Tag Archives: Weekend
Stocks Quiet After Weekend Fireworks
Stocks oscillated between small gains and losses Monday, with more action coming in the futures prior to the session. The S P 500 and Nasdaq (http://www.nasdaq.com/) held on for small gains, while the Dow (http://www.business.com/finance/dow-jones-equity-indices/) slipped 0.2%. S P futures opened down 16 handles last night and at one point were down 20, but by the time US markets opened this morning the index futures were only off three handles. Investors had trouble analyzing the implications of the political shake-ups in Greece (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.9666666667,23.7166666667 spn=10.0,10.0 q=37.9666666667,23.7166666667 (Greece) t=h) and France (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=48.8566666667,2.35083333333 spn=10.0,10.0 q=48.8566666667,2.35083333333 (France) t=h), with the final verdict seeming to indicate no huge market moving changes are expected. Socialist candidate Francois Hollande (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Hollande) was expected to win in France, and…
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Weekend Edition – Let Me Repeat the Order Back
Have you ever noticed when ordering food at a restaurant, that you encounter many different kinds of servers? Some will simply ask for your order and write it down (fairly straight forward). Others may not even write anything down (impressive, but I really want my custom order right the first time). Finally, we have the server who writes down the order and then reads the entire thing back to you to confirm. Which one do you think makes me feel the most secure about what I ordered?
Obviously, the person who repeats my order back to me is my favorite. The process may take a bit longer, but will probably also be the most accurate.
Similarly, some may say that dividend stocks take a little longer to produce big results. Superior results take time, however. Compound interest doesn’t work overnight, but it will certainly help make you financially secure over time. Just like placing an order for your favorite dish and having the order read back to you, buying high-quality dividend stocks should instill confidence that your order will pay off.
Just so I got this right, let me repeat your order back to you. You want investment ideas that produce income, grow their payouts consistently, give you the results you expected when you came aboard, and also, put you in control of your financial destiny. Sounds great! Sit tight, be patient, and you’ll be happy when the returns are served.
Quarterly Reports — For Your Family?
Weekend Edition – Faith, Destiny? How About Choices
As we progress through life, we realize that our past choices have determined our current position. As much as some people like to toss around terms like “faith” and “destiny,” our ultimate success really depends on how we’ve maneuvered through the twists and turns of life.
Was it faith that led to me publishing a newsletter red by tens of thousands of investors each day, or was it the hard work and sacrifices I made to learn my craft as best I could for the last 17 plus years? Was it destiny that Dividend.com was to become the industry leader in investment research for dividend-oriented investors, or was it our daily efforts to produce quality, hard-hitting content that built our large audience?
For those trying to figure out the next chapter of their lives, know the answer will come from the decisions you’ve been making for the past several years. You’ve had control of your own destiny all along.
“Am I Going to be the One Who Blows This Place Up?”
When former General Electric (GE) CEO and business legend Jack Welch was running the huge conglomerate, he’d often ask himself the question above when a key strategy or initiative came down to his final decision. As he looked back at his career, he said this fact was his biggest fault, as it prevented him from moving quicker than he should have at times.
It’s easy to see why Mr. Welch would have constant reservations. He and the company earned great accolades through the years, and the last thing he wanted to do was damage his pristine record.
Weekend Reads
Some longer form reads for your weekend reading pleasure:
• The SEC: Outmanned, Outgunned, and On a Roll (BusinessWeek)
• Six degrees of aggregation – How The Huffington Post ate the Internet (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Can You Make Yourself Smarter? (NYT Magazine)
• The Crisis in American Walking (Slate) see also part II (Slate), part III (Slate), part IV (Slate)
• The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret (Rolling Stone)
• Apocalyptic Daze (City Journal)
• The mysteries of rabies (BoingBoing)
• What’s Eating the NYPD? (NY Mag)
• Did Humans Invent Music? (The Atlantic) see also The 25 Best Songs of 2012 So Far (Paste Magazine)
• Who Was Casanova? (Smithsonian Mag)
Whats on your tablet?
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Rallies following Massive Bear Markets
Source: Chart of the Day
Weekend Edition – Blocking Out the Negative
We all know the media likes to over-dramatize many of the stories they cover each day. I tend to take most reports I see with a grain of salt, and when it comes to local news, well, my feeling is that less is more. If you study the ratio of sharply negative stories on the local news vs. positive ones, the “doom and gloom” crowd would come out far ahead.
I don’t ignore local news completely, but when a story has an obviously negative bottom line, I tend to move on to something else. What’s the point of focusing on upsetting news bytes? This strategy actually helps keep me upbeat for much of the time.
I’ve noticed that many of my retired friends and relatives tend to watch more television, and often with that trend, these folks develop a stronger negative perception of life in general. Hopefully the most grief I get in my later years will be solely tied to my frustration with my favorite sports teams, which is fairly harmless and won’t affect how I see life.
It’s impossible to immunize yourself from hearing about heartbreaking stories, though. Sometimes we all need to realize how fortunate we are when hearing how tough things can be for other families out there.
When news affects your investments, however, it’s often prudent to take notice. During the financial crisis of 2008/2009, for example, it was clear the investing environment was becoming treacherous. That’s a different sort of news focus than reading/watching news accounts of house fires, murders, assaults, and other stories that are just brutal to absorb over time. It’s an unfortunate part of life when these things occur, but if you expose yourself to a constant barrage of tragedy, your outlook will certainly be affected.
Our main goal in life is to feel good, mentally and physically. Building wealth and having success is almost always secondary. Wealth without health or a sense of happiness is worthless in my eyes. Having a positive outlook is a simple key to embrace for life. That said, I hope everyone is enjoying this great holiday weekend and traveling safe if you’re on the road!
Weekend Edition – Not Missing a Beat
The other day, my middle child’s school bus never showed up. As a result, I was pressed into action to drive her to school, delaying my normal morning arrival at the office.
Being a systems-centric person and methodical madman, the delay ultimately proved uneventful. The work I normally get done ahead of time simply got done a bit later, but still with plenty of time to spare. Over the years, I’ve learned to rely on the systems I’ve set up to help save me from utter chaos when the unexpected happens.
I feel it’s very important for everyone to adopt processes that they can rely on. Whether it’s your morning routine, your career, or even your investing. All too often I hear about people whose financial well-beings are put in jeopardy because of personal issues they can’t get their arms around. I’ve found that as long as you put your mind to it and take a methodical approach, anything is possible.
This approach is even more important in investing. Many would-be investors claim simply not to have the time to open a brokerage account, research stocks, and manage their investments. Yet these same folks spend hours a day in front of the television. In most cases, the only thing stopping people from getting things done are excuses. If you’re willing to develop a system that can accommodate any unexpected events, you won’t need excuses. You’ll be able to focus instead on opportunities to help you build wealth and achieve further success.
Don’t Let Your Success be Short-Lived
The term “short-lived” always gives me the chills. I never want to think about business or investing success as fleeting. As a result, I always try to think of things from a long-term perspective.
10 Weekend Reads
Some longer weekend reads:
• Goldman Op-Ed Writer Got $ 150 for Unsolicited Critique (Bloomberg) see also Making Sure Your Exit Music Is Loud and Clear (NYT)
• This is not your father’s Nasdaq 3,000 (MSN Money)
• A Nervous Uptick in Treasury Yields (Barron’s) see also Fear gauge at 5-year low ‘an optical illusion’ (CNN Money)
• Was Milton Friedman a Closet Keynesian? (Uneasy Money)
• A Forecast for Low Returns, and Advice for Investors (NYT)
• Despite Progress, Euro Crisis Is Far From Over (Spiegel Online)
• When Critics Mattered (Boston Review)
• Losing Deep-Sea Science in the United States (Deep Sea News)
• The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) (Wired)
• Chess, intelligence and winning arguments (FreakoStats)
What are you reading?
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Banks Help Lift Dow to Near Record
Source: Barron’s
Weekend Edition – The Money or the Ring
As free agency in the NFL gets underway, I am seeing lots of deals where the clear object of desire is money, rather than having any chance of winning a Super Bowl. Now in pro football we know the career lifespan is not that long, so the pressure to make as much money as you can is a prime objective.
This trend begs the question I sometimes ponder: if I were an athlete and I had the chance to play for a championship-contending team, but at the cost of taking less money than I would playing for a team that I know would probably not contend, what would I do?
We non-athletes may may sometimes face the same dilemma in our own lives. In deciding where we want to accept a position, we have many different factors to weigh. It could be landing a bigger title in a small company for more money up front, or possibly a lesser role or title with lesser pay, but at a much bigger and well-respected firm. Before you jump into the answer and assume more money is the easy decision, sometimes you’ll stand to collect longer-term dividends by hanging your hat at a more prestigious firm. Generally, the better your employer, the bigger your opportunities will be in the years ahead.
Ultimately, we all need to weigh the short term versus the long term. Back in the dot-com heyday of the late 90′s, for example, corporate executives were leaving jobs that were paying $ 250-$ 500K to take on a smaller salary, but were long on stock options that could have been worth millions in an IPO.
Coming up with a clear answer to this dilemma is difficult, but my gut tells me that looking long-term may be the way to go. I’ve heard many stories of people regretting taking the easy money up front and forgoing better long-term opportunities. In contrast, I rarely hear stories of the inverse.
We can apply the same thinking to our investing lives. How many portfolios have been ravaged by chasing the hot-money momentum stocks over the years? Meanwhile, investors who stuck with high-quality dividend names were rewarded year after year.
Jobs Friday is in the Books! Have a Great Weekend!
Market Summary Wall Street advanced mildly in trading Friday, aided by another extremely strong jobs number. Futures got a strong boost in premarket action, but choppy afternoon trading into the…
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Weekend Edition – A Culmination of Life Events
Back in January, football fans witnessed a great finish to the San Francisco 49ers/New Orleans Saints NFL Playoff game. The 49ers won a thrilling contest with just seconds remaining, as tight end Vernon Davis made a great catch in traffic at the goal line for the winning touchdown. Just after making the catch, Davis took his helmet off while running to the sidelines, hysterically crying. Emotion overcoming him, he hugged his rookie head coach, making for quite a scene.
You see, Vernon Davis has had a rocky road since coming into the NFL in 2006. Saddled with high expectations, many fans, sports writers, coaches, and even teammates doubted his work ethic. However, Davis eventually proved many of his doubters wrong. Slowly putting in more and more hard work, he eventually fulfilled his potential, gaining the respect of his teammates and coaches in the process.
I believe that sports mirror everyday life much more than many people think. For example, we all know people in our lives who we tend to push harder than most. Some, on the other hand, waste their talent through a combination of laziness and indifference. Vernon Davis used to fall into the latter category, but he turned his career around by finding that fire burning inside of him. His example just goes to show that we should not give up on those we truly believe in.
So, too, can we non-athletes change our financial fortunes. It’s all to easy to assume someone with meager financial means will never achieve wealth. However, history is filled with examples of dramatic fortune turns, and in reality, it’s not all that difficult to improve one’s lot in life.
Not too long ago, I stood in front of college graduates who were inducted into Delta Mu Delta, an international honor society in business administration (where I was also made an honorary member). I talked about my road to success, and couldn’t help the emotion that overcame me for a few seconds while I spoke. I reflected on my own journey through life, and about all the hard work I put in to get to where I am currently. I also thought about how much more I feel I can still achieve.
