Things are not always what they seem -The Internet Today I want to discuss every dividend investors’ worst nightmare: a dividend cut. In most cases, dividend cuts are catastrophic. When you think about it, a company would likely save its shareholders from the pain of seeing their income being slashed. When management comes to the point where it grabs back the money it was supposed to give you; this is because it has not other options left. A dividend cut is a confession of mismanagement. A …
When is the Right Time to Take Profit?
This September is quite a special month and it is not because it will be my birthday soon. Nope, in September we are celebrating a great anniversary: it’s the 10th anniversary of the last market crash. For young investors like me (I’m turning 37), this was the only market crash where we lost a few thousand (or more). I was part of the lucky investors who didn’t have much money invested in the stock market back in 2008. I wasn’t smarter than anyone else, I just withdrew most of my money to …
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Portfolio Management: What If?
As you know already, I publish a monthly update of my pension plan portfolio. The idea is to show you, month after month, how I manage my own money using my investing strategy. A long-time reader sent me an email asking me to project my portfolio in the future. Here’s the what if he proposes: After 2-3 years, of your 11 U.S. stocks, what if 2 stocks were up 80%-100% (or more), 7 were up/down anywhere from +/- 0% to +/- 10%, and the remaining 2 stocks were down 15%, 20%, or more. What would you …
Does Age Matter When Investing?
Hey! I’m Mike (you know that already?). I’m 36, turning 37 next month. This means that I was only 27 when the 2008 market crash happened and that I didn’t even have a single dollar invested in the market to watch it drop during the tech bubble or the World Trade Center catastrophe of 2001 (Sigh). All this time, you have been reading my thoughts about the stock market and you were reading ramblings from a kid in the “adult investing world”! Does Age Matter When Investing? Last week, I …
5 Bullet Proof Metrics to Follow for All Investors
About a year ago, I was about to receive a big fat check of $108K from my former employer’s pension plan. I decided to manage this money and build my own retirement portfolio following my dividend growth investing strategy. A lot of investors on this blog were sceptic about my decision. Why would you invest all your money at the top of the market? They said. I even went a little further. Since I saw lots of interest from you guys, I decided to publish my portfolio and update it month after …
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As an Investor, You Control These Six Factors – Nothing Else
Many investors are obsessed with the timing of their investments. They think they can predict what will happen with the stock market and will find the magic loophole that will make their investment profitable. I find this premise interesting because if there is one thing we don’t control as investors, it’s how the market reacts. Sometimes, there is great news that doesn’t affect the market at all and other times, missing analysts expectations could kill your stock even if the numbers were good. …
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