Pegging Down a Company’s Profit
Top portfolio managers like Peter Lynch place a good deal of stock in the PEG (price-to-earnings-to-growth) ratio, which is supposed to tell you how fully valued a company’s share price is. Their reliance on this ratio is misplaced, however. The PEG compares the company’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio with its earnings-per-share…
READ MOREAn Investment Idea That’s All Wet
Water is a scarce commodity – and scarcity means an opportunity for you to profit. Water covers nearly 70 percent of the earth’s surface, but most of it is saltwater, unfit for drinking, agriculture, and (with rare exception) industrial uses. In fact, far less than 1 percent of the water…
READ MOREWhen You Screw Up – Big Time – Twice in One Week
Last week will go down as a memorable one in my journal. I made two major mistakes that stirred up some dust and made me wonder if I was fit to run a business. The first was a classic e-mail snafu. For several weeks, I was having confidential discussions with…
READ MOREInterferring with Caution
To a great extent, our lives are guided by the inferences we make, yet most of us never give this critical process a passing thought. A good definition of inference is “the act of deriving conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true.” There is, of course, a big…
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How to Be a Successful Negotiator
9 steps to becoming a successful negotiator, which can propel your business forward at a quicker rate and help you foster better relationships.
READ MOREGive a Great Talk, Part 1
“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson One of the ways you can market your product or service is through public speaking. For instance, you’ll often see financial seminars advertised in your local newspaper. The ads invite you to come for…
READ MOREBy the Numbers: Safe, Smart Stock Investing
Finding solid companies offering real value isn’t easy. It takes hard work and a keen eye for numbers. A free stock screener like those at www.msn.com or www.reuters.com can help you separate the wheat from the chaff in short order. Here are three tips for making use of this tool…
READ MOREMatt Furey’s Seminar
I spent a day in Tampa recently, auditing Matt Furey’s private seminar on Internet Marketing. It was a good program, with a wide range of information – from the very technical (tricks on improving search engine optimization) to the philosophical (how to persist in the face of defeat). I’ve told…
READ MOREA Technique for Investing in Real Estate Foreclosures
Yesterday, we took a look at the alarming rate at which foreclosures are rising in America. (Up 45 percent from the same time last year.) We discussed the fundamental market conditions causing this rise in foreclosures, including the lack of equity, decreasing affordability, and the looming ARM (adjustable rate mortgage)…
READ MORETalking to Strangers
“Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.” – Shirley MacLaine Tom could have remained silent. He could have given a polite nod or busied himself with reviewing the work he’d brought with him. But he didn’t. And now, he’s got a brand-new client that brings him $40,000 a…
READ MOREThoughts on the Nature of Value
The concept of value in modern art becomes more tangible when you consider the current stir about the 32 Jackson Pollock paintings discovered in a storage locker a few years ago. Now, “Jack the Dripper” is famous for creating paint splatters. Every parent with a kid in elementary school knows…
READ MORECreativity vs. Proven Sales-Boosting Techniques
“There is just one justification for advertising: Sales! Sales! Sales!” – John W. Blake Sometimes I wish I had gone into advertising instead of direct-response marketing. I can see myself nestled in a posh Madison Avenue corner office, pulling in six figures a year … creating taco-eating Chihuahuas and other…
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