Bond Funds Are For Losers, Be A Winner With Your Own Ladder

June 23, 2012 — Leave a comment

The great corporate-bond bull market continues unabated with the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Average up 46 percent since 2008.  The iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corp. Bond (LQD) ETF is up 4.5% year-to-date.  The below-investment grade has stayed above water, with the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond (JNK) ETF and iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond (HYG) up 2.8% and 3.5%, respectively.

If you have decided that the stock market is too volatile and that you want to switch to the historical safety of bonds, you are not alone. The baby boomers are retiring and need investment income, and bonds can provide more certainty of overall investment return during soft economic times.

So, how should you proceed?

READ the rest of my article on Forbes.com.

In Forbes.com Articles, Profitable Income Investing
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The Space Station Museum is Changing its Orbit!

May 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

With an emphasis on space exploration, and how its discoveries in science and technology have benefited all of mankind, this museum was designed to be truly different:

  • Admission is free and 100% privately funded through donations from local businesses such as Winans Investments Capital Management & Research and Jeremy Forcier of First Cal Mortgage, in-kind support from local businesses such as The Walter Kieckhefer Company, and individual donations. 
  • To keep costs contained, the museum is 100% volunteer staffed and is open three days a week or by appointment.
  • Exhibits are changed four times a year by the volunteer staff to help encourage visitors to frequently return.
  • The public is given a unique, tactile experience as they are allowed to touch some of the space-flown artifacts.

astronautThe Space Station museum is a tremendous success! Since its opening October 2011, the museum has averaged 642 visitors per month while only being open three days per week. Total attendance from all Space Station events in the Pacheco Plaza Shopping Center over the past ten months has exceeded 4,952 visitors. This figure equals 10% of Novato’s entire population! Visitors have come from all parts of the Bay Area and as far away Las Vegas, NV. Remarkably, marketing has been limited to word-of mouth, internet blogs, and social networks.

Since the opening of The Space Station, The W Foundation’s volunteer base has increased from 18 to 36 with another 23 individuals who have stopped by the museum signed up to volunteer in the future. The donations have largely covered operational expenses.

The nimble Space Station museum is moving between Marin Coffee Roasters and Boca Pizzeria in the Pacheco Plaza Shopping Center. It will re-open on Saturday, June 30th from 11 to 4.

An outdoor event called Space Fest is planned for July 14th.

In Philanthropy
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Major Real Estate Index Shows No Santa Claus Rally for US Home Prices!

January 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

As of November 30, the Winans International Real Estate Index (WIREI)™ posted a decline of 8.8% through 2011 and confirms that housing is still in a severe bear market.

From an all-time record high of $296,000 set in March of 2007, the Winans International Real Estate Index (WIREI) declined 22% to $228,500. In fact, this 4 1/2-year real estate bear market is the worst price drop in new home prices since the 33% decline from 1939 to 1945.

“Since the WIREI posts results a month earlier than other real estate indexes, it is a leading indicator in showing the continued poor health of the housing market. Unfortunately, tight credit conditions and high inventory levels continue to keep pressure on home price appreciation. The next housing bull market is probably several years away.”

The Winans International Real Estate Index (symbol: WIREI)™ is the only index that measures U.S. home prices from 1830 to present and posts new housing data without a 2-month lag found with other popular real estate indexes.

Winans International also developed an international housing index, called Winans-Taylor International Real Estate Index (symbol: WTIREI), by gathering 37 years of new home data from 36 countries and developing an approach to effectively combine these global studies of new home prices into single dataset.

In Real Estate
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