The Genius of Money_Blog#2

In the chapter 13 of the book “The Genius of Money”, the author mentions money and the modern mind.

“It gathers about itself mythology, shadows, and power; and fear and greed seem to be ascendant driving forces everywhere”

“That money seems so invested with power and control arises partially as a consequence of the fact that it is minted and issued by one central authority….”

I totally agree with what the author says. I have seen that money control the human. There are a lot of examples around the world about the money controlling people. Basically, the human created the money in order to make transaction easier. However, it seems that the money controls people. Although the money represents the method of transaction, it sometimes stands for the greed. The reason is that some people who want to get money do whatever it takes even committing fraud or killing people. What happened with the money has taken places from a long time ago even when people don’t use money (paper currency) for transactions. We should look carefully about the definition of money. I know it is difficult to solve fundamental problems of the money. However, we at least try not to be slaves of the money.

Individual Blog Post - Samsung Group vs Elliott Management in Korea.

One of the big issues in Korea is ongoing Samsung Group’s merger of two units: Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries Inc. Basically, merger is a situation that one company is absorbed into another company and ceases to exist. The corporation that continues to operate is called surviving corporation and the other corporation that ceases to exist is called merged corporation. The surviving company has all rights, privileges, power, and liabilities of merged corporation.

The reason that this issue arose is that Elliott Management, which is a hetch fund management company based on the United States, opposed to Samsung Group’s merger. There are several issues on the opposition. In this case, Cheil Industries Inc. offer to buy Samsung C&T.

1.     Elliott’s campaign, which centers on the idea that Cheil is using ilicit means to low ball Samsung C&T minority shareholders.

2.     Elliott against South Korea’s wealthiest family as the dynasty prepares for a once-in-a-generation leadership transition from hospitalized Samsung patriarch Lee Kun Hee

3.     The management teams of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries have failed to articulate convincing reasons for shareholders to vote in favor of a merger between two very different companies

4.     The deal as an attempt “to hastily railroad Samsung C&T shareholders into an unfair takeover

These fours issues are mentioned by Elliott Management to oppose the merger of two units of Samsung. Getting into the deep insight, we basically have to know the fact that the value of Samsung C&T is significant undervalued. On the other hand, the value of Cheil Industries is significantly overvalued. The interesting thing is Cheil Industries Inc. made the proposal in accordance with pertinent law so the 1:0.35 stock swap ratio will not be changed, and Elliott is the third biggest shareholders of Samsung C&T. It means that Cheil Induestries Inc could buy Samsung C&T with much cheaper price, and it is eventually harmful for Elliott. We don’t know who is going to win, but it is a fight between two big companies from the U.S and Korea.

For better understanding, please use these sites.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-17/elliott-says-samsung-c-t-cheil-merger-unfair-ahead-of-hearing

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2015/06/123_181231.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/19/elliott-samsung-ct-idUSL3N0Z428G20150619

The Genius of Money_Blog#1

In the book, John Bloom mentions the previous state back in 1890s.

“The 1890s was the age of the “robber barons”; the accumulation of wealth by the few had an impoverishing consequence for the rest of the population in the United States”.

In the same period, an artist, Victor Dubreuil, painted in a trompe l’oeil style of paining called “Barrels of Money”.  When I saw the picture of it, I assumed that it emphasized the money governing the nation at that time. However, it was to fool our eyes because he criticized the reality of “greenbacks” which is ultimately fiat money by painting the picture. Fiat money is not pegged to any other measure, so money is not the money we think. It could not be exchanged with someone we don’t know due to uncertainty about the value of the money. I honestly didn’t know about the definition of fiat money. However, I can imagine that he painted to show how unfairly the money itself treated the average American. They could not exchange the fiat money with nothing. I guess that the fiat money is made for the wealthy people at that time.

Here is a site for an article that criticizes the reality in the United States that is ruled by few billionaires. 

http://www.alternet.org/america-ruled-billionaires-and-they-are-coming-after-last-shreds-our-democracy

Blog#3 "anything I am interested in"

I recently bought a DSLR camera and I am trying to go out to take pictures. It is my first time to buy a DSLR camera, so I frequently visit the web site that I can study for the manual of the camera. It seems very complicated to take the best shot for different objects in different conditions like outdoor or indoor. This website could help me including someone who is interested in a DSLR camera. For example, I have to adjust ISO or shutter speeds in the camera to properly take pictures.

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/06/03/how-to-photograph-anything-best-camera-settings-for-perfect-portrait-photography/ 

I already started to practice taking pictures for indoor portrait. Visit this site if there is anyone who is interested in the DSLR or loves to take pictures.

The Omnivore's Dilemma_ Blog#2

“Don’t you find it odd that people will put more work into choosing their mechanic or house contractor than they will into choosing the person who grows their food?”

This quote is what Salatin asks Pollan. Why did he ask this? Salatin says that the food in Walmart is not as cheap as we think. According to him, the reason behind this fact is that well grown and healthy groceries is expensive and vice versa. When I go to Walmart or Ralph, I always choose cheaper groceries, and I pay what it’s worth. In 1950s, people spent 20% of income on food. However, we now spend about 10% of income on food. What makes the difference?

Even though it would not be related to this book’s topic, I think that we have a lots of things to spend money than back in 1950s. However, we should definitely know that food is the point where we should be careful in spending money on it because it directly or indirectly impacts on our health.

Blog#2 "What I like to do"

I love to ride my bicycle around. Since I was a young student I would go on cycling trips around my home country of Korea, whether alone or with friends. These trips allowed me to enjoy riding with outstanding road view and to make valuable friendships along the way, besides relieving the stress of my fast-paced daily life. Usually, I would pack up and journey about 300 miles through the cycling roads of the country. Although the trips are unbelievably demanding, both physically and mentally, the unique experiences I obtained through them far outweighed the fatigue. As I traveled, there were plenty of opportunities to meet, have a quick rest and conversation, and even catch a meal with other cycling-travelers of distinct backgrounds.

Omnivore's Dilemma_Blog#1

Youngjun Lee

When I first met this book, it looked very interesting book because the title "Omnivore's Dilemma" itself intrigued me more than other two books' titles. In the first chapter, the author talks about corns. Before entering into the main story, he mentions that when you go to the supermarket, "your first impression is apt to be of its astounding biodiversity". We have frequently been to the supermarket.
However, I have never been surprised because of biodiversity of products. In a single arc of land, there are so many products that came from the worldwide or nationwide. It gave me a thought of how I have lived in such a convenient environment.

Job Description

Youngjun Lee

WRT 340

Financial Manager

Do you want to make money? Then, you should know how to manage money first. However, managing money is not easy as we think. It basically needs a lot of time to research the data and to have ability to read them. What I want to do is to plan and manage money to make profits as a financial manager.

A financial manager is a person who is responsible for providing financial advises to clients with analyzed data that could make them to invest their assets with feasibility. The financial advises include stock, fund, and investment market trends. For example, a financial manager in an investment bank can research the data related to thousands of stocks, purchase large number of issued shares, and resell them to investors. Also, a financial manager in any company analyzes feasibility of projects and supports the management team to make better operating decisions.

There are three descriptions that help to better understanding of a job as a financial manager.

•         Management
•         Financial Analysis

·      

Management

As a financial manager, management of funding and overseeing operations of the company is important. I would say three things of following are the key points to work as a financial manager.

•        Maintain and understand the company’s accounting system
•     Forecast cash flow positions
•        Invest funds

To analyze and understand the company’s current financial position, I should fully understand what kind of accounting standard the company uses. Normally companies in the U.S use GAAP accounting standard rather than IFRS. When I see our company’s financial statement, I could find out which part we need to improve and another part we should invest to improve our financial position by making profits. From the cash flows statement, I figure out the weaknesses and strengths of currently operating projects. For projects that we will start to invest, my first priority is to maximize return on investment while minimizing risk.

Financial Analysis

For financial analysis, the financial manager acts as a strategist on the behalf of the company. We accomplish precise and worthwhile financial analysis by following three things.

·     

•      Review the competitor’s financial performance and statement and compare with our company
•        Support management with organizing strategic direction with the budgeting including financing
•        Interpret the company’s financial position

As a financial manger, I have responsibility of reviewing other major companies’ financial performance. By comparing them with our company, I can recommend improvement activities to the management. The improvement activities include proper budgeting, investing, and getting rid or the project that has a significant loss in business. Before recommending, I should interpret our financial performance. 

Accountability

Accountability is one quality that a financial manager should have. Although all people that have any jobs should have this quality, I think that the financial manger especially has to have accountability. The reason is that a person who does not have proper accountability has significant impact on a loss in business because a financial manager behaves on the behalf on the company and deals with the company's money that can heavily be used on the financial manger's recommendation. Accountability also gives duties to the financial manager as follow. 

•      Smooth communication skill 
•      Act on the company's financial matter to make it better 

Communication skill is crucial to do a job as a financial manager. To make the better decision the management makes, I should communicate with them properly and detailedly. I recommend realistic strategic behavior with reliable data, and I am accountable for the behavior, so I as a financial manager act on the company's financial performance with accountability.