Sleep Early
I usually don't get enough sleep and I can definitely see the downfall in that. When I hear that alarm in the morning, I just want to silence it and fall back in bed. The lack of sleep gets to me at work. There are times of the day when I just want to put my head down and doze off.
One of the reasons why I don't get enough sleep is that I sleep very late. I'm one of those that never want the day to end and believe that I can squeeze in more work by postponing my sleep. That is dangerous thinking. Of course, it's not true that the day extends when I stay wake at night.
So, what I should do is, break down my goals to small tasks. Complete each task in a day, plan ahead for the next day, and get some rest. Then I can wake up the next morning rejuvenated and tackle my next task. By accomplishing small steps one at a time, I can travel great distances.
Update
I have been very busy lately so I haven't gotten much of a chance to update. I'm still working two jobs, but I'm going to quit one, the part-time financial job. I just don't have the time for it anymore. Things has been really busy at my full-time job and the company is expanding, which means more work for me at the same paid.
I'm still following the market and so far the stocks I've been watching closely are doing pretty well. PFE is back in the 26 zone. STX came back up on Friday. And Cisco is holding up pretty well in the upper 19's.
There seems to be many concerns in the markets right now and that's why it's ever so volatile - interest rates, oil, unemployment, etc. Energy stocks are a defensive play these days. Pick a few good ones and hold them for the long term. Or go with a mutal fund or an ETF if you're more comfortable betting on the whole sector instead of one or two companies.
Aside from rising energy costs, oversea companies are benefiting from super-fast developments. Latin America funds have been seeing stellar returns. It may still be a good time to get into the action but allocate a limited amount of your portfolio for the emerging markets, 'cause when the fun is over, I know you'll wish you had that undo button. =)
Play smart.
Cheap Is Relative
My friend asked me to tell him which is a good stock to buy for the long term. One of the companies I had in mind was Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). My friend said the stock price was too expensive, and asked for a cheaper suggestion. Too expensive??
I asked, "What about JDSU?" And he thought that JDSU is cheaper. But that's dangerous thinking. What is cheap? Cheap is relative.
Would you pay $10 for an ordinary pencil and say it's cheap? I'm sure you can still buy a lot of them. If you could buy the latest 42-inch LCD wall-mountable display for $500, would you say it's expensive? I think comparing different companies and their stock prices is like comparing apples and oranges.
You may be paying under $3 a share for JDSU but you're paying for a company that is losing money!! The forward P/E is 59, which means you're paying 59 times as much for each buck the company earns. For JNJ, you're paying $59 a share, or less than 15 times the forward P/E. In addition, JNJ pays out a dividend of $1.32 a share, or a yield of 2.30%. It is clear that JNJ is cheap, considering what you're getting in return.
It is true that you can double your investments with JDSU, much like you can buy the $10 pencil and flip it for $20, but it is not without risk. You can make money as long as there are dumber people than you. As long as there's a buyer willing to pay for it, you can flip the pencil up to as high $160. (In 1999, shell companies with no operations were trading for hundreds of dollars a share.) However, the efficient market theory states that the pencil will return to its true value over time, which is probably $1.50. This reminds you a lot about the crash of 2000, doesn't it?
I don't know about you, but if I were to invest for the long term, I would rather have my savings in a solid and stable company like JNJ yielding 2.30% a year plus the upside of capital appreciation. The company has $15 billion in cash, or about $5 a share and has profit margins of 20%. (Forbes sees JNJ as attractively priced.) It's not hard to see how cheap JNJ is; you're getting a great bargain here. I can leave my money in JNJ and sleep well at night, while you would worry about JDSU's price volatility and wake up early every morning to make sure your money is still there.
Next time when you see a stock for under $3, look at the valuations of the company and see if it is worth it. Remember, cheap is relative to what you're getting in return.
Seagate Update
Seagate Technology (STX) rallied on Monday and close on 25.96. Today, the stock rose higher on the news, Seagate, Maxtor U.S. antitrust review time expires. The stock pulled back a little towards the end of the day and closed at 26.04 (after hours trading closed the stock at 26.00). I think the past two days action is a good indicator the stock will continue going to do well. I'm very bullish on this company. Let's recap the positives:
Seagate is the leader in the hard drive industry
Current P/E12.35 (very low compared to tech sector)
Forward P/E 11.52
Expected Growth of 12.5% per year for the next 5 years
12.5% Profit Margin
8.54B in Revenue
1.75B cash on hand
$3.6 cash per share
Low debt
Pays Dividend (Not many tech companies pay dividends)
Vertical Storage Technology - allows HD size over 100 gigabits per square inch, eventually 1-TeraByte HD on a single 3-inch disc
Hard drive demand growing due to popularity of mp3 players, cameras and pda devices
I created a position of 500 shares at 25.00 last week. Today's closed of 26.04 gives me an unrealized profit of $1.04 a share. I think there is a lot of upside to this stock, and even the one-year target of $30 is an understimated value. The demand for harddrives is increasing as more people are using digital recorders and high mega-pixel cameras. Also, the fact that we are becoming a more data-driven society makes backing up data on harddrives more cruical. The increase demand in harddrives is imminent and Seagate, being the leader in hard drive technogloy, will be your best bet to capture some of this market exposure. I think Seagate is a high-growth investment that will surely pay off in the long term.
Visual Basic
Does anyone know Visual Basic well, particularly for MS Excel? I need some help. Please email me at growingmoney (at) gmail.com.
What A Day For The Market
PFE 26.37 up 1.43 (5.73%)
STX 24.89 up 0.54 (2.22%)
CSCO 19.40 up 1.31 (7.24%)
XXIA 12.81 up 0.81 (6.75%)
All are great companies and are worth looking into.
Stocks and Real Estate
I recently found another great financial blog about real estate and the stock market,
Smart Capitalist Investment Blog by Tyler. I've communicated with him several times over email and he seems to have a great site going. I'd like to post an article from him.
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Many people that read this blog have probably thought about the differences between stocks and real estate, and where they should put their money.
There are many factors that go into determining the different avenues of investing, and I think that if done well, both will be profitable.
Since they will both be profitable you will probably want to distribute your cash between real estate, stock, and savings.
What makes real estate a good investment?
Leverage.
You can use someone else’s money to build your wealth from both amortization and positive cash flows.
Not only that, but your tenants are the ones that absorb interest from the loan.
There is also the possibility to create capital by simple improvements.
Another big advantage of real estate is that a lot of the times you make money or income on a monthly basis from your property.
What makes stock a good investment?
Liquidity.
If you do not want the liability of owning a piece of income property, then stocks are a good alternative.
With a stock, you can have your money out by the end of the week if you decide you need it for another investment or something.
Just like real estate, there are many additional benefits.
Now real estate and stocks are just two investment mediums, and there are many to be looking at.
Things to keep in mind when looking at investments such as real estate, stocks, and others is how much money it will put in your pocket every month, and how much capital appreciation you expect in 5, 10, 15, and 30 years.
After you start to figure this out, you can start to balance various investments in your portfolio.
Links
Growing Money
http://growingmoney.blogspot.com
Growing money through investments, savings, money management, and business ideas. http://feeds.feedburner.com/GrowingMoney
Smart Capitalist Investment Blog
http://www.smartcapitalist.com/
Discussion of mostly investment and real estate topics that come up. A place where I put my ideas on what could drive the market and ways to tie it into your own analysis. feed://www.smartcapitalist.com/syndicate/index.xml
Ask Uncle Bill
askunclebill.typepad.com
"Clueless, totally clueless." My daughter's description of her friends knowledge of finance, credit cards, debt, careers, investments--the financial world in general. "Write a book, Dad." So I wrote a book proposal, got an agent (New York, no less) and realized that college students and people just starting out don't have any money to buy books AND they get all their information off the internet. Forget the book. So here is the site for money questions and how to get rich. If you don't see what you need just ASK UNCLE BILL.
Rich Twin, Poor Twin
http://www.richtwinpoortwin.com/
Rich Twin, Poor Twin. This website is dedicated to motivating and providing information on how to reach your goals - to be rich mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. http://richtwinpoortwin.com/blog/feed/
FIRE... by 2018
http://fire2018.blogspot.com/
my quest to become financially independent / retired early by 2018, when i turn 41.
Money And Investing
http://www.MoneyAndInvesting.net
I want to share with you my views on how to accumulate networth, and everything related to making, saving, spending, and investing money. I provide no guarantees regarding the advice and finantial instruments suggested on this website. I take no responsibility for the results they may provide. You are responsible for researching any finantial instruments or advice I suggest on this website.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/MoneyAndInvesting
If you would like to add you link here, please email me your information.
