Steve Selengut

Making A Volatile Stock Market Your VBF

Most people never forget their first love. I'll never forget my first trading profit --- but the 600 1970 dollars I pocketed on Royal Dutch Petroleum was not nearly as significant as the conceptual realization it signaled. I was amazed that someone wou... Read >

Retire Social Security Debt and Save The Economy

What if the US Government sold the Social Security system/employees/buildings/DEBT/etc. to Insurance/Annuity industry companies for the amount of the debt plus a few billion --- all in cash plus secured debt of the hundreds of companies involved in the pu... Read >

Five Filters For More Effective Stock Selection

How much financial bloodshed is necessary before we realize that there is no safe and easy shortcut to investment success? When do we learn that most of our mistakes involve our very own greed, fear, and unrealistic expectations? Eventually, successful... Read >

Wall Street Most Wanted: A New Blue Chip Market Indicator

The Dow, Investment Grade Value Stocks, and Alternative Investments There are two extremely good reasons why your portfolio may not be "performing" (whatever that means) either as well as you would like or as well as your buddies say that they have bee... Read >

How Much Longer Can This Wall Street Toga Party Last?

About a year ago this week, just before the one-year anniversary of this market rally, there were about 45 IGVSs priced 15% or more below their 52-week highs. The market seemed to be entering a corrective phase, but it just never happened. A year late... Read >

The Dow Jones Industrials --- A Blue Chip Average No More

In addition to a well thought out investment plan, successful equity investing requires a feel for what is going on in the real world we refer to as "the market". To most investors, the DJIA provides all of the information they think they need, and they w... Read >

Need A GPS For Your Investment Portfolio?

"Hey 'Deep Pockets', what were you doing on October 19th, 1987", the Wall Street Jungle reporter asked? I was gritting my teeth, shaking more than just a little, palms sweaty but placing dozens of individual orders for the best NYSE, dividend-paying, c... Read >

Income Investing Articles --- An Anthology

After forty years of investing, a few things become clear: you need to focus on quality securities, diversify properly, and develop a lifetime supply of income. The investment puzzle becomes easier to solve if you have a handle on all the pieces. But i... Read >

MCIM Portfolios Rally To Three-Year High Levels

KIAWAH ISLAND, SC, December 13, 2010 Kiawah Golf Investment Seminars (an investment education enterprise located near the Kiawah Island Golf-Tennis-Beach resort) proudly reports estimated investment performance results for a sampling of Market Cycle Inves... Read >

Income Investing: News, Mis-Information, and Opportunities

Whoa! Stop! Hang on a minute. There is absolutely nothing unusual going on in the income securities markets. There is nothing to be particularly concerned about or afraid of. Relax, take a few deep breaths, and read on. Falling income security prices a... Read >

Stock Selection - Tools and Rules

At least ten hands shoot into the air as the discussion turns to stock selection. The speaker smiles, responds to each, and observes: "You really need to know the depth of the water, its temperature, tides, and currents before you dive into the river --- ... Read >

Ten Investment Risk Minimization Strategies

In the recent financial crisis, a very small percentage of (I bought my house to live in) homeowners stopped paying on their mortgages. Still, the hysteria over the bursting housing bubble (i.e., lower market values) led to financial institution road-kill... Read >

Basics of Investing: Cruise Control Hedging

Most people enter the investment arena thinking that "Risk" is a board game they played in college. Today, I would guess that the majority of investors have never owned an individual share of common stock or a Municipal Bond. The popularity of investm... Read >

Risk, The Essence Of Investing

Most investors incorrectly think of "risk" as the possibility that the market value of a financial asset might fall below the amount that he or she has invested in the asset. OMG, how could this be happening! Think about it. The harboring of these misc... Read >

Investment Hedging 1-2-3

The first page of search engine research tells you that: "Investors use hedging strategies when they are unsure of what the market will do"--- isn't that always? Further along you learn that there are many different kinds of strategies, nearly all of whic... Read >