Merry Christmas...

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'

~Dave Barry ~ "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"

Tiger Woods - Prenuptial Agreement

Everything is negotiable. Even prenuptial agreements.

This week, Investment News reported that Tiger Woods wife, Elin Nordegren, was renegotiating her multi-million dollar prenuptial agreement. According to published reports, the current arrangement requires the couple to be married for at least 10 years before Ms. Nordegren could collect $20 million.

The updated version appears to have a $5 million immediate payment. And, there could be an additional $55 million added to the overall agreement.

Perhaps I'm a little naive. I understand the benefits of prenuptial agreements for estate planning purposes. However, a young, vibrant, couple shouldn't be addressing financial matters as it pertains to their marriage. There are bigger issues to address.

Yes, I understand individuals of this magnitude have to protect their brand name and earnings potential. The brand name has already been tarnished, so perhaps just the future earnings from golf events are at stake.

Renegotiating terms of a marriage is a bad omen. Their two children may be the glue that makes them stay together - if possible. If there weren't children involved, I'd venture a guess this marriage would be over. Tiger would move on and do his thing. And, as reported by the New York Daily News, Elin would probably retreat to her recently purchased estate in Sweden.

Holiday Book List 2009

Okay, so it's not the Oprah Book Club, but I cover different topics anyway! So without further delay, here are my favorite finance books and then some for 2009. Some new, some old, and in no particular order!











Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman- Jon Krakauer

The bestselling author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven delivers a stunning, eloquent account of a remarkable young man’s haunting journey. Like the men whose epic stories Jon Krakauer has told in his previous bestsellers, Pat Tillman was an irrepressible individualist and iconoclast. In May 2002, Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract to enlist in the United States Army. He was deeply troubled by 9/11, and he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in southeastern Afghanistan.

Zen In The Markets - Edward Allen Toppel

A veteran trader takes a Zen approach to the stock market, applying fundamental principles of Zen Buddhism in place of traditional economic thought and encouraging investors to put egos aside and listen to the marketplace in a tested method for success.

Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders - Jack Schwager

How do the world’s top traders make millions of dollars in the markets – sometimes in a matter of only weeks or even days? That’s precisely the question Jack Schwager was trying to answer when he interviewed 17 superstar money-makers including Richard Dennis, Paul Tudor Jones, Ed Seykota, Marty Schwartz, Tom Baldwin and others. After reading this best-selling book, you’ll know what ingredients enable these top traders to consistently work their financial magic in the markets while so many others walk away losers. One of the top-selling trading books of all-time!

The Greatest Trade Ever - Gregory Zuckerman

“How Paulson and a handful of contrarian investors pulled off this once-in-a-lifetime coup is the subject of The Greatest Trade Ever ... a fascinating and believable counter-narrative to the growing pile of books recounting the disastrous mistakes made by many of the supposedly smartest minds on Wall Street. It is also a surprisingly dramatic work...In The Greatest Trade Ever, Zuckerman skillfully shows how Paulson and a few cohorts anticipated a disaster and figured out a way to profit.”--BusinessWeek

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki

Anyone stuck in the rat-race of living paycheck to paycheck, enslaved by the house mortgage and bills, will appreciate this breath of fresh air. Learn about the methods that have created more than a few millionaires. This is the first abridged miniature edition of Rich Dad Poor Dad. The full-length edition has sold millions as a New York Times bestseller. As proven by the runaway success of The Secret and like titles, changing one’s thinking to influence one’s fortune sells big, and forms the basis of rich dad’s advice. Learn to think like a rich dad and let your money work for you!

Who Moved My Cheese - Spencer Johnson & Kenneth Blanchard

Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives.

Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships.

The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

How Charts Can Help You In the Stock Market - William Jiler

As classic and timeless as Graham & Dodd's Security Analysis, William Jiler's How Charts Can Help You in the Stock Market is the must-have primer on technical analysis.

First published in 1962, it was the first book to explain how all investors can use charting to more profitably time both their buys and sells and is globally renowned to this day for helping traders and investors use the tools of technical analysis to increase their profits.
Featuring a new Foreword by the investing experts at Standard & Poor's, this special reprint edition will be an excellent resource for beginners as well as a vital reference for experienced technicians. Technical traders will look to it for:
*Tips for removing the mystery from the use of technical analysis
*Easy-to-understand definitions of technical analysis topics
*Examples and explanations of essential configurations, patterns, and formations

Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit - Andy Rooney

Chairs. Neat people. Ugliness. War. Over six decades of intrepid reporting and elegant essays, Andy Rooney has proven a shrewd cultural analyst—unafraid to question the sometimes ridiculous, often surprising facts of our lives. Rooney’s great gift is telling it straight, without a hint of sugar coating, but with more than a grain of truth and humor. His take on America? “It’s just amazing how long this country has been going to hell without ever having got there.” On food? “There’s more dependable mediocrity than there used to be.”

Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit brings together the best of more than a half-century of work (including long-out-of-print pieces from his early years) in an unforgettable celebration of one of America’s funniest men. Like Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne (Mister Dooley) and Will Rogers, Andy Rooney is a classic chronicler of America, a writer for the ages.