Search found 2751 matches

by Tortoise
Wed Apr 05, 2023 11:40 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1659480

Re: The GOLD scream room

If you have the ability to see currency prices, I like to use the XAUUSD ticker for spot price. It feels like the right way to think about the price of gold. It is just the currency conversion from real money to USD 8) The iPhone stocks app doesn't find that ticker symbol, but I did find an interes...
by Tortoise
Tue Apr 04, 2023 1:05 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1659480

Re: The GOLD scream room

Sorry, dualstow, I didn’t mean to be “that guy” and get nit-picky about something silly. So I retract my original question, which created quite a long tangent. :) Like you, I typically use GC=F ticker as a rough proxy of the gold spot price since that’s the closest thing I can find on my stocks app....
by Tortoise
Mon Apr 03, 2023 3:16 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1659480

Re: The GOLD scream room

Yup. Sorry, dualstow -- gold spot is still below $2000. You're looking at the gold futures price for June. :)

(Edit: Strangely, GC=F displays as "June 23" for me, but in Smithers' screenshot it says "April 23". Not sure why.)
by Tortoise
Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:56 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Daily "Check In" Thread For Us
Replies: 2251
Views: 1153772

Re: New Gold Case

Saw this little container thingy at the hardware store the other day… thought to myself it would make a cool little gold bullion storage case. So I bought it! 58B37611-E940-4D03-926B-A3D92507A590.jpeg 6E865275-19FA-47DC-86BD-F1DD8D50865F.jpeg I just bought one of these online yesterday after rememb...
by Tortoise
Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:38 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1659480

Re: The GOLD scream room

dualstow wrote:
Mon Apr 03, 2023 1:21 pm
2000
Which ticker symbol or web site do you use to get the gold spot price?

I checked www.goldprice.com and www.kitco.com just now, and both list gold spot of about $1984.
by Tortoise
Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:30 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: I'M OUT!
Replies: 64
Views: 60384

Re: I'M OUT!

Ditto to what Mark said: No shame in taking a time-out with your investing if things don't feel right or don't make sense. In fact, that's exactly what Harry Browne recommended in Fail-Safe Investing in Rule #9 ("Do only what you understand") and Rule #17 ("Whenever you're in doubt, err on the side ...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:56 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

Are you suggesting that institutionalized fraud in the banking system should be tolerated because bank runs are uncommon? If so, that's a rather strange argument since civilized societies generally consider fraud to be illegal, unethical, and not to be tolerated. How is it fraud? Did a bank ever te...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:28 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

What is usual longest term CD? Five years? Under your scenario how would banks finance house mortgages? In finance, I think this problem is called cashflow matching . Basically, one way to do it would be to take a pool of 5-year CDs with staggered maturities and match it with a pool of 30-year mort...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 4:20 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

The whole reason why bank runs destroy banks is because of the institutionalized fraud. It makes the banks fundamentally fragile and unstable. If bank loans were legally limited to time deposits (CDs) as they should be, bank runs would not destroy banks. Not sure how this would fix anything. AFAIK,...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 3:49 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

You might have a solution looking for a problem. Or at least a problem big enough for the juice to be worth the squeeze of a radical departure from modern fractional banking. Bank runs are not that common in the US, especially if you exclude the Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis. Here ...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:37 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

All you say seems logical and consistent. But it would certainly be a radical dramatic change in the banking industry if your proposals were adopted. Definitely. But it's a necessary change, IMO. The whole reason why bank runs destroy banks is because of the institutionalized fraud. It makes the ba...
by Tortoise
Mon Mar 20, 2023 12:37 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

Therefore under your proposal [the bank would] only be allowed to loan out the portion of the [deposits] that is CDs? Correct. That would certainly be a drastic reduction in how much they'd be able to loan (and a reduction in profits). What do you suggest they do (invest?) with the money that you b...
by Tortoise
Sun Mar 19, 2023 5:22 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Silicon Valley Bank Failure
Replies: 130
Views: 348960

Re: Silicon Valley Bank Failure

Yeah, very few individuals want to handle and store large amounts of physical cash. So I think most people use bank checking accounts mainly for convenience: Debit card transactions, direct deposit, check-writing, online banking, etc. And I agree with boglerdude that that convenience should come wit...
by Tortoise
Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:49 am
Forum: Politics
Topic: Jan 6 footage on Tucker
Replies: 35
Views: 38390

Re: Jan 6 footage on Tucker

For what it’s worth, Carlson correctly said the five US congressmen in 1954 were shot; he didn’t say killed.

Here is the timestamped video clip:

https://youtu.be/HPg9N_HiLMg?t=350s
by Tortoise
Tue Feb 21, 2023 12:12 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Meme Thread
Replies: 279
Views: 221291

Re: The Meme Thread

Smith1776 wrote:
Mon Feb 20, 2023 10:37 pm
This is a hill I am willing to die on.

958D15CA-DB01-4DB0-B397-435ABE30146D.jpeg
Nicholas freaking Cage!
by Tortoise
Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:55 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: Safe deposit boxes: Revisited
Replies: 27
Views: 9259

Re: Safe deposit boxes: Revisited

dualstow wrote:
Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:26 pm
I keep thinking about a happy medium between between ‘thief will miss it’ and ‘wife won’t throw it out’.
There’s always money in the banana stand.
by Tortoise
Thu Feb 02, 2023 12:25 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: The Left is Eating Itself Pt. II
Replies: 845
Views: 426112

Re: The Left is Eating Itself Pt. II

So while on the one hand, being pro-business and anti-government intervention is a very conservative trait, what happens when private business like Monsanto and Syngenta are adultering the food supply in ways that are destructive to consumers? The Ayn Rand libertarian answer would be for consumers ...
by Tortoise
Sun Jan 29, 2023 11:02 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?
Replies: 220
Views: 159109

Re: Isn't there an Avatar Thread?

dualstow wrote:
Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:47 pm
Elon’s tweet reminded me of Tortoise twice over.

B0060801-7894-43AA-8AD7-20E4FA130773.jpeg
Ohm gonna pretend Elon didn’t make such a corny joke about electricity.
by Tortoise
Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:39 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Coronavirus General Discussion
Replies: 5196
Views: 1783238

Re: Coronavirus General Discussion

The California Department of Public Health still requires masks in "healthcare settings, long-term care settings, and adult and senior care facilities". And therefore my dutifully compliant county department of public health requires them also. My dentist and all of his staff and patients comply wit...
by Tortoise
Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:16 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: 2022 Returns
Replies: 44
Views: 22125

Re: 2022 Returns

2022 was the only year since 1989 that had negative returns for both equities and bonds. Equity and Bond Scatter Plot.png Interesting chart, thanks Mark! I found a similar one on this page that goes back even farther, to 1929. The only years since 1929 in which stocks and bonds both had a negative ...
by Tortoise
Mon Jan 23, 2023 6:21 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Silver
Replies: 40
Views: 9262

Re: Silver

Whoa. That one I have to try. Hard to believe. ~80% ! I tried downloading the research paper linked on the website "heads.pdf" but got a dead link and couldn't fiind it on the web. If anyone has the paper... They may have been referring to this paper by Diaconis. This seems to be the relevant passa...
by Tortoise
Mon Jan 23, 2023 10:11 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: Silver
Replies: 40
Views: 9262

Re: Silver

Next time you flip a coin for something, instead of the more usual heads or tails call, call "obverse or reverse" ... and then claim you've won as most wont know the difference. Or, instead of flipping the coin, spin it on its edge. A new penny that's spun on its edge will land with tails facing up...
by Tortoise
Mon Jan 09, 2023 1:20 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: ChatGPT and what it means for our future
Replies: 135
Views: 44802

Re: ChatGPT and what it means for our future

One of the best Black Mirror episodes ("Be Right Back", S2E1) explored this concept in the context of AI imitating a dead loved one by training on their digital footprint. It was rather creepy. Hard to believe that episode aired 10 years ago...
by Tortoise
Wed Dec 21, 2022 12:55 pm
Forum: Politics
Topic: Putin Invades Ukraine II
Replies: 1162
Views: 831852

Re: Putin Invades Ukraine II

The Soviets launched significant attacks on Christmas (Dec 25th one) during WW2 against the Germans/Romanians/Italians/Hungarians/Bulgarians/Croats etc. They assumed a lot of the soldiers would be recovering from extra wine rations or otherwise not 100% vigilant. I think the Germans launched counte...
by Tortoise
Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:10 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: The GOLD scream room
Replies: 3689
Views: 1659480

Re: The GOLD scream room

That Bullion DNA looks pretty cool -- https://www.mint.ca/en/bullion/bullion-dna -- That is pretty cool. Gold is such a great metal for that type of a security feature. I think that stamping a diffraction grating or something into the coin is a great idea. Something that you could never hope to acc...