2012 was in
total a good year for stock market investors. It was also a very good year for
dividend stock buyer and dividend growth stock investors. Since the peak of the
financial crisis and the aftereffects from the Lehman bankruptcy, the stock
market turned in March 2009 and demonstrated a strong recovery.
Between October
2008 and March 2009 I put all my available for trading money into the stock
market and lend me additional cash from my brokers. Yes I bought shares on margin
and as you see, my idea paid-off.
Since March
2009 the Dow Jones is up 78.37%, the S&P 500 increased by 85.26% and NASDAQ
doubled. My
stocks quadrupled. All this was the result of my research and the process of
selecting and time-weighted stock buys from the best dividend
paying companies worldwide.
I've two
mainstream portfolios. My first portfolio is mainly filled with U.S. large caps
that generate high amounts of foreign sales on corporate level. This portfolio
gained around 26.44% year-to-date.
This is no
net return because I have still some loans on it for which I have to pay interest.
In addition I have realized some foreign exchange losses because I am an euro
investor and all my transactions be converted into the euro currency.
Not enough,
I have to pay taxes on my dividends like everybody else. Summarized, this
portfolio generated a net return, dividends included, of 14.04%.
My second
portfolio is free of depth and has enough cash to pay-off the total debt from
my first portfolio. The total return from this portfolio was around 8%.
My second
portfolio is a bit smaller than the first one. That’s the reason my whole
return is still in a double-digit region. I did not beat the performance of the
broad market this year but I also did not underperform him.
Why is stock
investing so difficult? Why isn’t it so easy to buy stocks low and sell them
high? So I don't have an idea how to make money at the stock market. I can’t
tell you without having a bad conscience how the market works. Everybody needs
to train their skills and learn from mistakes. Everything is the result of fine
fundamental in-depth analysis.
All I do is
fundamental research for my investment process. I evaluate stocks, discover growth
potential and market strength. I could not predict if the stock price goes up
or down. I'm not a stock market guru and I don't have a prediction tool which
let me know if it's the time is right to buy stocks now nor to sell them.
Within the
next days I need to discover some stocks to buy for next year in order to
adjust my current portfolio allocation. I've no idea where it will end but I
have too much cash I need to invest.
Maybe you
have some interesting ideas for me. I would be happy if you could tell them and
share it here like I do. We are all humans and we all make mistakes in
investing but if we talk about and share our thoughts, it could reduce our
trading-errors and save money.
How was
your performance this year? Do you have had some special trades, something
spectacular you like to share with me? Let me know in the comment box below!
Happy Investing!
Tom