We all know that we need to be putting some bucks away for the future.
And the recent news on SS make investing something more for everybody to pay attention to more.
I am making my annual ‘donation’ to our IRAs and adjusting/balancing the portfolio this week. I’m interested in what ideas anybody has for this upcoming year.
I haven’t done too bad over the last three years, BTW, I made some adjustments right after 911 that helped the value hold almost even for the next couple years while the market ducked for cover. I outperformed by only losing about 2 and 3%. Then last year, I was well positioned in energy and materials and one good bet in tech – enough to grow over 50% overall. That was including a couple of positions that helped keep me humble.
I tend to be a sector investor.
Thoughts to share, anyone? Not looking for hot tips. Learned long ago that those can be very humiliating, LOL
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Piffin,
I've consistently done well with my overall portfolio of assets, (not just stocks) Three words of advice...Diversify, diversify, diversify. It only takes one lucky big winner to offset all you losses. Oh, and know when to sell and not let greed get in the way.
Concentrate on stuff people/nations will always need, run by people with a good long term track record, with a small percentage in something risky that you personally know something about....NOT what you read about in Money magazine.
Also relevant, do you buy individual stocks? or just do the mutual fund approach?
Jon
Both. I started with mutual funds and still have half there, but more of the new money has been going into stock picks that I feel comfortable with. RThe whole energy sector is so convoluted that I could nbot hope to keep up with what is best there, so I have it in mutal - the Price New Era Fund, which has please me immensely.In tech, you know that it has beenn beat up badly by itself and by circumstances. Few good choices there over the past four or five years. I bought adobe at $20 when it had dived in price along with the rest but the increased odds of telecommuting in place of business travel gave it's softeware good odds of success. Look at the chart for ADBE lately.You mentiion things that everyone everywhere has a need of. My Grandfather was an auto mechanic ( german) in the great depression. His father had once owned a lot of business property in onre town but lost it all in the crash. grandad said that people could not afford new cars, but that they would always be able to come up wuith the money to repair5 the cars they already had throughout the depression. The family mantra was to have a skill that would always be in demenad. That might have had an influence in my trade choice. people will always need a roof over their heads.
They also will always need to eat. Look at ADM stock. They own a high market share of grains and soybeans and soy oil products around the world, from production to marleting and offshoots.
Soy oil is the base in a lot of vitamins and food supplements, a growing market as we age. Soy oil may have a future in fuels. And people like to eat. ADM also has ggod market share in China;s food supply. As the people there move up on the food chain with improving economy, they tend to cjhoose foodstuffs that are higher on the scale also - a place where ADM is positioned. The company has a history of ever-increasing dividends.I also happen to believe that certain demographics and trends will influence the direction of markets in the future. For instance the baby boom generation will soon be using increasing amts of medical care. That sector haas not done well in the last couple of years, but over the long run, I expect it will pay largely.
Same with Biotech. There are morale questions involved with incvestments here, but I think that biotech will have a large hand to play in feeding and curing people in the furture years ahead of us. I have a small amt in a sector fund there, and a position in Monsanto ( MON)as well.Then a couple of globally oriented mutuals because we are already in a global economy. Along the same lines - GE is there to sell eferything from light bulbs to jet engines to MRI machines to all the developing economies around the world.I also own GM, which has not done well lately, but of all the auto manufacturers, none has as much invested in fuel cell research and developement as they do. They are late to come to market in the latest craze of hybrids, but my guess is that when they do enter the alternative market, they will blow all the hybrids out of the water.So you can see that I have a fair amt of diversification, which is good to some extent. I'm glad i ddin't bet more than 2% on Enron. But my disposition can handle some risk, and I have fairly decent instincts about trends and sectors, so I bet more heavily in certain directions. So far, it has paid off.oh yeah, I have to comment on that word Greed.
I look at every single investment as an investment, and not as a short term speculation . I see it as contributiing to the future - mine and that of the rest of the world, say like in biotech, or GM research, or ADm and Monsanto - feeding, curing, and propelling the next generation, while earning a living for myself and my wife.
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I have to comment on that word Greed. I look at every single investment as an investment, and not as a short term speculation . "
Piffin,
My comment was meant as a reminder that there are times when it's prudent to sell if and investment has done better than it should have, especially if the fundamentals are questionable. This applies to assets held long term too.
Jon
I based my investments on 3 over all ideas
1) a man's gotta know his limitations
2) It's more important to be able to take a punch than to be able to throw a punch
3) the kids are going to college
I know I am not smart enough---or ego driven enough----- to pick individual stocks. To do it well would require a tolerance for minutuae beyond my comprehension-------
but---over the last couple years I read a lot about modern portfolio theory, diversification etc. I had been fortuneate in the '90's in that I was so poor most of that decade that the tech bubble didn't affect me to much.
but the last 5-6 years my little nest egg managed to build to the point I was getting nervous---and vulnerable
so===I split up the kitty. All index funds----- US small cap, US value, US large cap, short term bonds, REIT's,Pacific Rim, European, Emerging Markets.
almost an equal percentage in each. New investments go into the funds NOT doing well at that time. Funds are rebalanced periodically to keep all 8 funds within their original percentage of the total portfolio.
I have always planned on moving into rental real estate---now I am glad I haven't made that move YET----and It will be several years before I do---as owning rental property would adversly affect my son's college costs. But---I AM looking to sell my existing home and buy one with more market appreciation possibilities.
Stephen
I based my investments on 3 over all ideas
1) a man's gotta know his limitations
2) It's more important to be able to take a punch than to be able to throw a punch
3) the kids are going to college"
Stephen,
.Good advice, My comment to Piffin about getting too greedy, Once you've met your goals......once you get there, put it in a safe place, I don't mean a savings account or CD necessarily. Thenplay with what you can afford to lose.
For safe places Real Estate can be great. So can a lot of other stuff that are not necessarily considered to be "cash equivalents" on your balance sheet. I could rattle off a ton, but nobody listens to the rare, but albeit on the mark tips I give anyway.
The one thing with stocks vs. mutual funds, you don't pay any annual commissions, which can take a bite in a bad market, and in a bad market, automatic dividend reinvestment (ie. no commission) offsets the down side, assuming you invest in dividend paying stocks.
WSJ
About the safety in realestate...One of my clients was the VP in charge of RE investments at Morgan Stanley for several years. Now he runs his own REIT. Claims he has never loast money on a deal. The only place he will put spare cash is US Treasuries.He once told me that he couldn't stand to watch his buddies down the hall at MS on a bad stock week, like in '87. They were ready to ...do bad things let's say. But he never got nervous. He said he always liked the idea of being able to walk on his investment, touch it, feel it. Now he holds some towers and rents office space to the same brokers and managers.He says that most of the money he manages is from pension funds - teachers and cops, etc. He feels strongly that they should always have their money secure, and that weighs on him when he makes decisions.
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"I also own GM, which has not done well lately, but of all the auto manufacturers, none has as much invested in fuel cell research and developement as they do. They are late to come to market in the latest craze of hybrids, but my guess is that when they do enter the alternative market, they will blow all the hybrids out of the water."
GM? Run away! They have so many stranded costs in ex-exployee benefits that they are like an HMO that happens to make some vehicles. Last I heard, these costs amounted to something like $4000 per vehicle. Same with Ford and Chrysler. Chrysler has stranded costs in both countires. Toyota is obviously eating everyone's lunch. They have no such stranded costs in their US operations, giving them a huge profit advantage. They do have stranded cost in Japan, but not to the same extent.
I do not think the automotive sector is a good long term play anyways.
Bet energy still has some legs- companies tended to hedge during the runup, and many will only now reap the benefits of higher prices.
The market in general, and tech in particular is still statistically undervalued, so this could be a good year.
I do not think pharma cos are done getting beat on, and despite the age wave, it is proving difficult to make money in most other healthcare sectors.
Don't let this thread die.
In the event anyone likes to check out internet stock recommendations...
A stock worthy to view towards both daytrader style playing up and down shark teeth and a comfort zone towards a longer hold, try OCA.
be teething"Live Free, not Die"
Consider a portion in foreign stocks/mutual fund. I still keep reading that the multi-year forecast for the US dollar is down.
Based on your past performance, I think you ought to be the one giving advice. I am curious as to what you did in response to 9/11.
Biggest move was to sell an underperformer that seemed to be a likely loser and to buy Adobe, and shift some other into cash.
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The ones that are high on my list of interest right now are these:
( BTW, I take a few weeks sometimes to make a decison, and a few hours at other times. I tend to do better with the ones that I think and study about for a few weeks) GE - add to position
AIG - insurance multinational. On sale right now because Mark Spitzer has focused it in his investigations. I have been taken so often by insurance companies, that it might feel good to be on the recieving side of this one, but there is that morale issue on that investment
HSY - Who doen't like good chocolate from Hershey? It has a lot of growth still from new investment around the world, and expiosure to China as I mentioned in another post above.
UPS - Seems to be on sale now too, and is constantly growing because of online purchassing. Think about whether you have increased the amt of catalouge and online shopping you have done over the past three years. Now imagine whether that will increase or decrease further over the next three years. If you cansuppose that much of America will do the same, you know whether to invest in UPSAnother one that has my interest is called ATI. I amn still investigating but they are a heavy manufacturer in stainless Steel, a strong growing market. Just look at how many more SS nails and screws we are using since the new PT came out.
I used to want to buy harley Davidson, but they have lost my attention lately. pretty cyclical in price.
I keep looking at Pepsi too.. Maybe this year....
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My latest big hitters are Sirus and XM. Both are doing really well.
I have the majority in mutual funds though. Recently started buying some Balanced Fund to have a little more conservative in the mix. Bought a bunch of Contra fund which played heavy into companies moving labor overseas and the world economy picture and it has done very well.
As noted in other threads I have rental property and couple small commercial buildings. Steady but picked up some nice equity during the 90's expansion.
Anybody do bonds? I have heard that you can make money in them but I can't figure how.
I looked into high risk investments once and found that buying a piece of broadway shows is an interesting sounding idea. You buy shares like 10k each. If the show does ok its break even or so. If it bombs your out. If it runs well for 6 months or so you can make 3 to 10 times your money. Obviously we wish we knew this when Cats came out! DanT
I am far less interested in things liike broadway, disney, Time, princess etc - even Anheiser busch thoi it is a good investment ove ra long haul. I like what is solid, like land and that you can see and feel or that provides jhobs or hope for the future. I drink beer but see no positive hope in it, for instance.I also own more than mmy fair five acres of this earth. Maybe it can help with some of my retirement income in some way. I am thinking about building some storage units to rent out. Tenants would not be as noisy or as troublesome as regular renters, and I would have the items stored as collatteral for payments.
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.....own more than mmy fair five acres of this earth
"Buy Real Estate. And never sell." John D. Rockefeller.
"A hard head makes for a sore a$$."
" The best investment on Earth is a piece of it" Lonnie Brownlow
Anybody do bonds? I have heard that you can make money in them but I can't figure how.
You'd have to outsmart the street pros on interest rate directions. If you buy before an unexpected interest rate decline, the value of your bonds goes up.
Anybody do bonds? I have heard that you can make money in them but I can't figure how.
Bonds are completely different animal. There are lots of way to do bonds besides guessing on the next interest rate move. A favorite for the bond traders is to do spread between corporate and government bonds.
There are some problems with investing/trading in bonds. Bond market is very efficient, more so than stocks but I don't know of anywhere that you can trade them online. So the dealers basically control the spread and usually is quite substantial unless you are dealing in millions which by itself is another problem. In the present climate interest rate doesn't have much room to fall and actually it's inching higher so buying bonds for any reason is not a good idea. Now of course you can short them thinking that interest rate may take off but then that expose you to a whole different kind of risk.
Think of it this way; a company has to make enough money to pay the bond holders to make a profit. If they can't make more than what the bond holders make then everybody would become bond holders and nobody would be running business.
"Anybody do bonds? I have heard that you can make money in them but I can't figure how."
We bought a chunk of a bond issue, recommended by our broker. Would I sound like an idiot if I know almost nothing about it? The thing I do know is that it shows a decent payment of interest every quarter. The value of stocks and mutual funds on the same statement shows a lot of fluctuation in value, whereas the bond stuff never moves, just pays interest.... so, it's a conservative investment... I think I gotta get my mother to stop playing stocks and buy stuff more like this.
You mean Elliot Spitzer, don't you? Re: the Harley, it has been kind of wallowing even with the consistent profitability and the analysts coming out with their reports, saying that HD can't keep the streak up and immediately are proven wrong. It seems to me that someone is just putting that out there to screw up the price and buy a ton of shares after it drops. It really messes with the investment plans of those of us who don't have the time to deal with this every moment, of every day.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
True that the HDI moves in a zig-zag line, but still trending upwards.
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That upward trend is the main reason I'm not ready to sell yet. If it stays flat(ish) for a few more months, I'll probably sell a chunk of it, though.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Seeing as that by some studies the average American family is carrying something like $8000 in credit card debt I would think paying this off would be the first, and most important, investment. Leaning how to avoid recreating this situation would be the second. Paying off the car, truck and home usually provided a greater payoff than stocks. Next education and job training are big payers.
Once all those are covered other investments might be worth looking into. Glad to hear you have done so well. But most American families won't get to, if history is any guide, step one. Paying off the credit cards. First things first.
Fully agree on most of those, especially paying down credit cards, starting with the ones charging highest interest.But there are other mitigating factoers to this overall strategy. For instance, any money palced in a traditiional IRA reduces the tax burden by some corresponding amount, in savings of income tax paid, effectively using a subsidy to finance the retirement savings in a limited way.Also, given the tax savings on th einterest portion of a mortgage paymet, and the low rates, it is prudent to keep the house mortgaged and to invest the funds, unless you believe in some total crash of the market, in which case, a paid off mortgage will feel good.waht most families historically do is by their own chioce, and they have not always made great choices, spending on consumer goods instead of investing in their futures, but the Presidents ideas about encouraging an ownership society could redirect a small portion of that income.
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Re: "Presidents ideas about encouraging an ownership society could redirect a small portion of that income."Problem is that those who are perpetually caught in the revolving credit trap are exactly those most likely to be dependent on SS and least able to invest. Those able to invest already have easy methods of investing.
In the south there a big drug store chain called Rite Aid, it competes with eckerd and walgreen. Right now its a penny stock soit real cheap , keep an eye on it. will never go big but you can 2x, 3x, 5x your money stock symbol. RAD
We got them up here too.
I've a dentist friend who shorted it around 30 and is still holding it. He said things don't look good for RiteAid.
"Live Free, not Die"
Edited 2/4/2005 9:52 pm ET by razz
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/SC.web?c=raddoesn't look that great rite now tho. The Rite aid chaion is present up here too, and has bneen buiolding and buying out stores all over the place. They are like the HD of pharmacies with cehap prices and lousy service. We wewnt to them for awhile but the lousy service sent us packing to the locall outfit.
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My philoshphy? Invest in yourself. Unless you are topped out invest in your busines. I've got a fair amount of investments. Mostlt mutual funds. I usually have 1 or 2 stocks. Nike and McDonalds. McDonalds as a joke because I used to eat there several times a day (as a single guy) LOl. I'm a buy and hold invester. Held all through 9/11 aftermath. But add to the accounts every year. Pretty much index funds so I tend to follow the market. A little skewed toward the smaller stocks with the index funds. I will get a bigger increase if the NASDAQ goes up than if the DOW goes up.
But, the best investment I've ever made is our company. I track our return on assets every year. Last year was 28%. Worst year was 4%. It usually is around 20-25%. But I control all of it. Meaning it's all on me. Not some CEO in New York City.
We are about halfway to our retirement figure. Probably about 8 more years. Get the 9 y/o through college and hit the beach! Funny thing is the retirement figure keeps creeping up and up. I gotta keep on working. I did some playing around with retirement software programs couple years ago. I got 1 to where I could retire at 55. But my wife had to work till 75. LOL She didn't think that was good
Did you ever invest in Zero coupons ? I got Seven-up/DrPeper zeros once made 20% or something like that. Nerve racking as all heck . they needed cash for expantion or something like that . Every report that came out looked bleeker than the last. They finalyhad an early buy out plan that paid up in full . I mostly have mutuals now ,easier to deal with . How do you buy stock ? through a broaker or direct through the company ? I was thinking of GM GE JD and maybe Coke I think Cat might be a good one also.
Pepsi is better than coke right now. Broader diversity and better growth.I have most of my accounts with Chas Schwabb. Phone or online trades are easy.GE is almost liek a mutaual fund because they are so broadly diversified across the manufacturing sector and across the global marketsI know nothing about bonds and zero-coupoions or any of the fancier stuff that is more like speculation. One sure piece of advice for investors is to stay far away from anything you don't understand.
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I have to imagine that there are some serious bean counters out there who know more than I do, and have some fact based ideas about what sectors are more likely than others to do above average in the coming year or two.
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"I have to imagine that there are some serious bean counters out there who know more than I do, and have some fact based ideas about what sectors are more likely than others to do above average in the coming year or two.'
Sure .. and those are the guys sitting there thinking ... become one of my clients... pay my fee ... and I'll grow your money.
They're not gonna give free/specific info over the net!
Jeff
as aside ... in general ... about "investing" ...
my wife's dad was a small city cop ... her mom was a bank teller.
they started "investing" in their 30's ... started buying rental property in their 40's ...
He's in his mid 60's now ... the rentals are all fully paid off ... and his investment portfolio is in the neighborhood of $850K or so ...
for just about anyone ... the younger the younger the better ...
just "a little at a time" ... can really add up.
what's that old political fund raising saying ... a million here ... a million there ...
pretty soon yer talking real money!
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
I have to imagine that there are some serious bean counters out there who know more than I do, and have some fact based ideas about what sectors are more likely than others to do above average in the coming year or two.
To answer your question would become a voliation of securities laws.
See, we need to be registered in each state that we could be considered "soliciting business" within. Should I attempt to answer your question publically on this site, it could be interpreted as soliciting business - not only to you in your state (I got Maine covered), but to any other person reading the same in another state (which I may not have covered), OR to someone in Canada - and then I'm violating our federal as well as Canadian provincial laws. Violators are quickly relieved of their licenses.
That's one reason I keep my profile unfilled.
In the last 3 years, there have been 120 rule changes for the securities industry. The previous 10 only had 8. We have simply been over-regulated and over interpreted to the point that we don't know what we can say or can't. So we've been told to shut up unless it is absolutely clear who we're talking with.
Apparently this same level of caution is not shared by online brokers whom make some fairly foolish claims.
However, such business models focusing upon dirt cheap prices and corresponding levels of service seem to be widely criticized here on this website as it pretains to the construction industry. I find it interesting that such models are so quickly embraced within other industries.
You're at Schwab now? Getting what you're paying for, huh?
Whatever happened to that AM EX guy?
But seriously, as a friend,
Right now is one of the most difficult times I've seen to make an investment call. Especially for income purposes. When times are like they are now, we become more focused upon staying rich rather than becoming rich.
My take is real estate is close to it's top and is beginning to show signs of concern. Bonds are for those interested in losing money. Stocks overall, seem fairly valued. Internationals have rallied on the currency exchange issues - and those can quickly change direction also - especially if rates climb. And cash although improving, is negative from a real return basis. That's my take and I'm not going to debate it with anyone. Should you disagree, you got that right.
This is the time when expert stock pickers outperform as well as those with closer ties to real research as opposed to that picked over old stuff one can pick up on the web.
One gets that by developing a relationship with someone that becomes based upon friendship and mutual respect. This MS client of yours - can he refer you to one of the more experienced local guys that is about your age (or older). Not the biggest producer in the office, but one that is stable and has his own wealth (so he's not inclined to create his from yours). And that has the time to work with you on your terms.
Speaking of real estate, some of the vacancy numbers I've been seeing coming in lately on commercial and business properties in some areas are eye opening... Is your buddy concerned about these trends in the face of an improving M & A environment?
Lots to respond to there.I have always had the schwab act. Have enough that I pay them almost nothing. I am not such an active tradeer that i need the lower fees elsewhere. I put maybe 20% with the AMEX guy to let him prove himself. So far, i'm less than excited. I did far better on my own, but that could be a fluke in the long run so he isn't fired yet. I'll even add a little to what he is managing soon.I had not thought about the legal side of this. was not looking for hot tips or that sort of thing, but a discussion of the overalls - which you have touched on and which I agree with you about. There is a lack of direction given uncertainty about many things, including the dollar and the international balances. I lean to the medical sector, but even that has its uncertainty with medicare talks and whispers, and the FDA battles with approvals and recalls of major drugs. That makes prices 'on sale' right now, but the trend is still down and one rule is not to fight the trends. Unless you favor getting run over by a herd of buffaLO or bears, that is. I am looking at some specific medical like ISRG and MDT, the latter being large enough to feel safer, but the former having seemingly good upside potential. If I revert to my conservative nature when I am making the actuall layitontheline decision, it might just be a medical spiderMy mother called me last month because her broker was recommending some bonds for her. I told her definitely NO bonds right now, and if he pushes them, take the rest of your money and run. I think he was trying to churn a little old lady...My contact in REITs - he is long away from Morgan Stanley, and does not share specifics, probably partly because of the same things you spoke of, and because he is the kind who would not want to let a potential disappointment turn into a bad thing for our relationship. Haven't spoken with him in the last few months so I don't know if he is nervous about potential changes or not. Other than the offive buildings/commercial he also hasa hand in thirty or fourty thousand residential lots at any one time in the southern states, and has international. I suspect a part of the international is vulture style. He always seemed to be traveling right after a shakeup, to places like Japan ten years ago, Russia, after the second shakeup of th eeconomy, Peru, when they started getting on their feet, Mexico during Clintions time when we and the world bank bailed them out, etc, etc, etc...
Bargain shopping...
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Pepsi is better than coke right now. Broader diversity and better growth.
Yup, I agree to that.
GE is almost liek a mutaual fund because they are so broadly diversified across the manufacturing sector and across the global markets
GE is a company that keeps reinventing itself. It's core business now is leasing and financing and that's where it makes a big chunk of its earnings. That just adds to the diversification.
If you think health care will take off or even if not in the near foreseeable future, check out Beckman Coulter. You know what they say about the California gold rush, the people that made money were the ones selling picks and shovels.
You use AUTOCAD? What about putting some money in Autodesk. I missed Adobe but I'm sure glad that I picked up ADSK.
But if you like to roll the dice...
LVLT may be getting ready to run again.
be greenbe pea soup"Live Free, not Die"
While I appreciate your investment style and view mine works differently. I view the real estate as the long haul version of our investments. Get them going, manage them and they appreciate and spin off some dividends as they go.
Mutuals are the semi safe retirement part of it all. Stocks are the more aggressive short term, make money and get out portion of it. Trying to cover all the bases I guess.
I agree with all on the low-no debt. We keep no credit card balances but use them and there dividend programs extensively. We only finance vehicals and house and pay the vehicals off as quickly as resonably possible. I thought that I would be past vehical financing but college expense have changed my mind on that lol. DanT
If you want a low priced stock to look at try LVLT.
Ripe for a buyout."Live Free, not Die"
Re: ..."but you can 2x, 3x, 5x your money"Sure thing. Unless it isn't. That's the problem with stocks. It is literally legalized gambling. You can win. You can lose. But the dealer or brokers always make a cut. Theirs is the only sure profit.
Problem is that those who are perpetually caught in the revolving credit trap are exactly those most likely to be dependent on SS and least able to invest. Those able to invest already have easy methods of investing."
4Lorn,
And that's exactly, [hit the nail on the head] why we have SS. It was never intended to be a retirement plan, but heck, when the government starts taking 15% of your gross income, it sure as heck better be.
But constantly expanding the benefits of SS kept many a politician in office.
GDuddya', like him or not, is addressing the issue.....................
Jon
the Presidents ideas about encouraging an ownership society could redirect a small portion of that income.
Yeah, ownership alright, I own my cc balance. :)
Funny you created this thread. A few weeks ago for the very first time I tried to figure how I have been doing for the past couple of years. My investment strategy is quite different from yours, I like to diversify instead of picking sectors which for me anyway is impossible to pick the right sector at the right time consistently. So I spread out over the sectors and yes I do do a little sector favoring but a little is all I do.
50% in a year is amazing especially considering the DOW only picked up a few % point last year. Last year here in Canada most mutual funds that invested in the US had -ve returns due to the CDN-US exchange. I am glad to report that I managed just over 20% last year and the year before, looking back at least a few of those % points was from luck. But hey, I'll take whatever comes my way.
Last week I was reading a book by George Fontanills, he said the secret in making big money is not your rate of return, it's consistently putting money into your account. I never thought of it that way before. So stop bragging about returns and start bragging about savings. :)
Are you going to stay with energy this year? I'll be happy if I can make 10% this year and so far for the first month I am down. That's the nature of the market, I am there for the long haul.
I'll be happy if I can make 10% this year
10% is about average over the long term. The 90's were sure better but that's hindsight.
Didn't I tell you I'm not greedy? :)
The bucks in energy now will stay there, burt the new money will go elsewhere for awhile.
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You may be right but they could for the most part, if they wanted to badly enough.
'Course, I believe people can loose weight if they want to badly enough.
"A hard head makes for a sore a$$."
Wonder how many people here own Lowes or HD stock?
"A hard head makes for a sore a$$."
we're going the opposite direction ...
as in "paying" a pro to do the heavy lifting.
guy that works thru my wife's financial planner boss just took one of her dormant 401K's under his wing .... it sat after she left a company a coupla years ago ...
she gave him 42K .... he of coures charges fee for each trade ... made some adjustments ... 30 days later ... after fee's ... she went from 42K to 48K!
somewhere along a 15% gain?
she had to wade thru her banks red tape and pull lotsa strings ... as this guy usually doesn't take anyone unless they have a minimum of $100K ... then on certain conditions ... but it was his idea and he helped talk her boss into it being a little office perk.
I couln't even tell ya what she's into now ... don't care! (ok .. I do know there's some Harley stock in there somewhere)
best part ... she mentioned how thrilled she was to him ... he said T'ain't nuttin ...
wait till the one year mark if ya wanna be impressed.
Inside connections are never a bad thing!
Just be prepared for the big downturn ....
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
I invest in myself not stocks.
Started out with a house I bought for $87000....sold that for $400000 bought another for 400 sold that after spending 200 on it for 1.2.scored this one for about 600000 and hope to get "at least" 2.2 when I'm done after spending about 3-4.
I get to mostly work at home on my house from what
I made on the past ones....get to make any changes I want any time I want....thats an investment in my health and blood pressure not to mention gas...lol...unlike working for A hole customers.
My kid will be in college in three years so I can sell this and move to a smaller house thats less expensive and live off my earnings investing in smaller projects that I don't have to live in. Unless her college costs us what I earned here...lol.
Be self contained
a...
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
Andy, I like your investing style!
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
Andy, the main thing I like about investing in real estate is the leverage aspect and you seem to be maximizing it since you obviously live in an area that is experienceing substantial appreciation gains.
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
Blue
The thing is...in an area thats less than an hour into Manhatten and on the beautiful north shore no matter what happens to the economy the prices here will basically stay the same.
The other thing that works in my favor is that in this hood most people aren't willing to take on projects like I am....they'd rather move into a home thats 99% finished.
Also these historic homes that have been ignored need serious work that's hard to even get a quote to do by a contractor.
Its not simply finish the floors and paint and a few mouldings....one needs to delve deep into the complexity of the work needed.Even home inspecters told potential buyers of the home I'm currently working on and living in that it should be condemned....total idiots IMO.I needed no HI....I KNEW everything was in need of everything other than the structure itself and even that....
Had my name all over it and I'm loving it....beyond loving it. Seeing all what the carps before me over 300 years did with no power tools....even had to make their own nails and bricks...damn job gets me hard...lol.Also pizzes me off seeing what people did after the originals built this crib. Taking out timbers/studs to put in windows using no headers over a 20 ft span and maybe one stud along side the windows.....made the whole rear of the house lean back and down.Anyway....I feel fortunate to be able to take what I know and the energy I have to stay in this type of investment.
Can't wait for the next one....Don't tell Katrina...lol.I have my eye on one that just might be for sale in about three years....perfect timing....Its been abandoned for a real long time...its a serious mess but gorgous.
I think its owned by an estate.
Be well Blue Eye
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Andy, if I ever travel to your area, I'm expecting a tour....
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
<<<<andy, if I ever travel to your area, I'm expecting a tour....>>>Thats a given....might even take you to tour Shglaw's house...I think I may be the official tour guide there by now, if he's still talking to me.
Be well
a...
PS...no talking politics though...lolThe secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Can't wait for the next one....Don't tell Katrina...lol.,
Hey Andy,
Same here with my wife.
BTW, check this pic out. Just got it as a gift from my future BIL Carp. who live in Westchester. Bought a dozen at a garage/estate sale. 1875 Buck Brothers Smoothing plane plus a 1920's No 10 Baily's jack plane.
Be well,
Jon
Edited 2/6/2005 10:47 am ET by WorkshopJon
cool planes....I see em a lot at antique fairs and the one one the bottom right I have from my grandfather.
Dont tell Katrina and I won't tell your DW...
You've been here a cpl a times so you know what KAtrina might say : )
Be well
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Andy, you've done well. I have always invested in myself too, buying more tools to make money off of, and investing otherwise in the business, but time is coming when I will want to make money off my money and not have to work so hard to earn it simply because my body is not up to it for too much longer. i have some plans for properties i own here to develope for income, but like they say - diversify for safety.
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