Brain Waves

Rupee falls to one-year low of 41.77/dollar

2008-05-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/may/08rupee.htm
Resuming its slide against the greenback, the Indian rupee plunged to its more than one-year low of 41.76/77 against a US dollar.
Heavy demand for US currency in view of high oil prices continued modestly on its short supply.
The Interbank Foreign Exchange (Durex) market witnessed brisk trade with wide fluctuations in the local currency in a range of 41.55 and 41.79 during the day. The local currency lost 41 paise against the US counterpart.
The rupee resumed sharply lower at 41.59/60 a dollar from its last close of 41.35/36 a dollar. The rupee is hitting this level for the first time since April 20 2007 when it closed at 41.76/77 per dollar.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India [Get Quote] Governor Dr Y V Redder said the situation is reflective of the "global uncertainties".

Fall in Home Prices (USA)

2007-10-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here are the year-over-year nominal price changes for the 20 cities covered by the index:

Tampa, down 10.1%;
Detroit, down 9.3%:
San Diego, down 8.3%;
Phoenix, down 8%;
Miami, down 7.8%;
Las Vegas, down 7.6%;
Washington, D.C., down 7.2%;
Los Angeles, down 5.7%;
San Francisco, down 4.2%;
Cleveland, down 4.1%;
Minneapolis, down 4%;
New York, down 3.8%;
Boston, down 3.6%;
Chicago, down 1.3%;
Denver, down 0.4%;
======================
Dallas, up 0.5%;
Atlanta, up 0.8%;
Portland, Ore., up 2.8%;
Charlotte, up 5.6%;
and Seattle, up 5.7%.
======================

For Detailed Report click
Fall in home prices

Wanna Be A Global Player - How about having a U-BRIC-M Portfolio?

2007-10-01T15:03:00.001-07:00

Following Table is self explanatory!

Table contains some leading stocks from UBRICM. (United States, Brazil,Russia,Inida,China & Mexico). I have created this based on my ROI analyis on these leading countries. Thats 84% ROI over a period of 1 year. (ofcourse, its a post analysis and not a fortune teller).

Interesting thing is ROI shooted from 67% to 84% in just 5 trading days. This portfolio will bring decent fortune for medium to long term investors. All are listed in US Stock Market

U-BRIC-M thats the new acronym which I have coined for this portfolio. Whats your say on U-BRIC-M?

Why buy a home when you can rent one?

2007-09-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Copied from ET - Thought of putting it in my blog - Good Financial Analysis on Home

Why buy a home when you can rent one?

It’s obvious, isn’t it—if you pay rent for years, you’ll have nothing to show for it in the end, but if you used that money to pay home loan instalments instead, you would be creating an asset. This was the question Tarun Banerjee was pondering. But he couldn’t shake off the suspicion that the truth may be more complicated. Tarun, aged 37, is a senior-level financial services professional, married with two kids. He’s had his eye on a threebedroom flat in South Delhi, costing Rs 60 lakh. He would need to pay Rs 10 lakh up front, and borrow the remaining Rs 50 lakh. The 20-year equated monthly instalment (EMI) for the loan worked out to Rs 51,610 per month. Tarun wasn’t worried about the EMI, though—he could afford it. But he wanted to do a spot of number crunching. So we did a comparison of how Tarun would fare if he bought the flat, and if he rented it.

THE BUYING SCENARIO

Most people consider buying a house because of the tax breaks: the interest component of the EMI, up to Rs 1.5 lakh, is exempt from income tax. The maximum you can save in the highest income tax bracket (33.99%) is Rs 51,000. As for the principal, the tax benefit under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act is lost if, like Tarun, you pay the principal from your Provident Fund and insurance.

Also, since Tarun would take a loan of Rs 50 lakh, he would need life insurance, to protect his family from liability in case anything happened to him. We suggest two term insurance plans of Rs 25 lakh each, for which he would pay an annual premium of Rs 9,000 for each. Why two policies? Because 15 years into the loan period, the amount pending repayment would be Rs 25 lakh. If he bought a policy each of 14 and 20 years’ duration, he would need only one policy from the 15th year.

The net cash flow (tax savings on the Rs 1.5 lakh deduction, minus insurance charges) would be invested in diversified equity mutual funds, and would grow to Rs 26.78 lakh in 20 years, assuming the mutual funds give a tax-free return at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% (a reasonable assumption, as equity has given 16% returns over a 26-year period, and the future looks even better)

I assumed a year-on-year growth of about eight per cent in the property value. Tarun was shocked: “Doesn’t it grow by 30-40 % year on year?” I explained my reasoning. If property grew at that rate, this property would be worth Rs 2.23 crore in just five years! Now, if you want to sell, there should be buyers, right? If someone was going to rely on loans to buy property, they may have to borrow Rs 2 crore, and fork out an EMI of Rs 2 lakh. Not many people can afford that. Salaries are growing on an average at the rate of 10-15 % a year, so rising incomes cannot take care of that. The explosive growth of the past three or four years is unlikely to occur again in the future. Some exceptional mutual funds have given returns of 800-1000 % over a five-year period, but that, too, is going to be difficult to replicate (this is why I reckon a 12% CAGR for mutual funds). Historically, too, property has grown at a sedate, single-digit rate. An 8% return thus seems realistic over a 20-year period. In fact, after deducting 0.5% for society charges, property tax, and so on, net growth would be around 7.5%. The property is likely to be worth Rs 2.55 crore after 20 years. The total corpus then would be Rs 2.82 crore. Tarun was underwhelmed.

THE RENT SCENARIO

What if he were to rent the same flat? The rental norm for prime residential property is 6% per year of the property value, so let’s assume that figure throughout the 20-year period, although it’s more likely to be less than 6%. Anyhow, we reckon Tarun would pay Rs 3.6 lakh as rent in the first year, with 5% annual increases in subsequent years. Since he could afford an EMI of Rs 51,640, he can easily afford this rent. The amount available after rent is invested in a mutual fund. At 12% CAGR, this would yield Rs 97 lakh in 20 years. Plus, we would put the Rs 10 lakh that Tarun would have paid up front to buy the flat in a mutual fund. This would grow to Rs 96.46 lakh after 20 years. Add to this the tax saving that Tarun would claim on rent. The tax-exempt amount would follow the one-in-three formula: either 50% of the basic rent declared by Tarun’s employer, or 10% of rent above the basic, or the actual house rent allowance . It is reasonable to assume Tarun would claim a deduction of 75% of total rent paid. The tax saved would also be invested in a mutual fund, and would amount to Rs.1.03 crore in 20 years. So the total cash flow is Rs 2.96 crore. The comparison The final corpus in both cases is not too different, right? Renting would leave Tarun with Rs 14 lakh more than buying his own place. Now, some might argue that comparing a cash flow with real estate is like comparing apples and oranges. So let’s see what happens if the whole corpus is converted to cash. If he bought the flat, Tarun would pay Rs 10 lakh as long-term capital gains tax. If he rented, he would pay not tax. So renting actually leaves him with Rs 24 lakh more. If we tweaked some numbers , the situation would still not be vastly different. The last I heard from Tarun’s wife, he was still looking at properties—to rent!

(The writer is chief financial planner, Ladder 7 Financial Advisories)

Hit on IT Comp - INR Vs USD

2007-09-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Last 2 months Performance of Indian IT companies due to INR appreciation and $ depreciation.

Sensex increased by 5% in last 2 months, where as BSE IT index dropped 11.41 %.

INR is expected to appreciate further in near future. Its time to exit IT Stocks.

Exponential Growth in IT Service Sector in terms of ROI wont be possible...

It may not attract more investors any more....

100 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies

2007-05-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/b2fastestgrowing/2007/full_list/index.html

CTS ranks 16 !

Sivaji Makes History

2007-05-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Copy pasted from a forwarded email (not sure whether the statistics are real or just a hype!)

Sivaji - The Boss! Celebrations Started, Enjoy!!!

Yes, Indian Film Industry is eagerly waiting Reason? It's release of Rajni’s latest movie Sivaji.

Some Facts:
Rajnikant's Remuneration = 2 * Remuneration of (Amitabh + Abhishek + Hrithik + Aamir + Shah Rukh). Releasing worldwide in 27 countries on same day with about 2900 theatres. (Earlier Record - Krish in 14 countries in 1200 theatres).

India-2200 theatres, China-211 theatres, Japan-130 theatres, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong-100 theatres, Saudi Countries-100 theatres, USA-80 theatres, UK-70 theatres and this release is only behind Casino Royale which is released in 36 countries in 3200 theatres.

Rajnikant's Remuneration in his last 3 movies:
Baba 20 crores Chandramukhi 25+ crores Sivaji 40+ crores.

Rajnikant is only behind Jackie Chan in terms of remuneration in Asia.
1. Out of all the shankar movies this is the costliest. 68% of expenses he Spent for location and surprisingly 12% to graphics!!!! 8% to salary (Excluding of rajini) 8% for costumes 2% for a.r.rahman and other Techincians, and the balance 2% wastages

2. First time in tamil movie amitabh is joining with rajini... As guest Role.(becos of his convienence two days shooting has arranged in pune.!!

3. Similarly Malayam superstar mamooty and telugu megastar chiranjeevi are also acting in this movie for only one scene

4. Sivaji movie has sold already to Kerala for 6 crores,(all-time high)-the Luckiest person who got distribution is our actor vineeth

5. All time high in andhra pradesh-17 crores (sleepless night for all top hero's of Andhra)

6. All time high in karnataka 9 crores (the luckiest person who got distribution is our kannada hero ravichandran

7. The most expected and very big competition is going in tamil nadu, as per the latest information the final fight between sun-tv and reliance for around 80 crores including of satelitte/dvd/ audio rights

8. International rights for 100 US million dollars for 9 locations / countries including of dvd rights. Fight is going between "ayangaran" of canada and pyramid of india

9. AVM production announced they will give 25% profit to the charity (Sivaji Foundation) if the movie touch silver jubilee

10. First time in the history of rajini movie, he himself given interview, as this movie will be great success, courtesy times magazine.

11. As per the cover story of no:1 Japanese magazine called "tosho" has mentioned this movie has crossed the expectation of the holly wood movie of "casino royale" and the second highest paid actor in asia is our one and only super star Rajinkanth next to Jackie Chan .

12. Also the "tosho" magazine revealed the total revenue for AVM production, if the movie successfully runs for 50 days in southern region will be around 430 crores. First time this movie is going to be dubbed in local language of Turkey, Hausa, gonga (tribal language of south Africa) and kshinola (tribal Language of Argentina)

Charity:
Ranjikant donated around 160 cores for charity (old age homes and orphanages) other than the trust he runs whose maintenance is around 17crores per annum.Rajnikanth to build hospital according to the reliable sources, super star Rajnikanth has bought eight acres of land at Ponneri (outskirts of Chennai), and propose to construct a hospital for the poor and needy, as well as to build a school there. Rajnikanth and his fans associations are known for their work towards social causes. Recently there was news that Rajnikanth sent in messengers along with help to those who crossed shores from Sri lanka to Rameswaram. Talks are that Latha Rajnikanth might take care of the proposed hospital and the school project at Ponneri. Latha Rajnikanth is running successfully "The Ashram" school in Chennai, also managing the Dhaya Foundation

Mini Biography :
Shivaji Rao Gaekwad (Rajnikanth) was born on December 12, 1949 in Karnataka. He was a bus conductor during which time he reportedly caught the fancy of the bus travellers with his mannerisms and style of issuing tickets and blowing the whistle and so on. Looking to become an actor, he moved to Chennai and joined the film institute. It was here that he caught the eye of K. Balachander, a director known for introducing talented, new faces into the tamil film industry. Balachander gave him a small role - as the no-good husband of Srividya - in Aboorva Raagangal and the rest, as they say, is history. Rajnikanth soon graduated to playing villains and his style, swagger and casually unique brand of villainy vowed the movie-going public. Be it the sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal or the wolf in sheep's clothing in Moondru Mudichu or the lust-filled village rowdy in Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile, Rajnikanth was the villain the people loved to hate.From here, it was a small step for Rajni, playing the anti-hero and finally, the hero in Bhairavi. Rajnikanth firmly captured the vacant, action-hero slot in tamil movies with a series of movies where he routinely bashed up the bad guys who had done him injustice in one way or the other. Once in a while he did movies like Aarulirundhu Arubadhu Varai or Johny which gave us glimpses of his acting potential. But action was what the fans expected from a Rajni movie and action was what he gave them. He has been superstar for the past 25 years.

Yahoo shares rise on reports of Microsoft interest

2007-05-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

For Detailed news read
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0422253620070504

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares of Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research soared as much as 19 percent to their highest level in nearly a year on Friday after two newspaper reports said the company and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research were in preliminary merger talks to take on common foe Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research
But the stock pulled back after contradictory reports said the two companies may work out a joint venture or another form of cooperation that would stop short of a full merger. A source close to the situation confirmed that any talks had cooled.
The Wall Street Journal initially said on Friday that the two companies had engaged in merger talks in recent months, but it said later that those talks were no longer active.

The New York Post reported that Microsoft had made an offer to buy Yahoo a few months ago, but Yahoo spurned the advances.
The paper, which put a price tag of $50 billion on a Yahoo takeover, said discussions continue between the two companies.
Yahoo's market value shot to $45 billion from $38 billion before the report. Microsoft is valued at a little more than $300 billion. Both companies declined to comment.
"It's been talked about for a long time, ever since Google came into the picture. I can't imagine a more perfect deal," said Peter Lobravico, vice president of risk arbitrage sales/trading at brokerage Wall Street Access.

Go for Put Options - INR Gaining Against Dollar

2007-04-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

Derivate Market Trading - April 09 2007

1 Dollar value is 42.87 INR, Rupee is gaining against Dollar in recent couple of months.

This will have an effect on all IT biggies quarter results

Who ever want to try Options trading, then its a good time for buying some PUT options on IT stocks.

When Market Stock value is expected to go down, then trade on PUT options.

Also happen to see the list of most active contracts in http://nseindia.com PE is topping the list than CE. Its a sign for market to go down......Go for PUT Options

Who ever wants to buy stocks in direct market then wait for an expected drop after quarter results. Buy IT stocks when it goes low after quarter results.

Disclaimer : Author dont hold any put options currently !

Sivaji - Oru Kudai Sunlight

2007-04-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Seeni >> Arasa, did you hear Sivaji Songs..
Arasan >> No ma, heard that Sivaji Songs came out pretty good...send me the link

Listened to sivaji songs, Overall ARR has done a decent job. I liked the song Oru Kudai Sunlight very much....Its a copy of famous english song though !

Oru Kudai Sunlight - chance-say illai...Started Imagining how rajini would have danced for this!!! man this song rocks and gonna rock across Tamil Nadu for sure
Sivaji - Oru Kudai Sunlight

Athiradi song is also very good, Excitement to watch Sivaji movie is increasing day by day ! Awaiting for the movie to get released, planning for first day first show here @ Chicago :)-

March 30th - Market Call - IT stocks expected to drop further

2007-03-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Its quite long time I have written something on Stock market.
Looks like IT stocks are hit badly because of dollar value, it would be wise to invest on IT stocks now. IT stocks are expected to drop further by 10-12%. Buy IT stock at low and sell after 3 months.

Sleepless Nights in Seattle

2007-02-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today I slept in my car for few minutes at my apt parking lot.

Currently I am undergoing sleepless nights at Seattle. A Stressful day and driving back home in a bumper to bumper traffic, it sucks.

I was drowsy while driving back home from office. Thank god it was safe reach. Glad that I am not staying far from my office.

Sleepless Nights, that’s weird to me. Well the reason for that is 2 fold, one side extended off shore calls J (good part) and other hand stress at job (bad part). I need to restore back to my normal sleep hours. While driving, if I get sleep then most of the time I used to pull over to the shoulder and sleep for some time and then resume driving. Folks, hope you might have come across few sleepy drive, you are open to share your drowsy drive on highways :)-

Who Is Warren Buffet ?

2007-01-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

The following information were taken from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

With an estimated current net worth of around US$46 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the second-richest person in the world, behind only Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Education:
Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington D.C. in 1947
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1947-1949
B.S. University of Nebraska, 1950
M.S. in Economics, Columbia University, in 1951.

Employment:
1951-1954 Buffett-Falk & Co., Omaha - Investment Salesman
1954-1956 Graham-Newman Corp., New York - Securities Analyst
1956-1969 Buffett Partnership, Ltd., Omaha - General Partner
1970-Present Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Omaha - Chairman, CEO

1943: (13 years old)
Buffett filed his first income tax return, deducting his bicycle as a work expense for $35.

1945: (15 years old)
In his senior year of high school, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in a barber shop. Within months, they owned three machines in different locations.

1950: (20 years old)
Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School after learning that Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, two well-known securities analysts, taught there.
During this time, Buffett also pledged to the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He is still active today, donating every year to the fraternity.

1951: (21 years old)
Buffett discovered Graham was on the Board of GEICO insurance at the time. After taking a train to Washington, D.C. on a Saturday, Buffett knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters until a janitor allowed him in. There, he met Lorimer Davidson, the Vice President, who was to become a lasting influence on him and life-long friend.[10]
Buffett graduated from Columbia and wanted to work on Wall Street. Buffett offered to work for Graham for free but Graham refused. He purchased a Texaco gas station as a side investment, but that venture did not work out as well as he had hoped. Meanwhile, he worked as a stockbroker. During that time, Buffett also took a Dale Carnegie public speaking course. Using what he learned, he felt confident enough to teach a night class at the University of Nebraska, "Investment Principles." The average age of the students he taught was more than twice his own.

1952: (22 years old)
Buffett married Susan Thompson.

1954: (24 years old)
Benjamin Graham offered Buffett a job at his partnership with a starting salary of $12,000 a year. Here, he worked closely with Walter Schloss.
Susan had her second child, Howard Graham Buffett.

1956: (26 years old)
Benjamin Graham retired and folded up his partnership.
Buffett's personal savings are now over $140,000.
Buffett returned home to Omaha and created Buffett Associates, Ltd., an investment partnership.

1957: (27 years old)
Buffett had three partnerships operating the entire year.
Buffett purchased a five-bedroom, stucco house on Farnam Street for $31,500.
Susan was about to have her third child.

1958: (28 years old)
Buffett had five partnerships operating the entire year.

1959: (29 years old)
Buffett had six partnerships operating the entire year.
Buffett was introduced to Charlie Munger.

1960: (30 years old)
Buffett had seven partnerships operating the entire year.
Buffett asks one of his partners, a doctor, to find ten other doctors who will be willing to invest $10,000 each into his partnership. Eventually, eleven doctors agreed to invest.

1961: (31 years old)
Buffett had seven partnerships operating the entire year.
The partnerships were: Buffett Associates, Buffett Fund, Dacee, Emdee, Glenoff, Mo-Buff, and Underwood.
Buffett revealed that Sanborn Map Company accounted for 35% of the partnerships' assets.
Buffett explained that in 1958, Sanborn sold at $45 per share when the value of the Sanborn investment portfolio was $65 per share. This meant buyers valued Sanborn at "minus $20" per share, and buyers were unwilling to pay more than 70 cents on the dollar for an investment portfolio with a map business thrown in for nothing.
Buffett reveals that he earned a spot on the board of Sanborn.

1962: (32 years old)
Buffett's partnerships, in January 1962, had in excess of $7,178,500 of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett.
Buffett merges all partnerships into one partnership.
Buffett discovered a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett's partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share.

1965: (35 years old)
When Buffett's partnerships began aggressively purchasing Berkshire they paid $14.86 per share while the company had working capital (current assets minus liabilities) of $19 per share, this did not include the value of fixed assets (factory and equipment).
Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway at the board meeting and named a new President, Ken Chace, to run the company.

1966: (36 years old)
Buffett closes the partnership to new money.
Buffett wrote in his letter “unless it appears that circumstances have changed (under some conditions added capital would improve results) or unless new partners can bring some asset to the partnership other than simply capital, I intend to admit no additional partners to BPL.”
In a second letter, Buffett announced his first investment in a private business — Hochschild, Kohn, and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store.

1967: (37 years old)
Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents.

1969: (39 years old)
Following his most successful year, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners. Among the assets paid out were shares of Berkshire Hathaway.

1970: (40 years old)
As chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, began writing his now-famous annual letters to shareholders.

1973: (43 years old)
Berkshire began to acquire stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became close friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and became a member of its board of directors.

1979: (49 years old)
Berkshire began to acquire stock in ABC. With the stock trading at $290 per share, Buffett's net worth neared $140 million. However, he lived solely on his salary of $50,000 per year.
Berkshire began the year trading at $775 per share, and ended at $1,310. Buffett's net worth reached $620 million, placing him on the Forbes 400 for the first time.

1988: (58 years old)
Buffett began buying stock in Coca-Cola Company, eventually purchasing up to 7 percent of the company for $1.02 billion. It would turn out to be one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments, and one which it still holds.

2002: (72 years old)
Buffett entered in $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver US dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion.

2006: (75 years old)
Buffett announced in June that he would give away more than 80%, or about $37 billion, of his $44 billion fortune to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, starting in July 2006. The largest contribution will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

2007: (76 Years old)
In a letter to shareholders, Buffett announced that he was looking for a younger successor or perhaps successors to run his investment business.[13] Buffett had previously selected Lou Simpson, who runs investments at Geico, to fill that role. However, Simpson is only six years younger than Buffett.

[edit] Personal life
Buffett married Susan Thompson in 1952. They had three children, Susie, Howard, and Peter. The couple began living separately in 1977, though they remained married until her death in July 2004. His daughter Susie lives in Omaha and does charitable work through the Susan A. Buffett Foundation and is a national board member of Girls, Inc.
On his 76th birthday Buffett married his longtime companion, Astrid Menks, who had lived with him since his wife's departure. Interestingly, it was Susan Buffett who arranged for the two to meet before she left Omaha to pursue her singing career. All three were close, and holiday cards to friends were signed "Warren, Susie and Astrid" (as per Roger Lowenstein's book, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist). Susan Buffett briefly discussed this relationship in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show shortly before her death, in a rare glimpse into Buffett's personal life.[14]
Buffett is an avid player of the card game bridge. He has said that he spends 12 hours a week playing bridge.[15] He often plays with Bill Gates.
In 2006, he sponsored a bridge match for the Buffett Cup.[16] In this event, modeled on the Ryder Cup in golf (and held immediately before it and in the same city), a team of twelve bridge players from the United States took on twelve Europeans.
Buffett likes to eat at Gorat's Steak House in Omaha, where he always purchases a T-bone steak (cooked rare), a double order of hash browns, and Cherry Coke. He used to drive a 2001 Lincoln Town Car[17] which he auctioned on eBay to raise money for Girls Inc.[18] He currently drives a Cadillac DTS.[19]
Warren Buffett is currently working on an animated series with DiC Entertainment chief Andy Heyward. According to information presented by Buffett at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on May 6, 2006, the series will feature Buffett and Munger in roles and the series will teach children healthy financial habits for life. Cartoon drawings of Buffett and Munger were displayed throughout the events during the weekend and the special movie before the meeting began was in animation form by Heyward.
One of the reasons he left the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania is because he believed he knew more than the professors.
In December 2006 it was reported that Mr. Buffett does not carry a cell phone, does not have a computer at his desk, and drives his own car.[20] However, in May 2007 Richard Santulli, CEO and Chairman of NetJets, stated on the Nightly Business Report that Mr. Buffett now uses a cell phone, however he still does not use email.[citation needed]
He plays the ukulele.
He has described himself as an agnostic.[21]

Can I Play In This Flattened World ?

2007-01-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

Probably, if you think that I am going to write something on global outsourcing, Thomas Friedman or Chinese manufacturing or Indian service sector Inc's, Hold on your thought and proceed...

World is Flat, what it means to me as an individual? Skim through this blog and pour your comments if it really makes some sense. (Simple Arithmetic)

Initially I was analyzing 2006 global market trend in order to write a counter blog for my earlier blog “Global Market Phenomena”. But as an outcome of analysis I got better investment ideas.

The following are the ROI from known influencing global market indices for the year 2006.

(Global Up Trend - Sorted in order of 2006 Year ROI)

Most of us know there was a global downtrend during May -June 06. The following is an interesting statistics.

(Global Down Trend - Sorted in order of 2006 H1 ROI)

Here comes the recovery of indices after the historical global fall.

(Global Recovery and Up Trend - Sorted in order of 2006 H2 ROI)

And here comes the statistical trend chart of influencing global market indices for year 2006.

Based on above statistics, it crystal clear that China is out performing in emerging markets. Even during global down trend, china didn’t get affected much. A closer look on the above chart infers that china market trend is unique and totally different from other countries. Except China, rest of the market followed the similar pattern of rise and fall.

India, Mexico and Brazil are successor emerging market next to china.

Now back to main topic, World Is Flat? Whether the playing field is really becoming flat for a person like me? It looks like even a person like me can play a wise game in this flattened field.

Let me try something during 2007. I would like to have my own portfolio which has a mix of promising stocks from leading emerging market like China, India, Mexico and Brazil etc.

I dont know whether there is a way to do this ?!

Portfolio with diversified global markets, that’s sounds interesting and exciting, isn’t?

I don’t know whether my wish will come true, Lets C :)- !!!!!!

Even Impossible spells I’M Possible.

Happy Investing :)-

So Far So Good What Next...?

2006-11-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

I often find it difficult to answer one question "So Far So Good, What Next"??

When ever my mind is getting a vacuum ness, this question enters into my mind. Most of the time I find it difficult to find a concrete answer for this. How to overcome the Mind's vacuum ness, that’s entirely a different thought process and my blog "Keep the Wheels on your Heels moving" might answer to some extent to overcome the same.

But my focus is entirely on different context, "So Far So Good, What Next”?? If this question often comes to your mind, then what does it convey to you? Whether it’s a good thought process or not? Well the answer can be either good or bad.

Sometimes I feel like charged when this question arises in my mind, and then my brain will be busy in finding an answer for the given point of life's time. As a outcome of this some of my key action items gets actionized during this exercise. This is really a Good thing.

On the contrary, I get frustrated if I am not able to find an answer or probably I lose focus for my forth coming action items.

So Far So Good What Next...? Is this a good thought or a Bad thought???
And analyzing to find an answer to this, whether that is good or bad???

Folks, what is your thought on this!!!???

The Phrase which I admired in recent Past !

2006-09-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

“When interacting with people, He keeps every transaction as a fresh transaction”. This was the appreciation given to my Engagement Manager by many colleagues.

That sounds easy right! But in reality we tend to carry the past experience (best as well as worst) when we interact with people in a group. Keeping every transaction as a fresh transaction will definitely helps in providing a positive environment in a Team or a Group! Also it creates avenues for new creative thoughts to open up among the crowd.

Try It! You will see the difference.

Keep the Wheels on your Heels Moving!

2006-06-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmm........

Quick Recap.....Seattle, New Jersey (New York), Bangalore, Toronto, Mysore, London, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai. That’s a varied and diversified stint though!!!

I have practiced myself to keep my mind busy to avoid so called vacuum ness entering into one's mind (especially @ onsite)

Every place is unique, it has its own pros and cons. Exploration is the key to avoid vacuum ness.

Exploration can be on anything based on individual interests.

1. It can be tasting different countries food.
2. It can be visiting new places. (It need not be a city always, small town, mountains, shore region, farming..etc...Endless list)
3. It can be learning some new musical instruments.
4. It can be learning new sporting activities (outdoor & indoor sports); there is lot more available in sporting activities one can explore when they move from 1 place to another.
(I never played volleyball, basketball or tennis when I was at India; of course I am not a pro in that too)
5. It can be a get together of some old friends or arrange for diversified meetings.
6. It can be networking of new peoples.
7. It can be writing blogs.
8. It can be investing in stock markets.
9. It can be exploration of indoor and outdoor activities specific to weather condition or season. (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)
10. It can be watching sequence of your favorite movie star movies.
11. It can be calling up some good old faces and have a chat with them.
12. It can be a long phone chat with a particular family person apart from your normal call (I have advantage of having too many family members to go on for rotation :)-)
13. It can be doing nothing over week end, don’t do anything, this will allow your mind to think about some new stuff.
14. It can be exploration on how the localities spend their week end or the culture of localities.

The list is endless, don’t do anything which is repetitive in nature otherwise it will became a boring activity, always keep the wheels on your heels moving.

Important Note: Do something which you are interested in or which you might get interested in. It need not be always exploring for new things, it can be a combination of both old things + new things.

I may or maynot like the city where I live, but I would prefer to love my stay in the city where ever I stay!

But whatsoever the case, East or West Chennai is the best place for me! Chennai got lot more things to offer for me.

Just my 2 cents.

Rise During Fall!

2006-05-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hope many of you folks might come across series of market falls. Did you ever thought about how to earn there any way I can gain money in this fall day or loss day. If you haven’t thought yet, nothing is late than never, there are ways where in you can gain on falling days. If you are good at predicting next day market, then there is smarter way to earn money in Dalal Street.

Options trading are of 2 types
1. Call Options.
2. Put Options.

Like Equity market price, Call Options premium rates are directly proportional to market rise or any particular stock rise. If you can predict market rise then go for Call Options where in your ROI increases when market increases.

Put Options are means to earn money when market falls. PUT options premium rates increases when market index falls, similarly if market index rises PUT options premium decreases. ROI is inversely proportional to Market Rise or stock price rise.

Yesterday I did my first Put Options trading. I predicted that market will fall yesterday due to momentary global down trend. I bought some PUT options during the day opening and sold the same within the same day. I got 30% ROI in just 2 hours....that too when market witnessing huge fall. Isn't exciting! Options Way to go baby!

Buy CALL Options if you are good at predicting future’s market rise or Buy PUT Options if you are good at predicting future market fall.

Combination of placing and holding CALL & PUT options is termed as HEDGING. Always having combination of the both the options is smarter way to trader.

Happy Investing!

Global Market Phenomena

2006-05-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2006, NEW YORK - Wall Street stabilized at the end of a difficult week Friday, closing moderately higher as investors shook off some of their stress about interest rates. The major indexes each lost about 2 percent this week.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The dollar gained ground against the other main currencies as the market focused on the prospect of further increases in US interest rates. The euro fell to 1.2778 dollars at 2100 GMT from 1.2857 dollars late on Thursday in New York.

The London market was unable to find a settled level on Friday as the FTSE 100 (news) continued its recent volatility. The index again spent time either side of the flatline, closing 0.3 per cent lower at 5,657.4. The FTSE 250 bounced on Friday, ending 0.6 per cernt higher at 9,192.6. A sharp fall in the copper prices dragged miners lower, as copper fell as much as 6.7 per cent, its worst one-day slide for 17 months.

All major indices across the globe dropped. The following lists shows index drop percentage for the current week. [May 12, 2006 to May 19, 2006.]

India is the only country which is severely hit because of this global downtrend. BSE Sensex dropped from 12200 to 10950 which is -10.24% approx in 5 Trading Sessions. That is a huge fall for Sensex so far. Second which tops next to India is Brazil Market - 5.75%

Sensex – 12200 – 10950 => -10.24 % (India)
BVSP – 40000 – 37700 => -5.75% (Brazil)
FTSE - 5900 – 5650 => -4.24 % (United Kingdom)
CAC 40 – 5150 – 4940 => -4.1% (France)
DAX – 5900 – 5670 => -3.9 % (Germany)
SES – 2580 – 2490 => -3.5% (Singapore)
Nasdaq – 2240 – 2180 => -2.68 % (USA)
DJI – 11400 – 11100 => -2.63 % (USA)
HKSE – 16700 -16300 => -2.4% (Hong Kong)
Nikkei – 16400 – 16150 => -1.52% (Japan)

For your eyes only, some of the leading world stock market indices trend (3 months) are as follows. One can witness the fall in all major indices during past 1-2 week trading sessions.

Definitely if the world market bounces back, then SENSEX will be the leader in out performing its peers. Today NASDAQ ended in positive node. Hopefully Indian Market will be bouncing back rigorously on Monday, May 22, 2006.

INDIA BSE

BRAZIL BVSP

London FTSE

FRANCE CAC-40

GERMANY DAX

SINGAPORE SES

USA - NASDAQ

USA DJI

HONG KONG HKI

JAPAN NIKKEI

Journey continues…This time it was BUNGEE JUMPING!

2006-05-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

The news which I come across today morning
“Mayhem on Dalal Street as Sensex sees record fall”,
“Mkts in ICU, to be under observation for 48 hours”,
“Markets trading in deep red”,
“Global cues spook market: All Sensex stocks in red”,

Today May 18, 2006, will be a historic day in the Indian Stock Market. Sensex dipped by 826 points in a day. This will be the biggest fall recorded for BSE Sensex index. Just 3 days back I started my Options trading. I have taken a huge risk in investing good amount into Options. Yesterday alone the imaginary Loss which I witnessed is more than the profit which I have realized so far.

Some how, I was not shocked that much though I have invested most of money into Stock Markets! All the news which I read today was not encouraging. I mentally felt being hospitalized for some time.

Nevertheless, I realized an inherent optimistic synergy being generated inside me.

I haven’t gone for bungee jumping (long pending due in my TODO list), but today I felt the feel of doing bungee jumping in stock market. In bungee jumping you know for sure that your legs are tied at one end and you will be back to the starting point. But the thrill you get on free falling is enormous. Today I just felt the same.

Today it was not a Roller Coaster Ride, rather it was thrilled with Bungee Jumping stunt @ Dalal Street.

Know for sure that I am going to bounce back to the same altitude where I was, and will be scaling up new heights in coming days. Because nothing happend wrt fundamentals of good company in india. Todays shake was due to global fall trend.

Journey Continues!!

A Journey on Dalal Street!

2006-05-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Year 2005- 2006, Lots of Ups and couple of downs in BSE SENSEX!

My Friend, I have an interesting story to share with you! Here you Go!

It all started 5 years back (2001) when I got my first exposure to Equity Markets! During that time not many common people are exposed to Equity Markets! Still I remember the day when ICICI representative approached me @ office to explain about ICICDirect.com. Initially I was bit skeptical about online trading and stock markets. But being an explorer & enthusiastic I decided to go for it. Started trading and got some decent perks from my investments. All of this without knowing much about stock market, online trading and market dynamics.

Then went to ICICI bank to attend online trading session and initial jargons were clarified. In due course of time, switched company and I was busy in building my career life. Trading becomes inactive in my account and I haven’t touched the online account for almost 3 years after switching to new company.

Turning point came in the name of TCS IPO during August 2004. Group of friends pooled lump some amount towards this IPO from an investment point of view without any big strategy in mind. We started realizing the ROI in short term. With confidence gained in IPO started to explore more on direct Equities. Then within a span of 1 year I could able to build a robust portfolio with stocks from many sectors. (IT, Oil & Gas, Telecom, Cement, Bank, Engineering, Tobacco, Utilities, Chemicals). Many thanks to Internet Technology and Booming Market like India!!

Year 2005 was a remarkable Year for Indian Stock market. I enjoyed witnessing the Roller Coaster Ride of BSE Sensex index and learnt many tactics by being the part of the show. Due to my young age and being a bachelor everything went with a strategy of Aggressive Trader. Fingers were burnt and realized losses as well as gains. The pace was never slowed down, Jumped into Margin Trading and again burnt my fingers. Since I have built a pretty decent portfolio, this droved me to increase my risk taking capabilities to larger extent.
Also I understand the thriving need of having strategy in place to play smart in the booming and volatile market.

Strategy moved from short term aggressive trader to short term investor then changed to long term investor. The need for Diversified investments leads to Mutual Fund Exploration. Top Performing Mutual Funds were added to my portfolio and realized the power of MF. All Sleepless nights turned out to peaceful nights.

Again being an explorative and enthusiastic guy I wanted to play game in Futures and Options too! Last Friday (12 May 2006) I did my first Options trading. Thanks to my friend ‘Seenivasan’ who shared his experience on Options. Options trading are very high risk nature but yet promising. I am already in red zone with Options Trading. But never mind, with the active experience gained in past 2 years I am confident to arrive on smart strategy for playing Derivatives game too!

To summarize, Today I have Diversified portfolio which consists scrip from Equity Markets, IPO(s), Option(s), MF(s), Bonds, NSC(s) etc. And with a strategy that constitutes a combination of short term, long term & aggressive nature. It looks fuzzy right; you can also build your own diversified investment portfolio over a period of time. Its not that hard too, all you need have is eagerness to know about market dynamics, thrive to earn money and willingness to play the game.

I am also hearing lot about commodity markets! So what next! Keep Moving Forward :)-

So don’t miss to play the game! Start playing and be a part of the game!

Just posted my Image!

Skills Required in Booming World

2005-12-27T22:42:00.000-08:00

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution talks about "survival of the fittest" and 'Adaptability to Changes'. His theory always lingers in my mind when ever I am marching towards the path of success.

Currently I am an IT analyst who is doing programming for critical software applications. Well don’t ask me the detail of critical software’s which I wrote, at least that’s how the world believes me.

I still remember how I clicked my interview when I was searching for my first job. Darwin’s theory played a vital role in my career, and also it is playing a crucial part of day’s life. His theory needs a special mention here, since I quoted his Evolution theory with illustration of survivals in current corporate world on my interview which later clicked.

Well, everyone knows that only fittest can be best survived in any given environment.
Furthermore, it’s the adaptability for changes, which decides his/her survival better.

Past 6.5 years I was working in the IT industry, it is the following factors
1. "Survival of the fittest" and
2. 'Adaptability to environment changes for predominant Existence'
that has made me to be a better survivor in my environment.

‘Fittest’ is not only the factor that plays the sole job for one's survival; rather it’s the mix of ‘fittest’ and Adaptability to changes. Dinosaurs were fittest once, but due to its lack of adaptability skills now dinosaurs are no more. Similarly in today’s corporate world, it is not that one who is fit can be survived well; rather it is the Adaptability to changes that makes him survive predominantly among the mob.

Based on my experience, I am going to inherit and extend Darwin’s theory with some more crucial factors for better survival. In Current Corporate world it’s the extensible skill ‘Predictability’ and ‘Learnability’ which is required more for prevalent survival. One should be good at predicting the future; also he/she should have the mix of adaptability to learn new things.

Practically I am used to Darwin’s theory so far. But for one to be a predominant survivor I realized that it’s the Predictability followed by Learnabilty which makes him/her to reach there.

Well how to predict the future and learn from there, that’s a hard question to answer currently. Probably I would discuss more on this in coming days.

~~ Brain Waves ~~