One of the problematic areas of membership for many congregations is that of youth and young adults (age 18--35).
There is a tension between wanting youth to be involved in the congregation and the need of youth for a healthy separation as part of their development.
I do think there needs to be more work done on the part of congregations on getting YAs involved in the life of the congregation beyond the traditional child care and furniture moving---like invitations to sit on committees and boards---and leadership training to enhance those skills.
Many of our young adults have a broader experience with people of color than our adults.
Investing_in_scifi http://www.glennfishbine.com/articles/Investing_in_scifi.pdf
According to the publicity material, Prey - the latest book by Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park - explores the emerging realms of nanotechnology and artificial distributed intelligence.
I remember reading that when the film of Jurassic Park opened, box-office profits from the first weekend were equivalent to the total paleontological research funding for the last few decades.
Science fiction has always been good for programmes that stand on the fine line between science and fiction.
Similarly the Forbes Nanotech report routinely chastises businesses for claiming to be nanotechnology companies when in actual fact, their technology is hundreds or even thousands of times too large to be real nanotechnology.
Every nascent nanotechnologist should remember, however, that every investment bubble eventually breaks.
SL-_Paper_Exec_Summ http://www.domini.com/common/pdf/SL-_Paper_Exec_Summ.pdf
Envisioning Socially Responsible Investing: A Model for 2006 is a bold forecast and a call to action for the fields of socially responsible investing (SRI) and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
It has emerged from what was essentially an obscure niche financial market to become a potentially important player in a major political debate about globalization, the relationship between corporations and society, and the role of capital in creating both social and financial value.
The paper recommends a number of major initiatives that need to take place in three communities: the corporate community, the institutional investment community, and the financial community, including its academic and SRI analogues.
1. Institutional investors should be required to adopt comprehensive voting policies on social, environmental, and corporate governance issues, including guidelines for voting and the disclosure of actual votes.
ssri
Many investors find that it is no longer viable to invest in companies that operate in - and gain from - oppressive regimes, whose activities are environmentally harmful, have a poor health and safety record or have inadequate corporate governance systems in place.
The answer lies with Sustainable and Socially Responsible Investment (SSRI) - a concept that is already being prioritised by governments (through new legislation* and initiatives) and by businesses worldwide.
Pension Fund Trustees, Charities, Trusts and other companies operating in sectors such as health and the environment, or others with a natural affinity towards SSR investing can benefit from investing in companies who satisfy all of these criteria.
In terms of investment, this means offering our clients access to funds that allow them to grow their savings in line with their personal values.
e_workbook http://www.altamira.com/altamira/investing+basics/mutual+fund+basics/e_workbook.pdf
At Altamira, we believe that you can become a successful investor if you understand how the fi nancial markets work and if you get good advice to help you make the right investment decisions.
This means investing in a number of different funds in your portfolio such as equity, fi xed income and money market funds.
Basically, the time you have to achieve your goals should infl uence the asset mix of your portfolio.
5. brings your portfolio in line with changes in your personal situation.
If you need information about our products and services, please do not hesitate to call an Altamira Advisor.
2001_factbook_05
Shareownership 2000 uses data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances, a household survey conducted under the auspices of the Federal Reserve Board, to update the New York Stock Exchange's Shareownership 1998 study.
Shareownership 2000 identifies 84 million direct and indirect shareholders in 1998, representing 43.6 percent of the country's adult population.
Indirect equity holdings (through equity mutual funds, self-directed retirement accounts or pension plans) accounted for 40 percent of all corporate stock owned by households.
While there are still more than three times as many traditional "offline" brokerage accounts as online accounts, shareowners with online accounts trade more frequently.
equity_investing_integrated_europe http://www.msci.com/research/archive/equity_investing_integrated_europe.pdf
For investors, the disappearance of currency risk, together with the emergence of a single reference interest rate (which is among the key drivers of equity prices) implies a reallocation of the whole portfolio because the notion of "domestic country" now refers to the Euro zone rather than the national country.
The risk characteristics are provided at the country and industry levels, considering MSCI Europe 15 components, along with style indices.
To have a sense of this, the information ratios can be compared since they synthesise the return and risk contribution of the exchange rate.
Only four value industries as previously defined outperform the value index during the first period (energy equipment, machinery and engineering, banking and financial services).
MarketNeutral It is not intended for use as a basis for investment decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the needs of any particular investor.
The common underlying thread in all market neutral strategies, if constructed properly, is that the market does not have an impact on the underlying results of the portfolio.
Most long/short equity managers, especially quantitatively-based long/ short managers, have significant valuation components to their investment processes and thus the results are not all that surprising.
Another highly touted aspect of long/short investing is that the strategy uses information more efficiently.
Prime brokers facilitate the strategy, and in actuality, it is the prime broker that holds the investor's assets on behalf of the investment manager.
Value
Value investing, both in the U.S. and in non-U.S.
However, it has seen mixed results in the 1990s.
In particular 1998 through early 2000 saw value stocks overwhelmed by extraordinarily intense market trends favoring large, momentum-driven stocks.
Given the performance of value relative to growth stocks globally over the last few years, there are now extraordinarily large and attractive disparities in valuations.
This rebirth of value investing could be stimulated to a surprising degree by the positive benefits of the "new economy" for what are seen as "old economy" companies.
One of the explanations for this outcome can be found by looking at the world's economic and financial environment over this period, particularly the volatility of global equity markets.
WGGF_Prospectus
The Fund seeks capital appreciation through environmentally responsible investing.
Equity Security means a security such as a common stock, preferred stock or convertible security that represents an ownership interest in a company.
This example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund and then redeem all of your shares at the end of the period.
The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% annual return, that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses and net expenses remain as stated in the table above and that distributions are reinvested.
Limitations on Purchases The Fund reserves the right to refuse any purchase (including exchange) request, particularly requests that could adversely affect the Fund or its operations.
puhakka http://www.arts.cornell.edu/econ/papers/puhakka.pdf
We want to argue that the exact mechanism creating development traps is the complementarity between investment in physical capital and investment in patience.
A great deal of effort has been spent to understand, why these differences in per capita output levels persist.
More seriously, the example shows that to get any capital investment, it is necessary to invest in patience.
4. Equilibria with development traps The development trap is a situation where an economy is stuck in an equilibrium with a low level of capital, although there are other possible equilibria with higher levels of capital.
Becker, G. and C. B. Mulligan, On the Endogenous Determination of Time Preference, University of Chicago Population Research Center Discussion Paper, July 1994.
Keys_to_Ret_Planning
Most experts agree that you'll need 70% -- 90% of your pre-retirement yearly income to enjoy the same lifestyle you had before you retired.
Put off paying taxes on your savings.
· A lot will depend on your investment earnings and costs during retirement.
Trying to pick the "best" investment funds or best fund companies without a strategy for how they should fit together is a loser's game.
Experts say that 90% of your investment success will be based on getting the right balance, or asset allocation, in your savings.
If you invest in funds that are too similar, you may not get any protection against market declines --- and you may end up paying higher costs.
case1.copyright
He had been on a due diligence trip in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul when he received the call from Marcelo Lacerda, one of the owners of zaz.com.br (ZAZ), telling him about an exciting new Internet start-up.
Perhaps still tasting the sweet success of the previous investment he had made with Lacerda, André was sufficiently intrigued to fly to São Paulo to learn more about the new Internet start-up.
After the initial conversation with Lacerda in May 1999, Burger agreed that Fulano was worth a careful look and he decided to head up the due diligence team himself.
bgi_success http://www.collab.net/media/pdfs/bgi_success.pdf
As the creator of the first index strategy 30 years ago, BGI is an innovator in investment management, applying science and technology to the investment process.
BGI Software Management Project (SMP) is a corporate-wide initiative to unite a variety of stakeholder groups, from developers to project managers and business users, on a single global software development collaboration platform.This includes combining key functions such as: source code control, version management, quality assurance, testing, and change management, into a unified framework that BGI's software development participants can access from anywhere in the world, anytime.
In February 2002, with 450 technical and business users on the system, the BGI information technology group was able to meet its aggressive goal of migrating 90 percent of its production code base to the SourceCast platform.
spring2000_eng http://www.bmoinvestorline.com/WhatsNew/NewsLine/spring2000_eng.pdf
One of the biggest investment stories of the past few years has been the explosive growth of companies in the new information-based economy.
A reliable benchmark of a stock's investment potential has long been the price-to-earnings ratio (current market price divided by the company's latest earnings per share).
Historically, anything much over 25 was considered "high," and an indication that the stock was priced much higher than its earnings could justify.
There is some justification for the overall increase in P/E ratios as the stock market has become increasingly attractive in recent years.
As the governments of industrialized countries reduce their deficits, cut spending, and sell off state-owned businesses, the number of bonds that they issue is shrinking.
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