We are #1!

"In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked the Canadian banking system as the healthiest in the world. America was ranked 40th, Britain 44th.

Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalised and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the fifteenth largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the
past fifteen years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers."

Fareed Zakaria/ Newsweek

52 quotes from Warren Buffett

Here are 52 quotes from Warren Buffett.
My favourites:
8. I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.
21. Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.
25. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.
26. Our favorite holding period is forever.
30. Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.

Investment measures illustrated

I am not convinced that it is the best way to understand such things, but this site specializes in explaining investment ratios (and other financial terms) using illustrations, instead of the usual mathematical formulas.

The illustration above shows the quick ratio (also known as the acid test), a commonly-used measure of a company's ability to pay money that it owes in the short term. The quick ratio is actually defined as:

Basically, it just measures how much money you have available (the top of the ratio = assets on hand minus what you have to pay to keep the business running) divided by how much you owe (the bottom part; 'liabilities' are what the company owes. Bank overdrafts, which is how much your bank allows you to go into the hole, are excluded since they are on-going, more or less permanent ways of borrowing). It is best if the quick ratio is at least 1: you don't want to own or invest in (same thing, really) a company that has a ratio lower than 1, because it means that the company does not have enough quickly-available assets to pay its soon-due debts.