How Do Hedge Funds Work?

When we open up the financial section of the newspaper or watch any business channels on TV, we always hear about hedge funds. Especially recently, during hard economic times, we hear about hedge funds that are having trouble. However, we all listen without actually understanding how they work.

I found an amazing video on YouTube by Senior Editor of Marketplace Paddy Hirsch. It's a 10 minute video, but well worth your time. He explains everything in very simple everyday terms.


Please take 10 minutes and watch it.
Click on the link below to watch it.



A look inside hedge funds

$50 Billion Ponzi Scheme

Over the past few days, as you have probably noticed in the media, the largest fraud in history has been uncovered. It was started by Bernard Madoff of
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. In the last few years, when some of his investments went sour and he wasn't cutting a profit, he resorted to running a Ponzi Scheme.
A Ponzi Scheme works as follows. It is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from the profit from any real business
Madoff was smart. He only offered 10% returns. His records were kept under lock and key and his auditors were nobodies.
However, investors should have known better. If you would have compared graphs of Madoff's returns against the markets, the markets show a rollercoaster, while Madoff's is a straight line going up. This is impossible. The best investors, lawful investors in the world, must ride the market waves.
But what were his real motives? How could a man have absolutely no regard for other people's money? People have lost billions of dollars. Charities have had to shut down because of him. Companies have had all their assets frozen.
A few people saw it coming but nobody did anything. He was a pretty important figure in the world of finance, being the fomer chairperson of NASDAQ. He used his social standing to persuade people to invest with him. Rich people at his country club in Palm Beach. Unfortunately, their greed overcame them.
In conclusion, I know its extremely unlikely, but I hope all the unlucky investors will somehow be repayed.

Any Thoughts?

Economic Crisis Explained

I found this video recently about the ecomnomic crisis and how it started. This video is is extremely simple and can help anyone understand what's going on.

Book Review - The 10 Rules of Sam Walton

I realize I haven't posted in a while, it's been busy, so here's the new post.

The truth is I never finished this book. I got about 2/3 of the way through before I got bored. The ten rules outlined in the book do make sense, and each of them could be expanded into a great chapter.

Rule 1: Commit to your business.
Rule 2: Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
Rule 3: Motivate your partners.
Rule 4: Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
Rule 5: Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
Rule 6: Celebrate your success.
Rule 7: Listen to everyone in your company and figure out ways to get them talking.
Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations.
Rule 9: Control your expenses better than your competition.
Rule 10: Swim upstream.
However, Michael Bergdahl seems to repeat himself over and over again. His main point to me seemed to be that Sam Walton was a people person. We can see by the success of Wal-Mart and the quality of its employees that Sam Walton knew how to get people excited and invlolved in the company. Otherwise, there are a few interesting items, and some short inspiring stories. This book was more focused on promoting Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, as it didn't really include any flaws, rather than focus on rules for business success that can be universally applied.

Next Book: The Starbucks Experience

Run your own Starbucks!!

Some of you might already know that I have another blog called The Game Garage: thegamegarage.blogspot.com and I wrote a post about a very interesting game called Coffee Tycoon. I doubt the game has an business merit, but it's a model of Starbucks so it should be fun. Here's the post:

First, there was the Lemonade Stand Game. That was interesting, but wait until you try this game. It's called Coffee Tycoon. Basically, you run a coffee empire. Call it Starbucks and imagine you are Howard Schultz. This is only a demo but it is still fun.
On the first page, you can manage Baristas, Managers, and Executives. After you have done that, you must buy drinks to sell to customers. However, you don't have all the drinks already. You have to make some money first. Then you have a choice of about 36 different ones.
On the next page, you manage your empire. You have the option to open more stores: 1, 5, 25, or even 1000 stores. You also have the option to give your employees benefits.
Next, you can upgrade you equipment to buy better, more complicated drinks. You can also build buildings to make world headquarters or a plantation. Stocks are also controlable so you can hire a Financial Officer or takeover a company.
Finally, there is advertising. You can choose to advertise in a bunch of media places like newspaper or even the super bowl!
And how would a coffee tycoon run if it didn't know it's customers. Therefore, there is a section where you can read about the different customers that enter your stores.
Before you can do any of the big things, you have to work with one store making a few hundred dollars a day.
This game is very fun and will get you to want to buy the full version. Have Fun!!
Play Now

Business Ideas Galore! Thousands of Business Ideas

If you caught my earlier post on Springwise, the site that compiles new business ideas from around the world, this site is similar, except it has more topics. It's called Cool Business Ideas. These are the categories:

• Advertising
• Arts
• Automobiles
• Branding
• Consumer Goods
• Culture & Music
• Design
• E-commerce
• Education
• Entertainment
• Environmental
• Fashion
• Food & Beverages
• Gadgets
• General
• Health & Beauty
• Homes & Living
• Luxury
• Marketing
• Media & Publishing
• Mobile
• Music
• Nanotechnology
• Newsletter
• Non-Profit & Charity
• Online & Social Networks
• Online Services
• Pets
• Retail
• Robots
• Services
• Special Feature
• Sports & Games
• Technology
• Tourism
• Travel & Transport
• Trends & Insights
• Wireless

Make sure to check it out!

http://www.coolbusinessideas.com

Link Love

I'm offering free links to whoever subscribes to my RSS feed and leaves a comment with their URL.

5 Reasons Starbucks is Doing Poorly

No longer a corporate giant?
The Starbucks story is really an amazing one. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks decided to bring a little of Italy to us by offering European-style coffeehouses. The company grew from a couple stores to more than 14,000 stores in many countries within a short amount of time. It seemed as though nothing could stop its growth into a corporate giant.
But then suddenly, Starbucks wasn't the same anymore anymore. Just a year ago, the stock was trading at about $28, but now it's at about $15. In addition, they've just reported their first quarterly loss. What's the cause?

1. The Starbucks Experience: Starbucks wanted its customers, when entering any store around the world, to immediately feel like they are at their "third place". The smell, the comfy chairs, the artwork, and of course the people. But many argue that it's gone. Starbucks has lost its buzz. Customers now feel that Starbucks is too commercialized now, rather than having the feel of an independent coffeehouse.
2. Self Cannibalism: Starbucks has become way too big, expanding in certain countries to the point that some believe that stores are too crowded and take business away from each other. This is only the case in some cities. In New York City, for example, all of the stores are full, and not only because of the free washrooms.
3. The Coffee: Starbucks has been too focused on building its brand more than developing its coffee. Before all these fancy drinks, people came to try different blends and come for coffee that is unique. Now, the company has left that and has moved on to establishing itself in other areas like the music industry. This is all great, but Starbucks has to get back to its core if it wants to win over its more loyal crowd. Also, the prices on the drinks are way too high, which is the biggest problem I have with the chain. Lower the Prices!!
   
4. Recession: I've looked at a list of the areas in th U.S. hardest hit by the recession, and compared it to a list of the store closures. Florida, for example, has 59 stores closing out of 600. That's about 10% of all the stores! Obviously, there is somewhat of a pattern. And many of the stores are ones right next to each other. The most store closures are in California though, a state hard-hit by the recession. For a full list of the store closures, see List of Starbucks Store Closures. For an overview of the states and the recession, see Is your state in a recession?
5. Rising Oil Prices: With oil prices through the roof and people looking for a cheaper way to get around, some people are skipping their $4 cup of coffee and opting for a cheaper cup, perhaps at a different coffee shop. Do the math. buying a $4 coffee evry day for the whole year amounts to $1460 a year!!! Buying a $2 coffee would save you $730! That's a lot of money.Imagine the savings for people who buy more than one a day.

I love Starbucks and I really hope it succeeds. I like Howard Schultz and I believe that he has the ability to turn the company around.
Please comment. Any reasons why you think Starbucks is doing so poorly?

How Teens Make Money Update July 2008

I found this blog and it looks like it has some great suggestions. Check it out.

How Teens Make Money: How Teens Make Money Update July 2008

Find a Need and Fill It

On my recent trip to New York City, the heart of consumerism, aside from going to the regular old places like Times Square and Central Park, we decided to take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It happened to be a hot day and when we started walking, a few times throughout our walk we saw people selling bottles of water for $1 in big coolers of ice. It sounds simple but there's a strong message. They found a need and filled it, and sure enough, a lot of people were buying. Now, if you had one cooler of ice to put anywhere on the bridge, where would you put it? At the beginning? In the middle? Or at the end?

Springwise

Springwise is a website dedicated to tracking "the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts" from all over the globe. Then, they post them on the website purely for inspiration for budding entrepreneurs like yourselves. They find these businesses through about 8,000 marketing- savvy spotters around the world who recognize these original ideas when they see them.
These are the categories:

• Automotive
• Eco & Sustainability
• Education
• Entertainment
• Fashion & Beauty
• Financial Services
• Food & Beverage
• Gaming
• Government
• Homes & Housing
• Life Hacks
• Lifestyle & Leisure
• Marketing & Advertising
• Media & Publishing
• Non-profit, Social cause
• Retail
• Style & Design
• Telecom & Mobile
• Tourism & Travel
• Transportation

There is also a newsletter that is sent to more than 100,000 business professionals in more than 120 countries, so obviously this website is very valuable.
The website is springwise.com.

Book Review - Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Whoever you are, you have ideas that you need to communicate with others around you. What is the best possible way to convey the main message? What gets people to listen? Successful commercials and advertisements get you to remember the product. How? Made to Stick has boiled it down to six key qualities that are essential to making an idea stick.
They are:

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotional
6. Stories

Chip Heath and Dan Heath bring real examples of each quality like how the Subway used Jared Fogle, who lost 240 pounds eating Subway sandwiches, in a campaign to promote healthier sandwiches. This was an example of how stories make ideas stick.
This book is an amazing guide to anyone who wants to make their ideas more effective, which is everyone. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Book Review: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

The Goal is a very unique business book but also one of the most widely read and studied. It is unique because it is in the form of fiction. For that reason, it is very easy to read and has been used by hundreds of business schools and thousands of companies.
It is the story of Alex Rogo, a metalworking plant manager who needs to quickly turn around his plant and start making money. With the help of an old friend Jonah, who gives him Socratic advice and helps him understand the Theory of Constraints model which Goldratt created for systems management. Alongside this, there is the story of Alex's marital life.
It is said to have changed the way America does business. The concepts in the book may not be useful to the average reader, but it shows not only how plants work, but what the theory behind them is. The title of the book refers to the ultimate goal of any company which is to make money. Although this might seem obvious, once you read the book, you'll see that it isn't.
Overall, this is a MUST READ for teens and especially for people in plant management. I couldn't get enough of it!! If more business books were written like this, more people would definitely be interested in business.
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