Making A Volatile Stock Market Your Very Best Friend By: Steve Selengut | - Most people never forget their first love. I'll never forget my first trading profit --- but the 600 1970 dollars I pocketed on Royal Dutch Petroleum was not nearly as significant as the conceptual realization it signaled.
I was amazed that someone would pay me that much more for my stock than the newspaper said it was worth just weeks ago. What had changed? What had happened to make the stock go up, and why had it been down in the first place? Without ever needing to know the answe ... Tags:Volatility, Stock Market, Modern Portfolio Theory, MPT, MCIM, Wall Street, investing, correction, rally, retirement, income
A More Refined Equity Selection Universe Breeds Superior Performance By: Steve Selengut | - How much financial bloodshed is necessary before we realize that there is no safe and easy shortcut to investment success? When do we learn that most of our mistakes involve our very own greed, fear, and unrealistic expectations?
Eventually, successful investors begin to allocate assets in a goal directed manner by adopting a realistic investment methodology --- an ongoing security selection and monitoring process that is guided by realistic expectations, selection rules, and manage ... Tags:Value, stock, investing, equity, selection, worksheet, investment, portfolio, financial, plan, NYSE, fund, manager, asset, allocation, security, investor, IPO, dividend
There are two extremely good reasons why your portfolio may not be "performing" (whatever that means) either as well as you would like or as well as your buddies say that they have been doing. But let's define our terms before digging any deeper. None of you have done as well in the equity market as investment grade value stock investors.
A week or two ago, while exchanging ideas at an AAII chapter meeting somewhere in the Northeast, a comparison was made between a professionally directed "Market Cycle Investment Management" (MCIM) portfolio and any of several "High Dividend Select" equity ETFs.
Many years ago, I raised the question (to no one in particular): what's better for your financial health, 6% tax free/tax deferred or 3%? The ... Tags:ETF, CEF, mutual, fund, dividend, achievers, MCIM, market, cycle, investment, portfolio, equity, trade, profits, dividends, income, Wall Street
For nearly ten years now, Stu Taylor and I have been entertaining audiences throughout the country with a Q & A format program that consistently draws an hour full of interesting (and sometimes off-the-wall) investment questions. We have never, ever, gotten very far into the script --- thought you might be interested.
How Much Longer Can This Wall Street Toga Party Last? By: Steve Selengut | - About a year ago this week, just before the one-year anniversary of this market rally, there were about 45 IGVSs priced 15% or more below their 52-week highs. The market seemed to be entering a corrective phase, but it just never happened.
A year later, the market statistics, all of them, are shouting at the top of their lungs --- the correction is coming! The correction is coming!
The Dow Jones Industrials --- A Blue Chip Average No More By: Steve Selengut | - In addition to a well thought out investment plan, successful equity investing requires a feel for what is going on in the real world we refer to as "the market". To most investors, the DJIA provides all of the information they think they need, and they worship it mindlessly --- thinking it has mystical predictive and analytic powers far beyond the scope of any other market number.
Need A Gps For Your Investment Portfolio? By: Steve Selengut | -
"Hey 'Deep Pockets', what were you doing on October 19th, 1987", the Wall Street Jungle reporter asked?
I was gritting my teeth, shaking more than just a little, palms sweaty but placing dozens of individual orders for the best NYSE, dividend-paying, companies --- at prices that nearly everyone thought would drop even further.
Looking around the room, I seemed to be the only one in the office that was actually buying! The other brokers were fielding phone calls f ... Tags:GPS, MCIM, market cycle, investment, management, RIA, crash, black friday, WSJ, smart cash, IGVSI, economy, interest rates, Wall Street
Income Security Prices Tank: What, Me Worry! By: Steve Selengut | - Whoa! Stop! Hang on a minute. There is absolutely nothing unusual going on in the income securities markets. There is nothing to be particularly concerned about or afraid of. Relax, take a few deep breaths, and read on.
Falling income security prices are all the buzz in the financial media these days, but why does this translate into such fear and confusion? I saw a news report the other day that encouraged investors to abandon their income ship and sail away on a stock market steam ... Tags:income investing, CEF, media, securities, fixed, equities, Wall Street, markets, interest, Fed, government, taxes, yield curve, index
Mcim Portfolios Rally To Three-year High Levels By: Steve Selengut | - KIAWAH ISLAND, SC, December 13, 2010 Kiawah Golf Investment Seminars (an investment education enterprise located near the Kiawah Island Golf-Tennis-Beach resort) proudly reports estimated investment performance results for a sampling of Market Cycle Investment Management (MCIM) portfolios. Thus far in 2010, MCIM (70% Equity vs. 30% Income) portfolios are up roughly 16%.
How To Minimize Investment Risk By: Steve Selengut | - In the recent financial crisis, a very small percentage of (I-bought-my-home-to-live-in) mortgagors stopped making their payments. Still, the hysteria over the bursting housing bubble (i.e., lower market values) led to financial institution road-kill because of ridiculous accounting rules.
When the dot-come bubble destroyed "new economy" gladiators in a gory spectacle destined to repeat itself over time, what investment portfolios cheered unscathed from the coliseum bleachers?
Igvsi Bargain Stock Monitor - February 2010 By: Steve Selengut | - The Investment Grade Value Stock Index "Bargain Stock Monitor" clearly reflects the profit taking that hit the market late in January--- you and I have been harvesting our gains all along though. Right?
Although there are nearly twice as many IGV stocks 15% below 52-week highs as there were at year-end, there is no evidence that a new correction has commenced--- tune in again in March or April.
Igvsi Bargain Stocks - Are There Any Left? By: Steve Selengut | - The IGVSI Bargain Stock Monitor clearly reflects the strength of this eleven-month-rallying stock market. In fact, the bargain monitor is sporting the best numbers ever recorded. No, this is not a "buy" signal.
The numbers are telling you that most Investment Grade Value Stocks are at or approaching their highest valuations of the past 52 weeks. Market Cycle Investment Management (MCIM) Program portfolios are approaching the all time high profit levels achieved in 2007, and only a h ... Tags:MCIM, market cycle, IGVSI, investment, performance, grade, bargain stock, monitor, value stocks, DJIA, S & P, growth stocks, Wall Street, stock market, investor, und
The Market Cycle Investment Management (mcim) Program By: Steve Selengut | - During the past sixty years, most economic, market, and interest rate cycles have lasted from two to five years, peak-to-peak. Rarely have any of the cycle-tracking market indices moved in tandem, and none of the cycles are considered to be particularly predictable.
Investment Retrospective: A Preemptive Portfolio Protection Strategy By: Steve Selengut | - A participant in the morning Working Capital Model (WCM) investment workshop observed: I've noticed that my account balances are returning to their (June 2007) levels. People are talking down the economy and the dollar. Is there any preemptive action I need to take?
An afternoon workshop attendee spoke of a similar predicament, but cautioned that (with new high market value levels approaching) a repeat of the June 2007 through early March 2009 correction must be avoided--- a portf ... Tags:WCM, working capital, workshop, investment, Wall Street, stock market correction, rally, crash, 9/11, cost ba
This Stock Market Correction Is Dead By: Steve Selengut | - Actually, hindsight and the Investment Grade Value Stock Index (IGVSI) Bargain Level Monitor tell us that it died early in March 2009. More realistically, however, corrections don't die quite so abruptly. They are supplanted by rallies--- and vice versa.
The IGVSI Bargain Stock Monitor tracks the price movements of an elite group of New York Stock Exchange equities. Their "eliteness" is earned by a B+ or higher S & P rating, a history of profitability, and the fact that they pay d ... Tags:Investment grade, valuestock, IGVSI, stock market, correction, rally, bargain, NYSE, New York, stock exchange
Investment Performance Expectations And Broker Account Statements By: Steve Selengut | - As impossible as it is to predict the future of the markets, it's relatively easy to anticipate what you are going to experience when you view your next brokerage account statement.
Whether you go the discount route through Schwab, Ameritrade, Fidelity, etc., or enjoy a higher level of service through an independent like LMK Wealth Management, you should never be surprised by the market values reflected on your monthly statement.
Investment Grade Value Stock Index (igvsi) Soars 24% Thru July 2009 By: Steve Selengut | - The Investment Grade Value Stock Index is a barometer of a small but elite sector of the stock market. Some Investment Grade Value Stocks are included in all averages and indices, but even the Dow Jones Industrial Average includes several issues that are below Investment Grade and very few boast an A+ S & P rating.
How's Your Investment Portfolio Doing? Seven Long-term Indicators By: Steve Selengut | - Before Wall Street and the media combined to make investors think of calendar quarters as "short-term" and single years as "long-term", market cycles were used as true tests of investment strategies over the long haul. Bor-ing.
There were four types of standard analysis used by most financial institutions, Peak-to-Peak, and Peak-to-Trough being the most common found in annual reports. There were also basic differences in purpose and perspective in the old days, and a focus on res ... Tags:investing, derivatives, investment products, closed end mutual funds, wall street, finance, cycles, working
Stock Market Corrections Are Beautiful - And Necessary By: Steve Selengut | - Every correction is the same, a normal downturn in one or more of the markets where we invest. There has never been a correction that has not proven to be an investment opportunity. You can be confident that governments around the world are not going to allow another Great Depression "on their watch".
Hedge Funds: An Under The Radar Crisis By: Steve Selengut | - The other day, with the market giving up about a third of its March gain in DJIA points, I went looking through my favorite market stats to see if any remaining profits could be pounced upon. Typically, profit possibilities can be identified quickly on NYSE lists of the largest dollar and percent gainers.
Alarmingly, 75% of the largest percent gainers were ETFs, and many of those operate using the same strategies as classic hedge funds--- most owned no common stock at all! At the ... Tags:Hedge funds, derivatives, equities, ETFs, CEFs, RFN, FAZ, EDZ, UOY, FXP, DJIA, short, options, futures, risk, casin
Investment Performance Expectations: Wcm Fine Tuning By: Steve Selengut | - Contrary to popular belief and Wall Street propaganda, investing is not a competitive event. Rather, it is a uniquely personal, goal-directed activity that individuals must organize and control for themselves. Too few appreciate that it is a long-term enterprise and only a handful, at best, have discovered that DJIA and S & P 500 numbers are only useful at their extremes.
Igvsi Performance Expectations - Wcm Portfolios By: Steve Selengut | - No investor should ever be surprised by the changes in market value that appear on his or her monthly brokerage account statements. In general, media noise throughout the month should lead to a feel for what has been going on and investors should understand that the market prices of investment securities are constantly changing.
Wcm Investing - The Process By: Steve Selengut | - Most people enter the investment process tip first. They hear something, grab an idea from a popular blog, accept a Cramerism or some motley foolishness, and think that they are making investment decisions. Rarely, will the right-now, instant-gratification, Internet-generation speculator think in terms that go beyond tomorrow's breaking news.
Value Stock Investing - The November Syndrome On Drugs By: Steve Selengut | - Every fall, especially in opportunity rich markets like this, I encourage investors to think about some year-end strategies that make the final calendar quarter a special time in all markets. Several forces are at work, all of which have links to conventional Wall Street wisdom; none of which promote good long-term investment decision-making.
