As investors, we put our capital to work by buying securities in the expectation that they will increase in value over long periods of time. In order to assess our progress, and the wisdom of our choices, we need to measure our performance. This is easier than you may think. Read on for some suggestions […]
Measuring Security Performance Read More »
Reflecting on some of my investments, it has occurred to me that investing success is as much about avoiding disaster as it is about picking winners. Let’s look at some examples. My Biggest Loser I have 6 companies in which I’ve invested that have dropped in value over 80%. Ouch!! Think about that. Let’s say
Investing Success – Avoid Disaster Read More »
Odd title for an article, but important for us as investors. We all make buy and sell decisions. Hopefully we do this infrequently and with a strong thesis, but we make decisions. We want to feel confident that we are making good decisions. After all, this is our hard-earned money at stake. I mentioned in
Being Right Takes Time Read More »
It’s easy for us to get stuck on a price for something. We get it in our head, and we never want to pay more than that price, because that is what it’s worth. With inflation running rampant, my wife has a price in her head for eggs, bacon, her favorite bottle of wine, and
The Dangers of Anchoring on Price Read More »
What if I make an investing mistake? In this post, we’ll talk about mistakes, how they happen and what you can do about them. Some of the younger folks in my personal finances classes have expressed concerns about making investing mistakes. And while being safe and cautious with one’s money is admirable, sometimes it can
Investing – What if I Make a Mistake? Read More »
I’d like to share some excerpts from an exceptional annual report. As an investor, you’ll get lots of anual reports from the companies in which you invest. And while each deserves a few minutes of your time, I’d like to share some excerpts and commentary from a truly exceptional example. Yup, it’s the Berkshire Hathaway
The Greatest 15 Pages You’ll Ever Read Read More »
Covered calls add some risk to your portfolio but can be a good way to supplement income. Let’s dig in to understand a bit about options, describe a covered call strategy in detail and identify the risks for an individual investor. Options There are 2 main types of options contracts, but for this post, we’ll
Supplementing Income With Covered Call Options Read More »
It is bad. Bad for every investor. It’s really bad. Let’s look at what insider trading is and why it hurts other market participants (hey, that’s us!) Insider Trading Insider trading is when a company “insider” places trades based on Material Non-Public Information (MNPI). Real Example What got me started on this was reading this
Today’s Thought – What’s so Bad About Insider Trading? Read More »
You’ve decided to invest in companies and you’re buying stocks. Congratulations. How do you measure stock performance? This is a really tough question. Deciding to make the leap from mutual funds and ETFs to directly investing in companies is a big decision. It’s a decision to rely on your abilities over an index or fund
Measuring Stock Performance Read More »
In an earlier post on Stocks, I talked about trading v. investing. To me, investing is researching different businesses and choosing to invest in those that I think will pay off in the long-run. I see trading as an activity in which one tries to move quickly in and out of different securities, trying to
Trading is Hard – Today’s Example Read More »