Archive for the ‘loans’ Category
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Partnerships provide value that competitors cannot duplicate. Anyone can reproduce a widget. So don’t bet the family fortune on your product or service. Sooner or later, someone will dissect it, figure it out, and make it better. And where will that leave you? What they can never reproduce is the dynamics created through partnerships. Each partnership is unique, made up of unique individuals, and the interactions between these people cannot be replicated. How do you reproduce genius? If scientists could figure out that one, cloning might become the most prevalent form of reproduction. But we haven’t figured it out because it is so complex and is the sum of so many factors that it can never be duplicated. This is true of partnerships as well.
Tags: last will, Market, market cycle, market cycles, money, Partnership, tenancy
Posted in Private Annuities, loans, money management, payday loans, property | Comments Off
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Open systems increase information and intelligence. The more we share information, the more we learn. Different people can draw different conclusions from the same information, which can be invaluable. You may see data with one interpretation—I with another. We share perceptions and open each other’s eyes to fresh possibilities and new understandings of both the information and each other. Information is the best example of abundance. There’s no limit on the amount and how it can be used. Consequently, the more we have and use, the more beneficial it becomes. Organizations that have established trust and full partnership will benefit from this abundance of information and increased intelligence.
Mutual benefits = more for everyone. Again, the theory of abundance becomes reality in this dynamic. The more people benefit from an activity, the more they are willing to engage in it and the more it brings them. It is through partnerships that mutual benefits can be realized, generating wealth for everyone involve.
Tags: payment, price, Private Annuities, property, purchase real estate, shares
Posted in economy, finances, global markets, investing, loans | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
The value chains for telecommunications wireless and electric utilities are examples for noncyclical sectors. Wireless operatorsinteract with equipment suppliers and their biggest cost positions are for subscriber acquisition, advertising and interconnection fees. Their customer base is divided into business clients and individual consumers. The success of a wireless operator will depend on the control of all parts of the value chain. This includes the costs for acquiring new customers, maintaining the existing customer base, the bargaining power with equipment suppliers, network costs and interconnection fees. The earnings situation will depend on the market power and degree of competition.
Fuel costs represent a big cost block for electric utilities hence their profitability depends to a large extent on raw material costs. Electric utility companies can diversify across the business segments generation, transmission, distribution and trading. The customer base is divided as industrial, commercial and residential.
Tags: business competition, CEO, get out of debt, income, international markets, merger, money issues, revenue, shareholders, shares
Posted in business tips, credit, credit cards, global markets, loans, money management, payday loans | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Structural economic changes of industries are important in the sector selection process for corporate bond investors because they determine how an industry functions and will allow to make projections about the development of the credit quality of specific industries. It has to be determined whether certain changes in industry dynamics occur which have a material effect on the evolution of the industry structure. Examples of some driving forces for change are:
- Long-term changes of growth patterns
- Changes in the customer base (demographics)
- Changes in production costs
- Product innovation
- Changes to production processes
- Structural changes of supplementary industries
- Changes of government policy
- Exits and new competitors.
Tags: bonds, business tips, credit score, get out of debt, making money, money issues, money management, money tips, payday loans, personal finances
Posted in business, credit, economy, global markets, loans, payday loans, taxes | Comments Off
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Industries with structural losses have to be avoided because their profits will fall in recession and recovery as well. Defensive industries with structural gains will experience a rise in profits during the whole economic cycle.
Industry trends have to be monitored and projections about future trends have to be made because they will influence the profitability of an industry. Some major industry characteristics are:
- Pricing and cost structures (evolution over time)
- Domestic and international competition
- Technological change (pace and adaptability)
- Asset values
- Upcoming financing needs
- Potential liabilities
- Political and regulatory environment
- Government support
- Current state of regulation/deregulation.
Tags: bonds, business, credit, credit cards, economy, finances, money advice, money problems, payday loans, stock exchange
Posted in bonds, business, credit cards, economy, loans, money management, real estate, taxes | Comments Off
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Oil companies’ relative profits also peak during a recession because an economic downturn is usually accompanied by high oil prices. Utilities have a noncyclical business profile and they are subject to regulated pricing. They will realize their profit peaks relative to the market during a later stage of an economic downturn.
Consumer staples is a noncyclical sector and hence the profit peak relative to the market is reached towards the end of a recession. Profits are not robust but consumers cut spending on large discretionary purchases while the demand, for example, for food and beverages remains relatively stable across the whole economic cycle.
Group sectors according to their change in profits during recession and recovery. The profits of cyclical sectors will fall in recessions and rise during a recovery. On the other side, the profit cycle of defensive companies is countercyclical. Profits will rise in recessions and they will tend to fall in recoveries. Some industries experience structural gains which means that their profits rise during recession and recovery. Other industries suffer from structural losses which means that they realize falling profits in recession and in recovery as well. Those are industries which reached a declining stage in their industry life cycles.
Tags: crisis, foreclosure, investments, loans, money advice, mortgage, stock, stock exchange, Tenancy-in-Common, tenant, trade value
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Capital goods, paper, and metals and mining companies realize their respective profit peaks at the later stages of an economic expansion as they produce goods and services whose demand is closely tied to economic activity. Additionally business peak cycles are accompanied by inflation as demand exceeds supply and for example, basic material industries experience higher profit margins in this environment because their production costs are not significantly affected by inflation and, on the other side, they can increase prices for the finished products. Industries with a high operating leverage benefit as well because their costs are fixed in nominal terms and revenues increase with inflation. The fixed costs in a company’s operating structure determine the operating leverage. Generally, it can be said that industries with a high fixed cost base and high inventory costs, for example, the paper and the aluminum industry, are always under pressure to keep capacity utilization rates high because decreasing capacity utilization rates will have an immediate adverse effect on profitability.
Tags: price, Private Annuities, property, purchase real estate, shares, tax, taxes, tenancy, Tenancy-in-Common, tenant
Posted in global markets, investing, loans, money management, payday loans, real estate, taxes | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
After analyzing industry life cycles and the competitive environment of industries the macroeconomic environment has to be incorporated in the industry analysis process. For this purpose the focus will be on business cycles and the cyclicality of industries.
Corporate profits hava a long history as a percentage of GDP across several economic cycles. Corporate profits tend to fall long before the economy goes through a recession. Corporate profits usually reach their bottom towards the end of a recession. They start to rebound with rising economic activity. During the last expansion, which was one of the longest and that stretched through the 1990s, corporate profits started to deteriorate already in 1998. Sharply rising equity valuations, a focus on shareholder value and an undisciplined build-up of leverage induced a decline in profits when the earnings growth trend reversed. Every business cycle will be different from past cycles so the task is to identify evolving trends in order to make reliable projections about future performance.
Tags: annuitant, Annuities, banking, banks, Bearish Patterns, Budgeting, cash, company costs, currency cycles, Debt
Posted in economy, finances, global markets, investing, loans, real estate | Comments Off
Monday, October 5th, 2009
Some investors who can process emotions quickly enjoy foreign stocks. Non-U.S. stocks are idea investments with great idea complexity. The romantic, foreign traveler who realizes the risk but enjoys the hunt can have fun here. Foreign and emerging markets are less picked over than the U.S. market. In the midst of the chaos, there are tremendous bargains. If you like to read about China and Israel, travel to Turkey and Paris, or think about Euros versus yen, then this may be in your comfort zone. For the foreign traveler, who is practically addicted to foreign investing, 50 stocks will provide a lifetime of entertainment. But most investors will be rattled by the volatility and dishonesty.
Even local investors are turned off by the irregularities overseas. Investors in most foreign and emerging markets invest in bank savings instruments, government bonds, and real estate. Only in the last five years has there been general interest in stocks. Huge American brokers, mutual funds, and investment banks see tremendous profits to be made from instilling an “equity culture” overseas. Not only can they sell products to overseas investors, but they can sell U.S. investors turned off by the U.S. market hot foreign and emerging market products.
Vast amounts of propaganda have been produced to instill equity culture overseas. The two pillars of the platform are that stocks are the best investment for the long-run and stocks are the only investment with returns high enough to save the shaky retirement systems of European and Asian countries. Respected newspapers and magazines looking for large ad revenues from the campaign have joined the chorus. Politicians looking for votes have enacted 401(k)-type legislation. Unfortunately, equity culture is not likely to make many investors happy.
Tags: payday, personal finances, profit managing, stock exchange, student loans
Posted in global markets, investing, loans | Comments Off
Monday, September 7th, 2009
The volatility of foreign currency alone may place these stocks outside your comfort zone. In the Asian collapse of 1997-1998, most currencies declined by more than 50 percent and many stock markets collapsed by 50 percent in local currencies, leaving U.S. investors with 75 percent and greater dollar losses.
The range of loss is greater than in the United States. But the speed is also faster. The worst one-day loss in the overall U.S. market was 22 percent. Emerging markets have lost half their value in a single day. Some have closed and never reopened, essentially wiping out all values. If you find volatility disturbing, stocks, especially foreign and emerging market stocks, are outside your comfort zone.
In many non-U.S. markets, corporate employees and insiders have less respect for outside shareholders than they do here. If U.S. shareholders get too irritated, they can band together and oust management and other employees who are siphoning off all the earnings. In many overseas markets, insiders cannot be ousted, while minority shareholders may find their stock canceled or redeemed.
Few emerging markets have effective stock market regulation. In the United States and many developed countries, stocks cannot be bought and sold on the basis of secret corporate information. In emerging markets, this is common, even if it is technically illegal. It is also difficult in many emerging markets to cash out of profits when they do occur. In the United States, stock sales are settled in three days. In emerging markets, settlement dates and procedures can be vague and money is lost along the way. The level of unmanageability is much higher with emerging markets than in the United States.
Tags: getting out of debt, home finances, home value, local markets
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