Author Archives: Edward Brownlee

25 Things About Life I Wish I Knew

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Life is all about relationships, health & wellness, purpose, being grateful and mindful, and learning:

  • Relationship refers to the state of being related or interrelated to others. It refers to the connection or bond between two or more people.
  • Health is the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, while wellness is the active process of achieving it. Wellness has six dimensions: physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, social, and spiritual.
  • Purpose refers to having a definite vision and goal and being determined to achieve it. It is your “why” for life.
  • Being grateful is a positive emotion that entails focusing your time and attention on what you appreciate. The intent is not to block out difficulties but to approach those difficulties from a different perspective.
  • Being mindful is a state of active, open attention to the present moment. It involves observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.
  • Learning is acquiring new knowledge, skills, and behaviors through experience, observation, and reading. It is a relatively lasting change in perspective and behavior resulting from experience, observation, and reading.

Reference:

  1. Psyche Wizard

Artificial Intelligence: Microsoft Copilot

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Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered productivity tool that integrates with various Microsoft 365 apps. It uses natural language to interact with these apps, the Microsoft Graph, and a Large Language Model (LLM).

Here are some key points about Copilot:

  1. Functionality: Copilot can understand and generate text based on your content and context. It performs actions within the apps, making tasks more efficient and streamlined.
  2. How It Works: Copilot processes your prompts and responses, leveraging grounding, processing, and post-processing techniques. It interacts with organizational data to provide relevant answers.
  3. Use Cases:
    • Drafting Documents: Copilot assists in creating documents, emails, and presentations.
    • Summarizing Emails: It can summarize lengthy emails.
    • Chatting: Copilot can engage in natural conversations.
    • Business Insights: It provides insights based on Microsoft Graph data.
  4. Privacy and Security: Copilot respects your privacy and security. It does not retain or train on your data.

References:

  1. https://copilot.microsoft.com/

Free Cash Flow Yield

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Key variable: free cash flow yield.

Free cash flow (FCF) is one of the most important financial metrics you can study – especially if you’re a buy-and-hold investor. Free cash flow is the amount of money generated from a company’s operations minus any capital expenditures; it is the cash remaining after a company has paid its expenses, interest on debt, taxes, and long-term investments to grow its business.

Suppose a company generates more cash than it needs to run its business. In that case, it can do several valuable things, such as pay dividends, buy back its stock, acquire other companies, expand its business, and knock out its debts.

Free cash flow yield is thus free cash flow per share divided by the stock’s price.

By looking at operating earnings, free cash flow takes out one-time gains or losses that may obscure the actual state of a company’s business. It’s also less susceptible to the accounting gimmicks impacting a company’s reported earnings.

Many of the greatest investors consider free cash flow yield a key factor in analyzing a stock. There are limitations to any single metric, and free cash flow per share and free cash flow yield are no exceptions to that rule.

A company, for example, can have an extremely high free cash flow in part because it is putting off necessary capital expenditures. Similarly, a good company that makes significant capital investments one year may see its free cash flow take a hit but may benefit over the longer haul. That’s why it’s important to consider free cash flow along with a stock’s other fundamentals.

References:

  1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2013/08/08/four-free-cash-flow-yield-all-stars/
  2. https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/t052-s001-10-stocks-to-buy-for-kingly-free-cash-flow/index.html

Citi AAdvantage Executive World Credit Card

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Frequent American Airlines flyers have one big reason to consider the Citi AAdvantage Executive World credit card with its $595-a-year fee: It comes with access to the carrier’s exclusive airport lounges, wrote Gregory Karp and Craig Joseph.

The advantages of the card include:

Pros

  • Admirals Club® membership for you and access for up to two guests or immediate family members traveling with you.
  • No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases.
  • Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases.
  • First checked bag is free on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to 8 companions traveling with you on the same reservation.
  • $100 credit on Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every four years.
  • 25% discount on in-flight food and beverages on AA flights.
  • Priority boarding, check-in and screening on AA flights.
  • Luxury perks

One of the easiest ways to get an Admirals Club membership is to get the Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard. The credit card includes access to nearly 100 Admirals Club® and partner lounges worldwide. Immediate family (spouse, domestic partner and/or children under 18) or up to 2 guests may join you. Up to $850 value.

This card has some great perks that would interest anybody looking to frequently fly with American Airlines, such as: 2X on purchases on American Airlines, free baggage, and priority boarding privileges.

Priority check-in offers you a special counter area for you to check in at many airports. These check-in areas (seen below) can have much smaller crowds than the standard check-in areas so you can save a lot of time.

Priority boarding privileges

The priority boarding benefit will display on your American Airlines boarding pass as “Group 4.”

This is the final group in the priority boarding group, so you’ll be boarding before all the economy passengers but you’ll still have some first class and elites in boarding in front of you.

Additionally, American Airlines implemented a fully dynamic award chart, where the number of miles required for a free flight changes based on demand.

For low-demand periods, you can reportedly find flights within the lower 48 states for as low as 7,500 miles each way.

The bottom line is if access to Admirals Club airport lounges is a high priority for you, then this is your card.

References:

  1. https://www.nerdwallet.com/reviews/credit-cards/citi-aadvantage-executive

TRICARE Fit with Medicare

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At age 65, TRICARE health care plans morph into the TRICARE For Life Medicare supplement plan, also known as TFL. For TFL to function, you must have Medicare Parts A and B. Health care providers bill Medicare as the primary payer and TRICARE as the secondary payer.

If you’re entitled to premium-free Medicare Part A, you must also have Medicare Part B to keep TRICARE, regardless of your age or place of residence (exceptions to this rule are discussed in the Delaying Medicare Part B Enrollment section).

Once you have both Medicare Part A and Part B, you automatically receive TRICARE benefts under TRICARE For Life (TFL). TFL is the health plan for TRICARE benefciaries who have Medicare Part A and Part B. Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage plans) and Part D (prescription drug coverage) aren’t required for you to have TFL coverage.

Regardless of your age or the age of your spouse, you will not lose TRICARE medical coverage if you do not signup for Medicare. Simply enroll in Medicare and TRICARE For Life. Your window to apply starts three months before the month you turn 65. It lasts seven months.

But don’t wait. Two or three months before your birthday, visit Medicare.gov and enroll. Early enrollment ensures you receive your Medicare card in the mail. Your TFL coverage begins the first day you have both Medicare Parts A and B; there is no separate enrollment paperwork for TRICARE For Life.

Medicare Part A has no premium. Part B has a monthly premium based on your income level. The Part B premium is per person, per month. Medicare uses the last reported tax filing, two years ago, from the IRS to determine your income level. Search “Part B Cost” at Medicare.gov to find your current cost.

If you travel overseas, your TFL converts to TRICARE Select Overseas. You’ll be covered at TRICARE Select rates. You will pay for services overseas out of your own pocket and be reimbursed by TRICARE after you file a claim.

Understanding all the nuances of health care can be tricky. MOAA has subject-matter experts on hand to assist Premium and Life Members. Call  (800) 234-6622 or email msc@moaa.org and we can properly direct you to assistance.

References:

  1. https://www.moaa.org/content/publications-and-media/news-articles/2020-news-articles/you-ask,-moaa-answers-tricare-at-65-and-over/
  2. https://www.tricare.mil/-/media/Files/TRICARE/Publications/BrochuresFlyers/TRICARE_Medicare_Turning_Age_65_Brochure_Feb2023_022123_FINAL_508.pdf

Straight Bourbon Requirements

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Wood and time are the two most expensive items to producing bourbon, and that the most valuable commodity at any distillery is experience.

The terms, KENTUCKY – STRAIGHT – BOURBON – WHISKEY, all mean something on their own, and when they appear together..

Read a bourbon label can be challenging. But if you know the procedures and all that is involved, a bourbon label typically gives you the age, state, and brand.

On May 4th, 1964, Congress passed a resolution designating bourbon as the native spirit of the United States. This resolution codified the industry standards for production and claimed that anything labeled and sold as bourbon had to be made exclusively in the United States. And, this legislation differentiates bourbon from Scotch, Irish, Japanese, and other types of whiskeys.

Here are a few of the basic categories, terms, and general whiskey vocabulary on your bourbon label:

A bourbon whiskey must meet the following qualifications to be considered bourbon:

  1. It must be distilled from a grain mash consisting of at least 51% corn.
  2. It must be distilled at a maximum of 160 proof, and barreled at a maximum of 125 proof.
  3. It must be aged in a new, charred oak container. Additionally, the oak must be virgin, meaning that the container cannot have been used for any other purpose prior to the whiskey entering and the barrel used to age bourbon may only be used once. The industry standard is an American white oak barrel, usually 53 gallons.
  4. Additional flavoring or coloring may not be added to the distilled spirit. Only water, to cut the proof, or bourbon from other barrels may be added to the whiskey.
  5. It must be made in the United States.

The term “straight” bourbon is a legal reference to the liquor’s age. Straight whiskey is aged for a minimum of 2 years. It is rare that a whiskey develops any depth of flavor prior to that 2-year mark.

Proof

Proof, or alcohol by volume (ABV), determines a lot about the juice inside the bottle: flavor profile, mouth feel, aroma and overall strength. Distillers can’t legally sell 100 percent alcohol as Bourbon, so they dilute it with water to the desired ratio. The proof changes slightly while the Bourbon is in the barrel and some evaporation occurs. ABV – Alcohol by Volume, proof (which is 2 times the ABV in the U.S.)

Mash Bill

Mash bill tells you the type of grain the Bourbon is made of. To be Bourbon, whiskey has to contain between 51 and 80 percent corn; distillers augment the corn with various amounts of malted barley, wheat and/or rye,

Single Barrel

This product is a bottling which consists of whiskey from one barrel. No other barrels go into bottling. When purchasing single barrel whiskeys, there will be significant variances between barrels.

Cask Strength

This indicates that water isn’t added to the whiskey after aging, prior to bottling. Typically whiskeys of this sort will be sold at higher than 46% ABV, but there isn’t a minimum. Most other whiskeys are sold between 40-46% ABV as their standard proof.

NCF (Non Chilled-Filtered)

Chill-filtration is the industrial process by which some companies remove congeners from their products. At lower temperature and/or when water is added to whiskey which hasn’t been chill-filtered, the whiskey becomes cloudy. Additionally, there are small particles which are removed by this process to ensure the whiskey is clear of debris. However, these congeners and particles contain flavor and texture and removing them affects the end result.

Age Statement

Increasingly, NAS (no age-statement) whiskeys are a product makes a claim that their whiskey is x number of years old, not a drop of whiskey in the bottling can be younger than that age statement. The product can be older, but it cannot be any younger. With whiskey, if a bottling is stating their whiskey is x number of years old, you can be guaranteed that it is at least that old.

Straight

This term is only used with American whiskeys. It means that the whiskey is aged at least two years in charred new oak barrels (straight corn whiskey can be aged in used charred oak barrels or un-charred new oak). It can be a blend of more than one straight whiskey type (i.e. bourbon, rye, wheat, corn), provided all the whiskey comes from the same state.

Understanding the meaning behind words and phrases on a bourbon label helps the consumer make more informed choices when looking to purchase a valuable product.

Bonded or Bottle-in-Bond

A term which is only used in the United States. Whiskey which is aged for a minimum of four years under government supervision; distilled from one distillery, one distiller, and from one distilling season. The whiskey is also bottled at 50% ABV..

  • The product of one distillation season and one distiller at one distillery
  • It must have been stored (i.e., aged) in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years
  • Bottled at 100 proof (50% alcohol by volume).
  • The bottled product’s label must identify the distillery (by DSP number) where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled.

References:

  1. https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/food-drink/read-bourbon-label/
  2. https://distiller.com/articles/whiskey-label