Most investors will tell you that Stock Market Investing is the most
difficult to master.
After all, that is the venue for erratic price fluctuations caused by a
seemingly endless
supply of variables from the geopolitical to the medical, from the
meteorological to the
economic, etc. Even sports events and outcomes seem to move the market! Then
add
the standard Wall Street misinformation, corporate malfeasance, and self
serving
financial product salespersons to the mix and you have the chaotic
environment that
very few seem to be able to navigate successfully.

But, more devious than anything that has ever been done to destroy the
financial well
being of Stock Market Investors, is the brainwashing that has taken place in
the
mundane world of Fixed Income Investing. I get more phone calls and e-mails
from
confused fixed income investors every time interest rates threaten to move
higher, then
I do in the face of a thousand point Stock Market sell off. Why isn't this
easy? In a nut
shell: every Fixed Income Security (from Treasury Bill to REIT, from Mortgage
to
Municipal Bond, etc.) will go down in price if ever, when ever, there is even
the slightest
indication that interest rates may increase (or just stop going down)...it
doesn't even
matter when this is supposed to occur or in what magnitude. Down the prices
will come,
all of them! Secured loans, leveraged loans, convertible debt, insured loans,
guaranteed
loans from the Federal Government even...down they come.

The opposite is totally and completely true as well, so what we have here is
a condition
that every investor dreams of: virtual certainty and predictability. On top
of that financial
miracle, we have a typically slow moving cycle from the lower end of the
scale to the
higher , and back again. Why does this Investment Nirvana cause so much pain
and
concern? Sure, Junk Bond speculators and highly leveraged crapshooters
(i.e., people
on margin) better run for cover, BUT those of you with high quality
government and
municipal securities, corporate debt from decent (not in the moral sense)
companies,
and most Real Estate based investments are being given just what you've been
begging
for over the past few years. Higher yields! How about that...

This is good news people, particularly if you were smart enough to have
securities'
positions (now lower priced) that can be added to, producing higher average
yields
and a lower total cost basis! [Sanco Services Investors have this type of
security, almost
exclusively, so relax and enjoy next years' higher income figures.] By the
way, most
Investment Professionals will encourage you to panic and to switch because
they really
don't understand fixed income investing any better than you do and switching
is good for
their bottom line if not for yours. Don't be pushed into "open end" Fixed
Income Mutual
Funds either...they are operationally unmanaged entities, contrary to popular
mythology.
Remember, an unhappy investor is the Broker's best friend.

I've spent the past several days totally renovating the Sanco Services
website in an effort
to make it more educational. There are pages devoted to Asset Allocation,
Investment
Planning, The Working Capital Model, and to Fixed Income Investing in
particular.
Additionally, there are links to other websites that have their own links to
more educational
websites. Please take the time to read through them (over and over until the
medicine
takes affect and you are no longer unhappy with higher interest rates), and
do so before
you run to the mailbox next week to grab your Monthly Investment Account
Statements.
If you have accounts with Fixed Income Securities, you should expect the
Market Value
to be lower. The extent of the decline is a function of your Asset
Allocation. Note that the
amount of income received will be relatively the same, and recognize that you
have been
given the opportunity to make that important number (the amount of spending
money) grow!

Steve Selengut
steve@...
800-245-0494
-----------------------------------------------
Buy "The Brainwashing of the American Investor"


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