Tips Before Buying Any Financial Instrument
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010No one has solicited me but I regard the Webster’ s New International Dictionary as a true Oracle of our time. Here alone are answers, true, unmistakable. Whenever the brilliant economic minds of our nation pour forth obfuscations I retreat to my study and my beloved India paper edition with its clear print and clear thoughts.
Recently I had been poring over mountains of prospecti (plural of prospectus) and releases of many investment advisory services, all proclaiming the discovery of certain “growth” stocks. I had heard the word so many years and was so sure of its meaning that I thought I’d better check. Lo! What Webster says!
- A morbid formation…
And: “The ups and downs and growths of life…” Ups and downs is well said.
More recently at the party I was told the story of the new corporation president who was brought in to clean things up and make a fresh start. He immediately called in the company accountants with their books, dismissed the accountants and took the books home with him. Next morning he summoned the board of directors and demanded to know where the million dollars that was “reserved for depreciation” had gone to, since he couldn’t find it in any of the assets but saw it clearly indicated in the reports!
Directors were forced to resign and accountants were fired in the ensuing uproar. It took the wisdom and patience of a tolerant controller to convince the impetuous young executive that “reserves for depreciation” are merely an accountant’s device, existing nowhere but in their technical usage.
Note: Yes, I know they exist. But you get the point of the story. I can not explain them in a brief manner and I do not believe that anyone else can satisfactorily.) The fact is that, although our friends at Financial World and Forbes have done such a fine job in persuading many corporations to simplify and clarify their statements, prospecti still contain much that is quite obscure and the SEC will be happy to admit it:
For the outsider then, no matter how well informed technically, to attempt to analyze the value of a company and the offered stock from its statement or prospectus, is always risky. The only way anyone can ever really find out whether a stock is worth the going price is by consulting the company accountants as to the meaning of their figures, and then consulting a crystal ball as to the future of the company in an uncertain world.
Without even considering such obscurities the simplest mistakes are made every day by small investors in over-the-counter securities. For example a common reaction to an increase in published sales volume figures is “buy.” Recently the head of a nationwide chain of retail stores said:
“I cannot understand it. The bid and asked prices have no relation whatsoever to the business figures as I see them - and I certainly see them. Our stock has gone up three points in the past week simply because of the publication of sales volume figures which show an increase in total volume. Not only have the buyers not considered that this is a “gross” figure and that our net percentage is at an all-time low, but they have not even bothered to find out whether or not we have opened new stores recently, which we certainly have, and which explains the upped volumes”
Educate yourself before buying any financial instrument!
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