Harry Newton's In Search of The Perfect Investment
Newton's In Search Of The Perfect Investment. Technology Investor.
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8:30 AM EST, Monday, October 15, 2007: The
message remains. Capital preservation is the key. Potential high returns are
irrelevant when your capital is at risk. Hence the need to check, check, check.
This is a sad email from a reader:
Dear Harry,
I have been a long time reader but this is the first time that I am writing
you. Hopefully you can give me an advice:
I had some money
(1 year and 18 month CDs and money market) with NetBank which has been
declared insolvent and it has now been acquired by ING. So everything above
$100,000 has been cut in half, I mean: FDIC reimbursed us, the depositors,
of 50% of our losses and will pay, as they liquidate the assets, any dividends
in accordance with the priorities established by law. After speaking with
FDIC members I understand that the only think I can do is to wait and check
their site. Is that true?
Sadly, there is
nothing you can do, except wait. What is surprising for the rest of us are two
things:
+ Banks are still
failing.
+ Your money with
the bank is only federally-insured to $100,000.
I know of conservative
friends who put $100,000 in many banks -- but never more than $100,000 in any
one.
Is your bank likely
to fail? No. Could your bank fail? Absolutely yes. There are no guarantees in
this world. And the chances of bank failure are now greater with subprime mortgage
exposure, etc.
Should I be wary and spread my monies? Yes. You have nothing to lose.
NetBank actually
didn't collapse, though it was doing some pretty stupid things with its depositors'
money. It was closed down by the Federal Government's Office of Thrift Supervision
and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver.
I believe it's
the first bank to fail/to be closed down in six years.
Where
were you on October 19, 1987? Continuing our series. Email your recollection,
please. 
From Barb Adams:
I remember it
so well. I was in Seattle WA on a long weekend with my friend. He was listening
to the news and the stocks and the current numbers.
The previous
Friday I had been at a business lunch with the banker from my company. He
was talking about the unsureness of the market. I immediately went back to
my office and called my broker, I didn't have Internet in those days, and
told him to sell everything. Harry Hobbs argued with me, but I insisted and
told him if I was wrong, I could buy a new set of stocks and he wins twice.
He sold my stock.
I couldn't believe
my fortunate situation!
Stephen
Campbell
In October
of 1987 I was in Washington DC as a broker with Kidder Peabody. I remember
one client in particular who had been shorting OEX puts, picking up
found money, for most of the 87 year. He was making $3,000 to
$4,500 each time by selling the puts and watching them go to zero (therefore
keeping all the sale premium).His famous last words before the crash were
the market would have to go down 480 points for me to lose any
money. It didnt it went down 650 points. His small
profits turned into a $190,000 loss over the weekend. Fortunately for
both of us it was his idea originally and we were able to close out the position
on the Wednesday after the crash and reduce his losses to only $85,000.
Like one of
your other readers, I also had a friend who bought puts every couple of months
starting in January of 1987. He would lose the full $10,000 each expiration
cycle as the market went higher. He kept buying the puts and eventually made
over $500,000. I dont think it would have been possible to make
the $12 million your other reader stated. They would have had to have
cornered the put market (like the Hunt brothers tried to do with silver)
the level of the market just could not drop enough to make that much money.
A
soldier in Iraq: This is the very sad story
of an idealistic super-bright, super-talented young American who volunteered
to go to Iraq and died there. First read why he joined
in
his own words. Then read the Christopher
Hitchens story in this month's November,
2007 Vanity Fair.
Roger
Federer's amazing shots. YouTube has slow motion clips:
+ The way you're
supposed to hit a topspin backhand. Click
here. , Click
here or Click
here.
+ The way you're
supposed to hit a backhand slice. Click
here or Click
here.
+ The way you're
supposed to hit a top spin forehand. Click
here.
+ The way you're
supposed to hit a smash. Click
here.
FlightBliss.com
offers ticketing and upgrade strategies.
It compares deals and dissects various loyalty programs, enabling travelers
to get the most out of their membership plans. Regular blog topics include booking
first- and business-class fares at coach rates and selecting the most comfortable
seats. The site also offers upgrade alerts by e-mail. FlightBliss is a good
companion to SeatGuru.com.
Technology
wish come true.
From
Bjarne Stroustrup, who invented an important computer programming language called
C++, and someone you'd expect to be thoroughly at home with computers:
I have always
wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone. My wish has
come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.
Life
in Southern California.
In San Diego, a California Highway Patrolman pulled a car over and
told the driver that because he was wearing his seat belt, he had just won $5,000
in the statewide safety competition.
"What are
you going to do with the money?" asked the policeman.
"Well, I
guess I'm going to get a driver's license," he answered.
"Oh, don't
listen to him," yelled a woman in the passenger seat, "He's a smart
alec when he's drunk."
This woke the
guy up in the back seat who took one look at the cop and moaned, "I knew
we wouldn't get far in a stolen car."
At that moment,
there was a knock from the trunk and a voice in Spanish said, "Are we over
the border yet?"
Ah
technology!
A lonely
man checks into a hotel on a business trip. He thinks of the girl whose card
he picked up in telephone booth. He dials the number.
"Hello?"
a woman answers.
Good, she sounded
sexy. "Hi, I hear you give a great massage and I'd like you to come to
my room and give me one. No, wait, I should be straight with you. I'm in town
all alone and what I really want is sex. I want it hot, and I want it now. I'm
talking kinky, the whole night long.. You name it, we'll do it. Bring implements,
toys, everything you've got in your bag of tricks. We'll go all night. Tie me
up, wear a strap on, cover me in chocolate syrup and whipped cream, anything
you want. Now, how does that sound?"
She says, "That
sounds fantastic, but for an outside line, you need to press 9".

This column is about my personal search
for the perfect investment. I don't give investment advice. For that you have
to be registered with regulatory authorities, which I am not. I am a reporter
and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday through Friday -- freely available
for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting things out in my brain. Second,
the column is research for a book I'm writing called "In Search of the
Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage my readers to send me their
ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can all learn together. My email
address is .
You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects
me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no
role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look
mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. Please
note I'm not suggesting you do. That money, if there is any, may help pay Claire's
law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense, click
here and here.
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