Year-End Housekeeping
Ok just wanted to touch on a couple of things going into year-end here. First, this next year we’ll be focusing on growth on the money management side of the business. Since I opened the RIA too much time has been spent on strategy, organization, planning and frustrating and time-consuming administrative matters. Second, we are […]
On the market in general
{Reminder: this was written a couple years ago, since then things have begun to look more encouraging with regard to housing. Market conditions have changed as well but I thought some of this might be helpful anyway. -RM} The market is not the economy. The market is a humbling beast, and it is based on […]
On flawed investment styles
Do it yourself – I would absolutely encourage everyone to manage their own accounts. This, however, requires countless hours of reading, research, and maintenance every week, and a level of expertise commensurate with a successful professional. Sometimes that’s not saying all that much though… But anyway, as a DIYer, you can never take your eyes […]
On tax-driven decision making
Simply put, all else being equal, taxes due to the government are directly proportional to the money you’ve made. If you’ve never had to pay taxes on investments, forgiving significant write-offs elsewhere, you’ve never made money in stocks, unless of course, we’re talking about qualified retirement accounts, and you will eventually have to pay taxes […]
On account protection
The value of your account trumps everything else going on in the market, at all times. Protect the value of your account. If you are wrong, admit it, get your money off the table and start over. You will have a comparatively higher value to resume compounding from. And from experience, once you go to […]
On your positions
This is another area that can mean the difference between winning and losing in the market. When you initiate a position, you do so with a relatively small position relative to how much of it you eventually would like to own. This serves the purpose of limiting losses on a dollar basis in the event […]
More on stock selection
Personally, I use probably no less than 20 different methods (filters) to identify stocks worthy of my capital, and my client’s capital. This is where my bread is buttered, so I will only give a teaser here…. but generally speaking, I never buy cheap stocks, I never invest in a company with negative earnings, I […]
On investment selection
Buy and sell timing – this is not as simple as buying low and selling high. This is actually not simple at all. Expecting success solely through market timing will lead to your financial ruin. Never try to pick a bottom. A successful short-seller knows that momentum builds on itself, a further break to the […]
On speculative account management
To a great extent, the performance of an account is directly proportional to how quickly the management can admit they were wrong. Your money is supposed to be working for you, not against you. In the absence of the experience, expertise and resources needed to properly manage your own accounts, you can find someone who […]