Sunday, November 11, 2007

Rough Week for the Stock Market.

It's been a pretty tough week for the stock market. My portfolio closed down approximately 8% for the week. I almost gave in to the herd mentality and was tempted to sell some of my stocks to retain the capital gains. However, I decided instead of creating a taxable event, I would stick with my positions for the underlying reasons I purchased the shares in the first place. From the research I've done on the companies I'm invested in, I believe their long term outlook is very good. While the market may be on the bearish side right now and could continue on this course for a while, I'm willing to stick with my choices. As long as the dividends keep rolling in I'm pretty happy. I'm taking all of my dividend payments in cash at the present time, letting them accumulate in my money market account so I can build up extra cash. I intend to scout out some new dividend stocks to add to my portfolio while the general direction of the market is down. What a great opportunity to pick up some quality stocks at a lower price. My stock investment plan has always been to accumulate dividend paying shares as rapidly as possible until the income from my portfolio meets my monthly expenses. Once I've reached this point, my earned income will be invested elsewhere. I've got a ways to go yet, but it is encouraging to see the dollar amount increase on a monthly basis. Just think if you had a job where you got a raise every month, wouldn't that be about the greatest thing you could imagine. While the news is filled with so much distress over the falling stock market, I find myself extremely excited about the possibilities of picking up a lot more shares with my hard earned investment dollars.

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