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401k and Personal Finance

SogoTrade

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(Update 07Sept09) I found a minor problem with Sogotrade. I had this happened to me twice. Basically I changed my mind for existing limited sell order, so I clicked “cancel”. But Sogo works so fast and diligently, partial of my order has already been executed. So basically later on when I want to sell the stock, I need to pay another transaction fee.

SogoTrade pic

(Original) Opened SogoTrade account couple weeks ago because I got a bit tired of Scottrade $7 per trade fee, and the “friendly” reminder email about my trading pattern. The accounting opening preocess is a bit long, although most things are done online (except the VOID check and an eletronic transfer form to send in). Here are the main steps:

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gadgets

Another Nokia 5800 deal at Dell Small biz

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This one. Use coupon code TP2GK4X1DTX0C8 (expires June 3) during check out. It comes out $229 + tax (after $50 mail-in rebate). Slightly cheaper than Amazon ($290 after $50 main-in rebate). Dell also offers Nokia N85 at $247 + tax (with $50 main-in rebate).

Reviews: GSMArena; BrightHand.

Discussions “N85 or 5800XM”: phonegg; Nokia discussion forum.

Categories
Investing

Stock misconception: listen to experts (II)

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It is reported that Pequot Capital will go out of business in next few months (from CNBC). Pequot was headed by Art Samberg (one of the Barrons Rountable 2008 expert), who would have dismal performance if he followed his Barrons Roundtable pick. Quote his best and worst picks (loss > 80%):

Company Ticker 1/4/08 12/31/08 Change

MEMC Electronic Materials WFR 81.40 14.28 -82.5
Qualcomm QCOM 37.03 35.83 -3.2
Focus Media FMCN 55.71 9.09 -83.7
Dogan Yayin DYHOL.Turkey 4.44 TRL 0.66 TRL -85.1

Interestingly, the latest WSJ article still brags about his success. (If he is really that successful, why not stay in the business?) Quote WSJ:

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gadgets video

More Nokia smartphones: E63 and 5800 XpressMusic

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Here is a review of E63 at Brighthand. This one goes for $149.99 after $50 mail-in rebate at Amazon. I saw lots of Ads for a more high end version E71 at WSJ recently. The main difference is the latter has better camera (3M vs. 2M), has GPS and made from metal (vs. plastic for E63).

Also the touch screen Nokia 5800 XpressMusic goes very well at Amazon ($289.99 after $50 mail-in rebate). I saw this one sells under 2,000 Yuan (one USD = 6.85 Chinese Yuan) in China (amazon.cn) now. Review from phonescoop (via YouTube).

The quick declining price reminds me of one Chinese saying “selling cell phone is like selling cabbage” (in the old days cabbage was very cheap). Guess that’s one reason everyone is selling stuff (music, software etc.) from App store.

Categories
video Web

Internet Safety

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Internet safety became an hot issue recently because incident the Craigslist Ad. and Boston Med student. Enough publicity has been given to that case, but here is another incident drawed my attention today (concertforkatherine; Background).

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Life Tips

McCafe Coffee review: second try

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Went to the nearby McDonald (NYSE: MCD) yesterday afternoon, and tried out the Iced Latte. Personal opinion: the latte at MCD is not as good as Starbucks ( Nasdaq: SBUX). Two things:

1) McDonald makes this mostly by machine, while in Starbucks the barista used some hand;

2) McDonald serves the latte not in a full cup, this never happened to me in Starbucks.

So in summary the latte McDonald (McCafe) looks cheap, although they can argue in “blind test” their coffee tastes better. As to the regular brewed coffee in MCD, it depends: it tastes better when it was fresh brewed. The coffee beans in those stores are similar, except SBUX are usually overly roasted (looks darker and tastes bitter).

Other stores

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gadgets video

Some Nokia Smartphone deals from Dell

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(Update May 25) The offer expired on late night May 22 when I was comparing N85 with Nokia 5800. However, one can find lightly used ones at eBay for about $230 to $250.

Found this Nokia N85 Reviews from theNokiaBlog: Nokia N85 Review – Part 1 The Physical; Top 5 Reasons Why Nokia N85 Is Better Than Nokia N96; Nokia N85 After 3 months – Build Quality Results (video below).

(Original May 22) Saw it from dealsea, here is the %15 off stackable coupon at Dell Small Business: P1$6CFNN71F29L.

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Categories
Master Series

Exelon NRG Energy saga continues

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(Presentation May 27) NRG Energy at Deutsche Bank Securities Energy & Utilities Conference.

(Noise from OptionMonster May 27) Options prepare for drop in NRG. I am not expert in Options, but I think stock price should affect option (derivative) price, not the other way around (as the NRG options shown in Yahoo Finance). Maybe guys at OptionMonster make more money from writing articles (selling Ads) compared to trading options 😀

(Daily Herald May 26) Analyst: Exelon will need to increase its bid for NRG

(Business Wire May 21) Exelon Receives FERC Approval for Proposed NRG Acquisition. Notice this is one of many regulatory hurdles EXC needs to overcome before the acqusition going through.

(WSJ May 15) Exelon CEO: If NRG Energy Bid Fails, Will Look Elsewhere

Notice earlier this year Exelon won 51% NRG shareholder via. the tender offer (WSJ article).

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401k and Personal Finance Shanghai Composite

Investing in China: I

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I have talked about investing in China many times in this blog. Recently a good friend of my wife asked this question: how to protect her parents retirement (life style) now that they are near retirement?

I think this is a very good question, also a very common one. Recently I read Charlie Munger’s book Poor Charile’s Almanac, and he said three stocks are enought (diversified) if they are good stocks and the person trully understands it. I agree.

So, let me apply this three stocks approach and run a hypertheoritical portfolio for my wife’s friend (‘s parents 🙂

The first stock comes to mind is 601628.SS, China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC; HKSE: 2628.HK). I talked China Life couple times, during its Shanghai IPO (secondary offering to be precise), and “Got Yuan” post. I believe China Life is uniquely positioned to take advantage of weakened competitors (China Ping’An and AIG China subsidiary), and this down market.

China Life Insurance logo

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gadgets video

Prepaid cell phone getting popular in the US?

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Did a google news search on this. From my own experience, prepaid phone card is very popular in China. I have used those from time to time when I visit China. I believe most of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) subscribers are prepaid customers, which is opposite to the AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers in the US (where most customers have a calling plan and pay monthly).

T-mobile is doing a $25 prepaid card promotion on its prepaid phone. T-mobile is a distant 4th wireless carrier in the US, and it’s trying to take advantage of the recession to get more customers. Sprint is doing similar things with its boostmobile subsidiary.

Video below: one of the prepaid phone at T-mobile web site; source: YouTube.

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