| |
| |
|
|
Stocks and Mutual Funds |
|
A Personal Stock Market Investment Philosophy
∙ Make every investment in the stock market a long-term investment. My Mother worked as a teller in a small bank in Dover, New Jersey. The name of the bank was called The Dover Community Bank. While working at the bank (she eventually became a branch manager) she enrolled in the bank's dividend reinvestment plan, making purchases of the stock through pay-roll deductions. She continued purchasing the stock through the years, having the dividends from her shares in the bank reinvested into more shares every quarter. By the time she left the bank (in the early seventies) she had accumulated around 300 shares of The Dover Community Bank. My Father, when he retired, had the dividends from those shares sent home - to help ends-meet. When my Dad passed away at age 80, my brother and I inherited over 7,600 shares of The Bank of New York, all originating from those 300 shares of what was once called The Dover Community Bank. From this personal experience grew an investment philosophy that all stock market investments in a security should be purchased with the intent of providing dividend income to help ends-meet during retirement, with the understanding that no one can successfully retire without financial freedom. So every investment now in a security is purchased with the intent of holding that security (and adding to it during the years) until the dividend income from that security is ample enough to ease the loss of income from retiring from my job. ∙ Make every investment in the stock market provide you with an ever-increasing cash dividend for the rest of your life. With the philosophical investment approach of holding a security position forever, what criteria should I be looking for in that security? Certainly dividend income - that's a given! And since I never intend to sell the security, capital gains may not even be an issue. I would argue that a company that just pays a dividend isn't good enough. Instead, I will only purchase those companies that have a long history of raising their dividend every year. This will eliminate a whole bunch of risk. It would eliminate the possibility that the company is 'cooking their books;' after all, the money has to be there to pay the shareholder. And because this company has been raising their dividend every year for many years, it eliminates the risk of investing in a start-up company that may not even be around in a year or so. Also, the rising dividend every year would help off-set the risk of inflation and the risk of a lower stock price during the year would actually accelerate my income from the security. Since I would want my position in the stock to grow through the years, thus increasing my dividend income, all dividends would be reinvested back into the stock, until retirement. A lower stock price during the year, therefore, would allow the dividend from the company to purchase more shares, at a higher dividend yield, and would simply accelerate my dividend income. ∙ Diversify into no more than twelve different companies. Owning shares in twelve companies is plenty. It would provide the diversity to sleep well at night, and provide a cash dividend every week of the year. Start by owning three companies, and build from there. Determine how many shares you want of each company before moving on to the 4th, 5th, and 6th. Invest in sets of three different companies at a time, until twelve are owned. ∙ Persevere Success in the stock market is not so much derived by buying a company's stock at the lows, but is almost guaranteed successful through dollar-cost-averaging over the years. One of the most powerful methods of investing in the stock market is having the perseverance to continue adding shares to your stock positions over the years, through reinvested dividends and quarterly infusion of funds, be it 50 dollars, or 100 dollars a month. Persistence, persistence, persistence, and your stock market investment philosophy will become unbeatable! To read the PREFACE from the book 'The Stockopoly Plan- Investing for Retirement' visit: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com Charles M. O'Melia is an individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. The author of the book The Stockopoly Plan - Investing for Retirement; published by American-Book Publishing. You can invest in the book at: http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/CharlesMOMelia.shtml You have permission to publish this article either electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated. Please email to mailto:charles@thestockopolyplan.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Stocks-Mutual-Funds - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Buy And Hold One of the most believed bits of conventional wisdom from Wall Street is to Buy and Hold. Any stock or mutual fund should be put away for eternity and never sold. More Window Dressing Two weeks ago I wrote about what the Securities and Exchange Commission was doing to regulate the mutual fund industry to help the small investor, the "poor folks". It really added up to zero. Precision Money Management This article describes the model of a natural relationship between trading system performance, trade position size, stop loss settings and profit goals. The model consists of algebraic equations that specify the trade size and stop loss settings needed to meet profit goals over a specified time period for any consistently used trading system for which historical performance data is available. Selling The stock market has been going up for more than 7 months and many investors who held on through the big crash of 2000 are seeing their portfolios get back some of what had disappeared. Is now the time to sell those equities that are 'even' with what you paid for them? No. The 10 Commandments Wall Street has been preaching for years and years to investors how and where to put their money. The "experts" have put forth these ideas for so long that they seem to be carved in stone just like Moses did with God's 10 Commandments. Take The Time You must take the time once a month to review your investment portfolio. It won't take long - less than one hour, maybe 15 minutes. The Big Bad Bear The big bad bear is stirring again. So far he has stretched, yawned and peaked out of his cave. You Don't HAVE To Be Trading As a novice trader, you'll often feel the need to trade.You may be bored or frustrated. Investment Discipline One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline and it doesn't make any difference whether it is manufacturing, processing, servicing or investing in the stock market.Before you can have that discipline you must have a successful plan and stick with it. Trading Tips No 8: Picking the Best Stock Market Price Carefully thinking through your goal as a trader is of prime importance, when picking the best stock market price. It is very difficult if not impossible to meet a goal that is ill defined. Understanding a Stocks PEG Ratio A PEG ratio cannot be used alone but is a very powerful tool when integrated with the basics (price, volume and chart reading). You must enjoy crunching numbers and have a calculator handy to estimate your own PEG ratio. Hedge Funds: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Alfred Winslow Jones started hedge funds in 1949. He was a pioneer of non-traditional investment strategies. Investing in Dividend Paying Stocks I was recently interviewed for a press release through a financial question and answer format. One of the questions asked of me in the interview was:Where do you think the stock market is headed over the next five years?My Answer!Charles M. Nest Eggs and Omelets Do you have a nest egg? You know, a place you are stashing away money for the future - retirement, down payment on a house, the kids education. That kind of thing. Valuation Every day I hear from the "experts" on CNBC-TV and the radio gurus that the way to buy stocks is find value. One man's Rembrandt is another man's connect-the-dots and fill in the spaces. So, What is This Stock Market Thing Anyway? We've all heard of the stock market and probably have a general idea of what it is and how it works either from high school economics classes, television financial reports, and the countless film depictions of what happens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. But how does it really work and what is meant by "playing the stock market?"The Stock Market in a NutshellCompanies sell shares of stock as a means of raising capital. Mutual Fund Honor Roll - Buy High, Sell Low by Chasing Performance Buy high and sell low -- It's not a typo.Millions of investors guarantee their failure by selecting mutual funds and stocks based on quarterly or annual performance records. NASDAQ 800? In November of 2000 when the NASDAQ was trading at 3000 I wrote in this column that the NASDAQ Index would fall to 1500 and I got lots of heat for saying it. Microsoft had fallen from $129 to $60 per share. Shadow Bull As one of my regular readers you know I have been a stock market bear for the past 2 years and have encouraged everyone to put their money into a money market account or a short-term no-load bond fund and for the more adventurous what is called a bear mutual fund that goes up when the market goes down. Just being in cash as outlined in my book would have saved 40% or more of your money. Two for the Money Look back over the years and try to remember how many different stocks and mutual funds you have owned. Suppose you had owned only 2 different equities during that entire time.
|
||||||||||||||