Author Archive: Jeff Reeves

Like many who are passionate about investing, I am a numbers guy. And like many people who are serious about facts and figures, it’s hard to bite my tongue when I run across egregious errors in financial media that might mislead the investing public.

Here are a few that have irked me lately that you should watch out for:

Stock splits:  Arguing that Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) is different after its July stock split is like arguing that cutting a pizza into more slices somehow changes the quality of the crust. The value of a company or its total profits doesn’t change just because there are more shares (or slices) to go around.… Read more

One of my favorite things about the summer months is minor league baseball. You can get a dog and a beer on the cheap, most games are followed by fireworks and there’s no hour-long wait to pull out of the parking lot.

Besides, if you’re a student of baseball then there’s so much to appreciate. Talent in the big leagues makes it all look easy. And while the minors is messy at times, it makes you appreciate the importance of things like shrewd baserunning, taking pitches or placing the perfect bunt.

I love the investing version of “small ball,” too. Less flashy long-term plays may not ever become household names, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable players in your portfolio as a whole.… Read more

Statistician and trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb published his book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” in 2007 – just months before the global financial crisis and Great Recession hit full swing. In this, and in other writings, he explores the importance of preparing for the unexpected.

After a brutal year or so on Wall Street, I recently went back to Taleb’s works. They offer some very important lessons on resilience and risk, and I highly recommend them.

But since most people prefer simple, real-world examples to a homework assignment, let me give you the Reader’s Digest version – using tobacco giant Altria Group Inc.… Read more

Last week, I shared with you one of my top picks right now in pharmaceutical giant AbbVie (ABBV). The stock has tripled its dividend in about 10 years and is one of the rare investments that’s actually up in an admittedly rocky 2022.

And the week before that, I detailed another “MVP” stock in Stellantis (STLA). This automaker is plotting big cost-savings after a recent merger, currently delivering more than 5X the yield of the typical stock in the S&P 500.

This time around I want to share with you another recommendation, megabank JPMorgan Chase (JPM). This financial stock also exhibits the three must-have factors I look for – strong management, attractive value and generous payouts – but has recently been making headlines after earnings that make this trade a bit time-sensitive.… Read more

Last week, I shared one of my top picks in this volatile market via automaker Stellantis (STLA). You can get all the details in my analysis, but the short version is that this stock is set up for big cost-savings after a recent merger, trades at P/E ratio of just 3X earnings, and delivers more than 5X the yield of the typical stock in the S&P 500 index at present.

This week, I want to share a bit more about the “MVP” philosophy behind this pick by highlighting another stock that is equally attractive.

MVP stands for three core factors that any income-oriented investor should explore before making an investment — Management, Valuation and Payouts.… Read more

As we grind on into the second half of the year, the gloomy headlines about inflation and a bear market seem to be getting darker. There’s now talk of the housing market cooling off, and in some corners even chatter about a potential recession.

But if you’re a serious investor instead of a day trader with a short attention span, there’s no reason for you to freak out and hide in a bunker. True investing success depends on looking beyond short-term cycles, and instead focus on long-term income.

I’m not saying that makes it easy. It’s always a challenge to find reliable investments, and even more so in this environment.… Read more

I had some friends over last weekend and the weather was gorgeous. So of course, I fired up the grill. This wasn’t flipping a few premade burgers and dogs though – we’re talking a dozen steaks, cooked to a perfect medium rare.

In all humility, I cook a steak with the best of them. But there’s not much of a secret to it. I just pick fresh, quality cuts of meat from a local butcher and let the grill do the work.

I approach my personal investing portfolio the same way as my grilling. Namely, it’s all about HIGH QUALITY INGREDIENTS.… Read more

When I was a kid, I took a martial arts class for a year or two. It wasn’t particularly structured, and I think it was just my mom’s way of burning off my energy in a controlled environment to prevent me from destroying the house.

Based on the amount of patched drywall in the house where I grew up, it didn’t work very well.

I honestly don’t remember much from those classes. But one thing I do recall is the concept of “aikido,” a Japanese martial arts style that involves using your opponent’s movements and momentum to your own advantage.

There’s a certain elegance to aikido, and a core philosophy behind it that’s worth remembering in other areas of life—including investing.… Read more

Nobody’s perfect. And in 2022, it’s particularly hard to pretend that you never make a losing trade as the market has been incredibly volatile through no fault of our own.

That said, there’s the old saying that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over but expecting different results. So if you have a habit of making bad trades, maybe the bigger problem isn’t the stock market… but your strategy.

One particularly risky strategy that I see some income investors cling to is the notion of placing a priority on yield above everything else. And like Captain Renault, these investors always seem to be shocked – shocked!… Read more

A popular adage in the investing world is “Wall Street hates uncertainty.” Unfortunately, many investors have been living in a world of surprises and uncertainty for all of 2022.

Some of that is beyond their control, including volatility caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. However, a lot of the challenges we face in 2022 are by no means unexpected.

You simply had to be paying attention.

In talking with family and friends, I’ve found that one of the biggest risk areas that gets overlooked in their personal portfolios is an over reliance on Big Tech. This is a particularly important topic right now, with the Nasdaq down about 15% in the last 30 days as megacap technology companies have cratered.… Read more