investing your money ;)

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duster731

young gun
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So after my savings thread I want to create another thread on investing......

What are some ways you guys invest your money, if stocks how do you choose the company your buying stocks from,

Which way of investing has the most pay out...

What is better....thousands of dollars sitting in the bank vs investing it into bonds, stocks, etc


Thanks :)
 
I would say the best investment for a young person today would be buying a modestly priced house and paying extra every month till it is paid off. Of course with everything including homes, stocks, and cars timing is everything.
 
Index funds if you want to invest.

Its easier to lose money then to come out ahead but with trading fees in the under $20 range--like at Schwab, you can beat the market.

Right now the banks are trading wildly, they had a big fell and trying to come back--could be a bear trap. FAS and FAZ shares track the bank shares, FAS is the bull, FAZ is the bear. Bulls gain when the market goes up, bears gain when market goes down.

FAS closed yesterday at $12.80, today it hit a high of $13.92....if you brought 500 shares @ $13.00 for $6,500 investment, today you could had got out at $13.75 and made $350 after fees.

Beware thou, FAS was in the $20--$30 range not so long ago. Last month it was trading around $10, last week it went over $16. It trades at 3 times the market. You could lose a couple of thousands in a week. Trade only money you can afford to lose.


EDIT...right now FAS is around $13.30, so your profit if sold at $13.30 drops to $130. Trading can be mentally very hard. U might/will have wild mood swings...its gambling, not investing, IMO
 
I just sold 100 shares of DPL (power&light co in Ohio) for about a $450 gain over the 5 or so years I've held it, plus about 4.5% per year dividend. It's being bought by a conglomerate that doesn't pay a div, or I'd have kept it.

I replaced it with SXL, the spinoff company of Sunoco Logistics (fuel tankers, etc).
I bought last month- 40 shares (all I could afford) @$90, and it was $100 today (or up about $400). It also pays 5.5% (calculated at the $90 price). Oh, and they just announced a 3 for 1 split :)

I'm pretty happy with both those trades in this economy.
This recession has been VERY good to me in the market :), even though it has sucked for my job, not getting a raise in over 5 years:(
Instead of pulling out in 07/08, I bought more of the holdings I thought were solid and took some chances on others I thought would rebound well. I also started buying more stocks that payed dividends, and then months later started hearing about that staregy in the news.

Right now I have about 66% winners and 33% losers.
I may sell a dog that I don't think will recover to offset my gains (and clean up my balance sheet).

According to NAIC, which was a buy and hold philosiphy club, you typically get one "out of the park" pick every 5 to 10 years.

I've had 3 double their worth (Sandisk, HP, Shell, and Slumbergier)(one paying 4%div, and one paying 6.5%), 2 tripple their worth (one was Ford from 2008 to 2011) and a couple up 50% (Ford preffered 6.5% div and Citi pref 7%div)
All in since 1998

I started with $25 per month, and now put in $250 per month.

I agree- don't put any money in the market unless you are prepared to lose 100% of it.
I don't do funds, shorts, options, indexes, or anything but buy and sell long individual stocks.
I also usually hold for periods measured in years, not months or days.

To me, it's like a combo of poker, and chess, with a bit of D&D thrown in.

I'd love to be able to do 5 or 6 figure trades, but I guess I should be happy with my extra $1000-$1300 a year with about 2-3 hours a week of "work" to get it.
 
...if you can find a 40-50K house do some renovation for 3K or less, and rent it for $900/mo, that's a good gig, but any more cost or less rent income, and your profit margin won't be worth it after taxes and insurance, etc.

*tip, make sure you can get $900 before you buy:)

...also assume you will lose at least one month's rent between tennants.
That's a double whammy, as you get no income, and still have to make the payment from your own pocket.

We are renting my wife's house which has a $450 payment, for $940, and after the taxes and insurance it makes us about $1500/ year. dozens of thousands in cash flow, but most goes right to the bank!
 
perfect info YY1

research your company - go with whats current - I use utilities because I know them. Emera pays 4.35% dividend plus the shares were $20.50 in 2008 now at $32.65 as of today. The oil industry is always money , Suncor, Syncrude, and other Tarsands co.s.

Like what was said - be patient and in it for the long haul

A bad economy is good investing conditions - it will rebound

I don't know your investment knowledge - but if its low a good book is The Wealthy Barber with gives general ideas and practices to save money in general
 
If you get an income tax refund, and own a house, put your return in an interest bearing bank account (create a new sub-account, and don't do anything else with it), and leave it there until property tax time. Ours is usually pretty close to the same ammount. You'll usually never have to worry about coming up with the property tax, and you'll get a bonus in interest as well. About the time others are complaining about how high their prop taxes are, my wife and I are choosing a nice resaurant to spend our interest at.

Don't use the $30 "rapid refund", wait the three weeks and keep the $30.

If your bank charges a monthy fee for anything- try a credit union.

I will NEVER pay for a company to "hold my money".

RE: investing- keep aware of day to day info such as news stories and even what products your friends are buying. try to analyze how it relates to the market. Just being aware of what compaies own what brands is helpful. Know what the financial health of any potential company is, and what their future plans are.
Create a free "watch list" of stocks on a site like yahoo, and track their progress. It helps to actually use a dollar figure for the purchase, and to be realistic. Watch a couple episodes of "Nightly Busines report" on PBS, or CNBC. it's pretty dry, but you get terms and such filtered into your mind- passive learning.

Diversify.

I'm pretty oil and energy heavy right now, but I just don't see the demand/price of those commodities going down any time soon. ...and if I'm going to contribute to those record profits at the $4 pump, at least they can give me some back every quarter. How many times do you have to hear 'record profits" on the news, before you think about buying oil stocks?

Sometimes you loose- I bought an LCD manufacturer that pays 10%, but have lost almost 1/3 of the value- go figure- with all the devices using LCD screens:(

Look for opportunities, IMO the best one lately has been BP- they got hammered with the spill, but did a great PR job afterwards. Up 12% since I bought and could go back to where they were before, another 20% or so, plus a 4% div.
 
Bring this one back to life.
Is anybody here doing any stock trading using a program called robinhood?
 
My phone company tanked, Frontier. Its a penny stock at .80 but it was as high as $125 only 4 years ago. You could get 100 shares for 80 bucks! Its hard to imagine how it got so low but its the 8th largest telecom in USA. The employees think that Bane capitol (managing entity) drove the stocks down to delist so as to not have to answer the the investors or something like that. I may buy 300 shares soon instead of a set of rear tires for the garage queen that will 'age out' before I put 3000 miles on them.... Ive spent 300 on less worthy things for sure. Ever throw a superbowl party and have your team get pummeled?
 
I'm just getting into it now. I figure I can put a little in every paycheck and see how it goes. Looking to the future I have a 401k for retirement but looking to add as much as I can to be comfortable.
 
A shoe box in the gun safe with crisp 100's and 50's and 8 coffee cans full of quarters and counting.
Keep your cash. Cash is king. Loosing my *** in 08 changed my whole view on letting others make money for me.
 
Remember in stocks, you only lose money when you buy them...and when you sell lower. Wanna ride the coaster? Bitcoin....you'll go crazy speculating that, but could make huge profits if you know when to get out. I remember when bitcoin was $6 and change for a 'coin'. People thought it was an internet joke. Look at it now..
 
A shoe box in the gun safe with crisp 100's and 50's and 8 coffee cans full of quarters and counting.
Keep your cash. Cash is king. Loosing my *** in 08 changed my whole view on letting others make money for me.

Cash is ok, but remember, it's only paper and someday, someone's going to realize that.

I have a 401K but I consider it lost. If it's there when I retire, great, if not....oh well.

Tangible goods. I invest heavily in lead and brass. Flip cars. Rental houses. I want to be invested in things that people need, and that will still have value whether the markets take a dump or not, whether inflation is stratospheric or not, whether society exists, or not.
 
If you are going to buy and hold, stay away from robinhood. I'd stay away from RH anyways for numerous reasons where they've screwed people with rotten rules and procedures, especially options. Buy and hold, find a broker that has a free dividend reinvestment program.

If you are starting, invest in an SP500 index, nasdaq, dow, russell index fund. Stay out of actively managed mutual funds. Greater than 90% rarely EVER beat their benchmark index. They take $ every year to manage your money WORSE than just running an index fund.

I think there is a BIG storm brewing that is going to crush the markets. Right now the US is the place to invest and money is flowing in from all over the world as the global economy is taking a beating. If that changes and other economies/markets begin to recover... watch out!!!
 
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If the stock you bought is 1/2 the value you bought it at... you have a loss... It may not be realized at that time for tax purposes, but, NOBODY is going to give you your original purchase price when they can buy it for half from someone else. It's a loss and your net liquidity reflect that current number. That's a bad mindset to have that it's not a loss until you sell it. Ask the people at enron, worldcom and other companies that went BK and they never sold if they have a loss.

Funny thing, I hold no stock anymore. I'm 100% cash. I like the sp500, crude oil and gold futures trading. Every day, flat overnight.

The NUMBER 1 killer of accounts is bagholding losers. I know people that are right 80% of the time. The problem, when they are wrong, they don't GTFO. The 2 out of 10 losing trades , KILL any profits from the winners. Many times to a factor of 2X or more. "it's going to come back" is the bagholders mantra. Control losses and capital preservation are name of the game.
 
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Invest? WTH does that even mean? We're lucky to even pay the bills.
 
We invested in some acreage in Door County WI. Beautiful area with lots of seasonal tourism. Built at rental cabin a few years back that's been paying for itself with the seasonal rentals. Will be building our home there when we retire and use the rental to supplement our income.
Also, have the 401k etc.

Pat
 
I invest in my kids. I give them money today, they will give me a room when I need it.
If they don't, I'll die on their doorstep. I'll be 80 in 14 years, just about the time the grandkids leave home. So there will be lots of empty bedrooms. Hyup,they can feed me and clothe me, and take care of me,etc. If I was to keep my money to myself, at least one of them would starve, maybe the second as well. The eldest will be ok, having sacrificed the baby making process in favor of rolling in the cash. She'll be 40 next May.
I realize that I'm losing huge amounts of return on my investments, lol, but what kind of father would I be to neglect my kids. Some investing doesn't pay dividends in this life, but is paying it forward; like for instance;
Feed the hungry,slake the thirsty, clothe the naked, take care of widows and orphans in their time of need, visit the sick, and those in prison.
A man who neglects his kids is worse than an infidel; I will not be that man
 
I started with mutual funds 8 years ago and doubled my money .. We got into Blackrock and held on for 6 years and then moved into more diversified funds as I learned the ropes..
Had a friend tell me to watch fund, that just before they pay there dividend they sink like a rock. >After research<, he has purchased funds, that pay small dividends, so not losing much dividend wise.. Then sells them before they pay there dividend, and right after they pay there dividend, he has repurchased them and watched them return to there pre dividend price leaving him a good profit .. I don't know, but he says he has done well.

Wish we had a sticky or something where we could discuss investing. Like to see how people are moving things around.
 
I use the investment firm my father did, and he made an average of 8% per year for 20 years .after fees even during the downturn of the Great Recession. I am up 11% this year so far after fees. I also have 401k accounts and personal IRA accounts for me and my wife. They are also up about 10% for the year after fees.

The investments are well diversified in multiple funds including stocks and bonds.

I have no complaints.
 
I use the investment firm my father did, and he made an average of 8% per year for 20 years .after fees even during the downturn of the Great Recession. I am up 11% this year so far after fees. I also have 401k accounts and personal IRA accounts for me and my wife. They are also up about 10% for the year after fees.

The investments are well diversified in multiple funds including stocks and bonds.

I have no complaints.

watch out for fees, a lot of extra charges some firms charge - my co worker has a firm that holds his TFSA , when he withdraws they hit him with 2% - that's big coin. Personally my investor has a front end load at 0% plus no annual fees - only the management expense ratio (about1.8% depending on the fund) which is hidden in your annual return
 
The problem with the "dividend shuffle", is that any holdings you keep less than a year are taxed as regular income at your normal bracket percentage, rather than the 15% long term capital gains rate.

This is the main problem with "day trading" as well.

If you're in the 25% bracket, you better be making a consistent 10% profit on your trades (after averaging in the dividends, and their tax implications)

...and for the less informed, stocks have an "ex-dividend" date, which is the date that shares must be owned on or before, in order to receive a dividend. Most are a month before the dividend is payed.
 
We invested in some acreage in Door County WI. Beautiful area with lots of seasonal tourism. Built at rental cabin a few years back that's been paying for itself with the seasonal rentals. Will be building our home there when we retire and use the rental to supplement our income.
Also, have the 401k etc.

Pat

Yeah, We do have my 401K from O'Reilly in a local bank now. Drawing less than 1%. But it's there and secure, so I guess that's somethin.
 
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