It feels so petty when we complain about a little bit of water surrounding our sidewalks, when parts of Japan are completely under water. Tsk, tsk. I pray for them.
It seems even more pathetic when we whine and complain about where the market has been heading...down. Maybe it's just the stocks that I hold but the last few days it has all been red. It sucks to see your portfolio that just a couple weeks ago was doing so well, to some at a loss.
I think this is the time when you are tested. It is so easy to be scared and to sell when things go down. But if you set your portfolio up with nice strong companies with good dividends, then it should not matter as much when the stock fluctuates so much as you are still getting your dividends.
I found this a good time to go over what I have and discovered I need more of those stocks. Luckily those strong stocks (blue chip stocks) like Johnson and Johnson, GE and Kraft are currently down and with our stronger dollar would be a great time to buy in.
There are lots of websites like Reuters that help you with researching if the company is a good buy, hold, or sell. They tell you how much of a dividend you get - quarterly or monthly and any financials that you would need.
I don't quit understand the whole financials yet, I am trying to use more of the Price/Earning ratios but still not 100% sure on how that affects things as just looking at that does not give you a good picture of the company.
So instead of looking at my red as negative I am looking at it as a time to take advantage. Granted you have to have the money to purchase these stocks also - so I will have to sell something off (profit only) sooner than expected to free some cash up. I am watching my Lulu slowly climb back up to the 80's!!
Be smart and do your research and try not to panic. Things can always be worse...Pray for Japan.
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