Blog

Investing

How do you invest successfully?

Anyone can invest in stocks, mutual funds, index funds, ETFs, or in real estate. But how many know what they are doing? How do you invest successfully? Successful investing requires an understanding of the following six tenets:

Ignore the Noise
Ignore the "noise" in the media. Ignore the so called "experts", the internet, television, and magazines are full of "advice" that will lead you astray. Remember the media are corporations that exist to make a profit, and profits come from increasing view…

Read more…

Don't Panic When Stock Prices Drop

The key to successful investing is buying quality dividend paying stocks when they are undervalued. A dividend is the company sharing its profits with you the shareholder. In the long-run you can actually receive more in dividends than what you initially paid for the stock.

Suppose a company is paying $1 each year per share, and you own 1000 shares, you will then receive $1000 every year as long as the company continues to pay the dividend and as long as you continue to own those shares. …

Read more…

Transitioning from Mutual Funds to Your Own Growing Portfolio

Like most people you probably have an existing portfolio made up of mutual/index funds, GICs, bonds, and/or term deposits. Long-time readers will know the benefits of investing in dividend stocks and creating your own stream of growing passive income. So, how do you go about transitioning from mutual funds to building your own portfolio?

The transition is going to take time, so don’t rush anything. It took me almost 3 years to completely get rid of my mutual funds and build a stock only portfol…

Read more…

6 Steps to Safely Doubling Your Money

It’s possible to double your money by investing responsibly. Here’s how to do it in 6 steps.

Step 1: Dividends Are Key

Invest in companies that pay dividends. As a shareholder, you are part owner of the company, and as part owner you are entitled to share in the profits of the company. Dividends are part of the profits the company shares with you the shareholder. Here are some examples of companies and their annual dividends today:

  • Coca-Cola, $1.56
  • Colgate-Palmolive, $1.68
  • Target, $2.48

Read more…

3 Steps to Investing Successfully

Get Rid of the Noise

1. Stop listening to the financial media (TV, online, magazines). The financial media are made up of corporations. A corporation only has one purpose: to make money. The media makes money by selling advertising space. Their "articles" are not designed to help you, they are designed to increase ratings and readership so that they can charge more for advertising.

No One Cares More About Your Money

2. No one cares more about your money than you. Your financial advisor cares …

Read more…

How can you make money with dividends?

I've created a short video (5 mins) to show you how you can earn passive income with dividends.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth more! In this video I cover:
  • What is a dividend.
  • How to make money with dividends.
  • Learn how I invested $2479 in one stock and have received $4606 just from dividends alone.
  • Dividends continue to go up regardless of stock price.
  • Coca-Cola has been paying dividends to shareholders since 1893.
  • 60 years of consecutiv…

Read more…

With the market drop, is now a good time to invest?

If you are going to buy index funds, ETFs, or mutual funds the answer is no. 12 months ago the Dow was sitting at 20,269 and today it is at 24,640. Broadly speaking the market is still very high. You should not buy stocks when they are overvalued.

Buy Low
You can invest in individual stocks, but you have to be very selective. Only buy quality stocks when they are undervalued.

Here’s how you know if a stock is undervalued:

  • It’s current dividend yield must be higher than it’s average divi…

Read more…

How do you build wealth?

You build wealth one stock at a time. In this case you grow your investment 373% with just one stock. Then you continue to hold the stock for its growing income.

Lowe’s was founded in 1964 and operates as a home improvement company in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates 2,365 home improvement and hardware stores, and has 190,000 employees.

Dividends Continue to Grow

In December 2007, Lowe’s stock was trading at $22.62 per share and the dividend was $0.18/share. Since then the d…

Read more…

How do you invest locally but still get exposure to international markets?

As an investor you know the importance of diversifying your portfolio. By investing internationally, you can protect your portfolio from market declines. So, is it better to buy International Index Funds? How do you buy stocks in other parts of the world? How does the currency exchange work? How do you invest locally but still get exposure to world markets?

International exposure is important, say there’s a recession in North America but European stocks are doing well, it would be beneficial …

Read more…

How Do You Invest When Companies Lie?

History is full of companies that have lied on their financial statements. As an investor how can you avoid investing your hard-earned money in companies that lie? The investing part is simple, and the answer comes from Lowell Miller. But first let’s take a quick history lesson:

Tyco Ltd: In 2005 its CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark H. Swartz were found guilty of stealing $600 million from the company.

Enron: Once considered a blue-chip stock, in 2001 Enron shares dropped from $90 to $0.50. E…

Read more…