Friday, June 17, 2011

Short Takes: Combating IPO-Hype, Motivating Banking Regulations, and more

The Blunt Bean Counter explains enough about IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) to understand why they are best avoided by most investors. I’ve been on the friends and family side of an IPO and I can say that it was nice to know that I had a nice profit built in to the price I paid for shares. But I wouldn’t have wanted to buy those shares on the open market.

Tom Bradley has a short story explaining clearly why we should support banking regulations.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade makes the case for spouses to maintain independent finances (in a post no longer online). I agree, but perhaps for different reasons. I like to know exactly what is going on in my various accounts. Another person making transactions could lead to bounced cheques and other misunderstandings. My wife and I freely give each other money when necessary because we consider all money to belong to both of us. We don’t spend large sums without discussing it first regardless of whose account holds the money. But this sharing of all money doesn’t extend to meddling in each other’s accounts.

Money Smarts explains the differences between a group RESP and a self-directed RESP.

Big Cajun Man has some advice on how to handle yourself at a job fair.

Million Dollar Journey has some ideas on how to maximize your loyalty reward points.

5 comments:

  1. The Blunt Bean CounterJune 17, 2011 at 7:07 AM

    Michael, thanks for the link. It must have been nice to be a "friends and family" on that IPO. Sometimes life is all about who you know.

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  2. Thanks for the mention Michael - have a great weekend!

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  3. Thanks for the mention!

    I've never been part of an IPO. Not all of them are successful, so I'm not sure if I would want to.

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  4. @Mark: My allocation on the IPO was modest, but yes, life is often about who you know.

    @Mike: The best way to participate in an IPO is as a company insider with stock options. With no down-side life can be very good. Life may not be as good for investors whose equity gets diluted by stock options.

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  5. the word is out that we are heading for an ipo bubble

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