OT – Bargain hunting in times of inflation
I assume I'm not the only one who tries to find "value plays" also outside of the stock market during the current days of inflation?
Much like I bought the laggards during the summer of '20, and waited to watch them shoot up during the autumn of same year, I now buy stuff that appear unusually cheap relative to other stuff in the current inflationary world.
It's wonderful fun!
My best picks currently:
* Low end energy drinks for 49 cents (I suck em down like Coca Colas (instead of coffee when working from home – too lazy to brew :D ¯\_(?)_/¯)
* Motorola e20 phone for 79 dollars* (Not even on sale!!! Works better than a a budget iPhone.)
* So called Chromebooks** – very cheap laptops running on Android**. 200-300 USD
* Chili nuts at 5 USD/kg, despite it being very high energy (and high energy nutrition has of course risen the most in price)
* Certain items of clothing, especially at dollar store/thrift store places
I guess I'm not the only one looking for such "arbitrages" and finding great pleasure in the hunt? :D
Btw, I think that one of the best ways to find a "good money manager" (if such a thing can be done – it's probably easier to just find the stocks yourself – if you're unable to find good stocks to purchase, you're probably unable to tell which manager can do the job for ya) is to ask em the following question in a "10 quick questions" sort of way:
1) describe how you hunt for bargains in the store while shopping for food and clothes
2) describe the most exorbitant things you have ever bought
If their eyes don't glow while talking about 1), and if 2) aren't really boring stuff, hardly even exorbitant, they're probably not good at buying stocks. You probably have to be pathologically frugal to do the job right. That's my feeling, anyway.
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*, **: The deflation of electronics/"home technology" truly has been staggering, especially when compared to the inflation of other stuff of late. Just yesterday, I was going to go the laundromat (which is shared by the entire block), I thought about bringing my Chromebook laptop and just carelessly leaving it there while going for a run (and didn't even think of hiding it!) – and the reason I didn't was that I didn't bother with starting up, logging in etc, not that I was afraid of theft :D It seemed almost laughable to steal it, as if it totally lacked "theft value". (A Mac, though, would've been a different thing entirely... But then again it costs 10x more...)
Electronics truly have become like consumer staples...! |
