Category: Links

After a long hiatus, I am writing a links post today. I should be back to a more regular schedule in the coming days, but it always takes a bit of time to get in the groove after a long break.

Here are some good links for this weekend.

First off, Teaching vs Preaching at Ranjan Varma’s blog; he is looking to build a learning platform, and seeking suggestions for it. So, if you have any ideas, head that way.

Then on to something completely different with Downsizing my expenses at The Digerati Life.

Another hop – this time to mutual funds – a question at Value Research from someone who is new to investing in mutual funds.

On to markets now, a truly awesome chart featured on The Big Picture about Death by Opinions.

I remember reading a few comments about fixed deposits penalty, so when I chanced across this article from Investing It – I thought I should share what they have to say about this FD penalty.

Finally, from the WSJ blog about Bihar’s unusual anti – corruption drive.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Update: The title originally said 2010, not 2011

One of the strangest stories that I’ve read in quite some time is how one online retailer is (or was?) using bad publicity to boost his business online.

The way Google works is that they place a lot of weight on sites linking back to you. So, if New York Times publishes a story, and I link to them that is a small credit to NYT in the eyes of Google because a small blog has linked back to them. If on the other hand a big publication like NYT links to OneMint that is a big credit to OneMint because an established online entity has linked to it. So, the reputation as well as number of back links make a big difference when judging if a particular story should be displayed in search results or not, and what it’s order should be.

An online retailer started harassing people deliberately in a bid to get them to write bad reviews about them, which will have links back to his store, and help his store rise in search rankings, and trick other people to buy from him who don’t actually bother to read the reviews! He even goes as far as to threaten the customers, and doesn’t seem like he cares much.

The story is quite fascinating, and a little strange as well. Google’s response is also interesting, but not as much as the original story.

Now, let me share a really awesome video with you which shows the world history in the last 200 years in terms of life expectancy and average income. It goes in the way of a 3D animated graph, and I won’t be able to do justice to it if I describe it more, so watch for yourself.

On to other stuff – Reader Ravi has reported that he got an SMS about the credit of L&T Infrastructure bonds yesterday, so please check your demat accounts in the days to come, and leave a comment if you see that the bonds are credited because that will help other people know what’s going on there.

The MOIL issue price has been fixed at Rs. 375, and according to Business Standard, the listing is likely to be around December 15h.

For all the news about how retail investors are exiting mutual funds – 2010 was the most profitable year for mutual funds.

I’m sure you’ve read about the new Document Information Number (DIN), and I wanted to post about it too, but Raag has done a good post about what it is, and what it means to you.

Some out of the box Retirement Income Options by the Digerati Life.

Enjoy your Sunday!

This week I present to you this awesome David Einhorn interview that I came across via The Big Picture. David Einhorn is a hedge fund manager famous for his successful shorts, and there are some points in this interview that really resonated well with me. The interviewer was great too, which is not as usual as it should be, so that added to the whole interview as well.

I like the part which starts about the 13 minute mark where he describes some of his longs, and the rationale behind it. It’s so simple, clear, and easy to understand that you struggle to understand why some other people on TV go rambling for minutes without making any sense at all.

The other part that I especially like starts at about the 23 minute mark when he says that investors should do their own research, and think for themselves, and understand that no one cares about their money as much as they do. If you go wrong then go wrong knowing that you did what was best for you, and not because someone else told you that.

As I have written before I have stayed away from gold, but when I read that John Paulson has gold holdings, and then I see David Einhorn talking positively about gold, I get tempted and I say to myself I have to be a fool not to be in gold if these smart guys own it, but I’d rather be wrong on my own analysis, than be right aping someone else plus gold is not the only game in town, so that makes the decision slightly easier.

I’ve said enough now, go watch the video, it is about 26 minutes long, and is well worth your time.

Now for something lighter: this hilarious and largely true post about Shopping Tips for Men by Scott Adams.

And finally here is a post for those of you who are scared of using credit cards – Are you credit card phobic @ Smarter Wallet

Enjoy your weekend!

I sure am glad that this week is over; there has just been so much bad news this week, that you are advised to not go online or near a TV at all.

I’ll make it a short links post today with just a few links and a video.

Mobile Number Portability FAQs by Pluggd.In

Learning points for a newbie investor @ Tip Blog

Multiple headwinds for Indian financial system @ Sandip Sabharwal

Comparing whole life insurance versus term insurance @ Digerati Life

Cash is King. Long live the King @ Rodinhood

This week I also saw Mark Zuckerberg’s interview in the Web 2.0 Summit 2010, which I really liked. I’m amazed how so many people dismiss him, or say he’s too young, just lucky, or that Facebook is useless or other things like that. He has created something that has over 500 million users for heaven’s sakes! Before you say he was lucky or any other negative thing about him, try building something which has even 500 users, and then maybe you’d appreciate him a little more.

There is something to learn from everyone, and especially from people who achieve so much; I can’t understand how people are sometimes dismissive of others who are a gazillion times more successful.

Enjoy your weekend!

Here are some quick links for your Sunday reading.

From January 2011 – all investors will have to follow KYC norms regardless of their size @ Value Research

Power Grid FPO price has been set at Rs. 90 @ Business Line

EU urges Ireland to take a bailout @ WSJ

Comparing whole life insurance and term insurance @ Digerati Life

Shanghai market down 5% along with the rest of Asia @ Beyondbrics

Arjeyar left a detailed comment about what will happen when a FD is broken and why taking a loan against an FD may also be considered.

Enjoy your Sunday!

I bet a lot of you went and watched The Social Network movie, and while that movie was properly spiced up with liberal doses of fiction, here is a presentation from a Googler that takes you through what designing a real social network means. It is slightly long, but really quite engrossing stuff.

The Real Life Social Network v2

View more documents from Paul Adams.

And now here is something which is both clever and hilarious from The Behavior Gap.

Now I know you people really love to buy gold coins and gold ETFs, and what not, but please don’t buy this gold Nano. While I don’t expect it to go to flames, your local jeweler will ask you to deduct much more than 15% when you go to re-sell it, and then you will leave angry comments here.

Enjoy your weekend!

I hope you had a safe Diwali, and here are some interesting links I found this week.

First up – this great infographic from Mint.com explaining capital gains.

Mint.com Personal Finance Software

Other links:

List of deals struck by Mr. Obama on his India visit from the WSJ blog

Sandip Sabharwal’s musings on Diwali and the road ahead

Bad Money Advice on Retirement Calculators

The Digerati Life’s checklist for home buyers

The Economist on Quantitative Easing

And The Weakonomist on How the Fed Creates Money?

Enjoy your Sunday!

Let’s start off this week by an article about insider trading in the Dealbook. This case is not against the promoters, directors or any other senior executives, but rather on a mechanical engineer and a trainman of a railroad company!

From the Dealbook:

Late last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought an unusual and colorful insider-trading case: It accused two employees who worked in the rail yard of Florida East Coast Industries and their relatives of making more than $1 million by trading on inside information about the takeover of the company.

How did these employees — a mechanical engineer and a trainman — know their company was on the block?

Well, they were very observant.

They noticed “there were an unusual number of daytime tours” of the rail yard, the S.E.C. said in its complaint, with “people dressed in business attire.”

This looks more like a case of putting 2 and 2 together by these people and making some bets, and not insider trading to me but unfortunately for these two guys my opinion doesn’t count. What do you make of it?

Earlier this week I wrote about volatility and Roger Nusbaum has a very thoughtful post on the difference between risk and volatility. I really liked the post, and recommend it strongly.

Another thoughtful post – this time by Sandip Sabharwal on what long term equity markets should average.

Frank from Bad Money Advice has this great post about gift cards in which he talks about how some gift cards actually sell at a premium, and also how the treasury is worried about terrorists getting their hands on gift cards!

The Digerati Life has this useful post about how you can do stock market research.

Let me end with this post by Deepak Shenoy where he answers some questions from a reader about credit card overcharges.

Enjoy your weekend!

This week I discovered Mark Suster’s blog via Fred Wilson, and it is simply one of the best blogs I’ve discovered in a while.

Mark Suster is a venture capitalist, so a lot of you may think this is not relevant to you, but I strongly suggest you give it a try because ultimately what Mark and Fred talk about can also be used by professionals working in companies, and you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to benefit from their knowledge.

Both these VCs are great bloggers, and there is a lot to learn from them, so I suggest you subscribe to their blogs, and give it a try.

I had never heard about Chamillionaire before, and I will probably never listen to his music because I’m not interested in rap at all, but I have spent the past hour watching his interview with Mark Suster, and this guy is pure genius. The video is slightly longish at an hour and 10 minutes, but it is full of insights on how this rapper grew his brand, and it’s really quite amazing.

Since we are away from investing related topics, let me share three food blogs that I follow and find really useful.

I discovered Show me the Curry a few months ago, and this is a really great food blog for any of you wanting to learn to make Indian dishes.

Manjula ji’s blog is another great place to learn Indian dishes, and if you wanted a little variety then I’ve found the Easy French Food blog to be a good place for relatively easy French recipes.

Since we are on the subject of cooking let me share this post from The Digerati Life about baking cookies and sharing them in a cookie exchange, which is a refreshingly different topic from the usual personal finance stuff on her site.

Okay, so I spoke about VCs, rappers, food blogs, cookies – am I forgetting something? Oh yeah – I forgot to tell you about the great ideas to make your home look prettier we get from the Freshome site, which is a great website with plenty of interior decoration ideas.

Now, I am done – enjoy your weekend!

I generally don’t do a links post till Saturday, but I came across several positive news items one after the other, and I thought I’d share them, and spread a bit of cheer among you.

Opto Circuits acquires Cardiac Science

Opto Circuits an Indian company in the business of healthcare equipment has acquired U.S. based Cardiac Science. The transaction has a relatively small price tag of $54.6 million, so probably the small amount combined with all the excitement around the Biocon story crowded this out, as I didn’t see this being reported very widely.

From beyondbrics

Opto is buying up all Cardiac’s outstanding stock for $2.10 per share, a 9.5 per cent premium to Cardiac’s Monday closing price on Nasdaq. But the stock has fallen 46 per cent in the past year, with the majority of the losses coming in late 2009, so, if the recent record is any guide, it doesn’t look at expensive.

Guess what’s over-subscribed?

No, not that.

I wrote about India’s ambitious target of generating 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 some time ago, and Reuters report that the first phase of that plan is over-subscribed!

The first phase target was generating 1,300 MW of solar energy by 2013, and it seems that work will begin on half of that by December 2011, and the remaining can be done by December 2012.

From Reuters:

Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, told the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit that a strong investor interest in India’s solar power indicated the goals could be met.

“We are over-subscribed for the first phase of 1,300 MW, and by December 2011 generation will have begun work for at least half of this target,” he said.

“The rest could be done by December 2012 which will be ahead of schedule. There is no dearth of investors.”

Let’s hope this stays on track, and doesn’t turn out to be like CWG.

India ranked highest among middle-income countries on government openness

According to the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index India has scored highest among middle income countries and 9th overall on Government openness.

I came across this via the WSJ blog, and like the author, was surprised at first. However, I browse through a lot of government websites, and there is in fact quite a lot of data available publicly, which is probably not so easily accessible in other countries. I have no experience with the Right to Information Act, but I have heard that it has made a difference in enabling access to information as well, so this is another piece of good news.

All is not rosy though as India ranks 27 out of 35 on the access to civil justice.

Bharat Diamond Bourse opens in Mumbai

This one is from the WSJ Blog again which reports that the new diamond exchange: Bharat Diamond Bourse – opened last Sunday. The new exchange will hopefully give a little boost to the diamond trade, and attract more traders from around the world.

From the WSJ:

The new exchange will shift the center of diamond trading from the old Opera House neighborhood of south Bombay to the booming suburb of Bandra. Mr. Mehta said the exchange – which has 2,500 offices, four walk-in vaults, 24,500 safe deposit boxes and a 6,200 square foot trading floor set on a 20-acre plot – is the world’s largest.

He said close to $18 billion worth of diamonds were exported from India during the last fiscal year and he is hoping that the new trading hub will bring more international diamond traders to India’s financial capital.

Anything else that you found interesting but didn’t see widely reported? Let us know in comments.