Month: December 2016

Results: 2016 Top Investment Picks

As we ring out the year 2016, its time to look back and evaluate some of our investment picks/decisions. At the end of 2015, I reached out to the investing community and asked them to pick one investment security as their top pick for the year 2016. Plenty of the said bloggers responded and I was happy to compile the list and track them over the year.  The original post from Jan 2016 can be found here — it is interesting to see what everyone was thinking back then and how the picks played out over the year.

Again, I would like to remind readers that this was meant to simply be a fun exercise and should not be considered investment advise. Please do your own research before investing in any securities.

Continue reading

Understanding Health Savings Accounts

The following is a 3rd party contirbution
Even with insurance, the cost of healthcare in America can still feel like sustaining another injury, only this time it’s to your wallet. A new type of personal savings account, called a health savings account (HSA) can make it more affordable for certain individuals to pay for medical costs without ruining their budget or bank account. Learn how HSAs work as well as their advantages and disadvantages.

Definition

An HSA works much like any other personal savings account, but they’re only available to individuals who have a high-deductible health insurance plan. Even though these insured individuals have high deductibles, their monthly premiums are often low. If you like the idea of getting your up-front healthcare costs as low as possible, a high-deductible plan might be perfect for you. Generally, HSAs are a better fit for those who are near retirement and those in a financial position where they can save for future health care expenses.

Continue reading

Aqua America Dividend Stock Analysis 2016

Aqua America

Aqua America, Inc. (WTR), through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water or wastewater services in the United States. The company serves approximately 3 million customers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana, and Virginia.

Investing in water can provide lucrative returns with the stability that comes with investing in utility stocks. Running a company in one of the most fundamental requirements for human survival, water, the company has enjoyed extremely stable revenue and earnings over the decades. The company has very impressive revenue and earnings growth record in the sector and has been a dividend grower for 25 consecutive years.

Continue Reading Here >

Can A Rules-Based Investing Framework Improve Your Stock Market Results?

The following is a guest post. Jay Delaworth is the founder of Intelligent Trend Follower, where each week you can get actionable investment ideas and free educational content designed to help you apply a rules-based framework to limit risk and reduce stress in the stock market.

When you were a kid, did you follow the rules?

Did you clean your room, wash your hands before dinner, and always play nice with others?

It’s funny, as children, we are constantly told to obey all kinds of rules. Then, as we grow up and acquire our independence, the shackles of rules slowly loosen their grip.

We get more freedom, more leniency and more trust. Suddenly, you realize you’re an adult who can do whatever you want, whenever you want (so long as you don’t break any laws).

But why does this matter?

Well, let me put it this way:

  • Do you ever look at your investment portfolio and wonder why you own some of the stocks in there?
  • Do you ever scratch your head and wonder whether you should buy, sell or hold?
  • Have you ever bought a stock based on a tip or news story, only to end up unsure what to do with it?

The reason I ask is because I believe these common errors can easily be avoided. All it takes are a few simple rules you can use to make better investment decisions. So in this blog post, I want to show you why (and exactly how) you can start using rules to help your investing.

Continue reading

Recent Buy – Silver Wheaton Corp

This will be another quick update on my recent purchase. As most are aware, its been a bloodbath in the precious metals space after the interest rate raise. The raise was almost 100% guaranteed, and continued strength in the US$ was also guaranteed. So I was waiting for this event to unfold before I made the next purchase in the precious metals space.

Thanks to a more hawkish note from the Fed — that they will raise interest rates 3 times next year (we’ll see if there is any weight to that…since they also promised us 4 raises this year); there was increased volatility and we saw a mini-correction in bond substitutes such as REITs and precious metals as the US$ surged. The DXY reached a high of 103 post-announcement.

Watching the bloodbath all day, it was too hard to pass up on the opportunity and I decided to buy and add to my Silver Wheaton Corp (SLW) position after it fell 9% on the day.

I bought 100 shares of Silver Wheaton Corp (SLW) at US$17.00. This purchase adds US$24 to my forward dividend income.

However, I decided to use my US$ in the investment account instead of the CAD$, so I have both SLW and SLW.TO currently — but for the most post, I will treat them as the same on this blog going forward.

Silver continues to languish and is currently hovering at the $15-16 handle, which I believe is an extremely attractive price for this chameleon metal — which acts both as a precious metal and as an industrial metal. To read more about the company itself, I will simply link to my original post where I profiled Silver Wheaton.

Recent Buy – Silver Wheaton Corp

Have you made any moves post-rate raise? Share your thoughts below.