Rules For MAKING Any Investment

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett

6 Rules for Making Any Investment              By Simon Black This morning as I glanced at the headlines, I had to sit back and wonder — when did the world get so crazy? Interest rates across the West are at zero or negative. Bankrupt governments are selling 100-year bonds with tiny interest rates, while others have convinced investors to pay for the privilege of loaning them money. What really gets me is that people aren’t laughing. Serious investors are buying up the $10+ trillion worth of negative-yielding debt issued by bankrupt governments as fast as they can. After all, everyone else is doing it. But everyone makes mistakes in investing. For example, back in 1999 when I was 20 years old and in the military, I borrowed $22,000 through an army bank loan and did what everyone else was doing at the time — buying Internet stocks at the height of the dot-com bubble. Of course, I didn’t have any real investment education or experience. But hey, I was 20 years old and thought I knew everything. So I took the money and went into debt. That turned out to be a HUGE mistake. Rather than take time to invest in my own education and learn from the most successful investors I could find, I dumped the entire loan amount in the stock market. At first, the portfolio did well, and it only encouraged my arrogance. Every dollar I made reinforced the absurd self-belief that I was a masterful investor. Unfortunately, the dot-com bubble was about to peak. Warren Buffett had famously warned investors that the market was in a massive bubble. And I remember thinking, “Who is that stupid old man, and what the heck is a bubble?” Then the bubble burst. And not only did my profits evaporate, but even the principal amount started to shrink. Desperate to recoup my investment losses, I started making even dumber decisions, like buying collapsing dot-com stocks on margin. In other words, I borrowed more money and combined it with the money I had already borrowed to buy the shares of terrible companies with no assets. Genius. Unsurprisingly, within about a year of taking the original loan, I had lost it all. Every single penny. And I vowed to never make that same mistake again. That’s why ever since I left the military more than a decade ago, I’ve dedicated a huge portion of my time, money, and effort toward learning from the sharpest people I could find. I traveled to nearly 120 countries to build relationships with brilliant mentors in order to learn what I never could in school. For example, I never went to business school. But based on what I learned from my business mentors, I’ve been able to build five successful companies that now employ over 125 people on four continents. From my investment mentors, I learned how to not be such an idiot… how to ignore the crowd and focus on the core fundamentals of a business. One of my mentors explained to me that if you’re going to invest in the stock market, you should buy a single share as if you’re buying the entire business. He then laid out six rules to follow when making any investment: 1. Always consider the risks before even thinking about how much you can make Sometimes it’s worth taking huge risks where there’s a good chance you’ll lose everything. Startups are a great example; there was a 95% chance that Google was going to fail when it first launched. But the return has been more than 100,000x the initial investment. Clearly, that kind of return is worth the risk. Conversely, if you buy and hold 5-year Japanese government bonds right now, you’re counting on the second-most-bankrupt government on the planet to pay you back. Bear in mind that Japan’s government is so broke they spend 40% of tax revenue just to service the debt. And in exchange for taking on such substantial risk for five years, your reward is a whopping NEGATIVE 0.25% per year. In comparison, it hardly seems worth it. Know the risk, and make sure the reward is worth it. 2. Don’t invest unless you know WHY Before making any investment, have an objective. After all, there are a lot of different reasons to invest. Sometimes you might be seeking income, i.e. buying rental real estate for the cash flow. Capital appreciation is another common goal; people are typically looking to turn a $100,000 investment portfolio into $500,000. But there are other reasons as well: Asset protection. Hedging against financial/systemic risks. Reducing taxes. Estate planning. You can even invest to gain citizenship. To accomplish any goal requires careful planning and disciplined execution, whether you’re trying to lose weight or save for retirement. But you can’t ever create a plan unless you start with a clear objective. 3. Invest in people of integrity who have a track record of success Most investments are ‘managed.’ Apple is managed by CEO Tim Cook and the Board of Directors. Investments in government bonds are essentially ‘managed’ by the Treasury Department and all the politicians and bureaucrats. Any investment with dishonest or incompetent management will ultimately become worthless. It’s simply a question of time. A great asset managed by competent people of integrity will be a winner. 4. Buy assets that generate vast amounts of cash flow No exceptions. A profitable business (or any asset that produces safe, strong cash flow) makes sense in any environment: inflation, deflation, stagnation, etc. 5. Avoid excessive debt Borrowing can be a good thing, especially when interest rates are low like they are today. But too much debt leaves a company (or government) vulnerable and unable to pay its stakeholders. 6. Know the value of what you’re buying, and never overpay for it The bonds of bankrupt governments are selling at record levels right now. Tech companies like Uber that lose hundreds of millions of dollars have valuations in excess of $60 billion. None of this makes any sense. There’s something to be said for investing in growth, especially when you can get in at a very early stage (like being an early investor in Google). But paying out the nose to buy losing companies or bankrupt government bonds makes no sense. Know exactly what a company is worth. With stocks, for example, you can look at a company’s “net tangible assets” — all of its physical, disposable assets minus its liabilities. For example, if a company has $1 million in cash, $1 million in inventory, and $500k in debt, then its net tangible assets equal $1.5 million. Buying well-managed, profitable companies that sell near (or even below) the values of their net tangible assets provides a substantial margin of safety. This is a core principle of value investing. The whole concept is to essentially buy a dollar for 80 cents. The idea is incredibly simple, and its proven long-term track record outperforms all the other popular hotshot strategies. Learning about value investing means learning about the inner workings of business, money, and cash flow. It’s a fantastic foundation to your financial education, which is truly one of the best investments you can make.

IFC Markets

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Rule For MAKING Any Investment

“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett

6 Rules for Making Any Investment              By Simon Black This morning as I glanced at the headlines, I had to sit back and wonder — when did the world get so crazy? Interest rates across the West are at zero or negative. Bankrupt governments are selling 100-year bonds with tiny interest rates, while others have convinced investors to pay for the privilege of loaning them money. What really gets me is that people aren’t laughing. Serious investors are buying up the $10+ trillion worth of negative-yielding debt issued by bankrupt governments as fast as they can. After all, everyone else is doing it. But everyone makes mistakes in investing. For example, back in 1999 when I was 20 years old and in the military, I borrowed $22,000 through an army bank loan and did what everyone else was doing at the time — buying Internet stocks at the height of the dot-com bubble. Of course, I didn’t have any real investment education or experience. But hey, I was 20 years old and thought I knew everything. So I took the money and went into debt. That turned out to be a HUGE mistake. Rather than take time to invest in my own education and learn from the most successful investors I could find, I dumped the entire loan amount in the stock market. At first, the portfolio did well, and it only encouraged my arrogance. Every dollar I made reinforced the absurd self-belief that I was a masterful investor. Unfortunately, the dot-com bubble was about to peak. Warren Buffett had famously warned investors that the market was in a massive bubble. And I remember thinking, “Who is that stupid old man, and what the heck is a bubble?” Then the bubble burst. And not only did my profits evaporate, but even the principal amount started to shrink. Desperate to recoup my investment losses, I started making even dumber decisions, like buying collapsing dot-com stocks on margin. In other words, I borrowed more money and combined it with the money I had already borrowed to buy the shares of terrible companies with no assets. Genius. Unsurprisingly, within about a year of taking the original loan, I had lost it all. Every single penny. And I vowed to never make that same mistake again. That’s why ever since I left the military more than a decade ago, I’ve dedicated a huge portion of my time, money, and effort toward learning from the sharpest people I could find. I traveled to nearly 120 countries to build relationships with brilliant mentors in order to learn what I never could in school. For example, I never went to business school. But based on what I learned from my business mentors, I’ve been able to build five successful companies that now employ over 125 people on four continents. From my investment mentors, I learned how to not be such an idiot… how to ignore the crowd and focus on the core fundamentals of a business. One of my mentors explained to me that if you’re going to invest in the stock market, you should buy a single share as if you’re buying the entire business. He then laid out six rules to follow when making any investment: 1. Always consider the risks before even thinking about how much you can make Sometimes it’s worth taking huge risks where there’s a good chance you’ll lose everything. Startups are a great example; there was a 95% chance that Google was going to fail when it first launched. But the return has been more than 100,000x the initial investment. Clearly, that kind of return is worth the risk. Conversely, if you buy and hold 5-year Japanese government bonds right now, you’re counting on the second-most-bankrupt government on the planet to pay you back. Bear in mind that Japan’s government is so broke they spend 40% of tax revenue just to service the debt. And in exchange for taking on such substantial risk for five years, your reward is a whopping NEGATIVE 0.25% per year. In comparison, it hardly seems worth it. Know the risk, and make sure the reward is worth it. 2. Don’t invest unless you know WHY Before making any investment, have an objective. After all, there are a lot of different reasons to invest. Sometimes you might be seeking income, i.e. buying rental real estate for the cash flow. Capital appreciation is another common goal; people are typically looking to turn a $100,000 investment portfolio into $500,000. But there are other reasons as well: Asset protection. Hedging against financial/systemic risks. Reducing taxes. Estate planning. You can even invest to gain citizenship. To accomplish any goal requires careful planning and disciplined execution, whether you’re trying to lose weight or save for retirement. But you can’t ever create a plan unless you start with a clear objective. 3. Invest in people of integrity who have a track record of success Most investments are ‘managed.’ Apple is managed by CEO Tim Cook and the Board of Directors. Investments in government bonds are essentially ‘managed’ by the Treasury Department and all the politicians and bureaucrats. Any investment with dishonest or incompetent management will ultimately become worthless. It’s simply a question of time. A great asset managed by competent people of integrity will be a winner. 4. Buy assets that generate vast amounts of cash flow No exceptions. A profitable business (or any asset that produces safe, strong cash flow) makes sense in any environment: inflation, deflation, stagnation, etc. 5. Avoid excessive debt Borrowing can be a good thing, especially when interest rates are low like they are today. But too much debt leaves a company (or government) vulnerable and unable to pay its stakeholders. 6. Know the value of what you’re buying, and never overpay for it The bonds of bankrupt governments are selling at record levels right now. Tech companies like Uber that lose hundreds of millions of dollars have valuations in excess of $60 billion. None of this makes any sense. There’s something to be said for investing in growth, especially when you can get in at a very early stage (like being an early investor in Google). But paying out the nose to buy losing companies or bankrupt government bonds makes no sense. Know exactly what a company is worth. With stocks, for example, you can look at a company’s “net tangible assets” — all of its physical, disposable assets minus its liabilities. For example, if a company has $1 million in cash, $1 million in inventory, and $500k in debt, then its net tangible assets equal $1.5 million. Buying well-managed, profitable companies that sell near (or even below) the values of their net tangible assets provides a substantial margin of safety. This is a core principle of value investing. The whole concept is to essentially buy a dollar for 80 cents. The idea is incredibly simple, and its proven long-term track record outperforms all the other popular hotshot strategies. Learning about value investing means learning about the inner workings of business, money, and cash flow. It’s a fantastic foundation to your financial education, which is truly one of the best investments you can make.

IFC Markets

Welcome Bonus - 100% IFC Markets is glad to announce the launch of a new bonus program – Welcome Bonus. Open a real account during the period of July1 - September 30, 2016 and receive a bonus up to 100% of your total deposit. You will earn $10 per every round lot of your trading. Join the program

IFC Markets Up to 100% of Total Deposit www.ifcmarkets.com/Bonus What's this? It's a new type of ad that you can forward to a friend, or star to save it to your inbox.

Reasons for yahoo's failure

Yahoo: 9 reasons for the internet icon's decline

Yahoo's core business sold to Verizon for $5 billion Credit: Bloomberg

• Cara McGoogan

25 July 2016 • 1:07pm

Icon of the early days of the world wide web, Yahoo announced that it is selling its core business to Verizon.
Until recently, the web portal and search engine had revenues higher than Twitter and LinkedIn, and its visitor numbers outstripped the likes of Amazon, Wikipedia and eBay. So what went wrong?Â
Here are nine mistakes that contributed to the downfall of the early-internet darling:

Losing out on Google

In 2002, Yahoo had the opportunity to acquire Google when Sergey Brin and Larry Page said they would sell-up for $1 billion. But when Yahoo's then-chief executive Terry Semel eventually went back to the reluctant pair to accept the offer, they upped their price to $3 billion.
Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator and a former Yahoo employee, said the company dismissed search as an important part of the business at the time.

Missing an opportunity with Flickr

Before Facebook, Instagram and Google Photo there was Flickr, a photo sharing site that Yahoo bought in 2005. At the time, Flickr's team had plans to turn the site into a social network. But Yahoo missed this opportunity and mismanaged the site into obscurity. Along the way it has done the same with GeoCities, Delicious and, most recently, Tumblr.Â

Not buying Facebook

In 2006, Yahoo approached Facebook with an acquisition offer of $1 billion. Mark Zuckerberg turned the offer down, but reports suggest Facebook's board would have forced him to sell if that offer had been increased to $1.1 billion. Semel refused to increase the offer.

Rejecting Microsoft

In 2008, Yahoo resisted a $44.6 billion takeover bid from Microsoft. Steve Ballmer, then chief-executive of Microsoft, tried hard to convince Yahoo to sell, but its board decided the offer was "too low". The next year Yahoo gave up efforts to create a search engine of its own and signed a deal to use Microsoft's Bing.Â

A string of bad chief executives

Strong leadership has helped other floundering tech companies reverse downturns equally as worrying as Yahoo's. Take Apple under Steve Jobs, Microsoft under Satya Nadella, and Google under Eric Schmidt as examples.
Yahoo, however, failed to hire a chief executive up to the task of turning the company around. Semel is regarded among many as one of the worst tech chief executives, while Carol Bartz's foul-mouthed outbursts won her few friends, and Scott Thompson resigned amid claims he lied on his CV.Â

Jerry Yang and David Filo founded Yahoo in 1994 as "Jerry and David's guide to the world wide web" Credit: AP

Jerry Yang stepping down from the board

Yahoo co-founder Yang stepped away from the company in 2012 to "pursue other interests outside of Yahoo". The resignation left Yahoo without a driving force or raison d'etre, unlike other internet giants that benefit from the visionary and clear leadership of their founders, such as Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook, and Page and Brin at Google.

Marissa Mayer's failed turnaround

Even with the millions of dollars pouring into Yahoo from its stake in Alibaba, ex-Google prodigy Mayer failed to steer the company towards a prosperous future after her appointment in 2012.
Despite acquiring social-blogging site Tumblr, hiring a team of high-profile journalists and changing the working culture, Yahoo's profits continued to tumble and Mayer was forced to look at spinning the company's core business off from its stake in Alibaba.  

Marissa Mayer left Google to head up Yahoo in 2012 Credit: AFP

Buying Tumblr

One of Mayer's crowning moments as Yahoo chief executive was the acquisition of Tumblr in 2013 for £1.1 billion. At the time, Tumblr was yet to turn a profit and Mayer had a plan to monetise the microblogging social network with adverts.
Reports indicate that Yahoo overvalued Tumblr to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Slower-than-expected user and revenue growth, as well as redesign problems have led to Tumblr being absorbed into the Yahoo fold and confusion about the network's future.Â

Lacking a clear mission

One of Yahoo's most prominent weaknesses over the the last two decades has been the failure to figure out what its mission is. It has posted as many as 24 different company descriptions in 24 years, while fluctuating between the guises of a tech company and media giant.Â

Death of the web portal

As Google and Facebook rose to become the giants of web 2.0, Yahoo floundered. It failed to piece together its own search engine, and struggled to capitalise on the social potential of Flickr and Tumblr. So when the days of accessing the internet through web portals, that also included the likes of AOL and MSN, disappeared, Yahoo was left behind.

The 7 Ultimate Questions To A Fullfilled Life.

Spend some of your time thinking about these questions daily..

1. How do i spend my time daily?
2. Whats' most important to you?
3. What am i good at?
4. What am i bad at?
5. How can i improve on what am  good at and spend less time on what am bad at?
6. Am i doing the right things with the rigtt people?
7. Why must my life improve?

Best Wealth Building Strategy

Getting richer everyday There abound hundreds of thousands of wealth building strategies and i have tried a lot of over the years,hence the best one was the simplest.