Zweig must be referring to clients of Dave Ramsey, Theocratic Financial Conman, who tells his listeners to just "pick good growth stock funds returning 12% annually." Of course,listeners can't research these funds themselves- no they have to go to a local ELP(Endorsed Local Provider), for their financial adviser, who DR is only too eager to recommend !

If you are interested, I would encourage you to read Harley Bassman's "Convexity Maven" blog. Even if you do not agree with his concerns about inflation, he is wicked smart and worth listening to. He also has a model portfolio in December with some very interesting ideas, and has been referenced frequently in Barrons, for example.
He designed PFIX as "fire insurance" against the damage the rising interest rates can do to financial commitments that are interest rate sensitive, ie Intermediate and Long Term Bonds, or an adjustable rate mortgage for example.
https://www.convexitymaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/convexity-maven-fire-insurance.pdf
He sees this a a $50,000 insurance premium against a $1,000,000 portfolio of intermediate bonds, that will pay off if interest rates shot up. If you believe inflation is truly "transitory" then you do not need this insurance. Some of us remember the 70's, however.
I think this represents the biggest tug of war going on now: Will inflation truly be transient, and all of the price increases are only the result of Covid disruptions to supply chains et. The "no increased rate or inflation" view is best summarized by Lacy Hunt at Hoisington Management, who believes Treasuries will continue to rally.
But he thinks this will happen because the feds are sucking all available capital out of the system to pay for the deficit. This does not bode well for the economy either.
Of course we might get both: Collapsing growth and higher rates ie stagflation.

How in the world can anyone short anything in this market ...
You might as well ask how in the world anyone can underweight anything in this market. Easy, because some securities perform better than others. Shorting just takes underweighting a step further. Do you remember 130/30 funds?

The rationale for the concept had a degree of logic. A 130/30 fund combines a gross long position of 130 per cent with a short position of 30 per cent, meaning it still has the same 100 per cent net exposure to the market as a traditional long-only fund.
However, long-only managers can only underweight, not short, stocks they do not like. This leaves little room to generate outperformance from these stocks, particularly if they are say, only 0.1 per cent of the index.

https://www.ft.com/content/fdbf6284-b724-11e2-841e-00144feabdc0
It doesn't matter whether the shorted stocks go up or down. What matters is that they don't do as well as the stocks purchased with the proceeds from shorting them.
That article goes on to note:

"The problem came when many asset managers discovered they did not have the necessary skills to short,” says Amin Rajan, chief executive of Create Research, a consultancy. “It’s a very specialised skill. It’s more a psychological than academic discipline.”

If one uses shorting to time the market rather than to magnify the impact of stock picking skills, it's easy to get burned:

While some mainstream fund managers periodically have shorted stocks - Mario Gabelli of the Gabelli funds and CGM's Kenneth Heebner come to mind - most have shied away from it.
The late 1990s story of manager Jim Crabbe and his Crabbe-Huson Special fund illustrates why. Crabbe-Huson Special (eventually sold to Liberty Funds Distributors, now part of FleetBoston Financial) adopted shorting provisions in the mid-1990s to guard against a downturn. But Crabbe got bearish early, going short on technology stocks just as they rocketed to new heights. From 1995 through 1999, the fund lost more than 20 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up roughly 200 percent; years of gains in the fund were wiped out.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-10-13-0210120267-story.html

“ … with investors defying pessimistic projections .. and pushing past concerns of rising inflation and potential rate hikes. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced more than 210.22 points …The S&P 500 … chalked up its 34th record finish of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 24.38 points.
“A day earlier, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq set all-time highs,highlighting Wall Street’s optimism for economic recovery —reinvigorated by widespread vaccinations, businesses ramping up operations and consumers eager to spend …
“Kristina Hooper, the chief global market strategist at Invesco, emphasized the dramatic changes … which have help (sic) fuel an economic comeback. Wall Street also has been bolstered by significant spending from Congress and aggressive monetary policy … “
Good write-up for those who like their financial news served hot.
Strong Verbs … “Weak verbs can tell your reader what’s happening, but only strong verbs can catapult them right into the action.”
Does the WP have a stockpile of negatively connotative verbs stored somewhere for those occasional bad market days?
Maybe something like this:
Stunned traders raced for the exits as major indexes plunged more than 20% in the first few minutes of frantic trading Friday. Bloodied, but determined, one shocked investor vowed to “go all in”, even as as his legs began to tremble and panic permeated the air …

I had no idea.
The Washington Post
Personal Finance
Your retirement with Michelle Singletary.
A reality TV couple wanted to ‘bless’ Black people suffering financially. The FTC says it was a pyramid scheme.
A Texas couple once featured on an OWN network reality show “Family or Fiance,” promised people they could get a financial blessing of 800 percent in as little as a week.
It turns out they were running a pyramid scheme that targeted and then bilked Black people affected by the pandemic, according to two lawsuits filed against the Black couple.
In a joint complaint filed on June 16, the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Arkansas accused Marlon and LaShonda Moore of operating a pyramid scheme program called “Blessings In No Time,” or BINT. The Texas attorney general also has filed a lawsuit against the couple for scamming needy Black families.
For an upfront fee of $1,400 or $1,425, participants were told they could receive a return of $11,200 or $11,400 respectively — eight times their contribution to a “blessing loom.”
“In general, these schemes falsely promise a big return — or as BINT termed it, being ‘blessed out’ — following a modest initial payment,” the FTC and Arkansas complaint said. “In reality, however, very few consumers make any money. And the few consumers that do make money sometimes lose their profits by reinvesting in the scheme.”
Marlon Moore is known as DJ ASAP, which he says in marketing materials stands for “Always Serve A Purpose.” Participants said in interviews that the couple often chastised people for not recruiting enough. And in one call, they tried to discredit my reporting and warnings about pyramids schemes, one participant said.
Attempts to contact the Moores were unsuccessful.
Coretta Vanterpool of Florida said she lost close to $13,000. In total, Vanterpool said she and the family members she recruited were out $30,000. Others paid as much as $62,700 to participate in BINT, according to the FTC.
Vanterpool said she was told that an initial contribution of $1,425 would net her a “blessing” of $11,400 in seven to 10 days. To make even more money, she paid for multiple places on the blessing loom board. She was going to use the money to help pay down some of her $50,000 in student loans.
“They just made it sound so real, so nice,” said Vanterpool, whose nephew recruited her. “Since he received his first payment, he thought it was legit. A lot of people came in because they had been furloughed or they had lost their jobs. Their companies had closed. A couple of ladies were about to lose their homes. I met one lady through the group who was trying to get the money so she could pay for chemotherapy.”
The type of fraudulent schemes alleged in the complaint go by various names — sou-sou, gifting circle, money board, or blessing loom. The illegal operations borrow the principles of legitimate sou-sous, informal savings clubs that have cultural roots in West Africa, the Caribbean and other immigrant communities.
In the real-deal saving circles, groups are small. People pool their money, taking turns receiving a payout. But they don’t get back more money than they put into the pot. It’s more like a forced savings program with accountability partners.
The hallmark of an unlawful pyramid scheme hinges on two key elements: You are asked to pay an upfront entry fee with the expectation of a significant payout, and you have to recruit others to do the same.
Typically, people are relentlessly pushed to recruit. There are steps or levels of the circle or octagon that lead to a center, which is when you are supposed to get your payout. The core of the con is that you’ll get a substantial “gift” relative to what you put up from people joining after you. The whole enterprise eventually collapses, and the last folks coming in — the wide base of the pyramid — lose their money.
Here’s why these scams work. Some participants get the promised payout. They in turn share testimonies of their substantial gains. But after several rounds of this fraudulent scheme, the money dries up because not enough new people are recruited who are willing to make upfront payments.
I’ve been reporting the rise of illegal pyramid schemes since last summer as desperate folks started looking for quick ways to make money. Promoters often target certain communities in which they share an affinity. Black promoters, for example, have been exploiting the disenfranchisement that many African Americans are feeling, especially those who have lost jobs because of the coronavirus. The operators get recruits to drag in family and friends, fellow church members and co-workers.
The message of building Black wealth that the Moores espoused resonated with people, the lawsuits said.
“People were really vulnerable, just ready for any kind of hope,” one California woman who was involved in BINT said in an interview. “They were talking about building a Black community and building generational wealth. Those are the catchphrases now. They were just kind of selling people a dream.”
I asked Vanterpool how she felt recruiting family members who lost money.
“It hurts because I brought someone else into a situation that they didn’t have to be in when they were already suffering,” she said. “I’ve put in money that I really don’t have that I should have just used for what it was for and that was for my loans. Now I’m starting back at square one and hoping and praying that I’ll get this money back.”
Reader Question of the Week
If you have a personal finance or retirement question, send it to [email protected]. In the subject line put “Question of the Week.” Please note that questions may be edited for clarity.
Q: As a federal civil service employee, I heard that when I retire, I can’t specify which Thrift Savings Plan fund (e.g., C fund or G fund) I can withdraw from. It sounds like any amount I withdraw will be from all funds that I have invested in. Is this true?
A: For those not familiar with the federal government’s workplace retirement plan it’s called the Thrift Savings Plan or TSP, which is available to federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve.
TSP generally offers the same types of savings and tax benefits that many private corporations offer their employees under their 401(k) or similar plans.
If you have a TSP and will be tapping the funds, you should read “Withdrawing from Your TSP Account.”
You can leave your entire account balance in the TSP after you leave federal government service if the balance is $200 or more.
The options in the TSP include the following:
G Fund – Government Securities Investment Fund
F Fund - Fixed Income Index Investment Fund
C Fund - Common Stock Index Investment Fund
S Fund - Small cap stock Index investment fund
I Fund - International Stock Index Investment Fund
L (Lifecycle) Funds - A diversified mix of the five core funds (G, F, C, S, and I)
So, as to the question, can you withdraw from specific TSP funds? The answer is no. Distributions are taken proportionately from each fund.
When participants retire, they can specify whether they want to withdraw solely from their traditional (pre-tax) balance or from their Roth money. But, “the withdrawal will come from all of the funds,” said Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. “A participant cannot specify which fund she or he wants to withdraw from.”
Weaver said participants can rebalance their accounts with an interfund transfer if they want to, pre or post-withdrawal.
Two years ago, there were major changes to withdrawal options for TSP account holders. Here’s a Washington Post article that explained the changes:
Federal employees have more withdrawal choices for their retirement savings

We also have an advisor at Fidelity that we really like, which would be essential if I die before my wife, who has no interest in investing.
From Fidelity (all bolding is by Fidelity):

Our brokerage products and services for retail investors are provided to you through Fidelity Brokerage Services ...
When we act as a broker for you, our primary role, as described in your Fidelity Brokerage Account Agreement, is to accept orders and execute transactions in your Fidelity Brokerage Account based on your instructions. You, or your authorized representative, direct all trading and are responsible for all investment decisions in your Fidelity Brokerage Account.
Some of our brokerage representatives also hold insurance licenses which allow them to sell life insurance and annuities.... Our brokerage representatives may also make referrals ...acting in a broker-dealer, and not an investment adviser, capacity.
When we act as a broker for you, we also offer you investment education, research, planning assistance, and guidance designed to assist you in making decisions on the various products that you may wish to hold. ... [These services] are part of, and considered to be incidental to, the brokerage services that we provide.
Unless we specifically state otherwise, Fidelity is acting as a broker-dealer with respect to your account and as a broker-dealer and insurance agent with respect to any insurance product.
When we act as your broker, we are ... [required to] ... Have reasonable grounds for believing that any security that we specifically present to you is suitable given your investment objectives, risk tolerance, financial and tax status and other financial information you have disclosed to us. ...
When we act in a brokerage or insurance agency capacity, we do not have a fiduciary or advisory relationship with you and our disclosure obligations are more limited than if we did. ...
If you ask us to provide investment advisory services we will do so only pursuant to a written agreement that describes our investment advisory relationship with you and our obligations to you.

http://personal.fidelity.com/accounts/services/BD-IA-Dscls.pdf

LB says it well. Don’t underestimate the importance of salesmanship - be it a used car or a financial asset.
John’s video is worth watching (at only 10 minutes) IMHO. I always enjoy Dalio.
Dalio’s not dumb. Nor is Marks, Fink, Soros or Gross. All worth listening to. In the end, each of us needs to decide how best to invest. And … Do you really think any of the above would release his “latest greatest” cool investment idea on the internet or Bubble Vision for all the world to see early in the game?

Financial literacy... The world's most serious issue.

Not even close. See how folks in Portland are handling 115 degree weather today. Now Imagine ten or twenty degrees hotter in places that have no electricity. Imagine living for generations by a river that suddenly dries up or floods so badly your village is washed away. Or an ocean devoid of edible fish.
Also, financial literacy is pointless if employees aren’t paid enough wages to have anything left over to save at the end of the month. About half of America lives paycheck to paycheck. I know—“personal responsibility.” Let them live on top ramen and gruel.

I think there is a bit of a balancing act here... It may be wage-related for some, but how about those living paycheck to paycheck (or close to it), but they still have iPhones, iPads, go out to eat and drink regularly, and basically just spend frivolously 100% of the time.... People still have to live within their means.

Financial literacy... The world's most serious issue.

Not even close. See how folks in Portland are handling 115 degree weather today. Now Imagine ten or twenty degrees hotter in places that have no electricity. Imagine living for generations by a river that suddenly dries up or floods so badly your village is washed away. Or an ocean devoid of edible fish.
Also, financial literacy is pointless if employees aren’t paid enough wages to have anything left over to save at the end of the month. About half of America lives paycheck to paycheck. I know—“personal responsibility.” Let them live on top ramen and gruel.

The average employee has trouble often understanding how a 401k works in many cases let alone cryptocurrency. I find the "personal responsibility" argument to be a hackneyed one I often hear emerging from libertarians. One response I have to that--as you can make a similar argument for almost any dangerous product--what is the personal responsibility of the drug dealer to the drug taker? Why is it always the consumer of the product that is blamed with that personal responsibility mantra? If you offer a faulty dangerous product and sell it to consumers, you should be blamed. And yes, offering crypto will be a magnet for lawsuits. 401ks are a common target for lawsuits as they work well in class action suits and the laws about what are suitable investments for retirement plans are strict.

Financial literacy... The world's most serious issue.

Interesting take on the drop in value of Bitcoin / Crypto - currencies :

Not much moves cryptocurrency markets like Elon Musk tweets -- except, perhaps, the idea of another crackdown in China, the world’s second-largest economy. From a trading ban on domestic exchanges to squeezes on power-consuming digital currency miners, Chinese regulators have tried to tamp down risks related to the stratospheric rise of Bitcoin and its peers for years. Yet a recent flurry of official reminders has traders nervous about more possibly to come as President Xi Jinping seeks to reduce financial risk in the economy and meet the country’s ambitious goals for combating climate change.

how-china-rivals-elon-musk-in-rattling-crypto-markets

Surprise! Surprise! I am now informed by this brilliant piece of writing that a person’s public persona is often more admirable than their not-so-public side. I had no idea!
@MJG - I don’t get it. On one hand you submit a post trivializing the ebb and flow of financial information and opinion (noise) - something most of us visit mfo to partake of. You call this “nothing.” Than you turn around and submit in the “Other Investing” category this trivial solicitous piece about Bill & Melinda’s marriage ending after 27 years, (longer than my own lasted) and Warren Buffet having experienced family problems.
So … this completely off-topic deviation into the personal lives of well known financial heavy-weights is supposed to be somehow of importance to us as an investing community? But the trends in interest rates, inflation, equity valuations or central bank policies are of no consequence?
Have a nice day. (and I agree with @Derf.)

In a nutshell, munis held up better than most intermediate duration bonds last week. But the author is cautious.
“Municipal bonds … held up remarkably well as demand for tax-exempt securities swelled earlier this year. That’s because retail investors have piled into munis, adding nearly $25 billion of net new funds to national municipal mutual funds through April, according to the Investment Company Institute, a trade group of mutual fund companies. Meanwhile, new municipal bond supply has run consistently below average for most of the year. The reinvestment of income from maturities, calls and coupons outstripped municipal bond new issuance by nearly $16 billion in January alone, according to a Wall Street Journal report.”
(An excerpt from this piece appears in the current issue of Barron’s)
https://cressetcapital.com/post/munis-vulnerable-to-fed-policy-shift/

TIFF is The Investment Fund for Foundations, not Trump International Financial Funds !

@howaya et al
Seeking Alpha site access.
I use a Windows laptop with Chrome and a VPN.
When using Google/Chrome, try this:
--- control key and "h" key, simultaneous (this opens the history screen
--- at the left edge of this page, select "clear browsing data"
--- the next screen will have choices of what to clear
--- at least once a day I clear the following (you may select your choices):
1. browsing history
2. download history
3. cookies and other site data
Lastly, select the "clear data" inside the blue box
IF, while moving through the above; and you change your mind, you may just exit the pages. No changes will take place without the "clear data" being selected.
I'm signed in to MFO via Chrome. I can use control-h now, if I chose. The only change I would find is that I would be signed out of MFO and have to sign in again.
I'm neither a subscriber or registered at Seeking Alpha; but I can read their pages.
Barron's, WSJ, NYTimes, Bloomberg do keep me from reading their pages; but these sites are apparently using another method for blocking. Some of these site stories are available after seven days. At least, this is the case most of the time.
NOTE 1: incognito mode has varying results from my experience.
A few sites I visit that are not financial related do restrict access, until I turn "off" VPN".
NOTE 2: similar keyboard combinations/functions (I presume) are available with Apple products.
ADD: at some point in the near future, Google/Chrome reports they will no longer collect cookies and other data as they have been doing. I'll wait and see.

Let us know what you discover.
Regards,
Catch

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935015/000119312521191702/d192552d497.htm
497 1 d192552d497.htm ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS INC
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 033-88316 and 811-08932
ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
Artisan International Value Fund (the “Fund”)
SUPPLEMENT DATED 16 JUNE 2021 TO THE
FUND’S PROSPECTUS
CURRENT AS OF THE DATE HEREOF
Effective after the close of business on 30 June 2021, the Fund is closed to most new investors. The Fund will accept new accounts from certain investors who satisfy new account eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirements are described in Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus under the heading “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds—Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?”
Accordingly, effective 30 June 2021, the following changes will take effect:
1.The following paragraph is added under the heading “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” on page 46 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus:
The Fund is closed to most new investors. See “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds—Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” in the Fund’s statutory prospectus for new account eligibility criteria.
2.The following replaces the text under the heading “Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” on pages 101-102 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus in its entirety:
Artisan High Income Fund and Artisan International Value Fund are each closed to most new investors. From time to time, other Funds may also be closed to most new investors. The Funds do not permit investors to pool their investments in order to meet the eligibility requirements, except as otherwise noted below.
If you have been a shareholder in a Fund continuously since it closed, you may make additional investments in that Fund and reinvest your dividends and capital gain distributions in that Fund, even though the Fund has closed, unless Artisan Partners considers such additional purchases to not be in the best interests of the Fund and its other shareholders. An employee benefit plan that is a Fund shareholder may continue to buy shares in the ordinary course of the plan’s operations, even for new plan participants.
You may open a new account in a closed Fund only if that account meets the Fund’s other criteria (for example, minimum initial investment) and:
∎ you beneficially own shares of the closed Fund at the time of your application;
∎ you beneficially own shares in the Funds with combined balances of $250,000;
∎ you receive shares of the closed Fund as a gift from an existing shareholder of the Fund (additional investments generally are not permitted unless you are otherwise eligible to open an account under one of the other criteria listed);
∎ you are transferring or “rolling over” into a Fund IRA account from an employee benefit plan through which you held shares of the Fund (if your plan doesn’t qualify for rollovers you may still open a new account with all or part of the proceeds of a distribution from the plan);
∎ you are purchasing Fund shares through a sponsored fee-based program and shares of the Fund are made available to that program pursuant to an agreement with the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the sponsor of that program in writing that shares may be offered through such program and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an employee benefit plan and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the plan in writing that the plan may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an employee benefit plan or other type of corporate, charitable or governmental account sponsored by or affiliated with an organization that also sponsors or is affiliated with (or is related to an organization that sponsors or is affiliated with) another employee benefit plan or corporate, charitable or governmental account that is a shareholder of the Fund at the time of application;
∎ you are a client, employee or associate of an institutional consultant or financial intermediary and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified that consultant or financial intermediary in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are a client of a financial advisor or a financial planner, or an affiliate of a financial advisor or financial planner, who has at least:
○$2,500,000 of client assets invested with the closed Fund at the time of your application; or
○$5,000,000 of client assets invested with the Funds or under Artisan Partners’ management at the time of your application and, with respect to Artisan International Value Fund only, the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified such financial advisor or financial planner, or affiliate of such financial advisor or financial planner, in writing, that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
∎ you are an institutional investor that is investing at least $5,000,000 in the Fund and the Fund or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified you in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification (available for investments in Artisan International Value Fund only);
∎ you are a client of Artisan Partners or are an investor in a product managed by Artisan Partners, or you have an existing business relationship with Artisan Partners, and in the judgment of Artisan Partners, your investment in a closed Fund would not adversely affect Artisan Partners’ ability to manage the Fund effectively; or
∎ you are a director or officer of the Funds, or a partner or employee of Artisan Partners or its affiliates, or a member of the immediate family of any of those persons.
A Fund may ask you to verify that you meet one of the guidelines above prior to permitting you to open a new account in a closed Fund. A Fund may permit you to open a new account if the Fund reasonably believes that you are eligible. A Fund also may decline to permit you to open a new account if the Fund believes that doing so would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, even if you would be eligible to open a new account under these guidelines.
The Funds’ ability to impose the guidelines above with respect to accounts held by financial intermediaries may vary depending on the systems capabilities of those intermediaries, applicable contractual and legal restrictions and cooperation of those intermediaries.
Call us at 800.344.1770 if you have questions about your ability to invest in a closed Fund.
https://www.artisanpartners.com/individual-investors/news-insights/news/press-releases/2021/artisan-partners-announces-closing-of-the-artisan-international-value-strategy.html
or
https://www.artisanpartners.com/content/dam/documents/press-releases/mf/Artisan-International-Value-Fund-Closing-16-June-2021-vR.pdf

I agree that a third party PW manger is probably safer than Apple, Firefox or Google. Both LastPass and 1Password were given good reviews in WSJ recently.
However, I do not use any of the above to store my financial passwords. I have them in an encrypted Word document that is only on my computer ( hard copy in safe deposit) and I enter them by hand or copy and paste
One of the downnsides to these notifications is that many of them refer to a web service I have not used in years and there is no easy "delete account" button.

I haven’t used it before (at least knowingly). But today one of my seldom used IOS devices displayed a warning that a password I use for a news site (a very weak one by choice) had appeared on a national data base of stolen passwords. The message even identified the news site where I use it. Apparently I’d left keychain switched on on that device and Apple had been monitoring that password.
Well, I changed the PW and a few others that were intentionally simple and easy to remember. Than I researched Apple’s keychain function to see what it’s all about.
Article
Here’s a snippet: “If you have iCloud Keychain set up as an option to auto-fill passwords into mobile and web apps, Safari will help out in the auditing so that it can warn you of compromised passwords whenever you log in to a website. So if you use iCloud Keychain to auto-fill your credentials into a website in Safari, after you sing in, Safari will give you a prompt to "Change Password on Website," like so: This password has appeared in a data leak, which puts this account at high risk of compromise. You should change your password immediately.
One problem with above: I don’t use Safari for sensitive sites. I use DuckGo instead.
Like most of you, I’m sure, I use some pretty tough passwords for financial sites, some extending to 15 characters. (And, most often 2-factor authentication is also used.) Each password is unique. So, I’m not particularly concerned. The one that may have been heisted is a simple one I’ve used for over 20 years where security isn’t much of a concern. On the other hand - If Russian hackers can shut down a major U.S. pipeline, how do you keep them from accessing your personal financial data - or worse?
So … Do you think trusting Apple to remember your passwords is a good idea? Or a bad idea?
Please forgive listing this as “Other Investing.” But ISTM security of financial records is pretty important.

The "unbanked" would have an incentive to open an alternative type of bank account if it could be designed to provide them with rapid, low cost access to benefits such as the recent stimulus payments. And, having the unbanked open those accounts may permit the government to come closer to achieving the goal of providing those benefits to all eligible recipients. So, in that sense, developing that type of non-traditional account has the potential to result a win-win outcome.
It appears we are presently living through the "fear of the unknown" stage in the CBDC development and implementation process. Central banks are varying in the speed with which they are acting. China wants to ensure top down control of its population and its financial system. And it is looking for ways to increase its acceptance as a global reserve currency. So, it is acting fast. The Fed appears to be taking a go slow approach so it can gather more information and access the varied aspects of the threat in some detail before it acts (or doesn't act).

Looking through the comments here and doing some more reading this morning leaves me thinking it is good the Fed is taking a go slow approach. Here are a few takeaways....
A Center For Strategic and International Studies (CFSAIS) report indicates most of the worlds central banks have reached the experimental or pilot development phase of their examinations of CBDC use. The report indicates "The case for CBDC is based in large part on the underlying technology’s potential to improve payments efficiency and lower transaction costs, particularly for cross-border payments, as well as to bolster system integrity, spur financial innovation, and improve access to financial services."
The CFSAIS report also suggests that China's digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) program is significantly "motivated by concern that private digital payment platforms could displace traditional banks—posing a threat to financial stability and official sector oversight of economic and financial activity in China." Relatedly, a recent Asia Times article notes that "DCEP serves as a tool for the Chinese government to regain control over domestic financial crime, stabilize the financial system and protect China’s national security. Unlike many anonymous and decentralized cryptocurrencies, the DCEP is monitored and backed by the PBOC, affording China’s leadership supreme control over all transactions."
Proponents of a Fed based digital dollar think it would provide the unbanked with access to virtual dollars. However, a Bank Policy Institute (BPI) report suggests the banking community doubts the potential financial inclusion benefit would wind up being widespread. That report also suggests that fear of crytocurriences and stablecoins, widespread fear of China's DCEP advances, and European fear of US control over the global financial system are important motivators behind current central banker focus on CBDCs.