Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Invest in the stock market for the RIGHT reason, using the RIGHT choices

Investing in the stock market is not purchasing a stock at 25 dollars a share, hoping it will go to 35 so you can sell it, then hoping it will drop back to 25 so you can buy it back, so that you can sell it again at 35, and so on and so forth.

In my opinion, that is gambling. And, I would imagine, some would believe that ANY investment in the stock market is gambling.

So, for the sake of argument, let’s assume that every investment in the stock market is a gamble (whether you’re trading in and out of a stock position or a long-term investor). If every investment in the stock market is a gamble, then, how does the investor/gambler stack the odds in their favor?

What are the right investment choices for the right reason that will stack the odds in favor of the individual investor, to receive a return worth the gamble? What is the RIGHT reason, and what are the RIGHT choices to make when investing/gambling in the stock market when looking for a return better than a passbook savings account, a CD, Bond or Mutual Fund?

The right reason to invest/gamble in the stock market, believe it or not, is not to make a profit! That’s right! The right reason to invest/gamble in the stock market is to provide an INCOME! Actually, I’ll go even one step further! The right reason to invest/gamble in the stock market is to receive an EVER-INCREASING CASH income every quarter from every stock that you own!

Once you have set your mind toward this right reason for investing/gambling, then the right choices will become very clear.

If every stock owned (every quarter) is going to supply an ever-increasing cash income, then two right choices, right from the get-go, are necessary. One, that every company’s stock purchased must pay a cash dividend, and two, that every cash dividend paid by the company would have to be rolled back into more shares every quarter, until retirement. Those two right choices means that every quarter there will be more shares of each company owned, which, in turn, will create an ever-increasing cash dividend income (as long as the companies owned maintain their dividend).

To stack the odds further in favor of the investor/gambler, another right choice is necessary. Only those companies with a long-term history of raising their cash dividend every year will be chosen. This right choice will provide a yearly increase in the cash dividend income for the retirement years, when the dividends are being sent home to help ends-meet, and are no longer adding shares to the portfolio. The rising yearly dividend increase will, therefore, help off-set the risk of inflation.

Now, there is another right choice to make. To receive the best return on your investment/gambling dollars, all companies chosen will be purchased commission-free. All dividends from each company, each quarter being rolled into more shares, will be commission-free. Therefore, every cent earned in ever-increasing cash dividends every quarter and any extra cash put into your investment/gambling plan will work toward always increasing your cash-dividend income.

By investing for the right reason and using the right choices you automatically become a long-term, dollar-cost averaging, buying investor/gambler of company’s shares, free of commission charges, whose companies raise their dividend every year, with the investor’s / gambler’s idea or purpose being to provide an 85% tax-free income, through ever-increasing cash dividends for the rest of your life, no matter what the price of the stock at any given time in the market place may be.

For more excerpts from the book ‘The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement’ visit: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com



By : Charles M. O’Melia
Charles M. O’Melia is an individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. The author of the book ‘The Stockopoly Plan’; published by American-Book Publishing. The book can be purchased at www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/CharlesMOMelia.shtml

Monday, July 6, 2009

Good Stock Market Tip; Good Return!

Forget making a profit; instead focus on the income provided from your stock portfolio. That’s right! Forget making a profit. The burden is now lifted - no more pressure on making a buck in the stock market. (Instead of trying to bend the spoon, that is impossible, instead just think of the spoon as – omigosh! - I’m in the Matrix!)

When you focus on the amount of money your holdings are providing in dividends – and when those companies selected have a history of raising their dividends each year – a lower stock price allows the dividends that are being rolled back into the stock to accelerate your income. The total value of your portfolio may go lower, but your income from that lower priced portfolio would increase dramatically. Profit by income!

To demonstrate this tip, I’m going to take you back in time, but the strategy of that time is just as viable today, as it was in the past. The year is 1990, the stock for the demonstration is Comerica, and the amount of money invested was $3,333.34. Comerica (CMA) was selected for one simple reason – in 1990 CMA had a historical record of raising their dividend for the past 21 years. Today’s CMA has a 36 year history of raising their dividend every year.

In January 1990 Comerica was selling at $48.38 a share, paid a quarterly dividend of 65 cents a share, with a dividend yield of 5.37% (.65 divided by 48.38 x 4 x 100 = 5.37%). The result of just holding this stock through the years, never taking a profit, and simply having the dividends reinvested each quarter (commission-free) back into the stock is chronicled below: These are the actual returns based on the closing prices of the stock on the company’s dividend payout date (the date a company purchases their stock on the open market for investors enrolled in their stock dividend reinvestment plan; The figures were taken from the research I did, and is from an excerpt from my book The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement.)

Comerica: (with the dividend each quarter rolled back into the stock) $3,333.34 into CMA in January, 1990 at $48.38 a share: Shares purchased, 68.90 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1990: 72.92 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1991: 115.01 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1992: 118.85 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1993: 245.78 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1994: 256.96 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1995: 268.78 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1996: 277.83 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1997: 285.32 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1998: 436.65 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 1999: 446.04 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2000: 463.82 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2001: 474.47 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2002: 490.23 shares.

Total Amount of shares at the end of 2003: 512.60 shares.

Total Amount of shares as of April 1, 2004: 522.23 shares.

On April 1, 2004 Comerica closed at $54.65, for the total market value of $28,539.87 for 522.23 shares of stock. To put the total $28,539.87 into perspective, an interest rate of 15 percent a year on $3,333.34, compounded annually for fourteen and a quarter years would return $28,282.15.

Since this excerpt from my book Comerica has raised their dividend again, from 52 cents a share per quarter, to the current 55 cents a share per quarter, payable to shareholders of record on March 15, 2005.

I own Comerica stock and I have no intention of ever taking a profit! I will continue being a buyer, as long as the company continues its program of raising their dividend every year.

However, I also understand that in the stock market there are no guarantees! It is for this reason and this reason alone, that diversity is a necessity. If I knew for certain that CMA would continue its program of raising their dividend every year, and that the next 14 years would provide better than 15 percent return on my money, I would only own CMA stock. It is because of this ‘risk of no guarantees’ in the stock market that the rewards for investing in the stock market are much higher than a passbook savings account, CD’s or Bonds.

So, to beat the ‘risk of no guarantees’, and to reap the benefits of a better return, I diversify into other companies with the same historical performance. Through a systematic approach of dollar-cost averaging into my stock positions every quarter, along with my quarterly dividend reinvestment, I increase the amount of dividends paid to me each quarter, from every company that I own. My measurement for success in the stock market is not measured by the amount my portfolio is worth. It is measured by the amount of ever-increasing cash dividends received from every stock that I own. As a matter of fact, when my portfolio dips in net-worth, my dividend income accelerates. The reason for this is simple. The lower my port- folio’s net-worth, the higher the dividend yields of the stocks in my portfolio.

All my personal holdings in the stock market have the same basic theme. They are all purchased commission-free, have a long-term history of raising their dividend every year, and are purchased with the intent of supplying ever-increasing dividend income for my retirement years. The Stockopoly Plan was written with this purpose or goal in mind. The Plan itself uses a timing approach for purchases of more shares each quarter, along with the dividend reinvestments.

For more excerpts from the book ‘The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement’ visit: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com



By : Charles M. O’Melia
Charles M. O’Melia is an individual investor with almost 40 years of experience and passion for the stock market. The author of the book ‘The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement’; published by American-Book Publishing. The book can be purchased at http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/CharlesMOMelia.shtml
 
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