The Safe Investor

One of the first things I noticed about the book by Timothy F. McCarthy, The Safe Investor: How to Make Your Money Grow in a Volatile Global Economy, is that I am already following the process he recommends for investing.

Chapter 10 talks about the money management technique of Three Pockets. This involves having a savings pocket, an investing pocket, and a trading pocket. There are many books about trading, and many books about investing, but this book covers, and recommends both.

McCarthy, who was the former president of Charles Schwab & Co., does a fantastic job of describing risks and diversification. He includes many real life finance related experiences, which help the reader get a better understanding about various investment topics. The book is especially useful for new investors, as it is very easy to understand and covers all the basics.

Even more advanced investors should enjoy the book, especially those that haven't generated returns as good as the S&P 500 over the last couple years. Understanding the various types of diversification covered in the book is essential.

I highly recommend The Safe Investor: How to Make Your Money Grow in a Volatile Global Economy for those that want to become a better investor.

Ford Promoting its 'Banking' Business: Offering 1.10% Interest

In a recent flyer I received from Ford (F), I read about a promotion from Ford Credit offering 'An investment opportunity' called Ford Interest Advantage, of 1.10% interest for over $50,000, 1.05% over $15,000, and 1.00% for lower amounts, with a minimum investment of $1,000.

According to the letter, the investments are redeemable at any time, plus ther is unlimited checking. The small print says that these are unsecured debt obligations of Ford Motor Credit, and not guaranteed by Ford. These are not FDIC insured bank accounts.

The prospectus is available at fordcredit.com/FIA

Marijuana Stock Index Up 339% Last Year

Although marijuana is illegal in the United States from a federal standpoint, the use and dispensing of medical marijuana has been approved in many states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, and Oregon. Now, the recreational use of marijuana is legal from a state standpoint in Colorado and Washington.  This has caused an immense surge in the share price of marijuana related stocks causing them to rise by 339% last year, based on the Stockerblog.com Marijuana Stock Index at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, versus less than a tenth of that for the Standard & Poor's 500.

The Marijuana Stock Index tracks the prices of most marijuana related stocks from January 2013 to January 2014, but excludes those stocks without complete price data or trading for less than one cent per share. All stocks were weighted equally in the index.

Not every stock increased over the time frame, such as Medbox (MDBX), but most were up, and some very significantly, such as Advanced Cannabis Solutions (CANN), up 841%, and Cannabis Sativa (CBDS), up 1174%.

More details on the index and all the stocks in the marijuana stock index can be found at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.

Don't forget to check out our other articles on marijuana stocks:

Marijuana Airlines

Marijuana Stocks

Marijuana Stocks on a High Streak

Marijuana Stocks Get High After the Election

Marijuana Soda Pop

Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com

Stocks Going Ex Dividend the First Week of February

  Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend. This technique generally works only in bull markets, and can work in flat or choppy markets, but you need to avoid the technique during bear markets.


In order to be entitled to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date, and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual dividend may not be paid for another few weeks. WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend in the near future. The list contains many dividend paying companies, lots with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%. Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, and the yield.

Enerplus Corporation   ERF     2/3   6.0%
Global Partners L.P.      GLP    2/3  6.2%
Heritage Commerce    HTBK   2/3  2.0%
Idacorp                        IDA      2/3   3.3%
Pacific Coast Oil Tr    ROYT  2/3  12.8%
Tessco Technologies   TESS   2/3   2.4%
United Comm. Bank UCBA    2/3  2.2%
Access National Corp ANCX 2/4   2.7%
The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out some of the other high yield stock lists at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com. Most of the lists are free.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date: the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Monthly Dividend Stock List
Record date: the day when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is normally set for stocks at two business days before the record date.

Payment date: the day on which the dividend payment is actually made, which can be as long at two months after the ex date.

Book now available: Buying Dividends Revised and Expanded

Book now available: Stock Market Trivia
A Great Gift!

Don't forget to reconfirm the ex-dividend date with the company before implementing this technique.

Disclosure: Author did not own any of the above at the time the article was written.

By Stockerblog.com