"I have never been a millionaire. But I have enjoyed a crackling fire, a glorious sunset, a walk with a friend and a hug from a child. There are plenty of life's tiny delights for all of us."
Jack Anthony
Author
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Be on Higher Ground!
"If you desire certain traits, desire to maintain a certain character, then the only way to achieving this state of being is to be it through performing actions that coincide with that state.
If you wish to be just you must perform just actions, if you wish to be strong you must perform with strength. Too many of us spend time wondering 'why not?' without realizing that in those moments of contemplation we could very well be performing the very actions that would make us into what we believe we may not be.
To reach higher ground, simply lift another person up. We experience the lightest step when we relieve ourselves of the weight we choose to carry around with us."
-John Kanary
"If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you wish to be just you must perform just actions, if you wish to be strong you must perform with strength. Too many of us spend time wondering 'why not?' without realizing that in those moments of contemplation we could very well be performing the very actions that would make us into what we believe we may not be.
To reach higher ground, simply lift another person up. We experience the lightest step when we relieve ourselves of the weight we choose to carry around with us."
-John Kanary
"If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friday, January 4, 2008
Sell Every Day
Everyday I gotta sell. And so do you.
Selling is not a comfortable activity for most human beings though. It's easier for most of us to find something else to do. Something that is more pleasurable. Or something that gives our brain the illusion of "real work", when we're really just wasting time.
The thing is, when you have to sell, you can and you do. The resistance you may have at times, is just that: resistance.
The trick to selling faster is to move beyond the resistance. Or to ignore the resistance.
Or to acknowledge the resistance, and take action anyway.
You see, any resistance you might have, is all just in your head. We all make things harder than they should be at times for ourselves (and that includes me). If someone were to put a gun to your head, and tell you to go make some bucks, right now, you'd do it.
Your brain would tap your self-preservation instinct, and motivated by your will to live (and the fear of death) you would overcome all other fears and excuses and you would just do it. You would produce.
So what are you waiting for? Today the weather is bad, but so what. Does that really matter? You can come up with lots of excuses. Ignore the excuses your brain comes up with or acknowledge them, if that helps you, and then get busy anyway.
Move towards what your afraid of, and then move through it, and finally move beyond and past it. You'll be amazed at how well you can do, and how good it feels.
Sell with pride, my friend. See you at the top!
Selling is not a comfortable activity for most human beings though. It's easier for most of us to find something else to do. Something that is more pleasurable. Or something that gives our brain the illusion of "real work", when we're really just wasting time.
The thing is, when you have to sell, you can and you do. The resistance you may have at times, is just that: resistance.
The trick to selling faster is to move beyond the resistance. Or to ignore the resistance.
Or to acknowledge the resistance, and take action anyway.
You see, any resistance you might have, is all just in your head. We all make things harder than they should be at times for ourselves (and that includes me). If someone were to put a gun to your head, and tell you to go make some bucks, right now, you'd do it.
Your brain would tap your self-preservation instinct, and motivated by your will to live (and the fear of death) you would overcome all other fears and excuses and you would just do it. You would produce.
So what are you waiting for? Today the weather is bad, but so what. Does that really matter? You can come up with lots of excuses. Ignore the excuses your brain comes up with or acknowledge them, if that helps you, and then get busy anyway.
Move towards what your afraid of, and then move through it, and finally move beyond and past it. You'll be amazed at how well you can do, and how good it feels.
Sell with pride, my friend. See you at the top!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Recipe: How to Make Love
rec·i·pe /ˈrɛsəpi [res-uh-pee]
1. a set of instructions for preparing something, esp. a food dish;
2. a method to attain a desired end.
Dictionary.com
HOW TO MAKE LOVE - A Recipe of Love
Ingredients:
4 Laughing eyes
4 Well-shaped legs
4 Loving arms
2 Firm milk containers
2 Nuts
1 Fur-lined mixing bowl
1 Firm banana
Directions:
1. Look into laughing eyes.
2. Spread well-shaped legs with loving arms.
3. Squeeze and massage milk containers very gently.
4. Gently add firm banana to mixing bowl, working in and out until well creamed. For best results. Continue to knead milk containers.
5. As heat rises, plunge banana deep into mixing bowl and cover with nuts, leave to soak (preferably NOT overnight).
6. The cake is done when banana is soft.
If banana does not soften, repeat 4 steps 3-5 or change mixing bowls.
Notes:
1. If you are in an unfamiliar kitchen, wash utensils carefully before and after use.
2. Do not lick mixing bowl after use.
3. If cake rises, leave town.
1. a set of instructions for preparing something, esp. a food dish;
2. a method to attain a desired end.
Dictionary.com
HOW TO MAKE LOVE - A Recipe of Love
Ingredients:
4 Laughing eyes
4 Well-shaped legs
4 Loving arms
2 Firm milk containers
2 Nuts
1 Fur-lined mixing bowl
1 Firm banana
Directions:
1. Look into laughing eyes.
2. Spread well-shaped legs with loving arms.
3. Squeeze and massage milk containers very gently.
4. Gently add firm banana to mixing bowl, working in and out until well creamed. For best results. Continue to knead milk containers.
5. As heat rises, plunge banana deep into mixing bowl and cover with nuts, leave to soak (preferably NOT overnight).
6. The cake is done when banana is soft.
If banana does not soften, repeat 4 steps 3-5 or change mixing bowls.
Notes:
1. If you are in an unfamiliar kitchen, wash utensils carefully before and after use.
2. Do not lick mixing bowl after use.
3. If cake rises, leave town.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Inverse ETF aka Bear ETF
Inverse ETF is an exchange-traded fund that is constructed by using various derivatives for the purpose of profiting from a decline in the value of an underlying benchmark or index. Investing in these ETFs is similar to holding various short positions, or using a combination of advanced investment strategies to profit from falling prices. They are also known as a "bear ETF".
One advantage is that these ETFs do not require the investor to hold a margin account as would be the case for investors looking to enter into short positions. There are several inverse ETFs that can be used to profit from declines in broad market indexes such as the Russell 2000 or the Nasdaq 100.
In addition, it is possible to buy inverse ETFs that focus on a specific sector such as financials, energy or consumer staples. Most investors look to purchase inverse ETFs so that they can hedge their portfolios against falling prices.
One advantage is that these ETFs do not require the investor to hold a margin account as would be the case for investors looking to enter into short positions. There are several inverse ETFs that can be used to profit from declines in broad market indexes such as the Russell 2000 or the Nasdaq 100.
In addition, it is possible to buy inverse ETFs that focus on a specific sector such as financials, energy or consumer staples. Most investors look to purchase inverse ETFs so that they can hedge their portfolios against falling prices.
Turn Your Life Around
One of the best places to start to turn your life around is by doing whatever appears on your mental "I should" list.
Indecision is the thief of opportunity.
Every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human beings. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight!
Decision making can sometimes seem like inner civil war. I used to say, "I sure hope things will change." Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change.
Don't say, "If I could, I would." Say, "If I can, I will."
It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off! You cannot make progress without making decisions.
- Jim Rohn
We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation. May the former always prevail! If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree!
Indecision is the thief of opportunity.
Every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human beings. How tall will a tree grow? As tall as it possibly can. Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. Why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what all you can do?
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight!
Decision making can sometimes seem like inner civil war. I used to say, "I sure hope things will change." Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change.
Don't say, "If I could, I would." Say, "If I can, I will."
It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off! You cannot make progress without making decisions.
- Jim Rohn
We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation. May the former always prevail! If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
The History Behind Insurance
If risk is like a smoldering coal that may spark a fire at any moment, then insurance is our fire extinguisher.
Countries and their citizens need something to spread risk among large numbers of people and to move risk to entities that can handle it. This is how insurance emerged. Discussing insurance has always been my pet subject. Read on to find out about how insurance evolved and how it can work to protect you from being burned by risk.
The main concept of insurance - that of spreading risk - has been around as long as human existence. Whether it was hunting giant elk in a group to spread the risk of being the one gored to death or shipping cargo in several different caravans to avoid losing the whole shipment to a marauding tribe, people have always been wary of risk.The first written insurance policy appeared in ancient times on a Babylonian obelisk monument with the code of King Hammurabi carved into it. The "Hammurabi Code" was one of the first forms of written laws. These ancient laws were extreme in most respects, but it offered basic insurance in that a debtor didn't have to pay back his loans if some personal catastrophe made it impossible (disability, death, flooding, etc.).
In the dark and middle ages, most craftsmen were trained through the guild system. Apprentices spent their childhoods working for masters for little or no pay. Once they became masters themselves, they paid dues to the guild and trained their own apprentices. The wealthier guilds had large coffers that acted as a type of insurance fund. If a master's practice burned down, a common occurrence in the wooden hovels of medieval Europe, the guild would rebuild it using money from its coffers. If a master were robbed, the guild would cover his obligations until money started to flow in again. If a master were suddenly disabled or killed, the guild would support him or his widow and family. This safety net encouraged more and more people to leave farming and take up trades. As a result, the amount of goods available for trade increased, as did the range of goods and services available. The style of insurance used by guilds is still around today in the form of "group coverage".
The practice of underwriting emerged in the same London coffeehouses that operated as the unofficial stock exchange for the British Empire. In the late 1600s, shipping was just beginning between the New World and the old as colonies were being established and exotic goods were ferried back. A coffeehouse owned by Edward Lloyd, later of Lloyd's of London, was the primary meeting place for merchants, ship owners and others seeking insurance during those dangerous waters era.
A basic system for funding voyages to the new world was established. In the first stage, merchants and companies would seek funding from venture capitalists. The venture capitalists would help find people who wanted to be colonists, usually those from the more desperate areas of London, and would purchase provisions for the voyage. In exchange, the venture capitalists would be guaranteed some of the returns from the goods the colonists would produce or find in the Americas. It was widely believed that you couldn't take two left turns in America without finding a deposit of gold or other precious metals. When it turned out that this wasn't exactly true, venture capitalists still funded voyages for a share of the new bumper crop: tobacco.
After the voyage was secured by venture capitalists, the merchants and ship owners would go to Lloyd's and hand over a copy of the ship's cargo to be read to the investors and underwriters who gathered there. The people interested in taking on the risk for a set premium would sign at the bottom of the manifest beneath the figure indicating what share of the cargo they were taking responsibility for (hence, underwriting). In this way, a single voyage would have multiple underwriters, who would try to spread their risk as well by taking shares in several different voyages.
By 1654, Blaise Pascal, the Frenchman who gave us the first calculator, and his countryman Pierre de Fermat discovered a way to express probabilities and, thereby, understand levels of risk. Pascal's triangle led to the first actuary tables that were, and still are, used when calculating insurance rates. These formalized the practice of underwriting and made insurance more affordable.
In 1666, the great fire of London destroyed around 14,000 buildings. London was still recovering from the plague had that ravaged it a year earlier, and many survivors found themselves without homes. As a response to the chaos and outrage that followed the burning of London, groups of underwriters who had dealt exclusively in marine insurance formed insurance companies that offered fire insurance. Armed with Pascal's triangle, these companies quickly expanded their range of business. By 1693, the first mortality table was created using Pascal's triangle and life insurance soon followed.
Insurance companies thrived in Europe, especially after the industrial revolution. In America, the story was very different. Colonists' lives were fraught with dangers that no insurance company would touch. As a result of lack food, wars with indigenous people and disease, almost three out of every four colonists died in the first 40 years of settlement. It took more than 100 years for insurance to establish itself in America. When it finally did, it brought the maturity in both practice and policies that developed during that same period of time in Europe.
Countries and their citizens need something to spread risk among large numbers of people and to move risk to entities that can handle it. This is how insurance emerged. Discussing insurance has always been my pet subject. Read on to find out about how insurance evolved and how it can work to protect you from being burned by risk.
The main concept of insurance - that of spreading risk - has been around as long as human existence. Whether it was hunting giant elk in a group to spread the risk of being the one gored to death or shipping cargo in several different caravans to avoid losing the whole shipment to a marauding tribe, people have always been wary of risk.The first written insurance policy appeared in ancient times on a Babylonian obelisk monument with the code of King Hammurabi carved into it. The "Hammurabi Code" was one of the first forms of written laws. These ancient laws were extreme in most respects, but it offered basic insurance in that a debtor didn't have to pay back his loans if some personal catastrophe made it impossible (disability, death, flooding, etc.).
In the dark and middle ages, most craftsmen were trained through the guild system. Apprentices spent their childhoods working for masters for little or no pay. Once they became masters themselves, they paid dues to the guild and trained their own apprentices. The wealthier guilds had large coffers that acted as a type of insurance fund. If a master's practice burned down, a common occurrence in the wooden hovels of medieval Europe, the guild would rebuild it using money from its coffers. If a master were robbed, the guild would cover his obligations until money started to flow in again. If a master were suddenly disabled or killed, the guild would support him or his widow and family. This safety net encouraged more and more people to leave farming and take up trades. As a result, the amount of goods available for trade increased, as did the range of goods and services available. The style of insurance used by guilds is still around today in the form of "group coverage".
The practice of underwriting emerged in the same London coffeehouses that operated as the unofficial stock exchange for the British Empire. In the late 1600s, shipping was just beginning between the New World and the old as colonies were being established and exotic goods were ferried back. A coffeehouse owned by Edward Lloyd, later of Lloyd's of London, was the primary meeting place for merchants, ship owners and others seeking insurance during those dangerous waters era.
A basic system for funding voyages to the new world was established. In the first stage, merchants and companies would seek funding from venture capitalists. The venture capitalists would help find people who wanted to be colonists, usually those from the more desperate areas of London, and would purchase provisions for the voyage. In exchange, the venture capitalists would be guaranteed some of the returns from the goods the colonists would produce or find in the Americas. It was widely believed that you couldn't take two left turns in America without finding a deposit of gold or other precious metals. When it turned out that this wasn't exactly true, venture capitalists still funded voyages for a share of the new bumper crop: tobacco.
After the voyage was secured by venture capitalists, the merchants and ship owners would go to Lloyd's and hand over a copy of the ship's cargo to be read to the investors and underwriters who gathered there. The people interested in taking on the risk for a set premium would sign at the bottom of the manifest beneath the figure indicating what share of the cargo they were taking responsibility for (hence, underwriting). In this way, a single voyage would have multiple underwriters, who would try to spread their risk as well by taking shares in several different voyages.
By 1654, Blaise Pascal, the Frenchman who gave us the first calculator, and his countryman Pierre de Fermat discovered a way to express probabilities and, thereby, understand levels of risk. Pascal's triangle led to the first actuary tables that were, and still are, used when calculating insurance rates. These formalized the practice of underwriting and made insurance more affordable.
In 1666, the great fire of London destroyed around 14,000 buildings. London was still recovering from the plague had that ravaged it a year earlier, and many survivors found themselves without homes. As a response to the chaos and outrage that followed the burning of London, groups of underwriters who had dealt exclusively in marine insurance formed insurance companies that offered fire insurance. Armed with Pascal's triangle, these companies quickly expanded their range of business. By 1693, the first mortality table was created using Pascal's triangle and life insurance soon followed.
Insurance companies thrived in Europe, especially after the industrial revolution. In America, the story was very different. Colonists' lives were fraught with dangers that no insurance company would touch. As a result of lack food, wars with indigenous people and disease, almost three out of every four colonists died in the first 40 years of settlement. It took more than 100 years for insurance to establish itself in America. When it finally did, it brought the maturity in both practice and policies that developed during that same period of time in Europe.
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