In Search of the Perfect Investment

No matter the docs, no matter the bylaws, no matter the Agreements, the person who controls the checkbook will determine your returns — or your lack of returns.

This immutable rule of investing has applied to every investment I’ve ever made  — from real estate syndications to private company startups, to hedge funds, and on and on.

When your investment goes awry, you won’t be able to sue anyone. Your promoter is protected by acres of paperwork — which you ironically paid for.

Your best move is to move on.

The New York Times ran a piece:

How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions

Here’s an excerpt:

“Atlantic City fueled a lot of growth for me,” Mr. Trump said in an interview in May, summing up his 25-year history here. “The money I took out of there was incredible.”

His audacious personality and opulent properties brought attention — and countless players — to Atlantic City as it sought to overtake Las Vegas as the country’s gambling capital. But a close examination of regulatory reviews, court records and security filings by The New York Times leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump’s casino business was a protracted failure. Though he now says his casinos were overtaken by the same tidal wave that eventually slammed this seaside city’s gambling industry, in reality he was failing in Atlantic City long before Atlantic City itself was failing.

But even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.

I’m not arguing that what Donald Trump did was illegal, immoral or dishonest. Over my investment history I have also lost money with brilliant salesmen — Donald Trump most certainly is a great salesman. Those brilliant salesmen/promoters always did well. I lost everything. They gained huge fees, and lived grand life styles.

Today I am wiser. I recognize that the person who has the checkbook containing my money can pretty well do anything he wants with my money. Today I’m wary of brilliant salesmen, and their usually iliquid investments.

I recommend you read the New York Times piece on Donald and his Atlantic City casinos. The reporters did major research. Read their story  not for the politics of it — the New York Times is a left-wing, pinko communist newspaper (according to all Donald’s supporters). Read the article for the investment lessons. They’re powerful. Click here.

Talk about “too hard”. Here’s Microsoft this year:

This morning Microsoft announced it was buying the Internet’s most disliked web site — LinkedIn — for an amazing $26.2 billion. Which caused Microsoft’s stock to fall and LinkedIn’s to skyrocket:

 I’m sure Microsoft has its reasons for buying LinkedIn. I can’t think of one. They’re paying cash. Someone smart at LinkedIn is making a call on where he thinks Microsoft’s stock is headed: down. He made the same call when I sold my business. (See Friday’s column.)

Microsoft just blew $9 to 11 billion on its failed mobile phone business. Now is the time to sell Microsoft short and to start a competitor to LinkedIn.

The mice revisited: Remember this? This is the nest the field mice made in my AC condenser. This is the second time the mice had built their winter nesting quarters in my condensers.

Last week I wrote once this nest is cleaned out with a shop-vac and the chewed wires re-connected, there are now six long-term solutions:

1. If you can, remove all the circuit boards for the winter. Store them inside, away from the mice. If you can’t remove them, keep reading:

2. Turn off power to machines. The power keeps the circuit boards warm during the winter and attracts the mice. The big nice nest adjoins the warm circuit boards.

3. A barn cat. It’s best solution.

4. Cotton balls impregnated with essential mint/peppermint oil and stuffed among the wires are meant to deter the mice.

5. Spray essential mint oil everywhere regularly. Amazon sells the stuff. They don’t like the smell.

6. In winter, wrap the units in industrial-grade plastic wrap — like the stuff they use at airports to wrap around flimsy suitcases and large packages. Check the packages regularly for mice breaches.

 Do not use mouse-traps baited with peanut butter. They will attract and kill zillions of mice. But that’s not what you want. You want to deter. Do not use dryer sheets. The mice make their nests out of them.

My Apple Watch is semi-useless. Other people must think so also, since sales are desultory. And discounts rife. Here’s Apple’s web site:

Here’s B&H Photo’s web site:

Exact same watch — at a 30% discount. That’s unprecedented for Apple. doing that before introduced Watch 2.

Meantime, my Apple Watch has started acting funny. It locked up. It took five days to deliver a simple email. It missed everything in between. It told me it needed a new software update. But the watch wouldn’t take it. I reset it. It wouldn’t take my Apple password. And it won’t pair with my iPhone any longer. After fiddling with it for far too long — nearly half an hour — it’s now working again.

Apple doesn’t believe in instruction manuals. This leaves its customers often up a creek with no paddle. I wasn’t getting emails on my Apple Watch. Here’s how to do it (don’t believe that Apple has on its Apple Lack of Support pages:

+ Tap Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
+ Tap on the My Watch tab.
+ Tap on Mail.
+ Tap Custom (not Mirror my iPhone)
+ Then Show alerts and turn on the email accounts you want to appear on your Watch.

My overall conclusion: Apple Watch was a seriously bad idea. Do not buy one, even at the now cheaper price.

Favorite Canada photo:

A certain impeccable logic.

Paddy tells Mick, I’m getting circumcised tomorrow.

Mick says, I had that done when I was a few days old.

Paddy asks, Does it hurt?

Mick says, Well, I couldn’t walk for about a year.

 

Harry Newton who sold T this morning. They may buy Yahoo. Why? Ask Microsoft why it bought LinkedIn.