Pfizer justifies child deaths

This reads like a scene out of a movie.

Pfizer has been accused of conducting improper drugs trials on children. About 200 kids in Nigeria's north-western Kano State took part in trials for an anti-meningitis drug in 1996. Officials in Kano say more than 50 children died in the experiment, while many others developed mental and physical deformities. Pfizer says only 11 of the 200 children in the drug trial died. The Nigerian government's expert medical panel concluded that the experiment was "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug" and a "clear case of exploitation of the ignorant". (The original articl can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6241322.stm)

Its pretty twisted when a global pharmaceutical firm does this kind of stuff. Aren't these folks supposed to be about protecting life, not destroying it? Are Pfizer shareholders really that greedy that they would be willing to look the other way to justify an additional couple of percentage points growth? This devaluing of life is sickening to witness. With all the advances in technology, medicine, and living standards, are we really moving forward? Or are we giving up our humanity with each new scientific achievement?

Making Money Online

Its interesting how easy it is to make a few bucks selling stuff online. For example, I setup an eBay store a couple of months ago. You can check out my eBay store, (stores.ebay.ca/Bamboo6-Kids) here. I've actually been making a few sales. nothing that's going to make me quit my day job, mind you, but still reassuring and produces a bit of pocket change. What I've found though is that it takes a hell of a lot of time to setup the product and process the sale. That's what happens when you setup your store on the cheap rather than paying the professionals. But - even though its time consuming, keep in mind, its easy!

That said, a colleague of mine has done it in a much more professional, and much more structured manner. Their site, ochanga.com is beautifully done, their product is premium, and the business model is very low maintenance. Drop shipped product, virtual office, standardized imagery from the product manufacturers. Excellent.

One key difference between the two is type of committment. My colleague has willingly invested the time in preparing a strong business model, the seed capital necessary to structure their business properly, and designed an excellent storefront to showcase their wares. Much different from my simple approach of selling through eBay. If you are willing to invest the time and money, and have a good product idea, then I think the ochanga.com model is an excellent one to follow.

Depending on your tax bracket and the profitability of your business, a home based business may be an interesting side venture, considering the tax benefits that such a venture allows you to realize.

Thanks Man

So I brought the SVP of finance a version of my work, walked him through it, noted the changes he wanted made, made a small joke that made him laugh, then walked away to words which pissed me off to no end. "Thanks Man".

Now maybe I'm reading too much into things, but as a minority working his way up the corporate ladder, hearing that makes me think that the person I am speaking to is acutely aware of me not as a colleague, but as a Black colleague. It further suggests to me that when I am considered for a promotion, I'll be viewed through that lens. So much for "judge me not by the colour of my skin but by the content of my character " (MLK). Am I reading too much into things? Let me know what you think.

John Hillery on Value Investing

The 6 February 2007 Globe and Mail carried an article on John Hillery, owner and money manager of the Hillery & Associates LP hedge fund. I found the article interesting because of Hillary's strong focus on value investing principles, and how his focus on those principles led to strong returns(11.3-per-cent CAGR over the past five years, vs the average U.S. equity fund, which lost 0.3 per cent). The interesting thing about Hillary is that he accomplished these returns during periods of market downturn. When the S&P 500 lost 13 per cent in 2001, Mr. Hillery made 25.1 per cent. When the S&P lost 23.4 per cent in 2002, Mr. Hillery made 3 per cent.
Hillery is a strict value investor who insists on buying stocks at big discounts to what he believes to be their true worth, and he won't buy just for the sake of keeping his fund's assets from sitting idle in cash.
This article sat in draft in my blog for some time. Long enough for me to witness the end of the prolonged bull run that markets were on as a result of the sub-prime and asset backed commercial paper scares.
So now what? Well, it sure is an interesting time to consider buying opportunities if you've got the free cash lying around.

Excel India Trust starts trading today

Excel India Trust announced that it has completed an initial public offering of 4.5 million units of the trust at a price of $10 per unit, yielding gross proceeds of $45 million. The units began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today under the symbol EXI.UN.

The trust has been designed to provide investors with the exposure of equity securities of Indian companies. It uses an efficient tax structure designed to minimize Indian withholding taxes on capital gains and avoid certain investment restrictions that would otherwise apply to foreign investors investing in India. The Trust's investment objectives are: to provide holders of units with quarterly distributions (initially targeted to be 12.5¢ a unit per quarter or 5% per year based on the offering price of $10 a unit); and long-term capital appreciation.

It seems like an interesting play for those who want to invest in India, but don't have the expertise / information / $ to make direct investmetn in Indian corporations feasible. I know I'll be taking a closer look.

Thoughts on Self Actualization

This blog entry is a personalized summary of an article at Performance Unlimited.

According to Maslow, Self Actualization refers to the desire for achieving what you've got the potential to achieve. Maslow goes on to identify some characteristics of Self Actualizing people, such as Realistic, Detached, Self Accepting, Spontaneous, unconventional, autonomously ethical, and motivated to continual growth. (Holy run on sentence, batman!)

The key takeaway that Maslow says defines an SA person is that the person has a mission in life requiring much energy, as it is his sole reason for existence.

One reason for living? Come on now. I think Maslow is full of shit. There are some merits to that perspective, but who in their right mind lives for only one thing? The thing I live for most is taking care of my family, but I wouldn't say its the only thing I live for.

What Maslow lays out seem to be a set of rules for people to live by and their achieve goals, but its a stretch to say that someone who achieves their potential is Self Actualizing or has all of these traits.

If SA is really a goal based set of rules to live by, then I'll agree with one thing; Maslow says there are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. The deeper the self exploration, the closer one comes to self-actualization. Sort of along the lines of "know thyself".

Time Management

So I am standing here in Tim Horton's after having missed the train yet again, and it occurs to me that the key to success has got to be time management. I mean, there are other things that can be considered key, like motivation, aptitude, awareness etc. (I mulled over intellect for a little while, but its not really critical to success). But the real key, is time management.
Proper time management let's me to allocate enough time to work, maximizes time with family, gives me enough time to exercise, and would allow me to act faster on one of my business ideas. At least, I think time management would let me do these things. Let's imagine that a day is all the money I have, budget it, and see if I have enough time.
Budget - $24
------------
Sleep. - $6
Commute - $3
Work - $8
Family - $4
Exercise - $1
---------------
Total. - $22
Surplus. - $2

So that's good news! Now how would this work out in reality on a "good" average day? Let's see...
Wake up 5:30am
Catch 6:37am train
At work by 7:30am
Catch the 5:15pm train home.
Family time 6:30pm
Exercise / work on business 10:30pm
Sleep midnight (6 hours)
Hmmm..... Something's not adding up... The reality is that If you count the minutes from when I wake up til when I get home, its a total of 13 hours rather than the 11 implied in my above example, which basically kills any "spare" time that I have. The reality is also that I am spending (in my above example) ~9.5 hours at work rather than the 8 allocated in my "budget". So since I'm spending more time at work, my only two options are less time with family (not a preferred choice, I have two little kids!), or using some of my working time for personal business. I don't exactly think my employer would appreciate this, but as my hours extend beyond the typical day, does this give me the moral right to spend some of that time on my personal business (meaning more than the average bill pay and personal call that the average person does). What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Business Idea

I've thought about launching an online retail (etailing) business for some time. I've had a number of different ideas. Here are a few.

1. A premium site dedicated to selling high end chess sets, and variations of chess (e.g. the Japanese game of Go, Chinese chess, Korean chess, etc.) sourced from around the world, organized by country of origin. I was ridiculed for this idea, with detractors saying it would never work. Well lo and behold, there are tons of sites on the web that sell nothing but chess sets. I still like the idea, though, and may still do this.

2. A premium site dedicated to selling art (canvas, sculpture, carvings), ethnic delicacies, and novelty items from around the world. I'd differentiate the site through service, quality of product, and by providing information about the cultures of each country, the character of the land, and the symbolism of each product, to help people gain better perspective behind what they are buying.

3. A robust version of blackpages.com for the Canadian space.

For now I will focus on another opportunity though, but may come back to one of these in some way.

Starbucks Cookies, ECA and the 407 ETR

This paragraph is a 407 ETR rant. If not interested, please skip to paragraph 2. Just got off the phone with Christine from the 407. I can't remember having worse multiple customer service experiences than I have with this one. I swear, they must hire based on incompetence. I can see the job requirements now: "Are you useless, conceited, and looking for a job where the ultimate in job satisfaction is how many customers you can piss off in a day? Have you been turned down by other call centre hiring managers? Well, do we have the job for you...". . That's the trouble when dealing with virtual monopolies. Serves me right for always being in a hurry.

Did you know Starbucks chocolate cookies have 450 Calories? Although if you were insane enough to shell out $2.50 or so for a single cookie, then maybe the calories wouldn't really be a deterrent...

Sold 500 shares of ECA today. I like the long term prospects of the stock, but feel that the recent run up is unwarranted, and that there will likely be a pullback in the stock within the next couple of weeks. I will likely pick up BNS in the interim.

ECA

ECA has had a decent short term run up of 7%. I like the stock, but don't think the current rally is sustainable, as it is based on two primary market factors, and 3 primary technical factors.

1. the US Fed decision not to raise interest rates
2. The capture of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran.

The Fed decision not to raise rates is good for oil, but part of the rally appears to have been based on speculation of future rate cuts. This is probably not enough to make for a sustainable oil rally.

The capture of the Brits appears to have been a legitimate move by Iran (the Brits were in Iranian waters), but after the initial posturing I'm sure they'll be released without incident. Especially in light of already existing international pressure to impose sanctions on Iran because of their nuclear program. Could capturing these soldiers put Iran in a better position when negotiating with the UN? Or will it simply add fuel to the fire?

1. The 20 and 50 day moving averages indicate that ECA may be in a bearish trend. (20 day moving average is below the 50 day moving average).
2. ECA is trading at its upper Bollinger band. This means that the stock price is high relative to the action over the last 20 days.
3. Volume appears to be lower than normal (later in the day will give a better sense, but with 30% of the trading day gone, we've only seen 27% of volumes, and that includes market open which is typically volume peak).

I will decide later today but will likely hold off on selling until Monday, in the hope that ECA breaks through the $58 barrier at least temporarily.

Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.

That's my thought for the day.

Prof. Steve Rogers was the first person I heard use this saying. I thought (and still do think) it was pretty deep. Not in a Dante Alighieri what-the-hell-does-that-mean kind of way, but you know, in a meaningful, don't-be-too-greedy-you-idiot kind of way.

Not surprising that I hadn't heard the saying before b-school. We don't have such creative witticisms up here in Canada (not that I am aware of anyhow), and I haven't been exposed to too many real Americans (I don't consider tv land to be real Americana, is that wrong?).

Statcounter

I've just added my first counter to my blog! I'm using code from Statcounter.com. All in all, pretty easily done. So far I'd recommend this counter based on ease of implementation. We'll see how the functionality holds up.

My First Post... Again

Ok, so when I started out I said this would be about money making ideas. And then I didn't list any of them. So let me revise the mandate of this blog a bit. It will have a couple of key themes.

One of them is Money. Yes, with a capital M. I need it, and I need more than I make. So this blog is going to help me find ways of making more of it. Whether its through the stock market, or through business ideas, its going to help.

The other theme is issues related to the black races. I say races because of the variety of cultures that comprise us.

And the final primary theme is just stuff that I find useful and want to remember. I have the shittiest memory of anyone I can think of except my former boss Carolle F. So I'm going to use this blog (along with my blackberry) as my memory.

Thought for the day: Did you know that Firefox spell check recognizes "shittiest" as a word? Am I the only one impressed by that? Well, guess that means I'm the one with the small mind.

Ok, I'm out for now.

Kiyosaki on Mutual Funds - My Thoughts

A recent Yahoo article by Robert Kiyosaki talked about the high negative impact that fund fees have on the investor's rate of return.

I was struck by the aggression with which some people attacked his article in the comments that were left. As a person who works in the wealth management industry, I think Kiyosaki's comments were quite valid.

For example, in the fund industry, a standard statement by senior executives of fund companies is that "Mutual Funds are sold, not bought".

The above statement speaks to the fact that funds rely on extensive marketing and catering to the latest trend in order to grow their Assets under Management (AUM). Investors pay for this marketing and sales as well as the core fund management through the Management Fees, which are disclosed as a Management Expense Ratio (MER). Fund companies run like any other business. Simply put, the higher the AUM, the greater the fee base, and thus the greater the revenue to the fund company (and presumably the higher the profits). Very simple.

That said, there are still many good funds out there which commonly beat the market, even with high MERs. There's also a lot of garbage. Fund sites like globefund.com and morningstar.ca offer investors decent tools for picking mutual funds.

Relying on the fund companies or your advisor to look out for your best interests is a lot like a non-swimmer jumping into the deep end of a busy pool and trusting the lifeguard to realize they are drowning and save them. It might happen... Then again it might not. There's nothing wrong with trusting your advisor (you should be able to, otherwise its time to change!). But you have to educate yourself to ensure decisions are being made in your best interest.

CLS and the EMS Industry

A good friend of mine called me this morning and asked me what I thought of Celestica. I looked into it, and saw enough to decide that it does not ring of value to me. At least not yet. (My friend went ahead and bought 400 shares anyhow so I hope for his sake I am wrong). That whole sector just looks too much like the red sea to me. (Well, maybe not the real red sea, which isn't really red, but you know, like the red sea would look if it was red).

The one exception to that is Jabil, which I will have to look at further when I have some time. For now though, I'm focused on Oshkosh, which reports on Friday. Hopefully I can cash out with a nice gain.

Investing in Canada - The contrarian view

As much as I'd like to invest in Canada, I find it so difficult to justify it. I don't understand the mining industry for one, Environmental concerns limit my desire to leave much money in the Cdn oilpatch for another, and finally, I think that financials are generally overvalued. What else is there? RIM? Who has time to keep track of that soap opera?

The contrarian / cynic in me argues that the whole retiring boomer thing is going to turn the market upside down. After all, these people will need some safe blue chips to stick the equity based portion of their money into, right? Time will tell how true that is.

Anyhow most of my money (and my wife's, kids, & in laws) sits right next door. The worlds biggest and most liquid market. Yes that's right, the US. I get better insights into US securities due to the preponderance of free news & research, I get better liquidity, and I get a heck of a lot more choice. Screw exchange rate concerns. As long as I'm getting a decent rate of return and keep my eye on the returns relative to the dollar, I'm a happy camper. Yes, I pay a bit more in commission and fx spread, but forking over that little extra up front has helped me to achieve stellar rates of return. So I'll keep doing what I'm doing until it no longer works for me. (We won't include my latest foray into Options in that mix). Personally, I like managing my own money. At least as long as it stays in the black!

Onstar vs. CAA

Well, now that the initial euphoria of relief has set in, and I've had a chance to compare what you get for a $200 subscription with Onstar vs a $63 subscription with CAA, things look pretty different.

Price $63.60
Towing 10 km* ($98.58 plan gets you 200km)
Extrication Service 1 truck ($98.58 plan gets you 2 trucks)
Emergency Gasoline Free delivery of gas ($98.58 plan gets you free gas)
Trip Travel Insurance $100,000
Trip Accident Assistance** $300
Lockout Service $50 ($98.58 plan gets you $100)
Specialized Towing Equipment No charge if required
Alternate Service Reimbursement Specific limits

The Onstar plan gets you some neat things like notification if the airbag deploys (which is handy if you crash (God forbid) in a remote area), remote unlock (which I have to say is a great feature when you need it), stolen car location, & remote horn & lights in case you're that absent minded and lazy that you lose your vehicle and can't wander the parking lot to find it.

For what you get though, my money is on CAA & my cellphone (which I've already accepted as a sunk cost).

GM Onstar

Well, I became a GM believer today. My wife mistakenly locked our 2 year old in the car this morning, and since I was already at work and I have the spare keys on my keyring (lack of foresight on my part), and work 70 minutes away from home, going home to unlock it was not the best alternative.

So after dealing with my initial panic, I went to the Onstar site, got their toll free number, and gave them a call. They verificed my id, then unlocked the car remotely. The whole thing took about 7 minutes, and my daughter wasn't even stuck long enough to know something had gone wrong. So apart from some early morning stress, and some missed "circle time" at her preschool, all is well.

All of a sudden, stuff like a CAA membership (or the Onstar equivalent of same) is starting to seem a lot more relevant. I'll do a cost comparison / cost/benefit of CAA to Onstar (assuming the roadside assistance and all that stuff is offered by both) vs alternatives a bit later.

Financial Goals

Well, I'm off to a pretty poor start with this blog, as its now been 13 days since my last (and first) post. I blame it on life taking control of me rather than the other way around. Mr. Miyagi says "there is no try, only do, or do not" - so what I will do is post more frequently (or suffer the wrath of Mr. Miyagi, may he RIP).

So I was at a World Financial Group seminar about 6 weeks ago. Not my proudest admission, but anyhow. The company seems to operate in some type of a network / pyramid manner, and while it is not an organization I'd get involved with, there are some people (mostly visible minorities) who seem to have leveraged its structure pretty effectively, and are making more $ at it than they'd ever make elsewhere. In any case, it doesn't seem like any more of an extortionist racket than your average brokerage or bank.

Anyhow, while I didn't think much of the company, I was struck by the simplicity of the financial strategy that they set out as guiding principles, and have decided to adopt them as guidelines for myself, at least until I find anything better.

They are -
Increase Cash Flow: Diversify sources of income
Manage Debt: (Pay down your debt, manage interest rate on debts)
Create Emergency Fund: (just in case)
Ensure Proper Protection: (Appropriate level of insurance
Build Long-Term Assets: (Pay yourself first, 10% wealthy barber rule)
Preserve Estate: (Prepare a will, estate planning)

Any other suggested approaches to categorizing money management? Let me know!

My First Post

This is the first post. My plan is to make this blog a place to muse. About anything really, but mostly business ideas, what I'm doing on the market, and since I'm all over the map, some off tangent type stuff. So here goes!