Power 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.

Malmo city and municipality are governed by Social Democrats. A report from the city of Malmo is harshly critical of the municipality's work against honor oppression. After the report was published, the social administration within Malmo city and municipality claims that the report spreads an incorrect image.

The social administration deems that the report authors interviewed too few employees to be able to determine the criticism. Before the report was published, the social administration in the city of Malmo was given the chance to comment on the report, which they declined.

Once again, the Swedish Social Democrats show that power is most important. They reject a report that could improve the lives of girls and women of foreign origin in favor of future votes of foreign men in future elections.

No rest for the wicked

The world's most perfect husband predicted more than 18 months ago the deep recession that Sweden is currently in. We took measures there and then and reduced the staff, with the result that my husband and I have been working on the floor much more than we normally do.

My time at the office has been severely limited since last summer so I have had to work both Good Friday, Easter Eve and a couple of hours today to complete 3 financial statements, 3 company returns and 2 annual reports.

It's annoying to have to use free time for work but at the same time incredibly satisfying to get these things done. Tomorrow, Easter Monday, I just plan to be off.

Grateful and annoyed at the same time

On Maundy Thursday, our shop was only open for half the day. An hour before we were to close, my dad called and asked if I could help him put together 2 bids for him. I have a very hard time saying no to my parents so of course I accepted his request.

As me and the world's most perfect husband step into our hall, I hear the world's most perfect teenager say to the person he was talking to on his cell phone quote "yeah, they're coming right now" unquote. It was my dad, also Junior's grandfather, who called him to find out in real time when we got home. 

Exactly 45 seconds later, my dad rang our doorbell. I literally didn't even have time to take off my outer clothes. Mr. Dewlar sat down with his father-in-law while I took off my outer clothes and booted up my computer.

In between, I feel like an over-aged Cinderella. Although I am very grateful that my parents are healthy and vital.

There is potential for a sharp downward adjustment...

The value of our combined holdings remained at the second highest ever before Easter. Since the value of our holdings skyrocketed in the last stock market days before Easter, it is very likely that an adjustment will take place as soon as the stock market reopens.

Although we are still waiting for about 45% of March's total dividends, I think there will be a long fall from Thursday's ATH next week.

Easter egg hunt at Dewlar's residence is still a thing

The world's most perfect teenager is the most traditional person I know. He turns 17 in August, but he still wants to go on an egg hunt here at home. In addition to the traditional candy, he also received money in his Easter eggs. In total he received $150 from us and his grandparents.

It is so rewarding to see him willingly ask me to transfer $75 to his endowment insurance. Not because he has a genuine interest in his savings capital, but because he knows what applies, it has become a matter of course and that he has a bank card where I always make sure there is 110 dollars. Not once has he taken advantage of the situation and bought something he was not allowed to do.

To spark his interest in shares and investments, we are still topping up his private endowment policy with our monthly savings for him.

My spreadsheet is close to perfection

The contentment of seeing my spreadsheet be so accurate is cool. It has been more than 5 years since I created my Google Sheet.

Apart from the pandemic when I didn't open the spreadsheet for more than 2.5 years, I make changes to the spreadsheet almost daily by adding acquisitions, sales or dividends. I still don't see the numbers in the Google Sheet as actual money but just as a tool that builds my charts.

The only money I see as actual numbers is the sales generated in our store. The deep ongoing recession makes my role as CFO considerably less fun than it usually is.

Ka-ching

The Nordic region consists of Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Aland. The largest bank in the Nordics is Nordea, which is based in Finland.

It was Nordea that changed the time frame for refunding foreign withholding tax. Previously, depending on the month withholding tax was deducted, it took between 3-2 years before foreign withholding tax was refunded.

In 2018, Nordea started paying back the foreign withholding tax 6 weeks after the deduction was made. That was the only reason why we sold off large parts of our holdings at Avanza and Nordnet and moved the money to Nordea instead. Despite, mainly Avanza's, fantastic website with an unbeatable user-friendly interface.

In addition to the quick tax refund, Nordea is by far the fastest in paying out dividends. Yesterday we had the dividend paid for both Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) and Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS) by Nordea. Which in practice means that we Swedish shareholders with holdings placed with Nordea get our dividends paid just one day after the actual payment date.

As the Swedish krona continued to weaken against the US dollar and the share prices of our planned acquisitions rose yesterday, we refrained from reinvesting these dividends for the time being.

You can't eat the cake and have it too

Full transparency and my own agenda, I am the mother of a son. Our son has learned that a no is a no, no matter what.

A recent column written by a young Swedish woman focused on the fact that we Swedes never flirt IRL anymore. I fully understand that young men do not dare to initiate flirting and contact today.

ME TOO was a great wake-up call for many, while unfortunately there was a type of women who took advantage of the situation and cried wolf where there was no wolf. Being shamed by a woman, either verbally IRL or on a social media post for initiating a contact, scares people off.

My two godsons who are in their mid-twenties often refrain from contacting a woman they find attractive. It's not getting a "no thank you" that puts them off, it's having the rejection posted online with a smug comment by the woman intent on shaming who does. If these types of women had just said "no thanks", I'm convinced that flirting would have been more alive today than it is.

Feeling (financially) strong today

Yesterday was payment day for Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS) regular and special dividends plus Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) special dividend.

Since we live in Sweden, Europe there is always a delay of 1-10 days before we get the money. The difference in days is due to the fact that the processing time varies greatly between the different online banks.

Although, in fairness, the differences between the various online banks have decreased significantly in the past year.

All Time High

Our portfolios hit ATM yesterday, both in SEK and USD. At one point yesterday, the value increased by more than $1000 in less than 1 minute. There were several variables that contributed to our increase in value yesterday.

That the Swedish central bank chose to leave the policy rate unchanged did not help the Swedish krona yesterday, which lost value against the US dollar.

Many of our holdings did very well yesterday. The fact that you, as a resident of America, can choose DRIP instead of cash can affect the demand for these holdings. Which most likely affected some of the holdings yesterday.

A central bank that uses its interest rate weapon against its own citizens

Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken announced today its decision to leave the policy rate unchanged for the second time in a row. In the publication, Riksbanken also informed that they intend to lower the policy rate three times within the next twelve months.

The next publications from Riksbanken on the remaining monetary policy decisions in 2024 will be submitted according to the dates below:

May 8

June 27

August 20

September 25

November 6

December 18

My assumption is still that the first policy rate cut will come on August, 20. I believe that Riksbanken intends to use the policy rate as a tool to prevent Swedish borrowers from living an overly extravagant life during the upcoming summer holidays, which in the worst case will lead to inflation gaining momentum again.

With today's interest rates, the majority of Swedish borrowers must prioritize interest payments over travel and consumption.

An ongoing hunt

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation Common Stock (HRZN) pays a special dividend of ¢5 with April 16 as the payment date.

My primary goal is to match and then exceed our best dividend year ever, which is 2019. According to my calculations, the goal should be within reach by 2026, assuming nothing unexpected happens.

Hypocrisy for dummies

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.

The national organization (LO) is a central organization that coordinates 14 different unions. According to its statutes, LO is a Social Democratic organization.

All winter, the Social Democrats and LO have raged against the big banks' profits and directors' salaries. The main reason for the sharp increase in profits for the banks is the increases in the policy rate that Sweden's central bank has made in recent years.

Today, one of Sweden's largest banks, Swedbank AB - Class A (SWDBF), held a general meeting. In this particular bank, the labor movement, i.e. the Social Democrats and LO, has a decisive influence. For example, SWDBF's largest shareholder is the workers' association's insurance company, Folksam, whose chairman was formerly chairman of LO.

The hypocrisy is monumental when SWDBF today at its general meeting chose to increase its dividend by 55%.

Covid-19 showed who is in charge

At the end of 2018, I was convinced that we would be done now, financially speaking, but boy was I wrong. Setbacks and problems did not exist in my mind, everything was easy peasy.

Although the pandemic put me in my place and humbled me, it was like a summer breeze compared to the subsequent inflation and the current recession.

Me and the world's most perfect husband have today initiated the beginning of a big change. I sincerely hope that this deal ends just as we hope. At the same time, it's like Catch-22 for me because I hate change. The husband, on the other hand, loves change.

Then archenemies, now BFFs

Full transparency, I have no transgender among my family or friends. I am all for trans people being able to live openly and without facing prejudice.

I have never and never will call myself a feminist. Feminist talk of sisterhood disappears faster than an F 35 fighter jet can fly as soon as they deem a biological woman expresses doubts against a trans woman right to female locker rooms, restrooms etcetra.

Even when it comes to sports, feminists do not believe that trans women should be excluded from competing against biological women, despite the increased risk of injury. Regardless of when the transition began, biological males are generally stronger and faster than biological females. Currently, record after record in women's sports is being broken by trans women.

Most often, a trans woman is a former white biological male, the main enemy of all feminists. What baffles me is how quickly and easily feminists go from detesting white men to defending them with everything they've got as soon as a man says he identifies as a woman.

Many will watch the press conference

Next Wednesday, Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken will present its next interest rate announcement. This time, Riksbanken also gives a forecast of how they see the future development of the Swedish policy rate.

The market expects that the policy rate will be unchanged at this point, but that reductions will take place in 2024. The last time Riksbanken lowered the policy rate was February 2016.

Although I hope that Riksbanken lowers the policy rate next week, I still think that a reduction will come in August 2024 at the earliest.

Not all heroes wear capes, part 2

A Swedish TV program called "Assignment Audit" whose mission is investigative journalism was contacted by the White Hat who informed that he/she had hacked several of these clusters of youths committing these heinous crimes.

The White Hat had monitored and recorded audio and screen shares and offered all material to the editors. The hacker also assisted the police with all the material. It is extremely heartbreaking to see how these criminals are scamming elderly people, many of them losing their life savings.

At one point when White Hat is monitoring a scam in real time, he hears the desperation in the victim's voice as the scammer pressures the victim. His intention was initially only to monitor and record, not to intervene. But this time the White Hat couldn't just watch watch as the scammer pressured the elderly woman who repeatedly said that she doesn't want to do this anymore and decides to cut the contact between the victim and the scammer right before the victim is about to transfer all her savings to the scammer.

The fraudster assumed it was his victim who ended the connection, which angered him. The scammer called the elderly woman things that should not be repeated.

In my eyes, the White Hat, even if he is guilty of data breach, is a superhero who saved the woman's money.

Not all heroes wear capes

There is a big problem in Sweden with young people committing telephone fraud against the elderly. Swedish police and banks have been aware of this for some time.

The fraud is staged with the fraudster pretending to work for a well-known company via SMS informs that an order has been placed in the victim's name and that they just want to make sure that the order is correct. In the text message, the intended victim is asked to contact the "company" at the phone number provided.

When the victim calls the number, they confirm that an order has been placed but that they will cancel it. They then ask the victim which bank he/she uses and inform that they will transfer the call to the bank's security department because their details have been "leaked on the internet".

A crony takes over the call and says he works at the bank's fraud department and since the victim's details have been "leaked" must temporarily move the victim's savings because the bank has to "clean" the accounts of the virus. The victim is asked to connect to the "bank" remotely, then the victim is "assisted" with instructions on how to move the money to a temporary account while the cleanup is done. As soon as the transaction is completed, the fraudster interrupts both the phone call and the connection. What remains is a confused and despairing elderly person who does not understand what just happened.

These "clusters" of young people who carry out these scams are located in Turkey, Spain, Lebanon, Dubai etcetra. For a long time they have been able to act undisturbed. Now a White Hat has hacked several of these cluster's devices.

You can't take anything personally

Owning a store in a recession is not enviable but not for the reason many may think. It is shocking how aggressive and angry people become when they are short of money.

We do not have e-commerce, so you must either come into our store or email in an order. For example, the customer may have looked up an article number on the internet and emailed an order. When it turns out they got the wrong article number, they get very angry with us even though we just followed their instructions.

Always over-early

For Christmas last year, me, my sisters and our respective families gave our parents a theater visit with dinner included in the ticket. Last night it was time for the theater visit. My younger sister sent a text asking if the food was ok as the quality varies a lot at these events. Within 10 seconds she got a text from mom with a couple of question marks.

My sister immediately called up and explained that a dinner is also included, whereupon they had to start looking for the dining room. Since our mother always is ahead of time, they had plenty of time.

I don't know anyone else who can arrive a week early to a hotel without calling ahead except my parents. When they were in America last time, they shortened the trip from New Orleans and Nashville to Fort Lauderdale by a week because they thought it was too cold. I can only guess what the hotel staff was thinking when they stood in the lobby a week before the scheduled date of their booking.

Once when my younger sister and I traveled with our mother to New York, we arrived at the airport a day early for our return trip. Since we had already checked out of the hotel, I hear my mom ask the airport personnel quote "Is there any flight to Europe today?" unquote. We ended up buying a new return ticket via a flight to Germany that left later that evening. We landed 11 hours earlier than planned.

That our parents manage to fly with the right flight both there and home this last time is truly inapprehensible.

For his sake, I hope it gets easier, soon

There is a lot to be desired when it comes to my uncle's adjustment to his nursing home. Our family and his contact person, had an agreement that we would all say that as soon as he was healthy enough, he would be allowed to move back to his apartment.

Usually, the patients have forgotten their previous home within a month due to senile dementia or other age-related diseases. Unfortunately, a temporary worker told my uncle that he has moved to this home permanently.

This made my uncle very angry. My father who has been visiting his brother several times a day since he and mother returned from their vacation was very scolded by his brother. My uncle has also called me on several occasions to express his sadness and anger at his new accommodation. Unfortunately, my uncle is far too ill to be able to live at home with the help of home care, so this is the only way out.

Hopefully he'll be in better spirits within a month.

Type of person, not ethnicity

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.

The cornerstone of Sweden's previous government was grants. It becomes particularly clear when an active defense minister, native and resident in another country, can receive both sickness benefit and economic support without any control point triggering the alarm.

The last few days, the Swedish media has done its utmost to downplay the story of the former Iraqi defense minister, suggesting in several articles that the welfare system is being exploited by ethnic Swedes who move to Spain or Thailand when they reach retirement age.

Unlike many of our ethnically Swedish friends who live in segregated areas and almost never come into contact with people who immigrated or came as refugees to Sweden, we also have friends who are either immigrants or refugees.

Few things irritate our friends of foreign origin as much as when the media downplays stories like this. They have worked and contributed to society during the entire time they have been in Sweden and under no circumstances want to be lumped together with this type of people.

The fact that the media downplays these stories can be at the expense of our friends who risk being associated with this type of people who, by the way, are found in all nationalities on earth.

Love is eternal, only the objects change

Yesterday the school organized a party in the school for grade 9 and 10. The world's most perfect teenager had no intention of going to the party until yesterday afternoon. The party lasted until 11 p.m. When he finally got home, he was exhilarated.

Apparently a girl had told him he was very good looking and they had danced together several times during the evening. Actually, he is interested in another girl, but it seems that it is enough that it is a girl than that it is the right girl when you are 16 years old.

After what happened to my nephew recently, I'm incredibly worried when Junior has to go home late even though they always have several of them. Junior knows I'm worried, that he has to go straight home and that he's well behaved (so far 😉) so he was home by 11:30 p.m.

The change came stealthily

In Sweden, we have a problem with robbers breaking into homes when people are at home. The robbers steal work clothes from various delivery and transport companies. A robber stands in front of the door with a package clearly visible while the robber's accomplices hide out of sight. As soon as the door opens, everyone rushes forward and squeezes into the home.

Therefore, the world's most perfect teenager is forbidden to open the door if someone rings the bell. Early Thursday morning we were woken up by the doorbell ringing. My husband is not easy to wake up so I got out of bed and looked in the peephole. I saw a lone woman in uniform standing outside our front door. I had a scare and hesitated for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only a second or two at most. Then I did the exact opposite of what we've taught Junior and opened the door. It turned out that the woman was a security guard from our alarm company.

Because I was visibly nervous when I opened the front door, the security guard at first suspected that she had arrived at a robbery in progress. First I had to identify myself, then she looked through every space in our entire home. It was the detector in our hall that had broken and sent a tamper alarm. The offspring and my husband fell asleep right after while I lay awake for about an hour before falling back asleep.

It is absolutely incredible how Sweden has changed. When I was a child, our front door was always unlocked when we were home, day or night. Nowadays the front door is always locked, our perimeter protection is always activated at night and you worry when the doorbell rings when you are not expecting visitors.

You can't make this up

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.

On Monday, the former Iraqi defense minister, Najah af-Shammari, was arrested at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm. Najah af-Shammari, who was Iraq's defense minister between 2019-2020, has been wanted for welfare crimes in Sweden since 2019.

Najah af-Shammari who lived in Iraq and received a salary from the Iraqi state for his role as Minister of Defense while receiving benefits in Sweden where he had registered as sick and unable to work due to an illness. When Najah af-Shammari became aware of the suspicions of contribution violations, he chose to register as an emigrant to Sweden.

The prosecutor confirms that Najah af-Shammari was served with criminal charges on Monday but was released after he promised to appear voluntarily before the prosecutor yesterday for questioning.

The fact that the Swedish system is so inefficient that another country's active defense minister who does not even live in Sweden can swindle tax money does not contribute to increasing my willingness to pay taxes. Tax money NOT at work.

Small streams make great rivers

I bought 15 shares of Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS) today. Given that the FDUS ex-div date is March 19, it was at the last minute.

This small acquisition increases our chances of March being our best dividend month ever. However, the most exciting transactions to watch this month will be ARCC and FDUS. I have high hopes for their outcome compared to my initial expectations.

Forgotten money

I completed the income tax return for the world's most perfect teenager earlier this evening.

More than 10 years ago, we started an investment savings account for the offspring at Aktieinvest, which is Sweden's only online broker that offers monthly savings in shares and fractions. The fact that we could buy fractions was the main reason why we chose Aktieinvest as our online broker for Junior's savings. We only managed to save a small amount, 280 US dollars, before we opened an endowment insurance for YMD with Avanza instead.

A combination of negative policy rate and minimal savings has meant that no standard tax has been charged to the investment savings account during all these years. When Sweden's central bank raised the policy rate several times last year, a standard tax arose for his investment savings accounts for the income year 2023.

After I finished his declaration, I logged into Aktieinvest and sold off all his holdings. In a couple of days I will be able to transfer almost $300 to his endowment insurance with Avanza instead.

It's time for Jack Frost to step aside for this time

More than half of March has already passed, yet the cold continues to hold its grip on Stockholm. I doubt the world's most perfect teenager wants to practice driving now that the snow has fallen overnight, even if it's only a thin layer.

I can hardly remember when the winter season has been as long as this time. Snow and cold moved in over Stockholm already in November 2023 and, apart from a few days, we have had cold almost continuously since then. In addition to having an unusually large amount of snow for long periods, we have also had arctic cold this season.

There are two weeks left until Easter and then, oddly enough, the weather is usually fantastic regardless of whether Easter is early or late.

This will be tight

I have discovered an error in my Google sheet that is in our favor. There are two holdings in our portfolios where I have failed to update the value of future dividends. The reason I haven't discovered this sooner is that March is the first time in 2024 that these holdings pay dividends.

Entering March, we were about $110 short of beating our best dividend month ever, December 2023. The recent strengthening of the Swedish krona contributes to increasing the deficit. Ares Capital Corporation Common Stock (ARCC) and Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS) are the holdings that I failed to update.

My estimate shows that it will be tight.

I have also paid for nothing

The world's most perfect husband has discovered a zone that has deflation as opposed to the inflation that has hit pretty much the entire world. He has been playing a certain computer game for 10 years. Before the pandemic, the most affordable in-app purchase in his computer game cost about $24, compared to about $18 today.

An in-app purchase is almost the same as buying air. I understand that an in-app purchase entitles you to use a feature in a program, but it's not something you can wear or even feel.

I'm also aware that there are individual skins, avatars etc that can be worth significantly more than what you paid, but for the vast majority of purchases aren't worth a red cent. Unlike, for example, a shirt, trousers, jewelry, watch, etc., which almost always have a second-hand value.

I'm really looking forward to this

Today will be the third time my best friend, our sons and I are going to one of Stockholm's best hotels to have afternoon tea. My BFF and I have decided that this will become a tradition that we will do with our sons twice a year. It's been almost exactly one year since we did this for the first time and six months since the last time.

I am godmother to their oldest son and her husband is godfather to our son. Another of her friends is the godmother of their youngest son, but since she is not involved in his life at all, I have "adopted" him as my godson as well, with my best friend's blessing.

My godsons appreciate what we may soon call a tradition much more than my son who says he "takes one for the family". Although I know he likes this more than he really wants to acknowledge. Admitting as a 16-year-old boy that it's nice to go out for afternoon tea with your mum, her friend and your 'god-brothers' is not cool.

Regardless, I'm incredibly grateful and happy that all the guys are coming along. For my BFF and I, this is heaven.

The paradox

Last Thursday night, the world's most perfect teenager got new glasses. Yesterday he wore the new glasses all day which resulted in a severe headache in the evening. The headache was so bad that he went to bed before 8 p.m. on Friday night when he normally stays up until midnight playing computer games with his friends.

Today he will alternate between the old and new glasses so his brain has time to get used to the stronger glasses. So sad that something that is good for him is bad for him at the same time.

My heart breaks into a thousand pieces every time the offspring is not well.

Nordea impresses

Today we got some payouts. Exactly which companies' dividends we received will not be visible until tomorrow. I have to give credit to Nordea for their speed in disbursing the money, meaning we had access to the money today.

Although we didn't make any acquisitions today, it's a good feeling that we had the opportunity if we wanted to.

I'm cooler than my husband at this

On Sunday we will celebrate my father-in-law's 80th birthday. My in-laws live in Sweden's seventh largest city, Orebro, which is 119 miles (191 km) from Stockholm.

Hopefully the weather and road surface are good enough for the world's most perfect teenager to practice drive most of the way there. I'd like him to be able to drive for a couple of hours straight so he'll be confident enough to relax.

The world's most perfect husband is not the world's most perfect supervisor so he will get to sit in the back seat and distract himself with games on his cell phone.

If I had known, I would have started with quark a long time ago

I have never smoked and my alcohol intake has been boringly low my whole life. However, I have worked a lot and mismanaged my diet.

That lifestyle worked flawlessly until 2 days after my 49th birthday when I came down with what my doctor at the time thought was BPPV. Since then I have had severe dizziness on 2 more occasions.

The last time was during our trip to Portugal last summer. My vertigo specialist first thought it was vertigo migraine, then adjusted the diagnosis to protein deficiency.

Throughout the fall and winter, I have been extra careful to eat some form of protein every day. My protein intake consists mostly of quark, eggs, beef and chicken. Last Christmas I fell back into old habits and cheated on my diet. I ate a lot of sweets and neglected the protein. It didn't take many days before I felt the dizziness creeping up.

In addition to my daily protein intake, I always drink a glass of Super Greens mixed with BCAA. I have been drinking this drink every weekday for almost 20 years and the world's most perfect teenager for more than 11 years. It was my former PT who wanted me and Junior to drink this because our intake of vegetables is non-existent.

In our little family, only the world's most perfect husband eats a varied and balanced diet that does not require any supplements.

He could wear a black garbage bag

The world's most perfect teenager always has and probably always will be completely uninterested in clothes. Which for me as a woman is completely incomprehensible.

On two occasions he has gone shopping with friends. Given his total disinterest in shopping, I think the only thing that would get him out on a shopping spree is if a girl asks him out.

When we enrolled Junior in his school, we had to sign an agreement that bound us to rules of order that also include dress codes. Some clothing is prohibited at school, including torn clothing.

I've been trying to get the offspring to go shopping for new pants as he hardly has a single pair that doesn't have a hole somewhere. Since he refused to come along, I was free to choose.

The positive thing about his disinterest in clothes is that he puts on pretty much anything. Plus, since we dress "him down", the risk of Junior experiencing any unwanted changes or surprises is minimal.

Here we go again

Yesterday our portfolios lost a lot of value. A combination of a falling American stock market and a stronger Swedish krona affects every single holding. We had thoughts of selling off most of our holdings and hibernating in cash a while ago, but ultimately refrained.

Unemployment in America is expected to begin rising this summer, from today's 50-year low of about 3.5%, and peak above 4.5% in 2024.

The expectation that inflation in America would fall during February was not fulfilled, instead inflation rose, which will delay long-awaited interest rate cuts. Above all, it is worrying that core inflation in America continues to rise at an accelerated rate.

Add reduced Swedish inflation figures and an American presidential election and we have a perfect storm in our portfolios.

Let's hope for the best

Sweden's inflation figures for February 2024 were presented today. The figures were lower than what the market had expected. CPI inflation was 4.5% in February 2024, down from 5.4% in January.

According to preliminary data on the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HCPI), inflation in the euro area in February was 2.6%. In January, it was 2.8%.

This promises well for Sweden's central bank's next monetary policy announcement on March 27, 2024.

I hope he will acclimatize

Today my uncle was moved to the nursing home where he will live permanently. Except he didn't get the TV installed, everything went according to plan. We have bought a new TV which had to be special ordered. It arrived at the store late this afternoon. Instead of a 24" television, he now gets a 43".

I have booked an appointment with a TV installer who is coming tomorrow morning. My uncle will get more than the 3 tv channels he has had for the last 4 weeks. We have also arranged for him to be able to control everything from 1 remote control instead of 2.

Now I just hope that the evening and the night go well for my uncle in his new nursing home.

It would have been fun

Two brothers from Russia were convicted in January 2023 of espionage against Sweden. The older brother was sentenced to life imprisonment while the younger brother was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

It has emerged that the younger brother has received compensation from the Russian intelligence service GRU. Today it was discovered that the Swedish Tax Agency has taxed the younger brother for this fee and also added penalties for withholding income. The fee/income is approximately $45,300. Usually the penalty is twice the original amount but I don't know for sure.

A ballsy move would have been if the Swedish tax authorities had charged the Russian embassy in Sweden for employer contributions, which corresponds to 14,200 dollars.

This will come back to bite the unions, part 14

Another union that is in conflict with a large company is Sweden's Engineers, which demands that Spotify sign a collective agreement. After sitting in negotiations with the union, Spotify chose to leave the negotiations in August 2023.

Instead, Spotify has chosen to move large parts of its operations outside of Sweden. Recently, Spotify terminated the lease for almost 240,000 square meters of office space.

It can be added that Klarna Bank AB and Amazon.com, Inc. Common Stock are also on a collision course with the Swedish unions. The greed of the unions will lead to many Swedes losing their jobs.

I didn't make it all the way

My parents are now back in Sweden so from today my uncle is my father's responsibility. My younger sister has taken by far the most responsibility for our uncle during these weeks, while my youngest sister has taken the least.

Tomorrow, my parents are moving my uncle from his current nursing home, which can mostly be compared to a "storage", to the nursing home next door to my parents' home.

My uncle's most important thing in life is his television. It is like a friend to him. At the nursing home he's been in for the past few weeks, he's only had 3 channels. In order for his first impression of the new nursing home to be as good as possible, our ambition is for the television to have at least 12 channels.

Since the day we were told that our uncle has been placed in this nursing home, I have done everything in my power to find out which TV service provider to sign up with and what is needed in terms of hardware.

Yesterday I finally got all the information I needed. There is no fiber connection, everything is managed via WIFI. This means that we have to buy a new TV that has new technology but "old" inputs. Which was easier said than done.

I visited a store in Stockholm yesterday that could order home such a television. In the best case, the TV will arrive and be installed now on Friday, otherwise it will be Tuesday next week.

Not at all the outcome we had hoped for.

"Nobody's" money

It is common knowledge that it is easy to trade with other people's money. A clear example is tax money. Since tax money is money that is allocated to the state and municipalities without any work input, this money is valued less.

Since there is no clear sender and the fact that this money is given and expected, it makes it easier for people who handle the tax money to steal or waste it on things that do not belong to the core business. For example, a camel farm or a unicorn.

Most Swedes are in control that they pay income tax, capital tax and value added tax, but in addition to this we also pay various excise taxes which are special consumption taxes on specially selected goods and services. Another example is that the Swedes pay 25% VAT on the energy tax.

The result is a tax burden of over 50% and the biggest expense a Swedish household has.

Close but not close enough

So far, we have only received 7% of the month's estimated dividends. Some of our holdings pay dividends on March 15, but the vast majority of dividends are paid at the end of the month.

Due to the recent strengthening of the Swedish krona against the US dollar, March will not be our best dividend month ever.

The forecast shows that we will miss the target by about $120. But for the fourth best month of the year to surpass last year's second best month is amazing.

Aid does not always end up right

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.

Once again it is revealed that the aid organizations are helping attackers and terrorists. Today it has been revealed that the Red Cross in Russia is involved in military training of 8-year-old Russian children.

It was just at the end of January 2024 that the Swedish government paused aid to the UN agency UNRWA when it emerged that UNRWA employees participated in the attack against Israel together with Hamas on October 7, 2023.

On March 9, 2024, the government informed that it had decided to resume payments to UNRWA according to quote "reached a bilateral agreement that will give Sweden more transparency into UNRWA's activities" unquote.

I don't think UNRWA has cut all ties with Hamas. I believe that the Swedish government could not withstand both the Swedish opposition led by the Swedish Social Democrats and the demands of the rest of the world that Sweden should resume payments.

I am convinced that almost all major aid organizations more or less support various attackers and terrorist organizations worldwide. I think that all Swedish aid should be stopped. In my opinion, it is just as terrible that someone is attacked or exploited with the help of Swedish tax money as that Sweden does not help. Aid must be fundamentally restructured and new actors to assist must be found.

Tax money NOT at work.

Better safe than sorry

Today the world's most perfect teenager got paid for another test well done. This time he got a grade 6 on a science summative.

I know it's not optimal to pay for good grades but I want him to be able to focus 100% on school but still be able to earn his own money.

In my opinion, an evening or weekend job would interfere with his school work. He has his whole life ahead of him to work. Plus I get to have him at home, where he can't get hurt.

My nephew got severely beaten this weekend for telling a couple of guys not to force their way into the wardrobe line when the club closed for the night.

It's always easy to spend other people's money

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.

The former social democratic social minister Gustav Moller (1884-1970) coined one of the best expressions ever, quote "Every wasted tax penny is a theft from the people." unquote. Considering how the Social Democrats have handled tax money for the past 20 years, I guess Mr. Gustav Moller is spinning in his grave.

Earlier this week, the Swedish equivalent of the CIA raided a branch of the Arbetarutbildningsforbundet (ABF) (Workers Educational Association), which is Sweden's leading study association, in Tyreso, a suburb of Stockholm. These branches within the organization can apply for study funds from the municipality. Tyreso municipality is governed by the Social Democrats.

During the crackdown in Tyreso, quantities of weapons were found and 4 people are in custody for inciting terrorist crimes. According to the investigation, the organization in question is linked to the violent Islamist environment. This branch has received over $45,000 in study funds from Swedish tax money.

This is not the first time an ABF organization is in trouble. At the latest last year, it was discovered that another branch within ABF, that time in Botkyrka, which is also a suburb of Stockholm, had been infiltrated by gang criminals.

Tax money NOT at work.

Need I say he drove perfectly in my opinion...

Last fall, the world's most perfect teenager and I spent several occasions in a large parking lot belonging to Stockholm University where he practiced driving. At the last occasion last fall, we decided to drive a little further than just the parking lot. Mainly because my husband, Junior's dad also was there.

To put it kindly, you could say that I am significantly better at this particular activity than my husband. It did not end well for the offspring with several factors working against YMD. Apart from the fact that we only had 2% of the battery left when we got to the charging station, it was pouring rain. Since then I haven't been able to get my son to practice driving, until today.

Since my husband is out for a walk with his sister at Djurgarden in Stockholm, it was just me and Junior who drove to his golf practice today. I asked if he wanted to practice drive, which he happily did.

He drove well, now "we" just have to drive home too...

Every little helps

The first extra dividend of the month has been credited to our endowment insurances, namely Hercules Capital, Inc. Common Stock (HTGC). Although HTGC is far from our biggest payout, it is most welcome.

SEK has further strengthened against USD in recent days, which has caused the value of our portfolio to decrease even though the share value has increased.

Although we have all our holdings in American companies and profit from a weak SEK, it feels better as a Swede when the SEK is not collapsing against the rest of the world.

Tomorrow my parents will check out of the hotel in the US where they have spent the last two weeks, so they will definitely earn a stronger SEK. My sisters and I are also winners as that they dispose less of our future inheritance... 😉

How could they let it go this far?

I grew up in a suburb of Stockholm, living in a villa.

Part of this suburb is today classified as an exposed area which means quote "geographically delimited places of low socio-economic status and where the criminals have an impact on the local community" unquote.

For most of my growing up, we never locked the front doors to the house, the car was in the driveway with the keys on the sun visor, and our bikes were unlocked in the driveway. When my parents eventually started locking the front doors in the evenings in the late 1990s, it wasn't because of crime, but because one of their neighbors was unabashed and could suddenly be standing in our living room at 9:30 p.m.

Now I live in the "finest" part of Stockholm city, but the front door is always locked and the last thing we do every night before going to bed is to activate the perimeter protection.

Our part of Stockholm has had problems with robbers who dress up as couriers and ring the doorbell. Therefore, the world's most perfect teenager still has clear instructions to NEVER open the front door when the doorbell rings, even if it's been a long time since the last robbery.

A couple of years ago, a prosperous suburb of Stockholm, Nacka municipality, had terrible problems with robberies against children. The robbers, who were only teenagers themselves, robbed other children of their clothes and often also abused and videotaped the incidents.

The robbers even had a name for these areas, they called it "the pantry". If they needed a new jacket, phone etcetra, they went to "the pantry". In the end, mounted police were deployed. Today is better but not like before. I always "dress down our son" so that he does not attract unwanted attention.

There are few things that make me as angry as robbery and violence against children and the elderly.