Buy Like Buffett

1. There is a new richest man in the world. Ladies and Gentleman meet Carlos Slim Helu. The Mexican telecom mogul knocked Bill Gates off as the world’s wealthiest man with a net worth of $53.5 billion dollars. 80% of his net worth lies in 5 Mexican telecom stocks. His net worth jumped $18.5 billion last year vaulting him from third to first place.

2. Bill Gates finished at number 2 with a net worth of $53 billion dollars. Gates would no doubt still be the richest man in the world if he had not retired from his daily duties at Microsoft in 2008. Only $500,000 separates Gates and Slim. His net worth increased $13 billion dollars over the past year.

3. Warren Buffett, for whom Buy Like Buffett is named, came in at number 3 with a net worth of $47 billion dollars. Buffett’s net worth grew $12 billion dollars in 2009. I wouldn’t feel too bad for Buffett. I am sure he isn’t losing too much sleep over just being the 3rd richest man in the world.

News Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, richest man in the world, warren buffett

Complete List of All 219 Bank Failures Since 2000

News list of bank failures

Sun America Bank in Florida, Bank of Illinois, Waterfield Bank in Maryland, and Centennial Bank in Utah were all shut down by the FDIC yesterday. The assets of Bank of Illinois and Sun America Bank were purchased by Heartland Bank and First Citizens Bank respectively. Waterfield Bank and Centennial Bank were unable to find buyers which means that all funds will be refunded to account holders. The 191 bank failures over the past 2 years seems like a pretty high number until you take into account that some economists have estimated that as many as 1,000 banks will fail over the next few years. There are still over 700 banks on the FDIC’s troubled list making it highly likely surpass the 140 bank failures that took place last year. All of these bank collapses are rapidly depleting the FDIC’s insurance fund.

News 2010 bank failures, bank closings

I read an interesting article today about a 100 year old woman that donated her estate to her alma mater. Grace Groner left over $7 million dollars to Lake Forest College after she died. She  lived modestly in a 1 bedroom apartment with very little furniture and bought her clothes at rummage sales. She did not earn a lot of money but she did live frugally. Groner’s story reminded me of the book The Millionaire Next Door. Most millionaires live a simple lifestyle. You could be living next door to a millionaire and never even recognize it because they don’t drive a fancy car or live a giant mansion.

3 Characteristics of Millionaires

Millionaires:

1. Spend Less Than They Earn.

2. Avoid Buying Status Objects.

3. Maximize All Of Their Resources To Build Wealth.

How did Groner build her wealth? According to the Los Angeles Times, “In 1935 she bought three $60 shares of specially issued Abbott stock and never sold them. The shares split many times over the years, Marlatt said, and Groner reinvested the dividends. Long before she died, her initial outlay had become a fortune.” A $180 dollar investment ballooned to $7 million dollars after 75 years. This is truly an example of having patience and investing for the long run.

News Grace Groner, secret millionaire, The Millionaire Next Door

Access Pharmaceuticals (OTC: ACCP.OB, “Access”) develops and commercializes products for the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients, including:

- MuGard, an FDA-approved rinse for the management of patients with oral mucositis, a debilitating side effect of various cancer treatments

- ProLindac, now in Phase II clinical testing of patients with ovarian cancer

- The Cobalamin Platform, a drug delivery system for the oral administration of large molecules that are currently administered via injection (insulin, human growth hormone, fertility drugs, etc.)

MuGard has been commercially launched by Access’ partner, SpePharm, in six European countries, including the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Greece and Sweden. Over 15,000 bottles of MuGard have been used by over 2,000 patients to date. Access is now conducting pre-marketing activities, including ramping of commercial production, with the goal of a U.S. commercial launch by April 2010.

ProLindac is a next-generation DACH platinum anti-cancer compound which includes a proprietary nano-polymer drug delivery vehicle that allows for over ten-times the dose of platinum to be delivered in a targeted manner to cancer cells, with a much better safety profile compared to standard platinum-based drugs which cause significant and cumulative neurotoxicity.

Access will conduct a combination study evaluating ProLindac with Taxol (paclitaxel) for second-line treatment of platinum pre-treated patients with advanced ovarian cancer. This is a multi-center study being conducted in Europe in up to 25 patients with primary efficacy endpoint goal of achieving at least a 63% response rate. Access expects to begin patient dosing by April 2010.

The Cobalamin Platform is a drug delivery technology that involves coating a nano-particle with a vitamin B-12 analog (cobalamin) that binds to intrinsic factor in the gut and triggers binding to cellular receptors which absorb the entire package, resulting in exponential increases in absorption through the gut of large molecule drugs/hormones typically administered by injection.

In June 2009, Access announced that two bio-pharmaceutical companies would conduct preclinical, proof-of-concept studies in animals (rat and dog models of diabetes) before proceeding to more formal negotiations for the Company’s oral, long-acting (basal) insulin product candidate. Final results from the non-exclusive collaborators are possible during Q1 2010.

For more information on Access, visit the ProActive Capital Newsroom at www.proactivenewsroom.com.

This post was placed by IR GRO.

News Access Pharmaceuticals, drug stocks, MuGard

Microsoft just unveiled its new Windows Phone 7. Microsoft is known for its operating systems and had avoided entering the handset market. Microsoft will now have to compete against Blackberry, Apple, Nokia, Google and Palm for a share of the smartphone market. It will be interesting to see how well Microsoft’s entry into the smartphone market is received.

Exact details are not known about the Windows 7 phone. But here is what is known so far. The phone will be released during the 2010 holiday season. Windows Phone 7 will be Xbox live and Zune media and music capable. Windows Phone 7 will be broken down into hubs. Hubs are designed to gather like features and functions in one place. Windows Phone 7 contains the following hubs:

People Hub- social networking integration (Integrates contacts from Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live, Gmail)  

Office Hub - business applications (Office, Outlook, Workspace)

Games Hub- (Many Xbox live games)

Music & Video Hub- (Zune HD Music)

Pictures Hub - (All Stored Images)

Marketplace Hub - (Shopping & Applications)

If Microsoft can pull this off properly, the Windows phone 7 launch might open up a whole new market for the software giant. A successful launch could lead to:

1. Increased search engine market share - It stands to reason that Bing will be the default search engine for all Windows 7 phones. According to ZDNet, the phone will have a Bing button on the display.

2. Increased subscriptions to Zune marketplace.

3. Increased Xbox Live subscriptions.

For a more detailed look at the new Windows Phone 7 check out these sites:

Engadget

ZDNet

News apple iphone, apple iPhone vs windows phone 7, windows phone 7, windows phone 7 features

The FDIC shut down 5 more banks on Friday. First Regional Bank of LA, First National Bank of Georgia, Community Bank & Trust , Florida Community Bank, Marshall Bank, and American Marine Bank were all closed by the FDIC. Since January of 2008 155 banks have been shut down and there are more to come. 140 failed in 2008 and 15 so far this year. This may seem like a lot but it really isn’t that big a number compared to the 534 banks that failed in 1989.  This just highlights that the financial crisis is not yet over for many small and midsized banks. Foreclosures and loan defaults are crippling the balance sheet of smaller banks and they are unable to find adequate capital to stay afloat.

News bank failures, banks, commercial banks, community bank, fdic banks

Sign up for you chane to win the Money Crashers 2010 New Years Giveaway! The contest ends Sunday january 31st, 2010

Can you believe that it’s already 2010? Of course the New Year brings a new set of goals and resolutions and I’m sure you all are revved up to make and save more money and do an even better job managing your personal finances in the coming year.

Here at Money Crashers we offer a wealth of personal finance information, including useful tips and reviews around topics like budgeting, saving money, college & careers, credit & debt, and investing. Think of the site as your “Guide to Financial Fitness.” Our goal is to help you achieve your financial goals.

Here are just a few of the prizes being offered:

In addition to all of the financial resources here, this year we want to take it a step further and give you the opportunity to win some amazing free stuff that will give you a head start with your finances in 2010. Enter the Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash! We’ve partnered with various finance companies and bloggers to put together over $9,200 in sweet prizes – including $3,150 in cash, $1,105 in gift cards, the entire line of Apple iPod mp3 players, 2 Amazon Kindles, a whole bunch of popular finance books, and much much more.

So how does the Giveaway work? We have the exact details outlined lower on this page, but in a nutshell, all you have to do is perform certain actions to gain entries into the contest (i.e. follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our RSS feed, join our Facebook group, etc). The more you do, the better your chances of winning. Then on February 3, we’ll randomly select the winners for each individual prize. Additionally, the top 3 participants with the most entries at the end will get $100 each from Money Crashers. There will be over 100 winners, so you have a great chance of winning something! Now take a look at these awesome prizes and start building up your entries for the Giveaway!

Prizes

Without further adieu, here’s the full list of prizes in the Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash! Big thanks to all of the sponsors. If you’d like to include your own prize in this event, it’s not too late. Contact us asap.

CASH

3 $100 Cash Prizes ($300 Total) from Money Crashers added Jan 4
All of the other prizes below on this list will be selected through a random draw on February 3, but we’re also giving $100 in cash to the top 3 participants that collect the most entries by the end of the contest. Some things you just can’t leave to chance, right? More details on this in the how the contest works section.

$600 Cash from Dream Routine added Jan 22
Dream Routine is an exclusive society designed to drill down to the core of your money problems. The power of Dream Routine lies in its MasterMind Group, which prepares you for “becoming a millionaire”. Sign up for their Insider’s Newsletter because they currently need free Beta Testers for their new program (you also get 15 extra entries for this).
Twitter: @DreamRoutine

$500 Cash from Wise Bread added Jan 4
Wise Bread is a community of personal finance bloggers who help you live large on a small budget. Despite what you may have heard, you don’t have to sacrifice your financial independence to enjoy life. Top bloggers offer useful money saving tips and the site also features a popular finance forum and daily “best deals” posts.
Twitter: @wisebread

A listing of how to register and win can be found here.

News Money Crashers contest

I am pleased to announce that I have joined the Money Crashers team! I will be writing articles for the Money Crashers personal finance site. Money Crashers is a community of people who are trying to make financially sound decisions. Money Crashers strives to educate individuals in making wise decisions about credit and debt, investing, education, real estate, insurance, spending, and more. The eleven indispensable principles of a Money Crasher will guide these individuals in making these financial decisions. People, young and old, will no longer be targets of financial predators. They will take control of their money and their future by demonstrating common sense and self-control. Money Crashers is here to help you in your journey to becoming financially independent, sound, and secure.

Please check out the Money Crashers site at http://www.moneycrashers.com/.

News money crashers, Personal Finance