#12 - Honeymoon in Spain - Edition #2

This week I come from our second stop on our trip from one of Spain’s beautiful Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Mallorca. Staying in Cala Major, a bit outside Palma, definitely felt like a slower pace. The island has it all with vast beaches, cities, mountains, and countryside. No wonder it’s a massive tourist location for the E.U. (with almost 80 million + people coming a year).

In this Gazette I will cover the current state of tourism, tech giant’s super yachts, why internet & data access is set to change, and of course a recap of the Freedom Fund for the month of June. Reflecting on our trip to Spain, my wife (Lucy) and I thoroughly enjoyed the architecture, category specific stores & restaurants, making small talk with locals, and a slower pace of life in Madrid & Mallorca.

No wonder there has been a lot of recent news about Europeans being mad that American tourist are flooding their countries. Spain felt like a very safe country with lots of police presence, very little homelessness (compared to the United States), and they are much more micro-plastic conscious with having a majority of their bottles in glass versus plastic. In general, I thought the cost of everything was very comparable to America as we stayed in larger population areas.

Weekly Big 3

• Europeans Want American Tourist to Stay Home

  • American Tourism is Booming across Europe due to the Olympics, Taylor Swifts Tour, and the trending Mediterranean social media post craze. In the first 5 months of 2024, there has been a 7% YOY increase of American trips planned to Europe compared to 2023 according to air traffic control data reported by the International Trade Administration.

  • This impact is frustrating the local community and has led to protests in Mallorca due to higher cost of living for locals.

  • Barcelona plans to ban short term rentals by 2029 for 10,000 registered rentals to help boost housing supply for locals and combat rising rent costs.

• Bezos and Zuckerberg Debut New Super Yachts in Mediterranean

  • Mark Zuckerberg “secretly” debuts his $300m yacht called Launchpad in Mallorca over Father’s Day weekend. Turning off mandatory transponders on the ship’s trek was definitely a contentious topic to locals. We just missed seeing Launchpad in the Palma port by 4 days. Sort of rattled Zuck didn’t drop me an invite for a day onboard 😔

  • Jeff Bezos was also spotted bouncing around the sea this spring with stops in Mallorca and Greece. His $500m ship named Koku costs nearly $25m per year just to run & maintain it.

  • According to the National Office of Coastal Management, the 2021 marine sector for US lakes and oceans provided 2.3m jobs and generated $730b in sales. As the American population continues to rise so will professional, government/military, and leisure marine activities.

• SpaceEx Announces StarLink Mini

  • StarLink Mini is a more portable kit compared to the standard StarLink set up starting at $599, and it’s small enough to fit in a backpack. The standard kit is marketed as more of an “at home” solution.

  • StarLink is the first low orbit satellite constellation that aims to deliver high-speed internet broadband. This gives end users the ability to own their own hardware and just subscribe monthly for service. Right now, monthly service costs range from $120-$150, but over time these rates should become more competitive.

  • If SpaceEx ever goes public I will jump at adding shares for the long haul. Even though the company promotes its rockets more, I think StarLink will make the TDS/Charters/AT&T’s of the world become extinct at some point in time.

June Freedom Fund Recap

• Portfolio Value: $14,089.44

• June Dividends: $29.64

• June Positions Bought: $APLE, $SCHB, $SHOP, $WM, $PLTR, $BCX, $MSFT

• Total Return Since Inception (w/ Dividends): 6.86%

  • The portfolio has been held back by my REIT positions that currently make up 39% of the fund. This was sort of by design over the past year as 2023 & 2024 have been a rough patch for commercial real estate and REIT performance is generally down.

  • When rates increased and REITs began to dip in 2023 I saw it as a good time to get in so I began adding REITs weekly. Generally, REITs have returned 7-10% per year and do well when stocks struggle. This all plays into me wanting to build a resistant portfolio when stocks aren’t ripping like they have been.

  • Keep in mind when you begin your own investment portfolio the early swings of the market will impact the total return much more than it will 5, 10, 15 years down the road.

• 6/28/24 - Friday Freedom Fund Purchase:

  • 2 shares of Palantir Technologies $PLTR

    • Last week Starlab Space announced that they will partner with Palantir as their exclusive provider of enterprise software for data management.

    • This week ARPA-A entered a $19M contract with $PLTR.

    • Surgence enters into a partnership with Mayo Clinic to innovate their healthcare supply change.

      • This is an indirect partnership for $PLTR with Mayo as they helped Concordance Healthcare Solutions uses $PLTR’s Foundry to help create solutions and serve their clients.

    • $PLTR and Voyager Space also informed everyone of a partnership on Thursday as well.

  • 2 shares of Shopify $SHOP

    • This week Target teamed up with Shopify to allow merchants on Shopify to sell on Target Plus.

    • The company rolled out their AI “SideKick” for merchants to use (essentially their in-house ChatGPT for merchants).

    • I still believe this is a great short term & long term play and plan to continue to add long positions. But I continue to read of many retail traders placing call and setting sell targets for short term swings.

  • And a slice of Microsoft $MSFT. Anytime I have some funds leftover after a purchase I use Charles Schwabs slice feature into companies like $MSFT, $WM, $AXP.

Freedom Fund Background: I created the Freedom Fund as a public brokerage account back in October of 2022 to share that anyone with a social security # and a bank account can begin their investing journey by investing a couple hundred dollars a week. I post on X (@GrahamInvesting) public updates about my $100-$200 weekly purchases, exits, dividends, and growth of the fund if you want to follow in real time. The biggest obstacle people have to investing is just getting started so I decided to start a new account at $0 to start from nothing with you.

The purpose of Graham’s Gazette and my social account @GrahamInvesting is to help others get started and stay consistent on their own personal, professional, and financial journey. I appreciate the time you take in reading & interacting with me and look forward to growing together.

Thanks for investing your time reading this.

-Graham (@GrahamInvesting)

Disclaimer: Graham’s Gazette provides information and resources related to investing, financial topics, and personal growth for educational and entertainment purposes only. The content presented is not intended to be construed as financial advice. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with qualified professionals before making any financial decisions. Graham’s Gazette and its creators do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided nor do they guarantee any specific results from such use of information.