Investing Strategies

Investing For the First Time: What to Do in a Shaky Market

Posted December 20, 2009 by Bernz

The past year has represented one of the most volatile and risky eras in investment history in the United States, especially in the stock market. For those with existing investment portfolios, watching the decline in market value every day has been demoralizing. Retirement asset values have been slashed and many investors are wondering if they will even be able to afford to retire.

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But what do you do if this is the very first time that you are investing? You may be just graduating from university or trying to put away some money for your children’s college tuition. How can you ensure that you make good decisions in this shaky economy?

1) Find the right advisor. An effective investment advisor knows the current state of the market and can help you understand the risks and rewards of each of its sectors. Choose an advisor who does not earn income based on how much or what types of investments you buy. Your investment advisor should also be experienced. This recessionary financial market is no time for you to try out a wet-behind-the-ears advisor. (more…)

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Dogs of the Dow- Investing Strategy That Needs to be Retired?

Posted June 21, 2009 by Bernz

I was doing some research online about stock investing two days ago and came across this strategy and thought I should share my insights with my readers.

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The Dogs of the Dow is an investing strategy first promoted 35 years ago by Michael O’Higgins, a fund manager who now runs his own firm. The strategy calls for choosing the 10 stocks in the Dow 30 index that have the highest dividend yields at the end of the year. You hold these stocks until the end of the following year when you re-balance your portfolio based on the new Dogs. A dividend yield is calculated by dividing the dividend by the stock’s price. Therefore, the stocks with the highest dividend yields have the lowest stock prices and may be ready for a jump.

Because all of the stocks in the Dow 30 are large cap, stable companies, the Dogs of the Dow strategy states that the companies chosen are likely to be solid in bad times and rise quickly in price in good ones. 2009’s Dogs are: Alcoa, AT&T, Bank of America, DuPont, General Electric, JPMorgan Chase, Kraft, Merck, Pfizer, and Verizon. (more…)

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The Double-Edged Sword of Mortgage Relief

Posted June 5, 2009 by Bernz

The financial news on television and in the newspapers is full of hopeful rhetoric on the help that is coming from the Federal government to assist homeowners who are struggling to save themselves from foreclosure. The purpose of the intervention, called the Homeowner Affordability and Stabilization Plan, is to keep people in their homes and stabilize the mortgage and real estate crisis that is affecting all investment markets.

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This is good news for some homeowners but contains some risk for others. One way the programs tries to make home ownership affordable is to allow refinancing for homeowners who are current on their mortgages but do not have enough equity in their homes for a conventional refinance. This plan only applies to those who have their mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so only a small fraction of at-risk homeowners will be able to take advantage of this plan.

The second part of the plan is for mortgage servicers to allow modification of the terms of the mortgage to ensure that homeowners can stay current on their payments. This is done mainly through interest rate reductions that are partially financed by the government. Each bank has some discretion as to how to manage these loan modification plans, but most require proof that the current mortgage terms are unaffordable to the homeowner. (more…)

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Is Your Home Still a Good Investment?

Posted May 15, 2009 by Bernz

Earlier in the decade, it seemed like the old adage of “your home is your best investment” was a solid piece of financial advice. Housing prices across the country, especially in coastal areas, were booming. Homeowners who had purchased their homes ten to twenty years previously were making great profits on the sale of their homes.

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And then along came the housing crisis of 2008/2009. As the mortgage market tightened up, houses sat empty waiting for buyers who never came. People found it difficult to refinance their mortgages to access the built-up equity in their homes. Instead of moving up to larger homes, many chose to fix up the ones they had. Housing prices dropped like a stone with an oversupply on the market and not enough buyers.

If the value of your home is part of your long term retirement plan, this new reality must be factored in as it may be here to stay for years to come. If your home drops in value to what you paid for it or less, does it make sense as an investment tool? Yes and no. (more…)

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