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Articles from Steve Selengut | Selfgrowth.com
- ***Stock Market Perspective 2011 --- Some Things to Think About - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2011 from Steve SelengutThis won't take long, but think about the message and act accordingly. Never, ever, in the history of the investment world has a major correction in the stock market not been a major buying opportunity --- particularly in Investment Grade Value Stocks (IGVS). Always, every time and ...
Views: 1685(23 votes) - Investment Grade Value Stocks At Highest Levels Ever --- What To Do About It - by Submitted on May 13, 2011 from Steve SelengutThe IGVSI is a barometer of a small but elite sector of the stock market called Investment Grade Value Stocks. Some IGVSs are included in all averages and indices, but even the well dressed Dow Jones Industrial Average includes several issues that are well below Investment Grade and very few ...
Views: 1996(12 votes) - ***Investment Grade Value Stock (IGVS) Expectation Analyzer - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2011 from Steve SelengutNo investor should ever be surprised by the changes in market value that appear on his or her monthly 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 prices of investment securities, ...
Views: 2001(14 votes) - ***Making A Volatile Stock Market Your VBF - by Submitted on Sep 13, 2011 from Steve SelengutMost 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 ...
Views: 1670(15 votes) - Filling the Investment Education Void with Web Workshops - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2009 from Steve SelengutNow more than ever, you can appreciate the need for comprehensive investment education. All of a sudden, fifty percent of your nest egg has disappeared--- and the bad news? There never was a plan for income generation. Ouch! Dwelling on coulda's, woulda's, and shoulda's isn't going to rebuild ...
Views: 2020(29 votes) - Volatility Rocks The Investment Markets - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2008 from Steve SelengutGets your attention, doesn't it? The unfortunate thing though, is that most people will react negatively to this intentionally inflammatory, media-ready, title statement. Has some Wall Street virus attacked our financial experience memory chip? Bouncing around unpredictably is precisely what the ...
Views: 1410(16 votes) - Compound Stock Earnings Programs - Caveat Investor - by Submitted on May 29, 2008 from Steve SelengutThe caller seemed surprised that I had never heard about Compound Stock Earnings Programs, or CSEs. "People are earning three to six percent per month with little or no risk", she continued, "I'm thinking of attending a seminar". A wise man once said: "If it sounds too good to be true, it ...
Views: 2083(18 votes) - ***Managed Closed End Funds --- Solid Income Investments in Liquid Form - by Submitted on May 18, 2011 from Steve SelengutA Closed End Fund (CEF) is a publicly traded investment company that invests in a variety of securities such as stocks, bonds, preferred stocks, real estate, mortgages, oil and gas royalties, etc. The variety of sectors, classifications, and geographical representation is every bit as confusing ...
Views: 1950(23 votes) - In Value Stock Investing, Quality is Job One - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2006 from Steve SelengutHow 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 greed, fear, or unrealistic expectations about what we own? Eventually, successful investors begin to allocate assets in a ...
Views: 1648(2 votes) - Retirement Income Investing And Your Portfolio - by Submitted on Oct 07, 2008 from Steve SelengutFirst, the good news: From June 2007 through September 2008 (i.e., during the credit crisis) Income CEF payouts per share were virtually unchanged. From June 2008 through September 2008, payouts rose slightly--- 29 funds raised their payouts and 17 lowered them. Your portfolio spending money ...
Views: 1628(2 votes) - Ten Common Investment Errors: Stocks, Bonds, & Management - by Submitted on Apr 28, 2006 from Steve SelengutInvestment mistakes happen for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty that are irresponsibly downplayed by market gurus and institutional spokespersons. Losing money on an investment may not be the result of a mistake, and not all ...
Views: 1825(2 votes) - ***Old Fashioned Equity Investing - Building A Better Mousetrap - by Submitted on Apr 27, 2011 from Steve SelengutWhat if you could anticipate changes in market direction? What if you could minimize your financial risk while actively managing your portfolio? What if you could harness the power of market, economic, and interest rate cycles and use it to your financial advantage? You can, while increasing ...
Views: 2055(25 votes) - ***Understanding Income Investing – Valid Expectations - Part One - by Submitted on Jun 03, 2011 from Steve SelengutI've come to the conclusion that the stock market is an easier medium for investors to understand (to form behavioral expectations about) than the fixed income market. As unlikely as this sounds, experience proves it, irrefutably. Few investors grow to love volatility as I do, but most expect it ...
Views: 1431(19 votes) - ***Fundamentals of Golf and Investing: Back to Basics - by Submitted on May 06, 2011 from Steve SelengutIs it luck or skill that gets us to the goals and objectives we set for ourselves--- gimmicks and software programs or practice and understanding? How many golfers are still using the putter they started with decades ago at a nine-hole cow pasture? How many of you are still bouncing between ...
Views: 1870(27 votes) - ***Stock Market Corrections Are Beautiful Things - Shopping At The Gap - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2011 from Steve SelengutA correction is a beautiful thing, simply the flip side of a rally, big or small. Theoretically, even technically I'm told, corrections adjust equity prices to their actual value or "support levels". In reality, it's much easier than that. Prices go down because of speculator reactions to ...
Views: 2230(9 votes) - Investment Politics 2008: What's (left) In Your Wallet? - by Submitted on Apr 09, 2007 from Steve SelengutThe parade of promises is marching down Main Street. For too many months to come, politicians of all descriptions, parties, and ideologies will be courting our votes... they have the cure for all that is wrong in the world, they tell us. With crystal clear hindsight, every candidate criticizes ...
Views: 1818(3 votes) - Working Capital Model Investing – The QDI - by Submitted on Jan 04, 2009 from Steve SelengutCrash! The 2007 thru 2008 financial crisis halved 401(k), IRA, and Mutual Fund values in a matter of months. For many, retirement dates had to be pushed back; for others, new jobs had to be found. The tragic flaw? No income allocation in the investment program. Market value builds egos; income ...
Views: 2087(3 votes) - Hedge Funds: An Under the Radar Wall Street Con - by Submitted on Apr 02, 2009 from Steve SelengutThe 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 ...
Views: 1761(8 votes) - ***Income Investing: Go Ask Alice - by Submitted on May 18, 2011 from Steve SelengutJefferson Airplane has never, ever, been mistaken for a band of financial advisors, but the White Rabbit lyrics can be incredibly instructional to the generation of investors who experienced the classic first hand --- as a description of their own college days' lifestyle. If only they had heeded ...
Views: 1815(10 votes) - Golf and Investing Lessons: Working The Ball - by Submitted on Jun 17, 2009 from Steve SelengutI think it was the immortal Ben Hogan who quipped: I can put "left" on the ball and I can put "right" on the ball--- "straight" is essentially an accident. Most amateur golfers would make a slightly different observation. We can hit the ball left or right with no problem; we just have no idea ...
Views: 1917(15 votes) - Stock Market Corrections Are Beautiful--- And Necessary - by Submitted on Apr 16, 2009 from Steve SelengutEvery 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 ...
Views: 1628(12 votes) - Investment Performance Evaluation Re-Evaluated: Part Two - by Submitted on Apr 27, 2009 from Steve SelengutThe Working Capital Model (WCM) looks at investment performance differently, less emotionally, and without a whole lot of concern for short-term market value movements. Market value performance evaluation techniques are only used to analyze peak-to-peak market cycle movements over significant ...
Views: 1527(9 votes) - ***Investment Management - Put More Smart Cash In Your Future - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2008 from Steve SelengutThe stock market is a dynamic place where investors can consistently make reasonable returns on their capital if they comply with the basic principles of the endeavor and if they don't measure their progress too frequently against irrelevant indices. The income securities market is most often ...
Views: 1947(11 votes) - Investment Performance Evaluation Re-Evaluated: Part One - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2009 from Steve SelengutIt matters not what lines, numbers, indices, or gurus you worship, you just can't know for certain where the stock market is going or when it will change direction. Too much investor time and analytical effort is wasted trying to predict course corrections--- even more is squandered comparing ...
Views: 1846(11 votes) - ***What Stock Market Correction - Brainwashing Book Strategies Take the Sting Out --- Again! - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2011 from Steve Selengut"The Brainwashing of The American Investor", now in its second edition, provides you with a proven methodology for successful personal investment portfolio management. Step by step instructions for asset allocation, security selection universe creation, diversification, and profit taking are ...
Views: 1753(4 votes) - A Quick Jolt for the Auto Economy, Plus Ten - by Submitted on Dec 18, 2008 from Steve SelengutThirty Billion Dollars is a huge amount of money, but it translates into less than $100 per US person--- a small price that we should all be willing to pay to give the Automobile Industry time to restructure itself and to save a few million jobs. Give them the green, but have them pay it back ...
Views: 2021(2 votes) - Investment Management Strategy: Seven Principles for Success - by Submitted on Sep 27, 2006 from Steve SelengutMany Investment Gurus, with a straight face and a gleam in their eye, will insist that successful investing is a function of expansive research, skillful market timing, and detailed technical analysis. Others emphasize fundamental information about companies, industries, and markets. But trends ...
Views: 1807(2 votes) - Strategic Investment Mixology – In Search Of The Holy Grail Cocktail - by Submitted on May 29, 2008 from Steve SelengutSo what do your Investment Manager and your neighborhood bartender have in common, other than the probability that you spend more time with the latter during market corrections? Antoine Tedesco, in his "The History of Cocktails" article, lists three things that mixologists consider important to ...
Views: 1626(2 votes) - The Investor's Creed And Your Investment Portfolio - by Submitted on Oct 29, 2007 from Steve SelengutGrowing up at Lake Hopatcong in Northwest Jersey, the most popular entertainment around was the rickety old Roller Coaster at Bertrand Island Park. The excitement would build as you ascended the first peak, anticipating the breathtaking plunge; eyes wide open (or shut), screaming from the thrill ...
Views: 1551(2 votes) - The Securities Investors' Bill Of Rights (SIBORAP): Part One - by Submitted on Oct 24, 2008 from Steve SelengutWe the securities investors of the United States, in order to form more transparent financial markets, establish effective regulations, defend against destructive speculation and manipulation, promote financial well-being, preserve working capital, and protect retirement income, do establish ...
Views: 1436(6 votes) - The Securities Investors' Bill Of Rights (SIBORAP): Part Two - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2008 from Steve SelengutSIBORAP includes these ten specific sections: (1) Product Transparency, (2) Regulation and Education, (3) Protection from Speculators (4) Control of Hedge Funds, (5) Brokerage Account Statements, (6) Retirement Account Investments, (7) Executive Compensation, (8) Corporate Financial Statements, ...
Views: 1548(2 votes) - Your 401(k) Investments And The IGVSI - by Submitted on May 29, 2008 from Steve SelengutSmack, right up alongside the head. Your 401(k) investment program deteriorated rapidly as the stock market and the economy weakened. Who would have thought that there was so much risk of loss in those mutual funds, and ETFs? Fortunately, the pain is most often temporary, but the timing of the ...
Views: 1493(2 votes) - ***Golf and Investing: Optimism, Focus, and Education - by Submitted on May 27, 2011 from Steve SelengutYou knew it the moment it left the club, that spark at contact when you catch it just right. You look up. It's just reaching the top of its climb--- and heading down right at the pin, a pin positioned left of center on the elevated green, much too close to the water. This could be the one! ...
Views: 1513(6 votes) - Golf and Investing Lessons: Fundamentals - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2009 from Steve SelengutIs it luck or skill that gets us to the goals and objectives we set for ourselves--- gimmicks and software programs or practice and understanding? How many golfers are still using the putter they started with decades ago at a nine-hole cow pasture? How many of you are still bouncing between ...
Views: 1793(3 votes) - "Jim Dandy To The Rescue"--- Of The Economy - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2009 from Steve SelengutMore than fifty years ago, LaVern Baker & The Gliders, brought Jim Dandy into the fray to lasso runaway horses, dry the tears in little girls' eyes, and to save special mermaids from the hooks of villainous fishermen. (Black Oak Arkansas' rendition on You Tube will help you understand what your ...
Views: 1791(1 vote) - ***How Do You Spell Correction? (August, 2007) - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2011 from Steve SelengutDuring every correction, I encourage investors to avoid the destructive inertia that results from trying to determine: "How low can we go?" and/or "How long will this last?" Investors who add to their portfolios during downturns invariably experience higher values during the next advance. Yes, ...
Views: 1757(1 vote) - ***Investment Grade Value Stocks (IGVS) Bargain Stock Monitor - by Submitted on Jun 30, 2011 from Steve SelengutThe Bargain Stock Monitor is one of three market statistics used as performance expectation analyzers for Market Cycle Investment Management "Model Portfolios". It is derived from the Month End Value Stock Watchlist screening program which identifies Investment Grade Value Stocks trading at ...
Views: 2323(1 vote) - An Investor's Eye View of the Corporate Income Tax - by Submitted on May 10, 2007 from Steve SelengutThe Investor's Eye view of politics is a simplistic, practical, "dot-connecting" approach to sorting things out so that positive (win/win) change can be considered. Real World politics is not concerned with such things, and that is one of the most serious problems facing investors today. As ...
Views: 1315(1 vote) - An Investor's View of The Fair Tax: A Resolution - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2006 from Steve SelengutThe vast majority of Americans are investors, although many don't realize it. The vast majority of Americans are creative with their 1040 numbers, although most won't admit it. The majority of Americans would agree that investing, retirement planning, and estate preservation would be easier to ...
Views: 1453(1 vote) - Crisis Investing - A Three-Pronged WCM Strategy - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2009 from Steve SelengutOne of the great things about being a professional investor is the opportunity one has to apply his or her long-term experience to the investment environment that is unfolding (or coming unglued) in the present. If nothing else, most successful investors develop a consistent strategy that ...
Views: 1744(2 votes) - Global Investors' Bill Of Rights May Prevent Economic Déjà Vu - by Submitted on Mar 02, 2009 from Steve SelengutThe purpose of IBOR is to protect financial markets and to create self-sufficient investors who produce economic growth instead of government deficits. IBOR standards create transparent financial markets, regulate speculation, and protect retirement portfolios. Here's a sampling: Section One: ...
Views: 1500(1 vote) - Golf and Investing: Tin Cup Lessons - by Submitted on May 22, 2009 from Steve SelengutBenjamin Graham was an economist, financial analyst, and professional value investor. He was one of the first to advise investors to look beyond the media hype and confusion to find undervalued stocks that would become part of a diversified portfolio. Roy McAvoy is a fictional professional ...
Views: 1935(2 votes) - Guaranteed Social Security Benefits: Make It So - by Submitted on Jun 19, 2008 from Steve SelengutThe comically complicated PSA (Personal Savings Account) legislation bouncing around Congress will raise taxes, increase investment risk, and expand the size of government. Let's stop applying Band-Aids to spouting arteries. We are looking for a guaranteed retirement benefit program, and ...
Views: 1429(1 vote) - Investment Performance Expectations: WCM Fine Tuning - by Submitted on Feb 14, 2009 from Steve SelengutContrary 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 ...
Views: 1376(1 vote) - Investors Review Their Best Investment Book - by Submitted on Jan 30, 2009 from Steve Selengut"My wife was trying to sleep and she's waking up and saying "What's wrong with you?" What could I tell her, that I was cracking up over a financial book---?" "As I approach retirement in a few years, I'm very encouraged by the cash flow my portfolio can generate. If I can generate nearly 8% ...
Views: 2215(1 vote) - Last Bank Standing - The Wall Street Mega-Crash - by Submitted on Oct 01, 2008 from Steve SelengutDateline Washington, October 19th (get it?) 2010: the Peoples Bank & Trust of America has now established itself as the only bank of any kind in the USA, totally owned and managed by the US House of Representatives. A 2/3 majority must now approve all investment banking transactions; your ...
Views: 1868(1 vote) - Managing the Income Portfolio - by Submitted on Dec 02, 2005 from Steve SelengutThe reason people assume the risks of investing in the first place is the prospect of achieving a higher rate of return than is attainable in a risk free environment…i.e., an FDIC insured bank account. Risk comes in various forms, but the average investor’s primary concerns are “credit” and ...
Views: 1517(1 vote) - Relax, A Volatile Stock Market Is Your Dearest Friend - by Submitted on Jun 27, 2006 from Steve SelengutMost 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 ...
Views: 2014(1 vote) - Retirement Income Investment Planning - Step One - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2008 from Steve SelengutYour retirement income investment plan starts now, right now, no matter how old or well heeled you happen to be. Step One is to understand what a retirement plan is, and to identify the three large numbers you need to keep track of while you are developing your stash. With these three totals on ...
Views: 2007(1 vote) - Stock and Bond Trading as a Conservative Investment Strategy - by Submitted on May 29, 2007 from Steve SelengutIt's likely that either curiosity or skepticism led you to this article, and I would agree that, for most individual investors, trading is approached in a totally speculative manner. Stock trading, in its more popular forms (Day Trading, Swing Trading, Penny Stock Speculating, etc.) includes ...
Views: 2539(1 vote)