October 31-2006 – Things still hectic on the SmartKnowledgeU™ front with time for writing more blog posts at a premium. But on tap is a discussion of the record Dow that isn’t, the record FTSE 100 that isn’t. If you don’t know what I mean, you’ll find out soon enough.

Q: If You Engage in Any On-Line Trading, What is Essential? Recently, E-Trade reported that Internet fraud perpetrated in client accounts cost the company $18 million in the third quarter while Ameritrade reported losses of $4 million so far this quarter due to similar events. The basic moral of this story is NEVER access your [...]

Q: How Do I Know that My Blog Entries are On Point? I am keeping with my new tradition of keeping my Friday entries light and/or humorous. Last Friday, I blogged about Chris Gardner. This week, I really wasn’t sure what to write about until God gave me the idea. I wanted to respond to [...]

October 18, 2006 – Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas billionaire casino mogul, recently agreed to sell a 1932 Picasso painting “La Reve” to Connecticut hedge fund billionare Steven Cohen for USD $139 million, a $91 million profit in just 9 years of holding the painting. That is until he was showing off the painting in [...]

Q: Why am I Still Staying Away from Investing in Russia? I’ve written here a couple of times that Russia, now with the 4th largest reserves of any central bank in the world, is not to be ignored. However, I’ve also stated that until they clean up their political corruption issues, I’m staying away. First, [...]

Q: What is the Most Diverse Place on Earth? Occasionally I’ll just post a short blurb about nothing investment related when I see something outstanding. Noticed Brooklyn is now on board here at the Zen of Investing. Being in Asia I miss my East Coast roots – NYC, the BKYLYN, the ATL, and of course [...]

He observado que algunas visitantes aquí son de países de habla español. Pues tengo una pregunta. ¿Ustedes desean la información aquí traducida al Español? Ahora no tengo la habilidad para traducir todo, pero tal vez, si recibo bastantes peticiones, intentaré traducir los blogs mas solicitados de todos. Por favor, si esto interesa usted por favor [...]

September 28, 2006 – Historically, August and September are very weak months in the stock market and rallies start in October into November and December. Then January has always been a very strong month performance wise as investors buy back shares they sold off in December for tax reasons. Right now, the U.S. markets are [...]

September 27, 2006 – The September 9th “Economist” magazine discussed the trials and tribulations of Jamie Olis, a former senior level tax planner at Dynergy, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison for, according to a Houston judge, contributing to the destruction of $100 million of Dynergy market capitalization. Olis caused this destruction, the [...]

September 26, 2006 – As I sit here this morning and watch the markets rise in the first two hours of trading, I must admit that although all this “feel-good” economic news, low inflation, high consumer confidence and low gas prices have been artificially manufactured by the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and various Bush [...]

Q: What Does a Review of Your Short-Term Trade Look Like So Far? Today, I’m going to review a previous blog on September 14th that I titled “A Short Term Trade”, something “We Never Provide Information About”. In that blog, I wrote that I felt that the NYSE and the S&P 500 were due for [...]

September 21, 2006 – Today I am just going to blog about a non-investment topic. When a coup happens in the country you’re in, I think I’m entitled to digress some. Furthermore, I’d like to set the record straight about the coup here as well. Several of my friends who were planning to travel here [...]

September 15, 2006 – Although you hear a lot about alternative energy being a good investment today, I think that it’s still a lot more hype than reality. Yes I’ve heard the arguments for alternative energy investments such as high oil prices now make the development of alternative energy sources more appealing on a cost-benefit [...]