This would make a great research paper. All of the comments here save one are from at least ten months ago, and all but three are from at least a year ago. Anyone want to check the performance of the various investments discussed here? (The last year itself isn’t very helpful. You could have invested a dollar in stocks by using a dartboard a year ago, and if you picked it up today, it’d probably be worth $1.20.)
When I think out 10 years, all sorts of prejudices of mine rise up – unrest and corruption in emerging markets, radical shifts in the policy pendulum in the United States, an increasingly litigious world, technology that tends to become obsolete faster and faster, and big bets on initiatives that don’t match the hype.
All of this leads me to look at what I feel from a lifetime of watching is going to be most dependable – firms based in the United States, firms with good reputations, firms with strong market shares in established markets (especially if they have a few barriers to entry), firms that have continuous if unexciting growth, firms that have earnings based on actual sales of necessary products and services, and firms who pay a dividend and don’t need to borrow or sacrifice investment to pay it.
This would make a great research paper. All of the comments here save one are from at least ten months ago, and all but three are from at least a year ago. Anyone want to check the performance of the various investments discussed here? (The last year itself isn’t very helpful. You could have invested a dollar in stocks by using a dartboard a year ago, and if you picked it up today, it’d probably be worth $1.20.)
When I think out 10 years, all sorts of prejudices of mine rise up – unrest and corruption in emerging markets, radical shifts in the policy pendulum in the United States, an increasingly litigious world, technology that tends to become obsolete faster and faster, and big bets on initiatives that don’t match the hype.
All of this leads me to look at what I feel from a lifetime of watching is going to be most dependable – firms based in the United States, firms with good reputations, firms with strong market shares in established markets (especially if they have a few barriers to entry), firms that have continuous if unexciting growth, firms that have earnings based on actual sales of necessary products and services, and firms who pay a dividend and don’t need to borrow or sacrifice investment to pay it.
A ten year Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity currently paying 5.8%.
Me.
Anyone who says they can predict the future is either lying or a fool but I’m betting on dividend aristocrat no-load index funds.
Berkshire Hathaway, either class.