5 of My favorite Long Term Dividend Stocks

      I enjoy the art of Dividend Growth Investing.  I look for companies that have a competitive advantage in there field and are leaders in there industry. These companies are at the top for a reason and I look for companies that have been leaders over a long period of time. A company must have been paying dividend for 10 consecutive years and also been raising dividends for at least 10 years before they will meet my entry criteria. These are only a few criteria I use but these to me are the most important. I want to build a Dividend Growth portfolio that can hold up against the ups and downs of todays stock market and the market 30 years from now. I plan to use this Dividend Income as part of my retirement income along with company matched 401k programs among other small investments.
       Below I have listed some of my top picks for Long Term Dividend Growth Stocks.
    1. Medtronic, Inc (MDT). Medtronic operates through its six business segments that revolve around Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, Spinal & Biologics, CardioVascular, Neuromodulation, Diabetes, and Surgical Technologies. The company both manufactures and sells medical therapies that function around specific devices. Medtronic currently supports a market capitalization of $43 billion and a reasonable forward price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88. Trading with similar volatility as the market, it currently maintains a beta of 1.03. The company offers a forward annual dividend of 2.5% with a quarterly rate of $0.26. The company maintains a comfortable payout ratio of 30% and has been raising its dividend since 1978.
    2. Walgreen Co. (WAG). As the operator of nearly 8,000 drugstores in the United States, Walgreen operates as a local provider of prescription and non-prescription drugs. The company was founded in 1901 and now maintains a presence throughout all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico. Walgreen currently supports a market capitalization of $33 billion and a below average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 9.47. Trading alongside the market when it comes to volatility, it currently maintains a beta of 1.17. The company offers a forward annual dividend of 3.1% with a quarterly rate of $0.275. The company maintains a comfortable payout ratio of 39% and has been raising its dividend since 1976.
    3. Pepsico, Inc. (PEP). Pepsico was founded in 1898 and has since grown to be one of the largest providers of beverages and snack foods. The company has operations around the world and supports some of the more recognizable brands under its wings. Some of these names include Lays, Ruffles, Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos, Quaker, Rice-A-Roni, Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, 7Up, and Tropicana. PepsiCo currently supports a market capitalization of $107 billion and an above average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 15.62. Trading with significantly less volatility than the market, it currently maintains a beta of 0.33. The company offers a forward annual dividend of 3.1% with a quarterly rate of $0.538. The company maintains a feasible payout ratio of 56% and has been raising its dividend since 1973.
    4. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). Wal-Mart operates as a large discount department store chain through its various brand names and has operations around the world. The company is currently the biggest private employer in the world with over 2 million employees. The company currently maintains over 10,000 retail units in over 27 countries. Wal-Mart Stores currently supports a market capitalization of $253 billion and an above average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95. Trading with lower volatility than the market, it currently maintains a beta of 0.42. The company offers a forward annual dividend of 2.1% with a quarterly rate of $0.398. The company maintains a comfortable payout ratio of 32% and has been raising its dividend since 1975.
    5. Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB). As a manufacturer and marketer of healthcare products, Kimberly-Clark operates through its four business segments of Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, K-C Professional & Other, and Healthcare. The company primarily produces paper-based consumer products and sells its wares directly to supermarkets, retail outlets, drugstores, and other distributors. Kimberly-Clark currently supports a market capitalization of $33 billion and an above average forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87. Trading with volatility below the market, it currently maintains a beta of 0.32. The company offers a forward annual dividend of 3.4% with a quarterly rate of $0.74. The company maintains an above average payout ratio of 63% and has been raising its dividend since 1973.
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I have a 401k account with an old employer and I am in the process of moving it over to an IRA account.?

Is it true I can only transfer to a traditional IRA as oppose to a Roth IRA?
 I was told only taxed money can go into a Roth IRA.


Answer:

  1.Initiate a 401k transfer as you reach a benefit event during your professional life. The Internal Revenue Service defines a benefit event as retirement, new employment or achieving the age of 59 years and 6 months old. You must pass this threshold to consider transferring money to your IRA.

2.Fill out a 401k election form in order to move funds to your individual retirement account. This form allows you to inform your employer about the next destination and amount of money to be transferred from your 401k funds.


3.Review your IRA trustee's limitations on transfers from a 401k account. These limitations may include a ceiling for the contribution amount you can make in a year. Other accounts feature longer transfer periods to ensure that all fund movement is legitimate and completed accurately.

4.Utilize the direct transfer option to move your 401k funds to an IRA without taxes or penalties. This option allows you to move money from one trustee to another without the funds reaching your hands.

5.Move quickly to deposit 401k funds to your IRA if you received a check for the total withdrawal amount. The IRS and your old 401k manager require you to deposit withdrawn funds within 2 months to avoid taxation. Failure to deposit funds will result in a 10-percent penalty and income taxes levied against the principal.

6.Complete an application with your new IRA provider before you make any movement on your 401k account. You should make an initial deposit in your IRA to ensure the depositing system is working properly.

Where to buy penny stocks?

I want to buy $100 bucks of penny stock (big spender LOL). where is the best place online to do this?


Answer: 
  You can use any online brokerage company. My favorite is Fidelity they have everything I need and have good customer service. Some penny stocks can turn out to be winners but it is mostly a gamble, many of them go bankrupt.



Mcdonald's Dividend Stock Analysis

McDonald's Corporation (MCD) is the largest fast-food restaurant company in the world, with about 33,500 restaurants in 119 countries. McDonald's is currently yielding 3.2%

  This top dividend growth stock  has paid dividends every quarter since 1976 and has increased distributions on its common stock for 35 years in a row.The company's last dividend increase was in September 2012 when McDonald's Board of Directors approved a quarterly increase to 77 cents/share.

  With McDonald's growing there dividend yearly at this rate, I am very interested in adding it to my dividend growth portfolio. I am long on McDonald's (MCD)

  

Why invest in dividend stocks?

It is well known that stock prices drop after the dividend date. So whatever you gain in dividend, which is also a taxable event, you lose in equity.


Answer:
   First off you invest in companies that have been paying dividends for a long time and ones that tend to raise dividends every year because the growing dividend income is much better than what they bank will give you on savings accounts or on cd rates so over time you are going to earn a good bit back on your original investment if you pick strong companies to invest in. Also there is nothing to say that your stock will drop after the dividend date, this may be true some of the time but again if you pick strong companies in the long run your stock will rise as will your dividend.


Is Coca-Cola a good investment right now? (KO)

  I saw a program about coke (KO) launching a new micro-business this throughout the developing world in the next couple years. I love the idea and I want to buy some stock in the company. Does anyone agree or disagree? Is now a good time to buy coke stock? someone with some analyst experience please. thank you.

Answer: I think Coke is a great long term stock, it just split not to long ago so people that had already invested in coke doubled there shares and have a great position in Coke. I also like the dividends that Coke gives off, this is one of the major things I look at when I pick a stock along with how much the dividends have grown over the years.

What is Dividend Growth Investing?

   I enjoy a long term investing source called Dividend Growth Investing. Dividend Growth Investing is when you invest in strong companies that have been paying and raising dividends for a long time. My entry point for a stock would be when they have been raising there dividend for at least 10 consecutive years. They key to success with a Dividend Growth strategy is researching the stocks you want to invest in as in depth as possible. It takes countless hours to research a stock you are going to add to your portfolio. I also want to stay diversified in my portfolio having at least 30 different stocks from as many different types of sectors as possible. This allows you to have some fluctuations in different markets and also if a company that you have a position in cuts there dividend then your over all portfolio is not going to take a big hit and you will have time to sell it and get into another dividend growth stock.

  The reason most investors prefer the dividend growth strategy is that you get payments all the time usually every quarter for most stocks and some pay in different months so you could be getting a dividend payout every month. So once you get to a point where you can live comfortably off of your dividends then you can go ahead and retire and start getting your payments right away instead of waiting until you are 59 and a 1/2 like most retirement plans and 401Ks.

    Below are a few Dividend Growth Stocks that I either have in my portfolio or that I am following with intentions on initiating a position in them in the near future.

   1. Walgreen's:(Wag) Walgreen's been up and down lately but is at a good price to buy. Walgreen's has paid dividends since 1933 has raised its distributions for 37 straight years. At this point I would consider a good addition to any Dividend Growth Investors portfolio.

2. Medtronic: (MDT) Medtronic is a medical device company that has had great success keeping up with today's medical technology needs. I feel like Medtronic will be arouund for the long haul. They have paid dividends since 1977 and have increased them every year for the last 35 years making them one of my favorite long term dividend stock picks.

Is Intel a good buy as a Long Term Dividend Stock Purchase?

Intel has been less than stellar this year. They have reported lower earnings than expected over the last few quarters. I am really interested to see if Intel's stock price will drop down into the $23.00 price range, as that is where I am targeting this as a good dividend stock option to add to my Dividend Growth Portfolio. I believe with this dividend that Intel is paying that It will really be a good addition at the right price and I also think that it will see future growth that will keep my portfolio growing year by year. My plan as a Dividend grown investor is to put together a portfolio of approximately 30 different dividend growth stocks that I can let grow over the next 25 years or so and make a great dividend income for me to live off of in retirement. My target as of right now is around $2,000 a month to go along with some other retirement accounts that I have, this number will allow me to keep up the daily lifestyle I lead and not have to keep a job past the age of 57, like many people are having to do today. I was talking to someone about retirement the other day and they planned on going until 67, to me this is not ideal and is not the way I want to spend my life.

Medtronic (MDT): Dividend Stock Review

 MDT is a very interesting stock for us Dividend investors. Medtronic has increased is dividend every year for the last 35 years and I see no sign of it slowing down. If they keep increasing it at this rate the dividend will double every 4 years on average which really strong in my opinion. With the increasing technology in the Medical Industry Medtronic will be developing new technology that will keep there earnings steadily increasing and keep their profit margins up. I do not currently have a position in Medtronic but it is on my short list of stocks I soon want to purchase.



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Walgreens makes big Move on 6/19

Walgreens (WAG)  made a huge purchase today, making a strong strategic move by going global. They purchased 45% of Alliance boots today, making them together a very strong global health and beauty retailer that will only make things better for Walgreens and Alliance boots in the long run. Walgreens has struggled of late with there Express Scripts dispute, but have made strides along the way slowing getting use to the idea of not having these customers.

  I believe Walgreens made a great move today and will continue to get strong and not only be the #1 Drugstore in the U.S., but now also be #1 abroad and of course across the whole globe.

How much is 10.2g of 14KT gold worth?

Answer:

 Melt value is roughly $310. As for the actual WORTH...that's something different. A shop that buys it to scrap the piece for the gold will pay somewhere around 75% of melt.  Which is about $232.

Why is Dell Stock is soo cheap?

What was the main reason that caused stock to go down? I know that the Net Income went down for the last quarter but that wasn't the reason. I'm looking for the EXACT REASON. You can be very technical. Trust me, I will understand everything. Thanks


Answer:
 "For the first-quarter, Dell reported that its net income fell 32.8 percent to $635 million, compared to $945 million a year earlier. Revenue also declined by 4 percent to $14.42. It was a miss on the top and bottom and the company even noted the impact of competitors. On the conference call, chief financial officer Brian T. Gladden explained, “We’re seeing more consumer IT spending diverted to alternative mobile computing devices.” In other words, tablets are eating Dell’s lunch.

I need information on 401k?

My company is offering 401k but there not matching it, im 25 with 2 children and I am very confused on starting and were to invest. Some with advice and help.

Answer:   The advantage of a 401K retirement account is that the money you put in there is not taxed until you retire and withdraw the money. So it reduces your tax burden every year, and helps prepare for your retirement. The human resources office, if there is one, at your work should have more information on specific investment options in a 401K account, such as stock funds, bond funds, money market account, and so on.

Hdfc Endowment Supreme Suvidha ULIP plan?

I have Hdfc Endowment Supreme Suvidha ULIP plan with me. The yearly premium is Rs 50,000 and I purchased this policy in 2010, due to financial issue, I could not pay the 2nd year premium but now I have sufficient fund to pay the premium and revive the policy. The policy term is 12yr and Sum assured is Rs. 250000.
I want to know if it is the good policy to hold as I had to buy the policy as a condition for opening a locker at HDFC bank. If no, the please suggest the alternative for me.
Please help me in my decision.

  Answer:

    Personally, I am totally against any ULIPs. Please understand that insurance is to cover your risk and ulip exposes you to risk since ulip is unit linked insurance plan. These units are derived from the nav of the investment made in equities (stockmarket).

If you want insurance, buy a pure term plan. If you want to invest, buy a decent equity mutual fund, gold etf, fd, tax free bonds etc. Don't mix both. If HDFC will not give you locker without this plan, I suggest that you get a locker from nationalized bank.

What is option trading?

  In finance an option trading is the purchase and/or sale of one or various option positions and possibly an underlying position..
   From an investors point of view there are double folded benefit of option trading. Firstly, the leverage of the option trading that lets you control greater value of investment with significantly lower deposits. In option trading you need much lower deposits to trade in option trading than investing or buying the same quantity of asset outright.

Stock Analysis: Southern Company SO

 Southern Company is an Atlanta based company that supplies energy to over 4.4 million customers and supplies over 42,000 megawatts of power to these customers.  Southern Company is a good long term investment as it does pay out a quarterly dividend which is equal to $1.96/share a year.  At the right stock price Southern Company is something you should add to your portfolio. I would say my buy price for Southern Company would be in the 41 to 43 dollar range. I am a long term dividend investor and will be looking to add a position in SO as soon as it is a favorable position.

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What are the effects of stock dividends on investors compared to cash dividends?

How are investors affected by a firm opting to pay out a stock dividend instead of a cash dividend?


Answer:

A stock dividend is treated as a stock split. By giving out more shares to investors, it dilutes the value of each share. If the market price per share stays the same, it is a benefit to the company in not using cash, and a benefit to stockholders in not being directly taxable.
So, stock dividends, in theory, have little or no value. They are mostly psychological.

Why did Apple pay dividends to their shareholders?

If they don't have to do so, why did they do it (or do they have to at some stage)? Aren't they in effect losing cash?

How would they at all benefit from it?


Answer:

They would be able to raise more capital by offering dividends to share holders who would other wise not invest or buy the stock. By not having dividends, the company has limited share holder equity on their balance sheet, which does increase their assets, but people who want the stock and the dividends, would not buy it. Or people who do not want their earning through trading a stock, have no reasoning to own the stock.

Should I sell or hold Metro PCS shares?

I purchased Metro PCS stocks about a month ago @ $9.84 and since then they are going down. Now trading at $8.85. There was no bad news about the company since then and I don't understand what's going on with this stock. but seems to be going down everyday even when the market is high. So I would like to know some suggestions whether should I sell or hold them.


Answer:g
I would suggest you hold them, if there is nothing major going on with the company this is just likely a small dip in the stock market affecting the price and it will level back out within time. This might even be a good time to add some more shares if you are in a position to do so.

How does hedge fund differs from mutual fund?

Answer:

Hedge funds and mutual funds are both managed portfolio in which securities are picked by a fund manager. However hedge funds are more aggressively managed as compared to the mutual fund. They can take speculative positions in the derivative securities .Hedge funds also differs from mutual fund in their availability, they are available to only specific investors .There are many investment companies that invest in hedge fund and mutual fund of which Reliance mutual fund is one of the good one.

I have several EE bonds and am not sure if I should keep them or cash them in. NO, I have not been paying the?

I have several EE bonds and am not sure if I should keep them or cash them in. NO, I have not been paying the interest on them, so if I cash them, I know I have to pay for the interest. If they have reached their maturity, should I cash them in? What is the point of hanging onto them, if any? They are dated 1989 - 1992. Would appreciate any info on bonds that you can provide.

Answer:
Interest on EE savings bonds is not taxable at the State level. But the Feds tax the accumulated interest the year you redeem them.

Your bonds stop paying interest 30 years after issuance. Right now the interest is probably about 3.5% - something you will never get from a bank. And banks are not likely to be offering anywhere close to this figure for some time yet, probably not until 2014.

Apple Stock Question?

I’m soon going to be 18 and my parents own stock and are telling me that it would be a wise idea for me to also look in to it. i feel that maybe they are right so i looked around a little and thought maybe i would like to invest the $500 or so in to Apple Stock. I’m kind of new at this and would like to know where i can find some good information about this and also if there are any other look things to invest a little money in that I can make a profit from.


Answer:

I would not suggest investing in anything until you analyze it for awhile. Apple is a little high right now so you should wait until it drops some if thats what you got your mind set on. I would suggest you start with some lower price stocks that have a history of strong divedend payouts, then even if you do not ever sell your stocks you are still earning a income that can be cashed out or reinvested.

Is it good to have a 401k and Roth IRA?

Somebody suggested a few days ago to contribute what my company matches in my 401k and then open a roth account my company has it with prudential and they match 100% the first 3% and 50% the next 2% and I'm putting in 7% and I was on prudential website and I can also select what percent I want to contribute to a roth 401k so I thought maybe instead of putting 7 in my 401 drop it to 5 and put 2% in a roth I just don't really know much about it any advice would be appreciated.


Answer:
The difference between a ROTH and a regular 401k is when you pay the taxes.

With a regular 401k, contributions are tax deductible up front. Since you don't have to pay taxes on these contributions that means you can put more in. However when you retire you will have to pay taxes on each withdrawal at your ordinary income rate.

With a ROTH 401k contributions are not tax deductible. However once the money is in a ROTH account you will never have to pay taxes on the money again (assuming you wait until you retire to withdraw it).

Generally if you are making a lot of money right now and are currently in a very high tax bracket AND you expect to be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, then the traditional 401k makes the most sense.

However if you are currently not in a high tax bracket and you expect to save a lot of money for retirement, then the ROTH makes more sense because you will pay no taxes in later years when you have a higher income.

The most important thing above all is to match your employer's contributions and maximize the amount of money you put in. Whichever path allows you to get the highest contributions from your employer is the way you should go. If either direction gets you the same amount, then consider the tax implications I talked about.

What happened to my WAMUQ stocks?

Hi, I made a post about a month ago and I
Essentially, I asked about WAMUQ stocks and what the future held for them. I bought 7500+ shares of WAMUQ for $0.03 per share. JoeyV stated that my shares would survive after the bankruptcy process was completed and they re-emerged as a new company. This does not seem to be the case. In my Scottrade Account, it still says I have the shares of WAMUQ and it says the market value is $0.00.

I have checked around and it seems that Washington Mutual is now trading as WMIH. Does this mean I am out of luck and my 7500 shares go in the toilet? Will my shares be converted eventually, or am I just stuck with them?


Answer:
You will get something for your shares which I believe is new shares. The WAMUQ stock is old stock and it is cancelled. But you should still get something which is some number of shares in the newly reorganized company. How much that will be worth is anyone's guess.

Frankly, I thought you would get something by now as the reorg plan became effective on 3/19.

Edit: I guess you had a ballot which you were supposed to send in to receive the settlement. I can't tell what happens if you did nothing on that as you received a settlement if you sent back the ballot unmarked. It's possible that if you did nothing you "opted out" of the settlement. You need to call your broker and see what's what.

This is a problem with buying bankrupt stock - even if you win you may lose because you got this arcane ballot in the mail and you ignored it. Ouch.

Buying and Selling Stocks?

I am a Forex trader for the last two years and never traded stocks...I am so used to simple buy and sell in forex with target profit and stop loss...It is not the same thing stock trading....I recently opened an account with cheap broker name zecco to test drive how stocks work...I am really frustrated at how to close my trades as there is no such option in stock brokers....I got two trades opened when I first traded it was in positive gain the first time i bought time now it stands at -75% loss...how the f***k do i close this mother f998908king trade....I need to get the hell away from stocks...

please any body with the knowledge help me out cause I am thinking about suicide its soo depressing when you can't figure things out....

Answer:

errrrr I don't know what you do in Forex but with stocks:

You issue and order to buy them (say 100 shares of ABC at a limit price of $1/share or a market order where the shares will be bought at the cheapest price available at the time)

When you are ready you issue an order to sell them (place a sell order of 100 shares of ABC at a limit price of eg. $1.25/share or a market order where they will be sold at the best price at that moment)

Stocks? if i want to invest a little money in some stocks how easy is it? how do i start?

Answer:
It's not hard but you should be aware of a few things. You say you are looking to invest "a little" money in stocks. How much that refers to affects my advise for you. If it's less $25,000 then i suggest using a broker or even better, a financial advisor who can help you invest and teach you things along the way. A financial advisor isn't there to take large cuts of what is made with your money, but rather to help you. Typically they make their money from the companies that they are in association with (not percentage cuts your money). But, if you can do enough research and possibly read up on investing enough to feel comfortable to do it on your own, and you have more than $25,000 then you may be ready to start on your own. In which case i suggest using an online broker such as Scottrade, E-trade, etc. You can learn more about investing by reading investment books as i said, but look for ones that have been written by a current or former investor who has experienced the pros and cons to investing. You can also check out www.morningstar.com which may be helpful to you for learning more about investing. And you might ask why i refer to the figure of $25,000. This is because there are regulations to trading and this is one you should be aware of. You can't make any more than 3 trades in a five day trading period with less than $25,000. Hope this helps.

When you buy and sell stocks, who buys and sells them?

On the stock market when you buys shares I'm guessing it's from the company. However, when you want to buy or sell shares can you always do this? Do you need to wait for someone to buy them in the stock exchange or are the company obliged to sell them back to you?


Answer:

In the old days, you had to give your order to a broker who was typically a member of a stock exchange like the NYSE. It was a membership that only allowed members to trade. Trading took place on the floor physically at a trading post, which was run by a specialist or dealer. The specialist would have special rights and obligations that allowed them to control the trading of the trade book, where all the orders were aggregated.

If you wanted to purchase, say 1000 shares of GM stock, you would call in an order for a $5.00 bid for 1000 shares. Your order would in some way make it to a clerk in a booth on the edge of the floor. The clerk would relay the order to the floor broker, either physically on paper, by telephone, or with hand signals(which were similar to sign language, and rather complex). The broker would then enter the trading crowd in front of the specialist...

Let's say there were 2 other brokers and the spec in the crowd. Each broker was offering 400 shares at $5.00, for a total of 800. Your broker would go in and ask where he could purchase 1000k shares. The dealer would say there're 800 shares at $5, and that he'd clean you up on the balance, meaning sell you 200 shares that he owned(the other brokers would likely be representing other customers, not their own accounts). Your broker would pay $5.00 for 1000 shares. To do this all parties would exchange badge numbers and give-ups. All members on the floor had a badge number to match them to their trades, as there were many transactions per day, perhaps thousands, performed by most members. Your give-up would be the symbol assigned to the clearing broker, of which there were many, such as Credit Suisse, BofA, JPM, Morgan Stanley, etc. So, your broker would say "giving up NFS" for example. The other guys would be familiar with him and his badge # and not have to ask. He would get the give-up of the 2 brokers and specialist and write that info along with the quantity each, and price, on the ticket. He would phone in a trade confirmation to the booth, which would eventually make it back to the original buyer. For example, it could go from broker on the floor to clerk in the booth to NFS office in downtown Manhattan to regional office from where you placed the trade back to you in your kitchen, more or less. A runner would take the tickets to the booth, and at the end of the day all trades were matched and confirmed in the DK room(Don't Know) to identify and correct potential errors.

The trades you do are not with the company that issues the stock, but with 3rd parties who own shares. That could mean institutional holders like a mutual fund, or individuals like yourself. As I mentioned before, dealers had special rights as well as obligations. One of those obligations is to provide liquidity. So, if you want to buy or sell and there is no one to trade with, you can always trade with the specialist. However, they don't have to meet you on price. In the GM example, let's say you wanted to buy 1000 shares, and there were no orders to sell on the floor. The dealer would say, "I'll sell you 1k at 5 1/4, or $5.25 (trading was in fractions until 2000, I think). Then, if you wanted them, you'd have to pay $5.25. If you didn't want to pay that much, you would have to wait for a seller to come in who wanted to buy them, which may or may not happen by the end of the day. Most stock orders are day orders, where they are good all day long, but canceled at the close of the market. If you want to place the order again, you have to do it the next day.

It's mostly the same today, except now that's it's computerized. Your broker is a computer that trades with other computers, which makes it much faster and less expensive.

What happens in stock split?

Answer:

Lets say you own 10 shares in a company that has a total of 100 shares outstanding. You own ten percent of that company. If the company were to decide to do a 10 for 1 stock split there would then be 1,000 shares outstanding. You would then own 100 shares. The percentage of the company wich you own is still 10% but now you own more shares which make up that same 10%.

One reason a company splits its stock is to give investors a chance to buy the shares at a lower price thus making it easier for them to invest in that company. Some people see a lower price as being more affordable.

It's sort of like taking a pie and cutting it into smaller peices. The pie is the same size only now there are more peices of it. It didn't change anything about the pie except the number of peices that are in existence.

The reverse of a stock split would be a reverse stock split. Sometimes when a company is trading below a certain dollar amount they do a reverse stock split so that it brings the price of stock up to a higher level. Once again if the company had 1,000 shares outstanding and you owned 100 of them and they did a reverse 10 for 1 split then you would go from having 100 shares to having 10. The percentage of the company you own would still be 10% but there would be fewer shares.

Are Dividends the same as a stock? I know what they do but lets say if i buy 500 dividends directly from?

That would give me 500 shares correct?

so if the day came id be able to sell those 500?


Answer:
Dividends are not the same as stock. You must a stock in a company that offers a dividend. So if you own 500 shares of stock in a company then they may pay you a dividend for each share you own. Not all companies pay a dividend though.

What are "wash trades"? And why are they created?

Answer:

A wash trade is something else. A wash trade is an illegal activity wherein someone will use two different brokers to both buy and sell a stock at the same time. Basically just passing shares from one hand to the other, to make it look like there is a sudden increase in activity. Sucking in unsuspecting buyers in the hopes of driving the price of the stock up, so that they can then sell at a premium.

Basically an illegal pump and dump designed to suck in buyers so the perpetrator can sell at a higher price.

What are primary and secondary markets?

Answer:

Basically when a company first issues shares in the market, it is called Primary Market, The shares may be issued on the face value or with a premium. Once they are issued and listed in the stock market, they are traded and is known as Secondary market.

Will Bank Of America give a car loan to a first time buyer? (I barely have any credit but its positive credit)?

I am in the military and have a steady income and was wondering if bank of america will give out car loans to first time buyers if so

WHat is the maximum they will give? Interest?
I have barely any credit as I do not own anything.


Answer:

For car loans they are fairly lenient and as long as you do not have have any bad credit and you have a job I do not think you will have any problems getting the Car loan you seek. I think you will get competetive interest rates just like I said before if you do not have any bad credit.

What percentage of your income should you invest in mutual funds and IRA?

Answer:

If you do not have an employer sponsored 401k where they match money that you put in and the IRA is your main source of retirement savings I would do at least 10% of my yearly salary or the max of $5,000. Then if you still have a good bit of investing money left over and I would look into stocks that pay good dividends and start collecting some of them as well because they will pay you back over and over, I would just make sure you collect good solid companies stocks and get a wide variety in many different sectors if you go with this strategy. Here are a some good blogs I would join to help you learn more about investing.

How should I invest in my 401K to get the most out of it?

I have no idea what how to distribute? However, I do like to play it somewhat safe. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Ready Assets Prime Money Fund
Invesco Van Kampen Equity and Income Fund - Class R
BlackRock S&P 500 Index Fund - Investor A Class
BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, Inc. - Investor A Class
Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Fund - Class T 15
Ivy Asset Strategy Fund - Class Y
Delaware Diversified Income Fund - Class A
Victory Established Value Fund - Class A
BlackRock Inflation Protected Bond Portfolio - Investor A Class
Thornburg International Value Fund - Class R4
BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund - Investor A Class 35-40
Goldman Sachs Growth Opportunities Fund - Class A
Invesco Van Kampen Comstock Fund - Class A
MainStay Large Cap Growth Fund - Class A
BlackRock Large Cap Core Fund - Investor A Class
Ivy International Balanced Fund - Class Y
Victory Special Value Fund - Class
BlackRock Large Cap Growth Fund - Investor A Class
Aberdeen Global Natural Resources Fund - Class A

Answer:


If you are looking to invest safely I would start by putting 25% in the Ready Asset Prime Money Fund. If the market drops about 20% then you can move that into your other choices.

Fidelity Small Cap Fund has not been a good fund. Avoid that one.

Victory Established Value Fund. The name is somewhat misleading. This is not actually a value fund but it is a good fund. 25%

Invesco Van Kampen Equity and Income. Not a great fund. About average but relatively safe. 25%

Aberdeen Global Natural Resources Fund. This one should be a no brainer but its record is very poor. Must be poor management. Avoid it.

Black Rock Large Cap Core Fund. Another dog. Avoid it. Holding are not what I would call core holdings and its performance is poor.

Ivy Asset Strategy Fund. Not a bad fund. It is better than it appears. Holds some gold. Holds some international stocks. 25%

Delaware Diversified Income Fund. This has been a real good fund, but it is a bond fund and bonds are due for a fall. Avoid it.

Those are the best of the bunch that you were presented with in my opinion. One of the problems with 401k accounts is many times the selection is not great.

Question about stock market?

I need help finding a good website that does all of the Ratios and Margins for Fundamental analysis.


Answer:

I prefer MSN Finance for technical info and then from there I also check out the articles down towards the bottom as they are always related to the stock I am checking out and you can find some more in depth stock analaysis this way.

Should I bother applying for a FHA or is it a waste of effort?

I currently hold a score of 665.

Is a score of 665 too low to be considered for a home mortgage? Should I apply or should I wait?

Additional information: debt-to income ratio is 18%. Score 98% on time payments. 3 derogatory credit remarks, one of which is payed off. total debt of 62K with 53K belonging to student loans. Average yearly income of 49k.

Answer:

Short answer: You are not wasting your time applying for an FHA loan now. Interest rates are attractive, and there are many properties to choose from today.

Longer answer: Because your credit score is greater than 580, you may qualify for an FHA mortgage that requires a 3.5% down payment. You mentioned a couple of key factors in qualifying for a loan, including:

* Your credit score. 665 is fine for an FHA loan. Today, the FHA requires a 580 minimum score
* Your low DTI. An 18% DTI is a good starting place.

But lenders look for several other factors, including:

* Your income history. Typically, lenders want you to work in a field for 2 years.
* Your reserves. Savings, retirement plans, investments, and so on.

You mentioned a $150,000 loan. The FHA requires a 3.5% down payment. Do you have $5,250 set aside for a down payment? To learn more about qualifying for an FHA loan, see the Source(s) below.

Should I contact debt collectors or wait for them to contact me?

A couple of years ago i got myself in trouble with a credit card with barclaycard (i'm an idiot I know). However I now have enough money to clear the account (though ideally I would like to make an offer to pay a bit less as I know this could be accepted). I've moved house since the debt and they haven't been able to trace me yet. According to my credit report which I checked today the Barclaycard is closed but there is a new debt for the same amount with a debt collection agency. Should I write to the debt collection agency and try and clear the debt (if so what should I say), or should I just keep the money to one side and wait for them to contact me?


Answer:

I would suggest you do try to track down who owns your debt now and see if they will offer to let you get rid of it at a lower rate. They will eventually find you anyways and if you want to clear your name and your debt, it will be better to do it faster and get it off your mind.

If someone paid me with paypal on ebay and I only have a debit card on my account, will it go to my card?

I don't have a paypal but that's how someone paid me. Does it just got to my debit card, or did I just lose money?


Answer:

If you don't have a Paypal account, then you have not been paid. The person may attempt to send money to your e-mail address, but you'll need a Paypal account in order to receive that money.

It won't go to your debit card.

Which is a better financial scenario?

I want to buy a new car. Should I:
1-Take a loan now from the bank. (I don't have any savings)
2-Save 15000$ before taking the loan, and put them in a savings account to offset the car loan interest.
3-Save 15000$ and buy the car in cash


Answer:

I would suggest that you do #3 and pay cash for your car, cars lose value very fast and are not very good investments so I would not want to pay any interest if I had that option.

How much house can we buy?

We are trying to move house.Bank agrees to lend us £170,000 (based on salary)providing 10% deposit.We may make £10,000 from existing house and we have £40,000 savings.My understanding is we can buy a house worth 170,000+10,000+40,000=220,000.But sb said we actually need to deduct 17,000 which is the 10% of 170,000.Sb else said we need to deduct 22000 which is 10% of house price.I am well confused. Please anybody can explain to me how it works or simply tell me how much house we can afford. Thanks a lot.

Answer:

The bank is saying if you borrow £170000 you must put at least £19,000 into your new house.
How much money can you put into your new house. Profit from selling your old house after paying off the old mortgage £10,000 plus savings £40,000. So you are well within the minimum requirements of the bank. In theory you could buy a house costing £220,000.

There are however costs to consider, estate agent, legal fees buying and selling, surveyors charges, mortgage application charges, removal van. There may be others but I cant think what they are.

Next remember mortgage interest rates are low at the moment, so expect your mortgage repayments to go up over the next few years. Could you afford an 8 to 10% mortgage rate?

Just because the bank will lend you the money does not mean you can afford it.