Yes Dave said goodbye - rather - he actually just waved one finger to us... if that's how "goodbye losers" is signaled.


Great weekend. Glad you had a good time.

First time I have posted in this thread, but have been trying to follow it and have certainly learned a lot.

I have decided that it is time to start doing more than just my company 401k stuff and am therefore looking at the online brokerages available. I think I have basically narrowed it down to Scottrade and Schwab. I like Scottrade because they have the option of an actual office fairly close to me, while Schwab's office that is also in the same area is listed that it is "Open by appointment only" which seems potentially inconvenient.

The one thing keeping me from pulling the trigger and going with Scottrade is I am not so sure about the FRIP (Flexible Reinvestment Program) that Scottrade uses. For those who might not be familiar, the FRIP pools your dividends into one sum and then buys stocks based on how you have set the pool to be allocated to investments which does not necessarily have to be buying the stock that generated the dividend. It does seem nice to have the option to use your dividends on things other than what paid you the dividend, however, the fact that you can only buy whole shares with the FRIP seems like it might be restrictive, especially in the beginning since I will be working with a relatively small account (hopefully not for too long though, right).

Any thoughts on this type of system? Or even other reasons why you chose the firm you're using vs. the others?

I really like the FRIP system, sure I have $10 in there every now and then doing nothing until the next pay date but im not too worried about that. Ive been taking my dividends and buying shares of one particular company to "even out" my cash amount so I close to the same dollar amount invested in each company. So far no complaints with scottrade and ive been using them for a few years.

Interesting question I was asked today - where would you put $2k today if you had it and had to invest in the stock market?

I was kind of taken aback by this. I had no answer.

I'm with Sharebuilder. They let you buy "fractions" of shares, if using the auto-investment tool (which buys the stock on "tuesdays"). If your a Costco member, you usually get some free $$ by signing up, plus discounts on all trades (standard trades or the auto-investment). No fees (at least not for my ROTH IRA or my Personal account). I've never needed a reason to go "into" an office at this point. That sort of banking is slowly going away.

They dont offer a "frip" system, but you CAN choose NOT to re-invest the dividends. You can also setup the Auto-Investment feature to auto buy "X" when you have "$Y" in your account. So essentially, it is the same as the FRIP, but it would also include any other deposits you made into the account.

Personally, I reinvest dividends for now. We'll see if that ever changes. Not sure yet, I've considered mixing it up. But I don't feel i earn enough div anyway to make much of a difference to start hoarding it on the side to buy another stock.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

(I also set up a schwab account, with the minimum amount in it, just to utilize their Research tools. Which are really good).

I doubt you can go too wrong with whatever you choose. Just look at the costs involved to make purchases and such. My Auto-Investments are $2, and standard on the fly purchases are $6.

Interesting how we think about ourselves and whether or not we're doing okay or if we 'have enough'......






You need an annual income of $34,000 a year to be in the richest 1% of the world, according to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic's 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. To be in the top half of the globe you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000. America's poorest are some of the world's richest.

That's amazing ^^^ great to be an American. We don't know how good we have it comparatively speaking.

You realize what truly poor is -- when you travel to other countries.

We have plenty of water... people might be poor but they live in a house of some kind not out in the elements... if you're hungry - you can go somewhere and someone will feed you. If you're sick - you can get medical care regardless of whether or not you can afford it. Other countries have NONE of those luxuries.

If you want a job in this country you CAN get one... might not be the one you like or want but there are jobs. In other countries there are no jobs - of any kind.

We really are lucky to live in the USA despite all that we find to bitch about.

8% of the worlds population owns a car. Let that sink in.

BUY FORD STOCK!! There's lots of room for growth!! LOL


Joking --- but WE think everyone has a car!

Or 2, or 3, or 4... lol.

I just got a really good raise on PSX dividend up 28%.
it went from .39 a share to .50 a share.

FREE MONEY!! LOL



I love dividends --- for all these kinds of reasons.

They (not guaranteed) pay you when the face value is down

They give you a raise once in awhile

In the end - Dividend payers generally have STELLAR capital growth over time

What's wrong with that!?!?!?




I was just looking at my AT&T (T) holdings this morning -- full discloser I own 40,000 shares -- because THEY pay a dividend over 5%.... but are spending 50 BILLION to buy Direct TV (DTV) which has NOT paid a dividend... and wondering how that will play out.

I don't want to get into a "stock" discussion ---- rather --- I mention it because I often talk about "fundamental changes" to companies - in both a good or bad way. And spending 50 Billion on an acquisition is pretty fundamental!!

Why is it important to INVESTING 102?

I would have to go with a Wait and See attitude - because I would ASSume that AT&T has a good reason - thus a plan - to make this pay off. So what to do in the meantime creates a dilemma. So I would look at BOTH companies and say -- Well -- AT&T is well run by smart people -- they're not merging because they're in trouble... They're acquiring. Direct TV is a well run company with a pretty good well known name... So there must be "bundling" and billing synergies.

Sometimes taking NO ACTION is the best course and just pay attention to what the market is saying - are they voting with their feet -- or is the news benign? So far there's no big move one way or the other... so I'll do the wait and see - which means to PAY ATTENTION.

Thanks for the discussion about AT&T... I've got a position in them (a few 000's less than you. LOL), but, keeping an eye on them right now is a good thing.

It obviously wont break my retirement if it did go south. As I've only got 1.5% of my retirement in their bucket, but still worth keeping an eye on.

It depends on WHY you've bought a particular stock. Did you buy GROWTH -- did you buy a DIVIDEND - did you buy SAFETY... or some combination of these.


McDonalds and Coke and IBM's are about buying a dividend with some sense of "surety" about your capital.

Big companies used to be known as "blue haired old lady stocks" because people could count on them. They're the tortoise stocks...

Once you get to a certain size in sales -- it's very difficult to GROW by large numbers. That's where MCD is... Same store sales are "okay but sub par" single digets. Growth has to come from overseas expansion... or menu changes etc. It's a difficult business but MCD is very good at it. I sold my position because I simply don't eat that way anymore and like to own things that I keep an eye on as a customer... The Peter Lynch version of investing.

Does this correlate to how many shares are out there? Like you said about Microsoft and how it was hard for the price to increase because gates was selling so much of it every month.

Great 102 question!


There has been NO DEAL announced yet -- it's "discussions" at this point.... so we won't know what the deal looks like until they reach one.

At that point it could be "dilutive" -- diluting the current shareholders value... or it could be "accretive" either immediately or in the near future -- which would be good for shareholders.

We don't know if it's an all cash deal -- a stock swap - or part of both of those. We just have to wait and see.

Also - there may be "regulatory" issues.... again - we don't know that now... but the government might make them sell off certain assets or divest certain markets so as to keep things competitive.

Diluted is an EARNINGS PER SHARE ISSUE.... too many shares divided into the earnings.


Volatility is NOT something you want in any stock --- if you want volatility -- watch TESLA (TSLA) -- it's a friggin yo-yo.


Companies buy back their shares to REDUCE the number of shares available (the float)... and increase shareholder value. Many times companies do this because they think they're shares are undervalued. Sometimes they just can't figure out a better use for the cash on hand.

Well --- I'm no market predictor -- and I don't "trade" the market.... but it certainly looks and feels like we're going to go into the sell in May and go away mode.

I ALWAYS hold a large pile of cash going into summer (May). Remember that I park cash in names like JNK and HYG which pay a decent monthly dividend... and most of the time - I also pick up some capital growth. I consider these holdings as "cash" - but in April I turn these into REAL cash and just sit tight waiting for stuff to pick on in August. Summer is more fun to go use the cars and trips etc - and not worry about what the market is doing.

The old saying is "you can't fight the fed" --- and I don't like to "fight" the market... and more often than not - the market takes a dump in May and stays that way until August/September.

DON'T take this as a "sell your stocks" message --- that is NOT what I'm saying. I never sell my normal dividend payers! You won't make any money with that kind of a strategy -- you'll just end up selling low and then re-buying them higher. I'm saying if you have cash -- sit tight a bit because you have MONTHS to put it to work and possibly at lower prices -- which will then YIELD more on a percentage basis in dividends.

I intend to keep my eyes open and be ready to add to some of my positions. I wouldn't mind bringing my average costs down. I doubt I will add any new positions. I'm happy with the number of stocks I have right now.

I keep checking Bitcoin... just because... no other reason than that.


If you look at a Bitcoin price chart --- it's CLASSIC lower lows and lower highs since December... it just peaked and has been on a death march ever since.


The only reason I bring this up --- is because some stocks do this from time to time and you should be able to recognize when something is going nowhere fast. There are people that like to "bottom fish" -- or try to find "value" in stuff that has sold off...

What I do is RUN --- why try to play a crap shoot when there's great companies with classic GOOD charts and solid business and profits.

World Wrestling (WWE)
 

I was watching -- as I do every morning -- CNBC... and they begin talking about World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). I'm laughing -- because it was a "who knew?" moment for me. Really? WWE is a publicly traded stock? WOW... So as usual I poke around on the internet to see about this "down for the count" winner... UGH. Who would invest in TV "wrestling" in the first place? Never mind - that's a rhetorical question.

So -- pull up a chart -- it's been a sub $10 stock since 2011... and HAD never been above $20 since day one... SUDDENLY it climbs to $30 since December - and this thing has a chart that goes straight up! Like a tsunami. By the way - it pays a dividend despite have ZERO P/E... so they're losing money (which is explained by seeing a "Dash" where P/E should be... Money losing companies shouldn't be paying a dividend --- and if you're in a money losing company that is paying a dividend -- you SHOULD EXPECT THAT DIVIDEND TO DISAPPEAR. But that's a different issue -- but one you should KNOW and UNDERSTAND. (One of the reasons I'm writing this morning).

Now -- I have no idea why WWE (and frankly don't care)... would be a $10 stock and in mere months it goes parabolic and runs to $30... so if that's happening -- there should be a FUNDAMENTAL REASON for that and it should be well known. A FUNDAMENTAL reason would be something like -- they started minting cash... or they're getting bought out... or they signed a big deal that will start minting cash... But I couldn't find any reason for this gigantic move. Warren Buffet didn't announce that he just bought a big position in the company.

For Investing 102.... when you see something like this... PLEASE AVOID IT LIKE PLAQUE.

Once it peaked -- the selloff began -- it peaked in Mid-March... and this morning it opened DOWN 47%. How would you like to wake up and see you've lost half of your investment? GEEE --- My bigger question would be -- why did you "invest" in something like this in the first place!?!?!?!

The take-away here.... Unless there is some fundamental NEW information --- that would be reason to buy a name -- the fact that it's going up based on nothing.... is reason to avoid whatever it is. Because when people realize there's no reason behind the move -- it will fall back down. If you bought at the high or near the high -- you now own a $11 stock -- that's down $20 in 60 days.

I love to wake up in the morning -- walk down to the shed -- knowing that I can buy parts and go racin' and weld up stuff.... and those dividends just keep coming.


Remember! Dividends come 4 times a year!! So just about the time you've forgotten all about them.... BINGO! Somebody makes a deposit in your account --- and for most of you - it buys more shares -- and then the next quarter it buys more shares than last time - and so on.




05/15/2014 Cash Dividend NNN
NATIONAL RETAIL PPTYS RE...
$8,100.00
05/15/2014 Cash Dividend KMP
KINDER MORGAN ENERGY LP ...
$30,360.00

KMP sent me a dividend payment on my birthday. I thought that was really thoughtful of them. :D

Well isn't that sweet!!!



LOL



I like them so much... well .... once every quarter anyway.

I hope none of you have to do this. Not good investing 102

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/early...mYlQ?.tsrc=sun


John

John ---


Here's the part that kills me and for the life of me - I can't understand!


If having STUFF is so f'n important to a person NOW -- that they refi'd the house 10 times to stay afloat -- and now they can't live within their means so need to cash out the tiny bit they have in the IRA..... just to buy stuff..... Which tells me NOW is the most important part of their lives. How do they expect to live and have STUFF in the future -- when they'll have no savings - and little income?

When a person turns 70+ -- and has no retirement - the house isn't paid for - the have a leased car... and the savings is drained to zero. NOW WHAT ARE THE PLANS TO IMPRESS THE FRIENDS WITH ALL THE "WEALTH"?

Americans are headed to the poorhouse as fast as they can get there.

First it was credit cards that bailed them out charging when the paycheck wouldn't cover - then the house ATM bailed them out again - and now it's the IRA... or all of the above.

Yeah, it frosts my hide to. Like a place to take (actually leave) a crap isnt important. A senior living in an apartment community is really going to have their rent at "25%" of their income, bunch bs. My 69 year old dad who preached saving and being conservative fiscally is in the poorhouse. My brotherr and I have to "help" him, and hes to "prideful" to get a job at Home Depot or walmart, so kids today arent the only ones with that "entitlement"......sux.

Eff those reverse mortages, live within your meens.....

And speaking of "stuff", its all temporary anyways, aren't we just "renting" it? last time i checked, weve all got an "expiration" date....:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ....'..La dolce vita"......Live the good life, dont work too hard and dont work too little. And for heavens sakes people, manage your money (i didnt do it well for years and would be much better off now had i)......

I've been encouraged with many of my clients since the deflation of the economy. I'm seeing more people with less debt and more conscience of the amount of house they buy.

It really comes down to self awareness. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that many expect some type of magic to happen down the road that will allow them a life of riches.

It happens with vision, discipline, and time. :flag2:

Limit Orders
 

We've talked about -- or discussed -- LIMIT ORDERS.


I've said that I use them -- but that if someone is buying 10 to 100 shares of something - then a few pennies one way or the other probably doesn't matter very much. Just do a market order. Get the shares bought - and sit back and start collecting the dividends. What can happen is if you get cute with a LIMIT ORDER, you might miss the fill by a penny... and it expires at the end of the business day... and you forget that it was a Limit Order so you think you now own the shares.. and the dividend goes EX and you miss that. So sometimes being cute doesn't work out all that well.

The reason I thought about this today - was that I had put in a limit order for JNK... this is a name I move in and out of frequently... (meaning maybe I'm in it for months... we're not talking about trading it hourly!). I figured that what was a good open this morning might fizzle out - like the market does many Fridays. Since we're getting near the end of the month - and JNK will go EX shortly -- I wanted to at least pick up this months dividend rather than sit in cash... AND I used a limit order because when I'm buying 20,000 shares of something -- a few pennies here and there add up. AND because I didn't want to pay market price in the morning - only to see the market go south in the afternoon selling.

I'm telling you all this because it's a THOUGHT PROCESS. The dividend is .20 for the month... why - when this is just a placeholder - should I pay UP .05 when I can use a limit order and PERHAPS buy them cheaper... which is the same as making money. That's the way I have to look at it. As it turns out - many of my names sold off in the afternoon - just as I had expected them too -- but, of course, JNK closed UP... and my order went unfilled.

I'm okay with this -- I'm on top of what I'm doing -- I will try again Monday (if it wasn't a holiday!) or Tuesday. I'm not as likely to forget what I'm doing with $800K as perhaps you might be with $1,000.... You're not active in the market daily, and you have a job to do, and kids at home, and blah blah blah. I have none of those distractions...

I checked on my apple today. It is back over what I bought it for.

Because of this thread I didn't sell it when it plummeted down and lose my butt on it. Leave it there, don't panic, long haul. Thanks Greg.

Glad to hear it, Mike. Here's to continued success.

Well now there ya have it!!


But ---- Did ya have the guts to buy more when it was LOW??


Don't answer that - it's none of our business... but oh how people wished they could learn that behavior. Really hard to do... I know.

Unfortunately not....didn't have the free cash. Paying off bills at this point is our main focus.

But as you said I did learn a valuable lesson for next time.

I took a chance on BAC today. Hoping it climbs to around $18 in the coming couple of months.

I hated pressing that buy button - I hate BofA with all of the hates I have to give.

I've been a client of Bank of America (BAC) for YEARS.... but have never done anything with them except checking -- and trust me when I say I burn their Alaska Airlines VISA down every month. Other than that - I'm in your camp - as a bank they suck.

Because of that -- I own Wells Fargo (WFC) -- in full discloser I own 15,000 shares -- because Warren Buffet is a HUGE investor in WFC -- and the little amount of dealings I've personally had with them - I was really impressed. While it's one of the smallest dollar amounts I have in an investment - it's one
of my biggest gainers... but I bought WAY AHEAD of when I thought I saw the economy turning the corner.

EITHER ONE - when we're going in to a better housing market with incrementally higher mortgage rates etc - is a good investment if you need "Financials" in your portfolio.


Sorry -- It's EARLY -- and I had a long drive yesterday -- Forgot my train of thought:


What I bought "the banks" for (I chose WFC) -- is the RETURN OF them paying dividends comparable to what they did before the big bank debacle. IF --- ALWAYS A BIG IF -- the government allows them to do that.... and if they return to profitability and WANT to do that -- then the price will/should rise -- giving a double whammy --- bigger dividend and capital growth.

That's just it - if the FEDs green light BofAs capital plan then that $18 is attainable. Otherwise, looks like I'll be owning BAC for awhile.

This particular stock is just a hand of blackjack for me. Not really a portfolio stock at this stage.

Please note - IF YOU READ THIS -- I miscalculated (used the wrong math for this purpose!) so look at the dividend numbers again!





This thread is not about individual stocks or what to buy or when to sell etc.... that's just a whole 'nother problem maker... My personal posts have always been intended to get you to think - and to look at investing with a different mindset. Obviously in order to do that - we need to discuss various names as examples etc.

With that in mind -- I was reading an article that mentioned COSTCO (COST) and decided - as I usually do - to go check it out. I wasn't interested in buying the name - nor do I own any of it. I just like looking around - staying "abreast" of the market etc.


What I was surprised to see - is that a name that doesn't particularly excite me as a dividend payer with it's paltry 1.22% dividend - is this...

A five year chart shows that this name (and I'm just using this name as an example here!) had more than doubled in price (UP 132% in five years) AND had doubled it's dividend payout. 5 years ago this stock was paying 18 cents per share -- it's last dividend payout was 36 cents per share.

WOW comes to mind.

So in overlooking the name because of the lousy PERCENTAGE payout -- I never bothered to really look further into it. But obviously a stock that doubles in 5 years - and doubles it's dividend payout WOULD HAVE / COULD HAVE been a good solid investment!

So my take away from this little eye opener is that from now on I will look a little deeper into a companies history of RAISING IT'S DIVIDEND.

Here's why that's important.

If you'd have bought the shares in 2009 -- and paid $44.97 per share -- and at that time they'd have paid 18 cents per share... for a dividend payout of 1.6% (don't miss the POINT here).... it would have been a real HO HUM -- but maybe bought for the GROWTH of this retailer.... but NOW... fast forward to the last dividend - which is paid - and is calculated as a percentage of return on investment.... You're now getting paid 3.2% AND YOU'VE DOUBLED YOUR MONEY in the meantime!

Okay -- Not a bad "long term" investment - with a 5 year TOTAL RETURN of 171%. So let's not overlook a companies HISTORY of raising it's payout to it's shareholders. That's how people get rich.


NO I'm not buying it. I can't buy dividend payers at 1%. I live off my money NOW...but if I was younger and starting out -- I'd certainly say this company (or more importantly OTHERS that have similar history) is one to look at because of it's history of rewarding the shareholder.

Greg, There are quite a few of these types of stocks out there....I have TJX which is discount retailers group, bought it back in 2008, worth triple what I paid for it with 1.3% dividend....not a bad stock for growth and getting a dividend too.

The reason I bought this stock, I happened to be in a Marshall's with a line going half way down the center of the store on a Wednesday night...I asked the clerk if it was always like this and when she said yes, I checked a few other locations, then checked the stock price and figured this one had to go up based on sales. Family Dollar stores was another that I saw from my cross country trip for Power Tour in 2010 was one of the few stores that always had a lot of cars in front of them....

Inspiration for stock buys are always around you, just have to be paying attention to what others are not....

Dannie

Dannie --

The problem becomes - for INVESTING 102 - which is all about NEWBIE investors... trying to pick a growth stock is far far harder to do than to pick great (best of breed) names that pay real decent dividends in good times and bad.

The entire thread has been about getting people to BEGIN to invest -- see some success... and to CONTINUE to invest.

Most people only need 10 different stocks in their accounts -- probably 20 maximum... and there's a ton of great names with great dividends that they need to own before investing for "growth". Because they can get growth AND a solid dividend giving them serious total returns.