Help me feel ok with the tanking NISA

[Moneymatters]

Great timely post from JLCollins.

Deja vu all over again

As Jack Bogle famously said: “Don’t just do something, stand there.”

Is sitting an option?

Also. "famously"*. He's not even famous beyond a specific niche.
Unlike Nietzsche who properly famously said.
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger.".
And once you've read that in a Conan the Barbarian voice there is no going back. (Actually, most things are better in that voice...)
We all know the lamentations quote, but the less famous quote from that movie is.
"I live, I love, I slay, and am content."

Yet when I hung "Live, Love, Slay" above the Breakfast Nook, well. Mrs Matters was most displeased..

* https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/03/22/stand-there/
The 1945 attribution is in print. But if you see Clint's work as actor or director he truly embodies it..

[adamu]

Also. "famously"*. He's not even famous beyond a specific niche.

Just remember what Dumbledore famously said to the hobbits: Do or do not. There is no try.

[RetireJapan]

Also. "famously"*. He's not even famous beyond a specific niche.

Just remember what Dumbledore famously said to the hobbits: Do or do not. There is no try.

Don't make me come over in the Tardis and get the redshirts to go medieval on you with lightsabers now.

[Tkydon]

Also. "famously"*. He's not even famous beyond a specific niche.

Just remember what Dumbledore famously said to the hobbits: Do or do not. There is no try.

Was that when he shape-shifted into a Gremlin?

[sutebayashi]

Good morning all. What a difference a good sleep makes eh?

Not over yet, but I guess we saw the 2025 market bottom.

That was from the morning Trumpy paused his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, except for China.

As one barometer, the S&P 500 has retraced more than 50% of the losses seen after the all time highs circa 6,100 back in February, and the lows of early April below circa 4,800 haven't been revisited so far.

Still 8 months to go in the year but I think things are looking good, and brought forward more NISA growth purchases in April, to hopefully capitalize on lowish prices.

Yet to be seen what kind of trade deals are signed in the near future as a result of all the tariff drama, but if we as Japan residents gain more rice options, I for one will be happy for that too, and left with a slightly fatter wallet on the way home from the supermarket.

Still some open questions - what does the USD/JPY rate do from here (I'm a hopeless yen bear). For buying more foreign assets as is my stance, it's been good, but obviously we'd all seen some bigger yen values in our accounts when the rate was above 150.
And China's next moves.

This probably won't be the last time Trumpy upsets the stock market apple cart in his presidency so I think it is worth taking mental note that that is the sort of behaviour he'll demonstrate.
1) demand attention ("liberation day"), talk tough
2) use or create leverage (e.g. exaggerated to bogus grounds for reciprocal tariffs)
3) pivot ("flipflop") to other options when they look better, despite prior tough talk (after seeing the markets plunge)

I'd be more worried about buying a panic selloff if Xi pulls some power play. He doesn't care about western stock markets nor his own I suspect.

[CluelessToshika]

How do we think "the markets" will react when the lack of inventory now baked into the system makes itself apparent to the US consumer by means of empty shelves?

[Deep Blue]

I’d say the opposite is more likely. There is a massive oversupply of most goods in the US at the moment as every man and his dog was pre-ordering like crazy to get goods into the US before tariffs were applied.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

I’d say the opposite is more likely. There is a massive oversupply of most goods in the US at the moment as every man and his dog was pre-ordering like crazy to get goods into the US before tariffs were applied.

Oh, consumers are feeling it already.

Check out the Temu and Aliexpress subreddits. Tariff charges are more than the order value.

UPS just cut 20,000 job due to Amazon reducing deliveries. Ports such as L.A are showing a 40% drop in traffic.

So many companies have a just-in-time setup, with no warehousing or storage. Only those with the capital and resources could prepare.

[Deep Blue]

Temu and Aliexpress are largely DTC, they ship from China to consumers address - not via a local warehouse.

Here is an article talking about the huge import surge I mentioned.

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-goo ... 025-04-29/

Goods imports soared $16.3 billion to an all-time high of $342.7 billion. They were driven by a 27.5% jump in imports of consumer goods. There were also solid increases in imports of automotive vehicles and capital goods.

[banders]

Also. "famously"*. He's not even famous beyond a specific niche.

Just remember what Dumbledore famously said to the hobbits: Do or do not. There is no try.

That was Yoda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4yd2W50No