Gross National Happiness

I just read this today, a Wikipedia article on the Buddhist Bhutan's economic development framework under the outgoing King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck.

excerpt: The four pillars of GNH are the promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance. Read more

Thoughts?
What recipes for economic development would bring about the most happiness for the most people? Towards what social goals should nations (e.g. Nigeria, USA) design their economies?

Credit. Let's talk credit.

Someone was telling me today about new Credit Card services being introduced in Nigeria. Examples from Ecobank Nigeria Plc, and UBA, United Bank for Africa, Plc.

My worry is that, as in America, widely available credit will provide opportunities...for many people to enter great financial hardship.

African Financial Markets

At the Wharton African Business Forum this past weekend. The highlight of the event was all about the changes and the growth in African Financial Markets.
Reminds me of investing in Russia 10 years ago - big risks, but even bigger rewards.
Interested in knowing more, check out:
http://www.africanfinancialmarkets.com/index.php

A quick guide to starting a business

at Entrepreneur.com

Blog upgrade

Soon, we'll have more discussion and more visitors to Money Talk. Please leave as a comment any complaints or suggestions. Sorry about the long break in posting. Thanks.

Trade Secret of Fast Money Traders

This is from a program called Fast Money on CNBC - I find myself agreeing with most of the approaches/rules they lay out. This seems to be a synopsis of what I have read on how to trade, I will be interested to know which one of these rules you agree or disagree with:

Trade Secret of the Fast Money Traders
1) Double tops or Double Bottoms - it is a visual thing; double top or bottom gives you your stop loss level
2) Short interest especially when you are looking at a double bottom
3) Short interest watching for when the news is out and shorts have to cover
4) Follow the momentum, fundamental momentum of the business e.g. specialty retail look at comparable same store sales
5) SPDY - 10,20,50 day moving averages when they cross to the upside, it is a buy signal (all three moving )
6) Chart patterns - head and shoulders (inverted shoulder - stock goes up)- a sign the stock is about to drop
7) Screen for short term trades, understand the criteria for old economy stock or growth stock e.g. Secular trend, SG&A and earnings growth
8) Sector - if a stock is performing intraday of the sector, short sell the worst performer in a good performing sector

The Next Oil Boom...in America?

Article: The Oil Story No One’s Telling
Source: Steve Sjuggerud's Daily Wealth Report
By: Matt Badiali
My Thoughts: When I read this report, I was floored because this discovery could (will) have huge implications for potential investors. Also, what does this mean for oil producing countries like Nigeria? Most importantly, what does it mean for the Middle East where I predict some silly, "emmotional" incident over THERE just might start WW3? Since this blog deals with issues relating to money and investing, I was curious to hear what the other Money Talkers think. However, it would be prudent to investigate this angle a little further.

By the way, take a quick peek at this quote from said report, which should pique your interest:

"Today, this gigantic oil deposit sits idle — untapped — inside more than 16,000 square miles of a special kind of rock under Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah...
When asked about America’s least-publicized oil supply, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch said: “The amounts of oil are staggering. Who would have guessed that in just Colorado and Utah, there is more recoverable oil than in the Middle East?”This past January, the government proceeded with the next step in the process. Three companies were each given 160 acres of the government's oil-rich land.

The company with the cheapest, most environmentally sound drilling method will be granted full access to the government's oil mother lode. Combine all this with stubbornly high oil prices, and a new American oil shale boom may be on..."

Hence the following question needs to be asked: Could this "ginormous" oil find derail Nigeria's booming economy if it becomes fully operational?

Enjoy!

Filed under: Money Talk, UpNaira, Oil, Investing, Business

Creating something better

I don't even know who else is running for Nigerian president.
I know and like one candidate so far: here is the audio and text of an interview with the economist and aspiring president DR. PAT UTOMI, and here is an official campaign site that has more information and accepts donations.

Aba (Nnaji's) Power Project Moves Forward

World Bank, firm partner on Aba power project

THERE are indications that the unstable power supply in the country may soon abate.
Reason: The Aba Clean Energy Carbon. (Private power project) contract was recently signed by the World Bank and Geometric Power Limited, the initiator of the project.
The Independent Power Project (IPP) has joint sponsorship from the World Bank, Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF) and other environmental-friendly bodies.
In a statement, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Geometric Power Limited, Prof. Bart .O. Nnaji, said "the goal of the Geometric Power Limited as the main developer and sponsor of the project is to deliver electricity to consumers with the same availability and reliability as in developed countries.
He added: "We plan to achieve this through first class engineering design of the power plant and distribution networks and through World class management".
Speaking in the same vein, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Hafez Ghanem said: "This is a significant investment under Nigeria's new Power Act. We hope that the Aba project will be a prototype of how to stimulate growth and opportunities for Nigerians while projecting the local and global environment".
Also, Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor, the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Country Manager for Nigeria said: "The Aba Clean Energy Carbon Project is a good example of how the World Bank group proactively supports project development in key sectors such as infrastructure and seeks to broaden support of local and national enterprises."
The 120 megawatt Aba energy project will construct an efficient, gas fired power plant, which will displace the electricity and steam currently being generated by industrial and large businesses in Aba.
Also, the project will introduce an efficient co-generation unit that will reduce Green House Gases (GHG) emissions that are responsible for climate change.
It will also have dual-free turbines that will solely use national gas backed up by diesel facilities in case of gas pipeline interruption.

Africa's Coolest Blog

Check this out..me thinks it is terrific (was that good English?) - http://generationnubian.blogspot.com/ celebrating Africa...

What should I do with my life?

What should YOU do? I don't know. A guy named Po Bronson wrote a very good book with that title.

It's how much you keep

The Debt Diet is a series on the Oprah Winfrey show every weekday this week.
I just caught some of Part II today. It's pretty good, and even if you don't owe, it gives some tips for tracking and controlling spending.
If you're dying to see everything together, the five-part series is on DVD for sale at oprah.com for a lot of money.

Talking about Philantrophy

"Warren Buffett, who is worth $44 billion, disclosed plans yesterday to give nearly all of it away, mostly to the world's largest charitable organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "

This guys are really about changing the world now. They will be changing the face of philantrophy while they are at it.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1508.cfm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR2006062500801.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MellodyHobson/story?id=2118501&page=1

Philantropy in the news

Angelina Jolie is giving an interview with CNN to raise awareness about World Refugee Day. See an excerpt by clicking the first VIDEO LINK on this page - the link titled "the World should Act." Here is another video with Jolie promoting World Refugee Day.

Meanwhile, last week, Bill Gates announced that he'll be focusing more on work at the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Here is a related article.

Hey June.

Source

Jolie-Pitt baby photos now Namibia's most valuable export

Friday, 02 June 2006

The African nation of Namibia has welcomed the birth of Angelina Jolie's baby, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, who will briefly double the country's GDP. Pictures of the child are expected to be worth more than the country's scam email and civil war industries combined. The proud parents say they were attracted to the country's beautiful scenery, rich history of tribal conflict and recently ratified death sentence for paparazzi photography.

According to Finance Minister N'kome Ahumgda, the economic good news is proof that his ten year program of corruption has finally paid off. "In the past month, our annual average income has increased from $US200 to US$35 million dollars," he pointed out. "Tourist spending has increased 12000%, and our ‘hot or not' rating has never been better. Now who wants to have a coup?"

He when on to affirm strong ties with new key trading partners NW and Hello! magazine, and thanked the actors for their $370,000 donation to the nation. "This generous gift could give our whole country clean water to drink, or two Mercedes E-Class sedans and a Patek Philippe watch," he said.

Bouyed by the economic turnaround, Mr Ahumgda has since unveiled a bold new vision for his country, abandoning subsistence agriculture in favour of a celebrity child-birth-based economy. The World Bank has reacted with caution, saying it would only finance the plan if the celebrity births were managed by the private sector.

4 Words to Live by

The 4 Best Words of Investing Advice
Some of you may enjoy this insightful piece of advice over at Motley Fool.
In a nutshell, the author states the following with regards to great advice limited to 4 words, but with some caution:

• "Buy what you know"
• "Buy low, sell high"
• "Buy an index fund"

He's absolutely right about the first observation when he grabs a quote from Jeff Fischer:

Buy what you know is one-dimensional advice for three reasons. First, what you know may not be worth investing in. Second, the practice of buying what you know is rarely interpreted to mean buy the business model, the cash flow statement, and the balance sheet that you know backwards and forwards. It too often is seen as "buy your favorite brand." Period. If you happen to know and love Kmart, but you didn't learn about its financials, you [were] in a sorry situation because you were an uninformed investor.

Now that's a very keen obeservation. Read more...

Do any of YOU have any words or advice that you live by when dealing with investing, or seeking out your first million? :-)

Filed under: Money Talk, UpNaira, investing, advise

Invest Like the Best & Prosper

Invest Like Tony Soprano
According to this insightful article, the key to succeeding in the long run is simply to buy an investment, and FORGET about it.

Seriously!

Here's an interesting observation by the author:

Shelby Davis turned $50,000 into a fortune greater than $800 million during a lifetime of saving and investing, landing him on the Forbes list of the richest Americans before his death.

Davis is frequently called a B-list money manager, but there's nothing B-list about his returns. Like Buffett, he bought stocks to hold and said that he, too, would have been better off if he had never sold a single investment.

Does any one here notice how things are completely different today - in general?? Are we too impatient today? Or have the times changed?

Quite frankly, I think technology forces you to react quicker thereby making a combination of good and bad decisions. On the other hand, it can also make you jump too soon - passing up on excellent long-term potential.

Stalemate perhaps? :-)

Filed under: Money Talk, UpNaira, investing, advise, stock market

Waiting for the 28th

Remember Melahn and coalcleaners?
News update here on GEs website, he's a finalist in their environmental business plan challenge.
That's just inspiring!

In other news, this blog now has a recent comments link in the sidebar. Try it!
Let me tell ya, I'm really excited about this because otherwise comments on older posts are not easily noticed, and I want them to be.

You Just Have To Do Something People Want

...I guess that's how to make wealth, get money, grow rich, whatever. I plucked that quote from this article, which I'm still reading, and which I found on this guy, Max's blog.

Of course Ka-Shing is on the list.

MSN reports on the annual Forbes list of the world's richest people. Pardon my cheap joke on the name of this year's number 10, from Hong Kong.
The original Forbes.com article is here.

Action Tourism- is this the way forward?

Often countries like Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon- African countries with immense oil and gas wealth often pay lip service to diversifying their economic base. However, it has often not moved beyond the rhetoric phrases of the political leaders of these countries. On the other hand countries like United Arab Emirates and Norway with declining Oil reserve have confronted their fast depleting national wealth in a more precise and succint manner. UAE specifically is a good example: turning to Tourism and Trade as a key revenue generator for the future. With its oil reserve depleting in 2015, it has invested heavily in tourism - building over 4 man made Island currently and experiencing a technology and property boom that goes with it. The Free Trade concept around its Zero Duty zones of Dubai and Abu Dhabi have also turned this pennisular nation to the fastest and most modern Middle Eastern economy, far ahead of both Israel and Saudi Arabia - even though these countries are bigger and more powerful by many standards.

I just came back from the city Island of South Padre off the coast of Mexico and Texas : called "Texico"- joining college spring breakers to catch up on some of the missen fun of college days (just because of engineering- don't blame me). I liked South Padre Island , and cannot get past how this kind of tourism spot cannot be in our continent and specifically Nigeria. Starting with 5 beach or Island settlements in Lagos, Ondo, Delta, Rivers and Cross Rivers- Nigeria can develop infrastructure - road, electricity and water and encourage local property investors to put up posh clubs, parks, golf courses, food joints (mama put will do), condominums and hotels as well as convention centers to facilitate this push into real tourism. Instead of the dispersed 30 day public holiday we currently run, government can grant its own workers (that account for 25-40% of formal workforce) a long public holiday similar to the memorial day weekend or thanksgiving weekend- to jump start this critical sector yearly. Bonuses and offers to entice local vacationers to these developed beach spots in Nigerian coastal cities will achieve among many things economic revival for these towns and cities, increased diversification of our economy, better understanding of the peculiar nature of the geography of these areas which will encourage other zones to become more interested in their development(since we all definitely enjoy good vacations) and better health for Nigerians that seem to have the word "vacation" missing from their dictionary with a resultant high rate of cardiac arrest and sudden death.

It is my belief that the way forward for Nigerian tourism is not bringing in foreign tourists. We already have a 120 million man strong market for local tourism and it provides a unique opportunity to strenghten national unity as well as our economy. Until practical steps are taken in this direction and our leaders start leading by example (case in point all governors and the President can head to the new beach cities to encourage vacationers to be there as well), then we will just be wasting precious newspaper space by vaunting some myopic economic development vis a vis diversification policy. You can check out my Flash-Album (No Flash?) of my visit to South Padre island and I must say it is highly recommended.

Perspectives. From the outside looking in.

I recently emailed an old friend who's American and whose work/life interests include penetrating the African investment market.
I hope he checks out this blog / that I can help him along in his quest ;)

Meanwhile, I just found a host of other "oyinbo-in-Nigeria" weblogs, by using the search blogs button at the top of this page with keyword "Nigeria."
I've learned a lot about my country from being an outsider (living in the US) these past years and definitely from reading outsider accounts of the place.

I'll only link to this, this, and this, but you can find a lot more.

Time Management

There are so many things swirling in my head that I want/ need to do:
one-time tasks, short-term tasks,
longer-term tasks,
recurring tasks...
all in a swirl.

Here are notes to help me get organized. You may like them too.

Africa 2005 news quiz

Try it and see how well you do - my score was deplorable (4/10), but then I've never been...