I love Apple. I really do. There's no company in the world that makes better consumer products, but… yes, there's a but… I think this is the beginning of the end.
Right now, they're a media darling. Apple products are flying off the shelves. Analysts are coming out with trillion dollar valuations. The stock price has shot up 50% in three months.
The stock market halved between 2008 and 2009 and with it, so did retail investors' confidence. Since then, the stock market has been a roller coaster ride, leaving most investors scared to tip their toe in.
Let's face it – there are some investors that just shouldn't invest in the stock stock market. Period. If the criteria below apply to you, hang up your stock picking hat and put your money into an ETF tracking the market. Please. You shouldn't invest in the stock market if:
In his 1991 shareholder letter, Warren Buffett wrote that investors should focus on building a portfolio that maximizes look-through earnings ten years into the future. Look-through earnings are your share of the earnings of a company whose stock you own. For example, if you owned 100 shares of Acme Corp. and it earned $1 per share this year, your look through earnings this year would be $100.