Josh Maher's Blog

ESPP Options – Account Configuration

January 24th, 2012 | Add a Comment

Ok, I get it. The account you have at Fidelity where your ESPP shares are dumped each quarter doesn’t allow option trading. Now you read my post on how to sell covered calls against your shares and are lost as to how to make that happen in your account. I thought about this and have been pretty hesitant to walk through the steps to make this work for everyone… If I have to walk you through how to make this happen in your account, are you really ready to start trading options? Well,. being a consultant though I guess I can’t help myself. Selling covered calls isn’t exactly putting on an Iron Condor or Butterfly option strategy. It is simply saying that you already own shares of a firm and … Read entire article »

Filed under: career, Covered Calls, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, stocks

You Have An Employee Stock Purchase Plan Now What?

January 16th, 2012 | Add a Comment

This seems to come up a lot in large companies and having been on the end of not knowing what to do as well as currently being on the end of having some thoughts about different strategies to manage ESPP participation, I thought I would share with everyone. I won’t say that I know everything about investing or managing an ESPP… but I definitely have been using a solid strategy that makes sense. The basic principles of the investment strategy are: Sell covered calls against the ESPP shares This puts cash in my account that I can use to invest elsewhere Ensures that if the stock is sold, it is sold for a profit higher than the 10% Collect the dividends from the shares (Assuming your company pays dividends) This provides money to be invested … Read entire article »

Filed under: career, Covered Calls, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, stocks

Insider Buying

January 2nd, 2012 | Add a Comment

Insider buying is a rarely understood indicator of what a stock or market is doing. This is usually due to the fact that there is so much insider buying and selling as a part of compensation plans and on behalf of management who have shares of their firm managed on their behalf. Thinking about insider buying and selling, it should be pretty obvious that if the buying and selling is directly attributed to a manager’s unscheduled decision, the actions are pretty indicative of what that manager’s views are about their business and the market that the business is operating in. This story by Mark Hulbert discusses this concept in more depth with the view that Professor Nejat Seyhun indicating that the performance is forward looking 12+ months and not shorter term. Interesting … Read entire article »

Filed under: Accounting, Investing

Retail Investment is Changing

December 17th, 2011 | Add a Comment

I don’t know if any one else has noticed the trend in retail investment advances that have been taking a crack at Wall St. lately – but I think we can forget what value the Occupy Wall St. movement will provide and start looking at what people with productive skills and a desire to change the world are trying to do. Over the last year I have seen a number of great products come out that are focused on reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of middle class investors. Of course all while taking some of the money (the fees at least) out of Wall St. I am not talking about peer to peer lending (I have been playing with those groups for a while and am not sure … Read entire article »

Filed under: Banking, ESPP, Investing, Options, Profit, Startups, stocks

Organization of Entrepreneurialism

December 10th, 2011 | Add a Comment

There is an age old debate in the world of startups… go big or build a lifestyle business. There are a lot of arguments and debates about the benefits of both. From the concepts of building businesses that grow the economy on a small or large scale, to entrepreneurs using their talents to build big products vs. build what they want, etc, etc. Every time these debates crop up, everyone has an opinion on the validity of what type a startup is, whether or not particular examples of people building startups in one of the models can execute on that model, or why a particular startup as an example is different than all other startups at executing on their model. It doesn’t seem to matter if the people debating are … Read entire article »

Filed under: Seattle, Startups

Charlie Rose Interviews Seth Klarman

December 1st, 2011 | Add a Comment

If you are interested in value investing, this is definitely a must watch! This is the same Seth Klarman that sells his book Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor for $800-$1200… … Read entire article »

Filed under: Seattle

The Concept of the Employee

September 16th, 2011 | 1 Comment

On the eve of Occupy Wall Street, I found it appropriate to discuss a bit about Marx and if he offers any insights into society. He is commonly thrown out as the godfather of all things extreme left and I am not sure that is an accurate representation of him. Just like Adam Smith is commonly overlooked as someone who promoted government as a solution, Marx is often overlooked as having any valuable insights into society. The largest critique of Marx’s theories is that they resulted in a number of attempts at communism that have all either failed or changed beyond any recognizable state of communism. The most in-depth critique that focuses on this point is that Marx never developed a new economic or social construct; he only developed an ideology … Read entire article »

Filed under: Josh Maher

Ongoing Pain

August 29th, 2011 | 1 Comment

Well… the brace is off and I have been following the doctor’s orders: Live life as you would without the problem (back up to 11 mile runs & sub-9min miles) Lift whatever your arms can carry – WOW that hurts Keep stretching the wrist (almost back to where I was when I started) Stay off the pain killers – some days when my hand hurts too bad I wish I had saved some pills Yeah, if you have been following my Run Your Age website, or at least were paying attention to my twitter feed, you would know that I now have enough time on my hands to go after my goal of running my age! In fact, my wonderful wife is supporting me so well in this goal that she is coaching my health, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Josh Maher