Saturday, December 12, 2020
RMDs -- Reminder -- 2020
From a reader who had a question.
CARES Act 2020: check out the "act" for yourself or with your financial advisor, but it appears that ALL RMDs are waived for 2020. One link here.
Black Lives Matter -- Looking For Change In All The Wrong Places -- Notes From All Over -- Part 3 -- December 13, 2020
From PowerLine today. Wow, doesn't this speak volumes about BLM:
By the way, more and more colleges and universities are doing away with SAT requirements.
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CNN Highlights: Bankruptcies and Failures So Far in 2020
Must Be A Slow News Day
It Seems CNN Updates This Story Monthly
There are thirty.
When you scroll through this list, find three that even interest you. None interested me but couldn't resist commenting on a few.
My thoughts:
- Papryus: was doomed well before Covid-19.
- Pier 1 Imports: this was interesting when I was in graduate school; that was decades ago; always wondered how it lasted this long;
- JC Penney: no comment;
- Chuck E Cheese: the bad news -- it looks like it will rise again;
- Sur La Table: one of my favorite stores to browse; really, really nice stuff; really, really expensive;
- Stein Mart: one of my wife's favorite stores when we lived in San Antonio; somewhat stodgy; never really appealed to me;
- Friendly's: only knew about it because family lived in Boston for four years;
Notes From All Over -- Part 2 -- December 12, 2020
US consumer sentiment: rises unexpectedly. Link here.
- prior: 76.9
- forecast: 75.5
- actual: 81.4
Dividends, link here. I see ATT (T) declared their next quarterly dividend. Unchanged. I could be wrong, but based on dividend history at this link it looks like this will be the fifth quarter since ATT has increased its dividend. Generally, it's an annual increase.We'll see how the market reacts to this on Monday.
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.
QCOM: with Apple and Qualcomm in the news this week, time to check on QCOM's dividend:
- ex-div: 12/02/20
- record date: 12/03/20
- payment date: 12/17/20
- cash amount: 65 cents
- quarters at same amount: this will be the third consecutive quarter at 65 cents;
- pays: 1.8% (after shares fell 7% yesterday)
Investment grade bonds: ZeroHedge.
Far from a blessing however, Martin counters that for long-term European IG credit investors, this unprecedented rally combination has created a negative yielding headache, as the new year dawns:
- The average IG corporate bond yields are now just 19bp,
- Average 1-5yr corporate bond yields stand at just 1bp,
- and investors have to buy 10yr credit, or longer now, to avoid the problem of negative yields, implying credit duration will likely become very crowded next year. (Akin to duration, which measure's a bond's sensitivity to interest rate changes, credit duration measures a bond's sensitivity to changes in its credit spread)
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Chinese Flu Watch
The links.
Coronavirus: statistics. By country. By state.
- penetration (more is good; herd immunity):
- North Dakota, #1, at 11.4%
- South Dakota, #2, just crossed the 10% milestone
- US: just slightly less than 5%;
- Texas: right at the US average of 5%;
- California, at less than 4% is in deep trouble;
- cases per 100,000, top five:
- Rhode Island remains at #1
- Tennessee enters the list at #5
- South Dakota drops off the list
- North Dakota remains in at #3
- rounding out the list: Ohio at #2; Indiana, #4
- the "brown" map is getting very, very, very light in color; and this is before the first vaccine is administered in the US;
- the north slope, Alaska, is particularly hard hit right now;
Seasonal flu: first pediatric death recorded/reported this past week. This was from "seasonal flu," not Covid-19. Was that reported anywhere other than in an obscure CDC pamphlet?
Seasonal flu testing:
- 22,474 specimens tested:
- number of positive specimens: 40
- percent positive: 0.2%
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PowerLine's Week In Pictures
This week was particularly good. I had trouble deciding which one I would use. In the end, I went for three. This is the first.
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We'll Get Back To This Later
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Link here.
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Politics and Coffee
Me through the decades.
Christmas Shopping -- December 12, 2020
I mentioned in passing the other day that this should be the easiest year ever for figuring out what to give to families and friends this Christmas season. With everything shut down and folks staying home, the ideas have completely changed from earlier years.
By the way, before we get started, be sure to be very, very generous with donations to food pantries this year. Example: Sophia's TutorTime is collecting non-perishable food items and toiletries for a Ft Worth mission. Sophia and I bought a large assortment of items and each time we go to Tutor Time (twice a day), I have her put one item in the bin. Over Thanksgiving her school sought frozen turkeys for its annual turkey donation project: Sophia and I donated four turkeys.
Another reminder: if you feel "pressured" every time you pass a Salvation Army Santa, it's very, very easy. Decide how much you want to donate to the Salvation Army for the entire season. Then donate a little every time you see the Santa. It will encourage others to donate. For example, if your budget allows a $25-donation for the season, carry one-dollar bills in your wallet and donate one dollar each time -- that will be 25 giving opportunities. If you want to donate $1,000 one could donate a $20 bill fifty times.
Some thoughts for Christmas presents this year.
Subscriptions:
- streaming: Netflix, Roku, HBO Max, Disney+, etc.
- hobby magazines;
- delivery services such as Amazon Prime;
Home entertainment:
- Amazon Echo; Apple HomePod
Smart Phones:
- the list is endless;
- accessories for the smart phones
Computers:
- the list is endless
- iPad
- printers
- accessories: chargers, cords, hubs, dongles
- external storage device (1 TB of memory is very affordable)
Apps from the "App Store":
- language apps (Duolingo, for Spanish, for example)
- piano lessons
Family games and toys:
- Lego sets, of course
- paint sets
- Matchbox cars
Sports equipment:
- bicycles
Practical:
- for our older neighbor across from us, a really, really bright, flashlight:
- batteries
- hearing aid batteries
- US postage stamps
- cleaning supplies
- greeting cards; note cards;
- magazine subscriptions (I see someone has subscribed to Highlights for Sophia; it was not me)
- books
Kitchen gadgets:
- the list is endless
Food:
- Omaha Steaks or something similar:
Fruit cake (never goes out of style).
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