thebiglebowski Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 What do you guys own? What is your outlook going forward? I bought $5k worth of UVXY yesterday, hit for 17% today. Decided not to sell, though. I am well aware that volatility bets are for suckers and I thought hard about just taking the money and running. I don't have an options account to short instead. I also think that the market is batshit crazy to have all time low volatility with the current state of Washington right now. Really just betting on Washington's inability to do anything. I don't own any value stocks right now. Sold out for a downpayment on a house last year. Looking to get back in soon (probably Apple) but it's been a 5 year bull market. I'm waiting for the pullback. If I wait a year, I wait a year. Always looking, though. I also had an order to buy ALIM on 12/12 at $1.32. Never kicked in. The stock bottomed at $1.36. Looked at it today -- $2.62. EFFFFFFF..... What can you do though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steventangent Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I bought like 20 copies of that last Coheed and Cambria album at hot topic. Here's hoping it pans out for me. trevorxramage, ruckis, AdventureIsOutThere and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zick Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I play some stock simulation game on Investopedia. I really wish I would have invested in Netflix on the real market when I did on the simulation. I bought 45 shares at $54.60, and it closed today at $187.12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadmonkey Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I have a lot of stuff in mutual funds. I feel like steady growth with those are a lot better, especially considering I have less than 100K and am just saving up for like 5 - 10 years so I can get a down payment for a place in the bay area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 I have a lot of stuff in mutual funds. I feel like steady growth with those are a lot better, especially considering I have less than 100K and am just saving up for like 5 - 10 years so I can get a down payment for a place in the bay area. Damn man. I bought a house last year for $145k and I think it is beautiful. I am sure you are well aware of differences in cost of living, though. We are probably on the 2 extremes. Mutual funds are solid choices (some better than others). I read a book before I bought any stocks and it made the claim that 90%+ of people who buy stocks would be better off with funds because they either 1) don't put in the time to research financials or 2) just make psychological errors like refusing to admit defeat on a loser and several others. I'm giving it a go on my own right now because while $5k or so is a lot of money and I sure as hell don't want to lose it, in the grand scheme of lifetime investment, it's pennies. If I had as much as you saved, I would probably make the same call. Do you have the option to move it to funds that will perform well in a bear market? I'm not trying to pretend like I can tell the future but I would definitely be defensive, not aggressive right now. Emo Revival 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadmonkey Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Damn man. I bought a house last year for $145k and I think it is beautiful. I am sure you are well aware of differences in cost of living, though. We are probably on the 2 extremes. Mutual funds are solid choices (some better than others). I read a book before I bought any stocks and it made the claim that 90%+ of people who buy stocks would be better off with funds because they either 1) don't put in the time to research financials or 2) just make psychological errors like refusing to admit defeat on a loser and several others. I'm giving it a go on my own right now because while $5k or so is a lot of money and I sure as hell don't want to lose it, in the grand scheme of lifetime investment, it's pennies. If I had as much as you saved, I would probably make the same call. Do you have the option to move it to funds that will perform well in a bear market? I'm not trying to pretend like I can tell the future but I would definitely be defensive, not aggressive right now. Sadly, it's money that my dad left me when he passed away. With the divorce and everything my first goal was to use what I could to get out of CC debt and save the rest. That being said it is a sizable chunk but no where near 100K... yet. like prollie after 7-8 years of saving and not really letting spending get too much out of control. Anyways, that being said, in answer to your question, yes I have the ability to move the money around the funds. I am going at it the same way as I do my 401K. When a year investment pops up, I will look at the performance and figure out if the growth is nice for me or if things need to get more aggressive or not. So far my picks have been pretty good. So far, my returns appear to be around 4% - 6% which isn't much, but it's ass loads better than sticking it in a savings account or CD. I've been going pretty aggressive, but as I'm not intending on touching the money for like years, I don't care. I'm pretty equal with the following funds: Brown Advisory Growth Equity Inv BIAGX Hodges Small Cap HDPSX Harbor International Inv HIINX Principal Equity Income A PQIAX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xfedupx Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Do you do it all yourself? I have some extra money to invest but haven't done enough research in the stocks. Not sure if you listen to Tom Leykis, but despite people's views on him and about women, he gives some solid financial advice on his money Monday show. I want to get into smoe investing, but not even sure where to start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I actually just started investing last week. I use my parents financial advisor/investment banker to do all the heavy lifting for me because most of this stuff is way over my head. I do know that the majority of my money is in small and medium cap mutual funds, with a little bit in regular stocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Sadly, it's money that my dad left me when he passed away. With the divorce and everything my first goal was to use what I could to get out of CC debt and save the rest. That being said it is a sizable chunk but no where near 100K... yet. like prollie after 7-8 years of saving and not really letting spending get too much out of control. Anyways, that being said, in answer to your question, yes I have the ability to move the money around the funds. I am going at it the same way as I do my 401K. When a year investment pops up, I will look at the performance and figure out if the growth is nice for me or if things need to get more aggressive or not. So far my picks have been pretty good. So far, my returns appear to be around 4% - 6% which isn't much, but it's ass loads better than sticking it in a savings account or CD. I've been going pretty aggressive, but as I'm not intending on touching the money for like years, I don't care. I'm pretty equal with the following funds: Brown Advisory Growth Equity Inv BIAGX Hodges Small Cap HDPSX Harbor International Inv HIINX Principal Equity Income A PQIAX I said this up front -- I'm not a money manager and I am clearly looking for a down market in 2013. Just my disclaimer. I don't have time to read deep into your funds. Based on the titles of your funds, I don't think you are playing it safe. Look at what happened in '08 (not saying I'm predicting '08 over again, but that was the last dive). Being diversified is not having a small cap fund, a large cap fund, an emerging markets fund, etc. These all performed terribly in '08. Being diversified is having a real estate based fund, a gold based fund, a stock based fund, a bond based fund. That is the way to play things safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadmonkey Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I said this up front -- I'm not a money manager and I am clearly looking for a down market in 2013. Just my disclaimer. I don't have time to read deep into your funds. Based on the titles of your funds, I don't think you are playing it safe. Look at what happened in '08 (not saying I'm predicting '08 over again, but that was the last dive). Being diversified is not having a small cap fund, a large cap fund, an emerging markets fund, etc. These all performed terribly in '08. Being diversified is having a real estate based fund, a gold based fund, a stock based fund, a bond based fund. That is the way to play things safe. I totally agree, I can be a lot more diversified. These were the funds that my financial advisor said for me to start off with. I'm still researching different funds and such. I don't have time to move money around depending if things are in a bear or bull market. I researched these funds and things appeared on the up and up with them historically wise and their holdings. After living through the '01 and '08 crash I'm pretty skeptical about the whole thing in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 It's smart to think long term and focus a lot on stocks. They historically perform the best over time. I disagree with people who say "I'm in it for the long haul, so I don't care if the market is overbought". Even though they believe the market is going to trend down, they just never pull anything out, ride it down, then back up. Anytime my gut is telling me to get out (the end of a 5 year bull run is a good indicator), I'm pulling my money out, waiting for the inevitable fall (even if it's months to a year before it happens), then buying back in for the next slow 5 year climb. If my money sits in my bank account for a year before the sell off, I miss out on 5-10% of income. But I protect myself from a potential fall of 20%+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 I totally agree, I can be a lot more diversified. These were the funds that my financial advisor said for me to start off with. I'm still researching different funds and such. I don't have time to move money around depending if things are in a bear or bull market. I researched these funds and things appeared on the up and up with them historically wise and their holdings. After living through the '01 and '08 crash I'm pretty skeptical about the whole thing in general. Financial planners are just like real estate brokers -- they only focus on upside. If you find a financial advisor who said to pull everything out in early 2008, I'd trust them with everything. I'd sell out of one of your funds and put it in gold or a real estate investment trust. That's just me. At least then you have one of your funds that will perform well even if the market sells off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamlikesmusic Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I have money in a few cloud computing companies as well as some random stocks that were given to me as gifts (Facebook, in particular). I'm not at a point in life where I have a steady source of income yet, so I don't really actively invest. Soon, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Do you do it all yourself? I have some extra money to invest but haven't done enough research in the stocks. Not sure if you listen to Tom Leykis, but despite people's views on him and about women, he gives some solid financial advice on his money Monday show. I want to get into smoe investing, but not even sure where to start Read it before you do anything: http://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligent-Investor-Definitive-Investing/dp/0060555661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361405394&sr=8-1&keywords=intelligent+investor Someone on here recommended it to me a few years ago. Solid book. The only tips I'd add: It takes 2 or 3 weeks to get an account. If you have some money, do it now. Cause if an opportunity comes along, it might not last 3 weeks. I was sitting on $20k for a house down payment in 2008 but I knew nothing about stocks. If I knew then what I know now, I would have dumped every penny in (after it stabilized). Those kinds of buying opportunities come a couple times in a lifetime. Gotta be ready to pull the trigger. It's kinda hard once the money is in your account not to spend it. I don't just find the best looking stock the day my money is in and go along for the ride. I wait for something that is screaming at me "buy this now". If that means I buy once a year, that's what I do. That's how Buffett does it. As I said in OP, yesterday volatility (essentially, betting that the market is going to have a lot of selling. A bet on the market going down) was screaming at me. Volatility was way down cause the market is running hot and at all time highs (a good indicator it's time to sell), and there is a lot to worry about in the government. Worked out. Nothing foolproof. If you buy stuff that you think "I can't see how this could possibly go any lower" rather than "I think there is a ton of upside here", you will do better. It is all in the book. I wouldn't touch facebook with a 100 foot pole. It earned 2 cents a share, everyone already has facebook, and they haven't proven at all they can make any money. Not sure I would buy it at $10 a share, currently almost $30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronniegwilliams Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 walks into thread, slowly backs out Derek™, tomfiend and taylo234 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomfortunepa Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I really wish I knew more about stocks...I did great in the simulator practice in college. But I still know fuck all and wish I had the time to read and research more into them. Also capital gains tax already takes the fun out of it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmanfredi Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Around 6 months ago my grandmom gave me some money to play around with. Everything i've put money in has made money so far. Portfolio: Luxottica Group (LUX) Cedar Fair (FUN) Alkermes (ALKS) Johnson Controls (JCI) Morgan Stanley (MS) Ford (F) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Around 6 months ago my grandmom gave me some money to play around with. Everything i've put money in has made money so far. Portfolio: Luxottica Group (LUX) Cedar Fair (FUN) Alkermes (ALKS) Johnson Controls (JCI) Morgan Stanley (MS) Ford (F) I'll look at some of the other ones tomorrow but Ford is a solid company. Good products, good leadership, good earnings, good dividends. The only negative about that company is that they didn't declare bankruptcy in 2007. GM and Chrysler got to unload so much of their debts on the American taxpayer and Ford taking the slow, long road to paying off $100 billion in debt. Definitely a company on my short list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 I really wish I knew more about stocks...I did great in the simulator practice in college. But I still know fuck all and wish I had the time to read and research more into them. Also capital gains tax already takes the fun out of it for me. Not investing cause you don't want to pay taxes on the earnings does not make a lot of sense. You would be pretty happy to win the lotto even though the government will take half. I'd again recommend the book I posted. It sounds like at some time you will give it a shot and the information is not time sensitive. It's not a full time job or anything. More than anything, doing it for real for a year with a little bit of starter money, reading the top couple articles on yahoo finance each day, and strong fundamentals knowledge (ie, read the book) and you are in good shape. Even if you buy into funds, you want to have a general sense of the whole system. Simply moving money into different funds based on how expensive stock prices are (ie, how risky they are) can be the difference between doing average and doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hipsterasfolk Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Investments are the way to go, Real estate is a great opportunity if you got the $$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmanfredi Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'll look at some of the other ones tomorrow but Ford is a solid company. Good products, good leadership, good earnings, good dividends. The only negative about that company is that they didn't declare bankruptcy in 2007. GM and Chrysler got to unload so much of their debts on the American taxpayer and Ford taking the slow, long road to paying off $100 billion in debt. Definitely a company on my short list. Absolutely, it's only a matter of time before Ford will break through, in my opinion. I'd suggest Cedar Fair. It has a BIG dividend yield and has been really profitable for me this past year. Luxottica has made me the most money, it has a smaller dividend (better than none). I'd also suggest Johnson Controls too, decent dividend, good company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmanfredi Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Do you do it all yourself? I have some extra money to invest but haven't done enough research in the stocks. Not sure if you listen to Tom Leykis, but despite people's views on him and about women, he gives some solid financial advice on his money Monday show. I want to get into smoe investing, but not even sure where to start Cramer is awesome. He's made me a nice sum of money. His program is called Mad Money on CNBC at 5pm & 11pm. He's a really quirky guy so it's entertaining to watch him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomfortunepa Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Not investing cause you don't want to pay taxes on the earnings does not make a lot of sense. You would be pretty happy to win the lotto even though the government will take half. I'd again recommend the book I posted. It sounds like at some time you will give it a shot and the information is not time sensitive. It's not a full time job or anything. More than anything, doing it for real for a year with a little bit of starter money, reading the top couple articles on yahoo finance each day, and strong fundamentals knowledge (ie, read the book) and you are in good shape. Even if you buy into funds, you want to have a general sense of the whole system. Simply moving money into different funds based on how expensive stock prices are (ie, how risky they are) can be the difference between doing average and doing well. Very true...I will check out that book. I have some general knowledge but I definitely need to refresh my memory on many aspects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryq Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Cramer is awesome. He's made me a nice sum of money. His program is called Mad Money on CNBC at 5pm & 11pm. He's a really quirky guy so it's entertaining to watch him. the woman who was a guest on the daily show tonight pretty much explicitly said "don't buy the stocks they mention on cnbc" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 I kinda agree with that. Cramer has some hits and some misses (I know he was bug in Chesapeake energy, which worked horribly for me). But it goes against my philosophy of "wait until you can't see anywhere to go but up". Cramer has to recommend 5 stocks a day to buy. Seeing someone on tv telling you "buy buy buy" or "sell sell sell" throws off your judgement. I can't remember exactly but I think cramer's funds he managed have not done any better than anyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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