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We Are Living in the Midst of One of the Biggest Bond Bubbles in History

September 24, 2010 By 8 Comments
McDonald's Bond Certificate Corporate Debentures

Today, I was sitting at the dining room table, drinking a cup of coffee and wearing my Brooks Brothers pajamas watching the stock market skyrocket when it occurred to me that, given the secret project and some other things going on at the business, I want to build some cash and bond reserves at one of the individual operating companies; maybe put aside money a little at a time, let it build and do something fun with it three or four years from now, like design and build a row of townhouses or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Corporate Bonds Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Corporate Profits

September 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Corporate Profits

Here is a chart detailing corporate profits over the past few years. The stock market has currently baked in lower p/e ratios on the assumption we are going into another recession. Everyone seems to forget that unemployment typically doesn't peak until 12-18 months after a recession ends. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics Tagged With:

How We Used Shares of Coca-Cola to Teach My Youngest Sister About Investing (and Why the Cycle of Consumption and Financial Stress Starts as a Teenager for Most Americans)

September 7, 2010 By 2 Comments
Coca-Cola Direct Stock Purchase Plan and Coca-Cola Dividend Reinvestment Plan or Coke DRIP Literature

When I was a senior in high school, I bought my youngest sister, who was first grader at the time, a single share of Coca-Cola common stock for her 6th birthday.  I had it framed with an engraving of the first part of Deuteronomy 8:18 placed under it, "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth". I registered the ownership as a uniform gift to minors, naming our father as the trustee.  He and my mom decided to have $50 each month taken out of their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dividends, Dollar Cost Averaging, Featured, Saving Money Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stock Market Finishes with Worst August Since 2001

August 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Investments

The stock market crash this month was the worst August since 2001.  At times, it was, to paraphrase Buffett, "like a bird flying into the middle of a badminton match." The long-term investment accounts were unscathed (there, in fact, we love falling prices) but the speculation accounts took a beating.  For now, it's all on paper due to most of the maturities in our derivatives coming up in January. I joked with my dad yesterday that if I were to sell all of the businesses and take a very … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Businesses, Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Hindenburg Omen and the Stock Market

August 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The stock market is all lit up talking about the dreaded Hindenburg Omen, which sometimes (though not always) predicts a major stock market crash. Listen to me: All of this trash is nonsense.  Things like the Hindenberg Omen and other market forecasts are merely attempts to look at symptoms rather than causes.  It would be like if doctors panicked every time a patient had a fever and immediately concluded the patient had not a head cold but full-blow AIDs with an unrelated case of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stock Market Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mail Bag – How Does Someone Start Creating Passive Income?

June 13, 2010 By 8 Comments
Passive Income from Computers Have Changed the World in the Past 20 Years

Among the thousands of emails and messages I receive regularly, I came across one today that was sent to me on May 17th by Cale P. Here is the question that was posed: I'm a pretty talented IT professional with great salary and a standard quality of living. I've known that I won't be in IT for my whole career, at least I hoped. I have a natural ability to invent and I really would love to own private business(es) to see my decisions in a company flourish. However, I'm unsure of how or when … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Mail Bag, Making Money, My Businesses Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today Was a Day for the Stock Market Record Books

May 6, 2010 By 3 Comments
Stock Market Crash

I took the day off, spending most of it playing video games.  About 4:30 p.m., my dad gets in touch with me by calling Aaron, who tracks me down and hands me the phone.  It seems that the stock market had been in total chaos, setting an intra-day volatility record, and he had been frantically trying to get me on the phone as I blissfully drank coffee, read, and thought about our sporting goods businesses, completely oblivious to what was going on (we're value investors - I didn't get here just … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Businesses, Stock Market Tagged With: , , ,

A Night at the Casino

April 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Ruby at the Casino

Ruby wanted to visit a much larger casino, so Aaron and I took her to the Ameristar casino in Kansas City and she treated us to dinner and a bit of gambling money (with firm instructions that I *had* to spend it in the casino - I was not allowed to pocket it and invest it, as is my habit with everything that flows into my life - which made me laugh because my family knows me well). Here are some pictures of where we went with the rest of this post written in the captions of each image. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

101 Things Every Investor Should Know About Stock and the Stock Market

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Wendy's Stock Certificate Dave Thomas

A Three Minute Guide to Understanding Stocks Head over to the Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times, to see my newest special.  It started because last week, I sat down to create an updated version of The Beginner's Corner, which answered basic questions such as "what is the ask price and bid price of a stock?" and "what does a market maker do?". As I kept writing answers to the questions I'd received from readers over the years, what started as a brief … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Announcements Tagged With: , , ,

People Who Are Drowning in Student Loan Debt

February 23, 2010 By 10 Comments
Student Loan Debt information

Victims of the Student Loan Industry or Irresponsible Borrowers? I was reading a site called Student Loan Justice as well as a piece at the Huffington Post where people are talking about their "overwhelming" student loan debt that is - wait for it - $15,000 or $30,000.  Basically, less than the value of a car.  Or a couple both of whom smoke a pack of cigarettes each day for five to ten years. Or 4 to 8 months of pre-tax income for the average American household. Rational, full-grown legal … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Student Loans Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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