Ask The Money Coach

24/7 Wall Street recently put together a list of the 10 worst performing S&P 500 stocks of 2011. Did you buy any of these duds?

This ranking is based on the investment performance of these stocks from the beginning of 2011, up until November 1st. Interestingly, four of the companies on the list are in the financial services industry.

There’s Janus Capital Group. Their ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange is JNS, it’s fallen 49.4% for the year, dropping like a rock from $12.97 a share to $6.56 a share. The problem there is that Janus has faced a huge number of redemptions as the company’s mutual fund clients drain it of cash.

Additionally, in the financial services space, Hudson City Bancorp is one of the worst performers of the year. It’s listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol HCBK and its stock price has fallen to $6.25 a share from $12.74 a share. That’s a 50.9% decline. For Hudson, its mortgage business has been really taken to the cleaners in the wake of a low interest rate environment. And as we all know, the real estate market doesn’t show any strong signs of rebounding any time soon.

Genworth Financial Inc., another big board‑traded stock whose ticker symbol is GNW, also fell a huge amount. Its share price was down 51.4%, from $13.14 to $6.38 a share. Genworth is an insurance company and the mortgage crisis has also negatively impacted it in terms of the mortgage insurance that it provides.

The fourth financial services company to make the list of the worst performing stocks of 2011 probably won’t come as any surprise to you. It’s AIG, American International Group. AIG is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and has seen its stock price fall 57.2%, from $57.62 a share to $24.69 a share.

There’s a huge number of problems, as we know, going on at AIG, which has receive hundreds of billions in bailout money from the federal government and has not been able to control its costs. There’s still a lot of ongoing talk about what should be done to right the ship at AIG.

The single worst performing stock on the list was First Solar Inc., a NASDAQ traded company whose ticker symbol is FSLR and its share price fell 61.8%, from $130.14 to $49.77 a share. Ouch!

For the full list, of the 10 worst performing stocks, see the nicely done piece on this topic at 24/7 Wall Street.

If you had stock in any of the companies listed above, or the five others that are on the list of worst performers, you’re no doubt feeling the pinch in your stock portfolio. You might have also made any number of investing mistakes in picking these stocks or in managing your overall investment portfolio.

To do better in 2012, here are my best tips for how to invest successfully and not make so many investing mistakes.

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