robert.b.ferguson

http://tickerspy.com
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52 Comments

    • Mon Nov 17th 12:21 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Buy And Hold: Beware the Devil You Don't Know
      Buy and hold does not mean blinbly holding on to a loser just because you purchased it at a higher price than the current price. Some dogs need to be put down before they reach zero. Buy and hold works if you do due diligence, buy good companies especialy those with reasonably good dividends and prospects like (XOM). This strategy also works well in the context of dollar cost averaging such as 401K and IRA accounts especialy the ROTH version. However you should not have money in the market that you will need within five years.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 17:06 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      'Buy and Hold' Is Dead? I Think Not!
      Very concise and spot on. Those baby boomers who are closer than five years to their projected retirement should have already moved the bulk of their money into cash assets like CDs and tax exempt bonds. For those of us with a longer event horizon say twelve to fifteen years this presents a buying opportunity. Until seven years ago I was not invested in the maeket other than small stakes in Metlife (MET) and Principle Financial Group (PFG) which languished for years in trusts. I started a Roth IRA at Pioneer (PINDX) as I was retiring from the military. When I started on my second career I began contributing to a Roth 401K and saving small quantities of cash every pay day in a money market account. Last June I moved my stocks to a USAA brokerage account with a tax exempt money market account and moved my cash reserves into it. I've been purchasing positions and adding to them ever since and using dividends for repurchase I expect that I will have recovered all of my losses and have substantial gains which I will move into cash assets in ten or twelve years.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 15:59 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      o/w/s: Greetings. Since we can't figure out how to tally inflation any more no one knows what the rate is. I've seen some economists using the pre Clinton method tallying current inflation at 8%.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 14:37 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Downfall of Keynesian Economics and the U.S. (Part 1 of 3)
      This is porobably the most flawed article I have seen on Seekig Alpha.Lets start with the economic model. You are assuming that the economy is a zero sum game. It is'nt. Wealth is created by dynamic industry. Next the comparison of the Vietnam war and the Gulf wars against radical Islam. I am a retired soldier and a student of military history and strategy. I can tell you emphatically that the two are radically different on many levels. On the Iraqi front we have all but won in that theater and as a result the Jihadis are redeploying their assets to Afghanistan where combat operations are intensifying. Going forward as we shift more assets to Afghanistan Pakistan will come under increasing pressure from Jihadi forces which we are already seeing. Unless we continue to bolster the elected government in Pakistan it will collapse and we will have a real serious problem. Our penultimate goal for this theater should be to chase the Jihadi elements out of Wazeeristan and into Chechnya thereby forcing the Russians to assist us against the Jihadis. This is being accomplished with virtualy no sacrifice being imposed on the general population no draft and no rationing. Finally: what broke the credit markets in essence has been caused by flawed government policies, politics, very convoluted responses by financial institutions, and sheer greed on the part of some entrepreneur's.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 13:45 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Banks and Consumers Are the Problem, Not Bad Assets
      socrateaz: Greetings. I'm not cognizant of a decline in the middle class. Where did you get your numbers? Figures from Morning Star indicate that small investors read that as middle class investors was at an all time high just before the crash in October. Those numbers include 401K, IRA and individual brokerage accounts. Taxing the rich to enrich the poor sounds like a great idea but is sorely lacking in practice just look at France. In fact no nation has ever been able to tax itself to prosperity. I can't remember who said it first but it is still true you can't make the poor rich by making the rich poor.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 13:29 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      WayneS: Greetings. Your observation is spot on. While alternative energy sources are necessary they are not yet viable unless oil goes over $200 a barrel. In addition we should never consider any company or entity as to big to fail. Should General motors (GM) or Ford (F) go into bankruptcy the world would not come to an end. They would emerge from bankruptcy as more stream lined and competitive companies with better more economical product lines. The same goes for oil companies.
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    • Fri Nov 14th 12:16 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Bailout: How’s It Doing?
      What bail out plan? There is no plan. King Paulsen changed the "Focus" from buying up bad debt which could have actually helped to buying preferred stock. Will he change the focus again to buy stakes in American express (AXP) or General motors (GM)? Where will the madness end? Dodd wants to eliminate dividends on bank stocks and Schumer wants to force banks to lend more money. Didn't we get into this mess by forcing or at least coercing banks to make "Risky" loans? So far I haven't heard one of these idiots including Bush propose that we stop lending money to people who have virtually no chance of paying it back. If we are going to start stiffer regulations let's start there. We should also reinstate the Glass/Steagul act and the uptick rule thereby providing some stability.
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    • Wed Nov 12th 09:55 AM | Rating: +3 0
      Commented on:
      The Death of Buy and Hold?
      The whole idea of buy and hold is predicated on a long event horizon. Buying good companies at discounted prices right now will maximize returns ten or twelve years down stream. Timing the market precisely is nearly impossible but folowing trends for long term gains is predictable because we know that the market goes up and down.
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    • Thu Nov 6th 10:47 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Five Key Quotes from PMI about Mortgages and Subprime
      I guess their crystal ball was broken.
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    • Thu Nov 6th 10:38 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Foreclosure States: Referendum for Obama, or Scapegoating the Party in Charge?
      Congress has been screwing this up since the Carter administration. Some of the same players are still there. I have absolutly no faith that the same people that caused this are going to fix it. There will be no accountability in the Senate. Schumer will not be blamed for killing Indymac even though he did. Now he wants to stop financials from issuing dividends the man is a moron. Frank and Dodd were saying everything at Fannie and Freddie were just fine as millions of misguided mortgage holders went under. Reminds me of the dance band on the Titanic the difference is these guys will not have to pay the piper.
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    • Wed Nov 5th 16:34 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      Deleveraging: Entering a Period of Guerrilla Warfare
      Buying and holding good companies especialy those with good dividends is never out. Keep in mind that the market will go back up eventualy and if you hold dividend paying stocks you will continue to compound your gains. Most of the really big returns over the last twenty years have come from compounding not day trading.
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    • Thu Oct 23rd 09:30 AM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Sting of American Capitalism
      I like that term: economic simulation. That is exactly at the heart of this mess. Peolple do not have an inallienable right to own homes, businesses or be rich. Quit lending money to people who can't possibly pay it back. Quit "Spreding the wealth around." so we can get back to creating wealth.
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    • Mon Oct 20th 17:09 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      U.S. Voters Lean Toward Government Intervention. Here's How to Invest for It
      SEN Obama's programs of "Spreading the wealth around" are untenable as stated. However it is accomplished spreading existing wealth around does nothing to expand economic progress. This robing hood concept has never worked any where it has been tried. When will we learn that you can't sustain loaning nonexistant money to people who can't or won't pay it back is bad business. Creating new wealth by hard work and industriuosnes is the only way to sutain economic growth.
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    • Mon Oct 20th 16:47 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Credit Crunch Is the Solution, Not the Problem
      My bad that is $600T in bad paper!
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    • Mon Oct 20th 16:44 PM | Rating: 0 0
      Commented on:
      The Credit Crunch Is the Solution, Not the Problem
      Good observation Jasonc. However there is still $12T in uncollateralized bad debt on the global market which is roughly four times the GDP of the global economy. This bad paper will have to be dealt with as well.
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