Comfort Zone Investing

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Comfort Zone Investing: How this all might play out

2 days ago

Comfort Zone Investing: Don't call this a bailout

9 days ago

Comfort Zone Investing: Suspended animation and unanswered questions

16 days ago

Comfort Zone Investing: Why Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae matter to every investor

44 days ago

Comfort Zone Investing: Be careful, very careful with preferred stock

72 days ago

Comfort Zone Investing: A cautionary stock Investing tale: Freddie ... - BloggingStocks

Source: news.google.com --- 30 days ago
The Gazette (Montreal) Comfort Zone Investing: A cautionary stock Investing tale: Freddie ... BloggingStocks - 1 hour ago Every investor would love to own a stock that doesn't have surprises, makes earnings grow every quarter and raises the dividend annually. Central Bank takes Fannie, Freddie hit Bizjournals.com MarketWatch's top stories of the week MarketWatch CNNMoney.com - Washington Post - BusinessWeek - Forbes all 696 news articles ...

Comfort Zone Investing: A cautionary stock Investing tale: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 29 days ago

Filed under: Industry , Federal Natl Mtge (FNM) , Comfort Zone Investing , Housing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. Every investor would love to own a stock that doesn't have surprises, makes earnings grow every quarter and raises the dividend annually. At least sane investors do. Others go after hope and promises (no profits yet, but coming, we promise) and sleepless nights. This column isn't for them. It's for the ones looking for a stock that doesn't exist. If there's ever been a final nail put in the coffin of the myth that there's a stock that couldn't possibly fail, it's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wielding the hammer. Every respected columnist and pundit wrote glowingly of these two a year ago. How well capitalized they were. How large they were. How they were the engine that made the mortgage market go. And above all else: they had the implied guarantee from the Federal Government behind them AND THAT THEY COULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO FAIL. There was no way they could fail. No way. Now we know different. They haven't failed, but shareholders have a hard time finding solace in shares selling for 85 cents a share, ones they bought at $35 a share last year. Many people will say: serves them right. They took a risk, and it didn't work out. ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Suspended animation and unanswered questions

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 16 days ago

Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT) , Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) , Bank of America (BAC) , NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE) , Wells Fargo (WFC) , Comfort Zone Investing , Financial Crisis Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. Everything is changing. Much of what used to be is gone. Wall Street firms are no more, morphed into banks or simply disappeared. It feels like the end of an era. And so it is. Change always creates anxiety. Investors are dealing with more change than usual these days. And questions. There are so many questions with no answers that stress levels are reaching new heights. What about the government bailout? Will it work? What about all the bad mortgages? How many are there? Will they all default? Are stocks still a good investment? Are all investments bad? Does money belong in a strong box under the house where at least it's accessible? Will I keep my job, my house? Will the banking system fail? Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Suspended animation and unanswered questions Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Don't call this a bailout

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 9 days ago

Filed under: Comfort Zone Investing , Politics , Financial Crisis Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth and Sleep Well at Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. The bill to buy assets from banks and other institutions, just passed by the House and the Senate, is not a bailout for them. Now we can look forward to some liquidity flowing into the markets. And here are the benefits of the bill: First, it doesn't simply throw money at a huge problem, and it certainly doesn't buy pools of mortgages or securities at values that are above market, at least it's not supposed to. What it does do is give the Treasury the authority, limited at first, to buy certain types of securities with stipulations attached. The first one is that the assets are purchased by negotiation and at prices determined by the buyer, not the seller. If the government uses the best minds from the mortgage markets, especially in the fixed income and mortgage-backed securities fields, there will be professional valuations done on each purchase. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Don't call this a bailout Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Lehman, Merrill, Bear: Greed isn't good

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 22 days ago

Filed under: Bad news , Comfort Zone Investing , Headline news Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. What really happened to these venerable names of Wall Street? They were once so powerful, so unbelievably powerful. How could they fail? Simple: everyone got greedy. Gordon Gecko wasn't right. Greed isn't good. It's the one element of Investing that will take you down, doesn't matter who or what you are. When greed enters the room, rational decisions go out the window. Greed doesn't color your vision. It blinds. And it blinded the management of these companies. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Lehman, Merrill, Bear: Greed isn't good Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

NY Fed calls meeting to forestall Lehman collapse - MarketWatch

Source: news.google.com --- 30 days ago
NY Fed calls meeting to forestall Lehman collapse MarketWatch - 1 hour ago By MarketWatch As US Treasury officials made it clear the government will not bail out Lehman Bros., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York meets with Wall Street executives in an effort to forestall the collapse of the investment firm and shore up ... Comfort Zone Investing: A cautionary stock Investing tale: Freddie ... BloggingStocks CBS4 Your Money: A Week Of Banking Uncertainty CBS 4 Bizjournals.com - CNNMoney.com - Washington Post - The Republican - MassLive.com all 677 news articles ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Fits and starts, spikes and flops

Source: finance.originalsignal.com --- 51 days ago
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Comfort Zone Investing: Upgrade now because opportunity's bangin'

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 65 days ago

Filed under: Comfort Zone Investing , Stocks to Buy Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. One outstanding opportunity in a stock market hammered as hard as this one is that great stocks are on sale. Many of the best known, best-earning companies are trading at valuations not seen in decades. That's the good news. The bad news is that many stocks most of us own are way down, trading at levels well below where we bought them. In order to buy anything else, we have to sell what we have for a loss. Most of us can't do that, can't stand the pain. Get over it. Sell some of your worst losers and buy some of the great names. I can hear many of you now: But Ted, you don't understand. I bought this stock at $10 a share and now it's trading at $1. I'd lose 90% of my money. I do understand. I've done it. Several times. That biotech I was sure was going to cure (pick one): cancer, malaria, the common cold, bursitis, arthritis, dandruff, ear wax, split ends, etc. Somehow they never came through except in their need for more money. They were always so close. Management just needed a little more time and a lot more money. These stocks issued more shares. Or did a PIPE (private investment in public equity) which diluted shareholders even more. There were numerous rounds with each on ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Overweight doesn't mean speculate

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 58 days ago

Filed under: Dell (DELL) , General Motors (GM) , Sony Corp ADR (SNE) , CIT Group (CIT) , Amer Intl Group (AIG) , Washington Mutual (WM) , U.S. Steel (X) , Deere and Co (DE) , Wells Fargo (WFC) , Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. You may see a recommendation to "overweight" a stock or sector. An analyst is bullish on a stock or group and feels buying more than usual will be rewarded. It may or may not come true. While it's a good idea to overweight at times, it should never be done in excess, to a point where you're putting too much of your portfolio in one stock or group of stocks. That's when overweight turns into speculate. A rational approach to building a portfolio is to have at least five different sectors, ones that aren't correlated. There are different definitions of sectors but there are usually between 10 and 15, depending on what publication or expert you use. These sectors are categorized into broad groups, such as Healthcare, Technology, Manufacturing, etc. Within each sector are many industries. Value Line defines 98 different industries, ranging from Coal to Auto Parts to Water Utility to Beverages. Healthcare, as one example of a sector, has pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, medical devices, anything associated wi ...

Reader rants, blogger listens - what's this world coming to?

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 5 days ago
Filed under: Other issues , Rumors , Rants and raves , Market matters , Scandals , Comfort Zone Investing , Southern Company (SO) One of the best things about blogging is the instant responses we receive. There are many times you have to be thick skinned when receiving criticism or just tolerant of the foolish people who are either rude or unknowing. This brings me to Mr. noitall (small 'n' his choice) and the following commentary which followed my recent post $700 billion is real money! "Well, maybe I was labeled a cynic about 2 years ago when I said the Fed is in a "check-mate" situation, where they will have to choose between saving the stock market, real estate market, or the dollar, but it most likely fail at all three. I don't think I am a cynic, just a realist, and it looks like I was right. Another thing I will say is massive greed, ignorance, arrogance and our willingness to believe in fantasies allowed this to happen. Maybe when a "cynic" questions some of the well known "facts", like the "buy & hold" theory, people should listen & give it some thought, before they believe the "historical data" they are given." Mr. n and I often find common ground and he is telling the truth when he writes that two years ago he predicted the speculation and down market we are faced with today. While I must say that I find his view bleak, it has to be said also that people should be better prepared for poor markets and tough times. While ...

Chasing Value: Southern Company is somewhere to hide

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 14 days ago

Filed under: Good news , Market matters , Comfort Zone Investing , Chasing Value , S and P 500 , Stocks to Buy , Southern Company (SO) , Best Stocks for 2008 Many people are questioning why they should be in the stock market at all, now or ever. One person even asked me to show him a single stock that has had anything positive to show for itself in the last ten years. How about something positive over the entire ten years, or at least eight. Given I have made many sour picks this year I was proud to reveal one of my best picks ever and perhaps a good place to hide if you can get in on a dip. I first mentioned it in Scary market -- any safe stocks? about fourteen months ago when the market first took a dump. My star attraction is the Southern Company (NYSE: SO ) and the following is the chart. It has been a consistent performer and paid a dividend to boot which currently stands at 4.38%. As you can see this stock would have allowed you to double your money when the Standard & Poors 500 Index is actually down. Here is what I said back then: Southern Company (SO) has been the biggest addition to our family holdings. It is now in at least seven portfolios and I have sold naked puts for November 30's. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING ANYBODY SELL NAKED PUTS. Selling naked puts is very risky and as they say..."don't try this at home folks." I like Southern because it is near a 52-week low, but has had five years of continuous growth. It pays a hu ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Why Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae matter to every investor

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 44 days ago

Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM) , Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. You may not follow the ongoing drama, the one about Freddie Mac ( Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp .: NYSE: FRE ) and Fannie Mae ( Federal National Mortgage Association : NYSE: FNM ). You probably see the headlines about problems each has, maybe wonder what the fuss is about. Since you don't own the stock or the preferred or any of the debt, you don't really spend too much time on it. You've got your own stocks with problems, or you've just got enough problems without any stocks. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Why Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae matter to every investor Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Your alibi in diary form

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 93 days ago

Filed under: General Motors (GM) , Federal Natl Mtge (FNM) , Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. Several years from now, maybe even 10 or more, one of your children is going to ask, "Mom and Dad, we're studying the market meltdown of 2008 in school. Why didn't you buy stocks then? We could all be rich now." In order to avoid a stammering, defensive answer, you might want to keep a diary, one that records your feelings as well as the reality of what we're going through. Because you won't remember the details, you'll only remember the overall fear that reigned over the market, a diary will give you specific examples of why you didn't buy stocks. Here are some possible entries: Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Your alibi in diary form Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Keep your recovery expectations real

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 100 days ago

Filed under: Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. There will come a point when the stock market stops going down. Hard to believe as we muck through the mire of the mortgage mess, oil spikes, and housing hardships. But it will happen. At some point the last mortgage will be written off, oil will at least stabilize, and houses will sell again. Having said that, don't expect any sharp rebound when the recovery starts. In fact, don't expect the recovery to begin any time soon. That's because the mess we're in doesn't have a quick fix. Changing the tax laws doesn't make a mortgage payment. The federal government didn't make the mortgages, and it can't fix the bad ones. It can help, but not much. Tax laws can help promote new purchases, but the mortgage crisis is huge, much larger than anyone could have imagined a year ago. There were more subprime loans made than initially estimated. But remember that it's not only subprime loans that are contributing. There are also regular loans that are defaulting as unemployment increases. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Keep your recovery expectations real Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Be careful, very careful with preferred stock

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 72 days ago

Filed under: Competitive strategy , General Motors (GM) , Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night . In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. Preferred stocks are much like squirrels. They don't live on the ground. They don't fly in the air. They're always somewhere in between. A preferred is like that. It's not equity in a company. It's not debt of a company. It's always somewhere in between. That state of being, being in between, sometimes pays handsomely to investors. Other times, it leaves them totally isolated, with nothing to show for their investments. Here's how preferred stocks work, and why they're really for institutions, not individuals. Still, individuals may find them irresistible when they see some of the yields these hybrids offer. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Be careful, very careful with preferred stock Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Sifting for winners in the financials

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 79 days ago

Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C) , Bank of America (BAC) , Wachovia Corp (WB) , Wells Fargo (WFC) , Comfort Zone Investing Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. There are clearly some banks, thrifts and other financial institutions doing better than others. That became clear in the most recent earnings releases. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC ) showed a profit. True, lower than last year but that was expected. What wasn't expected was better revenues and lower losses. JPMorgan & Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM ) had a similar story. So did Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC ). Citigroup (NYSE: C ) gave better than predicted numbers. Those were the good announcements. Not doing so well is Wachovia Bank (NYSE: WB ). That loss was much larger than analysts projected. The bank cut the dividend, as expected. The stock gave up more ground. If this truly is an Investing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as some think but not all, then which financials warrant investors' time and eventually money? Here are some guidelines. Clearly the old rule applies: follow the money. It will tell you which banks or thrifts or insurance companies are going to prosper when the economy recovers. Which ones will those be? The ones who are still making profits when the worst cre ...

Comfort Zone Investing: Exploit volatility with constant dollar Investing

Source: www.bloggingstocks.com --- 86 days ago

Filed under: Comfort Zone Investing , Recession Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started. Times are tough. The stock market is up and down, not like a roller coaster, more like a ride that takes you straight up, then drops. It's exhilarating for some, frightening for most. When stocks move this fast, they present opportunities. One way to take advantage is to use an old investment idea called Constant Dollar Investing. Here's how it works. You make a commitment to invest the same number of dollars each month. You buy one stock, or a different one, every month. Usually investors buy a fixed number of stocks, adding to each position one at a time. What this does is give an investor an overall lower cost of buying a full position in a stock. Here are the numbers. Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Exploit volatility with constant dollar Investing Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments ...

Finding Your Comfort Zone with Currency Investing

Source: www.fwicki.com --- 98 days ago
Exchanged traded funds have changed currency Investing in a fundamental way. Now, with ETFs and ETNs, the general Investing population has a chance to hold international currencies. ...

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