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One up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch – Audio Book Download

STOCKS ARE THE NUMBER ONE MONEY-MAKING INVESTMENT TODAY. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN MAKE MONEY IN THE MARKET!

Peter Lynch has been called “an investment superstar” (Fortune). Manager of the $9 billion Fidelity Magellan Fund, he has earned investors a 190,000 return on a 10,000 investment over the last twelve years. now Peter Lynch shows how you can make a profit on Wall Street with the knowledge you already have. Discover:

• Why smart money is not so smart — and why you may be a better stock picker than the pros
• How to follow your hunches — and back them up with facts
• Why you should forget everything you hear about the economy and how to pick your own time to buy and sell
• How to determine which kinds of stocks are best for you

From price-earnings ratios to cash assets, from low growth stocks to “The twelve Silliest things People Say about Stock Prices,” here is a powerful guide to investing — from “one of the greatest investors to ever buy stock” (Barron’s Financial Weekly).

Click to see more from this Presenter

One Up on Wall Street

By SCOTT PATTERSON

The man considered by many to be the greatest investor of all time just had his worst year ever.

But the results released Saturday for Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., also demonstrate how recently, and over time, the investor has positioned his far-flung empire to weather the financial storm.

Associated Press

Mr. Buffett, in his annual letter, read closely by shareholders and nonshareholders alike, reported Berkshire in 2008 lost 9.6% in book value per share, a common metric Berkshire uses to track performance. that marks the biggest decline since mr. Buffett took over in 1965, when it was a family-run East Coast textile maker.

Mr. Buffett conceded he “did some dumb things.” among them: scooping up shares of oil giant ConocoPhillips when oil prices were near a high and investing $244 million in a pair of Irish banks that hit trouble, resulting in an 89% loss.

Berkshire shares fell nearly as much as the rest of the market last year, indicating that investors are worried about the company’s ability to keep growing. in 2008, Berkshire’s Class A stock fell 32%. This year, the shares are down nearly 19%, slightly better than the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Yet many analysts were pleased that the decline in book value per share wasn’t steeper. and mr. Buffett’s results also show he has made moves that have paid off and should continue to do so even if economic woes persist, as he predicts.

He limited his exposure to complex and potentially costly derivatives in his reinsurance unit, General Re Corp. he has $24.3 billion in cash that can be used to find bargains in a distressed market. and he’s made several investments in preferred stock of firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that pay out steady income of 10% or more.

“He’s done a great job to prepare for this,” said Paul Howard, an analyst at Langen McAlenney, a Hartford, Conn., research group, who rates Berkshire a “buy.” “He’s got good businesses that are generating a lot of cash, and he’s going to continue to put that money to work.”

Berkshire’s substantial insurance holdings haven’t needed to take the massive write-downs on toxic subprime securities that have plagued much of the financial industry in the past two years. One reason is mr. Buffett’s longstanding dislike of complex derivatives, which he famously called “financial weapons of mass destruction” in his 2002 shareholder letter and which he railed on again in his latest letter. he pushed General Re, the large reinsurance company Berkshire acquired in 1998, to disentangle itself from a vast web of derivatives — financial instruments tied to the value of other securities, such as stocks or bonds — over the course of five years, winding down its book of 23,218 derivatives contracts at a loss of about $400 million, he said in the letter. the losses may have been far more substantial if General Re had held onto to the contracts, mr. Howard said.

“Upon leaving, our feelings about the business mirrored a line in a country song: ‘I liked you better before I got to know you so well,’” mr. Buffett wrote, referring to General Re’s derivatives book.

Separately, Berkshire took a loss of $5.1 billion in the fourth quarter on several derivatives contracts entered into in recent years. the contracts, essentially insurance policies against long-term declines in U.S. and foreign stocks, expire in 15 or 20 years. Berkshire will have to pay out if the indexes are below where they stood when the deals were struck. the derivatives, whose current estimated value has to be reflected on Berkshire’s books, are one reason the company reported a grim fourth quarter on Saturday — its fifth year-over-year quarterly decline.

The $117 million quarterly gain it eked out in the quarter marked a 96% drop from last year’s $2.95 billion in fourth-quarter net income.

Beyond commenting on Berkshire, mr. Buffett shared his views on the broader economy and financial systems. he doesn’t expect the economy to improve soon but did expect better times, eventually.

“Our country has faced far worse travails in the past,” he said. “Without fail, however, we’ve overcome them.” he declined to draw a correlation between stocks and economics, saying that while he was certain the economy would be “in shambles for 2009,” that “does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall.” he credited the government for stepping in with massive assistance last year, saying the intervention was “essential” to avoiding a total breakdown. But he cautioned there could be “unwelcome aftereffects,” such as inflation.

He contended the “investment world has gone from underpricing risk to overpricing it,” which he said is reflected by investor appetite for Treasury bonds. Future historians will comment on the Internet bubble of the 1990s and the housing bubble of the early 2000s, he said, but “the U.S. Treasury-bond bubble of late 2008 may be regarded as almost equally extraordinary.”

Write to Scott Patterson at scott.patterson@wsj.com

Printed in the Wall Street Journal, page C3

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Reports Worst Year Ever

Editor’s note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best selling author whose new book is “Late Edition: a Love story.”

(CNN) — the national rage directed at Wall Street seems to be intensifying.

Many Americans struggle in vain to find work. those fortunate enough to have jobs worry that their pay will be cut. the mortgage meltdown has cost families across the country their homes. No matter what financial experts may say about the recession coming to an end, too many people still feel like they’re at the bottom of a deep well.

Yet Wall Street banks — notably Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase — are reporting spectacular profits. for them, it is as if the economic collapse last year was a little pothole that has long since disappeared in the rear-view mirror. They’re zooming right along.

This month, Goldman announced that its profits in the last three months alone were $3 billion.

If the final quarter continues on this prosperous pace, Goldman’s year-end bonus pool may exceed $20 billion, according to the New York Times — enough to pay its 31,700 employees an average of $700,000.

That’s the kind of news that many Americans may find difficult to swallow as a grim Christmas season arrives.

No wonder the anger at Wall Street is real and visceral.

But here is a modest proposal.

It has to do with Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Blankfein, it has been reported, may receive a year-end bonus that is even larger than the one he got two years ago.

Which is really saying something, seeing that his 2007 bonus was $67.9 million.

Here’s the proposal:

Blankfein should go on television and make a public service announcement.

Not one of those 30-second ones that run late at night, promoting various worthy causes.

Blankfein should prepare a 30-minute announcement, to be delivered by him personally. he should buy time during the prime evening viewing hours on all the major networks.

He should look into the camera and, as a service to an irate country, answer one simple question:

“What exactly do you do for a living?”

He should answer the question specifically, and in detail.

What is it that he and his employees do every day that makes their work so much more valuable than the work done by virtually anyone else in America?

This proposal is not made sarcastically; it’s not a joke. many of us don’t know what Goldman Sachs does to make those billions of dollars in profits. and evidently those of us who are in the dark are not alone. New York Times business reporter Jenny Anderson, in a story on Goldman’s success: “Quarter after quarter, Wall Street executives scour Goldman’s results hoping to figure out how the bank makes so much money.”

Goldman, and the other Wall Street giants, don’t manufacture anything, other than those profits. what they do is, by definition, immensely lucrative. But for individual Americans who used to produce automobiles for a living, and no longer can; who want to build furniture for a living, but are no longer able to find an employer; who spend day after day, week after week, looking for a way to support their families. …

Well, it would be instructive to hear Blankfein spell out, in unambiguous terms, just what it is that he and his colleagues do to make their money. if he is able to present his story convincingly, it could even be inspiring. there are a lot of children around the country who don’t have much hope as the holidays approach. Maybe, if Blankfein expresses himself clearly enough, he could make them somehow believe they could grow up to be like him. you would assume that there is a learnable set of skills that combine to create a Wall Street titan. perhaps Blankfein would be willing to share at least a little of the secret. Tell the rest of America how they might join the club.

He should be the person to speak not because he and Goldman are the only ones on Wall Street living the good life, but because they represent the apex. with their top-of-the-heap success comes a significant amount of criticism; Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, wrote earlier this year:

“Goldman is very good at what it does. unfortunately, what it does is bad for America.”

Blankfein, and much of Wall Street, almost certainly disagree with that (at least the second part of it). they have to believe that what they do is essential, and represents the best of the United States. This is why it would be helpful to hear him explain to a fed-up nation why the knocks against Wall Street are wrong — why he believes Americans should be grateful for what goes on in those office towers.

Can he do it? and have the country buy it?

He must be a persuasive guy — he couldn’t have gotten to where he is today if he didn’t have the ability to make people see things his way.

Perhaps, because his company does so well for itself, he feels that he doesn’t have to justify himself to the wider world.

But the anger and resentment about the chasm between the haves and the have nots in the United States is genuine, and it’s growing. the most memorable song of 2009, the one that best summed up the mood of the year, will probably turn out to be John Rich’s sad and livid “Shuttin’ Detroit down,” the key verse of which was:

“While they’re livin’ it up on Wall Street in that New York City town, here in the real world they’re shuttin’ Detroit down.”

Another hard American winter is on its way.

As, on a certain street where most of the country will never work, is a payday almost beyond comprehension.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Wall Street Titan Should Explain What He Does For A Living

It’s been my dream for quite a while now to work on Wall Street or the New York Stock Exchange – come September; I’ll be a junior in high school. I make really good grades. I plan to get a bachelor’s degree in Economics then go on to either get a Law degree or an MBA. what do I need to do to get a job on Wall Street / New York Stock Exchange? I want to be either a lawyer, investment banker, or stockbroker. any advice?

How to get to Wall Street/NY Stock Exchange?

In late 2009 the price of gold zoomed past $1,200 an ounce. This was a new record for the yellow metal as investors across the world sought protection from turmoil in financial markets and solace against worries about the inflation. for some investors, this was an expected outcome. Jim Rogers, a legendary fund manager, has made huge bets on gold in recent years based on his belief that the US dollar is overvalued and that the dollar and gold will show an inverse correlation to one another. In other words, he believe that as the dollar weakens, gold must inevitably rise.

Yet that inverse correlation may not be as predictive as mr Rogers and others investing in gold hope. for gold is often viewed as simply another currency. since gold is traded and priced in dollars, it must inevitably rise if the dollar weakens. Yet the same effect could be obtained by holding another currency such as the euro or Japanese yen.

And the difficulty with holding gold as an investment is that the price of the metal has a strong influence on jewellery demand, which accounts for some two-thirds of gold demand. last year some $61 billion was spent on gold jewellery, according to the World Gold Council. In contrast investment accounted for just $32 billion of demand for gold. for investors who are holding gold as a hedge against inflation, the worry is that a rising price is unsustainable if it halts gold jewellery buying and leads to an oversupply of the metal. for now gold has served investors well, but at current high prices they should think carefully before investing in gold or buying gold ETFs.

Jon Rose is the pen name of a financial journalist who has covered business and financial markets for 15 years and has an interest in personalfinance. You can read other articles he has written about buying gold ETFs and investing.

CoolArticles.org Real Estate Cool Articles

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 at 3:36 pm and is filed under investing in gold. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Investing in Gold ETFs May Not Make a Portfolio More Robust

Europe presents main threat to global recovery, IMF says (The Washington Post) “‘Recent global stability gains are threatened by a confluence of sovereign and banking risks in the euro area that, without continued and concert attention, could spill over to other regions,’ the IMF said in an update released today of its Global Financial Stability Report.” (Bloomberg)

EMU break-up risks global deflation shock that would dwarf Lehman collapse, warns ING: A full-fledged disintegration of the eurozone would trigger the worst economic crisis in modern history, devastate every country in Europe including Germany, and inflict a deflationary shock on the US. there would be no winners, warns the Dutch bank ING in a new report “Quantifying the Unthinkable”. (The Telegraph)

German industry hit by sudden fall in orders — “highlighting a risk that Europe’s mainstay economy could slide towards a new recession.” (Agence France-Presse)

Eurozone growth weak, even before belt tightens (Agence France-Presse)

Trichet Faces Market Rate Threat as Debt Crisis hurts Growth (Bloomberg)

Greek Debt Losses Exceed Stress-Test Level, Swaps Trading Shows — “A default by the Greek government may result in losses of about 60 percent on the country’s bonds, more than three times the level said to be assumed by European banking regulators, trading in derivatives shows.” (Bloomberg)

EU Stress Tests may Include 17% Loss on Greek Debt — “‘This sounds like the softest option possible,’ said Stephen Pope, London-based chief global equity strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. ‘If that is the indicator how stringent the stress tests will be, then they aren’t worth too much.’” (Bloomberg)

Excessive Debt may Sink Global Stocks to Crisis Lows, Says first State (Bloomberg)

Is deflation the problem that will throw us into a depression? (Fortune blogs) the Rising Threat of Deflation (The American Enterprise Institute)

Auto sales put on the brakes: Industry analysts trim forecasts for 2010 as fewer shoppers show up at dealerships. — “‘The problem is that people are still not sure about their jobs, their retirement accounts or the value of their homes,’ said Jim Hossack, a consultant at AutoPacific Inc., a Tustin automotive market research firm.” (The Los Angeles Times)

Expect lots of government layoffs at state, local level (USAToday)

Wells Fargo to shut subprime lending unit, cut 3,800 jobs: Banking giant is closing 638 storefront offices of Wells Fargo Financial, of which 74 are in California. (The Los Angeles Times)

HP to cut 934 [UK] jobs (Network World)

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac get new Tickers to Complete Delisting (Bloomberg) ["I was convinced Fannie Mae was a good company -- what was the worst thing that could happen to it?" -- Peter Lynch with John Rothchild in early 1990s best-seller Beating the Street]

How Fannie And Freddie Unloaded Their Trash: due to misconceptions and public ignorance, Main Street was polluted by some of Wall Street’s garbage. (Forbes)

Don’t panic, the Baltic dry is a rubbish indicator! (FT Alphaville)

Economic Signs of the Times: Wednesday roundup (07-07-10)

so how does that work exactly?

Is it like: if you critize the economic insanity of a person who unrelated to their actions just so happens to be Jewish, they your automatically anti-semite?

Nobody buys that propaganda anymore and you should stop trying to sell it.

This is America and nobody in charge of anything gets to be exempt from the complaints of others.

Jim Rogers Discusses Bernanke Reappointment-Fed Policy | 2012 …

Hello! I’m French and I need some help to correct this translation of an article. I’m looking for somebody who would accept to correct my translations by mail, thanks.

The pound suffers the aftershock of the British financial worsening

A warning notice of storm on the pound was launched by Jim Rogers, former partner of the American financier George Soros, with whom he had fund the famous hedge fund Quantum in the 1970’s. “ I encourage you to sell as fast as possible all the pounds you have. I feel sorry to say that, but I would no longer invest a penny in the United-Kingdom”, declared the businessman at the Bloomberg agency, on Tuesday, January the 20th “I do not think that one healthy British bank left” added Mr Rogers, on Wednesday, the City is over.”
These statements have increased a generalized movement for some weeks. On Wednesday, January the 21st , the pound dropped to $1.3693, its lowest rate since June 2001, to ¥119.42, a historical lower end, and to €1.0601. “A weak currency reflects a weak economy which reflects a weak government.”, had asserted Gordon Brown in 1992, today British Prime Minister. That year, the currency suffers the aftershock of the crisis and George Soros himself came along its exit from the European Monetary system, snapping up in passing $2 billion.

Could you help me and correct this English text?

Why don’t people from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, France etc, move to America anymore?

I have met several recent immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Russia, the Ukraine, Serbia, Colombia, Brazil and The Phillipnes, countries with terribly low standards of living. recently I had friends from Sweden who’ father was very well off in the entertainment business but they left the U.S. saying that it wasn’t what they expected, I took this as the most polite way they could say it. I had a business aquaintence from New Zealand same story she lasted 2 years and said that America was far too expensive and dirty, and she couldn’t believe that we considered ourselves the best country in the world. Two friends of mine from the Czech Republic said that America was good to make money but they would never live here otherwise saying that the people were too ignorant to hold a conversation. And I caught an interview with the heirs to Wales, when asked their opinion of the U.S. one said, “Awful”. And why are many wealthy families now leaving for Singapore and Hong Kong and U.a.E.? such as Jim Rogers, the most successful international fund manager in America, saying that the U.S. is set for a total collapse. And even Dick Cheney has purchased a retirement home in Dubai. also it was reported that Mr. Cheney had taken up a short position on U.S. dollar investments. Is there something going on that us Americans aren’t being told?
Hey Paul, I don’t mind leaving the U.S. there is just a couple of problems. first if I leave I have to pay 44% of my worldwide assets to the IRS. you see there is a provision in the Hero’s Act passed into law this year that obliges the IRS to seize my property for leaving a so called free country. also I have to pay taxes to the U.S. even though I would be earning and living somewhere else, the U.S. is the only country in the world with this policy. as well even though the door is wide open for any one to enter this country, other country’s are very difficult to immigrate to, for example Switzerland requires you to deposit $1,000,000 into its banks and have command of 3 languages. So there fore unless you are willing to provide assistance I suppose I will be staying.

When was the last time you met an immigrant from a socialized country?

I just register WALL STREET SURVIVOR which is (Stock Trading) for fake money and my question is what kind of stocks would you recommend that will earn me a lot of $$$?

What kind of stocks would you recommend that will earn me a lot of $$$?