Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • Paul Castellano’s Last Day

    Salvatore Gravano, a made member of the Gambino crime family, walked into a room with a heart shaped bed. The sheets were red velvet. Mirrors lined the ceiling.

    This was no romantic getaway. Gravano had just murdered the most powerful mob boss in the country. Now he was on the run.

    In an engrossing episode of the Our Thing podcast, Sammy the Bull describes the murder of Paul Castellano and its aftermath.

    The love nest Sammy found himself in belonged to Joe Watts, a fellow soldier. Sammy and his crew hid there after the hit, bracing for the war they were sure was coming.

    Gravano, exhausted, took the couch instead. His fatigue after the hit is a strange parallel to Irish mobster Whitey Bulger, who often slept after his many murders.

    This is the biggest hit of all time.

    Frankie DeCicco

    The war never came. The Castellano hit had been conducted brazenly amid the crowds in Midtown Manhattan. Anyone who had a problem with Gotti and Gravano kept their mouths shut, afraid to meet to same fate.

    John Gotti was made boss of the Gambino family in the basement of a school. A fellow mobster had a connection there.

    I picture the children who came the next day, never knowing what happened.

    More on the mafia:

    ‘THEY GOTTA GO’: GRAVANO ON THE CASTELLANO HIT

    THE MAFIA’S HOBOKEN FORTRESS

    HOFFA MURDER SUSPECT TONY PRO’S UNION HALL

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Amazon Business American Express Card

    You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

    If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

    Best of all: No fee!

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • NJ’s Best Apple Cider Donut

    On Wednesday, my wife’s coworker gave us the most meaningful of gifts: two apple cider donuts. Considerate husband that I am, I ate them both.

    They were the best I’ve ever tasted.

    Francesca’s Bakery, with locations in Clifton and Pequannock, makes donuts, danishes, babka and much more! They even appear at numerous farmer’s markets in New York City, including one near the United Nations where my wife first encountered their delicious baked goods.

    The apple cider donut is generously sugared, airy, and rich. Biting into it evokes a candied cloud.

    Get several. One won’t be enough.

    Francesca’s was started in 2009 and gets its ingredients from nearby farms. Everything is fresh, and it shows.

    If you’re in the area, check it out! And if you’re not, you can even order their rugelach by mail!

    Have a great weekend everyone!

    More on food:

    THE BEST MEXICAN FOOD IS IN…NEW JERSEY?

    NYC’S KING OF SUGAR: POSH POP BAKESHOP

    DUNKIN DONUTS: THE DEFINITIVE TOP 3

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Amazon Business American Express Card

    You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

    If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

    Best of all: No fee!

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Jim Simons Buys AMC, Bets on Retail Trend

    James Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC is one of the greatest hedge fund managers in history. His fund’s annualized returns are an eye-popping 66% a year since 1988. Lately, he’s been loading up on shares in meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc:

    Renaissance Technologies, which held approximately 516,000 AMC shares by March this year, has more than tripled its stake in the firm. Cumulatively, RenTech now owns more than 1.8 million shares.

    Despite the entrance of some hedge funds, about 80% of AMC’s stock is held by retail investors.

    Simons seems acutely aware that individual traders are flooding the stock market and AMC shares in particular. Indeed, the number of retail brokerage accounts has exploded this year. From The Economist:

    In 2019 around 59m Americans had accounts with one of seven of the largest brokers. This number has surged since to 95m, as 17m new accounts were opened in 2020 and 20m were set up this year.

    Short squeeze or no, that’s a powerful source of demand that Simons and Renaissance can benefit from.

    I don’t know whether the stock will go up, down, or in circles. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to bet against Jim Simons.

    More on AMC and hedge funds:

    HEDGE FUNDS HIT HARD BY MEME STOCK LOSSES, BADLY BEHIND S&P 500

    NEW DATA SHOWS BIG DROP IN AMC FAILS TO DELIVER

    HOW SHORT SELLERS COULD EVADE THE NEW NSCC RULES

    Photo: “Jim Simons” by Graham is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Amazon Business American Express Card

    You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

    If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

    Best of all: No fee!

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Hedge Funds Hit Hard by Meme Stock Losses, Badly Behind S&P 500

    Losses betting against meme stocks have hit hedge funds hard this year. The latest data from Barclay Hedge shows year-to-date gains for equity long/short funds of 8.51%. (This is the type of fund that would typically take short positions in stocks.)

    Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has returned 18%.

    One of the largest sources of losses for hedge funds this year is short positions in AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Its shares are up more than 18 fold this year, inflicting billions in losses on short sellers. Other meme stocks like GameStop Corp. have also produced large losses.

    This continues a pattern of long term underperformance for this strategy:

    Investors are losing patience and rapidly withdrawing their money.

    If you’re an investor in a fund with a losing strategy, a weak track record, and a habit of betting against the hottest stocks in the market, I ask you: why not try an index fund?

    More on hedge funds and AMC:

    SHORT SELLERS LOSE $44 BILLION IN 30 DAYS

    HOW AMC IS BLOWING UP THE HEDGE FUND INDUSTRY

    NEW DATA SHOWS BIG DROP IN AMC FAILS TO DELIVER

    Photo: “the Great Hedge Fund Hei$t” by eyewashdesign: A. Golden is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Amazon Business American Express Card

    You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

    If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

    Best of all: No fee!

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • China’s Tech Crackdown Means Economic Decline

    Imagine you’re running a marathon. You’ve led the whole race. But a strong runner is coming up on your right. The finish line approaches.

    Suddenly, there is a loud “crack.” The other runner has been shot in the head. You win.

    This is essentially what has happened to the Chinese tech sector in recent months. The Chinese government has cracked down on major companies like Alibaba, Didi Chuxing, and Meituan. It has also regulated its substantial ed tech sector out of existence.

    China used to be the US’s leading competition in technology. Now it looks like an also-ran.

    Leaders of Alibaba and Didi angering Xi Jinping is one reason for the crackdown. Another appears to be China’s desire to refocus from software to hardware. The Party seems to think microchips, batteries and advanced materials are critical to economic leadership, while consumer software is a distraction.

    One problem: semiconductors and most other manufacturing industries are a lot less profitable than software companies like Alibaba or Didi. And all of China’s net job growth since 2012 has been in services, not manufacturing.

    Even with that growth, well educated Chinese youth often struggle to find decent jobs. Severely curtailing one of the most vibrant sectors of the economy will only make it worse.

    China has lost sight of what those microchips and batteries are supposed to do: run software! They are not ends in themselves.

    What’s more, the threat of sudden crackdowns will make it harder for all Chinese companies to raise money and grow. Maybe the hammer is landing on tech now, but investors will wonder, “Who’s next?”

    More on China:

    HOW CHINA’S TECH INDUSTRY DIES

    CHINA’S TECH ELITE IS RUNNING SCARED

    CHINA IS CRUSHING ONE OF ITS MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

    Photo: “Vice President Xi Jinping” by nznationalparty is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Amazon Business American Express Card

    You already shop on Amazon. Why not save $100?

    If you’re approved for this card, you get a $100 Amazon gift card. You also get up to 5% back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, 2% on restaurants/gas stations/cell phone bills, and 1% everywhere else.

    Best of all: No fee!

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • New Data Shows Big Drop in AMC Fails to Deliver

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just released new fails to deliver data for the second half of July. It shows that fails to deliver in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., dropped substantially in the last two weeks, but remain elevated.

    In the first half of July, AMC had over 3.5 million fails to deliver. Here is the raw data from the SEC from July 1st. The fails to deliver are the number right before the company name:

    20210701|00165C104|AMC|3519354|AMC ENTMT HLDGS INC CL A COM S|56.68

    The most recent data, from July 30, show a significant decrease:

    20210730|00165C104|AMC|160233|AMC ENTMT HLDGS INC CL A COM S|38.13

    Let’s back up for a second: what are fails to deliver and why do they matter? Fails to deliver occur when a trade in a stock doesn’t clear properly. Sometimes the cause is benign, but AMC’s fails to deliver have been large and persistent.

    Such a pattern is often associated with the illegal practice of naked short selling. Naked short selling involves selling shares without actually borrowing them first, pushing down the price artificially.

    Perhaps recent moves by the SEC, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), and others to reduce fails to deliver and prevent illegal trades are having an effect.

    That said, AMC’s fails to deliver remain 238 times larger than those of Amazon (671 on July 29th, the most recent date available). Amazon has a market cap nearly 100 times AMC’s. AMC’s fails to deliver are 351 times the size of Apple’s (456 on July 30), the largest stock in the market.

    Trading in AMC stock still looks fishy. Regulators may be making progress but there’s still a long way to go.

    More on AMC:

    AMC HAS 35,000 TIMES THE FAILS-TO-DELIVER OF AMAZON

    AMC ON THE THRESHOLD LIST: STRONG EVIDENCE OF NAKED SHORT SELLING

    HOW AMC CRAZY IS YOUR STATE?

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • How AMC Crazy Is Your State?

    After an incredible 17-fold rise this year, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. has become one of the hottest stocks in the market. But which state is the craziest for this meme stock?

    It turns out my home state of New Jersey is #1 in the country for searches of “AMC” as a proportion of all searches, per Google Trends data from the last 12 months. Kansas, the company’s home state, is #2. (The darker the state, the more AMC crazy it is.)

    Play around with the map at the link above and see where your state ranks!

    Have a great weekend, everyone!

    More on AMC:

    HOW SHORT SELLERS COULD EVADE THE NEW NSCC RULES

    AMC HAS 35,000 TIMES THE FAILS-TO-DELIVER OF AMAZON

    SHORT SELLERS LOSE $44 BILLION IN 30 DAYS

    Photo: The AMC in Times Square, NYC, taken this week by yours truly!

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • ‘They Gotta Go’: Gravano on the Castellano Hit

    Gambino family boss Paul Castellano had a problem: he couldn’t get hot water in his shower. The mansion he had built on Staten Island’s Todt Hill was so large that water cooled in the pipes before it could reach the bathroom.

    The contractor he got to help him was a rising star in the Gambino family: Salvatore Gravano. Gravano had his men wrap heating coils around the pipes, and the problem was fixed.

    Castellano couldn’t have known that the man who fixed his shower would one day murder him.

    On this fascinating episode of the Our Thing podcast, Gravano breaks down how the notorious murder of Castellano, the most high profile crime boss in the country, happened. Castellano would be killed outside the exclusive Sparks Steakhouse on Manhattan’s 46th Street. The hit was planned meticulously for months and the shooters even obtained walkie talkies to communicate outside Sparks.

    As the day of the murder approached, Gravano and Gambino consigliere Frankie DeCicco hid in the maid’s quarters of an associate’s home in Staten Island, practically under Castellano’s nose. And their scheming went beyond killing Castellano. Should John Gotti, who would become boss after the hit, not cooperate with them, they would kill him as well.

    “This is a do or die hit.”

    Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano

    On December 16, 1985, a group of men in white jackets and distinctive fur hats began to approach Sparks. Castellano and his driver, Tommy Bilotti, pulled within a few feet of Gotti and Gravano on the narrow Manhattan streets. But they never noticed Gotti or Gravano, who directed the hit and was also there as a backup shooter.

    Uniforms, radio communications, reserve forces: the hit had a military precision. Castellano and Bilotti were quickly shot to death, making John Gotti the boss of the Gambino family.

    In this podcast, Gravano portrays Gotti as a reckless loudmouth, even as the late Gotti no longer has any chance to defend himself. It’s hard to know how accurate his account is, but it’s certainly entertaining!

    More on the mafia:

    THE MAFIA’S HOBOKEN FORTRESS

    HOFFA MURDER SUSPECT TONY PRO’S UNION HALL

    A NOTORIOUS MOB INFORMANT’S HOBOKEN HEADQUARTERS

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • How Short Sellers Could Evade the New NSCC Rules

    The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), which handles a huge percentage of all stock trades, may soon increase capital requirements for firms 25-fold:

    DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED RULE CHANGE
    Currently, NSCC requires each Member to maintain a minimum Required Fund Deposit amount of $10,000. NSCC proposes to increase each Member’s minimum Required Fund Deposit amount to $250,000.

    This change could make it more difficult for hedge funds to engage in naked short selling, a generally illegal practice that allows them to drive down a company’s share price without ever actually having any shares. There is substantial evidence that such sales have artificially driven down the share price of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. among others.

    But there may be ways around this new rule, and I’m sure the hedge funds are scrutinizing them at this very moment. From law firm Norris Mclaughlin:

    After a period of consolidation from the 1980’s through 2010, seven SEC-registered clearing agencies remain, of which NSCC is both the oldest and the biggest.

    One wonders, however, whether the size of the proposed increase will cause some, especially smaller, less active Members to leave the NSCC and seek other, alternative trading systems to close transactions.

    So, the increase in required capital may not be big enough to dissuade the large firms from continuing to trade as they have. And smaller traders may leave to other, friendlier venues.

    The SEC may need to make more comprehensive rules to stamp out illegal short sales. And as it happens, they’re looking for public comments on the rule now here.

    Let the voice of the people be heard!

    More on AMC:

    AMC HAS 35,000 TIMES THE FAILS-TO-DELIVER OF AMAZON

    AMC ON THE THRESHOLD LIST: STRONG EVIDENCE OF NAKED SHORT SELLING

    EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS IN LAWSUIT AGAINST ROBINHOOD

    Photo: “Thief” by elizaIO is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. using the buttons at the bottom of the page. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave your comments at the bottom.

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

  • Why Jim Chanos Is Dead Wrong About AMC Holders

    Jim Chanos, Founder and President of the Kynikos Associates hedge fund, has some harsh criticism for holders of AMC and other meme stocks:

    What I see on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere is the exact opposite. The communities have a strong determination to hold and often find the position deeply personal. One very popular Reddit post I saw said that hedge funds killed her father, in that her father fell into despair and substance abuse after the financial crisis, which hedge funds had a hand in:

    For many AMC holders, it’s personal. And I don’t doubt the same is true for holders of other meme stocks.

    Do they also want to make money? Sure. And I’m also pretty sure that Chanos didn’t start his hedge fund in order to save starving kittens.

    In fact, this personalization of the position could be a liability for meme stock holders. As someone who invests for a living, I urge all investors to view an investment as an investment only. It helps you make clearer decisions.

    In the future, I suggest listening to this song when you read Chanos’ tweets:

    More on AMC:

    AMC HAS 35,000 TIMES THE FAILS-TO-DELIVER OF AMAZON

    SQUEEZES IN AMC AND OTHERS ARE KILLING OFF SHORT SELLERS

    EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS IN LAWSUIT AGAINST ROBINHOOD

    Photo: “Notorious BIG by Marv Castillo” by 5AENZ2NEXWNYZRR22ACALR5SWN is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been good so far. More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. With their 1% management fee, this could save you $250 on a $100,000 account. I will also get a fee waiver for 90-365 days, depending on what type of account you open.

    iHerb

    The only place I buy vitamins and supplements. I recently placed an order and received it in less than 48 hours with free shipping! I compared the prices and they were lower than Amazon. I also love how they test a lot of the vitamins so that you know you’re getting what the label says. This isn’t always the case with supplements.

    Use this link to save 5%! I’ll also get 5% of however much you spend, at no cost to you.

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me. Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy! I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.