management, just like you cannot hope to beat Usaine bolt without legs. + +BUT... Even if you have legs, 99% of the hard work and training is still ahead of you. + +The hardest thing about trading is not risk management and discipline. If you don't believe this learn to program and build EAs. As an EA builder it becomes very fucking clear that 99% of strategies followed PERFECTLY by a MACHINE will still lose money regardless of discipline or perfect risk management over the long term. + +Getting and maintaining an edge is the hardest thing to do. +I've got a plead for the more experienced traders in here; + +Would you mind sharing your story and how your profits went from (maybe) negative to positive. + + What was the turning corner for you? Where did you start? Do you trade full time? Does it make you a good living - money wise and freedom wise? Do you feel brighter than when you started? + +I've been in it for only a bit less than a year, but from time to time the journey seems impossible. Hope some of you care to share :) + +Thanks a lot in advance! + +Edit: Not searching for some free ride, trading plans or what not, just motivation. +I guess it's fair for me to say I've been blessed to have worked with and learnt from some top professional over the last while and one of the biggest things I've taken from all of them respectively is that you can't trade using S&R in a "Retail" fashion. + +Yes, S&R is essentially all one needs to trade the market but imo it's foolish to bid support and offer resistance simply because it is S&R (especially on lower timeframes H1-1Min). + +I made a comment saying that "If you still buy support and sell resistance, you may want to consider the fact that you don't understand what you're doing." 'Twas a bit tongue in cheek but there's a bit of truth behind it. Pro traders don't overcomplicate their trading- they use S&R to determine where value is in the market and trade using an "If this S or R level goes, then value is now between here and the next level". It's rare to see a pro buying support unless there is significant order flow confirmation- which is impossible to gauge in spot forex, hence why the way in which they use S&R is completely contrarian to whatever you may have read in "Trading for Dummies". +Buying support blindly that has been hit multiple times is risky as many traders place their stops at that level, thus providing liquidity to the weak hands that have limit buys on the support level. Traders with size are fully aware of this and tend to steam in once the support level is broken. On top of that, everyone that is long tries to get out (by selling) and well you know what happens next lol + +The above is the reason why when S or R gets broken, it's usually in an aggressive manner and results in a wide ranging "thrust" candle breaking the level and you've taken a loser. + +That doesn't mean you sell every single level of support that you see which has multiple touches, but if buying support and selling resistance is something you do then this is definitely something to keep in mind as it will definitely add extra edge to your trading. + +Just my two cents, lemme know what ya think :) +Seems like Im under cutting my trades and getting out at 100 pips when i should be getting out at a lot more + +I trade the 4H chart and i always just set 100 pips as the "Time to close out this trade" + +Not really sure why I did this but it seems to work 60% of the time every time. + +Any common strategy or formula i can use to determine a solid TP? + +Strictly for testing purposes as of this moment, so throw anything youd like at me, i test on a smaller live account. +I want to learn about macroeconomics of currency moves in depth but i cant find any viable source to do so can someone recommend any books or videos to do that +Thank you +Are there any real success stories online? + +With thousands upon thousands journals on forums, reddit, blogs I have yet to see one genuine success story that is not a scheme. + +I have been trading in my spare time for almost 4 years and every single success story turned out to be fake. + +Over the years I talked and traded with hundreds of people and not a single one of them became profitable for a long period of time. + +The most successful guy I knew managed to turn forex trading hobby into 9-5 job as technical analyst adviser for a bank. + +Do you know about any real stories/journals? +I see the warnings all the time, 80% or so of traders lose money with this broker. What are the generally agreed, main reasons for this? It seems important to understand and work on this, just as it is of course important to have good risk management and all those other things you need to be a good trader. +Hi, + +Im lookin for people who are mentored by supplyanddemandguy. I've been in his mentorship for 1 month and then suddenly he went MIA (with my money ofc)... +I noticed this on the NZD pairs on Friday: + +https://preview.redd.it/9wi8x1upo1951.png?width=927&format=png&auto=webp&s=7e39e987dbfa3c80c7b06c3499440c0c6306797d + +What caused this to happen in just NZD? I searched my news feeds and could not find any NZD-specific thing from the end of the day Friday. Also, I checked other brokers and they had similar activity, so it wasn't just on my broker. + +Another thing I'm curious about is, this did not happen in other pairs, not even AUD. + +Thanks! +Hello Reddit, + +So I’ve tried to forex for a few years now and lost thousands of dollars in the process. + +Is that what success is all about, not giving up until you reach it? + +If not, when do you decide to move on and let go of that distant dream? + +What do I do? +Without pooping on everyone else’s personal trading strategy, I’d love to hear what you guys are doing and how it’s going for you! :) + +Including fundamental/technical, which time frame you focus on, how many pips you run, average risk/reward, etc? + +Happy trading folks :) + +Edit: Not so much looking for advice on how to trade, just curious to see what’s working for all of you! +Are there any real success stories online? + +With thousands upon thousands journals on forums, reddit, blogs I have yet to see one genuine success story that is not a scheme. + +I have been trading in my spare time for almost 4 years and every single success story turned out to be fake. + +Over the years I talked and traded with hundreds of people and not a single one of them became profitable for a long period of time. + +The most successful guy I knew managed to turn forex trading hobby into 9-5 job as technical analyst adviser for a bank. + +Do you know about any real stories/journals? +Hello, traders! I started with 200$ and for a month my account grew to 800$. I made a mistake with WTI which lead to a 700$ loss (yikes! this happened in the beginning of June) and after that I've been depositing money from my savings and even on good days when I make 200$, I blow the account before the next day comes. This has been going on for 2 weeks and my savings are now emptied out. +I am asking for your help cause I feel lost and I don't know how to get back on track. +Full disclaimer: I know NOTHING about trading. + +But! My dad is currently into learning about Forex and I would +love to get him something useful/meaningful for Christmas related to forex trading. + +I was really excited to get him the "Stock Traders Almanac 2023" but recently learned he doesn't day trade (forex only). + +Any ideas? He's a big fan of video learning so textbooks are a no go. + +Edit: budget ~$100 CAD + +Second edit: wow, thank you everyone for your responses. I was all set to get him a magic keys when he started grumbling about the ads on YouTube and having to type search using the tv remote... + +So I bought him a chrome cast and a YouTube subscription 🤣 + +But his birthday is in April so I am thinking a magic keys then. Thank you again, I am definitely saving this post for future gift ideas! +\[Spoiler alert\], it was a failure. + +Technically, not a complete failure-- after 128 trades throughout all of 2020, it was up +1.6%. But after another 10 trades into 2021, it was -1.2%. Even if I had continued to test it into 2021 and it would have continued to give a 1.6% return, in the end, 128 trades is a lot of work for only slightly better than a bank can get me, and almost definitely worse than I could get parking my money in just about any mutual fund. If I could find a strategy that makes me 10-20% on the year, I’d be ecstatic. But at minimum I’d say I need to be able to beat the rising rate of inflation to consider using a strategy, otherwise, I’d just park it in blue chips and call it a day. So this one didn’t work, but I wasn’t bummed, because, with a time investment of about just 15hrs spread out over the course of a week, I ruled out a strategy that isn’t worth trading, saving me countless headaches, not to mention-- Losses. + +\[Full Disclosure\], I’ve only been learning about Forex since the beginning of 2020 just before the pandemic hit and still only trading Demo because I don’t feel I’ve developed a consistently profitable set of rules for myself that I am confident enough in to trade live. I’m taking my time and playing a long game. But I’ve seen lots of posts on here asking about where to get started, and u/MrGhost8 asked the other day if anyone would share a strategy. As I consider myself a newcomer to Forex still, and have never posted to this sub, I feel a little silly for contributing information, but it was slow going in the beginning last year for myself, so if I can help another newcomer progress a little faster, then awesome. So here’s a strategy. But first, I repeat: Don't trade this particular one. But it may give you some ideas of how to create your own strategy or perhaps you can build off this to make this strategy profitable for you. + +The rules were: + +1. if the 20 EMA is above the 50EMA, I look for buy trades, and if the 20 is below the 50 I look for sell trades; +2. after an EMA crossover, I need a high (or low for sell trades) to be established, followed by a pullback that involves at minimum, a single wick touching the 20 EMA, without any candle closing below (or above for sell trades) the 50 EMA; so my pullback zone of support/resistance is between the 20 and 50 EMA; a close past the 50 invalidates the trade and I wait for a new, higher probability setup, ie a new high or low to be established depending on rule 1; +3. for entry, after a touch of the 20 EMA, I need a green candle to break and close above my previous high; +4. Stops: 1 ATR below the low of the close above candle, or in other words, 1ATR below the candle preceding my entry; +5. Targets: 1.4:1 Reward to Risk ratio. +6. Risk: 1% per trade. + +I compiled all of this in a Google Sheet including for each trade: Entry date and time, stop loss in #pips, position close in #pips, $loss/gain, total pips earned, total account cash, %loss/gain; and from this calculated my max drawdown and Win% as well as average $win, avg$loss, avg RRR, and total pips earned. + +I took this set of data that I’d compiled and looked at it as a rough draft to be revised, rather than a complete strategy. I looked for positives first: + +1. The winning percentage was low (41%) but despite it being less than 50% win, the data still revealed a positive annual return. So if perhaps I can refine my rules so that they prevent me from entering some of those losing trades, then maybe I can end up with a workable strategy with a decent win rate-- ideally over 50%. +2. By the end of April 2020, the return was +16.6%. This shows the strategy in certain market conditions can give me that 10-20% return I am looking for. But of course during March and April 2020, the markets were trending like a MF after all the shutdowns occurred—first way, way down—and then way, way back up. When the markets calmed down—the win rate started to drop significantly. +3. The rules were generally simple to follow and objective. Simple is good. All I need in the real world, then is patience and discipline to wait for the set up to come. This a promising starting point. +4. I learned my max drawdown came from 7 losers in a row. Can I handle 7 losers in a row? Or will I freak out and abandon my strategy, denounce trading and throw away all of my books in a fit of rage? The answer for me is, if the seven losses come as a part of a strategy that yields a 10-20% Annual return, then it’s fine and the cost of doing business, imo. If not, then it’s a problem for me. Either way, I got to look at the max dollar loss that came from those 7 trades and then look at myself in the mirror and honestly ask, can you handle a swing in which you are up 17% and then give back almost half of it? +5. The backtest provided me with invaluable experience of looking at real market situations and showed me where my rules were not well enough defined and provoked thought about how I can clean them up. + +For example, what if the wick that touches the 20 EMA ends up being on the candle that also closes above the previous high? Happened several times. Is the close of that candle a valid entry? Or do I need to wait for a new close above candle? \[*I chose Yes, it’s valid. Ultimately, I’m looking for the 20EMA to act as support/resistance, so if the market reacts to that touch and immediately jumps up and breaks and closes above the previous high, then that is excellent market feedback that I want to listen to.*\] + +If the high is established on the first candle after an MA crossover, is that a valid high? Or do I need multiple candles to print first for a high to be established? \[*I chose NO. A high on the first candle after a crossover is not valid, because I’m looking for a market that knows what direction it wants to go. If it was just going down and now it’s shooting up, can I trust with some degree of certainty that it is going to continuing going up? I don’t think so. Not for me at least. The EMA is a lagging indicator so the crossover is always going to follow an impulsive move in the opposite direction. But who’s to say that it’s not going to make another impulsive move in the opposite direction immediately after I enter a trade? I don’t know if we are in consolidation, a deep retracement, or an uptrend yet. So for me, I decided I need for three candles whose bodies are all above the 20 EMA to print before I start looking for a valid high and a pullback.*\] + +There were many more confusing circumstances that the market threw at me, and I’m not going to go into all of them, but the main point is, Backtesting naturally helps me to refine my strategy and figure out what works, what doesn’t, and why. A years worth of candles on any chart is a lot of candles. Patterns will start to emerge that you never noticed before. Things that seem like no big deal will suddenly start to stand out to you as giant red flags and warning signs. I learn from every strategy I backtest and every change I make, even if they don’t necessarily yield a winning strategy. + +I began thinking in all sorts of new ways. What if I combine this strategy with a particular set of candlestick formations or particular support and resistance zones? What if take a larger or smaller r/R, does this increase the Win Rate or does the larger return make up for the lower win rate? Are there any commonalities between a significant percentage of the losers that I can create a rule for to avoid them? E.g., does a certain day of the week result in significantly more losses than wins? If so, I’ll consider avoiding trading on that day by retesting without it. \[Sunday for this strategy had the lowest frequency of trading opportunities, but Mondays and Fridays had the lowest Win rates. I haven’t retested this yet, but will look at what happens if I avoid trading this strategy on the AUDUSD 1H on Mondays or Fridays.\] So on and so on. + +RETESTING + +First, I broke down the data further into quarters on the year to see better where the wins and losses came from. While the Annual Win rate was 41%, the quarterly win rates were as follows: + +1st Q: 56.76% + +2nd Q: 42.86% + +3rd Q: 38.6% + +4th Q: 33.33% + +So the first half of the year – it did pretty well. The second half, however, returned pretty much all of the gains. + +Next, I checked every single trade and marked the total number of wins and losses should I have set targets at 1:1, 1.2:1, 1.6:1, 1.8:1, and 2:1. 2:1 RRR would have given me 55 wins. “55 wins!” I thought to myself. Look at all those wins, surely I must be able to earn more taking a 2:1 on fewer wins instead of 1.4:1 RRR!!! But the data says otherwise. Win rates for each were: + +1:1 – 46% + +1.2—42.94% + +1.4—41% + +1.6—38.2 + +1.8—34.3% + +2:1—30.9% + +After recalculating the % loss/gain for the 2:1 RRR, it returned only 1% more during the first quarter and would have resulted in a negative return on the year overall had I traded it. And that 1:1 risk reward at 46%, would have been a loser too, OBVI. But the higher win rate at the lower 1.2:1 RRR still yielded a lower return on the year than 1.4:1. + +What if I took a larger stop loss like 1ATR+5 or 1ATR+10 or perhaps 2ATR? Would that prevent me from getting stopped out and, as a result, turn some of the losers into winners? *The answer is No in my experience specifically on the 1H AUDUSD chart during 2020. 1ATR was enough wiggle room to let me get to a winner and increasing my stop didn’t matter. If I was gonna get stopped out at 1ATR, I was, for the most part, going to get stopped out at 1ATR+10 or 2ATR as well. This is awesome information to learn. No more need to question my stops. No more wondering, “If I had only…”. A wider stop loss did not have a significant impact on the strategy’s overall Win rate*. + +So—The RRR and the stop loss placement aren’t the issue or the solution. So that means that the rules don’t work as written. I need to dig further. So I zoomed back out and looked at the charts. I had marked each trade on the chart as I tested with a vertical red line for losers and vertical green line for winners so I could see where large swaths of red and green appeared in relation to how the AUDUSD moved. I noticed something interesting that stood out: there were large impulsive and sustained moves up or down that I missed because the pullbacks never reached the 20 EMA. I asked myself if it was possible that the 20 and 50 EMA were not acting as support? Was there something else that supported those trends? So I played around with EMAs throwing up a few at a time, mixing and matching fast and slower MAs. This taught me something in the process – Moving Averages are not one size fits all. Different pairs seem to react to different MAs. And different time frames require different MAs as well. When I first started demo trading, I used the same MAs for every pair on every timeframe and would have 1 winner on 1 pair followed by a series of losers on all the other pairs and then I’d throw my hands up declaring “Moving averages don’t work!” And I was right, in a way. Moving averages put in zero work. They are passive observers. They will never do the work of finding a trade for you. But they can be good clue givers if you use them right. I found in this particular case that it appeared like the 10 and 40 EMAs seemed to provide a better support zone. “Appears” and “seems” are dangerous, though. I don’t want guesswork. I want something concrete that I can rely on to give me an edge over the market. + +So I started over from scratch with my new more specific rules determined from analyzing my first set of testing and went back through the 1H AUDUSD chart for all of 2020 using the 10/40 EMAs instead of 20/50. Tedious AF. But well worth it. The result was 4.5% annual gain risking 1% at a 1.4:1 RRR. An improvement… beating inflation… but still not great. I played around with what happens if I risked 2% instead of 1% per trade—the result is my return bumps up to 6.6% over the year. The downfall of course is my max drawdown bumps up from 8% of my starting capital to almost 19%! And that 7 trade losing streak can come at any time in the year. So I get to ask myself: if that drawdown were to come at the start of my trading year, rather than in the middle when I’m already up… could I stomach losing 19% of my starting capital?? I don’t think I could. And that’s fine. I’d rather figure that out now with fake money, than realize it with my own. I’m pretty sure I could weather losing 8% of my capital, but 19% could break me. So now I know, I’m better off sticking to risking 1% per trade. + +I recompare the details at the same RRRs as above from 1:1 all the way up to 2:1 and compare results again. That 2:1 ratio ended up a big loser over the course of 2020: a 6% loss. The 1.6:1 r/R yielded only slightly better results than the 1.4:1 ratio: 4.82% gain on the year vs 4.5%. But the Win Rate drops to 38%. The extra 0.3% doesn’t result in a huge additional gain on the year. But the additional losses I would have to wrestle with in order to get that additional 3 tenths of a percent could take a mental toll on me. Would I be able to stick to my trading plan with only a 38% Win rate? I don’t think so. I definitely want a higher win rate even if it means sacrificing a tiny extra gain. If I can't stick to my trading plan then I'm going to end up with 0 gain or worse, a loss. So more great information for myself. + +Initially, I allowed myself to take trades that fit the rules even if I had a position opened already. So I re-tested the strategy only taking 1 trade at a time. When that trade closed, I could look for a new trade. Would that prevent me from getting into some of the losers or taking two losing trades back to back at least? In this instance, it took that 2:1 RRR from a -6% loss over the year to +4.2%. So it does make a difference – but still not better than 1.4:1 ratio that I was already using. I’m not dead set on this because the sample size decreased from 128 trades over the year to just 90. So it’s possible it could do better or worse over 100 or 200 trades. It remains to be seen. I’ve got to go back into 2019 to see and just haven’t gotten around to it yet. + +When I had zoomed out, I noticed lots of my trades, naturally, came from periods of consolidation. This is normal for MA strategies. So was there a rule I could integrate that would help me to avoid consolidation and rambling sideways markets? I re-tested the strategy checking to see what happens if after a losing trade, I stopped trading until either a new crossover occurred or until the previous high or low was broken. + +I was curious what would happen if I retested the strategy requiring that a 1-2-3 move occurred after a crossover before looking for a trade. My brain hated this idea—it yelled at me that I was going to miss opportunities if I did that. Sometimes my brain is smart—sometimes it is a jerk that runs on fear and FOMO. I’ve learned not to trust my brain in some cases—I should trust the data. This was also great information that I’ve learned about my own psychology that I didn’t anticipate learning from backtesting. But you learn all sorts of great information about how you think when testing a strategy. So I’m currently retesting the strategy waiting for a crossover, then a push up, a pullback, and a break and close above ALL BEFORE I even start looking for a trade. I don’t know yet if this is better or not. I’m not finished. But by going through all of this, I’m gradually yielding better and better results… historically speaking of course. And gaining tons of knowledge in real market examples rather than these little tiny perfect cookie cutter examples that are often shown in books and videos. I’m so over seeing perfect examples of setups. I want to see the weird, janky, ugly, dirty examples of trends, and double tops, and head and shoulders patterns and candlestick formations. Those are the ones that really help me to get clear on my rules and definitions for conditions, entries, stops and targets. + +So my plan, after I find a strategy that in theory has returned a positive gain of 10% or more, is to further backtest over more years amounting to 500-750 trades. If the annual returns hold, then I plan to forward test it for 6 months. If it still yields positive results, I might go live, but truthfully, I’d probably continue to forward test it for the year. We’ll see. After that, I get to test the strategy on other timeframes and on other FXpairs, repeating and refining the process over again. While 10/40 may work for AUDUSD, I’ve found that slower MAs like the 55 and 100 work better for some other pairs. I’m also getting to see what timeframes I like to trade best. I’ve discovered through testing and demotrading that I like the 1H and 4H timeframes best for my schedule. I can’t check the markets frequently with my job, so the mid to higher TFs don’t move so fast that I keep missing opportunities. Less chance for FOMO. But the Daily chart results in me staying in trades for so long, that I discovered I kept closing them early abandoning my rules because I got too impatient or struggled with watching the charts tease up and down repeatedly for a week to a week and a half… or longer. + +I deliberately haven’t told you all the results of all of my testing, because you need to do the work yourself. And when people say on this sub, that they’re not going to hand you their strategy, I don’t think it’s because (entirely) they’re worried about you using their strategy or taking away their edge. When I taught high school Physics, I always gave my students the formulas on the test, because I didn’t want to test them on their ability to memorize—I wanted to test them on their understanding of when and how to use each formula. Just because you have the formula, doesn’t mean you’re gonna know how to use it. Backtesting is how you will learn how to use the formulas. Personally, I think it would do you a disservice to not have you go and test your own strategy yourself, whether it’s this one or another one. All the chart patterns under the sun are not strategies in and of themselves. All the candlestick patterns you’ve read about are not a strategy in and of themselves either, just like all the indicators, and support and resistance lines, and correlatives are not strategies. They are all just clues. Pieces of a very large, convoluted puzzle with an infinite number of solutions. I was resistant to backtesting when I first started learning, because I felt like I needed to know more before it was worth investing the time. But once I tested a strategy for the first time, it was revelatory. I wish I had started earlier. I wish that I had backtested anything and everything that I read. It doesn’t matter if you fully understand it when you start—the process of backtesting will automatically help you gain better understanding. And there’s so much more to learn. I still suck at Fundamental Analysis. I’m still learning how to read Central Bank speeches and Economists’ predictions on Economic releases. I’m still learning how to trade the news. How to take a view. How to determine which currency is best to pair with another currency when I have a view. It’s insane how much there is to learn about. Enjoy the process of finding your own solution. Hope this helped to start pointing anyone who felt like they were fumbling around in the dark in a new, less frustrating direction. Oh and if you haven’t done a deep dive into the Wiki on this sub yet. Then go do that now. It’s fantastic. There’s so much there. Seriously. Don’t wait. Go there now. +Yes you should definitely know about your option fundamentals to get into trading options. However, real life situations will teach you so much more than any guide. I'm the dude who last week bought his first options (MSFT April 29 300 Call options at 3.05). Today I sold them for 0.52 for a pretty loss. + +I learned what an IV crush actually is and the implications of it. + +I learned about the power of theta decay. + +I learned not to chase options (could have sold for 1.5 yesterday but held on for earnings). + +And finally I learned that a stock going up does not necessarily mean the price of the option will also go up. + +That is all, see you at my next loss or gain. +1. You have to help yourself. Nobody Cares. +This is hard to learn but once you do it can help you overcome anything. You are all you have. You have to invest in yourself and fix your crap first. What ever damage has been done to you you have to decide that is not going to define you and willing to do what it takes to get there. + + +2. Education is key - not just books and degrees but on everything. Read and learn everything you can. Even if you think school isn't your thing then educate yourself on other ways to get ahead. + +3. Never turn down an opportunity unless it is dangerous/illegal +When opportunity knocks we have to answer and proceed without fear. + +4. Know your skills and use those the best you can. This ties into #2 learn how to use what you know to get ahead. + +5. Embrace the Suck. Take pride in the fact that you have made it with little that means you know how to sacrifice to get ahead and also you know what real problems are. As you start rising out of poverty you will see those hard times have given you more insight, perspective and toughness. + +6. Don't feel guilty. There should be no guilt in leaving poverty behind. + +7. You can't save everyone. Focus on securing yourself. Help other but focus on those that are fighters. You can't help anyone who doesn't want it. + +8. Never stop. Never accept being poor. No it is a state of being not a way of life. + +9. Keep your nose clean. Try to stay out of the judicial system. This is a huge cause of generational poverty. + +10. Make friends who aren't poor. These will lead to contacts and opportunities. See#3 + + +I hope this helps someone. I was born in the the ghetto. But my folks gave me the gift of education. I was the first one to graduate college. Even when my dad died my first year and i got married and had a kid during college. So i was on food stamps and WIC. But i didn't succumb I finished my degree in it and all though I have had setbacks. Divorce, foreclosure, brother die of aids etc i have never quit. In a couple weeks i start a 250k+ a year job. I live in another country have a loving family around and am living better than I could imagine. No one gave me anything but an opportunity. I hope this can help some do the same. + +Edit: didn't mean this to come off as insensitive. Just the opposite. I know there are factors that keep people down. I am a POC lived in poverty and in the people that made it out I saw the same things. But some of you are very right. If you are disabled or have mental health conditions it almost impossible to succeed in the USA. It's a reason I left. I am one hospitalization from being poor again. Never do i think i am better than anyone else. My grandmother was a maid and nanny for a living and was the absolute best person I have ever met. Will everyone make it out no. But if you are lucky enough to be relatively sane and healthy there is some hope. That's what this was about more than anything hope. +I sent $500 worth of USDT-BEP20 on my smartchain subnet of MetaMask to my Ethereum ERC-20 custodial wallet with Kraken. According to kraken, when a deposit is sent on the Binance Smart Chain to a standard Ethereum address, the private keys would need to be exported and then imported into a Binance Smart Chain wallet in order to recover the funds. + +However, this is not possible with their ERC-20 deposit addresses, as they are generated using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Addresses generated this way don’t have private keys associated to them, therefore they have nothing to export. + +Therefore, my money gone. Therefore, I am a fool. Dammit. + +Update: Thank you to all my fellow foolish kindred apes for responding. I feel much better now after reading of y’all’s failures & shortcomings. While this was a comedy flair, I definitely did fuck up and the loss was very real. But, from the look of it, we’ve all fucked up one way or the other. And from the most selfish dwellings within myself, it helped ease my pain. Tonight we drink. Cheers! +Been stuck at BoA for far too long because of free checking, zillions of ATMs, and then having too many automatic bill pays tied to my account. + +We have our paychecks direct deposited, so have had a "premier" checking account tied to an overdraft account if we ever run short before a paycheck. For about a decade this has been free (except for the interest on the overdraft account). Just noticed that they started charging $10 per overdraft transfer now. I contacted the bank and they said that this is their new policy and that they have changed the name of the program from "premier" to "core". To get these fees waived, you need to have insane minimums like $10k sitting in a no-interest account. My complaints got the fees reversed, but the new fees seem permanent. + +I never saw any notice about this shift, and can't find any news stories, but did see that [Bank of America](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-most-hated-banks-in-america/) is now the most hated bank in America, because of fees. + +Needless to say, we have opened up an account at a local credit union and are starting the complicated slog to transfer everything. + +Just wanted to alert others out there to check those bank statements for odd fees that show up when they shouldn't. A call or online chat can get them reversed, but if they are constant, you should switch banks. And of course, get your finances in better shape so that you don't ever need overdraft protection, but that's another post for another day. + + +Okay boys and girls, this is my first real attempt at some DD. Stick with me. I have some graphs and some screenshots of EB Games (this apes forest is in Australia, but you should all know by now that EB is owned by Gamestop!) website. EB is looking BULLISH AF for future business, which means GME is BULLISH AF for a value play!!! + + +Let me start by saying that I have no idea how long EB Games has been offering CUSTOM GAMING PCs, PC HARDWARE and STREAMING SYSTEMS/HARDWARE. I do know that it hasn’t been a thing for EB Games for too long, there was no sign of it happening in Jan. Maybe it’s been since Feb or March, or maybe it was just this last week. All I know is that I was bored out of my mind today, Sunday the 9th of May. I did a little market research into GME and AMC, and decided to suss out EB Games website. Here are two things that caught my eye. + +&#x200B; + +https://preview.redd.it/iq9mdv9uw2y61.jpg?width=917&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3c854c675d24a59a4fd5c740d7fef8402bce5b3 + +Now I double checked a lot of these pre-built PCs, the ones I looked at were all AVAILABLE FOR HOME DELIVERY! Even streaming gear! I mean, they had a green screen and frame for streaming backgrounds. Gaw damn! + +[I mean, we need memes right???](https://i.redd.it/qwuv2rtix2y61.gif) + + + + +https://preview.redd.it/9uy94wb0x2y61.jpg?width=1451&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b12599cf2fba456f15958f3599c52b1f039fdce9 + +And it looks like they're selling re-furbed iPhones, iPads and Samsung Galaxy phones. + + +So I said to myself, “This is bullish AF!” Isn’t this bullish AF, friends? Now I haven’t been into an actual EB Games store in a while, not since Dec & Jan. I’ll need to go in some time this week and see how the store has changed. I’m pretty sure that with new products online, the physical stores will start to change soon too! Just like some of the GME stores over in the States. But, MOASS aside, the value to be found in a stonk that owns this brand of outlet, $161.11USD is undervalued to me. Especially considering that as found in [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/n7u4nm/gamestop_is_already_crushing_amazon_on_both_new/) post, Gamestop is now competing with and BEATING Amazon. Daddy Cohen is working some magic. I like the stock. + + +Now, some graphs if you will… + + +https://preview.redd.it/tbvj67nbw2y61.jpg?width=1568&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2991eaf65e76c645a250f3bd004a489db2630d72 + +This is graph 1. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but what it DOES show, which is can be hard to see without trend lines, is that overall it’s been trending upward. On it’s own, that isn’t too bullish. What is bullish is that we appear to be in an uptrend of an Elliot wave, that isn’t due to end yet, and we’re at the intersection of the two floor and ceiling lines. OBVIOUSLY I can’t promise anything, but it would seem that it should continue to follow the floor for at least a few trading sessions. I don’t think it will follow that line exactly. That’s too slow and my ape brain isn’t down for that, but also there are too many variables at play to keep it at that rate. Shit could go parabolic in a week, it could trade sideways for a month or it could see a small spike, then come back down to $160. + If I had to make a side bet on what it will do this coming week, a synthetic CDO if you will, I’d say it will at least KISS $200, see a retracement and then either trade sideways somewhere around $180-$200 or jump up again to $220. + + + +![img](fc3yzb2gw2y61 " + For some scale, literally just graph 1 but zoomed in. + ") + + + + +[Graph 3, my final graph for tonight. Ape brain hurts.](https://preview.redd.it/dzdzpguhw2y61.jpg?width=1568&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88fa88c44866dceba3f8f1ad7129e4ce5a611367) + +Whats that orange triangle? Well, you know I’d prefer it if trading view let me draw any shape I wanted, rather than just triangles, circles and rectangles. But that, my friends, is a suspected danger zone where Marge N. may start to dial some hedgie phone numbers. + + +[credit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/n792mf/all_shorts_must_cover_theyre_entering_the_danger/) where credit is due for the basis of this. + + + +The start of the triangle, at $160, is when Melvin got the 2.75Bn cash injection from Kenny boi to avoid a margin deficit. So we know that Gabe nearly had to pay up, and he got a nearly 3Bn dollar life line, there must be some sort of sweet spot for the price point there because GME has been trading in the vicinity of $160 for the last month. + + + +The top point in the triangle is around $350, which is where we saw the massive downward push during the second spike in March. There seems to be something about that price point that hedgies don’t like. + The lowest point in the triangle, I actually wanted to draw like a straight line along $160 until the intersection of the floor and ceiling lines, but Tradingview won’t allow that. Lame. The reason the potential zone for the margin call expands downward as well is because as hedgies keep suppressing the price and bleeding money, they have less capital to work with, putting them at greater risk of not being able to cover. + + +Now I mentioned that we’re in an uptick of an Elliot wave right now. I’m not saying that as soon as it brakes the wedge in up upward direction that it’s gonna moon. Please don’t take that away, because after a 5 wave uptrend, there’s a 5 wave downtrend. Or so the theory says. The idea is this, any up trend can be broken down into 5 waves up, and 5 waves down, but always with higher highs and lower lows. These waves can be broken up into smaller, sub-set wave patterns. Same thing with Downtrends. This isn’t a class on the theory because I’m just an ape. + + +What I believe though is we’re at the end of a downtrend, 5th wave, with the sub set of waves currently being an uptrend. This is why I think we should see $200 again in the week coming. Sorry I don’t have a graph for that, I did draw some waves on my graph but I removed them before I decided to start this DD and tbh I CBF putting them back. + + +[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDSUjSdixA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDSUjSdixA) + +Here is a guy who’s already done the work. His waves looked a bit different to mine, and mine were a bit more retarded. But it looks like we came to similar conclusions. + + +Anyway, stay stonky you magical apes, I’ll see you all on the moon soon enough for some bananas and vidjya games! +https://www.reuters.com/article/tesla-india/tesla-to-start-operations-in-india-next-year-report-idUSL4N2J81FH + +(Reuters) -Tesla Inc will come to India early next year, country's transport minister Nitin Gadkari told national daily the Indian Express on Monday. + +The electric-car maker will start with sales and then might look at assembly and manufacturing based on the response, the minister told here the newspaper. + +Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk on Sunday confirmed India foray in 2021 in a reply on Twitter, but said it would not happen in January. + +Thanks for the awards. +Hello all, this is just a warning to be cautious using robinhood tomorrow. They have had mass connection trouble before and it was on a Friday when people tried to exercise their options. + +I had a feeling last night and the day before robinhood would pull what they did today or server bomb their own app. I wish I had posted this prediction to document how predictable they are. + +This may be Tinfoil hat but I believe if they need to they will crash the app to prevent buying and selling but claim technical errors. + +Be aware, be prepared + +Can’t stop, won’t stop, GameStop 🚀🚀🚀🚀💎🙌🏽💎🙌🏽💎🙌🏽🚀🚀🚀🚀 + +Edit: I’m glad almost everyone is in agreement. I will be holding the current shares I have in robinhood but buying any additional ones over at Fidelity. Personally I wouldn’t use a broker that didn’t restrict any stock today. This is just my opinion. + +Robinhood lost the most important thing today and that was trust. I don’t know if this can ever be regained from them or any of the other companies that restricted. +I know this is not directly related to GME. However John Brda was a former CEO of a NASDAQ listed company. This is what he had to say about his company being shorted for nearly a decade and what happens to report short-sold shares. Start listening in around the 30 minute mark for what he has to say. + +https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1MnGnkeRMQeJO?s=20 + +If I remember correctly. Early on there was discussion about short positions being moved offshore. We also have the Brazilian puts for GME. This ties right into that. We also hear John saying that NASDAQ is completely unable to track these offshore short shares that were moved perhaps we can get some wrinkle brain, real DD writers in here to analyze this. If you need the ticker for his company please feel free to shoot me a PM. There might be stuff there worth looking into? +Well, that's what I get for getting in at ATH, but, I'm glad I'm here. + +Hey folks. 3 years long in BTC. (I forgot I had any. When the price went up over $2,000, discovered some that I hadn't sold years ago in a fit of poverty.) + +Started reading, and discovered ETH. + +I'm out of BTC entirely, now, and into ETH 100%. + +I just don't see how the flippening will not happen. It's a pretty clear trend. + +I guess something new could come along that could stop the trend, but frankly, I think new developments are far more likely to hurt BTC than they are to hurt ETH. + +The biggest thing that got me to switch, though, was the inability for Bitcoin to get anything done because of Jihan and his bunch of miners in China who are preventing anything from changing. +They're doing all sorts of gyrations to work around the guy. + +Frankly, he feels like an organized crime syndicate that has moved into the neighborhood. He wants to keep charging crazy fees for BTC transactions and won't let the BTC community make the changes necessary to increase capacity and keep fees reasonable. + +"Nice little transaction you got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it. For a small fee, we can guarantee your protection." + +It feels like organized crime has taken over the BTC neighborhood. Because of that, I've moved to a new neighborhood. + +In the future, ETH has shown that it has the flexibility and capability to deal with new threats. BTC can't even deal with obvious problems with obvious solutions. + +So, despite BTC's little runup right after I sold, I'm glad to be here. + +I think my story is not unique, either. I think a lot of money is going to flow out of BTC and into ETH. + +Everybody has heard of BTC. Almost nobody I know has ever even heard of ETH. + +When BTC becomes the also-ran, the news will be full of ETH stories which will further drive up interest. + +Anyway, I hope we're all rich in a foreseeable future. I hope the BTC HODLers are rich, too, but I just don't feel good about their prospects after the flip. + +Right now, what BTC has is first mover advantage. They're bigger, better known, etc. But once they're no longer bigger, they'll have nothing going for them at all. They'll be slower, more expensive, and under the control of the equivalent of Chinese organized crime that won't ever let it improve. + +I think BTC is Yahoo! which was an amazing investment until the turn of the century. ETH is the clear Google, here. + +Most importantly, ETH has both the will and capability to improve over time. BTC has neither. + +(And just to add, no, I'm not insane. I don't expect profit in one day. But I'll breathe a lot easier when my stake in ETH exceeds what it would have been if I'd stayed in BTC.) +Hello guys, I wanna announce my small profit. +Coming from a 3rd world country I investesc 15$ when eth hit 2 300$ and then 15 at 3 800$. +Yesterday I cashed out because I just wanna wait till december and buy eth 2.0 with my 40$. The rest 11$ would serve me in my small daily pleasures. +Just curious since it seems like cryptocurrency in general is getting more popular than it was years ago, and game developers have implemented crypto in their games as well. +In 2015: ''Ethereum breaks $1'' + +In 2017: ''Ethereum breaks $100'' + +In 2018: ''Ethereum breaks $1.000'' + +In 2021: ''Ethereum breaks $2.000'' + +In 2021(recently): ''Ethereum breaks $4.000'' + +Just buy ETH and forget about it. Thank me later. +As a single dad who sends almost all of his paycheck to rent and child support, saving has been hard. My sons third installment of braces is coming up soon. Thanks to the little amount of Eth I have and the help here learning about investing in Eth, I will be able to pay most of my part with out having to dip into the little savings I have. +Given the current price of Ether, and the hopeful future increase in price as adoption grows and the technology matures, the reality is we will be transacting in fractions of Ether on a day-to-day basis. + + +What does this mean? I personally believe that people do not like fractions of things, but rather multiples. That's why we say "50 cents" instead of "1/2 a dollar". Multiplying is inherently easier than dividing, and from a psychological perspective, people like owning multiples of things instead of less than one of a thing. + + +If Ether is at $1000, for example, newcomers may not even know that they can buy less than 1 Ether at a time, which would negatively impact their ability to invest or boost their investment own a recurring basis. + + +We have seen this with Bitcoin already, with "Satoshis" and "mBTC". + + +There are already names for fractional either, namely the "Finney". I personally find it....less than ideally named. But maybe I will get used to it if they catch on. + + +1 Finney = 1/1000 Ether. So we may have to get used to buying a coffee for 5 Finneys instead of 0.005 Ether. + + +Other potentials: + +* 1 ether = 1/1000 Ether (capitalized). This is how we refer to Calories when we eat food. A Calorie is actually a kilo-calorie. +* 1 eth = 1/1000 ether. Shorthand name is 1/1000 of the full name. This has potential, but we already shorten Ether to Eth regularly in conversations so it would take some re-learning to achieve +* A brand new name instead of Finney. +* mEth. 1000 milli-Eth = 1 Eth. Added this one as a joke :) + +What are your thoughts? How should we be referring to fractional Ether for day-to-day transactions as the technology catches on? +I've had some financial hardship over the past few years. Today I settled out one of my delinquent credit card debts. The collector said "it looks like this is the last outstanding debt on your report" I said "actually I still owe about 7k to Amex" he said he didn't see it and looked again and found the 7k from Amex and he said that the report said I was deceased. My grandfather with the same name died about two years ago and apparently they updated my credit report with his info. What should I do? +I'm not talking about code or C#, but how the aspects of the program fits together, e.g. a solution, the multiple properties for the project, the 1000 extensions you have to download, the nuget packages, dotnet core packages, paket, building a package, getting errors when you try to run a project... Unfortunately, haven't been able to find a good resource to take you through these aspects and make sense of them, or a good example project that implicates multiple aspects of VS. + +Do you guys have any resources or links to good tutorials/books (free only). +Hopefully there aren't too many bots replying to this post saying how they gained 10000% with their settings and telling me that I'm not earning because im not following their settings, but respectfully im still tempted to buy the EA, just wanna know if people here still use it and if results are consistent. +Basically my goal is to use features such as volatility, money supplies, Economic data, etc. in order to try to predict whether there will be a likely correction in the near future on the S&P 500. I realize there’s a good chance this won’t work, but I think it’s a good exercise nevertheless in working with time series data. + +I’m wondering: how should I begin to approach this in terms of whether it’s regression or classification and the class labels? My initial thought Was to use classification and basically have daily features and then the class label be something like “next day market begins a correction”, but this seems very qualitative in my opinion and non-optimal so I’m wondering how others might approach this problem. Perhaps it would be better to approach from an anomaly detection angle or regression instead? Also, is using daily values too specific? Would something like this perhaps be better to use weekly close (or average) data since daily data might have too much inherent volatility? + +Just wondering how others would approach this time series data set up in this scenario. + +By the way if you might be interested in working together on something like this feel free to shoot a message. +Hey guys, I am interested in studying to become a quant one day. I am not the youngest anymore and have done studies in Design BA. After studies I was cross boarding somehow into an IT department and then morphed into a tech manager working on products in a large shoe company. So my technical knowledge of programing is like more or less self thaught and freestyle. On the creative site I think I am fine. In general I see myself more as an allrounder but not a specialist. And this is also one of my bigger concerns I struggle with. + +Do you think it would be crazy to move out of this safe job to learn quantitatives? Is it a tough field to get a job? +You think my skillsets are rather aligned or rather contradictionary with that plan? + +Thanks for your insights if given! + + +Hi all + +I want to try out some simple trading strategies (buy selected shares when they decrease around x% and sell if increase by y%). + +Now 2 questions: + +1. How can I automate this? I basically want to select around 20-50 shares and a bot/algorithm buys any of those, that decreased by a percentage that I can select. (don't have much programming knowledge) I don't know Python, but as it seems like a simple automation, are there any websites/apps that allow this? If possible in Europe +2. How can I test this? + +Thanks! +Can someone please explain to me how are partial/differential stochastic equations used in finance to get the price of an underlying? + +And once you get a ''price'' then, what to next? buy, sell based on WHAT? + +&#x200B; + +thank you +So 5 stages of grief. + +&#x200B; + +* **Denial** + +"nah it's just a correction" + +"It happens all the time" + +"Nah it's an extended cycle" + +&#x200B; + +* **Anger** + +"fuck off! It's normal in a bull market, it's not always green! Are you new here?!" + +"FUD! Gtfo here" + +\*A mention of bear market gets downvoted to oblivion + +&#x200B; + +* **Bargaining** + +"some green candles would be nice" + +"huge buy wall at ##k guys! It won't dip any lower than this" + +"Resistance holding up!" + +*People waiting for a pump to sell their bags* + +&#x200B; + +* **Depression** + +"I should have sold when it was xx or xx" + +"get out, get some fresh air" + +"uninstalling exchanges yadda yadda" + +"stop looking at charts" + +*Less people are participating in this sub* + +&#x200B; + +* **Acceptance** + +"time to accumulate boys!" + +"Next time I'll definitely sell and not be greedy" + +"Next time I'll have some sell points" + +"Bear market comments no longer gets downvoted much" + +*Moon ratio shoots up* + +&#x200B; + +Are we slowly accepting now that we're in a bear market? The number of people is dwindling down. Silver lining here is moon ratio prediction is a bit higher. +I created an extension for Chrome that calculates the time you have to work for prices that you see on websites (by hovering over them) - [Link to Chrome Web Store](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/timeprices/ghhacoaoggpnihbdoejcmpmiepkjkedh). + +It started as a half-joke education tool for my girlfriend, but she ended up actually using it so I polished it and made it public (it's [open source](https://github.com/guyb7/time-prices)). Thought you guys might be interested! + +It lets you configure your income, and works with most common formats ($4.99, €1.5K). It doesn't have ton of mileage yet, so I'd appreciate your thoughts and please point out any bugs you may find. + +**Edit:** Thank you for the feedback! I'm really glad people find it useful. + +Just wanted to use the opportunity to note that I added the blacklist/whitelist requested feature, and next will add an option to change the base currency to something other than USD. +I'm not sure how Chrome decides when to update each installed extension, so if you installed it already you might need to force update it, or just wait until it updates itself. +Recently my father has been attempting to predict downturns in the stock market by cashing out his retirement funds into cash, before re-entering the market a few weeks later when he believes the market will begin to rise again. + +So far I believe he has done this multiple times, and has been doing a poor job at maintaining good predictions, losing upward of $10k+, when he sold at the start of year dip, and bought in right after it bounced back. + +I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as to how I would convince him that this is a bad strategy. I have tried to have a conversation with him multiple times about it, but he has shrugged me off each time, believing that in the long run he's going to make money. + + +Talk about your plays today or things you are on the lookout for. This is where you belong if your comment includes a ticker. + +*keep it civil please* +So now that I have read about a lot of moonshots predictions, what would be the ones you would avoid getting into and why? +I am not sure if this post would fall under “low quality post” but I find it could be interesting to discuss this. I hope this wasn’t done before, in which case I apologize. I just can’t scroll down indefinitely, hurt the finger hahaha. +A game company whose stock is being manipulated is working day & night to become the ethical and transparent blockchain-backed version of the market makers that are currently destroying the world with their centralized corruption. + +Like shit, this is why simulation theory nerds are obsessed with thinking this is a simulation sponsored by GAMESTOP… it’s almost a nauseating level of irony… + +So please correct me if I’m smooth in the comments, but market makers internalize our orders right? It’s why rocket no moon yet. It’s why the price can go from $400 to $40 in a day. It’s why we are in this shit to begin with. + +If GameStop is working with Loopring (LRC) to create a blockchain stock market where you can buy memberships and even “shares” (NFT’s) of a company that is out of biz or even in a start-up phase (IPO?) then they are creating a market, not just a marketplace. + +They’re working to become crypto market makers then?!! + +Could this grant them market maker privileges like the ones Shitadel takes advantage of for tax and other purposes? (Can’t find the DD but it exists) + +All this time we been seeing Amazon as competition but what if it’s Shitadel themselves? And the goal is the structure itself as an alt-stock market that can be ran fairly by a company with NO DEBT and barely a billy on hand. + +This example would show the SEC that fairness, simplicity, AND transparency isn’t just possible ITS DIRT CHEAP COMPARED TO THE CURRENT MODEL TODAY. + +This game of 5D inter-dimensional chess just hit the eyes of a “connect the dots” thinking mofo… + +We own stock in a future market maker that is still a newborn sucking from the teet of crypto and gaming. This is nourishment but not the life goal of such a fucking Chad of a company. + +This mf is gonna grow up to change the world. + +Sorry if this has been posted several times, I think my autism cycle spins every 6 months on the sheer bullishness of these concepts and facts +This is very embarrassing. I’m 25. I did not have a typical upbringing and have had zero guidance in many adult skills. + +I have been living paycheck to paycheck while struggling to finish college. I finally graduated and am trying to get my life in order. + +My car is a 2012 Toyota Corolla. I inherited it in 2018. It is in my name and I had the tags renewed in 2019. I had insurance at first but was barely able to keep my head above water financially. I ended up falling very ill and nearly dying of sepsis that year and wound up in the hospital for nearly a month. + +I missed out on a ton of work and have been swimming in medical debt ever since. While in the hospital I didn’t pay my insurance and after I left the hospital I couldn’t afford it either due to medical debt. My credit is now a mess although I’ve never had a credit card. + +Even though it was illegal, I kept driving the car. I have never been in an accident or been ticketed. I live in a transportation desert. Without my car I couldn’t work or go to school. + +I have been like this for 3 years just feeling utter anxiety every time I drive and praying I don’t get in an accident or pulled over. I’ve been trying to save money to get insurance again and to renew my tags and pay taxes. I finally got a higher paying job but I only have $1500 saved so far. +Will anyone even insure me after lapsing on my last policy? + + +Then comes the next problem, my car has not been serviced in years. I desperately need an oil change and my heat shield is literally falling off my car and dragging on the ground. I desperately tried to tie it up but it’s too damaged. So now I have to pay to have my car fixed and I’m scared of being taken advantage of and embarrassed to bring in a car with expired tags in horrible condition like this. But if I don’t get it fixed I’ll never pass vehicle inspection. I also don’t know when I’ll be able to get my vehicle inspected because I work all day with no way to take time off. + +On top of it all, my apartment complex told me today they have a policy against cars with expired tags and they will tow me if I don’t fix this in two weeks. If I get towed I can’t get to work and will never dig myself out of this mess. I thought I could sort this out now that I can save a little with my new job but not with this two week timeline. + +Where do I even start? Please help. I feel so lost. I’m in KY btw. + +Edit: all these responses are so kind and helpful. I’m tearing up right now. Thank you. + +Edit 2: i was just able to acquire insurance. I feel so relieved. I’m going to see if I can get my car fixed this weekend. I’m not sure if I can afford it yet. I also need to pay back taxes on the car before I can renew ): I’m worried about not being able to afford that as well but I’m trying to remain positive. +I'm into Crypto for about 6 months now and this is my first ever serious crash. I've never seen such dip before, these double digit red percentages are staggering and hurting my soul. I'm sure it's not only me as most of the people entered crypto in 2021. + +Everyone has its own strategy to handle the situation, for example I'm reading some positive posts here in the sub for my daily dose of Hopium. This is how i try to survive. + +I wanted to ask the more experienced users, the ones that have already survived several crashes back in the days, for advices for the newbies like me. How do you handle such volatile times, how do you keep yourself menially stable, what do you change in your daily routine to handle the losses. + +If there is one single advice you should give to someone like me, what would it be? + +Thank you! +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. + +"Lying Flat" (Tang ping) is a lifestyle choice and social protest movement in China by some young people who reject societal pressures on hard work or even overwork, and instead choose to "lie down flat and get over the beatings" via a low-desire, more indifferent attitude towards life. (Wikipedia) + +Maybe not the indifference but getting over the beatings and rejecting overwork.... sounds familiar. +[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53996191](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53996191) + +"Apple's shares rose 4% on Tuesday, valuing it at $2.3 trillion (£1.7tn), compared to the £1.5tn value of all the companies in the FTSE 100." + +My investments are globally diversified, but I'm not really thinking about that. As a country though, should we feel a bit worried by this? Or is it nothing to be concerned about? +Amongst the millions of degenerates on this page, I know there is a substantial portion of you who are scum bag low life ultra bears who are literally **CHEERING and HOPING for WW3 and hyperinflation**, so that you could make a few thousand dollars on your shitty little IV crushed puts. + +Well guess what? Time for some karma you rainbow bellied bitch. + +I'll never judge a someone for hedging their portfolio, but actively hoping for death, destruction and widespread bankruptcy is another thing entirely. + +It's not very nice to want to see the world burn, so that you can make some money. + +The next few weeks will tell that just like every other time we thought the end was here - the world is not actually going to cave in on itself. + +I will bet you all my money (and I have) that the bottom was Monday. + +Reasons why Monday was peak fear: + +* The world is beginning to relax a bit as we understand that USA and Russia are not going to nuke each other +* Europe will not lose access to it's energy +* Fertilizers will not be sanctioned, and the crisis will not trigger a global famine +* Despite what the headlines say, Russia was not cut off entirely from SWIFT. Only some banks were. +* Both sides want some form of peace +* Just by looking at the inflationary data from 2021, you can see that we are about to hit an inflection point in inflation growth. The rise in inflation will start slowing until the actual YOY growth rate of inflation starts falling below 8%, then 7%, then 5% etc. Price levels will not fall, but the growth rate will. +* Oil is falling, and is taking pressure off inflation. +* The markets WANT interest rate hikes now. That means the rate hike today is GOOD NEWS. +* On Monday, SPY tested the 200 day and 50 day MA death cross. We bounced. +* Jerome Powell is about to whisper sweet soothing nothings into our ears, like he always does. + +So in closing, if you were literally cheering for a global catastrophe in the form of WW3 and hyperinflation so that your stocks would go up: + +# You. Are. A. Terrible. Person. + +If that's you cheering for pain, fuck you and you deserve your losses. + +&#x200B; + +\-- + +*Positions: No options. Only shares. QQQ. VOO. U. PLTR. NEGG. INTC. FB. EGLX.* + +*Edit: Part way through the day I sold VOO and to add KWEB, CQQQ, DOYU & HUYA on the news that China is ending the tech crackdown. I didn't see that news before posting this.* + +\-- + +**EDIT: For all the rude commenters below who think I am bag holding, I've got some news for you. I called this downturn months ago and here is my post to prove it. I also said then that inflation would reverse starting now:** + +[https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/sbshvd/we\_are\_in\_the\_early\_stages\_of\_an\_inflation\_driven/](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/sbshvd/we_are_in_the_early_stages_of_an_inflation_driven/) + +**While I did not anticipate the full escalation of Russia's invasion, I did anticipate the direction the market was heading.** + +**My money has been safely tucked away in gold ETFs, gold miners and recently potash producers this entire time.** + +**On Monday, I just bought the dip with an account that has gone up 25% since December.** +Have you ever wondered how to maximise contributions? How much and how long would I need to contribute to use all previous years caps? What are the tax savings? + +I started salary sacrificing $2,500 a month from this month. I’ll use all of my caps by June 2024. I used [this spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wX_mX6lj6iM4U56Owwlsjo0stMSVOuX_6aaPkwx-nCs/edit) to help me calculate this. Basically I take deductions away from this years cap until it goes negative (this is the orange cell). Then I deduct this from the earliest years caps (the green cell). When the new financial year starts I use the new cap (the blue cell). I then rinse and repeat this until I’ve run out. I slow down the contributions towards the end of FY 2024 to make sure my SG contributions don’t put me over the limit. + +These limits expire after 5 years. So why not use them? I’ll also be withdrawing up to 50K of these added funds under the [first home savers scheme](https://www.savings.com.au/home-loans/first-home-super-saver-scheme). + +I would save up to 5.5K in taxes each year by doing this. Say my income tax before the salary sacrifice is $46,395, after the salary sacrifice I reduce my income tax to $37,145. I pay $3,750 in taxes on the extra contributions into super. This nets me 5.5K better off (46,395 – 37,145 – 3,750). You can copy [this spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10poQV7M3ExQwBu0GK0X8ySKu8h99fXe8kly-Rxlht00/edit) if you’d like to calculate tax savings on extra contributions. + +Originally posted on [this blog post](https://bughuntersam.com/maximising-superannuation-contributions/), but modified for the awesome community here. +My mother recently passed away and as well as her home she had two rental properties. My sister thinks I should take one of the properties as a proportion of my inheritance. The property is valued between 220 and 240k and apparently brings in 400 a week in rental income and is located in country SA. I live in Sydney and have an income of 56k per year and have never owned a property. If I take the property then I would no longer be eligible for any first home owner grants but on the other hand I'm not sure I want to buy in Sydney considering the vast difference between renting and mortgages. I'm not sure what the overheads are with landlord insurance and other costs but it seems like a great yield. I'm not sure I want to be a landlord though, I had been planning on just putting my inheritance into index funds but maybe it's a good idea to diversify my investments. +I have salary sacrificed 23k into my super so far and if I did buy in Sydney I would look for something that would give me stamp duty concessions as a fhb. + +Anyone been in a similar situation or have opinions? +I try to look past the anecdotal evidence or alarmist headlines that are often shared on this forum and I look for sources of information that provide a more accurate reflection of economic health. + +With that said Bendigo Bank has provided a trading update this morning which is suggesting that things aren't as bad for mortgage holders as is often spruiked on this forum. + +"Credit expenses positively contributed with arrears rates remaining at low levels across all portfolios. Greater than 90 days residential arrears for the month of November 2022 of 41 basis points were down 8 basis points as compared to 30 June 2022." + +I've said not long ago that I was in a credit-related APRA meeting a few weeks ago and while I can't provide details of the discussions, the sentiment mirrored Bendigo's trading update. The sentiment is that things are fine for now, but expectations is for things to get worse (noting there is only one way to move from record low arrears and default rates). + +Also interesting to note that BEN'S outlook is for a terminal cash rate of 3.5%-4%. My personal view is that it'll be closer to 3.5% or lower but I'm just an armchair economist so what I think has little meaning. + +Edit: fat-fingered typo +Let's take a short break from trolling and FUDing and look at the facts for a change. + +[Avg. # of BTC Segwit tx](http://segwit.5gbfree.com/countsegwit) +(10-block-average): +47 (increasing) + + block 484379 total: 2255 Segwit: 25 + block 484380 total: 2019 Segwit: 41 + block 484381 total: 1945 Segwit: 46 + block 484382 total: 2236 Segwit: 51 + block 484383 total: 2083 Segwit: 33 + block 484384 total: 2637 Segwit: 63 + block 484385 total: 1700 Segwit: 43 + block 484386 total: 2420 Segwit: 46 + block 484387 total: 1790 Segwit: 62 + block 484388 total: 2570 Segwit: 59 + +[Avg. # BCH tx](http://fork.lol/tx/txs) +(per block, 24-hour-average): +38 (stagnant) + +(good thing that BCH has that 8MB blocksize!) + +Fact: 47 > 38 + +Edit: People are complaining I cherry picked the data. I used the very last 10 blocks at the time of writing. If using the last available information is cherry picking now, I don't even know what to say. You can use [moving average crossovers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_average_crossover) to predict trends. + +**Update:** + +It is now 18 hours after I posted this. The 3-hour-average of SegWit transactions is now also higher than the 3-hour-average of BCH transactions. The 24-hour-averages are closing in very fast. +I have one baby about to start nursery and I'd really like to have another one. + +I work full time mostly WFH. I shifted m work hours to 0645 - 1500 so I can pick my son up earlier. It's a good deal because I used to wake up earlier than that to commute anyway. + +My partner works 0900 - 1700 so they will drop him off in the mornings, and they get Fridays off. + +So the baby will be in nursery 0830 - 1530 (7 hours a day) Mon - Thurs (4 days x 7 hours = 28 hours a week) with occasional help from grandparents, although they all still work shifts and the nursery wants to know what hours we're doing a month in advance so that will probably not work out so well. + +All the nurseries where we are seem to charge £5.40 an hour, so we picked one with a good Ofsted review that we got a warm feeling about. I don't think we could have found a more expensive one if we tried, but to be honest the one we're going for seems more than good enough. + +In total then, that's 28 hours x £5.40 per hour = £151.20 per week. Now lets overegg it a bit and say there's 5 weeks per month, that works out at £756! But take tax free childcare into account and it becomes 756 x 80% = £604.80, which lucky for us is an annoying but surviveable sum of money. + +Now, I gather that between the ages of 3 and 4, a baby gets 30 free hours olf childcare during term time if both parents work, so in our case that would more than cover my first baby's childcare, which would mean that it would basically be free for us, right? + +So let's say we have another baby when the first is about 2, thenn there might only be a few months when we have to pay full price for both, and although that sounds annoying it feels pretty surviveable. + +Have I got my numbers right? Does anyone have a good childcare forecasting tool? I've tried making my own in excel but it's a PITA. + +Thanks in advance. + +&#x200B; + +EDIT - there's quite a lot of responses here, I could reply to them all but it'll take an age so I'll put some info here: + +1. We definitely only pay for hours used, the flip side is we must pay for 48 weeks of the year and they need booked a month in advance - no refunds +2. THe nursery asks us to bring our own nappies and lunches, I have loked at the nursery T&Cs but it doesn't mention fees? +3. THe nursery T&Cs say they do honour free hours and average them over the year +4. I got the cost wrong - it's £5.60 an hour + +Edit x2 + +I did ask the nursery why they were so "competitive" and they were quite vague, but what I can say is it seems to be staffed by primary school teachers who had enough of that and quit, and the nursery is the ground floor of a public school admin building, I reckon they don't pay rent or only a token amount which means rent, mortgages or building maintenance doesn't need factored into the hourly rate to pay wages or make a profit +So I posted this on /alpp, and well, got told to post it on here, so, here we go. + +So, this is a basic "DD" to explain to people about the company, basically, i'll explain each of the subsidiaries and try to keep as up to date as possible, this is all whilst Alpine 4 Holdings, Inc (which i'll simplify to $ALPP going forward) is currently in the process of being uplisted to Nasdaq, as opposed to OTCQB. + +**Before I start, I do hold a position in ALPP, this is all my due diligence following several hours of researching, if you're looking to invest, be aware of the risks in investing in any company, especially one as volatile as a OTCQB stock, all of these are my own opinions and not financial advice, the value of a stock can go up aswell as down and you may lose money, please consult a financial advisor before investing to understanding the risks.** + +So, to start, currently Alpine 4 Holdings is a holding company, which is a company comprised of multiple separate companies, under one umbrella, currently it consists of 8 separate companies (this is including the merger of Deluxe Sheet Metal and Morris Sheet Metal Corp - [source](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alpine-4-holdings-inc-alpp-123000378.html)). + +These companies are as follows, which will include a little about each of the holdings, and what they do, and any numbers I can find. + +\-- + +Firstly, we have **Alita Corp** \- **Altia Corp** is an automotive technology company with products in the Connected Car and Vehicle Safety markets, basically, it's all about the brakes with these guys, they've patented what they call the "Brake Active", which consists of two patents that they hold, to summarize what brake active is, it's as follows; + +Brake Active is a safety enhancement product that causes the 3rd brake light in a vehicle to pulse when the brake pedal is depressed. A NHTSA Study has shown that 90% of all rear-end Collisions could be avoided with just one more second of warning. + +So where does this make money, good question, the way they make money will reside in the licensing of the IP directly to manufacturers, who will deploy Brake Active directly into their product lineups, potentially realizing tens of millions of Brake Active units sold annually, which in itself is accessing a $20 billion market in automotive products, some further information is [here](https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/alpine-4-alpp-receives-second-patent-approval-for-their-brake-active-product-2021-01-26?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts&tesla=y), this is a post from 26/01/2021 in relation to their second granted patent, and it explains the whole company MO very well. + +\-- + +Secondly, we have **SpectrumEbos, Inc.** SpectrumEbos is an Enterprise Business Operating System that combines key software components that maximize efficiency and visibility, leading to increased productivity. Spectrum tethers management reporting and collaborative tool sets so progress is easy to follow. Spectrum is embedded into a robust BlockChain ledger system. + +This is set to launch in 2021, it is anticipated that SPECTRUMebos will be a pivotal solution of the small and mid-cap public sector companies as it pertains to operating their businesses and complying with the scrutiny of public filings. + +Key Components of **SpectrumEbos**: + +* Accounting and Financial Reporting of an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) +* Business Intelligence (Bi) platform +* Customer Resource Management (CRM) hub +* Document Management System (DMS) + +**SpectrumEbos** is basically $ALPPs way of tracking progression of Impossible Aerospace and Vayu as they go through the production process at Quality Circuit Assembly and can provide accounting/auditing services for other subsidiaries, it's all about that integrated business structure, which reduces costs. + +Sources [here](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alpine-4-technologies-spectrumebos-a-blockchain-enabled-enterprise-business-operating-system-set-for-2021-public-launch-301000473.html). + +\-- + +Next we have **Impossible Aerospace**, I feel we could go on about this company for ages, but basically, in a nut shell, 70+ Minute Lifetime, A Performance Drone for First Responders and one of the key things that $ALPP is big on, is it's made in USA. + +A little bit about **Impossible Aerospace** and it's major product, the US-1. + +* Founded in 2016 by former Tesla engineer Spencer Gore, the company unveiled its US-1 aircraft in 2018, unique for its long endurance and US origin. +* The company received financial backing from Bessemer Venture Partners, Eclipse Venture and Airbus Ventures during their start-up phase. IA’s patent-pending battery technology enables unprecedented industry leading flight times of 70+ minutes. +* Impossible Air Support allows you to send flight ready drones to 911 calls and other emergencies to get eyes on scene withing seconds (some press regarding first responses [here](https://impossible.aero/2020/03/impossible-aerospace-unveils-drones-that-respond-to-911-calls/) and [here](https://impossible.aero/2019/04/drone-assist-campbell-swat-team/)) +* You can deploy from rooftops or from mobile command centers that can be positioned in high crime areas or any remote location. + +This is one of $ALPPs major holdings, and what I believe to be one of the biggest growth markets for ALPP going forward as a holding company. + +\-- + +Next, I couldn't talk about **Impossible Aerospace** without including **Vayu Inc.** + +To quote the company themselves; + +>Vayu’s mission is to solve the hardest and most critical logistics challenges, anywhere in the world. We aim to set the standard and lead the market in safe, reliable, and affordable VTOL aircraft. + +Basically, the major drones that Vayu has, are the X5, G1 and G2 aircraft, and these aircraft are chunky, and I mean genuinely chunky aircraft, some facts are as follows: + +* 44lb payload capacity drone. +* TESLA FOUNDER’S Martin Eberhard and Marc Terpenning are heavy investors. +* Partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates foundation aswell as Verizon ([here](https://www.vayu.us/), at the very bottom it's listed as partners). + +This company is why I invested in ALPP, it's got a pay range of 5lb - 45lb and a life of 10 hours (attempt of breaking the world record [here](https://www.accesswire.com/628045/Alpine-4-ALPP-Drone-Subsidiary-Vayu-Looks-to-Set-a-World-Record-With-Their-Autonomous-Delivery-G1-Aircraft)), which is one of the market leaders, and allows for such a broad range of applications, from disaster efforts, to logistical applications. + +\-- + +So next we have **Quality Circuit Assembly Inc**, founded in 1988, this one, expect a lot of boasting about numbers here, they're bringing in good contracts here. + +QCA provides electronic contract manufacturing solutions for customers via strategic business partnerships. From initial prototype to turnkey production, QCA offers clients a wide range of services, affording them cost savings through the benefits of vertical integration. + +Some of the services they offer are as follows: + +* **PCB assembly** +* **Turnkey and consigned assembly** +* **Full production runs** +* **Cable and harness assembly** +* **Box builds** +* **Product testing** +* **Conformal coating** + +They're highly accredited, a list of certifications they hold are [here](https://www.qcamfg.com/certifications/) + +Now I said I had some numbers to throw about, and I do, Quality Circuit Assembly (QCA) has received an additional $1 million in new orders for Q1 & Q2 on top of the $1.5 million in new orders received in December 2020 and early January 2021. ([here](https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/940831/alpine-4-holdings-says-quality-circuit-assembly-subsidiary-has-received-an-additional-1million-in-new-orders-for-q1--q2-940831.html)) + +It's expected that QCA projects to report $2.8 million to $3 million which is a 35% increase over Q1 and Q2. QCA’s leadership team attributes the increase in revenue to the addition of new technology customers who have been able to help counteract the effect the pandemic has had on some of QCA’s longtime customer base. (yoinked straight from the website [here](https://www.alpine4.com/alpine-4s-alpp-subsidiary-quality-circuit-assembly-inc-qca-expects-to-report-strong-q3-demand-from-its-technology-customers/)) + +QCA also completed $1.2M in projects for these Fortune 500 EV customers in Q4 2020. + +\-- + +Here we have a 2 for 1, following the most recent merger of **Deluxe Sheet Metal** and **Morris Sheet Metal**, i'll give you a basic lowdown of both of them together, to avoid overcluttering.. + +Morris Sheet Metal (MSM) is a full-service HVAC Contractor offering design, fabrication and installation services. + +Since 1971, Indiana based Deluxe Sheet Metal (DSM), has specialized in all aspects of Commercial and Industrial Sheet Metal installations. + +Basically, before I give a few numbers I found in regards to contracts, this should explain the merger between the two companies. + +>Announces the combination of subsidiaries Deluxe Sheet Metal, Inc. (Deluxe) and Morris Sheet Metal Corporation (Morris) to become one of the largest sheet metal contractors in the Midwest region of the United States. Both companies will be under the Morris Sheet Metal brand. Deluxe and Morris are expected to be fully integrated by May 2021. +This merger will allow us to leverage complementary strengths between the two companies. Deluxe Sheet Metal can trace its roots back to the 1950's and is known in the industry as the go-to contractor for high-tech thermal management. Its customers range from the University of Notre Dame to GE and many other top-tier companies in the Midwest. The company recently built one of the largest crypto currency mining facilities in the Midwest, requiring precise thermal management. Morris Sheet Metal is the preferred contractor for one of the largest hospital networks in Indiana. During 2020 and the COVID 19 epidemic, Morris was responsible for building hundreds of isolation rooms. The combined company anticipates the benefits of that merger to drop the General & Administrative expenses by almost 7% in the first 12 months after the transaction. We also expect our gross profit margin to increase as our Material Cost of Goods will decrease by 5% due to increased purchasing power. The combined companies should reach revenues in excess of $50M, without major capital investments, within the next 36 months." ([here](https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/940831/alpine-4-holdings-says-quality-circuit-assembly-subsidiary-has-received-an-additional-1million-in-new-orders-for-q1--q2-940831.html)) + +Basically, it means that revenues should be in excess of $50 million within 36 months, from one singular subsidiary, and allows them to better work together, to achieve a better symbiotic relationship between the two companies. + +Current contracts also include a $2.9 Million contract for Morris Sheet Metals ([here](https://www.alpine4.com/alpine-4-holdings-alpp-subsidiary-morris-sheet-metal-awarded-2-9m-in-new-building-projects-with-their-food-processing-and-healthcare-clientele/)). + +\-- + +The next one will be a briefer one, **JTD Spiral, inc** is the sister company of Morris Sheet Metal, to specialize in producing spiral ducts, oval ducts, and dual wall ducts. Around ten years ago, as Morris Sheet Metal was rapidly expanding, so was their usage of the spiral duct. An opportunity was recognized to be more cost-effective. + +\-- + +Finally, the last holding (as of 15/03/2021) is **Excel Fabrication LTD,** some advantages of using this company is they have a 12' Accrupress hydraulic press brake, a 10' hydraulic shear, a 5' plate roll, a 60 ton hydraulic iron worker, several smaller support tools and equipment, along with several welding machines in various sizes for the different applications and processes. We have a 20,000 sqf fabrication facility, and additional 3,000 sqf storage facility dock accessible, with a large lay down area outside which is fenced off and accessible by trucks for storage and safe keeping of materials and finished products. + +However, one key note to take in regards to Excel is partnered with Varco Pruden Buildings (VP Steel) as a supplier of steel structures for commercial buildings. Excel holds general contracting licenses in several states and continues to expand its footprint. This partnership allows Excel to offer competitive pricing being both the supplier and contractor. VP Steel applications are used  in industries such as agriculture, automotive, churches, distribution, government, manufacturing, retrofit and retail spaces with certified energy efficiency and numerous certifications such as UL and US army corps of engineers. + +\-- + +To conclude, Alpine 4 Holdings, Inc, is a company that is focused on growth and creating good quality US made products, it has contracts with Fortune 500 Companies, and has just paid down $12.5 million of debt. + +Do I think this could be a good company, honestly, yes, i'm not going to go hyping it up, because i'm sure it has it's flaws, but for what it's claiming to be, for what markets it's planning to go into, I think it's genuinely going to leave a footprint in that, it's going into a market (drones) that is expected to be a very lucrative market, especially in the logistical sector and their need to improve efficiently. + +Sure, it sucks that Nasdaq is taking it's sweet time, but, honestly, this company has incredible growth potential, and it's stated it's planning to expand into the defense sector, and it's just got $50M in funding, so honestly, i'm optimistic. + +Apologies if it's a bit rough and not as fully fleshed out as i'd like it to be, it's currently 1.30am and I have been staring at this screen for way to long. + +Remember, investing isn't a guaranteed return on your money, think rationally, and don't invest on emotions. + +Feel free to include any further DD. :) +I had a bad day, just a small argument with my folks, my first thought was that I’m going to buy a Nintendo switch. I don’t like gaming. I never play games. + +I want to get a grasp on this. What steps can I take? + +Edited to add: + +So my debts are as follows + +Interest rates/how much is due each month + +1st loan - £1768.48 - settled by January 2021 - 39.3% - £252.64 (I pay the minimum) + +2nd loan - £1683.15 - same as above - 81.45% - £240.45 (I pay the minimum) + +1st credit card - £1200 - 30.65% - £50-£55 (I pay the minimum) + +2nd credit card - £480 - 30.34% - £25 -£27 (I pay the minimum) + +3rd credit card - £110 - 30.34% - £10 - £11 (I pay the minimum) + +1st store card - £700 - 29.9% - £25 - £30 (I pay the minimum) + +2nd store card - £150 - no interest if it’s paid by June + +Money owed to family and friends - £4200 + +My take home salary is £1300 a month and my outgoings minus debts are £314. + +2nd Edit: + +From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all your comments. + +I sat down and made a realistic budget. I also told my parents about the debt. They only knew about the money I owed them, they were disappointed I hadn’t told them but they want to help me. They’re also going to take control of my finances until it’s all been paid off. + +Oh and no, the interest for the loan that’s 81% wasn’t a mistake. 😔 + +3rd Edit: + + +An update. + +I’ve been granted a 3 month payment holiday for both my loans and two of my credit cards. + +My plan is as follows: + +Pay off my £1200 credit card in full and close it this month. + +Pay off my lowest credit card, £480 credit card, £700 store card and lowest store card next month. + +This will leave me with just my two loans and family debt to pay off. + +Thoughts? +Firstly I know I am in a very fortunate position and this is a nice problem to have but would appreciate the UK/pf thoughts on things. + +In short I am 30, in a job that pays me all in 300k (with scope for that to move up to 500k in 2-3yrs) but makes me miserable, mainly through the stress and toxic work environment (it is pretty dog-eat-dog). I have had a pretty rapid income rise (only had savings for last 4yrs) so despite the super high headline amount my savings after paying off my student loan are ~300k. I probably only ‘need’ 2.5k per/month (~40k pre tax p.a.) to live my current life so am able to save most of my income currently. + + +I would like to quit after my next bonus which would get me to 400k+ in savings (+100k in pension) but the issue with quitting is that I am unlikely to earn this amount again and this industry (hedgefund front office) is very difficult to get into/return to. Currently I am able to save post tax income less my 30k expenses which is >100k p.a. + + +So the dilemma is suck it up and be miserable for a period of time (easy to say hard to do, like losing weight) save up to be financially free (whatever that means) or cut it off and go and do something more meaningful (teacher, start own biz) and have more time, be happier and feel like I have a purpose but probably earn 10% of what I do now. + + +Just looking for different viewpoints and any worldly advice from you lot because it’s not something I can really canvass opinion on in normal social settings. Cheers. + +EDIT: Thanks for all the responses, just to cover off a few of the questions below. This was a career that I always wanted to do, I was super passionate and loved the job, I have kind of got to the place I wanted to get to and its not how I envisioned, which has caused me to question my next steps. It is quite a confusing time tbh. + +I can see both sides of life is too short and you are in a great spot ride it out so you are truly free. It is a bit of a daily struggle for me at the moment. If I were not in my situation and giving advice I would 100% say stick it out but wishing my life away to get to that point of freedom is not a great spot to be in either. + +Whilst I am aware of FIRE it feels a bit like escapism to me. I only say that because it was never on my radar until I started enjoying work less, I feel like the solution is somewhere inbetween work/FIRE. In terms of moving jobs, fair point, could be an option but there would likely be material bonus leakage/loss of bonus momentum. Sabbatical not really an option here, max is two weeks off, which you are expected to be contactable at all points. + +Thanks again, really thoughtful advice below, appreciate you all taking the time. +I know this is going to sound bad, because this is a “what about me” moment I’m having rn. The cheapest housing is $1.4K right now, so it’s get fucked or get fucked harder. But wait there’s hope! Affordable Housing in my city! It’s been remodeled everything is nice and new and $800 mo. + + +But you can’t have it! + + +Because you work at Amazon for $16 an hr and have double the minimum wage. So you have to pay $1.4K MINIMUM for housing, my boyfriend was trying to talk me into quitting my job at Amazon to go to a Wendy’s so we would qualify for the housing, but I can’t imagine loosing my benefits just because of the rent right now. But it’s getting to the point I may as well, because what’s the point if I’m homeless? +Throw away account for obvious reasons. Happy to report that my net worth has touched half a million USD following /r/FI and /r/PF strategies! Longish post. So, buckle your seats! + +Edit: Gratefully appreciate any advice, feedback, guidance that might help me in the future. + +**Personal Background** + +US-based, single, 40-year-old. Software professional since I was 20. The first 3 years of my career were in a different country, and the first 8.5 years of my career was in a company based in my home country. So pay levels were *significantly* lower than if I worked for an American company since the beginning. My starting pay was less than $70 per month for the first 3 months of my career, increasing to $150 at the end of the first year! Things got better when I changed to an American company around 8.5 years into my career. Nevertheless, I have been earning only about average pay for a software professional in a mid-level cost of living area of the US. I don’t make and never made the high pay that some of the tech workers report here. For the first 16 years of my career, I sent substantial part of my pay to my family to help support them, pay for siblings’ college and weddings, buy some real estate in my home country. The real estate in my home country is NOT included in the half mil net worth that is the focus of this post. I have always lived a frugal lifestyle simply because that is my character. My net worth today would have been a LOT more if I worked for an American company all my life and if I kept all my savings to myself. I lead what can be termed as a Costco lifestyle – most things I eat, drink, wear, use are at Costco price levels, many of them bought in Costco. Most of my meals are home cooked. I travel internationally once every 18-20 months, and several domestic trips every year. I do some modest charitable giving. + +**FIRE Journey** + +Although I have been frugal all my life, I say my FIRE journey started in mid-2013, when I adopted specific savings and investment strategies to take me to my FIRE goal. My net worth in June 2013 was $168,299.29, which had been sitting in 401 K, checking & savings accounts for god knows how many years! I had absolutely no knowledge of personal finance beyond living frugally and keeping money in the bank. I stumbled across MMM blog quite accidentally. Don’t recall how. I was looking for a cheap deal on the a tablet. Googling for deals led me to a site which curates deals, credit card rewards, etc. Digging around in credit card rewards sites somehow brought me to the MMM blog and /r/personalfinance. The rest is history. I can’t imagine where I would be now if I had not been so keen to find a cheap deal on the tab instead of paying full price. Another point of interest – my FIRE journey has mostly been about a change in money management practices, rather than a lifestyle change. Ever since I started my FIRE journey, I ensure that I get some reward points or cashback for most of my expenses. + +**Net Worth Growth** + +My 2016 gross pay (social security wages, box 3 of W2) was $114 K. Other than 401 K and the standard deduction, I don’t have any other tax saving options. I am still surprised I reached 0.5 M USD in just over 4 years, starting from $168,299.29 in mid-2013. If only I knew about the FIRE strategies 10 years ago, I would already be FIRE by now, with above 1 M USD net worth. Here’s how my net worth grew year on year since mid-2013. + +**Month / Year**|**Net Worth**| +:--|:--| +Jun 2013|$168,299| +Dec 2013|$205,979| +Dec 2014|$268,082| +Dec 2015|$330,110| +Dec 2016|$415,575| +Aug 2017|$500,171| + +**401 K Growth** + +I started maxing out my 401 K only from 2013, although I had been contributing since 2007. See below how much money I personally put into my 401 K each year. My company match (75% of the first 6% of my pay) and the market returns have doubled my $109 K personal contributions to $220,273.07. This doesn’t even take into account the taxes saved. IMO, the 401 K with company match is one of the most fantastic financial instruments out there! + +**Year**|**Contributions**| +:--|:--| +2007|$2,2238.05| +2008|$4,900.46| +2009|$5,117.28| +2010|$5,277.28| +2011|$5,442.08| +2012|$5,859.42| +2013|$17,500| +2014|$17,500| +2015|$18,000| +2016|$18,000| +Aug 2017|$11,698.59| +**Total**|**$109,295.11**| + +**Asset Allocation** + +Here’s how my assets are distributed. As you can see, I am heavy on equities, especially US equities. A 1% reduction in market value means my portfolio is $5 K poorer. It’s a little wracking to see the value go down by several thousand bucks in a span of few days or few hours due to market fluctuations! Guess this is something that I should get used to now… + +**Asset**|**Amount**| +:--|:--| +Cash|$50,709.53| + +**Roth IRA**|**Amount**| +:--|:--| +VTIAX|$11,711.40| +VTSAX|$23,154.36| +Cash|$362.10| +**Total**|**$35,227.86**| + +**401 K**|**Amount**| +:--|:--| +Non-US Stock Index|$49,961.04| +US Large Cap Stock Index|$70,031.30| +US Small/Mid Cap Stock Index|$54,834.19| +Company Stock Fund|$45,446.52| +**Total**|**$220,273.05**|