June 30, 2008
Interest rate, volatility, options costs and regulatory environment tests growth in US
Analysis of:
Old Mutual Falls After Saying U.S. Profit to Decline | www.bloomberg.comAuthor: GLG Expert Contributor1. Profit margins are challenged by market conditions. 2. The marketplace is very competetive. 3. Regulatory power struggles create fewer channels for sales.
June 11, 2008
Judgment Needed
Analysis of:
Corporate Bond Risk Jumps to 2-Month High on Inflation Concern | www.bloomberg.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorUncertainty breeds panic among people who seek to quantify risk, whether they do so judgmentally or with complex, elaborate "predictive risk models." There is a dislocation taking place among the world's economies and the markets are simply struggling to quantify the meaning of the structural...
April 29, 2008
What the fall in Wellpoint's Profitability means to the industry
Analysis of:
WellPoint Net Slides 25% | online.wsj.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorThis article clearly shows to me that insurers will price business to sell when it makes no sense which results in them telling Wall Street they underpriced the business. We see them so crazy competitive on cases that nobody else even wants just to bring their total membership up to please Wall Street...
April 7, 2008
Simply trust insurance companies like you trust the other companies you exchange money for services with
Analysis of:
US property insurance 2008 rates seen flat to soft | www.reuters.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorWhat is a business or homeowner's biggest fear? One of them is the fear that something will happen and the insurance company will not be able to pay their claim. This is simply a false fear in this day and age. Simply stated, insurance companies are running a business and they understand...
April 4, 2008
The housing & mortgage issues coupled with gas & food prices will have a domino effect
Analysis of:
Overdue Consumer Debts Highest Since 1992, ABA Says | www.bloomberg.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorThe housing market decline coupled with the mortgage crisis and bad loans has caused many people to go into debt. Many people got loans that were "too good to be true", because they were. Other people wanted to turn a profit on a property and due to the housing problems, that didn't...
March 7, 2008
Things get difficult when you lose 90% of your investments
Analysis of:
MMC Sees 4Q Net Income Drop 62% | www.propertyandcasualtyinsurancenews.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorAny company will have difficulty if they lose 90% of their investment portfolio. I understand that it is difficult to see positive returns right now, however, companies in the insurance business that depend on their investments, as well as other things, to pay claims, should be invesiting in long...
February 29, 2008
21st Century media exposure + dishonest people + the mortgage crisis could = more fraud
Analysis of:
Could Subprime Mortgage Crisis Turn Desperate Homeowners Into Arsonists? | www.propertyandcasualtyinsurancenews.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorMost people are never going to burn their homes down to collect insurance money. That said, there will always be a contingent of people in the world that are willing and able to resort to fraud to better their position financially. With the advent of the internet and the ability for someone...
December 28, 2007
Hedge Funds, Pension funds, "Derivatives", a ticking time bomb. Sub-prime mortgage derivatives.
Analysis of:
Hedge funds assess exposure to banks | www.ft.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorAs a member of the Wall Street Investment community for over thirty years, it continues to confound my logic that time and time again, beginning with the "Match King" and "Ponzi" scams of the turn of the century, to Samuel Insul's Utility Holding Companies of the twenties, to the "conglomerate"...
November 12, 2007
New Age Endowment Building Using Bank Money
Analysis of:
Leveraging Philanthropy to new Heights | www.accountingweb.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorThis article is extremely important for three reasons. First, it is out of the box creative thinking. Endowment building has been using the same approach to high net worth donors and frankly these approaches are over used and hard to understand. Second, HNW donors need to be enthralled with a presentation...
November 6, 2007
Barclays recent decline not unexpected.
Analysis of:
Barclays Falls on Speculation It Asked BOE for Funds | www.bloomberg.comAuthor: GLG Expert ContributorBecause the international banking industry is so interconnected, what happens in one part of the world can effect banking in many other places as well. As countries have dropped trade barriers in favor of free trade, and local economies have turned global, it becomes prudent to observe what...