- actionjackson647
- 12-22-2010, 08:12 PM
the most important thing to any type of investing/trading is discipline. and remember when listening to "advice" from a brokerage house... They have a responsibility to the firm first and the client second... its ass backwards from wht it should be but thats the way it is.. Thats why i consider full service brokers to be bad news for almost everyone and not to be trusted.. You cant be sure that they are getting you into an investment for your best interest or the firms...
- tron
- 12-22-2010, 10:34 PM
the most important thing to any type of investing/trading is discipline. and remember when listening to "advice" from a brokerage house... They have a responsibility to the firm first and the client second... its ass backwards from wht it should be but thats the way it is.. Thats why i consider full service brokers to be bad news for almost everyone and not to be trusted.. You cant be sure that they are getting you into an investment for your best interest or the firms... Originally Posted by actionjackson647This is very true. Full service brokers can do some pretty dirty thinkgs to make more on commissions - like splitting a buy order into 2 orders so they double the commission. They can actually do worse than that...
Doing online transactions with a low-cost broker like ETrade, Schwab, or TDAmeritrade is the way to go. You can research investments with Yahoo Finance or http://finance.google.com.
I read where a famous investor said that he didn't buy anything he didn't understand. I think that is pretty good advice.
- ezman
- 12-23-2010, 08:41 AM
- actionjackson647
- 12-23-2010, 09:12 AM
This is very true. Full service brokers can do some pretty dirty thinkgs to make more on commissions - like splitting a buy order into 2 orders so they double the commission. They can actually do worse than that...i think it was warren buffet who said that
Doing online transactions with a low-cost broker like ETrade, Schwab, or TDAmeritrade is the way to go. You can research investments with Yahoo Finance or http://finance.google.com.
I read where a famous investor said that he didn't buy anything he didn't understand. I think that is pretty good advice. Originally Posted by tron
- woodstretcher
- 12-23-2010, 10:18 AM
Thanks Tron and Brit for my plug! "Better Investing" magazine for a group is great!
Dividend Re-investment Plans (DRP's) is another avenue. You can set up a plan directly with a company and buy shares on a monthly or quarterly schedule without having to go through a broker. Secondly, you are purchasing on Dollar Cost Average.
(Some purchases low, some high) Some plans as little as $50. per month. Ex. Pepsi, Home Depot, Aflac.
Dividend Re-investment Plans (DRP's) is another avenue. You can set up a plan directly with a company and buy shares on a monthly or quarterly schedule without having to go through a broker. Secondly, you are purchasing on Dollar Cost Average.
(Some purchases low, some high) Some plans as little as $50. per month. Ex. Pepsi, Home Depot, Aflac.
- Codybeast
- 12-23-2010, 12:04 PM
At this point the thread isn't remotely about the OP's request. It has taken on a life of it's own and is all about "Let me show what I know" to fellow market players and to those who haven't the slightest clue as to what I am talking about. That's ok as it's kinda cool to witness and learn a few things. Definitely a step up in terms of insightful.
- GneissGuy
- 12-23-2010, 03:05 PM
I hate to hear all the same tired old myths in investing.
I really hate to hear everyone recommending diversification like it's the holy grail. It's not. Diversification can cost you a lot. Diversification IS a good idea, but don't overdo it.
In case it's not clear, "diversification" is the idea to put your money in different stocks and different types of investments. Don't put everything in that hot dotcom company you've heard so much about. Don't put everything in 3 different oil companies. Don't even put everything in stocks, put some in other types of investments such as bonds. The idea is that everything won't go down at the same time and leave you broke.
Diversification reduces the amount by which your entire investment goes up or down. It keeps your investment from going to zero when you find your investment in Enron, Bernie Madoff, or whatever.com disappears.
What everyone who recommends "diversification" forgets to tell you is that if you worship at the alter of diversification and spread your investment over too many different companies, you lose the chance to hit it big. If you do figure things out and buy a stock that doubles, if you only invested 5% of your money in that company, you only make a 10% return on your whole portfolio.
Now, you still shouldn't put too much of your portfolio in any one stock. Just realize that spreading your investment out over many stocks reduces your opportunity for gain just as much as your risk of loss.
I still wouldn't recommend that anyone put more than 20% or so in any one stock or in any one area unless they really know what they're doing and understand the risks.
I really hate to hear everyone recommending diversification like it's the holy grail. It's not. Diversification can cost you a lot. Diversification IS a good idea, but don't overdo it.
In case it's not clear, "diversification" is the idea to put your money in different stocks and different types of investments. Don't put everything in that hot dotcom company you've heard so much about. Don't put everything in 3 different oil companies. Don't even put everything in stocks, put some in other types of investments such as bonds. The idea is that everything won't go down at the same time and leave you broke.
Diversification reduces the amount by which your entire investment goes up or down. It keeps your investment from going to zero when you find your investment in Enron, Bernie Madoff, or whatever.com disappears.
What everyone who recommends "diversification" forgets to tell you is that if you worship at the alter of diversification and spread your investment over too many different companies, you lose the chance to hit it big. If you do figure things out and buy a stock that doubles, if you only invested 5% of your money in that company, you only make a 10% return on your whole portfolio.
Now, you still shouldn't put too much of your portfolio in any one stock. Just realize that spreading your investment out over many stocks reduces your opportunity for gain just as much as your risk of loss.
I still wouldn't recommend that anyone put more than 20% or so in any one stock or in any one area unless they really know what they're doing and understand the risks.
- GneissGuy
- 12-23-2010, 03:22 PM
The most important lesson is to trust no one.
However, you should listen to everyone.
Don't let anyone else "handle" your money. You should take investment advice and do what they say. You need to listen to investment advice, understand what they say and then make your own decisions using that info.
If you buy a stock because Jim Cramer says it's a good stock, you're an idiot. Even Jim Cramer would agree with that. If you listen to what Jim Cramer says, then go and study the stock and come to your own conclusions, you might get somewhere.
Watch yourself with paid advisors. A common plan is for them to get something like 2% of your total investment per year. If on the grand average, you earn about 8% per year on investments, he's taken 25% of your profits, and may not have really done anything to increase your profits.
Especially don't trust someone because they claim to have predicted the last crash or the last boom. Lots of these guys throw out lots of predictions. If you throw out 100 predictions a year, at least a few of them will be right. Then they go back and only mention the ones that were correct.
The big financial firms will create hundreds of mutual funds. Then after a few years, they will run the statistics, pick the top 5 percent of the funds and then advertise how good their track record is on those 5 funds.
A lot of the time, "good track records" are just like putting monkeys at typewriters and publicizing the winners.
However, you should listen to everyone.
Don't let anyone else "handle" your money. You should take investment advice and do what they say. You need to listen to investment advice, understand what they say and then make your own decisions using that info.
If you buy a stock because Jim Cramer says it's a good stock, you're an idiot. Even Jim Cramer would agree with that. If you listen to what Jim Cramer says, then go and study the stock and come to your own conclusions, you might get somewhere.
Watch yourself with paid advisors. A common plan is for them to get something like 2% of your total investment per year. If on the grand average, you earn about 8% per year on investments, he's taken 25% of your profits, and may not have really done anything to increase your profits.
Especially don't trust someone because they claim to have predicted the last crash or the last boom. Lots of these guys throw out lots of predictions. If you throw out 100 predictions a year, at least a few of them will be right. Then they go back and only mention the ones that were correct.
The big financial firms will create hundreds of mutual funds. Then after a few years, they will run the statistics, pick the top 5 percent of the funds and then advertise how good their track record is on those 5 funds.
A lot of the time, "good track records" are just like putting monkeys at typewriters and publicizing the winners.
- GneissGuy
- 12-23-2010, 03:31 PM
Never forget that the most important point is not how you invest, but how much you invest.
If you invest 10% of your income and get mediocre gains, you'll come out a lot better over the long run than if you invest 5% of your income and do really well in the stock market.
If you invest 10% of your income and get mediocre gains, you'll come out a lot better over the long run than if you invest 5% of your income and do really well in the stock market.
- AustinBusinessTraveler
- 12-23-2010, 04:52 PM
Bluntly, before people start with investing advice, I would think that basic financial planning is what's called for. Investing advice should come from people you trust or a personal financial advisor. If you're looking for a basic class, there are plenty on here who would teach the class (whether their advice is worth anything is another matter altogether).
In reality, each persons financial situation is unique and the appropriate thing to do would be to talk to a member you trust or feel is trustworthy and simply take them to lunch. Almost any guy on here would happily go to lunch with you and sit and talk basic financial strategy (we're not even close to beginning to talk investing). Find out what you're looking for and what you're ultimate end goal is.
Without that information all of the advice in here is worth bupkis.
In reality, each persons financial situation is unique and the appropriate thing to do would be to talk to a member you trust or feel is trustworthy and simply take them to lunch. Almost any guy on here would happily go to lunch with you and sit and talk basic financial strategy (we're not even close to beginning to talk investing). Find out what you're looking for and what you're ultimate end goal is.
Without that information all of the advice in here is worth bupkis.
- Baloney Pony
- 12-23-2010, 04:53 PM
Howdy, Folks!
AND...I continue to invest in it. Veddy nice retirement nest egg.
It's still gonna be worth a decent ride, BTW, for I figure...oh, another 10-15 years.
Any provider interested, email me.
I'll give you the advice for a recent, accurate, non-photoshopped full frontal nude pic of you with no draping of any kind(shopping around to see what to spend some of my earnings on...).
.
For free, I recommend to all of you: Tantalum.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/...nd-cell-phones
[Article written in 2001; prescient, given the explosion of iPhones and other tiny mobile devices.]
From the above:
"For the high-tech industry, tantalum is magic dust, a key component in everything from mobile phones made by Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson and computer chips from Intel (INTC) to Sony (SNE) stereos and VCRs."
"The demand for coltan is not going away. As global consumers continue to crave the newest cell phone and the latest computer, high-tech companies will continue to pay top dollar for tantalum capacitors, and their suppliers will continue to take tantalum from wherever it is available."
"Coltan - which is found in 3 billion-year-old soils, like those in the Rift Valley region of middle Africa, western Australia and central Asia - has become a critical raw material in high-tech manufacturing. The tantalum extracted from the ore is used mainly to make tantalum capacitors, tiny components that manage the flow of current in electronic devices. Many semiconductors also use a thin layer of tantalum as a protective barrier between other metal coatings. The metal, which is also found in other minerals and can be extracted as a byproduct of tin refining, is used in the airline, chemical, pharmaceutical and automotive industries as well.
The market for the material is huge. Last year, about 6.6 million pounds of tantalum was used around the world, 60 percent finding its way into the electronics industry, where it can be found in products like mobile phones, computers, game consoles and camcorders. (The United States is the largest consumer of tantalum in the world, accounting for 40 percent of global demand.)
In 2000, demand for tantalum capacitors exploded in tandem with the mobile phone and PC markets, causing a severe shortage. Tantalum ore prices shot up, with per-pound charges for refined powder climbing from less than $50 to a peak of over $400 at the end of last year[Year 2000 - BP]."
Recycling it currently, is difficult and expensive.
Happy investing!
AND...I continue to invest in it. Veddy nice retirement nest egg.
It's still gonna be worth a decent ride, BTW, for I figure...oh, another 10-15 years.
Any provider interested, email me.
I'll give you the advice for a recent, accurate, non-photoshopped full frontal nude pic of you with no draping of any kind(shopping around to see what to spend some of my earnings on...).
.For free, I recommend to all of you: Tantalum.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/...nd-cell-phones
[Article written in 2001; prescient, given the explosion of iPhones and other tiny mobile devices.]
From the above:
"For the high-tech industry, tantalum is magic dust, a key component in everything from mobile phones made by Nokia (NOK) and Ericsson and computer chips from Intel (INTC) to Sony (SNE) stereos and VCRs."
"The demand for coltan is not going away. As global consumers continue to crave the newest cell phone and the latest computer, high-tech companies will continue to pay top dollar for tantalum capacitors, and their suppliers will continue to take tantalum from wherever it is available."
"Coltan - which is found in 3 billion-year-old soils, like those in the Rift Valley region of middle Africa, western Australia and central Asia - has become a critical raw material in high-tech manufacturing. The tantalum extracted from the ore is used mainly to make tantalum capacitors, tiny components that manage the flow of current in electronic devices. Many semiconductors also use a thin layer of tantalum as a protective barrier between other metal coatings. The metal, which is also found in other minerals and can be extracted as a byproduct of tin refining, is used in the airline, chemical, pharmaceutical and automotive industries as well.
The market for the material is huge. Last year, about 6.6 million pounds of tantalum was used around the world, 60 percent finding its way into the electronics industry, where it can be found in products like mobile phones, computers, game consoles and camcorders. (The United States is the largest consumer of tantalum in the world, accounting for 40 percent of global demand.)
In 2000, demand for tantalum capacitors exploded in tandem with the mobile phone and PC markets, causing a severe shortage. Tantalum ore prices shot up, with per-pound charges for refined powder climbing from less than $50 to a peak of over $400 at the end of last year[Year 2000 - BP]."
Recycling it currently, is difficult and expensive.
Happy investing!