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Gone Fishin’…

By Rick Ackerman Posted on May 31, 2026, 5:00 pm EDT Last Updated May 30, 2026, 4:15 pm EDT

I’m taking a break from the daunting challenge of predicting the stock market’s behavior each week as though it were correlated rationally and logically with events in the real world. My weekly commentaries will resume when I am feeling better up to the task.  In the meantime, if you need a regular dose of Rick’s Picks, don’t pass up a free opportunity to use and enjoy all of the site’s amenities, including the Trading Room, the heart and soul of my service. Its purpose is to help investors make money, a goal it achieves so consistently that gifted traders from around the world like to hang out there. The photo above shows Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall and a good metaphor for my outlook on the stock market.  Finally, here’s a link to my latest rant at This Week in Money.

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  • Richard Charles May 11, 2026, 1:26 pm

    As Project Freedom tries to sheath Epic Fury in the Persian Gulf, we recall Persia, one of the largest, oldest and proudest civilization empires from Africa to the Balkans and Central Asia, was conquered by young Alexander two centuries after Cyrus liberated the Jews from Babylon and Rebuilt the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
    Persians long took pride in their architecture, arts, chess, language, poetry, post office and military industrial complex. Militant Persian Shia Muslims were relative parvenu’s for having replaced Manichaean Zorastrianism, long considered one of the four great religions, by force.
    Persian friends intensely deny being Arabs, who Genesis 16:12 characterized of Ishmael,
    “He will be as free and wild as an untamed donkey.
    He will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him.
    He will have conflicts with all his relatives.”
    So despite appearances of a 12th Hidden Imam still running a country whose leadership was erased in 60 seconds, we may well consider reports of Twelver Shia terroists still calling Iran missile shots Greatly Exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain.
    So if common sense still prevails, we may consider the Iran Lion so much chopped suey papier mache’ like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other US invasions.
    If so, that may well explain why no one who predicted the end of this bull market profited.
    Happy Fishing.
    Son’s boat caught a four foot Mackinaw Lake Trout just offshore Lake Tahoe.

    &&&&

    Seems Genesis hit the nail on squarely the head, Richard. If you’d like to submit one of these pithy mini-essays each week, or even every other week, I’d be thrilled to designate you as my editorial department. Concerning the fish, that’s like Galapagos losing a 400-year-old turtle as rare as a Yoda. RA

    Reply
    • Richard Charles May 11, 2026, 7:29 pm

      Rick, seems ma nature likes to catch us with our pants down.
      The last time we caught a Mac anywhere near this weight class was offshore Crystal Bay which runs Cobalt down a 45 degree slope to a 1650 foot deep fault where temps hold a perpetual 39 degrees and pressures run 50 atmospheres. So I have a lot of resepct for the Macs caught below 200 feet down. This one was snagged somewhere in between on a little girl’s four foot plastic play rod with the grandaddy of all bird’s nests. While we worked feverishly clear the reel to wind him in, he was content to slowly depressurize and adjust to the light. Mighty tasty later that night. Girl didn’t even cry. She was thrilled to hook the biggest Mac by crook and be the center of attention. Maybe an influencer now.
      Another time we were walking West Shore Beach on Christmas Day minding our own business when a deflating exhausted fish presented himself as several night’s winter entrees. Love that Fresh Lake Trout.
      But the absolute desperate alert was this past week when a San Francisco visitor reeled the titanic Mac in a rowboat with less than 100 feet of water, grinned and photographed him from extended arm to arm, then somehow threw him back in, saying he had heard they are oily. Absolutely Not. Lighter pink flesh than Salmon or Steelhead. Delicious with Bechamel Sauce. A number of Lakeside Restaurant are only to pleased to prep and cook in return for shared creel. So now of course this fellow wants to fish every weekend for the trophy he threw away. It’s a big lake and he’s not in it.
      The funny thing is Macs are not even native to Tahoe, although some giants hide in Donner Lake here, Flaming Gorge, Flathead Lake Montana where Leah Banyi caught 312 fish in two months of Mack Days, with a total of 40,362 in 2019. Also Geneva Finger Lakes, The Great Lakes, Great Bear Lake, Yellowstone Lake. Macs were introduced by Tahoe Fish and Game to fix a problem caused by fish and game introducing Mysis microshrimp to increase various endemic Trout populations after Cuthroat Trout were fished out to New York City restaurants. Neither the Trout in 1960 nor the later Mackinaw had a taste for the itty bitty shrimp, so now the theory is the Microshrimp ate all the zooplankton that kept the lake clear to 100 feet. Plus Locals observed nano desert sand thrown on snowy highways going into Lake suspension, with various clams changing the pH.
      Better stick with Mac.

      Reply
      • Rick Ackerman May 12, 2026, 9:01 am

        Thanks for the rundown, Richard. I haven’t kept up with Tahoe water-quality science and politics since I moved from California in 1999. I know Crystal Bay well, though, and I was married on the North Shore not by a rabbi, but by, seemingly, the High Priestess of Zog. I have a sentimental attachment to the Tahoe Basin that has lingered, but I am scared to ask what has become of it, even under the watchful eye of some billionaire stakeholders.

      • Richard Charles May 13, 2026, 3:30 pm

        Billionaires booming at Tahoe Nevada on 5% CA Billionaire Tax.
        Larry Ellison flipped Sam and Frank’s Cal-Neva with the Marilyn Kennedy tunnels to Hyatt Tahoe where GOOGL long met for beach summer frolic. https://www.thunderbirdtahoe.org/
        LE closed down the lakeside Lone Eagle Grill after 30 storied years, perhaps known as King’s Castle when the Wiccans melded you married: duck://player/09oumdE0UFI Simply no substitute for The Wisdom of The Tribe.
        Tahoe billionaires are blessed with four seasons with Mark Twain’s description as “the fairest picture the whole earth affords,” this after he burned down his 40 acre timber claimstake with his campfire: https://ghostoftwain.com/
        Miami Billionaires brave humidity, hurricanes and air/sea/land traffic jams with snipers.
        Dear Abby pops up on Murdoch’s NY Post Page Six from time to time, including new California Edition: https://nypost.com/2026/05/13/lifestyle/dear-abby-my-teenage-granddaughter-is-being-encouraged-to-chug-beer-with-her-stepdad/
        Alexander Hamilton’s Gracie Mansion paper unprofitable since Mr Murdoch bought it in 1976,
        despite headlines like ‘Headless Body in a Topless Bar.’ President no longer feels NYP MAGA since Lachlan took it over, as he threatens NATO Tariffs, Operation Sledge Hammer over Hormuz Fissile and tests bladder control with Xi and The Post demurs.
        Covid-19 Politics put end to middle and working class Tahoe. When remote working was decreed safer, million dollar homes and Silicon Valley stock option plans stampeded North to pile up on and close snowy freeways for the first time in memory at a cost of $7,000,000 per hour, livestock included.
        Gross Outlet, In-N-Out, Sprouts and Trader Joes jumped in to the maelstrom. While City high-rise commercial properties took 90% haircuts. As real estate prices rolled over from AI demand destruction for a third year, the jury is still out on middle-tier prices while the high fliers get all the headlines.

    • Richard Charles May 11, 2026, 8:25 pm

      Dear Abbey
      I am being haunted by a 17 year old bull market that does not seem to want to go down.
      The last time I had such a nauseating experience was as a new broker at Mother Merrill.
      We were all taught that low P/E stocks did better than others over the long run.
      We were taught that the market fluctuates and no one but a liar can forecast it.
      We were given a financial engineering tool to smooth out those pesky fluctuations to increase returns twice money market rates.
      So from 1976 to 2008 we bought and sold options. We watched our equity shrink as out of the money options expired worthless and profitable in the money stocks married to options were called away to our dismay.
      One company salesman went though four books of clients. Some brokers even founded self-help groups like Big Boys that made a meal, party or trip out of losing. With few exceptions, these big boyz were mortally wounded in crashes, divorce, bankruptcy or other karma I was sorry to see.
      No wonder every year half the masters of the universe left the business, colleagues, families and friends for parts unknown. Those were exhilirating times to be sure for masochists.
      So imagine my surprise after much pain and suffering and lost humanity when I simply gave up. I decided not to buy, trade or sell, just sit on it.
      I held a portfolio of the weakest stocks and a portfolio of the strongest stocks. Both started doubling and then I had another problem.
      Surely no tree grows to the sky.
      Should I sell ?
      When?
      I have watched expert after expert hoist on their own sell petard in this 17 year Bull market, really 50 years, half a lifetime.
      So I am open to somebody like you, Abbey, who really knows when to sell.

      Reply
    • Richard Charles May 18, 2026, 9:16 am

      Compost or Combust ?
      At some point many of us may make the choice, Jessica Mitford’s The Great American Way of Death with caskets, lying in state, brass bands and 21 gun salutes or casual crematorium. A friend insists he heard his 103 year-old deceased mother screaming at the exact time she went into the oven. Recently there have been some variations on these two themes, composting, or the tried and true Ganges Padma Water Treatment augmented by Funeral Pyre. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57154564.
      Soylent Green may be the alternative. The Great Market Maker and his fans face similar. Reasonable composted compound growth continuing beyond great expectations and fears or overheated over-stimmed mixed economy markets burning themselves up upon re-entry.
      Then there are always the lower probability glacial ice age or solar supernova superplasma choices out of most awarenesses at this current time.
      Right now some interesting long term market targets are VGT + 59 % from 112.18 to 178.13, $TNX + 20 % from 4.564% to 5.5%, $WTIC +118% from 102.658 to 224.07, VGPMX +41% from 23.22 to 32.66 plus a 3 % recent dividend.
      Regards,Rich

      Reply
      • Richard Charles May 27, 2026, 3:08 pm

        Hump Day
        Dumpty ?
        So many Wall Street Firms that have been wrong about this market still calling for a correction or bear market.
        Market continues to climb the proverbial wall of worry until further notice.

        Long-term portfolio idea:
        VDE Target + 102% + 2.4% Dvd
        VGT Target + 60% + .33% Dvd
        VGPMX Target +37% + 3.36% Dvd

        Regards,Rich
        VGPMX Target

    • Richard Charles May 18, 2026, 9:22 am

      Honorable mention
      GOOGL Target + 87% from 393.18 to 736.58

      Reply
      • Richard Charles May 27, 2026, 4:09 pm

        Hall of Flamers
        (Predictions hard, especially re future events.)

        Joseph Schumpeter described him as “The greatest economist the United States ever produced”, an assessment later repeated by Novel Laureates James Tobin and Milton Friedman. He was a member of all the right clubs, Editor Yale Review, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, President of American Economic Association, American Philosophical Society, Ambassador Post Master Ben Franklin and Bank of New York and NY Post Founder Alexander Hamilton’s , American Mathematical Society, President of Econometric Society…

        Herewith some of his most timely quotes:
        Nine days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, this famous Yale economist told the Harvard Economic Club, that the stock market had reached “a permanently high plateau…I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from present levels, such as (bears) have predicted. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher within a few months…

        Four years later, atheist son of a minister, reprised Biblical Debt Jubilee Forgiveness as Debt Default Deflation:
        Leviticus 25:10
        Set apart the fiftieth year as holy, and proclaim liberty to everyone living in the land. This is your jubilee year. Every slave will be freed in order to return to his property and to his family.

        Perhaps his most compelling theory: Our society will always remain an unstable and explosive compound as long as political power is vested in the masses and economic power in the classes. In the end one of these powers will rule. Either the plutocracy will buy up the democracy, or the democracy will vote away the plutocracy….

        Many think our corporate government today fights for survival by attacking MAGA T and printing accelerating Mega fiat debt without lasting real value. But how long can America First Economics push on a string ?

        Hence the growing interest in Gresham’s Law, Bad Money Drives out Good, dating from Aristophanes winning comedy, The Frogs, premiered in 405 BC after Athens First surrendered to the Peloponnesian War:

        It has often struck our notice that the course our city runs
        Is the same towards men and money. She has true and worthy sons:
        She has good and ancient silver, she has good and recent gold.
        These are coins untouched with alloys; everywhere their fame is told;
        Not all Hellas holds their equal, not all Barbary far and near.
        Gold or silver, each well minted, tested each and ringing clear.
        Yet, we never use them! Others always pass from hand to hand.
        Sorry brass just struck last week and branded with a wretched brand.
        So with men we know for upright, blameless lives and noble names.
        Trained in music and palaestra, freemen’s choirs and freemen’s games,
        These we spurn for men of brass…

    • Richard Charles May 18, 2026, 1:08 pm

      VIX Target – 80 % from 19.44 to 3.88
      Not a typo

      Reply
    • Richard Charles May 18, 2026, 1:40 pm

      VDE Target + 101%
      from 166.575 to 333.9
      + 2.33% Dividend
      .0009 Fee
      $10.5 B AUM

      https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vde

      Reply
      • Richard Charles May 27, 2026, 2:53 pm

        Additional target details

        VGPMX Global Capital Cycles (Value) Fund Target +37% + 3.36% Dvd Grew at 148%
        https://stockanalysis.com/quote/mutf/VGPMX/dividend/
        AUM $3.9 B
        Management Fee .44%
        25% Precious Metals and Mining Shares
        Managed by 1928 Wellington Boston since 2018
        https://workplace.vanguard.com/assets/corp/fund_communications/pdf_publish/us-products/fact-sheet/F0053.pdf

        VGT Vanguard Information Technology (Growth) ETF Target + 60% + .33% Dvd
        AUM $144.2 B
        Expense Ratio .0009%
        https://workplace.vanguard.com/assets/corp/fund_communications/pdf_publish/us-products/fact-sheet/F0958.pdf

      • Richard Charles May 30, 2026, 3:08 pm

        Can we Invest Like The President ?

        All presidents since 1929 were millionaires, many after they took office.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_net_worth

        A third of Truman’s net worth was stolen from his expense account during his first term.

        So who were the richest presidents ?

        That would be Donald J Trump, millionaire from his father’s allowance by 8, recently worth some $6.5 B, making him the 645th wealthiest person in the world according to Forbes, despite 4000 lawsuits, six bankruptcies, two impeachments and three marriages.

        The father of our country, Commander in Chief George Washington, Master Mason worth $539 Million with 58,000 acres, 577 slaves freed after his death, Spanish breeding mules, the largest distiller in the Colonies, was number two.

        So how can we invest like the President ? Do we really want to ?

        Since Department of Justice policy is not to prosecute sitting presidents, a Stay out of Jail Card is a valuable asset for Insider Trading that blurs boundaries between corporations and government players for potential profit.

        How to make a small fortune. Start with a large one and cut corners ?

        While the jury is not out on all presidential investment performance, an instructive polite observation might be that not all Political Plunges work out.

        1. Trump University (2004-2010)
        2. Trump: The Game (1989, 2005)
        3. Trump Vodka (2006-2011)
        4. Trump Airlines (1989-1992)
        5. Trump Steaks (2007)
        6. GoTrump.com (2006-2007)
        7. Trump Mortgages (2006-2007)
        8. Trump Ice (2004-2010)
        9. Trump Magazine (2007-2009)
        10. Trump Tower Tampa (2006-2007)
        11. Trump SoHo Hotel (2008-2017)
        12. Trump Taj Mahal (1990-2016)
        13. Trump Marina (originally Trump’s Castle)
        14. Trump’s World Fair at Trump Plaza
        15. Trump Baku Hotel (Never opened)
        16. Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1984-2014)
        17. Trump International Hotel and Tower Dubai (Never realized)
        18. Trump International Hotel and Tower New Orleans (Never realized)
        19. Trump Tower Palm Beach (Never realized)
        20. Trump Tower Charlotte (Never realized)
        21. Trump Institute
        22. Professional Football and Social Media Forays
        23. Trump Foundation (1988-2018)
        24. Trump Winery (2011-)
        25. Trump Cologne (2004-2015)
        26. Truth Social
        27. Trump Meme Coins

        So what must we learn to earn ?

        A. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

        B. “The paid fake news folks tell us to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears. Their final, most existential command.”

        C. “Reality exists in the mind, and nowhere else, Artificial Intelligence included.”

        D. “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in our minds simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

        E. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

        By now some of us recognize the liberating work of Eric Arthur Blair in 1984.

        Next time we take a chance, no hyperventilating, an occasional corollary of TDS.

        Bon courage.

        Rich


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