Successful investment strategies require an understanding of the forces of stock market nature, and disciplined rules of portfolio management. If you can transition back to individual securities, you will do better at moving toward your goals, most of the time, because the opportunities are out there — all of the time.

These ETFs have a basis in IGVSI quality equities, and could be excellent trading vehicles. Certainly, they can be expected to track the IGVSI and the more popular (but totally manipulated) DJIA and S & P 500 averages.

But traded they must be, or they are just another “buy ‘n hold” archaism. ETFs are actually not managed at all. The “passive management” referred to is merely the readjustment of holdings to mirror the weightings in a separate and totally unmanaged index.

Unlike most investment strategies, the Market Cycle Investment Management Methodology includes a selling-for-profit discipline that (incredulously) seems to be a unique investment model. Over the past 40+ years, MCIM users have taken profits during every market upswing and repurchased Investment Grade Value Stocks during every down bubble. Any feel for what the results must have been?

To most investors, the DJIA provides all of the information they think they need, and they worship it mindlessly — thinking it has mystical predictive and analytic powers far beyond the scope of any other market number.

“Hey ‘Deep Pockets’, what were you doing on October 19th, 1987?” the Wall Street Jungle reporter asked. I was gritting my teeth, shaking more than just a little, palms sweaty but placing dozens of individual orders for the best NYSE, dividend-paying, companies — at prices that nearly everyone thought would drop even further. Looking around [...]

Retirement Income Investment Planning – Step One – Defined Contribution plans are not retirement plans — even if your employee benefits department, the media, and Wall Street insist that they are.

The average yield on these ten closed end funds was 6.88% on January 14th 2011; the funds are priced at a discount from NAV of roughly 6%;

There are at least eight reasonable explanations for recent price weakness — there are at least eight excellent reasons why investors should be viewing this weakness as a buying opportunity. Clearly, the financial press has not attended any of my seminars on income investing. Lower prices and higher yields are good news for income investors!

The Market Cycle Investment Management methodology combines risk minimization, asset allocation, equity trading, investment grade value stock investing, and base income generation in a time frame that recognizes and embraces the reality of cycles.

The objective of the exercise is to have cash available for buying during every downturn — can’t happen unless you have the courage to take profits when prices are rising. Yes, you are expected to feel stupid in both exercises. When you feel like you “sold too soon”, the bubble buster is just around the corner. When you know you re-entered the market too early, the rally is just over the horizon.