Investment Common Sense

News & Views   

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July 3, 2023

On June 17th I rolled my June portfolio. By my crude reckoning I made 14.2%. My formula is ending balance minus starting balance, plus withdrawals minus cash contributions, the net divided by the starting balance. I know that's not accurate, but for the purpose of how much spending money, it works for me.

Pretty good, right? Well the S&P 500 index went up 17.45% in this same time period and - get this - Invesco QQQ ETF total return for the same period was 30.74%

In this particular portfolio, I stuck pretty close to the Trending Value rules. I think I'm gonna quit working so hard and start buying more short bonds and ETFs

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April 24, 2023, 2023

For the last couple of months, domestic USA stocks with high value ratings are scarce as hens teeth, and the ones that do qualify are pretty concentrated in the energy or finance industries. Right now, I don't want to be overweight in those industries.

Economnists are pontificating about whether or not there will be a recession this year. One of my long time rules is this, "If it really is the end of the world, why worry? Your money ain't going to help you". Might as well as look around for bargains. Or at least, put your extra cash to work at some interest rate.

There are some pretty good yields in the 6 to 15 month corporate bond markets with such names as Walmart, Caterpillar, John Deere. If they default, you're going to have to learn how to shoot, clean and cook wild turkey, grow and can vegetables and heat with wood that you chop yourself. My personal view is, that ain't gonna happen. So, put your extra cash to work in short federal agency or Corpoate bonds, and nibble at the stocks you like from this week's Weekly List.

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February 20, 2023

The reason the web site was not updated last week was because Ycharts made some arbitrary changes to their data screening that resulted in no data in the "net shareholder yield" column of my download spec. I have queationed whether I should use that function or their "Dividend Yield" function. I favored the former because it also includes share buybacks, but always questioned whether investors really give a shit about stock buybacks. Well, ycharts has now made the decision for me, and even tho the column is headed "Total Yield", it is really "Dividend Yield".

I may figure out how to change the column heading sometime in the future, but it is late, I have had three glasses of Chardonay (Almaden), and I ain't gonna do it tonite.

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January 11, 2023

I'm sorry that the site was not updated this week. The reason is because Chas Schawb programmers - in their infinite wisdom - arbitrarily changed the format of the header on the customer data that can be downloaded by clicking the "Export" link on their account page.

They made several other unnecessary changes to their web site recently that resulted in inaccurate information being displayed on their summary page. As you may have concluded by now, I'm pissed. I have a problem with immature programmers supervised by incompetent designers arbritarily making unnecessary changes apparently just to keep busy. Do I sound like a pissed off customer? I am.

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