"SHOW ME THE MONEY" VIEWS on HOW to make MONEY GR

[Bretsky]

so, what does one do if they have student loans? Things appear to have taken a turn for the worst and it looks like I may leave school 20,000 in debt. What is an action plan on those when trying to invest your salary into IRA/401k etc.

I'm a good student so I think i'll be alright when the time comes to get a job, and my field from my school averages around 50k after graduation

Partial,

It's very normal for students to come out of college with well over 20G in student loans. Heck, I've seen six digits and still was able to finance a first home for them. Most of these loans are at a low interest rate and normally if they are several separate loans they can be consolidated into one at a low rate. I wouldn't get worked over paying these off before getting involved in your ROTH/401K. Just secure a low balance and low payment (this so you are more approvable for home loans).

[Bretsky]

Do a lot of people my age get into a lot of CC debt? That has never really been an issue for me. I have two credit cards, one from my bank and another for emergencies with a higher limit that I have never used. Is this damaging my credit rating having two? I have always paid the one on time, and the other I have never used.

Yes, many are very irresponsible. It is probably not damaging your credit having too. In fact, I'll give another take on this.

Regarding the two credit cards, for your credit rating I'd actually like you to be using both of those credit cards each month. Take that card you never use and charge gas or a small purchase once a month and pay it if full.

Remember every time you make a payment on time you get a positive remark to the credit burea and your score. If you don't have an auto loan, then IMO it's more important to use two CC's going forward to you have two positive trades (payments/marks) reported each month.

B

[MadtownPacker]

I have been making everyday purchase on a CC for things like groceries, gas, auto insurance, even DirectTV o a 0% CC. It has made my FICO blow up. I dont think using it hurts at all just not overloading. Doing this looks like Im spending hundreds a month on a CC but then paying it the same month.

Hows loaner view this Bretsky?

[Bretsky]

I have been making everyday purchase on a CC for things like groceries, gas, auto insurance, even DirectTV o a 0% CC. It has made my FICO blow up. I dont think using it hurts at all just not overloading. Doing this looks like Im spending hundreds a month on a CC but then paying it the same month.

Hows loaner view this Bretsky?

Mad,

When you said it's made your FICO blow up what do you mean ? It's elevated your score or brought it down ? My family uses 3 CC's each month and pays them every month in full.

[MadtownPacker]

Mad,

When you said it's made your FICO blow up what do you mean ? It's elevated your score or brought it down ? My family uses 3 CC's each month and pays them every month in full.

Elevated, cmon man, yo aint that old!

[Bretsky]

Mad,

When you said it's made your FICO blow up what do you mean ? It's elevated your score or brought it down ? My family uses 3 CC's each month and pays them every month in full.

Elevated, cmon man, yo aint that old!

Makes sense; I've heard random musings from many that for your FICO you have to carry a balance and it hurts you if you charge monthly and pay it off monthly. I've always felt that was crap. It's all about getting as many positive marks on your credit from on time payments and avoiding the negative marks for late payments. Before ya know it you'll prolly be getting pre-approved for 1MIL home in California Mad.

B

[The Leaper]

The best way to build wealth for retirement?

DO NOT HAVE KIDS BEFORE THE AGE OF 30!

Among my friends and acquaintences that are roughly my age, it is glaringly obvious that couples who have children before the age of 25 find it far more difficult to get ahead than those who wait to have children. Most of the friends I have who do not have children yet bring in a combined six digit income and are reasonably well off. Most of the friends I have who started a family early usually are behind the eight ball just keeping up with regular expenses...let alone saving up for retirement.

The amount of money that a couple can make in 3-5 years after marriage without the constraints of children can pay down a lot of debt and build up a solid savings that will earn interest over 20+ years.

The $10 investment in birth control each month is probably the best investment any couple can make until they secure their financial position. Otherwise, it will be an uphill battle no matter what.

[Bretsky]

The best way to build wealth for retirement?

DO NOT HAVE KIDS BEFORE THE AGE OF 30!

Among my friends and acquaintences that are roughly my age, it is glaringly obvious that couples who have children before the age of 25 find it far more difficult to get ahead than those who wait to have children. Most of the friends I have who do not have children yet bring in a combined six digit income and are reasonably well off. Most of the friends I have who started a family early usually are behind the eight ball just keeping up with regular expenses...let alone saving up for retirement.

The amount of money that a couple can make in 3-5 years after marriage without the constraints of children can pay down a lot of debt and build up a solid savings that will earn interest over 20+ years.

The $10 investment in birth control each month is probably the best investment any couple can make until they secure their financial position. Otherwise, it will be an uphill battle no matter what.

I'd concur that it's a great fiscal idea if you can. I had the general rule to be married about 5 years be4 kids. Call me an anal planner, but I wanted to save some bucks and make sure we weren't a statistic before having kids.

Problem many fall into, especially with 2 income spouses and no kids, is they free spend w/o a conscience. We did a lot of that, but I still threw a bunch of money into tech stocks, and then watched them go threw the roof and then back down to the floor.

[Bretsky]

Speaking of stocks, any hot tips or innovative technology out there people have heard of ? Right after I graduated college the NET came out; I remember thinking that I doubt if I'll ever get into that. Wife and I actually thought about throwing a few grand at Yahoo and AOL at the start, but didn't.

It's my goal, in my lifetime, to catch the best innovative technology that is exploding, like the NET, in the early stages and invest some money. Something life changing. California Residents probaby have the best info on this.

I've been watching XM radio and thought that might be in, but I'm not convinced. Here was an interesting article on the Cell Phone/Digital Camera growth; if I invest there I might make some change, but not the type I'm looking for.

By Jon Markman
Picture this: A world without film cameras.

It's a little hard to believe, but it's entirely likely that children under the age of 2 will grow up without ever seeing a film-based single-lens reflex camera, the kind that make delicious whirring noises and don't have instant-delete buttons. Everywhere you look, they are being phased out and shut down as people have switched en masse to digital cameras and camera phones.

Just last week, the industry's largest manufacturer, Canon (CAJ, news, msgs), announced that it would halt development of new film cameras and devote all its resources to digital cameras. A couple of months ago, supersized peers Konica, Minolta and Nikon said much the same. As a result, faster than you can say "cheese!", the sexy, solid, mechanical film camera of our youth is going the way of the typewriter, the rotary phone and the phonograph. And in its wake, a new market of vast proportions is shaping up.

Investors have to pay attention when changes of such long-term magnitude occur. It's not like you haven't noticed that digital cameras are so cheap it's no big deal to buy a $50 model for a child's birthday. But you may not realize it's still early enough in the product cycle to make a lot of money as an investor.

Posing with Mao
It's sort of like buying into the PC industry in the early 1990s, when Dell Computer (DELL, news, msgs) was still a pup, and Intel (INTC, news, msgs) and Microsoft (MSFT, news, msgs) were large but not gigantic. If you think about it, PCs were already well established as a product in 1992, but Dell shares were going for $1 split adjusted, Intel went for $2 and Microsoft for $2.50. All are up nearly 10 times or more since then, as the industry has gone from being peripheral to central in the home and workplace. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money.)

It may not seem as if there's anything so essential about a digital camera, but they have become ubiquitous. When I traveled in China recently, they were at least as widely brandished as cell phones, and perhaps more so. Regardless whether a native tourist was a wealthy party member or a rube from the sticks, he had a camera at the ready to snap photos of anything that moved -- or not. It actually makes sense, as they may not have had anyone to call while standing in line in Tiananmen Square for two hours to see the petrified body of Chairman Mao, but they sure as heck wanted to record the moment for the folks back home.

Digital cameras, like cell phones, have become so commoditized a product that the big money is not being made in the shares of manufacturers like Canon and Eastman Kodak (EK, news, msgs), but rather in the shares of companies that reliably supply patent-protected semiconductors and software. This is getting to be a volume business -- just like mobile phones, but with fewer competitors. There are just two top U.S. providers -- OmniVision (OVTI, news, msgs) and Micron Technology (MU, news, msgs) -- and both are a lot more attractive today than they were a month ago, before the broad market sell-off.

Betting on camera phones
OmniVision slid almost 30% in a week and a half in the middle of May, and has since recovered a bit. Which is pretty amusing, in a twisted way, since over that time its business prospects actually improved. OmniVision's main product is an image-sensing device called the CameraChip. The formal name for the baseline technology is "complementary metal oxide semiconductor," or CMOS. But all you really need to know is that it's a piece of metal and glass that puts a lot of high-performance camera functionality in a tiny package. OmniVision sells these to a long list of customers, who put them in everything from low-cost plastic cell phones, video games and surveillance systems to chic titanium-body cameras. Sign up to receive Jon Markman’s weekly SuperModels newsletter.
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Omnivision will report earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter on June 15, and I think it will come in slightly above consensus, at 39 cents a share on $126 million in revenue. Shares should get a lift when the company updates its earnings guidance for the second half of the year and explains how the surprising strength of sales growth has led to much more robust cash flow than skeptics believed possible. It's already sitting on $5.72 a share in cash. Subtract out that cash and the stock trades at the low, low price-to-earnings multiple of 15 times 2007 estimates. That's about 25% lower than comparable high-tech manufacturers, most of whom are not facing OmniVision's great prospects. There are new competitive threats from the likes of Samsung and Toshiba (TOSBF, news, msgs) Toshiba overseas, and Micron here, but that's still too steep a discount.

OmniVision is making great strides in the automotive and security arenas with low-cost image sensors as well, but its bread and butter in new sales come from all the advertising you've seen by carriers like Verizon Communications (VZ, news, msgs) to encourage consumers to upgrade call-only phones into ones that take pictures or show videos. There's also been a successful push to encourage folks with low-resolution camera phones to upgrade to 1-megapixel models with enhanced quality, such as the Motorola RAZR and Samsung Blade. And next on the horizon will be a holiday promotion to hype people into wanting 2-megapixel camera phones that easily take the place of a conventional digital camera -- a product for which OmniVision is the leading low-cost provider.

More than a memory play
The biggest impediment to OmniVision's growth is Micron, which is the industry's 800-pound gorilla with about 35% of the market. Long known primarily as the leading maker of random access memory, or RAM, for personal computers, Micron a few years ago branched out into more profitable products such as image sensors. By the middle of next year, Micron will have four new fabrication plants making both image sensors and flash memory. As the mix tilts toward image sensors, Micron's gross margins will get a huge boost, as RAM chips bring margins into the mid-teens while image sensors garner upwards of 40%. Although an increase in product would appear on the surface to threaten the profitability of the industry, it is only expected to meet demand from all the cameras, mobile handsets, cars, video consoles and security devices that are creepily keeping an eye on us. Micron does not just make cheap sensors. It recently rolled out the world's smallest 8-megapixel image sensor, a very high-quality device that is expected to revolutionize the business due to its low cost.

Micron will also benefit from the rollout of the new Windows Vista operating system by Microsoft later this year and next, as the sophisticated software is expected to lead consumers to buy a lot more memory: 1 to 2 gigabytes of RAM is expected to become a standard, up from 512 megabytes, or about a fourfold increase. If you believe, as I do, that Micron can earn as much as $1.40 in 2007 from all these efforts, it is going for a forward price-earnings multiple of just 12, which is laughable for a company growing in excess of 20%. Multiply that number by a more reasonable P/E, such as 20, and you get a potential price of $26, or about 60% higher than the current quote.

Excuse me if I say it would be a snap to profit from these two companies. You don't need to pick one. Take them both, and shoot for the sky


http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...meraPlays.aspx

[Partial]

Well Bretsky, judging from my knowledge of consumer electronics and what is about to pick up, if you're looking for a solid stock that will make some money and always be solid, now would be a good time to buy some Intel. They've been down in the dumps for awhile now and their roadmap for the future is looking a whole lot better than AMD (the competition) and it certainly seems like they're back in full-force.

Canon would be a good company as well because they have a huge investment in SED technology, which uses nanotubes to create an extreme thin video display that is very high contrast and brightness with all the benefits of a classic cathode ray tube in an extremely thin (much thinner than anything out now) package. It is also to be manufactured very cheap because of how they make the carbon nanotubes. They expect this to be HUGE by 2010 and be the way we all watch tv. Canon and Toshiba funded this multi-billion dollar poject if I recall.

Microsoft has a new operating system coming out at the start of 2007. That, paired with office should sell quite a bit.

Apple is a company with a rising reputation with tremendous growth.

My dad was talking about a bunch of biotechnology companies emerging in the next few years. He's big on the investing and that might be something to look into.

That's all i've got. Doubt it's helpful, but its a nice reminder of new, cool products coming out!!

[Bretsky]

Well Bretsky, judging from my knowledge of consumer electronics and what is about to pick up, if you're looking for a solid stock that will make some money and always be solid, now would be a good time to buy some Intel. They've been down in the dumps for awhile now and their roadmap for the future is looking a whole lot better than AMD (the competition) and it certainly seems like they're back in full-force.

Canon would be a good company as well because they have a huge investment in SED technology, which uses nanotubes to create an extreme thin video display that is very high contrast and brightness with all the benefits of a classic cathode ray tube in an extremely thin (much thinner than anything out now) package. It is also to be manufactured very cheap because of how they make the carbon nanotubes. They expect this to be HUGE by 2010 and be the way we all watch tv. Canon and Toshiba funded this multi-billion dollar poject if I recall.

Microsoft has a new operating system coming out at the start of 2007. That, paired with office should sell quite a bit.

Apple is a company with a rising reputation with tremendous growth.

My dad was talking about a bunch of biotechnology companies emerging in the next few years. He's big on the investing and that might be something to look into.

That's all i've got. Doubt it's helpful, but its a nice reminder of new, cool products coming out!!

I'll check out Cannon; is the SED technology new ?

I too think Intel is going to come back, but it's been a dead horse for 2 plus years now. Edward Jones, one of the most conservative investment companies, has been recommending it along with EMC, another dog, that I already own. Short term Intel might be alright, but I'm looking for home runs........high risk.....high reward.....and Intel and Apple are too big.

If your dad hits on the right biotech company, he can get some huge gains fast. I've been looking into companies that specialize with obesity since that's growing. Next time you email/speak with your day ask him for a few of his favorites; researching stocks and trying to strike it big is a lot of fun for me at least. I've hit some home runs on picks that went way up and then down; just didn't sell at right time so didn't make what I should have.

[Partial]

SED is brand new, yes. It is "nano-technology" since it uses carbon nanotubes. My understanding is its much cheaper to produce then current technology, just the R&D was ridiculous on it.

[Bretsky]

SED is brand new, yes. It is "nano-technology" since it uses carbon nanotubes. My understanding is its much cheaper to produce then current technology, just the R&D was ridiculous on it.

Thanks for the info; I'll have to look into this, and hopefully find out what other companies will benefit from SED the most.

[Partial]

Here's a link to some information on it directly from Canon. http://www.canon.com/technology/display/

I would definitely say that article is very conservative in the ramifications of this. It's never wise to put all your eggs in one basket, but canon and toshiba poured a ton of money into this and it is definitely looking like a technology that is going to catch on. I've been following the development of this for awhile, since back in the day when DLP first came around. HDTV is not user friendly at all right, and I expect that when they ships, it will compete with DLP/LCD on price, and probably beat plasma. After a year or two, it will be much cheaper once they get the R&D revenue paid off. This is going to be huge, it is coming out at the perfect time, and will all this hype of the next-gen dvd players and game consoles, this thing is going to explode.

The colors are going to be more vibrant by a mile then anything that is out today, it will be brighter, use less energy, it has a 1ms latency which is faster than then plasma, lcd and dlp (clearer image), and if they decide to go with an external power supply and tuner (which I think they will), I don't think its unreasonable to expect less than 2cm thick tv's that are very light yet sturdy. Essentially, they can make this as thin as they want.

[Scott Campbell]

Here's a link to some information on it directly from Canon. http://www.canon.com/technology/display/

I would definitely say that article is very conservative in the ramifications of this. It's never wise to put all your eggs in one basket, but canon and toshiba poured a ton of money into this and it is definitely looking like a technology that is going to catch on. I've been following the development of this for awhile, since back in the day when DLP first came around. HDTV is not user friendly at all right, and I expect that when they ships, it will compete with DLP/LCD on price, and probably beat plasma. After a year or two, it will be much cheaper once they get the R&D revenue paid off. This is going to be huge, it is coming out at the perfect time, and will all this hype of the next-gen dvd players and game consoles, this thing is going to explode.

The colors are going to be more vibrant by a mile then anything that is out today, it will be brighter, use less energy, it has a 1ms latency which is faster than then plasma, lcd and dlp (clearer image), and if they decide to go with an external power supply and tuner (which I think they will), I don't think its unreasonable to expect less than 2cm thick tv's that are very light yet sturdy. Essentially, they can make this as thin as they want.

Why go with an external power supply?

[Partial]

Why go with an external power supply?

Thinner, a few high-end really thin LCD computer monitors are going that way, for example the apple cinema displays, some NEC ones.

[Scott Campbell]

Why go with an external power supply?

Thinner, a few high-end really thin LCD computer monitors are going that way, for example the apple cinema displays, some NEC ones.

So they have a power brick like a laptop?

[Scott Campbell]

Why go with an external power supply?

Thinner, a few high-end really thin LCD computer monitors are going that way, for example the apple cinema displays, some NEC ones.

So they have a power brick like a laptop?

[Scott Campbell]

Well Bretsky, judging from my knowledge of consumer electronics and what is about to pick up, if you're looking for a solid stock that will make some money and always be solid, now would be a good time to buy some Intel. They've been down in the dumps for awhile now and their roadmap for the future is looking a whole lot better than AMD (the competition) and it certainly seems like they're back in full-force.

Canon would be a good company as well because they have a huge investment in SED technology, which uses nanotubes to create an extreme thin video display that is very high contrast and brightness with all the benefits of a classic cathode ray tube in an extremely thin (much thinner than anything out now) package. It is also to be manufactured very cheap because of how they make the carbon nanotubes. They expect this to be HUGE by 2010 and be the way we all watch tv. Canon and Toshiba funded this multi-billion dollar poject if I recall.

Microsoft has a new operating system coming out at the start of 2007. That, paired with office should sell quite a bit.

Apple is a company with a rising reputation with tremendous growth.

My dad was talking about a bunch of biotechnology companies emerging in the next few years. He's big on the investing and that might be something to look into.

That's all i've got. Doubt it's helpful, but its a nice reminder of new, cool products coming out!!

I'll check out Cannon; is the SED technology new ?

I too think Intel is going to come back, but it's been a dead horse for 2 plus years now. Edward Jones, one of the most conservative investment companies, has been recommending it along with EMC, another dog, that I already own. Short term Intel might be alright, but I'm looking for home runs........high risk.....high reward.....and Intel and Apple are too big.

If your dad hits on the right biotech company, he can get some huge gains fast. I've been looking into companies that specialize with obesity since that's growing. Next time you email/speak with your day ask him for a few of his favorites; researching stocks and trying to strike it big is a lot of fun for me at least. I've hit some home runs on picks that went way up and then down; just didn't sell at right time so didn't make what I should have.

INTC will again be competitive in the processor marketplace, but has it's brand been irreparably harmed? People used to buy "Intel Inside" without thinking. Since they moved from 1.3 mm to 90 nm with the Prescott introduction, they've been getting their clock cleaned by AMD. The Prescott ran way too hot and enthusiasts couldn't overclock them. Most bought AMD and companies began to notice. Your Best Buy ad now included some AMD systems, and people began to ask questions before they purchased. Some bought AMD, which was more than before. AMD grew their market share, and it's stock has skyrocketed since early last year.

Now Dell who was previously an Intel only shop began offering Opertons to their server customers a while back, and this week they announce that consumers can buy AMD's now too. The people at Intel had to be thinking - Is nothing sacred?

I hear INTC got things worked out with the move to 60nm on the dual cores and they won't perform like easy bake ovens anymore, but I don't know if that will prop the stock back up. The cat is out of the bag, and people know they have a real choice - i.e. the brand has been damaged.

I know where you guys are coming from, as I've been extremely tempted to buy INTC because it looks so danged cheap.

[Bretsky]

Here's a link to some information on it directly from Canon. http://www.canon.com/technology/display/

I would definitely say that article is very conservative in the ramifications of this. It's never wise to put all your eggs in one basket, but canon and toshiba poured a ton of money into this and it is definitely looking like a technology that is going to catch on. I've been following the development of this for awhile, since back in the day when DLP first came around. HDTV is not user friendly at all right, and I expect that when they ships, it will compete with DLP/LCD on price, and probably beat plasma. After a year or two, it will be much cheaper once they get the R&D revenue paid off. This is going to be huge, it is coming out at the perfect time, and will all this hype of the next-gen dvd players and game consoles, this thing is going to explode.

The colors are going to be more vibrant by a mile then anything that is out today, it will be brighter, use less energy, it has a 1ms latency which is faster than then plasma, lcd and dlp (clearer image), and if they decide to go with an external power supply and tuner (which I think they will), I don't think its unreasonable to expect less than 2cm thick tv's that are very light yet sturdy. Essentially, they can make this as thin as they want.

THIS GIVES ME A NICE RESEARCH PROJECT FOR THE WEEKEND. I'D DEFER BACK TO THE THEORY ON CAMERA PHONES GREATLY EXPANDING THAT I POSTED. I'd buy the companies that dominate production of chips that go into the technology.

Likewise, I don't think I'd want Toshiba or Canon. Too known; gotta find the companies that they need to make this work well.

B