When Will The Stock Market Crash?

Cash is a dreadful investment. Especially right now. Low interest rates and inflation mean cash goes backwards as an investment. And yet I find myself with too much cash. What I need is a stock market crash - an opportunity to put my excess funds to work.

But Don't I Like It When The Market Goes Up?

Like everybody else, I feel good when the value of my portfolio increases.   It's human nature. But the reality is that while I’m still putting money into the stock market, I should prefer lower prices. It means I get more for each dollar invested. Of course, the opposite is also true. When I start to draw down on my investments, a sudden drop in prices could be more than a little unnerving.

Am I Predicting A Stock Market Crash? 

Is Value Investing Back From The Dead?

It seems value investing has staged a remarkable turnaround in recent times. It’s kind of like what happened to John Travolta’s career after he did Pulp Fiction.

I originally started thinking about this when I came across the performance figures for the Vanguard Global Value Equity Active ETF (ASX Code VVLU).

55 percent! The year-to-date and 1-year figures are very impressive (although the 3-year figures leave a little to be desired). The benchmark, in this case, is the FTSE Developed All-Cap in Australian dollars Index - that's a bunch of companies mostly listed on stock exchanges that aren't in Australia.

As I was perusing these figures, I wondered whether value investing’s long-awaited day in the sun had finally arrived after having been maligned by stock market investors the world over for what seemed like an eternity.

Best Shares To Buy In 2011

With 2010 out of the way, it's now time to turn our our attention to 2011. While I'm sure we'd all like to have a crystal ball which we could look into to see what shares prices have done up to the end of 2011, the reality is the future is unknown. So how can we best position our investment portfolios to grow in 2011? In other words, what are the best shares to buy in 2011.

Retail Shares?

One sector of the Australian stock market which has taken a pounding in recent times is the retail sector. Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey was pessimistic at the company's recent AGM. Discount retailer The Reject Shop, which has been an outstanding performer over recent years, shocked the market recently with a profit downgrade. The announcement saw The Reject Shop shares drop to below $13.00 from over $17.00. And shares in JB Hi-Fi have fallen in recent times as well over the uncertainty in near term retail sales figures.

Best Shares To Buy Now For The Long Term

Many investors will be feeling bruised and battered after a year or two of punishing stock market conditions. Even those who don't purchase shares directly will be feeling the pain. Superannuation returns have plummeted and most managed funds have gone backwards as well. So how do we as investors go about finding the best shares to buy now that stock prices seem to have stabilised?

In this post I'd like to describe some of the criteria I look at when investing. With share prices cheaper than they've been in years (although not as cheap as they were in March) I think now is a good time to buy shares provided they are as a long term investment in a quality business.

Value Investing Podcast - The Value Guys

Who said value investing has to be boring?

If you're a stock market investor with a bias towards buying value, then The Value Guys podcast might be right up your alley. Although it's a sometimes light-hearted discussion of stock investments, the principles these guys apply when analyzing a potential investment are well worth listening to.

The two protagonists on this weekly podcast go by the names of Val Hughes and Vern Value (they're at pains to point out that thee names are not real). In each episode Vern and Val pick 3 stocks each which they think may be undervalued and put forward their arguments as to why this might be the case.

Although The Value Guys mainly discuss American stocks, those of us investing in the Australian stock market will still get something out of it. As I mentioned earlier, I find it interesting to listen to the way they approach valuing these companies. And they're entertaining as well.

You might also be interested on the Australian Stock Exchange podcasts and the Gannon On Investing podcasts.

Value Investing - Buying Shares For The Long Term

Investors buy shares in Australian companies for many reasons. Some buy stock in a company simply because they think the share price will go up, some may purchase based on the advice of their stock broker and some may even take the plunge based on a tip they received down at the pub on the weekend. However, today I'd like to discuss an alternative approach to the Australian stock market called value investing.

Value investing is an investment strategy or paradigm based on the teachings of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd going right back to the major sharemarket crash and subsequent great depression in 1929. In a nutshell, it involves buying shares at prices which are a significant discount to their intrinsic or underlying value based on fundamental analysis.