The Iconoclast Investor

Back on September 11 of this year, a few days after the U.S. government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I looked into my crystal ball and wrote the following.
“I think the housing industry peaked in 2006 and that it will be a VERY long time before that peak is exceeded.
“In my mind, just [...]

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Here in the Cabot office, we have a generous policy of paying for continuing education for employees.  And all over the country, men and women, both employed and between jobs, are finding that a little more education is just what’s needed to move to the next level.
Many of these older students are finding what they [...]

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One mildly positive thing about a bear market is that it allows you to consider a wider range of stocks for your watch list.  During a bull market, with buying decisions to make, there’s not much time to browse through the odd stories on the edge of things.  When buying isn’t a possibility, you can [...]

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Good morning. The Festival of Stocks and the Investing Carnival have a bunch of great write-ups (including some of ours) on stocks, investing and finance if you’re looking for more reading material. Enjoy!
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If you’re looking for an investment idea, here’s one that takes advantage of shoppers’ growing preference for discount retailers. We’ve written about a few stocks in this area that look promising right now and below I’ve reprinted an updated version of what Michael Cintolo wrote last week about one of these investment opportunities.
“With the economy [...]

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A few years ago, (January 2006, actually) during my annual physical exam, my doctor gave me a stock tip.  I knew that he was aware of what I do for a living, but we hadn’t ever talked about stocks or investing or anything other than how to get my cholesterol down.  I was so surprised [...]

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I’ll take this opportunity to mention one of my favorite genetic stocks again.
It’s Myriad Genetics (MYGN), and its business is developing and marketing tests that help assess the risk of disease based on a person’s genetic structure.  Already, the firm has products that assess the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, hereditary melanoma, adenomatous polyposis [...]

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With the economy bad and likely to get a lot worse (the leading economic indicators are all shouting severe recession), retail stocks have been crushed, especially those that offer discretionary (read: expensive) items.  Any company selling HDTVs or fancy jewelry or expensive apparel has seen its stocks crushed in recent months.
However, the pain being felt [...]

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I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you’re recovering well from your turkey hangover. Thanksgiving is a holiday where we celebrate all that we are grateful for, our friends and family, a long weekend and our health, among others. But it’s also a holiday of retail deals, holiday sales and shopping. Many [...]

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I’ve written in the past that dividend investments can be a solid piece of your portfolio.  I prefer growth stocks, and in that realm, dividends are basically meaningless.  However, with more and more stocks, trusts, exchange-traded funds and the like, there are definitely intelligent ways to invest for yield.
Today, however, many investors are looking for [...]

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