Happy Birthday

Poland...May Day 1945...European Jewry devastated and in desperate need of new blood. Enter Neil Bratter, future Brooklyn Dodger fan...and Blogger.

In 1955 I remember the birthday party I had at PS 177. I was so happy! I knew it was going to be a great year...I was ten years old...who knew the Dodgers were going to win the World Series from the Yankees? The May days after that never got much better. Youth...you can't buy it and you can't go back and recapture it. All you can do is relive it through your grandchildren. Life is good.

Which Congress is best for Wall Street

The composition of the next congress is in many ways more important than who is chosen president. They make the laws, they spend the tax money and have much more to say about who gets helped in this country and to what extent. They in part, check and balance the president (and visa versa of course-we will leave out the Supreme Court for this discussion---they only elect presidents-lol).

The president may set agendas and have the bully pulpit but it is the Congress that controls the country's check book. If either Democrat or McCain win the White House, the composition of the new congress will in large measure determine how effective he/she will be in carrying out their economic policies. If the both House and Senate is not of the same party as that of the new president, that president is going to have a difficult time of getting his/her plans for the nation implemented.

If the people of the United States would only make me King for a year, I could get this country into shape so that it would run like a top for a hundred years. It would be nice to be the King.

Which Candidate is best for the Stock Market?

Which candidate would be better for the stock market is regularly discussed on all the "Talking Heads" programs these days. Good arguments that support the Republican McCain or the Democrats Clinton and Obama can be made. The fact is that we have had Boom and Bust stock markets under both parties in the past.

What makes for good stock markets is not always clear. I do not suggest that the traditional yardsticks of earnings, supply and demand, taxation, etc. etc. etc. do not matter...of course they do. Neither the Political Party in power or the Super Bowl winner (NFL or old AFL team) have much to do with the fate of the stock market anymore. Even more so because there is a new dynamic which has changed the lay of the land. The stock market now means the WORLD STOCK MARKET. There are new products and tools available to American's to invest in companies and sectors world wide and profit from the hot country or sector wherever that may be. Micro and Macro investing has taken on a much broader meaning.

Therefore, do not waste your vote by casting it for a Republican or Democrat because you believe one or the other will be better for your 401K. Simply cast your vote for the best person to lead our great country. Making money in the World Stock Market is NOT based on who wins the US Presidency...Just my humble opinion.

Investing in FRIENDS

Someone once said "Keep your friends close to you and your enemies closer." Sounds like a line from the Godfather movies or something similar. For most of us, I think keeping your friends very close and investing time and energy in the friendships you value most is the better course of action.

Many of us, myself included, use the words "my friend" too loosely. A friend is a very special person. If you are fortunate to have even one true friend you are very rich. I had many more friends when I was in grammar school than I had in High School & University and even fewer as a young man in my first years in the business world. Now that I am much older and hopefully wiser, I have fewer still. The reason is that I am much more discriminating about whom I call a friend. For me, a friendship is a mutual bond not of blood but of spirit and heart which is strong and powerful, transcending all boundaries and surviving all tests of loyalty, trust and much much more.

My best friend of all time is my wife. Looking back now through the years, I can count less than 10 true friends that I have had aside from my bride who is the love of my life. Interestingly, aside from my mom who probably shouldn't be counted because she was my mom, all my "friends" have been men. Two or three were actually boys who grew to be men as we grew older together. They have very little in common other than they are all connected to me. I love them, not equally but each one specially. They are a part of who I was and who I am. Without them I would be a stranger to myself. All my experience are intertwined with these friends.

My regret is that I could have and should have done more to be a friend to them. They have given me so much more than I have given them. I should have invested more time and energy into my friendships because the dividends have been great...greater than any other investment that I have ever made.

They say that you cannot buy true love. That goes for true friendship too. Bernie and Stanley, I love you guys, wherever you may be. Herb, Mike and Jack thanks! Whitey-you saved my life! G.Z. if you are reading this...thousands of miles of separation are no excuse...hug.

Pope Benedict does New York

Happy Passover

This Passover the largest Jewish community outside of Israel in New York City, along with throngs of Catholics and other citizens of the the Big Apple have opened their arms to Pope Benedict. He comes to New York with a messages of traditional Christian values and brave and responsible messages of love and respect for the Jewish community of New York and the world. In addition, he has been repeating the need to address the horrendous issue of pedophilia that has shamed the American Church and destroyed the lives of many of it's faithful. Although many in the church are calling for the Pope to go on and not speak about the issue further, he is intent on being a true leader and facing the problem of pedophilia in the American Church. The outlay of over two Billion dollars so far is an indication of how out of hand the problem has become. I praise him for his efforts.

The historical fact is that in the name of G-d more people have been killed than anything else. Holy Wars of all sorts and in all guises including the current terrorist war going on world wide says it all. Mankind just doesn't seem to need much cause to kill and hate. G-d must be very proud of his creations...NOT.

Peace.............nb

Wealth - My take

Wealth: From the old English word "weal", which means "well-being" . The term was originally an adjective to describe the possession of such qualities.

"Wealth" has come to mean an abundance of items of economic value, or the state of controlling or possessing such items. An individual who is wealthy, affluent, or rich is someone who has accumulated substantial wealth relative to others in their society or reference group. In economics, wealth refers to the value of assets owned minus the value of liabilities owed at a point in time. Wealth can be categorized into three principal categories: personal property, including homes or automobiles; monetary savings, such as the accumulation of past income; and business assets, including, real estate, stocks, and bonds. In some forms, stocks and bonds for example, wealth becomes capital and ultimately a new source of income. All these intricacies make wealth an especially important part of social stratification. Wealth provides a type of safety net of protection against an unforeseen decline in one’s living standard in the event of job loss or other emergency.

With some editing, that is what I found when I googled Wealth.

My take on WEALTH: I knew I was wealthy when I realized that I no longer HAD to work for a living and that I never would again (at least that was my perception). That is different from feeling RICH...I felt rich long before that when I realized I had all the things in life that I wanted...My wife, my kids, my friends, my life style...and when the grand children came along...I knew I was rich beyond my wildest dreams.

Wealth is not all it's cracked up to be. Personally, I was most happy striving to achieve it...the journey was much more rewarding and life enriching that the realization of the goal.

If I had things to do all over again...I'd have focused more on getting RICH than getting Wealthy. As I write this I am thinking to myself...."this sounds corny" --- yup...but it is true!

nb

Alitalia deserves to go belly up

If Alitalia is not the worst International Airline carrier which one is? The unions who instruct their employees to walk out on strikes regularly just because they can gave Air France/KLM a take it or leave it offer in their negotiations. Air France/KLM were negotiating with the union as part of their plan to acquire Alitalia. With the same disdain they have shown the public and their employer the Italian Government for decades their demands forced Air France to break off the negotiations thus jeopardizing any deal to save Alitalia from bankruptcy.

I have been traveling to Sicily for over 20 yrs via Alitalia. It's always something with this government run airline that just cannot make money nor provide quality service. I think that they should go belly up...they have earned that. However, I hope that happens after the summer season because Italy is the most popular destination of tourists in Europe and the disruption in this summer's travel would be catastrophic if they went out of business before September. Also, it would mess up my plans and we can't have that. Go Alitalia!

Searching for a Summer Replacement

I am going to be in my beloved Sicily from mid June through the end of August. Actually, we will be spending a week in Milan and Rome doing some site seeing too. Unfortunately, I will not be able to Blog for 9 weeks. At the current rate, the Bratter Blog should be up to one million viewer (give or take a million) by June 15th. As a service to my countless readers I have decided to do a search for a summer replacement for me.


Qualifications: Lazy, Lucky, Lovely to look at, Lame, Light hearted, Lusts at lookers, Late to work and a Lover.

Sex: Yes
Writing skills: Not necessary
Financial Qualifications: Not bankrupt
Availability: June 15-Aug 20th....24/7 (would also be required to post ass off on message boards)

Pls send responses to this Blog...All inquiries will receive prompt replies, unless your credentials suck.

Sicily

I always say that I would rather be lucky than smart. The day I met my bride in 1970 was a perfect example of outrageous luck. The nick name Lucky Bratter is one I have earned through no effort on my part. The photo on the left is a long view of the center photo, which depicts some of my family and friends at a villa on the sea in Sicily which was taken last summer. On the far right is a photo of our town in Sicily during Easter 2007, where they celebrate Passion week like no other place in the world. It was not cloudy that day, what you see is the smoke from the fire works.

What does this have to do with investing? Absolutely nothing.

Ah, yes. I am also very lucky with my investments, but not as lucky as I am with one particular woman.

Neil Bratter

Don't underestimate yourself

It is socially incorrect to pat oneself on the back publicly when life is going your way. It is fool hearty to get too full of yourself when you are having a great run in the stock market and your assets are growing at an incredible rate.

However, don't underestimate yourself either. All of us have a tremendous power and capability to do great things. The mind is very powerful and we can train ourselves to accomplish much more than most of us ever do. I am only speaking from personal experience and a lot of reading on the subject, therefore it would be best for you to do some research on this subject before accepting my views. I will share a incident that happened to me 24 years ago when I was managing a branch of a small brokerage firm in S. Florida. I had about 25 stock brokers and had the 3rd best branch in a chain of about 35 branches nationally. I loved my job and ran it very seat of the pants, treating everyone as I would like to be treated. I used to say to my "guys (some were women)", "I wish I had a boss like me"...everyone would laugh because they knew my boss and he was NOT me. Well, we were doing very well and there were a few of my brokers who were so good that it was getting more and more difficult to make them happy financially in the structure of the branch. The inevitable happened. One Friday, four of them came to me at days end and said they were leaving to form their own BD (Broker Dealer) and were sorry but........ After I gulped and accepted the bad news as gracefully as I could, I asked for their "books (clients)" which I was entitled to on behalf of the company. In a very professional manor they handed over the books which I knew they had already duplicated. I was also certain they had contacted their good clients already and probably had new accounts set up and transfers of assets ready to go to get the accounts open at their new firm. It's all part of the game.

I went home a bit upset and knew I had some work ahead of me to keep my branch strong and to maintain my income as the branch manager. Two of the brokers leaving had been earning more than I was, which is typical in a very good branch. Monday came. It would be difficult to break the news to the remaining brokers. I feared that there could be further defections etc. I was in the office very early. At 8:30 AM I was preparing to start my Monday morning meeting when who shows up? The four brokers who had resigned on Friday. I was shocked. "What are you guys doing here" I said. The spokesman replied "We came back for just one more Monday morning meeting. Would you mind if we sat in? Nobody gives a Monday morning meeting like you do and we'd like to hear just one more for old times sake." I was agape. Flattered, bewildered, off guard and at a loss for words. All of a sudden I realized what was going on. I held back tears and said "grab a chair." I had underestimated myself. All of us had underestimated ourselves. Through the two years we had been together we had formed very tight bonds, had learned a lot from each other and had been successful because of each other. It was hard for all of us to give that up. We did of course because life moves on but I treasure that morning for many obvious reasons. None of my other brokers left. I distributed the "books" of the departing brokers and to our surprise we maintained a good deal of business from those books that helped me to develop new top brokers. It was a win win. Most fair and good relationships end that way. Win Win.

I left the branch and the firm about a year later to further my own ambitions. Talk about a tear jerker. My guys mounted and gift boxed a Jaguar hood ornament that you see on the old XJ6, like the one I parked in the lot. They gave it to me as a going away present. They said that they hoped I didn't mind that they took it off my car......etc...had me fooled for a minute too!

Point: Don't underestimate yourself....YOU are very powerful and can handle your investments better than anyone...if that is what you want to do.

50 yrs ago...April Fools...Ebbets Field is empty

On opening Day last night in Los Angeles California they began celebrating Walter O'malley's greed driven and heartless move of the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA. It was fitting that the pitcher for LA was a fellow by the name of Penny (Brad Penny). GREED and only GREED which drives many investments, drove O'Malley to abandon Brooklyn and it's loyal fans who packed Ebbets Field in Flatbush regularly and who supported da Bums in good times and bad. That penny pinching SOB turned my Boys of Summer into the LA Dodgers, ball players for the rich and famous.

Present yesterday were a few of my idols. Duke Snider: The number 3 hitter who wore #4 and played center field for Brooklyn. One of the three great center fielders in New York at the time (Mickey, Willy and da Duke). Don Newcomb(Newk), Carl Erskine(Ersk)and Mr. Sandy Koufax (Koof), the classy lefty and my personal favorite. Had I been about 8 years older, I'd have been at Lafayette HS in Brooklyn when he was there. I suppose it was also fitting that Joe Torre who grew up in Brooklyn a GIANT fan, the arch rivals of the Brooks, was also a victim of GREED as his Giants fled to San Fransisco as part of the grand larceny of NY Baseball in 1958.

Today is opening day for the once hated Yankees of my youth (now my team by default). On this the 50th Anniversary of O'Malley "great investment" it is ironic that the Yanks are playing their last year in the house that Ruth built. Sure, the greedy Yankee ownership is going to abandon the most glorious stadium since the Colosseum in ancient Rome (for mo money, mo money) merrily for the kids in NY they are only moving down the street where they can charge a king's ransom to watch games. At least they are not changing the historic caps the players wear...those caps will still have an intertwined NY. As a 12 year old boy 50 years ago, the greedy owner of my team changed the white "B" on blue cap to an intertwined LA. I cried then and I'm holding back a tear now as I remember the pain. I didn't know then that it's all about the money. Play ball.