Related.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/no-stomach-for-stock-market-swings-consider-stable-value-funds-1538159332
https://qwiket.com/context/topic/no-stomach-for-stock-market-swings-consider-stable-value-funds
No Stomach for Stock-Market Swings? Consider Stable Value Funds
Increasing volatility and rising interest rates create a double whammy for investors who don’t have time to ride out the inevitable market ups and downs. Stable value funds might be the answer.
For risk-averse investors, there seems to be nowhere to hide these days. High volatility and high valuations make stocks an unsavory option, and bonds don’t look much better in the face of rising interest rates. And cash still pays next to nothing. But if you have a 401(k), you have an oft-overlooked option.

@Old_Skeet: OK ! OK ! we get it, you don't have a subscription to Barron's. Therefore I suggest you sell one of your 6,789 mutual funds and get Barron's for eight weeks for only $1.00 buck, cancel at any time.
Regards,
Ted :)

FYI: At Barron’s, we try to look beyond any momentary chaos in the markets to anticipate what might move them in the future. So, too, with our coverage of Washington. There was plenty of chaos at Thursday’s Supreme Court nomination hearing, and we don’t expect the turmoil to end before the Nov. 6 midterm elections, or after. Our concern is with the longer-term impact of these historic races—specifically, what the outcomes will mean for the capital markets and investors. The stakes are particularly high in this election season, given America’s tariff battle with China, a growing federal budget deficit, and an aging bull market, not to mention the partisan slugfest consuming the country.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/what-a-pivotal-midterm-election-could-mean-for-investors-1538181587

FYI: Markets are by their very nature unruly, but they tend to follow some unwritten rules. For instance, the S&P 500has typically followed a pattern around federal election cycles, rising the least in years when voters head to polls, and rising the most in off years. This year, however, hasn’t followed that pattern. As a result, the good times that normally follow an election might not be as good after November’s midterm elections.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/midterm-election-stocks-1538086186

FYI: A decision of health-care policy and stocks featured prominently at Barron’s recent Midterms and Markets roundtable. The consensus: Potential electoral results could favor the outlook for policies beneficial to a wide range of hospital, pharmaceutical, and other health-care-related companies. Here is a roundtable outtake on the subject; look for more coverage in this weekend’s Barron’s.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-midterms-could-give-a-boost-to-these-health-care-stocks-1538155232

FYI: .The 72-year-old financial services company is competing with Google, Facebook and Microsoft to recruit top talent from Silicon Valley.
.The firm, which administers more than $7 trillion in customer assets, spends $2.5 billion a year on tech through Fidelity Labs and its Fidelity Center for Applied Technology.
.The Boston-based private company is experimenting with blockchain, artificial intelligence and virtual reality — and is benchmarking itself against digital natives like Nvidia instead of brokerage firms like Charles Schwab.
.“Fidelity is a sleeping giant,” says Rich Repetto, principal at Sandler O'Neill & Partners who covers its brokerage competitors. “Or at least they're not a well known giant as far as what they're actually doing.”
Regards,
Ted
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/fidelity-the-tech-company.html

FYI: After six years as a broker with Wells Fargo Advisors, Michael Landsberg parted company with the firm this past summer. And while the prime reason was a chance to start his own registered investment advisory firm, Mr. Landsberg acknowledged that Wells Fargo's tarnished reputation is taking a heavy toll on both clients and brokers.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=tnmvW83aLOmXjwTXr4bACw&q=Is+the+worst+over+for+Wells+Fargo+Advisors?&btnK=Google+Search&oq=Is+the+worst+over+for+Wells+Fargo+Advisors?&gs_l=psy-ab.3...3282.3282..6732...0.0..0.69.131.2......0....1j2..gws-wiz.....0.2xEGG3EeLl4

Bought little of LTC, added more to qqq and acad yesterday.. Still 80 20 in 401k.. Bought pimco bond ETF for mom retired acct

Grant goes into the nuts(!) and bolts of this.

Prices--
Average prices charged by private sector firms increased at the sharpest rate seen in the nine-year survey history. Service providers signalled a particularly steep rise in output charges in September, which they commonly attributed to the pass through of higher labor costs and increased prices for inputs sourced from abroad.
Manufacturers widely noted that trade tariffs had led to higher prices for metals and encouraged the forward purchasing of materials. Some firms commented that higher demand and resilient order books had helped them to offset squeezed margins by pushing up output charges.
https://www.markiteconomics.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/97fb3daa507944cba1740664bfc20257
I heard it here first. And see it at the grocery store.

Another Net Worth calculation diced up a bit more (with and without HOUSE). Data comes from the 2016 Federal Reserve SCF.
https://dqydj.com/net-worth-by-age-calculator-united-states/
Age Average Median Average (No H) Median (No H)
18-24 $93,982.80 $4,394.53 $86,952.25 $4,012.26
25-29 $39,565.88 $8,971.58 $16,941.07 $4,397.11
30-34 $95,235.53 $29,125.08 $58,702.34 $15,980.13
35-39 $257,581.86 $40,666.52 $202,975.63 $17,247.23
40-44 $316,660.61 $87,842.71 $231,092.29 $36,392.69
45-49 $599,194.17 $105,717.43 $459,091.51 $50,462.52
50-54 $838,702.95 $137,866.81 $701,558.76 $50,154.48
55-59 $1,150,037.78 $168,044.19 $979,492.18 $69,338.65
60-64 $1,180,377.62 $224,775.17 $985,790.54 $105,875.74
65-69 $1,056,483.97 $209,575.26 $871,948.49 $94,665.45
70-74 $1,062,427.63 $233,614.37 $861,025.60 $77,472.59
75-79 $1,097,415.06 $242,699.75 $887,051.06 $69,551.59
80+ $1,039,818.04 $270,904.40 $826,304.45 $121,563.27

Anna- Actually their average net worth seems way too low. Medina has a population of around 3,000. Just bezos and Gates alone have a net worth over $200 Billion. So the "average net" worth of Medina is at least $60 million. Of course the median is much lower.

I wonder what the average net worth is in Medina, Washington? Both Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates live there?

The first hit on Google "median net worth Medina Washington gave:
https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/WA/Medina-Demographics.html
Average Household Income $280,451
Median Household Income $188,080
Percent Increase/Decrease in Income Since 2000 40%
Percent Increase/Decrease in Income Since 2010 39%
Average Household Net Worth $1,267,004
Median Home Sale Price $1,480,000
Sales Tax Rate 8.6%
Average Household Total Expenditure $159,918

Most everyone who takes stats for dummies at some point hears the phrase 'discard the highest and the lowest data and then take the average'; there should be a glib version of that for discarding only the highest tail. I guess it would just be called 'average the data below [$1M or other point]'.

FYI: Bank of America recently told its clients it was restricting the sale of stocks of tiny and unknown companies that trade over-the-counter for less than $5 each, CNBC reported on Friday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/bofaml-pennystocks/bank-of-america-clamps-down-on-penny-stocks-with-purchase-ban-cnbc-idUSL4N1WE5C1

I wonder what the average net worth is in Medina, Washington? Both Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates live there?

The first hit on Google "median net worth Medina Washington gave:
https://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/WA/Medina-Demographics.html
Average Household Income $280,451
Median Household Income $188,080
Percent Increase/Decrease in Income Since 2000 40%
Percent Increase/Decrease in Income Since 2010 39%
Average Household Net Worth $1,267,004
Median Home Sale Price $1,480,000
Sales Tax Rate 8.6%
Average Household Total Expenditure $159,918

But what does household mean? It's not the term used in the source of these numbers. That source (Fed Reserve Board) uses the term "family", not "household". It goes on to note that its "family" is similar to, but not the same as, the Census Bureau's "household".
Moving on, what does "over age 75" mean for a "family" or a "household" here? Does everyone in the household (whatever that is) have to be over 75? Just one person? Which one?
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf17.pdf
(See Box 1 and Appendix for definitions)
Most of the data one is likely to run across elsewhere comes from the Census Bureau. So figures here are going to look a bit different. Thus it helps to be cognizant of the various definitions.
I think Hank conveyed a good sense of average. If his regional averages are lower than national averages, then regional averages elsewhere must be higher, as he suggested. Still, what exactly is being averaged?

FYI: You’d have to be a real contrarian to bet on shopping malls today. To many consumers used to the convenience of clicking “Buy,” the sentence “Let’s go to the mall” is a punchline—so much so that it became a running gag on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in which one character had a previous life as a Canadian pop star whose big hit was called “Let’s Go to the Mall.” The rest of the crew on the show viewed that as more embarrassing than acting in porn.
With such a cultural bias against malls as relics of a previrtual age, it’s little wonder that the average retail/mall real estate investment trust, or REIT, has only a 1% three-year annualized return—a fraction of Amazon.com’s(ticker: AMZN) gravity-defying 56%.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/7-real-estate-stocks-to-ride-a-retail-comeback-1538128801
M* Snapshot MGLAX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/MGLAX/quote.html
M* Snapshot MGLAX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/mgalx
MGLAX Is Ranked #2 In The (G/RE) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/global-real-estate/mfs-global-real-estate-fund/mglax

Another topic that helps explain averages is the proposed repeal of the SALT tax deduction.
This is being proposed by democrats and its repeal would benefit the top 20% who pay taxes (a repeal of SALT would benefit 96% of these high earners) .
Here's how averages work:

Repealing the SALT deduction would cut taxes by an average of about $370, but that’s largely because so many households would get no benefit at all. Among all those whose taxes are reduced, the average tax cut would be about $4,100. For all middle-income taxpayers, the average tax cut would be $10. Those in the top 1% would pay an average of $31,000, or 2% of after-tax income, less. Among those who get a tax cut, middle-income households would pay an average of $360 less while those in the top 1% would pay an average of about $34,000 less.

Here's a visual:

FYI: When it comes to growth stocks, Wells Fargo funds' Thomas Ognar is not interested in flash-in-the-pan fads. He seeks stocks whose earnings growth has legs.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/mutual-funds/growth-stocks-wells-fargo-funds/
M* Snapshot SGRAX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/SGRAX/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot SGRAX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/sgrax
SGRAX Is Ranked #120 In The (LCG) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/large-growth/wells-fargo-growth-fund/sgrax

FYI: Creative accounting: It’s not just for Silicon Valley start-ups anymore.
The trend has made its way into leveraged finance, which is notable because bond investors usually couldn’t care less about a company’s story—they just want to know whether it will be able to pay them back. One metric that is widely used to evaluate a borrower’s ability to make debt payments is the ratio of its debt to Ebitda, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/ebitda-junk-bonds-1538087064