I was watching a financial call in show last week. The financial “expert” examined stock after stock. Many he dismissed because of the company’s debt load. It didn’t matter why they were carrying the debt, how recent the debt, or what kind of debt it was, his opinion was that all debt was bad.
What a load of hooey.
Oil closed on Nov 3 at 59.14 USD per barrel. These days there are some jittery news that could cause the price of oil to increase. Cramer in his 24-10-2006 podcast said that oil futures were driven up by the hedge funds. I agree and said so in July and Fortune said the same in (more…)
Airbus is in deep do-do. The company that was heralded as the role model of a European Corporation, is well, getting bogged down in the reality of Europe. If there is one thing that the European governments and the American Federal government share it’s getting bogged down in details and bickering. Conventional wisdom says that Airbus is a dud stock! After all there are financial problems, A380 shipping problems, and let’s not even talk about the hen pecking between France and Germany.
A good investor knows that most of investing is simple psyche 101, understanding people and what motivates them. That’s why the common advice, made popular by David Bach of the Finish Rich book series, of saving money on “little purchases such as lattes, fancy coffees, bottled water, fast food, cigarettes, magazines” makes me a tad bit crazy.
Little purchases? Find me a smoker that thinks cigarettes are a “little purchase.” Find me a coffee addict that thinks coffee is a “little purchase.”
Kimber made a post about why Mutual Funds Aren’t for Losers, which was a good article and I see her point of view, however, in this case, I thought I would show the other side of Mutual Funds, which, in my opinion, suck to the point where vacuums should be named after them, or maybe they could rename the Chicago Cubs the Chicago Mutual Funds.
A buddy quoted Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad fame to me a few days back, saying “Mutual Funds Are For Losers.”
(This same buddy invests in index funds which are technically mutual funds but that is an entire other post.)
Well, chock me up as a loser because I do hold mutual funds, both now and in the past.
It doesn’t have to get all hot and heavy and technical here on InvestorGeeks all the time! If you tell me an investor with good temperament needs a serious attitude every second, I’ll counter that by saying sometimes you really need to let loose and have fun! Even Warren Buffett gets crazy once in a while; even if his idea of crazy fun may be playing a ukelele, playing bridge or eating Dairy Queen ice-cream.
Investing should be an enjoyable experience, perhaps even fun for you! This is NOT the first time that InvestorGeeks have reviewed sites that try to bring to fun into stock picking with social websites. But I don’t believe my fellow InvestorGeeks have reviewed Motley Fools CAPS; which I believe is on the right track to injecting some fun into a mundane task.
In a previous blog entry I talked about the price of oil. A couple of days ago I was watching Boone Pickens on CNBC. He was commenting on what direction oil will take, and in his words, “I think you’ll see $70 before you see $50.” This was the same individual that said, “80 before 60.” History has shown that oil did not reach 80, even though it was only a few dimes away from 80. I am going to cut Boone some slack in that oil did reach 80 before 60, but I will take Boone to task in that he was also saying oil would reach 100 USD.
Back when I was a financial young’un, I went to one of those free seminars hosted by a mutual fund company. Speaking there was a financial “guru” that I had admired for some time. I had read his books, watched his weekly tv show, and scanned his newspapers columns. I really thought he knew anything and everything about finances.
He was selling a can’t lose investment that supposedly not only provided a good return but saved the investor on taxes too.
What a great deal, right?
After reading Erin’s great post a few days ago and talking about it with one of my good friends, and after a conversation I had with my fiancee, the question came up, “When is enough, enough?”
Erin and Ken both quoted Trump and Rich Dad, Full of Shit Dad as saying you need to invest to win, how much do you really need? Do you need billions? Not really. Do you need Buffett or Gates money? No. If you got rich through frugality, like most people do I think, you aren’t really interested in those shiny new cars or mansions because you realize they are just a huge waste of money for show and aren’t really necessary.
