Hello my follower!
Today we are going to talk about your Personal Financial Advisors. You are a customer of your financial advisor. Not only that you make him lots of money. And each payday he takes money you have help make home in the form of a paycheck. So who is the boss here? You are! Your financial advisor should have the attitude that he works for you (which he does) and be there for you when you need him. If he does not understand this concept it is time for him to be fired by you...especially if he is losing you money.
Yesterday, was the big opening of the IPO, ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD (BABA). This is the biggest thing since Google! I sincerely hope you got some yesterday to add to your portfolio. I was trying all day to get a hold of my financial advisor to make a trade as I was having some trouble with the Chase Bank on line service. No Call, No Show by financial advisor. He takes and has some lady call me after market close...which of course is way too late. Guess who got fired yesterday (9-19-2014) after losing me thousands of dollars. You guessed it, my financial advisor of three years. I have had this issue with him before and we talked about it. I gave him one more chance and he failed me again. Sorry, but you're fired when you keep loose me thousands of dollars when I need your services.
As it happened I have 2 other firms working for me. I was able to make a couple of nice trades myself on my Scottrade account where I have more money invested, but that has nothing to do with my financial advisor at Chase Bank. Sorry, but he just lost an account of over $1 million yesterday. That's why your financial advisor should be working hard to keep your business. It will not take too many accounts like mine and you know he will be sent out to pasture(unemployment line).
So what do I do now? There is not much that can be done. His boss is going to call me Monday. However, unless they plan on filling my pockets with all the money they lost for me I will no longer be their customer and transfer all 4 of my accounts with them. Their loss.
If you have a situation ever occur that your financial advisor is not following your instructions or is losing you money. I adamantly advise you to find a new firm and advisor.
Gus S.
Disclaimer:
Make sure to review any information found on this blog site with your personal financial advisor before making any decisions. I am providing general information and not financial advise. I am not a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Do You Have Old Pention Plans?
This is for my followers who are pushing the 55 year old mark or have pasted it. Sorry to say, but yes some of us are getting older and as we age so do our financial needs and our financial planning. So let's talk about those things today.
Did you know that the average length of stay with each employer is about 5 years. Now remember that is average. How many of you worked some place from the time you were in high school and maybe only worked there a month. You may have worked at your current job 15 years. But you have to average out all your various jobs from the first one to the last one even if you only worked one day.
Thus we do change jobs on the average of about every 5 years, many of us pushing age 55 or older are facing retirement in the fairly near future and we need to be planning for that day. Some like me may retire early. Some may never quit working or retire. But I have spoken about that in a previous blog you should read.
It is important that you know with each of your employers what your vested date is if you have a pension plan or 401K/403B matching plan with the company.
Example: I worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa for 6 years. I became a vested employee in their pension after 5 years and was too stupid to know it. Okay I have learned a lot since 1993 when I left their employment. Thus I am a retiree of their pension plan. One day out of the blue I got a letter in the mail about 10 years ago at my current address. BCBS of Iowa had finally found me after literally about 12 moves and 3 or 4 different states. In this letter I was informed I had pension money as a retiree! It also gave me a web address to go see the amount and some information as to how it was invested within the chosen annuity. It informed me my choices as to how the money could be paid out to me. This is the tricky part. When do you take your pension money. Especially on small pension payouts.
The amount of money was about $15,000.00 for me if I take a payout of my old pension plan with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. If I waited until I was 65, of course the amount would be a little more for a lump sum payout or for a monthly payout.
So what do you do? For MOST old pension plans like I have described here, which is a true example the best thing to do is take the decreased payout at age 55 years old, which I will be doing. Why? The answer is simple. It is your money at age 55 and you can invest it more wisely and make more money than you can in any annuity they may have it invested in. Would you rather get 2% per year or 10% to 30% per year? I have many investments and mutual funds making 10% to 30% per year. And you financial advisor should be able to find those for you too. The answer is simple then...more money in your pocket every year is only to your advantage.
So don't be stupid like I was, not knowing I had money out there until they contacted me over a decade later when they finally found me. You need to be checking with old employers that you worked for three years or longer. You might find a nice surprise like I did.
Gus S.
Disclaimer: Make sure to review any information found on this blog site with your personal financial advisor before making any decisions. I am providing general information and not financial advise. I am not a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor.
Did you know that the average length of stay with each employer is about 5 years. Now remember that is average. How many of you worked some place from the time you were in high school and maybe only worked there a month. You may have worked at your current job 15 years. But you have to average out all your various jobs from the first one to the last one even if you only worked one day.
Thus we do change jobs on the average of about every 5 years, many of us pushing age 55 or older are facing retirement in the fairly near future and we need to be planning for that day. Some like me may retire early. Some may never quit working or retire. But I have spoken about that in a previous blog you should read.
It is important that you know with each of your employers what your vested date is if you have a pension plan or 401K/403B matching plan with the company.
Example: I worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa for 6 years. I became a vested employee in their pension after 5 years and was too stupid to know it. Okay I have learned a lot since 1993 when I left their employment. Thus I am a retiree of their pension plan. One day out of the blue I got a letter in the mail about 10 years ago at my current address. BCBS of Iowa had finally found me after literally about 12 moves and 3 or 4 different states. In this letter I was informed I had pension money as a retiree! It also gave me a web address to go see the amount and some information as to how it was invested within the chosen annuity. It informed me my choices as to how the money could be paid out to me. This is the tricky part. When do you take your pension money. Especially on small pension payouts.
The amount of money was about $15,000.00 for me if I take a payout of my old pension plan with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. If I waited until I was 65, of course the amount would be a little more for a lump sum payout or for a monthly payout.
So what do you do? For MOST old pension plans like I have described here, which is a true example the best thing to do is take the decreased payout at age 55 years old, which I will be doing. Why? The answer is simple. It is your money at age 55 and you can invest it more wisely and make more money than you can in any annuity they may have it invested in. Would you rather get 2% per year or 10% to 30% per year? I have many investments and mutual funds making 10% to 30% per year. And you financial advisor should be able to find those for you too. The answer is simple then...more money in your pocket every year is only to your advantage.
So don't be stupid like I was, not knowing I had money out there until they contacted me over a decade later when they finally found me. You need to be checking with old employers that you worked for three years or longer. You might find a nice surprise like I did.
Gus S.
Disclaimer: Make sure to review any information found on this blog site with your personal financial advisor before making any decisions. I am providing general information and not financial advise. I am not a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Bulls vs. Bears
Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. But I have had another health issue but now I think I am back on the mend.
I have been reading various Bulls vs. Bears articles written by various people and so called "experts". But my problem has mainly been I don't know if these author's of the articles are talking about the Pro basketball and football teams in Chicago or if they are talking about the financial markets of Wall Street in NYC. Everyone seems to have totally different points of view and all of them simply cannot be right. So I might as well throw in my two cents and here it comes. :)
So experts are saying right now, that unless there is another recession we are going to continue on the Bull Market cycle for a long time. Well, I guess I am not quite as optimistic as all that. Let's look at some key points together.
First of all we cracked the 17,000 mark on the DOW this year already when we started out in January 2014 barely over 16,000. I along with most of the experts at that time said we would not quite hit 17,000 this year. Well we did and only by a thread thus far. The market as been staying extremely close to that 17,000 mark for a good month or so now. It is like everything is in a holding pattern. The DOW will gain 90 points today and lose 90 points tomorrow. So no real positive action or traction since hitting 17,000. Why? Because we did this year what everyone thought would not happen. They fear the market is over inflated. I feel that way too of the overall market. That is not always true with each individual stock though.
So what should you be doing with your portfolio right now? Well, first of all set up an appointment to talk to your financial advisor. Check out his/her advise and see what they have to say. For the less savvy or more conservative fund holders in mutual funds and bonds. Your financial advisor may just tell you to hold everything, keep adding to it each month and not to worry. That advise is probably good right now. It is not time for the conservative investor to think about any big moves.
For the more savvy investor that owns and dabbles in individual stocks too like I do. Your individual stock holdings if they were with sound companies have most likely done better than first predicted back in January 2014 by the experts. Everyone predicted a Mutual Fund year...yet both have done pretty good. So are you still investing, buy more individual stock right now or riding the wave and just reinvesting your dividends? There are some sectors that have been doing extremely well in the market this year. Healthcare would be one of those sectors that I personally like. I could sit here and name you stock after stock in the Healthcare sector that has made 20% or more so far this year. Yet another good year for Healthcare just like last year. I have been keeping my eye on technology stocks and alternative fuel and utilities and US oil companies...and I am not talking about the Exxon's and BP's. There is no money there to pick off their old bones for me. But there are Gems to be found out there. You just have to really watch the markets and do your homework.
I have told my readers about many of the gems out there as we have went along. Did you take advantage of some of the gems I told you about. Well let's talk about Apple (AAPL). I told you this was a diamond in the ruff. One of these so called experts that wrote an article for Yahoo Financial wrote a SEARING article about Apple. I hunted him down for 3 days but I finally got a hold of his email address. Told him I read his article and that he must be crazy as a bat to advise people against taking the 7:1 Split. That this split was a for sure winner for many reasons including the new I-Phone that would be coming out in September. So lets review this now and see who was right and who was wrong...the so called "Expert" who wrote the searing Yahoo Financial Article or Me? Well I have to say "I told you so" to the so called "Expert" that was extremely rude to me in three emails because I wrote 1 email that questioned his so called "Expert" advise. Well, since the 7:1 Split by Apple, if you took my advise your holding are up by 25% plus, all the dividends...there was just another payment sent out the other day...plus the I-Phone 6 I think was released yesterday at 12:00 CDT. And Apple is currently up today while the DOW is taking another 80 point hit. So if you listened to me and not the so called Expert you have made some very decent money. More than one expert said to pass on the 7:1 Split on Apple...they were all wrong. But that one guy was a total asshole about it. I could sell my total holding in Apple today and be perfectly happy taking my money to the bank. While jerk expert sits there, passes on the split and has exactly what he invested. Nothing! I hope you followed my advise and that you are making money on Apple (APPL) too.
Now lets talk about CVS Pharmacy. A risky move on their part this past week, but I see it coming from many stores in the future. They pulled out all cigarette's and tobacco products in all of their stores. Not heard anything from Rite Aid Pharmacy. Walmart and Walgreens say they will not be pulling cigarettes and tobacco products from their shelves. So how will this affect CVS Pharmacy, the second largest Pharmacy Chain behind Walgreens. Well, I have been looking and so far it has not affected poorly on their stock prices. But it has only been a week and this evidently has not scared any CVS investors. But when the profit margins start coming out in months to come in the future, this will be the deciding factor that you may or may not start seeing changes for the worse or maybe even the better.
Well, I think I have said quite a bit in this posting today. But I am going to give you some stocks and mutual funds to look at and consider before I leave today. (RDY), (LLY), (HUM), (PRHSX), (KR), (HRL), (TAP)
See you next time!
Gus S.
Disclaimer: Make sure to review any information found on this blog site with your personal financial advisor before making any decisions. I am providing general information and not financial advise. I am not a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor.
I have been reading various Bulls vs. Bears articles written by various people and so called "experts". But my problem has mainly been I don't know if these author's of the articles are talking about the Pro basketball and football teams in Chicago or if they are talking about the financial markets of Wall Street in NYC. Everyone seems to have totally different points of view and all of them simply cannot be right. So I might as well throw in my two cents and here it comes. :)
So experts are saying right now, that unless there is another recession we are going to continue on the Bull Market cycle for a long time. Well, I guess I am not quite as optimistic as all that. Let's look at some key points together.
First of all we cracked the 17,000 mark on the DOW this year already when we started out in January 2014 barely over 16,000. I along with most of the experts at that time said we would not quite hit 17,000 this year. Well we did and only by a thread thus far. The market as been staying extremely close to that 17,000 mark for a good month or so now. It is like everything is in a holding pattern. The DOW will gain 90 points today and lose 90 points tomorrow. So no real positive action or traction since hitting 17,000. Why? Because we did this year what everyone thought would not happen. They fear the market is over inflated. I feel that way too of the overall market. That is not always true with each individual stock though.
So what should you be doing with your portfolio right now? Well, first of all set up an appointment to talk to your financial advisor. Check out his/her advise and see what they have to say. For the less savvy or more conservative fund holders in mutual funds and bonds. Your financial advisor may just tell you to hold everything, keep adding to it each month and not to worry. That advise is probably good right now. It is not time for the conservative investor to think about any big moves.
For the more savvy investor that owns and dabbles in individual stocks too like I do. Your individual stock holdings if they were with sound companies have most likely done better than first predicted back in January 2014 by the experts. Everyone predicted a Mutual Fund year...yet both have done pretty good. So are you still investing, buy more individual stock right now or riding the wave and just reinvesting your dividends? There are some sectors that have been doing extremely well in the market this year. Healthcare would be one of those sectors that I personally like. I could sit here and name you stock after stock in the Healthcare sector that has made 20% or more so far this year. Yet another good year for Healthcare just like last year. I have been keeping my eye on technology stocks and alternative fuel and utilities and US oil companies...and I am not talking about the Exxon's and BP's. There is no money there to pick off their old bones for me. But there are Gems to be found out there. You just have to really watch the markets and do your homework.
I have told my readers about many of the gems out there as we have went along. Did you take advantage of some of the gems I told you about. Well let's talk about Apple (AAPL). I told you this was a diamond in the ruff. One of these so called experts that wrote an article for Yahoo Financial wrote a SEARING article about Apple. I hunted him down for 3 days but I finally got a hold of his email address. Told him I read his article and that he must be crazy as a bat to advise people against taking the 7:1 Split. That this split was a for sure winner for many reasons including the new I-Phone that would be coming out in September. So lets review this now and see who was right and who was wrong...the so called "Expert" who wrote the searing Yahoo Financial Article or Me? Well I have to say "I told you so" to the so called "Expert" that was extremely rude to me in three emails because I wrote 1 email that questioned his so called "Expert" advise. Well, since the 7:1 Split by Apple, if you took my advise your holding are up by 25% plus, all the dividends...there was just another payment sent out the other day...plus the I-Phone 6 I think was released yesterday at 12:00 CDT. And Apple is currently up today while the DOW is taking another 80 point hit. So if you listened to me and not the so called Expert you have made some very decent money. More than one expert said to pass on the 7:1 Split on Apple...they were all wrong. But that one guy was a total asshole about it. I could sell my total holding in Apple today and be perfectly happy taking my money to the bank. While jerk expert sits there, passes on the split and has exactly what he invested. Nothing! I hope you followed my advise and that you are making money on Apple (APPL) too.
Now lets talk about CVS Pharmacy. A risky move on their part this past week, but I see it coming from many stores in the future. They pulled out all cigarette's and tobacco products in all of their stores. Not heard anything from Rite Aid Pharmacy. Walmart and Walgreens say they will not be pulling cigarettes and tobacco products from their shelves. So how will this affect CVS Pharmacy, the second largest Pharmacy Chain behind Walgreens. Well, I have been looking and so far it has not affected poorly on their stock prices. But it has only been a week and this evidently has not scared any CVS investors. But when the profit margins start coming out in months to come in the future, this will be the deciding factor that you may or may not start seeing changes for the worse or maybe even the better.
Well, I think I have said quite a bit in this posting today. But I am going to give you some stocks and mutual funds to look at and consider before I leave today. (RDY), (LLY), (HUM), (PRHSX), (KR), (HRL), (TAP)
See you next time!
Gus S.
Disclaimer: Make sure to review any information found on this blog site with your personal financial advisor before making any decisions. I am providing general information and not financial advise. I am not a licensed stockbroker or financial advisor.
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