Yeah. I'm good at avoiding calamity but not at taking risks. I won't get the benefits of the coming volatility, but my temperament can't handle too much of it. I couldn't get at everything and will be a bit angsty until later this year. Right now, it's where it's supposed to be for me. I think we're all in for a ride.
I don't like the stock market, my nerves can't handle even that ;-) But my father, who worked for Alaska Electric Power and Light all of his adult life left his 5 children his very small portfolio of AEL&P stocks..the only ones he ever owned. Split 5 ways we didn't think too much about them as just fixing up really aging and weathered family home on Douglas Island and taking care of the complications of my mom's passing causing problems with their joint will in another state that follows matriarchal law. But suddenly a couple of days ago I went into a complete and total hissy fit over owning even my small share. In a text message to my 4 younger brothers, I said I wanted mine sold..now! Haha. They were aghast..I never act like that and furthermore no one new if they could be sold much less divided.
So, much needed research finally began 7 plus years after my father's death and 4.5 after my mothers..with 5 adults making differing decisions coming to a consensus is a challenge! But then as I went outside to be with a dying pet chicken, I heard my father talking to me, then pleading not to sell his stocks. He told me the story of his buying them for just a small amount and how they had risen just in his own lifetime. He reminded me that AEL&P had become another company and then it another bigger one..the biggest energy one in Canada...Hydro One. He reminded me that his dad, my grandfather who was a goldminer in the worlds biggest gold mine on our tiny little island in SE Alaska mined iron ore and did the stamping using hydro powdered ditches that ran along the mountain ridge of our island and one that I have hiked both as a young girl and later and again after my father's death. Walking through the heavily forested fern filled ridgeline path along the grown over ditches that water flowed from down the mountains melting ice flows along and down to the gold mine was one of the most magical, mystical experiences of my life.A connect to my family heritage and all of the good people who worked so hard in the late 1800s and early 1900s as pioneer Alaskans raising families such as ours to adulthood.
So, after this I went online to do research on it, myself and found it was not part of the New York Stock Exchange so said to not sell my share just yet...I told them it was that exchange that was about to plunge...oh my if they thought I was crazy the first day, imagine changing my mind hours before the deadline for that next day.
The very next day the New York Stock Exchange plunged by biggest amount in 2 years...and get this by "666" points! Now, I don't know tiddly winks about stocks and even less about the Canadian ones but at least I know my own feelings. Now, I've postponed I may lose my little next egg somewhere down the line but I'm hoping my dad comes forward to give the go ahead if its before this fall or if it will only continue to go down from here on. No other stocks, no bonds.
Thoughts??? Gracesinger? Laurie H. Econ wizards?? and Intuitives without my dad pleading in their ear...
Michele - I had inherited stock certificates for New York Telephone and Telegraph that belonged to my great-grandfather. They dated to around 1915. About 25 years ago, I had a friend who worked on Wall Street research for me if they were were anything, given that NYTT became "Ma Bell", and then later on was ATT and then possibly Verizon. Turned out that their only worth was sentimental - suitable for framing but not sellable. I sent them to my nephew as a family memento. So my advice is to keep them, since your father clearly wishes you to. Don't worry about the value. It doesn't matter.
Hello Asian, in one of your 2018 predictions, you accurately predicted that Bitcoin would crash last year. With that said, the cryptocurrency market has not recovered yet. As of today, Bitcoin is down over 80% from its all-time highs from December of 2017. In addition, many of the other coins are down over 90% from their all-time highs. Where do you see Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) going in 2019? Also, what do you see happening in the stock market this year? Do you see any crashes or major corrections occurring in the cryptocurrency market or the stock market this year? If so, when do you think they will happen? Thanks.
Hi Justin83, Asian hasn't posted here for nearly a year. Glad to see his accuracy was so high. I don't know if he will be back, though. He was a valuable contributor for over a year.
I'd like to report a possible hit, predicted by Helena in October 2017 for March 2019.
- Panic in March. People fleeing Sudan in Africa. (Helena) Predicted in October 2017.
I believe that this hasn't been reported much in the Western mainstream press, but Sudan has been experiencing mass protests since late December 2018. It is the result of citizens being unable to cope with a 70% inflation rate, and severe limits on accessing cash. Most people are unable to make ends meet.
IMHO conditions are not going to improve any time soon. I expect an exodus to begin shortly, if it hasn't already happened. I see parallels to what people are experiencing all over the world in occurrences such as Gilets Jaunes, and #shutdownstories.
An ominous development. I remember reading an article recently in the Guardian about how Sudan has been dealing with a major loss in oil revenue ever since South Sudan became an independent country in 2011 and took most of the country's oil fields with it. The drop-off in oil revenue is partly why the Sudanese are facing inflation and rising food prices.
This news is ominous because much of the destabilization that has occurred in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Libya can be traced to declines in oil revenue leading to increases in the cost of living for the average citizen. So the population engages in mass protests and political discontent and is usually met with a brutal response from the governing regime. These causes and effects are amplified by global warming-related droughts (which suppress agricultural yields). All of this ends in mass migration to safer regions (Europe), which then inflames far-right political movements in countries receiving migrants (remember, even developed countries have been failing to provide for all of their citizens since the 2008 financial crisis, and that's where the gilets jaunes come in). Basically, it's all tied together.
The journalist Nafeez Ahmed has a book out about how energy trends, global warming, and political dysfunction all feed into each other. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list.