DJIA Market Update for Friday 8/10/12

Dow Jones Industrial Average Chart Analysis

The first question most of us ask is: where is the market going from here? Let us take a look at three things:

1) The top most section of the picture is the Stochastic technical indicator. Generally speaking if it approaches 80 and beyond it is overbought. On the flip side, you’ll know that it is oversold when it dips under 20. Right now the market is showing 95+, which suggests that it is overbought.

2) The middle section is on balance volume. Right now it is showing flat volume, which doesn’t suggest a bearish, bullish divergence, or a continuation of the trend.

3) The very bottom of the chart, shows the volume. You can see that it is declining, while the market is moving up. This indicator along with the Stochastic suggests that the market’s current rally is weak and may reverse.

Disclaimer: Article is written for informational purposes. It isn’t intended as investment advice.

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Essential Knowledge for a First Year Audit Staff/Intern at a Big 4 Accounting Firm eBook

Coming Soon.. Monday, August 13th

Essential Knowledge for a First Year Audit Staff/Intern at a Big 4 Accounting Firm

A True Insider’s Perspective on Big 4 Accounting

You have an idea of what working at a Big 4 is like for a day. What about what your first year is going to be like? Or for the rest of your career? You want the inside scoop? Kevin H spent countless hours developing the ultimate informational book that answers all your questions about public accounting.

Inside this 33 page informational book, we will do a deep dive in to the following topics:

Careers in Accounting

–Accounting doesn’t restrict you to only being an auditor. There are more than 5 other career paths.

–The fact of the matter is accounting is an essential foundation for any financial career.

Busy Season Experiences

–What it feels like to work during busy season to help you anticipate your first busy season.

–We answer how many hours you can expect to work on average and when it is the most busy.

Big 4 Experiences

–We will provide answers to why the Big 4 experience is worth going through and so highly-valued.

–Real life challenges you may face & what you can expect to get through your first busy season.

Average age in Big 4 Accounting

–The question we get all the time is whether or not you are too old/young for Big 4.

–We will provide you with alternative options of breaking into Big 4 (not interviewing on-campus) 

Choosing your Office/Location

–You should consider specific factors when you make your decision as to where you’d like to work

–Choosing the best fit office/location for yourself makes a difference especially as first year

Traveling for Work

–Explore the benefits of traveling within the United States, but also internationally  

–Understand when and how to find opportunities to travel or limit your opportunities to travel

Formalized Training

–Understand on an overall basis the structure of these live trainings 

–Aside from formalized trainings firms offer a variety of other types of essential trainings

Outsourcing Services. 14

–Your role in all of this and what you need to do to stand out to your senior staff or manager

–What services are outsourced and what does that mean in terms of your learning opportunities

Cycle counts and Physical Inventory Observations

–What are these and what can you expect 

–Real life experiences in performing cycle counts and insider perspective on the process

Lunch

–Get an idea of what is standard lunch protocol. Are you surprised there is such a thing?

Vacation days and Paid Time-Off

–I took weeks off to visit to Ireland and Costa Rica and I still had vacation left! 

–How much vacation do you get and what other opportunities are there to take time off?

Performance Reviews and Ratings 

– How are you rated? What goes into determining your raise/bonus?. 17

– Understand the process of the performance rating system and the overall review process

How much money will you make?  18

–This is the almighty question everyone including those who work at the firm always ask.

–You hold the key to this knowledge with this ebook.

In addition, for those who have purchased the eBook, any questions that weren’t answered within the eBook, Kevin H will personally answer.

For $25 dollars, this can be yours. This eBook is set to be released August 13th 2012. Also, the promotional pricing of the Big 4 Accounting Audit – An Introduction will end and be raised to $10 on that day.

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Why did the Touchpad on my Asus Laptop stop working?

A Simple Solution to a somewhat frustrating Issue

For many of us, over the years, we’ve changed our primary “desktop computers” into laptops and even tablets.  In the past, desktop computers were necessary to run high powered complicated programs. However, with the advancement of laptops and tablets, this is no longer the case. Laptops and tablets can do just as much as desktops and are a lot smaller and less bulky.

Still, there are certain things typically associated with a desktop that I still feel more comfortable using. For example, the mouse. While the touchpad is great, there is less control when you are swiping your finger left and right versus using your hand and controlling the cursor. Luckily, I can easily plug in my mouse via a USB to the laptop. That way I don’t have to solely rely on windows shortcuts to navigate within my laptop. 

But, using a mouse is sometimes inconvenient say if you are at an airport or in a tight cramp space. So, I was surprised when I unplugged by USB mouse from the laptop and could not use my touchpad. It just didn’t recognize it anymore! 

There is a solution: Hold Fn and then hit F9. Volia! Problem solved.

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Essential Tips to Get Your eCommerce Business Off the Ground

The following is a guest post.

Get Your eCommerce Business Off the Ground

Starting an eCommerce business has it’s pitfalls as with any other business, but it does offer entrepreneurs a way to launch a business idea from home. The main advantage of selling through the internet is that you can reach so many more potential customers than through a physical store, however it has its disadvantages too. You have to compete with thousands of other online stores selling the same or similar to what you are selling, unless of course you have a completely unique product or service.

Whatever you are selling, do some through research into your target customers and learn to think like them, until you know what they want. Then you are in the position where you can give them exactly what they require.

Provide What You Would Expect

If you look at your eCommerce site and are not 100% confident that you would buy from it, then you need to keep working on it until you are. Consumer confidence is paramount for eCommerce businesses, so you don’t make things complicated or unclear. Try to be as transparent as possible in all aspects on your business, so there are no hidden surprises for your customers. Be up front about additional charges for postage and packaging, and don’t make customers go through too many pages to complete their transaction. You also need to show customers a no-nonsense returns policy, and provide a phone number where they can talk to you or an employee if they have any questions. If you lack any of these things, or customers just can’t find the information they need quickly enough, your eCommerce business is sure to struggle.

Offer the Latest Payment Options

Don’t lose customers because you’re not providing them with their preferred means of payment. You need to allow people to pay in whichever way they prefer, be that by cheque, bank transfer, direct debit, credit card, or any other way that becomes available. PayPal is an established payment service which has a firm standing among existing eCommerce businesses, but there are always new ways to pay being developed. Google recently launched its Google Wallet, which allows user to transfer money from their bank account to pay for items online. Another new payment service is PayNearMe, which allows users to pay for thing online using cash. This system requires people to enter code from a PayNearMe card or download and barcode to a smartphone when making a purchase online, and then take that card or barcode into a 7Eleven store where it is scanned and the payment is made with cash.

The All-Important Cash Flow

The initial stages of launching any business, whether it is an eCommerce business or not, are expensive and will drain your finances, so it is important to prepare yourself for a slow start. Don’t assume you will hit your projected revenue and always plan for the worst. Sometimes it takes pumping more of your own money into a business before it becomes profitable, so it’s worth considering taking out a start-up loan before you launch to cover any shortcomings in revenue. Perhaps a better option for short-term financing is applying for business credit cards that offer a good rate of interest. You then have access to capital when you need it, rather than borrowing up front. There is another option for businesses that require cash quickly, which come in the form of a payday loan. These loans can be a life-saver in some circumstances, but they do charge a high rate of interest, and careful consideration must be made before taking one out.

Market It 

When everything is ready to go, your website is running, and all you have to do is wait for the orders to roll in, don’t think the hard work is over. Now you must market your eCommerce business, and market it hard. You need to drive traffic to your website, and one way of doing this fast is by using Google AdWords. It’s not quite as simple as you may think, and sometimes it’s better to let an external marketing company take care of it for you, but if you want to stay in control take a look at these tips for a successful eCommerce AdWords campaign.
Other cheaper ways to market your ecommerce business include writing press releases to publish online, creating compelling newsletters to send out to existing customers, and posting advertisements at online classified websites. The more awareness of your business you create, the faster it will grow, so don’t hold back!

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How Likely Is It that founder Richard Schulze’s Deal for Best Buy Will Go Through?

What is the deal? 

R. Schulze is offering $24 to $26 per share for the approximately 80% remaining shares he does not yet already own. This offer would approximate 8.8B for 100% ownership of Best Buy. 

Of that 8.8B, 1B will be sourced from Richard Schulze. As for the remaining balance, R. Schulze expects to finance it through private equity and debt. 

Is R. Schulze’s Best Buy offer a good deal?

Currently Best Buy (BBY) is trading at just under $20 per share. If the deal were to close today, it would represent a 20%-30% gain for investors. Sounds like a win for the investors to me. 

Hold on a second.

If we take Best Buy’s yearly free cash flow average using the last three years ($2.527, $446K, $1.591M), we get approximately $1.5M. At an offer of $8.8B less the 1B he will source himself, R. Schulze will be able to pay back the debt in about five years. This is not a bad deal for him.

Free cash flow was calculated using actual figures from the SEC filed 10-K taking operating cash flow and subtracting capital expenditures.

As per Investopedia:

Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after laying out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base. Free cash flow is important because it allows a company to pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value.

How likely is this deal to go through? 

R. Schulze wrote the following in his unsolicited, highly conditional indication of interest letter to Best Buy:

As you know, Hatim, I have made repeated requests to the Board for several weeks now to provide me with due diligence information and the consent to form a group required under Minnesota law. In your most recent communication to my advisors, you indicated that the Board would need an additional three weeks before it could consider my requests. I am submitting this letter in the hope that, with a concrete proposal in front of it, the Board will have a compelling basis on which to grant my requests and avoid further delay. 

From the above, it is safe to assume that Best Buy’s board of directors has been aware of R. Schulze’s interest in purchasing the company. Despite this, the Board had not taken action in the time leading up to this SEC filing. This suggests that they either need more time to do their due diligence or are frankly not interested.

The market has taken a toil lately and along with that BBY stock has taken a tumble. Could Schulze be trying to time the purchase? Is he afraid that the stock may rise within three weeks? If he truly believed that he would be able to take Best Buy back to its glory days, why didn’t he do so in the past year or so before he resigned? He believe removing Best Buy from the public spotlight would help its progress. But, is that really a major factor to consider in reviving BBY? Would the Board truly consider selling the company given its efforts to find an interim CEO and Chairman of the Board? These are all rhetorical questions and questions we should be asking.

While we may not know the answers to these questions, one thing is for sure. Even though news has broken out of Schulze’s interest, the stock remains below his offer price. This suggests that the market itself does not believe that this deal will go through.  Unless we are inside the deliberation chambers,  at this point, any speculation is just speculation.

Disclaimer: Article is written for informational purposes. It isn’t intended as investment advice.
Disclosure: I have no position in BBY.

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Top 14 Windows Logo Key Shortcuts For Your Everyday Use

Logo Key Shortcuts

The following shortcuts are related to the windows key. If you press and hold the windows key along with any of the keys specified below, you will get the result/s documented below.

Below you will find a picture of what the Windows Logo Key looks like on your keyboard. Not all keyboards have this key, but most new PCs will.

Zooming

1. Plus key = Zooms in the window screen
2. Minus key = Zooms out of the window screen

Window displays

1. Up Arrow = Maximizes your window screen
2. Down Arrow = Minimizes current window screen 
3. Left Arrow = Moves window to the left and takes up half the screen
4. Right Arrow = Moves window to the right and takes up half the screen 

Essentials

1. “D” = Takes you to the desktop
2. Home = Minimize all windows except the current window
3. “M”= Minimizes all open windows
4. Shift+”M”=Undo minimization of open windows

Miscellaneous

1. “U”=Opens Access Center
2. “T”=Hold logo key and press “T” to shuffle through application previews via your taskbar
3. “P” = Calls upon the projector menu 

My Favorite

1. Ctrl+Logo Key + Tab = Locks the 3D toggling view; allowing you to hit tab to toggle without having to hold the logo key.

Alternatively you can substitute the tab key for the up and down arrow key to move back and forth between windows.

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Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Five of Nine

Day 5 

10:00AM – To Galway via Cliffs of Moher and Ferry from Tarbert to Killimer

We woke up at 10AM after a rough day at the pub the night before. We checked out of the hostel and then went to eat breakfast at John Benny’s. Breakfast at the hostels is only served until 9:30AM, so the last couple days we missed the hostel breakfast. I lost credit card roulette that morning. For those of you who are not familiar with this game, the diners will put a credit card in a pile and we draw one after another. The last one standing pays the entire bill. The bill came out to about 40€. After breakfast, we went to the supermarket and picked up some water and snacks. We also stopped by a number of souvenir shops. None of the souvenirs caught my eye.

1:00PM – Drive to Tarbert to Ferry to Killimer and Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher

We arrived in Tarbert early afternoon and for 18€ we took our car on a ferry to Killimer. The ferry took about 10 minutes. We then drove about two hours to the Cliffs of Moher. It was raining the day we went, but the view was still gorgeous. It was just amazing to see the naturally made cliffs and the waves crashing against it just below. It was very windy, but it was well worth the drive. I picked up a picture of the Cliffs on a sunny day and a Cliffs of Moher bookmark. Admission to the Cliffs was about 4€. We hiked up to get a better view of the cliffs and at the top of the hike there was a castle tower. To save 2€ we decided not to go to the top of that. Still we spent a good 45 minutes at the location.

4:00PM- Drive to Galway

Roast Breast of Farmed Chicken – fine green beans, cep, cep purée

We stopped by the Wild Honey Inn to eat dinner. I ordered the chicken breast, while it tasted great, I was left hungry. For one chicken breast it cost 15.50€. When we finally arrived in Galway, we checked into the Barnacles Hostel and were greeted by an Australian chick. On the way to the hostel, we had to drag our luggage on the cobblestone roads. Galway is supposedly a young hip place to be. I could tell that there was more happening here than Killarney or in Cork. It kind of gave me a Santa Monica Promenade feel, but on a much smaller scale. There were many moments when I wished I just had a backpacking backpack, but then I also thought to myself if I would be able to fit my souvenirs or prevent them from being damaged. It had been a couple days since we had done laundry. We paid 8€ per bag to do our laundry.

9:00PM – Lonely Planet meet up

At night, one of my buddies had met a girl on Lonely Planet and we met up. He had met Theresa and her travel friend Brandon. The both of them met Kelsey and Lindsey at their hostel. They all happened to go to the University of Indiana and were about to be seniors. We went bar hopping and drank Carlsberg (German drink), Smithwicks, and Bulmers. We played a drinking game whereby you would draw a card from the top of a deck and then while the card was faced down guess the card’s number. Another person would tell you if it was higher or lower than your guess. Then you would be given a second chance to guess the number. If you get it wrong you would have to drink. The beauty of it is that the cards already used would be put on the table. That information would factor in your guess. At the end of the night, I had found myself with a Guinness cup from the bar. I lost the group and apparently didn’t see that they were outside the hostel. When I went around town, I didn’t find them. So I just decided to retire for the night.

Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Zero/One of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Two of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Three of Nine
Ireland – The Emerald Isle – Day Four of Nine

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How to Roll-Over your 401k to a Roth IRA

Retirement 401k to Roth IRA Roll-Over

Before you continue reading, the primary requirement for you to roll your 401k into a Roth IRA is that you must have left your employer.

Do I need to transfer all of it or can I transfer some?

You can roll-over a portion of your 401k in a Roth IRA and a portion into a Traditional IRA or all of it into a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA. A traditional IRA is similar to a 401k in that it is also tax-deferred (which means you would be able to reduce your current taxable income, but you’ll be taxed when you take withdrawals). Therefore, the initial tax implications are fewer than that of if you were to roll directly into a Roth IRA.

How much should I allocate to Roth IRA versus Traditional IRA?

You will have to consider your current and future income sources and whether or not you would expect to more taxes now or more taxes later. If you expect to pay more taxes later than I would allocate more to a Roth IRA, which allows you to pay taxes upfront and then your withdrawals will be tax free. Alternatively, if you believe you will pay more taxes later on, I’d lean towards the Traditional IRA. Of course part of your future tax rates depend on whether or not the government will reduce or raise taxes.

What are the general tax implications?

Because you are rolling from a tax-deferred 401k, to a Roth IRA (which is after tax contributions) there are certain tax implications you need to consider.

Namely, the fact that you will have to pay income tax on the amount rolled to the Roth IRA. If possible, it is advantageous to use funds outside of your 401k/Roth IRA to pay the tax because that way you will be able to grow your funds within the fund versus drawing from your contributions. Furthermore, if you take money out of your fund before 59 and a half you will be penalized.

How do I roll it over to an IRA?

Some companies will not provide the option to roll-over to an Traditional IRA or Roth IRA via their plan administrator, therefore you will need to go through an IRA plan administrator. These include Vanguard and T. Rowe Price. Specifically through Vanguard’s ‘Open Account’ site, you will have the option to roll-over to an IRA.

After you’ve completed the steps, it will ask that you have the 401k administrator transfer the fund or write a check to the IRA administrator. A direct distribution, whereby funds are sent from the 401k directly to the IRA without you touching the money, is definitely highly recommended as this simplifies the paperwork and reduces further tax implications.

Finally, you’ll need to find out what you need to provide to your former employer to complete the process. As this information is specific to each 401k administrator, my suggestion is to call your former employer’s plan administrator. 

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