By:
On:
In: Around the web
Tagged: , , , ,
With: 0 Comments

Whether through its Apple Pay mobile wallet or a new, person-to-person payments network reportedly in the works, Apple [stckqut]AAPL[/stckqut] wants to be at the center of consumers’ financial lives in the same way it has changed the way people communicate, listen to music and, if other ventures are successful, watch TV and even drive. Given Apple’s track record of disruption, the company’s plans could put the traditional financial services industry on the defensive.

The gadget maker is said to be in talks with several major banks to launch a personal payments service that would allow, say, friends to split a check or emigrants to send money back home via their iPhones. It would compete with existing services like Square, Android Pay or Venmo, which is operated by PayPal [stckqut]PYPL[/stckqut]. PayPal has seen its share price tumble since reports about Apple’s initiative emerged.

The Wall Street Journal said that Apple may launch the venture in partnership with JPMorgan Chase [stckqut]JPM[/stckqut], Capital One Financial Corp. [stckqut]COF[/stckqut], Wells Fargo [stckqut]WFC[/stckqut] and U.S. Bancorp [stckqut]USB[/stckqut].

The service could be a boon for those financial institutions in the short term. Although they would have to cede a portion of so-called interchange fees to Apple, likely about 15 percent, they could make up the difference in volume if an Apple-branded service encourages a spike in electronic payments. But longer term, market watchers say, the banks risk becoming an anonymous transaction engine rather than the all-encompassing service providers that currently play a central role in consumers’ financial lives.

Source: Apple Inc. Wants To Be Your Bank, And The Big Banks Should Be Worried

By:
On:
In: Commentary
With: 0 Comments

While budgeting is hard for many parents, it might actually be easier for teens. There are fewer spending categories to monitor and smaller sums of money to account for from a summer job, allowances and other sources.

The way to start the process is to record expenses. Keep a journal for one or two months of everything you buy, down to the penny. That means tracking not only gas in the tank but also the iced coffees and vending machine chips. Everything.

At the same time, record in a separate column the amount of money you’re bringing in from a paycheck (after taxes and other payroll deductions, of course), an allowance, birthday gift money and such.

Once you have numbers to work with, sort the information into at least four main categories:

  1. Savings – make sure the teen is saving at least 10% of after-tax income. You need to start this habit as early in life as possible.
  2. Required expenses – car insurance or gas could fall into required expenses and some will include church donations.
  3. Discretionary expenses
  4. Future expenses but don’t allow this to the “savings” category. It is for a big purchase that is over 6 months away (such as college).

Keep the following points in mind as you guide them.

  • Decide what’s important. Do you really need the polo shirt, the fitted baseball cap or the video game? Or are those wants?
  • Set goals. Kids need something concrete to work toward. Whether it’s a car, college or soccer shoes, teens will be more motivated to watch their dollars if there’s a reward at the end of the process. Remind your kids that saving for a rainy day is alive and well.
  • Be flexible. Allowing some discretionary spending — even an occasional $5 latte — can do wonders for a teen’s frame of mind. Just account for the luxury in the budget so it doesn’t become a “budget leak,” she said.
  • Be creative. Especially for teens living at home, never overlook the barter system. For example, trade lawn work or preparing a family dinner for gas money.

You may also need to have the painful talk that the teenager should do as you say but not as you do if your own budgeting skills are not well developed.

Source: Budgeting can help teens control their spending impulses | The Kansas City Star

By:
On:
In: Weekly Portfolio Gain
With: 0 Comments

One of the biggest challenges in investing in the stock market is picking the best stocks. In my book, “The Confident Investor” I teach my readers how to pick Good Companies. This page is designed to show the raw performance of these companies. It is not designed to show my personal portfolio, which may or may not exceed the performance stated here. Since I use the trading system described in my book, you can assume that I beat the performance recorded here.

I have created three tables below. The first table is the general market – NASDAQ and S&P500. Every investor should try to beat the average of these to indexes. In this report, my larger Watch List beats this metric easily.

I must caution you, I do not actually propose that you “buy and hold” any given stock, but rather you should “buy to hold” the stock. My investing technique teaches you to efficiently move your money to the stocks that are currently increasing in value the most. I use my Watch List for this work, these are Good Companies that I wait for great buying opportunities. This strategy is well described in my book, “The Confident Investor” and tends to be a very safe strategy in bear markets while typically still providing above market returns in a bull or flat market.

My Short Term Watch List are 15 companies that are hot right now. I select this list every quarter. I evenly divide a portion of my portfolio among these 15 companies. The next quarter, I add or delete companies as necessary and then re-balance the portfolio. This tends to be a more risky strategy because I don’t bail out on bad stock movement (at least until the end of the quarter). In a bull market or a flat market, these very well-run and high-performing companies tend to beat the general market by a significant margin.

BL-TCI-coverYou can purchase my book wherever books are sold such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books A Million. It is available in paperback as well as e-book formats for Nook, Kindle, and iPad.

Stock Indexes Performance

1 week ago 1 month ago 1 quarter ago 1 year ago
Index Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit
^GSPC $2,099.20 -3.63% $2,023.86 -0.04% $2,091.54 -3.28% $2,039.82 -0.82%
^IXIC $5,147.12 -4.26% $4,870.10 1.19% $5,048.24 -2.38% $4,688.54 5.10%

Week average for Indexes: -3.94%
Month average for Indexes: 0.57%
Quarter average for Indexes: -2.83%
Year average for Indexes: 2.14%

Watch List Performance

1 week ago 1 month ago 1 quarter ago 1 year ago
Stock Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit
AAPL $121.06 -7.20% $111.38 0.86% $115.47 -2.71% $112.27 0.06%
ABMD $81.09 -1.20% $92.83 -13.69% $103.92 -22.90% $33.25 140.96%
ADS $297.95 -3.89% $278.18 2.94% $273.78 4.59% $285.46 0.31%
AKAM $62.38 -6.11% $71.56 -18.15% $73.37 -20.17% $62.93 -6.93%
ALXN $172.15 -3.32% $161.07 3.33% $186.58 -10.79% $188.76 -11.82%
AZPN $42.50 -3.39% $41.17 -0.27% $37.76 8.74% $37.79 8.65%
BCPC $65.02 -3.55% $66.89 -6.25% $60.40 3.82% $64.56 -2.86%
BLK $356.70 -3.77% $325.63 5.41% $325.84 5.34% $339.34 1.15%
BWLD $152.47 -1.85% $185.91 -19.50% $195.84 -23.59% $162.67 -8.00%
CBI $44.20 -4.62% $44.68 -5.64% $51.70 -18.45% $53.85 -21.70%
CBPO $114.99 -1.60% $100.81 12.24% $109.63 3.21% $66.60 69.89%
CERN $60.17 -6.02% $64.50 -12.33% $64.25 -11.98% $64.31 -12.07%
CFX $29.07 -9.22% $27.61 -4.42% $39.43 -33.07% $53.30 -50.49%
CMI $106.48 -7.33% $109.16 -9.61% $127.07 -22.35% $141.59 -30.31%
COF $81.42 -5.47% $74.15 3.80% $80.87 -4.82% $80.24 -4.08%
CRUS $32.17 -10.10% $30.59 -5.46% $29.35 -1.47% $19.15 51.02%
DDD $10.18 -14.05% $12.88 -32.07% $13.58 -35.57% $34.07 -74.32%
DECK $55.19 -14.26% $59.48 -20.44% $70.14 -32.53% $91.79 -48.45%
EOG $85.27 -3.54% $87.14 -5.61% $79.77 3.11% $97.41 -15.56%
EXR $77.51 1.75% $77.24 2.11% $77.81 1.37% $55.96 40.93%
FB $107.10 -2.94% $95.96 8.33% $94.42 10.09% $74.88 38.82%
FOSL $55.12 -41.24% $55.25 -41.38% $61.41 -47.26% $108.32 -70.10%
GOOG $733.76 -2.28% $661.74 8.35% $657.12 9.11% $544.40 31.70%
GPOR $30.33 -3.36% $35.56 -17.58% $35.97 -18.52% $52.56 -44.24%
GTN $17.00 -2.71% $14.80 11.76% $14.40 14.86% $10.11 63.60%
GWR $69.86 -2.68% $66.75 1.86% $74.26 -8.44% $99.43 -31.62%
HOG $49.16 -3.30% $54.97 -13.52% $58.89 -19.28% $67.04 -29.08%
HP $58.26 -6.98% $57.87 -6.36% $57.57 -5.88% $75.72 -28.43%
JAH $48.30 -5.55% $49.85 -8.49% $54.79 -16.74% $44.54 2.42%
JPM $68.46 -4.24% $61.89 5.93% $67.40 -2.74% $58.69 11.71%
LULU $51.06 -11.77% $52.52 -14.22% $65.17 -30.87% $44.99 0.13%
LVS $49.78 -8.22% $49.46 -7.62% $51.70 -11.62% $60.59 -24.59%
MCK $183.75 -2.10% $193.75 -7.15% $214.98 -16.32% $204.30 -11.95%
MEI $35.61 -6.35% $33.75 -1.19% $26.94 23.80% $38.50 -13.37%
MET $51.69 -3.48% $48.05 3.84% $54.36 -8.22% $53.00 -5.87%
MIDD $119.42 -11.61% $116.07 -9.06% $120.33 -12.28% $93.70 12.65%
MNST $150.24 -2.34% $130.56 12.39% $150.40 -2.44% $107.92 35.96%
MRK $54.61 -2.89% $50.72 4.55% $58.67 -9.62% $57.22 -7.33%
NFLX $114.06 -9.13% $101.09 2.53% $123.39 -16.00% $55.15 87.95%
PCLN $1,449.90 -10.49% $1,327.29 -2.23% $1,283.80 1.09% $1,172.96 10.64%
REGN $562.00 -2.33% $519.35 5.69% $576.30 -4.75% $395.20 38.89%
RGLD $35.51 3.27% $52.79 -30.54% $52.86 -30.63% $66.87 -45.16%
SAM $210.00 -3.86% $235.04 -14.10% $236.55 -14.65% $262.80 -23.17%
SBUX $61.77 -3.29% $59.50 0.41% $56.92 4.96% $38.56 54.92%
STZ $132.11 0.07% $134.62 -1.79% $127.71 3.51% $92.19 43.41%
SWKS $85.99 -12.98% $80.24 -6.74% $89.10 -16.02% $62.44 19.84%
THRM $47.95 -3.86% $48.31 -4.57% $48.66 -5.26% $40.43 14.02%
TMO $134.30 -1.47% $125.47 5.47% $134.85 -1.87% $118.19 11.96%
TRN $27.44 -6.96% $27.70 -7.83% $28.28 -9.74% $34.78 -26.60%
UA $96.01 -8.94% $99.49 -12.12% $100.25 -12.79% $69.15 26.44%
ULTA $172.64 -10.10% $161.06 -3.64% $171.04 -9.26% $123.75 25.41%

Week average for Watch List stocks: -5.94% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 50.56%
Month average for Watch List stocks: -5.13% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: -995.87%
Quarter average for Watch List stocks: -9.29% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 228.44%
Year average for Watch List stocks: 3.83% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 78.91%

Short Term Watch List

1 week ago 1 month ago 1 quarter ago 1 year ago
Stock Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit % Close Profit
ABMD $81.09 -1.20% $92.83 -13.69% $103.92 -22.90% $33.25 140.96%
BWLD $152.47 -1.85% $185.91 -19.50% $195.84 -23.59% $162.67 -8.00%
CBPO $114.99 -1.60% $100.81 12.24% $109.63 3.21% $66.60 69.89%
EXR $77.51 1.75% $77.24 2.11% $77.81 1.37% $55.96 40.93%
FB $107.10 -2.94% $95.96 8.33% $94.42 10.09% $74.88 38.82%
GTN $17.00 -2.71% $14.80 11.76% $14.40 14.86% $10.11 63.60%
MIDD $119.42 -11.61% $116.07 -9.06% $120.33 -12.28% $93.70 12.65%
MNST $150.24 -2.34% $130.56 12.39% $150.40 -2.44% $107.92 35.96%
NFLX $114.06 -9.13% $101.09 2.53% $123.39 -16.00% $55.15 87.95%
REGN $562.00 -2.33% $519.35 5.69% $576.30 -4.75% $395.20 38.89%
SBUX $61.77 -3.29% $59.50 0.41% $56.92 4.96% $38.56 54.92%
STZ $132.11 0.07% $134.62 -1.79% $127.71 3.51% $92.19 43.41%
SWKS $85.99 -12.98% $80.24 -6.74% $89.10 -16.02% $62.44 19.84%
THRM $47.95 -3.86% $48.31 -4.57% $48.66 -5.26% $40.43 14.02%
UA $96.01 -8.94% $99.49 -12.12% $100.25 -12.79% $69.15 26.44%

Week average for Short Term Watch List stocks: -4.20% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 6.39%
Month average for Short Term Watch List stocks: -0.80% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: -240.13%
Quarter average for Short Term Watch List stocks: -5.20% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 83.82%
Year average for Short Term Watch List stocks: 45.35% and profit percentage increase over same period for average indexes is: 2018.17%

Total Execution Time: 63.024197101593 Sec

This information was calculated on Nov 15, 2015 and is based on the closing value of the most recent trading day which may not be today.
This information is based on the Yahoo Historical Pricing and is only as good or as current as that data.

By:
On:
In: Around the web
Tagged: , , , , , , ,
With: 0 Comments

Media companies have admitted they have a Netflix [stckqut]NFLX[/stckqut] problem. What isn’t clear yet is which one will be first to step forward with a solution.

Licensing content to Netflix and other streaming services such as Amazon.com’s [stckqut]AMZN[/stckqut] Prime Instant Video has become a fast-expanding, high-margin source of revenue for the biggest content owners, including Walt Disney [stckqut]DIS[/stckqut], Time Warner [stckqut]TWX[/stckqut], 21st Century Fox [stckqut]FOX[/stckqut], CBS [stckqut]CBS[/stckqut], Viacom [stckqut]VIA[/stckqut], Discovery Communications [stckqut]DISCK[/stckqut] and AMC Networks [stckqut]AMCX[/stckqut]. But it is clear the presence of their shows on these platforms is hurting traditional TV ratings, which drive ad revenue, and making it easier for pay-TV subscribers to quit.

While pulling content from Netflix may be the right thing to do for media companies, the situation poses a classic prisoner’s dilemma: Who will be first to forgo short-term profits for the good of the industry?

Time Warner suggested recently it may be a candidate, if only because it didn’t appear to be shying away from short-term pain. Its stock took a hit after the company lowered its outlook for 2016. It is also investing more aggressively in content, technology and the consumer experience to help better position it for the future.

Source: The Netflix Problem: Which Media Company Will Solve It?