Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • Elon Musk’s Secret Battery May Be the World’s Largest

    Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. has connected a massive battery to the Texas power grid:

    A Tesla subsidiary registered as Gambit Energy Storage LLC is quietly building a more than 100 megawatt energy storage project in Angleton, Texas, a town roughly 40 miles south of Houston. A battery that size could power about 20,000 homes on a hot summer day.

    This megabattery may be the world’s largest, surpassing another Tesla project in Australia:

    Tesla’s battery project in South Australia, launched in 2017, is adjacent to a wind farm and can store surplus electricity generated on gusty nights for daytime demand. At 100 megawatts, it was the largest battery project in the world at its launch.

    Battery packs like these could make it easier to store renewable energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. And the energy market is so big, a major push in this area could help justify Tesla’s lofty valuation. From the Bloomberg report:

    “I think long-term Tesla Energy will be roughly the same size as Tesla Automotive,” Musk said during an earnings call in July 2020. “The energy business is collectively bigger than the automotive business.”

    Battery prices are falling precipitously, making such a future increasingly plausible. Prices have fallen from $668/kWh in 2013 to $137 last year, a decrease of nearly 80%.

    For more on Tesla, electric vehicles, and financial markets, check out these posts:

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    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too! 

    Photo: “Elon Musk” by dmoberhaus is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  • GameStop Is Surging, But Are They Willing To Make Hard Changes?

    GameStop Corp. shares are surging today and are currently up over 30%:

    Chewy co-founder and GameStop board member Ryan Cohen is taking a bigger role, which is driving today’s gains:

    GameStop Corp. shares extended their rally after the company tapped Chewy.com founder Ryan Cohen to guide its transition to an e-commerce business.

    Cohen, a director at the video-game retailer, will chair a new board committee tasked with the transformation, the company said in a statement Monday, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News.

    But GameStop is still losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, continuing a trend that predates COVID. It has 5,000 stores that are dinosaurs in an e-commerce driven world. Formation of a committee is nice and all, but this doesn’t mean any real change right now. And certainly not enough to make a money losing, moribund company worth 30% more than it was yesterday.

    Even if they decided to close all their stores tomorrow, they’d still be on the hook for years’ worth of rent. A typical commercial lease lasts 3-5 years, locking in this cash-incinerating business model for quite some time.

    For more on GameStop, check out these posts:

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    Photo: “GameStop” by JeepersMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  • You May Soon Be Able to Get Vaccinated in Russia

    As some US states lag in COVID vaccinations and the EU barely vaccinates at all, some are looking to Russia for help:

    Lufthansa is reportedly discussing the “medical tourism” jet scheme with bosses at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.

    The German airline is also in talks with the Russian foreign ministry about a regular service to the airport, it was reported.

    Passengers would fly in and out without necessarily needing a visa or entering the country to see the sights such as Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral.

    They would then make a second trip three weeks later to be fully protected by the Russian vaccine.

    Two return flights from Frankfurt are estimated to cost around £1,750.

    This hasn’t happened yet but it’s something to watch closely, especially if you’re in the EU or other countries that have barely begun to vaccinate. Russia’s vaccine is highly effective, per a study published in The Lancet:

    Vaccine efficacy, based on the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases from 21 days after the first dose of vaccine, is reported as 91·6% (95% CI 85·6–95·2)

    Russians have proved hesitant to get the vaccine, perhaps due to mistrust of their government, so this may mean more available for foreigners.

    For more on COVID and vaccines, check out these posts:

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    Photo: “Putin Claims Moon” by AZRainman is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  • The UK Has Killed COVID, and the US Is Close Behind

    The UK has vaccinated faster than almost anywhere on earth:

    And it’s working! Cases have fallen off a cliff, dropping by almost 90% in just two months:

    The US is actually not far behind the UK in vaccinations per person anymore, although we were significantly behind until recently. And we are actually putting out more doses per capita than the UK at the moment. So, this gives us an idea of what we have to look forward to. If anything, our results should be even better because a more contagious variant is more widespread in the UK than here.

    Indeed, we’ve seen cases fall by 2/3rds over the same period:

    To me, this seems like an incredibly powerful endorsement of Brexit and the Johnson government, neither of which I ever thought I’d favor! But the rollout in the EU has been pathetic. Meanwhile, as an American, I’ve been looking upon the UK with envy.

    Bottom line: the vaccines really are working, and we have an amazing summer to look forward to!

    For more on COVID and vaccines, check out these posts:

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    “Boris Johnson” by EU2017EE is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  • You Can Get the Same Bank Account as a Professional Investor. Here’s How.

    Shortly after giving blood a week ago, I availed myself of the blood center’s free cookies and magazines. I flipped to an article about banking in poor, mostly black areas of the rural south:

    …the national banks discourage poorer—and less profitable—clients through minimum-balance requirements and fees. And in many small towns around the Delta, good luck even finding a big traditional lender. From 2012 to 2017, low-income rural communities lost 14% of their bank branches, according to a Federal Reserve study.

    This struck me as very sad, since I don’t deal with any of those problems. Ever.

    What if you could get an account with a bank that’s entirely online, meaning you don’t need to worry if you live in a rural area? And what if that bank had accounts with no minimum balance and even free checks to boot?

    Well, that’s the kind of account I have. And as I read that article, I thought about several friends who’ve had struggles with their banks and asked me the same question: what bank do you use?

    I’ve used Ally Bank for about four years, and I do love it so! Here are some of the benefits:

    • No minimum balance
    • Free checks
    • Reimbursement of ATM fees up to $10/month, which is usually plenty for me
    • Tons of fee free ATM’s, including at every Walgreens and CVS
    • Every service is online, no branch to go to, wait in line, and catch COVID at
    • Wait time of 1-2 minutes at most to get a human on the phone, 24/7/365
    • Some of the highest interest rates for savings accounts in the nation, probably because they don’t have to pay for branches and tellers

    A friend of mine recently had his bank account frozen due to fraud protection. Naturally, it conveniently happened on a Saturday afternoon, after the branches and phone lines were closed! With Ally’s 24/7 support, this would never have been an issue.

    In fact, in four years, I’ve never had one problem with my Ally account.

    As a professional investor, deciding where to put money is my entire job. So, I put a good bit of thought into this decision, and it’s worked out well for me.

    I’d love to see people of more modest means, people in remote rural areas, and disadvantaged minorities get the same good service as a very fortunate urban white guy like myself. So that’s why I wrote this post!

    I have no affiliation with them and won’t get a dime if you sign up. But if you do decide to, the link is here.

    Have a great weekend everyone!

    For more on saving money and financial issues, check out these posts:

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    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too! 

    Photo: Me and some random person’s car. 🙂

  • 28% Of Americans Bought Meme Stocks in January

    I came across a shocking fact this morning: 28% of Americans bought a meme stock like GameStop or AMC in January:

    Over a quarter of American adults say they bought GameStop (GME) or another viral stock in January, according to a new survey from Yahoo Finance and The Harris Poll.

    All in, 28% of Americans say they bought one of these viral stocks, the Yahoo Finance-Harris Poll found.

    AMC was the most popular, closely followed by GameStop and then Blackberry:

    In relative terms, 35% of people who bought one of these stocks bought AMC, 33% bought GameStop, and 23% bought BlackBerry.

    And they went beyond just buying the stock, getting into sophisticated and potentially risky strategies like options and buying on margin:

    Meanwhile, 29% used conditional trading like a limit order, 22% bought call options, and 15% bought with margin — borrowing money to get in.

    The people using these sophisticated techniques were largely novice traders:

    The survey found that 43% of the people who said they had a brokerage account had signed up within the past month, an enormous uptick that matches Google trends results that showed that more people were googling “how to buy stocks” than ever before.

    More here.

    I see real risk if novice investors buy heavily touted stocks with debt. They could lose a great deal. And the more they lose, the bigger the push for regulations to stop such speculation will be.

    For more on the Wallstreetbets phenomenon, check out these posts:

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    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too! 

    Photo: “Retail GameStop” by ccPixs.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  • Bitcoin Anonymity Could Become A Thing of the Past If This Regulation Passes

    In the waning days of the Trump administration, the government proposed regulations that would ban anonymity for holders of cryptocurrencies:

    Users whose wallets now are only identified with codes would have their true identities recorded with the financial institutions they zealously avoided.

    This proposed regulation has now been passed on to the Biden administration. There’s no timeline for a decision, but removing anonymity from crypto transactions could hammer the price:

    If adopted, the regulations could cause a sharp fall in the prices of virtual currencies like Bitcoin, said Matthew Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak & Co., adding that he thinks Bitcoin’s price will continue to rise in the long term.

    There are some major companies like Fidelity and Coinbase pushing to retain anonymity, and I think their political influence may stop such regulations. But on the other hand, the possibility for anonymity to facilitate drug deals and terrorism could push the government in the opposite direction.

    For more on the latest in cryptocurrencies, check out these posts:

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/LinkedIn/email using the buttons below. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave a comment at the bottom of the page letting me know what you think and what other information you’re interested in!

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    Photo: “Bitcoin, bitcoin coin, physical bitcoin, bitcoin photo” by antanacoins is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

  • How I Eat Delicious Organic Produce for Next to Nothing: Introducing Misfits Market

    Last Saturday, my wife went to a farmer’s market with her friend. As her friend loaded up on yummy veggies, my wife noticed something: she was paying $40 for a small bag of vegetables while we pay $26 for twice as much. And ours is 100% organic, whereas the farmer’s market haul was only about half.

    Do we have special connections down on the farm? Sort of…

    For over a year, my wife and I have gotten almost all our produce from Misfits Market, a subscription service that sends a big box of delicious, all-organic fruits and vegetables to your door every week. The quality is absolutely exceptional. I thought radishes were cold, tasteless chunks under harsh lights on salad bars until I tried theirs! Colorful, peppery, crispy, delicious!

    Misfits is a great way to introduce yourself to new kinds of produce. I’ve tried golden beets, turnips, rutabagas, chard, collard greens, and countless other delicious things I never would’ve thought to buy otherwise. Getting the surprise veg each week is like Christmas! But if you prefer to choose your produce, they offer that as well.

    We pay $26.25 a week for more than enough veggies for both of us. In fact, we often have to delay our next shipment (easy to do), so our real cost is probably barely over $20/week.

    Before we got Misfits, I would buy a smaller assortment of veggies at Aldi for about $20. To get as much produce as Misfits, Aldi would run at least $30, even for non-organic! And Aldi is about the cheapest grocery store there is.

    So let’s review:

    1) Cheaper than any grocery store
    2) Incredible taste
    3) All-organic
    4) Shipped to your door

    What’s not to like? Well, nothing, which is why my wife and I have been loyal Misfits customers for so long! If you want to join us, use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. I’ll also get $10.

    They have plans for households of 2-3 and a larger box for bigger households. FYI: Single-person households won’t be able to eat all this.

    Enjoy in good health!

    For more posts about health and nutrition, check out some of these:

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    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too! 

  • Palantir Options Are Bullish, But This Company Is Still a Dog

    We are seeing strong options activity on Palantir Technologies, Inc., which is a darling of the Reddit crowd:

    On CNBC’s “Options Action,” Mike Khouw said about 610,000 contracts traded in Palantir Technologies Inc on Wednesday and calls outpaced puts by about three to one. The most active calls were the 26 strike calls that expire at the end of this week.

    See the full video here.

    Regardless of what the options market is saying, my view on Palantir is that it’s a terrible, money losing company. It has lost money every single year of its 18 years in business, and its current burn rate is $100,000,000 a month. Other major tech companies like Amazon and Google made it to profitability much sooner, so I’m not inclined to give Palantir a break. This is one you want to avoid.

    For more on Wallstreetbets, check out these posts:

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    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too! 

    Photo: “PandoMonthly – April 2012 – Sarah Lacy Interviews Peter Thiel” by thekenyeung is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

  • Wallstreetbets’ Next Stop: Asia

    Stock mania has gripped the US throughout the year. And now it’s spreading to Asia, where trading volumes are rising far faster than even in the US:

    The value of stock trades matched on exchanges, in what is known as electronic order-book trading, gives a sense of the trend. Such trading on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges more than doubled in January from a year earlier, to $1.37 trillion and $517 billion respectively, World Federation of Exchanges data shows. In South Korea, it more than tripled to $709 billion.

    For comparison, similar trading for Nasdaq Inc. in the U.S. stood at $2.2 trillion, up 54% from a year earlier, while for Germany’s Deutsche Boerse AG and the London Stock Exchange Group PLC the equivalent figures were $178 billion and $148 billion.

    I would expect to see higher volatility in some Asian stocks given this trend. This would mirror the increase in volatility in the US this year that we saw during big run-ups in meme stocks in late January and late February, as seen in the VIX index:

    For more on Wallstreetbets, check out these posts:

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/LinkedIn/email using the buttons below. This helps more people find the blog! And please leave a comment at the bottom of the page letting me know what you think and what other information you’re interested in!

    Check out the Stuff I Use page for some great deals on products and services I use to improve my health and productivity. They just might help you too!