RichC | December 26, 2021
Before the year 2021 disappears, it is worth highlighting Time magazine’s pick for Person of the Year – although I generally just roll my eyes. This time in picking Elon Musk, it is hard to disagree. The pick of Musk, the richest man on Earth, is a good one as he is not only an […]
RichC | December 15, 2021
As Christmas cards arrive and the 15th of December hits, it is time to start winding down my business year and thinking about 2022 (BTW, we mailed our cards this week). One thing I have noticed this year is that more cards are from people who are now retired or are retiring. Hm … does […]
RichC | December 11, 2021
It is a sneaky way to increase what I thought was a customer to Cincinnati Bell “contracted-each-year” cable TV and Internet monthly bill? Nope, according to @CincyBell … after being mislead by customer service that the below increases were “government related fees” and “out of their control” … the increases are negotiated contracts with content […]
RichC | December 10, 2021
The surprise increase in blog traffic corresponded to my taking a few more security measures such as locking down more of the personal content to only logged in readers … but I’m not sure that had anything to do with increasing earnings? Still, I noticed upward change (more than doubling) of Google Adsense earnings and […]
RichC | November 24, 2021
America has split down the middle on a lot of things that many of us took for granted just a few years ago. Our individual liberty is being eroded away with the help of progressives using propaganda and the heavy hand of the “we know better” bureaucrats to seize more power every day. The mainstream […]
RichC | November 19, 2021
How about mining Bitcoin and heating your house (room) with the excess energy/heat? For small room portable heating and cryptocurrency mining this looks interesting (although personally I’d rather install solar panels and sell electric power to the grid), check out the Heatbit website. https://youtu.be/bsjdIrcvz0E
RichC | November 8, 2021
Although I usually don’t purposely listen to jazz, I do appreciate hearing it when it is played and discussed. Last week when Fox Business host Charles Payne mentioned “We’re having a Miles Davis rally” in reference to the stock market – and the “be there or be square” 1950’s slogan. I tweeted about it and […]
RichC | November 5, 2021
Although I’m not an all-in cryptocurrency buyer, trader or investor (pick your poison), I do own and am accumulating small amounts of different crypto. After a fair amount of reading this past year, my conclusion is to use a reputable cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase Pro, Coinbase (disclosure: I own $COIN stock), Uphold or Interactive Brokers […]
RichC | November 4, 2021
Not to many years ago, the United States was on its way to becoming energy independent … until the American fossil fuel industry came under attack from within our own country. This time the reason is not due to our country’s inability to produce enough oil and natural gas for our needs, but an ideology […]
RichC | October 23, 2021
It is probably inevitable that we will all be using cryptocurrency someday. The early adopters are already immersed and getting comfortable investing and trading it … perhaps too comfortable??? Risks of Leaving Cryptocurrency in Exchange A brief look at the history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies reveals why it is dangerous to leave your crypto funds […]
RichC | October 20, 2021
Here’s a short video worth 5 minutes of your time to watch and to contemplate before Congress and President Biden makes our spending spree even worse. “You can’t spend what you don’t have indefinitely ..” – Stephen Moore for Prager University. LINK to video
RichC | October 16, 2021
A friend contemplating rolling over his 401K to an IRA asked me a bond investing question the other day as he would like to balance his portfolio of stocks by adding some bonds after the rollover. Since he has never owned a bond (outside of a managed fund), the question was, “what’s the impact of […]
RichC | October 12, 2021
For most investors, the normal criticism is that they are not diversified enough … or at least they often own too much of one sector or one stock (happened in the old days when companies often matched or did a partial match in company stock). I’ve tried to keep “diversity” in mind over my lifetime […]
RichC | October 1, 2021
What once was a weekly or at least bi-monthly lunch with my friend Jeff, has shifted to once every 3 months or so since COVID19. It’s not all due to the pandemic as changes in work habits and eating out habits has contributed to neglecting getting together. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to spend an hour […]
RichC | September 25, 2021
I’m going write this Samsung Refrigerator failed icemaker blog post up with the idiom that “they don’t make them like they used to.” I’m not exactly sure what electrical part has failed, but the electrical circuit or electronic board that controls the thaw/motor swipe to remove the frozen cubes from the small 8-cube ice tray […]
RichC | September 12, 2021
Older photo of my 2010 BMW X5 35d from “fuel economy post” in 2016 after modifications Catalytic converters have precious metals that can be recycled, so I’ve been saving back a couple of the parts from the BMW X5 35d thinking that I might get a chance to see just what they might be worth. […]
RichC | September 3, 2021
A friend asked me the other day, “what are you going to do if inflation becomes a bigger problem than it is already?” Good question … the canned answer (safe answer) is to be diversified. The reality is far more challenging. There was a day when the first reply was to own hard assets like […]
RichC | August 20, 2021
Most aging entrepreneurs and investors can “in hindsight” spot their mistakes and missed opportunities, but with age and experience, also comes wisdom. The pace of change is rapidly accelerating and decisions seem to be made much faster and happen quicker nowadays’; I suspect even millennials are learning this faster? As a more cautious trader and […]
RichC | August 18, 2021
It is a month and a half late, but concrete companies and for that matter most construction companies are very busy this summer. The COVID19pandemic has put most projects behind and perhaps we should be thankful to be on their schedule. Tearing out (video from Canary Security Cam) and re-concreting a driveway is one of […]
RichC | August 15, 2021
For decades now I’ve had a fairly positive relationship with both business (CPP) and personal banking … and particularly with local banks. I grumbled the 1990s when multiple bank mergers forced out the manager I worked with in NE Ohio. He knew me by name and often pulled me aside to see if there was anything […]
RichC | August 14, 2021
The older I get, the less investment risk I’m comfortable taking. Perhaps it is not the age thing, but having experienced stock market gyrations and what happens to our investments? For those of us in small business or in the gig economy, and increasingly for those who move from company to company, we are our […]
RichC | August 8, 2021
Dennis Gartman comments on cryptocurrency (August 3, 2021) and whether or not he is investing in a “Tinker Bell effect” asset. The 3-minute segment with Dagen McDowell was on the Fox Business program “Mornings with Maria.” Dennis Gartman on Crypto – 3-min | 8/3/2021 Dennis Gartman has been directly involved in the Capital […]
RichC | July 27, 2021
As a longtime subscriber to the Wall Street Journal (and for the last decade or so Barron’s), I’ve learned to appreciate certain journalists, economists and opinion piece writers like Jason Riley at the Manhattan Institute. When he told the inspiring story of Thomas Sowell for PragerU, I quickly viewed the video and applauded – well […]
RichC | July 19, 2021
If you are an investor or long term education and retirement saver, you’re feeling the pain today as the coronavirus Delta variant spread could impact the economic recovery. U.S. stocks, oil prices and government bond yields slid Monday as anxiety mounted over the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and its potential impact on the […]
RichC | July 17, 2021
Slow progress on my home office as I continue to work in disarray; I am missing my accessory junk … including a small hanging TV. I don’t necessarily “watch” business television, instead listen to the stream via SiriusXM to my Aftershokz Aeropex headset. Occasionally though, do still find it helpful to have a video image […]
RichC | July 3, 2021
As we transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles, the discussion I had with a German tourist on our cruise to Alaska continues to replay in my head. I am an advocate of free-market capitalism and smaller, less intrusive government … but have been known to stumble a bit and have supported government using incentives […]
RichC | July 1, 2021
While reading one of my favorite investment strategist, Brett Owens wrote a REIT and CEF-focused Contrarian Outlook newsletter and occasional webinars that I enjoy. He commented tongue-in-cheek … that “we dividend investors really only need three things:” Hm, how hard can that be? Brett partnered with Tom Jacobs a few years ago to write […]
RichC | June 25, 2021
Currently, we attempt to pay for infrastructure by taxing drivers at the pump when they fill their cars and trucks with gasoline and diesel fuel … but vehicles are becoming more efficient while the cost of infrastructure and maintenance continues to goes up. In other words, there isn’t enough money being collected. The politicians answer […]
RichC | June 23, 2021
Although I’m likely tainted in having lived through a period where inflation was real and uncontrolled, I do worry that people living today either ignore or downplay the negative impact inflation, stagflation or worse … hyperinflation … can make on our country. For those who know me, I’ve likely been the “boy who calls wolf” […]
RichC | June 22, 2021
Spent a lot more time this past weekend picking up branches, pumping out the pool and even set up a pump in the backyard to prevent flooding the pool. Thankfully no tornadoes on the ground, but the lightning, wind and rain was wild. Below is a video snippet … turned animated gif out the back […]
RichC | June 9, 2021
When it comes to investing, I’m primarily a “value investor” who relies on fundamentals, but as for “trading,” which I have tinkered with for 30 years now, I’m an advocate self imposed rules and focusing on channel trading. Of course there are zillions of gurus boasting how they have perfected buy and sell signals, I […]
RichC | June 6, 2021
For years now … no, it is now decades … my buddy Jeff and I have gone out for lunch ever other week and almost exclusively to a Mexican restaurant … primarily for the chips and salsa (and relaxed conversation). Before that, we lived in different cities (he in Florida and then Alabama … and […]
RichC | May 8, 2021
A few times before I’ve thought, and blogged about MMT or Modern Monetary Theory, when it comes to newfangled economics. Personally, I (nor many economists) can accept the thinking or rationalize the large deficits and debt path our country is on. In order to better understand the mind-set, I decided to read Stephanie Kelton’s book […]
RichC | April 27, 2021
General Electric‘s ($GE) first-quarter 2021 earnings were as they should be. Still, it wasn’t quite enough for investors. General Electric (ticker: GE) shares were down about 2.7% in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, for comparison, were both off about 0.1%. The company reported an adjusted profit of 3 cents a […]
RichC | April 25, 2021
Although I’ve owned a small amount of Bitcoin in a cryptocurrency account for a while now, I’ve been wanting to attend a primer on the subject. Thankfully Barron’s offered a free webinar hosted by Beverly Goodman and explained by Grayscale’s Michael Sonnenshein. It was great fill in some of my knowledge gaps, but my question […]
RichC | April 14, 2021
Since Ford once-upon-a-time paid a solid dividend, it was one of those stocks I felt comfortable trading in and out of or just sitting on for a while … but after the company suspended the dividend in March of 2020, I had to re-think $F stock. Owning Ford in 2020 and so far in 2021 […]
RichC | April 7, 2021
In keeping with a New Year’s resolution from “years ago” to read more non-fiction books and some classic literature still sitting unread on our new bookshelves, I’ve picked up a new edition of an “older” book. For April and more likely May (statistically good months for stock market investing), I’m reading “A Random Walk Down […]
RichC | April 6, 2021
Democrats have been gaining ground over the past few years with their “hate Trump” blitzing supported by the leftists, big tech and mainstream media (one in the same from what I’ve seen), and continue to put heavy pressure politicians and corporations. Just as with the tactics used by BLM, Antifa and “woke” groups using racism, […]
RichC | March 30, 2021
The news that has captured much of the of the world’s interest this week was the very large Ever Given container ship lodged sideways in the Suez Canal by 40+ mph winds (and perhaps some mechanical issues?). The “Empire State Building” size ship snarled traffic for 6 days surprising most people as to just how […]
RichC | March 25, 2021
For the most part, I’m a conservative investor, although a regular channel trader, and I rarely speculates on risky upstarts, IPOs, zero-profit tech stocks, pharmaceutical long-shots or the latest crazy … cryptocurrency trend. Since most “risk” involves speculation, I see it more akin to gambling than eyes-open informed value or growth investing … both which […]
RichC | March 18, 2021
Real estate has been on a tear in many markets as the coronavirus has people moving from cities to the suburbs and their own piece of land. In my opinion it is not just COVID19 related, but that fact that cities aren’t as secure or as tax friendly to live in, especially on the east […]
RichC | March 12, 2021
Back in January I switched my “off contract” iPhone7 Plus over to Mint Mobile and a month later switched over Brenda’s iPhone7. The transition was smooth and pretty much glitchless. Service from our previous Virgin Mobile then Boost Mobile plan is basically the same, although initially restricted me to 3GB of data per month (now […]
RichC | February 19, 2021
Well it is official, we are both with Mint Mobile. I’ve been using them for a month now and haven’t had any issues with their service (backboned on T-Mobile I believe) … and since saving money for the same service is a no-brainer, I’ve switched Brenda’s iPhone over this month as well … and added […]
RichC | February 18, 2021
Almost 1 year ago, I started to use the Chromium-based Brave Browser and an Uphold account to receive the BAT (Basic Attention Token). I convert to Bitcoin along with the income generated on MyDesultoryBlog.com … which currently seems to be the digital currency of choice; I really did it just for the fun of it […]
RichC | February 17, 2021
For those of us living in a post-pension world, planning for retirement comes down to how much can be saved in 401K and IRAs … and how to make it last once retired. Most people rely on the “multiple buckets approach” to coming up with enough dollars to pay for bills and “hopefully” live comfortably […]
RichC | January 26, 2021
All I can think about are the stock market “bubbles” from the past. I’d love to believe the upward trend we’ve seen this past years is genuine and built on an appropriate foundation, but suspect as most know, it is being built on “hope” and “stimulus dollars.” Now that is not to say that certain […]
RichC | January 23, 2021
Once upon a time, I was … or at least tried … to be frugal in most things. I’ve always shied away from buying higher priced brand names, when there were less expensive option. Coffee is a prime example … since I was perfectly happy with the Chock full o’Nuts brand of canned coffee since […]
RichC | December 22, 2020
With only a handful of meals out during this COVID19 year with my buddy Jeff this past year, I’ve learned to appreciate them even more than usual. We’ve been having lunch together each month or so as a way to stay connected for decades and for me adjusting to just emails and text messages is […]
RichC | October 2, 2020
With Twitter $TWTR stock rising this week and the election around the corner, I debated buying a PUT option, but instead decided I would feel more comfortable in a cash position than wondering what direction the stock will move next time. Years ago I unfortunately picked Twitter as my social network investment and for the […]
RichC | July 15, 2020
The pandemic delayed April 15th Tax Day for Americans’ 2019 taxes is now upon us and for those who have not filed, you have until 11:59 tonight to do it … unless you request an extension until October 15th. We can try to wish it away like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, but as […]
RichC | June 24, 2020
By now we all have heard and know about the TRILLIONS we have borrowed and continue to borrow as a nation in deep debt, but few are willing to make any changes to the status quo before this house of cards comes tumbling down. What we don’t really thing about quite as much are the […]
RichC | June 17, 2020
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RichC | June 12, 2020
Regular readers have likely noticed a few “hopefully” discrete ads running on My Desultory Blog. It is a way for me to experiment with ways to help my customers choose or forgo the use advertising services like Google Ads on their sites. For the most part it has been relatively painless (although nothing to retire […]
RichC | April 22, 2020
The Coronavirus is doing what environmentalists and anti-fossil fuel advocates have only dreamed of doing … killing the petroleum industry. There is so little demand for crude oil that “Producers must pay buyers $37.63 a barrel” to refine their product. There is no place to store it as companies who explore and drill are dead […]
RichC | April 21, 2020
As the United States and the world prepare to open society in phases after well over a month of stay-at-home orders due to the Coronavirus, the debate between those who see the health risk as too high and those who fear a full on economic collapse (world wide depression) continues. Several states are seeing protests […]
RichC | March 26, 2020
When I was growing up, I had a passbook savings account that was a teaching tool used by my parents to instill responsible money management. I deposited a small amount in it every few months or so when my mom would go to the bank and got my passbook stamped with an update as to […]
RichC | March 24, 2020
It has been good to be distracted with a painting and bookshelf project while "staying at home" these last few days. Unfortunately the COVID19 Coronavirus doesn’t look to be disappearing or dissipating as quickly as we were all hoping … so it looks as if we’ll be struggling to figure out how to not only […]
RichC | March 14, 2020
It was a tiring week with the drip, drip, drip Coronavirus news and highly-reactive financial markets. Although frightening, investors rightly or wrongly responded with a selloff of historic proportions. The entire meltdown seemed more like hysteria and panic and had me wondering how our country and nation ever faced plagues, a weak economy due to […]
RichC | March 11, 2020
Although I suspect all the selling on Wall Street has to do with needed cash or the “sell and re-assess later” attitude, I’ve been puzzled that gold (usual safe haven) and utilities have been hit as well. Personally I thought these areas might balance exposure to industrials, tech and energy. Obviously not as Wednesday’s market […]
RichC | March 10, 2020
The “old school” razor sharpening animated GIF below has NOTHING to do with my emotional state after stomaching Monday’s stock market crash and “oil war” between Russia and Saudi Arabia … so don’t read anything into my poor attempt at humor. After watching the DOW drop over 2158 points and seeing the index close just […]