Suppose you go to dinner at someone’s house and they’ve spent all afternoon cooking for you. The table is set and you sit down to eat. Then the host breaks out a Big Mac and fries for themself but then tells you to dig in to what they have prepared. Would you be a little wary? Would you wonder why the host isn’t eating what they cooked? Continue Reading…
Let’s Put Some Lipstick On This Pig!
A few years back in the hot stock market period of the late 90’s, stockbrokers were selling dog stocks to investors on a regular basis. By dogs, I mean their internal research showed the stock to be overpriced, or even of no value. Yet the brokers were still out there pushing the stocks. Continue Reading…
Cheesecake and SPAM For a Balanced Portfolio
If you’re going to invest in the stock market, you’d do well to latch on to a basic understanding of growth stocks and value stocks. Before you shake you head thinking this is too technical, let me assure you it’s as simple as eating pie (or at least cheesecake!) Besides, don’t you want to know if your portfolio is balanced? Continue Reading…
Forget the Needle, Buy the Haystack
In putting together your portfolio, you basically have two broad choices. You can pick individual stocks and bonds or you can use mutual funds. Mutual funds are portfolios of many different stocks or bonds already picked for you. I favor the mutual fund route overwhelmingly. I think picking stocks is a bad idea for several reasons that I’ll explain. Continue Reading…
Can You Beat the Market With the Killer B’s?
So you’ve decided to buy some stocks for your investment portfolio. After all, stocks earn double what bonds earn over the long run, averaging about 10 percent per year. In a given year, many stocks and some investors will earn above that 10 percent long run average, commonly referred to a “beating the market.” Another 1 or 2 percent in extra return could add up over the years and shouldn’t be that tough, right? Perhaps you can beat the market. After all, you know a lot of smart people and have access to lots of information. Continue Reading…