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The numbers, however, whisper a secret. Over the past half-century, those companies in the S&P 500 who generously increased their payouts have enjoyed a rather respectable 10.2% annual return. Those who merely sat on their coffers, hoarding capital like misers, managed a paltry 6.8%. It seems even Wall Street understands the virtue of sharing, at least a little. And those who were a bit more generous with their cash tended to do better than the stingy ones. A lesson for us all, perhaps.

IEI’s a neat package, slightly pricier but offering a bit more juice. MUB? It’s the heavyweight. Forty-two billion in assets. That’s a lot of paper, and paper, my friend, has a way of talking back. It means broader diversification, but also a slower ship to turn.

The company, naturally, presents itself as a pioneer. However, a cursory examination reveals a rather familiar tableau: a collection of existing technologies – voice recognition, large language models, the usual suspects – assembled with a commendable, though not entirely original, ingenuity. It is, one suspects, a venture built more upon aspiration than upon any truly unassailable competitive advantage. The problem, as always, is not what they are doing, but how they intend to sustain it.

The Gates Foundation, a labyrinthine structure dedicated to ameliorating the world’s afflictions, does not, as one might expect, scatter its resources like seeds upon the wind. Rather, it concentrates them, as a scholar might collect fragments of a lost text, seeking to reconstruct a coherent narrative. Approximately 59% of its marketable equities—a figure that invites contemplation—are held in but three concerns. This is not a strategy of hedging against risk, but a deliberate embrace of a limited, yet carefully chosen, universe.

They claim they’re building a “full-stack quantum platform.” A “vertically integrated” solution. What does that even mean? It sounds like marketing jargon designed to distract you from the fact that nobody actually understands what’s going on. And now they’re just… acquiring companies left and right. Skyloom. Lightsynq. SkyWater Technology. It’s like they’re playing a game of corporate Monopoly. They’re buying up everything in sight, hoping something sticks. And the names! Skyloom? It sounds like a cleaning product.

The concerns, as near as I can tell, revolve around the streaming business not quite exploding upwards at the rate some had hoped. It’s growing, mind you, but not at the hockey-stick trajectory that seems to be the expectation for everything these days. And the traditional television business, well, that’s facing the same headwinds as everyone else in that realm – namely, people are finding other things to do with their evenings. Frankly, I’m rather pleased; more time for reading. But the parks and cruise lines, bless their cheerfully expensive hearts, are still doing rather splendidly. It’s a curious thing, human beings and their willingness to queue for hours for a slightly elevated view of a cartoon mouse.

IJJ is the slightly cheaper option, which is good news if you’re the type who gets hives thinking about fees. It also throws off a marginally better dividend yield. Because, let’s be honest, we’re all just chasing that passive income dream, right?

Let’s briefly examine the details, shall we? It’s never wise to be entirely swept away by enthusiasm, however justified.