Posts Tagged ‘Bonds’
Ten Common Investment Errors: Stocks, Bonds, & Management
Posted by admin in Preferred Stock on December 10th, 2009
Investment mistakes happen for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty that are irresponsibly downplayed by market gurus and institutional spokespersons. Losing money on an investment may not be the result of a mistake, and not all mistakes result in monetary losses. But errors occur when judgment is unduly influenced by emotions, when the basic principles of investing are misunderstood, and when misconceptions exist about how securities react to varying economic, political, and hysterical circumstances. Avoid these ten common errors to improve your performance:
Investment decisions should be made within a clearly defined Investment Plan. Investing is a goal-orientated activity that should include considerations of time, risk-tolerance, and future income… think about where you are going before you start moving in what may be the wrong direction. A well thought out plan will not need frequent adjustments. A well-managed plan will not be susceptible to the addition of trendy, speculations.
The distinction between Asset Allocation and Diversification is often clouded. Asset Allocation is the planned division of the portfolio between Equity and Income securities. Diversification is a risk minimization strategy used to assure that the size of individual portfolio positions does not become excessive in terms of various measurements. Neither are “hedges” against anything or Market Timing devices. Neither can be done with Mutual Funds or within a single Mutual Fund. Both are handled most easily using Cost Basis analysis as defined in the Working Capital Model.
Investors become bored with their Plan too quickly, change direction too frequently, and make drastic rather than gradual adjustments. Although investing is always referred to as “long term”, it is rarely dealt with as such by investors who would be hard pressed to explain simple peak-to-peak analysis. Short-term Market Value movements are routinely compared with various un-portfolio related indices and averages to evaluate performance. There is no index that compares with your portfolio, and calendar divisions have no relationship whatever to market or interest rate cycles.
Investors tend to fall in love with securities that rise in price and forget to take profits, particularly when the company was once their employer. It’s alarming how often accounting and other professionals refuse to fix these single-issue portfolios. Aside from the love issue, this becomes an unwilling-to-pay-the-taxes problem that often brings the unrealized gain to the Schedule D as a realized loss. Diversification rules, like Mother Nature, must not be messed with.
Investors often overdose on information, causing a constant state of “analysis paralysis”. Such investors are likely to be confused and tend to become hindsightful and indecisive. Neither portends well for the portfolio. Compounding this issue is the inability to distinguish between research and sales materials… quite often the same document. A somewhat narrow focus on information that supports a logical and well-documented investment strategy will be more productive in the long run. But do avoid future predictors.
Investors are constantly in search of a short cut or gimmick that will provide instant success with minimum effort. Consequently, they initiate a feeding frenzy for every new, product and service that the Institutions produce. Their portfolios become a hodgepodge of Mutual Funds, iShares, Index Funds, Partnerships, Penny Stocks, Hedge Funds, Funds of Funds, Commodities, Options, etc. This obsession with Product underlines how Wall Street has made it impossible for financial professionals to survive without them. Remember: Consumers buy products; Investors select securities.
Investors just don’t understand the nature of Interest Rate Sensitive Securities and can’t deal appropriately with changes in Market Value… in either direction. Operationally, the income portion of a portfolio must be looked at separately from the growth portion. A simple assessment of bottom line Market Value for structural and/or directional decision-making is one of the most far-reaching errors that investors make. Fixed Income must not connote Fixed Value and most investors rarely experience the full benefit of this portion of their portfolio.
Many investors either ignore or discount the cyclical nature of the investment markets and wind up buying the most popular securities/sectors/funds at their highest ever prices. Illogically, they interpret a current trend in such areas as a new dynamic and tend to overdo their involvement. At the same time, they quickly abandon whatever their previous hot spot happened to be, not realizing that they are creating a Buy High, Sell Low cycle all their own.
Many investment errors will involve some form of unrealistic time horizon, or Apples to Oranges form of performance comparison. Somehow, somewhere, the get rich slowly path to investment success has become overgrown and abandoned. Successful portfolio development is rarely a straight up arrow and comparisons with dissimilar products, commodities, or strategies simply produce detours that speed progress away from original portfolio goals.
The “cheaper is better” mentality weakens decision making capabilities and leads investors to dangerous assumptions and short cuts that only appear to be effective. Do discount brokers seek “best execution”? Can new issue preferred stocks be purchased without cost? Is a no load fund a freebie? Is a WRAP Account individually managed? When cheap is an investor’s primary concern, what he gets will generally be worth the price.
Compounding the problems that investors have managing their investment portfolios is the sideshowesque sensationalism that the media brings to the process. Investing has become a competitive event for service providers and investors alike. This development alone will lead many of you to the self-destructive decision making errors that are described above. Investing is a personal project where individual/family goals and objectives must dictate portfolio structure, management strategy, and performance evaluation techniques. Is it difficult to manage a portfolio in an environment that encourages instant gratification, supports all forms of “uncaveated” speculation, and that rewards short term and shortsighted reports, reactions, and achievements?
Yup, it sure is.
Ten Common Investment Errors: Stocks, Bonds, & Management
Posted by admin in Preferred Stock on December 9th, 2009
Investment mistakes happen for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty that are irresponsibly downplayed by market gurus and institutional spokespersons. Losing money on an investment may not be the result of a mistake, and not all mistakes result in monetary losses. But errors occur when judgment is unduly influenced by emotions, when the basic principles of investing are misunderstood, and when misconceptions exist about how securities react to varying economic, political, and hysterical circumstances. Avoid these ten common errors to improve your performance:
Investment decisions should be made within a clearly defined Investment Plan. Investing is a goal-orientated activity that should include considerations of time, risk-tolerance, and future income… think about where you are going before you start moving in what may be the wrong direction. A well thought out plan will not need frequent adjustments. A well-managed plan will not be susceptible to the addition of trendy, speculations.
The distinction between Asset Allocation and Diversification is often clouded. Asset Allocation is the planned division of the portfolio between Equity and Income securities. Diversification is a risk minimization strategy used to assure that the size of individual portfolio positions does not become excessive in terms of various measurements. Neither are “hedges” against anything or Market Timing devices. Neither can be done with Mutual Funds or within a single Mutual Fund. Both are handled most easily using Cost Basis analysis as defined in the Working Capital Model.
Investors become bored with their Plan too quickly, change direction too frequently, and make drastic rather than gradual adjustments. Although investing is always referred to as “long term”, it is rarely dealt with as such by investors who would be hard pressed to explain simple peak-to-peak analysis. Short-term Market Value movements are routinely compared with various un-portfolio related indices and averages to evaluate performance. There is no index that compares with your portfolio, and calendar divisions have no relationship whatever to market or interest rate cycles.
Investors tend to fall in love with securities that rise in price and forget to take profits, particularly when the company was once their employer. It’s alarming how often accounting and other professionals refuse to fix these single-issue portfolios. Aside from the love issue, this becomes an unwilling-to-pay-the-taxes problem that often brings the unrealized gain to the Schedule D as a realized loss. Diversification rules, like Mother Nature, must not be messed with.
Investors often overdose on information, causing a constant state of “analysis paralysis”. Such investors are likely to be confused and tend to become hindsightful and indecisive. Neither portends well for the portfolio. Compounding this issue is the inability to distinguish between research and sales materials… quite often the same document. A somewhat narrow focus on information that supports a logical and well-documented investment strategy will be more productive in the long run. But do avoid future predictors.
Investors are constantly in search of a short cut or gimmick that will provide instant success with minimum effort. Consequently, they initiate a feeding frenzy for every new, product and service that the Institutions produce. Their portfolios become a hodgepodge of Mutual Funds, iShares, Index Funds, Partnerships, Penny Stocks, Hedge Funds, Funds of Funds, Commodities, Options, etc. This obsession with Product underlines how Wall Street has made it impossible for financial professionals to survive without them. Remember: Consumers buy products; Investors select securities.
Investors just don’t understand the nature of Interest Rate Sensitive Securities and can’t deal appropriately with changes in Market Value… in either direction. Operationally, the income portion of a portfolio must be looked at separately from the growth portion. A simple assessment of bottom line Market Value for structural and/or directional decision-making is one of the most far-reaching errors that investors make. Fixed Income must not connote Fixed Value and most investors rarely experience the full benefit of this portion of their portfolio.
Many investors either ignore or discount the cyclical nature of the investment markets and wind up buying the most popular securities/sectors/funds at their highest ever prices. Illogically, they interpret a current trend in such areas as a new dynamic and tend to overdo their involvement. At the same time, they quickly abandon whatever their previous hot spot happened to be, not realizing that they are creating a Buy High, Sell Low cycle all their own.
Many investment errors will involve some form of unrealistic time horizon, or Apples to Oranges form of performance comparison. Somehow, somewhere, the get rich slowly path to investment success has become overgrown and abandoned. Successful portfolio development is rarely a straight up arrow and comparisons with dissimilar products, commodities, or strategies simply produce detours that speed progress away from original portfolio goals.
The “cheaper is better” mentality weakens decision making capabilities and leads investors to dangerous assumptions and short cuts that only appear to be effective. Do discount brokers seek “best execution”? Can new issue preferred stocks be purchased without cost? Is a no load fund a freebie? Is a WRAP Account individually managed? When cheap is an investor’s primary concern, what he gets will generally be worth the price.
Compounding the problems that investors have managing their investment portfolios is the sideshowesque sensationalism that the media brings to the process. Investing has become a competitive event for service providers and investors alike. This development alone will lead many of you to the self-destructive decision making errors that are described above. Investing is a personal project where individual/family goals and objectives must dictate portfolio structure, management strategy, and performance evaluation techniques. Is it difficult to manage a portfolio in an environment that encourages instant gratification, supports all forms of “uncaveated” speculation, and that rewards short term and shortsighted reports, reactions, and achievements?
Yup, it sure is.
Stocks and Bonds Made Simple
Posted by admin in Common Stock on December 2nd, 2009
When the government wants to raise money, they can issue bonds and borrow money from the people. When corporations want to raise large amounts of capital (money), they can issue stocks or bonds. If they issue bonds they borrow money from investors, like government entities do. If they issue stocks they sell shares of ownership in their company, common stock.
In either case, once the bonds or stocks are sold to the public, the government or corporation gets its money and has an obligation to whoever owns the bonds or stocks it issued. After this the stocks or bonds are securities that trade in the open market. Stocks trade in the stock market and bonds trade in the bond market. How simple can you get?
So, when you or I buy stocks or bonds, we are simply buying them in the market through a broker who charges us a commission for his services. The government or corporation already got their money. We are simply buying bonds or shares of stock a previous owner told his broker to sell. When we want to sell we simply do it through our broker as well. That’s why having a stock market and a bond market is so important.
Markets provide liquidity. In other words, who would buy these stocks and bonds if they could not sell them at a fair price quickly and easily?
As investments, stocks and bonds are like night and day – heads and tails. When you own stocks you have ownership in the company. If the company prospers and the stock market is on a roll, you benefit as the price or value of your stock shares go up. If the company pays dividends, you get your fair share based on the number of shares you own. All common stock shares are equal. Some folks just own more shares than others.
On the other hand, if the company goes broke you lose big. As a shareholder and an owner, you can end up with nothing after the creditors (including bondholders) get what’s due them. You will know you are in trouble when your stock approaches zero and quits trading in the stock market. The only good news in this case is that you can only lose what you invested. Second, you may have a tax write-off for your losses.
Bonds are of a different breed. When you own bonds the issuer owes you money, and pays you interest. If the company or government entity (like the U.S. government or the state of Ohio) gets into financial trouble and defaults on interest payments or principal, you are a creditor with certain rights. For example, you get yours before stockholders get theirs. Thus, bonds are safer than stocks, but they lack the profit potential of the former.
Every bond has a limited life, unlike stocks that live indefinitely. When a bond matures, the owner (whoever it is) is paid back the principal, usually $1000 for most bonds. Now pay attention. Bonds are safer than stocks. But this does not mean that they are necessarily safe. The main advantage of owning bonds over really safe investments like savings accounts, CD’s and Savings Bonds (which are savings vehicles and not really bonds) is that they pay higher interest rates. But, unlike the safer investments just mentioned, bonds trade in the bond market … and anything that trades in any market experiences price changes as it trades.
In other words, the price or value of bonds fluctuates. That means that they go up and down in value like stocks do. If you hold onto a typical bond until it matures, you should get $1000, no matter what you paid for it. On the other hand, if you sell it before maturity, you will get more or less, depending on the market price of your bond at the time.
The Investing Basics Of Stocks And Bonds
Posted by admin in Preferred Stock on November 19th, 2009
One of the most basic investment tools is understanding what stocks and bonds are and how they may fit into your portfolio.
Stocks are the cornerstone of every investment portfolio (except for a few specialists who specialize in “junk bonds”, but they need not concern us). A share of company stock is a literal piece of ownership of that company, and therefore when you buy a stock share you get the right to a claim on a part of the company’s wealth. The number of share that you own versus the total number of shares the company has put up for sale, called “shares outstanding”, determines the total percentage of ownership you have in that company.
Common stock allows holders to participate in shareholder meetings and vote on company decisions. Preferred stock does not allow this privilege; however, preferred stock gives its owners other benefits. Preferred stock holders typically receive company dividend payouts before common stock holders, and should a company go bankrupt or need to liquidate itself preferred stockholders would be paid before common stock holders, meaning they have less chance of losing all their stakes in the company.
A given stock’s price–and thus how much it is worth–is driven up or down by a complex set of factors that often don’t seem to make any sense. Basically, however, a stock’s price reflects what the general investing public is willing to pay for it.
The reason that stocks are the cornerstone of virtually every investment portfolio is that historically they have given the highest returns over time than other investment vehicles, and there is a vast array of diversification potential in stocks, allowing investors to make great use of them in balancing their portfolios for risk factors and for shorter and longer term goals.
However, the vast majority of investors also include some bonds in their investment portfolio. Typically, bonds are used for “hedging”. When investors “hedge”, they seek to balance out or minimize greater risk in one sector of the financial world with something less volatile, less complex, or at the other end of the economic spectrum from their core investment portfolio.
Bonds are literally investments in debt. When you buy a bond, what basically happens is that you as the investor lend money to a private company or a government. The government or the company agrees to pay you back the money plus a certain interest rate in a given period of time or, that is, until the bond’s “maturity date”. Bonds are issued to raise money to finance any number of new projects or activities, and their maturities range anywhere from a mere 90 days with government treasury bills to the 30 years of the government bond. Typically, however, investors do not invest directly in bonds but in funds that are, in their turn, financed by the active buying and selling of bonds on the open financial market.