Boubou

Ethanol vs. Natural Gas or Coal: Comparison Not Even Close

Hasty and counter-productive politically motivated decisions in every issue, local and global, agriculture to warfare - they're driving me crazy.
A sane person can't live in this world.
I MUST stop reading , viewing and listening to this stuff.

Some Graham and Dodd Type Thoughts on Stocks vs. Bonds

I like this article and tend to believe it. My investment era stretches from the year 2000 to my retirement just lately. During that time no equity situation managed by the gods of fund management did any good. The same applies if you take a 2 decade view also. If you add in inflation and currency losses it was more than a disaster.
Fortunately I decided to sell all the funds and buy my own dividend stocks and and more than my share of bonds and preferreds.
So I no longer have to watch hotshots spending all my profits on futile acquisitions ,giant bonuses, and fees, and I can pay the bills.

Anglo American: An Admirable Investment

This reference to dividends as the 'child's lollipop' is condescending and insulting and also misleading.
Companies which maintain a dividend are appropriate for those needing income as well as those who don't trust a company to handle the shareholders profits responsibly, for example with rash acquisitions which we now learn are wrong in 70% of instances, or with excessive compensation packages for directors.
Over the last decades you could have owned a growth portfolio only to see your capital halved and not received any profits from the enterprises.
I think punters will increasingly take this point of view.

Boring BP? Not for Your Wallet

This analysis was very convincing. I am glad I am into BP at the march price.

13 Fundamentally Sound Stocks with Big Dividends

BCS, HSB, DB and several other banks now considered safe have preferreds yielding over 8% and still selling below par.
I like this way.

U.K. Stocks: 2009 Half Term Report

The same remarks apply to almost anything over the period.

Rising Bond Yields: Good for Corporate Bonds, Bad for Treasuries

Only the rich deserve decent health care. I think that must be obvious to anyone.
To prove the point, in Europe the rich go ahead and pay for it anyway, even though it's available free. Richness needs to be expressed.

Triple-Digit Oil Prices: Rubin vs. Yergin

I am frustrated and outraged ( as usual).
Experts are always equal and opposite and cancel out.
And yet they all get very well paid not to know what's happening.
So picking your guru is as difficult as picking outcomes in the first place.

Lucky experts who design bridges and airplanes do a bettr job. Of course, they get paid a LOT less.

New Oil Shock 'Inevitable' - McKinsey

As to Roubini and his revised forecast for return to growth, for me, you can't 'revise' a forecast.
Your original forecast remains your record.
It's like the hurricane centre.
As the year goes by and if hurricanes are a bit thin on the ground, they revise down based on the facts 'on the ground'
But the changed facts on the ground should have have been predicted, if in fact there is a valid method of prediction.

So I understand weather and behaviour are impossible to predict well, but when a forecast turns up wrong, you are not revising a failed forecast.
You are repudiating one forecast and issuing another based on the new facts you erroneously forecast in the first place.
I realise this thought is of no practical importance.

Eight Dividend Increases in the News

When it comes to the modest returns mentioned in this type of article , I'd rather be in the bonds and preferreds. Div. modifications or cancellation is very rare in those, and you don't have to hold your beath.
The growth factor is a bif IF as we have all seen lately.

How Will Gold Perform in the Coming Equity Crash?

I am nervous about gold. At a time when basic assumptions about financial systems and the free market are being questioned, the real significance of gold could also be questioned or become the subject of government tampering.
After all the demand in terms of real life applications is tiny when compared to the amount held for its percieved symbolic value, and this latter value is vulnerable.

Are Shippers’ High Dividend Yields Sustainable?

Most finacial sites are not organised to follow changes in company dividends in a timely way, and present misleading data.
Hao has fallen prey to this.
At the moment I do it by sifting through recent company announcements for each stock I am looking at, or through the forums.
Is there somewhere which displays current div data?

Surprising Upturn for the Energy Sector

There appears to be no logic in the recent upturn in anything, as if investors were just bored of being on the sideline too long.
I have had trouble not diving in myself. Anyway its too late to enjoy this little bounce.
In the past my main mistakes have been - having missed the boat, jump into the water anyway and drown. I have got in on the last gasp of every bubble going.
I think there may be a major correction but not back to March levels. I will then get back in and regret not doing it in March.

Book Review: Great Depression Ahead

As the euphonically named, 379550 points out, expert opinions are equal and opposite and cancel out. The amazing thing is they are handsomely paid to dish out this stuff.
As every opinion is out there in print, sooner or later a few of them will be right and timely.
They will become saints.
The rest will keep trying.
Meanwhile we will make our choices, and when we get it right we will be geniuses.
When we are wrong we will wail and gnash teeth.

7 Deadly Sins of Income Investing

Another useful article. When you add up the forces working against you when trying to fund yourself for the future, you might very well think, 'How did life get THIS complicated?.
I grew up in socialist post-war Britain. It was quite nice actually , never thinking about health care, education, housing, investing , joblessness etc etc..
If you are not preoccupied with financial problems, the rest of life opens up a bit.
Now i am sweating the daily finance drama like everyone else.