DTEJD1997

The big name gold miners are a joke, last time I checked they were trying to pay themselves fat bonuses for bleeding money. There are a couple picks that I like in the mining space, but from the looks of it nobody gives much of a crap about either of them. To answer no_free_lunch, my personal pick for "best in class" is Mandalay Resources. I made a quick writeup on the company but it didn't generate much interest. Probably because my writeup sucked, lol :-[. I suggest you look into it (the company not the writeup). This company doesn't actually issue equity out their asses to fund their operations/expansion, which puts them on top of 99% of small miners with this one fact alone. Glad that we are thinking along the same lines... Mandalay is one of my bigger holdings in the mining sector. I would further suggest NevSun Resources (NSU). Debt free, plenty of cash, net earnings, strongly cash flow positive, decent dividend, earnings should increase nicely in the next 12 months. They are also a future play on zinc. Caledonia Mining (CALVF) is another one I would nominate. Debt free, tons of cash, huge dividend....potential future expansion. This one could run nicely, especially if things in Zimbabwe ever get better. Finally, Rambler Metals is also another one to look at. They are up in Canada. Debt free, net earnings, fully funded. P/E of something like 6. Might be paying a dividend relatively soon. Lots of opportunity in the mining sector...

were talking 50 baggers here. Isnt subprime finance relatively difficult to do on large scale? I know NICK and it seems their strength came from being in a niche and having a lot of knowledge of local area. They did something the larger guys could not do. NICK did/does operate in a specific niche. I think if senior management were 15 years younger, they could grown the business quite a bit more. CRMT is still growing and probably has a lot of runway left. I think if you could find a well managed micro-cap subprime finance company with young management, you could get 15-20 years of above average growth and above average returns and be well on your way...

Hey all: I am almost 100% sure that the 50X & 100X returns are NOT going to be household names and are NOT going to be "sexy" stories. I think some possible candidates might be mining companies that have excellent reserves & excellent management. For example, NSU, MNDJF, I'm looking at you! Management must be good operationally, run it like a business AND RETURN CAPITAL TO SHAREHOLDERS. Another possibility might be the guys at Awilco. Great assets, great operators, WILLINGNESS TO RETURN CAPITAL TO SHAREHOLDERS. Want to bet they will make an opportunistic purchase in the future at the bottom of a cycle? Another possibility might be sub-prime finance. Unfortunately, I think that is going to be a HUGE growth area as most people in the USA will become downwardly mobile. I made a TON of $ with CRMT & NICK. Finally, what about agriculture? SEB has been a tremendous operator through the years...

I agree with you almost 100%! Going away to a different city for my undergraduate education was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I made several life long friends, had a great time, and learned many things. At the time, the school was relatively inexpensive. I managed to get out without borrowing any money, thanks to my parents contributions and my working & saving. Graduate skool was a completely different thing though. One of the WORST mistakes of my life. I borrowed a significant amount of money to do it. It turned the value of the degree was almost worthless and not at all what the skool represented it to be. The point is, going to school can be a great thing IF the costs are relatively low. If you are talking HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars...I'm not so sure... College costs have been rising faster than inflation for decades. 18 years from now, could a relatively "average" undergraduate education wind up costing $250k in today's money? I would not be surprised at all if it did. Would it be worth spending $250k in today's money for an undergraduate diploma? Hard question to answer...

Here is an "odd" question for you... Is college even going to be worth it in the distant future? How much will it likely cost when your children are ready? I know several people who are sending kids to school now and will be paying (borrowing) $100k+ for an undergraduate degree. Would that money be better spent buying your children a business? Income properties? Something else? Just something to consider...

Who is the old white guy? I don't remember checking a box for ethnicity. Dr. Dre is also older than I am! Some things are right, some things are wrong. Does not matter the age or culture of the person saying them.

This is a modern day minstrel show. It is a disgrace.

GG: This is something that I am pretty vocal about. I know something about the industry... I've gone through some myself for professional licensing. That was VERY expensive, but good. The vendor provided what they said they would and it was a fair, open, honest transaction. I am SURE the provider was making a wheelbarrow of money all the way to the bank. No problem their. The problem is with more general, downmarket education. I am talking about skools that you will see advertised on the television. These are generally TERRIBLE deals for their students. This is what most of the industry is made up of. I don't know of any "pure play" that is doing high level stuff. You've also got the problem with the lower level stuff that the government is paying close to 100% of their revenue. Many skools get capped out 90%, but they've all got ways around this... I think the way the industry is currently set up, is TERRIBLY socially destructive. Change can't come soon enough.

The gold Indian coins are all 90% gold. There were other metals put into them to strengthen it, as gold is a rather soft metal. No gold coins meant for circulation were ever pure gold. They would be up about 96% pure. The USA coins were always 90% since colonial times. As for the pennies.... Pennies before 1980 were almost primarily copper. Thus, they have about $.02/penny worth of copper in them. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to realize value from them. You are not legally allowed to melt them. There has been some rumbling about changing that, but not yet... You could sell them to another collector for a small premium...but you are essentially paying $.01 for $.02+ worth of copper. So you have a free embedded option on copper. Kyle "Nickels" Bass did the same thing with Nickels. A nickel has $.06/nickel worth of nickel in them! I think pennies are the better bet. If copper were to go to $6/lbs. These pennies would be worth about $.0425/cent. If hyperinflation ever got going you could be looking at a penny containing a dimes worth of copper. There is also another way to "mine" value from the pennies...I have extracted a BOX of "wheat" and Indian pennies. Wheat pennies were produced up till 1959 and are generally worth $.05 to $10 for the more common varieties. I've found ones worth $5 to $10 to collectors. Obviously there are not many of the high value pennies, but I probably got close to $100 worth of wheats. Indian Head pennies are rarer still, and are generally worth $1+. I only got a few of these. The only thing I had invested was the money for the pennies and my time. The pennies will NEVER be worth less than $.01/cent. I suppose copper penny mining would be well worth your time IF: A). You had a banker who would have no problem PROVIDING $1,000+ worth of pennies a week. B). You had a banker who would have no problem RECEIVING $800 worth of pennies a week. C). You had the time & temperment to sort them D). You had the physical infrastructure to store & move them E). You don't mind having capital tied up in copper pennies If you can overcome these problems, it would be worth your time.

Yes, I used to think that too! I even bought a "Ryedale" sorting machine and would get an extra $200/week in pennies from the bank when we make our deposits. While a pre-1982 penny will have a bit more than $.02 in copper...there are a few problems. A). Bank HATES dealing you hundreds of dollars worth of pennies every week. You have to get it set up with the armored car deliveries. B). You've got to feed them through the machine. Easily an hour or two of your time. Heaven help you if the machine gets jammed...pennies EVERYWHERE! I spent many an evening picking them off the floor of one of conference rooms where I sorted them. C). Now that you've "harvested" the coppers from the zincs, what do you do with all the rejects? You've got to take them to a different bank OR feed them into sorting machine (get AMZN gift certificates for no charge...) but that is a pain in the rear. The one thing a bank hates MORE than giving out $200 in pennies is TAKING THEM IN! D). Got a forklift or pallet jack to move your coins? If you are serious about copper, you better have one! These things are not exactly easy to move. Silver is OK, but can get cumbersome...GOLD is great! E). There is still a ban on melting pennies, so how do you extract your value? I calculated that I made about $15-$17 hour when all was said & done. Better than a poke in the eye, but there are more productive ways to spend your time... If you can deal with these issues, then you've got it made.

Sorry, I should have my post more clear as I know a lot of members are outside the USA. Gold Indians were coins minted in the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. They were legal tender and have a composition of 90% gold and about 10% copper. I think they are like gold sovereigns in Britain. Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Head_gold_pieces The coins I purchased have face values of $2.50 and $5. The 1911 $2.50 coin has approximately .12 oz of gold. The 1914 $5 coin has approximately .24 oz of gold. Based on the closing price of gold Friday PM the coins have: $2.50 $157.63 of gold at $1303/oz. $5.00 $315.25 of gold at $1303/oz. I paid $159 for the $2.50 coin and $318 for the $5 coin. Thus, I managed to pay only a few dollars MORE than the gold (melt) value of the coins. This is usually a very rare/unusual situation. USA gold coins are typically highly valued and ALWAYS trade at a premium to the gold content. For example, the lowest price $2.50 1911 gold piece on Ebay is $305. I don't think the coin is worth that much, but I would be willing to bet a very substantial amount of money that I can sell it for MORE than $159. It is a similar thing for the $5 piece, but not quite the same percentages. I believe that a large amount of people wish to own gold, but don't have the money to buy full 1 oz bars/coins/ingots. So they buy "fractional" gold that weighs less than 1 oz. It costs money to mint/produce smaller pieces. So the premium you have to pay for smaller pieces is higher in percentages than it is on 1 oz pieces. For example, to buy 1 oz, you might pay $25 over the spot price for a 1 oz ingot. To buy a 1/10 oz ingot, you will pay $10 over the spot price, which works out to a much higher percentage... Thus, I think these were "value" buys. I would also disagree with WEB & Charlie Munger re: gold & silver & precious metals. I think it is very prudent to have a small percentage of your wealth (2%-5%) in coins/bullion that you have in your possession. Not only is it a hedge vs. inflation...it is an insurance policy against something going haywire. Of course, you have to buy it right. I think that is the case here, but I am curious as to other member's experiences and opinions.

Hey all: Anybody investing in physical gold? I was at a jeweler I know today, and he was doing some work on some stuff that came in. Evidently, people will mount gold coins in their jewelry. He buys this stuff and melts the chains & ropes and takes the coins out. Frequently these coins are somewhat worn and will have very small nicks in them from being mounted in jewelry. Thus, they are not really desired by coin collectors as numismatic pieces. However, they are still legal tender, look neat, and most importantly are 90% gold. I bought a $2.50 gold Indian (1911) and a $5 gold Indian (1914) for $1 and $3 over the melt value of the gold! I though this was tremendous bargain and told my buddy I'll buy as much comes through his door like that. Just give me 24 hours to get the cash. Anybody else doing anything else like this?

Detroit MI. Also spend a lot of time in Houston Texas!

I vote Palantir for "Most disturbing profile picture." Yes can I vote Palantir change his profile pic. It has honestly tainted my perception of him, and I've never met him :) LOL I feel the same way. I don't mind Palantir's profile pic as much as muscleman's. :P You're the 2nd one to mention that you are envious of muscleman. That doesn't bother me, I wouldn't mind if I looked like that. There is just something that doesn't sit right with me about a balding fat old guy sticking his tongue out at me every time I see one of palantir's posts. Like I said before...disturbing. Thank goodness I'm not the only one who finds Palantir's profile picture profoundly disturbing. Every time I see it, it sets me on edge.

Hey all: Does anybody here have any experience as a contributor to Seeking Alpha? They have asked me several times to become a contributor and will pay for my articles. I focus mainly on nano and small cap stocks, so I am not sure how much interest there would be in them over at SA. I also saw that they pay $10 for every 1,000 hits. It just does not seem worth the effort to write articles for the pay. If you want exposure, that might be OK...or maybe the notoriety...but not so much the financial remuneration. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

There is a LOT of wisdom in this. I would add to also ONLY take enough classes to graduate. I foolishly took a TON of courses because I liked learning stuff & 18 credit hours cost the same amount as 12 credit hours. So I always took 17 & 18 credit hours. It was all fun & games till I got a C+ my senior year...

In my experience...it is not quite what you know, but WHO you know. Where you graduated from is also tremendously important. Unless you go to a higher ranked school, you will have EXTREME difficulty getting into the higher levels of the finance industry. In fact, I would argue this is absolutely the single most important thing. Of course, you have to have very good grades, and know your stuff forwards, backwards, up & down... Accounting is still a good pick. You can get hired in accounting, even from a lower ranked school. Of course, accounting is critical to understanding finance. Accountants can also make good money. It is a solid base to add to. Don't worry about the accounting courses being graded on a curve. Study hard, work hard and set the curve yourself. Also, remember to stay away from student loans! Good luck to you.

Mining stocks are definitely in a despised group. A lot of them deserve to be there, but not all of them... What about shipping? That has been in the doldrums for a long time. For profit education of course. COCO has yet another lawsuit against it. How long can they hold out? The whole education system will be changing. Not soon enough.

Unless you are a professional athlete, retirement (non-medical) at 48 is a joke. You can have police in their 50's working evidence rooms, evidence analysis, traffic, desk jobs, etc. Heck, if you take care of yourself, you can usually work into your 50's. Police should be taking care of themselves. Yes, this guy was in a better suburb. Not the highest end, but certainly a nice one. One of the problems is that you have politicians negotiating contracts who are not literate, and certainly not proficient at maths. They probably have never heard of "net present value" or other basic financial concepts, yet they responsible for millions or billions of dollars. Obviously not every politician is a cretin, but enough of them are... It is not a problem with a pension. It is a problem of retirement in the 40's. It is a problem with municipal workers making MORE, (a lot more) than most people do during their regular jobs. Average wage in the USA is something in the low 30's. A shocking amount of these dudes are getting close to TRIPLE that in their retirement! (sometimes more) Some of them might be retired for WAY longer than they actually worked. How can society pay for that? You have a problem in my hometown of people with capital fleeing the city & state. It then becomes a vicious circle. Services are lowered, taxes are raised....thus more people leave...City needs more money so they continue to lower services, raise taxes. Wash, rinse REPEAT. These pensions are going to run into trouble, it is only a matter of time.

I am SHOCKED that pension benefits are this low! You guys don't know the half of it...I know a mortgage broker who had a retired cop from Long Island who was pulling in $97k a year in pension. He retired at the ripe age of 48. It was not a medical retirement... What about pension "spiking"? This has been going on since the mid 90's. The level of pensions that municipal employees get are shocking. I have no problem with anybody making a living, even a good living. When you have people retiring in their 40's, making MORE in their pensions than most people ever make working, you've got a problem... I think the next big economic downturn will result in wave after wave of Ch. 9 bankruptcies. A lot of pensions are going to be cut back. Heck, that is already happening in my hometown of Detroit. It is SHOCKING the deterioration of services provided by the city. Most streetlamps DO NOT WORK. Snow plowing? Not on side or secondary streets. Parks & Rec? Most parks are abandoned....Police calls? Only for major felonies...Road repair? You must be kidding! I am afraid what has happened in Detroit will soon be coming to the rest of the USA. I hope I am wrong.

Hey all: A good woman can definitely make a positive difference in your life. On a slightly different topic, I wonder how many posters here are female? I can't remember even seeing one, but then I have not been paying attention. Anybody know?

NO, the schools are advertising employment rates of 90%+, not 40%. They are advertising starting salaries of $70k+, actual rates are MAYBE 60% of that. They are hiring their own graduates to game the "US News & World Report" stats & placement rates. So just how much due diligence is a student supposed to do? Obviously read what the school is reporting CHECK. Read USNWR standings? CHECK, talk with teachers & placement counselors? CHECK Read other industry publications? CHECK The problem almost all of the other sources of employment & salary statistics are based off of the statistics that THE SCHOOLS PROVIDE. So you have a problem that bad figures get repeated on & on & on. Talk to a practicing attorney? The problem with this is "survivorship bias", by definition, employed attorneys have jobs and are making money. So what does that leave? Now there are TONS of disgruntled students, lawsuits & scam blogs. So if you are 21 year old, you are going to give credence to some dude spouting off on the interwebs? OR are you going to give credence to US News & World report? Who are you going to believe? The glossy brochures produced by the school? Your guidance counselor? Your teachers? Your family? Or some dude like me raising hell on the interwebs? Schools are HIRING THEIR OWN GRADUATES GAMING STATISTICS! In the USA, student loan debt is NOT dischargeable in bankruptcy....So what remedy do you have if you are duped or get a defective education? I have no idea what the situation is in the UK, but here in the USA, the education is broken...

When you go to school, there is a LOT of luck involved...There are PLENTY of graduates in the USA who can NOT get jobs in their field. I am not talking about people who barely squeaked by either...I have known people who graduated in the top quarter of their class and can not find employment outside of being a retail clerk. As to schools lying, I most definitely have to disagree with you there...They NEED to get "butts in the seats" to keep the federal loan money flowing. I am not even talking about "for profit" schools. I am talking about "regular", "non-profit" universities. For years & years, there have been 2 law school graduates for every job available. So how can schools have 90% placement? It is a mathematical impossibility. Additionally, there are some schools that have a bar passage rate of 50%. How can you work in the legal field if you don't/can't pass the bar? There is also a problem with the quality of school you go to. If there are 20k legal jobs, the top schools will place the VAST majority of their graduates, taking a lot of those positions. Lower ranked schools will simply get a much smaller slice of the pie. Harvard places 98% of their graduates in legal position. University of Detroit places 30% of their graduates.... What about this? Some law schools "hire" their graduates who can't find paid work...This then counts as a gainfully employed graduate! George Washington hires about 21% of their graduates! George Washington is NOT the only school doing this. This does not strike you as being somewhat manipulative?

You don't think schools aren't deliberately setting out to lie? That they aren't targeting the "ignorant, vulnerable and misrepresented things"? Why is there a different standard for bucket shop operators and schools? Or medical providers, or food processors? Why are there different standards for anybody? School is BIG BUSINESS in America. We are talking about HUGE amounts of money. Many employees at these "non-profit" institutions are making HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars & great benefits! So the question becomes one of different standards of conduct for different operators...

It very much depends on what industry you are in and who you are doing it to... If you are an "educator", you get a different standard. A Michigan lawsuit vs. Cooley was dismissed, as students should NOT have relied on figures published by the school. The judge ruled that students SHOULD HAVE KNOWN not to rely on published figures presented by their school regarding employment and salary outcomes. http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/07/appeals_court_dismisses_lawsui.html This is not the only case like this... If perspective students should not rely on published by their schools, what should they rely on?