Another boring money post

[MJZiggy]

You missed responding to the part about being so fucking annoying about it that you actively turn people off to the Apple brand.

[Patler]

Now. Which IRA was I supposed to look into? Roth or non-Roth? I can never remember and I'm really hoping to have to move this money very soon.

Look into both. Some of the major differences are:

Traditional IRA is a pre-tax contribution. Roth contributions are taxed. So, in addition to the amount put into the IRA, if it's a Roth you have to be able to afford taxes on the contribution as well. This can result in some people being able to afford a larger contribution to a traditional IRA than to a Roth.

Roth earnings are untaxed under the current law, meaning that even when you withdraw, it is tax free. However, as with any deduction or exemption, there is no guarantee that it will always remain that way. As you withdraw from a traditional IRA, the withdrawal is subject to taxation as ordinary income. This may or may not be significant depending on the tax laws at the time of withdrawal.

Roth contributions are subject to earning limits, $107K for an individual, I think. There are other limits, depending on whether you are eligible for a retirement plan from an employer.

I encourage you to learn about and understand both so you can make an informed decision based on your circumstances.

[Partial]

RG, Please take a moment to read this.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

That's a letter penned from Steve himself about Flash.

Furthermore, here are some more facts:

1. Windows 8 will not support flash or any other browser plugins
2. Macs no longer ship with flash installed
3. Linux has never had reasonable flash support
4. The vast majority of people are now using HTML5 compatible browsers (IE9, Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera)
5. Javascript performance has gone way up thanks to JIT compiling
6. Javascript and CSS can leverage hardware acceleration, flash's hardware acceleration only works on Windows
7. Javascript can in theory be multi-threaded (Google V8) and Web Workers make concurrency possible (better responsiveness)

Note that Steve points out a slew of news sites that offer video in H264. You're misinformed about that.

The three biggest platforms won't support flash. How exactly is flash relevant? How will it survive?

[MadtownPacker]

MFer am I gonna have to put you on ice? Cant you just have a conversation without being a snooty ass bitch? Ziggy is a chick you are not, quit acting like one!

[mraynrand]

MFer am I gonna have to put you on ice? Cant you just have a conversation without being a snooty ass bitch? Ziggy is a chick you are not, quit acting like one!

It's been a two-way street on this one.

BTW, Nice sexist remark - you should be banned for that.

[Upnorth]

Over the past week or so the US dollar has risen much quicker than most expect. As turmoil has been seen again in Europe a lot of money has fled into the US dollar. This will be temporary. If you have are not looking for a quick buck, I would invest in Australian or Canadian Reasource company's or funds in there A$ or CDN$. Once this thing turns around the us dollar will depreciate again and stockpiles will be depleted in India and China. Also there are some interresting options in Brazil right now. THis is a great time to buy a most things are on sale. Just DON'T PANIC. Also make sure you have your towel, hehe.

[MadtownPacker]

It's been a two-way street on this one.

BTW, Nice sexist remark - you should be banned for that.

It is always a two-way street, problem is P is alway the one driving on the wrong side of the road.

[mraynrand]

It is always a two-way street, problem is P is alway the one driving on the wrong side of the road.

I disagree. As annoying as I think Partial can get from time to time, he takes as much abuse - sometimes even more - than he dishes out. Read the whole thread and count up personal attacks. You might be surprised.

[retailguy]

RG, Please take a moment to read this.

(sigh)....

Ok, there was absolutely NO reason for me to read that. Partial, I'm going to try and explain this one more time, and then I'm really done. My objections to flash, Apple, IOS, IPHONE, and IPAD really aren't the crux of the issue in this thread. The crux is that you are seemingly incapable of listening to what my concerns are, or better stated, WHY I own what I own. It's absolutely irrelevant that what I own is what YOU believe I should own, you do not understand why I don't own what you think I should.

Probably 20 times in this thread you have "told" me what I should buy and what I should not buy. Not one time here have I told you what YOU should buy. Frankly, I don't care what you spend your money on. I don't care if you overpay for a great "user experience" or if you choose to pay $40 bucks for an HDMI adapter. I do, however, care whether or not I spend that on a user experience or a cable.

The issues that I have are that you preached to the high heavens about my purchasing decisions without truly listening to what I'm using the devices for. Because of that, you reached the wrong conclusion, because all the "right" reasons you used to justify it, aren't MY reasons. And I'm the one that is supposed to buy the device. As you get older, like the rest of us, you'll have less tolerance for folks that behave this way. In the meantime, keeping your mouth shut unless asked for your opinion is a great plan of attack. If you recall, about 3 years ago, I emailed you asking for advice about a pending netbook purchase. You actually helped with that, because you listened to what my wife's needs ACTUALLY were and were able to make meaningful suggestions. You seem to have lost that ability lately, and quite honestly, I would NEVER ask for your advice right now. NEVER.

Now, why don't I own an IPAD? Why don't I want one? Two reasons. The additional cost is not something that I can justify for the uses I have for it. And, I do not like the closed architecture of the device and the additional costs associated with that closed architecture. In spite of that, 3 months ago, I was very close to buying one. Your rants turned me from that, and as a result, I have two android tablets that meet my needs very well today, and cost me less than one IPAD would have.

It was the right decision for me, and certainly wasn't the right decision for you (but you don't own them, so what do you care?). For 11 pages, you have droned on and on about why I picked the wrong technology, how I settled for a lower quality user experience, and how I'm so stupid I can't forecast the future. Unfortunately for you, none of those things, even if true, cause these two devices to not meet my needs. Quite the opposite. They do meet my needs, and they meet them more efficiently than the IPAD would.

I could go on for pages about why that's the case, but this post is approaching Woody lengths so I've only got time for a couple of examples.

1 - FLASH. Is it dying? sure. I understand that. But it isn't dead yet. Recent studies show that 40% of major websites still use flash content. ALL of the news websites that I use, still use the content for videos. I'm sure they use HTML5 too. But the videos wouldn't run until I installed flash. They won't run on my laptop unless I use flash. Maybe 6 months or a year from now that'll be different. But today? I use flash. I could care less whether or not I get videos from HTML5 or flash, but I don't want to "find better" websites to watch news videos. I want to watch the sites I currently use, and today, that's flash.

Hulu is a second perfect example of this. Today, they give away videos on your laptop. You watch a few ads from time to time, but otherwise there are no costs. Those videos are flash. I have a hacked script that allows me to watch those videos on my android tablet. Granted they are 360p, but they work. If I had an IPAD, I would have to use "hulu plus". It's $10 a month. It isn't free. I would get a great user experience for that $10 a month. Certainly better than 360p, but, what you fail to understand is that I watch 6 to 12 videos PER YEAR. At 6 per year, that's $20bucks to watch a 30 minute show. It doesn't make sense. But if I have an IPAD? It's the ONLY way.

Hulu plus for android is rolling out. Hulu consciously blocks access from tablets and phones. Free access won't last forever. At that point, I'll stop using Hulu because it isn't something I'm willing to pay for. You might be. Enjoy it. I won't pay. In the meantime, my android tablet meets my needs better than the comparable IPAD would. And the great user experience? Irrelevant.

2. The closed architecture. I will travel 3 times between now and the end of the year to Charleston, SC on business. I will take my android tablet and a $4 HDMI cable with me. I will stream movies from my SD card to the TV in the hotel. I would not do this if I had to purchase a proprietary adapter. I'd just watch it on the tablet. Another "benefit" that I'm not willing to pay for. Could I? Sure. But I don't spend money on that. It isn't important to me. No matter how many great reasons you have, it still isn't a priority for me to spend money on. I'll spend $4, but I won't spend $30, or $40. Maybe I'm stupid, but you fail to realize that's my choice.

I could care less what Apple's next product launch is, or whether or not their technology choices become the "industry standard". I live behind the technology curve, and I do that purposely. I spend a fraction of what you do on technology and probably get 75% of the "experience" you do. Sometimes I wait a year longer to get it, or settle for a modified version of the "great experience", but it doesn't cost me very much.

I've consciously avoided Apple products for the reasons I've stated above. Their closed architecture does lead to a different "user experience". But that experience comes with a fee, whether it's a cable, or a monthly cost, or the frustration of using a restrictive product like ITUNES, that "experience" is NOT free. The model isn't for me. If it's for you, GREAT. Enjoy it. But please, stop telling me what to do, and using example important to YOU to make MY decisions. Use things important to ME to talk about MY decisions. When you do that, you'll see that I made the "right" choices, FOR ME.

[retailguy]

For those of you who skipped the above, you might want to read this....

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/09/29/why-apple-investors-could-go-bust.aspx

Why Apple Investors Could Go Bust...

Not only is the company sitting on two blockbuster and still fast-growing products -- the iPhone and iPad -- but it also has $75 billion it can use to develop another blockbuster product, make a game-changing acquisition, or both!

Given those attributes, paying 10 times EBITDA for one of the world's largest and fastest-growing technology companies seems like a bargain. Heck, assume that Apple can continue retaining 100% of earnings and earning a 40% on equity, as it has over the past 12 months, and the math -- demanding a 10% return -- says it's worth approximately $900 per share.

The problem with that
Apple, however, has never sustainably earned a 40% return on equity or even a 20% return on equity. Go back 20 years, and what you'll find in Apple is actually a (gasp!) cyclical business. A boom from 1990 to 1992 was followed by a bust from 1993 to 1997, followed by a boom from 1998 to 2000, a bust from 2001 to 2004, and a boom from 2005 to the present.

With it now being almost 2012, either this time it's different (and I use that phrase intentionally) or this boom is starting to get a bit long in the tooth.

The global view
To buy Apple today, an investor has to believe one of two things:

1. The iPhone and iPad will not become commoditized.
2. If the iPhone and iPad become commoditized, Apple will innovate, develop, and launch a new product to overcome the resulting revenue declines.

Neither scenario is, of course, impossible, but I do not believe that Apple is as cheap as it looks. Not only will it have to move downmarket to compete with Android and the new Kindle Fire, but the fact remains that only so much of the world can afford $600 gadgets -- with the rest not being able to afford them anytime soon.

[MadtownPacker]

I disagree. As annoying as I think Partial can get from time to time, he takes as much abuse - sometimes even more - than he dishes out. Read the whole thread and count up personal attacks. You might be surprised.

Well you have a right to your opinion. I know he takes alot of shit. He is tough and can take it. I have kicked it with him and he is hella cool. All I am asking is that he be cool here too. This thread might back your arguement but his history backs mine.

You love all the political stuff. How about you run a poll asking about him? Word it however you want but make sure it ask if he needs to chill or others are just being crybabies.

[MadtownPacker]

(sigh)....

Why do you continue to throw him the ball back if you are sick of playing with him?

[retailguy]

Why do you continue to throw him the ball back if you are sick of playing with him?

the hope that one day, he shuts his mouth long enough to understand. i know it isn't going to happen, but i keep beating my head against the wall...

[MadtownPacker]

[retailguy]

That implies that there is some malice and forethought in Partials actions. That's not too likely.