Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring… Read More

Making millions and retiring in your 30s is every investor’s dream. But for legendary commodities trader Jim Rogers, it was just the beginning of a career on Wall Street that has spanned six decades and produced a net worth in the hundreds of millions.#-ad_banner-# Rogers’ amazing success was built on his uncanny ability to spot long-term trends well before the masses, earning him a reputation as a contrarian. But now, after “retiring” at 37, scoring huge gains in commodities in the early 2000s and correctly predicting the financial and housing crisis, Jim Rogers has his sights set squarely on what he calls one of the greatest opportunities he has ever seen. Jim Rogers’ Biography Rogers showed a penchant for business at an early age. His career as an entrepreneur began at age 5 with selling peanuts and picking up empty bottles left behind at baseball games in Alabama. After graduating from Yale University in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Rogers headed to Wall Street and worked… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq:… Read More

As earnings season gets underway, investors have been delivered a huge jolt in one of their favorite stocks. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering this stock was one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500. But it’s a wake-up call for any other pricey stocks. If you own one of them, be sure you are not getting in front of a train wreck. The stock in question: Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG), which traded at around $580 in February. Thanks to a stunning one-day plunge, shares are suddenly flirting with the $400 mark. Tepid quarterly sales get the blame, though the size of this stock’s drop is surely due to the stock’s valuation. Back in February, when this stock was making fresh highs, it was valued at more than 30 times projected 2013 profits. Considering that profits were on course to grow around 15% (from 2013 to 2014), that was an unconscionably high… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and… Read More

Traders seemed to like the prospects of low unemployment last week even though that could lead to the end of easy money from the Fed, a prospect that caused a sell-off just weeks ago. Last week’s price gains could be reversed soon as additional economic data and company earnings are released. Stocks Change Their Mind and Gain on News Showing Fed May Taper Soon On Friday, the employment report provided good news about the state of the economy and stocks rallied. SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) gained 1.08% for the day and 1.62% in a three-and-a-half day, holiday-shortened trading week.#-ad_banner-# Unemployment was unchanged at 7.6%, but the details in the jobs report showed some strength in the economy. The economy added 195,000 jobs in June, and estimates for gains in both May and April were… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a small number of events. The notion of the “vital few” has its origins in 1906 in Italy, where economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the wealth was controlled by 20% of the population. Pareto reportedly developed the principle after observing similar scenarios in everyday life, including the fact that 80% of the peas in his garden came from only 20% of the pea pods. Then came Joseph Juran, a quality… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a… Read More

Do you follow the 80/20 rule? During the past century this simple ratio has developed into one of the most useful concepts and tools of modern-day routine. In a moment, I’ll show you how you can use a version of the 80/20 rule to help take your portfolio to a whole other level. First, some background …#-ad_banner-# The 80/20 rule assumes that most of the results in any situation — sales, finance and even personal relationships — are determined by a small number of events. The notion of the “vital few” has its origins in 1906 in Italy, where economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the wealth was controlled by 20% of the population. Pareto reportedly developed the principle after observing similar scenarios in everyday life, including the fact that 80% of the peas in his garden came from only 20% of the pea pods. Then came Joseph Juran, a quality… Read More

Anyone with a dime invested knows about the emotional aspect of financial markets.#-ad_banner-# A recent investor behavior study by research firm Dalbar shows that the average equity investor has seen a return of just 2.3% annually over the past 20 years, underperforming the S&P 500 by an annual average of 4.3%. The culprit? About half of the shortfall in returns — 45% to 55% — is due to psychological factors like fear of loss and following the herd, according to the… Read More

Anyone with a dime invested knows about the emotional aspect of financial markets.#-ad_banner-# A recent investor behavior study by research firm Dalbar shows that the average equity investor has seen a return of just 2.3% annually over the past 20 years, underperforming the S&P 500 by an annual average of 4.3%. The culprit? About half of the shortfall in returns — 45% to 55% — is due to psychological factors like fear of loss and following the herd, according to the study. Individual investors are notorious for emotional investing like irrational exuberance or panic selling. In fact, in 2012, investors trying to time the market guessed right just 42% of the time — worse odds than a coin flip. But investing in bonds is different, right? Many investors follow stocks passionately while the fixed-income portion of… Read More

Anyone with a dime invested knows about the emotional aspect of financial markets.#-ad_banner-# A recent investor behavior study by research firm Dalbar shows that the average equity investor has seen a return of just 2.3% annually over the past 20 years, underperforming the S&P 500 by an annual average of 4.3%. The culprit? About half of the shortfall in returns — 45% to 55% — is due to psychological factors like fear of loss and following the herd, according to the… Read More

Anyone with a dime invested knows about the emotional aspect of financial markets.#-ad_banner-# A recent investor behavior study by research firm Dalbar shows that the average equity investor has seen a return of just 2.3% annually over the past 20 years, underperforming the S&P 500 by an annual average of 4.3%. The culprit? About half of the shortfall in returns — 45% to 55% — is due to psychological factors like fear of loss and following the herd, according to the study. Individual investors are notorious for emotional investing like irrational exuberance or panic selling. In fact, in 2012, investors trying to time the market guessed right just 42% of the time — worse odds than a coin flip. But investing in bonds is different, right? Many investors follow stocks passionately while the fixed-income portion of… Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. As you can see in the chart below, something changed in 1951, and bond yields topped dividend yields for the next 60 years. In November 2011, the relationship reverted back to its historical alignment, and stock market yields have been at least slightly above bond yields ever since. This relationship is important to income investors because asset allocation rules have been developed based on the data. Many retirement investors have learned that a balanced portfolio should be 60%… Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. As you can see in the chart below, something changed in 1951, and bond yields topped dividend yields for the next 60 years. In November 2011, the relationship reverted back to its historical alignment, and stock market yields have been at least slightly above bond yields ever since. This relationship is important to income investors because asset allocation rules have been developed based on the data. Many retirement investors have learned that a balanced portfolio should be 60%… Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. Read More

Income-starved investors are faced with bleak prospects. Stocks in the S&P 500 index might only reward investors with a dividend yield of 2% or so over the next 12 months. As an alternative, investors could consider 10-year Treasury notes, but those pay even less. Based on history and very long-term charts, stocks do seem like the better choice. Prior to 1951, stocks offered investors more income than bonds. As you can see in the chart below, something changed in 1951, and bond yields topped dividend yields for the next 60 years. In November 2011, the relationship reverted back to its historical alignment, and stock market yields have been at least slightly above bond yields ever since. This relationship is important to income investors because asset allocation rules have been developed based on the data. Many retirement investors have learned that a balanced portfolio should be 60%… Read More