Confused about google portfolio chart
You bought 1 share of Google at $67.05 while it has a current trading price of $1204.11. Now, if you bought a widget for under $70 and it currently sells for over $1200 that is quite the increase, no? Be careful of what prices you enter into a portfolio tool as some people may be able to use options to have a strike price different than the current trading price by a sizable difference. Take the gain of $1122.06 on an initial cost of $82.05 for seeing where the 1367% is coming. User error on the portfolio will lead to misleading statistics I think as you meant to put in something else, right?
"You ask a question, ""Is there any real purpose in purchasing bonds?"" and then appear to go off on a rant. Before the question is closed by members here, let me offer this:  This chart reflects the 10 year bond rate. From 1960-2004 (give or take) the coupon rate was over 4%. Asset allocation suggests a mix of stocks and bonds seeking to avoid the risk of having ""all of one's eggs in one basket."" To that end, the simplest approach is a stock/bond mix. Over time, a 70/30 mix provides nearly 95% of the long tern return, but with a much lower volatility.  I'm not going to suggest that a 2% 10 year bond is an exciting investment, but bonds may have a place in one's portfolio. I'm not going to debate each and every point you attempted, but #5 is especially questionable. If you feel this is true, you should short bonds. Or you should at least 99% of the time. Do you have data to back up this statement?" It was actually a reverse split meaning that every 10 shares you had became 1 share and the price should be 10x higher. - Citigroup in reverse split The chart just accounts for the split. The big dip is Googles way of showing from what price it split from. If you remember before the split the stock was trading around $4-$5 after the reverse split the stock became 10x higher. Just to clear it up a 1:2(1 for 2) split would mean you get 1 share for every 2 shares you have. This is known as a reverse split.  A 2:1(2 for 1) split means you get 2 shares for every 1 share you have. The first number represents the amount of shares you will receive and the second number represents how many shares you will be giving up. Here are the basic questions I usually ask any new business startup: Do these numbers/answers seem reasonable to you and is some benchmark available that allows you to see how likely this is?   Remember, particularly in Internet-based advertising ventures, the client may be indirect.  The person who clicks on a Google context-based link is not directly Google's client.  The person who decided to host AdWords code on their site is the direct client. You're also going to want to see a Gant chart or some process chart indicating exactly what needs to be done, at what cost and by whom.  Answers to these questions give a sense of not only how seriously they are taking the business, but also how organised. My final question: who is your first client? They need either someone who is going to contract the service, or have a clear indication of where income is going to come from, on their first day of trading. Their task is to sell their idea to you by proving that it will return on your investment and be profitable.  From the strength of these answers you can gauge the value of your investment to them, how critical it is, how risky the opportunity and - ultimately - the stake and returns you should expect. Let's start with the chart comparing LS80 to the S&P -   Both have dividends not reflected in these returns. After adding 10% or so, the S&P during these 5 years was +55% or a bit more. As a result, the advisor lags the S&P by about 1% which makes sense. One of the problems with the nature of the question is not being able to analyze the portfolios, your's vs the VG80, for risk-adjusted return. The return your advisor got you is great if the risk (volatility) is lower than the funds or indexes you're comparing to.  In the end, 4 years may not be long enough to make a proper comparison. The (assets - liabilities)/#shares of a company is its book value, and that number is included in their reports. It's easy for a fund to release the net asset value on a daily basis because all of its assets (stocks, bonds, and cash) are given values every day by the market.  It's  also necessary to have a real time value for a fund as it will be bought and sold every day. A company can't really do the same thing as it will have much more diverse assets - real estate, cars, inventory, goodwill, etc.  The real time value of those assets doesn't have the same meaning as a fund; those assets are used to earn cash, while a fund's business is only to maximize its net asset value. It gives an outside prospective on it so you're not getting all your information from one spot.  When MeetBeam eventually releases I imagine that page will be updated with more information on fees, requirements for the 4% APY, etc. "Hello!  First of all, I think it's great you're asking the community for help.  Asking for help when you need it is a sign of strength and self-awareness of your own limitations (which we all have, even the smartest business people ask questions, in fact they ask the most questions).  I'm wrapping up year 2 of doing what you're trying to do and am finally seeing real traction. I am a bit older than you and started out on my own 7 years after grad school, but I have learned a lot and don't mind sharing.  Here's some things you might find useful.  * Never work for free (working for ""equity"" or working for ""exposure"" is working for free).  People who offer you this because you're just starting out are parasites looking to sell your talents but not pay for them.  The only thing you can take away from attempts to do this is that your talents are in demand, which is good!    * Never sell yourself short: would you rather do 10 websites for a $1000 each or do 1 website for $10000?  You'll be doing a lot of projects in the middle, but one very important thing to bear in mind is that one $10000 website is a lot less work and may make you the same amount of money (or more) overall.  * In the beginning, maybe you think you need to build a portfolio. But you'd be surprised how many prospects don't care what's in your portfolio and in fact never look at the portfolio, which leads me to the most important bit of advice:  * Learn to sell yourself.  YOU are your company's first and main product.  Learn to sell yourself (as the smart kid, future Fortune 500 CEO who stays up all night getting things done, etc)  * Always aim high in your proposals.  You'd be surprised how many people don't negotiate at all.  That being said, always put something in your proposal that is a good idea but it beyond what their asking for.  If they ask you to come down in price, remove this feature and come down a little bit.  * Develop an ability to read how interested a prospect is in your services before you spring the price on them.  At your age, I was waiting tables.  This helped me to be able to read a customer to determine which waiter they wanted me to be: the attentive one, the high class one, the friend, or the quiet servile.  Consider taking on a side job to help you develop this skill.  * As I said above, some prospects will sign on the line without negotiating.  You might even take two proposals with you into a meeting with a prospect, one priced high and one low, and present the version that matches their interests.  Go high if they need something ""right now"".  * Remember you are your company's first product.  This means also that your time is the company's first commodity.   Be open to other things.  I have a background in mathematics and am most capable as a software developer and a web developer.  But I also help other companies sell and support physical products not at all related to technology.  Because it's highly profitable, I do it.  * When you're a one person business selling your time at the highest price is the name of the game.  But growing your business will require the help of others.  I found it helpful to first network with other like minded people and split project money according to skill level and time commitment on a per project basis.  This will allow you to take on bigger projects.    * But growing the company will eventually require you to hire (or contract) someone at a far lower pay rate than what you're bringing in.  The laws of supply and demand require you to do this as a business person if you're to grow the business (so that the business has money beyond what you're being paid). This is where the extra money comes from: selling the time of others at a higher price than you're paying them.  Be conscious of this.  Everyone you work with is not going to be your friend.  * Make your website awesome.  It doesn't have to be a work of art, but let it reflect the seriousness with which you approach your customers' projects.  Make sure there are no grammatical errors.  Find a website of someone highly successful who's doing what you're doing and emulate it.  You don't have to have a portfolio starting out.  Your website is your first portfolio item, and if it's awesome, prospects will think you'll do the same for them.  Good luck!  I'm sure I'm not the only one here who thinks your early developed entrepreneurship is going to take you far." "Everything you are doing is fine. Here are a few practical notes in performing this analysis: Find all the primary filing information on EDGAR. For NYSE:MEI, you can use https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000065270&type=10-K&dateb=&owner=exclude&count=40 This is the original 10-K. To evaluate earnings growth you need per share earnings for the past three years and 10,11,12 years ago. You do NOT need diluted earnings (because in the long term share dilution comes out anyway, just like ""normalized"" earnings). The formula is avg(Y_-1+Y_-2+Y_-3) / is avg(Y_-10+Y_-11+Y_-12) Be careful with the pricing rules you are using, the asset one gets complicated. I recommend NOT using the pricing rules #6 and #7 to select the stock. Instead you can use them to set a maximum price for the stock and then you can compare the current price to your maximum price. I am also working to understand these rules and have cited Graham's rules into a checklist and worksheet to find all companies that meet his criteria. Basically my goal is to bottom feed the deals that Warren Buffett is not interested in. If you are interested to invest time into this project, please see https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vuFmoJDktMYtS64od2HUTV9I351AxvhyjAaC0N3TXrA"