Google's 100-Year Bond & Artificial Advice

February is on its way out. Author Tom Robbins (who died last February, rather poetically, I suppose) had a famous and grumpy diatribe in Jitterbug Perfume about the emotional length of a month with so few days. We’ve been feeling that a bit. It’s been a month of snow storms and threats of snow storms. But there’s plenty to celebrate too. A few brave daffodils have emerged. Caroline and I have been enjoying co-working with dogs. Daisy and Bailey have been regular office companions lately, and we’re especially enjoying the meetings and conversations we’re having with you. We hope you find our February newsletter thought-provoking. Perhaps it will even prompt you to reach out.

And if you want straight talk instead of flattery, we've got that—plus a calculator that shows the power of compounding. And the cost of delay. More on both below.

Good dogs

The 100-Year Bond: A Bet on Corporate Immortality

Earlier this month, Google’s parent company Alphabet made headlines by issuing a rare 100-year bond, the first by a tech company since Motorola did so in 1997. The issuance is part of a $20 billion borrowing drive aimed at funding Alphabet’s AI infrastructure buildout. The company has committed up to $185 billion in capital expenditures this year, roughly double last year’s spending, to build the data centers and computing power behind its AI ambitions.

The century bond matures in February 2126. To put that in perspective: pending any breakthroughs in science, none of our readers will be here, and neither will most companies. Since 1990, at least 38 U.S. companies have issued century bonds. Fewer than half of those issuers still exist as publicly traded companies today, with the rest having disappeared through bankruptcy, mergers, or acquisitions. 

So who buys a bond that matures a century from now? Demand comes primarily from pension funds and insurance companies, institutions with very long time horizons and liabilities that stretch decades into the future. For Google, demand was overwhelming, with nearly ten times the available amount ordered. That said, a century bond is ultimately a bet on corporate longevity, and history suggests those odds are harder than they look. Whether Alphabet can avoid the same fate is, of course, anyone’s guess.

Market Update: February Snapshot

The S&P 500 is essentially flat for the year, which belies the ups and downs we've experienced in the first two months of 2026.

Two stories dominated the month. The first is tariffs, which took a dramatic turn on February 20 when the Supreme Court struck down the administration's primary tariff authority in a 6-3 ruling. Within hours, President Trump pivoted to a different legal mechanism: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974,imposing a new flat 10% surcharge on most imports, effective this week. He's already announced his intention to raise that to 15%, the ceiling allowed under the law, though the formal order wasn't in place as of press time. The whiplash is real: markets, businesses, and trading partners are all struggling to keep up.

The second story is AI with a new twist. This month the conversation shifted from who's winning the AI race to who might be losing jobs to it. Software companies, financial services firms, even logistics stocks sold off sharply as investors began pricing in the possibility that AI could displace meaningful portions of the workforce. The Federal Reserve is asking the same questions as the rest of us: Governor Lisa Cook said this week that traditional monetary policy tools may not be well-suited to handle AI-driven unemployment. That's not a warning sign so much as an acknowledgment that we're in genuinely new territory.

Which makes Nvidia's earnings report released yesterday evening an interesting data point. The numbers were spectacular: $68 billion in revenue, up 73% from a year ago, with guidance well above what Wall Street expected. Morgan Stanley called it the largest and cleanest beat in semiconductor industry history. And yet, Nvidia's stock fell 5% on Thursday. The market heard the good news and still sold off. Not because of anything wrong with Nvidia, but because the bigger question hanging over markets right now isn't whether AI is real. It's whether the enormous bets being placed on it will ultimately pay off.

The economic backdrop is mixed. Q4 GDP came in at a disappointing 1.4% —well below expectations—though the government shutdown that ran through most of the quarter accounts for roughly a full percentage point of that shortfall. The private economy held up better than the headline suggests. Inflation remains stubborn, with the Fed's preferred measure still running above its 2% target and rate cuts looking unlikely until mid-year at the earliest.

The picture, in short: corporate earnings are solid, Wall Street still expects a decent year, and there's no recession in sight. But policy uncertainty is elevated, and the AI story is rapidly evolving. As always, the right response isn't to make dramatic moves—it's to stay the course and make sure your plan is built for all kinds of weather. If you have questions or concerns you can ask us. Or a chatbot?

ChatGPT Says You're a Genius. We Might Disagree.

According to The New York Times, more people are turning to AI for investment and financial planning advice. The story, which appeared in The Times earlier this month, highlights the advantages that come from using a chatbot. There is no barrier to entry. You don’t need to know somebody like Caroline or me. Neither must you pay somebody like us. There’s also the advantage that–while there is no such thing as a stupid question–there may be questions you would rather explore before other humans are in the loop. A chatbot may help you present your questions more . . . coherently.

There are downsides to using chatbots in any situation. Particularly in finance the stakes can be high. More than half of Americans using generative AI for financial decisions made a poor financial decision or a mistake according to one survey cited in the article. Yikes. Therein lies the danger of generalized advice or a misunderstanding of personal circumstances. 

Caroline and I love that people are getting answers quickly and easily. But at some point you want to loop in that human. If for no other reason, chatbots are known to be a tad obsequious at times. 

We recently talked to a new client who came to us saying, “I was tired of ChatGPT telling me that I’m a genius.” Reach out. Let us know what’s on your mind. We’ll tell it like it is.

While We're On the Subject of Getting Answers

We built something we're pretty proud of. It's a simple calculator that shows you the actual cost—in dollars—of waiting to start investing. Not a lecture. Not a projection full of asterisks. Just a slider and a number that tends to get people's attention. Take it for a spin or share it with a younger investor. The numbers speak for themselves: dyerand.co/the-math Let us know what you think!

Thank you for reading. If you liked this content, please share with a friend. You can always reach us by replying to this email or at 704-323-6872.

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