Drive to Pukaki

After departing from Queenstown, we boarded our trusty Familia and departed on the drive to Mt. Cook National Park – a scenic area close to the two famous glaciers in New Zealand.  The drive, as expected, was scenic and beautiful, but otherwise uneventful.  We eventually got to our “motel,” which was actually a gorgeous chalet in a small town close to Lake Pukaki.  After settling in and grabbing some overpriced food (if you read any of my past posts, you should be sensing a theme at this point), we went to go explore the lake and the entrance to the park.  They too were scenic and beautiful, and not quite as uneventful, as I’m pretty sure we interrupted a couple that was skinny dipping, and Leo turned Irina into a semi-professional model.

The Glaciers and Mt. Cook

The day after we drove to Pukaki we left once again, this time for Fox Glacier, one of the two famous glaciers on the south island of New Zealand.  Fox Glacier township was extremely small – the quintessential one road town, but, like the rest of New Zealand and Australia, full of extremely nice and friendly people.  When we first arrived, we didn’t do a whole lot (considering there wasn’t a whole lot to do).  But we were all looking forward to the next day.

We had booked a helicopter tour of, and landing on, the glaciers.  Considering the fact that I had never been on a helicopter up until that point, and that I also really like cool looking ice, I was definitely looking forward to it.

Of course, New Zealand’s weather had other ideas.  Like the rest of our trip to that point, it was cloudy, very cloudy, and apparently the winds were too strong to take a helicopter out to see the mountains.

We scowled.  We asked about alternatives.  We looked at other companies.  Everyone’s hands were tied.  So we ended up doing the only sensible thing we could do – we got breakfast.

Helicopter tour

While we were waiting, though, the owner of the helicopter tour company that we booked came up to us and apologized for a previous mix up, offering to compensate for it by providing an uncharacteristically long flight and two landings in the now flyable sky.  Considering how we thought we may have to wait til the next day (when we were leaving) before the weather cleared up, we jumped on the opportunity, so after breakfast, we trekked over to the central office and jumped into his jeep so that he could drive us to the helicopter.

The helicopter itself was uncharacteristically small, but, it did have three seats all next to windows, which delighted us all.  Its blades were also alarmingly close to the doors, causing me to duck my head (unnecessarily) every time that I got in.

Suffice it to say, I survived getting into the chopper.

After we all piled in, the pilot took off without a hint of hesitation and we were soon flying off to see mountains and glaciers.  The flight was awesome.  Indescribable.  We came within feet of the glaciers (and though we couldn’t land on them, we were able to land on the top of a nearby mountain).  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

After finishing up with the helicopter tour, we took a little walk around the nearby Lake Matheson, and then went off to our last and final destination: Christchurch.

The drive along the way was one of the, if not the most beautiful drive, heck, the most beautiful anything, that I’ve ever seen.  We drove past unbelievable valleys surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills with snowcapped mountains in the background.  We passed by a pasture where cows were grazing, and after stopping to take pictures, we watched the cows move slowly towards us over the course of 20 minutes, never losing their cautious curiosity.  We saw rocks that could put Stonehenge to shame arranged on cliff sides as if they had been placed there with a purpose, though none could be found.  It was incredible.  No words can convey how gorgeous this drive was, and no pictures can do it justice.  I will never forget it.

After we finally got to Christchurch, we headed to our suite, got some food at The Running Bull (a pretty good restaurant that is apparently also Christchurch’s only teen club, considering the long line or apparently pubescent teenagers that were waiting to get into the place late at night), and got in touch with the local hot air balloon operator to confirm our appointment for the next morning.

Wouldn’t you know it, the weather was going to prevent our balloon ride.

Seriously, as awesome as New Zealand is, its weather sucked, at least while we were there.  I have no doubt that it cleared up completely the second I left.

In any case, we woke up late the next morning, grateful to have a slow morning.  Later that afternoon, we ended up going to the local wildlife habitat, where I fed a giraffe and finally saw a rhino up close and personal.  Those things are massive.  Their legs were like mini-boulders, and their head was the size of me.  Massive beasts.  One of the females even went after the male’s food and they butted heads.  That was a crazy site to see.

Interestingly enough, I learned that their horns are made of hair and the same material that fingernails are made of, but rhinos “groom” themselves enough (by rubbing their horns against something else) that they’re usually able to get rid of most of the hair.  If you look closely enough, though, you can still see random tufts of hair sprouting from their horns.  Very odd.

That night, we went to bed early – the next morning I had to be at the airport at 8 AM to fly to Auckland, after which was my flight back to the States.

29 days of traveling.  A 16 hour time difference.  My 6th continent.  Tons of friends.  Beautiful scenery.  Great experiences.  I don’t take many trips where I’m left wanting more after 2 weeks.  This was most definitely not one of them.  I’m going to miss this place.

I took it to reinforce my belief that you should never wait to show someone what they mean to you.  It shouldn’t take a special occasion to tell someone what you feel.

Enjoy.

DATE WITH A WOMAN After 21 years of Marriage, my Wife wanted me to take another Woman out to Dinner and a Movie. She said I Love You but I know this other Woman loves you and would Love to spend some Time with You. The other Woman that my Wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a Widow for 19 years, but the demands of my Work and my three Children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to Invite her to go out for Dinner and a Movie. ‘What’s wrong, are you well,’ she asked? My Mother is the type of Woman who suspects that a Late Night Call or a Surprise Invitation is a sign of Bad News. ‘I thought that it would be pleasant to be with you,’ I responded. ‘Just the two of us.’ She thought about it for a moment, and then said, ‘I would like that very much.’ That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit Nervous. When I arrived at her House, I noticed that she too seemed to be Nervous about our Date. She waited in the Door with her Coat on. She had Curled her Hair and was wearing the Dress that she had worn to Celebrate her last Wedding Anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as Radiant as an Angel’s. ‘I told my Friends that I was going to go out with My Son, and they were impressed, ‘ She said, as she got into the Car. ‘They can’t wait to hear about our meeting’. We went to a Restaurant that, although not Elegant, was very Nice and Cozy. My Mother took my Arm as if She were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the Menu. Large Print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A Nostalgic Smile was on her Lips. ‘It was I who used to have to Read the Menu when you were Small,’ She said. ‘Then it’s Time that you Relax and let me Return the Favor,’ I responded. During the Dinner, we had an Agreeable Conversation, nothing Extra-ordinary, but catching up on recent Events of each others Life. We talked so much that we missed the Movie. As we arrived at her House later, She said, ‘I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.’ I agreed. ‘How was your Dinner Date?’ asked My Wife when I got Home. ‘Very Nice. Much more so than I could have Imagined,’ I answered. A few days later, my Mother died of a Massive Heart Attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have Time to do anything for her. Some time later, I received an Envelope with a Copy of a Restaurant Receipt from the same place Mother and I had dined. An Attached Note Said: ‘I paid this Bill in Advance. I wasn’t sure that I could be there; But nevertheless, I paid for Two Plates – One for You and the Other for Your Wife. You will never know what that Night meant for Me. I Love You, My Son.’ At that moment, I understood the Importance of saying in Time: ‘I LOVE YOU!’ and to give our Loved Ones the Time that they Deserve. Nothing in Life is more important than God and your Family. Give them the Time they Deserve, because these Things cannot be Put Off till ‘Some Other Time.’ Pass This Along To Everyone With An Aging Parent, To A Child, To An Adult, To Anyone With A Parent.

Australia’s San Francisco

When I last left you, I had just finished reminiscing about my time in Port Douglas.  I’ve since finished an awesome stay in Melbourne, which, in my opinion, is Australia’s very own San Francisco.

OK, so it’s not quite the same as San Fran.  There’s no Golden Gate Bridge, and the roads aren’t really hilly (that’s a word, right?).  But, there is an impressive Chinatown, a citywide network of trams, lots of good Asian food, and an environment that could make any San Franciscan feel at home.

The town

I landed in Melbourne on the 11^th with my posse in tow.  We grabbed an incredibly expensive cab to our hostel right in the middle of Chinatown and began to settle in.  The first thing we did was visit Melbourne’s awesome Wednesday night food market.  It was essentially a giant parking lot converted into an international food bizarre, with cuisine from all over the world.  I ended up having a (kanga)’Roo burger with a side of emu.  If you remember, it had only been a few days before that I had actually fed kangaroos and emus.  Ah, the circle of life.

Over the next couple of days, I hung out with my friends Yair, Zain, and Liz.  We walked around the city, took the free tram around the central business district, checked out the harbor, and met up with other Sternies that were either visiting or studying in the city.  It was nice to get to know Melbourne a bit.  Yair, Zain, and Liz even found a nice LEGO shop where they got in touch with their inner kids.

Late on Friday night, actually, well into early Saturday morning, I even tried to stay up all night trading.  With my 5 Hour Energy shot, a two hour pre-nap, and my willpower in tow, I managed to trade from around 2 AM to 8 AM.  Unfortunately, my results weren’t as successful as they have been when I was in Europe or the States.

Great Ocean Rd

A few days later, a bunch of us got some cars and headed off on the famous Great Ocean Rd.  This is Australia’s version of Route 1, complete with scenic lookouts overlooking dramatic cliff faces, historic lighthouses, a gorgeous coastline, and a scenic and inspiring set of rock formations along a turquoise coast known as the 12 Apostles.  To top it all off, we even saw a bunch of koalas in the wild, some of which we were able to right up close and look in the eyes.

Relaxing in Melb.

The next day my posse left me for New Zealand, so I checked into a new hotel, farther out from the city, but closer to the University of Melbourne, where the rest of my Stern crew was staying, and, unfortunately for them, studying.  The next few days were pretty relaxing.  I caught up with my P90X, which had been lacking significantly.  I met up with a few of my friends in St. Kilda for dinner at a hotpot restaurant (Claypots), and I even had a really nice, relaxing day at the first day of the Australian Open.

One of the nights, a few of us even got a car and headed down to Phillip Island to see the nightly penguin parade – an event where the smallest penguins in the world make their way from the sea to the turf.  It was pretty cool to see them up close, but unfortunately, the park authorities didn’t allow pictures, so unfortunately I have nothing to show you.  You’ll just have to take my word that they’re awesome, funny, waddling little birds.

It’s all in the company you keep

The next day, Leo flew into town and we met up for our short-lived, yet extremely enjoyable, Melbourne adventure.  On the first day that he was here, we went back to the Queen Victoria Night Market, this time with a different group of Sternies, Priji, my friend from Bocconi, who I’m sure you all remember from here (the end of the exchange), here (Morocco), and possibly even here (Oktoberfest), and Priji’s wife, Heather, an awesome kiwi-turned-Aussie teacher.

I had a blast at the night market yet again.  It was awesome being able to hang out with both Leo and Priji/Heather, as well as Irina, who joined us again.  Bringing together three different groups of friends is always a bit iffy but everyone hit it off well and, of course, used jabs against me, as an effective bonding technique.

The next day, Priji took me and Leo out on the Great Ocean Rd.  I didn’t mind making a second trip, since I really liked it the first time, and I knew that Leo would be able to get some awesome pictures along the way.  In fact, it was good that I went because we got to see kangaroos, get some great scenic pictures, and hang out.  After the drive, the three of us grabbed some dinner along the waterfront and then met up with Heather and one of her friends.  That innocent meetup turned into the five of us staying out at a club in Melbourne until 4 AM (with a brief interlude in which Priji drove me back to the hotel to change out of my shorts and into club-appropriate jeans).

The only reason we left at 4 was because Leo and I had to get to the airport by 5:30ish to head over to New Zealand.  We went straight from the club (Fusion), to our hotel, to the airport.  No sleep.  Well worth it.

That night ended my incredible stay in Australia.  I had such a great time, and it was an awesome feeling to be able to hang out with everyone, particularly Priji and Heather, who I really missed from Bocconi, and who I may not see again for a long time.  In fact, when they took me back to my hotel, I was really a bit down that I had to leave such an amazing group of people.

But, c’est la vie.

The next stop had to be explored, and that stop would turn out to be the most beautiful location I’ve ever seen.

New Zealand awaited us.

Port Douglas

When I last left you, I had just finished a couple of days in Sydney and was heading to Port Douglas.  I got into this small little beach town on the 5^th, meeting up with a couple of other Sternies along the way.  The town itself actually reminded me of the Outer Banks – a sleepy little village that sleeps early, has no qualms about going at its own pace, closes down at 10, and relishes its spot on the water.

During my first night there, my fellow Sternies and I quickly found out that nothing is open late, so a Spanish-style dinner had to be replaced with ready-to-eat burgers in a bag, Tim Tams (the Australian chocolate snack of choice), and some Yellowtail to wash it all down.  That actually turned into a pretty fun night, but an important lesson was learned – don’t eat late in Port Douglas.

The next day my friends took a tour up to Cape Tribulation while I caught some much needed shuteye, but I did manage to take a walk on the beach, do a P90X workout, and then head out for some dinner.

The real fun started the next day.

The Great Barrier Reef

We decided to take a boat tour out to Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef, so on that extremely hot, yet crystal clear day, we packed up our board shorts and bikinis and went out on a boat to a platform that had been constructed in the middle of the reef.  Over the course of the day, we took a pseudo-submarine tour of the reef, did a helmet walk under the water, and snorkeled out into the open.

The wildlife we saw was awesome.  On the platform’s underwater observation deck I saw a fish the size of a truck.  My friends saw a giant clam when they were out snorkeling.  On the pseudo-submarine we saw incredible coral formations close up.  In the helmet walk, we took some shrimp with us and watched as tends, maybe even hundreds of fish swarmed within inches of our faces as they tried to get their next meal.  Though we didn’t go diving like many of our friends did, we did get a taste of just how impressive the underwater world can be.

The wildlife sanctuary

After another relaxing day, some of my friends left Port Douglas to get ready for their DBi in Melbourne, while my friend Zain and I checked into our new hotel and met up with some other friends.  That night, we hung out, played a little Monopoly Cards (cool game), and planned for our next day – a trip to the wildlife sanctuary.

Up to that point, one thing I had missed out on was holding a koala.  A bunch of my friends did it in Brisbane after they left Sydney, but since I got to Australia after most people did, I never had that experience.  One of the cool things that Port Douglas has is a wildlife sanctuary where you get to get up close and personal with animals.  After reading the brochure, I thought it sounded pretty cool, so a few of us decided to check it out.

The following day, after staying up late to watch the Giants game, I didn’t really think we’d get out the door, but we did, and in the process we had one of the coolest experiences of our trip – at least, thus far.  The sanctuary itself is composed of three different environments (Grasslands, Rainforest, and Wetlands), each of which offers visitors the chance to get up close to animals, usually with no barrier.  It was an incredible experience.

I was inches away from endangered birds.  I got to feed kangaroos and wallabies out of my hand (amazing).  And yes, I even got to hold, and take a picture with, a koala (in addition to a baby croc and a snake)!  The sanctuary itself was more like a safari than anything, and I’m incredibly glad I went to visit it.

Back to Cairns and off to Melbourne

A day after the sanctuary, we left Port Douglas and headed off to Cairns, a slightly larger town that was an hour away.  Cairns was pretty chill, it had a cool scene, but we didn’t get to spend much time there.  The following day we headed off to Melbourne, which is where I am at the time of this post.

The trip so far has been a lot of fun.  I’ll be in Melbourne (more on this soon) for 5 more days before heading off to New Zealand for 9 days, and then I finally get to rest my travel-weary body in New York (well, at least for a month).  Just like before, if you want to see pictures of the trip, head over to my Australia album on Picasa.

Image from dream designs

You know, I’m surprised that I never even thought to write my typical “end of the year” self-reflection, looking back on all the growth, talking about my new year goals, type of post.

That’s strange for me.  I usually never forget to do that.  In fact, just now when I remembered I didn’t write one, I was wondering if I should even make one at all.

And that, I think, has been the theme of this year.

There’s no doubt that it has been an eventful year, probably the most eventful I’ve had.  Interestingly enough, though, my friend Grace pointed out that I say that every year.  So the eventfulness didn’t define this past year.

It has been a year of growth.  I’ve learned a lot.  But there was no defining event that made me consider my direction in life and drastically change directions.  So the growth didn’t define this past year.

I traveled a hell of a lot.  More than any other year, maybe even more than every previous year combined.  But all the travel eventually blurred together.  It became consistent.  The novelty wore off.  So the travel didn’t define this past year.

I had the best year of trading I’ve ever had.  In fact, the strategies I developed this past year will hopefully enable me to not have to work for “the man” again.  But the trading was a result of years of work, research, and experimentation, so it’s not like I had a big eureka moment this year.  So my trading didn’t define this past year.

And I think that lack of definition is the definition for my past year.

There has been no life changing event, no emotional or physical obstacle I’ve been working to overcome, no major losses or gains to mourn or celebrate.  It has been a year of experiencing, doing, learning, seeing, growing.  And that has been what this year has been about.

I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten through the demons of the past.  I’ve had a string of good fortune and happy events in the past 4-6 months.  I have no major complaints.  For all means and purposes, life has been good to me.  In the past, I may have lauded my own efforts to overcome major obstacles and achieve goals, but for some reason, I feel like the credit for this good fortune just doesn’t fall to me.  I’m not sure who deserves it, really.  It has been a combination of good company, fortunate events, and the outcome of careful planning.  I’ve just been lucky, really, and I’m grateful for it.

I’m a lot more at peace, calm, now, and I’m hoping to take that into the next year and grow it.  I have high hopes for the next year, professionally, socially, personally, etc, but I’m approaching it with a lot more humbleness, zen, and a focus on what’s important.  I’ve had an incredible 2011, and if this was any other previous time in my life, I could write pages about how much I’ve learned and grown.  For now, I’m just going to say I’m thankful for the way that things have turned out and that I look forward to the future.

Lesson 1 – Books and covers and such

You know, it has been more than a month since I left Italy, and closer to 2 since I said goodbye to most of the exchange crew.  I took a lot from that exchange, hopefully a few friendships that will last, the experience of living in a new country, un po’ di Italiano, the knowledge of how awesome Oktoberfest and the Germans are, and maybe even a couple of life lessons, or perhaps, reminders, that I needed a refresher in.

The most important lesson is the exact same one we’re taught throughout our lives, and yet, as we get older, that lesson seems to fade as our human biases take shape.  That lesson, of course, is to not make snap judgments about people before getting to know them.  Or, as the cliché goes, don’t judge a book by its cover.

It’s interesting to look back now and see how things have turned out from that trip.  I can tell you now that the people I really got close to weren’t the people that I expected to during my first week in Milan.  Similarly, the people I thought I would get to know well became acquaintances more than close friends.  Some people that I thought to be a certain way turned out to be completely different.

By this point in life, I should know better.  In fact, we all should, and yet, too many times we don’t take the time to get to know people before making a judgment about who they are.  My time at Bocconi gave me the shock to my system that I needed to not do this.

Some people are awesome, get to know them.

That actually leads me in to my second lesson: focus on the best relationships.

Lesson 2 – Prioritize who and what matter

During my working years, I had a few really good friends that I always used to hang out with.  I loved them all, such good people for the most part.  I had a blast hanging out with them.  But I always had that yearning to get to know more people, and I was never really content that I didn’t know more.

Then I came to business school, and in my first year I tried to go out and meet as many people as I could.  I got to know hundreds of different people, but I didn’t really get to know them.  I knew their names and maybe a few tidbits gleaned from small talk.  The more I did this, the more discontent I got.  I didn’t want to have people that I just knew of.  I wanted to know people – I wanted to have good friends.

Bocconi showed me the true power of focusing on developing close friendships.  As I focused on a smaller group of more important people, I realized I was happier, more content.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that happiness, “popularity”, being part of the “cool crowd” doesn’t really mean anything if you don’t have a good group of friends that you surround yourself with.  That’s truly what matters, and that’s what life is about.  That’s one of the reasons I left Facebook.

In any case, I did take a lot out of my time in Italy.  In fact, it was one of the best things I’ve done for myself – right up there with volunteering for the Red Cross, learning (or trying to learn) Spanish, and going to business school.  I’m grateful to have picked up such valuable experiences and met great people.

Now it’s time to take those lessons and expand them forward.

The San Diego of the Southern Hemisphere

It took me 22 hours to go from the capital of the free world to, what I call, the San Diego of the Southern Hemisphere.  After stepping off my connecting flight in LA, shaking off 16 hours of plane, and stripping off a jacket that had no place in my new environment, I took a look around and quickly found out that I was in one of the chillest places I’ve ever been.

Sydney was bright, and warm, and the airport was covered in palm trees (though I quickly found those were definitely planted – there were nowhere near as many palms in the midst of the city).  Everyone was relaxed.  Nobody was in a rush.  When I countered that with New York and Karachi, combined it with the fact that I spoke the language (unlike 99% of everywhere I had been in the past half year), and that they actually have Starbucks here, I let go of what little stress I may have had left.

After hanging out and chilling in the airport for a bit, I got a cab to where I was staying and found Sydney’s first, and biggest, flaw.  It’s expensive.  I knew that Sydney’s dollar was on par with the US Dollar, but little did I know that there had been massive currency inflation in Australia over the past year, and without any price adjustments, things cost a lot.

In any case, I brushed it off, took a long, long nap, and then head out for the day.

Gorgeous scenery

Most of Sydney’s main attractions are centered around the harbor.  The Opera House, the harbor bridge, The Rocks, ferry rides, and a lot of the other sights are all in the same area, so I was able to see most of Sydney on that first day.  Fortunately, that area is gorgeous.

It’s pristine.  Very clean, definitely touristy, but it’s a really nice area.  The Opera House is huge, much larger than you’d expect when you look at the pictures.  It also looks strange from up close – you can only appreciate its trademark shape from a distance.  The bridge is also a cool site to see.  You can actually climb to the top of the arch, which is pretty cool.  Had I been traveling with someone at the time I would have pushed to do that.  I also walked through the botanical gardens – huge, wide open grassy areas with a few rare trees and some flowers here and there.  Not super impressive, but interesting to see, particularly with all of the people sunbathing out there.  I also took a ferry to Darling Harbor, which was nice, but again, nothing too special.

The next day I walked around The Rocks (low key shopping and lounging neighborhood), and then met up with a couple of other Sternies that were in town and went to the Opera Bar to relax for a bit and watch the sunset.  Afterwards, just a quick dinner and then back home.

A chill town

Overall, I saw almost 90% of the major sites and virtually everything I wanted to see in two days.  I did miss the beach, but I figured that I’d be at the beach so much during this trip that it was okay.  Sydney has a very chill attitude about it.  People tend to wear very little clothing, and they’re in no hurry.  The accent is awesome, that’s for sure.  The money reminds me of Monopoly, and the coins are a bit weird.  It’s okay, though, because you definitely use them up quickly.

From what I could gather, Sydney’s a city of experiencing, not necessarily seeing.  You can see the sites quickly but you can’t really get a feel for what the city is like unless you’re there for a bit longer.  There are a lot of cool things going on, and a lot of interesting neighborhoods to explore, but unless you’re up for that, a couple of days is enough to hit the highlights.

I’m glad I’m getting to see Sydney.  It’s a little weird for me, though, since I don’t have a steady travel group for the first half of the trip.  I’m meeting up with different people here and there.  It is nice to get to see people again.  A little weird, considering how different it is from the Bocconi exchange crew, though.

I can’t help but think about how crazy it would be if I were here with those guys.  They are definitely missed!

I’ve got some good friends coming in later this week, and then in another week Leo is coming in and we’ll be traveling around New Zealand, possibly with Irina and Kellie.  He’s a blast to travel with, always up for an adventure and always looking off the beaten path.  That guy rocks.  Good times ahead.

Sydney – check.  Now it’s Port Douglas.

Image from guitargoa

Introduction

Image from Sujin Jetkasettakorn

The wild and seemingly random fluctuations in the market may make you think that a stock’s price is nothing more than a lottery number, but you’d be surprised at just how much goes into determining a stock’s price at any given point.

A stock’s price has to start somewhere, and that somewhere lies in the IPO process that I told you about back in part 1.  Do you remember how I said that when a company wants to sell shares of itself to the public, it usually hires an investment bank to do the dirty work?  Well, part of that dirty work is determining what a stock’s initial price should be.  This, in itself, is a difficult process.

Initial due diligence and research

Image from jannoon028

Consider the fact that, in an IPO, the investment bank will buy all of the newly issued shares in a company, and will then re-sell those shares to the public.  In doing so, the bank has to make sure that it prices the shares low enough that it can find buyers on the first day, but not so low that it loses money in the transaction.  In order to find just the right price for this new company’s stock, the bank goes through a long period of due diligence.

It meticulously pours through the company’s records to see what its sales figures look like, how much money it’s making, what the growth figures look like, who the customers are, what the expenses are, and a variety of other factors that can let the bank predict the company’s future performance.  Once it has all of this information, the bank can create a model to determine the market value of the company – or what it will be worth once its shares are sold.

There are a variety of models used to determine a company’s market value, but most of them will basically take the company’s earnings numbers, predict how fast they’ll grow, discount these future profits back to present day value, and come up with a number that represents the company’s true worth.

Once the bank has done this background work, it contacts potential buyers around the world to have pre-sales meetings, answer questions about the new company, and gauge the level of interest in the company’s newly offered shares.

After it has all this information, the bank combines its estimates about the true value of the company with its knowledge of buyer interest in the new shares (and, at times, contracts that guarantee the sale of shares) to determine the number and price of shares in the new company.

Once it does so, it will create and buy all of these shares from the company in preparation for the IPO.  At this point, the company now has a bloated bank account and the bank has millions of shares that it’s ready to sell to the public on day 1.

Public buyers

Image from Ambro

With these new shares ready, and the bank already having contracted with one of the major exchanges I told you about in part 2, trading in the new company is good to go.  On day 1, the bank will sell its shares to the public.  If it did its job well, it will have excited enough buyers to quickly and fervently scoop up shares in the new company, making itself a hefty profit.

But how do buyers know if they’re getting a good deal or not?

Well, a lot of that has to do with buyers’ own analysis and research, as well as any analysis and research that the investment bank has provided.  When a company first goes public, there’s not a lot of information for analysts to go on – they can check sales figures, growth prospects, customer base – essentially the same things that the bank had to check when first coming up with a price.  With this information, buyers can create their own model of a company and can determine if it is currently a good buy.

At the beginning, it can be difficult to tell whether a new company’s shares are a good purchase or not.  No one really knows where the stock is going to go, so buying at the start can be risky.  That’s why many investors tend to wait until a company has traded for some time before they decide to get in.  After a bit of history, investors will have more information and can improve their estimates for the company’s future performance.

So how will they use this information to influence stock prices? Go to the next page to find out.

Read ahead: How investors analyze company performance to buy and sell stocks »

Image from camuna

I’ve been traveling a lot recently.  I mean, a lot.  In the past two calendar days I’ve been on three continents.  I’ve spent more than 48 hours on a plane.  I’ve been to more countries in the past quarter than most people go to in their lives.  I’m not trying to brag.  I’m trying to set the scene.

As my experience as a world traveler has grown, my expectations for travel itself have changed.  Before, I used to see travel as a very compartmentalized experience, separate from everyday life.  Getting accommodations was novel.  Staying in a hotel was a new experience.  Trying to figure out who would room with who was necessary.  Getting around a new city required studying its layout and planning for contingencies.  It was all very out of the ordinary.

But these days, traveling is starting to feel a bit more like home.  I’ve come to avoid hotels as much as possible.  They’re too pricey, and, one could argue, too stuffy.  Alternatively, new solutions like AirBnB or Roomorama can provide actual homes for a fraction of the price of a hotel.  My favorite option, though, and one that I just found out about when coming to Australia, is couchsurfing.com.  The site lets you find a couch to surf on (duh) while you’re traveling – no charging allowed.  It provides a way for travelers and cool hosts to learn something new about different cultures, meet new friends, and make new connections.  I myself am couch surfing in Sydney and my host is a really cool guy.  It also saves a ton of money.

On top of that, there are sites like travbuddy.com that let you find people to travel around with.  If you’re traveling alone, this could be a great way to meet new people and get some company while in a new location.

Renting a car is becoming easier and easier as well.  These days, you can get behind the wheel of a vehicle just as simply as if you were in your home city.

You can get lost in a city and use an opportune wifi spot to find your way back.  You can find where your favorite restaurants are.  You can meet up with friends through wifi-based texting.

It’s interesting to note just how less of a strange and foreign feeling traveling has become.  Granted, there will always be times where you’re out of your comfort zone, but these days, travelers can feel a bit more at home.  For frequent travelers, it’s quite the comforting feeling.

As an aside, I wanted to let everyone know that I’m now uploading pics to Google+ and Picasa, so if you had an old pic you wanted to grab from my Facebook account (which is now gone), or you wanted to see any of my latest photos, you can head on over there: https://picasaweb.google.com/115138297640686378184

Also, if you’re interested in reading extremely captivating, super creative blog posts that usually have something to do with travel, check out my friend Steph.  Her writing is a mixture of storytelling, photo showing, and fantasy creation.  You’ll be on the edge of your seat.