I’ve received many questions from readers during the past few months about real estate investment strategy during this economic crisis. The common thinking is that somewhere down the road a nasty inflation should return making real estate a smart inflation hedge. While I agree with the basic concept, I also believe there are many issues to be wary of…
Wealth Building Secrets Of The Forbes 400
I’m a junkie for anything claiming to divulge the secrets to building wealth. After all, my job is teaching you this stuff, right? So when Forbes magazine published an article analyzing the common characteristics among billionaires I was all ears. As it turns out, their lead characteristic was identical to an essential principle I teach…
New Bull Market Or Bear Market Rally?
The critical question for investors today is whether the current rally is a new bull market or just a correction of the recent bear market that has likely already run its course? To answer that question you must understand the following…
The Solution To Investment Losses
A reader commented on my blog, “Todd, my portfolio is mauled. I feel stuck and don’t know what to do. Any suggestions?” The simple answer is problems like this are avoided through a disciplined investment risk management strategy and the damage will be repaired only after improving your investment risk management skills. Every day you face a decision to buy, hold or sell. When you make no decision you effectively choose to buy your portfolio that day because it keeps the risk…
Investing For Dummies – Profitably
I’m a really dumb investor. If I had to rely on my brain and reasoning power to make investment decisions I would be dead broke by now. That is why I test all investment theories before ever putting a dime at risk. Amazingly, what I have learned is how little of the prevailing investment wisdom is really true. Even more surprising is how profitable investment strategy shares one thing in common…
What Big Winning Stocks Have In Common
Did you know that nearly all the stock market gains from 1983-2007 came from just 25% of the stocks? Similarly, 75% of stocks contributed zero performance on average and the average stock actually lost money – during one of the greatest bull markets in recorded history. If you want to pick stocks that outperform the averages or develop a greater understanding of trend-following risk management techniques for your investment portfolio then this is a must read…
Three Criteria For Picking Winning Stocks
In our weekly “Ask Todd” series, a reader asked: “Todd, can you give me three quick criteria to sort individual stocks worth investigating from those that have no investment merit?” The quick and dirty answer is “your question has an underlying false premise.” Individual security selection is only the last 10-20% of return on any properly diversified portfolio and takes 80% of your analyisis time to figure out. Pareto’s Law dictates you can get 80% of the investment return for 20% of the effort if you just follow these simple criteria…
