It is always the fault of the computer.

It is always the fault of traffic.

It is always the fault of the weather.

There are no limits to the excuses that human beings can come up with about an object being the reason they were prevented from fulfilling their task timely.  It is also the reason many individuals fail to see a solution or choose not to be part of creating solution.

Try using these two motto’s for the next month:

“No means maybe or later”

” Given enough time everything is possible”

pic via Nine Inch Nachos V

Stanford Group owners indicted for another ponzy scheme worth billions.  You have got to ask, is there any financial institution I can trust?

Credit Unions as nonprofit banks are one place where investors can not manipulate outcomes for themselves.  Credit Unions do not have investors, only its customers.  Those who are customers are interested members.   Just a little advice to making decisions for your banking needs.  Check out the corporate governance of the financial institution you want to place your money with.  Find out what their mission is and where their profits go.

pic by anabananna

Nonprofits struggle to balance public good and good business practices.  I wanted to congratulate Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in Manhattan New York for a strict adherence to conservative investing.  This college is a no tuition school and is nearing completion on a new $150 million academic building.  Their conservative approach has allowed them to keep their endowment at or slightly above last year.

Nonprofits have to remember that their not investing on behalf of risk taking investors, but for the financial long term health of the organization.  Consistent low risk returns build an organization.  The higher the risk a nonprofit takes with its money the more likely the intended outcome can fail.  When nonprofits are looking for that higher return the difference between low risk and high risk should be allocated to ongoing and one time expenses.  The higher the risk the more the expense should be assigned to one time expenses.  A nonprofits management and Board need to allocate their budgets accordingly to prevent in the future the impact of decreasing endowments.

The other good practice is to budget with a margin.  When building a budget with program the staff takes two steps.  First, allocate costs based on expected revenues. Second, reduce the budget by three percent, have a plan on how to produce the same amount of outcome for the reduced dollars.  This will create a practice efficient at budgeting and building a reserve.

pic from NINE Inch Nachos V

Credit Unions

Investing for its members.

Managing its products for its members.

Providing products to its members they need at a good price.

Profits go back to the Credit Union for  its members to use.

As a nonprofit itself, it knows how to serve the community.  Nonprofits and their employees just might want to consider to have Credit Unions as a part of their network.

pic by Nine Inch Nachos V

Credit Unions are nonprofits and their investment focus is on its members.  Investors do not own credit unions.  Investors can not invest in credit unions. Only those with accounts with the credit union are its members.  Credit unions make investments on behalf of its members and therefore are usually conservative in their selection of investments.

Nonprofits and their employees if they do not have a relationship with their local credit union just may want to look into what theirs can offer.

Building a relationship of Trust and understanding the banking institution is a lot easier with a credit union.

pic via Flickr Staten Island Real Estate.

Real estate and Pensions seem to have two totally opposite goals for achieving their mission. Real estate is not likely to maximize ones mission unless it is part of the organizations overall plan.

It is important for a board to weigh risks.  However, I would point out that to a certain degree the money received is public funds and needs to be treated conservatively and real estate unless it is utilized for its own mission or purposes is very risky. 

This increase move toward riskier investments makes lawmakers and the public wonder whether nonprofits and government pensions should be allowed to risk future retirement obligations on a real estate where the organization is a passive investor.  This means the organization does not participate, does not provide input to the real  estate venture; the organization is passive.  Therefore, the organization is depending on a level of Trust that their money will be taken and used by the financial institution but for their benefit.  The only problem is that the financial institution gets paid regardless of whether the real estate venture succeeds and decides how to use the money.  An organization would know this if they READ THE FINE PRINT, are a lawyer and have lots of time.

Nonprofits and government pensions should first focus on making sure their board has individuals whom understand the investment options being considered.  Be happy with returns that are safer.  Greed is defined as an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves.  The desire to increase ones return is not Greed but as the risk becomes higher the more likely the definition of Greed is being met.

 LED lights are certainly within our future. Savings of electricity, decreasing in carbon admissions, and the length of life for the LED lights prove that they are  more efficient then your basic bulb . Only problem is that their much weaker in light strength. But thats nothing a few million dollars in research cant fix, right? The only question now is how can we get them into every single house across the globe within the next five years?

Click here to read more on this article.

pic by Owen video

Debit Cards have been one of the single most useful tools to come out of this century.

It has allowed for efficient use of ones time, access to funds and no debt to be incurred.

The merchant has little delay in getting their money and the buyer has the ability to buy where ever and when ever the need arrives.

It is also the most sanitary means to pass money.  Cash is one of the single most germ prone items that is unavoidable unless you use your debit card.

The credit card made it too easy to incur more than what one could afford but that is what the financial institutions wanted in order to create profits.  The highest debt now is held by Generation Y and Generation X.

The young generation of consumers has been using the Debit cards and making choices that stop debt from increasing.  This choice means not attending college on loans unless there is a clear way to assure there is a job to cover the expenses.

Since debit cards are less profitable to financial institutions Congress needs to assure that the consumers will not be charged for the ability to use the cards as such and that businesses will not be charged fees that are far exceed the cost to transfer the money to their accounts.

pic by SuBee Buzz

Accountability is what donors, foundations, state and federal governments are looking for when deciding to fund programs.  An organization needs to justify what outcomes their services plan to achieve.  An organization needs to be able to provide clear means for how their outcomes will be measured.  Organizations that have shown to be leaders in obtaining results are increasing their access to funds while others are experiencing a decrease of funds. 

pic by 7ups

I find actions by the Treasury, Federal Reserve and the SEC of keeping information private in order to not adversely effect the market, very disturbing.  By keeping information private they are manipulating the market and therefore the news that investors have must be considered suspect and not the whole truth.   However, information is now internal to the companies involved and some of the larger investors.  Thereby, giving certain financial institutions and large investors inside information.

I find that the cartoons circulating can sum up the Government and Wall Street being a bunch of clowns just trying to entertain everyone to keep their mind off the real problem.  This provides Government and Wall Street the opportunity to do little and keep it more or less the same.  It is time to be open, honest, enforce the rules and make everyone accountable to the same rules.

However, the SEC has the time to make waves about Corporate Blogs and Twitter posts which are much more public.  Companies making public statements and letting the public decide how to utilize the information from companies is what investing is about.  The SEC job is to enforce whether the information is truthful or not.

The courts have repeatedly shown that stating information as a current fact when it is known to be lacking other facts that would otherwise influence an outcome can be considered fraud.  Those companies that have been shown to perform intended manipulation to gain an outcome are those companies that are severely punished for years by investors.

While the truth hurts in the short run it is more important that all investors can trust the information  they use to make informed decisions.

From what I am  reading, hearing and seeing organizations and individuals are growing tired of the lack of transparency and have acted accordingly.  Thereby, creating the wide swings in the market.