National Bank of Greece

With the political uncertainty in Greece, right now is an excellent time to pick up some NBG positions. It's currently trading at 1.43 with earnings posted at .98/share. If you have extra capital that can be tied up for a few months you could quite possibly make a nice profit on this one. NBG is the largest commercial bank in Greece and will more than likely see their stock price multiply by next year.

Credit Card Companies, Which one is the Best

If you have followed the major credit card companies profiles than you already know Mastercard and Visa have made decent strides since their IPO's a few years back, Visa more so than Mastercard. But comparing them in today's market and including American Express, which one is the best investment going forward? If we look at the earnings they all look positive and healthy among all three, although when you compare earnings per share Mastercard jumps ahead at over $25.00 per share compared to $7.47 (V) and $4.92 (AXP). Dividends are all close with American Express winning slightly with a little over 1% of the share price annually. AXP also takes the P/E ratio with the lowest at 17.6 which points to it being the most "valuable" of the three. We can continue to compare statistics without any one of the three jumping off the page in comparison so ultimately it comes down to opinion. I believe investing in any one of the three is a solid investment and will reap rewards in the future. The charts for all three are headed north with no slowing down in sight. If I had to pick one of them it would be American Express. The fact that it has the lowest price to earnings ratio as well as the overall business model of AXP just makes it the favorite in my eyes. American Express generally focuses on higher earning customers, which almost always translates into less bad debt as their customers are better in a position to make the payments. Not that Visa or Mastercard would be a bad investment decision and I'm sure someone could make arguments as to favor either one of them. Anyone have any thoughts? Which one do you see pulling ahead of the others?

Recap on my picks from 5 years ago

So i was going through some of the old blog posts earlier today and I must say I am a little impressed with myself.  Most of these posts were from 2009.  SIRI, Sirius Satellite Radio I said buy when it was just under a dollar and facing delisting from Nasdaq, and that when it surpasses the dollar mark it would take off.  It is at 3.79 and it surpassed the 4 dollar mark a couple months ago.  AZZ, AZZ Incorporated I said was a buy and since that post it is up over 250%.  Ford I couldn't buy enough of at under 4 per share and i estimated 15 per share and it's there now.  Ok, enough tooting my own horn here are a couple for the future.  I am really liking XIN, it just dropped to under 5 dollars.  I think we will see it go to 8, possibly 10 dollars in the next couple years.  NBG, another one I think we will see gradually increasing.  For the long term I wouldn't be surprised to see it go from the 6 dollar range to over 20 dollars possibly more depending on how long you are willing to wait.  I think AZZ is still a good bet, it's continually growing and not afraid to invest in expanding the reach in their market.  SRCE, 1st Source Bank is another one with a bright future.  They have recently seen a boom in the price so I wouldn't buy just yet.  But when the price rebounds to around 28 dollars I would buy and expect it to climb back to 35 dollars or more.  I am going to be looking forward to reviewing this post in a couple years to see if I nailed it too, but relax, I am confident it will be close.  Thanks for reading, and subscribe for future updates.

How to Start Buying Stocks

I thought i would post this for any readers thinking about investing in the stock market but not sure where to start.  There are a few ways to go about it.  You could go and talk to a local investment specialist.  Going this route will give you personalized advice but it is one of the more costly ways to start.  There are many online brokers with excellent information for beginners at a much more affordable price.  Etrade is good, they have reasonable fees and good charts and company information.  My personal favorite is sharebuilder.  At sharebuilder there are no minimums on the purchases and no minimum starting account balance.  So you could literally start with just a few dollars.  Scotttrade is another popular one with great charts and stats.  Some of these sites run ads on this blog if it is something that you may be interested in.  Whichever way you decide to start, don't be afraid to dive in.  It's really not that difficult.  The only advice that holds true to almost any stock is to look at the profit margin and make sure the company is profitable.  Sure there are some stocks that will go up when the company isn't turning a profit but those are more risky and better left to experienced traders.

Warren Buffett on Simple Retirement Advice

I found this article on The Motley Fool and thought it was excellent advice on picking investments that have overall reduced costs associated with them.

Warren Buffett's Super-Simple Retirement Advice
Warren Buffett might as well be king of the investment industry. He produced the best returns the world has ever seen working from his house in Omaha, not a desk on Wall Street. And for that reason, so many people want his advice on how to invest for retirement. They want to hear from someone like them -- someone who doesn't spend every waking moment in Manhattan. What would Buffett do? At the 2004 Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A ) (NYSE: BRK-B ) shareholders meeting, Buffett was asked by one investor if he should buy Berkshire, invest in an index fund, or hire a broker. Buffett delivered with his typical, common-sense rationale: "We never recommend buying or selling Berkshire. Among the various propositions offered to you, if you invested in a very low cost index fund -- where you don't put the money in at one time, but average in over 10 years -- you'll do better than 90% of people who start investing at the same time." An index fund? That's what the best stock picker in the world recommends? Yes, and it wasn't the first time he answered with such simplicity. In another question-and-answer session, Buffett made his stance plain and clear: "If you like spending 6-8 hours per week working on investments, do it. If you don't, then dollar-cost average into index funds. This accomplishes diversification across assets and time, two very important things." So, let's get to the specifics. What's Buffett's favorite index fund? "Just pick a broad index like the S&P 500. Don't put your money in all at once; do it over a period of time. I recommend John Bogle's books -- any investor in funds should read them. They have all you need to know. Vanguard. Reliable, low cost. If you're not professional, you are thus an amateur. [F]orget it and go back to work." Why is Buffett so keen on index funds? They're cheap. In fact, Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO ) provides a way for investors to own a slice of 500 of the largest businesses traded on the public stock markets, including Berkshire Hathaway, at a cost of just 0.05% per year. On a $100,000 investment, fees would tally to only $50 per year, compared to $1,310 for the average large-cap mutual fund. Over time, lower fees and expenses help your money compound faster. Just look how Vanguard's low-cost ETFs stack up to the alternatives: Add in Vanguard's other popular ETFs, like its Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF (NYSEMKT: VEU ) fund, which tracks international stocks, and its Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (NYSEMKT: BND ) for bond exposure, and you'll have a more balanced investment portfolio than many who hire the help of a broker. Avoid this big mistake Buffett's pretty keen on helping people avoid big mistakes, just as he's all for helping investors make better decisions. Saying it as simply as he could, he opined on how having cash is one of the worst investments you could ever make: The one thing I will tell you is the worst investment you can have is cash. Everybody is talking about cash being king and all that sort of thing. Cash is going to become worth less over time. But good businesses are going to become worth more over time. Of course, that's not to say that having a cash buffer for emergencies is a bad thing. However, having piles of cash -- tens upon tens of thousands of dollars in cash -- is a great way to guarantee a terrible return on a very large pile of money. More thoughtful insights from the Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett has shared wisdom worth billions in his annual letters to Berkshire shareholders. Luckily, his smarts are free for the taking. You can tap into the best of Warren Buffett's wisdom in a new special report from The Motley Fool. Click here now for a free copy of this invaluable report. Fool contributor Jordan Wathen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Source: The Motley Fool

Stocks of interest in 2014

Looking ahead to the new year brings speculation as to which market segment will prevail as the best investment choice. I have a couple I would like to share today. First I will start with NBG - National Bank of Greece. I think this one we see marginal increases throughout 2014 but will be a good one to hang onto for the years to come. Not a get rich quick stock, but one to keep for the long term. The Greek economy shows signs of improvement and NBG has stated some interesting tactics to reduce expenses and increase revenue. Keep an eye on this one this year. Second is XIN - Xinyuan Real Estate. They build apartment complexes in middle sized asian cities and as of right now have a good P/E ratio and a positive looking future. XIN is currently 5.49 and I wouldn't be surprized to see over 7.00 in 2014. So on a recap NBG I would buy under $6.00, and same for XIN buy under $6.00. I have a sell order at $7.50 for XIN (picked it up a little over $5.00) and am holding onto NBG for a while.