Sunday, January 2, 2011

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Is the province truly green?

There is alot of hype around the premiers office of supporting green energy projects but is it just hype? The province simply needs more energy production, currently 13% to 18% of the energy is purchased either in Alberta and/or California and the maindate of the province is to be self sufficient by 2016 and the premiers office also wants to lower CO2 emmissions by 30%! hence the monatorium on coal fired plants - Currently in the provinces energy policy, there is a $38/ton penalty for burning coal in the province! But can it be done? the answer by most IPP's today is NO unless they increase price per Mh/h for EPA - In my humble opinion, this would encourage a flood of billions of dollars into the province for new energy development, why? because Independent Power Producers could finally show investors and financiers that there is money to be made! Look at Ontario for example, since the FIT (feed in tariff) program was established over $8B was invested in the first year! The province needs to step up and put their money where their mouth is! Until IPP's get another 15% increase in PPA there will be little or hardly any new green energy projects built in this province!
James Ward
write your comments to:
jamesrward@shaw.ca

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Stock and Real estate is crashing, what to do: BUY NOW!!

Over the last few months I have seen the worst and best in people - when one looses 50%-75% of their equity positions in the public markets almost overnight, it can run havic on personalities. The old saying " when things get tough, the tough get going" certainly holds value in todays business atmosphere. If you selected your investments by sound business practices, [ strong revenue, good management, solid products, high demand, etc.] in my opinion, most of your investments will come back eventually - honestly! If however you picked your buying positions from a hunch or suggestion from guy next door - you can basically "kiss" your investments bye-bye. Same holds true for real estate - yes, the market is dive bombing right now BUT eventually will come back [probably stronger than ever] - just be patient - OK, try to sweat it out.
I guess, the bottom line is you should NEVER buy stock or real estate unless you can cover the debt without stress or afford to loose it all, right? WRONG!! Unless you want to live like the majority, paycheck to paycheck - no risk does equal no gain - just be smart about your investments. If you buy real estate, buy in a good location, at the bottom of the market, or if you buy SOUND stocks, and buy at or near the bottom of the market. Remember, when most people are selling, it is the time to be buying! sounds simple, right? Tell that to the guy who just about lost his entire nest egg - life is not simple, neither is making money in real estate or stocks -
My advise - do NOT follow the herd - do your homework and most of all always keep cash available when opportunity comes knocking and believe it or not the time to INVEST IS NOW!
Don't just believe me, ask Warren Buffett!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

First: Establish a Network

Who doesn't know the saying "it is WHO you know, not WHAT you know", this is certainly true from my experience when it comes to getting "deal flow" or raising the first $M or two needed to get your idea "out of the gate" and creating "traction" in the market.

Most of the "old guys" (over 40) i know in business have great contacts but usually fairly limited in scope, besides, how many personal friends can you acquire over your career? 10 -50 maybe.

With the new established "social networks" on the internet, you can quickly expand your personal network to hundreds if not thousands in a realatively short time if you take a little time out of your busy schedule to focus an hour here and there.

Don't take my word for it, go look for yourself. The best ones I have had success with are:
http://www.linkin.com/, http://www.plaxo.com/ and the latest cool social networks is http://www.facebook.com/

Once you have established a online relationship with individuals, start creating your own back up list in either maximizer, act or similar database. Keep in touch regularly and before you know it, once people know what your are working at, you will start to see emails saying, look at this great opportunity, or my friend "x", is looking to go public, can you help him? or my associate and i are looking to raise $, can you help?

Once the process of engagement is started, you will next need to.....

....till next time and i will fill you in steps of engagement.

If you have any questions or have questions, please feel free to drop me a line anytime.

jamesrward@shaw.ca