Mad Money Machine

Kiplinger’s Articles now on-line

You can read the article from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance called Booyah! The Manic Universe of Jim Cramer.

And the article naming the Mad Money Machine as one of the Must-Read Bloggers is also available.

Another sell: PEP

Jim said to sell Pepsi (PEP). Looks like we’re getting some turnover in the Portfolio Smackdown.

MMM-043: Hope In My History

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO Download this show thru iTunes!

but, if you just can’t possibly deal with that then go ahead and
Play show 43, right now 

Standard Podcast [ 35:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proudly sponsored by Index Funds Advisors. Check out their OFFICIAL version of the 12 Steps podcast. RSS Feed

Call me on the Mad Money Machine voicemail line at 206-734-4763

As long as you keep listening, I’ll keep doing…. the Mad Money Machine!

I review some snippets from the article about Jim Cramer from October’s Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Crippled by the inability to do short-selling???

I’m trapped in season 2 of Lost.

I take another look at the Portfolio Smackdown

I talk about my experience hooking up the XBOX 360 to my Media Center computer.

Jay, 14-years old, wants to know a good place to get started with stocks. He’s got a little over a hundred bucks. A caller gives him some advice. Was that Mr. Sogo?

Listen to The Big Break Podcast at LowCountryRadio.com! Don Lewis is an audio guru!

The interview that Frank Barnako took of me when we met at the PodcastExpo. Check out his blog.

Also spoke with Jay Selman of Grape Radio.

My take on Step 9 of the 12 Step Program for Active Investors: Hope In My History

Frank Edward Nora of TheOvernightScape comments on our conversation at the Podcast Expo.

Our Tools this time will help you get the inside scoop!

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Call in at 206-734-4763 and get TWO entries (or write a comment in the show notes for the regular ONE entry) and answer this question:

What Cramer-featured brand-name blue-chip stock should we buy to replace GM that we sold from the Portfolio Smackdown? And… do you have any other recommendations of stocks to sell and replace with one of Cramer’s hot stocks?

A look at two of Cramer’s Indexes: The Cramer Speculative Index and the Cramer Luxury Index.

Visit our sponsor: Index Funds Advisors

Download the show directly MMM-043.mp3

Music from the Podsafe Music Network:
ALTA PLAZA – X-Ray Dogs
Hope In My History – Friction Bailey

Music from Garageband.com:

Synth Murder – Fido X
Silver Plated – Geoff Byrd

Welcome, MarketWatch readers

If you’re visiting the Mad Money Machine for the first time after reading Frank Barnako’s blog, WELCOME!

The Mad Money Machine is indeed more than just a review of Jim Cramer’s picks. Check out the weekly podcast (subscribe via iTunes above right) and hear me spin the wheel as we play Guru Roulette. And I’ll have a Tool in the Crib for you to help you become a better investor (or better shirt folder).
And subscribe to the text feed to keep updated to new blog postings. Want to be an active participant? Check out the Action Items page and pick something.

I’m on the hunt for a brand-name blue chip stock to replace GM in the Portfolio Smackdown. Send me your ideas. Call me or email me at the number above.

Thanks for visiting. Bookmark me. Subscribe via iTunes. Let’s have some fun! Welcome!

Sell GM

Jim, on his radio program last Friday, basically said he’s done with GM. So as of Monday morning at 10:30 we will put in our market order to sell our shares from the portfolio smackdown.

What Blue Chip company would YOU recommend we buy to replace it?

MMM-042: Big Tent Revival!

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO Download this show thru iTunes!

but, if you just can’t possibly deal with that then go ahead and
Play show 42, right now 

Standard Podcast [ 36:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proudly sponsored by Index Funds Advisors. Check out their OFFICIAL version of the 12 Steps podcast. RSS Feed

Call me on the Mad Money Machine voicemail line at 206-734-4763.

Audio…
Stereo…
Video…
Radio…

…

NETIO!!!

Steve from The SG Show

David G. Lopez Behind the Wedding Mic. David, I won the microphone! Can you believe it?

My take on Step 8 of the 12 Step Program for Active Investors: Rollercoaster Ride

The Hold ’em poker tournament.

Ron Moore talked about podcasting. Not much about Battlestar Galactica.

I met with Mark Hebner. Their new offices are adequate and humble. Nice touch.
I believe he sponsors this show to help educate investors, even though they may not yet have the minimun needed to invest with him.

I’m invoking the Fair Use Act to play some clips from Mad Money on 27 September and NY Giants kicker Jay Feely. Click that link to watch the whole thing. Cramer tries to kick a field goal. Feely talks Riskese. He says they’re even having trouble getting NFL players to contribute to their 401Ks.

Dave from Raleigh calls the voicemail line and suggests that I review blogs for the Tools in the Crib. His website is dovInvestmentTips.tripod.com.

So, the Tool this time helps collect lots of blogs.

Jay, 14-years old, wants to know a good place to get started with stocks. He’s got a little over a hundred bucks. Call in and give Jay some ideas. 206-734-4763.

Our Guru shows up in Step 8 and gives us the difference between systematic and non-systematic risk.

mojojojo103 won the book! Gimme your address and the book will be on its way to you.

A proposed bill by House members Mike Pence and Eric Cantor to index capital gains taxes for inflation. Go dudes!
Better yet: Eliminate Capital Gains Taxes!

Visit our sponsor: Index Funds Advisors

Download the show directly MMM-042.mp3

Music from the Podsafe Music Network:
ALTA PLAZA – X-Ray Dogs
You Won’t See Me Crying – Whitney Steele
There She Goes – Brother Love
Heaven – Jimmy Golding

Music from Garageband.com:

Rollercoaster Ride – Carol Camille

Podcast Expo 2006 Notes

As you may have heard me say, I attended the Podcast Expo in Ontario CA this past weekend. It was the first time I have attended any podcast-related event and actually the first expo of any kind since 1997 when I had the amazingly good fortune to be able to attend an all-expense-paid trip to the Microsoft Developers Conference in Nice, France. Wow, what an experience that was.

But Podcast Expo 2006 was more important for me and the Mad Money Machine. The energy that I received has really motivated me to keep the MMM going and make it as good a show as I can make it. You keep listening, and I’ll keep talking. A deal?

The most amazing thing was that some people came up to me and said not only that they listen to the MMM, but that it is one of their favorite shows! I cannot tell you how motivating that is for me, knowing that I’m not talking purely into the vacuum of space. Or worse, that people listen and hate it.

Oh, and I put in a respectable, if perhaps overly conservative, performance at the Holdem’ tournament. I almost made it to the final table out of four tables. I think out of roughly 30 players starting, I went all in and then all out at about 10-11-12th place or something. (But in that hand I had A-3 of hearts and the flop saw two more hearts show up. But alas, the final heart for the flush stayed with the deck and had me relinquishing my seat.) You could definitely tell the difference in knowing the statistics of which cards should win and knowing how to bluff when you don’t have the cards. Those guys were good.

I had 2nd row center seats for the first two keynotes: Leo Laporte (of This Week in Tech) and Ron Moore the Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica. (I think on Ticketmaster they could have gone for a hundred bucks.) The audio from those should be available in a few days in case you are interested in details. I liked how Leo said we need more than Apple’s iTunes in the podcasting space. Help Microsoft! And Ron talked about how and why he does his podcast. He said virtually nothing about the upcoming season. He said he wondered why he was invited to a Podcast Expo, after all.

I met Steve from The SG Show where he and his 8-year old son Sam do a conversational podcast. I’ve subscribed and I hope you’ll take a listen too. They’ve got a great thing going between them.

I met David G. Lopez from the Behind the Wedding Mic podcast. What an upbeat guy David is and a joy to talk with. While I’m hoping I won’t have much to do with weddings for many years, I did listen to his show and he puts on a first-class program. And hey David, thanks for the tip of entering the drawing to win the Samson Q1U Microphone! I was in the car ready to head for the airport when they called me and said I had won!

I met Michael Auzenne of Manager Tools, winner of the Best Business Podcast at PodcastAwards.com. What a surprise to find out that he lives in Northern Virginia also! We will definitely have to have a podcasters meetup somewhere in Tyson’s Corner or someplace because I also met the MommyCast four who also live here. Any other Northern Virginia, DC, or Maryland podcasters out there?

Unfortunately for me, Manager Tools did not take the prize for Best Podcast overall, because that means I won’t have a chance to win best business podcast next year either (ha ha). But seriously, I do listen to Manager Tools and I know why it has such a huge following. Great material! If you haven’t hear their two-part podcast on Meal Etiquette, you risk looking foolish. (After hearing their show, I was careful not to eat a salad or ribs when I met with my sponsor.) And their newest podcast on running large meetings is one that I wish all presenters that I have to listen to in the future would listen to now.

Best podcast went to Grape Radio. WOW, what a great thing they have going there. I met Jay Selman and he has so many ideas on how to promote a show, how to monitize a show. I told him he should write a book. Nah, stick to making great shows.

I met Don D. Lewis of Low Country Radio who gave me some tips on using Adobe Audition that I told him I thought paid for the trip. His shows’ audio quality is first-rate.

I met Frank Edward Nora of The Overnightscape. He is now beyond 550 shows and has been doing podcasts since before podcasting. His suggested word for it is “New-Time Radio,” you know, as opposed to “Old-Time Radio.”

I told Leo Laporte that we already have the words: audio, stereo, radio, video. So instead of podcast, how about “netio?” Also, I asked him to record a tag for my show on my portable recorder. He said, “Hi this is Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech and when I get mad at my money I always listen to the Mad Money Machine.” When I went back to listen to it on my recorder, it wasn’t there. Bad recorder. Bad recorder.

After the panel discussion that Frank Barnako held on advertising in podcasting, I spoke with him about how I thought that when big media comes in and takes over all of the top 1000 spots, us independents still won’t be attractive to advertisers. I don’t think he concurred with that thought. He then whipped out his microphone and itsy-bitsy recorder from his bag and interviewed me about the Mad Money Machine podcast. I have no idea now what I said, but I hope it was coherent and factual. I should have recorded it myself!

In the Rocketboom guy’s keynote, he talked about how he sells $4000 worth of T-shirts a month without trying AT ALL. And imagine what he could do if he put any effort into it. Amazing what happens when attention turns into dollars.

The early history of podcasting is still being written. It is fun being a part of it. Let’s work together to make sure it turns out great.

MMM-041: Unplugged

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO Download this show thru iTunes!

but, if you just can’t possibly deal with that then go ahead and
Play show 40, right now 

Standard Podcast [ 31:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proudly sponsored by Index Funds Advisors. Check out their OFFICIAL version of the 12 Steps podcast. RSS Feed

I’ve said it before but I have no problem saying it again, THANK YOU! for nominating the Mad Money Machine as the only investing show to be so nominated as Best Business Podcast at PodcastAwards.com!
But being nominated don’t mean a thing if I can’t continue bringing the goods!

Meet me at the Podcast Expo in Ontario CA on 29 and 30 September 2006.

Call me on the CORRECTED Mad Money Machine voicemail line at 206-734-4763.

I respond to your feedback on the question, What would you do if you got tomorrow’s newspaper today every day for a year?

BOOK GIVEAWAY! I’m giving away yet another copy of Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors. Make sure you are registered then simply add a comment to this show OR CALL THE VOICEMAIL LINE AT 206-734-4763 answering this question:

What would You do if for a year you got tomorrow’s newspaper, TODAY?

Visit our sponsor: Index Funds Advisors

Download the show directly MMM-041.mp3

Music from the Podsafe Music Network:
ALTA PLAZA – X-Ray Dogs

MMM-040: Tomorrow’s Newspaper, TODAY!

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO Download this show thru iTunes!

but, if you just can’t possibly deal with that then go ahead and
Play show 40, right now 

Standard Podcast [ 33:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Proudly sponsored by Index Funds Advisors. Check out their OFFICIAL version of the 12 Steps podcast. RSS Feed

I’ve said it before but I have no problem saying it again, THANK YOU! for nominating the Mad Money Machine as the only investing show to be so nominated as Best Business Podcast at PodcastAwards.com!
But being nominated don’t mean a thing if I can’t continue bringing the goods!

Meet me at the Podcast Expo in Ontario CA on 29 and 30 September 2006.

Call me on the CORRECTED Mad Money Machine voicemail line at 206-734-4763.

Apple Computer’s iTV vs. XBOX 360. Still not convinced…

How do you convince someone to invest properly?
Get them a copy of Bogleheads guide to investing I guess…

A Ken Nordine-inspired riff on the question from the Boglehead’s Guide to Investing: What would you do if for a year you got tomorrow’s newspaper, today?

Ken Nordine still does a radio show… Word Jazz. And you should take a listen to Hello from his latest album.

Oh, and the reason I didn’t find anything on Now Nordine on Google was that I spelled it Now Nordeen.

My take on Step 7 of the 12 Step Program for Active Investors: Silent War

The taxes you pay on actively managed funds will kill your returns!

rexfirefighter won the book! Gimme your address and the book will be on its way to you.

yomomma2000 says there is a problem in the way I compute Cramer’s returns. Mark Hulbert, where are you? Help!

The Short-Cramer Portfolio?

BOOK GIVEAWAY! I’m giving away yet another copy of Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors. Make sure you are registered then simply add a comment to this show OR CALL THE VOICEMAIL LINE AT 206-734-4763 answering this question:

What would You do if for a year you got tomorrow’s newspaper, TODAY?

Just got an email:
“Hey. Thought you might want to check out the October issue of Men’s Health magazine. On page 98 I believe, the magazine pits Cramer’s picks against a dart. Guess who wins? I won’t spoil the surprise….”

Visit our sponsor: Index Funds Advisors

Download the show directly MMM-040.mp3

Music from the Podsafe Music Network:
ALTA PLAZA – X-Ray Dogs
The Giant – Fielding
Edward Teller – Trucker Cleavage
Silent War – di sheldon
Heavily Sedated – Bob
I’m Multifaceted – ixi

Ten Best Cramer Stocks to Buy NOW!

Cramer gets us really excited about the stocks he features on his show. Unfortunately, they don’t always work out immediately. For example, these ten stock that he featured on his Mad Money show in March 2006 are down an average -39.5%. So… the logical thing to assume is that now that they’ve taken their correction, now that they’ve had a pullback, combined with the fact that JC liked them recently… it must be TIME TO BUY!

And here they are:

New Cramer Book or What Exactly?

Just in time for Christmas! I notice that Amazon now has a book listed called Jim Cramer’s Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich. The authors are shown as James J. Cramer and Cliff Mason. The book will be released on December 19, 2006.

This makes me think that the foreward is written by Cramer and the book is Mason’s. What do you think?

I haven’t really been able to find out much more about either the book or the author Cliff Mason. (Other than 288 pages and an audio version will be available) Anyone have any intel they care to share? Either post a comment or you can email me.