If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? That’s the title of a one-hour video by Bill Ackman for Floating University. Bill is Pershing Square Capital Management. The title is “Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing In Under an Hour.” Excerpts:
On Finance / Business
The first segment of the video is ideal for beginners and students as it combines concepts from introductory accounting, finance and business classes. He covers topics such as:
– How business works
– How to raise capital
– How to monetize your business investment
– Dynamics of investing in debt versus equity
– Assessment of risk
– Valuation
On Investing
The second part of the video delves into investing, noting that “the most valuable asset in investing is time.” He highlights the keys to successful investing:
1. Invest in public companies
2. Understand how the company makes money
3. Invest at a reasonable price
4. Invest in a company that could last forever
5. Find a company with limited debt
6. Look for high barriers to entry
7. Invest in a company immune to extrinsic factors
8. Invest in a company with low reinvestment costs
9. Avoid businesses with controlling shareholders
Ackman summarizes things by saying, “Find a business that you understand, has a record of success, makes an attractive profit, and can grow over time.” He says the best investments don’t require a lot of reinvestment capital and generate a healthy cashflow to pay out in dividends to shareholders
He also addresses other investing concepts such as compound interest, psychology of investing, and how to withstand volatility.
Says Ackman, “The key here is not just shooting for the fences, but avoiding losses.”
You should watch the video. Click here.
Cramer’s favorites: PPG, ETN (Eaton Corp.) and HON (Honeywell) have all done well in 2012. They are virtually at their all-time peak. They all pay a dividend — PPG 1.82%, ETN 2.89%, and HON 2.66%. Cramer likes them because they do good work and are easy to understand — the sort of stocks Ackman likes also.
More on Apple: The weekend was full of blogs commenting on Apple. Some thought it was a bargain. Some thought it was way overpriced. Suffice no one has the vaguest idea. Two things are apparent:
1. No one knows how to value Apple. Warren Buffett has said he doesn’t know how to value Apple.
2. Apple is priced by momentum. When the momentum is hot, Apple is hot. When the momentum is cold (as it is today) , Apple will remain weak. Until Apple introduces a seriously hot new product, I suspect that it will remain cold. Meantime, Apple has started discounting. Right before this Christmas you can buy Apple iPhone 5 with 16 gigs of memory for $50 less than a month ago. This is disturbing. This is not the old Steve Jobs company. This is a boring struggling consumer electronics company run by a boring, unimaginative, conventional CEO.
This morning Brian White from Topeka Securities upped his Apple price target to $1,111. In early trades the stock is falling.It’s now less than half his target. Go figure. Or better, don’t. Move on.
In Steve’s days the buzz on Apple was always positive. These days it’s always negative. Business Insider sent our a piece this morning, “Every Apple-Made App On Your iPhone Can Be Replaced By A Better App.” Yuch. Click here.
This is the rapid-fire assault weapon used in Connecticut.
It costs less than $1,000 on the Internet. You can buy one at any gun show immediately — without a background check. It has no place in American households. This is not useful for hunting or for sport. I believe owning an assault weapon should be 100% illegal. These weapons should be handed in to the police. An amnesty should be provided. Two months should be sufficient. After that if you’re caught with one, you go to jail.
But then I come from a country which has some of the most restrictive firearms legislation in the world. Guns were not part of my growing up. I knew no one who owned one. Here they’re all around me. I feel, consequently, less safe. Wikipedia has more on Australian gun laws. Click here.
My favorite baby picture. She’s my daughter’s best friend. She’s called Michelle He’s called Tom. He’s her husband. They took this photo just before they left for the hospital.
Mother and baby are doing well. She had the child natural. No pills. No injections. Nothing. It worked. The birth didn’t hurt Tom one little bit.
Hearing aids revisited.
Audiologist to patient: “You need a hearing aid.”
Patient: “How much is it going to cost me?”
Audiologist: “$6,000”
Patient: “That’s exorbitant. I’m going to shop around.”
Two days later the patient returns to audiologist
Patient: “I knew you were ripping me off. I bought one just as good for $275.”
Audiologist: “Really -what kind is it?”
Patient: “Ten after four”
A touching Christmas story
A married couple had been out shopping at the mall for most of the afternoon. Suddenly, the wife realized that her husband had ‘disappeared’.
The irate wife calls her mate’s cell phone: “Where the hell are you?”
Husband: “Darling, you remember that jewelery shop where you saw the diamond necklace and totally fell in love with it and I didn’t have money that time and I said, ‘Baby, it’ll be yours one day’?”
Wife, with a smile and blushing: “Yes, I remember that my Love.”
Husband: “Well, I’m in the bar next to that shop.”
Harry Newton, who had switched to Windows 7 several months ago and several months later had finally got it working the way he liked it — like Windows XP. But then, something happened. Two of my important programs — Lookout and Fidelity’s Active Trader Pro – started acting up. Lookout wouldn’t find things in Outlook. Active Trader Pro wasn’t showing some stocks I owned. For days I figured a virus or some other nasty. Then I figured a glitch. No. More fiddling and fiddling. I finally figured an “update” that Microsoft had automatically (and secretly) installed on my two Windows 7 machines, but not on my Windows XP machine where things continued to work perfectly. In one fell swoop, Microsoft had wrecked two of my most important programs — in the name of “progress” or what? No explanation. Microsoft had not asked “Do you mind if we wreck your machine?” They’d simly done it. And I thought I had turned off automatic updates. Anyway, I replaced Lookout with Lookeen (a great search engine for Outlook) and Active Trade Pro with their new beta version. And things seem to be working again. But it was frustrating and took a long time. Another reason to thoroughly dislike Microsoft.
This is what we did yesterday. A lot of work hanging all this stuff. The family better be awed when they see it this coming weekend.
The real problem is the extreme difficulty, almost impossibility, of committing an insane sick person against their will into needed treatment. This poor woman discovered that as have many of us. That is one step that will make a difference, including to those needing professional treatment.
I come from the right to bear arms side of life and wonder had the principal and her assistant been carrying guns – and knew how to use them as I learned from childhood on and carefully taught my kids – might the results have been different. They were still incredibly brave charging out after the armed killer.
It’s really hard to keep a straight face about this sort of comment. You are probably a sensible person as are others who believe teachers should carry guns. Do you really need someone to tell you this is not a sensible solution. Really? I heard someone say that people who support the right to obtain assault weapons should be regarded as accessories to this type of horror; makes sense to me. I’m tired, very tired of arguing this- enough debating, enough metaphors, enough “solutions” like every grandma should carry a glock, and more than anything, enough horrors like we’ve had over and over again. You’ve had your say and you’ve had your way, now it’s time for you to step aside.
If you think outlawing guns would stop criminals, or a determined nut case, from getting them, then you haven’t checked into the drugs entering this country hourly despite being illegal and billions being spent to stop them. The cost of that failed drug solution is horrendous. Oddly enough perhaps, states that allow guns to be concealed and carried have far lower rates of crime than states like Conn.
Should teachers carry guns? No. Have immediate access to them and know how to safely use them? Yes. I believe schools currently do carry fire extinguishers, no?
Thanks for your statements on gun control, Harry. It’s time to ignore the people who say that the solution to the house burning down is to throw more gasoline on it.
I came in one morning and found that the mouse would not move over to my second monitor on my Windows 8 desktop (I know.. I’m a glutton for punishment). Checked the settings…. everything the same. But, thanks to an OS “update” the second monitor was visible… you just couldn’t get to it. The NEXT morning… it all worked. Duh…
Regarding guns… I was raised with them. Had a rifle in my pickup truck when I went to high school. No big deal. I firmly believe the only practical answer is armed citizens in the right places. Why? The people in “gun free” zones are victims. With the exception of Rep Giffords, all of the attacks in modern times were in “gun free” zones.
Chicago and the State of Illinois have stringent guns laws.
Chicago Shootings: At Least 5 Killed, 24 Wounded In Gun Violence Over Weekend
How is that working out?
As far as turning in automatic weapons (which is what I assume you mean by “Assault Rifles”… the term is really meaningless) there were over 15 million hunting licenses issued in the US this year. Certainly, most gun owners don’t get hunting licenses. But, for the sake of argument, that’s at least 15 million long guns in the US. In Florida, we are just crossing 1 million active concealed carry permits. So, that’s several million (I’m probably low by a factor of 10) automatic pistols… in one state.
BUT, unfortunately, the government now has the cudgel to make some things happen. It’s healthcare. I expect that soon, when you go to sign up for your government healthcare there will be a box that asks, “Do you have guns in your residence?” or something like that. If you answer “Yes”… you get “re-evaluated” … “interviewed every year” or pay a higher rate, or your kids are taken away.
If Obama gets another lib supreme court justice, it might stand.
Be VERY careful what you wish for. What will be the NEXT question on the healthcare form??
What is your body mass index? Are you a Catholic? or ??
Hi Harry, can’t access the Ackman video…could you check the hyperlink?
I can’t fix this now. But google Bill Ackman and Floating University.
Harry Newton
50 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
Office 212-712-2833
Cell phone 917-297-1818
Weekends 518-392-3300
_____
One thing I learned the hard way is to never upgade the Microsoft Windows operating system on a computer. Leave the Windows on the machine that came with the machine when you bought it. The hardware and the software go together. If you want the new Windows, buy a new laptop. Oh, btw, installing old software on your new laptop may not work either. Buy the new version of the software for your new laptop.
The link to the Apple article should be: http://www.businessinsider.com/bad-apples-2012-12#ixzz2FJmXyudy
Harry,
My wife saw this picture of your Christmas tree and stated, “that’s absolutely beautiful”! I agree. One needs to do those simple things that makes life worthwhile.
D. H. De Vore