Health and Learning, Religiously-Inspired Investing, and Spring

[sabrinamari]

So I'm working out again. It's hard to make myself do it, even though I love it once I start and feel so much better afterwards. I must keep reminding myself of these facts.

I am also slowly but steadily making my way through Morningstar's Stock curriculum. Finished the Fund curriculum last week---there were around 50 classes in that one. Each was brief, but they required a surprising amount of attention and effort, perhaps because this is a very new area of learning for me.

I'm also learning about how to set up investment portfolios for infants and children who will be attending college via Morningstar's current array of articles. With the explosion of parenting in my life (Trent, Zach, beloved family members who will be parenting, Sarah, Dorothy, and of course, Cat) I figure that our community will need this knowledge soon. Additionally, I am finally creating a general Watchlist of stocks that I am interested in holding over the long term.

There's an article on the Morningstar site that talks about religious investing and reviews the biggest Catholic, Protestant and Muslim funds. It inspired me to add a Muslim mutual fund to my 'intriguing funds' watchlist, as well as a socially screened fund that screens according to classic liberal values. It was a useful article, enabling me to spot a potentially interesting 5-star stock sold by one of the Catholic (?) funds because it began offering domestic partner benefits to its employees.

I hadn't thought of using the portfolio rejects of conservative Christian mutual funds to target my own interests, but there you go. If they've already done the homework for me, I should use it.

Also, I saw Suze Orman on TV recently and was disappointed. She was so overly animated that I wondered if she were drunk or high. She also treated her guests in a very patronizing way. In past programs, this was not the case. Whatever's wrong is detracting from her very useful message. I hope she fixes it.

Spring seems to be here. Hurray! Joyful happiness!

Michael and Trent continue to rock. : )

Comments

Life insurance

[elphaba-of-oz.livejournal.com]

Whole or Universal Life insurance doesn't make a huge pile of sense for an adult, but I think it's a good idea for a small child. When kids are young you can pick up a policy for very little money. a decade and a half later they can cash in the policy and use the money for college. If something unthinkable happens in between the parents get the death benefit. If something happens to make the child difficult or impossible to insure he or she can retain the policy bought in childhood and at least have that wee bit of protection for his or her hypothetical family.

I wish I had bought policies for my neice and nephew at birth. I just didn't have the money back then.

Re: Life insurance

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

I have just enough universal life insurance for adequate short-term liquidity in my estate, as it would take a while for probate. The insurance cash value is tied to a growth investment mutual fund, but I do not consider this to be an investment.

[elphaba-of-oz.livejournal.com]

And another thing - are you open to a lunch time phone call?

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Hugs,

Sabri

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

I learned much about stock trading in high school. We were asked to select stock and try to maximize our earnings. I picked a volatile low-priced stock and dumped all the hypothetical $10,000 in it, cashed-outg when it rose, held the profits aside in AT&T (at that time a very stable blue chip), and reinvested the $10K in the same stock. At the end of the two week exercise I had $50,000. It was pure technical trading.

My overall current trading strategy is to invest for long-term gains in 30 large cap stocks in a variety of industries. I invest in well-positioned industries (a macro-economic trend view) and pick companies within them with attractive valuations. My historical yield has been 12-15% pre-tax.

To get favorable tax treatment... If a stock has lost value I sell it before one year has elapsed, thus booking short-term losses for tax purposes. If a stock has gained value I sell it at one year and a day, booking long-term gains.

However, the bulk of my investments for retirement are in mix of mutual funds that, overall, are balanced for moderate risk and moderate growth. I get 8%-12% from this, but the past year has been better than average.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Thank you for telling me about this. I wish I had been to a high school like yours---what a fantastic learning opportunity!

I have no experience with technical trading at all. I am interested in the way you seem to have created your own "mutual fund-like" basket of stocks in your current investing style. It looks like you've gotten a better return this way than one might expect with funds. I am intrigued---I don't currently have the capital or knowledge to do something similar, but who knows what the future will bring?

I've learned enough to understand your tax strategy. That makes sense.

I am assembling my portfolio of funds right now using a Morningstar "cover the box" strategy. I am having fun with it.

The recommendation that you and Kayla gave me two years ago to buy Vanguard 500 for my first attempt at a Roth was extremely useful for me. I don't know if I've ever thanked you. It started me off with a good low cost large blend core fund and introduced me to a fund family that I still love today. Thank you. You really helped me.

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Loved this!

Hee hee...

[puckmls.livejournal.com]

Would you post the link to the Morningstar article you mentioned? I too am interested in socially responsible (and profitable) investing. It's a win-win situation.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

http://news.morningstar.com/article/pfarticle.asp?id=188559

Partially off topic

[roy-batty.livejournal.com]

First of all, it's really good to have you back to posting on LJ - I missed you in your absence.

Secondly, have I pimped the "Energy of Money" book to you yet?

And thirdly, very glad things are looking up for you! Brighter days are on the wayz!

Re: Partially off topic

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Hmm, this sounds like a book I need to read. Who wrote it?

Re: Partially off topic

[roy-batty.livejournal.com]

It's by Maria Nemeth . . . Bill&Beth, and Rob&Di, have been meeting with M&M&I on a monthly basis working thorough the exercises in the book. It's been great work and a very revealing and useful journey so far.

Here's the Amazon.com editorial review:

Amazon.com
The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment, by Maria Nemeth, Ph.D., outlines a distinctly unique approach to one of the most dominant yet forbidden topics in modern society: money, and how we deal with it. A clinical psychologist who once lost $35,000 in a fraudulent investment scheme, Nemeth learned from that ordeal (and similar experiences of friends and associates) how most of us develop relationships with money, and the ways in which we subsequently can bring these in line with our actual dreams and realities. She initially used this knowledge to start a workshop called You and Money, which eventually attracted more than 4,500 participants and led to the development of concepts now delineated in this book. Quoting relevant wisdom espoused by those ranging from Joseph Campbell and Ram Dass to Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker, Nemeth sets out "12 principles for personal fulfillment" designed to help readers "uncover the hidden landscape of beliefs, behavior patterns, and habits that underlie and sometimes subvert how you use money and other forms of energy." The result is a refreshing, useful, and surprisingly accessible mixture of universal financial advice and the much rarer--but no less important--ethereal side of fiscal self-management. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Re: Partially off topic

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

I am so ordering this NOW! Thank you for the heads up on it.