A Virtual Dividend Portfolio That Makes 10% a Year [View article]
I don't know much about CIM, but it's actually not unusual for a mortgage REIT to continually issue additional shares. Bill Gross treated this very subject in his Roundtable contribution to Barron's (Jan 24 edition) regarding NLY (Annaly Capital Mgmt), which yields 14.5%. I don't know how risky CIM is or isn't and the share dilutions will certainly put a cap on the stock price, but, in this case, I doubt that the issuance of all the additional shares constitute Madoff-like behavior.
4 Safe Fixed-Income Funds for Retirees in 2011 [View article]
All CEFs, especially financials, got clobbered from their 2007 peaks, so nothing was really safe from what was essentially market risk. However, I still sniff risk. Let's face it -- unless one KNOWS where rates are going, and when, there's risk.
What really troubles me is that CEF Connect reveals the average maturity of PFN to be 8.9 years, which doesn't strike me as exactly short-term. The duration makes sense. It's tough, if not impossible, to provide returns of 7.5% with short-term issues, even using leverage. So I'm not seeing the short-term nature or the safety of PFN that the author does.
I'd like to see a detailed breakdown of the fund, e.g., fixed rates vs. floating rates, durations, etc. Since that's not easily found, I think I'll stick to my own knitting: a mix of fixed- and floating-rate preferreds, a few REITs and MLPs, a junk bond fund, a couple of recently-cheap muni funds (national and state), and a good mix of dividend paying equities.
Is that right? I didn't know that. It explains why SA is full of articles like '10 Undervalued Buggywhip Companies to Buy Now' and 'Yogi Berra is Bullish on Nigerian Internet Cafes'.
Building A DIY Dividend Portfolio (Part 4): When Should You Sell A Stock? [View article]
Something I learned at the racetrack: when you're ahead, never think or act as if you are playing with the track's money. Always treat it as YOUR money.
Same goes for investment profits, realized or not...
Here's How To Get Sustainable 7% Dividend Yields When Markets Crash [View article]
I grabbed a few preferreds (Alianz, Aegon, Deutschebank) back in the spring of '09. Had no idea that was the bottom, but 22-30% yields were hard to pass up. I resisted taking capital gains when they popped above par and they've given some back, so I'm still collecting those fat yields and preferreds are a bit higher on the food chain.
You're correct, Kurtis, it's a different game and it requires a different mindset.
Market Profile: Schizophrenic or Merely Manic-Depressive (And What's an Investor to Do?) [View article]
Great article, Joseph. Here's a quote from Jeremy Grantham circa 2010: “In 1965, 3% of GDP that was made up of financial services [and that] was clearly sufficient to the task, the proof being that the decade was a strong candidate for the greatest economic decade of the 20th century. We should be suspicious, therefore, of the benefits derived from the extra 4.5% of the pie that went to pay for financial services by 2007, as the financial services share of GDP expanded to a remarkable 7.5%.
This extra 4.5% would seem to be without material value except to the recipients. Yet it is a form of tax on the remaining real economy and should reduce by 4.5% a year its ability to save and invest, both of which did slow down. This, in turn, should eventually reduce the growth rate of the non-financial sector, which it indeed did: from 3.5% a year before 1965, this growth rate slowed to 2.4% between 1980 and 2007, even before the crisis.”
Seems to me there are now more funds than stocks. What really gets me is trading on the VIX. The VIX isn't even an index of stoxx, just an indicator of volatility. What'll they think of to bet on next?
Abbott Laboratories Shares 'Marked Down' - Good Time to Buy? [View article]
Hey, whaddya know. An S/A contributor with flair and style. A cross between Alan Abelson and Washington Irving. And content, too. Enjoyable and enlightening. And, coincidentally, articles about stocks on my watch list. Keep 'em coming, Roger.
Investor Insanity Regarding the Coming General Motors IPO [View article]
On top of everything mentioned in the article, we have a shaky company brought to its knees by a greedy union and by greedy, incompetent management. But the new CEO is a former board member and Uncle Sam's on the case now, so everything must be OK. Yeah, I'd like to own a piece of this. How can I get in on it ???
Why I'm Now Less Optimistic About Credit Crisis [View article]
"Luckily, because of the great work of people like Milton Friedman, Anna Jacobson Schwartz and Ben Bernanke, we actually know how to defeat a depression. Let’s not sit on our hands the way policy makers in the 1930s did. Let’s flood the global economy with money and use deficit spending to prevent a repeat of that."
Although Friedman embraced Keynesianism early on, he later reversed this position and spent most of his career opposing the Keynes model and government intervention in the economy.
Buy These Cheap, Below $7 Tech Stocks Now For A 'January Effect' Rally [View article]
Since I don't know you, the 'attack' you refer to was directed not toward you but toward your words, a comment which added nothing to the conversation and which, if not small-minded, was certainly overly picky, a pattern I noticed in a quick scan of some of your other posts.
If someone is capable of booting a computer and navigating to SA, he is probably perfectly capable of sniffing out the author's (irrelevant) error without your help and snarky tone.
The last word is yours. Parse my sentences, if you wish....
Annaly Capital Management: Why It's Not Time To Sell [View article]
"I like their conservative approach and I will remain fully invested with all of my shares for a very long time, and will gladly cash the dividend checks every quarter."
RS, I'm long NLY and I'm with you about remaining invested. However, in no way, shape or form should anyone consider NLY's substantial leveraging a "conservative approach". To paraphrase Hall of Fame horse trainer Leroy Jolley, "It's not an investment for boys in short pants".
A Virtual Dividend Portfolio That Makes 10% a Year [View article]
On Apple and Cisco Multiples, Or How to Truly Value Stocks [View article]
Periodic Table of the Dividend Champions [View article]
Retirement's 4% Rule: Surprising Answers You Need to Know About the Inflation Factor [View article]
Mr. Otar is now selling the book and distributing free copies sniffs of piracy and theft of income. NO CAN DO.
4 Safe Fixed-Income Funds for Retirees in 2011 [View article]
What really troubles me is that CEF Connect reveals the average maturity of PFN to be 8.9 years, which doesn't strike me as exactly short-term. The duration makes sense. It's tough, if not impossible, to provide returns of 7.5% with short-term issues, even using leverage. So I'm not seeing the short-term nature or the safety of PFN that the author does.
I'd like to see a detailed breakdown of the fund, e.g., fixed rates vs. floating rates, durations, etc. Since that's not easily found, I think I'll stick to my own knitting: a mix of fixed- and floating-rate preferreds, a few REITs and MLPs, a junk bond fund, a couple of recently-cheap muni funds (national and state), and a good mix of dividend paying equities.
The Real 'Better Advice For Seniors' [View article]
"His last article with Seeking Alpha was July 3rd...."
The Dumb Dividend Idea [View article]
Is that right? I didn't know that. It explains why SA is full of articles like '10 Undervalued Buggywhip Companies to Buy Now' and 'Yogi Berra is Bullish on Nigerian Internet Cafes'.
Building A DIY Dividend Portfolio (Part 4): When Should You Sell A Stock? [View article]
Same goes for investment profits, realized or not...
Here's How To Get Sustainable 7% Dividend Yields When Markets Crash [View article]
You're correct, Kurtis, it's a different game and it requires a different mindset.
Market Profile: Schizophrenic or Merely Manic-Depressive (And What's an Investor to Do?) [View article]
Here's a quote from Jeremy Grantham circa 2010:
“In 1965, 3% of GDP that was made up of financial services [and that] was clearly sufficient to the task, the proof being that the decade was a strong candidate for the greatest economic decade of the 20th century. We should be suspicious, therefore, of the benefits derived from the extra 4.5% of the pie that went to pay for financial services by 2007, as the financial services share of GDP expanded to a remarkable 7.5%.
This extra 4.5% would seem to be without material value except to the recipients. Yet it is a form of tax on the remaining real economy and should reduce by 4.5% a year its ability to save and invest, both of which did slow down. This, in turn, should eventually reduce the growth rate of the non-financial sector, which it indeed did: from 3.5% a year before 1965, this growth rate slowed to 2.4% between 1980 and 2007, even before the crisis.”
Seems to me there are now more funds than stocks. What really gets me is trading on the VIX. The VIX isn't even an index of stoxx, just an indicator of volatility. What'll they think of to bet on next?
Abbott Laboratories Shares 'Marked Down' - Good Time to Buy? [View article]
Investor Insanity Regarding the Coming General Motors IPO [View article]
Why I'm Now Less Optimistic About Credit Crisis [View article]
Although Friedman embraced Keynesianism early on, he later reversed this position and spent most of his career opposing the Keynes model and government intervention in the economy.
Buy These Cheap, Below $7 Tech Stocks Now For A 'January Effect' Rally [View article]
If someone is capable of booting a computer and navigating to SA, he is probably perfectly capable of sniffing out the author's (irrelevant) error without your help and snarky tone.
The last word is yours. Parse my sentences, if you wish....
Annaly Capital Management: Why It's Not Time To Sell [View article]
RS, I'm long NLY and I'm with you about remaining invested. However, in no way, shape or form should anyone consider NLY's substantial leveraging a "conservative approach". To paraphrase Hall of Fame horse trainer Leroy Jolley, "It's not an investment for boys in short pants".
Good luck to us all....