meek-investor

While looking for passive income streams, I had a close encounter with Sunshine Empire and its "MLM" (Multi-Level Marketing) products. I stayed in Toa Payoh then and on one fine day at HDB Hub, I saw a grand new office/company.  Looking into Sunshine Empire's office to check what they are selling, I was invited in by a sales person for product presentation. I could not remember the product details now, but I remember in the presentation, we were told that Sunshine Empire had attractive product packages with high rates of return.  I remember a "Silver Product" and a "Gold Product" that enables a investor to recoup his investment within 1 year. The minimum investment was $12K, and the investor gets $1000 back every month, and this monthly payout continues for the next 8 years. Also, I was told that Sunshine Empire was not just an MLM company.  They are also developing theme parks an...

Chris Brogan talks a lot about learning to love the grind. The grind comprises all those things that you don't really like doing but are essential to the health and success of your business. In this episode of the podcast,  Jane and Roger  discuss various ways in which to make doing the grind more palatable based on their own experiences. You can listen to this week's podcast using the player at the top of the post or download it directly here: Business Jazz – 30th March, 2013 . We're also in iTunes . We'd love it if you subscribed or left some feedback. Business Jazz Players This podcast is a collaboration of people dotted around the world. Most of us have never met each other. It's quite a story and it's still evolving. 
If you'd like to read what's happened so far, you'll find it here: Our Story . Extras We have a tradition here at Business Jazz of recording a segment of audio around the main podcast, usually afterwards. Sometimes we forget. Thi...

WHY AREN’T YOU LINED UP OUTSIDE THE DARK ROOM ALREADY?!? The Business is never a show to miss, but this week… THIS WEEK.    We are welcoming two splendid guests: Frank Chu and Boutros-Boutros Ghali. BARATUNDE THURSTON.   Baratunde Thurston is a politically-active, technology-loving comedian from the future. He co-founded the black political blog, Jack and Jill Politics and served as Director of Digital for The Onion  before launching the comedy/technology startup Cultivated Wit . Then-candidate Barack Obama called him "someone I need to know." Baratunde travels the world speaking and advising and performs standup regularly in NYC. He resides in Brooklyn, lives on Twitter and has over 30 years experience being black. He writes the monthly backpage column for Fast Company , and his first book, How To Be Black , is a New York Times best-seller. And the wonderful Wonder Dave Wonder Dave is a writer and performer from Minneapolis MN. not to be confused with Super ...

To my generation, Nipper is an old treasured friend. Nipper is the dog you see on that immortal brand logo of His Master's Voice, better known as HMV. Most of us , in the good old days, owned a HMV Radio and certainly bought a few HMV records - or at least one or two, for the money would stretch only so much those days. In India, until Television really came to the country along with the Asian Games of 1982, HMV radio was the prime entertainment medium of the land. HMV has now gone into receivership and , I'm afraid Nipper will now be consigned to a dusty shelf in some museum. Nipper, was Mark Barraud's dog and lived in the late 1800s in Bristol in England. On his death, a sorrowful Barnard painted the famous picture of Nipper listening to a gramophone with a puzzled expression and sold it to the Gramophone company. A marketing genius there called William Owen made it the logo of the business and thus was the immortal His Master's Voice born. The Gramophone Company star...

Legacy news organizations (newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters) are confronting three critical relevance challenges as the digital world matures: Changing business configurations and characteristics, declining value of traditional news and informational content, and unhealthy attitudes toward audiences. These challenges will need significant attention if they are to be successful in the new information environment.   During the twentieth century news products were widely used, fast-moving consumer goods. Because media operated in relatively inefficient markets, news organizations were cash-producing investments with high cash flows that yielded high profits. Newspapers had asset-heavy balance sheets and excellent equity positions. The business drivers of the legacy news industry in the latter half of the twentieth century were g rowing consumption in absolute audience sizes (but declining penetration that most executives ignored). Companies changed high prices for advertis...

In my early investment days, I have invested in a few counters of unit trust.  I was a newbie then and naively listened to advices given by those bank relationship managers. Those advices included: 1. Stocks are volatile and not safe 2. You do not have experience or time to actively manage your stock portfolio. 3. Unit trusts are not so volatile and safe, as they invested into high yield bonds and blue chip stocks. 4. Experienced fund managers actively manage the unit trust portfolio. Those days I thought it was a good deal.  The fixed deposit interest is so low that it cannot beat the inflation rate, and so basically the money is just rotting away inside the FD. Moreover, I needed to travel frequently then and so have limited time to monitor the stock market. I have invested into 3 funds, Asia Ex Japan (70%), Pan-European (15%) and a technology fund (15%).  I can't remember those fund names now after more than 10 years has passed. However, later I discover...

My state is coming into election time. The politics of it - who will win; who will lose, etc is beyond the purview of this blog. But this blog will certainly muse on the economics behind it. I am foxed as to why anybody wants to stand for any election - for the economics behind this is akin to a Las Vegas casino. On a conservative estimate, each candidate would spend about Rs 15 crores in each assembly seat ( see this speech as evidence of such numbers). More than three quarters of it is not for campaigning, but to bribe the voters (shame on you and me). Traditionally it used to be just cash and liquor.  But apparently now even water drums, watches, sarees and T shirts feature, as evidenced by this photograph and this article from The Hindu today. The number of assembly constituencies in Karnataka is 224. There are four political formations in the fray. So that makes for 900 serious candidates. At Rs 15 crores per candidate, that amounts to an expenditure of Rs 13,500 crores ....

We saved a spot on our Durst card open just for you.   Come join us! Sweeping both sides of the aisle with a quiver full of arrows dipped in common sense, Will Durst transcends party ties, having performed at events honoring former Presidents Bill Clinton and George HW Bush as well as acclaimed appearances a column, daily website jokes—yet still finds time to perform hundredss of comedy shows every year. He has racked up more than 400 television appearances in 14 different countries while slinging jokes around the globe in his one man crusade to make people laugh out loud on purpose against their will. Hobbies include the never-ending quest for the perfect cheeseburger, while his heroes remain the same as when he was twelve—Thomas Jefferson and Bugs Bunny. Also joining us, the fantastic Karinda Dobbins Hailing from the Motor City and now living in the Bay Area, Karinda's humor is sharp, distinctive and infused with hilarious social commentary. Karinda has appeared at dozens of ven...