Archive for the ‘money management’ 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
Friday, October 30th, 2009
Telecommunications companies serve as a good example at this point. They used to be fixed-line operators. The introduction of new wireless technology changed their business models since they had to adapt their strategies to the new technological landscape. Capital expenditures were massively increased for the building of new wireless networks and the competition intensified for new wireless customers since the telecommunications market was liberalized, and alternative providers were allowed to compete with the incumbent telecommunications companies. Additionally government regulators in Europe asked for billions of dollars in fees for wireless licenses (3G). These technological and regulatory changes resulted in a tremendous increase of leverage for most of the telecommunications companies and a repricing of credit risk in this sector occurred that was accompanied by a negative industry rating trend (from AA_ to BBB_). Another example for the changing landscape of an industry is the electric utilities sector. This market undergoes a liberalization process which is in different stages according to the various jurisdictions. Changes of the regulatory environment have an impact on the development of credit quality.
The business models became riskier as the competition in the sector increased, M&A activities picked up considerably and some utility companies got involved in the risky energy trading business. Formerly low risk and stable cash flows generating businesses turned into higher risk (e.g. energy trading) and more volatile cash flow businesses.
Tags: bad debt, car loans, compare credit, currency trading, debt consolidation, debt settlement, forex, funds, home equity, investment opportunities, portfolio, refinancing
Posted in Private Annuities, bonds, business tips, credit, credit cards, investing, money management | 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
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
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
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Corporate spreads and profits showed a close relationship during past economic cycles. Deteriorating profits as a percentage of GDP go along with wider credit spreads. Market phases with improving profits are accompanied by tighter credit spreads.
The business cycle sets the parameters for the sector rotation strategy. Sectors with a high cyclical component will outperform at the early stages of an economic expansion while noncyclical sectors will tend to underperform during an expansion phase relative to the market. The cyclicality of a sector allows predictions about the development of earnings across business cycles. For example, the business of IT hardware companies depends on the capital expenditure (CAPEX) plans of other companies. In an economic slowdown when CAPEX is scaled back or postponed, IT hardware companies run a higher risk of being downgraded due to a deterioration of their credit protection measures. The most recent examples are the telecommunications equipment companies Alcatel and Ericsson. Both suffered from the lack of demand by telecommunications companies in 2002.
Tags: Aids finance, Debt, economics, estate, Estate Planning, heir, income, inheritace, insurance, Interest, rate
Posted in bonds, business, business tips, credit, credit cards, economy, finances, money management, payday loans | Comments Off