Author: Serkadis

Eventually, the Fed is going to stop its purchases of mortgage-backed securities, a move that would choke off cash to the still-beleaguered housing sector.

So what’s the game plan after that?

Pray.

Actually, the hope is that foreign investors will rush back in. According to The Washington Post, senior officials at both the Fed and The White House are counting on a rush of foreign money to help prop up this market.

Of course, this seems like a dicey proposition. Word is that China is already encouraging its state-owned investment vehicles to dump anything that’s not explicitly guaranteed by the US government. And generally speaking, there’s just no good reason for foreign investors to rush headlong into housing assets that burned them in the past.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any Non-USG Guaranteed Securities Must Be Divested
• Cities Freaking Out Over The Fact That Government Housing Intervention Might End One Day
• The Housing Market Is A Battle Between Housing Fundamentals And Government Intervention, And Fundamentals Are Winning Again

So here’s the thing. Before I quit smoking, if I met someone that had quit I just assumed they “weren’t a real smoker” to begin with. I guess it was my way of letting myself off the hook. According to me, no ‘real smoker’ had ever quit. And if they quit they didn’t enjoy smoking as much as I did –or they had other vices they could use as a crutch for their stress. But then this ‘real smoker’ quit.

I feel like many people do this same thing with exercise. They think that the people that are doing it everyday like doing it–or that it’s somehow easier for some people than it is for them. Wrong.

I HATE TO EXERCISE. HATE. I doubt there’s anyone out there that truly likes it…except for some juice heads. I love how I feel the second I’m done and how I feel in general, but the actual time while I’m doing knee pulls and side crunches for 40 minutes straight…I HATE it.

I actually go through this ridiculous internal struggle every day where I tell myself:
‘I’m not working out today.’ ‘I worked out for four days in a row.’ That’s more than most people, so I can take off today.’ ‘Okay, I’ll work out but only for 15 or 20 minutes.’ ‘I’m not doing the whole DVD.’ ‘I did 20 minutes and I’ll stop in 5 more minutes.’ ‘I look damn good for a 38 year old with 3 kids, I shouldn’t have to go through this.’ ‘Hell, I look better than a lot of girls my age with no kids.’ ‘Fine, I’ll finish the DVD today, but I’m taking off tomorrow.’ ‘Five days in a row should get me two days off.’

It’s so ridiculous that I go through this, but the bottom line is working out sucks and if it’s working it HURTS. I’m perpetually sore and it sucks that I use all my free time while the baby is napping working out and then he wakes up and nothing is done.

But the thing is, if I don’t the only person I’m hurting is myself.

So, the moral of my story is: It’s not easy for anyone so stop using that as an excuse not to get out there and jump around like a fool! We ALL hate working out. It’s the RESULTS that become intoxicating. It’s buying smaller clothes that’s addicting. Not the workout itself.

So, if you’re looking for a great starter program, Slim in 6 was really good and IMO doable even if your not an athletic person. Invest in yourself! I am moving on to Power 90 (as opposed to P90X) –I want daily 30 minute workouts. I made the hour commitment for the first 6 weeks, but it’s too long… So 90 days of Home Boot camp with Tony Horton…here I come.

Just as the US gets its own special “piracy police” in the Justice Department, it looks like Swedish police have put together something similar, with specific police tasked with investigating unauthorized file trading and copyright infringement, teamed up with some prosecutors to help bring cases. Of course, at worst, these should be civil issues decided between private companies and individuals, and at best, the industry should learn to adapt already, as plenty of participants have.

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(H/T: Mom)

HTC announced the HTC HD mini at Mobile World Congress today.  According to HTC the compact smartphone is for buyers who like the HTC HD2 but find the 4.3 inch screened device too large.

The HTC HD mini share the capacitive screen of the larger device, but it is only 3.2 inch large and only has a Half VGA resolution (a first for Windows Mobile).

HTC appeared to lay a lot of emphasis on the construction and build quality of the device, noting the exposed screws on the back and the yellow area under the battery cover, saying the device is beautiful inside and out.

See more pictures after the break.

      What HVGA looks like on Windows Mobile.

  

The iconic, but hopefully rarely seen yellow back.

See HTC’s press release below:

HTC HD Mini provides HTC HD2 experience in compact design

BARCELONA, Mobile World Congress – February 16, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced the HTC HD mini, an HTC Sense-based Windows Phone focused on delivering the popular experience of the HTC HD2 in a more compact design.

“The demand for the HTC HD2 has exceeded our expectations, and the HTC HD mini fulfils a desire from some customers to bring the capabilities and experience of the HTC HD2 to a more compact design,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “The integration of HTC Sense and Windows Phone on HD mini and HD2 gives customers an additional choice for an advanced Windows Mobile phone that is sleek, well crafted and easy to use.”

The HTC HD mini sports a high degree of usability along with its own unique and beautiful design. Precision fasteners used to assemble the phone are externally visible, displaying a high level of craftsmanship rarely found in mobile phones. And the strong design ethos continues under the battery cover where a bright yellow internal structure, offers an unexpected surprise when the phone is opened. 

The HTC HD mini utilizes HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making the phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were developed by observing and listening to how people live and communicate. These core tenets of Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected continue to be the key to the new HTC Sense experience. 

Like the HTC HD2, the HTC HD mini continues the same focus on people-centric communication with complete Outlook integration.  It helps you stay close to the important friends and colleagues in your life by providing a single contact view that displays individual communication snapshots of your conversations regardless of whether it was a call, text, status update or email. HTC’s Windows-based Twitter application, HTC Peep, enables you to tweet and follow your twitter stream.

HTC HD mini includes capacitive touch for viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microsoft® Office files, PDF documents and pictures with just a pinch of your fingers.  Leveraging its 3G broadband connectivity, the HTC HD mini also offers personal Wi-Fi anywhere for your computer or other devices. The HD mini can also be further enhanced to reflect your needs and style by downloading a variety of applications from the Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.

Availability

The new HTC HD mini will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets beginning in April. 

Sorry, but bonds and ETFs don’t mix.

Bond ETFs are failing to mimic bond investments because they are nothing like buy and hold bond investing.

Even though your bond ETFs may have gone up with bonds, things could change as we enter what looks like a rising interest rate environment.

Morning Star:

Consider this: When an ETF invests in stocks, those stocks retain their equity market characteristics. However, a passive bond index ETF is a much different animal than say, owning any one of its underlying bonds individually. Bonds in an ETF no longer look or act like bonds. Simply put, bonds have maturity dates, whereas indexed bond investments do not. Remember, the interest-rate risk of an individual bond will decrease as it approaches maturity. A bond ETF, on the other hand, exhibits constant interest-rate risk. With interest-rate risk at the top of mind, this can be a critical point to consider for investors.

Thus if you need bond exposure in your portfolio, it’s probably best not to use bond ETFs.

An example might help drive this point home. It is common practice for many to invest in laddered bond portfolios designed with specific maturities. This makes sense for those planning for a major event (such as buying a house) and who plan to hold until expiration and collect par on their investment (this is commonly referred to as a liability driven investment). Price swings caused by movements in interest rates might be of little concern to such investors who know they’ll receive par on their investment at maturity, as long as the creditor remains solvent.

Continue reading at Morningstar >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• China Reveals That It’s A Major Investor In US Oil Trust, SPDR Gold ETF
• New International Seed Fund Kima Ventures Wants To Invest In 100+ Startups
• Max Levchin And Michael Birch Invest $500,000 In Analytics Startup

Have you been reading in the paper about all this euro-breaking-apart stuff?

Well, if you don’t feel like opening up a Forex account and making bets with 50-1 leverage, check out the Market Vectors Double Short Euro ETN.

Not only has it been surging (obviously), but volume is way up as everyone wants in on the trade. (via FT Alphaville)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Here’s Another Reason The Euro Is Screwed
• Wanna Bottom Feed Euro Distress? Buy Portugal
• If The Euro Keeps Dropping, The G7 Will Have To Step In With Its Big Stick

Just like Google did quite a few years ago, Facebook’s sustained growth may allow it to venture into areas where the social network wouldn’t normally have too much in common with. The site is already the largest online photo host, by a significant margin and without even trying, and it is now making some significant advances in an area it only r… (read more)

Anne Hathaway has always been hot, but you often got the feeling that she wasn’t entirely comfortable showing off her sexy side. Not any more. Hathaway looks sinfully delicious in the February issue of British GQ:

Related posts:

1. Keely Hazell Goes Topless for PETA
2. Allure Magazine Gets Racy
3. More Women Getting Vaginal Plastic Surgery

Article Tags: BBC, ClimateGate, Comment

The newly-announced inquiries into the University of East Anglia (UEA) will shine a light deep into the core of science in the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the university.

But critics are calling for a broader review of climate science as a whole? Do they have a case?

Let’s examine the question of UEA science first.

Article continues via the source link and comments are welcome.

We at ClimateRealists.com do not have any faith in the body set up to examine the area of “Climate Science” as Roger describes in the above article at the BBC. He and others first assume that “Man Made” CO2 drives the Earth’s climate so how can the so called body make their verdict in an impartial and non bias way?

Source: bbc.co.uk

Read in full with comments »   

People have been spotting a significant Google News redesign in the wild for some time now and Google has finally confirmed that it is indeed testing a brand new homepage for its news aggregator service. Interestingly enough, Facebook isn’t the only one being inspired by Twitter, it looks like Google liked the trending topics feature so much that it decided t… (read more)

Here and there we’ve gotten a few good credit card delinquency numbers, but there’s still little evidence that this section of the financial system is returning to health.

The latest numbers from Capital One (COF) show a return to weakness in January. Annualized net charge-offs jumped to 10.41% from 10.14% in December, and delinquencies rose to 5.80% from 5.78%.

Globally (incl. Canada and the UK) charge-offs were down, so at least consumers outside the US are doing better.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Delivers A Surprise Drop
• Doug Kass: The US Consumer Is Sick And You Should Go Short Retail With Impunity
• WHOOSH: Consumer Credit Drops For 11th Straight Month

Talk about random. Rapper extraordinaire Snoop Dogg has teamed up with Adidas to launch a new line of Star Wars themed sportswear. Who knew Snoop was a closet Star Wars geek?

The Adidas Star Wars collection includes the Superstar Darth Vader track suit which retails for $85 shown above, as well as the Star wars Stormtrooper hooded track top shown below for $80:

And if you’ve ever wanted to see Snoop Dogg walk down the streets of New York City flanked by Stormtroppers and Darth Vader, here you go:

You can check out all the Star Wars themed duds at the Adidas website.

Related posts:

1. When Star Wars Geeks Marry This is What Happens
2. A Geek’s Wet Dream: Olivia Munn in Star Wars Fan Film
3. Woman Cancels Wedding After Discovering Fiance is Secret Porn Star

Gabor Steingart, writing in Der Spiegel, points out the absurdity of US Presidents (Obama and Bush before him) slamming China over its currency policies, when in fact the country has done a way better job than the US at managing its finances.

Critics might argue that China has made it impossible for us to effectively manage our finances, but we’ll ignore this debate for the moment.

What’s interesting is the way China is going about expanding its global footprint. Whereas the US known globally as a military power, China is building itself up as a development powerhouse.

Here’s Steingart:

The People’s Republic has quietly been taking stakes in virtually all the world’s regional development banks. Like a mini-World Bank, China has been helping to shore up financially troubled countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It has also increased its stake in the International Monetary Fund, by $50 billion. Chinese monetary experts, not Chinese soldiers, have been driving the nation’s expansion — silently and efficiently.

The oil business is the foundation of the dollar’s hegemony. The oil-producing states do some $2.2 trillion dollars’ worth of business each year in the US currency. Larry Summers, Obama’s top economic adviser, has compared the dollar to the English language in terms of its importance to international trade.

But China, a huge consumer of oil, is already discussing alternative means of payment with its suppliers. It would like to pay in yuan. The oil states wouldn’t be able to use that currency worldwide, but they could make purchases in China. That, by contrast, would be like learning Mandarin.

Still, the piece ends with just slightly deficient in skepticism.

The economics textbooks never imagined a planned economy that was also run so cleverly. The world of planned economies is “a completely paralyzed, artificially distorted, pseudo-order incapable of reaction,” Ludwig Erhard, the former German chancellor and economy minister widely credited with engineering Germany’s post-war economic miracle, once said. It would “collapse like a pack of cards.”

In other words: Whereas most of the time, you’d expect a centrally planned economy to make some huge, self-immolating error, it’s different this time.

We’ll see.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• BHP: China Commodity Strength Will Tear Even Higher
• The Secret Aluminum Shipments That Show China Is De-Stockpiling Its Commodities
• China Accuses Obama Of Having A Cowboy, Cold-War Mentality

Google Buzz has certainly stood in the center of attention since it launched less than a week ago and most of the time, not for the best of reasons. Still, Google has managed to keep things under control thanks, in part, to an ad-hoc “war room” created to handle the issues and problems that have become clear now that the product was … (read more)

 

 

To Our Clients, Colleagues and Friends,

• Lots of people sent us the video explaining how OneWest bank got a sweetheart deal from the FDIC.  We responded to all of them by stating that we doubted it was true, and sure enough, the FDIC has put out a statement that clarifies the deal and shows how the video was not accurate.
• This past weekend was the surf contest at Mavericks, just south of San Francisco .  The photo below is from the contest.
  
  The waves hit 50 feet this weekend, with one surfer saying he thinks they hit 60 feet, and if you don’t believe it, use a ruler and measure the surfer in the lower left corner and see how many would fit into this wave.  The waves were so huge that some crashed onto the beach and injured the spectators.
• Someone wrote us about baseball players who just missed certain numbers: “One of the more regrettable numbers was Lou Gehrig’s homer total, 495.   If only he knew the later importance of 500, he may have gotten it done.  The same is true of the “hits” total:  Cap Anson, the greatest 19th century player, had 2,995 hits.”  Rickey Henderson ended his career with 297 homeruns, and he could easily have made it 300 if he wanted to.  When he left the A’s to go the Yankees, the N.Y. writers said he was a one-dimensional base stealer.  Stung by that, Rickey went out and hit 28 homers that year.  When the writers said it was a fluke, he hit 29 the next year.

• We have two ideas on how to create real job growth: (1) A position for people who will interpret, translate and explain hospital bills, and (2) A position for people who will plan college tours that allow you to see seven colleges in six states in five days.

• We got a good response from people who remembered the M.I. companies that reside in the Mortgage Insurance Cemetery:  Commonwealth Mortgage Insurance (CMAC), Foremost, Amerin, Commonwealth, Home Guaranty Insurance, Investors Mortgage Insurance Company (Tiger IMI), U.S. Mortgage Insurance Corporation,  GE Capital Mortgage Insurance,  Integon Mortgage Guaranty, Verex Assurance, and CMG Mortgage Insurance.
• Wouldn’t you feel angry and ripped off if you had donated money to the John Edwards presidential campaign? Could he even be elected dog catcher somewhere?
• One reason mortgage bankers give us for buying a bank, no matter how small, is that once you own one, you can then get in the list to buy failed banks from the FDIC.  Our general view is that the vast, vast majority of mortgage bankers lack the temperament to own and run a bank, but for those that do, this strategy can make sense. We advised one mortgage banking client on purchasing a bank, and after having closed on it only a few months ago, he’s already looking at more acquisitions.
• From our October 30, 2007 newsletter: “On the Countrywide earnings call last week, management used the word conservative 25 times. “  Things sure can look weird when seen after-the fact.  Weren’t things pretty much unraveling by that date?
• Yes, times are very difficult, but great companies typically have visionary leaders. Mary Martin sang about it as Bloody Mary in the great musical South Pacific. ”If you ain’t got a dream, how’re you gonna have a dream come true.”  Similarly, if you haven’t got a corporate statement of vision, how’re you gonna have a vision come true.
• Leakage redux: Once again, leakage is the difference between the profit you build into your rate sheet and what you actually realize when the loan is purchased.  If you build in 100 bps of profit for a given loan on your rate sheet, you darn well better realize 100 bps or really close to it when the loan is purchased.  If you got only 90 bps, you had 10 bps of leakage. When we see companies really under-performing, it’s almost always leakage.
• We saw one under-performing mortgage company that was paying pretty outrageous salaries.  When we looked at their numbers, the high salaries explained 7-8 bps of under-performance.  The other 57 bps of under performance was leakage.  Right now, and especially if you’re a mandatory shop, fixing those leaks is the one best quick fix to generating good profits again,
• The credit crisis of the last few years devastated those who had inadequate reserves to handle repurchases.  Don’t make this mistake twice. The Romans actually addressed this 2,000 years ago. Bispeccare in bello non.  “In war, you cannot make the same mistake twice.”  Everyone had a great 2009, and before you complete your 2009 audit, it might make sense to significantly add to your loan loss reserve.      
• If you thinking of buying a bank or going on the Board of one, this is a must read:
                 
• Where were you 36 years ago this week?  In mid-February, 1974, newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was a student at UC Berkeley.  Late at night she was kidnapped by a gang of self-styled urban terrorists with the absurd name of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a group of losers and misfits with delusions of starting a revolution. They demanded as ransom that her family spend $400 million to feed the poor people of San Francisco , and food riots broke out when the family tried to comply. Patty was kept in a dark closet for weeks, raped repeatedly and, ultimately, brainwashed into joining her kidnappers. She denounced her parents as fascist pigs and “enemies of the people” and participated in a string of bank robberies in which innocent people were murdered.  Most SLA members were killed in a huge shoot-out with the police in L.A. , and Patty was later captured.  The once-pampered heiress served a number of years in jail, and is now a suburban house wife and soccer mom in Connecticut .  Her autobiography Every Secret Thing is a terrific read. 
• We have an Orange County commercial bank looking for someone to run their back office operations.  If you or someone you know I interested and has the experience, please send resumes to us at [email protected].  We were there last Thursday, and it was 71 degrees warm.
• More on repurchases from clients: “Assume Orig. loan amount = 100% of loan value (most repurchases are identified via early term defaults, meaning the UPBs don’t decline much from the original loan amount.  So we’ll keep it simple). – About two-thirds of the loans we repurchase are already in advanced delinquency or foreclosure by the time they are repurchased.  So, once we buy back the loan, let’s assume a 50% total default rate.  If a loan is repurchased today, it will likely roll to loss in the next 12-18 months (depending on judicial/non-judicial state mix), meaning loss severity will still be elevated.  We’re seeing foreclosure liquidations over the past 12 months averaging in the low-mid 60% range.  So, assuming maybe a small bounce back in home prices over the forward year & a half, let’s call loss severity at 50%.  Loan Balance * Default Probability * Loss Severity. 100% * 50% * 50% = 25% loss.  25 points.  That’s for a single loan that gets repurchased.”
• Bank of New York was founded by Alexander Hamilton, and as you remember from American History, he was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr.  If you’ve done business with this bank, you also know that it can be stodgy and slow moving.  The joke is that as he got ready for his duel, Hamilton told the bank staff “Don’t do a thing till I get back.” Many of you are doing TBA MBS forward sales with fairly obscure broker/dealers; we’d like to suggest this as a perfect opportunity to examine the counterparty risk with them.

We have a program where (1) we come in and measure your leakage, and (2) find where the leaks are and give you a plan to fix them.  We were thinking calling it PLUMBER, standing for Profit Leakage Undermining Mortgage Bankers Emergency Relief.  Let us know if it’s just a bit too cute.  The service is pretty remarkable in making a huge difference quickly in earnings, but maybe we need a better name for it.

Garrett, Watts & Co.

Today’s bonus: Laws of Lending

“Helping lenders increase revenues, control costs, and better manage risk.

• Mike McAuley   ([email protected] )
• Corky Watts      ([email protected]) 
• Joe Garrett      ([email protected] )

T-Mobile USA’s HTC HD2 to Bring a Never-Before-Seen Mobile Experience to Entertainment Fans Across the U.S.
T-Mobile to Deliver a Multimedia Powerhouse With Content From Barnes & Noble, BLOCKBUSTER, MobiTV and Paramount Pictures on the Largest Screen on a Smartphone

Press Release: – During a press conference at Mobile World Congress today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced the creation of a comprehensive mobile entertainment experience for the upcoming HTC HD2, available exclusively in the U.S. from T-Mobile this spring. Offering the largest touch screen on a smartphone in the U.S., the new HTC HD2 will come ready with access to millions of eBooks, movies, television programs and more.

The slim and sleek HTC HD2 comes equipped with an industry-leading, high-resolution 4.3-inch capacitive touch display, a blazing-fast 1GHz Snapdragon™ by Qualcomm processor, and support for T-Mobile’s high-speed 3G network for a fast mobile data experience. Designed by HTC, the HTC HD2 is also the first Windows phone with HTC Sense™.

"T-Mobile is committed to offering innovative solutions to connect, inspire and entertain our customers through the power of mobile technology," said George Harrison, vice president, marketing product innovation, T-Mobile USA. "By combining leading innovation in the world of entertainment with the large screen and processing power of the HTC HD2, we’ve created a unique and powerful mobile entertainment experience."

Consumers will have access to a complete entertainment package consisting of pre-loaded content and new pre-installed applications. In addition to the device’s array of built-in multimedia applications, the HTC HD2’s top entertainment features include the following:

• Barnes & Noble eReader application puts the world’s largest eBookstore in your hand with access to more than a million eBooks, newspapers, magazines and your Barnes & Noble digital library everywhere you go. Enjoy reading on the largest screen available for eReader smartphone software.
• BLOCKBUSTER on Demand® application is for discovering and downloading the hottest new releases on the go. Blockbuster’s first-ever video download application on a smartphone allows consumers to buy a movie on one device and watch on another connected device through Blockbuster’s library.
• MobiTV mobile application offers consumers access to live and on-demand TV on their phone – including news, sports and entertainment. Favorite channels such as MTV, NBC, COMEDY CENTRAL, ESPN and more are available for HTC HD2 consumers to watch at home or away. Plus, when HTC HD2 consumers subscribe to MobiTV, their first 30 days of service are free.
• Paramount Pictures’ popular films "Transformers" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" come pre-loaded on the device’s memory card and optimized for viewing on the HTC HD2’s high-resolution screen.
• Gogo® Inflight Internet service offers consumers who purchase the HTC HD2 an added bonus: up to six months of free in-flight Wi-Fi access on their device, with Internet access on 2,500 daily flights in the continental U.S. and growing.

"With an ultrafast 1GHz processor, crisp, vivid 4.3-inch screen and the hallmark HTC Sense user experience, the HTC HD2 represents the ultimate fusion of power and usability," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. "By building on this highly capable platform with a wide range of mobile entertainment options, HTC is helping deliver a multimedia powerhouse to people looking to enhance their on-the-go lifestyle."

"Windows phones offer flexibility for people who want to get the most out of life – work and play – with no compromises," said Andy Lees, senior vice president, Mobile Communication Business, Microsoft Corp. "The HTC HD2 is an ideal phone for people who are always on the go as it gives access to the things they care about most. Whether it’s music, TV, Internet or e-mail, they have what they want, when they want it."

In addition to the comprehensive entertainment features of the device, the HTC HD2 delivers advanced phone features including Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, GPS functionality with access to turn-by-turn navigation from TeleNav GPS Navigator™, a Web browser, a pre-installed 16 GB microSD card, and an advanced 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash for capturing images, even in dim conditions.

Availability
The HTC HD2 is expected to be available in the U.S. exclusively to T-Mobile customers this spring. More details will be available at http://www.sticktogether.com/htchd2.

Comment:

Service support has been the real issue which has been dogging Windows Mobile, and one of the main features which will be addressed by Windows Phone 7. However the T-Mobile HTC HD2 appears to have it right out of the box on Windows Mobile 6.5, which is certainly welcome news to buyers, whether they get a WP7 upgrade or not.

This is a guest post by Joseph Matthews from Art of Approaching, a hands-on guide to picking up any woman.

I have a question for you…

Have you ever heard that old addage “Nice Guys Finish Last?”

Well, I’m here to tell you that saying is 100% true! But not for the reasons you may think.

Being a “Nice Guy” with women doesn’t work, not because you get too caught up in what a girl wants and get stuck as a friend, but because Nice Guys are typically very, very…

SELFISH!

That’s right. When you’re a “Nice Guy,” you’re not really being nice, you’re being EMOTIONALLY GREEDY.

Let me explain…

One of the biggest problems guys who are struggling with women face is something I like to call “the Nice Guy factor.”

So many guys have such a weak identity and so little self-esteem, that they base their own self-worth on what other people THINK OF THEM.

These guys are at the mercy of everyone else in their lives, so they try their best to please the people around them, hoping they’ll continue to think highly of them, so they can feel good about themselves. That’s not so bad, right? It feels good when others approve of you, doesn’t it?

Most people look at this behavior and would instantly categorize these poor men in the “Nice Guys” column. After all, they’re the ones who don’t like conflict. They’re the ones who don’t want to make waves. They’re the ones who want everyone to be happy.

They are also some of the most selfish people on the planet.

Seriously. I know this because I used to be one of these people, and I know all their dirty little secrets! And the point of this article is to make everyone who thinks of themselves as “nice” or as a “victim” really, really pissed off!!!

All of you “Nice Guys” out there reading this are nothing more than “people pleasers.” Somewhere in your life, you found out that pleasing people is a way to get other people to like you and admire you so you can feel good about yourself. Whether it was the acclaim of your parents, or the acceptance of your friends, somewhere in your time on this planet YOU LEARNED to feel good based on what other people think of you.

But I’m here to tell you that using other people’s feelings and goodwill like that is not only harmful, but dishonest!

Anyone who says “I can’t stand conflict!” or “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!” should do us all a favor and move to the planet “Ideal” where life is wonderful, we all have transparent heads, and there is no war. Only on this planet will you be able to find that everyone is willing to give you the moral support you need.

But that’s the crux of the issue right there. All you “Nice Guys” have a losing mentality about your need for support. Your methodology is: “I am so loving and giving and nice, I expect you to treat me the exact same way as I treat you!”

Here is the typical thought process of Nice Guys:

– “Don’t disagree with me! It’s not fair because I do so much for you!!!”

– “Please be sympathetic and comfort me when I’m upset! I’m needy and can’t comfort myself.”

– “Always be in a good mood. I am always trying to make you happy and if I can’t, I feel ashamed and mad at you!”

– “Pay attention to me when I need it! I’ve earned it after all I’ve done for you!!!!”

–” Take care of me by doing what I’m afraid to do! I take care of you, so you need to return the favor!!!!”

Look at those thoughts above, and ask yourself “If someone was saying that to me, how would I react?” Now you know where women are coming from when they don’t want to have relationships with “Nice Guys.”

Once that happens and the needy demands of “Nice Guys” go unmet, they fall into the deep pits of self-pity and depression. They also feel a lot of shame and anger at their failure to please the women they want, and though these “Nice Guys” can keep their pleasant demeanor up for a long time, their resentment of the women they want to please will grow and grow until it explodes in anger and rage, either directed at others, themselves, or both.

This kind of mentality can extremely damage your self respect and cause others to not want to be around you.

So what’s a “Nice Guy” to do?

If you want to have success with women, you need to stop being agreeable and instead be straightforward and honest, especially when you have to go against the wishes of others and disappoint them. You can do this with kindness and sensitivity, but you MUST do this nonetheless.

Only by being honest, with yourself and with others, will you be able to overcome the selfish “nice guy” habits you have adopted in your life. And when you do this, you will stop caring about what other people think of you because the source of your validation comes from the fact that you’re being true to yourself and straightforward with others, and you will cease to harbor resentment and anger, and have more self respect and less depression.

That is the only way I have found to truly stop being a “Nice Guy” and become the type of man other people can respect. It can be hard being honest with others (especially yourself), but in the end it is far more rewarding than any other behavior you can adopt.

Your first step on the road to being that type of guy should be to read my book The Art of Approaching. In it, you will learn how to create the opportunities with women you’ll need to practice being straightforward and honest with them. If you can be reading my book in literally minutes by clicking below:

Click Here To Download Now!

Once you adopt this new way of thinking, you will see your success with women dramatically improve, so don’t wait! Get The Art of Approaching right now.

Wishing you success!

photo credit: s-a-m

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1. 13 Things Guys Don’t Know About Women’s Bodies
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3. Two Reasons Why Guys Watch Mad Men

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AutoblogGreen for 02.16.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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