Financial Kudos Blog

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Financial Kudos Announces Private Beta Launch of Groundbreaking Community for Investors

www.FinancialKudos.com Is the First Place Online Where People Can Share, Invest and Earn Rewards

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 9, 2009) - For years, investors searching for tips and information online have contended with messy message boards or restrictive character limits. Finally, there is a place to find quick, easy and relevant information about financial markets. Today, www.FinancialKudos.com, the first online community for investors where members can share, invest and earn rewards, announced its private beta launch. Prospective users are invited to visit www.FinancialKudos.com to request membership and learn more about the new incentive-driven community designed to reward members for their participation and contributions.

"We're pleased to announce the private beta launch of FinancialKudos.com, the first investor community that rewards its members for the quality of their participation," said Larry Margolis, Founder and CEO of Financial Kudos. "For the first time, online investors will have the opportunity to win awards and earn recognition from their peers for providing actionable investment ideas."

FinancialKudos.com invites users to reward one another for posting key trading information and sharing relevant investor tips by gifting "Kudos" points to reflect their appreciation for a good scoop or concept. At the end of each month, the members with highest number of Kudos earned and most notable community contributions will be awarded prizes including a portion of the membership revenue.

FinancialKudos.com offers a robust new interactive community for investors with key elements including:

-- Alerts sent to members to provide real-time updates on posts or
 investor information on FinancialKudos.com through Twitter and Facebook
 
-- Simple three-step process for creating new posts not limited to 140
 characters and commenting on existing threads with multimedia component
 that allows posting of charts, videos and photographs
 
-- Easy-to-access database searchable by company name, stock symbol, news
 topic or recent trend
 
-- Leaderboard updated in real time to reflect most active and
 influential community members
 

FinancialKudos.com will scale from private beta launch to full national launch in the coming weeks, and invites interested parties to learn more at www.FinancialKudos.com and on Twitter @financialkudos.

About FinancialKudos.com

FinancialKudos.com is the only online financial social network that rewards members for participating in and contributing to the community with a portion of its membership revenue. Headquartered in New York City, FinancialKudos.com is the go-to online community for novice investors, seasoned professionals and everyone in between, and invites members to showcase their expertise to earn Kudos from their peers while gaining insight into tips and trends from one another. To learn more, please visit www.FinancialKudos.com or follow us on Twitter @financialkudos.

The New Auto Industry - The winds of change and loss of value.

Yesterday, Chrysler dealers received the bad news.  The franchise which they thought had value (often in excess of $3,000,000) is now worthless.  CNBC called them 'victims' and discussed the fact that since something had to change, somebody had to be a victim to save the industry.  Tough medicine to swallow  if you were the dealer who opened their mail to find out that their loss will fix the industry.

In speaking with an expert in the field a few weeks ago, I was told that the plan was underway for some time to consolidate dealers at the discretion of the factory with the help of the bankruptcy court. In other words the district managers and the folks in Detroit who helped to create this mess can decide who benefits and who looses.  These choices were not made on merit, or in many cases rational thinking, but rather at the whim of these newly ordained rulers of the franchise.

I am told that but for some legal actions which are tantamount to me telling my kids to stop fighting with each other, the dealers have no choice but to dismantle their businesses and figure out what to do with a car dealership and property in a really bad real estate market.

I guess the moral of the story is not so much that things change - they always do - but rather that just like stocks, a buy and hold strategy has no moment.  You need to keep moving and adapting - unless of course you made friends with the right people in Detroit or the equivalent in your industry.

My head is spinning - I am listening to CNBC.

Are you getting as tired as I am listening to the 'brains' on CNBC?  Last week they were talking about the return to better times - even some talk of the DOW testing longer term resistance levels.  Today, everyone seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and is looking not for sunny and 80 degrees, but rather a beginning of a protracted cold war.  While I understand the need to give both sides of an argument, I am making the call for some consistency - especially when the economic data has not materially changed form one day to the next.

I don't mean to just pick on CNBC, they have been doing this for years.  Rather I would speak to all market participants that react instead of act to the big picture.  If the market is overdone, no problem just be a little bit more consistent.

I am not original here, but how about adding a track record, like a baseball batting average, for the folks marched onto the TV set?  Don't just track right and wrong calls, but look for closely at the 'on base percentage'. In essence look at the reasoning for the directional calls and the performance - not just the quick stats.  Being right is obviously the goal but when we can't right all of the time investor's need to know who is smart and on point vs. who is just lucky.

P.S. Sorry about the sports analogy but I can't help it since it is Baseball season.

Investors what's next? - 5 Concepts for the future.

From time to time it makes sense to step back, see where we have been and then set our sites on where we are going.  History is nice but it's just that.

1) A V shaped recovery. Just wishful thinking or the speed of the economy in 2009?

2) A democratization of good investment ideas and concepts.  The Internet and social media continue to  level the playing field.

3) Newspapers as we know them are history. Magazines other than conceptual articles are irrelevant.  Information is NOW not yesterday.

4) Blogs are so yesterday - two way conversations will outlast everything else going forward.

5) Independent Research after the global settlement ends will find a different format and a different stage.  Analysts will join main stream social conversations and provide value as they sell their services to a more focused customer.

6) Bonus topic - With so much 'free' information out there it's time to pay a little bit of money for a filter to quickly find what you are looking for or should be looking at. What is your time worth?

These are just some random thoughts and concepts to ponder.  Look forward to the Beta launch of the new Financial Kudos community - its closed to members only and its not free - just more focused and provides more value.  We think about the future everyday and would appreciate your comments and thoughts.

The Banking Stress Test: The Great divide.

Well the results are in and go figure the findings are better then expected.  We discussed this in a blog earlier this week about the worst kept secret.  Now that we know the 'facts' its time to move ahead towards the next big thing which is finding the $75 billion required by the group of banks in need.  The other guys get to pay off the TRAP and begin to pay executives what the market will permit.

As for the capital raising it seems that those plans are already in place.  So we have the group that is free and the group that will raise some capital and become free (albeit over time).

Now let's begin to talk about all of the money coming back to the treasury from the TARP funds.  Does this mean that the economy is in better shape?  Or more importantly does this mean that the previous administrations did a good job?  There are so many implications to these results. It will be very interesting to see how this period plays out in the long term historic view of our economic engine. Let's hope we never find out but it would be interesting to know just accurate the stress test results would be in a dooms day scenario.

Investors: Is it worth investing in a long shot like ‘Mine that Bird’ who won the Kentucky Derby?

We see it all the time, investors shooting for gold by betting the long shot.  Seemingly, we all decide if the risk makes sense relative to the reward at some point for our portfolios.  We suggest that taking a shot is not the worst thing in the world.  It would be far too boring to just sit back and ‘do the right thing’ and invest for the long term.  In fact, the recent markets results would strongly suggest otherwise.  Sometime it makes compelling sense to invest a little something and go for broke.  Just be careful you don’t bet the ranch.  Isn’t that what the venture capital guys do all of the time?  They always try to swing for the fences and hope that the winners are huge and the losers get lost in the averages.

Please don’t misunderstand, we are not suggesting all risk all of the time, but every now and then to stand at the betters window and go for it can add a lot of excitement – and potentially some huge gains. Cashing in those tickets is a lot of fun!

'Bear Market Rally' or history repeating itself?

CNBC was kind enough to remind us this morning that 100% of their interviewed guests called the recent rally a 'Bear Market Rally', tantamount to a tease or a so called 'sucker's rally'.  Well, April was the single best month for the markets since 1938. Warren Buffet has said that the September Pearl Harbor comparisons are now over.  He went on to say that we continue to fight the war- I would agree, as I am sure war torn investors would agree as well.  By the way Becky Quick from CNBC - great sound bite!

Many market participants think that its always different this time.  Recessions typically last 16 month the history books show. If the current recession, which officially kicked off in December 2007, is any indication, this one is certainly deeper but nevertheless history has been repeated once again.

Long term trends to assess markets are far more important than today's latest gibberish, rant or rave. Although, I would agree that current trends and issues seem to change the look and feel of the root cause for the event and the clean up. The Internet, or rather the speed of the information flow has certainly helped set the pace for a turnaround.

The purpose of this blog is not to call the end bad times but rather to remind investors that the markets have a rhythm (or as my first grader would happily tell me 'it's a pattern Dad') and to think about the big picture and not only 'investorjoe' on Twitter saying he just sold XYZ at a slight profit.  Do we really care about that trade, specially after the fact?

Swine Flu: Viral Marketing Powered By Twitter

I just heard that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) is on Twitter.  Pretty ironic that a viral tool like Twitter is being used to disseminate information about a virus.  I guess everything comes full circle.   

This is Social Networking at its core.  When the message must get out what better way then through the use of the latest social networking tools? Powerful stuff really.  The next question is now that the headline gets pushed around the globe in 140 characters or less, what is the best course of action to get people more in depth information about a topic? Where do the ‘tiny URLs’ go?  What are people reading (or for that matter with You-Tube, what are they watching) to gain more knowledge and receive accurate and in-depth information?

We believe the same thing is occurring with investment information.  Short 140 character quips are wonderful.  When we hear that someone with the screen name ‘Genius13’ just successfully traded gold for the 18^th time in a row within the last 3 hours is really of no moment.  It is only useful to hear why she traded gold and more over it is critical to hear it before she makes the trade.  

It comes down to ‘depth’ and sound bites.  We think you need both.

We want you! Beta users to receive free membership!

About a month ago we posted a blog which discussed the fact that we are looking for investors (not just any investors but talented investors) to participate and contribute to the new Financial Kudos website.  We anticipate our launch for beta users to take place in mid-may.  Would you like to join us? 

Following is our post from March 18, 2009.  Please send us your email information (or at least subscribe to this blog) so that we can offer you a spot in our beta group.  Our initial beta users will receive free membership for 3 years!

"Over the last few weeks our team has been actively searching for the talented investors on the Internet.  Not just the “traders” who pat each other on the back or give a short tweet about their latest trade, but investors who truly provide insight.   For sure, smart talent exists but where are you on the Internet and more importantly how can you monetize your insight and get rewarded for your efforts?

We seek to find folks who have decided that it is time to bring together a group of really smart and insightful traders and investors who wish to get paid for their efforts.   If you fit the mold, send us a note and become and early adopter for the next wave in investment information and research.  The subject should say:  It’s about time for me to get paid for my efforts! Send the email to info@financialkudos.com and please include your name, phone number and a sentence or two about how you feel about the current offerings on the Internet for investors.

We look forward to speaking with all of you and hope you join us on the ride towards the next wave!"

Does it take '60 Minutes' to diagnose the problem with mutual funds?

Last night the CBS program 60 Minutes spent some time speaking about mutual funds and 401ks in the wake of the market crash. Hidden costs, poor performance, they touched on everything.  While it is unfair to suggest that all mutual funds are at fault here (we must think about the rough markets as well), it makes sense to discuss the 'new' mutual funds: ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).  In fact, we would go so far as saying that mutual funds are so yesterday.  ETFs have grown in popularity over thew last several years.  Even though you must watch the cost structure associated with ETFs, the management costs are reduced and there are NO sales charges. You need only pay your regularly low commissions rates to trade. 

If you want to match market performance why not select the market you want (sector, general,S&P, DOW etc.) buy an ETF and be the market?  When Wall Street rights itself after the recent debacles, we believe ETFs will play a significant role and displace mutual funds in 401ks and portfolios in general.  

PS: ETFs make great trading vehicles!