In the age of Queen Victoria of England or the Victorian Age, one of the features of society was attitudes toward sex. When people meet there are some who people find attractive too, it has been that way likely ever since the first humans. In Victorian Age – monogamy was important in the upper income classes as opposed to France where mistresses were expected. In the theater world, particularly ballet and opera, the ladies were often shown great affection while their career was on stage. In France, it was not unusual for wealthy patrons to have a mistress from the theater, For it those days, dresses were long, but at the ballet seeing legs are important and ballet shows off the wonderful legs of the ladies.

From the book The Beauty of her Age by Jenifer Roberts published by Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire, England, 2016 focuses on one of the beautiful ballet dancers of the early 1800’s. Yolande Duvernay danced for the Paris Opera/Ballet in the 1830’s and she was beautiful in person and sexy in some of her roles which made the men droll. Many patrons sent her flowers, but one fell in love.

Stephen Lyne Stephens inherited a vast fortune to make him the richest commoner in England from his father and grandfather. The Stephens worked as a merchant in Lisbon, Portugal in the glass business. For reasons of their own, english merchants in Portugal were laden with privileges. Under several treaties, they were exempt from domestic taxes, from the jurisdiction of Portuguese courts, and most commercial regulations. Portugal was dependent on trade for basis goods – imports of textiles, wheat, fish and other foodstuffs which it paid in gold and diamonds from its colony Brazil. British merchants handled much of this trade.

The Stephens had been given ownership of the royal glass factory. He also received privileges – exemption from all domestic taxes, a monopoly of glass supply in Portugal and its colonies; freedom to set his own prices; free use of fuel from the royal pine forest or raw materials for the heat required in glass making. This resulted in the Stephens amassing an enormous fortune.

In addition to the fortune, the Stephens made money on Wellington campaign in the Peninsular War, the government bought gold. The Stephens through their connections to the Brazilian gold, supplied it to the government for a healthy fee.

The book is about Stephen viewing Yolande at the ballet, taking her as a wife, she had to retire from the stage and as he was older than she, he died after 20 years of marriage. He was 58, she was in her 40’s. She was the wealthiest widow in England, she was also Catholic – the largest church in Cambridge – Our Lady and the English Martyrs was funded by her. (Protestant England was not happy). She did not marry but had a permanent love affair with a man who was married with 6 children.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the royal glass factory was a license to print money. If you see an opportunity like it, buy shares and let the rewards flow to your bank account. You may not know why the situation is what it is, but the history books show the Stephens were a good employer.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

One of the few countries in the world that was blessed by natural resources and managed to save the money is Norway. Many countries around the world have natural resources, but somehow very few of them have created wealth funds which can benefit their citizens. Norway wealth fund has over $1 trillion dollars which means the needs of all Norwegians are meant and the fund continues to grow.

In an article by Gwladys Fouche of Reuters, the Council on Ethics has recommended the Norway Wealth Fund which owns 1.5% of the world’s listed shares, due to climate change which is going on divest the fund of the worst polluters including the oil and gas companies, and steel companies.

The Council on Ethics recommends then the Central Bank of Norway which operates the funds slowly sells the shares off, the emphasis is not overnight because in a trillion dollar fund, the holdings are in the $13 billion range. The Council on Ethics had previously recommended and been accepted by Norway’s parliament the fund is not to invest in companies that produce nuclear weapons, landmines, tobacco, or violate human rights.

To avoid selling the shares, Norway Central Bank will determine how a company will adapt to climate change with very specific criteria. The bank will look at speed, time, and capital allocation. We want to see how they walk the walk, not just talk.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for generations oil and gas stocks have been a staple of the economy, think the Rockerfellers and Standard Oil, however climate change is here and it has to be dealt with. In your own investments, you may want to own oil companies such as ExxonMobil, BP, and a host of other oil and gas companies because they tend to generate very good cash flows which translates into profits and dividends. As an investor there are alternatives. The sun shines and the wind blows in many areas of the globe it does it everyday and cash flow can be made. Institutions tend to have a harder time because they need to keep up with their peers to make the correct return, as individuals we have more alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

A number of years ago, Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman starred in a movie called the Bucket List. The movie featured two people who had terminal disease, although still active, starting talking about the things they always wanted to do and said why not now. They did things on their bucket list.

If you are a sports fan, you have a bucket list – from watching the team play in the finals of whatever sport you like to visiting the stadium, ideally to watch a game. Years ago, in a remote town the only TV came from a Detroit Superstation, it was not surprising that year people became fans of the Detroit teams. It used to be a function of where you live, the TV and radio would carry teams in the region, now with the internet whatever team catches your interest you can be a fan. For example, even though the writer lives in the Northeast, my favorite NFL team is New Orleans Saints.

In the book the Sports Bucket List by Rob Fleder and Steve Hoffman, published by HarperDesign, NY, 2018, it has beautiful pictures of sporting events which captures the beauty of the event. Looking through the book, many of the sporting events are timed to happen the same time every year, which helps them be in the news. For example:

opening day of the Major League Baseball is held at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio

the first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby

the second week of the Texas State Fair is the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl which is a college football game between Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners. Given these 2 teams tend to be ranked in the top 10 nationally, the winner has an opportunity to be rated in the top 5 teams.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, one of the things you can do with your dividends is ensure your bucket list gets fulfilled. Whether you go one in a lifetime or every year, the issue with the sports events is they happen on a consistent and regular time. If you invest in dividend companies, you can expect consistent and regular earnings going to your account and have the choice to reinvest or ensure your bucket list gets smaller every year. The key is to have one a list for that means hope and expectations.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In North America we are conditioned by the sports we watch on TV. All sports are played and it is great people play them. If you are a parent, the idea is your children should be exposed to a multiple of sports to determine which one they really like and which would they do not care about. In today’s world, there are as many sports leagues as there are people. In North America football tends to mean the NFL, in the rest of the world, football tends to mean what we call soccer.

In the world of soccer, there are elite teams and they have valuations similar to US Football, one of the elite teams for seemingly generations is Real Madrid which is based in Madrid, Spain. It helps they have won championships along the way, some of the best footballers in the world have played and continue to play for the team. The questions for people on the outside is how does Real Madrid stay consistently in the top teams of the world?

In a book called The Real Madrid Way by Steven G Mandis, published by Benbella Books, Dallas, Texas, 2016 believes it is the values of the team – the book asks How values created the most successful sports team on the planet. Mr. Mandis works at Columbia University in their MBA program.

Real Madrid is owned by club members which there are 92,000 who vote for the President and Board of Directors to run the team. For a number of years, the position of President was held by Florentino Perez who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Grupo one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world. The club similar to all organizations had great successes, then not so good, and then rebounded. If you like the team on Facebook, you will be joined by 83 million plus other people or the team is followed by people around the globe.

Mr. Mandis believes as the club executive believes at the center of the Real Madrid way for success on and off the field are the values of the community and the resulting culture. The values and expectations of the community drive the decision making throughout the organization from on the field (in player selection, player behavior expectations, style of play and priorities) to off the field (in business and management characteristics, strategy, marketing, investments, financial reporting, human resources, and technology). The Real Madrid management teams spends their time reinforcing and solidifying increased personal connections, relationships, and communication directly with their community members. Management is there to serve the Real Madrid community.

For example, if and fact they do, the community wishes to share content of the games, Real Madrid helps fans share through Realmadrid.com and their social media accounts.

With every sports club because it is a team, the team has to work together which is the reason why values are important. What type of player chosen or not chosen is important. There was a great example of values in the stadium fans. People go to the stadium to both cheer and boo, but sometimes they overstep the bounds on booing, particularly the other team and nationality of the players. Real Madrid told people in one section, which had a reputation to either change or leave and Real Madrid enforced it.

Values are given by all companies, when it comes to making money, many companies overlook attempts to cash in short term and destroy values. If professional sports teams there are salary caps or question how much money goes to players, and how much to run the team. It is for that reason and others, Real Madrid was one of the sports teams to have sports academy training facility to develop its youth and university level courses to teach its experience and model of management. It is also reinvests in the facilities to ensure the facilities for both professionals and up and coming are top rated. If you are a fan of any sports team, there are lessons to be learned from them, even as your cheer for them.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for dividend investors the primary reason to invest is the long term, yes we all love capital gains, but consistency and profitability are what makes an investment a lasting investment. If the company has the ability to have a seemingly partial monopoly, the ability to raise prices and consistency make profits to reinvest and pay a dividend, they should be prime targets on your list to own. As management changes, how does the new management view continued changes in the world and what keeps them up at night?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In every situation there is the opinion of the half filled glass – is there great opportunity or is there the expectation the glass will be empty. The coronavirus is one of those situations. throughout December and January, China shut it people inside to contain the virus. In the form of government China has, it was possible to do and hopefully the virus is contained.

In looking at half empty situation, Eric Reguly wrote about other concerns in the way our economic system works. The concern is debt, both country and corporate, although one should be worried more about corporate debt. US corporations are sitting on almost $10 trillion of debt or 47% of GDP. Cash is not good, adding to the debt to buy back shares and pay dividends is important.

For corporations, the low interest rate is great, however when the virus jolts business, that is not okay. For example in France gatherings are only permitted of less than 5,000 people; in Switzerland the Geneva Auto Show which typically attracts 600,000 people was cancelled by the government. One can rationally argue those were good things, but they have an effect. The issue with corporate debt is the rating, if the rating is in the As or BBB, most institutions around the world can own the debt; when the debt slips to BB or B, it is in the junk status and many institutions have to sell, for their constitutions prohibit the owning of the bonds. Prices fall and the cycle begins.

Another vulnerability is the just in time delivery system that supplies factories everywhere. There are great reasons to have the just in time system – costs are lower, for the factory does not pay for inventory. The technological systems to manage the inventory are easily administered. The problem comes from if one supplier is late, disruption hits the assembly process. A missing $10 part can hold up a $10,000 product. If the shortage happens, the shares of the companies fall, the bankers have input and everyone loses. If there is a the virus emerges as a pandemic, then the supply system will fall. If there is no product, buying on line does not help.

In every downturn, people turn to the Central Banks for assistance. However interest rates are low, how much lower can they go? Central banks address demand shocks, not supply shocks.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, with all things in life some sort of balance is important, as dividend investors you tend to want to hold onto the stock for a period of time, however that is dependent on the sustainability of the dividends. At the annual meeting, ask management what keeps them up at night? if you can sleep through it, then you can see the glass as greater potential.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Every year public companies have annual meetings where shareholders can and do attend to vote, to ask questions, to listen and mix and mingle with senior officers from the company. If you do not attend you can send your proxy. In the news because it is reality, many Presidents receive a very generous salary and benefits when compared to the rank and file workers. At the annual meeting, setting the President’s salary and benefits is a shareholder question.

According to an article by Ross Kerber of Reuters, the two largest US index funds (Blackrock and Vanguard) rarely voted against the President’s salary and benefits. In a study by As You Sow, a shareholder activist organziation, Blackrock and Vanguard voted against shareholders pay question Vanguard and Blackrock voted against the President’s salary and benefits 8 to 10% of the time.

In Europe the situation is different as BNP Paribas Asset Management opposed pay packages termed excessive 91% of the time up from 69% the previous year. The big German company Allianz Global Investors numbers were 93% and 78% in the near future.

Executive pay is an issue because in 2018, the most overpaid CEO’s received $14.5 million versus the rank and file ratio 287% to 1. The company with the worst record is Oracle.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as the stock market changes, from individuals to institutions to hedge funds to passive index funds, the nature of passive indexing suggests the companies will often take management’s recommendations. The writer was in one annual meeting where the normal vote was 95% in favour and a non management vote was in the 70%, still well within the range to pass.

There are more questions than answers, til the next time – to raising questions.

In late February Morgan Stanley bought E*Trade for stock and Morgan Stanley’s CEO James Gorman believed it was a very good deal for both companies. The value of the acquisition is $13 billion. The deal adds to the wealth division of Morgan Stanley which for over 100 years has managed funds for institutions and individuals with over $10 million in assets. E*Trade needs considerably less to open an account, however Mr. Gorman sees possiblities.

E*Trade typically caters to individuals who hope to have over $10 million in assets, but are at E*Trade for the desire to save commission fees. Typically most customers do their own stock trading or purchasing various ETFs and Mutual Funds. However as the assets grow, the need to turn to advise is necessary. Mr. Gorman believes there will be cross usage of the platforms and both sides will benefit.

The added benefit of E*Trade is Morgan Stanley tends to be more conservative company, while E*Trade has to maintain and enhance the trends in society. Mr. Gorman is hoping some of the creativity will rub off on Morgan.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, part of the rational Mr. Gorman bought E*Trade is to ensure revenues do not fluctuate as much as they had in the past. If government and corporations are doing less or the fees become less, retail clients can make up the fees – in one sort or the other. For dividend investors, we like revenues being stabilized in good and bad times. How does your investments in company’s ensure revenues flow through all the economic cycles?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

China has a monopoly on what it releases to the public, which means to understand how the economy is functioning, given billions of dollars are resting on the outcome, hedge fund managers are trying are being creative in understand how the real economy is doing. In an article by Ira Iosebashvili and Megan Davies of Reuters, the first thing is to consider the China’s economy.

In the global supply chain, China and the companies are a huge player and their ports and shipping areas are massive. China has developed infrastructure systems that you can see on YouTube. Are they functioning and to what degree? View the views with a well functioning economy and how well it is doing at the present time.

Air pollution is a wonderful indicator, the shutdown of the country as reduced air pollution because the factories are not emitting wastes. What is the Air Quality Index website showing? If it is too clean, the factories and refineries and smelters are not producing. Anyone who has lived in a company town, looked to the smokestacks to see how things were doing.

Companies are using AI and computer modelling to simple word of the mouth, for example how many people were on the subway? How many planes are flying, what does the airports look like? Normally it is full, it is hard to produce goods from home.

If you wanted to see how many people were dying, crematorium activity would be valuable. Data from the World Health Organization and John Hopkins Center for Health Security can be accessed.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when you do not trust the government statistics you have to consider what data would you trust? If you are nervous, in a world that is deeply connected some companies are seemingly less connected than others. Warren Buffett has a large cash ready to be deployed, but he has the patience to wait. Sometimes doing nothing is ok for a couple months anyway.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

There is an old nursery rhyme about the the 3 little pigs and the wolf. The first house was made of straw, the second built using sticks and third was of brick. Brick can be decorative, last for many years, and for generations the bricks were put up by hand. The book SAM or semi-automated mason is about the people who lay bricks for a living and an idea or bootstrap engineering operation who to make their lives easier with a machine which can lay bricks. The book SAM – One Robot, a dozen Engineers, and the Race to Revolutionize the Way We Build was written by Jonathan Waldman, published by Avid Reader Press, NY, 2020.

For generations, masons or brick layers laid brick by hand, using mortar and ensuring the bricks were in a straight row. People have a limit although similar to every other endeavor there are faster masons. The construction industry accepted the conditions and it has worked well for them. The construction industry which is one of the largest employers in any economy, worked with what it knows will work. That is important for any business idea, just because you can build a better mousetrap, will anyone want to buy it? In the book, it took years before SAM was operational, although it is not the standard. The robot does lay bricks faster and with a clean finish, sometimes 3 times faster.

The book also touches on the history of the masons and the union and the Business Round Table efforts to break the union to keep costs down. The Business Round Table included some of the biggest companies in the US and used phrases such as rising wages; unskilled work, executive pay; wage madness; monopolistic unions; wage-price spiral.

The Engineers at a firm in Rochester, NY called Construction Robots were trying to make a machine which would make brick laying easier for the workers and the construction companies. In order to make SAM work the machine would need the use of lasers, cameras, wi-fi or electronics, robot hands to grip the brick, a device to ensure mortar is put on the brick and to lay the brick in order to do the next one. If it sounds complicated it was and is and you can see SAM on You Tube. It took 20 years to accomplish and the engineers learned and they went along. In most inventions, it is idea, plans, money spent, where does more money come from and how do we make our money back?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, fortunately when companies make money they have the ability to both give money to shareholders and reinvest in the company, sometimes buying start up companies with great ideas. Often it is easier, for profitable companies are involved in making money – the sales and distribution aspect, not the inventing. Inventing stories are wonderful to listen to and the economy needs them to grow, but as investors you are looking for does the market for the invention or idea can it be sold at healthy margins.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.