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Friday, 28 October 2016

The Warren Buffet Way - Download PDF



About The Book
The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of The World's Greatest Investor is a biography of the infamous corporate tycoon, Warren Buffet. The book includes the various personal trials and tribulations of Buffet, as well as his business acumen. It also talks about his rise to unparalleled success. in addition to this, the book also includes various helpful tips on how to invest in general.
The book includes numerous investment tips that Buffet himself swears by. Inspirational aspects of Buffet's life also features extensively in the book. The extensive and descriptive information about one of the world's most successful and wealthy tycoons has elicited a lot of interest among people, especially those belonging to the corporate world.
The book, The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of The World's Greatest Investor, is an interesting read and will be attractive, especially to those who aspire to be successful entrepreneurs on their own. The book explores the business as well as the personal life of Buffet in depth. Various examples of Buffet's investment strategies, as well as his tenacity when it comes to matters of finance have been included and explored in detail. Readers will find themselves engaged not only in the incidents of Buffet's life but also in the insight provided by the author. The new edition of this book was published on 14th August, 1997 and is considered to be a bestseller. It is available in paperback.


  • Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; New edition edition (14 August 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0471177504
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471177500
  • Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 2 x 17.3 cm

10 rules for working with IT recruiters



Working with IT recruiters
There's a common misconception job seekers have about working with executive search firms, recruiters and employment agencies: They think these agencies are in business to help them land a job. It's important to remember that these firms work for employers, not for you -- and they are merely channels through which you may secure an employment opportunity, says Ford R. Myers, career coach, speaker and author of "Get The Job You Want, Even When No One's Hiring."
First, it's helpful to understand the differences among recruiting professionals, Myers says. Placement agencies that charge a fee should be avoided completely, he says. Contingency-fee recruiters are paid a percentage of the candidate's salary -- but only if they actually place a new employee, so proceed with extreme caution if using a contingency recruiter -- they're out to make a placement, any placement, regardless of fit. Retained executive search firms are the classic headhunters, who are granted an exclusive right to conduct a search on behalf of their client company and are paid a consulting fee even if the search is unsuccessful.
"When working with any type of executive search firm or recruiter, you must maintain control. Even though the search firm is not working for you, I tell my clients to supervise the work of recruiters as though they were managing a group of employees," says Myers. This means following these important guideline.
Be selective
Be careful and selective in choosing which recruiters you want to work with, and politely decline to work with those that don't appeal to you or are inappropriate for your situation.
"Before you agree to work with a firm or an individual recruiter, interview them and ask for recommendations. Are they reputable? Respectable? Ask them specifically how they work, and make sure you understand the specifics of their arrangement. Are they working internally for a hiring company? Are they a third-party recruiting firm with contracts to fill positions for clients? Or are they contingency recruiters?" says Myers.
One of the best ways to find a reputable, respectable recruiter or search firm is through networking and personal connections, much the same way you look for open job roles, Myers says. "Ask your friends, family members, even colleagues who they worked with successfully. People are going to talk about their bad experiences first and foremost, so you'll more easily know whom to avoid," he says.
Be honest
When speaking with external search firms be honest and direct about your job objectives, past compensation, desired salary, geographical preferences and other details. When you're working with internal recruiting and HR professionals, you can hold some of this detail back.
"With external recruiters, they're motivated to land you a higher paycheck -- they receive their commission based on that amount. With internal professionals, they're motivated to save their business money by getting you to take the job at a lower salary," Myers says.
Never pay for anything
Never pay any sort of "registration fee" or any other money -- for anything in the whole recruiting process. All the search firm's fees should be paid by the employer.

Financial Success Is More Than Math: It's About Mindset



Spend less than you earn is the golden rule of personal finance. It's incredibly simple, but it's not easy. Your brain likes to get in the way by tricking you to go against what you know to be true. Here's how your brain sabotages your finances, and how you can overcome those tendencies.


Keep Yourself Motivated, Whatever the Cost

Motivation is a tricky thing. Sometimes, it's hard to feel like you're in control of your money, but many of us need that feeling to get things in order.
For example, when it comes to debt, the Stack Method makes the most sense on paper. You pay debts with the highest interest rate first. But in practice, the Debt Snowball actually works better for people. You slash your smaller balances first, and this gives you a sense of accomplishment and control. Yeah, you end up paying more in interest. But if Stack doesn't work for you, you'll just be in debt longer, and that's even more costly.
Having that control doesn't mean you're going to suddenly get out of debt and start making millions. It just means you're taking an active role in building your financial life, even if that only means coming up with a plan to tackle your debt.
You can work with this tendency beyond debt, too. When you budget or create financial goals, focus on that control. Devise a plan that makes you feel like you're calling the shots with your money. Feeding your need for control will make you feel motivated. And that'll go a long way toward the whole spend less than you earn thing.

Control Your Impulsive Nature

To spend less, we're supposed to simply create a budget and stick to it. We crunch the numbers, they add up, and that's that. But impulsive, emotional behavior gets in the way of the math. We know a new phone isn't in our budget, but we buy it anyway. That silly price tag doesn't stop us.

This can also happen if your budget is toostrict. For example, I wanted to pay off my debt as quickly as possible. So I drafted a tight budget that left no room for spending—only necessities. Every penny went toward my debt. On paper, the math worked. In reality, I busted my budget and overdrew my account. My intentions were good, but my impulsive human nature—my desire to pay unrealistic amounts—got in the way of my better judgment.
To work with this, create a realisticbudget that helps curb your impulse. Put less pressure on your limited willpower by giving yourself a little breathing room for spending.
Obviously, it also helps to control your impulses as much as possible. That's easier said than done, but here are a few techniques I've used:
  • Make a list of stuff I already have. When I feel like shopping, I take a look at that list.
  • Getting rid of junk I already have when I feel the desire to spend.
  • Staying away from the stores that tempt me most.
  • Not storing my credit card information with the sites that tempt me most.
If you want more, we've written an entire post on how to program your brain to stop buying crap you don't need.

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

What is Equity Market?



The market in which shares are issued and traded, either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets. Also known as the stock market, it is one of the most vital areas of a market economy because it gives companies access to capital and investors a slice of ownership in a company with the potential to realize gains based on its future performance. 

BREAKING DOWN 'Equity Market'

Equity markets are the meeting point for buyers and sellers of stocks. The securities traded in the equity market can be either public stocks, which are those listed on the stock exchange, or privately traded stocks. Often, private stocks are traded through dealers, which is the definition of an over-the-counter market.

Stock Exchanges

The place where stocks in the equity market are traded is the stock exchange. There are many stock exchanges around the world, and they can be either physical places or virtual gathering spots. NASDAQ is an example of a virtual trading post, in which stocks are traded electronically through a network of computers. Electronic stock exchanges often include a market maker, which is a broker-dealer company that both buys and sells stocks in order to facilitate trading for a particular stock. This comes at a risk to the company, but it makes the exchange process for a given stock operate more smoothly. Electronic trading posts are becoming more common and a preferred method of trading over physical exchanges.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street is a famous example of a physical stock exchange; however, there is also the option to trade in online exchanges from that location, so it is technically a hybrid market. In a physical exchange, orders are made in open outcry format, which is reminiscent of depictions of Wall Street in the movies: traders shout and display hand signals across the floor in order to place trades. Physical exchanges are made on the trading floor filter through a floor broker, who finds the trading post specialist for that stock to put through the order. Physical exchanges are still very much human environments, although there are a lot of functions performed by computers. Brokers are paid commissions on the stocks they work.

Most large companies have stocks that are listed at multiple stock exchanges throughout the world. However, companies with stocks in the equity market range from large-scale to small, and traders range from big companies to individual investors. Most buyers and sellers tend to prefer trading at larger exchanges, where there are more options and opportunities than at smaller exchanges. However, in recent years, there has been an uptick in the number of exchanges through third-party markets, which bypass the commission of a stock exchange, but pose a greater risk of adverse selection and don't guarantee the payment or delivery of the stock.

The oldest existing stock exchange is the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX), which was founded in the 1600s to trade stocks of the Dutch East India Trading Company, one of the first companies (then called joint-stock companies) to offer shareholder stock. Prior to the AEX, many countries and towns had their own systems of trade regulation that operated much like stock exchanges, but the AEX was the first official stock exchange as we know it. Today, equity markets exist in most developed and developing countries.

Trading in the Equity Market

In the equity market, investors bid for stocks by offering a certain price, and sellers ask for a specific price. When these two prices match, a sale occurs. Often, there are many investors bidding on the same stock. When this occurs, the first investor to place the bid is the first to get the stock. When a buyer will pay any price for the stock, he or she is buying at market value; similarly, when a seller will take any price for the stock, he or she is selling at market value.

Companies sell stocks in order to get capital to grow their businesses. When a company offers stocks on the market, it means the company is publicly traded, and each stock represents a piece of ownership. This appeals to investors, and when a company does well, its investors are rewarded as the value of their stocks rise. The risk comes when a company is not doing well, and its stock value may fall. Stocks can be bought and sold easily and quickly, and the activity surrounding a certain stock impacts its value. For example, when there is high demand to invest in the company, the price of the stock tends to rise, and when many investors want to sell their stocks, the value goes down.

This market can be split into two main sectors: the primary and secondary market. The primary market is where new issues are first offered, and stocks and bonds are issued directly from the company. Any subsequent trading takes place in the secondary market, in which proceeds from the stock go to the investors, not the company directly. Stock exchanges, such as NYSE or NASDAQ, are examples of secondary markets.

What Stock Prices Mean for the Economy

In general, rising stock prices for companies from a particular country indicate a healthy, growing market; on the other hand, a downward trend in stocks may reflect weakening fundamentals in a country's economy. This is because rising prices tend to indicate that many buyers are investing their money in the future health and growth of the economy as a whole.

In the United States, two periods of economic decline were linked to a crash in equity markets: the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of the late 2000s. The Great Depression resulted from widespread panic and distrust in the market; people preferred to hide money under their mattresses than hold it in the banks, which caused chaos in the trading world. The Great Recession, which affected the global market, not just the United States, resulted from a crash in the housing market and an over-reliance on credit.


What is Stock Market?



What is the 'Stock Market'

The stock market is the market in which shares of publicly held companies are issued and traded either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets. Also known as the equity market, the stock market is one of the most vital components of a free-market economy, as it provides companies with access to capital in exchange for giving investors a slice of ownership in the company. The stock market makes it possible to grow small initial sums of money into large ones, and to become wealthy without taking the risk of starting a business or making the sacrifices that often accompany a high-paying career.

BREAKING DOWN 'Stock Market'

The stock market lets investors participate in the financial achievements of the companies whose shares they hold. When companies are profitable, stock market investors make money through the dividends the companies pay out and by selling appreciated stocks at a profit called a capital gain. The downside is that investors can lose money if the companies whose stocks they hold lose money, the stocks' prices goes down and the investor sells the stocks at a loss.

The stock market can be split into two main sections: the primary market and the secondary market. The primary market is where new issues are first sold through initial public offerings. Institutional investors typically purchase most of these shares from investment banks. All subsequent trading goes on in the secondary market where participants include both institutional and individual investors.

Stocks are traded through exchanges. The two biggest stock exchanges in the United States are the New York Stock Exchange, founded in 1792, and the Nasdaq, founded in 1971. Today, most stock market trades are executed electronically, and even the stocks themselves are almost always held in electronic form, not as physical certificates.

If you want to know how the stock market is performing, you can consult an index of stocks for the whole market or for a segment of the market. Examples include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq index, Russell 2000, Standard and Poor’s 500, and Morgan Stanley Europe, Australasia and Far East index.






Monday, 24 October 2016

India's IT Party is over. Reinvent yourself or suffer



India’s  IT industry is unlikely to remain the amazing job-engine that it has been. For the past two decades, the fastest way to increase your income has been to land a job with an IT company. The industry has provided a ticket to prosperity for millions of young Indians; children of security guards, drivers, peons and cooks catapulted themselves and their families firmly into the middle class in a single generation by landing a job in a BPO. Hundreds of engineering colleges mushroomed overnight churning out over a million graduates a year to feel the insatiable demand of India’s IT factories. 

This party is coming to an end. A combination of slowing demand, rising competition and technological change means that companies will hire far fewer people. And this is not a temporary blip- this is the new normal. Wipro’s CEO has bravely admitted that automation can displace a third of all jobs within three years while Infosys CEO Sikka aims to increase revenue per employee by 50%. Even NASSCOM, the chronically optimistic industry association, admits that companies will hire far fewer people.  Not only will the lines of new graduate waiting for job offers grow rapidly longer every year, but so too will the lines of the newly unemployed as all companies focus more on utilization, employee productivity and performance. Employees doing tasks that can be automated, the armies of middle managers who supervise them and all those with mediocre performance reviews and without hot skills are living on borrowed time.

So what do you do if you are a member of these endangered species? What constitutes good career advice in these times? I’d say that the first thing is to embrace reality and recognize that the game has changed for good. The worst thing to do is be wishful and wait for the good times to return. They won’t. But there’re still lots of opportunities. What’s happening in the industry is ‘creative destruction”. New technologies are destroying old jobs but creating many new ones. There is an insatiable demand for developers of mobile and web applications. For data engineers and scientists. For cyber security expertise. So for anyone who is a quick learner, anyone with real expertise, there will be abundant opportunities.

There has also never been a better time for anyone with an iota of entrepreneurial instinct.  India is still a supply constrained economy and so there is room to start every kind of business: beauty parlour,  bakery, catering, car-washing, mobile/electronics repair, laundry, housekeeping, tailoring. For entrepreneurs with a social conscience, there is a massive need for social enterprises that deliver affordable healthcare, education and financial services. Not only are there abundant opportunities but startups are “in” and there is no shame at all in failure.  The ranks of Angel investors is swelling and it has never been so easy to get funded. There is even a website www.deasra.in that provides step by step instructions to would-be entrepreneurs.  

For those who prefer a good old-fashioned job, there are abundant jobs in old economy companies which are struggling to find every kind of talent- accountants, manufacturing and service engineers, salesreps.  Technology is enabling the emergence of new ‘sharing services” such as Uber or Ola that enable lucrative self-employment; it is not uncommon to find cab drivers who make 30-40,000  rupees/month.

My main point should be clear. While India may have a big challenge overall in creating enough jobs   for its youthful population, at the individual level, there is no shortage of opportunities. The most important thing is a positive attitude. The IT boom was a tide that lifted all boats- even the most mediocre ones. However, this has bred an entitlement mentality and a lot of mediocrity. To prosper in the new world, two things will really matter. The first is the right attitude. This means a hunger to succeed. Being proactive in seeking opportunities not waiting either till you are fired or for something to drop into your lap . A willingness to take risks and the tenacity to work hard and make something a success. Humility. Frugality.  The second is the ability to try and learn new things. The rate of change in our world is astonishing; whatever skills we have will largely be irrelevant in a decade. People are also living much longer. So the ability to learn new things, develop new competencies and periodically reinvent ourselves is a crucial one. Sadly too many of us have no curiosity and no interest in reading nor learning. The future will not be kind to such people.

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die.”- Friedrich Nietzsche

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