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NATO Finally Releases A Shocking Video Of Russian Atrocities In Ukraine

After months of deliberation and spending close to $1 Trillion the Obama Administration, Pentagon, EU and NATO have decided to finally release a shocking video, proving once and for all, the atrocities committed by Russia against Ukraine. More importantly, this video proves, without a shadow of a doubt that it was Russia and not the above mentioned powers that 1. Destabilized Ukraine and 2. Plunged it into the civil war. When reached for comment, Mr. Putin responded with a simple “I am sorry”. 

z33

NATO Releases A Shocking Video Of Russian Atrocities In Ukraine  Google

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Beggar Thy Neighbor

beggar

Continuation from yesterday…...(Why Russian Billionaires Beg On The Streets Of Moscow)

Finally and before we look at all of the above, it goes without saying that you need to be at the top of your game when it comes to raising capital. That means that your pitch and your documentation should be polished to perfection before approaching a single investor. Well, assuming that you would like to be successful in your capital raising attempt.  For instance, as an investor I require as much information as possible to make an informed decision about an underlying deal. I am interested in seeing if the overall business makes sense, what kind of a traction is there, the numbers, if the business fits my investment profile/style, etc….  If someone cannot offer me at least that much information, they don’t deserve my time nor my money.

In other words, if you cannot put a pitch together highlighting your business idea while asking for capital, how can you run a company?  You cannot.  As such, if you are to remember anything out of this capital raising section, remember this. If you are to approach your capital raising process in an unprofessional or unprepared matter, you are about as good as dead in the water.  I guarantee you one thing, your efforts will fail and you will not be able to raise any money.  As a result, you should spend a considerable amount of time on getting your “ASK” ready before approaching a single potential investor.

Now and without further delay, let’s jump in and explore some of the ways of raising capital for your new venture.

Self Financing:

This is by far one of my favorite options. And it should be yours as well for the following reasons…

  1. You don’t have to beg anyone for money. This is self explanatory. If you put your own money in, you avoid the pain, suffering and embarrassment associated with asking people for money.
  2. Most importantly, you retain the most valuable thing you have going for you. The only thing that will make you obscenely rich if you are to succeed. EQUITY. The formula is very simple. The longer you can stay away from raising outside capital the richer you will be.
  3. You retain full control of the decision making process and the direction of your enterprise.
  4. It shows future investors that you have skin in the game.
  5. It makes you work harder and smarter.

Overall, this is the best option you have available and I highly recommend it if you have access to your own capital or savings. Not to mention, it will allow you to get going much faster as a typical money raising process can take quite a while to materialize. Three to six months, sometimes even longer. So, if you do have a great idea, an infusion of your own capital might be all you need to get things moving in the right direction.

There are also two subsets to Self Financing that you should be aware of.  Do not discount them. They can be extremely powerful tools in helping you get your business off the ground.  And while there are many names, I tend to call them “Beggar Thy Neighbor” and “Revenue Financing”.

To Be Continued Tomorrow…...(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)

z32

Beggar Thy Neighbor Google

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Costs Associated With Short Selling

Continuation from yesterday…..(Why Short Selling Is Important)

  1. Additional costs associated with taking a short position.

Typically and depending on your broker the transactional costs associated with taking a short position are equal to you taking a long position.  However, you do tend to pay more though margin interest and dividend payments.  For instance, if the short position begins to move against you, money will be removed from your cash balance and into your margin account. If you do not have enough cash to cover the losses you begin to borrow on margin, thereby accruing margin interest charges. Otherwise, if you do have enough cash in your account to cover your short losses (if any), no margin interest costs will be inquired.

When it comes to dividend payments you are responsible for paying underlying stock’s dividend if you are holding the stock short ex-dividend date.  Without getting into the details of the entire process, you must pay the dividend on the underlying security if 1. The underlying security has a dividend associated with it and 2. You are holding this security short on ex-dividend date. At times such costs can be significant.

Yet, for the most part, both costs can be mitigated or largely eliminated when short selling is approached in a correct way. When it comes to margin interest, simply maintain a cash balance big enough to cover your short positions and any losses that you might inquire if the positions move against you.  That way your margin account is never triggered and no interest charges occur. In terms of dividends, either avoid shorting stocks that pay dividends or get out of your position before the ex-dividend date is triggered.  Plus, unless you are shorting a specific stock for company specific reasons, you shouldn’t be shorting stocks that pay dividends. Simply choose another non dividend paying stock in the same industry and short that one. And if you are to do both, the costs of going short become equal to the costs of going long.

In summary and as the points above show, when short selling is approached in an appropriate way, the risks associated with the practice are reduced to a bare minimum. And while the overall risk profile might be slightly higher than going long, when executed properly, going short is not nearly as risky as the investment industry makes it out to be.  If anything, the practice plays a crucial part in a powerful investment approach discussed bellow.

That brings us a full circle and back to the question of which investment approach is the best?

To Be Continued Tomorrow…..

Z30

Costs Associated With Short Selling  Google

Posted on

Market Bears Hit The Lowest Levels Since Just Before The 1987 Crash

daily chart Sept 8 2014

9/8/2014 – A mixed day with the Dow Jones down 26 points (-0.15%) and the Nasdaq up 9 points (+0.20%).

I have already touched on the subject matter that mainstream financial media is misrepresenting today’s stock market rally as the “Most Hated Rally” ever. In fact, according to them, most are of the Market Unbelievers (aka…bears) are about to be vaporized as the Dow surges to 20,000 and beyond.

Yet, the reality is quite different as the chart below illustrates.

bear market2

Here’s the key paragraph:

None of the group, whom we survey each September and December, is bearish these days, although some strategists have toned down their optimism because of the market’s gains. Still, the most bullish see the benchmark barreling toward 2500 in the next 18 to 24 months. That would be an increase of nearly 25% from last week’s close. The Barron’s survey echoes another data point from earlier this week. A survey of newsletter market pundits from Investors Intelligence found that bears are “evaporating.”  This chart shows that among pundits, the percentage of bears is at a 27-year low.

 In other words, it might be time to turn bearish. 

This conclusion is further supported by my mathematical and timing work. It clearly shows a severe bear market between 2014-2017. In fact, when it starts it will very quickly retrace most of the gains accrued over the last few years.  If you would be interested in learning when the bear market of 2014-2017 will start (to the day) and its internal composition, please CLICK HERE

(***Please Note: Due to my obligations to my Subscribers I am unable to provide you with more exact forecasts. In fact, I am being “Wishy Washy” at best with my FREE daily updates here. If you would be interested in exact forecasts, dates, times and precise daily coverage, please Click Here). Daily Stock Market Update. September 8th, 2014 InvestWithAlex.com

Did you enjoy this article? If so, please share our blog with your friends as we try to get traction. Gratitude!!!

Market Bears Hit The Lowest Levels Since Just Before The 1987 Crash  Google

Posted on

How Meditation Really Works

 holographic universe
Continuation From Friday…...(Meditation)
 What is the true purpose of meditation? 

The true purpose of meditation is to help you make a quantum jump in human consciousness. That is what enlightenment really means.  Most people believe that the next level of human evolution will come from longer life spans, bigger brains, stronger muscles, etc…. Yet, such vanities are a nothing but a scratch on the surface of what is available to you right now.  Unfortunately, the only way to reach this higher level of human consciousness is though meditation.

In short, when we meditate, we begin accumulate energy. And once enough energy is accumulated, a human being makes an automatic jump onto the next level of consciousness.  And if you are familiar with quantum physics, electrons act in exactly the same fashion. They don’t move between quantum states within an atom, they jump from one energy level to the next. Instantaneously.  That is the true purpose of meditation, to make that quantum jump to the next dimension of evolution.

Why has the practice of meditation survived for tens of thousands of years?

Once again, meditation is the only tool available that allows human beings to reach that higher state of consciousness.  To take it one step further, this higher state of consciousness or enlightenment is the highest possible potential available to all human beings.  Nothing can supersede it. As such, those who understand the phenomena, spend a considerable amount of their lives detached from the “Earthly Pleasures” only to concentrate most of their energies on attaining such a state.  A state of being that is possible only through meditation.

How does it really work?

While the process is intricate, it is fairly straight forward. As was suggested earlier in the book, the primary purpose behind meditation is to stop thoughts, feelings and emotions. To become an observer. When you stop your thoughts, a number of things happen behind of scenes on both physiological and spiritual levels.

When your mind comes to a complete stop, a point where no thoughts are being generated, a door of sorts opens up within you. When that happens energy begins to flow into your body/mind/consciousness configuration.  This is the same energy that your body gets when you sleep. Yet, the difference is quite significant.

When you sleep you receive the energy in question subconsciously and only enough of it to sustain you over the next 24-72 hours.  When you meditate you begin to accumulate this same energy consciously.  And the more you meditate the more energy you will accumulate over time as there is no 100% full limit on your internal battery. In fact, your battery remains forever infinite.

As you continue to meditate on the consistent basis, something interesting happens inside of you.  As you begin to accumulate more and more conscious energy, you will eventually store enough of it to have the ability to make that quantum jump to the next level of consciousness. Just like an electron would jump from one level to the next.  In fact, this process will transform your entire being in a matter of a split second.  It is identical to a boiling water analogy. As water heats up it stores energy. The instant it hits 100 C, water turns into vapor. Transforming itself from one dimension into another. Not at 99.9 C or 100.1 C. At exactly 100 C. Once your internal energy level reaches a certain point, your consciousness will make that jump.  And only meditation can help you with the entire process.

To Be Continued Tomorrow …...(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)

Z31

How Meditation Really Works  Google

Posted on

Why Russian Billionaires Beg On The Streets Of Moscow

begging-banker

Continuation from Friday…..(How To Beg People For Money)

At the same, time understand something very important.  Raising capital is not only hard for you. It is a hard and a humiliating process for 99% of people seeking capital. Here is what you have to do. Accept the fact that, “Yes, I am a beggar now, but this begging will lead to the promise land of wealth and freedom”.  If you can accept this and say “The hell with it” you are already 50% further down the road than most of your competitors.  And if you are still having a difficult time with the process, please try the following approaches.  When applied properly, they should work wonders.

Imagine for a second that you are a scientist. Approach the process of raising capital as a scientific experiment as opposed to a part of your daily business routine. All you are trying to do is determine how many people will say YES and how many people will say NO.  When you do this, you become completely independent of the outcome.  That protects your fragile ego and allows you to become an unstoppable fund raising machine.  Basically, you no longer really care about the outcome of any one conversation or capital raising attempt. It becomes a numbers game, which is exactly the way that it should be viewed.

Another way to avoid all of the negative connotations associated with the process is to create a game around it. For instance, there is a service in Russia that offers Russian Billionaires unique experiences. One of such experiences is dressing up Russian Millionaires and Billionaires as homeless people and taking them to the streets of Moscow so that they can beg people for money.  And apparently, it is a popular package. You can approach your capital raising efforts in a similar fashion. You can easily do so by assuming that you are already wealthy, do not need the money and simply doing it as a part of a game.

Now, back to raising capital. There are also a few illegitimate ways of getting it and it is the purpose of this book to caution you against it. They include stealing money, winning money and/or marrying into money.  The outcomes associated with each one are fairly simple. Steal the money in question and you will end up looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life.  In the best case scenario it will come back to bite you. In the worst case? You will probably get whacked Sopranos style just as you business begins to legitimately take off. Maybe you are, but I am not smart or lucky enough to win any money. Finally, marrying into money is never free. One way or another you will end up paying for it.

Plus, there are a few other ways that we cannot control. They include inheriting money, receiving it as a gift or having a trust fund.  If that happens to you, you are one lucky SOB. Count your lucky stars and give a lot thanks to the people who have set you up.  Of course and this goes without saying, but I hope you didn’t have to kill anyone in order to get your inheritance.

When it comes to legitimately getting money for your new business venture, there are only a few ways. They include…..

  • Self Financing
  • Borrowing It
  • Friends & Family
  • Crowd Funding
  • Angel Investors
  • Venture Capitalist

To Be Continued Tomorrow….(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)

z32

Why Russian Billionaires Beg On The Streets Of Moscow  Google

Posted on

Why Short Selling Is Important

short selling

Continuation from Friday…...(What You Ought To Know About Short Selling)

In terms of your short stocks appreciating over time….if you apply proper trading rules, this shouldn’t be a problem at all.  Just as you should have trailing stop losses with all of your long positions, you should exercise the same discipline when going short. If the marker proceeds to move against your short position, the stop loss will take you out when the time is right. Either realizing gains or limiting losses in the process.  Just as it would if you where holding a long position.

In conclusion, outside of seldom “God Event” occurrences in certain stocks, equities that you shouldn’t be shorting to begin with, short selling is about just as risky as going long when proper investment rules are applied.

  1. The Maximum Gain Is Only 100%.

It is true, the maximum gain you can achieve when going short is just 100%. Yet, that type of a return is unusual as well. For that to happen, the underlying stock price must hit zero. An occurrence most typically associated with the underlying business filing for a bankruptcy or otherwise being delisted from the exchange.

The financial crisis of 2008 presents us with a perfect opportunity to illustrate just that. In the darkest days of summer of 2008, stock prices of many of the subprime lenders collapsed in a matter of 2-3 weeks.  In many instances going from $50-60 share to $1-2 a share before filing for a bankruptcy protection and being delisted from the exchanges. A rare occurrence, indeed.

And while your gains are limited to 100%, it is not a bad thing when you consider what our primary objective in this case is. Remember, we are not trying to identify stocks that will appreciate 1,000% or more over the next 5 years. We are simply trying to protect our existing long positions while generating extra returns on the downside. Essentially, we are trying to minimize risk while moving with the overall market or the underlying security.  Short selling allows us to do just that.

  1. Most Stocks & Markets Are Long Centric.

Indeed, they are. However, this means very little to an investor who is going through a pro-longed bear market or a significant decline in one of his or her securities.  For instance, this idea becomes meaningless to someone who was fully invested in 1929. As by 1932 that portfolio had lost 90% of its value. Or to someone who had to endure a 16 year bear market between 1966 and 1982. Or to someone who had seen miniscule results since the 2000 top. As outlined earlier.

Once more, short positions should not be viewed as a long-term investment. They should be viewed in the light of hedging and maximizing returns when the market is not cooperating with its overall “long centric” premise. As was outlined and explained in one of my earlier books “Timed Value”, the stock market tends to move in 17-18 year alternating Bull/Bear market phases.  And while it would make perfect sense to remain fully invested and 100% long during bull markets, it would make very little since to continue on with the same strategy in a bear market.  After all, doing so would lead only to frustration and losses.  Short selling helps us avoid both problems in the proper market environment.

To Be Continued Tomorrow…….

Z30

Why Short Selling Is Important Google

Posted on

Meditation

baseballContinuation from yesterday…..(What Falling In Love With Stress Really Means)

Thus far we have covered traditional tools and exercises that have the ability to minimize your daily STRESS levels.  And while you will see a significant improvement in your life, the tools above will never free you completely.   They are best viewed in the light of being a medicine as opposed to being an outright cure.  If you desire an absolute solution and would like to completely remove STRESS from of your life, on all levels, the approach below is the only cure.

MEDITATION

That’s right, meditation. If you live in the Western Society it is highly probable that you have a highly distorted view of what meditation really is. Generally, people living in the West fall into the following categories.

  1. People who have never hear of meditation. Period. They are completely oblivious to what that even is.
  2. People who have heard of it, but believe it is a useless exercise. They see no point in the subject matter. They would rather do Yoga then to meditate.
  3. People who know exactly what meditation is, have tried it before, but have failed to gauge the benefits of it. Quitting shortly thereafter.
  4. People who have made meditation their daily practice. Typically, they see the benefits of it, but they can’t stop themselves from having the latest and the greatest when it comes to meditation. They have the most comfortable mat, the best “meditation music” and they constantly join various meditation groups.
  5. Finally, we have hard core mediators. These are the people who make meditation their primary concern in life.

What’s interesting is that most of the people above miss the mark. No matter to what category you belong to, chances are, you have missed the true purpose of meditation by at least a mile. Let’s start at the beginning while being as blunt as possible. That is without using all of the “mystic” mumbo jumbo found in most religions and spiritual texts.

Yet, as the warning in the beginning of the book suggested, there is no way to verify any of this. The only way to verify is through your own experience.For instance, no one can explain to you, no matter how vividly, what it feels like to be hit in the head with a baseball flying at 100 MPS. The pain associated with such an incident can only be experienced when you are actually hit with a baseball flying at such a speed. Same thing applies to mediation and its eventual outcome. It must be experienced, not talked about.

Meditation has been a key part of most Eastern Cultures, particularly those in India, long before the first page of the Old Testament was written.  Perhaps it has been with us longer than the latest evolution of the human being.  Some apes are known to exhibit meditative behaviors, although that has never been proven.  Well, it cannot be proven. Either way, key questions remain.  What is the purpose of meditation, why has the practice survived for tens of thousands of years and how does it really work?

Let’s attempt to find some straight answers.

To Be Continued On Monday….(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)

Z31

Meditation Google

Posted on

Forrest Gump Predicts The Market

daily chart Sept 5 2014

9/5/2014 – An up day with the Dow Jones up 66 points (+0.39%) and the Nasdaq up 20 points (+0.45%). 

If you haven’t noticed, the market has been stuck in a very tight trading range over the last 11 trading days. The Dow has been oscillating between 17,000 and 17,150 during this entire time. In other words, the market is distributing/consolidating and accumulating energy for a powerful move. The only question is…..which way? If you would like to find out, please Click Here.   And as Forrest Gump says……”That’s all I have to say about that”

(***Please Note: Due to my obligations to my Subscribers I am unable to provide you with more exact forecasts. In fact, I am being “Wishy Washy” at best with my FREE daily updates here. If you would be interested in exact forecasts, dates, times and precise daily coverage, please Click Here). Daily Stock Market Update. September 5th, 2014 InvestWithAlex.com

Did you enjoy this article? If so, please share our blog with your friends as we try to get traction. Gratitude!!!

Forest Gump Predicts The Market Google