The harsh economic realities are all around us. The decline in home values, the number of foreclosures, the unemployment figures and the “going out of business” signs are all reminders that the economy is still “sick in bed” although there are signs of recovery.
Although many are hurting financially there are some who are actually profiting from the “sick” economy. One way they are doing so is by investing in the stock market.
But stocks are declining? EXACTLY!
Many stock prices are currently undervalued and poised to make a positive swing. They have taken quite a beating over the last 2 years and in some cases they have started to move upwards. Here are some examples:
COF – Capital One Financial: This stock was over $80 per share in 2008. In July 2009 it tanked at $19.73 per share and has increased to just over $40 per share recently. Even if you missed out on buying this stock at $19.73 and say you bought it at $25, you would have seen a the price rise by about 60% in less than a year. The S&P Quality Ranking for this stock is “A-” and some experts set the 12-month target price at $53.
CAT – Caterpillar Inc: The share price was $85.28 on April 18, 2008 and $23.23 on March 6th 2009. Experts like this stock a lot because of what the company is involved in and recommend it as a “Buy.” The S&P Quality Ranking is “A+” and some export set the 12-month target price at $88. On Friday June 25th the stock closed at $64.71 per share.
VFC – V.F. Corporation: This is a global apparel company that owns a portfolio of brands in the jeanswear, footwear, outerwear, backpacks, sportswear and occupational apparel categories.Their brands are sold in more than 150 countries through 47,000 retailers in all channels of distribution, from mass to department to specialty retailers. On July 28, 2000 the stock price was $22.06. The price rose steadily over the next 7 years to $94.51 on July 13, 2007 but fell to $42.80 on November 21, 2008. S&P Recommendation is a “Strong Buy” with a 12-month target price of $106.00. The S&P Quality Ranking is “A.” On Friday June 25th the stock price closed at $75.33.
NYX – NYSE Euronext: On November 24th 2006, this stock peaked at $108.26. On March 6th 2009 it hit bottom at $15.17 per share. According to some experts the 12-month target price is $36 and the their risk assessment is “High.”
DISCLAIMER: It is recommended that you gain a thorough knowledge of stocks and investments or consult an investment broker/banker before putting your hard earned cash into any investment.
There is a considerable amount of time involved in researching and picking stocks. If you let an expert do the work for you, there is a cost involved.
One alternative is to invest in a type of mutual fund called an Index Fund. “An index fund is a mutual fund that defines a group of stocks — an index — and then buys and holds them all, no matter how they perform. Index funds don’t have a professional manager at the wheel, choosing which stocks to buy or sell; instead, they simply seek to automatically replicate the returns of their specific indexes.” (Source: The Motley Fool)
Many index funds are based on major indexes such as: The Dow Jones Industrial Average The Nasdaq 100 The S&P 500 The Russell 2000
Some experts believe that index funds will be your best bet for solid investing performance. But the downside of index funds is the same as their upside: You’ll only do as well as the rest of the market. For that reason investment in an index fund should be for the long run.
Posted by Yardie Luke on June 23, 2010 under Jamaica Sports | Comments are off for this article
Dustin Brown is the best player to emerge from Jamaica in decades but, spurned in his homeland, he plans to represent Britain at the Davis Cup
Dustin Brown is the most exciting and controversial tennis player to emerge from the Caribbean in a long time, a distinction in a restricted category, perhaps – but interest is heightened somewhat when he says he wants to play in the Davis Cup for Britain. The first West Indian since Richard Russell 42 years ago to play at Wimbledon, the 25-year-old Brown has roared up the ATP rankings over the past year and turned a few Pimms-happy heads in Buckinghamshire ealier this week when he beat the world No 9 Fernando Verdasco in three sets in the Boodles Challenge at Stoke Park, losing in the final to Gaël Monfils yesterday. He has drawn the 16th seed, the Austrian Jürgen Melzer, in the first round at Wimbledon.
Whether the 6ft 5in, rocket-serving Brown, ranked 105 in the world and not long ago at No99, can realise his long-shot plan to play for a country he hardly knows rests on his ability to establish the existence of an English grandmother, and he also needs a UK passport and two years’ continuous residency. But he hopes his rising form will persuade the Lawn Tennis Association and the Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith he is at least worth talking to.
“We have had no contact with him yet,” an LTA spokesman said. “But, if he satisfies the International Tennis Federation regulations, we will be happy to do so.”
Brown says: “I looked into what criteria applies. I have been told last week at Queen’s that I might be able to play. Definitely I would be interested. The British connection is on my father’s side of the family; it’s my grandmother – although I’m not that sure where she was from. We’re still checking into it. But it’s a real possibility. If it turns out to be a positive situation then I definitely will look more into it. I haven’t had any contact with Leon Smith yet but I’m going to be in Wimbledon so I’m pretty sure when I get there I am going to be in contact with those people sooner or later.”
On the evidence of his ranking (55 places ahead of Great Britain’s No2, Alex Bogdanovic) and his vibrant game, Brown would be a catch for Smith, who has been deprived of Andy Murray’s services, at least for the tie against Turkey in July, as well as the reluctant Bogdanovic.
John Lloyd, the previous captain, became aware of Brown and his desire to play for Britain but he had never seen him play and dismissed the notion – although it is known he was tempted. If he were to qualify, Brown would have to wait six months before he could play.
What Brown brings is a ready-made fairytale: a handsome, dreadlocked rebel with a booming serve (his first serve percentage for the year stood at one point at a remarkable 87%) and a curious slice on a viciously whipped forehand, weapons that were too much for Verdasco and seriously inconvenienced Denis Istomin at Queen’s Club.
He is the son of a Jamaican father and German mother who bought him a camper van to slog around the backblocks of the lower-level European circuit for four years. At times his journey was so grim he survived on complimentary sandwiches at obscure tournaments, on all continents. He played everywhere and anywhere, from Chennai to Johannesburg. Brown struggled in anonymity, just another battling pro. Except he kept going.
“I was born in Germany in 1984,” he says. “Lived there until 1986. Then I moved back to Jamaica. I went to school there and started playing junior tournaments there. I also played Davis Cup for Jamaica. In 2004, I moved back to Europe, and that’s when my parents got me the camper van, so I started playing tournaments here. Continue
Posted by Yardie Luke on June 20, 2010 under Making Money | Comments are off for this article
Writing for Profit
Over the last decade many America jobs have been transferred or outsourced to foreign companies that do similar work for less. However in recent years there has been a quiet “reverse outsourcing” where foreign entities have been seeking out skilled Americans to do a range of work.
Although companies will generally seek out low-cost workers for certain projects, they do recognize that there are times when the scope of the desired projects requires highly skilled workers. They also recognize that Americans have the edge when it comes to technical support, Web site content, public relations, and especially branding and marketing to a U.S. customer base.
Two companies that connect freelance talent with businesses of all sizes around the globe are Elance.com and Guru.com.These highly successful online marketplaces say the growth in non-U.S. companies’ hiring Americans is accelerating at a rapid pace.
In 2009 American freelancers were on the receiving end of close to $20 million spent by non-U.S. companies for work performed through Elance.com, Guru.com and similar companies.
THIS IS A MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU!
If you have a degree in communication, marketing or if you have a proven track record of producing quality content for press releases, technical documents, instruction manuals, short stories, book reviews, translation services, etc there is a list of potential clients seeking your expertise. To find them sign up with elance.com and guru.com and create your profile.
Add as much relevant information as possible including links to your portfolio. More information helps a potential client in making a choice of who to hire. When you are starting out you are competing with established “veterans” who have track records on display. Be persistent.
You’re more likely to be hired if you apply or bid for projects – regardless of size or pay – instead of waiting for someone to discover you. Your main focus initially should be to build a reputation at elance.com and guru.com. As your portfolio increases the process get a little easier.
Don’t give up. Keep your focus and work toward your goal.
..as featured on CNN iReport and Fox News 5 Atlanta
Jamaican family living in the United States think they have figured out a way to stop the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
Errold Webb and two of his children, 11-year-old Nathan and 10-year-old Imani, propose that the blown out well can be effectively plugged using the principle of buoyancy, and it took them only two hours, doing what they described as a “fun summer project”, to construct a model demonstrating their idea.
“We came up with what we think is a brilliant idea,” Webb told the Sunday Observer from his home in Atlanta.
On the urging of his wife Nadine, daddy Webb and his two eldest children used a fish tank they had at home, and inexpensive parts sourced from the Dollar store, to build the model.
In a video they posted on public video-sharing website YouTube, the children explained the procedure.
“By using a buoyancy plug we are able to supply sufficient force to plug the leak. The downward force is created by using air filled buoyant containers below the surface of the water connected with a cord which goes around pulleys anchored to the ocean floor which are then connected to the plug.
“Both containers are the same size and an equal distance away from each other, creating equal force and stability,” Nathan said in the three-minute video.
“In our experiment, the plug we used was the tip of a mechanical pencil and we sealed the hole with wax,” Imani added, speaking from a script she and her brother worked on with both their parents.
My fellow Jamaicans, Caribbean friends and friends in general, I would like to share some very valuable information with you regarding paying for prescription drugs.
Last summer I spent a few hours at a medical facility in Florida and left there with a $12,000 bill for tests and drugs. Fortunately I had insurance through my employer and end up paying less than $200 out of pocket expense. Sadly many of our friends and families do not have insurance coverage to cover most of their health related expenses.
About 5 years ago while working at an insurance company I was made aware of a program in the United States that helps people with their prescription drug expense. It is called The Partnership for Prescription Assistance and their website is pparx.org.
The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need for free or nearly free.
According to their website, “The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a nationwide effort sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, has helped nearly 6 million uninsured and financially-struggling Americans get information about programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free. PPA provides a single point of access to more than 475 patient assistance programs, including nearly 200 offered by pharmaceutical companies.”
Who Is The PPA?
The PPA is sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research companies.
These pharmaceutical research companies are working with doctors, pharmacists, other health care providers, patient advoca¬cy organizations and community groups to educate patients about the PPA
More than 1,300 leading national, state and local organizations have joined forces with the PPA.
PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH SOMEONE WHO COULD BENEFIT FROM IT.
Jamaica made its first appearance in a World Cup Football tournament in France in 1998. Jamaica recorded a memorable win against Japan but lost to Croatia and Argentina.
Unfortunately Jamaica failed to reach the 2002, 2006 and now 2010 World Cup Football tournament.
The first 2 days of World Cup Football 2010 have seen 5 games played. On the opening day the final scores were: South Africa 1 Mexico 1 Uruguay 0 France 0.
In the opening game Siphiwe Tshabalala became the first football player to score a World Cup goal on the African continent. And it was a scorcher. It flew into the top left corner of the Mexican goal, beyond the reach of the Mexican keeper. It was a memorable goal for Tshabalala celebrating his 50th cap for South Africa.
The Uruguay v France match was a disappointment. France is a great team on paper but the reality is the game is not played on paper. On the field there seems to be a lack of cohesiveness and a lack of confidence in Raymond Domenech and his selection. Many questioned why Maluda and Henry did not start. However when they were both on the field not much changed.
The Republic of Korea (S. Korea) outplayed Greece on Saturday and deservedly won 2 – 0. Argentina struggled to put Nigeria away and was fortunate to claim a 1 – 0 victory.
The England – USA game did not live up to the hype and England once again had a keeper with “butter fingers” in goal. The goal that rolled off his gloves was one of the luckiest goals most people will ever see.
Posted by Yardie Luke on June 6, 2010 under Making Money | Comments are off for this article
Today the Gleaner has an inspiring article about Lloyd Sterling and his recently released product: Matie Sauce.
According to the report Mr Sterling “invested close to $1 million to develop an authentic, multi-purpose spicy Jamaican jerk sauce, which, he says, has been on the market since December.”
“Matie Sauce is made from ginger, guava and other locally grown spices. The Scientific Research Council (SRC), Sterling said, helped with the formulation of appropriate preservatives for the sauce, distinguished, its developer said, by the flavourful taste of the guava fruit.”
World Cup 2010 begins on Friday June 11 and I can’t wait for the first game to begin. I am looking forward to seeing the best talents on display and the surprises that usually accompany the games.
I am also anxious to see how much money I can make during the 2010 World Cup tournament. During the 2006 World Cup games, 2 of my websites made close to $800 total.
First let me give you the simple explanation and then I will expand on it for my more technical readers.
Here are the 2 football websites that I used during WC2006:
(I owned the domain name WorldCup2006Facts.com from 2005 to 2008. View the site here.)
On the Beckham site there are Google ads on the left column/sidebar. On the WorldCup2006 site there are Google ads on the bottom left corner or wherever you see “Ads by Google.”
Whenever a visitor to my sites click on a Google ad I make money. Each click puts about $0.15 in my bank account but due to the increased volume of traffic to my websites during the 2006 World Cup, those 15 cents add up very quickly.
Now for the detailed explanation.
Google has a money-making system called Google AdSense which basically is ads displayed on your website like the ones you see on the left at BeckhamWatch.com. If you own a website and Google approves that site to be part of its ad network, you will be allowed to place a small code in the html page(s). Visitors to your site see the Google ads and some will click on them. Each click is money in your account.
The amount of money each click is worth varies. Without going into too much detail, I can tell you that ads related to loans, refinancing, real estate, automobile purchase, buying stocks, personal injury, injury attorney, online stock investing and health pays more than most other subjects/fields. Basically if you have a website about real estate or loans, one click can put $1.00 or more in your account.
Back in 2006 David Beckham was the most popular footballer, NOT the most skilled. He was extremely marketable and had a certain sex appeal. My Beckham site received 2500-4000 visits per day. Traffic was especially high on the days that England played. About 2/3 of the money I made during the 2006 WC came from this site. The other site did not get as much traffic partially because it was fairly new and not as popular as my Beckham site.
For the 2010 World Cup I have WorldCup2010Teams.com and I am working on 3 other sites and blogs to be completed by next Tuesday.
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO MAKING MONEY FROM YOUR WEBSITE IS GETTING HEAVY TRAFFIC. THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO GET VISITORS TO YOUR SITE INCLUDING THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORK SITES LIKE FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
I will leave the matter of getting traffic to your site for another discussion.
Let me know if this was of help to you and if you have questions drop me an email at yluke “at” yardieluke.com (I used “at” instead of the symbol @ to prevent spam harvesting software from capturing this email address.)
More information about making money online with Google AdSense can be found here.
Posted by Yardie Luke on June 2, 2010 under Health | Comments are off for this article
Children in the Caribbean and North America will start their summer holidays very soon. One challenge parents face is finding affordable summer programs that will keep the children off the streets.
Last year I was late in getting my child registered for a summer program and I ended up paying a lot more than I would have if I started searching earlier. I asked one of my neighbor where he sent his 3 children and he told me “Boys and Girls Club.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of America first opened its doors in 1860 and the organization is proud to have among its alumni, Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, President Clinton, Denzel Washington, Neil Diamond, Brad Pitt, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Martin Sheen.
I have registered my child in the Boys and Girls Club summer program and the cost is the equivalent of about 1 week’s lunch. I was surprised considering that one summer I spent over $400 for enrolling my child in a summer program.
I would like to find out where you will be sending your child/children during the summer. If you live in the Caribbean, England or North America please share with us how your young one(s) will be spending the summer holidays. This information will be very valuable to other parents.
Posted by Yardie Luke on under Jamaica Sports | Comments are off for this article
“My friends I want to announce the launch of the wild and free singles. It’s hard not to make music and since I happen to be in the studio I thought why not make some songs in between albums.
“So I decided to record a collection of singles which means one song at a time and call it the wild and free singles because they are just that, wild and free.
“Here is the first song, it’s called africa land. I wrote it cause of the world cup in Africa as a way of cheering on Africa as one team and celebrating a new day in African history. My brother Stephen and my good friend Angelique joined me for this celebration.” Check it out here
Read the First Comment 