February 5, 2012

The Cat Thinks She Is My Boss

The Cat Sitting Like the Sphinx

The cat decided to claim my bed this morning.  She planted herself at my feet, sat like the Sphinx, and refused to budge.  She has also grown very talkative lately.  Oh, and she has a habit ... if I am reading a 10K or annual report and she wants my attention, she approaches me, stares directly into my eyes, and then sits on the papers so I can't keep highlighting or writing.  She will remain here steadfastly until I put her in my lap and pet her for awhile.  I really think she believes she … [Read more...]

The Success of the iPad Will Come Down to App Development

The iBook Store in iPad

Five days or so into my experience with the iPad and it continues to exceed expectations (by far). I've spent somewhere between $120 and $150 in the Apple iTunes App store, which compared to my previous purchases of apps (read: $0), means there is more cash flowing into Steve Jobs' coffers. The overwhelming indication continues to be that the success of the iPad will come down to the applications that software companies develop for it. We bought our iPads for business purposes. As an … [Read more...]

Dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse with Jocelyn and Aaron

Fresh Salad with Walnut from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Jocelyn came to visit Aaron and me!  After picking her up from the airport in Kansas City, we headed to a nearby Ruth's Chris Steakhouse because we wanted something good and it was unquestionably worth it.  I had read their annual report a few years ago and wanted to experience the food for myself.  I have never bought any shares but at least I understand the company better. The thing that made me happiest is that 1.) it's not the type of place you're going to run into a lot of so-called … [Read more...]

PPL Corporation Stock Risk Analysis

XLU components

This is a risk analysis of PPL Corporation stock for a friend of mine that was hired by the company.  Those of you who want to know how I think about risk management are perfectly welcome to read it but it is specifically targeted so I'm not sure how useful you'll find it. I've worked my way through a few hundred pages of the PPL 10K report and I already reached several conclusions. Here are my thoughts. Take them for what they are worth. They are most certainly not recommendations, just … [Read more...]

Our Value Investing Research Process for Stocks

Analyzing Sonic Restaurant Investment Reports Regarding Share Buy Backs

A week or two ago, I wrote an article called Understanding Stock Repurchase Plans for About.com, a division of The New York Times, which discussed Sonic Restaurant and the massive stock buy back program that had taken place over the past few years. In it, I walked the readers through a lot of the math and explained that I had purchased a couple hundred shares to watch and monitor the stock through one of my companies, Mount Olympus Awards, LLC.  (I've since increased it to about 500 shares … [Read more...]

Asset Allocation Rebalancing

Asset Allocation Rebalancing Strategy

One of the cornerstones of asset allocation is the concept of rebalancing.  Done correctly, rebalancing forces you to buy certain investments when they are undervalued (cheap) and sell when they are overvalued (expensive).  In effect, it makes the owner of the portfolio a value investor without the need to analyze individual companies.  It can even be taken one step further with something known as tactical asset allocation. How Rebalancing Supports Your Asset Allocation Strategy Once you've … [Read more...]

A Discussion on Pension Costs

It’s nearly 4 in the morning and I’m up reading political blogs; happened to come across http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/ and enjoyed reading it. This particular entry is way off base from a financial perspective and since the author seems to be working to expose problems in government, I thought I’d take the time to explain why if any of you are interested. If not, that’s okay, too. Also, given the time, I apologize if there are errors or it is not entirely coherent. Let’s … [Read more...]