ive never been in debt, why cause I pay everything off I have to first, then with the money left over then ill buy something, like a game or something else.
Thanks for the inputs. Iāve actually been reading up on stocks for the past 2 months, basically trying to get any type of information on what leads to successful investing, as well as what leads to investors going bankrupt.
I have a couple more questions:
-Is it necessary or required to have a broker, even though you are sure which stocks, assets, funds, and bonds you want to make purchases in? From what I understand, brokers make most of their money on commissions, so they encourage you to buy what you might not necessarily want or believe in.
-What makes a bond or a mutual fund increase or decrease? Iāve read that mutual funds were considered very safe, but drastically plummeted, during the economic meltdown, which put retirements on hold.
-What is your strategy when determining whether to buy a stock?
I used to watch CNBC for a bit, then I slowly realized that it isnāt that reliable, especially since by the time they talk of a great stock, people buy, then the price goes down. The best way to make great returns are usually in smaller cap stocks, which are too unknown to the public (but of course, you have to do your research).
When did you start your sharebuilder account? What factors led it to rise?ā
Iām glad I found this thread, even though I think I have a decent base knowledge, Iām sure I have much to learn.
It is very much my pleasure. Here are your answers:
You are dead right on this. The brokerage industry is built on sales. Somebody does need to assist you with taking ownership of the shares you order, but yeah, when they are offering to sell you the ālatest winnerā then you need to critically examine their motivation for that. Fees are traditionally how they have earned revenues, so their interests are not necessarily aligned with yours. This is changing in some places now. Recently Iām seeing an increase in fee based brokerages that get a cut of what they earn you, so thereās more motivation to manage prudently.
With low cost brokers like Sharebuilder and Zecco thereās not as much selling going on. Nobody calls you to suggest stocks, they just make their money on trades. It also is possible to buy shares directly from many companies, in many cases with no commissions. That would actually be my preference but I do occasionally make trades so itās more convenient to have all my stuff in one place.
Supply and demand. People demand the safety of bond income more right now so bond prices are high. Mutual funds are priced based on the daily closing value of all of the stocks and bonds inside of that fund. If the underlying stocks are down, the fund will be down too. Mutual funds also have some unique disadvantages to long term holders because people may panic sell, taking down every stock inside of the fund with it.
Thatās way too long to post here, the short explanation is when you buy stock, you are buying partial ownership of a business. I read lots and lots of annual reports, and I make my buy and sell decisions on the long term future of a companyās earning power versus what it currently sells for. I can only recommend some reading here. Benjamin Grahamās āThe Intelligent Investorā is the best book that exists on the subject. Most of what Mary Buffett has written is extremely good as well.
You pretty much nailed it with what you already said. They exist to play on your emotions and sell you commercial time. Itās entertaining but not what you really need to make informed decisions.
I fudged a little bit, I was actually referring to the combined performance of my Sharebuilder, Zecco and 401k accounts that were all opened in 2007. Iāve moved some money inbetween these accounts. I did actually start with $5, I got some cash bonuses on opening new accounts, about $150. The rise is a combination of good stockpicking and regular deposits. In 2009 I saw an 80% gain on what I put into the individual brokerage accounts. I have actually been in the markets since 2003 but itās only been in the last few years I really learned what I needed to get here. I knew 2008-2009 was going to be a tremendous opportunity and I bought all I could get my hands on.
I had a couple things to say about the news on Goldman Sachs yesterday if anyone is interested:
Been a while since weāve had any posts here. Iām surprised with how volatile the markets have been lately. Anyways, I ran across this link for a new broker, and this looks like a really good choice for a new investor who doesnāt have much money to get started. They put your money into diversified ETFs and government TIPS. Best part is they donāt charge any trading fees, just a management fee of about 1%. There is no account minimum.
Some additional commentary on them from mymoneyblog.com:
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2010/06/bettermentcom-review-investing-made-simple-but-is-it-worth-the-cost.html
Well it doesnāt help that you claimed to turn $5 into $10,000 and are the one handing out advice. Kinda diminishes the whole accountability/reputation thing. Donāt you think?
i think he is more or less saying that even though he started very very small, over time he has more to show for it then if he just spent the $5 every week on bullshit. which is good advice and something everybody with steady income should follow.
not that $5 a week is gonna do much for you, but you get the idea.
Part of me wants to agree with this, but then Iām also sitting here thinking that this is something I actually did, and continue to do. I just want to show people that you can do a lot with a little patience and a small part of your income put into safe investments. Help me be a better example. What kind of information can I put out there thatās going to help people get here too?
Maybe this will help, hereās a link to my Zecco profile, you can see exactly what Iāve been buying, at least in percentage terms. Youāre going to notice right away that it shows a loss of over 60% Thatās because I didnāt get every investment perfectly right to start with. I used cost averaging techniques and bought larger quantities as the prices dropped. As a result, the entire portfolio is way up, but Zeccoās tools only count the very first purchase you make, and locks the results in when you sell something.
https://www.zecco.com/memberprofile.aspx?MemberId=37620
It looks like you need to sign up in their community to view it. Thereās no cost, and you donāt have to activate a trading account. I think this is about as much proof as I can give comfortably without emailing copies of my monthly statements, heh.
All I really want to put out there is this is real, itās possible, itās not a scam like so many promises out there, and it isnāt all that difficult if you can set your fear aside.
Itās a start. You donāt have to search very far to find people saving nothing. 
ya, its a start. i have had clients who can only contribute $50 a paycheck to their savings, and they unanimously agree it was and continues to be a good idea. i mean, theres a lot of places you can put your money, but saving is always, ALWAYS prudent.
but srsly, you fucking day traders are ruining my life. plz stop.
I get what heās saying, but I also donāt think wild claims of wealth building is going to help anyone get their finances straight in a reasonable manner. Iām by no means the great contributor to this thread or anything, but itād be a shame to just see this become a stock picking thread only.
Something fun for you guys to try out if you havenāt already is
I went on here and threw everything into it. Pretty good fun and I think itās simple enough that people that arenāt into quickbooks or other software could definitely get into this.
-ninj
I use mint.com myself. I get really great weekly report that tells me whatās gone up or down the most. I have frequently made decisions based on that info (I usually buy whateverās down the most).
fwiw in the long run youāre not going to make money following someones picks or even investing in the stock market in general
the market is rigged against small investors in the long run. they donāt have the inside knowledge and resources to compete. in like 00-08 you could just throw darts at the board and more times than not pick good stocks because everything was inflated so everyone looked like market geniuses. the market is a horrible place to put your money unless you want to treat it like a full time job and have a lot of capital to work with
so much money out there now in other venture, there arenāt enough hours in the day. been hustling like 18 hours a day and you can hire people for mad cheap since everyone wants to get paid. this is a real good time to make money
Well you just enjoy that hustling then. Now that Iām 35 Iāve gotten tired of it. Seriously though, I donāt think Iām going to defend myself anymore, I think Iāve said what I could say saving money, stock market or other places, and itās just not getting through.
Pretty interesting read on a hedge fund that bought what amounts to a ton of chocolateā¦
FT.com / Commodities - Hedge fund develops taste for chocolate assets
Hedge funds really have no limits to what they can purchase, which makes them very interesting. Probably the weirdest commodity delivery in a while. There have been times when other hedge funds and investment banks would take delivery of large amounts of oil and house it themselves.
-ninj
CDvision - no need to take your basketball and go home man.
Oh fine. I saw that article on Fark about the cocoa beans too. Iām actually keeping tabs on Hershey lately, so I was sort of hoping this news would cause some kind of panic but itās not even showing up in the Yahoo Finance news. I guess I could reveal here, this is another one of my investment strategies, I have a watch list of around 100 companies, and Iāve already decided which ones I would really like to own if the price is right. Buffett does this, too. You just wait for some temporary crisis to come along, and snap up shares if the price takes a dive. Strong companies will survive these events easily.
The other thing that I wanted was that Hershey pays itās dividends in October, and I wanted more payments that month so it was a good fit. Iām not sure if thatās an investing strategy, but it is part of my selection process. Johnson and Johnson was also looking very attractive right now.
so open enrollment at my work just started for 401k plan and iām finally going to go ahead and start contributing. iām fortunate that this job matches $0.50 per every $1.00 i contribute up to 4% of each pay check (my last job didnāt match at all so i would have only been enjoying the tax benefits). iām going to start with contributing 4% a week so that my employer will match that. i can change my contribution amount any month so iāll probably start contributing more once i feel iām comfortable with the 4%.
also, in the coming months financial aid is going to award us all that are going to college/university. my plan is to take the subsidized loans (not charged interest until much later. interest starts when you begin paying off the subsidized loan, which is typically about 6 months after graduating) and opening up a savings account. iāll try to start with a deposit of at least $1500 to get a slightly better interest rate and add $100 per month.
iām with chase bank. anyone have an idea what the interest rates on savings accounts are right now?
savings account interest rates are garbage across the board, pretty much.
i have an ING account thatās like 1.5? something.
Damn this thread is still going? Im just gonna rub my e-peen and say in late 2007 I said APKT was a good stock to pick up. It was 1.05 at the time. I bought a few shares. Its at ~30$ now. WOOTW OOT cash money bitches!
^^ WTF is up with that shit. Seriouslyā¦ I had Washington Mutual and Iw as getting like 1.5-2% on mys avingsā¦ It turned into Chase and now im getting a whopping 0.25%ā¦ I need to find a new bank or invest in something else. Fucking cheap ass banks. They get a bailout and then fuck us on interestā¦ Just seems so wrong considering we, the tax payers, saved their bitchasses.
I might as well post my issue here, since itās related to money.
I want to return to school, but I want to do it in a way so that I donāt have to work for the duration of the term. In order for me to do that, Iād have to take out a large loan. The other option is to work part-time (Iām currently working full time), but take out a smaller loan and use it to get rid of some of the large payments Iām currently making, but still make enough from my job to take care of basic needs. I live on my own, have my own car, and Iām single with no kids.
Is there any way I could take out a student loan and not worry about paying it back for the duration of the school term? OSAP (a Canadian student plan) is like that, but thereās no way I will get the amount Iām asking for. Banks can offer that kind of cash, but you have to pay back what you use immediately, and you need a co-signer (even though I have no intention of having anyone else pay back the loan for me). Thereās still the chance that the bank could refuse the amount. I know that what Iām doing is crazy, but itās a risk Iām willing to take in order to do what I finally want. I would rather not work so that I can focus more on school and give myself more time to work on projects/study.
Soā¦how about that 2nd quarter GDP?
Preliminary estimate was 2.4. Revised estimate is 1.6. Iām hoping the final number is better (not a good chance of that).
On the upside, thatās 1.6% growth. On the downside, itās much lower than 1st quarterās 3.7% growth.
Also, a 0.8 difference between Preliminary and Revised is ridiculous. Most of the time they are only about +/- 0.2 off at most.