Christian, Author at InvestorGeeks

The Tide has Turned For Microsoft

Posted on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 by Christian

People who read my blog entries know that I am a fan of Behavioral Finance. I am mentioning this because I want to use the last sentence as a disclaimer.

Here is my grand sweeping statement:

Apple, nice knowing you good bye, Sun interesting language too bad it wont stay, Oracle go sail away.

Yesterday I watched The Daily Show with John Stewart where Bill Gates was a guest. Bill Gates normally is a geeky kind of guy and as many have said has poor presentation skills. What I saw yesterday made me think that the tide has turned. I think Microsoft is here to stay and people will overwhelmingly remember Bill Gates and Microsoft as good person. I think Microsoft will be a legacy that we accept and not regret.

Is the Pullback Starting?

Posted on Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 by Christian

I am watching the markets and thinking is this the pullback? Two days don’t make a trend, but I was looking at the DJI and noticed something interesting. For the past month approx 12,670 has been a sort of resistance point. The market has taken 7 runs to 12,670 and only once did it get (more…)

Quant’s and Probability

Posted on Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 by Christian

I am studying financial engineering and there has been one topic that has been bothering me; Probability. Here is a question I found at the quant forum. If a family has two children and there is a boy in the family, what is the probability that there is a girl? What’s the answer? 2/3. Or (more…)

An Odd Thing To Read About Regarding Funds

Posted on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 by Christian

I receive the Swiss Stocks magazine and something in Stocks caught my attention. An author said that the funds are going to be the problem spot once the market retraces. I did not quite understand his thinking so I kept reading. The essence of the problem is that funds are buying stocks and driving prices (more…)

In Defense of Bush’s Tax Cuts

Posted on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007 by Christian

I was listening to Bernake, and then Mr Sanders started the typical leftist propaganda. The Democrats are idiots who are going to self-destruct in about four years. My political leanings are center right liberal libertarian.

The tax cuts that Bush made have raised the hackles of Democrats. Democrats want to nullify the tax cuts. Yet I will argue that Bush was right to make the tax cuts.

I bet you are ready to pounce on me and say, “Only the rich benefit from the tax cuts and they pay so little.” Well, let me tell you a story about morality and being pragmatic.

Some Interesting Details

Posted on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007 by Christian

Some people look at PE ratios, cash flows, and so on. I try to find the small details, small things that have big ramifications (1,2,3). Today many of the leaders that the West dislikes met in a single place. The fact that most of the South American leaders were in Ecuador was not a surprise. What (more…)

Why Are You Paying More?

Posted on Monday, Jan. 15, 2007 by Christian

I was reading Jason’s posting and forum entry was thinking…

“Yeah, commissions stink. With the E*Trade account, my net loss was ($629). I paid $441 in commissions.

I have thought numerous times about moving to another broker for commissions, but I’m really happy with how E*Trade has treated me otherwise. As my account size grows, the commission cost will become a smaller part of my gains/losses.”

Why are people paying more than they should? I really don’t understand it. It’s as if people enjoy throwing money out the window. My mother is in the same boat. She traders with Ameritrade, and BlueMax, and these companies are ripping you off.

Let me give an example:

iPhone Part 2

Posted on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007 by Christian

The iPhone is stirred up controversy and there are people on both sides of the fence. The iPhone nags at me as being a lesson in how you can fool people by marketing.

Now I found the reason why I had this nagging doubt. Nokia is about to launch the N95 which would be an iPod competitor. Let me line up the features of both devices:

Diversification or Delta Neutral?

Posted on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007 by Christian

Kimber wrote an interesting post regarding diversification. BTW Kimber, no idea where you got the idea that women can’t trade.

It has me thinking, do you diversify or do you become delta neutral? For those wondering, delta is one of the Greek letters in option trading, and it implies risk neutrality.

The question is what do the big traders recommend? Without knowing a hundred percent, they would probably recommend delta neutrality. I myself trade for the most part risk neutral (not completely delta neutral). Risk neutral means regardless if the security goes up or down I win!

iPhone: Miracle or Disaster?

Posted on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007 by Christian

Steve Jobs held a keynote and announced the iPhone. One site even did a quick look and feel of the phone. Apple surged by 8% and others like Nokia and RIMM dropped. Though RIMM dropped more than Nokia.

What I think: Sell Apple at its peak (it should climb a bit more) and buy on the weakness of the other players.

The remaining part of this blog will explain why I am skeptical of the iPhone. Some may view this as being overly critical, but others will wonder. You will wonder who is right me or Steve Jobs. Since Steve is much richer and has built a big company (unlike myself) you will be biased towards Steve.