Posts made by zerenia

@mrsguin Canada only. Postal code field fails for US postal codes.

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@money-doc I think the discussion is a good one. You may find that the sophistication level of the folks that frequent this forum to be such that they already get the risk vs. reward vs. diversification equation, but if you help someone who’s new to the idea of investing then you’ve done them a service.

Not sure if you think I’m a professional, but I’m an IT Director with an undergraduate degree in Music. I do hold an MBA, but with a concentration in Information Technology.

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@studentsavings I can only hope that the “Big Winners” give back to the rest of us, especially those who really need the help. Bill and Melinda Gates come to mind. Bill took huge risks, got outrageous rewards, and is now giving back.

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@Mike_imm_Ubund Where did you get the $7.56 statistic? Would like to see the source material.

I probably eat for about that much money per day. Get most of my proteins from plant sources and dairy. Lots of peanut butter, beans and rice. Plain oatmeal for breakfast. Rarely eat beef, mostly eat chicken. Drink plain water or brew a cup of plain tea. Shop for staples at the “dollar store” where you can get good products very inexpensively. Go to Aldi for produce.

I’m a distance runner and I still get plenty of calories and nourishment for not a ton of money.

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It may be even more complex that the original post suggests. Behavioral Economics as a discipline was somewhat formalized starting in the mid 1950’s, and the movement of markets is somewhat irrational, according to Behavioral Economics. So, even if you are a rational investor, as the eighth paragraph of the OP suggests, you are trying to be rational in the face of irrationality.

A rational person understands that buying a single position in the stock market carries significant risk. That same rational person would look to mitigate risk and buy positions in multiple investments in order to offset any single issue’s risk. That’s why there are billions of dollars invested in mutual funds managed by professional managers who follow disciplined investment strategies, taking the emotion out of the buying and selling.

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@studentsavings Agree - good luck to them. I wish everyone well who ventures out own their own. It takes a special kind of person to take the risk, and a special kind of person to persevere and succeed.

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@money-doc said in Emotions and Investing:

When you make a new decision with your money, it can be sometimes quite challenging to prevent your emotions from being in the driver’s seat

@Money-doc Is this you?

Don’t Be An Emotional Investor

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@studentsavings Here’s another perspective, but be sure to read the entire story.

NC Record Number of Business Applications

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@KohlsPowrShopper - thank you!

@studentsavings - looks like applications for EINs are the statistic. Without thinking too hard, that statistic is probably OK, but not 100% reliable. People can apply for an EIN but never actually start a business. I have heard that sole proprietors applying for bankruptcy need to establish an EIN, and that would be a very disheartening reason for a jump in EIN applications (IRS Info - https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/do-you-need-a-new-ein). Nevertheless, let’s suppose that the statistic is good enough for this discussion.

What is interesting to me is that people with EINs may not need them. My wife is a sub-S corporation and uses her SSN as her EIN, for example.

So, if people are applying for tax id numbers in relation to opening businesses, then what’s driving them to compete with Amazon and WalMart? Amazingly, even thought I love shopping at Amazon and will hit Walmart for some items, neither has an Italian Bakery I like. My local supermarket and the gourmet grocery don’t have a good Italian bakery section either, but guess who DOES have a great Italian bakery? My local pizzeria - the owner is actually a pastry chef who makes out-of-this-world great pastries, but also makes pizzas and other Italian food. I think he drives business to his pastry offerings when people pick up take-out food. My point is that Amazon and Walmart, so far, can’t be everything to everyone. There are a lot of service-based businesses that Amazon and Walmart haven’t touched, so that leaves the field open for others.

Here’s my unscientific thought - people believe they have the next great idea or they can do something better than others. See the stories above about the baker and the bookseller. Someone else closed so they decided to try and capture the abandoned customer base. I think this is risky as if the existing provider failed, what makes someone think they can do a better job unless they have a unique offering that people actually are willing to pay for, or they lead with low price for the market? I’m not sure how to get the statistics, but I would like to know from all of the new EINs issued, how many actually started businesses, and how many were still in business one year later? What’s the bike mechanic going to do when the streets are covered with snow and it’s way too cold to go bike riding?

Where I’m going with all of this is that people are optimistically starting businesses because they have been thrust into an unemployment situation with little hope of re-employment, at least in the near term. Some are brave or creative, or both, and dive into starting a business because they have little to lose by doing so. The question to ask is if these same people would have started businesses if they had not lost their jobs, and my feeling is that they would not have done so. If they were very confident in their uniqueness or ability to capture a piece of a market, why didn’t they start their businesses as a side hustle when they were still employed? Perhaps there was too much competition or a saturated market? If that was true, then the business closings tell me that there were too many providers in the markets and they were hanging on by a thread, or going further and further into debt to keep their businesses afloat. The business closings were a natural reaction to the weakly financed enterprises facing reduced customer demand, and if that’s true, then new entrants, if not strongly financed, face the same fate.

In short, optimism coupled with low risk is driving the EIN applications. I want to think so, anyway, and pray it’s not bankruptcies driving the EIN applications…

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@studentsavings said in Why are there so many new companies?:

@zerenia thanks for engaging. Here’s the link:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-it-insane-to-start-a-business-during-coronavirus-millions-of-americans-dont-think-so-11601092841

I’d love to hear what you think!

I let my WSJ subscription lapse when I finished grad school and couldn’t get a decent discounted subscription rate. Is there another way to read the story?

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I have to jump in here. This discussion is based on a headline that @studentsavings saw. Can we get a link to the story? I would like to know how the increased rate was calculated? Was is based on a survey, or filing of fictions names, or incorporation papers, or what? Hard to really try to understand the statistic without knowing the composition of that statistic.

@studentsavings - can you share a link to the story?

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@MrsGuin Got the coupon. Thank you!

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@studentsavings

1. Do your own Finance homework. Just kidding…
2. There is not always value in having money now. There are variables to consider, such as inflation, opportunity cost, risk-free return, expected return. If I offered you $2,000 today, or $2,200 one year from now, which option would you choose? Depends on what utility you can get from that $2K today and if you can do better than 10% interest per year. 3. On the other hand, if you are broke and need to buy food now, $2,200 a year from now is meaningless. You would take the $2K now.

You can’t abstract the concept from real world application. Time value of money is a concept that allows you to compare alternate scenarios. For example, is it worth paying more points for a mortgage to get a lower interest rate?

What business leverages the time value of money? Any business offering zero percent financing. It is conceivably less expensive overall (discounted cash flows) to pay interest on a loan and get a discounted purchase price than it is to pay a higher purchase price at zero percent interest.

And that’s another part of the analysis. You have to look at the present value of future cash flows to do a complete analysis.

Some bond prices are based on the expected future value of the bond. Some bonds are priced below face value and pay their full face value at maturity. The difference between the purchase and redemption prices is the interest earned on the bond. Bond traders use this fact to sell bonds at a value higher than their face value when the interest rate on the bond is greater than the current risk-free market interest rate. Same concept as time value of money.

I knew that MBA would come in handy someday…

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@studentsavings As a College student, you have insane access to news through your College library. Ask a librarian for help.

After that, you can get access to news sources that ought to be quite varied for free by using your local public library.

Disclaimer - I was an IT Director for a public College in Florida for 13 years.

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@mrsguin Got two small bags of Whisps. Flushable wipes were not offered.

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@mrsguin Got the coupon. Thx, @MrsGuin .

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@dionaea said in Router suggestions:

Yes, I know someone is going to complain this is in the wrong group, but I don’t know where else to put it. I’m looking for suggestions for a really good dependable router for our Headquarters with a cost of no more than $70 from Staples or Office Depot/Max where I have Rewards. We’re getting 300/300 fiber optic internet connection along with a phone line with unlimited in-USA calling. Use will be from September 22 through November 2 during 3 days a week for about 8 hours a day by one person using an up-to-date laptop. At times there may be 2 to 10 people (yes, we’ll be using every safety precaution) in various rooms accessing the net with a small laptop or tablet or cell phone for a few hours. We’re looking for one that we can keep up to date and use for a few months each year for the next 4 or 5 years. Suggestions and advice, please.

Won’t the ISP rent one to you for $5 per month? You are likely going to have a tough time finding something “good” that fits your budget because with the increased number of people working from home, stock on the less expensive devices has been depleted.

You could try to grab [link text] https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/506395/TP-Link-80211ac-Gigabit-Wireless-Gateway/(link url) while it’s still on sale. If you can go up to $100, you get a lot more options.

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@angryeyebrows said in Amazon First Reads September-Prime Members Choose a Free Kindle Book from Select Titles- claim by 10/1:

https://www.amazon.com/firstreads?tag=phtwllt-20

Prime Reading has become chick-lit and kiddie books. Not a good non-chick book in many months. Not even a bad one, really.

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