Postcards: Three Little Things I Love... and The Week Ahead

Canceling plans? Throwing away junk? Three Day Weekends? Why not all three at the same time? Plus, let's take a look at the low-volume, short week ahead for the markets and key calendar events.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more [Postcards: Three Little Things I Love... and The Week Ahead]( Canceling plans? Throwing away junk? Three Day Weekends? Why not all three at the same time? Plus, let's take a look at the low-volume, short week ahead for the markets and key calendar events. [Garrett {NAME}]( Dec 23   [READ IN APP](   Dear Fellow Expat: As an adult, I enjoy three underrated yet very gratifying experiences. I’m talking about the little things you get to yourself - the things you can quietly and greedily enjoy in your home. The first is… Canceling Plans. Not going somewhere - with the build-up and anxiety of having to do something you didn’t want to do so badly - provides the same endorphin high as two glasses of wine. Single people may love canceling plans. But if they long for companionship, the practice creates a negative feedback loop that leaves them single for longer. Plus, as a single person, you don’t have a lot of plans to cancel. Dall-E: An Alligator politely canceling plans. But when you are married with a family - the number of things you could cancel is exponential depending on the number of people in the household. Three people live in my household… and we know three people who know three people. And all of these people can cancel plans. If you find yourself in the Florida Republic, feel free to cancel plans anytime. That way, I can spend the day writing, playing cards with Amelia, or enjoying the next fond experience with my wife. And No. 2 is… Throwing Things Away. We are compulsive consumers as Americans. You could enter our home, throw away half of the things we own, and we’d still have 50% more than the average person in Britain. My side of the family has a penchant for little knickknacks - which they send to my daughter. Those are the things I trip on… the things that take up space in every corner of the room until there are no corners left. Today, my wife went through our house, relentlessly and indiscriminately tossing stuff away. “What is this wire to?” she asked, holding up one of dozens of USB cables that could connect anything from headphones to an electric can opener. Who cares? Get rid of it! We bought yellow highlighters at some point in the last few years. I have never used them. What are we reading that needs to be highlighted? We owned White-Out - the chemical correction goop made by Bic. When was the last time you wrote something in pen and thought - I need to rewrite that word over messy, miscolored white paint that sticks to your pen point? How is that even a product in the 21st century? Dall-E: A cartoon alligator throwing everything away. Half of our living room bookshelf is now cleared out - and about half of those books had never been read. I don’t remember buying most of these books. Is someone breaking into my house and putting random books on my shelf? The other half were political-economy books I read from 2009 to 2013 in grad school. I think I kept them to show everyone who glanced that I’m a glutton for punishment. We need a rule… and so do you. If you don’t use it within six months or wouldn’t buy it at a garage sale for $1.00, it goes into the trash. I'm glad we cleared this place out. It now looks like we have an extra 700 square feet in this home. Third… and… finally. Christmas Falls on a Monday There is good reason on both sides of the debate whether Christmas is optimal for three-day weekend enjoyment on a Friday or a Monday. I believe in the latter since it’s easier to travel to places on the weekend… I don’t mind traveling home. Traveling to places is a hassle (see canceling plans for a refresher). Also, as a kid, I loved that we could do regular Sunday and Christmas mass on the same day… at the same time. That’s efficiency. Last, there’s a bonus of having Christmas on a Monday. New Year’s Day will also be on a Monday. I’m no longer one for Amateur night on New Year’s Eve, but starting whatever goals you want to tackle in the New Year on a Monday feels good. I have many of them coming up in 2024 - and I want to be up early next Monday. Dall-E: A Hungover Alligator on New Year’s Day But before we can get into 2024 with the Risk Portfolio… Let’s look at the week ahead. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Founding Members]( will lock in their price forever… and get the How-To Guide with the upcoming [Republic Risk Model Portfolio](. This offer is going away this week, and the Republic Risk letter cost will be much higher in 2024. I kept the price cheap so everyone who came over with us from Money Map Press could lock in before 2024. And remember, our podcast will start the first week of January. [You can sign up now.]( [Upgrade to paid]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, December 25, 2023 Event: Christmas Day (Markets are closed). Republic Speak: Look for a special message from us on Monday morning. Tuesday, December 26, 2023 Event: European Auto Numbers Republic Speak: I’m closely monitoring Stellantis (STLA). I know many people don’t care about international markets and geopolitical risk. But since the market bottomed in October 2022 - the bottom of the global liquidity cycle after the British crisis - STLA stock is now up 100% in 14 months. And - it’s still cheap. And it’s something that many people don’t want to buy. However, investors need to purchase these stocks when the bottom falls out. STLA will take another hit during the next negative momentum cycle, but it becomes a buy-and-hold for a few months when things start to rebound and gain. STLA’s EV-EBIT is comically low. Wednesday, December 27, 2023 Event: Nasdaq Short Interest Report Republic Speak: Shorts have had a brutal year. Brutal. They were caught sleeping in October, and an epic squeeze completed the last big cycle, creating a wealth of forced selling. I remind everyone that we’ve correctly called every short-term market move dating back to the start of the November 2021 rate cycle. When our [Equity Strength Signal cycle]( goes positive, shorts need to beware. Meanwhile, heavily shorted stocks have enjoyed an epic rally. Look at Carnival Cruise Line (CCL). Shares traded at $12.50 when our signal went positive on November 6. Shares hit $19.00 on Thursday. That’s a 52% move. Nothing has changed in the fundamentals. This is just pure technical momentum combined with short squeezes. Thursday, December 28, 2023 Event: Pending Home Sales Republic Speak: To be honest with you… I am not paying attention to Pending Home Sales. Aside from my sister’s anniversary and a New York Jets versus Cleveland Browns football game that no one plans to watch, nothing is happening that day. Friday, December 29, 2023 Event: Tesla Quarterly Delivery Numbers Republic Speak: Tesla stock doesn’t do well intraday on the day of quarterly delivery reports. If you’re a day or swing trader, pay close attention to the inverse fund for Tesla (TSLS). It’ll be a quiet week, so enjoy the low volume and stay hungry. I’ll be back tomorrow with Part III of the 1999 series. If [you missed Part 1]( or [Part 2,]( take a read this weekend. These stories answer the question of what has gone wrong in the American economy [over the last 30 years]( [why costs keep rising]( and what you can do about it as an investor to offset the continued demise of the dollar. Stay positive, Garrett {NAME} Secretary of Defense Invite your friends and earn rewards If you enjoy Postcards from the Florida Republic, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe. [Invite Friends](   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2023 Garrett {NAME} 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()