Archive for November, 2006

Volatility in Your Portfolio Does NOT Equal Risk

Monday, November 20th, 2006

November 20, 2006 – Most financial consultants when they speak of your investment portfolio mention a low beta as a positive attribute. In fact, you will hear many wealth managers stress the need of having a beta close to 1.00. Beta, in simple terms, is the measure of a stock’s or portfolio’s volatility as compared [...]

How Will Understanding What McDonalds Really Sells Improve Your Investment Returns?

Monday, November 20th, 2006

November 20, 2006 – The following blog entry is a re-cycled entry from a magazine column that I write. I’m re-cycling this column because this article is a particular favorite of mine. However, don’t worry, you won’t see this blog degenerate into a blog of recycled ideas. 99% of my blog entries will be new. [...]

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Nike Way Overvalued
Managing Sector Volatility
10 Reasons Nike Is A Leader In Sustainability
Read more on Nike at Wikinvest

What if Buddha Invested?

Thursday, November 16th, 2006

November 16, 2007 – The other day, Kaeho and I were discussing an article we both read entitled “What if Buddha Dated?” and both agreed that “What if Buddha Invested?” would make a great topic for the casual Friday blog entry. However, I decided to hand the duty of this blog to Kaeho. After you [...]

A. 55 Countries, with a Sudden Boom in Swiss Readers

Thursday, November 16th, 2006

Q: An Update on ZOI Readership? Regarding my goal of obtaining readers from 100 different countries on a consistent basis, here is the update for readers of my blog from new countries for this week (though not all are consistent readers): 43. Peru 44. Latvia 45. Sweden 46. Venezuela 47. Austria 48. Republic of Malta [...]

Be A Master of Few, Not a Student of Many to Improve Your Portfolio Returns, Part II

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006

November 15, 2006 – This blog is a continuation of my previous entry. I was going to wait uintil next week to post it, but was in a writing mood today so since I finished writing it earlier, here it is. From March 2005 to March 2006, I achieved a 40% return in my portfolio [...]

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The Case for Higher Gold Prices
Gold: The Bargain of a Lifetime
Read more on Gold at Wikinvest

Be A Master of Few, Not a Student of Many to Improve Your Portfolio Returns, Part I

Wednesday, November 15th, 2006

November 15, 2006 – Today, I’ve decided to trump Kaeho at his own game. Having considerable training in martial arts myself, I’ve noticed many strategies and techniques that have improved my martial arts training that are applicable to the art of investing. After all I named my blog the Zen of Investing for this very [...]

The Democrats Emphatic Win Last Week Doesn’t Mean Much in the Short Term and I’ll Tell You Why

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006

November 14, 2006 – Last week, in the U.S. Mid-Term elections, the Democrats won a stunning sweep of both houses of Congress, throwing the U.S. government into what many term as “gridlock” for the next two years as a Republican President will fight a Democratic Congress. But what does this sweeping change mean in terms [...]

Japan’s Economy Surprises Today

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006

November 14, 2006 – Just a few hours after I posted my blog entry on J-REITs this morning, this article appeared on the newswires. “HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Japan’s gross domestic product expanded 0.5% in price-adjusted terms in the three-month period ending in September from the previous quarter, or at an annualized rate of 2%, [...]

Consider the Good & the Ugly but Avoid the Bad

Monday, November 13th, 2006

November 13, 2006 – When an asset class has been downtrodden for a long period of time, I tend to look at it and assess whether conditions have changed that now favor an awakening from long periods of hibernation. Japanese REITs, or J-REITs as they are better known, may just be one of those opportunities, [...]

The Greatest Investment Myth Exposed: Why Modern Portfolio Theory Will NEVER Make You Rich

Sunday, November 12th, 2006

November 12, 2006 – To determine if the person managing your $1,000,000 account is truly the expert you believe him or her to be, pick up the phone tomorrow and do this simple experiment. Do not give your financial consultant any advance notice to prepare any answers, but call him (or her) up and ask [...]

A: 42 Countries and Counting

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Q: How to Take an Old Idea and Recylce it? Time again for the casual Friday entry. Several weeks ago, for my casual Friday blog entry, I wrote about a photographer that started a project where he was attempting to photograph a child from all 194 countries in the world without leaving New York City. [...]

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Premium for control - 42 Below
The Most Oddest Missed Trading Opportunity
Hakan Yalincak Sentenced To 42 Months In Federal Prison
Read more on Northeast Electr-h- at Wikinvest

What is One of the Core Fundamentals of Building Wealth?

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

November 8, 2006 – Here in my blog and in my newsletter, I have mentioned Sothebys (NYSE:BID) as a favorite of mine a couple of times. Yesterday I sold out of BID for a 33% gain after holding it for about five months. There are a couple of important lessons to take away from my [...]

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Danger? Or Opportunity?
Backtesting for High Performance Trading
Do Trailing Stops Really Work?
Designing a Mechanical Trading System: Part II
Read more on Sotheby's Holdings, Trailing Stop Order at Wikinvest

A Story with Phenomenal Investment Appeal

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

November 6, 2006 – No, you aren’t having déjà vu. It’s the topic that just keeps producing good investment opportunities. From natural gas and oil reserves, to diamonds and gold and uranium mineral resources, now this – the first new shipping corridor from Asia to Europe in over 100 years that will also drastically reduce [...]