MJ Kim/Getty Images Frugality is a great thing. It can pave the way to financial freedom, security and even wealth. But it can also pave the way to madness, if you take it too far. Here are some signs you might be taking things to the extreme -- and what you should be doing instead. 1. You Put Way Too Much Time Into Penny-Pinching The internet is full of people who like to brag about the crazy measures they take to save money. They rinse out Ziploc baggies so they can reuse them. They spend hours each week clipping and organizing coupons to save a few extra cents on a can of soup that they don't even particularly like. They dissect nearly empty toothpaste tubes so they can scrape out the last bits of toothpaste. They spend far too much time, in other words, for not nearly enough return. Creativity and a do-it-yourself spirit is one thing, but if you find yourself devoting hours of your life to shaving off a few cents here and there, it's time to reconsider your savings strategy. Instead of making your own laundry detergent, could you start line-drying your clothes to cut back on utility costs? Instead of reusing the same sheet of tin foil over and over again, could you invest in some Tupperware so you can store your food without any waste? At some point, you need to recognize that your time has a value, too, and wasting it on extreme savings strategies isn't always the best way to spend it. I advise people to be frugal with their time, not just their money. 2. You Sacrifice Quality for the Sake of Pinching Pennies If you've ever re-used dirty bathtub water, or if you use rags as "reusable toilet paper," you're pushing frugality too far.
There are certain things in life that are worth paying a little more for.
Top 10 European Stocks To Watch Right Now: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, incorporated on June 28, 1999, is an online and mobile commerce company. The Company operates its ecosystem as a platform for third parties. The Company operates Taobao Marketplace, China�� online shopping destination, Tmall, China�� third-party platform for brands and retailers and Juhuasuan, China�� group buying marketplace. In addition to its three China retail marketplaces, the Company operates Alibaba.com, China�� global online wholesale marketplace, 1688.com, its China wholesale marketplace, and AliExpress, its global consumer marketplace, as well as provides cloud computing services. As a platform, the Company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with consumers and businesses. Effective August 01, 2014, Alibaba Investment Ltd, a unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, acquired a 10.193% interest n Singapore Post Ltd.
The buyers and sellers discover, select and transact with each other on the Company�� platform. Third-party service providers add value to its platform through service offerings that make it easier for buyers and sellers to do business. The third-party participants in its ecosystem include a payment services provider, logistics providers, retail operational partners, marketing affiliates, independent software vendors and various professional service providers. The Company has developed policies and procedures that maintain the health and sustainability of its marketplaces, including consumer protection programs, marketplace rules, qualification standards for merchants and buyer and seller rating systems. As its ecosystem expands, new jobs are created.
Taobao Affiliate Network is powered by Alimama, its online marketing technology platform. Through this platform, sellers place marketing displays on its marketing affiliates��websites and mobile apps, and sellers pay a performance-b! ased marketing fee primarily based on cost-per-click (CPC), and cost-per-sale (CPS), models. Through China Smart Logistics, the Company provides real-time information to its logistics partners, including key operating metrics, such as distribution center utilization rates, route planning data and order volume forecasts. Independent software vendors (ISVs) provide software tools, as well as systems integration services to sellers.
Tmall is an online platform featuring brands and retailers with each seller having an identifiable online storefront. Users may access Tmall anytime, anywhere through the Tmall Website and the mobile apps and mobile-optimized websites provided by Taobao Marketplace and Tmall. The physical product categories on Tmall include apparel and accessories, electronics and appliances, home furnishings, home appliances, maternity and baby products. Juhuasuan is an online group buying marketplace in China. Juhuasuan offers quality products at discounted prices by aggregating demand from numerous consumers. Juhuasuan mainly does this through flash sales, which make products available at discounted prices for a limited period of time. Juhuasuan offers group buying channels featuring branded and private label products, products made to custom specifications and local services.
AliExpress is a consumer marketplace enables consumers from around the world to buy directly from wholesalers and manufacturers in China. On AliExpress, consumers have access to a variety of products. In addition to the global English-language site, AliExpress operates two local language sites in Russia and Brazil. The product categories on AliExpress.com include apparel and accessories, phones and communications products, beauty and health, computer networking, jewelry and watches. Alibaba.com is an online commerce platform. Sellers on Alibaba.com may pay for an annual Gold Supplier membership to host a premium storefront with product listings on the marketplace.
The Company��! marketin! g technology platform, Alimama, offers sellers on its marketplaces marketing services for both personal computer and mobile devices, which include P4P marketing service and display marketing. Alimama also offers its sellers these marketing services through third parties through the Taobao Affiliate Network. The Taobao Ad Network and Exchange (TANX) automates the buying and selling of billions of advertising impressions on a daily basis by third parties. The Company also offer a data management platform (DMP), connected to TANX. Its DMP allows participants on TANX to evaluate and select online advertising inventory using both behavioral data they provide, as well as data from browsing behavior and shopping history. Its Cloud Computing supports its commerce ecosystem by providing a distributed computing infrastructure to handle the large volume of traffic and data generated on its online marketplaces. Its cloud computing platform offers service offerings, including elastic computing, database services and storage and large scale computing services.
The company offer search functions on all of its Web pages, mobile apps and many of its marketing affiliates��websites and apps to make it easy for buyers to find products and services within its marketplaces. The Company offers Aliwangwang, a personal computer-based instant messenger that supports text, audio and video communication. The Company developed Aliwangwang to facilitate open communication between buyers and sellers on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall. Buyers and sellers use it as a tool for a range of tasks, including negotiation of prices, customer services and delivery notification, in addition to the basic messaging functions. It offer Qianniu , an integrated platform for communication and productivity tools which allows sellers on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall to manage their operations more efficiently.
Alipay, the Company�� related company, provides payment and escrow services for transactions on Taobao Marketplace, Tm! all, 1688! .com and certain of its other sites, as well as to third parties in China. The Company�� small and medium enterprise (SME) loan business provides micro loans to sellers on its wholesale and retail marketplaces through lending vehicles licensed by the local government.
The company competes with Tencent and Baidu.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Faisal Humayun]
I also believe that the acquisition comes at a right time due to two reasons ��First, Yahoo! was desperately looking for some traction on this front, and second, the proceeds from the Alibaba (BABA) IPO can be used to fund the acquisition and also look for further potential acquisitions in the sector.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) CEO Jack Ma said he is willing to cooperate with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) on a mobile payment system. Shares of Alibaba hit new 52-week highs of $100.67 before closing the day at $99.68, while shares of Apple gained 1.51 percent, closing at $106.70.
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Analysts at Brean Capital initiated coverage of Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) with a price target raised to $13 from a previous $11. Shares lost 1.06 percent, closing at $87.91.
- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Apple (AAPL) and Alibaba (BABA) could soon be collaborators. At The Wall Street Journal's WSJD live event, Alibaba's founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma was asked whether he would consider a partnership between Apple Pay and Alipay, Alibaba's payments company. "I am very interested in that," Ma said. "A good marriage needs both sides to work." When asked about such a partnership Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "We are going to talk about getting married later this week," adding, "I have the utmost respect for Jack." It's been just over a week, but Cook says Apple Pay is already a big success. Within the first 72 hours of Apple Pay's debut, the new mobile payment service had already exceeded more than one million card activations, he said. "We are just getting started," Cook said. He expects more merchants to adopt the service because he believes it's an easier, faster and more secure way to buy goods. However, some merchants such as CVS (CVS) and Rite Aid (RAD) have refused the service. Cook called the tension between Apple and these merchants a "skirmish." Apple Pay is currently available at 220,000 locations around the country. Cook went on to talk about a wide range of subjects including activist investor Carl Icahn's call for Apple to boost its buyback program. Cook defended Apple's current capital return program, noting that the company bought back $17 billion of stock last quarter alone. "I don't spend a lot of time talking to Carl," Cook said. Apple recently reported quarterly results that beat analyst estimates, selling nearly 40 million iPhones. iPad shipments, however, missed wall street's expectations. Cook remains confident in that product, however, noting that the tablet is now used in a variety of markets, from education to enterprise. "I am very excited about that business," Cook said. Apple's CEO also made a point of saying that the tech titan isn't in the business of collecting, storing
Best Internet Stocks To Buy Right Now: Propell Technologies Group Inc (PROP)
Propell Technologies Group, Inc., incorporated on February 04, 2008, offers enhanced oil recovery technology and services. These services are offered through its wholly owned subsidiary Novas Energy USA, Inc., through commercial application of a Plasma-Pulse Technology.
The Company�� technology is designed to be suitable for oil wells as deep as 12,000 feet. Novas�� Plasma-Pulse Treatment is an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology and process. The treatment uses no chemicals.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Mid cap oil services stocks Dresser-Rand Group Inc (NYSE: DRC) and�Flowserve Corp (NYSE: FLS) and small cap Propell Technologies Group Inc (OTCBB: PROP) are all direct or indirect players in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sector among other niches. Of course, it might seem strange to be talking about oil services or enhanced oil recovery stocks when the bottom has fallen out from under the price of oil but consider the following two charts from WTRG Economics�and Gasbuddy.com:
Best Internet Stocks To Buy Right Now: Google Inc.(GOOG)
Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
The Slate 21 is an all-in-one desktop that runs Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and sports an NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA ) Tegra 4 processor inside instead of the usual Wintel combination. The PC is a 21.5-inch touchscreen device that can even be used as an enormous tablet if one is so inclined. The news comes on the heels of HP unveiling its Slatebook x2 last month, an Android/Tegra-powered convertible laptop.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
Among the few stocks to miss today's rally were AT&T (NYSE: T ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) , falling 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively. At least one analyst believes that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) Fiber, a super high-speed network that the search giant is rolling out in three American cities as an alternative to traditional phone lines and cable could be a serious threat to the telecoms. Like many of Google's projects, the goal of Fiber is not fully clear, but long term it could disrupt the current broadband/cable paradigm. Among other packages, Google is offering free Internet with a $300 setup fee in those select cities.
- [By David Trainer]
If we give MOVE credit for 14% compounded annual NOPAT growth for 20 years, the stock is worth only $2.50 today. I think MOVE could be a potential acquisition target for a large company like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) or Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), so adding a generous buy out premium we can put the fair valuation at about $5/share. I don’t see any company buying out MOVE with its current market cap of $585 million because it would probably be cheaper to develop their own site instead. - [By Morgan Housel]
New normal
Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider discusses what Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) does to our heads:In 2011, Science published a study called: "Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips."
Best Internet Stocks To Buy Right Now: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)
Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Munarriz]
The biggest reason why Sandberg's name is so tantalizing is because she has Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) pedigree papers. AOL's (NYSE: AOL ) Tim Armstrong and Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ: YHOO ) Marissa Mayer were plucked from Google's executive ranks, and both of those investments have risen nicely in their tenure. Sandberg is even more compelling than Armstrong at Yahoo! and Mayer at Yahoo! because she also went on to succeed at Facebook, too.
- [By Reuters]
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesYahoo CEO Marissa Mayer NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO -- Three weeks ago, Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer strode into a Manhattan hotel and was greeted like a rock star by hundreds of advertising executives who snapped pictures as she sat down for an interview with journalist Charlie Rose. That same audience a year ago would have been grousing that Mayer hadn't done enough to engage Madison Avenue, which is arguably Yahoo's most important constituent since the Internet company derives more than 75 percent of its revenue from ad sales. "I think that Marissa has gotten a bit of a bad rap," said David Cohen, the chief media officer at UM, the global media arm of Interpublic Group. The industry perceived Mayer as not caring about advertising, choosing instead to focus solely on products, Cohen said. Ad agency executives say that over the past six months Mayer and her team have been working hard to change that perception, courting advertisers at key industry events, hosting lunches and attending meetings with agency representatives that include Yahoo executives like Chief Operating Officer Henrique de Castro, Senior Vice President and head of Americas Ned Brody and Chief Marketing Officer Kathy Savitt. The charm offensive has impressed many on Madison Avenue, but getting advertisers to actually spend more on Yahoo's Web properties won't happen overnight, industry experts said. The shift to advertising exchanges, which allow marketers to instantly buy placement for their ads across a broad constellation of websites, has pushed down the prices that online publishers such as Yahoo can charge. That was painfully apparent in the second quarter of this year, when Yahoo's display advertising revenue slid 11 percent due in part to a double-digit decline in ad prices. "Advertisers will become more excited if there's clear evidence that Yahoo is growing again in terms of its users and its engagement," said Mark Mahaney, an
- [By Rick Munarriz]
We can start with Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO ) .�The dot-com pioneer keeps showing its bottom-line sizzle under CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo!'s quarterly profit of $0.38 a share obliterated the $0.24 a share that analysts were forecasting. Yahoo! has managed to beat profit estimates by double-digit percentage margins in each of the company's quarters under Mayer.
Best Internet Stocks To Buy Right Now: CYNK Technology Corp (CYNK)
Cynk Technology Corp., formerly Introbuzz, Inc., is a development stage-company. The Company intends to develop a social network business. Social networks are Web based services that allow individuals to post a profile and link their profile to other friends and organizations.
The Company intends to develop a database of professional and other business persons, as well as other interested persons in providing and utilizing contacts. As of November 14, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
CYNK Technology (CYNK), the mysterious over-the-counter stock that at one point broke a $6 billion market cap, dropped roughly 80 percent in its first trades after a Securities and Exchange Commission halt. The SEC halted CYNK for two weeks following a massive rise in the stock's value -- it had been worth only a few cents per share in June, but it jumped above $21 on July 10. The Belize-based CYNK Technology supposedly operates a social networking site, but filings indicate it only has one employee and virtually no assets. Experts told CNBC the week of the SEC halt that they expected CYNK to fall precipitously after reopening, and its first day of trading is proving those predictions correct. When it was halted, the stock was worth just less than $14 per share, and is now below $3 a share after briefly hovering around $5 earlier Friday morning. An OTC Markets spokeswoman told Reuters that CYNK's shares were not trading on its platform, but were occurring over the phone. Earlier this week Reuters reported that OTC's CEO did not expect CYNK to trade on its platform at all after reopening, as no brokerages would file the required paperwork for the stock to trade on their exchanges. An SEC spokesman said that the organization cannot comment on the status of a company after a suspension period ends, citing an online explanation of the process. That document notes that broker-dealers may not solicit investors to trade the previously suspended OTC stock until they satisfy several regulatory requirements. The SEC warned, however, that "unsolicited" trading may occur after a reopening -- as CYNK is now seeing -- but "even though such trading is allowed, it can be very risky for investors without current and reliable information about the company."
Best Internet Stocks To Buy Right Now: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)
Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Traders Reserve]
For some reason, certain companies can attract buyers no matter the circumstance. I would put Symantec (SYMC) in that category. Shares have gained nearly 20% this year even as Symantec�� prospects deteriorated.
- [By Anora Mahmudova]
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) slid 13% after the security-software maker fired Chief Executive Steve Bennett late Thursday and replaced him with board member Michael Brown.
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