Whether it was the right decision to wait remains to be seen

As it is the last day of the month, it was time to print our holdings on hard copies. I'm trying to get my parents to print their holdings but it's like talking to a brick wall.

I still haven't checked that the dividends received by the world's most perfect husband so far for September are correct. Actually I had planned to do it today but my day job and the printing of our holdings took considerably longer time than planned, mainly due to Nordnet whose printouts took longer than getting a teenager to do their homework.

Today's planned acquisition of Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Common Shares of Beneficial Interest (BXSL) did not happen. Several factors contributed to our refraining today, but the main factors are the exchange rate and the share price. In addition, we will receive the final dividends for September within the next few days.

I got candy, he gets stocks

In 1981, our Mom embroidered 3 advent calendars with a small Christmas gift for each day from December 1st to Christmas Eve. In the 80s, it was unusual for advent calendars to contain a gift, unlike today when there are advent calendars with make-up, Lego, skin care, puzzles, Swarovski crystals, etcetera.

Our Mom made 72 small gifts with a toffee, an eraser, a small chocolate bar and so on which she attached to the 3 advent calendars. On Christmas Eve there was always a treasure map for a big Christmas present, I still remember the year we each got a snow racer in that present. My younger sister had her first child at a young age which allowed Mom to pass the tradition onto the next generation.

Today, her youngest grandchild aka the world's most perfect teenager is the only one she makes an advent calendar for. This year, she has chosen to give him a stock every Advent Sunday instead of a piece of candy. I'm going to help her by making a chart for each stock like I did for the stocks Mom and Dad gave him for his birthday.

Junior's interest in stocks is growing as steadily as his portfolio. He is still unaware that his portfolio is on "anabolic steroids" due to the fact that we deposit the student grant we receive from Sweden's taxpayers every month into his account. Hopefully his stock saving will become a way of life before or if he discovers our strategy.

He may be a mutt, but he's my mutt ❤️

Me and the world's most perfect teenager practiced driving yesterday. Junior has created a playlist that he has named "driving with old people".

Me and the world's most perfect husband share values, morals, ambitions, political views etcetera and are generally in sync. However, there is one thing that me and my husband are not in sync with, music taste. Unfortunately, Junior has inherited his dad's taste in music. Which meant I had to endure 2 hours of music of the absolute worst taste in the world. On the upside, he seems to have inherited his dad's driving style, which is a bit more cautious and less aggressive.

Children truly are like mutts, a mix of different personal attributes.

The only advice I will ever give

When the world's most perfect husband isn't home, I have a hard time sleeping unlike the world's most perfect teenager who didn't even wake up when the tamper alarm went off last night. Instead of tossing and turning, I got up at 2:35 a.m. (GMT+2) and started compiling the dividends that have come so far in September.

Due to Nordea's minor maintenance work a couple of weeks ago which not only caused login problems on both app and online banking, the entire holding was deleted, again. This meant that I had to compare restored holdings with our notes in connection with the reconciliation. It took a couple of hours to reconcile both my and Junior's accounts. I don't have a login to my husband's accounts so I'll have to do that later this week. Both mine and Junior's holdings matched our notes exactly which was satisfying.

We are still waiting for about 7% of the total dividends for September so we should get a decent amount of money early next week. Tomorrow evening it will be time to reprint the specifications of our holdings in each of our endowment insurances. This is very important as the banks no longer send out settlement invoices out of consideration for the environment.

Thanks to this routine, I can verify the history of our holdings for the previous month's holdings should any or all of the holdings be inconsistent after a "minor maintenance work" or a hacker attack.

ALWAYS print your holdings on a hard copy!

I hope the night's activities don't affect his game

In addition to personal hygiene, our evening routines include double-checking that the entrance and balcony doors are locked and activating the perimeter protection. It's something we've been doing for the past 25 years, long before it became as criminal as it is in Sweden these days.

During these years, the world's most perfect husband has changed the batteries in the alarm detectors about 30 times. Every time the battery in a detector runs out, the alarm system perceives it as a tamper alarm and goes into action. Of those 30 times, this has happened more than 25 times at night, most recently last night.

The first time it happened I was sure someone was trying to break in but these days I'm calmer. Even though we're pretty sure it's a tamper alarm due to a bad battery, the world's most perfect husband always checks the doors. Every time the alarm goes off, the alarm center calls and you have to state your name, address and special codes. If you don't answer, guards are sent out to enter the apartment, this has happened to us once. After the world's most perfect husband performed all the procedures and returned to bed, I was wide awake. At 5:00 a.m. (GMT+2) I gave up and sat on the sofa instead, by which time I had been twisting and turning for almost 3 hours.

The fact that the husband is leaving for a golf tournament this morning and won't be home until late tomorrow night doesn't make matters any better. Even though we've been together for 30 years on Tuesday next week, I hate it when he's not home.

This golf competition is special, it was started by my husband and a friend of his 35 years ago. The first year they were 4 friends, the following year they were 8. Today places are limited to 40 people and it is always fully booked, one year my husband didn't even get to partake.

In the statutes, which were written 35 years ago, it is stated that no women or minors may participate. Next year, the world's most perfect teenager turns 18 and is no longer a minor. Junior has already made it clear to his dad that he intends to win the competition next year. The co-founder has a daughter who is the same age as Junior but she will not be allowed to participate.

The rules were written by 2 very young men who wanted to avoid drama with girlfriends at all costs. That they would grow up, get married and have children did not exist in their world then and there. Although I would have loved to come along and compete, I'm glad they're sticking with tradition and not changing the rules.

The Swedish krona has become less weak lately

Today our holding reached ATH calculated in USD while the actual value for us, which is the portfolio value converted to SEK, decreased. The reason for this is that the Swedish krona continues to gain ground against both the euro and the USD. For every penny that the dollar falls in value compared to the krona, exactly all of our holdings are negatively affected, in terms of value.

A good outcome of a stronger krona is that we get more for every krona. A bad outcome will be that our actual dividends will be lower compared to the months when the Swedish krona was weaker compared to today's exchange rate.

Opinions differ widely when it comes to the value of the Swedish krona. There are those who believe that the Swedish krona is undervalued, even one of the world's most undervalued currencies, while there are those who believe that the Swedish krona will lose more against the dollar and the euro.

The Swedish krona, which is a small currency, is much more influenced by the outside world than, for example, both the euro and the krona. In addition to external factors, declining domestic risks and positive external developments are very significant for the smaller currencies. Sweden has major problems with gang crime, which we currently "export" to Norway, Denmark, Finland, Spain and even Iceland.

Our current government has a massive job that will take 5-10 years to clean up after the last government who was far too lenient on crime. If they succeed in reversing the negative trend, it will strengthen the Swedish krona.

Temporary taxes and subsidy increases tend to become permanent in Sweden

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 Swedish left has gone full bananas since the current government presented its autumn budget. Unlike the previous social democratic government who want to tax hard working people to death to increase benefits in all shapes and forms, the current government wants work to pay off.

The current opposition, Sweden's Social Democrats with their partner parties the Left Party and the Green Party, have wrongly and successfully managed to make their supporters believe that the current government has cut taxes mostly for high income earners.

That people with higher incomes get a bigger tax cut in dollars and cents is understood by anyone who can think for themselves. If one pays $3500 per month in income taxes, the reduction in dollars and cents will be higher compared to the person paying $420 per month. Percentage-wise, people with the lowest incomes get the biggest tax cut.

In addition to promoting the thesis that the tax is reduced mainly for high income earners, the opposition also claims that the reduction of the "temporary" increase in housing allowance that the former Social Democratic government, together with its partner parties The Green Party and the Left Party, introduced during the pandemic as a deterioration.

This temporary increase has remained in its original form for seven budgets until this time when our current government chose to reduce it by 25 points. If every time a temporary grant is removed it is to be seen as a deterioration, unlike the temporary support that was intended, then temporary increases should not be made.

Penny wise and pound foolish

Six months ago I canceled my transaction account with Nordea because I never used the bank card linked to the account, and due to our increased interest costs I have not made a transfer to the bank account for over two years. The cost of the bank account was $3 a month, which really isn't very expensive.

Yesterday I transferred $1,250 to what I thought was my endowment insurance with Nordea. After a couple of hours after I had made the transfer, it occurred to me that I had not changed the account number for Nordea at my main bank SEB, which means that the $1,250 has no recipient.

At best, my $1250 will first end up in an observation account with Nordea since there is no recipient and then be returned to SEB within a couple of days. At worst, the money will get stuck with Nordea because of their internal problems Nordea has had with both their app and online bank since its "minor maintenance measure" almost two weeks ago. In the latter scenario, it may take weeks before Nordea manages to locate my money and bring it back to SEB. Regardless, the fault is entirely mine.

This weekend, Nordea will carry out a minor maintenance measure again. Most likely, Nordea is trying to fix the errors caused by the last minor maintenance measure.

New times, new ways

The world's most perfect teenager got his physics test back yesterday. He managed to solve all the tasks and got the highest possible score. The fact that he also took the test in record time has contributed to his teacher now mistakenly believing that Junior is gifted. When I told our son to take after his friend and read through everything because he clearly has the ability to understand, I was told quote "mom..." unquote.

Both today and tomorrow are in-service training days at the offspring's school, which in my time meant "an extra day off", while for Junior it means actually doing his schoolwork, both the mandatory and optional. To give him some slack, we let him sleep in but make sure he goes to bed at his normal bedtime, to avoid him from turn the day around.

It is best that Riksbanken makes good on its "promises"

The announcement that the Swedish central bank AKA Riksbanken is lowering the policy rate by 25 points is in line with their own forecast and the market's expectations. Riksbanken's approach may be a procedure to show itself strong towards the market and that they prioritize their trust in their own forecasts as opposed to what the Swedish economy actually needs. With this demonstration of strength, Riksbanken can take too lightly the new Riksbank Act, which states that they must also take real economic considerations into account.

Everything in the Swedish economy points to the fact that today's policy rate announcement should have been a double cut, which may give rise to harsh criticism of Riksbanken and its governor in the future, depending on how hard the Swedish economy is hit due to Riksbanken's gradual and cautious single policy rate cut.

However, the board's new policy rate forecast stands out. Quote "If inflation and the economic outlook hold, the policy rate may also be lowered at the two remaining monetary policy meetings this year. A reduction of 0.5 percentage points at one of these meetings may be relevant," unquote writes Riksbanken in a press release.

In addition, central bank governor Erik Thedéen is also open to further reductions into 2025. Quote "Furthermore, the forecast indicates one or two further rate cuts in the first half of 2025. The policy rate is thus expected to be lowered at a clearly faster rate than previously communicated, which contributes to a stronger economy and inflation close to the target." unquote. Riksbanken's new goal is for the policy rate to be 2.25%.

Europe has problems

The German economy is slowing down for the fourth month in a row and the decline was greater than feared. September's composite index for Germany fell to 47.2, the lowest level in seven months. An index value below 50 indicates reduced activity in the industry.

German industry stands out. For manufacturing in Germany, the index fell to 40.3, the lowest level since September 2023. In August, the index stood at 42.4. For the services sector, there was a decline in the purchasing managers' index to 50.6, from 51.2 in August. At the same time, leading economic institutes in Germany lower the growth forecast for 2024 and 2025.

For the eurozone as a whole, the composite index for both services and manufacturing for September fell to 48.9, the lowest level since January this year and down from 51.0 in August.

He would own unless he applied the law of least resistance

The world's most perfect teenager came home from school and was a bit troubled. His physics teacher had asked him to stay after class because he needed to talk to him.

Junior had an exam last week which he did in record time. The same day he took the test he came home and said quote "I either got everything right or everything wrong" unquote. The world's most perfect husband and I looked at each other and thought he must have failed. However, it turned out that the offspring had performed very well on this test, exactly how well he will find out a little later.

His teacher now believe that Junior is among the more gifted students when it comes to physics. Which couldn't be more wrong. One of the offspring's friends went over a formula with him on the day of the test and this formula turned out to be the key to the whole test. Junior feels, quite rightly, that he wouldn't have passed the test if his friend hadn't taught him the formula.

I try to reinforce to the offspring that he actually knows this, how many people can learn and understand a formula in a short time that a friend and not a teacher teaches.

Man does not always know best

Two years ago, researchers at the Danish University of Copenhagen cracked the code to interpret how pigs feel via their sounds. The researchers used AI technology to interpret over 7,000 audio recordings of more than 400 pigs.

With the help of 15,000 sound recordings on different types of farms in Denmark, they have found out how Danish pigs feel. The different farm types are conventional farms, organic farms and farms where the pigs are free-range. On organic farms in Denmark, the pigs have three times as much space indoors as on conventional ones.

The expectation was that the pigs living on the free-range farms would do best to be followed by the pigs on the organic farms and that the pigs on the conventional farms would do the worst. However, the result turned out to be different.

On conventional farms, 25% of pig sounds were "highly stressed," while on organic farms, almost 50% of pig sounds were stressed. This means, according to the researchers, that the pigs have high stress levels on both types of farms, but highest on the organic ones. The researchers cannot answer why the results turned out the way they did.

However, it became clear that the human assessment of what constitutes a good life for pigs does not match the pigs'.

Our son takes part in other cultures

The world's most perfect teenager has and has always had friends who are predominantly of Asian origin. This has led to Junior unknowingly adopting certain cultural practices that are not Swedish. In Japan, for example, the glass is always refilled if you leave the glass completely empty. So when you have finished drinking, you leave a small splash at the bottom, unlike in Sweden where you have to drink the whole glass to be finished.

Since Junior has had a very close friend of Japanese origin for several years, this is a trait he has embraced. However, the offspring has not limited himself to drinking glasses, he never takes the last splash in either milk or juice bottles, he always leaves one last piece of paper on the toilet roll and so on.

I hope there is no culture where it is considered rude to leave the last splash in the glass, bottles, the toilet roll etcetera because that would mean big problems for Junior.

The Family Feud golf competition

Yesterday was the unofficial family championship AKA Family Feud. My brother-in-law won and the world's most perfect husband ended up in last place. The world's most perfect teenager came in 4th place which was the top ranking among the youngsters. The fact that my youngest sister and her husband ended up in place 5 and 1 respectively is due to the fact that they are beginners and have the absolute highest handicap. The next competition is planned for the spring of 2025 and then we will possibly be another 3 people, which means that we are almost 4 complete 4-balls.

It was mine and most others' first time playing the golf course we played at yesterday. Unfortunately there were no signs pointing to the next tee and as it is a meadow course it was very confusing at several times with players just everywhere. At one point 2 holes crossed each other and I have never heard so many people yelling "fore" before. The winner gets to choose the golf course next time.

Someone always has to show the way

I am and have been against remote work since the beginning, even though I apply it myself part-time. In my circle of friends and acquaintances, I am completely alone in thinking that remote work is somewhat negative. I think that a lot is lost such as experience feedback, hours worked, company culture for the employer, but that the employee also loses from this. The employee loses fellowship with his colleagues but also the opportunity to have a life outside the home that he can talk about with his partner.

Me and my younger sister, who works at a real estate company as a lessor, have had many discussions about remote work in particular, where she argued with the obstinacy of a fool that remote work is here to stay, while I have always been convinced that sooner or later the employer will realize that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Now I seem to be right.

Goldman Sachs plans to cut nearly 1,300 jobs from its global workforce as part of an annual overhaul, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on September 1, 2024. The report stated that Goldman typically aims to cut about 2% and 7% of its total workforce annually based on performance factors. This range has changed over time due to market conditions and the bank's financial outlook. The annual slaughter process will take into account many factors. One such factor is presence in the office. The bank and its peers had relaxed this rule during the pandemic. But now banks are getting strict with employees who don't show up for duty, the report said. Another company following in similar footsteps is Amazon, which previously required employees to be in the office 3 days a week and is now changing the requirements to 5 days a week from January 1, 2025.

I believe this is just the beginning and more companies will follow.

Game on!

The competitive spirit seems to run deep in my family. The group created on WhatsApp for tomorrow's event has made my phone shine brighter than Times Square tonight. This means new measures on our part.

The world's most perfect teenager HAS to be in bed in good time because the first tee time is 9:20 a.m. (GMT+2) tomorrow morning which means we have to leave home by 8 a.m. at the latest. Neither Junior nor the world's most perfect husband are particularly early risers, so it's my responsibility to make sure we leave on time.

Many of my relatives have played golf since childhood so I don't stand a chance against them, it still won't stop me from being extremely pissed off at myself when I most likely come second last in the competition.

I am one of the guilty

The major Norwegian bank DNB is flagging that the Swedish krona is overrated and will lose value against both the US dollar and the euro in the coming months. The Swedish krona strengthened after the US central bank, the Federal Reserve (FED), cut the policy rate by 50 points on Wednesday. After the sharp weakening of the krona in recent years, it is basically unchanged since the turn of the year against the euro and the US dollar. But anyone hoping for a clear strengthening of the krona in the coming year will be disappointed, according to DNB.

Within a 12-month period, DNB believes that the Swedish krona will weaken by a further 4% against the euro. According to the same bank, the US dollar will also become more expensive for the Swedes. The background to the weak Swedish krona exchange rate is, among other things, a continuous savings surplus in Sweden, which is used, among other things, for investments in securities denominated in euros and dollars. In the short term, the financial flows are absolutely decisive for the krona exchange rate, in contrast to the general opinion that it is the commercial flows according to DNB's chief economist Ulf Andersson.

DNB is not the only player predicting a gloomy future for the Swedish krona, Nordea also predicts a weakened krona exchange rate, although Nordea sees a glimmer of light in that Sweden is now entering a period of lower policy rates, which is usually better for the krona.

Our little family has all our savings on Wall Street, so we are very complicit in the possibly dreary future that awaits the Swedish krona.

Why Google, why?

Soon it will not be possible to use Google anymore. From being the world's most superior search engine, it has steadily deteriorated. For a while I was getting better hits using the same approach as when I was using Altavista ie keywords+keywords+keywords and so on. But, even that trick doesn't seem to work anymore.

For example, this morning I searched for plastic bowl and Google only showed me glass bowls. I get the feeling that Google is "rewarding" its advertisers without naming the search results as ads, regardless, it's incredibly annoying not to get the right hits.

If this continues, I hope someone else challenges Google and creates a search engine that IS a search engine, I'm even willing to pay for that service if I get rid of all the "suggestions" unrelated to my demand.

If it wasn't true, it would be funny, part 3

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 ongoing scandal with the Swedish Social Democrats' lottery, which hired a telemarketing company, deepens. This week it has emerged that Sweden's Social Democratic Party, in addition to hiring a telemarketing company based in Spain, has also handed over information about its members to the same company and asked them to specifically target older members.

These very details become even more engraved in view of the recently revealed information that gang criminals based in Spain specifically contacted the elderly with lies that they called from the IT departments of Swedish banks about "ongoing fraud" and cheated them of large sums of money. That the employees of the telemarketing company would have resold membership details to "colleagues" does not seem too unlikely.

This is the most disrespectful and disgusting thing a Swedish political party has ever done.

Nordea really takes its time

Due to Nordea's app and online banking being down for most of the week, we have had to reassess the acquisitions we intended to make during the week. Tonight we finally managed to log in and were able to make a couple of minor acquisitions. We bought a small number of shares in Golub Capital BDC, Inc. Ordinary shares (GBDC) in all our endowment insurances with Nordea.

Our holding in (GBDC) is extremely modest but we hope to strengthen it over the winter. In addition, Nordea has still not responded to our request from earlier this summer. The risk of an employer at Nordea becoming burnt out should be minimal.

I really scre*** up

Today I received a text from the world's most perfect teenager during school hours. Knowing that he would find out his test score from the math test he took on Monday, I was excited. Since this is the first year and first exam of the Diploma Programme, I do not have 100% control over how they grade the exams.

When the texts came from Junior it said quotes "45 out of 46" "one point from a 5th" "😔" unquotes. I, being a bit overexcited, perceived it as he had got 45 correct answers out of a possible 46, which was COMPLETELY wrong. But, before I got the text clarified, I had time to call both my parents and in-laws and brag about the offspring's amazing performance.

When Junior got home he explained that he had scored 45 points out of a total of 62 points which meant a grade of 4 out of 7 on the test. His improvement from year 10 when he was closer to a 3rd and is now 1 point from a 5th is good after all. But I made Junior promise me quote "don't tell your grandparents, you have to get a 7 on the next test instead" unquote.

Another impossible task.

The winter's coming

Last night we packed up our portable AC and carried it down to the basement storage and today we fired up our tile stove. Things change quickly when you live in Sweden.

Although we still have warm days, the evenings turn cold as soon as the sun goes down. According to the weather forecast, we should have really warm and sunny days for another week before the temperature drops. However, a crisp and sunny autumn day can be almost as pleasant as a hot and sunny summer day. The only downside to autumn is that winter is following close behind. I fear we are very likely to have a long, dark and cold winter.

I can't really complain as the summer of 2024 in Stockholm has been absolutely fantastic.

A free evening

The washing machine was finished before I went to bed yesterday. I got up at 4:30 a.m. (GMT+2) this morning and ironed everything in the dryer. Then I cleared everything that wasn't in its place and put it back so that the cleaning lady could clean without having to start clearing. Coming home after work when it's freshly cleaned and you can smell a faint scent of clean laundry is a magical feeling. Tonight I don't need to start either the washing machine or the dishwasher.

After me and the world's most perfect teenager go through his school work and compare it to the assignments on the school platform, I'm going to curl up on the couch with a bag of candy and just be lazy.

On Sunday is our unofficial family golf championship. Our little family will be playing against my parents, one of my sister's and her family as well as my mom's brother and his son and grandson. Our family's reputation rests on Junior's shoulders so I have to make sure he is both rested and in a good mood. An impossible task since he plays online with his friends on Saturday nights.

Busy bee

Today I have been efficient. I just started the washing machine for the 4th time today, ironed all the clothes from the previous times I washed today, unpacked the dishwasher, helped my boys carry our portable AC down to the basement storage, and worked a regular 9 hour work day.

In order for me to catch up with everything I have planned, the washing program must be finished before I go to bed. Otherwise, I won't have time to move the last clean laundry to the dryer, which means I won't be able to iron these clothes tomorrow morning before I go to work.

All because our cleaning lady is coming tomorrow.

Some have harder days at work than others

I wouldn't want to work in Nordea's IT department right now. Their "minor" maintenance of its app and online banking that was supposed to happen last weekend is still ongoing. On Monday night I was able to log into both the app and online banking, but I experienced that my balance was wrong. Since then, the app and the online bank have only worked sporadically, and yesterday it was not possible to log in all day. This means that I have not yet had the opportunity to confirm that all holdings have been restored to our endowment insurances at Nordea, let alone been able to make any acquisitions.

As a Nordea customer, you had to take it coolly during 2018 and 2019 because all too often all your holdings were completely erased. Then followed a few quiet years when everything worked and new functions were added. However, this year on two previous occasions it has been exactly the same as in 2018/19, I log in and my holding is completely erased. Instead of the holdings being specified, I'm met with a text line quote "you have no holdings" unquote.

I hope I'm wrong again

Yesterday's double policy rate cut by the Federal Reserve (FED) combined with the last two months' Swedish inflation rates puts a lot of pressure on the Swedish central bank AKA Riksbanken to follow in the FED's footsteps with a double interest rate cut next week. Unlike Riksbanken, the FED seems to have listened to "its market" about not pushing the economy all the way to the end.

Since the central banks' actions take time before they come into effect, the FED feels significantly more proactive than Riksbanken, which in my opinion is responsible for Sweden's decline being deeper compared to if Riksbanken had acted instead of reacting.

Personally, I don't think Riksbanken has big enough conjon** for a double cut next week, but I've been wrong before, most recently yesterday.

I was wrong

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve (FED), made a double reduction and lowered the policy rate by 50 basis points. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was divided in its decision on the policy cut, Michelle Bowman wanted to cut the policy rate by 25 basis points. According to The FOMC, two more cuts are expected later this year. The forecast for 2025 is a total of four reductions in the policy rate.

The FOMC writes in the statement that before future considerations about further adjustments in the target range for the FEB's funds rate (the policy rate) FOMC will carefully evaluate incoming data, how the outlook develops and the balance of risks. The FOMC emphasizes that they have become more convinced that inflation is moving steadily towards 2%, they also assess that the possibilities of reaching the employment and inflation targets are broadly balanced.

In the statement, the FOMC wrote quote "The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee is alert to risks to both sides of its dual mandate (price stability and maximum sustainable employment)" unquote. Stock markets rise after the announcement.

I and the left's perception of whose money it is differ markedly

Tomorrow, the government and its partner party, the Sweden Democrats, will present next year's budget. A lot of news has already leaked out, including some tax cuts. For example, the current government has chosen to strengthen the current earned income tax credit so that it will pay off a little more to work instead of receiving various benefits.

This change means reduced tax revenue, which is a big difference from what the left claims, namely that this earned income tax credit will cost the government money. According to the reasoning of the left, all income in Sweden must belong to the state in order for a reduced income tax to become a cost. This strengthening of the earned income tax credit means that we who work get to keep a little more of our own money.

I am happy to help people who have difficulty finding work with my tax payments, but there are groups of people in Sweden who have chosen to live on various benefits such as housing allowance, child allowance, multi-child allowance etcetera.

There are even people who choose to divorce on paper so that whoever has custody of the children can then receive alimony from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. In connection with this procedure, the Swedish social service often helps the other custodian with a one-room apartment that the family sublet illegally because they still live as a couple in real life.

An uncle of one of my friends did exactly this. My friend ended up contacting the Swedish social service as he couldn't stand his uncle receiving various benefits and even a one bedroom apartment at my friend's expense AKA tax money.

I wish they would grow a pair

Tomorrow, the Federal Reserve (FED) will announce whether they intend to cut the policy rate this time. The market expects a decrease of 25 points. As a non-US resident, it's harder to feel the currents in society without boots on the ground, so I agree with market expectations and assume the FED will cut the policy rate by 25 points.

On Thursday next week, Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken will publish its latest decision on the Swedish key interest rate. As a Swedish resident, this decision is much easier to predict. Even if it is a malptractice by Riksbanken NOT to make a double reduction, 50 points, I am convinced that Riksbanken and its head Erik Thedéen are far too spineless as usual to dare to take such a measure. However, it is set in stone that Riksbanken will make a 25 basis point cut next week, especially given the latest inflation report on 12 September.

Unfortunately, I think last month's and this month's upcoming drop will come too late to affect any of the notices currently in place. In my opinion, almost all notices will probably be executed and the biggest reason for that is that Riksbanken has reacted far too late again.

Here we go again

Nordea had planned a minor maintenance of its app and online bank this weekend. But obviously something went wrong, at first you couldn't log in to either the online bank or the app. If you managed to log into the online bank or the app, all the assets were gone, completely deleted. This is how it has looked since Saturday morning and until tonight Swedish time (GMT+2) when the assets were back both on the app and the online bank.

Tomorrow I have to check that we got all our holdings back by comparing our holdings at Nordea with both my Google Sheet and Seeking Alpha. However, our liquid funds on all endowment insurances are significantly lower than before "this minor maintenance" started. Either Nordea has charged us foreign withholding tax and not paid today's dividend or their rereading of our, and everyone else's, holdings is wrong. Fortunately, we had no intention of making any acquisitions today.

Although it's been a long time since we last experienced this issue with Nordea, we've been a customer of Nordea since 2018 and this was common in 2019 so it's annoying every time it happens. Experience is always underestimated.

I should reach my goal weight by spring 2025

I have always bought quality and not quantity, which is always cheaper in the long run. The disadvantage is that the acquisition price is always higher (high). For example, I would like a 5th ring to the 4 I already have, engagement ring, wedding band, push gift and 10 year wedding anniversary ring.

To complete with a 5th ring for our 20th wedding anniversary, which took place at the end of August, I need to lose 7-8lb (3-4kg) of weight. Since starting my dietary adjustment 10 weeks ago I've lost 4lb (2kg). The only reason for my dietary adjustment is that my vertigo specialist said it is a must to get rid of my vertigo.

Too much storage is never good

Today I sorted the world's best teenager's wardrobe. Since there are only 3 of us in our small family and the storage in the apartment is adapted to a family of 5, the storage is slightly oversized. The downside is that we don't have to get rid of any clothes when we buy new ones, because there is always room. Even in my husband's wardrobes.

Junior had to participate in the sorting and approve what should be removed and what should remain. When we were done, the offspring spontaneously exclaims quote "I have no clothes left" unquote. Several of the garments were in children's sizes and given that Junior is 6'2 (188cm), these clothes have been sitting there for a while. He has never used several of the shirts. The upside is that there were many garments for the flea market in 2 weeks.

If I get the vertigo sorted, all the little blemishes are gone

Tomorrow morning I will finally get my new dental crown. Having a temporary dental crown for almost 2 weeks has not been fun. My dentist's last words at the previous visit were quote "don't chew on the right side so the temporary crown break" unquote. I have been incredibly careful not to chew on the right side during these weeks. Even if it is not a worldly problem, it will be incredibly nice to be able to eat without having to think about how to chew.

If my vertigo hasn't improved by the end of October I will need to see my vertigo specialist as it is incredibly annoying to have constant vertigo.

If it wasn't true, it would be funny, part 2

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 social democratic party political lottery has once again been caught in the act. Just before the weekend, it was discovered that the Swedish Social Democratic Party has hired a call center based in Barcelona, ​​Spain, which calls elderly people in Sweden to sell a lottery subscription. The telemarketers follow a very aggressive script and must complete the sale even if it is clear that the pensioner did not understand what he or she was agreeing to.

During this weekend, it has also emerged that several workers at the call center are gang criminals and that one of the managers who led the operation is wanted to serve a prison sentence in Sweden. Another employee is wanted in Sweden because he appears in several investigations linked to shootings in a gang environment.

This was procured by a left party, had it instead been a right party, the Swedish media would have chased the responsible party leader to the end of the world, but since the sympathies of the Swedish media lean heavily to the left, they apply a known technique, see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.

It's a lot of work and quite tiring

When I was in grade 5, we read about superstition and how widespread it was in old Sweden. I wish school hadn't taught this because since then I've never walked under a ladder, spat 3 times over my shoulder if I saw a black cat cross the street, tapped myself on the shoulder 3 times if I accidentally stepped on a well cover with the letter A and so on. But most of all, I don't "jinx" things and ALWAYS have a plan B and even a plan C if something goes south.

This behavior is because I find it difficult to enjoy things because I'm afraid they will be taken away from me. I wish I could cut myself some 'slack' and enjoy myself more. I am well aware of my shortcomings and do everything I can not to transfer them to the world's most perfect teenager. My husband is indescribably amazing who has stood by my side for almost 30 years despite all my flaws. F***, I hope I didn't jinx it now...

Never look down on the education of a suburban soccer mom with 3 kids

Never underestimate a parent's level of education, usually the person has attended primary school at least 3 times, once by themselves and then together with their children. I myself have a Swedish primary school education which, like all schools in Sweden at the time, was run by the municipality in the traditional way with teachers and lecterns at the front of the classroom. In addition to my primary and secondary education, I also have 4 years at an independent school and then 5 years at an IB school together with my son.

Last year, when the world's most perfect teenager was in the preparatory year for the Diploma Programme, grade 10, was the first school year I couldn't help him with his homework. Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job. Instead of him actually showing me that he had done his homework, I took his word for it. I learned the hard way that sooner or later almost all teenagers begin to apply the law of least resistance and splice with the truth.

Starting this year, Junior has to show me exactly what he's done. If it's that Junior has matured a bit in the last few months or he's aware that he has to show his work, I feel like he's more willing to study now. Or it's a combination of the two.

Socialists are not known for being able to solve even the simplest math problems

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 Swedish Social Democrats, who are currently in opposition in Sweden, seem to have chosen shorter working hours as a ballot issue, in the upcoming government election in September 2026. How they will finance this reduction in working hours has not been presented. It should be borne in mind that it is the same party that raised the retirement age in 2020 in order to maintain pension levels.

Now the shortening of working hours has also reached Wall Street. JP Morgan now limits the maximum number of hours their employees can work per week to 80 hours. In addition to this restriction, their employees must also be able to be off from Friday evening at 18 p.m. to Saturday at 12 a.m. Also, they are guaranteed a free weekend every three months.

Despite my own working hours, I can also think that those who work on Wall Street work a lot, but Sweden appears as a sheltered workshop in comparison, which makes me prefer Wall Street every day of the week.

I hear him loud and clear, but that doesn't mean I do what he says

Our family has a very good relationship with one of our neighbors who adheres to traditions in general and Christmas traditions in particular, which means that you only decorate for Christmas on the first Advent and bring in and decorate the tree on the 23rd of December.

I told the world's most perfect husband that I'm going to start decorating for Christmas a little earlier than normal this year. He gently asked quote "how early?" unquote, to which I replied quote "right after Halloween" unquote. My husband who never disagrees when it comes to our home looked me deep in the eye and replied quote "you do NOT hang the Advent stars in the windows before Advent" unquote.

My inner child wants to hang the Advent stars right now…

O M G

Today I registered the world's most perfect teenager with the College Board to take a SAT test. The first and so far only time he took the test he was in grade 9 and we had no problem getting a place. Last year I was too late to register the offspring which meant that he did not get a spot. This year I thought I was early but apparently not, the first three test days were already fully booked so Junior got a spot in March next year.

It took me and the offspring close to 45 minutes to update his information from 2022, when we were finally done and had selected the date a popup window appeared informing us that we now had 20 minutes to complete the application including a photo, if we weren't done within the 20 minutes they would release Junior's spot.

Normally I work very well under stress but we encountered problems with the photo. Try getting a 17-year-old to approve a picture of himself for a test he's not jumping up and down with joy to take. Finally he was able to approve a photo by a margin of 2 minutes. Now I have to overcome the next hurdle, get him to study for the test...

I'm too old for this.

The interest rate increases have had their effect

The European Central Bank (ECB) today cut its policy rate by 25 basis points to 3.5%, which was in line with market expectations. The reduction is justified by the ECB as another step towards a reduced tightening of monetary policy.

The ECB chose to leave the forecast for inflation unchanged, but for the so-called core inflation the figures were raised slightly for this year and next year. A stronger upward price pressure than expected in the service sector is the reason, according to the ECB. ECB economists also cut the eurozone GDP forecast to 0.8% growth this year, down from 0.9%. The Swedish stock market and the exchange rate of the Swedish krona against the euro are basically unchanged after the announcement.

However, the most important interest rate announcement for the world economy will be the one that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve (FED), will deliver on September 18. There, too, a reduction of 25 points is expected.

However, a series of unexpectedly weak economic reports in the US have started speculation about a so-called double cut of 50 interest points. Friday's statement by Fed member Christopher Waller quote "Patience is no longer what is required after the latest round of statistics, what is required is action" unquote fueling speculation. The statement was made after a report showed significantly fewer new jobs than expected in the US in both July and August.

If this continues, Sweden will soon experience deflation

Today's report from The Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB) shows that inflation continues to fall in Sweden. The inflation rate, i.e. the change in the CPI from the same month in the previous year, was 1.9% in August 2024. That's down from July when it was 2.6%, which is more than expected. The monthly change from July to August was -0.6%, according to the CPI.

Transport prices, for example international air travel and car rental, also fell, which can be explained by the reduction in fuel prices. In addition to fuel prices, the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages and package tours have also fallen. The price reductions were countered, among other things, by higher clothing prices.

The rate of inflation according to CPIF, which, unlike the CPI, is not affected by changes in interest rates on household mortgages, was 1.2% in August. It is also down from July, when it was 1.7%. Most analysts believe that the Swedish central bank AKA Riksbanken will lower the policy rate at the next publication of the monetary policy decision including the policy rate on September 25.

Today's inflation report will most likely increase the criticism of the Swedish central bank and its head Erik Thedéen for not having lowered the policy rate earlier. It currently stands at 3.5%. Many analysts claim that the reason why inflation continues to be pushed down below both the market's and Riksbanken's expectations is because Riksbanken has been sitting on the fence. The only thing driving inflation right now is increased costs as a result of interest rate hikes, which is a warning sign. At the moment, public finances are on their knees with an economy that is not developing, high unemployment and companies hanging by a thread.

We have to pick up the pace

Yesterday when I picked up the world's most perfect teenager from his golf practice, Junior wanted to practice drive. It has been exactly 2 weeks since he last drove and it clearly showed. The pouring rain did not improve the conditions. Only practice driving every two weeks is far too little, he must drive at least once a week, preferably a couple of times.

Considering how quickly time goes by, there is only a moment left before he turns 18 and has to take his driving test. Junior and I decided to start practice driving every weekend and that no excuses from me or him would be accepted. The more he can drive before the snow comes, the better.

Always look at the whole picture

Besides the obvious problems that a weak domestic currency causes, there are several more. For example, the weak Swedish krona is responsible for many used cars being bought up and driven abroad for further sale. At first glance this can be seen as something positive, the country gets a vitamin injection in the form of exports, but in the long run it can cause more negativity than positivity.

In addition to reduced order intake in the aftermarket such as repairs and service, the car companies whose business line is used cars are also undermining their future by cutting off their own market. When the best used cars are sold abroad, there are fewer and worse cars left for the returning customers AKA the Swedish buyers. A medium-sized company in a small town in Sweden has noticed this and refrains as much as possible from export sales. How many will choose and follow suit remains to be seen.

The numbers are in

Inflation in America fell to 2.5 percent in August, as claimed by the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). According to Bloomberg's compilation, the outcome was completely in line with the average forecast and can be compared with 2.9 percent in July.

At an annual rate, core inflation landed as expected at 3.2 percent, which is unchanged compared to the previous month. In core inflation, food and energy prices are excluded.

Both Nasdaq and Dow Jones had risen by closing. Initially, the US dollar strengthened and then fell back to the opening rate.

It doesn't get any clearer

Once again, the unions are showing their true colors. A construction company based in a city in central Sweden, Sundsvall, has been sued by Byggnads, a union for Swedish construction workers, for $1,475,000.

According to Byggnads, the company has violated several points in the collective agreement that the company entered into with Byggnads. The background to this is that the company, whose employees, which are about 70, consist of 100% foreign nationals, have worked upwards of 15 hours per day and that the company has not paid allowances, overtime compensation and/or weekend pay to its employees. The company has, among other things, been hired by both Skanska and Northvolt AB.

Since none of the company's employees are members of Byggnads, none of the damages will go to any of the construction workers, instead the total amount will go to the union Byggnads. When Byggnad is asked if it is morally right that the damages goes to Byggnad and not the construction workers, Byggnad's representative Jim Sundelin replies quote "yes, it is a shame and there is more to work with both from our side and it is good if you can help each other and make sure that it is important to be a member of the union" unquote.

Rarely has it been so clearly demonstrated that the unions do not care in the least about the individual worker, but only want to seize as much of the money as possible.

No journalist holds the left to account

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 problem for Northvolt AB, the Swedish battery developer and manufacturer, specializing in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles, continues. Since it emerged that three workers died in their respective homes after their work shifts, one more person has died. In addition to these deaths, Northvolt AB has suffered a number of workplace accidents, such as gas leaks etc.

Two days ago, the company's CEO Peter Carlsson informed in a press release that the company is shutting down parts of its factory in Borlange due to quote "these are difficult but necessary decisions to improve the economy and strengthen the business" unquote.

The former Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson stood in a parliamentary debate in 2022 and boasted about the various green investments that the then government had given tax money to. Since 2019, 26 serious workplace accidents have been reported at Northvolt AB and the silence from Magdalena Andersson and her cooperation partner the Green Party has been deafening. It is as if Magdalena Andersson's speech in the Parliament in 2022 where she praised herself and the Green Party for their investments in Northvolt AB never happened.

Given the enormous problems the company has and has had, I highly doubt that the company will survive despite all the billions that the previous government pumped into the company.