In Search of the Perfect Investment

Three interesting stocks for 2011 (in addition to those on the right):

Monsanto (MON). Company has lagged for a while now and if things stay healthy could see double from here.

Citigroup (C). Hate the banks and most of their balance sheets but if the financials hold up, I think this one can double in 2011.

Apple (AAPL). Obvious and widely held choice here but until the massive growth stops there is still a lot of room on the upside. Yes, the law of large numbers come into play. But it could move the 400-500 range with a healthy 2011. It has new must-have models coming shortly.

Hedge a little by buying some SH. I wrote about that yesterday.

Don’t forget all the end-of-the year income tax stuff, like pre-paying some expenses.

Best business books of 2010. These are not investing books per se. You will learn several things about investing:

1. Preserving your own capital is your number one goal.

2. Everyone out there is working to jeopardize your capital.

3. Say NO to most stuff pushed by Wall Street investment bankers, especially by Goldman Sachs. They sell it to you, then bet against you. They win. You lose.

4. Do not buy the argument that “it’s as safe as cash, but pays more than a money market.” There are still investors stuck in auction rate preferreds, which all the big banks walked away from — in concert.

5. Booms happen. Booms bust.There will be al,ways be booms and busts. One is already forming, encouraged by the Fed’s low interest rates and quantitative easing.

6. You won’t get a bailout. In fact you don’t even get to write most of your losses off your income.

7. There are no penalties on Wall Street to losing money or failing.You’ll get your bonus and keep your job. It’s insane.

Here are the books:

+ Griftopia by Matt Taibbi. My favorite.

+ The Big Short by Michael Lewis. My second favorite.

+ Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

+ 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by Simon Johnson

+ Bailout Nation, with New Post-Crisis Update: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy by Barry Ritholtz

+ This Time is Different by Carmen S. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff.

If you have a favorite book, drop a comment below.

Last chance to gift your kids tax-free. The maximum (I believe) is $13,000 from you and $13,000 from your spouse. You can give each of your children and their spouses. The money is tax-free to them. It’s got to be done by tomorrow.

Internet speed test. My Verizon FiOS speed:

This is 28.5 times faster than a T-1.  That’s truly phenomenal.  In reality, my Internet speed is now determined by my laptop and the server at the other end. The connnection is spectacular. The end result is not. Don’t pay for this much speed. To do your own test, click here.

Dumb stuff with your body.

+ My eyes keep changing. One gets weaker. One gets stronger. I have this nice optometrist who lets me check own eyes — for reading, for computing, for walking around and for long distance (playing tennis). One prescription doesn’t work at my age.

+ My feet get bigger. My feet used to be size 11. Playing tennis and running around is flattening my arches, making my feet longer. I don’t make this stuff up. I’m now a 12.5 on my left foot and 12 on my right. Some shoemakers do better for me.

I thought I could happily live out my days with what I have. Is not to be.

Can I use my an iPad to replace my laptop? I get asked.

Pros:

Lighter. Easier to carry.
Cheap apps will do most everything you need.
Viewing pictures on it is gorgeous. Easy to transfer photos from a camera’s SD card. Slip the card  into the iPad and it imports the photos automatically.
Reading a book is easy if you figure how to prop the iPad.
Less obnoxious at meetings.

Cons:

It’s not a laptop. Its keyboard takes some getting used to.
It’s expensive for what it is.
It’s not easy to prop up.
You really can’t print from it, yet.

Ironically, you’ll need to borrow someone’s laptop to get your iPad working the first time.

New York airline disasters: The snow seriously messed things up. My friend’s Singapore Airlines flight, scheduled for 9:00 PM on Tuesday finally left New York this morning at 7:00 AM — 34 hours late. He had to wait. There was nothing else.

Passengers on a Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. flight were stuck on the tarmac at Kennedy trapped in their plane for  12 hours. Four other Cathay flights  were also stranded for more than four hours,  More than 1,100 people were on board the five flights. Cathay Pacific apologized. It said the flights were dispatched to New York under the belief that gates would be available.When they arrived, there weren’t any gates or any buses to ferry the passengers to the terminal.Thousands of people have been camped for days at Kennedy.

With layoffs and cutbacks, the airlines are worse than they’ve ever been — especially at providing information. Their web sites are always out of date. This morning’s Singapore Airline’s flight was not  listed. Only one lesson:

+ Don’t even think about going to an airport expecting snow.Cancel your flight immediately, if not sooner.

And don’t fly or train into New York for at least another few days. Trains and planes are still a mess.

Thinking about tomorrow night

“The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year’s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.” – P.J. O’Rouke

Say Goodbye to Mother

We were dressed and ready to go out for the New Years Eve Party. We turned on a night light, turned the answering machine on, covered our pet parakeet and put the cat in the backyard.

We phoned the local cab company and requested a taxi. The taxi arrived and we opened the front door to leave the house.

The cat we put out in the yard, scoots back into the house. We didn’t want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to eat the bird.

My wife goes out to the taxi, while I went inside to get the cat. The cat runs upstairs, with me in hot pursuit. Waiting in the cab, my wife doesn’t want the driver to know that the house will be empty for the night. So, she explains to the taxi driver that I will be out soon, ‘He’s just going upstairs to say Goodbye to my mother.’

A few minutes later, I get into the cab. ‘Sorry I took so long,’ I said, as we drove away. ‘That stupid bitch was hiding under the bed. I had to poke her with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck. Then, I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked! I hauled her fat ass downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!’

The cab driver hit a parked car.

Harry Newton whose big New Year’s Resolution is to say NO more often.