Doing what I can
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took a shot on the $FDX puts.. looking good so far... now riding free
$GLD keep going down :)
Nice board here. Marked :)
we need to tighten up this spread and get this thing moving again
I am on this train and don't plan to get off anytime soon!!
Looks like someone is quietly accumulating some shares
Some volume coming in here
looking for 415 here
looks like this could get interesting
looking for things to start moving here....
$VTMB Chart:
$VTMB Chart
Let's get this one back in gear today
Just gets better and better
.01 here we come :)
just a matter of time here
$GDTK looking good here...
did u mean .0001 ?
OUCH! that does not read very well
It is a new day here at $ATTD I look for this to make a steady ride upward over time. It will take a while to get out of these .000's but in the end will be worth the wait IMO!
Like what i see here. This one should get interesting real soon
MMA is a huge sport and growing and $APHD is taking full advantage of that... Keep this on watch
Welcome to Appiphany Technologies (OTCBB: APHD ) a technology & entertainment company focused on developing MMA Animals the worlds first kids Mixed Marital Arts Brand.
9.5mil O/S as of Dec 2012 that is just sick
this is like a time bomb waiting to explode
Don't think we go much lower from here... Good buying area right now IMO
This is the Year for $EXPU .01 or bust.... Let's gooooooooo
$MMTC looking for a big year
Looking for $APHD to get going here soon
Putting this one on watch....
Sounds good to me..Got it on watch
Apple still has strong iPhone sales, but no company should be so dependent on one mobile phone, Piecyk says. In fact, the iPhone market makes up more than 50% of Apple’s sales, according to research by investment bank Piper Jaffray. “Remember when Nokia, Motorola and RIM led the mobile phone market?” he says. “Market share can change very quickly.” Another reason for a phone that addresses the lower end of the market: the days of carriers offering massive subsidies to consumers are numbered, Piecyk says. If and when that happens, he says most people won’t pay $600 for a phone. Apple disagrees. A company spokeswoman noted in February that despite its price tag, “iPhone 4S has been an incredible hit with customers around the world.”
6. “The iPhone is overpriced—even compared to the iPad.”
The iPhone costs hundreds of dollars less than the iPad, but Apple has much higher profit margins for the phone than the tablet, experts say. Here’s how it breaks down: Apple earned gross margins of up to 58% on its United States iPhone sales between April 2010 and March 2012 and margins of just 23% to 32% on the iPad, according to a statement filed by Apple earlier this month as part of its patent battle with Samsung Electronics Co. It costs Apple $215 to make the 32GB iPhone 4S—less than a third of the original retail price, according to technology research company IHS iSuppli. But it costs $375 to make the 32GB version of the new iPad, around half the retail price. As a result, consumers are paying a bigger premium on iPhones than the iPad, says technology consultant Jeff Kagan. “Is the iPhone expensive? Yes,” Kagan says. “It is overpriced? Yes.” Consumers think they pay a cheaper price for iPhones as wireless carriers absorb two-thirds of the original retail price, he says. However, customers who keep their iPhone and renew their contract after the initial two-year contract expires are paying a premium for using an old phone, he says.
7. “Don’t be fooled by our soft sell.”
When Carmine Gallo recently walked into the glass-fronted Apple Store in Pleasanton, Calif., the “concierge” wanted to talk to his two children about what Disney movies they could get on the iPad. Only after he had charmed both children did the employee turn to Gallo. “It was an extremely artful piece of salesmanship,” says Gallo, author of “The Apple Experience.” Art dealer James O’Halloran had a slightly different experience in the San Francisco Apple store when he approached a member of the Genius Bar brandishing a broken iPod. “It will make a cool paperweight,” the Genius Bar member told O’Halloran before promptly offering him a new one.
These two stories illustrate two things, experts say: Apple’s staff knows if children want Apple’s products their parents will want them too—and they never bombard customers with tech-talk. “They always start off by asking you about your lifestyle and your needs,” says Martin Lindstrom, author of “Brandwashed.” “They emotionally engage you so it’s harder to say no to their products.” Other electronic stores focus on price and technical specifications, but are slowly taking a cue from Apple Stores, he says.
The gleaming, futuristic store designs are another important piece of Apple’s retail puzzle, experts say. “Entering these spectacular, fantasy retail environments helps people forget about the outside world,” says Tina M. Lowrey, professor of marketing at the University of Texas in San Antonio. “They worship the product like they would in a church.” The approach appears to be working: Apple is the top seller per square foot among major U.S. chains, according to a 2012 survey by market researcher Asymco. For the four quarters to August 2011, Apple sold $5,626 per square foot worldwide versus $330 for mall-based stores, the survey found.
8. “Our features are falling behind.”
Some consumers want Apple’s iPhone to follow the Android market’s lead by bringing out bigger screens. Nancy Batchelor, a teacher who lives in Washington D.C., recently gave up her iPhone because it was too small. “I seriously can’t read anything on that phone,” she says. “I feel old and, worse, large-thumbed.” (She’s 42.) Batchelor has plenty of other options to choose from: Motorola Droid Razr Maxx and HTC’s One X both have a 4.3-inch display. And Samsung’s SII has a 4.8-inch display—dwarfing the iPhone’s 3.5 inches. She’s not alone. According to review site TechRadar.com: “3.5 inch screens just don’t cut it anymore.”
Five years after its launch and several upgrades later, some analysts say the iPhone is starting to feel dated. iPhone users can often be found trying to recharge their batteries in Starbucks, says Yung Trang, president of TechBargains.com. Samsung’s new SIII has a removable battery, allowing consumers to carry a replacement. What’s more, fans point out that the SIII battery has more power than the iPhone—more than 10 hours talk time versus eight hours for the iPhone on 3G. “The Samsung SIII is the best iPhone competitor in the space today,” says technology analyst Kagan. In many respects, it’s even better than the iPhone.” For big talkers, the Razr has 21.5 hours of talk time.
One of the biggest new features on the iPhone 4S—the voice-activated search engine Siri—has not always lived up to customers’ expectations. Siri answers questions correctly 68% of the time, according to recent research by Piper Jaffray. (An Apple spokeswoman recently told the media: “Siri is one of the most popular features of iPhone 4S and customers love it.”) That said, Apple continues to have one big advantage over the competition, say experts: The cool factor. Plus, it has yet to release the iPhone 5, which is expected later this fall. But tastes can change quickly. In fact, Samsung recently overtook Apple to become the number one smartphone vendor by volume, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
9. “We’ll hook you for life.”
Storing digital content like movies, music and books on Apple’s “ecosystem”—the company’s compatible suite of hardware and software—may lock in customers for life. There’s good reason Apple offers 5GB of memory free on its iCloud virtual storage system , analysts say. “Once you’re in, it’s a one-stop shop,” Fino’s Eisenberg says. Apple’s iCloud is different from other companies’ virtual storage systems for one critical reason: It works exclusively with other Apple products, while Google’s Cloud will work with an HTC Thunderbolt, Motorola’s Droid or any device using Google’s operating system, he says. Meanwhile, there are a range of third party clouds like Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Dropbox that allow customers to store files from Microsoft, Android or iPhone.
It’s also difficult to transport digital files from iTunes to a third-party device like the Kindle Fire. (Though it’s not impossible: There are other third-party apps like iSyncr and Double Twist designed to make the transition easier.) Experts say iTunes has other sticky features, too. By rating your library of music on iTunes, for instance, the automatic DJ will shuffle songs and play your favorite music more often. But the feature is not transferrable to non-Apple devices. Tech-culture writer Damon Brown says he has rated hundreds of hours worth of songs on iTunes, but will lose those ratings if he transfers to a Kindle Fire. “I made a commitment to shop with Apple,” he says, “and now I’m stuck with it.”
10. “Our fans don’t care if we screw up.”
Of course, many customers are happy to be part of Apple’s global community: A Facebook page, “Fans of Apple,” has over 935,000 members. And when it comes to controversy about or criticism of the company, experts say the company’s loyal fan base often have a blind spot. Lowrey, the marketing professor, compares Apple’s cult-like following among some users to bikers who own Harley-Davidson motorcycles. “In the old days these groups didn’t have any way to communicate with each other except in person,” she says. “But today there are online communities that rally around brands.”
Indeed, many Apple customers stay loyal to the company even when it disappoints them. Earlier this year a group of Apple customers led by Change.org, a for-profit advocacy group, sent a petition to Apple imploring it to improve working conditions at its factories, especially in China. However, the group’s members said they won’t be discarding their Apple products, or even recycling them. As SmartMoney.com reported, one organizer at Change.org said: “I love them and I don’t want to stop using them.” Apple may also have stolen some of its critics’ thunder by being open about its shortcomings. The company released its own report about its factories, admitting that 62% of its suppliers failed to comply with working-hour limits and revealing that five facilities employed underage workers. The report, titled “Apple Supplier Responsibility,” stated: “We require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions” and “treat workers with dignity and respect.”
But Apple’s marketing also encourages this tribal following, industry pros say. The company’s borderline “fairytale” or “religious” language also helps stir up passionate support for the brand and upsets people when apple is criticized, says Lindstrom, the branding expert and author, who adds, “Apple knows how to inspire its customers.” Case in point: the company’s website contains this statement about the third incarnation of its tablet computer: “The iPad is a magical window where nothing comes between you and what you love.”
From customer service to app safety and even how its devices affect our relationships, here are 10 things Apple won’t likely tell you about its products and its business.
1. “Our customers are worn out.”
All that initial excitement over the first iPhone or iPad has quickly given way to what analysts are dubbing “upgrade fatigue”—with even Apple’s most loyal customers upset about the steady stream of newer models. In fact, when people buy Apple’s AAPL +0.20% latest product, the company is usually already preparing its replacement, said technology consultant Patchen Barrs, who has owned 25 Apple products over the past 20 years. “Everything we buy from them is already out of date,” he says. Take a count: Since 2001, there have been six iPods, two iPod minis, six iPod Nanos, four iPod Shuffles and four editions of the iPod Touch. Apple has released five iPhone models since 2007 and has had three iPads since 2010.
Reuters
The Apple Inc. logo hangs inside the newest Apple Store in New York.
Of course, newer models have their upsides: They’re usually slimmer, faster and have additional features like better cameras and improved screen quality. And Apple, which declined to comment for this story, has said that such improvements more than justify the fast pace of their new additions. (In March, for example, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the latest iPad delivered a “stunning” screen display.) But that argument isn’t enough to appease some cash-strapped consumers. Almost 50% of consumers say they’re increasingly unwilling to buy new products for fear that they will be rendered outdated by even newer versions, according to a recent survey of 2,000 people by Marketing Magazine in the U.K.
It doesn’t stop with devices, said experts: Software upgrades also gently nudge people to buy new hardware. Last month, Apple launched a new version of its Airplay software, which virtually connects Apple gadgets and can beam video from computers to Apple TV. But the new Airplay is not compatible with iMacs and MacBook Air computers bought before mid-2011. Some Mac owners expressed their unhappiness online. One irate Mac customer wrote: “I don’t care how much you plan for obsolescence, there is no way that new software should not be backward compatible for at least a couple years.”
2. “Be careful of that app.”
Smurfberries—that virtual red fruit that’s the primary source of nutrition for Smurfs—may sound like cheap fun, but costs can add up. Madison Kay, an eight-year-old from Rockville, Md., unwittingly spent $1,400 buying Smurfberries while playing the game “Smurfs’ Village” on the family iPad, the Washington Post reported. After complaining, Madison’s mother received a one-time reimbursement. These games are available in the App Store and referred to as “freemium.” They’re free to play, but only for a certain amount of time or before reaching a certain level, says Damon Brown, author of several books on tech culture. Under the tutorship of Papa Smurf, players like Madison are given the option to buy Smurfberries to unlock Smurfs and growth formulas to build their own Smurf Village.
3. “We’re getting in the way.”
Checking an occasional Facebook update via iPhone during dinner is the least of some couple’s worries. One in five people reach for their phone as a 21st Century replacement for the post-coital cigarette, according to a recent report from mobile security company LookOut.It’s just one more extreme example of how the smartphone has become a third wheel in relationships, says Ursula Ofman, a New York-based therapist. “People find all sorts of ways to get back to their own personal space, she says. “But clearly it’s a problem if someone wants to check their iPhone in the bedroom.”
Some people’s relationship with their God is also being interrupted by that familiar buzzing sound in their pocket—or the pockets of their neighbors in the pews. One in 10 people check their phones during religious services, another LookOut survey says. “People don’t even tend to think about any of this as a breach of etiquette anymore,” says Chris Young, executive director of The Protocol School of Washington. “They see their phones as an extension of themselves.”
Personal responsibility and manners aside, there are other theories about why people can’t put their iPhone down. “Apple’s products are addictive,” says Larry Rosen, author of “iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us.” In fact, many users are aware of their attachment to their iPhones. Some 25% of people see their iPhone as “dangerously alluring” and 41% said losing their iPhone would be “a tragedy,” according to a 2010 Stanford University poll.
4. “You may spend more with our devices.”
Not only do Apple’s products tend to be pricier than those of competitors, people spend more using them. The average iPhone owner, for example, spends over 10% more on their monthly bills than other pre-paid smartphone users—$90 versus $81—according to estimates by Morningstar analyst Michael Hodel. Owners of iPads also tend to spend more at ecommerce sites than other tablet users. iPad owners spend $158 per order—the highest order of any device—versus $105 by people on other mobile devices, according to a recent study by RichRelevance, personalized product recommendation company.
Why the splurge? Some say the iPad feels like a high-end store—the virtual equivalent of Saks Fifth Avenue or Barney’s. Others say it’s because the iPad is easy to use: “The iPad is a very intuitive and compelling product,” says Mark Eisenberg, director at Fino, a technology and consulting firm. “Just like Amazon’s one-click buy, Apple’s iPad encourages people to make impulse purchases.” Plus, those who can afford $499 or more for an iPad are more likely to have higher disposable income than those who buy Android tablets, says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute LLC, a marketing firm.
5. “We need another game-changing gadget.”
Upgrade fatigue isn’t the only thing critics dislike about Apple’s product rollouts; some say the new products aren’t new enough. Investors are growing impatient with Apple’s pipeline and calling for another tech revolution. It’s time for Apple to shake up the mobile market again, says Walt Piecyk, technology analyst with BTIG brokerage. He says a completely new Apple phone that costs less than the $649 starting retail price for the iPhone 4S would be a good start. Other deep-pocketed tech companies are also poised to compete with the iPhone with their own smartphones. Facebook FB +1.20% is also reportedly considering developing its own phone and Google GOOG +0.81% , which bought Motorola last year, is reportedly building its own phone. (Facebook and Google declined to comment.)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Apple Inc. appears to be looking to capitalize on the initial success of the iPhone 5 by going after top smartphone rival Samsung Electronics in an effort to get even more damages after winning a patent-infringement case against the Korean tech giant.
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What people think of the iPhone 5
Customers who bought the iPhone 5 on its launch day Friday at a San Francisco Apple store how they like the phone.
Late Friday, Apple AAPL +0.20% filed a motion in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., for an additional $707 million in damages, on top of the $1 billion that a jury awarded Apple last month in a patent case against Samsung KR:005935 +1.20% . That case determined that Samsung had infringed on six Apple patents involving technology used in the iPhone and iPad. See: Jury hands Apple big win in Samsung patent case.
In addition to the new monetary damages sought, Apple is also asking that the sale of 26 different Samsung smartphones and tablet computers be banned in the U.S.
Samsung has asked the judge in the trial to eliminate nearly all of the damages awarded to Apple and order a new trial.
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The latest wrangling between Apple and Samsung occurs in the wake of Apple releasing the iPhone 5 on Friday. Apple hasn't yet given any official sales figures for what is the sixth iteration of the iPhone, but said that more than 2 million pre-orders for the iPhone 5 were taken in the first 24 hours such orders could be made. See: 15 first impressions of Apple’s iPhone 5.
Apple said that demand for the iPhone 5 had exceeded initial supplies of the smartphone, and that many of the pre-orders would have to be filled in October. During Apple’s first two fiscal quarters this year, the company reported more than 51 million iPhone sales. Apple’s current quarter ends Sept. 29. See: Apple’s iPhone 5 draws crowds, complaints
Apple wasn’t expected to provide sales figures until Monday/
Across the U.S. on Saturday, many U.S. stores were reporting they had sold out of the new phones, Associated Press reported.
A Verizon store in New York City said the 32 and 64 gigabyte models, but not the 16 GB version, were available, AP said, adding that A Sprint store in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., said all but the most expensive 64 GB iPhone 5s were sold out.
College-graduation rates continued to improve around the world during the post-financial-crisis recession, according to a recent international study. In the more developed countries, the percentage of adults with the equivalent of a college degree rose to more than 30% in 2010. In the United States, it was more than 40%, which is among the highest percentages in the world.
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However, percentage improvements in higher education are relatively harder to achieve in such countries. More-developed economies have had the most educated populations for some time. While these countries have steadily increased education rates, the increases have been modest compared with the percentage gains of developing economies. At just above 1%, the U.S. has had one of the smallest annual growth rates for higher education since 1997. In Poland, in contrast, the annualized rate was 7.2% from 1997 to 2010.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s “Education at a Glance 2012” report calculated the proportion of residents with a college or college-equivalent degree in the group’s 34 member nations and other major economies. Based on the report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 countries with the highest proportion of adults with a college degree.
The majority of countries that spend the most on education have the most educated populations. As in previous years, the best-educated countries tend to spend the most on tertiary education as a percentage of gross domestic product. The United States and Canada, among the most educated countries, spend the most and third most, respectively.
OECD chief media officer Matthias Rumpf explained that educational funding appears to have a strong relationship to how many residents pursue post-secondary education. Private spending on educational institutions relative to public expenditures is much larger in the countries with the highest rates of college-equivalent education. Among the countries with the highest proportion of residents with a tertiary education, a disproportionate amount of spending comes from private sources, including tuition and donations. The OECD average proportion of private spending is 16%. In the U.S., 28% of funding comes from private sources. In South Korea, another country in the top 10, the figure exceeds 40%.
More education helped people all over the world stay employed during the recession, according to the OECD. Between 2008 and 2010, unemployment rates among developed nations jumped from 8.8% to 12.5% for people with less than a high-school education and from 4.9% to 7.6% for people with only a high-school education. For those with the equivalent of a college degree or more, the jobless rate rose from 3.3% to just 4.7%.
Among the 10 countries with the highest proportion of educated adults, unemployment rates for those with a college equivalent ranged from 2.8% in Australia to 5.4% in the Canada. In each country, the rate remained lower than that country’s national average.
The OECD provided information on the percentage of residents aged 25 to 64 with a tertiary education for each of its 34 member countries, as well as for eight other nations. 2010 statistics on educational attainment, graduation rates, GDP per capita and unemployment rates also were provided by the OECD. The latest figures covering country-level education expenditure are from 2009.
Here are three invest-like-the-rich strategies to consider:
1. Long-Short Equity
Investors in long-short equity funds gain a responsiveness to market conditions that in the right hands can be highly effective. This year so far, most hedged long-short strategies are running far behind the stock-market averages. Still, returns are positive and these funds carry measurably less risk than the market overall.
“If we’re in a low-growth, high volatility market, that’s a bad environment to be long equities,” said Nadia Papagiannis, Morningstar’s director of alternative fund research. “Long-short protects against the downside. You need a manager who can short or hedge equity exposure. ”
Her favorite long-short investments include Wasatch Long/Short Fund FMLSX -0.07% , which she said buys and sells according to a stock’s fundamentals; Schooner Fund SCNAX -0.04% , which focuses on dividend stocks and options, and Marketfield Fund MFLDX -0.25% , which has a top-down approach to its stock-picking.
2. Managed Futures
Managed futures funds invest in myriad futures contracts tied to commodities, equities, bonds and other tradable assets. But these funds march to their own beat.
“They’re not correlated to stocks or bonds and have the potential for equity-like returns,” Papagiannis said. “They don’t need growth in the economy; they need price trends.”
Indeed, these portfolios do best when there’s a persistent market trend in either direction, added Jeff Layman, chief investment officer at BKD Wealth Advisors in Springfield, Mo. The worst environment is a range-bound market or one with a quick, sharp move, he noted.
“It’s one of the few areas where you can potentially be profitable when the market moves up or down,” said Layman, who uses AQR Managed Futures Strategy Fund AQMIX +0.10% for clients. The fund’s performance is essentially flat for the year so far—much better than the category’s almost-5% average loss.
3. Market-Neutral
Market-neutral strategies match long- and short stock positions in an effort to neutralize most or all market volatility. The tactic succeeds when a manager generates excess return adjusted for the fund’s risk level, known in portfolio-speak as “alpha.”
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So far this year the market-neutral fund category has gained only 1.4% on average, but many of these funds have done their job and delivered positive alpha, according to Papagiannis. One of her favorites is J.P. Morgan Research Market Neutral Fund JMNAX +0.07% , which has gained about 4% so far in 2012.
Another recommendation, IQ Alpha Hedge Strategy Fund IQHIX +0.10% , isn’t a pure market-neutral product but includes the strategy along with several hedge-fund disciplines including arbitrage and global macro. It’s up close to 5% this year.
Said Papagiannis: “A combination of long-short equity, managed futures and market neutral would be a good combo.”
How the 99% can invest like the 1%
3 portfolio moves for the moneyed that Main Street can make
Sure, the wealthy have more zeros in their accounts and access to top financial advice, but the sophisticated capital preservation, hedging and portfolio-diversification strategies once available only to the country-club set are now available to the country at large.
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Why financial planners are worth it
MarketWatch's Chuck Jaffe offers his advice on Markets Hub. (Photo: Bloomberg)
Moreover, nowadays you can get the investing equivalent of a chauffeur-driven Cadillac for the price of a Camry. Many specialized boutique firms have branched beyond their high-net-worth bread-and-butter and offer their expertise to the retail public through relatively inexpensive, easily traded mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
“A lot of options are opening up for the ordinary investor to really take control,” said Kevin Cimring, co-founder of Jemstep, an online investment-advice provider.” It puts them in a position that is closer to the advice wealthy investors take advantage of.”
Actually, rich investors are different in two important respects that ordinary investors can learn from: knowledge and strength. Their portfolio decisions typically are better-informed and they have sufficient diversification to hang tough in rough markets.
High-net-worth investors “understand the trade-off between risk and return,” said Kurt Silberstein, managing director of alternative investments at Ascent Private Capital Management, a division of U.S. Bank. “They have staying power and conviction in their investments.”
Risk and reward
Investing like those protected by deeper pockets can be risky, but blending a small amount of exotic holdings with traditional core holdings of stocks, bonds and cash in fact lowers a portfolio’s volatility, because alternative assets don’t move in lock-step with stocks and bonds. They’re even independent of precious metals, commodities and currencies.
In this way, investors get a smoother ride down Wall Street over time, and a cushion from the uncertainty of the U.S. “fiscal cliff,” euro-zone woes or whatever geopolitical challenges face the world.
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“Look beyond stocks and bonds, and see what other options are available to enhance portfolio return,” said Jim Baird, chief investment strategist at Plante Moran Financial Advisors in Kalamazoo, Mich. “That’s where these types of strategies can come into play.”
Just realize that alternative investments won’t necessarily keep pace with stocks in runaway years such as this, where the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index SPX -0.0075% has gained around 18% so far. By comparison, for example, long-short equity mutual funds, which in addition to capturing upside also try to profit when stock prices fall, are up just 5%, according to investment researcher Morningstar Inc.
How do you fit alternative investments into your portfolio? For starters, if you have a financial adviser, learn about the types of assets being considered and how their characteristics could affect your portfolio, said William Koehler, CEO of Tower Wealth Managers in Prairie Village, Kan. And ask about cost. Some products come with high price tags; you can certainly find quality “mainstream” alternatives at a reasonable price.
“Most retail investors don’t need these more esoteric products,” especially ones that use leverage, said King Lip, chief investment officer at Baker Ave, an investment manager in San Francisco. “Capital preservation is the key. The rich have come to that conclusion and are staying diversified, protecting the downside; you don’t need to take a lot of risk to have investment success.”
not sure if KOP will be on today.... but sure he will respond ASAP
CEO Interview go here:
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STT Radio Secret Revealed: DD Amanda and it's Creator. Watch the show here:
STT Radio - DD Amanda