Dividend Reinvestment Plans: Investing on Automatic Pilot (21 Mar 2006) If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend checks from your stock portfolio, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) might be just what you need. Just as its name implies, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan allows you to reinvest some or all of those dividends into more stock of the issuing company. Unlike purchases made through traditional means, partial or fractional shares, as well as whole shares, are available.
Mid-Cap Stocks: Asset Class with an Identity Crisis (21 Mar 2006) Much like the middle child, mid-cap stocks have long struggled to find their identity. Carved out from the upper echelons of the small caps and the lower end of the large caps, the mid-cap sector has a rough definition of stock with a market capitalization of greater than $2 billion, but less than $10 billion. Taking components from both worlds, some analysts argue that mid-cap stocks can offer growth opportunities found in the small caps and the relative stability found in the large caps.
Market Frustrations (21 Mar 2006) "I bought that stock a month ago and it hasn't done anything. My broker said it was going to take off." Yes, and pigs can fly.
Investment Speed Bumps (21 Mar 2006) Maybe you have done the same thing as I have. Been driving down an unfamiliar street at a good pace and suddenly...
Speculator or Investor? (21 Mar 2006) Talked to your broker or financial planner lately? Probably. The slowdown in the economy is causing the stock market to go down. Of more than 5,000 stocks on the Nasdaq over 1,000 have lost 90% of their value and more than 200 have lost 99%. The Index is off 58% from its highs. Pretty scary for 'Buy and Hold' believers.
Shift Happens (21 Mar 2006) Did I spell that right? What I mean is change happens. Like what we are seeing now in the stock market. In the Spring everything was headed down. For most of the Summer stocks were going sideways with few exceptions. The down-movers had made their lows and a few stocks were beginning to head up. The sideways pattern is over and we are now in the next bull leg up...
Sideways Market (21 Mar 2006) Last year you could have used a dart, thrown it at a stock page in the newspaper and bought that stock. By the end of the year you probably would have had a nice profit. This year you can retrieve your dart, throw it again, and there is about a 90% chance that any stock you hit will be down from its previous highs. What's going on?
How to Place Stop Loss Orders (21 Mar 2006) We have established why a stop loss order is a requirement for the successful investor. Now let's look at some of the simpler methods.
Stops (21 Mar 2006) Think about this one. Has your broker EVER recommended that you place a stop-loss order on a stock after you have bought it? Ninety-nine percent of the brokers never think about helping you protect your capital. In fact these brokers are not taught this very important technique. The brokerage companies don't realize that by...
Vanishing Funds (21 Mar 2006) No, not the money you have in your brokerage account, but mutual funds. This year so far more than 600 mutual funds have vanished. Where did they go and what happened to the money in those funds that belongs to the investors? The mutual funds were either liquidated or merged out of existence...
