Profiling the aggressive investor

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Aggressive investors comprise a minority in the investor market, yet they rake in probably more than the combined yields of all conservative investors. If taking on such investing personality is so profitable, then why aren’t all investors aggressive?

Apparently, being aggressive has its boons and banes, and it depends on the investors’ personality if they have what it takes to face the challenges posed by this investment strategy. So before deciding to go hardline in taking the stock market plunge, prospective investors may want to learn about the multi-dimensional aspect of being an aggressive investor.

Investment goals

Aggressive investors tend to expect lucrative returns from their investments, especially in the short term. They are not that concerned about asset protection as much as taking profits.

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Risk tolerance

Aggressive investors take risks as they come. They don’t really mind if the assets they spend capital on hold the possibility of crashing, as long as they promise large returns. This may be influenced by many factors, including the investor’s young age and an intense desire to accumulate wealth. The former is greatly determinant, as risk tolerance usually declines with age.

Ability to cope with uncertainty

Quite ironically, it’s the aggressive investors who are very “Zen” when it comes to investing. As they are very well aware of the market’s volatility, they don’t really panic when the markets crash. In fact, they view market crashes as an opportunity to leverage the “buy low, sell high” tactic, thus ensuring great rewards in the long run.

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Many would consider businessman-turned-philanthropist Alex von Furstenberg as an aggressive investor, especially when considering his investments geared toward society’s progress. Learn more about his philanthropic endeavors by visiting his website.

How investments mirror the investor’s personality

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Much like how people differ when it comes to facing life, investors also adapt different styles in tackling the volatile world of investments. More often than not, the way by which investors handle their investments is greatly reflective of their actual personalities, as idiosyncrasies might play a large role in influencing investment decisions.

For example, those who are risk-averse usually end up becoming conservative investors. They are the “planners”—careful and meticulous investors who are alright with modest returns as long as the capital remains intact. They’d rather invest in expensive and slow-growing blue chip stocks, so long as they are assured of asset protection and regular dividend payouts.

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Meanwhile, there are people with strong personalities who aren’t afraid of the risks and who would rather lose in the act of winning rather than staying in a gray area. Applied in investing, they are known as the “players”—investors who actively play in the markets and invest in securities with the highest growth prospects, notwithstanding the counterpoising risks. They gain big, they lose big—such is the life of the players.

But there also those who are more optimistic than most people and who are willing to learn should they be given the opportunity. In investment speak, these people are “adventurers”—investors who see the markets as an opportunity to improve their present status and will do whatever it takes to learn its labyrinthine secrets toward success.

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Brown University alumnus Alex von Furstenberg is an investment maven who specializes in opportunistic investing. Learn more about his investing personality by visiting his website.

Start small, dream big: Focusing on future changemakers

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When people think of the problems in society, they see many great obstacles to equality, peace, and prosperity. In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, it can sometimes be easy to forget just how many people are willing to work and do some good in order to change the status quo.

Commonly overlooked in endeavors to make lasting changes to society are the young people. Adults often expect very little of the youth. They are repeatedly told to stay out of trouble and to continue with their studies. But what if the young people of today are already ready? What if they just need some encouragement and guidance to take on the larger problems in society?

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By averting one’s eyes from the problems for a while, one can see that there are many people who are willing to work for social change, including the youth. Presently, young people have already faced their fair share of inequalities found in society. Many of them have gone beyond themselves to show compassion, stand up against injustice, and contribute to their community.

As programs like the Peace First prize show, many of today’s youth do have great ideas on how to create lasting changes to society. Acknowledging their ideas seriously and inviting them to take on important roles as early as now can encourage them to continue working for their vision of a better future.

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Find more articles on effective philanthropy on this Alexander von Fürstenberg blog site.

From well-meaning to making a difference: Motivating philanthropy

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While monetary support is important in many philanthropic efforts, for others, understanding that true philanthropy requires a drive to change the status quo is more important. Indeed, in today’s world, there are still many problems in inequality that need to be remedied.

For one reason or another, there are many people who are in dire need of support and resources to reclaim their lives from poverty. There are systems in place that perpetuate the problems in society today, and changing the world for the better requires a lot more from people who can donate their time and effort to those in need.

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The act of giving is a good start to changing the situation that exists. To continue such efforts, however, innovative thinking is necessary. People behind philanthropic endeavors may also need to think of their programs as businesses. Beyond their intention to provide help for people who need it, they also need to think of ways to turn the program into something profitable – not for their own gain, but to ensure that the endeavor is self-sustaining.

Effective philanthropic endeavors can grow without being dependent on outside investment. From stop-gap measures that fill in for an immediate need, they can evolve into larger programs that serve to empower the people who were previously in need and may even benefit the community as a whole.

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Visit this blog site for Alexander von Fürstenberg to find various stories on efforts to change society for the better.

International Women's Media Foundation: Cultivating leadership in the media industry

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Despite the gender equality movements that have caused the changing of gender roles for the past decades, national journalism remains to be a men’s world, what with men still dominating and greatly overpowering women in many aspects of the industry, despite the 29 percent increase in the number of female newsroom executives since 2000. However, the number failed to reach greater heights, and improved feminine media presence remains unfelt.

Sad to say, this phenomenon isn’t confined in America. As a matter of fact, some countries don’t have it any better than the current situation in the US. Why, then, is this situation not improving?

A possible reason for this stagnation is that a lot of women are abandoning the profession. This has greatly hindered women empowerment in this male-dominated industry. Strength comes in numbers; with the number of females dwindling, gender equality in the profession may just become a vision of the past.

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The reason female-oriented organizations, such as the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), exist is to help combat the abovementioned trends by providing women with well-deserved shots at making it to the top in this cutthroat industry. Through the years, IWMF has sponsored global leadership institutes that “give women the skills and the network they need to become successful newsroom leaders,” cultivating a culture of leadership that transcends gender.

IWMF is bent in proving that “whatever a man can do, a woman can do better.” The media industry may be a tough field to conquer, but with proper awareness, women empowerment continues to be an influence in the ever-changing industry.

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Businessman-philanthropist Alex von Furstenberg fully supports the advocacies being upheld by the International Women’s Media Foundation. This website provides more information on his philanthropy.

Operation Smile: Putting a smile where there was once none

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Every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft lip and palate. Every hour, about 20 babies are born without normal facial features, thus deterring the development of early survival skills, such as sucking, eating, and socializing. Every day, about 480 babies will never learn how to smile.

The latter reason is probably where Operation Smile took its name. Since its inception in 1982, the organization has grown to become the largest volunteer-based medical charity providing free cleft surgeries to many countries across the globe. To date, it has provided over 3.5 million comprehensive patient evaluations and more than 200,000 free cleft surgeries to infants, children, and young adults who were born with congenital facial anomalies.

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Through the years, the organization has moved across different stages—from being a mere movement to an international charity. But with this evolution came an inevitable transcendence. Operation Smile has become more than an NGO; it has matured to become a “mobilized force of medical professionals and caring hearts who provide safe, effective reconstructive surgery and related medical care for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.”

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Operation Smile believes that every child born with a cleft deserves equitable access to quality surgical care. After all, every child deserves a future filled with hope—a future that he or she can meet and welcome with a smile.

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Operation Smile is backed by philanthropists, like Alex von Furstenberg, who believe that children should not be deprived of the God-given gift of smile. Learn more about von Furstenberg’s supported charities by visiting this website.

The unsuspecting victims: Providing support to pediatric AIDS victims

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If the mere thought of AIDS scares a lot of people, then they might want to think about this: “More than 1,000 children are newly infected with HIV every day, and of these more than half will die as a result of AIDS because of a lack of access to HIV treatment.” That means for each day, there are thousands of children who undeservingly get afflicted with a disease they are unfamiliar with; who suffer the consequences of a disease they have had no involvement with; who die in the hands of an incurable plague even before their eyes open up to the truth. Such are dreadful afterthoughts, but they are part of reality. 

This is where the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EPGAF) comes in: to spare the children from the repercussions of the dreaded disease.

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Founded in 1988 as an answer to a mother’s fight to save her children from the pangs of AIDS, EPGAF has been instrumental in helping the cause to virtually eliminating pediatric AIDS in the US and Europe. However, the fight does not stop there. In other parts of the world, particularly in Africa, many children still become infected with HIV, as 90 percent contract the virus through mother-to-child transmission.

As long as there are children who, by a cruel twist of fate, have become the unwanted carriers of this infamous pandemic, EPGAF will not rest in fighting for its cause: a world where children can play without fear from AIDS.

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The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is able to fulfill its mission through the generosity of philanthropists, such as Alex von Furstenberg. Learn more about Mr. von Furstenberg’s philanthropic endeavors by visiting his official website.

Research to Prevent Blindness discovers "bionic retina"

The retina is an important eye structure, as this layer of tissue located at the back of the inner eye is the one responsible for converting light to nerve signals which are eventually transmitted to the brain. The retina plays a central role in vision, so much so that when it becomes damaged due to a severe, degenerative disorder called retinitis pigmentosa, many people think that their ‘seeing’ days will finally come to an end.

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Fortunately, the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has come up with a viable, albeit electromechanical, solution. After 15 years of research, RPB is happy to announce that it has finally come up with Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, the first ever implantable device to treat advanced retinitis pigmentosa.

The Argus II, also touted as a “bionic retina,” uses a video camera attached to a pair of glasses which is used to capture images. These images are transmitted to a video processing unit that wirelessly sends them to an implanted retinal prosthesis which then signals it to the brain. The prosthesis is made up of 60 electrodes.

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Argus II represents a huge development in humanity’s efforts to remedy the greatly debilitating repercussions of blindness. It has been made possible through RPB, currently the world’s leading voluntary health organization which supports eye research directed at the prevention, treatment, or eradication of all vision-threatening illnesses.

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Research to Prevent Blindness is able to conduct the above research through the magnanimity of philanthropists such as Alex von Furstenberg. More about Mr. von Furstenberg’s health agenda may be found at his official website.