The Sun's Financial Diary

When I first purchased Bank of America (BAC) shares through its direct stock purchase plan (DSPP) at ComputerShare more than four years ago, I was solely going after its dividend. At that time, the stock was traded just below $55 with a dividend yield of 4.10%. After the initial investment, the first ever for me [...]

As the markets approach two years of gains, the question inevitably becomes where it heads from here.  Can the market continue to manufacture meaningful and sustainable returns or has this been just another bear market bounce that will eventually lead us back to where we were before? Both experts and individual investors like to use [...]

It probably comes as no surprise that investors typically don’t get the returns that are advertised by mutual funds.  Mutual fund returns assume that the investor puts their money in at the beginning of the time period and holds the investment until the end.  Investors, however, typically move their money in and out based on [...]

Apparently there are ways to buy shares of social network companies  such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, before their highly anticipated anticipated public offerings (LinkedIn could be the first of them to IPO early this year, while Facebook may go public in 2012). But there are two questions need to be answered before considering investing [...]

In such a low rate environment, you probably will need to look outside the traditional savings accounts for  a decent yield. Previously, we have discussed a few alternatives to savings accounts if you are not happy with the yield. Another option, though may be not as safe as CDs or money market accounts, is high [...]

With the new year finally upon us, you’ll no doubt find prognosticators everywhere try to tell you what they think is going to happen in the year ahead.  Fashion experts will tell you what will be big in the world of style.  Hollywood folks try to pick the year’s biggest movies.  Everybody seems to pull [...]

As the economy started to improve in 2010, though very slowly, the IPO market also rebounded nicely. Actually, 2010 turned out to be a pretty good year for US IPOs, led by General Motors’ $15.8 billion blockbuster deal in November. Even though the total number of offerings in 2010 was no where near the booming [...]

The penny stock market can be a tricky place for anyone to navigate. Whether you’re a novice investor or a seasoned veteran, it can be hard to figure out what stocks are worth investing in, and which ones you shouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. Is the company trading low because it is a small [...]