Business articles
Showing page 12 of 79 - There are 2359 Business articles
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - 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. O'Melia: No one knows! There is an old Chinese proverb that goes something like this: "He, who could foresee events 3 days in advance...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Mousetrap
- The spring-loaded rat catcher is the ultimate low-tech device invented more than 100 years ago and remains the best demouser in the world. It is so simple anyone can master it and best of all you can keep on using it year in and year out. It always works.Now I want to show you a killer method for earning 30% to 50% annually on your investments that is just as easy as the good old mousetrap....
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Mindset
- In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in Switzerland discovered that a small crystal would vibrate at a constant rate. He found this was so accurate that it could be used to calibrate time so he took it to company management and said it would make an entirely new kind of watch that had no springs and no gears. They could not imagine who would want such a thing. Swiss watches dominated wo...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Market success
- Who are the successful investors?There are those who follow the advice of their brokers and financial planners or those who choose to use their own good judgment? If you care to compare the results of the past 4 years from 2000 to now I believe you will see who as done the best job.In the old days at the Chicago stock yards they used to have an old sheep who led the lambs to the slau...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - 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.Now the SEC is going to make new regulations for hedge funds to protect the rich folks. And it is more window dressing. In fact, it looks downright stupid. When I say rich folks it is because...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Market timing?
- The recent criminal fiasco in the mutual fund industry is being used by Wall Street to persuade investors that market timing is a bad thing. The late trading by Janus, Bank America and several other well known mutual funds is falsely being called market timing.Wall Street, better known as Maul Street to most investors, does not want to you to find out about market timing. The reason is very...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Market psychology
- Today we are inundated with tons of information about the economy, stocks, government agencies and foreign governments. They show us charts and graphs of the increase/decrease in oil production over the last 5 years, the amount of maple syrup produced in Vermont for the past century, the time it takes to bounce a signal off the moon and all kinds of other nonsense that we can live without. The tal...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Moving averages
- Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average line superimposed on the stock price history. It seems they give great credence to this manufactured line as it represents 10 months of price action. What is it? Does it really mean anything?The line represents the addition of the closing prices of that particular stock, mutual fund or index for the past 200 trading sessions that have ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Momentum
- One of the basic laws of physics states that a body in motion will continue in motion in the direction it is going until interrupted by another force.That basic physics law also applies to stocks and mutual funds. To see this trend it will be very apparent in a weekly or monthly chart rather than a daily chart. The daily chart shows too much noise (random movement).In the Friday edit...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - How much money can i make with trading? what account size do i need to start?
- What account size do I need?How much money can I make with trading?First of all, let's clarify a common misunderstanding: You never risk your full account size. You always have a "catastrophic stop", and it is important to define the "ruin" before you start trading. Let's say you start with a $10,000 account, and you decide to stop trading if you lost $2,000. In t...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Choosing an investment stock broker
- If you want one.And I don't recommend any broker with whom to trade who will be giving you advice on what to buy and sell. When a broker speaks it is a eulogy for your money. My definition of a broker is one who makes you broker.The reason I say this is that when I owned my brokerage company I hired and supervised over 300 brokers. The actual number of good traders I could count on o...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - China syndrome
- There has been great condemnation recently because China has been selling its goods on the world market at prices below what other countries, especially the U.S., can produce. It has been called exporting deflation.The major reason for these extremely low prices has been their labor costs which I am told are about $100 per month for ordinary factory workers. Even factories in Mexico are bei...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Chart reading
- As an investor you will want to check out any equity before you buy it. Many investors go to Morningstar that is one of the largest providers of mutual fund information in the world. It is assumed that their information is correct. After all that is what you are paying for.Recently the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) called them on the carpet for not correcting an error within a re...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Catnip of the stock market
- I have watched my cat play with a bag of catnip. At first he is having fun and slowly he becomes drunk with pleasure and then finally he becomes so tipsy he falls over to sleep it off. The pleasure part is great, but I am not sure if he awakes without a hangover.Rocket (that's his name) reminds me of a one of those people who buy a stock and hold it. At first while it is going up there is g...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Cash
- How many people went to a cash position this week? There is no question that this market has scared the bajebers out of many investors, me included. Fortunately, I started going to cash some time ago, but I did give back a substantial amount of my profit.Your broker never wants you to be in cash. You might take it out or invest it in something else. "Don't worry, the market always comes bac...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Investment capital gains
- Have you bought any mutual funds this year or late last year while the market was doing its skyrocket thing? Last year it was hard to lose money. This year it has been easy.You should be calling your mutual fund (they all have 800 numbers) to find out if and when they plan to pay their capital gains and dividends. You might say to yourself, they won't be paying anything this year because th...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Buying new issues
- Has your broker been calling you recently with the "great opportunity" to get in on a new Initial Public Offering? With friends like that you don't need any enemies.I don't care how good this new stock offering sounds. The chances it will stay even or go up are about 1 in 3 and I don't want to play those odds with my money.Most of the new IPOs these days are from the technology secto...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Buying mutual funds
- It looks like the market is ready to start up again so it is time to buy mutual funds, but you only want to invest your money in funds that go up. First, you don't want to start with a loss so be sure to purchase no-load mutual funds. There is no need to ever pay commissions as there are several thousand funds that have no commission whatsoever for either buying or selling.If you talk with ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Buy low - sell high
- Now where have I heard that before? I know. It was my broker.So I took his advice and bought some of the stocks he recommended. I am still waiting for the 'sell high' part of the equation. Everything he touted went up for a while and now it is lower than when I bought it. It is so low I can't bring myself to sell it. My capital has shrunk about 60% from where I started. That's a lot of mone...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Buy and hold investment philosophy
- Wall Street has been preaching the doctrine of Buy and Hold forever. The worst part about it is the small investor (and some big ones) actually believe it. Brokers and financial planners believe it, but when you show them they can get a better return by timing the market they just say, "It can't be done". They are either lazy or stupid.Most brokers have not learned their trade - investing. ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Bull or bear?
- Cat or dog? Maybe Zebra. Shucks, I don't know, but my broker keeps telling me it is a bull and to buy this and that. It looks like he is right - for a change. I remember he said the same thing in 1999 and 2000 and I ended up losing most of my money. But it looks good right now.Yes, it does look good now and I have been a buyer since the middle of last year. Is this another bubble? The talki...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Box of chocolates
- Ever have one of those sample boxes of candy? Each little piece is beautifully wrapped in colorful foil or decorated with an interesting design. Taste just one. So good! One more. And another. Before you know it the box is empty. Nothing left.This upmove in the stock market is very tempting - and could leave you with a tummy ache.All the market "experts" are telling you that the bull...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Dont buy stocks based on p/e ratio alone
- I use the P/E ratio as a secondary indicator for buying and selling stocks but I don't use the ratio in the same a manner as many value investors teach. I will explain the difference in my methodology for using the P/E ratio to your advantage.Many value investors will pass on a growth stock that has a P/E ratio higher than a predetermined level. For example, they may discard all stocks that...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Bottoms ups
- If you have talked to a stock broker or financial planner in the last few days I will bet they all agree that there are some great bargains out there and now is the time to start buying in anticipation that the market will go back up. You will also find agreement from the talking heads on CNBC and those talk radio station stock mavens. No one says sell. It looks like bottom pickers heaven.A...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - The bottom?
- Every day I hear someone on CNBC proclaim that "this is the bottom" and you should get in there and buy all those "bargains". "The valuations of the DOW stocks are a steal."The low of DOW 8,000 immediately after September 11 was "the low" and the market did rally to about 10,700. That's 2,700 points. A smart trader could have made a fortune in six months. Oops! Then there was a Brody to DOW...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Boiler room 7/17/00
- On Friday or Saturday evening my wife gets a movie from Block Buster and after dinner we sit, hold hands and watch. This week she brought back one that I think every investor or anyone contemplating investing in the market should see. It is called "Boiler Room".How many times have you been called out of the blue by some no-name broker who wants to make you rich provided you buy shares in th...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Being wrong buying stock is okay
- Being wrong is OK, but let's not carry it to extremes. That applies to everything, but let's limit our discussion here to the stock market.I have been trading for several decades and was an exchange memebr and floor trader for 17 years. You learn fast there or you go broke in a hurry. As you can see I managed to hold my own for a few years until I found the secret and started to become a su...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Is the bear in the cage?
- For the last few weeks we have seen the stock market averages going higher and higher each week yet the economic news is still very bad. Is this bear market coming to an end? Will the stock prices and mutual funds go back up to where they were?It seems all the talking heads on TV and the talk radio guys are telling you that now is the time to buy because the market will be much higher next ...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Bargain basement - finding stocks that go up
- Have you been listening to the talking heads on CNBC-TV? Or those talk radio stock experts? Getting all those good recommendations on what to buy now. Now?Those guys keep telling me the market is oversold. It can't go any lower. (But it does.) I bet your broker has some hot tips for you too. Advice from a broker is a eulogy for your money. I don't think he has told you about the one positio...
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- 2007-11-13 22:16:19 - Mutual fund ball and chain
- The broker told me not to sell because the mutual fund I owned had a 2% redemption fee and they would penalize me if I did.I got to thinking about it and did some simple math to see what that would cost me if I sold. Several months ago I bought $5,000 of the fund. Fortunately, it was a no-load so I was not charged any commission. It seems that the brokerage house has instituted this fee for...