How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.

Had planned to run 100 miles in 12 weeks....

That is about 32 miles a month....

First four weeks done.... 4 miles done... :)

Unless I catch up really quickly.,... I have to restructure the terms on the deal.... Hmmmm...

will give it a shot this week and see if I can bring it back on track....

http://www.manualofideas.com/files/sellers.pdf

One of the best articles I have read in some time!!!

Updated-- Another beauty from Walter

http://www.grahamanddoddsville.net/wordpress/Files/Gurus/Walter%20Schloss/Factors%2520needed%2520to%2520make%2520money%2520in%2520stocks%2520-%2520Schloss.pdf

http://9gag.com/gag/48987/

I will vouch for the dog part... makes me look a lot wiser in retrospect on choosing a dog for a pet...

The Joys of Compounding

I have it from unreliable sources that the cost of the voyage Isabella originally underwrote for Columbus was
approximately $30,000. This has been considered at least a moderately successful utilization of venture capital.

Without attempting to evaluate the psychic income derived from finding a new hemisphere, it must be pointed
out that even had squatter's rights prevailed, the whole deal was not exactly another IBM. Figured very roughly, the $30,000 invested at 4% compounded annually would have amounted to something like $2,000,000,000,000 (that's $2 trillion for those of you who are not government statisticians) by 1962.

Historical apologists for the Indians of Manhattan may find refuge in similar calculations. Such fanciful geometric progressions illustrate the value of either living a long time, or compounding your money at a decent rate. I have nothing particularly helpful to say on the former point.

The following table indicates the compounded value of $100,000 at 5%, 10% and 15% for 10, 20 and 30 years.
It is always startling to see how relatively small differences in rates add up to very significant sums over a
period of years. That is why, even though we are shooting for more, we feel that a few percentage points
advantage over the Dow is a very worthwhile achievement. It can mean a lot of dollars over a decade or two.

5% 10% 15%
10 Years $162,889 $259,374 $404,553
20 Years $265,328 $672,748 $1,636,640
30 Years $432,191 $1,744,930 $6,621,140
Our

Value investors frequently invoke the explanatory device of Mr. Market, a disembodied character
who establishes securities prices in the short run despite knowing nothing about investing. A
manic fellow, Mr. Market will sometimes become exuberant, other times depressed. Investors who
look to Mr. Market for advice will inevitably do the wrong thing at the wrong time. Investors who
attempt to profit from Mr. Market's manic depressive nature will be successful over the long run.
These days, Mr. Market has run completely amuck, often manifesting manic and depressive behavior
at the same time in different securities.

How should Mr. Market's increasingly volatile behavior influence investors? In our view, investors
should, more than ever, act on the assumption that any stock or bond can trade, for a time, at
any price. Margin debt (which we do not utilize) should be considered extremely dangerous; investors
should never enable Mr. Market's mood swings to result in a margin call which could necessitate
forced selling. Investors should prepare themselves for a greater degree of portfolio volatility, because
it is impossible to tell how wild Mr. Market's mood swings may become. It is of paramount
importance that investors brace themselves for a stern test of their investment will. Avoiding overpriced
speculations and maintaining a strict value discipline are more important than ever because
the overpricings are so egregious and the bargains so pronounced. Yet the price swings are so severe
and swift, and not always in the desired direction, that investors must be braced for mark to market
losses. Those sufficiently disciplined and unwavering will be generously rewarded.

As I tried to swallow my $2K unrealized loss on my $9k investment in Cisco.... I came across this passage from Seth Klamran... one of the value investing greats....


In investing, nothing is certain. The best investments we have ever made, that in retrospect seem like
free money, seemed not at all that way when we made them. When the markets are dropping hard
(as they are right now in Asia) and an investment you believe is attractive, even compelling, keeps
falling in price, you aren't human if you aren't scared that you have made a gigantic mistake. The
challenge is to perform the fundamental analysis, understand the downside as well as the upside, remain
rational when others become emotional, and don't take advice from Mr. Market, who again and
again is a wonderful creator of opportunities but whose advice should never, ever be followed.

Learnt an important lesson!!!

Cost $600 (before taxes) -- will get a 15% rebate on the investment...

When your risks in a company involves Fraud... do not make the investment... it is cheap for a reason....

Need to sell ALN first thing on Monday morning!!!!

If the stock is valued at $155K..... why is it trading at $128K....

Because of the $95K per share are in investments... $30K are liabilities that belong to the policy holders....; Even though the equity holders get all the returns on the $95K.... 30% of the $95K does not belong to the equity holders... the returns are leveraged...
.