3rd Post - My views on stocks

I would like to tell you my view on stocks. I used to invest almost exclusively in stocks. Stocks are one of the easiest investments to invest in and also the easiest to lose. I have recently moved from most of my money from stocks to investments that are backed by hard assets or contracts such as real estate or bonds. Stocks I have learned are what I like to call an intangible asset meaning that other than cash, the rest of the value of the stock is based mostly on future cash flows. This makes them hard to give a valuation on and easy to get wrong. I am not saying don't invest in stocks. I am saying do not be a stock picker. If you want to invest in stocks, by an index fund/ETF or a mutual fund. One thing I do not like about funds is that they are trying to beat a benchmark. I would rather have them try to beat a benchmark AND be profitable. Instead of a fund being happy that they only lost 10% instead of the 30% the benchmark that they compare to lost, I would rather have them sell everything and not lose that last 10%.

I would like to make a few comments/observations on stocks and why it is hard to pick stocks.

1. This is what usually happens to me and most investors. You pick a stock that you think is going up for whatever reason. Just by picking the stock you have a 50/50 chance that it will go up or down. Say you pick correctly and it goes up. So you bought it for $100 and now it is $200. What usually happens is you sell it take your $200 and use it to buy another stock. This time however, you guess wrong and the stock goes down and you lose most of your $200. This has happened to many investors and I do not think it is possible for most people to get it right enough times to make money over a period of time. Even the best money managers who were good for the last 10-15 years, eventually got it wrong and lost all the money they had made. Here's an article on Bill Miller.

Its almost like flipping a coin. You can guess right 10 times in a row, but on the 11th you may lose.

2. How to pick a stock. I, like so many have picked stocks that are 5 star rated, picked by Jim Cramer, passed a stock screen, but it still goes down. Why? I have learned that there are just too many variables that make a stock go up or down to keep track of. For example, say you want to buy a solar stock. So you read a bunch of analyst reports, listen to Cramer and buy the best of breed, do a stock screen for a low P/E ratio. So at the end of the day there are 2 stocks left. You pick one and buy it. Now what happened in Oct/Nov 2008 is that because some banks had worthless mortgage back securities, your solar stock goes down because of the credit crisis. Now, in order for you to have forseen this, you would of had to do research on banking and housing stocks. Now, I find that very hard to do and even to know that you need to do it. There seems to be an infinite number of variables when investing in stocks.

3. What is the value of a stock? I kept reading that $2 trillion worth of money was wiped out in 2008.
Now, this is not really true. For example, say the stock price of Apple is $100 and say there are 1 million shares outstanding for example. That would make the market cap $100 Million. Now, if you sell 50,000 shares the price of Apple will probably go down to $99 or $98. This happens because there are not enough buyers at $100. So if you want to sell 50,000 shares, maybe 25,000 will go at 100, 10,000 at $99.5 and 15,000 at $99. So the $100 is really the maximum someone is willing to buy it for which means that the market cap of $100 million is not really true. The only exception is when a company buys another company, they usually pay a premium to the existing market cap.

There was a period from 2003-2007 where the market was up 100%. In the last 10 years, though there is around a 1% return, they call this the "Zero Decade." They say that the first year after a recession is over is the greatest gains for stocks. I moved most of my money out of the market and into bonds. But what I am doing is maximizing my 401k and currently buying stock mutual funds at low levels. This way if there is a rally I am going to take part in it. All my other money is in bonds. I do plan to take it out of the market once it goes up 30% or more, maybe when the DOW is over 10,000 again. My next post will show some theories about the next 10 years.

2nd Post - Corporate Bonds

Corporate Bonds

This is probably one of the best investments going right now. I have put a majority of my money in corporate bonds. Why do I like them? With the market going down, a lot of corporate bonds of good companies are selling from $500-$800. The coupons on these are >5% and the yield to maturity is from 10-15%. Sometimes you can find the YTM >15%. This is better than any CD you will find. Bonds are better than stocks in that if a company goes bankrupt, there is still a chance that you can still get your money back. Here is the rating of bonds.

Bonds can be bought through any brokerage account (Etrade, TDAmeritrade, etc.)

There is a reason that they are selling cheap in that the company might go bankrupt. I tend to stay away from bank, auto, and housing companies. These are where the greatest gains or losses occur. People who bought Bear Stearns were lucky when JP Morgan Chase bought them. The bonds were selling at or below $500. When it was purchased, Bear Stearns received the credit rating of JP Morgan and are now selling at $800 or higher. People who owned Lehman Brothers were unlucky and were practically wiped out when they went bankrupt. Here are things I look at before buying a bond.

1. Buy a bond below $1000. I like to buy bonds in the $700 range. The bond will go to $1000 when it matures.

2. I try to buy energy companies. They usually are more stable and have real assets so they have a greater chance of getting bought instead of filing for bankruptcy. Telephone and food companies are good also. They are recession proof.

3. Have a market cap of $1 Billion or more. If this is true, the company is probably big enough and will not file bankruptcy before the bond expires.

4. Have a maturity date in the next 10 years or less. I don't like to make long term commitments in companies I am not 100% familiar with.

5. YTM > 7%. You can usually find CDs for 4% so I want more return for the risk I am taking.

6. Buy an investment grade bond, usually BBB or better.

Other things to note: Minimum quantity to buy. Usually most bonds are 5. It is possible to lose all your money since they are not insured.

I have noticed lately that with the market going back up, the bond prices have also gone up, so you may not see the >15% YTM anymore. That is the problem with any investment idea, once everyone knows about it, the profit is squeezed.

Here is an example of a bond that is currently available that I like (not a recommendation).

CUSIP:86722TAA0
Suncor Energy is a $18B energy company. Its bond has a coupon of 6.1 and YTM of 7.6%. It is rated A-. The price is $90.

I hope this helps explain why I like corporate bonds right now. If you have questions/comments please add them to the comments and I will address them.

First Post!

Welcome to my first blog and the very first post! I hope this blog is useful for you and others.

Purpose

What is the purpose of this blog? This blog is meant to give alternative non-stock investment ideas to the average investor. By average, I mean the average person who has gone through the last 10 years trying to invest money in the market. These are the investors (like me) who have listened to all the analysts on CNBC, read news articles, tried different stock investment strategies, bought and sold stock, and after all that ended up losing money. This year made me realize, more than what I learned in 2000, that even the analysts and experts really have no clue and the market is a gamble. This blog is for people who believe stocks are not for them. I am not recommending not investing in stocks. I want to provide the reader with alternative investments to stock and help with their investing strategy. I read a large amount of financial articles and would like to share what I learn with you. I am not an expert myself, but I want to provide my thoughts on what I believe does WORK and is currently working for me. There is a risk that you may lose some or all of your money, and that is a risk you take with ANY investment. I am not a professional money manager and I am not recommending anything, I am just sharing my viewpoints.

I will try to have a new investment idea, strategy, or viewpoint with each new post. Since new investments do not come everyday, I will not blog every day. I do not want this blog to be a discussion on financial news. I also want to post some interesting links. Also, if you have questions/comments, please feel free to post. I am not sure who will be reading the blog and what their financial expertise is, so if there is something I write about that you don't understand, please let me know.

Basics

Money used on these alternative investments should only be used with your "extra" money. This is the money that is leftover once all the basic expenses listed below have been covered.

1. Have enough money to cover 6-12 months of expenses in Money Market/CD.

2. Have an IRA and make yearly contribution

3. If you have kids, contribute to 529.

4. Maximize 401k or at least get company match.

5. Buy a house to live in if possible.

6. Cover any other obligations you may have (Credit cards, etc.)

So let's start with my first and best alternative investment...corporate bonds. See next post.