Topley’s Top Ten – January 30, 2020

Author

Matt Topley
January 30, 2020

1.Buffett Performance History.

As Buffett Got Bigger Tougher to Outperform

Why theHot Hand of Investing Never Lasts–By Mark Skousen https://investmentu.com/wealth-creation-hot-hand-investing/

2.Brexit….United Kingdom in 14% of EU GDP

14% of the EU’s GDP

40% of its military power

13% of its population http://trib.al/zKHvm7r

U.K. ETF Rallied to 2017 Highs But No Breakout.

3.Japan’s Kawamoto Manufacturers Face Masks.

4.China’s Expansion was Already Slowing Before Virus

YUAN’s down but not as volatile as expected on virus

5.Apple Back On Top Over Samsung

While 2019 started offwith expectations of Huawei Technologies Co. challenging Samsung Electronics Co. for the title of world’smost prolific smartphone vendor, it’s the more familiar foe of Apple Inc. that’s now threatening the South Koreantitan’s throne.  Industry trackers on Thursday released estimates thatshow the iPhone maker close to matching or surpassing its Korean rival inshipments during the pivotal holiday quarter. Strategy Analytics put Apple’siPhone shipments for the fourth quarter at 70.7 million, slightly ahead ofSamsung’s 68.8 million. Canalys gauged the U.S. company had moved 78 million,surpassing the Asian brand’s 71 million. And researchers at IHS Markit have thepositions flipped — with Samsung at 70.7 million and Apple at 67.7 million.

Apple and Samsung Are Tied for World’s No.1Smartphone Seller– By Vlad Savov

6.Fastest Growing ETFs of 2019 (Starting AUM >$0)

Sumit Roy

Data measures the year-to-date period through Dec. 31, 2019

ETF.COm

7.Holding Period For Stocks Hits All-Time Lows

MFS

Shrinking time horizon Stocksare being held for shorter periods than at any time since the 1920s. The NewYork Stock Exchange (NYSE) average holding period for a stock is approximatelynine months (Exhibit 1). This reflects investment transactions driven by bothindividuals and institutional investors. Until the 1970s, the investmentlandscape was largely dominated by wealthy individuals and families; this hassince changed markedly, with professional investors now accounting for thelargest share of investment activity. It should be noted that theseprofessionals manage significant mutual fund asset pools that are driven byretail investors.

Found at Irrelevant Investor  https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/

8.Warren Buffett Throws In The Towel On His Newspaper Empire

JANUARY 29, 2020 • KATHERINE CHIGLINSKY, JOHN J. EDWARDS III

WarrenBuffett is getting out of the newspaper business.

BerkshireHathaway Inc. agreed to sell its BH Media unit and its 30 daily newspapers toLee Enterprises Inc., which owns papers including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,for $140 million in cash. Lee has been managing the papers for Buffett’scompany since 2018, and Berkshire is loaning Lee the money for the purchase.

Buffett,who got a job delivering papers as a teenager and invested in the industry tocapitalize on its one-time local advertising stronghold, lamented last yearthat most newspapers are “toast.” BH Media, which owns papers across thecountry, has been cutting jobs for years to cope with declining ad revenue.

“Wehad zero interest in selling the group to anyone else for one simple reason: Webelieve that Lee is best positioned to manage through the industry’schallenges,” Buffett said in a statement Wednesday.

In2018, Buffett acknowledged that he was surprised that the decline in demand fornewspapers hadn’t let up and that his company hadn’t found a successfulstrategy to combat falling advertising and circulation. That same year, U.S.newspaper circulation dropped to its lowest levels since 1940, according to thePew Research Center.

TheLee sale will include Buffett’s hometown Omaha World-Herald and Buffalo News, apaper he’s owned for more than four decades, along with 49 weekly publicationsand a number of other print products, the companies said in the statement.Lee’s shares jumped on the news, more than doubling to $2.78 at 9:51 a.m. inNew York.

LeeLoanBerkshire is lending Lee $576 million at a 9% annual rate for the purchase andto refinance other debt. Excluded from the sale is BH Media’s real estate,which Lee is leasing under a 10-year agreement.

It’sa rare move for the conglomerate as Buffett has long said that he prefers tohold onto businesses. The newspaper deal, however, is Berkshire’s seconddivestiture in less than a year, including the sale of an insurance business inlate 2019. Berkshire has held onto other old-fashioned businesses, includingdoor-to-door vacuum-cleaner business Kirby Co. and encyclopedia publisher WorldBook.

WhatBloomberg Intelligence Says“Berkshire Hathaway’s agreement to sell its newspapers is a message that itwill eschew companies in fading business models.” said Matthew Palazola,Bloomberg senior P&C insurance analyst.

Buffetthas longstanding ties to the newspaper industry. He previously owned the OmahaSun, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of Boys Town, and strucka deal to buy the World-Herald in 2011. The billionaire investor also had along friendship with and was a business coach to Katharine Graham, and was adirector at her Washington Post Co.

Asidefrom a few bright spots, such as the largely thriving New York Times Co., thenewspaper business is in crisis across the U.S. McClatchy Co. — which ownsabout 30 newspapers, including the Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer — isfighting to avoid bankruptcy as it contends with pension obligations and debt.The Salt Lake Tribune became a nonprofit last year, after failing to find aprofitable business model.

Asprint advertising has cratered in recent years amid the rise of social media,Craigslist and search ads, private equity firms and hedge funds have swooped into take advantage of newspapers’ steady though dwindling revenue streams.

NewMedia Investment Group Inc., controlled by private equity firm FortressInvestment Group LLC, bought USA Today owner Gannett Co. last year to form thelargest U.S. newspaper chain. The deal spurred apprehension in journalismcircles given New Media’s reputation for newsroom layoffs, though the newGannett leadership pledged to avoid widespread job cuts.

Thisarticle was provided by Bloomberg News.

9.How Much Do Americans Have Saved for Retirement?

Age 40-49

41% have lessthan $50,000 saved18% have $50,000 to $99,000 saved27% have $100,000 to $500,000 saved7% have $500,000 to $999,000 saved7% have $1 million or more saved

Age 50-59

37% have lessthan $50,000 saved16% have $50,000 to $99,000 saved32% have $100,000 to $500,000 saved6% have $500,000 to $999,000 saved8% have $1 million or more saved

Age 60-69

28% have lessthan $50,000 saved10% have $50,000 to $99,000 saved36% have $100,000 to $500,000 saved14% have $500,000 to $999,000 saved12% have $1 million or more saved

Age 70-79

20% have lessthan $50,000 saved13% have $50,000 to $99,000 saved36% have $100,000 to $500,000 saved19% have $500,000 to $999,000 saved12% have $1 million or more saved

Ifyou’re feeling behind when it comes to saving for retirement, here are threeeffective strategies to help increase your savings.

Here’s how much Americans havesaved for retirement at different agesKathleen Elkins

10. If Your Life Isn’t How You Want It, Here Are 4 Start Anytime Resolutions to Experience a Better Life

Life has never felt different for anyone just because they wantlife to feel different. There’s usually this feeling that we’re notexperiencing our best life or we’re not where we want to be that causes us tofeel like life isn’t fair to us, because it seems like everyone is doing lessthan we’re doing but enjoying more than we do.

If you’ve ever wanted to experience things differently fromhow you’ve been experiencing them, then you just need to do things differently fromhow you’ve been doing them. Because what you currently have is as a result ofthe amount of knowledge that you have.

Sohere are the 4 things which you’re currently doing that when you dodifferently, will bring about that amazing life:

1.Replace Chasing People With Finding Yourself

“I want to be in a relationship with A, I want to be like B, Iwant to have fun and travel like C.” Although it isn’t a bad thing towant better, you need to be reminded that all these things you’re trying to doare putting you on someone’s path, which isn’t making you the engineer of yourown trail.

So instead of trying so hard to fit into people’s criteria, orchase people whom you want, it’d be best to start finding yourself. Most times,the people who end up saying money doesn’t bring happiness are those people whochase making money because others were chasing money.

If there isn’t a strong why, or a deep reason why you want tobecome that person or get that thing, quit it because it could not bring youthe best experience or the happiness which you want.

In order to find yourself, take time to completely analyzeyourself. Define your own tune, dance according to your rhythm, and sing withthat voice which you have. There’s beauty in the struggle. When you focus oncreating your own path, you’ll surely become better, and then people will bemore attracted to you because originality is what attracts people.

2.Replace Not Being Real With Yourself, With Facing The Truth

There are thousands of things which we’ve said we’d do better,that if we think about now, would have made us somebody better than we are.Procrastinating is too easy. It’s easy to give in, but giving in isn’t whatbrings results. Taking the extra step or doing that which you don’t want to dois what always brings about success.

When the situation presents itself that you have to procrastinate,tell yourself “I’m going to procrastinate doing this because it’s notimportant”. If your conscience lets you go scot-free, then you have theright to ignore that thing. But if it doesn’t, it only means that thing is veryimportant and it will help you live a better life, so by not doing it, we’rehurting ourselves.

Most of the time, we procrastinate just because we have to watchthat new episode and then leave more important things which might bring us areward. By procrastinating because we have to watch that new episode, we’reunconsciously telling ourselves that the new episode is more important than ourgoals or that thing which we have to do.

3.Replace Yes With No When It Doesn’t Suit

This is usually a tough one. Especially when you have to say NO toyour loved ones. It generally makes us feel like we’re not empathic or we’reboring people. But on the contrary, most times when we agree to do what theother person is requesting, we often don’t enjoy the process because we knowwe’ve left something more important to do.

So here’s a way out, when it begins to feel awkward to say no,remind yourself that you’re not saying no because you’re a bitter person,rather, you’re saying no because you have something of greater value to do.

And here’s a less offensive reason to give when you say no.Instead of saying “No, I have something more important to do,” say,“I already have something that’s running out of time that I have to do” evenif it’s you just working on your goals.

4.Replace Sleeping With Worry For Sleeping With The Future Vision

This might prove difficult when, let’s say you didn’t get themoney you needed to do something the next morning. But as you already know,it’s bedtime meaning worrying at that time won’t bring a solution because it’stoo late.

So when you replace worrying with the vision of the future, where you’re alreadyenjoying that thing, an idea of what to do next might come to you. Even if anidea doesn’t come, just sleeping with happiness will allow you to have a goodnight’s rest and also keep your body in a more relaxed state compared to whenyou’re constantly fussing about the problem at hand.

Remember, you’re not starting anything new that will require youto do much, rather, you’re replacing what you don’t like for something thatwill make you feel happier and joyful.