There is no such thing as an inherently good or bad investment. It is a myth. All assets can be good or bad investment given the right strategy, timing, or price. It is all about process – not product. Let’s see how this works…
How To Invest For Inflation & Deflation
The stable economic past is over. The future is going to be volatile with bouts of deflation and inflation. How do you invest and manage risk in that scenario?
Can I Actively Trade My Way Out Of This Economic Mess?
A reader asks, “…I’m an architect suffering under this dreadful economy like so many of us are, and I need to do something to help carry me through… What I’d like to do is use a portion of my IRA funds to educate myself further in the investment arena, pay back the loan, and use the remainder of the IRA to actively invest for income and growth. In other words, keep a portion of the earnings to supplement my income and reinvest the rest for growth. Does that sound like a reasonable idea?” My short answer is…
New Rules For Real Estate Investing
I’ve received many questions from readers during the past few months about real estate investment strategy during this economic crisis. The common thinking is that somewhere down the road a nasty inflation should return making real estate a smart inflation hedge. While I agree with the basic concept, I also believe there are many issues to be wary of…
Investing For Dummies – Profitably
I’m a really dumb investor. If I had to rely on my brain and reasoning power to make investment decisions I would be dead broke by now. That is why I test all investment theories before ever putting a dime at risk. Amazingly, what I have learned is how little of the prevailing investment wisdom is really true. Even more surprising is how profitable investment strategy shares one thing in common…
What Big Winning Stocks Have In Common
Did you know that nearly all the stock market gains from 1983-2007 came from just 25% of the stocks? Similarly, 75% of stocks contributed zero performance on average and the average stock actually lost money – during one of the greatest bull markets in recorded history. If you want to pick stocks that outperform the averages or develop a greater understanding of trend-following risk management techniques for your investment portfolio then this is a must read…
Three Criteria For Picking Winning Stocks
In our weekly “Ask Todd” series, a reader asked: “Todd, can you give me three quick criteria to sort individual stocks worth investigating from those that have no investment merit?” The quick and dirty answer is “your question has an underlying false premise.” Individual security selection is only the last 10-20% of return on any properly diversified portfolio and takes 80% of your analyisis time to figure out. Pareto’s Law dictates you can get 80% of the investment return for 20% of the effort if you just follow these simple criteria…