finadmin

[finadmin]

What is the Best Strategy to apply in new fin-related Projects (with Cloud Integration) - 5 Steps

Hello, I hope you are having an amazing week!

Today I bring to you one of the most discussed topics that me and my group talk about. I think you’ll find this helpful so keep a good eye until the end.

The creation of corporate projects goes through several moments. In planning a new initiative, the manager must pool resources, people, and tools to ensure everyone works the best they can, with no mistakes occurring and risks are low. This ensures that the company will be able to achieve its objectives without great difficulties, in addition to maximizing the results achieved.

1. What is a Plan and a good Strategy?

In the Work Plan must be consolidated all the information about the objective to be sought, detailing for it all the activities necessary to realize it, as to the physical, monetary and human resources needed. This tool allows all decisions to be taken before they are put into practice, guaranteeing a higher rate of correctness and making possible the prior correction of possible problems. In this way, it is very suitable for reaching short-term solutions, but nothing prevents it from being used in other circumstances as well.

The action plan can be used by professionals who want to achieve some goal in their careers or by companies that need to invest in more complex solutions. It enables the executor to follow a sequence of clearer and more logical tasks previously delimited, which leads to the achievement of goals faster and more practical. Its effectiveness is mainly explained by the fact that it considers the internal and external conditions of the individual or the company to set up adequate strategies to be performed in a certain period of time.

2. Teamwork above everything!

Seeking to visualize all parts of the process and the necessary steps - that is, to see beyond one’s own activities - is the best way to understand how each is important to achieve the end result. According to the management coordinator, trust is indispensable for a good performance of a team that has a common goal. And it must be mutual, so strive to pass on trust to others. A person who knows how to work in a team understands that the conflict of opinions can generate better results. When, on the contrary, in an efficient team, everyone knows that to evolve and reach (or surpass) expectations, it is also necessary to give and receive feedback.

3. Fin-related control for new projects

A project exists to meet the expectations of the stakeholders in the generation of a product, service or result. However, when we work in a company that lives on projects, it is fundamental that they make a profit, because only through it is possible to maintain a healthy business. Everything that is measured can be controlled, so in this post I present a framework for cost management in projects based on a support worksheet that does all the calculations necessary to keep the project under control. Subsequently, I will show you how to join all the projects to make the whole company management. To plan the expenses, you must fill in the details according to the categories that your project works. In the example, you can check the same categories described above, now with the possibility to plan monthly, as shown in the following figure. When the project is calculated from the costs, the worksheet applies these percentages to the total values ​​of each section / account (Ex: Resale, third, working hours etc). When the price is arbitrary, the worksheet makes a weighted average to distribute the ticket. That is, redistribute the percentages on the basis of 100%.

4.  Pick the best cloud data integration

Starting on Salesforce Platform - They allow users to easily update contact information. If you do a Google search of a specific person, who you know is at a different company, 9 times out of 10, you’ll find that all search results display the past company and there’s really no way to change that without opening a support ticket. With Connect, you can create an account and update the title, company, email, etc. without going through all of those extra steps.The user interface feels simple like Salesforce Classic, which makes it very easy to navigate the site. The advanced search is also a powerful feature with many filters, which makes it a great tool for refining your target industry/role.What I like best about Connect is that it’s technically free to use. You can purchase points to buy actual contacts, but I find it much more worthwhile to create an account and generate points by adding or updating contacts and companies. (this review is from Connor B. another member).

TIBCO Cloud Integration -  It is responsive, as soon as all Metadata has been cached and easy to use after a short introduction phase. The maps we build can be reused for other Migration projects. I’ve had maps that worked just fine in the classic UI, but I would get errors after opening them in the new UI. From a functionality standpoint, the tool is 100% effective and what we need. We’d love it to process records and load metadata a little faster, but in the end, we can live with the way it is now and the integrations are reliable. (this review is from Michael D. another member).

There are other great platforms like Carbonite, Microsoft Azure, IBM, and much more that you can easily find on google search. The Salesforce and TIBCO are our top 2. 

5. Be patient but efficient - control time like money 

Maintain your composure, always - Maybe you end up exploding and consequently provoke and push others when you are stressed. Try to avoid harsh and instantaneous reactions. That is what is possibly causing you problems. After all, drawing hasty conclusions, categorically rejecting what others say, and finally using an inflamed speech is not a good motivational strategy. Others will find you a closed or combative person, when what you really want is to be seen as reasonable. If the scenario is more negative, you may even think that you consider the other professionals stupid and uninformed. You can send someone in your place to deliver the message. Or you can still wait until the next meeting to react. They select the rhythm, style, tone, tempo, and tactics after assessing what works best in each situation. It is the inflexible people who have sensitivity problems because they do not know how to adjust what they say according to the public. Open your mind to the different - Maybe you are stubborn or are showing signs of stubbornness, becoming inflexible and closing in on new or different points of view. You need to turn off your automatic evaluation and rejection filter and listen.

That’s it, now you’re ready! This is our 5 steps to achieve it!

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate do ask in the comments. And remember that next article/post will be better (yes that’s possible) because we’re constantly improving our content.

[finadmin]

Our Experience and Best Practices as Advice for common Financing Plan Mistakes

Hello! We’re hoping you’re doing very well!

We have a couple of topics to discuss today. We did a study based on our financing platform usage and you don’t imagine what we discover. (this is other article by fintech-reviews.website and all the rights are reserved).

Some of you may have heard of this P2P platform, but I’ll just highlight the most important information you can find elsewhere (relative to 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗼 & 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄).

⚬ I’ll mention it, but before that I also did one video explaining everything. I have been studying it in the last few weeks (and with some help from the support for more internal information).

𝟭º - Even for those who have no interest in investing, you should register to receive € 5 free (it takes less than 1 minute). Then, without investing, you can receive € 4,267.63 from these € 5 (but it will only be after 100 years - I know it’s a long time, anyway it does not hurt to try and stay for the grandchildren).

Here’s the mistake:

𝟮º - In the Go & Grow plan there are 2 ways to invest, the MOST known - that is to make a monthly deposit (because it’s easier and simpler for many). But read my words, that’s NOT the best solution for you! We must understand how the compound interest works in order to benefit the maximum possible!

This is the key, the 1# thing that I learned on my financing and accounting course.

Here’s the solution:

And to get a better profit - is the total initial value - that is to invest a higher amount only at the beginning of the plan. This is because if you have the “automatic transfer” activates the profits you earn daily with the plan will go towards the investment and will create the effect of compound interest. And how is compound interest calculated? - There is a simple formula, but it is simpler to use this site to do the calculation: https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/…/compoundinterestcalcula…

(the annual plan rate is 6.75% but compound interest after 10 years, for example, this rate is as if it were 9.2% annually, and at the end of 100 years it is as if it were 853.5% annually).

𝟯º - It is possible to raise the investment with profits at any time, the survey always has a commission of 1 euro (regardless of the amount invested). And transactions are fast, it usually takes only 1 business day for the withdrawal to be in the bank account. Almost we can use as emergency reserve in N + 1.

My favorite part is the level of security, because something that users are unaware of is that the money invested in this plan is diversified into several micro-loans with a higher security level, which makes our investment in this plan safer.

I’m not comparing with other P2P platforms like Mintos, I’m just advising diversifying. If you have any questions just ask in the comments.

I hope this information helps you. 

Next article we’ll be way more interesting! (and yes, that’s possible)

[finadmin]

Being turned down by investors doesn’t mean much.

  Some founders are quite dejected when they get turned down by investors. They shouldn’t take it so much to heart. To start with, investors are often wrong. It’s hard to think of a successful startup that wasn’t turned down by investors at some point. Lots of VCs rejected Google. So obviously the reaction of investors is not a very meaningful test.

  Investors will often reject you for what seem to be superficial reasons. I read of one VC who turned down a startup simply because they’d given away so many little bits of stock that the deal required too many signatures to close. The reason investors can get away with this is that they see so many deals. It doesn’t matter if they underestimate you because of some surface imperfection, because the next best deal will be almost as good. Imagine picking out apples at a grocery store. You grab one with a little bruise. Maybe it’s just a surface bruise, but why even bother checking when there are so many other unbruised apples to choose from?

  Investors would be the first to admit they’re often wrong. So when you get rejected by investors, don’t think “we suck,” but instead ask “do we suck?” Rejection is a question, not an answer.

[finadmin]

The worst mistake I ever made in the stock market all started with the TV

It pays to turn it off.

I’ve been there before and it’s brutal. Omg I just heard a wild idea on TV. Buy, buy, buy. You need to get in this before everyone else does. Get to your computer right now man!

I once did that with Japanese banks. I thought I was going to be a master trader of Japan. The young guru. Being young and overconfident is an amazing thing. To this day I still literally know nothing about Japanese banks. But someone on one of those shows pitched the idea. It sounded crazy, but crazy enough to where maybe it was a slice of brilliance!

It did not go well.

It’s probably the worst single investment I’ve ever made. And this is coming from a guy who once tried to pick a reversal in the National Bank of Greece:

Some of you have also probably been in a similar position. Especially in your very early days of investing. You hear an idea and it sounds like a pure money maker. Then you head to a computer, thinking you need to do this before everyone else does, like you can’t waste another second or you might miss it. A few days or weeks later, that idea you thought was pure gold has fallen apart like the Cleveland Browns.

Just press the like button already if that’s been you. No shame. It’s why a piece like this has to be published. It’s kind of surprising how few people comment or write about this for the sake of the average retail investor.

But why?

The thing with financial TV is they need to fill airspace at all times. No time can be boring and no time can be wasted. Time is money on TV. The content and ideas are not so much about quality research or trying to be good stewards for everyday investors, but instead about trying to pitch “can’t miss” stories and then selling ads based on the viewership those stories receive.

People always talk about fiduciary duty in financial markets. Meaning money managers, banks, and professional investors must act in good faith toward their clients. But the financial media is basically never held to those same standards. And that brings me to the following tweet that some investors might call a work of art. Like it’s The Last Supper for traders:

Are those the headlines you want to follow?

The thing about financial decisions, and especially trying to call tops or bottoms, is that it’s really hard to do. There’s a mind-boggling amount of randomness involved. And there are a lot of smart people out there taking the other side of your idea every single day.

While financial TV is trying to fill airtime, the reality is that good ideas and investments take time. I think the excerpt you’re about to read below does a great job explaining just how stressful, hard, and difficult it can be. The perfect investment decision is not a 30-second sound bite on financial TV:

I’m still a mediocre investor. But I’m also crazy dedicated to the game. I keep reading, researching, and following markets. The growth has been slow, but I’m in it for the long-haul. A few big lessons have emerged over the years. One of them is this post, which seems simple in theory, but still many new investors fall victim to at some point.

If you’re new to markets and reading this, hopefully I just saved you a few dollars. If you’re a wise investor with hair flowing like Gandalf, hopefully we just shared a few laughs — don’t take financial advice from the TV.

If you can’t stand this post and want to argue, let’s hear it! Press the comment button below and let’s go.

If you want to see more like this, please drop me a note on Twitter (@scheplick), StockTwits (@scheplick), or right here on Medium Stefan Cheplick.

[finadmin]

What I Learned About the World After Reading One Investor Letter

We’re only just getting started…

The other day I found myself reading an obscure investment letter from Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates. They’re a group of natural resource investors in New York City who you have probably never heard of. Neither have I. But this investor letter is an unbelievable read. Especially if you have any interest in investing or capturing high growth trends years down the road.

1. The world is about to be a consumption machine unlike any other time in history

“The world has never before had two major countries, each with populations exceeding 1.3 billion, that are simultaneously in the middle (China) and just entering (India) their periods of intense commodity consumption growth.”

2. Not enough people are talking about the importance of copper, which is needed for anything high-tech from AI to VR and anything infrastructure

“India has an incredibly low level of copper installed in its economic infrastructure at present. Our models calculate that today India has only 15 pounds of copper per person invested in its economic infrastructure versus China which has approximately 175 pounds per person invested in its infrastructure. Given this low level of copper in the economy combined with India’s 1.3 billion person population, our models tells us that Indian demand alone will add nearly 400,000 tonnes of incremental world copper demand in the next several years.”

3. It’s time to start thinking about a day when 4 billion people are in the middle class

“From the late 1960s until the early part of last decade, we calculate the world had approximately 500–750 million people residing in emerging market economies that are in their period of high intensity commodity consumption at any given time. However, with India now joining China and the rest of the SouthEast Asian countries, we calculate that over four billion people have now entered into what we call the middle of their “S-Curves” — that is, the period where commodity consumption intensity rapidly increases.”

4. The reality is that green house gases are only just getting started

“The average Indian consumes 1.2 barrels per oil per year, once again very much in line with China in 2001. Over the last decade, India has grown its oil consumption by 0.03 barrels per person per year just as China did in the decade leading up to 2001… For example, Indian vehicle sales are expected to reach 2.8 vehicles per thousand Indian citizens, which is higher than China was in 2001. Similarly, total airline passengers carried is expected to hit 90 out of every 1,000 Indian citizens this year. These figures are 35% and 55% ahead of where China was in 2001.”

5. How a simple diet switch from increased wealth can impact the food chain

“As a country hits a certain level of per capita GDP, they switch from a starch-based diet to a meat-based diet. Since raising livestock is up to seven times as grain-intensive as subsisting on a plant-based diet alone, the impact on the grain markets is immense.”

It’s important to keep in mind each of these 5 points are not going to happen over night. They are estimates and assumptions that would take years or decades. It’s also important to note that they each rely on the continued growth and prosperity of India and China. But if you think India and China are global powerhouses on the rise, don’t ignore what you just read. It could be your next great investment years from now or even the start of a business aimed at one of these two countries.

If this post just changed your outlook on the world, you need to now sign-up for my free newsletter. I used to write for family and friends but now I am opening it up to everyone.

[finadmin]

15 Quotes I Love About Value Investing

I recently read about 40 pages of quotes from value investors around the world. The quotes were compiled by Value Investor Insight and they’ve made the entire collection free for anyone to read — you can view them all here.

But for those who don’t want to read all 40 pages, I’ve highlighted 15 of my favorite quotes below. By journaling and sharing them here, I hope they help my investment process going forward and also yours.

1. It is one of the hardest things to do and that is to remain a disciplined, long-term investor at all times.

“If the entire country became securities analysts, memorized Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor and regularly attend- ed Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder meetings, most people would, nevertheless, find themselves irresistibly drawn to hot initial public offerings, momentum strategies and investment fads. People would still find it tempting to day-trade and perform technical analysis of stock charts. A country of security analysts would still overreact. In short, even the best-trained investors would make the same mistakes that investors have been making forever, and for the same immutable reason — that they cannot help it.” Seth Klarman

2. Value investors need to harness time and use it tactically.

“Time arbitrage just means exploiting the fact that most investors — institutional, individual, mutual funds or hedge funds — tend to have very short-term time horizons, have rapid turnover or are trying to exploit very short-term anomalies in the market. So the market looks extremely efficient in the short run. In an environment with massive short-term data over- load and with people concerned about minute-to-minute performance, the inefficiencies are likely to be looking out beyond, say, 12 months.” Bill Miller

3. Great investment ideas are not necessarily complicated.

“There’s a clarity that comes with great ideas: You can explain why something’s a great business, how and why it’s cheap, why it’s cheap for temporary reasons and how, on a normal basis, it should be trad- ing at a much higher level. You’re never sitting there on the 40th page of your spreadsheet, as Buffett would say, agonizing over whether you should buy or not.” Joel Greenblatt

4. There’s a perception that numbers, quants, and algorithms rule the stock market, but it’s so much more than that.

“I think my background has helped me learn to think well conceptually. Investing is not just about numbers. It’s also about imagination and structure and narrative and characters — the types of things we liberal-arts majors should know something about.” John Burbank

5. You should be able to defend your highest conviction investments at all times.

“There’s a virtuous cycle when people have to defend challenges to their ideas. Any gaps in thinking or analysis become clear pretty quickly when smart people ask good, logical questions. You can’t be a good value investor without being an independent thinker — you’re seeing valuations that the market is not appreciating. But it’s critical that you understand why the market isn’t seeing the value you do. The back and forth that goes on in the investment process helps you get at that.” Joel Greenblatt

6. Your edge is not going to come from data or news, it’s going to come from something of your creativity.

“Everyone tends to see the same things, read the same newspapers and get the same data feeds. The only way to arrive at a different answer from everybody else is to organize the data in different ways, or bring to the analytic process things that are not typically present.” Bill Miller

7. A good investment is not entirely dependent on the balance sheet, it’s also about the management team.

“We tend to be more about the jockey than the horse. It’s important to under- stand how people are going to behave under stress. You don’t have to predict the future if you know the company has the assets and management to do well in difficult times. I believe that’s when the seeds for exceptional performance are planted.” Bruce Berkowitz

8. Every investment should have a price, and if it’s not there now, you will be rewarded greatly if it ends up there down the road.

“Our best ideas tend to come from what I call “old research, new events.” That’s typically the good company you’ve studied carefully and would love to own at the right price, that gets marked down after it trips or its industry goes out of favor.” Ricky Sandler

9. Always remember that a cheap investment is cheap for a reason and cheap does not automatically make it a value.

“One of the big mistakes value investors can make is to be too enamored with absolute cheapness. If you focus on statistical cheapness, you’re often driven to businesses serving shrinking markets or that have developed structural disadvantages that make it more likely they’re going to lose market share.” Bill Nygren

10. You must know your circle of competence and when you should or should not be investing.

“I’d always said that if a guy was long the best 50 companies he knew and short the 50 worst, if that didn’t work you were in the wrong business. But that strategy was literally a recipe for bankruptcy from 1998 to 2000. I said when I closed down that it was a market I didn’t understand, and I didn’t.” Julian Robertson

11. Change your outlook on life, it will spark the little things, which in turn will lead to the big things.

“People who are in a good mood are more inclined to try learning new skills, to see things in a broader context, to think of creative solutions to problems, to work well with other people, and to persist instead of giving up. If you were writing a recipe for how to make more money, those are among the first ingredients you would include.” Jason Zweig

12. Human psychology plays a massive role in the world of investing.

“To suppose that the value of a common stock is determined purely by a corporation’s earnings discounted by the relevant interest rates and adjusted for the marginal tax rate is to forget that people have burned witches, gone to war on a whim, risen to the defense of Joseph Stalin and believed Orson Wells when he told them over the radio that the Martians had landed.” Jim Grant

13. Durability is a trait you should never overlook.

“The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.” Warren E. Buffett

14. Avoid complacency and stay vigilant.

“One of the economists who has heavily influenced the way I think is Hyman Minsky, who always said, “Stability begets instability.” The very idea is that the more stable things appear, the more dangerous the ultimate outcome will be because people start to assume everything will be all right and end up doing stupid things.” James Montier

15. I am making this investment today because… You need to be able to answer that every single time.

“I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. “I’m paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because.” If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you’ll make a lot of money.” Warren Buffett

[finadmin]

A Few Things I Learned Watching a Hedge Fund Manager Lose $4 Billion on One Trade

Maybe you also followed this story. Or maybe not. But basically a really big hedge fund manager, one of those guys who people quote and probably talk about at Harvard Business School, placed a super big bet on this company called Valeant.

Valeant is a pharmaceutical company trying to cure problems with skin and infectious diseases. They actually also own Bausch Lomb so that means they have a giant eye care business.

This hedge fund manager made a bet that Valeant would keep growing their business, diversifying, and acquiring. He once even called them the next “Berkshire Hathaway.”

This thesis turned out to be wrong. Like really wrong. The company crashed. People started to call Valeant out for jacking up the prices of their drugs. They also were apparently doing some dicey bookkeeping things. Just Google “Philidor Valeant scandal” if you want to learn more about that.

The end result looked like this:

So what did I learn from this story? Are there any interesting takeaways for you? I think so. And by writing this I hope I won’t make the same mistakes. Maybe now you won’t either. Here are a few things I learned from witnessing one of the worst trades ever:

Risk management is everything. No single investment or trade should ever be able to wipe you out. You want to play this game forever. In 2015, this hedge fund manager had $12 billion in assets under management. He poured $4 billion into Valeant. So he essentially risked a third of his clients money on a single outcome.

Don’t ever average down! This hedge fund manager did not cut his losses when the stock started to crash. Instead he averaged down. He bought more. Then he played the options market. Just cut your losses if it’s not working anymore. Get out. Paul Tudor Jones said this best:

Humility is everything. If you are going to make a trade like this, at least do it quietly. Don’t go on CNBC and tout it. Or promote it. When everyone knows about it on the way up, they’re also going to know about it on the way down. It might make things even worse. The media and people will turn on you for entertainment, clicks, and laughs.

Social media is your friend. There are some seriously smart people on social media. The Valeant ($VRX) stream on StockTwits is filled with conversations, charts, and debates at all times. Don’t ignore that. Or even the bloggers. A few investment writers totally nailed it. They’ve been writing about Valeant and its problems for years. To this day it’s free and open on their blogs.

It happens to everyone and it will happen to you. No one makes great investments 100% of the time. Everyone gets hit here and there. Even Warren Buffett admits to this. He wrote about it in his latest letter to shareholders. Like that one time:

“I made one particularly egregious error, acquiring Dexter Shoe for $434 million in 1993. Dexter’s value promptly went to zero. The story gets worse: I used stock for the purchase, giving the sellers 25,203 shares of Berkshire that at yearend 2016 were worth more than $6 billion.” — Warren Buffett

Narratives are fun, but you also need to see the data yourself. What’s really amazing is how this hedge fund manager lost a ton of money. His brand and skill is being questioned and criticized around the globe. But someone recently showed me something interesting. The following chart shows the price of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway vs. this hedge fund manager’s company Pershing Square. Yes, by this metric he’s outperforming Buffett! As a spectator, it’s fun to get into big story lines and narratives. But always make sure you corroborate the data:

[finadmin]

10 Reasons Why I Think I Made My Worst Investments Ever

I’ve been thinking about my investment style and how it’s changed over the years.

My first few years were pretty rough. I dove right in. I put some money in a brokerage account and just started. I was buying and selling with really no real idea. It was pretty reckless. But everyone starts somewhere.

The other day I started my taxes. That had me looking back at some old trades. Some of them are just awful. But hilarious. I had to include two examples in this post (see them below). I hope by writing this all down I’ll avoid making these mistakes in the future:

1. The P/E ratio is the absolute worst metric ever. It needs to be burned off the front page of every finance website. It is a backward looking metric. The stock market is forward looking. WTF. Avoid this. If a company has a really low P/E ratio, it generally has one for a reason.

2. Stay away from any and all foreign exchange risk. If you buy stock in an ADR or a company based in a country outside the US, and that country’s currency takes a hit, your portfolio is going to feel it. Managing investments is hard enough, you should not have to also worry about currency fluctuations.

3. Picking bottoms and calling tops is Russian roulette. A stock that’s down 50% from its highs can still drop another 50% from there. A stock that’s up 100% over a year can still climb another 100% in the next year.

Here’s one trade where I tried to be the man and short NVIDIA after a massive run

And here’s another. Yes, I actually said this. I thought the tech trade was over

4. Know where you’re going to get out before you make the investment. This makes life much easier. Before you buy a stock, know why and when you’re going to cut it out of your life if it goes against you. Don’t get trapped. Don’t waste time.

5. You need to be a master at avoiding FOMO (fear of missing out). There’s nothing worse than watching a stock spike, and so you buy it. You don’t want to miss out. You just need to join in. F that. Don’t do it. Chasing a stock rarely ever works.

6. Never buy a stock because of buyout rumors or because you think it will get acquired. You want to own strong companies not rumors or theories.

7. Always know your shareholder yield. Does the company pay dividends or have a history of buying back stock? That’s money being returned to you. If there’s no shareholder yield (dividends or buybacks), you’re basically left with a bet on growth. Know the difference. It will change your timeframe and expectations for any single investment.

8. You can’t ignore the overall market. In bear markets, they say all correlations go to 1. It’s hard to find quality stocks in bear markets. Everyone makes money in bull markets so don’t let it get to your head.

9. Study the tax code. It will immediately change the way you invest or trade. Trading can be a lot of fun. But at tax time it sucks. It’s a lot of work and even more taxes. You can save up to 20% on capital gains taxes when you hold a stock for more than a year.

10. The Internet is your best friend in the world of financial markets. But you have to double check everything. There’s so much free research available. There are also so many smart people writing and sharing ideas each day. But you still need to double check it all. If you like a trading or investing idea from someone online, make sure you corroborate the data yourself.

[finadmin]

Never Ever Give Up

[finadmin]

The American economy overall is in okay shape, (then-Goldman Sachs president Gary) Cohn told Trump (during the transition), but it was ready to experience a growth explosion if certain actions were taken. To achieve this, the economy needed tax reform and the removal of the shackles of overregulation.

Cohn knew this was what Trump wanted to hear. Then the New York City Democrat told the president-elect something he did not want to hear. We’re a trade-based economy, he said. Free, fair and open trade was essential. Trump had campaigned against international trade deals.

Second, the United States is an immigration center to the world. “We’ve got to continue to have open borders,” Cohn said. The employment picture was so favorable that the United States would run out of workers soon. So immigration had to continue. “We have many jobs in this country that Americans won’t do.”

Next, Cohn repeated what everyone was saying: Interest rates were going to go up over the foreseeable future.

I agree, Trump said. “We should just go borrow a lot of money right now, hold it, and then sell it and make money.”

Cohn was astounded at Trump’s lack of basic understanding. He tried to explain. If you as the federal government borrow money through issuing bonds, you are increasing the U.S. deficit.

What do you mean? Trump asked. Just run the presses – print money.

You don’t get to do it that way, Cohn said. We have huge deficits and they matter.

—

(Later in the same meeting between President-elect Trump and Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, who would eventually join Trump’s White House as Director of the National Economic Council:)

Trump returned to printing money. “We’ll just borrow,” he said, enamored with the idea of heading the federal government, which had the best credit rating in the world, so they could borrow at the lowest interest rate.

Cohn didn’t mention a report that had come out during the campaign which said the Trump Organization’s business credit score was a 19 out of 100, below the national average by 30 points, and that it could have difficulty borrowing money.

You can’t just print money, Cohn said.

“Why not? Why not?”

Congress had a debt ceiling which set a cap on how much money the federal government could borrow, and it was legally binding. It was clear that Trump did not understand the way the U.S. government debt cycle balance sheet worked.

– Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House

[finadmin]

What Economists Think About Democrats' New Education Proposals

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money’s newsletter. You can sign up here.

Democratic presidential candidates have been watching a historic wave of teacher strikes and protests sweeping the nation — and they want to give teachers a raise.

Kamala Harris wants to spend $315 billion over 10 years to increase the annual salary of an average teacher by $13,500. Joe Biden wants to triple spending on a federal program for low-income schools and use much of those funds for “competitive salaries.” And Bernie Sanders wants to work with states to set a minimum $60,000starting salary for the nation’s teachers.

But there’s something missing from these proposals, and it reveals a dramatic shift from a decade ago in how the Democratic Party wants to fix education.

Read the full story here

[finadmin]

Yahoo Finance Hosts Live Stream of Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting

By Andy Serwer, Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief

Tune in as Yahoo hosts our second live stream of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting on Saturday, May 6. Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer will be on-the-ground at CenturyLink Center Omaha, alongside Yahoo News & Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga and Yahoo Finance Anchor Jennifer Rogers, with insight, analysis and news-making interviews. For the second year in a row, audiences will be able to watch live on Yahoo Finance – across desktop, tablet and mobile – as Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and his right-hand man Charlie Munger share their unscripted views on the company, the markets, the administration and whatever other topic that may come up. The shareholders meeting live stream on Yahoo Finance will once again be available in both English and Mandarin, with VOD replay available for 30 days following the meeting.

The schedule of live coverage includes:

10:00am ET – Yahoo Finance pre-show

10:15am ET – Live stream of morning session, featuring the Q&A with Buffett and Munger

1:00pm ET – Yahoo Finance Halftime Report

2:00pm ET – Live stream of afternoon session, featuring additional Q&A and business meeting

4:30pm ET – Yahoo Finance post-show wrap-up

Throughout the Pre-show and Halftime Report we’ll also feature a number of live and pre-taped interviews with the Yahoo Finance editorial team, including: Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; Todd Combs, Investment Manager for Berkshire Hathaway, and Ted Weschler, Portfolio Manager for Berkshire Hathaway; Coca Cola Chairman Muhtar Kent and newly appointed CEO, James Quincey; actress and Buffett friend, Glenn Close; Dairy Queen CEO John Gainor; former Vanguard CEO Jack Bogle; Brooks Running CEO Jim Weber; Chair, CEO and Chief Designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, Kathy Ireland, and many others. 

This year, Yahoo Finance will also make an audio replay of the meeting and accompanying interviews available via podcast, through a partnership with Acast. With more than 50 million monthly listens to more than 1,000 shows globally, Acast is the world’s leading technology infrastructure for audio on demand and podcasts.

The Yahoo Finance’s Berkshire Hathaway podcast will be available on iTunes and other podcast stores, starting Monday, May 8. For more information on the Berkshire Hathaway Live Stream, visit the landing page on Yahoo Finance and be sure to follow the conversation on Twitter with @YahooFinance #BRKLiveStream.

[finadmin]

In the absence of expert [senior military] advice, we have seen each successive administration fail in the business of strategy - yielding a United States twice as rich as the Soviet Union but much less strong. Only the manner of the failure has changed. We have seen how the pursuit of business-type efficiency in the placement of each soldier destroys the cohesion that makes fighting units effective; we may recall how the Pueblo was left virtually disarmed when it encountered the North Koreans (strong armament was judged as not “cost effective” for ships of that kind). Because tactics, the operational art of war, and strategy itself are not reducible to precise numbers, money was allocated to forces and single weapons according to “firepower” scores, computer simulations, and mathematical studies - all of which maximize efficiency - but often at the expense of combat effectiveness. Businesslike “linear” logic is right for commerce or engineering but almost always fails in the realm of strategy. Because its essence is the clash of antagonistic and outmaneuvering wills. Strategy usually proceeds by paradox rather than conventional “linear” logic. That much is clear even from the most shopworn of Latin tags: si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want peace, prepare for war), whose business equivalent would be orders of “if you want sales, add to your purchasing staff,” or some other, equally absurd advice. Where paradox rules, straightforward linear logic is self-defeating, sometimes quite literally. Let a general choose the best path for his advance, the shortest and best-roaded, and it then becomes the worst path of all paths, because the enemy will await him there in greatest strength. Linear logic is all very well in commerce and engineering, where there is lively opposition, to be sure, but no open-ended scope for maneuver; a competitor beaten in the marketplace will not bomb our factory instead, and the river duly bridged will not deliberately carve out a new course. But such reactions are merely normal in strategy.  Unlike the business-school expert, who searches for optimal solutions in the abstract and then presents them with all the authority of charts and computer printouts, even the most ordinary military mind can recall the existence of a maneuvering antagonist now and then, and will therefore seek robust solutions rather than “best” solutions - those, in other words, which are not optimal but can remain adequate even when the enemy reacts to outmaneuver the first approach.

Edward Luttwak, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (via entjs)

[finadmin]

I'm searching for an efficient way of tracking my monthly expenses and organizing my bills. I have a place for my bills, I keep receipts, I sort them into categories, but it feels tedious, like I'm missing something. I find misc purchases (no receipt) harder to keep track of. I have a tendency to want everything in one place. Do you mind sharing what you think is the best way to do this? I can work with budget but simple tips on it or what not to do will be appreciated. Thank you! - young INTJ

Combined with the following asks:

Hi Mr. ENTJ, I was wondering if you’d be open to sharing how you think about long term wealth accumulation (or if you could recommend books you’ve found helpful.) I’m in my early 20’s, starting to plan for the long term, and am bumping into a problem I think would be common for ENTJ’s - I’d like to have total control over my financial future, but any approach that is more than keeping money in a bank account has risk outside of my control and I’m not sure how to think about balancing that.

Hi, Mr. ENTJ. I am a 18 years old girl. I do not know my type, but it sure is INXX. Anyway. I’d like to know how to choose the best bank to make my savings. For some reason, I don’t trust them, so I feel this need to analyze each of them before trusting my heritage. I also have no idea how to handle business (yet). And I have no one in my family who could help me in this. So I try to get good references out there.I have more questions. But I will do them one at a time. Thanks.

What is your opinion about fixed income? I do not know anything about finances and I am constantly afraid of being influenced by people with bad intentions. In addition, I have anxiety, I do not know how to deal very well with unforeseen and bankruptcy. (Still) Any recommendations? Own experience, books, or any other content that might help? Thank you.

Answered here:

Hi Mr-entj. Do you have any advice for becoming more financially literate?

I don’t give financial advice because everyone has different situations and unique goals. Most financial books say the same thing so to save everyone time, here’s a summary of the basic principles:

Money is required to make more money which means a stable source of income is mandatory before even thinking of investing 

You can’t manage money if you have no money to manage

Monthly expenses should always be less than monthly income

A good ratio is the 50/30/20 rule: 50% to fixed expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, etc.), 30% to variable expenses (food, entertainment), 20% to savings

There is no piece of financial advice to magically pull someone out of poverty. If your job isn’t paying enough, consider an additional job or a career switch to increase your quality of life.

Avoid going into debt 

If you must incur debt, never take out more money than you can pay off

If you must incur debt, don’t invest in ventures that won’t yield a higher return (example: student debt such as taking out $50,000 in college loans for a job that pays $25,000, going into debt for a vacation, etc.)

If you accumulate debt, pay off the balance with the highest interest rate first 

Treat credit cards like debit cards, always pay the balance off in full

The minimum payment on a credit card balance is calculated to take 10+ years to fully pay off

Save 3-6 months worth of expenses in a savings account for a rainy day

Max your employer’s 401k match, not doing so is giving up free money

Minimize investing in depreciating assets (cars, jewelry, clothes, trinkets, junk, impulse purchases, etc.)

Maximize investing in appreciating assets (stocks, bonds, gold, property, etc.)

The general rule of thumb is that investing in stocks is a long-term endeavor so only invest after saving a cushion for emergency expenses and don’t use money you can’t afford to lose and/or take out of circulation in your day-to-day life

I don’t give specific stock tips, my own portfolio is managed by a wealth/money manager from Morgan Stanley

[finadmin]

Life is not a Balance Sheet.

A balance sheet is a statement of the assets and liabilities of a firm. It must always tally.

Assests = Liabilities

That is the basic rule.

But life isn’t a balnce sheet, is it? It never tallies, it never makes much sense.

Our strengths do not equal to our weaknesses. The number of happy days are never the same as the bad ones. Our words are blown out of proportion. Our actions have a ripple effect. Our sanity never matches the standards and our love balance usually always has an over draft (more than we can afford)

A balance sheet is the final step in the preparation of accounts. There are journals and ledgers and trial balances that come before it. Each item on it can be traced back.

But can we really trace back our insecurities? How far can we trace our damages? How accurately can we trace back our pain and disappointment?

Being a statement, a Balance Sheet reflects the financial position of the firm on a particular date. A single transaction can change this position.

Your liabilities as on 11/4/2017 may seem way more than your assets but one day, one person, one event can change your whole position.

I’m not asking you to sit still and wait.

When a Balance Sheet doesn’t tally, we work on it. We don’t abandon it, we don’t give up.

You are so much more than a statement. Don’t give up just yet.

[finadmin]

Dear Accounting,

I feel so emotional studying you for the last time. 5 years ago when I made this choice I was proud of it and really ecstatic. You were a whole new world. Most people around me knew nothing about this world and didn’t really care either, which is why you felt so familiar because that’s how I’ve always felt about my world.

Of course the balancing, the processes, the standardization was very satisfying. It made sense when nothing else did. Just received a mean unexpected text from my ‘best friend’? Let’s ignore it and balance this trial balance! You gave me a sense of knowing something would turn out 100% accurate if I put in the effort to understand it. That never works with people. You can spend year after year being by their side and trying to understand them but they will still leave saying, ‘You don’t get me and I don’t get you anymore’. But 5 hours locked in my room trying to understand Cash Flow Statement and I mastered it to a point my Accounting professor asked me to help other students with it.

Yes, I did make several silly errors but that was always in relation to calculation and never in relation to your concepts. In life however, not only am I weak at calculations but also in understanding the basic concepts. You can imagine why I never feel competent or confident enough to live a good life.

The first few years with you were making a lot of long lines over and over again. But that paid off when in the final years we moved beyond journals and ledgers and balance sheets. That was my reward, that was general progression, that was patience and endurance treating me right. Can life learn a little from you about fairness?

Even if life doesn’t, I’ve learned quite a bit from you. I mean yes, I’ve learned valuation of Goodwill and shares and final accounts of companies and firms but I’ve learned so much more.

I’ve learned that just like every transaction has two effects, debit and credit, so do our actions. They have consequences and reactions, they affect others. And our karma always finds us - for better or for worse - to settle its account with us.

I’ve learned to pay attention to details because one tiny mistake will make everything go wrong and all your efforts will be void as they were in the wrong direction and you will have to do redo the whole thing. Because every move has a cascading effect.

I’ve learned that while assets are valuable, some 'assets’ that aren’t actually valuable are still shown under Assets like accumulated losses, until you write them off. This is why it’s so important to dig deeper and not trust appearances because they are usually deceptive. Some people can seem like friends but they are actually just toxic people and you must write them off in due time. You must bid them goodbye.

I’ve learned that liabilities don’t seem desirable but that’s the value you have to endure in order to get assets and to secure them. That in order to get what I want in the future, I have to pay a price right not. Fair, right?

One thing I learned right at the beginning that really stuck with me was that we should anticipate possible losses and make reserves for them. Always have a back up. Never depend on people - even if they owe you something, they might end up backing up and you have no control over that. But you can be self sufficient, or at least try.

I will miss you. I already know it. Why, then am I nog continuing with you? That’s because I’ve understood that some things can be absolutely wonderful but they don’t have to last forever. And because I’ve grown, I’ve evolved as a person. As much as rejoiced the stability, security and assurance you provided, my priorities have changed, as is natural over time. I don’t want to drag you on to a point where I start resenting you. This time I will leave on a timely basis before things get ugly. I will keep coming back to you occasionally because you’ve made a place in my heart that’s forever yours to keep.

Thank you for everything.

Pain, losses and bad memories a/c Dr.

To lessons, joy and love a/c

(being the pain, losses and bad memories forgotten and waved goodbye to and lessons learned and joy and love gained.)

[finadmin]

When money realizes that it is in good hands, it wants to stay and multiply in those hands.