austinhippie's Blog

Irrational Mr. Market can make long-term investing strategies look like short-term strategies

austinhippie — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:15:12 GMT

Ok, so maybe the recent market volatility made me feel like a big chunk of my portfolio was for "flipping" because, I identified some irrational areas of the market, bought in and then others piled on to what otherwise could have been long-term positions, but I ended up having to sell more quickly than usual because of the volatility taking those stocks from irra...

REX American Resources – American as Apple Pie

austinhippie — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:54:32 GMT

Companies like Westport Innovations (WPRT) and Darling International (DAR) can help diversify your portfolio into other alternative energy concepts, but they lack the immedi...

What do you think? If holdings include preferred, micro, long-term and short-term, can this portfolio be balanced?

austinhippie — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:04:35 GMT

What do you think about these portfolio allocation goals for someone with a very long time horizon and a total annual return of 2+% above SPY? Assume that less tax efficient issues are held in tax-deferred or non-taxable accounts.

A) 20% preferred stock position...

Arithmetic in deed - Preferred are Better than Bonds!

austinhippie — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:37:24 GMT

Preferred stock seems far superior to me over bonds for the conservative portion of a person’s portfolio. The other night in his DNC Convention Acceptance Speech, President Obama urged people to consider some basic arithmetic, as had his cohort, President Clinton, the night before. I recommend carrying that sentiment over your own portfolio.

Late...

We are the Problem and the Solution

austinhippie — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:07:57 GMT

The difficulty is that we are the problem and the solution. This time no one laughs when you say "this one really is different". Even W.B. acknowledges the thought as true. Why will the banks not lend? And yet, this is the time when the greatest opportunities abound. Volitility goes both up and down and the long term trend will be up from here despite some stumbles and bumps. I do not understand the lack of optimism ...

Choose and Act - Invest in your Community and in your Financial Future

austinhippie — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:44:44 GMT

Energy radiates from Washington and from America and reverberates in every hood and in every village and corner of our globe. Even people who didn't vote for him look to the new American President with hope. Obama's hope may extend into the market tomorrow in a big way. If people commit to making the difference then the upward swing may last and even continue upward. If people start to think, oh, we have hired someone new, now we can get back to life as usual - with...

19th century literature and the difference between the ability to retire and to philanthropize

austinhippie — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:25:10 GMT

As I consider what to invest in tomorrow when the market opens, I look at my portfolio and consider its allocation. And I realize that although there are couple of small growth companies that I really want to add to my portfolio, I currently have a greater ownership of those kinds of companies in my portfolio and a lower portion of dividend paying companies like Pfizer (PFE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) and Kraft (KFT) than I would like to have in o...

Soros Financial Sector and Reflexivity

austinhippie — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:43:12 GMT

In the December 4,2008 New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22113 George Soros discusses topics from his current book, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets, as well as his 1987, The Alchemy of Finance and his 1998 The Crisis of Global Capitalism. He argues that we, as participants in...

Dividends and Good Performers in market downturn

austinhippie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:02:14 GMT

There are so many great opportunities right now that it is very tempting to sell off some shares of the winners in my portfolio to raise capital for new portfolio additions. I am aware that I will feel let down if those shares sold then rise as expected or if I do not act and the shares of the companies I wish to buy rise as expected.

Last Friday my real portfolio was at a higher dollar value th...

Market Bounce Dashes Expectant Investor Hopes

austinhippie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:32:36 GMT

Is anyone else out there thinking that this market bounce today is a little depressing? I find myself both a little excited to see my CAPS score jump by about 45 or 50 points in one day and to see my real portfolio up. But mostly I wish I had a little longer to add to my holdings at attractive prices. I hope today's bounce is just due to a large influx of automatic investments associated with mid-month pay days.

Recent sells and new buys

austinhippie — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:09:42 GMT

Well, I invested in ACAS, AINV, BAC, BWLD,CROX, PNRA, MIDD,MVC,LOOP, MVC, WLT, MWA/B, PRAA. I recently sold ACAS, AINV, BAC, CROX, PNRA and WLT. And frankly I am just waiting for the dividend to pay out and give it a couple days before exiting from MWA/B at a substantial loss. But I can put those funds into a couple of other opportunities that are likely to do profoundly better than MWA. MWA is in a market niche where it will eventually do well, but I have a hard and fast rule ...

Investing Behavior and Trying New Thing in CAPS

austinhippie — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 11:58:47 GMT

In CAPS I find myself behaving very differently from how I behave in the real marketplace. I find myself, in CAPS, investing in companies involved with activities I could never bring myself to invest in for real because I fundamentally disagree with their unintended social and ecological consequences. I am also trying new things. I appreciate the opportunity to try out new strategies in my Watchlist. I am trying shorting for the first time beginning in ea...