San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
SHOULD THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO HAVE SUSPENDED PARKING VIOLATIONS FOR ANOTHER MONTH?
The city should act to ease the hardship from COVID on San Diegans wherever feasible. Suspending parking enforcement early in the pandemic when many businesses were closed was a reasonable step. Continuing the suspension of parking enforcement for street sweeping in residential areas seems sensible. However, as some local businesses expand indoor operations, the enforcement of metered and time-limited parking would contribute toward their success. Other California cities have resumed more types of enforcement.
San Diego State University
The meters are a nuisance and burden, but they perform an important social function. They help make sure that scarce parking spaces are used only for short-term parking. This is important for merchants who need their customers to have ready access. The pandemic has eroded many of the city’s other sources of funding. I would recommend going back to enforcing normal parking regulations and fees.
UC San Diego
NO NO
Extending metered parking and violation suspension is not good business. Given the Covid-19inflicted budget crunch, increasing possible revenue is essential. Meter collections and violations bring in cash. Fee parking is located mostly in business, retail and entertainment corridors. With these reopening, parking enforcement should be reinstated, too. This will help the city’s general fund, which gets the majority of fees and reinstates community benefit through parking district revenue.
Jacobs Center or Neighborhood Innovation
If other jurisdictions are resuming enforcement, then the city should consider doing the same. It has been a nice gesture to suspend violations during the last several months but as more people return to work and school, parking will become an issue for both residents and businesses. Because of the prolonged suspension, the city should begin to adequately notify drivers when enforcement will be recommencing so drivers can plan accordingly to avoid being ticketed.
Intellisolutions
NO NO Snack on this stock
If you’re looking for a resilient investment during this pandemic, consider Pepsico (NASDAQ: PEP). It’s not simply a beverage company, as many people assume; it also owns the Frito-lay family of snacks and the Quaker Foods business. In fiscal 2019, Pepsico generated 46 percent of its revenue from beverages and 54 percent from foods. It’s also very much a global company, with 42 percent of revenue coming from outside the U.S. in fiscal 2019.
To grasp just how dominant Pepsico is in the food and beverage business, check out some of its brands: Pepsicola, Lay’s, Doritos, Aquafina, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Pure Leaf, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Brisk, Smartfood, Ruffles, Cheetos, Fritos, Tostitos, Rold Gold, Funyuns, Life cereal, Cracker Jack, Rice-a-roni, Sierra Mist, 7UP, Naked, Near East, and Walkers. Fully 23 of its brands each generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
Pepsico isn’t resting on its laurels. It’s boosting its popular energy-drink offerings, and it’s building a direct-toconsumer revenue channel via its Pantryshop.com and Snacks.com websites.
Pepsico’s dividend recently yielded almost 3 percent, and that payout has been increased annually for 48 consecutive years. (The most recent increase was 7 percent.) The company’s market value was recently around $190 billion, and its forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was recently in the mid-20s; these suggest that it’s not a screaming bargain, but it’s not wildly overpriced, either.
What’s your investing strategy?
For best results when investing, don’t just buy or sell whatever you fancy on a whim, following hot tips, hunches, media mentions or your emotions. Instead, read up on investing, consider your situation, develop a strategy and then stick to it.
Begin by learning about various investments so that you understand their risks and possible returns. (The “Investing Basics” drop-down menu at Fool.com is a good place to start.) For example, stocks tend to be more volatile than bonds, but they outperform bonds handily over long periods. And you shouldn’t expect more than an average annual growth rate of 8 percent to 10 percent in stocks over the long term, though higher (or lower) rates are possible over shorter periods. Read up on great investors, too, and learn about different investing styles, such as growth investing and value investing.
Think about these questions as you mull how you want to invest:
What’s your investing time frame? When you buy stocks, you should only invest money you won’t need for five years or more.
How involved will you be? If you’re going to learn to study stocks and then follow your holdings regularly, great. If not, consider simple, low-fee, broad-market index funds, such as those that track the S&P 500 or the entire stock market.
How risk-tolerant are you? Bank accounts and certificates of deposit (CDS) are low-risk, but they won’t grow your money briskly; they may not even outpace inflation. Stocks are riskier, but some less so than others, and sticking with solid, established, dividend-paying companies can lower your risk.
How will you invest? Will you use dollar-cost averaging, contributing a set amount regularly to one or more investments? Will you favor large blue-chip companies, or look for smaller and possibly faster-growing ones? Will you diversify across different industries and different kinds of companies? Will you look for undervalued stocks? How many stocks will you aim to own?
Low or high-priced stock?
Q:
As a new investor, I wonder: Is it better to buy stocks under $20 per share, like Fitbit, or higher-priced stocks such as Sherwin-williams (recently near $680 per share), that have been around longer and have good track records? It seems you could buy a lot more shares in lowerpriced stocks and make more money. — John S., online
A:
You need to separate the price of the stock from the rest of your thinking. The price doesn’t matter all that much — unless it’s below around $5 per share, in which case you’re probably looking at a risky “penny stock.” Understand that huge, old companies can have low share prices: Wells Fargo stock was recently near $25. Younger companies can have high share prices: Amazon.com shares were recently near $3,300 apiece.
Furthermore, a $20 stock may be grossly overvalued and likely to fall, while a $300 stock may be a great bargain, destined to hit $900 in a few years and $2,000 after that. Focus on each company’s fundamentals; study it to determine if it’s healthy and growing, and if it’s trading at a reasonable, or even low, price. Don’t worry about the number of shares you buy, either — you can double or triple a $1,000 investment whether you buy a single $1,000 share or 100 $10 shares.
Q:
What’s a 529 plan? — B.H., Orem, Utah
A:
It’s a tax-advantaged, usually state-based account you can set up to save for educational expenses such as college. You don’t have to use your own state’s plan, either — you can research other states’ offerings and choose the best plan for you. Learn more at Savingforcollege.com and Collegesavings.org.
Valuing greatness
My smartest investment was buying shares of cloudbased communications specialist Twilio at $25 each. The company looked like it had great people, great values and great innovative services. — T.C.S., online
The Fool responds: A combination of great people, values and innovations — that’s a terrific start to finding a solid investment. You always want sound management, and while that can be hard to evaluate, you can start by reading some of management’s annual letters to shareholders to get a sense of how candid and communicative they’re being. Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson has spoken at length about the company’s values, and its website lists 10 of them, such as “Wear the customer’s shoes” and “No shenanigans.”
Innovation can help a company succeed as it responds to a changing marketplace. Innovation can even help it change the marketplace itself, such as when Apple introduced the ipod. It’s exciting when you spot companies innovating at this level, but don’t buy into them at any price; aim to buy them when they seem undervalued. Twilio stock, recently trading near $240 per share, has risen sharply in a few years, and bulls expect much more long-term growth. Bears see the stock as overvalued, though, and point out that the young enterprise is not yet profitable: Its revenue is growing rapidly, but it’s plowing its cash into further growth. (The Motley Fool owns shares of and has recommended Twilio.)
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