February 2007
You are currently browsing the articles from General Finance written in the month of February 2007.
I know it is difficult to keep cool when the stock market goes down over 3% in a day and many stocks dropping over 6%. However, if you are an investor you have to see this as an opportunity, not a crisis.
Unlike many terribly bad days in the stock market this day was caused by internal glitches in the actual trading system. Of course, China’s stock market going down 9% in a day off its all-time high had reverberations. Keep in mind that many economic figures are positive and the day was nothing like 20 years when the stock market lost over 22% in one day’s trading.
The market will probably go further down today, but if you begin to build a position in any stock in the long run you have a good chance of making money.
I know last June I thought the stock market was due for a correction, but I do not necessarily think this was what I was predicting. I thought it would because of poor economic numbers combined with a world crisis.
More from CNN Money
Written by Nagel on February 28th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing and Stock Market.
Picking individual small cap stocks are a dangerous road to go down.
- They are small companies that have do not have the track record that many larger cap stocks will have.
- Their earnings fluctuate more than other capitalization stocks.
- There is more risk which means you can lose a lot of money
However . . .
- More risk means more potential for big rewards
- Speculating can be more fun than S&P 500 stocks
- They are not covered much by Wall Street so it is easier to get in on the ground floor
Check out this link for IBD’s top 10 small cap growers:
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/ibd022607.html
Written by Nagel on February 27th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing.
Early reports have the stock market moving higher this morning. Eli Lilly and Merck will lead the charge on FDA approval of an anti-depressant drug for Lilly and an upgrade from Citigroup from hold to buy.
Written by Nagel on February 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing and Uncategorized.
The first wave of the 77 million Baby Boomers begin to retire this year. Studies show that a majority of them do not have a well-thought-out plan for their retirement. Although this generation seems to be as wealthy or more wealthy than their parent’s generation they need some guidance on the how tos of retirement saving. If you are a Boomer or just out of college you need to learn the basics of retirement savings and all the issues you must be prepared to deal with along your path.
Yahoo! Finance offers so How To primers on many subjects involving personal finance and your retirement.
Written by Nagel on February 24th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Retirement.
It is nearing the April 16th deadline to max out your 2006 IRA limits so you need to consider what your strategy will be for the investments you make.
Consider these points when investing:
- Retirement usually means a long investment time-horizon
- You IRAs are not the place to be speculating
- Diversification and rebalancing are essential to your retirement portfolio
- Fees can eat up returns of your investments
- Max out your IRAs because the longer you have money invested the more time coupound interest takes effect with the Rule of 72.
Kiplinger has some interesting ideas on mutual funds that go hand-in-hand with your IRA.
Written by Nagel on February 23rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing and Retirement.
The floor installers came on Wednesday. That means no walking on the floors. The problem is all main floors entrances have wood. Therefore, we had to dig through a foot of snow to get to the back of the house and the bottom floor laundry room.
They installed the 50 square foot section of hardwood near the front entrance, sanded and did the first coat of varnish. The smell was overwhelming to say the last–plus it’s toxic. We had to cordon ourselves off to the bottom floor only; we had to open the windows when it was zero degrees to allow fresh air into the basement. Then we got to sleep in the basement in about 40 degree temperatures on a mattress on the floor–just like camping. Luckily, we planned ahead and brought all the necessities downstairs the day before so we would not be stranded.
Fortunately, we stayed at my mother’s and took Friday off and went on a road-trip. We will survive, but it certainly is a pain and the house will smell for about a week.
Written by Nagel on February 22nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household.
My wife and I have been distracted lately with kitchen cabinets being installed. Corian kitchen and bathroom counter tops and hardwood floors being installed and sanded. However, we are aware that we have until April 17, 2007 to complete our Roth IRA contribution for fiscal year 2006. The contribution limit is $4,000 each and my wife has already contributed $2,000 directly to an international value mutual fund while I have contributed about $1,250 to a small cap growth mutual fund. So we have about $3,750 left to contribute to our Roth IRAs.
The plan is to wait until April until we do our contributions. We plan to do this for a couple reasons:
1) Our current available cash is being tied up in home improvement projects and
2) I want to wait and see what the stock market is going to do in the next couple months. There is still part of me that is very concerned about the stock market and I think any day it could begin a move downward. Obviously, I cannot time this if it does occur, but since our money is tied up I thought it was a wise retirement planning investment strategy.
The probable scenario for investment choices will be that my wife will deposit $2,000 into her Scottrade Roth IRA account when we have enough of a safety net in cash. Then that $2,000 will go toward an individual stock that looks undervalued at the moment. My $2,750 would be contributed directly to a couple mutual funds. One will be an international growth mutual fund and $1,750 will go into that asset class. The remaining $1,000 will go into a real estate mutual fund. I think both of these investments are solid no matter what happens in their own asset class and I see them doing well in the short-to-mid-term (I only invest in mutual funds that have excellent long-term track records–so the long-term performance is a give for me).
If we have enough cash in our savings we will begin our 2007 Roth IRA contributions, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.
Written by Nagel on February 21st, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing and Real Estate and Retirement.
Going “Green” these days does not mean more expense and no-profit. With the popularity of Al Gore’s An Unconvenient Truth in addition to respected New York Times columnist, Tom Friedman’s twice weekly primers on how to make “Green” the next “Red, White and Blue,” this has gone from tree-huggers to mainstream. Many business’ are riding this wave of popularity and solar power is one aspect of the new “Green” economy.
Investor’s Business Daily has a great article listing some top solar power stocks.
Written by Nagel on February 20th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Investing.
Below are some excellent personal finance blogs.
Blueprint has some insight on tax brackets
Blogging Stocks describes the evolution of MTV and NPR
The Simple Dollar on Cutting Splurge Spending
All Financial Matters gives a shout out to Debt Blogs in the NY Times
Binary Dollar on getting rich
Boston Gal has some more info on gettin’ rich
My Money Blog has some good info on 403 (b)s
I Will Teach You to Be Rich on Bill Gates
Written by Nagel on February 19th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Many new home owners that bought in the past few years did not do enough homework on ARMs, interest-only and other types of home loans. They also bought more house than they could afford. This is the main cause of the boom in foreclosures. 1.26 million foreclosure filings were reported in 2006, up 42% from 2005, with an average rate of one filing for every 92 households. Colorado has the highest home foreclosure rate in the country and if other states reach those levels there will be even more pressure on the housing market.
If you are in a situation where you might lose your home there are some steps you can take to avoid foreclosure.
Try to Refinance Your Mortgage Loan
Before you get in too deep seek a lender or mortgage broker that might be able to assist you. Do not sit around and hope that things will go better–be proactive.
Try to Modify Your Current Mortgage Sell It
Banks have no desire to foreclose–they are not in the home buying business. This fact might help you if you try to alter your current loan.
Sell Your Home
You might not want to sell your house, but it is better than losing it to foreclosure. The current housing market is not the best, but you can at least contact some realtors to find out your options.
Written by Nagel on February 19th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household and How To and Real Estate.
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