June 28th, 2008 by
Maria Crawford Scott - The Investor Professor
In the world of investing, no one piece of financial information tells all. But the price-earnings ratio comes close, containing a wealth of information about the market’s expectations for earnings growth.
However, if you look through any investment information resource commonly used by individual investors, you’ll find numerous definitions of the term.
Read the full article »
Posted in Featured Articles, Investing Basics | No Comments »
April 29th, 2008 by
Fred Kobrick
Reprinted with the permission of the American Association of Individual Investors
Why is it that bright, educated people who come across stocks that could make them wealthy for life, so frequently fail to capitalize on golden opportunities—not enough brains or education?
No, not even close.
Two things are responsible: Beating ourselves, and a lack of knowledge. Beating ourselves [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Featured Articles, Growth Stocks, Investing Basics, Investment Strategies | No Comments »
March 19th, 2008 by
Mark Hulbert
Reprinted with the permission of the American Association of Individual Investors
What can you learn from three decades of monitoring investment newsletter performance?
Plenty.
It was nearly three decades ago that the Hulbert Financial Digest (HFD) began independently monitoring the performance of investment advisory newsletters. I’m devoting this column to a couple of the most important investment lessons [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Featured Articles, Investing Basics, Investment Strategies | 1 Comment »
February 16th, 2008 by
Gary Lucido
When I went to business school a few years ago (OK, maybe it was more
than a few years ago) I remember my finance professor telling the class
that it was a mystery why closed end mutual funds traded at a discount.
Presumably he was tapped into all the latest academic research about
such matters so I assumed it was a mystery. It wasn’t until years later
that I came to believe that there really isn’t much of a mystery - and
my theory isn’t that complicated, though putting it into words is
difficult.
Read the full article »
Posted in Closed End Funds | 4 Comments »
February 10th, 2008 by
Maria Crawford Scott
Reprinted with the permission of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)
Yield is a term that is used quite often in the investment universe. But it is frequently a source of investor confusion.
The problem is that “yield” has many different meanings, and thus many different implications for investors.
The basic dilemma is that yield may or [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Dividends, Fixed Income | No Comments »
January 21st, 2008 by
Brian Luster and Steven Abernathy
Reprinted with the permission of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)
If you’ve ever been to the track, you know that big winnings come from betting against the crowd.
Bet on the favorites and you may cash in a couple of small winning tickets; but scope out an underdog the crowd doesn’t believe can win and [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Investing Basics, Investment Advice | No Comments »
December 17th, 2007 by
Jay Sharp
Preferred stocks are oft overlooked securities that have interesting qualities of both stocks and bonds. While common stocks are the preferred investment vehicle of most risk investors, and bonds are the domain of risk-averse income seeking investors, preferred stocks are a mixture (hybrid if you will) of fixed income securities and common stocks. The [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Fixed Income, Preferred Stocks | No Comments »
November 13th, 2007 by
Jay Sharp
Individual investors seeking to asset allocate and build a diversified portfolio are likely to not find any better investment product to serve their purpose than ETFs. As the name implies, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are investments that combine the advantages of index funds with the trading flexibility and continual pricing of individual stocks and [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Asset Allocation, ETF, Investment Strategies | 5 Comments »
October 12th, 2007 by
Jennifer Openshaw
The stock market has risen relentlessly, and real estate and commodity markets have peaked. It’s a good chance to park some cash, as a lucky few did in the late 1990’s. Are bonds the answer? That’s for you to decide. But just as the Internet and e-broker platforms revolutionized stock investing ten years ago, now it’s becoming easier for individual investors to invest in individual bonds. Here’s why.
Read the full article »
Posted in Fixed Income, Investing and Saving, Investment Advice | No Comments »
September 12th, 2007 by
Edward Yardeni, PhD. President, Yardeni Research. Former Chief Investment Strategist at Prudential Equity Group and Deutsche Bank.
Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index hit record highs this year despite concerns about high energy costs, the housing market slump, tightening credit markets, persistent inflation fears and a slowing economy. But recent sharp pullbacks left many investors wondering whether they would face a new version of [...]
Read the full article »
Posted in Investment Advice, Investment Strategies | 3 Comments »