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Posts Tagged ‘money’

I was wandering how investment partnerships like the ones that Warren Buffet owned at the beginning of his career worked. what is the basic structure of the partnership? How does he get money?

Also, they say partnerships pay in ratios like 2/20 where the general partner gets a 2% monthly fee or something like that and then 20% of the profit. Does that mean he gets 20% every time he sells a share, or when he liquidates the partnership?

As you can see, I am new to the subject. Please give a lot of detail.

How do investment partnerships work?

Looks like Soros isn’t planning on retiring anytime soon.

Asked about the recent announcement from Carl Icahn that he’ll be returning all outside money to investors, Soros told an audience in Paris, according to Dealbook:

“Carl Icahn has his own problems.”

Icahn wrote to investors yesterday saying that despite great performance, withdrawls and concerns of an impending crisis have lead him to return $1.8 billion to investors.

From the letter, which is available in full here:

While it may sound “corny” to some, the losses that were incurred by investors in our funds in 2008 bothered me a great deal more, in many respects, than my own losses.  perhaps this is because over the years I have become inured to dealing with large “paper” losses for myself.  during 2008 and part of 2009, unlike many other funds, we did not impose “gates” on our investors that would have prevented them from withdrawing capital from our funds if they chose to do so.  therefore investors seeking liquidity did withdraw a fair amount of cash from our funds. 

Additionally, rather than liquidating positions that we believed in, we infused our own new capital into our funds which provided cash for withdrawing investors.  As a result, fee paying assets now constitute only 25% ($1.76 billion) of total assets in the funds of approximately $7 billion.

While we are not forecasting renewed market dislocation, this possibility cannot be dismissed.  given the rapid market run-up over the past 2 years and our ongoing concerns about the economic outlook, and recent political tensions in the Middle East, I do not wish to be responsible to limited partners through another possible market crisis.  After careful consideration of all relevant factors, we have determined to return all fee paying capital to investors.

Click here to see the 10 managers that we said will be next to retire last year (Carl Icahn is #11 on the list) >

Soros On Icahn’s Returning All Outside Money: "He Has His Own Problems"

I'm thinking, if the market has hit the bottom, then now is the time to buy shares.

Buy a Position here (50% of the money you are willing to invest) if the market continues to drop you buy in more and lower your cost basis.

let's hope this is close to bottom. However, I'm holding and not buying right now. I don't want to suffer more if the market dips further.

You may be right and you may be wrong about the bottoming out of stock prices. neither you nor anybody else can know for sure what will happen next.

And this means that you will be taking a risk, if you buy stocks now. and perhaps this risk is bigger now than before. Because now stock price volatility is higher than before.

With higher volatility you can make more money, if the stock price moves your way. But you can also loose more money, if the stock price goes against you.

The greater the potential reward, the greater is the risk you have to take.

Since I am the ONLY psychic who has ever been able to predict the stock market, and I have never been wrong yet, here is my prediction:

The stock market will continue to fluctuate.

Yes, what the Fed has done is only a band-aid by creating more money to increase liquidity. Eventually you can't stretch the rubber band anymore. IMHO, invest in physical gold, silver, and then good related stocks not known to hedge and finally oil stocks.

Time to buy is everyone is selling or there is blood on the street.
And time to sell when everyone starts to buy.

No one can ever tell when the markets have bottomed or peaked.
Expect a further fall of at least 10% from current levels.

It is possible – there are traders who use computers with trigger values so when the market dips like this the machines start selling and the prices dip lower. A lot of these automated trade are used by index trackers so the whole market is dragged down by the whole market – there has been a lot of discussion just how far this kind of trading would take the market down – on the other hand maybe the trackers have switched their toys off1

Do you think that the world stock market prices will fall further?

roughly,how much money do I have to pay a stock broker?and also is it possible to lose 100% or more of the money I invest?

as far as stocks if you go online they have $7 trades, mutual funds charge their own fees in addition. brokerages have it set up pretty good so you wont blow more than your original sum..if you trade on margin they cut you off at a 50% loss usually.

Stock Market Investing for a Dummy?

Bangkok’s Red Light Districts – the Cheap Man’s Guide

With the economy going down the drain, any man… a cheap man that is, can still enjoy a holiday in any of Bangkok’s red light districts. First off you have to know when to go, where to stay, drink and most importantly find company.

The best time to go and save money for hotels in Bangkok is from late March to late October, which is the low season. Even though it will be hot and rainy during those months you’re going to be indoors most of the time. Hotels in Bangkok during low season slash their rates by up to 40% to 50%. some hotels are even desperate enough to discount their rooms up to 60% for walk in guest.

When you choose a hotel however make sure you book one that won’t charge you a fee for taking a companion back to your room for an overnight stay. this fee is called a joiner fee and a hotel that doesn’t charge this fee is deemed guest friendly. Hotels that charge joiner fees usually ask for B1,000 so it’s in your best interest to stay at a guest friendly hotel.

Now there are short time hotels with rooms to rent for B300 an hour. but if you’re staying in a perfectly fine guest friendly hotel near the sex districts there’s no reason why you should be paying an extra B300. We can use that B300 for better things right?

There are plenty of budget guest friendly hotels in Bangkok, particularly close to any of the 3 sex districts in Bangkok.

In Patpong sex district you can choose to stay at the Wall Street Inn Hotel. their room rates start from B1,000 and usually includes a breakfast. It is opposite a popular gay nightlife street and just a 5 minute walk to the neon lights and boom of club beats of Patpong’s go go bars. You can even find a lively night market there as well.

The next 2 sex districts, Nana and Soi Cowboy are very close to each other and you can use the Sky Train nearby to get to Patpong easily. A fare only cost B25.

Nana and Soi Cowboy has the most guest friendly hotels and many of them are expensive. there are a few budget ones such as the Woraburi Sukhumvit Hotel and Resort and Swiss Park Hotel. Both charge about B900 to B1200 and includes breakfast. Even better both are very near Nana hotels parking lot, a popular spot where Thai freelance girls and sometimes lady boys stand around. the Nana Hotel cost about B1,400 a night and still worth the price. 

I know most guys want to pay a visit to go go bars but for a cheap man you’ll be paying a lot. Beers and liquor are quite expensive in go go bars these days. A locally brewed Heineken will cost you B120. my suggestion is to go to 7 Eleven store where you can find a liter of cold Heineken for B45, sit outside and oogle at the many beautiful ladies around Nana and Sukhumvit. It’s free to oogle after all. 

Also remember in a go go bar you have to pay a B500 bar fine to take a lady out. For lady boys a bar fine is B600. But there’s still a way for you to meet go go bar girls and not pay a bar fine.

Nana Entertainment Plaza is a go go bar haven, located right across from the Nana Hotel. Every night around 1am to 2am the girls working inside will stream out into the Nana Hotel’s parking lot, which is just right across the street. they do so to make extra money. Since they’re outside of the bar you won’t have to pay a bar fine!

Now freelance ladies and lady boys usually ask for B1,500 for short time (1 hour) and B3,000 to B4,000 for long time (overnight). obviously you don’t want to pay that much. So for instance if you find a lady you like and she’s standing firm on B1,500 for short time, but you only want to pay B1,000. I suggest you tell her if she can’t find a customer she can always come back to your offer of B,1000. it may not work all the time but your patience will reward you with a B500 savings.

Bangkok team Wall Street Warriors increasing their lead over D Pelican Inn Flyers with 0-2 after strong swede Per Erik Erikssons two strong slapshots from the blueline.Video Rating: 0 / 5

» Bangkok’s Red Light Districts – The Cheap Man’s Guide Bangkok Khao San

I am undecided into which business book(s) to buy. There are currently three autobiographies coming out soon:

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson

First Billion is the Hardest: How Believing It's still Early in the Game Can Lead to Life's Greatest Comebacks by T. Boone Pickens

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

Which of the first two autobiographies and Warren's by a ghostwriter should I buy?

Anyone of you have a recommendation for me, or are all three upcoming books worthy of my money?

Ok people here's the deal…?

Since it's beginnings in the 1950's, the stock has never been split like all the others have, so it's today worth almost one hundred and ten thousand dollars a share.

Should this be a model by which all companies should follow?

After all, the more they split, the more we lose sight of what they are trying to put over on the gullible public.

He wants to keep the low money people out. It works too. He gets only the serious type of investor he wants.

dont know the reason exactly but just want to add that if you think the "A" shares are expensive, then you can always buy the "B" shares…..theyre $3600 each.

also, google has never split its stock either….hopefully they'll go to $100K in 20 years too

Gullible,, put over on?? what are you talking about?

Warren buffet is the controlling person of Berkshire Hathaway
He doesn't have to split it if he doesn't want to.

If he was to split the stock, there would be millions of little shareholders that all need dividend cheques to them, and annual general meeting and financial statements.

This is expensive, as It would require a lot more staff in the company as well to handle the additional shareholders.

But you can buy a different stock that tracks the Bershire-Hathaway stock at lower cost, , it works like a index fund on Berkshire hathaway, but I can't remember the name

Why has Warren Buffett never split the stock of Bershire Hathaway?

Recently I have picked up Peter Lynch's "Learn to Earn" book. he talks about a market multiple in the book and does a cross study of Nike and J&J and says that the market multiple was more than what J&J's PE was. Where can I find up to the minute or whatever market multiples? also, Where could I find inflation rates as well. I know that they are based upon the Consumer Price Index but I am not educated enough to figure it out based upon that. Thirdly, since I am in the education stage of stock investing, I would like to know if anybody can recommend a stock market simulator game that doesnt coincide with the real market but is simulated for the sake of learning at a faster pace than waiting for the markets. if I could find a game that does correspond to the markets that would be nice as well. of course I am looking for free games and no money involved. (Just thought I would make that clear) thanks for the info

Market multiple and inflation rates and other…?

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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

Massive government farm subsidies, GMO seeds, Food production enough to feed 20 billion people at any one time. Evidence I got shows the contrary.

Because he is selling something.

(And actually that's usually the reason any time someone says something alarmist that does not really make any sense!)

Jim Rogers is into commodities so he analyzes the trends for instance in the farming or agriculture markets looking at crop yields and prices. I wouldn't bet against Jim Rogers since he's a Billionaire. Evidence can always be contrary. What you should be doing is looking for a way to invest to make money off your evidence or beliefs. good luck and make some money.

Why do people like Jim Rogers think there's a food crisis looming and invest in agriculture?