Friday, May 22, 2009
The Real thing
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Dancing in the rain
A blind girl hated herself because she was blind.
She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.
He was always there for her.
She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world,
I would marry you.'
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.
When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'
The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind..
The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her.
She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying:
'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, before they were yours, they were mine. '
This is how the human brain often works when our 'status changes'.
Only a very few remember what life was like before and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word -Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out for a companion.
Today before you complain about life -
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn't clean or
sweep -Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who must walk the same distance.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
Before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without error.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to
dance in the rain.'
Have a fruitful day, my friends . . .
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Epicurus by Alain de Botton
- Friends
- Freedom (from money, rules, deadlines, )
- Analyzed live (self-audit)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Valuation of stocks -- Vitaliy N. Katsenelson
- competitive advantage
- Management
- Predictable Earnings
- Strong Balance Sheet
- Significance of Free Cash Flows
- High Return of Capital
- Sources of earning growth and dividends -- the past
- Future engines of growth
- Dividends
- DCF models
- Relative valuation versus absolute valuation
- False precision
- Margin of Safety
- Absolute P/E
- P/E compression
Thinking
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Seed
The Seed
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.
Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.."
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.
Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees,and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.
The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!
His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.
"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.
Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.
All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"
* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
* If you plant faith, you will reap a harvest