Stock Market

Deirdre Newman Doug Fabian knows pitfalls and how to avoid them. He works in the stock market and directs investors away from financial hazards every Saturday as the host of a radio talk show on KLSX-FM (97.1). On Tuesday, the president of Fabian Wealth Strategies in Huntington Beach taught seniors at Estancia High School about how to lose money in the stock market. Fabian emphasized the negative so they would know what to steer clear of if they start investing in the future.

You can learn a lot from the rich. Just ask Tim Leach, chief executive of L.A.-based U.S. Trust, which recently released its annual survey of the wealthiest people in America. As one of the wealthiest counties in the country, Orange County ? and more specifically Newport Beach ? played a major role in the study that sought to gather investment sentiments from the nation's richest 1% of the population. Polling those with an annual income of more than $300,000 or $5 million in assets, the report found that confidence in the stock market was increasing over time, while the real estate market was decreasingly seen as a growth-oriented investment.

Cash is king in the real estate market throughout Southern California in general and in Orange County in particular, where thanks to falling home prices, more people with the means seem interested in plunking down a lump sum and getting a home free and clear. But many of these buyers aren't just people in search of the American Dream in a field of falling home prices. They are cash-bearing investors looking to buy, and often flip, properties. And a large number of these buyers may be foreign investors banking on an eventual rebound and the ebb and tide of the greenback, local market watchers say. The upside is these buyers may be giving the languishing market a small boost.

Mathis Winkler NEWPORT BEACH--Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, slacks and sensible shoes, Doug Fabian looks more like your typical Southern California surfer dude than an investment advisor. But that's part of his maverick-style approach to helping people make the right decisions in the stock market. "Wall Street, for the most part, is making money for themselves," the 43-year-old said. "Whereas I think that you should make money for yourself." Although he's been in the business for more than two decades, the Newport Heights resident switched from rather dull speaking engagements to hosting a radio show in March 1999.

Christine Carrillo The progressively higher prices for homes in the Newport-Mesa area have failed to deter home-buyers from putting their money in residential property purchases, dramatically increasing the number of transactions compared to past years. The average prices of homes, which have nearly doubled during the past five years, in Newport Beach, Corona del Mar and Newport Coast combined have reached about $1.2 million, while homes in Costa Mesa, though significantly less, are valued at slightly more than $430,000, according to the Orange Coast Realtors Assn.

Alicia Robinson In keeping with the year-end gains shown by the three major stock market indexes, local investment experts said the market seemed to recover during 2003. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the year at 10,453, up more than 25% from where it closed Dec. 31, 2002. Standard and Poor's 500 closed at 1,111, a nearly 27% gain from where it was a year ago. The Nasdaq Composite appropriately finished out 2003 at 2,003, about 50% higher than it was at the end of 2002.

Paul Clinton SOUTH COAST PLAZA -- Wednesday's end to the five-week presidential election didn't give Marta Dangerfield any solace. The 66-year-old Irvine resident wandered down the labyrinthine corridors of the South Coast Plaza on Wednesday trying to forget the morning's headlines. Texas Gov. George W. Bush was headed to the White House, following Tuesday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that denied Vice President Al Gore's bid for further ballot recounts in Florida.

The economy is showing signs that it is on the path to recovering from “the great recession” later this year and we should see job growth in the middle of 2010, Chapman University experts said Wednesday. At their economic forecast update Wednesday morning, professional econometric analysts and would-be amateur stand-up comedians Jim Doti and Esmael Adibi gave an appraisal of the state of the national and local economies to an audience in Costa Mesa. They said their newest numbers validate predictions they made in December that President Obama’s stimulus plan and other federal initiatives would lead to more consumer spending and encourage lending.

Marisa O'Neil Some graduate students could soon be reaping the benefits of the stock market without risking their own tuition money. Students in the graduate school of management's class of 2005 can enter a contest to invest $300,000 of UCI trustee Chuck Martin's money for one year. Martin, also a Laguna Beach venture capitalist, will split the gains down the middle with them if they do well. If the students' stocks tank, however, they only lose their $200 entry fee. "It's a great way to understand companies," Martin said.

Paul Clinton With the door closing on 2003's first half, observers say a full-blown economic recovery for the next six months isn't in the offing. Newport-Mesa's economy is expected to grow at a more accelerated pace, though. "The economy in Costa Mesa specifically and Orange County generally will probably grow only slowly during the second half of this year," said Ed Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce. Economic growth, while generally stagnant during the six-month period ending today, should pick up at between 3% to 5% in the two cities, officials said.

Cash is king in the real estate market throughout Southern California in general and in Orange County in particular, where thanks to falling home prices, more people with the means seem interested in plunking down a lump sum and getting a home free and clear. But many of these buyers aren't just people in search of the American Dream in a field of falling home prices. They are cash-bearing investors looking to buy, and often flip, properties. And a large number of these buyers may be foreign investors banking on an eventual rebound and the ebb and tide of the greenback, local market watchers say. The upside is these buyers may be giving the languishing market a small boost.

The economy is showing signs that it is on the path to recovering from “the great recession” later this year and we should see job growth in the middle of 2010, Chapman University experts said Wednesday. At their economic forecast update Wednesday morning, professional econometric analysts and would-be amateur stand-up comedians Jim Doti and Esmael Adibi gave an appraisal of the state of the national and local economies to an audience in Costa Mesa. They said their newest numbers validate predictions they made in December that President Obama’s stimulus plan and other federal initiatives would lead to more consumer spending and encourage lending.

The stock market rallied another 165 points Friday for a total increase of 2,027 points on the Dow up from the March 9 bottom. That is a 31% increase in the last two months. If the stock market forecasts the future, this economy has bottomed out. Further signs of bottoming out were in the unemployment numbers released yesterday morning. Although it is painful that nationally another 539,000 people lost their jobs this past April, it is less than the 665,000 newly unemployed in March.

February didn’t turn out to be the worst month for Southern California home sales in the last two decades — that dubious honor went to the month before, when fewer people bought houses in the region than in any other month since 1988. Still, last month marked the Southland’s second-poorest showing since the research firm DataQuick began compiling statistics 20 years ago. The region posted only 10,777 home sales in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, the slowest February returns in DataQuick’s history.

Despite last week's downturn in the Dow Jones industrial average, it could be a good time to pick up bargains if an investor is willing focus on long-term investing, according to local experts. Or investors might just want to put their money in real estate — outside California since the market here is suffering. The stock market rebounded some after Tuesday, when the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 416 points, prompted by a massive investor sell-off. But with the price of stocks at a historic low, it could be profitable to buy if the investor is ready to hang in there for the long haul, said Pete Peterson, financial advisor at Costa Mesa's Edward Jones office.

You can learn a lot from the rich. Just ask Tim Leach, chief executive of L.A.-based U.S. Trust, which recently released its annual survey of the wealthiest people in America. As one of the wealthiest counties in the country, Orange County ? and more specifically Newport Beach ? played a major role in the study that sought to gather investment sentiments from the nation's richest 1% of the population. Polling those with an annual income of more than $300,000 or $5 million in assets, the report found that confidence in the stock market was increasing over time, while the real estate market was decreasingly seen as a growth-oriented investment.

FLO MARTIN Wait a minute, didn't we just have elections? Is it time for another one? Why are we seeing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on television again so soon? Small wonder -- wherever Arnold goes, the cameras follow. How come he's getting all this attention? Who's paying for all those political ads? Whazzzzzzzzzzzzup? Oh, yeah, it's those darned "special interests." The state budget is a mess and we need to reform. We need to get government out our lives, right?

Alicia Robinson Who wouldn't like to retire at age 32? Corey Donaldson did. He left corporate life last year, after using his entrepreneurial acumen to build a $10-million real estate portfolio. Now he's helping others on the path to early retirement, sharing his secrets with would-be investors through seminars at area colleges and universities. "I don't see real estate as a risk because it's brick and mortar," he said. "It's not like you're betting on the stock market."

Graduate students at UC Irvine will soon have the opportunity to hit it big on the stock market with investment guru Chuck Martin's money. Martin, who founded several venture capital and investment firms before retiring three years ago, is putting up $1.5 million for graduate students who come up with good proposals. Five teams of four or five MBA students will get $300,000 from Martin to execute their plans -- if they sound inviting enough to Martin.

Marisa O'Neil Some graduate students could soon be reaping the benefits of the stock market without risking their own tuition money. Students in the graduate school of management's class of 2005 can enter a contest to invest $300,000 of UCI trustee Chuck Martin's money for one year. Martin, also a Laguna Beach venture capitalist, will split the gains down the middle with them if they do well. If the students' stocks tank, however, they only lose their $200 entry fee. "It's a great way to understand companies," Martin said.