Why is it always a woman?

A female editorial writer named mrs. Jonna Sima Bank at one of Sweden's largest newspapers, Aftonbladet, writes in a tweet at X about a speech by Ebba Busch at the CES technology fair in Las Vegas the day before yesterday. Ms.Ebba Busch is the party leader of the Christian Democrats in Sweden and was rightly praised for her speech.

Mrs. Jonna Sima Bank, and the newspaper Aftonbladet have written several editorials about Ebba Busch in recent years, almost bordering on an obsession with her. In the tweet, mrs. Jonna Sima Bank wrote quote "And speaking of speeches – yes, I also think Ebba Busch did well in Las Vegas! But the message itself was a bit off. It is hardly curiosity and hard work that built Swedish prosperity. Welfare, redistribution policies, free education have played a greater role..." unquote.

To claim in all seriousness that welfare, redistribution policies and free, I assume she means tax-funded, education has played a greater role than hard work and curiosity is a clear lack of insight and understanding. Without hard work and the creation of successful businesses that generate both corporate and income taxes, you cannot offer your citizens welfare and tax-funded education.

Or does mrs. Jonna Sima Bank believe that tax revenue is created by redistributing money that doesn't exist...

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Once a day I'm tremendously jealous of him

For the past week I have been drinking a large cup of Rooibos tea in the evening. The last two nights I have slept through the night until 6:45 a.m., which is very unusual for me since I entered menopause. Whether it's because of the tea, that I've recently been sick, or that I'm perhaps on the other side of menopause, I'll leave open. Regardless, I'm grateful for any night I don't wake up before 4 a.m.

The world's most perfect husband has absolutely no problems with sleep, quite the opposite. He could literally sleep 12-14 hours a day.

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Money I'm supposed to receive always takes longer than the other way around

One of the EU's largest banks, the French BNP Paribas, whose official name is Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas, handles many of the dividend transactions from American companies to Swedish owners, among others. We will receive some of these dividends tomorrow, but most dividends will be delayed a couple of days because we live in Sweden.

The fact that, in 2025, it is still faster for a card transaction on my American Express card in, for example, America or Thailand than receiving a dividend payment feels a bit outdated. I am well aware that it is obviously about cash management.

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Is there no limit to how sluggish a teenager can be?

The world's perhaps not the most perfect teenager failed his math test today. The highest grade you can get on the test is a seven and the lowest is a one.

Because I've been sick for the last ten days, I haven't had the energy to make sure he studies properly for the exam, plus I made the terrible mistake of thinking he would not have an exam on the third day of school after winter break.

When I got home after work I asked how the exam went, I got the following response quote "I either got a two or a four" unquotes. I really thought he understood how important school is, but apparently NOT! I love him, but not everything he does or doesn't do.

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I'm so tired of rude people

It is very clear that January is the poorest month of the year. To top it all off, one of our newest customer groups, Generation Millennials, lacks both upbringing and respect. They don't even try to be the least bit polite.

Not all, but quite a lot of them come into the store and open with quote "You're more expensive than the online stores but they don't know anything. Help me order the right products online, you are just standing here anyway." unquote. It's at times like these that my patience is truly tested and I have to gather all the strength I have and politely but firmly ask them to leave the store.

Just today, we asked a Generation Millennial to leave the store. Their look when they understand that we are serious is just as priceless every time. Actually, it's not their fault, but their parents' who didn't teach them how to behave.

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A first small purchase

One of our companies, which is currently a dormant limited company, has some excess liquidity that we have placed on the New York stock exchange. The development of these investments has been very good so far.

Today we made an initial minor acquisition in Sound Point Meridian Capital, Inc. 8.00% Series A Preferred Shares Due 2029 (SPMA) for some of the accumulated dividends we have received. We have additional capital tied up in the above-mentioned company that may be released within the next 30 days. Should this happen, we will likely invest them on the New York Stock Exchange.

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We train him on everything except balancing a budget

If everything goes as the world's most perfect teenager wants, he will move to Canada for university studies after the summer of 2026.

While we trying to teach him that saving money is a is a matter of course, we also want Junior to have the best childhood possible without unnecessary worries. Therefore, we have given him a Mastercard via Revolut which is linked to my account at Revolut. I get a notis from Revolut as soon as he makes a purchase, making it very easy for me to make sure he always has at least $150 on this Mastercard, whether he spends $1 or $149 per purchase.

Although we have not set any limits on his purchases, Junior has never abused this debit card and uses it almost exclusively to eat school lunch outside of school once or twice a week. This behavior, mainly on my part, means he has never had to learn how to balance a budget.

If he chooses to move from Stockholm when he starts his university studies, I will set up a budget with him starting in January 2026 that he must learn to follow so that he is ready for a possible move.

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Coincidences create new routines

Since I have been and still am partly sick, I haven't really had the energy to get involved in the world's most perfect teenager's schoolwork with the hope that not much will happen in the second week of the last semester of grade 11. But apparently he has his first exam of the semester tomorrow, in math. According to the offspring, he has studied a bit on his own, but probably far from the hours I would have required if I had been "fit for fight". To top it all off, the exam tomorrow is about trigonometry at a level I've never studied.

I had to deviate from our regular routines for his exam and had Junior explain each part to me instead. I barely understood anything but managed with the motto "fake it until you make it" throughout his entire presentation. All I can hope for now is that he has understood everything correctly and that the exam goes well for him tomorrow.

Regardless of the outcome, I will implement this routine in Junior's preparations for all upcoming exams as I have noticed that he appreciated having to explain everything to me.

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I'm afraid that tomorrow many people will be here singing from a completely different songbook

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. I deeply dislike socialism, communism and wokeism.

First of all, I feel for everyone who has lost a loved one, a friend, their home or their belongings in the terrible fires raging in California, USA. I hope that everyone who is entitled to compensation actually receives compensation.

Unfortunately, I am convinced that at least a couple of insurance companies will not survive this, which means that there are policyholders who will not receive any compensation. Regardless, large amounts of value will be lost because insurance companies always write down the value.

I wonder how understanding the residents of Los Angeles will be when they realize that they will personally lose large amounts of value due to the lack of dams, fire hydrants, etc. These have not been a priority issue in favor of DEI, which has resulted in many fires not being stopped or contained. My personal experience is that people are willing to signal goodness until it affects them themselves.

I believe we will soon see demands for the resignation of both the governor, mayor and fire chief.

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Don't put things off

There are two things I regret putting off until the future, I was convinced I would have all the time in the world to do them. Both dreams disappeared within a 26-month period. My then world's most perfect fiance and I had decided that we would fly Concorde to New York on our honeymoon and visit the New York Stock Exchange.

First up was the opportunity to visit the New York Stock Exchange, which was closed to the public after the September 11 terrorist attacks. 26 months later, Air France and British Airways were forced to stop using the Concorde aircraft. The last flight on a Concorde plane was on October 24, 2003, and we got married on August 28, 2004. We traveled to New York on our honeymoon, but on a Boeing 747.

The positive thing is that I've gotten a little better at not putting things off.

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The weak Swedish krona makes acquisitions a little more complicated now

Last Friday, we purchased a few shares of EPR Properties Common Stock (EPR) in one of our joint portfolios. This minimal block is a control position that helps us keep track of the company.

When the stock market closed on Friday evening, our total holdings had lost 1.6% in value compared to the opening in USD. But because the Swedish krona lost value against the US dollar, our "real" value, i.e. calculated in SEK, was almost unchanged. What we lost on the swings we got back in the roundabouts.

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I am still sick

Yesterday my cold peaked and I ended up bedridden instead of working. After 2 aspirin, 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water, a large cup of tea, dinner and 9 hours of sleep, I woke up today feeling much better. As I sat at my desk after taking care of the kitchen from my husband's cooking yesterday, I promised myself to go to the couch and stay there for the rest of the day so as not to "activate" the cold again. Ideally, I would like to get out and walk in the fantastic winter weather, but I'm not going to do that today.

I'm also on my 12th day without sweets. Because my sugar cravings are strong, I have chosen to gradually reduce my sugar intake. Instead of eating sweets five days a week, I eat cookies on Saturdays and Sundays. The goal is to reduce cookies to only apply on Saturdays and to stop completely by the end of February 2025.

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When the agenda trumps facts

Eight days ago, the Teachers' Union and SKR, which is a membership and employer organization for all municipalities and regions in the country, received help from TT, Sweden's national news agency since 1921, to get Sweden's largest newsrooms to spread fake news. The news from TT that assertive parents are now bringing their lawyer to their children's development discussions is completely in line with the "right" values ​​that guide the editorial staff.

Among other editorial offices that took note of the news is the state-owned Swedish Radio (SR) flagship program Studio One, which had a twelve-minute feature on the news. In the segment, a serious Monica Saarinen, host of the Studio One program, says in the announcement quote "That some parents also bring a lawyer is a new and growing phenomenon that is being noticed by Sweden's teachers" unquote. The guests in the program are a lawyer who has never personally assisted any parent but who believes it is important that parents receive help, and a local chairman of the Swedish Teachers' Association who is upset.

Other major editorial offices, TV4, Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet, also chose to report on the alleged problem without fact-checking the information. According to the newspaper Expressen, only one writer, Moa Berglof from Sydsvenskan's liberal editorial team, tried to get answers from SKR and Sweden's teachers. Established media is digging its own grave!

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Europe needs a new direction

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. I deeply dislike socialism, communism and wokeism.

As a Swedish citizen and Stockholm resident, I should be dissatisfied with former President Trump who says that Europe must bear its own costs regarding, among other things, NATO, but I agree with him.

There is nothing easier than spending other people's money, but it doesn't last long.

As a European, it hurts me to see how Europe is completely dismantled in front of me. For example, both Sweden and Germany had fully functioning, predictable, clean, stable and cheap energy that has greatly contributed to both countries being hugely leading industrial nations. Demolishing fully functioning nuclear power plants in favor of wind turbines that are not planable or reliable due to emotionally driven politics is a baroque way to go. Europe has spent far too much tax money on emotionally driven policies such as DEI and similar projects.

I believe it should be the right skills in the right place, not the right gender, skin color or "values". All other strategies are to diminish all the competent people who have actually fought their way to their position. I would never accept a position that had my gender as my main merit and not my skills.

Letting Europe bear its own costs could force Europe to forgo projects like DEI etc. in favor of, among other things, defense. European politics must stop being driven by emotions and return to being driven by facts.

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Baby steps

The world's most perfect teenager is still reading aloud from the singer's autobiography to me. We've read almost exactly a third of it now. I've never heard anyone completely butcher the Swedish language like Junior does. Sometimes I don't understand anything he reads.

It took me about 80 pages before I could identify what he was doing wrong. Because English is his first language, he puts the emphasis in the wrong place when reading Swedish words he has never heard before. We have a long way to go but Junior WILL be fluent in Swedish.

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I don't have time to be sick

After logging into the bank and my husband refreshing the page several times and no values ​​having changed, he stood there with his jaw dropped. It took him far too long to realize that the US stock market might be closed. A quick search in a search engine and we shelved all plans for possible acquisitions or sales. We had completely missed that it is a holiday in America today, National Day of Mourning, due to the passing of former President Jimmy Carter.

My flu has turned into a cold, meaning I've been sick for a whole week now. Luckily, neither the world's most perfect teenager nor the world's most perfect husband has gotten sick yet. I can't imagine a worse fate than being sick myself and having two men affected by a "man cold" at the same time.

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Uneven distribution

As of December 31, 2024, Main Street Capital Corporation Common Stock (MAIN) is by far our largest single holding. Given that we have no intention of making any further acquisitions of (MAIN), I am confident that (MAIN)'s 13.7% share of the portfolio's total value will have declined by the end of next year.

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Stop wasting other people's money

For transparency and my own agenda, I strongly dislike our previous government, the Social Democrats with the support of the Green Party and the tacit acceptance of the Left Party, who ruled Sweden for 8 years. At the last election, I voted for the current government. It was the previous government that went to bed with Northvolt and invested enormous amounts of tax dollars.

Yesterday, an extraordinary owners' meeting was held to discuss Northvolt's acute liquidity crisis and the company's enormous losses. Northvolt's communications manager Matti Kataja writes in an email to the state-owned Swedish Television (SVT) quote "Northvolt is satisfied with the result of today's extraordinary general meeting, where the shareholders voted for the continuation of Northvolt's operations" unquote.

AMF's equity manager Anders Oscarsson, who has invested $16,000,000 of Swedish pension savers' money, attended the owners' meeting and states that he is positive about the future. Anders Oscarsson continues quote "The lenders have to make some concessions, but that's what this whole process is doing right now" unquote.

Most people who have not invested money in Northvolt have the ability to realize that the company will never make a profit. To make the factory in Skelleftea a success and profitable, the factory must be freed from two major problems, all debts and Northvolt's management whose main talent is finding investors, not building battery factories.

For Europe to get its own battery factory, Northvolt needs to go bankrupt and the only way that will happen is for pension companies and similar companies to stop wasting other people's money.

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Inflation continues to fall in Sweden

Sweden's central bank AKA the Riksbank continues to miss its 2% inflation target. According to Statictis of Sweden's latest preliminary CPIF figures, inflation for December 2024 fell to 1.5% compared to 1.8% for November 2024 and was not in line with both the Riksbank and market expectations. I maintain my previous view that the Riksbank must find new approaches in addition to the interest rate weapon to keep inflation on track.

The fact that inflation was lower than estimated is mainly due to energy prices falling sharply after the estimate was made, reports EFN. However, CPIF-XE landed at 2.1% and given that there are no signs that the recession has bottomed out and is about to turn around, suspicions of a further reduction in the Swedish policy rate are reinforced at the next monetary policy announcement on January 29, 2025.

The question of where the neutral interest rate, the one that has neither a cooling nor a warming effect on the economy, will be located remains to be seen. The fact that the effects of a interest cut come with a certain delay makes it more difficult, of course. All we can hope for is that the Riksbank does not hold on too tightly to its prestige and pushes Sweden into deflation instead.

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Next year, I hope...

It's almost unbelievable that it's been seven years since I first charted our dividends. I can still very easily remember how incredibly burdensome it was to see both holdings and dividend levels halved during the pandemic years. It will be satisfying to pass 2019 and be able to leave Covid-19 behind me.

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I am NOT happy with this chart

In 2024, January, April, July and October performed worse than 2023. The reason for this is that we sold some holdings in the last quarter of 2022 in favor of others and the month for payout was changed.

Even though the other eight months outperformed, which is an okay result, the competitive person in me wants ALL months to ALWAYS be better than the previous year. The forecast for 2025 suggests that all twelve months will outperform 2024 but July and October will still underperform compared to 2023.

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This chart makes me happy

The chart where I exclude extra and/or supplemental dividends is my most important chart. This chart confirms the value in the chart in the previous post which is named "Forecast with adjustments - 2024" and is automatically adjusted for any acquisitions or sales we make during the year.

One variable that affects the outcome to be slightly higher than forecast as the year progresses is due to the Swedish krona losing value against the US dollar during the latter half of 2024. Another variable that affects the outcome is increases or decreases in dividends during the year. I do not adjust for any dividend changes greater or less than ¢1 on an ongoing basis, but since we have acquisitions in more than 110 companies, deviations cannot be avoided.

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The year 2024 is closed 💥💥

Today we finally received the last dividend of 2024, namely BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Common Shares (TCPC) in our endowment insurances at Nordnet, which means I was able to close the year. 2024 performed significantly better than I expected at the beginning of the year.

The final outcome for the previous year gives great confidence that the current year will be very good, especially when you consider that we will hopefully be able to save money every month throughout the year. My charts below make it clear how well the outcome is improving despite the fact that the only acquisitions made are made with actual dividends.

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Why can't it just work?

We are still missing the dividends as of December 31, 2024 regarding BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Common Shares (TCPC) in our endowment insurances at Nordnet AB. Even before we receive these, albeit small, dividends, it has been established that December is our best dividend month for all of 2024.

Needing the dividends worth a modest $79 before I can close both December and all of 2024 is incredibly frustrating. Hopefully I'll see a notification on my phone tomorrow when I wake up, otherwise I'll have to contact Nordnet.

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I was like a bull in a china shop

When I enter work mode, I lose both space and time. Apart from having to manually enter each individual dividend into the correct cell and delete by hand them at the end of the year, my Google Sheet is fully automatic and calculates everything via connections between the different pages in my spreadsheet and Google Finance. Even if I could, I would never give Google Sheet access to our endowment insurances.

After being in my own world for almost two hours, deleting all the 2024 dividends and making some minor adjustments, I got a feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. And then it hit me, I had forgotten to make a copy and had made all the changes in the spreadsheet for 2024 and not 2025, meaning all the information about 2024 was completely gone. When I discovered the error it was 11:10 p.m. and the world's most perfect husband called it a night.

Which was good, because when I calmed down the next day, I realized that I should have been able to restore the document to before I made all the changes. Luckily, it was extremely easy to restore the document to the "correct" version and the only thing I lost was two hours of work.

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The movements are too steep

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. I deeply dislike socialism, communism and wokeism.

There is an invisible pendulum that swings back and forth and if you are lucky you are in the "zero position" of the pendulum when you are in the hot spot. For example, I went to primary school in a municipal Swedish school during the 1980s when the pendulum was in the "zero position". During this decade, the Swedish school system was absolutely top-notch.

We had competent, qualified teachers who led the school classes with discipline and authority without hitting the children like the teachers did when my parents were in school. All parents received a letter from the Swedish National Agency for Education with instructions on which school and what time their child was expected to be present. The best part was that it was even difficult to find a bad or neglected school, whether in the big cities or in the countryside at that time.

In 1992, the independent school reform was introduced and the Swedish school system was fundamentally changed, and the pendulum began to swing. Today, it is up to each individual parent to ensure that their offspring ends up in the absolute best school. If you have a parent who doesn't care, you are guaranteed to end up in some of the neglected municipal schools.

The difference between a good school and a bad school is like night and day, even if it's only a 15-minute walk between them. Furthermore, discipline has long been gone and there are no longer any demands placed on the students. The pendulum has swung far too far to the left.

Since Mr. Elon Musk bought X, it feels like the pendulum has started to swing back and common sense is prioritized over having the "right" values. The process accelerated with the outcome of the US presidential election last fall.

I myself am incredibly grateful and really hope that everything related to woke is erased forever. However, I fear that the pendulum will swing far too far the other way, just as it did during the woke era. Imagine if we could limit the pendulum movements so we could avoid the absolute worst madness.

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It is very easy to be wise in hindsight

The world's most perfect teenager has been reading aloud to me from the memoirs of a Norwegian/Swedish actor/singer throughout the winter break to expand his vocabulary with Swedish words. All on behalf of his current Swedish teacher who discovered this during the fall semester.

In my naivety, I thought Junior's Swedish was better than it actually is, I'm almost shocked at how poorly he understands Swedish words. He can neither read nor understand many words. It feels like I've been taken back twelve years to when I started teaching him to read.

We have always read books together, Junior and I, but always in English as we have always been told that since he has two 100% ethnic Swedish parents, he must prioritize English. I thought he would get the Swedish language "for free", but that wasn't the case. In retrospect, I realize that we should have read every other book in Swedish.

At first he read from a book his teacher had chosen, but if it became too difficult we were allowed to change. She said quote "The most important thing is that he reads, secondarily what he reads" unquote. After struggling with the origin book for ten pages, we had to switch to the autobiography he is now reading.

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Fun causes time to vanish

The flu is finally starting to loosen its grip on me. The fever is down and the sore throat is almost completely gone. The only thing that really remains is the pain in the joints. The positive thing about being sick is that I have actually been "off work" for these three days. Apart from these sick days, I have worked every day, weekdays and holidays, between Christmas and the Epiphany weekend even though we were supposed to be off.

My guys are sad for me that I'm sick but at the same time happy for themselves because they got some free time from their wife/mom who always wants to do something together as a family. Tomorrow is our "last day off," but we have to go to the store to compile all the products in advance because the plumbers are coming at 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, I have to take the time to answer all the questions the accounting assistant has about this year's audit. I really have to muster all my available patience to answer all the irrelevant questions, after thirty years I still haven't met a single accounting assistant who asks relevant questions. I hate playing this game.

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Morse code

The world's most perfect husband and I are incredibly in sync in most things, except for one thing.

When I was growing up, electricity was expensive, so my dad always made us turn off the lights when we left a room. This has resulted in me walking around our apartment and turning off all the lights while my husband is the exact opposite. His dad also nagged him to turn off all the lights during his upbringing, but in his case it has resulted in him wanting our entire apartment to be flooded with light.

So when he leaves a room without turning off the lights, I go in and turn them off. And vice versa. From the outside, it must look like we're sending Morse code all evenings.

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Let's hope the failed rally isn't an omen

The Santa Claus Rally failed this year. Despite the failed rally, I believe the US stock market will perform well in 2025, perhaps mainly at the expense of Europe. Regardless, our portfolio managed to finish at ATM in both SEK and USD.

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He may be a mutt, but he's our mutt ❤️

Since the world's most perfect teenager only has 3 semesters left in high school, more and more people are starting to ask him if he plans to continue his studies at university or college. Exactly every single person Junior has talked to about studying to be a chemical engineer has said that it is a great education with excellent job opportunities. But in the same breath, the same people have also said that it is one of the absolute most difficult courses you can choose. I really hope he has the will and strength to pursue his dream.

We must have raised him well because he doesn't always agree with us and doesn't hesitate to stand firm. Initially I wanted him to study economics, but I am very grateful that he chose to disagree with us and decided his own path. Just like when you breed a new breed of dog to get special characteristics, it may be the same with people. If you mix an economist with a plumber, you might get a chemical engineer.

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Can't come fast enough

There are still three smaller dividends remaining for 2024 before the year is completely over. This time it is Nordnet that has not paid the dividend for

BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Common Stock (TCPC)

Capital Southwest Corporation Common Stock (CSWC)

New Mountain Finance Corporation Common Stock (NMFC)

Even though these dividends combined are less than 1.5% of the total dividends for the month, my OCD prevents me from closing the month. The knowledge of having intentionally ended a year with incorrect information would haunt me forever.

Hopefully Nordnet will get the ball rolling and pay out these dividends right after Epiphany. 2024 became our second best dividend year ever and if all goes according to plan, 2025 will surpass 2019 and thus be our best year ever!

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Going backwards in time

Fifteen years ago, when I worked at my dad's large construction company, we had a job applicant who refused to shake hands with me, who was the CFO, and my younger sister, who was HR, when we greeted each other. He explained himself by saying it was for religious reasons. My sister and I entertained his wish and reconnected with the person in question after a couple of days and said that unfortunately we had no vacant position to offer him.

Recently Stockholm's public transport denied a Muslim man a job interview because he refuses to shake hands with women for religious reasons. The man in question applied for a position as a security guard in Stockholm's public transport and was first called for an interview. Before the interview, he informed the employer that, due to his Muslim faith, he does not greet strange women by shaking their hands. The recruiter then canceled the interview. Now the company is being criticized by the discrimination commissioner, who says it was wrong not to let him come for an interview, reports the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

I cannot understand how a secular country like Sweden allows women to become "second-class citizens" in this way.

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Sad news 💔

Late the night before yesterday, my mom called me, which NEVER happens. Unfortunately, my uncle, my dad's youngest brother, had passed away. Even though my uncle has been frail his whole life, including having his first stroke more than 20 years ago, it feels unreal. My dad is the only one still alive from his "original family".

My granddad passed away thirty-four years ago, while my grandmom and my dad's oldest brother passed away at the end of 2020, just a month apart. Both of my dad's brothers turned almost exactly the same age.

Just an hour before my mom's phone call, I had come down with the flu, so unfortunately I couldn't go to my uncle's nursing home yesterday and say farewell since I didn't want to risk infecting the other residents. My mom, who is the youngest of her siblings of three, has both of her siblings still alive, a sister and a brother.

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We have created a food monster

2024 was the year when the world's most perfect teenager's taste buds became more adult than mine.

For a short period in middle school, my then-school teacher forced me to stay in the school cafeteria until everything on my plate was eaten, which never happened. Instead, it always ended with me throwing up. When my mom found out about this, she wrote a certificate to the school exempting me from school lunch. Instead, I was allowed to go home and eat. Since then, I can't force myself to eat something I don't like.

I've hidden this as much as possible so Junior doesn't pick up on my behavior. Last year it finally paid off, he now eats a very diverse diet. Last year he developed a taste for both lobster and salmon roe, if this continues he will have a very expensive taste.

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I hope for hidden treasures

With any luck, we will get the last dividends for 2024 today.

We are still waiting for dividends from

Ares Capital Corporation Common Stock (ARCC)

BlackRock TCP Capital Corp. Common Stock (TCPC)

Capital Southwest Corporation Common Stock (CSWC)

Gladstone Investment Corporation Business Development Company (GAIN)

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

LTC Properties, Inc. Common Stock (LTC)

New Mountain Finance Corporation Common Stock (NMFC)

NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc. Common Stock (NXRT)

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corporation Common Stock (OCSL)

OFS Credit Company, Inc. Common Stock (OCCI)

Oxford Lane Capital Corp. Common Stock (OXLC)

Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG.PRJ)

Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX)

Tonight, the world's most perfect husband and I are going to compare every entry in my Google Sheet to every holding in all of our endowment insurance policies because my husband sometimes makes small acquisitions without informing me, which means there may be hidden assets in our actual holdings compared to my Google Sheets.

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Are they completely tone deaf to all criticism?

Several hours after a criminal blew up a Tesla Cybertruck with the intention of causing damage, Expressen a Swedish newspaper still has a misleading headline quote "here the car explodes outside the luxury hotel" unquote. There is nothing in the text that confirms what NBC News broadcasted more than 5 hours ago where Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas police announced that the Tesla Cybertruck instead saved lives by containing the explosion.

Clearly, the agenda for Legacy Media has become more important than protecting its own brand. If this dishonest media reporting continues, the number of visitors to their platforms will continue to decline, which will reduce the number of customers and ultimately lead to bankruptcy. It remains to be seen whether the owners will find it worth the price.

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Always this double standard

If Argentina's current president, Javier Milei, who took office in December 2023 promising to cut public spending to bring down prices and close a large deficit, had been a leftist, Legacy Media would have praised him every day for his impressive work on Argentina's inflation. Argentina has struggled to bring down what has been the highest inflation rate in the world, peaking at nearly 300% per year.

Although President Javier Milei can boast of having stabilized Argentina's economy, it is always mentioned that this achievement has come at a high price for large sections of society. Even a recognition from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he has achieved macroeconomic stability in a short time does not give President Milei favorable media coverage. The IMF also predicts that, unless something dramatic happens, Argentina's economy could grow by 5% next year.

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He makes me proud to be Swedish

Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis and gymnast Simone Biles were voted by 518 journalists from 111 countries and regions to be the 2024 AIPS Athletes of the Year, the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) announced yesterday. As a Swede, I am incredibly grateful that Armand Duplantis chose to compete for Sweden.

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My dad, the workaholic

I've been nagging my dad for the last 15 days that he needs to invoice everything related to 2024 before December 31st so the interim booking will be as small as possible. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, he finally managed to compile some of the unbilled assignments he has. While I was working on my dad's accounting yesterday, one of the restaurants that hires us called about plumbing problems. One of their customers had destroyed the toilet seat in their only accessible toilet.

Even though our store has been closed since December 21, 2024, I have been working every day, Christmas Day as New Year's Day. We don't open until January 7th but I can already hear customers saying "what a time off work you've had" even though in reality we've been working every single day.

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