The perfect Mutual Fund

Written by Charles M. O'Melia


Continued from page 1

Inrepparttar perfect Mutual Fund your money is not spread too thin. For example, putting $5,000.00 into, lets say,repparttar 112447 S&P 500 Index Fund, you would end up owning around $10.00 worth of 500 different companies. Other thanrepparttar 112448 obvious fact that your money is being spread too thin, any dividends fromrepparttar 112449 companies inrepparttar 112450 Index Fund could possibly be eaten up by management’s operating expenses, advertising fees and whatever other Mutual Fund fees (they’re called ‘hidden fees’)are involved.

Inrepparttar 112451 perfect Mutual Fundrepparttar 112452 valuation of a stock is based on how often a company raises its dividend andrepparttar 112453 company’s stock appreciation inrepparttar 112454 market place forrepparttar 112455 past eight years. It is this valuation that earns it its place inrepparttar 112456 perfect Mutual Fund. The perfect Mutual Fund ignores allrepparttar 112457 other elaborate techniques of security analysis to find value in a stock. I guess you could call it a Jerry Maguire, ‘show merepparttar 112458 money’ security analysis. (Also, in my opinion, too many people spend too much time looking at technical charts trying to predict what a stock orrepparttar 112459 stock market is going to do tomorrow. Just because thousands of people on Wall Street make a living doing ‘technical analysis’ doesn’t mean you have too jump off a building, too.)

Inrepparttar 112460 perfect Mutual Fund it isrepparttar 112461 belief thatrepparttar 112462 dividend isrepparttar 112463 one measure a company cannot fudge. The money has to be there to payrepparttar 112464 shareholder. The earnings, P/E ratio (trailing or forward), price to sales etc. will all fall into place ifrepparttar 112465 company still has enough earnings every year to continue raising its dividend. The perfect Mutual Fund assumes that if a company, for example, that has a history of raising its dividend forrepparttar 112466 past 35 consecutive years; it must be doing something right!

Inrepparttar 112467 perfect Mutual Fundrepparttar 112468 dividends fromrepparttar 112469 companies are also a safety factor that will put a bottom (support) on a stock. The dividend yield/return will keeprepparttar 112470 price of a stock from falling too far, in case of a severe drop inrepparttar 112471 stock market. And, of course, inrepparttar 112472 perfect Mutual Fund,repparttar 112473 lower stock prices accelerate your income.

The perfect Mutual Fund is real!

How to begin and invest in your own perfect Mutual Fund can be found in my book ‘The Stockopoly Plan’. Excerpts fromrepparttar 112474 book can be found at www.thestockopolyplan.com



An individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. Author of the book ‘The Stockopoly Plan’, soon to be released by American Book Publishing.


Interest Rates Up, Up and Away?

Written by Cindy S. Morus


Continued from page 1

If you’ve been thinking about re-financing, there are still some good deals out there and there’s no sense in procrastinating any longer. Contact me for some excellent resources for re-financing.

What if a new house isn’t in your plans for a couple of years? When rates go up, it often cools off real estate prices and balances outrepparttar higher rates. Continue to save money inrepparttar 112446 highest interest short-term accounts you can find (no stocks or other long-term investments). Rates will probably not take huge leaps inrepparttar 112447 short term. If you have an adjustable rate (home or home equity or car loans), you will see higher payments so call your lender to find out whatrepparttar 112448 new payment is “likely” to be. They’ll probably put all kinds of disclaimers out about not really knowing, but try to get a worst case scenario and then start pretending you really do have that new payment. Putrepparttar 112449 extra into a special savings account so you’ll have a “slush” fund to cover if you run short one month. Atrepparttar 112450 same time you are building up a cushion forrepparttar 112451 future, you’ll have a good idea of whether or not you can handlerepparttar 112452 new payment. If not, now’srepparttar 112453 time to start looking at other alternatives like cutting back, increasing income or even refinancing. Remember, if you refinance your existing term to a new 30 year term, you’ll have lower payments, but you’ll pay a lot more for your house because ofrepparttar 112454 additional interest.

Call you credit card companies and see if they are willing to lower your rates (not all are). Look for good, permanent credit card interest rates that you can transfer higher rate balances to. For example, if most of your cards are 18% or higher, find a good 12% card or lower and transfer as much as you can to that. Playingrepparttar 112455 0% credit card shuffle is a dangerous game and can hurt your credit score.

Reduce credit card debt now! Stop using your cards and pay more thanrepparttar 112456 minimums. If you pay off one card, take that payment and put it on another card.

If you receive a pay increase, put it onrepparttar 112457 cards. The soonerrepparttar 112458 cards are paid off,repparttar 112459 more flexibility you’ll have!

All in all, we’re quite likely to enjoy reasonable interest rates for some time to come. However, make preparations now and you’ll be able to handle whatever comes your way.

Cindy Morus is a Certified Credit Report Reviewer and Certified Financial Recovery Counselor. She shows families how to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. For help in reviewing and improving your credit reports ,please contact Cindy at 541-387-2995 or by e-mail at cmorus@phelps-creek.com or www.phelps-creek.com.


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