Stock markets have been falling for months, led by a collapse in confidence in the financial system and plunging bank stocks. In the UK we’ve seen Northern Rock crumble, while in the US the investment bank Bear Stearns lived up to its name after jitters led to rumours which led to a run on its [...]
Investing
If you invest in the stock markets and recently you’ve had to check your portfolio with a stiff drink, at least you’re not alone. According to the FT: Stock markets finished their worst quarter in more than five years on Monday with further losses as investors continued to favour less risky assets. The losses have [...]
So you’ve done your four financial crisis checks: Your savings are safe They’re earning more interest You’ve got a plan to pay off any debt Your mortgage is sorted for the foreseeable future. Time to turn over and fall back to sleep? Possibly. I’m serious! It’s often too late to Do Something once a financial [...]
We can’t wish away the credit crisis. However sensible you or I have been with our investments, borrowing and spending, we can’t wind back the clock and stop bankers throwing money at poor people who’ll never be able to pay it back, and who are often now paying a far higher price – repossession, dislocation, [...]
Thanks to the recent stock market volatility, investors are increasingly turning to gold, which is traditionally a safe haven in troubled times. This article introduces Bullion Vault, a company that enables you to buy and securely store small amounts of the highest-grade gold, which the company claims offers unique advantages for small investors buying gold. [...]
There are no true short cuts in investing, but I believe there are some subtle benefits in targeting income when making your investment plans.
By buying commodities you can diversify your portfolio over the long-term so it’s less dependent on the returns from shares. You might also hope to trade commodities, if you think you can buy when they’re priced low and sell when they’re high. (Far easier said then done, and plenty of boys in braces will hire you if you manage it regularly).
Rather than whimpering, if you’re well positioned you should be whooping with joy that you’ve got an unlooked for chance to buy the same shares you were buying last month for 10%, 20%, or even 50% less than you expected to pay.
2008 could well be the year when we investors are reminded about the benefits of asset allocation. This rather academic sounding discipline is generally forgotten in times of roaring stock markets, but when the weather gets rougher, people are glad they’ve packed umbrellas as well as beach towels. I plan to learn a lot more [...]
Richard Farleigh has made a lot of money via the markets – tens of millions, maybe hundreds. This book doesn’t give a precise number, though we do learn that the Australian investor’s first ambition was to be a bushranger like Ned Kelly. (Think highwayman Dick Turpin with a bucket on his head. Not so far [...]
Previous posts in this high yield share investing series have argued the case for dividends, considered what makes a good high yield share, and stressed the need for diversification. Now it’s time to make yourself a cup of tea and settle down to see exactly how you can construct a high yield portfolio for yourself. [...]
We’ve already considered the attractions of dividends and what makes a good individual high yield share. Part 3 now looks at how many different shares you need to get a squad of high yield shares fit for the long-term. (For those who like spoilers: Part 4 will offer an illustrative portfolio assembled using real share [...]
Part One of this series introduced how dividend payments from shares can produce a growing income stream with minimal effort on your part, and certainly no need to frenetically ‘play the markets’ like a demented monkey bashing the bongo drums. (Remember, study after study has proven most share traders fail to beat buy-and-forget tracker funds [...]
“Buy! Buy! Buy!” shout the city folk in blue braces from one side of the trading pit. “Sell! Sell! Sell!” retort those with red neckties. Whatever happened to “Wait! Wait! Wait!” wonders your writer? These days sharetrading is conducted via computer – the trading is often done automatically according to decisions made by the computers [...]
You’ve bought a share and – ye gads! – it’s gone up 30%. Should you sell it and take the profit? It sounds like a simple question, but the answer, my friends, is complicated and controversial enough to give us the stock market we know and love, with all its wild oscillations in share prices, [...]