The Stock Market

At the moment the stock market is decidely strange. It has been strange of course since 2007 when everything fell apart, but now everything seems to be coming back together at an alarming rate.

The S&P500 and the DOW reached bottoms back on March 6 2009 and since then have done practically nothing but go up - almost in a straight line - while everyone has been waiting for it to fll back down again.

We were told repeatedly that the recovery would be long and hard, but as often happens the markets seem to want to do the exact opposite of what the so-called experts say it should do. So as no-one was saying we would get a storming rally that is preciseyl what we got.

The markets should of course fall back to retest the lows of March but they seem unable to do so. every time there is even the slightest pull back then the next day they just start off again on their way back up.

Today the DOW is down 106 points - after being down about 160 at one point.

Banks and financials have been rocketing, when everybody said they would be the last to recover ! Barclays has moved up 450% in two months - alright if you bought at the bottom ! Other banks have doubled and trebled. Personally I am still waiting for the stock market to fall back and test the bottom again, because I know that as soon as I decide to get back in then they will drop like a stone !

On another note I recommend buying shares in Susan Boyle if such as thing is possible or in Simon Cowell - as she is set to be the next international superstar.

Bernie Madoff’s Assets

If I ever get round to putting in my claim here is a list of some of Bernie Madoff’s assets some of which have been seized - for info. on Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi Scheme see online stock trades :

Manhattan penthouse apartment worth $7 million

- Ocean front property in the Hamptons valued at $3.3 million.

- Home in Palm Beach, worth $9.4 million.

- Villa in Cap d’Antibes worth $1.3 million.

A Leopard 23M Sport Yacht known as “Bull”. estimated worth $7 million.

- A 40-foot Shelter Island Runabout sport fishing boat, “Sitting Bull,” approximately $430,812

- A Rybovich 56-foot sport fishing boat, made in 1969.

- A 25-foot Pathfinder boat, is known as “Little Bull”.

- 2007 BMW 530i around $50,000.

- 1999 Mercedes Benz CLK Class, $9,000.

- 2004 Volkswagen Touareg around $12,000.

- 2001 Mercedes Benz E Class over $47,000.

- Steinway piano valued at approximately $39,000.

- Silverware set worth approximately $65,000.

- Funds of approximately $17 million at Wachovia Bank in the name of Ruth Madoff.

- All interest in COHMAD Securities Corporation held in the name of Bernard Madoff, and all traceable property.

- Any securities, funds and other property in the name of Ruth Madoff at COHMAD Securities Corp valued at approximately $45 million.

I suspect he’s got a few digital cameras stacked away too but I doubt very much if he’s got the latest Leica S2

Retirement Investing

When you’re young you don’t think about retiring, generally, because you don’t think you will ever get old. It’s too far off an dtoo uncertain - you might die tomorrow - especially if you were born in the sixties, all you thought about was the day anf lower power everything would be OK and if it wasn’t then that was OK too.

When you get old however retirement becomes a very real event and if you ain’t got no money then you ain’t retiring, which is OK too as working is no worse than not working, but of course you need to get paid for your work !

Ha ha, well such is life, but of course the sensible course is to plan for reitrement investing but who is sensilbe when they are young.

Peope should retire at the age of 20 then start working at the age of 65 that seems far more sensilbe to me , have a bit of fun whil eyou are young enough then work when you get too old to do anything else. Everything of course should be free, that would help.

What is Equity Finance ?

In simple terms equity finance is a method of funding your business by giving up a percentage of it to a third party in return for investment.

1) How it works

Equity finance can be a good way of financing a start-up company as it never needs to be repaid to the original investor. This means therefore that the investor who provides the finance is taking a huge risk and may never see his money again if your business fails. To counterbalance this you give the investor a share of your business and the investor therefore has a level of control pver your business.

If your business is so risky that it is likely to fail you will find it very difficult to attract this type of equity finance

2) Different types of equity finance.

There are diffrerent sources of equity finance. A friend or relative, or a venture capitalist or even via  the stock markets.

The type you decide to use depends on your circumstances and the level of investment you require.

It is better in any case to err on the side of caution, accepting money from a friend may seem easier but it is fraught with danger, especially if things go wrong.

For information about trading equities online see - online stock trading