US auto bankruptcy, bank bailouts, $50 billion Ponzi scheme, rising unemployment, layoffs, gold backwardation, Cramer saying markets are corrupt, inflation, deflation, on and on and on and on. Hey guys, the torrent of news, mostly bad, is unbelievable. I’m so awash in it that I’m wondering how I can deal with it on the show this week. I’m so bewildered by it all that I could not get stuff together in a meaningful way for a show today. Maybe I’m spending too much time reading and analyzing the news. Maybe I should do what is right and turn off the internet. (Ha, the phrase used to be turn off the TV.)
So I’m going to take a breather, do some exercising, clear my head, go to a Christmas party, take a step back, and reassess. Then try to pump out a show early next week. OBTW: Mad Money Machine will be celebrating its three year anniversary on the next show. Like I need that added challenge of doing something special.
Fri, December 12 2008 » Announcements, Blog » Comments Off on awash…
Fake gold coin? NCAA soccer. No Steak and Shake. Bolt. Hamster in ball. Firefly. Ping pong. ConcertVault live music. eBay gold coin prices. Where did the wealth go? Lazy portfolios. Penny is worth… about a penny.
A show or two ago, I mentioned using the Microsoft Live.com CashBack program to get 25% off a Buy-It-Now purchase from eBay. It seems to have worked. If you are buying an expensive item from eBay, definitely look into this program.
Here’s a quick synopsis of the steps to take:
You need a Live.com account, an eBay account, and a PayPal account.
Find something on eBay with Buy It Now. Copy its ID number.
Do a search on live.com for an item that results in a link to eBay. (“1 oz gold coin” works for me)
Click the link to go to eBay and you’ll see the CashBack logo. Paste in the ID number for your item
Buy it Now.
Save 25% up to $200 per item and up to $2500 per year. You get the money in about 60 days they say. Sometimes, you get it instantly (I think from qualified sellers)
As always, do your own research about this program before going off and using it. But if you see that it works for you, wow, save $200 on something that costs $800 sounds pretty good.
Mon, December 1 2008 » Announcements, Blog, Reviews » Comments Off on The MSFT 25% CashBack Seems to Work
Things are on sale! No Party. Foreigners will get US in shape. Listener tool. 30% off of 50% off. Why does Warren love the Estate tax? End the Fed? How much is 4 Trillion dollars? Stick around in this market.
Black Friday means big sales. Heh, not just in stores.
They’re warning you not to buy gift cards… the stores may not be there next year!
No Christmas party this year.
There’s hope for the US Defi cit yet: foreign holders of US Debt will demand that our gobmint get its act together… something we insignificant taxpayers could never convince them to do. Seen I.O.U.S.A. yet?
TOOL: Mike in Vancouver called in this: HP Smart Web Print Select. Only for Windows.
If every country is inflating, then the dollar won’t drop in relation to other currencies. And if we believe Bernanke, gold won’t rise either (they’ll try to do coordinated selling of gold)
Feeling of Dread. We need BIGGER government! Misery loves company. Tool: Geocaching.com. IFA’s invesment principles. Move your taskbar to the side. Huntington is fat. Cashback for gold.
Ever get that DREAD Feeling? Like waiting for a Jack in the Box to pop? 30 Reasons to DREAD Great Depression 2 from Paul B. Farrell. And then there’s UCLA’s Colloquium on the Financial Crisis
Remember my discussion of having more Representatives? Lew Rockwell’s podcast talks about The Case for Bigger Government.
Lazy Portfolio Smackdown. Harry Brown is down 10%, but is it actually up 10% against deflation?
LEARNING EARNING: IFA Investment Principles:
1. Capitalism works.
2. Risk and return have a positive correlation.
3. Free markets match prices to current levels of uncertainty, so that buyers can earn a risk-appropriate return.
4. The greater the risk, the longer the time required to obtain the expected return.
5. Passively invest, diversify to the maximum, maintain a small and value tilt and keep turnover, costs and taxes to a minimum.
6. Risk exposure must be initially matched to the investor’s risk capacity, then monitored and maintained through rebalancing.
7. Avoid capital gains and realize losses in taxable accounts.
Why don’t people move the taskbar to the side?
Are you hungry in this depressed economy? As far as surviving starvation goes, people from my hometown will outlast everyone else because Huntington is FAT.
“Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o’course.” – Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
I understand why USA can’t go it alone on a gold standard. Congress must NOW Repeal Legal Tender Laws and allow competing currencles. Someone will develop a gold-based electronic money (hmmmm. goldmoney?) which the world can then standardize upon.
Here’s a handy table (for your printing pleasure) that shows what percentage gain you need to get on your investments to get back to where you were before a certain percentage loss. So for example, the S&P 500 index is down about 40% year to date. Looking down the table, you’ll see that we’d need a gain of 66.7% to get back to where it was at the start of the year.
Table of What It Takes
to Get Back to Even
If your loss was:
You will need a gain of:
5.0%
5.3%
10.0%
11.1%
15.0%
17.6%
20.0%
25.0%
25.0%
33.3%
30.0%
42.9%
35.0%
53.8%
40.0%
66.7%
45.0%
81.8%
50.0%
100.0%
55.0%
122.2%
60.0%
150.0%
65.0%
185.7%
66.6%
200.0%
70.0%
233.3%
75.0%
300.0%
80.0%
400.0%
85.0%
566.7%
90.0%
900.0%
95.0%
1900.0%
97.0%
3233.3%
98.0%
4900.0%
99.0%
9900.0%
100.0%
OOPS!
For Fannie Mae (FNM) you’d need a gain of 7839%. It closed at 39.98 on 31 Dec and now trades at about 0.51.
Tue, November 18 2008 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Getting Back to Even
DARC: Dynamically Adjusted Risk Capacity. Amex is a bank. Circuit City vs. Best Buy. The Gun Shop. 3X Bear ETFs. G20 meeting. Market timing vs. DARC. Gold coin mark ups. Cool iPhone apps. Save iPhone battery life. Cramer says buy dividends. Biggs says not so fast.
Market Timing vs. DARC (Dynamically Adjusted Risk Capacity)
TOOL: Silver dollars on eBay go for 2X their worth? Amark says $1000 is worth $9,651.50. And check this out: http://ebaypmx.com/Default.aspx Update: Ha, doesn’t seem to work any more.
Topics in this week’s show include:
Topics in this week’s show include:
Topics in this week’s show include:
Topics in this week’s show include:
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