Investing Tips
What Can You Do to Avoid Confusion about Investments?
The bull market is getting old. Should you sell? Some of the tech stocks still have good earnings. That implies a good intrinsic stock value. Should you buy when stock prices fall? Interest rates are edging up. Is that bad for stocks? What can you do to avoid confusion about investments? We wrote about the risk of higher interest rates three years ago.
The cost of doing business (borrowing) is about to go up for companies that can least afford it. The expectation that stocks with speculative credit ratings will outperform blue chips seems to be going away as blue chips […]
Soft Underbelly of Bull Market Is Too Much Debt
According to Warren Buffett the first rule of successful investing in not to lose money and the second rule is not to forget the first rule. With this sage advice in mind, what are the risks in today’s aging stock rally, both in the USA and abroad? Our considered opinion is that the soft underbelly of the bull market is too much debt. This debt excess includes that held by consumers, governments, and businesses.
Business Debt and Margin of Safety
When Steve Jobs came back to Apple he reinvigorated the company and generated lots of profits. He also built up a huge […]
Where Should You Invest Your Tax Refund?
Are you getting money back on your taxes this year? If so, are you taking a trip, going on a shopping spree, or hopefully putting something away for retirement or a rainy day? If you are taking the latter course where should you invest your tax refund? Investing excess cash such as a tax refund should be routine for every investor. This money will stay put until you are no longer working or when you really need it. Here is where you need to apply the principles of value investing. Intrinsic value is the valuation that successful long term investors […]
What Can You Invest in and Not Get Hurt by a Trade War?
Of late we have written about switching investment focus from growth to value as we have been ruminating about the possibility of a stock market crash, economic recession, and collapse of the real estate market, all caused by a trade war. Materials stocks have been hurt by Trump’s announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum. The bull market has been historic and is likely to cool off if we are lucky and collapse if we are not. How can you invest and not get hurt by a trade war? Our sister site, Profitable Trading Tips, provided a few ideas in […]
Learn How to Invest Your Money When Markets Are Uncertain
The financial meltdown of 2008 was devastating for the majority of home owners and investors. How is it that when the real estate and stock markets were overbought and became volatile in 2007 and 2008 that investors did not take their profits and find safe investments or simply hold cash? At the start of 2009 Business Insider wrote that America lost $10.2 Trillion in 2008.
U.S. homeowners lost a cumulative $3.3 trillion in home equity during 2008, according to a report from Zillow. (MortgageWire.)
One in six homeowners is now underwater on their mortgage.
The stock market erased $6.9 trillion in shareholder wealth […]
Switch Your Investment Focus from Growth to Value
Unless the stock market stages an unexpected late rally, the month of February 2018 will be the first February since the 2008 market crash where stocks have gone down instead of up. Inflation is gaining momentum and interest rates are about to go up from years of historic lows. The unique financial conditions of the last several years have been ideal for high tech growth stocks, the FANG group especially. But, now that conditions are changing, growth stocks are overpriced and at risk for a major correction. The better choice for many investors is to move into value stocks and […]
End of Bitcoin or an Opportunity to Buy?
Is this the long-predicted end of bitcoin or an opportunity to buy before the price skyrockets again? A couple of weeks ago we asked will bitcoin survive the crackdown. Governmental regulation has always been a background threat to cryptocurrencies as the feeding frenzy continues and we asked what should bitcoin be worth. Now, it would appear that investors are taking seriously the risk of governmental intervention and regulation. Reuters reports that the cryptocurrency selloff intensifies as bitcoin and others fall.
The currencies have come off their lows but analysts said the sell-off was probably not over.
This week’s slump brought the total […]
Will Bitcoin Survive the Crackdown?
Most of our concern about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been the fact that they have no intrinsic value to fall back on when the bubble pops. Now another factor has been added to the bitcoin equation. Regulators in China and South Korea are talking about shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges. That news threw bitcoin and others into a tailspin as investors pulled their assets from the world of cryptocurrencies. Nations like China are trying to keep wealthy investors from moving assets offshore. Unfortunately for the governments, investors can use bitcoin to move millions without government oversight, taxes or regulations. As […]
Hackers Create Fake Bitcoin Wallets
Our attention to the current bitcoin feeding frenzy has been focused on how closely it resembles previous boom and bust cycles. (Could You Be a Bitcoin Billionaire, What Should Bitcoin Be Worth?) But there is another concern as more and more investors pile into cryptocurrencies. Hackers create fake bitcoin wallets to steal your money. How does this work?
A Virtual Currency
If you have money deposited in a bank in the USA your money is backed by the full faith and trust of the US government. Your deposits are insured by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) up to $250,000. And, instead […]
Will The Tax Code Overhaul Really Help Your Investments?
As Congress votes on the first major tax code overhaul in three decades, stock markets across the globe are in rally mode. After details of the final product came out it is clear that pass through tax benefits to real estate investors, like Mr. Trump, may be substantial. But will the tax code overhaul really help your investments? Apple may get a downgrade because analysists think the iPhone product cycle may be getting old. And, do all stocks benefit from changes in the tax code? The New York Times tallies up the winners and losers of the tax bill.
President Trump […]