Joe Ficalora


Different Types of Investments:

As we said last time, owning a stock is like owning part of a company. As the company rises or falls in value, so does the price of it’s stock. A key distinction is that the value of the stock is not only driven by the fundamental value of the company, but by other factors as well. These factors may include overall stock market trends, domestic versus foreign trade issues, business sector climate, etc. Owning a bond, is like owning part of a loan to a company or institution, like the State of Texas. Bonds typically pay a fixed amount of dividend as the loan is repaid. The bond’s value is determined by the interest rate on the underlying loan, and the current interest rates and trends in the marketplace. For example, who would not want own a 10% bond right now, when the money markets or bank passbook savings accounts are paying 3%? Should the institution or company fail or default on the loan, you could lose all or most of your bond’s value. Large companies or institutions usually issue bonds; so the risk is greatly reduced over owning a company’s stock share.

A stock mutual fund, is a group of stocks owned by a fund company to achieve certain investment objectives. Likewise a bond mutual fund is a group of bonds held to achieve a certain investment objective. Mutual funds, in both stock and bond types exist in many styles and forms. Fundamentally they are a savvy collection of stocks or bonds assembled and professionally managed for a specific or combination of investment aims. These typically diversify your investments so that no one particular company can sink your entire investment. The converse is that no one single stock can shoot your mutual fund up to a huge return.

Typically each mutual fund focuses upon growth, income, value, large, small or mid-capitalization companies, or a combination of these objectives. There are thousands of different funds and dozens of fund families to choose from. There are also companies that rate mutual funds, like Morningstar (www.morningstar.com ). Some mutual funds use a management team to select and prune stocks in the portfolio, some use certain methods, and some follow the leadership of a single fund manager. You should check these out before investing in a particular fund.

An oft-overlooked mutual fund consideration is the management fee or what are referred to as 12b-1 fees. Most fees are in the range of 1 to 2%. Be wary of any fund outside that range. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission can help unravel some of these issues for you. A good starting point is their investor section on mutual fund performance, specifically www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/mperform.htm . They also have a fund cost calculator to help take into account the fund management fees. Some funds are no-load mutual funds because they do not pay a sales person any commissions for selling fund shares. These are typically lower in cost, and if you own them for a long time, they can make a difference in the net return on your mutual fund investment. Conversely, there are loaded funds, which charge a commission when you invest in their fund. These vary widely in amounts, so ask for exact details before investing. Some require you to pay the sales commissions; others add that to the fund expenses. Either way it’s a cost to you. The Vanguard Funds (www.vanguard.com ) are often mentioned as a leader in creating no-load, low cost mutual funds. You will find compelling arguments at their website for owning no-load funds. You should check carefully on overall fund performance including fees when evaluating fund choices.

Measuring Risk:

Most mutual fund and stock tables and resources will list something called the beta or volatility of the items listed. Beta is a measure of the risk of the security listed associated with variation of the security when compared to the overall stock market. If beta is 1, then the stock or mutual fund varies about the same as the general market index. If less than 1, then the security is less volatile than the general index of comparison, with higher than 1 meaning more risk.

Measuring Risk-adjusted Returns:

There is also parameter called alpha, which is the market-adjusted return of the security. If alpha is positive, then the security earned a higher return than the relative market index of comparison. If alpha is negative, then the security earned less than the market did.

Minimizing Overall Risk:

Risks in the future may be reduced in the present only through preparation, planning and actions!

We discussed preparation and planning for the future in the last Investment Corner, which is a key risk-reduction strategy.

Risk reduction for investing is typically achieved through:

• Diversification,

• Portfolio Allocation,

• Pre-determined buying and selling prices, and

• Adherence to personal investing rules.

Now let’s look at the first part of risk reduction strategy for investing.

Diversification:

Diversification is spreading out your investments across several areas to reduce risk and capture growth in multiple places. Diversification is typically done at several levels. At the uppermost level, we typically diversify investments across different investment vehicles, such as cash, stocks, bonds and real estate. By doing this, we reduce several important risks. Inflation can reduce the value of cash on hand over time, which is why smart folks do not keep their life savings in cash hidden in a mattress! On the other hand, inflation can drive down the value of fixed dividend investments like bonds as well. Real estate may rise or decline with inflation, depending upon the health of both the local and the greater economies. Fixed hard assets like precious metals funds (gold) will usually rise on inflation or fears of inflation. Other risks include stock market declines, individual company bankruptcies, and so on…. By not “placing all the eggs in one basket” we lower our exposure to risks through diversification. During broad stock market declines, many folks move assets from stocks to cash or bonds. And of course the opposite during bull market runs.

Another diversification notion is that of slicing up your investment by specific growth sectors. Within a specific type of investment vehicle, say Mutual Funds, we diversify across the available growth and income sectors. Typically this is large, medium and small companies, as well as high dividend or high growth type stocks. You also could look into diversifying into domestic or international companies such as Asia-Pacific.

At the lower levels of investment diversification are multiple choices within a specific growth target. Most advisors strongly recommend diversification within a stock or bond market holding. If you feel for example that the Internet’s growth will continue or expand soon, buying stock in several companies who offer Internet products would help lower risk of any one company not doing too well. Diversification across several stocks is usually done in simple form through equal partitioning. If for example you had $10,000 to invest, how would you do it? You could place 20% of your total investment amount in each of 5 different Internet stocks as in Table I:

Table I –Stock Investment Diversification

Stock Name Current Price 90 Day High 90 Day Low Amount Invested ~ Shares

Company A $25 $28 $20 $2000 80

Company B $40 $40 $20 $2000 50

Company C $60 $60 $20 $2000 33

Company D $300 $300 $198 $2000 7

Company E $8 $9 $3 $2000 250

By looking at the trading ranges across the 90-day history, you can estimate the risks or volatility of each stock. Do the stocks have the same risks? Do they all have the same growth potential?

One approach would be to allocate risks equally, as opposed to allocating investment equally. You would be to use the information in the range of stock trading prices to assess risk and re-allocate your investments as this diversification calculator shows below in table II:

Table II – Risk Diversification Calculator

Risk Diversification Calculator

Investment Amount $10,000

Stocks 5

Stock_1 Stock_2 Stock_3 Stock_4 Stock_5

90-day Max $28 $40 $60 $300 $9

90-day Min $20 $20 $20 $198 $3

Cur. Price $25 $40 $60 $300 $8

Trade Rnge 32% 50% 67% 41% 100%

Eq. Amt $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 $2,000

$$ at Risk $640 $1,000 $1,333 $819 $2,000

Risk Ratio 1 1.5625 2.083 1.28 3.125

Risk-Red. $2,000 $1,280 $960 $1,562 $640

Adj. Inv.$3,104 $1,987 $1,490 $2,425 $993

If you do not want to do the research and monitoring required for several individual stocks or bonds, choosing a mutual fund may be the wisest choice, with a smaller but usually acceptable return on your investment. The key question you need to answer is not “Should I diversify?”, but rather “How will I diversify my investments?”

About YOU

The primary things you should know about yourself before selecting among the different types of investments are:

I. How much of my time is available to monitor/manage my investments?

II. How often do I want to change my investment choices?

III. Do I want help and advice from investment professionals?

These are important questions you need to answer for yourself. All investment requires some time commitments to monitor and manage. When stock markets or life situations begin to change, you may need to change your investment choices. If your experience level does not warrant it, getting professional help may increase both your results and comfort level.

I. Time to manage your investments: Your time is worth money! At least if you can put it to good use in managing your investments… but do not become obsessive with it. Investments take time to grow. Every investment portfolio must be watched and pruned from time to time. You wouldn’t want to look back after 5 years and find that right after your investment choices were made, that the business climate changed and those choices had become poor performers.

Two typical uses of your time applied to investment managing:

• Weekly, monthly or quarterly checking for:

o Stock movements

o Business climate changes,

o Company news

• Annual or quarterly allocation changes

o Re-planning or shifting your plans

o Pruning and re-diversification

o Reallocation of investment amounts

Weekly or Monthly Check-ups

If you buy individual stocks and bonds, these will need monitoring more often than if you had purchased mutual funds. However, stock and bond funds need attention too, just less often.

Some questions you should answer for yourself are:

• Can I afford time each week to check investments (Friday night or Saturday morning)? This is important for individual stocks and bonds.

•Am I disciplined enough to check my investments periodically? This is critically important, as the business environments are constantly changing.

• Can I put this on a monthly calendar and stick with it? Monthly checkups are important no matter what your investments may be…

• If I get an automatic e-mail sent will I read it? Many investment houses will do this for all accounts above a certain size limit. You can pool your investments under one roof, usually with savings in cost plus perks for research, quotes, e-mails, etc. Both Fidelity and Schwab are good examples of these services once you reach certain size limits.

Quarterly or Annual Check-ups

If you are only into mutual funds as investment vehicles, then you need check them only quarterly or annually. After all you are giving up some small amount of income to pay for professionally managed investments, right? You may want to keep up with monthly or weekly news on the investment fund management team, however, as management team shakeups there could cost you. The key thing is disciplined reviews and setting a schedule that you can stick to. Ignorance in this case can be dangerous, so do it together with your spouse or a family member that you trust. As you get good at it, the time required to do these should drop from several hours to perhaps an hour to review all your investments. If you have been keeping tabs on things, it can be shorter still.

“Even if you’re on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there!” – Will Rogers.

II. Changing your investment choices:

The challenge when deciding to change investments is often the emotional content. “We had a return of say 7%, when the broader markets got only 5%”. How did the overall group for your investment vehicle do? Morningstar provides good index comparisons, as do other groups. If your choices did not perform above the class average for 1 or 2 quarters in a row, it’s probably a good idea to consider other alternatives. That may require all the same diligence of researching an investment as you did originally. If you are seriously concerned and need to act quickly, you can always sell and put the proceeds into cash or a money market for a short time while you do the research.

III. Getting help from professionals:

I have often found the larger funds and investment houses to be a plethora of information via the Internet. They have how-to guides, acronym explanations, and in general some great advice. If however, these seem to complex for you, or you would prefer to seek out a single person with whom to deal, then find a Certified Financial Planner. The best ones should be able to provide references, a track record, and a good deal of services all at your doorstep. These services do not come free and can be in the thousands of dollars to set up your initial plans. Be certain to check 3 to 5 references and interview several planners before deciding. Determine what you pay exactly and what you get exactly after your selection is made. Be certain that they are certified, a place to begin is: http://www.cfp.net/ .

Summary

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this topic of stock and bonds versus mutual funds. Primarily remember that individual stocks require more monitoring, but can yield higher returns. The same applies somewhat to individual bonds. Newer investors to these may want to start with mutual funds, Money magazine has an annual issue every February that is very helpful and is usually available at public libraries. Finally remember to lower your risks by diversification, no matter what investments you make. Ask yourself the questions we reviewed about your time commitments and discipline for monitoring as part of the investing process. And of course, read-up on the Internet and some of the books listed below.

Next time – Portfolio Allocation, Pre-determined trigger points, and Personal investing rules …

Self-Study:

Some great resources to continue your journey are located on the web.

Try visiting these sites:

•http://www.greatcompaniesgreatcharts.com/archives/001864.html

•http://www.rightline.net/home/gate_rm.html

•http://www.investorguide.com/stockfaq.html

•http://www.pascoresearch.com/int_alpha.asp

•http://www.stockbook.com/Evaluator/

Or read these well known authors and books:

• William J. O’Neil: How to Make Money in Stocks

• John Boik: Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time

• John C. Bogle: Common Sense on Mutual Funds : New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor

Additional info from this author may be found at http://www.sbtionline.com

J.S. Kim


Defined within the realm of the statistical Bell Curve, the long tail would reside in the skinny tail at the borders. The long tail, in regards to goods and services, refers to the evolution away from mainstream offerings towards more niche products and services. With the internet drastically reducing the costs of establishing distribution channels, the ability of entrepreneurs to focus more on the longtail sector to fit their customized needs is gaining increasing appeal.

However, almost no one speaks of the longtail of investing. To me, longtail investment strategies are the strategies that do not heavily rely on fundamental or technical analysis, but exploit other strongly predictive factors to produce not only superior returns to traditional investment strategies but also investment opportunities with far better risk-reward paradigms than those produced by traditional investment strategies. Here are 10 reasons why the longtail of investing is the only way to build wealth.

(1)You will never achieve the level of wealth you desire by handing your money over to a large investment firm.

The vast majority of private investors hand their money to large institutions and allow them to invest their money for them. If this were truly the best way to achieve financial freedom, then almost every one you know would be ecstatic with their financial consultant. Think of how many people you know that absolutely rave about their financial consultant.

The fact that 90% of people you know do not rave about their financial consultant should tell you that niche investment strategies, or longtail investment strategies, are far superior. The ones that are happy with the large investment houses already were independently wealthy before they sought out their help. Think about how many people you know that have ever told you, “I wasn’t wealthy before, but thanks to my investment firm, I am wealthy beyond my dreams now.”

(2)Thanks to evolving information technology, there are many better and more highly predictive means of making investment decisions than just utilizing fundamental and technical analysis.

Though people have been really slow to grasp this, once they do, longtail investment strategies, like those invented by SmartKnowledgeU™, will boom. There is no doubt that the level of top-notch financial, political and corporate information available to the average investor has increased by leaps and bounds within the past decade.

There is a virtual treasure map that was created by the flattening of the world over the past decade to selecting stocks that are poised to explode. However, because the largest, most powerful investment institutions in the world have kept the masses of investors fixated on traditional investment techniques such as value and fundamental analysis, the longtail of investment strategies is currently much further behind in its developmental phases than it should be.

The best analogy I can use when explaining why people have ignored the long tail of investment strategies is to compare it to the incredibly slow adoption of Internet Protocol Version 6 (Ipv6) by the United States. When China started preparing its country for Ipv6 a decade ago, the benefits in increased security and its added value properties in e-commerce were evident even back then. However, people in the U.S. were comfortable with the lesser Ipv4 so did not take any action until the progress and superior internet and business capabilities of China, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong finally embarrassed the U.S. enough to move forward and catch up with Asia.

I see the same thing happening in the educational realm of investing. Everyone is comfortable with the traditional investment strategies that have been propagated for the last several decades so nobody sees a need to move forward even though much better strategies exist today. Just as with Ipv6, the world will eventually realize that the safest and best means of investing money reside in the longtail, and they will eventually adopt these strategies.

(3)With so much investor skepticism of corporate integrity sparked by past accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, General Motors and the like, and the current, ongoing backdating option scandals, investors will increasingly seek alternate means of making investment decisions other than crunching numbers that they feel are untrustworthy.

Furthermore, technical analysis often yields false positives as well. A chart will show indexes that appear bullish having just broken through a ceiling of resistance only to have the index turn back downward for a prolonged period of time, or a chart will appear bearish having just broken through a floor of resistance only to turn around and begin another bullish ascent.

In fact, you have seen some of these turnaround trends with some of the technical posts that I’ve placed on my blog in previous months. In fact, that is why I always state that I never rely solely on technical indicators to make my decisions. I rely only on technical indicators to confirm or dispel what my long tail investment strategies tell me. Of the three types of analysis, fundamental, technical and long tail, long tail investment strategies yield by far the least amount of false negatives and false positives. That’s why I rely on them so heavily.

This sentiment will lead to an evolution of longtail investment strategies, and the discovery of more efficient and better predictive means of making investment decisions than even those that already exist. Even current longtail investment strategies, such as those utilized at SmartKnowledgeU™ are constantly evolving as access to reliable information increases every year. Making decisions as if you were a fly on the wall of boardrooms is no longer a fantasy. It is possible, thanks to the evolution of the information landscape.

(4)With the growth of blogs and pure information sites on the web, the stranglehold of global investment myths, including the Modern Portfolio Theory of diversification, will soon be exposed for what they are – cleverly disguised sales strategies posing as investment strategies.

Once people realize this, longtail investment strategies will gain wider acceptance, much like acupuncture and herbal medicine eventually gained credibility as healing regimens in the schools of Western medicine.

The new information age has stripped many accepted investment strategies such as diversification of much utility when attempting to build wealth. Furthermore, it has also rendered such beliefs as an inability to time the market and the efficient market model as mere myths. This has been proven time and time again by investment sites such as SmartKnowledgeU™ that have called for steep market corrections in certain global markets and in asset classes like gold with consistent accuracy.

(5)Wider acceptance of alternative, longtail investment strategies that far outperform those utilized by global investment firms will happen as word of successes via these strategies spread throughout the world via the internet.

The internet distribution channel can and will be used to change the mindset of investors.

(6)The Do-It-Yourselfers are Growing – With the success of books such as Stephen Covey’s “The Eight Habit” that emphasize personal accountability to achieve excellence versus handing control over to someone else, cultural shifts will happen whereby people will seek to seize control over their own financial future versus just handing their money to a firm to manage.

As this cultural shift happens, multitudes of people will realize that they are shorting their returns significantly every single year by handing their money to global investment houses.

(7)The flattening of the world and accessibility to previously inaccessible investment information will undoubtedly yield an increasing amount of investment strategies that reside in the longtail.

People will realize the foolishness of believing in the one investment strategy thrust upon them by global investment houses for the past half of century as “the only viable and safe way to invest.” If the younger generation takes an interest in investing, adding their creativity to the investment arena will result in explosive growth in the longtail of investment strategies. However, since the odds of this occurrence are quite low, a more gradual shift towards niche investment strategies is much more likely.

(8)The explosion of social networking sites like YouTube, MySpace, Friendster, Squidoo, Digg, and so forth, will amplify the viral marketing of longtail investment concepts.

Again, ignorance of longtail investment strategies causes fear and hesitancy to use them. Viral marketing of longtail investment concepts will increase millions of investors’ comfort level with these different and unique concepts.

(9)People are ultimately interested in returns, no matter how much global investment firms try to separate themselves from their competitors with smoke and mirror service claims.

All the gratitude for luxury box suites at Los Angeles Lakers games, suites at the Four Seasons Hotel, conferences at world-class golf courses and resorts will quickly wither once people realize how much more money they are earning with longtail investment strategies.

(10)Again, because people will readily abandon all the perks they get as a preferred client at a large investment firm for far superior returns on their portfolios, longtail investing will eventually reach a critical mass.

Eventually the longtail of investing will migrate towards the center and become the mainstream methods of investing, though this may take several decades to occur.

Geoff Gannon


Different sources define value investing differently. Some say value investing is the investment philosophy that favors the purchase of stocks that are currently selling at low price-to-book ratios and have high dividend yields. Others say value investing is all about buying stocks with low P/E ratios. You will even sometimes hear that value investing has more to do with the balance sheet than the income statement.

In his 1992 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffet wrote:

“We think the very term ‘value investing’ is redundant. What is ‘investing’ if it is not the act of seeking value at least sufficient to justify the amount paid? Consciously paying more for a stock than its calculated value – in the hope that it can soon be sold for a still-higher price – should be labeled speculation (which is neither illegal, immoral nor – in our view – financially fattening).”

“Whether appropriate or not, the term ‘value investing’ is widely used. Typically, it connotes the purchase of stocks having attributes such as a low ratio of price to book value, a low price-earnings ratio, or a high dividend yield. Unfortunately, such characteristics, even if they appear in combination, are far from determinative as to whether an investor is indeed buying something for what it is worth and is therefore truly operating on the principle of obtaining value in his investments. Correspondingly, opposite characteristics – a high ratio of price to book value, a high price-earnings ratio, and a low dividend yield – are in no way inconsistent with a ‘value’ purchase.” Buffett’s definition of “investing” is the best definition of value investing there is. Value investing is purchasing a stock for less than its calculated value.

Tenets of Value Investing

1) Each share of stock is an ownership interest in the underlying business. A stock is not simply a piece of paper that can be sold at a higher price on some future date. Stocks represent more than just the right to receive future cash distributions from the business. Economically, each share is an undivided interest in all corporate assets (both tangible and intangible) – and ought to be valued as such.

2) A stock has an intrinsic value. A stock’s intrinsic value is derived from the economic value of the underlying business.

3) The stock market is inefficient. Value investors do not subscribe to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. They believe shares frequently trade hands at prices above or below their intrinsic values. Occasionally, the difference between the market price of a share and the intrinsic value of that share is wide enough to permit profitable investments. Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, explained the stock market’s inefficiency by employing a metaphor. His Mr. Market metaphor is still referenced by value investors today:

“Imagine that in some private business you own a small share that cost you $1,000. One of your partners, named Mr. Market, is very obliging indeed. Every day he tells you what he thinks your interest is worth and furthermore offers either to buy you out or sell you an additional interest on that basis. Sometimes his idea of value appears plausible and justified by business developments and prospects as you know them. Often, on the other hand, Mr. Market lets his enthusiasm or his fears run away with him, and the value he proposes seems to you a little short of silly.”

4) Investing is most intelligent when it is most businesslike. This is a quote from Benjamin Graham’s “The Intelligent Investor”. Warren Buffett believes it is the single most important investing lesson he was ever taught. Investors ought to treat investing with the seriousness and studiousness they treat their chosen profession. An investor should treat the shares he buys and sells as a shopkeeper would treat the merchandise he deals in. He must not make commitments where his knowledge of the “merchandise” is inadequate. Furthermore, he must not engage in any investment operation unless “a reliable calculation shows that it has a fair chance to yield a reasonable profit”.

5) A true investment requires a margin of safety. A margin of safety may be provided by a firm’s working capital position, past earnings performance, land assets, economic goodwill, or (most commonly) a combination of some or all of the above. The margin of safety is manifested in the difference between the quoted price and the intrinsic value of the business. It absorbs all the damage caused by the investor’s inevitable miscalculations. For this reason, the margin of safety must be as wide as we humans are stupid (which is to say it ought to be a veritable chasm). Buying dollar bills for ninety-five cents only works if you know what you’re doing; buying dollar bills for forty-five cents is likely to prove profitable even for mere mortals like us.

What Value Investing Is Not

Value investing is purchasing a stock for less than its calculated value. Surprisingly, this fact alone separates value investing from most other investment philosophies.

True (long-term) growth investors such as Phil Fisher focus solely on the value of the business. They do not concern themselves with the price paid, because they only wish to buy shares in businesses that are truly extraordinary. They believe that the phenomenal growth such businesses will experience over a great many years will allow them to benefit from the wonders of compounding. If the business’ value compounds fast enough, and the stock is held long enough, even a seemingly lofty price will eventually be justified.

Some so-called value investors do consider relative prices. They make decisions based on how the market is valuing other public companies in the same industry and how the market is valuing each dollar of earnings present in all businesses. In other words, they may choose to purchase a stock simply because it appears cheap relative to its peers, or because it is trading at a lower P/E ratio than the general market, even though the P/E ratio may not appear particularly low in absolute or historical terms. Should such an approach be called value investing? I don’t think so. It may be a perfectly valid investment philosophy, but it is a different investment philosophy.

Value investing requires the calculation of an intrinsic value that is independent of the market price. Techniques that are supported solely (or primarily) on an empirical basis are not part of value investing. The tenets set out by Graham and expanded by others (such as Warren Buffett) form the foundation of a logical edifice.

Although there may be empirical support for techniques within value investing, Graham founded a school of thought that is highly logical. Correct reasoning is stressed over verifiable hypotheses; and causal relationships are stressed over correlative relationships. Value investing may be quantitative; but, it is arithmetically quantitative.

There is a clear (and pervasive) distinction between quantitative fields of study that employ calculus and quantitative fields of study that remain purely arithmetical. Value investing treats security analysis as a purely arithmetical field of study. Graham and Buffett were both known for having stronger natural mathematical abilities than most security analysts, and yet both men stated that the use of higher math in security analysis was a mistake. True value investing requires no more than basic math skills.

Contrarian investing is sometimes thought of as a value investing sect. In practice, those who call themselves value investors and those who call themselves contrarian investors tend to buy very similar stocks.

Let’s consider the case of David Dreman, author of “The Contrarian Investor”. David Dreman is known as a contrarian investor. In his case, it is an appropriate label, because of his keen interest in behavioral finance. However, in most cases, the line separating the value investor from the contrarian investor is fuzzy at best. Dreman’s contrarian investing strategies are derived from three measures: price to earnings, price to cash flow, and price to book value. These same measures are closely associated with value investing and especially so-called Graham and Dodd investing (a form of value investing named for Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, the co-authors of “Security Analysis”).

Conclusions

Ultimately, value investing can only be defined as paying less for a stock than its calculated value, where the method used to calculate the value of the stock is truly independent of the stock market. Where the intrinsic value is calculated using an analysis of discounted future cash flows or of asset values, the resulting intrinsic value estimate is independent of the stock market. But, a strategy that is based on simply buying stocks that trade at low price-to-earnings, price-to-book, and price-to-cash flow multiples relative to other stocks is not value investing. Of course, these very strategies have proven quite effective in the past, and will likely continue to work well in the future.

The magic formula devised by Joel Greenblatt is an example of one such effective technique that will often result in portfolios that resemble those constructed by true value investors. However, Joel Greenblatt’s magic formula does not attempt to calculate the value of the stocks purchased.

So, while the magic formula may be effective, it isn’t true value investing. Joel Greenblatt is himself a value investor, because he does calculate the intrinsic value of the stocks he buys. Greenblatt wrote “The Little Book That Beats The Market” for an audience of investors that lacked either the ability or the inclination to value businesses.

You can not be a value investor unless you are willing to calculate business values. To be a value investor, you don’t have to value the business precisely – but, you do have to value the business.

Anton Kadin


People need a robust financial plan so that wealth can be manged efficiently and in turn wealth management involves a tight financial planning. Both are inter-dependent and it can be done by utilizing different financial elements like personal banking, asset management, real estate planning, legal resources and investment resources. Individuals and companies opt for a wealth management company so that they can choose appropriate investment plans and they can avoid any bad financial decision.

Generally, a wealth management company works with the help of stocks and stock trading, equity linked investments, structured investment products and derivatives, structure savings products, unit trusts and mutual funds, property management and investment solutions and alternate investment options. It provides a wide range of wealth management strategies for individuals and institutions. It devises a bespoke investment plan for each of its clients and, thereafter, monitors and proactively manages it within an efficient tax structure.

The tools devised by a wealth management company help in making your wealth grow so that you can get long-term and short-term investment benefits. They analyze your wealth plans along with stock prices and mutual funds. They match the available risk profile with appropriate investment instrument and then suggest you one or two options. You could be interested in various tax services, financial education and planning, investment management, personal banking, trust and company, custody, pensions, insurance and corporate and fund administration. These services can can be managed efficiently if you utilise the prescribed financial tools efficiently.

A wealth management company provide services to both individuals and companies. It can provide personal finance solutions like pension solutions, inheritance tax, investment management, mortgage services, protection solutions etc. for the individuals. Also, they can provide services for employee benefits like flexible employee benefit plans, employee protection, pension solutions, employee counseling, business protection etc.

Therefore, whatever consultation you may need regarding the well-being of your personal finance or regarding your company’s wealth management, you can opt for a wealth management company. These days most of them has online presence and you can inquire about them on their websites also.

Anton Kadin


If you want to have a robust finance then for that you may have to do a lot of financial homeworks. Management of wealth is not an easy task but a wealth management company can provide assistance in that. Nowadays, the financial market is full of saving options, insurance plans, investment options and other financial instruments and tools but to choose some plans among numerous plans is quite difficult. In this case you can take help from these companies.

In fact, wealth management is a very wide term which is useful for high net-worth individuals and companies. Generally, a wealth management company involve financial planning by utilizing various financial elements like real estate, personal banking, legal resources, asset management and investment resources. It works by the integration of different tools of finances like stocks and stock trading, equity linked investments, structure savings products, investment products and derivatives, property management and investment solutions, unit trusts and alternate investment options.

A wealth management company analyzes your wealth related issues and provide various services like financial education and planning, tax services, investment management, private banking, pensions, insurance, corporate and fund administration and some other such services. The services provided by them can be very fruitful while taking important financial decisions. These companies may provide valuable consultancies to high net-worth individuals as well as companies.

For individuals a wealth management company can provide personal financial services like inheritance tax, pension solutions, investment management, protection solutions, mortgage services and lifestyle financial planning. And also, for companies they can provide services for employee benefits like flexible benefits, employee protection, employee counseling, pension solutions, business protection etc.

These days various individuals and companies are managing their wealth related issues by opting for a wealth management company. So, you also can seek their help for your benefit as well as the benefit of your company and for this you can use the Internet which is proving to be very useful in promoting general awareness regarding them.

Anton Kadin


What is a wealth management?

Now, what exactly wealth management is? Wealth management is an advanced type of financial planning that involves private banking, asset management, estate planning, legal resources and investment resources. These all factors have a common goal which is sustaining and growing long-term wealth. In achieving this, a wealth management company provides assistance to those individuals and companies who need it by providing certain services.

A wealth management company may provide many services like portfolio management and portfolio rebalancing, investment management, trust and estate management, private management and financing solutions, tax advice etc. They can provide you personal banking and insurance advices. Their purpose is to ensure that you do not make any wrong choice as far as investment decisions are concerned.

What are the products of wealth Management Company?

Now, a general question may arise as if a wealth management company is a company then what its products are. Some of its products are stocks and stock trading, equity linked investments, structure savings products, structured investment products and derivatives, mutual funds and unit trusts, property management and investment solutions and alternate investment options.

What is the process of wealth management?

You might be interested in knowing the process of any wealth management company. First of all, the company undergoes an in depth analysis of the client’s wealth management plan. It analyzes stock prices and mutual funds. Then it matches risk profile with appropriate investment instrument and make wealth accumulation calculation. While doing so it ensures the achievement of client’s future financial goals.

Furthermore, after all of the analyses the wealth management company proposes the best choice for client’s wealth plan. It also proposes the strategy of growth and accumulation, preservation and protection, distribution and transition of the clients’ wealth. This is how it works and if you need your wealth to be properly managed then you can take help from a wealth management company.

Anton Kadin


Every individual and company requires a good financial health and it is a general feeling that we want our present wealth grow big and we want open more avenues for more earnings. This feeling is good but its implementation is quite difficult. It requires management, experience, knowledge, skill and above all patience. Nowadays, high net-worth individuals and companies are opting for a skilled and experienced wealth management company which takes care of their all financial aspects.

In fact, your financial health depends largely on the decisions that you take regarding investments and savings. A good financial decision provides you wealth and any bad one makes you incur losses. And a wealth management company is sought after so that financial decision making can become easy as it provides knowledge regarding investment solutions, company financial affairs, business loans, retirement plans etc. It manages your wealth by utilizing numerous financial instruments like real estate planning, personal banking, asset management, legal resources and investment resources.

This is also true that a poor wealth management can lead to bad financial situations like a bad debt and sometimes even bankruptcy. As you know that poor credit history like situations are commonplace these days. According to the BBC news around 26,000 people in England and Wales became insolvent in the second quarter of 2006. That is why people are opting for a wealth management company for better financial advices and to avoid bad business decisions. You can be offered services like portfolio management, trust and estate management, investment management, private management, portfolio rebalancing, financing solutions, tax advice etc. You can also ask for better advices regarding individual and group insurance with tax benefits.

Therefore, study your financial needs and know what you want. Then choose a genuine and reliable wealth management company which can provide good services to you. You can learn about them on Internet also which is the most convenient way these days for gaining knowledge regarding financial issues.

Anton Kadin


Wealth management involves financial planning by utilizing different financial elements like personal banking, real estate planning, asset management, legal resources and investment resources. A wealth management company works with the help of certain financial tools like stocks and stock trading, equity linked investments, structure savings products, structured investment products and derivatives, unit trusts and mutual funds, property management and investment solutions and alternate investment options.

These all tools help in making your wealth grow so that you can get long-term investment benefits. A wealth management company tries to solve your wealth related problems in a very professional way. They analyze your wealth management plans including stock prices and mutual funds. They match the available risk profile with appropriate investment instrument and then suggest you certain options.

The various services of a wealth management company may include tax services, investment management, financial education and planning, private banking, trust and company, administration, custody, pensions, insurance and corporate and fund administration. These services can be proved very useful as far as taking important financial decisions are concerned.

Moreover, a wealth management company may provide services to both individuals and companies. For individuals, they can provide personal financial planning services like investment management, pension solutions, inheritance tax, mortgage services, protection solutions and lifestyle financial planning. Also, for companies they can provide services for employee benefits like flexible benefits, pension solutions, employee protection, employee counseling, business protection etc.

Thus, a wealth management company can provide consultation to both individuals and companies. And you need to understand your financial needs and goals before opting for a particular company. Nowadays it has become easy to get knowledge about various such companies through the Internet. You can check about various wealth management planners and their services on the Internet and if their services suit you then you can ask for quotations for various purposes.

Tim Jensen


Wealth management can be referred to as an advanced discipline relating to advice in terms of investment which incorporates specialist monetary services and financial planning. The main objectives are providing families dealing with services in retail banking, legal resources, investment management, and taxation advice goals to sustain and grow long-term wealth. Monetary planning can help the individuals who are accumulating wealth or have already done so.

Wealth management can be exemplified through self-governing advisors or huge corporate entities such as Citigold of Citibank and the other extensions regarding services relating to retail banking designed for focusing on customers dealing with retail worthy of high nets. Customers of such type are likely to be categorized as ‘upper retail’ or ‘mass affluent’ clients owing to net worth of theirs, potential products owned by them from bank, assets of their under management, and many other segmentation methods.

Banks create exclusive services, branches, and other advantages for retaining or attracting the customers who can earn more profits in comparison with the customers detailing with retail banking. It should, however, be noted that clients of wealth management cannot be termed as ‘Private Banking’ clients as they do not justify the criteria of services of banking provided by private banks.

Background

The term ‘Wealth Management’ traces its origin in the 90s in the United States through Insurance Companies, banks, and Broker Dealers. The evolution of wealth management traces to high-net worth monetary consulting for people who happen to be topmost clients of any of the firms, to high level private banking which makes provisions for different kinds of investment, bank products, and insurance. With the passing of Glass-Steagall Act in the year 1999, monetary firms have been able to make arrangements for all the 3 services from a single office.

With emergence of wealth management in the form of professional service, along with career opportunity, educational programs like AAFM, i.e. American academy of Financial Management certified by CWM and Chartered Wealth Manager plan are arranging for modified wealth management training to individuals and corporations alike. Wealth Management is used to serve the affluent community, along with Chartered Monetary analysts, certified managers of wealth, Public Accountants, government-licensed lawyers, insurance professionals, etc.

Criteria for various countries

In the US, only CPAs and lawyers possess the license provided by government for providing advice related to tax or legal matters on complicated wealth management, tax law, estate planning, retirement, or even other legal matters like divorce or business management.

In Australia, the rules regarding wealth management are such that only those advisers who qualify under PS 146, i.e. Policy Statement no.146, outlined under Financial Services Reform Act of the year 2001, administered and governed by ASIC, i.e. Australian Securities Investments Commission are entitled to provide advice regarding financial products to the retail clients.

Job profile

People engaged in the wealth management generally work for brokerage firms, investment banks, accounting firms, law firms, trust departments, consumer banks, or portfolio management and investment firms. Smaller ones like registered advisors might also provide broad array regarding services pertaining to family and office.

Products dealt with in wealth management include stock trading and stocks, investments linked with equity, derivatives and products relating to structured investment, foreign exchange, unit trusts and mutual funds, investments and management of property, etc. Alternative investments with respect to wealth management include art, wine, precious metals, etc.

Steve Cownley


The Budget – The Ultimate Financial Management Tool

A carpenter uses a set of house plans to build a house. If he didn’t the bathroom might get overlooked altogether.

Rocket Scientists would never begin construction on a new booster rocket without a detailed set of design specifications. Yet most of us go blindly out into the world without an inkling of an idea about finances and without any plan at all.

Not very smart of us, is it?

A money plan is called a budget and it is crucial to get us to our desired financial goals.

Without a plan we will drift without direction and end up marooned on a distant financial reef.

If you have a spouse or a significant other, you should make this budget together. Sit down and figure out what your joint financial goals are…long term and short term.

Then plan your route to get to those goals. Every journey begins with one step and the first step to attaining your goals is to make a realistic budget that both of you can live with.

A budget should never be a financial starvation diet. That won’t work for the long haul. Make reasonable allocations for food, clothing, shelter, utilities and insurance and set aside a reasonable amount for entertainment and the occasional luxury item. Savings should always come first before any spending.

Even a small amount saved will help you reach your long term and short term financial goals. You can find many budget forms on the internet. Just use any search engine you choose and type in “free budget forms”.

You’ll get lots of hits. Print one out and work on it with your spouse or significant other. Both of you will need to be happy with the final result and feel like it’s something you can stick to.

Why Should I Make a Budget?

You say you know where your money goes and you don’t need it all written down to keep up with it? I issue you this challenge. Keep track of every penny you spend for one month and I do mean every penny.

You will be shocked at what the itty-bitty expenses add up to. Take the total you spent on just one unnecessary item for the month, multiply it by 12 for months in a year and multiply the result by 5 to represent 5 years.

That is how much you could have saved AND drawn interest on in just five years. That, my friend, is the very reason all of us need a budget.

If we can get control of the small expenses that really don’t matter to the overall scheme of our lives, we can enjoy financial success.

The little things really do count. Cutting what you spend on lunch from five dollars a day to three dollars a day on every work day in a five day work week saves $10 a week… $40 a month… $480 a year… $2400 in five years….plus interest.

See what I mean… it really IS the little things and you still eat lunch everyday AND that was only one place to save money in your daily living without doing without one thing you really need. There are a lot of places to cut expenses if you look for them.  

Set some specific long term and short term goals. There are no wrong answers here. If it’s important to you, then it’s important period.

If you want to be able to make a down payment on a house, start a college fund for your kids, buy a sports car, take a vacation to Aruba… anything… then that is your goal and your reason to get a handle on your financial situation now.

Steve Cownley

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