{"id":13294,"date":"2012-05-31T09:05:16","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T13:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=13294"},"modified":"2012-05-31T09:12:01","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T13:12:01","slug":"investing-can-be-seductive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=13294","title":{"rendered":"Investing can be seductive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investing can be seductive. A hot tip. A quick rise. And, bingo, you’re rich beyond your wildest dreams.<\/p>\n

Nonsense.<\/p>\n

The reality is investing’s a lot of work. You have to fish around for the “facts,” do your thinking and then make a decision.<\/p>\n

The worst part is when the answer is NO. I’ve just wasted all that time and ended with nothing. Better to have played tennis, or gone for a walk.<\/p>\n

Getting to a NO is why this column is regularly empty of brilliant suggestions.<\/p>\n

My friends are wary of hard times in the second half, and maybe even harder in 2013. The euro is now $1.24 and probably going even lower.<\/p>\n

A JPMorgan trader is probably short the euro and long the American dollar. But that’s such an obivious trade. I don’t understand forex.<\/p>\n

The stupidest thing I ever did was to invest in someone else’s ideas or business.<\/p>\n

Cash has its charms for now, though I still do like many shorts. See below.<\/p>\n

JPM’s $2 billion trade loss is blossoming to $5 billion, <\/strong><\/span>according to Business Insider<\/em>, which reports “JP Morgan CIO’s Former Risk Manager Had A Terrible Record As A Trader.” For the full story of the trader whom I wouldn’t hire to run a queue for an outhouse, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Carl Icahn has bought into CHK? Should I?<\/strong><\/span> I sold it short, then covered when I heard Icahn had bought in.This is the chart:<\/p>\n

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I didn’t go long after the Icahn news, because it was “too hard.” I followed my rule, “When in doubt, stay out.” Business Insider<\/em> has this:<\/p>\n

Bloomberg’s Tara Lachapelle, Jim Polson and Joe Carroll report at least one sell-side research group has declared the embattled natural gas developer an attractive buyout target.<\/p>\n

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc said that, “While a buyer would have to cope with seven joint ventures and $13.1 billion of debt, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron may see a chance to scoop up the largest holder of onshore drilling leases before gas prices rebound, said SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Inc,” they write.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Reuters’ Michael Erman reports this morning Chesapeake management will meet with its lenders this week to discuss its $9 billion to $10 billion funding shortfall.<\/p>\n

For the full story, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Miracles happen<\/strong><\/span>. I bought a TV at best Buy last night. I learned:<\/p>\n

1. Best Buy is a nightmare. They can’t sell you half the TVs they have on display. They don’t have them in stock. Their saleschildren’s product knowledge is abysmal.\u00a0 It takes too long to buy anything. I compare my Best Buy shopping experience to my Apple store experiences. It’s night and day. Best Buy is still an excellent short. (For others, see yesterday’s column<\/strong><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

2. There are two types of TVs — smart ones and dumb ones. Smart ones do all the Internet and 3D stuff. Dumb ones don’t. Smart ones cost a lot more. I bought a dumb one.<\/p>\n

3. There are real differences in technology. You want one with high refresh rate and a broad contrast ratio.<\/p>\n

4. LED sets seems to look best and weigh the least, which makes them easy to hang.<\/p>\n

5. It makes sense to buy the biggest set you can place. For family viewing, a 55 or 60 inch is best. I put a 32 inch set on my desk. I sit less than three feet from it. It’s great for watching tennis.<\/p>\n

6. Samsung makes the best LEDs.<\/p>\n

7. HDMI is the interface of choice between your cable\/FIOS box and your TVs.<\/p>\n

8. You can run two TVs, using an HDMI splitter. Both TVs obviously will see the same program.\u00a0 Amazon has a cheap $20 one. Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

My friend Ed called this morning:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ed: “I just returned from staying at my friend’s lavish condo at Canyon Ranch in Miami.”<\/p>\n

Harry: “It’s good to have rich friends.”<\/p>\n

Ed: “Better than being rich. You avoid the taxes.”<\/p>\n

So true, from the latest New Yorker<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Harry Newton who wonders why so many of his friends do so little exercise and eat so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investing can be seductive. A hot tip. A quick rise. And, bingo, you’re rich beyond your wildest dreams. Nonsense. The reality is investing’s a lot of work. You have to fish around for the “facts,” do your thinking and then make a decision. The worst part is when the answer is NO. I’ve just wasted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}