I had that original Sticky Fingers on vinyl purchased not long after release. Gave it to a huge Stones fan before leaving the US a few decades ago. Such a great album.
Didn’t Iceland take the medicine in 2008 and let the banks fail? Wonder how they’re doing? Funny about the car window thing - was just talking with my dad recalling in the 80s how people used to put signs in their car ‘no radio’ to try to avoid such break-ins (NY area). You’re right - history repeats. But what are the crooks stealing now? Surely not car radios?
Ridicule and laughter is a potent weapon against these bastards. Please don't stop.
I was fortunate to be able to read actual hard copies of The Onion (in Madison, WI) in the 80s. Still have several copies stored somewhere.
One of my all-time favorites (from the online version):
"Humanity Surprised It Still Hasn’t Figured Out Better Alternative To Letting Power-Hungry Assholes Decide Everything" will, sadly, probably always be relevant.
Yet another outstanding compilation and portrayal of out times. Particularly the Goethe quote. There should be an annual award, but sooo many deserving candidates. Maybe a monthly. And some months list the runners up. This post contains the names of numerous past winners, unidentified at the time who still deserve to be recognized. And some merit lifetime achievement awards…
Please excuse this naive question from a subscriber. I read on Bloomberg (or somewhere) that Schwab has "Unrealized losses on a balance sheet loaded with long-dated bonds ballooned to more than $29 billion last year."
I vaguely understand how bond prices can fluctuate with interest rates, but what I don't understand is how you can have losses on bonds. Aren't bonds basically where someone pays you for loaning them money for some period of time? So you get interest on the loan you made, plus you get all the money you lent returned to you when the bond matures. Losses on long-dated bonds is also ostensibly what tanked SVB? Although in a recent Rudy post there was a great quote along the lines of "SVB was basically managed by monkeys" :)
I guess what I don't understand is how you can have "unrealized losses" on something that 1) you know what it cost to buy it, 2) it pays you interest while you hold it, and 3) you get your full purchase price returned to you when it matures. Unless, I suppose, you wanted to sell it and buy a new bond that pays a better rate or something? Or maybe it's because the bonds you hold pay less interest than the current going rate, therefore you are losing money relative to what you could be earning at current rates?
Anyway, if someone can "explain like I'm 5" how you can lose money on long-dated bonds I would be very appreciative and happy to learn how this works. Thank you!
I'm no bond expert, but if you buy a 30 year bond at 2%, and rates go to 4%, and you need to sell after 1 year, nobody is going to pay you what you paid. You'd have to take much less if you had to sell immediately. But If you hold for 30 years, you'll get your principal back.
Thank you. So I suppose in Schwab's case the "unrealized losses" are, "if you had to liquidate today, you would lose money on these assets". That makes sense. If the bonds were held to maturity, there would not be any loss of principal, and you would have been able to pocket the interest along the way. As a loyal 401k holder, I certainly understand the concept of "unrealized losses"! :/ Perhaps I was overthinking the issue. Thank you for your reply.
Oh, and also... I confess that I hadn't clicked on the musical selections you often include in your posts. Until yesterday. Wow! So many keepers! And they really enhance the RH vibe. I particularly liked "Rock Bottom" and "Sunday I'll Be Gone". I've started a Spotify playlist to collect my favorites. :)
Two pointless comments:
One of my favorite novels, The Tenured Professor, was written by John Kenneth Galbraith.
I'm old enough to know that the Sticky Fingers album has an actual zipper on the cover.
What's wrong with pointless comments?
I make those all the time.
I had that original Sticky Fingers on vinyl purchased not long after release. Gave it to a huge Stones fan before leaving the US a few decades ago. Such a great album.
I have my vinyl of that in a closet somewhere.
At least I have it on CD still. It's on frequent rotation (mp3 version) in my car.
Didn’t Iceland take the medicine in 2008 and let the banks fail? Wonder how they’re doing? Funny about the car window thing - was just talking with my dad recalling in the 80s how people used to put signs in their car ‘no radio’ to try to avoid such break-ins (NY area). You’re right - history repeats. But what are the crooks stealing now? Surely not car radios?
Ridicule and laughter is a potent weapon against these bastards. Please don't stop.
I was fortunate to be able to read actual hard copies of The Onion (in Madison, WI) in the 80s. Still have several copies stored somewhere.
One of my all-time favorites (from the online version):
"Humanity Surprised It Still Hasn’t Figured Out Better Alternative To Letting Power-Hungry Assholes Decide Everything" will, sadly, probably always be relevant.
Oh well. At least we can still laugh.
Yet another outstanding compilation and portrayal of out times. Particularly the Goethe quote. There should be an annual award, but sooo many deserving candidates. Maybe a monthly. And some months list the runners up. This post contains the names of numerous past winners, unidentified at the time who still deserve to be recognized. And some merit lifetime achievement awards…
Please excuse this naive question from a subscriber. I read on Bloomberg (or somewhere) that Schwab has "Unrealized losses on a balance sheet loaded with long-dated bonds ballooned to more than $29 billion last year."
I vaguely understand how bond prices can fluctuate with interest rates, but what I don't understand is how you can have losses on bonds. Aren't bonds basically where someone pays you for loaning them money for some period of time? So you get interest on the loan you made, plus you get all the money you lent returned to you when the bond matures. Losses on long-dated bonds is also ostensibly what tanked SVB? Although in a recent Rudy post there was a great quote along the lines of "SVB was basically managed by monkeys" :)
I guess what I don't understand is how you can have "unrealized losses" on something that 1) you know what it cost to buy it, 2) it pays you interest while you hold it, and 3) you get your full purchase price returned to you when it matures. Unless, I suppose, you wanted to sell it and buy a new bond that pays a better rate or something? Or maybe it's because the bonds you hold pay less interest than the current going rate, therefore you are losing money relative to what you could be earning at current rates?
Anyway, if someone can "explain like I'm 5" how you can lose money on long-dated bonds I would be very appreciative and happy to learn how this works. Thank you!
I'm no bond expert, but if you buy a 30 year bond at 2%, and rates go to 4%, and you need to sell after 1 year, nobody is going to pay you what you paid. You'd have to take much less if you had to sell immediately. But If you hold for 30 years, you'll get your principal back.
Thank you. So I suppose in Schwab's case the "unrealized losses" are, "if you had to liquidate today, you would lose money on these assets". That makes sense. If the bonds were held to maturity, there would not be any loss of principal, and you would have been able to pocket the interest along the way. As a loyal 401k holder, I certainly understand the concept of "unrealized losses"! :/ Perhaps I was overthinking the issue. Thank you for your reply.
Oh, and also... I confess that I hadn't clicked on the musical selections you often include in your posts. Until yesterday. Wow! So many keepers! And they really enhance the RH vibe. I particularly liked "Rock Bottom" and "Sunday I'll Be Gone". I've started a Spotify playlist to collect my favorites. :)
I haven't looked into Schwab's issues. I should, because they're about to absorb TD Ameritrade, where I have an account.
Are we still pretending it was a coincidence that Rudy was banned from Twitter right before all this started?
It was odd timing, especially since they never told me the offending tweet, which they did in the past.