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Showing posts from April, 2011

Consortium OP 2011: Alumni Are Welcome

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Consortium alumni , you are invited, too. The Consortium's annual Orientation Program is not merely a five-day celebration of the Consortium's first-year MBA students. Alumni are welcome and can get involved in various ways. If they attend, they take advantage of the program's varied offerings--from career-strategy sessions to leadership and development seminars. And of course, the always-popular career fair. Granted, the OP (including the Consortium's 45th this year in Minneapolis) is intended to be a memorable, festive welcoming event for over 300 first-year MBA students. First-year students get a head start on business school; 17 top business schools get acquainted with students formerly known to them for their GMAT scores, glowing recommendations and pertinent work experience. Corporate sponsors, by the hundreds, get access to diverse talent and get an early start on recruiting for summer internships. Alumni can join the festivities, too. Consortium MBA alumni often

Another Financial Crisis?

In 2006 I wrote an article titled “Another Financial Crisis ?” illustrating the possibility of one in the US, and it happened 2 years later. Now I’m writing for the same title but this time the target is CHINA! In my recent talk in KL, one participant from China came to me and told me that in China there are more real estate investors than stock investors. Indeed the Chinese investors have seen real estate as the best investment because of its spectacular yields in the recent years. Due to the Chinese government’s capital control, investors must pay a price to invest overseas, which compels them to invest domestically. In addition, the bank deposits and bonds have low to negative real yields, coupled with volatility in the China stock market, many have turn to real estate instead. In fact, China’s increasing inflation rate has helped housing price bubble growing even larger. More and more millionaires and billionaires are created in China every year. Recently The China Daily reported t

Investment Talk @ CIMB Penang

Hi, My next investment talk will be in Penang, the details are as follows: Venue: CIMB Level 24, Menara BHL, 51 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm Topic: The Basics of Stock Investing Please bring along your calculators, thanks! See you there! Happy investing, Pauline Yong

Firm Culture: Could You Work Here?

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 Dalio of Bridgewater Associates  Bridgewater Associates is a successful, $90 billion hedge fund, located along the Connecticut corridor where other successful, gargantuan hedge funds have a home base. Ray Dalio , a Harvard Business School graduate, is its founder and leader. The fund's investors include pension funds and university endowments. Over 1,000 people are employed in a variety of roles.  It recruits those who are tough-skinned, highly motivated and interested in a long-term career at the fund. MBAs in finance would no doubt be attracted to an opportunity there. Would you want to work there? Would it be a place where you can find a niche, thrive and be successful? Would you be able to endure hardships and demands to perform well? Would you be able to stomach equity volatility, risks of losses, and virulent market turmoil? And would you be able to perform under pulsating pressure and high expectations? Bridgewater is also known as a fund that operates based on a

Experts' Views on US Dollar and Gold

The US dollar ended 2010 about where it started; does it resume its downtrend in 2011, or are fears about its demise overblown? Jim Rogers: No, but further down the road. Bill Bonner: No opinion. But there is more risk in the dollar than potential reward. John Williams: There remains high risk of a dollar selling panic unfolding in the year ahead, as the US economy tanks anew, as the Fed continuously expands its easing, and as dollar holders dump the US currency and dollar-denominated paper assets. Such would be a precursor to the inflation problem. Steve Henningsen: Similar to my thoughts last year, I still believe the dollar is headed down long-term, but it could bounce around over the next year. If sovereign debts become a problem again, like I think they will later this year, then everyone will go running back to "Mother Dollar" once again for one last hug before she lies back down on her sickbed. Frank Trotter: As the economy waffles and the global investing communit

What Do The Experts Say!

Let's take a look at what some experts say about the economic outlook: A lot of economists, including the government, believe the worst is behind us economically. Do you agree? If not, what should we be on the lookout for in 2011? Jim Rogers: It is better for those getting all the government largesse, but the overall situation is worse. More currency turmoil. State and local problems, plus pension problems. Bill Bonner: None of the problems that caused the crises in Europe and America have been resolved. They have been delayed and expanded by more debt and more money printing and will lead to more and worse crises. Deleveraging takes time. 2011 will, most likely, be a transition year...not unlike 2010. But the risk is that one of these latent crises will become an active crisis. John Williams: An intensifying economic downturn – what formally will be viewed as the second dip of a double-dip depression – already has started to unfold. The problem with the economy remains structu