Asset Allocation

As investors look for safe havens in a potential market panic, I am reminded of the adage, "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Today, I see several metaphorical one-eyed men in this land of the blind that could serve as safe havens were there to be a market panic. All of them have significant flaws. In this post I would like to discuss them one by one. Words: 780

Benjamin Graham, known as the father of value investment, is famous for his simple, yet powerful, valuation method as first explained in his 1973 book, Intelligent Investor, and later updated in his book entitled Renaissance of Value. His "Graham Number" approach has been adapted and applied to all 30 stocks listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Index to determine which of the stocks have above average safety factors - of which only 10 do. Below is an explaination of the approach, the formula and the results for all 30 stocks. Words: 1220

Recent stock market action has brought the major indexes into at least a correction zone, if not an outright new bear market. So, if this is a new bear market, how can you dodge another bear bite? [I have 4 suggestions on how to do just that. Read on!] Words: 746

The United States is now so far in debt, it will never be able to pay it off, that is, without hyper-inflation. That subject alone will require many more articles than this. The sky is not falling (yet) but your savings and investments are in dire jeopardy going into 2012. You might wish to now do something to protect yourself. [May I offer the following investment ideas.] Words: 1648

Benjamin Graham, the “godfather of value investing” created an equation to calculate the maximum fair value for a stock, referred to as the Graham Number and any stock trading at a significant discount to this number would appear undervalued. [Here are the names of 18 such stocks.] Words: 1707

While it would seem that moms and pops and the average punter out there are running out of the equity market and into the "safety" of US Treasuries, corporate insiders are doing the exact opposite. This is yet another bullish contrarian sign. From the start of 2004 at least, this is the biggest buying spree that corporate insiders have engaged in. [Allow me to show you the specifics.] Words: 345

The decrease in stock prices over the past weeks has many investors scared that the market is forecasting a dip in the economy. This panic has started to create an environment where enterprising dividend investors could start adding to their positions at cheaper prices. In fact, if stocks keep going lower this would create tremendous opportunities for enterprising dividend investors to scoop up some of the best dividend stocks in the world at fire sale prices. In this article I will explain why the market dip has created a perfect opportunity for dividend investors and specify 11 stocks worth considering. Words: 819

After the volatility in the markets [recently] I decided to take a look at the major indices to see how accurate the "sell in May and go away" [i.e. "buy in on November 1st, and sell out the last trading day of April"] trading philosophy was in protecting investors this year [and] was astounded [to see] that all three indices (the Russell 2000 Value Index, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials) had highs on April 29th and have not hit those highs since. With what has happened in the markets lately, however, might it be time to get back into equities? Words: 695

The herd continues to stampede into U.S. Treasury debt of every possible maturity to, theoretically, avoid risk. Yields on AA+ 10-yr bonds can be locked in to yield 2.11% per year and you get your principal back in 10 years. [As we see it, though] the only justification for [such a meagre] return on invested capital must be tied to the belief that a return is better than nothing given the prospects of a future depression. We believe, however, that fighting the Fed and investing like a depression is coming is not the right way to position your portfolio. [Below are 20 suggestions on how to generate in excess of 2.11% returns plus strong appreciation potential with modest risk.] Words: 657

With the United States quickly approaching the deadline for raising the limit on its debt load, squeamish investors are thinking about how they can preserve their hard-earned money. [Let's discuss the alternatives: gold and silver, cash, currencies other than the USD and the VIX.] Words: 683