December 26, 2011 by admin ·
I have always been a fan of boxing and if you are too you will notice there are always certain physical attributes that are compared for each fighter before the fight. First of all there are weight classes so weight is certainly one attribute that could be considered an advantage in a fight. Height is another and you will almost always see that comparison listed in a brief screenshot right before the fight. So height to a lesser degree than weight could certainly be an advantage for a boxer but it’s not height as much as it is another physical attribute that usually gives a taller boxer an advantage over a shorter boxer and that is reach. The reason is simple, if Boxer A doesn’t have to be standing as close to Boxer B as Boxer B does to Boxer A in order to land a punch than Boxer A is going to have a clear advantage.
This same principle applies to stun devices and stun batons share the exact same advantage over?traditional?stun guns. That advantage being that an individual does not need to be standing as close to an attacker as they would with a traditional stun device in order for a baton to be effective. With any stun device, including a stun baton, the contacts (the area of the device that actually emits the electrical charge) needs to be touching an attacker in order for the device to do it’s job, which is shock and subdue the attacker. This can be a stressful situation for even the strongest and fastest of civilians but even more so for someone that may not be as strong and fast as their attacker as there is a possibility that the device could be wrestled away and even used on the person carrying the stun gun in the first place. With a stun baton that stress can be relieved to some degree because?you’ve?now got not only arms reach on your attacker but two arms reach. The Stun Master telescopic baton, for example, is almost 2 feet long when fully extended and unless your attacker is the Jolly Green Giant he or she is going to have an immense amount of difficulty getting to you before the baton touches them and renders them completely incapacitated.
September 7, 2009 by admin ·
Every share investor enjoys hunting out profitable companies they can invest in, and hopefully finding a potential ten-bagger that will make them rich, but there comes a time when you have to analyze your portfolio and make harsh decisions if you’re not beating the overall market.
After all what is the point in spending hours and hours researching different companies if the end result is that you are underperforming the overall market. You may as well just invest in a tracker fund that tracks the market or a top performing mutual fund and spend your time doing more worthwhile things.
I know it can be quite exciting doing your own research and investing in the companies of your choice, but professionals are paid to do the same job and will generally have access to more information than you do, and can make better informed decisions.
So take a look at your share portfolio over the years and see how it’s performed in percentage terms. Then compare this to the performance of the FTSE 100, for example (or the Dow Jones if investing in US shares) and see how you compare.
If you find that the overall index has seriously outperformed your own efforts then something is seriously wrong here, and it might be an idea to seriously rethink your investment strategy.
For instance, taking the FTSE 100 as an example, this index has increased dramatically since 2003 almost doubling in value so almost all good quality companies will have risen a lot during this time. Now look at the companies you’ve been investing in. If they haven’t risen during this time when the market as a whole has been extremely bullish, then your investment strategy is seriously flawed.
If however, you have achieved excellent gains in percentage terms then your individual share picking strategy is of course justified, although it might still be an idea to place your money in a tracker or mutual fund, depending on your performance.
This isn’t always true though, because it’s important to note that portfolio managers have more constraints placed on them in terms of the types of companies they can invest in, plus of course there’s the added fees you have to pay for their service, so ultimately it’s a matter of choice and convenience.
I personally have done extremely well investing in my own portfolio over the years and have plenty of time to do my own research. However for people who have busy lives and have maybe shown that they are not that successful in managing their own portfolio and selecting individual companies to invest in, then paying someone else to do it for you is probably the better option.
Filed under disease, exercise, illness, sickness · Tagged with ftse 100, fund, market, portfolio, share, share investor, share portfolio, time, tracker fund, US