I am completely flummoxed by the stock market - and in particular today's giddy highes

[DFW]

6. It's a game I haven't played in almost two decades, mostly a spectator sport for me

I had taken a flyer on 500 shares of Apple in 1998 at $38. My genius (Republican oriented, of course) broker "warned" me about 15 years ago that Apple was looking "shaky," and I should sell my position if it dipped below $190. I said, "sure, whatever." It dipped to 189, and they sold it. After taxes on he gain, I still had enough left over for a few nice vacations for the family, but if I had kept the position, it would have been worth about $3 MILLION. I have since told them NOT to recommend ANYTHING to me, and let sleeping dogs lie.

There will always be bubbles here and there, and bubbles usually burst. The price of Gold was $5500 an ounce less than ten days ago. A couple of days ago, it was $4600. All those experts touting gold as THE thing when it was $5500 and convinced a few people to put their life savings into gold have some 'splainin' to do. It's back over $4900 now, but it remains very volatile. I'm sure the stock market is the same. I remain grateful for letting my CEO talk me into risking emptying the piggy bank, also in 1998, to buy a share of Berkshire Hathaway A. I told the clueless broker to cease and desist with any and all "sell" recommendations over the years, and so far, I'm glad I did. I'll probably end up bequeathing it to my US-based daughter, since if I sell it now, I'll have a capital gains tax bill into six figures, and I don't want Trump's government getting their hands on that.