NHSkier

Jeremy Grantham: Reinvesting When Terrified

ETFs are perfect for this kind of market where nothing is for sure. My IRA had been safely outpacing the S&P 500 for the last four years thanks to my picking strong mutual funds like DODGX, DODFX, VGENX, etc. Last year, I lost 3% more than the S&P. This year I've decided to nibble at the market with $500-$1000 blocks of LQD, CSJ, VUG, and VXF, given that buying similarly small blocks of my existing mutual funds would cost $50 per transaction. Trading in ETFs only incurs a $10 transaction fee and gives me the added bonus of diversifying beyond my current mutual fund holdings.

Verizon: Loathe the Company, Love the Investment

Thanks for the great clarification on the technical aspects of the various networks. I disagree with most here. Having compared the customer service of Sprint and Verizon Wireless I can say that VZW is far better. Sprint is simply incompetent and has far more billing snafus than VZW. Your assertion that "no one is left on Sprint's EVDO network" wouldn't surprise me in the least.


On Mar 02 09:44 AM D_Virginia wrote:

> > VZ offers only low tech phones and slower mobile internet (not
> true 3G)
>
> While I do hate Verizon, I feel it's my duty as a techie to clear
> up some things for you non-techie finance weenies.
>
> Verizon has some good devices, they just get them later than Sprint
> and AT&T...and they gimp some features (or at least make you
> pay for them)...and they charge more for them...yeah. This is part
> of why I hate them. But aside from the iPhone and the G1, you can
> get /some/ phone from Verizon that is reasonably comparable to other
> great phones on other carriers.
>
> Specifically I predict that the Storm will be a pretty good device
> in 6 months after the software has been upgraded a few times and
> the app store has ramped up. Verizon is also slated to get the Blackberry
> Niagara, basically a CDMA/EVDO version of the Bold...what took so
> long, I do not know, but that's Verizon. There is also an HTC Touch
> Pro 2 in the works, which again VZ will get late, charge more, and
> gimp features, but still, it'll be a pretty good device.
>
> Now for 3G -- it's not just a buzzword.
>
> Verizon's EVDO Rev 0 reaches 3G speeds (which are not officially
> defined, but 300kbs or more "feels" about right to most people).
> Verizon's EVDO Rev A, for which its whole network has been upgraded,
> and for which all new smartphone devices are equipped, is twice as
> fast as Rev 0. By the way, Rev B is in the works, and shouldn't
> require a hardware upgrade to work.
>
> Yes, AT&T's HSDPA is /theoretically/ faster (7000kbps), but in
> practice, it's at best on par. You only get that 7000 if you're
> close enough to kiss the face of the tower transmitter. I've never
> seen more than around 800kbps from an AT&T device in the Washington
> DC area, and it's more like 500kps on average, less in the suburbs.
> EVDO Rev A averages more like 800kbps based on my research in my
> area, and is more consistent in the burbs. (Sprint's EVDO Rev A
> averages about 1200kbps, but that's just because no one is left on
> the network.)
>
> And, Verizon's EVDO has broader coverage than AT&T's HSDPA --
> maybe not in all of the boonies, but definitely in more of the boonies
> than the competition.
>
> And for long-term wireless growth, Verizon is currently the leader
> in investment and planning for LTE (long term evolution), the 4G
> standard that Europe and Asia will also use. They were first in
> 3G with EVDO, and they will be first in 4G as well.
>
> Again, I hate them with a passion -- but they will make you money.

Infrastructure Spending: China Knows

How come we can't do it like China? Because we have a little thing called property rights in the US.

Midstream MLPs Crashing, Present Opportunity

What about ETP? That was one of Yale Endowment Fund's largest holdings last year.