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God bless you and your family

Merry Christmas

With the increasing popularity of the free stock analysis tools as well as the premium stock analysis spreadsheets, helping people troubleshoot and install the stock spreadsheets is beginning to take up more and more time.

So with all future updates, I have now changed the SMF Add-in location from “C:\program files\SMF Add-in” to “C:\SMF”

I have had instances where people

• use non english windows which messes up the location
• use _ instead of -
• installed under D: instead of C:
• forgot the space between SMF and Add
• unzip to another folder within the SMF Add-in
• etc etc

For those of you well familiar with excel, there is no harm in moving the add in to C:\SMF and then re-pointing the add-in from excel.

If you are uncomfortable with the whole process, you can wait for the next update.

If you do decide to go ahead, follow the instructions in the latest revised installation manual which includes a new step by step section on how to update links.

Important Point

If you move the add-in to C:\SMF and then get the update links box but the “Change Source” button is grayed out, make sure you close the prompt and unprotect all the worksheets first. If a worksheet is locked, then excel won’t allow you to update links.

Or like I said, just wait for the  next release which should be easier.

Haven’t had much time to dedicate to quality articles of late. Since I prefer to write stuff worth reading, I prefer not to waste my time or your time with unnecessary information.

I’ve been busy getting ready to move so I’m trying to sell clear out and sell old furniture like mad. I think I have a talent for selling furniture

I’ve also dramatically slowed down my researching lately as I can’t seem to find compelling value stocks. A lot of what I find these days are just.. eehhh~ so I’ve been spending more time reading and studying books again. Try to maintain my 1 book a month goal.

But if you have anything you want to share, or your analysis or reasoning on a particular stock and would like a 2nd or 3rd opinion, just leave your thoughts in our value investing forum and I’ll be very happy to try and leave constructive comments. I’m constantly lurking around there so you’ll more than likely get a quick answer.

In the meantime, you may be interested in our discussions about

• SALM
• Selling IGOI
• PARL
• and my new position in DCU
• Good list of value investing books

Apologies for the slowdown in posts lately. I always have many topics, companies, screen results, analysis methods, how to’s and more to write about but many things are going at the moment.

Since the start of the month, I’ve been working on upgrading the stock value calculator spreadsheet which has been modified to include a fully working earnings power value calculator as illustrated by the Microsoft EPV example.

I’ve also finished getting the value investing forum working but just need to write down all the information into the respective forum areas before I can open it. It should be ready sometime next week though.

The forum has 3 sections. I’m trying to keep it as focused as possible.

1. General Forum where I put up notices and news of what’s happening at OSV and where we can network with each other. i.e. share contact info, meet up if we can etc
2. Value Investing Forum to discuss value stocks I hold. You can ask why I hold what I do. This section will also be a place where we can discuss your value stock ideas, special situations, tools and resources, and financial statement analysis discussion.
3. Stock Value Spreadsheet Forum. With so many emails received regarding how to install, I’ll be moving all support and questions regarding the spreadsheet to the forums. I’ve been having to rewrite the same things too often and I’m hoping it will save time.

But all of the above is only secondary to what I’ve been working on over the past 6 months. On the second week of October, my wife and I will finally be launching our online business. We are very excited and hope to see our hard work pay off.

On a personal note, September and October are very significant months. I just turned 27 yesterday, the 27th is the 2 year anniversary of my portfolio and my 1st year wedding anniversary is coming up on the first week of October. More events also occur in between which I won’t bore you with

All in all, it’s been a great 2 years on OSV and with you, and as the number of visitors increase each week and month, I see greater things happening here and we can do it together. Cheers to intelligent investing and building wealth.

Just trying to reach someone who rang me regarding the spreadsheet.

Sorry my phone died right in the middle of our conversation and when I turned it on again, your number wasn’t saved.

Phone number started with area code 203.

Feel free to call me back or send me an email. Real sorry about that.