I have managed stock portfolios for clients going on 48 years - I have never held bank stocks. Their balance sheets and income statements are all fantasy. Stupid business model and government control always uses the banks to meet their own end.

the problem is the $250,000 guarantee for depositors - essentially making the depositors free from considering the risk a bank represents to their investment. A better plan would be to provide coverage of say 75% of your deposits. Then - like bonds- Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s would rate banks ( the best they could) and investors would concern themselves with the lending policy and reserve investments of a bank before depositing money.

the depositors should still lose something for simply chasing the best CD rates. Even now the fdic should only protect these depositors a percentage of their balance.

additionally the banks need to increase their payment into the FDIC fund to build a reserve that is 100 times larger. The banks bribe the politicians to keep the % of deposit assets fdic fee requirements low to reduce their expenses leaving the taxpayers with the obligation to protect deposits.

The most risk oriented banks define the lending practices and reserve investment risk tolerance for the entire industry. If a prudent bank tries to only make low risk loans and hold reserves in short term treasuries they find they hemorrhage depositors and eventually mimic the risk tolerance of the most imprudent banks.

Catastrophic bank failures are destined to happen every ten years or so until this foolish 100% guarantee for depositors is eliminated. Now the govt is using up all the fdic reserve fund to protect 100% of the depositors in these first failed banks - illegally of course- as this is not the terms of the contract.

not counting that with govt - politicians- forcing banks to make some loans or allowing banks to make business loans based on the skin color of the borrower the banks are compromised to meet the goals of politicians.

banks become hedge funds with an investor guarantee of $250,000 and now it appears a 100% Gurantee against deposit loss.

Next the govt will give a small group of “bankers” the worst investment minds in the country, control of the interest rates which allow them to arbitrarily set the interest rate borrowers will pay to manipulate the economic activity in the country, Even increasing the unemployment rate at their whim.

Banks should not be able to borrow money from a federal bank- they should lend their deposits.

Bottom line - like any government controlled industry- eventually that business model will implode - and banks are destined to have unexpected failures until the govt gets out of the bank business.

 

I'm surprised that someone that has been managing portfolios for 48 years is totally unaware that rating agencies lke Moody's, Fitch, and S&P Global do in fact place credit ratings on Banks.

In fact, it was the threat of a Moody's downgrade that forced Silicon Valley Bank into selling off their $21 Billion dollar bond portfolio, largely made up of U.S. Treasuries.
Moody's slashed its credit rating on SVB's long-term local currency bank deposit to Caa2 from A1 and issuer ratings to C from Baa1.
Moody's also downgraded its credit rating on First Republic last Friday, citing "deterioration in the bank's financial profile."
FRC's debt rating was cut to B2 from Baa1. Fitch and S&P Global had downgraded FRC's debt earlier in the week.

Perhaps more importantly, rating agencies are usually behind the curve when it comes to predicting trouble.
So your suggestion is already highly problematic and not all that helpful in the real world.
They're ratings on financial institutions look pretty rosy until suddenly, they're not.
Reason being, they're not looking at duration risk.
Only credit risk.

SVB was a poster child for a Bank that was screaming of duration risk.
Their problems were the result of asset/liability mismatch.

 

Speaking of politicians, the Ted "Cancun" Cruz' of the world and Faux News will tell any gullible and uneducated person that will listen that SVB was a "woke" ESG bank that was part of Biden's Billion Dollar "Green Plan" giveaway. Anyone that knows anything about banking and SVB knows full well that couldnt be further from the truth given SVB's U.S. Treasury portfolio.
Again, SVB failed due to its duration risk, not credit risk.

 

Dont know where you've been all this time, but that small group of bankers has already been around since the Federal Reserve was created by Congress in 1913.

The 12 Federal Reserve Districts are reponsible for implementing monetary policy that impacts interest rates, economic growth, and the unemployment rate.
In fact, since the Federal Reserve Act of 1977, Congress has explicitly stated that the Fed's goals should be "maximum employment, stable prices, and
moderate long-term interest rates. - - - These goals have come to be known as the Fed's dual mandate.

 

Lets cut the chase with big economy talk. So should I buy a car now or what lol.

 

Depends on the car and how badly you want it. I bought five cars in the past year, but I didn’t buy a 992 GT3 …

 

With 200k budget, I would lean toward 997.2 gt3. Shouldve never sold my 997.2 rs. Dumb move on my part.

 

Most of us can tell stories about mistakes we've made with respect to buying (or not buying) and selling cars. Hard to predict what future cars and our future car desires will be. Being in my mid 50s and thinking that I might not have much interest in cars a decade from now (and having less interest in cars than I did a decade ago), I'm indulging in cars while I still have the interest.

 

Im into 2000s car. Cars I saw when I was in highschool and college. Enzo, FGT, CGT, 997 GT3 RS and etc. It literally peaked in 2009. When I heard M3 came with V8 and M5 with V10, I though next gen cars will all have v12s. Except it went down from there with turbos.

 

I'm 71 -- had quadruple bypass a year ago -- and time is more the problem I have decided than the money. Picking up my new Panamera hybrid executive tomorrow and also a new c8 Convertible-- both showed up on the same day even though ordered six months apart. I have a 911T coming in early May as well.
LAst year bought a GT4 and a GTS Boxster and a 911 Targa in 2021. I was prudent for around 50 years - put kids through college and all that kind of stuff.

Still working managing my business and I see my friends' taking vacations that cost them $30,000 for a 15-day cruise -- and hotels that cost $800 plus a day.

If you're a young guy with financial responsibilities for others - than I would save your money -- there will be time to play with cars as a reward for working hard and taking care of your family's needs.

It is a worn out saying--"I am spending my kids inheritance" but for old fellows like myself that is essentially what I am doing and even some of my own inheritance as well. Besides the stock market has lost me more money than I can lose on these cars -- and some might even appreciate.

What irks me the most about owning a garage of fun sports toy cars is the insurance -- paying for liability coverage over and over.

I have also never paid over msrp on any car -- Porsche or any other brand. And I pay cash for cars -- so if I sell them it is like getting a bunch of money back even though less than I paid out to buy the car.

My kids can have fun selling them all and if I don't sell them in my lifetime than I never lost any money on cars at all----

 

I personally wouldn't say 'save your money' full stop... I think it's important to be financially responsible, but equally important to reward yourself for the (presumably) hard work you do... there's a balance that is inherently different for everyone.

I'm less than half your age and on my second GT3. Able to spec myself at MSRP and paid cash. I've met some really good people through cars, some turning into lifelong friends where our kids play together regularly and vacation together. Learned a lot of new things, too. Passion for cars is one of my motivating factors in life to do more, better things in life and at work. I guess my point is, there are many indirect advantages to having a car passion / hobby early in life that outweigh the disadvantage of spending money.

OTOH... if I were to go out and buy a fleet of GT cars, lambos, and g-wagons, that would be a bit disastrous for me and my family financially... all about balance.

Edit
I'm with you on the insurance thing, I also hate paying taxes over and over again!

 

That's why I've been buying and holding on to cars which are NA, smaller, less digital, etc. But my tastes aren't as expensive as yours. My little E93 M3 convertible with a high-revving NA V8 and double-clutch transmission is a lot of fun and was only $40k with 27k miles on it and is in mint condition. I don't need to spend over $200k to have fun on the road.

 

Dont forget s2k. A little slow but a great car.

 

Just got a text from a store I work with in Cali. GT3 Touring allocation available, May build July Delivery. 75k over MSRP total cost. Buckets and PCCB are available.

(If this isn't the right thread to post this I apologize, I don't see a GT3 allocation thread, just a GT3RS allocation thread)

 

My dealer currently has a low inventory of used Porsche sports cars (no new ones). Their cars are selling relatively quickly, and the GM told me that they're having a hard time acquiring cars because the market is softening and people want unrealistically high prices to sell cars to the dealer.