jross

Game is going about the way it was expected except the free defensive touchdown.

How many people believe the world is 6k years old these days?

The past is the future. Lyrics are fitting: https://www.nena.de/99-red-balloons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Luftballons

Australia freestyle has had significantly less success than American Greco.

I had to laugh at referring to freestyle as the women's style. I've wrestled folk and free but not Greco. I wasn't exposed in my youth and hadn't been too impressed with what I'd seen in snippets. I really watched it on-site at a World Team trials. The athletes had freakish upper bodies. There were choke outs, knock outs, incredible slams, and technique. It was war. There was also some high-energy skinny kid (peak) that outperformed. The sport should be much more appreciated than it is. Since I haven't trained Greco, my opinion must not count.

The business leader (big man/CEO/LOB leader) of my employer voices the company's focus and we employees execute on it. The same concept should have applied to the president's call to keep jobs in America. To boost manufacturing jobs, regulations need reduced to make costs [per employee, compare other countries] in the USA competitive with other countries. Who wouldn't want to reduce $14K to $35K of expenses per employee (see image below)? While private company data makes it difficult to track investment changes, at least 30 companies cited the President's policies, lower regulatory costs, and the desire to invest more in the U.S. as factors contributing to increased stateside investment. Carrier, Dell, etc.

Pull my finger.

When Trump said that illegal immigrants were not welcome, less came. When Trump said to make it in America, businesses started coming back. We have infinite goals and policies at my employer but what gets the most attention is whatever the big man talks about most.

It means a lot to me that you would share well-thought advice and I am grateful for it. I should replace the word retirement with financial freedom to better captain my ship. Financially, I expect to work by contact and part time as needed while other opportunities shake out. I may ramp up on distressed real estate and start a family business. My eldest currently thinks she is going to start a sports academy but also be an engineer that marries an engineer. Hey I can help with engineering and sports and business. My wife may get back to paid work after the kids graduate. I look forward to being an involved grandparent more than about anything. If my health allows, I will still play competitive baseball, coach, and may finally spend enough time to properly play the guitar. The wife says we are traveling more and she’ll have my time. Work is no longer my identity and I’ve got enough going on to transition without issue. My mom meanwhile has delayed retirement several times while her husband is out fishing and golfing with new friends. She doesn’t know what to do with herself and finds her work rewarding.

What returns are you expecting this year with that strategy? Many signs point to a market dump of 20% and that that will offer cyclic buying opportunity. I’m heavy in a consumer staple stock that has a 60% upside in 2025. I am trying to judge whether to leave it alone versus move to “cash” as a wager I can buy it back at a discount this year. It’s a recently profitable company that is deleveraging debt. I’ve considered low return secure investments but want the money free when the time is right. I was at my cash out point in Nov 21 and got greedy trying to hold until Feb ‘22 earnings. The market tanked before my goto cash plan. I lost three years salary by that summer and ended about one year’s salary down. I’m close to fully back to Nov 21 numbers. The speculative stocks are in the trash but the value stocks are good. This heavy stock is potentially signalling a new bottom and I’m holding for a couple weeks to see if it plays out. Every bad sector will rotate back in favor… My net is 30% physical real estate, 5% cash and about 65% stocks. I am also 41 and want to retire at 50. I figured out recently with FIRE calcs that if my wife got a job or if I downsized my house, I could theoretically 8x my 401k balance and retire in 6 years. As I’m spending now, I will be closer to 55 to retire. Family is expensive but I choose it every day. Bidens foreign policy… ugh.

I wrestled at two freestyle tournaments in Australia '99 but it was closer to the events seen on an August Wesley resume.

Biden's a flip flopping opportunist that I have better empathy for when imagining he has dementia. Sure he has slowed down mentally but his sharpness in that spectacle tells me he is less puppet than I'd imagined. I disagree with his policy on foreign affairs, illegal immigration, energy, budget, election integrity, loan forgiveness, foreign aid, drug policy, and law and order. He deflects. The buck does not stop with him. He takes credit for outcomes he had no part of.

Biden turned a non-issue into a political spectacle with Republicans and Democrats clapping together. Biden and Ds can pat their back. That was the trap. It reflected badly (cheap) for Biden for anyone that saw it for what it is.

Yikes. The headline writes itself.

My returns were (2020) 22.4%, (2021) 58.3%, (2022) -20.3%, and (2023) 18.3%. Up 94% since Jan 2020. Trying to turn my $13.67 into something that allows me to retire before I'm 60. Over time I've twice made the mistake of raising my standard of living. I'd like to change back but my family is not excited about the idea of adopting FIRE.

Agreed. You do you. I'm going to change it to my liking anyway

This one was dressed up.

Starting at $13.67 and adding that same amount monthly for 30 years would cost $4,900 and grow to $25,000 with a compounding interest of 10%. Starting at $10,000 and investing $500 monthly for 30 years would cost $190,000 and grow to $1.2M with a compounding interest of 10%. You can afford eggs now. Starting at $0 and investing $1000 monthly for 30 years would cost $360,000 and grow to $2M with a compounding interest of 10%. Starting at $1M and investing $2500 monthly for 15 years would cost $1.5M and grow to $4.7M with a compounding interest of 10%. A secure return of 4% annually after the nest egg is grown for each scenario above is $1K, $48K, $80K, $188K

I'm going to see a guy later this month on a fish trip. He's a past retirement gentleman that works in IT security. He mined 1 bitcoin with some young'un and forget about it years ago. Then it hit $60K.

Its a bit more tedious to find NG's matches than I'd hoped. I did watch a couple matches where he wrestled strong until the end. Impressive. I also found some interview comments where he decided to wrestle just a couple weeks before a senior event... which may explain what I've seen in the past.

I've watched a lot of Nahshon wrestling on the senior level because of his incredible speed and technique. His early wrestling story is neat too. I'll see if I can find some examples of early leads and late losses. He has a much better gas tank than Iszmail Muszukajev but he has lost multiple matches in the end on the senor level. NG sometimes is like a jeep wrangler going uphill in the wind for the last mile. Iszmail is sometimes like he crashed a racecar into a building and is bedded up in a coma.

The move to subscription based pricing is the biggest boon to profits and costs us consumers more than the old ways. I'm okay with it for music and movies.

I've been following the stock market and investing for a while now, and I'm curious to hear what others think about the current state of the market and their investment strategies. Will the market tank by 30% or go up by 20%? Are you sitting on cash and waiting for the right time to buy or are you riding out the volatility for the long-term? I was using retirement funds as a set and forget for years. During the 30% drop in March 2020, I took over direct management and became an individual stock picker. It was easy to identify the Covid lockdown drop as a buy opportunity and ride the free money press boon. The inflation fallout was obvious but I didn't expect the war and its consequences. Energy was an obvious sector for 2022 but its priced sorta high now and its going to tank as the market cycles. This year is a harder read. Companies are not as profitable, inflation is high, and the war machine is powered up. There are conflicting signals that indicate sell and buy. I keep thinking to move to cash or bonds for security but there is enough conflicting information to cause FOMO.

This isn't the first time that Nashon dominated to an early lead and lost for reasons unrelated to injury.