July, August - The Summer Doldrums -- Time For One's Semi-Annual Strategic Review -- July 18, 2026

Locator: 51198WEALTH.

Gemini: any recent articles on generational transfer of wealth?

Reply:

How can estimates be so far apart? From $124 trillion to $36 trillion. They must have very different views regarding the future of the global economy, or more likely, they are measuring different things / making different assumptions / asking very different questions.

These projections were done well before anyone understands how AI will affect / change things ten years from now.

Many, many more questions / observations, but this is all a good place to start.

 

By the way, does the markedly new estimate have any impact on the individual investor? 

Yes, I agree:

I think "management" fees will come down amazingly fast as AI moves in. Similar to when Schwab business plan upended the Merrill Lynch business plan some decades ago.

And second, the 60/40 rule for all is dead.  For some it may make sense; but not for all.

LDC Update -- July 18, 2026

Locator: 51197LCDS.

Link here.

We currently have 4553 data centers listed, from 50 states in USA.

From July 13, 2026, a review:

Top states, change from previous update (July 13, 2026 -- July 18, 2026 -- link here):

• Virginia: 579 --> 601-->603-->609 -->633-->637-->639
• Texas: 411 --> 441-->461-->464–>467-->480-->504-->505
• California: 289 --> 288-->287—>287-->291-->292-->292
• Illinois: 232 --> 228-->228-->228-->239-->239-->239
• Georgia: 214 --> 213-->213-->219-->228-->228-->229
• Ohio: 201-->204-->204-->204–>210-->224-->236-->237
• Arizona: 163 -->157-->156-->156-->156-->160-->160
• New York: 133 --> 132 --> 132-->132-->133-->133-->134
• Pennsylvania—> 131-->133-->138-->144
• Indiana: 89 --> 122-->122-->122-->123-->123-->123
• Iowa: 96 --> 101-->102-->102-->105-->116-->116
• Missouri: 91-->92-->92-->92
• Tennessee: 61-->63-->63-->63

Today's meme: national backlash against LDCs. 

Now? Expansion. Completion. Efficiencies.  

Farmers hate them. 

New York, first state to declare one-year moratorium.

California has had already "declared" a moratorium. No one noticed. No one cared.

How To Invest With Your Kids In Mind -- Barron's -- July 18, 2026

Locator: 51196INVESTING.

Is it time to pivot to ETFs only?

• SCHB
• SCHD
• SCHG
• IHE  

This is not an investment site. This is not for general readership; this is for me, and for my extended family members to know how I'm thinking. 

From the article: 

While this is the portfolio that should perform the best over time, Evensky, who made his reputation by understanding investor psychology, thinks most investors would sleep easier if they kept 10% in cash. They also could use that cash to buy stocks during market downturns.

I've never understood the recommendation that you keep 10% of your portfolio in cash as "dry powder." First of all 10% doesn't move the needle psychologically for me. 

Second, "percentages" in this case don't make sense. My multi-millionaire who lives next to me and thinks he's a middle class American and lives on $100,000 / year would have $1 million in cash in his portfolio. 

My answer to that (keeping 10% of one's portfolio in cash as "dry powder." Park cash into the most defensive ETFs possible and use new cash and/or cash parked in these ETFs to literally buy stocks every day. I concentrate on very good companies trading in the red when the overall market is up.

Link here.

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Disclaimer

Briefly: 

I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole when it comes to the Bakken.

I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.

See disclaimer. This is not an investment site. 

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. All my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact check everything.

If anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source. If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them. 

Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.

I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple. 

And now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial revolution. 

I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom. Now, I've added Amazon. And QCOM.

Longer version here.  

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Locator: 51195SAUDI.

This is not an investment site. See disclaimer. 

The Iran War has exposed what the Mideast countries really are: nothing more than medieval islands of oil (apologies to Winston Churchill, 1914; Richard Nixon, 1973).

Saudi Arabia: has pulled out of LIV (completely). Has cut way back on NEOM. Saudis think they can negotiate with Iran.  

47:

• Iranian revolution: 1979 -- 47 years ago;
• President Trump: 47th president. 

In all those 47 years, Saudi Arabia let a terrorist nation grow militarily unlike anything the world had seen before. Depended on the USA for protection. 

Link here. 

Link here.

Bakken -- EOR Update -- June 17, 2026

Locator: 51194EOR.

Sent to me this evening from a reader. Thank you very much. In a short, throw-away note I sent the reader -- I am very, very aware of EOR and the fact that there's a lot of oil left in the ground -- I remember the early days of the Bakken boom -- the Whiting folks telling us that only 1 to 3 percent of the oil was being captured, but they knew they could get to 12%.  

I was not aware of this article -- it says only 15% of the Bakken oil has been recovered. Completely believable. The amount of oil in any of these oil fields is directly proportional to the price of oil. So, maybe we'll see some of that oil considering what's going on in the Middle East right now. 

Link here. 

Query: The oil industry first started drilling four-mile and u-turn horizontal lateral wells in North Dakota Bakken. Accurate?

Reply: