Sweden's central bank will most likely disappoint

The Swedish inflation rate according to CPIF (Consumer Price Index with fixed interest rate) was 1.1% in September, which is a decrease from August when it was 1.2%. The information is in line with SBC's preliminary inflation figures that came a week ago. According to price statistician Filip Hellberg at the Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB), the reason why inflation fell in September is that fuel prices have fallen. It is also in line with the average forecast among analysts, according to Bloomberg's compilation.

The fact that CPIF was again lower than Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken's target of a CPIF inflation of 2.0% increases the pressure on Riksbanken to lower the policy rate by 50 basis points on November 7, 2024.

Central Bank Governor Erik Thedeén confirms that the quote "Inflation has come down and shows signs of stabilizing. Inflation forecasts has stood up quite well over the past six months." unquote. At the same time, Erik Thedeén repeats that right now there is a lot of focus on CPIF where energy prices are excluded as they move a lot and are assumed to be shaky going forward. Energy prices have fallen by almost 30% in the past year and CPIF are very sensitive to energy prices, continues Erik Thedeén.

Erik Thedeén also emphasizes that there is no mechanical formula for Riksbanken to use when deciding on changes in the policy rate, it is an overall assessment. The Governor of Riksbanken concludes by saying that the forecasts for the policy rate, the so-called interest rate path, are not a promise. Quote “There is still considerable uncertainty. Among other things, geopolitical developments can affect inflation and make further cuts unreasonable." unquote.

Personally, I think that Erik Thedeén and his colleagues have already decided that they will not lower the Swedish policy rate by 50 points and that the warning about a geopolitical development and the exchange rate of the krona is only a way of trying to excuse themselves.

It is not my or SVT's business to tell Americans what is best for them

The Swedish MSM is doing its utmost to portray Donald Trump as the evil one and Kamala Harris as the good one. As a resident and citizen of Sweden, I am far too poorly versed in American politics to have any opinion on who is the best America.

It's unbelievable how many Swedes who completely lack basic knowledge about the party leaders in the eight political parties that make up the Swedish parliament are all of a sudden experts on the 2 American candidates.

In a report on February 11, 2020 before the primary election in New Hampshire, the US correspondent from the state-owned Swedish television (SVT) Stefan Asberg said quote "Our friend Joe Biden" unquote.

SVT, which is 100% tax-financed, ambition is quote "to review and portray the issues that are important to you. SVT operates in the service of the public and is run independently in relation to political, commercial and other interests in society." unquote.

Two steps forward, one step back

Yesterday was payment day for our single largest holding, Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN), it is also one of our single largest payouts. Since we live in Sweden, there is a delay of anywhere from 1 to 10 days before we receive the dividend.

(MAIN) which together with Fidus Investment Corporation Common Stock (FDUS), Realty Income Corporation Common Stock (O) and Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX) make up just under 35% of the portfolio's total holdings.

Having 4 holdings make up so much of the portfolio value is risky but for every month that we reinvest our dividends and the world's most perfect husband invests his pension he gets from his private pension insurance reduces their influence on the portfolio. As long as we do not continue our acquisition in any of them.

The Swedish krona (SEK) has strengthened compared to the end of April/May 2024 when 1 US dollar cost SEK 11.02, which can be compared to today's exchange rate of 1 USD = 10.43 SEK. The exchange rate difference affects all holdings without exception. My Google sheet clearly shows the difference in actual money from month to month due to the exchange rate fluctuations.

The recent strengthening of the Swedish krona reduces the value of our portfolio calculated in SEK. The value today is lower than July 2024 when the portfolio reached ATH in SEK, despite the many acquisitions we have made since then.

Yesterday our portfolio reached ATH in USD.

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Group 1 - Q4, special dividend

The declared extra dividends in the first month of Q4 are meager. Only 2 of our holdings choose or have the opportunity to make an extra payment.

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. Common Stock (CGBD), ¢7 with payment date October 17, 2024

FS KKR Capital Corp. Ordinary share (FSK), ¢6 with payment date 2 October 2024

MSM needs to stop turning a blind eye

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 biggest difference between right and left politically is, apart from political values, that the left now always uses violence. Yesterday another pro-Palestinian demonstration was held in Sweden and once again a journalist was completely unprovoked attacked by demonstrators and had his nose bone cut off.

After the demonstration, the organizer, United Front for Palestine, chooses to make a post on Instagram where they deliberately lie about how the attack took place. It is not the first time that a journalist has been abused by organizers within the Pro-Palestine movement. Then as now, the assault is recorded on both pictures and videos by the police's surveillance cameras.

At the same time, I read that another person has been arrested in connection with a Trump rally in Coachella, California, on suspicion of intending to shoot Donald Trump. It is the third time that Donald Trump has been subjected to an assassination attempt.

Why is the left so violent and why isn't the MSM writing about this?

When you don't practice what you preach

I am completely enthralled by the Slow Horses TV series on Apple Tv+. When I read that the creator and show-runner of the drama-thriller is Will Smith, I was completely surprised that the American actor and rapper also created TV series. I told the world's most perfect husband and thought nothing more of it.

At dinner yesterday, my husband asked where I had read that Will Smith had created Slow Horses. I replied quote "in the credits of an episode" unquote. Then my husband burst out laughing and informed me that it is the British stand-up comedian, producer, screenwriter, novelist and actor Will Smith who created the TV series.

The person who is most happy with my lack is the world's most perfect teenager, since I am very careful that he not only source checks all material, but also finds out the agenda of the source, because everyone, including me, writes about what we think about what we see and not what we see.

I will be hearing this for a long time!!!

Teenagers are amazing creatures

That the world's most perfect teenager is about to become a young adult is becoming clear. From literally being able to go to school in his pajamas if we hadn't banned him to not wanting a cap so as not to mess up his hairstyle happened in a short amount of time.

Besides his hairstyle, perfume has become an important part of his life. This summer, Junior bought his first own perfume with his own money, a summer scent that he has used extensively since then. At the beginning of the week, when he and some friends were in central Stockholm, he bought a new perfume, a winter scent.

The latest perfume smells amazing in normal amounts, but the offspring completely drowns himself when he perfumes himself. We have taught him on several occasions to use a moderate amount of perfume, but for a teenager it takes more than a thousand occasions before he has assimilated the information. This week it has been a bit extra difficult with the right dosage as Junior has a cold and can't smell anything. At the same time, he wants to make sure he smells good.

I could literally track his way to school like a tracking dog…

The power ran out

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike the Woke movement and DEI. I would never want to get a position because I am a woman, I want to get the position because I am the most suitable candidate.

That Northvolt, a Swedish battery developer and manufacturer, stands on the precipice of ruin is not only due to DEI, although their ambition in February 2021 was according to Katarina Borstedt, recruitment manager, quote "To create an equal industrial workplace based on gender" unquote.

The total tunnel vision of the politicians as soon as the word green transition is uttered and a CEO whose main characteristic is to ask for tax money, not to build a battery factory, have also been strong contributing factors. Tomorrow, Northvolt must pay the tax debt of 26 million dollars or the company risks bankruptcy.

The company name Northvolt which I guess is a combination of North because of the company's flagship factory in located in northern Sweden and volt which in Swedish means voltage has been nicknamed Novolt, no voltage.

He seems to be right

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike the Woke movement and DEI. I would never want to get a position because I am a woman, I want to get the position because I am the most suitable candidate.

The American giant that, like many other companies, organizations, political parties, individuals, etcetera, has been seduced by the Woke movement, has once again hit big problems. The American giant is Boeing Company (The) Common Stock (BA) which has just announced the layoffs of 17,000 employees worldwide, representing 10% of its total workforce according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is in the midst of the machinist strike which has been going on since 13 September 2024, while (BA) warns that the ongoing strike will mean further heavy losses. According to reports, the strike is estimated to cost $1 billion each month. The company also issues a profit warning. A loss of $9.97 per share is expected in Q3 2024. Which is significantly worse than analysts' estimate, which had been for a loss of $1.19.

(BA)'s planned launch of the new 777X aircraft model, already several years behind schedule, will now be further delayed and development of the 767 freighter will be suspended.

Negotiations with the striking Boeing employees, who number about 33,000, broke down this week. The strike has caused the production of aircraft to largely cease. There is no doubt that the current global situation with ongoing inflation control measures, recession and general unrest in the world with many ongoing wars is affecting the company.

At the same time, I am convinced that management's past embrace of DEI has created huge problems within the company and may be its downfall.

Revolution devours its own children

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.

One of Swedens biggest union is the national organization (LO) which is a central organization that coordinates 14 different unions. According to its statutes, LO is a Social Democratic organization. From the beginning, LO's members' party affiliation was 100% Swedish Social Democrats or the Left Party (formerly the Left Party Communists).

During the last decade, however, party affiliation among LO's members has begun to shift. In 2014, 70% of the members' party sympathies belonged to the Swedish Social Democrats or its partner parties, the Green Party or the Left Party. Today, 10 years later, that figure has dropped to 40%.

This has raised the question of whether it is morally correct for LO to donate 543,000 dollars of its members' membership fees to the Social Democratic Party. This discussion has been held previously but never before by LO's chairman Johan Lindholm. Johan Lindholm took the initiative to question whether it is correct to donate money to the Social Democrats when its sympathies has dropped so sharply. Johan Lindholm continues the quote "It's time to look at it" unquote regarding the donation in question.

Personally, I think that LO hopes that it will be enough to keep the boat from not rocking for the next twelve months. After that, LO will have to walk the talk in order not to lose more of its members and thereby risk its own financial future. Money is the only language that is literally spoken by everyone.

The gap between outcome and original forecast only increases, as it should

As much as I love my charts, these two are starting to feel irrelevant. Despite my current disinterest in these charts, I will continue to save them as the actual updating happens automatically in my Google sheet. However, I will create another chart for the extra dividends to clarify how they change from month to month and from year to year. It will be another tool in our valuations of future acquisitions.

There is one type of payouts that I do not keep statistics on, the foreign tax refunds. They are reinvested in the same way as dividends. So far we haven't had to take a single penny out of our portfolios. For every dividend and tax refund that is reinvested, our holdings and future dividends increase, which hopefully means that within a couple of years we can stop working and live on our dividends.

If Covid-19 had not occurred, according to my early calculations, we would have already been able to live on our dividends. Investing money in the stock market is a big risk, of which Covid-19 is a clear example. Fortunately, we are "fairly" young and could "easily" change our mindset and realize that we will have to work for more years than we had anticipated, even though we have currently worked significantly more working hours than the Swedish senior citizen done throughout his professional life.

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I miss my grandma 💔

We have now passed the dividends of the pandemic years. Every time I look at this chart I am reminded of how empty the streets of Stockholm were in 2020 and 2021.

Since we didn't lose anyone near or dear to Covid-19, apart from my 96-year-old paternal grandmother who passed away with Covid-19, one of my saddest memories from those years is an occasion when me and the world's most perfect husband were walking through the largest indoor mall in central Stockholm and all the shops were closed and we were almost completely alone.

We will pass 2018, 2022 and 2023 at the end of December. There will be a bigger gap between 2023 and 2024 than there was between 2022 and 2023.

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A very narrow surplus, but a surplus nonetheless

It came very close to a tie between September 2023 and September 2024. My latest calculation from last month showed that it will be until January 2026 before group 1 surpasses its 2023 dividends.

But with the recent reductions in the Swedish policy rate and hopefully another upcoming reduction on November 7, 2024, we will be able to start saving money again instead of just paying mortgage interest. This change, however small, will shorten the time until group 1 surpasses 2023 dividends.

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The red numbers were expected

The development of our dividends continues according to plan, for better or worse. All groups perform completely according to my expectations. Even group 3, which underperforms, delivers according to my calculations.

Group 3 will underperform throughout 2024, mainly due to the large extra dividends we received during March 2024. It will only be in the comparison between December 2024 and March 2025 that the development will show black numbers instead of red. Provided that we do not sell off any holdings with payment dates in March, June, September or December in favor of any of the other months of the year.

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A sight for sore eyes

I was contacted yesterday by an employee at Nordnet who actually did what he promised. During the day today, I and probably the rest of the Swedes with holdings in Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC) at Nordnet finally our dividend per 9.30. With this, all dividends for September are paid and I was able to close the month.

It is pleasing that the forecast in the chart where I exclude extra dividends almost exactly matches the outcome. Minor deviations between the months will always exist due to the currency difference. Due to the recent strengthening of the Swedish krona against the US dollar, the actual exchange rate came very close to my fixed exchange rate that I set in my chart during September.

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In Junior's eyes, I'm almost weakly gifted

The world's most perfect teenager was home from school sick on Monday as he had a cold all weekend. Since this particular day was a half study day, I thought he could have another day of rest. However, when I got home from work, several teenage voices were heard from the kitchen.

Three of Junior's friends had stopped by on their way downtown to visit. When the offspring was told they were going to the mall to buy perfume, he wanted to come along. I objected to this because he had been home from school sick while the world's (for the moment not) most perfect husband was of the opposite opinion. The result was that Junior got to accompany his friends downtown to buy a perfume.

The next morning the offspring tried to stay at home another day because of the cold. I explained that if he was healthy enough to go shopping with his peers, he is healthy enough to go to school. I also preceded him by saying that if any teacher chooses to send him home because of the cold, no peers are welcome home until he is well enough to go to school without being sent home. No teacher mentioned his cold.

Junior forgets that I was also a teenager once who tried the same things with my parents.

Cybercab - Tesla's answer to driverless cars

This morning at 4:53 a.m. (GMT+2), the presentation of the upcoming launch of driverless taxis from Tesla, Inc. Common Stock (TSLA), called Cybercab, began.

According to Phil Lebeu, who covers the auto and aviation industry for CNBC Business News, writes that although people were drawn into the show around Elon Musk, concrete news and timelines are required for a robot taxi or a brand new, cheaper Tesla model. With the Cybercab, Musk hopes to have delivered both.

Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment is on the same track, saying in an interview with Yahoo Finance quotes “Over time, I think Tesla will be successful in these things. But that is not the question. The question is when. In Los Angeles, robot taxis are part of everyday life now. Google and Waymo are the leaders today and they partner with Uber. That's what Tesla has to compete with." unquote.

The plan for the Cybercab, according to Tesla, is for it to be available for purchase by private individuals before 2027 and will cost less than $30,000 in America. With Cybercab, Tesla will also take up the fight with Google's parent company Alphabet, which currently dominates the market with the Waymo service.

That Elon Musk has the ambition to want to shift (TSLA) to become a robot company has been known for a long time. Although it is a high-risk move, I am confident that Elon Musk will succeed. He is by far one of the world's absolute top entrepreneurs.

I hate these double standards

I still haven't heard anything from Nordnet regarding the lack of the latest dividend from Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC). If Nordnet has not gotten back to me by tomorrow morning, I will contact them again.

If I had a loan to Nordnet, they would never have accepted that I would delay paying 10 days or more after the scheduled payment date.

Now that it's the other way around, I'm expected to not rock the boat until they take the time to address the matter.

You can't be loved by everyone

Today, US inflation data was announced showing price increases of 2.4% year-on-year, slightly above market expectations of 2.3%. At the same time, it marks a significant decline from the June 2022 peak of 9.1%.

Like Swedish central bank governor Erik Thedeén, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell is also questioned. One of his critics is Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. Mr. Donovan criticizes Jerome Powell in an interview with EFN Ekonomikanalen which is a Swedish media company.

In the interview with EFN, Donovan points out that US CPI statistics contain many disturbances and deviations and Powell places undue importance on the CPI. In addition to his own criticism of Powell, Donovan also claims that several other members of the central bank's executive board disagree with Powell. In support of this claim, Donovan points to yesterday's Fed minutes which show that there is an unusually large public opposition to Jerome Powell.

The internal opposition to Powell depends, among other things, on how inflation is to be measured. Many economists at the Fed prefer the PCE deflator instead of the CPI. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE), also known as consumer spending, is a measure of the spending on goods and services by people of the United States.

The CPI includes only out-of-pocket spending made directly by consumers, while the PCE accounts for expenditures made on consumers' behalf. As a result, health insurance expenses made on behalf of employees by their employers or by Medicare and Medicaid are included in the PCE basket but not the CPI. Despite all the criticism, Donovan says quote "no matter how you measure inflation, it's going in the right direction" unquote.

Donovan continues his criticism of Powell quote “I'm not a big fan of Jerome Powell. I don't think he does a good job." unqoute. Donovan is also not happy with the central bank governor repeating his mantra that the Fed is guided by incoming macroeconomic signals. This means that every single macroeconomic data affects the Fed, even though such statistics are irregular and fluctuating in nature. US labor market statistics, which came in surprisingly strong on Friday, are a clear example of the fickle nature of data.

Paul Donovan pursues his criticism quote "The recent 50 point decline was probably a mistake", unquote. Donovan predicts the Fed will make 25-point rate cuts at upcoming meetings.

Bittersweet times await

Today we acquired a small number of shares of Enbridge Inc Common Stock (ENB), LTC Properties, Inc. Common Stock (LTC) and Pfizer, Inc. Common Stock (PFE). Hopefully, starting next year, we will be able to acquire shares with more than just dividends, as the policy rate will most likely be cut by another 25 basis points on November 7, 2024. Maybe even 50 points. The first month we can shift from only paying mortgage interest to instead paying mortgage interest and acquiring stocks will be amazing.

From February 2025, just as the world's most perfect husband has been doing since September 2022, I will be able to claim payments from one of my private old-age pension insurances. Just the thought that within a couple of months I have qualified to be able to receive pension payments is unpleasant and scary, I still feel bad that my husband receives a pension every month.

As uncomfortable as I am with activating the old-age pension insurance, I will do it anyway as no one cares about my money as much as I do.

People don't take the time to listen or read thoroughly

One of my strongest qualities in my profession is that I always return in each request and always within the specified time frame. Apart the feedback, my letters, emails and phone calls are always short and to the point. I do this to minimize misunderstandings and and to spare the recipient a lot of word salad.

I have noticed in recent years that the majority of recipients only read the first few lines of an email. This results in them writing back and asking for information that is in the original email just a sentence or two down from where they stopped reading. This is incredibly frustrating and time consuming.

The same thing happened yesterday when I called Nordnet. I started the conversation by introducing myself and then explained that we are missing the latest dividend for Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC) Dividend History as of September 30, 2024.

The young woman explained in a superior manner that I had indeed received the dividend as early as September 2, 2024. Having to explain to a bank employee that it is the dividend as of August 30, 2024 is extremely frustrating. Finally I managed to get the young woman to understand that we receive the dividend at the beginning of next month and she promised to look into why we have not received the dividend yet. Late in the afternoon I received a message from Nordnet that they are investigating why this dividend has not been credited to our accounts yet.

My life would be much easier if people read the entire email, listened to the entire question, etc. BEFORE forming a preconceived opinion.

More pedestrians mean more money

Downtown pedestrians is a measure of economic activity, however, measures of timely local economic activity are elusive. An example of this is downtown San Francisco, which has lost 32% of its foot traffic compared to pre-Covid-19.

The pandemic upset the old equilibrium between high and low, and downtown San Francisco is a radically different place today than it was just a few years ago. The basic reasons are financial. From the beginning of the 00s, the city center experienced a technological boom. Big companies like Yelp, Twitter, Uber and Airbnb moved in from the Silicon Valley, mainly because it's more fun to work downtown and nice to live in the beautiful log cabins on the hills above the Mission or at Haight-Ashbury. Which led to the rents skyrocketing.

When Covid-19 and America shut down, especially the crowded big cities, nothing was the same. San Francisco's tech workers began working remotely. Many moved from the city, some far away, but most to one of the leafy suburbs of Neid. The big companies canceled their contracts in the center, whereupon rents plummeted.

The restaurants and shops lost their clientele. H&M already left during the pandemic, Uniqlo, Gap, Macy's, Nordstroms soon after. Adidas and North Face closed their flagship stores in spring 2024. All that remained were mostly the addicts and vagrants who practically took over the street scene completely. The risk that the trend, combined with increased crime, will continue is high, although crime has decreased in the past year and politicians hope that the crime trend heralds a recovery for the city as a whole.

Sweden has similar problems to San Francisco with escalating crime and insecurity. To bring back pedestrians and increased economic activity, safety must first be restored.

It's time for the Swedish central bank to let go of the ice rink wall

Today, the Central Bureau of Statistics (SCB) reported for the first time a new indicator for inflation, called "fast CPI". From today, the indicator will be reported one week before the regular inflation report, which this time will be reported next Tuesday.

"Fast CPI" also includes the measure CPIF, where the figures are not affected by changes in interest rates for mortgages, and CPIF-XE, where energy prices are also excluded. "Fast CPI" is only an indicator of the main measures. The more detailed product measurements for food, for example, are not reported today because SCB believes that those figures would be too uncertain.

The preliminary inflation rate according to CPIF fell from 1.2%  in August to 1.1% in September. This means that Sweden is approaching deflation. Deflation is considered an even more harmful phenomenon than inflation. The general price and wage level falls at the same time as the value of money rises. In deflation, debts must be repaid with money that is worth more than when the loans were taken, and therefore deflation has often led to debt crises and more bankruptcies.

The Swedish central bank must start to ACT, and not as usual react.

Which word you use matters, part II

CNN is not the only media outlet to use the wrong word. Even the Swedish Mainstream Media (MSM) chooses to use certain less loaded words where they minimize the size of the news. When a 9-year-old girl was raped in the summer of 2022 and then strangled with her own shoelaces so she suffered permanent brain damage, she was first named as a woman under a picture in connection with the news by the state-owned Swedish Radio (SR) P4 Vasterbotten. In the headline further down, she was correctly listed as a girl.

Last Thursday, pro-Palestinian activists chose to throw tomatoes and onions at the Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, during a debate in the Parliament. The Swedish evening newspaper Expressen, which belongs to the MSM, chose the headline quote "Parliament debate interrupted – tomatoes thrown at the foreign minister" unquote.

Today the same paper has the following headline regarding thousands of marine organisms drifting towards the Thai coast quote "Tourist paradise under attack - same every year" unquote. When the Swedish foreign minister is literally attacked during a debate in Sweden's Parliament, it is written that the debate is interrupted at the same time as a natural phenomenon becomes an attack.

The quality of Swedish MSM journalists is in free fall. Or is the will to report factually and objectively much weaker than their bias? Words have meaning.

Tomorrow is just as likely to be fun as it is boring

Tomorrow I will hopefully be selling lots of the world's most perfect teenager's used toys and outgrown clothes. I tried to get some of the world's most perfect husband's shoes that he doesn't use anymore, but it would have been easier to sell snow to the Inuits in Greenland.

Me, my best friend and my mom have rented a parking space at a flea market AKA car boot sale. We did the same thing last spring with successful results and hope for similar results this time. Anything I don't manage to sell goes to the dump right after. I don't take a single thing or garment home with me.

The weather should be decent and Swedish wage earners received their last salary last week, so the conditions are good. Since we manage the sales from our own vehicle, we have borrowed a van from my dad. This time we are not making the same mistake as last time when we sold a lot before the flea market was open. This time we're going to unpack everything nicely and sort everything.

The only thing I don't like about this car boot sale is that most of the sales are through the Venmo app. I'm not fond of giving out my phone number to complete strangers. I hope to sell for than $250, anything else is a failure. According to my husband, we've already succeeded because we've gotten closets and other spaces cleaned and cleared out a lot of stuff and clothes we haven't used in a long time, except for his 15 pairs of old shoes.

My dad and technology are not a match made in heaven

Yesterday I upgraded my X account (formerly Twitter) to premium just to access Gork. The world's most perfect husband and I have realized that we need to learn AI before it's too late. The older you get, the harder it is to learn things. We recognize that the sooner we sit down and try to understand AI while it is still in its infancy, the better for us. My dad, who has had a hard time with technology all his life, also wants to learn AI, but since I don't understand or master AI myself, I turned my dad down for the first time ever.

My husband and I support and help him with both stock investments as well as IT support 24 hours a day, every day of the year. My dad's computer skills are so low that I have to use FaceTime to help him attach a file to an email. He never seems to learn since this has been going on for the last 20 years. The time before the smart phone came was easier because then I only needed to be available when he was sitting at his desktop computer in the office.

He and my mom just bought new cell phones, iPhone 16 Pro. I've been very clear that if they want to be able to get help from me when it comes to smart phones, they can't buy anything other than Apple because I'm completely ignorant when it comes to Android.

My mom's tech skills are a notch better than his so she helped him boot up the new phone and sign him into his Apple account. Unfortunately, her technical skills didn't take them any further than that. They had to make a trip to the bank to get the bank ID installed, to Tesla to access all the features of the app, to us to activate all the bank cards in the wallet and to log into their accounts on Seeking Alpha and finally to create a home screen with widgets where they can see the exchange rate between SEK and USD.

When Dad wanted to start the car, he had to use the Tesla card because the app didn't work. He was very angry when he called me and complained that the card was not working. I asked a little cautiously if he had the right card, whereupon the phone went completely silent.

He had taken his black Revolut card by mistake instead of the black Tesla card.

Close but no cigar!

Even though it's four days into October, we're still waiting for our OFS Credit Company, Inc. Common Stock (OCCI) and Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC) September dividends. The two dividends correspond to approximately 2.6% of the month's total dividends.

The lack of these dividends prevents me from closing September. The forecast indicates that September will perform worse than both March and June, which means that September will only be the third best month of the year at best, possibly the fourth depending on how big or small the extra dividends in December will be.

One of our holdings, Golub Capital BDC, Inc. Common Stock (GBDC), has already announced that it will make a special dividend of ¢5 on December 13, 2024.

I want to be one of the cool kids

It has been more than 20 years since we last bought new appetizer plates and dinner plates. We have been using these plates extensively ever since. When you use something several times a day, you don't notice exactly when it happens, but all of a sudden you have to use the scrub brush to remove the smallest food residue.

Finally we gave up and bought new appetizer plates and dinner plates and to my astonishment the new plates only needed a simple rinse before I could put them in the dishwasher. The amount of grown-up points you are awarded when you take pleasure in new dinner plates is plentiful.

Apart from the humiliation of being awarded of grown-up points, it is sad to discover that you have become so old that you appreciate new plates. My 20-year-old self hates my current self. It is with great anxiety that I await the next pathetic thing I will appreciate.

They may have bitten off more than they can chew

The problems with gang crime in Sweden have deepened in recent years and even if the current government tries to take measures and changes, it will take many years before the trend can be reversed. There are explosions at entrance gates, shootings and murders on a daily basis. The Swedish legal system must fundamentally change as it is not created for murderers who are only 12-13 years old.

The day before yesterday the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden was fired upon and there was an explosion next to the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. In both attacks, it was Swedish citizens who carried out the attack.

Yesterday, the Swedish security police reported that the missions were carried out by one of the Swedish criminal gangs on behalf of Iran. I assume that for the gang in question it was a business transaction, a service rendered for payment. For the other two involved, Iran and Israel, this is far from a business transaction. I'm guessing that the gang in question, who have operated without real consequences, may get a rude awakening as the Swedish police may be the least of their problems.

I am willing to be penniless because of his school exams

In addition to getting everything right on his latest physics test, the world's most perfect teenager also did incredibly well on his chemistry test.

He got 39 correct out of 50, which resulted in a 7, which is the highest grade on a test in the Diploma programme. In the past week we have paid Junior $200 for his school test results.

The contract we drew up last school year and which is still valid where we wrote it down the terms of what we would pay for the various results at school was due to several factors. Junior wanted to earn his own money and I wanted him to understand that education pays. To make him understand this, both myself and the world's most perfect husband realized that the offspring must be compensated here and now. That the education will pay off in the future in the form of a well-paid job is completely uninteresting to a 16-year-old who lives in the present.

Although it is very costly for us from time to time, this is among the best things we have done in terms of his schoolwork motivation. I am incredibly grateful for his results so far this school year and hopefully that continues, but if I know the offspring correctly, these 2 tests were more the exception than the rule.

As a mother of a boy, you take what you get. 😉

My parents are not like other parents

A full-time job in Sweden means that you work 40 hours per week. Provided there is no collective agreement, one may not work more than 50 hours of overtime during a month and a total of no more than 200 hours during a year according to the Working Hours Act. There are exceptions, either by agreement with the union or by obtaining a dispensation from the Work Environment Agency.

My 78-year-old business-owning dad, a full-blown workaholic, works 6 days a week and never less than 55 hours a week. Which is significantly less than during his prime. My 76 year old mom started working again after being retired for 3 years but got tired of being home alone waiting for dad to come home from work works 5 days a week. Her working hours per week amount to just under 35 hours per week. In addition to her work, my mom takes care of cleaning and cooking in their home.

Thankfully, unlike many other elderly people, my parents do not see their own age. For example, my mom and I were at an evening event last Thursday organized by Dior skin care. Mom loved the products so much she bought $1,749 worth of skin care. Another example, yesterday my dad was in a store and bought the latest Airpods. The shop assistant treated my dad like the elderly person he actually is and took the time to explain properly. He couldn't possibly know that my dad just wants to pay and go because he was on his way to a construction meeting at a big construction site and was short on time.

Not wanting to be rude to the shop assistant, my dad kept his cool but called me on the way to the meeting to blow off some steam and said quote "just because I'm a bit older they think I'm some ***** senior citizen who have all the time in the world" unquote. My dad also gets annoyed when, which is very rare, he takes public transport and they charge for a senior ticket. He says he wants to pay full price.

Both of my parents, who are still very active in the stock market, have the same risk taking as me and my husband. If they had been given a "free" choice, they would have chosen to take as much risk as the world's most perfect teenager who just turned 17. But then both my husband and I said no. If we are going to help them with investments, it will be at most the same risk-taking as us.

Nor are there many 76- and 78-year-olds who choose to buy an electric car after having had fossil-fuel cars all their lives and familiarize themselves with all the new things that an electric car entails. As a child of my parents, I'm incredibly grateful that my parents aren't like many other seniors who don't treat themselves to things because "they don't have much time left".

Finally someone tells it like it is

For full transparency, I am politically very far from the Swedish Social Democrats and socialism.

I am not a great admirer of the founder, major owner, former social democratic political expert at the Ministry of Social Affairs and CEO Ilija Batljan at the listed Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden (SBB). The main reason for my dislike for him is that, as a Swedish social democrat, he has lined his own pockets with Swedish taxpayers' money. That socialists never live as they teach makes them hypocrites of enormous proportions.

(SBB) has been able to acquire state and municipal properties at a favorable price and then sign lease agreements with the state and municipality to lease these properties back with the help of, among others, the Left Party.

Despite my dislike for Social Democrat Ilija Batljan, I have to give him credit for a recent interview he did. To a question about equality, he answered that equality means that everyone has the same pre-conditions to succeed. This does not mean that the outcome will be the same. It was among the best things I heard someone say in Sweden where the outcome should always be the same regardless of what work or what sacrifices a person is willing to make.

Sweden - the country marinated in socialism

Buying stocks is a type of shopping

Yesterday we acquired a number of shares in Blackstone Secured Lending Fund Common Shares of Beneficial Interest (BXSL). At the time of our acquisition, the share price was $29.32, only to drop a few hours later to $29.17, although the stock recovered, (BXSL) closed lower compared to the opening price. The stock traded at a high of $29.435 compared to the day's low of $29.17. This was one of our bigger acquisitions in recent years as we had saved most of the dividends we received in September combined with the world's most perfect husband's pension payment for the same month.

After Sweden's central bank AKA Riksbanken's recent reduction in the Swedish policy rate, we will be able to save some money for the first time in 2 years instead of just paying mortgage interest. Admittedly not more than $39 but it is significantly more than $0.

Expectations that Riksbanken will make a double reduction at the next publication of the monetary policy decision including the policy rate on November 7, 2025 are higher compared to a single reduction. If it appears in the next publication by SCB The (Swedish) Central Bureau of Statistics on October 15, 2025 that Riksbanken's target of an inflation of 2% is again missed, the pressure from the Swedish market will increase further on a double reduction.

I ❤️ my husband

Today is the 1st of October and it is exactly 30 years since it became me and the world's most perfect husband. ❤️ It is also exactly 26 years since my godson was born. The odds of my godson being born on our anniversary and the world's most perfect teenager being born on our wedding day must be slim.

My godson's younger brother actually has another godmother but her interest is pretty much non-existent so I have adopted him as well. Choosing godparents is not always so easy, someone who is close and important in one's life may have completely disappeared from one's life after 20-30 years.

How my own parents thought, I absolutely cannot wrap my head around. My godfather is my dad, my mom is the godmother of my younger sister, and it is only our youngest sister who got an outside godparent, our uncle. Me and my younger sister will lose both parent and godparent at the same time.

I can't quite fathom how quickly the last 30 years have gone by, it almost feels like yesterday that night 30 years ago. I can still recall the butterflies in my stomach as I waited for the then young man, who would later become my husband, to come to my home for dinner. We had been to the movies a number of times before but this was the first time he was coming to my home and I was so nervous.

It took a couple of hours before it was me who had to take the first step. My husband told me several months later that he had decided, out of respect for me and my cousin who is also a close friend of his, that he would let me make the first move.

30 years later, my love for him has deepened, but I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see him, especially if he's been gone like this weekend. At the same time, there is no one else who knows me as well as he does, which is not always a good thing.😉

This is our first 30 years and my husband has promised me at least another 60 years.❤️