Pat McKeough has been making investing for beginners simple—and profitable—by helping investors make big gains for more than 25 years. His advice to beginning investors is the same as it is for all investors: buy high-quality, mostly dividend paying stocks (or ETFs that hold these stocks) and evenly spread your investments over the five main economic sectors (Resources, Manufacturing, Finance, Utilities and Consumer). Pat also believes investors should avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight and focus on those with hidden or little-noticed assets.
In addition, Pat thinks then beginner investors should cultivate two important qualities: a healthy sense of skepticism and patience.
Investors should approach all investments with a healthy sense of skepticism. This can help keep you out of fraudulent stocks that masquerade as high-quality stocks. It will also keep you out of legally operated, but poorly managed, companies that promise more than they can possibly deliver.
If you are a new investor, you should also realize that losing patience can cause you to sell your best choices right before a big rise. All too often, investors buy a promising stock just as it enters a period of price stagnation. Even the best-performing stocks run into these unpredictable phases from time to time. They move mainly sideways in a wide range for months or years before their next big rise begins. (Stock brokers often refer to these stocks as “dead money.”)
If you lack patience, you run a big risk of selling your best choices in the midst of one of these phases, prior to the next big move upward. If you lose patience and sell, you are particularly likely to do so in the low end of the trading range, when stock prices have weakened and confidence in the stock has waned.
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A Member of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle recently asked for his advice on a manufacturing company that makes, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products as well as related materials and services in the United States, Poland, and China.
Real-return bonds pay a return adjusted for inflation. But when you buy a real-return bond, you are only protecting yourself against unanticipated rises in inflation. For investors looking for diversification, a real-return bond ETF might be an option to consider.
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El Salvador’s Dollar Adoption, a Crime Turnaround and and Practical Pitfalls
When I first met my wife Cecy a couple of decades ago, I was surprised to learn an unusual fact about El Salvador, the Central American nation where she grew up. On January 1, 2001,… Read More
Discover types of stocks and other investments to keep outside your RRSP—and the types of investments that benefit from an RRSP tax shelter.
Registered retirement savings plans, or RRSPs, are the best-known and most widely used tax shelter in Canada. The tax treatment of RRSPs is… Read More
How Tourism, Exports and Economic Reforms Are Driving Vietnam’s Economy
One way to invest in Vietnam is through the VanEck Vietnam ETF, symbol VNM on the CBOE. We see this ETF as a buy for aggressive investors who want to invest in the promise of Vietnam’s… Read More
Tax savings are the most valuable part of the best-know Canadian tax shelter, the RRSP. But some investments can increase your capital gains tax if they’re sheltered in an RRSP.
Investors sometimes ask us whether they should hold certain investments inside or outside of this most-used… Read More
Dividend investing in Canada is a great profit-spinning strategy, especially if you factor in the Canadian dividend tax credit
If you include top-quality dividend stocks in your portfolio, the income they provide can make up a significant percentage of your total return—as much as a third… Read More
Highly volatile stocks can come with significant risks, especially if you think you’ve found a “can’t miss” indicator that leads you to buy them
The more I looked into investor rules throughout my career, the clearer it became that the best ones were not delivering consistent… Read More
Blue chip stocks paying a dividend are typically good stocks to buy because that provides you with tangible proof of their investment quality
Blue chip companies are very often good stocks to buy. They have a history of earnings and, in most cases, a history of… Read More
Understand how to pick an ETF the best way and you will stay away from overpriced choices while targeting the market’s best. Learn more now
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Investing in the top stocks to buy right now will put a mix of blue chips, value and growth stocks in your portfolio. Learn what to look for in these stocks now
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Include dividend-paying blue chips as you add the best reliable stocks to your portfolio, but select them wisely for greater levels of safety. Here’s what to look for.
Dividend-paying blue chip stocks are some of the best reliable stocks, especially if they offer good “value”—that is,… Read More
The path to spotting undervalued companies to invest in includes looking at select financial ratios as well as other key factors
There are two basic steps to finding undervalued companies to invest in: first, develop a rough list of stocks that meet your basic criteria and… Read More
If you want to discover how to select stocks for long-term investment growth and portfolio returns, then you will want to read these tips
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U.S. new housing demand remains steady
The U.S. housing and homebuilding markets dropped in 2020 on fears that a COVID-induced catastrophe would disrupted the U.S. economy. The recovery, however, came quickly in 2021, aided by decades-low mortgage rates, limited housing supply, and a strong job market.
Investing in stocks for beginners: Focusing on just one or two factors, in our opinion, is sure to cut your returns, in the long term if not in the short.
Learning what not to do is a key part of an investor’s education.
Understanding the ins and outs of how to invest in dividend stocks in Canada will set conservative investors up for powerful returns without the tax on interest
At TSI Network, we feel that a long-term record of a stock paying dividends gives investors a measure of… Read More
Investing in spinoffs can boost your long-term portfolio returns
When a spinoff begins trading, it stands to reason that investors might well put a low price on it. After all, the spinoff hits the market with a large number of neutral, if not reluctant, stockholders who… Read More
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Changes to this Policy
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