Podcasts about remember rule

Gamers, amirite? Whether it's opponents across the table, friends next to you, or randos online, eventually they're all going to do something while you're playing that just grinds your gears. The dorks are going to get into all the things that gamers do that annoy them. Not just to vent, but also to help us all recognize that some of our quirks or tics or whatever that we don't pay attention to might just be bothering the hell out of everyone else involved. Remember Rule 2! Come join us in the future! The show is live on Thursdays around 8pm(ish) Eastern time on Twitch Become a Lifeguard on Patreon! – www.patreon.com/themanapool Podcast RSS Feed: https://themanapool.libsyn.com/rss YouTube: www.youtube.com/TheManaPool The Deep End: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDeepEndTMP Twitch: www.twitch.tv/themanapool Discord: discord.gg/7da7T6s BlueSky: themanapool.bsky.social Threads: @TheManaPool Email: dorks@themanapool.com Intro & Outro Music: Diamond by Swift – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0vAs5HIBkUPbuoN5b5GWTE

Intelligent Investor, Market Cycles, Supply & Demand - Best of Host Matt on Investing & Economics AZ TRT - S05 EP34 (250) 9-1-2024 What We Learned This Week: The Intelligent Investor Ben Graham's teaching, and seminal investing book - Ch. 8 on Mr. Market, & Ch. 20 on Margin of Safety Market Cycles – importance of identifying them, to know where you are at when investing to avoid Bubbles and Mania Supply & Demand - Economics Simplified Capital Allocation - What is the Opportunity of your Business Investment? Gamblers Fallacy - What is the Probability of the Next Die Roll? Game Theory - Dr. Nash's Plan to Pickup Women       Notes:   Seg 1. MB on Ben Graham's teaching and seminal investing book, The Intelligent Investor (c 1949), & review of the 2 main chapters - Ch. 8 on Mr. Market, and Ch. 20 on Margin of Safety Ben Graham was an economist, professor, and investor. He is also known as the Father of Value Investing, and the author of Security Analysis, and The Intelligent Investor. He stressed fundamental analysis of securities (stocks), investor mindset, focused investing, and ‘buy and hold'. He was Warren Buffet's professor, one time boss, friend and mentor. More: Here Buffet – Rule #1 Never Lose Money, Rule #2 Remember Rule #1 Ch. 8 - The Investor and Market Fluctuations / aka – Mr. Market Parable Ch. 20 - Margin of Safety as the Central Concept of Investment Stocks are a piece of ownership of a company, not just some piece of paper. You have to be able to value the company to determine if the market is selling you the stock at a discount, or if it is over-valued. A good investment is based on the price you pay for it. A good stock can be over-priced, and a bad stock can be a good buy if the price is depressed enough. You make money when you buy (what you pay).   Mr. Market is very emotional, and changes his mind daily. Sometimes he makes you an offer on a stock that is silly, and other times he offers a stock at a deep value, at a low price. This is when you should buy. It is all about psychology, discipline and patience.   Margin of Safety is the idea to buy stocks with a defensive mindset. Buy it cheaper than the value, so if your valuation was off, you give yourself room for error. You have to do detailed fundamental analysis to determine if a stock is over or under valued. Then you hold until the stock, ride out the fluctuations until it rises to its true value.   Full Show: HERE       Seg. 2   MB on legendary investor, Howard Marks of Oaktree and his Memos, in particular, Market Cycles. The importance of understanding Cycles, and how to identify them in investing. A look at market history, and investor psychology all connected to Market Cycles. Per Investopedia – Market Cycle The four stages of a market cycle include the accumulation, uptrend or markup, distribution, and downtrend or markdown phases. Accumulation Phase: Accumulation occurs after the market has bottomed and the innovators and early adopters begin to buy, figuring the worst is over. Markup Phase: This occurs when the market has been stable for a while and moves higher in price. Distribution Phase: Sellers begin to dominate as the stock reaches its peak. Downtrend: Downtrend occurs when the stock price is tumbling down. Examples – Tech Stock Bubble of 2000, Financial Crisis of 2008 (Housing Bubble), Pandemic of March 2020, Railroad Speculation mid-1800s, Great Depression 1929 Howard Marks quotes overheard in a Bubble: ‘This time it is different.' ‘The market can't fail.' The market does not always go up, there is Regression to the Mean – prices will eventually go down and even out. Be leery when there is euphoria in the market (be fearful), and maybe sell. Then buy after, post crash at depressed pricing levels. Buy Low, Sell High. Even a depressed asset can be attractive at the right (low) price. Michael Lewis book – Big Short on the Financial Crisis of 2008   Howard Marks Memos: https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights Books: Here (The Most Important Thing, Mastering the Market Cycle) Bio (c/o Wikipedia) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Marks_(investor) Howard Stanley Marks (born April 23, 1946) is an American investor and writer. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest investor in distressed securities worldwide. In 2020, with a net worth of $2.1 billion, Marks was ranked No. 391 on the Forbes 400 rankings of the wealthiest Americans.[2] Marks is admired in the investment community for his "memos", which detail his investment strategies and insight into the economy and are posted publicly on the Oaktree website. He has also published 3 books on investing.[3][4] According to Warren Buffett, "When I see memos from Howard Marks in my mail, they're the first thing I open and read. I always learn something, and that goes double for his book."[5] Funds led by Marks have produced long term returns net of fees of 19% per year. Investors are primarily pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.     Seg. 3 & 4 Economics 101 for Real World Business   Full Show: HERE   Supply & Demand Supply is the amount of a specific good or service that's available in the market. Demand is the amount of the good or service that customers want to buy. Supply and demand are both influenced by the price of goods and services. If there was only one pizza restaurant in a town and then a new pizza place opened, the demand for pizza from the first restaurant would drop. The price of gasoline often changes with the demand throughout the year. As people drive more in the summer, gasoline prices tend to rise. In professional football, owners sell entertainment (supply) and spectators buy the opportunity to view or display the game (demand). Meanwhile, owners also buy the services of athletes who wish to play (demand) and trained athletes make themselves available for a price (supply).   Marginal Utility What Is Marginal Utility? Marginal utility is the added satisfaction that a consumer gets from having one more unit of a good or service. The concept of marginal utility is used by economists to determine how much of an item consumers are willing to purchase. Sports David Beckham signed $250 mil contract in 2007 w LA Galaxy Galaxy willing to overpay to get the attention, ticket and merchandize sales What we will pay at the margin? There is only 1 Beckham, rare commodity, like a diamond – subjective on the value What is the value of a bottle of water in the desert?  If only 1, then pay a lot, if there are 50 available, then pay less    Capital Allocation – Capital Allocation is the process of distributing financial resources to different areas of a business to increase efficiency and maximize profits.   A Sunk Cost refers to money that has already been spent and which cannot be recovered. In business, the axiom that one has to “spend money to make money” is reflected in the phenomenon of the sunk cost. A sunk cost differs from future (or regular) costs that a business may face, such as decisions about inventory purchase costs or product pricing.    Sunk Costs also mean that the Money $ used on a bad investment is lost. Don't try to ‘chase it' to somehow recover and get even. Instead, just write it off, and move on.  It is better to use the New Money $ on better investments. Where to Invest your money $ is pivital to Capital Allocation. Simply put, learn to Control Your Capital and decide wisely what Opportunity (Cost)  it should go to be as efficient as possible. This is the intersection of scarcity and choice.   Opportunity Cost is the loss or gain of making a decision, the forgone benefit that would have been derived by an option not chosen. To properly evaluate opportunity costs, the costs and benefits of every option available must be considered and weighed against the others. Famous Phrase – “idle cash balances represent an opportunity cost in terms of lost interest”   Whether your time or money can be better spent on something else   Should you mow your own lawn, or hire someone and concentrate on your job to make more $   Division of Labor We do not cut our own hair, or drill our own teeth – we go to a dental specialist, saves time & $ over long term Concentrate on your specialties Pencil example – one co make wood, one makes eraser, one mines the graphite, and one co assemblies – we all benefit as it would be harder and cost more if same company did it all, suppliers w/ specialty help keep costs down     In Stock Investing – Beware the Zombie Co.s in the S&P Index.   These are companies that are not profitable, or growing (may even need a Bailout). They are just treading water, and paying their interest on debt, but not their principal. In the current S&P index, it is estimated that about 20% of companies are Zombie Co's whose main investment comes from people buying the whole Index.   Unfortunately another 30% of the Index are bad companies that are either are stagnant, or on their way to Zombie status. Maybe 10 – 15% of the Companies (Stocks) in the Index (50 – 75 Co's) are really good to exceptional and should get your Capital.    Do you want to own the best house on the block? Or all of them?         Gamblers Fallacy each roll of the die is separate from the last, no effect   The gambler's fallacy, also known as the Monte Carlo fallacy, occurs when an individual erroneously believes that a certain random event is less likely or more likely to happen based on the outcome of a previous event or series of events.   For example, the gambler's fallacy might cause someone to believe that if a coin just landed on heads twice in a row, then it's “due” to land on tails on the next toss.     Monte Carlo Simulation – use for modeling scenarios   One simple example of a Monte Carlo Simulation is to consider calculating the probability of rolling two standard dice. There are 36 combinations of dice rolls. Based on this, you can manually compute the probability of a particular outcome.   Monte Carlo Simulation is a mathematical method for calculating the odds of multiple possible outcomes occurring in an uncertain process through repeated random sampling. This computational algorithm makes assessing risks associated with a particular process convenient, thereby enabling better decision-making.   Probabilities   Probability is simply how likely something is to happen. Whenever we're unsure about the outcome of an event, we can talk about the probabilities of certain outcomes—how likely they are. The analysis of events governed by probability is called statistics.   Sports analytics is a more recent field that uses data to measure areas like athletic performance and business health to optimize the processes and success of a sports organization as a whole. On-field data metrics help teams decide how to improve in-game strategies, nutrition plans and other methods for raising their athletes' level of performance. Off the field, organizations can leverage data to monitor ticket sales, craft marketing campaigns and reduce operational costs.   Data lets teams and organizations track performance, make predictions and make smarter decisions on the field. Want to figure out what play is best to run on fourth down in a football game? Check the analytics. Wondering whether or not your pitcher should throw another inning? Check the analytics. Players still win games, but data allows coaches to put them in the best position to succeed.     Game Theory – science of human strategy, people behave differently in games Dr. Nash – A Beautiful Mind If they all go for the same girl in the bar, competition and no one gets her, but if they work together and pair off with the group of girls, they all may win As Nash explains it, if all the men approach the blonde first, none of the men will pair off: The blonde will reject them all as a crowd, and her brunette friends will reject them all individually because none of the women will accept being second choice to her friend. While used in several disciplines, game theory is most notably used as a tool within the study of business and economics. The "games" may involve how two competitor firms will react to price cuts by the other, whether a firm should acquire another, or how traders in a stock market may react to price changes.   Prisoners Dilemma The prisoner's dilemma presents a situation where two parties, separated and unable to communicate, must each choose between cooperating with the other or not. The highest reward for each party occurs when both parties choose to co-operate. Keep your mouth shut and tell the cops nothing, both walk   Cold War Example If both combatants do nothing, everyone lives, or mutual destruction with nuclear war War Games movie – no winner in hundreds of simulated games         Related Show:   Market Cycles, Risk, & Ben Graham's Intelligent Investor - Finance Lessons from BRT BRT S04 EP29 (192) 7-23-2023   What We Learned This Week:    Mean Reversion & Market Cycles – Asset prices do not go up forever, but rather fluctuate Assets – Valuations have gone down, forces Investors to evaluate the worth of an Asset, Risk / Reward analysis, no more ‘free' money Interest Rates – Don't Fight The Fed, raising rates to lower value of assets Market Risk – can get Treasury Bills at 4 – 5%, risk-free, need good ROI to invest in stocks with 10 – 20% downside risk Wealthy own Assets, Business, Real Estate, Stocks are the best and most popular The Intelligent Investor Ben Graham's teaching, and seminal investing book - Ch. 8 on Mr. Market, & Ch. 20 on Margin of Safety   Full Show: HERE             Business Topic: HERE   Investing Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/investing More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of   Thanks for Listening. Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast.     AZ Tech Roundtable 2.0 with Matt Battaglia The show where Entrepreneurs, Top Executives, Founders, and Investors come to share insights about the future of business.  AZ TRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, & how classic industries are evolving.  Common Topics Discussed: Startups, Founders, Funds & Venture Capital, Business, Entrepreneurship, Biotech, Blockchain / Crypto, Executive Comp, Investing, Stocks, Real Estate + Alternative Investments, and more…    AZ TRT Podcast Home Page: http://aztrtshow.com/ ‘Best Of' AZ TRT Podcast: Click Here Podcast on Google: Click Here Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                    More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/azpodcast/ KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/     Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

Keep focused and keep moving forward! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/asknaimah/message

S2 EA How to Manage your GM“Dude, I am so sorry you gotta work for that guy. He is the worst.”“It's not that bad. Actually, we get along really well, and he's the first boss who's ever actually listened to my suggestions.”I think we have all found ourselves at one time or another dealing with a boss or manager that for some reason things just didn't click. We will often blame them and fail to see that it takes two to tango.When you dig into it, usually the issues are combinations of personalities, motivations, communication styles, and sometimes luck.Now we roleplay for fun, so we never find ourselves sitting down at a gaming table and quickly realizing that for some reason we just aren't working well with the GM?Sorry, I should have given you the sarcasm alert.We have all found ourselves at a gaming table where we struggled getting along with other players and occasionally the GM. I have found this is especially likely when we are already friends with the GM.Learning how to manage your game master is a critical skill for good gaming tables and it's not nearly as difficult as you might think. Practicing good communication skills and a few of these simple tricks can go a long way to greatly improving your game sessions.Christina, have you ever had to manage one of your GMs?Points:Show up ready to play (be on time, have equipment {pen, paper, dice, character sheet})Know the basic rules (you don't have to know them all, just the basics like dice mechanics)Know the rules that apply to your character (very important in crunchy games)Introduce yourself to other players, Don't make the GM do all the social work.Let the Good Job's flow. Congratulate other players and the GM on good ideas and challengesDon't be sneaky. (Explain your complicated plan to the GM including the overall goals)Don't argue at the table. (Never argue at the table. Argue after the game session in private)Support the GM Decisions and encourage the other players to support the decisions as well.Take Notes!Remember Rule 0 (The GM has final say)Help the GM look up rules, but don't read them out loud, use page numbers.Pay attention to how the GM communicates. Don't interrupt a speech!Provide feedback (remember constructive criticism, always end on a positive)Share the costs (books, snacks, software, etc)

Market Cycles, Risk, & Ben Graham's Intelligent Investor - Finance Lessons from BRT BRT S04 EP29 (192) 7-23-2023   What We Learned This Week: ·    Mean Reversion & Market Cycles – Asset prices do not go up forever, but rather fluctuate Assets – Valuations have gone down, forces Investors to evaluate the worth of an Asset, Risk / Reward analysis, no more ‘free' money Interest Rates – Don't Fight The Fed, raising rates to lower value of assets Market Risk – can get Treasury Bills at 4 – 5%, risk-free, need good ROI to invest in stocks with 10 – 20% downside risk Wealthy own Assets, Business, Real Estate, Stocks are the best and most popular The Intelligent Investor Ben Graham's teaching, and seminal investing book - Ch. 8 on Mr. Market, & Ch. 20 on Margin of Safety       Notes: Seg. 1 MB on Mean Reversion & Market Cycles Mean Reversion – Mean Reversion, or reversion (or regression) to the mean, is a theory used in finance that suggests that asset price volatility, and historical returns eventually will revert to the long-run mean or average level of the entire dataset.   Prices do not go up forever, they tend to level out over the long term. This is why so many investors monitor the 52 week High / Low average of a stock, and how it is trailing. Many stocks will go up 5, or 10 – 20% in  a year, and then go back down – whether because they are cyclical, a ‘hot buy', scandal with the Co., or market circumstances, etc.   Market Cycles, also known as stock market cycles, is a wide term referring to trends or patterns that emerge during different markets or business environments. During a cycle, some securities or asset classes outperform others because their business models aligned with conditions for growth. Market cycles are the period between the two latest highs or lows of a common benchmark, such as the S&P 500, highlighting a fund's performance through both an up and a down market.   Market Cycles, are common as economic phases rise, then fall. Think of this like a like a Pendulum, and pay attention to how they are moving currently. A great example is a Recession, where the market is down for 6 to 10 months, and stocks are all falling. As the economy comes out of the Recession, there are many opportunities for buys of the stocks of good companies that were down from the Recession, but now are rebounding.   Mean Reversion – companies or stocks go down over time, because completion comes after the main players in a an industry and chip away     Seg. 2 Replay Clip with Drew Niv on Risk   Guest: Drew Niv, Trader Tools & former Forex Trader LKIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-niv-123812160/ Drew Niv had a 20 year career in trading and FX (currency) markets. He founded one of the largest Forex trading companies on Wall Street, took it public (IPO), managed hundreds of staff, and oversaw $ billions in daily trading. Currently he runs a bank software company called Trader Tools, that specializes in FX markets. - https://www.tradertools.com/ Drew Niv is a Strategic, Technology Savvy, and Detail-Oriented Board Member and Global Business Executive with a history of award-winning performance as a visionary leader. Founded company that disrupted the FX industry, resulted in retail FX becoming a major factor of the global FX market. Developed breakthrough technology that enabled customers to transact spot FX at 70–90% less cost than the largest exchanges and ECNs. He has forged strategic partnerships with 1,000 institutional customers, including major hedge funds, all large banks, and other brand name financial institutions, both domestically and globally.     Market is very sensitive to interest rates. The Fed establishes interest rates. Interest Rates set the tone for the entire financial industry, from business lending, to stocks, bonds, banking, insurance, investments, mortgages, etc. Market Fundamentals are always valid, and post 0% rates, and current high inflation, become even more valid. Pension plans and insurance company's returns will be affected by interest rates. They are looking at minimum rates of 4 to 5%. Interest rates have been low, near 0% for a number of years. It is tough to get Treasury bills when only at 1%. Companies were forced to chase return and take on more risk by acquiring corporate bonds and stocks. Investor mentality was not challenged at times for the last few years. Hard to know what a good investment is at 0% interest rates. Money was cheap, so people were investing in numerous things, borrowing $, and taking chances. We saw the rise of the Pandemic stocks in 2020 with companies like Carvana, Peloton, and different crypto assets. These all turned out to be bubbles, and wound up flopping in 2022. The crypto market has seen 90% shrinkage. Some companies go bankrupt, while others are acquired at $.10 on the dollar. Investment philosophy 101 - you compare all investments that have risk to a risk-free investment. Treasury Bills are considered risk-free investments where with very little risk, you can get 3 to 5%. If you are going to buy a stock by comparison, and take on more risk, you have to be paid for taking on that risk. A stock could have 10 to 20% downside risk, vs a T Bill which has almost no downside risk, the government is a good bet. The two-year treasury bill is at 4% annually. Professional investors always look at the risk/reward ratio. Whenever you look at an investment, you have to consider the duration, the type of asset, and what you want to benchmark it against. Example: you invest in Apple, are they a credit risk? What is the ROI? The return on an investment should be better than treasury bills, accounting for the potential downside risk of 10% (or more). Inflation causes the economy to weaken. Housing prices decline like other assets. In 2023, inflation should go down. This assumes the Government doesn't spend too much money, in which case inflation stays the same. The Fed is raising rates to bring asset values down. In the current environment, 2023, savers will be rewarded. This is similar to from the 1980s to the 1990s where you could actually earn interest on saving money. With low interest rates from 2005 to 2020, savers were punished. 2023 will be the return of the saver. Cash will be king. Valuations are collapsing, see tech stocks, crypto, and maybe housing? Psychology of the Investor – The investor currently still remembers the highs of the last few years. As they sell off and get out of the market (expecting a recession), their viewpoint slowly changes. Typically recessions last 2 years, and this is considered short. But it takes years for investors to regain confidence and jump back into the market. Historically market timing is tricky. In the current environment you want to reduce exposure to assets. Go to the Federal Reserve website to look at the history of housing prices. The last decade has seen an unprecedented climb in the price of housing assets - https://www.stlouisfed.org/  Mean Reversion is setting in, this happens with assets. What goes up, must come down. A retracement in valuations of assets. When you look at housing and regional markets some values are even higher, ie: the Sun Belt like Florida or the southwest. Things that are illiquid assets, lower to the reset value, it's different than last time. Illiquid is the state of a security or other asset that cannot quickly and easily be sold or exchanged for cash without a substantial loss in value. Non-bank lenders will be hurt. Examples of this might be an insurance company, mortgage co., venture capital or private equity.   Full Show: HERE     Seg. 3 Replay Clip of Denver Nowicz talking  Assets and why Own a Business   Co-Host: Denver Nowicz, President - Wealth For Life https://wealthforlife.net/brt/ https://twitter.com/denvernowicz  Denver is an advisor with nearly 20 years experience working with clients in investments and insurance, designing retirement plans with a combo of both. He takes us through different strategies for clients to get the best allocations for their money over the long term. It is the Combo Strategy of both Offense and Defense, the synergy of the mix, not ‘All or Nothing'.       Businesses are usually the largest asset class of the wealthy. Options are starting your own business, buying a turnkey type business, like a franchise, or buying an established business thru acquisition. Businesses might be physical like a traditional brick and mortar store or a digital businesses which are online businesses. When you're earning a high W-2 income you are punished by the tax code. If you want to make more money and grow your business you improve the systems and then invest in different types of assets. Digital businesses are very good because they have low overhead, low expenses. Examples would be an educational course, consulting or a mastermind group. Once you start earning over $500K to $1 mil+ , you need to be thinking very carefully about tax strategies. You want to figure out ways to redirect capital from the IRS to better assets that assist you. Examples could be charities, or real estate. Active tax strategies, find good accountants and asset protection attorneys who can create a proactive strategy. If you own a business that can make an extra $50,000 a year in income, that is the equivalent of owning a $1 million stock portfolio giving off 5% a year in dividends or owning a $1 million property giving 5% in rental income. To have a good tax protection do you want to get away from W-2 income, create businesses with write offs with LLCs and expenses, and also mix in real estate.   Full Show: HERE   More - Assets Show: HERE   Wealth for Life Topic: HERE     Seg. 4 MB on Ben Graham's teaching and seminal investing book, The Intelligent Investor (c 1949), & review of the 2 main chapters - Ch. 8 on Mr. Market, and Ch. 20 on Margin of Safety   Ben Graham was an economist, professor, and investor. He is also known as the Father of Value Investing, and the author of Security Analysis, and The Intelligent Investor. He stressed fundamental analysis of securities (stocks), investor mindset, focused investing, and ‘buy and hold'. He was Warren Buffet's professor, one time boss, friend and mentor. More: Here Buffet – Rule #1 Never Lose Money, Rule #2 Remember Rule #1 Ch. 8 - The Investor and Market Fluctuations / aka – Mr. Market Parable Ch. 20 - Margin of Safety as the Central Concept of Investment Stocks are a piece of ownership of a company, not just some piece of paper. You have to be able to value the company to determine if the market is selling you the stock at a discount, or if it is over-valued. A good investment is based on the price you pay for it. A good stock can be over-priced, and a bad stock can be a good buy if the price is depressed enough. You make money when you buy (what you pay).   Mr. Market is very emotional, and changes his mind daily. Sometimes he makes you an offer on a stock that is silly, and other times he offers a stock at a deep value, at a low price. This is when you should buy. It is all about psychology, discipline and patience.   Margin of Safety is the idea to buy stocks with a defensive mindset. Buy it cheaper than the value, so if your valuation was off, you give yourself room for error. You have to do detailed fundamental analysis to determine if a stock is over or under valued. Then you hold until the stock, ride out the fluctuations until it rises to its true value.   Full Show: HERE     Investing Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Investing-Stocks-Bonds-Retirement   More 'Best of Investing': Here   ‘Best Of' Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT         Thanks for Listening. Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast.     Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving.  Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more…  BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/ ‘Best Of' BRT Podcast: Click Here BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                    More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/ KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/   Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.  

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Search Engine Optimization, SEO for short, is an essential piece of any blog growth strategy, but it generally has an air of mystery around it.  There are lots of definitions floating around - some that seem to contradict each other - that use a lot of buzzwords and tech-speak and don't really clarify anything. Add to that the fact that SEO is a long-term strategy, and it gets even fuzzier. It can take months for SEO work to pay off, so there's nothing we can even point to and say, “Aha! That's SEO!” In this post I'm going to clarify what SEO is, and recommend some tools for getting started putting it to use. Why is SEO Important? There's an old joke that says that if you want to hide a dead body, you should put it on the second page of Google. The point being that no one ever looks past page 1 of the search results, so if your site is there, it might as well be dead. I don't know how much truth there is to that - when I'm researching I always go a few pages in to see more results - but I understand the sentiment.  Where you turn up in search results - also known as ranking in search engines - matters. People trust that Google is going to serve them the best possible answers to their queries. As a result,  most take the pages that show up on page 1 as gospel, and don't bother to keep looking.  According to a 2018 survey, 90% of searchers will only click on the results on the first page. So while some intrepid foks, like myself, may look through several pages on our quest for information, most will not. In fact, the average person will enter a new search term before clicking to page 2. This means that the more of your blog posts and pages you can get in the top 10, the better. Enter SEO. What is Search Engine Optimization? According to Search Engine Land, SEO is the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines.  The most common misconception about SEO is that it's something you do once, like setting up your website, and then you're done. This couldn't be further from the truth. Search Engine Optimization is a process.  It never ends. The good news is that your SEO can be systematized so that you can embed this work into your blog writing process. In Teacher Blog Academy we cover this practice in Module 3: Grow.  And the even better news is that just having a blog and producing consistent content helps boost your SEO! How? Every blog post you publish becomes a new page on your website, with its own keyword, images, meta description, and data for search engines to crawl. As long as your content is within the scope of your niche, it will continually strengthen your SEO ranking. Google's algorithm includes more than 200 factors, which is a ridiculous number of things to track. Here are the top 7: Quality of Content Mobile Responsive Design User Experience Page Speed Blog Post Optimization Internal Links Backlinks Tools that Can Boost Your SEO Next week we'll dive deeper into specific things you can do for each blog post to help it rank higher in search engines. For now, here are 4 tools you can use to build your search engine mojo. Yoast. This free plugin works on the backend of your website to assist you in optimizing your content and keywords.  Once you install it, a Yoast module will appear underneath each page and post on the backend of your site. This module provides you spaces to customize the title and description that will display on Google, social media sharing presets, and recommendations to improve discoverability and readability. Get Yoast.  Google Site Kit. Another free plugin, Google Site Kit works with Google's tools, like Analytics, AdSense, Page Speed Insights, and more.  The information collected by Site Kit can be accessed elsewhere, like by going directly to Google Analytics, but having it on your site's dashboard, with key points summarized, makes you more likely to read and utilize the data. Get Google Site Kit. Cosechedule Headline Analyzer. This free tool can be used separately or as a Google Chrome extension and it does exactly what it says; It analyzes your headlines (post titles) for word choice and clickability. Headline Analyzer will give each post title a score out of 100 based on the balance of common words, emotional words, power words, numbers, and stop words. Get Headline Analyzer. ConvertKit. The one tool on this list that I recommend you pay for (there's a free version available) because it allows you to automate your email sequence, which is worth waaaaaay more than the $9 a month. ConvertKit allows you to collect emails within your blog posts. This doesn't seem to be directly related to SEO, but Google considers returning visitors to carry more weight, and the best way to get people back to your site is to invite prior readers to come read your new stuff. Get ConvertKit. Remember Rule #1 No matter what tools or strategies you use to bolster your search engine optimization, everything comes down to providing value to your readers. Not only do search engines have algorithms that measure content quality, but readers will not comment on, share, or come back for more crappy content. Get to know your audience and what they want, then give it to them! Register for Teacher Blog Academy at www.teacherblogacademy.com

Tuesday, March 3 at 2:00 pm Speaking in Maine takes us next to the recent Camden Conference focusing on The Media Revolution: Changing The World . The first of three programs features the keynote address from Nicco Mele from the Harvard Kennedy School on Remember Rule 1: It Will Get Crazier , followed by Jeff Jarvis from the City University of New York speaking on HANDS OFF OUR NET!

Rule 1 in Investing: Don't Lose MoneyRule 2: Remember Rule 1- Warren Buffet.

“Fake News” for Dentists: Section 179With the year-end approaching we will soon be turning our attention to holiday celebrations and festivities; Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Section 179 Deductions!If you are a small business owner, especially a dentist, you will be visited by equipment sales professionals, especially at year-end, who tout the incredible tax savings one can accrue by using Section 179. With those two words, “tax deduction”, dentists become easy prey for the dental equipment sales rep, and many times make large capital purchases for their tax benefits alone.In this podcast, we are going to spend some time learning more about Section 179, and illuminate several Blindspots the sales rep is sure to leave out.Section 179 is a part of the Internal Revenue Tax Code which allows small businesses to take an accelerated tax write-off in the year of purchase for equipment which would otherwise be depreciated, or expensed over time. Most of the equipment in a dental practice qualifies, and under the right conditions, it can be a great tool to reduce your tax liability while improving and upgrading the technology in your practice. There are many pundits out there preaching the benefits of Section 179 as an incentive for Doctors to save on their taxes. Admittedly, there is a time and a place where we would agree; however, there are some Section 179 pitfalls practice owners need to be aware of and consider when making that determination.Let’s take some time to go down the “rabbit hole” and learn some rules to be aware of when considering Section 179.Rule 1: Only your Tax Professional knows best.There are so many nuances and details of Section 179 that it is essential for you to consult with your Tax Professional prior to pulling the trigger on this. Projections and planning for your current year as well as future years is critical. Many times it is in the future years where the potential problems with Section 179 become apparent. Only your Accountant knows for sure if electing the Section 179 Deduction is beneficial to you.Rule 2: Your equipment sales rep is NOT your Tax Professional.In all the excitement of the year-end sales frenzy, your equipment sales rep will most likely illustrate the maximum one-year “tax savings” for you with a quick spreadsheet calculation. I wish this were that easy, but it’s not. As my accountant likes to tell me repeatedly…”It depends, David!”“It depends, David”Maurice, my AccountantBuyer beware here…this calculation is an estimate only and should have the disclaimer, “for illustrative purposes only!”Without a comprehensive understanding of the doctor’s financial situation and tax bracket, an equipment sales rep does not have sufficient information to determine the amount of money a doctor will save. You as the doctor must consult with your tax advisor before making a large purchase.Remember Rule 1: Only your Tax Professional Knows Best!“Knowing the name of something doesn’t mean you understand it.”Richard FeynmanRule 3: Knowing the name of something doesn’t mean you understand it.It seems at year-end everyone is talking about “Section 179 Write-Off”, or “Section 179 Deduction”. At this time of year, this is the most common question our consulting firm is asked, “Can I use the 179 Write Off?”, or “How much more equipment can I buy to save taxes?” So, just because someone espouses this term does not mean they know or understand it! You can hear it called a “write-off”, a “deduction”, an “accelerated expensing”, or even an “accelerated depreciation”. So many terms, but so little time!So which is it? An expense? A deduction? A Write-off? A depreciation?How exactly does Section 179 reduce your taxes?If you don’t know, listen here.To understand how Section 179 reduces your taxes we must appreciate, in basic terms, how your financial statements work and how they are interrelated; the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement or P&L, and the Statement of Cash Flows.First, Capital Equipment purchases are classified as Assets and appear on your Balance Sheet, completely avoiding your Income Statement. The Income Statement shows your Revenue and all the expenses incurred to generate that revenue, not your assets.Capital Equipment is Expensed in the Income Statement through the process of Depreciation. Depreciation is a complex accounting topic best delegated to your Accountant. As the business owner, you should understand that the Depreciation expense accounts for the loss in economic value, over time, of an asset. This loss is the result of wear and tear, consumption, the effects of time, as well as obsolescence. This Depreciation expense is a NON-Cash expense, as no cash is exchanged here, i.e. no check is written. Think of it as an accounting entry or “adjustment”. Be aware there are several methods Accountants can use to depreciate assets. As a result, it is acceptable to calculate depreciation for taxes differently from how depreciation is recorded for accounting purposes.So, say you purchased that new Cone Beam Scanner for $100,000 and your accountant recommended a 5-year depreciation schedule to match your 5-year bank loan. Assuming the equipment will be fully depreciated to a book value of zero, your depreciation would be $20,000 per year.This $20,000 shows up on your Income Statement as a Depreciation Expense, thus reducing your Net Income by $20,000.Remember, your Net Income is linked to your Balance Sheet through the Retained Earnings section. This $20,000 depreciation expense effectively lowers your Retained Earnings by the same $20,000. Since most dental Corporations are Pass-Through Entities and not subject to taxation, your $100,000 Cone Beam Scanner, depreciated at $20,000 per year has effectively reduced your Taxable Income by $20,000 and at a 35% tax rate saves you $7000 in taxes each year.So what does Section 179 do? It allows you to take an accelerated depreciation and fully deduct the entire expense of the equipment in the year of purchase. Please note there are restrictions and limitations to all tax codes, consult your Tax Professional for all those details.In our Cone Beam example, depreciating the entire $100,000 purchase reduces your Net Income and effectively your Taxable Income by $100,000, saving up to $35,000 in taxes.Remember, and the key point here, your mileage may vary, as may your tax savings. Only your accountant knows for sure if Section 179 is beneficial to you. Remember Rule 1: Only your Tax Professional Knows Best.To further complicate Section 179 there is also something called Bonus Depreciation; kinda like a “cousin” to Section 179. Bonus Depreciation also allows for a 100% depreciation of qualified assets. Simply stated, Section 179 provides greater flexibility than just bonus depreciation alone. With Bonus Depreciation, you can create a tax loss, but with Section 179, you can only bring the taxable income down to $0. As you can quickly appreciate, the entire discussion of depreciation, Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation, along with the many other depreciation methods can get very technical and complex, well beyond my expertise. Certainly, well beyond the expertise of a Dental Equipment Sales Professional. While it is important for you to understand depreciation and how it affects your financial statements, I recommend that you save yourself some time and leave depreciation calculations to the accounting experts.“Depreciation Selections, Schedules and Calculations are NOT for do-it-yourselfer’s!”Dr. David DarabAt this juncture, I can’t resist reviewing for you, the effect a Capital Expenditure has on your financial statements…Let’s take a look!When you purchase a $100,000 ConeBeam machine with the financing you add $100,000 to your Cash Asset on your Balance sheet and create a $100,000 Loan Liability. Remember, your Balance Sheet must Balance; Assets must equal Liabilities plus Owner’s EquityWhen purchased, the $100,000 cash from the loan is converted into a $100,000 equipment asset on the balance sheet.Your monthly loan payment of about $1800 (4.5% over 5 years) breaks down into principal payment of approximately $1700 and an interest payment of about $100. The principle payment appears on your Statement of Cash Flow while your interest payment appears on your Income or Profit and Loss Statement as an Interest expense. We already mentioned the depreciation expense will appear on the Income Statement too.There you have it. If you need a refresher on the key financial statements please go back and listen to my podcast series on each one! It will get you up to speed on how to talk finance, the language of business. After listening to my series, rest assured, you will know more about business and financial statements than 98% of your colleagues, guaranteed!Rule 4: You should never be in a hurry to buy equipment!Section 179 is available to you year-round, not just in the closing days of the year. It is not a time-limited offer valid in December only!There is no special Tax Magic for Section 179 at year-end. Ideally, you should be carefully planning your major capital expenditures throughout the year, not rushing at the last closing moments of the year to get the equipment installed. The rush and panic are created because, in order to qualify for the Section 179 Deduction, the equipment must be purchased and put into service by December 31!So, please feel free to purchase your needed equipment throughout the year, not just in December, and still take advantage of Section 179 Depreciation while enjoying using your new technology.Rule 5: You get the maximum deduction with or without Section 179.It is important to realize that all Capital Equipment will be fully depreciated per the depreciation schedule chosen by your accountant. Section 179 does not allow for any additional depreciation. Section 179 just takes all the depreciation in one year, no more, no less. No special magic or secret sauce.Listen on for potential traps and blindspots though, it is never as simple as the salesperson makes it out to be.Rule 6: You Still Have to Pay for the Equipment!Write off, deduction, expensing all sound wonderful, but none of these verbs reduce the cost of your equipment. You must still pay for it.After all the high fives and celebrating over your massive Section 179 year-end deduction that just saved you lots of money on your taxes, you are left with the reality of paying on your banknote for the next 5 years or so.In future years, you have now completely lost the depreciation expense and deduction on your income statement, since you took all of your depreciation in the year of purchase by electing Section 179. Many call this the Section 179 “tax trap” that “catches” you in future years. You are now left with the reality of higher net income, higher personal taxes along with loan repayments for your equipment purchase. This potential “double whammy” repeats during the period of your loan repayments.This is a huge blind spot and potential pitfall when Section 179 is elected.Follow me here…You load up on equipment, pay with debt and expense it all through Section 179. You are happy to owe so little in taxes, the equipment rep is happy, and your CPA looks like a genius.But…, and there is always a “but”…In future years you now have less cash because you are now paying on your debt service, and without any deductions, remember you elected Section179, you now have a higher taxable income and the corresponding tax bill that further reduces your cash!Rule 7: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.With all the year-end excitement and frenzy is sounds like a great idea to be able to write everything off, but doing so may not result in all the tax savings claimed. In deciding whether to elect Section 179 or Bonus Depreciation, doctors need to think about what future earnings are expected. One might want to save some deductions to offset future income when earnings and taxes could be higher.As with any tax decision, you cannot look at the current year with blinders on. Before making a decision to take the Section179 deduction, it’s important that you and your accountant discuss not only this year’s tax implications but also the impact it will have on future years as well. Ask your accountant if the refund I get this year is at the expense of next year. Don’t fall for the Section 179 Tax Trap! You have just been warned.Rule 8: Never buy a tax deductionYour goal to pay as much tax as you can! Yes, let me repeat that paying taxes is ok, in fact paying more taxes is even better. Paying more taxes means you must have more income as well. We here at OmniStar believe that maximizing and growing your income is the key to growing your wealth and becoming financially independent. Minimizing taxes is not a strategy that will grow your wealth or help you become financially independent.Spending your cash to buy a tax deduction never creates wealth. Your deduction reduces your taxable income by the amount of your expense. This is identical to buying something on sale. If your marginal tax rate is 35%, then you get everything the practice buys at 35% off. The kicker is, any many forget, you still have to pay for the 65%. Said another way, would you spend $1000 to save $350? Understand that simple question along with the answer and you are well on your way to creating wealth.So, time to sum things up here.We have learned that Section 179 has no special powers or magic, it simply allows you to fully depreciate your capital equipment in the year of purchase. As with all Internal Revenue Tax Code, there are rules, limitations, and restrictions that apply. Listeners are urged to consult a qualified Tax Professional for guidance here. Your sales rep is not equipped to provide you such guidance. Planning for future years is critical so the timing of your depreciation expense aligns with your future income growth. Such planning can help you avoid the Section 179 tax trap where Fantom Income, and its associated tax bill, is created when your depreciation expense was used up in the prior year by electing Section 179. This is a double whammy with higher taxes along with debt service on your equipment loans, creating negative cash flow.Also, avoid the year-end rush and frenzy, budget and buy your capital equipment and start using it anytime during the year; Section 179 is available to you year-round.Remember, Section 179 only accelerates depreciation, it does not allow any additional write-offs, deductions or depreciation.And finally, never buy a tax deduction. If you need the equipment to better your patient care, then, by all means, purchase it, but buying it solely for its tax deduction is a wealth destroying strategy.We hope that this information has created a few “Ah-Ha” moments, or stimulated some additional questions you can direct to your advisers. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what Section 179 is, and more importantly, what it is not!We welcome your questions here at OmniStar Financial. Our Team is experienced and will help find answers to your questions regarding Capital Equipment Budgeting. We welcome the chance to help you grow your practice and improve your profitability. Our contact information can be found on our website [OmniStarfinancial.com]. You will also find a link there to sign up for our newsletter.Be sure to check our show notes too.Please share this podcast if you found it helpful, and leave a review on iTunes too. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future podcast episodes. You can always find me, your host, David Darab, at my twitter handle, @ddarab.Thank you so very much for tuning in and listening. We are very grateful for your time and attention and so very pleased to have you in our audience.And now for the required Legal Disclaimer:David Darab, DDS, MS, MBA REFERENCES:Section 179 Information for Businesses | Section179.Orghttps://www.section179.org 2019 Section 179 Tax Deduction Calculator | Section179.Orghttps://www.section179.org/section_179_calculator/   

In this episode, options are discussed involving Fireblossom's possible HMHVV infection.  The group talks about getting their stuff, and what they might possibly want to do about the yakuza..  and then they go and..  no..  make a deal with a dragon?  Hmmm, maybe not.  Or maybe there's just always a dragon.

"Edible foodlike substances." That's what Michael Pollan calls the stuff food scientists are cooking up these days. Remember Rule #1: Eat food. If your great-grandmother didn't eat, you probably shouldn't eat it. If it doesn't rot, don't eat it. If your 3rd grader can't pronounce ingredients? Don't eat it.

"Edible foodlike substances." That's what Michael Pollan calls the stuff food scientists are cooking up these days. Remember Rule #1: Eat food. If your great-grandmother didn't eat, you probably shouldn't eat it. If it doesn't rot, don't eat it. If your 3rd grader can't pronounce ingredients? Don't eat it.