InvestorGeeks

Ask InvestorGeeks: How do I invest in a Foreign Company?

by Frank

Recently one of our readers sent us an email asking us how to invest in a foreign company. Below you’ll find their oringinal question, and a tidier version of my response to it. Which contains a bit more information than when I first responded.

Simple questions: If I found a company (Australia’s Peplin: PEP) that
looks promising, how would I buy shares? How would an American buy PEP,
for example? Could I do this through ETrade?

A Progressive take on Dividends

by Frank

With the Enron trial featuring prominently in the news, we’re all reminded of the corporate governance issues that have recently faced the economy. It’s refreshing to see a company take a new approach to how it runs its business. In this case Progressive has changed how it distributes dividends. This new system has the potential to greatly thrill and, in turn, greatly disappoint shareholders. But either way, it’s great for the company.

Teaching kids about money and credit

by Frank

I recently read an article in the Washington Post discussing, an issue facing many individuals today, credit cards. The article describes a birthday party in which the guest of honor recieved, at age 11 no less, a prepaid credit card. Understandably the author and her husband, denied their young daughter’s request for a credit card of her own. When the author goes on to state that it is equally as irresponsible to give a credit card to a high school or college aged young adult that I begin to question her rationale. It got me to thinking about what constitutes a sound financial upbringing.

IRAs and HSAs

by Frank

I’d like to cover two topics with this post, and get some advice from our readers on them. The first being my Roth IRA, and then some musings regarding HSAs. So read on and let me know what you think.

The Money Market and you

by Frank

A week or so ago I wrote an article about the Money Market. As I mentioned then I’ll be in an out of it for awhile. After looking back at that article I’ve realized that even though I posted something, it wasn’t of any value, and was confusing at best. Rather than edit the original article and erase any trace of my mistakes, I’d rather leave it as is and take a second shot at it. (more…)

Money Markets

by Frank

So. I’ve been out of it for awhile, but I’m back now, and I’ll be making appearances here as I can. At the moment I have little or no free time, between work and planning my upcoming wedding. Which reminds me I still need a guest list. So without any further non-sense let’s get into this, and I’ll try and make something that’s rather drab and boring as informative and interesting as I can.

Last week Chris talked about the bond market. This week I’ll be talking briefly about the money market. (more…)

What you know and what you like

by Frank

Jason and Chris have provided some excellent advice and guidlines when making investments this week. It’s imperative that you know what you’re investing in not only from a personal standpoint, but also from a market perspective. But that alone is not enough, it is imperative that you can differentiate between what you know and what you like. Failing to be able to do so will cost you in the long term. (more…)

Getting started in the Market

by Frank

What follows is a question posed to us after Jason’s article last week. As well as my response to that question. I hope to have answered the reader’s questions completely, and I hope that my response proves valuable as well. I’ve left the response as is, and I’ll be covering different sorts of investments and other strategies in weeks to come, as I build my own confidence and knowledge. I’ll close with a few comments that cover some areas that I feel my original response did not adequately address.

I read your Savings Speech article today, and it was not unlike many time-value-of-money articles I have read in the past. I am curious, though, what type of investment you would expect to see an average 9% return from? (more…)

Cisco and Scientific Atlanta

by Frank

Today Cisco announced that it would be purchasing Scientific Atlanta, for close to 7 Billion dollars. Which after taking Scientific Atalanta’s cash into account will mean the actual cost is closer to 5.3 Billion. Most of the sources are speculating that this is the expression of Cisco’s desire to move deeper into the consumer market. But I think that it’s more than that and Cisco already has a plan for this acquisition. (more…)