Thursday, May 6, 2010

Pamela Anderson, waltzes home and Train whizzes by in Week 7's........

On the week 7 elimination episode of Dancing With the Stars, Pamela Anderson, the magically babelicious pop culture icon who reduced Tom Bergeron to a 12-year-old boy, said farewell to sequins, fringe, and the daily execution of splits. Her poise, ability to assume characters, and sweet nature will be missed. Honestly, it seemed like she knew she'd be gone. She was calm and cracking jokes, as if she'd already had a decent cry before the liiiiiive taping. Due to a vague-sounding injury, Pam got to close out her DWTS experience in a lovely pastel princess gown and perfect makeup instead of a black pleather raincoat and streaks of sweat. Hey, you gotta keep it classy, even on reality TV.

Your votes had set the stage for a shocking elimination! I wouldn't call Pam's oust that shocking, but it did provide the graphics department with a great excuse to splatter sliver lightning bolts all over the contestants' headshots. I have to say, when Tom said ''One of these couples will be in the bottom two'' and the audience gasped, I thought it would be Nicole and Derek. Alas, the ''fast, furious, and fabulous'' Erin and ''her Russian'' could not survive the unflattering bloodbath (of light) of the dreaded bottom two.

My favorite part of Tuesday's show was Niecy's previously taped outburst backstage. ''Why do people keep asking me that? Did I think .............

Read More:ezto.in

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Discount webs

Sources: G news  CNN news

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Friday, March 6, 2009

A "Discount" is a "Charge" that is paid to obtain the right to delay a payment. Essentially, the payer purchases the right to make a given payment....

A "Discount" is a "Charge" that is paid to obtain the right to delay a payment. Essentially, the payer purchases the right to make a given payment in the future instead of in the Present. The "Discount", or "Charge" that must be paid to delay the payment, is simply the difference between what the payment amount would be if it were paid in the present and what the payment amount would be paid if it were paid in the future.

Since a person can earn a return on money by investing it, most economic models assume the "Discount Rate"[1] is the same as the rate of return the person could receive on invested money. The person delaying payment must actually compensate the person who should be paid for the lost revenue that could be earned from an investment during the time period covered by the delay. Since an investor earns a return not only on the original principle investment, but also on the earnings made from the original investment, earnings are compounded as time moves forward into the future. Therefore, this is usually the justification for having the growth of the "Discount" compounded over the time period the payment is delayed. The “Discount Rate” is the rate growth of the “Discount”.

We are essentially using compounding from the basic time value of money calculations to assess the future value of money that could be obtained in the present, and using this assessment to determine the “Discount” associated with delaying the payment until the said future date. As a result, the “Discount” that must be paid for delaying the payment of $P for t periods is:

Discount = $P * (1 + r)t - $P
where $P * (1 + r)t is the future value of the payment since invested today at an r rate of return.
This is similar to the process of finding the present value of an amount of cash at some future date by using compounding from the basic time value of money calculations. Of course, the present value of a future payment may be also called the “discounted value” of the future payment since it is arrived at by removing the “Discount” from the future payment. The value of the future payment is reduced its by the appropriate discount rate for each unit of time the person must wait before the payment is received. Hence, the “Discounted Value” of receiving $F t periods in the future is

”Discounted Value” = $F / (1 + r)t
Contents [hide]
1 Example
2 Discount rate
3 Discount factor
4 Other discounts



Example
To calculate the present value of a single cash flow, it is divided by one plus the interest rate for each period of time that will pass. This is expressed mathematically as raising the divisor to the power of the number of units of time.

Consider the task to find the present value PV of $100 that will be received in five years. Or equivalently, which amount of money today will grow to $100 in five years when subject to a constant discount rate?

Assuming a 12% per year interest rate it follows

Discount rate

The discount rate which is used in financial calculations is usually chosen to be equal to the cost of capital. Some adjustment may be made to the discount rate to take account of risks associated with uncertain cashflows, with other developments.

The discount rates typically applied to different types of companies show significant differences:

Startups seeking money: 50 – 100 %
Early Startups: 40 – 60 %
Late Startups: 30 – 50%
Mature Companies: 10 – 25%
Reason for high discount rates for startups:

Reduced marketability of ownerships because stocks are not traded publicly.
Limited number of investors willing to invest.
Startups face high risks.
Over optimistic forecasts by enthusiastic founders.
One method that looks into a correct discount rate is the capital asset pricing model. This model takes in account three variables that make up the discount rate:

1. Risk Free Rate: The percentage of return generated by investing in risk free securities such as government bonds.

2. Beta: The measurement of how a company’s stock price reacts to a change in the market. A beta higher than 1 means that a change in share price is exaggerated compared to the rest of shares in the same market. A beta less than 1 means that the share is stable and not very responsive to changes in the market. Less than 0 means that a share is moving in the opposite of the market change.

3. Equity Market Risk Premium: The return on investment that investors require above the risk free rate.

Discount rate= risk free rate + beta*(equity market risk premium)