zaterdag 28 april 2007
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a series of poker tournaments featuring most of the world's professional players. It was started by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises (WPTE), the firm that controls the World Poker Tour.The tour had its debut season in the latter part of 2002 and early part of 2003, climaxing with the WPT Championship in April 2003 at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first season aired on the Travel Channel on American cable television in the spring of 2003. The show made its network debut on February 1, 2004 on NBC with a special "Battle Of Champions" tournament, which aired against CBS coverage of the Super Bowl XXXVIII pre-game show. The Travel Channel aired the first five seasons of the Tour. In April 2007, WPTE announced that the series would move to GSN for its sixth season in the spring of 2008.[1]Contents[hide]* 1 Sherman Act lawsuit* 2 Player of the Year* 3 Tournament Results* 4 Deal* 5 Trivia* 6 See also* 7 Notes* 8 External linksThe World Poker Tour is a collection of Texas hold 'em poker tournaments held internationally, but mainly in the United States. The television show has led to a boom in the table game across American homes, in local casino poker rooms and online. The key sponsors of the tour are casinos and online poker sites. The show, which is syndicated internationally, is co-hosted by World Series of Poker winner Mike Sexton, and actor Vince Van Patten. Shana Hiatt served as the show host and sideline reporter in its first three seasons. Courtney Friel took over the host role for the fourth season, and Sabina Gadecki for the fifth.The show's hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten give the impression that all of their commentary is recorded live as the tournament happens, and they have occasionally interacted with the players during the game. However, their comments about hole cards are recorded after the tournament takes place because state gaming regulations prohibit them from observing a live feed of the "hole card cameras". Consequently, the broadcast audio is a mix of the live recording, and commentary recorded in post-production.The drawing power of the WPT and most other poker tournaments is that anyone who can pay the "buy-in" (an amount ranging from $2,500 to $25,000) or win a "satellite" tournament is able to compete against the top professional players, such as Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, or the top 2004 tournament money and multi-WPT tournament winner, Daniel Negreanu.Fans of the show find it interesting because of technical innovations such as the ability to see the players' hole cards through a small camera in front of them on the poker table (an innovation first seen on the UK program Late Night Poker). With the success of the show, special programs, such as the "Hollywood Home Game" (featuring celebrities playing for charity) and "Ladies Night" (featuring six top women players) were developed.In 2004, the World Poker Tour created a Walk of Fame, inducting poker legends Doyle Brunson and Gus Hansen as well as actor James Garner.Now in its fifth season of broadcast, it still remains among the highest rated television programs on cable. It airs Wednesdays on the Travel Channel. The first four seasons of WPT are also available on NTSC DVD. (The second season DVD set features audio commentary by several of the players. The third season is only available in a "Best Of" format, featuring just half of the episodes.)A series of spin-off tournaments, titled the Professional Poker Tour, began filming in 2004. Broadcast of the series was delayed, in part because of a dispute with the Travel Channel over rights. In the fall of 2005, WPTE announced that "a cable channel" (believed to be ESPN) had withdrawn from bidding for the PPT series, and that WPTE was negotiating with the Travel Channel to air the series. On January 30, 2006, WPTE and the Travel Channel announced that they had dismissed all open lawsuits. The series began regular broadcast July 5, 2006.
vrijdag 27 april 2007
7 Rules of Wealth Building
Practical Keys to Amassing Investment CapitalMost parents want to teach their children responsibility - how to become self sufficient and succeed in life (after all, no one plans on raising a dead beat). However, very few actually accomplish this task. Why? Because, as parents, we are limited to the experiences our parents passed on to us; the antiquated notion that "responsibility" is simply getting a job, saving a little money, and maybe purchasing a car or some equally important item. Hopefully these seven rules will open your eyes and help you teach your children to avoid the traps that have stolen financial success from so many people.
Wealth Building Rule 1:
Put Off MarriageYour biggest obstacle to attaining wealth is YOU. Too often, people live their lives in a manner that is not conducive to creating riches and then get frustrated at "the system" when they only really have themselves to blame.
One of the most important financial decisions you will ever make is marriage (more specifically who you marry and when). By putting off the walk down the aisle for a few years, you can save a decade worth of frustration. Your first goal should be to become financially independent, with little or no debt, and have your investments in place. Once you have these three things, your odds of success are drastically improved by beginning your journey on a level playing field (after all, the number-one reason for divorce is financial trouble).
Wealth Building Rule 2:
Debt is a DiseaseWith a few notable exceptions, debt is a form of bondage; a disease that enslaves the borrower. A few years ago, there was a young lady attending college who shot herself because she couldn't pay back $2,300 in credit card debt. Although an extreme example, it is a testament to the power money has over peoples' lives. Imagine your life without owing anyone anything; your car, your house, your education, all paid for in full. Like what you see? When you want it badly enough, you will make extinguishing your debt your number one priority.
Wealth Building Rule 3:
If You Don't Like Where your Parents Were at Your Age - Do Things DifferentlyThe old cliché that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results," holds just as true today as it did when it was originally written. If you don't like where your parents were at your age, stop what you are doing. During your childhood, they taught you all they knew about money. For many people, these early years established how they feel about their finances today. In order to become financially successful, you must do something different than they did. Otherwise, you will end up exactly as they are.
Wealth Building Rule 4:
When you Begin a Job, Look at the Pay of the Highest EmployeeWhether you are looking for employment now or are thinking about it sometime in the near future, one of the most important things for you to do is to look at what the top-dog gets at any company for which you are considering working. This will give you an idea of how high you can expect to climb in terms of earnings and promotion. If the CEO is making $30,000 a year, you have no chance to make six figures. Select a job accordingly.
Wealth Building Rule 5:
Do Something You Love and Get Paid for ItI remember going into college and being surrounded with people who wanted to be artists, scientists, and businessmen, but instead did what their parents or grandparents told them to do. There is no honor in being a doctor or a lawyer if you wake up every morning and hate your job. Pick a profession you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.
Wealth Building Rule 6:
Understand the Money MythMoney is nothing more than a piece of paper with the image of a long-dead person on it. When you understand that any power it has over you is derived from your relationship with it, you suddenly become free from the constant pressures and stress of thinking about it. Especially at times such as these, if you are putting money away for ten, fifteen, or twenty years down the road, stop checking your portfolio every day! There is nothing you can gain from it except stress.
Wealth Building Rule 7:
Your New Commodity is Not Your Labor, It's Your IdeasWith the advent of the Internet and other technological advances, you are no longer limited to supporting yourself or making a living by your physical labor.
Wealth Building Rule 1:
Put Off MarriageYour biggest obstacle to attaining wealth is YOU. Too often, people live their lives in a manner that is not conducive to creating riches and then get frustrated at "the system" when they only really have themselves to blame.
One of the most important financial decisions you will ever make is marriage (more specifically who you marry and when). By putting off the walk down the aisle for a few years, you can save a decade worth of frustration. Your first goal should be to become financially independent, with little or no debt, and have your investments in place. Once you have these three things, your odds of success are drastically improved by beginning your journey on a level playing field (after all, the number-one reason for divorce is financial trouble).
Wealth Building Rule 2:
Debt is a DiseaseWith a few notable exceptions, debt is a form of bondage; a disease that enslaves the borrower. A few years ago, there was a young lady attending college who shot herself because she couldn't pay back $2,300 in credit card debt. Although an extreme example, it is a testament to the power money has over peoples' lives. Imagine your life without owing anyone anything; your car, your house, your education, all paid for in full. Like what you see? When you want it badly enough, you will make extinguishing your debt your number one priority.
Wealth Building Rule 3:
If You Don't Like Where your Parents Were at Your Age - Do Things DifferentlyThe old cliché that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results," holds just as true today as it did when it was originally written. If you don't like where your parents were at your age, stop what you are doing. During your childhood, they taught you all they knew about money. For many people, these early years established how they feel about their finances today. In order to become financially successful, you must do something different than they did. Otherwise, you will end up exactly as they are.
Wealth Building Rule 4:
When you Begin a Job, Look at the Pay of the Highest EmployeeWhether you are looking for employment now or are thinking about it sometime in the near future, one of the most important things for you to do is to look at what the top-dog gets at any company for which you are considering working. This will give you an idea of how high you can expect to climb in terms of earnings and promotion. If the CEO is making $30,000 a year, you have no chance to make six figures. Select a job accordingly.
Wealth Building Rule 5:
Do Something You Love and Get Paid for ItI remember going into college and being surrounded with people who wanted to be artists, scientists, and businessmen, but instead did what their parents or grandparents told them to do. There is no honor in being a doctor or a lawyer if you wake up every morning and hate your job. Pick a profession you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.
Wealth Building Rule 6:
Understand the Money MythMoney is nothing more than a piece of paper with the image of a long-dead person on it. When you understand that any power it has over you is derived from your relationship with it, you suddenly become free from the constant pressures and stress of thinking about it. Especially at times such as these, if you are putting money away for ten, fifteen, or twenty years down the road, stop checking your portfolio every day! There is nothing you can gain from it except stress.
Wealth Building Rule 7:
Your New Commodity is Not Your Labor, It's Your IdeasWith the advent of the Internet and other technological advances, you are no longer limited to supporting yourself or making a living by your physical labor.
4 Things to Look for in an Investment
The most important qualities every good investment possesses
New investors are often interested in purchasing a company's stock but are not sure where to begin. These four characteristics should serve as helpful guidelines in your search for a good investment.
1. What is the price of the entire company?When doing research, it is important that you look at more than just the current share price - you need to look at the price of the entire company. The "cost" of acquiring the entire corporation is called market capitalization (or market cap for short) and is frequently referred to by financial professionals. In short, the market cap is the price of all outstanding shares of common stock multiplied by the quoted price per share at any given moment in time. A business with one million shares outstanding and a stock price of $50 per share would have a market cap of $50 million.
This market capitalization test can help keep you from overpaying for a stock. Consider the case of eBay and General Motors during the heyday of the Internet era. At one point during the boom, eBay had the same market cap as the entire General Motors Corporation. To put that into perspective, in fiscal 2000, General Motors made $3.96 billion dollars in profit, while eBay made only $48.3 million (not including stock option expense!). Yet were you to buy either one, you would have had to pay the same amount. It is almost unbelievable that any sane investor would pay the same price for both companies but the general public was seduced by visions of quick profits and easy cash.
Another useful tool to help gauge the relative cost of a stock is the price to earnings ratio (or p/e ratio for short). It provides a valuable standard of comparison for alternative investment opportunities.
2. Is the company buying back shares?One of the most important keys to investing is that overall corporate growth is not as important as per-share growth. A company could have the same profit, sales, and revenue for five consecutive years, but create large returns for investors by reducing the total number of outstanding shares.
To put it into simpler terms, think of your investment like a large pizza. Each slice represents one share of stock. Would you rather have part of a pizza that was cut into ten slices or one that was cut into eight slices? The pizza that was only cut into eight parts will have bigger slices with more cheese and toppings.
The same principle is true in business. A shareholder should desire a management that has an active policy of reducing the number of outstanding shares if alternative uses of capital are not as attractive, thus making each investor's stake in the company bigger. When the corporate "pie" is cut into fewer pieces, each share represents a greater percentage ownership in the profits and assets of the business. Tragically, many managements focus on domain building rather than increasing the wealth of shareholders.
3. What are your reasons for investing in the company?Before you purchase stock in a company, you need to ask yourself why you are interested in investing in that particular opportunity. It is dangerous to fall in love with a corporation and buy it solely because you feel fondly for its products or people - after all, the best company in the world is a lousy investment if you pay too much for it.
Make sure the fundamentals of the company (current price, profits, good management, etc.) are the only reason you are investing. Anything else is based on your emotions; this leads to speculation rather than intelligent investing. You have to remove your feelings from the equation and select your investments based on the cold, hard data. This requires patience and the willingness to walk away from a potential stock position if it does not appear to be fairly or undervalued.
4. Are you willing to own the stock for the next ten years?If you aren't willing to buy shares in a company and forget about them for the next ten years, you really have no business owning those shares at all. The simple but painful truth of this is evident on Wall Street every day. Professional money managers attempt to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is a collection of 30 largely unmanaged stocks. Year after year, they fail to do this. It seems impossible that a portfolio managed by the best minds in finance can't beat an unmanaged portfolio of long-term stocks held indefinitely.
The guaranteed way to success has historically been to select a great company, pay as little as possible for the initial stake, begin a dollar cost averaging program, reinvest the dividends and leave the position alone for several decades.
New investors are often interested in purchasing a company's stock but are not sure where to begin. These four characteristics should serve as helpful guidelines in your search for a good investment.
1. What is the price of the entire company?When doing research, it is important that you look at more than just the current share price - you need to look at the price of the entire company. The "cost" of acquiring the entire corporation is called market capitalization (or market cap for short) and is frequently referred to by financial professionals. In short, the market cap is the price of all outstanding shares of common stock multiplied by the quoted price per share at any given moment in time. A business with one million shares outstanding and a stock price of $50 per share would have a market cap of $50 million.
This market capitalization test can help keep you from overpaying for a stock. Consider the case of eBay and General Motors during the heyday of the Internet era. At one point during the boom, eBay had the same market cap as the entire General Motors Corporation. To put that into perspective, in fiscal 2000, General Motors made $3.96 billion dollars in profit, while eBay made only $48.3 million (not including stock option expense!). Yet were you to buy either one, you would have had to pay the same amount. It is almost unbelievable that any sane investor would pay the same price for both companies but the general public was seduced by visions of quick profits and easy cash.
Another useful tool to help gauge the relative cost of a stock is the price to earnings ratio (or p/e ratio for short). It provides a valuable standard of comparison for alternative investment opportunities.
2. Is the company buying back shares?One of the most important keys to investing is that overall corporate growth is not as important as per-share growth. A company could have the same profit, sales, and revenue for five consecutive years, but create large returns for investors by reducing the total number of outstanding shares.
To put it into simpler terms, think of your investment like a large pizza. Each slice represents one share of stock. Would you rather have part of a pizza that was cut into ten slices or one that was cut into eight slices? The pizza that was only cut into eight parts will have bigger slices with more cheese and toppings.
The same principle is true in business. A shareholder should desire a management that has an active policy of reducing the number of outstanding shares if alternative uses of capital are not as attractive, thus making each investor's stake in the company bigger. When the corporate "pie" is cut into fewer pieces, each share represents a greater percentage ownership in the profits and assets of the business. Tragically, many managements focus on domain building rather than increasing the wealth of shareholders.
3. What are your reasons for investing in the company?Before you purchase stock in a company, you need to ask yourself why you are interested in investing in that particular opportunity. It is dangerous to fall in love with a corporation and buy it solely because you feel fondly for its products or people - after all, the best company in the world is a lousy investment if you pay too much for it.
Make sure the fundamentals of the company (current price, profits, good management, etc.) are the only reason you are investing. Anything else is based on your emotions; this leads to speculation rather than intelligent investing. You have to remove your feelings from the equation and select your investments based on the cold, hard data. This requires patience and the willingness to walk away from a potential stock position if it does not appear to be fairly or undervalued.
4. Are you willing to own the stock for the next ten years?If you aren't willing to buy shares in a company and forget about them for the next ten years, you really have no business owning those shares at all. The simple but painful truth of this is evident on Wall Street every day. Professional money managers attempt to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is a collection of 30 largely unmanaged stocks. Year after year, they fail to do this. It seems impossible that a portfolio managed by the best minds in finance can't beat an unmanaged portfolio of long-term stocks held indefinitely.
The guaranteed way to success has historically been to select a great company, pay as little as possible for the initial stake, begin a dollar cost averaging program, reinvest the dividends and leave the position alone for several decades.
Vista Pays Off for Microsoft
Despite rumblings to the contrary, sales of the new operating system led to big revenue gains for the quarter and raised hopes for the year to come
by Jay Greene
In the weeks before Microsoft's quarterly earnings release, reports abounded of security problems with the new Windows Vista operating system. And talk was rife that myriad software programs don't work well with Vista. It was enough to give the impression that Vista, launched in January, wasn't selling all that well. Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter results, reported Apr. 26, paint a different picture.
Revenue in Microsoft's (MSFT) Client Division, consisting primarily of Windows sales for PCs, hit $5.3 billion, a 67% jump over a year earlier. That includes $1.2 billion in deferred revenue from presales of Windows Vista, money paid by customers before the quarter started but not counted in results until the product shipped. But even without that spike, the group's sales climbed 17%. In other words, Vista sales growth topped Microsoft's estimates of overall PC unit sales growth, which came in between 10% and 12%. That's largely because 71% of customers opted for the high-priced premium editions of Vista.
And while some corporate customers still opt for the predecessor Windows XP when they buy new computers, for software compatibility reasons, a remarkably large number are taking the new operating system. Microsoft says 85% of Windows sales are Vista, outpacing sales of XP at the same time in its life cycle.
Beating Expectations
Vista wasn't the only new product that powered results. The 2007 Microsoft Office system, the group of products led by the new Office productivity software, which launched alongside Vista, posted surprisingly strong numbers. Sales in the Microsoft Business Division, consisting largely of Office, hit $4.8 billion, a 34% gain. Like Windows, Office benefited from about $500 million in deferred sales. But even without the bump, the division's sales would have jumped 20%. "We exceeded our revenue expectations by about $200 million," Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said during a conference call discussing results.
Vista and Office gains translated to a quarter that surpassed Microsoft's earlier forecast and analysts' expectations—and they augur stronger results this year and next than Wall Street was predicting. Microsoft increased its guidance for the fourth quarter and suggested that results in fiscal 2008 might come in ahead of analyst projections.
The company now expects to report fiscal 2007 sales of $50.9 billion to $51.2 billion, up 15% to 16%. Just three months ago, Microsoft was guiding to a more conservative $50.2 billion to $50.7 billion in sales. The company now expects earnings per share for the fiscal year to land between $1.48 and $1.50, up from its earlier guidance of $1.45 to $1.47. Microsoft also offered up its first guidance for fiscal 2008: The company expects $22 billion to $22.5 billion in operating income on sales of $56.5 billion to $57.5 billion. Earnings per share should come in between $1.68 and $1.72.
This guidance comes on top of a quarter that Liddell says left him "extremely pleased." For the period, operating income climbed 69%, to $6.6 billion on sales of $14.4 billion, a 32% gain. The deferred revenue goosed the top line with an extra $1.7 billion and boosted net income by $1.1 billion. Even without those gains, revenue would have climbed 17%, remarkable for a company Microsoft's size.
Searching for Market Share
The only real blight came in the online services group, the division that competes head-on with Google (GOOG). But even there, Microsoft's fortunes look brighter. The company continues to trail Google in Web-search market share. But it seems to have reversed the slide, garnering 10.1% of U.S. searches in March, up from 8.9% in January, according to market research firm Nielsen//NetRatings (NTRT) (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/2/07, "Where Is Microsoft Search?"). And while overall revenue in the unit climbed a modest 11%, to $623 million, hurt by a $37 million decline in the online access business, ad sales grew 23%, to $456 million. Not Google numbers, to be sure.
"They've at least stanched the bleeding," says Sanford C. Bernstein (AB) Senior Research Analyst Charles Di Bona II.
by Jay Greene
In the weeks before Microsoft's quarterly earnings release, reports abounded of security problems with the new Windows Vista operating system. And talk was rife that myriad software programs don't work well with Vista. It was enough to give the impression that Vista, launched in January, wasn't selling all that well. Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter results, reported Apr. 26, paint a different picture.
Revenue in Microsoft's (MSFT) Client Division, consisting primarily of Windows sales for PCs, hit $5.3 billion, a 67% jump over a year earlier. That includes $1.2 billion in deferred revenue from presales of Windows Vista, money paid by customers before the quarter started but not counted in results until the product shipped. But even without that spike, the group's sales climbed 17%. In other words, Vista sales growth topped Microsoft's estimates of overall PC unit sales growth, which came in between 10% and 12%. That's largely because 71% of customers opted for the high-priced premium editions of Vista.
And while some corporate customers still opt for the predecessor Windows XP when they buy new computers, for software compatibility reasons, a remarkably large number are taking the new operating system. Microsoft says 85% of Windows sales are Vista, outpacing sales of XP at the same time in its life cycle.
Beating Expectations
Vista wasn't the only new product that powered results. The 2007 Microsoft Office system, the group of products led by the new Office productivity software, which launched alongside Vista, posted surprisingly strong numbers. Sales in the Microsoft Business Division, consisting largely of Office, hit $4.8 billion, a 34% gain. Like Windows, Office benefited from about $500 million in deferred sales. But even without the bump, the division's sales would have jumped 20%. "We exceeded our revenue expectations by about $200 million," Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said during a conference call discussing results.
Vista and Office gains translated to a quarter that surpassed Microsoft's earlier forecast and analysts' expectations—and they augur stronger results this year and next than Wall Street was predicting. Microsoft increased its guidance for the fourth quarter and suggested that results in fiscal 2008 might come in ahead of analyst projections.
The company now expects to report fiscal 2007 sales of $50.9 billion to $51.2 billion, up 15% to 16%. Just three months ago, Microsoft was guiding to a more conservative $50.2 billion to $50.7 billion in sales. The company now expects earnings per share for the fiscal year to land between $1.48 and $1.50, up from its earlier guidance of $1.45 to $1.47. Microsoft also offered up its first guidance for fiscal 2008: The company expects $22 billion to $22.5 billion in operating income on sales of $56.5 billion to $57.5 billion. Earnings per share should come in between $1.68 and $1.72.
This guidance comes on top of a quarter that Liddell says left him "extremely pleased." For the period, operating income climbed 69%, to $6.6 billion on sales of $14.4 billion, a 32% gain. The deferred revenue goosed the top line with an extra $1.7 billion and boosted net income by $1.1 billion. Even without those gains, revenue would have climbed 17%, remarkable for a company Microsoft's size.
Searching for Market Share
The only real blight came in the online services group, the division that competes head-on with Google (GOOG). But even there, Microsoft's fortunes look brighter. The company continues to trail Google in Web-search market share. But it seems to have reversed the slide, garnering 10.1% of U.S. searches in March, up from 8.9% in January, according to market research firm Nielsen//NetRatings (NTRT) (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/2/07, "Where Is Microsoft Search?"). And while overall revenue in the unit climbed a modest 11%, to $623 million, hurt by a $37 million decline in the online access business, ad sales grew 23%, to $456 million. Not Google numbers, to be sure.
"They've at least stanched the bleeding," says Sanford C. Bernstein (AB) Senior Research Analyst Charles Di Bona II.
How to get started investing
Q: I have saved about $1,500 and I want to start investing. Is there any good advice, books, or stocks you can point me to?
A: Welcome to the exciting world of investing. As you'll soon learn, becoming a good investor is not unlike trying to become a solid surfer or football player. It doesn't take long to learn the very basics, but to really get good, it takes years and years of practice, dedication and study.
Before getting into a few suggestion on how to get started, I first wanted to impart the good news. I'm glad to see that you've already succeeded at one of the most difficult parts of investing: saving money. Having the discipline to clip coupons or give up that $2 cup of coffee every morning is the first step. After all, you need money to make money.
But now that you have your savings plan in place, it's time to take it to the next level.
The first decision you have to make is: What kind of investor do you want to be? Do you think you can outsmart other players on Wall Street? Do you think you can find outstanding stocks that are being ignored by other investors? Are you willing to spend your weekends and extra time researching stocks and studying about investing? If the answers to these questions are all yes, then you are what's called an active investor. If you answered most of the questions with a no, then you're a passive investor.
Now that you'd identified the kind of investor you are, then it's time to put together a game plan. We'll start with the passive investor first. Again, a passive investor is one who doesn't really want to spend the time learning about investing or doubts he can beat the millions of other stock investors. The passive investor simply wants to get the average return for a given amount of risk. This can be done very easily now, by buying mutual funds, index funds and exchange-traded funds that track certain asset classes.
For instance, let's say you're a 20-year-old who doesn't have any near-term needs for cash. You could afford to be pretty aggressive in that case. You'll want to put your money into a variety of investments, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 exchange-traded fund (which trades by the symbol SPY) as well as a number of funds that track small-cap companies. But how do you decide where to spread your cash? There are plenty of tools that can help you. A great resource is ifa.com. It's a great site because it not only explains the beauty of passive investing, but also has a tool that helps you decide what types of indexes you should invest in, based on your expectations and appetite for risk. The good thing about passive investing is that you put your money into the indexes and forget about it.
So what if you want to be an active investor? Well, this will going to take more work. This type of investor uses research, homework and smarts to find stocks that are undervalued. This will take much more work and could be frustrating, since most active investors under-perform similar indexes. That's not to discourage you, though, since skillful active investing is possible.
First, you'll need to get acquainted with financial statements. This is important because accounting is the language in which financial information is communicated. There are many books on this topic, but one of the best I've found is Analysis of Financial Statements by Leopold A. Bernstein and John Wild. It's fairly easy to read and does a good job explaining the parts of financial statements that investors need to know about.
That's a good start. But to be an active investor, you need to decide what your strategy will be. Do you want to be a momentum investor? These investors think stocks that are rising have something going for them and could be a harbinger for future outperformance. These types of investors also look for accelerating earnings, because that's a sign the company has tapped a new product or innovation that could power earnings. One of the best books on this method of investing is How to Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, by William J. O'Neil. In the book, O'Neil explains his "CANSLIM" approach to picking stocks, which is based on a number of factors including stock price behavior and earnings growth.
If that type of investing seems too aggressive, and you want something that's based on a company's value, there are several options for you. A great methodology is one advocated by the National Association of Investors Corporation. Their methodology is very intelligent and comprehensive, but still easy to learn and apply. You can learn more about the NAIC approach at better-investing.org.
Lastly, are you a bargain-hunter investor? Do you want to buy battered stocks like Kmart that get left for dead only to recover and rally. The bible for such deep value investors is the classic Security Analysis: The Classic 1940 Edition, by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. It shows you how to find bargains in the stock market.
Lastly, there are some lessons that can be applied to any type of investors. One of the best lessons is the importance of never letting losses get too big, which is the 10% rule you refer to in your question. Again, you should never let a stock fall more than 10% below your purchase price. Lessons like these and more are contained in the classic Battle for Investment Survival by Gerald Loeb.
Good luck!
Posted from: www.usatoday.com
A: Welcome to the exciting world of investing. As you'll soon learn, becoming a good investor is not unlike trying to become a solid surfer or football player. It doesn't take long to learn the very basics, but to really get good, it takes years and years of practice, dedication and study.
Before getting into a few suggestion on how to get started, I first wanted to impart the good news. I'm glad to see that you've already succeeded at one of the most difficult parts of investing: saving money. Having the discipline to clip coupons or give up that $2 cup of coffee every morning is the first step. After all, you need money to make money.
But now that you have your savings plan in place, it's time to take it to the next level.
The first decision you have to make is: What kind of investor do you want to be? Do you think you can outsmart other players on Wall Street? Do you think you can find outstanding stocks that are being ignored by other investors? Are you willing to spend your weekends and extra time researching stocks and studying about investing? If the answers to these questions are all yes, then you are what's called an active investor. If you answered most of the questions with a no, then you're a passive investor.
Now that you'd identified the kind of investor you are, then it's time to put together a game plan. We'll start with the passive investor first. Again, a passive investor is one who doesn't really want to spend the time learning about investing or doubts he can beat the millions of other stock investors. The passive investor simply wants to get the average return for a given amount of risk. This can be done very easily now, by buying mutual funds, index funds and exchange-traded funds that track certain asset classes.
For instance, let's say you're a 20-year-old who doesn't have any near-term needs for cash. You could afford to be pretty aggressive in that case. You'll want to put your money into a variety of investments, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 exchange-traded fund (which trades by the symbol SPY) as well as a number of funds that track small-cap companies. But how do you decide where to spread your cash? There are plenty of tools that can help you. A great resource is ifa.com. It's a great site because it not only explains the beauty of passive investing, but also has a tool that helps you decide what types of indexes you should invest in, based on your expectations and appetite for risk. The good thing about passive investing is that you put your money into the indexes and forget about it.
So what if you want to be an active investor? Well, this will going to take more work. This type of investor uses research, homework and smarts to find stocks that are undervalued. This will take much more work and could be frustrating, since most active investors under-perform similar indexes. That's not to discourage you, though, since skillful active investing is possible.
First, you'll need to get acquainted with financial statements. This is important because accounting is the language in which financial information is communicated. There are many books on this topic, but one of the best I've found is Analysis of Financial Statements by Leopold A. Bernstein and John Wild. It's fairly easy to read and does a good job explaining the parts of financial statements that investors need to know about.
That's a good start. But to be an active investor, you need to decide what your strategy will be. Do you want to be a momentum investor? These investors think stocks that are rising have something going for them and could be a harbinger for future outperformance. These types of investors also look for accelerating earnings, because that's a sign the company has tapped a new product or innovation that could power earnings. One of the best books on this method of investing is How to Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, by William J. O'Neil. In the book, O'Neil explains his "CANSLIM" approach to picking stocks, which is based on a number of factors including stock price behavior and earnings growth.
If that type of investing seems too aggressive, and you want something that's based on a company's value, there are several options for you. A great methodology is one advocated by the National Association of Investors Corporation. Their methodology is very intelligent and comprehensive, but still easy to learn and apply. You can learn more about the NAIC approach at better-investing.org.
Lastly, are you a bargain-hunter investor? Do you want to buy battered stocks like Kmart that get left for dead only to recover and rally. The bible for such deep value investors is the classic Security Analysis: The Classic 1940 Edition, by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd. It shows you how to find bargains in the stock market.
Lastly, there are some lessons that can be applied to any type of investors. One of the best lessons is the importance of never letting losses get too big, which is the 10% rule you refer to in your question. Again, you should never let a stock fall more than 10% below your purchase price. Lessons like these and more are contained in the classic Battle for Investment Survival by Gerald Loeb.
Good luck!
Posted from: www.usatoday.com
donderdag 26 april 2007
ABN Amro investors in bid revolt
ABN Amro shareholders have told the managers of the Dutch bank to sell the bank to the highest bidder.
This vote, at an unusually heated shareholder meeting of ABN Amro, could result in the bank's break-up.
ABN Amro's managers are in favour of a proposed £45bn (66bn euro; $90bn) takeover bid by British rival Barclays.
However, UK bank RBS, Spain's Santander and Belgium's Fortis have mooted a £49bn bid, that would see the Dutch bank's assets split among the three.
So far the RBS-led consortium has not yet put forward a formal bid.
But whoever wins the looming bid battle, the takeover is likely to result in thousands of job cuts.
Strong message
ABN Amro shareholders sent a strong message to the Dutch firm's management by approving a motion tabled by a well-known hedge fund, The Children's Investment Fund (TCI).
It proposed that ABN should "actively pursue any possibility to sell some or all of the major businesses of the company to maximise shareholder value".
The vote came during an unruly meeting in The Hague, where the head of the Netherland's shareholders rights association, Peter de Vries, had to be escorted from the stage by security guards.
Mr de Vries threatened to take the company's management to court if plans to sell ABN's US operations, LaSalle, to Bank of America went ahead.
The sale, made without seeking the consent of ABN's investors, was seen by many as a deliberate attempt to halt a bid from the RBS-led group.
But chief executive Rijkman Groenink defended the $21bn sale of LaSalle as a strategic move ahead of a US economic downturn.
'Price not the only thing that counts'
Mr Groenink also said that nothing was stopping RBS and its allies from making a counter-bid for LaSalle or all of ABN Amro.
But he insisted the deal with Barclays was in the best interests of both investors and the company.
"Price isn't the only thing that counts," Mr Groenink said. "As human beings and responsible citizens... we have the obligation to look farther than the last quarter."
Yet, under shareholder pressure, ABN said it would allow the Royal Bank of Scotland group to examine its books ahead of the meeting, setting the stage for a hostile battle takeover battle for the Dutch bank.
The RBS group has proposed a bid for ABN of 39 euros per share, compared with 36.25 euros per share offered by Barclays.
Facing its own investors earlier in the day, Barclays chief executive John Varley said its offer would create one of the most powerful banks in the world, valued at £94bn.
"It's very clear what ABN Amro want," he added.
This vote, at an unusually heated shareholder meeting of ABN Amro, could result in the bank's break-up.
ABN Amro's managers are in favour of a proposed £45bn (66bn euro; $90bn) takeover bid by British rival Barclays.
However, UK bank RBS, Spain's Santander and Belgium's Fortis have mooted a £49bn bid, that would see the Dutch bank's assets split among the three.
So far the RBS-led consortium has not yet put forward a formal bid.
But whoever wins the looming bid battle, the takeover is likely to result in thousands of job cuts.
Strong message
ABN Amro shareholders sent a strong message to the Dutch firm's management by approving a motion tabled by a well-known hedge fund, The Children's Investment Fund (TCI).
It proposed that ABN should "actively pursue any possibility to sell some or all of the major businesses of the company to maximise shareholder value".
The vote came during an unruly meeting in The Hague, where the head of the Netherland's shareholders rights association, Peter de Vries, had to be escorted from the stage by security guards.
Mr de Vries threatened to take the company's management to court if plans to sell ABN's US operations, LaSalle, to Bank of America went ahead.
The sale, made without seeking the consent of ABN's investors, was seen by many as a deliberate attempt to halt a bid from the RBS-led group.
But chief executive Rijkman Groenink defended the $21bn sale of LaSalle as a strategic move ahead of a US economic downturn.
'Price not the only thing that counts'
Mr Groenink also said that nothing was stopping RBS and its allies from making a counter-bid for LaSalle or all of ABN Amro.
But he insisted the deal with Barclays was in the best interests of both investors and the company.
"Price isn't the only thing that counts," Mr Groenink said. "As human beings and responsible citizens... we have the obligation to look farther than the last quarter."
Yet, under shareholder pressure, ABN said it would allow the Royal Bank of Scotland group to examine its books ahead of the meeting, setting the stage for a hostile battle takeover battle for the Dutch bank.
The RBS group has proposed a bid for ABN of 39 euros per share, compared with 36.25 euros per share offered by Barclays.
Facing its own investors earlier in the day, Barclays chief executive John Varley said its offer would create one of the most powerful banks in the world, valued at £94bn.
"It's very clear what ABN Amro want," he added.
Siemens Chief Says He Will Step Down
FRANKFURT, April 25 — The embattled chief executive of Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld, said Wednesday that he would step down when his contract expired in September, the latest casualty in a widening corruption scandal that has shaken corporate Germany.
Events at Siemens, a giant engineering company and manufacturer, have generated headlines and radio and television reports in a country where corruption was rarely discussed, spurring debate about how German companies do business.
“In times like these,” Mr. Kleinfeld said in a statement, “the company needs clarity about its leadership. I have therefore decided not to make myself available for an extension of my contract.”
His decision followed a meeting on Wednesday of the Siemens supervisory board, where the matter of his contract had long been on the agenda. Until days ago, there was little question that Mr. Kleinfeld, 49, would be retained in the job he had held the last two years.
But the 20-member board, which represents major shareholders and labor unions, rapidly turned against Mr. Kleinfeld as the scandal deepened and members saw a need for a fresh start.
The resignation came six days after Heinrich von Pierer, a senior industrialist who led Siemens from 1992 to 2005, announced that he would quit as chairman of the supervisory board to help Siemens return to “calmer waters.”
Both men have denied any wrongdoing. Siemens said Wednesday that independent investigations to date by the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton “have found no indications of personal misconduct or that Kleinfeld had any knowledge of events related to the affairs.”
To some extent, Siemens is a victim of a shift in the ethical climate of corporate Germany: bribery of foreign officials had been tax-deductible in this country until 1999. Mr. Kleinfeld’s downfall may be an indication that standards are indeed changing rapidly.
In this case, some Siemens board members, who have been caught up in scandals elsewhere, appear reluctant to take actions — like standing behind a chief executive — that might later call into question their own oversight.
Investors reacted to the news by selling Siemens stock on Wednesday. Shares slid 0.9 percent in Frankfurt, to 88.36 euros ($120.52), reversing earlier gains. Later in the day in New York, Siemens’ American depository receipts fell $6.67, or more than 5 percent, to $117.75. The share price had risen nearly 50 percent during Mr. Kleinfeld’s tenure.
The Siemens board will now search for a successor to Mr. Kleinfeld, who had been hand-picked by Mr. von Pierer.
Any insider is at risk of being ensnared in the scandal as investigations unfold. An outsider would need time to get a grip on a vast company that employs 475,000 and makes home appliances, computers and power plants.
“It would mean six months of stagnation at Siemens,” said Daniela Bergdolt, head of the Bavarian division of a private investors’ association, DSW.
German news reports have focused on Wolfgang Reitzle, a former executive at BMW and Ford who is chief executive of Linde, a producer of industrial gases that is based, like Siemens, in Munich.
Mr. Reitzle has turned around Linde by spinning off units, and led the recent acquisition of a larger rival, the BOC Group of Britain. He is close to Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank and the Siemens supervisory board member who reportedly led the opposition to renewing Mr. Kleinfeld’s contract.
Uwe Wolfinger, a spokesman for Linde, said Mr. Reitzle “would remain as Linde’s chief.”
Accusations of corruption at Siemens began last autumn, when Munich prosecutors began investigating reports that more than $500 million in bribes had been paid to foreign officials in the preceding seven years by Siemens’ communications unit. The company is also involved in a bribery case involving an Italian energy company.
Problems escalated for Mr. Kleinfeld, and for Mr. von Pierer, last month when prosecutors arrested Johannes Feldmayer, a member of the Siemens board of management and the second-highest-paid executive after Mr. Kleinfeld.
Mr. Feldmayer was accused of funneling corporate money to finance an independent labor union that is perceived as friendly to management and at times acted as a counterweight to IG Metall, the large and powerful German labor union.
Officials at IG Metall, which holds nearly half the seats on the Siemens supervisory board, were enraged and brought charges against the company for breaking German law. Labor representatives of large German companies hold half the board seats.
The union was a leading force pressing for the resignation of Mr. von Pierer, and it made clear that Mr. Kleinfeld would also have to go to give Siemens a fresh start.
Mr. Kleinfeld had also hurt his relationship with the union by pressing ahead with plans to sell the company’s auto parts unit, VDO, a move investors applauded but that cost him support on the board.
Mr. Von Pierer’s successor as chairman is Gerhard Cromme, a champion of good corporate governance in Germany and the first outsider to head the board. He took up that role at the meeting on Wednesday.
Siemens board members were unwilling to extend Mr. Kleinfeld’s contract while the independent investigation was still being carried out because they feared that Mr. Kleinfeld was at risk of being entangled in the scandals. Analysts said that after Mr. von Pierer resigned, it would be just a matter of time before more heads rolled.
Mr. von Pierer’s last words to the company, in a memo to employees, called for “decisive action.”
In an effort to save his job, Mr. Kleinfeld released quarterly earnings figures late Tuesday, two days earlier than planned, to underscore the company’s financial health. Net income rose 36 percent, more than analysts had predicted.
“In times like these,” Mr. Kleinfeld said in a statement, “the company needs clarity about its leadership. I have therefore decided not to make myself available for an extension of my contract.”
His decision followed a meeting on Wednesday of the Siemens supervisory board, where the matter of his contract had long been on the agenda. Until days ago, there was little question that Mr. Kleinfeld, 49, would be retained in the job he had held the last two years.
But the 20-member board, which represents major shareholders and labor unions, rapidly turned against Mr. Kleinfeld as the scandal deepened and members saw a need for a fresh start.
The resignation came six days after Heinrich von Pierer, a senior industrialist who led Siemens from 1992 to 2005, announced that he would quit as chairman of the supervisory board to help Siemens return to “calmer waters.”
Both men have denied any wrongdoing. Siemens said Wednesday that independent investigations to date by the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton “have found no indications of personal misconduct or that Kleinfeld had any knowledge of events related to the affairs.”
To some extent, Siemens is a victim of a shift in the ethical climate of corporate Germany: bribery of foreign officials had been tax-deductible in this country until 1999. Mr. Kleinfeld’s downfall may be an indication that standards are indeed changing rapidly.
In this case, some Siemens board members, who have been caught up in scandals elsewhere, appear reluctant to take actions — like standing behind a chief executive — that might later call into question their own oversight.
Investors reacted to the news by selling Siemens stock on Wednesday. Shares slid 0.9 percent in Frankfurt, to 88.36 euros ($120.52), reversing earlier gains. Later in the day in New York, Siemens’ American depository receipts fell $6.67, or more than 5 percent, to $117.75. The share price had risen nearly 50 percent during Mr. Kleinfeld’s tenure.
The Siemens board will now search for a successor to Mr. Kleinfeld, who had been hand-picked by Mr. von Pierer.
Any insider is at risk of being ensnared in the scandal as investigations unfold. An outsider would need time to get a grip on a vast company that employs 475,000 and makes home appliances, computers and power plants.
“It would mean six months of stagnation at Siemens,” said Daniela Bergdolt, head of the Bavarian division of a private investors’ association, DSW.
German news reports have focused on Wolfgang Reitzle, a former executive at BMW and Ford who is chief executive of Linde, a producer of industrial gases that is based, like Siemens, in Munich.
Mr. Reitzle has turned around Linde by spinning off units, and led the recent acquisition of a larger rival, the BOC Group of Britain. He is close to Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank and the Siemens supervisory board member who reportedly led the opposition to renewing Mr. Kleinfeld’s contract.
Uwe Wolfinger, a spokesman for Linde, said Mr. Reitzle “would remain as Linde’s chief.”
Accusations of corruption at Siemens began last autumn, when Munich prosecutors began investigating reports that more than $500 million in bribes had been paid to foreign officials in the preceding seven years by Siemens’ communications unit. The company is also involved in a bribery case involving an Italian energy company.
Problems escalated for Mr. Kleinfeld, and for Mr. von Pierer, last month when prosecutors arrested Johannes Feldmayer, a member of the Siemens board of management and the second-highest-paid executive after Mr. Kleinfeld.
Mr. Feldmayer was accused of funneling corporate money to finance an independent labor union that is perceived as friendly to management and at times acted as a counterweight to IG Metall, the large and powerful German labor union.
Officials at IG Metall, which holds nearly half the seats on the Siemens supervisory board, were enraged and brought charges against the company for breaking German law. Labor representatives of large German companies hold half the board seats.
The union was a leading force pressing for the resignation of Mr. von Pierer, and it made clear that Mr. Kleinfeld would also have to go to give Siemens a fresh start.
Mr. Kleinfeld had also hurt his relationship with the union by pressing ahead with plans to sell the company’s auto parts unit, VDO, a move investors applauded but that cost him support on the board.
Mr. Von Pierer’s successor as chairman is Gerhard Cromme, a champion of good corporate governance in Germany and the first outsider to head the board. He took up that role at the meeting on Wednesday.
Siemens board members were unwilling to extend Mr. Kleinfeld’s contract while the independent investigation was still being carried out because they feared that Mr. Kleinfeld was at risk of being entangled in the scandals. Analysts said that after Mr. von Pierer resigned, it would be just a matter of time before more heads rolled.
Mr. von Pierer’s last words to the company, in a memo to employees, called for “decisive action.”
In an effort to save his job, Mr. Kleinfeld released quarterly earnings figures late Tuesday, two days earlier than planned, to underscore the company’s financial health. Net income rose 36 percent, more than analysts had predicted.
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