Navy named aircraft carrier for Pearl Harbor hero Doris Miller | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Doris Miller awarded the Navy Cross medal

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Navy announced that its next $12.5 billion Ford class aircraft carrier, CVN-81, will be named after Doris Miller, an enlisted sailor who received the Navy Cross for his valor during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when he manned a machine gun on the USS West Virginia to fire back at attacking Japanese planes.

Despite having no training in operating the big guns, he bravely jumped into action. Miller later recounted: “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Japanese planes. They were diving pretty close to us.” Later versions of the story had Miller shooting down four Japanese planes, but the truth is he probably didn’t hit any. During the time he was firing the gun only one Japanese plane was shot down.

Miller, a mess attendant in a racially segregated rating aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, will be the first African-American to have a carrier named after him.

— Read on www.staradvertiser.com/2020/01/17/hawaii-news/navy-to-name-aircraft-carrier-for-pearl-harbor-hero-doris-miller/

The No. 1 secret to long-term investment success – MarketWatch

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The key to long-term success is to pick a good strategy and then establish a lifetime commitment to maintain that strategy regardless of what’s going on at the moment.

In the short term and the medium term, the market is unpredictable and seemingly random. But over the long term (I’m talking decades), it’s easier to figure out and predict.

If there’s a “secret” to long-term success, it’s managing your expectations.

— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/the-no-1-secret-to-long-term-investment-success-2020-01-21

Know Your Net Worth | Financial Literacy

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“What gets measured gets managed.” Peter Drucker

This principle of ‘what gets measured gets managed’ means that examining or quantifying an activity, such as personal finance and net worth, will change the activity and its result by forcing you to pay attention to it.

This principle said another way…’you manage what you measure‘ is pertinent to personal finance. The principle can be applied to help us manage our personal finances and to permit us to get our hands around our personal net worth. Creating a net worth statement, and updating it each year, will help you monitor your financial progress and meet financial goals.

As you prepare to invest, you’ll need to know your net worth. And, it’s simple to calculate. You simply add up what assets you own and subtract what liabilities you owe.

Creating a net worth statement, and updating it each year, will help you monitor your financial progress and meet financial goals. It will also enable you to calculate how much you have (or don’t have) to invest.

www.finra.org/investors/personal-finance/know-your-net-worth

Artificial Intelligence (AI) 101

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“What all of us have to do is to make sure we are using AI in a way that is for the benefit of humanity, not to the detriment of humanity.” –Tim Cook

AI refers to computing hardware being able to essentially think for itself, and make decisions based on the data it is being fed. AI systems are often hugely complex and powerful, with the ability to process unfathomable depths of information in an extremely quick time in order to come to an effective conclusion.

AI infrastructure and machine learning (ML) can process instantaneously vast amounts of data. Thanks to detailed algorithms, AI systems are now able to perform mammoth computing tasks much faster and more efficiently than human minds. It is leading to big strides in the areas of research and development.

AI is being used to transform many areas of everyday life, from healthcare to traffic problems.Narrow Artificial Intelligence (AI) is what we see all around us in computers today.

These intelligent systems such as self-driving vehicles, smart speakers or virtual assistance have been taught or learned how to carry out specific tasks without being explicitly programmed how to do so. Systems programmed with narrow AI can only learn or be taught how to do specific tasks.

General Artificial Intelligence is very different, and is the type of adaptable intellect found in humans, a flexible form of intelligence capable of learning how to carry out vastly different tasks or to reason about a wide variety of topics based on its accumulated experience. This is the sort of AI more commonly seen in movies, but which doesn’t exist today.

Machine learning is where a computer system is fed large amounts of data, which it then uses to learn how to carry out a specific task, such as understanding speech or captioning a photograph. One of the most visible manifestations of AI can be observed with the rise of virtual assistants.

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G will be game changers. 5G networks are the next generation of mobile wireless connectivity, offering faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other intelligent devices. While AI works by combining large amounts of data with fast, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software to learn automatically from patterns or features in the data. Together, the technologies will usher in autonomous systems and potentially solve many of societal problems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most of today’s AI examples rely on deep learning and natural language processing. Using these technologies, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and recognizing patterns in the data.

Many Americans are feeling these 3 big financial stresses – MarketWatch

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If you look only at the nation’s low, 3.7% unemployment rate, it would be easy to assume that the economy’s humming and that Americans are feeling great about their finances. But after reviewing five recent notable surveys, I believe many people are actually feeling three big financial pain points now.

Overall, according to the Bank of America Workplace Benefits Report of 996 retirement-plan participants, just 55% of employees rate their financial wellness as good or excellent, down from 61% a year ago. “That’s something to keep a close eye on,” says Lisa Margeson, head of Retirement Client Experience and Communications at Bank of America.

— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/many-americans-are-feeling-these-3-big-financial-stresses-2019-10-02

The 5 Step Guide to Avoid Making Investment Mistakes

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“The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.”

If you apply this famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt to investing, the easiest way to avoid mistakes while investing is by not investing at all. But, that is the biggest investment mistake one can make.

Investing is important to build wealth in the long term. However, just investing is not enough as investing right is equally important.
— Read on www.entrepreneur.com/article/343454

Stocks Have Outperform Other Asset Classes

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For the next decade, which asset class among stocks, bonds, real estate, cash, gold/metals, or bitcoin/cryptocurrency, would be the best vehicle to invest money for the highest long-term total returns?

Since 1890, the S&P 500 (or its predecessor indexes) has outpaced inflation at a 6.3% annualized rate (when including dividends). Long-term U.S. Treasury Bonds have produced an annualized inflation-adjusted total return of 2.7%. Finally, U.S. real estate has produced an annualized return above inflation of just 0.4%, as judged by the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index and the consumer-price index.

Yet, the U.S. stock and bond markets are currently overvalued, and it is plausible that real estate will do better than either stocks and bonds over the next decade.

According to almost all standard valuation metrics, U.S. equity stocks currently are somewhere between overvalued overvalued. Furthermore, you can only partially explain away this overvaluation because of low interest rates.

Given stocks’ overvaluation, it’s entirely possible that stocks will over the next decade have the potential to fall short of their historical averages.

To the contrary, real estate has been relatively undervalued and historically less volatile than the stock market—a lot less as measured by the standard deviation of annual returns.

As a result, real estate has proven to be less riskier than equities. Yet, the misperception that real estate is riskier has been derived from the leverage typically used when purchasing real estate adds inherent risk to investing in real estate. Essentially, the risk for real estate comes from the leverage, not real estate inherently.

If there is a major stock bear market in the next decade, real estate might be the better investment just because of it’s lower risk and relatively undervalued.

Sources:

  1. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-single-best-investment-for-the-next-decade-2019-08-08
  2. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-bulls-are-telling-themselves-a-lot-of-lies-about-this-market-2019-06-04

Why many Americans don’t have brokerage accounts | Yahoo Finance

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A new survey from JPMorgan Chase revealed that 21% of Americans don’t have brokerage accounts, or have any other way to invest other than their company 401K or pension plan.

Even a few hundred dollars a month put in a brokerage account, invested in the stock market and allowed to grow over multiple decades can make a difference in the long term.

Please go to: finance.yahoo.com/video/why-many-americans-don-t-142910567.html

CES 2020 Concept Vehicles

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This gallery contains 10 photos.

Concept, self driving and electric vehicles at #CES2020 in Las Vegas Above, Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR (ADVANCED VEHICLE TRANSFORMATION) is a groundbreaking concept vehicle developed in close collaboration with the AVATAR team. This concept vehicle embodies the vision of Mercedes-Benz designers, … Continue reading →

Retirees: Don’t Make Mistakes Before a Correction | Kiplinger

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Take some lessons from the mistakes many retirees made during the downturn that socked stocks in 2008. By adjusting accordingly, you don’t have to fear outliving your retirement portfolio, even if you’re about to retire.

How can someone who’s approaching retirement, or is already retired, better handle the next financial crisis?

Although many might say the economy is going through a healthy pullback, there is no doubt that another financial crisis will come at some point. Be sure to avoid making the same mistakes so many retirees did in 2008.

— Read on www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/T047-C032-S014-retirees-don-t-make-mistakes-before-a-correction.html