U.S. Government Shutdown

Posted on by

Government operations will begin to shut down at midnight on Saturday, September 30, 2023, unless lawmakers can agree on extending the current federal budget, a compromise that has been elusive for months.

The 2023 fiscal year ends on September 30th, and with it, so does the budget plan to keep almost all federal operations active.

Fights between Democrats and Republicans on future federal spending levels — and fights within the House GOP caucus itself — have not produced any likely plans so far to stave off an appropriations lapse. A government shutdown means millions of Americans won’t get the services they depend on. Federal workers won’t get their paychecks. People’s livelihoods will be upended.

A government shutdown would be the first to affect all federal agencies since 2013 when about 850,000 federal workers — about 40% of the government workforce — were furloughed for 16 days amid that congressional fight.

For the military, if lawmakers do not reach a short-term budget extension or full-year appropriations plan for government agencies by October 1, the resulting budget lapse will trigger the shutting down of non-essential military activities like family moves and some training operations.

Troops would still be required to report for duty but could miss their mid-October paychecks if the shutdown stretches from days to weeks. In 2013, just hours before a 16-day government shutdown triggered by political fights on Capitol Hill, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed special legislation to prevent that salary stoppage for troops.

References:

  1. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/09/25/government-shutdown-set-for-next-weekend-barring-surpise-budget-deal/

Bourbon Corner: Knob Creek 12

Posted on by

In 2020, Jim Beam released Knob Creek 12 Year Bourbon, a brand new bourbon to the Knob Creek.  Knob Creek 12 year is an absolute amazing bourbon.

  • Distillery: Jim Beam
  • Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
  • Alcohol: 50%
  • Composition: 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% barley
  • Aged: 12 years
  • Color: 1.2/2.0 on the color scale (tawny)
  • MSRPrice: $60-70

Incredibly satisfying. deep caramel color with a perfect balance of oak, spice and heat. It’s can be hard to find on store shelves but it’s worth the effort.

Recommendation is drink neat or create the perfect old fashion!

Long-term Investing Perspective

Posted on by

Warren Buffett once said, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

One tried and true investment philosophy is investing with a long-term perspective. In essence, the time-arbitrage approach gives long-term investors an edge. Most investors are focused on the short term, basing trading decisions on factors that may have little to do with business fundamentals, such as quarterly earnings beat or miss or overall market volatility.

Long-term investors often adopt a long-term perspective while taking advantage of the shortsightedness and noise of the market. They tend to conduct extensive research and conduct a deep dive into the fundamentals of every company in which they are considering an investment.

Their extensive research allows them to develop an informed and thorough understanding of the longer-term secular advantages of these companies. Ultimately, they are more interested in the duration of a company’s growth opportunity rather than being overly focused on its timing.

They like to invest early before a company is on the market’s radar because they believe it’s impossible to pinpoint precisely when the market will notice and start trading the stock up to reflect its growth opportunity properly. This is a vital part of the engine that drives alpha for us.

Low turnover is an outgrowth of this investment process rather than a goal in and of itself. If they find and invest in the right companies, they believe that it makes little sense to replace these companies with new and relatively untested ones. Wsupported remain invested throughout the duration of the growth trajectory of our highest conviction companies. We also believe this is a more tax efficient approach to managing a portfolio and one that is often attractive to company management who are aware of our reputation as long-term holders of stock.

Your primary goal must be capital appreciation, and you should stay involved as companies grow and flourish as long as your investment thesis holds true.

The best risk management starts with knowing the companies in which you invest. By conducting extensive research prior to initiating a position in a company and continuing to conduct due diligence will keep you apprised of the company’s growth story.

World Gratitude Day

Posted on by

Today is World Gratitude Day

World Gratitude Day is observed annually on September 21. to mark the importance of appreciating people and expressing gratitude.

World Gratitude Day is a reminder of the importance of expressing gratitude by thanking people and appreciating the things you have. It is a day aimed at realizing the importance of showing appreciation and gratitude for the people around us.

Gratitude promotes happiness by giving people more positive emotions and making them savor good experiences. Gratitude helps people savor good moments, appreciate life, deal more effectively with bad experiences, improve their health, and build more rewarding relationships.

A regular gratitude practice can make you healthier and lead to…

👉 Better mood
👉 Better sleep
👉 Lower blood pressure
👉 Improved immune function

Never regret a day in your life.

  • Good days bring happiness,
  • Bad days give experiences,
  • The worst days give lessons, and the best days give memories.
  • Every day is a unique chapter in your story, filled with valuable moments that shape your journey.
  • Cherish them all, for they contribute to the beautiful tapestry of your life.

Follow a Compass

Posted on by

Conventional wisdom says that to be successful, you should build a career plan: Map out where you are now, where you want to be, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there. However, Seth Godin, a bestselling author,  disagrees with that conventional wisdom since he never followed a predetermined path. His advice: Use “a compass and not a map.”

Your compass is your vision — who you aspire to be outside of a job title. Following it means pursuing decisions that make you happier and more content in the short term rather than following a pre-planned set of steps that may or may not eventually lead to your “dream job.”

Maps are great! They get you from point A to point B and help you stay on the right track! Yet, everyone’s got the same map, following the same routes, visiting the same sights. So, if you try to run your business or career using a map, your business or career will look, sound, and feel like any other out there. How do you stand out like that?

As a business owner and individual, what you need is a compass!

This won’t give you a step-by-step guide. No, it does something better! It points you towards your goal, leaving the path to reach it totally up to you. Unpredictable turns and unexpected terrains provide the chance to craft a unique journey. That’s what will make your business stand out!

Now, I’m not saying that you should throw away the map! Glance at it from time to time to see what routes work and which ones lead to nowhere. Just don’t follow it unthinkingly, or you might end up like some of the drivers who follow GPS without using their judgment – in a lake!:D

Your business needs that compass mentality. It’s not about retracing steps but charting your unique journey.

Those decisions may not always pan out, but you’ll learn enough from each failure to succeed eventually, Godin said.

Tesla – Electric Vehicles

Posted on by

Tesla is planning to build another factory overseas, There is a demand across the globe by several nations wanting the plant to built.

Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, would like the next Tesla factory to be built in his country. Erdogan asked the Tesla CEO to put the eighth factory for its electric vehicles in Turkey.

Musk mentioned India as a possible place to make a low-cost electric vehicle. Tesla is currently building a factory in Mexico.

Saudi Arabia is also vying for the new plant. Attracting Tesla would be part of a push by Saudi Arabia to secure metals needed for EVs in Africa as the country tries to diversify its economy away from oil, reports Barron’s.

VO2 Max

Posted on by

VO2 max is the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness.

When it comes to measuring fitness and longevity, there is one number cardiovascular experts believe rule them all: VO2 max. VO2 max — or your oxygen uptake — shows how much oxygen your body absorbs and uses while working out. V is for volume, O2 is for oxygen and max is for maximum. Many health experts consider it the single best indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness, and research has found it correlates to longevity as well.

A person’s maximal oxygen consumption, also known as VO2 max—a measurement of how well the body takes in and uses oxygen while exercising at a high intensity—is a useful statistic to gauge fitness and cardiovascular health. A higher VO2 max score means the heart and lungs are transporting more oxygen-rich blood to the muscles, increasing energy production and maximizing athletic performance.

The most accurate VO2 max tests are done in a laboratory where you are hooked up to a mask that measures oxygen consumption as you exercise. VO2 max is measured in milliliters of oxygen a minute per kilogram of body weight. The more oxygen you burn, the fitter you are.

Activity level Average VO2 max
Sedentary 27-30 mL/kg/min
Active 33.0-36.9 mL/kg/min
Very active ≤ 77 mL/kg/min

Source:  Cleveland Clinic.

If you are on a treadmill, you are told to walk or run faster and faster until your oxygen consumption stops rising. If you go beyond this point, you will increasingly be using anaerobic energy—which doesn’t burn oxygen—and you will have trouble sustaining it for long periods.

References:

  1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-vo2-max-and-how-to-calculate-it/
  2. https://www.barrons.com/articles/vo2-max-test-increase-fitness-age-128c53cd

The Cockroach Theory

Posted on by

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.

She started screaming out of fear.

With a panic-stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt.

When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood I should not react in life.

I should always respond.

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.

Always attempt to respond to situations and never just react !

Be HAPPY not because Everything is RIGHT in your Life.

Be HAPPY because your Attitude and Mindset towards Everything in your Life is Right!

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

Posted on by

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

  • Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States.
  • In 2021, there were 48,183 Americans that died by suicide.
  • In 2021, there were an estimated 1.70 Million suicide attempts.
  • On average there are 132 suicide per day.

Imagine if we could walk together toward a world without suicide. One in which we all have a greater understanding of mental health. One in which we all know how to be there for each other, including ourselves, when someone is struggling.

Artwork by Devon Blow

Together we can make a difference and break the stigmas around mental health, helping to prevent another person from taking their own life. Suicide prevention starts with all of us.