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Proud To Be D-Bags

Posted on May 22, 2013

Today was a good day. We learned of a quick article that labeled our website as the douchest finance blog of the year. We couldn’t be prouder. Think about it like this, the more haters you have the better you’re doing and in addition who doesn’t want to be a D-Bag? Seriously lets take a look. Don’t Be a D-Bag… Why? According to average people being a D-bag is a bad thing. Maybe they are dead wrong and are just a bunch of losers? Lets take a glance at the photo below, would you want to be a D-Bag? Lets see there is a good 5:1 cute chick to D-bag ratio. Or we can be an average guy, marry a 6 who gains 100 lbs in a year post marriage and then watch her pop

Basic Guide to Valuation and Metrics By Sector

Posted on May 21, 2013

Over on WallStreetOasis one of our writers loaded up a decent guide on valuation by sectors and metrics that should be tracked. Here it is. Lets just jump in. Technology: In this space there are really two metrics that matter the most, sales growth and EPS growth. EV/Sales will be used if you are thinking about investing in growth companies (IPO valuations). To keep the post short if you’re investing in large tech it is more about EV/EBITDA (cash flow) and P/E’s, if you’re investing in growth stocks it is more about year over year sales growth and EPS growth since many do not have positive earnings. Metrics Basis: IT spend will help tech companies, GDP is usually a driver for IT spend, changes in products impact margins (software has higher margins for example) also you should track the cost of items going into each tech product (example: if the

Become A Minimalist Don’t Be Frugal

Posted on May 17, 2013

People often confuse the term minimalist with frugality, they are not the same. The difference between the two is relatively simply a minimalist chooses what he spends his money on while a frugal man is forced to live his current lifestyle. When it comes to life it is best to make efficient choices all the way down to where you stand in a bar to what kind of clothes you buy. Don’t let this be you. Unless you are rich you should begin with the following question “how can I efficiently maximize my results” that is how a minimalist thinks. As a quick example if you are a deca millionaire you are free to blow money on whatever you like all day long. We’re not losers that hate on the rich so you can spend your cash in any way you like. If however, you are making a measly $75K

Top 8 Losers You Will Meet In Real Life

Posted on May 15, 2013

If you want to succeed in life you need to choose a good group of people to be part of your circle of friends (not friendzszs). Sometimes it is useful to know what kind of characters you should be avoiding so here are the most common losers you’ll meet. 1) Poor Me: Generally, you should take advice from people who had it harder than you growing up. Don’t worry this loser always had it harder than everyone else growing up in the dangerous suburb of the Hamptons. No matter what there is something everyone else has that explains why he is so unsuccessful. Women? If only he was 5’10” instead of 5’9” tall. Money? If his mom would just sleep with the admissions officer at Harvard instead of Yale he’d be set. So remember to feel sorry for him, he still doesn’t realize no one cares about him. “Poor me.

Five Life Truths No One Has The Guts To Tell You

Posted on May 14, 2013

When you are young or even old, you’re told a bunch of lies. Lets fix this. 1. Money Buys Happiness: It does. You only hear about the wealthy people who get sucked into lifestyle inflation and locked down in multiple divorces. The rest? Couldn’t be happier. Once you realize that money can save your life through advancements in medical procedures and that is buys you time and freedom you will never waste a penny again. That useless car or iPhone isn’t why money buys you happiness it is the freedom and long-term health benefits. Stress free, cortisol decreases, testosterone increases, healthier food, a better sex life, more time. No contest. Don’t believe the lies you’re being told. 2. Your Family Doesn’t Matter: The harsh truth. Most people have poor fathers and mothers due to our defunct society. A friend of mine over at D&P has a similar life experience, our

Hacking Your 401K

Posted on May 13, 2013

A few questions have come in more tailored to personal finance and one item that keeps coming up is 401K distributions and contributions. This blog does not advocate usual advice which is to “max out and wait” because this likely limits your mobility, your assets are tied up in taxable income and of course if you’re still worried about income at 60 you’ve chosen the wrong career. Here is a good guide for someone who is going to join the work force and wants to maximize his liquidity. Year 1: The thing about jobs after college is this… You’re only working half of the year. This means you have minimal taxes because bonuses are generally not paid until January and even if they are paid in December you’re not getting a full year, it’s just a stub payment. So if you’re starting in June/July here’s a non-conventional move… Max out

No One Cares About You

Posted on May 12, 2013

You walk into a bar or a club. No one notices you. You walk around drunk in the middle of the day. No one bothers to stop you. You lose your job. No one searches for a new position for you. You lose a family member. The most you’ll get is the obligatory “I’m so sorry to hear that”. You get into a car accident. In a few days you’re that guy who got hurt last week. Last week turns into last year and you’re forgotten. What is the point? The point is no one can help you as much as you can. There are no hand outs in life and you should lose the belief that anyone should care about you in the first place. Why should anyone care about your life if it doesn’t positively impact theirs? They shouldn’t. It is your job to become a real friend to

Flying Private and I Like It

Posted on May 10, 2013

5:57am: Have slept on a plane two days in a row. Waking up three minutes before the clock. Tired but wired. 6:15am: Shower. Shaved. Dressed. No time to waste have to make my time count. Take a thirty minute walk, pacing, practicing the material for the full day in my head. This is the last practice run. It’s time to perform or be taken down a peg. Luckily the first meeting is a warm up. 7:15am: Head out the door, food on the go, jump in a car and we’re on our way. 7:45am: If you’re early you’re on time. If you’re on time you’re late and if you’re late you’re dead. Good timing as emails flow through that need responses before the jump at 8. 8:00am: Cold meeting, no one reads those presentations anyway, we chat and triangulate future needs. Feels like a solid future relationship, unfortunately introductions mean nothing without

Apple Bottoms Up

Posted on May 6, 2013

Apple Revised While we cannot give specific stock advice you can run through the numbers laid out here and get an idea of how to think about an investment in Apple. There are only two key points to look at when you consider investing in Apple. Product Sales and Margins. While the current spotlight stands on capital allocation policy ($3.05 quarterly dividend and $60B repurchase authorization) at the end of the day what matters for the Company is its long-term revenue and earnings growth. Product Sales: Simply put, are Apple products becoming commoditized? Blackberry and Nokia have suffered similar fates where growth degrades as the product becomes similar across all brands. In addition, if the products are similar, the only thing that matters would is cost. To simplify the question, are Apple products still differentiated? If you believe so this is a positive if you believe that it is not

The Only Ways to Eliminate Fear

Posted on April 29, 2013

It has recently come to mind that there are only a handful of ways to eliminate fear from your mind. 1) Continuous Failure, 2) Abundance, 3) Acts of desperation and 4) Honesty. There is no other solution to solving the traps you’ve placed in your mind. 1) Continuous Failure: This is likely the solution for most readers of this blog. You grew up middle or upper-middle class and have a structured thought process. That process is making you unsuccessful. You use a probability statement of sorts if I do X it will likely lead to Y. This is a great tactic for protection but much like everything else in life great rewards come from risk taking and low probability events. Instead of spending the vast majority of your time creating a map that will increase probability, why not fail until that probability becomes inevitable? Sure that 50/50 shot of making