RE:%cashHey MS
Great post and thanks for the shout out.
I totlly agree on the slow, steady, and safe method of investing. I also agrre on your sector selection of banks, utilitiies, and pipelines and would add telecom and a smaller portion of REITs. (that's the only 5 sectors we are invested in).
I got caught up on the other posts and see a few market timing comments. I totally disagree with trying to market time and have always stayed fully invested. So many people have called for some many corrections that never did occur. I've also found that the market tends to over-shoot in both directions and often what happens is that if you just go ahead and buy when a stock is going up that it continues to do so and then when it corrects, it is often back to a higher price that what you bought it at.
The other thing about trying to market time is that it tends to get people into the serious "should have, would have" and makes them second guess everything they do.
I would agree that the market seems due but it has seemed that way for a number of monhts now.
Ciao
Sarge
marketsense wrote: Great topic gentlemen. Its one of those things in life that is very dependant
on each individuals circumstances. There are some basic common sense rules
like you should always maintain at least 3 months in savings to cover all your
living expenses if the worst should happen. That's not a bad general rule IMO
but I doubt most average folks can do that.
If you are like Sarge who has invested wisely over the years and has tons of
monthly cash flow from his dividends, than that rule doesn't make sense. He
is worthy of a well deserved compliment and has achieved what most folks
should aspire for, but few actually ever will. There are lots of get rich quick
schemes out there and the market is full of them. Its spawned a new generation
of them like the Robin Hooders. They will quickly learn how difficult it is to make
easy money trading stocks on a regular basis.
There is no substitute IMO, for a long term comon sense strategy of buying and
even trading on occasion , good solid dividend paying stocks such as you find
in utilities, pipelines, banks and insurance with a smattering of real estate and
some tech if you want a lttle more fizz. Dividends is the name of the game for
long term sustainability and building towards an ultimate goal of financial independence. Saying that there are times when one has to weather market
volatility and hang on when it looks like the world is ending. If you have some
cash together with the guts and the foresight to look a few years ahead that is a great time to buy.