The Spring  Investor Forum will be held at Christ Church United Methodist, centrally located in Denver.  The theme for our investor education day is "Preparing for and Living in Retirement" and focuses on dividends, company analysis, and managing 401(k)'s and other retirement savings accounts.  Our featured speaker will be John Diercks.  His presentations will cover:

John Diercks

Dividends: The Forgotten Profit Maker

Dividend-paying equities can provide investors with rates of return far superior to money market funds and certificates of deposit even when the stock market is moving sideways or downward.  Learn the pros and cons of investing in common and preferred stocks in addition to many other poorly understood investment vehicles that offer high rates of return.  This session will cover basic definitions, review stocks from a dividend perspective on a stock selection guide, show the impact of dividends and the growth of dividends on the rate of return for investors, and show the importance of cash flow from operations on the ability of a company to pay and grow dividends.  Finally, little known, high-yielding investments available across the border in Canada will be introduced as a way to diversify into foreign equities.

What to Look for in an Annual Report

Investors seldom use annual reports for their maximum value.  Learn how to find key information with little effort in these often boring reports.  Investigate the major sections of an annual report, what important items to isolate in each section, and the importance for stock studies. The session will include a discussion on the importance of financial statements in analyzing the financial health of a company.

Evaluating Management: Dissecting Pre-tax Profit Margin and Return on Equity

Know how to investigate whether management is acting in the best interests of shareholders.  The relationship of sales and expenses to pre-tax profit margin (pre-tax profit/sales) is investigated in light of a company’s ability to make money, and return on equity (net income/equity) is broken down into its three basic components to understand whether a company is spending shareholder’s equity wisely.  Examples from several companies will be presented to illustrate potential problems in management.  Attendees will come away from the session being able to recognize developing problems in pre-tax profit margin and return on equity from the trends in these important financial ratios on the Stock Selection Guide.

John Tufts

Prepare For Retirement, Managing Your 401(k)

A large number of people are enrolled in a retirement savings plan through their employer but know very little about their plan other than how much money is taken out of their pay check and that they get a tax break from it at the end of the year. The purpose of this class is to show that if you take the time to investigate and make your own choices in your retirement fund you may be able to improve your return and reduce expenses.  Over the life of the retirements plan, small increases in return now could add up and could result in a big increase in the amount of your total savings. 

You will discover the advantages and limitations of a Tax Deferred Investment (401(k), 403(b) or an IRA) and find out how much of a tax savings you could earn.  You will learn how employer offering matching contribution, gives the retirement plan an immediate return on your investment.  You will understand how to use Morningstar and the BetterInvesting Mutual Fund tools to evaluate Mutual Funds and why most retirement plans use them. Find out how most Investment Brokerages, that control the retirement plan, invest your money and what choices you have to improve your return.

 Using Morningstar to evaluate Stocks and Mutual Funds

Learn how to use the Morningstar website to evaluate stocks and mutual funds.  Discover the differences between the basic online version, that is free for everyone on the web and the Premium version that may be available using a subscription through your local library.  Find out how the use the screening tools that are available on the website to sift through thousands of stocks or mutual funds to find a manageable list to evaluate.

Speaker Bios: