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Uncertainty is Worse than Volatility

The uncertainty and whip-sawing of living thorough the tariff games feels like we have been locked in a fight club cage. It gives me pause when considering my next moves.

I consider myself extremely fortunate by now to have a portfolio of income producing stock. If I was starting out now, my vision of how to proceed would be much more cloudy.

Hot and Numb Powder.
Hot and Numb Powder.

Since the vast majority of my dividend income is reinvested, my share counts increase with each dividend issued. As a result, my “doing nothing” allows my shares to increase. If I had been receiving most dividends in cash, it would be a decision each time what to buy and when, certainly requiring determination on my direction.

In addition to my portfolio, I do have some cash in a high-yield savings account. At the moment, with uncertainty being the most prevalent mood, any new cash I obtain is funneled into the HYSA instead of stocks. I view having cash as “dry powder” ready to use when or if necessary. Like the oxygen in Warren Buffett’s famous quote.

The Purpose
The comment about dry powder naturally lends itself to the impression that we are waiting for a decline in stock prices. There is another use. Since prices in general on just about everything have increased due to inflation and tariffs, we expect to need more cash just to survive. Hence holding cash is appropriate.

Industrial Thievery
Which industry exists to steal? Which industry admits it cannot exist without thievery?

“OpenAI says the US will lose the AI race if it’s unable to scrape copyrighted materials…” 

“The maker of ChatGPT has warned that a ban on using news and books to train chatbots would doom the development of artificial intelligence.”

Hot and Numb Powder for sale in a local supermarket.

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