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Sunday, July 12, 2020 RIPEH-E-B FOR CHANGEAT ITS DIGITAL OUTPOST, COMPANY REMAKES ITSELF FOR THE HIGH-TECH AGE CLIMATE CHANGE USAA WEATHERS BARRAGE OF STORM CLAIMS MICHAEL TAYLOR 5 YEARS LATER, COLUMNIST STILL HATES TESLA STOCK Open a Certificate ssfcu.org or call1-866-227-0194. Our certificatesdon ·t just earn great returns. They earn great ratings from our members- SECURITY SERVICE 4. 7 out of 5 stars.3 FEDERAL CREDIT UNION These are Share Certificates.and different rates apply to different deposit levels. Certificates may be subject to early withdrawal penalty. Membership eligibility required. Federally insured by the NCUA. Visit ssfcu.org for complete details. IRA funds cannot be co-mingled at any time with regular savings or non-IRA funds. APY=Annual percentage yield. APY is effective as of December 13, 2018 and is subject to change without notice. 1) This certificate rate is fixed for a 30-month term, assuming a minimum deposit of $50,000. 2) This certificate rate is fixed ***** for a 15-month term, assuming a minimum deposit of $50,000.3) Rating current as of December 13, 2018. J2 | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, July 12, 2020 .SA INC San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, July 12, 2020 | J3 J4 | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, July 12, 2020 .SA INC RESTLESS CITY Presented by: Your Company Here USAA is feeling the heat from climate change GREG JEFFERSON made combined profits of $48.1 Commentary billion in the first nine months of 2018, their second-biggest haul since 2008. But just as the fact that it’s still snowy in some places doesn’t mean global warming is a hoax, the insurers’ net income doesn’t mean that storms and wildfires aren’t becoming more perilous. The effects of climate change are L ast March, one of USAA’s gnawing at their core business. social media producers posted Insurance companies have this blurb on Twitter: “During responded by hiring more cli- the past five years, floods have mate experts, changing their affected every single state — even catastrophe models and pushing those considered low-risk.” up premiums in higher-risk The tweet invited readers to communities. USAA probably use a tool on the San Antonio has, too, but Hartwig declined to insurer’s website to gauge their discuss specifics, saying, “We flood risk. view our efforts as competitively You’ve probably already sensitive.” guessed how it played out. A Moody’s Investors Service, for couple of the more predictable one, still likes USAA. In a May 8 responses: “No climate change report, the bond-rating agency though!” and “Funny so much Associated Press file photo gave the company’s insurance cold and snow in a warming Wildfires are among the natural disasters increasingly gnawing at USAA’s bottom line. business a rating of Aaa, or ex- climate.” ceptional. It cited USAA’s “effi- Climate change deniers are deadly Camp Fire in Northern is hard to come by. include but not limited to fi- cient operations and its strong going to deny, and some of those California in November 2018. But we know the insurer paid nancial, is part of the consider- balance sheet,” as well as its who accept that global warming Natural catastrophes bruised more than $2 billion in claims in ation by the board” in determin- “market leadership” in serving is real are going to be zealots — USAA’s results in 2018. Profits 2018 for the Camp Fire and other ing the size of the annual bonus, active-duty and retired military and will come off just as cartoon- slipped from $2.4 billion the year wildfires, two hurricanes and USAA spokesman Matt Hartwig personnel and their families. ishly as their foils. before, even as revenue hit a other catastrophes. As Express- said. But Moody’s analysts included Whatever. record $34.2 billion. The compa- News Staff Writer Patrick Danner Clearly, no one is weeping this caveat: “Tempering these What’s key is that storms, ny will release its 2019 numbers reported, it was third straight over USAA employees’ slightly strengths are USAA’s volatile flooding and wildfires have been in the spring. year for USAA in which claims diminished bonuses. That’s (property and casualty) results getting worse, and USAA, which The 2018 results, however, stemming from natural disasters because, unlike many other San in recent years, reflecting in- employs 19,000 people at its aren’t a clear window into how surpassed $2 billion. Antonio-area workers, they’re dustry-wide catastrophe losses North Side headquarters-fortress climate change is affecting When USAA employees getting bonuses. and fluctuating personal auto and other local offices, has been USAA’s property and casualty learned a year ago that their The annual payout, in addi- loss cost trends.” trying for years now to adjust to business. Those figures include bonuses would drop to 14.8 tion to the $2.4 billion that USAA The fallout from global warm- the new reality. Just like every the performance of the compa- percent of annual pay from 16.2 returned to policyholders last ing is obviously a greater threat other major insurer. ny’s investment management percent the year before, their year in rebates and dividends, is to humans than to corporations. Of the 10 costliest wildfires in arm and its federal savings bank, bosses cited disaster claims as a sign of the company’s financial But San Antonio’s second-largest U.S. history, as measured by as well as its life insurance line. one reason. strength. So is its net worth of employer — a big part of whose insured losses, the top five broke And there’s this: USAA isn’t a The latest bonus, announced $35.5 billion. business is tied to the weather — out in 2017 and 2018, according publicly traded company — it’s a in January, slipped again, to 14.5 And no one’s weeping for the is feeling the heat. to the Insurance Information member-owned mutual insurer percent, the lowest since 2008. property and casualty insurance Institute. The worst was the — so a detailed financial picture “Overall performance, to industry as a whole. Insurers [email protected] San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, July 12, 2020 | J5 J6 | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, July 12, 2020 SA INC. THE SMART MONEY S.A. Presented by: Your Company Here 5 years later, Tesla still not a good stock to own MICHAEL TAYLOR himself from tweeting nonsense, Commentary earning rebukes and a $40 mil- lion fine from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and law- suits from fights he picks unnec- essarily. He also employs his knack for distracting the media to change the subject whenever they attempt to ask about Tesla’s lack of profit. Oh, yeah, and about that prof- The most important rule for it. Tesla has never turned an writing a business column — at annual profit in nearly 10 years as least my most inviolate rule — is a public company. to never, ever forecast or make Tesla’s market cap at $98 bil- “market calls” on individual lion is larger than Ford and Gen- stocks. eral Motors combined. I have broken this rule only Let’s compare those compa- once in my 5½ years. It’s time to nies to Tesla. Ford sold 5.9 million break my rule again. On the same vehicles in 2018 for a profit of $3.8 stock. billion. General Motors sold 8.4 Some background: I last tucked million vehicles in 2018, earning a my first-and-only individual-stock Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press profit of $1.9 billion. Tesla, which forecast into a column in March Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s company has never turned an annual profit in nearly 10 years. has never turned an annual prof- 2015. it, sold 367,500 cars in 2019. The point of that 2015 column w hile stepping into the batter’s lesson is that you, too, should as the Wall Street phrase goes, Tesla has sold 891,000 vehicles was to highlight the unpleasant box for my inevitable home run, I never forecast individual stocks. “The market can remain irratio- since it began manufacturing. fact that “sin-investing,” especial- wrote, “Would a few people mark You will be emotionally in- nal longer than you can remain Total. In other words, Ford and ly in a nasty tobacco company their calendars for five years on vested in a way that hurts your solvent.” General Motors sell more cars in such as Altria (formerly known as Tesla and let me know how I did chances of building wealth. You I was correct about Tesla then, any given month than Tesla has Philip Morris, ticker symbol MO) with my call? Because I AM SO will buy, or sell, that stock too and I’m still even more correct! I ever sold. I could go on, but you has been extraordinarily profit- RIGHT.” frequently. You will let fear and will now double down on all of get the idea. Tesla is a stock that able over the past 40 years. Anyway, time flies. It’s five then greed cloud your judgment. my errors. mostly exists in our collective But that wasn’t my stock fore- years later. You will look up that stock Unlike, say, software tech- imaginations. cast. Instead, I contrasted MO I’ll save you the hassle and let price exactly at the moment nology companies that enjoy It turns out that Wall Street with green-tech market darling you know that Tesla stock in- when you should be enjoying infinite scalability, building an pros mostly agree with me about Tesla (ticker symbol TSLA), the creased 170 percent since then, your daughter’s ballet recital.