Larry Page Quotes and Biography

We recently added a Sergey Brin biography to the list of business and investment leaders, and it didn't feel right to not have his partner Larry Page listed too. So here's the Larry Page Biography on InvestingValue.com.
There's also a list of Larry Page quotes below. See also, the Sergey Brin quotes.

• If you can run the company a bit more collaboratively, you get a better result, because you have more bandwidth and checking and balancing going on.
  Larry Page
• You don't need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.
  Larry Page
• I think part of the reason we're successful so far is that originally we didn't really want to start a business. We were doing research at Stanford University. Google sort of came out of that. And we didn't even intend to build a search engine originally. We were just interested in the Web and interested in data mining.
  Larry Page
• We don't generally talk about our strategy.. because it's strategic. I would rather have people think we're confused than let our competitors know what we're going to do. That's an easy trade-off.
  Larry Page
• If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach.
  Larry Page

For more information on Larry Page, see the Google Executives page, a Larry Page biography at Woopidoo, or another biography at Wikipedia.
# Investing Value Updates, Google News

Long Term Mortgages

The cost of housing is rising all the time, which makes it hard for buyers, especially first home buyers to afford a house or the house they want. So along come longer mortgages of 30, 40 and maybe even 50 years. The advantage to a longer mortgage is lower monthly repayments but the pitfalls are generally a higher interest rate( meaning you pay a lot more interest) and the fact you could be paying off your home for the rest of your life. Before you dive into a long term home loan, check out the repayments on shorter termed loans, the difference in repayments might not be as great as you imagine.
Mortgage Science Fiction
"When most of us think of science fiction, we may imagine life on other planets or animals forming governments. When bankers engage the science fiction gears of their brains, though, they may be thinking of ... 50-year mortgages". MSNBC
# Loans and Mortgages

Ben Bernanke Raises Interest Rates

The new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has raised the federal funds interest rates to 4.75%. Bernanke is concerned about inflation flaring and has hinted at further rate increases in the future.
Fed raises key rate, hints of more hikes
"Commercial banks reacted by lifting their prime lending rate -- for certain credit cards, home equity lines of credit, and other loans -- to 7.75 percent.
Both the prime rate and the funds rate are at their highest since spring 2001.
It was the 15th such increase since the Fed started tightening credit in June 2004. Attention now turns to the next meeting, on May 10. Some predict a quarter-point jump." Boston Globe
# Finance News

Business startup Myths

Starting a business is hard enough without hearing myths about new business failure percentages and other startup risks. A common myth says that half of businesses fold in the first year and 90% fail within 5 years, but census data and research shows this myth to be very far from the truth.
The 5 fables discussed in the article and debunked are

1. Do What You Love, and the Money Will Follow
2. You'll Miss the Security of a Job
3. If You Don't Grow, You'll Die
4. If It's Such a Good Idea, Somebody Would Have Thought of It Already
5. You Can't Start a Business Without a Lot of Money
   

This is a good starting point for a young entrepreneur, who maybe concerned by some of these urban legends. Just remember not to believe everything you here!
Get Real
"When Wendy Kaufman started her business four years ago, she got a lot of input from people she knew-some useful, some not. The worst detractors cited statistics about small-business failure. "They tell you 90 percent of small businesses fail within five years," says Kaufman, the 43-year-old president of Balancing Life's Issues Inc., an executive training company in Ossining, New York. "It's like the cancer stats". Entrepreneur
#Entrepreneurial News

Investors Turn To Clean Energy

Current total investments into the clean energy market are climbing fast, with some markets pushing up to 5% which rivals the 10% total spent in some areas such as oil and pharmaceuticals. Future rising prices, climate change and availability of oil and gas are pushing big business along with incentives to make the right investments, while also trying to cut their own power usages. Clean energy has to be the way of the future so I expect this industry to show rapid growth over the coming years!
Investor spending on environmental research soars
"Investor spending on environmental issues is soaring as climate change presents business opportunities and dangers, investors and business executives told a Reuters conference.
Climate change is climbing industry's agenda as governments seek to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases, potentially raising power prices. Burgeoning populations and economic growth are piling on energy needs and increasing the political pressure to tighten emissions targets". Reuters
# Energy and Oil, Ethical Investing

Google Joins Standard & Poor's 500

Google Inc. has recently joined the benchmark Standard and Poor's 500 stock index, boosting the company's share price by about 7%. The move should help with establishing itself as a serious corporation, rather an Internet company that has just got lucky.
Investors and fund managers that track the S&P index will now have to buy into GOOG, while the gas and oil company, Burlington Resources will get the boot from the index.
Google Shares Advance as Search Engine to Join S&P 500 Index
"Google is the biggest company ever added to the S&P 500, according to Nicholas Gulden, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in New York. The stock will become the highest-priced among the index's members, surpassing Goldman Sachs Group Inc., whose shares closed today at $151.67.
S&P 500 fund managers will have to buy $11.1 billion of Google's stock because of its inclusion in the index, according to an estimate by Gulden." Bloomberg
# Google News, Stock Market News

Sergey Brin Quotes and Biography

A new profile has been added to the growing list of InvestingValue.com's Business Leaders section. Sergey Brin founded the giant Internet company Google Inc. along with his partner Larry Page.
The pair are now billionaires and are climbing the Forbes rich list each year.
Read the full Sergey Brin biography or browse through our selection of Sergey Brin quotes below..

• Google actually relies on our users to help with our marketing. We have a very high percentage of our users who often tell others about our search engine.
  Sergey Brin
• Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan. But if they think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines unlike other companies, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine.
  Sergey Brin
• We believed we could build a better search. We had a simple idea, that not all pages are created equal. Some are more important.
  Sergey Brin
• It's clear there's a lot of room for improvement, there's no inherent ceiling we're hitting up on.
  Sergey Brin

For more information on Sergey Brin, see his old Stanford University page, the Google Executives page, a Brin biography at Woopidoo, or another biography at Wikipedia.
# Google News, Investing Value Updates

Google Finance

A new finance portal has just been released by the search engine company, Google. Google Finance is still in beta, but will offer similar services and information as Yahoo Finance.
Google Rolls Out Finance Site
"Google's site, finance.google.com, will compile news, stock-price data, stock charts, company fact pages and other financial data, much like the offerings at other finance Web sites. Finance sites are some of the most popular on the Internet, attracting 161 million visitors in January, according to ComScore Media Metrix; that total was up 23% from the previous year." Forbes
# Internet Companies, Finance News

Alan Greenspan Retirement

Alan Greenspan has finished his long 18 1/2 year term as the head of the federal reserve on a high. After 18 years his record is pretty good having achieved low unemployment, strong economic growth with low and stable inflation. During his term he has seen recessions, a stock market bubble bursting, currency crises and fund collapses but has always managed to keep the economy in check. Greenspan has finished his reign with one of the best records in history for the federal reserve. Check out this article for more information on his achievements.
Greenspan's Daunting Example
"Alan Greenspan has left the Federal Reserve after 18 years and 5 months at the helm, only 5 months short of the record set by William McChesney Martin, Jr. in 1970. He closed out his term by raising the federal funds rate for the 14th consecutive time, to 4.5%, as expected. Nevertheless, the funds rate at the close of Greenspan's term is 2.25 percentage points below the 6.75% level when he took office". Businessweek
# Business Leaders

ID Theft and Tax Deadline

As the tax deadline draws near in the United States, criminals are also increasing their workload. The IRS has been warning consumers to be extra careful during the lead-up to the April 15 tax deadline, as criminals are using the IRS name and logo to try and trick people into giving them personal information. ID theft scams can be minimized by taking a few simple precautions..
As tax deadline nears, beware of ID-theft scams
* Be skeptical of communications you receive from sources you are not expecting. Verify the authenticity of phone calls, standard mail, faxes or e-mails of questionable origin before responding.
* Do not reveal secret passwords, PINs or other security-based data to third parties; genuine organizations or institutions do not need your secret data for ordinary business transactions.
* Do not click on links contained in possibly questionable e-mails; instead, go directly to the site already known to be genuine. For example, the only address for the IRS website is http://www.irs.gov/ any variations on this will not lead to the legitimate IRS website.
* Do not open attachments to e-mails of possibly questionable origin, since they may contain viruses that will infect your computer.
* Shred paper documents containing private financial information before discarding them.
To report the fraudulent misuse of the IRS name, logo, forms or other IRS property, you may call the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration's toll-free hot line, 800-366-4484, or log on to http://www.irs.gov/. Miami Herald
# Tax News

Sell It On eBay

eBay has become more that just a place to sell off all the junk you don't need anymore, for some it has turned out to be a business oppotunity making them real money. eBay stores are growing every week selling everything imaginable, and usualy at much cheaper prices than you would pay at a department store or whatever.
There are even people who will decide for you what's worth selling and list the items on eBay for a cut of the profits, or you can take items you want to sell to actual eBay stores to sell for you. The eBay craze is booming so maybe you should hop on for the ride!
eBay for beginners
"eBay may have given a lot of people a new way of making money. But that doesn't mean it's easy, or safe. EBay is a very serious career for many people. So you have to make sure you're just as serious about it. And that takes a time investment. Just listing one or two items could take hours". CNNMoney
# Internet Companies

Australian Ethanol Surges

Ethanol-mania is also creating a buzz in Australia. Ethanol Australia Limited's share price has been pleasing investors in the company recently. Shares in the company increased by as much as 40%. It sold about $9 million in shares to build more ethanol plants in the United States and Australia.
Australia still has some way to go if it hopes to catch up with the International ethanol industry, but this is a step closer. Australian Ethanol has also recently purchased Beatrice Biodiesel, a Nebraska Limited Liability Company.
Australian Ethanol Shares Surge on Plan to Build Biofuel Plants
"The company sold 41.5 million shares at 30 Australian cents each, Perth-based Australian Ethanol said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange today. It is building the first purpose-built grain-fuel ethanol facility in Australia in Swan Hill, Victoria state, and developing the Beatrice biodiesel project in Nebraska, it said." Bloomberg
>> Ethanol Investing

Mortgage Rates

This article gives you 5 tips to avoid getting the wrong loan and paying through the nose into the future. All loans arn't equal anymore so it's a case of buyer beware and doing a little research before taking the dive into a mortgage. This article will give you a place to start when looking at loans and give you an idea on what to look out for.
Navigating the mortgage rate landscape
"Times, they are a-changing...especially in the housing market. With interest rates on the rise, getting a mortgage is a whole new ball game.
Today's 5 Tips Home Edition is here to tell you what you'll need to know if you want to get a loan in this environment". CNNMoney
# Loans and Mortgages

Richard Branson Interview

There's an interesting Richard Branson interview over at virgin.net about the great British entrepreneur. When Branson was asked what advice he would give to budding entrepreneurs he said "I think that as a budding entrepreneur, you've got to come up with an idea that's as unique as possible and you want to see a real gap in the marketplace. You want to feel passionately that you can do it better than how it's done by other people. You want to get a great team of people around you and you want them to believe passionately in what you're trying to do. If all the people that work with you really feel that you're making a difference, they'll work very hard to make it work they'll be proud of what they're doing. It should be successful. Once you've got that project set up, how you look after that team of people and how you motivate them will be absolutely key to whether the project is successful." Sir Richard Branson

Read the full interview of the British entrepreneur over at Virgin.net.
>> Richard Branson News, Entrepreneur News

Finance Blogs

A group of bloggers are letting their financial situations be known to the world by using their blogs to let people know what they get up to with their finances and investments. These bloggers post about how much they earn, how their investments are doing and just their general day to day findings on ways to make money.
These financial blogs are an interesting read because these guys report on everything they do including the mistakes they make, which could one day benefit you. People also often ask them questions on money matters, with the advice coming from other readers as well as the blog owners. Check them out they might be helpful!
Follow My Money
"Jonathan Ping is not a financial guru. He's not a certified financial planner. And he's not a millionaire (yet). He's simply a 27-year-old engineer living with his wife and dog in a rented house in Portland, Ore. Within the next 18 months he hopes to scrape up $100,000 for a down payment on a home, and he wants to build a net worth of $1 million by age 45. So far he's at $88,953". Businessweek
# Investing Blog News

Forbes Billionaires List 2006

It's been a good year for being a billionaire according to the Forbes business magazine's annual billionaires list.
Bill Gates is still at the top of the list, with fellow American Warren Buffett just behind in position two. This year there was 793 billionaires around the world, with 40 of them living in New York, 25 in Moscow, and 23 in London.
The Top 25 Billionaires include..

1 William Gates III - 50.0 billion - United States
2 Warren Buffett - 42.0 billion - United States
3 Carlos Slim Helu - 30.0 billion - Mexico
4 Ingvar Kamprad - 28.0 billion - Switzerland
5 Lakshmi Mittal - 23.5 billion - United Kingdom
6 Paul Allen - 22.0 billion - United States
7 Bernard Arnault France 57 21.5 France
8 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud 20.0 billion - Saudi Arabia
9 Kenneth Thomson - 19.6 billion - Canada
10 Li Ka-shing - 18.8 billion - Hong Kong
11 Roman Abramovich 18.2 billion - United Kingdom
12 Michael Dell - 17.1 billion - United States
13 Karl Albrecht - 17.0 billion - Germany
14 Sheldon Adelson - 16.1 billion - United States
15 Liliane Bettencourt - 16.0 billion - France
15 Lawrence Ellison - 16.0 billion - United States
17 Christy Walton - 15.9 billion - United States
17 Jim Walton - 15.9 billion - United States
19 S Robson Walton - 15.8 billion - United States
20 Alice Walton - 15.7 billion - United States
21 Helen Walton - 15.6 billion - United States
22 Theo Albrecht - 15.2 billion - Germany
23 Amancio Ortega - 14.8 billion - Spain
24 Steven Ballmer - 13.6 billion - United States
25 Azim Premji - 13.3 billion - India

See the full list of the worlds richest people at the Forbes website.
# Wealth News, Famous Business Leaders

Entrepreneurial Tips

There's a good post up at the O'Reilly Radar blog by Marc Hedlund for technology geeks hoping to be entrepreneurs. Marc's "Entrepreneurial Proverbs" are bite sized nuggets of tips and inspiration for budding entrepreneurs.
Here's a summary of the tips..
Starting out as an Entrepreneur..

• It's good to be king
• Losing sucks
• Building to flip is building to flop
• Prudence becomes procrastination
• Momentum builds on itself
• Jump when you are more excited than afraid

Entrepreneurial Ideas..

• Pay attention to the idea that won't leave you alone
• If you keep your secrets from the market, the market will keep its secrets from you
• Immediate yes is immediate no
• Build what you know
• Give people what they need, not what they say they need
• Your ideas will get better the more you know about business

Dealing with people as an entrepreneur..

• Three is fine; two, divine
• Work only with people you like and believe in
• Work with people who like and believe in you, just naturally
• Great things are made by people who share a passion, not by those who have been talked into one

Products and Entrepreneurship..

• Cool ideas are useless without great needs
• Build the simplest thing possible
• Solve problems, not potential problems
• Test everything with real people

Money and Finance..

• Start with nothing, and have nothing for as long as possible
• The best investor pitches are plainspoken and entertaining (not in that order)
• Never let on that you're keeping a secret
• No means maybe and yes means maybe
• For investors, the product is nothing
• The best way to get investment is not to need it

It's really worth reading the full article .. Entrepreneurial Proverbs
# Entrepreneurs News

Escape the IRS Audit

Nobody likes red flags, especially when the IRS is involved, so when you fill out your tax return this year make sure you don't raise any red flags at the IRS by doing it wrong and making yourself stand out from the crowd. Apparently common things that will make you stand out are over kill on charitable contributions, to many deductions for the self employed, above average deductions, making six figures and careless omissions.
With the IRS increasing it's auditing budget recently, it's more important than ever to get your tax return right while making it blend in with the crowd, so find out more on how it's done.
5 audit red flags
"Think you know how the IRS picks its audit victims? You may want to reconsider that notion.
Even most accountants say they don't know how to crack the IRS' audit formula.
But with the tax agency auditing 1.2 million individuals last year and the IRS ramping up its enforcement spending in recent years, experts say it might be worth taking a look at your return to make sure you aren't making yourself a target for the tax man". CNNMoney
# Tax News

Alan Greenspan Book Deal

The former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has sold the rights to his memoirs for a reported $8 million US dollars to Pearson PLC's Penguin Press. Penguin did not confirm the figure, so there has been numbers in the media that range from 7 to 9 million.
Greenspan is one of a number of major business and political leaders to put their life story into a book for a very large sum of money recently. Warren Buffett, Bill Clinton, and Jack Welch have all done similar deals.
Greenspan memoirs sold to Penguin
"However, some analysts have questioned whether the musings of an elderly central banker will prove a strong enough page turner to justify a multi-million dollar agreement." BBC
# Business Leaders News

Early Retirement or Late retirement?

People are starting to have a rethink, and planning late retirements instead of the usual dream of early retirement. Many are getting to 60-65 years of age and realizing their not ready to give up working, either because of money concerns or just the fact that they would drive everyone up the wall if they didn't keep themselves busy! Many people are taking to working part time for themselves to keep the income flowing during their retirement years, with a study showing only 57% planned on retiring at 63 or older and only 11% saying they wanted to retire at 55. So have a rethink about your retirement plans and make sure you won't drive everyone up the wall upon life after work.
Retire? Not So Fast
"Ron C. Owens, a Baltimore marketing consultant, squirreled away money for years with the goal of retiring at 62. But when he at last hit 62, he found he wasn't quite ready to quit. Finally, at 64, he sold his share of a Northern Virginia ad agency. Now, at 66, he still spends 20 hours a week advising clients on multicultural marketing and new business development. He's earning just 40% of what he did before and not drawing on Social Security yet." Forbes
# Retirement Planning

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. And Warren Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has posted a forth quarter profit, level with last years profit even though the company showed profit increases almost across the board. Earnings were down because of record payouts after a very bad hurricane season which left a lot of people needing to make insurance claims, even so Berkshire still made a profit of 1.84 billion before it's investment profits.
On to something a bit more interesting, Warren Buffett the famous investor and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway has annouced that a successor to his throne has been chosen . a board chose from three "reasonably young" managers from the company. Buffett didn't disclose when he will retire or who the candidates for replacing him were but possible candidates include "David Sokol, 49, CEO of Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.; Joseph Brandon, 47, CEO of reinsurer General Re Corp.; Ajit Jain, 54, head of Berkshire's remaining reinsurance business; Tony Nicely, 62, CEO of the company's Geico Corp. car insurance unit; and Richard Santulli, 61, who runs NetJets Inc".
Berkshire Says Earnings Little Changed After Storms (Update5)
"March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the insurance and investment company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, said fourth-quarter earnings were little changed because of claims from a record hurricane season. Buffett, 75, also said his board has selected someone to eventually replace him as chief executive officer of the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company". Bloomberg
# Business Leaders

What is Ethanol Fuel?

A lot of people have been looking for information on investing in ethanol fuel lately, so I thought I would write a post that covers the basics of what ethanol is.
It has been in the news quite a bit lately, with Americans hoping ethanol will be the answer to an addiction to Arab oil. While George W Bush has been stating that America is addicted to oil, the alternative fuel industry has been getting a lot of media attention.
Although Ethanol fuel is still not the final solution to solving the world's problem of fossil fuel dependence, it is the alternative energy that is getting all the love from investors and the media recently. Other alternative fuels include hydrogen, propane, natural gas, electricity, and biodiesel.
Ethanol fuel is produced from renewable sources like corn. It is a high-octane, clean burning fuel that is mostly mixed with unleaded fuel. Which means the technology is still far from completely eliminating the use of traditional fossil fuels, but simply reducing the amount needed.
Ethanol is alcohol based, made from a process of fermentation and distillation of starch based crops that have been converted into sugars. Although corn seems to be the favored crop to produce ethanol, barley and wheat can also be used.
Currently Ethanol is not used as a straight fuel by itself, but mixed with regular gasoline. Common fuel blends include..

• E10 Ethanol blend - Is a mixture of 10% ethanol fuel and 90% unleaded fuel. Most cars on the road are able to use the E10 blend of fuel, but it does not pass the EPAct regulations to be classed as an alternative fuel.
• E85 Ethanol blend - Is a mixture of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% unleaded fuel. To use this blend or higher, you need to have a flexible fuel vehicle or FFV. Vehicle manufacturers are releasing more FFVs every year.

The ethanol industry is still developing and is far from the only player on the alternative fuels street, but as investor dollars and government incentives encourage the technology to develop, ethanol fuel may become more of a viable alternative to regular gasoline. The energy required to produce corn has been an issue discussed recently.
# Ethanol Investing

Basic Stock Market Investing Terms

A new article has been published about stock market investing and some basic terms that new investors should be familiar with. The American financial author and investment coach Peter Leeds covers stock market investing terms like..
* Stock Brokers (Discount or Full Service Brokers)
* Buy Orders
* Sell Orders
* Special Trading Notes
* Unfilled Orders
* Partial Fills
* Canceling and Changing Open Orders

The tips are mostly for investors just starting out in stocks. Read the full Stock Market Investing Guide Article at Investing Value.
# Stock Market Investing, Investing Value Website Updates

Blogging Phones

Blogging is going crazy and soon you can blog anywhere you like with Sony Ericsson's new mobile phones. Google's Blogger tool is integrated into the phone allowing you to set up blogs and edit them on the fly over the phone. The phones have awesome 3.2 megapixel camera's with heaps of features like digital zoom, a flash and red eye reduction, helping you take great photo's which you can upload to your blog!
The phone's can surf the net to, and Google's search bar will be on every page ready to search. This technology will likely keep improving and become mainstream soon with other phone companies looking to add similar features, but watch the price as i'm sure it will be steep!
Sony Ericsson Unwraps Blogging Phones
"Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced several new phones on Tuesday, including two that carry Sony's Cyber-shot brand and come with 3.2-megapixel cameras that are integrated with Google's Blogger application.
Users of the new K800 and K790 phones who don't already have a blog can set one up over the phone. They'll be able to take photos with the camera and then easily add them to their blogs, according to Sony Ericsson. Blogger is an online tool hosted by Google that lets people create and manage blogs for free". PCWorld
# Investing Blog News

Crude Oil Prices Rise

Instability in major oil producing countries like Nigeria and Iraq is unsettling the oil markets, with the price of crude rising for the second day in a row in New York.
Militants in Nigeria have cut the output of oil in the country by nineteen percent this year. While in Iraq, the violence has been esculating this past week, with nearly 400 people killed.
Crude Oil Rises for 2nd Day on Nigeria, Iraq Production Concern
"Crude oil for April delivery rose as much as 52 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $61.93 a barrel in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $61.61 at 9:05 a.m. in Singapore, 20 percent higher than a year ago. It closed 41 cents, or 0.7 percent, higher at $61.41 yesterday." bloomberg
# Crude Oil News