Strategies

If you tune in to your favorite popular financial 24hr media channel, it would seem that there only ten companies in the world to talk about but, as the evidence herein shows, they did not make for profitable investments. So much for chasing "hot" stocks!

Compounding can be tricky to calculate in your head, however, unless you’re a math whiz. The good news is you can use a mathematical shortcut called the “rule of 72” to quickly estimate how long it takes an investment with a fixed annual return to double in size.

An attractive aspect of owning dividend paying stocks, specifically, dividend growth equities, is the fact they tend to hold up better in down market environments. The favorable result from this characteristic is it takes a smaller upside return to make up the losses incurred in a market decline. Here are the details.

It would be an understatement to call the recent stock market activity turbulent. High stock price volatility makes investors anxious and some people even to become downright frightened...There is a viable antidote, however, that is capable of calming investors down by empowering them to focus on one of the least volatile markets in all of finance... Additionally, this market is predictable, consistent and produces significant levels of income. Even better, this market represents a primary source of long-term returns, and consistently rises over time. Unfortunately, this market is hardly acknowledged or recognized by most people. Therefore, this article is offered and dedicated to enlighten investors about this powerful yet often ignored market.

Your past and future stock market gains actually have been, and will continue to be, absolutely nothing more than a mirage - a cruel illusion - unless you develop a drastic out-of-the-box investment strategy. Here's how to do so.

What's the key to making good investment choices? It isn't necessary to understand the inner workings of the securities markets or the mathematical economies underlying investment theory. Instead, 10 axioms of effective investing provide the critical cornerstone for guiding investment philosophy and making decisions. [Here they are.] Words: 2155

Nobody can predict what the stock market will do so basing your investment decision on market or economic predictions is a fool’s game.

Warren Buffett likes to counsel individual investors to buy-and-hold (specifically, buy an equity index fund and hold it forever). This is a perfect example of “do as I say, not as I do,” as Buffett has successfully timed the market for decades and, [interestingly,] Buffett is now carrying his largest cash position ever in stark contrast to individual investors who now hold their smallest cash positions since the height of the internet bubble. Clearly, he’s timing once again and I’m sure a few of you are wondering just how he manages to do this so successfully. [Let me explain.]

Cognitive biases plague us and make it difficult for us undertake adequate analysis and make good choices so knowing about them is imperative if we are going to deal with them. This article identifies 10 such biases and how they impede us making the right investment choices.

There is a crucial component of the investment process that gets surprisingly little attention: our investment default settings. We can use them when we aren’t sure what to do, when we’re deciding what to do, when our circumstances have changed but our plan hasn’t (yet), or when we’re just starting out. Here they are.