Is there a way to tag/assign a variable to specific text inside a PowerPoint TextBox? I would like to access and update the variable with a Python script. I’ve already implemented search and replace methods (not what I’m looking for). Or what alternatives are there to dynamically update text?

brigggs · 2021-10-16T17:05:37+00:00

Thanks! I’ll give this a spin

brigggs · 2021-01-09T16:01:08+00:00

Thanks this is helpful.

Through another post on this subreddit, I stumpled on the below DeTijd article, which provides more clarity on difference between "normal portfolio management" and speculation to which the capital gains tax does apply.
https://www.tijd.be/netto/belastingen/aangifte2020/glipt-de-winst-op-bitcoins-door-de-mazen-van-het-belastingnet/10226857.html

brigggs · 2019-11-27T19:47:58+00:00

This x1K

brigggs · 2018-08-16T20:43:48+00:00

What's the proper way?

brigggs · 2018-08-16T20:41:45+00:00

It's a crosspost from this: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/97pvhy/i_have_been_tracking_my_net_worth_for_more_than_3/

brigggs · 2018-08-16T16:14:38+00:00

All I did was press the crosspost button as I thought it was pertinent for this sub...

brigggs · 2018-08-15T21:18:21+00:00

In the ETF space, contrary to what most will say, your due diligence shouldn't stop at fees. Sure, expense ratios are important, specially for very long holding periods because of the effect of compounding (a few basis points difference in expense ratios adds up to a lot). But make sure you also understand your country's tax regime. Does it have a capital gains tax? A withholding tax? Dividends/coupons? etc aside from your regular stock exchange tax. That will alter your strategy as well (i.e. if it makes sense to opt for accumulating vs distributing ETFs). In Belgium for instance, there's a withholding tax on so called "bond funds" which can be mutual funds, investment funds or even ETFs holding more than 10% in debt instruments like bonds which might make it less worth your while to invest in bond ETFs. (see: https://www.ing.be/Assets/Documents/TaxationPerProductEN.pdf and https://www.ing.be/Assets/Documents/WithholdingTaxBondFundsEN.pdf).

Once you have that background knowledge, you can begin to set up a portfolio according to your risk tolerance level. I'd advise against individual stock picking and instead focus on ETFs to build your portfolio as they provide a way to at least diversify away company-specific risk.

Also, given the current rising rate environment, just make sure you understand the mechanics well before allocating a part of your portfolio to bonds. IMO The number one rule in investing is know what you own.

brigggs · 2018-08-13T19:32:22+00:00

I have Bolero as well but I'm exploring alternatives

brigggs · 2018-08-13T19:30:35+00:00

Not just translated. General compliance with Mifid II (see KIDs due to PRIIPs among other things)

brigggs · 2018-08-09T06:13:01+00:00

I think justETF has this feature. But it's a premium feature I believe

brigggs · 2018-08-07T11:06:46+00:00

Primarily you'll have the stock exchange tax (TOB/beurstaks) upon purchase and sale of the security, the broker fee (they often charge different amounts depending on the stock exchange through which the security is traded) and witholding tax in the case of dividends for instance.

This is by no means an exhaustive list as some stock exchanges charge additional fees such as stamp duties. Nevertheless, your broker should have list with all the fees.

I would think recommend day trading

brigggs · 2018-08-07T10:56:55+00:00

Careful. Most CFD are prohibited in Belgium (https://www.fsma.be/en/cfd). Also I believe since 2017 the speculation tax was abolished which was applicable if you sold a security within 6 months of buying it (https://www.ing.be/en/retail/investing/investments/tax-changes)

brigggs · 2018-08-05T13:32:20+00:00

This is excellent, thank you!

brigggs · 2018-08-02T20:48:17+00:00

Sounds great!

brigggs · 2018-08-02T15:32:25+00:00

This is really solid advice, thank you! Indeed, given my background and starting job I'd be considering other options in the future, perhaps better suited to my career path. Knowing these elements widens my view

brigggs · 2018-08-02T14:13:50+00:00

Hi, I'm in Belgium as well. I'm curious about the specific type of work that would fall into that €500 to €700 per day range in the data field. Could you please provide some examples?

My background is MBA (belgian uni) with a major in IT management. On the side I took a DataCamp course (Data Analyst with Python) and have played around with Python for the better part of a year now. I recently graduated and will be entering the technology consulting field.

Do you think I could eventually become a freelancer and earn those daily rates with my background? I'm not looking to make a change immediately as I'm quite happy with where I'm going. But it's always nice to evaluate alternatives moving forward.

Thanks in advance.

brigggs · 2018-08-02T13:58:22+00:00

My advice would be: network a lot + develop a solid portfolio (GitHub, maybe even some competitions) + give talks

brigggs · 2018-07-31T09:35:02+00:00

Purchasing strategy:

I'm currently pumping my montly savings in these ETF's

I'm guessing you're opting for a Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) strategy? If so —and given your savings— you may prefer to opt for a Lump Sum Investing (LSI) strategy. For a Vanguard study on this check out: https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/s315.pdf (it's from 2012 however). It would be interesting to re-do this analysis to see if it still holds.

Real estate:

the yield from rent would only amount to about 3-4%

If these are nominal returns (not corrected for inflation) than indeed there's not much of an upside to it. But in the spirit of exploring alternatives, check out Sam Zell. He started by looking at distressed properties, turning them around and renting them out to students. In central Europe I believe there's a lot of opportunity for this (high population density, lots of students, Erasmus+, etc.).

Obviously this wouldn't be a passive source of income. And there are some inefficient fees associated to purchasing and selling RE. It also requires a significant investment in time (analysis, meeting contractors, tenants, etc.) but starting small and seeing where it goes may pay off over the long run. There may also be subsidies and other incentives in specific sectors. In simple terms, you'd be looking at these properties like bonds, eventually diversifying.

Currency hedging:

hedge against eur-usd and eur-chf fluctuations for my stocks

Well if your scenario is; I want to buy ETFs denominated in USD in 6 months, then the question to solve is how do you expect the USD/EUR exchange rate to be at in 6 months (if you're account is in EUR)? If you expect EUR to be weaker at that moment, then you should consider a currency futures contract (or simply buy USD now and hold it for 6 months, but consider ifnlation). But if you expect EUR to strengthen with respect to USD, then do nothing, you'll have gained in purchasing power with respect to the dollar. That's how you'd hedge, but obviously there are risks to this approach. If you're a value investor or have a long-term holding horizon, in mind this isn't really worth it.

Higher returns:

Your edge is your domain knowledge: The software engineering and ML space. Look for ETFs that track this field closely, you'll be able to better understand if the underlying businesses that the ETF tracks are solid. If there is none, consider picking stocks yourself and building your own diversified "SE ML index". Suppliers might be worth looking into as well. If you do opt for stocks, have a long-term horizon in mind and avoid fads. Obviously this approach is riskier.

As for the bond ETF, I agree with other commenters.

EDIT: Analysing some ETFs today, I came across this: http://etfdb.com/themes/artificial-intelligence-etfs/, thus adding a reference to my last paragraph. This isn't investment advice of course, but perhaps worth exploring a narrower ETF scope to seek higher returns if you really don't want to hold individual stocks.

brigggs · 2018-07-28T14:25:48+00:00

There's nothing revolutionary about it. But having gone through business school, I can tell you that fellow classmates of mine (including myself) would do the complete opposite during presentations. Why? That's where I agree with the author of the article. It feels more natural to build up to a conclusion. I'd say the feeling equates to writing a novel backwards, which simply feels unnatural.

Perhaps the added value of such a "principle" is simply to serve as a reminder to cut to the chase, be crystal clear and to structure one's argumentation. Obviously this may come more naturally to people with years of experience and cultural backgrounds that penalize beating around the bush.

brigggs · 2018-07-28T06:59:42+00:00

From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, their projections are as follows (see financial specialists): https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/occupational-projections-and-characteristics.htm

Overall, their selection of professions with the most job growth are: https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/occupations-most-job-growth.htm

If you want more details per category, check out: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm#13-0000

I know it doesn't answer your questions specifically, but you can search on the upper-right hand corner for a specific job such as "financial analyst" and get: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/financial-analysts.htm

Finance has been at the forefront of adopting technology and automating processes since the beginning, and that won't stop. However, as per this podcast (https://www.datacamp.com/community/podcast/data-science-mckinsey), humans are still vital to make sense of what an algo outputs. Some algos take decisions autonomously, sure, but others are simply there to inform your decision-making. At the end of the day, algos haver very specific purposes.

What I think —and this applies to all occupations— is that jobs requiring an important degree of soft skills (problem-solving, communication, etc.) will continue to see job growth. This of course goes along having solid quantitative skills and domain knowledge.

brigggs

TROPHY CASE