First, the reminder:
PLEASE click on the tiny “Read on blog” link or the post title itself in the email notifying you of a new post. Thanks.
A recent conversation with a very good friend led me to gather data on per capita GDP and price level for each state. By itself, GDP can be misleading depending on the price level. If one jurisdiction has a per capita GDP one percent higher than another, but prices are ten percent higher, which place has an economy better for more people?
I simply calculated per capita state GDP and divided that by each state’s PPP, or purchasing price parity–a measure of its average price level, to create a price-adjusted per capita GDP. (The difference in price level between the state with the highest prices [California] and the state with the lowest [Arkansas] is 30 percent.) Here are the top and bottom five in price-adjusted per capita GDP:
1. North Dakota; The difference between North Dakota and the Number Two state was greater than the difference between the Number Two state and the Number Ten state.
2. Delaware
3. Nebraska
4. New York
5. Wyoming
50. Mississippi
49. West Virginia
48. Maine
47. South Carolina
46. Vermont
Texas ranked 11th while California ranked 15th. In case you were curious, South Dakota ranked 8th. Between 2010 and 2020 North Dakota had the fourth highest percentage growth rate in state population (15.8%), but it’s usually easier to grow at a higher percentage from a relatively low starting point.
You can draw your own conclusions, but some are obvious to me. To paraphrase Shakespeare, there is nothing good or bad but context makes it so.
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OK, demographics/economics lesson over…it should come as no surprise that Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is now one of the ten richest people in the world, according to Forbes. Five years ago, NVDA traded at about $5/share after adjusting for splits. Yesterday, it closed at almost $144/share.
Huang used to be a waiter and a busboy at Denny’s. Again, 80 PERCENT of American millionaires earned their wealth and did NOT inherit it.
My wonderful wife and I have violated one of my rules about investing: never attempt to take a second bite out of the apple. Our first NVDA investment grew by 3.5x in 22 months. I sold the position and the gain was quite large. (Bulls make money, bears make money but pigs get slaughtered.)
As I kept watching the stock, something else I try not to do with a stock I/we no longer own, I just couldn’t help think it had more upside. I got back in just before the 10-for-1 stock split in late May; my wonderful wife wanted to wait until after. The price of NVDA stock has increased 51 percent since the split.
No, I am not recommending that everyone reading this should invest in NVDA stock. Technically, I think that’s illegal as my FINRA licenses are long expired and I don’t think I had the “right” license to recommend any securities, anyway.
I wanted to reiterate that almost no one gains financial independence by working for someone else 40 hours a week and putting away a few dollars a month in a bank savings account. Amassing some wealth requires work and sacrifice, two endeavors to which too many Americans seem allergic.
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I took this picture this morning on the way back from getting breakfast for me and my wonderful wife. Yes, I was completely stopped at a Stop sign and no other car was anywhere to be seen.
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It should surprise no one that I recently purchased this book.
OK, what about the towel…one of my medical conditions means I am more comfortable sitting on something that gives me a little more support, like a folded small towel. I have only glanced through the book so far.
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Originally I was going to turn today’s post into a link dump as I have quite a few article links in my email inbox. Here are some:
My opinion of Paul McCartney has improved dramatically.
A group of researchers found living bacteria in rocks that are TWO BILLION years old.
A couple of links to automotive stories will be shared in the next day or two. Thanks for reading; please feel free to click on any or all links to other pieces on the Internet. I only link to secure sites with URLs that begin with https.
#NorthDakotaEconomicPowerhouse
#Nvidia