Some things I'm happy to pay for

The world's most perfect teenager has complained that he can't earn his own money. I want him to concentrate on his school work first and foremost.

To get him a little extra motivated, we signed a contract with him last Christmas where we agreed that we would pay for good grades.

We pay him both for exams and his final grades for year 10. If it goes well, we will continue in both grades 11 and 12.

We pay as follows:

A summative with a grade of 8 gives $100

A summative with a grade of 7 gives $50

A summative with a grade of 6 gives $25

A final grade for year 10 with a grade of 7 gives $100

A final grade for year 10 with a grade of 6 gives $50

Any rating lower than these results in no payout.

Today I had to send $75 via the Venmo app. It was summative in Swedish which resulted in a 7th and a 6th.

I couldn't be more proud of him

Today the world's most perfect teenager visited the nose surgeon all by himself I didn't have the opportunity to take time off from work so this was the first time the offspring made a doctor's appointment all on its own.

Last fall he had his nose etched due to almost daily nosebleeds. The surgeon prepared us that additional treatments may be needed before the problem was completely remedied. Luckily our son hasn't had any nosebleeds since then, until we got the norovirus and his vomiting must have burst some blood vessels in his nose because he's been bleeding every day since.

After the treatment he called me. I could hear in his voice that he was in pain. There and then I could have given my right arm to be with him.

When my husband and I got home from work today, the pain was gone and he was very proud. He's growing up way too fast.

Money is on its way

We are blessed to receive several additional dividends during March 2024. The sum of the calculated extra dividends amounts to 66% of February's ordinary dividends.

If the US dollar maintains or strengthens its value against the Swedish krona, the likelihood is high that March will be our best month ever.

According to a rough calculation, no additional acquisitions are needed in 2024 for us to touch the dividends for 2023 provided that:

- If none of our holdings chooses to lower the dividend

- That the Swedish krona does not strengthen against the American dollar

- That the companies that have paid extra dividends so far continue with the same dividend rate during the remaining months of the year

We will most likely reinvest almost all dividends received during the year, so the forecast for 2024 looks good.

One for the price of two

Although I had hoped that my parents' vacation would mean that I would get some peace and quiet, I knew deep down that I would instead have to help my uncle.

My uncle is one of the kindest people I have ever met. Therefore, I would never hesitate to help him with anything now that he has been moved to a nursing home. However, I could never predict exactly how much time it would take.

Since last Sunday when home care called and told me that my uncle was in an ambulance on his way to an emergency hospital, I have visited my uncle 7 times plus I have been to his apartment and collected some of his personal belongings. Tomorrow morning I will go back to his apartment and look for his shaver. In addition to this, I help the person my dad hired to manage his business when he is away.

There are 14 days left before my parents come home again. So basically I traded two for one…

Close but not close enough

With 2 days left in the month we are still waiting for 5 more dividends.

The companies whose dividend we are waiting for are:

Gladstone Investment Corporation Business Development Company (GAIN)

Gladstone Capital Corporation Common Stock (GLAD)

Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund Common Shares of Beneficial Interest (GOF)

OFS Credit Company, Inc. Common Stock (OCCI)

Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC)

February will be percentage-wise better compared to January because the value between the Swedish krona and the US dollar has changed recently. When I preview the numbers for March 2024, everything points to us missing our best dividend month ever, December 2023, by just $90.

I prefer investing to paying interest

For the past 18 months, the world's most perfect husband has been receiving money from one of his private old age pension insurances. This time, he reinvested the payout in Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. Common Stock (CCAP).

Because we were foresight and realized early on that a policy rate of 0% is neither healthy nor likely to last long, we chose to live as if the policy rate were 3.5%-4%. We decided to cut the coat according to its cloth and at the same time get a "free" saving. So instead of spending the money, we chose to invest it.

Given that we are now paying a healthier interest rate on our mortgage, it was a blessing in disguise that the husband turned 55 the year before last so one of his old age pension insurances started paying out. That way, "we" still save, even if it's only half of what we saved before.

Should the key interest rate be lowered, we will return to our previous course of action and invest every single cent in the stock market again.

A decrease, albeit small

After 16 interest rate increases of 25 points (0.25%) over almost 2 years, our mortgage bank has decided to lower the interest rate by 5 points (0.05%), despite the fact that Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken has not lowered the policy rate.

Even if the cost reduction is negligible, it is always nicer to have a decrease than an increase in one's costs. Several experts believe that Riksbanken will lower the policy rate at the next monetary policy meeting, which will take place on 27 March 2024.

Personally, I don't think a cut in the policy rate will come until the August 20, 2024 meeting at the earliest, but I've been wrong before. The gap between the various experts' forecasts about the position of the policy rate at the turn of the year is large, all between 1.75%-3%.

Small money or big money, I like them all

Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. Common Stock (CCAP) is one of our smaller holdings.

Our holding in CCAP amounts to exactly 13 shares. This means that our additional dividend in this company will be $1.3 for the entire holding.

When this dividend has been charged to our endowment insurance and deductions have been made for currency exchange etc., the sum has been reduced to approximately ¢85.

The risk is high that this small extra dividend will get lost among all the other transactions in the endowment insurance and I will fail to even pay attention to this dividend.

Yesterday was bad

After work yesterday, I went to visit my uncle at the nursing home. It was very emotional. My uncle was very sad and above all scared. He was crying and didn't understand why he was where he was. All he wanted was to get home.

His fear is mainly due to the fact that he does not recognize his surroundings and fears that he will not be allowed to return home. The worst thing is that we will move him once more.

Unfortunately he was not accommodated in the nursing home which is literally located 1,640 feet (500 meters) from my parents home. This specific nursing home was built between 1902-1915 and is a stunningly beautiful building beautifully situated next to the water.

The nursing home he lives in right now is a former apartment building in the middle of a residential area. It's just storage, not a home. In the best of worlds, my uncle has been given a place in the nursing home next to my parents home and we have had time to move him there before mum and dad come back from their holiday. That way they don't become "the bad guys" in my uncle's eyes.

In 2023, the home care staff had to call an ambulance on 13 occasions when they found my uncle unconscious for various reasons. It was everything from severe epileptic seizures, falls and transient ischemic attack (TIA). These 13 occasions resulted in him having to spend 1-2 weeks in hospital after each time. So even though I understand that what we are doing is right, it feels terrible.

I welcome all of you

We are grateful that, apart from the Gladstone Investment Corporation Business Development Company (GAIN), we are getting the same nice outcome of extra dividends as last year for the month of March.

The holdings in our portfolio that make an extra dividend during March are:

Crescent Capital BDC, Inc. Common stock (CCAP), ¢10 with pay date March 15

Capital Southwest Corporation Common Stock (CSWC), ¢6 with pay date March 15

Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), ¢22 with pay day March 20

Golub Capital BDC, Inc. Common Stock (GBDC), ¢7 with pay day March 15

Hercules Capital, Inc. Common Stock (HTGC), ¢8 with pay day March 6

Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN), ¢30 with pay day March 27

New Mountain Finance Corporation Common Stock (NMFC), ¢4 with pay day March 29

Blue Owl Capital Corporation Common Stock (OBDC), ¢8 with pay day March 15

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX), ¢8 with pay day March 20

These additions bring us closer to the goal, which is for 2024 to be better than 2018. If the holdings that give an extra dividend in March also do so in June, September and December, we are pretty much already at the finish line, but nothing is set in stone yet. I hope and believe that 2024 will be better than 2018. However, the gap to passing 2019 is long.

Competence should always come first

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party, who ruled Sweden for 8 years. At the last election, I voted for the current government.

In the same way that the great American giant  allowed itself to be seduced by the Woke movement, Sweden's previous government did the same. In their eagerness to become a feminist government with a woman in every second post regardless of competence, they allowed the country to decay.

It becomes even clearer now when these parties are in opposition. Hardly a day goes by without the party leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, being caught in a lie. The worst thing she has done so far is the attack on the individual debater Henrik Jonsson.

Our current government, like all previous governments, does not always extend the appointments of Directors-General they did not appoint. The only difference is that in some cases it is communicated that the reason the appointment was not extended is that the Director-General was an activist and put his agenda before his mission.

I know that there are a lot of competent women, elderly people or people of other origins in Sweden. The problem for the Swedish left is that these people belong to the Swedish right. 😉

I wouldn't want a job just because I'm a woman

The summer before last, I got into conversation with an American man who, through his professional role in a large insurance company, has deep insight into a giant company that has existed for many decades, has a fantastic reputation and a huge market capitalization.

The man in question said that he is convinced that this company will not exist in 8-10 years. The reason for this, according to him, is that the company's management has fully embraced D&I (Diversity and Inclusion).

Personally, I am convinced that companies are best served by a mix of age, gender and origin, provided that the candidate has the required skills. If there are two equal candidates for a position, I as an employer would choose the candidate who was missing from the workplace in terms of age, gender or origin. However, no quota may take place at the expense of competence, for whatever reason.

In his professional role as claims adjuster, this man has seen claims for damages against the company increase significantly since the company introduced D&I. The problem, according to the American man, is that it will take far too many years before the company's management understands where the real problem lies, i.e. lack of skills.

He is convinced that once the company's management realizes its mistake, the point of no return has already been passed and the company is lost. I have already noted that the company has suffered problems that have even received international attention.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 12

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y.

IF Metall's strike against Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM) has now lasted 120 days, making it the longest legal strike since 1945.

My hope that IF Metall would let this strike die in the noise of all the reporting on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hamas's attack on Israel, Sweden's NATO application, the US presidential election, etc. was dashed yesterday.

Seko has joined the sympathy strike. The consequence of Seko's involvement will be significant if the stations supplying electricity to the charging posts break down, as Seko will not repair them. I guess IF Metall hopes that all Tesla Superchargers will become unusable.

This measure will affect all electric car owners. One of my younger sisters has had an electric car much longer than us, first she had a Polestar and now a Volkswagen. The only complaint she has about electric cars is the charging itself.

The strain on all other charging stations will be enormous if the Tesla Superchargers are shut down. It will be exciting to see how tolerant people are when they are affected.

This will come back to bite them

For transparency and my own agenda, I voted for the current government.

Once again our current government disappoints me. This time, our current government has started an investigation into surveying the wealth of Swedes. The excuse the government uses to defend this investigation is that they worry that the economic gaps in Sweden are increasing.

My husband and I, who choose to both work and save a lot, do so with the hope of having a secure financial future for our little family. This hope for a secure financial future comes at the expense of a simpler and more luxurious life right now.

Our intention with this lifestyle is not for this already taxed money to be wealth taxed in the future so that people who would rather spend all they have and then some can get additional grants at our expense.

The government says it has no intention of wealth taxing these savings, but they have let us down before.

Additional statistics

The worst, for us, dividend month of the year is almost over.

The month's remaining dividends are Gladstone Investment Corporation Business Development Company (GAIN), Gladstone Capital Corporation Common Stock (GLAD), Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund Common Shares of Beneficial Interest (GOF) and Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC).

I have now compiled a chart comparing monthly dividends made in 2023 with 2024. The chart below is a snapshot from today. The dividends from GAIN, GLAD, GOD and OXLC must be added before the chart is complete for the first two months of the year.

Click to enlarge

Same same but different

The world's most perfect teenager needs new glasses. It has been almost 3 years since he last visited the optician. I haven't considered that he outgrows his glasses just like he outgrows his shoes.

Junior has grown incredibly in the last 4 years. For example, he was a head shorter than the world's most perfect husband 4 years ago, today it is the opposite.

The optician's attempts to get the teenager to choose a slightly more grown-up frame were completely fruitless. After testing several bows, we went home. Instead, I had to go back to the optician on behalf of the offspring and ask him to try to find exactly the same frame as he has today, but in a larger size.

Late in the afternoon, the optician called and announced that he had found a pair. In 2-3 weeks, the offspring will have new glasses with the only difference being that they will be a couple of sizes larger.

My uncle is only 75 years old

My uncle will be moved to a nursing home later today. Yesterday I was at his home and picked up clean clothes for him before the move from the hospital to the nursing home. It was a very strange feeling to be in his home without him.

While I can understand that my dad feels terrible that he is not at home in Sweden right now, I suspect that he also feels a little relieved that he does not have to place his younger brother in a nursing home.

It is a very strange feeling to participate in that a person will not be allowed to return to their home. Last night when I visited my uncle in the hospital he told me that he will be going home soon. Knowing then that he will never come home again is horrible.

My uncle's senile dementia is progressing very quickly at the moment so I know this is the best for him. This doesn't stop me from feeling bad.

Hello little friend

Another holding, Blue Owl Capital Corporation Common Stock (OBDC), pays a supplemental ¢8 dividend in March 2024.

This means that our fourth best dividend month of the year will be better compared to last year's second best dividend month.

Last year, for the first time, we sold a larger number of holdings and reinvested them in companies with lower risk. We got a lower risk on our holding at the expense of higher dividends. Despite this, 2024 will be better than 2023 overall.

We received lower dividends in January 2024 compared to January 2023, while February this year will perform better compared to last year. Overall, Q1 2024 will be better than Q1 2023 thanks to the extra dividends.

Boom

Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) declared a monthly dividend of ¢24 per share for the second quarter of 2024, which is in line with previously. In addition to this, they also announced a supplementary dividend of ¢30 per share with a payment date of March 2024.

This extra dividend combined with the extra dividend from Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS) means that the March dividend will most likely exceed the combined January and February dividends.

Provided that nothing unforeseen happens, we know which companies we will acquire during March.

His late mornings may soon be just a memory 😉

The world's most perfect teenager normally sleeps as much as Sleeping Beauty. Now that he has been sick, he has slept even more.

I have read that the growth hormone is mainly produced when you sleep. I will follow his height development closely. Currently, he is 6'1" (186 cm). Should he approach 6'3" (191cm), his lie-in will come to an abrupt end.

Our two godchildren are both 6'4" (194cm) and the disadvantages of being tall almost outweigh the advantages. Shoes, socks and even cars are a problem. Whenever a friend or acquaintance of theirs travels to America, they always ask them to buy socks on their behalf.

Patience is not a quality I possess

I'm reading everything I can get my hands on in my quest for word on Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN)'s potential ex-dividend.

If MAIN follows the same schedule as last year, a possible announcement will come tomorrow.

I sincerely hope that MAIN does not disappoint me.

We have been lucky

The world's most perfect teenager never did not incur any childhood disease while growing up.

We vaccinated him against chicken pox a couple of years ago on the advice of his doctor because the older you get in the event of contracting the disease, the sicker you become.

His sick days since birth are easy to count, until now. Last weekend he contracted norovirus and was home from school both Monday and Tuesday.

This weekend he caught a bad  cold and so far has been home from school today. Depending on how he feels tomorrow morning, he might have to stay home tomorrow as well.

Neither he nor we are used to him being sick. Even though he is 16 years old, I feel guilty because he has to be alone when he is sick.

I just want to be home and take care of him.

Take one for the team

Of my father's two brothers, only one is still alive, his brother two years younger. His oldest brother passed away in September 2020.

My grandmother and the "boys'" mother passed away in December 2020 and since my uncle had no children of his own or a partner, my dad is his next of kin.

My uncle was not as lucky in the gene lottery as my father. Unlike my mom and dad who are currently driving around America, my uncle is waiting to get a place in a nursing home. He suffers from senile dementia, severe epilepsy and cannot walk without his walker.

Yesterday, the home care service called me and said that they found my uncle unconscious after an epileptic seizure and that they suspected he had also suffered a stroke. My younger sisters and I went to the emergency hospital that the ambulance took our uncle to. Luckily there was no stroke this time.

Within a day or two he will be transferred to an infirmary for rehabilitation for a few days. After that, he must either go home to his apartment or be placed in a nursing home. I contacted the city of Stockholm today and was told that my uncle is on queue number 4 for the specific nursing home that my dad queued him up for just 2 days before they left for America.

I can understand that my father has hesitated to make this decision. Making the decision to place your younger brother in a nursing home is not easy, even if it is the best decision in the long run.

I was wrong

The Swedish CPI for January 2024 ended up at 5.4% so my guess of 4.8% was 0.6% wrong which is more than 10%. The increase was higher than expected.

Despite that, the market still believes in a cut in the policy rate in the summer. Three of Sweden's major banks believe in a reduction in May, while the fourth believes in a policy rate cut in June.

Personally, I believe in 5 reductions of 25 points each in the second half of the year.

Let's hope for better numbers

Tomorrow, the Swedish inflation rate for January 2024 will be announced.

Expectations for the consumer price index (CPI) for January 2024 at the Swedish major banks vary between 3% and 5.4%. This compares with the CPI for December 2023 which was 4.4%.

Hopefully inflation has fallen further but personally I think the CPI for January 2024 will land at 4.8%.

The Swedish central bank AKA Riksbanken would have to lower the Swedish key interest rate to make it easier for the Swedish borrowers and try to stimulate the Swedish economy. However, the US inflation rate announced on February 13, 2024 put an end to that hope.

I really hope the March 12, 2024 announcement is better than the February 13, 2024 announcement. Riksbanken is stuck in the foxhole together with the American CPI.

Source check, source check, source check

In a world filled with more and more fake news, the need for objective, independent and expert media becomes greater and greater. Unfortunately, the media fails to catch the ball.

When I was young, the state-owned Swedish television (SVT) was objective, reliable, accurate and factual. Both factual and spelling errors have recently become increasingly common on SVT. Sadly, SVT has been infiltrated by both environmental and left-wing activists at the same time as personnel have been quotated.

A highly respected former SVT journalist for many years, Jan Josefsson, most recently confirmed in December 2023 during an interview that SVT's reporting has and has had a clear left-wing orientation. In the same interview, he also confirmed that many within SVT are environmental or left-wing activists.

Jan Josefsson maintains that it has affected and still affects what SVT reports on.

This leads to a greater responsibility falling on the individual to check the sources of all information and always consider the reporter's own agenda.

This becomes extra sensitive when you have to check the information itself and the sources about something you have no knowledge of.

Some things never change

When I was 10 years old, my parents decided that we should drive to Nordkap, which is a 307 meter high cliff in Northern Norway that plunges steeply into the Arctic Ocean. The distance between Stockholm and North Cape is 846 miles (1362 km) one way.

My parents packed us three children into the car and drove straight to Nordkap where we looked at the view and had lunch. Then we got into the car and drove back to Stockholm. Mom and dad took turns driving so the other could sleep. The whole road trip was completed in 3 days because dad had to work.

Yesterday they called from New Orleans. They had arrived 1 day earlier than expected.

I am an exact copy of my parents in this regard. You drive from A straight to B without stopping, while the world's most perfect husband is the complete opposite.

For obvious reasons, we have only done 5 road trips in our 29 years.

When good turns bad

Sometimes I think of my previous hairdresser, Sara, who only understood during the pandemic how wrong things often get in Sweden, even though the intention from the beginning was good. Grossly simplified, the result is all too often that those who work, save and take responsibility must pay for those who mismanage their finances.

As a hairdresser, Sara was hit hard by Covid-19 even though Sweden did not have a regular lockdown because Swedes are naturally good at keeping their distance. Many refrained from cutting or coloring their hair for many months. For a long time she could hardly work at all and as a self-employed person it is devastating.

Unlike many other young adult colleagues of the same age, Sara has managed her finances. In addition to having saved a buffer, she had also bought a condo a number of years earlier.

The then government led by the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the Left Party's tacit acceptance promised to help Swedish entrepreneurs during the pandemic.

Since Sara did not have a limited company where she was employed but ran the business as a sole proprietorship, she did not receive compensation for salary. In this situation, even her orderly finances became a disadvantage.

Because she had managed her finances and had assets, she received no grants at all but had to use her savings. Which in and of itself is quite right, her colleagues and friends who previously partied and clubbed instead of working hard received grants because they had no assets.

I am an involuntary enabler

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism.

Sweden and large parts of the rest of the world are in a downturn with slowing economies. There is a daily report on warnings placed or executed. Both individuals and companies must adapt their finances to the new conditions.

Sweden is divided into municipalities and regions, which control their own budgets. Many municipalities and regions are running large deficits and are asking the government for financial help.

One such example is the Varmland region, which is struggling with a deficit of 87.4 million dollars. Region Varmland is governed by Social democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party.

The region imposed a hiring freeze on administrative staff in October 2023, which they later broke. In December 2023, it was decided that 750 positions within the region will be removed. In January 2024, additional savings proposals were made that affect the hospitals in Arvika and Torsby.

The latest savings proposal is estimated to save $2,010,000. At the same time, a new central hospital is being built in Karlstad, where the region has chosen to purchase hospital art for $3,496,000.

Providing healthcare is part of the region's core business. Buying art at the expense of healthcare goes against the region's job description.

If the government should choose to assist the Varmland region, which manages the region's residents' tax money contrary to the mission, I, as a resident of another region, become an involuntary enabler with my state tax money.

Politicians and official responsibility must be reintroduced. Stop wasting my tax dollars!!!

I see money in the cards

Yesterday we received a large part of February's total dividends, which means that there is roughly 11% left of the month's estimated dividends for us to receive.

Next month is the fourth best, for us, dividend month of the year. If you add the dividends from January and February and compare with March, the difference is only 5%, to March's disadvantage.

If Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) also decides to pay an extra dividend, March could be better than January and February combined.

One down, hundreds to go

Today we most likely bought our last shares of Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS). FDUS is currently the only company where we have reached the target amount.

In Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN), we need to buy about 300 more shares before the target amount is reached.

Remaining holdings are so far from the target amount that I can't count that far.

It's NOT because she's a woman

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism.

No matter how far I stand the Swedish Social Democrats and their partners ideologically, it is almost painful to see their current party leader Magdalena Andersson currently making a mockery of herself almost daily.

First, she bet everything on one card and defended Jamal El-Haj all the way to, literally, the end. Instead of backing down and admitting that she was wrong, she decided that the best defense is a good offense and attacked an individual debater, Henrik Jonsson.

This attack by Magdalena Andersson, which was clearly insane to everyone but Magdalena Andersson, caused all the media, both left and right, to turn against her.

Magdalena Andersson is not attacked in the media today because she is a woman, but because she is a bad party leader who made many bad decisions.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Sweden's Social Democrats and its party leader Magdalena Andersson are desperate and are digging their grave ever deeper. Right now, I see no other way out than that Magdalena Andersson has to resign.

Money💰Money💰Money💰

Another of our larger holdings, Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), announced yesterday that it will pay a supplemental ¢22 dividend on March 27, 2024. It makes a welcome addition to the account. The ordinary dividend for the first Q1 2024 is in line with Q4 2023.

I am anxiously awaiting word on whether Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) will also do an additional dividend in March 2024 given their stellar Q4 2023.

Why should Swedish pension savers save the climate with their pensions?

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism.

Both myself and my husband made an active choice many years ago and moved our pension money from AP7.

The premium pension is part of the Swedish general pension and are included in the PPM system. Available state-controlled funds in the PPM system are AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, AP6 and AP7. These 6 funds make up the largest part of many Swedes' public pensions. All Swedes who do not make an active choice and change fund managers automatically end up on AP7.

Earlier this year, it emerged that former social democratic governments have loosened the rules around pension money and now the 6 AP funds can invest in, among other things, start-up companies, mainly AP7.

Today, both AP3 and AP4 are questioned because they invested in the company TotalEnergies, which is currently building a new oil pipeline through Uganda and Tanzania. Kristina Ostman, head of climate at the Swedish Nature Conservation Association, quote "This is a terrible project. It leads to the forced displacement of the local population and the destruction of the ecosystems." unquote.

As much as people worry about the climate, I'm guessing that the number of people willing to risk their old age for the sake of the climate is few.

One could change the direction of one of the AP funds to focus solely on climate-promoting projects and completely ignore returns. Similarly, another AP fund can be converted to focus only on start-ups and zero focus on returns. To place your pension money in one of these funds, you would have to make an active choice.

I suspect that interest in a fund with a total lack of return would be close to zero.

My mother didn't sleep many hours last night

My parents have checked in and are waiting to board their flight to America.

As usual, my mother has had the travel bug for almost a week, while my father had, if it had been possible, canceled the trip yesterday in order to be at home and work instead. Which he always wants until he sits in the lounge.

For the moment, he is looking forward to the trip much more than mom, who is afraid of flying. Mom's fear of flying has gotten better. It was worse in 1997.

Although we had traveled to America about about ten times before, this was the first time our then-boyfriends, now husbands, would be coming along, which made Mom more nervous.

We were going to Thailand and a doctor friend of mom and dad had written a prescription for a sedative for mom so she could sleep most of the flight. What neither of us knew was that it was Rohypnol that their doctor friend had prescribed.

The outbound flight went well. Mom took a tablet as prescribed, the flight left on time and she slept almost the entire trip to everyone's delight. I still have a small scar on my right arm from one of our first trips where she dug her nails in when we encountered heavy turbulence.

Not knowing that Rohypnol is classified as a narcotic, Mom unwittingly smuggled a package in and out of Thailand.

On the inbound flight she took a tablet expecting the same result. Unfortunately the flight was delayed so we literally had to carry her on board. Back home, she flushed the remaining tablets down the toilet.

I wish there had been cell phones with cameras back then, because the pictures would have been priceless.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 11

For transparency and my own agenda, my husband and I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y. I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the Left Party's tacit acceptance and the Swedish unions that are not really needed anymore because the Swedish laws are in favor of the employee. Regardless of what the employee did or did not do...

In recent weeks, nothing has been reported in the media about the ongoing strike by IF Metall against Tesla Motor Sweden AB (TM). I was hoping that the strike would be drowned out by everything else going on in the world right now so that IF Metall could quietly withdraw from the conflict.

Instead, IF Metall chooses to ease the blockade and allows some thirty workshops that have a collective agreement to repair Tesla cars between February 19 and April 30.

According to IF Metall's contract secretary Veli-Pekka Saikkala, you need to seize the opportunity and get your car fixed because quote "when this window is closed it will be very difficult to get your car fixed so you have to think about which car you buy" unquote.

If you're a little conspiratorially inclined, you might suspect that a trade union official, a close friend of a trade union official, or a high-ranking social democrat has crashed his Tesla and needs it repaired.

Valentine's Day didn't go quite as I had planned

Having a bedridden husband vomiting and having diarrhea means Valentine's Day is cancelled.

Instead of becoming his Valentine, I became his deputy colleague at work. That I was not at work either Monday or Tuesday was clearly visible when I came back today.

The world's most perfect husband is not the world's most perfect colleague, there is much to be desired regarding his documentation. His motto is "80% is close enough".

Which means, for example, that the customer orders are just a photo on the receipt and I have to create a complete customer order.

Since I know exactly what condition he is in, I didn't want to call and disturb him, so everything has taken twice as long.

I prefer to be his Valentine.

This must stop

Yesterday, Jamal El-Haj announced that he is leaving the Swedish Social Democrats to become an independent politician.

Personally, I think this is stage one of a two-stage rocket. The next step is for him to become a member of the Nuance Party.

It is not the first time a Member of Parliament has left his party during the term of office. Sweden must implement a change that prevents us from getting these independent politicians who only harm the country.

Unwanted visitor

Last Sunday, the Dewlar family received an unwanted visitor.

The world's most perfect teenager woke up with acute stomach cramps and started throwing up almost immediately. I sat next to the offspring that spent all Sunday on the bathroom floor next to the toilet. I tried to make it as easy as possible for him to no avail.

When the vomiting subsided in the evening, he got diarrhea instead. Late in the evening his diarrhea stopped and I was able to go to bed. The world's most perfect husband took over and made sure junior got into bed properly.

I made it until yesterday morning when it was my turn. It lasted until now. Both I and the offspring began to feel almost fully recovered when the husband now came home in the evening with an acute stomach ache.

It's been more than 25 years since my husband and I last had norovirus.

Patience is not a quality I master

Despite the fact that we sold off some holdings and bought others, February is still for us the absolute worst dividend month of the year.

Because we continuously reinvest all of our dividends, May, August and November are always better than they would have been without these ongoing investments. Otherwise, even these months would generally yield as little as February.

Eleven days into the month we have received roughly 10% of the month's total estimated dividend. Fortunately, the fourth best, for us, dividend month of the year is close behind.

I am anxiously waiting to see if Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) will pay an extra dividend given their stellar Q4 2023 results.

An eventual announcement should come around February 20.

I'm confused

When I was in middle school during the eighties, my teacher at the time said that the world is heading for a new ice age. This became a core memory for me that I always carry with me.

For the past few decades, climate activists have only talked about global warming.

Yesterday I read that a new Dutch study published in Science Advances warns that the risk of the system of ocean currents in the Atlantic collapsing is greater than previously estimated and that a collapse could lower the temperature in Europe by 41-59 ℉ (5-15 ℃) degrees.

As recently as Thursday, the Copernicus climate service declared that January this year globally is the warmest January ever, 34.88 ℉ (1.66 ℃) degrees warmer than the average during pre-industrial times. According to their director quote "We have to adapt to a new climate – far from the climate in which our culture developed" unquote.

I understand that the climate is changing, but is it getting colder or warmer?

The Swedish Social Democrats - where power is everything

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party. Politically, I am very far from the Swedish Social Democrats, their partner parties, communism and socialism.

Ever since May 2023, the Social Democratic Party has had to defend its Member of Parliament Jamal El-Haj. In May 2023, it emerged that he planned and attended a conference for Palestine with Hamas connections.

At a debate in Sweden's Parliament on 15 November 2023 between Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson and Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister said that there is "a certain terror romance" within certain social democratic circles.

Magdalena Andersson defended Jamal El-Haj in this debate by saying that Jamal El-Haj has fought against Hamas his whole political life. Magdalena Andersson also pointed out in an emotional exchange between herself and Ulf Kristersson that Jamal El-Haj had recently lost family members in the war in Gaza, his daughter-in-law's family.

This turned out to be untrue as Jamal El-Haj's son is unmarried according to Swedish public records.

In his attempts to save his reputation and position, Jamal El-Haj sued another member of parliament for defamation, which was later dropped.

It was not until January 24, 2024 that Jamal El-Haj gave his first and so far only interview before the uncomfortable links to the terrorist organization Hamas were discovered. In this interview, he admitted that his main loyalty is to his origin, otherwise he would never be able to look his mother in the eye.

Despite the fact that the Social Democratic Member of Parliament has admitted that his main loyalty lies outside Sweden's borders, he still had his party's trust.

It wasn't until February 9, 2024, when a journalist unearthed documentation about how Jamal El-Haj contacted the Swedish Migration Agency in June 2017 and tried to influence them to let a conservative imam stay in Sweden, that the Social Democratic Party distanced itself from Jamal El-Haj.

Because Jamal El-Haj is elected by the people of Malmo city, the Social Democratic Party cannot get him excluded from the Parliament. However, they have asked him to voluntarily leave his position.

My guess is that Jamal El-Haj will choose to leave the Social Democratic Party and instead join the Nuance party which is a party with Muslim representatives.

I need a vacation

My parents, who are 76 and 78 respectively, are going on a 4 week holiday to America next week. They fly in and out of Miami and then drive around to places like Memphis and New Orleans.

I was happy and proud of them for choosing to make this trip. Considering everything I've had to help them with regarding this trip in the last 3 weeks, I'm starting to worry about them. 

The only thing left for them to do is to check in via the app. I won't be able to help them with that as they have chosen to sleep at the airport due to a very early morning flight.

For more reasons than one, I sincerely hope they make that flight. I need some peace and quiet.

It's okay when they do it

In Sweden, we have press support for newspapers whose content is at least 55% self-produced.

That newspaper publishers who receive this press support, which is financed 100% with tax money, choose to lock the articles is dishonest.

To be able to read them, we taxpayers must pay a subscription. So, in effect, some taxpayers are paying double for this material.

To top it off, there is nothing that prevents the companies that receive this tax-financed press support from making dividends to their owners.

There is an editor-in-chief of a newspaper with a focus on analysis, in-depth analysis and independent social democratic opinion journalism that almost daily questions the independent schools in Sweden how they justify making dividends financed with tax money.

These independent schools do not receive grants or support but provide a service, a school education and are paid per pupil.

Even this clearly LEFT-leaning newspaper makes dividends to its owners, how they justify this dividends which is partly based on tax money via press support no one knows because they do not answer that question.

He couldn't help himself

The meeting with the teacher of the world's most perfect teenager went better than I expected.

Since the meeting was conducted via Zoom, I was at home, the teacher was in her study, and the offspring had found a secluded space on the lower floor of the school.

She confirmed that she has seen changes in his attitude and commitment to her lessons this semester while the offspring admitted that he mismanaged his studies in all subjects throughout the fall semester.

I also showed how YMD and I follow up his school work with the document I created for him where all formatives, summatives, homework etcetra is written down and then checked off by him when it is done.

When the meeting was almost over, she asked if my son had any questions. Of course, he couldn't help but ask why he is never asked to answer when he raises his arm during oral exams. She explained that she rarely picks someone who raises their hand, but instead almost always picks someone who doesn't.

I could teel that she wasn't completely truthful and the first thing my son said when he got home was the quote, "Mom, she lied. She almost always picks someone who raises their hand to answer!" unquote.

This questioning will cost him.

Someone has lost a lot of money

One of the world's largest real estate companies, The China Evergrande Group, which has struggled in recent years, was forced into compulsory liquidation late last month by a Hong Kong court.

As late as 2018, the company was the most valuable real estate company in the world, but by 2021 it had collapsed financially and started the crisis in the Chinese real estate sector.

I don't yet know how this gigantic bankruptcy will affect my life in Sweden, but I am absolutely convinced that it will, somehow.

Status quo, more or less

Yesterday we bought a small number of shares in Bank Nova Scotia Halifax Pfd 3 Ordinary Shares (BNS) and UGI Corporation Common Stock (UGI).

These purchases mean that we have expanded our list with 2 more companies. But on the other hand, we have sold off a number of companies and removed them from the list.

This means that the actual number of companies on the list is almost always at the same level.

I'm in trouble

Almost 4 years ago, the world's most perfect teenager was given a pair of VR glasses by his grandparents on his 13th birthday. The VR glasses he got cost over $1400 at the time so they are good quality.

I wasn't too keen on him getting these as I didn't have or still don't have full control over this technique. There were studies that showed this technology could create "false memories" in children who were younger than 12 when they started using the technology. That's why our son had to wait until his 13th birthday before I, albeit reluctantly, allowed him to wish for these. I have since tested them once.

After seeing the ad for Apple's new Vision Pro VR glasses, I want them. Because I have been restrictive and negative about our son's use of his VR glasses, I will never be able to justify a purchase without coming across as a hypocrite in our son's eyes.

But damn, they look good and I really want them.

Looks good, so far

With Nordnet's payout of Oxford Lane Capital Corp. is Preferred Stock Shares (OXLC) dividend today, January is done. This year I have cleared my input values for foreign withholding tax, brokerage, exchange rates, exchange charges and DRIPS.

That the outcome was higher than the forecast is due to the extra dividends. The extra dividends in January were made up of our holdings in Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. Common Stock (APLE) and FS KKR Capital Corp. Ordinary shares (FSK). My latest chart is also cleared of extra and/or supplemental dividends.

Hopefully the outcome will be higher than forecast throughout the year in the first two charts to be completely in sync in the latest.

Chart number 1, forecast values are locked as of January 1, 2024. No adjustment will be made for acquisitions made in 2024.

Click to enlarge

Chart number 2, forecast values are locked on the first of each month after the last acquisition of the month is made.

Click to enlarge

Chart number 3, extra and/or additional dividends are removed from dividends paid (green bar).

Click to enlarge