Those who study “seasonal investing” know that January typically sees a rise in the markets, due to New Year Optimism, the end of tax-loss selling, and the usual lead by small-caps. So far this year looks to be following the same path, which is a good sign. There may still be some bad news under the carpet with the next round of earnings statements, but most experts I’ve heard from are tossing around November 20th, 2008 as the market low, when the S&P reached about 740.
In my last post I mentioned that I was going to buy some stock. I did; I bought some Royal Bank (TSE: RY). For those who don’t know, Royal Bank is Canada’s largest bank by market capitalization, and in fact it has a larger capitalization than Citigroup at the moment.
Royal currently pays a fifty-cent dividend and you can be sure that’s all set to grow as soon as we’re “out of the woods” with much of this bear market. Remember that markets tend to lead the economy by about 6-9 months. So whatever the market is doing now tends to reflect where the economy will be in that time.
My main financial goals for 2009:
-increase monthly cashflow by 200% (ie., double it);
-come to terms with my credit cards (I need to get myself off the yo-yo diet of charge, payoff, charge, payoff…)
I didn’t achieve all of my financial goals for 2008, but that’s because I added more goals as the year went on, and then I attended to those “goals” instead. I got distracted, but still improved my overall net worth. So that’s good. It’s hard to stick to one plan when you keep learning along the way. I think it might be better to adjust or deviate from the plan if you’ve gained new information and even interests. It probably happens for a reason.
All said, 2008 was a major financial learning curve year for me. I’ve probably done more saving and investing in 2008 than in any year previously. If I can do that again in 2009, I’ll be pleased.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good luck with your goals. This year looks to be far better than 2008. The market is rebounding nicely and I bet by the end of the year we will be back on track as a country.
thanks ptlg. of course today the bear rally ended, but that’s ok… it will be back. I’m started to get quite worried about the USD again (due to the massive, record-breaking debt and deficits coming up).