CapLease: A REIT That Hits Singles But Delivers Home Runs [View article]
I have been reading your posts regularly and enjoy them. You are open about your relationships to the real estate industry and I appreciate the insight you bring to investing in REITs. I have been long on LSE's preferred for some time. I was reasonably sure that the company was sound enough to survive. I am now ready to consider buying the common on the basis of your article. Thanks for your work and articles here.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
You are correct and my reading of the graph was wrong... It was between June of 2008 and October of 2008. Thank you for the correction. You are correct about it being the correct buy time in 2008. Very few of us knew that at the time. I seriously doubt that today is the best time to be buying these stocks, but I believe they still have a bit to run...
Retired Investors - Treat Your Income Generating Portfolio Like A Business [View article]
Bob, Enjoyed your latest article. I read your earlier articles with interest. You write and talk like an engineer. You have a plan where all the pieces are laid out and fit into a neat puzzle. You seem to have overcome the emotional part of investing. For me, the emotional part of investing keeps it interesting. I have changed my styles of investing over the years to fit into the emotions and fads of the time. Your plan eliminates that. I am sure I would lose interest if the psychological and sociological parts of investing were to be eliminated. However your plan may be safer and easier to run. Keep turning out your interesting articles.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
Thank you for your comments on mREITs. You have pointed out some of the inherent problems all REITs have, especially having to deal with the nearly always late K-1s. But I have found that for the individual investor like myself, the fact that management must distribute income makes it worthwhile to do the extra work at tax time. Looking at your comment on NLY, perhaps you should write an article spelling out what you consider to be the problems. It appears that many folks using Seekingalpha have invested their hard earned savings in it.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
A look at the 5 year history of AGNC had it go from a high of 20 in June of 2007 to a low of 12 in October of 2008. AGNC is a very well run mREIT. Others did not fare as well as this one. Now if one were completely non-emotional about investing one's money and held on, you would have recovered your capital and received undulating dividends along the way. My investing history goes back much further than this, I lived through the Carter and Ford administrations where inflation and interest rates went through the roof. All interest rate sensitive entities took big hits. PS. I disclose that I own EFC which is a mREIT. I am warning and not attempting to use scare tactics.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
If rates go up very slowly, you are correct in your comment. However when inflation takes hold, the rates can change very quickly. I have seen rates rise 2% a year and that would be much too fast for the scenario you lay out. Two years of raises in that range would work havoc on the mREITs. Typically in that scenario to stay in business, the REIT is forced to issue new shares at lower prices. Which than further reduces the value of the shares you own.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
There is a great deal of truth in your statement about diversification. You can either increase or decrease your return by the investments one chooses. If you always choose the right one, you will definitely increase your return. However, you only need to make one mistake to lose what you have gained with little diversification. My suggestion of 2% for any stock assumes one has a portfolio that allows one to buy in at least 100 share lots. If that is not possible, than it would be better to not diversify as much. Using 2%, one only has to invest in 50 different entities and one can only lose 2% in any given investment.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
This is a good suggestion. But be careful of the dangers there as well. Someone in my family had 20% of his investment in GE during the Jack Welch reign. When the account was turned over to me, I sold all but several hundred shares. The person was angry at my action until GE fell on it's face. Than the person thanked me for diversifying the portfolio. I saved the person thousands of dollars of their hard earned retirement money.
'Wait 'Til Next Year' - Lifestyle Hedging [View article]
I was fascinated by your article. The comments below show that i was not the only person to be taken by your article. It's hard to argue with your reasoning. The only way for you to lose big is if the price of oil and/or agricultural goods really fall hard. But that scenario does not seem to be in the cards for any time in the near future.
5 High Yield Stocks To Hedge Against Uncertainty [View article]
Your preferred stocks from European banks are paying a good dividend. But the risk of default or non-payment appears to be great. If the directors at SAN or RBS do not declare the dividend, it is lost. The issues are non-cumulative. RBS actually did not pay their preferred dividends for 2 years because they were ordered not to because of capital restrictions. They have recently been allowed to pay dividends again on these securities.
CapLease: A REIT That Hits Singles But Delivers Home Runs [View article]
I have been long on LSE's preferred for some time. I was reasonably sure that the company was sound enough to survive. I am now ready to consider buying the common on the basis of your article.
Thanks for your work and articles here.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
You are correct about it being the correct buy time in 2008. Very few of us knew that at the time.
I seriously doubt that today is the best time to be buying these stocks, but I believe they still have a bit to run...
Retired Investors - Treat Your Income Generating Portfolio Like A Business [View article]
Enjoyed your latest article. I read your earlier articles with interest. You write and talk like an engineer. You have a plan where all the pieces are laid out and fit into a neat puzzle. You seem to have overcome the emotional part of investing.
For me, the emotional part of investing keeps it interesting. I have changed my styles of investing over the years to fit into the emotions and fads of the time. Your plan eliminates that.
I am sure I would lose interest if the psychological and sociological parts of investing were to be eliminated. However your plan may be safer and easier to run.
Keep turning out your interesting articles.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
Looking at your comment on NLY, perhaps you should write an article spelling out what you consider to be the problems. It appears that many folks using Seekingalpha have invested their hard earned savings in it.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
My investing history goes back much further than this, I lived through the Carter and Ford administrations where inflation and interest rates went through the roof. All interest rate sensitive entities took big hits.
PS. I disclose that I own EFC which is a mREIT. I am warning and not attempting to use scare tactics.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
My suggestion of 2% for any stock assumes one has a portfolio that allows one to buy in at least 100 share lots. If that is not possible, than it would be better to not diversify as much.
Using 2%, one only has to invest in 50 different entities and one can only lose 2% in any given investment.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
It appears that you are managing your account well. Keep up the good work.
High Risk - High Reward: Maybe, Maybe Not [View article]
The person was angry at my action until GE fell on it's face.
Than the person thanked me for diversifying the portfolio. I saved the person thousands of dollars of their hard earned retirement money.
'Wait 'Til Next Year' - Lifestyle Hedging [View article]
5 High Yield Stocks To Hedge Against Uncertainty [View article]
RBS actually did not pay their preferred dividends for 2 years because they were ordered not to because of capital restrictions. They have recently been allowed to pay dividends again on these securities.
Defend Your Portfolio With These 'Wide Moat' REITs [View article]