DocuSign is a great idea. Want your client/customer to sign a contract? Upload a PDF of the contract to DocuSign. Indicate with their software where you want your client to sign or initial. Mark it using the DocuSign software. Then alert your client/customer. He will peruse the contract online, sign and initial online. When he’s done, DocuSign will alert everyone.
I just rented a house in California for a couple of weeks. The agent used DocuSign. It made our a lease business easy. Saved huge time. Saved fedexing the contracts. DocuSign is really neat. I wish I had thought of the idea. Click here.
Apple rose $20.50, or 4.2% yesterday. Now it will go up more. God bless my readers who bought when I said don’t buy. See the great benefits of reading this column and doing the exact opposite. Apple Sure Looks Cheap, says Seeking Alpha. Click here.
Recurring black swans. Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese stepped down after the global mining company said it would book a $14 billion write-down against the value of its aluminum division as well as coal assets in Mozambique. The surprise move adds to the troubles Rio Tinto has endured since its ill-timed $38 billion acquisition of Canadian aluminum company Alcan at the top of the market in 2007.
I publish this piece for two reasons:
1. It shows we’re a long way from being done with 2007.
2. It reflects continuing surprises — or what Nassim Taleb — wrote about Black Swans.
Bank stocks are being hit. I missed the run-up in bank stocks. I’ve been scared of them. The Atlantic magazine has a great cover story which addresses my concerns:
What’s Inside America’s Banks?
Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever. Sophisticated investors describe big banks as “black boxes” that may still be concealing enormous risks-the sort that could again take down the economy. A close investigation of a supposedly conservative bank’s financial records uncovers the reason for these fears-and points the way toward urgent reforms.
To read the entire piece, click here.
Fifty life hacks to simplify your world. Some of these are actually quite useful. Click here.
Dumb idea. This is a Brother SX-400 electronic typewriter.
I bought it ($105), thinking I’d use it to fill in forms, since my handwriting is so unpracticed, and awful.
It was not a good idea. The thing is clunky, slow, noisy and … hard to line your typing onto the lines which the lawyers left you to put your info into. You can’t see where your typing will appear.
Finally I know why they invented computers. They’re easier to use.
The Australian Tennis Open is on. The previous day’s matches are on The Tennis Channel during the day. It’s playing live on ESPN2 beginning at 9 PM and going through the night. Australia is 16 hours ahead of EST in the U.S. and 13 hours ahead of the west coast.
Fascinating piece about Teddy Forstmann in the latet issue of Vanity Fair. Amongst his many feats: He bought Gulfstream in 1990 for $850 million, put himself in as CEO and sold it in 1999 for $5.3 billion. As as good-bye gift, instead of a gold watch or a leather binder, he said he’d like his own Gulfstream V (valued at $30 million). He got it. The story is called “The Ghoost in the Gulfstream.” One small excerpt:
He kept returning to core principles, chief among them being ownership. You have to own! If he had money down, he wanted control. The one time Forstmann Little violated this rule-in the late 1990s-resulted in disaster: minority-share positions in telecommunication companies that failed. The firm lost more than $120 million of the Connecticut State pension fund, a low point for Teddy, who spent years battling the state in court.
The article is fascinating. Click here.
Harry Newton, who expanded his interest in VWALX, and is now eyeing some other Vanguard index funds. More tomorrow. Promise. The tennis, however, is great.
I read today’s column and if I understand correctly the takeaway is to stay away from Apple and buy stock in typewriter companies.
No, buy Apple and buy typewriter companies. IN short, do whatever you think will work — not what I think.
I was on the fence about Apple. Bought about $280,000 worth partly because you said sell. If we were splitting my profits thus far I’d owe you 6 grand. Thankfully, we are not.
See how easy it is to make money by reading this column.
See how easy it is to make money by reading this column.