Comments on: I want my share!

By: Economy and your Finances Carnival – August 2, 2009

Economy and your Finances Carnival – August 2, 2009 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:02:55 +0000

[...] presents I Want My Share! posted at How to Make 7 Million in 7 [...]

By: A fool’s game …- 7million7years

A fool’s game …- 7million7years — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:20:28 +0000

[...] you’ll never look at stocks quite the same way again … first we need to go back to when Debbie asked how “the value of a company … translates to the price per [...]

By: traineeinvestor

traineeinvestor — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:03:09 +0000

Another advantage of investing in public companies is the ability to diversify. It’s a lot easier to put a little bit of money into several public companies than into several unlisted private companies – less work (and cost) to evaluate and execute when you invest and less work and cost to monitor and execute when you exit.

Now whether diversification is a good thing or a bad thing is another question entirely….

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:36:02 +0000

“since anyone has the ability to check the financial’s of any public company”

…. yep, that’s another one: transparency; thanks, Josh.

In fact, it’s even better than that … when I pick up the financials for a private company I have no confidence in the veracity of the numbers, so I have to do a little digging of my own (a.k.a. Due Diligence) and build in a margin of error/safety (i.e. another reason for the lower P/E multiples). Of course, there are public company exceptions, but the CEO’s are eventually caught and incarcerated

By: Lee Martin

Lee Martin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:25:33 +0000

I went to Josh’s blog site the otherday and discovered how to research companies before I make investments in them. I apprecaited his wisdom and have checked a few books out thaty will help me discover more about the industries I’m interested in.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:09:17 +0000

Adrian, since anyone has the ability to check the financial’s of any public company, the only difference between your average investor and Buffet is that he can buy majority ownership and run the company and he see’s fit.
The ironic thing is usually when WB buys a company, he hands over even more autonomy to management then they had under the previous owners…
My point is, why not just do what WB does. –> Find a great monopolistic company with at least good management, that we can assume are smarter then us in most aspects of that business.
Having said that,it’s still infinitely more important to find a great business than great management. Here’s a quote from Buffet, “When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.”

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:36:41 +0000

Great Post. I like this (Great for those like Debbie ) Just getting started in the area of stocks. However Adrian. There really is a bad question. Its the 1 not asked(cause thats the one that will bite ya in the A_ _ .

By: Adrian

Adrian — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:25:19 +0000

@ Brandon – MAINLY about liquidity, but also about: convenience; regulation; and, transparency. Thanks for being first in with a great explanation!

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:52:16 +0000

As you know, P/E ratios are all about liquidity. I can sell my stock in 30 seconds but good luck selling a business in under 6-12 months.

That’s why the holy grail for private equity firms is the IPO. Buy a company at 5-10x earnings and take it public for a valuation of 15-30x.