stlplace(Update 04Feb10) Watched the “Outsourced” movie from Netflix on Feb 02 night, quite interesting. It has a similar theme with “Up in the Air”.
(Original) Went to see movie “Up in the Air”. That’s the first time my wife and I went to see a movie. We figured time is running out for us to go cinema in the near future as we expect our new baby this March.
Couple thoughts after seeing the movie:
It’s that time again, the end of 2009 (and the decade of 2000s) means we can also look at the performance of mutual funds in past year/decade. The winner of US based mutual fund is CGM Focus fund, managed by Mr. Heebner, the fund’s manager since its 1997 launch. CGM Focus is a large cap growth fund with annualized total return of 18.2% in last 10 years (source: WSJ, Best Stock Fund of the the Decade: CGM Focus). Sounds pretty good, right?
Not really. According to MorningStar in the same article:
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Too bad investors weren’t around to enjoy much of those gains. The typical CGM Focus shareholder lost 11% annually in the 10 years ending Nov. 30, according to investment research firm Morningstar Inc.
These investor returns, also known as dollar-weighted returns, incorporate the effect of cash flowing in and out of the fund as shareholders buy and sell. Investor returns can be lower than mutual-fund total returns because shareholders often buy a fund after it has had a strong run and sell as it hits bottom.
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It’s that time of the year again, this year it put another perspective after such a crazy year in terms of financial and job markets. The other day I met my former boss at the mall, and was surprised to learn one of my co-worker passed away this year. I was aware of my co-worker health problem, but I could not believe his passing because he is about my age (I am not disclosing my exact age here but I think I am still fairly young).
Holiday tech gadgets gift ideas
Saw David Pogue (NY Times) holiday tech gadgets ideas from CBS Sunday Morning show. One thing caught my attention, the Philips DirectLife, basically it’s a wearable gadget one can wear on neck, or slip on belt, to track his/her daily physical activities, and can analyze whether he/she get enough walking in office (or gym). I think it’s a great idea. Here is a review, quote:
The system is available from the DirectLife online store now, and will run you $79 (until October 30th) and includes a 4-month membership. After the initial 4 months, membership will run you $12.50 a month. This product is available in the US and the Netherlands only at this time.
The Gold has been doing very well lately, partly due to the depreciation of dollar, partly due to the fear of inflation, and last but not least, due to speculation. I think this Yahoo Tech-ticker interview explained why I don’t like Gold as long term investments very well. More importantly, it suggested alternative investments for gold.
If you read my blog long enough, you may know I am not a big fan of Jim Rogers, the famous US investor who recently moved to Singapore: to help his daugher learn Chinese (Mandarin better) among other things.
Here is Jim’s take on life and his current job (link: Yahoo tech-ticker), which kind of hit my tone. I mean, some day, I want to semi-retire, spend more time with family and do things I always dream to do.
NBR at PBS is running a series of year end tax tips (link here). My take is in investing, taking gain/loss should first based on the investments prospectus (how you think your investments will work in the future), the tax should be secondary consideration. It is still important because in some cases you want to make sure you have enough cash to pay the tax from tax gain. With this in mind, here is the first video of the series. This one is about capital gain.
I was in Las Vegas this week, attending a technology (software) conference. One tip to share at the beginning: Google Free Wifi at LAS airport. It appears my Boingo service does not have wifi spot here, but Google provided free Wifi during holidays until Jan 15. They even have some “google colored” bean shaped couch laying around for people to rest.
iPhone and Cloud computing
iPhone is everywhere, from the conference participants, and the travelers on the airport and in the airport. Easy to run out of battery appears to be a problem for iPhone. I found a guy using the Richard Solo battery charger (slightly small than iPhone), and there are couple Verizon Charge stations in the airport which are popular for iPhone and laptop users.
I like Apple products: I had iPod Nano (2nd gen) since 2007, and I owned MacBook (white plastic), and bought iPhone for my wife this Jan. All bring us very good user experience. That is not to say, Apple products are flawless. IPod and iPhone will die once a while, but nothing catastrophic as it does not erase music etc. MacBook has minor problems too such as “could not come back to life after hibernate”, and the heat generated by battery. But I like both my old iPod nano and my fairly new MacBook (the user interface is just beautiful 😀
Ok, now back to the hard part. One reason I bought MacBook is I want to learn Objective C (the programming language on Mac OS X) and Cocoa (UI framework). My first impression (after almost a year, on and off) on Objective C and Cocoa (using XCode) is: very unforgiving, like Steve Jobs 🙁
Two little stories from my own study, both on Chapter 9 NSUndoManager
from the “Show me state” 😀
Obviously this is not a good year in terms of economy, we are all affected by the recession (and high unemployment rate) in some way. Last I heard, 1 out 4 mortgages in the US are under-water (yours truely got to be in the lucky 25% in this case).
But there are still many things to be thankful for, e.g., about 90% of the people (who want to work) still got jobs; thanks to Bernanke and Geithener, we are not getting Great Depression 2.0 (we are getting Great Recession instead); the stock market actually rebounded significantly (aka most of 401k got back to where it was a year ago, provided we did not jump in and jump out in the wrong time), more importantly credit market got new life (again thanks to B&G).
We still got Macy’s Parade. We still eat Turkey (oh well, although President Obama pardoned one as a symbolic move). We still got black Friday, although with the web we can do that online (pretty much).
Last but not least, we will have a baby.
the link to publisher here. author: Nomi Prins, formerly Managing Director of Goldman
Also author interview by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (I) at After Words (C-Span). There is a video link at the right. This book reminds something I read from Ruth’s Chris (Nasdaq:RUTH) 2008 annual report, Risk factors, bullet 5 (quoted below):
Turmoil in the financial services industry, volatility in securities trading markets and general economic downturns may adversely affect our ability to access the credit and capital markets to finance a portion of our working capital requirements and support our liquidity needs.