Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Retirement - Investment Diversity Is The Key
For this reason, is an excellent idea to have a number of fingers in a series of pastels, financially speaking of course, at any given time. There would be a lot of interpretations, unfortunately, what it means to really diversify its investment portfolio.
There are those who believe that the diversification of its portfolio only has to choose stocks in various sectors rather than focusing on one. This was a big problem when the dot com boom was Dot Bust. Many people learned valuable lessons during this time and have taken a bit of heart.
However, there is nothing to say that never again experience a major stock market crash. If this were to happen and all their retirement hopes, dreams, and the funds was based on the stock market for salvation and that it would be deep in shark-infested waters financially as a result.
I do not want to imply that a stock market crash is probable or imminent by any means. The closest we have come as a nation to a stock market crash in recent history was immediately after 9-11. The good news is that the safeguards were put in place years ago to prevent an accident of the scale that we all know as "the accident".
This means that, although it may take strong blows, it is likely that the market will recover if they are willing and able to wait it out. However, if you're putting in a position to rely solely on stocks that you need to take a serious look at your overall investment plan and see where changes can be made.
It goes without saying that any decision regarding their financial future should be done without first talking to your financial advisor. My purpose here is to raise questions and ideas that you may wish to consider or at least talk to your adviser.
My personal preference is to have a little money tied up in mutual funds and other funds linked to real estate, which may provide some form of income continued month after month. I'm not much of a player and yet have chosen a path of low risk for retirement funding and financing.
There are some who are much more adventurous than I when it comes to investing in their financial future. For those of you who are willing to take risks that there are values as an investment to provide a ride wildly speculative.
Values are very risky for investors, especially those who are novices and even some seasoned veterans of investment tend to shun such investment. If you do invest in securities, I strongly urge that not all risk of investing in them.
Mutual funds provide a little safer bet when it comes to your financial future. Once again there are no guarantees, but these are much safer bet than securities.
The problem with mutual funds for many is that there are so many to choose which is still a difficult decision for beginning investors to do. These decisions are the reason that a good financial advisor is so terribly important to make a map of their financial destiny.
All in one of the funds are essentially collections of mutual funds. These provide a safe bet for those who wish to find an easy possibility that the investment is fairly safe (if not terribly conservative) to place their money and see it grow slowly over time. All in one funds tend to be less aggressive over time.
This means that as they age, become more conservative in placing their money in an effort to better protect their money while continuing to grow.
By placing a bit of your money in many different places, you will see a much larger safety net when it comes to protecting their profits. Discuss your plans with your financial advisor and any concerns you may have. It is likely that can help clarify any questions or concerns you may have.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Simple Strategies For The New Investor
Dollar cost average (DCA) is an investment technique designed to reduce exposure to risk associated with making a single large purchase. According to this technique, the shares of stocks are bought in a specific amount to a regular (often monthly), regardless of their current performance. The theory is that this will lead to greater yields in general, since fewer shares are bought when the cost is high, while largest number of shares were purchased while the cost is low.
An example of DCA would be as follows: If I want to buy 1200 shares of IBM stock using DCA, then I might decide to buy 400 shares of IBM per month over the next three months. Hypothetically, for a month, the price of IBM may be $ 105 per share, and then could drop to 95 U.S. dollars per share for two months, then increase to $ 100 for three months. If I bought all the shares during 1200 a month, I would like to have cost $ 105 per share. But for the dissemination of purchase for a period of three months, I could buy IBM at an average price of $ 100 per share.
The main drawback of using DCA is that you can not maximize its overall performance. If there is an indication that a particular stock is currently undervalued and could shoot up in price, which actually make less money than if using DCA had bought all shares in the beginning before prices skyrocketed. Therefore, it is not always a winning strategy to spread their purchases over a period of time.
Average value, also known as the average value of the dollar (VAD), is a technique of adding an investment portfolio to provide a higher return on similar methods such as dollar cost averaging random and investment. With the method, investors contribute to their portfolios so that the balance of portfolio rises by a fixed amount, regardless of market fluctuations. As a result, during periods of declining market, the investor makes more money, while in periods of market rises, the investor contributes less.
Here is an example of VAD: I want to invest in Yahoo using VAD. For the sake of argument, we will say that Yahoo is currently $ 10 per share. I determine that the value of that amount going to invest over 1 year will increase on average $ 1000 each quarter and make additional investments. If I use VAD, investing $ 1,000 to start.
If at the end of the first quarter, the share price has risen to $ 15 per share, meaning that the value of my investment is now $ 1500, meaning that you only need to invest $ 500 at the beginning of the second quarter in order to bring the total amount of my investment for the first and second quarter to $ 2000. Therefore, I am investing less as increases in stock price.
Average value of the dollar usually performs better than the average cost because the average value of results in less money is invested as the stock price rises, while the average cost of continuing to invest the same amount of dollars, irrespective of the share price. However, none of these strategies are necessarily complete the test. Make sure you know something about the company will invest in you before proceeding.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Invest in What You really Know
In his lectures and writings, the famous investor Warren Buffett often discusses the concept of a "circle of competence." This circle of competition consists of all the companies with which the investor is familiar and thoroughly understood. An investor who has spent the last ten years as an inspector at a supermarket would have an edge when analyzing the financial statements of a chain of grocery stores; he or she will be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company, evaluate the climate of competitive industry, and compare the performance of a prospective investment with an excellent grocer.
The size of an investor's circle competition is not as important as clearly defined borders. If you're unfamiliar with the insurance industry, not even attempt to evaluate the performance of a property and casualty. Similarly, if you do not understand the Internet, did not bother ordering the annual report of an Internet population. Depart from the circle of competition leads to potential investors-in the realm of speculation.
The discovery of investment ideas
How to find companies that you can understand? Take a trip to your local commercial and scouts from the shops to see what is popular. Pay attention to your children wherever you take for their return to school shopping. Peter Lynch, one of the most successful money managers in history, has some of his best investment ideas from listening to his wife and children after returning from errands. In fact, Lynch bought shares in Hanes after his wife brought home the newly introduced L'eggs discovered while in line buying at the supermarket, the investment made millions.
Another way to get ideas investment is to go through your pantry, closets, laundry, garage and find the products they use regularly. Most of the labels contain information about the product's manufacturer. You may be surprised by what you find; what Tide, Pampers, Always maxi pads, Pantene Pro V, Charmin Toilette paper, Bounty paper towels, folders Coffee, Crest toothpaste, Pringles potato chips, Downy fabric softener, Oil of Olay, Bounce, Cascade, Cover Girl, Fixodent, Mr. Clean, PERT Plus, Pepto Bismol, Old Spice, Noxema, Millstone Coffee, Max Factor, Febreze, Giorgio Beverly Hills, head and shoulders, herbal essences , Gain, Ivory, Luvs, Joy, scope, Sunny Delight, Tampax, Zest, and Vidal Sasoon have in common? All of them are made by Procter and Gamble. Sara Lee is another company with well-known brand names including Hanes underwear, Hillshire Farm, Playtex, Sara Lee food, sportswear Champion, L'eggs, Jimmy Dean, ballpark Hotdogs, Kiwi Shoe Care, and Wonderbra.
Price still matters
Finding companies that are easy to understand is just the beginning. The circle of competence test should be merely a starting point to generate a list of investment opportunities on the basis of an investor individual strengths and viewpoints. A company must show an excellent economy, an attractive price and shareholder-friendly management. When discovered, this holy grail of investment insurance to produce stellar returns for the investor's pocket.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Making Money in Bad Companies
An example in the petroleum industry
Imagine being at the end of 1990 and of crude oil is $ 10 per barrel. You have some spare parts capital with which to speculate. It is his belief that oil soon skyrocketed to 30 dollars per barrel and that he would like to find a way to exploit their hunch. Usually, as a long-term investor that would deal with the company to better suit the economy and its capital in stocks, parking them for decades as they collected and reinvested dividends. However, to recall a technique taught in Security Analysis and really seek out the least profitable oil companies and start buying shares.
Why do this? Imagine you're looking at two oil companies fiction:
- Company A is big business. Oil is currently $ 10 per barrel, and its exploration and other costs are $ 6 per barrel, leaving a $ 4 per barrel profit.
- Company B is a terrible business in comparison. It has exploration and other costs of $ 9 per barrel, leaving only $ 1 per barrel in profits at the current price of 10 dollars per barrel crude.
Now, imagine that skyrockets crude to 30 dollars per barrel. Here are the numbers of each company:
- Company A earns $ 24 per barrel in profits. ($ 30 per barrel oil price - $ 6 = $ 24 in expenses profit).
- Company B earns $ 21 per barrel in profits ($ 30 per barrel oil price - costs $ 9 = $ 21).
Even if Company A makes more money in an absolute sense, their benefit only an increase of 600%, from $ 4 per barrel to 24 dollars per barrel compared with Company B, which increased its profits 2, 100%. These differences are likely to be reflected in the share price which means that although the first company is a business better than the second is a better balance.
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Normally, these operations are most successful in industries that depend on the prices of their underlying profitability, as producers of copper, gold mines, oil companies, etc. wild fluctuations in commodities may give rise to huge fluctuations in income of the company, which makes them good candidates. Of course, unless you are a professional, should not participate in these types of transactions, instead focusing on building long-term wealth through value-based, intelligent, discipline and investments that focus on harness to maximize profits at lower risk.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
7 Signs of a Shareholder Friendly Management
1. Clearly articulated with the dividend policy rationally justifiable
One of the most important jobs of management has been allocating shareholder capital. How excess profits are handled is extremely important, if reinvested in existing operations, used to acquire a competitor, expand into other industries, repurchase shares or increase dividends in cash to owners, the decision will have an impact substantial wealth of the owners. As Warren Buffett aptly illustrated in one of his letters to shareholders, however, this is not something that comes naturally to most executives. "The lack of ability that many CEOs have in the allocation of capital is not a small matter: After ten years in the job, a CEO whose company's annual revenue reserves equal to 10% of net assets have been responsible for deployment of more than 60% of the entire capital at work in the company. " When management articulates a clear and justified the dividend policy, shareholders are better able to make them responsible and judge performance. It also tempers the need to pursue overpriced acquisitions. An excellent example is the U.S. Bank, the sixth largest financial institution in the world. According to the company's annual report 2005, "The Company has focused on restoring 80 percent of profits to our shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. Consistent with the goal, the company returned to 90 percent of revenues in 2005. "
2. Management stock ownership guidelines
Everything else being equal, you want your capital managed by someone who has "skin in the game", so to speak. Shareholder friendly companies often require their managers and executives to own shares in the company worth several times their base salary. This ensures that those who are thinking primarily as owners, not employees.
3. Strong managers who are loyal to shareholders, not management
The Governing Council should know their main job - to protect the interests of shareholders, not management. Throughout the financial history, it seems that most of corporate scandals have occurred when a board was too comfortable with the executive team. This phenomenon is understandable, when working with people you like and respect, it is certainly easier to take friendship club atmosphere rather than a fight club antagonistic. How can we know whether the directors are on your side? Look for some key signs:
- Directors hold separate meetings without management present.
- Board compensation is reasonable and not excessive.
4. The equity and voting rights Aligned
In most cases, does not bode well for the management of possessing 2% of the population, but control 80% of the votes. These agreements can lead to unbalanced class of shareholder that the abuse was alleged in Adelphia.
5. Limited related-party transactions
Does the company leases all its facilities of a real estate company owned and controlled by the family of the CEO? Are all the napkins in his chain of pizza bought the granddaughter of the founder? Despite the fact that some transactions with related parties can actually be good for business, be aware of situations that could give rise to conflicts of interest. Taking our last example: shareholders will get the lowest possible price in its infancy, or the CEO is going to feel like helping out the granddaughter of the founder of paying more than they know it could get elsewhere?
6. Reasonable and restricted stock options and executive compensation
If the CEO is paid $ 100 million, may be perfectly justified if the company is among the top performers during his tenure. If companies has been reduced, the talent is jumping ship, shareholders are revolting, and a huge pay package has been announced, there may be very real problems of corporate governance.
7. Open and honest communication
As the owner of the company, you are entitled to know the challenges and opportunities facing your company. If management is reluctant to share information, may indicate a tendency to regard shareholders as a necessary evil rather than the true owners of the company. In most cases, your portfolio will be better if you steer clear.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"Kiss" - Keep It Simple, Stupid!-One of Warren Buffett's Keys to Success
Paragraph one of the trials
The proof that these two men is applied is more or less the same. According to sources, Peter Lynch used to start an egg timer when the phone with financial analysts and operators to force them to explain the basic premise of an idea to invest in less than a minute. Buffett recommend that you write a brief paragraph saying something along the lines of, "I'm buying $ 10000 shares of the Company XYZ at $ 25 per share, because I think (insert here the reason as the profit will grow twice as quicker than the current price-to - revenue ratio, assets are hidden in the balance sheet, there was a management change for the better, the valuation is too low, etc.) then control the situation, always aware of their basic thesis. The practical result is meat or substance of his argument of the matter is separated from the water by a nonsense. Too often, stockbrokers and financial journalists spew tens of facts that have regurgitated for 10k or an annual report. Therefore, many facts obscure the really important figures such as sales growth, profit margins, anticipated capital expenditures, expected depreciation, and return on equity. Investors instead become bogged down in the reading of a $ 12 million transactions in a company generating $ 20 billion in sales. In a vast majority of cases, such information is not particularly relevant or necessary.
Avoid multiple points
Another big advantage of "Kiss" that is basic factor in probability theory in their decisions. What you do not have: a population that has a 65% change to double over the next five years or a population that has the potential to quadruple if eight different events taking place all (perhaps a business license in a new state, new factory built, etc.), each case has a 90% success rate likely? The latter, believe it or not, has an approximate 43% chance of becoming reality - much worse than contradicts the first option! With more links in a chain, has a greater probability of something going wrong. If a population could reach 1000%, but this, trade unions should drop the demand, the supply of fuel should collapse, a bankruptcy court should compel a competitor to pay their promised pension obligations, and new management to come to cut costs and stock option, will probably be disappointed.
Monday, August 25, 2008
How to Invest smartly in Stocks
How to Invest in Stock - The four major forms of Invest There are typically four main ways to invest:
- Through a 401k plan or, if you work for a non-profit organization, a plan 403b
- Through a Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP-IRA account
- Through a brokerage account
- Through a direct stock purchase plan or dividend reinvestment plan (drip)
How to invest in stock - The six types of assets that could itself In general, there are six types of assets for the average investor is likely that in his own life:
- Populations common - owned enterprises
- Preferred Stock - special types of stocks that often pay high dividends but have limited upside
- Bonds - corporate bonds, municipal bonds, savings bonds, the U.S. government Treasury, etc.
- Money markets - highly liquid funds that are designed to protect their purchasing power; considered a cash equivalent
- Real estate investment funds or REITs - a special kind of company that designation does not allow the imposition within the company provided more than 90% of income has been paid to shareholders. The assets are often invested in a variety of real estate projects and property.
- Mutual funds including exchange of goodwill, index funds and actively managed funds.
How to Invest in Stock - Doing Research
When the investigation of an investment normally there are five documents that wants to get your hands on research on the relative merits of a potential values:
- The 10K - this is the annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- The most recent 10Q - this is the quarterly filing with the SEC
- Proxy data - including information on the Board of Directors and management pay and shareholder proposals
- The most recent annual report - read the report of the Chairman, CEO, CFO and, sometimes, or other high-ranking officials to see how they see the company. Not all annual reports are created equal. In general, the best in the business is considered a letter by Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, which can be downloaded for free on its corporate website.
- One statistic that shows which dates back five or ten years. Several companies prepare such information, especially for a subscription, a Morningstar, Value Line, S & P and Moody's.
How to invest in stock - the three financial statements
There are three financial statements you will want to examine closely:
- The income statement
- The balance sheet
- The cash flow statement