Posts Tagged ‘investments’

Did you make money on Friday?

Saturday, December 20th, 2008

On Friday, as I predicted, the market went up.  I am not patting myself on the back (well, not too hard), but I had a little help with foreign national banks lowering their prime rates and the upcoming bailout of the auto industry becoming more of a sure thing.   I know we aren’t suppose to call it a bailout because, hopefully, there will be loans involved and we as taxpayers won’t be tagged with the bill at the end of dinner like a bad date (for those of you who only hook up and don’t date, that is where two people go out and they actually do something socially other than connect immediately for intimate relations).   From the looks of the lecherous waiter and the gal having too much fun with her server looks like good times are happening.  Or at least dorky times.  The intimate relations come later on.

 

checkpleeze

 

chequepleeze

 

Hopefully our financial intimate relations will continue on Monday and my guess is through the New Year it will be hovering as a status quo with investments in and out of the stock market being the usual end of the year portfolio adjustments.  Money will not only change hands many times but there may be talk of a particular industry or another “doomed” or “recovering”.

The truth is the stock market will probably trade overall in the same zones it has between now and the next few months even with all the bailout talk and money infusion hitting the markets.  Money still has to move from the banks into the hands of the general public (it is albeit slowly) and inventory has to start moving off of car lots and out of the Long Beach harbor parking lot.

For those of you who don’t know or forgot, there are a lot of new cars that came into America that are sitting in Long Beach because the dealerships that ordered the cars months before went out of business.  I suspect that there will be some great car deals if people can get financing over the next few weeks and into the next few months.

If you lost money on Friday, don’t fret, there is plenty of opportunity and staying in cash right now isn’t a bad idea.  I am inclined though to continue my spiel about researching fundamentals.

Have you noticed that some stocks are trading below their actual worth?  Seriously, do some research on some of the fallen blue chips and you might find some great bargains.  Will they have problems with earnings?  Sure they will but if the fundamentals of the firm are good, who cares.  Money coming in, even if it is several percentage points lower than previous years is still money coming in. 

There are too many companies that are bleeding cash and investors still think they are the greatest thing.  If they are close to hitting whatever it is they are burning cash on, great.  If not, you should take a moment and ask yourself with so many other companies out there that are making money, why stick around?

Like a lover totally smitten with someone, sometimes you have to let go of your infatuation and move on. 

Here is hoping that you continue to have better times, be healthy, wealthy, happy and wise and have a great holiday!

If you like my advice, want some ideas and suggestions about getting extra work, surviving the hard times we are in,  please check out my book listed below.  There are some good tips on getting yourself settled and back on track financially in this rocky times.  Part of all book sales go to research a cure for Rett Syndrome as well.

 Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

Did you make money on Friday?

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Why American Investments Are Long Term Better Than Overseas

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

After reading about how Bank of America had to strike verbage from their marketing about why they shouldn’t hire American employees because they cost so much I thought I would take the time to point out some basic business points that international investors may have missed:

1.  B of A did the bulk of their early business in the United States.  The American consumer was one of the easiest person to market to because they did demand a decent wage, health care, and a better quality of life for their education.  These are the kind of people that placed their money in banks like B of A and other banks to help them make money. It is a slap in the face to Americans that are so adverse to hiring the people who helped build them up internationally.  What would happen if people start boycotting B of A?

2.   India and Pakistan aren’t the most stable places in the world.  Yes, they are getting better and they are positioned as global leaders, like China,  but for most businesses, do you want to be in a position in the world where some crackpot can wipe out your electronic data or database by a bomb or an inexpensive bribe?  It is all well and good to look at acceptable losses on paper if things go south but once it happens in the real world, good luck explaining things to your stockholders.

Some Indian companies have all their data stored on hard drives in non-descript buildings. What is to prevent bribing an employee there any more than an employee here?  The difference is here, because we are (or were) well-paid you couldn’t buy us off so cheaply.

3.  America still has the land and resources to grow with.  Take a look at our land, our water, our forests.  We still have a lot of natural resources that will help us in the years to come if we manage them correctly.

4.  The American people are very flexible.  The reason is that Americans are made up of people from all over the world – India, Pakistan, China, Israel, Egypt, UAR, France, England, Turkey, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Mexico  and the list goes on and on and on.  Our rates can be pretty competitive and fair compared to the quality of work we put out if we get a chance at it.

5.  Good luck getting your product or service working without an American consumer to buy it.  The trade-off with keeping salaries and benefits low in other nations is that you end up with a broke, ill work force.  There is only so much you can sell them whereas we well-fed, healthy Americans, if cash flush, will buy all sorts of things.  What other country or countries are making it profitable to do business in if nobody is buying your goods? If Americans are working because money isn’t invested here, you will need to wait a couple of decades till China, Africa or India get their financial chops up to speed.  You as a company may go broke by then.

 

 

 

 6.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a great love for international business. I just don’t like to see America being bad mouthed by companies that helped get America in the situation that it is in.  I am saying that I welcome international investment and am inviting firms to set up shop here.   In fact, hire me!

7.  Have fun retiring or setting up factories in countries where you can’t go to sleep at night without knowing if when you wake up that a new government may be in power or terrorists have taken out your generators.  The U.S. has a great degree of stability for business.  Granted, some of our business laws need to be changed but hopefully that will be addressed by Congress and our new Administration.

Okay, I am done ranting.  Fire away with your comments.  Oh, and if you are having a hard time making ends meet, please check out the link for my book below on Practical Money Making.  Peace!

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement 

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Why American Investments Are Long Term Better Than Overseas

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The Lost Art of Buy and Hold Stock Ownership

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Back in the day, you would buy and hold onto stocks throughout your life and as you approached retirement you would sell the stocks to cover expenses, buy that farm or retirement house in the Tropics or whatever you want. For the last twenty or so years, stock ownership has been marketed as more than ownership in a company but a way to make a quick profit.

The truth is, you can make a quick profit but you can equally make a quick loss. Fundamentals of investment point out that for every investment there is a person who makes money in the transaction and another person that loses money. How can you make a profit doing this?

One answer I like to tell people is to take the big picture. For large, well-funded multi-billion dollar firms, you need to take the long horizon view. You should buy shares in the company and hold onto them. Does that mean that you should forget about them? By all means, NO!

You should monitor the company’s progress, follow the press releases, follow any news on their industry and make your own well-researched, non-emotional choice as to what to do or not.
The problem in the last few days with the stock market is that people are reacting with their gut to non-news. Yes, some banks are going under. Yes, some businesses are having problems.

Not ALL companies are having problems. A lot of firms are being sold off because some of them were held by financial institutions that need cash, people who are short-sellers or because of fear.

If the underlying fundamentals for a company have not changed, why sell it off? Do you need the money right away? If so, do it. If you don’t, don’t. Has there been some change in the market fundamentals or if you are a charter, in the dynamics of the stock? Did you get a signal to sell?

Ultimately you make the choice, just remember that sometimes it is better to buy and hold onto to something and not respond to the knee jerk responses of the public.

Be safe and sane!

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Kim Isaac Greenblatt asks if you know of the lost art of buying and holding a stock.

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AIG Bailout and the US Owning the World – Literally “Owned”

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

As I watch the news and speculation as to what will happen with AIG over the next few days, one interesting scenario that surfaced in the news was that the US Treasury might give 40-80 Billion Dollars to AIG for controlling 79.9% of the company. Without going into how bad the debt situation is, that would be an interesting way for the US to actually and quite literally “own” the world. Think about it.

It may not be profitable at first but we would be owning all the insurance and investments in a lot of countries all over the world including India. AIG is (or maybe should we say was?) a powerful multi-national insurance company. The joke use to be that AIG knew what it was doing because it could sell life insurance in India to people who believed in reincarnation.

I am thinking that a lot of people are wondering if AIG can get reincarnated and honestly, without seeing how deep the rabbit hole is in terms of their debts, maybe it isn’t a good idea for the US to bail out the company. Still, that would make for some pretty exotic income streams and sadly, we could always print more money to cover our problems – something I am not fond of because we are already in a stagflation state and we are probably just a few years away from crazy inflation (I hope I am wrong about that but that is the way things seem to be going unless we continue with a globalized deflation).

Russia suspended trading in their markets – there was a drop of 20% My thinking is that the Russian and international companies that have money started pulling it out because of the domino effect of AIG among other financial meltdowns. Interesting to note that there will probably be dumping of a lot of commodities and the price at least for the short term will go down.

We all know that in the long run, anything that is scarce and of value (like oil, gold, silver) will go eventually go back up.

How does this affect the US and AIG? Well, if we are collecting internationally everbody’s insurance payments and certain investment vehicles, one would hope that it would give us political clout in the countries we are doing business in. Maybe we can leverage that into better trade agreements, better diplomatic agreements and we can alleviate some of the international hostilities that are going on. Maybe we can get payment in some of these lower priced commodities like oil, gold, silver and yes, even fresh water!

Nothing says love and come and be my friend as covering their insurance policies in times of need and of course, getting favorable trading agreements!

Be well, save money and if nothing else, it is fascinating to watch what is unfolding in our lifetime!

My latest book, Practical Money Making, will help you save money in the trying times ahead! Check it out!

Kim Greenblatt

Kim Greenblatt asks in his blog, profitable, if the US ends up owning AIG, would we own the world?

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September Tax and Financial Planning

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Here it is folks, we are in the last quarter of the year.  For this year, we are looking at a Presidential election, possibly some important elections for you locally in your city or state and time to plan for your taxes if you haven’t been doing it now.

If you haven’t planned for your quarterly taxes and you owe money, get ready to write a check.  Unless you are unemployed and strapped for cash, it is better to pay what you owe now rather than to risk penalties and problems later on.  If you are uncertain, please check with your local tax professional.

Any donations for charity have to be taken care of in the remaining quarter of the year.  Make sure that you are aware of the changes in the law for charitable contributions.  If you need to get letters of appriasal big ticket items that you are donating, make sure the people that are preparing the estimates are experts in their fields.  If the receiving charity doesn’t use or resell your gift you may not get value for that contribution.  Make sure that you understand the new contribution laws very clearly.

Planning on having children and are married?  The kids will be deductions for the current year even if they are born on Dec 31 at 11:59 PM.  Congratulations.  Don’t go out of your way to get pregnant though just for the sake of having kids.  Make sure you and your spouse talk things over.

 

While you are it, take some time and talk about possible joint incomes if you are getting serious with your BBF or significant other and thinking about marriage.

If you are in business, take some time to see what needs pruning financially. We are in a slow business cycle and the chances are that things will get worse or stay flat before they get better.

If you are planning on buying things for investment purposes or selling them, maybe alleged collectible items, you may want to keep detailed records of your transactions. Remember too that cash is king in hard times.

Perhaps you may want to invest in a book on certain types of gambling? Part of the proceeds of all the book sales go to research Rett Syndrome (RTT). Rett Syndrome affects a girl born every fifteen minutes. Boys born with the Rett gene die at birth.

May your Autumn be a profitable one and not a Fall.

Kim Greenblatt

You are deep in Kim Greenblatt’s profitable blog learning about September Tax and Financial planning.

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