“But You Don’t Even Drink Coffee!”
“But you don’t even drink coffee!” I exclaimed to AdventureMan as he utilized the miracle of modern technology to pick up some shares of Starbucks, which had plunged to unbelievable depths.
“No, but they have shown they are quick on their feet,” he responded, clicking away on his online-investing account. “I like the way they cut their losses quickly, and they are always looking for new twists to keep their customer base coming back.”
We have very few investments in individual stocks; most of our money is in funds. When we do invest in individual stocks, we choose stocks we have a personal interest in, like, for me, Amazon. I read books. I buy books. It makes sense to me.
If you have ever studied decision making, you learn that people make decisions – on a personal level, on a financial level, on a national level – based on irrational criteria. We can put together a matrix, we can put together a decision-making process, we can get all the pros and cons – and when the decision has to be made, other factors come into play.
The perfect suitor, good family, good character, hard working and handsome might be rejected because you don’t like his cologne.
The perfect candidate for the job, well qualified, having a magnetic personality, a great track record – may be rejected because the manager has an unidentified fear that the candidate could outshine him/her.
Nations go to war for irrational reasons. We understand rational processes – and then we bypass them.
We have a mental list of how we will rationally make a decision – and then we have the primitive brain undermining our rational choices.
Or that is how I see it.
The truth as I see it is that I am happy he bought shares in Starbucks because it is a Seattle company. I love going into Starbucks, seeing people sitting around drinking coffee, tutoring students, old folks passing the time, couples getting to know one another – on a cold, rainy day in Seattle, a cup of Starbucks tastes great. I vote for Starbucks for emotional reasons.
I have my favorites, and you never see them here in Kuwait. At Thanksgiving / Christmas, they have a Gingerbread Latte, and they have a Peppermint Mocha. I adore them.
With Ramadan coming up, they should put together a Ramadan cup of coffee, for after Ifthar, don’t you think? Maybe a little cardomon in it, maybe a little cinnamon?
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EQ over IQ.
which is why some of the most intelligent people i know are also the dumbest 😛 .
commend adventureman on his stock pick. fannie mae and freddie mac are also looking interesting as of last night.
i know you guys are going to retire outside this region, but you should really look into putting some of your money to work here, the returns are much larger and not as risky as it seems. infact a whole bunch of foreign funds are headed this way.
simple math really, world buys oil, world’s money gets dumped here,… now more so than ever before.
I will drink more from Starbucks just so that I can make you and AdventureMan just a little richer.
Does starbucks taste the same over in Seattle?
Skunk, I was thinking of you and how you are the exception, even as I wrote it. I know you invest with your head. I think AM did a smart thing, too. We are thinking it is a good time to pick up US properties, maybe the next few months, rather than invest in mortgages. Our problem is, we really, REALLY don’t understand how this (Kuwait/Qatar) market works, Skunk. We think it is beyond irrational. For you, with your expertise, it is a great opportunity. For us, it is a great opportunity to get Skunked!
DV – hey hey hey! Drink that Starbucks. And don’t forget your monthly Amazon orders! Help us pay for our old folks home.
Yousef – Starbucks markets a lot of the same products here in Kuwait, but there are regional differences. They don’t market any of the Christmas holiday drinks here (no kidding) like the Gingerbread Latte and Peppermint Mocha. The pastries in the US are also totally different. Some of the cities have city mugs, but the Starbucks mugs from Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt . . .what a hit they make when given as gifts in the US.
Recently, Starbucks was selling the original Pike Place Market blend, which I stocked up on before coming back from my last trip. It tastes GOOD. I haven’t seen it here.
We had a case study in college about starbucks and I recommended they do some sort of Arabian coffee and use the small tester cups for it! My prof thought it was brilliant idea. I had some coffee made for the class presentation and he asked me (My prof was Canadian) why do you pour in such small amounts! Is it that strong/dangerous? LOL
I dont like starbucks coffees but I like other stuff they sell… try their raspberry tea frap its my summer drink 🙂
The reason I was asking is coz I think their lattes taste horrible. They taste like old coffee and cigarettes ash mixed together, not that I licked an ashtray before lol but it tastes weird. I tried their latte in Geneva and it was a BIT different than Kuwait, better, but not great. Caribou’s and Costa’s taste way better.
What do you think of ‘Seattle’s Best Coffee’? do you guys giggle at the name and say “yeah right” back home or is it really the best ❓
hehe whoohoo i’m a verb!
but a very good approach that i wish everyone on the market took,… play in the sandbox that you know and understand. its shocking how many doctors try tech stocks, and tech guys buy drug companies etc.
so yeah you guys are doing the right thing, and i gotta admit i’m tempted by american real estate too,…but like you said i dont know the place well enough so i’m gonna stick to my little sandbox,..umm in the sandbox:P
I agree with AMs’ rational, a deal with different stock on the kuwaiti and the american markets from time to time. and i do as you say i invest in stock i believe in never in stock i dont understand. i remember t riding the apple stock back when it was around 60 $ a share (back in 05) and im upset i didnt have the gut to go back on it till it went to 200$ ! but you get the idea.. actually SBUX did close down a lot of retail outlets in the US recently and are planning to lay off some staff. they are also expanding in new promising markets such as china, russia and the far east.
on the other hand other coffee retailers are taking a bigger bite off of the pie and the whole market isnt doing well as a whole. So keep your fingers crossed and wait.
i myself stopped buying any more stock on the US market. Hopefully the US economy will upswing when there will be a new political leadership that will concentrate on the economy rather than milk tax payers money in the favour of a few mega companies.
Ansam – Starbucks needs you to develop some products unique to this area! I agree with you; a small Arabic coffee would be great. They might even give it a try during Ramadan in the USA; people like new things, different things, and it might be an instant hit!
Yousef – Actually, Seattle’s Best is really good. I like many of their blends better than Starbucks, who overroast some of their coffees. Even from Starbucks to Starbucks, you can pick up slight taste variations. It can depend on the grinder, or the milk, or the flavoring, or the mood of the barista. 😉
We notice the same thing with croissants. In France, even in different parts of France, they will taste different, depending on the flour, how finely it is milled, where it is milled, the butter, etc. In the US, some croissants are made using lard instead of butter 0 oh ugh!
Hee heee hee, Skunk. To be skunked is to be royally beaten, trounced, utterly vanquished. With your smarts and your wealth, you can actually play in the sandbox AND invest in a little piece of land or a getaway cottage on the beach somewhere!
Abdulaziz – for amateurs like us, another secret, I think, is to plan to hold on to it for a long time. I don’t watch my stocks daily, or even monthly. I might make an evaluation from time to time, sell off something that is a real stinker, but most of what we have bought has done well over time. We don’t play the market. If you think a change in leadership will bring a market upswing in the US, then the time to be buying is now, before the conventions, before people start feeling optimistic again, don’t you think?