Actually, I prefer cash to cards

The absolute most common means of payment in Sweden is a debit or credit card.

There are even shops that do not accept cash as payment. Which I personally think is completely absurd because it is stated in the Riksbanken's Act that banknotes and coins issued by Riksbanken are legal tender.

When the most perfect teenager in the world was about 4 years old, I would pay with money in the grocery store on one occasion. YMD grabbed my jacket sleeve and said quote "it's better if you pay with the card so you don't have to pay mom" unquote.

When we got home, I tried to visually explain to him "that we put our money in a box at the bank and when we pay something with our card, the bank takes money from our box and moves it to the bank's box".

It becomes much clearer how much you shop for when you pay with cash instead of card.

We pay for the majority of all our purchases with our AMEX card. Every evening I take all the receipts and pay for the day's purchases on our card. There are 2 reasons for this. First, I don't want to get a huge bill at the end of the month. Two, I get an idea of how much money we're spending.

Nobody who says they want to pay extra tax means it

I am so heartily tired of hypocritical people who live in Sweden and pay one of the world's highest tax burdens according to Wikipedia, who say or post on various platforms that they want to pay even more in taxes. It is entirely possible to pay a voluntary tax in Sweden and it is not even particularly difficult.

According to Swedish law, the Swedish Tax Agency, Sweden's equivalent to the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS), may not charge an individual an extra tax, not even if the individual himself wants it. However, there is a loophole that was described in a Swedish newspaper, SVD, back in 2015.

The only thing anyone who wants to pay extra tax needs to do is pay the extra tax in cash. You put the money in an unmarked envelope and put the envelope in one of the Tax Agency's special declaration boxes.

The money cannot then be booked against a specific individual and will end up in a balance account for seven years before being added to the state's coffers. It is extremely rare that someone pays additional tax in unmarked envelopes, but it has happened. Internally at the Swedish Tax Agency, the anonymous donations are called "conscience money", which indicates that it is NOT the people who want to signal goodness who make these donations.

Personally, I want to pay less tax, mainly because the enormous amount of tax money Swedish taxpayers pay every year enables the enormous waste and irresponsible way politicians treat the Swedish tax money. For example, the Swedish Left Party donated Swedish tax money in 2023 with the help of the Swedish aid agency SIDA to the Palestinian organization DFLP which participated in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Something that even the state-owned Swedish television (SVT) had to report on despite their high number of employees of both environmental and left-wing activists.

AI generated image with Grok

They have their own currency

Teaching children to manage money in Sweden is not easy. The main reason for this is the lack of cash in our society. It is becoming more and more unusual for shops to accept cash as a means of payment.

There are adults who find it difficult to control their expenses when shopping with bank cards. Compare that to being a kid with no personal finance experience whatsoever.

They receive a bank card with a certain amount of money which should be enough for a certain period of time, such as a weekly or monthly allowance.

I have come in contact with several parents of teenagers whose children have Robux, which is Roblox's in-game currency, as a reference when they are going to buy something.

For example, a friend's son was interested in a pair of Adidas shoes before realizing they cost 3,200 Robux.

I was a child in an easier time when money was the primary means of payment. The money I had access to was in my wallet where I could easily and clearly see exactly what I had available.

It is just window dressing

The 12-page document that SEB referred to as customer awareness, which PostNord misplaced, dealt exclusively with money laundering.

They wanted to know how often I intend to withdraw or deposit cash into my account and if I send or receive money from abroad. My business with SEB is exclusively about receiving my monthly salary and paying my bills. All incoming money comes from Swedish companies and all outgoing money goes to Swedish companies.

SEB know this, they also know that incoming and outgoing amounts rarely exceed $6000 per month.

The fact that I then have to answer a 12-page document regarding money laundering feels ridiculously considering that SEB themselves admitted that they were involved in the "Russian laundromat" in Estonia between the years 2007-2016 where they had 57 suspected Russian customers.

SEB have admitted handling more than $830,000 but a legal leak from the US points to amounts up to $6.6 billion over a ten-year period.

Money as a tool

The fact that I see our dividend as a tool and not money has probably to do with my professional role.

As a CFO, much of one's life revolves around numbers. Even if the numbers are actually money, they rarely become more than just numbers, which in turn become a tool in my professional role.

After all the policy rate increases from Riksbanken, you now get interest on your bank account. This also applies to the account all Swedes have with Skatteverket, which is Sweden's equivalent to the IRS. As the icing on the cake, interest income on the account with Skatteverket is tax-free.

As an example, yesterday my dad called and asked why his tax payment was several tens of thousands of dollars higher this month than before. I informed him that not all of it was a tax payment but that most of the amount was just a cash transfer.

For me, it was obvious that the tool (the money) were in the workplace (the account) where it is most useful.

It was so obvious that I didn't even think to inform my father. For him it was the opposite, it was money.

Income interest for the first time in many years

Most investors always seem to have around 10% of the portfolio's value in cash for potential acquisitions, a so-called war fund. Our experience is that unexpected financially good purchase opportunities arise so rarely that it is better that the money is put to work as soon as possible. An example of such a rare and exceptional financially "good" purchase opportunity is if one country invades another which creates an unforeseen demand in the war industry.

Apart from the last 2 years, Sweden has had a negative policy rate, which means that the savings rate was 0%. Then having 10% of our savings in cash didn't feel like an option for us. The result of this is that we have no investment in the war industry. I don't judge anyone who does that, if we had a larger sum of money uninvested we would certainly have done the same thing.

However, we have the money for unexpected expenses in a regular savings account that will generate a very small interest income at the end of the year for the first time in many years. 

Walking on eggshells

An increasingly strong Swedish krona and falling share prices led us today to consider that there was a buy position in the following company in which we invested part of our company's cash.

Capital Southwest Corporation Common Stock (CSWC)

LTC Properties, Inc. Common Stock (LTC)

NNN REIT, Inc. Common Stock (NNN)

Simon Property Group, Inc. Common Stock (SPG)

Despite these acquisitions, we still have a significant portion of the purchase sum in cash. The fact that we don't live in the market we invest our money in has its problems, the main one being that we aren't there and can feel the atmosphere in the society. We believe America may be heading into a recession, which makes us extra cautious with this money.

Whether this caution will pay off or cost us money remains to be seen.

AI generated image with Grok

We didn't think that thru

As I written before, young master Dewlar needs to save 50% of ALL dough, bucks, cash he receives. This rule has been at play for some years now.

Due to that the amounts hasn't been gigant we decided that he didn't need more than one account. So we have mixed the money he has saved with the money we give him every month, of which he is completely unaware. Up to now he hasn't shown any interest of how much money he actually has.

On the way to school today he asked me, out of the blue, quote "How much money has I saved?" unquote. I stuttered something and started talking about the weather. Knowing the offspring I need to have an amount tonight.

I will tell him a lie, start an additional account and move the amount I have told him. That my friends is good parenting!

Money, money, money

As I anticipated I got my payments yesterday.

However I might have to use the cash for something else. I'll write about it as soon I can.

Situations like this is why I love my money factory. Instead of being forced to sell off some holdings I just take the share-out instead.

The emerged situation is a double-edged sword. On one hand it benefits us in our own business, on the other I really want to hit this window of opportunity of catching these stocks with raising yields.

"The crime" without punishment

One of Sweden's largest occupational pension companies, Alecta, is once again in trouble. The latest was in 2022 when it emerged that they had invested large sums of pension money in SVB Financial Group Stamaktie (SIVB). Now it has been discovered that Alecta apparently did not learn but continued with its bad investments even the following year, i.e. 2023, with the Swedish pension money.

The battery storage company Polarium was predicted to have a bright future with sky-high profit growth when Harald Mix sold billions in shares to Alecta in autumn 2022, with an investment basis that JP Morgan was very positive about. The outcome was instead large losses, a collapse in valuations and finally a cash crisis. According to its own statement, the company would make the world more sustainable with its smart modular energy storage solutions, built on lithium-ion technology.

Those who enable the looting of public funds such as tax money, pension money or the like are either extremely naive or they get their share of the pie. I am thankful that me and the world's most perfect husband understood in our twenties that we will not receive a nickel from the tax payments we make during our working lives.

Money factory

There was many reasons for us to start investing in dividend stocks.

The main one was that it seemed nice to be able to take the dividend if you needed cash and no being forced to sell off some stocks.

A good consequence of this plan became that we invested for example the money for our vacation instead of just having it at a saving account. It made that the money could work instead. When it was time to pay off the vacation I just took out some dividend I had gotten.

That's why I call it a money factory.

It's like giving birth...

...moving money to Nordea.

You will never know for sure when you will have your money ready for action. Like a childbirth, you never know when the job is done. It can be done under 6 hours, or over 48 hours. However, your happiness is just as huge both times. Also, once you begin there is no way of stopping it.

It's like taking a pregnancy test when you log on the bank to see if there is any cash ready to make the journey to Nordea.

Once again I have been waiting for money transfered for another bank. Once again I have missed a window of opportunity.

Building a War Chest – A Difficult Transition for Us

We continue to add to our position in VICI Properties Inc. (VICI).

Because we currently lack a proper war chest, we could only buy a relatively small amount this time.

As lifelong dividend investors, we have almost always been fully invested. Our philosophy has been simple: money should work all the time. Cash sitting idle has felt like a waste. But we are now realizing that this approach needs to change.

Going forward, we want to build and maintain a cash reserve that roughly matches the size of our growth stock allocation. This would give us dry powder to act when real opportunities appear – instead of being forced to buy smaller positions or, worse, sit on the sidelines.

From experience, I know this mental shift will be surprisingly difficult for us. We’ve been wired for decades to stay fully invested. Sitting on cash feels unnatural, almost irresponsible.

Still, discipline demands it. We’ll see how it goes.

AI-generated image with Grok

I am disappointed with our local currency

Apart from the cash we exchanged earlier this spring, we charge everything on our AMEX card.

Since I loathe debts, I pay every night the transactions that happened during the day on the AMEX card. The only time I deviate from this is when I'm on vacation. This time, I knew we would have to use the dividends to pay the bill.

Because of this, I never reinvested the dividends. To avoid investing them "by mistake" I made a withdrawal and paid a part of the outstanding amount on the card. This really hurt me. This is the first time I've ever taken out money that wasn't holiday money to begin with.

It doesn't end there. It is so expensive to be in the US so the dividends for next month will also be needed. It feels like there is a fire in my money factory.

I can NOT handle cash

As I have waited for the dollar rate to fall.

Now when it finally has given away a bit I have used some of cash for shopping. Not all but quite big a chunk. I can't  handle cash. I really need to have the money locked up.

I plan to invest the rest at beginning of next week. I wrote earlier that I was thinking of MITT but I am not so sure now.

I will tell you as soon as I make my mind up.

It is never too late to mend

The Swedes' and the tax authority's opinions differ. A new survey shows that Swedes' attitude to cash has changed.

20 years ago, cash constituted 10.7% of all the money circulating in Sweden's economy, to be contrasted with today's approximate 1.5%.

Despite this, 80% of Swedes want to keep cash as a valid means of payment compared to 66% just three years ago.

I guess that it is all the recent cyber attacks against banks, authorities and others that have changed the Swede's attitude.

I did it!

Being determined pay off. I made a purchase at our new bank.

Actually I made two purchases, NRZ and OXLC.

To be honest it took another call to the bank. Thank God for 24/7 support.

I really need to keep a close eye on my holdings since they are spread out in four different banks.

To handle this I have gathered all the holdings in a Google Sheet. I just love to see the dividend grow with each buy. It's funny how numbers on a screen can give you joy. It's not the money itselfs but look of numbers multiplicate.

For me, cash in the wallet is more "funds" than numbers at a spreadsheet. It is so easlier to pay with a card than money.

Time brings everything to those who wait, I have to hope

It is so frustrating not to have a money chest when it is really needed. Actually, I would have had some extra cash through the refund of my foreign tax from 2018 but it is delayed. This, in combination with a meager dividend, provides a very modest money chest. This at a time when, in our opinion, many securities are worth buying.

Making money 24/7

Despite the many dividends we have received in the past few days, we are still waiting for 12 more dividends. In total, we are still waiting for about 30% of June's estimated dividends. Of these 12, Ares Capital Corporation Common Stock (ARCC) and Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. Common Stock (TSLX) are by far the largest, making up about 68% of the remaining 30%.

Since we have closed our business for the summer now, it is grateful to still get money in the form of a dividend. As a CFO, you always want a cash flow. Due to the complexity of the plumbing industry, we cannot hire temporary staff when regular staff are on holiday. The potential risk of water damage is too great to take that change, it is impossible to find competent personnel for a summer temporary position.

All good things come to he who waits

October is one of the 4 best month of the year when is comes to dividend.

Sad to say that most of my stocks have their payment days at the end of the month.

This puts my patience to the test. I'm restless sometimes. I want to be ready if an opportunity occurs.

It sucks when you discover a possibility and you miss it by a day or two just because you didn't have cash. It has happended a few times.

Although I KNOW when the cash comes I can't help myself to logon just to make sure.

I haven't decided yet if I will keep leveling out the remaining stocks at the old bank or transfer the money to the new bank and start making new purchases.