Year: 2019

The Worst Investor of All Time

There is no such thing – worst investors. Yes? No? Read to the end.

By Gorica Gligorijevic

The stories about the most successful investors are well-known.

Okay! Not all and not everything.

But have you ever heard about the worst investors? Yes, you probably heard about less successful and about great losses.

But out there, in the markets, is one man who did everything wrong.

Yes, he had a great passion for investing, markets, and, most of everything, desire to earn wealth. Moreover, he was on the right path. But he did things at the wrong time. We ran into this tale randomly and was fascinated with this example.

The name of that investor is Bob.

Actually, he is the worst market timer ever. The worst investor of all time.

And lets the story began. Bob started investing in 1970 when he was 22. He planned to save $2,000 per year and increase his savings for $2,000 every next year. So, his plan was to hit that amount and retire at age 65. It should be in 2013.

In 1972, he had $6,00 savings on his bank account and was ready to make his first investment.

He invested in the S&P 500. Just before the market crash for the S&P 500 for almost 50%. He put all his money at the peak of the market. And we all know that after the peak follows drop.

Bob didn’t sell his stocks. He held them tight.

Why?

Maybe he was expecting them to grow again or he was confused or nervous. Every scenario is possible. This decision caused his later destiny.

His case is the best example of the Greater Fool Theory.

Behind the Greater Fool Theory is an idea to neglect the fundamental analysis of asset values. The main hope is to sell your stocks at a higher price to some other greater fool. Bob, the worst investor of all time, held shares in small tech company Wind River. He earned some money, not a small one, the real money.

And the 90s came.

Bob made his second mistake.

He bought the Iomega stocks at its precise peak. At the moment when their share price was on the maximum. It looks like Bob liked high-tech. Or he had confidence in new technologies. You have to admit that his predictions were good but the timing was wrong.

The tech bubble really went up at the end of 1999. Bob had $68,000 of savings to invest. And he bought, just before a 50% or more market downturn that lasted until 2002.

This the worst investor of all time somehow made losses on Facebook 2012. He bought into the IPO and sold these stocks because he noticed that they are climbing down. If he was patient for only one year his investment would be bigger for 40%. That was the difference between the price he bought Facebook shares and price in 2013.

This the worst investor lost money on Tesla also.

Tesla was up to almost 600% after Bob sold. Following his own loser’s pattern, Bob made another wrong decision. When the stock market crashed in 2008 and interest rates dropped to null, he recognized dividends as a 100-percent sure plan to make a profit.

Bob bought Star Bulk Carriers Corp. The dividend yield was 10 %.

He was defeated.

Dry bulk shippers had been hit hard. They lost 95% of its value in a frame time of 8 months. Theoretically, it was expected that Star Bulk should have a steady cash flow. But one of the company’s customers declared bankruptcy. Star Bulk gave the shareholders some cash to hold them satisfied. Actually, they got half of the dividend.

It was not the end.

Bob tried to trade the ETFs in March 2009.

He bought the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares. Exactly at the time that stock prices were on their way to hit the bottom. He lost a fortune.

He bought China Mobile in 2007.

Bob read a hopeful report about the increasing amount of Chinese cell phone users. Of course, the price fell the day after his purchase. His worst mistake when he moved most of his 401(k) into cash 2014. But this story has a happy end. Bob ended up a millionaire with $1.1 million.

How is it possible?

Bob planned out his savings. He never paused on his savings goals.

Anyway, Bob was the worst investor of all time.

9th May 2019
Get rich – several steps to reach this goal

3 min read

If financial freedom is in your focus you must have the desire to get rich. Probably a strong one.

To get rich isn’t a pleasant job nor easy. You must have some habits besides natural predisposition or personal desire.

You must have the willingness to win, to climb to the top.

Self-confidence is one of the most important and basic characteristics. But you can also, develop your habits to bring you to the point when you are wealthy.

You have to be determined enough to do all the wise things which lead you to grow your wealth. And, maybe, retire soon.

No one became rich accidentally.

To build your wealth you must have a long-term concept.

You have to be ready to understand the prize of financial freedom.

It will cost you now but later, it will give you a lot of pleasure. Or, building wealth and making money may become your only and final goal.

Why not? It sounds so sexy!

So, what you have to do in order to get rich?

First of all, invest early.

The early bird catches the worm!

Start now!

If you put your money to work ASAP you will give it the chance to grow over time.

C’mon! We can hear that. No, we are not talking BS.

Do you have the opportunity to check data of the stock market for the past decades? Yes, you could do it and after say we are talking BS.

Say you’re in the 20s.

You might have, for example, $500 per month to invest in some low-cost index fund.

How much money you will have at your 60s?

Over a million! Not bad.

You can be a millionaire if you invest just a few thousand dollars every year.

This isn’t a fairy tale. This is the reality. And might be yours.

The tricky part is, if you start 10 years later you would gain under $200,000 if you invest $10,000.

So, start right now!

Saving and investing money now is more beneficial. You don’t have to wait.

Further…

Automate your savings.

Set up an auto deduction from your paycheck. On this way, you’ll be able to bypass risky paths that could lead you to spend your savings.

It’s so simple to delay and ignore what requires to be made.

For instance, to spend more than you have to.

If you automate your savings, you are on the best path to get rich. Being a human we have amazingly poor willpower.
Automating your finances ruins this by letting you save money without having to do it yourself.

Practice intelligent spending like a rich person

Yes, you should spend your money on the stuff that makes you happy.

Just do so with purpose, and avoid the foolish spending. That can lead you to messy finances.

When you spend your money, you just have to have a plan. Your travels, trendy clothes, or going to the restaurants, should be planed.

No one asks you to sacrifice yourself for the sake to get rich.

You have this one life and the point is to live it with pleasure. This life has no rehearsal or repetitions.

Just try to be smart and provide to yourself a bright future.

Further…

Maximize your retirement account contributions.

A small contribution is better than none, that the truth.

But a small force can span too small effects.

If you want to get rich, you have to maximize the rate allowed from the beginning.

This is primarily valid if you are beginning to accumulate your wealth later in life. Don’t be afraid, that will not screw out your cash flow.

We think it’s much difficult to balance the budget year after year to support the increasing contributions.

So, maximize it from the start.

And that revolving!

Why do you need that high-interest debt?

It can dangerously pull you down, and block you to save more.

If you really want to get rich you have to remove the bad habits.

Never ever take credit card balances!

The better choice is to learn how to handle credit effectively.

You have to pay your balance completely each month.

There are some methods to maximize rewards, points, etc. Some card owners know them, but the majority never reach those highs.

Live in harmony with your own system and you will find a key to a successful result.

Have you ever faced someone who is modest and then you were shocked when heard that they are swimming in money?

When you heard that such person is an extremely prosperous entrepreneur and multimillionaire.

Well, millionaires live below their averages. They gather their money, they are not showcasing it.

Say, the habit of spending less now can help you have a bunch later.

Don’t forget, less is more! One day.

Further…

Or how to become an investor and get rich

Victorious investors know all pros and cons. That will take time but if you want to be like George Soros or Warren Buffet, you must have a good education. Also, you have to be well informed.

You will never find sufficient information in some yellow magazine or on Twitter.

Grow as a loyal follower of money, and you can learn of getting rich.

Advanced investors would never put all of their eggs in one basket. So, diversify your portfolio.

Spread your investment over a mixture of investments. From stocks to startups. That will protect you from financial waste if one of your investments drop.

Just be cautious not to store your money too massively in one investment.

And find pros you trust. That will cost you some money, but you have to spend some money to make money.

When you get rich, don’t forget us and our good ideas we shared with you.

Lucky investing!

risk disclosure

8th May 2019
May the IPO Be With You

3 min read

by Gorica Gligorijevic

On the eve of expected IPO, drivers of both Uber and their competitor Lyft are planning to stage a strike across the USA on May 8.

With the upcoming IPO for Uber, a ride-hailing company, 2019 season of unicorn and decacorn tech IPOs is scheduled to continue. Analysts are projecting a valuation of Uber to reach between $91B and $120B, very possibly reaching rarified air heights of valuation above $100B.

By breaking this barrier Uber would become only second hectacorn after the Ant Financial. Such valuation would bring a windfall for both the shareholders and the company which is often castigated for burning its cash reserves.

But not everything is rosy in the Uber-land.

For the May 8, Uber and Lyft drivers in the USA are planning to stage a strike against the working conditions and the company’s policies. Drivers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco are planning to log off during the morning rush, between 7 A.M. and 9 A.M. local time.

There are indications that they will be joined by their colleges across the country, but also in London. In cities which are hosts to Uber’s offices, the plan is to also stage a protest in front of them, and such events are expected both in the USA as also in other countries where Uber is operating.

Organizers and supporting organizations of this protest, such as Rideshare Drivers United – Los Angeles and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), are demanding safer and more secure work environment and that the company ensures that its drivers actually can make a living off their income.

On May 3 NYTWA has published a post on their web site has announced their plan to support the strike.

Their members, among which are not just cab but also Uber, Lyft and Juno drivers; have decided by vote to support their colleges from Uber around the world. “With the IPO, Uber's corporate owners are set to make billions, all while drivers are left in poverty and to go bankrupt”, states the post.

The organizers have listed as one of the demands that the driver’s commission is guaranteed and set in the 80-85% range.

While drivers in New York have fought and won a guaranteed equivalent of $17.22 because the drivers themselves must pay the payroll tax it accounts for $15 hourly rate, various fees imposed on them by Uber eat almost half of their incomes.

One of the biggest complaints of drivers is work insecurity.

Particularly telling are the cases of drivers who were fired with no explanation whatsoever, among them some have reasons to suspect that it was a retaliation for the participation in previous protests against Uber’s corporate policies. And with the company flooding streets with new drivers work is less and less certain as the competition for fares grows.

But many voices are concerned with the other side of this situation. With an increased number of novice drivers, who are not yet familiar with the Uber driver’s app, quality of services is sharply plummeting. And with company’s very lax background check of drivers, it is more than reasonable to presume that the safety of customers is also affected, while Uber didn’t have a glowing reputation for safety, to begin with.

As adding fuel to this flame comes the content of Uber’s S-1 filing and the immediate reaction from the Wall Street analysts.

“We have incurred significant losses since inception. We incurred operating losses of $4.0 billion and $3.0 billion in the years ended December 31, 2017, and 2018, and as of December 31, 2018, we had an accumulated deficit of $7.9 billion”, is stated in the filling.

Doom isn’t the worst scenario

Though these are not the worst of the doom and gloom Uber is placing in their documents, they are obviously hoping to emulate the Lyft, who had a decent IPO featuring the similar sentiment in their own filling. The trump card of Uber’s IPO is two numbers which show that they are both a huge company and a very small start-up. They are boasting that their drivers have completed more than 10 billion of rides in 63 countries during 2018, but they make just a measly 2% of public commutes over the same period.

But this double scale of size may prove to be irrelevant as the filing states that the company will need to generate and sustain increased revenues and decrease proportional expenses “and even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase profitability.”

The Uber is intending to continue, and actually increase the level of, investments into driverless cars, e-bikes, and e-scooter.

In essence Uber plans to cannibalize own business model in an effort to achieve profitability. In other words, Uber which was promising to disrupt the world of daily commutes is now disrupting its own business outlook.

Wall Street has already voiced its opinion.

Uber must decrease its expenses (read: cut down drivers’ commissions) to achieve profitability. Though the company in its early days have attracted many part-time drivers who saw it as an opportunity for extra income through a side gig, for the majority of current drivers is the only source of income. Besides that, they are also working extremely long hours in a very uncertain environment, where they literally do not know whether they will have a job the next day.

And psychological professionals cite these stressors as primary factors behind suicides of 8 Uber drivers in the USA over the past year.

Many public figures and activist investors were speaking for years against the business model of Uber. But maybe the worst condemnation of it comes from company’s own filing on the eve of their IPO: “Our workplace culture and forward-leaning approach created operational, compliance, and cultural challenges and our effort to address those challenges may not be successful… a failure to rehabilitate our brand and reputation will cause our business to suffer.”

Don’t waste your money!

risk disclosure

7th May 2019
Tesla plans to raise up to $2.7 billion

1 min read

Tesla expects to raise up to $2.7 billion in equity and convertible bonds. Tesla shares rose 4.5% to $255.03 on Friday 3, May.

Actually, Tesla will offer 3.1 million shares of its stock and $1.6 billion worth of convertible notes. Tesla had before intended to offer 2.72 million shares and $1.35 billion worth of convertible notes.

But obviously, it isn’t enough.

In its last earnings report, Tesla notified “heavier-than-expected” losses in the first quarter this year.

The new fundraising is the opposite of Musk’s initial stand to raising capital.

But now, Musk said it is necessary in order for Tesla to be profitable in the future.

Tesla shares continue to rise.

Elon Musk showed readiness to raise new capital.

The company had a $700 million loss in its first quarter of this year. That means the company has just $2.2 billion in cash.

“At this point, I do think there is some merit to raising capital,” Musk said. “This is probably about the right timing.”

Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne wrote that $2.7 billion is “badly needed,” but inadequate to cover capital expenses.

“Our take is that ~$2.7 billion is sufficient for 3-4 quarters of offsetting operating losses if the sales and margin weakness we saw in Q1 continues, and even shorter if sufficient CapEx funding is used for the company’s aggressive expansion plans and Tesla gets off the ‘spartan diet,’” Osborne wrote.

It’s possible that a part of the new capital would be used to pay off $566 million in convertible debt from Tesla’s 216 acquisition of Solar City.

Also, there is a $500 million Chinese loan used to fund the Shanghai Gigafactory, Osborne added. Tesla has a sum of $10.4 billion in loans due to 2025.

The company said that Musk would increase his investment from $10 million to $25 million as part of the sale of stock.

The analysts had expected a loss

According to Factset, an adjusted loss of $1.15 a share on sales of $5.4 billion for the quarter. But actual losses increased far beyond their expectations.

Zachary Kirkhorn declared it “one of the most complicated quarters” in Tesla’s history.

“This was one of the most complicated quarters” in Tesla’s history, Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn said on Wednesday. He also noted the Tesla push to deliver Model 3s overseas and some other projects.

Tesla reported nearly a one-third drop sales in comparison with the previous quarter.

It delivered 63,000 electric vehicles in the first quarter this year.

Deliveries structure was: 50,900 Model 3 vehicles and 12,100 Model S and X SUVs.

Musk said that a large number of vehicle deliveries has moved to the second quarter.

Well, the truth is that almost everyone expected the loss for Tesla in the first quarter. But no one expected it to be this big.

Several factors might affect this situation. First, the tax rebate loss.

Further, more rivals followed by less interest in Model 3. The initial interest is fully satiated. Also, there are a lot of alternatives now in the same industry.

Don’t waste your money!

risk disclosure

6th May 2019
John Bogle – Proud He Was a Billionaire

Who was John Bogle?

By Guy Avtalyon

John C. Bogle, also is known as Jack, was born May 8, 1929, in Montclair, New Jersey. Also, known as one of the Bogle Boys. He had twin brother David Caldwell and older brother William Yates III called Bud. John Bogle studied at Princeton University and in 1951 got a degree in economics. But he didn’t stop his education road. He attended evening and weekend courses at the University of Pennsylvania.

After graduating his main interests were banking and investments. Bogle got a job at Wellington Fund. He worked in administration, marketing and distribution, securities analysis, and shareholder relations. Thanks to his knowledge he climbed very fast in the company’s hierarchy. He became an assistant manager in 1955.

That was a wonderful opportunity for such an analytical mind. He got full access to examine the company and the investment activity. He was ambitious. John Bogle had the initiative. He wanted more and better. Jack Bogle wanted a new fund. And finally, Wellington management changed its strategy of focusing on a single fund. That was Bogle’s first victory and the turning point in his work.

In 1964, by age 35, John Bogle became a CEO, and six years later a chairman of Wellington in 1970. He managed this company with a strong hand. Also, many of his associates claimed that he was rigid. What was all that about?

Bogle insisted the firm diversify its product list in 1958 with the introduction of the all-equity Windsor Fund. He was an innovator. The other innovations followed this one.

But be patient, this is a tale about one of the most brilliant minds among investors. He made a revolution creating the world’s first index mutual fund in 1975. Also, this man changed investing eternally with index funds. He invented the index fund as a form for retail investors in order to provide them to be able to participate in the market with the professionals.

What did John Bogle uncover?

John Bogle uncovered a system for retail investors to approach the market but at a much cheaper cost than the mutual fund. And, you know, if you want something to be done and have a vision and you know that other people can’t see the same goals as you, and you know that they are wrong or tiny-minded, you must be rigid. Especially if you want to succeed. That’s how John Bogle became the titan of low-cost investing.

Bogle was strongly competing from his early days. His battle-fields were all, tennis yards (what a strong drop shot he had) or crossword puzzles or business and markets. His habit was to complete crosswords from the New York Times in ink and later compared his time needed to finish to his children and brothers.

That is a competitive temper! But we have to stay on the course! Bogle’s career had ups and downs. Not a lot of downs, but important to be mentioned. So, the asset management wonder-man made a crucial slip. He approved merger Wellington with Thorndike, Doran, Paine & Lewis. It was an offensive mutual fund company from Boston. Institutional Investor magazine named this new energetic crew of five young managers “The Whiz Kids.”

In 1974, the bull run was over. The bear market of 1973-74 led to bad achievement for Wellington’s funds. The merger was characterized as extremely unwise and was approved by Bogle himself. It caused conflicts between the associates.

John Bogle was fired from Wellington.

Later, he rated it as his biggest mistake, stating, “The great thing about that mistake, which was shameful and inexcusable and a reflection of immaturity and confidence beyond what the facts justified, was that I learned a lot.” Also, he called it “the most heartbreaking moment” of his career.

He was 44, six children. Bogle was out of a job and sick, he had a weak heart. The doctors had told him he had a few years living and advised him to retire to the seaside. He didn’t accept that. But still, he was chairman of 11 Wellington’s funds and he used them to build Vanguard, a new branch concentrated on Wellington fund management.

Bogle offered a new mutual company.

When did The Vanguard Group start?

The Vanguard Group started services on May 1, 1975. With $1.8 billion in assets and staff of less than 50. Bogle gave this name to the new mutual company in memory to Lord Nelson’s flagship and the famous British victory against Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

Bogle later said he “wanted to send a message … that our Vanguard would be, as the dictionary says, ‘the leader in a new trend.’ “

“Our challenge at the time,” Mr. Bogle evoked, “was to build, out of the ashes of major corporate conflict, a new and better way of running a mutual fund complex. ‘The Vanguard Experiment’ was designed to prove that mutual funds could operate independently, and do so in a manner that would directly benefit their shareholders.”

When the first retail index fund was created?

It was 1976 when the first retail index fund was created. Very soon, it bought every stock in the S&P 500 index and established the market’s average return. The result was totally sales droop. Only a small number of investors wanted a guaranteed average. Everyone like highs. Big returns, great profits!

Bogle had a lot of critics. It took time for the strategy to be adopted and recognized as a revolutionary type of investing. For the past 5 decades, academics have been discussing the “Efficient Market Hypothesis.” In its most radical mode, EMH states that you might select stocks with a dartboard because they are reasonably priced.

Wall Street responded with what they call “pockets of inefficiency.” Bogle, intelligently, gave up the discussion. His point was that you don’t have to believe the EMH. You just can see things his way, he said.

Bogle believed in what he called the CMH: the Cost Matters Hypothesis. To beat the market you need money.

Vanguard’s first index fund was taunted as an “a sure path to mediocrity,” according to the firm. The index fund makes up 70% of Vanguard’s $5.1 trillion in assets today. He was a great proponent of the mutual fund as an investment vehicle, but at the same time, Bogle was the mutual fund industry’s severe critic.

What did John Bogle criticize?

John Bogle criticized high costs, dishonest advertising, and product conception during his whole career. His radical ideas secured him a reputation as “the conscience of the industry.”

“If a statue is ever erected to honor the person who has done the most for American investors, the hands-down choice should be Jack Bogle,” said Warren Buffett.

Bogle hadn’t been delighted with the form the market adopted his idea. After Bogle’s death on January 2019, Jeff Cox wrote for CNBC:

“When he put together the First Index Investment Trust, it was a mutual fund, which prices at the end of the day and cannot be traded during normal market hours. What has happened to passive investing since has been quite a big difference.” Almost half of the passive field is filled by ETFs now.

They offer lower fees than most mutual funds. Investors are able to trade them through the day. That ability makes them subject to the impulses of the market’s liquidity matters.

John Bogle didn’t like that concept

He hated it so much that he called people who deal in ETFs “fruitcakes, nut cases and the lunatic fringe.” Bogle wanted to explain his opinion about this issue in his final book, “Stay the Course, The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution” (Wiley, 2018).

He claimed that ETFs are principally the sphere of speculators with the “rapid trading” in ETFs “done by financial institutions that use them to hedge or equitize cash reserves.” “The arithmetic suggests that only about one-sixth of ETF assets are held by investors with a focus largely on the long-term,” Bogle wrote in his book.

Well, his conclusion at the end of that chapter in the book is that he can support the funds as long as they are wide-based and not used for speculation.

Bogle as a public speaker

Jack Bogle was a pleasant and internationally desired speaker. He would spend hours writing and rewriting his notes. His speeches to the Vanguard crew were legendary. You can read them in his book “Character Counts: The Creation and Building of The Vanguard Group.”

Also, he was a philanthropist, from organ donation to the National Constitution Center. With his brothers, he established “Bogle Brothers Scholarships” at their former college they also attended Blair Academy and Princeton University.

Bogle was a frequent commentator on the financial markets for media, giving advice to individual investors. He wrote 12 books. His best-selling is Bogle on Mutual Funds (1994). About this book, Warren Buffett said it is “the definitive book on mutual funds.”

His last book “Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution” was published in 2018. Bogle suffered many heart attacks. He had a heart transplant on February 21, 1996. Eight weeks later, he was back at work in his Valley Forge office and received a Fund Leader of the Year award.

Incredible and fascinating story, don’t you think! It is impressive how he managed to stay alone with his ideas while everyone was against him. Even his health. But Bogle had self-confidence and strongly believing in his ideas.

That power, that strength to continue despite the opponents, to create something completely new is impressive. He was a real revolutionary.

You have to admire it.

5th May 2019
Best money apps for 2019
Traders-Paradise presents you the best money apps that we examined, and use.

By Guy Avtalyon

Today everyone is looking for the best money apps. That’s a great help in money management. The principle is the same as before, everything else is nuance. Also, the development of advanced technologies is a great help. We all remember how our parents did that. They didn’t have an app to manage their money, they had to do all alone. Several envelopes “loan” “electricity” “heat” “phone” etc. were usually on the table with slips filled.

The pile of bills and a checkbook on one side, envelopes on the other. And a notebook where they wrote everything they spent. As the envelopes became fatter, the bunch of bills would become tiny.

Today it is completely different. We have apps for almost everything. Also, we have automated payments. So, it is easy to track all payments and where our money goes. So, we can know our net worth in a second.

Traders Paradise came across numerous reviews to find the best money apps. Of course, our personal experiences were valuable too.

So, here are some of the best money apps we estimated. All available to download for Android and iOS, which was the very first criteria. The second criterion was a free download.
- Mint
Mint is a free money app. It comes from Intuit (the creator of TurboTax and QuickBooks). Mint provides you to set up and link all your accounts and cards into one place.

The app automatically classifies banking and credit card transactions and its Trends feature provides you to track your credit cards, spending, cash, net worth. Also, you are able to set your financial goals or payment reminder, bill reminder, or receive suggestions on how to reduce fees and save some money. Mint will signal you when you are going over your stated budget.
Mint has over 20 million users.

The app will automatically classify banking and credit card transactions and there is a Trends feature that allows you to track credit cards, cash, spending, income, and net worth over time, along with the ability to set up financial goals.

This app is available for iPhone or iPad, as well as Android and Windows devices.
- Goodbudget
Goodbudget is previously known as Easy Envelope Budget Aid or EEBA. You can download the free app on iOS and Android devices from the App Store and Google Play store.

This is an automated version of the old envelopes. The idea is to split up your money into digital “envelopes” based on your wants or needs. You can pick from pre-labeled envelopes or design your own.

Start by adding your income and listing a financial “account” like a checking account or savings account, credit card, or cash.
Customize your envelopes.

You should log to your Goodbudget every time you send or receive the money, allocate some amount to each of your envelopes. For example, you allocated $200 per month to your hygiene. Every time you bought something from that kind of supplies you should click “add a transaction”, insert the store name, and the value you spent. That value will be taken out of a certain envelope. And you will see how much you can spend on hygiene more.

You can pick one of two Goodbudget offered plans. A free plan and a paid Plus plan that costs $5 per month or $45 per year. The envelope’s balance is colored: green means you have money to spend, red means you have gone over the budget.
- Trim
This isn’t only a money budgeting app. This app is the best if you have a lot of subscriptions or memberships and you wanted to cancel them. Trim helps you save on all subscriptions you don’t apply that are still cost you money.

This app employs your credit card and bank transactions to warn you of forgotten subscriptions. Trim will load only the transactions linked to subscriptions. Then you will receive a text message with all your subscriptions so you can cancel them if you want.

Trim is a truly assistant. It can send your certified letter telling you aren’t coming to some event. There is no need for phone calls. Also, Trim will negotiate your cable or Internet bill down for you.

It operates with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, or any other provider.
- MoneyStrands
With MoneyStrands you’ll get prompt access to your account balances, transactions, budgets, saving goals, and more.
All you need to win smart financial decisions today. Moreover, you don’t need to link it with your bank accounts. There is a possibility to do that but it isn’t necessary.
Millennials like it very much. And you have a calendar. Well, it is easier to see when your bills are expected if you have a calendar in front of you. You can set goals and track how much you’ve saved.

This app suits those who need a good money app but don’t like to link bank accounts. When you plan your money you can see where your money goes and save more. You can observe your spending for some time and then rearrange the budget if it is necessary. Also, you can secure your payments on time and never go over the limit on credit card fees.

These money apps are very helpful, especially if you never update your budgeting skills. We recommend you best money apps from our own experience.

Don’t waste your money!
3rd May 2019
Bitcoin is ready for further increases

2 min read

The last month was very good for the crypto markets.

Bitcoin showed the ability to climb into the $5,000 area. There was no important selling pressure and that fact can encourage traders that have to expect BTC to see further gains in the near-future.

Just make comparison with Bitcoin’s last month close with the one seen in 2015, actually in October 2015. That was succeeded by a bull run.

This question was opened recently. A leading cryptocurrency trader revealed that eerie lines are shown today, the similar to 2014/2015 during the bear season.

Bitcoin approaches $5,400.

Today, 2 May, Bitcoin is trading under 1% at its prevailing price of $5,375.

But take a look at the time frame of one week.

Bitcoin has grown from its lows of $5,100.

And after really disturbing news.

What happened?

New York regulators shook the crypto world with the declaration that BitFinex, one of the leading crypto exchanges, had cheated investors.

The regulators claimed that Bitfinex employed its own “dollar-backed” stable coin, Tether, to mop $850 million in missing funds and put it under the carpet.

The news like this one caused great drops in Bitcoin’s value. But today, this crypto shows differently attitude.

After the news was published and widespread, BTC dropped a poor 10%. Moreover, it proceeds to escalate back towards its highs of over $5,600.

Besides, Bitcoin posted a green monthly candle. For many analysts it is bullish.

For example, DonAlt, a cryptocurrency analyst, tweeted about BTC’s monthly close.

And there were more very interesting events about Bitcoin in the past weeks.

For example, TD Ameritrade allowed BTC trading, also, eTrade added BTC and ETH. Oh, yes, Samsung is going to create its own token. And maybe the most important, the French government decided the banks have to support crypto.

So, the similarities between Bitcoin’s April of 2019 close and its October of 2015 close, are notably similar.

So, the conclusion can be that after April’s close will be followed by a massive bull run. But it would require a massive entrance of the money. Are we ready for that?

Only in that way, BTC’s price would hit $330k in the next few years said the analysts.

Bitcoin continues in an uptrend. So it is likely to rise towards the $5,500 level in the coming sessions, very soon.

According to newsbtc.com, in the past three sessions, there was a steady rise above $5,280 in bitcoin price against the US Dollar.

The BTC/USD pair reached traction above the $5,300 resistance.

It is above the 100 hourly moving average. The price went up over the $5,340 level and traded at $5,359.

A break above the $5,360 level may open the ways for a potentially the $5,400 level. The next main resistance is near the $5,450 level. That is a point where sellers may arrive. The prevailing price action is positive and, therefore it could be more gains above $5,360.

If a downside change appears, the bulls have to protect $5,280 or $5,250.

Well, it is almost impossible that the next bull run can be the same as in 2015.

But an entrance of money from corporations may be sufficient to feed the new parabolic upwards move.

That is what many investors are expecting.

BTC is at above $5,400 this morning. The consolidation continues.

Don’t waste your money!

risk disclosure

2nd May 2019
George Soros – The Man Who Broke the Bank of England

5 min read

This is a story about surviving, great success and philanthropy.

George Soros was born as Gyorgy Schwartz in Budapest, Hungary, on August 12, 1930.

His parents were Tividar and Erzebat Schwartz.

With increasing anti-Semitism, the danger for Jewish arose. To avoid Nazi persecution, George’s father changed the family

name to Soros. George was just a teenage boy in 1944 when survived Nazi aggression and occupation of Hungary.

History would never be the same if he didn’t.

The different danger shaped their lives after the end of WWII. Communist domination in Hungary managing by the Soviet Union (USSR). Having the fact that they were cruel with their own citizens, made Hungarians frightened for their lives.

George Soros decided to emigrate.

In 1947 he went to England and began to study philosophy at the London School of Economics under Karl Popper.

Today we can say that Karl Popper’s “The Open Society and Its Enemies” had a great influence on him. In this philosophical masterpiece, Popper criticizes totalitarianism.

The basic idea is that no ideology controls the truth and society can grow only when it is free and open. The main lesson is that respect for individual rights can maintain such a society. Soros was attracted by Popper’s biography and the fact that this book was written during WWII.

Popper was not only a philosopher but also a journalist. While working as a war reporter he started thinking how could Adolf Hitler and national-socialism happen at all.

Popper started writing Open society in order to analyze the history of political ideas and to find an answer to the question above. The whole book was written before the end of WWII.

But Soros never became a philosopher. Actually, he is the greatest philosopher among investors or the greatest investor among philosophers.

Instead, he entered the London merchant bank Singer & Friedlander.

Soros’s first investment

Soros graduated in 1952. Four years later he bought a ticket and sailed to America. He got a job at Wall Street brokerage “F.M. Mayer”.

At first, he worked as an analyst of European securities. Soros, being excellent educated and intelligent, rapidly made success.

He changed firms in the following years and finally decided to start his own business. In 1970 Soros founded his own hedge fund with $12 from investors. The first name was the Soros Fund Management but later he changed at Quantum Fund and the Quantum Fund Endowment.

The rest is history. George Soros became one of the most successful investors in the history of the US.

But we will give you more details because he is an extraordinary man.

He is one of the rare individuals whose example is worth to follow.

The man who broke the bank of England

George Soros grew to one of the most recognized currency traders, thanks to his brilliant bet placed against the Bank of England in 1992. He entered history.

That event is well-known as Black Wednesday.

His bet was that the British Pound price would fall in value.

But let’s start from the very beginning.

In that time, the early 1990s.

It’s essential to explain the political background of Europe at that time. Europe was in the middle of preparation for something today known as the European Union. Their first aim was to set a unique monetary system and monetary stability. They wanted to put Euro on the stage later. The money which will be unique to all member countries.

But, at that time Europe has a combination of different currencies inside the ERM (European Exchange Rate Mechanism). The monetary union was one of the first steps which led to the European Union.

Not all would like this. Some of the countries that geographically belongs to Europe never entered the Union because of domestic coins. They were assured that such a movement would have consequences for their countries economy.

There were a lot of debates inside their parliaments about that issue.

The British government wasn’t an exception.

George Soros was a big investor in that time. He had a lot of experience and success too.

Of course, he was well informed about all the news in the market and politics.

And what Soros did?

The economic conditions assure him that the best move on the market to build a short position on Pound Sterling. He was working on it up to September of 1992.

At that time the UK government noticed that the value of Pound Sterling is climbing down and they decided to reverse it from the ERM in order to keep their national currency value.

And that was a fantastic opportunity for investors like Soros. The great advantage.

Thanks to his short position in the currency trading Soros short sold more than $10 billion calculated in pounds.

Taking this move alone brought billions of dollars to Soros.

More details

The UK agreed to connect the British Pound to German Deutschmark.

The value of 2.78-pound sterling was equal to 3.13 Deutschmarks. But the UK was kicked by the economic recession.

The normal reaction would be to lower interest rates in order to support the national economy. But there is the trick.

Lower interest rates have a negative influence on the currency value, so they wouldn’t be able to maintain pound’s value against the Deutschmark.

The biggest dilemma was: should the UK government try to recover domestic economic growth or enter the ERM. They choose ERM.

The Bank of England made such a big mistake, it raised interest rates. At the same time, they started to use foreign currency reserves to buy the Pound.

That gesture opened the space for short selling. Investors, Soros first of all, recognized that the UK is in the middle of economic depression.

Over two years period, the U.K. proceeded to defend its currency. Those cost billions. They were building a house of cards actually.

In August 1992 the German Bundesbank got the idea that currencies in the ERM could be revalued.

The president of Bundesbank at that time was Helmut Schlesinger.

He was prepared to make a big move. He was ready for a devaluation.

The Bundesbank explored the possibility to set a new lower fixed rate with respect to a foreign reference currency.
That totally changed the risk/reward to a short Pound position.

The Pound would be weaker in any possible scenario. If pound didn’t devalue or if it did. Of course, if it declines it would be by large volume.

At that very moment, Soros told his top trader, “Go for the jugular.”

Soros’s fund, which was building several months, sold $10 billion

Soros’ fund sold $10 billion value of Pounds short.

The pressure on the Bank of England came from other investors. Everyone wanted to sell the pound.

Then the Bank of England made new mistakes.

First, they tried to raise interest rates by 2%. On first glance, it is a logical reaction that should lead to currencies appreciation. But this decision didn’t generate the Pound’s rally. Then they raised interest rates by 3% more on the same day. Well, they hit further selling Pounds.

Nothing helped. At the evening of the same day, about 7:30 the Bank of England stated that Britain would leave the ERM. That meant that the currency on the market. It was their last attempt to save the Pound.

But Pound promptly fell 15% against the Deutschmark and 25% against USD.

And the star was born. Soros become a trading legend. In the next five years, his net worth was $23 billion thanks a lot to this short selling.

The UK decision made Soros richer by more than a billion pounds.

And won the name “The man who broke the Bank of England”.

Black Wednesday is universally known as the day that George Soros broke the Bank of England and made over $1 billion.

George Soros and Philanthropy

George Soros began his philanthropic activity in 1979, and he established the Open Society Foundations in 1984.

“When I had made more money than I needed for myself and my family, I set up a foundation to promote the values and principles of a free and open society. ”

The scholarships given to black South Africans under apartheid 1979, was the beginning of Soros philanthropy.

During the 1980s, he supported the development of the open exchange of ideas in Communist Hungary. Soros was financing educational visits to the West and supporting other actions.

He founded the Central European University to encourage critical thinking after the Berlin Wall fell.

George Soros established the Open Society Foundations in 1984.

When the Cold War was over, he constantly spread his philanthropy to the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

“George Soros is the only American who rivals the great philanthropists of the 1890s, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Julius Rosenwald,” said Nelson Aldrich Jr., editor of The American Benefactor, in a 1996 New York Times profile of Soros.
He supported efforts to create more responsible, open, and democratic countries.

He criticized the war on drugs as “arguably more harmful than the drug problem itself,” and also, helped to start America’s medical marijuana movement.

Soros is a supporter of same-sex marriage efforts. The Open Society Foundations are against discrimination lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities. It promotes and defends human rights.

Soros supports autonomous groups and organizations such as Global Witness, the International Crisis Group, the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Since 1984 Soros gave to the different humanitarian organizations and through his foundations more than $30 billion of his fortune.

We have to say that thanks to Soros’s engagement, personal and through his organizations, many very important issues on the field of human rights are not only opened, but they are also solved or close to be. Whenever.

“I’m not doing my philanthropic work, out of any kind of guilt, or any need to create good public relations. I’m doing it because I can afford to do it, and I believe in it. ” – said, George Soros.

Don’t waste your money!
risk disclosure

1st May 2019
Does Intel Have Blues?

2 min read

The Big Blue’s quarterly earnings report is out, first after the appointment of new CEO, Bob Swan. Quarterly earnings for Q1 are slightly above the analysts’ expectations.

But the Intel is expecting 2019 yearly earnings to reach $69B, $2B below analysts’ projections. Also, Intel has announced the exit from the market for fifth-generation mobile phones modems, thus ceding that market to other competitors.

But not all is bad for Big Blue, as they have announced that the Sunny Cove 10-nanometer microarchitecture of processors will be launched by the end of this year, just three years later than it was originally planned.

With the news of the lower projected annual revenues came to the response from the markets and the Intel’s shares fell for around 9% from $57.61 on Thursday 25th April to $52.56. In following days that trend slowed down but continued and at the moment of this writing, Big Blues stocks are traded at $51.26.

With these price movements, Intel is certainly falling behind the rest of the S&P 500 tech companies, which have seen stock prices growing 24% on average over the previous year.

With that being said, the question is whether the Intel is in trouble and why?

The answer to that question is both yes and no, and the earnings report gives some clues. Intel’s main market is for the individual buyers of PC central processing units, and this is a market where the Big Blue dominates with 77% of all sales.

Many market analysts were warning for years now that this market is struggling and the sales numbers from Intel do agree.

Sales of the desktop and notebook CPUs are down 8% and 7% compared to Q1 2018 respectively.

But the average selling price (ASP) is up by 7% for desktop and 13% for notebook processors. Thus the Intel’s Client Computing Group has reported 4% growth of revenue compared to Q1 2018, and its $8.6B makes more than half of the Q1 2019 revenue.

Will this trend of growing ASP continue it is too early to say. But what is certain is that Intel will in coming months launch a new generation of CPUs. Manufactured on the much-maligned 10nm node, announced more than four years ago when the current 14nm node was launched, and just six months ago being dismissed as vaporware by some industry analytics, the code-named Sunny Cove is not promising sunny days for Intel.

Is the change of production node solution for Intel

The change of production node and decrease of the size of printed circuits of the CPU is supposed to bring much higher energy efficiency of the CPUs. But this decrease in size creates some serious production issues.

Namely, the smaller the printed circuits and gaps between various elements of them are the higher are chances for errors during manufacturing. And for the past three years, Intel was working on fixing these issues and increasing the yield of usable chips they produce.

According to some sources, Big Blue can be anything but happy with the yields at the moment. So, as it stands at the moment, Sunny Cove will be too little too late. And to add insult to injury even in this troubling PC market Intel is having problems to satisfy the demand from consumers for their CPUs as the yields of current 14nm generation are nothing to write home about.

Datacenter revenue is down 6%, compared to Q1 2018, to $4.9B, but this is to be expected as the data center and client computing are competitors to each other, especially in the sector of the enterprise and government buyers.

Big institutional buyers usually have to make a choice of either procuring large numbers of desktops or upgrading their data center capacities, and no one has expected that those two sectors continue growing together forever. Cloud computing revenue is up by 5% compared to Q1 2018, but that is too little to offset the decline of the enterprise revenues.

Though the Intel is absolute market share leader in their most important segment, desktop and notebook CPUs, 2019 is not looking rosy for the Big Blue.

Intel’s main competitor AMD has made huge strides

Their main competitor AMD has made huge strides in regaining the ground they have lost in the previous decade. At the moment they are offering products which have comparable performances but carry considerably lower price tag than Intel’s offering, especially in the high-end niche which has the highest profit margins.

Also, the recent announcements state that AMD is aiming for the launch of their 7nm Zen 2 architecture in mid-2019. AMD’s jump from 14nm to the 7nm production process, while skipping the 10nm step, promises 15% increase of performance and a 30% decrease of energy consumption. And this blow from AMD is going to shake the Intel much worse than the scandal surrounding fake demo CPUs at Computex 2018.

The accountants and suits at the Big Blue know that AMD’s Zen 2 is more than competitive to anything they have in offer, and thus they are projecting lower annual revenues for 2019 than the analysts.

Don’t waste your money!

risk disclosure

30th April 2019
Warren Buffett – Oracle of Omaha

4 min read

Warren Edward Buffett is his full name. Buffett was born on August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska.

His father was a stockbroker and a U.S. congressman.

Mother was a housewife.

Among their three children, Warren was the middle one and the only boy.

From his early days, it was obvious that he is extraordinary, unusual and ingenious.

When he was 13, Buffett was managing his own jobs as a paperboy. Also, he was retailing his own horse-racing tip sheet. And he did it very well because in the same year he filed his first tax return.

Oh, yes! A brilliant mind declared his bike as a $35 tax reduction.

Buffett studied Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington, D.C. And shaped ideas on how to make money. With a friend, he bought a second-hand pinball machine for $25 while attending high school.

In a few months, the profits provided them to buy more pinballs. Buffett controlled pinballs in three separated places in one moment. After some time he sold this business for $1,200.

Have you ever see such a demonstration of talent for financial and business affairs early in someone’s teens?

Wait! There is more!

Warren Buffett was a mathematical genius.

He had the ability to keep large columns of numbers in his head and repeat them by heart.

This talent he demonstrated sometimes later just to impress the audience. There was no other reason because he already had great success behind.

Warren liked to attend father’s stock brokerage shop when he was a child. The main reason was the game he played, chalking the stock prices on the blackboard in the office.

When he was 12 he made his first investment.

Buffett bought just three shares of Cities Service Preferred. He paid $38.25 each. Warren had saved $120 and he registered his sister as a partner to buy three shares.

The stock soon fell to $27.

While the majority wanted to sell them as fast as it was possible, Buffett held them until they went up and reached $40.

Then he sold them, making a $5 profit. And it was his first investing mistake because they exploded to nearly $202 per share.
He regretted his judgment so much that later when he became a famous investor, he noticed this occasion as one of the first and most important lessons about patience in investing.

He was really shocked. Warren saw that he and his sister would have a profit of almost $500 if he held shares a bit longer.
But he learned the lesson, and it is more important than $500.

His whole life was a demonstration of that knowledge.

In Columbia University he learned and finally formed his investment philosophy – value investing. It is based on a concept established by Benjamin Graham.

Buffett attended New York Institute of Finance to shape his economics education.

Soon after that, he began numerous business partnerships. One with Benjamin Graham.

Warren Buffett’s companies

Acquaintance with Charlie Munger brought the Buffett Partnership. This company acquired a textile manufacturing firm, Berkshire Hathaway.

Soon after, this led to a diversified holding company with the same name.

Let story to be told.

In 1956 Buffet established the “Buffett Partnership Ltd” in Omaha.

He was mastering in recognizing undervalued companies thanks to methods learned from Benjamin Graham.
He was so successful! Of course, he became a millionaire.

One of the undervaluing companies was Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett started buying its stocks from the 1960s, and in four or five years he had seized control of Berkshire Hathaway.

The Buffett Partnership was a successful company. But despite that, Buffett melted the firm in 1969. He was focused on the expansion of Berkshire Hathaway.

What did he do?

He dismissed the textile manufacturing sector. He was developing the company by purchasing assets in media, insurance, and fuel.

In short, Buffet bought The Washington Post, GEICO and Exxon.

An incredibly successful person got the nickname “Oracle of Omaha”.

The “Oracle of Omaha” even succeeded to turn obviously poor investments into treasure.

Let us tell you this story. Incredible one.

On the early 90s was revealed that traders in Salomon, bond trading firm, were setting incorrect Treasury bond bids to avoid trading rules.

Mike Basham, US Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary, heard that Salomon trader Paul Mozer had been submitting false bids. He tried to purchase more Treasury bonds than allowed by one buyer during the period between December 1990 and May 1991.

Earlier, Berkshire Hathaway became its biggest sharer, and Warren Buffett became its manager.

Actually, Warren Buffett was temporary Chairman of the Board in 1991 and 1992, after the firm’s emergency takeover by Warren Buffett and integration into Citigroup.

Salomon Brothers was a Wall Street stronghold for most of the last century. But the firm fell from love after it was revealed that it is involved in a series of scandals.

The Salomon scandal dried off one-third of Buffett’s investment.

Buffett decided to take the controls of the company for a period of nine months.

Everyone thought that it was a bad investment for Buffett.

But the ”Oracle of Omaha” not even one moment hesitated to take the thing in his hands.

He started firing employees involved in the scandal with cold blood.

Warren Buffet managed to restore the firm and the recovered firm was sold off to Travelers Companies Inc

And Buffett earned an impressive profit. He doubled his investment.

So, the “Oracle of Omaha” even succeeded to turn obviously poor investments into treasure.

You can find more details in the book “Nightmare on Wall Street.”

Buffett began buying stocks in the Coca-Cola Company in 1988 which resulted in 7% of the company for $1.02 billion.
It was one of Berkshire’s best investments.

Buffett was the director of the company from 1989 until 2006. And also, he was the director of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings, Graham Holdings Company, and The Gillette Company.

Buffett’s work even earned him a glamorous venture into the movie business. Oliver Stone’s film, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” added cameos by Warren Buffett and short-seller James Chanos.

Also, he appeared in “The Billionaires’ Pledge” and “The Berkshire Apprentice”.

HBO also created a documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett,” two years ago.

The documentary is mostly narrated by Buffett and includes interviews with people close to him. For example, his sisters, children, his business partner Charlie Munger, and Bill Gates.

Warren Buffett is the subject of the bestseller “The Snowball”.

The full name is “The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life”.

The Snowball was Amazon.com’s best business and investing book of 2008. Time Magazine, People Magazine, and critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times named it one of ten best books of the year.

He is a philanthropist too.

In June 2006, Buffett announced that he would give his entire fortune away to charity. His donation is one of the largest in US history. His contribution makes 85% of the total of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But Warren Buffett is political active too.

Can you understand why this is so important?

Buffett has so much money that can live isolated from the rest of the world.

But he is not selfish.

This guy who is every year ranked near the top of the Forbes world billionaires list was a vocal supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Three years ago Buffett launched Drive2Vote, a website aimed at encouraging citizens in Nebraska to use their right to vote.
Also to assist in registering and driving voters if they needed a ride.

The bottom line

Over his 54-year ownership of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has produced 20.5% annual returns for shareholders.

If someone put $1,000 investment in Berkshire when Buffett took the controls, today such would have $24.7 million.

The Oracle of Omaha wrote in his newest annual shareholder message in February this year that he’s wanting to make an

“elephant” of a deal, in order to help Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio fly higher.

The legend among investors Warren Buffett is still working, every day at his 89.

And for the end of this story about Warren Buffett, here is one of his marvelous quotes:

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

So, readers, when you become rich, think about others and follow the example of the best.
Anyone can do it.

Think you know where are the markets gonna go?
risk disclosure

29th April 2019