November 22, 2025, Issue 12

Life is Fragile

This week I was reminded yet again of life’s fragility. At the ripe age of 59, this was, of course, not the first person I have known to pass. In fact, this man was not a relation, and not someone I knew well at all. However, people very close to me were related to him and were very close. Their sadness, their heartfelt emotions, their raw, open wounds affected me deeply. Losing someone is never easy, and never gets easier. What can help us through the pain is to hold certain beliefs. Here are three of mine:
Number 1: No one gets out alive. All of our times will come in order to close the circle of life. We should live and love and laugh a lot while we can. Yes, I know that sounds cliche.
Number 2: I believe that the people that care about us will always be with us. Even after their death, something will happen, or we will see something, or be reminded in some way that they are watching, that they are ok, and that they are proud of us and our accomplishments.
Number 3: We will all meet and live and laugh again. This will happen in a better, happier place. Of course, there’s only one way to find out if this is true, and I’m not ready to prove this belief just yet.
These moments of sorrow come around often as we grow older and those close to us age. We tend to ask deep questions of ourselves while we are in the clutches of our gloom. Are we living the life we want? Are we putting off the things we want to do? Are we maintaining our relationships, and do the people close to us know how much we care about them? Are we so concerned with saving for the future that we are not living in the present? Do we want material things that will provide a short burst of joy instead of focusing on what will keep us happy long term? And finally, do we take our health for granted?
It’s been my experience that for a short time, we will realize negative answers to these questions, and attempt change. This may last a week, a month, perhaps longer. But all too often we tend to revert to what has been our norm, forgetting that our time here is short and getting shorter. So here are my hopes, dear readers: I hope we keep the memories of those we have lost close to our hearts. I hope that we do not put off trips we want to take or things we want to do. I hope that we call our loved ones regularly, this means so much to parents and grandparents. Finally, I hope that we never take life for granted. Bruce Springsteen wrote “One minute you’re here, next minute you’re gone”. Today, as always, these words ring true.

The Weeks That Were

My apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week. Let’s tackle the 2 weeks that have past. For those of us even mildly interested in the stock market, we haven’t seen two weeks of declines like this for a very long time. Markets have lost between 5 and 7% over the last couple of weeks, with tech stocks being hardest hit. The reasons are numerous:
AI Bubble: Many market are calling this an AI bubble, and they believe it is ready to burst. This is due to the amount of money companies are spending on AI projects, and the lack of clarity as to how these projects will be monetized. The best example is META, owners of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others. They reported excellent results for the quarter, but also advised that their capex spending would rise higher than the $72 billion planned for 2025. This has investors freaked out. The stock closed at $751 on October 29th. Yesterday’s last price was $594, for a loss of 21% in three weeks. Avid readers will remember that we started a position at $665 and added to it at $610. We believe this reaction is overdone in a lot of companies, and we will look to add to this one.
Valuations: While tech companies have generally posted great earnings, valuations by most metrics have become higher than we have seen in the past. Companies like Palantir, Tesla, and Nvidia amongst many others have seen almost continuous buying push their stock prices beyond what many investors consider reasonable. As such, NVDA has seen its slide reach about 15% since its all time high of $212 reached on October 29th. This, despite results that well exceeded expectations, and a forecast that beat all but the most optimistic of outlooks.
Rate Cuts: Most observers now believe there is less than 50% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates in December. While this belief always has a negative effect on the stock market, we still believe we are in a cycle of reducing rates. Whether it happens in December or in the new year, I do not view this one as concerning.

So how long does the downturn last and what do we do? This is my time to hold your hands, sing Kumbaya, and tell you do not panic, everything will be just fine. And that is truly what I believe. As I have said in earlier issues, go back to the reasons we bought the stocks we did. Does the premise for owning them still hold? In the vast majority of cases, the answer is yes. So at times like this, when many people panic and sell, this is our time to look over the Black Friday deals that the stock market has created and put some more cash to work. If you missed out on some of the “Magnificent 7” runs higher, this may be your chance to jump in. NVDA, META, AMZN, MSFT and more all present interesting entry points right now to start or add to a position. This is what we plan to do, and we will, as always, keep this audience informed of any trades prior to their execution.
Hold on tight, these are the fun parts!!

Opposite Days??

While we tend to shy away from politics here at the Dad, we can’t help but point out the strange goings on with the president of the USA this last week.

President Trump suddenly did a 180 and told his crew to vote for opening up the Epstein files to the public. While he clearly is not worried about any damage to himself, the first casualty has already shown up in the person of Larry Summers. The former president of Harvard and Secretary of the Treasury has left his teaching position at Harvard, resigned from the board at OpenAI, and been forced out of his consulting gig at hedge fund DE Shaw. We watch with interest as more prominent names are sure to be touched by this scandal over the coming days and weeks.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has resigned. Not long ago we couldn’t stand Greene for her unwavering support of The Donald no matter what. Then she disagreed over the bombing of Iran, and the support for Israel. These positions further alienated her from our good graces here at the Dad. But it was her constant push against Trump on the Epstein files that finally led to a nickname from the president. Once he uttered the Marjorie “Traitor” Greene line, we knew it wouldn’t be long. Yesterday she announced her resignation effective January 5th. While we still would not be called fans of Greene, it is certainly noteworthy that the MAGA coalition is starting to show some cracks.

Trump meets Mamdani, and they make nice!! In the most topsy-turvy display this week, the president met the mayor elect of New York City. While we expected fireworks, the two were civil and even agreed on certain points. No mention of “Communist Mamdani”, as Trump had become fond of calling him. This one bears watching, as the staff here at Dadsadvice still believe Zohran is too far left to lead the capital of capitalism. And his stance on Jewry bears watching as well. I still think the fireworks will ignite at some point.

Credit Cards – Still to come in a special weekend double issue

We have looked briefly at the credit card game. In a special issue tomorrow we are going to do a deep dive into minimum payments, points, premium cards and fees, interest rates, and how many cards should we hold. Please reply or comment with any credit card issues or questions you may have. We will tackle any and all queries.

Thought of the Day

Today we bring our thoughts back to loss. At some point, we all have lost, or will lose someone very close to us. While I hate to equate people and pets, the loss of a beloved animal can be very jarring. I tend to deal with loss by becoming extra introspective. What can learn from loss as it relates to my life? How can I squeeze more joy out of each day?
How have you dealt with loss? What has it taught you? Has it created tangible change in the way you live your life?
As always, we await your comments and emails.