free stock market simulator
August 28th, 2010 | 
Author: 
World economy, especially Stock markets are in such a dreadful situation these days that most of the regular stock traders have either got their bank balance dried up or are terrified to dip themselves again into trading business.
And if that’s the attitude of experienced traders then newcomers have no reasons left to enter ‘Stock trading’ right now.the market behaviour is highly unpredicable and not at all pleasant for a ‘starter’ atleast.
But if you’re a newbie who’s madly willing to get into trading then a “much safer path” is ready to take you to your destination.Meet WallStreetSurvivor.
It’s basically a web based Fantasy Stock Market Game that lets you trade in a virtual Stock market, as if you would trade in a real time situation.
Since 1990, the company has been supplying top Business Schools in the United States with Stock Market simulations to teach their Business School (MBA) students, the fundamentals of trading stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, currencies and options.
And now with WallStreetSurvivor, the same virtual trading platform has been made available to anybody who is willing to testify his/her trading capabilities without putting any money at stake.
So, give it a spin if you want to ‘Play Safe’ !
About WallStreetSurvivor
Wall Street Survivor™ allows you to get in the driver’s seat and manage your own fantasy stock portfolio while competing risk-free against friends, peers, and colleagues for the chance to win lucrative cash prizes.
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Tags: business schools, experienced traders, market behaviour, mba students, virtual trading | 
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CrossingWallStreet.com: Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
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August 16, 2005 Unconventional Success: A Fundamental approach to Personal Investment
For the last 20 years, David Swensen has been the manager of Yale’s endowment. And the ol’ chappy has done the Eli proud. the Yalie fund has grown from a measly from $1.3 billion to a respectable UT-like $15 billion. Zounds and Huzzah for the money people!
Swensen then took pen to paper and was set to let all the wee widdle investors know how to invest just like Yale. but then, a funny thing happened on the way to Easy Street. the book’s thesis took a bit of a detour. I’ll let the Times take over (that’s The New York Times dear heart, not El Paso):instead, it shows why the little guy will never be able to invest the way Yale does.for all the “democratization” that has taken place in the world of personal investing the deck is still stacked against the individual. That was mr. Swensen’s fundamental discovery. And his willingness to change course and turn “Unconventional Success” into a polemic aimed primarily at mutual fund companies, but also at other Wall Street types who fleece the little guy, is to his everlasting credit. After all, he could have told us to buy stocks in companies whose products we buy at the supermarket, like a certain investment genius of a previous era. Any regrets about that advice, Peter Lynch?
Oh lord. Where to start? first, we take a shot at Peter Lynch! I’ve re-read this a few times, and it still comes out of nowhere. Why is Peter Lynch the bad guy? His style of investing hasn’t been shown up at all. in fact, it’s as relevant as ever.
Lynch’s main point over the years is to ignore professional investors. He even calls them an oxymoron. Lynch never said to buy stocks in companies whose products we buy at the supermarket. He says that “the amateur investor has numerous built-in advantages that, if exploited, should result in his or her outperforming the experts, and also the market in general.” He’s exactly right. but that’s only half of Lynch’s argument. He also takes down the pros.Lynch criticizes the group-think mentality of institutional investors who often have to clear their buys and sells past a committee. Lynch said that some of his best investments ideas have come from the power of common knowledge. That makes perfect sense, and I doubt mr. Lynch has any regrets.
Secondly, we learn that despite the democratization that’s taken place, “the deck is still stack against the little guy.” Democratization is even placed in scare quotes as if it’s been a scam from the get go. oh, please. Yes, Wall Street is being run by the evil plutocrats who are stomping on the throat of the little guy. Just the other day, I saw a phalanx of Morgan bankers marching down Broad Street, “Ooo – eeeee – hoo! Yooo – ho!” to be honest, they didn’t look that scary, but you get the idea.
Let’s be clear: the sole driver of Wall Street’s history for the last few decades has been the democratization of investing. This has been nothing short of a revolution. the changes have been stunning. Only 30 years ago there used to be fixed commission rates, no discount brokers, no decimal pricing, no IRAs, no 401k’s, no ETFs, no Reg FD, little of any disclose, no Sarbanes-Oxley. Ok, I could do without the last one, but at least they’re trying. in fact, one of the best books on the subject is “A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class,” written by Joseph Nocera, the freakin’ author of this Times’ article (New York Times, not Northwest Indiana).
The article (Mr. Nocera) continues:when mr. Swensen first took over, Yale’s portfolio held stocks and bonds, period. Like most institutional portfolios of that time, “it was neither diversified nor particularly equity-oriented,” mr. Swensen recalled. Today, the endowment has barely 5 percent in bond holdings. “The other 95 percent,” he said, “are in places that we think will provide ‘equity like’ returns.” which is not to say it is all in equities. on the contrary, the Yale portfolio is extraordinarily diversified, which both lifts returns and protects against disaster.
No! No! A thousand times no! Diversification does not in and of itself increase your return. the whole idea of Modern Portfolio Theory is that you can use diversification to lower your risk (protect against disaster) without impacting your return. I’m not being pedantic here. This is the entire foundation of modern financial economics.
In just a few paragraphs, we’ve taken on a straw man and lost, and now we’ve bravely flattened the efficient frontier.
Let’s read on, shall we?At the end of the 2004 fiscal year, Yale had a mere 15 percent of its assets in domestic equities, and another 15 percent in foreign stocks. it had 15 percent in private equity, and 18 percent in “real assets,” which includes investments in timber and energy. but its biggest percentage, 26 percent, was in something called “absolute return.” That is a category invented by mr. Swensen in 1990. it means hedge funds.
This guy owns hedge funds and he’s complaining about how mutual funds fleece the little guy. Does he have any idea how much hedge funds charge? Also, is this guy a manager or does he just pick other managers?His new book has given mr. Swensen a greater appreciation of the enormous advantages he has as an institutional money manager, starting with the obvious fact that he has a staff that spends full-time researching investment possibilities. Thus, he takes it as a given that individuals shouldn’t pick stocks themselves. “I see every day how competitive the markets are, and how tough. so the idea that you can do this yourself, that’s out the window.”
He’s confusing cause and effect. the markets are competitive precisely because people are picking their own stocks. Yes, it’s hard to beat the market. Very hard. but if you’re well-diversified, it’s hard to lose to the market too. We never hear that part. for books like this, there are only victims. Wall Street is an unending drama of victims and exploitation, us against them. (Duck, I hear more guards coming!)
This is where the book drowns in its own conventionality. I’m sure the author believes he’s advocating self-denial and conservatism. Swensen indeed picks the right (and easiest) targets, but his entire view of the markets is wrong, wrong and wrong.
The financial markets are not a game of one side opposite another. That’s simply a metaphor that people use to understand how the market operates. It’s easy to understand. if you wanted to write a stock market book at any time for the last 70 years, just throw the words “big shot,” “fleeced,” “screwed,” and “little guy” in the title and off you go.
Just in the past few years, we’ve seen dozens of these types of books. the former head of the SEC even jumped in with “Take on the Street: what Wall Street and Corporate American Don’t want you to Know.” See. You’re the victim of “them.” Never of the SEC of course. Another one is “You got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How you can Prosper,” by someone calling himself James Cramer. I’m sure he means well.
This us-against-them view is just a metaphor and nothing else. Thanks to democratization, this metaphor is like some cartoon cat getting clanged on the head by the frying pan of reality. I guess that’s actually a simile, but you see where I’m going. I hate to break it to some people, but there’s no one “in charge” of the economy, or Wall Street. There’s no board room with a dozen fat bald white guys sitting around conspiring against you, and perhaps ruling the world during their breaks.
Financial markets are hugely decentralized structures with countless participants who aren’t coordinating with another, but they influence each other nonetheless. in fact, understanding this is one of the best arguments in favor of free enterprise. (James Surowiecki’s “The Wisdom of Crowds” is a good book on this subject.) Looking for Wall Street experts is like asking who’s the king of a traffic jam. it just doesn’t exist.what is it about mutual funds mr. Swensen finds offensive? Just about everything. He hates the way the loads and all the hidden fees mean that the investor is always behind the eight ball. (When I asked him about hedge fund fees, which are much higher, mr. Swensen replied: “I don’t mind paying a lot for actual performance. Besides, when we negotiate fees, it’s sophisticated investor versus fund manager. It’s a fair fight.”)
CrossingWallStreet.com: Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
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Discipline Is Key For Successful Stock Market Investment at Pradx.org
The winning stock market investors are disciplined.
They manage their impulses and emotions, and this allows them to perform a perfect market timing policy to never failing to create all purchase & sell signal the policy produces.
The discipline of the stock market investor is essential. Many purchase as well as sell signals are made during times of the stock market instability and sometimes at chances with the majority belief. Acting on the present emotion is tough, however necessary to the success.
The undisciplined market investor, in compare, wavers. He or she may follow a market timing strategy from time to time, while going a new approach at other times.
Discipline is certainly a key to win, however not everybody has increased amount of self-discipline. It should acknowledge your position on this feature, and if you fail to possess the discipline as well as self-control, begin to build it up.
Behavior well studied
Patience, Discipline as well as self-control are properly studied personality behavior.
Some people are most systematic and very self-controlled. They carefully follow the principles; moreover make sure to manage their impulses.
You see the sort; they pay back their credit card payment monthly, are never behind schedule for an appointment, and thoroughly prepare every aspect of the lives.
Although these properties might be perfect for investing, there is a drawback:
Such individuals often experience difficulty taking risks. They prefer a assured thing, & no single buy or sell signal is really a sure thing.
The market investors have recognized the risks even very important in a buy and hold approach to investing, as well as determined to make a more lively strategy in growth of their investments.
They’ll not wildly try to find out risk, but they recognize a particular risk as necessary.
How About your Discipline As well as Self-Control?
However, market investors might not have the same degree of discipline and control as followers of rule defined above. Perhaps that is why a lot of articles are written advice the features of discipline as well as self-control.
How about your discipline as well as self-control? do you have trouble following with a market timing strategy? Would you hesitate when experienced using a purchase or sell signal and seek out causes to state not taking the trade?
Do you long for further discipline & self-control regarding your timing?
It’s not essentially the case a systematic stock market investor is systematic in every factors of his, it also helps. The life approaches we use daily might lose blood over in to our investing life.
If you end up second guessing timing approaches that you will be sticking on to, make sure to remember that the key to timing success is making all of trades.
It will be essential to acknowledge that timing achievement is achieved by taking not just those trades which you believe, and also by taking the difficult trades. Those which might even look like foolish at the moment.
There is no way of understanding earlier who purchase or else sell signal will be the start of the next huge trend. The one you do not obviously one who creates the gains.
The Story of the Hare & the Tortoise will educate us the lesson of the discipline
Market Timing achievement is comparable to the story of The Hare and the Tortoise.
The hare could be quick, but the tortoise won the race because it never slowed, never stopped, but just kept moving forward.
The hare was fast, but missing in the discipline. He too bragged about his triumph to everybody he saw. However he did not remain the course, & took a nap (missed trade?) the incorrect time.
Discipline is straight forward if you are profitable. Discipline is absolutely not very easy when you’re not.
Still the one technique to succeed in stock market timing is always to stick to the strategy at any time. This implies that in good times as well as tough times.
Stock Market Timing techniques which achieve something are intended to maintain investors in the correct positions (long, short or in cash) the bulk of time, hence they can outperform purchase & hold investors, and also stay away from taking big losses when stock market modifications.
They aren′t designed for immediate returns. Certain few day traders might gain that, but similar to the Tortoise, investors want to be successful over time.
Keep in mind … Once you are undecided regarding taking a trade … if you are following a purchase or sell signal, it can be very much tough to go back in
At last, the trade you do not take is unavoidably the trade that makes the gains!
You can′t expect to good returns on your investment without using a tried & tested system! Here’s the Stock Market Timing system which works effectively even in a crisis situation. Subscribe to Swing Timing Alert & learn the most effective stock market timing system for trading the Stocks.
Discipline Is Key For Successful Stock Market Investment at Pradx.org
The Straits Times
‘Everyone should be raising interest rates, they are too low worldwide,’ Rogers said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News. — PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
SINGAPORE – CHINA and other global economies should increase interest rates to contain a surge in inflation, said investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings.
‘Everyone should be raising interest rates, they are too low worldwide,’ Rogers said in a phone interview with Bloomberg News.
‘If the world economy gets better, that’s good for commodities demand. if the world economy does not get better, stocks are going to lose a lot as governments will print more money.’
China’s central bank hasn’t increased rates since November 2007. In the US, the Federal Reserve this month left the overnight interbank lending rate target in a range of zero to 0.25 per cent, where it’s been since December 2008, while the European Central Bank has kept its key interest rate at a record low of 1 per cent.
Policy makers in Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand have increased the cost of borrowing at least once this year, while India has boosted rates four times in five months.
The global economy is at the risk of prolonging a recession after reports over the past two days showed US home sales plunged by a record and Japan’s export growth slowed for a fifth month in July, he said.
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~*~ HeRe I aM ~*~: 9 investment lessons to learn from Warren Buffett
Price is what you pay. value is what you get.
– Warren Buffett
Every investor dreams of becoming as successful as Warren Buffett, to be the richest person in the world. But rarely do these investors follow their icon’s mantras conversed through television interviews, books, periodic journals, etc. It is worthwhile to pay heed to Buffett’s stock investing tips. this knowledge on value investing will help drive investors to make sound investment decisions.
1: Invest in quality businesses, not in stock symbols
If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
Most investors don’t analyse the businesses they invest in. they simply follow the symbols or brands of successful corporate houses. the best example is the Reliance Power IPO. when the IPO of Reliance Power was announced, many investors rushed to subscribe to it with the reason that it had the brand name ‘Reliance’. However, the stock was overvalued at the time of IPO and investors made a considerable loss after the stock was listed on the stock exchange.
When considering IPOs, one needs to do considerable research about the concerned company, it’s past performance, how the IPO money will be utilised, details about the company management, and when the operations will commence so that company starts generating profits.
As, Buffett states, ‘An investor needs to buy the stock as if he is buying the whole company down the road’. Investors are also expected to be acquainted with the following before buying the company stock:
• what are the company’s products?
• How consistent is its products’ sales?
• How receptive is the company to change in consumer trends?
• Who are its competitors? what distinguishes it from them? what is the company’s USP?
• what would be the most worrying thing (risk) about owning such a company’s stock?
2: Don’t invest for 10 minutes if you’re not prepared to invest for 10 years
Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.
Investors get panicky when they track share prices continuously. Share prices are quite volatile in the short-term. However staying invested in a value company will pay you rich rewards over a long-term period, unlike short-term investments that are prone to constant price fluctuations.
Note: A smart investor needs to also think before selling an investment that may be in a loss due to certain economic factors but has tremendous potential to rise in future.
3: Scan thousands of stocks and look for screaming bargains
It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
A smart investor needs to identify stocks of a company that have great potential to grow in years to come. Most investors buy a stock when it is extremely high because it’s in demand. the key is to identify stocks which have potential to grow and are available at a cheap or reasonable price.
Such acumen can be achieved by scanning the company’s annual financial reports, understanding its vision and mission statements, its business cycle and business process, long term plans, etc.
Essentially, it means taking some time out to carefully understand and analyse the company and its business. Investors also need to keep updates of their selected companies and sector news on a regular basis. Information about a company is readily available through secondary sources such as journals, economic newspapers, television, etc. Many a time such secondary sources are sufficient for analysing and arriving at a decision for investment.
4: Interpret how well money is being utilised by the company’s management
Beware of geeks bearing formulas.
The money available to the company’s management is called capital. the capital comprises the equity and long-term debt of the company. the success of any business depends on how well its management uses its capital. such an analysis can be made with the help of 2 ratios: Return on
Equity (ROE) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE).
ROE: It measures a company’s profitability by revealing how much net profit a company generates through shareholders’ equity.
Return on Equity = Net profit / Shareholder’s equity
ROCE: It indicates the efficiency and profitability of a company’s invested capital; calculated as:
ROCE = EBIT/ Total assets – Current liabilities
EBIT = Earnings before interest and tax deductions
A smart investor must interpret the company’s financial statements and understand the quality of return on his investment.
One needs to search and invest in companies with good returns on capital invested while employing little or no debt. this means that ROE and ROCE should essentially be the same.
5: Stay away from so-called ‘glitter’ stocks
Rule no 1: Never lose money. Rule no 2: Never forget rule no.1.
There are thousands of stocks traded each day on Sensex and Nifty. A smart investor has to find the best out of the available investment options. there are stocks that have high trading volume, extreme movements in their price (either up or down), or are constantly in news.
A smart investor should examine whether the stock-in-news has some real value or is just glittering at the moment.
For example, remember the Satyam fiasco? the stock was glittering for many years and was a hot pick among investors and analysts alike until its accounting fraud surfaced in 2008 when Ramalinga Raju (the company’s mentor) confessed to the crime. the company tampered its annual reports and fooled investors for years, all the time being ‘A-listed’ on national stock exchanges.
Although the episode is behind us now, it is wise to do your homework before investing in each and every company. you would also be wise to diversify your investments across sectors and asset classes, which will give you the needed cushion from loss from any one investment.
6: Wait for a fat pitch then decide what to do with it
Value is what you get.
Wait…wait…wait until everything is in your favour while buying a stock. these are the stocks with the highest chance of being successful and making you money year after year. To be able to do this effectively, one needs to master the below steps as suggested by Buffett.
As mentioned earlier, invest in stocks that are not glittering on investment magazines or recommended by stock analysts/editors on popular television channels. Perform your own research then make vital investment decisions.
After identifying great businesses to invest in at a fair price, buy a “meaningful amount of stocks in them”. That means hold only a limited number of companies in your portfolio; holding excess stocks results in lower returns on your overall portfolio and spending more time to keep track of the same. this may also add considerable risk as it is not feasible for an individual to diligently observe all companies in his/her portfolio.
Ideally, one should limit the number of stocks in his/her portfolio to 10-15. this way, there is an advantage of your portfolio not being cluttered.
Buffett elaborates about knowledge and confidence. according to him, one must require the knowledge of selecting the right stocks by careful research and also build confidence in one’s decisions. Market will test your patience to reach the expected returns. So, you need to stay firm with your investment decisions during volatile trading sessions. Do a good amount of homework and keep faith in your research and decisions.
7: Calculate how much money you will make…
…not whether the stock is undervalued or overvalued, according to some academic model such as the discounted cash flow.
Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
A smart investor needs to keep an eye on expected returns from particular stocks in the long term and calculate the entry and exit prices of invested companies. this requires thorough research and analysis of the company’s available data. Buffett recommends being one’s own analyst to profit from investing in stocks.
8: Remove the weeds and water the flowers — not the other way around
Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
One of the best practices according to Buffett is to sell loss-making stocks during a bull run and buy the winner stocks during a bear hug.
The amount realised by discarding loss-making stocks can be utilised to invest in stocks with future growth potential and there by achieving better returns.
9: become a conscious investor
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
Most of the time investors make little progress due to insensible investment decisions. Their decisions are based on emotion, hope and wishful thinking without carrying out proper research and analysis.
It’s necessary for a smart investor to think logically while investing and performing research. you need to keep on asking yourself why you want to invest in a particular company and eliminate decision-making based purely on intuition, emotion and herd mentality.
Due diligence before investing in a particular company saves you from the worry of your money being tied-up in companies and businesses that you have little or no knowledge about.
So follow the sound advice provided by Warren Buffett — avoid the noise and glitter, do your own research, and constantly update your knowledge and stock-picking skills.
In short, be a smart investor!
~*~ HeRe I aM ~*~: 9 investment lessons to learn from Warren Buffett
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[..MAVERICK..]: Warren Edward Buffett’s Time Line – World’s Richest Man
1943: (13 years old)
* Buffett filed his first income tax return, deducting his bicycle as a work expense for $35.
1945: (15 years old)
* in his senior year of high school, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in a barber shop. Within months, they owned three machines in different locations.
1949: (19 years old)
* in 1949, he was initiated into Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity while an undergraduate at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. His father and uncles were also Alpha Sigma Phi brothers from the chapter at Nebraska, where Warren eventually transferred.
1950: (20 years old)
* Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, two well-known securities analysts, taught there.
1951: (21 years old)
* Buffett discovered Graham was on the Board of GEICO insurance at the time. After taking a train to Washington, D.C. on a Saturday, Buffett knocked on the door of GEICO’s headquarters until a janitor allowed him in. there, he met Lorimer Davidson, the Vice President, who was to become a lasting influence on him and life-long friend.
* Buffett graduated from Columbia and wanted to work on Wall Street. Buffett offered to work for Graham for free but Graham refused. he purchased a Sinclair gas station as a side investment, but that venture did not work out as well as he had hoped. meanwhile, he worked as a stockbroker. during that time, Buffett also took a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach a night class at the University of Nebraska, “Investment Principles.” the average age of the students he taught was more than twice his own.
1952: (22 years old)
* Buffett married Susan Thompson.
1954: (24 years old)
* Benjamin Graham offered Buffett a job at his partnership with a starting salary of $12,000 a year. here, he worked closely with Walter Schloss.
* Susan had her first child, Howard Graham Buffett.
1956: (25 years old)
* Benjamin Graham retired and folded up his partnership.
* Buffett’s personal savings are now over $140,000.
* Buffett returned home to Omaha and created Buffett Associates, Ltd., an investment partnership.
1957: (27 years old)
* Buffett had three partnerships operating the entire year.
* Buffett purchased a five-bedroom, stucco house on Farnam Street for $31,500.
* Susan was about to have her third child.
1958: (28 years old)
* Buffett had five partnerships operating the entire year.
1959: (29 years old)
* Buffett had six partnerships operating the entire year.
* Buffett was introduced to Charlie Munger.
1960: (30 years old)
* Buffett had seven partnerships operating the entire year.
* the partnerships were: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff, and Underwood.
* Buffett asks one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors who will be willing to invest $10,000 each into his partnership. Eventually, eleven doctors agreed to invest.
1961: (31 years old)
* Buffett revealed that Sanborn Map Company accounted for 35% of the partnerships’ assets.
* Buffett explained that in 1958, Sanborn sold at $45 per share when the value of the Sanborn investment portfolio was $65 per share. this meant buyers valued Sanborn at “minus $20″ per share, and buyers were unwilling to pay more than 70 cents on the dollar for an investment portfolio with a map business thrown in for nothing.
* Buffett reveals that he earned a spot on the board of Sanborn.
1962: (32 years old)
* Buffett’s partnerships, in January 1962, had in excess of $7,178,500 of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett.
* Buffett merges all partnerships into one partnership.
* Buffett discovered a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett’s partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share.
1965: (35 years old)
* When Buffett’s partnerships began aggressively purchasing Berkshire they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital (current assets minus liabilities) of $19 per share, this did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment).
* Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at the board meeting and named a new President, Ken Chace, to run the company.
1966: (36 years old)
* Buffett closes the partnership to new money.
* Buffett wrote in his letter “unless it appears that circumstances have changed (under some conditions added capital would improve results) or unless new partners can bring some asset to the partnership other than simply capital, I intend to admit no additional partners to BPL.”
* in a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn, and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store.
1967: (37 years old)
* Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.
1969: (39 years old)
* following his most successful year, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners. Among the assets paid out were shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
1970: (40 years old)
* as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders.
1973: (43 years old)
* Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and became a member of its board of directors.
1979: (49 years old)
* Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. With the stock trading at $290 per share, Buffett’s net worth neared $140 million. However, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year.
* Berkshire began the year trading at $775 per share, and ended at $1,310. Buffett’s net worth reached $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time.
1988: (58 years old)
* Buffett began buying stock in Coca-Cola Company, eventually purchasing up to 7 percent of the company for $1.02 billion. it would turn out to be one of Berkshire’s most lucrative investments, and one which he still holds.
1999: (69 years old)
* Buffett is named the top money manager of the 20th century in a survey by the Carson Group, ahead of Peter Lynch and John Templeton.
2002: (72 years old)
* Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver US dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion.
2004: (73 years old)
* His wife, Susan, dies.
2006: (75 years old)
* Buffett announced in June that he would give away more than 80%, or about $99 billion, of his $491 billion fortune to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006. the largest contribution will go to the bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
2007: (76 Years old)
* in a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor or perhaps successors to run his investment business. Buffett had previously selected Lou Simpson, who runs investments at Geico, to fill that role. However, Simpson is only six years younger than Buffett.
2008: (77 Years old)
* Buffett becomes the richest man in the world according to Forbes.
[..MAVERICK..]: Warren Edward Buffett’s Time Line – World’s Richest Man
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CPST, TDSC, SILA, CRWEWallstreet.com Stock Report! August 23th 2010
Gold American Mining Corp (SILA.OB) may have struck gold in Mexico.
The company has just announced additional positive results from its Guadalupe property located in the heart of the Fresnillo district Zacatecas, Mexico. the precious metals exploration company says that nine veins have now been mapped within the property and that fieldwork continues to identify additional veins.
“The fast pace of exploration achieved on the property since we started operations in late April has expanded considerably our knowledge of the property and reaffirmed our intentions to drill its main objectives,” said Johannes Petersen, President of Gold American. “We are very excited with our findings to date. as soon as we receive the final report and maps of the recently completed geophysics campaign, we will be able to finalize the design of the drilling program and initiate the permitting process with a view at a commencing drilling before the end of the year.”
Based in Reno, Gold American is focused on the aggressive, ongoing acquisition and exploration of holdings with rich gold and silver production potential
More about SILA at: www.gold-american.com
Capstone Turbine Corporation (Nasdaq:CPST), the world’s leading clean technology manufacturer of microturbine energy systems, recently received an order for 18 C65 microturbines for one of the world’s largest independent oil and natural gas companies.
Capstone distributor Pumps & Service received its second order in the past eight weeks from a major oil and gas company exploring large shale reserves – or plays – in the United States. the market for Capstone turbines and microturbines in this industry is vast. the market is expected to grow substantially, especially since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act has strict requirements for emissions levels at natural gas sites.
More about CPST at: www.capstoneturbine.com
3D Systems (Nasdaq:TDSC) announced today that it plans to exhibit the benefits of its growing Aerospace Manufacturing capabilities at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, AUVSI 2010 Conference and Exposition. the company’s suite of design-to-manufacturing solutions and services will be on display at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO, August 24 – 27th, booth 2728.
More about TDSC at: www.3DSystems.com
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CPST, TDSC, SILA, CRWEWallstreet.com Stock Report! August 23th 2010
Posted in Stock News |
Tags: clean technology, drilling program, exploration company |
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How to invest in the Jim Rogers International Commodities Index?
Does anyone know how to invest in the Rogers International COmmodities Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_International_Commodity_Index) by Jim Rogers?
Is there a ticker for this index? when I try "RICI" multiple things come up.
Also, can this index be traded from online brokers like Scottrade and Etrade?
Any direction is helpful.
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Invest in FX Funds Group if you would like to make 2 – 15% per month
search for myfxfunds in google search engine for more information.
Try ETF's: RJI, RJZ, RJN, RJA………some have performed ok vs Mkt, check out JJC and LD also, 2 commodities which are touted to be in very short supply currently…
How to invest in the Jim Rogers International Commodities Index?
George Soros' Quantum Picks Up Stake In IPO-Bound SKS For Rs 19Cr
SKS IPO opens from July 28-30 for institutional buyers and on August 2 for others.
SKS Microfinance, India’s largest microfinance entity, has roped in another blue-chip investor as its IPO debut date draws near. the latest to invest in the firm is Quantum (M) ltd, the billionaire investor George Soros’ hedge fund.
Quantum has picked up around 3 lakh shares in the company from existing shareholder Yatish Trading Company Pvt ltd. Quantum will hold a 0.4% stake post the issue while Mumbai-based securities firm Yatish will have a 2.2% holding.
The other investors in SKS include Sequoia Capital India, Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy and Vinod Khosla, among others. the shares were acquired by Quantum for a total sum of Rs 19.08 crore, translating into Rs 636 per share. the share price is equal to the price paid by hedge fund Tree Line Asia, which picked up 2.3% stake in SKS through slew of secondary transactions earlier this year.
Various reports have pegged the price band of the issue between Rs 650 and Rs 700 per share. this may put the mopup at anywhere between Rs 1,090 crore and Rs 1,175 crore. the Red Herring Prospectus of Hyderabad-based SKS says the MFI is looking sell around 16.8 million shares. Various reports have also said that the issue may give a discount to retail investors.
SKS IPO opens on July 28 and closes on July 30, 2010 for qualified institutional buyers and on August 2 for others.
Murthy’s recently launched $129 million venture capital fund Catamaran invested Rs 28.12 crore in January this year. the investment has been made through Catamaran Management Services Pvt ltd and the firm will hold a 1.3% stake in SKS post-issue.
George Soros' Quantum Picks Up Stake In IPO-Bound SKS For Rs 19Cr
CDOQ-Chander’s Diary of Observations and Questions: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
I just finished listening to an audio book – The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life. it is a biography of Warren Buffet who is one of my heroes. The audio book is 37 hour long and is very addictive. I could not stop listening to the audio book until it was finished.
Buffett is an extraordinary human being. one learns a lot from his biography. however, since I usually don’t listen to audio books, I don’t remember most of what I heard:-) after being in awe for 37 hours. following are a few random things I remember:
1. Buffett never acquired a company with a hostile takeover.
2. one should always have “margin of safety” when making investments. What that means is that one should not make investments where there is a risk of losing money if things don’t go according to the plan.
3. it is not a good idea to be on company boards where one doesn’t have any influence on the CEO.
4. Praise the individual and criticize the category. Buffett followed Dale Carnegie principles for human relations.
5. Charlie Munger played a critical role in changing how Buffett thought about investments.
6. Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre.
7. Allies are essential.
8. Commitments are so sacred that by nature they should be rare.
9. Grandstanding rarely gets anything done.
10. one should think independently.
11. Work for people you admire and do business with people you like.
12. Protect your reputation at any cost.
13. The best way to solve a problem is to invert. for example, if you want to buy something think about why the other party is selling.
14. Society plays a big role in one’s success. If bill Gates were born in Bangladesh, he would not have been successful. Buffett calls being born in the right society which gives you opportunities to succeed as winning the ovary lottery.
15. 2008 was not the first time when the government help bail out private banks. The fed intervened to bail out LTCM in 1998.
16. be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.
17. History does not tell you the future.
18. Doing a job just because it looks good on your resume is like saving sex for old age. Do a job that you like.
19. when you are buying a stock, you are buying a piece of the business.
20. The most important factor that made Buffett successful is Focus. And, bill Gates has the same opinion about the importance of Focus.
21. Stay within your circle of competence when making decisions.
22. Invest in business which have Sustainable Competitive Advantage or a “moat” around them.
This is in no way the complete list. Just a teaser to encourage you to read the book:-)
CDOQ-Chander’s Diary of Observations and Questions: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life