Incorporating
Technology Investor







Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment Technology Investor. Harry Newton

Previous Columns
9:00 AM EDT, Thursday, October 15 2009: Getting frothier and frothier. But the earnings and outlook statements are largely holding up -- viz Intel and Goldman Sachs. And those positive statements suggests that this rally may continue....

I've recently spent much time counseling people on the incredible entrepreneurial opportunities I see and how to approach those opportunities. That time took away from writing this column today. I'll lay out some ideas tomorrow.

Banks suck as investment advisers. Ask a big institution to become your financial advisor and/or to manage your money. You'll discover three things. First, they'll put you money into their own managed funds -- irrespective of whether there are better ones out there managed by others. Second, your performance will be terrible, but your fees will be hefty. Third, your performance will contrast dramatically with theirs, and the bonuses they pay their people.

I'm reminded of these three points when I read of this morning's strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and its mulling on how many billions to pay its top people in bonuses. Such a problem.

Emails that lead to malware. We get emails saying "A new settings file for the XYZPerson@technologyinvestor.com mailbox has just been released" and you ought to click on this link to get your new settings.

Don't click.

If you don't trust me, right click on the link and click "View Source." You'll find you're being sent to a web site you didn't expect -- a site that doesn't correspond to what the link actually says. In short, delete the email.

The spammers are getting to be better marketers.

That's it. Rubbermaid's president is toast. My job is to clean up dinner and put the leftovers away for my lunch tomorrow. We have a closet full of Rubbermaid's plastic containers. We have tops. We have bottoms. None of the tops match any of the bottoms. It's insane. Rubbermaid numbers its containers. But it changes the numbering system as fast I change underwear. I suspect Rubbermaid's marketing department thinks it's brilliant, since it forces poor suffering househusbands (like me) to buy more and more of their stuff. They're wrong. I just want to strangle every one of them. Ditto for Rubbermaid's president.

Cop "humor".Actual comments, allegedly, taken off actual police car videos around the country.

+ 'You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through.'

+ 'Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while.'

+ 'If you run, you'll only go to jail tired.'

+ 'You don't know how fast you were going?
I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket,

+ 'Warning! You want a warning? O.K., I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket.'

+ 'Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven.'

+ 'I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail..'

+ 'You didn't think we give pretty women tickets?

You're right, we don't. Sign here...'


This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email address is . You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no role in choosing the Google ads on this site. Thus I cannot endorse, though some look interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Michael's business school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click here and here.