Stocks on Wall Street

Friday’s Top Reads: Are Companies More Powerful Than Countries?

James — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:00:42 +0000

Good afternoon everyone, hope you all had a great day at work, school, or whatever you occupy your time with! On an even better note, we hope you are all excited for the weekend, TGIF! To make your day even better here’s a list of some of our favorite articles and reads from today. No better way to start off the weekend than kick off your shoes, sit back & relax in your comfy chair & read some great, insightful articles. Hope you enjoy each and everyone of them and please let us know what you thought or which is your personal favorite by leaving a comment below or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter.

Are Companies More Powerful Than Countries? (Time)

Why We Got Ayn Rand Instead of FDR? (AlterNet)

Big Banks Lack Convincing Business Model (American Banker)

IPO’s: From Netscape to Facebook (The Big Picture)

The 10 Things Facebook Got Right Pre-IPO (Entrepreneur)

Cash is Coming, Here’s How to Play It! (CNN Money)

Doug Kass: A Contrarian’s Dream (The Street)

The Anatomy of a Comeback? Charting Obama’s Approval (TPM)

The Man Who Fired Greenspan (Naked Capitalism)

Stephen Colbert’s Winning the Fight Against the Supreme Court (Slate)

Happiness Takes a Little Magic (The Wirecutter)

Super Bowl, Elections, & Stock Prices (The New York Times)

Our Weirdness is Free (Triple Canopy)

1,000 Ways to Become a Twitter Power User (Quick Sprout)

If you can’t access some of the articles it might be because you need to have a subscription, to get a Free-Trial or Subscribe to any of the Top Financial Publications, Simply Click on the Link!

Thursday Morning Reads: Will Emerging Markets Fall Off in 2012?

James — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:44 +0000

Good morning everyone, hope your all having a great start to your day. Again below are a great list of some top articles to help you start your day off right. Read them and let us know what you think either by leaving a comment below or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter.

Will Emerging Markets Fall Off in 2012? (Harvard Blog)

Apple’s BIG Beat (The Big Picture)

George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War (The Daily Beast)

Mitt Romney is in the Top 0.0025% (The Wall Street Journal)

How Do We Identify Good Ideas? (Wired)

On Economists & Psychopaths (TMTGM)

The End of Mutual Funds (CNN Money)

20 Common Sense Investing Rules (Reformed Broker)

Is Facebook Killing Google? No But… (Jeff Matthews)

How Do We Prioritize When Everything Was Important (Life Hacker)

Economists vs Americans (The Wall Street Journal)

The Yin & Yang of Corporate Innovation (The New York Times)

Just Don’t Lose It (Barron’s)

Meet the Marriage Killer (The Wall Street Journal)

Who Own the World’s Financial Assets? (Wall Street Rant)

Wednesday’s Top Reads: How to Play the “Five Big What If’s” of 2012?

James — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:00:31 +0000

How to Play the “Five Big What If’s” of 2012? (The Wall Street Journal)

China’s Labour Force: One Billion & Working (The Economist)

Goldman Sachs: U.S. May Appear Better Than They Are (Bloomberg)

Daniel Drew, Pioneer of the Wall Street Echoes (Bloomberg)

The Keys to the White House (PollyVote)

Did Gingrich’s Win Break the Rules? (The New York Times)

Why American’s Think Their Tax Rates Are High, Why They’re Wrong? (The New York Times)

George Ready to Let the Credits Roll (The New York Times)

Five Ways the Digital Camera Changed Us (BBC News)

The Top 50 Technology Blogs to Watch (The Entrepreneur Blog)

Newt The Early Years (GQ)

The Obama Memos (The New Yorker)

Can a Monkey Pick a Hedge Fund? (MarketWatch)

Greenspan 63′ Essay Foretold Subprime Inaction (Bloomberg)

Will the 2012 Election or Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling Matter to Wall Street Investors?

James — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:46 +0000

I wonder whether the 2012 U.S. presidential election will matter to investors after all is said and done. Sure, there’ll be the usual knee-jerk volatility leading up to the election and in the near-term aftermath. But will the fundamentals really change? I think not.

For all the rhetoric and turmoil, the election of 2012 will leave the U.S. pretty much where it started. We’ll still be stuck in an economic slump, worried about our diminishing status on the world stage and bitterly divided politically. The new president won’t have many tools at his disposal with which to fix things. And, even if he did (alas, there’s no viable ‘She’ on the horizon), he won’t have enough support in a polarized Congress to make much use of them anyway.

I also doubt whether the Supreme Court’s health care ruling will have much sustainable impact beyond a one-time burst/fall of impacted health care related stocks. If the Supreme Court affirms Obamacare, health care costs will continue to rise until no one but the rich can afford it. If it votes down the law, the same thing happens.

It makes you wonder if all the fuss about the 2012 U.S. presidential election is just a moot point. Why will the world be so engrossed for most of next year in worrying about who will get the job?

I just don’t think it will matter to sensible, informed investors.

What will matter to investors?

The only thing that will matter is if government spending can be significantly curtailed and reduced. That, and that alone, is the only viable way to reduce our debt crisis and lead us out of the economic morass. Consider this: Since the 1960’s, the U.S. population grew 50% while government spending rocketed 500%! That says it all.

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Tuesday Morning Reads: Market as Undervalued Today as in 1900

James — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:00:48 +0000

Market as Undervalued Today as in 1900 (MarketWatch)

The Economic Lessons the World Can Teach Us (The Washington Post)

U.S. Online Advertising to Surpass Print in 2012 (eMarketer)

How the Fed Can Prevent the Next Financial Crisis (The Fiscal Times)

China is 175.6% Dependent on the U.S. (Forbes)

Free Market Socialism (The New York Times)

The Secrets Apple Keeps (Fortune Tech)

Horse Race Politics Animation of Republican Nomination (Slate)

The Power Broker (The New York Times)

The Gusts of Gingrich (The New York Times)

The Greatest Running Shoe Never Sold (BusinessWeek)

Tom Bissell on the Making of Madden (Grantland)

13 Signs of a Bull Market (Ivanhoe Capital)

Newt Gingrich a Vote For (The Economist)

It’s a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World (The Independent)

Sorry for the Technical Difficulties

James — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:14:25 +0000

To All Our Readers,

Thanks for your longed support, we apologize for the technical difficulties taking place this weekend with Stocks on Wall Street being down from early Saturday morning till late that night. We are currently switching servers and hadn’t anticipated any problems however switching over caused the site to temporarily go down. We have everything now worked out and this new server will allow us to offer more amenities to you as readers and allow for no more technical difficulties going forward. Thanks again for all your support!

Sincerely,

James Hartje
CEO of Stocks on Wall Street

Tuesday Morning Reads: The 13-Year Old Who Built Your iPhone

James — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:00:04 +0000

The 13-Year Old Who Built Your iPhone (MSNBC)

Kass: Where I Stand Now (2012 Edition) (The Street)

Bulls Best Friend (The New York Magazine)

Steve Ballmer Reboots (BusinessWeek)

Top Economists of 2011 (The Making of an Economist)

The Mystery Woman Behind the Murdoch Mess (Vanity Fair)

Inside Baseball (The New York Review of Books)

Making it in America (The Atlantic)

Addiction to Prediction (Process Maximus)

How Many Stephen Colberts Are There? (The New York Times)

A World Without China (Huffington Post)

Mister, I Don’t Sell to Fish (Interloper)

Credit Card Firms: They Don’t Just Steal from Cardholders (Rolling Stone)

Did This Man Really Cut Michael Jordan? (Sports Illustrated)

Ten All New Management Terms for 2012 (Macro Man)

Soon, $1,000 Will Map Your Genes (The Wall Street Journal)

Google Maps: Designing the Modern Atlas (Core77)

If you can’t access some of the articles it might be because you need to have a subscription, to get a Free-Trial or Subscribe to any of the Top Financial Publications, Simply Click on the Link

Diversify Your Money by Going Offshore: Escape the Biggest Threats to Your Wealth

James — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:39:00 +0000

Heading into 2012 many people are determining what is the best way to diversify their portfolio and build true wealth. While nothing is a sure thing we have come to the conclusion that your odd’s are a lot better if you Go Offshore!

Go Offshore to Escape the Biggest Threats to Your Wealth

We often hear people talk about diversifying their portfolios only to discover that what they mean is just diversification among shares of American companies or among real estate investments within the U.S.

The time has come for financially astute Americans to go offshore to escape the biggest threats to your wealth.

Many Americans has already seen their nest eggs shrink, the value of their homes fall and their investment portfolios lose half their worth or more.

The really bad news is that there’s more hardship to come. An ever-mounting deficit, dysfunctional government and presidential election politics will almost certainly lead to new tax legislation – higher taxes.

It’s not just your finances that are at risk. Under the Democratic Congress a few years ago, crazy new laws were passed below the radar to restrict and control the foreign investment activities of U.S. citizens. This means that the more assets you have in the U.S. the less control you will have over them.

So, if you really want to protect your wealth in the future, you need to consider a financial strategy of going offshore for at least part of your assets. This is an approach whose time has come.

You Don’t Have to Be a Millionaire to Benefit from Going Offshore

Diversifying your portfolio into foreign investments, foreign real estate and foreign currency is probably the most common approach for most American investors. However, going offshore can also involve moving assets, your business, your banking – or even yourself – to a safe haven . . . to a place where it’s harder for anyone to lay claim to what you’ve got.

Going offshore isn’t anything as cloak-and-dagger or glamorous as it may sound. It’s simply about legally defending what’s yours in a way that makes it more difficult for creditors to attack. Offshore strategies include trusts, foundations, international life insurance and owning a foreign bank account, to name a few. These are all legal ways to build a wall around your assets.

You don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to benefit from going offshore. You can start by simply opening a bank account in a haven that offers true banking secrecy.

Your wealth is affected by all sorts of things that often you feel you have no control over. However, by going offshore, you get to hold on to more of your assets, to protect them so they grow safely, even tax-free.

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The Poor Need to Get Over Their Envy of the Rich and Stop Demonizing Financial Success!

James — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:03:03 +0000

The Obama Administration’s class warfare rhetoric and reliance on massive wealth redistribution will only serve to hurt the very people they seek to help. Throughout history, the economic engine for successful economies has always comprised those at the very top of the income scale. History is littered with examples of the imperial rich exploiting the huddled masses. But in 21st-century America, most of those extreme historical iniquities have been mollified by modern labor laws and other civil remedies. We have plenty of laws already to ensure that almost any injustice can eventually be remedied. The challenge is to enforce them. Sure, things aren’t perfect and there’s still a lot of inequity. And, yes, there’s still plenty of corporate greed — think 2008 financial meltdown. But there is far more economic justice today and more economic opportunity for far more people than ever before in history.

So, I say: Stop demonizing financial success! Class warfare only exacerbates social unrest and does nothing the help anyone. Let’s shift the dialogue to how personal initiative and personal accountability can help anyone improve their financial status, no matter where they’re starting from.

The message needs to be: “Get over the envy of those more successful than you. Live within your means. Economic equality is a utopian drug dispensed by the liberal establishment to foment discontent, exploit fears for the purpose of concentrating more power with politicians. Get off your butt and improve your lot in life. Stop expecting big government to subsidize you. Stop expecting entitlements and handouts.”

That’s how you build an economy. That’s how you help those in most need.

Higher taxes on the most wealthy rarely yield additional revenue over time. Those at the top of the income pyramid — the economic engine of any economy — are the only ones investing back into the economy or driving economic growth. The masses, those lower on the socio-economic scale do not create jobs — the rich do. Punitive taxes on the top 20% of earners who already pay 80%+ of all taxes only constrains economic growth. The wealthy can legitimately avoid paying more tax via their asset mobility and reliance on investment income and that’s why taxing the rich too far never, never works. The unintended consequence is always a higher tax burden on the middle class and fewer resources to redistribute to lower income groups.

“Anything you tax, you get less of. Fact of life.” – William Dunkenberg, Chief Economist, National Federation of Independent Business.

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Tuesday’s Top Reads: The 2012 Investment Guide

James — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:03:31 +0000

The 2012 Investment Guide (Forbes)

Apocalypse How? Dire 2012 Forecasts (Bloomberg)

How to Profit From Analysts Stock Recommendations (The Wall Street Journal)

Seven Principles for Arguing with Economists (Noahpinion)

The 50 Most Influential Management Gurus (Harvard Business Review)

Krugman vs Summers: The Debate (Bloomberg)

The Dollar that Keeps it’s Value (The Forbes)

The Key to Long-Term Dominance? (Co. Design)

The Wrong Guy (5By5)

These May be the Droids Farmers are Looking For (Wired)

The Inefficiency of Local Food (Freakonomics)

Magnificent Visions (Vanity Fair)

Listen Up Class, Here’s How to Profit (Barrons)

The Bain’s Bomb: Inside Guide to Bain Capital (The New Yorker)

If you can’t access some of the articles it might be because you need to have a subscription, to get a Free-Trial or Subscribe to any of the Top Financial Publications, Simply Click on the Link

Stocks on Wall Street’s Back Bigger & Better

James — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:26:59 +0000

To All Our Readers,

We want to thank you for all your support over the past three years. We appreciate each and every one of you and want to thank you for everything you’ve done! Over the past month Stocks on Wall Street has been making some big changes and transitions that will help us grow both bigger and stronger throughout the next couple years. In the end, this will all benefit you the readers as we will be offering more amenities and extras to bolster the website overall. Lookout for some big changes coming up throughout the start of the new year and stay tuned!

Sincerely,

The Stocks on Wall Street Team

Merry Christmas from Stocks on Wall Street

James — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 08:22:10 +0000

Merry Christmas

Stocks on Wall Street Wants to Wish You a Merry Christmas & Hope You Have the Best of Times with Family & Friends!!!

Stocks on Wall Street Interview on the Financial Bin

James — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:04:04 +0000

Today at 4 PM our main writer and founder, James Hartje, will be getting interviewed by David Domzalski, one of the head writers for the Financial Bin. For those who don’t know, the Financial Bin is one of the prominent, main stream financial news sites out there. The Financial Bin prides itself on it’s tagline “Helping Main Street Help Themselves!” The interview and podcast will be quite entertaining so everyone should definitely tune in. We will be discussing everything from what the investment outlook for 2012 looks like, will we ever see a Facebook IPO, what’s up with Europe, top stock picks of 2011, and much much more. Stay tuned for more details about how to listen in!

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Will the 2012 Election or Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling Matter to Investors?

James — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:06:02 +0000

It makes you wonder if all the fuss about the 2012 U.S. presidential election is just a moot point. Why will the world be so engrossed for most of next year in worrying about who will get the job?

I just don’t think it will matter to sensible, informed investors.

What will matter to investors?

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Are You a Taker or a Maker?

James — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:00:53 +0000

Economics always trumps ‘patriotism’. U.S. is at a critical tipping point (CA already beyond it!) & another 4 yrs of this Marxist redistribution/class warfare b.s. will likely make the U.S. unfixable. The exodus has already begun for significant numbers of Americans and will only accelerate. For me, it boils down to a simple question for everyone: Are you a Taker or a Maker? Sadly, the majority of Americans are now misguided Takers or aspire to be one. Think about it, which one are you?

Are You a Taker or a Maker?

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Are Chinese Stocks Set to Pop?

James — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:00:09 +0000

Chinese stocks may soon begin to outperform the global benchmark. China has begun to ease monetary policy, which has historically benefited Chinese stocks. That’s the view posed in Charles Schwab’s December 2, 2011 ‘Market Insight Alert’ by Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist, Brand Sorensen, CFA and Michelle Gibley, CFA. Here’s an excerpt:

China makes a proactive move

While a recession in Europe is more a question of “how steep” rather than “if,” we are less concerned about a hard landing in China. Growth in China is slowing and China’s exports in September and October have already been hurt by the slowdown in Europe. Additional pressure on the Chinese economy has come in the form of reduced access to credit and the reduction of infrastructure spending. Lastly, while housing sales have dropped off, construction has continued, but we expect this to wane in the future.

However, there are still ways China’s growth will be supported in the future:

Exports to Europe represent only 5% of China’s nominal GDP; about the same as exports to the United States, where growth appears to be stronger.
China’s wage increases have resulted in its consumers continuing to spend and travel.
Affordable housing construction is a high priority Chinese government project.
Targeted stimulus measures have begun, including tax cuts and eased credit access for small businesses; as well as hints of another round of infrastructure spending, likely targeted at the underdeveloped inland provinces.

The most significant signal for a return to growth in China was the easing of the required reserve ratio for banks at the end of November. This is a sharp turnaround from a prior focus on inflation, with the reduction in both commodity prices and global economic growth estimates giving the Chinese central bank the leeway to ease monetary policy. As a result, the lending freeze is likely to thaw; and while near-term growth will continue its downward momentum, it will provide a stimulus for future growth.

Significantly for investors, Chinese stocks tend to move in anticipation of policy moves. Chinese stocks have underperformed other global markets since late 2009 in anticipation of tighter financial conditions, but have recently moved sideways, believing tightening would not continue. Now that policymakers have made a decisive move, it is possible Chinese stocks could begin to outperform the global benchmark. Read “China Fear is a Potential Opportunity” for more.

Chinese Stocks Tend to Outperform When Policy is about to Ease

Source: FactSet, Shanghai Stock Exchange, People’s Bank of China. As of Nov. 29, 2011. * Indexed to 100 as of January 1, 2008. A larger/smaller number above 1 denotes greater outperformance / underperformance of the Shanghai Composite Index relative to the MSCI EAFE Index.

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Part 4: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

James — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:00:34 +0000

Here is the last part to our Four Part Series, if you missed any of the first three then simply click on the links below:

Part 1: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

Part 2: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

Part 3: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

Sir John Templeton is one of the investment gurus of our time and is regarded as the founding father of overseas investing. Templeton lived by a set of 16 investment rules that provide one of the best roadmaps I know to becoming an emerging markets millionaire and enjoying international investing success.

As national economies have become more integrated and interdependent, as communication has become easier and cheaper, business has boomed in emerging markets around the globe. Trade and travel is growing. Wealth is increasing. Large consumer economies are emerging. This is especially true in the big developing economies of China, India and Brazil – not to mention other emerging stars like Turkey or Vietnam. And stock prices should rise accordingly.

Good luck and good investing in 2011!

Here’s Part IV of my four-part series, recapping Templeton’s 16 Investment Rules N^o.13 through N^o.16:

N^o. 13: Outperforming the market is a difficult task
There are thousands of highly paid investing experts out there. Each one is trying to beat the overall market. But it’s mathematically impossible for everyone to outperform the market. Remember, the unmanaged market indexes such as the S&P 500 don’t pay commissions to buy and sell stock. They don’t pay salaries to securities analysts or portfolio managers. And, unlike the unmanaged indexes, investment companies are never 100% invested, because they need to have cash on hand to redeem shares. So, any investment company that consistently outperforms the market is actually doing a much better job than you might think. And if it consistently outperforms the market, but does so by a significant degree, it is doing a superb job.

N^o. 14: An investor who has all the answers doesn’t even understand the questions
There are no 100% certainties in the investing game. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is deluded. Successful investors constantly reevaluate their assumptions and seek answers to new questions. Everything is in a constant state of change, and the wise investor recognizes that success is a process of continually seeking answers to new questions.

N^o. 15: There’s no free lunch
Templeton believed this was true in life as in investing. He said you should never invest on sentiment, never invest in an initial public offering (IPO) to ‘save’ the commission. That commission is built into the price of the stock – a reason why most new stocks decline in value after the offer. However, this does not mean you should never by an IPO. Never invest solely on a tip. Nevertheless, too many investors do exactly this.

N^o. 16: Do not be fearful or negative too often
Over the past 100 years, investment optimists have beaten investment pessimists by a wide margin. That’s because the average bull market gain is much higher than the average bear market loss. Optimism isn’t always easy. But it can pay off big time. Over time, stocks do go up…and up.

Hope you all enjoyed the Four Part Series, please leave a comment below and let us know what you thought!

Part 3: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

James — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Continuing our Four Part Series on the 16 Rules to International Investing Success, here is the third part. If you missed either of the first two simply click on the links below:

Part 1: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

Part 2: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

Legendary investment icon, Sir John Templeton lived by a set of 16 investment rules. Together, his 16 rules make up one of the best roadmaps I know to becoming an emerging markets millionaire and enjoying international investing success. Templeton’s basic philosophy for building wealth by investing in stocks still holds true. It’s still, “Buy low, sell high”

Here’s Part III of my four-part series, recapping Templeton’s 16 Investment Rules N^o.9 through N^o.12:

N^o. 9: Aggressively monitor your investments
The big takeaway here is that no investment is forever. Economic circumstances change. Business models change. Bull markets turn to bear markets. If you want to hold on to your money, you need to constantly evaluate your portfolio. That’s not to say you should be trading in and out of the market on a hair trigger. You just want to make sure you’re not complacent.
N^o. 10: Don’t panic
Sometimes you won’t have sold when everyone else is buying, and you’ll be caught in a market crash like we had in 2008. During the course of your investing career, the market will correct. Stocks will fall. This doesn’t matter. What counts is how you react. When everyone else is panicking, successful investors calmly look over their holdings and think: “I wanted to own this stock before it crashed. Has anything changed now that it’s cheaper?” If you’ve done your research, chances are nothing has changed. Panicky markets just put the stock “on sale” – creating an even better buying opportunity.

N^o. 11: Learn from your mistakes
Learning from your mistakes is the only way to become a better investor. Figure out what went wrong. And learn from it. Stay away from advisers who tell you “this time it’s different.” These are the four most costly words in investing! The big difference between those who are successful and those who are not is that successful people learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others.
N^o. 12: Begin with a prayer
The Presbyterian Church played an important role in Templeton’s life and career. He believed that “if you begin with a prayer, you can think more clearly and make fewer mistakes.” You don’t have to be a Christian to follow Templeton’s advice. You just have to find some calm in your day. This will help you focus on what’s really important.

Tune in tomorrow to read the final part to our Four Part Series laying out the 16 Rules to International Investing Success according to Sir John Templeton.

Looking for a Top Financial Publication? Here are the Top Subscriptions You Need to Own

James — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:42 +0000

Whether or not you are an advanced trader or a beginner, one thing you should always have is a good set of publications to rely on for up to date information, strong analysis, market-timing advice, etc. The problem is there are so many different publications out there to choose from it’s hard to decide which one to pick. Luckily we have made your job easy as below we have outlined for you the top online financial publications all of which you should subscribe to. If you have any questions never resist to Contact Us:

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is the most respected source for news and business information. The Wall Street Journal is easily the world’s leading business publication!

The Wall Street Journal is by far the online leader when it comes to business. They offer everything one needs to keep up to date with the world of business. They have been so successful and world renowned that they have launched several other publications on the side, most notably MarketWatch, Barron’s, and Smart Money all of which we highly recommend and go into further detail below.

Ever since we first became interested in finance we have read the Journal. It is what most likely sparked our deep interest and passion. There’s not a day that passes by in which we don’t checkout The Wall Street Journal. They make it too easy not to, we have the daily paper delivered to our office, the website bookmarked on all our computers, and even the iPhone app. What we like most about the journal is it’s very informative and it’s up-to-date content. They have so many diverse writers and categories there is something for everyone to enjoy. They offer great insight and analysis into the world of finance along with strong opinative arguments

We throughly recommend that you check it out, unfortunately the only way to read the Journal is by becoming a subscriber. However, like most things if it’s good, it’s going to cost you. Luckily the journal is economically priced and very reasonable. Right now they have some amazing deals, for instance you can get a yearly subscription for both Print & Online for $99! Plus right now they are giving away a Free 4-Week Trial to show you how good it really is. The dual package is great especially if you are one who loves to read the morning newspaper. However if you are to pick just one we would go with the Online Service as you get unlimited access to all the Wall Street Journal has to offer. The best offer however is the dual package, we would recommend you purchase that. So stop sitting around reading bad articles on Yahoo Finance and step your game up with a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. To take advantage of the 4-Week Trial plus 75% off Yearly Subscriptions of the Wall Street Journal, Simply Click on the Link Below!

Get The Wall Street Journal for 75% off Plus Receive a Free 4-Week Trial!

MarketWatch

MarketWatch operates a financial information website that provides business news, analysis and stock market data to over 6 million people. MarketWatch offers personal finance news and advice, tools for investors and access to industry research.

They are an affiliate to both the Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. We are avid fans and readers of MarketWatch as we believe their writers have a great grasp of the markets and give intuitive and analytical research word by word. The articles are always very informative and quite beneficial if you invest or trade regularly while at the same time don’t come off like textbook writing, they are both compelling and interesting keeping you tuned in from start to finish. As we have said, they are one of our favorite publications and are one of the industry leaders.

The cost of the subscription is relatively cheap compared to its peers and what you are getting back in return. In fact, currently MarketWatch is giving a FREE 30-Day TRIAL to see if you like what they have to offer. We guarantee if you test it out and sign-up for the 30-Day Free Trial you will be getting either a monthly or yearly subscription shortly after. It’s that good! To sign-up and take advantage of the Free 30-Day Trial of MarketWatch’s Investment Newsletters, Simply Click on the Link Below!

Sign-Up Now & Receive a Free 30 Day Trial of MarketWatch’s Investment Newsletters

Barron’s Magazine

Barron’s is an American weekly newspaper covering U.S. financial information, market developments, and relevant statistics. They are America’s premier financial magazine providing in-depth analysis and commentary on the markets.

Barron’s is a daily updated website & newsletter. Each issue provides a wrap-up of the previous week’s market activity, news reports, and an informative outlook on the week to come. Like MarketWatch, Barron’s is an affiliate of the Wall Street Journal and is one of the top publications out there.

If you have a passion for the financial markets and trade/invest yourself then Barron’s is the perfect publication for you. They deliver quality content and in-depth analysis giving you an upper-edge on the markets. The subscription costs are minimal especially for what you receive so make the jump and sign-up. Plus right now Barron’s is offering a Four-Week Free Trial. Now there is no reason not to test it out. To sign-up and take advantage of the Free 4-Week Trial of Barron’s Magazine, Simply Click on the Link Below!

Sign-Up Now & Receive Four Free Weeks of Barron’s Print and Online Magazine

SmartMoney

SmartMoney offers personal finance and investing analysis, advice and tools to help you make smart decisions with your money. They are one of the premier financial publications with over a million subscribers and are an affiliate to both the Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal.

SmartMoney is a regularly updated magazine and it is mostly know or considered to be the Magazine of Personal Business & Finance for the Wall Street Journal. The magazine is targeted towards affluent professional and managerial business people needing personal finance information. SmartMoney usually talks about ideas for saving, investing, and spending, as well as coverage of technology, automotive, and lifestyle subjects including travel, fashion, wine, music, and food. They are a very entertaining yet informative read.

This subscription is geared more to the long-term investor and males and females age 40 and up. Currently they are offering up to 87% off your subscription so take a look and if you wish to take advantage of this great offer, Simply Click on the Link Below!

Get 87% Off Your SmartMoney Subscription

The Financial Times

The Financial Times Newspaper provides the world’s most influential business newspaper, offering its readers a unique perspective on world business news. Along with 200 exclusive annual FT Special Reports, the newspaper is delivered Monday – Saturday in both Online and Print format.

The Financial Times is one of the great online & print publications out there. It is very similar to the Wall Street Journal but has a different spin on macro-economic events along with very different perspectives. It will give you the latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis. We believe it is a must read for anyone who’s intrigued or engaged within the business world. It also is very geared towards Europe giving you an upper advantage on staying up to date with what’s going on over there.

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Part 2: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

James — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:00:42 +0000

For those of you who missed the first part to our Four Part Series on the 16 Rules to International Investing Success then click on the link to read it. Moving on here is the second part, enjoy!

Legendary investor, Sir John Templeton – who died at the age of 95 in 2008 – is the most successful overseas investor ever to have lived. He had one of the longest and most successfulinvestment records of all times. He was also a trailblazer. He was one of the earliest investors in post-war Japan…and one of the first investors to sell Japanese stocks in the mid-1980s (before the real estate bubble burst there in 1989).

Some emerging market investors pride themselves on their gung-ho attitude. And they rarely stop to think about what they’re doing. But it’s critical that we learn from the past. As Templeton put it: “The four most dangerous words in the world are, ‘this time it’s different’.”

Here’s Part II of my four-part series, recapping Templeton’s 16 Investment Rules N^o.5 through N^o.8:

N^o. 5: Search for bargains among ‘quality’ stocks
It’s not enough to just buy cheap stocks. You need to buy cheap quality stocks. According to Templeton, “Quality is a company strongly entrenched as the sales leader in a growing market. Quality is a company that’s the technological leader in a field that depends on technical innovation. Quality is a strong management team with a proven track record. Quality is a well-capitalized company that is among the first into a new market. Quality is a well-known trusted brand for a high-profit-margin consumer product.” Think Apple!

N^o. 6: Buy value – not market trends or economic outlook
Templeton believed in the principles of value investing. This means always looking for stocks or ETFs that are “out of favor” with the market. A good way to spot value is to look for stocks — or stock markets — with low P/E ratios. Individual stocks can rise in a bear market and fall in a bull market. The stock market and the economy do not always march in lock step. So buy individual stocks, not the market trend or economic outlook.

N^o. 7: Always diversify
You’ve probably heard this before, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Diversification is a smart strategy for every investor. So you diversify – by industry, by risk and by country. If you search worldwide, you’ll find more bargains – and possibly better bargains – than in any single nation.

N^o. 8: Do your homework or hire wise experts to help you
Before you place a single dollar in the market, it’s absolutely necessary you investigate thoroughly. Make sure you understand the macro forces acting on your investments. Pour over company balance sheets. Read shareholder letters. Understand exactly what a company does and what’s made it so successful in the past. If you don’t understand what you’re investing in – don’t invest! Remember, in most instances, you’re buying either earnings or assets.

Tune in tomorrow to read the third part to our Four Part Series laying out the 16 Rules to International Investing Success according to Sir John Templeton.

Part 1: 16 Rules to International Investing Success

James — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:01:14 +0000

Sir John Templeton is one of the investment gurus of our time and is regarded as the founding father of overseas investing. Templeton amassed a fortune by investing in overseas markets and his Templeton Mutual Funds (now Franklin Templeton Funds) produced an annualized return of 13.8% (compared to just 11.1% on the S&P), causing Money magazine to dub him “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.”

Templeton lived by a set of 16 rules. If you want to have international investing success, you’d be smart to follow these rules, too. Over the next few days, I’ll recap Templeton’s 16 investment rules in a four-part series. Here’s Part I, recapping Templeton’s Investment Rules N^o.1 through N^o.4:

N^o. 1: Invest for maximum total ‘real’ return
This means the ROI after taxes and after inflation. These fees add up. So smart investors plan ahead to protect their investments. One of the biggest mistakes people make is putting too much money into fixed-income securities. As we enter a new era of higher inflation and higher taxes, this advice is more important today than it’s ever been.

N^o. 2: Invest – don’t trade or speculate
Don’t think of investing as short-term gambling. Rather, patiently invest for the long haul to avoid seeing your profits eaten up by broker commissions and other emotion-driven mistakes.

N^o. 3: Remain flexible & open-minded about types of investments
Don’t get hung up on just stocks or bonds. Many different types of investment vehicles are available. And each could have a place in your portfolio given the right circumstances. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) weren’t around in Templeton’s day. But these are great, low-cost ways of investing in overseas markets.

N^o. 4: Buy low
Easier said than done. This is the fundamental part of Templeton’s investing success. He believed you should “invest at the point of maximum pessimism.” This is when an investment was dirt-cheap and no one wanted it. When prices are high, a lot of investors buy a lot of stocks. It’s very difficult to go against the crowd – to buy when everyone else is selling or has sold, to buy when things look the darkest and so many experts tell you that stocks are risky right now. The pioneer of stock analysis, Benjamin Graham said, “Buy when most people…including experts…are pessimistic, and sell when they are actively optimistic.” Bernard Baruch, was even more succinct: “Never follow the crowd.”

Tune in tomorrow to read the second part to our Four Part Series laying out the 16 Rules to International Investing Success according to Sir John Templeton.

1,000th Article for Stocks on Wall Street

James — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:00:46 +0000

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time, nice break to spend time with family and friends. Today marks a historic day for Stocks on Wall Street. It is our 1,000th article of all-time a milestone we are very proud to of achieved. Took a little over 2 and a half years however we expect the next 1,000 articles to go a lot quicker. We have lots of great content lined up along with some great stock picks and exciting new changes for the site so stay tuned and follow along!

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Investment Advice from John Templeton: Investment Ideas from Beyond America’s Borders

James — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:00:47 +0000

Throughout 2011 & 2012 we will continue to bring you new investment ideas from beyond America’s borders. We specifically wanted to share with you some advice handed down from our founding father of overseas investing and legendary investor, Sir John Templeton. He summed up his approach by reminding us of Will Rogers’ famous investment advice.

“Don’t gamble,” he said. “Buy some good stock. Hold it till it goes up…and then sell it. It if doesn’t go up, don’t buy it!”

Templeton had a simple belief that success in the stock market is based on the principle of buying low and selling high. Granted, you can make money by reversing the order – selling high and then buying low. And there is money to be made in things like derivatives, options and futures. But, by and large, he believed these are techniques for traders and speculators, not for investors.

In 1954, Templeton had a big idea: look beyond America’s borders for investing riches. This wasn’t exactly common at the time. After graduating from Yale, he was amazed that Americans hardly ever invested abroad. For a long time, he believed, it was almost considered unpatriotic for an American to buy foreign securities.

Over the next 50 years, Templeton amassed a small fortune by investing in overseas markets – eventually becoming a billionaire. And his Templeton Mutual Funds (now the Franklin Templeton Funds) produced an annualized return of 13.8% (compared to just 11.1% on the S&P), causing Money magazine to dub him “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.”

So How’d He Do It?

Templeton considered himself a “bargain hunter.” Always a contrarian, he looked for “companies around the world that offered low prices and an excellent long-term outlook.”

Sir John Templeton’s core investment advice is even more relevant today. Anyone who follows Stocks on Wall Street knows I’m an avid supporter of emerging markets and international equities.

Continue to follow Stocks on Wall Street for more exciting new investment ideas from beyond America’s borders.

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World’s Richest People of All-Time: 1-10

James — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:00:45 +0000

Adding on to yesterday’s article finishing off the list, here are the Top 10 Richest People of All-Time:

1. John D. Rockefeller Fortune: $336 billion

Source of wealth: He founded Standard Oil in 1870, at the age of 31, and bought up most of the oil refineries in the United States, eventually controlling about 90% of the American oil business.

2. Andrew Carnegie Fortune: $309 billion

Source of wealth: Carnegie invested in the steel business when the market was booming, eventually ending up at the head of the U.S. Steel empire.

3. William the Conquer Peak fortune: $209 billion

Source of wealth: Was called William the Bastard until he led the last successful foreign invasion of England in 1066. Although he became a monarch, we’re counting the spoils of war before he took the throne, based on what he gave out to his sons Odo and Robert.

4. Cornelius Vanderbilt Fortune: $185 billion

Source of wealth: In 1862, he began to buy railroad lines. Although already 70 years old, his wealth mostly comes from this business of the 19th century. Prior to that, he was known as a cold-blooded steam-boat entrepreneur.

5. Alan Rufus Fortune: $149 billion

Source of wealth: A Norman who joined William The Conqueror in the invasion of Britain in the 11th century, Alan “The Red” had 250,000 acres of land from Yorkshire to London. He also owned Richmond Castle in North Yorkshire, which, for the time, was considered very comfortable.

6. Bill Gates Peak fortune: $136 billion

Source of wealth: Founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. He held onto shares as Microsoft dominated the age of computers, peaking in personal wealth at the top of the Dot Com Bubble.

7. William de Warenne Peak fortune: $134 billion

Source of wealth: Originally from Normandy, William I de Warenne participated in the battle of Hastings and was rewarded with properties in Sussex, Northfolk and Yorkshire. He became the first Earl of Surrey.

8. John Jacob Aster Peak fortune: $121 billion

Source of wealth: A successful fur trader, he established a near monopoly within the U.S. by around 1800. He subsequently switched trades and went on to investing in real estate, focusing on New York City.

9. Richard Fitzalan 10th Earl of ArundelPeak fortune: $108 billion

Source of wealth: The Earl of Arundel and quite the military leader. He fought in the Scottish Independence wars and in the Hundred Years’ War. Subsequent Earls of Arundel — his sons — would make this list, but we’re only counting that money once.

10. Stephen Girard Peak fortune: $105 billion

Source of wealth: Successful in the shipping trade, he was a French-born American merchant who went into the banking business later in his life, owning a bank that was called “Girard’s Bank”.

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World’s Richest People of All-Time: 11-20

James — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:00:11 +0000

Ever wonder who are the richest people of all-time? Well we have comprised the list, obviously adjusted to historical inflation rates. Here is the ten richest people of all-time, numbers 11-20. Check back tomorrow to find out who made the Top 10!

11. John of Gaunt Peak fortune: $101 billion

Source of wealth: Richard II’s regent during much of the latter’s rule and the father of Henry Bolingbroke (who would eventually come back from exile to depose Richard and take the English throne into his hands). One of Shakespeare’s meekest characters.

12. A.T. Stewart Peak fortune: $88.9 billion

Source of wealth: An American entrepreneur, he founded the first department store in lower Manhattan and subsequently expanded his retail business.

13. Frederick Weyerhaeuser Peak fortune: $79.4 billion

Source of wealth: He founded Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the biggest timber companies in the United States, after he arrived to America from Germany in the 19th century.

14. Henry Duke of Lancaster Peak fortune: $77.5 billion

Source of wealth: English diplomat, noble, soldier, and founding member of the Order of the Garter.. He is remembered today for his peace talks with France and for being a patron of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

15. Carlos Slim Peak fortune: $74.5 billion

Source of wealth: Many. He is most famous, however, for having big holdings in major telecom companies, especially America Movil, one of the largest corporations in Latin America.

16. Jay Gould Peak fortune: $71.2

Source of wealth: Railroad baron and gold speculator, Jay Gould masterminded the 19th century transportation boom in America. He and financier James Fisk also bought up a dominating share of the gold market at the time – enough to directly affect market movements during Gould’s lifetime.

17. Stephen Van Rensselaer Peak fortune: $68.5

Source of wealth: Major of the US Militia and member of the New York State Assembly, Rensselaer was also heir to one of the most well-endowed estates in the US. He founded the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a portion of his wealth.

18. Marshall Field Peak fortune: $66.1 billion

Source of wealth: He started the retail store chain Marshall Field and Co. in Chicago during the Civil War.

19. Sam Walton Peak fortune: $64.5 billion

Source of wealth: Founded Walmart in 1962 and lived a famously humble life. As Walmart keeps growing, Walton’s four children have individual fortunes around $20 billion each.

20. Warren Buffett Peak fortune: $63.9 billion

Source of wealth: Investments. The Oracle of Omaha joined Berkshire Hathaway as chairman in 1970 and hasn’t looked back. He has pledged to give away 99 percent of his money.

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The Poor Need to Get Over Their Envy of the Rich & Stop Demonizing Financial Success!

James — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:00:44 +0000

That’s how you build an economy. That’s how you help those in most need.

“Anything you tax, you get less of. Fact of life.” – William Dunkenberg, Chief Economist, National Federation of Independent Business.

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Happy Thanksgiving from Stocks on Wall Street

James — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:00:18 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Hope you are grateful for great food, family, and friends!

Top Ten Greatest Trades Of All-Time

James — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:00:38 +0000

International Business Times recently listed the 10 greatest trades of all time. Whether they were lucky or brilliant – or a combination of both – these folks made a bundle of money from their best trades. Here they are:

1. John Paulson’s bet against sub prime mortgages (this trade made him $15 billion in 2007).

2. Jesse Livermore’s call on the Crash of 1929 (a legendary trader featured in the popular book, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator).

3. John Templeton’s foray into Japan in the 1960s (a true investment pioneer, Templeton foresaw the rise of Japan after World War II and profited hugely from it).

4. George Soros’ breaking of the Bank of England in 1992 (Soros made $1 billion).

5. Paul Tudor Jones’ shorting of Black Monday in October 1987 (he predicted the crash, bet a bundle & tripled his money as the market crashed 22% in one day).

6. Andrew Hall’s $100 oil prediction (with oil trading at $30 per barrel in 2003, Hall bet prices would rise to $100 in 5 years; they did and he took home a personal paycheck of $100 million in 2008).

7. David Tepper’s 2009 bet on financials (as the market hit its low in early 2009, Tepper bought financial services stocks & his fund earned $7 billion that year – $4 billion of that went to Tepper).

8. Jim Chanos’ prescient shorts (his sharp analysis led him to predict the demise of Enron, WorldCom, and other firms, and he is known as the best short-seller in the world).

9. Jim Rogers’ early call on commodities (he was bullish on commodities back in the 1990s & has been riding them to great profits ever since).

10. Louis Bacon’s geopolitical play (he correctly predicted that Saddam Hussein would invade Kuwait in 1990 & profited handsomely by going long on oil & shorting stocks, which helped his fund return 86% that year).

Most of these trades were ‘global macro’ plays where huge, concentrated bets were made by analyzing fundamental economic/business conditions. These investors excelled at turning a great observation about the world into a great investing idea. But, while these make the headlines, you never hear about the other investors who made a big call and missed, and ended up out of business.

It’s almost impossible for regular investor folks to make a ‘big score’ like these traders. Rather than trying to throw a touchdown pass on every play and make a big score like these traders, the smarter game plan is to focus on trying to get consistent first downs. Do your homework, watch market/sector developments, don’t chase stocks up or down. Do that, and the score may take care of itself.

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Three of the Biggest Risks to Your Wealth Today

James — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:00:07 +0000

Here are three of the biggest risks to your wealth today and how you can exert more control over each one and enjoy more of what’s yours.

Risk #1: Currency Fluctuation. The U.S. dollar has taken a real beating this past year and is expected to stay down over the long term. Having all of your assets in U.S. dollars (or any single currency) is not sound financial planning. You don’t have a diversified portfolio if all your assets are in one currency. By going offshore and holding portions of your assets in other currencies, you are truly diversifying and protecting yourself from the ups and downs of one currency. Currency

Investing in currencies on your own, without an ETF, can be difficult. Most retail investors are better off with currency ETFs (exchange-traded funds) which track a single foreign currency or basket of currencies by using foreign cash deposits or futures contracts. Currency ETF’s allow investors to speculate in the currency market without the risk of investing directly in currencies and without entering the forex market. Some of the most popular currency ETFs are offered by Wisdom Tree Dreyfus, Rydex, PowerShares, Market Vector and Barclays. But you need to do your homework before diving in.

Risk #2: Rising Taxes. Beginning Jan. 1, 2013, all American citizens will experience significant tax increases, many in the form of hidden taxes and fees. At the same time, U.S. citizens with foreign bank accounts may pay a withholding tax of 30% on transfers of funds to and from these accounts (a provision of the recently amended and little-known HIRE Act). So, if you run your own business, it makes great sense right now to think about moving your business to a more tax-friendly environment offshore. Or, you could stay in the U.S. and keep an account offshore where it is free of U.S. tax obligations.

The key point is that, whatever you’re going to do, you should do it as soon as possible and well in advance of 2013.

Risk #3: Litigation. The U.S. is a litigious society; a new litigation suit is filed every 17 seconds. This may or may not affect everybody. But, if you’re a doctor, for example, or someone with a high profile who’s more susceptible to being sued, then you understand the increased risk. In this case, the best solution is to protect your assets by moving them offshore. Your offshore assets will be outside the realm of U.S. judgment and, therefore, far more difficult for creditors to get at. This should not be confused with the fact that U.S. citizens and green card holders will continue to be taxed on their worldwide income, no matter where they reside or hold their assets. Income tax is unavoidable other than legitimate tax reduction strategies. However, you can minimize litigation risk to your assets by going offshore.

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Sinopec Poised for Strong 2012 Run

James — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:00:53 +0000

Sinopec (NYSE: SNP) is a state owned China-based integrated oil & gas and Chemical Company. Through its subsidiaries, the company operates in four business segments: exploration/production, refining, marketing/distribution/chemicals, corporate and other. The company generates around three-fifths of its revenue from its refining segment, while exploration and production and chemicals contribute the remainder. Currently, Sinopec owns eight of the top ten refineries in China and its refining capacity is ranked second globally. Sinopec has become a world leader in recent years. China’s new refined oil pricing mechanism in 2008 turned Sinopec’s refining business completely around, as it had been struggling in previous years. One problem with Sinopec’s business is the fact they are highly vulnerable to spikes in crude oil prices, a commodity that is constantly shifting, as they buy more than 70% of their supply from the global markets. Just look at the trend recently as crude oil has surged recently to over $102 per barrel, a 36% rally in the past 6 weeks. Currently Sinopec is working on diversification plans by building it’s own shale gas resources a great new addition to help increase SNP’s revenue.

When it comes to the business itself, Sinopec has done significantly well throughout the past year. For the first three quarters of 2011, the company’s turnover, operating revenue and income totaled $295.5 billion, increasing 31.3% from the same period in 2010, as per IFRS standards. Net profit increased 8.8% to $9.7 billion, or 11 cents per share, from the first three quarters of 2010. Oil and gas production increased 0.8% year-over-year to 303.27 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Natural gas production soared 22.1% to 382.25 billion cubic feet. Analysts are loving this surge in new orders and growth in business as a result according to Bloomberg now over 100% hold a Buy rating on the stock. Recently, Sinopec announced a huge new deal as they have reached an agreement with the Portuguese oil group Galp Energia to acquire a 30% stake in its Brazilian subsidiary for a total investment of $5.2 billion. The agreement also includes a subscription for new shares and a shareholder loan. The acquisition further expands Sinopec’s offshore oil fields in Brazil. With this deal, Sinopec’s production will reach 21,300 boe/d in 2015 and hit 112,500 boe/d in 2024. Sinopec has huge upside going forward. Huge capital injections from their parent company and the change of their refining products pricing mechanisms have significantly improved the business as a whole. This has all been proven with results as the stock has already done significantly well in 2011 giving us no reason to doubt this trend will end in 2012 or beyond. Right now, SNP is trading at 7 times its estimated 2011 earnings. On-top of that, SNP holds a PEG Ratio of 0.95, a bullish signal for long-term investors. Our 12-month price target is $130 for SNP, a total yield of 30%.

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Why Every Successful Investor Needs a Game Plan?

James — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:00:42 +0000

Every successful investor needs a game plan…

Every successful sports team, every successful investor needs a game plan.

This includes your big picture view of how the markets will develop. It involves identifying winning trends, picking the right asset classes, sectors and geographical regions that will outperform. Not having a good game plan is a classic rookie investor error. Without a good plan, you have no framework in which to make investing decisions.

Following a good game plan lets you focus on specific areas of the market and identify good trades and investments when they pop up.

Think of it as the difference between strategy and tactics. Your game plan is your strategic planning – your broad overview of what’s going on in the world. Your trading and investing decisions are your tactics – the execution of your strategy.

No plan will ever be 100% accurate and you’ll need to change as events unfold. But if you take the time to think how the investment environment is changing and how those changes will affect your portfolio, you’ll be much better prepared as an investor.

Over the next few days, I’ll lay out some of the aspects of my own game plan for 2011 – where I see the most opportunity over the next 12 months.

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Elvis and H.L. Hunt: A Story of Two Kings

James — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:00:54 +0000

The ‘King of Rock ‘n Roll’, Elvis Presley died in August 1977 with an estate valued $10 million. This was considered a respectable fortune. Unfortunately, Elvis’s will went through probate and, after three years of legal wrangling, the court ruled the estate should go to his only daughter, Lisa Marie. But after taxes and legal fees, Elvis’s estate was reduced by 70% to just $3 million.

The ‘Oil King’, H.L. Hunt, was one of the richest men in the world in 1957 with a fortune estimated between $400-700 million. He built his fortune by trading poker winnings for oil rights and he inspired the TV series, Dallas. Hunt’s net worth was $5 billion when he died in 1974.

Fortunately, this ‘king’ was a little more organized. He had diversified his assets into all sorts of legal structures – life insurance, funds, commodities, you name it. The only asset that could be linked to H.L. Hunt after he died was a Chevy pick-up truck worth $2,000.

Moral of this story: Everyone needs to get smart on financial planning and economics, especially those with modest assets. You have control over your wealth. You – not the government or the banks – decide what happens to your assets. That’s important to remember in these days of financial doom and gloom.

We all have two options, as this story of two ‘kings’ illustrates:

1) Do Nothing. We live in a time where more and more of your assets will be swallowed up in taxes, creditors and inflation. Your financial assets and estates are at risk of being slashed; and your heirs could end up getting only a small part of what you’ve built for them.

2) Take Control. Like the ‘Oil King’, strategically organize your assets and plan your estate. Everything H.L. Hunt did was above the law. He organized his assets using legal strategies that made it impossible for anyone to seize them. This approach means you can enjoy more of your money today, protect your retirement nest egg from further crises and still leave behind something to your heirs – all without the pain of a huge tax bill or expensive probate process.

The decision is a no-brainer. This is especially true now, when you consider that never before in the history of the U.S. have your financial assets been more vulnerable than they are today.

The fact that you’re reading this indicates you’re already on the right track. Educate yourself about economics and financial planning. Seek advice from those who are financially successful. Take control of your financial life before it’s too late!

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The All-Time Total Net Worth of All the U.S. Presidents

James — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 08:00:01 +0000

With the presidential elections coming into full circle and some very wealthy candidates still in the running (Mitt Romney) we were curious to see how wealthy presidents in the past actually were. Have you ever wondered how much U.S. presidents Total Net Worth actually is? Well today is your lucky day, below we will showcase the full list from George Washington to Obama, enjoy!

George Washington (1789-1797): $525 Million Net Worth

His Virginia plantation, “Mount Vernon,” consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland, run by over 300 slaves. His wife, Martha Washington, inherited significant property from her father. Washington made significantly more than subsequent presidents: his salary was two percent of the total U.S. budget in 1789.

John Adams (1797-1801): $19 Million Net Worth

Adams received a modest inheritance from his father. His wife, Abigail Adams, was a member of the Quincys, a prestigious Massachusetts family. Adams owned a handsome estate in Quincy, Massachusetts, known as “Peacefield,” a working farm, covering approximately 40 acres. He also had a thriving law practice.

Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809): $212 Million Net Worth

Jefferson was left 3,000 acres and several dozen slaves by his father. “Monticello,” his home on a 5,000 acre plantation in Virginia, was one of the architectural wonders of its time. He made significant money in various political positions before becoming president, but was mired in debt towards the end of his life.

James Monroe (1817-1825): $27 Million Net Worth

Monroe’s wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of wealthy British officer. He made significant money during eight years as president, but entered retirement severely in debt and was forced to sell Highland plantation, which included 3500 acres.

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837): $119 Million Net Worth

While he was considered to be in touch with the average middle class American, Jackson quietly became one of the wealthiest presidents of the 1800’s. “Old Hickory” married into wealth and made money in the military. His homestead ”The Hermitage” included 1,050 acres of prime real estate. Over the course of his life, he owned as many as 300 slaves. Jackson entered significant debt later in life.

Martin Van Buren (1837-1841): $26 Million Net Worth

Van Buren made substantial income as an attorney. He was one of only two men to serve as secretary of state, vice president, and president. He owned the 225-acre “Lindenwald” estate in upstate New York.

William Henry Harrison (1841): $5 Million Net Worth

Harrison married into money – wife’s father was prominent judge and landowner. When Harrison’s mother died, he inherited 3,000 acres near Charles City, Virginia, which he later sold to his brother. He also owned “Grouseland” mansion and property, in Vincennes, Indiana. Despite his assets, Harrison died penniless, causing Congress to create a special pension for his widow.

James Knox Polk (1845-1849): $10 Million Net Worth

Like his wife, Sarah Childress, Polk’s father was a wealthy plantation owner and speculator. Polk made significant sums as speaker of the house and governor of Tennessee, and owned 920 acres in Coffeeville, Mississippi, as well as 25 slaves.

Zachary Taylor (1849-1850): $6 Million Net Worth

Taylor inherited significant amounts of land from his family, which at one point included property in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Louisiana. He made substantial money in land speculation, the leasing of warehouses, and investments in bank and utility stocks. Taylor owned a sizeable plantation in Mississippi and a home in Baton Rouge.

Millard Fillmore (1850-1853): $4 Million Net Worth

Neither Fillmore nor his wife had significant inheritance. He founded a college that is the current State University of New York at Buffalo, and his primary holding was a house in nearby East Aurora, NY.

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857): $2 Million Net Worth

Pierce’s father was frontier farmer, and his wife was well-to-do aristocrat. He served as attorney for 16 years and held property in Concord, NH.

James Buchanan (1857-1861): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Born in log cabin in Pennsylvania, Buchanan was one of 11 children. He was the only president never to marry. He worked for nine years as attorney, and spent 16 years in public office, including four years as secretary of state.

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

To the log cabin born. Lincoln served as an attorney for 17 years before his presidency. He owned a single-family home in Springfield, Illinois.

Ulysses Simpson Grant (1869-1877): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Grant’s father was a tanner, and his wife was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. He lost his entire fortune when swindled by his investing partner. Grant owned a modest home in Galena, Illinois. Although he died with little money, his autobiography kept family afloat.

James Abram Garfield (1881): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Garfield was born in a log cabin in Ohio. He spent 18 years in the House of Representatives. Garfield owned “Lawnfield,” a home and small property in Mentor, Ohio. He died penniless.

Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

The son of an Irish preacher, Arthur’s wife came a from military family. He made substantial sums as Collector for the Port of New York. His townhouse in New York was well-appointed with furniture commission from Tiffany.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897): $25 Million Net Worth

Cleveland’s father was a bookseller and preacher, and his wife was the daughter of wealthy lawyer. Cleveland served as an attorney for twelve years, and also made significant sums on sale of his estate outside of Washington, D.C. He bought “Westland Mansion” near Princeton, New Jersey

Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893): $5 Million Net Worth

Harrison had no significant inheritance of his own or from his wife’s family. He was a highly paid attorney for 18 years, and served as attorney for Republic of Venezuela. Harrison owned large Victorian home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909): $125 Million Net Worth

Born to a prominent and wealthy family, Roosevelt received a significant trust fund. He lost most of his money on a ranching venture in the Dakotas and had to work as an author to pay bills. Roosevelt spent most of his adult years in public service. His 235-acre estate, “Sagamore Hill,” sits on some of the most valuable real estate on Long Island.

William Howard Taft (1909-1913): $3 Million Net Worth

Taft’s wife’s father was a law partner of former president, Rutherford B. Hayes. Taft was president of the American Bar Association, an active attorney for nearly two decades, and only president to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Wilson received modest compensation as head of Princeton and Governor of New Jersey. He never served in any position that provided him with a reasonable income. Wilson had a stroke in office and died five years later.

Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921-1923): $1 Million Net Worth

Harding obtained wealth through marriage to his wife Mabel, daughter of a prominent banker. He owned the Marion Daily Star and a small home in Marion, Ohio. Most of Harding’s net worth came from his newspaper ownership.

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Coolidge’s father was prosperous farmer and storekeeper. “Silent Cal” Spent five years as an attorney, and almost two decades in public office, which included time as Governor of Massachusetts. His net worth derived primarily from his home, “The Beeches,” in Northampton, Massachusetts, the advance from his autobiography, and the money he made from his newspaper column.

Herbert Clark Hoover (1929-1933): $75 Million Net Worth

An orphan, Hoover was raised by his uncle, a doctor. He made a fortune as a mining company executive, had a very large salary for 17 years and had extensive holdings in mining companies. Hoover donated his presidential salary to charity. He also owned “Hoover House” in Monterey, California.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945): $60 Million Net Worth

Roosevelt had wealth through inheritance and marriage. He owned the 800-acre “Springwood” estate as well as properties in Georgia, Maine, and New York. In 1919, his mother had to bail him out of financial difficulty. He spent most of his adult life in public service. Before he was president, Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the navy by Wilson.

Harry S. Truman (1945-1953): Less Than $1 Million Net Worth

Truman was a haberdasher in Missouri and nearly went bankrupt. He served 18 years in Washington, D.C. Despite his modest income, he was able to save some of his presidential salary.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1953-1961): $8 Million Net Worth

Eisenhower had no inherited wealth. He served the majority of his career in the military and five years as president of Columbia. Ike owned a large farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1961-1963): Kennedy Estate Worth Nearly $1 Billion

Born into great wealth, Kennedy’s wife was oil heiress. His Father was one of the wealthiest men in America, and was the first chairman of the SEC. Almost all of JFK’s income and property came from trust shared with other family members.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969): $98 Million Net Worth

Johnson’s father lost all of the family’s money when LBJ was a boy. Over time, he accumulated 1,500 acres in Blanco County, Texas, which included his home, called the “Texas White House.” He and his wife owned a radio and television station in Austin, TX, and had a variety of other moderate holdings, including livestock and private aircraft.

Richard Milhous Nixon (1969-1974): $15 Million Net Worth

Nixon was born without any inheritance, and was a public servant for most of his life including a term as a Senator from California. “Tricky Dick” made significant sums from series of interviews with David Frost and book advances. He sold his New York townhouse to the Syrian ambassador to the U.S. and purchased a large home in Saddle River, NJ. At various times, Nixon also owned real estate in California and Florida.

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (1974-1977): $7 Million Net Worth

Ford had no inheritance, and he spent virtually his entire adult life in public service. Over the course of his lifetime, he owned properties in Michigan, Rancho Mirage, and Beaver Creek, Colorado. After he left the White House in 1976, he made nearly $1 million a year from book advances and from serving on the boards of several prominent American companies.

James Earl Carter, 1977-1981: $7 Million Net Worth

Carter was the son of a prominent Georgia businessman. He was a peanut farmer for almost two decades. Carter left office deeply in debt, but made substantial sums from writing 14 books. Part of a family partnership that owns 2,500 acres in Georgia.

Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89: $13 Million

Reagan had no inheritance, but his first wife, an actress, had her own money. He was a movie and television actor for over two decades. “The Gipper” owned several pieces of real estate over his lifetime, including 688-acre property near Santa Barbara, California. Reagan was highly paid for his autobiography and as a GE spokesman.

George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993): $23 Million Net Worth

Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, a Connecticut Senator and successful businessman. Aided by his friends in the financial community, he made a number of successful investments. One of his major assets is his home and 100+ acre estate in Kennebunkport, Maine.

William Jefferson Clinton (1993- 2001): $38 Million Net Worth

Clinton was born with no inheritance, and he made little significant money during 20 plus years of public service. After his time in White House, however, he made a substantial income as an author and public speaker. Clinton received large advance from autobiography. His wife, the secretary of state, has also made money as author.

43rd George W. Bush (2001-2008) $20 million

Bush was born into a wealthy family. Over ten years, he made substantial sums of money in the oil business. The largest contribution to his net worth was the profitable sale of the Texas Rangers.

44th Barack Hussein Obama (2008-present): $5 Million Net Worth

Obama is the grandson of a goat herder. He is a former constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney. Book royalties constitute most of Obama’s net worth.

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Top Housing Markets: Where You Should Buy a Home?

James — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:00:03 +0000

There’s no good news in the housing market. Home prices across the country continue to fall. The tax incentives are over and the national economy remains lackluster.

But not all housing markets are equal. There are a few geographic pockets of strength. Only 4 regions – Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco & Washington DC – showed year-over-year gains through October 2010.

*Top 5 Regions*	1-Yr % Change	*Bottom 5 Regions*	1-Yr % Change
Washington DC	+3.7%	Chicago	-6.5%
Los Angeles	+3.3%	Atlanta	-6.2%
San Diego	+3.0%	Detroit	-5.5%
San Francisco	+2.2%	Portland, OR	-5.2%
Boston	-0.2%	Phoenix	-4.3%

Source: Standard & Poor’s & Fiserv – Data through October 2010

The biggest problem for housing is foreclosures. Lenders will foreclose on more homes in 2011 than any other year since the housing crisis began in 2006. Foreclosures are expected to be worst in 6 states that have already suffered the worst and which accounted for over 50% of the country’s foreclosures in 2010: Arizona, Florida and California, Nevada, Michigan and Illinois.

On the positive side, most measures of housing affordability have improved as prices have come down to 30-year lows. If unemployment ever does improve and we can get decent GDP growth, maybe the prospects for housing will start to improve. But I won’t be holding my breath.

So, Where Would I Buy?

I certainly won’t be rushing to Detroit (it’s a dump), Chicago (bad winters, punitive new taxes), Las Vegas (all desert, too much decadent temptation), Portland (homeless haven, rainy) or Phoenix (illegal immigration, scorching summers) to buy my dream home. And I get why a bloated Federal bureaucracy, over-paid Congressional representatives and their entourages will continue to prop up prices in Washington, D.C. But I’m not a politician.

That leaves 3 big coastal cities in California – the most debt-ridden, tax-happy, dysfunctional economy of them all! This presents a real dilemma for discerning investors.

Maybe I need to expand my horizons further afar: Italy’s Amalfi Coast . . . Belize’s Ambergris Caye . . . Thailand’s Ko Samui . . . Vietnam’s Nha Trang Coast . . . Turkey’s Aegean Coast . . . Australia’s Gold Coast . . . Bay of Islands, New Zealand . . . a Caribbean yacht . . . a Paris luxury apartment or London pied a terre . . . Cape Town, So. Africa. The mind boggles!

. . . Where would you buy a house?

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U.S. versus China Rap Battle

James — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:00:09 +0000

What’s you opinion on the U.S.-China relationship? Funny rap battle about the debate between the two.

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Two Safe and Steady Stock Investments: Norfolk Southern & BHP Billiton

James — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:30:25 +0000

With many investors scared by the longevity of this economic downturn some have been looking for strong long-term investments to shore up their portfolio. Lucky for you, I have come across two sure winners that are prepared to rise for the long run. Safe and steady always wins the race.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) is an Australian mining giant. They are the world’s largest natural resources company, holding important positions in at least a half-dozen important metals and minerals. Economies of scale in the mining business are so great that the likelihood of significant new competition is slim. Many might ask, why doesn’t everyone own this stock? That’s because, apparently many investors still are scared off and think of commodities as highly cyclical, low-margin businesses. Short-term some might be right but we are looking at a long-term investment perspective like a window of 3-5 years not a couple months. What makes us enticed to invest in BHP are it’s great business from top to bottom. A couple numbers that do standout are a PEG Ratio of 0.54, P/S of 2.93, ROA of 22%, ROE of 47%, little to no debt, strong technical readings and qualitative factors, plus a 3%+ dividend. Long-term I believe BHP is a safe bet especially as the global economy continues to recover.

Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) is an old-fashioned railroad company. While some might be skeptical and think this company seems stodgy in this group you need to factor in and take for account that no one is building any new ones. Railroads capitalize on large economies like the U.S. and China and have been cheaper alternatives to truck and air delivery especially in the heavily congested areas of the east coast of America, where Norfolk Southern primarily operates. Railroads are sensitive to economic cycles; they are thriving when demand for raw materials is high and struggle when it’s low. Long-term, I think we are still in the middle stages of what is going to be a long recovery, from which NSC should benefit greatly. NSC is a solid company top to bottom; they have some attractive numbers that appeal to me as an investor. NSC has a PEG Ratio of 0.92, P/S of 2.38, cash on hand, efficient operating margins, 3% dividend, and strong analyst outlook all of which bode well for their long-term success. NSC isn’t that hot flashy tech stock or that speculative play that’s going to triple in the next year but when we’re talking about the long-term it’s a perfect stock to own, slow and steady wins is fine with me.

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Why You Should Consider Using a Low P/E Ratio Investment Strategy?

James — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:00:08 +0000

The P/E (price/earnings) ratio is a measure of value that measures a company’s share price compared to its per-share earnings, sometimes also referred to as the ‘price multiple’
or‘earnings multiple’. Broadly speaking, stocks or stock markets with high P/Es suggest that investors expect higher earnings growth than those with low P/Es. But a high P/E can also be a warning for value investors that a stock or stock market is becoming too speculative.

Most investors don’t grasp that low P/E stocks return the most over time, not high P/E stocks. This is really no different to being a contrarian investor and buying stocks that are out of favor over stocks that are considered ‘hot’ by the masses. Stock market profits are made “in the buying.” Meaning that the price you pay for growth is as important…if not more important…than the price you sell for.

This is backed up by research and multiple studies have shown that investors using a low P/E strategy have outperformed investors using a high P/E strategy. One big study of thousands of stocks on the NYSE and Amex exchanges in the U.S. from 1968 to 1990 showed that stocks with low P/E’s had total 1-year returns of 17.9% vs. total returns of 12.4% for stocks with high P/E’s.

According to contrarian investor, David Dremen, over almost every period measured, the stocks considered to have the best prospects (those with high P/E’s) performed significantly worse that the ‘contrarian’ stocks (those with low P/E’s).

There are exceptions because sometime stocks or stock markets are on a low P/E for good reason. Maybe future earnings outlooks really low. Or maybe there’s another internal problem dragging the company/country down.

But, generally, a low P/E strategy works.

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The 25 Most Powerful People in the World

James — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:00:47 +0000

Ever wonder who are the Most Powerful People in the World? Well thanks to the help of Time Magazine & Newsweek the two publications came together & collaborated to create the “Top 25 Most Powerful People in the World!” Check out the list below & enjoy!

Rank	Name	Organization	Age
1	Hu Jintao President	People’s Republic of China	68
2	Barack Obama President	United States of America	49
3	Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud King	Saudi Arabia	86
4	Vladimir Putin Prime Minister	Russia	58
5	Pope Benedict XVI Pope	Roman Catholic Church	84
6	Angela Merkel Chancellor	Germany	56
7	David Cameron Prime Minister	United Kingdom	44
8	Ben Bernanke Chairman	Federal Reserve	57
9	Sonia Gandhi President	Indian National Congress	64
10	Bill Gates Co-Chair	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	55
Rank	Name	Organization	Age
11	Zhou Xiaochuan Governor	People’s Bank of China	63
12	Dmitry Medvedev President	Russia	45
13	Rupert Murdoch CEO	News Corp.	80
14	Silvio Berlusconi & family Prime Minister	Italy	74
15	Jean-Claude Trichet President	European Central Bank	68
16	Dilma Rousseff President	Brazil	63
17	Steve Jobs CEO	Apple	56
18	Manmohan Singh Prime Minister	India	78
19	Nicolas Sarkozy President	France	56
20	Hillary Clinton Secretary of State	United States of America	63
21	Carlos Slim Helu & family Chairman	Telmex	71
22	Larry Page Co-Founder	Google	38
22	Sergey Brin Co-Founder	Google	37
23	Michael Bloomberg Mayor	New York City	69
24	Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister	Israel	61
25	Michael Duke CEO	Wal-Mart	61

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Which One Are You, a Contrarian or Victim Investor?

James — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:40 +0000

. . . Successful contrarians watch the market sentiment

There’s one market-timing indicator that beats all others – stupidity. One thing I’ve learned is that you can always bet on the crowd to do the WRONG thing with their money. It’s spooky. Every time a big enough group of people believes the same thing, it turns out to be a load of bullshit. Dot-com stocks . . . the YRK bug . . . the housing bubble. Put simply, crowds are dumb. You can make them do just about anything and follow all sorts of stupid advice.

That’s why being a contrarian investor is so important. A true contrarian sells hysteria and buys despair. History clearly shows this is the one of the only proven ways to make money over the long haul. When prices are high there’s a self-correcting mechanism and when prices are low there’s a self-correcting mechanism. Investors’ perceptions of the future are shaped by their immediate past and they tend to chase high-priced, popular sectors that are set for collapse and they tend to avoid low-priced sectors that are set to soar. Just buying into a sector because it’s unpopular isn’t necessarily a good idea, however. An astute contrarian invests in an unpopular sector that will become popular again.

“You’re either a contrarian or a victim. The choice is yours.” says legendary resources investor, Rick Rule.

Most investors are lazy and choose the easier, less informative method of watching only the stock price – but understanding the price is absolutely useless information if you don’t know what it’s worth. P/E ratios are a good place to start. One simple way to invest like a true contrarian is to keep an eye on sentiment. Sentiment tells you what the crowd is thinking. There are two main types of sentiment indicators. Both are useful signals as to whether investors have become over optimistic…or over pessimistic.

1. The Short Ratio – tells how many investors are short a stock or/and an entire market. That’s how many investors are betting a stock or a market will fall in price (calculated by dividing the short interest by average daily trading volume.) An unusually low short ratio is often a sign of complacency and a signal to sell. An unusually high ratio is a signal to buy.

2. Investor Surveys – a number of surveys record the bullish vs. bearish percentage of investors. One is Investors Intelligence which tells you what percentage of investment advisors are bullish and what percentage are bearish. Another useful measure from Hulbert’s Financial Digest tracks the sentiment of newsletter editors. When newsletter editors are at bullish extremes, it’s time to sell. When they’re at bearish extremes it’s time to buy.

Successful contrarian investors need to do the hard leg work and homework on their investments — and watch the market sentiment.

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Go Offshore to Escape the Biggest Threats to Your Wealth

James — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:30 +0000

Go Offshore to Escape the Biggest Threats to Your Wealth

The time has come for financially astute Americans to go offshore to escape the biggest threats to your wealth.

Many Americans has already seen their nest eggs shrink, the value of their homes fall and their investment portfolios lose half their worth or more.

So, if you really want to protect your wealth in the future, you need to consider a financial strategy of going offshore for at least part of your assets. This is an approach whose time has come.

You Don’t Have to Be a Millionaire to Benefit from Going Offshore

You don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to benefit from going offshore. You can start by simply opening a bank account in a haven that offers true banking secrecy.

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The Top 10 Movies All-Time with a Financial Lesson

James — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 08:00:23 +0000

After watching some great films this past week it got me thinking about movies with some kind of financial lesson. The financial side of making films has always intrigued me. This year’s Oscars were yet again proof that the biggest budget doesn’t always give the best ROI. In 2010, the lowest grossing Oscar winning film in history – The Hurt Locker – beat out the highest grossing picture in history – Avatar.

Here’s my list of the top 10 movies ever made that have a financial lesson inside of them:

1. Boiler Room (2000) – A college dropout gets a job and enjoys fast success at a brokerage house selling phony stock. However, the job turns out not be as legit as it sounds. This film is mix of Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross thrown in. Although there’s no character here that can compare to Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko.

Lesson: Great morality lesson dealing with the desire to get rich quick, regardless of the consequences.

2. Wall Street (1987) – “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good”. This line by ruthless corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, summed up the business ethics of the 1980s, when greed, corruption and the predatory nature of the financial world was at its most conspicuous. The film charts the ascent of a young, ambitious stockbroker who’s taken under Gekko’s wing and struggles with whether it’s better to have money or integrity. Gekko is the embodiment of corporate malfeasance, but also portrayed as a business guru. His glamor and power probably inspired a lot of young men to enter investment banking over the last two decades. As Gekko said, “It’s all about bucks, kid. The rest is conversation.”

Lesson: Greed is good. What’s worth doing is worth doing for money. Lunch is for wimps. If you need a friend, buy a dog. So goes the wisdom of Gordon Gekko, ruthless investor, legendary financier – and the star of one of the best movies ever made about money. This film also provides a great backdrop to the landscape that led to the financial crisis of 2008.

3. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) – Times are tough. This is the ultimate real estate high pressure sales environment film where making money is the bottom line. A desperate group of Chicago investment property real estate salesmen suffer in a down market, a sales contest is launched and anyone who fails loses his job. Now that the property bubble has burst, some real estate offices may soon seem a little bit more “Glengarry”. There’s no room for losers, only ‘closers’ will get the good sales leads. Some regarded this film as a critique of the impact of Reaganomics.

Lesson: Too much pressure to succeed can boil over into tragedy with unforeseen consequences.

4. Maxed Out. Hard times. Easy Credit. The Era of Predatory Lending (2006) – This documentary shows how the modern financial industry really works. It explores America’s love with credit and leveraged debt and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America’s coast, it revealed that America was far from the world’s wealthiest nation. It also highlighted America’s crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out shows how predatory lending was out of control, including credit cards pumped to college kids who had no income. This is a great movie. It’ll make you feel different about your money.

Lesson: It delivers a great lesson on how to borrow and shows why you don’t want to live on credit. Credit is the devil. Do you know anyone who got into trouble because they didn’t borrow too much money? Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us – out of control spending and an irrational use of credit.

5. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) – Before Bernie Madoff, there were Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling who ran the Houston energy firm that was going to reinvent how energy was going to be done in America. Enron was highly profitable, had a great amount of cash flow and earnings and the stock price soared. Its executives cashed out options worth millions and told employees their best 401K option was Enron stock. Thousands lost all their retirement savings because they put all their bets on one company. Took Enron 16 yrs to from 10b assets to 65b assets, but it took them 24 days to go bankrupt. It won the Academy Award for best documentary.

Lessons: Have a financial plan, have a discipline. If you have a stock that looks too good to be true and it just keeps going up, up, up, it’s probably too good to be true. Diversify, Diversify, Diversify. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.

6. Working Girl (1988) – Melanie Griffith plays Tess McGill. Endearing 80s film. Ultimately she takes a job as a secretary but she wants to rise in investment world. Wants to rise to power, combines her business degree from night school w/ her street smart acumen & pulls of a mega-merger. Total fantasy. Prince charming happy ending w/ Harrison Ford. “I have a head for business and a body for sex.”, says Melanie Griffith’s character. Go back to night school, go back & get a degree. Go get educated, you’ll get leverage. No one can take your education away from you.

Lessons: Your education, your smarts can’t be wiped out in a recession. Your earning power is rooted in your skills, in your education. Provides an entertaining reminder that if you have something to offer your co. & they don’t seem too interested, then take your skills elsewhere. If you are a super powerful earner at one job, you can make yourself a super powerful earner anywhere.

7. Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – Classic western cautionary tale about how not to launch a venture. If you took everything that Howard Dobbs & Kutan did in this movie: “Get rich quickly without a credible business plan.” “Badges, we don’t need no stinking badges.” Don’t swing blindly, don’t come up w/ a get rich quick scheme, don’t do a pyramid scheme, don’t sell products from your house to your friends or recruit your friends.

Lesson: In life, as in baseball, you’re gonna strike out. You don’t want to strike out blindly while your pursuing a huge home run. You gotta know your business, know your partners, know where you are in all of this.

8. Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House (1948) – Was remade into The Money Pit, starring Tom Hanks & Shelly Long. Owning a home ain’t cheap. It can turn into a massively expensive ordeal. Home is really a money pit. Owning a home comes w/ a lot of responsibility, gotta have credit, gotta have a down payment, pay your bills, maintain the home, gotta know the risks up front. It’s expensive. You gotta know the worse case scenarios, all the risks, the downside.

Lesson: Shows how the American dream of owning a home can go terribly wrong. Home ownership is not for everybody and shouldn’t be promoted as such by the government.

9. Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009) – About a chic who’s struggling with a debilitating obsession with shopping and has 12 maxed out credit cards. She unintentionally lands a job as a financial journalist and falls for a wealthy entrepreneur. Don’t buy a $400 watch because it quickly depreciates to nothing. I will buy a $4,000 Rolex – nothing less than a Rolex — because it can still be sold 10 yrs after you buy it for what you paid for it. You use credit to buy things of value: an education, a car to get you to work, (I prefer to buy 2-yr old used cars because it loses half its value up front when you drive it off the lot, but you can still get 50-60,000 miles out of it.)

Lesson: Only use credit for things that have value. Pay cash for everything else.

10. Brewster’s Millions (1985) – The ultimate spending spree is something that most of us have daydreamt about at some time. A minor league baseball player, Montgomery Brewster, (Richard Pryor) has to waste $30m in 30s days in order to inherit $300m; however, he’s not allowed to tell anyone about the $300m deal.

Lesson: How corruptible too much money can be and how difficult it can be to use it responsibly.

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2012 Republican Candidates and Their Landing Pages: Who Are You Voting For?

James — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 03:29:52 +0000

With the 2012 Presidential election in full force many top Republican candidates are making the most out of their web sites and email and social media efforts, while trying to win the 2012 election. We saw the effectiveness of social media and online marketing in the 2008 Presidential election as a lot can be said to Barack Obama implementing these tactics to win the election. As internet marketers, we can truly appreciate the power of the internet and how we can influence people through social networking. Through the use of capturing email addresses and using Twitter, Obama was able to connect with the younger generation and be cool with technology, in addition to being able to instantly contact millions of followers for donations. After the 2008 election, people finally started to realize the power of social networking and how online communications will affect the way elections can be swung and won. To help combat against Obama in the 2012 election, many of the top Republican candidates are investing huge amounts of resources to improving their online image. Below is a preview to the landing pages of all the top GOP candidates.

Mitt Romney

From the landing pages listed in this article, I would have to say Mitt Romney has the best setup. There is already a massive following behind Gov. Chris Christie, and by associating his approval with Mitt Romney, it gives you more of a reason to follow/like/vote for Romney. In addition to an immediate call to action (email/zip code), the page also demonstrates all of the necessary social networking buttons than many of the other candidates lack.

Rick Perry

Though he may not be running in the election for much longer after her little stunt last night during the debate, Rick Perry still has a decent landing page for his web site. An immediate call to action with a nice looking design, along with the option to skip right to the web site if you don’t want to signup. Not providing this option, or making it hard to find, can really irritate web site visitors.

Herman Cain

Herman Cain has been in the news from the start, with his 9-9-9 plan, to the recent allegations against him. We don’t care about any of that… instead let’s focus on his web site landing page. A great looking design with minimal distractions (various colors), but still an immediate action, which is to enter your email address and zip code. Again, the option to “continue to website” is still prominent.

Michelle Bachman

The web site for Michelle Bachman has taken a different approach from the others in the group, which is to offer a choice to the visitors… something I don’t recommend. If you click “Donate Today”, you are sent to a long registration form about donating and volunteering. You also have the option to get email updates… which just doesn’t sound that exciting. Adding one more distraction to the page, you have the option to buy her book. When giving the user too many options, many will just leave or start browsing without a direct goal in mind. I would have just went along with the other candidates and grabbed the users email on the main page.

Ron Paul

It’s not surprising that Ron Paul has taken a different approach from all other candidates, not just in his politics, but also with his site structure. When you visit Ron Paul’s web site, that’s exactly what you get… a full web site. There is no email caption or donation button in your face, but all of the content on one page. You will see placements through out the site for email updates, donations and social links, but they are not stand alone lead generation pages like many of the other candidates. This is an approach New Gingrich did with his web site.

Republican Candidates… Who Get’s Your Vote?

No… not to become the leader of our country, but for the best web site and landing page? With the ridiculous amount of money that will be spent and wasted pushing users to vote for these candidates, if they don’t have the right online setting and social pretense, their campaign may already be doomed. With the simple means of ONE CLICK to “like” or “follow” through Twitter and Facebook, it’s surprising to see more candidates aren’t making use of these powerful means of communication.

Source: Zac Johnson

The 25 Richest People in America

James — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:00:28 +0000

While this list fluctuates day by day with much of their wealth hinging on their porftolio’s performance below is a list of the Richest People in the USA!

	Rank		Name		Net Worth			Age	Residence
1		Bill Gates		$54 B		55	Medina, WA
2		Warren Buffett		$45 B		80	Omaha, NE
3		Larry Ellison		$27 B		66	Woodside, CA
4		Christy Walton & family		$24 B		56	Jackson, WY
5		Charles Koch		$21.5 B		75	Wichita, KS
5		David Koch		$21.5 B		70	New York , NY
7		Jim Walton		$20.1 B		63	Bentonville, AR
8		Alice Walton		$20 B		61	Fort Worth, TX
9		S. Robson Walton		$19.7 B		67	Bentonville, AR
10		Michael Bloomberg		$18 B		69	New York , NY

11		Larry Page		$15 B		38	Palo Alto, CA
11		Sergey Brin		$15 B		37	San Francisco, CA
13		Sheldon Adelson		$14.7 B		77	Las Vegas, NV
14		George Soros		$14.2 B		80	Westchester, NY
15		Michael Dell		$14 B		46	Austin, TX
16		Steve Ballmer		$13.1 B		55	Seattle, WA
17		Paul Allen		$12.7 B		58	Mercer Island, WA
18		Jeff Bezos		$12.6 B		47	Seattle, WA
19		Anne Cox Chambers		$12.5 B		91	Atlanta, GA
20		John Paulson		$12.4 B		55	New York, NY

21		Donald Bren		$12 B		78	Newport Beach, CA
22		Abigail Johnson		$11.3 B		49	Boston, MA
23		Phil Knight		$11.1 B		73	Beaverton, OR
24		Carl Icahn		$11 B		75	New York, NY
24		Ronald Perelman		$11 B		68	New York, NY

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It’s Never Too Late to Give Up? Five Billionaires Who Didn’t Make Their Money Until After 40

James — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:35 +0000

After reading this article, I hope you all come to the conclusion that it’s truly never too late to achieve your dreams. For all you middle-agers out there who had big dreams of being a billionaire one day this should be an inspiration to never give up. We need to thank the world for the invention of start-ups and allowing us to become entrepreneurs as nothing excites me more than to see a self-made millionaire, let alone a billionaire. Say things didn’t pan out in life so far, you didn’t make your first million before you turned 30? Don’t worry, stick with your day job, keep paying the bills, just make sure to never stop generating ideas, never stop your path to create that next big thing. Just because you haven’t reached your goals or made your mark doesn’t mean it is ever too late. Continue to be passionate about what you do and one day everything will connect. A perfect example is if a 34 year old lawyer had never followed his friends advice and instead decided to give up on his dreams of performing opera we might have never known or been enlightened to Andrea Bocelli and his amazing voice. Below are more perfect examples of why you should never stop pushing:

Everyone should realize the reality is now, at all ages people have great ideas and eventually many of these people will proceed to turn these ideas into great businesses. As a result, to top off the whole article and prove my point here are five entrepreneurs who made their billions after the age of 45:

1. Sheldon Adelson, was a college drop out that dabbled as an investment advisor and mortgage broker. He made his billions when he founded a computer supershow, Comdex
at age 46.

2. David Duffield, founded PeopleSoft at the age of 47. David is a true go-getter, after 3 failed businesses he continue to strive towards his dream and even used his second mortage on his home as capital to launch the billion dollar business which was acquired by Oracle for over $7 billion dollars.

3. Dietrich Mateschitsz, who used to be a detergent salesman, founded the energy drink Red Bull at the age of 48 after noticing the huge popularity of sugary drinks whilst in Japan on a sales trip.

4. John Sperling, a tenured professor practically invented the for-profit education industry when he founded the University of Phoenix at the age of 53.

5. Harland Sanders, at the age of 65, founded the world renowned fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken aka KFC by using $105 from his first Social Security Check after seeing his previous restaurant ventures fail.

Don’t be a stranger leave a comment below and let me know what you think or send them to my Twitter. Also remember to sign up for Stocks on Wall Street’s Monthly Newsletter!!!

All information came from Paladin Venture Labs

Thursday Morning Reads: Bill Clinton: How I’d Fix the Economy?

James — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:00:54 +0000

Bill Clinton: How I’d Fix the Economy? (CNN Money)

Steve Job’s Real Genius (The New Yorker)

No Mr. Nice Guy, Just Ask Wall Street (The Wall Street Journal)

How the GOP Became the Rich Party (Rolling Stones)

Why Hasn’t Wall Street Fixed Main Street? (The Atlantic)

New Movie ‘Margin Call’ Called Best Wall Street Movie Ever, EVER (PRI)

How Jonah Hill Became An Action Hero in Modern Warfare 3 (Fast Company)

Wall Street Expected to Fall 20% to 30% (The New York Times)

The Bullish Stars Are Aligned (The Street)

Will Santa Claus Come Early This Year? (MarketWatch)

Market Sell-Off: Contagion Spread (CNBC)

The Most Valuable Movie Franchises of All-Time (24/7 Wall Street)

The New Rules on Dressing for Success (CBS News)

If you can’t access some of the articles it might be because you need to have a subscription, to get a Free-Trial or Subscribe to any of the Top Financial Publications, Simply Click on the Link

Call of Duty: MW3 Sales Soar, Bodes Well for ATVI’s Long-Term Prospects

James — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:26:16 +0000

Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) has long been a recommended stock by Stocks on Wall Street due to their strong lineup of games which always resulted in even stronger sales numbers. Well just like we all expected Activision hit a home run once again with the launch of the newest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Over 1.5 million diehard gamers lined up outside over 13,000 stores to buy a copy of the game at midnight. Quite a turnout and now analysts expect sales to be even more than the high expectations we originally set forth.

It’s expected that over 18 million copies could be sold before the start of the calendar year. Call of Duty: Black Ops currently holds the current record for it’s five-day opening sales revenue record of $650 million worldwide. Well we expect MW3 to crush these numbers, Amazon said it generated 32% more pre-orders than Black Ops and the turnout at stores has been significantly greater so far.

With the holiday season coming up we expect strong sales for Activision going forward boding well for shares and the company’s long-term outlook. We believe ATVI is a strong buy, tune in this week for a more detail stock report on ATVI. Below is a trailer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, if you haven’t bought it yet, we recommend you do!

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Are Stocks Still Better than Bonds?

James — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:58:21 +0000

Investors have long believed stocks outperform bonds over the long-term. But long-term government bonds actually outperformed stocks for the 30 years ending Sept. 30, 2011, according to new data from Bianco Research in Chicago. Bonds rose by 11.5% per year, beating the 108% increase in the S&P 500. That’s the first time bonds beat stocks over a 30-year period since the Civil War!

Check out the historical data on how stocks and bonds performed relative to each other over the past 200+ years:

Period	# of Years	Winner
1803 – 1857	54	Bonds
1803 – 1871	68	Tie
1857 – 1929	72	Stocks
1929 – 1949	20	Bonds
1932 – 2000	68	Stocks
1981 – 2011	30	Bonds

Sources: Bloomberg, October 31, 2011; Index Universe; Ibbotson SBBI

Does this mean we dump stocks and own bonds? No!

The outperformance of bonds over stocks over the past 30 years was partially a function of the starting point and the “lost decade” for stocks, as stocks went through two bear markets over the past 11 years. Long-term government bonds yielded 13-15% in 1981. Current yields are down to just 3.1% according to Yahoo! Finance. Remember, the price of bonds rise as the yield drops, giving investors a capital gain on top of the interest return.

Given such low yields now, it’s hard to believe you’ll be able to get the same capital gain boost from bonds that occurred over the past 30 years. Jeremy Siegel, author of Stocks for the Long Run, says, “It’s absolutely mathematically impossible for bonds to get any kind of returns like this going forward.”

This historical data tells us several things:

Stay flexible. There are no absolutes when it comes to investing except, maybe, that there are no absolutes.

Know your history. There’s a time and a place for each asset class and placing each asset within its historical context is important.

Keep learning about investing. ‘Buy and hold’ may be dead in this age of volatility. My money is on active trading in selective equities. Mutual funds are taboo. Active investing requires a real commitment to follow the markets closely. All the more reason to follow StocksonWallStreet!

Tuesday Morning Reads: What’s a CEO Really Worth?

James — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:45 +0000

Hope everyone is geared up and ready to rock. Whether your into work early, still on your morning commute, or just sitting at home we have some great articles to help kick start your day. Enjoy the list below and feel free to give us feedback on what you think either by leaving a comment below or following us on Facebook or Twitter.

What’s a CEO Really Worth? (The Motley Fool)

Can Anyone Really Create Jobs? (The New York Times)

We Found Oil! Is That Good? (The New York Times)

Too Big to Jail (The Nation)

Looks and smells like a bear market rally (MarketWatch)

Capitalism Can’t Just Be About Money (Tim Harford)

Here Comes the Sun (The New York Times)

Journalist All Use Wikipedia (Poynter)

Slowpoke Traders Seek to Gain on Speedsters (The Wall Street Journal)

What’s Wrong with Groupon? (Baseline Investor)

What’s a CEO Really Worth? (The Motley Fool)

The Big List of Behavioral Biases (Pys-Fi Blog)

One Google Books to Rule All of Them (The Awl)

Your Brain Knows a Lot More Than You Realize (Discover)

If you can’t access some of the articles it might be because you need to have a subscription, to get a Free-Trial or Subscribe to any of the Top Financial Publications, Simply Click on the Link

Three Technology Stocks Worth Investing In: Oracle, Amazon, & EMC

James — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:00:21 +0000

Fall historically has been a time for strength within the technology sector. I see no reason to go against this theory this year and below are three technology stocks we think will continue to rise.

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) This tech stock dominates the enterprise market and has continued to excel even during the economic slowdown. Oracle’s biggest worries always were the fact that with the recession many large corporations could slash the IT budget to cut costs. While this was a major concern, Oracle has sheltered itself fairly well and has still done exceptionally well. In our current economic climate, before investing in a tech stock it would need to have exposure to strong end-markets, high returns, and a strong balance sheet. Oracle has all three. In addition, Oracle is launching a set of new products that will help it take even more market share in a sector it dominates along with helping it gain double-digit growth. These are all exceptional numbers and factors when looking into Oracle’s future prospects. I like Oracle a lot and think it is a strong investment. It has delivered 17% earnings growth even during these tough times and when valuing the stock it is relatively cheap, trading at 11 times forward earnings. With a PEG Ratio of 1, P/S Ratio of 4.46, ROE 25%, ROA of 15%, and over $32 billion in cash, Oracle is as strong as it gets when it comes to tech stocks. Top on a 1% dividend yield and you have a great overall investment!

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Amazon is an interesting company. Not only is it a tech stock but it is also one of the leading retail stocks, the world’s largest actually. I love Amazon; I think it is a great growth stock going forward. AMZN has successfully taken on Apple (NYSE: APPL) in the tablet battle with the Fire and the new Kindles along with increasing sales in all other aspects of the business. The company holds a market cap of $98 billion and trades at 93 times earnings. These are ridiculous numbers. Amazon just has so many levers of growth and different ways of generating revenue, which makes me love the stock so much. If you don’t own it buy it; if you own it buy some more. I think Amazon is a safe bet on both the retail market and the technology sector. 12 months from now expect Amazon to be getting awfully close to $300 per share.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) operates in the information technology sector, primarily by providing information infrastructure and data center operations. EMC has a solid book of business, from top to bottom. The numbers that stand out and attract me to investing in EMC are a PEG Ratio of 0.98, P/S Ratio of 2.57, market cap of $47 billion, and the fact that it trades at 23 times earnings. Like the other picks above I believe EMC is a leader in both its sector and sub-sector and that’s why I like it as an investment so much. I believe the technology sector should continue to rise going forward and I believe EMC will be a key company leading the charge.

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How to Make Money From Home Other Than Investing: Send Out Cards

James — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:00:31 +0000

With unemployment at an all-time high and many Americans struggling to get by I have been exploring many opportunities for American’s to make some real money. While investing is always a steady income generator it is very speculative and requires large amounts of start-up capital making it difficult for many American’s to rely on investing as a sole income generator.

Tough times sometimes lead to people extending themselves to extremes, whether that is racking up debt, taking out loans, working two shifts. Sometimes it’s nice to have a steady risidual monthly income, something you can count on to support you as you make it through these tough times. Recently a friend of mine told me about this new opportunity he has been working on and how he is making a killing with it. The product is Send Out Cards and after researching the opportunity myself I must say, I am very impressed.

Send Out Cards is basically the Netflix of Greeting Cards. It’s simple, Send Out Cards easy to use interface allows people across the world to stay connected sending real greeting cards from the conveience of your computer for less than a dollar per card. Becoming a Send Out Cards distributor allows you to generate real income by promoting the service. The great part is Send Out Cards is something everyone can easily use and something everyone wants to have. Who doesn’t like to send cards? It’s something everyone wants to do yet something they never get around to doing. That’s why Send Out Cards works perfectly, allowing people to send cards from the connivence of their computer to friends and family across the world. For less than $10 a month you can have this great service, something we highly recommend to stay connected with your family and friends. With Christmas season coming up it will be a great, easy way to send out mass amounts of christmas cards for a 1/4 of the cost, maybe even cheaper.

To sign-up, simply FOLLOW THE LINK, watch the video, and create your account! Another great part of Send Out Cards is the ability to make a living selling their product. Send Out Cards allows you to generate huge profits by signing up friends, family, businesses, etc. Just watch the video below for more information on how it all works. If you are interested in finding out more information about Send Out Cards and how you can make money with this service simply CONTACT US.