When to invest in the Stock Market
When to invest in the Stock Market!
Is really not as important as to how you invest in the stock market. And how you invest in the stock market should take into consideration what goals you are setting for that stock market investment. For example, are you investing for capital appreciation or for income through dividend paying stocks? Or is the investment in the stock market for the combination of both capital appreciation and dividend income? Are you investing through a Mutual fund(s) or selecting your own individual stocks?
Do you invest with a lump-sum dollar amount or dollar-cost average into your stock or Mutual fund positions (buying the same stock or Mutual fund at different prices over the years)? Is your investment dollar spread too thin and are all of those dollars working for your ROI (return on investment)? Do you pay commission fees to purchase a stock? Do you pay load fees in your Mutual fund(s)? How much does your Mutual fund(s) charge you for management, operating and marketing fees (they are called ‘hidden fees’)? (One Mutual fund, just recently, was fined 450 million for ‘hidden fees’ practices.) ‘How’ you invest in the stock market is more important than ‘when’ you invest in the stock market and ‘how’ you invest will determine your ROI.
When you invest in the stock market is after you devise a how-to plan that takes into consideration all of the factors above. Quite frankly, every cent of your investor dollar should benefit you and your family and no one else.
There is an enormous amount of investor dollars supporting some whopper salaries on Wall Street. Just recently (the summer of 2003), Richard Grasso, the once former head (CEO) of the New York stock exchange was forced to resign, after his salary for the past 2 years were made public. His salary – 12 million a year for the past 2 years, a check for 48 million, which his advisor suggested he return (which he did) and a pay-package of 139.5 million dollars (which he hasn’t returned, as of this writing-mid-2004). Now, that is just one man’s salary on Wall Street and it is certainly good work if you can get it! Where did all this money for his salary come from? If the money didn’t come from investor’s dollars, why were Pension fund managers so outraged by Grasso’s salary that they threatened to pull billions of Pension fund dollars from the New York stock exchange? I really don’t know where the money came from to pay his salary. What I do know is the one place where the money for his salary didn’t come from and that is from the Stockopoly investor. Not one cent!
It is my opinion that all stock purchases should be made without commission charges (which is possible). The investment in all stocks should be a long-term investment, and that every stock purchased should have a history of raising their dividend every year. And all dividends should be reinvested back into the company’s shares (also commission free), until retirement. Every cent you invest should work for your ROI. By purchasing those companies that have a long-term history of raising their dividend each year (for example, Comerica – 34 years, Proctor and Gamble – 47 years, BB&T – 31 years, GE – 28 years, Atmos Energy – 16 years (they also provide a 3% discount on all shares purchased through dividend reinvestments), the ‘HOW’ you invest becomes automatic- you dollar-cost average into your holdings through the dividends provided by the companies every quarter.
The dividend is the one factor a company cannot ‘fudge’. The money has to be there to pay the shareholder. If a company can raise their dividend every year, the company MUST be doing something right! When a company has a long history of raising their dividend every year you in a sense eliminate risk, since a lower stock price for that company just means a higher dividend yield. If, for example, a stock purchased at $50.00 a share drops to $36.00 a share, the income provided by the dividend income accelerates, and your dividend reinvestment provides you a better dividend ‘bang for your buck’. There have been many up and downs in the stock market these past 47 years (I know, I’ve been in almost 40 of them) – yet Proctor and Gamble has never failed to raise their dividend during those past 47 years.