June 15, 2011 at 2:16 PM CNBC
This is a pretty minor quote but how often does a financial commentator get quoted as an expert on apocalyptic investing?
I wanted to be seen as clever but the reporter used me as the serious trader. I'm always the contrarian to the END.
June 1, 2011 at 9:41 AM 
ValueAppeal is an online tool for challenging and lowering property tax investments. It is also one our private equity investments. Today, the company announced additional funding.
I hope you try out the service. It's a great business model for the consumer. You fill out a form with the address of your property, your tax assessment is a public record and they can tell you if it's too high based on comparisons. If your assessment is too high they offer to create and fill out all the necessary forms for you. The charge is $99. If the assessment appeal fails they refund your $99.
I tried my house and it was not over-assessed. There wasn't much for me to do except rest easy. Are your property taxes too high?
May 26, 2011 at 9:22 AM 
I’ve been following Greece’s economic woes pretty closely since the bottom fell out this year (or something along these lines) and in my opinion, the debt-plagued nation is about to go through a restructuring. There is loads of precedent for it in emerging markets. I went to part of high school in Argentina, my graduate school focus was developing country finance and my first Wall Street job at Chemical Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) was trading emerging market defaulted government debt. Over the course of my adult life I’ve seen the following countries stick it to their lenders.
Argentina (2 negotiated, 1 unilateral),
- Brazil (negotiated),
- Poland (negotiated),
- Venezuela (unilateral sort of),
- Mexico (unilateral internal debt, negotiated external),
- Russia (unilateral then cured).
Seeing a renegotiation of timing or payments by Greece and some sort of guarantee by the EU is not without lots of precedent. It seems all but inevitable. And that said, bond prices have had plenty of time to price in a partial default.
READ ON TO SEE HOW I AM ADJUSTING MY PORTFOLIO
May 25, 2011 at 10:15 AM 
I used the market pullback over the last couple days to add the pharmaceutical company TEVA (TEVA $49.22) to my portfolios. They have a good generic drug business which ads stability. With a POP (forward price earnings ratio) of 9 and a dividend yield of 1.6%, the company is also attractively valued.
I think the entire pharmaceutical sector offers a compelling value opportunity.
May 23, 2011 at 3:46 PM 
CFA Society of Seattle
On May 25th I'll be participating in a panel hosted by the CFA Society of Seattle titled Why All the Fuss About Green Investing. The panel also includes,
April 4, 2011 at 3:38 PM 
I own UTX and feel the shares are fully valued. I have part of my position hedge with call options. The company is well managed and I see no reason to urgently sell.
PROPOSALS...
March 26, 2011 at 10:13 AM
First, let me say that I own Abbot Labs (ABT) because I think the company has good value. Abbott has a good franchise of drugs and its research will continue to make more useful drugs. At a forward P/E of 10 and growth that represents good value, it has been hit too hard by investors' lack of interest in the pharma sector. So I think now is a good time to own the company, as I think the stock is about to go higher...
February 28, 2011 at 1:19 PM 
Below are some links to my February articles:
February 18, 2011 at 3:47 PM The value trap is one of the biggest dangers that value minded investors, aka bargain shoppers, have to contend with. It's even worse for contrarians like me who always look for gems in the mud that are hated by the masses.