postaday2011 | wealthymatters

Bill Gross and Frogs

August 20, 2011 4 Comments

wealthymatters.com Using the metaphor of frogs Bill Gross explains Financial Repression and the ways of dealing with it.Of course he speaks of the situation in the US but there is no reason why investors in other countries whose governments are struggling with debt can’t learn from him.All said and done not for nothing he is the Bond King!

To quote him “Put a frog in a kettle of boiling water and he’ll jump out faster and further than any of those blue ribbon winners at the Calaveras County jumping frog contest.Put him in a pot at room temperature, however, slowly turn up the temperature to boiling, and you’ll have frog legs for dinner. This latter, more unfortunate toad temporarily adapted to his external environment, which seemed like a practical thing to do, until – well, until he reached 212 degrees at which point he was cooked.”Financial repression is similar to slowly turning up the heat on poor froggy/the bond holder/saver. And the boiling point is when the nominal returns on bonds turns negative. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Theory Tagged with Bill Gross Frog Story, bonds, cheap bonds, debt, Financial Repression, nominal return, postaday2011, RandomBlog2011, savers, transfer of wealth

Bill Gross – The New Normal

August 20, 2011 2 Comments

wealthymatters.com

Normally whenever I hear some version of why something is different this time over I become a skeptic and start tuning out the person.However I am drawn to the idea of ‘The New Normal’ propounded by the Bond King-Bill Gross of PIMCO and Mohamed El-Erian his Co CIO.This is because they are not so much telling us that economic cycles are bunk but that we are blind to the larger economic cycles.

Bill’s message is anything but easily palatable for a lot of people.It is also true that his timing has been wrong in the past. I won’t go so far as to say every minor detail of what he describes as the ‘New Normal’ will come true but I believe he has gotten the big picture right.I fear that we are in for an extended period when equities might not on an average give the high rates of returns they did in the recent past.Bonds might outperform stocks in this period and investors will have to re-examine their beliefs.Assumed rates of return on various long term savings might have to be revised. The most successful investors during this period will probably be those with common sense and importantly the powers of intuition, observation, and the willingness to accept uncertain outcomes. And all the talk of countries like India escaping the international turmoil unscathed will be wishful thinking. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Theory Tagged with Bill Gross Bond King, low returns, Mohamed El-Erian, New Normal, PIMCO, postaday2011, RandomBlog2011

Burgernomics

August 5, 2011 2 Comments

wealthymatters.com

After 25 years, India has recently made it to the Big Mac Index.The Big Mac Index is a “lighthearted” guide published by’ The Economist’ to compare the currencies of different countries. It does so by looking at the price of a Big Mac burger, which is available in more than 100 countries with an identical recipe. Thus, a Big Mac in the U.S. costs $4.07 whereas in China it costs $2.27, using nominal exchange rates. From this, the index suggests that the Chinese yuan is 44% undervalued versus the U.S. dollar, otherwise the price of a Big Mac would be the same. Read more of this post

Filed under Theory Tagged with Big Max Index, burgernomics, devalued currency, exchange rate, Export-Import, How to Benefit from a Devalued Currency, Indian Rupee, postaday2011, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), RandomBlog2011

Li Ka-shing : Hardworking,Frugal & Steadfast

August 4, 2011

wealthymatters.com The Honourable Li Ka-shing GBM, KBE, JP (nickname “Superman”) stands 11th in the Forbes List with an estimated wealth of US$26.0 billion.He is the wealthiest person of East Asian descent.

Li is a product of adversity.He sees himself as a gnarled tree firmly rooted among the rocks of a mountain slope.Whenever he has found himself beset by troubles he has found himself “upto”dealing”with it.He describes himself as hardworking, frugal, steadfast,willing to learn and build a credible name.These qualities have taken him very far indeed in life.Presently, he is the Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) and Cheung Kong Holdings; through them, he is the world’s largest operator of container terminals(including those in Hong Kong, Vancouver, Canada, China, UK, Rotterdam,Panama, Bahamas etc.- in all, his business controls 13% of all container port capacity in the world) and the world’s largest health and beauty retailer(a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, the A.S. Watson Group is a leading retail operator with over 7,800 stores whose portfolio encompasses popular retail brands in Europe such as Superdrug (UK), Marionnaud (France), Kruidvat (Benelux countries), and in Asia including health & beauty specialist Watson’s Your Personal Store, PARKnSHOP supermarkets, Great Food Hall, TASTE food galleria, gourmet boutique style fine food hall, Fortress electrical appliance stores, Watson’s Wine Cellars and Nuance-Watson airport duty free shops. ASW is also a major producer and distributor of water products and beverages in the region with Watsons Water the top selling brand in Hong Kong). His companies make up 15% of the market cap of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.In fact the story goes that out of every dollar spent in Hong Kong, 5c goes into Li Ka-shing’s cash-registers.His business empire includes: banking, construction, real estate, plastics, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets (pharmacies and supermarkets), hotels, domestic transportation (sky train), airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping. Read more of this post

Filed under Entrepreneurship, Theory Tagged with A.S. Watson Group, billionaire, Cheung Kong Holdings, container ports, Essar, Hutch-Essar, Hutchison Whampoa Limited, Kruidvat, Li Ka-shing, Marionnaud (France), postaday2011, RandomBlog2011, retail empire, Superdrug (UK), Telcom

Carlos Slim and the Giving Pledge

August 1, 2011 3 Comments

wealthymatters.com

Carlos Slim Helu is one of the prominent people to have declined to sign the Giving Pledge promoted by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.Here is his reasoning:

“I prefer that Bill Gates create a Microsoft or Steve Jobs create an Apple.” Giving away their personal wealth “is an interesting idea… but it won’t solve any problems. They will make that money tax deductible and give 5% [of the overall amount] every year to [the actual] charity. If they collect $300 billion, they will use only $15 billion every year. That won’t solve any problems.” Read more of this post