Remember Facebook stock is to generate money for Facebook not a great 1 day bang investment stock but I said the same thing with Chipotle. Time will tell.

wait till it drops next month.

Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) was a stock, that for me, was similar to Apple.... Every time I went by one - there was a line out the door.
So I bought it (around $85 a share) and when I'd just about DOUBLED my money - I sold it. DUMB ME. I should have held it and added to the position in 08/09.

There is another shining example (go back a few posts to see why I reference it here) of ----- if you only paid attention to the P/E multiple ----- you'd have lost out on what has turned out to be a terrific money maker.

As usual , Greg is right..

It was the underwriters..

I was just doing more research..

I am not interested in Facebook, but I am interested in how they play the game..

I smelled something fishy, and I was just trying to determine the fishermen..

I think the people's information being sold, is the key to Facebook, and for me, that is why I am not on Facebook, and why I do not own it..

Ill go out and get some steak tacos for lunch today. The Chipotle near me in Dublin has been here for 2 years and the line is still super long.

Just wanted to point out that my gut feeling was pretty correct. :woot:

Facey Book IPO
 

In the interest of full disclosure --- I sold ALL 1000 shares of Faceybook this morning.

This thing is a ROCK....

Since it doesn't pay a dividend and seems to be falling like the rock I thought it might be. I'm out. I'm headed to a nice trip and don't want to return to see this thing in the teens.

To put this "sale" into perspective....

Last week I sold 60,000 shares of Banco Santander (STD) at a $71,000 loss.
While the stock paid an extremely nice dividend... the risk seems to be growing for europe rather than them getting their act together and while STD might be fine... when you're hearing about runs on banks etc. that becomes troubling when you have the kind of investment size that I carry per name. At some point it pays to take a hit and see where the train stops, rather than stand in front of it, and get hit head on.

LMAO I was going to post that it reminded me of a Chevy Commercial, "like a rock", but you beat me to it..

And Europe is in Trouble...What they say at the meeting at Camp David, and what they Actually do when they get home, are two different things..

France will print and what will Germany do ?

I see more printing and spending, but that only postpones the train wreck.

So I have been, and will be riding the spending train, but for how long ? Probably through the election in November..The powers that be do not want to let the train wreck in the U.S. until after November.

My Wife wants to move to a even Nicer Home, and I am postponing it until after November..

I need to keep my Cash/Dead Presidents at the ready...

Hold on, it is going to get bumpy at the very least, and may get Ugly in Europe, and in the U.S.

But that is my .02 cents.

Facey Girly Book IPO
 

Yeah --- I wasn't interested in the damn thing to start with... but when the broker called and offered IPO price I thought - sure... WTF why not. Dumb of me = I know better than that.

Today I spent dead presidents on adding a 1000 shares of Con Ed (ED) - and 1000 Kimberly Clark (KMB) - and a tranche (50K) of GM Convertible Preferred paying 6.25%

Much more my speed....

Ah... Bummer on the ole faceybook... but I'm not all that surprised after reading a handful of articles on SA about them the past two weeks.... But the media made it into a frenzy and got everyone excited for a bursting bubble. heh.

Anyhow... I saved my $ from twofacedbook and set my order for $1k of T, $500 of CVX (while its on sale for ~10% off) and $500 for KO.

Now trying to debate whether or not to take a $150 loss on the last couple of ETF's i have, so I can get the 3rd item on my "buy" list.. which was $1k KMB. :)

$150 loss at the low dollar values I'm doing, is quite a hit. LOL.

I already got your ED. It's up ~1% for me. lol

Loss sales are always a struggle. The minute you sell - the shares will go up. :lol:

The way I TRY to look at it is whether or not the NEW investment will more than make up for the loss in a short amount of time - either in dividend - or growth or both. Then it doesn't feel so bad.

That's just employee retraining. Sometimes it costs money to train then.

yeah.. they are all 3 up today a litle over 1%, but down ~10 overall.. i think i'll just can em, and get what i WANT. lol


EDIT: Sold the 3.. and picked up just enough to make the 3 full purchases i wanted:

$1k KMB
$1k KO
$1k T
and then $550 left over to add to my CVX while its on sale. (originally bought $1k of that too, a couple months back).

Greg

1. You said Face Plant was gambling

2. You did not recommend it.

3. You got it at a Deal that most people could not get.

So no worries there..

It is the "crowd" or frenzy buyer that got hammered, as they should have..

Today is a great day on what I have going, but one day does not make Investing..

So it should be Interesting the next several months, that is for sure...

A lot of people that do face book were asking me, why wasn't I buying any of it..When I asked them why, they did not have any answer other than a lot of people use face book...I said, a lot of people eat Mc Donalds, and buy Gasoline, and Smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol...Now that I understand...:lateral:

ALL TRUE!



Gambling = put your money on the table and HOPE you win.... but there is no underlying reason why you should win other than you just want to.

I have a few shares of CHKR, Its my biggest loss so far. Its up today. However it may not get back to where I bought it. I was thinking of selling it and getting some Kimberly Clark KMB.

No.... hold it. They pay a huge dividend which will help you catch up... and once they get past the CEO debacle it should snap back.

Greg - I respect everything you got going on with this thread, but the FB and Gambling thing is unfair! What is really is, is investing 106 at work.

Facebook is a GREAT company! But the valuation is why the stock is moving down. If you applied the same peer multiples of earnings, operating income, or revenue to Apple, Apple would be a trillion dollar company. So it didn't take much analysis at all to realize it was over valued. But it also doesn't have another company remotely like to compare too. Myspace at its prime in 2005 was bough by News Corp for $500MM, so if thats the one marker, its not a good sign. The smart money (and you did it too!) was in and out the same day. The really smart money was in pre-IPO and out at IPO (The venture capital, the underwriters, Goldman, Microsoft, management). The mom's and pop's are now just going to have to enjoy the ride.

Second: Growth stocks do not pay dividends and should not. When a company pays a dividend it is a signal to the market that the yield the investor will get from the dividend is higher than what the company thinks they can get by reinvesting it into the business. FB profit grows at 100% a year, so clearly they can use the money better than an investor can. Apple, while still growing had $100bn in cash and no smart acquisition targets so it decided to give that back. A sign that the company is maturing.

I know this is 102, but if we are being fair - picking a dividend stock is just as much of a gamble as picking a growth stock. (I know! I know! I am going to get flack for that!) When this gets to 103,104,105,106 and beyond if when you can learn some basics to help figure out the best move.

Also, I say all of this, and come off defensive because for young people just starting out it is very commonly advised to have growth stocks as the largest portion of your portfolio. You have time on your side and can afford the risk. Its for older investors that the shift to dividends and bonds becomes heavier. So I don't only the word of the dividend being preached haha!

For me I just don't see face book as a great company...

Zuckerburg is a brilliant entrepenuer, and programmer, but he has never run a company..

Some of his buys lately have been on a whim.. And other than users, where is it's real value..

It is an information seller.. If it weren't for the underwriters, Morgan Stanley,etc.., it would be at 15 dollars..

But again, people have the free will to buy and sell what they want to..

I see no value in this company at this price, and at this time..

Dividend stocks are about products...They are only a part of the mix, but they sell TANGIBLE goods..And some that people cannot live without...

I don't see that as gambling due to the fact that people MUST buy toliet paper, soaps, Food, gasoline, and they will ALWAYS buy cigarettes, and alcohol, ect...

But then again, that is why we post, to share ideas, not to shoot each other down...I am just giving My opinion.:thumbsup:

P.S. I am 52 and living off my Portfolio/Income, so my view is from that angle...Not from a younger Investor...Even though 52 is young....well youngish...haha

So it's time for a little update. Yeah, it's not been very long since I bought my first shares of Coke(KO), Southern Company(SO), Whole Foods(WFM), and Occidental Petroleum(OXY) but I just bought some Kinder Morgan(KMP) so I figured I'd update. I decided to go ahead and transfer another chunk of money out of the mutual fund into a specific stock. I chose KMP for every reason Greg mentioned, that's it. I now have 38 shares of that company.

As for how the rest have been doing, well, not terrible, lol. I've already gotten a dividend payment from Coke and Whole Foods. About $36 between the two and it was of course reinvested. Coke, Whole Foods, and Southern Company have all gone up since I purchased them. Oxy has tanked. I'm down 20% from purchase price. I haven't a clue why. Maybe I bought at a historical high or something. All I know is they're busy as hell up here and the wells I'm blowing holes in have the good stuff flowing back to the surface. So hopefully they will rebound. I'm in this for the long run and not worried but Oxy alone has me in the red overall. I'll see how things are doing in another year and go from there. Or maybe I'll buy even more as the price comes down. Not really sure at this point.

I realize I now have two oil and gas companies out of five total in my portfolio even though they are in different areas entirely within the oil and gas industry. KMP is simply too good to pass up. I had to add them. I will not be buying another O&G unless I sell one first.

My thoughts are that I should add more companies instead of more money to the existing companies I already own. Spread my eggs around if you will. I should have more money to buy stocks with by the end of summer. Maybe during the August lull. I was thinking I would add Johnson and Johnson or P&G to the portfolio. How does that sound? Or should I see what my current stocks are doing then and maybe put the money into one of them instead? I'm leaning towards adding another company at this point.

Well, there's my little update. I said I'd post my results and there you have them.

Good update!

Id say, as for OXY, it seems that most the O&G companies are down. CVX was down 10% for me (and put me in the red overall too). So i feel its just the whole sector right now. In fact, i added another batch of shares while it was on sale @ aprox a 9% discount. So that put me at about a 6% "down" overall on CVX after.

I would also think expanding your sectors/diversify would be a wise choice. Dont leave out the ever popular "sin" stocks (Cigs/Alcohol), as they seem to be fairly well, telecom, consumer staples, health, etc.

Personally, my "investing 102" stocks are:
CVX
KO
KMB
T
ED
MO
MCD
NLY
and since I couldnt decide on a health one, i already had a bit of PFE, I grabbed the same amount or so of NVS. As they both seem to be the "best of the breed" in their sector.

All (except MCD, NVS, and PFE) were purchased with the same initial investment amount, so i am spread pretty much across the board evenly (MDC is 1/3 less than the rest, as i really bought that before i ran into investing 102, but was already starting down the dividend path on my own.)

A lot has been down lately, so don't worry.

I knew May and the next few months are historically bad, but I don't "sell in May, and go away", I ride it out and collect dividends.

If it makes you feel any better, I am down a bunch recently, but I expected to be down.

I expect things to turn around and yes energy has been hammered lately, but in 6 months ? It should be back where it was..

So stay diversified and keep dollar cost averaging in..

When it is down, I just work on other projects , ect.. and I don't worry..

And I do not sell...If anything, I am buying on sale..

Somewhere in all your research you missed the TOTAL RETURN portion of investing. Growth --- Growth and Dividend --- or just plain old gambling... it's always the TOTAL RETURN number over a longer period (5 to 10) that I seek. NOT just a dividend.

Forgot to say -- THANK YOU! And I completely understand your sentiment.

As you know -- there is so much more to investing and making money etc... but for this thread - which seems to be more 401/IRA... long term retirement savings etc (at least from the 100's of PM's and emails I've gotten) so I've tried to skew my information towards that line.

If I started to tell people about every nuance of everything that I'm invested in - We'd have to start a whole new forum! :lol:

I figure -- that over time - there will be more and more info shared as people get the baby steps and begin to have some success etc. That's the way my friends have evolved... over time they begin to get it and want to branch out.

Monaco Greg...Your new business should be charging for PM's..haha..

And yes, LONG term returns are the key.. I have too many family members looking for the quick fix...You wanna quick fix ? Buy a lotto ticket.

I explain that the formula is at 7% , it takes 10 years to double your money, or at 10% , it takes 7 years to double your money.

Also they need 11 times their yearly earnings to retire.. So 50K a year, you need at LEAST 550K invested to retire..

I have between 15 to 17 times mine because I am anal and want to start with more, plus my life style is not that high, less than 100K per year, but give me time, I am always working on a better lifestyle without risking my nest eggs..

So, I ain't done yet.

And if you want to keep the Principal, you can spend 4000 to maybe 7000 dollars a year per 100K..

They don't want to hear that...they want the ATM, or the Drive -thru burger, or the high speed internet Investment strategy..

They get all lemon faced and pouty lipped...WTF...This is long term Investing..To them, long term is tomorrow..

To most --- they bought it -- so it should go straight up from then on. :rofl:


People want instant gratification... and what they fail to see is that OVER TIME... getting a dividend or interest payment INSTEAD of paying one... is the real power of money.


Growth stocks are good -- I own them in different degrees in different accounts... But like owning an apartment house... the apartment house pays me when things are so not hot otherwise... and the people that live there are paying my mortgage too! So while sometimes the apartments are worth lots more -- it's when they AREN'T that I like the pay me strategy. Nothing beats a check coming in once in awhile...

The younger you are - the more powerful that becomes. The older you are the nicer to live by! :unibrow:

have any of u guy's seen this newamerica16.com ? and have an opinion ?:_paranoid

why do I feel like there's going to be a virus or trojan waiting for me at that URL....

they play the ad for that link on satellite channels a lot. It's about a guy predicting a major event this year, supposedly predicted some other collapses. The bottom line, he's trying to sell you something at the end I believe.

Yeah.....I'll just have to live life not knowing then. Now where did I leave that Mayan calendar...

My list.
ADX
AYN
COKE
JNJ
KO
MCD
MUI
NBH
VOD
XOM

Great info guys!

Agree with 99%

Had a "gut" on Facebook...

The "Peter Lynch" school of thought still holds true. Newbs, find a book, published I believe in 1987 called "one up on Wall Street". His investment advice is very much of the "Chipolte" model we've seen, if there is a quality product, it will most likely do well...

I am late to the game here, just found this site from this thread linked on pro-....., great stuff.

Mike

Should also mention, since you cant tell by my sig, am very much a "car" guy. Have a 70 SS/RS Cam, couple of bikes and a pretty bada...boat i've rebuilt twice.

Being frugal has got me this far, not cheap, frugal. Recognizing good deals in an area of interest helps from the hobby side. Got my Camaro "totaled" 22 years ago and just finished the first phase (built a few other cars on the way and built a business and raised three very good kids) and got the car for "free" back then. Got the boat for 750$ back in '90. Both are worth quite a bit today, but I enjoy the "elbow grease" with some of my toys. Not all toys loose money, but I dont see them as an investment either...

Mike

Good for you MIKE ! And WELCOME to LAT-G! :thumbsup:

That's a great statement Mike and welcome. :thumbsup:

Ah.......... the true beauty of dividend investing.... you can travel and never look at or read about what the market is doing... Just go about your life blissfully carrying all the bags of crap for your wife...:D

Here's an interesting take on Facebook (FB) === and is the reason I originally stated that I would NOT buy the shares. I did buy some on the IPO @ 38 - but promptly sold them for a loss once it was clear the IPO was an epic fail...

I've always said this kind of stuff is nothing but a fad. I can't own fads because I can't understand them nor can I predict their future/failure. Failure doesn't mean ZERO -- it just means that longer term they're irrelevant based on what everyone THOUGHT they'd be.


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,5676320.story

I am still faithful it will pan out. I have 150 shares @ 38. Long on FB. would be happy to make a few bucks and at least feel like i learned something.

One other basic investing strategy is to look for tax advantages. Do you have any thoughts on how to leverage tax exempt investments? I look for tax free Munis but that all i know about.

Be careful with tax frees -- there are many more "rules" than meet the eye... so be sure to check to see if they are both Federal and STATE / CITY etc tax free - and this will depend on your own tax laws where you live.

There is not much reason to invest in tax frees unless you are in the income bracket that "needs" that. There are calculations that need to be made to to see what rate you need to return tax free vs the rates for taxable etc... so this is something that needs a bit more than just a casual 'dabble' in info.

:cheers:

FB has a forward looking P/E ratio of around 53. For newbies that means the current share price is 53 times the forward looking earnings per share. For comparison, Apple's forward looking P/E is around 11 and Google's is about 13. This means Apple and Google stock are much cheaper than FB. FB stock would have to sell in the $6 range to have the same ratio as Apple and the $7 range to match Google. Just thought this was interesting but these are just numbers, doesn't take into account the psychology of the market.