Imagine you’ve located the perfect stock. Based on your research and intuition, the company will make a very positive impact on your long-term portfolio’s bottom line. The only question left is when to buy.  Although timing into the market isn’t as important for long holding periods as it is for short-term trading, investors with an eye on the long term can improve results by implementing the trade entry methods of… Read More

Imagine you’ve located the perfect stock. Based on your research and intuition, the company will make a very positive impact on your long-term portfolio’s bottom line. The only question left is when to buy.  Although timing into the market isn’t as important for long holding periods as it is for short-term trading, investors with an eye on the long term can improve results by implementing the trade entry methods of short-term active traders.#-ad_banner-# The difference is that instead of using minute to hour price timeframes for decision making, the long-term investor will use day or week price timeframes in an attempt to nail the perfect entry level. The perfect entry level is one from which the price barely pulls back, if at all, before taking off on the upside.  There are two schools of thought when it comes to purchasing a stock: momentum and pullback.  Momentum investing is when one waits for the share price to… Read More

Six years ago, the markets could not get enough China. The iShares China Large Cap Fund (NYSE: FXI) quadrupled in just three years, and shares of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) had surged 1,175% in the seven years before October 2007. Though most of the hard-landing crowd has been discounted, sentiment has clearly turned against the world’s second-largest economy. Shares of the largest China fund are down 12% over… Read More

Six years ago, the markets could not get enough China. The iShares China Large Cap Fund (NYSE: FXI) quadrupled in just three years, and shares of PetroChina (NYSE: PTR) had surged 1,175% in the seven years before October 2007. Though most of the hard-landing crowd has been discounted, sentiment has clearly turned against the world’s second-largest economy. Shares of the largest China fund are down 12% over the past four years and have underperformed the S&P 500 index by 77% over that period. But those focusing on the short-term economic weakness, a result of overcapacity and the government’s attempt to reposition economic drivers, are missing a very important figure that will drive real long-term growth. $8.1 trillion. That is the amount of investment needed over the next six years to meet urbanization needs in the country and to support more than 300… Read More

Sometimes the profound truths are the easiest to understand.  This is particularly true when it comes to investing. Many investors make the process much more difficult than it needs to be. At its core, investing is a simple process governed by a few irrefutable axioms.  Choosing investments based on what you already know is one of these simple yet profound truths. I first heard this rule articulated by Peter Lynch, the superstar manager of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund. Lynch wrote one of… Read More

Sometimes the profound truths are the easiest to understand.  This is particularly true when it comes to investing. Many investors make the process much more difficult than it needs to be. At its core, investing is a simple process governed by a few irrefutable axioms.  Choosing investments based on what you already know is one of these simple yet profound truths. I first heard this rule articulated by Peter Lynch, the superstar manager of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund. Lynch wrote one of the best books on the stock market, “One Up On Wall Street,” in which he stresses this simple investing rule.#-ad_banner-# Leading commodity trader Jim Rogers also repeats this mantra whenever he is asked what to invest in. I learned this several years ago when I interviewed Rogers while he was running on a treadmill — an interviewing first for me — in his home gym. When I asked if he cared to share any… Read More

“One dollar for a cup of coffee — they are out of their minds!” my frugal, land-speculating grandfather said when we stopped at the local corner gas station on the way to visit one of his properties.#-ad_banner-# Having lived through the Great Depression, he was convinced that coffee shouldn’t cost more than a quarter a cup. A book could be filled with his assorted old-timer economic beliefs — such as the $5 union-rate haircut — but I’ll never forget his reaction to the $1 cup of coffee. I… Read More

“One dollar for a cup of coffee — they are out of their minds!” my frugal, land-speculating grandfather said when we stopped at the local corner gas station on the way to visit one of his properties.#-ad_banner-# Having lived through the Great Depression, he was convinced that coffee shouldn’t cost more than a quarter a cup. A book could be filled with his assorted old-timer economic beliefs — such as the $5 union-rate haircut — but I’ll never forget his reaction to the $1 cup of coffee. I wish he would have lived to see the rise of Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and its $6 cups of coffee. He would have certainly had a few choice words for people like myself who patronize the wildly popular high-end coffee emporium.  Not only did Starbucks change the way coffee is viewed, but the company has made its investors wealthy. Shares have tripled in value to around $75 over the past three years. This success has spawned a variety of copycat operations. Some of these are established companies that have… Read More

With the end of quantitative easing (QE) closer to becoming a reality, interest rates slowly climbing up, bonds bleeding value and the market swinging in all directions, investors are looking everywhere for new places to put their money.#-ad_banner-# Let me say up front that stocks are the best way to build wealth over time, but… Read More

With the end of quantitative easing (QE) closer to becoming a reality, interest rates slowly climbing up, bonds bleeding value and the market swinging in all directions, investors are looking everywhere for new places to put their money.#-ad_banner-# Let me say up front that stocks are the best way to build wealth over time, but diversification is important, and “alternative” strategies are certainly worth considering. Unfortunately, for those hunting that kind of escape route, most alternative assets — hedge funds, private equity, real estate and anything else you can invest in beyond stocks, bonds and cash — have generally been reserved for the “elite class” of accredited investors with a… Read More

I’ll never forget the dot-com boom. It was an unbelievable time to be involved in the financial markets. Tiny companies with only a dream and a sketchy business plan were able to raise millions if their name included the dot-com suffix.  Things became so crazy that a close friend confided to me that he felt embarrassed to be making so much money in such a quick and easy fashion by getting in on Internet IPOs. Once a hyped Internet company’s stock debuted,… Read More

I’ll never forget the dot-com boom. It was an unbelievable time to be involved in the financial markets. Tiny companies with only a dream and a sketchy business plan were able to raise millions if their name included the dot-com suffix.  Things became so crazy that a close friend confided to me that he felt embarrassed to be making so much money in such a quick and easy fashion by getting in on Internet IPOs. Once a hyped Internet company’s stock debuted, shares would often move 2 to 5 points higher. If you were investing during this time, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The Internet has truly revolutionized the way we live. Not only has it enriched investors untold amounts, but it has empowered everyone in ways never thought possible.  If you missed out on the lucrative Internet revolution, a second revolution has started to emerge. This revolution will dwarf the first one in… Read More

The U.S. Treasury will run out of money sometime in mid-October, and Congress won’t return from its August vacation until Sept. 9. In addition to the debt ceiling, lawmakers still… Read More

When the U.S. economy was on the cusp of falling into an abyss in late 2008, companies across the nation collectively decided to cut all unnecessary spending. An uncertain road ahead meant it was time to preserve cash. Of course, these companies eventually loosened up, and as we’ve seen in the past four years, have been buying back massive amounts of their own stock while doling out ever-higher dividends. But there is one area that companies remain quite conservative:… Read More

When the U.S. economy was on the cusp of falling into an abyss in late 2008, companies across the nation collectively decided to cut all unnecessary spending. An uncertain road ahead meant it was time to preserve cash. Of course, these companies eventually loosened up, and as we’ve seen in the past four years, have been buying back massive amounts of their own stock while doling out ever-higher dividends. But there is one area that companies remain quite conservative: capital spending, also known as capital investment or capital expenditures (or capex, for short).#-ad_banner-# Although capital spending has moved up from the crisis-era lows, it still remains far below typical levels. Analysts at Goldman Sachs who have studied the spending patterns see “the U.S. reaching a near 50-year low in private non-residential fixed investment when measured against GDP.” These analysts believe it would take… Read More

When the U.S. economy was on the cusp of falling into an abyss in late 2008, companies across the nation collectively decided to cut all unnecessary spending. An uncertain road ahead meant it was time to preserve cash. Of course, these companies eventually loosened up, and as we’ve seen in the past four years, have been buying back massive amounts of their own stock while doling out ever-higher dividends. But there is one area that companies remain quite conservative:… Read More

When the U.S. economy was on the cusp of falling into an abyss in late 2008, companies across the nation collectively decided to cut all unnecessary spending. An uncertain road ahead meant it was time to preserve cash. Of course, these companies eventually loosened up, and as we’ve seen in the past four years, have been buying back massive amounts of their own stock while doling out ever-higher dividends. But there is one area that companies remain quite conservative: capital spending, also known as capital investment or capital expenditures (or capex, for short).#-ad_banner-# Although capital spending has moved up from the crisis-era lows, it still remains far below typical levels. Analysts at Goldman Sachs who have studied the spending patterns see “the U.S. reaching a near 50-year low in private non-residential fixed investment when measured against GDP.” These analysts believe it would take… Read More

I love investing in companies that have strong emotional connections with their customers. Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) is a great example. Starbucks has extremely loyal customers because of the warm atmosphere of its cafes, the reliable quality and convenience of its goods, and its… Read More