… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More

Supply and demand is what drives the global economic engine.#-ad_banner-# Imagine owning a company whose products and services have nearly guaranteed steady demand and government-regulated supply. Add in the beauty of government-supported monopoly-like power and steady dividend yields — and you’ve attained investor nirvana. Although these companies may be considered boring and overlooked by investors seeking rapid capital appreciation, they remain an ace in the hole for long-term stock investors. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about utility… Read More

Supply and demand is what drives the global economic engine.#-ad_banner-# Imagine owning a company whose products and services have nearly guaranteed steady demand and government-regulated supply. Add in the beauty of government-supported monopoly-like power and steady dividend yields — and you’ve attained investor nirvana. Although these companies may be considered boring and overlooked by investors seeking rapid capital appreciation, they remain an ace in the hole for long-term stock investors. If you haven’t guessed, I’m talking about utility stocks. Despite a recent pullback, these consistent and proven dividend machines are ideal “buy” candidates for any long-term portfolio. With this in mind, here are my two favorite utility stocks: Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) A leading U.S. provider of electricity, this large-cap public electric utility has a market capitalization of more than $38 billion and boasts a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of nearly 19. Southern has subsidiaries in four states, including Mississippi Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Alabama Power. The company’s… Read More

As soon as I met Ryan O’Connor, I knew I wanted to get him on my team. He’s an investing junkie like me, and we clicked immediately. Turns out it’s all in his family… His grandfather was an old poker buddy of… Read More

The lessons I learned in college during the summer vacation months have proved more valuable than the hard-earned academic ones. While working in the evenings and Saturday mornings at my uncle’s small marketing company in Miami, my cousin and I were fortunate to spend the days at the beach. Having grown up with a very fiscally conservative family in the Pennsylvania countryside, the fast life and glamour of Miami really took me… Read More

The lessons I learned in college during the summer vacation months have proved more valuable than the hard-earned academic ones. While working in the evenings and Saturday mornings at my uncle’s small marketing company in Miami, my cousin and I were fortunate to spend the days at the beach. Having grown up with a very fiscally conservative family in the Pennsylvania countryside, the fast life and glamour of Miami really took me by surprise! Fancy cars, speedboats, yachts and massive homes immediately caught my attention. It was truly mad money, and to top it off, some of these folks never seemed to work. While some were my uncle’s friends who owned this or that company, some of the over-the-top lifestyles really seemed to have arisen from out of thin air — in other words, from dubious sources.#-ad_banner-#… Read More

He is the richest person in history. Warren Buffett? At his peak, Buffett’s wealth is less than one-fifth this man’s fortune. Bill Gates doesn’t even come close. Neither does Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton or telecom magnate… Read More

These are truly days of wine and roses for stock market investors.#-ad_banner-# After being knocked down in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and again during the financial crisis of 2008, long-term investors are being rewarded for their persistence and dedication as stocks surge higher, breaking record after record. In fact, this bull market turned 4 years old in March and is showing no signs of letting up. Historically, the average bull market… Read More

These are truly days of wine and roses for stock market investors.#-ad_banner-# After being knocked down in the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and again during the financial crisis of 2008, long-term investors are being rewarded for their persistence and dedication as stocks surge higher, breaking record after record. In fact, this bull market turned 4 years old in March and is showing no signs of letting up. Historically, the average bull market has lasted 4 1/2 years. In and of itself, this means little; for instance, the 1990s bull market lasted nearly seven years without a major correction. But according to my research, there are three distinct signs that make me think this bull market may be ending soon. Here’s what you need to know. 1. Irrational Exuberance This term is best known for its use by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan during… Read More