<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276</id><updated>2012-02-10T10:38:21.050+09:30</updated><category term='Louisville Foreclosure Listing'/><category term='will us dollar collapse'/><category term='Louisville foreclosure information'/><category term='dollar value'/><category term='HYIP'/><category term='High Yield Investment Programs Scams'/><category term='Louisville foreclosure trending data'/><category term='High Yield Investment opportunities'/><category term='Louisville Bank Foreclosure'/><category term='chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy'/><category term='Louisville Home Foreclosure'/><category term='high Yield Investments'/><category term='High Yield Investment Ideas'/><category term='forclosure list'/><category term='High Yield Investments Programmes scams'/><category term='law firm'/><category term='bank government HUD VA FHA REO'/><category term='High Yield Investment'/><category term='foreclosure federal homes'/><category term='lawyer'/><category term='high Yield Investment programmes'/><category term='HYIPs'/><category term='Law of Attraction Money'/><category term='legal advice'/><category term='Louisville foreclosure trends'/><category term='law office'/><category term='dollar decline'/><category term='High Yield Investment Programs'/><category term='Wealth and law of attraction'/><category term='coming collapse of the dollar'/><category term='Arizona foreclosures'/><category term='Law of Attraction'/><category term='attorney'/><category term='risks of High Yield Investments Programmes'/><category term='difference between'/><category term='file for bankruptcy'/><category term='HYPI'/><category term='High Yield Investments Programmes'/><category term='High Yield Investment Programs Profits'/><category term='foreclosed home lists'/><category term='dollar value collapse'/><category term='US dollar collapse'/><category term='High Yield Investment Programs Risks'/><category term='High Yield Investment Programs Guide'/><title type='text'>High Yield Investments</title><subtitle type='html'>All about High Yield Investment Programmes.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>43</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-1668595219303783962</id><published>2009-09-13T21:58:00.002+09:30</published><updated>2009-09-25T00:00:40.902+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Law of Attraction Money'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Law of Attraction'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wealth and law of attraction'/><title type='text'>Mystical Law of Attraction Money Formule</title><content type='html'>&lt;h1&gt;Law of Attraction Money&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We can attract wealth and abundance with Law of Attraction. &lt;a href="http://www.powerlawofattraction.com/law-of-attraction-in-action/wealthandmoney/power-law-of-attraction-instant-wealth-manifestation/"&gt;Law of Attraction Money&lt;/a&gt; has been now practiced widely across the world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I believe you know who Warren Buffett is. Second richest man in the world. He says, "I never doubted I am going to be rich". I do not know does Mr. Buffett knows what and how law of attraction works, but he did attract wealth with faith that he was already wealthy. See, this is the power of thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/members/soulgeek.html"&gt;http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/members/soulgeek.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/members/lifemantra.html"&gt;http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/members/lifemantra.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/newthread.php?do=postthread&amp;f=10"&gt;http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/newthread.php?do=postthread&amp;f=10&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/general-introductions/37408-lets-grow-tgether.html#post418066"&gt;http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/general-introductions/37408-lets-grow-tgether.html#post418066&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who does not want to be Rich, but being wealthy is much more than that. Being wealthy is certainly no secret they do not do attract things than other but they attract differently. They attract with faith no room for doubt, even if they do not know how money will come in, they just take the first step in faith. And its no secret.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A popular saying says, "Money attracts money", Well in my power law of attraction system, I claim that a wealthy man attracts more of wealth, he is wealthy because, he attracted wealth and the process goes on, never ending wealth. One must have a healthy attitude towards money. Money comes easily and frequently. All you have to do is to attract it, make you attraction a power attraction with the power visualization techniques, the more powerful you attraction the quicker wealth manifests. Each of your inspired acting toward attracting wealth will get back to you more of wealth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://forum.upi.edu/v3/index.php/action,profile/u,10661.html"&gt;http://forum.upi.edu/v3/index.php/action,profile/u,10661.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://forum.upi.edu/v3/index.php/action,profile/u,10662.html"&gt;http://forum.upi.edu/v3/index.php/action,profile/u,10662.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/member/3/"&gt;http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/member/3/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/member/33/"&gt;http://volunteerlouisiana.gov/member/33/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How to attract wealth with Law of Attraction:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;1. Attitude towards Money: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I ask to most of my friends about what do they think about money? They say, money is power, but comes the tough way, of you want better life style you have to work way too hard and so on. Well, see how many false assumptions we have made money. People say if you think practically being wealthy is not joke. I say, if think with all you possibilities you are having a wealthy life, I can guarantee you on that. Money comes easily and frequently. .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. How much do you want: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I asked this question of one of my friends when she wanted to know how power law of attraction helps in bringing more of wealth she replied by saying, "I want little more than my sister earns a month". Fair enough. When she revealed the figures saying she wants around USD $12,000. How clear is she about what she wants, well the whole point that I want drive home is how much granular you are about the details of what you want. Now you must be asking why do I need to be that specific.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, this will help you in the process of visualization which in power law of attraction I call Power visualization techniques. What I do is to pen down the details as and when It comes to my mind and it helps me to be laser targeted. Attract like you are hitting the target with laser precision. Rest will be taken care by law of attraction for money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://forum.griffith.nsw.gov.au/index.php/forums/member/1661/"&gt;http://forum.griffith.nsw.gov.au/index.php/forums/member/1661/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://forum.griffith.nsw.gov.au/index.php/forums/member/1663/"&gt;http://forum.griffith.nsw.gov.au/index.php/forums/member/1663/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://research.yale.edu/bioimagesuite/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=11906"&gt;http://research.yale.edu/bioimagesuite/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=11906&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://research.yale.edu/bioimagesuite/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=11908"&gt;http://research.yale.edu/bioimagesuite/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=11908&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. Wealth Visualization &lt;/b&gt;&lt;http:&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;As I have explained in power law of attraction introduction that powerful visualization gets you the instant manifestation of what you want, Wealth in this case. Law of attraction has been very clear about it that it all starts from within, if you visualize it in their, you have it out here. In power law of attraction system we strongly believe that we create our own reality. As quantum physics says we are observers and we observe and chose the actual atomic experience out of possible sub atomic events. Sounds too technical? J Well, you do not need to know how it works, all you need to believe that it works. How much do you know how fire works? You still enjoys the food that it cooks. Isn't it?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;5. The First step in faith Approach: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You attract wealth but you do not know how will it come from. Well, you do not need to bother about how will it come from? All you need to do is to attract wealth. The universe knows the best possible, quickest, most feasible way for you to get more of wealth. Your subconscious mind is very powerful if you are a power attractor, you subconscious will still keep on attracting more of wealth even when you are not consciously attracting wealth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Will someone call me from universe and tell, "Hey, you asked for wealth, I have solutions for you do XYZ and you will be wealthy". J Certainly not. Then how will you come to know what should you do to be wealthy? Answer Is simple, "Just Attract Wealth." May be while sleeping you get this idea of starting a Fortune-making business model (Recall the Monster.com Story J), May be you get to meet with a stranger who offers you a money making proposal, may be your meet a wealthy would be spouse your way back home, may be you just write a book for fun and it make you fortune (recall Harry Porter Series). All I want to say is possibilities are numerous and you will get your answer in some way or the other. You just need to take the first step in faith to materialize what make you wealthy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope you enjoyed this article on &lt;a href="http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1638175"&gt;Law of Attraction&lt;/a&gt; Money. I will try to get more of gem like this.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-1668595219303783962?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/1668595219303783962/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=1668595219303783962' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1668595219303783962'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1668595219303783962'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/09/mystical-law-of-attraction-money.html' title='Mystical Law of Attraction Money Formule'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-3470771836731991100</id><published>2009-09-13T17:49:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2009-09-13T17:49:42.603+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment opportunities'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Ideas'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment'/><title type='text'>High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities</title><content type='html'>&lt;h1&gt;High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Would it not be great if you are procided with all the possisble High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities, which you can leverage upon and make quick bucks. Well, below are few High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities, you are expected to add to them and use them, basis your risk taking capablity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;High Yield Investment Program Ideas&lt;br&gt;By Shauti Bellinger&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Looking for a high yield investment program? Then, there are many options out there which will help you get a high return on your investment. But before putting your money in any of such options, you should know few concepts about such schemes. The first and foremost point is that "there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world". So if, for instance, some scheme is asking you to pay just $100 and promising that they will give you $10,000 in a month, run in other direction. Investments do grow in value, but everything has its own speed and you must always make sure that return offered is under the realistic limits.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Another important concept is credibility of the scheme. Never ever put your money in a scheme or in a company without checking its credibility and legitimacy of its operations. There are many crooks in this world that are just looking for an opportunity to cheat you. I cannot tell you how many people in this world have been robbed by such "get rich quick" schemes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;But just checking the credibility of the company is not enough. Try to find out how the company will make money. Ask them questions about where they will invest the money and do not invest your money unless and until you get a satisfactory answer. This is important because if the company is involved in some kind of illegal practices, then you may lose your money as soon as they come under investigation from the government.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last but not the least, follow your instincts. Does your heart tell you to invest in a particular scheme? It is always useful to listen to your heart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you need money now, like I mean in the next 10 minutes, try what I did. I now am making more money than in my old business and you can too. If you want to learn how to invest a few hundred dollars in the next 10 minutes and double it before you go to bed tonight, click now to read a "Rags to riches" story that is remarkable - Free! &lt;a target="_new" href="http://www.quickest-way-to-make-money-on-earth.com/index.html"&gt;Quickest-way-to-make-money-on-earth.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Imagine doubling your money every week with no or little risk! To discover a verified list of Million Dollar Corporations offering you their products at 75% commission to you. Click the link below to learn HOW you will begin compounding your capital towards your first Million Dollars at the &lt;b&gt;Easy Corporate Money Program©&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;To your Health and Rapid Success!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Article Source: &lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Shauti_Bellinger" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shauti_Bellinger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, i believe you much have enjoyed High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities write up, we would love to hear from you, what are your ideas and opportunities for high yield investment?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Over to you now.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-3470771836731991100?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/3470771836731991100/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=3470771836731991100' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/3470771836731991100'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/3470771836731991100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/09/high-yield-investment-ideas-and.html' title='High Yield Investment Ideas and opportunities'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-2496020395468759557</id><published>2009-09-13T16:42:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2009-09-13T16:42:11.831+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='HYIP'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='high Yield Investment programmes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='high Yield Investments'/><title type='text'>what are High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIP's)?</title><content type='html'>&lt;h1&gt;what are High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIP's)? &lt;/h1&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In this article, you will be presented with all the information about High Yield Investments and High Yield Investments programmes. In order to help you all, we are presenting below a beautiful piece of write up on &lt;a href="http://www.finmania.blogspot.com"&gt;High Yield Investments &lt;/a&gt;(HYIP's). HO&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Skinny On High Yield Investments (HYIP's)&lt;br&gt;By Ferdie Frederic&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you looking to make some extra income? Or are you looking for a secretive investment with phenomenal returns? Then HYIP's are not the place for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is a HYIP?&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Simple: High Yield Investment Program.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;HYIP's are all over the net. You can see them when ever you search google for investments. They are the one's that offer you a crazy insane amount of a return. Sometimes even %30 a day. For those who are new to the investment world, those kind of returns just cannot be produced, no matter what.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;You might say, "hey, I tried one of those programs and I did receive those returns for several days." Yes, you're right, that's exactly the way they work. They give you the money that fresh blood brings in. This is called a "recycler" program. So you're talking about several days, several weeks, or if their really good, several months or even a year until they eventually close down and no longer can match the amount of money that needs to flow around to keep the program moving.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trust me, before you lose you're money in one of these scams, there are many that have lost their car payments and mortgage payments in these programs. If you don't believe me you can go to www.talkgold.com or www.scams.com and go to the forums and search invex or ingenious packages, two popular almost legendary programs in the HYIP arena. You see will a list of complaints and stories of how people lost their life savings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even though that this is true, they are many people who still choose to invest in these programs while understanding the program is run illegitimately. They consider it pretty much betting or playing a game. Some of these websites are even referred to as games to take away the heat that it would receive if it was named an investment opportunity. The trick is to invest within the first couple of weeks and then run. Many people utilize this tactic because most HYIP's do not last over a month or two and because with the insane interest rate you can profit within a couple of days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even if you have never heard of HYIP's, trust me they are around and plentiful. Several of these websites open up every day and lure innocent individuals like yourself looking to make some extra income. The amount of these websites are staggering to say the least. You can check out a HYIP monitoring site like www.hyipmonitor.com and see the amount of websites there are and how many are being added on a daily basis. It's unbelievable to know that these website keep popping up and nobody regulates them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;So You Say How Do I Know It's A HYIP Program?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well, it's never easy to say, but there are few guideline you should follow:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;1) Egold&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Be careful of programs that require you to send money through this service because egold transactions are permanent and cannot be reversed or stopped unlike Paypal or using a credit card. This is perfect for someone who doesn't want to provide refunds and just run away with your money.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;2) Guarantees&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;No investment program can provide guarantees or should, mainly because the government will keep their eyes on programs like these and so should you. So when ever you see a guaranteed, "10% return in one week", run!! Investment markets are volatile and fluctuate from second to second, so the only thing you should except is a chart of the programs history, but even that doesn't guarantee future success.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;3) High Returns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Astronomical returns are a sure sign a company is a scam, 20% to 30% a month should be a red flag for anyone looking for a good investment program. Stocks usually average about 5-7% return a year and the high performing ones may only go as high as 30% percent within one year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whenever you do invest. Just make sure you do your Due Diligence on the company or group your investing with. Such as:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;- Company History&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Licenses&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Complaints with any bureaus&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Complaints on any forum boards&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Performance History and etc.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Investing should not be looked as a get rich over night scheme but a way to help your income to grow steadily and continuously.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;This article is provided by S-Proprietor.com, The Entrepreneurs Online Blog. If you are interested in more articles and information please visit our site at &lt;a target="_new" href="http://www.s-proprietor.com"&gt;http://www.s-proprietor.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Article Source: &lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Ferdie_Frederic" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ferdie_Frederic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Skinny-On-High-Yield-Investments-(HYIPs)&amp;id=1194993" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Skinny-On-High-Yield-Investments-(HYIPs)&amp;id=1194993&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope you all enjoyed this article on High Yield Investments (HYIP's), please stay tuned as lot more information on High Yield Investments (HYIP's) to come.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-2496020395468759557?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/2496020395468759557/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=2496020395468759557' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/2496020395468759557'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/2496020395468759557'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-are-high-yield-investments.html' title='what are High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIP&apos;s)?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-4578763376284594321</id><published>2009-09-13T15:14:00.003+09:30</published><updated>2009-09-13T15:21:31.600+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='HYPI'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Programs Profits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Programs Scams'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Programs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Programs Risks'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investment Programs Guide'/><title type='text'>Are high yield investment programs (HYPI) Scams?</title><content type='html'>High Yield Investment Programs (HYPIs) give extraordinary profits, with roses comes the throns as well, we need to be overly cautios before investing into any High Yield Investment Programs as they may be scams and when the bubble busts it may be too late, to add value to the visitors am below sharing a nice informative write up on High Yield Investment Programs scams.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;High Yield Investment Programs Guide&lt;br /&gt;By Chester Chen&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;HYIPs, or High Yield Investment Programs, skyrocketed in popularity with the advent of e-currencies, such as StormPay, e-gold and the like. A significant reason behind such immense popularity is the fact that HYIP organizations offer enticing interest rates of around 1% per day or even more. It is evident that, on an annual basis, the yield far exceeds even the most generous of schemes in the financial markets. Furthermore, it's easy to get the gist of HYIPs, and they allow investors to invest even a scanty amount upfront.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, the unusually high yield is a telltale sign that the scheme does have associated risks. In general, as far as investment is concerned, high yield involves high risk. Therefore, a HYIP can be either a lucrative investment option or an outright scam orchestrated by a bunch of swindlers. Several phony HYIP schemes make use of the ponzi or pyramid structure. In such a scenario, new entrants provide the cash to pay existing members. Such fake schemes are bound to fall apart eventually, when there is a dearth of new investors. Thus it is imperative that you distinguish between scams and authentic High Yield Investment Programs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;All HYIPs are not out and out scams. Many legitimate HYIPs offer great returns on even the most diminutive investment. HYIPs are all about astute investment. That is, you must possess an uncanny knack of good judgment. This would enable you to pull out early if the situation gets a bit wobbly, and you presume that the HYIP is likely to fall apart. Nevertheless, as long as you keep getting a decent amount of referrals, the HYIP would typically continue to pay the promised returns.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are a few guidelines that you may follow when investing in HYIPs. This would ensure that you don't fall prey to a fake HYIP scam:-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;a) Some investors go flat-out and invest a great deal in a particular HYIP. Investing too much too early is not advisable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;b) As such, HYIPs are met with skepticism. It is imperative that you test the withdraw function as soon as possible. This would help build trust in the particular HYIP, and then you could go on investing sizable amounts for a longer duration.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;c) A telltale sign of a fake HYIP is when you are unable to attain even your initial investment amount within a reasonable timeframe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;d) Don't get greedy and invest scads of money in a particular HYIP. Instead, divide your investment funds in an astute fashion, and apply them towards different HYIPs. This would help protect you from bankruptcy, even if one of your HYIPs falls apart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;e) There is no point saving up for that one big withdrawal. It is recommended that you carry out investments with intermittent withdrawals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;f) You must track your returns with discretion. Handling investments in an imprudent fashion could leave you in a hole.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;However, after having been involved with various HYIP programs and other schemes that promotes profit growth that seems too good to be true, they all share something in common, which is - All HYIPs are scams.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chester Chen have been experimenting with various methods to make money online and he have found the perfect and proven formula that could be your answer to &lt;a href="http://www.onlinewealthexposed.com/" target="_new"&gt;achieve financial freedom&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Article Source: &lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chester_Chen" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chester_Chen&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?High-Yield-Investment-Programs-Guide&amp;amp;id=152743" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?High-Yield-Investment-Programs-Guide&amp;amp;id=152743&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, i believe it explains it all that what are the factors on which a High Yield Investment Programs needs to be validated. &lt;a href="http://www.finmania.blogspot.com/"&gt;High Yield Investment Programs &lt;/a&gt;scams are now being regulated though.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-4578763376284594321?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/4578763376284594321/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=4578763376284594321' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4578763376284594321'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4578763376284594321'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-high-yield-investment-programs-hypi.html' title='Are high yield investment programs (HYPI) Scams?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-1135417512114557707</id><published>2009-09-13T15:07:00.003+09:30</published><updated>2009-09-13T15:14:19.875+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investments Programmes scams'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='risks of High Yield Investments Programmes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='HYIPs'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='High Yield Investments Programmes'/><title type='text'>What are the Risks of High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs)?</title><content type='html'>I have just stumbled upon a very nice article on the risks and scams related to High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs, as per my personal experience an unguided decision of investing into High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs) may lead to future lossed, rather then the expected ROI. You may find the below write up imformative on Risks of High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;High Yield Investment Programs: Risks, Scams, and Profits&lt;br /&gt;By Michael Goldman&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;High Yield Investment Programs: Risks, Scams, and Profits&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you are an investor looking to truly double your money, you might want to look into HYIP or high yield investment programs. This type of investment always carries a high risk, but when you consider the potential profit, you might find that the risk is well worth it. High yield investment programs have always been around, but have become even better known in recent years as investing online has become more and more common. Despite the risks, many investors continue to take advantage of the awesome selection of HYIPs out there to double their money.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Choosing your HYIPs is something that has to be done on an individual basis because what each person will feel comfortable with is different. There are HYIPs out there that show very little in way the way income, but have high risks. On the flip side, there are HYIPs out there that show a lot of promise for profit, yet they have the same risks associated with the programs that don't guarantee much in the way of profit. You'd obviously want to stick with the second choice if you can tell which HYIP would be more profitable than the other. The key to getting involved in the right type of HYIP is research. Though it may be exciting and easy to just jump at a very promising looking program, you'll want to put the brakes on for long enough that you can check out the company. You want to stick with companies that offer high revenue, but only if they actually payout and give you access to your currency. Do your homework to make the risks worth it; otherwise you'll end up losing money! The more you participate and research HYIPs the more familiar you'll get with the tricks that many of these programs have to keep your money.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you've invested in high yield investment programs in the past, you know what to expect in the way of scams. If you have never participated in an HYIP before, you'll be want to be extremely careful when first getting your feet wet. Because there is a lot of money to be made with an HYIP, scams are often associated with this type of investment. There are people, and even companies out there, who want you to invest and event to make money, but then they won't want to give any of it back. This is where the research that we mentioned above comes in really handy. Even if a friend or business acquaintance recommends an HYIP to you, you should still research it to be sure it's something that you feel comfortable with. If after looking into it you feel as though the investment and possible income is worth the risk, then go for it. If you do not feel this way, simply do not invest. When it comes to your money, you shouldn't feel pressured to invest at any time. Often, these scams will require you to invest is something that does not even exist, and then, the fraudulent people are off with your money and that of other investors!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Choosing the proper HYIP is something that you will need to do very carefully, and you should only do if you feel completely comfortable with the risks associated with any one investment. Even the most legit HYIP should be approached with caution, and followed up by extensive research. You have to remember when looking at HYIPs that even those that are not scams cannot promise you much in the way of a return. The potential to make a lot of money relatively quickly is there, but it is not a guarantee. Because there is no guarantee when dealing with HYIPs, the more you understand the investment, the better chance you have to succeed with such an investment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bottom line is that you stand to earn a great profit with an HYIP, but there are extreme risks and even scams associated with this type of investing. If you know what to expect when you get into the high yield investments, and you know what to look for through research, you'll probably be fine. If you get into an HYIP because you've just heard that it's profitable, you stand to lose a lot of money! Invest smart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Michael Goldman is a widely known expert in HYIP Investments. He is investing in HYIPs successfull himself and helping others to make their money work for them. You can learn more about Michael's investing techniques by visiting his site &lt;a href="http://hyipbest.com/" target="_new"&gt;&lt;b&gt;HYIP Best&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; and joining the &lt;a href="http://forums.hyipbest.com/" target="_new"&gt;&lt;b&gt;HYIP Forums&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Article Source: &lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Michael_Goldman" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Goldman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://ezinearticles.com/?High-Yield-Investment-Programs:-Risks,-Scams,-and-Profits&amp;amp;id=123944" target="_new"&gt;http://EzineArticles.com/?High-Yield-Investment-Programs:-Risks,-Scams,-and-Profits&amp;amp;id=123944&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope you all anjoyed the above article on the risks of High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs). Stay tuned lot more to come on &lt;a href="http://www.finmania.blogspot.com/"&gt;High Yield Investments Programmes&lt;/a&gt; Risks.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-1135417512114557707?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/1135417512114557707/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=1135417512114557707' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1135417512114557707'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1135417512114557707'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-are-risks-of-high-yield.html' title='What are the Risks of High Yield Investments Programmes (HYIPs)?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-6464687457272175</id><published>2009-06-12T19:01:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2009-06-12T19:03:56.634+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='legal advice'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='file for bankruptcy'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='law firm'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='lawyer'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='law office'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='difference between'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='attorney'/><title type='text'>The Difference Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy</title><content type='html'>There are two different bankruptcy procedures for individuals. These proceedings are known as Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. While you may be familiar with the term Chapter 11 from the news, that chapter applies to business owners only.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Prior to October of 2005, going through a personal bankruptcy was a fairly simple and painless process. It did ruin your credit but it also allowed for a more liberal discharging of debt. In 2005, the law changed and is designed to provide an incentive to people to file under Chapter 13 rather than Chapter 7. For people with a steady income, Chapter 13 allows them to keep some property like a house or a car that they would otherwise lose in a Chapter 7 filing. Chapter 13 is a court approved "pay back" plan that can run for as long as five years.&lt;br /&gt;Chapter 7 is known as straight bankruptcy, and involves liquidation of all assets that are not exempt. Exempt property may include automobiles, work-related tools, and basic household furnishings. Other property could be sold by a court appointed trustee or given directly to a creditor as payment of your debt. There is also a limitation of how much you can earn during this process. It is not designed for you to profit by not having to pay your debts.&lt;br /&gt;There is another significant difference between Chapter 7 and 13. With Chapter 7, a person must wait eight years before they are able to file it again. Chapter 13 has only a two year waiting period before a person can refile.&lt;br /&gt;Both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 can eliminate unsecured debt, stop foreclosure proceedings, and halt collection processes. The differences lies in the way that those debts are discharged. Some debts such as alimony, child support, student loans and some taxes are exempt from the bankruptcy proceedings and cannot be eliminated.&lt;br /&gt;Unlike the liquidation proceedings in a Chapter 7, Chapter 13 is designed to allow the debtor to pay off all the debt over a period of time. However, the court must be satisfied with the pay back plan otherwise it can order that other property such as boats, cars etc be sold to insure that the debts are fully paid. Arriving at a reasonable pay back plan is essential if the debtor wishes to keep his property.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the past, bankruptcies clogged the courts as they were easy to get. Today the law tries to slow that processdown by requiring all persons desiring to file bankruptcy, to attend a government appoved counseling course regarding personal finance and credit. This requirement was added in the hopes that the debt problemcould be resolved outside the court. In addition, persons wanting to file Chapter 7 now have to have the approval of the Court regarding their income. If the Court feels that an individual's income is too high, they will not let them walk away from the debt through liquidation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The decision to file for bankruptcy can be a very emotional one and one that can cause a great deal of friction within a family. Don't make the stress greater by trying to do it yourself. Seek out a qualified bankruptcy attorney to guide you throught the process.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;About the Author&lt;br /&gt;Chris A Smith follows the personal finance industry and reports on credit card law, credit reporting companies, &lt;a href="http://trycreditfix.com/How-To-Avoid-Bankruptcy.html"&gt;personal bankruptcy&lt;/a&gt;, credit repair, alternative banking products and more. To find more information on bankruptcy and alternative plans, go to the informative credit site &lt;a href="http://trycreditfix.com/"&gt;CreditFix&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-6464687457272175?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/6464687457272175/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=6464687457272175' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6464687457272175'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6464687457272175'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/06/difference-between-chapter-7-and.html' title='The Difference Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-4498166885840754085</id><published>2009-06-12T18:56:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2009-06-12T18:59:17.298+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='bank government HUD VA FHA REO'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='forclosure list'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Arizona foreclosures'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='foreclosed home lists'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='foreclosure federal homes'/><title type='text'>Phoenix Foreclosures - Go Ahead to Invest by Paying Only Fraction Amount</title><content type='html'>Property value is facing the downward trend after the period of increasingly rising economic recession. While the foreclosures graph is dramatically shooting up nationwide. Phoenix foreclosures are not the exception. So, the people can save more money by investing in foreclosures that are repossessed by the lender or the bank to recoup amount that is still owed on the mortgage. In this case, the lender does not bother about the market value of the property as they are not the real estate personnel. They deal in finance. Their aim is to just take out their loan amount plus additional expenses. So, they sell the property at fractional rate of actual price.&lt;br /&gt;There are three different phases of the Phoenix foreclosures which are: • The first stage is the pre-foreclosure which is also known as the grace period and is granted to the owner to pay back his debts. The owner can either sell the property or refinance it. The period varies with the state. • The next stage is auction where the property is foreclosed and is put for public auction for non-payment of debt even in grace period. • When the property is not sold at auction, it is given back to the bank where bank pay off any back taxes attached to the property and is now considered as REO means the real estate owned property.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Phoenix the capital of Arizona is known for the main financial, cultural, transportation, economic and industrial center of southwestern US. To invest in Phoenix foreclosures one must keep track on daily basis. That is, it will be more beneficial if one have sound knowledge about the field. Some good web sites service its customers by providing A to Z information which saves lot of time and money which was otherwise spent while contacting agents and brokers earlier. The information includes: • Updated listings that can be searched based on various factors such as area wise, location wise, date wise, etc. • All types of foreclosures for example: FSBO, bank foreclosure, government foreclosures, etc. • Contact name and number of the seller. • Photo and particulars of the property like price, area covered number of bedrooms and bath, etc. • Tips to buy Phoenix foreclosures. • Nationwide foreclosures laws. • Latest news and articles on foreclosures.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Description: Phoenix foreclosures are the best opportunity to invest in as the city is the major transportation hub of North America and there are increasing number of foreclosures due to economic downturn. Thus Phoenix foreclosures are gaining more popularity and hence investors have a bright chance to get some lucrative property at quite cheap price.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;About the Author&lt;br /&gt;Ron Akins is Chief Writer on Real Estates and Foreclosures with over 20 years of experience in writing and provides expert tips on buying Phoenix Foreclosures. For more details please visit &lt;a href="http://www.foreclosureconnections.com/list/AZ/Maricopa/Phoenix.html"&gt;Phoenix Foreclosures&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-4498166885840754085?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/4498166885840754085/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=4498166885840754085' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4498166885840754085'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4498166885840754085'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/06/phoenix-foreclosures-go-ahead-to-invest.html' title='Phoenix Foreclosures - Go Ahead to Invest by Paying Only Fraction Amount'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-3393671552087965419</id><published>2009-06-12T18:46:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2009-06-12T18:52:14.054+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville foreclosure information'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville foreclosure trending data'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville foreclosure trends'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville Foreclosure Listing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville Home Foreclosure'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Louisville Bank Foreclosure'/><title type='text'>Tips for Buying a Property from Louisville Foreclosures</title><content type='html'>The down turn in the global economy has made pay cuts and job loss the order of the day. A lot of people are defaulting on their loan and mortgage payments and as a result they are being foreclosed by banks or financial institutions. That is why there are a lot of foreclosed properties available in the market for home buyers to choose from. Louisville in Jefferson County of Kentucky, USA is also not an exception to this trend. If you are planning to settle down in Louisville by buying a property there then you should first peruse various listing of Louisville Foreclosures. There are various steps of buying a foreclosures property and these basic steps are as follows: • Know about the various types of Foreclosure properties and their legal aspects • Find out about your own specifications about the property you want to buy • Set your budget for buying a foreclosed property and secure your finance • Settle on a representative to bid for you in force closure auctions. However, before settling on a property from the Louisville Foreclosures you should keep certain key things in mind. You should glean extensive information about different types of foreclosed properties like Notice of Default (NOD), Notice of Trustee (NOT) and Real Estate Owned (RTO) foreclosed properties. You should decide which end of the foreclosure cycle you want to buy the property from. It would be safer to buy a property already foreclosed by a bank or government but then again with these properties you have to deal with a larger pool of buyers. Secondly, you should understand your own requirements first if you are planning to buy a property from Louisville Foreclosures for your own use. You should first decide what size of property you need, that means settling on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you might need. Then fine tune the other specification like pools and yards. If you have got small children then you surely need a home with a yard to play for them. Various foreclosures listing websites available in the internet can be of immense help to you in this regard. Before you refine your property search you can use these broader criterions to check out the various foreclosed properties available in the market. All you need to do is to log into these websites and get registered with them for a small fee. Then you can avail all those information about foreclosure listings which were earlier available to professional real estate agents. Once you have settled on a property from the list of Louisville Foreclosures then you should ensure it fits your budget. You should try to secure your finances as soon as you zero on the property. It is always recommended for a buyer to be pre-qualified to buy the property because that would give you the strongest point to negotiate with the property sells.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;About the Author&lt;br /&gt;Ron Akins is Chief Writer on Real Estates and Foreclosures with over 20 years of experience in writing and provides expert tips on buying Louisville Foreclosures. For more details please visit &lt;a href="http://www.foreclosureconnections.com/list/KY/Jefferson/Louisville.html"&gt;Louisville Foreclosures&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-3393671552087965419?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/3393671552087965419/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=3393671552087965419' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/3393671552087965419'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/3393671552087965419'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/06/tips-for-buying-property-from.html' title='Tips for Buying a Property from Louisville Foreclosures'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-5350531530317732929</id><published>2009-06-12T13:09:00.005+09:30</published><updated>2009-06-12T15:42:43.747+09:30</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='coming collapse of the dollar'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='US dollar collapse'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='dollar value collapse'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='dollar value'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='dollar decline'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='will us dollar collapse'/><title type='text'>Dollar Collapse - Will The Dollar Really Collapse?</title><content type='html'>If the thought of the US dollar crashing, or devaluing makes you laugh, or shake your head because its just a myth, think again! &lt;p&gt;I was listening to Ben Bernanke's (Federal Reserve Chairman) Audio last week. Who in front of Congress blatantly admitted to having no concern for the dollar. He stated his job was to stimulate the economy, (not to mention his own bank account!) Which means print off money and throw it around into the markets and other companies that don't need it in the first place.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That is only part of the reason why the market has been heading north full steam ahead….&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I must be the first one to say here, that if you go back hundreds of years, in any economy and see the consequences of such actions and its not rosey picture.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let's take for example South Africa, or what has happened in Zimbabwe recently. The consequences of such actions has already taken place there and many crazy pictures are showing up on the internet. When you have a look at them (see below) It's like some sort of bizarre scene out of a "Gods must be crazy" Film. But the only crazy people are the ones running this show. The governements and media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Zimbabwe things are drastic and their country has fully collapsed. Hyperinflation has riddled the country, destroying their currencies and the true gentle spirit nature of it's people.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Check this picture out below. It's is a picture of one of the locals racing off to the shops to errrr… buy a loaf of bread! Ah you forgot your wheelbarrow mate! "Oh you couldn't afford one!…RIGHT!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jokes aside, this is a serious situation. It's sad really!!!! I would not want to be living in a place like this, that's for sure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The scary thing is that the US and some other countries are about to undergo a massive currency correction, and valuation also. How much?, well….time will tell? But the effect will have dramatic consequences on many families, young and old, rich and poor!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;THERE ARE BIG CHANGES COMING FOR MAJOR COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD. Zimbabwe is only one small portion, that has already felt these effects.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What will really matter is how this will affect people psychologically. I know that people are in trouble now financially but when people get DESPERATE, they can sometimes do DESPERATE things.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway….Its kinda hard to explain what is going on without showing some charts. Here is one that will simply BLOW YOUR MIND!.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-5350531530317732929?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/5350531530317732929/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=5350531530317732929' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5350531530317732929'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5350531530317732929'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2009/06/dollar-collapse-will-dollar-really.html' title='Dollar Collapse - Will The Dollar Really Collapse?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-279987065191054171</id><published>2007-12-29T04:19:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-12-29T04:21:47.658+09:30</updated><title type='text'>How to get High Yield Investments out of your Money?</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;How to get High Yield Investments out of your Money?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Introduction. Currently, bond &lt;strong&gt;yields&lt;/strong&gt; are low, bank savings and CD rates are extremely low, and the stock market is swinging violently! These conditions raise questions as to what to do with investment money.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The time value of money is based on the premise that an investor prefers to receive a payment of a fixed amount of money today, rather than an equal amount in the future, all else being equal. Considering that the cost of printing paper money is minimal, the federal government makes an enormous windfall profit whenever it places new bills in circulation and therefore tends to keep up this practice. This leads to inflation which erodes investors' returns. With today's interest rates and inflation, which is higher than reported by the CPI, investing may result in loss of buying power rather than a net increase. Under these circumstances you might wonder---What is the best thing to do with my money?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First let's look at the definition of money. Money is a tool to accomplish things and as a convenient method for exchange. Money only makes sense when there are people available for production, and goods and services are actually produced. Most people worry about how much money they have and how they can get more rather than thinking about what money is. If one hides his money in a mattress it does nothing for the economy. It is much better to put money to work where it can do good and return profit for the investor.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Money In The Bank? For me real investing is putting your money to work, not handing it over to a bank to earn them profits in return for locking it away from you. Many savers could be missing out on higher interest payments because they have no idea what their money is earning or how their account compares with others. When your money is in a bank account or CD, it is not being used effectively and probably netting you a loss due to inflation. The best way to maximize the power of your money is to place it where it can do a lot of good work and return a high interest rate. As we discussed above, investing money is putting it to work for you instead of you having to work. Well, if the Bank is not such a good place for your money, what about Bonds?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Should you put your money in bonds? Currently bond rates are only around 5%. After inflation a 5% bond return is actually losing money in terms of buying power. So, if you tie your money up in bonds for a time and then get it and the interest payment back the total amount has less buying power than before you invested. You need to have your money where it earns more than the real inflation rate in order for you to be ahead. Can the Stock Market do it?&lt;br /&gt;Should you put your investment money in the Stock Market? Current stock market violent ups and downs could drive you crazy. Recent market fluctuations have been up 300 one day and down 360 the next day. Such volatility means higher risk. Active traders are forced to stay glued to their computer screens, experiencing higher than normal stress, and feeling like they are being controlled. Some other investment methods are less volatile therefore reducing your need to worry about returns and to watch every day. What's a good way to put your money to work?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How can you effectively put your money to work? People of means don't want to continue working so they learn to put their money to work for them. Having your money work for you can earn you a profit every month without any personal work by you - so consider putting your money to work effectively. If you put your money to work expect it to earn a good wage, a good return, not just bank rates. Give your money respect; put your money to work in the most effective way, by applying it in high-interest accounts. By now you are probably asking where these accounts are!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Factors are lining up which present opportunities for putting money to work at higher &lt;strong&gt;yield&lt;/strong&gt;s. Most people have heard of the current turmoil in the mortgage lending business. Turmoil breads opportunity, all you need is to know where to look. The problems in the mortgage industry have resulted in lending institutions tightening up their lending practices. Consequently, developers are willing to pay higher rates for less red tape; that is private money. For example, when a developer uses an investor's money he uses it to create valuable new real estate or increase the value of existing real estate. In the process he makes a good profit and wants to share some of that profit in the form of interest payments with his investors that provide the funds.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Conclusion. If money is important to you, then you need to partner with a company that treats your money and your return as important. As the right user of your money, a developer can make it a root of all good in constructive ways in community development. A developer's loan fund allows investors to put their money to work in community development for a defined period of time. For example, our company puts investor's money to work helping community development in metropolitan Baltimore and we give our investors an extremely good monthly return. We allow investors to place their money in our project fund for an extended period so that they can plan on a high return over that period. We typically roll an investor's money over from one project to another thus re-using the funds and providing a continuous return to the investor for as long as he wishes. Currently we are re-habilitating 10 to 15 properties per month thus providing neighborhood improvement, great new places for people to live, and a high return for our investor partners. We offer a free prospectus so you can see what we do.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-279987065191054171?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/279987065191054171/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=279987065191054171' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/279987065191054171'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/279987065191054171'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-to-get-high-yield-investments-out.html' title='How to get High Yield Investments out of your Money?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-8460254209450054929</id><published>2007-12-29T04:12:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-12-29T04:18:40.965+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Earn High yield in Forex Market</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/R3VEcqEBuUI/AAAAAAAAAA4/OZzwDQmfWoo/s1600-h/images.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149097008086235458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/R3VEcqEBuUI/AAAAAAAAAA4/OZzwDQmfWoo/s320/images.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Investing in &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Forex&lt;/span&gt; is probably more risky but there is the opportunity to make morein a shorter space of time.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By &lt;strong&gt;high yield&lt;/strong&gt; we mean, &lt;strong&gt;high yield&lt;/strong&gt; consistent with the preservation of the capital invested. This definition means that investment in a new corporation that is just starting out is omitted as is investment in partnerships as a partner and in individual proprietorships whether they be shoe shine parlors or stock brokerage firms.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This latter type of investment does not stress the preservation of your capital down to the last dollar right from the time that dollar is invested. Granted it may work out wonderfully, and a dollar invested may conceivably grow to two or five or even $100, but when funds are invested in such a way they are spent for sales promotion or for a truck or machinery or for anything. Your dollar or fund of dollars thus cannot be returned since it has been put into forms of assets which it is hoped will start earning and eventually build up a fund of dollars to return to the investors.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are talking about investments which right from the day you invest your money have as goals the preservation of every dollar and the payment of a return on that dollar. As soon as the investment is made, wheels are started rolling to return your investment to you. There is no particular virtue in this type investment as against the kind that takes your funds and puts them into a peanut stand which you and your partner will operate.&lt;br /&gt;It is simply a different type of investment. If you put your funds into a building and loan association you know with reasonable certainty that they will be returned to you, and it is one of the main purposes of the association to keep your money intact at all times.&lt;br /&gt;Besides the preservation of your fund of dollars, which will eventually be returned to you, the type investment we are talking about is the kind that gives you a high yield on your money, and by high yield is meant anything over the savings bank 3% or thereabouts, up to 20% and in some cases higher.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Quite aside from the fact that we are simply taking a type or types of investment and studying these, there is very real merit to concentrating on what we call high yield investments. In a free enterprise a democratic economy such as we have in the United States the factors of production are guided into their most valuable use by going where they are offered the greatest reward or return.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The laborer goes where he is paid the most; the executive moves out of his job with his company and into a higher paying one in another company; a farm is excavated away and in its place is constructed a modern shopping center; and capital goes where the users are willing to pay the most for it, provided the risk is approximately the same.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the railroad building era which started in the 1830's the smart, large aggregations of capital went into constructing new rail lines and buying new equipment, and the return on the capital in this employment was high. Since those pioneering years the railroads have matured and gradually new forms of transportation have come in as competitors, mainly trucks, airlines and bus lines. The railroads now need little capital for expansion and thus are unwilling to pay a high rate of return to attract it.&lt;br /&gt;In the early and middle 1950's mobile homes (house trailers) were just developing as a full fledged industry, and to attract money this industry was willing to pay a substantial rate of return. Later in the 1950's this business approached a plateau of development, at least a temporary one, and it could not pay the rate of return it once did. In 1959 and 1960 and into 1961 still another industry came up, and came up fast, and it was willing to pay a high rate of return in order to attract capital shell or pre-cut homes, manufactured in parts at the factory and shipped knocked down to the owner's land where they were assembled quickly and easily.&lt;br /&gt;The industry was new. It needed funds to develop. Since it was new and in its early stage of great demand, its profits enabled it to pay a healthy rate of return on the money it needed.&lt;br /&gt;If you invest in stocks or Forex make sure you do not risk more than you can afford to lose.&lt;br /&gt;If you invest in Forex you will find software will help you tremendously.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Finally last word, to attain &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;high yields&lt;/span&gt; out of ur &lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Investments&lt;/span&gt; Forex market gives you a conducive opportunity.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-8460254209450054929?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/8460254209450054929/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=8460254209450054929' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8460254209450054929'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8460254209450054929'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/12/earn-high-yield-in-forex-market.html' title='Earn High yield in Forex Market'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/R3VEcqEBuUI/AAAAAAAAAA4/OZzwDQmfWoo/s72-c/images.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-8305740802552783975</id><published>2007-12-29T04:04:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-12-29T04:08:46.214+09:30</updated><title type='text'>What does High Yield Really Mean?</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;High Yield Investing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;High yield investing has taken on a totally new dimension since the introduction of the internet and the basic personal computer. In the United States, a high yield account is considered to be anything over 5% monthly. Of curse as the old adage goes, the higher the yield the larger the risk. This is true. You can not expect to earn more than an average percentage rate with less risk. It just doesnt make sense.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When discussing high yield interest accounts, are we talking about a savings account that produces a 5.4% annual percentage return? Well, yes. And no. It depends on who you are and what you consider to be possibilities and realistic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By now most of us have heard about investment programs that claim to be able to produce ridiculously high returns. Traditional investors cringes when they hear terms like 25% per month for one year plus the return of principle, and they nearly quiver when they hear claims of 300% in eight weeks. Certainly these high yield investment programs must be scams. How can it be possible to produce such returns in such a short amount of time? And why isnt everyone out there doing this if it can really happen? If these high yield investments hold any water then in just five short years we could wipe out poverty and homelessness and no child would ever go to bed hungry or sick again!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Are High Yield Investments Scams?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Believe it or not this question is not a simple yes or no response. It cant be. The short and safe answer would be yes, they are scams. However, it is important to understand what they are and why they have not all been shut down by the government if they are nothing more than a way to steal your money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;High yield investment programs are not a place to try to earn an income. They are extremely volatile and unpredictable. People can and do make money from them, and sometimes its a significant amount of money. But dont get excited and start rushing out to re-mortgage your house just yet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read every single disclaimer on a high yield investment program website and they will all say the exact same thing. High yield investing comes with the risk of losing money. Never invest more than you can stand to lose. Why? Because every high yield investment program will eventually crumble and those with money invested are going to lose.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;High yield investment programs are based on principles similar to gambling. While most of do not, there are people in the world who make their living traveling around to casinos and gambling. Is it a scam? No. In fact most of us at least respect the fact that the individual is competent enough at playing casino games that they can earn a living at it regardless of how we feel about gambling ourselves. The same applies to earning a living from high yield investment programs. Most investors do not even consider them real investments and scoff at those who attempt to earn a living through high yield investing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most people who are able to fund their lifestyle and earn a living through high yield investment programs started in using one of two methods. They either jumped in with both feet at the first program that sounded good to them and lost everything they invested or they researched high yield investment programs until their fingers went numb before ever investing a dime. Either way, both parties came to the conclusion that to come out ahead in high yield investments programs they would have to do ample research and completely understand the system and principles before they were going to succeed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Earning a living through high yield investment programs takes a system that is easy to implement and follow to prevent early closing and hefty losses. This system takes a lot of due diligence and of course, some very specialized knowledge about forex trading and even gambling.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reading the websites method of investment can tell the average high yield investor a lot about the security, or lack thereof, for any particular program. Most will admit to trading in forex, which any average investor can do with a little knowledge and research. Some will tell you that they are trading in commodities as well and some admit that they are also gambling with the investors money, literally. Any website that says they are gambling using fool proof methods of winning should absolutely be avoided at all costs. There is no fool proof method of gambling.&lt;br /&gt;High yield investing is probably something to be avoided altogether, although that is an individual choice only an individual investor can make. However, if you choose to get involved with a high yield investment program and you loose your money, that was your choice as well. Just like it is possible to loose money in the stock market, you are likely to loose money in high yield investments. An investor that looses money in the stock market doesnt typically file a lawsuit against the broker, so why are people so quick to file lawsuits and complaints when they loose money in high yield investment programs?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The answer is unpleasant but for the most part it is true. Greed. We can accept that there are poor investments out there and should we loose three or four thousand dollars in a bad investment we accept it as part of the potential outcome of investing. Yet because we got excited and our minds started spending the money we were hoping to see through a high yield investment now suddenly the people who run these programs are thieves. High yield investments are investments even if they do border on scams and you run the risk of losing your money. Remember the basic principle of any investment? The higher the return the more likely you are to lose your money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;High yield investments are incredibly risky and some of them are actually scams. Scam artists are everywhere and if there are people in the world who are willing to fork over thousands of dollars in the unrealistic hope that they can turn it into ten of thousands of dollars in a relatively short period of time then there will be people who are willing to steal that money from potential investors.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People are willing to donate their money to any valuable cause, so there are people who are willing to set up phony charities to steal donations from giving people. That certainly doesnt make every charity a scam and people arent going to stop donating to charities of their choice. Just as there are individuals who will take advantage of peoples kindness and desire to give to charities, there are individuals who are interested in scamming money from people who are trying to improve their financial portfolio through high yield investment programs. That doesnt mean every single high yield investment program is a scam.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The one thing all high yield investment programs do have in common is that sooner or later they will all fold, even those that start out being profitable. Just because a high yield investment program starts off producing the returns that it proposed in the beginning doesnt mean that it will continue to do so over a long period of time. This is how the high yield investor gets dramatically burned. One or two programs that delivers for a period of time doesnt mean its time to quit the job and devote all the available resources to high yield investing. It means that one or two programs are doing well. They will not do well forever and sooner or later they will crumble. That is the nature of high yield investing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;High Yield versus Conservative Investing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Which investment strategy is right for you? Only an individual investor can answer that question for their own interests. Some people can tolerate the significant risk factors while others prefer the stability of the more conservative and conventional methods of investing. Some people are more willing to take a gamble than others, and by all means high yield investing is a form of gambling.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are dramatically fewer scams in conventional investing. Some people will always believe that high yield investing is a scam and there is nothing that will convince them otherwise. Just because some people are able to be successful doesnt mean that a program is not a scam. And just because something is a scam doesnt mean that some money cant be made anyway. Does it make it right or real or worthwhile? Again this is something that each individual investor needs to determine for themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For solid investment advice and a clearer path to investment success, independent advice and research is the best way to go. For all kinds of independent investment advice, stop by onlinetradingideas for comprehensive investment strategies, advice, and independent research. This site is particularly useful for making the most from conventional trading ideas and profiting from forex trades without having to enter the realm of high yield investment programs.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-8305740802552783975?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/8305740802552783975/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=8305740802552783975' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8305740802552783975'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8305740802552783975'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-does-high-yield-really-mean.html' title='What does High Yield Really Mean?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-6799994504343773988</id><published>2007-03-22T22:33:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-03-22T22:34:19.421+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Introduction to Hedge Funds</title><content type='html'>Here we will give a brief overview of the hedge fund market in order to better understand the context of the kind of model we try to build and the strategy behind it. &lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although there is no universally accepted definition of the term "hedge fund", the term has evolved over time to include a multitude of skill-based investment strategies with a broad range of risk and return objectives. The common element among these strategies is the use of investment and risk management skills to seek positive returns regardless of market direction. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"hedge funds" are an exciting innovation to the range of professionally managed investment vehicles that have brought sophisticated investment strategies and a new sense of excitement to the investment community. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They can serve as an important risk management tool for investors by providing valuable portfolio diversification. One might define a "hedge fund" as an information-motivated fund that hedges away all or most sources of risk not related to the price-relevant information available for speculation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"hedge funds" use a wide variety of investment styles and strategies. Even among "hedge funds" that purport to use the same investment strategy or invest within the same asset class, there is a wide range of investment activities, performance and risk levels. Because the investment activities of "hedge funds" are so diverse, the "hedge funds" assigned to a particular investment category are likely to exhibit less similarity than more traditional investment vehicles, such as registered investment companies. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The investment strategies are typically designed to protect investment principal and engage in a variety of investment techniques that include fixed income securities, convertible securities, currencies, exchange-traded futures, over-the-counter derivatives, futures contracts, commodity options and other non-securities investments in order to generate specific risk-return profiles. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Strategies may be designed to be market-neutral (very low correlation to the overall market) or directional (a “bet” anticipating a specific market movement). Selection decisions may be purely systematic (based upon computer models) or discretionary (ultimately based on a person). A "hedge fund" may pursue several strategies at the same time, internally allocating its assets proportionately across different strategies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"hedge funds" are often classified according to investment style including following categories: relative value, event-driven, equity "hedge funds", global asset allocators and short selling. Within each style category, funds are then classified according to the underlying markets traded. For example, within the relative value style classification, there are a number of sub-groups, including equity market neutral, fixed income arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, credit arbitrage and statistical arbitrage. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Various "hedge fund" return opportunities stem from the expanded universe of securities available to trade and the strategies that can be employed. Funds can access both financial and non-financial (commodity) markets and can easily take long, short, spread, and option positions in any of these markets. Expanding the set of investment opportunities results in providing diversification benefits to a portfolio that cannot be replicated through traditional stock, bond, and real estate investment strategies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For alternative investments, such as "hedge funds", to grow as an investment alternative, individuals need to increase their knowledge and comfort level as to their use in investment portfolios. The logical extension of using investment managers with specialized knowledge of traditional markets to obtain maximum return/risk tradeoffs is to add specialized managers who can obtain the unique returns in market conditions and types of securities not generally available to traditional asset managers; that is, "hedge funds". In addition, investors must compare the unique returns available to each of the "hedge fund" styles to insure that the particular style does not duplicate existing investment opportunities.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-6799994504343773988?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/6799994504343773988/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=6799994504343773988' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6799994504343773988'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6799994504343773988'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/03/introduction-to-hedge-funds.html' title='Introduction to Hedge Funds'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-2572363901309938213</id><published>2007-03-22T22:28:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-03-22T22:31:26.777+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Online Sports Trading: A fantastic Investment</title><content type='html'>Author: The Sports Investor  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;What if there was some way to tap into the ever-growing popularity of world-wide sport that could turn the gambling factor of sports betting into an investment vehicle producing sustainable results over the long-term such as equity trading? &lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What if there was some way to tap into the ever-growing popularity of world-wide sport that could turn the gambling factor of sports betting into an investment vehicle producing sustainable results over the long-term such as equity trading?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports Trading was conceptualized and bridge between conventional sports betting and real-world stock trading was built.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please note: generalizations are used in this article because sport trading exchanges can differ in nature and offerings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is Sports Trading?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You may immediately associate sports trading with that of card trading but until fairly recently, sports trading has taken on another exciting meaning.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although the actual definition of sports trading may differ exactly depending on the type of exchange in question, it is essentially the act of investing in virtual sports issues or contracts (i.e. sports teams, players or markets). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports trading is not to be confused with sports betting (betting against a bookmaker) or some other form of fancy gambling, sports trading runs along the same investment lines as trading on a conventional stock market exchange (e.g. Wall Street). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Participants of:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fantasy sports games&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stock trading simulation games&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports betting exchanges&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;will identify a commonalty with a typical sports trading exchange. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although sport trading is still somewhat dwarfed by the sports betting and real-world trading industries, there is no question of the future popularity for this concept as people from all backgrounds are coming together to trade be it virtual stocks or issues or real contracts for real money on any sports related market, offered by the online sport trading exchange.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports trading exchanges are developing sophisticated technology, commonly employing a proprietary trading platform and in most cases, with a Level II type trading interface. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is typical of a global sports trading exchange to offer around-the-clock (i.e. 24/7) trading as exchange members are not inhibited with limited or set trading hours so are free trade anytime, from anyplace around the world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Advantages over Sports Betting&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports trading has the thrill of sports betting but without the inherit risk of gambling that sports betting produces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some notable advantages sport trading has over conventional sports betting are (trading exchange dependant):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Far less risk; eliminates the -all or nothing- situation&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can still profit even from an event loss&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Capital appreciation&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dividend income&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Not solely competing against professionals&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Greater chance of success (not limited to above reason)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Can be invested with minimal effort&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sport trading eliminates the gambling factor associated with sports betting; traders seldom lose their total investment in a stock holding (i.e. they have the ability to trade out to prevent further loss), the sports bettor loses their entire wager with an incorrect guess. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The sports trader is not competing solely against professional bookmakers whose job is to get the better of you - more often. Sport trading exchanges are about people-to-people interaction so you are pitting your skill, judgement and knowledge against fairer competition. Learn to be savvy and you end up with the edge. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once invested, the sports trader can theoretically sit-back and monitor their investments passively; the sports bettor must normally wager every time to potentially make money and therefore, incur greater risk on each and every bet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Advantages over conventional stock trading&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Participants of stock trading already will find other useful benefits from a typical sport trading exchange such as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lower trading fees due to being solely online trading&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Greater participation from a wider audience&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Not being exclusive to professionals &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Around the clock trading (no set trading sessions)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wider-economy independence &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Readily accessible sport information for all&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Global trading stock exchanges&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The global online sport trader is conveniently afforded time-zone irrelevant trading from an online trading environment that typically does not shut for trading. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the world-wide following sport increasingly enjoys (activity is seldom subject to prevailing economic factors that affect conventional trading exchanges) and the substantial amount of publicly available information not subject to a privileged few, sport traders can finally compete on fairer terms with other traders.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Online sports trading on virtual trading exchanges provide a wonderfully unique cross over between conventional sports betting and real-world stock trading in essence; they combine many of the advantages of the two, in a single investment product.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The opportunities that exist on these virtual exchanges and the resulting advantages are too long to detail here but it is the hope of this article to spread further awareness and the investment advantages of sport trading because this is a viable form of investment worthy of promotion.  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;About Author &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;The http://www.sportstradinginvestor.com Sports Trading Investor - games of strategy and skill, markets of excitement and opportunities. Providing informative resources to help make you become a winner!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-2572363901309938213?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/2572363901309938213/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=2572363901309938213' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/2572363901309938213'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/2572363901309938213'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/03/online-sports-trading-fantastic.html' title='Online Sports Trading: A fantastic Investment'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-6341815433623414630</id><published>2007-02-28T15:10:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-28T15:13:35.402+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Stock Valuation:  A battle of Ratios....</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/ReUWd4b1TAI/AAAAAAAAAAk/41cYvSC8Oq0/s1600-h/valuation.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/ReUWd4b1TAI/AAAAAAAAAAk/41cYvSC8Oq0/s320/valuation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5036456460904909826" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Valuation means assigning a ''proper'' value, or price, to a stock. The quote marks around ''proper'' remind us that while the word implies that there is a single ''correct'' price, in fact the concept is theoretical. Valuation is nevertheless an important guide to what price at which to buy or sell a stock. If you pay too much for a stock—more than it is ''worth''—your returns will suffer forever after.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Many large-scale institutional investors—mutual funds, brokerages, hedge funds—have developed complex mathematical models for determining a stock’s ''proper'' price. The individual investor needs to go a different route.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Fortunately, a second method exists which is just as good, easy to understand, and readily available. This second method uses what are called valuation ratios.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Valuation ratios divide the stock’s current price (P) by quantifiable aspects of its business: its earnings, its revenue, its book value, and so on. Each ratio is then compared to historical norms to tell whether the stock is fairly priced at its current price P.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Here are some common valuation ratios that the Sensible Stock Investor uses:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;--P/E, or price-to-earnings ratio. This compares the stock’s price to the company’s reported earnings. This is the famous ''multiple'' that one often hears about.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;-- P/S, or price-to-sales ratio, which compares the stock’s price to the company’s revenue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;-- P/B, or price-to-book ratio, which compares the stock’s price to the company’s book value (as computed by accepted accounting principles).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;-- PEG, which is the P/E ratio divided by the earnings growth rate of the company.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;-- P/CF, or price-to-cashflow, which compares the stock’s price to its annual flow of cash.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Happily, all of these valuation ratios, plus others, are available for free on virtually all financial Web sites. They are usually current to the very day. If you know the historical benchmarks, it is easy to interpret each ratio as indicating whether, like Goldilocks’ porridge, a stock’s price is too hot, too cold, or just about right.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-6341815433623414630?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/6341815433623414630/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=6341815433623414630' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6341815433623414630'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6341815433623414630'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/stock-valuation-battle-of-ratios.html' title='Stock Valuation:  A battle of Ratios....'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/ReUWd4b1TAI/AAAAAAAAAAk/41cYvSC8Oq0/s72-c/valuation.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-7568773455003509736</id><published>2007-02-28T15:05:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-28T15:07:00.836+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Stock Investing -- Buy and Hold vs, Timing</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The most important factor in stock market success is controlling risk. Risk, of course, includes not only the possibility that you will lose money, but also the possibility that you will miss out on a chance to make money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Sensible Stock Investor uses a variety of methods for managing risk. One of these is timing. Timing means selecting the optimum point in time to make a transaction--to buy or to sell.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much stock investment literature derides timing as a risk-control measure. Most advisers focus solely on asset allocation and diversification. For example, whenever you see statistics about how much of your money you ''should'' have in large-cap stocks, small-cap stocks, bonds, cash, etc., the recommendations are based on long-term performance statistics for those asset types. In other words, the advice is always based on the presumption that you will Buy and Hold each asset. That underlying premise is almost always unstated. The use of timing as an additional way to control risk is ignored or criticized as impossible.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, to the Sensible Stock Investor, timing--that is, not Buying and Holding everything--is a valid risk-control technique. It turns out statistically that not being invested in stocks when they are going down contributes much more to positive returns than being fully invested all of the time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Timing can be used in both buy and sell decisions. It helps determine when to purchase a stock (thus reducing the risk that you will miss out on a chance to make money on the stock), and it also helps determine when to sell it (thus reducing the risk that you will lose money on the stock). Even Warren Buffett--who is reflexively associated with Buy-and-Hold--practices timing. There are many times when he holds a great deal of his assets in cash--waiting for the right time to buy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Therefore, timing is a tool in the toolkit of the Sensible Stock Investor to practice risk management. It does not fully control buy, hold, and sell decisions, but it does influence them. The idea is to have more of your money in the market when there is a greater chance for gain, and to have less invested when there is a greater chance for loss. The whole idea is to stack the odds in your favor as much as you can. Timing helps you do that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Timing is based on ''indicators.'' Indicators are simply pieces of information that may be predictive of future performance. Thus, they are signals whether to buy, hold, or sell. We'd like to be more fully invested when the market is going up, and less fully invested--or entirely in cash--when the market is going down. Indicators can help us toward that goal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because individual investors cannot spend all day studying the market, the best indicators for the individual must be (1) readily available, (2) free, and (3) easily understood. It turns out that we can find such indicators without too much trouble.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For example, we can employ indicators such as broad market trends, broad market valuation, individual stock trends and valuations, economic trends, and interest rates. It turns out that a straightforward set of such indicators can be obtained for free, put together in a logical fashion, and kept up to date with relatively little expenditure of time and no expenditure of money. The result is called a ''Timing Outlook.''&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Sensible Stock Investor then uses the Timing Outlook to influence--but not totally determine--his or her decisions about when and whether to buy, hold, or sell particular stocks. The Timing Outlook is used in conjunction with the other tools of Sensible Stock Investing. The whole toolkit--selecting excellent companies, valuing their stocks, maintaining a well-rounded portfolio, using sell-stops, and so on--creates a sound latticework of complementary techniques. These techniques lead to superior results, principally because they help you to manage investment risk.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A word about psychology: The Sensible Stock Investor creates all his or her tools as objectively as possible--when he or she is thinking most clearly, not in the heat of a fast-moving market. Psychologically, it can be hard to follow any system which is giving a seemingly non-intuitive signal. But that's why you have a system in the first place: So you can follow it when objective thinking is most difficult. The Timing Outlook helps take emotions out of the equation. That's a good thing, because in finance and investing, emotions often point in the wrong direction. Level-headedness usually wins out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" &gt; by DVK Group, Inc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-7568773455003509736?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/7568773455003509736/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=7568773455003509736' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/7568773455003509736'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/7568773455003509736'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/stock-investing-buy-and-hold-vs-timing.html' title='Stock Investing -- Buy and Hold vs, Timing'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-6286403066316736344</id><published>2007-02-27T14:48:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-27T14:58:21.099+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Watch how Warren Buffett Started his Journey of value Investing....</title><content type='html'>This is one of the most insightful video i have ever come across, in which Mr. Buffett unveils his journry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guess What? Mr. Buffett bought his first value stock when he was 11, he bought 3 sharse of Citi Services @ $38, he made $5 each share. Check Out More Facts....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object height="350" width="425"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NBb_T9lKZnI"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NBb_T9lKZnI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-6286403066316736344?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/6286403066316736344/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=6286403066316736344' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6286403066316736344'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/6286403066316736344'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/watch-how-warren-buffett-started-his.html' title='Watch how Warren Buffett Started his Journey of value Investing....'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-5982848242067055817</id><published>2007-02-23T17:41:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-23T17:48:56.637+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Picking the best stock is like choosing your Best friend…</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Dear Friends, &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;I am so glad to share this real life case in which I learned to pick the best stocks&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;through selecting the best friend. I am aware at first it may sound bizarre to you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;I ask you to select your best friend out of your batch and if you are working then select your best peer. Take my example, I have just completed my MBA. I am very selective in making friends after all it is not about how many friends do you have or how rich and influential your friends are but what “value” your friends create to you. No matter you have only one. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 1:&lt;/i&gt; I rather prefer to select a guy who really adds value to me than to a girl friend. Because that friend of mine has Guts he is really different. He has feeling of technology.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning:&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;Do not pick stock that only add fancy to your portfolio, it is just like a girlfriend, invest in companies having what &lt;a href="http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/warren-buffett-short-biography.html"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Warren Buffett&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; terms “&lt;a href="http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-durable-competitive-advantage.html"&gt;&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Durable Competitive Advantage&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;”. That makes the company unique. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 2:&lt;/i&gt; Think how your friend can create value to you? My friend, is a highly Tech Savvy guy, he is my technical mentor, others ignored him because he was reserved nature person always busy with his Laptop. I had all options to roam around with friends, girl friend and to damn care for any value addition.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;And that is called following the herd or “ the peer pressure.”&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning:&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;Choose for the companies which are different, understand the competitive advantage of the Business, than to just go by what others investing in. do not let your Stock Picking instinct get influenced by Peer Pressure. So I would say, “ Have Guts to Be Different.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 3&lt;/i&gt;: My friend did not perform very well academically, because he was more busy doing something creative on internet, Others thought this fellow is dumb and waste, he is a crazy guy, does not bother for marks. Others ignored him but I picked his, because I was sure that this guy can create value to me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning: Do not peep into others basket, decorate your own. I mean keep your portfolio intact of others’. If u understand the Competitive Advantage of the business and understand it than I will strongly recommend Dare to be different.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 4&lt;/i&gt;: Since my friend was of reserve nature, I found it difficult to befriend with him, so I found the best opportunity, once he could not complete his assignment that time he was in need and I helped his to give him a sense that I was his best buddy, after all, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” I picked my friend when he was down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning: with this approach I want to tell what is the right time to pick a stock? Well, once you have thoroughly understood the Durable Competitive Advantage of the business, it Is now high time to wait and watch, to pick the stock when the stock Is &lt;i style=""&gt;undervalued&lt;/i&gt;, I mean &lt;a href="http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/understand-inportance-of-margin-of.html"&gt;“&lt;b style=""&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Margin of Safety&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;”&lt;/a&gt; the concept given by the Great Ben Graham,&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I befriended with my friend when he was down (depressed), likewise pick a stock when it is Undervalued, or trading at lesser that the intrinsic value.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 5&lt;/i&gt;: I do not believe in changing friends frequently, I ignored the minor mistakes of my friend thats how I could hold with him for a long time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning: Do not get carried away by the daily fluctuation into the market price of the stock you have picked. Ignore it like I ignored the minor mistakes of my friend and could hold him for long term.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 6&lt;/i&gt;: I hate taking any crucial decision on the basis of behavioral mistakes of my friend; also I do not quit friends and make friends frequently based on their sudden failures or success.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning: Do not trade, I mean a value investor should not trade. In the sense, do not buy and sell your stock too frequently, ignore the daily fluctuations, patiently wait and let the competitive advantage of the business work. It will surely generate not only returns but what Warren Buffett says “Compounding Returns.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;i style=""&gt;Approach 7&lt;/i&gt;: This approach might sound that i am selfish or I stared spending more time with other friend of mine who has different talent. It is because my earlier friend has already created value to me up to my expectation. So now its time to “Let Him Go.” And look for other friend who can create more value.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Learning: Wait and watch does not mean to be passive about your stock. Set your return expectation one they are fulfilled dare to sell and pick other stock which has other competitive advantage as I changed my friend.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Today that friend of mine is a successful freelancer, he has assured earning or cash flows, he created value in my life at its full measure, had I also ignored him like my other friends did, i would even not have started this blog. Likewise, the stock that you have picked will surely fetch you more than expected returns or value creation for you, because if a business has true durable competitive advantage its future cash flows and earnings are going to be above average and assured.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;                &lt;/span&gt;This I show I made my value investing decision. The idea of selecting the Best friend is like picking the Best business Is taken form Warren Buffett’s Speech in the University of Florida, you can watch the full video at:  &lt;a href="http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/insightful-video-by-warren-buffett_20.html"&gt;Click me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;Happy Value Investing!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-5982848242067055817?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/5982848242067055817/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=5982848242067055817' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5982848242067055817'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5982848242067055817'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/picking-best-stock-is-like-choosing.html' title='Picking the best stock is like choosing your Best friend…'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-8401816190593170788</id><published>2007-02-23T17:38:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-23T21:15:54.755+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Why Durable Competitive Advantage Matters?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Durable competitive advantage: it sounds nice, but what does it mean? And, as an investor, why should I care about it? Sometimes referred to as a "business moat", durable competitive advantage, in its simplest term, means the scale of a business in its field vs. its peers. That is its "competitive advantage." &lt;?xml:namespace prefix = o /&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;But what makes it durable? &lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What make an advantage durable is the cost and time it would take a current or potential competitor to grow large enough in this area (high barrier of entry) to adversely impact our business. A high level of durability allows us a greater degree of accuracy to predict future earnings, and thereby arrive at a price for which we are willing to purchase a piece of the business (share of stock).&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal" align="justify"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;How do we recognize and find those businesses that have this (or don't)? &lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Strict adherence to the "durable" portion of the phrase enables us to do one thing before we even begin to look at possible stocks: eliminate entire sectors of possible investment. This makes our investing easier by shrinking the field of candidates, while reducing the chances of mistakenly investing our money in a good company in a lousy business.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-8401816190593170788?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/8401816190593170788/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=8401816190593170788' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8401816190593170788'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8401816190593170788'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/why-durable-competitive-advantage.html' title='Why Durable Competitive Advantage Matters?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-8064197998048346482</id><published>2007-02-23T17:24:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-23T17:37:47.907+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Understand the inportance of Margin of Safety.</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Essential to Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett was the concept of margin of safety in an investment. If a stock's price is well below its' intrinsic value, then there is a margin of safety by default. This golden rule of value investing was been a central tenet for many years.&lt;br /&gt;Benjamin Graham was the father of securities analysis and taught the principles to many students at Cornell University, including an eager to learn teen Warren Buffett. Once you knew the value of a company, then it was easy to deduce what investment decision to make.&lt;br /&gt;Prior to Graham's seminal work, there were no standard methods of valuing companies.&lt;br /&gt;In Security Analysis, Graham wrote that intrinsic value was "that value which was determined by the facts." The facts involved dissecting the company's earnings and assets, and making a guess a the future earnings. The future earnings were the toughest to calculate, but the most important because they helped give the analyst the information needed to determine the intrinsic value and the margin of safety.&lt;br /&gt;He framed the intrinsic value thus: estimated future earnings multiplied times a capitalization factor that was derived from the company's earnings and assets as well as the balance sheet.&lt;br /&gt;Graham knew that the intrinsic value was imprecise and that some amount of uncertainty existed in using it. Despite that, he felt it was a superior way of valuing securities.&lt;br /&gt;As long as you knew the intrinsic value of a company, you could easily calculate the margin of safety.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-8064197998048346482?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/8064197998048346482/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=8064197998048346482' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8064197998048346482'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/8064197998048346482'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/understand-inportance-of-margin-of.html' title='Understand the inportance of Margin of Safety.'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-5557570913035275903</id><published>2007-02-21T16:46:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-23T00:05:40.756+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Insightful Video By Warren Buffett...</title><content type='html'>Dear Value Investors,&lt;br /&gt;Listen what the great Value Investor of its time has to say. And do &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;"Gain from his Perspective."&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; In this video Mr. Buffett shares his learnings, his techiniques, his investment mistakes. Its a 1 hr. 27 Mins quality time video.&lt;br /&gt;wish you a Happy and Value Investing..... Enjoy.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6231308980849895261&amp;amp;hl=en" flashvars=""&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-5557570913035275903?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/5557570913035275903/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=5557570913035275903' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5557570913035275903'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/5557570913035275903'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/insightful-video-by-warren-buffett_20.html' title='Insightful Video By Warren Buffett...'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-1853691974363953251</id><published>2007-02-19T01:24:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-19T01:37:19.736+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Download the Book "The Warren Buffett Way"</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/Rdh5iLWWqoI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Z5czrDCnISo/s1600-h/warrenn.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032906211655592578" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/Rdh5iLWWqoI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Z5czrDCnISo/s320/warrenn.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Starting with $10,000 in 1956 and today worth some $8.5 billion, with significant holdings in Coca-Cola, Capital Cities/ ABC and the Washington Post Company, Omaha, Nebr.-based Buffet is a major player on Wall Street. Financial consultant Hagstrom, who did not interview his subject but obtained permission to quote from his Berkshire Hathaway annual reports, here outlines Buffet's iconoclastic tenets for investing. Unlike many entrepreneurs who take over companies to sell them off in bits, Buffet buys and holds. He rejects the "efficient market theory"; he doesn't worry about the stock market; and he buys a business, not a stock. He manages with a small staff, no computers and a "hands off" strategy. Learning his secrets here, now the rest of us can do a Buffet?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;To Download Click the link &lt;a href="http://s180127837.onlinehome.us/1_5/2/A/J/The%20Warren%20Buffett%20W.pdf"&gt;&lt;em&gt;http://s180127837.onlinehome.us/1_5/2/A/J/The%20Warren%20Buffett%20W.pdf&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Please drop in your comments. Visit Again for exciting contents)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-1853691974363953251?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/1853691974363953251/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=1853691974363953251' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1853691974363953251'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1853691974363953251'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/download-book-warren-buffett-way_18.html' title='Download the Book &quot;The Warren Buffett Way&quot;'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/Rdh5iLWWqoI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Z5czrDCnISo/s72-c/warrenn.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-4142419596203456963</id><published>2007-02-17T23:01:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-22T13:32:23.563+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Pick Stocks like Warren Buffett: A Case Study ( How Warren Picked Coca-Cola?)</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/RdcGArWWqnI/AAAAAAAAAAM/hYXECVz-ttE/s1600-h/coca+cola.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/RdcGArWWqnI/AAAAAAAAAAM/hYXECVz-ttE/s320/coca+cola.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032497717316070002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Dear Investors or Buffettologists,&lt;br /&gt;Here is a Case study that throws a light on all the important aspects that the Great Buffett looks through. Its no magic, there is nothing complicated about it, just feel the bussiness and have disciplined investing approach.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Happy Investing.........&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;table class="MsoNormalTable" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: georgia;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4"&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr style=""&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center; font-family: georgia;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Coca Cola &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In answering the question for ourselves whether Coca Cola is a company worth consideration as an investment, at the right price, we have used summary and other figures available from Value Line.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Question 1: Does the company sell brand name products that are likely to endure?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The answer to this seems quite simple. The major product of the company has been around for many years, is sold worldwide and is considered the best-known brand name in the world. More importantly, its customers would not do without it, and have demonstrated a loyalty that makes it unlikely it would change to other products. It also has other well-known brands on its books – Sprite, Fanta, Evian, Minute Maid, PowerAde.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. Is the business of the company easily understood?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We think so. Its core operation is the production and distribution, both for itself and under franchise, of non-alcoholic beverages and associated products.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;3. Does the company invest in and operate businesses within its area of expertise?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;We would think so. Consideration of the Value Line information suggests that the company restricts itself to its core operations. We do not see it dabbling in areas outside its expertise.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. Does the company have the ability to maintain or increase profitability by raising prices?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The real question here is whether, if Coke were to lift its prices by a margin that would allow it to keep pace with inflation, sales would suffer. This is unlikely.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;5. Is the company, looking at both long-term debt, and the current position, conservatively financed?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;a) Long term debt to profitability&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The long-term debt of this company in 2002 was 2700 million dollars. The profit for that year was 4134 million dollars. At this rate, Coke could wipe out its long-term debt in .65 of a year, just over six months.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;b) Current ratio&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In 2002, Coke had current assets of 7352 million dollars and current liabilities of 7341 million dollars, a ratio of debt to assets of .99. This is lower than would be the desired ratio for industrial companies, but having regard to the nature of the business, and the ready cash flow, is acceptable.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;c) Long term debt to equity&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In 2002 the long-term debt was 2700 million dollars and shareholders equity was 11800 million dollars a comfortable ratio of .22.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;6. Does the company show consistently high returns on equity and capital?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The company has shown an average rate of return on equity over the past five years of 37.08%. In the same period, it showed an average return on capital of 33.6% .The figures are consistent.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;table class="MsoNormalTable"  style="border: 1pt outset rgb(10, 0, 79); width: 442.5pt; text-align: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="590"&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Year&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;ROE&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;ROC&lt;/b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1998&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;42.0&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;39.1&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1999&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;34.0&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;31.5&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2000&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;39.4&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;36.4&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2001&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;35.0&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;31.9&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2002&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;35.0&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;29.1&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Average&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;37.08&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;33.6&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;i&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;7. Have the earnings per share and sales per share of the company shown consistent growth above market averages over a period of at least five years?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The figures for this period are as follows.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;table class="MsoNormalTable"  style="border: 1pt outset rgb(10, 0, 79); width: 442.5pt; text-align: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="590"&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Year&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;EPS&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+   or - %&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;SPS&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+   or - %&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1997&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.64&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;7.64&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1998&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.42&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;-13.4&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;7.63&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;-.13&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1999&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.30&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;-8.45&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;8.01&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+4.98&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2000&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.48&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+13.85&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;8.23&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+2.74&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2001&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.60&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+8.11&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;7.06&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;-14.2&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2002&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.66&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+3.75&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;7.92&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 20%;" valign="top" width="20%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;+12.18&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Looking at a five-year rolling period, we can calculate, using a hand-held &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/texas-instruments-financial-calculator.htm"&gt;&lt;span style="color:blue;"&gt;Texas Instruments BA-35 Solar Calculator&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, the increase in earnings and sales over the rolling five-year period 1998-2002. For earnings, this is 16.9 %, for sales only 3.8%. The compound rate of return for earnings is 3.185, for sales, .75%. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;This is not a strong rise in earnings or sales, and the question would be whether this is as a result of a slow-down in the US and world economies over this period or whether there is some more structural reason.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;8. Hs the company been buying back its shares, and if so, has it bought them responsibly?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;In 1998, the company had common shares outstanding of 2465.5 million. In 2002, the figure was 2471 million. The shares on issue are basically unchanged.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;9. Has management wisely used retained earnings to increase the rate of return to shareholders?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The company has the following earnings per share and dividend per share record over a five-year period.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;table class="MsoNormalTable"  style="border: 1pt outset rgb(10, 0, 79); width: 442.5pt; text-align: left; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" width="590"&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Year&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;EPS&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;DPS&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1998&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.42&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.60&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1999&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.30&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.64&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2000&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.48&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.68&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2001&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.60&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.72&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;2002&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;1.66&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.80&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr style=""&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Total&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;7.46&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style="border: 1pt inset rgb(10, 0, 79); padding: 5.25pt; width: 33%;" valign="top" width="33%"&gt;   &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;3.44&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The company has therefore retained earnings totalling $4.02. In 1998, the shares reached a low of $53.6. In 2002, the shares reached a high of $57.9. An investor who bought at the lowest price in 1998 and still had them at the highest price in 2002 would have been showing a profit of $4.30. Thus the shares would have just slotted into Warren Buffett’s requirement for showing an increase in market value of a dollar for every dollar retained.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Using the approach of &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/the-new-buffettology.htm"&gt;&lt;span style="color:blue;"&gt;Mary Buffett and David Clark&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, we could calculate the percentage increase in earnings per share resulting from the retained profits. EPS in 1998 were 1.42, and in 2002 were 1.66, an increase of .24. Thus, from the total earnings retained of $4.02, earnings have increased by a total of .22, a percentage increase of 5.97%: not high.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;i&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;10. Is the company likely to require large capital sums to ensure continuing profitability?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"  style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Value Line suggests that in the two years following 2002, the company would be spending about .40 a share on capital items. The long-term average is .31, unadjusted for inflation. These figures seem to be in line with historical expenditures.&lt;b&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p  style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"&gt;  &lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-4142419596203456963?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/4142419596203456963/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=4142419596203456963' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4142419596203456963'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/4142419596203456963'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/pick-stocks-like-warren-buffett-case.html' title='Pick Stocks like Warren Buffett: A Case Study ( How Warren Picked Coca-Cola?)'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tSnN19v_s3A/RdcGArWWqnI/AAAAAAAAAAM/hYXECVz-ttE/s72-c/coca+cola.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-9106816800179888224</id><published>2007-02-17T22:52:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-17T22:55:09.641+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Biography of Benjamin Graham ( the Guru of Warren Buffett)</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Benjamin Graham was born in London in 1894, the son of an importer. His     family migrated to America when Ben was very young and opened an importing business. They     did not do well, Graham’s father dying not long after moving to America and his     mother losing the family savings in 1907 during an economic crisis.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Graham, a star student, managed to get to Columbia University and, although offered a     teaching post there after graduation, took a job as a chalker on Wall Street with     Newburger, Henderson and Loeb. Before long, his natural intelligence won out when he began     doing financial research for the firm and he became a partner in the firm. He was soon     earning over $500,000 a year, a huge sum; not bad for a 25 year old.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;In 1926, Graham formed an investment partnership with another broker called Jerome     Newman. He also started lecturing at night on finance at Columbia, a relationship that was     to continue until his retirement in 1956.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;The Crash of 1929 almost wiped Graham out but the partnership survived with the     assistance of friends and the sale of most of the partners’ personal assets. At one     stage, Graham’s wife was forced to return to work as a dance teacher. Graham was soon     back on his feet but he had learned valuable lessons that would soon be brought home to     investors in his books. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;In 1934, Benjamin Graham together with David Dodd, another Columbia academic, published     the classic &lt;em&gt;Security Analysis&lt;/em&gt; which has never been out of print. Despite the     crash, the book proposed that it was possible to successfully invest in common stocks as     long as sound investment principles were applied. Graham and Dodd introduced the concept     of ‘intrinsic value’ and the wisdom of buying stocks at a discount to that     value.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;The partnership between Graham and Newman continued until 1956 but never again lost     money for its investors, earning, we understand, an annual return of about 17 per cent.     Graham continued as a partner, while writing and lecturing at Columbia, before retiring     from that institution, also in 1956.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/warren-buffett-biography.htm"&gt;Warren Buffett&lt;/a&gt; studied under Graham     at Columbia and approached him for a job in his investment firm. Graham declined but     Buffett was persistent, and Graham finally yielded, giving Buffett a job in the firm. This     was the start Buffett needed and he has never failed to acknowledge what he learned from     Ben Graham.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;It is interesting that one of the Graham Newman investments was &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/geico-history-graham-and-buffett.htm"&gt;GEICO&lt;/a&gt;, which, as you probably know, was an     early &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/berkshire-hathaway-holdings.htm"&gt;acquisition of Berkshire Hathaway&lt;/a&gt; and     which remains today a major investment vehicle in the Buffett Group. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Graham had originally bought GEICO in 1948. Apparently, after the partnership bought it     as a private business, it was found that an investment firm could not own an insurance     company and accordingly Graham and Newman converted it to a public company and distributed     its shares amongst their investors. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;In 1949, Graham wrote &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/the-intelligent-investor.htm"&gt;The Intelligent Investor&lt;/a&gt;,     considered the Bible of value investing. That book too has never been out of print.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;     &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Benjamin Graham died in 1976, with the reputation of being the ‘Father of Security     Analysis.’&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt; &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;(source: www.buffettsecrets.com)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-9106816800179888224?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/9106816800179888224/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=9106816800179888224' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/9106816800179888224'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/9106816800179888224'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/biography-of-benjamin-graham-guru-of.html' title='Biography of Benjamin Graham ( the Guru of Warren Buffett)'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-1894840372210679113</id><published>2007-02-17T22:49:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-02-17T22:52:24.976+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Warren Buffett: a short biography</title><content type='html'>&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Early life&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buffet was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of a stockbroker and Congressman,     and has become probably the world’s most successful investor.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;As a boy, irrespective of his family background, he delivered newspapers to make extra     money and this probably sparked his interest in the media where he has made several     successful investments including the Washington Post Company, a stock that has made him a     lot of money and which he vows never to sell.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Imbued with a determination to make good and an entrepreneurial nature, Warren dabbled     in several part time businesses but his destiny was chartered early in the piece when,     after graduating from the University of Nebraska, he studied business at the &lt;a href="http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/" target="_blank"&gt;Columbia Graduate Business School&lt;/a&gt;     under the legendary &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/benjamin-graham.htm"&gt;Benjamin Graham&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Working with Benjamin Graham&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;He tried to get a position with Graham’s firm and was at first unsuccessful. He     finally got the job and, as he generously acknowledges, learned a lot about stock     investment from The Master.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Graham eventually retired and Buffett started a limited partnership in Omaha, using     capital contributed by family and friends. The partnership was a great success and Buffett     is said to have averaged an annual rate of return for the partnership in excess of 23 per     cent, far in excess of the market.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buying Berkshire Hathaway&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buffett, after several years, decided to wind up the partnership, returning the lucky     investors their capital and their share of the profits, and bought an interest in &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/berkshire-hathaway.htm"&gt;Berkshire Hathaway&lt;/a&gt;, a textile company, giving his     original investors the the chance to invest. The smart ones did so.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buffett’s early days at Berkshire Hathaway were not great. The company was in an     industry facing real challenges from exports and high manufacturing costs. Warren Buffett     had not, however, forgotten what he had learned under Graham, and arranged for the company     to buy out two Nebraska insurance companies. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;This was the start of Buffett’s interest in insurance and the rise to financial     fame of both himself and Berkshire Hathaway. The insurance game is a hard one but under     Buffett, the company has become, not only a successful share investor, but a leading     provider of insurance.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buffett and Charlie Munger&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Buffett struck up a friendship with &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/charlie-munger.htm"&gt;Charles T Munger&lt;/a&gt;,     a lawyer and investor and Charlie Munger eventually joined Warren at Berkshire Hathaway as     his Vice-Chairman, alter ego, and friend. Warren Buffett is always the first to     acknowledge the contribution that Charlie Munger has made to Berkshire Hathaway. (Listen     to an &lt;a href="http://www.woodstockforcapitalists.com/audio.htm" target="_blank"&gt;interview     with Charlie Munger&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/charlie-munger.htm"&gt;read our biography&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Under Buffett and Munger, Berkshire Hathaway has become an investment giant that wholly     owns a number of successful companies that include:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/geico-history-graham-and-buffett.htm"&gt;Geico Corporation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Nebraska Furniture Mart&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;See’s Candy Shops&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;     &lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Warren Buffet, the man&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Warren Buffett, the man, is just as hard to define as Warren Buffett, the investor. He     projects a homespun frugality but one suspects that he plays his personality as close to     the chest as he does his investment secrets. He always claims that it is his partner,     Charlie Munger, who keeps his feet planted firmly in the ground.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Warren Buffet has become a legend and is generally ranked, along with his mentor, &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/benjamin-graham.htm"&gt;Benjamin Graham&lt;/a&gt;, first in a stellar cast of investors that     includes Peter Lynch, John Neff, and Philip Fisher.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Best Warren Buffett biography&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;     &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;The best full-length Buffett biography that we have come across is &lt;a href="http://www.buffettsecrets.com/buffett-lowenstein.htm"&gt;Buffett, The Making of an American Capitalist&lt;/a&gt;, by Robert     Lowenstein.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;( source: www.buffettsecrets.com)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-1894840372210679113?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/1894840372210679113/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=1894840372210679113' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1894840372210679113'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/1894840372210679113'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/02/warren-buffett-short-biography.html' title='Warren Buffett: a short biography'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116920626061084462</id><published>2007-01-19T20:50:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2007-01-19T21:04:32.033+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Bookies- Treasure....</title><content type='html'>Courtsey: trendswatchindia.com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These are some of the Best books written on Stock Markets and techinical Analysis... Check them out &amp; Happy Reading............&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trading in the Zone – Mark Douglas &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- How to make money in stocks - William J. O'Neil &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- New Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Stock Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Street Smarts – Larry Connors and Linda Bradford Raschke &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Connors on Advanced Trading Strategies – Larry Connors &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trader Vic : Methods of a Wall Street Master - Victor Sperandeo &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- The Dow Jones - Irwin Guide to Trading systems - Bruce Babcock &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Fooled by Randomness The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life –         Nassim Nicholas Taleb &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-Dynamic Hedging. Managing Vanilla &amp; Exotic Options - Nassim Nicholas Taleb &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Chaos and Order in the Capital Markets - Edgar E. Peters &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Fractal Market Analysis - Edgar E. Peters &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- A Multifractal Walk Down Wall Street - Benoit Mandelbrot &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Beyond Technical Analysis. How to Develop and Implement a Winning Trading System -   Tushar S. Chande &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Stock Market Logic - Norman G. Fosback &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Winning on Wall Street - Martin Zweig &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Edwin Lefevre &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- A complete guide to the futures markets - Jack D. Schwager &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trader Vic II - Principles of successful speculation - Victor Sperandeo &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Understanding Options - Robert Kolb &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Master the Market with Confidence Discipline &amp; A Winning Attitude - Mark Douglas &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- The Disciplined Trader - Mark Douglas &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trading For A Living - Alexander Elder &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Come Into My Trading Room - Alexander Elder &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Disciplined Trading - van K. Tharp &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom - van K. Tharp &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Smarter Trading - Perry J. Kaufman &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trading Systems and Methods - Perry J. Kaufman &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- The new commodity trading systems and methods - Perry J. Kaufman &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns &amp; Opening Range Breakout – Toby Crabel &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Campaign Trading – Tactics and Strategies to exploit the markets – John Sweeny &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Day Traders Bible or My Secrets of Day Trading In Stocks - Richard D Wyckoff &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Hit and Run Trading - Jeff Cooper &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Money Management Strategies for Serious Traders - David C. Stendahl &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- One up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- The Compleat Day Trader Vol 1 &amp; 2 - Jake Bernstein &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- The Day Trader's Bible - Richard D. Wyckoff &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trading by the Book - Joe Ross &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Trading to Win - Ari Kiev&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116920626061084462?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116920626061084462/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116920626061084462' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116920626061084462'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116920626061084462'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2007/01/bookies-treasure.html' title='Bookies- Treasure....'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116627177144800452</id><published>2006-12-16T21:51:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-12-16T21:52:51.610+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Preview: Wall Street Movie</title><content type='html'>&lt;object width="425" height="350"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EJhB5WZ3dMQ"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EJhB5WZ3dMQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116627177144800452?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116627177144800452/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116627177144800452' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116627177144800452'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116627177144800452'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/12/preview-wall-street-movie.html' title='Preview: Wall Street Movie'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116627121332462905</id><published>2006-12-16T21:42:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-12-16T21:43:35.776+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Google Launch Finance....</title><content type='html'>&lt;object width="425" height="350"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sv1Lw0Pk4jE"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sv1Lw0Pk4jE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116627121332462905?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116627121332462905/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116627121332462905' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116627121332462905'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116627121332462905'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/12/google-launch-finance.html' title='Google Launch Finance....'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116616498031205801</id><published>2006-12-15T16:10:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-12-15T16:18:33.330+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Investment Banks Post Record 2006 Profit</title><content type='html'>Source:Thursday December 14, 11:20 pm ET &lt;br /&gt;By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;NEW YORK (AP) -- Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns sent a not-so-subtle message to Wall Street on Thursday when announcing 2006 results -- the word "record" appears a combined 37 times in their earnings reports.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Click the below link to read the full Coverage....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Link:   &lt;em&gt;http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061214/earns_investment_banks.html&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116616498031205801?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116616498031205801/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116616498031205801' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116616498031205801'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116616498031205801'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/12/investment-banks-post-record-2006.html' title='Investment Banks Post Record 2006 Profit'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116563666509851503</id><published>2006-12-09T13:26:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-12-09T13:27:45.220+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Tour to London School of Business and Finance</title><content type='html'>&lt;embed style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8604998833973242296&amp;hl=en" quality="best" bgcolor="#ffffff" scale="noScale" salign="TL"  FlashVars="playerMode=embedded"&gt; &lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116563666509851503?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116563666509851503/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116563666509851503' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116563666509851503'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116563666509851503'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/12/tour-to-london-school-of-business-and.html' title='Tour to London School of Business and Finance'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-116563561896177485</id><published>2006-12-09T13:02:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-12-09T13:10:19.060+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Hybrid Securities....</title><content type='html'>&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;courtesy : FT.com&lt;br /&gt;Friday December 8, 2:05 pm ET &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Not for the first time this year, the hybrid securities market is in a bit of a spin. Some investors are irritated by last month's proposals by Moodys to tighten its approach to hybrids, which mix the attributes of debt and equity instruments. On Thursday, the rating agency put out a clarification of its plans in an attempt to address concerns about the proposal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The change would mean a one-notch rating reduction for "non-cumulative" securities - those that allow issuers to cancel interest payments without the possibility of making them up later. Moody's thinks this could affect about 300 securities and some analysts worry that the proposed change could lead to an excessive ratings gap between senior debt and some lower ranking hybrid securities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is worth remembering that the whole purpose of these instruments is to have it both ways: investors receive higher interest rates than on senior debt in exchange for greater risk; issuers benefit from the equity-like characteristics of the instruments. Banks get to count hybrids as Tier One capital for regulatory purposes. Companies can raise extra financing without affecting the rating of their senior debt or diluting equity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is impossible for a ratings system to reflect every nuance of the risks involved in these securities. The subordination of hybrid securities - they rank below senior debt in the event of a default - is not their only risky aspect. Both Standard &amp; Poors and Moody's have been grappling with how to approach the risk of non-payment of coupons. S&amp;P backed down on its own proposed adjustment earlier this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The risk for the agencies is that ratings become too complex to be meaningful or even useful to investors. Irritated critics also argue that market prices already reflect the different features of these securities. This is true but that could be an argument for better reflecting these in ratings. While the banks want clear, simple ratings, they also keep structuring ever more complex - and risky - instruments. Wanting to have it both ways can get to be a habit.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-116563561896177485?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/116563561896177485/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=116563561896177485' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116563561896177485'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/116563561896177485'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/12/hybrid-securities.html' title='Hybrid Securities....'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115979275707964824</id><published>2006-10-02T22:06:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-10-02T22:09:17.236+09:30</updated><title type='text'>e-XCELLENT Finance Job Sites......</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;General Online Job Sites  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://monster.com/"&gt;Monster.com&lt;/a&gt; -- Hey they advertised on the super bowl! But seriously it is a great name and great site.  Special finance section and links to Robert Half's survey.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;ERI (&lt;a href="http://www.eri-salary-survey.com/"&gt;Economic Research Institute&lt;/a&gt;) has a good site and provide valuable &lt;a href="http://www.eri-salary-survey.com/finance_salary.htm?TrkID=200-222"&gt;salary data for some finance positions&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.jobsonline.com/"&gt;JobsOnline-&lt;/a&gt; Much information and a pretty cool newsletter.  Even has prewritten cover letters.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.hruniverse.com/"&gt;HRUniverse.com&lt;/a&gt; -great links to job posting sites and much career information.  Much career information.  Some Finance information.  Slow loading.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.careers-in-business.com/"&gt;Careers-in-Business.com&lt;/a&gt; --has many subtopics including careers-in-finance.  I really do not know &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sbu.edu/careerservices"&gt;St. Bonaventure Career Services&lt;/a&gt; -includes a list of companies interviewing at SBU.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a name="Financejobs"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Finance Oriented Online Job Sites&lt;/strong&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/"&gt;Bloomberg.com&lt;/a&gt; --top rated by my past students.  Seems to be especially strong in the DC area. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.fincareer.com/"&gt;Fincareer.com&lt;/a&gt; -great job posting web site, including anonymous postings, and a news finance news section that is EXCELLENT!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.financialjobs.com/"&gt;Financial Jobs.com&lt;/a&gt; --good question and answer forum, interesting articles.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.investmentpositions.com/"&gt;InvestmentPositions.com&lt;/a&gt; -Fairly new site that specializes in Investment Banking and Law.  Has a pretty good compensation survey. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.roberthalf.com/"&gt;RobertHalf.com&lt;/a&gt; - an oddity in this field.  It has been around since 1948!  Well known for its compensation surveys, it is an executive search firm, but according to past students it often has good entry level jobs as well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.kforce.com/"&gt;Kforce.com&lt;/a&gt; --relatively new site but has a cool video on what skills employers in Finance and accounting require. Claims to have placed over 240,000 people. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.vault.com/"&gt;Vault.com&lt;/a&gt; - Pretty good job board, but excels on the information it provides on companies and also has a page for internships.  I liked it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.accountingjobs.com/"&gt;Financejobs.com&lt;/a&gt; --Also known as Accounting jobs.com.  Lists jobs for both professions. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115979275707964824?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115979275707964824/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115979275707964824' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115979275707964824'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115979275707964824'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-xcellent-finance-job-sites.html' title='e-XCELLENT Finance Job Sites......'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115954274055361255</id><published>2006-09-30T00:40:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-30T00:42:28.233+09:30</updated><title type='text'>B u s i n e s s   H u m o r......</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/humor.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/humor.0.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. - Milton Berle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A committee is twelve men doing the work of one.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually. - Abba Eban&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who has never learned to walk. - Franklin D. Roosevelt&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A consultant is an ordinary person a long way from home.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A coup that is known in advance is a coup that does not take place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A couple of months in the lab can often save a couple of hours in the library.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;A crisis is when you cannot say "let's just forget the whole thing."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115954274055361255?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115954274055361255/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115954274055361255' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954274055361255'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954274055361255'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s-h-u-m-o-r.html' title='B u s i n e s s   H u m o r......'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115954207781311770</id><published>2006-09-30T00:31:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-30T00:31:17.993+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Complete Links to major Financial Sites</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/finance%20.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/finance%20.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Freinds here is the complete list of major Financial sites. you will get to explore major Financial journals, Research Papers and working papers, Derivatives, Corporate Finance, Career Advice and what not? so, your financial wisedom is just a Click away.....&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Link : &lt;a href="http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/journal/jofsites.htm"&gt;http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/journal/jofsites.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115954207781311770?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115954207781311770/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115954207781311770' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954207781311770'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954207781311770'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/complete-links-to-major-financial_29.html' title='Complete Links to major Financial Sites'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115954193471652499</id><published>2006-09-30T00:24:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-30T00:28:55.016+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Complete Links to major Financial Sites</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Freinds here is the complete list of major Financial sites. you will get to explore major Financial journals, Research Papers and working papers, Derivatives, Corporate Finance, Career Advice and what not? so, your financial wisedom is just a Click away.....&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Link : &lt;a href="http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/journal/jofsites.htm"&gt;http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/journal/jofsites.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115954193471652499?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115954193471652499/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115954193471652499' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954193471652499'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115954193471652499'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/complete-links-to-major-financial.html' title='Complete Links to major Financial Sites'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115926929240302044</id><published>2006-09-26T20:40:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-26T20:51:13.666+09:30</updated><title type='text'>The Concept of Auto Loan</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/images%5B16%5D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/images%5B16%5D.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Auto Loan is synonymous to Car loan. An auto loan is an agreement between a lender and a borrower in which the lender gives the borrower money and the borrower promised to pay back the amount of the loan and the interest. Auto loans are only offered for the purpose of purchasing a vehicle. Auto loans are the most popular type of loan that people apply for. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Auto loans, as the name suggests, are unsecured loans specifically designed for the purchase of a vehicle. An auto loan is a type of credit offered by a bank or other lender for the specific purpose of buying a vehicle. You then pay back the loan over a set period of time. If you are taking out an auto loan it is very important that you find out the Annual Percentage Rate that the lender is offering. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;This is the yearly charge for the loan, a low APR means a cheaper loan. The payments you make consist of both the principal amount of the loan plus interest. With this type of loan you own the vehicle from the time you buy it. Auto loans are form of personal loan of which there are several basic types with slightly different conditions attached. Auto loans can be seen as the riskiest of loans from the lender's point of view. This is because an auto loan is for an asset that depreciates very quickly.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Thus you will find that auto loans have generally a higher rate of interest than any other type of loan. One of the advantages of getting an auto loan is that when you get it before you go to the dealer, you can negotiate as a cash buyer. Often you will save money when you negotiate from a cash buying position.The main disadvantage of an auto loan is that, like any other loan, it must be paid back. Before you get a loan, make sure you are capable of making the monthly payments. You can seriously damage your credit if you default on an auto loan.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Keep an eye on the Auto Insurance Quote.Keep an eye on the Auto Insurance Quote.Keep an eye on the Auto Insurance Quote.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115926929240302044?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115926929240302044/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115926929240302044' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115926929240302044'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115926929240302044'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/concept-of-auto-loan.html' title='The Concept of Auto Loan'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115911346983644587</id><published>2006-09-25T01:25:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-25T01:27:49.853+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Highest Paying Google Adsense Keywords</title><content type='html'>Hello friends, do you want others to earn for your $87.92 / Click? Seems funny but it works. Just include below mentioned keywords along with a brief description you’re your website or Blog and take away two-digit dollar earnings per click. Making money is that easy, online. So… start your living online, Today and right now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The top 25 search terms on the list are pasted below:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/austin%20dwi/" target="_new"&gt;$82.92 austin dwi &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/school%20loan%20consolidation/" target="_new"&gt;$78.01 school loan consolidation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/college%20loan%20consolidation/" target="_new"&gt;$76.54 college loan consolidation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/car%20insurance%20quotes/" target="_new"&gt;$74.93 car insurance quotes &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/auto%20insurance%20quotes/" target="_new"&gt;$74.78 auto insurance quotes &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/school%20consolidation/" target="_new"&gt;$74.23 school consolidation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidation%20college/" target="_new"&gt;$71.71 consolidation college &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidation%20student/" target="_new"&gt;$67.42 consolidation student &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/student%20loan%20consolidation%20rates/" target="_new"&gt;$67.34 student loan consolidation rates &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/sell%20structured%20settlement/" target="_new"&gt;$67.27 sell structured settlement &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/structured%20settlements/" target="_new"&gt;$66.84 structured settlements &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/federal%20student%20loan%20consolidation/" target="_new"&gt;$65.71 federal student loan consolidation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/austin%20dwi%20attorney/" target="_new"&gt;$65.56 austin dwi attorney &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/term%20life%20quote/" target="_new"&gt;$65.44 term life quote &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/austin%20dwi%20attorney/" target="_new"&gt;$65.29 austin dwi attorney &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/term%20life%20insurance%20quote/" target="_new"&gt;$65.27 term life insurance quote &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/auto%20insurance%20quote/" target="_new"&gt;$65.17 auto insurance quote &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/term%20insurance%20quote/" target="_new"&gt;$63.17 term insurance quote &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/federal%20consolidation/" target="_new"&gt;$62.25 federal consolidation &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidate%20student%20loan/" target="_new"&gt;$61.15 consolidate student loan &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/structured%20settlement/" target="_new"&gt;$59.82 structured settlement &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/insurance%20car/" target="_new"&gt;$59.66 insurance car &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidate%20school%20loans/" target="_new"&gt;$59.21 consolidate school loans &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidation%20loan%20rate/" target="_new"&gt;$58.89 consolidation loan rate &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cwire.org/newsSearch/consolidation%20of%20student%20loans/" target="_new"&gt;$58.71 consolidation of student loans &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why to be in Line for Earning, when you can be Online. Happy Earning.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115911346983644587?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115911346983644587/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115911346983644587' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115911346983644587'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115911346983644587'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/highest-paying-google-adsense-keywords.html' title='Highest Paying Google Adsense Keywords'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115909252315393615</id><published>2006-09-24T19:31:00.001+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-24T19:38:43.156+09:30</updated><title type='text'>IMF: Still Required or an Old Story</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/imf.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/imf.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;a href="http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.leksikon.org/images/imf.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.leksikon.org/art.php%3Fn%3D3383&amp;amp;amp;h=237&amp;w=300&amp;amp;sz=13&amp;hl=en&amp;amp;start=1&amp;tbnid=AAuib9QMteLAiM:&amp;amp;amp;tbnh=92&amp;tbnw=116&amp;amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimf%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The role of IMF in the development of the monetary system of a country can not be negated, but during the course of time the role of IMF has been questioned frequently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the World War (second), John Keynes, developed a monetary system involving pegged exchange rate. But such a system was not sustainable in the time of financial crisis. This spurred the evolution of IMF, whenever a member country used to go out of reserves, IMF used to lend loans to adjust their exchange rates, and the monetary wheel used to roll over again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But then came the era of Current Account Convertibility, capital account Convertibility and floating exchange rate system in 1970s onwards, when countries no longer needed loans from IMF to adjust their reserves because the reserves were already fully mobilized.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But still there are some developing countries where Capital controls, and central bank’s intervention in exchange rate exists, during the course of time it will be tough for such countries to have capital controls. The rational is simple as the foreign trade of such countries increases their corporate dependency will also rise whether to issue cheaper debt capital or equity capital from foreign countries or to make global Investments. It will increase the value to the shareholder by reducing the cost of capital. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If we take the case of India, we have capital controls, partial capital account convertibility, and partial central bank’s intervention in exchange rate, and higher inflation rates. All these facts justifies that we still need the help of IMF, but what if we abolish capital controls, central bank’s intervention in exchange rate system and controll inflation, we then, no longer need IMF help, we can rely on our own monetary system, and it will add one more star to our eligibility to be world’s no. one economy&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115909252315393615?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115909252315393615/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115909252315393615' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115909252315393615'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115909252315393615'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/imf-still-required-or-old-story_24.html' title='IMF: Still Required or an Old Story'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115848831087388111</id><published>2006-09-17T19:43:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-17T19:48:30.880+09:30</updated><title type='text'>The evolution of capital</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/images[6].jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/images%5B6%5D.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The evolution of capital had gone through some of the interesting phases. Earlier land was the only source of capital, that one either has or not, it was such a capital that was not divisible at all. And that time the estimation of total capital was very easy. It was just the monetary sum of the fertile land.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then came the era of industrial revolution when land was replaced by machines, building, furniture, material etc. it was still tangible.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then comes the real intangible capital, which is in the form of Papers, duly signed and formatted even not in some cases. It was the dawn of all financial instruments when the paper representing tangible assets started being socially accepted. It increased the quantum of capital by manifolds. One of the most innovative products in the financial world today is Securitization, that allows creating more and more capital even out of Securities or Papers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Capital is fast becoming “super-symbolic.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just as much of the power of modern science lies in longer and longer chain of reasoning, Just as mathematics build more and more complex structure, piling theorem upon theorem, just as a neuron creating more neuron to make a complex neural network for more and more memory. So, too, we are creating a capital of progressive derivation.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115848831087388111?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115848831087388111/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115848831087388111' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115848831087388111'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115848831087388111'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/evolution-of-capital.html' title='The evolution of capital'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115840218037586630</id><published>2006-09-16T19:51:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-16T19:53:00.376+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Gold ETF (Exchange traded funds): Integration of Regulators required</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/gold.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/gold.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Today Gold ETF are infusing new blood into the world of Investments. Simply put it provides an opportunity to an investor to deploy their money in various underlying assets like commodities, securities etc. it is much like a Mutual Fund except the fact that ETFs are traded in real time on exchange and do not have NAV.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since, in Indian financial system we have a clear demarcation among regulators. But what happens when an investment carries underlying assets which are regulated by SEBI, RBI and Commodities regulators. An Gold ETFs need not necessarily comprised of Gold but securities, Forex, other commodities as well. In such a case we need to have a smooth integration of all financial regulators like SEBI, RBI and Commodities regulators to ensure the operation of Gold ETFs. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115840218037586630?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115840218037586630/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115840218037586630' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840218037586630'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840218037586630'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/gold-etf-exchange-traded-funds.html' title='Gold ETF (Exchange traded funds): Integration of Regulators required'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115840205166529254</id><published>2006-09-16T19:49:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-16T20:05:33.600+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Are we ready for Capital Account Convertibility?</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/CAC.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/CAC.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;As we know today Capital Account convertibility in India is the talk of the town, is India really ready to implement CAC? This is a question which is bugging even the Central bank. Still the FM, RBI governor and Chairman of the Planning Commission have not come to a consensus about the implementation of CAC. The second report of the Tarapore Committee is yet to come.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;160 economists have already issued a statement against CAC. Implementing CAC will imbalance our Forex Reserves. Lawrence Summers thinks India’s 15% forex reserves are in excess, in such a case if CAC is implemented it will hike this figure more and the value of out domestic currency will appreciate, in turn it will badly effect out export trade because depreciated value of the foreign currency will reduce out corporate earnings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If our policymakers think that by relaxing capital inflow norms or by implementing CAC India will have more Capital inflows, then I would like to ask them that even china does not have any modal of CAC, it has rather restricted Capital inflows, still it has more capital inflows than India.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since presently we do not have full CAC, but still we have some CAC, an Indian householder can acquire international assets till $25000 . But still there are a handful of Indian householders to exercise this option. So, the question of hiking such limit does not arise at all. Because Indian householders are getting more returns domestically than going global.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Keeping all above factors in mind I am of the view that we still have to wait to implement CAC. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115840205166529254?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115840205166529254/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115840205166529254' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840205166529254'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840205166529254'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/are-we-ready-for-capital-account.html' title='Are we ready for Capital Account Convertibility?'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115840198080885111</id><published>2006-09-16T19:48:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-19T15:01:56.256+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Dynamic Relationship between Stock Market &amp; Exchange Rate</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The Asian crisis of 1997-98 has made a strong pitch for dynamic linkage between stock prices and exchange rates. During the crisis period, the suffered countries collapsed due to substantial depreciation of exchange rates (in terms of US$) as well as dramatic fall in the stock prices. This has become important again from the view point of large cross border movement of funds due to portfolio investment and not due to actual trade flows. This fact drawn the attention of many researchers and academicians to find out the dynamic relationship between stock market movement and Exchange Rate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I used NSE Nifty closings and Exchange Rate and the Sample time period was from jan,2001-jul,2006. I find out that both the variables are significantly positively correlated as high as +0.678. which shows that Exchange rates effects stock Markets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rational goes like this, when the domestic currency appreciates the domestic export oriented companies suffer because they get lesser revenue since the dollar depreciates, and when the domestic currency depreciates or the foreign currency appreciates the import oriented companies suffer because they have to make comparatively more payment and it effects their revenue and earnings, which is reflected in their stock prices.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, we can conclude that exchange rate is not one and only but one of the factor to effect the stock market movement. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115840198080885111?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115840198080885111/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115840198080885111' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840198080885111'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840198080885111'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/dynamic-relationship-between-stock.html' title='Dynamic Relationship between Stock Market &amp; Exchange Rate'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34437276.post-115840181087741484</id><published>2006-09-16T19:43:00.000+09:30</published><updated>2006-09-16T19:46:50.890+09:30</updated><title type='text'>Stock Market Prediction with Artificial Neural Networks</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/neural_net.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/neural_net.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/1600/bio_neural.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3291/3795/320/bio_neural.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Accurate Stock Market Prediction is very much possible with the help of Artificial Neural Networks. Artificial Neural Networks are infomation processing system which has certain characterstics as bioloogical Neural Networks. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Artificial Neural Network is the immitation of biological Neural Network. why Artificial Neural Networks is well suited for Stock Market Prediction because the movement of Stock Market is determined be various factors and each factor has it's internal strength to effect Stock Market. (i.e. Weight or Tranning in Artificial Neural Networks).&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;A Artificial Neural Networks modal for Stock Prediction Can be trained based on the past experiences, that's the glory of Artificial Neural Networks. For the application of Artificial Neural Networks sky is the limit. it is best suited for non-linear problems. some of the business applications are Stock Prediction, Interest rates forex rates prediction, risk management, finding default probablities etc...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/34437276-115840181087741484?l=finmania.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/feeds/115840181087741484/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34437276&amp;postID=115840181087741484' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840181087741484'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/34437276/posts/default/115840181087741484'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://finmania.blogspot.com/2006/09/stock-market-prediction-with_16.html' title='Stock Market Prediction with Artificial Neural Networks'/><author><name>Ankur Sancheti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/14433155287856475190</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='24' src='http://static.flickr.com/79/243645655_231d9f3c1e_m.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
