Time To Change Global Asset Allocation Strategy [View article]
Interesting ideas worth considering, thanks. I will point out that E actually pays about 6.3%. Italy then takes 27% of that for taxes but US taxpayers can get part of the 27% as a credit for their US taxes.
Dividend Growth Investing - The End Game [View article]
If a person does not mind a complex process yours certainly could be effective. Personally, I don't want no stinkin' spreadsheets! I am managing my retirement by keeping my spending under 3% of my portfolio each year.
The real key to success or failure for each of us is our investment and spending choices, which includes sticking to a plan and avoiding buying high and selling low.
Six families in Pennsylvania are angry with Chevron (CVX) and claim the company's gas wells have made it impossible to "quietly use and enjoy" their land. The Fayette County group seeks "unspecified compensatory and punitive damages" tied to what they say are the pernicious effects of twelve nearby wells which allegedly leak natural gas, methane, and "other toxic radioactive substances," according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The suit has not been verified with court records. [View news story]
The whole earth is radioactive. I wonder how much these wells actually increase the levels.
Interest Rates Inch Up: Be Careful With Widely Held, Richly Valued Dividend Stocks [View article]
It is my understanding that Realty Income is not an mREIT but rather is a "triple-net" REIT and as such it probably will not be nearly as effected as mREITs are by rising interest rates.
Many Of My Dividend Growth Stocks Have Become Overvalued, What Do I Do Now? [View article]
Another useful and interesting article, thanks. It takes three things to make for a successful investment: cash to invest, a good idea and the courage to buy. One of the very best reasons to sell an over-priced asset is to raise the cash one needs for their next good idea. My approach to a name I own that has become significantly over-valued is usually to sell just a portion, 10 or 20%, as you did with EMC initially. I actually did that with EMC at about the same times as you did. Unfortunately I still had about 70% of my shares in early 2002 when I finally sold. Painful but not a disaster since I had bought them in the early 90s and still had decent profits.
But not every experience is a good lesson so I have sold some of my MCD and other names recently as I consider many overvalued now. If they drop few more dollars I will buy again with the cash.
If I Could Buy Just One Stock, It Would Be This One [View article]
Interesting article. The best advice my former "full service" broker ever gave me was to buy BRK. This was in the mid or late 1980's. I did not take that advice because I thought that if that old man (Buffett was in his 50s or 60s then--which seemed old to me at the time, ha) dies tomorrow the stock will collapse. I may have been right but look how it turned out!
I have always liked BRK but never bought. They own many great companies. Sees candies and Dairy Queen! You have to love them. Maybe when the two old boys die I'll finally buy BRK if it takes a big price drop (if I'm still alive by that time).
Still, I can't help but look at how things have gone for the Fidelity Magellan fund since Peter Lynch retired.
How Blue-Chip Dividend Investors Can Diversify Into More Wealth [View article]
Extremebanker is correct, small cap US ETFs are pretty closely correlated with large cap US ETFs: VB has a .95 correlation with SPY for example. Even foriegn stocks, large and small, developed and emerging all are too closely correlated with large cap US stocks for true diversification. If you really are looking for diversification you have to consider the long bonds or precious metals.
But diversification is not very useful if it significantly reduces one's returns. So I say: ride the roller-coaster! Just kidding. I buy individual US corp bonds for diversification, planning to hold them to maturity.
The 4% Retirement Rule In The Real World [View article]
You are correct with this article. My answer to this problem has been to construct a bond ladder with equal maturities each year running out to 7 years. These maturities now give me about 80% of what I need to live on in retirement (I am retired already). Currently the dividend payments I receive from my stock holdings and interest payments on the bonds provide about 30% of what I need to live on. In years when stocks are doing well I do sell stocks to meet the difference and reinvest the bond maturities to maintain my bond ladder. If the market declines severely I will not sell stocks that I think are very undervalued but will instead live on the maturing bonds plus whatever interest and dividends I get. With a 7 year ladder I can do this without selling any stocks for 7 years. After 7 years I will have to "eat my seed corn". This is how a bond ladder can help the retired investor avoid selling stocks that are deeply undervalued. Not every retired person has enough capital to completely cover their retirement needs in this way but a similar approach could help at least ameliorate the effects of a severe bear market in stocks.
Individual bonds work better for this than bond funds as they avoid the loss that would be incurred should interest rates rise substantially.
Misunderstanding The Monetary System Is Hazardous To Your Portfolio's Health [View article]
"Once the private sector starts generating loans at a normal rate again, the economy will improve, and the deficit will decrease." So we can just borrow our way out, I guess. Count me as a skeptic on that.
Seems to me that when and if the private sector starts generating loans at a normal rate again the money will start moving around faster, which raises inflation. And even if the annual deficit does go down, the debt will still be going up, devaluing the dollar further. Seems to me that most of the arrows point to inflation.
The Keystone XL (TRP) pipeline would increase greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 46 coal-fired power plants or 34M vehicles, groups fighting the project claim in a report. The finding, at odds with the environmental review by the State Department, says the project to carry ~830K bbl/day of Canadian tar sands oil would add 181M metric tons of gases tied to global warming. [View news story]
"Groups fighting the project claim". No doubt they have some facts on which to base their claim. Probably facts created by the same frauds that gave us the hockey stick.
Misunderstanding The Monetary System Is Hazardous To Your Portfolio's Health [View article]
As another rube who doesn't understand monetary policy and all that the best and brightest are doing for/to us, I here offer my thoughts on QE/inflation: QE alone won't increase inflation as long as the money does not circulate. It's as if Ben loaded the helicopters and took all that money to a barn in northern Minnesota and stored it there. No effect on the inflation rate. However, since QE is helping the government to go deeper into debt with massive deficit spending it will indirectly lead to inflation by devaluing the dollar. Devaluing the dollar is the same as inflation.
But the helicopters are actually dropping the dollars all over the country and the world through government spending. We haven't seen the effects yet because the dollar is being propped up by the QE cash buying of treasuries and general global idea that the dollar is still sound, an idea likely to change sooner rather than later.
A Look At One Of The Fastest Growing Industries In The Market And How To Benefit [View article]
You are correct that this is a serious problem. I believe that some of the large pharmacy chains have internal systems to monitor these drugs but they can't know what prescriptions are filled at other pharmacies. A national data base is the only answer but I am very much concerned about privacy issues with such a data base. If it were limited to schedule II drugs such as Oxycontin it would be less of a concern, at least to me.
David Stockman: Don't Shoot The Messenger [View article]
The quick and aggressive response to Mr. Stockman tells us that what he said hit a nerve. Interesting to read Mr. Obama's statement from 2006 and compare it to his actions now as he's doing exactly the things he once condemned!
Time To Change Global Asset Allocation Strategy [View article]
Dividend Growth Investing - The End Game [View article]
The real key to success or failure for each of us is our investment and spending choices, which includes sticking to a plan and avoiding buying high and selling low.
Six families in Pennsylvania are angry with Chevron (CVX) and claim the company's gas wells have made it impossible to "quietly use and enjoy" their land. The Fayette County group seeks "unspecified compensatory and punitive damages" tied to what they say are the pernicious effects of twelve nearby wells which allegedly leak natural gas, methane, and "other toxic radioactive substances," according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The suit has not been verified with court records. [View news story]
Interest Rates Inch Up: Be Careful With Widely Held, Richly Valued Dividend Stocks [View article]
Beware of The New Systemic Risk [View article]
Many Of My Dividend Growth Stocks Have Become Overvalued, What Do I Do Now? [View article]
But not every experience is a good lesson so I have sold some of my MCD and other names recently as I consider many overvalued now. If they drop few more dollars I will buy again with the cash.
If I Could Buy Just One Stock, It Would Be This One [View article]
I have always liked BRK but never bought. They own many great companies. Sees candies and Dairy Queen! You have to love them. Maybe when the two old boys die I'll finally buy BRK if it takes a big price drop (if I'm still alive by that time).
Still, I can't help but look at how things have gone for the Fidelity Magellan fund since Peter Lynch retired.
How Blue-Chip Dividend Investors Can Diversify Into More Wealth [View article]
How Blue-Chip Dividend Investors Can Diversify Into More Wealth [View article]
But diversification is not very useful if it significantly reduces one's returns. So I say: ride the roller-coaster! Just kidding. I buy individual US corp bonds for diversification, planning to hold them to maturity.
The 4% Retirement Rule In The Real World [View article]
If the market declines severely I will not sell stocks that I think are very undervalued but will instead live on the maturing bonds plus whatever interest and dividends I get. With a 7 year ladder I can do this without selling any stocks for 7 years. After 7 years I will have to "eat my seed corn".
This is how a bond ladder can help the retired investor avoid selling stocks that are deeply undervalued. Not every retired person has enough capital to completely cover their retirement needs in this way but a similar approach could help at least ameliorate the effects of a severe bear market in stocks.
Individual bonds work better for this than bond funds as they avoid the loss that would be incurred should interest rates rise substantially.
Misunderstanding The Monetary System Is Hazardous To Your Portfolio's Health [View article]
Seems to me that when and if the private sector starts generating loans at a normal rate again the money will start moving around faster, which raises inflation. And even if the annual deficit does go down, the debt will still be going up, devaluing the dollar further. Seems to me that most of the arrows point to inflation.
The Keystone XL (TRP) pipeline would increase greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 46 coal-fired power plants or 34M vehicles, groups fighting the project claim in a report. The finding, at odds with the environmental review by the State Department, says the project to carry ~830K bbl/day of Canadian tar sands oil would add 181M metric tons of gases tied to global warming. [View news story]
Misunderstanding The Monetary System Is Hazardous To Your Portfolio's Health [View article]
QE alone won't increase inflation as long as the money does not circulate. It's as if Ben loaded the helicopters and took all that money to a barn in northern Minnesota and stored it there. No effect on the inflation rate. However, since QE is helping the government to go deeper into debt with massive deficit spending it will indirectly lead to inflation by devaluing the dollar. Devaluing the dollar is the same as inflation.
But the helicopters are actually dropping the dollars all over the country and the world through government spending. We haven't seen the effects yet because the dollar is being propped up by the QE cash buying of treasuries and general global idea that the dollar is still sound, an idea likely to change sooner rather than later.
A Look At One Of The Fastest Growing Industries In The Market And How To Benefit [View article]
David Stockman: Don't Shoot The Messenger [View article]