近日在读一本关于巴菲特的书，《滚雪球-巴菲特和他的财富人生》(The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life)。

摘录其中一段巴菲特关于钱的的至理名言：

It (money) could make me independent. Then I could do what I wanted to do with my life. And the biggest thing I wanted to do was work for myself. I didn’t want other people directing me. The idea of doing what I wanted to do every day was important to me.

钱可以让我独立，然后，我就可以用我的一生去做我想做的事情。而我最想做的事情就是为自己工作。我不想让别人主导我。能每天做我想做的事，这对我来说很重要。

巴菲特的投资合伙人查理.芒格(Charlie Munger)也有类似的一段话：

I had a considerable passion to get rich. Not because I wanted Ferraris - I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it. I thought it was undignified to have to send invoices to other people. I don’t know where I got that notion from, but I had it.

正是英雄所见略同啊

值得一提的是该书是唯一一本巴菲特认可并授权给Alice Schroeder写的书。

《华尔街时报》5/27报道，美国国债面值下降，10年券(10-year Notes)收益率达到新高。反映出投资者对债券的信心不足，抛售导致面值下降。由于收益率与面值相反走向，故收益率上升，与之紧密相关的房屋贷款利率因此也到达从去年11月来的新高。

原文在这里：http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124343157431958511.html

这一切都反映出投资者对未来的通货膨胀的忧虑。对国债投资者来说，最关心的两点：1. 每年的收益率，2. 到期的兑换面值。通货膨胀对#2 是致命的打击，投资者宁愿现在抛售国债来套现，转而投资房屋贷款（Mortgage investment），其原因： 1. 房屋贷款利率将上升，2. 房屋抵押对通货膨胀的抵抗力更强。

对普通老百姓尤其是房主而言，更要注意潜在通货膨胀。回顾七十年代末八十年代初由于石油禁运(embargo)导致的通货膨胀，房屋贷款利息高达20% （见下图US Treasury 10-year Note yield curve)。所以未来的通货膨胀对目前尚未恢复房市更变得遥遥无期。当然，白宫和美联储也很明白这点，会想尽一切办法控制通货膨胀。

我自己很庆幸前两周利用利率还低的时候锁定了重贷款利率，把五年ARM(adjustable rate Mortgage)重贷款为30年固定的低利率。尽管要付0.5的点和重贷款手续费closing cost，但是排除了五年ARM这颗通货膨胀的定时炸弹，还是很高兴的，尤其是这些费用只要一年就可以从更低的月按揭款里补回来。

我两个月前写的相关主题的帖子在这里.

另外一个通货膨胀的预警，原油价今日来不断攀升，纽约期货交易所每桶已六十多美元了。作为普通投资者，不妨考虑买点USO来对冲（hedge）一下你的未来的日常交通或取暖能源费用吧。

说到USO，这两天才发现这个东东还是3X的Exchange-Traded Fund(ETF)，我至今还没有时间琢磨出这些ETF的繁多名堂，哪天你明白了给我讲讲吧。

Clinton Fitch has written a great blog entry that gives an overview of the Google Mobile App, a free plug-in for your Today Screen that gives quick access to Google’s amazing range of free mobile services. (You can also access it via an icon in your Programs menu or via a hardware button.) In his post, Clinton also outlines the 12 Google services that this app gives quick access to, including Gmail, Maps, YouTube, News, Picassa, Calendar, Reader, 411, SMS, Orkut, Docs, and Blogger.

I installed it on my phone today and liked it. Although I am already using various Google mobile products via browser, such as gmail, news, reader, and I occasionally dial GooG411 for free service, it is nice to have the full suite of Google mobile applications on one Today screen.  

Add 2 screenshots below:

今天的上海新十六铺码头，实在是和以前大不一样了啊。

考古了一下，才知道客运码头已经在2003年拆除了，如今要改造成水上旅游中心。

依稀中，仿佛看见了二十年前的我，拖着行李，带着紧张和惶恐，从十六铺码头第一次踏进了大上海的大门。那时的十六铺，人头攒动，热闹非凡。之后的每个寒暑假，从闵行或市区赶到十六铺，登上夜班客轮踏上了回乡的路程。

往事如烟….

Today I went to Scottrade 2009 User Summit, and I was very impressed by their trading platform ScottradeElite that’s provided to their customers, and mostly importantly, for FREE.

To recap what’s presented in today’s session about ScottradeElite:

• research tool: charts, full quotes, quote grid, news, volecity & forces, time & sales, top performers, etc.
• trading tool: order entry, positions, balances, open orders, history, alerts, etc.
• more advanced: Level II, Total View (both need monthly fee), Trade Ideas

You can design layouts to have all those information in one screen.

Now I have decided to stick with Scottrade, I plan to transfer my other retirement plans into Scottrade.

For details you can check www.scottradeelite.com

Server side: WCF, RESTful WS

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