If you want to do research, you might start with how do reporters do investigative reporting? One method is to review the books, the journalism students are given and one will similar to what Canadian students are given – Digging Deeper by Robert Cribbb, Dean Jobb, David McKie and Fred Vallance-Jones published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2006.

Tips on Financial Statements

Cash is king.    A company’s lifeblood is cash flow, not profit. It is a bad sign when cash flow is decreasing. An important metric is free cash flow – cash flow from operations minus property and equipment purchases.

Soft spots – The balance sheet tells a story about the company’s overall financial condition. You can find out whether a company’s debt is growing or whether it is having trouble collecting from customers. If the debt is increasing, can the company earn enough to pay the debt off? What is a sale?

It will not happen again (maybe) – Beware of costs labeled nonrecurring or unusual or one time. If they are there, check previous balance sheets to see if they are there? if they are what is the one time asset?

Forms from Securities Regulators

Public companies must file forms with the regulators. Only when they are out of place do they begin to raise alarm bells. When companies do file them, there are often in the business press.

Auditors and fees                                      Proxy Statement

Auditor’s Resignation                              8-K  (publication of material change)

Basic details of company’s business    10-K

Bios and salaries of key employees       PRE-  14-A

Company’s history                                      10-K

Executive Pay                                                 10-K

Financial statements                                 10-K

Fiscal year                                                      10-K

Former executives                                        10-K

Legal trouble                                                  10-K

Management changes                                  8-K

Merger agreements                                      8-K

Products                                                           10-K

Related party deals                                        Proxy and 10-K

SEC Lawsuits                                                http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/shtm/

Class action                                            http://securites.stanford.edu/companies.html                            click on index filings

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most of the time the only form you will be interested is the 10-K because it gives you information about the company and what it does. What material changes are occurring and if they matter. Changing an auditor is not necessarily a bad thing, but it could be depending on the reason. (one of the problems of the Bernie Madoff scam was a small office auditor for such complicated transactions. Many things in the securities business is a maybe. You do not how the stock will perform until it does; but you can lower the maybe to companies that have been profitable for a number of years and can consistently pay their dividends. One of the good things about major problems is you can see how the company has handled them in the past, likely their first reaction will the same in the future.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

 

If you want to do research, you might start with how do reporters do investigative reporting? One method is to review the books, the journalism students are given and one will similar to what Canadian students are given – Digging Deeper by Robert Cribbb, Dean Jobb, David McKie and Fred Vallance-Jones published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2006.

Getting People to Talk – The Art of the Interview

No matter how good you are at searching through material, the simple and best answers come from people who have knowledge. Depending on why you are searching, people will give you information – but most senior level people have a wall that needs to be breached. For investigative interview

What to prepare: you need to understand your topic, the role your interviewee plays and much about the person as possible.

What to ask: content is what do you want to know. You will be probing into 3 categories personal, impersonal and abstract.

Personal is what details and role the person knows and what does it lead. Impersonal is what is important to a person but they are not directly involved. Abstract refers to concepts of the law or a scientific principle.

Your questions are a combination of close and open end statements. Close-ended help confirm the basic fasts. Open-ended allow a person to talk and under the correct circumstances people love to talk.

Where to do it: face to face is better than the phone.

How to act: listen well.

How to strategize: a story has a beginning, middle and end with some high and low points along the way. Be flexible and let the conversation go where it needs to go. If you are speaking to a senior level person remember they were likely coached 5 ways to say the same thing. First start with the basic facts so you both agree on something. Then you present your findings and ask and watch for their reaction. Try not to be judgmental and wrap up without thinking the person is the enemy.

Follow the Money

Most stories involve money, for many investigative reporting – part of the answer is why does the money matter? what does it say about the mythical average person living their life?

Public companies are public because they have to disclose their financial records to the public in annual reports and to the Securities and Exchange when they do something material. Every once in a while, private companies disclose things they really do want others to see. Much of public company information is a comparison to other years and how they make their money, what is the debt load; pay attention to special charges and sale of assets because they are suppose to one time elements. How much does the company rely on them? Cash or can and does the company pay its bills?

Private companies information primarily comes from court cases when they have to disclose information. Private companies details often come in court through estate, trust or divorce cases.

Do not forget the Securities Regulators have access to information that can be semi public. Legally companies have information to file or they can be deregulated.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, companies that make money on a consistent basis tend to have cleaner balance sheets than companies that stretch the grey area. The easier the balance sheet is to understand the less worry as an investor you have. In is similar to personal stories – those that have extra disposable income are under less stress than those who are closer to the line to meet their debts. Investing is about following the money and how does a company make money.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

If you want to do research, you might start with how do reporters do investigative reporting? One method is to review the books, the journalism students are given and one will similar to what Canadian students are given – Digging Deeper by Robert Cribbb, Dean Jobb, David McKie and Fred Vallance-Jones published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2006.

Key Primary Sources

Websites  – what are you curious about?

Newspapers – give a picture of what is happening in the community

Magazines – every broad topic has a magazine, what do the senior people in the industry read?

Journals – all university professors have to publish, they publish in journals in their field. They write for those in the field which may mean you need to be familiar with the terms.

Theses – some universities programs to graduate the student needs to write a theses – many are on line, but if you are near university you can read them at the university library.

Books – libraries are filled with books, to help you and invariably someone has written a book on what you are curious about, if you are from a smaller library system you can borrow the book through inter library loans.

Radio and TV transcripts – the shows need content to fill the airways and the transcripts are available, sometimes on line.

Mailing lists – will help you determine who has information about what your are curious.

Blogs – anyone can write one and people tend to write for a reason.

Just remember all secondary sources need to be independently verified, but they are a great starting point.

Using Public Records

One complaint many people will have is completing paperwork for the government. The government collects a great deal of information and the good news is the information can be accessed. It may take a while but you will catch on to the forms.

Before you start with the government you have to ask 3 broad questions:

1. What level of government has jurisdiction over the issue – federal, state or municipal
2. What specific department would have the information? Does the issue cross departments?
3. How are the records maintained and released to the public?

The government requires information and that will lead to whether the person or the company is giving all the information they could?

Accessing Laws and Justice System Records

Whenever there is a law, there is someone breaking it and that information will become public if you know where to look. Law suits, bankruptcy, divorce courts provide information between people and companies.

Web searching

The internet does not make a stupid journalist smart, but it does make a smart journalist smarter, says journalist Julian Sher.

Try typing your name  – hopefully many things will come up but will they are be helpful or you need to narrow the search.

Phrase searching – most search engines are not good at use double quotation marks ”  Joe Smith”

Searching document titles – try title:”Joe Smith”

Domain and URL searches:   Every website address ends with a top-level domain suffix such as .com (businesses) or .mil (military sites) or .edu (Universities and colleges)

domain:edu AND “Joe Smith”

Format Searches  – consider a document’s format as a search option. Google Advanced lets you limit your search to PowerPoint presentations, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Adobe Acrobat files and others.

Finding experts – ProfNet (www.prnewswire.com)   is a quick way to reach into those who have expertise into your area of curiosity.

You can also try http://www.experts.com  (an international expert database) and many countries have databases for their home base experts.

In your search be open to new lines of inquiry, and each time you get a relevant document, consider not only what it tells you but where it might lead you.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, learning where to look takes time but can lead to information which will save you money. As an investor in a public company, you made it for a reason and it is worth going back to the reasons and an information search helps you determine if the reason still exists. Often times the easiest method is to keep it simple – how does the company make its money? is the company profitable? can it pay its dividend and are expectations for it to rise? If you can easily answer the questions your research is done and you can enjoy the other parts of your life.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the time as dividend investors there is need to do research but little to do investigative reporting because profitable stocks are followed by analysts. The investment banks have somebody following the company as well as forecasting what it should do and then when the results come in – as an investor you can compare. The bulk of the research is done for you and if the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, there should be more than one analyst following the company. That being said, it is recognized the investment bank analyst is not necessarily working for you, his or her company wishes to gain fees from transactions with the company – issuing shares, bonds, refinance, bridge loans on takeovers friendly or non-friendly, offering opinions on values to sell assets, etc. There is a duo role, which is the reason why there are very few sell recommendations.

If you want to do research, you might start with how do reporters do investigative reporting? One method is to review the books, the journalism students are given and one will similar to what Canadian students are given – Digging Deeper by Robert Cribbb, Dean Jobb, David McKie and Fred Vallance-Jones published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2006.

What Makes a Good Investigative Story?

Investigative stories can be about any topic imaginable but some work better than others.

The under-reported story  – small things add up; if it happens to one is it happening to more?

An injustice – if you uncover a real injustice it will always be well read.

Corruption or crime – is it small or large? price fixing which will affect share prices?

A faulty system or process  – every company and government has processes  do they always work?

A human element – a good investigative story has people at its core. Think of the movie Erin Brockvich and the effect the investigation had on the power company stock and bonds.

Something new – a story about a public figure and a financial scandal. Something widely believed but never proven.

A story appropriate for your audience – if nobody reads your information nobody benefits from it.

Where do Good Ideas Come From?

The beat – for reporters they tend to develop expertise in the area they are assigned and through the usual suspects on the beat they need to talk to ideas appear.

Clippings – daily news or news headlines – what could be enhanced upon?

Tipsters  – everyone knows something about something and once in a while they want to tell someone. It can lead to something more and the verification begins.

A hunch – sometimes a question or detail will bug you. You wonder why something happened or how something works. The movie the Pelican Brief was about that.

Documents – reports need to be filed in the public. Looking at them red flags can come up.

Databases – looking through them you can find something which analysis will send you in a different direction.

Friends and neighbors – the causal comment will send you on a direction. Often it is somebody in the field and they say I am not allowed to comment.

Direct observation – looking around the places you go

Advocacy organizations – they have their biases but they also tend to have valid background information.

Reviewing and Auditing the Idea

A great many factors have to be considered before you devote substantial energy and time to an investigation. Think about it – are you prepared to devote weeks to it?

Develop the Plan

If the answer to the above is go ahead – start the work and stay organized. Start work in the general public and then move to people with more expertise than you have.

Sometimes you have to cut your losses and move on. Other times you can keep going but remember your ethics – do not lie, steal or misrepresent yourself.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, unlike the journalism world, the investment world revolves around money. If you are researching to get into the market, the best thing to do is follow some companies and buy when the shares go into the price you are comfortable with. If you own the stock and have concerns which would affect the stock price the easiest thing to do is sell out hopefully at a higher price and move to the sideline or to different alternative. You are often not stuck holding the position because on the stock market you have a liquidity or a ready market in your favor.Being curious is a great thing to have in life, but remember the markets work on money and unless you are shorting a stock, often times the best solution is sell and move on.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the time as dividend investors there is need to do research but little to do investigative reporting because profitable stocks are followed by analysts. The investment banks have somebody following the company as well as forecasting what it should do and then when the results come in – as an investor you can compare. The bulk of the research is done for you and if the company has been paying a dividend for a long time, there should be more than one analyst following the company. That being said, it is recognized the investment bank analyst is not necessarily working for you, his or her company wishes to gain fees from transactions with the company – issuing shares, bonds, refinance, bridge loans on takeovers friendly or non-friendly, offering opinions on values to sell assets, etc. There is a duo role, which is the reason why there are very few sell recommendations. However there are times when you need to do more research and a recent example is Valeant Pharmaceuticals – its stock a year ago set a high of $268 and now trades at $22. The once high flyer was the darling of the industry, raising over $ 30 billion in debt; raising prices as there was no tomorrow and using an increasing stock price to grow. Now the model is gone and the company is under a increasing microscope all its practices under review. What else did it go into the grey area? What is it true value?  How did everyone miss it for so many years?

If you want to do research, you might start with how do reporters do investigative reporting? One method is to review the books, the journalism students are given and one will similar to what Canadian students are given – Digging Deeper by Robert Cribbb, Dean Jobb, David McKie and Fred Vallance-Jones published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2006.  The 12 keys to successful investigations are:

1. Curiosity – why did that happen? who was responsible? how does it work? Curiosity is the engine that powers many other crucial parts of the investigation. it also keeps you going when obstacles and frustrations impede you along the way.

If you remember Watergate, after the burglars were caught and were in court, a senior member of the Justice department was there. The reporters asked why is he here? who does he represent? normally it connected to the White House.

In the movie The Contract with Morgan Freeman and John Cusack – the reporter asked why did the prisoner say Thank You to the Officer?

In the age of the internet where curiosity can take you anywhere, many people including me watch a movie rather than being really curios about anything.

2. Preparation  – think of your research as a job interview. You need to investigate the company – what is present in the marketplace (for all to see) and the 10k reports – for their SWAT analysis and how the company sees the world. The internet is great for preparation work.

3. Organization – there is no best except for if you need to quickly find any document or interview you need and understand its significance, as well as come to understand the bigger picture and develop a list of key points. If you stay organized throughout you will save hours or day when you reach the writing stage of your product.  One of the best methods is still chronologically. Mark everything down similar to being a lawyer.

4. Patience – its patience to research and write an investigative story. You are always waiting for something, whether it is a reluctant source to return your calls, public officials to respond to freedom of information requests or inspiration to hit.

5. Tenacity  – there will be many obstacles, but the key is sticking with it. Bureaucrats will fight to stop you from obtaining public documents. Key sources will be difficult to find or be reluctant to speak to you. Databases will seem impenetrable and unintelligible. Sometimes you will not have a clue how to nail down a crucial piece of information.

6. Resourcefulness – while much of the world seems to be open, people still like keeping secrets. You will need to use your initiative in deciding where to look. The creative use of the available resources allows you to assemble your information successfully.

7. Thoroughness and completeness – in your research you will go down many roads, some will be dead ends. some will lead you to other roads. You need to know enough to decide whether to keep digging or when you ask people who are not saying, if they are telling the whole truth or will ramble about something fact you are not aware of.

8. Attention and observation – you need to be on the look out for the unexpected or for any facts which contradict their hypothesis. What can you learn by observing both what is said and not said?

9. Open-mindedness – You want to be accurate and right. Constantly challenge your assumptions. Try just as hard to disprove your hypothesis as to prove it.

10. Care, caution and discretion – investigations look into the reputations of others, with this power comes great responsibility. Livelihoods and careers can be ended.

11. Skepticism – you need to maintain a healthy skepticism. You should not be cynical but facts and statements are checked and verified by others rather than just repeated.

12. Time – investigation takes time from doing other things, although if it is important to you, elements can be squeezed in here and there and invariably linked to other things you do.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the great thing about the stock market is there are other options. If you do not like the stock for any reason, find an alternative. That however is easier said than done because similar to all things in life as humans we develop some form of attachment to our holdings. Whether it is places we have been in the past, homes, or investments. Typically as dividend holders you will own your shares as long as the company earns a profit and can pay a dividends – ideally rising them on a yearly basis. The time to sell is when the company is either taken over or it does something which you do not like – buys companies which you do not like or areas where you do not think it should be. Most of the time you will not do a great deal of investigative reporting because you can use diversification strategies and if the holding is too big – sell some. However from time to time if you are curious or have a theory – you can investigate it.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

 

One of the reasons why successful people are successful is the follow-through factor, they have an idea or dream and work on it till it is completion. It sounds easy, yet for millions of people have ideas, they may even start on it and life and nagging questions begin to slow it down and grind it to a halt. If you look around you, it is easy to see. It is even easier to do. If you really want to jump the barrier, how do you do it? One of the answers is with a coach and Gene Hayden is a coach who has written a book to help. The book is called The Follow-Through Factor by Gene Hayden published by McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2010.

Energy; Ask yourself only once if you want to follow through. And when you come up with an answer, stick to it. Do not keep asking yourself the same question over and over again. You made a decision, stick to it.

Money: Give yourself permission to invest in your potential. Know that even if the worst happens and do not get the payback you want, you will survive and have something you can apply to your future.

Intuition: You need to connect with your intuition to trust in yourself and project the message that your are confident and in control. To gain clarity in interactions with others, get out of your head and into theirs by asking questions about what they are thinking, needing and feeling.

Lacking a mentor: Build your own mentor by patching together the compliments you have received, the wins you had and the fears you have conquered over your lifetime. In the absence of a mentor, the mirror with have to do.

Boredom: Every project requires some grunt work, so be bored and do not run from it. Stick with boredom; more often than not it gives way to inspiration.

Impatient: The way to counter impatience is to set up a series of achievable min-steps that you have to power to accomplish. Remember patience is also a form of action.

Failure: It is easier to accept and justify mistakes than to explain inaction, even to ourselves.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, buying them and achieving wealth allows you to have more options in life. It is easier to follow your dreams if you know that there is a continuing dividend going to your accounts. It is easier to use some of the capital gains to whatever you have thought about, although for many things in life, it does not have to cost a lot of money to enjoy. If you learn to love nature, the beauty is spending more time in it. There are many challenges in the world, make stock investing as simple as buying profitable companies and enjoying their gains. The challenge is which profitable company do you start with.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

One of the reasons why successful people are successful is the follow-through factor, they have an idea or dream and work on it till it is completion. It sounds easy, yet for millions of people have ideas, they may even start on it and life and nagging questions begin to slow it down and grind it to a halt. If you look around you, it is easy to see. It is even easier to do. If you really want to jump the barrier, how do you do it? One of the answers is with a coach and Gene Hayden is a coach who has written a book to help. The book is called The Follow-Through Factor by Gene Hayden published by McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2010.

Sometimes you just do not know what you want to. You think you know, but you are open to possibility of being wrong. Nobody yo-yos better and faster with the word maybe than you do. The issue is the there is not one authoritative overriding truth to guide you. The solution is because their is truth in every perspective, which one gives you an energy charge. One solution perks you up? It helps to ask questions such as: why do I want to make this idea happen? are there other ways to achieve what I want? and what is the price I will pay? The price is not actually a dollar amount but it will require an investment of time, focus and energy to do it. For the first question of why – ask yourself or have someone ask you 10 why questions and you need to answer all of them and because is not an answer.

The summary of the chapters are worth thinking about:

Follow-through: The worst thing that happens to those who fail short in follow-through is nothing. The opposite of success is not failure, but status quo.

Faith In Yourself: Faith is about the relationship you have with yourself. You need to trust that pursing your goal is worthy and the right thing for you to do, if for no other reason than you will like yourself better for trying.

Knowing whether to pursue a goal: Understanding how activities link to your interests and values is the surest path to understanding the source of your faith.

Truth: Truth is defined as a valid perspective. And every perspective has some validity. To help you figure out what’s true for you, redefine truth as a source of positive energy.

Pointlessness – nothing has meaning but meaning you give it. If it is worthwhile to you, that is the whole point of going for it.

Choice: There is good and not so good for every road. It does not matter which path you pick, just pick one and start moving.

Passion: No one feels the love 24/7 when developing an idea and struggling to make it work. But when you stick with something, your affection for it grows, not diminishes.

Not having a clue: At some point you have to proceed, even though you lack experience. At that time, fake it until you make it.

Being fearful: When fear and doubt are taunting you, get angry. Shout down your inner scaremongers with a verbal equivalent of a black-belt karate punch. When you get irritated and angry with fear, it turns from a snarling dog to one with its tail between its legs.

Time: Take stock of what you are saying yes and no to, throughout the day. If you do not have a moment to spare, remember that what you do with each moment is a matter of choice.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are many theories how to gain wealth, just as many years ago there were many theories. In many ways living a good life in a reasonable neighborhood is a success. There are challenges and opportunities and if you live a good life you have the advantage of time. To help you with time, use the compound interest tables or factor of 9. Whatever return you are getting, divide by 9 and that is how long it takes to double your money. Some years it is easier than others. However as the amount grows, the easier it gets to accumulate. wealth. Profitable stocks which pay dividends help a great deal.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

 

 

 

 

One of the reasons why successful people are successful is the follow-through factor, they have an idea or dream and work on it till it is completion. It sounds easy, yet for millions of people have ideas, they may even start on it and life and nagging questions begin to slow it down and grind it to a halt. If you look around you, it is easy to see. It is even easier to do. If you really want to jump the barrier, how do you do it? One of the answers is with a coach and Gene Hayden is a coach who has written a book to help. The book is called The Follow-Through Factor by Gene Hayden published by McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2010.

To understand follow-through, if one of your goals is to write a book – the commitment is to writing it. You have done well. The follow-through is to have it published (need to find someone or do it yourself and then sell the book). In many ways writing is easier than selling, because publishers have a good idea of what sells and what does not. Your book may or not fit into their picture, for trying to ensure your book gets into the hands of people who actually will buy it is the challenge for the publisher.

Follow-through does not require luck as Tennessee Williams said luck is believing you are lucky When you think you have chance on your side, you allow yourselves to take risks. And eventually one risk or another pays off. There is a wonderful movie called Field of Dreams and the classic line “if you build it, they will come”. The line in the real world is after you build it, work it so they will come. The follow-through is make things happen for you.

When you have faith in yourself, you do not require absolute proof of what will be, and you no need the buy-in of others. Those with follow-through say what keeps them going is simply an unshakeable feeling that they are doing the right thing and in some way they will like themselves more for doing it. They feel better about themselves as they try to skirt around the obstacles rather than give up.

How do you start with a question of why? Why do you like the things you do is a powerful way to get to the straight to the heart of whether its meaningful for you to pursue an ambition. It is the surest path to understanding the root of the your faith in the project. Never ask the question am I good enough, rather ask do I have a foundation of knowledge to build on? if I do not am I interested in developing one?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, much of investing is thinking about what is important to you. Whether it is the project or to invest in a stock you are do not know the outcome because the only perfect information in the stock market is what has happened, no one knows what will happen. There are ways to understand but we do not know 100%, what we do know is investing in profitable companies has been a low risk, high reward for generations; we also know because index funds drop the losers every quarter or every half year and puts in companies that are performing better the index funds over the years will up in value. The issue is we do not know exactly when it happens except for over the course of a year, profitable stocks will trade higher than non profitable stocks. Start with a solid foundation and add dividends to take advantage of compound interest.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

One of the reasons why successful people are successful is the follow-through factor, they have an idea or dream and work on it till it is completion. It sounds easy, yet for millions of people have ideas, they may even start on it and life and nagging questions begin to slow it down and grind it to a halt. If you look around you, it is easy to see. It is even easier to do. If you really want to jump the barrier, how do you do it? One of the answers is with a coach and Gene Hayden is a coach who has written a book to help. The book is called The Follow-Through Factor by Gene Hayden published by McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2010. Among the many activities Mrs. Hayden does is lecture so you may see her one day.

The follow-through factor separates the dreamers from the doers. The factor is an iron clad promise to yourself that you will do whatever it takes to experience that what is important to you. Ideally it is legal. There will be many barriers along the road, the ones who succeed do not accept that any problem is greater than the pact they made with themselves. It is a matter of honoring the deal between who you are and who you want to be.

Follow-through is a choice. If you not do it, life goes on as is or life is the status quo. There maybe nothing wrong with the life but then again you maybe somebody who says I should have or could have or might do …. and then you really want to look at follow-through. Follow-through is not the same as commitment. Commitment is a discipline, follow-through is a state of mind. Commitment is the body of your idea, follow-through is it legs. Commitment is a map with well-marked roads; follow-through is more of a pirate’s treasurer map. You will have to problem-solve to go through unchartered territory; you will never really know what is around the corner; it may take more take to get there but when you do you will be in the place you want to and be wiser for it.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the commitment is to invest and receive good returns on your money. The follow-through is invest in profitable companies with a good track record and pay some of their profits to you in the form of dividends. In this case, the time is advantage for other time, your investments will increase as the players in the market will invariably give trade you stock at higher multiples ensuring the price goes up.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.