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Browse published articles attributed to Steve Selengut, with full-archive search.
Now more than ever, you can appreciate the need for comprehensive investment education. All of a sudden, fifty percent of your nest egg has disappeared--- and the bad news? There never was a plan for income generation. Ouch! Dwelling on coulda's, woulda's, and shoulda's isn't going to rebuild ...
What if you could anticipate changes in market direction? What if you could minimize your financial risk while actively managing your portfolio? What if you could harness the power of market, economic, and interest rate cycles and use it to your financial advantage? You can, while increasing your annual base income in the process --- finally, the better mousetrap.
A Closed End Fund (CEF) is a publicly traded investment company that invests in a variety of securities such as stocks, bonds, preferred stocks, real estate, mortgages, oil and gas royalties, etc. The variety of sectors, classifications, and geographical representation is every bit as confusing as it is with traditional funds, but the advantages are easy to understand.
Is it luck or skill that gets us to the goals and objectives we set for ourselves--- gimmicks and software programs or practice and understanding? How many golfers are still using the putter they started with decades ago at a nine-hole cow pasture? How many of you are still bouncing between investment gurus and hedges in your search for the investment holy grail?
This won't take long, but think about the message and act accordingly. Never, ever, in the history of the investment world has a major correction in the stock market not been a major buying opportunity --- particularly in Investment Grade Value Stocks (IGVS). Always, every time and without exception, the general media has predicted the end of the financial world, financial experts have pointed out the remarkable differences from the last correction, and investors everywhere have been encouraged to take their losses and sit on cash or gold until the smoke clears.
The caller seemed surprised that I had never heard about Compound Stock Earnings Programs, or CSEs. "People are earning three to six percent per month with little or no risk", she continued, "I'm thinking of attending a seminar". A wise man once said: "If it sounds too good to be true, it ...
No investor should ever be surprised by the changes in market value that appear on his or her monthly account statements. In general, media noise throughout the month should lead to a feel for what has been going on and investors should understand that the prices of investment securities, particularly equities, are constantly changing.
The IGVSI is a barometer of a small but elite sector of the stock market called Investment Grade Value Stocks. Some IGVSs are included in all averages and indices, but even the well dressed Dow Jones Industrial Average includes several issues that are well below Investment Grade and very few boast an A+ rating. The S & P 500 contains about half the IGVSI selection universe, which tracks a portfolio of less than 400 stocks.
Most people never forget their first love. I'll never forget my first trading profit --- but the 600 (1970) dollars I pocketed on Royal Dutch Petroleum was not nearly as significant as the conceptual realization it signaled. I was amazed that someone would pay me that much more for my stock than the newspaper said it was worth just weeks ago. What had changed? What had happened to make the stock go up, and why had it been down in the first place? Without ever needing to know the answers, I've been trading RDSA for over 40 years!
I think it was the immortal Ben Hogan who quipped: I can put "left" on the ball and I can put "right" on the ball--- "straight" is essentially an accident. Most amateur golfers would make a slightly different observation. We can hit the ball left or right with no problem; we just have no idea ...
I've come to the conclusion that the stock market is an easier medium for investors to understand (to form behavioral expectations about) than the fixed income market. As unlikely as this sounds, experience proves it, irrefutably. Few investors grow to love volatility as I do, but most expect it in the market value of their equity positions. When dealing with income purpose securities however, neither investors nor their advisors are comfortable with any downward movement at all. Most won't consider taking profits when prices increase, but will rush in to accept losses when prices fall.
Gets your attention, doesn't it? The unfortunate thing though, is that most people will react negatively to this intentionally inflammatory, media-ready, title statement. Has some Wall Street virus attacked our financial experience memory chip? Bouncing around unpredictably is precisely what the ...
A correction is a beautiful thing, simply the flip side of a rally, big or small. Theoretically, even technically I'm told, corrections adjust equity prices to their actual value or "support levels". In reality, it's much easier than that. Prices go down because of speculator reactions to expectations of news, speculator reactions to actual news, and investor profit taking. The two former "becauses" are more potent than ever before because there is more self-directed money out there than ever before. And therein lies the core of correctional beauty!
The stock market is a dynamic place where investors can consistently make reasonable returns on their capital if they comply with the basic principles of the endeavor and if they don't measure their progress too frequently against irrelevant indices. The income securities market is most often a ...The stock market is a dynamic place where investors can consistently make reasonable returns on their capital if they comply with the basic principles of the endeavor and if they don't measure their progress too frequently against irrelevant indices.
It matters not what lines, numbers, indices, or gurus you worship, you just can't know for certain where the stock market is going or when it will change direction. Too much investor time and analytical effort is wasted trying to predict course corrections--- even more is squandered comparing ...
Every correction is the same, a normal downtu in one or more of the markets where we invest. There has never been a correction that has not proven to be an investment opportunity. You can be confident that governments around the world are not going to allow another Great Depression "on their ...
Jefferson Airplane has never, ever, been mistaken for a band of financial advisors, but the White Rabbit lyrics can be incredibly instructional to the generation of investors who experienced the classic first hand --- as a description of their own college days' lifestyle. If only they had heeded the dormouse's call to "feed your head." For the sake of your retirement sanity and security, you just have to make income investing an intellectual exercise --- not an emotional one.
The other day, with the market giving up about a third of its March gain in DJIA points, I went looking through my favorite market stats to see if any remaining profits could be pounced upon. Typically, profit possibilities can be identified quickly on NYSE lists of the largest dollar and ...
The Working Capital Model (WCM) looks at investment performance differently, less emotionally, and without a whole lot of conce for short-term market value movements. Market value performance evaluation techniques are only used to analyze peak-to-peak market cycle movements over significant ...
Crash! The 2007 thru 2008 financial crisis halved 401(k), IRA, and Mutual Fund values in a matter of months. For many, retirement dates had to be pushed back; for others, new jobs had to be found. The tragic flaw? No income allocation in the investment program. Market value builds egos; income ...
We the securities investors of the United States, in order to form more transparent financial markets, establish effective regulations, defend against destructive speculation and manipulation, promote financial well-being, preserve working capital, and protect retirement income, do establish ...
You knew it the moment it left the club, that spark at contact when you catch it just right. You look up. It's just reaching the top of its climb--- and heading down right at the pin, a pin positioned left of center on the elevated green, much too close to the water. This could be the one! Four mouths hang open, not a sound. Then whack, the ball strikes low on the stick and disappears; the pin wobbles; the ball is nowhere to be seen---r
"The Brainwashing of The American Investor", now in its second edition, provides you with a proven methodology for successful personal investment portfolio management. Step by step instructions for asset allocation, security selection universe creation, diversification, and profit taking are presented in an anecdotal manner, based on the author's hands-on professional experiences.
The parade of promises is marching down Main Street. For too many months to come, politicians of all descriptions, parties, and ideologies will be courting our votes... they have the cure for all that is wrong in the world, they tell us. With crystal clear hindsight, every candidate criticizes ...
Investment mistakes happen for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty that are irresponsibly downplayed by market gurus and institutional spokespersons. Losing money on an investment may not be the result of a mistake, and not all ...
Is it luck or skill that gets us to the goals and objectives we set for ourselves--- gimmicks and software programs or practice and understanding? How many golfers are still using the putter they started with decades ago at a nine-hole cow pasture? How many of you are still bouncing between ...
First, the good news: From June 2007 through September 2008 (i.e., during the credit crisis) Income CEF payouts per share were virtually unchanged. From June 2008 through September 2008, payouts rose slightly--- 29 funds raised their payouts and 17 lowered them. Your portfolio spending money ...
How much financial bloodshed is necessary before we realize that there is no safe and easy shortcut to investment success? When do we learn that most of our mistakes involve greed, fear, or unrealistic expectations about what we own? Eventually, successful investors begin to allocate assets in a ...
Thirty Billion Dollars is a huge amount of money, but it translates into less than $100 per US person--- a small price that we should all be willing to pay to give the Automobile Industry time to restructure itself and to save a few million jobs. Give them the green, but have them pay it back ...
Many Investment Gurus, with a straight face and a gleam in their eye, will insist that successful investing is a function of expansive research, skillful market timing, and detailed technical analysis. Others emphasize fundamental information about companies, industries, and markets. But trends ...
So what do your Investment Manager and your neighborhood bartender have in common, other than the probability that you spend more time with the latter during market corrections? Antoine Tedesco, in his "The History of Cocktails" article, lists three things that mixologists consider important to ...
Benjamin Graham was an economist, financial analyst, and professional value investor. He was one of the first to advise investors to look beyond the media hype and confusion to find undervalued stocks that would become part of a diversified portfolio. Roy McAvoy is a fictional professional ...
SIBORAP includes these ten specific sections: (1) Product Transparency, (2) Regulation and Education, (3) Protection from Speculators (4) Control of Hedge Funds, (5) Brokerage Account Statements, (6) Retirement Account Investments, (7) Executive Compensation, (8) Corporate Financial Statements, ...
It's likely that either curiosity or skepticism led you to this article, and I would agree that, for most individual investors, trading is approached in a totally speculative manner. Stock trading, in its more popular forms (Day Trading, Swing Trading, Penny Stock Speculating, etc.) includes ...
Growing up at Lake Hopatcong in Northwest Jersey, the most popular entertainment around was the rickety old Roller Coaster at Bertrand Island Park. The excitement would build as you ascended the first peak, anticipating the breathtaking plunge; eyes wide open (or shut), screaming from the thrill ...
Smack, right up alongside the head. Your 401(k) investment program deteriorated rapidly as the stock market and the economy weakened. Who would have thought that there was so much risk of loss in those mutual funds, and ETFs? Fortunately, the pain is most often temporary, but the timing of the ...
The Bargain Stock Monitor is one of three market statistics used as performance expectation analyzers for Market Cycle Investment Management "Model Portfolios". It is derived from the Month End Value Stock Watchlist screening program which identifies Investment Grade Value Stocks trading at least 15% below their 52-week high, and that also meet the price selection criteria outlined in The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street does not want YOU to read.
One of the great things about being a professional investor is the opportunity one has to apply his or her long-term experience to the investment environment that is unfolding (or coming unglued) in the present. If nothing else, most successful investors develop a consistent strategy that ...
"My wife was trying to sleep and she's waking up and saying "What's wrong with you?" What could I tell her, that I was cracking up over a financial book---?" "As I approach retirement in a few years, I'm very encouraged by the cash flow my portfolio can generate. If I can generate nearly 8% ...
Most people enter the investment process tip first. They hear something, grab an idea from a popular blog, accept a Cramerism or some motley foolishness, and think that they are making investment decisions. Rarely, will the right-now, instant-gratification, Inte et-generation speculator think ...
Your retirement income investment plan starts now, right now, no matter how old or well heeled you happen to be. Step One is to understand what a retirement plan is, and to identify the three large numbers you need to keep track of while you are developing your stash. With these three totals on ...
Most people never forget their first love. I'll never forget my first trading profit! But the $600 (1970 dollars) I pocketed on Royal Dutch Petroleum was not nearly as significant as the conceptual realization it signaled! I was amazed that someone would pay me that much more for my stock than ...
Every fall, especially in opportunity rich markets like this, I encourage investors to think about some year-end strategies that make the final calendar quarter a special time in all markets. Several forces are at work, all of which have links to conventional Wall Street wisdom; none of which ...
"The Big Takeover" by Matt Taibbi is probably the best article written to date explaining the financial crisis and how we got to where we are now. Taibbi's necessarily lengthy article explains the problems, names the "poipetrators", and exposes all of the conflicts of interest--- absolutely a ...
I've been thinking about starting a stock market prediction business. Clearly, there is a huge market for timely and accurate information of this type, and just as clearly, predicting the future is much easier than dealing with the realities of whatever is actually happening at the moment. If ...
For homeowners: Cut the interest rate on all mortgage loans by 50 basis points and extend the payment schedule by three to five years. Convert all variable rate loans to fixed, at prevailing rates, and extend the payment schedule by six to ten years. No fees, points or charges tolerated. More ...
Dateline Washington, October 19th (get it?) 2010: the Peoples Bank & Trust of America has now established itself as the only bank of any kind in the USA, totally owned and managed by the US House of Representatives. A 2/3 majority must now approve all investment banking transactions; your ...
More than fifty years ago, LaVe Baker & The Gliders, brought Jim Dandy into the fray to lasso runaway horses, dry the tears in little girls' eyes, and to save special mermaids from the hooks of villainous fishermen.nn(Black Oak Arkansas' rendition on You Tube will help you understand what your ...
During every correction, I encourage investors to avoid the destructive inertia that results from trying to determine: "How low can we go?" and/or "How long will this last?" Investors who add to their portfolios during downtu s invariably experience higher values during the next advance. Yes, Virginia, just as certainly as there is a Santa Claus, there is another market advance in our future. And despite a still much too high DJIA, we are in the third month of a correction. (A fourth month if you own income securities.)
Perhaps this (totally ignored by the media) snippet will pique your attention: on December 18, 2007, nearly 50% of all Investment Grade Value Stocks were down an average of over 30% from their 52-week highs... the Dow and the S & P 500 had fallen just 7%! One would think that there would be a ...