Forbes: Fire Your Stock Broker?!

Ok, yes, it’s funny that I’m writing about buying and selling stocks.  Mr. Anti-Crony Capitalist.

It’s not that I have a problem with making money.  It’s how it’s done and upon whose backs it’s done upon.

Anyway, I am a Wall Street Journal subscriber and a former dead tree edition subscriber to Forbes.  I still get Forbes’ emails though.  Got to keep an eye on the capitalist class, know what I mean?

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Shasta Ventures, a Silicon Valley (Menlo Park, Calif.) venture capital firm, has raised another $250 million fund to continue early-stage investing in technology companies.

Limited partners in the fund are primarily returning investors from Shasta’s first fund. Shasta is one of a handful of new venture firms to have launched after the pop of the Internet bubble and then survived.

It began investing its first fund of $210 million in early 2005, and has made 22 investments to date.

It has focused on consumer internet, mobile and wireless, and software and infrastructure. Its investments include Doostang (job site), Arch Rock (sensor networking), Eye-Fi (wireless photography), SayNow (voice and text services), Mint (online personal finance services), Lithium (hosted community services) and Turn (automated advertising platform).

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after years of hearing about this i got my first email for possible investment..

“Dear Respected

Peace and blessing be upon you.I am dropping you this quick note because I did not hear back from you concerning the information I sent you the other day introducing my intent.I am Madam Huda Alazawi Dada, an Iraqi.I write to solicit investment agent/partner in your country. I got your contact through my personal research and because of circumstance decided to reach you through this medium.I have EURO 300 million for investment purpose, I want you to receive this fund on my behalf and invest on a profitable bussiness pending when the situation in my country allows me to travel.You must appreciate that detailed information shall be provided when confirmation of this email is received.Kindly go through this page to allow you know me better After Abu Ghraib By Luke Harding I have delayed this transaction because of circumstance hence I need you to reply as very urgent. Do include your private telephone number in your response for

more details.

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Why Facebook Is Worth Every Penny Of Its $15 Billion Valuation

The immediate reaction from everyone who I spoke to last week after they heard that Microsoft had invested $240 million for only a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook was that the company, in a desperate effort to catch up with Google, may have made one of the most idiotic overpriced investments of all time.   

And when you consider that Facebook is only bringing in an estimated $150 million in revenue, the investment does - on it’s surface - seem completely irrational and does indeed appear to be another indication of a massive Web 2.0 bubble that is about to burst.

But personally, I think Microsoft’s investment in Facebook is one of the smartest moves the company has ever made. 

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This is probably the first publicly known investment by Pulak Prasad’s Nalanda Capital Pte Ltd. The $400-million Singapore-headquartered private equity fund, which has a mandate to invest only in publicly listed companies, has picked up a 14.9 per cent stake in the Jaipur-based Vaibhav Gems Ltd. The investment is in the form of Global Depository receipts, and an additional 5 per cent stake is bought through warrants. The total transaction size, if warrants are exercised, will be about $35 million.

Nalanda Capital Founder and Manager Pulak Prasad will represent the firm on the VGL Board. Prasad was earlier managing director in private equity firm Warburg Pincus’s Mumbai office. He, along with colleague Rajesh Khanna, was credited for leading investments in Bharti Airtel, which gave a 6X return for the PE fund.

VC Circle was first to report about the float of Nalanda Capital by Pulak Prasad back in March 2007. The firm had closed the fund at $400 million in late May 2007.

Vaibhav claims to be the largest exporter of coloured gemstones from India and one of the largest exporters of studded jewelry. It has offices and distribution outlets in in New York, London, Austin, Germany, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. In 2005, VGL acquired New York-based STS Jewels and its subsidiaries. Sunil Agrawal is the chairman of Vaibhav Gems.

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Deputy Prime Minister of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thongloun Sisoulith is very delighted at the growing relations between India and China.

There were a series of multilateral meetings in Manila that were organised by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) where the PM said:

Laos has long-lasting friendship with both India and China. With regard to the rise of these two important countries, Lao PDR would see it in a very positive way, as the two countries will help strengthen our region.

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Bürokratieabbau mit staatlichen Interessen verknüpft

Chinas Private-Equity-Firmen sollen konkurrenzfähig werden (Foto: pixelio.de)

Beijing (pte/31.10.2007/06:15) - Chinas aufkeimende Private-Equity-Industrie scheut die etablierte Konkurrenz wie die Carlyle Group http://www.thecarlylegroup.com oder TPG http://www.tpg.com nicht und beabsichtigt mittel- bis langfristig dem einheimischen Markt kräftig einzuheizen. So startet die chinesische Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Company http://www2.tjftz.gov.cn ihren ersten Frontalangriff und steigt für 200 Mio. Dollar als 20-prozentiger Anteilseigner bei der Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corporation http://www.tpcointernational.com , Chinas größtem Stahlrohrproduzenten, ein. Am kommenden Freitag werden alle nötigen Verträge unterzeichnet. “Meiner Meinung nach ist China nach wie vor ein geeigneter Investitionsstandort. Dennoch sind kleinere Investmentfonds derzeit die bessere Strategie, da diese häufig lokal effizienter vernetzt sind und über entsprechende Anbindungen vor Ort verfügen”, sagt Florian Siegfried, Geschäftsführer des Schweizer Finanzdienstleisters shaPE Capital AG http://www.shape-capital.com , im Gespräch mit pressetext. Laut dem Experten verfügen derzeit ausschließlich große Private-Equity-Gesellschaften aus den USA wie Carlyle über große Finanz-Vehikel, die sich in Megainvestitionen ausdrücken.

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Since earlier this year, I’ve been following a lot of advice from fellow bloggers and even a blog consultant, Adnan to find out how to improve thepinkc. This has meant a minor investment in money, and a major investment in time and patience, but I am pleased with the results.

Some of the Google PageRank estimators said I’d increase from 3 to 5, but as of tonight, I’m holding steady at a respectable 4.

I’m not sure what this change in PageRank will mean in the short term, but in the long term, it proves that some bloggers know what they are talking about!

There are 5 things that I think were most important and instrumental in improving my Google PageRank:

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With two World Series titles in the past four years and one of the best farm systems in the game, the Boston Red Sox are now the model big-market franchise. Sure, the Sox have built-in competitive advantages and possess the second-highest payroll in baseball, but the organization, for the most part, has used its resources wisely. The same cannot be said of several other franchises, be it small or large markets.

The success starts at the top. The ownership group, headed by John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, and CEO/President Larry Lucchino, deserves credit for buying the team, investing in it, and assembling an outstanding management team. Outside of George Steinbrenner and Carl Pohlad, I believe Henry, Werner, Lucchino, et al are the only owners who have overseen a pair of World Series championships.

Executive VP/General Manager Theo Epstein, who was hired in November 2002, is one of only three GMs who have won multiple World Series titles (the others being Pat Gillick and Brian Cashman). Not bad for anyone, much less someone who hasn’t turned 34 yet.

Manager Terry Francona, who was hired in December 2003, has skippered two championships in four seasons. He is signed through 2008 and will earn $1.75M next year. Francona also earns bonuses for making playoffs and winning the LDS, LCS, and World Series. Look for Tito to get a multi-year extension and a raise that will send his average annual salary toward $2.5M.

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Merrill Lynch ousted CEO and Chairman Stan O’Neal today, making him the highest-profile casualty of the subprime meltdown, reports Reuters.

His ouster follows last week’s report of a record $2.3 billion quarterly loss and write down of $8.4 billion.

Some analysts expect the investment bank to write down an additional $5 billion.

Here’s more from Reuters:

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Corrupt Investor Found Guilty in Democrat Scandal

From The Columbus Dispatch:

Investment manager Mark D. Lay was found guilty this afternoon on all on four federal fraud charges related to his handling of an offshore investment for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that lost $216 million in 2004.

Who’s Mark Lay?  Lay is a major Democrat contributor who used his Ohio Democratic Party connections to convince the BWC to hire his company to manage a multi-million dollar investment fund.   

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There have been a few misconceptions about Carrboro’s Revolving Loan Fund floating around recently. I would like to clear them up.

In June of 1985 the NC Dept of Natural Resources and Community Development gave Carrboro the right to use program income from the repayment of principal and interest from 3 economic development loans made to businesses in Carrboro to start the Carrboro Revolving Loan Fund. The loan proceeds from the three loans totaled $275,000. To date no local tax dollars have been added to this fund, all funds have accrued from the principal and interest from the repayment of the original three loans. There is also some additional interest accrued on the repayment amounts added to the fund from the investment of the repayment dollars. The three original businesses are still operating and employing people.

Over a period of 21 years the Town of Carrboro has loaned money to 33 businesses. Weaver St Market, the first to receive a loan has expanded once in it’s original location and has since expanded to Southern Village and soon to Hillsborough. It is a major employer.

After making 33 loans and helping many town businesses get started, the current balance available to loan is $480,000. Since the loan started there has only been one foreclosure for the which the town obtained collateral and the proceeds will go back to the RLF.

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Changing trends of Life insurance

In present times, life insurance has seen many changes. With the increasing in competition in insurance market, there are number of options of insurance policies available in front of the people. Earlier, simple insurance plans like term insurance plans were very common among the people because they provide a good return to the family of the person in case of sudden death at very less cost. Even still there are lot of takers of term insurance plans in the present time because term insurance provides a big risk cover against the small investment. On the other hand, large numbers of people are also getting attracted towards the plans which provide more than one kind of the benefit to the people like risk cover plus good returns on the maturity of the policy.

For holding periods of many years, diversification improves dramatically, when you hold multiple actively-managed mutual funds in an investment portfolio.

In “How Many Mutual Funds Constitute a Diversified Mutual Fund Portfolio?,” Professor Edward O’Neal of the University of New Hampshire at Durham tackled the important question of how much an investor could improve on diversification by holding multiple actively-managed mutual funds within an investment portfolio.¹

For the companion article describing this study, see: How many mutual funds are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? – evidence

Because individual investors typically stay invested in particular actively managed mutual funds for many years, a terminal valuation approach is useful in understanding the variability of outcomes for a mutual fund buy-and-hold strategy.

Professor O’Neal found that, if one looks only at average year-to-year portfolio risk or volatility, then adding more mutual funds to a portfolio seems to improve diversification only very slightly. However, if you look at terminal investment portfolio values after multi-year investment holding periods, then very substantial reductions in investment risk can be achieved by owning multiple actively-managed mutual funds.

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I hate it when people with more skills get paid more money! What is this world coming to?

POLITCS & ECONOMICS: “IMF Fuels Critics of Globalization: Report Finds Technology And Foreign Investment Increase Income Inequality,” by Bob Davis Wall Street Journal, 10 October 2007, p. A9.

ARTICLE: “World’s Economy to Stay on Its Axis,” by Sudeep Reddy, Wall Street Journal, 11 October 2007, p. A4.

ARTICLE: “How fit is the panda? China’s booming economy is helping to support global growth as America turns sickly. So now it has to keep up the pace,” The Economist, October 2007, p. A1.

ARTICLE: “China Begins to Fulfill Its Potential for Big Profits: Foreign Firms Are Cashing In After Years of Tough Sledding As Growth Transform Nation,” by Andrew Batson and Jason Dean, Wall Street Journal, 9 October 2007, p. A12.

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Economists expect the fed to cut interest rates again this week, only a month after cutting rates for the first time in over 4 years. What does this mean? Well, outside of any effects a rate cut may have on the stock market, it means the interest rates banks pay their customers may fall as well.

How can decreasing interest rates affect consumers? For the last year or so, it has been easy to find high interest bank accounts that pay about 5% interest. However, following last month’s rate cuts, interest rates around 4.5% are more common. If the rates are cut again, it is possible that interest rates will drop once more.

Lock in current interest rates. It you plan on keeping cash as part of your investment portfolio, now may be a good time to consider a CD ladder. Why? Because a CD ladder will allow you to lock in favorable interest rates for a set period of time.

Last week, my wife and I built a 5 year CD ladder and locked in our CDs at rates between 4.91-5.06%. For us, these rates are good enough that we will be happy with the returns for the next few years regardless of what happens with the rates. In fact, we built our CD ladder just before the possibility of further rate cuts was announced.

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About Pulinure

Palinure is organized by some expert colleagues with long term experience in various financial fields.

Palinure concentrates on:

1- Blue Chip Stocks

2- Barter Markets

3- ETF (Exchange Trading Fund)

4- Online Brokerage

5- Precious
6- FOREX Market

7- Mutual funds

Company`s profit plan

1-Deposition plan:

a. short-time (6 months):

7% monthly benefit. at the end of the period(6 months), owners can withdraw principal of their capitals.

b. middle-time (12 months):

10% monthly benefit. at the end of the period (12 months), owners can withdraw principal of their capitals.

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In order to build a successful, Java-based application it is important to have a clear understanding of the principles underlying the various financial models. Those models guide the application designer in choosing the most appropriate Java data structures and implementation strategy. This book describes the principles of model building in financial engineering and explains those models as designs and working implementations for Java-based applications.

Throughout the book a series of packaged classes are developed to address a wide range of financial applications. Java methods are designed and implemented based on the most widely used models in financial engineering and investment practice. The classes and methods are explained and designed in a way which allows the financial engineer complete flexibility. The classes can be used as off-the-shelf working solutions or the innovative developer can re-arrange and modify methods to create new products
About the Author

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I watched a video today titled “I Look Like Money,” which for its humor and message, was entertaining beyond all the posturing usually on the video mix-shows. Filmed on a white sound stage, it almost appears a spoof of “I Get Money” or “Make It Rain.” Young Ralph, however, didn’t mean to be The Roots to Wayne’s and 50’s Biggie. If the satirical part of the video — a series of character who only looked like money but faked their wealth — was unintentional, it was still effective. Young Ralph claims to look like money, smell like money, taste like money, walk like money. It doesn’t count to only look like money, for instance, because all of these factors are covalent. I wrote about hip-hop’s money obsession being a part of the larger attention artists pay to both accumulating and investing cash. But “Look Like Money” demonstrates something more about the changing appearance of rap.

Lil Boosie’s “Wipe Me Down” and Hurricane Chris’s “A Bay Bay” have completely changed the tenor of what is acceptable to celebrate and dance about. In the same way that Little Brother (ironically) named their second album “The Minstrel Show,” it seemed they were trying to make a dual implication. The first of their assertions was that rap had become more Southern and, in that, had returned to the roots of traditional music circulation, namely folk shows and underground sensations selling out of trunks. The second of their statements was that the Minstrel Show had become a tired routine more meant to exploit and expose than to enrich the form. There was that double-edged sword again.

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Dalian is not the easiest place to stay on top of news. National news, sure, that’s everywhere, but local news? Not so much, at least not in English. About six months ago, a few of us here started working to fix that.

The result thus far is here: DalianDalian.com. Last week I applied for a Knight Foundation News Challenge Grant to fund the project, explaining it this way:

DalianDalian.com is a hyperlocal, community-driven site that will provide news, information and ways to connect for people living in Dalian, China. The city is home to six million people and a growing foreign population, divided geographically and linguistically among an urban center, rural suburbs and special districts. DalianDalian will use geographical search and integrated social networking to build links within and among this city’s disparate communities.

China’s second-tier cities are experiencing a boom in foreign investment and becoming more attractive to expatriate communities. For newcomers, the first year is often trial and error, full of horror stories of people living on instant noodles because they can’t find decent restaurants, of missed opportunities, of wasted time and money. When people arrive, there is no easily accessible, frequently updated source of information about the city.

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