Friday, December 25, 2009

Let Wonder Woman Fly Across Your Personal Bank Checks

By Alan Plastin

Many little girls wanted to be Wonder Woman growing up. Nowadays, she is still a force in the superhero world, engaging to both women and men alike. If you consider yourself a fan of Wonder Woman and are seeking a way to spice up your personal bank checks, then you might want to consider purchasing Wonder Woman checks. It's simpler than you might think, and more than likely not as costly as the plain checks that you might already have.

Wonder Woman first emerged in December, 1941 and has been published continuously since 1944, albeit for a small pause in 1986. She is one of only 3 DC Comics superheroes that has done this. A member of the all-female tribe, the Amazons, she was meant to be a feminine role model that brought the world peace, love, and sexual equality.

Some of the strengths that Wonder Woman possesses include stamina, fighting powers, and super strength. She is also very good at hand to hand combat fighting and is able to converse with the animal world. Besides these abilities, she can also fly and uses her Lasso of Truth to force people to be truthful.

Wonder Woman has figured in her own television series, cartoons, and comic strips. You can also find her image of a multitude of items like lunch boxes, under garments, and children's toys. Now, you can purchase personal checks with her image as well.

Wonder Woman not only spread the message of love, but was a very liberated woman and a feminist for her time. In fact, Gloria Steinem even put her image on the first standalone copy of Ms. Magazine. Wonder Woman was tall, athletic, and intelligent and represented those women that contained unconventional thoughts during the time period that she emerged. For that reason, she was more than just a comic book character.

In the radiant and vibrant Wonder Woman personal bank checks, you can almost feel her flying through the air. The checks contain 4 rotating images which means that each check you write will be different from the one before it. You can also purchase a coordinating checkbook cover and matching address labels to go with your Wonder Woman checks, as well.

It could be expensive and time-consuming to go to your bank and obtain personal checks in the past. Banks also generally had limited selections as well. Today, though, you can get your bank checks online at reputable websites and save as much as 50% off of the cost. You no longer have to settle for anything that you don't want, either, because they offer a wide selection. Keep your routing number and checking account number available when you order your Wonder Woman checks and they should arrive in the mail in about 5 days.

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Take Your Company Public: Take Your Start-up Public

By James Scott

Are you trying to raise capital for your business? Have you been turned down by institutional lenders for loans and corporate lines of credit? Why deal with the hassle and embarrassment of perpetual declines and risk losing your business because of lack of cash? Wouldn't it be great to raise capital quickly and easily for your company without constantly having to fill out scores of credit applications to stay afloat?

The important thing to realize is that if you are a small or medium size business and even if you are a start-up you can take your company public on OTCBB. When going public you really have two viable options: first, most people consider the IPO, but very few qualify because of the necessity of massive amounts of capital in reserve, SOX 404, extensive time in business and finding a broker dealer to take you through the process; the second option is taking your company public OTCBB (over the counter bulletin boards), this process is inexpensive, lightning fast, minimal qualifications and offers start-ups and small/medium size business the ability to raise gargantuan amounts of capital from investors worldwide.

There is no other way to go public on a legitimate platform. With Pink Sheets and Reverse Mergers you'll only get burned so buyer beware! Are you short on cash? A popular mechanism for raising the initial capital to go public via OTCBB is by using a Private Placement Memorandum (Regulation D Rule 504) with a built in mini/maxi.

Right when you hit that minimum you can start using capital to grow your company while simultaneously initiating the 'going public' process.

The moral of this story...even if you're a startup or small business owner you can raise capital by going public! Get informed and get funded.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Common Sports Betting Futures Mistakes To Avoid

By Ross Everett

Sports book futures bets are an increasing popular and potentially profitable way to wager on the outcome of a full season. There's a few common mistakes that novice players make that can be easily avoided by paying attention to the following:

Don't bet at the first place you look: In other words, shop around for the best price. This is essential to all aspects of sports betting, but especially important with futures wagers. You'll find more disparity between prices from book to book on futures than any other betting proposition. From a theoretical standpoint, a little work can yield much better value. From a practical standpoint, that means a higher payout should you win. The reason for this is that individual sportsbooks' aren't as worried about what the other guys are doing as they are with most other bets. Once the futures "market" is set books move the lines almost exclusively on their own financial position. The market simply doesn't respond as quickly to futures wagers as it does to individual game lines so it is essential to do the extra work to get the best price on your proposition.

In a competitive field, don't obsess with picking the winner: This may sound like a strange concept, but once you understand the theory behind it it makes perfect sense. In a large field--the NCAA basketball tournament is a perfect example--the top few favorites are invariably priced at odds that are less than the 'true odds' of them winning. On the other hand, there are always teams that fly 'under the radar' available at higher prices that present a betting overlay.

To put this in more theoretical terms, the "true odds" of Duke winning the NCAA Championship are almost certainly higher than the price we're getting. Obviously, determining the "true odds", or actual probability of a future event is an inexact science but think of it this way: if the NCAA tournament was played 100 times would Duke wind up winning 50 of those? Given the number of other good teams and the propensity for upsets along the way, its doubtful. For the sake of argument, lets say that Duke has a 33% chance to win the tournament. That means that I wouldn't consider a bet on Duke to be a good value unless I was getting a price that a) accurately reflected the true probability of their winning and b) gave me some compensation for assuming the "risk of the unknown" inherent in taking the position so far in advance. At +500 I might be interested, but at +200 the value just isn't there.

Note that the more competitive the market, the more difficult it is to find good value on the favorites. Since you can make a case for quite a few teams to win the NCAA tournament at this point this particular futures market is clearly a very competitive one. In a less competitive marketplace it might be possible to "pick the winner" and have it be a good value though you will pay a price for this. Here's a (thankfully) hypothetical example: let's say the UFC decided to hold a one night round robin tournament with 5 competitors. Competitor #1 would be heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. The other four competitors would be professional figure skaters Elvis Stojko, Rudy Gallindo, Brian Boitano and Evgeni Plushinko. Even if he didn't bring his "A game", Lesnar would be essentially have a 100% certainty of beating the four untrained fighters, who also happen to be rather effeminate. If a sportsbook installed Lesnar as a -1000 favorite a bet on the 63 265 pound takedown would still be theoretically a good value. It's always difficult to risk so much to win a little, but from a strictly theoretical standpoint its a good play.

Don't get seduced by big underdogs: Sports betting is not a place to make the "big killing". It may happen occasionally, but more often it doesn't. While a sports book might offer a huge price on a cellar dwelling team to win the World Series, the big payback does not mean its a good value. On a practical level, there's probably nothing wrong with throwing a few bucks on a wager like this with a huge payback if the impossible occurs. My only problem with this is that making too many bets like this just perpetuates bad sports betting habits. If you're strictly a recreational player, no big deal. If you aspire to bet professionally, or at least want to pursue it with some degree of seriousness I've always maintained that you need to develop discipline that's not situational. In other words, if you want to be a serious sports bettor you need to approach it with a consistent level of seriousness at all times. If you want to chase a huge, life altering jackpot go to Las Vegas and play the Megabucks slots or buy a Powerball ticket.

Simply stated, the concept of value works the same at the bottom of the wagering ladder as it does at the top. Even if you're betting a big underdog at a huge price make sure that it accurately reflects the 'true odds' of the event occurring.

Don't bet one sided props: Sometimes sports books will offer silly bets just to get publicity or in some cases just to be funny. While there may be life on other planets, the 'true odds' of a Martian being named to President Obama's cabinet wouldn't justify a +5000 line that it would occur.

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Take Your Company Public: Software Companies Can Raise Capital Fast!

By James Scott

Are you trying to raise capital for your start-up or corporation in expansion? Have you exhausted your traditional institutional sources and hedge fund contacts? Don't lose hope just yet! First of all, take all those pamphlets and brochures from banks and other traditional lenders that are lying all over your desk and toss them in the trash...they are absolutely useless.

Banks don't have your company's best interest in mind as they are hardly even staying afloat in this economy. Today's institutional financier isn't qualified to run a bath let alone a bank. Don't put your future in the untested hands of a 20 something knucklehead. After you've tossed all that useless info in the trash, clear your head and then look at your company and ask yourself a few tough questions: Is your company invest-able? Do you and your executive staff have a pedigree that investors deem as seasoned enough to take their money and make affective use of it and not lose it? What proprietary concepts/technology/patents do you have that give you a larger market share with the proper cash infusion? What is your current capital/debt situation?

If, after pondering these questions you've come to the conclusion you honestly, truly have something worth pursuing then the next step is to look at the reality that your company is worthy of a public offering. Stay away from Pink Sheets and be weary of reverse mergers and in reality your company won't qualify for the NASDAQ so the quickest way to raise public capital is the OTCBB (over the counter bulletin boards).

OTCBB is an SEC regulated platform that has a solid investor following and market makers that can effectively promote your stock to rapidly raise capital. Don't let these difficult economic times steal your dreams of corporate prosperity and personal growth.

If you have a solid business concept, there is a way to fund it. Look into the OTCBB, it's your best bet for an inexpensive public offering with a direct path to long term funding.

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Monday, December 21, 2009

Take Your Company Public Cheap! Less Than $35,000 Down!

By James Scott

OK, you're ready to take your company to the next level and your CFO and legal counsel have advised you to go public to raise capital as well as to retain some of those prize employees with stock options and to bait that new sales executive with a signing bonus made up of stock options. You've looked into everything from pink sheets to reverse mergers to OTCBB to IPO and you have come to the conclusion you're going to need to take on investors so that you can afford to follow through with your plan. If you're lacking the funds to dive right in and start creating your public structure, here is a way that just about any business can afford to go public.

First, get a real business plan. Your business plan needs to sizzle and reel in the investor and clearly paint a picture of your vision to the investor and their advisors. Next, you'll want to raise an initial round of cash quickly so that you can afford to take your company public without hindering your current company structure with additional ancillary costs. You're going to need something fast and affective; you should consider having a professionally authored private placement memorandum put together for your company.

If you are trying to go public via OTCBB a Regulation D Rule 504 exemption will suffice, if you are trying to achieve an IPO you'll need to go with a Regulation D Rule 505 exemption (pink sheets and reverse mergers into shell corps are not very successful in immediate and long term success so I would suggest you stay away from these structures). Build into the PPM verbiage that you are raising an initial round of capital that will be used to take your company public. When savvy investors see that they are investing in a real, viable pre-IPO or pre-OTCBB formation you will see investors climbing out of the woodwork to give you cash if your business concept is sound.

Next you hire the consultants (usually the same firm that wrote your PPM) to start the process of taking you public. On the PPM your Mini/Maxi should allow you to use capital almost immediately to get the ball rolling on your public company. You can count on a solid OTCBB going for between $75k and $250k and an IPO going for $1M+ so have your PPM written accordingly. If you follow the path set forth above you will notice something extraordinary.

The only out of pocket expense you had was for your Private Placement Memorandum (and your business plan if you didn't have one) and 100% of the capital needed to go public was supplied by greedy investors who are excited to invest because of the quick payoff of their investment when you go public. This process means you can literally take your company public for less than $5,000 (the typical cost of a strategic Private Placement Memorandum. This is a simple, strategic and inexpensive way to get the capital you need for your company quickly, without using your limited financial resources in the process.

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Basic Investment Principles In The Stock Market - Part 2

By Zigfred Diaz

We are now on the second part of this series. This is a discussion on the principles of investment in the stock market. We have already discussed the first principle. The first principle dealt with realizing that the stock market is just another investment vehicles. Before deciding to invest in the stock market, you must know about other vehicles of investments. Let us proceed by discussing the next two principles. If you wish to view the article in its entirety, visit my blog.

2.) A roller coaster ride - It could be said that the biggest advantage in investing in the stock market is the huge profits that are made when the market goes up. However this is also conversely true because huge losses can also be made when the market goes down.

The general strategy is to sell when the market is up and to buy when the market goes down. About two years ago when I started investing, the Philippine Stock exchange index was only about 2000 + points. I've seen it go up to 2500 points and slide back to the 2000 level in the middle of 2006. It slowly and steadily climbed up to the 3200 level in the 1st quarter of 2007 and dropped in a very short period of time during the last days of the 1st quarter of 2007. It climbed steadily to a high of 3700+ points in July 2007 but slid back below 3000 points a month after. By October 2007 it climbed steadily to its highest at 3800+ points. A month after it dropped to 3600+ points.

The point here is that it is really a roller coaster ride. Profits and losses are made during those up and down moments of the market.

3.) Long term or short term ? - You should determine what type of investor you are. Ask yourself the question on whether you are a long term investor or a short term investor. This question is very important and should be asked by every serious new investor. The reason for such is because it affects whether you should buy or sell a certain stock.

Take note that If you are a long term investor, this means means that you hold your stocks from 5 to 10 years or more. This actually means that you believe in the company that you are investing in. Since you are putting in your money for a long period of time, you must be certain that such money you put in is considered already as extra.

One of the main benefits of being long term investors is that you do not have to worry about monitoring the day to day technical analysis. There is no problem if the stock is held for a long period of time since what is considered is the strong fundamentals of the company. On the other hand, short term investor,who decide to cash in within a months time to 6 months time, will have to monitor the day to day market activities to ensure that they are making a profit.

Short term investors have also to consider if they can afford to put in their money for a long period of time however the time element is not as long as that of the long term investor. This is so because during the short period wherein you buy and sell stocks, you might incur losses during this time so you may decide to wait longer a little bit more.

When I first invested in the stock market I said to by myself that I will be more of a long term investor. There are stock that I invest in that I consider as short term. However most of the stocks I hold are considered as medium and long term investments.

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Reasons For Investing In The Stock Market - Part 2

By Zigfred Diaz

Last time we discussed about the advantages or the reasons why you should invest in the stock market. We talked about the first three which are, potential for greater returns, part ownership of the company you are investing and belonging to a special group of people. This is the concluding part of this 2 part series. If you wish to view the entire article, check out my blog.

4.) It still one of the best vehicles of investment - Even if the stock market has its up and down moments, investing long term in the stock market will still give you one of the highest returns making it one of the best vehicle of investments ever. Returns in the stock market fluctuate yearly. For example, in 1986 the Philippine stock market recorded the highest return rate at 224 %. On the other hand the lowest rate of return was in 1997 at negative 41 %. However the average return (within 20 years) is still somewhere from 24 % to 28 % per year. This means that the long term investor always wins in the long run.

5.) Increases your financial knowledge and forces you to learn. - If you dozed off in your high school or college days economics class before, you might loose all your hair right now just to force yourself to try to understand what inflation means. You start to begin reading the business news regularly and try to give importance to major news headlines as this will have an impact on the behaviour of the market. You will be forced to understand words that you never understood before. You will become more smarter and wiser more than ever as are forced to keep on increasing your financial and investments knowledge.

6.) Helps you more to become internet savvy. - It has been said that the development of mankind is divided into several ages. First we had the "stone age", then came the iron age and then the bronze ages etc. Afterwards we moved up to the industrial age. Currently we are said to be in the "information technology age." In this age, knowledge is power. This is not just considered as an adage. Rather this is the essence of the information age. Engaging in online trading will surely help you understand what this means. During the time that I was in college I wanted to invest in the stock market. The reason for my curiosity was because I always see in the movies how the traders are shouting buy or sell. However I did not invest during that time because of three reasons. First I lack the information. Secondly, I do not have the capability and thirdly I do not have the money to invest.

The advent of the internet age has certainly changed a lot of things. The information technology is powered by the internet and information on anything is accessible via the world wide web. This has also the changed the way stock market trading is done. Because of this I am now able to do everything online such as monitoring the business news, buying and selling shares of stocks and transferring money to and from my accounts. A future development would be to trade stocks globally. Although this might prove to be a much more complicated area of study nevertheless the principles of stock trading are similar.

7.) Helps build the nation - Investing in the stock market helps build the nation. Most stock market investors may not realize this but this is one of the most noble objective and advantage of investing in the stock market. Companies who are listed in the stock exchange intends to infuse more capital into their business in order that such capital might be further used for expansion. Business expansions would mean more people are hired for work. The government also benefits as more taxes are being paid. This further translates into more economic activity which in the long runs helps build the nation.

Certainly these compelling reasons make a valid argument as to why you should invest in the stock market.

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