South Florida Ikea

I just came back from a trip to our South Florida Ikea. I was very excited to go there as I have heard so much about it.

The sheer size of the building and parking garage is incredible. They are located off of Interstate 595 West of Fort Lauderdale. I believe the city is Sunrise.

I would have never imagined that we were still in a recession as I could barely find a parking spot. After finding my way in to the building I followed the arrows and started my way through the store with my shopping cart.

Looking around at the products, many of them looked very interesting. I was excited that I found a better store than Target.

Stepping away from my cart for a few feet, I turned in time to see someone grab my cart and walk off. Ok, no problem. Comes with the territory of shopping in one of these big stores in an area packed with people.

I continued on. I actually found some very nice lighting systems that on first inspection looked great. Closer inspection revealed that they were made in China and a piece actually broke off in my hand as I was holding it.

After spending another hour in the store, I couldn’t wait to get out. I was trapped in the Ikea maze. There is no easy way to exit once you enter. You have to follow through to the end. I also came to the conclusion that the items looked really nice on first look. They just turned out being very cheaply made. I found all tags from China. I also realized why so many people in a recession where shopping. The items are so very inexpensive.

The main problem with buying these inexpensive items is that they are also cheaply made.

One final note, I did buy some glassware. As I was leaving the maze, I needed a bag to put my glassware. I found one next to the register, loaded up my items and headed for the door. An employee stopped me from walking off. I thought she wanted to check the contents of my bag. She actually wanted to tell me that I had to pay .50 for my bag.

I don’t think I will be shopping at Ikea again.

Do people actually make money investing in the stock market?

I have been investing for the past 11 years. I just calculated my earnings in this time period. I am actually down in my investments since I started.

I have been adding money almost monthly for this whole period. As I earned more income, I have increased my monthly deposit.

At first I thought that maybe I didn’t know what I was doing until I started looking at some charts. Check out the MSFT (microsoft) chart for the past ten years. Ten years ago today Microsoft stock was at 41. As of this morning, MSFT is at 23. Where did all of the money go? How can this stock be almost halved in 10 years? I know for a fact Microsoft has made a profit every single quarter in those ten years.

Who got our money? Bill Gates is rich. Steve Balmer is rich. The employees are rich. Everyone but the investors are rich.

For this example I chose Microsoft as they are the easiest target. What about the other thousands of stocks out there. Many of them are the same story.

I am done investing in the stock market. Someone stole my money.

According to auto analyst Michael Grasher , “Geico and Progressive are clearly the innovators in this field, and it’s helped them continue to bring in business despite the recession.”  Traditionally however, the main objective is not to gain more new customers or compete to offer the cheapest insurance but to keep your existing customers happy and in that department Allstate and State Farm currently have the edge.

Although many Americans have forestalled buying new cars they spent nearly $160 billion for premiums on their personal automobile insurance. But since they’re either selling some of the cars they own or waiting longer to buy a newer car, fewer policies are being sold.

In a highly competitive industry, auto insurers spent over $1 billion advertising cheapest insurance products in 2009.

Each brand of auto insurance has a different methodology in selling their products. Some focus on cheapest insurance prices while others focus on better service. Because insurance needs can be very personal many people shop around and weigh their options before making their final decision.

The stock has been upgraded in status and the trend is looking up.  To add more interest to the brand, Columbia apparel recently announced a lower-priced line of products to appeal to a larger market.

In a related story, Columbia Sportswear opened a lawsuit against a former footwear designer, alleging that he used company time, equipment and information to do work for competitors.

Jon Stewart took it to Jim Cramer once again last night. This time he did it face to face.

I have read a lot of articles and watched the debate. Jim Cramer feigned that he was contrite but this was not difficult to see through.

It was very enlightening to see how Cramer really reacts when faced with another person who questions him for once. He has his one man show on ‘Mad Money’ CNBC, where he sets everything up in his way and he is not open to debate.

Cramer was like a deer in the headlights. When questioned directly about specific issues and video taped interviews, Cramer was a typical politician and went off on tangents without answering the direct question. I just spent the 2008 election year listening to seasoned politicians avoiding direct questions. I saw right through Cramer. From my viewpoint a man who has made millions in the market should be much more intelligent than the man I watched take it on the chin in the Stewart interview.

When asked about his complicit statements in the video displayed in the debate, Cramer had no answer. He diverted the question to the fact that he has no control on CEO’s and when they appear on his program and lie. Cramer continued with these responses when in fact Stewart was not even referring to such incidents. Cramer was on tape in an interview stating how he has manipulated the market before and how other hedge fund managers can do it to this day (meaning day of interview). What this had to do with CEO’s lying to him, I have no idea? Finally frustrated, Stuart answered Cramer. “Isn’t it your job to then investigate these CEO’s? You take them at their word.”

Jim Cramer retire and get out of the business. You have just proven to the world that you are a self aggrandizing pontificator who has nothing to provide the public. You do not have any great knowledge that can help others get ‘rich’ in the markets as you continually rant.

With Citibank trading at or around $1 a share, what happens if it goes to 0?

Will there be a run on the banks?

Can this happen at this day and age?

I am thinking it happened once before and history tends to repeat itself, this could happen. Word to the wise, stash some cash. You never  know.

Let me know if you think I am crazy or not.

Today Exxon Mobile reported how it plans to keep the world supplied with oil. Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon reported a bunch of new findings and outlined his plan for the future.

From the Tillerson report, I heard that for the fifteenth year in a row, it had more new discoveries than current production. Tillerson also reported that the oil industry has the production levels to produce 4 or 5 million more barrels a day than the world consumes. When oil was going for the high price of $147 per barrel, there was only a mere 1 or 2 million excess capacity per day available.

The report from Tillerson in and of itself was quite interesting. What is even more interesting is that less than 1 year ago today, I could not find many articles on oil production that did not state we were running out of the product.

I had scoured cnn money, fortune, forbes, money magazine, CNBC, Fast Money on CNBC and the king of all oil pumpers, Jim Cramer. They were all endlessly reporting how oil was a commodity that was simply running out. 

I do admit that I have a bone to pick with these prognosticators. I actually started listening to Jim Cramer when he would spout about how all oil plays were a must have in all portfolios. Not to mention the self-aggrandizing Dylan Radigan and his cohorts Guy Adami, Jeff Macke, Pete Najarian, and Karen Finerman from Fast Money.

If you will check back to their stock picks for oils stocks as little as 6 months ago, you will see them all down in the neighborhood of 50+%. Nice record. How can they now be the same people that are still all over the news spouting about how prices were out of hand.

It just burns me up every time I now see Mr Pompous Radigan and blowhard Jim Cramer being used as ‘experts’ on how to get through the recession. These bumbling boneheads were one of the main reasons why we are in this fix to begin with.

Thanks guys, can’t wait to see your next Matt Lauer interview. 

The story of Bonnie Brown, a San Francisco-based masseuse, just blew my mind. Her life turn, for the better (oh!, way better), happened thanks to Google.

Get this:

Through happenstance, Mr. Brown answered an ad for an in-house masseuse part-time job at Google. That was in 1999, when the company had 40 employees. Fast-forward to 2007 and Brown is about to publish: “Giigle: How I got Lucky Massaging Google.”

Brown no longer rubs geeks’ backs. The shares she was offered when she joined the company making $450 weekly made her a multimillionaire. Now a world traveler who lives in a 3,000-sf house in Nevada, Brown is one of about 1,000 people who have each made more than $5 million worth of Google shares from stocks grants and options, according to The New York Times. (Last week the company stock hit its all-time high of $747.24.)

The reporter spoke to several Google employees, not identified by name, who gave her the whole Googley etiquette when it comes to skyrocketing stocks, cashing out and changes in life styles.

Here is what the reporter – Katie Hafner –  learnt:

“It isn’t considered ‘Googley’ to check the stock price.” So, wrote the reporter, the stock price does not matter (Oh! I see…).

“It’s very clear that people are taking nicer vacations,”…

“One of the guys … showed up at work in a really, really nice new car.”
Google’s 104  employees cashed out a couple of years ago. After selling all his stock, he became a venture capitalist, philanthropist and a documentary filmmaker, chronicling now (just guess…) homelessness in Santa Monica, Calif.

That’s Googley!

There is no doubt that Brazilian top-model Gisele Bundchen seamless proportion stir jealousy among women. Some Wall Street titans might share a similar feeling. (Keep in mind that she takes home $30 million a year). Now she is showing off her prowess in forex.

La Bunchen’s latest move signals a new take on investing. According to The Wall Street Journal, the beauty demanded that all her contracts be valued in euros instead of dollars (one euro is buying 1.4558 dollars today).

Back in August, Procter & Gamble’s Pantene had to rework its contract to have La Bundchen’s ringlets promote the brand.