NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Neville

Meeting Dave Liniger

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Today I had the opportunity to hear Dave Liniger speak and meet him afterwards. He is the founder of the largest real estate company in the world, RE/MAX. He was an extremely motivating and interesting man who shows no signs of slowing down.

After dropping out of college and joining the military, he started buying small houses and selling them. By the time he was 21, he had sold 21 houses. From there on he had a successful career as a real estate agent for several large companies, then he founded RE/MAX.

He spoke of the many years of difficulty trying to start up the company and compete in the real estate market. Financial problems and death threats were the norm during the starting years, but once the company finally got on track, it soared. He also was very proud that RE/MAX was the only large real estate company who allowed women and minorities to become agents and upper management.

This is a bad picture for both of us, but here it is anyway!

UIA Stock Competition

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I am currently #1 in the University Investors Association Stock Competition.

This simulated $100,000 portfolio consists of $10,000 holdings in these ten companies:

RIO – COMPAN VALE DO RIO DOCE

SM – ST. MARY LAND & EXPLOR

DHI – D.R. HORTON INC

CCJ – CAMECO CORP

HDWR – HEADWATERS INC

PSYS – PSYCHIATRIC SOLUTIONS

VMSI – VENTANA MEDICAL SYSTEMS

GMR – GENERAL MARITIME CORP

ASFI – ASTA FUNDING INC

BXG – BLUEGREEN CORP

These picks come directly from The Kirk Report, and his top 15 investments for 2005 (I only used the top ten).

Anyone can get this fake $100,000 and invest for themselves at simulator.investopedia.com

Not a Bad Day

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Even though I am holding only longterm stocks right now, I still keep up with my portfolio for learning purposes.

Today my $8,100 portfolio increased by $231 just today. After owning the stock for only a few days, Fortune Brands (FO) has given me a 10% return. I am holding it longterm so there will be no selling for now.

Dynegy (DYN) and Syntel (SYNT) were both in the red, but have recently both gained back big time, especially Dynegy. General Electric (GE) has been rising steadily.

How To Get "Stuff" Done

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Sometimes I will find myself with a great business idea and never carry it through. These ideas are put on the back burner when things get busy and then lose their steam. This is common among people who are busy or have other ideas to pursue….and unsuccessful people. I will not let myself land up unsuccessful in the longrun.

I’ve noticed what happens:

The stages go:

-Great idea pops into my head.

-Getting excited about it.

-Working out the details.

-Only partially following through.

-Putting the project on a temporary hiatus.

-Never completing the project.

-Regretting never completing the project.

What I do now is FORCE myself to get the project done. I should have fully designed Resumite’s over 2 weeks ago, but haven’t. So on Monday morning I will put up all my flyers around the UT campus, and be “forced” to design the rest of the site so people will not see a shody website.

I also did this to learn about stock. I simply bought some stocks, and since my own money was on the line, I learned VERY quickly how to valuate a company, read financial statements etc.

Writing NevBlog greatly helps. When I post my goals, everyone can see them and question if I have completed them in time. When people mention my name, I want to be known as some who can GET THE JOB DONE.

Desperate for Ca$h?

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College students always need more money. They will do anything for a few bucks. After I’ve blown all the money I set aside for spending and I need more (without wanting to touch my spending account), I go to the psychology building on campus.

Why you ask? Because they regularly hold experiments there on a daily basis which you can walk into, and an hour later come out $7 – $10 richer! I generally have an hour break each day, so if there is a 45 minute experiment, I can participate and collect my reward (in cash) just in time for class!

The experiments are generally very easy and sometimes include free food. It’s just one easy way of making a few bucks during a break!

Risky Business

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I went to my first day of motorcycle safety class today! In two more sessions I will have an ‘M’ license!

The people you meet at random things like this are amazing. Sitting next to me happened to be a full time lobbyist at the capitol (which is two blocks from my campus) who knows all sorts of senators and congressmen. Powerful contacts can surprise you at any time!

The picture is of me on a Suzuki Hayabusa, the fastest production motorcycle in the world.

As for business progress: I am formatting flyers for Resumite to comply with campus standards, updating my own resume and updating my website: Neville Medhora

University Investors Association

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On Tuesday I joined the UT University Investors Association. I went to the info session, met a lot of intelligent, like-minded people and liked what they do.

I am also a member of Texas Entrepreneurs, a very active entrepreneurial society at UT.

The best part about these organizations is the people they attract. In a university of 50,000+ students, only the most motivated come to these meetings. They are not mandatory like classes, which automatically weeds out non-motivated people and they facilitate real world learning.

Stock Portfolio Update

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I am at a loss in my longterm portfolio right now. Just a few months ago I had a nice profit, but things went awry for the Syntel (SYNT) and Dynegy (DYN) stocks. I’m not worried, because I’m holding all of these (except for Syntel) for 3+ years.

Here is a snapshot as of 01-24-2005 of my longterm portfolio:

Bought GE

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I bought 30 shares of General Electric (GE) at $35.50 for my longterm portfolio. This was only a $1,075 purchase of stock, but I’ve learned to place several smaller orders at different times rather than one big order.

This purchase was slightly before GE reported earnnings, stating an 18% increase in revenue.

Looking back at this post, it is clear why I want this company in my longterm portfolio. GE is involved in everything from MRI machines to jet engines.

I will add to this position as the market dictates.

Fortune Finds Fortune

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I bought Fortune Brands (FO) at $76 yesterday, in light of recent earnings, it has jumped to the $79 range.

I plan to hold onto this stock for years to come, and add to my position at times…so far it is off to a great start!

The price will slightly drop after all the earnnings hype goes away, but in the longrun I have a lot of faith in Fortune Brands.

Here is a one week chart of FO: