Online Investment Guide

By Samuel Phineas Upham

Philanthropy, according to Judaism, is not just something you can do. It is something you must do. The act of giving is a duty not just to your God but to your community, and it’s not something limited to the rich alone. Everyone is encouraged to give what they can, to give tzedakah and support their fellow man. This concept is very different from how other religions perceive charity.

Christianity, for instance, was very specific on its definition of philanthropy. This was a problem throughout the Dark Ages, as one could not trade or offer food or supplies to others for gain of any kind. As a result, this period had almost no commerce to speak of and civilization was very close to primitive. Excommunication from the Church was a major offense, and would likely lead to lifelong consequences.

This is very different from the Jewish concept, which is closer to what we think of as justice. When someone donates their money to a worthy cause, it is not an act of benevolence but an act of justice. Because God is the source of all money, you are merely giving back to the whole.

Yet the faith does recognize that money and acts of kindness are not so easily given. Though we strive in our principles to do right, and to act charitably, we are not able to save everyone from every circumstance. This is why the concept of tzedakah is more powerful than life itself. Charity can literally save someone from their own demise, and is considered one of the most powerful acts a person can do.

Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Samual Phineas Upham website or Linkedin page.

This article was written by Samuel Phineas Upham

The New York Stock Exchange is like the major leagues of stocks, but it’s neither the only nor the original stock exchange. In fact, people have been trading shares in companies since the dawn of banking. From Venice to New York, here is a brief picture of the world’s stock exchanges.

Venetian Merchants

The merchants of Venice helped to fill a gap that the big banks of the time couldn’t. Certain debts were considered high risk, either because of the amount borrowed or the interest associated with the loan. These merchants would trade the debts with one another, which eventually gave way to the ability to sell that debt to customers in the form of “securities.”

Belgium Stock Exchange

The exchange at Antwerp was one of the earliest examples of a stock exchange in existence. Merchants would gather in Antwerp to discuss business, and trade debt notes with one another. The exchange was almost exclusively confined to paper notes and bonds. Though it was common to partner up for business ventures, there were no official shares that could change hands at the time.

East India Companies

The Dutch, British and French governments all lent money generously to companies who agreed to carry the “East India” brand. The formation of these companies changed how business was done. Each company had stocks that paid out dividends depending on how well it performed. In the past, earnings were calculated voyage by voyage, but the East Indian companies considered all voyages for the year when looking at earnings. This is similar to the modern concepts of quarterly and annual financial statements.

About the Author: Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Samuel Phineas Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Samuel Phineas Upham on his Twitter page.

Written by Samuel Phineas Upham

Mortgages are long-term loans that are granted by the bank to a borrower. Mortgages use the property and the land it sits upon as collateral for the loan. When a home sale closes, the buyer signs documents that essentially grant the lender rights to a lien on the property.

Mortgages can trace themselves back to the Great Depression, when the Federal Housing Administration first got its start making loans to the general public. Loans were not entirely unheard of before then, but most real estate transactions were all-cash. Today, consumers pay these loans off over a long period of time (usually 15-30 years).

Each month, the borrower is required to make a payment towards the loan. This payment, often referred to as PITI, covers all elements of the loan itself. The lender helps the borrower set up an amortization table, which describes where the money from each payment will go. The principle represents the full balance of the loan, not the purchase price of the house. So the principle is the loan minus the down payment. The user then pays interest on that remaining balance based on what the bank agreed upon with the borrower. There are also taxes on the property that the owner will always remain responsible for. The owner is also responsible for maintaining property insurance against theft, fire, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Borrowers also have options for where their money goes. They can choose to pay off taxes and insurance in one lump sum, which helps reduce the monthly payment without affecting the mortgage balance.

Samuel Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Samuel Phineas Upham on his Samuel Phineas Upham website

Written by Lanvera.com

All companies have to deal with documentation, even in this, the paperless age. If you don’t handle it correctly, though, something as seemingly minor as invoice mailing can come back to bite you in a big way.

That’s why it’s important that you leverage documentation technology to your company’s benefit. Otherwise, you’re just begging for human error to eventually make your life much more difficult than it needs to be.

Document outsourcing is a great option so long as you’re entrusting it to a superior form of software. If that’s the case, you can rely on it to handle everything from addressing to formatting to mailing it out to tracking it. That’s how outsourcing is supposed to work and you didn’t even have to pay somebody extra to do it.

What’s more, with technology on your side, you have an absolutely infallible paper trail. Handling documentation correctly is one thing. Being able to prove you did so is another. The latter is essential if you want to succeed in your industry on a regular basis. Mistakes will happen, after all, so it’s important that you’re prepared.

Don’t let something as simple as documentation become your company’s Achilles heel.

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Whether you have credit union statementsto contend withor some other vital type of documentation, you need to ensure that it gets to where it needs to be as soon as possible and in the correct form. Don’t leave this important matter to chance, leave it to Lanvera.

This article was written by Phineas Upham

Though the housing market is showing signs of recovery today, the 2008 crises dealt a significant blow to US backed mortgages. The resulting collapse of several mortgage banks led to an over $700 billion bailout package arranged by the federal government. How American banks got there is a lesson in financial planning.

There were many causes of the mortgage crises, the biggest being a vast increase in subprime mortgages. Historically, subprime mortgages have never peaked above 8%. In two years, that number spiked to almost 20%, and 90% of those mortgages were adjustable rates. This meant that borrowers were facing ballooning payments on rates that would change at a specified date.

Coupled with the extreme debt faced by many US households, lending was at risk of default. Prices for homes also rose, which caused many loans to go upside down. When the adjustable rates kicked in, buyers found themselves in a difficult situation. They could not refinance to a more acceptable rate, nor could they afford the higher house payment.

The crisis also had repercussions outside of the US, where foreign lenders lost money on the debts they bought up. This led to worldwide concerns that the US would default on its loans, and the country lost its triple A credit rating.

In total, the housing market lost nearly 30% of its value by 2009. Roughly 6% of the American work force was jobless, and the stock market had lost almost 50% of its value. Today, the markets are rebounding but the climb back up is slow to come.

About the Author: Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phineas Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Phineas on his Twitter page.

Written by Phin Upham

When the Glass-Steagall Act was passed, it was hoped that consumers would get some protection from banks using their money for speculative dealings. Over time, these protections weakened and the legislation no longer covered consumers the way it had. It took 66 years and many pieces of legislation to fully repeal Glass-Steagall and update the banking laws.

First Repeal Efforts

Senator Glass tried to repeal his own act in 1935. He believed that the act was causing undue damage to the securities markets, because banks were prohibited from underwriting corporate securities. He managed to pass a revision in 1935 granting banks this power, but Roosevelt argued that the language would restore old abuses. Subsequently, the final bill passed without Glass’s additions to it.

Continued Competition

Banks had a problem with their borrowers over time. In an attempt to help their best customers, banks issued commercial paper that certified their customers as borrowers from capital markets. This left banks with a lot of poor credit customers that eventually couldn’t borrow. Many in the financial industry viewed the regulators as having too much power, which led to several important decisions made during the Reagan administration.

Reagan Administration Changes

In an effort to give bank affiliates broader powers over their securities, a bill was put forth to allow banks to underwrite and use customer money for mutual fund investments (among other securities). Another sweeping change came in the form of the Competitive Equality Banking Act, which established a moratorium on bank regulators and prevented new securities activities. CEBA would buy congress some time to review the remaining legislation in Glass-Steagall and eventually finish the full repeal.

Phin Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham