Friday, April 13, 2018

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron


In line with my annual financial independence goals for this year I pressed on with the reading list. “the smartest Guys in the room” is about rise and fall of Wall street  darling an  American corporation called “Enron”, which took down auditing company “Arthur Andersen”.
      At its peak Enron shares were worth $90.75 and on December 2, 2001 (when it filled for bankruptcy) were trading at $0.26 . The company was chasing dream of deregulation through the vast network of political donations (former Secretary of State Heinz Alfred Kissinger (naturalized USA citizen as of 1943, son to German Jews) served as advisor, along with  James Baker  and many others).
       Here is some interesting quotations from the book: “…When people describe Skilling they don’t just use the word “smart”; they use phrases like “incandescently brilliant” or “the smartest person I ever met”…He could instantly simplify highly complex issues into a sparkling, compelling image.
…Skilling also had tendency to oversimplify, and he largely disregarded – indeed, he had an active distaste for – messy details involved in executing a plan. What thrilled Skilling, always, was the intellectually purity of an idea, not the translation of that idea into reality.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

March 2018 update ($495,459 -$9,025 or -1.8%)


GBP is up to USD by 2.9% or  $408
Grand total additions: $408

Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund is down by $3,909 or 2.8%
Eurozone Stock Index Fund is down by $2,440 0r 2.0%
US 500 Stock Index Fund is down by $2,023 or 1.8%
Global Small Cap Index is down by $1,052 or 0.9%
FTSE U.K. All Share Index accumulation is up  by $9 or 0.1%
Grand total losses $ 9,433
Financial independence performance March 2018 - real life journey http://www.niterainbow.com