Great Bear Constellation

Is Southern Company the Right Stock to Retire With?

&Nbsp;   ) has what we're looking for.

The right stocks for retirees
With decades to go before you need to tap your investments, you can take greater risks, weighing the chance of big losses against the potential for mind-blowing returns. But as retirement approaches, you no longer have the luxury of waiting out a downturn.

Sure, you still want good returns, but you also need to manage your risk and protect yourself against bear markets, which can maul your finances at the worst possible time. The right stocks combine both of these elements in a single investment.

When scrutinizing a stock, retirees should look for:

Size. Most retirees would rather not take a flyer on unproven businesses. Bigger companies may lack their smaller counterparts' growth potential, but they do offer greater security. Consistency. While many investors look for fast-growing companies, conservative investors want to see steady, consistent gains in revenue, free cash flow , and other key metrics. Slow growth won't make headlines, but it will help prevent the kind of ugly surprises that suddenly torpedo a stock's share price. Stock stability. Conservative retirement investors prefer investments that move less dramatically than typical stocks, and they particularly want to avoid big losses. These investments will give up some gains during bull markets, but they won't fall as far or as fast during bear markets. Beta measures volatility , but we also want a track record of solid performance as well. Valuation. No one can afford to pay too much for a stock, even if its prospects are good. Using normalized earnings multiples helps smooth out one-time effects, giving you a longer-term context. Dividends. Most of all, retirees look for stocks that can provide income through dividends. Retirees want healthy payouts now and consistent dividend growth over time -- as long as it doesn't jeopardize the company's financial health.

With those factors in mind, let's take a closer look at Southern.

Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Total score = number of passes.

With a score of six, Southern is generating many of the desirable attributes that conservative investors want from their stocks. The utility company has a strong dividend yield and has seen shares hold up well during the market meltdown, despite seeing the same free-cash-flow challenges that many utilities experience.

Ordnance Survey Blog » Forgotten your compass? Using the stars to ...

We are blessed in the northern hemisphere because at this current moment in history we have a star which is directly over the north rotational axis of the earth i.e. the north pole and it is called Polaris or the North Star.  This means that wherever you are in the northern hemisphere this star will appear to remain stationary in the sky and all the other stars will appear to rotate around it.  This of course is not the stars themselves moving but just the effect caused by the rotation of the earth.

Here, Jason Ingamells of Woodland Ways , one of the UK’s leading Bushcraft experts, explains how you can navigate using the stars.

So how do you  find Polaris? It is a common misconception that the North Star is the brightest star in the sky, far from it.  It is, however, the brightest star in that particular part of the sky.  There are two well recognised constellations that we can use to find Polaris.  The first, the Plough (or Big Dipper in the states) is familiar to most people.  It is actually just part of a bigger constellation Ursa Major or Great Bear.  The Plough resembles a saucepan with 3 stars making up the handle and 4 stars forming the pan itself.  If you take the 2 stars making up the edge of the pan on the opposite side from the handle and extend the line they make onwards from the top of the pan for about 5 times the distance the are apart (see diagram) you should reach a bright star on its own. This is Polaris.

Sometimes the Plough may not be visible; cloud, buildings, hills etc. so there is another constellation almost opposite the Plough on the other side of Polaris that can be used to find it… Cassiopeia.  Depending on its orientation in the sky this either resembles a slightly squashed letter “W” or “M”.  Tilt your head so that it makes the “W” than by making a line that joins the 3 stars that form the top of the “W” and then extending a line upwards at 900 from the left end of the line (again see diagram) you should find Polaris.

Another useful fact about Polaris is that the angle it makes with the horizon is exactly equivalent to the latitude of where you are.  Imagine if you were at the North Pole i.e. 90 degrees North, Polaris would be directly overhead at an angle of 90 degrees to the horizon.  On the equator if you could find somewhere flat enough, Polaris would be right on the horizon …..00.  In the UK it will be between 50 degrees and 60 degrees.

The Great bear constellation, for Allan Safarik

Primitive traditional history, the primitive history and chronology of India, south-eastern and south-western Asia, Egypt, and Europe, and the colonies thence sent forth

This story of the casting down from heaven of the first of the gods, the northern smith of the Great Bear constellation, whose slaying-hammer was the ...

Seneca myths and folk tales

THE GREAT BEAR CONSTELLATION. In the days of the first people, before the creation of our kind of man-beings, there were seven brothers. ...

Great Bear Almanac

The "bear constellations" never set, and since at least the beginning of recorded history the Great Bear and the Little Bear, with the North Star, ...

The Constellations, Stars & Stories

It's the third largest constellation, and it has many bright stars. It even looks like a bear! Within the Great Bear is the most famous asterism, ...