| ICLUB Insider |
July 19, 2006 |
THE
LATEST NEWS ON
INVESTING SOFTWARE BUILT BY ICLUBCENTRAL INC.
Summary
A new update is now available for
Club Accounting 3, the most powerful investment club accounting
software on the market today. Version 3.1 is a major revision,
addressing both outstanding software issues and feature requests
from customers like you.
What's new in Club Accounting 3.1:
New Capital Gains & Losses report
(like Schedule-D) helps you track year-to-date capital gains and
losses New Security Dividends
Report gives you quick access to dividend information for all
securities Improved display for charts
and graphs Faster reports, including a
progress bar while they run Fixed an error preventing
payments for withdrawal in excess of two steps from being
deleted Remarks are now viewable
when editing merger and spinoff transactions Spinoff transactions now
display cash-in-lieu amounts when edited
If you're a current user of Club
Accounting 3, you should be receiving your complimentary 3.1
upgrade CD in the mail shortly. Due to changes in the underlying
Microsoft .NET technology incorporated in Club Accounting
version 3.1, this update cannot be delivered to users via the
auto-updater functionality in the program. Please follow the
instructions included with the CD to install the updated
program.
There is no charge for this
update to version 3.1, but you
must be using version 3 of Club Accounting in order to
install it. Those users still running versions 1 and 2 of
Club Accounting are encouraged to take this opportunity to
upgrade to the latest version of the software, as earlier
versions do not recognize the recent changes in Federal tax
law, and will be unable to use the Tax Printer software.
Remember, support for Club Accounting 2 will end on October
16, 2006 (less than four months from now), so upgrade now to
the most powerful club accounting software on the market
today -- Club Accounting 3.1!
If you have any problems
installing the version 3.1 update
or questions about upgrading from Club Accounting 1 and 2,
please contact
ICLUBcentral Technical Support.
Ralph Seger co-founded
Seger-Elvekrog Inc. in
1981 and is now Chairman Emeritus of the firm. He was also a
founder of the Investor Advisory Service, now published by
ICLUBcentral Inc. In this issue of ICLUB Insider, we are pleased
to offer the
second of a multi-part series called "Investment Wisdom" that
will
offer our readers access to Ralph's wealth of
financial knowledge. Be sure to watch for this space for future
tips from Ralph.
No matter how you decide to
invest your money, risk is a constant. Thus, the road to
financial stability lies not in eliminating risk in your
investment portfolio, but instead in managing it.
There are four basic types of
risk, as it relates to portfolio management.
If you hide your money
under the mattress, you risk a Loss of Purchasing Power.
This is of course due to inflation, meaning that it will cost
more to purchase the same product at some later point in time
than it does today. Think back - a loaf of bread has gone up in
price 400 percent since the end of World War II. The prices of
houses and cars have increased even more so.
Consequently, a
fixed-income U.S. government security (the equivalent of
stuffing your savings in your mattress) contains real risk of
loss of purchasing power. Buying a bond as a long-term
investment is like using an umbrella in a monsoon. Business Risk
involves all the trials and tribulations of running a business.
As a shareholder, you are a part owner of the business. The
profits and prices are affected by all the forces that impinge
on a business, including the economic cycle, competition,
changes in the prices of raw materials, the cost of energy,
labor costs, interest rates, and research & development.
However, favorable parts of the economic cycle can and do have a
positive effect on profits. Market Risks are the
up and down price fluctuations of securities. Such changes are
not always logical or foreseeable. An overvalued market can go
into a decline as investors realize that prices are discounting
not only the immediate future, but also the long-term
projections. Interest Rate Risk
affects market valuations. Prices of stocks and bonds tend to
move inversely with regard to interest rates. Long-term interest
rates reflect investors' perception of future rates of
inflation. If investors perceive a future potential rising rate
of inflation, they will demand higher interest rates to offset
the problem of purchasing power risk. Higher interest rates also
result in a decline in bond prices. Corporations are going to
pay more for borrowing, which will cut into profits. If interest
rates move up sharply, investors may look into fixed-income
investments, especially when balanced against the adverse
fluctuations in stock prices. There may be a so-called "flight
to safety" meaning many investors will panic and switch
switching to a U.S. Treasury security, the safest security in
the world.
The Federal Reserve Board uses
its power to influence short-term interest rates to move the
economy in the direction it perceives as appropriate. When
inflation rears its ugly head, the Fed's recipe is to slow down
the rate of growth of the economy by raising interest rates.
When the economy slows to an unacceptable rate or dips into a
recession, the Fed responds by trying to stimulate the economy,
generally by reducing the Federal Funds rate.
Changes in short-term rates
usually have an affect on other interest rates such as the prime
bank loan rate, commercial paper rates and even long-term rates
such as mortgages. Both stocks and bond prices are sensitive to
interest rates.
Once you fully understand these
risks, you can then move on to design a portfolio that strives
to lessen the impact that these risks might have on your
investments.
In our next installment, Ralph
will address tactics and strategies - both effective and
ineffective - that are commonly used by investors to address
these risks.
It's that time of year again. The
sun is high, the sand and surf are waiting, and millions of
Americans like you are heading for our beautiful coastlines. At
the same time, many of you beach-goers are indulging in the
guilty pleasure of supermarket romance novels. (Hey, we're not
here to judge.)
But this year, instead of
spending the prime tanning hours pouring over ribald tales of
jealously, treachery, and deceit, why not take some time to
improve your investment portfolio? Move over Danielle Steele --
here comes the Investor
Advisory Service (IAS).
No, there aren't any graphic love
scenes, but the IAS does provide nearly 35 years of investment
knowledge and success. Developed independently by the
Seger-Elvekrog money management firm (founded by ICLUB Insider
contributor Ralph Seger) and published by ICLUBcentral, the IAS
has a sterling history of guiding individual investors like you
toward financial success with straight-forward investment
information. Each year since 2000, the IAS has outpaced the
overall market as represented by the Wilshire 5000, and the
cumulative returns it has generated have been substantial. For
example, an investor following the newsletter's picks since
January 31, 2000 could have earned a return of 79.8% on his or
her investment (a 12.4% annual return) by January 31, 2005,
compared to a loss of 5.5% of the Wilshire 5000 Index (a -1.1%
annual return) during the same period (as tracked by the
Hulbert Financial Digest).
The IAS's shorter and longer-term
performance has also been exemplary. In the twelve-month period
ending on October 31, 2005, the IAS racked up a 14.9% return,
compared to the Wilshire 5000's 10.7%. From December 1995 to
October 2005, the IAS earned a 13.7% annual return, compared to
just 8.9% for the Wilshire 5000. Even when adjusted for risk,
the IAS still beats the total market index.
Each issue is packed full of
comprehensive and unbiased information, including:
Complete Stock Selection
Guides (SSGs) on three companies per month introduce you to
stocks hand-picked by our staff of Chartered Financial
Analysts In-depth analyses of these
three companies and explanations of the SSGs help you improve
your understanding of conservative, long-term investing
methodology Notes on stocks in the IAS
portfolio, with comparisons of current and buy prices, enable
you to stay on top of your portfolio Sell recommendations and
e-mail updates give you the information you need to make the
right decisions Rankings of more than 80
previously recommended stocks and the latest market news to keep
you in the loop
That's more satisfaction than
you'll get out of a paperback, no matter how many dramatic
cliffhangers there are. Plus, as a special summer offer, new
subscribers to the IAS will receive a 28% discount off the
online subscription price, or 35% off a print subscription.
Simply visit our online
store, select either an online or paper mail subscription,
and enter the promotional code "UR2X" in the space provided. Or,
call us at 1-617-661-2582 to set up your account over the
phone.
Not convinced? Downl
oad the May 2006 issue to see for yourself all the robust
investing tools the IAS has to offer, including focused stock
studies on Fastenal (FAST), SkyWest (SKWY), and T. Rowe Price
(TROW).
So, put down those trashy novels
and grab the latest issue of the Investor Advisory
Service. It's everything you and your portfolio want from
summer reading. (You know, minus the love-triangles.)
Sign up today!
Read past newsletters, subscribe,
or unsubscribe at:
http://www.iclub.com/newsletters/
© Copyright 2006 ICLUBcentral Inc. All rights
reserved.
Some ICLUBcentral
products use the investing methodologies of BetterInvesting, a
national nonprofit organization dedicated to investor education.
BetterInvesting assumes no liability or obligations with respect
to the investment education information or other content
presented in the ICLUB Insider. For more information on
BetterInvesting, please visit http://www.betterinvesting
.org.
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