Articles Index
Why It Might Be a Horrible Mistake to Sell Out During a Down Market
If you are more than five years away from retirement, your 401(k) was invested in a broadly diversified, low-cost index fund, and you’ve sold off your assets as the market has collapsed, you have made a very, very stupid long-term decision. Believe me, I wish it could be sugar coated, but you’ve effectively just dumped your ownership of great American businesses such as Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart Stores, and General Electric to value investors at a fraction of their intrinsic value.
What does it mean when a stock is delisted?
If your stock is delisted from a stock exchange, what does that mean? What are the reasons for a stock to get delisted?
What are Diluted Earnings Per Share?
Diluted earnings per share, or diluted EPS, are a type of profit figure for common stocks that explains how much profit was earned for each share of stock if new shares were issued for things such as employee stock options or convertible bonds.
Walter Schloss
Walter Schloss, a successful investor who worked for and studied under Benjamin Graham, crushed the market for nearly half a century while working out of a closet-sized subleased office at the Tweedy Browne headquarters in Manhattan. It is reported that Walter Schloss had total office expense of $11,000 while his partnership generated a net profit of $19,000,000.
How to Retire with Over $4.3 Million on Only $197 Dollars per Paycheck
College graduates can retire with over $4 million by following a few simple rules. To learn how college graduates can build wealth and retire rich check out these resources.
Giving to Charity? You Might Want to Consider Donating Your Stocks
Donating stocks and other marketable securities to your favorite charities could mean more money for the charitable organization and a bigger tax write-off for you and your family. To find information about why donating appreciated securities might possibly be useful or preferable, take a moment to read this quick tip.
Do Not Despise the Day of Small Beginnings
Feel discouraged about investing small amounts? This short story about the success of Coca-Cola common stock should lift your spirits.
Building a Stock Position by Writing Put Options
An investor can write put options to build a stock position. By utilizing put options, he can lower his cost basis, potentially maximizing long-term returns.
When Searching for Dividend Paying Stocks, Dividend Yield Isn't All That Matters
If you invest for income, the dividend yield isn't all that matters. General Motors, for example, has announced that it will cut its annual dividend by more than fifty percent.
Earnings Season
On Wall Street, earnings season is the month after the end of each quarter when companies report their quarterly earnings and other important financial information in conference calls and SEC filings such as the 10q and 10k. Earnings season is important because it gives investors information about the stocks in which they hold ownership.
The Biggest Rip-Off Fees of All
So-called safe keeping fees and custodial fees from your broker or bank are nothing short of a rip off. You should not have to pay safe keeping fees or custodial fees. To find out why, this article will explain.
What are the Summer Doldrums?
The summer doldrums is a phenomenon in the stock market where trading volume falls substantially as a result of investor psychology. Typically, the summer doldrums are a result of money managers spending more time on vacation and outdoors rather than inside reviewing financial statements and buying or selling stocks.
Successful Investing Is Not Sexy
In the world of investing, most of the great gains are made in boring companies or index funds that aren't sexy. That means things like water utilities, power plants, banks, insurance, candy, chocolates. It all comes down to the price you pay for the asset and your focus on low costs and sufficient diversification.
How to Determine the Percentage of Your Portfolio to Invest in Bonds
Burton Malkiel, famed author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street and respected Ivy League educator has said that a good rule of thumb for investors to use in order to determine the percentage of their assets that should be invested in bonds is to simply look at their birth certificate. A 30 year old? 30% bond allocation. A 60 year old? 60% bond allocation.
Wisdom from Peter Drucker
In his treatise Management, famed management guru Peter Drucker gave one of the best and most succinct pieces of wisdom I've ever read. It dealt with long-range plans and the need for action today.
Ticker Spy Lets You Peek on the Holdings of the Big Investors
There is a new investment service called Ticker Spy that allows you to see the investment holdings of great investors that are required to disclose their holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Ticker Spy service gets that data and puts it into a format that you can understand and search through in a few seconds.
Warren Buffett's 20 Ticket Punch Card
Warren Buffett has often told students and investors that they should act as if they have a punch card with only twenty slots and those are the only allocation decisions they can make in their entire life. This punch card has been quoted by famed investor Lou Simpson in helping to account for his success at GEICO.
Investing Tip - Getting Annual Reports Delivered Automatically
Holding at least one share of your stocks in stock certificate form or through direct registration will make it easier to receive annual reports and proxy statement information in the mail.
Building Equity in Businesses
The easiest way to build your net worth is to build your ownership of businesses. If you rely on your labor, your ability to work, you are always going to be limited by your physical capacity for labor and the amount of time you can put into your efforts. Ownership of a business or businesses, on the other hand, can allow you to make money. Think about all the people in the world drinking soda, or shaving, or heating their homes all while you are sleeping at home, secure in your bed!
The $25,000 Bouquet of Roses
Today, I happened to stop by a flower shop near my office and pick up a dozen long-stem red roses for the foyer of my investing company’s headquarters. Not thinking that it was near Valentine’s day, nor really paying attention, I selected a dozen premium flowers and, upon paying, realized I had just dropped roughly $93.50. That would have been fine, except it wasn’t something that I expected – but it was too late.
Investing in Health Insurance
One of the leading causes of financial disaster, namely bankruptcy, is the result of a lack of health insurance. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for you to begin investing in common stocks through a brokerage account or direct stock purchase plan if you don’t have good health insurance with reasonable deductibles.
Want to Invest and Get Seriously Rich? Find the Right Employer!
Did you know that some employers will actually pay huge bonuses to employees at the end of the year for them to build their retirement accounts? Firms that offer such programs can sometimes pay working dividends of up to 15 percent or more of base salary into profit sharing plans or 401k plans, just to name two examples, on top of other contributions the workers may have made.
Uncovering a Bad Investment - Some Real Life Examples
I’m at my home office, reading through the annual report of a company with which many of you would have at least some familiarity based on normal shopping patterns. I’m absolutely baffled that such mediocrity can exist and it makes me angry that the average investor would not be able to uncover it by flipping through a Wall Street brokerage report.
Value Line Investment Survey
The flagship newsletter, the Value Line Investment Survey tracks 1,700 individual stocks across ninety different industries. Each week, the Value Line staff analysts update a batch of 130 stocks – how you receive the updates depends on whether you choose the web option or the print version.
Take a Breath and Remain Calm - Some Encouraging Words for Today's Markets
The stock market has been very volatile in recent months but this can represent a great opportunity for disciplined investors to dollar cost average into their favorite blue chip stocks.