Investment Thread

[bundabergdevil]

It would be interesting to see how the IRS valued that...

Little old ladies work at the IRS, too...and they need their top shelf groceries.

I am not above helping federal employee little old ladies get their groceries from those hard to reach shelves.

[budwom]

LOL, perhaps I should not ask this on an open thread, BUT are you declaring on your state and federal income tax returns the value of what you receive when you barter your services??

sometimes non monetary value is way better than monetary value!

[davec]

Hi all

In preparation for retirement in a couple of years, I sold some shares I had in NVidia. I made a fair amount of money on the shares, but felt like I didn't need the volatility at this point in my life. Our investment guy is proposing a few possible places to put the money. One of them is in some of the Lord Abbett funds. I had never heard of this fund family before. Does anyone have experience with these funds or an opinion to share? If it matters, the amount is about 200k.

Howard

We've met with reps from Lord Abbett before, but have not used any of their funds recently. It's a huge fund manager, last I saw they manage >$200b in assets. There are quite a few good funds there. There are also some below average ones, like at any big shop. It would all depend on which particular funds your investment guy is recommending.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Here’s a good take on Ethereum and why I’ve been buying all the Ethereum I can the past few weeks ahead of this summer’s upgrades to the network, which I’m gambling will give Eth a big bump forward whenever it happens.

And after some research, I decided to move my crypto assets over to BlockFi and away from the Gemini and Coinbase exchanges. I guess I’m getting a little more confident in the US regulated sites like BlockFi and not as worried about a hack of a major site and losing it all, as I was when I began buying crypto.

The primary reason for the move is simple, BlockFi is now paying me between 5-6 % interest compounded on Bitcoin and Ethereum as I hodl, and I have no plans to sell anytime soon.
Why not collect a little interest while I hold?...and that interest is paid in Eth or BTC, all the better.
I’m not doing any trading at all, just buying and holding.

[thedukeman]

Here’s a good take on Ethereum and why I’ve been buying all the Ethereum I can the past few weeks ahead of this summer’s upgrades to the network, which I’m gambling will give Eth a big bump forward whenever it happens.

And after some research, I decided to move my crypto assets over to BlockFi and away from the Gemini and Coinbase exchanges. I guess I’m getting a little more confident in the US regulated sites like BlockFi and not as worried about a hack of a major site and losing it all, as I was when I began buying crypto.

The primary reason for the move is simple, BlockFi is now paying me between 5-6 % interest compounded on Bitcoin and Ethereum as I hodl, and I have no plans to sell anytime soon.
Why not collect a little interest while I hold?...and that interest is paid in Eth or BTC, all the better.
I’m not doing any trading at all, just buying and holding.

Never dealt with crypto before but gonna try it out

[bundabergdevil]

Meanwhile, the regular market keeps chugging along.

Lots of earnings beats. Seems that stimulus money is being spent.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Meanwhile, the regular market keeps chugging along.

Lots of earnings beats. Seems that stimulus money is being spent.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon earnings are way up. How does anyone feel about investing in a company that is actively under investigation for trying to thwart a union?

[PackMan97]

Unsurprisingly, Amazon earnings are way up. How does anyone feel about investing in a company that is actively under investigation for trying to thwart a union?

Do you want me to get banned by answering that? I'm pretty sure that's straying way into PPB territory.

[bundabergdevil]

Do you want me to get banned by answering that? I'm pretty sure that's straying way into PPB territory.

This is an aside but I think it’s pretty funny how well we all self-police (potus thread aside) PPB issues. I think DBR has a side business opportunity moderating work places and large family gatherings.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Do you want me to get banned by answering that? I'm pretty sure that's straying way into PPB territory.

I mean, is a discussion on ethical investing really verboten? I'm genuinely curious about people's thoughts. Feel free to PM if you feel it is out of bounds.

[budwom]

Unsurprisingly, Amazon earnings are way up. How does anyone feel about investing in a company that is actively under investigation for trying to thwart a union?

Without directly answering your question, I can't tell you how conflicted I am about buying from Amazon...I try to use alternatives when I can, but I'm often amazed (many hideous examples) by how many companies have abominable web sites which make it difficult for you to give them money. Slow, balky payment systems, copious error messages, on and on. This violates the First Womble Business Principle, which is : make it easy for people to give you their money.

Way more often than I'd like, I throw up my hands and go thru Amazon.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Without directly answering your question, I can't tell you how conflicted I am about buying from Amazon...I try to use alternatives when I can, but I'm often amazed (many hideous examples) by how many companies have abominable web sites which make it difficult for you to give them money. Slow, balky payment systems, copious error messages, on and on. This violates the First Womble Business Principle, which is : make it easy for people to give you their money.

Way more often than I'd like, I throw up my hands and go thru Amazon.

Yes. This I agree with. Especially during quarantine, I have used Amazon more than I would like.

[bundabergdevil]

I mean, is a discussion on ethical investing really verboten? I'm genuinely curious about people's thoughts. Feel free to PM if you feel it is out of bounds.

Without directly answering your question, I can't tell you how conflicted I am about buying from Amazon...I try to use alternatives when I can, but I'm often amazed (many hideous examples) by how many companies have abominable web sites which make it difficult for you to give them money. Slow, balky payment systems, copious error messages, on and on. This violates the First Womble Business Principle, which is : make it easy for people to give you their money.

Way more often than I'd like, I throw up my hands and go thru Amazon.

There are other ways to engage companies on environmental and social issues. They are publicly owned, after all, and the proxy landscape has shifted considerably over the last 10-15 years. I'd argue the tipping point for major shareholders voting against their corporate board recommendations on certain environmental and social issues is occurring right now. There are very prominent examples of energy, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, etc losing proxy vote on thing like climate change, contribution to the opioid crisis, etc. I have not checked but would not be surprised if this issue came up for a vote this year or next at Amazon.

Ceres has a good database to search ESG-specific shareholder resolutions and the voting results ---
https://www.ceres.org/resources/tool...tions-database

I cannot speak to labor and union issues specifically but major institutional investors are beginning to bring ESG analysts into conversations with corporate IR and spending time talking about certain issues in ways that would have been inconceivable 10 years ago. These institutional investors tend to be managing long-term money. Plenty of funds could still give two rips...!

Full disclosure: I have worked both on the investor side and corporate side engaging on these types of shareholder resolutions.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

There are other ways to engage companies on environmental and social issues. They are publicly owned, after all, and the proxy landscape has shifted considerably over the last 10-15 years. I'd argue the tipping point for major shareholders voting against their corporate board recommendations on certain environmental and social issues is occurring right now. There are very prominent examples of energy, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, etc losing proxy vote on thing like climate change, contribution to the opioid crisis, etc. I have not checked but would not be surprised if this issue came up for a vote this year or next at Amazon.

Ceres has a good database to search ESG-specific shareholder resolutions and the voting results ---
https://www.ceres.org/resources/tool...tions-database

I cannot speak to labor and union issues specifically but major institutional investors are beginning to bring ESG analysts into conversations with corporate IR and spending time talking about certain issues in ways that would have been inconceivable 10 years ago. These institutional investors tend to be managing long-term money. Plenty of funds could still give two rips...!

Full disclosure: I have worked both on the investor side and corporate side engaging on these types of shareholder resolutions.

Here is a very relevant situation that has been in the news the past few days. Citi and BofA have policies about the gun policies of the companies they do business with. The state of Texas is trying to pass a law forbidding all government entities from doing business with any bank having any sort of policy related to guns (the article explains it better than I can), so, as things stand now, Citi and BofA couldn't do any governmental banking in Texas, where they both do a ton of business. This could include municipal bond underwriting, but also could potentially include where local governments keep their bank accounts.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/bank-ameri...215256193.html

Full disclosure - I work at a very large bank in a group that does business with governments in Texas and until 2018 worked at another very large bank in a group that does business with governments in Texas, with one of the banks on each side of the fence (i.e. one bank is one of the two listed, the other is a bank without a policy so benefits from excluding these banks).

[bundabergdevil]

Here is a very relevant situation that has been in the news the past few days. Citi and BofA have policies about the gun policies of the companies they do business with. The state of Texas is trying to pass a law forbidding all government entities from doing business with any bank having any sort of policy related to guns (the article explains it better than I can), so, as things stand now, Citi and BofA couldn't do any governmental banking in Texas, where they both do a ton of business. This could include municipal bond underwriting, but also could potentially include where local governments keep their bank accounts.

https://www.yahoo.com/now/bank-ameri...215256193.html

Full disclosure - I work at a very large bank in a group that does business with governments in Texas and until 2018 worked at another very large bank in a group that does business with governments in Texas, with one of the banks on each side of the fence (i.e. one bank is one of the two listed, the other is a bank without a policy so benefits from excluding these banks).

Yup. I think why corporations, particularly name brand multinational ones, develop policies, programs or positions on certain issues gets mischaracterized but there is no question they are doing so more and on issues that put them in disagreement with traditional US political allies.

For investors, it’s just to say, if you want to align your money with your personal values (whatever they may be) there are plenty of opportunities to do so!

[bundabergdevil]

Interesting commentary (and that’s really all it is) by the BH duo on crypto, Robinhood, and more at the annual meeting.

A couple of their comments really rubbed me the wrong way, others were spot on, others sounded like the billionaire equivalent of telling the kids to get off their lawn.

[YmoBeThere]

Interesting commentary (and that’s really all it is) by the BH duo on crypto, Robinhood, and more at the annual meeting.

A couple of their comments really rubbed me the wrong way, others were spot on, others sounded like the billionaire equivalent of telling the kids to get off their lawn.

They can afford pretty big lawns.

[bundabergdevil]

They can afford pretty big lawns.

True but kids still have a way of growing up and buying the houses of old men that didn’t want them on their lawns, no matter the size.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

A counter to the narrative that Bitcoin mining is excessively energy intensive and bad for the planet.

[cspan37421]

A counter to the narrative that Bitcoin mining is excessively energy intensive and bad for the planet.

Nice to see the Tobacco Institute landed on its feet. But I thought they'd be able to afford a razor and a dress shirt.

Just kidding ... sort of. It seemed like a lot of half-truths, and the guy ("Guy") sounded like a clown. Nice accent though.