“Contrary to popular modern belief, it is still quite possible for the successful individual to make his million — and more.” J. Paul Getty wrote these words in 1960, in his book, “How to Be Rich.” It’s as true now as it was then… and Getty shows his readers that anyone with the right mentality can get rich by developing a handful of habits.#-ad_banner-# Getty was a very rich man — the richest man in the country in his day. Getty made his fortune by buying up oil businesses at bargain prices just after the… Read More

“Contrary to popular modern belief, it is still quite possible for the successful individual to make his million — and more.” J. Paul Getty wrote these words in 1960, in his book, “How to Be Rich.” It’s as true now as it was then… and Getty shows his readers that anyone with the right mentality can get rich by developing a handful of habits.#-ad_banner-# Getty was a very rich man — the richest man in the country in his day. Getty made his fortune by buying up oil businesses at bargain prices just after the Depression. A small portion of the book is devoted to telling this story. The rest of it presents his thesis: Anyone with the right mentality can get rich by developing a handful of habits. “How to Be Rich” is very easy to read. Written as a series of essays for Playboy magazine, it feels like a casual conversation with a very rich friend. “Although there are no sure-fire formulas for achieving success in business,” Getty says, “there are some fundamental rules to the game, which, if followed, tip the odds of success very much in the businessman’s favor.” Those… Read More

One of Johnny Carson’s best characters was Carnac the Magnificent. Clad in a cape and giant feathered turban, the comic great pretended to prophesy the answers to secret questions.  The act went something like this: Carson holds an envelope to his head, pretends to concentrate, and then sternly says, “Sis boom bah.” Then he opens the envelope and reads the question that prompted the answer: “What sound does a sheep make when it explodes?” If only it were this hilarious and easy to predict the future values of investments.  That’s why people use options. Predict the future price of a… Read More

One of Johnny Carson’s best characters was Carnac the Magnificent. Clad in a cape and giant feathered turban, the comic great pretended to prophesy the answers to secret questions.  The act went something like this: Carson holds an envelope to his head, pretends to concentrate, and then sternly says, “Sis boom bah.” Then he opens the envelope and reads the question that prompted the answer: “What sound does a sheep make when it explodes?” If only it were this hilarious and easy to predict the future values of investments.  That’s why people use options. Predict the future price of a security accurately, and you’ll make far more money than just holding the security. Blow it, and you can at least limit your downside.  It sounds easy, but before you put on your own feathered turban, here are a few things you need to know about options. 1. What Are Call Options And Puts — And How Do They Work? The most popular forms of options are puts and calls. A call gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to purchase 100 shares of a particular underlying security (usually a stock) from the seller at a specified strike… Read More

One of Johnny Carson’s best characters was Carnac the Magnificent. Clad in a cape and giant feathered turban, the comic great pretended to prophesy the answers to secret questions.  The act went something like this: Carson holds an envelope to his head, pretends to concentrate, and then sternly says, “Sis boom bah.” Then he opens the envelope and reads the question that prompted the answer: “What sound does a sheep make when it explodes?” If only it were this hilarious and easy to predict the future values of investments.  That’s why people use options. Predict the future price of a… Read More

One of Johnny Carson’s best characters was Carnac the Magnificent. Clad in a cape and giant feathered turban, the comic great pretended to prophesy the answers to secret questions.  The act went something like this: Carson holds an envelope to his head, pretends to concentrate, and then sternly says, “Sis boom bah.” Then he opens the envelope and reads the question that prompted the answer: “What sound does a sheep make when it explodes?” If only it were this hilarious and easy to predict the future values of investments.  That’s why people use options. Predict the future price of a security accurately, and you’ll make far more money than just holding the security. Blow it, and you can at least limit your downside.  It sounds easy, but before you put on your own feathered turban, here are a few things you need to know about options. 1. What Are Call Options And Puts — And How Do They Work? The most popular forms of options are puts and calls. A call gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to purchase 100 shares of a particular underlying security (usually a stock) from the seller at a specified strike… Read More

Crop growing seasons are dictated by the weather. Farmers generally plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. Some countries in the Southern Hemisphere do the opposite because of their weather, but farmers — and traders — know in advance when crops should be planted and harvested.  This pattern has an impact on prices and results in a cycle that can be seen in the price of corn and other grains. The chart below shows the seasonal pattern for corn. Traders in the futures markets use charts like this to understand the… Read More

Crop growing seasons are dictated by the weather. Farmers generally plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. Some countries in the Southern Hemisphere do the opposite because of their weather, but farmers — and traders — know in advance when crops should be planted and harvested.  This pattern has an impact on prices and results in a cycle that can be seen in the price of corn and other grains. The chart below shows the seasonal pattern for corn. Traders in the futures markets use charts like this to understand the normal direction of the trend. Corn usually starts the year by moving higher. There are some smaller up and down moves, but the price generally peaks in August and then falls into November. Corn is planted mostly in May and June. Harvest can begin in September and is completed by November. This explains the November bottom in prices seen in the chart. That is the time when all of the crop will be out of the field. There will be no additions to… Read More

The CEO of the world’s largest copper mining company bought 1 million shares of his company’s stock at $31.16 per share on June 3.  At the time of this writing, shares are trading around $29.32.   Now, I don’t want to suggest blindly following the investment moves of every industry insider. But when a CEO makes a $31 million purchase of his company’s… Read More

The CEO of the world’s largest copper mining company bought 1 million shares of his company’s stock at $31.16 per share on June 3.  At the time of this writing, shares are trading around $29.32.   Now, I don’t want to suggest blindly following the investment moves of every industry insider. But when a CEO makes a $31 million purchase of his company’s stock, which is trading for the cheapest it’s been since 2008 — I think a closer look is in order. Regular readers may already know that mining stocks have not fared as well as the broader market so far this year. Commodity prices for precious metals have been lagging, which creates headwinds for producers and drives share prices down. In another example, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) (which I covered two weeks ago),… Read More

When you think of pizza, you don’t often think of technology. But Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), one of America’s largest pizza chains, has combined the two into a formula for success. Until 2010, the stock struggled to break $15 as revenue and earnings growth were sluggish. But between 2010 and the end of 2012, earnings accelerated almost 32%, going from $1.45 to $1.91 in the three-year period. The stock responded with a vengeance, up nearly 500% since the summer of 2010. Read More

When you think of pizza, you don’t often think of technology. But Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), one of America’s largest pizza chains, has combined the two into a formula for success. Until 2010, the stock struggled to break $15 as revenue and earnings growth were sluggish. But between 2010 and the end of 2012, earnings accelerated almost 32%, going from $1.45 to $1.91 in the three-year period. The stock responded with a vengeance, up nearly 500% since the summer of 2010. The earnings and share price acceleration can be attributed to several factors: successful advertising campaigns, a tastier pizza recipe and international expansion, but perhaps most importantly, technology — specifically digital ordering technology.#-ad_banner-# In many ways, Domino’s is revolutionizing the way pizza is ordered and delivered. Want a steaming-hot pizza? No need to pick up the phone and speak to a person to place an order. Now there’s an app for that. In 2011, Domino’s created an app to order a pizza through an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone. A year later, it followed with an… Read More

The stock market has not made a decisive breakout yet, but gold has. Volatility Points to a Possible Decline in Stocks SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down 1% last week. On Friday, the ETF fell 0.63%, the fourth day in a row with a move larger than 0.5% (in absolute value). On an average day, since 1928, the… Read More

The stock market has not made a decisive breakout yet, but gold has. Volatility Points to a Possible Decline in Stocks SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) closed down 1% last week. On Friday, the ETF fell 0.63%, the fourth day in a row with a move larger than 0.5% (in absolute value). On an average day, since 1928, the S&P 500 has moved an average of 0.02%. A 0.5% move is 25 times greater than average and four in a row is an unusual pattern. In the history of the S&P 500 index back to 1928, volatile periods like this have occurred about four times a year, on average. The index has a downward bias over the next week and the next month. Over those time frames, traders would have enjoyed a small profit, on average, from a… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we almost never recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%.  If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income… Read More

If you’re a long-time reader of StreetAuthority, you know by now that we almost never recommend stocks with yields higher than 10%.  If the yield is higher than that, it’s usually a sign that the company’s fundamentals are sagging, investors are bracing for a dividend cut — or worse… But today, I’m going to show you how to break one of the cardinal rules of safe income investing and buy a stock yielding 17% without losing a single night’s sleep. #-ad_banner-#All you have to do is think more like a trader. Now, I know that doesn’t come easy to most income investors, but it’s easier than it sounds. In fact, I’m going to show you how one simple tool allows you to know when it’s safe to buy stocks with ridiculously high yields, hold them for a period of time and collect any dividends you might receive, and then know when… Read More

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