Easier Said Than Done...

“It’s been a long time, shouldn’t have left you without a dope beat to step too…”  As you know I have a love for music, especially hip-hop, so when I am thinking a song will often pop into my head.  Here, I am thinking of how long it’s been since I’ve written something to the readers out there.  I admit work, life, and stuff happens but I shouldn’t have left you without a nice article to think about.

I would like to start off by simply just being honest!  One of the primary reasons I have not written anything is that in REALITY there is not that much going on in the investment world.  Maybe I should say it different, the markets have been steadily going UP and there hasn’t been much else.  If you remember, there have been a few moments in the last year or so where I wrote that the stock market indicators lead me to believe that stocks and the overall market were headed higher for the foreseeable future.  If I were a TV personality, I can say “We Predicted This Would Happen!” but the reality is it took months and months of reading, researching, and keeping my eyes and ears open to rationalize where things were logically headed.  The goal while investing is to navigate through ALL of the NOISE (family, friends, and TV people telling you how to invest) and for you to logically conclude about where things like are headed.  Once you get a good idea about that then you can determine what and how much to invest in.  I am here to simply share my thoughts on how I navigate through the noise so that I can share those with you and I can learn from the past by coming back and reading my own writings.  This is helpful in life, because you must navigate through the noise (when choosing a house, car, job, etc.) and really get down to making a sound decision.

Here I am always looking to make a sound investment and I’m going to present 1 topic to assist you on your investment journey:

Easier Said Than Done…

While it is easier said than done, some of the things that are going to assist you in your investing process are being observant to what’s around you.  Listen to yourself, friends, family, and co-workers to find investment ideas all around you.  Here are a few examples:

Look for Business Growth: I live in an area where there is rapid change and once shunned big box stores and congestion. Well change is coming and we must be prepared for it. The community is willing to accept big boxes, fashion stores, and congestion as it bring vibrancy, traffic, jobs, growth and yes…congestion.  Here are new companies that have come to the neighborhood: “Chipotle”, “Hyatt”, “ULTA”, “Starbucks”, “Villa”, “Red Mango Yogurt”, “Nature Foods Café”, Porkchop”, “Ja’Grill”, “LA Fitness”, “Five Guys”, “Ross Stores”, “Papa Johns”.  If these businesses are buying into new projects they may be doing this all over the city and the country, which could be a sign of growth.

Look for Companies Offering Value / Growth / Income: I truly believe that both your personality and current lifestyle shapes your investing and this is hard to change.  Here are examples of stocks across different investment classes:

Growth – Amazon, Netflix, Tesla, Micron

Value – Coach, Hewlett Packard, Yahoo, Best Buy, Caterpillar

Income – Verizon, Collectors Universe,

My personality is typically measured, rationale, and I’ve even been called the “F” word…Frugal.  So over time, I’ve learned that I LOVE the Value category. These are stocks that at one point were truly trading at a level someone may consider a deep discount.  A quick search on my site will reveal that I have identified Hewlett Packard, discussed Yahoo and Best Buy, and a host of other value companies over time.  I truly believe there are more gains to be earned on things that are bought on discount and use this approach on EVERYTHING I buy in life.

Look For Companies You Use: In my house, there are Galaxy Note and I-Phones, Kindles, Directv, Home Benjamin Moore and Behr paint, carpet, hardwood, tape, fans, countless electronics, movies, etc.  And yes! Many of these things can are provided by Public Companies (Highlighted In Black):

Samsung – Galaxy Note II Phone

Apple – I-Phone

Berkshire Hathaway – Benjamin Moore Paints

Home Depot – tape, paint, goggles, nails, etc

Lions Gate Films – Hunger Games

Zynga – Phone Apps

Amazon – MOST products I BUY!!!

Coach - Bags

I will close my post today by giving you an example. COACH is a company that was identified through my STOCK ALERT process as a potential value target.  I will let you search my site to determine when I may have first identified it as a target.  On Day 1, I did not get the best price possible. So like a good little boy waiting for Christmas that’s 3 months away, I waited until the day came that Coach dropped and presented even more of a discount.  I recently bought the stock in the high $40s and hope to benefit from the fact that it’s a great brand, expanding internationally, and trading at a discount.