Earlier this month, I was approached by AOL Weblogsinc associate producer Sarah Gilbert to blog on BloggingStocks. BloggingStocks is a blog that obsessively follows the eight most followed stocks in the U.S. market. Now that the contracts are signed and my first post is up, I thought I’d share the good news with you!
How Did It Happen?
I discovered AOL’s new blogging venture early during its launch and wrote a post on my investment blog. Since Investorial (my investment editorial blog) was about investing / financial media information, I decided to keep tab on what I believe to be an emerging force for the industry. I answered a Craigslist ad in May — a call for investment bloggers by AOL. I applied and got a second look, submitted a few sample posts but the experience did not bear any fruitful results.
I kept reading BloggingStocks articles and being my very opinionated self, I wasn’t agreeing with how that they were delivering investment information. In particular, I had issues with one of their bloggers Sheldon Liber. But while I was giving my “harsh” constructive criticisms through the many comments on his posts, Sheldon contacted me numerous times for rebuttals. I stood by my assertions everytime but made sure I backed them up further. From those interactions, I knew that Sheldon is a really intelligent person and may have chosen his own way to express the information.
In retrospect, I believe Sheldon had a lot to do with my inclusion into the BloggingStocks roster! I am currently in the same team with him. And his writings have steadily improved while gaining popularity since our paths crossed. So I want to publicly thank Sheldon and Sarah for giving me a voice, and an opportunity to interact with fellow investors and blog readers out there!
As I wind down the first month of Investorial.com – my blog about investment and financial media, I want to leave you with a few of Investorial’s more popular posts. Get ready for more interesting blogs dissecting the good, the bad, and the ugly of the investment and financial community!
I’ve enjoyed blogging about investment and financial articles and media that I’ve been neglecting this blog and also BabeTheory.com! I will have to jump back into some serious blogging when time allows me some flexibility.
I went out and bought Investorial a new domain name, you can keep reading about investment and financial articles and media at http://Investorial.com
I am launching a new website on my birthday! Legendary jazz pianist Bill Evans once told another legendary crooner, Tony Bennet to “forget everything else and just concentrate on truth and beauty“. I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. While I discover beauty through BabeTheory.com, I would like to talk about truth using Investorial.
Investorial is my editorial on articles about investment and financial discussions. I have a tremendous passion for reading about investment insights, econcomic and market news. However, my experience with such articles allowed me to find many articles to are misleading, self-serving, and simply hype. But there are also discussions which are insightful and must-reads! I will attempt to share my point of view with you through Investorial and hope that you will share your views with me!
Investorial will also be my first blog utilizing WordPress technology. The experience of setting up the blog has been quite painless thus far. WordPress interface is very well done! It also helped that I have a lot more experience in setting up blogs through my experience with VinceChan.net and a solution on the Movable Type. My analogy for the comparision between Movable Type and WordPress would be analagous to C++ versus Java respectively. My setup time was also cut short because I was able to use a template created by Liew Cheon Fong, an interesting Malaysian blogger whose articles I enjoy reading!
I hope you will add Investorial to the list of blogs that you will enjoy reading. Like BabeTheory, I will attempt to update as often as possible, but will not restrict myself to a strict blogging schedule.
Editor’s Note: Investorial started originally as a hosted site on VinceChan.net. It has since found its own domain in cyberspace. You can visit it at http://investorial.com
I have always been vocal about what I like, and I want to tell you about my favourite fund company and fund manager, Irwin Michael. I don’t believe the sales propaganda that people say about all mutual funds being the same. Most mutual funds salespersons don’t have an investment direction/philiosophy and will sell the most trendy or performing fund. You end up seeing investors that have “flavour of the month” funds. You will see them having 3 or 4 mutual funds, because those are the ones that were good. And you also know when they were good based on when they were bought. The conservative salesman will go with a consistent fund, that is neither an under-performer or an over-performer. Having said all that, it’s not anything wrong if the ultimate goal is to get people to save their money rather than waste it on useless expenditures.
But here’s where I take a stand. A fund should be chosen based on some understanding of what it’s doing; based on the management of the fund. You ARE paying someone to manage funds for you, so wouldn’t you expect some accountability? My goal in particular would not be satsified by mere consistent performance but I want to see consistent outstanding performance. Let me tell you about what Irwin Michael brings to the table.
The general public believes that the stock market has been on a general downtrend until recently. Well, here’s a story about how the general public seeing only what they wish to see and by large ignoring what they don’t want to see.
During 1997 – 2000, if you ask most people involved in the stock market whether a restaurant stock is more exciting than a technology stock, most people will look at you weird. If you ask people where they think they can grow their money best, they most likely would put to technology stocks. Well not many technology stocks did very well after 2000. But what happened to those boring restaurant stocks?
Contrary to popular beliefs, many boring plain old vanilla stocks that attracted little to no coverage, hype, attention during those boom days, did very well, even after the 2000 market disaster. Of course, there are good and bad, but I just want to dispell the idea that stock market was down during that time. The intelligent investor would be able to find companies with tremendous fundamentals that did exceptional during this period. Let’s take a look at one such stock.
You are what you read. I’ve always believe that statement. I do not think I am different than the average person in terms of intellectual abilities. But I do know I have some habits different than the average person. I like to read, not necessary any books, but books that you can learn something from. I don’t like to read novels, I used to when I was a kid. In fact, I really want to thank my mother for encouraging me to read a lot of books when I was young. I remember borrowing as many books as my library card allowed, finish them without a week or two weeks and going book for more books right away. That has set the foundation for my life.
But I haven’t been reading any new books lately. I’ve been re-reading old books. So in order for this article to fit the idea of a NEW recommended book, I have to find something new first , right? Certainly, let me tell you more about THE NUMBER: How The Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America after the jump.
When I first heard that Warren Buffett recommends for all investors to read his mentor, Benjamin Graham’s book The Intelligent Investor, I had to see what the book was all about. I was absolutely blown by the simplicity and relevancy of the content provided. It was like I was reading the lost scrolls that promised the secret of the treasure of the Templar Knights.
I agree completely with Mr. Buffett. Even if you do not have any knowledge or technical aptitude for investment discussions, as long as you can read, understand and apply Chapter 8 of this investment bible, you will not do badly in the realm of investments. Though this book was originally written in 1949, it certain has not lost any relevancy through the progression of time.
But what has been lost through time is its writing style. Modern readership may not fare well with the language with which this was written in. It is to Mr. Graham’s credit that it is still very readable, but I absolutely love the revision put together by senior Money editor, Jason Zweig.
Zweig is very well versed in the philosophies of Benjamin Graham. Every chapter is followed by commentary, and footnotes to complement Graham’s sage advice and analytical guides. The most interesting parts of the books were Graham’s cautionary tales through actual examples from his era, punctuated by Zweig’s similar contributions to update with modern case studies.
Before you invest a dollar, invest and read The Intelligent Investor first!
