Archive for October, 2008
« Previous EntriesHad You Invested on the Last Day of September, 1929…
Friday, October 31st, 2008Had you been unlucky enough to have invested $100 in the S&P on the last day of September, 1929 and held on to your shares, it would have taken you 184 months (or 15.33 years) to get back above your $100 investment. Check out this graph to see what I mean:
Not counting inflation, your [...]
The 50 Worst Months in S&P History and What Followed
Friday, October 31st, 2008This is a follow-up to my last post.
Below is a listing of the 50 Worst Months in the S&P history along with the 1-month, 6-month, 1-year, and 5-year returns that followed:
Nineteen times (40% of the time) the one year returns following the bad month were negative. It’s also interesting to note that the 5-Year [...]
The 10 Worst Months in S&P History and What Followed
Friday, October 31st, 2008I received the following email this morning:
I recently came across your blog, and enjoyed the read. I’m trying to do some research on the top-10 worst performing months for the S&P, and how the markets performed 1 month and 6 months after each of those months.
Do you have any further info and data pertaining to [...]
Some Interesting Findings From a myFi Survey
Friday, October 31st, 2008Jonathan Clements, former columnist for the Wall Street Journal and now the Director of Financial Guidance at myFi.com, sent me a copy of the press release for a recent survey that was conducted for his firm.
Here are some of the findings:
If the current financial crisis were a baseball game, the typical American thinks we’re at [...]
OT: You Gotta Read This!
Thursday, October 30th, 2008My brother sent me a link to this piece written to the great-grandson of John Wooden (if you don’t know who John Wooden is, shame on you!). This little snippet really got to me:
I believe your great-grandfather was spared so he could be an example of how to live morally and simply and well.
For [...]
My Favorite Warren Buffett Sayings
Thursday, October 30th, 2008I was reading through Mary Buffett & David Clark’s The Tao of Warren Buffett* this morning while waiting to get my oil changed. It’s a great little book that takes different sayings and thoughts from Warren Buffett and explains them. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the book:
No. 6
“It is [...]
Looking Back: Regulations and Financial Crises
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008I think the article Regulation and the Mortgage Crisis is worth mentioning. According to the author, it aims “to provide perspective” on the “finger-pointing about responsibility for the absence of effective regulation that would have stopped or moderated the crisis.” It’s a really interesting read.
There are two sectors where more extensive regulation might [...]
Do Landlords of Low-Income Housing Make a Profit?
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008I have been a subscriber to the Houston Chronicle for the last several months. It seems like nearly every day there is a front page article about how the low-income housing apartment complexes aren’t being properly maintained. Apparantly, these complexes will get sited for some violation and the landlord will just ignore it.
Some [...]
The S&P 500 Index May Be Superior to the Dow But Its Performance Is Not
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Check out this comment from my previous post on the Dow Jones Industrial Average:
I definitely agree that the Dow (DJIA) is built on poor math. However, historical charts of the Dow vs the S&P 500 are almost identical. So I don’t think it’s really that big a deal.
Well, that comment got me to thinking, “Hmm…I [...]
Mark Cuban: Where to Put Your Money Right Now
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008Yesterday’s Houston Chronicle basically reprinted this October 15th blog post by Mark Cuban: Where to Put Your Money Right Now.
His main point is that it makes no sense to pay interest on debt that is greater than the return on your investments. I agree. However, I’m not sure I like the idea of [...]