GMI Grows to $196.oo

More or less have proven that ING referral system works by testing it on myself, then Dustin, then Bon. I can now confidently recommend it to others as a good way to earn 13.75% interest for a year. Because Dustin helped me develop this idea, I'm giving him GMI shares because he has created wealth.

Percentage of GMI ownership
HS Group total:
$25.00
12.76%

Alice total:
$37.00
18.88%

Abe Total:
$10.20
5.20%

Justin Total:
$20.00
10.20%

Tammy Total:
$10.00
5.10%

Frances total
$8.00
4.08%

Jeff Total:
$5.20
2.65%

Becky Total:
$5.00
2.55%

Dustin Total:
$15.00
7.65%

Julius
$20.20
10.31%

Bonnie total
$40.00
20.41%

Linda
$0.20
0.10%

sunny
$0.20
0.10%

X-mas for GMI

What Friends Do

As read on www.fool.com, an investment commentary site. A guy volunteered to be Santa for a kid event and had the following to share. I am reposting this because it exemplifies what kind of people GMI members are. GMI is all about saving created wealth to help out friends in emergencies.

Marrisa, 8 years old. Her Christmas wish was that her friend from school, Mykala, would get a good present, because apparently Mykalas family doesn't have much and she doesn't have any toys. What I asked Marrissa what she wanted me to bring her, she said, "Whatever you want, but please don't forget about Mykala."

Just about brought tears to my eyes. Such a sweet and simple request. All she wanted was a little something for her friend. Ah, the world would be so much better if we all thought just a little more about someone besides ourselves first and did just a little something nice for them. I wish I really was Santa, because I would love to make sure Mykala got a nice gift and Marrissa wish came through. I just hope Marrissa's mother was listening and will be Santa's helper.

We Own It!

As you know, I’ve been experimenting spaghetti. For the sauce, I’ve sampled and ranked the following brands in order of best to worst:

Essentia,
Classico,
Newman’s Own,
Ragu.

After my blind taste testing and ranking, I discovered that Heinz owns Classico. GMI shareholders may be glad to know that they own Heinz stock.

We Own Dairy Queen and TGI Fridays

Shareholder Sunny mentioned going to Dairy Queen for a milkshake after tennis. Just so yall know, through Berkshire Hathaway, we own Dairy Queen.

We also own TGI Fridays through our Heinz stock.

GMI Grows to $186

Luck has a tendency to plop down in front of our stock fund. Today, in a post-tennis Starbucks run, luck took the form of a dollar bill lying in the parking lot. Welcome Linda and Sunny, our newest GMI individual shareholders.

Details here

What's Ours is Ours: Coke and Bud

Because we own Berkshire Hathaway stock, we indirectly own Coca-Cola shares again. Berkshire, namely Warren Buffett's holding company, is the largest shareholder of Coke, owning 5% of Coke's shares. He also sits on Coke's Board of Directors.

Since Berkshire also recently bought some Bud stock, we also own a double helping of Bud, for better or worse.

A Classic Case of Miller

Picked up a case of Miller Genuine Draft longnecks because it was on sale and I wanted to check out the competition. Initial taste test shows that it is similar to Budweiser. That is disappointing news because we don't have a product that stands out (at least to newbie taste testers with unrefined palates, like me). Meaning that if I walk into the grocery store, I would pick up whatever is cheaper.*

In terms of calories and alcohol, they are similar. Genuine Draft Bud has 145 calories, Miller 143. Both have 5% alcohol. Both companies also have low-carb Lite beers with less alcohol and calories. Bud wins on less alcohol (4.2% vs. 4.5%), Miller wins on less calories (96 vs. 110).**

But there was good news at the checkout line, however. Person in front of me (sporting a slight beer belly) was carrying a case of Bud Lite. That's right, none of that Miller sham!

*I'm speaking as a hypothetical consumer without vested interests; in reality, GMI owns shares of BUD stock so I'd buy Bud anyway.

**Ref: dietfacts.com

Ongoing BUD Research

Bought a 6 pack of O'Doul's Amber to compare it to the original. I found that it tasted slightly more bitter, but had more of a grain taste to it. I prefer the original, but it may be a matter of packaging... green bottles make beer more classy.

The beer ice cream float turned out well. I mixed O'Doul's Amber with Dreyer's Mocha Almond Fudge, and the result was a sweeter, less bitter taste... same effect as adding creamer to coffee. I still prefer them separate-- eat a scoop of ice cream, sip the beer, repeat x20.

Tried Bud Light at a baseball game. Bud Light is alcoholic. I know, I KNOW. I said no alcohol. But it was right there and I wanted to compare it to O'doul's. So I tried it. Found it to be very good, similar to O'Doul's. I may use this as a subsitute for O'doul's at night when there is no more studying to be done because it is cheaper. I guess that means prohibition is over; cheers.

A consistent problem with all the beers I mentioned above is that it is gross when warm and left out in the open. The result is a sour, unfizzy taste. Warm and unopened is fine, but you have to drink that really really fast.

Going to be testing Miller and Coors non-alcoholics next...