Investtalk InvestAbility Center

Welcome to this one-stop resource for Investtalk listeners

Whether you want to know how to determine the true value of a stock, how to figure out what you need to save to meet your retirement goals, or what methods you can use to protect your retirement portfolio from future losses, the Investtalk InvestAbility Center is here to help.

Whether you’re just starting out or your retirement is around the corner, we want to help you learn how to build your portfolio.  Take advantage of our free reports, webinars, links and other resources.

Feel free to email Steve a question and participate in all of our online resources.  You can also call our 24 Hour Question Line at 888-99-CHART.  (888-992-4278)  Steve will have an answer for you on the next program or by email if you’d like.

“Doing Dividends Right” – A 30-Minute Crash Course in Dividend Investing

It can be the difference between steady returns on your money, and not reaching your retirement goals. In this audio and visual presentation – Money manager and Investtalk host Steve Peasley will show you how to avoid the pitfalls of searching for high dividend paying stocks. When done properly, dividend investing can smooth out the volatility of today’s market. In this session you’ll see the history of dividend returns, examples of solid dividend paying stocks, as well as the costly pitfalls to avoid.

If you have questions about this approach to investing or the KPP Financial Balanced Income Portfolio, contact Steve directly – go to “Contact Us” on Investtalk.com or call 888-99-CHART. Steve will get right back to you.

Term of the Day

Alternative Investment

Investopedia.com

Smart Reports -

Portfolio Checklist and Thinking Outside the Stocks

(You’ll need Adobe Reader to view these)
1. Checklist For A Healthy Portfolio – PDF  – This guide will help you accomplish two things:  First, organize your thinking about your retirement portfolio.  Second, prepare you to meet with a professional and get the most out of that meeting.  Getting organized will help calm down this nervous market.

2. Thinking Outside The Stocks – PDF  – How do you uncover the next big boom? Are smaller companies that were beaten down by the economy going to be the emerging markets of tomorrow?

Info Sheets

October 2011 – A Review
Technical Analysis – Studying the moves of a stock
Growth Stocks - A growth stock is one in which sales and earnings are increasing quickly.
Basic Valuation -Simple guidelines to use when searching for quality companies.
Education Accounts – Two different programs designed to help pay for college.
Using the VIX –  One way to measure fear and greed is looking at the VIX.
Professional Service –  How professional financial service providers work

Internet Fraud Checklist

Reprinted from Steve’s article in San Clemente News (Link)

Talking Points

Links to selected topics discussed on Investtalk and enriched by content from leading online information sources.  Click on the topic to link to the source article.

1-20-12 Bond ETFs: A Viable Alternative
1-19-12 Market Preview: A Double Recovery?
1-18-12 Do you have a case of retirement schizophrenia?
1-17-12 My 4 favorite ways to generate retirement income
1-16-12 5 Surpize Predictions for 2012

1-13-12 U.S. vs Foreign market
1-12-12 Choosing a financial planner: 5 red flags
1-11-12 11 retirement changes for 2012
1-10-12 Plunging U.S. home prices close to finding a floor
1-9-12 Earnings Reports That Matter Most

1-6-12 Does Higher Risk Really Lead To Higher Returns?
1-5-12 10 reasons stocks may rise in 2012
1-4-12 Ten New Year’s Resolutions For ETF Investors
1-3-12 What’s Your New Year’s Investing Resolution?
1-2-12 Long-Short Funds

12-29-11 Housing market predictions for 2012
12-28-11 12 Internet Predictions For 2012
12-27-11 Vanguard Founder John Bogle’s Outlook For The New Year
12-26-11 Understanding the true value of Gold

12-23-11 Year-end tax tips 2011
12-22-11 Does dollar cost averaging boost or hinder performance?
12-21-11 529 college savings plans have their downsides
12-20-11 Pros And Cons Of U.S. Exchange Traded Funds
12-19-11 Latest Twist On Balanced Funds: Emerging Markets

12-15-11 ETF Spotlight: High-Yield Bonds
12-14-11 For Starters:How Mutual Funds Can Help You Start
12-13-11 5 Secrets of Wall Street
12-12-11 Long/Short Funds. Are they for you?
12-7-11 How ETFs can cut risk
12-5-11 Understanding the true value of Gold

12-2-11 Investing Questions You Were Too Embarrassed to Ask
12-1-11 How to Invest for Retirement
11-30-11 5 Scams You Shouldn’t Fall For This Holiday Season
11-29-11 6 Dangerous Moves For First-Time Investors
11-28-11 Five big blunders of ‘do-it-yourself’ investors

11-25-11 The Worlds Greenest Companies
11-24-11 Easy Way to Boost Your Retirement Portfolio
11-23-11 Dow Down – Opportunities Up
11-22-11 Think Long-term
11-21-11 Risks, rewards of bond investing

11-18-11 Debt committee: Market reaction a big unknown
11-17-11 A Tool to Compare Mutual Funds
11-16-11 ETFs’ Incoming Fog
11-15-11 Positioning Your Equity Portfolio For High Yield With Moderate Risk
11-14-11 Stocks vs. Funds

11-10-11 The upside of down markets
11-9-11 How not to time the market
11-8-11 Best ideas can be the worst investments
11-7-11 How to be a better fund investor

11-4-11 The World’s Greenest Companies
11-3-11 An Easy Way to Boost Your Retirement Portfolio
11-2-11 These Hybrids Pay Real Dividends
11-1-11 An Investment for Gun-Shy Investors
10-31-11 Americans Miss Out on Stock Rally

10-28-11 Cash-Rich Banks Pay Nothing on Deposits, But You Can Fight Back
10-27-11 401K or IRA – Which one do I fund first?
10-26-11 Comment: Chances of Recession Ebb
10-25-11 Three Steps to Invest Your 401(k) Like a Millionaire
10-24-11 How to Be a Better Fund Investor

10-21-11 How To Give a Child Retirement Security
10-20-11 Build a Well-Diversified Portfolio Without a Lot of Assets
10-19-11 Calculating Risk And Reward
10-18-11 Are you I over-diversifying your portfolio?
10-17-11 Dollar cost averaging smooths out volatility

10-14-11 Get the most from a lame 401k plan
10-13-11 Economist says if double-dip hit, it has come and gone
10-12-11 Shrunken 401(k)s Spark Interest in Reverse Mortgages
10-11-11 Forget Perfection, Focus on the Direction
10-10-11 Volatile markets offer value picks

10-5-11 Finding Value in Hard-Hit European Stocks
10-4-11 Investing in oil and gas drilling
10-3-11 Stock veteran predicts decade of positives

9-30-11 Real estate’s bright spots hard to locate
9-29-11 Market Volatility and Your 401(k)
9-28-11 ‘Safe investments’ come with their own risks
9-27-11 Refinancing Tips: What You Need to Know to Snag Today’s Rock-Bottom Rates
9-26-11 Shrunken 401(k)s Spark Interest in Reverse Mortgages

9-23-11 Seniors: Beware of Affinity Fraud
9-22-11 Dividend plays feel better than ever
9-21-11 Is The Stock Market Really Worth Your Money?
9-20-11 4 Ways to Maximize Your Retirement Income
9-19-11 How to Win at the Retirement Game

9-16-11 Hybrid funds: A bird or a plane?
9-15-11 The trouble with gold
9-14-11 Financial Moves to Make Right Now
9-13-11 Active or Passive investing
9-12-11 Using REITs for Current Yields

9-9-11 For Investors On the Go, the Best Apps
9-8-11 What Rookie Investors Should Know About Emerging Markets
9-7-11 Hybrid funds: A bird or a plane?
9-6-11 Will the European crunch has long term effects on your money?
9-5-11 Is it time to re-think your mutual fund picks?

9-2-11 Are You Overestimating Your Sophistication?
9-1-11 Why Wall Street’s Forecast Can’t Be Trusted
8-31-11 Ten reasons for investors to look on bright side
8-30-11 How to Score Top Dollar for Your Home Sale
8-29-11 Volatility: 8 revealing stats for fund investors

8-26-11 A nation of financial illiterates
8-25-11 How Much Risk Should You Take in Your Investments?
8-24-11 Is the market expecting to much from Bernanke
8-23-11 5 Reasons Stocks may be Undervalued
8-22-11 Is it time to re-think your mutual fund picks?

8-19-11 What to buy in a selling storm
8-18-11 4 and a half Reasons Stocks are Plunging Again
8-17-11 Gold bugs beware
8-16-11 How To Position Your Money For The Stock Market Rebound
8-15-11 Will this Summer rally last?

8-12-11 Protecting your nest egg from market madness
8-11-11 It’s Not the Economy, Stupid!
8-10-11 10 Tips for Long Term Investing
8-9-11 Your money in a AA-rated U.S.
8-8-11 Sorting through the debris

8-5-11 How the Eurpean Debt Flu is infecting our money
8-4-11 Nervous Investors Chase Low-Risk Assets
8-3-11 How to pick mutual funds
8-2-11 What the U.S. debt deal means for the global economy
8-1-11 Time now to worry about the economy?

7-29-11 Should you be worried about your governtment bonds?
7-28-11 Is online shopping killing brick and mortar?
7-27-11 The Five Big Questions About Retirement
7-26-11 Help Your Parents Prepare for Retirement
7-25-11 3 Simple Steps for Calculating Retirement Costs

7-22-11 Down the Road: Oil Prices and Your Portfolio
7-21-11 Childhood Impulse Control Determines Adult Success
7-20-11 Is printing money the EU’s only way out? QE Europe.
7-19-11 Would a US default mean disaster?
7-18-11 A Social Security IRA?

7-14-11 Does your teen need a credit card?
7-13-11 Moving Retirement Plan Assets: No mistakes
7-12-11 How to find ‘safe’ stocks in China
7-11-11 Ride the Japanese Rebound

7-8-11 Jobs: 2 hopeful signs
7-7-11 How Not to Outlive Your Money
7-6-11 The End of Cheap Labor in China
7-5-11 Why the Gold Rush Is Out of Steam and How to Respond
7-4-11 ‘Made in America’ Leaders That Really Make a Difference

7-1-11 Summer Corrections
6-30-11 The 411 on 401(k)s
6-29-11 A 6-Step Guide to Figuring Out When You Can Afford to Retire
6-28-11 The Changing Face of Your 401(k)
6-27-11

6-24-11 Big Picture: How China plans to reinforce the global recovery
6-23-11 What is Crude Oil’s Effect on the Stock Market?
6-22-11 Why Mutual Funds Still Cost You So Much
6-21-11 Has technology improved our finances?
6-20-11

Retirement Calculators

Retirement Income Calculator – Use this calculator to determine how much monthly income your retirement savings may provide you in your retirement. Your annual savings, expected rate of return and your current age all have an impact on your retirement’s monthly income. View the full report to see a year-by-year break down of your retirement savings.

Helpful Links

Start with Kiplinger.com, which offers reams of statistical data. Try Yahoo! Finance for links to annual reports, quarterly statements and shareholder conferences with management.

Here’s a retirement contribution limit guide.  Adhering to these limits is important because otherwise you may have to pay an excise tax on the surplus.  In other words, you just wrote a very large check to the IRS!

To help put the statistics in context, Research Wizard, at MSN Moneycentral, lets you see how one stock stacks up against its peers based on different statistics. Use Research Wizard to compare funds, too.

Each week stacks of economic and market reports are published for all to see.  Some are more important than others.   These are the ones traders look to for clues to the health and future of the market .  Here’s a list of the key ones from InvestorWords.com. Ten major economic resports.

Another great online tool is PriceWaterhouseCoopers’s Edgarscan.

Edgarscan quickly fillets quarterly and annual balance sheets, plus income and cash-flow statements. Its Benchmarking Assistant then displays that data in bar charts and can compare a company’s results with its peers’ performance over the past ten years.

The most comprehensive and least expensive subscription-based service is a premium membership at Morningstar.com.

Recently priced at $109 a year (with a two-week free trial), it will give you access to all of Morningstar’s analytical tools and commentary on stocks, funds and the overall market.

News that Moves the Market

American Pulse™: 10,000+ Consumers Weigh in on New TSA Procedures, Holiday Spending Plans and Social Media Holiday Promos

Stores Most Fun and Exciting to Shop: Kohl’s for Women’s Clothing; Walmart for Men’s & Children’s

COLUMBUS, OH – (MARKET WIRE) – 12/6/10 – It’s the most wonderful time of the year—for shopping and traveling. When it comes to the latter, 21.4% of consumers say they will be flying less as a result of the new airport scanners and pat-down procedures (versus 58.1% who say they will not be flying less), according to the latest American Pulse™ Survey of 10,184 respondents. Further, 31.8% believe that the new procedures are a result of the government being politically correct (43.7% don’t and 24.5% don’t know). The majority believe profiling may be necessary, as 55.5% think it’s “crazy” not to profile airline passengers.

There is a slight improvement in holiday spending plans using the BIGresearch® Diffusion Index (those who say they’ll spend less subtracted from those who will spend more) when compared to September. Of those who celebrate December holidays, 23.2% said it was too early to know their spending plans in September and in November only 10.1% said the same.

Source: American Pulse™ Survey, Nov-10; Consumer Intentions and Actions® (CIA®) Survey, Sept-10
*Does not add up to 100% as too early to know was an option

When it comes to the most exciting places to shop, Kohl’s tops the list for Women’s Clothing and Walmart does for Men’s and Children’s.

18.1% of consumers say they have signed up to receive retailer promotions through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Of the consumers who have, 69.1% say they have acted on a retailer’s special promotion they’ve received.

Complimentary report:http://www.formsite.com/prosper/ampulse120610/