Michael - by the numbers

Since this is a financial and music blog I thought it only appropriate to post Michael's incredible stats. The loss of Michael and Farrah Fawcett, two icons of our youth, makes you sit back and think that you must be ancient!

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Here they are:

750 Million Albums

Michael Jackson is the third biggest selling pop act of all time after The Beatles, and Elvis. His 1982 album "Thriller" is thought to be the biggest selling album EVER , selling over 65 Million copies according to the Guinness book of World records.

Michael Jackson's earnings from record sales, tours, merchandise and other business ventures are estimated to have succeeded $700 Million dollars in his 40 year recording career.

Since the early 1980's his recordings have generated more than $300 Million in royalties.

In 1985 , Jackson paid $47.5 Million for a catalog of 4,000 songs including 200 Beatles songs.

By 2005, the catalog now co-owned by Sony , was worth $500 Million dollars. Paul McCartney is believed to have originally tipped him off to the financial benefits of owning music catalogues.

In 1987, Michael purchased 2800 acres northwest of Santa Barbara CA. for $14.6 Million and named it "Neverland" , after the imaginary land in J M Barrie's novel Peter Pan. By 2006 it cost him $4 Million dollars a year to operate.

Michael won 13 Grammy Awards and many music video awards.

Michael was never found guilty of any of the charges against him.

Best Regards,

Freewilly

Wilson Family Reunion June 28th, 2009 - Sunday

Wilson Family Reunion - June 28th, 2009 Sunday

Cherry Hill, N.J.

Information or directions call Howard Wilson or David Wilson.

On the right side is a picture from the 6/28/2009 party. Weather was sunny and beautiful and we had a fun time of eating, drinking and swapping Wilson and Reader family stories.

Freewilly

Is there a best month of the year to invest in the market?

It seems that the market always is going down through the first 3 weeks of October, which ends on the third Friday which is "triple witching" options expiration's. (Note the Jack-O-Lantern).
The big crash of 1987 was on Oct. 19th if you will note. So right after "triple witching" is probably a good time to jump in if you are a market timer. Many years have December rallies and also January is the beginning of a new year and people are full of optimism and new year's resolutions, including the stock analyst at the major firms. They need to prognosticate the big "new winners" for the coming year.
Also on the monthly front is the famous "Sell in May and go away". The thinking is that everyone on Wall street is taking their vacations and spending all that money they made during the beginning of the year. They do not want to leave open positions while they are on the beach and not paying attention to the market. So probably not a bad month to lower some of your stock positions and raise some cash.

Best Regards,

Freewilly

Memorial to the Great ones - Louis Rukeyser

No Financial blog can begin without mentioning the greatest influence in my stock trading life and without acknowledging Louis Rukeyser and the PBS version of "Wall Street Week" , the longest continuous running financial show in history.

His on-going line of guest on the show included Peter Lynch, Frank Capiello, Julius Westheimer, Mario Gabelli, Gail Dudak, Marty Zweig, Eddie Brown, Sir John Templeton and a lineup of many giants of the industry.

Thank you Lou, for starting the concept of finance being discussed on TV. Thanks for all the great stuff you brought to our living room.

Freewilly

Some basics to keep you out of trouble

Rule #1. Never buy a stock that is priced under $5.00. Most mutual funds have rules in their charters that do not allow them to purchase stocks under $5.00. It is very tempting to want to buy these shares and there is the occasional exception in this year 2009. (F,THC,UIS,ESLR).

Rule#2. If you trade a stock twice , and have gains both times, do not go back to the well and buy it a third time. This rule was put into place after some nosedive trade experiences with Krispy Kreme Donuts, (KKD), and Sirius Satellite Radio, (SIRI). They took me for a ride down a slippery slope on the third trade after some nice gains.

Rule#3. Only buy stocks that have earnings above $0.10 per share annually. This will keep you out of a lot of bad places.

Rule#4. Try to buy companies that are not loaded down with debt, or even better yet have zero debt.

These are a few to start out with that will keep you out of 80% of the trouble you can find.

Sincerest Regards,

Freewilly