dsmWealth: December 19, 2024

Timepieces to treasure, from the Black Forest to the moon
BY STEVE DINNEN

Fancy a new clock for Christmas? Maybe something about 7 feet tall, with chimes to remind you and the entire household that it’s time for school or dinner or Santa?

For holiday gifts this year, we’re looking at timepieces large and small. You can go big or small at Windsor Clock & Watch Co. in Clive, with a grandfather clock, a mantle or wall clock, or a wristwatch or two. Watches are also a specialty at Josephs Jewelers in West Des Moines, where you can find an impressive lineup from Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer and others.

But back to grandfather clocks. The Howard Miller line is the star at Windsor Clock. This is the Michigan company that spun off decades ago from furniture maker Herman Miller. Howard was Herman’s son, and both of their companies are known for craftsmanship and top-notch woodwork. The Windsor Clock grandfather inventory ranges from around $3,000 to a little more than $7,000. They also carry some Slighs.

Or maybe you’d prefer a cuckoo clock? Windsor Clock offers some precision-made models from Germany’s Black Forest. There’s also an assortment of wall and mantle clocks, especially from Seiko, which can play up to 40 different tunes. (Take that, cuckoo.)

Windsor Clock sells wristwatches, too. Owner Jeff Goemann showed off some Swiss-made Balls, which he said compete with Omega. They also have a good range of Tissots, another respected Swiss brand.

For a true Omega experience you can venture to Josephs. They have a special kiosk in a corner of the store that showcases dozens of Omegas. President Jake Joseph said Omega regularly rolls out new designs, which keeps collectors coming back. Omega offers models inspired by James Bond, for example, and the Olympics. The classic Speedmaster Moonwatch replicates the original versions the astronauts wore when they landed on the moon in 1969. Prices run as high as $30,000 to $40,000; Joseph said the more popular models are in the $8,000-$10,000 range.

The next case is for Rolex. These are harder to come by, as the supply chain for Rolex parts got gummed up during Covid and has forced the company to put retailers on allocation. You can still try on some exhibition models and then place an order if you find one you like.

While clocks tend to be a couples buy, Joseph said most wristwatches are purchased by or for men.

On Wall Street, watch out for the dogs and cats
BY STEVE DINNEN

Dogs of the Dow: Heel! Make way for the “dead cat bounce.”

The investing community is forever finding new ways to size up stock prospects. Two such perspectives are named for household pets, even though their namesakes couldn’t care less. But the New York research firm Wolfe Research suggests there may be some “dead cat” opportunities.

The bluntly named theory goes like this: If a dead cat were thrown from a sufficient height, it would bounce on the ground, even just a little. On Wall Street, if a stock has fallen so much, so quickly, it might just get a little lift at the end.

When some stocks are left for dead, they tend to surge in the final two weeks of December and in early January, according to Wolfe Research.

These stocks often face additional selling pressure in September and October from large investors unloading shares to register losses they can use to offset capital gains in their portfolios. Around the new year, the same funds frequently buy the same stocks back, giving their share prices a temporary lift.

By way of example, Wolfe Research pointed at Intel (down 62% year to date), Walgreens Boots Alliance (down 62%) and Moderna (down 57%) as “dead cat” candidates. Walgreens has performed so badly it’s even described as a “dog of the Dow,” a ranking of Dow Jones traded companies that have fallen but pay nice dividends and may bounce back.

Joining Moderna in this corporate canine lineup are giants such as IBM, Biogen, Coca-Cola and Verizon. IBM has notched a respectable 39% upside return so far this year, but the rest of the dogs are still in the doghouse.

Best investing moves to make before the end of the year
BY JEFF REEVES FOR KIPLINGER

Depending on their circumstances, each individual has a different list of the best investing moves to make before the end of the year. But there are a few broad categories of actions that make sense for most folks.

These general tips include making sure your portfolio is diversified and that you're making the best decisions to maximize your tax efficiency and long-term returns for your portfolio.

Every investor has a different risk tolerance, so you should always make the best decisions for your unique situation. But the following end-of-year investing moves are a good place to start.

Tax-loss harvesting

Tax-loss harvesting is a fancy term for intentionally selling an investment at a loss to offset the taxes you'd pay on gains in other more profitable investments.

The U.S. tax code is incredibly complicated, and it would take a separate article or two to fully explain it. But in a nutshell, capital gains taxes on investments held for less that 12 months typically correspond to your normal income tax rate – which can be as high as 37%. That can really eat into your profits if you're paying Uncle Sam more than a third of what you've gained.

However, it's all about net profits. So if you make $8,000 on a short-term investment but lock in $4,000 in losses in another asset you were planning on selling anyway, you only pay taxes on the $4,000 that's not offset. What's more, if your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 in net losses from your total annual income.
It may sound counterintuitive, but selling a losing stock position is an important year-end tool for investors when it comes to reducing tax burdens.

READ MORE about two other end-of-year investing moves: rebalancing your portfolio and considering annual limits.

What if charity shouldn't be optimized?

BY EMMA GOLDBERG FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Equipped with tools to measure our calories, steps, working hours, wasted hours, water intake and sleep cycles, we have now been exhorted to measure our charitable impact, too. Books, podcasts, TikToks and digital guides implore us to donate our money cautiously, rationally, to the charities that promise to make a dollar go the furthest it can. Holiday season giving can start to feel a little like sports betting: It doesn’t matter if you’re loyal to a scrappy local team — the data can tell you exactly where your money should go.

This is not how I thought about charity when I was growing up. I remember my childhood neighbor declaring that when he rode the subway he sometimes found himself spending more than he would on a cab, because he did not believe in toughening his heart toward people asking for change. This seemed like an approach that made up for impracticality with grace: When someone in front of you says they need help, do not look away.

What is the right way to give away money, anyway? The debate has been fomented partly by a group of billionaires — most prominently the Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna — whose approach to charity argues, essentially, that you do not get to feel good for having done anything at all. People should give wherever their money is most needed and most likely to yield the biggest effects.

Mr. Moskowitz and Ms. Tuna are among the Silicon Valley billionaires who have embraced the philosophical movement known as effective altruism, a worldview that focuses on optimizing good. Elon Musk, a founder of Tesla and SpaceX, said effective altruist thinking closely aligned with his views. The co-founder of Skype, Jaan Tallinn, also supported the movement, and former board members of OpenAI had ties to it as well. …

There is nothing wrong, of course, with wanting to do the most good possible. But it’s also worth asking if some charity should be reserved for causes outside optimization — extending the deepest sources of meaning in our own lives toward others and strengthening the communities we're a part of. We may consider whether there’s really a one-size-fits-all template to answer a question that’s as old as scripture and as ever-shifting as global news. Surrounded by problems that need attention, how should a person try to do good?

READ MORE