With such quick developments I had to get my finances in order, this was going to cost over £15,000 with 50% upfront. Laura and I where saving up to by a place but I used that as my deposit with a shortfall covered by a bank loan. My beloved Audi A3 had to go to cover expenses plus the final 50% and start up capital of £10,000.

We had to cut back on everything, weekly dinner and movies out, holidays out, new suits out, basically everything we could save to go towards the business we did. Although Laura wasn’t to keen on me allocating all our money towards the businesses, she knew once I was successful I would take her out and buy everything except the mannequins.

When we got our first draft of logos, the excitement was evident as it was taking shape. We weren’t too pleased with these but gave our feedback and awaited the 2^nd draft.

Took a while but we got there and choose these.

So now we had the visual identity for the site and we could concentrate on both the site build.

location location location property greece, greek property .luxury villas crete greece, Greek property Its all about Location. Elounda premier property professionals location location location

HOME | CONTACT US | BUYING | ABOUT US | IN THE NEWS | EXECUTIVE SERVICES | NEWSLETTER | TWITTER Important announcement from Location in reply to the Greek Government draft bill regards to forestry  land burnt in the fires of 2005 and 2007. For many, the wild fires that swept Greece in 2005 and 2007 are a distant memory -  and thankfully so !   Nevertheless their impact is being felt to the current day as the Greek Government aims to assist the accelerated regrowth of the forest by assigning areas as “Forests in Perpetuity”. There has been a great deal of debate as to how best manage the necessary  re-establishment of the previous  forestry areas ,  with campaigners arguing for and against a complete moratorium on building and issuance of certifications of forestry in these once protected areas -culminating in a statement by the Government that a bill will be put before parliament to deal with the issue of protecting the former forest land.   The significance of this announcement was such we at Location thought  clarification was needed on a few points , both for the sake of due diligence for those planning on purchasing land but also for a point of establishing where the true issue is , for the avoidance of  doubt.     The main proposals   The draft legislation that is being proposed , suggests that all land caught in the fires should have a mandate issued by the forestry department :   1. Forbidding building or any form of development on the land until that said land is “released” by a further subsequent government mandate 2. The land is to be protected and nurtured to allow regrowth by prohibiting animals / livestock to graze the land. In the bill measures are proposed requiring adjacent landowners with grazing animals to protect the integrity of the boundaries to prevent livestock entering the regrowth zones.   Andie Cox , Partner in Location property is pleased the Government is acting to protect the integrity of the burnt areas. “The fires in 2005 and 2007 were terrifying , in Elounda – Crete, especially. A large area of mountainside was completely stripped of cover and some houses perilously close to burning. This forestry cover is not just about whether you can build or not , it has a far more important function in preventing run off in the rainy season. Land without natural forestry cover destroyed in this way quickly becomes at danger of being yet further affected by rainfall and it’s especially pleasing to see such a pro-active stance planned by the Government.“ Protocol, protocol protocol ! From a buyers prospective, Andie insists little has changed   “The English word Protocol derives from a Greek word, and the protocol or methodology  for buying land has not changed with this announcement. We have always insisted our clients have a valid certificate from the forestry authority before even entering into a conditional deposit, so anybody who has bought through Location is unaffected by the draft bill. This is less about individual plots forestry certificates, but on a grander scale about preventing further deforestation and further degradation of a distressed landscape encouraging regrowth and stabilisation and as such must be welcomed by all.” Andie Cox is available on mobile 0030 697 7778126 info@locationlocationlocation.eu Linkedin Profile         European property specialists Luxurious and Exclusive Greek Property For sale and to rent . Sea view Villas , Investment plots and Commercial Property for sale In Elounda and Plaka Crete, Kassiopi and Aghios Stephanos Corfu , Mykonos , Greece, Kefalonia and Zante We discretely source only the very best properties for our distinguished international clients in the most exclusive Greek resorts such as Elounda Bay area, The Kassiopi area and Mykonos and Santorini …….Greek property specialists………it’s all about the Location   Location Location Location – Head Office Elounda Crete Greece PROPERTY IN CORFU | PROPERTY IN CRETE | PROPERTY IN RHODES | PROPERTY IN KOS | PROPERTY IN ZANTE PROPERTY IN KEFALONIA | PROPERTY IN SANTORINI | PROPERTY IN MYKONOS | PROPERTY IN PAROS AND NAXOS | OTHER GREEK ISLAND PROPERTY |

  Thanksgiving is sadly long gone, but the turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, veggies and cake and ice cream was definitely worth the massive cleanup after! I have a feeling that I am going to be taking bags of leftovers back to Boston, which will be good for my tummy and my wallet.

 It was my sisters surprise birthday party today. I took her with Granddad out to a shop to buy a board game and when she got home a bunch of her friends popped out of their hiding spots and scared the living daylights out of her. Of course this was followed by presents, pizza and cake!

 And tomorrow its one of my sisters friends bar mitzvah where more food and cake will be available… I cant wait!

 I think I might get into stocks and investing. I opend an account with a online brocarage (Ing Direct Share Builder), and I guess im just tesing the waters. I have no idea what to expect, how to go about investing but I want to get involved. After all it will help the economy right?

 Right??

Volkswagen invests in Brazil

UPDATE 1-Volkswagen to pour $3.5 bln into Brazil ‘10 to ‘14 | Stocks | Reuters.

Porter Stansberry writes: The world’s best investors don’t see the market the way you do…

Source: read more World’s Best Investors..

You’re stupid. You’ve admitted it, and now you’re seeking help. I want to congratulate you! That’s the first step towards making your stupid life better.
First thing’s first though; you are stupid and will be forever. This book will not change that. This book will however, mask your stupidity from the rest of the world and may lead to promotions, dating, new job opportunities, more friends, and definitely more confidence!
It’s not easy to fool people when you’re stupid. Especially people who aren’t stupid. Let’s call this type of people “Smart” people, shall we? Smart people are very quick to pick up on the fact that you’re stupid. You’ve got to be perfect from the beginning around them, or else they will see you as a sheep in wolf’s clothing. That’s an example of a “smart” idea: a truncated and intentionally-reversed extended metaphor using the structure of a simile. You scoffed at things like this in school, but metaphors, similes, and other clever literary devices are a fundamental part of smart people conversation. Similes and metaphors are discussed in detail later in this book, so we won’t worry about them now.
Instead, what we’ll focus on now is the face you made after reading that sentence about the wolf and the sheep. You scrunched your nose tightly and rolled your eyes around in the hopes that your brain would explain why I was talking about animals. If you are smarter, but still stupid, you waited to make the face until I started talking about all that simile and metaphor stuff. This frowny-eye-rolling is a common face that stupid people make when presented with something that bores them or something they don’t understand. This book is about fixing stupid habits just like that face!
Most of the stupid habits you have are based on your stupid instincts. Right now, I want you to close your mouth, and breathe through your nose. TRUST ME, you won’t suffocate! Go ahead and try it. You see? Now you know you can trust me.
It’s not necessary to understand WHY I want you to do the things I want you to do. The important thing is that you DO them and practice them, over and over, for the rest of your life. Most of these things will be difficult. Breathing through your nose alone will take years for you to master. You currently breathe through your mouth because the “instinct” part of your brain is looking out for your survival. This is because the cognitive or “thinking” part of your brain isn’t capable of making good decisions. Stupid people like yourself are prone to doing things directly opposed to your own survival. For instance, I’m sure you’ve found yourself at one time or another in a single-person competition for stuffing the most miniature marshmallows into your nose to see how many will fit. Since this is literally smothering yourself for no reason, your brain makes you breathe out of your mouth, since it figures you’ll live longer that way.
Don’t worry! You will still be able to indulge all of your fun, stupid impulses. I’ll simply teach you how to save them for “private time”, or “stupid friend hang-out time.” when you’re around other people as stupid, or more stupid, than you are. This book is full of helpful, good habits like “stupid friend hang-out time”. However, every habit will take practice to master, so I want you to make a promise with me.
Go ahead and read this out loud: “I promise that I will follow the instructions in this book. I promise that I will practice every day, and that I won’t give up, no matter how frustrating it is for my stupid brain. Sincerely, me!”
There. You’ve just made a promise to both you and I. You said it out loud, so you have to stick to it. It’s too late to turn back now, which is wonderful, because you’re going to have a great new life! (if you think you and I are the same person, or opposite people from when this introduction began, you’re still reading out loud. Please stop reading out loud.)
To create a sense of familiarity, which will subconsciously compel you to finish the rest of the chapters through recognition, despite your short attention span, Just for fun, I’ll give you a brief overview of the topics we will cover in-depth during the rest of this guide.
The first half of this book is all about breaking down and hiding the stupid things you do:
Chapter 1 is what you’re reading right now.
In chapter 2, I will tell you tricks to keep your stupid life separate from your new smart life. This will be an ongoing process. You will learn to enjoy top 40 music and Michael Bay movies secretly while alone or with a few select stupid friends, instead of loudly and in front of everyone.
In chapter 3, I’ll teach you how to shut your mouth before it says the stupid thing you just thought. You’ll learn to use silence with making faces to pretend that you’re deep in thought.
The second half of this book is all about the tricks you can use to pretend you’re smart:
In chapter 4, we’ll reread the first half of the book, because you’ll have skipped ahead, thinking you didn’t need to learn those techniques and “do homework from a stupid book”.
In chapter 5, you get a makeover! As fun as it seems, this will actually be one of the hardest sections of the book, and one of the most important. You will learn to dress in a “nerd costume” for the rest of your life. Calm down! Stop wrinkling your face, stop chewing your lip, quit punching whatever you’re punching, and listen up. You know deep down that “nerds” are the very smartest of smart people. The benefit of looking like a nerd is that smart people will assume you are socially awkward instead of stupid and will therefore more readily ignore whenever you slip up and do stupid things.
In chapter 6, I’ll discuss using props to appear smart. We will discuss scavenging techniques for smart props, including making habits for success. You’ll learn how to search local coffee shops every morning for partially-completed crossword puzzles to spend the rest of the day pretending to fill out. Tips like this will give silent proof of your “smarts” when people might otherwise see through your smart costume.
In chapter 7, I’ll help you get into the habit of saying smart things and inventing opinions. It DOESN’T MATTER what your opinions are. The only important thing is to NEVER CHANGE YOUR MIND about your opinions. You’ll learn to be condescending about other people’s opinions. I’ll even teach you phrases to use if you get into hot water with someone such as “I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree!” You’ll also learn to memorize a single generic quote to use at parties and whenever you want to impress someone of the opposite sex.
The third half of this book is all about using your newfound techniques to SECURE your future:
In chapter 8, I’ll give you a lie detector test to be sure you’ve read every chapter thoroughly. If not, i’ll remind you that you made a promise to me, and make you go back and read what you skipped.
In chapter 9, I’ll teach you about material investments. It’s important to invest in “things” and “stuff” that will make you appear smart for the rest of your life: a modestly large house, a slightly above-average car, and many more material things. Your stupid thinking is right in assuming the more things you own, the better; but you have to own the RIGHT KINDS of things! Filling your house with the right long-term props is very important. You’ll learn about chess and backgammon boards. You’ll check prices on pianos and expensive-looking (but not extravagant!) artwork.
In chapter 10, you’ll hire an accountant and do EXACTLY what they tell you do with your money. I’ll tell you briefly what a saving account is and why it’s better not to run out and spend every paycheck immediately on liquor and clubbing. Even though you won’t understand right away why this is bad; when you see how savings and investments lead to MORE liquor, you’ll be happy you listened.
In chapter 11, you’ll invent a new category of people you can look down on for the rest of your life, like “Liberal Elites” or “Right Wing Fascists”. This is a prime time to hire a writer to write a book with your name on it! Tell everyone you wrote the book. This is key.
In our last chapter, chapter 12, you’ll make the most important investment in your future; tricking a beautiful INTELLIGENT person into loving and marrying you. This will be the most difficult thing you will EVER do and it will take all the resources you’ve built and all the techniques you’ve learned. You will master keeping your stupid life and your smart life separate by passing off your stupidity once and for all as something else. We will discuss faking Asperger’s Syndrome, Social Anxiety Disorder, and the like.
By the end of this book, you will be a new person; a person you’ve invented. You will be successful beyond belief, and you’ll have someone who loves you for the rest of your life.
Does this sound too good to be true? Well guess what? I’M A STUPID JUST LIKE YOU! Or at least, I used to be. But following my own system, I’ve made a wonderful, explosive new life as a SMART! I’m CEO of my own Fortune 500 company, I have a syndicated talk radio show, I’m married to a supermodel, I live in a mansion in Beverly Hills, and I have three somewhat intelligent children. I’m sure you don’t believe me, but it’s true. All the “smart” phrases I’ve used in this book were painfully constructed over several years using a dictionary, a smart writer friend, and the help of my brilliant wife. My system worked for me! IT WILL WORK FOR YOU!!!

Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees better profits ahead and more upside in U.S. stocks over the next twelve months.

David Bianco, head of U.S. equity strategy at BoAML, raised his 12-month S&P 500 target to 1275 from 1200, after raising his 2010 normalized EPS estimate to $79 from $76.

He said the financials, energy and technology sectors, all almost equally responsible for almost the entire EPS raise.  

“We remain over-weight all three of these sectors and expect strong appreciation. Excluding Financials & Energy, we forecast 2010 EPS up 12% and 2011 up 8%,” he said in a note to clients.  

Over the next month or so, Mr. Bianco expects the S&P 500 will continue to advance and hit 1100 by the end of this year. 

“S&P at 1100 would be trading at 15.5x 4Q09 annualized EPS of about $70, which given current 10yr Treasury bond yields is very undemanding,” he wrote.

Source: Financial Post

Did you know McDonalds was going to become, or Microsoft was going to become, or QVC was going to become the household names they did?  How could you have known they were destined to be staples of the American economy? Everyone has hind sight but few have foresight. If only I had a way or someone to direct me on how to identify a unique growth business poised to dominate a mass market. I don’t have a crystal ball but I can tell you to read and you may start to get the picture of the future.

Steve Squires is HGUE/Solterra Renewable Technologies, Inc.’s CEO. This is his take on the future of Quantum Dots & Solar power from Quantum Dots, look at the Oct. issue, pages 56, 57 & 58   http://www.interpv.net/ebook/ebook_03.asp

What he doesn’t tell you is there is a lot more potential from Medical http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=43821676, Waste Heat Recovery (Could be as big as solar) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=43767056, Biotechnology, Semiconductor http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090401102946.htm, Optoelectronics, Military and Aerospace research fields and finally, OLED/LED’s http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayRe…5066582&EDATE= . What was that about identifying a unique growth business poised to dominate a mass market?

This was my take months ago  and still is,  HGUE is to be a global play that will pay: 

http://solterra1.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/hgue-re-inventing-solar-with-solterra-renewable-technologies/

Helping the environment stay green and clean for our children through innovative science!

I’ve already reported on irregular physical gold settlements which occurred in London, England back in the first week of October, 2009. Specifically, these settlements involved the intermediation of at least one Central Bank [The Bank of England] to resolve allocated settlements on behalf of J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank – who DID NOT have the gold bullion that they had sold short and were contracted to deliver. At the same time I reported on two other unusual occurrences:

1] – irregularities in the publication of the gold ETF – GLD’s bar list from Sept. 25 – Oct.14 where the length of the bar list went from 1,381 pages to under 200 pages and then back up to 800 or so pages.

2] – reports of 400 oz. “good delivery” bricks of gold found gutted and filled with tungsten within the confines of LBMA approved vaults in Hong Kong.

Why Tungsten?

If anyone were contemplating creating “fake” gold bars, tungsten [at roughly $10 per pound] would be the metal of choice since it has the exact same density as gold making a fake bar salted with tungsten indistinguishable from a solid gold bar by simply weighing it.

Unfortunately, there are now more sordid details to report.

When the news of tungsten “salted” gold bars in Hong Kong first surfaced, many people

who I am acquainted with automatically assumed that these bars were manufactured in

China – because China is generally viewed as “the knock-off capital of the world”.

Here’s what I now understand really happened:

The amount of “salted tungsten” gold bars in question was allegedly between 5,600 and 5,700 – 400 oz – good delivery bars [roughly 60 metric tonnes].

This was apparently all highly orchestrated by an extremely well financed criminal operation.

Within mere hours of this scam being identified – Chinese officials had many of the perpetrators in custody.

And here’s what the Chinese allegedly uncovered:

Roughly 15 years ago – during the Clinton Administration [think Robert Rubin, Sir Alan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers] – between 1.3 and 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten blanks were allegedly manufactured by a very high-end, sophisticated refiner in the USA [more than 16 Thousand metric tonnes]. Subsequently, 640,000 of these tungsten blanks received their gold plating and WERE shipped to Ft. Knox and remain there to this day. I know folks who have copies of the original shipping docs with dates and exact weights of “tungsten” bars shipped to Ft. Knox.

The balance of this 1.3 million – 1.5 million 400 oz tungsten cache was also plated and then allegedly “sold” into the international market.

Apparently, the global market is literally “stuffed full of 400 oz salted bars”.

Makes one wonder if the Indians were smart enough to assay their 200 tonne haul from the IMF?

SEBI Allows Auctions for QIBs in FPOs

Market regulator, SEBI has introduced a significant change in the way institutional bidders invest in follow-on public offers by allowing allotments through auctions.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has amended the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements Regulations (ICDR) to allow pure auctions for qualified institutional investors (QIBs) in follow-on public offerings to begin with.

The method may be later extended to initial public offerings.

Under the new method, bidders will be free to bid at any price above the floor price.

At present, allotments are made at the floor price.

Retail investors, however , will be allotted shares at the floor price.

The board also decided that the issuer is free to place a cap either in terms of the number of shares or percentage to issued capital of the company so that a single bidder does not garner all the shares on offer, ensuring a wider distribution of shareholding.

Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Equity Head,  SMC Capitals, said this means an institutional investor can continue to bid above the floor price and the QIB allotment will be made to the highest bidder.

“The intent is to enable companies to mop up more funds. Earlier, even when there were huge subscriptions and huge demand for an issue, the company could not get more money. This becomes more relevant in the context of the recently announced divestment plans and FPOs by the government for public sector units,” he said.

Auction for QIBs is welcome as it would allow risk-taking entities and not just the promoters to be a part of the price discovery process, other analyst said.

A SEBI release issued after the board meeting also said the minimum market capitalisation required by listed firms to sell shares in follow-on offerings has been halved to Rs.5,000 crores  from Rs 10,000 crore.

Moreover, the market regulator has also made it a mandatory that all listed companies would have to furnish audited or un-audited balance sheets on a half-yearly basis within 45 days from the end of the quarter instead of the current yearly basis.

This would imply that Indian companies will be required to disclose balance sheet items.

Shareholders would be able to access the statement of assets and liabilities of the company and its solvency position on a half-yearly basis.

Shareholders would receive immense help in making informed investment decisions now and would be in better position to assess the financial health of the companies, with the implementation of this SEBI regulation of mandating frequent disclosure of the asset-liability position of companies by companies.

   Last night I strode through the rain to the Hyatt Hotel where the BC branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) held their annual students dinner and talk.  The foyer was crowded with students drinking and laughing with old folk in the mining industry—the sound bouncing off the plaster and paint of the walls was so terrible that I fled to a quiet bar nearby. 

   When the crowd finally filtered into the dining chamber, I snuck back in, hoping the noise would have moderated.  For my luck I found myself at a table with three third- and forth-year mining students, all women in mining.  Over a terrible dinner of untouched lettuce leaves served the same huge size they were picked with some stringent vinegar thrown over for bad measure, and a dense breast of chicken over-cooked and subsequently kept heated for crowd-control, we chatted amiably about student life, working in Fort McMurray, choosing jobs by the random pick method, and the peculiarities of some of the university professors.  As one student told me: I know about heap leaching now after two lectures–you pile the stuff up and sprinkle water and chemicals on it. 

I joke.  These three are smart and informed.  They could easily take over the mining industry now and soon in the future.  I asked them, “Why Mining?”   The answers varied, but came down to the common: good scholarships, open places in the department, the opportunity to travel, and sounds interesting.  Good enough for me.

    The after-dinner speaker was Don Lindsay, CEO  of Teck.   I have listened to him talk before.  I have seen him walk back alone from a conference presentation through the cold of a winter day in Edmonton.  Then last night.  He gave a superb speech.  As good as anything Obama seems to give off the cuff.  The humanism and intelligence coupled with humor and self deprecation shine through.  He mostly told stories; here are some that I try to tell as he told them, although I will never capture his tone and rhythms.

After first year university I went to work the holidays in a uranium mine.  They put me as a helper to the best driller.  He made sure I pulled the fan up to the face where he was drilling as I mucked out behind him.  I made money enough to return to university, but before I left is was called to the mine manager.  He carefully explained that because of the location of the fan, I hade received excessive radiation exposure—about what you would get from six X-Ray.  I suppose I survived and I have two daughters so it is OK.  But the lesson, is that on the mines and at Teck, we are all our brother keeper when it comes to health and safety.

 He warned about coming uniformed conclusions by telling these stories of the Olympics:

Teck produced the metals for the upcoming winter Olympics in Vancouver.  When they “unveiled” them to me, they had TV cameras on my face to record my reaction.  Now, I have seen many other Olympic medals and many are very beautiful.  They opened the box on the new ones and all I could think was “They are bent and distorted.  I could think of nothing to say, until in reply to a question I blurted out ‘I am overwhelmed.’”   Only later was I shown a film that explains that the medals depict the Orca Whale and the bend represents the waves in which the Orca lives as part of an integrated pod.  Now I see the beauty of the medals, for now I comprehend their symbolism.  Point is defer judgement until you know more.

Then there was the time I took three Teck directors to the Beijing Olympics.   They were all over seventy as were their wives.  We asked if we could see something other than the women’s volleyball–did not seem quite appropriate for old men and their wives.  Instead at the last moment I was told we were going to watch women’s weight lifting.  My hear sank at the thought of 250 pound mustaches.  I was however quite wrong, for the winner was a slim Chinese girl who was fast, precise, skilled, and professional.  Point is once again we often make incorrect first judgements. 

He proceeded to stories of flying to Toronto to persuade the heads of banks to finance Teck to the tune of $9 billion as it took over Fording Coal last year at the depth of the economic crisis.  He told of putting his daughters to bed one evening between Christmas and New Year and then sitting alone in his study, wondering. “How are we ever going to get out of this.” 

Don is positive on China: he says that ninety-eight percent of the Chinese are free to do what they want to do.  Most do not care about the other restrictions.  His opinion is probably a reflection of the fact that the Chinese are now major shareholders of Teck and a major purchaser of the coal Teck produces.   

Don believes mining will continue to boom because of the inexorable push by the Chinese and Indians for a better life founded on more materials mined by Teck.  Maybe we should all pop down and buy a few Teck shares before they go higher.  Certainly, my opinion is that as long as Don is in charge this is possible. 

(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) – Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has paid a $100,000 fine after the corporate watchdog pursued it over an alleged failure to disclose an expected rise in bad debt charges amid a planned $2 billion capital raising last year.

Australia’s biggest lender on Wednesday said that while it had agreed to pay the penalty imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), it was not an admission of liability or contravention of continuous disclosure rules under the Corporations Act.

Chief executive Ralph Norris said the bank was disappointed by ASIC’s decision to issue the notice and defended itself against the regulator’s allegations relating to its forecasts for loan impairment expense to gross loans and acceptances ratio for 2008/09.

At the time of the raising announced in late 2008, documentation held by the bank pointed to an expected full year loan impairment expense of around 60 basis points, with most of that charge to be booked in the first half.

But the forecast contrasted with an earlier statement in November 2008 for an annual loan impairment expense of between 40 basis points and 50 basis points.

ASIC alleged CBA had failed to notify the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after it became aware that the charge would rise.

“Loan impairment expense is a single line item in the group’s profit and loss statement and cannot be considered in isolation,” Mr Norris said in a statement on Wednesday.

“As noted in our ASX announcement at the time, we were experiencing strong volume and revenue growth which, in our view, significantly offset the forecast increase in loan impairment expense, such that the net impact on our overall profitability was not material.”

ASIC said in a statement on Wednesday the increase was capable of adversely affecting CBA’s forecasted full year 2008/09 net profit by between five and seven per cent.

In August this year, CBA reported a seven per cent fall in 2008/09 cash earnings to $4.415 billion and a one per cent decline in statutory net profit to $4.723 billion.

Under the chain of events that caught ASIC’s eye, CBA last November notified the market that its exposure the collapses of US Investment bank Lehman Brothers, and local companies Allco Finance Group Ltd and ABC Learning Centres Ltd, would result in a full year impairment expense of between 40 and 50 basis points.

On December 16, it attempted a $2 billion raising including an institutional placement of shares at $27 each through Merrill Lynch International Australia.

That afternoon, ASIC said, Merrill Lynch canvassed major institutional shareholders about their interest in the shares and advised CBA of the outcome before the market closed.

At 1500 AEDT, CBA had become aware of credit quality analysis reflecting the changed impairment expense forecast.

ASIC said CBA was therefore obliged to immediately notify the Exchange as it was “a significant deterioration” and was “price sensitive”.

The bank did not make a statement to the Exchange until around 1914 AEDT that day.

The capital raising had to be revised and replaced after some Investors complained they had not been aware the bank had changed its impairment expense forecast before buying into the placement.

CBA on December 17 terminated its share placement agreement with Merrill Lynch saying the investment bank did not inform potential investors of the “various disclosures made by the bank” in its statement of the previous evening.

Merrill Lynch said at the time it did not accept the bank’s characterisation of events.

CBA handed the deal to UBS, which underwrote a new $1.65 billion placement at $26 a share, down from the initial price of $27 per share.

ASIC noted CBA had elected to comply with its infringement notice and that, as stated in the act, compliance “is not an admission of guilt or liability”.

Source: CBA fined $100K for alleged breach

Gymnastics is an expensive sport. Based on an Excel spreadsheet I keep, in 2009 I’ve spent about $6,300 already on gymnastics-related expenses! That sum includes a monthly tuition of nearly $300, leotards, extra meet fees, doctor’s visits, first aid, special shoes and hand grips,  etc. Apart from tuition and the leotard/warmup, everything else is technically non-essential, but they’re all part of the sport.

In a previous post I talked about how I’ve started saving money with the intention to train full-time in the fall of 2012. To have the freedom to do that without worrying about the expenses is my definition of “rich”.
In the interest of saving as much money as possible, in the most sustainable and painless ways possible, I recently began reading Ramit Sethi’s New York Time-bestselling book I Will Teach You to be Rich. Seriously, I cannot recommend this book enough!!! Since I’ve started reading the book a few days ago, I’ve taken the following steps:

• Reactivated an online savings account with ING Direct
• Signed up for an account with mint.com, a site that analyzes your accounts and expenditures for you. [I'll be honest...It doesn't seem to bring any value yet, but we'll see.]
• Finally signed up for my company-sponsored 401(k) plan. Terrible that I’ve waited 2+ years, I know! But that’s the value of this book…the content is clearly written to demonstrate the value of all different types of financial investments, so even the most procrastinating investor [me] is immediately compelled to the necessary steps.
• Taken my credit card and store rewards cards out of my purse and put them away so I can’t use them and will stay within my budget. I pay off all my bills in full every month, but I’d like to get away from using them regularly at all. I want to get out of the habit of spending money I don’t have in my checking account right now. I’ve actually been wanting to do this for months, but again…

Over the last few months I’ve also done the following:

• Ended my Gold’s Gym membership. Total saved=$43.99/month
• Realized the bulk of my income (after bills and obligatory expenses but before investing in savings) goes to purses and handbags. :-\ Glad to say I’ve curtailed that mini-obsession…last one I bought was in August! Total saved=$150-$300/month. REALLY! Wish I were exaggerating! (But at least with the number of really nice handbags I now have, I won’t have to buy any new ones for a very, very, very long time!)
• Begun eating sushi only once every two weeks. This was tough at first but it’s gotten easier after realizing how much I save, and how many homemade meals can be purchased with that money. Total saved= about $60-$80/month

What is your definition of rich, and what steps are you taking?

I am seeing more and more places open and close in a short amount of time these days. Where I live now, a club opened and closed in about 5 months. How disappointing is that? The place was huge, so you know the deposit and rent was high. They remodeled it, so it took even more money, and now, all that money is gone. And why you might ask? Because like so many places they thought that just because they opened their doors, people would come running in with money. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way, although I wish it did, life would be so easy. But to run a business, there are many facets to it, but letting people know you are there is key. There is advertising, marketing, social networks, street teams and so on. Don’t limit yourself to one, use all of them everyday all day. You can never stop telling people about your business. Even if you are in an elevator that is only going to the next floor, use it to start up a conversation and tell that person about your place and why they should come to you. Everyone is a potential customer, don’t prequalify someone based on their looks, age, or anything else. If they have money, you want ‘em!

Hope they raise that debt limit, like tomorrow.

GNI (Gold Nugget Invest) is facing low reserves of STP, and are offering the possibility to withdraw to others processors at no cost:

STP Withdrawls
Posted Nov 17th, 2009

Attention GNI Customers Utilizing Solid Trust Pay E-Currency Services:

We have made it our priority to keep our trusted members current with our operations issues so that “mis-information,” intentionally made or not, can be addressed in a way that our members can be assured we are ALWAYS truthful and will do what it is we say we will do.

Since the latter part of last week (w/e November 14), we have incurred a rather significant disparity in our distribution of and holdings of our e-currency. The logical assumption is the introduction of our e-currency exchanger. While this has introduced some unrelated challenges, it has not had any significant impact in our currency allocation(s).

We have, at the current moment, a disparity in our level of SolidTrustPay e-currency vs. StrictPay and to a lesser extent, LibertyReserve.

Specifically, we have more Strictpay and less SolidTrustPay.

Our exhaustive attempts to exchange SP for STP have shown there are significantly less exchangers availing STP. Those exchangers that had STP, did not so in the levels that we require. Despite our best efforts, we have not been successful finding or locating an amount of STP that will meet our current needs.

Therefore, what we have done and will be doing, is allowing those of you who currently use STP as their PP, the ability to exchange your STP to the currency of your choice at no cost.(0%). There will be some intangible expenses, such as an inconvenience and the time it will take for those of you who to properly add a new account to your profile. (For those who need assistance, please send a support ticket)

For Those of you who insist upon using STP as your withdrawal processor, this is certainly your choice, but we can’t even estimate the turnaround time for your withdrawal. Timely withdrawals is something we hold near and dear.

We have already made the change (reduced the exchange rate to 0 for those who have STP and wish to go with another e-currency). Upon the completion of this update, I will be deleting all STP pending withdrawals which will allow you to select a new withdrawal mechanism (or to stay with STP).

We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Todd – GNI Customer Service

Learning how to buy stocks online can be tricky, because so many online stock brokerages advertise prices that initially seem very low, but add up to a serious expense for you down the road.  For example, one popular online brokerage offers stock trading for $7 per trade.  Most people see the $7 price tag and say “great, I can afford $7″ and they sign up with that online broker.

The problems come along down the road when the investor realizes that the only reliable way to make money in the stock market is to diversify among sectors.  The investor might decide that they want to invest in 5o stocks to achieve the level of diversity that they are comfortable with.  This means that they will now be paying $7 for each trade for each of the 50 stocks that they buy.  If they plan to add to their holdings monthly, this brings their brokerage bill to $350 per month! This can amount to a huge chunk out of most people’s monthly stock investment.  To get out of this cycle, investors need to learn how to diversify for cheap.

Luckily, there is a new class of brokerages that allow you to do just this.  You can maximize the diversity of your monthly stock investments for dramatically reduced monthly costs by clicking the following link and continuing to  read this short article about:  How to Buy Stocks Online: Diversify for Cheap.

 ”I’m going to guess you’ve made a financial mistake or two in your life. Who hasn’t? For some of us, it was more than an occasional late fee or random urge to overspend that brought us to our financial knees. But I’m not talking about the kind of blunders that got us into trouble—we could list those in our sleep. Instead, I want to focus on the mistakes people make while they’re working their way back to financial health. Whether you’re recovering from a season of unemployment or from a financial mess you created on your own, avoid these goofs and you’ll get where you want to go much…”

Click Here  for the article.

[pic: yahoo.com]

16th November 2009 – Jatropha Curcas Bio-Diesel Project and Bionas Murabahah Investment Program. Venue: De Palma Inn, Shah Alam. Time: 8.30pm. All welcome to attend….

datanglah beramai-ramai ..it is a free seminar..and you will discover new thingss…..

If you’re looking for a tax break this year, there’s still time to open a Solo 401(K). But do your research and seek experts to help you understand the plan, how to manage your account without the need for a custodian which amounts to extra fees, and how to transfer your existing new plan. You’ll find the options for investing and maximizing your contributions are plentiful but the clock’s ticking—you only have until December 31st to open one for 2009.