Dollars And Nonsense

We all know that we should be saving for our retirement. Even in the best of times, however, it takes effort to diligently put away 5%, 10%, or even 20% of your income into tax-advantaged vehicles such as 401Ks or IRAs. The economic downturn that started in 2008 has put millions of people out of jobs.

Even more are underemployed — they are working fewer hours than they’d like, or they are bypassing high-paying but less secure positions. Retirement savings is one of the first casualties of unemployment or other instances of lower earnings. after all, retirement is not an immediate concern when compared to paying the rent or mortgage, buying groceries, getting medication, or repaying credit card debt.

But because every dollar that you save can grow multiple times its original value through years of compounding interest, the lack of savings during lean years has repercussions down the road.

Let’s say that 28-year-old Jane Smith formerly stashed $200 a month into her retirement account. because she lost her job, however, she suspended her retirement savings for two years. The value of her forgone contributions is $4,800 ($200 x 24 months). If she were to have continued her contributions, the $4,800 in contributions would have grown to $36,893 after 35 years, at a reasonable 6% annual interest rate [see calculator]. True, you can’t retire on $37,000, but it is still a not-insignificant sum of money. Now, if Jane Smith formerly contributed $500 a month, and had to forgo that contribution for two years, her $12,000 ($500 x 24 months) in contributions would have yielded $92,233 when Jane turns 65.*

Even more damaging, however, may be the recession impact on young people who are unable to begin retirement contributions. every dollar that a 22-year-old saves will be more valuable than the same dollar that a 42-year-old saves, because the 22-year-old would have more time for that dollar to grow.

A 25-year-old who saves $3,000 a year for five years will have $17,000 by the time she is 30. If she allows that money to continue to grow, even with no future contributions, she will have $130,600 by the time she is 65 at 6% interest rate. Now THAT is a nice chunk of change.

With young people’s unemployment rate at a record high, however, it is an ordeal just to get a job with a 401K, or to make enough money to move out from Mom and Dad’s, much less start putting money away. But if the economic downturn has forced you to scale back on retirement contributions, don’t despair. The important thing to do is to save what you can, while you can. Instead of completely eliminate your 401K contributions, cut back so you at least get the full company match. If you don’t have a 401K at your job, or if you lack both a company match and adequate investment choices, look into a Roth IRA. Even some freelancing assignments or a part-time job can bring enough money to put a little away for retirement.

Recent college graduates with financially comfortable parents can raise the topic of retirement funds as a gift. For example, instead of giving a netbook or a smartphone for Christmas, parents can give $200 for Junior to put into his or her Roth IRA instead. Even $5 or $10 here and there make a difference.

*Please note that I have assumed the entire two years of contributions will begin compounding at the same time.

Savvy Living Through Personal Finance

<a href="http://www.blogher.com/cutting-retirement-savings-lean-years-come-price?wrap=blogher-topics/money-personal-finance&crumb=25528tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.blogher.com/cutting-retirement-savings-lean-years-come-price?wrap=blogher-topics/money-personal-finance”>Examples: Cutting Deposits to Your Retirement Savings Comes at a Price

The watermark image program, is a free software that can add digital Watermarks to all your images, photos and pictures in the background with the transperancy you decide. the program can also resize the images before the digital watermark is added.

When creating the watermark, you can use either text or another picture as the source of the watermark. if you want to add the watermark to the background, you can set the logo or the text to be more or less transparent, and define the transparency color on the image or select the first pixel in the upper left corner as transparency color.

You can even use this program instead of photoshop to watermark your images, this is a quicker and more easy way of getting a watermark on all your images. Also watermark in Word, Excel or images used in pdf files can be made with this software.

This software works with Windows XP, Windows server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows server 2008, Windows 7 – with .NET framework 2.0 or higher installed.

Features:

• Keep or drop EXIF information in jpeg files (Camera model/lense model/etc. etc.)
• Output to JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF
• Specify the quality of the output image when saving as jpeg
• Angle the text you use for watermarking
• Insert background watermark in digital images, pictures, photos
• Resize images while watermarking the image
• Multi threaded
• Watermark using either another image, or your own text
• Watermarking your own text in the color you want to.
• Maintain directory structure in destination directory or combine all watermarked images into one directory
• Skip or overwrite existing watermarked images in destination directory
• Automatically check for new version of the watermark image software

Related Freeware:

1. Watermark Image 1.6.5.2
2. Watermark Image 1.1.0.0
3. LuJoSoft Watermark Utility
4. FastStone Image Viewer 4.1 Beta 2
5. GraphicsMagick 1.3.8 Image Processing System

Watermark Image 1.6.9.2 | FREEWARE

by Gina Trapani

One of the main clutter culprits in my home office is the “To File” pile – you know, that stack of paperwork that’s supposed to go into the file drawer at one point or another. Usually this pile spontaneously occurs right on top of the filing cabinet, which is pretty silly. I mean, instead of adding stuff to the pile, why wouldn’t I just file it? Turns out the sad state of my messy, overflowing filing cabinet is the reason for my blockage.

Sound familiar? Today we’re going to embark on a file drawer makeover for the overstuffed, under labelled filing system and turn it into a neat, breezy and dare I say pleasurable place to organize your important paperwork.

give your paperwork a spacious place to live.

Let’s face it: we’re not in college anymore. That plastic file box or enormous binder held shut with a rubber band just ain’t going to cut it. You’ve got personal, financial, insurance, car, clients, tax and medical paperwork to track. If you’ve been using an undersized filing cabinet that just doesn’t have enough room to accommodate your stuff – or no filing cabinet at all – invest in a spacious, well designed file drawer or cabinet that leaves you room to spare. Lots of room. In fact, Getting Things Done author David Allen says your file drawer should be only three-quarters full. from page 99 of the GTD book:

I know almost no one who doesn’t have overstuffed file drawers. If you value your cuticles, and if you want to get rid of your unconscious resistance to filing, then you must keep the drawers loose enough that you can insert and retrieve files without effort.

If you’re out to buy a new filing cabinet, Allen says you shouldn’t skimp on quality.

Nothing is worse than trying to open a heavy file drawer and hearing that awful screech! that happens when you wrestle with the roller bearings on one of those $29.95 “special sale” cabinets. You really need a file cabinet whose drawer, even when it’s three-quarters full, will glide open and click shut with the smoothness and solidity of a door on a German car. I’m not kidding.

He’s not kidding. A tool that’s easy and fun to use is a tool you will use.

Allocate one file folder per hanging folder.

As soon as things start to get crowded inside filing cabinet land, your first instinct is to start putting several manila folders into one hanging folder. bad idea. Allocate one single manila folder to one single hanging folder. this cleanly separates your folders and makes them easy to ruffle through them. (Allen recommends staying away from hanging folders completely; personally, I like them.) keep a supply of both manila folders and hanging folders within reach so that creating a new one is as easy as possible.

Choose an accessible naming scheme.

You may be a plain old straight-up A to Z type person, but there are more ways than one to alphabetize file folders. My preferred method is to break things up into categories, like “Car,” “Client,” “Taxes,” “Bank Account” and preface a folder name with that word. for example, one folder might be “Car: Honda Accord” and another is “Client: Lifehacker,” and another “Bank Account: ING Direct.”

Whatever method you choose, make sure your system is obvious and consistent throughout your files to make retrieving paperwork as simple and thoughtless as possible.

Use a label maker.

When I first read Getting Things Done, the recommended tool I was most sure I didn’t need was a label maker. Boy was I wrong. Neatly labelled folders make a file drawer look sharp and accessible.

I used to write the name of my folder in pen or pencil or marker right onto the tab. When I wanted to reuse a folder, I’d put masking tape or white-out over the old label and write over it. What a mess that was – especially considering the downward path my handwriting has taken since I learned how to print in second grade. making a label is fun and makes your folders look super-professional and easy to read. Check out the difference between this:

See? the Brother P-Touch Home and Hobby label Maker gets the job done and it’ll set you back about 25 bucks.

Purge what you don’t need. Archive closed files.

Over time it’s easy for your filing drawer to get out of control and filled with stuff that doesn’t matter any more or that you simply don’t need on hand at all times. Be sure to purge your paperwork every few months of the irrelevant stuff, like user guides you can get on the web or for gadgets you no longer own, past project research and former employer paperwork. Archive old stuff you don’t want to get rid of but don’t need immediate access to into cardboard file boxes and put them in storage. Closed bank account records, old credit reports, and your 1996 taxes are good candidates here.

How do you keep your paperwork under control? Divulge your secrets in the comments or a tips at lifehacker.com.

• Geek to Live: the Usable Home
• Getting Things Done by David Allen

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, has a neat file system fetish. her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Contact information for this author is not available.

Geek to Live: Extreme makeover, filing cabinet edition

This article will highlight some smaller companies that gurus are currently interested in. among them are the South Financial Group (ticker: TSFG) and Zenith National Insurance Corp (ticker:ZNT). Zenith National Insurance Corp has a market cap of $1.42 billion while the South Financial Group has a market cap of just $86 million. and there is some Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (ticker: FFH) news that some may have missed.

Zenith National Insurance Corp (ticker:ZNT)

This stock came to my attention due to a recent Gurufocus write up on Prem Watsa‘s recent activity. Prem Watsa currently holds 2,191,100 shares as of 12/31/2009. there are 37.48 million shares outstanding meaning Prem Watsa owns about 6% of all the outstanding stock.

After digging into things for only ten minutes, it was quickly becoming apparent that this company is very much shareholder friendly. they are interested in generating earnings in a highly competitive business. they have no interest in reducing profit margins simply to gain market share.

For example, the following can be read on page 4 of the 2009 annual report under the business description:

We measure our performance by our ability to increase stockholders’ equity, plus dividends to stockholders, over the long term.

10 minutes into reading the annual report, I was somewhat curious about where the stock has gone over the past few years. That’s when it was discovered that Zenith National Insurance is up 30% today on news of a buyout. More specifically, a buyout by Prem Watsa of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (ticker: FFH). there is little upside potential given the offer price of $38. ZNT closed at $37.87 today. however, there seems to be some outrage at what some think is a lowball offer for the company. there is a chance that Prem could sweeten the deal.

The South Financial Group (ticker: TSFG)

The South Financial Group, inc., a South Carolina corporation headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, is a bank holding company. “TSFG” refers to the South Financial Group, inc. and its subsidiaries, except where the context requires otherwise. TSFG operates principally through Carolina first Bank, a South Carolina-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, which conducts banking operations in South Carolina and North Carolina (as Carolina First), in Florida (as Mercantile), and on the internet (as Bank CaroLine).

This write up on TSFG is rather lengthy as it was originally going to be a stand alone article. since it is not a compelling stock to run out and buy, it is discussed here in a more condensed form.

Perhaps what is most interesting about the South Financial Group (ticker: TSFG) is that it is currently trading at $0.38, down from a high of $30 just 2 years ago. But what is more interesting is that gurus are buying this beaten down bank holding company. and the even better news is the market cap of just $86 million which is putting this stock under the radar of most institutional investors. the question that remains … what is TSFGs future?

To be honest, the best thing about this company is the interest being paid to it by the gurus tracked by Gurufocus. Michael Price owns 2,000,000 shares as of 12/31/2009, which accounts for 0.35% of the $369 million portfolio of MFP Investors LLC. Arnold Schneider owns 2,873,365 shares as of 09/30/2009, which accounts for 0.23% of the $1.81 billion portfolio of Schneider Capital Management. Lee Ainslie owns 16,713,639 shares as of 12/31/2009, which accounts for 0.12% of the $8.99 billion portfolio of Maverick Capital. no gurus have recently sold TSFG. the buying is fairly impressive given the small size of this company. These 3 gurus hold 21.6 million shares. This represents about 10% of all the current stock outstanding (215.4 million shares).

Sadly, the guru interest is what is most compelling about this company. I have to admit, the amount of transparency in the annual report is impressive. the company does a good job of breaking down the business and explaining the pieces in a fair amount of detail.

On Feb 11, 2010, TSFG’s board of directors cut their pay by 50%. however, 2 directors decided to leave at the time of this announcement. In 2008, total director compensation was $1.7 million. the 50% reduction in pay is a welcome change that should help preserve much needed capital. the exit of two directors may simply be a case of two people leaving that simply don’t care about the shareholders, but only care about their pay check (over $100K a year). the exact reason for their departure is unknown but the press release says the typical niceties such as their departure is not part of a dispute and their past service is appreciated. of course, what else would ever have been said? In my opinion, a good board member would offer to stay on board so long as their expenses are covered. An unrealistic expectation perhaps. the board has stated that it may consider a further reduction in size in order to trim more costs.

This stock is under $1 per share. if this condition continues, it could be delisted, causing disruption of the stocks liquidity.

Non performing assets as of Dec 31, 2008 were 4.1%. This is much worse than the sub 1% metric that is typical for this company. the company attributes much of these losses to the real estate environment in Florida. Florida has 71 of TSFGs 180 branches making exposure to Florida significant.

On September 11, 2009, TSFG held a special meeting of shareholders at which an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation was approved to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 200 to 325 million.

TSFG could return to earnings from the past of $90 million if non performing assets are contained. for sake of argument, assume that more dilution will occur and that 325 million shares will exist.. Upon return to being profitable, EPS could be about $0.27 ($90 million divided by 325 million shares) in several years. Assuming a multiple of 12, this stock could be back to $3.25 per share within a few years. of course, this stock is loaded with risk but it does offer a compelling discount to perceived value.

There is some convertible preferred stock out there which means the amount of common will undoubtedly increase from the current 215.4 million shares. probably not to 325 million shares though.

The company is probably undervalued. the primary issue is non performing assets and the need for them to return to more historical levels. After that happens, earnings may return. and, of course, more red ink could ultimately make this company go bankrupt or cause more dilution than is currently expected. So, do Michael Price, Arnold Schneider and Lee Ainslie see something here. Or are they simply taking a statistical shot in the dark? the only way to invest in this one is to piggyback on their idea. the risk/reward ratio may be significant enough to take a shot at this one.

DISCLOSURE: the author of this article does not own any of the companies mentioned in this article. as always, do your own due diligence.

Karl is currently a software engineer in Connecticut with a bachelors of science in electrical engineering from Clarkson University. He has been investing since 2001 and interested in value investing since 2005. Karl is continually striving to learn more about investment.

User Comments:

TSFG has short interest at about 5%.

For comparison’s sake, WFC is at 0.8% and BACis at 4%.

Small Companies with Guru interest – the South Financial Group and Zenith …

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