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Posted by Martin November 02, 2012
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Diversification is often a hedge for ignorance


Investors are often advised to diversify their stock portfolios to minimize risk. But IBD research shows that it’s actually less risky and more rewarding to own just several carefully chosen stocks.

“The best results are achieved through concentration, by putting your eggs in a few baskets that you know well and watching them very carefully,” IBD founder and Chairman William J. O’Neil wrote in “How To Make Money In Stocks.”

“Keep things manageable. The more stocks you own, the harder it is to keep track of all of them,” O’Neil wrote.

He says investors should conduct thorough research and choose a limited number of stocks that can be followed easily. This involves first creating a watch list focused on industry-leading companies with top-notch fundamentals.

People with $20,000 to $200,000 to invest should limit their holdings to four or five stocks. Those with $5,000 to $20,000 should consider buying at most three stocks, and those with around $3,000 should limit their holdings to two stocks, O’Neil writes.

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Posted by Martin November 02, 2012
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New trade – Gold ETF (GLD)


As I wrote in my previous post I wish to have some exposure to gold and be buying on dips. I believe that in long term gold will gain value, so I will be buying these corrections in gold as we could see today, for example.

I had an open order from last week to buy GLD if the price drops below 162.7 a share. It happened today and I added few more shares into my portfolio.

11/02/2012 12:42:35 Bought 4 GLD @ 162.64

As of today I own 7 shares. As I mentioned before I have a small account and my plan is build a strong dividend paying portfolio. I do not have more cash available so as of now I will be in saving mode saving more cash for future additions.

Happy Trading!




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Posted by Martin November 02, 2012
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New trade – McDonald’s (MCD)


Today I bought more shares of MCD to my dividend portfolio at $87.25 per share.

11/02/2012 09:30:43 Bought 10 MCD @ 87.25

Total shares held as of today: 10
Estimated annual dividend: $38.80
Consecutive Dividend Increase: 35 years
Dividend yield today: 3.20%
Dividend 5yr Growth: 34.87%
Dividend paid since: 1976




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Posted by Martin November 01, 2012
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Is McDonald’s (MCD) a buy?


I believe McDonald’s is a buy at this price. The fast food chain was beaten down by slowdown pressure in fast food industry although this giant is able to survive even in tough economic times. I remember I was once reading in 2008 an article how fast food chains were prospering due to cheaper price for food and many families went dining out in these restaurants.

People will eat no matter what and McDonald’s is a leader in this industry. Innovation, coffee menu (which was accepted very well and became a serious competitor to Starbucks) and innovations in menu (such as Angus 1/3 lb Hamburger) will make this giant overcome today’s pressure which is considered by some analysts a cyclical one.

I already owned this stock in the past. I bought it when it was selling at $76 per share and sold it at $98 per share. At today’s prices at $86.8 per share I believe it is time to add it back to my portfolio.

The company increased dividends lately as well.

Per Morningstar:

McDonald’s generates revenue through company-owned restaurants, franchise royalties, and licensing pacts. Restaurants offer a uniform value-priced menu, with some regional variations. As of March 2012, there were 33,500 locations in 119 countries, including 27,100 franchisees/affiliates units and 6,400 company units.

What can I say about MCD that hasn’t already been said? Nothing, really. I recently wrote that the sell-off in MCD shares offers the long-term dividend growth investor a solid value at current prices under $88 per share. The P/E ratio stands at 16.57 and the yield is currently at 3.50%. That’s a pretty strong entry yield for a global juggernaut like Mickey D’s. I currently have 40 shares of MCD in my Freedom Fund, but would gladly pickup more if the weakness continues here.

Using a Dividend Discount Model to value the shares here, I used a 10% dividend growth rate for the next 10 years, followed by a terminal 8% growth rate and used a conservative 12% discount rate. That gives me a fair value of $107.50. Seeing as how MCD actually has a 10-year dividend growth rate of 27.4% along with 36 years of raising the dividend, I think the value is justified. The reasonable balance sheet doesn’t hurt, either.

I will use the same entry model as in my previous purchases to buy a few shares (unfortunately I do not have enough capital yet to buy more, so I have to be accumulating slowly although my commission per trade will be higher in this case). My plan is however continue investing into good quality dividend paying stocks with good dividend history and good dividend growth. I will be reinvesting all dividends and the first task is to reach 100 shares in each selected company so I can apply covered call strategy to boost the income. Lately when I raise capital further I plan also applying selling naked puts. But that will be my next step.

As far as this trade I opened an order to buy MCD if the price raises above 87.15, but not more than 87.20 per share.

Happy Trading!




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Posted by Martin November 01, 2012
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New trade – Realty Income (O)


Today I bought more shares of Realty Income to my dividend portfolio at $39.72 per share.

11/01/2012 12:26:49 Bought 19 O @ 39.72

Total shares held as of today: 66
Estimated annual dividend: $120.12
Consecutive Dividend Increase: 14 years
Dividend yield today: 4.50%
Dividend 5yr Growth: 2.66%
Dividend paid since: 1994




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Posted by Martin October 29, 2012
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How to avoid tax problems


Many investors deal with taxes when selling stocks or cashing their dividends. Taxation is always a problem which is in many cases overlooked and badly planned. I must admit I need help myself and always look for professionals who can provide me with planning with personal taxes (since I am a private investor).

Many times I have to deal with calculating stock price basis when selling them. A broadly overlooked part on my side was that when computing my basis in stock sold in one particular year, I didn’t include any dividends that were automatically reinvested into shares since the time of purchase. This and any fees involved with the purchase of shares are considered cost basis and will reduce your capital gains.

One way how to avoid tax problems and confusions would be to hire a tax professional who can provide you with help and planning. If you are not sure, and need IRS tax relief, go and hire a professional to help you with the job to avoid paying unnecessary taxes.

Happy Trading!




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Posted by Martin October 28, 2012
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Sell the rip, buy the dip – gold ETF (GLD)


In my portfolio I wish to have some exposure to gold (GLD). I read several articles in the past about buying gold and reasons behind it and when you are watching what the US government is doing to our currency, you definitely get an itching for gold. Bernanke’s moves and the entire FED devastating policy of devaluing dollar’s value are catastrophic in the future for common people. There are a few ways how you can protect yourself against it and gold is one of the ways.

Just a few years ago, gold was selling at 400 per oz and last year it was at 1900 oz. With the inflation, Bernanke is “preparing” for all of us, gold will skyrocket in the future. It will have its peaks and valleys in price during its journey up, but generally it will be going up.

And it is those valleys I would like to pick up. As the saying goes, buy the dips, sell the rips I am going to buy more shares of gold via GLD ETF.

The recent rally in GLD was impressive and GLD is now correcting that rally. I am expecting GLD going lower in price. The reason for it is that the market (SPY) will most likely show a short term rally on its way down which would push GLD lower. As the market turns back down and continue going down, gold will most likely go up.

For that I will start buying GLD shares if and when the GLD drops below $163 per share.

Happy Trading




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Posted by Martin October 26, 2012
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Realty Income broke below 200 MA

Realty Income broke below 200 MA

Realty Income broke 200 MA support in today’s session and many investors panicked asking why did it happen? However, as you can see on the chart below, buyers stepped in and pushed the stock above 200 day MA, but for a moment only. It closed below on a low volume.

Should you be worried about this price action? As a long term investor this is definitely a great opportunity to buy more shares. Is it time to rush in right now? Probably not. We still may see more pressure down in this stock, but I am definitely getting ready to buy more shares of this stock.

Look at today’s price action:

Realty Income

The price dropped below 200 day MA but buyers pushed it back above it. The candle has a long shadow and it may indicate an exhaustion, however, volume was below average. From the long term perspective we still may have a quite long way down to go:

Realty Income

The stock may go all the way down to $38 per share, which would be an excellent buy point. Should investors be scared? I do not think so. Realty Income proved itself over time that it is a well managed company and historically it survived all catastrophes, downtrends and sell-offs.

Realty Income

The red line on the chart above indicates a price action of the stock, the blue line indicates the dividend. Except one moment in 2005 the stock was consistently raising the dividends even though the price action was negative and the stock was losing.

For Monday I am planning on opening a trade order to buy more shares of this stock.




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Posted by Martin October 25, 2012
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Lending Club Holdings page


I really enjoy investing with Lending Club. I’ve been investing with Lending Club for almost 3 years and over that time I have developed a method of selecting, evaluating and watching new notes in which I want to invest and those I am already invested in. The method of watching the notes I already own helped me to avoid late or defaulting notes. And by that I mean absolutely no troubled note at all. By watching carefully my notes I was able to sell any note before it turned bad. This process helped me to have only current notes and increasing my return.

The following charts are showing my current record and I added a new page named Lending Club Holdings for quick review of my account progress.

For the upcoming period (not necessarily next year) I have a plan to save $10,000 in Lending Club and then I will continue reinvesting all proceeds only. After I reach this goal, I will focus on my TD Ameritrade trading account and save/invest $10,000 in TD account.

Interest rate over time:

Current account value:

Monthly payments (interest & principal):

Annual interest income:

Are you considering investing with Lending Club? Do you need help? Contact me for information or help.

Happy trading!




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Posted by Martin October 25, 2012
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Another candidate for accumulation – RealtyIncome (O)

Another candidate for accumulation - RealtyIncome (O)

Another stock (O) is being pushed down by temporary sell off. I believe it is a temporary sell off and here are my reasons for it. The company released its 3rd quarter results from which the revenue dropped from $34.7 million in previous quarter in 2011 to $27.0 million. All other metrics seems to me staying at the same level or increasing. The dividends also increased in the previous period. So what caused the drop? The company states that it was the one-time payments to preferred stock redemption and merger related costs.

And here it comes. The company is going to acquire all outstanding stocks of American Realty Capital Trust (ARCT). Isn’t acquisition considered as a good sign in the investing world? Will that make Realty Income stronger? Mainly when considered the mission of this company which has been increasing dividends for 14 consecutive years? This acquisition will bring a portfolio of investment-grade tenants (such as manufacturing, other industrial and office properties) and Realty Income overall portfolio on retail tenants would increase from 19% to 34% and their non-retail portfolio from 14% to 19%. You can read more about this acquisition here. Overall, I look at this event positively.

The company purchased 87 new properties last quarter and revenue from the existing properties increased last quarter. The Company estimates that 2013 FFO (funds from operations) per share should range from $2.30 to $2.36 per share, an increase of 12.7% to 18.0% over the 2012 estimated FFO per share of $2.00 to $2.04. FFO per share for 2013 is based on an estimated net income per share range of $0.93 to $0.99, plus estimated real estate depreciation of $1.44 and reduced by potential gains on sales of investment properties of $0.07 per share. It is planning on increasing the dividend in 2013 by 37c to $1.947 per share (an increase by circa 6%).

Looking at the mission of the company, its management and workers in the company who proved over time their diligent strive to create a company on which people who are looking at steady income (such as retirees) can relay on, I believe today’s price action creates another opportunity to accumulate.

Let’s take a look at the stock from the technical perspective.

The stock is attacking its major support, which I believe is at $40.30. We touched this support a few times in the past in August and in September. Currently it looks like the stock is forming a head and shoulder pattern and it is now breaking thru the support at $40.30 level. Will this level hold?

It may or it may not. If this level won’t hold we may go as low as to $38 level, where I think is the next support, see the chart above showing 5 year chart. For almost whole last year the stock was drifting downwards and finally picked up in October 2011 and since then it was a rising stock. Are we going to repeat the same trend? On the 5 year chart see the red short downward line. This line is an exact copy of the same line in the middle of the chart indicating the period of slow downward move last year. Thus the red line may be a projection of what may happen again. If that happens, considering the outlook of the company and considering that the economy may finally pick up and grow next year, this consolidation may be a great opportunity to buy more shares of this company.

What will be my approach then? I will continue watching this stock carefully at this time and moving more cash to my account. As soon as I can see reversal in the stock I will use the same buying strategy as I used in Abbott (ABT) to buy more shares.

Happy Trading




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