Small Business Boomers

My wife and I have been looking to downsize our house for the past year.  Our big problem is that we like the house we live in, but a ranch configuration would be better than the salt-box we have.  Of course the housing market stinks just now.  Selling our current digs would be difficult.
My wife, who keeps up with the housing market and home renovations as entertainment, suggested that we need to upgrade our house to make it more marketable.  I wasn’t that thrilled.  She said we should do it now so that we can enjoy the upgrades and be …read more

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Three things came up this weekend that do NOT bode well for the economy.   First, George Will mentioned tha the last time we had a large loss in capital similar to what we are seeing in the housing industry was the .com bust in the ’90’s.  Second, the New York Times does a review of the top 5 stories for the past week in their Sunday paper.  Four of the five were bad news about the housing sector.  The other was about the rising price of oil.  Third, the largest low end house builder in the Milwaukee is selling off large …read more

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The Saturday WSJ always has good things.  Thanks go to Eleanor Laise for pulling this info together on the front page of the Money & Investing section of today’s paper.
Seems over the past 2 months, there are some new tools out to rate mutual funds.  These tools are fairly similar to the Morningstar and Lipper services.  Fundgrades.com from Financeware and it’s free.  Can’t beat that.  It comes with a twist that I like in this age of funds that have a go-anywhere attitude.  You can compare a fund aganist any group of assets you pick.
On the ETF side check out etfguide.com/beta.  …read more

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Most every Saturday morning I go a Methodist church to attend my advanced yoga class.  Someone once said to me that they heard that yoga relaxes you.  To which I replied, “Yes, the pain keeps you from thinking of anything else.”  And, it’s good for you, too.
Anyway, me and 3 to a dozen women pay a five-two, sixty year old, woman $10 a session to beat the carp out of us.  It’s wonderful.  I’m sure it’s part of the same psychology that keeps me going back to business start-ups.  I’ve been doing this for 11 years now, which means that …read more

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This is probably the most significant blog posting I have made to date.  It is in support of my philosophy of life.  It is too short to drink bad beer.  That is why I’m so unhappy to see that the major brewers of swill in the US have gotten into craft brewing.  Bud and Miller are all about hype and accounting.  Craft beers are all about taking care of the customer.
Question: would you let the resturant’s accountant cook your meal?
I’m upset because I understand the power of money, having seen GE roll over smaller players with impunity.  Miller and Bud will suck …read more

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Collateralized Debt Offerings or CDO’s are investment vehicles which are a form of sub-prime mortgage bonds.  They suffer from the same sickness as bonds backed by sub-prime mortgages.  Nobody know what the real risk of default is on these financial instruments.  They have become a victim of their own success.
When CDOs were a rare commodity lenders and investors had time to sit down and investigate the pieces that makeup a single bond offering.  People were careful and got a good handle on the true risk associated with these financial packages.  Because the risk was known, the bonds could be properly …read more

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It’s a tradition in the Milwaukee area that you bring in treats for your birthday.  It’s my birthday.  I’m 62.  Seeing that this is my virtual workplace and you are all my virtual associates go and have yourself a piece of virtual tiramisu or creme bru le if you are so inclined.

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At the end of WWII General Electric began a study to determine what in a company’s business practices, environment, personnel, strategy, and such were the key elements to success.  GE continued this for a number of years and then turned the project over to Harvard.  Each year the survey turned up the same answer.  It didn’t have anything to do with capital structure, education of management, scale of operations and that sort of thing.  The overwhelming driver of corporate success was being in the right market, at the right time, with the right products.  Because of the ever consistant answer, the …read more

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If you’ve never been a workaholic you ought to give it a try.  Certainly, someone starting up their own business has to want to work their ass off 24/7 for years to come.  It takes a certain amount of physical stamina and a great sense of humor.  Still, if you’ve never given yourself totally to something, you should give it a try.  Unquestioning commitment and mind numbing labor do bring on a certain spiritual quality.
I know you’re thinking, but I’m going to make it big and go live on the beach.  To that I say, only if your father built …read more

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At one point I made 221 cold calls over the phone.  That was 15 years ago before voice mail was ubiquitous.  There is a $10 word I dislike, but it fits.  During that week I spoke with 27% of those people.  I actually got to say my piece to a human being before they made a decision.  I actually liked the spoken “No”, because I could ask “Why?”  I can turn no’s into yes’s if I can ask the question.
In those days, if I left a message, a human being wrote it down, usually on a little piece of pink …read more

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