There was a HBO series on TV called Boardwalk Empire which had been heard about, but finally watched season 1 from a collection at the local library. The setting is Atlantic City which is halfway between New York City and Philadelphia or it was the playground for both families and adults. During the day, families walked the Boardwalk to see the sites, watch people, and enjoy the beach. After hours, the city came alive with gambling, shows, and liquor because it refused to enforce the laws – instead, the highest level of civil servants and politicians accepted bribes to keep the city going. The leader was Enoch “Nucky” Thompson who ruled the town in his role of Treasurer. In season one, one of his driving forces was to have new roads built to make it easier for people to come to Atlantic City as well as trucks loaded with booze to go to the cities. In the show there is a healthy mixture of gangsters – Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and Arnold Rothstein. The setting of the show is in the era of Prohibition however, Atlantic City decided not to enforce it, at a time when most of the USA took Sundays off, Atlantic City was open 7 days a week. You can watch the show from the entertainment value, you can watch it for the emphasis on gangsters and you can watch it for how to secure monopoly control.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, most profitable companies do not have to deal with organized crime on a day-to-day basis although these companies do pay their bills, sometimes healthy advances. In the show, Nucky was an able disciplined executive who was able to keep his operations going smoothly, when others tried to take his place they failed and Nucky had to solve crisis. The show highlights his abilities for he is based on a real person and the average person in Atlantic City accepted how the operation worked and the benefits of it. Not having seen Season 5, is expected the show would show how the world changes and what was good before, needs to be changed now. It is easier to invest in stocks which stay on the right side of the law.

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

Many years ago, there was discussion of bankers hours which include not being in on Wednesday afternoon as it was to play golf. Times change but still people play golf, in the book, The Anatomy of a Golf Course – the Art of Golf Architecture by Tom Doak published by Frizhenry & Whiteside, Markham, Ontario 1992 there is a wonderful quote about golfers. Every golfer believes they can design a golf course similar to every moviegoer believes they could be a director. The fact that golfing is an interactive sport, gives people a license to criticize for they know what they like and do not like. Lucky for the golf architect, the really good golfer tends to remember his misfortunes while the average golfer remembers the positive of the course – why they could make a great drive or a special putt. This is the reason why every golfer loves their home course – they played it more often and had more memorable stokes.

It is impossible to quantify what makes a great golf course. It is easy enough to come up with a list of principles of sound design: the course should be playable to all levels of golfers; the course should work with the landscape which means the artificial aspects need to blend in; the holes should reward good play and the course should be easily maintainable.  The problem with most golf courses is paying attention to the false idols of good design such as length, difficulty, balance and setting. The golf course needs to have a great variety in its design.

Another factor to consider is fairness, the answer is in the eye of the beholder. When people golf they have different skills they bring to the game from beginner to competitive, the answer the question what should a golf course do? One of the first aspects to take into consideration is are they interesting to play from the tee to the green? For the majority of golfers, they expect the birdies and bogeys to balance out. They typically judge themselves not against par but against their own expectations or by the measure of fun derived from the game.  Golf should be no more fair than life itself. One of the qualities is that in golf you learn from the past and move onto to the next shot. This means some holes should be more difficult than others. Bobby Jones once said  each player must be given something to do and that something must be within the realm of reasonable accomplishments.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, Mr. Doak’s description of how to design golf courses has many other chapters in it, but for investors learning what a great investment is and the fairness in the system are two important lessons. In investing there are many aspects which can be focused on, but to you the biggest ones should be how do I not lose money and make money and this is where the dividend paying stocks can greatly assist you in your lessons. Profitable companies trade at highly multiples than non profitable (unless your are buying a growth stock which means prices go up and down more rapidly); profitable companies tend to have higher prices on the downside. If you receive a dividend along the way, you will have cash to do something with. Learning the basics can help you decide what is an ideal stock.

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

Many years ago, there was discussion of bankers hours which include not being in on Wednesday afternoon as it was to play golf. Times change but still people play golf, in the book, The Anatomy of a Golf Course – the Art of Golf Architecture by Tom Doak published by Frizhenry & Whiteside, Markham, Ontario 1992 there is a wonderful quote about golfers. Every golfer believes they can design a golf course similar to every moviegoer believes they could be a director. The fact that golfing is an interactive sport, gives people a license to criticize for they know what they like and do not like. Lucky for the golf architect, the really good golfer tends to remember his misfortunes while the average golfer remembers the positive of the course – why they could make a great drive or a special putt. This is the reason why every golfer loves their home course – they played it more often and had more memorable stokes.

If you are going to design a golf course, ideally there is a look to the past and one of the things that you will learn is the great golf courses were designed with nature rather than against it. The natural forces of wind and water were left alone as the equipment and rules of golf were designed around the challenges of the early golf courses. In many golf courses, for a variety of reasons including because you can, the environment is pushed around to make you feel like the early courses, but nature always overrules. If a golf course is built on a flood plain, there is a very good chance one year there will be a flood. If a golf course is built-in the desert and the typical golf course of 150 acres but 75 irrigated, will uses between 4,000 and 10,000 gallons of water per acre per day or between 300,000 and 750,000 gallons per day. Having access to water, no matter what the temperature is a key variable. It also helps if the golf course is not the secondary reason for being – a development is first and takes the best lands or the golf course is on a former garbage dump or quarry with no natural landscapes.

The golf architect’s primary task is to route the 18 holes to take the greatest advantage of a property’s natural assets. The subjective part is no two experts can agree as to the composition of an ideal course. Therefore the design has to be one of visualization of the course and doing the best they can with the tradeoffs that will come forth.  The clubhouse should be situated after the loops of golf holes begin to come together, not before.

Beauty of the golf course is in the eye of the beholder. For the golfer, the acid test is that the visual elements jibe with the strategy of the golf hole. A stream maybe beautiful, but not if your ball lands in it.  Continuity of character of the golf course can separate the truly great courses from the merely admirable ones. Most of the great courses have a visual character all their own.  The greatest courses do not fall back of the natural beauty of the property. but are designed to enhance the beauty by allowing the golfer to see all its aspects and blending in views which help the golfer.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while many golf courses can be built most will not be great. While many stocks exist on the stock exchange, most will not be worth holding. Narrow your field by starting with dividend paying companies which are profitable and then move a little into growth. There is a reason why great companies as well as great golf courses exist and continue to exist.

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

When you think about the economy of the future, what do you think about? It might include electric vehicles, wide use of solar power, and many other options. At the moment, one of the driving forces to bring these ideas to reality is Elon Musk who made a great deal of money through pay-pal and invested it in Telsa, SpaceX, Solar City and other things. When he began his investments the infrastructure did not exist, thus his story makes a wonderful read. One of the books about him is called Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance published by HarperCollins, NY, 2015. Often people believe if you made millions, you can establish brand new worlds, although it is possible, it is also expensive, which is why most people only do a part of it. Elon Musk was fortunate he was able to do 3 industries and to have sales pick up, just as he need even more money to continue the work.

One of the advantages large companies have is access to financing or credit, with access to credit companies can and do throw money at problems or possible solutions to the future. In every industry there is more than one alternative and until the market embraces the technology no one really knows how the market will react. In Mr. Musk’s example, the electric car has been thought up by many, including GM’s Volt version. There are many wonderful things which can happen, and it might be Telsa will be part of the future if the price of the car comes down for the average consumer. If that happens, it could be the standard, but for now the development of the car is similar to many other industries. People began working on it, and seemingly the barriers to entry are falling in the auto industry, which is why it is a good learning lesson. In the case of Telsa, through software what used to take physical cars and testing can be done in much short time periods with greater learning. The difference in procedures to achieve similar results between the established companies and Telsa are amazing and speaks highly of the understanding of the information age. The connection of the engineers to the people in the plant and when they work together – America could actually have a manufacturing base.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for many years, the thinking has been dividend paying stocks because they are profitable have a tremendous advantage over their competitors. The financing or access to credit is important, however small teams of people working for dreams can partly overcome the barriers. Thus it is important not just to look at how the barriers to entry are holding up, but how does management uses its people to bring products and services to consumers? Small nimble teams are trying to do break down the barriers and gain a piece of your pie.

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

When you think about the economy of the future, what do you think about? It might include electric vehicles, wide use of solar power, and many other options. At the moment, one of the driving forces to bring these ideas to reality is Elon Musk who made a great deal of money through pay-pal and invested it in Telsa, SpaceX, Solar City and other things. When he began his investments the infrastructure did not exist, thus his story makes a wonderful read. One of the books about him is called Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance published by HarperCollins, NY, 2015. Often people believe if you made millions, you can establish brand new worlds, although it is possible, it is also expensive, which is why most people only do a part of it. Elon Musk was fortunate he was able to do 3 industries and to have sales pick up, just as he need even more money to continue the work.

There are many themes in the book, however, the power of the information age, having people work long and hard for you; who have bought into the dream and want to make reality gives any country hope in the future. Mr. Musk and his teams of people examined closely what systems exist from the established companies and then determined it was easier and less expensive and having more control if you do it yourself. For example in the early days of Detroit – Henry Ford, GM and other auto companies were vertical integrated or produced just about everything you see in the car. Now days the companies do the final assembly and the sales and marketing end, but not necessarily the pieces. There can be very good reasons for the change. Mr. Musk decided it was easier and better to build in one factory, perhaps as the numbers climb and the prices fall, things will change, but for now his companies are vertically integrated.

There are many interesting aspects of the book, for example recently there have been many recalls from the auto companies, with Telsa, it is similar to the Microsoft improvements (at least for this computer receives). The software companies send an update through the internet and your machine is updated. Telsa can send a software update and the car is updated to the better features.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, Mr. Musk’s companies do not pay dividends and are still valued as growth companies. It depends on how fast they grow for the stock to grow. An important takeaway is how the industries were created and the vacuum the older established companies left in the market. When a company brings in dividends because it is making profits it controls some aspect of the market. There are edges where new competitors can compete, because the larger company does not really want to be there this is where Mr. Musk’s companies has an edge and used it.

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

If you are a sports fan, and many are you would love to be the General Manager and there are people who have come close to the job. One author is Tom Callahan who wrote the book The GM – The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares that go with it published by Crown Publishers, NY, 2007. Mr. Callahan was able to be the fly on the wall of Ernie Accorsi ‘s office who was the General Manager of the New York Giants football team which plays in the NFL. In New York, as long as the New York football teams are competitive the New York Giants are the most commented on team which means listening to the fans is both a blessing and understanding that everyone has an opinion. Part of the job of the GM is drafting and signing players to be on the team – if they perform well on the field the city and fans are happier. If they do not, opinions quickly form. If you think about the NFL – all the teams should have or do have done analysis of every player particularly in their backyard and extraordinary players should be on everyone’s radar. How one player comes to a team and not another is the story of people led by the GM. To pick a player, Mr. Accorsi noted a football team is like a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of oddly shaped pieces. However, despite everyone having a read on each player, how they perform together is the unknown. If your subject was people in battle, they do not fight for their commander (although they can respect him) they fight for their teammates or buddies. How do you know this person will fit in and their teammates will fight for them?  Sometimes the team overlooks somebody who went later in the draft, Mr. Accorsi has gone back to see did we miss something or how did we miss it? It turns out at least one of the scouts had the prediction accurate, they were just in the minority.

Another aspect of the GM’s job is hiring the coach for they should be thinking along the same lines. In the book the GM needs to hire a new coach and the thinking of the process is outlined. The coach worries about the execution of the plays, the GM worries about getting the players to execute the strategy of the coach. According to Coach Coughlin coaching is making players do what they do not want to do so they become what they want to become. The GM and the Coach worry about their players – the starting players are millionaires who like all people some are good with their money so are not. Some love to be in the media, some are more behind the scenes. What goes on in the field is the just the beginning.

To learn more about football and the inner workings of the game, the book is an interesting read about the behind the scenes and dealing with trying to keep a club competitive through draft, ownership, and execution on a weekly basis.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the New York Giants have a long history of making money and consistently challenging for the championship, how the team functions one can learn from them. All teams go through cycles, all teams have concerns with ownership, but to be a consistent money-maker is something anyone can learn from. If you are a fan apply the learning to companies on the stock exchange and it will help pay for your football activities.

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

If you love movies, you will notice more companies are bringing out sequels or the new in a series. Many people around the planet have seen more than one movie and develop favorites. Two of the sequels coming out are James Bond and Star Wars. As a fan of either you are waiting see the movie and likely will go to a movie theater to watch it. If you wait a couple of months, you can see it on You Tube or a movie streaming channel. As an investor, there are alternatives to make some money which includes more than you paid to watch the movie at the theater. Movies are shown in a theater – many are owned by public companies; the movie distributor is often a public company; most successful movies have a merchandising tie in – observe the characters which inhabited the schools for Halloween and Christmas season is coming what will you thinking about buying for children those companies can benefit. As you can see from the examples above, there are many alternatives and as investor you will need to pick one. Many years it is hard because while the movie may be popular for the companies to increase their share price they need billion dollar hits rather than multi million dollar hits.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, you start with the idea, how to capitalize on an expected movie hit which appeals to a broad mass of the public which is great. The next step is to research which alternative you believe will most benefit and by picking companies that are successful or pay a dividend, if on the off-chance the hit is not a billion dollar hit, but a multi million dollar hit you still will collect your dividends along the way. The public is the right when they choose their entertainment, you win by picking the best of among the alternatives.

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

In the Globe and Mail, Harvey Schachter wrote an article reviewed James Stegmaier’s book A Crowdfunding Strategy Guide: Build a Better Business by Building Community. Mr. Stegmaier has used the Kickstarter website to raise money for new business ideas because new ideas need to find financing and a market of buyers and Kickstarter helps do both. Mr. Stegmaier believes you has tips for you to succeed. The basics are simple – start a project page with an explanation of your project with enough detail to attract support. You name an amount of money you are trying to raise and if you do the project gets funding, otherwise you owe Kickstarter a fee and no money is exchanged.

To ensure success there is work involved. You need to build a community that will not only welcome your idea but willing to put up some of their money. This means not only talking to friends and family but people who should be easy adapters of the idea. Before you launch you need to build momentum because reality generally means if you are 15 days into your campaign and only raised 10% of your target money, you success is generally going to be limited, but there are exceptions. Kickstarter longest campaigns last 60 days, but Mr. Stegmaier recommends a month 28 to 35 days.

The two biggest mistakes people make is although it is possible for anyone to create a webpage – the difference between a good one and medicore one is easily seen (either gain experience or hire a top flight designer). The other mistake is underestimating the costs involved. Those in the know (and there are many of them out there) will quickly see while it may be a good idea, the chances of implementation with your costs are very low and will pass.

The nice thing about Kickstarter is a wonderful method to determine if your idea is a good idea but will people pay for it? if the natural users will not, why would the public? Use it, learn from it and try your ideas.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, unlike new ideas, these companies have products and services that are well tested by the market place and the market place decides everyday. There are always things to learn about the processes, but do not invest in a Kickstarter project for dividends, you are after capital gains. All companies go through the process, even dividend companies are constantly in search of good ideas to implement which the public will pay for.

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

Recently in the Globe and Mail under the heading A Stash of Cash for Bargaining Hunting an article was printed which can help all investors. Everyone in the investing world discusses how to buy, what to buy, but less often what to do or how much cash you should keep. We all know markets go up and down, when the markets go down it is a great opportunity to buy, hold and then sell and repeat. The issue with cash is the returns are less than being invested, however it is important in your portfolio to have cash ready to be able to buy when markets and the stocks you follow are seemingly bargain prices.

One of the money managers interviewed said as a value investor he generally selects stocks of good companies to buy and hold for the long term, but that does not mean holding on to it forever. If the price gets too high and the market is willing to pay a premium beyond what I believe it is worth, I will sell. Once sold, I look for other ideas or I will wait and it can be a number of weeks, cash can build up.

Think about the statement  – need a plan going in; need to know when the price is too high; and need to have patience. All that takes discipline, homework  and experience to do it on a regular basis.

Linking to dividend paying companies, stick to the fundamentals – buying and holding good companies that pay dividends in that manner the cash builds up and when markets offer bargains use the money to buy into the equity markets at great prices.

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