Invitation to other Finance and Econ Bloggers

If you wish to link exchange with a long established blog, please contact me.

Refresh and Some Other Changes

So, I have decided to refresh the look of the site.

I am experimenting with a few different formats, though I still believe the three column approach is best.

Have also updated my blogroll - a long period of inactivity had allowed some links to get out of date, these have been removed. I will resume reviewing sites in the blogosphere and adding to my list of sites.

Finally, I notice that my Google Page Rank has dropped to zero.

I suppose I deserve this, somehow. I still have some good inbound links, but due to some inactivity, I think several larger sites dropped me.

On the other hand, maybe I am being punished for having criticized AdSense?

For the time being I have decided to remove all advertising and refocus on delivering quality content.

If you want to link exchange, please let me know.

A Note About the „New“ Blogger

If you are returning to The Strategic Investor, you will have noticed the change in the format of the blog. When I started blogging, I had to decide which blog application to use. At the time, Blogger was the most primitive of the blog options (I looked at WordPress, TypePad and several others) and I seriously considered using one of the other packages. I decided to stick with Blogger for most of the same reasons cited here.

The key factor for me was my decision that a good investor can create an asset and learns how to monetize that asset. Thus, my strategy was always to be able to have a no-cost blog (which meant getting free hosting, which, at the time was only available from Blogger and Wordpress.org) that could also run ads. Blogger was the best fit.

This meant that I would have to have a .blogspot URL (which has been fine). It also meant using fairly standard templates and worst of all, it meant not having labels (though I found a solution care of another Blogspot blogger who developed a clever search function that effectively performed the same role). While it appears that he has stopped blogging, I would like to say, “thanks,” by asking you to check out his blog here.

I am pleased that I made the decision as the beta of Blogger has added several features that make publishing much easier (including labels), even if you aren’t an XML or CSS.

I look forward to taking full advantage. I hope you will join me by subscribing.

Valuing a Website

We've all seen the incredible valuations offered for social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, but Dale Carlson decided to use that information and establish an individual site value meter.

He took the price paid for one of the sites (I think it was MySpace) and calculated the value of an inbound link (using the link counter from Technorati). Based on that he wrote a script to lookup the number of inbound links to a site and calculate the value.

At the time of relaunch this site was worth $2,258.16 -- but I'm not selling. Besides, networks follow the power rule which means that the value of the sight grows exponentially with the number of links, whereas this is a simple linear extrapolation. Still, it is a way to think about the added value of the site.

You can get the script for your own blog by clicking on the icon.

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

Resuming life as a "Strategic Investor“

Well, I have decided to return to blogging. Last year, I believed that life as a student would permit adequate time to research investments and to write about what I was learning and how it was influencing my thinking. While I certainly did a great deal of writing, I found that there was no time to do the in-depth, fundamentals-oriented style of investing that I do. It became painfully clear that I was suffering from the problems that most independent investors face: lack of time.

However, I have wanted to return to the fray, particularly in light of the very difficult and confusing investment climate which materialized in 2007 and which continues to this day. I have written before about my belief that the housing market would implode in 2007 (see posts here and here) and that this would have profound impact for the US economy and by extension that of the world. I continue to hold this view and it informs my holdings, which are almost entirely in cash.

With that in mind, I will resume posting as of today. You will notice several changes – starting with the template of this blog itself. I am now using the Beta version of Blogger, which makes changing features of the blog much easier. I am also taking this opportunity to overhaul my categories/labels to make finding material easier. In addition, I will look to add a “Strategic Investor’s Bookshelf” – which will keep you up-to-date on what I am reading and what I think about it. I will look to add more linking and to point readers to important financial news.

What has not changed is my desire to provoke, explain and inform a sophisticated audience that aspires to superior returns. I will look always to bring a unique and well-reasoned perspective and aim for the “big picture”, while not losing sight of the fact that every investment is a “special case” (though some are more special than others).

Finally, it should be noted that this blog is an exploration of ideas and that I observe and comment and will share what I am doing – but no strategy should ever become the slave to tactical moves. Even if we are faced with the same market circumstances, we approach them from different positions and – far more important – with different objectives. Many strategies are possible within the same market. The reader must decide for himself what strategy he wishes to pursue.

New Blogger

So I have finally upgraded to the new blogger. This means that I can add labels to all of my posts which should make it much easier for you to search them. I now need to go back and relabel all of the existing posts as soon as I have time.

Personal Update

Regular readers of this blog will note that postings have become somewhat anemic lately. I have to apologize, because my commitment to investing and to this blog have not diminished, but available time has been hard to come by.

I am making some major changes in my life. I am leaving my nice job here in New Jersey working on strategic management in aftersales to increase my international exposure and earn an MBA at the University of St Gallen, one of the top-5 MBA programs in Europe. The school´s website is here. With this degree (and 12 months in Switzerland, which is going to be awesome in itself), I will look to join the ranks of the strategy consultants, hopefully with BCG. We shall see.

Actually, returning to school will probably help the quality of this blog. I will benefit from academic exposure and the time to think about ideas that school offers. The problem has been that I have been in the process of launching some new programs at work before I leave, and simultaneously moving to another country.

I will endeavor to post more in the next few weeks, before I head to Europe on the 6th of December, and thence to Thailand. Once that happens, on the 9th of December, there will likely be few posts until I get settled in Switzerland in the new year.

Feedburner

A few of you have asked me to make it possible to subscribe to the site, so that you can get email feeds, or syndication. So, I have added Feedburner subscription options in the sidebar.

You can subscribe and receive the feed as part of your Feedburner account, or simply get an email delivered to your email address. If you want to get it at more than one address, sign up each address separately.

Goals of this blog

My goals with this blog are to give me an opportunity to develop and refine, in writing, my investment strategies, and share it for commentary with other investors.

I will try to look at investing with a strategic focus. This means more emphasis on planning, target setting and quantitative analysis which I find is often missing in much of the finanical press.

My goal is to have a major idea or concept covered every week, with smaller news-relevant points as they come up. I will also (eventually) put my own portfolio information on the site, so you can decide if my thoughts are any good. Most of all, I hope that you will provide feedback, correct my errors and open my eyes to the things I don't see.