Your Money, Take Charge, December 2011

By Andrew Robbins

CSMS Magazine Staff Writer

I prefer to write and suggest how first time investors/speculators successfully enter the stock market and improve their investment strategies. But, if I can save you money through my mistakes you will also find suggestions in these articles.

I like to paint and in fact I will not let anyone paint our home. If the final product is not perfect then there is only one person to blame, me! When I lived with my parents, I painted their home. To finance my education, I sailed as a deckhand for US Steel and painted their ore boats. My wife’s elderly cousin wanted her home painted, her brother bought the paint, and for free I painted her home. Once married the starter home we purchased was painted by me.

The interior of our home needs to be repainted. First the painter, me, waits for my wife to choose paint samples/paint chips and then the great adventure/pleasure of painting begins.

Ops, I made two mistakes. One, I purchased Glidden and Color Place paints; two, I should have paint a very small area and I would have realized Glidden and Color Place paints are junk!

I painted an entryway, a hallway, a living room, an open stairway leading down to a landing, and a final basement landing entry to the downstairs. Sure I saw the first coat of paint did not cover the existing off-white paint. Normally the second coat will take care of that problem I told myself. Applying a third coat did not solve my frustration. Solution, call Glidden.

Please remember I have several years of successfully applying paint. Glidden customer service told me that I did not properly apply their paint. My Glidden paint dried to quickly and that is why it did not fill in and cover the existing paint. Per Glidden personnel, “The roller marks I still saw after the second and third coats were the result of applying to much pressure on the paint roller and one must not overlap by more than one/quarter of an inch when rolling Glidden paint.”

I had provided all kinds of numbers/codes from the paint can lids. I enquired if any other customers had reported problems with those paints. The response, “No, I was the first customer to phone in with such disastrous results.” “Oh!,” I responded, “Back in June I inquired about this same paint problem. And, now you are telling me no one has ever previously complained!”

When you catch a corporation in a lie, you never want to do future business with them. Dishonest, cover-ups, they start at the top and contaminate the entire corporation. When you cannot trust their front line personnel, you cannot trust the quarterly reports.

Around the corner is another paint supplier and I was told their personnel are quite familiar with helping ex-Glidden painters fix past mistakes.

The Protestors: One more comment to Mr./Ms Occupy Wall Street protestors, the financial news channels reported your New York group received $500,000 donated to the cause. Again, get out of New York and head to our nation’s capital. K Street, the lobbyist, they are the slim balls exchanging dollars for votes. Cut the head off the snake, K Street, and our nation will be a better place. Expose the exchange of money for votes. Stop the class-warfare crap! Employment/jobs, they are the tools for wealth distribution. Respect the police they are not your enemy.

All investors are not rich. But successful investment dollars, when placed at risk, often create employment and risk takers demand to be compensated. You do not want to send these entrepreneurs offshore.

Extracted from a CNBC article,

Speaking on China’s overall overseas investment strategy, Gao said China expected to make a profit from any overseas investments and to have control of or a say in the assets it invests in.

“In the process of investing overseas, we have to be rational and profitable,” Gao said. “The attitude some people have is that we can go and invest, leave our money there and just depart. We won’t get seats on the board; we won’t have any say in how a place is run. That’s not how things are done.”

“We frequently meet with foreign regulators whose attitude is that we should give them money and leave everything to them. Nothing comes for free in this world,” he added.

“While China has a lot of foreign reserves, this is the result of old ladies working in villages using bamboo to create items for sale. What have you done that we should hand it over to you?” he asked.

Six-billion people want what you take for granted. They educate, they work hard, and they are America’s global competitors. “What have you done that we should hand it over to you?”, that is a great quote from ex-communist turn capitalist.

If you have a day job, educate yourself and become familiar with good till cancel orders (GTC). My bet, most persons with a day job, using GTC buy/sell orders, can produce double digit yields on at risk money.

Investment rules have not changed. Only invest in sectors that you study. Narrow down the sector to one or two stocks. Check the charts for high/low price range. Place a limit order to buy at a specific price for GTC (good till cancelled) fill and do not invest all your money on a single trade. Use the ladder in method and always keep 25%/50% cash for volatile market moves.

On the sell side do the reverse.

The objective of investing/speculating is to take profits. NEVER regret taking a profit.

And please remember, we make more money when our US neighbors are employed. The next election is all about JOBS, JOBS, where in the hell are the JOBS? If you reelect the same people one should not be surprised if things get worse.

Note: This magazine and the author are not in the business of providing financial services or advice. Prior to investing, readers must seek and pay for their own professional assistance. Andrew Robbins is author and also a contributor to The Morning Eyes www.morningeyes.com