February 23, 2012

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Stocks

More than 200 years of research shows that owning stocks, which represent an ownership stake in a business, is the best way to generate long-term wealth. Our stock investing guides will explain how common stocks work, what preferred stocks are, how to understand dividends, stock basics for new investors, and advanced stock trading techniques for those who are ready to learn the deep knowledge of finance.

To Earn More In Dividend Income Than 50% of the World Earns Working Each Year Requires Only 1,074 Shares of General Electric

December 19, 2011 By 3 Comments
ge-dividend-chart

Between work, my writing commitments, personal Christmas events, parties, get togethers, the upgrades at the house, and my home life, I haven't been paying much attention to the stock market lately.  This weekend, my father mentioned that General Electric had raised its dividend, again, to 17¢ per share, per quarter (indicating 68¢ per share, per year, for a dividend yield of 4.00% on current market cost).  That was a pleasant surprise since I hadn't yet gotten around to listening to the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dividends, Economics

The Monopoly Stock Exchange Add-On Is the Only Way to Play

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Monopoly Stock Exchange Add On Featured

In 1936, Parker Brothers released an add-on to the popular Monopoly board game called the Stock Exchange.  Although the core Monopoly game had two asset classes - real estate and a few common stocks in the form of the four railroads and two utility companies - the Stock Exchange add-on brought the experience to a new level, introducing different dynamics to game play.   Personally, I much prefer the Stock Exchange inclusive version of Monopoly to the regular game itself.  Collecting … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dividends, Entertainment

Good Businesses as Buy and Hold Investments

October 22, 2011 By 2 Comments
Buy and Hold Investments in Good Businesses

Think of Long-Term Stock Holdings Like You Would a Family Business   Sidney Weinberg, the legendary leader of Goldman Sachs a couple of generations ago, makes perfect sense to me.  According to Charles D. Ellis, "Loyalty was a central value to Weinberg.  He ate, drove, wore, and used the products produced by 'his' companies - cheese had to be Kraft, coffee had to be Maxwell House, cars were Fords, etc."   I don't see how there is any other way to behave.  If you are long-term owner … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stocks

Is Wells Fargo Undervalued?

October 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Is Wells Fargo Undervalued? Image made available due to attribution-sharealike 2.0 generic (cc BY-SA 2.0) creative commons license and published on flickr by saturnism / Ray Tsang as of 10/08/2011)

What follows is an example of how we think about investing. It is not a stock recommendation, and the only reason I'm using this as an example is because the firm in question, Wells Fargo & Company, is one of the biggest enterprises in the world with more than $1.2 trillion in assets. Virtually everyone reading this who owns any low-cost index fund or a comparable equity fund through a 401(k) or brokerage account already owns shares of Wells Fargo.  There is no guarantee that the entire … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stocks

Building a $250,000 Coca-Cola Portfolio By 35 Through the Coca-Cola Direct Stock Purchase Plan

September 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Coke Freestyle Icon

A nearby sandwich shop got a Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain machine, the revolutionary new design that allows you to create more than 100 flavors of soda from a single spout as a result of microburst flavor technology controlled through a touch-face screen.  Aaron and I went and had lunch, trying it out for ourselves.  For me, it was Cherry Vanilla Coca-Cola all the way.  He tried both the Raspberry Coca-Cola and the Lime Coca-Cola.  A few hours later, we returned and I tried the Orange … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dividends

Berkshire Hathaway Board of Directors Approves Share Repurchase Plan

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Berkshire Hathaway Share Repurchase and Stock Repurchase Plan

I've made no secret of the fact I've been a net purchaser of Berkshire Hathaway shares for the past year.  The valuation seemed (and still seems) absurdly low relative to intrinsic value.  Apparently, the Berkshire Hathaway Board of Directors and management agrees.1  The company is now looking at itself as the best use of the firm's cash. To the point, a few days ago, The Board of Directors of Berkshire Hathaway announced that the company may repurchase its own stock at any time the share … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stocks Tagged With: , , ,

Media Sensationalism Continues to Exacerbate Stock Market Fluctuations

September 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Stock Market Media Sensationalism

If you want to know why wealth inequality will inevitably continue to rise as part of the byproduct of a free economy and political system, one reason was staring you in the face if you read the news headlines yesterday afternoon following the slight stock market drop.  Why do I call it a "slight" drop?  Because those of you who study history along with me know the worst single day percentage drops in stock market history and this wasn't even close.  By way of example, take a look at the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stock Market

I Bought 100 Shares of The Walt Disney Company as a Souvenir During My Visit to the Resort

August 30, 2011 By 2 Comments
World of Disney in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida

After breakfast this morning at the Animal Kingdom lodge, we headed over to Downtown Disney.  As we shopped for souvenirs before flying back to Kansas City tomorrow, I was in the enormous World of Disney store when I realized the best possible souvenir I could have would be ownership in the business.  From the kitchen section, surrounded by Mickey Mouse spatulas and Minnie Mouse oven mitts, I took out my phone, remotely logged into one of my personal brokerage accounts, and purchased a small … [Read more...]

Filed Under: My Day In Pictures, Stocks

The 12 Implications of Realizing There Is No Stock Market

August 19, 2011 By 1 Comment
Buttonwood Tree on Wall Street

One of the things that helped me build wealth early in my career is the realization that there is no "stock market".  Instead, there are individual businesses and individual investors who own those businesses.  From time to time, a business owner may want to increase or decrease his ownership in a company so he approaches other potential investors through an intermediary known as a stock broker.   These brokers used to meet under a Buttonwood tree on Wall Street in New York City, gathering … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Stock Market

Brown-Forman Is One of the Best Businesses I’ve Ever Seen

August 10, 2011 By 1 Comment
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey Brown-Forman Stock Report

Before I start talking about Brown-Forman, it is important to make a distinction between a stock and a business.  A company may be an excellent company that you would be happy to hold for decades but be trading at such a high price, it is not attractive.  This was the case with virtually all of the mega-capitalization blue chip corporations back in 2000 when the earnings yields of giants such as Johnson & Johnson were at 2.95% compared to a 5.07% Treasury bond yield; an almost certain … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Case Studies & Profiles, Stocks
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