Good morning. Sometimes there is so much going on that good news gets lost in the shuffle. This seems to be the case with equity markets as the S&P and Dow just completed their seventh consecutive month of gains … while most focus was cemented on the tech-heavy Nasdaq with investors wondering if AI stocks had run out of steam. More on that in a few moments … There is growing concern that many have not set themselves up well for retirement but people like Michael Dell are recognizing that the earlier you start saving, the better off you’ll be. According to the article below, he and his wife are setting funds aside for around 25 million kids to give them a head start in life. If this is correct … and the money is socked away for a very long time (with possible additional contributions by others) … this could be a very good thing … as long as people don’t find a way “to reach into the till.” But just to see the media picking this up and people talking about the message it sends is certainly a positive development. Tariffs are also in the news … but probably not in a way the administration likes to see. Costco is not waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on tariff legality and filed a lawsuit seeking a refund of tariffs paid. This might open the floodgates as you can be sure many other companies are having board discussions this morning, wondering if they should do the same. The Washington Post republished an opinion piece from a Wall Street Strategist who claimed the true poverty level in the U.S. is an income of $140,000. Okay, this is probably exaggerated (as the problem might be expectations of what we really need could be a bit high) but with the cost of housing, transportation, food and the raising of a child (or two) it might not be ridiculously far off. Still, an item rarely talked about in most of the articles I read is the importance of budgeting. Seriously … when I was in school (admittedly a very long time ago), going out for pizza with friends was a rare luxury. Today, a young adult (never learning to cook at home) paying an extra $1 or $2 per item for the convenience of something like Grubhub is done with nary a thought. Sorry for griping about this. Maybe I’m just too “old school.” Getting back to tech, let’s face it … AI … robotics … virtual reality … all seem to be here to stay and each month or so we continue to see amazing advances. Sure … some will pine for “the good old days” and rightfully consider things such as people using computers for companionship (sometimes romantic) to be a bit too weird … but there are other fantastic uses that make many of us excited about what may lie ahead. An article that really caught my attention was the last one below where some kids in war-torn Gaza are making good use of VR sets … as they are able to mentally escape … even for a short while … the horrors of the war around them. I am in the process of reading a book on important inventions of the past … and it never dawned on me that, regarding communication, there was something much more important than the first telephone. And what was that? … the second telephone. Have a great day, Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA Have any questions? Please contact info@teamemerald.com
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