Business, Finance, Investing

[tussin]

Thought I'd create this as a catch all thread for interesting business / finance related discussions.

I'll start it off with an interesting deal that was announced today. Amazon acquired an insanely fast-growing gaming start-up named Twitch for $1 billion:
Amazon’s Twitch Acquisition Is Official | TechCrunch

Pretty savvy move by Bezos in my opinion as Twitch moves Amazon into a relatively untapped market.

 

[MNIrishman]

Love Twitch. Brilliant decision.

 

[MNIrishman]

Wow I kind of figured there'd be some vitriol on a sports forum about paying a billion dollars for a company that lets you watch other people play video games.

 

[dshans]

Wow I kind of figured there'd be some vitriol on a sports forum about paying a billion dollars for a company that lets you watch other people play video games.

I'd probably chime in, but I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to both video games and investing.

Far be it from me to comment on matters outside my sphere of expertise and/or influence.

 

[tussin]

Wow I kind of figured there'd be some vitriol on a sports forum about paying a billion dollars for a company that lets you watch other people play video games.

55 million monthly viewers ain't nothing to scoff at.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

I'd probably chime in, but I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to both video games and investing.

Far be it from me to comment on matters outside my sphere of expertise and/or influence.

Perhaps the colloquialism, Luddite, is a bit outside of your sphere? The Luddites weren't uninformed technophobes. They were a resistance against automation that reduced man to a mere cog, they were against the cheapening of the work.

The Luddites were impassioned artisans, many of whom owned modern workshops. They saw the writing on the wall when factories started popping up and putting tradesmen out of work for unskilled labor that were reduced to wretched conditions, long hours and resulted in poor quality.

I greatly dislike the common use of the word, as they represent a group I'm sympathetic with. They represent what is sorely lacking in our world.

 

[dshans]

Perhaps the colloquialism, Luddite, is a bit outside of your sphere? The Luddites weren't uninformed technophobes. They were a resistance against automation that reduced man to a mere cog, they were against the cheapening of the work.

I greatly dislike the common use of the word, as they represent a group I'm sympathetic with. They represent what is sorely lacking in our world.

Good point and well taken. I was lazy and fell prey to using the common misperception in an attempt to illustrate a point.

Troglodyte would have been more accurate and appropriate.

To be linguistically playful (while sincere), gratias ago tibi, homo.



I mean no offense to any (other) and all troglodytes on the board.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Good point and well taken. I was lazy and fell prey to using the common misperception in an attempt to illustrate a point.

Troglodyte would have been more accurate and appropriate.

To be linguistically playful (while sincere), gratias ago tibi, homo.



I mean no offense to any (other) and all troglodytes on the board.

Ha ha. My troglodyte sensibilities, though tender and true, have managed to go unscathed. I appreciate your gracious acceptance of the correction above.

 

[wizards8507]

Perhaps the colloquialism, Luddite, is a bit outside of your sphere? The Luddites weren't uninformed technophobes. They were a resistance against automation that reduced man to a mere cog, they were against the cheapening of the work.

The Luddites were impassioned artisans, many of whom owned modern workshops. They saw the writing on the wall when factories started popping up and putting tradesmen out of work for unskilled labor that were reduced to wretched conditions, long hours and resulted in poor quality.

I greatly dislike the common use of the word, as they represent a group I'm sympathetic with. They represent what is sorely lacking in our world.

Only on IE.

 

[BGIF]

Good point and well taken. I was lazy and fell prey to using the common misperception in an attempt to illustrate a point.

Troglodyte would have been more accurate and appropriate.

To be linguistically playful (while sincere), gratias ago tibi, homo.



I mean no offense to any (other) and all troglodytes on the board.

Here we go with more stereotyping. Cover your butt for trashing Luddites by inserting another group of pioneering people.

There'd be no Architectural Digest today if some ancestor hadn't ducked out of the rain. Michelangelo, Carnegie, Guggenheim, et al simply copied the concept of art in an enclosure that these true innovators conceived on their own 40 centuries ago.

Than there are the millions of Pan troglodytes. They didn't learn to use a sharp stick to procure dinner from a hole in a tree on Sesame Street.

Geez!

 

[dshans]

Here we go with more stereotyping. Cover your butt for trashing Luddites by inserting another group of pioneering people.

There'd be no Architectural Digest today if some ancestor hadn't ducked out of the rain. Michelangelo, Carnegie, Guggenheim, et al simply copied the concept of art in an enclosure that these true innovators conceived on their own 40 centuries ago.

Than there are the millions of Pan troglodytes. They didn't learn to use a sharp stick to procure dinner from a hole in a tree on Sesame Street.

Geez!

Well, damn. Just damn!

Another good point, again well taken.

Can I compare myself to a paramecium without flak?

All I ask is that I be provided parameters.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Wasn't sure where to post this random question:

Is there anyone on this board who deals with shipping to China? Specifically larger/bulk items that might get stuck in Customs on their end?

I've about exhausted my contacts for help with this. Figured I'd give IE a try.


A friend of mine and myself have a side gig where we sell herbal tea combinations rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine. We never have shipping issues with these products. However, our business partner, who's a physician in the field, has a skin serum she'd like us to sell. Every time we ship 10-20 bottles of it to China, it gets flagged and put in "customs jail." Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Should've stressed the difference in this being technically considered a "cosmetic," which apparently is an entirely different beast than shipping herbal teas. Everything I've read online suggests this is far more involved, we just don't have any mentors to help guide us through the process.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Wasn't sure where to post this random question:

Is there anyone on this board who deals with shipping to China? Specifically larger/bulk items that might get stuck in Customs on their end?

I've about exhausted my contacts for help with this. Figured I'd give IE a try.


A friend of mine and myself have a side gig where we sell herbal tea combinations rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine. We never have shipping issues with these products. However, our business partner, who's a physician in the field, has a skin serum she'd like us to sell. Every time we ship 10-20 bottles of it to China, it gets flagged and put in "customs jail." Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Should've stressed the difference in this being technically considered a "cosmetic," which apparently is an entirely different beast than shipping herbal teas. Everything I've read online suggests this is far more involved, we just don't have any mentors to help guide us through the process.

Not sure of your margins and whether it's realistic or not, but have you looked into a freight broker?

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Not sure of your margins and whether it's realistic or not, but have you looked into a freight broker?

Margins are good enough to have some cost go towards exporting w/o causing budgetary issues. However, what we're seeing is that is a China Customs issue. It's not really an issue getting it there. It's an issue clearing Customs and getting the shipment to the buyer. Apparently, Cosmetics are super strict and it appears we may need to get licenses and certifications from China.

I have a meeting scheduled with a local rep in the International Trade Office. I'm hoping he can help connect us to the proper channels to get this order cleared. Thought it was a long shot on IE, but wasn't sure if anyone on this site did business internationally or maybe knew of someone who did and could help us out.

 

[dublinirish]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Giddyup]

Conservatives attack or beer company trolls their main consumers. Not too many trannies and not many drinking bud light if we’re being honest. Plus beer drinkers are mostly heterosexual men.

 

[Giddyup]

But if they put Ted Nugent on Lume I’d buy that dip too.

 

[Lberry]

Bud Light did a 180 since this and Dana White goes into detail about this on an interview.

The boycott actually worked and BL course corrected. Without a change in CEO doubt you ever see BL pull shit like that again. An overall good outcome.

 

[Kingbish01]

Bud Light did a 180 since this and Dana White goes into detail about this on an interview.

The boycott actually worked and BL course corrected. Without a change in CEO doubt you ever see BL pull shit like that again. An overall good outcome.

People that drink BL are generally looked down upon anyway...Whether you're a Tranny, Hillbilly or just poor.

 

[Giddyup]

Pfft. A lot of Mexican immigrants drink bud light too snob. This guy.

 

[Irish#1]

Margins are good enough to have some cost go towards exporting w/o causing budgetary issues. However, what we're seeing is that is a China Customs issue. It's not really an issue getting it there. It's an issue clearing Customs and getting the shipment to the buyer. Apparently, Cosmetics are super strict and it appears we may need to get licenses and certifications from China.

I have a meeting scheduled with a local rep in the International Trade Office. I'm hoping he can help connect us to the proper channels to get this order cleared. Thought it was a long shot on IE, but wasn't sure if anyone on this site did business internationally or maybe knew of someone who did and could help us out.

Label and ship it as tea.

 

[NDShark]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I remember seeing articles about other AB beer sales going through the roof after the Bud Light drama.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Not sure which thread had the tax harvesting question, might have been lost with website issues last month. But read something interesting today in the WSJ in that at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, direct indexed separately manged accounts represent about half their accounts. In other words, half their accounts are designed to act like mutual funds or ETFs for tax harvesting reasons.

For the record, WSJ says average SMA is about 1.44%, which is about 0.4% higher than the average mutual fund fee and 1% higher than the average ETF fee.

Lastly, average SMA is 450K. Notable since a few years ago it would have been 1m minimum to open. Not surprising, the number have accounts have sky rocketed, up 75% since 2019.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Not sure which thread had the tax harvesting question, might have been lost with website issues last month. But read something interesting today in the WSJ in that at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, direct indexed separately manged accounts represent about half their accounts. In other words, half their accounts are designed to act like mutual funds or ETFs for tax harvesting reasons.

For the record, WSJ says average SMA is about 1.44%, which is about 0.4% higher than the average mutual fund fee and 1% higher than the average ETF fee.

Lastly, average SMA is 450K. Notable since a few years ago it would have been 1m minimum to open. Not surprising, the number have accounts have sky rocketed, up 75% since 2019.

Thank you! I was looking all over for that topic. I think that entire thread disappeared with the website issues.

Thanks for the post. We had our broker meeting regarding the topic last week. My questions were answered for the most part. We set up a first quarter meeting prior to tax time too just to verify the strategy.

 

[TorontoGold]

Thank you! I was looking all over for that topic. I think that entire thread disappeared with the website issues.

Thanks for the post. We had our broker meeting regarding the topic last week. My questions were answered for the most part. We set up a first quarter meeting prior to tax time too just to verify the strategy.

I'm not a US tax expert but (Ndaccountant can confirm), but all transactions would have needed to been done in calendar 2023 to utilize any harvesting. Unless, you're doing non-publicly traded assets with a deemed disposition prior to 2023?

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I'm not a US tax expert but (Ndaccountant can confirm), but all transactions would have needed to been done in calendar 2023 to utilize any harvesting. Unless, you're doing non-publicly traded assets with a deemed disposition prior to 2023?

Correct. This last meeting was for 2023 taxes and account growth (or lack thereof imo). This is just the first time I called them out on it. So they moved some stuff around last week and said we'd revisit it come tax time to see how 2023 turned out before making any other major changes to the tax strategy moving forward.

 

[TorontoGold]

Correct. This last meeting was for 2023 taxes and account growth (or lack thereof imo). This is just the first time I called them out on it. So they moved some stuff around last week and said we'd revisit it come tax time to see how 2023 turned out before making any other major changes to the tax strategy moving forward.

Glad to hear everything has been sorted out. Didn't want them to try and pull a fast one on you.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Next step is convincing my wife to ask me for permission before checking the accounts.

"Can I check the account today?"

*Market is down...."No, the app is broken."

*Market is up...."Yeah, go ahead, hun."

Her inability to stomach the volatility roller coaster that is the stock market put a damper on returns last year. Too many growth+income, bonds, and market neutral positions in the portfolio for my liking. I'm a S&P Index ETF, ride or die with the market kind of person. Our broker, to his credit, did his best to fill both our needs and since this is a non-retirement account that we sometimes use for emergencies, he didn't want to go full tilt with the market either...for better or worse. Two years ago when the market was down 18%, our account lost maybe 5% I think. But last year when it rebounded (and then some), we missed out on the wave. Market gained 23% give or take and I think we did only about 8%. And that's what got me all up in arms. Our broker felt my angst regarding the entire portfolio and convinced my wife to take on some more risk. A little compromise goes a long ways. Now let's just hope the market doesn't pull a 2022 again. Or else I'll hear all about it. To which I'll say, "the app must be broken. Check again next year."

 

[phillyirish]

Next step is convincing my wife to ask me for permission before checking the accounts.

"Can I check the account today?"

*Market is down...."No, the app is broken."

*Market is up...."Yeah, go ahead, hun."

Her inability to stomach the volatility roller coaster that is the stock market put a damper on returns last year. Too many growth+income, bonds, and market neutral positions in the portfolio for my liking. I'm a S&P Index ETF, ride or die with the market kind of person. Our broker, to his credit, did his best to fill both our needs and since this is a non-retirement account that we sometimes use for emergencies, he didn't want to go full tilt with the market either...for better or worse. Two years ago when the market was down 18%, our account lost maybe 5% I think. But last year when it rebounded (and then some), we missed out on the wave. Market gained 23% give or take and I think we did only about 8%. And that's what got me all up in arms. Our broker felt my angst regarding the entire portfolio and convinced my wife to take on some more risk. A little compromise goes a long ways. Now let's just hope the market doesn't pull a 2022 again. Or else I'll hear all about it. To which I'll say, "the app must be broken. Check again next year."

I mean if those numbers are accurate, you beat the market as a whole still.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Has anyone messed around with the passive autotrading AI bots that trade 24/7?

https://www.techopedia.com/investing/best-trading-robots

Ive got some disposable income Im looking to play around with and I dont have time to devote to managing a day trading venture.