Investing in what you believe in

My first Funfare post back in February talked a little about my forays into the stock market. Amongst many equities I could have recommended, I chose just two. An excerpt from that post:

okay, here are just two of my safer, less risky favourite picks for 2011: National Bank of Greece – NBG – which I bought at $1.60 a month ago and is hovering just over $2 and is nowhere near as risky as you may think; and Mindspeed Technologies - MSPD – which I got in early January at $6.30 and is now over $8; my more ‘speculative’ punts involve highly risky biopharmaceuticals that can either double on good news or plummet 70% on bad.

Right…unless you’ve been living in la-la land or trying desperately hard to avoid the news, you’ll no doubt be aware that Greece is on teetering on the brink of a default. Splendid news in light of my analysis of NBG being ‘nowhere as risky as you may think’. Uh…oops.

So where do we stand now? It’s currently at $1.19, mere cents off its all-time low, which sees me down quite a bit from my $1.60 price. It hit as high as $2.24 just a few weeks after I bought it, and I could have cashed out with a hefty gain (hindsight in this game: a wildly dangerous affair).

Laugh all you want, but I don’t understand why the NBG price has dropped so much – and I’m far from alone on this one. I don’t want to get into technicals and fundamentals here, but NBG is a solid stock, and I’m tempted to load up on more here. Yeah, it’s risky as all hell, but it appears to have the right numbers and all, and if investors were thinking rationally, this thing should be at least around the $2 mark. That’s what makes this business so stressful and unpredictable: no one thinks rationally.

As for MSPD, I’m faring a bit better: it’s now at $7.22, so I’m still up, though considering it was over $9 last month, again I could have realised a nice gain.

Still, I’m in these ones for the long haul.

I’ve got a few more market tales I could share, both good and bad, but I won’t. Remember, I didn’t want this to turn into stock talk: I’ll lose what few remaining readers I have left.

But my real reason for writing is yet another frustrating customer service story here in Kyiv, and how that ties into the stock market.

Many investors will tell you that you ought to invest in a company or two that you have strong feelings for. Either you firmly believe in their product (Apple), you like what they’ve got to offer (Home Depot, McDonalds), or it’s just an old childhood favourite or something that rekindles fond memories (Disney). Of course, there should also be a strong business (profit) rationale here, too.

For me, I guess the closest example would be Skechers. I’ve believed in and worn their products - the dubious aesthetic and health merits of their Shape-Up line notwithstanding – for a number of years. Very few brands of shoes consistently fit me well, and Skechers is usually a safe bet.

Their stock got as high as $44 in 2010, and is currently hovering around $14. It had been on my radar for a while, and when it dipped into the $17-18 range, I bought some. Here we go again with hindsight: naturally I wished I’d waited, and even now it might have a bit more downside before it recovers.

The other day I bought a pair of shoes from the Skechers in Kyiv’s Dream Town shopping centre. I got them home, put them on again (of course I tried them on in the shop) and realised after a few minutes that they just weren’t comfortable at all.

Long story short[er]: my first attempt to return them ended in utter failure after lots of arguing and misunderstandings and frustrations. Big pet hate of mine: people who fail to ‘grade their speech’. Alright, so this is a bit of Tefl teacher talk, but bear with me: in the classroom, if I’m teaching a class of elementary students, I can’t go in there and fire away at normal speed with my everyday vocabulary. I have to grade my speech: slow it down, talk at their level, use words and structures they will understand. Similarly, if I’m speaking to anyone in English who doesn’t have a great command of English, I will grade my speech accordingly. What drives me up the wall is when others can’t do the same in return. It’s not just teachers who are able to and should do this: anyone can. It boils down to common sense.

For example, if someone with poor English talks to me, I’m not going to slow down my speech and speak incredibly loudly in my everyday vocabulary, which is a common American/British approach. It comes across as terribly patronising.

With my poor Russian, I’ve met some people who can easily grade their speech, not just friends who patiently help me with my Russian, but shop assistants, waitstaff and various others. Anyone can do it: it’s a matter of common courtesy and common sense.

In Skechers, I had to deal with some numbskull who blasted away in rapid-fire Russian even when it was clear I didn’t understand. More frustratingly, she had no patience whatsoever when I attempted to [slowly] respond. I could barely get a word in edgeways, despite the pleas of her fellow shop assistant, who had a smattering of English, but at least tried to be helpful and reason with her. It was all to no avail.

I went back again the next day, vowing to fight to the end. This time I won, and I was able to exchange my shoes. I felt vindicated and relieved.

But here was the troubling part of this: whilst there, two heavily armed bank guards came in to collect the day’s takings and whisk them off to a safe place. Before they made it all the way to the till, my bête noire stopped them in their tracks and told them not to bother, there wasn’t enough worth taking away. And their response? As far as I could gather, it was something along the lines of ‘again? just like last week?’

Last week? I’m pretty sure I heard that right.

I know this is just one shop – the only one, in fact – in Kyiv, but still. This can’t be a good sign, if for two straight weeks they haven’t even brought in enough money to warrant depositing it somewhere for safekeeping. That’s when you have to wonder whether that Skechers investment was a good idea after all.

Oops.

Disclaimer: I’ve never worn Shape Ups.

Next on the radar: my extended take on Ukrainian relationships (this weekend) and my top 100 pet hates compendium. I’ve got over 70 now, so hopefully not long left till I share that one.