Sunday, January 22, 2012

A Day in the Life

As with every job, there are things that you like and you don't. Days that fly by and you leave feeling like you've accomplished a lot and helped many people out and days you leave just pissed at everyone and everything. But within any day, there are always little moments of time where you can't help but to laugh.

Last week an older guy came into my office and wanted to talk about his account. He was noticeably shaken and was concerned that someone had gotten access to his account. So I ask him to tell me details about the situation. You see, he had gone to an ATM machine to withdraw money. Being an older guy, he usually doesn't do anything "new" like that. For him, the drive-through teller window is about as Ritzy as it gets. After his transaction at the ATM it printed him off his receipt - which included his balance. What he thought it said was that he had withdrawn his balance. So he said he waited a few minutes for his money to come out and when it didn't he was concerned that someone who came up after him would have gotten his money. I told him - trying not to just break down laughing - that his account was fine. The only recent transaction on his account was the $100 withdrawal and no one came up after him and took his money. The funny part of this is the fact that he had around $19000 in that account and the visual of an ATM chugging out that amount of cash - and the time it would take to do that - is fairly amusing.

Another story is about a guy who called up and wanted to know about a certain check that he had written. He wanted to know, that since it has come back as a NSF, if the payee of it would try again. I looked it up and saw that in fact they had tried to cash this check 3 times in the past week. He then wanted to know if I would put a stop payment on this check. I asked him why. He said because he didn't have enough money to make the check good - yet. I told him that first off, if you write a check to someone knowing there is not enough funds in the account, it's illegal. Second, I would not put a stop payment on the check. To me, it's like going to Wal-Mart and buying a 55 inch TV and a bunch of other random crap, putting it on your credit card then calling them up and say "Don't charge me for this. I can't pay it back." Third, the payee was the government. Um, yea. They are going to get their money from you buddy. And like hell if I'm going to be putting a stop payment on a check that you wrote KNOWING there were not sufficient funds in your account.

Third, a lady came in to update her account information. As part of our security procedures, when you open your first account with us you have to answer 6 security questions. These questions are used for when you call up a branch so we can verify your identity and also for online banking for when you log in from a computer that wasn't the original computer used to create your online banking. I ask her why she wanted to change her security questions and she proceeds to tell me that she had a nightmare that someone had stolen her identity. I'm like oooook. So as she is creating her new questions and answers she is like "I'm trying not to lie too hard." I ask her if she will remember these answers and shes like "No, I'm trying to make them random because in my dream someone I knew stole my identity and they were able to steal my money." I told her it was not a very good idea to do that and so she agreed and refilled out the paper. At the end, she had only changed two of the six questions.

Finally, I had a guy ask me if he had credit with us. For starters, most questions about credit don't start with a "Do I have it with you?". I asked him did he have any loans or credit cards and he says no. I look him up and verified he didn’t have any credit with us. I say well then you don’t. Hes like, I have credit with someone but I don’t know who it is. He proceeds to tell me that hes looking to get $800 to buy a truck from his friend. Im like well, we can look at doing that just need a recent paystub. He pulls out a piece of paper where a check would have been on the bottom. On the top is printed hours worked and how much the check was for. No deductions. No gross. Nothing. I'm like, we need something that shows the deductions for taxes and other things such as medical, 401(k) loans and things like that. He's like, well they wont give it to me. I'm like, ok how about tax returns for the past two years. He looked at me like I had just insulted his dead grandmother.

So little gems of comedy and gross lack of common sense do exist still on this earth filled with smart phones, search engines and social media.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Swamp People

A goal of mine this year is to do a little more outdoors type activities. Now I have never been one to avoid being outdoors, but working in an office setting has depressed me enough to be determined to avoid 4 walls and a roof during free sunlight hours as much as possible. (A side note, when the time changes back March 11, these goals will be easier to maintain.)

For Christmas - which my family decided to celebrate on MLK day - I got a lot of what I'll need to start up some weekend outdoorsiness. Items ranging from a 2 person tent to an all in one whistle - oh yea, it's got a compass and a place to put your matches - to a ground sleep mat, I am ready to make the most of some camping opportunities.

But being its January, it seems a bit early to think about spending the night outdoors. That's why I've coordinated with some friends a nice one night camping trip in February. I figure by then it's got to be at least 80 degrees or something like that...

Now for you fellow South Carolinians - where it's always a beautiful day - there seem to be quite a few good places to go camping at. The one which I will highlight is the Congaree National Park. At Congaree, there are 3 different options for outdoor camping - and all of these are free.

First, there is what is called the Longleaf Campsite. This campsite is for up to 8 people and is set to be a primitive campsite with fire rings and grills and even portajohns. So I guess it's quazi-primitive. The second site at Congaree is the Backcountry camping site. This site is a bit more primitive with no amenities. Finally, there is the Bluff Campsite. It's the largest of the campsites and can accommodate up to 30 people. Again, this is a primitive campsite with no amenities.

Now what I am hoping is that while we are there, the "once in 4 or 5 years" kind of floods don't happen. As I do own a kayak, I do not plan on bringing it on my first camping trip there. But one of the free services that the Park does offer is a guided canoe tour. Also the park offers what they call an "Owl Prowl" in where you go out at night and listen and find owls.

A fun fact also about Congaree National Park is that in 2003, it became the first and only national park in South Carolina. Congaree is also designated as a Globally Important Bird Area. So if you were inspired by the recent movie The Big Year and want to become professional birders, you know where to come. In addition to that, Congaree has the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States. The average canopy height is over 100ft tall. Also, if you want to head out for a hike, Congaree covers a lot of area. There are over 20 miles of hiking trails and 2.4 miles of boardwalk loop trail. Not bad for a swamp.

Finally, as long as you have a South Carolina fishing license you can fish at Congaree (with the exception of Weston Lake). So why not start preparing to do something that doesn't involve getting your tan from your TV.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Stocks and Finance

So I was originally going to write this last night BUT when I got home, the power was out so I couldn't. So instead of today looking really smart, I am going to write and hope you believe me.

One of my many interest, as I've said, are finance and business. Now I am no day trader and don't think I will be a "buy today, sell today" kind of person, but I do like to see returns and cash them in when they hit certain levels. And the longer I hold on to a position, the higher I expect my return to be.

For this year, I expect the markets to still go through a nauseating amount of turmoil. Weekly gain wiped out in a day and heavy losses broken by a rally. Volatility is the word for the year - again. The one thing we do have going for us is that among the "modern economies" we still seem to be the safest. But I mean, artificially creating heavy demand for the greenback by infusing hundreds of billions into foreign banking systems will have a stabilizing effect on our currency and lack of coordination and agreement will continue (theoretically) sending government investors our way. Until it doesn't. But putting all of that aside...

What am I looking at this quarter and year?

First off, my core investments are in the financial sector. There are a lot of regional banks with no exposure to Europe and improving balance sheets and growing lending ratios that I believe will begin to see a sharp rebound. Banks like Huntington Bank (HBAN) - which raised its dividend from 1 cent every quarter to 4 cents every quarter recently - to Peoples United Bancorp (PBCT) - which has raised its dividend every year for the past 16 years and recently acquired Danvers Bank, not to mention it's current yield of 4.86% - seem to be in line to begin posting very strong earnings. Now PBCT with it's high yield acting a bit as an anchor may not make you as much if you are looking at straight returns, but as a longer term stock, it's hard to pass this one up.

General Electric (GE) is one company that everyone wants to hate. "They don't pay taxes. They are too politically connected. They are 1%-ers." What more could you ask for then?! GE's finance arm is expected to begin paying "internal dividends" to the parent company again this year. GE has also raised its dividend 3 times in the past year - from 14 cents to 17 cents per quarter. Yes, it has some exposure to Europe and to contractions in military spending, but it's a conglomerate which has so many different business sectors that even a downturn in Europe may not stop this stock from rising further.

What wouldn't I touch with a 10 foot pole? Bank of America (BAC). I expect BAC to fail to be honest. I expect it to be split up among the larger regional banks who have the balance sheet to take over its operations. Warren Buffet couldn't save the stock and their CEO Brian Moynihan does not seem cut out to be running a company of this size.

A sector that I was a champion on last year - but have completely gotten out of as of the last week in December - are the utilities. I still believe there is a lot of money that can be made in them. As a whole, there are some huge winners that pay great dividends. Duke Power (DUK) and American Electrical Power (AEP) being two of them.

Now DUK is currently buying Progess Energy (PGN) and that deal should be closing sometime this or early next quarter. The word on the street is after the merger, DUK is going to be doing a reverse split on its stock at a 1:3 rate. Now a $65 stock sounds great, but I don't see much in the way of support for it. Find me a utility that is even in the $50's. PGN is because it's being purchased, but others like Excelon Corp (EXC), AEP, SCANA (SCG) - they are all in the low to mid 40's.

My warning is that DUK is being bought up so when it splits, it will have a nice price but it will not find support. Maybe in the mid 50's. Even at post merger $55, that would make it an $18.33 stock right now. Currently it's at $21.62. I just don't see it.

Other utilities are showing great returns, but a more mild winter so far is going to weigh on earnings. Not to mention costs due to EPA regulations and state regulators not allowing the full price increases that the utilities are requesting to offset these increased costs.

But one utility is very interesting to me. And yes, it popped today but I have been looking at it as a huge buying opportunity for a little while now. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) is a natural gas producer. It went up 5.88% today and I still see a lot of room for growth. It had been near its 52 week low, and being a low yielding stock, it has a lot of opportunity to reinvest its profits within itself and grow by exploration and acquisition. I don't see CHK as strong after today as I did before today, but if you are looking for something to buy and hold a year, I would definitely grab some at this price.

Other companies that I have either invested in or am watching very carefully include Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Mircosoft (MSFT), Boeing (BA) and Yum Brands (YUM). And yes, these stocks may not make you rich, but HPQ has a very good chance with Meg Whitman as its CEO of popping into the low 30's by the end of spring - currently it's at 26.62.

Now the markets go up and down all the time. Tomorrow all of these may go down. A lot. But as I have learned from 2011, one month can really make your portfolio or break your portfolio.

There are a lot of good buys out there right now. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) offer insanely high yields (but are taxed at your personal income rate) and as long as the interest rates are low, these can offer some great value. Just be careful and do your research. And keep an ear to the ground for possible rate increases.

Hopefully you all weren't too bored and hopefully I won't be too wrong. It's easy to be judged a moron when you go public with an opinion...