#1 -- Glad to hear you've opened up an account... AWESOME... that's a big step forward.



#2 -- Taking a class is a brilliant idea! You don't want to be playing around and push the wrong buttons and accidentally sell or buy something!



#3 -- I'm kinda kidding when I do the "in full discloser" -- and I certainly don't want people to invest in what we use as examples etc -- but I know dang well that they do - because it's easy. I just want people to learn the basics on their own - but I also feel some responsibility. We've talked about several names in here on a repeated basis... I want people to also understand HOW to think about their investments. That's more important than anything else to me. That they start to THINK about cause and affects - relationships etc.



#4 -- If I have 10 or 15 or 20 years before I retire -- I do and think DIFFERENTLY than those guys that are like me - living off their investments. There are all types reading these threads (cars - health - wealth) and I usually try to post accordingly. Cover all the bases so to speak. If you toss enough info out there -- someone will pick the nugget THEY need from it.

Mike,

Congrats!!

If you'd like some guidance, before the classes (I'm not sure how soon they are for you). I'd be happy to help over the phone one of these afternoons/evenings.

Albert

I like what Crammer said about Gold today.... "it's owned by people that like to buy high".

In other words -- it only works when it's going up... and then you get the pile on affect.



BTW -- Just because it's fun to live and learn -- from the sidelines.... Thanks to TonySS we're getting to watch the implosion of BITCOIN.... it's DOWN 41% today - and is now trading @ $59..... That's a pretty steep decline from $170 a whopping 5 days ago.

Who cares to buy "on the dips"?? Anyone? Oh come on.... :snapout: :bang:

That 10yr Gold chart looks pretty good to me. :)

Regarding bitcoin, it seems obvious that some deep pockets have manipulated that smaller market. From that perspective, it's mission accomplished.

I'll repeat just for good measure.... for Investing 102.... Buy what you know and understand... buy "best of breed"... Don't gamble, invest. It's not always about making money, it's about keeping the money you make.


Here's my personal take on buyers of precious metals and stuff like Bitcoin - and this is not a personal slam - it's just a fact..... if you're checking the price of the stuff you've bought hourly.... you shouldn't be in it. Housing got that way... dot bombs got that way... Gold got that way... Bitcoin was a 3 month story that got that way.


TonySS -- To answer your 10 year chart on gold. Yes the chart is lower on the left and higher on the right. So there's no doubt that lots of people made lots of money on gold. What I don't like about that kind of "investment" is that I don't think people own it for the right reasons. They're SPECULATING... rather than INVESTING. By the way -- the inflation adjusted HIGH for GOLD was set back in 1980 at $2300. So if you'd bought and held for the last 33 years -- you've LOST A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY.


http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/i...tion_chart.htm

Compare that to having just bought a Dow 30 component as shown on these charts. If you scroll down - you will see a chart that goes back to before 1980 and there is also a list of DOW stocks that you can click on and see their inflation adjusted value. I just clicked on McDonalds -- so that's the first charts to come up.



http://www.aboutinflation.com/Dow-Jo...sted-chart-mcd

after yesterdays sell off, i figured today would be a bit more of the same.

Surprised to see most of everything "in the green" and shocked to see Coca-Cola up 5%! Wowzers!

Agree with you Greg. As far as pricing things in 'inflated dollars' it gets a little tricky. All of the guys I was listening to were saying to buy gold (this is when it was $600). They stop saying that around $1000 as a bubble started to appear. Sure enough it became a fad, you heard about on your 'talk radio' and it started to bubble. And now the correction (manipulation?) I do think it's still a decent hedge against inflation, but like you say, not as any majority.

Tony SS. There is no questionmark about the manipulation of the PM market...

The Big banks and the FEDS are for sure manipulating the price. I did not sell at the peak but I did put in a large sell order on Thursday..Pretty much listening to Goldman Sachs. They told us they were about to lower the price...And boy did they..

That is why PM's are not an Investment...I do hold them but it is not really a wealth builder.. Real Estate and Stocks are..

Question from the peanut gallery:

With the summer doldrums on the horizon along with the rumors of the fed exiting QE, which stocks or sectors are going to get hit the most by these two events?

I haven't been in this long enough to have seen either play out in the past, but if Greg is getting his ducks in a row, I'm paying attention.


P.S. I'm still reading and learning. Thanks to everyone for keeping this thread going.

Welcome Tyler!

I unfortunately don't have the answers to your questions.

But, I dont base my actions based on what Greg does. He is in a different situation than most of us. I am investing for long term retirement. So short term ups/downs dont matter a whole lot to me. He is investing for short term gain (his income) and sustained investing for his future income.

You'll learn as you read through these pages that "Timing" the market isn't very successful. Just look at today for example. The market dropped ~2% yesterday. My investments took a good hit (worse one i've seen since i started this). However, today, its back up. and one of them (KO) is up 5+% today. I would of likely "missed" that if i would have been trying to time the "low point" of the market, rather than just getting in whenever i could.

Good luck!