Warren and Me

I'm still a guy who thinks five grand is a lot of money. I can't carry much more than that to the hereafter in my pockets. I think Warren Buffett feels the same way. He don't need a billion dollar house, even though he can.

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It's Not a Secret

Buy dividend producers with good P.E.s and payout ratios.

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Just a Thought- Check the Daily Volatility

Here's how to do that. Check the market's numbers an hour before the close. Then how much did it move in the last hour? Sell-off, buy-in, or steady as she goes? We want steady, no 100 point swings in the last hour + or -. Remember, it's a big money man's game. We don't want him over exuberent or crazy scared as we ride along.

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How's Your Volatility Tolerance Index?

Don't be in volatile situations if it curdles your stomach. Stay in Income and G & I. If you were stuck in a volatile holding, it went down 70-80%. (Unless it was a short.) Did you freak-out? If so, you sold it low. You lost double because it's up 100% since March! Some of my volatile stuff is +200% since then. That doesn't mean I'm even yet. Unless I cost-averaged, I'm still way down from where I bought in at the top. But 200% increases get you well eventually. Know your stomach for risk.

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Balancing Your Financial Research

I like to use some of the most aggressive "wizards" in conjunction with some of the more conservative analysts to come up with a modicum of sanity. For instance, Pitbull Investor's "Stock Report Card" is extremely aggressive. So I use them with fool.com (Motley Fool) for consensus. Also, tradingmarkets.com (Power Ratings, short term & aggressive) gets used with finance.yahoo.com; powerratings.net (Power Ratings, long term & somewhat aggressive) with moneycentral.msn.com. You get the idea, get a consensus. Guess what, if everyone likes a stock (yeah, even Cramer, with old numbers), it's probably alright. But don't over-analyze, thereby missing a boat. Gut-instinct is often a good thing if you are investing experienced.
For mutual funds disregard the last statements. smartmoney.com and morningstar.com are the definitive experts. If they agree, it will be a winner.
For foreign investing, pay heed to Wikipedia's "List of Countries by Public Debt". Stay away from (by populace) highly indebted nations.

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It's All the Same

Don't worry about if your gains come in principal or distributions. With a strictly growth instrument, the original stock price must multiply to realize gain. In growth and income or income instruments, gains will be reflected in distributions as well as stock price growth. So, in theory, a long term position in an income holding can gain a lot even if the face value of the stock or mutual fund price remains stagnant.

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Finance Is Not So Hard, Folks

Assets must recover expenses plus gain position.
Recessions cause the opposite to occur.
The only way to survive hard times: see sentence #1 during productive times.
A diversified mutual fund mix will do it.
A proper allocation thereof does not have to be monitored.
You don't have to do anything except add 15-20% of your income to your assets.

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