Datasets:

winddude

/

reddit_finance_43_250k

like 33

wj0qln

Advice needed on depositing wedding money gift to a bank

Hi, we got married recently and we have been lucky enough to have obtained about 8k of cash from our wedding guests. Some of that money has come from friends and family abroad. We'd like to deposit the money to the bank ASAP but as this is a rather large sum we are afraid that this could raise some suspicions at the bank (money laundering etc). We have a few questions on this: 1. What would be the best way to deposit this cash? Can we just do it all in one go or would it be better to break it down into smaller sums and do several smaller deposits (say 1k at a time) over a few days/weeks? Can my wife and I split the money between us and deposit it to our separate bank accounts to make this quicker? 2. If we get asked by the bank/authorities where the money came from would telling them that it was a wedding gift and perhaps presenting them with marriage certificate would get us out of trouble? 3. With this money coming from multiple guests would we need to pay any tax on it (gift tax)? Any help on this would be highly appreciated! Thanks

UKPersonalFinance

I worked in a bank and I can tell you that there are a few steps to take in all honesty, most people assume that cash is fine but that amount of cash could cause a few additional checks that will take longer if you arrive randomly and want to pay it in. That would go for however you paid it in, if its unusual activity then its unusual but you will get less hassle if you tell them where the money has come from (Wedding gifts are fine). Firstly, if you can make them aware that you will be visiting to pay in either contacting your preferred branch if you can or telephone banking if you can't get there. Reason for this is that banks now sometimes don't have cashier services all day, some don't at all and you might have to use the paying in machines but they can be temperamental in recognising notes that are a bit folded. If you turn up on spec they will do AML questioning in branch which can be time consuming and embarrassing but in all honesty however you do the pay ins it will trigger unusual activity if its out of sync with your usual banking. Secondly you will have to be prepared for every note to be checked from a forgery perspective, in the bank it won't take long to do this but you might think that they are counting the notes in a weird fashion as it will be likely that they have a UV lamp. Thirdly and this is more from a cashier point of view again, if you notes of varying sizes (£50, £20, £10, £5) then place the same note type together and flat not folded. If there is enough to form a full bundle of notes then collate in these amounts, try not to do the thing that most people do which is bundle them in say £100 with x4 £20 flat and one folded over them. Note bundles are: £2500 in £50s £1000 in £20s £1000 in £10s £500 in £5 Its fine to have incomplete bundles, just an elastic band around them with a figure on the top note will be fine. You might have to complete paying in slips because essentially you are telling the bank how much you are paying in and it is their job to check that. Sometimes the slip details how many of each note you are paying in. Anyway apologies for the lengthy reply, but I've read a few bits of advice where telling you to turn up and it will be fine isn't quite true - as a really broad rule of thumb anything over £2k or anything out of line with typical account use will trigger aml checks, sometimes you will also be faced with arsiness if you haven't got things as they want them to be or for example you rock up and the cashier has just left for the day. I know one story shared in the regular training for this was a young kid who started paying in £50 a week which was unusual and triggered and investigation which linked it to drug dealing.

qqqby2

Anyone remember "egg"? longshot but trying to find a dormant ISA opened with "egg" in 2002

Hi! As per the title I'm trying to track down an ISA stocks & shares (funds) opened in 2002. I tried Yorkshire Bank but got "computer says no" type of answer. Anyone with an ISA from egg can remember what bank took it over, and maybe subsequent transfers? The funds in the ISA are with HSBC, ISIS, DWS & M&G - is there any way to get the money out via them?

UKPersonalFinance

Which suggest >https://www.which.co.uk/money/savings-and-isas/savings-accounts/how-to-find-lost-bank-and-savings-accounts-a4jqc3j05fpb TL;DR >The easiest way to re-trace lost or dormant bank and savings accounts is to use the mylostaccount.org.uk service, run by the British Bankers' Association, Building Societies Association and National Savings and Investments (NS&I).

x2h5vn

Squeeze is 100% happening. Let me explain.

Let’s look at the facts: First off: Today’s announcement. It’s a wide misconception in this sub that the announcement was negative in any way, shape or form. The company plans to cut the worst performing 150 stores, which is less than 10% of all. They’re also going to sack two least useful C-Level executives, and they’ve secured a loan of more than $1B. All these things (and the additional share offering which I’m about to talk about) will make the company boatloads of money, effectively taking even the slightest possibility of a bankruptcy in the foreseeable future, OFF the table. Now, the filing. It’s capped at 12 million shares, which is the absolute maximum that they have a probability of offering, so absolute worst case scenario is the stock value drops by 15%. Given that the estimated real valuation should be around 70-80$, that still puts the current price at a criminally underrated position. Also, don’t forget that history repeats itself. GME and AMC both made the same filing before they mooned too! So far I’ve given one reason for a squeeze, (the shorts’ entire bet/argument was that BBBY was going bankrupt, and that’s entirely called off so there’s absolutely no reason not to exit their positions) as well as a reason that it’s one of the most undervalued stocks out there (see above). Is that all? Nope. What everyone seems to have forgotten about is RegSHO, which a price drop doesn’t deactivate. Naked hedgies are still required by law to buy all their FTD’s by friday, and market makers are by Sept. 20th. Look at this from their POV: they have no money left, no power, and are about to be fucked by the SEC. This LITERALLY can’t go tits up for us. I’m therefore making a BAN BET that BBBY will reach $50 at the very least over the next six months. Positions: 911 shares at $10.11, 49 shares at $14,13 and 30 shares at $10.68 [Proof](https://imgur.com/a/xtUoCNz) [Proof](https://imgur.com/a/oCIqXsd) [Proof](https://imgur.com/a/SrL5gHH) Not Financial Advice Edit: Everyone is asking about the $80 valuation. Outdated but [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/whvnwk/why_i_believe_bbby_will_go_north_of_80/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) guy explains it better than me Edit 2: Since u/needyouonthatwall (nice AFGM reference btw) asked for a watermelon bet, I’ll fuck a watermelon with the face of Léa Seydoux when it hits 69$. LFG 🍉🚀🤑 Edit 3: u/brokendigitalclock just informed me of something very, VERY interesting: fucking Robinhood just erased the buy button again. My region doesn’t have RH so if people who have it who know what’s going on can provide some info that would be great. Edit 4: I guess it’s working now? Idk what happened but sus for sure

wallstreetbets

Fundies aside, $18c were $0.02 at the low. They fear the Gamma ramps. Well REGSho and ISDA phase 6 kicks in, short interest still -publicly- reported as over 40%. No new share release deadline sounds like the board begging for us to grab those nuts and squeeze, while making full unbroken eye contact. Edit: Quick glance at Yahoo shows $21.50c for $0.01, I'm going back to my corner to drool while thinking of pretty rabbits.

ie35qw

Apple ($AAPL) surge (up 70% YTD)

Beside the stock split, which fundamentally adds no value to the company yet it added half a trillion $ to its valuation. What is driving this insane rally? AMZN \~+73% (YTD) AAPL \~+70% (YTD) MSFT \~+30% (YTD) theoretically MSFT, AMZN and all the software service companies would be the most beneficiary in the last 6 month because of the COVID. However, AAPL actually doubled in valuation. Their revenue hasn't grown to justify this price levels, so what gives? AAPL isn't a meme stock like TSLA, so i am genuinely surprised. Is Apple overvalued or AMZN and MSFT undervalued?

investing

Increase in price is driven by P/E expansion. Apple is catching up to MSFT and still far away from Amazon's P/E ratio. When treasuries pay less than 1%, P/E expansion is inevitable. Their credit is basically as good as the U.S. government's and their dividend is higher!

lktgg1

SPCE DD - Test Flight Delay

Hello all! Test flight has been delay...so what? This is a long play. You can turn around and make good money off the space tourism but truthfully, this play is meant for the hypersonic point-to-point travel that will be coming to fruition sometime near 2025 pioneered by Virgin Galactic with the help of NASA, Rolls Royce, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Let's talk most recent timeline: **December 12 2020**: [The test flight didn't go as planned](https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-update-on-test-flight-program/#:~:text=Virgin%20Galactic%20announced%20an%20update,America%2C%20New%20Mexico%20as%20planned), a software issue prevented the rocket from igniting. What can we take away from this? Truthfully, this became a more bullish signal and the charts reflect that. A large concern with this company was "what if it blows up?". This "failed" test flight proved that the fail safes in place are functioning and convinced long term holders to enter. One has to wonder if this flight purposely didn't succeed to change the fear and narrative regarding a fatal launch. Following this incident, there was a rather large decline in the price followed by a massive uptick where the price now floats between $50-60. **February 13 2021:** [The test flight was delayed](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/12/virgin-galactic-spce-shares-drop-as-company-delays-upcoming-spaceflight-test.html), and we saw an 8-9% drop on Friday due to that news. The news hit Friday morning and the market is closed today. It's hard to say if the price will continue falling this week or how the market will react to this. I follow the 3 days rule allowing news to circulate before assuming anything is complete. **February 2021:** I have heard rumors from other posts that a spokeswoman announced the test flight is still predicted to happen within the month of February. If someone could confirm or deny this that would be fantastic. **Q1 2021:** The [Q3 Earnings Presentation](https://s24.q4cdn.com/816362521/files/doc_financials/Quarterly/2020/q3/Virgin-Galactic-Q3-2020-Earnings-Presentation.pdf) outlines the plans that remain the same but are now pushed back. We are waiting on three flights before this gets really insane: 1. This upcoming test flight will be the first spaceflight from Spaceport America, NM. It will be a revenue generating flight carrying NASA payloads, there will be no passengers (just the two pilots), and it will complete the data needed for FAA V&V elements. 2. The second test flight from Spaceport America will have two pilots and four employees in the cabin. 3. The third test flight will be carrying Sir Richard Branson himself to space marking the start of commercial operations and PR. (I think it's likely this flight doesn't take place until Q2) Once Branson goes up (presumably sometime in Q2 even though they are still claiming Q1) and commercial operations begin the 600+ individuals who have already purchased tickets will begin their flights. [Here is a list of some noteworthy celebrities who will be flying shortly after Branson.](https://www.thetravel.com/ashton-kutcher-and-19-other-celebs-going-to-space-before-you-are/) The amount of PR that will come from this is astounding. Imagine if Rhianna or Bieber record a music video up there? Or if Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis share a kiss or renew their vows in space? Even without these major kind of events, the PR from celebrities posting videos of them going up period is mind-boggling. **Surviving to 2025:** This is all well and good, Space Tourism is a huge market waiting to be tapped that both Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Elon Musk (SpaceX) are attempting to break into. Blue Origin is a director competitor in the space tourism sector as they will be providing a similar experience to sub-orbit. SpaceX is an indirect competitor because as it stands their space tourism will be orbital space, we are talking like a week long multi-million dollar vacation. Currently, SPCE has one Space Plane and their second one is almost complete. They are predicting $1BN/spaceport/year. There are other revenue streams such as running NASA payloads, scientists, data collection, and astronaut training as well. Given that Virgin Galactic has this revenue plus $742 million as of September 30, 2020; I feel it is safe to say they will not have trouble surviving until 2025, in fact, it appears they will be quite profitable until that date. **Beyond 2025:** [Ark claims hypersonic point-to-point travel could evolve into a $270BN market](https://ark-invest.com/articles/analyst-research/hypersonic-flight-market/). Virgin Galactic is certainly leading the charge in this industry with Boeing, Rolls Royce, and NASA helping this come to fruition. Let's play with this number for a little: Virgin Galactic Shares Outstanding: 234.34M Market cap of Hypersonic Travel: $270BN Let's make 3 assumptions, SPCE is the first and has 100% of the market, SPCE and SpaceX arrive at the same time and share 50/50 of the market, a lot happens over the next several years and SPCE has 20% of this market. 1. SPCE has 100% of the market: $1152.17/share 2. SPCE has 50% of the market: $576.09/share 3. SPCE has 20% of the market: $230.42/share What's fascinating is even in the worst case scenario in this discussion we are looking at a 320.47% increase in price on hypersonic travel alone. That is very important to note. None of this includes the revenue generated elsewhere including the starting stream of space tourism. Let's look at Space Tourism, [the predicted market cap is $3BN](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/26/space-tourism-how-spacex-virgin-galactic-blue-origin-axiom-compete.html), which truthfully I find terribly undervalued. If we account for hypersonic travel, space tourism, NASA payloads, gov't contracts, etc then my PT by 2025 is a $500 minimum. **Beyond 2030:** **Sci-Fi isn't really Sci-Fi anymore...it's just Sci:** The possibilities of this company are about as boundless as space itself. Let's talk about some other future revenue streams that will be possible. 1. Cargo transportation. If you thought 2-day delivery was imagine if cargo can be delivered anywhere on the planet in 90 minutes or less. Specifically time-sensitive cargo; something like a heart for a transplant or a vaccination that needs to arrive asap. We are long past the days of delivery via dog sled. Weather won't be a concern as these flights will take place ABOVE the weather. 2. Military use - I mean the only difference between Virgin Galactic's space plane and something out of Star Wars is weaponry. I don't see why they wouldn't mount weapons and sell these space crafts to the Space Force. Think SpaceX is the main carrier and this space planes can launch from there. 3. Interplanetary travel - Self landing rockets are all the hype, but what if a large carrier could orbit around a planet and send planes down for recon? They wouldn't need to use any fuel or anything to land so all their fuel could be used to relaunch back into space where they are grabbed by an arm on the carrier and pulled back in for refueling. The only thing that would be required is a place to land. 4. Hypersonic travel - I already mentioned this but I need to emphasize how incredibly important this actually is. The airplane was invented in 1903 and for the past 118 years it has remained the fastest and most effective way for humans to travel. This industry is due for a revolution and I think this is it. I imagine when hypersonic first starts it will be akin to private jets regarding cost and public availability. But as the industry expands I think this will become the common way for humans to travel. Instead of airplanes and airports, it will be space planes and space ports. 5. The list goes on and on and I don't want to speculate too far into the future of all the possibilities. **One thing is certain, the Space Age is upon us:** While there are many companies emerging in this market it is a HUGE market with near limitless potential. Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are leading the charge in these sectors. Companies like Momentus will be important to the industry as well, but the pioneers of this age are clear. **Let's Talk Technology:** [VMS Eve](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMS_Eve) is the name of the [WhiteKnightTwo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_White_Knight_Two) mothership which is a custom aircraft. It looks like two airplanes attached together. [SpaceShipTwo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipTwo) is the space plane that attaches to the mothership. VMS Eve takes off like a normal airplane and ascends to 50,000 feet before releasing SpaceShipTwo. The boosters on SpaceShipTwo ignite and the space plane ascends 51.4 miles above the earths surface breaking into space (sub-orbit) where it conducts a slow backflip which creates microgravity (something NASA desperately wants to study). This is where the passengers become weightless in the cabin for 6 minutes. [The cabin](https://blog.dupontregistry.com/the-lifestyle/virgin-galactic-spaceships-cabin-interior-revealed/) has more windows than any other space craft and contains 16 cameras which will record the entire event. Once the backflip is complete the space plane re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and glides to land like a normal airplane. [Here is the first flight to space that demonstrates the technology.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8T9mVkGh3s) Regarding hypersonic point-to-point travel; last year Virgin Galactic and Rolls Royce [unveiled the Mach 3 design](https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-unveils-mach-3-aircraft-design-for-high-speed-travel-and-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-rolls-royce/) which is expected to be completed by 2025. The altitude will be 60,000 feet and have a capacity for 9-19 people. At first, I think this will dominate the private jet industry. [On a large private jet:](https://www.afar.com/magazine/how-much-does-a-private-jet-cost) $51,600 to $78,000 (14 to 19 passengers) for a 6 hour cross-country trip. The designs for the Virgin Galactic/Rolls Royce Mach III craft make a trip around the GLOBE in 90 minutes and with the state-of-the-art sustainable aviation fuel, it is quite possible, if not probable that this is a more energy efficient and cost-effective method. In my opinion, the first industry that this will take over is the private jet industry and will slowly but surely make its way into the commercial airliner industry. **Key Staff and Players:** Founder - Sir Richard Branson: Founder of the Virgin Group (Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic, etc.) CEO - Michael Colglazier: Former President and Managing Director of Disney Parks International CTO (Chief Space Officer) - George Whitesides: Former Chief of Staff NASA CFO - Jon Campagna: Former Corporate Controller of ICON Aircraft Inc. **Noteworthy Investors**: Vanguard Bank of America Morgan Stanley ARK Boeing Chamath Palihapitiya (Also a Virgin Galactic Chairman) Cathie Wood (presumably through ARKK) **Partners**: Boeing ( investor/hopes to be a part of the hypersonic point-to-point travel ) Rolls Royce ( designing and developing engine propulsion technology for high speed commercial aircraft as well as interior design ) NASA ( a plethora of tasks including transportation to the ISS, research, and hypersonic point-to-point travel ) Lockheed Martin ( developer of the Supersonic X-59 plane which will be used for testing hypersonic travel ) Under Armour (suits) **Bear Case:** 1. What if it explodes? 1. As I stated before the last test flight to me demonstrated that the fail safes in place will prevent this from happening and the chart reflects that notion. Aside from that, I hate to be that guy, but fatalities are expected with companies especially in emerging technologies. Remember when [Tesla decapitated someone](https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tesla-florida-accident-20190302-story.html)? Or [the growing list of Airline incidents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_airliners_in_the_United_States)? Or how about when [a Remington trigger malfunction killed hundreds](https://cooperhurley.com/blog/remington-700-trigger-malfunction-may-have-killed-and-maimed-hundreds/)? While I will not justify these events, I bring them to light to allow us to remember, this happens. I do not think this would be fatal for the company. Virgin Galactic [had a fatality in 2014](https://www.space.com/30073-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-crash-pilot-error.html) and not a single person asked for a refund on their tickets. 2. SpaceX: 1. This one just bothers me. They are two completely different markets. Sub-orbital vs. orbital space. Even if they were in direct competition with one another, that's hardly a bad thing to be SpaceX's largest competitor. Competition is good for companies, it makes the market itself grow and the companies within the sector grow with it. When it comes to Space Tourism, SpaceX is a completely different type of tourism that costs millions and is a week long trip. The only real competition will be in the hypersonic market, however, Elon intends on using his [hypersonic capabilities](https://newatlas.com/elon-musk-mars-update-mars/51558/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body) for Mars colonization although I think he would be silly to NOT also provide this service on Earth. 3. It is a hype driven stock: 1. This is the one I can agree with. We are pre-revenue, pre-publicity, and pre-commercial operations. The price right now is pure hype and speculation on what Virgin Galactic COULD become. Once we start seeing ER after commercial flights have started a more fundamental approach could be taken based on actual profit. I think this will remain hyped for a very long time as I mentioned early, most investors aren't here for space tourism. Space tourism is the PayPal, hypersonic flight is the Tesla. Thank you all for reading, **if you don't want to actually read this check out the video DD:** [Video DD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V4VxAuQDFM) **TL;DR:** Space tourism is the start, hypersonic point-to-point travel is the golden nugget. This isn't some new technology, it's a revolution in human travel. Watch carefully this week. The test flight was delayed and that news was announced ATH on Friday. It is possible that we see a sell-off happen at market open. I don't know how long the sell-off will go or how big of an impact this will have. In the past delays and issues made the price plummet, however, there are new long term investors who might not even flinch at this news. This week is a **buying opportunity**. If this DD was too long and the video DD was also too long check out the Too Long Didn't Watch (TL;DW) video here: [TL;DW Video DD](https://youtu.be/AKhDnS3Ipic)

investing

>>> Market cap of Hypersonic Travel: $270BN >>> SPCE has 100% of the market: $1152.17/share SPCE has 50% of the market: $576.09/share SPCE has 20% of the market: $230.42/share This is enough imo to show the current valuation is nuts. they have what? 2 hypsersonic ships? They are going to go from 2, to ... thousands? of ships within 5 years? This is pretty insane ask. Additionally whats their estimated turn around on a ship? An aircraft can cycle within an hour, and put a new 300+ paying passangers on it. IF your targetting business, your going to have to replace MORE than the entire business jet market, there is only 1.5M hours flown a year (in the usa, by far the biggest market), meaning, roughly, 750k flights /yr. Hypersonic travel would generate $360k per flight to hit the numbers given, assuming *100%* market replacement. Also, they would need over 2000 flights per day, going from 0, in 5 years. lol

p5mubi

Do you think people will stick to their plans and continue to invest in to the S&P500 even in a (multi) decade long bear market?

When a young person asks here where he/she should invest a significant portion of the wage, the answer in this sub is often to dollar cost average every month in to an S&P 500 ETF no matter what the market is doing. The theory is, that with this strategy you would have made a good return in almost any given period of time over 30 years in the recent US Stockmarket history. However, if a (multi) decade long bear market happens (and stock markets all over the world proved, that such things do happen), this requires to keep investing, even though you will have to take continuously losses over a very long time. Do you think average retail investors have the patience and physiological strength to takes losses over such a long time, watching losing money month over month and stil keep investing or is this just a strategy which sounds good in theory but mostly doesn't work in practice?

investing

Bear markets dont work like that, as well as I dont think there have been multi decades ones in what i would call recent times. Not recent as in last 10 years but recent as since the crash of the 20's and what for lack of better terms was the beginning of the end for the industrial era in the US. Long before retirement, downturns are a great thing because you should still be investing and now you are buying the market on the cheap. So is your portfolio value decreasing? Yes, but depending on how long it takes to bounce back. By effectively DCA because your still buying and buying low. When it does correct itself and start to move upwards again. Your going to be far better off than you were previously. Learning to have the patience is the hard part and the number 1 reason you should have approaching, at or in retirement a good amount parked in bonds so you can better withstand whatever comes your way. All based on your risk tolerance of course.

rx4fy5

Wondering why stocks are red?Traders are worried equity markets will fall if the Fed starts reducing its 8.5 trillion dollar balance sheet.

Bernanke had the same issues at the end of 2008. Go pull up a chart and compare equity markets to a decline in the Fed’s balance sheet then: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm Welcome to the world of debt monetization, where the government buys its own debt en masse. We’ve been robbing Peter to pay Paul and the US and the Fed are both Peter and Paul. Edit: I’m not suggesting that you buy or sell, or do any of the flip flap trip trap trader stuff. I’m holding and continue to DCA stocks and funds I believe in. I’ve learned better than to try to time the market. Do whatever you think is best for your own situation and risk tolerance. Not financial advice of course, do your own research and be skeptical of everything you read.

stocks

I'm trying to remember the crash days, but I think Bernanke did 20 something rate hikes before the big crash. I think its funny now when the market freaks out because we will be getting our 1st hike soon. #Oldschool

7c3z7c

Debt free! Thank you Bitcoin!

This year has been a rollercoaster for me and my introduction to Bitcoin. I started to invest around $1000 by January and today I’m selling to make myself and my wife debt free. We have during this time endured very hard times and also emotionally wrecked when we found out that we were not able to conceive birth to a child the natural way. So we had to go and try at a fertility clinic and those expenses are of the roof! We collected during this period a substantial amount of debt and always had in mind that I could sell my share of coins, as my wife constantly made me aware of, but I always wanted to wait. And this moment is why! We now have a beautiful baby boy and thanks to Bitcoin he can start to grow up in a debt free home. The feeling of this is indescribable, a massive weight is of our shoulders. I just want to thank everybody at this forum and around the world for constantly update what is happening and what you think will happen to Bitcoin in the future. You convinced me I did the right choice. To HODL! Best wishes to you all!

Bitcoin

Happy to hear that you're making sane economic decisions. Glad you got out and didn't get stuck in a perpetual speculation cycle. Take good care of the kid, and do teach him what money is, why it's useful to society and what happens when it isn't the people that control it.

7c3z7c

Debt free! Thank you Bitcoin!

This year has been a rollercoaster for me and my introduction to Bitcoin. I started to invest around $1000 by January and today I’m selling to make myself and my wife debt free. We have during this time endured very hard times and also emotionally wrecked when we found out that we were not able to conceive birth to a child the natural way. So we had to go and try at a fertility clinic and those expenses are of the roof! We collected during this period a substantial amount of debt and always had in mind that I could sell my share of coins, as my wife constantly made me aware of, but I always wanted to wait. And this moment is why! We now have a beautiful baby boy and thanks to Bitcoin he can start to grow up in a debt free home. The feeling of this is indescribable, a massive weight is of our shoulders. I just want to thank everybody at this forum and around the world for constantly update what is happening and what you think will happen to Bitcoin in the future. You convinced me I did the right choice. To HODL! Best wishes to you all!

Bitcoin

Good for you! Now that you have a baby, the debts will pile back on quicker, though. Make sure to start a side gig/business to keep more money coming in. The debt will come right back if you don't prepare.

nnm9vr

Another $100k Invested Case Study

Hello! I was inspired by the update on the front page yesterday, so thought I'd give this a go. I've been tracking my net worth since I started working in 2017 and thought I'd give a yearly breakdown of my income, spending, and investments. We all like to see case studies here. **M, 26, SE-US in mid-COL area** Timeline **2012** - Had a child as a teenager in high school. Started working minimum wage jobs before graduation and entered the local community college. My state guarantees first two years of CC. Knocked out gen eds for a BS degree. Living with parents with GF and son. **2014** - entered local university for Chemical Engineering. Must make money in short amount of time, figured this route would min-max that goal. GF has been working nearly full time, parents help out with son once in a while when schedules don't line up. Got interested in bitcoin, but didn't have money to risk. **2017** - Graduated college debt free due to scholarships and grants. Had been living on our own (scraping by, both working and parents would occasionally babysit) and qualified as independent during university. Had interned a few times for junk pay at a chemical plant, but made an impression on coworkers. I was hired on full time a month after graduation! Once I heard my salary, I vomited from excitement. On cloud 9. I vividly remember spending my first paycheck to get Ikea furniture. A bed frame, sheets, decorations, and desperately needed dressers. Spent $700! We were just used to being without, or asking for hand me downs. It was so empowering. Started my 401k with the match. NW - $6,000. **Total Invested - $0.** Salary - $72,000. Bonus - $3,000. **EOY 1, June 2018** - Major workplace stressors. Main plant exploded and shutdown for repairs. Working on my own small projects at another plant, but uncertain whether I would be kept on staff as the youngest in the group. Got a dog before all this happened... With this in mind, I started researching how to be more secure financially, found Mr. Money Mustache and became totally inspired to make a plan. Followed a rough savings plan. Focused on a safety fund goal of $15k. That was tough, took almost a year. The work I had completed exceeded expectations, and I continued to take on more. GF continued to work as well, still part time. NW - ~$44,000. **Total Invested - $17,305.** Crypto - maybe half a bitcoin (held since 2014). Salary - $72,000. Bonus - x (Place blew the fuck up). Apartment - $925/m. **EOY 2 (electric boogaloo), June 2019** - Plant back online, assigned first real major project to manage at $3M. Still concerned about place in group, but company spending is high, and there's too much work to go around. New title as Project Engineer 1! Got another "exceeds expectations", continue to feel like a fuck up and stumble through the job, but they think I'm doing great! Married GF! Proud dad, son is growing up fast. Happy I get the chance to spend time with him. Surprise! We get custody of wife's preteen siblings. Apartment is getting small... NW - ~$68,500. **Total Invested - $40,500.** Crypto - quarter BTC. Salary - $75,500. Bonus - ~$5,000. Apartment - $925/m. **EOY 3, June 2020** - Got any more fucking curveballs for me? Covid brought back job security concerns. Had gotten a bump up to Engineer 2 before lockdowns, I transitioned into a more desirable focus away from process engineering. Trying to manage projects remotely is tough, but not unthinkable. First major project is coming to a close, in budget, but behind schedule. I'm traveling all the time up until lockdowns. New boss takes over the group. Everyone expects an axeman. Then he axes someone. Happy days. One thing to note up til now, I've been scared to death about the job. My anxiety has been through the roof, ulcers, depression, began becoming complacent to work. Alcohol use went up. Some suicidal ideation. Even more desperate than ever to get out of the industry, maybe out of engineering. I still deal with all these feelings. Felt I was given too much responsibility to not fuck up if those way more experienced and way smarter can fuck up as bad as blowing a plant up. Unhappy with myself, unhappy with the job, just unhappy. It's taking a toll on my mental health and relationship. With all these feelings, I still felt a responsibility to make a comforting and nurturing home for all the kids. I bought a house to give them their own space. The kids are all just wonderful. I love them. We cook, we take small trips, we hike, we do what we can. We thought they'd eventually be back with their mom, but that is no longer an option. Opioids make people inhuman. Wife surprised everyone with a puppy. I really did not want to take care of a puppy and asked her to get rid of it. She did not. That little shit has been a nightmare, but now he's a protective family member. NW (gets a little funky due to home) - $290,000. Debt - ($188,000). **Total Invested - $64,250.** Crypto - sold most, maybe 1/10th BTC remaining? Salary - $75,500. Bonus - ~$3,000. Mortgage - ~$1,125/m, 3.875% with taxes and insurance **Coming on EOY 4** - Where did the year go? Where is my mind? Investments broke $100k 🎉 and are downright booming Not much has changed. Assigned bigger projects. First dog died. More stress. Just tired. Very tired. Don't think I'll last another year here. I've applied and gotten offers at multiple places, but it just seemed like more of the same, so I stayed. Pay isn't much better elsewhere either. Asshole boss takes a liking to my work, gives multiple bonuses and raises. He begins to chill out some, not a bad guy. Probably had his own shit to deal with at the time. He did get us through a rough budgetary phase. Kids are happy, and I'm proud of them all. Wife is working full time while I work full time from home. Kids have been all online, which helped a lot. Laundry piles up, dishes, junk. But we persist. Over the last year wife and I fought a lot over covid, school, work. She didn't want to take major precautions like I proposed. I said things I shouldn't have. It caused a rift between us that hasn't healed completely. Some days we just avoid each other. It hurts. I still love her, but we just don't get along all the time. Maybe everyone goes through this after ten years together. Spending is up, it's almost become a coping mechanism, ick. Stopped drinking, no desire to start again. No drugs, except a major coffee habit. My reading habit has gone away. Last book I remember reading was East of Eden. I feel almost one dimensional without books. I used to write stories. Not anymore, though. I injured my back in the gym, which compounded the emotional turbulence the past year. Caused me to put on the most weight I've ever had. Vaccinated, so at least I can join the gym again. Every bit of my family survived covid and are vaccinated except for the loonies like my dad, but I'm thankful they're ok. I feel for those who lost family members in this difficult time. I'm majorly concerned over inflation and the institutions like Citadel and Morgan Stanley destroying the stock market for their own gain. I felt crypto could have been the solution, but it's just as susceptible to major players, so it's not the perfect response. NW - $381,000. Debt - ($183,000). **Total Invested - $130,000** (now own a significant amount of GME. Shout-out to /r/superstonk. Breaking away from the VTI portfolio like a sinner). Crypto - some BTC remaining, really like ETH and FIL but not holding more than $5k (especially after crash). Salary - $83,500. Bonus - ~$8,000. Mortgage - ~$1,125/m, considering refinance. Home valuation up 15%. **Edit** Forgot to mention, of course I have a goals and tracking spreadsheet! With the current investment portfolio, I am: **14% leanest-FI** (projected LeanFI target $925k @ 4% with projected goal met at EOY 20 (2037) with assumed 7%YoY growth). **10.5% FI** (projected target $1,085,000, 4% vs 7% growth, goal met in 2040). **6% FatFI** (projected target $2,140,000, 4% vs 7% growth, goal met in 2047). **56% CoastFI** (reach FI target in 25 years post reaching $200,000 invested compounded 7%). Well, there we have it. Tried to stay consistent. I don't really think I shared anything I wouldn't share if asked directly. We'll see what surprises we're in for next year!

financialindependence

Thank you for sharing all of that, including the non-financial details. You've definitely had all sorts of curve balls and seem to be doing super-well in many ways. I hope you can keep re-connecting with your wife. Your life events exemplify how important it is to lay good financial groundwork when you can. Keep at it!

gmnald

Tricks for saving money?

Hey I’ve come across a few tricks in r/AusFinance (like this [gem of a thread ](https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/comments/gjjwrk/reminder_always_ring_to_get_a_better_deal/)) for saving a buck or two here and there and wanted ask if you guys have any others? Not after ‘saving’ strategies as such, just little tips and tricks

AusFinance

Think of how long you need to work to make back the money you spend. A $1000 camera, thats a few weeks of work. $80 new shirt you want but dont really need? Thats 2 days of work etc. Don't use it for everything or you'll go mad. Use it to sense check if you really need something or not

bi9vl9

Question about alcohol excise

I'm a homebrewer who was thinking of selling a few brews to mates just as a way to share my beer without being out of pocket as well as sharing nice beers. I am hoping to do this legally and realise it would mean getting a license. So for my question, if my brew is not profitable would I still pay excise? I could not find a specific answer on the ATO website which makes me think you probably still pay it. And if you do still pay it, is it "tax deductible" from you income tax? So if I were to sell it at the same price it costs to make it, then I pay the excise, the excise would be considered a cost and I could claim it at tax time?

AusFinance

THIS IS NOT TAX ADVICE! I don't know anything about excise taxation but I'd be VERY surprised if there's many/any exceptions. Can I suggest rather than taking money from your mates for finished beers you get them to chip in for the consumables and then give them the finished product as repayment. Might not make a difference for tax purposes but I'd suggest it is probably better than selling the finished product.

qlsz8z

How much mortgage interest raise can you stand?

I want to test the recent comments: "1% interest rise will drop house prices by 30%" It is like a poll. Please choose an interest rate rise, and an emotion + affect: Eg. 1% = not happy. Less takeways. 2% = nervous. Need a second job or something 3% = scared. We'll be on the streets. Thank you. **Conclusion:** it's been less than 24 hours, but the cocensus is, everybody is quite insulated from a 3% rate rise.

AusFinance

Don't banks check you can service a loan at 3% or so higher than the current variable rate they provide? So at the lowest variable rate (e.g. loans taken out in the last couple of years) people should be able to afford 5% before seeing stress. People who bought earlier than that would have been assessed at 6-7%. This doesn't really answer your question. I'm not sure what my % is, but much higher than a +3% interest increase.

sbe699

Building industry troubles?

Materials going up to 50% and higher or straight up unnavailable, huge labour demand/costs Supply chain nightmares and the list goes on. What are your thoughts/ experiences reckon it’ll contribute to a crash?

AusFinance

I think there is already signs of unease amongst builders. Not just custom builders but also volume builders. They’re struggling because typically builders have to have fixed priced contracts for the banks and this is leading to builders losing on jobs. Personally I don’t see this contributing to a property market crash, I think it’ll actually have to opposite affect and continue pushing prices up until supply chains are bought back to some level of normality and builders can start building in a normal timeframe. I think the issues in the building industry are massively impacting supply which is more likely to mean demand is continuing to rise at a faster rate that houses can be built. A lot of the time I’m hearing people are having to wait months for their build to start and when it does start there are delays along the way. I think the thing that would most likely contribute to a crash/drop is interest rate rises and investors may look to quickly list their properties to get in before the fall. In saying that, I dare say a lot of investors have already made so much equity in their existing properties that they’re not too worried about a few rate rises which will likely be absorbed by their tenants anyway.

7pqhit

23 years old, no savings, from a family in poverty looking to get started with Acorns

As my title suggests, I'm a 23 year old who - thanks in part to growing up in a rather low income family - is not super great with money. However, over the last year or so I've been reading this sub as well as r/personalfinance which has taught me a lot and I've come a long way. I still have a long way to go though. I was wondering what you guys all thought of using Acorns as an entry into investment with a reasonably small income. I've been doing better, financially, thanks to a new job (cleaner) and I'm also lined up for some work in security once I can get my license, and I feel that Acorns round up feature is something that might benefit me now that I don't always need to watch every cent. My main concern is that I've heard that fees for low balance accounts can be pretty rough. Would I be best saving a few hundred and depositing that to get it off the ground? Or should I just grit through the fees for a time until my portfolio grows? If I wanted to save a few thousand for my initial deposit, that could take months or years on my own. I know nothing about stocks and investing other than the need to diversify as well as the principles of buy low sell high - although would I be right in thinking that with Acorns, the nature of the app means that that's less of an issue? I'd love to get some insight and maybe some tips from you all. Thanks. (Also I'll be at work for a couple of hours, but I will get back to this post ASAP)

AusFinance

To get financial security, you need to get into the habit of putting aside a portion of your income each pay cycle - and simply thinking of that money as being “gone” - completely untouchable. And then you need to figure out your investment strategy to invest that money. It’s not really about Acorns the app. You can use it if it works for you, but however you do it, you gotta maximise what you earn and maximise whatever you invest - in whatever way minimises other nuffies getting their filthy hands on your green. Good luck!

apllfu

My parents gave me fully franked shares as a child, since my first ever tax return I haven't mentioned them. What is the process to rectify this for the future?

For further clarification, I am 26 now and have been lodging returns since I was 15. I never understood the franking credit system so I never lodged them. There was only about $1500 worth of TLS shares, I was receiving dividends until recent years when I switched to reinvesting. The shares are in my mother's account through a platform called link, though the shares are under my name and the dividends were going into my account.

AusFinance

Are you sure they weren't included on your tax return? Last few years with the current tax site it's pretty hard NOT to declare anything that's in your name since it's auto detected. But anyway you were probably getting about $50 per year in dividends so I'm fairly sure you're not on some kind of Interpol alert list where you'll get arrested at the airport.

gyax1h

How do I get better at following lesser known stocks?

I'm a 17 year old and I'd like to get into investing. I have been following stocks like S&P500, Tesla, Beyond meat, and Amazon for nearly about 1 year. I know that a lot of these stocks are overpriced. But I find it difficult to pay attention to other stocks, because these stocks are often mentioned here and on other investing subs. Right now i don't have the money nor the knowledge in order to make a wise investment but i wan't to expand my intrests in preparation. I'm from Denmark so my exposure to "smaller" american stocks is minimal. But it seems that a lot of danish stocks stay around the same level, whereas american stocks seems to have eternal growth. Another factor is also that the danish is not nearly as big as the US.

investing

Open a spreadsheet paste in all stocks. Scroll through and pick one at random google it and read about it for 3 minutes. If you want a site that just spits out the ticker a google search came up with this. https://raybb.github.io/random-stock-picker/

l3v7oe

Consistently Profitable Day Traders

Guys, all I find online is how day trading is a scam and virtually everyone who tries loses money. I see videos that the gurus are fake and similar topics on forums. If you’ve been consistently profitable trading full time for at least two years could you please comment below? I’m trying to get into this but finding information that doesn’t support day trading is really starting to freak me out.

Daytrading

The numbers are not good. Not good at all. Here is one of the problems you face... I think a lot of gurus are scams too. If they had a market edge your 8000 dollars for a course would be wicked small to them and they would be diluting their edge selling it to you. There’s just no incentive to sell a market edge for a price a normal person could afford. Someone who makes a living at this just doesn’t need your money. All you’re going to find are scams, frauds, and people who lose money. No offense, just being honest, there’s nothing you could trade me for my system. Nothing. I don’t have a course, I didn’t write a book. Didn’t and won’t. The markets are beatable but it’s not easy... probably similar to professional athlete success numbers. The top one percent pays the bills with trading, of that one percent a smaller percentage makes great money. Good Day traders don’t become billionaires they have a skill set that brings in good money and can be done from anywhere. It’s always a tough call when someone says they want to get into day trading. Most will go broke. If you’re exceptional, have an open mind and useful soft skills you’ll make it. What skills do you have that make you think this is for you? I’ve done lots of psychometrics (remember that bit about having an open mind) and I know that I’m unusually skilled at visual pattern recognition. That’s my edge. I used to play poker a lot. This skill was unbelievable in detecting bluffing. Ok, but I still wanna look into it!! Fair, they are beatable.. just IMO stay a at from courses. So many penny stock courses are scan for overnight runners and try to buy on a pull back... problem, the people that pumped them have millions of shares and sell into logical buying points. Consider hod scanners for pennies on momentum. LESS likely to be pump and dumps. Spend a few days watching hod pennies. Especially coming out of low volume time of day periods. Another option is to consider something stable and less manipulated like index futures that are highly leveraged. One point of es futures pays 50 bucks. Trade quality, avoid hype, recognize a lot, most, people in this business are carnival barkers and sales men not traders. Good luck. This is not easy but there’s potential if you can figure out a system and manage your psychology.

5z8pua

the schwab "intelligent portfolios" white paper is a great read, regardless of how you feel about schwab or that product. breaks down modern portfolio theory, the benefits of diversification, and how they are evolving with increasingly interconnected markets.

https://intelligent.schwab.com/public/intelligent/insights/whitepapers/asset-allocation.html i've read lots of these white papers and robo methodologies, this is by far the best. wealthfront's is good but it mostly exists to sell and justify their product. this one basically teaches you to do it on your own. not just robo advise yourself, but actually construct portfolios for various levels of risk and return. (that's not as easy as it might sound). posting here in the hopes it sparks some good discussion about MPT, correlation, diversification or anything else in the white paper. i'll start it off with the question i've been trying to find the answer to by reading all this stuff: what is the maximum return portfolio? that portfolio should have a name and be famous, the holy fucking grail. but these sites all seem to want to hide it's existence and refuse to give it to their clients when they score maximum risk. if you don't understand MPT you're answer will probably be '100% US Stocks' or '100% Emerging Markets' or something but that does not seem to be the case. if you combine asset classes with similar levels of return but that are not perfectly correlated, your risk goes down and your returns likely go up. it's almost certainly going to be a portfolio of multiple asset classes.

investing

They make a good point about how things are changing. If you base your information on some old rules of thumb, you'll think that US Total Stock Market (VTSMX) and Total International stock Market (VGTSX) have a low correlation, but they don't anymore. http://i.imgur.com/npWHDWs.png The big "International Stocks" make products that everyone in the US buys, Samsung, Toyota, Nestle, Novartis, etc. When the US goes into a recession, all those companies suffer.

npa4iy

I'm not saying don't get excited or be optimistic for the coming 2 weeks, but be careful and mentally guard yourself.

Two things I've noticed that are concerning: 1. Many are *positive* the MOASS will happen within 14 days. 2. Many are positive it *will* happen at all. I believe in the DD. GME is my bank account too. But remember, no dates, hedge funds are snakes, something like this has never happened before, and literal billions are being spent to stop it. Just be careful. If it doesn't pop in 2 weeks, hold. And until it does happen, don't quit your job, don't sell everything you have to buy the max amount of shares, be good to yourself. The moon is our destination. Don't crash before we get there. 🚀

Superstonk

We HODL for as long as it takes. And if we happen to retire with GAMESTOP leading the S&P in 2030, then be it. We know we have the nuts, and our opponents keeps raising the stakes. We don't fold a winning hand, at any cost, we stay the course. It doesn't cost us anything to keep hodling, they are starting to feel the pain of their fraud. At no point would I ever sell my shares of GME to a fucking liar, fraudster, snake or market manipulator because he tried to convince me I lost. Fuck that shit. To VALHALLA mother fucker! From MY COLD DIAMOND HANDS!

7igmrh

I trained a deep learning model to find the best investments.

It didn't work. I occasionally see posts suggesting this (one by /u/craino the other day), so I thought I'd give it a try. Here's the details: I downloaded the Sharadar SF0 dataset from Quandl https://www.quandl.com/data/SF0-Free-US-Fundamentals-Data/documentation/about It has 63 indicators on 2000+ companies (they say). I selected the indicators for each company on 12-31-2015. I then went and got 12-31-2015 and 12-31-2016 closing prices using Quandl WIKI EOD to compute the percent gain during 2016. https://www.quandl.com/data/WIKI-Wiki-EOD-Stock-Prices/documentation/database-overview I put together a table that looked like this Ticker | 2016%Gain | ACCOCI | Assets | Assetsc | ASSETSNC | etc. ---|---|----|----|----|----|---- AAL | 11.49 |-4732|4.84|998|384 AAN | 43.43 |-5170|2.65|NA|NA The table has 65 columns and 1072 rows. Each row is a different company. Each company has about 63 indicators, but some were not available for particular companies. I tried to train a deep learning network on the data. "Training" basically says try to find some type of relationship using the 63 indicators in the table to predict the 2016%Gain. Here's how the model training went: [training graph](https://i.imgur.com/eRAq9i4.png) The way training works is that you split the 1072 rows into two parts: a training set (blue) and a validation set (orange). You can see from the training graph that the blue training deviance (difference between actual 2016%Gain and model's prediction of 2016%Gain) got substantially smaller, indicating better predictive value. However, that had no effect on the validation deviance (orange), which is data that the training process is not using. This says the model is just overfitting the data and has no predictive value. I'm definitely not a pro at this, just learning. It's possible that someone could come up with a model that works, but I'll say it isn't easy. Some technical details for those who are interested: I used H2o's deep learning model to fit a regression model on the 2016%return. The training frame was 75% of the data, validation frame 25% of data. The hidden layer sizes were 200,100,50,25,10. I used 10000 epochs of training. The activation function was Rectifier with Dropout. The input dropout ratio was 0.2 and the hidden layer dropouts were all 0.4.

investing

I'm far from an expert but it is naive to believe that you'd be able to create a model that performs well using only H2O AI especially without understanding anything about how the underlying technology works. Here's where you could improve: * You need at *least* 10x more training data, ideally 100x or even 1000x more. * Use cross validation instead of throwing away 25% of your training data. * Apply normalization functions to your momentum indicators, overlap studies, volatility and volume indicators. Without this your model will **NEVER** converge. * Use an activation function that is better suited to the feature bounds such as tanh. * Use either a "long short-term memory" network or better yet a "generative adversarial network". Regression is a dead end. * Input dropout should always be zero. * Hidden layer dropouts are likely far too low. * The quantity and size of the hidden layers doesn't make sense. * Instead of using a fixed number of epochs you should continue training until the accuracy of the validation set reaches an acceptable threshold. * Save your training progress along the way in case your model overfits and you overwrite a better performing model. Even after addressing all of these things your model will still most likely struggle to predict downturns. Better indicators than your standard ADX, AROON, MACD, RSI, TRIMA, ATR etc will be required to overcome this hurdle operating on numerous time frames. Best of luck and happy model hunting.

k3vo6g

How to best acquire dividends?

Hey there, I've been investing since about April (yup, hopped on the amateur train along with everyone else around that time.) and I'm currently trying to build a solid dividend portfolio, so with that I have a few questions if anyone is willing to answer. 1) When building a dividend portfolio is it advisable to have a few growth stocks in said portfolio or should it be strictly high dividend companies and/or ETF's? I have a couple stocks that I've gotten like a 42% return on and would love to watch them grow more, however they pay nothing in dividends. 2) How many is too many? Is it better to dump a lot of money into say 5 dividend stocks or a little money into 20? I know that diversification is important, but I also feel like most if not all the high dividend stocks I own are solid AF and not going anywhere anytime soon, so should I try to buy as much of those as possible to increase my dividend potential or keep it spread out? I'm currently working with about 20 stocks, most paying over 2% in dividends. Any advice for this dumb rookie would be appreciated! Thanks!!!

dividends

I can’t help with your questions because I hopped on the investing train same as you but I just wanted to say how lucky we all were to get in when we did. I knew absolutely nothing but I’m up on average 40% from when I bought in on each stock. Cashed in on over $1000 profit just so I can try to figure out how taxes affect that before going in with more money. But damn we got lucky starting at the bottom when we did, great time to learn.

qqv7ib

People in early retirement

I reversed some of my actions. I’m 67, my current situation doesn’t require supplementing with dividends. So I sold some of my dividend payers and bought growth stocks. Anyone else go through this? Currently on SS, collecting a small pension, working 8-10 per week consulting. Paying all my bills and saving $750-1000 per month.

dividends

Retired at 52. The most important thing with early retirement is to pay off all debts before leaving the workforce. That means no car payment, no mortgage, no credit cards. This is critical.. The amount of capital needed to sustain an enjoyable lifestyle without much overhead is relatively small.

nr8gro

Pick a Stock to add a large portion to.

Here are a few of the company's I been looking to have larger position in. Which one should I add!? I already hold SCHD [View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/nr8gro)

dividends

TD, can't increase its dividends this year thanks to the Canadian Government forcing it on TD and the other Canadian banks. But once it can... Oooohhh boi I hope it will increase a lot all the Canadian banks are sitting on a lot of cash. ENB is another great pick. I'm in both but I feel more confident with TD

wrs9qa

Risk of High(er) Dividend REITs

I am a bit new to this thread as I am trying to create a dividend portfolio to invest in. I notice that many of the popular suggestions on here are very low dividend %. O - 3.97% VITI - 1.4% VOO - 1.4% So I assume these recommendations are based on some hope that they are part growth and part dividend returns. What is the risk of targeting some of the higher dividend REITS? CIM 14.19 % NLY 13.4% ARCC 8.41% These stood out to me as they have very good dividend rates vs current prices and have decent dividend payout history > 5 years of consistent dividends. Please let me know what I may be missing from looking at it in this simple view. Thanks.

dividends

Don’t chase yield. CIM is -9.61 (-50.47%) past 5 years and NLY is -5.61 (-45.42%) past 5 years. You have to consider total return. Realty Income is +21.55 (+42.05%) past 5 years while paying a healthy and growing dividend. 4% is not a ‘very low dividend’, it’s relatively high. The crazy yields you’ve highlighted are just masking a decaying valuation and providing subpar total returns.

zfxgo5

Family Portfolio questions and broader questions in general.

Hello! So I'm writing this on behalf of a parental figure (without their knowledge). We are currently working on moving them from one money manager who I (with the help of Reddit \*FatFire subreddit\*) decided was overcharging her and using her naivety to run up fees. She's moving to a more local firm we both like more. Looking at the bond performance over the last 20 years vs stocks, how do I convince someone very set in their ways that dividend ETFs are the smartest route forward? She just misses the "Ultra high net worth individual" threshold so for the most part she is limited to traditional retail investments. She knows what she learned in college 25-plus years ago. so that means bonds are safe and stocks are risky. She has 10 years of current expenses in her savings account. I'm asking this sub because I follow and implement the general consensus into my portfolio \*JEPI,VOO,SCHD\* (not at my mom's level but gives me enough residual cash to minorly compound my investments). I would love some pdfs (if you have them) or general info to show her that dividend-producing ETFs are just as safe and liquid as bonds and create a much higher rate of return. And beyond that, A general discussion on the benefits of bonds v stock. Been to college so I understand how bonds v stocks work and why bonds are considered lower risk. But I'm asking not in the vacuum of tweed jacket finance and economics, but what the market shows.

dividends

It is awesome that you helped me see ways to save money on fees. The rest of it I am very confused about. You have a parental figure who has clearly done very well for herself. She intends to use this new money manager with a lower fee structure. Why are you giving her financial advice, and asking Reddit, if she is paying a local money manager?

zmv5ku

I know they say not to time the market…

I have 100k set aside to put in SCHD. Lots of bad stuff going on with the market today, and people forecasting around a 20% drop in the S&P next year. I definitely don’t feel like I should just throw it all in the market now! I’m thinking for next year the best thing might just be to DCA and do ~ 8k a month. What do you think?

dividends

Hold....hold. After the next leg happens, bad earnings in february. We might see schd around 65 at least. I only buy when it touch the 200 moving average. That happens 2 times this year. Wait and get at least 68 per share, I forecast that it might touch the 63 and people would get in again. 69 and below is 4% dividend. Think if you always buy around 4% you are getting a fair price.

xo6h5y

Why no BDCs?

I'm 38 and new to investing. Dividends interest me as a simple semi-guaranteed way of getting a return on my investments. I understand no dividend is guaranteed but very few established companies cut their dividends to zero, if at all. I see a lot of discussion here about dividend stocks, ETFs and REITs but almost no mention of BDCs. Is anyone here invested in BDCs? If no, why not? If yes, how do determine which ones are a good investment?

dividends

I have looked into a few bdcs and own 1. The things I look for: 1) management - must be great. listen to earnings calls, read annual reports, look at their history, etc. 2) how long have they been around? If they started post 08 crisis then I give them less credit because they haven’t had a significant down turn outside Covid which rebounded quickly. 3) what do they invest in? Healthcare, tech, consumer products, etc. they list their businesses and diversification on their site or annual report. 4) what is their loan structure? Do they have first lean? Preferred shares? Is the debt secure? Fixed rate or adjustable? Etc. 5) internally or externally managed investment? 6) is it trading at a premium or discount to NAV? 7) have any insiders purchased stock lately? Not a big deal but if you look at insiders buying you see a lot of ceos purchased their stock in march 2020. Coincidence or do they know something I don’t? Those are a general starting point for me. I do a lot of research prior to investing. Also I don’t dca into bdcs I set a price and go full position from the start. My 1 Bdc is about 3% of my total portfolio at this time.

zzolgb

Opinions on SCHD, DGRO, INTC

Hello. New investor here. I was thinking about starting investing but focusing mainly on SCHD, DGRO, and INTC. Any helpful opinions on what else I could add or swap? Or if I should go for these choices

dividends

Intel is a massive gamble even now after being cut in half. If PC sales are low again next year and AMD continues to take more market share for certain products then Intel could get very ugly. It doesn’t necessarily go back up just because it was slammed down. Things don’t fall by 50% in a year without something being fundamentally flawed, even if it is an overreaction, something is badly wrong. I certainly wouldn’t have it as my only single stock, it has the total opposite risk profile for that.

z8wonk

JEPI dividends in Roth

Considering dumping 6k of JEPI into Roth to have the dividends purchase VOOG throughout the roth lifetime. After maxing it with JEPI I will go back to purchasing VOOG/VTSAX in subsequent years. My roth is currently 16k in VOOG/VTSAX. Thoughts? Any tax drag since it’s JEPI?

dividends

no tax drag because its in a roth....but also no cap gains if you start with vtsax and switch to jepi later when you need the income using dividends to purchase other equities is very questionable; probably a once a month debate here. I dont think its an effective use of your money and youd likely have better returns over the years just investing into voog or vtsax from day one rather than a bit each month I made this a few months ago......yes jepi is differernt from qyld; but jepi doesnt have that long of a track record to properly backtest: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nkQFDRQ7gDFdV2NQJdaktV8dYAPcBevanOMgFBokONw/edit#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nkQFDRQ7gDFdV2NQJdaktV8dYAPcBevanOMgFBokONw/edit#gid=0)

m4yjjo

What percentage to put on each divided stock

So as we all know stimulus are coming starting this week. I have no debt and an emergency fund so im putting the full 1400 in my brokerage account. I will keep 700 as cash for use on stocks that are on "sale" . I have a number of dividend stocks im looking at but im unsure what percentage of the 700 to put on each. I was thinking 10% of the divedent yeild but i did not know if this was a good formula or if there is a better or standard one. Thanks in advance.

dividends

You should aim to diversify at least by sector, ideally also by country, but I assume you's gonna be buying the US stocks. You can also consider ETFs such as SDIV or KBWD if you want to achieve more diversification that would be possible with individual stocks and your small bankroll. As a rule of thumb, I do not invest >5% of my overall capital in any individual stock. Also look here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/wiki/faq/fundamentals/risk-management](https://www.reddit.com/r/dividends/wiki/faq/fundamentals/risk-management)

k6ote8

What are the best metrics to dictate which stock to buy?

So, I just took 2 hours or so to review the U.S. Dividend Champions excel doc, and while the notes section gives a pretty comprehensive explanation of each data set (a lot of which I still had to google to understand) it doesn't give a clear indication of which pieces of data you should use to help you purchase. That being said, which 3-5 metrics (EPS% Payout, Div. Yield, Tweed Factor, etc.) should I be looking at the choose which stocks to buy? Yes, I understand there is so much more that goes into this outside of just looking at a few data points.

dividends

Dividend history (does it grow), dividend vs EPS (are earnings able to cover dividend, preferably twice over or more), debt to equity (some debt is a good thing, but a lot of debt, and debt that can't be covered by equity, is bad), and free cash flow (the company might have earned $10/share, but is that actually converted into cash or is it all wrapped up in infrastructure). At least that's where I start.

p29bbq

Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, August 11, 2021

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.

financialindependence

Turned 30 today and decided to celebrate by paying off my remaining 4K on my student loans. I technically could have waited since there’s no interest rate for the rest of the year, but it feels good to be done a few years ahead of schedule.

uw5o7v

The Math on Series I Saving Bond (ibond) Returns

With inflation being very high lately there has been a surge in community interest in Series I savings bonds, or ibonds, whose returns are pegged to the inflation rate. I see a lot of posts of people confused on how ibond returns function or who are misinterpreting the returns...typically overstating them. Series I bonds have two returns. A fixed rate of return which remains, as you might expect, fixed through the life of the bond and a variable rate which is based on inflation and is recalculated twice a year, specifically on May 1st and Nov 1st of each year. The current fixed rate is 0% and the current inflation rate for the period from May 1st 2022 to Oct 31st 2022 is 9.62% annualized. The next rate will be for the period from Nov 1st 2022 to April 30th 2023 but that rate is yet to be determined on the basis of inflation up to that period. When you purchase an ibond you get the fixed rate at the time of purchase for the life of the bond (which is currently 0%) and the inflation rate for 6 months from your date of purchase set to whatever the inflation rate is at the time, this is referred to as the composite rate. What that means is that if you bought an ibond today you would get 0% + 9.62% composite rate annualized for the next 6 months from 5/1/2022 to 10/31/2022. If you bought June 5th it would be from 6/1/2022 to 11/30/2022. After that the next 6 months would be with whatever the next inflation rate is which will be announced Nov 1st plus 0%. The rates of return, it should be noted, are annualized. That means that for 6 months you will earn 9.62% at an annual rate, which would mean 9.62 / 12 = 0.802% per month or 4.81% for 6 months. It does NOT mean that you will get a 9.62% return in 6 months which is a mistake I have seen get made. Unlike many other bonds you do get compounding interest with ibonds however it compounds semiannually rather than the continuously you may be used to from stocks. That means that every 6 months any accumulated interest thusfar will be added to the principal and that total will them be used as the basis for the next 6 months of interest. There is an added stipulation which is you cannot withdraw the funds for 1 year and if you withdraw the funds between 1 year and 5 years then you will lose the last 3 months of interest. The way this manifests is that the last 3 months of interest will not show in your balance if you check your account. So, with all of that said, if you bought a $10k Series I bond sometime between 5/1/2022 and 10/31/2022 this is what your balance would look like month to month. For now we will ignore the 3 month penalty but Ill bring that back in later at the end. Month 1: $10,080.17 Month 2: $10,160.33 Month 3: $10,240.50 Month 4: $10,320.67 Month 5: $10,400.84 Month 6: $10,481 Now, we don't know what the rate will be starting in November but with all the Fed is doing chances are its going to be a bit lower (but we don't know). Lets assume the next period would be 6%. At month 7 the interest starts to apply 6 month balance of $10k principal and $481 interest. Its annualized again so its 0.5% per month Month 1: $10,080.17 Month 2: $10,160.33 Month 3: $10,240.50 Month 4: $10,320.67 Month 5: $10,400.84 Month 6: $10,481 Month 7: $10,533.40 Month 8: $10,585.81 Month 9: $10,638.23 Month 10: $10,690.62 Month 11: $10,743.03 Month 12: $10,795.43 But, due to the 3 month penalty, this is not what your account balance would look like if you checked it every month after your initial purchase. It would look like this: Month 1: $10,000 Month 2: $10,000 Month 3: $10,000 Month 4: $10,080.17 Month 5: $10,160.33 Month 6: $10,240.50 Month 7: $10,320.67 Month 8: $10,400.84 Month 9: $10,481 Month 10: $10,533.40 Month 11: $10,585.80 Month 12: $10,638.22 So, after one year you withdraw and you get your principal $10k plus the $638.22 interest. However interest made off of a bond is taxed as income and as such will be taxed at whatever your marginal tax rate is. So, for example, if your marginal tax rate is 24% then you will owe $153.17 in taxes which means your total return will be $485.05. That means the return for a year would be 4.85%. If you wait 3 more months and don't withdraw until month 15 then you will get the full annualized 9.62% for 6 months and example 6% annualized for 6 months or $10,795.43. After taxes $604.53 which would be a 4.83% annualized return. So in that scenario unless the next period is significantly higher inflation it would be better to just pull out at 12 months (depending on your goals). ibonds are a great option for guaranteed return for any money that you don't need for one year but you will want as cash in the short term. For example say you want to buy a car in 2 years, i bonds would be a great place to stash money in two rounds of $10k purchases. That said, longterm, ibonds are probably not the best investment. Total stock market longterm tends to return at \~9% for comparison. Regardless of how you view it though its important to understand what the returns will actually look like though so you aren't disappointed by assuming you are going to be seeing 10%+ returns off your ibond purchase. **EDIT:** thank you to u/zacce for pointing out some finer detail on the math the cause these values to be slightly off primarily due to rounding differences caused by the $10k bond basically being comprised of 400 individual $25 dollar bonds. This causes the math to be slightly different resulting in being off by a couple of dollars. His post on the details of that can be found here[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/ug2deh/exact\_ibond\_interest\_calculation\_explanation/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/ug2deh/exact_ibond_interest_calculation_explanation/) There is also a website calculator he linked to specifically for figuring out your ibond yields here. [http://eyebonds.info/ibonds/index.html](http://eyebonds.info/ibonds/index.html) **EDIT2:** Another major thing to consider with Series I bonds. They are one of the only government bonds that offers compounding interest. Series I savings bond interet compounds semiannually. US Treasury bonds and notes do not compound.Why is this important? Lets say (hypothetically, these rates don't exist) you could get a US Treasury bond at a guaranteed annual rate of 12% a year for 30 years every year or you could get a Series I Bond at a guaranteed annual rate of 8% a year for 30 years every year. You can put $10,000 into one of them but only one. Which one would you choose? How much would you end up with after 30 years? Treasury bond, simple interest..no compounding. Every year you get 12% of $10,000 so you get $1,200 every year for 30 years plus your principal back. So you get $46,000. Series I Savings bond, interest compounds semiannually. Meaning every 6 months the accrued interest is counted as principal for the next round of interest. So for the first 6 months you get $400, but for the next you get $416, and the next you get $433. After 30 years you end up with $105,200. Pay attention to compounding not just annualized rate of return, it matters.

personalfinance

iBonds are a strong contender for my main emergency fund vehicle, layered like CD ladders back in the day so that I have access to the entirety when I need it. I'm thinking something like 1-2 months liquid and 4-7 months in iBonds depending on my personal risk tolerance and perceived market/employment risks.

3ky3td

Not going to outlive my savings

I have about $240,000, more or less, in savings. Also, I have stage 3A lung cancer and, at the age of 52, I am not likely to outlive my savings. Under the circumstances, annuitizing my savings seems like a really bad idea. What would the FI people do iin my situation?

financialindependence

Looks like you have about a year though it could be 5 years. http://lungcancer.about.com/od/whatislungcancer/f/stage3lifeexpectancy.htm Don't blow all your cash on sillyness in one year but, also don't keep carrying on as usual. Quit your job and focus on relaxing and just feeling the earth under your toes plus having some fun. I concur with the other commenter who said get counciling. I think a very important question is do you have dependants or family you want to leave money to? Second is, do you have charities or anything else you want your money to go to?

z6zj9a

Hold onto some losers in the taxable account or rebalance now?

My taxable brokerage account has a few stocks/ETFs I'm not in love with long term that are down quite a bit more than the market (e.g., bought some COIN, ARKQ, and ARKG to diversify at their height). I'm on the fence as to whether or not to keep those losers and see if they bounce back more than the S&P (or if I need to offset taxable gains from future sales) or sell them and get those funds into SCHD or VOO now. I'll sell at least $3k worth of losses to offset income, but I don't have any other taxable gains to offset this year. Is there any consensus as to the best path forward?

investing

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet and you still have time to do it is you can double the risk by buying your position again. Then in 31 days you can sell the low cost basis shares and keep your original position if you want to keep them. The downside to this strategy is you have 2x the risk. The upside is if they remain flat or skyrocket in the month then you make out pretty good.

uim560

BIP 119

Is it just me or does bip 119 completely mess the fungibility of bitcoin. If the idea of covenants is that you can create bitcoin that can only be sent to certain addresses, doesnt that make two classes of bitcoin? The unrestricted ones and the restricted ones. Are these bitcoin not differentiable from each other? Coz if they are, wouldnt they get priced differently? Just like kyc and non kyc bitcoin. But atleast kyc isnt a feature of bitcoin itself. Am I missing something? What is the need for bip 119 on bitcoin? Like the primary motivation. What use cases is it wanting to implement through this? I might have made mistakes in my logic above. But can someone explain why bip 119 is even needed in bitcoin?

Bitcoin

I was asked by an old colleague to respond to your post because I came up with the term covenant as applied Bitcoin many years ago back when I was still a Bitcoin developer. > does bip 119 completely mess the fungibility of bitcoin. If the idea of covenants is that you can create bitcoin that can only be sent to certain addresses, doesnt that make two classes of bitcoin? No. That's disinformation which, ironically, appears to be created and promoted by the creator of BIP119 as a strawman. You're only paid in bitcoin if their payment exactly specifies the terms determined by your address. If they do, then the funds are yours free and clear (or otherwise covered by terms you agree to), if they don't you'll never see the payment at all. For example, imagine I owe you money. Well it's possible for me to go dig a hole in my back yard put some money in a tupperware container marked "TO: Ok_Aerie3546" and bury it up. Has the fungibility of the dollar been compromised because I stashed some under unreasonable conditions? No: You just haven't been paid! The author has also promoted some conspiracy theories about "KYC bitcoin"-- like that people might be coerced into accepting encumbered bitcoins that could only be spent with government approved counter-parties as a transparent excuse for the gratuitous limitations of 119, but this too is obvious nonsense: If someone wanted to attempt that plain old multisignature would suffice to accomplish that (and because MPC ECDSA exists, it couldn't be blocked even if multisig were blocked in bitcoin!). What prevents that is that people won't accept it, and anyone trying to impose it on you when they owe you funds would be guilty of theft, plain and simple. (and you can wag your arms and say 'but what if a government tries to engage in theft' -- well that's always a possibility: they have the tanks and jails, after all). I think BIP119 is a poor proposal being pushed through in an ill advised way, but I think the concern you're raising isn't a legitimate one. I regret ever introducing the term covenant. My intent was to point out that it was *inevitable* that any sufficiently expressive rules could allow for encumbrances that ran with the coin, and as a result one shouldn't generally accept encumbered coins unless you are extremely sure of what you are doing. Fortunately, there is no risk of doing so accidentally. Just like the example with multisig shows it's already possible to create persistently encumbered coins and it's fundamentally impossible foreclose that possibility through technical means. The protection from it being a problem is already built into every single wallet out there: no wallet will accept/display a payment except under terms set by itself. So the only way anyone could 'force' you to accept some encumbered coin is the same as their ability to just not pay you at all as they're the same thing. Simultaneously, there are plenty of extremely useful, pro-security, pro-privacy, pro-autonomy ways people could conceivably temporarily encumber their own coins... sadly almost none of them are enabled by bip119. If you're concerned about fungibility, go bother exchanges and minining pools that lock users to withdraw to a single address or don't support all common address types thereby denying users their choice of payment rules.

lxl4a6

HF and Media Interns - You need to understand me!

Here's the way I'm looking at GME.... (and only GME) I'm not rich. I came from shit. Got a little more shit now. But still working hard to get more shit. So this is REAL for me. THIS is my one shot. If I take this shot and land on the moon, my life is COMPLETELY and TOTALLY different. My loved ones lives are different. My charity work becomes real. So what am I willing to lose to take this one shot ???? Whatever I push into the pot. Whatever I'm willing to lose. Every penny of it. I won't ever get this shot again. I was happy with shit yesterday, I'll be happy with shit tomorrow. BUT ... what about Melvin and the HFck's. Is this their one shot in life? Is this the biggest lotto ticket in their hands? Fuck no. So what are they willing to lose? Their 3rd pony? The renovation of the guest house at their private estate in the Hamptons? The 4th Lear jet they use only for the Summer season? Ohhhh, Melvin .... you don't get it. I'm not going anywhere.

wallstreetbets

This war was lost when they decided to battle with a bunch of retards with a free brokerage account with literally nothing to lose and a willingness to put our scraps on the table to change our lives. I'm not greedy I just want a mortgage-free life and my debts paid.

blegus

I gave my family BTC for Christmas and now they love BTC

I gave my dad and sister each a trezor and $100 in btc for Christmas. Roughly .0264 btc at the time. I text them both yesterday to let them know that BTC is worth $160. They are finally coming around to btc. My mom even gave my dad permission to buy more. Definitely best strategy to turning around some nonbelievers. Edit. So I bought each of them a trezor. Used a laptop to set it up. Set up the recovery seed, made 2 copies, one for them and one for me just in case they lose it. Then I used coinbase to send the btc to their trezor so they could see a transaction. I mostly did this so they could see that btc is a real thing that people use. Seeing the process is what opened them up to crypto. The fact that its growing in value is just toppings on the sundae.

Bitcoin

They're only interested in it because it appreciated in value. That's the only interesting part to them. ​ My family too was interested in Bitcoin when I gave them some and it went up in value. ​ Then when the price crashed, they were very uninterested in it. ​ Few people care about the underlying technology or what it could mean for the future.

yu2a4v

Is the GameStop NFT drop a dry run for a potential dividend?

First off, I’m mildly (but high functioning) regarded. I was just thinking about the $200 NFT drop, linking my pro account to my wallet via one verified email address. Is it possible that GameStop is doing a test run to see the functionality of 1. Linking the two different software programs (GameStop site/store pro membership & GameStop wallet) to one single email where they’re able to give out NFT’s, etc. 2. Test run the effectiveness of the NFT drop, to see if there are any flaws/concerns so that they are able give out things in the future like a *possible* dividend. Again, high functioning regard. Just a thought. What do you guys think?

Superstonk

If GameStop were to do this it would be directly through Computershare because their system is already set up to receive an NFT dividend and it’s directly linked to your GME shares. Not sure that they would complicate things more by doing something else like trying to make people pro account members because not everyone would do that

xqppno

We're seeing the death throes of the Old World...

Seen in a larger perspective this is the part of history where humanity evolves into the digital age. Instant worldwide communication has already transformed the world and will continue to change many things. We're in the front row watching it happen in real time. # What a time to be alive! This post is an appreciation of being helpful and kind to other people and persevering diligently as we begin this next chapter of human evolution. I hope after this next crisis, humanity will have learned valuable lessons. For the first time in history, we have the technology to enable direct democracy, direct communication and instant settlement with full transparency between all individuals of the earth. The old system that is fighting tooth and nail is essentially a relic from pre-internet times, a historic system to distribute goods and services between people with the drawback that organizing it requires centralized power structures. The centralized power structures have the fault that they are run by corruptable human beings and they will and do corrupt with time. The old world won't go down without a fight, sadly. I believe that the best solution for all will win out in time. The digital transformation will enable a decentralized system that will reinvent and revolutionize the ways of life of every person on this planet. The most powerful limit to this restructuring is the habits of the mind: the inability to imagine a world so different from the centralized power structures we have become so embedded in for so many thousand years. Times are going to be confusing AS FUCK in the coming years. Every one of us will be involved in the outcome. **Please, be the best human you can be for the sake of everyone on the planet as we embark on this great transformation into the digital age!** ^also, DRS 💜

Superstonk

It's called The Great Awakening, the realization of our guided, intended demise being legislated into our lives, in front of our eyes, and the collective courage to defeat this existential threat as one movement, without borders, leaders, or a head to cut off.

xqppno

We're seeing the death throes of the Old World...

Seen in a larger perspective this is the part of history where humanity evolves into the digital age. Instant worldwide communication has already transformed the world and will continue to change many things. We're in the front row watching it happen in real time. # What a time to be alive! This post is an appreciation of being helpful and kind to other people and persevering diligently as we begin this next chapter of human evolution. I hope after this next crisis, humanity will have learned valuable lessons. For the first time in history, we have the technology to enable direct democracy, direct communication and instant settlement with full transparency between all individuals of the earth. The old system that is fighting tooth and nail is essentially a relic from pre-internet times, a historic system to distribute goods and services between people with the drawback that organizing it requires centralized power structures. The centralized power structures have the fault that they are run by corruptable human beings and they will and do corrupt with time. The old world won't go down without a fight, sadly. I believe that the best solution for all will win out in time. The digital transformation will enable a decentralized system that will reinvent and revolutionize the ways of life of every person on this planet. The most powerful limit to this restructuring is the habits of the mind: the inability to imagine a world so different from the centralized power structures we have become so embedded in for so many thousand years. Times are going to be confusing AS FUCK in the coming years. Every one of us will be involved in the outcome. **Please, be the best human you can be for the sake of everyone on the planet as we embark on this great transformation into the digital age!** ^also, DRS 💜

Superstonk

NOSTRADAMUS PREDICTS: WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THE FINANCIAL MARKETS IN 2023? Quatrain: ‘So high will the bushel of wheat rise’, the French seer wrote, ‘that man will be eating his fellow man’. Morbid and dramatic though this sentiment is, it’s clear to see how spiralling living costs can and will lead to ever more desperation and strife. We’ll just have to hope that the reference to cannibalism is a poetic flourish rather than a straight-up prediction of life in 2023.

s9hjb5

‘Good luck! We’ll all need it’: U.S. market approaches end of ‘superbubble,’ says Jeremy Grantham

The U.S. is approaching the end of a “superbubble” spanning across stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities following massive stimulus during the COVID pandemic, potentially leading to the largest markdown of wealth in its history once pessimism returns to rule markets, according to legendary investor Jeremy Grantham. “For the first time in the U.S. we have simultaneous bubbles across all major asset classes,” said Grantham, co-founder of investment firm GMO, in a paper Thursday. He estimated wealth losses could total $35 trillion in the U.S. should valuations across major asset classes return two-thirds of the way to historical norms. “One of the main reasons I deplore superbubbles — and resent the Fed and other financial authorities for allowing and facilitating them — is the underrecognized damage that bubbles cause as they deflate,” said Grantham. The Federal Reserve doesn’t seem to “get” asset bubbles, said Grantham, pointing to the “ineffably massive stimulus for COVID” (some of which he said was necessary) that followed stimulus to recover from the bust of the 2006 housing bubble. “The only ‘lesson’ that the economic establishment appears to have learned from the rubble of 2009 is that we didn’t address it with enough stimulus,” he said. Equity bubbles tend to begin to deflate from the riskiest parts of the market first — as the one that Grantham is warning about has been doing since February 2021, according to his paper. “So, good luck!” he wrote. “We’ll all need it.” [https://www.marketwatch.com/story/good-luck-well-all-need-it-u-s-market-approaches-end-of-superbubble-says-jeremy-grantham-11642723516?mod=home-page](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/good-luck-well-all-need-it-u-s-market-approaches-end-of-superbubble-says-jeremy-grantham-11642723516?mod=home-page)

stocks

Not sure what people are surprised about here. We just had massive stock market growth and the wealthy investors who have the most control over the prices took their gains and will buy back in at a lower price and a new cycle begins. Day traders trying to become overnight millionaires are the ones who will lose the most from this. People investing in index funds and blue chip stocks will see the market rebound shortly. It may take a couple of months for everything to play out but reality is that consumers are spending and countries worldwide are dropping restrictions. Supply issues are easing and inflation data will look much more favorably once spring/summer 2022 prices are compared to 2021. Interest rates are still historically low and the stock market is still the best place for them to place their money.

ew4ttc

Buying my first car by myself :(

Im a 20 year old girl and I've saved a good 3k to put as a downpayment on my first car. I dont really have any family members or friends that could go with me or help. The only person I have thats willing to help me is my grandma who isn't knowledgeable about car buying at all. I've kind of just been doing as much research as I can on my own but thought maybe some experienced used car buyers on here could give me some advice. For reference, I'm really am just looking for a car in the 8k-12k range that are reliable so I dont have to worry about getting a new car until I'm a bit older and more financially stable. Im pretty set on a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Accord/Civic. My questions are more like, where should I buy it? Ive been looking around on apps like Carfax, Autotrader, etc. However today a friends boyfriend who works for a dealership was telling me to never buy from a third party seller and to always go to a dealership because they do an inspection for you. So I looked around on dealer sites and my options are definitely more limited, and pricier. Is the dealership and certified preowned worth it? Also another thing is that I'm going to have to go to the dealership alone, which is really intimidating for me and is giving me anxiety because I really dont know what I am doing and how it all works. Some advice I've been given includes: Accessory fees are a no, Cleaning fees are a no, Full tank of gas fee is a no, Nitrogen in tires (?) fee is a no, Dealership preparation fee is a no, Avoid high mileage because they can throw an engine light even if inspected, and a good apr rate is anywhere from a 2-5. Sorry for the long post. Any and all advice appreciated! edit! - oh wow! thank you all so much! mostly everything i've read is completely new information to me and I really appreciate it. To answer some questions: 1) no I really dont have anyone to go with me except for maybe one old co worker who I'm definitely going to beg after reading all of this. 2) not to be too personal but some insight into my situation: the only person in my life who could maybe even kind of help me is my 70 year old grandma who is pretty sickly. She is probably willing to co sign for me and has good credit. other than that I am completely financially on my own. My mom is kind of... her own situation so I'm figuring out adulthood on my own. Im not even sure if I have health insurance at this point. so I'm not too sure how the loan thing will work, but I will do major research asap! 3) I have a credit score of about 680. I have never missed a credit card payment and always pay 3x the minimum payment. I am pretty good at saving my money. I live in the bay area and work full time at about 2300 a month after tax. I do not pay rent but pay for everything else I need. Hope this gives any context!

personalfinance

I would highly recommend buying a certified pre owned corolla from Toyota, given your description of your situation. This way you will know the car itself is fine, generally can get interest rates in the 1-2% range if you catch a sale, and all you’ll have to worry about is not agreeing to any extra accessories which you seem to have an awareness of. You’ll be fine. Edit - I want to be extra clear there is a difference between certified pre owned and used from a dealer. Do a quick good search on certified pre owned for all of the benefits :)

ppjyck

Parents setting up a life insurance policy for my (1 year old) son.

So, apparently my parents have done this for all of their grandkids (my son is their 13th!) I knew they'd been doing this, but didn't really know the details. Now that my son has arrived, they would like to do it for him, too. My mom asked me for his SSN, height, weight, etc. I asked if she could send me a policy description, or even just the name of the policy, before she did anything so I could better understand what it was all about, and she became very offended and said I was being ungrateful. She explained that it was something that would be transferred over to him when he turns 18, and he could either 'cash out' or keep paying into it, and that's all I needed to know. Am I crazy for wanting to know the specific type of policy they're buying? It's very unlikely that my parents will still be around by the time he's 18... I just want to understand my son's finances while he's still a child so I'll be better able to explain it to him when he's older. Can anyone help understand what kind of life insurance policy this may be, and why she would not to offer any transparency on the issue? EDIT: My parents aren't filthy rich or anything, but they've definitely done well for themselves. If there's a better option out there that would cost the same but would be a better investment, I'm all ears! EDIT 2: So, it seems like some people responding think I'm hellbent on stopping my mom from doing this. Really, I just simply wanted to know what she was doing with my kid's SSN - I don't know a lot about life insurance, and am careful with my finances. When someone tells you "I'm making a financial investment for your baby", it's my responsibility as a parent to at least know what it is. That's all. If she wants to waste her money on it, that's her prerogative. If we had a healthier relationship around financial decisions/information, I might suggest the 529... but I know she's not capable of having a reasonable conversation about this, so at least now I understand what she's doing. Appreciate all your feedback, I've learned a lot!

personalfinance

Here’s my opinion - I think everyone’s correct that a 529 would be a good option, as would a general investment account, but a whole life insurance policy isn’t a TERRIBLE idea, especially if it makes your parents feel good. The good thing about whole life insurance policies on kids is they are relatively cheap (I believe they cap out at like a $50k death benefit), but the upside is that if something were to come up later that would otherwise make your child uninsurable, there’s typically a guarantee on these policies that allows you to buy more insurance at age 18 without having to go through underwriting. By age 18, there should also be pretty substantial cash value that can be accessed via a policy loan to help pay for a car, college expenses, etc. Bottom line, if this what makes your parents feel good about helping out, go ahead and help them get it set up.

wu6jr1

Buy grandmas house and let her live there? Other options to support her financially?

My grandma (93 y/o widowed) is relatively healthy and still lives alone. She wants to spend her final days/months/years in her house and adamantly refuses to go to a nursing home. She is pretty independent and who knows, she may live for another year or she may surprise us all and live for another 10. She wasn't the most responsible person financially and as a result she will soon see $0.00 in her bank account. Her only asset is her paid off house, valued at around $250k. My family has been trying to figure out ways to financially support grandma in her later years. I proposed the option that I would buy grandmas house well below market value and let grandma still live there for free. In my brief research, it appears this could be problematic if she needs to apply for Medicaid down the road. I suppose the other option would be to buy her house at market value and rent it back to her. I should say that I could afford to buy her house and would likely hang onto it as a rental property. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with a situation like this and/or could provide some insight and advice. Essentially looking for ways to financially support grandma without flat out giving her money every month as we fear she would spend \*cough gamble cough\* it all away. Thanks in advance!

personalfinance

Grandma loses out on several advantageous tax credits, benefits if the house changes ownership. If she is struggling to pay bills, explore Energy assistance programs (LIHEAP), SNAP, Community based Medicaid (QMB/SLMB), and any tax credits for seniors related to housing/property tax, etc. If she needs Long Term Care Medicaid, there is a 5 year look back when they are determining her eligibility and she would be penalized coverage based on how much the state determines was inappropriately gifted away.

wcr77j

Got a deal on a 2 bedroom apartment, take it or stay put?

31 year old male, salary $50k with $40,000 in savings. I’m currently in a 350 sq/ft studio apartment, $600/month utilities included. I recently was a approached by a good friend who’s mom is trying to rent a 2 bedroom apartment. Was on the market for $1,300, told her my budget were to be $800 per month if I were to get a larger place, which I wasn’t considering doing at the moment. I had said that to pretty much say “sorry out of my budget”, cuz taking that offer seemed ridiculous to me, but they came back with an $800/month offer, (doesn’t include electric, but yeah was not expecting that). Grew up going to this friend’s house a lot, her mom said she’d rather have me there and take less rent than to rent to people she doesn’t know, (recently got through a year long squatting situation). I love the place. Tis 800 sq/ft, has a front porch and back balcony porch, full size stove, (really like to cook)…just a really nice place. I’m not sure what to do. On the one hand I don’t dislike my current place and it’s cheaper than I could ever find. On the other hand I feel like this 2 bedroom apartment for myself is a better deal than I could ever find and would open up my life to have family and friends over, would have an extra room for people to crash in / chill in, more space for myself…would be nice, but not a need. If I were to stay where I’m at I’d save $1000/month, to move would cause that to go down to $650-$700 per month, which a future car payment or savings for a car would come from, (should be able to buy my next car in cash, current one paid off), plus money to replenish my emergency fund, and any retirement savings outside of my current 15% 401k with 5% employer match. I was planning on fully funding a Roth IRA with my current savings trajectory, but that would be affected by this move. I realize this is a want, but can’t get past the thought that taking on more rent would be straight up irresponsible. What’re y’all’s thoughts?

personalfinance

Just make sure you have an actual legal lease agreement. I read, and have personally witnessed, so many people do business with friends and it end badly. Lifelong friends. Friends since kindergarten. Friends who grew up together. Etc. Get the monthly rent price and expected utilities in writing. Have an actual lease. Make sure the lease also outlines what will happen if repairs need to be done. The process for that. Etc. Do a walkthrough,both with your friend's mom and also by yourself, when you first enter the place. Take a video of you walking through whole place including outside to document the condition it is in. If they balk and say "but we've known each other for so long! C'mon, we don't need to do that!" Run.

smcfa2

Big decision in FatFire journey. Should I exercise company options?

I have to make a decision whether to purchase(exercise) my options that are vested for $450k after leaving my last job at $lastco tech company recently. My situation: * Age: 36. * Current NW $3.2M (not incl company equity) * Split into: * Liquid (indexes/stocks/cash): $2.2M * Real estate (excluding debt): $700k * PE/VC: $300k I have recently taken a new role as an exec at a fast growing early startup $newco. TC at new role: Cash \~$350k, equity between 1-2%. (At today's valuation equity is around 600k per year highly likely to multiply). ​ At $lastco, I have options vested (ISO/NSO split). Company details, it has done ok. But probably 4-5+ years till exit (IPO unless acquired earlier). * \~10 years old * SaaS * A few years ago goals shifted towards profitability. * Due to which: Growth slowed down last couple years. (biggest concern) * Profitable now and around \~30M ARR. * Last round of funding was 5 years ago. * Focus back on growth this year. * New revenue team in place, strong execs (sales/marketing/ops). ​ Option details: * Worked there for around 8 years. So biased towards a positive outcome. * I have already exercised 25% of my options 4 years ago. * Have to make a decision whether to purchase the remaining 75% of my options that are vested. * Total price required to exercise all my options: \~$450k * Strike price and FMV are almost equal. So negligible taxes (\~$500). * At the valuation of 5 years ago (last round of funding) at preferred stock price, the value of exercised stock = $1.3M Would you exercise and put in the $450k? It represents around 15% of my NW. I am leaning towards exercising. If I don’t do this, my alternative investment with $450k would be to put it into VTI.

fatFIRE

Check out companies like ESO Fund. They'll loan you the money to exercise your shares for a cut in the future if your company IPOs. If your company never IPOs you don't have to give the money back. I haven't personally used their services but it sounds good. Or if your company allows, look into selling your shares on a secondary market like Forge or EquityZen. They charge a 5% fee. Why debate exercising if you can sell them right away? If you can sell on the secondary market, you don't have to sell everything. Then you can exercise and hold onto some for yolo. You have options. Might be worth consulting a CFP who specializes in startups. Happy to send you my CFP's info if you want. Also double check how long you have before time runs out. Clock is running and these deals can take a month or longer. There are companies that might buy them from you, if you don't want to risk it.

tpyxzv

does anyone have experience hiring staff for family vacations?

I’m trying bring my husband and I’s families to palm springs later this year for a week or so long vacation. I found some beautiful vacation rental homes but was wondering if anyone has experience hiring staff just to come work in the vacation rentals for a few days. I was thinking some sort of combined chef/butler/housekeeping staff so it was as if we had resort type accommodations. I haven’t done much research into it yet but figured I’d see if someone here could point me in the right direction thanks all

fatFIRE

Look on [Thumbtack](https://www.thumbtack.com/)! You can search for a bunch of different kinds of contract workers and pre-arrange their services. I’ve used Thumbtack to schedule an “at home” (or “at *vacation* home”) massage, as well as cleaning services. But you can also find a personal chef and more based on your needs/wants.

i2e9yo

Thoughts on parenting and how much information should one share

I raise my 11yo child alone. For a few years I’ve been quite frugal to save money for our new place and I’ve been able to rent out my previous place, turning it into my first rental property. My close friends and family know that now I own a rental too and usually the reaction I get is jaws dropping. (We live in Switzerland and I come from a 3rd world country, so what I have achieved is not typical) I heard back from my son’s friend’s mother that my son shared with them that I rented out our previous place. I talked to my son about not sharing beyond close friends and family because if we give too much details, it draws attention to our financial success and there’s no need to overshare. He said in this case he could clarify that I had to take out a mortgage. I said he doesn’t need to discuss any of it I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job explaining our current situation nor how much can he share. What would you do? How much do you share with your kids and how much are they allowed to share? Do they understand why money matters are best kept private?

fatFIRE

My parents were completely transparent with me and I think this set me up really well in terms of having realistic expectations for how much things actually cost. I think I was significantly more prepared for the real world than my more sheltered acquaintances.

hokvfo

Building Our House - What are some must haves?

We basically have a blank slate to build our house though we don’t want to go overboard on budget. Those of you who have had custom homes built before, what are some “must-haves?” For example, we have Teslas so a must have would be a electric car wiring built in. A nice to have would maybe be a generator (auto switches). Any other ideas?

fatFIRE

we are building a custom home after having stayed in a spec home for almost a decade. Things that I made sure, the new home had: \- high(er) ceilings (more than 12') \- raised the ceiling of the garage to accommodate future lift \- it sits on a lake - so large windows (floor to ceiling) and 16' sliding doors (4 slides) \- Pie shape lot - positioned the house to accommodate a circle drive in front \- balcony - designed and extended it as much as possible - house is on a lake (expensive!) \- landscape lighting \- accent lighting \- Cat 6a everywhere (to exterior and interior) \- electrical outlets around the house on the exterior, and near the roof on all corners (to accommodate holiday lights) \- lots of lights / cans t make areas well lit (our existing house was underlit) \- pre plumbed the gas line to the furthest corner of the lot (1/2 acre plus) so we can have an aoutdoor kitchen later. \- lot's of storage areas \- lots of built in storage areas \- custom closets in 4 out of 6 bedrooms \- under cabinet lighting in kitchen, butler's pantry and wine room \- did not skimp on the wooden floor \- did not skimp ion the kitchen island. \- private study \- built in areas for kids to set up their study tables / area

1qzemm

Bitcoin traders crippled by server overload (BitStamp), withdrawal/deposit lags (Mt. Gox), and brokers maxing out their daily buy limits (Coinbase). How does an average US speculator/investor even participate right now?

I have accounts established at Mt. Gox, BitStamp, Coinbase, and LBC.com. But it seems like every single bitcoin exchange/purchase platform is experiencing technical difficulties, banking lag, or web traffic issues. I'm hesitant to attempt to deposit USD for coins anywhere at the risk that my $5k-$10k could get trapped in limbo for days or weeks with one of these unreliable (during times of high activity) exchanges/brokers. **COINBASE** They've been hitting their max daily buy limit on and off as the bitcoin coaster rolls up and down. Investors are using Coinbase as a pseudo-exchange because of the poor performance of more suitable platforms, but the increased traffic has made the site unreliable for purchasing and even accessing. If you're trying to "get in" during a dip, chances are you'll either be unable to login or be hit with a "max daily limit" error. Not cool. **BITSTAMP** Many people here are reporting delayed deposits hitting their Bitstamp accounts. Wire transfers are taking multiple days, rather than overnight, if they arrive at all. Not to mention their website has been down on and off since last night. You can't reliably login and maintain a session, so it becomes risky to hold your USD there. What if you want to make a move and the servers crash for 3 hours? Unacceptable. **MT. GOX** Do we even need to mention how retarded it is to trade on Gox? I just saw a thread where someone is still waiting 7 months for their USD withdrawal. Gox is *infamous* at this point for not being able to pull out your American Dollars. You may be able to deposit and get some coins, but Gox prices are the highest in the land and you'll have to sell them elsewhere at very reduced value, totally slicing into your gains. Moral of the story: Stay away! **LOCALBITCOINS.COM** With the wild swings in the market, it's impractical to make big, fast moves when you have to drive to Starbucks to hand a guy $5k cash for some BTC. By the time you get back to your house, who knows what the market will look like. Good option for those wanting to simply get some bitcoin and hold it forever. Not an option for people looking to trade or making quick moves day-to-day. **Serious Question:** How are average US speculators and investors supposed to participate in the bitcoin market right now with the increased traffic crippling all of the entry points? Increased traffic from increased awareness and desire to participate should be terrific for all of us holding some coin, but when the buying platforms aren't able to handle the influx, we're stuck on the outside just watching the charts and furiously F5-ing on the login screens of our exchange of choice. Bit of a rant, I guess. Chime in with any thoughts on the current situation.

Bitcoin

I absolutely love seeing posts like OP's, it really does make my day. If Bitcoins are so "expensive" when one has to jump through all these hoops to get some, imagine how much more they will be worth when anybody can get them with minimal effort!

vjw8n6

Something is brewing today

I feel like this one was a little too obvious. we opened above 140 and hit 148, until the news dropped today. As soon as the report came out from Maxine Waters, we tanked all the way to max pain, and it didn't take long at all. The whole time, SPY gained 2%. So we tanked below max pain, on weekly options expiration day, as soon as the tweet dropped. 15 point drop...but retail wasn't selling. Indices were up big, we got added to the Russell 1000 value index, XRT was up big, I mean.. This isnt my first rodeo, we are all used to these drops by now. But this just stinks of desperation. Something in that report they really didn't like. They didn't like it so much so in fact that they made was has to be one of the most obvious moves so far. Like, if you're trying to get away with this and make it look benign, today's timing was just awful and speaks to a complete lack of regard for consequences. Again, complete desperation. The June and July chains are obviously a huge risk to them. Tons of open interest, with strikes all the way up to 500 for July 15th. After July 15th, the late July and August chains are relatively tiny. Very limited strikes, and almost no open interest on a comparative basis. Just my 2 cents, but I think they will continue to do literally anything to prevent the gamma ramp between now and the 15th, no matter how brazen or obvious. I expect FUD to reach crescendo when July 4th comes and goes with no MOASS. You were warned. Hodl strong my brethren

Superstonk

There have been some pretty fucked days for the market the last year and a half, but today seemed especially weird. I mean, the government has basically said “apes were right” and to have it fall on this day is pretty fucked. The end must really be close. As far a price suppression goes, this feels like the last dump before GME really rockets. Especially when you consider the massive pump the major indices saw this week.

upxryl

My husband saved us hundreds by fixing our washer and dryer.

I think we all know when it rains, it pours. Any time something breaks, I hold my breath for the next few things to fall apart. That happened a month ago when after a crazy week our washer and dryer broke. The cheapest used were around $450. New ($1200) was out of the question. My husband is a woodworker and knows nothing about electrical stuff but he gave it a shot last weekend after going to the laundromat with me and seeing how expensive it was to wash /dry 6 loads. I was so proud of him! I heard him from the kitchen cheer as he turned on both machines and they were functioning properly! This led to a discussion about the last ingenuity of poverty. You learn skills/are resourceful out of necessity, not for fun or because it’s a hobby. Just wanted to share this success because it saved us a shit ton of money and time and we didn’t have to decide between eating/gas in the car and having clean clothes.

povertyfinance

There is a YouTube video on how to fix anything. I have saved a fortune over the years. Just remember, those cheap parts on Amazon are cheap parts from Amazon. They may work in a pinch but if you can afford OEM from a reputable parts place, buy OEM

and5bh

I make half as much as most people on here. What am I doing wrong?

I work in a print room at an investment bank. I’ve done pretty well, and have worked my way up to a senior operator position, where I’m in charge of 4 people. I make £25000 a year. I thought that was pretty good, but when I come on this sub, most people seem to be making upwards of £50000. This completely baffles me. My career trajectory for the next 5 years would be to get promoted twice up to an office manager, where I would be in charge of 2 whole departments; but I’d still only be making £40000. It doesn’t sound like most of you have that level of responsibility to still be making much more money. Clearly I have missed something with what is considered a good job. So my question is simply this: What on earth do you guys all do for a living, and how can I get myself to the position of being able to do that?

personalfinance

Note that the median income in the UK in 2017 was 27.300 GBP, it's not likely to be that much higher this year. I feel that this sub represents a lot of people who are, at least in terms of employment, quite a bit better off than your average person, and also has a high amount of young people in particular who seem to get well-paying jobs right out of college. I suspect that those people are typically the ones who are comfortable sharing the exact numbers of their income in the first place. This might skew your idea of what is normal a little, so keep that in mind. Having said that, 25k for any senior position definitely sounds like it's on the low end, and I'd do a bit of research into what is normal for your kind of work in your area, and consider that you may have to try and negotiate up or look for a better paying job with similar requirements.

rkhvg1

Why I'm bearish on CryptoCurrencies till BTC hits 42k again.

Allow me to explain, BTC has had a major push to 69K on 10Th November, since then we've been slowly bleeding to as low as 42k. Sure we had a few pull backs but nothing major, and every time we get a pull back it doesn't really break any resistance points. Historically during every dip, we get flash crashes but we can also see a retest to those levels before any significant rallys to the upside. BTC crashed to 30k in May, then retested those levels after two months of crab market, leading to a 29.4k drop before rallying to 50k. BTC dipped again on launch of El Salvador's wallet, from 52k to 46.8k, which was again retested 13 days later. Similar retests can be seen on Jan 2021 and Dec 2017. If you look at the BTC/USDT chart from Binance, we never failed to retest a long wick to the downside, ever. And now we have a 42k wick, but haven't retested the level yet, which is why I'm expecting a dip to the downside before any significant rallys. History often doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. >TL;DR: Bearish on BTC till we retest 42k.

CryptoCurrency

> *Apparently I'm getting downvoted for having normal conversations*   You're getting downvoted for Technical Analysis. If you want TA, just go to /r/CryptoAstrology   Snarkyness aside, if any laywoman/man actually knew how the markets moved, s/he would have retired already.  

nqwdgj

They never intended to cover and no amount of money can cover what’s about to happen.

As I’m watching movie stock unfold, it really got me thinking about something. Why are they wasting time delaying the inevitable MOASS and kicking the can the road? All they’re doing is allowing more apes to accumulate more GME shares and add more fire to the shitstorm that’s about to unleash. What about the movie stock apes who will bring all their gains here after and push this even higher? I mean wouldn’t it make more sense to cover this to 50k-100k a share instead and let it sit where a new average ape won’t be able to afford a share? Are they really this stupid or is something much more crazy about to happen? I understand some brokers let you buy fractional shares but that’s not everywhere and majority of brokers don’t let you. I personally believe that they are in so deep that there is no amount of money that can cover the fake shares they printed. I believe this has been the case since GME was at 15$-20$. Keep in mind they were so certain of GME going bankrupt they they kept increasing their exposure as it moved lower and lower to near 0 where they would pocket the profits tax free. They never had money to cover at 15$ and they certainly don’t have the money to cover now at 280$. This gave me further conviction that they really never intended to cover and they will much rather burn the entire system to the ground while enduring a slow painful death as the entire option chain expires ITM, where they will beg for bailouts much like 2008 but way worse since people like your average Joe worked 50 years from 9-5 and now lost his pension because of a greedy clown in a suit that wanted to make an extra buck to buy a 5th yacht. These mother fuckers need to be bankrupt and jailed. Fuck this criminal syndicate. Buy. Vote. HODL

Superstonk

I’ve been saying this same thing since January. Had it popped then a lot of us would’ve gotten out at a much smaller price too. At this point, fuck em. They wanna play hardball, let’s play! We can do this all day.

sp35ef

Daily FI discussion thread - Thursday, February 10, 2022

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.

financialindependence

Recieved a letter from the city yesterday. They are taking 40 feet of my front yard to expand the road to 4 lanes, resulting in my house being within 30 feet of a 4 lane road! It is an interesting perspective to know that there is no amount of money (within reason) that I would give up that much space. They supposedly will compensate us with market value, but its not much acreage but will have a huge impact on curb appeal (removing several decades old white oak trees out front as well). We are devastated. It's interesting in that earlier in my FI journey, I would have totally sold off some frontage for cash, but now I am realizing that some things are worth more than just money.

7033mk

Birthday Update Towards FI: Age 24

Hey /r/FI! So I'm a massive fan of this subreddit on my main account. I wanted to do some kind of yearly post detailing my journey to FI/RE because I personally love seeing the progress posts with detailed financials. I chose to go with putting this on a separate account just so that I can provide detailed financial information without tying it to my main account that friends know. It made the most sense to me to do this once a year on my birthday (today!) and this has been my first full year of working out of college. I'll try to give as much detailed information and graphs as I can without revealing too much personal information. So without further ado: Birthday Update - Age 24 ================ Major life changes: * Started working full time in June of 2016 after graduating in May * Degree is a bachelor's in electrical engineering, I went to a local state college on an academic scholarship to lower college costs and worked through college to graduate with no debt * Currently work as an applications engineer in the construction industry * After graduating, I moved to a studio apartment near my work * Purchased a 2015 used car in December of 2016 for a total price of $14.3k after $1k trade-in of my 2003 car * In August of this year I took a sleep study and was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, haven't gotten treatment yet as it is expensive and I have to work it in Overview of Current Situation =================== * Location: Southern U.S., low-ish CoL * Compensation: $61,500 + ~8% bonus per year + 7% 401k match + usual other benefits (3 weeks vacation), total liquid compensation (base + bonus + 401k) is roughly $70,500. * Salary Increases: Received ~2.5% raise in March 2017 (from $60,000) for working June through December of 2016 * Expenses: Roughly $25k/yr * Relationship Status: Single (not by choice, obviously) * FI Target: $1.25MM ($50,000/yr @ 4% WR) 401k Contributions ===================== Maxing @ $18k/yr (~29.3% of gross pay), plus 7% match (~$4300/yr) = total contribution of ~$22.3k/yr. Current allocation is: * 15% to WAPSX (Fixed Income - Intermediate Bond) @ 0.42% ER * 45% to Dryden S&P 500 (Large Cap Stock - Blend) @ 0.09% ER * 25% to VEXAX (Mid Cap Stock - Blend) @ 0.08% ER * 15% to RERFX (International Stock - Growth) @ 0.54% ER HSA Contributions =========== Maxing @ $3.4k/yr (~5.5% of gross pay). Current allocation is: * 50% to OLGAX (Large Cap Stock - Blend) @ 1.28% ER (ouch) * 50% to PMBSX (Mid Cap Stock - Blend) @ 0.97% ER Roth IRA Contributions ============== Maxing @ $5.5k/yr (~9% of gross pay). Current allocation is: * 40% to VFIFX (target date fund) @ 0.16% ER * 35% to VTSMX @ 0.15% ER * 25% to VBMFX @ 0.15% ER Total Current Standings =============== * Vanguard Roth IRA: $12k * Vanguard Taxable: $10.1k * HSA: $6.4k * 401k: $16k * Liquid (Checking + Emergency - Current CC Balances): $4.4k * Debt: $8.3k (Car), interest is 3% so I'm making minimum payments * Equity: $12.3k (Car) * Net Worth: $52.9k Graphs & Stuff ========= * [All current holdings](https://i.imgur.com/Tk7jSlY.png) * [Complete graph of net worth](https://i.imgur.com/KvKVjrx.png) * [Current FI progress](https://i.imgur.com/ZcTbZkY.png) (Red, Yellow, & Green lines are FI goals for age 35, 40, & 45 respectively, Blue is current progress) * [Investment holdings](https://i.imgur.com/qBOPizW.png) * [Cost basis vs. balance](https://i.imgur.com/sVP2yYy.png) * [FI Age Projections](https://i.imgur.com/oSW4AeU.png)

financialindependence

Very impressive. The only comment I have is: get that sleep apnea taken care of asap. I know it's expensive and a hassle, but it's SO worth it. My SO has obstructive sleep apnea and while it cost us not a little money to pay for the studies and the CPAP machine, his life is completely different now. Depression is gone, lethargy is gone, he's lost 30 pounds because he has the energy to go jogging in the evenings, he's more productive at work, and wakes up like a Disney princess (he jumps up as soon as the alarm goes off and starts singing as he gets ready for work; it's really fucking annoying). Even if you aren't experiencing too many symptoms, you'll sleep a lot better and feel a lot better.

wlxb1n

Robinhood must face U.S. market manipulation claims over 'meme stock' rally, judge rules

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Stock trading platform Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) must face market manipulation claims over restrictions it placed on trading during last year's "meme stock" rally, a U.S. judge has ruled. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/robinhood-must-face-us-market-manipulation-claims-over-meme-stock-rally-judge-2022-08-11/

wallstreetbets

Wall street has always been a casino run by rumors. Jim Cramer even said when he started his career he spread rumors all the time. But when people make a conscious decision to purchase a stock together somehow its market manipulation.

tspozc

Base camp 1 done!

My wife and I have been on a journey to retire early with a debt-free income. It will allow us to live how we please with travel. We started by purchasing our first home at 20 years of age, and over the last decade, we built our real estate holdings to 3.4M in total holdings with 1.2M in equity today in a well-known large, suburban area, with a moderate cost of living (my wife was born here and wants to raise our three young children here, too). By no means is it a very low cost of living in a rural area nor high cost like the Bay Area. Our debt-free income will equal 12k per month in today’s dollars. I have spent the last few weeks building out an excel model that includes a debt snowball for mortgage pay down. We have calculated that in just over 13 years, (age 48) we will be able to retire on 120k/year in today’s dollars and have no debt. This is barring any economic risk causing delays to our plan such as catastrophic health emergencies, etc. My wife and I both feel like we can finally breathe. We started our lives without heat in the winters and are now at a stage where we can focus on things other than retirement. No credit cards nor car loans were ever taken out no matter how much it hurt in hard times. It’s such a huge accomplishment that I can’t share with the people close to us. (Keep your investment accomplishments close to your chest! You will have a target on your back if others know.) I had to get it off my chest but can’t share with anyone who knows me personally. Hopefully, no one here considers this bragging. It is not meant to be. We have sacrificed much to get to this point and are so excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve been extremely frugal in all our lives - buying second hand clothing, limiting vacations to long weekends, and making asset purchases instead of liabilities for big gifts. I called this “Base Camp One” because of the analogy to Mt. Everest. There are two more levels much higher before the peak! I’m happy to answer any questions for how we got here. I’m a real estate broker and former financial advisor (series 7&66). Edited for clarification, punctuation, spelling, and grammar.

financialindependence

You must have had a pretty high paying job to start with at 20, and you would have had to have a lot of luck. Your real estate portfolio would have had to grow on average of about 226k per year, for the past 15 years. That is a LOT.

6wcvuw

Every fee calculation algorithm in every wallet is fundamentally broken! This needs to be fixed yesterday! It's the main reason for the insane fees!

Why do we still have these insane high fee levels on a Sunday when you get a confirmation in the very next block for less than 30 cents?! The reason are very likely these faulty fee calculation algos. Its not bitcoins fault when people overpay several 100% and raise the fee level for everyone else in the process! If the algos are difficult to fix (I know, predicting the future is not easy) or there is still no good way to do it for now, **at least offer custom fees and cheaper low priority options!** Even Samourai wallet asks me to pay 250 sat/byte as lowest possible option on a fucking Sunday when 30 sat/byte gets you a confirmation in the very next block! Holy crap! that's overpaying 800% !!! It's the same with literally _every_ wallet out there!

Bitcoin

Fee estimation is fundamentally flawed, this is a better way of doing things that wallets should adopt: https://medium.com/@bramcohen/how-wallets-can-handle-transaction-fees-ff5d020d14fb (Or maybe they can do a mixture of both)

o8m37r

I'm fucking JACKED about GameStop selling Board Games, but how about some love for D&D?

Dungeons and Dragons is one of the OG games, a marvelous way to explore our own creativity and personalities, it made a big difference in my household over multiple generations. I would love to see my favorite store on the Citadel (GameStop) stocked to the tits with the full range of D&D books for players and DMs, high quality dice, and minis (WE DROP MORTGAGES ON THESE) ARE YOU YOU GUYS PICKING UP WHAT IM PUTTING DOWN? I LIKE TO SLAY DRAGONS WITH MY **DIAMOND** HANDS AND SLAM ELF PUSS.

Superstonk

Can't begin to explain how much I love playing D&D. Couple of expansions on your original idea OP: 1. If GameStop is truly headed down the experience route for their stores, such as gaming stations etc, hire in some Dungeon Masters to host one shot sessions, like a birthday party experience type thing. Or a 'dungeon diving expert' who can help with D&D (and the other table top games that I'm less/not familiar with) for things like character optimisation, or campaign planning for DMs, etc. 2. Look at the custom miniatures market, absolutely huge aspect of D&D, with the likes of Hero Forge etc. Since players make their own characters, they want the figures that are unique to them, and if they're particularly prone to dying or swapping characters during campaigns, they're likely to need several each game. With 3D printing this is even something that could be done in store. Maybe something along the lines of design online and print at your nearest/most convenient store, or get shipped from the website.

pilllf

My thoughts on the upcoming earnings report this Wednesday, September 8. Bullish AF

I was thinking about what will happen with the upcoming earning report this Wednesday, September 8. Does GME go down like it did twice before or does it go up??? Then I had an AHA moment. Eight days after the March 23 earnings report, GameStop issued 3.5 million shares to raise money to pay of the outstanding debt. We all know GameStop price took a hit and bottomed at $132 six days later. Then, GameStop issued 5 million shares on June 9, 2021 to strengthen its balance sheet, adding over a $1.2 billion to it's bottom line. GameStop price took another hit yet bottomed at $145.22 on August 8, 2021. Despite a larger share offering the second time around, GameStop put in a HIGHER low. This is bullish to me because GameStop share price held up very well despite a larger second share offering. This is in combination with the manipulation Kenny and Co. has been doing all along. Furthermore, I don't see a reason why GameStop will need to issue more shares with this upcoming shareholders meeting. The debt is already paid off and GameStop has more than enough cash to grow the company. I'm just a smooth brained ape that loves eating green crayons. Not financial advice. TL; DR: GameStop put in a higher low ($145.22) after the 5 million share offering vs. the 3.5 million share offering resulting in a low of $132. I don't anticipate another share offering during the upcoming earnings report. Bullish GME.

Superstonk

I think it is worth mentioning that even if more shares were released, it would pale in comparison to the theoretical short position that has been collectively taken on GME. If you know, you know. We all would like the MOASS to happen soon. Today. Right meow. However, it is not the end of the world if an ATM share offering is announced ***along with*** forward-looking and value-building statements. ***Along with*** net positive earnings per share (EPS) for the last four quarters (I believe the number is at least -.35 eps). MOASS is inevitable. I am anticipating forward-looking statements from GameStop in this earnings report. NFT Dividend? Not sure. However, if I was building an NFT marketplace and wanted to draw attention to it, I would give out an NFT in an effort to ***delight*** *my valued customers* and investors. 1 for every 10 shares. 7.2m NFTs tossed into the synthetic share abyss. Chum for both your rabid investors and FOMO. If that doesn't happen...I guess we will just buy more and hodl. Fug it. lmayo Hedgies r Fukd. Whale Teeth for MOASS.

rgidwe

CoinMarketCap/TrustWallet price glitch - Discussion/Theories thread

I know everyone is having allot of fun seeing their portfolios being worth trillions and making many jokes in our daily discussion. But I'm actually intrigued by this, and I see no one talking or questioning what's actually going on. Are there possible exploits or (black swan) events that can emerge from this glitch? I'm genuinely curious if this is just a small bug on CoinMarketCap or if there's any reason behind this.. Anyone have a hunch? Could this have an effect on trading bots that use CMC as input data? Maybe someone hacked CMC to make this happen? And what the hell will happen when the bug gets fixed and the dust settles? Mega pump or mega dump..?

CryptoCurrency

here are some posts that will see in the future: * people panic selling what they had, only to realize that the got the correct amounts. * a poor bastard/app that used the CMC data as gospel, and now its completely fucked. * anti crypto media milking the shit out of this. edit: added a 3rd one.

o477u3

Is GME a squeeze play or a value play? YES

It‘s BOTH. For the new apes and the veteran apes who may have forgotten: - Shorts haven‘t covered. MOASS is still on. All the data analysis makes that clear. Buy and hold is a winning strategy - Most apes intend to either hold on to a portion of their shares AKA Infinity Pool - OR buy back in when the squeeze has squoze (juicy dips). **Because** based on fundamentals and turnaround strategy, DD apes have valued a modernized Gamestop at 600-1000 USD per share. I won‘t go and list all the arguments again, y‘all know what I‘m talking about. Also the rest of the stock market is sus AF and many apes don‘t want to be pawns in institutional investor‘s pump and dump games anymore. This is not financial advice and I am not a financial advisor. Make your investment decisions based on your own research and don‘t listen to Crayon eating apes on reddit.

Superstonk

Well that was when it was only becoming an E-Commerce. Now they are becoming a Tech Company. Short Story this stock has Deep F'n Value even today priced at $220. Edit: Not Financial Advice. I just like the stock.

nn8yhz

PSA, if you're clicking on and sharing bitcoin fud articles, you're part of the problem.

Literally, the only reasons hack "journalists" keep writing fud articles is because of the click traffic their shitty reporting receives. Stopping this trend is even easier than voting with your wallet, simply stop clicking on bunk, fud articles. Edit. This post is not directed at bitcoin price as a few people have misinterpreted it of being, I don't think fud affects bitcoins price as much as people think it does as every bull run in the past has always been riddled with fud much worse than this, bitcoin is doing exactly what it always does and is having a mid bull run shake out. To clarify, I'm tired of the internet being flooded with click bait articles and poorly researched articles for the sake of browser traffic.

Bitcoin

Don't ignore the FUD, there may be some truth to it. Examine EVERYTHING you read closely and use facts, your common sense and better judgement to discover the truth (or atleast what you think is truthful, sometimes it's hard to know for sure). Doubt both sides of the extreme, the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Don't let your emotions get the best of you. Bitcoin doesn't care how you feel.

5uhp1i

What's the difference between posters on here and the rest of Reddit.

Wanted to start a discussion about the state of economy and the way it is represented on Reddit, don't know if it is allowed though. So obviously this sub self-selects for highly intelligent high-achieving people. All the younger people on here seem to have their shit together, earn well, and have a great future ahead of them. Yet on the rest of Reddit, most of the comments you see about jobs, income, are about how people are living hand to mouth while still earning a decent income(40, 50K), or having a tough time finding any jobs at all. Listening to those comments one would think that the United States is about to collapse and everyone lives horrible lives. I guess as a lost millennial my question is what is the truth, is financial independence possible for anyone with a little guile and intelligence, or are things as bad as the rest of Reddit make them out to be??

financialindependence

"is financial independence possible for anyone with a little guile and intelligence, or are things as bad as the rest of Reddit make them out to be??" Yes, it is possible for anyone with a little guile and intelligence. But really, I would say more-so it is possible for anyone with discipline. No, things aren't as bad as the rest of Reddit makes it out to be. The sky isn't falling, and we are still surrounded by opportunity.

d8pswc

Tesla drops 6.7% on lawsuit allegations and vehicle sales drop at rival Nio

Lawsuit information: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/tesla-solarcity-claims-detailed-in-newly-unsealed-court-docs.html Nio's mess: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nio-results-stock/tesla-rival-nio-tumbles-to-record-low-after-deliveries-disappoint-idUSKBN1W91KI Big allegations in the lawsuit about information being withheld from E&Y, Musk's involvement in the merger despite recusing himself. Some of the big ones being: - E&Y determined SolarCity was insolvent shortly after Tesla acquired it - Evercore refused to issue an opinion to Tesla on acquiring the company in the first place as their advisor on the deal - Lazard who was hired by SolarCity to analyze other options could not locate anyone else interested in buying the company at all. Tesla has refuted the allegations as untrue and the case hasn't gone to trial yet for them to demonstrate otherwise at this point. Nio has been facing a lot of trouble lately and the most recent headline is a significant drop in electrical vehicle sales in China as subsidies have been rolled back. Tesla is in the process of completing it's third Gigafactory in China and forecasting substantial demand for domestically produced EVs in the market.

investing

Also, I was saying that the Solar City purchase was a bailout when it happened but the fanbase was going on and on about how wonderful it was and "MUH SOLAR ROOF." The whole purchase could be a total scam and Tesla could lose and its fanbase would still be rabid apologists for Musk. It's really amazing, from the way that they talk about his businesses, you would think it's just one person (Elon) doing absolutely everything. Perhaps because I've never heard Elon ever in a speech give credit to anyone else. There's a great episode of "The Grand Tour" where they show off Nio's car and the lap around the track ends and....a team of people come out to swap the giant battery out of the car for a new one. It cuts back to the studio and Clarkson is just like, "wtf was that?"

17xnc1

Dell sells itself for $24.4B, $13.65 a share.

See [here:](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324900204578285582125381660.html) I didn't think it would go for so low. /u/shazoocow had [a great comment on this yesterday](http://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/17vnzc/is_dell_a_good_buy/c899rrn) Thoughts?

investing

Did I hear my name? My opinion remains that this is a really raw deal for shareholders and that any shareholder who agrees to this price would be crazy. I'll be voting no. $13.65 would be a good price to buy Dell shares with a long term outlook, not sell them. The company is seriously undervalued and obviously Michael and some other rich people agree wholeheartedly. I'm a recent shareholder so my complaint is that the opportunity to make money is being taken away from me. I think this company would have been worth $25-30 in 5-10 years time, and there was the new dividend on top of that. Down with the 1%. Occupy Dell! The buyout consortium is snapping up all of that likely future profit and I get virtually nothing out of it. I guess that's a pretty weak complaint. Long time shareholders ought to be livid, though. They lose money on the back of a long term decline in price, which is nobody's fault specifically, and they lose money on account of $40B+ of their cash having been actively and purposely spent on buybacks that are now rendered worthless. That's management's fault. Shareholders are getting killed by the buyout consortium here. Their money was spent in a way that will ultimately end up being almost directly siphoned off by a select few. That sort of direct transfer of wealth to the wealthy may not be illegal or even unscrupulous, but it was irresponsible and it's bad stewardship of shareholder cash. Long term shareholders have valid complaints. Nobody should be happy about this offer, IMO, except for Michael Dell and Silver Lake.

r1wgcg

One of the biggest mistakes the beginners make is only focusing on the short term & expecting profits every single day without any pull backs.

There are so many beginners who sell after a week or two of investing just because they had a few red days and just decided to give up on Crypto as a whole. Especially at this time in the market, people who are selling now will almost certainly regret it as we aren't even close to a bear market. You should always look at the bigger picture. Crypto, in its 12 year history has always recovered every crash no matter how big or small. You should never doubt your investment just because you had a bad day. Patience always rewards you in Crypto. This is exactly why long term Crypto investors hold through massive crashes no matter how big. TLDR: There will always be red days, but those days don't matter at all in the long term

CryptoCurrency

What separates new investors from seasoned investors is that one group sees red days and panic sells while the other uses it as a buying opportunity. It’s all about having faith in your investment in the long run.

udtyqm

Why I’m long on long read DNA sequencing ($PACB, LON:$ONT)

I work in the biotech field and want to lay out why the 2022 biotech sell-off has created an unparalleled opportunity to buy cheaply into technology leaders in a growing field. Specifically, I want to talk about two companies involved in DNA sequencing: the US-listed Pacific Biosciences ($PACB) and the UK-listed Oxford Nanopore Technologies (LON:$ONT). These are household names for people working in biotech but not widely known outside of the field. I will refer to them as PacBio and ONT in the main text below. **TL;DR:** PacBio and ONT are significantly undervalued leaders in long read DNA sequencing. Together they hold a duopoly in the long read sequencing market, with sizable technology-based moats that even the sequencing Goliath Illumina ($ILMN) with 80% market share has never been able to overcome. In the last 6 months, PacBio has lost 80% of its value and ONT has lost 45% of its value, providing excellent entry points. Bucking the stock price decline, in 2021, revenues grew 65% for PacBio and 94% for ONT as these companies scale up. Together PacBio and ONT own less than a 10% share of the DNA sequencing market, which is currently worth $5.8B. But both their market share as well as the total addressable market are likely to grow rapidly over the next ten years. Going long on PacBio and ONT therefore has a high probability of yielding a 10X return on investment. # What is DNA sequencing? For those who went to school before the Human Genome Project started in 1990 and those who forgot their high school biology, DNA sequencing is the process of reading out the nucleic acid sequence of a molecule of DNA. You know that stuff inside all of our cells which encodes our genetic blueprint. Importantly, this DNA is rich in valuable information. Some of the most important types of information we can extract from DNA sequence are: * genetic mutations that contribute to disease like cancer and other traits * genetic relationships to other sequences (i.e., who’s the father, or which kind of virus is this?) It’s useful to remember that roughly [half of common diseases](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1684https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1684), and [most rare diseases,](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6279436/) are heritable. For example, the risk of cystic fibrosis and breast cancer is well understood to be passed down from parents to their children. In cancer patients, different types of tumors also have different types of characteristic DNA mutations that can be [screened and diagnosed with DNA sequencing](https://humgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40246-019-0220-8). As we've probably all read in the last few years, DNA sequencing has also been crucial for tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV2 and its variants. The bottom line here is that DNA sequencing provides vital information for improving public health. Information that governments, insurance providers and hospitals are willing to pay good money for. For those outside of the world of biology, I cannot understate how fast biotechnology and precision medicine are developing and how fundamental DNA sequencing is for that. # What is the total addressable DNA sequencing market? The DNA sequencing market had a size of [$5.8B in 2021](https://investor.pacificbiosciences.com/events-and-presentations). Together with the development of precision healthcare and genetic surveillance of pathogens, this market is expected to grow at a fast clip. Though I don’t put much stock into exact predictions, some reports put the DNA sequencing market compound annual growth rate at [\>10% from 2020 to 2027](https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/dna-sequencing-market#:~:text=The%20global%20DNA%20sequencing%20market%20is%20expected%20to%20grow%20at,USD%2011.21%20billion%20by%202027). The key thesis here is that not too far in the future, it will become routine healthcare policy to sequence and securely store the DNA of most individuals in developed countries. On top of that, I and others expect that sending tumor biopsy samples for sequencing and surveilling wastewater and other environments by sequencing will become routine, greatly expanding the sequencing market. Because DNA sequencing is a fundamental step in lots of modern biotech labs, one way to view DNA sequencing companies is as a pick-and-shovel play on the biotech sector. PacBio estimates a [$40B+ total addressable market for DNA sequencing](https://investor.pacificbiosciences.com/static-files/9ee0d712-6974-4c44-83e9-5af75541add3) and I think that’s realistic considering today’s trends. # What’s the competitive landscape in DNA sequencing? DNA sequencing is not a crowded field, with only a handful of companies playing a significant role. One reason for this is that, similarly to the semiconductor industry, the sequencing industry has a high barrier to entry due to technological complexity. Illumina ($ILMN) remains the 600 pound gorilla in the DNA sequencing space with a market cap of 50B and [2021 revenues of $4.5B](https://investor.illumina.com/news/press-release-details/2022/Illumina-Reports-Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-Year-2021/default.aspx#:~:text=Fiscal%20year%202021%20consolidated%20results,%243%2C239%20million%20in%20fiscal%202020). This translates roughly to a market share of 80% based on the estimated size of the 2021 market. With revenues of [$130M for PacBio](https://www.pacb.com/press_releases/pacbio-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2021-financial-results-3/) and [$177M for ONT](https://nanoporetech.com/about-us/news/preliminary-results-year-ended-31-december-2021-guidance-update-0), these companies are the Davids to Illumina’s Goliath. Today, PacBio commands a market cap of only $1.5B and ONT is in a similar but more highly valued ballpark of $3.5B. Despite the fact that PacBio has been around since 2004 and ONT since 2005, they have not yet had a significant impact on Illumina’s dominance. There are a few other companies worth mentioning to get the full picture, though I consider them less important for this thesis. In China, MGI is a large sequencing provider that reverse engineered Illumina’s technology and remains banned from the US market and has not penetrated the European market. One of the biggest biotech instrument producers Thermofisher ($TMO) makes the IonTorrent DNA sequencer, but it’s not competitive on price or data quality so is rarely used. There are also two new US companies (Singular Genomics $OMIC and the private Elements Biosciences) that will be launching sequencing instruments similar to Illumina’s in the next year or so. For those interested in more details, Keith Robinson is a scientist with a [great blog](http://omicsomics.blogspot.com/) on these and other sequencing technologies. # Why do we need long reads from PACB and ONT? When comparing sequencing technologies, the three main quality metrics we care about are sequence length (measured in bases), sequence accuracy and the cost per sequenced base. The longer, the more accurate, and the cheaper a sequence is, the better. I should state here that fundamentally, Illumina, PacBio and ONT use completely distinct sequencing technologies, each with some individual advantages. What makes PacBio and ONT unique compared to all the other sequencing companies is their *long reads*. All other technologies are based on *short reads*. As someone who has worked a lot with sequencing data, I can tell you that here size matters. Without getting too technical, DNA sequences from Illumina and the other sequencing companies are usually 50-500 bases in length while PacBio gives lengths around 10,000 bases and ONT comes packing 10,000-30,000 bases (sometimes up to several million bases). But why do we care about the sequence length, you ask? Well imagine the DNA sequences are pieces of a puzzle. The difference in getting answers from long read sequencing data and short read sequencing data is like the difference between putting together a 10 piece puzzle and a 100 piece puzzle. Not only that, the short read puzzle is usually missing 10% of its pieces. The reasons for this are technical and related to long stretches of repetitive sequence that make it hard to get the whole picture with short reads. There are notable exceptions where long reads are not needed, including liquid biopsy where we are sequencing short fragments of cancer DNA often less than 200 bases in length. But what matters is that for most applications, when using Illumina data, there’s a moderate amount (perhaps [roughly 25%](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929722000659)) of genetic variation that remains hidden. Some of this hidden variation can cause disease. For example, Evan Eichler, a well-known scientist at the University of Washington, emphasized in a recent article that 34% of all disease-causing variation is made up of variants that are [larger than a single base change](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6681822/), which are more difficult to detect with short reads. We can conclude that long reads offer critical advantages over short reads in clinical and other applications. # How cost-competitive are long reads? The extra length of ONT and PacBio does come at a cost. The key cost metric is the price of a human genome (typically at 30x coverage, which means you sequence each base 30 times on average to make sure you don’t miss anything). Cost estimates can vary widely but sequencing expert [Albert Villela](https://twitter.com/AlbertVilella) has put together [a public tabular comparison of different providers](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GMMfhyLK0-q8XkIo3YxlWaZA5vVMuhU1kg41g4xLkXc/edit?hl=en_GB&hl=en_GB#gid=1569422585), from which I extracted some ballpark ranges. |*Sequencing provider*|*Cost per human genome*| |:-|:-| |Illumina/MGI|$1,000-$6,000| |ONT|$2,000-$6,000| |PacBio|$5,000-$40,000| Although I have to stress that cost estimates vary a lot, clearly Illumina has a lead on cost. However, if we are making clinical decisions affecting people’s health, arguably we healthcare providers may pay a premium to make sure they get the most complete possible information. On top of this, the cost of ONT and PacBio have come down considerably in the last few years and their pace of innovation here has outstripped Illumina. ONT actually reported in their 2021 annual results that they can already generate [a $345 human genome](https://nanoporetech.com/sites/default/files/s3/investors/reports/ONT%20FY21%20Results%20Presentation%20FINAL%2022.3.22.pdf) and are developing a system to go as low as $235, which would be groundbreaking if this translates to prices for users on the ground. I like to think of Illumina as similar to Intel: a long time market monopolist with juicy margins ([Illumina gross margin 69% for the last four years](https://ycharts.com/companies/ILMN/gross_profit_margin), nice) that has lost its innovative edge and kept iterating on the same short read sequencing technology. ONT has already come dangerously close in cost to Illumina, and has a real chance of becoming cheaper than Illumina in future. # Long read accuracy - still the Achilles heel? We need to now talk about sequence accuracy. What is this? Just like us humans, all sequencing methods make mistakes. These take the form of incorrect bases in the DNA sequence, like typos in a text. For many applications a few errors don’t matter, but when we care about detecting very specific genetic mutations related to disease, we want to avoid even a small number of errors. In the past, Illumina and others have downplayed the threat from long read sequencing by citing its lower sequence accuracy. And until recently it was uncommon to use PacBio or ONT data alone because you needed additional Illumina data to correct the mistakes in the long reads. In the last few years, this has changed as PacBio introduced high-fidelity HiFi reads and [ONT introduced its latest Kit 14 chemistry and duplex sequencing](https://nanoporetech.com/sites/default/files/s3/investors/reports/ONT%20FY21%20Results%20Presentation%20FINAL%2022.3.22.pdf). Illumina no longer has a monopoly on accurate high-throughput reads as the table below shows and [a recent study](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.27.466057v2.full) nicely lays out. ​ |*Sequencing provider*|*Sequencing accuracy*| |:-|:-| |Illumina/MGI|99.9%| |ONT|95%-99.9%| |PacBio|98%-99.9%| All these error rates seem low, but remember when you sequence a human genome with 6.4 billion bases, a 99.9% error rate means 6.4 million errors. Even a 0.01% improvement is therefore a big deal. There is some fineprint to the table above and its based on manufacturer numbers and my own experience with the data and reading of the literature, but overall the three platforms are converging on [relatively similar error rates](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.27.466057v2.full]), undermining Illumina’s previous advantage. As a testament to this, short reads are no longer routinely used to supplement long reads in many published scientific studies. Interestingly, there is also a lot of interest from companies like Google to apply machine learning for improving sequencing accuracy. One study by Google and PacBio was able to [reduce errors by 42%](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.31.458403v1.full). These advances suggest to me that long reads can continue to make gains in accuracy and become the gold standard. # Beyond DNA sequence - detecting epigenetic modifiers Talking of machine learning, there is another neat feature of PacBio and ONT that I haven’t touched on: machine learning based epigenetic analysis. Bear with me. You may be aware that there is another layer on top of DNA sequence that can affect our genes, this is epigenetics. In practice it means there the DNA molecules get chemically modified, for example through the addition of a methyl group. When you slap a methyl group or some other modification on the DNA it can help turn genes on or off, making it important for some diseases and traits. Ok, biology lesson is over and I can get to the point. The data generated by PacBio and ONT actually allows [detection of DNA modifications like methylation](https://twitter.com/DRBFX/status/1517189018768883713). You get this information for free, together with the DNA sequence. All you need is the right machine learning algorithm and you can read off the epigenetics together with the genetics. Previously, the main way to study methylation was with a method called bisulfite sequencing that uses Illumina short reads and requires special sample preparation. It’s easier and just as, or more, accurate to do it with just PacBio or ONT. As an investor, epigenetics is particularly exciting because unlike genetics it changes for each person over time. A person‘s DNA only needs to be sequenced once, but we may want to track changes in methylation in different parts of the body over time once we understand the implications for health and aging. I hope that ka-ching sound is ringing for you too. Epigentics, like liquid biopsy for cancer and pathogen surveillance, means repeated revenue over time. Right now, there isn’t a huge market for epigenetic analysis and compared to the DNA sequence this is mostly a ‘nice to have’ but not key feature. But as we understand epigenetics better and demand picks up, this feature could fuel further growth for PacBio and ONT. # How ONT stands out One final advantage specific to ONT is its speed (measured as bases sequenced per hour) and the portability and flexibility of its instruments. ONT sequencing gives results in real-time and is generally faster than all the other technologies. A [recent study by Stanford scientists and Google](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2112090) showed that ONT can diagnose a patient by sequencing their genome in less than 8 hours. All other methods would take over a day to get the same results. Not all sequencing is time-critical, but in a clinical setting the speed of ONT gives it an edge. Incredibly, the ONT sequencing machines range in size from the dimension of a smartphone (MinIon) to a mini fridge (PromethION), while PacBio machines are fridge-sized and Illumina instrument sizes range from mini fridge to fridge. Finally, one recent ONT development that really blows my mind is their MinION Mk1D​, which combines [a MinION sequencer with an Apple iPad Pro](https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion-mk1d) so you can sequence on the go! This isn’t out yet and may never be a big seller, but I think it underlines how portable and exciting the ONT technology is. Although this point is more subtle, I also want to mention the extraordinary Read Until capability of ONT. This allows sequencing to stop when a target sequence (e.g. a specific disease-related mutation) is found and to reject non-target sequences before they get fully sequenced. If we consider the problem of finding a needle in a haystack, with PacBio and Illumina, you sequence every straw of hay and then look for the needle, whereas ONT can immediately discard straws until it finds the needle in real time, saving time and money. These unique advantages of ONT are the reason that I, [together with other scientists in a twitter poll](https://twitter.com/TJesse62/status/1509927475077394438), think that ONT sequencing will ultimately prevail over PacBio thanks to its longer reads, greater portability and lower cost. # Financial fundamentals and valuation Despite impressive 2021 yearly revenue growth of [65% for PacBio](https://www.pacb.com/press_releases/pacbio-announces-fourth-quarter-and-fiscal-year-2021-financial-results-3/#:~:text=Fiscal%20year%202021%20results,with%20%2434.3%20million%20in%202020) and [94% for ONT](https://nanoporetech.com/about-us/news/preliminary-results-year-ended-31-december-2021-guidance-update-0), both companies still have negative earnings per share, losing $181M and $213M in 2021 respectively. Profitability may still be years away, as the leadership of both companies advises. Still, as shown below these are high margin businesses and can become profitable with scale. |*Sequencing provider*|*Gross profit margins (2021)*| |:-|:-| |Illumina|69%| |ONT|55%| |PacBio|45%| Some good news is that in 2021 both companies secured additional cash to fuel their growth. PacBio raised money (via convertible senior notes) from Softbank and reported cash and equivalents of $1B in the last quarter and ONT raised money through an IPO and reported $0.8B. Now a word on valuation. Valuing unprofitable biotech companies based on financials is tough. With a price-to-sales ratio (2021 revenues divided by today’s market cap) of 12 for PacBio and 20 for ONT, the long read companies are comparable to Illumina that comes in at 12 but more expensive than a mature biotech company like Thermofisher at 5. Importantly though, these multiples are nothing crazy like the >50 price-to-sales ratios of biotech companies like Twist Biosciences ($TWST), BioNano ($BNGO) and even PacBio that we saw last year. Today PacBio is worth less than the $8/share that Illumina offered in its foiled [acquisition attempt in 2018](https://www.pacb.com/press_releases/illumina-to-acquire-pacific-biosciences-for-approximately-1-2-billion-broadening-access-to-long-read-sequencing-and-accelerating-scientific-discovery/) and ONT is worth much less than the [$5.4/share IPO price](https://www.reuters.com/business/oxford-nanopore-eyes-47-billion-market-value-london-debut-2021-09-30/). These are unprofitable biotech companies in the early stages of growth. It’s likely that this factor alone is the main reason these companies have been sold off (or sold short) as fears of inflation and recession swirl. For long-term investors, this presents a considerable opportunity. # Company leadership I don’t have many particular thoughts on the ONT and PacBio leadership, but my overall impression based on company performance, interviews and Glassdoor reports is relatively positive. ONT has been led by its co-founder Gordon Sanghera, Ph.D. since 2005. The consistency and the scientific experience of the leadership here is a benefit for me. I think Dr Sanghera has substantial skin in the game and will execute on the long term vision for the company. He also holds anti-takeover shares to help ensure ONT can fulfill its potential rather than be gobbled up by a company like Illumina or Thermofisher. PacBio’s CEO Christian Henry has an MBA background and was a long-time Illumina executive before taking the job at PacBio in 2020. He brought along a number of other Illumina employees to pick up key roles at PacBio. I think Mr Henry has made some aggressive moves, like acquiring short read sequencing company Omniome and sample preparation firm Circulomics. I’m particularly hoping that the Illumina experience of the new PacBio leadership will help them to get their technology out there and drive sales, which is what Illumina excels at. # Risks Any savvy investor will realize that investing in unprofitable biotech companies is considerably more risky than a global market ETF. For PacBio and ONT specifically, there are several risks that could lead to a decline in the stock price. The main long-term risk is competition. Illumina is aiming to provide their own [synthetic long read sequencing technology](https://www.illumina.com/science/technology/next-generation-sequencing/long-read-sequencing.html). While this has been touted by some stock analysts, I share the [skepticism of other scientists about Illumina’s technology](http://omicsomics.blogspot.com/2022/01/illumina-teases-two-glittering-enigmas.html), which relies on stitching together short reads. A more realistic threat may be that Illumina drops their short read prices since they can no longer compete on sequence accuracy or length. This could take some sales from long read companies, but for many applications the benefits of true long reads are essential. PacBio and ONT are also direct competitors and it’s likely that one of them will emerge as a winner sooner or later. I’m hedging against this by holding both. My personal assessment is that currently PacBio has a more 'production-level' product and better customer service but ONT has the superior technology. A short-term risk is that macro headwinds further depress prices of growth stocks in 2022. A potential hedge against this is to spread out investments over this year. Although I may well be wrong, I personally think we are close to the bottom on biotech stocks based on reasonable valuation multiples and continued growth in the face of supply chain issues and other headwinds. Finally, both companies have high institutional ownership. ARK Genomics is the biggest PacBio shareholder with 10% ownership and the IP Group owns 14% of ONT. I don’t see a major long-term risk in this, but ARK and IP Group could eventually decide to dump their stock. Some might also see the high institutional ownership in both companies as a vote of confidence. For instance, Oracle bought a $190M stake in ONT last year and Tencent was also an early investor. All this is good to know, but overall the ownership of PacBio and ONT doesn’t impact my investment decisions in either direction. # Conclusion PacBio and ONT have unique industry-leading technology and are poised for rapid growth in the expanding market of DNA sequencing. With a total addressable market estimated at $40B and combined 2021 revenues of $300M, PacBio and ONT have lots of room to aggressively grow their market share against incumbent Illumina. Long reads are becoming longer, cheaper, and more accurate and provide fundamentally more useful information than Illumina’s short reads that currently dominate the market. My long-term thesis is that long read sequencing technology won’t entirely displace short reads, but will increase its market share tenfold or more in the long term. The 2022 biotech sell-off has provided an attractive entry point to initiate a long position. And that’s why I’m going long on long reads. *Disclaimer: I’ve allocated 8% of my portfolio to ONT and 5% to PacBio. I aim to hold over 10 years, rebalancing if changes in technology or valuations justify it. Do your own DD and let me know your thoughts.*

investing

Awesome post OP! I also work in biotech and rely on short read sequencing for my research. One comment is that while Illumina SBS methods may eventually be less accurate than long read sequencing, it will still be difficult for clinical laboratories to switch over to newer and improved technologies. Its difficult to justify changing diagnostic methods unless the benefit makes a significant impact on results, and even then it would take a lot of resources and time to switch, and for many the cost/benefit analysis might not favor it. However, if long read sequencing technology is implemented early for some diagnostic methods, then this would favor its continued use over short reads.

7ecfab

To all the new arrivals here, welcome to r/stockmarket!

Hello there investors and traders! Welcome to r/stockmarket! We have had a big influx of new arrivals in the sub over the past few weeks, so I thought it would be good to have a little refresher on the direction and goals of this most glorious of subreddits! History: I used to be an extremely active daytrader, when I discovered reddit, r/investing was the sub I went to immediately. I posted a lot of daytrading and short term content, like technical analysis, which as you can guess, got crapped on by all the long term investors. ;) In order to silence my heresy, the old mods of r/investing made me a mod there, thus making me have to respect their rules and stop posting my silly daytrading ideas. I started posting in here as I saw enough room to have both short and long term material on that little website called reddit. I am not a very active trader anymore, I have shifted into more long term strategy, but I do see r/stockmarket continue to be a place where both long term investing and short trading ideas can shared. You all see u/bigbear0083 post a lot of material every week, he has been doing an amazing job at keeping great content on the front page, thank you from all of us! I speak to him and u/WittilyFun fairly often. The mods here may not post as much as the most active members, but they are always busy behind the scenes! Thank you for the hard work mods! We all appreciate it! The mods and I ask you all to help monitor the quality of the posts being made, and help direct new arrivals in the right direction. On the topic of new arrivals, I really want to see the community here reach out and help the countless newbies that arrive here every day. I know some of the questions sounds stupid to many of you, but remember, we were all new at some point! It can get repetitive, but if you see a newbie question, instead of downvoting it away, please try give them a useful answer. Many of the new arrivals are scared to ask questions that they have not been able to find suitable answers for on their own. Your help can make a big difference in getting a new investor or trader on the right path! Give them 10sec of your time to get them going in the right direction, those 10sec you spared can lead to years of profitable involvement in the markets! Spam and lazy posts: As we grow, we are all seeing more spammy and lazy posts here. Spam is obvious most of the time, if you see a post with a link leading to some suspicious blog, its most likely spam. Simply report it as such and a mod will come along to take care of it. Lazy posts are on the rise! A lazy post is either just a link to an external site with no comment, or a self post with nothing but a title and then a link to some other site, with no other commentary or content. If you are taking the time to post something here that others will find interesting, please be sure to explain why in the post before tossing in the link to an external site! I have seen a few people post to their own youtube channels, personally I do not mind as long as the topic of the video is relevant. I for one will happily support individuals who are creating worthy content, as long as no subscription or fee is required to access that content. Again, a warm welcome to all the new arrivals! Please feel free to give some suggestions below about how we can further improve r/stockmarket!

StockMarket

Hi All - proud to be a mod here. In terms of background - I've been a trader at a bank, and joined a hedge fund as the first employee and we did well. My style is quantitative and portion of discretion. I then left the fund and took some time to find myself, did, and now I do a lot of work in FinTech. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding basic investing to advanced strategies. I'll try my best to answer! My hope is that I can bring an institutional perspective on some of the nuances.

7zh95a

Snapchat

A redesign of Snapchat (SNAP -7.3%) is continuing to pile up negativity, and longtime bear MoffettNathanson reiterated a Sell rating on Snap with an eye to what it says is 45% downside.

StockMarket

Honestly. SNAP is a buy before earnings, but not until earnings. This new update is perfect for their stock. No one is deleting SNAP before their next earnings and no one has stopped using it day to day, overall their revenue is going to rise.

xcn56h

high yield savings banks? online?

hi, i was looking to put some money into a high yield interest savings account. i am usually a brick and mortar bank user, but i see online savings is giving 2% interest on a savings account?whereas all my brick and mortar institutions are .5% are the online options like CIT, SOFI, Ally, Lending club, safe? FDIC insured? have people had good or bad experiences? can you recommend? thank you! [https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts](https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts)

investing

I switched everything to SoFi so that’s all I can speak on but it’s pretty great at long as you link direct deposit. I use it for checking and savings. If you have good credit they offer a 2% cash back credit card on all purchases as long as you redeem them in your sofi account. I’m loving it so far.

unmtwn

What the Fed is really trying to fix

Let’s get right down to it. We know that the Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates (market expects rate to be at about 3% by year end) and it will trim its almost $9 trillion balance sheet. This balance sheet includes $2.7 trillion in mortgage backed securities (MBS). There are proposals to sell $30 billion in US treasuries and $20 billion in MBS per month. The official narrative to this massive tightening of fiscal policy this year is to quell inflation. For context, Jan CPI was 7.5%, Feb was 7.9%, March was 8.5%, and today’s print for April came in at 8.3%. These are historically high inflation rates. But I suspect the Federal Reserve isn’t actually targeting inflation. They are much more worried about something else. This is why. Inflation is a function of supply and demand. The Fed with their fiscal policy has decent but also blunt control over demand. It doesn’t have as much control over supply. Especially in this macroenvironment where supply is constricted by a war and pandemic lockdowns halfway across the world. Interest rate hikes and balance sheet runoff will not bring peace to Ukraine, nor will it slow spread of COVID in Shanghai. In addition, we already see aggregate demand in a really bad spot, with GDP showing a rare 1.4% decline last quarter. Demand is pretty dead. Peloton is down 92.5%. People aren’t in the mood of buying. So if the demand is already low, and Fed can’t control supply chain issues, how do they fix inflation with interest rate hikes and balance sheet sell off? Answer is they can’t. CPI inflation is not what they care about. Rather, the Fed is super worried about the housing market. We already see that the housing market price trends are significantly higher than the past decade’s upwards trend and I reckon the Fed is really worried about any sort of deleveraging in the housing market. Since about 26% of household wealth is tied to mortgages, if we start seeing foreclosures, significant household wealth will just vanish which will be deadly for the US economy. Although cooling the housing market means pulling back the stock market, it’s a lesser evil since stocks are not usually purchased on leverage, while houses are typically always bought with leverage by majority of US pop. Interest rate hikes and MBS sell off might not have much impact on inflation in this macroenvironment but they directly pare back home prices, and that’s where we think the Fed is targeting.

investing

Rising interest rates will deflate housing prices. Not because people will default causing supply to increasing (although some with variable rate mortgages may default when their payments go up). Most people will have fixed payments, so rising interest rates won’t affect their existing mortgage. Prices will go down because the payment new homebuyers can afford will not be able to buy as much. - A $2,000/m payment on a 30yr at 4% affords a loan of about $420,000. - A $2,000/m payment on a 30yr at 10% affords a loan of about $230,000. Same monthly payment, much smaller loan. These high home valuations cannot be supported.

wc6ft2

Zero downtime, no forking, 4.4 second deterministic finality, 26M addresses, 1.4k+ nodes, carbon negative, $0.0004 transaction fees, post quantum secure. FIFA Technical partner, Nigeria Partner, El Salvador Partner, Central Bank of Italy Partner, ISDA Member, ISO20022 Compliant. Algorand is grand.

Algorand Metrics: [metrics.Algorand.org](https://metrics.Algorand.org) Algorand's unique and novel 1/1 blockchain design called Pure-Proof of Stake(PPoS) allows for decentralization, scalability, and security. Here is a break down of what exactly Pure Proof of Stake is and why it is unique: https://preview.redd.it/dx1ea20cire91.jpg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=395b52cbfa4f77534ad7a6ccc8b4d5a06a51fe46 * **Block Proposal:** Accounts propose new blocks to the network * **Soft Vote:** Committee votes on proposals and filters down to one * **Certify Vote:** Separate committee votes to certify the block * **Each node receives a certificate for the block and writes it to the ledger** * **New round is initiated and process starts over with new block proposers and voters** The Algorand blockchain uses a decentralized Byzantine agreement protocol based on pure proof-of-stake (PPoS). It can tolerate an arbitrary number of malicious users as long as honest users (those that follow the instructions of the protocol) hold more than two-thirds of the total stake in the system. The following is a brief overview of the Algorand protocol. ## Protocol Participation In Algorand, every online user who possesses algos can participate in the consensus protocol. To reduce exposure, users do not use their spending keys (i.e., the keys they use to spend stake) for consensus. Instead, a user who wishes to participate in the protocol generates and registers a participation key. With this key, an account can participate in proposing and voting on blocks. Using participation keys ensures that a user's algos are secure even if their participating node is compromised. #### Self-Selection via Verifiable Random Function Every block in Algorand reveals a new random and unpredictable selection seed that determines which users should participate in the next round of the consensus protocol. When a new block gets committed to the blockchain, everyone becomes aware of this seed (and everyone sees the same seed). A user secretly checks whether they were selected to participate by evaluating a Verifiable Random Function (VRF) with their secret participation key and the selection seed. This computation is minimal, so even a limited device such as a Raspberry Pi can do it. The VRF computation produces a pseudorandom output with a cryptographic proof that anyone can use to verify the result. By sending this proof, a user can prove to anyone that they were indeed selected to participate. #### Pure Proof-of-Stake What makes this protocol pure proof-of-stake is the fact that users are chosen to participate in the protocol based on the stake (number of algos) that they have. The VRF behaves similarly to a weighted lottery; it is as if every algo in an account gets its own lottery ticket. The more algos in an online account, the better chance the account has of being selected to participate. #### User Replaceability The selection of users to participate in the certification of blocks using the VRF is done randomly and secretly, without any communication among the users. Since executing this procedure requires a user’s private key, no one except for that user knows whether they were selected. An adversary does not know who matters in generating the next block (and thus should be targeted) until after a selected user participates in the consensus protocol. And by the time an adversary realizes that a user is selected, it is too late for them to benefit from an attack; the user has already sent their message and fulfilled their responsibility in the consensus protocol. Furthermore, for each step of the protocol a unique subset of participants is randomly and privately selected, independent of earlier subsets. #### Achieving Consensus Consensus refers to the way blocks are selected and written to the blockchain. Algorand uses the VRF described above to select accounts to propose blocks for a given round. When a block is proposed to the blockchain, a committee of voters is selected to vote on the block proposal. If a super majority of the votes are from honest participants, the block can be certified. Consensus requires three steps to propose, confirm, and write a block to the blockchain: 1) propose, 2) soft vote, and 3) certify vote. Each is described below, assuming the ideal case when there are no malicious users and the network is not partitioned (i.e., none of the network is down due to technical issues or from DoS attacks). #### Block Proposal In the block proposal step, accounts are selected to propose new blocks to the network. This phase starts with every node in the network looping through each of the accounts that it manages and, for each account that is online and participating, running Algorand’s VRF to determine if the account is selected to propose the block. Once an account is selected, each node propagates its proposed block along with the VRF output, which proves that the account is a valid proposer. Each node in the network will get block proposals from other nodes, and then validate the VRF output for these proposals. #### Soft Vote Next, each node will run the VRF for every participating account it manages to see if they have been chosen to participate in the soft vote committee. If an account is chosen, it will have a weighted vote based on the number of algos it has. Each account chosen will filter the proposals down to one by voting to confirm the block. These votes will be for the lowest VRF block proposal calculated at the timeout and will be sent out to the other nodes along with the VRF proof. Each node will validate the committee membership VRF proof before adding to the vote tally. Once a quorum is reached for the soft vote, the process moves to the certify vote step. #### Certify Vote A new committee is then selected to check the block proposal that was voted on in the soft vote phase for overspending, double-spending, or any other problems. If valid, the committee votes again to certify the block. This is done in a similar manner to the soft vote where each node iterates through its managed accounts to select a committee and to send votes. These votes are collected and validated by each node until a quorum is reached, triggering an end to the round and prompting the node to create a certificate for the block and write it to the ledger. At that point, a new round is initiated and the process starts over. ​ https://preview.redd.it/oteo2v9iire91.jpg?width=1282&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f54b0c63e767bb05c72b4a7f9d93cfc047a1eff # People tend to unfairly criticize Algorand's tokenomics so here is an exact break down: * **10 Billion MAX SUPPLY (There will never be more).** * **7 Billion ALREADY IN CIRCULATION (70% are already owned).** * **3 Billion left to be released, the only way to obtain them is via Governance until 2030.** * **Yearly inflation is around 3.7% until 2030, when Algorand will become deflationary.** Links: * [Algo Supply](https://www.algorand.foundation/general-faq) * [Tokenomics](https://www.algorand.foundation/tokenomics) * [Transparency Reports](https://www.algorand.foundation/transparency) ​ If you're interested in participating in Governance, the next period sign up opens October 1st: [algorand.foundation/governance](https://algorand.foundation/governance)

CryptoCurrency

When using [a practical metric for smart contract TPS](https://medium.com/dragonfly-research/the-amm-test-a-no-bs-look-at-l1-performance-4c8c2129d581) comparisons, it is clear that a lot of the layer-1 smart contract platforms are not as "far ahead" as they like they advertise... Algorand is already on par with the likes of the frontrunners Solana and Avalanche in this regard. After the 6k TPS upgrade this summer, Algorand will have 5x the throughput of the competitors with much faster times to finality (instant for transactions and 4.5 s per block).

p4d4zh

Which stocks at least 50% off their 52 week highs do you think will perform the best long term?

While the stock market indices have been hitting highs week after week several stocks have had major drawdowns since Jan-February of this year or even from last summer. Which do you think will perform the best over the coming years?

stocks

My best bets on this would be TDOC, APPN, and ATY. Not quite off 50% but I’ve been keeping a very close eye on GH as well. APPN is the only one I’m not totally sure about but the others are easy doubles. ATY and GH are absolute multi baggers. Good luck to all

tgma0a

That call was freaking amazing and I’m gonna tell you why. 💎 🙌🏻 🦍 🚀 🌙

Why the f### would I forget game stop? Number 1) GME sales went up $1BN. Game stop sold an extra billion worth of product in 2021. Up from $5BN the year before. Number 2) they paid off all the debt - they have a small French gov loan ($44.5m) to do with covid. But game stop has virtually no debt - Number 3) they have almost $1bn in inventory and $1.27bn in cash. That’s about $2.27bn in assets right there - at a current mkt cap of $7.5bn gme is about 30pct straight cash and merchandise. For everyone share you buy - about $27 of it, is merchandise or cash, currently - Number 4) they started to announce their plans - this is the biggest - spoke about the old board, the new board- the changes they are making… and they are revealing their plan finally… Number 5) they spoke about the people they hired… Number 6) they said the nft exchange should be finished in EDIT by July* see comments - Number 7) drs is at 8.9 million shares Number 8) they mention the immutable x partnership with a possible $150m token investment - which looks probable - So Hedgies smashed it down $8 at 4pm. Who cares - RC and company now have one of the healthiest companies on wall st - Everyone else is drowning in debt and while these numbers are not $100bn - gme is real - they don’t issue debt then buy their shares- this company is true and real - Furlong even made a point to say how shit the global back drop is - it was a sneaky line at the end - but gme is hot for the macro global environment - even in recession kids will still game- I think that the street is going to wake up soon - and im jacked and excited about the call. Remember - even tho you knew all 8 points - the street didn’t - but they do now - This company is not going out of business - shorts must close. The best part of all of this is how much cash and merchandise you get with the stock purchase - seriously like $27 a share is cash and merchandise/ they are giving the stock away - shorts are screwed -

Superstonk

Thank you. Everyone’s getting way too lost on their failed hopium and is missing the forest for the trees. It’s incredibly bullish, particularly in light of the absolute wreck the global economy will have for the next few years. Even the titan of Wall Street, “Apfel”, can’t sell phones and overpriced hardware when Foxconn is closed or can’t get supplies and their hardware costs everyone $1000 no one will have when the one they already have still kinda works. Digital assets and gaming accessories are still desirable as economies tighten and people look to conserve expenditures while still out paying for smaller-factor entertainment.

pq4ypa

I’m 25 and I want to earn more on my savings.

Over the pandemic I realized how important it was to have an emergency fund or something to fall back on. I was able to successfully save 9.3K. It’s sitting in my savings account and I typically add about $200-300 weekly. My savings account is getting a sht interest rate though. 0.01% :/ I know there are CD options but I want my money available for emergencies and the rates on CD’s are terrible too? I don’t come from a financially literate upbringing at all and this is actually the most money I’ve ever saved. I want a better future for me financially than what I’ve been shown. Final edit: WOW! I wish I could thank everyone individually! Before posting this question I hadn’t really thought about my retirement funds :/ I’ve successfully budgeted 4 months emergency savings. The remaining is going to be SPLIT between a HYS and ROTH IRA. I’m going to continue to add $200-300 a week for the time being. When I get a better job (or finish school, which ever comes first in the next 2 years) I will be coming back to this very thread for investment advice, mutual funds, ETF etc. These are all things I’m very interested in but right now my income is too limited to take the risks. Seriously thanks to everyone that commented and I hope this thread ends up helping another twenty something that wants to be financially literate.

personalfinance

You can use a high-interest savings account to bring it to ~0.5% APY. Still totally safe and liquid. After you have your emergency fund, start to consider investment options - primarily 401k, Roth IRA.

3gpzfs

Investment Pro Tip: Stay the Course (Repost - seems like it's one of those times again)

Based on the number of posts in the last few days about declining portfolios, it seems that a lot of our new members in /r/personalfinance are finally getting a taste of real stock market volatility. As I write this, the S&P 500 is down about 20 points (-0.96%). The past few months has seen the S&P off about 5% from its high in May. Things like this simply happen every once in a while. Getting caught up in the hysteria is what separates good investors from bad. A list of things you *should* do on days like these include: * **Review your asset allocation.** If a 5% drop in the value of your portfolio has you shaking, imagine what a 2008-like bear market (-40 to -60%, give or take) will do for your nerves. * **Ignore the noise.** You can bet that roiling financial markets will absolutely explode on TV and certain corners of the interweb. Ignore the doom and gloom to the extent you can. You should give approximately zero shits about China's Yuan devaluation, Grexits, Alphabet/Google, Federal Reserve rate increases, or any other headlines that may or may not have major financial implications. * **Rebalance from bonds to stocks** if you haven't in a while. The past couple months' performance means that you may be off your target asset allocation by a significant amount, depending on your method of rebalancing and triggers for doing so. * **Keep things in perspective.** If you're investing correctly, either your time horizon is long or your asset allocation is one you're comfortable with. If you're young, even large market swings probably aren't going to matter that much when it comes time to retire (and this doesn't even count as a large market swing, yet). If you're older, your investments should be more conservative in the first place and hopefully you aren't as worried. * **Turn your worrying into something positive.** Instead of worrying about your investments, turn your fear into motivation for something positive, like improving your job performance (decreasing the likelihood of being laid off if things get *really* bad), reviewing your finances, or stocking your emergency fund. [Focus on what you can control](http://redd.it/2a2zn1). **Remember**, it is human to be averse to losing money, even if your losses are on paper. Smart investors *keep* those losses on paper. "Staying the course" is probably the most difficult aspect of successful investing. Use the market's recent performance as a barometer for how you'll perform in a true crisis, and make the necessary adjustments before it's too late.

personalfinance

I assume many readers of this subreddit are young and are in their 20's, If that's so, you really.. really.. really.. want to have a drop in the S&P 500 and other portions of stock market. How else are you going to own good stocks for less. Stocks are like most of anything else that you buy, like cars, home and burgers, when you buy them, you want them to be cheap. Why would stocks be any different. In other words, if stock market keeps dropping, and you have a job or steady income coming in, it's a good time to buy stocks.

7yohdb

Best of /r/Investing?

Hi guys, I'm wondering if any of you have a list of saved links or comments from this subreddit that you have found particularly insightful/ eye-opening, and if you'd be comfortable with sharing them. Going to 'top of all time' here doesn't really work, since that's mostly all just news-based things, and doesn't show the insight typically found in the comments sections. I'd like to start things off with this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/71akva/market_timing_beats_time_in_the_market_at_least/

investing

This comment on risk premium: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/3xznje/if_past_performance_doesnt_predict_future_results/cy98b5t/ This comment on sector picking: https://www.reddit.com/r/portfolios/comments/47hh6p/thoughts_on_this_hypothetical_6040_portfolio/d0gg2sx/ This comment on past performance: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/3xyrj0/am_i_chasing_returns/cy8z87b/

ujk7ka

I’m putting a bit of money away but savings losing value - never invested in my life?

Hi I’m 21 and could really use some advice. I’m currently earning around 23k and (just about) managing to put £200 in savings each month after rent and expenses etc. I have 3K already in the savings account, I’ve had the savings account for years and I’m aware it’s not really got any interest currently. I feel like overall it’s just losing money sitting there but I know nothing about investing and it feels very close to gambling. My boyfriend put his savings into an investment account a few months ago and has already lost over 10%. 3K also doesn’t feel like enough to play around with in terms of investment. I am planning to hopefully travel for a month in August so want to use about £1500 for that. I’m just clueless about what to do with the savings my parents warned me away from stocks as they say it’s too risky. My plan was to always just save and eventually buy property but that’s not really looking possible anymore. Any advice would be really appreciated!

UKPersonalFinance

Don't worry too much about inflation eating your savings, if you're going to spend half of it on travelling this year anyway! The rest of it could be the start of your emergency fund, and when you do start investing I would suggest opening a lifetime ISA if you'd like to buy a house in the future, you'll get a 25% bonus and you can keep your money in cash or in stocks and shares. You're only 21, the average person buys their first home when they're 33, you're doing well even to save £200 a month. Your parents are right that stocks are risky, which is why people don't suggest putting your money into them short-term, because like your boyfriend you can lose money. However, if you look at a graph of the FTSE 100 (that's 100 of the UK's top publicly traded companies) you'll see that over the long term it trends upwards, and usually beats the interest offered in savings accounts by quite a bit.

ltrzff

Virgin Media Ultimate Oomph Bundle once initial contract ended price

I'm currently paying £79 a month for my Virgin Media package, but my contract is due to end soon, I'm wondering if anyone on here what deals/ price reductions people have managed to get at the end of it. Just so I know roughly what to be aiming for when it comes to negotiating. Thanks in advance

UKPersonalFinance

Say you want to leave because it’s too expensive. Get transferred to their cancellations/retention dept. Say you want to leave unless they offer you better (bonus points if you find an alternative cheaper deal). Get deal / don’t get deal and walk away. ?? Profit

ocb4hv

Sell Apple shares to cover debt?

We have 9.7K in debt, loan at 3.9% with a monthly payment of £336. We also have approximately 10k in Apple shares via a workplace share scheme. Should we sell the shares to cover the debt? If the interest rate on the loan was higher then I certainly would. The debt is more than manageable each month however we’re keen to be debt free as soon as possible but I believe the potential growth of the shares out ways the interest of the loan? I may be overthinking this.... (We have an emergency fund).

UKPersonalFinance

No one has a crystal ball, and the answer to this question clearly depends on how those stocks perform into the future. Personally, I would say the risk/reward isn't there for me. Paying off the loan is equivalent to a guaranteed return of 3.9%. Plus peace of mind, which is priceless...

sneo7h

I'm a contractor. How do I calculate what VAT I owe HMRC? Detail below

So I have to pay 16.5% VAT. I charge a client 20%. Net sales = £60,600.00 VAT 20% = £12,120.00 Total Sales = £72,720.00 ​ Question: Do I pay HMRC 16.5% of £60,600 or do I pay HMRC 16.5% of £72720? ​ EDIT: Thanks for clarifying. The answer appears to be 16.5% of 72k. Which makes me wonder what is the point of being VAT registered... EDIT2: Thanks all. I was doing a mixture of outside IR35, Inside IR35 and a full time role last year...So outside IR35, the grand total was the above...

UKPersonalFinance

>Which makes me wonder what is the point of being VAT registered... To provide money for the exchequer Congrats, you are now a tax collector, working for free If you’re making purchases in the business, you’re probably better off not using flat rate vat as you can claim that vat back

jitnv8

Casual vs Part Time employment

My ColesWorth employer has offered me a 10 hour part time contract, I've worked there for a year averaging 20 hours a week. Benefits I guess include sick leave and annual leave (how much will I really be able to get only working 20 hrs a week?) and the big negative is going down 25% in pay. I'd like to be there longterm as I have no other options right now, and am worried that as a casual they can just cut me whenever. But losing the 25% casual bonus means i'd be losing a decent chunk of money. ​ Anyone been in this situation before? How did you decide?

AusFinance

I used to work at ColesWorth and was in a similar situation to you. I'd worked as a casual for 2 years before they offered me a part time contract for 12 hours a week which I accepted. I'm glad I did and recommend you do the same. Yes you lose your casual loading, but having annual and sick leave is a nice trade-off. I saw so many casuals lose hours randomly, sometimes barely even doing a shift a week and there was nothing they could do about it. When I saw this shit happening I was so glad they couldn't do the same to me. There's also nothing to stop you picking up extra shifts if you want to work more. It just means that the MINIMUM hours you'll get is what you're contracted.

qk907b

Where to invest my kids money?

Hi, I’m trying to find the best place to put my kids savings. I have 3 little cherubs 9, 6 & 4yrs old. I currently invest £25 a month in junior cash ISAs for each of them and get 2% interest approx. I’ve done this since birth for all 3 so they each have a few £000s now. I think the money would be better invested in a S&S ISA as it will be invested for hopefully 20yrs approx. I know they can withdraw when they’re 18 but keeping that aside. I’m looking for the best ‘bang for buck’ junior ISA accounts which allow just a £25 per month direct debit and will likely see the best return over 10, 20 years? I looked at Vanguard Jnr S&S ISA but it looks like £100 per month is the minimum they will accept and unfortunately I can’t afford to do that for all 3 of my children. Am I on the right track? Appreciate any advice.

UKPersonalFinance

I recently did the same and moved my kids ISAs to Fidelity. The transfer was quick and they say they don't charge a service fee on the junior ISAs. Still pay fund fees I would think. World index seems a good cheap tracker too. I contrib £25 a month there too.

t76yhn

Is getting health insurance worth it?

I am 24, was thinking of starting therapy but I honestly don't think I can afford to be paying £160+ monthly. Then I looked into health insurance and apparently some of them cover mental health as well as gym. I got a quote of around £70 a month for one. Which is quite a lot but I am already paying £20 a month for my gym membership, and £70 looks way more affordable than £160+. Which also seems to include other benefits as well. Does anyone have health insurance? If so, do you feel like you are getting your money worth? Or is best to just keep the money for yourself?

UKPersonalFinance

£160 per month for therapy is incredibly cheap. Assuming weekly sessions. I'd snap their arm of if they seem like the right therapist for you! If you went the insurance route you'd just need to carefully check the T&CS and exclusions and make sure that you can instantly go the therapy route. And what the waiting times are and any hidden costs.

s5gmwz

First time doing taxes - it is impossible to get an accountant

I don't really know what I'm doing and I have to submit taxes for a sole trader and also my cryptocurrency investments. I don't know what date to start calculating taxes from and have a ton of specific questions about how to calculate crypto tax. I also don't actually know how exactly to submit taxes. Like do I need to open a bank account or something or write a check somewhere? I hired an accountant who was extremely slow with replying. Paid them £900 and didn't hear a reply back after them giving me some shitty software that calculated my crypto taxes wrong. The new accountant literally just isn't replying to my emails. I called up the accountancy consultancy he works for like 7 times in the past week to see where he went and still have no reply. I just don't understand how the fuck it's possible to submit taxes???? Like surely I'm either going to do it late or get it wrong somehow especially if I don't get an accountant? Will I go to prison or get a huge fine??

UKPersonalFinance

Hi OP, firstly I am sorry you’ve had these issues. A couple of recommendations/points: You should have signed an engagement letter with any firm before handing over money. This will set out their and your responsibilities (basically a contract). Did either of these firms issue you with an engagement letter? Second I would generally say you should not hand over anything other than a retainer before work is started, or at the very least be clear about deliverables and timescale before making payment. Finally, personal recommendations are best if at all possible. It is how my firm prefers to find clients and it is always the best way to find an accountant. If a client refers me work then I will always feel doubly obligated towards the new client, both in terms of ensuring they are happy and keeping the original client happy as a result. To give your accountant’s perspective, this is an incredibly busy time and they will likely be being shouted at by many clients all wanting to file this month. Not an excuse, but perhaps an explanation.

d02yxm

Housing prices - should I panic?

I'm nearing the end of my mortgage fixed rate period, and so was checking out remortgage deals - however when I looked on Zoopla my flat has gone down in value (134k to 128k in 2 years!!), which kinda made me panic a bit. I bought the place because it's near one of the better colleges in Manchester (and thus should circumstances change there will be a need in the rental markets), and I knew I will be living in it for at least 4 years. I don't have intentions of selling the place, although I do need to talk to my partner at some point about what we're gonna do wrt living arrangements in the near future. FWIW I'm not looking to remortgage extra money, just to pay off the remaining value I borrowed (circa 92k at that point). Is there reason for me to worry at this point? Or am I just being a worrhead? Thanks!

UKPersonalFinance

Don't worry. The key is having enough equity (value less mortgage) and earnings to satisfy the mortgage multiples. Sounds unlikely that a 6k depreciation, if there even is one, will cause you trouble. - Zoopla estimates are only estimates and not reliable. - Ignoring that for a moment and assuming your flat really has gone from 134k to 128k, the worst that can happen is that you end up in your lender's standard variable rate. That rate won't be particularly good but if your borrowing is only going to be 92k then it won't be the end of the world. - If you have 92k outstanding on a 128k flat you still have LTV under 75% so should be able to get mortgages in that bracket. - You probably paid off an amount of capital in your 2 years so far - knock that off your 6k "loss" and things don't seem so bad. - Your pay probably went up a bit in 2 years, aiding your mortgage multiples. Probably not an issue with 92k borrowings though. - 6k off 134k is less than 4.5% not a nightmare crash. You might gain 5% next year.

r9jvjj

Transfer 45K Euros from Portugal to UK!

Hi there, I have around 45K Euros from my Portuguese bank account and would like to transfer it to one my British bank Accounts. What is the best exchange, cheapest and quickest way I can do this? I have an account with Revolut and high Street traditional Bank. Many thanks Ps: would like to convert the Euros into Pounds. UPDATE- Have used Wise. Thank you all for your replies.

UKPersonalFinance

I use Revolut Premium to convert EUR to GBP monthly - free Revolut has a limit on fee-free exchanges, while the Revolut Premium monthly fee is still cheaper than what I would lose on other exchanges. Live example: 45k EUR via Wise - £38,306.27 45k EUR via Rev Premium - £38,445.66 + Premium @ £6.99 a month Even if you didn't cancel within 14 days of your free Rev Premium trial, a years subscription at £83.88 still leaves you with more money than if you went via Wise. Plus, you get all the other Premium benefits including Health/Travel insurance. Final benefit - the conversion is *instant* with Revolut - but just be sure to do it during market hours Mon-Fri!

4mnwlk

Hi, not sure if you saw, but I'm that anti-poaching pilot in Central Africa that recently had an issue with M$. Some kind folks donated BTC to us (we were just curious to try), but now we need some advice (being in the bush) on how to use them..

[This is the original AMA post I referred to](http://redd.it/4mirin)...   Basically, if it's not possible for us to turn this into donated money.. perhaps we could use it to help buy supplies online. I know I'll probably be lambasted for not performing the due diligence and research myself.. but things are very hectic around here, and our generators don't run on Sunday.. so the batteries will be losing power soon. If anyone is willing to recommend some online suppliers of tech/gear that might be suitable for an anti-poaching group.. I'd appreciate the input. Thanks alot.   ***   **What the shit?!! Some of you have donated.. that's honestly amazing. But we really would like to show our gratitude, so please shoot me a PM. Seriously, we're blown away by the generosity (and all because I got pissed at M$)... now we really need to know how to use them...**     *^Edit*: ^I'm ^not ^sure ^if ^it's ^against ^etiquette ^to ^divulge.. ^but ^you ^guys ^donated ^over ^half ^a ^bitcoin. ^That's ^incredible. ^I ^told ^everyone ^here ^and ^they ^all ^say ^thanks! ^Btw, ^during ^the ^crowdfunding ^stuff.. ^we ^said ^that ^we'll ^paint ^people's ^names ^on ^the ^plane ^and ^do ^other ^stuff ^for ^certain ^amounts. ^Since ^this ^is ^anonymous.. ^feel ^free ^to ^PM ^me ^if ^you ^want ^to ^make ^good ^on ^any ^of ^this!. ^All ^power ^is ^out ^now, ^so ^I'll ^be ^on ^as ^long ^as ^my ^battery ^lasts. ^:)     ***   **Edit #2**: Woke up this morning and we have over 1 BTC. Thanks so much! ##For future reference.. here is what I have learned: * Coinbase seems to be the best option for us. But we're also looking in to a debit card or Paypal transfer * Holy Crap! Good thing I setup a remote PC for "high bandwidth operations". I used **[Bitcoin Core wallet....](https://i.imgur.com/s8uL9Az.png)**      ^(^To ^be ^clear ^this ^is ^a ^screenshot ^of ^my ^remote ^access ^session ^with ^a ^PC ^in ^the ^US, ^not ^here!)   Thanks again everyone. - Zambuka42  

Bitcoin

" we said that we'll paint people's names on the plane and do other stuff for certain amounts. Since this is anonymous." I believe this is the most popular symbol for Bitcoin so it would be great if you could paint that on the plane! https://www.google.com/search?q=bitcoin+symbol&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&imgil=ls_lM9kbNMyfKM%253A%253B3QOYjX9a9UvOnM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.coindesk.com%25252Findustry-website-advocate-bitcoins-unicode-symbol%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=ls_lM9kbNMyfKM%253A%252C3QOYjX9a9UvOnM%252C_&usg=__BN0tufcYRL02LuEf2vSEqW3eKz4%3D&ved=0ahUKEwjS0u71xpHNAhWJOT4KHS__DjwQyjcISg&ei=gXRUV5KOGYnz-AGv_rvgAw#imgrc=ls_lM9kbNMyfKM%3A

9mz5yh

Entire company salary disclosure

I had to review a report at work yesterday and needed an employee list from HR. I requested a report with employee names, department, and manager. HR sent me an Excel spreadsheet back with those three fields as the headers for three columns. So I highlighted those fields and copied and pasted them into another Excel doc I needed to cross reference that info with. Suddenly, there were several more columns visible... I looked back at the original and I realized that most of the columns from the HR report had been hidden. In the other doc, I realized that I had paycheck amounts and annual salaries listed for EVERYONE IN THE COMPANY, among other information. This is over 800 people. I was a little disappointed about where I fell in the grand scheme of things and I was a little surprised about what some higher-ups make that I work with regularly. And that being said, I intend on asking for a raise in the coming weeks. Obviously, I will not reveal that I've seen this report or try to leverage it directly in my salary negotiation (if it even gets to that point) but I'm wondering if anyone has a suggestion of a way to use this information to my advantage. Edit: a typo

personalfinance

Something similar happened to me at my old job, I found a budget in a shared drive that had all of our salaries from present to 7 years earlier. It promopted me to ask for a raise, get denied, move to another company and ask for more money there, which I got. I am not sure I would have asked for as much at the new company or left the old one if I hadn’t found the budget. I was able to compare my salary to my boss’ old salary when she had my position and fewer credentials. My salary was lacking, but the budget showed me more what I should have been getting.

qv9j4t

A German ape told us in a different sub that CS doesn't charge for express delivery anymore. CS said: Gamestop is gonna waive the fee because regular mail just takes too long. Any similar experiences?

Bullish on express delivery. German ape here myself and I am awaiting my first letter this week, maybe next week. It would be great news for international apes. OP for the news on our spielstopp-sub is [u/ItsMe-Steve](https://www.reddit.com/user/ItsMe-Steve/) Can anyone else confirm this message from ComputerShare? Wouldn't it be bullish news if GameStop took care of the fees? Can I has express MOASS pls? Anyway... Hodl. DRS. Buy. Vote. And stay zen. Edit: even the comments show conflicting information. Is it pure luck? Nobody knows. Maybe a question for the next Computershare AMA?! Edit2: u/itsme-steve messaged me, because he can't comment: "I'm afraid my comment was blocked again. Here's the copy pasta: I'm still pondering about that to be honest. I had told her, that I wanted to get the verification code via express (as I did with my first letter). She said that GameStop will waive the fees as regular mail take 5 to 7 weeks anyway. Not more than that. I was quite surprised and thought that I misunderstood which is why I asked whether I should read her my CC details or if she could use them from the first transaction. All good, I'm supposed to receive the tracking info by mail and she repeated my address. Still haven't received it, though. From the comments, I get mixed information." Edit3: Steve has received his CS letter, the days later, without paying extra.

Superstonk

their post stated that **Gamestop** decided to pay the expedited shipping fees not the courier, not Computershare. **Gamestop** decided to pay the fee, in order to make DRSing faster for international apes why would they do this if not to support their shareholders in DRSing? DRS is the way

u9z6pw

Salary comparison, UK vs Canada

Hi all, I live in Cambridge and make £55k working as an applied scientist in energy. I work in a relatively small company and like working there. There is a possibility that I might get an offer to work in a very big tech company. The job would be based in Vancouver. I know that salaries in the US and Canada are exorbitantly higher than in the UK, but so is the cost of living. If I get an offer, I expect it to be above 150k CAD. I know some websites that have numbers on cost of living (eg https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Vancouver), but they all seem very superficial, so I was wondering if anyone here would be able to offer me some guidance on the following question: I want to move only if it's a big career / quality of life bump. What Canadian salary would represent that for me? I ask that because my wife and I really like living in the UK (I'm not originally from here) and we currently have plans of buying a house in the next 2 years. I'm also aware that I could always use this offer as leverage to negotiate with my current company. If I get a good offer I think realistically I might be able to negotiate to 65-70k. Any advice is appreciated, many thanks!

UKPersonalFinance

I want to offer another point of view - if by “big tech” you mean FAANG (IIRC, both Amazon and Microsoft have a presence in Vancouver), have you considered looking at positions in this company based in London/Cambridge? 150k CAD is about 90k GBP. This is definitely achievable in these types of companies as a scientist/engineer. You’d also have the added bonus of not having to move continents, and that it will be much easier to use an offer for a UK based position as leverage to get a raise in your current role.

bkkl6w

I paid off my students loans by becoming a paid surrogate

(Note: this is in the US where paid surrogacy is legal.) One year ago, I made the decision to be a surrogate for a lovely couple in New York to help pay off my student loans from grad school and start saving up for a home. I'm a single mother in my 30s with a child of my own living in North Carolina. I really wanted a way to get some extra income and help someone else in the process. I'm posting this because I searched Reddit for posts from other women who did something like this and I can't really find any, so hopefully this helps a few other women make the decision whether to make a choice like mine. Overall, I think it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. It wasn't an easy decision, but it helped that the process wasn't as hard as I thought. (Just long!) I spent a lot of time researching the various agencies and the one I chose paid the most I could find for a first-time surrogate. The couple I was matched up with is really nice. I got to meet them in New York City a couple times when I flew up there during the medical clearance process and embryo implantation. (My expenses were paid for too, so I got to visit New York for free!) They're both sweet and loving... I'm glad I could help. The poor wife has had a really hard time conceiving, with several heartbreaking experiences, over the last several years.... I'm currently 27 weeks along and I've had a easy pregnancy so far. I'm so excited for them to meet their new baby in August. I can tell they're really excited! The wife texts me all the time to see how I'm doing, and she likes to send me food. (She's really generous!) On that note, let me tell you some of the requirements I had to meet to qualify. They weren't that hard. You should be between 21-39 years old. * With my agency, you need a BMI between 18-32 * You can't be on government financial support (Like food stamps or other programs) * You need to have given birth to and be raising at least one child After paying my student loans off in full this month, I am putting the rest of the money towards a down payment on a house. That money buys a lot of house in my area. :) It hasn't all been an easy process. These are the main drawbacks/cons I've run into so far: **Cons**: * Getting approved and implanted took a long time - 8 months in my case. There were payments for getting matched with parents and getting cleared medically, but the monthly surrogacy payments didn't start until after the fetal heartbeat was confirmed a second time. There was a lot of waiting. (Worth it!) * I had to inject myself once a day for about six weeks. I'm not a fan of needles so the first few were tough. After a week I got used to it, and after a couple of weeks it become completely routine. It's really not that bad. * Lots of tests and appointments before I was approved. Thankfully, I work from home (I'm a translator), so I had the flexibility to get the testing done on their schedule. * For three weeks I had to go to a nearby fertility clinic to get a blood draw 2x a week. Once I actually got pregnant, it went down to just the standard pregnancy OB appointments. Here are the top positive aspects for me: **Pros**: * The couple are really nice and loving, and I love how I'm able to help them with something they are so excited about. * I got to fly to NYC a couple times during the process. * Easy pregnancy (in my case - I know I'm super lucky here!) that's over in about 9 months. * I'm getting paid $50,000+ in total which covered my student loans, helps me take care of my little girl, and goes a long way towards a house here. Really, it was one of the best decisions I think I've ever made. Those student loans were a huge burden. I was worried I’d never be able to be a home owner and take care of my daughter. I can’t even describe the difference it made in our lives... and more importantly, the difference it's going to make in the lives of the couple I matched with. I managed to get it all taken care of while helping a great family finally have the child they've wanted for years. If you have questions, ask away!

povertyfinance

I've always been interested in this, but mostly because I DO NOT want kids of my own but would be interested in experiencing pregnancy. The whole not wanting or having kids thing excludes me from it, which is totally logical but mildly frustrating. Anyways, super glad it's working out for you and the couple, it's an incredible thing to do for someone else :)

rq75i2

The Best Ways to Earn Crypto and Money Online For College Students

I have been in crypto since the beginning of 2021. I'm aware this is not a very long time so I thought instead of giving investment advice, I would share how I earn and buy crypto. As we all know, college isn't cheap and I use many popular methods among this sub to earn and buy crypto but I also think I have found some lesser-known ways to fund my investments. I especially recommend some of these methods for other college students because I find they're easy to do during small breaks in my day. I will be breaking this post into two parts: * How I "Earn" Crypto * How I Earn Money Online to Buy Crypto Before I begin, I do want to touch on GPT sites because I will be referencing them throughout the post. A GPT (Get-Paid-To) site is a website where users are paid to complete a variety of tasks such as taking surveys, playing games, and watching videos. I want to emphasize that the vast majority of these sites are not worth your time and are not as good as they might seem to be. That being said, there are some gems out there that I use consistently. # How I "Earn" Crypto These are all methods of how I "earn" crypto, rather than buy it. This means that none of this comes at any monetary cost to me and as a college student, I believe many of these are well worth your time to take advantage of. **Moons:** I think most of us, if not all of us know what Moons are. It's literally free crypto. I would say I do my fair share of shitposting with some actual quality content thrown in there but who doesn't? Hell, it's half the reason I'm making this post. **Coinbase Earn and CMC Earn** Like Moons, Coinbase Earn and CoinMarketCap Earn are literally free crypto. Both involve learning a little about a cryptocurrency or token, taking a short quiz, and receiving a small amount of the coin or token. I can't say a lot about CMC earn because it isn't available in the US but for Coinbase earn, the offers don't come around very often but they're worth doing. All in all, I have made about $44 in various coins and tokens from Coinbase Earn and I highly recommend using it. **Brave Browser:** This is another popular one among this sub but for those who don't know, Brave is an open-source Browser built on Chromium that rewards its users in BAT to view small ads within the browser. Being built on Chromium, its UI is identical to Chrome but Brave comes with some other features including a built-in ad-blocker. I tend to make between 5-10 BAT per month and could not be happier with Brave. **Presearch:** I don't think Presearch is quite as popular as Brave but it's basically a search engine that rewards you with the PRE token for using it. The amount you're rewarded with tends to be higher as the price of PRE decreases and lower when the price of PRE increases but I tend to get 0.05-0.12 PRE per search. However, one thing to make note of is there is a maximum amount of paid searches per day of 30 and you need a minimum of 1000 tokens to cash out. I have used it for about 4 months and have accumulated \~100 PRE. It is slow earning but I have no complaints. **Coin Hunt World:** There are a lot of crypto games out there but my favorite is Coin Hunt World. It is a free-to-play play-to-earn mobile game in which users explore their real-world area to search for keys to open vaults; think Pokemon Go but for crypto. When opening a vault, you are presented with a trivia question and if answered correctly, you are awarded a small amount of BTC or ETH. I especially like this game for college students because college campuses are full of keys and vaults and it's easy to earn a little crypto on your way to class. Coin Hunt World is in Beta on iOS and fully released on Android. The game is currently available in the US, Canada, UK, El Salvador, and is coming to the Philippines in the near future. **Mining/Folding:** As a broke college student, I don't have the money to go buy an expensive mining rig so I want to emphasize that this section is about utilizing what you already have available to you. This brings me to folding@home. Folding@home is a distributed computing project where users can use their computer power to simulate protein folding to contribute to scientific research for a number of diseases including Covid-19, Alzheimer's, Cancer, and more. To encourage people to participate, a number of cryptocurrencies award users based on how many "points" they earn by completing folding projects. The most popular of these cryptocurrencies is Banano (BAN). Obviously, the better computer specs you have, the faster you will complete folding projects and the quicker you will earn crypto but by no means do you need very new and expensive computer hardware to participate. The earnings aren't huge, I tend to earn between 10-20 BAN per night but it does contribute towards a good cause. I will also say that this method may not be for everyone as it requires some level of computer hardware, electricity usage, and the installation of the folding@home client. **Staking** I got a couple of requests to include staking so for those who don't know, staking is the process of participating in transaction validation on a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. Most major wallets and exchanges offer staking opportunities and you will basically earn a percentage of interest on the coins you hold. There is almost no reason not to take advantage of staking for PoS coins and some of the most popular coins to stake are ETH(ETH2), ADA, ALGO, and DOT but there are many more. **GAIN.GG** **and** **Gamermine:** I will touch on more GPT sites in the next section but I wanted to include GAIN.GG and Gamermine here. These two sites are like most GPT sites in that the offers don't pay very well but what differentiates them is the daily reward offers. Both of these sites offer a daily reward, but in the beginning, it is quite low ($0.01/day). However, as you complete offers, you can level up your account which then increases the amount of your daily reward. GAIN.GG has a maximum account level of 100 and a maximum daily reward of $0.10/day but Gamermine's daily reward appears to be higher. I currently claim daily rewards of $0.10/day from GAIN.GG and $0.15/day from Gamermine. These earnings aren't huge but they are consistent drops in the bucket for only clicking a few buttons every day. # How I Earn Money Online to Buy Crypto There are a lot of guides out there on how to make extra money online but the problem with them is they are too dependent on each person's situation. Not everyone is able to get a side job, not everyone has things to sell online, not everyone has skills they can market for extra cash, and the GPT sites these guides recommend are almost always not worth your time. This section is about lesser-known, consistent ways for anyone to make money online in a way that doesn't waste your time. **Prolific Academic:** Prolific is a crowdsourcing community in which researchers from universities around the world post paid, online, academic studies and recruit participants. This is by far my favorite way to make money online because not only is it consistent and reputable, but the pay is consistently at or above the typical pay for a part-time job. Under each study, it lists a summary of what the study is about, how many slots are available in the study, how much it pays, the estimated time it will take, and how much the pay would be if equated to an hour. For example, if a study pays £ 2.00 and takes 10 minutes to complete, it would list it as £ 12.00/hour. Of course, you can only complete studies when there are some available and they do fill on a first-come, first-serve basis. However Prolific does have a browser extension that will give you a desktop notification when there is a new study available. Because the studies are conducted by universities, the months of the school year tend to have more studies while the summer months are rather slow. I especially like Prolific as a college student because I spend most of my day working on my laptop anyway so when I receive a notification about a new study, I treat it as a break. Prolific pays out via Paypal and although it pays out in GBP( £ ), you can convert this to the FIAT of your choice within Paypal. You need a minimum of £ 5.00 to cashout and you can cashout once per 24 hours. I have used Prolific for just over a year, have made over £ 1000, and could not recommend it more. **UserTesting:** Another one of my favorites is UserTesting, a platform in which companies receive feedback on their websites, features, products, and designs from users. I will say that every test I have completed has required the use of a microphone and some have required the use of a camera/webcam so if this makes you uncomfortable, UserTesting may not be for you. During a typical test, you will be presented with a prototype design or feature for a website or product and asked to think out loud and respond to questions about it. A typical test takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes and pays $10. There are shorter tests that pay less, and longer, live tests that pay more but I don't have experience with them. When a new test is available, a small screening questionnaire will appear in your dashboard to determine if you qualify for the test. I will say that I do only tend to qualify for a few tests each week but for the pay and time required, I think it's well worth it. Although UserTesting doesn't have a browser extension, if you have your dashboard open on a tab somewhere, you will hear a small \*ding\* when a new test is available. UserTesting also has a mobile app that some tests are conducted exclusively through. UserTesting pays out via Paypal and the payment is sent exactly 7 days after the test is completed. I have used UserTesting on and off for a few months, have made well over $200, and highly recommend it. **Others:** There are a number of other GPT sites I use but I will emphasize that these do not pay you as well for your time as Prolific and UserTesting. I tend to only use these sites on a second monitor while I play video games or watch TV, but I thought I would include them if anyone is interested. * **Microsoft Rewards:** Anyone with a Microsoft account can earn points each day by completing small quizzes and searching the web with Bing. If done consistently, I tend to cash out a $5 Amazon gift card about once every 10 days. * **Swagbucks:** This is one of the oldest and most popular GPT sites out there. There are many ways to earn but the pay usually isn't very high. Once in a while, I'm able to find something worthwhile and they do have a daily reward of $0.01/day. You can cash out to Paypal along with a variety of Gift Cards with a minimum cashout of 500 SB ($5.00). * **Paidviewpoint:** This is a survey-only site with mediocre pay but consistent and decent earnings. It cashes out to Paypal with a minimum cashout of $15.00. I tend to cash out once every month or two from semi-consistently doing surveys. * **Forthright:** This is another survey-only site with decent-paying but fairly infrequent surveys. One unique aspect is that you get a loyalty credit for each survey, even if you are disqualified midway through. For every 3 loyalty credits, your account is awarded $2.00 so each one is worth about $0.67. It cashes out to Paypal with a minimum cashout of $10.00 and I would say I cash out about once per month. * **Crowdtap:** Crowdtap is a site where you can complete short, multiple-choice questions to earn points. It pays decently, consistently, and is probably one of my favorites on the list. You can redeem your points for a variety of Gift Cards with a minimum redemption of 1000 points ($5.00). I know this is a bit of a long post but I hope some of you are able to find it helpful. If anyone has other recommendations for how you earn crypto or money online, I would love to hear them. Please let me know if you have any questions and happy earning! Edit: Edited for mobile formatting Edit 2: Added Coinbase and CMC Earn and Staking

CryptoCurrency

I play Coinhuntworld and use brave browser also in Canada I use Shakepay you shake your phone once a day and you get about 50 cents a day of BTC It not much but its you just need to log on. After opening an account with minimum 100 dollar deposit

mlg4ob

Buying calls on the SQQQ to hedge against a recession/crash?

I'm contemplating the following play... **10** call contracts of SQQQ at **1.02** with a strike of **40**, expiring **Jan 21, 2022** $1020 play with potential hundreds-x / thousand-x return in the case of a steep crash. ​ I'm still learning, so tell me why this is a bad play, because I'm not seeing it. ​ EDIT: Another option ... Same play, but only buy one contract every month. This way, I am basically paying 'portfolio insurance' at a low annual premium with a potential 5-figure return if/whenever the hypothetical crash hits.

options

It's an inverse ETF so you have to factor in decay. If QQQ/TQQQ increase by 1% every day from now until next January, then dip 25%, in general, the inverse would occur with SQQQ. A 25% increase in $5 isnt the same as a 25% increase in $10, it's much less.. Perhaps you could just purchase puts on QQQ or TQQQ?

8dutxt

Probably relevant for the UK as well: 39% of 18-34 y.o.’s Overspend to keep up with Friends

Article: https://www.creditkarma.com/insights/i/fomo-spending-affects-one-in-four-millennials/#editorialnote Methodology: Online survey of 1,045 U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 during February and March 2018. Avg Debt Calculation = Total debt across U.S. 18-34 y.o. members of Credit Karma (CK) for March 2018 divided by total number of U.S. millennial CK members for the same month. Summary: Key Findings: 39% of respondents spent money they didn’t have to keep up with their friends. 73% of those who went into debt to keep up with their friends typically keep it a secret from their friends. 27% of respondents don’t feel comfortable saying “no” when one of their friends suggests an activity they can’t afford. Two-thirds of respondents feel buyer’s remorse after spending more than they had planned to on a social situation that they later regret. 36% of respondents doubt they can keep up with their friends for another year without going into debt. How much do millennials spend?* Amount spent over the weekend|** % of respondents** :--|:-- $100 or less|69% $101-$250|15% $251-$500|16% Over $500|7% Does not take into account COL differences. Discussion: Inherent issues with sample collection; otherwise interesting article to begin a discussion on life style creep and modern take on the adage “Keeping up with the Jones” Stolen/X-post from: www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/8dscu2/39_of_1834_yos_overspend_to_keep_up_with_friends/?utm_source=r Credit: u/Zfriske

UKPersonalFinance

I feel as if a lot of this is owing to cars. I'm always amazed by the countless brand new expensive cars being driven around by young people these days. But they're all pricey leases taken out to try and impress friends and strangers. This new age of "affordable" leasing for luxury/desirable cars is eating a huge chunk of young people's disposable income. They see nice German cars everywhere, a few of their friends leasing them, and they want one too. £300-500 per month for a brand new BMW/Mercedes seems like a bargain for some. But when these youths' take-home pay is £1-1.5k per month that's a big sacrifice every single month (for 2-4 years) for something that is arguably not at all needed. That's before sky-high insurance, fuel, and maintenance costs. Then if you factor in rent (since nobody young can afford houses these days), you're not left with much at all. I think social media has also had a huge impact on spending habits. The likes of instagram and snapchat (i.e. social media based on flaunting and showing off) have made people very envious and eager to get the next expensive gadget or designer fashion or car or go eating out at a fancy restaurant to try and keep up with their instagram friends and celebrities. Little do they know that their friends are probably trying to keep up with them and spending all their savings to make it appear as if they live a luxurious fun life on social media. It's just a huge viscous circle which I imagine will come to bite millennials that much harder in the next recession, seeing as they all have little to no savings (not all their fault though, since rent and student loans are extortionate).