Rants, Stupid Shit and Coronavirus in Thailand

[Chop]

Pick out a few Vanguard (or similar) index funds or ETFs, start investing early, and you are good to go. It gets a little tricky as you get older and adjusting your portfolio to minimize risk.

The trick, as you've said, is start early. I'll spare the board a long story you all really don't want to hear anyway, but I had that "ah-ha" moment about starting early as a young engineering student. You know, the school that makes financial math look like child's play LOL.

Anyway, if you invest directly with Vanguard (or Fidelity, or Mason, etc.) rather than buying their funds on the open market, they take care of all that risk profile adjustment hassle (and tax structuring, also super important) for you. They take a fee for doing it of course, but it well more than pays for itself.

[LittleBigMan]

Yes, I lurk because I no longer go out and do any of the stuff many of you write about even if I did long ago stopped comparing what I do and how I do it. My life is just trying to be consistent as possible and enjoy whatever time I have. I also don't pay much attention to where I comment I also don't believe in starting new threads respond and move on. I near daily log on to ISG as I have done for over 25 years has it been that long? Well close!

Many times I start writing linking my personal experience here living with Thais, but then I just erased it why bother is my thoughts doing so I don't get a sarcastic stupid remark as I do often on other webpage.

I spend a lot of time reading Rants, because as I noted many times even at my age I'm still learning for my own self improvement how to write properly which has improved LOL, but will never get to the point even close to how some of you ***** and rant back and forth daily. Allover, Sub, Everything, long list or rant but in amazement if only I could impress myself ink wise I can only dream.

[Allover]

This is a very good discussion whether we agree or not and I think in the end we mostly do if not completely. I would be the first to admit, regardless of my upbringing regardless how poor I write regardless of where I've been I look back and think how lucky I am to have what I do. While people on this board will forever continue to talk about price and looks, cheap charlie or not I'm at a point in my life I neither care about any of it. If I pay too much if I pay too little if they are fat, ugly, pretty, fuck up personalities, give it to me with a condom or not I just let it roll off me. Why there is another tomorrow! My concern just don't touch me or fuck with me personally and things will be OK, I got too much and too important things than to worry about the small stuff.

As for money, when I left High School, I continue school to get out of the draft with my grades I realized I was going nowhere while many of my other school mates got part time jobs no one wanted me even for a clerk job. I was lucky I had good friends around me that got me straight and narrow particularly friends that were in the finance profession. I worked did side jobs for under the table money ran a bunch of illegal stuff and took that money and purchase property. I took my moms advice two things she taught me save your money and get a roof over your head I never looked back after my divorce. All the massive appreciation from those properties have carry me this far without a pension or medical since I came 20 years ago.

Today, with all the betting on sports online a love for sports I play around a bit that playing around keeps me from even touching my savings or IRA's my RMD today I must but I haven't touch what is brought here is distributed to my love ones here in Thailand.

Do I suffer NO! I have everything I need, when I do need I get it and pay whatever it takes to get it. My moto today like many To each his own why worry! Enjoy fellas in a another week I headed home for my yearly visit. Life is good and life can be bad you make it what it is!

Investing and money management is easier nowadays for younger folks. Pick out a few Vanguard (or similar) index funds or ETFs, start investing early, and you are good to go. It gets a little tricky as you get older and adjusting your portfolio to minimize risk.

It's nice to read an intelligent and respectful discussion about this between the two of you as opposed to non-stop bragging about a person's day trading, stack and flow, and penis size.

[SubCmdr]

This is a very good discussion whether we agree or not and I think in the end we mostly do if not completely. I would be the first to admit, regardless of my upbringing regardless how poor I write regardless of where I've been I look back and think how lucky I am to have what I do. While people on this board will forever continue to talk about price and looks, cheap charlie or not I'm at a point in my life I neither care about any of it. If I pay too much if I pay too little if they are fat, ugly, pretty, fuck up personalities, give it to me with a condom or not I just let it roll off me. Why there is another tomorrow! My concern just don't touch me or fuck with me personally and things will be OK, I got too much and too important things than to worry about the small stuff.

As for money, when I left High School, I continue school to get out of the draft with my grades I realized I was going nowhere while many of my other school mates got part time jobs no one wanted me even for a clerk job. I was lucky I had good friends around me that got me straight and narrow particularly friends that were in the finance profession. I worked did side jobs for under the table money ran a bunch of illegal stuff and took that money and purchase property. I took my moms advice two things she taught me save your money and get a roof over your head I never looked back after my divorce. All the massive appreciation from those properties have carry me this far without a pension or medical since I came 20 years ago.

Today, with all the betting on sports online a love for sports I play around a bit that playing around keeps me from even touching my savings or IRA's my RMD today I must but I haven't touch what is brought here is distributed to my love ones here in Thailand.

Do I suffer NO! I have everything I need, when I do need I get it and pay whatever it takes to get it. My moto today like many To each his own why worry! Enjoy fellas in an another week I headed home for my yearly visit. Life is good and life can be bad you make it what it is!

This post is inspirational Unbelievable that you find it in the RANTs thread.

Thanks LBM!

[LittleBigMan]

I too shifted to a safe haven money market fund at or near the top of the market and bought back in at almost exactly the bottom of the market after about a two year wait from 2001 to 2003.

Which made all the difference between whether I could, and did, retire early in my late 50's and live comfortably and work-free in The Land of Smiles ever since. Wish I had made the same Sell and Buy calls at the top and bottom of the 2008 Crash as well. LOL. But that one was much more difficult to apply due diligence to since the rating agencies and the Treasury Department at the time were lying to everyone about the state of things, telling us everything was fine, nothing to see here, folks.

But it takes nerve to make two big moves like that mostly because when the market is at a high everyone is saying you're crazy not to buy into it right now, we're all getting rich! And when it is hitting a major bottom everyone is saying run for your lives, there's blood in the streets, only crazy people buy stocks! LOL. So you really need to be strong enough to buck the trend in order to Buy Low and Sell High in that game. Which you did as well!

Otherwise, simple, no-brainer dollar-cost-averaging purchases every month, rain or shine, high or low and especially in a beautifully diversified, low fee mutual fund still works very well to produce a "win" in the stock market over time.

And it's hard to find a more beautifully diversified, low fee mutual fund than that Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund you and I own shares in. Back when I made those two big moves out and back in that fund was not available to me in my company 401 K plan options. It might not have even been around then, not sure. So I was in an index fund that tracked the S&P 500 instead. Which was still very good as an option for anyone, like me, too lazy or not into it so much to be an individual stock picker or day trader.

This is a very good discussion whether we agree or not and I think in the end we mostly do if not completely. I would be the first to admit, regardless of my upbringing regardless how poor I write regardless of where I've been I look back and think how lucky I am to have what I do. While people on this board will forever continue to talk about price and looks, cheap charlie or not I'm at a point in my life I neither care about any of it. If I pay too much if I pay too little if they are fat, ugly, pretty, fuck up personalities, give it to me with a condom or not I just let it roll off me. Why there is another tomorrow! My concern just don't touch me or fuck with me personally and things will be OK, I got too much and too important things than to worry about the small stuff.

As for money, when I left High School, I continue school to get out of the draft with my grades I realized I was going nowhere while many of my other school mates got part time jobs no one wanted me even for a clerk job. I was lucky I had good friends around me that got me straight and narrow particularly friends that were in the finance profession. I worked did side jobs for under the table money ran a bunch of illegal stuff and took that money and purchase property. I took my moms advice two things she taught me save your money and get a roof over your head I never looked back after my divorce. All the massive appreciation from those properties have carry me this far without a pension or medical since I came 20 years ago.

Today, with all the betting on sports online a love for sports I play around a bit that playing around keeps me from even touching my savings or IRA's my RMD today I must but I haven't touch what is brought here is distributed to my love ones here in Thailand.

Do I suffer NO! I have everything I need, when I do need I get it and pay whatever it takes to get it. My moto today like many To each his own why worry! Enjoy fellas in a another week I headed home for my yearly visit. Life is good and life can be bad you make it what it is!

[SubCmdr]

In the end I think we do agree on many things but the data particularly the definition is too anal for me for NY, if I walk up based on his past posting told him he is the beneficiaries of my mutual fund portfolio cashed out at 10 million baht made from Mutual funds started with 2 M, in 2012, that it is derived from Apples / Oranges you think he is going to refuse! Money is Money regardless of how your data and definition.

Thanks!

I like the way you think I trade almost every day. Anyone who is trying to explain the markets after facts simply does not understand them. Markets move because the market participants decide to make them move. There is simply no way to predict with any certainly every single move in the market. If so, the individual or individuals would would have wealth and access to cashflow beyond their wildest dreams.

People who money morning quarter back the markets are not real traders or investors. Real traders or investors embrace the uncertainly of the markets. They use their edge. They think in probabilities. And the best ones make profit and hit their investment goals. And if a trade does not work out in a positive manner. They cut their losses quick and move on. The only place they look for answers is in the mirror. Because real traders and investors know that THEY are the only ones responsible for their trading / investing results.

[EihTooms]

Nothing you have noted data is untrue, but in spite with all the data you miss the simple point of my simple response and implication to NY.

You noted lots of data to back up you point of view it is all true but reason guys like NY shouldn't be in the market system for individual stocks it can be scary. In the end I use my own situation to show there is option a good one for myself in spite of your data on when Bear markets happens that within those so call Bear markets data you shown % my portfolio % I've profited from those Bear market peaks. Since 1990, when I first started Bear or Bull, I got only one sell signal from advisor to go to into cash, which I did for 2 years then came the buy at the lowest and I've never look back even today even during COVID, knock on wood.

In the end I think we do agree on many things but the data particularly the definition is too anal for me for NY, if I walk up based on his past posting told him he is the beneficiaries of my mutual fund portfolio cashed out at 10 million baht made from Mutual funds started with 2 M, in 2012, that it is derived from Apples / Oranges you think he is going to refuse! Money is Money regardless of how your data and definition.

Thanks!

I too shifted to a safe haven money market fund at or near the top of the market and bought back in at almost exactly the bottom of the market after about a two year wait from 2001 to 2003.

Which made all the difference between whether I could, and did, retire early in my late 50's and live comfortably and work-free in The Land of Smiles ever since. Wish I had made the same Sell and Buy calls at the top and bottom of the 2008 Crash as well. LOL. But that one was much more difficult to apply due diligence to since the rating agencies and the Treasury Department at the time were lying to everyone about the state of things, telling us everything was fine, nothing to see here, folks.

But it takes nerve to make two big moves like that mostly because when the market is at a high everyone is saying you're crazy not to buy into it right now, we're all getting rich! And when it is hitting a major bottom everyone is saying run for your lives, there's blood in the streets, only crazy people buy stocks! LOL. So you really need to be strong enough to buck the trend in order to Buy Low and Sell High in that game. Which you did as well!

Otherwise, simple, no-brainer dollar-cost-averaging purchases every month, rain or shine, high or low and especially in a beautifully diversified, low fee mutual fund still works very well to produce a "win" in the stock market over time.

And it's hard to find a more beautifully diversified, low fee mutual fund than that Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund you and I own shares in. Back when I made those two big moves out and back in that fund was not available to me in my company 401 K plan options. It might not have even been around then, not sure. So I was in an index fund that tracked the S&P 500 instead. Which was still very good as an option for anyone, like me, too lazy or not into it so much to be an individual stock picker or day trader.

[LittleBigMan]

Your Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is a Mutual Fund. And an Index Fund. A very good one. I am invested in that same Fund. It is listed and charted as VTSAX (well, the Admiral Shares are listed that way). It tracks what was once known as The Wilshire 5000 Index, which I referred to previously, but is now known as the Dow Jones USA Total Stock Market Index.

As the name suggests, it is a Mutual Fund of stocks that contain virtually every stock in the total USA Stock Market. As I alluded to previously, that means everything in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, Nasdaq etc is in that Mutual Fund, not just any one of them. And since it tracks a particular Index, it is also called an Index Fund.

But the fact is, whatever your advisor wanted to call what happened to that Fund, our Fund, and that Index of the Total USA Stock Market in 2018 and 2020, it declined to a close at or more than 20% below its previous All-Time high.

Bear Market Decline #1:

On August 29,2018 it closed at 73.31.

On December 24,2018 it closed at 58.19.

Which is roughly a 20.65% decline, by virtually any learned definition a Bear Market Decline. Notice I have been referring to it as a Bear Market "Decline".

Bear Market Decline #2:

On February 19,2020 it closed at 83.79.

On March 23,2020 it closed at 54.49.

Which is roughly a 35% decline, by virtually any learned definition a Bear Market Decline.

The term "Crash" and others in context of the Stock Market as well as the difference between a Sell-off, Correction and a Bear Market Decline can be found here:

A Stock Sell-Off Vocabulary Guide

https://www.investopedia.com/news/st...abulary-guide/#text=A%20 correction%20 is%20 a%2010,more%2 see%20 usually%20 occurring%20 within%20 days.

Again, note that I did not refer to those two 20% and greater declines in the Total USA Stock Market as reflected in our Mutual / Index Fund as a "Bear Market", but as a Bear Market Decline.

Which I submit is not only an accurate definition of that level of decline, certainly greater than a mere "correction", but the events also fit the definition of a "crash" fairly well.

Now, regardless of whether or not someone loves or hates Trump, those are the historical facts of what happened in "the stock market" twice in his previous presidential term.

And you can chalk it up to happening inexplicably out of nowhere, his economic policies and stewardship having nothing to do with it. But for me that stretches belief in repeated wild coincidences to a new level. I kinda sorta think that first one came quite naturally and logically as the result of what Mr. New York noticed potentially happening again; Trump's Trade War with China, his Tariffs and the outcome of both having driven major sectors of the USA Economy into Recession so deep that he had to issue emergency welfare checks to keep them afloat.

And I kinda sorta think that 2nd and bigger one came about because dead bodies were being stacked up in and outside of make-shift morgue, businesses and schools were closing, we were heading toward millions of jobs being wiped out and so on due to the spread of a deadly virus that, according to the president of the USA at the time, "could have been stopped easily" if only some responsible leadership in those Chinese labs had given us a heads up about those early emerging cases "two months sooner. " The same president of the USA who in 2019 and against all expert warnings not to do it, defunded and removed from those Chinese labs the leadership of the teams placed there precisely for that purpose.

I point that out as a historical, factual reality, of course, and not as an expression of love, hate or indifference for Trump or any other politician.

Nothing you have noted data is untrue, but in spite with all the data you miss the simple point of my simple response and implication to NY.

You noted lots of data to back up you point of view it is all true but reason guys like NY shouldn't be in the market system for individual stocks it can be scary. In the end I use my own situation to show there is option a good one for myself in spite of your data on when Bear markets happens that within those so call Bear markets data you shown % my portfolio % I've profited from those Bear market peaks. Since 1990, when I first started Bear or Bull, I got only one sell signal from advisor to go to into cash, which I did for 2 years then came the buy at the lowest and I've never look back even today even during COVID, knock on wood.

In the end I think we do agree on many things but the data particularly the definition is too anal for me for NY, if I walk up based on his past posting told him he is the beneficiaries of my mutual fund portfolio cashed out at 10 million baht made from Mutual funds started with 2 M, in 2012, that it is derived from Apples / Oranges you think he is going to refuse! Money is Money regardless of how your data and definition.

Thanks!

[SubCmdr]

Just read a manifesto from our self proclaimed Prince of Brown. Unfortunately both his ass, writing and kingdom is only full of male bovine excrement. The phrase you are what you eat comes to mind. Maybe that is why so many of the posters here on ISG are pussy!

ROTFLMAO

[Oakie]

He we have another OG Vet, clogging up the Pattaya Reports with his male bovine excrement.

When a guy says: I goto a bar, but I don't want to buy Lady Drinks. It is because they have a head harder than the most valuable rocks on Earth.

It does not matter if you are young or old. If you don't want to buy Lady Drinks just read the post below:

He is kicking knowledge up in your eyeholes!

Period. Full Stop!

There's a simpler way than cranking up the phone and checking out the old recycled crap from the regulars on ISG.

Just simply say No, thanks!

Anybody who doesn't know how to say no in every language, shouldn't be allowed to cross the street alone!

Still, it helps the regulars with their post count! LOL.

[SubCmdr]

He we have another OG Vet, clogging up the Pattaya Reports with his male bovine excrement.

I thought it was more younger guys that did not buy into it. Kind of like older guys are the sugar daddies. Younger guys are not out trying to spend a bunch of money on a chick.

When a guy says: I goto a bar, but I don't want to buy Lady Drinks. It is because they have a head harder than the most valuable rocks on Earth.

It does not matter if you are young or old. If you don't want to buy Lady Drinks just read the post below:

I think I have a unique perspective on your post as I also read your post in both discords. The issue you are having in Pattaya is the same issue as most older guys have. They just don't buy into the lady drink model of doing business and we all get that. That is why Pattaya is still the perfect place. Why do I say that you ask? It's because there are options for everyone. Why try to fit the square peg into the round hole? Use Thai Friendly in Pattaya. No lady drinks end of story. Go to find girls on beach road. No lady drinks, end of story. Why do you insist to go into bars in Pattaya and then complain that you need to buy drinks. I just don't get it. Take yourself out of that situation and go to meet FLs. You say you are not an old guy but you have that old school mentality. Maybe there are two stages of old then LOL. Why do I say this? Because if you are not that old, head down to walking street into a few of the bars there like insomnia and candy shop. Find freelancers. No lady drinks, end of story.

He is kicking knowledge up in your eyeholes!

Period. Full Stop!

[ElMexicant]

First off I am not sure how I feel about being called an OG Vet. Am I less or am I much more? This is the REAL hierarchy of the mind and spirit on here.

1. Master Level OG Vet (Shot Caller / Keys to the Yard / he Who Not be Named / Knows Secrets).

2. OG Vet (1%ers of Vets that know their shit MOST of the time / Confucious, Buddha, Dalai Lama).

3. Vet (Know their shit "some" of the time).

4. Convict (Not their first time but NOT quite a Vet / Repeat old useless info like a parrot).

5. Newbie aka (Fish / Cherry Boys / Fresh Meat / Those who get money exchanged and a SIM at airport on arrival).

Now about that chicken from a Timmy Chans expert. You do get 1 star for caring for the health of others on here. I commend that. But I need to take 1/2 a star away because of what you wrote about fried chicken. We people of the brown colour know our fried chicken more than any other race. South Asians, not Asians, are the master race with high prevalence in the ACTN3 gene. That's the gene to have in order to be a top tier player.

Too bad Kamala didn't win to become the first Indian president of the USA. Kamala would have educated the people on this issue. And there is ZERO scientific research (randomized controlled double blind study) that DIRECTLY proves fried chicken is unhealthy for the heart. Next level thinking is we are energy in and energy out. Consume what you eat entirely or go into slight caloric deficit to maintain a lean weight. I can eat an entire can of Crisco or a tub of lard, but if I burn it off completely, then I am 100% sure there is nothing left to fuck or clog my heart. The fat (and its calories) are gone.

So what you are doing is repeating information you heard or seen on the internet or somewhere else without putting much thought to it. And you are assuming all of us on ISG are unhealthy inactive slobs just because your buddy at Boofies has varicose veins and jaundice of the skin. This is "convict mentality. " I need you state the entire truth. That is fried chicken is un healthy for the heart for those who over consume food, dont count calories, and are sedentary and dont take care of their bodies..

Now if you said KYC chicken has a bunch of sodium and that is bad for BP, I might get that. Because of the blood volume, water retention thing going on. But once again, if you are not sedentary and work out, your body will eliminate the water, sodium, when you are active, pee, and sweat mak mak. Food rich in potassium like bananas balance that shit out. That is why 'banana boi' exists. To remind us of stuff like that. And that's why sports drinks have sodium for those who live a very active lifestyle on ISG. Pattaya gyms are full of cheap sex mongers. So you see the catch with any food is with this whole lifestyle thing in regards to health right? I am happy to educate others anytime for those who care about making the world a better place.

P.S. : Anybody notice only the McDs in Asia has fried chicken? And if you regularly using that gel for banging like I do, then really no worries about blood pressure. Why? Viagra was a blood pressure med before it was a help with a boner one. And alcohol is an always be classified as a poison and group 1 carcinogen by those in the health, science, and the WHO rock band. Not even a debate, though 40 drinks may be up for one to see if that is excessive or not. Now I wonder what level am I playing on?

[EihTooms]

My response is the same with your long one " Apple Oranges ". You seem to want to pick what you want ".

If you don't know Mutual Funds are in fact part of the the so call market that your words seem to discussed.

My respond to the other poster NY although short was to indicate his short coming in the market might not be for him since it shows he might not have the stomach nor can he time the market like so many try.

You speak as my portfolio Mutual funds has nothing to do with the Dow, Naz, SP, which my Mutual funds are invested which I use as an example even in a so call Bear market as you claim one can't make money. My example one can and I have regardless of your comment " Apple and Oranges " which in fact both are part of the market!

You can look and research experts economist each night like Bloomberg opinions on Bear and Bull, recession or not it is just that is just that you can believe what you want so can I.

What you cited as a Bear market was considered nothing more than a " correction " by my advisor this consider the bottom of that correction as a buying opportunity and that is exactly what happen during COVID to many expert just as many consider it a Bear market. Whether Bear or Bulls there are high and lows in both one can make or lose money. Although I'm not invested in the Wil I am in the Vanguard Total Index.

You might consider " Apple and Oranges " but money is money there isn't a person including you would consider not accepting money whether it comes from a apple or orange.
Just have to agree to disagree as to what is consider the " market "

I hear this all the time " not a Trump hater " then next comment out of their mouth something he did that has no real bearing on the conversation.

Your Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is a Mutual Fund. And an Index Fund. A very good one. I am invested in that same Fund. It is listed and charted as VTSAX (well, the Admiral Shares are listed that way). It tracks what was once known as The Wilshire 5000 Index, which I referred to previously, but is now known as the Dow Jones USA Total Stock Market Index.

As the name suggests, it is a Mutual Fund of stocks that contain virtually every stock in the total USA Stock Market. As I alluded to previously, that means everything in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, Nasdaq etc is in that Mutual Fund, not just any one of them. And since it tracks a particular Index, it is also called an Index Fund.

But the fact is, whatever your advisor wanted to call what happened to that Fund, our Fund, and that Index of the Total USA Stock Market in 2018 and 2020, it declined to a close at or more than 20% below its previous All-Time high.

Bear Market Decline #1:

On August 29,2018 it closed at 73.31.

On December 24,2018 it closed at 58.19.

Which is roughly a 20.65% decline, by virtually any learned definition a Bear Market Decline. Notice I have been referring to it as a Bear Market "Decline".

Bear Market Decline #2:

On February 19,2020 it closed at 83.79.

On March 23,2020 it closed at 54.49.

Which is roughly a 35% decline, by virtually any learned definition a Bear Market Decline.

The term "Crash" and others in context of the Stock Market as well as the difference between a Sell-off, Correction and a Bear Market Decline can be found here:

A Stock Sell-Off Vocabulary Guide

https://www.investopedia.com/news/st...abulary-guide/#text=A%20 correction%20 is%20 a%2010,more%2 see%20 usually%20 occurring%20 within%20 days.

How Is a Crash Different from a Correction or Bear Market?
While all involve market declines, they differ in severity and duration:

A correction is a 10% decline from recent highs, often lasting days to weeks.

A bear market is a 20% decline, typically lasting months or even years.

A crash is a steep, sudden decline of 20% or more, usually occurring within days.

Again, note that I did not refer to those two 20% and greater declines in the Total USA Stock Market as reflected in our Mutual / Index Fund as a "Bear Market", but as a Bear Market Decline.

Which I submit is not only an accurate definition of that level of decline, certainly greater than a mere "correction", but the events also fit the definition of a "crash" fairly well.

Now, regardless of whether or not someone loves or hates Trump, those are the historical facts of what happened in "the stock market" twice in his previous presidential term.

And you can chalk it up to happening inexplicably out of nowhere, his economic policies and stewardship having nothing to do with it. But for me that stretches belief in repeated wild coincidences to a new level. I kinda sorta think that first one came quite naturally and logically as the result of what Mr. New York noticed potentially happening again; Trump's Trade War with China, his Tariffs and the outcome of both having driven major sectors of the USA Economy into Recession so deep that he had to issue emergency welfare checks to keep them afloat.

And I kinda sorta think that 2nd and bigger one came about because dead bodies were being stacked up in and outside of make-shift morgue, businesses and schools were closing, we were heading toward millions of jobs being wiped out and so on due to the spread of a deadly virus that, according to the president of the USA at the time, "could have been stopped easily" if only some responsible leadership in those Chinese labs had given us a heads up about those early emerging cases "two months sooner. " The same president of the USA who in 2019 and against all expert warnings not to do it, defunded and removed from those Chinese labs the leadership of the teams placed there precisely for that purpose.

I point that out as a historical, factual reality, of course, and not as an expression of love, hate or indifference for Trump or any other politician.

[SubCmdr]

One of the biggest advantages of Thailand over the Dominican Republic for me is the extensive availability of Bourbon. Does not make any sense to me. The Dominican Republic is right next to the United States of America. Where the POTUS is making the country great for old, fat, ugly, poorly dressed Farangs like Allover, CaliGuy, WHWMF and Loveithere69. But there is a bigger selection of Bourbon here in Thailand than there is in the Dominican Republic. Yet, Thailand is a half a world away.

Explorer69 be trolling me also but I think he actually has good heart and cannot help himself because he has been fucked over by Bar Girls so much that he actually hates them.

Now we have OG Vet mother fucks talking about excessive alcohol use while simultaneously speaking about their love for KYC. Simply do not get that. Not heart healthy food. Buy chicken breast from the store and boil it. A little salt and pepper with some steamed vegetables if you are truly interested in health.

Me, I am going to give up drinking when girls give their emotions up!

[LittleBigMan]

You said "the market" before. Which is what my response was based on. Now you're giving us anecdotal stories about your particular portfolio. Even the Dow Jones Industrial Average is not the entire USA Stock Market. It is only 30 stocks. The S&P 500 Index is a bit more accurate as a measure of the market, which is why Wall Street generally refers to it as a measure of "the market", but, obviously that is only 500 different company stocks. Financial media refers to those because they are lazy and most viewers recognize those names. But the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index would be more accurate as a measure of what the "total" market is doing than those two.

And whether you came out ahead in your particular portfolio or not is immaterial as to whether the broad USA Stock Market, including everything in the Dow, everything in the S&P 500, everything in the NASDAQ and so on, closed more than 20% below its previous all-time closing high in December 2108 and again in 2020, which it did and that is the definition of a Bear Market Decline.

Yes, if your portfolio was an index based on the stocks in the Dow or in the S&P 500 you would have come out ahead after the Obama, Trump and Biden admonistrations if you had remained in the market and not bailed out at the bottom of a Bear Market Decline, which is something many investors tend to do in the event of a Bear Market.

And, sorry if my now pointing out that there were no Bear Market Declines during the 8 Obama years and the 4 Biden years but there were two of them in the 4 previous Trump years gives you the impression I am a Trump hater. But whether someone loves or hates Trump does not change the data and historical facts.

My response is the same with your long one " Apple Oranges ". You seem to want to pick what you want ".

If you don't know Mutual Funds are in fact part of the the so call market that your words seem to discussed.

My respond to the other poster NY although short was to indicate his short coming in the market might not be for him since it shows he might not have the stomach nor can he time the market like so many try.

You speak as my portfolio Mutual funds has nothing to do with the Dow, Naz, SP, which my Mutual funds are invested which I use as an example even in a so call Bear market as you claim one can't make money. My example one can and I have regardless of your comment " Apple and Oranges " which in fact both are part of the market!

You can look and research experts economist each night like Bloomberg opinions on Bear and Bull, recession or not it is just that is just that you can believe what you want so can I.

What you cited as a Bear market was considered nothing more than a " correction " by my advisor this consider the bottom of that correction as a buying opportunity and that is exactly what happen during COVID to many expert just as many consider it a Bear market. Whether Bear or Bulls there are high and lows in both one can make or lose money. Although I'm not invested in the Wil I am in the Vanguard Total Index.

You might consider " Apple and Oranges " but money is money there isn't a person including you would consider not accepting money whether it comes from a apple or orange.
Just have to agree to disagree as to what is consider the " market "

I hear this all the time " not a Trump hater " then next comment out of their mouth something he did that has no real bearing on the conversation.