About Steve Alport

Steve Alport is an industry veteran when it comes to wealth management. He's been in the industry for over 25 years and has seen bears and bulls all his life, following the fascinating ride that is the financial markets. Follow this blog where Steve shares his thoughts, research, opinions, and information that will make you look at the financial world differently. Enjoy.
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Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

19 Famous Quotes From Investor Legend Warren Buffett

The legendary value investor Warren Buffett has been quoted, paraphrased, cited, and interviewed more than any investor in history.  He’s the icon of value investing, the smartest man when it comes to finding companies that are built to last and leads a very humble life for one of the richest men in the world.  Truly, a businessman to look up to.

Here are 19 of the best quotes from one of the greatest investors in history.

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4.… Read more

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106 year old CFA, Irving Kahn

A 106 Year Old’s Take on Benjamin Graham

This value investor may be the last of his kind but he’s not retiring just yet.  At 106, Irving Kahn is still actively investing making him the oldest man in the world still at it.  In this interview he talks about his mentor and teacher, Benjamin Graham.

The CFA institute did a wonderful job putting together this promotional video, obviously we care more about who taught him than his credentials, but I’m sure you’ll like it too.  Give it a … Read more

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Judgment-Day-May-21

It’s Just Noise

Remember the Argentinian debt default?  Successive inept governments spent substantially more than they should have and then hid the problem in cooked books.  Eventually, the weight of the debt caused a collapse and Argentina was forced to default on its obligations. If you were around at the time, you will well remember the constant barrage of media coverage. It dominated the headlines as the world panicked, wondering if the problems in Argentina could affect their part of the … Read more

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vix-spread

Volatility – Friend or Foe?

For some reason, Financial Engineers, those tasked with creating innovative new investment products, seem to want to create investment products that reduce the volatility from your portfolio.  Volatility is the deviation from the normal trend that makes a stock market chart look like the edge of a serrated knife. 

If you look at a long term chart of a broadly based stock index, you will see that it goes up at a rate that is somewhere between 8% and 12% … Read more

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S&P Vs stock return average

Episode 6 – Today’s Lesson, Be Unconventional With Your Investing

Episode 6 – Today’s Lesson, Be Unconventional With Your Investing

In this episode we talk about the discrepancy between the average market return compared to the average investors return (Hint: It’s quite large).

Running Time: 13:05

In this episode:

  • We know we should be buying low and selling high but we don’t.
  • On average we’re not smart investors.
  • We’re hard-wired to be irrational investors
  • “The flat earth society still exists” – speaking of Warren Buffett’s comments on teaching people
  • Read more

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Walter Schloss Picture

Walter Schloss: At the Master’s Table

Walter Schloss is a ‘cigar butt’ kind of guy.  No matter how far the cigar butt has burnt, there’s always a couple puff’s left in it.  Just like a company, no matter how bad they may seem, there’s always some value to be found in it.   Walter Schloss was very well respected investor to those who were lucky enough to know him.  He was considered by Warren Buffett, one of the Super-Investors.

Walter passed away this past February (Bloomberg Read more

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Smartphone Patent Wars

The Alport Report – #14

1.   Smartphone Patent Wars

Remember when Apple was just a toy.   Actually it wasn’t that long ago,  but there was a time when the world didn’t give Apple the respect it deserved -  or at least the business world didn’t.  The world was completely dominated by PC’s and Apple was just an afterthought.  Sure it’s natural market was the geek/nerd (remember when that was an insult) who knew what they were doing with a computer but the big boys … Read more

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Alport Group Podcast Logo

Episode 5 – What Does a Dividend Tell You About A Stock?

Episode 5 – Why Would an Investment Offer a Dividend

The other day someone was bragging about the dividend payment they received for one of their investments.  They had no idea that the company was actually making less profit than they were paying out in a dividend annually.  This got me thinking, what does a dividend actually tell you about an investment?  Better yet, what does a company want you to think about them when they decide to offer Read more

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The Alport Group Podcast

Episode 4 – Stock Price vs What a Company is Actually Worth

Episode 4 – Price of a Stock vs. Value of a Company

What does the price of a stock actually tell you?

Running time: 8:53

In this episode:

  • A story about the price of a stock
  • What does the stock price tell you?
  • If you don’t know about every intricate detail of the company you’re investing in, you’re speculating, not investing.
  • How do real investors look at a stock’s price?
  • What companies traditionally would be a better buy.
  • How Warren
  • Read more

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The Alport Report – #13

1.  Why Buffett is Successful and Following CNBC Will Never Be

Warren Buffett talks to Becky Quick from CNBC…always interesting.  But two things strike me about this conversation.  Buffett’s outlook on investments and Quick’s reaction.  Buffett, true to form, is always talking about the long term.  His entry points on most of his investments occur when nobody agrees with his actions.  Back in 2008 when he told investors to “Buy American stocks, I am”, he was clearly swimming against … Read more

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