Personal
Portfolio
Decent Month, all in all. Time for some changes though.
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Change got here........Now What?
The thing about conservatives for the past few decades
is that they have been pretty much spineless - no backbone at
all, except when it came to passing social initiatives under George
Bush.
There is still no tax policy. The Libs are
still whining about taxing wealthy Americans more and Conservatives are
intent on passing an 'All or Nothing' plan, and in the end, there is no
plan.
I am somewhat worried about this and I think that any
American who relies on dividend distributions as a part of their
monthly living allowance should be absolutely up in arms about this
definite lack of leadership in the house and in the senate.
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Personal Portfolio
The Change: Annaly Capital Management (NLY)
I mentioned this stock once before. I held
it for a while and then chickened out (that would be somewhere in May).
I shouldn't have. I should have held the stock. Next
week I am buying back in and holding for the long term.
I was surprised when I learned this stock even got a Cramer ShoutOut.
Given
my age, I have slowly been moving $$ into more stable stocks.
While several years ago, I was primarily interested in really
broad diversification and accomplishing that by using mutual funds,
I am now more of the Warren Buffet mind in that if you want
extreme diversification as a form of protection, then you obviously
don't know what you are doing.
These guys also put out some really good commentary. Takes some work to understand some of it though. November Commentary.
Anyway, I think this stock is worth 4-5% of the portfolio, especially in the tax-exempt portion of your account.
The Winner: for more than likely the rest of the Year is...........
Standard Pacific Homes (SPF)
With the inclusion of dividends,
B&G foods returned almost 40% this year. Of course, I
have to take into account the fact that I sold it at a high during a
Cramer ShoutOut, and then bought back when the stock returned to
normal. This is a well run company, always on the lookout for
brands which have fallen out of favor. I am very happy with this
company and am entirely surprised with the end of the year results.
Anyway, this is a company that I think one would be
quite content with over the long term, considering the current
management.
The Bizarre.........
This self-obsessed,
aristocratic moron has absolutely no clue as to the state of the
economy for normal folks and needs to be sent packing to the role of
that as community organizer in Nowhereville, KY (no criticism of
Kentucky intended).
The Loser: BAC - Bank of America
I
finally gave up and sold most of BAC. I am now holding only a
token amount. I think there are better places to go.......
The Replacement: Ford (F)
I
bought this in the low 14's and am content to sit on it. It has a
reasonable PE, sales are strong overseas and it is not government run.
Should it be declared illegal to turn a Profit?
I
try to stay out of politics, especially when it comes to family
get-togethers but when a public service employee starts shooting his
mouth of about the evils of big business and how the government should
keep its boot heel on the neck of big business, that's going a
bit too far.
Public service employee wages are paid by those of
us who work in private sector - you know, the risk takers - the people
who start companies and hope to generate business. By generating
business, these people provide jobs. The bigger they get, the more
people they hire. The more people they hire, more taxes are
paid,
Public service employees can be
considered as burden or overhead on the rest of us. Of course a
certain amount of burden is necessary for a functioning society and I
have no issue with that but I do get sick and tired of those in the
public sector mouthing off against those that pay their salaries - can you say hypocrisy?
You hear more and
more of this kind of crap - especially under the current
administration. It does make one wonder if we should not have a
national debate as to if capitalism should be declared legal or
illegal once and for all. I think some of these public service
employees would much rather have a form of limited capitalism where
they can keep their boots on the throats of business by making it
lawful to earn only so much, sending any extra to the government
where they can 'spread the wealth around.'
Gee, that sounds kind of familiar doesn't it?
............and look where it has got us.
Storms are coming early this year. |
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