Investing Articles Archives - Page 15 of 17

Investing is the process of putting aside money today in exchange for more money in the future. This process involves risk but, when well managed, can help grow your wealth over time due to the power of compounding. This is the investing archive that includes articles published on JoshuaKennon.com. If you are looking for more great content, visit Joshua’s Investing for Beginners site at About.com, a division of The New York Times.

Sep282010

Borders Group: The Single Dumbest Investment We Ever Made

Case Studies & Profiles, My Businesses, StocksBy Joshua Kennon September 28, 2010 4 Comments

Due to our disciplined value investing philosophy, coupled with our insistence upon diversification of income and assets, we haven’t experienced a lot of big losses. When we do, we try and study what went wrong so we can understand if there was a structural problem or a blind spot in our mental cognition that should be avoided in the future. We never want to have to “return to Go” in Monopoly terms. That is just intelligent portfolio management.

Sep242010

We Are Living in the Midst of One of the Biggest Bond Bubbles in History

Corporate BondsBy Joshua Kennon September 24, 2010 11 Comments

Today, I was sitting at the dining room table, drinking a cup of coffee wearing the Brooks Brothers pajamas I picked up on my birthday a few days ago, and watching the stock market skyrocket when it occurred to me that, given the secret project and some other things going on at the business, I want to build some cash and bond reserves at one of the individual operating companies; maybe put aside money a little at a time, let it build and do something fun with it three or four years from now, like design and build a row of townhouses or whatever.

Sep132010

Factor In Your Income Sources When Seeking Diversification

Book Recommendations, DiversificationBy Joshua Kennon September 13, 2010 Leave a comment

When it comes to diversification, you have to look at your entire life and not just your portfolio. Several years ago there was a book I really enjoyed that dealt with this topic called Are You a Stock or a Bond?: Create Your Own Pension Plan for a Secure Financial Future. It provided a valuable framework for understanding how the stability of income in your life should inform your approach to asset allocation.

Sep72010

Coca-Cola Direct Stock Purchase Plan and Coca-Cola Dividend Reinvestment Plan or Coke DRIP Literature

How We Used Shares of Coca-Cola to Teach My Youngest Sister About Investing (and Why the Cycle of Consumption and Financial Stress Starts as a Teenager for Most Americans)

Dividends, Dollar Cost Averaging, Featured, Saving MoneyBy Joshua Kennon September 7, 2010 13 Comments

When I was a senior in high school, I bought my youngest sister a single share of Coca-Cola common stock for her 6th birthday. It’s been a teaching mechanism throughout her life; one that is far more important and beneficial from an academic and educational standpoint than any investment return it could generate.

Jul152010

Voltaire the Investor

Legendary InvestorsBy Joshua Kennon July 15, 2010 6 Comments

Voltaire led a life that is extraordinarily useful for those who want an example of how to contribute to the improvement of civilization, live extremely well, and follow your passion.

Jun302010

Do Not Throw Away the Melon for the Seeds

Business Strategy, Diversification, Proverbs and WisdomBy Joshua Kennon June 30, 2010 1 Comment

There is a traditional Chinese proverb that goes something along the lines of, “Do not take the seeds and throw away the melon”. Though there are many ways you can approach this, and multiple lessons that can be extracted from reflecting on it, it can be particularly sage when it comes to running a business and allocating the cash flow from that business. One of my favorite examples comes from The Coca-Cola Company.

May142010

Sugar Prices Hit 30 Year Highs

CommoditiesBy Joshua Kennon May 14, 2010 Leave a comment

The sugar industry is fascinating. For a variety of reasons, including protectionist policies put in place by Congress, prices recently hit a thirty-year high, threatening chaos for sugar refiners.

May102010

Why Don't People Realize You Can Own Real Businesses Just Like a Video Game

Why Don’t People Realize You Can Do This In Real Life?

Investing Articles, Making Money, Video GamesBy Joshua Kennon May 10, 2010 3 Comments

During college, one of Aaron and my closest friends made a comment that still haunts me to this day. I was explaining that if you own a share of The Coca-Cola Company, you actually receive a proportionate cut of the company’s profits on every single can of Coke sold. This makes sense, after all … if a business is divided into 100 shares outstanding, and you own 1 share, you own 1% of the company. If you own all 100 shares, you would own the entire business and get all of the profit, right? For me, this falls into the, “We hold these truths to be self-evident” category.

May22010

How My Grandpa Dennis Could Have Turned His Pepsi Habit Into a 7-Figure Estate

Dividends, Dollar Cost Averaging, My Life, Saving MoneyBy Joshua Kennon May 2, 2010 9 Comments

How My Grandpa Dennis Could Have Turned His Pepsi Habit Into a 7-Figure Estate I’ve written in the past about how nearly every American alive today has been confronted with perhaps a dozen different companies that they knew first hand because they enjoyed using the firm’s products for years (in some cases, their whole life)…

Apr232010

You Have to Focus on Valuation Metrics in the Stock Market!

Stock Market, Value InvestingBy Joshua Kennon April 23, 2010 1 Comment

I love Apple’s products and what Apple has accomplished over the past few years. However, it is amazing to see how little even journalists understand the way companies or valued or how to properly compare the total return generated by one business over a given period of time to another business.