I have been thinking that I 'need' to add some energy stocks in my portfolio, given the huge rise in commodity prices that have occurred over the past few years. I was listening to a radio show this morning and the topic of day was energy stocks and the guest spoke about the fact that energy stocks were only going to go up. Although he did not suggest any stocks in particular due to rules his compliance officer enforces, he did mention that he is bullish on the oil sands projects. Sidebar - …
Monitoring my Portfolio of Dividend Stocks
This week wasn't the best week in terms of investment gains. The Dow lost 3.63%, the Nasdaq lost 2.75%, the S&P500 lost 2.68% and the Mergent's Dividend Achievers lost 2.75%. Pretty much all down for the week. As a comparison, my portfolio (according to Microsoft Money) was only down 2.2%. I guess I did better than all the indexes, which is a good thing, but not something I worry about too much. At least on such as short-term basis.Ginsberg over at The Earning Curve talks about how often he …
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Real Estate As An Asset Class
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day about asset classes, and the topic of real estate as an asset class came up. We were under the impression that there are really two ways to hold real estate:Investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that purchase and hold real estate investments; orInvesting in actual real estate (houses, buildings, land)If you look at my portfolio, I could argue that I hold real estate. My iUnits REIT fund holds a number of real estate investments. …
Example of a Good Buying Opportunity?
I read this article in the paper on the weekend and it struck me as one of those potentially good buying opportunities that come about every once in awhile: Teachers' Plan Sells Off Nexen CALGARY -- The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is selling off 7.5 million of its shares in oil and gas company Nexen Inc. The block of shares currently held by Teachers will be sold at $54.25 per share "as part of a normal re-balancing of its portfolio." Nexen stock has traded in a 52-day range of between …
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Dividend Investing – Asset Allocation
Asset allocation is a tool that investors can use to help reduce the risk in their portfolio. The thinking is that, as not all investment types move in the same direction at the same time, you can "cover your bets" by investing in a few different investment types to take advantage of the various moves each class can take.I break my asset allocation into 6 different asset types: Canadian Equities US Equities Foreign Equities Trust Units Fixed Income Cash If you look at the attached …
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Sin Stocks!!
I wanted to talk about something that I have been thinking about for quite some time now. Specifically, the question I ask myself is, "Should I invest in 'sin' stocks - specifically tobacco stocks?"Let me start off by saying that I am in no way a straight-laced preachy type of guy. I believe that people have the choice to do whatever they wish (legal, of course). This post is just a representation of some of my analysis I did to decide on the course of action I use within my own portfolio.There …
