#because if there’s one character I might be recognized for drawing 50 billion times over it’s her

[siliconcat]

I just realized I never posted it, but this was the art for my icon on the Touhoufest website

Edit: I forgot Alice day was a day away so pretend I planned it out lol

[trading-strategies-news]

Seeking Alpha: 3 Fortress REITs To Own During The New Era Of Physical Distancing.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4339929-3-fortress-reits-to-own-during-new-era-of-physical-distancing?utm_source=news.google.com&utm_medium=referral

Consider investing in only the highest-quality companies with the best balance sheets and great management teams.

It’s a strategy that has worked very well for Warren Buffett and his followers over the years.

We believe that our three A-rated picks will eventually generate sound price appreciation as their underlying business models are all built to last.

There’s a line from the classic film Princess Bride that goes, “Goodbye, boys! Have fun storming the castle!”

It’s a satirical line from a satirical movie, with one character turning to another to ask, “Think it’ll work?”

The response is, “It would take a miracle.”

If you’ve seen the movie even just once, you can probably easily envision the whole scene, including the joviality at the start of the very brief conversation and the sardonic certainty at the end. (If you haven’t, you’ll just have to take my word for it.)

But the truth is that castle storming back in the day was supposed to be a long shot. Only extreme levels of planning, plotting, and resources could pull them down.

They were built to be fortresses, strategically designed with features such as:

Arrowslits – Holes up high in the structures from which archers could let their weapons loose while remaining largely protected.

Keeps – Towers that rose as high up as possible to give great views of whatever might be coming.

Moats – Water-filled trenches that armies couldn’t easily cross unless a bridge was procured.

Portcullises – Heavy metal gates to protect main entrances.

Barbicans – Fortresses outside of the fortress designed to be the first line of defense.

Really, that last word, “defense,” sums up their strategy. The lords who commissioned them took every precaution possible to protected what was theirs.



Source

A Model Worth Following

Dr. Dan Spencer, author of The Castle at War in Medieval England and Wales, writes on Military History Now:

“In their day, medieval castles represented the state-of-art in military engineering.

“Erected by kinds and feudal lords during what we now commonly call the Middle Ages, these foreboding strongholds… were defensive in nature, being skillfully designed to resist attacks by armies many times larger than those manning its parapets.

“But of course, a castle was only ever as strong as its weakest point. As such, great efforts were made by builders to ensure that their castles could withstand an enemy onslaught.”

Some of them did a phenomenal job of it too, as evidenced by their still-standing structures today. Google “castles to visit today” or some such thing, and you’ll no doubt find plenty of places around the world.

Of course, considering how land invasions aren’t nearly as popular as they used to be, castles are admittedly a little passé. They’re great to bring in tourist revenue, it’s true. But they don’t present the same awe-inspiring military deterrent now that planes and bombs and battleships exist.

Even so, that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the concept they were built on. Warren Buffett certainly does, has, and no doubt will. He’s long-since been promising a “financial fortress” for investors in his Berkshire Hathaway(NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) fund.

By that, he means he invests in only the highest-quality companies with the best balance sheets and great management teams.

It’s a strategy that’s worked very well for him and his followers over the years. And it’s one I’ve seen significant success in as well.



Source

The Value of a Properly Fortified Fortress

For the record, I know about the news story currently circulating on most major financial sites: “Warren Buffett’s ‘Fortress’ Is Breached by Coronavirus-Related Shutdowns.” It starts out:

“Even as market watchers await Warren Buffett’s splashy move to seize on fallout from the current crisis, his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. hasn’t been spared by the pandemic.

“Coronavirus-related shutdowns across the U.S. have hit Berkshire units from See’s Candies and a shoemaker to industrial behemoth Precision Castparts. That could leave a few scars on the conglomerate…

“Buffett’s business partner, Charlie Munger, put it bluntly. ‘We’ve got a few businesses, small ones, we won’t reopen when this is over,’ he told The Wall Street Journal without naming the units.”

But here’s the thing. Fortresses don’t promise they’ll never get cracked by a battering ram or chipped by flying projectiles. As the article above – and every single castle throughout history – indicates, damage can be done.

For that matter, they don’t even promise they can withstand absolutely everything that comes their way. Nothing can, as proven by Krak des Chevaliers, an epic, all-but-invincible Crusader castle in Syria, that was surrendered, not by force, but by siege and, perhaps, a forged letter.

They only have the best chances around, which is why Bloomberg acknowledged:

“To be sure, Buffett’s promise that Berkshire will ‘forever remain a financial fortress’ hasn’t been broken yet. The company reported a $128 billion cash pile at the end of last year, as well as a stock portfolio valued at more than $248 billion.

Besides, “Some of its biggest revenue generators remain on solid footing.” And its similarly solid footing we’re looking for today through our own “revenue generators” in the REIT sector.

The companies below have plenty of cash on hand with significant chances of making plenty more cash in the future.

Here’s what they have to say for themselves.



Source: iREIT

3 A-Rated REITs We’re Buying Today

One of the good things about being a financial writer in the REIT sector is that we have tons or research at our disposal. This includes data from Seeking Alpha, Sentieo, FAST Graphs, and the wide world of Google. It’s very useful to have all of this information because it provides us with the most actionable intelligence to support our buy-hold-sell recommendations.

Given the latest COVID-19 risks we have carefully evaluated our entire REIT spectrum in order to model the impacts related to rent collection and future earnings. Accordingly, there are a number of REITs that we have downgraded to either Speculative, Hold, or Sell as we anticipate future dividend cuts and or suspensions.

We’re all living in unprecedented times and while strong balance sheets are essential to any business operation, we consider cash flow the primary test as it relates to dividend sustainability. That being said, we decided to focus the content today on three A-rated REITs that support our Buy or Strong Buy recommendation.

These three REITs appear on our list because we believe their dividend is safe and that the shares can be purchased at a reasonable margin of safety. We recently downgraded Simon Property (SPG) to a Spec Buy, and we plan to address this name in a detailed article later this week.

Our first pick on the list is Public Storage (PSA), a self-storage REIT whose capital structure is nearly bulletproof because it utilizes perpetual preferreds instead of debt (no refinancing risk). Its business model is one that is consistent through business cycles and its management has shown themselves to be immensely talented.

PSA is unique in the REIT industry (actually, virtually unique compared to any company) in that its capital structure is overwhelmingly comprised of common and preferred stock - debt is a measly 3%. PSA is the largest REIT issuer of preferred stock and has mastered its use in the capital structure. It’s this use that has created the fortress known as their balance sheet.

Income investors often recognize the security and performance available with the purchase of PSA, but are often turned away by the low dividend yield. However, thanks to the Covid-19 inspired pullback, PSA’s dividend yield is now 4.3% with a P/FFO handle of 17.4x.

To be clear, we don’t view PSA as a Strong Buy today, but we’re glad we included shares in the Cash Is King portfolio (just a Buy). We like the business model, and while the summer months could be challenging with lease-up (due to stay at home rules) we have a high degree of certainty that customers will continue to use storage in the weeks and months ahead.



Source: FAST Graphs

Our next fortress pick is Realty Income (O), the monthly paying bellwether that has become the staple for many retirees and income-oriented investors.

The primary reason that O has sold off (-31.9% total return year-to-date) is because of the company’s exposure to theaters (6.7%) and gyms (7%). Given the elevated risk of tenant defaults, specifically bankruptcies, it’s likely that certain stores may close, and Realty Income’s payout ratio could narrow.

We believe that Realty Income’s payout ratio – which is in the low 80s now – is adequate to handle the short-term shock to earnings. Essentially, we’d agree with the CEO’s optimism when he said that, “We feel very good about our liquidity situation: our ability to continue to pay the dividend and grow the dividend.”

Importantly, we also feel comfortable that Realty Income has an impressive A-rated balance sheet. The company is the only net lease REIT with an A-rated balance sheet and has protected its fortress balance sheet by strengthening its liquidity position by drawing down $1.2 billion (bringing the cash balance to $1.25 billion). There’s around $1.2 billion of capacity remaining on the $3 billion revolver (with an accordion of another $1 billion).

It’s important to recognize that Realty Income has around 50% of investment-grade rated tenants and we believe this investment policy (focusing on quality) will pay dividends during the next few months. Realty Income also has the least exposure to private equity-backed tenants and this provides us with a higher degree of confidence that Realty Income’s tenant base will keep paying rent.

Furthermore, and I cannot emphasize this enough, Realty Income is the most diversified net lease REIT and while certain sectors (like theaters and gyms) could put temporary pressure on the payout ratio, Realty Income is in the best position (of all net lease REITs) to weather the storms.

Shares are now yielding 5.7% with a P/FFO multiple of 14.8x (-30% below normal range). We are maintaining a Strong Buy at this time.



Source: FAST Graphs

Our final fortress pick is Federal Realty (FRT), one of just two shopping center REITs on our buy list.

FRT’s balance sheet is by far one of the strongest in its industry, as illustrated by its (1) net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 5.5x, its fixed-charge coverage ratio of 4.2x, its weighted-average debt maturity of ~10 years (near the top of the sector) and its weighted average interest rate of 3.8%.

FRT ended 2019 with over $127 million in cash on its balance sheet – up from just $64 million a year ago and management said it has no outstanding balance on a recently expanded $1 billion credit facility.

While FRT is known for its retail exposure, it's important to remind readers that the company has diversified its business model to include a variety of profit centers including:

Residential – 11%

Office – 9%

Fitness, health, beauty – 9%

Discount Apparel – 9%

Full-service restaurant – 9%

Full-service apparel – 8%

Grocery – 7%

[weblistposting-blog]

New Post has been published on Weblistposting

New Post has been published on https://weblistposting.com/chinas-cutting-edge-onslaught-on-the-net/

China’s Cutting-edge Onslaught on the Net

Chinese “netizens” are known for nimbly “scaling the Brilliant Firewall” to get around authorities boundaries that save you them from accessing sure records overseas. Their hobbies are exceptionally diverse: Some search for news critical of the Chinese government or are seeking for impartial records approximately air first-class problems, Some have commercial enterprise hyperlinks overseas or need the Cutting-edge scientific studies, whilst others want to submit attacks on the Fb web page of the elected chief of Taiwan.

However soon this might all be history. This week the government of Chongqing, a city of about 50 million in southwest China, made public a law that bans unauthorized use of Internet circumvention equipment within the metropolis. while the guidelines came into impact in last July, information had been best launched this week. All of us – from people to agencies – who skirts China’s gadget of Net filters will be ordered to disconnect and receive a warning. Folks who make a profit while the usage of circumvention equipment might be fined.

The law is one of many latest steps with the aid of the Chinese language government in its attempt to impose overall manipulate over get right of entry to to information. In January 2017, the Ministry of Industry and statistics Generation issued rules that require all vendors of circumvention equipment in China to be pre-approved by using the ministry, which correctly places maximum of the united states’s vendors of digital private networks – or VPNs, a widely used type of circumvention software program – in violation of the regulation.

The Chongqing law is unparalleled because it places a blanket ban on the usage of VPNs and other circumvention strategies used to connect with the worldwide Internet. Preceding regulatory efforts to rein in the use of such equipment have targeted on carriers and left man or woman customers alone.

It’s miles doubtful whether or not other neighborhood governments will soon follow fit, but the ban has already had a chilling effect amongst VPN customers across the country – many netizens published worried or crying emojis to express their displeasure.

Chinese language leaders, from President Xi Jinping on down, speak frequently approximately cooperation and exchanges between peoples and governments. If the Chinese language authorities genuinely desires that, it ought to at least allow its humans to have get admission to to the uncensored international Internet in which they are able to without problems talk with every different and people from the relaxation of the world. A number of the numerous Ways to Make Cash on the Internet If you are an enterprising character who does not mind doing a number of studies, you’ll discover that there are loads of Methods to make Cash on an internet-Based companies. You will be able to earn everywhere from three cents to masses of lots of dollars each month, all you need is a goal and the will to research.

There are many Ways to earn Cash on-line, this kind of is to sell items on the Net. When you have heard of eBay, you’ll recognize that It’s miles a Notable platform where hundreds of lots of people bid on and buy gadgets, from keychains to big price tag digital products. Entrepreneurs on eBay earn billions of bucks! You can have a large slice of this profitable pie, as properly. When you have gadgets you want to sell, or have get right of entry to to a dealer of rapid-promoting products, You can make Money on Internet selling, rapid!

Every other fast way to make Cash is thru advertising and marketing. In case you already have a website that generates a number of visitors, You could start to earn extra cash online through banner marketing in your website online. Google AdSense is one profitable example. To get paid, traffic to your website online merely need to click for your banner.

Becoming a member of an affiliate application is Some other method of incomes. In case your website is not selling any product, You could sign up for an affiliate program where human beings should buy merchandise through your site. One such instance is Amazon.Com, in which there’s a a success software that assist you to make Money as an affiliate.

There are different First rate Money-making strategies that You may harness on line. All you want is enough enthusiasm, a worth aim, a strong plan, and the willingness to make it all paintings.

A Ought to Have Tool For the Internet Marketer

Have you ever heard approximately IM faceplate?

IM faceplate became launched by using Logiscape guys. In case you are an internet marketer You could take benefit of IM faceplate. This is a totally critical Tool any Net marketers ought to taken into consideration. If in comparison to Fb or Twitter, there may be a Super difference. As a brand new user I discovered that after writing or filing an editorial You could effortlessly edit and add a hyperlink on your website. It also has a multiple shouts for your faceplate. Although faceplate remains below constructions almost everyday they update it.

A few recommendations and recommendation whilst the usage of faceplates. must you decide to apply faceplate a further care need to be given an interest. As you come to be use to it you rest confident that you are going to meet many pals and offer you a lot products. They’ll also urge or inspire you to enroll in there program., and likewise you’ll do the equal. I tell you this is not a terrific habit and practice. Constructing and setting up your self as a accept as true with worth person is one number one significance before sending any associate links to human beings you simply meet some time ago.

Every other piece of recommendation is don’t use faux names on the forum.. This is Another Outstanding opportunity to brand yourself that you are a accept as true with worthy man or woman and they could trust you. Writing a good article is usually the key thing to get and draw humans’s interest. In case you need to grow to be influential writer in the future This is basic, write a very good and best articles. If you do not have an account You could join each time to IM faceplate.

[universeinform-blog]

Private Equity now funds 75% of Indian property market as banks pull out

New Post has been published on https://universeinform.com/2017/03/21/private-equity-now-funds-75-of-indian-property-market-as-banks-pull-out/

Private Equity now funds 75% of Indian property market as banks pull out

MUMBAI: Indian reality, it appears, owes its concrete foundations to personal equity. Investment capital from uber wealthy individuals and establishments – or personal equity (PE) financing in the broadest feel of the term – now makes up 75 according to cent of the price range propping up India’s property marketplace, in comparison with just about a fourth in 2010. Overall investment inside the actual property zone improved 40 percent to $five.four billion in 2016 from $three.8 billion in 2011. This includes fund flows from PEs, non-banking financial

Overall investment inside the actual property zone improved 40 percent to $five.four billion in 2016 from $three.8 billion in 2011. This includes fund flows from PEs, non-banking financial

Banks used to account for anywhere between 50 per cent-fifty seven according to cent of the sector’s institutional investment requirement until 2014. in the past years, financial institution credit to the sector has slumped to approximately 26 consistent with the cent.

As the real estate market in India matures, driven through both regulatory and market forces, we assume PE capital to play a fair more role. Creation of public markets for business assets in the form of REITs (actual estate Investment Trusts) and sale of distressed property through.

Ray inside the form of REITs (actual estate Investment Trusts) and sale of distressed property by using banks to lessen non-acting assets are some of the drivers that could attract a variety of foreign capital into India’s property market,” said Rajeev Bairathi, ED & head of capital markets, Knight Frank India. Overseas inv.

These buyers have in large part favored debt or dependent debt investment due to the fact that 2012, with such products making up more than a third of such transactions. But, professionals accept as true with, that it’s time for a change. “PE gamers will revisit the drawing board to devise the character in their participation in actual estate. Long gone are the days of comparing safety values primarily based on projected capital costs and coins flows to take secured debt positions,” stated Rubi Arya, popVC, Milestone Capital Advisors

The Pros and Cons of Indian Media

The function of media has continually created a deep effect on the lives of the commonplace guy. While on the only hand it has updated humans approximately the conditions around the world, there again it has additionally created panic when half baked information popped out inside the open. In India, the growing reputation of the media is having varied effects on the lives of people.us dollar to Indian rupee

It has been pretty a few years now that the Indian media has advanced from newspapers and radio and made its way into the television industry. There are several news channels that run 24×7 and maintain people up to date about all of the incidents no longer handiest within the country but also across the world. The greatest benefit of this device is that human beings sitting in India get updated about the incidents which might be happening in the USA inside a be counted of minutes. Not like the antique days, there may be no need to attend till the following day while the newspapers arrive to be up to date about the other aspect of the arena. Those channels also have sites on the internet that are up to date every minute, in order that even people who are at the circulate can remain updated through the net on their cellular phones. Say as an instance the day when the arena Exchange Middle got here down, it changed into a count number of moments that human beings all over the world have become aware of it.

Or even whilst the trains in London have been bombed, the complete world became aware of it, thanks to the media. This immediate replace enabled human beings from the world over to connect to they are close to and pricey ones to make sure their safety.

But, it can not be disregarded that in which on the only hand instantaneous information approximately incidents assist human beings, there once more the media can be a threat at times. Media in India at instances grow to be repetitive and that they maintain playing the identical information tape time and again once more. At the time those information objects which aren’t at all essential get plenty of hype, sidelining the occurrences that might be of real significance. Indian media paid an excessive amount of interest to activities just like the wedding of a star son and a main heroine, the kiss that a Hollywood star planted on the cheek of a Bollywood heroine, the coming to mild of the clandestine courting of a Pakistan cricketer with a woman, and additionally the being pregnant of a Hindi film heroine. These incidents are of least significance to the lifestyles of a not unusual man and a lot of importance handiest takes away the light from those incidents which can actually have an effect on humans of their each day lives.

Eleven Key Attributes of a Good Property Manager

Belongings Management is a career. The industry lets in for employment boom, persistent studying stories, and the possibility to work with various people and profits agencies. The Belongings Manager can work both without delay for a proprietor of real property houses, or for a Assets Management agency, shrunk by using an owner or prison entity to care for the actual estate over a selected time period.propwall

The Assets Supervisor has a fiduciary dating with the Management company and Belongings proprietor. A fiduciary relationship is one this is based totally on a mutual accept as true with and complete self-assurance in each other.

The Belongings Supervisor is furnished an proprietor’s real estate portfolio to control to its “highest and first-rate use” in change for an employment settlement or revenue. real estate assignments for the Belongings Manager includes condominium homes, condominiums, motels, storage facilities, shopping centers, workplace buildings, government-backed properties, rooming houses, deserted buildings and plots of vacant land, to call some.

I’ve managed almost all the above styles of homes for over two decades. I’ve managed public and personal housing, for non-earnings corporations, for the federal authorities, and for private developers and real estate investors. I additionally owned my very own Belongings Management employer for eight years. I now teach, speak, and write approximately Belongings Management standards and techniques. Right here are some essential competencies, which I know from first hand experience, have to be common as required attributes and discovered talents so as to be a terrific Property Supervisor.

1. have to recognize and Stay Modern-day on Local Ordinances and Nation Laws

Managers are required to perform their work according to the Legal guidelines of the land. The government (town, Kingdom, and federal) dictates how actual estate is to be managed, from requiring a actual estate license (depending on the Country), to the usage of the actual property (inclusive of lease manipulate Legal guidelines). From right trash removal to how and in which we have to maintain security deposits, the Supervisor has to hold abreast of the many prison requirements of managing actual property. If a mistake is made or a task is forgotten, it could price the owner his or her Property, and/or a Control company’s reputation, lack of the account, or even the loss of real estate licenses.

2. need to Be Incredibly Moral and Sincere

Assets Managers work on the honor Code when they deal with different people’s cash. by amassing hire, security deposits, laundry gadget cash et al, the Belongings Supervisor holds a fiduciary courting with the Assets proprietor and/or Control employer. The owner entrusts the Assets with thousands of bucks each month, plus the cost of the actual estate itself. The Supervisor is hired to carry out at his or her maximum level of integrity. On a each day foundation, the Property Supervisor’s desirable judgment and sense of what is right and wrong is known as into play.

3. need to be Element Orientated and Organized

Managers accumulate the lease each day, and should ensure that every lease is paid and published to the tenants’ account as acquired. Economic statistics detailing every and every lease transaction are kept, both by means of lease cards, or at the laptop. Hire expirations and renewals, hire boom letters, and rent invoices ought to be mailed on time. traces for court appearances ought to be saved, and clients need to receive their written monthly file of operations. A professional Assets Supervisor is capable of multi-mission, maintain web page documents Organized, and prioritize repairs and assignments.

Understand the Pros and Cons of Saving Money in Piggy Banks

It is constantly a tremendous concept to position some money away for a wet day or for a destiny purchase. But in which you put It’s miles a personal preference depending on what your issues are. Do you have protection in mind? Or is it convenience possibly? Anything they’ll be, you may have the concept of getting a piggy bank in which to store some more money. It would help you in case you understood what using one of these entails. There are obvious advantages in addition to disadvantages that include piggy banks.

Benefits

All of us have spare change left over from grocery shopping and other small purchases, and from time to time we simply put it all around the residence because we do no longer have a principal place to deposit it. A coin financial institution will enable you to hold tune of the small amounts of cash that would in any other case surely lie round or get lost. It can additionally be a high-quality manner to in reality keep in the direction of a small buy together with something you saw on sale at the shop down the street. Small, ordinary deposits into the piggy bank will acquire sufficient to reach the favored quantity. There are a few massive piggy banks which are convenient for developing a decent saving, so that is probably of interest to you.banks open on Columbus day

Most piggy or coin banks via their very layout are beautiful to have a look at. Which means that besides the use of them to place away a few money, you can additionally use them as ornamental pieces in the house. The piggy financial institution might not always come inside the layout of a pig, But some are modeled after other animals or objects. So you ought to choose to become a collector of them and make them serve the double obligation of storing your money and brightening up your house.