Wellington Financial Services
 

Went to a seminar last week given by Wellington. Met today with Sam Southard from Wellington, and he seems very bright. Has anyone on TOTV worked with Sam or know anything about Wellington? Thanks, Cynthia

I talked to one of the owners one time and they seem very through. I have an issue with all money management companies in this market. They all believe that you should stay 100% invested and ride the market up and down. That over time if you maintain a balanced portfolio you will come out ahead. They believe this because they either take a % of your invested money or get paid a commission on what they sell. This strategy has made a lot of people poor in the last 3 years and a lot of money managers rich. I have used a few of them over the years and have also maintained a portion of my investments to manage myself. I also manage my own 401K.

In every year I have done better then the professional managers. In my 401K only by a small amount due mainly to a limited selection of investments, but in my personal account by a lot. To the point that I have removed almost everything from their management. First when the market dropped from a 14,000 DOW to a 7,000 DOW they both rode it all the way down. In my 401K I got out at 12,000 and stayed out until it was 8,500 on the way back up. In my personal account I only buy 3 to 5 stocks of very solid companies. I set target prices to buy and a target price to sell. I also use stop loss orders to minimize the downside risk. In the 2008 free fall, all stop loss orders triggered. However at the bottom I was able to buy 5 stocks on my watch list at very attractive prices. Discounts of 75% to their list price. 4 of the 5 reached their target sell price last year and the 5th I still own and it is still a great value. I even bought more of it in the last two weeks when the market dropped down a few percent. The downside to my strategy is lack of diversity. The upside is an average of 29% annual returns since I have been doing it myself.

I will continue to maintain a small amount with the professional managers and also continue to build a portion of my personal investments into very low risk holdings. The rest will be managed by investing in a very few stocks of very good companies.

I agree with you l2ridehd. However, some folks do not have the knowledge and understanding of the financial systems to manage their own investments and savings. I know lots of people that simply do not want to take the time to learn to manage their investments. Now you and I know that no one cares more about our money than we do ourselves. That said, hiring an investment manager is better than no management at all. I enjoy managing my investments and have done reasonably well over the years. When the market fell off the cliff a few years back I shifted my 401K to 100% buying stock because I was confident the market would rebound (and it has). History is a good teacher.

Make sure you understand how much you pay for the investment choices. Ask then to tell you the total dollars that will leave your account and go to some one else. Then com pair that costs to the amount of income they think you can get from your investments.

Wellington
 

I agree that we will pay a cost for using an investment manager. We've been doing our own for many years. However, we are investigating letting someone else take part of our holdings to see how they do with it. That said...anyone who has invested with Sam Southard & Wellington...would love some feedback here. Thanks, Cynthia

Stock Market. At our age?
 

Kiplinger's magazine recommends short term high quality bonds. Short term because interest rates are so low.

Take a look at the following link and find the animate button: http://stockcharts.com/freecharts/yieldcurve.html
When the treasury yield curve is showing an up slope that is bullish.

If they want you 100% in the stock market, and they want you to buy and sell with commissions, watch out.