Your key to surviving market volatility is to make sure you have dividend paying stocks. With dividends you’re a winner each and every year. As a dividend-centric investor your goal isn't to sell stocks at a higher price. It is to hold onto stocks that pay you a rich dividend. As you can see in this chart, losing money can happen literally overnight. Most investors get out at the wrong time—on the way down. But when you invest for dividends you’re not a seller or a buyer—you’re a collector. And collecting rare and hard to find dividends turns out to be quite fun. As you can see from the chart … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2013
Economic Optimism Plunges
A monthly poll of economic optimism conducted by Investor’s Business Daily and TIPP, the polling arm of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, has signaled pessimism since October of 2012. The most recent release though was cause for concern. Any response below 50 signal’s pessimism and the most recent came in at 38.4, the fourth lowest ever. And today, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey was released. The survey continued its three month plunge as Americans became even less enthusiastic about their situation. It’s hard to imagine the economic momentum picking up if … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Welch: Govt’s ‘Get the bastards’ mentality
CNBC: Jack Welch, Jack Welch Management Institute executive chairman, discusses the reasons he believes the economy isn't growing as quickly as it should. It's the government's 'get the bastards' mentality that's strangling the economy, he says. … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Why I’m opposed to Yellen: Corker
CNBC: Sen. Bob Corker, Senate Banking Committee member (R-TN) says he's going to look at Yellen's record and that he wants to understand how she plans to get out of quantitative easing. I want to make sure she doesn't view herself as an enabler, he says. … [Read more...]
5,000 Jokers
You deserve the peace of mind and comfort that a trustworthy investment advisor brings to you. Unfortunately the investment business is loaded with scammers and crooks. Even when brokers are expelled from a firm they can somehow find work in the same industry. That was the case with Kenneth Dwyer who lost more than $85 million for his investors. “Mr. Dwyer is one of more than 5,000 brokers who were still licensed to sell securities earlier this year after working for one or more firms that regulators expelled between 2005 and 2012, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of a … [Read more...]
What We’re Reading 10-4-13
Albert Edwards accuses Fed of inequality cover up, Katrina Bishop, CNBC How Chris Christie Split the Labor Movement in New Jersey, Steve Malanga, The Wall Street Journal Active Stock ETFs Move Closer to Market After Long Delay, Condon and Weiss, Bloomberg How Many Fools Does It Take to Make a Bubble?, Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Trichet: ‘Structural changes’ needed for global jobs growth
CNBC: Jean-Claude Trichet, former ECB president, joins CNBC's Rick Santelli to discuss how the euro zone's "bold structural reforms" helped labor, and shares his thoughts on the U.S. government shutdown. … [Read more...]
“Don’t Fight the Fed.” All the Time?
Don't fight the Fed is the mantra of many investors today, but don't fight the Fed is a dangerous strategy late in an economic cycle. In January of 2001 the Fed started reducing rates to head off recession. If you had started buying then based on the Fed’s loose policy, you watched the value of your portfolio collapse by 40% over the course of 21 months before the market finally turned in your favor. The same thing happened in September of 2007 when the Fed decided to cut. If you happily took the signal of the Fed’s cut to indicate a time to buy, you would have been buying through 50% … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget to Turn the Lights Off Before You Leave
Visitors of the Bureau of Economic Analysis homepage today were puzzled to find that before staffers had gone home for the government shutdown, they actually shut down the BEA web site. Below is a picture of what you will find if you visit the site with Internet Explorer. Google Chrome returns a message that reads "Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to bea.gov." If you run a web site, or have any common sense, you'll realize that the default option for web sites is on. Actively intervening to take down a web site before the government shuts down seems unneeded. Now no one can access … [Read more...]
The Energy Evolution
The "Estimated Energy Costs per Million BTUs" chart from Young Research & Publishing gives you a quick comparison of oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium. As you can see, natural gas offers good value compared to oil. Over time good ideas will find their way in the marketplace at the right price and tend to evolve over time rather than an overnight revolution. Cheap natural gas will find a home. Kinder Morgan is expanding its pipelines into Mexico. Don't speculate on short-term natural gas prices but do understand the unique long-term value it offers today to companies that move it. … [Read more...]