TIP Guy
22 January 2010
review
By now, I am sure most of us would have finished taking stock of Year 2009. I am also sure that many of us would be happy with our portfolio performance with 25%+ returns in single year. Many of us don’t lose an opportunity to say I made such-n-such in 2009. On a personal note, I also discussed the results of my own portfolio and showed 115% increase in market value. It would be very easy for me to brag that I did much better than market, which was 72%. However, that’s not what this is about. I do not know about others, but when I put my 2009 portfolio performance in the context of my long term vision, in the context of overall objectives, in context of my journey to build wealth, then I know getting 100%+ returns is nothing special. Let me discuss what I mean.
One of my objectives is to continue to have yearly returns in the range of 12% to 18%. And I have said on many occasions, for me, consistency and sustainability is very important. For ease of calculation, let us say, I am looking for 15% of consistent return year after year. Continue reading rest of this article…
It has been almost 10 months now since I have started this blog. It started as means to share my journey and also to keep track of investment data that I generate for my personal investments. May 2009 was the last time I had discussed about traffic for TIPBlog. At that time, the blog was new and hence I presented the most cliché metrics such as number of visits and page views. In today’s post I am reviewing it again, but this time it is in the context of the metrics for social media. I am using frame work presented at Occam Razor by Avinash Kaushik (AK). AK’s reputation is; he is considered as one of the experts in Web Analytics. The essence of AK’s frame work is using trends in six key performances matrices. There is no absolute value which demonstrates success. AK suggests focusing on trends; they should be going in right direction. The six key performance indicators for measuring success of a blog are as follows: Continue reading rest of this article…
TIP Guy
28 November 2009
review
Lately, we are seeing telecom companies cutting voice and SMS rates in an attempt to keep up with one another. The main focus in these rate cuts is to ensure that they maintain (or increase?) their market share. The rates are now being calculated in paisa per second for voice and one paisa for one SMS message. Coming from the consumer side these are best times to be using cellular phone for communication. To me, pricing these services in terms of paisa and seconds means this is practically free, relative to what a rupee can buy in today’s market. More so, when you start thinking about the capital expenditure in developing these communication networks and licensing fees involved.
As an investor, I believe these telecom companies are digging their own grave. These do not seem to make any economic sense. You will not find Rs 5 cutting tea on the roadside, but you can use a high tech wireless communication network for 30 minutes for less than Rs 5. Something is missing here. The rates for making calls were already among the lowest in the world. Now, this mad race will bring it down further, and will perhaps make them the lowest in the world. I am passing few of the publicly traded companies through my stock screen to see if it generates interest in me.
Continue reading rest of this article…
In yesterday’s post, I discussed how I am using MoneyVidya site to experiment and rate my investment decisions. I discussed one of my objectives of comparing long term investing with short term stock picking. I am attempting to push myself and show my readers that I am not running away from responsibility. I expect to continue on as long as the site has ability to meet my long term investing philosophy. As of today, it meets my objectives.
I joined MoneyVidya Blog Network and agreed to publish guest post or re-post some of my articles on their Blog Site. I wanted to collect some data to understand whether it has any benefits to me. I believe that an independent data set should speak (rather than me proclaiming hypothetical scenarios). I now have something to discuss with my readers.
Initially, I was very skeptical of this approach. I was under the impression, why should I share my articles on their network. Why should I let them take credit for my articles? So I said I will join as an experiment and see what happens. Continue reading rest of this article…
You may have seen the MoneyVidya Core Blogger Badge on the left side of my blog. Many of you have asked what does it signify, and what are the benefits to me, is it an advertisement, and/or do I get paid for it. Many have asked, I discuss a lot about long term investing, but then participate on a speculative stock picking site. I had intentionally kept silent about it because I did not want to make any hypothetical argument. I did not want to be perceived as my agenda to promote something. As a matter fact, some time back I presented a very critical review of MoneyVidya.com website.
I now have something to discuss with my readers. Again the discussion is based on facts (and not on any assumptions or hypothetical scenarios). So I will be posting two articles (1) MoneyVidya stock picking site vis-à-vis long term investing; and (2) how it is beneficial to me.
MoneyVidya is a community-based stock picking site, which is generally perceived as speculative process. Many long term investors, like me, believe that it is not for them and they do not entertain the stock picking process.
It is very natural that at first glance, any long term investor will consider it as a stock picking site. However, I look at moneyvidya site as competitive ranking mechanism. Any long term investor can select their stocks (buy or sell) using a 2 year time frame. Now isn’t that long term investing? I am also sure that moneyvidya management is perhaps looking into how to include more options for long term investing.
Continue reading rest of this article…
Alternative Income Streams
There is a very popular notion of “passive income” that floats around the blog-o-sphere. The essence of passive income is; it is the money earned with or without our involvement. Once it is setup, the recurring income will flow in continuously. In my vocabulary, there is no such thing as passive income. Just because we do not see the effort does not mean it is passive. Instead, I like the term “alternative stream of income”. I am always curious to understand how individuals can create alternative streams of income and how they execute it. Following are few alternatives that I have thought about and tinkered with in recent past.
Continue reading rest of this article…