The Best Money Advice, in Ten Words or Less

The Best Money Advice, in Ten Words or Less
June 30, 2009 @ 8:00 am - Written by Trent

About a week ago, I challenged my followers on Twitter to give me their best single piece of money advice in ten words or less.

I was flooded with responses.

After spending quite a bit of time sifting through them, here are the fifty best pieces of advice that came my way (out of well over a hundred - I actually used a spreadsheet to help me figure out the best ones to include). All of these are stellar money tips - and all of them come in with ten words or less. Enjoy.

writealvaro: Don’t invest in what you don’t understand.
mmmeg: I only need one word! ASK!
The_Weakonomist: index emergency fund to unemployment. 9% = 9 months.
MichaelBRubin: Spend more time, less money.
fiscalgeek: The secret to money management is learning to be content.
pearbudget: Know what really matters. Don’t spend money on other stuff.
creditgoddess: Don’t borrow more than you can repay.
dgstinner: A fool and his money are soon parted
jacobmlee: Be mindful of how you spend money.
JoeTaxpayerBlog: Don’t walk away from 401(k) match, regardless of debt situation.
EdenJaeger: Live below your means and save all you can.
tonyblacknyc: Better to sell a little early than a little late.
Kplavcan13: Pay yourself first, you can’t give yourself a bill.
dweliver: Be content with what’s yours and you’ll always have plenty.
centsiblelife: Spend less than you earn. Earn more.
MoneyEnergy: Don’t save at 2% when you’ve got debt at 10%.
thefinancialqb: If you try to get rich quickly, you will go broke fast.
ObliviousInvest: Diversify. Minimize costs. Stay the course.
Matt_SF: Borrowing money for a depreciating asset is a fool’s errand.
benburleson: If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.
mapgirlsfc: Save regularly and spend less than you earn.
jj_observations: Learn to love left-overs!
tusharm: Don’t spend money that you don’t have.
danielckoontz: Never reach for yield.
randypeterman: “Where will you & your stuff be in 100 years?”
Cat8040: Don’t take on debt.
KasyAllen: Don’t be afraid to ask for the savings!
nhldigest: Best money advice “Don’t Spend More Than You Earn”.
Green_Panda: My advice: Change one money habit at a time.
MoneyEnergy: Don’t count all your chickens before they’ve hatched.
fcn: Save and invest for the long term.
MyLifeROI: If it depreciates, don’t pay interest on it!
jessw61: Save/invest as much as you can.
Lisa_S_47: working hard doesn’t mean you deserve anything you can’t afford.
mtswartz: I’ll do it in two: Spend Less!
GlennLucas: Prevent your government from bankrupting your nation.
myfindependence: Be thrifty but don’t forget to enjoy yourself
spendingsmart: You can’t outearn dumb spending.
randallkirsch: A penny saved is more than a penny earned.
Grumpicus: Use credit cards, NOT debit cards.
flexo: The only one who cares about your money is you.
ceetastic: Before purchasing, I ask myself, “Can you justify the expense?”
moneyhighway: Money comes and goes the memories stay
robertsm85: If you don’t have the money then don’t spend it.
roryboy: if you need to use plastic, you can’t afford it!
msimonkey: Keeping up with the Jones’s is plain stupid.
maverickstruth: Know what comes in, and what goes out.
crazy_eddy: Let your assets buy your toys.
sfordinarygirl: Buy generics/private label because it’s way cheaper
jasonbob7: One word: leftovers!

Now, how about you? What’s the best money advice you can give in ten words or less? Leave yours in the comments!

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/06/30/the-best-money-advice-in-ten-words-or-less/

As an investor can I rely on technical analysis?

Wednesday July 1, 2009

As an investor can I rely on technical analysis?
Personal Investment - A column by Ooi Kok Hwa

Investors need proper training as this area requires a lot of subjective judgement and experiences

ALL the famous investment gurus in the world, like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, say that we should not try to time the stock market because we will not be able to predict its movement.

However, professional technical analysts believe that investors are able to time the market by looking into the historical price trends and trading volumes. They believe that the weakness in fundamental analysis is it is unable to provide the timing to buy or sell stocks.

Fundamental analysts are able to detect good quality stocks for long-term investments. However, they do not know when to accumulate or to dispose the stocks.

Technical analysts believe that a lot of good fundamental factors for certain stocks may have already been reflected in the stock prices. As a result, any investor who would like to purchase the stocks may not be able to make gains as the stock prices have already included the good fundamental factors.

Nevertheless, if investors know technical analysis, they may be able to discover the stocks much earlier than the others. A lot of time, these fundamental factors may not be made known to the public.

However, some investors, who are aware of these fundamental factors, may start accumulating the stocks. Technical analysts believe that these early actions can be detected by looking into charts.

Technical analysis is based on the interaction between the supply and demand for the stocks, which can be caused by the rational and irrational factors.

Technical analysts believe that prices move in trend and can persist for a long time until something happens to the stocks.

Even though technical analysts do not know all the factors that influence the buying or selling of all stocks, they believe that investors are able to know the actual shifts in the supply and demand of stocks by looking into their market price behaviour.

One of the advantages of technical analysis is that it is simple to use. Compared with the fundamental analysis, investors do not need to read financial statements before using technical analysis. Nevertheless, investors are still required to have adequate knowledge on how to interpret various types of charts.

Given that there are many types of charts, investors may get confused as some charts may indicate buying signals while others may indicate selling signals.

Sometimes, when there are too many investors using different types of charts, the effects may be neutralised between each other.

For market efficiency believers, they postulate that it is not possible make any gains by merely looking into stock prices and volumes because they believe that the stock market may have reflected all these factors. They label this phenomenon as weak-form of market efficiency.

In most academic researches on testing weak-form stock market efficiency (testing the market based on stock prices and volumes), they discovered that investors cannot consistently outperform the market.

Fundamental analysts believe that by merely looking into technical charts alone may sometimes cause investors buying into poor fundamental stocks.

However, technical analysts argue that these negative factors can also be detected using charts because poor fundamental stocks will normally face heavy selling by investors.

The technical charts will indicate when the stocks start facing selling pressures and investors need to sell the stocks once the charts indicate the selling signals.

Some investors believe that there may be self-fulfilling prophecy on technical analysis.

When many people are using the same technical chart on one company and the chart shows a buy on the stock, many investors will follow to buy the stocks. These may cause the stock prices to go up and reinforce the idea that the technical rules work.

We believe that investors need to know both fundamentals as well as technical analysis as these two methods can complement each other. Both methods have their strengths and weaknesses.

Sometimes we may want to use fundamentals to identify the stocks for purchase, then, use technical analysis to gauge when to buy the stocks; or we can use technical analysis to select stocks and use fundamentals to confirm the quality of the companies.

In conclusion, as technical analysis requires a lot of subjective judgement and experiences, we believe that investors need to have a proper training in this area. Interested investors are encouraged to read books related to this area to have better understanding.

Ooi Kok Hwa is an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/1/business/4228156&sec=business

Budgeting for Future Success

Today's world and workplace are considered a "global village." Telecommunications and air transportation make finance, technology, and labour available to a world economy. Increased knowledge and skills will be required to compete in the changing workplace created by the world economy.

To be prepared for a career in this new world, people will need a variety of skills. The use of budgets is one such necessary skill. Allocating money, solving problems, and making decisions are skills needed to create and use either a personal or business budget. These skills are also critical for people who want to be ready to achieve personal and professional success.

If you learn good budgeting skills and are able to apply them to different situations, people will take notice. At your current job, you can impress your employer by suggesting possible budgeting improvements. If you help your boss now, he or she will help you later. Maybe your boss will write you a good recommendation for a future job. Or perhaps he or she will help you find a good job when you finish the present posting. Whatever the case, using your budgeting skills now can only benefit you in your future career.

You will also find that balancing your current budget, no matter how little money it may involve, will help you balance your personal budget in the future. You will be making more money when you begin your career, but balancing your budget then will involve the same steps that it does now. That way, when you do begin to earn more money - and possibly even have to balance a budget that includes a spouse and children - you will be well prepared to do it.

Success with budgets can be achieved. Many people start with basic personal budgets when learning to budget money. Tracking budget items and adjusting the budget over time gives experience that can be used with more complex budgets. Budgeting your allowance prepares you to budget when you have income from a job, for example. And budgeting part-time earnings prepares you to budget for your own business someday.

A budget may not make you rich. But when used with creativity, budgets can provide a sound basis on which to make decisions that will be easy to live with.

Good budgeting skills will get you noticed in the highly competitive workplace. Questions to ask yourself:

• How can knowledge of budgetting help you in your career?


• Would budgeting help you if you owned your own business?


• Would a budget be useful if you had a family of your own?

A reputation build over 30 years can be destroyed in 5 minutes.

30 Jun 09, 17:32
RR: If you don't believe, or have some doubts on him.. then just forget about ICAP.
30 Jun 09, 17:32
RR: If TTB is my real life buddy, i think i would have put 90% of my portfolio with him. Just wanna stress again, ICAP = TTB. Believe TTB, hold/buy ICAP.
30 Jun 09, 17:30
RR: cause i actually believes WB said "I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will. "
30 Jun 09, 17:30
RR: So.. so far.. I am not with ICAP yet:) I mostly invest in things that the business itself has its own edge, without really counting on the person in charge.
30 Jun 09, 17:25
RR: the only doubts will be, is TTB a person who I can really believe in? A person with integrity where I can put ALL my savings with him? I personally am not sure..
30 Jun 09, 17:22
RR: So.. my 2 cents is that, if you believe in TTB that his investing style works and he will be employing this investing method as long as he lives. I think, you should keep holding the stock.
30 Jun 09, 17:21
RR: You believe what TTB believes. We believe him, because he has been publishing his method of investing for some time. We believe that he will continue with that style.
30 Jun 09, 17:17
RR: However, it is hard to see any durable competetive advantage ICAP has over other funds. ICAP is all about TTB.. If you are buying into ICAP. You must have known TTB well.
30 Jun 09, 17:16
RR: Taking RM1.80 as current price, ICAP has around 16% compounded return since 2005. As for me, ICAP is one of the business that I can understand and its performance is easy to track.


---


RR, I find your reasoning interesting and would like to offer my comments here:

The track record of iCAP closed end fund is short. Yes, it has given a very good return (cumulative total return and compound annual return). This cannot be extrapolated to future years. Investment returns are often unpredictable.

Over the longer term, it is generally expected that most funds will give returns close to those of the market returns. This is based on statistics and probabilities. We know that. In fact, given the cost of some funds, most funds will give returns lower that the market return.

If you are an enterprising investor, like Leno, with a proven track record, you should continue your own investing. On the other hand, if you have been an investor who has lost money consistently or with a very poor return from your investment, you should seriously consider whether you should be doing your own investing or otherwise.

The issue of integrity of the fund manager is important and cannot be treated lightly. In the light of Madoff, one cannot be too careful. But then, how do you judge integrity in the person? Review how you judged a person to be your business partner or a lady to be your life partner. What criterias did you use? What outcomes, deemed important, did you factor into these criterias? As much as you and I like to be totally objective, often judgement is also a very subjective matter.

Warren Buffett has written on integrity. He would like his managers to have integrity, intelligence and lots of energy. Above all, integrity. Without integrity, these traits of intelligence and energy in the manager will work against the interest of the owner.

Like Warren Buffett, we should only invest in a fund manager with integrity, intelligence and a lot of energy. The managers of these funds also realise the importance of their integrity in their business and their relationship with their investors. A reputation build over 30 years can be destroyed in 5 minutes.

This assessment of the integrity of the fund manager can best be summed up as difficult, subjective and based on your personal views. This view is also influenced by your interactions with others and this fund manager in the same industry. Eventually, in the majority of situations, it is a personal opinion.

For the defensive investor, what are the options? My personal advice, don't even buy a share, if you are not familiar with equity investing and the market place. It is far too dangerous a place for someone with no investing or financial education. Therefore, park the money in FDs and be grateful for the 'safety of capital' and meagre return these offer. But the risks are those of inflation eroding the real income and capital, and also, not meeting your investing objectives.

The next best thing, is to have friends or relatives who are able to invest for you or to advice you on your investments. I was fortunate to have this guidance for many years. But beware of professionals with some knowledge. I have known of investors who ask their remisiers for some stock recommendations with varying results.

Then, you are still faced with how to invest your money safely, for higher return, over a long period. Who do you turn to now?

Here is my suggested approach to investing into icap fund or any other funds. We start with a very big assumption, that the fund we invest in will perform reasonably well under a good manager, and over the years, the manager will continues to grow the value of the investment.

For the investors of the fund, it would then be the simple matter of investing into the fund at the time when it was trading at a bargain, usually coinciding with the market at a low point. However, there is still another important factor to consider.

It was Peter Lynch (I think), who wrote that during his tenure of his fund, the majority of investors who bought and sold his fund lost money. This was despite the fund growing in value at a compound annual rate of 30% or so, for almost 30 years.

The inference, even if you have selected the right fund or fund manager, your returns may be negative due to factors unrelated to them, but to yourself.

This is what I do for a portion of my money. But then, you are not me. Your circumstances will definitely be different. So, please follow your own analysis and make your own decision. You are the better judge of yourself, always.


Also read:
Games people play
To be a winner, choose the games one wishes to play in carefully. Investing is likewise not dissimilar. One need to have the investing knowledge before "playing this game" intelligently, lest one ends up not winning but losing.

Where is your focus in your investment returns?

Are you focussed on absolute return and capital preservation?

Or, are you more focussed on relative return to a certain benchmark?

Perhaps you are more focussed on one or the other at different market environments. Certainly these are food for thoughts.

But then, it was also ridiculous to an individual investor, for his fund manager to talk about beating a certain market benchmark during the recent severe bear market when the absolute return of the fund was negative and the capital was also down by a large amount!

How To Raise A Rich Daughter

Brown Heidi,
Forbes.com
06/29/09 19:00:10 GMT

How To Raise A Rich Daughter

Women hold half of the investable wealth in the U.S. and account for 43% of all Americans who have a net worth of $1.5 million or more. Yet only 10% of asset managers are female, says a new report from the National Council for Research on Women.

Recent studies show that, as with other areas of business, women make investment decisions differently from men. They consider contradictory information and study company fundamentals more carefully before investing. Over the long term, funds run by women, who tend to be more risk-averse in general, outperform those of men. The Hedge Fund Research Diversity Index, for example, which has 50% female managers, returned an annual average 8.21% since 2003, while the broader index returned 5.98%.

That's all well and good, until you consider that many women simply aren't going into finance. The NCRW says a major cause of the dearth of women in finance is the "pipeline"--the supply of future finance professionals. Not enough girls and young women even consider finance as a career choice, so there are fewer candidates for finance jobs and even fewer women-run funds. In part, this stems from girls' lack of interest in science and math--even though studies have shown they have the same aptitude as boys.

The problem starts early, explains Barnard College President Debora Spar, who spoke at a NCRW conference earlier this week.

Part of this might be due to computer games used in schools. Math-based games, noted Spar, are almost always of the "shoot-em-up" variety which appeal to boys; whereas games which the girls prefer such as "Dora the Explorer" are not math-based. Multimedia math tools and early learning toys that appeal to girls are needed, said Spar.

Anecdotally, she said, years ago she taught an elementary school math class; both sexes did equally well at the subject. But within eight months, she saw girls' interest in math wane, while boys remained engaged.

Once in high school, most female students "tend to focus on application-based information," she said. "They think, 'How will trigonometry help me in the real world?' A guy, by contrast, might take finance classes because his friend is doing it or his father's golf buddy is on Wall Street."

To engage girls in math, Spar thinks more female math teachers, from elementary school through college, would help enormously. The National Bureau of Economic Research released a study in May that looked at the difference in math and science performance between male and female students at the U.S. Air Force Academy and found that women who have female math professors tend to stick with the subject until graduation.

But many math departments have few, if any, women math teachers.

A brief survey of three schools show this playing out: At Caltech two of 18 math professors are women, at the University of Virginia four of 28 math professors are women and at the University of Chicago zero out of 32 math professors are women.

With so few women in the pipeline, investors are losing out by not benefiting from women's prudence and women are losing out by not gaining access to the basis of power: big money.

Keep reading at ForbesWoman.

http://news.my.msn.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3417377

Should you hold iCap?

"Always look at the valuation and the price.
Value a company on a long-term basis.
Many companies are still trading below its long-term valuation. "

Would you hold icap as a fund for your investment?

Let's take a look at this by seeking answers to the following questions.

How good are the fund's managers and analysts?

When investing into icap, one is effectively employing ttb and his team to pick securities for you. ttb has a investment newsletter for many years. His philosophy and strategy are known. The few model portfolios in his newsletter have outperformed the market benchmarks. However, for many investors, his truly transparent real life performance will be gauged on his performance in icap closed end fund.

What is the strategy and how well is it executed?

Using his philosophy and strategy, ttb has consistently added value to the fund he is managing. By sticking to his approach with conviction, he has delivered excellent returns to date. More importantly, there is consistency in the returns during different environment, in good and in bad times of the investing period.

Is the fund a good value proposition?

The cost is lower for this fund than other open-ended funds in the market. As many stocks are bought and held, there is less transaction costs involved too. Also, there are times when you can invest into this fund at a steep discount to its NAV.

Have the fund and its advisor been shareholder-friendly?

Some bloggers hammered ttb on this. They lament that icap should reveal its portfolio at every quarter. icap should at the least inform the shareholders of some of the transactions. If not, how can these investors make an informed decision?

icap does keep investors up to date on changes to their fund, but only once a year. Those who are subscribers of icap newsletter may get an inkling of the stocks bought or sold indirectly.

• How critical is it for the investors to know what icap bought or sold recently?
• How critical is it for the investors to know what icap bought or sold recently, if they have a long-term horizon?

My take on this, is that those long-term investors into icap will find it more useful and rewarding understanding the philosophy and strategy of ttb and the icap fund, than harping on this issue constantly.

icap is one of the fund with the lowest cost I know. That to me is investor friendly. Of course, being an investor into icap may make my views less objective, but I try to give an honest appraisal of these issues.

Why has the fund performed the way it has?

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=roHksSrHHyf0Roi1sJE36Wg

The short-term track record since Oct 2005 has been excellent. Perhaps, we will have a look at this in detail later.

Ownership of Financial Assets in US

Interesting, abeit old, statistics. The distribution of wealth in the United States was, and probably is, terribly unequal.

Ownership of Financial Assets in US in the 90s.

The Very Rich (1% of the Population)
46%

The Affluent (the Next 9%)
36%

The Rest (90% of Americans)
18%


Share of Income Collected by American Households

The Very Rich (1% of the Population)
1962 9.3%
1992 15.7%

The Affluent (the Next 9%)
1962 21.5%
1992 25.2%

The Rest (90% of Americans)
1962 69.2%
1992 59.1%

iCap Closed End Fund Track Record for last 2 years

Click on this busy spreadsheet.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=roHksSrHHyf0Roi1sJE36Wg

There has been a lot of "cowshit" written on icap closed end fund. I decided to just review the performance of this fund for my personal benefit. Well, not too bad so far.


Related posts:
iCap sold Axiata and bought Astro
Morningstar's Approach to Analyzing Mutual Funds
Always buy, hold or sell based on fundamentals.

iCap sold Axiata and bought Astro

The icap portfolio dated 11.6.2008 listed 17 stocks. VADS was taken private, leaving 16 stocks.

Let us make an (unlikely) assumption that the portfolio of 16 stocks has not changed over the last 1 year. Using the share prices of 26.6.2009 revealed some interesting figures.

Click to view:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rPy-muVrt2cj5PSRqXgtT2A

Observations:

1. 8 stocks are showing gains, 8 stocks are showing losses.

2. The winners are: Parkson, PetDag, F&N, Padini, PIE, HaiO, LionDiv, and PohKong, in descending order of gains.

The corresponding percentages of gains for each of these stocks in the same order are: 106.3%, 101.2%, 46.2%, 69.6%, 33.7%, 33.4%, 78.7%, and 2.5%.

Total of these 8 stock gains is: $49,797,470.00

3. The losers are: Boustead, TM, Swee Joo, Mieco, Integrax, Suria, Tongher and TMI, in ascending order of losses.

The corresponding percentages of losses for each of these stocks in the same order are: -5.4%, -7.9%, -46.8%, -76.7%, -23.4%, -43%, -44.1%, and -71.1%.

Total of these 8 stock losses is: $-24,278,277.00

4. The total gains exceed total losses by $25,519,193.00. Gains : Losses = 2.05 : 1.0

5. TMI (Axiata) accounts for 52% of the total losses ($12.7 million). The other 7 losing counters contribute 48% of the total losses.

6. Parkson is the top gainer; it accounts for 44.8% ($22.3m) of the total gains. The top 3 stock gainers (Parkson, PetDag and F&N) contribute 82% ($40.9m) of the total gains. The other 5 winning counters account for 18% of the total gains.

7. Of these 16 stocks, 10 can probably be considered thinly traded most of the time (illiquid).

8. TMI is the second largest stock in icap portfolio, based on cost. Here are the stocks, in descending order, based on cost: Parkson, TMI, F&N, PetDag, PIE, Boustead, Integrax, TM, Tongher, Padini, Suria, Swee Joo, Mieco, HaiO, PohKong, and LionDiv.

9. The biggest gainers are also the bigger stocks in icap, based on cost, namely, Parkson, F&N, PetDag and PIE. TMI is the big stock in icap showing a very big loss. To fathom this, the loss of TMI wipes out all the gains of PetDag.

10. The total cost of these 16 stocks is $127,425,010.00. The total market value of these 16 stocks is $145,453,495.00. Other gains not taken into account in this observation are the capital gains from stocks sold and dividends received by icap portfolio.

What are your conclusions on these observations?

In the latest report by icap, Axiata (previous TMI) was sold and Astro was bought.

Among the reasons for selling stocks would be:

• If you need cash urgently for various reasons.
• When the fundamental of the stock has deteriorated.
• When you need to raise cash to invest into another stock with better potential.
• When your stock is overpriced, reducing the potential of gain.

Why did icap sell Axiata, probably at a low price?

Well, it should be interesting to find out at the next icap AGM.

Meantime, please continue with your good work, Mr. ttb.

Related posts:

iCap Closed End Fund Track Record for last 2 years
Morningstar's Approach to Analyzing Mutual Funds

Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice

If you are a newcomer to investing, you may still doubt that you are capable of building a portfolio of stocks that will make you rich.

Not all stocks are going to live up to their early promise, no matter how much time you devote to making a selection.

In the other hand, even if you pick your stocks blindfolded, you will have some winners.

An Example

Investing into Common Stocks

Let's suppose that you want to invest $100,000 in 20 stocks, or $5,000 in each. Some will work out and some won't.

So so news - 10 of 20 stocks will just plug along

Hypothetically, it does not seem unreasonable to project that 10 of these stocks will just plug along, making you neither rich nor poor. Suppose we assume that these 10 stocks will appreciate (rise in value) an average of only 7% per year over the next 10 or 20 years. Toss in a 2% annual dividend and the total return adds up to 9% per year. That is not exactly riches, since stocks over the last 75 years have averaged about 11%.

At any rate, here is what your $50,000 will be worth at the end of:

10 years - $118,368

20 years - $280,221

Good news - 3 of 20 stocks performed above your wildest dreams

Next, let's look at the 3 stocks that performed above your wildest dreams. They appreciated an average of 15% per year. Add in a modest annual dividend of only 1%, and you have a total return of 16%.

Assuming you invest $5,000 in each of these stocks, that $15,000 will be worth over the next:

10 years - $66,172

20 years - $291,911

Bad news - 2 of 20 stocks skid and never recovered

So far, so good. Now, for the bad news. Two of your stocks hit the skids and never recovered. Total results for the $10,000 invested in these losers is: zero

10 years - $00,000

20 years - $00,000

Fair news - 5 of 20 stocks performed about average

Finally, 5 of your 20 stocks do about average. They appreciate an average of 9% per year and I have an average yearly dividend of 2%. That's a total return of 11%. Since you have 5 stocks in this category, your total investment is $25,000. Here is what you end up with in the next:

10 years - $70,986

20 years - $201,558

Adding Up these Returns

If we add up these various results, the final figures make you look reasonably rich:

10 years - $255,525

20 years - $ 773,690

Investing into CDs

By contrast, had you acted in a cowardly manner and invested exclusively in CDs that gave an annual return of 4%, you would have only the following at the end of the two periods:

10 years - $162,889

20 years - $265,330


One final note. If you figure in taxes, you look even better, since the capital gains (on your stocks ) are taxed at a much lower rate than ordinary income (which applies to CDs). And, you wouldn't even have to worry about capital gains on your stocks if you elected not to sell them.


(Comment: My personal guideline is this. Of 5 stocks you buy, expect 1 to do very well, 3 to be average, and 1 to do poorly.)


Read also:
Why Invest in Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts
Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term
Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons
Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice

Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?

Why doesn't everyone buy common stocks?

That's a good question. Let try to find some satisfactory answers.

Part of the reason may be ignorance.

Not everyone is willing to investigate the field of common stocks.

These noninvestors may be too preoccupied with their jobs, sports, reading, gardening, travel, or whatever.

Then, there are those who are heavily influenced by family members who have told them that stocks are too speculative and better left to millionaires. (Of course, that's how many of those millionaires become millionaires.)

Even if you are convinced about the potential of stocks, you are probably wondering how anyone can possibly figure out which stocks to buy, since there are tens of thousands to choose from.

That, in essence, is the purpose of all my postings in this blog - to get you excited in pursuing financial education to benefit from your investing into common stocks.


Read also:
Why Invest in Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts
Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term
Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons
Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice

Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons

Based on this study, we can say with confidence that over a lifetime of investing, an investor will reap a total annual return of 10% or more.

If you compare this with the amount you could earn by owning CDs, annuities, government bonds, or any other conservative investment, the difference is considerable.

Let's see how that difference adds up.

Suppose you invested $25,000 in a list of common stocks at the age of 40, and your portfolio built up at a 10% compound annual rate. By the time you reached 65, your common stock nest egg would be worth $270,868.

Now, let's say you had invested your money in government bonds, yielding 6%. The same $25,000 would be worth only $107,297, which is a difference of $163,571. Neither of these calculations has accounted for income taxes or brokerage commissions.

Now, let's look at the timid soul who invested $25,000 in CDs at age 40 and averaged a return of 4%. By age 65, that investment would be worth a paltry $66,646.


Read also:
Why Invest in Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts
Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term
Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons
Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice

Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term

Investing, however, is not a one-year endeavor.

Most investors start their programs in their 40s and 50s, which means they could be investing over a 20, 30, or 40-year period.


5-year periods

If we look at the relative returns of different investments over 5-year periods - rather than 1-year periods - the results are even more encouraging.

During the years from 1960 through 1994, there were 31 such periods.

In only 2 of 31 of those 5-year periods did the total return of the Standard & Poor's based portfolio become negative.

29 of 31 such 5-year periods gave positive total returns.


10-year periods

Let's move ahead to all 10-year holding periods.

There are 26 in that span.

Exactly 100% worked out profitably.


Average annual total returns

Equally important, the returns to the investor were impressive in all of these 1, 5, and 10-year periods.

For instance, the average annual total return:

• for 1-year periods was 11.1%;
• for 5-year periods, it was 10.5%, and
• for 10-year periods, it was 10.2%.

Based on this study, we can say with confidence that over a lifetime of investing, an investor will reap a total annual return of 10% or more.

If you compare this with the amount you could earn by owning CDs, annuities, government bonds, or any other conservative investment, the difference is considerable.


Read also:
Why Invest in Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts
Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term
Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons
Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice

Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts

One persuasive study contends that common stocks will make money for you in most years.

1-year periods

This study, done by the brokerage firm Smith Barney, looked at the 35 one-year periods between 1960 and 1995.

The study computed total return, which adds capital gains and dividends.

Over that span, stocks (as represented by the Standard & Poor's 500 index) performed unsatisfactorily in only 8 of those 35 years.

In other words, you would have been better off in money-market funds during those 8 years.

Common stocks would ahve been more successful in 27 of those 35 years.


(Comment: You can expect to have 1 down year for every 5 years of your investing.)


Read also:
Why Invest in Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? Look at the Facts
Why Invest in Stocks? Investing for the Long Term
Why Invest in Stocks? Some Profitable Comparisons
Why Invest in Stocks? Why Doesn't Everyone Buy Common Stocks?
Why Invest in Stocks? An Example in Practice