Damn, I never knew about piggybacking for credit scores. My partner and I were talking about adding me on his credit card so we could use it for grocery shopping and we’d be able to divide the cost evenly.
I guess if you are an authorized user on somebody’s card then your credit score reaps the same benefits they have. He has almost an 800 score, and his card is in perfect standing and huge balance. I’ve read some stories where the credit score shot up really high and quickly. Going to get at that shit…could have better score by '09.
You’re sort of on the right track wanting to buy at a low price, but you want to buy the strong companies that are priced low, not just the cheap ones. Keep a close eye on what Warren Buffett is buying, that’s a free path to winners. Or just buy a market index fund like SPY.
Ok so you’re attempting to buy high and sell low then? Don’t repeat the mistakes you made before. If the companies you bought stock in are still worth owning, then you should be trying to buy all you can.
Don’t try to time the market bottom, because the stock market always bottoms before the economy does. Just like Buffett says-“If you wait for the robins you’ll miss the spring.”
Unfortunately this exploit was finally patched up earlier in '08. being a mere authorized user no longer affects your score, you have to be a signed co-borrower to reap the benefits
I highly doubt Ford will go 100% under, even though now that is a strong possibilty. I am going to play the stock market soon, but I am going to wait until it really tanks. (I have a feeling it will be after Christmas cause of lack of holiday spending).
If you want to play with the stock market, try finance.google.com. You can make a fake portfolio and add companies with fake money. Its a good way to see what you would of lost if you bought a certain stock on a given day.
You’re going to get burned by this line of thinking. The rest of the investors out there know that Christmas is going to suck, and they are pricing that bad news into today’s prices already.
If nothing else, just make a regular purchase of SPY. Otherwise, start looking for really high quality companies that for one reason or another are unusually cheap right now. Suggestions I’d give are for American Express, GE, Coca-Cola, the Oshkosh truck company, and Kimco REIT.
When I get home tonight I’ll see if I can find you something. I know you can get a good yield on Kinder Morgan right now. I couldn’t tell you if there will be growth to be had though.
I would like to strongly recommend that you read “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. It will help you make sense out of this mess.
For ppl that want to get into stock trading, I recommend zecco.com. Only $4.50 per trade. You get 10 free trades if account has minimum 2.5k. The market is getting hammered at the moment but if you have expendible money lying around, try it. Just make sure the money you use is money you can REALLY LET GO(very important!) should the stock you buy tank.
I need advice regarding Roth-IRA:
My employer is currently putting 8% to my 401k and I’m adding in 15% myself for the past 2 years. I’m planning to reduce my contribution to 8% to match and planning to open a separate Roth-IRA in the side for the 7% I’ll be gaining back starting next pay check. Good idea/bad idea? I think I can easily achive the cap for 2008’s ROTH-IRA contribution of 4k if I do this(single,no kids afaik:rofl:).
Zecco is who I broker with, I post in the stock screening forums there sometimes. I tried to post a thread here offering to share, or even completely give away the referral bonuses, but nobody seemed to be interested in that. You shoulda seen how much neg rep I got. Whatever. Tell you what though, I love all the free trades I’m getting this month. Made 35 trades since the 1st, and normally I make like 1 trade a month.
Depends on how skilled you are at choosing investments, and how much the roth will suck out in fees. The company 401k probably doesn’t charge you too much, but might have a shitty fund selection. It’s hard for me to answer that for you.
Here’s some energy sector ideas I found.
Pinnacle West is trading just shy of 9x earnings, and pays a great dividend. These guys own several big Electric companies, including Arizona Public Service.
Also, how about General Electric? They have a lot of technology sunk into “green” energy ideas like solar and wind. Also very cheap.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is paying an 8% dividend yield and is probably a nice safe investment. I don’t expect huge growth for a while, because they’re very debt leveraged, but it’s a good alternative to bonds.
Now this thread is just what a guy who is basically making money for nothing needs. :tup: I’ll have about $600/month to throw around soon, so what should a guy who wants to be financially independant in the next three to five years be looking at? I’m almost there as it is since I also have $900 coming in every month from a structured payment, but I can’t do much beyond paying bills. Another $600 or more per month would do the trick for me, but I don’t know anything about investing. Any tips you can impart upon me?
Until you have some time to start learning about individual stocks, I’d recommend making a once a month investment into a market index. My favorite is the S&P 500, and you can buy it using the tick symbol SPY. This one tick lets you buy every stock in the S&P with just one share.
If you want a good primer on individual companies, I’d like to recommend John Slatter’s “The 100 Best Stocks you can buy 2009”. Don’t skip the opening chapters, they’re important too.
And you need a broker if you don’t have one. You know I loves me some www.zecco.com.
Good looking out CD. :tup: I’ve also heard to get an IRA which I’ve been talking about with my bank. I’ll be looking for that best stocks book on friday. I’ll be checking that zecco site right now. looks like next year will be interresting indeed.
cool. Not that I wouldn’t mind hitting a lottery or two in the next month, I can wait a year or two while stedily dumping cash into a safe method of getting to a happy financial ending. keep the info coming lads. I’m all ears.
i need to hear more about this roth ira. i don’t want to get into the stock market thing cause it is very very risky so i just want to save money and reap the rewards later.
and what do you guys think about mutual funds? can someone elaborate on this?