Crisis Averted: PR Strategies to Protect Your Reputation and the Bottom Line

by Fred Fuld III

Have you ever wondered what you would do if 60 Minutes called and said they wanted to interview you? Or maybe you opened your front door and there were a bunch of reporters standing outside.

If you own a small business or you are an executive at a major corporation, or even a celebrity or a politician, you need to read the book Crisis Averted: PR Strategies to Protect Your Reputation and the Bottom Line, by Evan Nierman.

Nierman is a crisis public relations expert, and is founder of Red Banyan, a crisis communications company.

He provides numerous anecdotes of instances where individuals and companies were stuck in negative situations, many times through no fault of their own, and the steps that they had to take to avoid most if not all negative publicity.

You, personally, may not be at fault at all, but someone at your company may have screwed up, which affects the reputation of your business. The book provides extensive advice on what to do in these situations.

My favorite chapter is Chapter 9 – Engaging with Reporters: Dos and Don’ts because reporters are really the key to whether information about you and/or your business gets printed in a positive light, a negative one, or not at all.

Anyone who runs their own small or large company, or corporate division, or sits on the board of directors of any entity including charities, should get Crisis Averted. Any other influential individuals in the limelight should also study the book.

 

 

 

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Last month I bought a Racehorse, an NFT, and a Collectable Baseball Card: Are We In a Bubble?

by Fred Fuld III

During the last month, I bought a racehorse, an NFT, and a collectable baseball card. I’m even considering buying modern art. All of these are generating extremely high prices, along with many other collectables, such as old hats.

So do these high prices predict an upcoming burst of a bubble, not just in the collectibles market but all financial assets?

Racehorses

Let’s talk about what I bought. First the racehorse. I actually didn’t buy the whole horse, I bought two one-thousanths of a horse. I guess that’s equal to one hoof. I can make a lot of money if the horse runs well.

NFTs

Second, the NFT, which stands for non-fungible token. I bought one, and I even created a couple of my own, which are listed for sale. When I have more time, I will write about the process. One thing I will mention to watch out for is the “gas tax”. If you don’t know what it is, hold off on doing any buying or selling and do some research.

If you want more background  information on NFTs, you can check out some previous articles here, here, here, and here.

Sports Cards

As for the baseball card, I own a Mickey Mantle, a Willie Mays, a Sandy Koufax, and even a 1914 Babe Ruth.

Of course, I don’t own the entire cards, I just own shares in the card.

As an example, the Babe Ruth card is worth $6 million. The Sandy Koufax is worth $380,000.

Weird Collectables

These are actually “mainstream” collectables, almost like coins, stamps, and autographs. But some people collect some pretty bizarre items.

I know one guy why collected the pill bottles of celebrities. He would buy from autograph hounds who would go through the trash cans of famous people looking for cancelled checks, old letters, receipts, and so forth that may have a signature, and when they would come across a pill bottle which had the celebrity’s name printed on the prescription sticker, they would sell those little containers to the pill bottle collector.

Even more weird, in a collectables magazine, I saw a Wanted ad placed by a guy who wanted to buy “old mens underwear”. Now, I’m not sure whether he wanted the underwear of old men or men’s underwear that was old.

Just because collectibles may have a limited supply or just because they are old doesn’t mean they will always go up. Just look at Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Kids.

Collectibles Recommendations

So do any of these collectables make good investments? My long term readers know that I never make investment recommendations. However, I will make collectibles recommendations.

  • Only buy what you like
  • Only buy what you would like to hold for a long time
  • Never buy a collectable with the anticipation of selling at a profit
  • Buy quality, not quantity

Happy collecting!

 

Note: Collectable and Collectible are used interchangeably. Numerous sources can’t agree on which is correct for items that people collect. 

Top Gold Mining Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

Why invest in gold?

It may have bottomed out on a short term basis.

Inflation is on the horizon.

Provides diversification by asset type.

It provides protection against a falling dollar.

It is used in the tech industry.

What are some the the best gold mining stocks?

All of the following stocks have a trailing price to earnings ratio of less than 15, a forward P/E ratio of less than 15, and pay a dividend with a yield of at least 2%.

AngloGold Ashanti Limited AU
Caledonia Mining Corporation Plc CMCL
DRDGOLD Limited DRD
Gold Fields Limited GFI
Harmony Gold Mining Company HMY
Kinross Gold Corporation KGC
Sibanye Stillwater Limited SBSW

Caledonia is based in the United States, Kinross is based in Canada, and the rest are based in South Africa.

Hopefully, one of these gold mining stocks will make your portfolio shine.

 

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

How About Investing In Your Own Private Island?

Have you ever wanted to own your own island? With a house on it? In the United States? Well now you have your opportunity.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a private Palm Beach island is for sale for only $120 million.

The name of the island is Tarpon Island and the property size is over two acres.

However, the current owner, Todd Glaser, is a real estate developer who just bought the property in July for only $85 million, so he would be making a 41% profit in two months. Talk about real estate inflation!

The owner is giving another option to the new owner. At a price of $200 million, he would provide renovations and additions, subject to changes in construction costs.

The current house is 9,690 square feet, and has five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

 

 

SEC Says No to Coinbase Lending & Interest Earning Proposal

Coinbase (COIN) has been working on offering cryptocurrency holders the ability to lend out their holdings in order to earn interest.

However, the Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said recently the SEC would not allow this type of service and said that the SEC threatened to sue Coinbase  if they did.

This is in spite of the fact that other crypto companies are already offering this type of service.

Halloween Side Hustle: Watch Horror Movies, Get $1300

If you are looking for a little extra money from a side gig, actually it’s more than a little, then how about a job watching movies from the comfort of your home.

These aren’t just any movies mind you. They are scary, horror movies, such as Saw, Blair Witch Project, and Amityville Horror.

If you get this side hustle, you will receive a Fitbit, which will check your heart rate while you watch 13 different horror films. Then you judge the production costs of the movies. FinanceBuzz is providing a reward for this gig of $1300.

DISH Network is offering a similar research study of 13 movies, but it would only involve Stephen King films, such as Carrie, The Shining, and Children of the Corn.

The “Stephen King Scream Job: Chapter Two” is also paying $1300.

Happy Halloween!!!

 

 

Why Bitcoin Crashed When El Salvador Accepted It As Legal Tender

by Fred Fuld III

In case you missed it, the country of El Salvador has accepted Bitcoin as the country’s legal tender along with the U.S. dollar, yet the price of Bitcoin crashed.

According to Professor Ram Gopal, Head of the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology at Warwick Business School, which conducts research into cryptocurrency, “While the timing and the bull rush into bitcoin without ensuring the appropriate infrastructure and education is in place is questionable, this is indeed a bold move by El Salvador.

“It is not at all surprising that there are birthing pains, as is always the case with any new innovation, but these will ease. The broader message that is important is that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. What form they take, whether it is fully decentralized as bitcoin, or alternative forms such as stablecoins or CBDCs, is yet to unfold and is an interesting space to watch.”

Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, said, “El Salvador’s monetary experiment to make Bitcoin as legal tender is pitched as a solution to a largely unbanked population as an effective savings vehicle and as a store of value for users.  However, there are a number of issues with using Bitcoin from a macroeconomic and financial stability standpoint.

“First, is Bitcoin’s volatility, with daily price changes a order of magnitude higher than fiat currency exchange rates. For example, Bitcoin crashed by up to 50% on March 12th, 2020, an event known as Black Thursday to the cryptocurrency community.

“Second, high volatility in a medium of exchange corresponds to high volatility in the macroeconomy. Users who hold Bitcoin will now see wild swings in their savings, which will then filter to volatile consumption, hours worked, and therefore cause greater swings in output and inflation.

“Third, a subsequent channel is through the banking system. To the extent that banks are allowed to hold deposits in a cryptocurrency, for example by offering Bitcoin wallet services to its residents, banks will see large fluctuations in their deposits. As balance sheets become more volatile, bank lending and credit channels to households and firms are disrupted.

“A potential solution to El Salvador’s experiment is to replace Bitcoin with stablecoins, a class of cryptocurrencies pegged to the USD and backed by dollar reserves.

“In solving the volatility problem, the financial inclusion benefits a cryptocurrency brings can help provide an effective savings for El Salvador residents, helping them smooth consumption with net welfare benefits for the macroeconomy.”

 

Hyundai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

by Fred Fuld III

The South Korean automobile manufacturer, Hyundai Motor Company (HYMTF), is planning on producing hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicles within seven years.

In 1998, the company became the first to develop an electric fuel cell vehicle. In 2018, it created the NEXO fuel cell SUV, then in 2020, the company came out with the XCIENT Fuel Cell, a heavy-duty truck.

The company is expecting the fuel cell vehicle to be compatible in price to the electric vehicle in nine years.

 

Disclosure: Author did not own HYMTF at the time the article was written.

20 Stocks With More Than 30% of Float Shorted: Short Squeeze Plays

by Fred Fuld III

Are you looking for some short squeeze plays? Are you looking for stocks that have over 30% of their float shorted?

Here is a list of 20 stocks that fit this criteria.

Altimeter Growth Corp. AGC
Beam Global BEEM
BEST Inc. BEST
Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation BGFV
Blink Charging Co. BLNK
Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. ESPR
Arcimoto, Inc. FUV
Canoo Inc. GOEV
Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ICPT
Kaixin Auto Holdings KXIN
Nikola Corporation NKLA
NeuroPace, Inc. NPCE
PubMatic, Inc. PUBM
Lordstown Motors Corp. RIDE
Reneo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RPHM
SmileDirectClub, Inc. SDC
Support.com, Inc. SPRT
Tattooed Chef, Inc. TTCF
View, Inc. VIEW
VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings VIH

 

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.

Bitcoin Now Legal Tender in El Salvador

by Fred Fuld III

The world is watching! Bitcoin has now become legal tender in the Central American country of El Salvador.

All businesses in the country will now be expected to accept Bitcoin, starting today.

One big benefit to the citizens is that  they can download the digital wall app provided by the government with $30 worth of Bitcoin included in the wallet for free.

Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar will operate concurrently as the country’s currency.

It will be interesting to see what country will be next.