The stock market is a dynamic place where investors can consistently make reasonable returns on their capital if they comply with the basic principles of the endeavor and if they don’t measure their progress too frequently against irrelevant indices.

The income securities market is most often a less dynamic place where investors can consistently make reasonable returns on their capital if they understand the basic principles of the endeavor and if they focus steadfastly on the income produced by their holdings.

Securities markets are truly fascinating— replete with promise, mystery, and unscripted daily drama. But individual investors are even more interesting. We’ve become media driven creatures that must have reasons, predictability, blame, scapegoats, instant gratification, and an imaginary sprite called certainty.

We are becoming a culture of hindsightful speculators, attempting to replace the raw beauty of unpredictable market and economic cycles with …

Prepare yourself now.

The market is widely referred to as a discounting mechanism. However, its ability to discount anything extends only as far as the collective knowledge of its participants. And to be blunt, the vast majority of today’s investors— professional or otherwise— know little if anything about making money in the market.

With the advent of discount brokerages— E*trade, Ameritrade, etc— in the late ‘90s, a huge wave of novice investors entered the US financial markets. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of US households invested in mutual funds doubled from 25 million to 50 million. This wave of new, uninformed money supported two major trends: the Tech Bubble, and the rise of the financial media.

Regarding the latter, in 1990, stock market developments were relegated to 15 minutes of coverage on major news programs. Only ten years later, there were at …

There is quite a bit to be said for hard work and perseverance. Put in the hours, days, months and years and something good should come of it. It doesn’t always work out, but in many cases it does. Just plain doing the work and having a solid business plan with a product demand means profit eventually. Find a company that has all three and an investor can feel fairly confident that profits will come.

Royale Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration and development company, works to discover and exploit oil and gas opportunities in California, the Rocky Mountains and other currently producing regions. The company has been in operation for over twenty years and has been consistent in its ability to provide return on investment. The company owns part interest or owns outright; leases in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Basins-California, Utah, Texas, Louisiana, 54 natural gas wells in

...

At "A Dash" we let the big guys do the marketing research for us. Television ads for online brokers indicate that "leading investors" are thinking for themselves instead of relying upon help from their former investment advisors. Not wanting to be completely alone, however, investors want some help and comfort. The online firms have "licensed representatives" available to offer help 24/7. How is this working out? We are interested in learning more about the experiences of individual investors who have decided to direct their own investments. We are also interested in investment advisors whose clients direct all or a portion of their own accounts. The information is for our book research, would be quoted only with permission, and names withheld in any references. The names or email addresses will not be used for any commercial purpose beyond our research. Please submit via our email address, at the ...