Warren Buffett says: Today my money and my mouth both say equities

The New York Times has published a very interested Op-Ed article from Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet in which he declared Buy American.  I Am.  View the article in its entirety by clicking here. 

He is following this simple rule:  “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”   Skittish investors are dumping stock for many sound companies with little consideration for their long-term fundamental business prospects.  Rather than follow the herd, now is the time to hunt for bargains.  “Bad news is an investor’s best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America’s future at a marked-down price”.    He could very well be talking about any country in the world.  

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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Midweek Reading & Freebies

 Here are some great articles from here and around the world.

FOR FAMILIES

 

• Anatomy of a Marriage (BusinessWorld)
• 10 Secrets To Help Your Children Handle This Financial Crisis (iVillage).  Key takeaway:  Reduce stress as a family.  “Whatever happens,  we’re together.  When all is said and done that really is what matters most.”
• The Next Meltdown: Credit-Card Debt (BusinessWeek)
• The New Age of Frugality (BusinessWeek):  “I can’t help the economy…I’ve got to help myself”.

FOR INVESTORS

• Those With a Sense of History May Find It’s Time to Invest (NYTimes).  Key takeaway:  “Investors with a stomach for risk and a long time horizon should consider following Warren Buffet….we will perceive this (time) as being a great value-buying opportunity… the most important securities are being given away”.
• Wall Street’s Big Bounce: Don’t Start Cheering Yet (Time).  “Wild swings to the upside may feel great, but they’re still wild swings”. 

ABOUT THE CRISIS

• The Next Meltdown: Credit-Card Debt (BusinessWeek)
• Poor Countries Face A Different Kind of Crisis (Time).  “In many developing countries, the most urgent crisis is not what is happening in financial markets but what has happened in commodity markets.”

FOR YOU AND ME 

• Live Frugal, Stop Complaining, and Be Happy (RatherBeShopping).
• Your Happiness Project:  Don’t Follow the Stock Market too closely (TheHappinessProject)
• Great Tips For Bargain Christmas Gift Giving (from the Gift Therapist)
• Strategies to Deal with Unhappy Events (TheHappinessProject)
• Seth Godin asks Is Effort a Myth? (SethGodin)  “While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.”

and finally…. 

FREEBIES!!!!

• Quicken Online is now free.
• Inuit QuickBooks are offering 250 free business cards (you pay for shipping though)

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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Quote of the Day: Kung Fu Panda

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
Oogway, Kung Fu Panda

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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Warren Buffet Talks Business

Warren Buffett,  often called “The Oracle of Omaha”.  His letters to Berkshire Hathaway sharesholders have become the stuff of legends – compiled into business books and taught at business schools around the country.  If you want to become a better investor, and understand the market as a whole, do get the updated version of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America.   

Here’s a rare 56-minute video of a lecture made at the University of North Carolina.  Do watch it and learn more about his value investing philosophy.

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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More on the financial crisis

For the past few weeks, news from Wall Street have opened the evening news,  raising fears of recession and, dare we say it,  depression.  Heck,  Freddie and Fannie have even been been mentioned during an SNL skit.  Bernanke and Paulson have become familiar faces,  as welcome to see as George W.   But do you really understand the words coming out of their mouths?  What is this sub-prime crisis that everyone keeps talking about.  What are credit derivatives?  Why do people say we are just at the tip of the iceberg?

Here are some articles/links/presentations to walk you through today’s financial crisis:

1. Subprime for Dummies. A stick-figure powerpoint presentation on the snowball that started this avalanche. Disclaimer:  I didn’t make it.  =)  Time Magazine has also come out with it’s own, politically correct 10 Steps to the Financial Meltdown.

2. The Monster That Ate Wall Street – an excellent Newsweek article on Credit Default Swaps.  You should also read Daniel Amerman’s Credit Derivatives Primer.

3.  FAQs of Lehman and AIG.  An excellent explanation of what happened to Lehman Brothers and AIG.  Answers the question: Why bailout one and not the other?

4. The Warren Buffet interview.  The full three-hour transcript.  Save it and read it during your daily commute.

Now you know what happened at the macro level.  How does that impact us?  Should we panic?  Here’s what you should know….

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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Straight No Chaser

12 year ago, a group of undergrads at Indiana University formed an a capella group. They called themselves Straight No Chaser.

They performed…

…. had fun….

and graduated. Not much action since then, aside from the occasional wedding / college reunion. Until 2008 when the viral popularity of a video clip posted on youtube resulted in a record deal with Atlantic records.

 

On Oct 28, Holiday Spirits will be available at a record bar near you. The album is a collection of 12 Christmas classics (and two original holiday tunes), including a live version of “The 12 Days of Christmas”, the song which started them on this new path.

It’s kitschy, it’s funny, it’s great. Straight No Chaser. Just the way I like it

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Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

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