Wrapped up first quarter 2026 with 91.23% YTD returns on my equities portfolio. Current holdings (not much changes since start of year): Oil & Gas: $PBR, $VAR, $ARX.TO xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2029… Coal: $TGA.L, $YAL.AX xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2031… Kazakhstan banking & fintech: $HSBK and $KSPI xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2028… Shipping (RoRo): $HAUTO, $WAWI xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2018… Chinese shipping ports: 1199.HK, 144.HK, 6198.HK xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2038… Got rid of small positions in $CIG and $NVO.

What life circumstances produce this

What if russia occupied 20% of your country?

The Balkans is the only part of Europe with property rights.

Serbian President interviewed by a Russian train conductor. Reminded me that Russia didn't start going off track in Feb 2022 but rather in Jan 2021.

How Bucharest is ranked the 7th richest region in the EU (and Warsaw ranked the 15th): - The index is based on PPS (purchasing power standards) and housing is the biggest monthly expense for most households. - Example: net average salary in Bucharest is 35% lower than Milan. But housing in Bucharest is 60% cheaper and 95%> of Romanian households are home owners without mortgage. Only 60% of Italians and 19% of Germans have the luxury of not needing to pay mortgage or rent each month. xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2037… - The issue with PPS is quality adjustments. E.g. Romanian housing stock is generally of worse quality than Italian ones. So whilst much more Romanians own their homes mortgage free, they also live in homes of relatively lower quality, a good amount might not survive the next earthquake. - But at the same time, PPS doesn't adjust for other standard of living issues too - such as 'can you walk safely at night?'. Here, Romania & EE wins again. xitter.cf/MacroJason/status/2049… Whilst PPS indicators have some limitations, it is still very useful in showing you how well a country can weather an economic shock. E.g. whilst the average Romanian household might live in worse quality housing - at least nearly everyone has somewhere to live (without needing to pay rent or mortgage), thus it significantly limits their worse case. If you look at the homeless crisis in the West - it's the exact opposite situation. It also limits the worse case for the Romanian banking system, which by nature of less mortgage debt is much less leveraged up. For investors, this matters too: if 95% of households own their properties mortgage free, it's not easy to crash this real estate market and banking system. E.g. during 2022 after the Ukraine war, inflation and interest rate spiked - there were much more mortgage defaults and price collapse in Germany than Romania. Source: Stastica / Eurostat data from 2023 visualcapitalist.com/cp/eu-r… Note: Ireland and Luxembourg figures are heavily distorted due to multinationals setting up (shell) companies there for tax reasons. Median local person does not get a slice of it.

The Balkans are a bit unlucky. Gypsies have been moving around Europe for centuries - getting expelled from one country after another. Gypsies last location before the post WW2 liberal world order kicked in is the Balkans - which means the Balkans is stuck with them, at least for now. One of the biggest advantages of EU membership for Romania and Bulgaria (also other CEE countries) was relocating a good % of their gypsies to Western Europe. The fact that Balkan countries have some of the strongest economic growth and lowest crime rates is especially impressive - when you factor in 5-10% of their population are permanently economically unproductive.

An example of how flexibility in Eastern Europe speeds things up. In most countries, you are only given access to your apartment once you have paid the full amount to the developer. In Romania, you can (informally) start furnishing your flat before handover, whilst the developer finishes off their part (flats in Romania are delievered in turnkey condition minus furniture). This is down to: - People prioritising common sense over stringent rules - Non litigious culture - Reasonably high trust society (construction workers have keys to your flat and in theory can steal your stuff)

Hotels in a Bucharest reminding Israeli tourists that the towels and bathrobes were not promised to them 3000 years ago

These veterans fought so Serbia can stay Christian & safe. @DjokerNole you have a beautiful country full of amazing warriors. Glad to be here to support @avucic

This is the most important map for anyone who wants to leave wealth to their kids: Inheritance tax might be the most unfair tax on Earth. In some countries, over half of your wealth goes to the tax department, instead of your family. Top rates go up to: > Spain🇪🇸 87.6% (wtf) > France🇫🇷 60% > Germany🇩🇪 50% > UK🇬🇧 40% > USA🇺🇸 40% > Netherlands🇳🇱 40% Most people spend their whole life building something for their family. A house, a business, or just some savings. But when they pass away, the government steps in & wants their share. The usual argument is that it's unfair for kids to get money they didn't work for. But did the government work for it to claim that much? And it's not just affecting rich people by the way. In the Netherlands, your kids pay inheritance tax on everything above 25.000€. During our lifetime, we already pay: > Tax on everything we earn > Tax on everything we spend > Tax on everything we invest > Tax on everything we own And upon our death, they still want to tax whatever is left. But the worst part is this: The tax is often due within a short period of time. Let's look at an example: If you leave your child a 2.000.000€ family home in France, they now owe the government approx. 617.000€. And that's the lower rate for your own kids. Leave it to a partner you're not married to & it's 60%. Due within 6 months. Now. In some cases, there's not even enough liquid cash to pay the tax, so the heirs are forced to sell the house, just to pay the bill. Insane. In Cyprus🇨🇾, where I live, there is no inheritance tax. Meaning, while I build my wealth at the lowest legal tax rate possible, I will pass everything to my children, completely tax-free. Of course, Cyprus isn't the only option. As you can see on the map, a lot of the world is green. But if you want your kids to inherit more than a tax bill, you definitely shouldn't live in a red country.

Brazil ranks very close to Romania in quality of governance. So why is Brazil 2x poorer than Romania? Romania's median IQ is 10 points higher than Brazil. Romania also has (per capita): - 4x more software engineers - 17x more chess grandmasters - 65x more international math olympiad winners Brazil (and LatAm's) fundamental problem isn't 'bad institutions' or 'socialism' - its low median IQ. You can substitute Brazil with any LatAm country and Romania with any Eastern European country and see the same.

Me when people ignore median IQ and say that Brazil’s fate will change depending on who wins the election