AIA Chiangmai

Who’s taking your money? Every day, someone else takes your money from you, or you give it to them; depending on whether you pay by cash or EFTPOS Who are these companies who take your money, and how do you get it back?

As a father to four children, and an ardent chef, I seem to spend an inordinate amount of my money at the grocery shop A lot of my income also goes towards the cost of shelter, and that other necessity of life No, not clothing; mobile phones.

Food, glorious food.

Seeing as how I choose to give Woolworth’s $900 each month in exchange for food, it makes sense that I should own a share of the company that I support. That way, I could at least get SOME of my money back.

Securing my shelter entails payments to the local council (rates, water, land taxes etc), bank interest and also house and contents insurance. Fortunately, I get a better deal on my insurances by insuring where I bank, so the one company takes my money for all three, and I own a part of them in return.

Clothing, well, most of my stuff is corporate wardrobe, so I definitely have ownership in that company, and if I was working for myself you can bet that I would STILL have my company name emblazoned on my chest This would be for reason of tax deductibility rather than vanity. Vanity and pretty clothes is my wife’s department, which is why I ensure that I own portions of those companies also.

LEGAL WARNING: Before investing into any company, make sure that you do your homework, to make sure that the company is good and selling for a reasonable price. Also, get professional advice before you invest.

Invest where you spend, sounds easy is it?
Sometimes it is relatively easy to invest where you spend. You may bank with the Commonwealth and have your mobile phone with Telstra, so one quick phone-call and you can buy shares in these two companies. But what about companies who don’t trade under the same name that they sell under? You may recognise that General Electric makes your toaster and your light bulb, but did you know that the US juggernaut also owns Australian Myer Card, Wizard Home Loans, AVCO Finance and Australian Guarantee Corp (AGC), among others?

Let’s have a look in Australia and find out who is the name behind the brands, that is, “who is taking your money” and where you should possibly invest to get it back.

“Lucky, you’re with AAMI” and Vero, and Asteron. Promina (ASX: PMN): The insurance company that most people have never heard of. It has various trading names and companies that it owns, including AAMI, Shannons, Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency (APIA), Royal & Sun Alliance, Guardian, Vero, Tyndall, Mariner, AA Insurance, Axiom, Autosure, Asteron and Secure Sentinel.

“Just jeans?” and shirts, suits, and dresses The Just Group (ASX: JST): Apparently these people own and operate all of the Just Jeans retail stores, in addition to keeping busy with other retail fashion outlets. They also own Jay Jays, Portmans, Peter Alexander, Urban Brands and Jacqui-E (my wife’s natural habitat!).

Too cool for school, and too many brands Australian Globe Group (ASX: GLB) sell under the brand name Globe, also M-One-11, Stussy, Mooks, DarkStar, World Industries, Stage Nine, FreshJive, Gallaz, Blind (Blind Body Bags), Mossimo, Almost, Quattra, Grind, Sista, Enjoi, Speed Demons, Tensor, Sandolls, Ecko (Ecko Unlimited), Independent, Paul Frank (that darn monkey face which seems to be the New Millenium’s answer to Warhol’s “Marilyn Monroe”), Legacy, Girl, Chocolate, Royal, Diamond, Fourstar, Blitz, Anger Mgt, Birdhouse, Flip, The Firm, Fury, Hookups, Santa Cruz, Ricta, TSG, Bootleg, Venture & Awake If you have ever seen a skater or surfer with shoes or a shirt on, chances are they will be wearing one of the above brands.

It’s so much FUN to invest, especially when you can make money across cultures and age-groups Funtastic Limited (ASX: FUN) sell so many things that I am gonna have to poke you with a stick Obviously more brands than you can poke a stick at, but unless you are under 12, I may have to poke you with a stick to keep you awake throughout the list.

Many of these will be on every child’s Christmas list. Here goes Disney, Goldstar, Action Man, Bratz, Care Bears, Hot Wheels, Tonka, Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, Justice League, Strawberry Shortcake, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yu-Gi-Oh, The Crocodile Hunter, The Wiggles, Thunderbirds, Bananas in Pyjamas, Bey Blade, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Tomy, Razor, Choppa, 2DX, 180-s, Aerial, Ford Performance, Hi-5, Thomas the Tank Engine, Barbie, Bob the Builder, Minx, Piranha, Vibes, Dome, Jolie, Hulk, Looney Toons, Zoids, Beacon, Chupa-Chups, Warheads, Pez, Fisher Price, The Incredibles, Lion King, The Saddle Club, Slinky, Nikki Webster, Beach Crew, BeDeGirls, Blues Union, Boom Doggers, Miss Shop, SixOneNine, STE, Cabbage Patch Kids, Wild Planet, Spy Gear, Undercover Girl, Aztek, Sea Monkeys, Revell Models, Testors, Crush Gear, Astroboy, Power Rangers. (Whew!)

There may be more, check out their website or annual report to learn more. Suffice to say that Funtastic make money from infant’s toys (Tomy), confectionery (Chupa-chups), pushbikes (Razor, 2DX), and every toy that any boy or girl would want to own, until they discover mobile phones and the opposite sex

Cool, clear, and dearer than Beer! Bottled water comes in varieties such as Mount
Franklin, Powerade, Pump and Neverfail all four of these water labels are owned by Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (ASX: CCL). They also make some type of sweet fizzy drinks But you probably knew that already.

Pause and take a breath here, you’re about halfway…

Recently floated company Pacific Brands Group (ASX: PBG) is also an enormous silent giant. At last count, there were maybe forty brands of clothing and sporting goods. See if you can recognise any of them.

Underwear: Playtex, Formfit, Kayser, Hestia, Antz Pantz, Kolotex, Berlei, Love Kylie (yes, Minogue), Bonds (yes, Chesty), RazzaMatazz, Red Robin, Holeproof, Rio, Jockey, Schiaparelli, Voodoo, Explorer Socks, Cottontails, Bonds Wondersuits, Underdaks, Hanes, Canterbury.

Work & Play: King Gee, Nibblick, Dunlop Sport, Repco, Slazenger, Maxfli, Stubbies, Rosebank (”Stackhats”), Malvern Star, Everlast, Lightning Bolt, Hang Ten, Lee Cooper, Amco. Home: Tontine, Sleepmaker, Doona, Simmons, Serta, Dunlopillo, Ultrafresh, Enduro, Venus & Mars.

Shoes: Candy, Julius Marlowe, Clarks, Hush Puppies, Grosby, Sachi, CAT. Check out the Pacific Brands website to find out more.

Quiet achiever Biotech Capital (ASX: BTC) is a conglomerate of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including one that claims to have a drug that stops the spread of AIDS through fluid contact (does not cure AIDS, but stops its spread), and a company that makes pain killers out of spider venom, I kid you not.

Biotech owns: Starpharma, Dendritic Technologies, Alchemia, Biocom, Continence Control Systems, Clinical Cell Culture, Pacific Knowledge Systems, Xenome, XRT, Stem Cell Sciences, Proteome Systems and more.

What would Jeremy do?
You can access information about the underlying brands held by your favourite companies or managed funds at the appropriate website or by reading the relevant company annual report. You can save yourself hundreds of hours by phoning a good financial planner and making some enquiries…

Remember to read the warning labels on everything, especially my e-mails.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Keep it safe.
Invest.

Jeremy

WARNING - This email and its attachments are not intended to constitute any form of financial advice or recommendation of, or an offer to buy or offer to sell, any security. We recommend that you seek your own independent legal or financial advice before proceeding with any investment decision.

FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS to the Invest News monthly newsletter are available at www.invest.org.au. Also available are Free DVD’s, Free MP3’s and Free Books. Learn how to be wealthy for less than the cost of a penny stock!

Jeremy Britton DipFA SA(Fin) is an active Financial Planner and a lazy investor. He owns properties, stocks, shares, and a zippy red convertible. Jeremy lives with his wife, and two children on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Invest-Org-Au is a not-for-profit organisation designed to educate investors and amuse the general public. Subscribe for free.
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Tags: AAMI, Australia, Coke, Fun, invest, investing, Owner, Queensland, Spend, Whos taking your moneyAAMI, Australia, Coke, Fun, invest, investing, Owner, Queensland, Spend, Whos taking your money

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to have complete control over your finances?

If you are like most normal people, you have a job. You go to your job every day. Every week or two weeks or month you get a pay check for some amount.

You have taxes.
The government, in an effort to make your life easier, lifts something like a third of your pay check without your having to do a thing.

You have problems.
For example, you get a speeding ticket one day, and then your insurance goes up. Or your car blows a gasket. Or you lose your job!

Then you have desires.
All humans do, some more than others. You might desire new living room furniture, a new TV or stereo, new clothes… Whatever. You may desire all of it all at once. Occasionally you cannot control yourself and one of your desires is filled.

Therefore you have debt!
Debt makes up the difference between income and expense. For most people day-to-day debt goes on a credit card, and large items like cars and houses are handled with more formal loans. Debt itself is not bad. The problem arises when debt accumulates for no apparent reason. Problems and desires would push your credit card balance upward each month because there is no other place for the money to come from.

Notice what you do not have in the above scenario?
There is no mention of a savings program. Nor a retirement plan. There is no particular hope of reaching future financial goals. No safety net! And most importantly, no peace of mind, no sense of control, no control of your life and your finances.

Let’s face it!
Investment planning is not the activity of choice for most individuals. If we had our way, the various pieces of our financial lives would magically fall into place. All of our financial needs would be met effortlessly without having to devote even a minute of time to planning!

Unfortunately, real life doesn’t work that way!
Making sense of your finances requires more time and effort than ever in today’s constantly changing economic environment. You are likely to have many different - and sometimes conflicting - financial goals. Deciding how to meet those goals requires careful planning.

So, is there a solution to this problem?
The answer is “maybe!”…
But it does require a big mental shift and if you are willing to make the mental shift the answer is yes!

It turns out there is a different way to live life. This way of life involves figuring out what you really want to do, and what is really important to you as an individual, and then working toward those goals rather than proceeding randomly.

What you gain in the process is a sense of control and satisfaction, and a sense of achievement, that is difficult to beat.

Ioannis - Evangelos (Akis) C. Haramis was born in Greece in 1951 and he studied in Greece, USA and in Belgium. He has been active in the stock markets since 1972. Since 2002 he is New Business Development Managing Director at an Investment Bank and the publisher of http://www.GreekShares.com

Tags: Finance, investing, investment, investor, stock, stock marketFinance, investing, investment, investor, stock, stock market

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You have a lock on your house. You have a lock on your car. You have a lock on your tool shed. Do you have a lock to protect your stock market investments?

Maybe you have a safe at home for your valuables such as jewelry, rare coins, special documents and even stock certificates. Wait a minute. Is that stock certificate protected just because it is surrounded with 3 inches of steel? Not really. The problem is that its value does fluctuate every day. It is OK so long as it is increasing because that is why you bought it. The broker told you to put it away and forget about it.

I hate to tell you this, but in the last 3 years that stock you own whether in your safe deposit box or in your account at the brokerage house might be worth a lot less. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some way you could protect that investment from a big loss? You can, but you will have to pay a premium, but you can set the amount of the premium yourself.

Some stocks you don’t have to worry about. Isn’t that true? You know, it’s good ole AT&T. Mom bought that years ago and gave it to me when it was $55 per share. She said not to worry as it will go up and be there for retirement. Huh? You just looked and it is $14.00. Can’t be, but it is. Now don’t you wish you had bought some of that stock investment insurance? I bet your broker didn’t tell you about it. They never do because you might end up with cash and take it out of your account and he wouldn’t be able to make some nice commissions.

Most folks never heard of stock insurance. It has been there for years and years. Here is how it works. Call you your broker and tell him to enter an order for this stock with a loss protection and you are willing to pay a premium of 10% (you can set the percentage amount for more or less) and you want it to stay there until you cancel it. No, you don’t have to send him a check. He might be a little puzzled at first until he realizes you are talking about on Open Stop Loss Order. He can enter that for you. If you had put that in place when AT&T was selling at $55 you would have sold out at $49.50 and today you would be about $3,500 richer for each 100 shares. (P.S. Brokers don’t like to do this and will try to talk you out of it.)

You can do this with any listed stock to protect from loss of your investments. When you consider that the overall market is down about 40% in the last 3 years that 10% premium looks darn good.

A stop-loss order should never be lowered and should always be raised to follow a stock price up as it increases. It is not too late to do it. Call your broker today.

(c) 2005

Al Thomas’ best selling book, “If It Doesn’t
Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has helped thousands
of people make money and keep their profits with
his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter
to receive his market letter for 3 months at
www.mutualfundmagic.com to discover why he’s
the man that Wall Street does not want you to
know.

Tags: dividends, investing, investment portfolio, investments, mutual funds, stock broker, stock market, stocksdividends, investing, investment portfolio, investments, mutual funds, stock broker, stock market, stocks

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