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posted by Sean @ 1/11/2007 10:55:00 PM
7 comments
Back in June 2005, I made a daring investment goal of making $20,000 profit in stocks over a year period. I went back to my records today and saw that on June 1, 2006, I have made a gain of $11,000. I've only accomplished 55% of my goal. Note, I've added a total of $50 in my investment account during that one year period. But nevertheless, it was a good attempt.
posted by Sean @ 1/09/2007 10:00:00 AM
0 comments
An investment strategy that has been derided by some money managers and academics as overly simplistic, once again, proved to be best in show last year. The Dogs of the Dow strategy produced a capital gain of 26.59% in 2006 plus a dividend kick of 4.77%, handsomely beating the Dow Jones Industrials gain of 16.3% and yield of around 2.2%. The strategy, popularized by Michael O’Higgins in his 1991 book “Beating the Dow,” consists of simply buying the 10 highest-yielding dividend payers in the Dow Jones Industrials, holding them for a year, and then buying the new crop of dogs. Proponents call it an easy way to handsomely outperform the average fund manager most years with an easy, do-it-yourself strategy. Critics call it an overly simplistic approach with hidden costs and risks that has outperformed only because of “data mining” - searching for statistical anomalies and then assuming they will work in the future. “The starched shirt and suspender crowd in New York are pretty savvy, and it’ll take a bit more to beat them than this,” said finance Professor Grant McQueen of Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management. “It’s a competitive world, and to think you’ll get rewards without doing homework is naive.” Source: Scottrade News, Jan 3, 2007
posted by Sean @ 1/08/2007 10:00:00 AM
1 comments
Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. - Stephen Swid
posted by Sean @ 1/06/2007 10:00:00 AM
2 comments
Empty Spaces Inc. said...
have you looked into everbank.com's icelandic CD? it pay ~10%EverBank offers a 13.10% APY 3-Month Icelandic krona CD. The yield looks very attractive so I did some research on this CD. The CD is FDIC-insured. And the reason why the yield is so high is because Iceland is combating inflation and the banks are offering high-yield CDs to combat inflation. So what's the big catch on this CD? I found out that you can lose on principal in the CD, because the krona currency fluctuates. Also, there's a exchange rate fee. The conversion fee is three quarters of a percent (0.0075%) for CDs less than $100,000. The way it works is that your US Dollars get converted to Icelandic kronas and then at maturity if you decide to withdraw, the kronas will be converted back to US Dollars. The exchange rate then could be different from the start of the CD. Does any one has experience with Icelandic CDs? Do you think it is low risk? Are they are other catches I am missing?
posted by Sean @ 1/05/2007 02:06:00 PM
1 comments
Empty Spaces Inc. said...
just curious, if you're good at making money in the stock market why not stick to it?& why would you try RE investing after its already been appreciating for several years and may be peaking in most areas?The stock market is unpredictable. No matter how good you are or how well you have done, there's no guaranteed of future results. Granted, I have done well in the stock market since I have officially started investing and I'm confident I'll continue to do well, I cannot depend on that to make me rich. Also, my earnings in the stock market is not steady. There are some months I go into the negative zone, and those months are hard to bare even though I have very high tolerance. It's not good to be constantly picking stocks in the long term. It's very time-consuming; I've spent a lot of time reading up on companies and financial news. Also, studies show that you'll likely be beaten by the index in the long run. Even if I can match or slightly beat the index in ten years, I would lose in time and opportunity because I'd have spent thousands of hours. An investor in the index would have done nothing but did not sacrifice as much time as I did. Unless I can beat the index by a huge margin year over year for many years, it's not worth spending hundreds of hours a year. I admit my view has changed slightly. I'm not against investing in individual stocks, but I advise caution, because many people go in without really understanding the risk. Play with money you can afford to lose. Real Estate investing is an alternative to stocks trading and in many people's eyes, it's less risky. I agree, because real estate property is tangible and with the increasing population, real estate demand is bound to go up. My rental property is in Philly, which is not a hot area like NYC or San Diego. Even though the property value is not skyrocketing, I still have rental income to fall back on. The rental income covers my mortgage and property expenses. Basically, the tenant is paying for my house. Eventually, the mortgage will be paid off and I will own the property. It is a long term investment and property value will go up. So far, my real estate investment has been less stressful than my stocks investment. I get a check every month and my tenants never bothered me. Hopefully, I can be this lucky for every investment property.
posted by Sean @ 1/05/2007 10:00:00 AM
0 comments
VLO and oil in general are taking a hit right now because of the warm winter (see article below), but I think VLO and oil will do well in the long term. There are many variables in the price of oil, and warm weather is only one of them. The winter is not over yet, there's still a chance colder weather will appear. The middle east conflicts also affects oil prices. If there is a shortage in supply, oil prices will go up. Odds are, the the prices of oil will go up in the long term. I'll hold on my shares of VLO. Verdict: HOLD on VLO ----------------------------------------- Source: Scottrade News 1/2/2007 Oil Prices Face Warm Weather, High Stocks The new year began with a whimper, weatherwise, in the world’s biggest heating oil market. In New York City, temperatures on the first day of 2007 hit a peak of 54 degrees - 45% above normal and 10 degrees warmer than the first day of spring 2006. The current spring-like weather - in line with forecasts - looks likely to put strong pressure on heating oil and crude oil futures prices when trading resumes on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. But there’s more afoot that can rile the market than just the warmest December on record in Boston, in the heart of New England, where heating oil inventories stand at their highest level since 1998. Latest revised data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show oil demand in October in the U.S. - the world’s largest oil consumer - was 2.7% lower than expected, though still 2.5% above a year ago. The new figures put demand at 20.757 million barrels a day in October - some 567,000 barrels a day below earlier indications - as demand figures for heating oil, gasoline and jet fuel were reduced. EIA’s preliminary data would have put October demand at 21.324 million barrels a day, the highest level since December 2005. The weakness at the start of the fourth quarter calls into question whether U.S. demand will manage to post even the modest year-to-year gain of 1.25% to 21.05 million barrels a day, which EIA forecasts would make it the strongest quarter of 2006.
posted by Sean @ 1/03/2007 06:47:00 PM
0 comments
posted by Sean @ 1/03/2007 01:32:00 PM
0 comments
posted by Sean @ 1/02/2007 11:14:00 AM
3 comments
Path to Financial Success. Growing money through investments, savings, money management, and business ideas.
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