22May 2007 by stanley

Sell in May, Buy Back in November

Tips & Advice
There was an interesting observation in the S&P Outlook recently. Since 1945, in the period from November-April, the S&P 500 returned 7.19%; in the May-October period, just 1.6%. What do do? Sell in May, and Buy back in November! I think this is true this year. I feel like we’re due for a correction. It might be a good time now, especially after the recent records. They recommend doing the following. For May-October overweigh- consumer staples- health care For November – April overweigh- financials- industrials- materials- consumer discretionary- information technology Now that’s an interesting observation… Here's a chart that breaks the returns by month, averaged since 1950.
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06Feb 2007 by stanley

Vanguard mutual funds that look good to me

My Notes
I like Vanguard as a company. I have been with them for a couple of years now. I like what they offer: both, in terms of fund selection, and in terms of the services they offer.Why would I want to invest in Vanguard funds? First, they give you a good selection. And second, you can put your investments on auto pilot: you can actually do dollar-cost averaging at no cost!So far, I have invested in 2 funds at Vanguard (NJ Tax-Free Fund; and S&P Index Fund). Every month, $50 gets automatically invested into each of them from my bank account. I really like that.The downside? There is usually a $3K minimum investment for each of the funds. (It would be great if it was $1K.)I am planning to shift some…
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02Oct 2006 by stanley

International ETFs

My Notes
I am just looking over the 2006 Semi-Annual iShares MSCI Series report I received today. I'm thinking, US economy will slow in the next year or two. Looking at the markets outside of US, I might want to invest in other assets.For instance, iShares Australia Index (EWA). 1 year return: 15.83%; 5 year return: 148%.Brazil Index (EWZ): 1 year: 70%; 5 years: 187%Canada Index (EWC): 1 year: 33%; 5 years: 103%Mexico Index (EWW): 1 year: 45%; 5 years: 194%Those are some impressive returns. I like Canada and Australia indexes: stable countries with very good results. I should have invested in Brazil when it went down a year or two ago; same with Mexico.
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