Imagine you spent 40 years doing the boring, responsible thing.
You opened a 401k at 23. You contributed every paycheck. You ignored the noise. You bought the index because Bogle told you to, because Buffett told you to, because every honest piece of financial advice for 30 years told you the index was the safest, most diversified, most rules-based way to own America.
The whole point was the rules.
The rules said: a company must trade for 12 months before joining the S&P 500. The rules said: it must show four consecutive quarters of GAAP profitability. The rules existed because in 1999 the index quietly bought a lot of stocks at the top, and pensioners paid the bill.
After the dot-com crash, S&P tightened the rules. Nasdaq tightened the rules. FTSE Russell tightened the rules.
For 23 years, those rules held.
Then SpaceX filed for IPO.
And the rules changed.
The S&P 500 waived the profitability requirement. Nasdaq cut its trading-history window from 90 days to 15. FTSE Russell cut its to 5.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the major index funds will absorb between 19% and 24% of SpaceX's float within six months. That's over $30 trillion of passive 401k and retirement money, mechanically buying a single newly public company at IPO valuations, because the rules said they had to.
Except the rules used to say they didn't.
Here's the thought exercise:
If you spend 40 years building a system designed to protect ordinary savers from buying overpriced stocks, and then you waive the protections the moment a sufficiently large stock asks you to, what was the system actually protecting?
Most of investing is about understanding what's a rule and what's a guideline.
A rule binds the rule-maker.
A guideline binds the saver.
You're allowed to find out which is which only after the fact.
Matt LaFleur’s loyalty might have cost the Packers once again.
Respecting Rich Bisaccia is one thing. Letting six weeks — and an entire hiring cycle — pass without a decision feels like organizational incompetence.
Even if the Packers get a decent ST coordinator post-Bisaccia, improvement is only possible if...
1. The kicker makes kicks
2. The GM cares about every special teams phase
Or else the cycle just continues
⚾Joey Ortiz! HR (3)
6/24/25 @ MIL, ⬇️ 3rd
vs LHP Andrew Heaney
104.6 MPH / 21° / 397 ft to LF
Off a 90.8 MPH four-seam fb
▶️It's a home run in 30/30 parks.◀️
📺: https://t.co/AqgSOWx1zV
⚾Caleb Durbin! HR (4)
6/24/25 @ MIL, ⬇️ 4th
vs LHP Andrew Heaney
103.8 MPH / 31° / 387 ft to LF
Off a 90.0 MPH four-seam fb
▶️It's a home run in 30/30 parks.◀️
📺: https://t.co/TOxtvXB80M
Rewatched GATTACA. One of my favorite pastimes is watching a movie I haven't seen in forever. It's like watching it for the first time. GATTACA is such a beautiful marriage of noir and science-fiction. Intelligent, gorgeously shot, impeccably acted. This film rules.
Can we talk about TreVeyon Henderson's career at Ohio State?
He carried the ball 667 times for 4,614 Career Yards
He scored 48 TDs and averaged 6.9 ypc
The most impressive stat. He had ZERO FUMBLES!
And he's a National Champion!
That dude is a Buckeye LEGEND! ⭕🌰 #GoBucks
BUCKEYE BLISS IN ATLANTA 🏆
Ohio State has won the first national championship of the 12-team CFP era after defeating Notre Dame 34-23.
https://t.co/QT90CCzS4t
If you have YouTube TV, go to settings, select the broadcast delay, and choose decrease. This removes the 15-second delay …. I just learned this the other day, and it's a literal game changer