But as I started writing, the words just stated to flow to I think I’ll spread this over a number of posts. The book also talks about some of Jason’s most popular and beneficial blog posts such as Live Below Your Means, You Only Live Once (YOLO), and a post about what we can learn from his dog. With that in mind, I thought I’d share some thoughts on what investment lessons I’ve learned from the tumultuous year that has been 2008. Before I started writing this, it was going to be a single post. I monitor my investment portfolio by active reading. On average I would say I spend between 10-20 hours per week reading about investments. By pooling together money from lots of individuals, investment funds make it cheaper and easier for the average person to make money on the stock market. I have never met an intelligent person who didn’t read a lot. Some of the companies I don’t ever intend to sell while some have been purchased because I believe the price is cheap. After successfully acquiring the companies (which are usually cashflow-rich companies), they extract most of the cash from the companies to pay down their own debts.

What I find is that most individual investors are more interested in trying to make a quick buck than they are in the actual process of investing. Check trading charts for the past few years at online trade sites to find out how new certain companies are. If you think you will find a good stock tip on the internet you are only fooling yourself. If not you are in good shape to make it happen. Are these math project ideas helpful to you? A far greater number of people are becoming increasingly interested in Homeopathic and Osteopathic avenues in addition to the traditional Allopathic healthcare. Every investor has heard the maxim “buy low and sell high.” High risk common stocks enable people to do this. I like to consider myself a value investor or even a contrarian investor. Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis recommended buying blue chip stocks at no more than two thirds of their most recent highs.

The AIF is a valuable source of information about a company’s business model, their recent history, and business risks. In most North American education systems, business literacy is given little importance. This should move the stock to trade more in line with its peers. I think I fell for the old “this time it’s different” line. It’s approaching the time of year when I like to reflect upon my investment activities over the past year and consider what the coming year may hold. Isn’t it time you took advantage of the opportunities in real estate and started building your wealth? A first-time homeowners tax credit is a fine thing, but does it help the consumer, the real estate agent, or the home builder or seller? Neither FTSE nor NAREIT makes any warranty regarding the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Real Estate ex-U.S. Sometimes you recognize a mistake in your thinking regarding a company or it’s prospects have changed and you have to sell at a loss. Valueline Investment Survey is another tool I use to get a really good condensed financial report on a company.

Good businesses are good for a reason. The big dog investors are bidding the properties down to next to nothing. Investors like us should be VERY HAPPY to see such moves make by major countries. Banks have lent too much money to not just Greece, but to Portugal, Spain, Italy and Eastern European countries as well. This is demonstrated by the Euro’s strength and the number of countries scaling back U.S. It’s a great opportunity to take a couple of steps back and look at the year’s events and my participation in and reaction to them from a safe distance. Think back to the dot-com boom (and bust). While I didn’t spend all of my cash, in retrospect a think I spent too much, too early, leaving less in reserve for the opportunities which would emerge later in the year. Value investing opportunities become very scarce. I should have had more patience in waiting for that value to emerge.