Heard this today..."Too many people buy things on a 'lay-awake-plan'.

Haha. I have Insomnia due to anti seizure medication, but NEVER do I lay awake thinking about what I am Invested in.

If What I am Invested in keeps me up at night, it is the wrong investment.

You have to know why you own what you own, and what your strategy is. Short, Mid, and Long term.

Otherwise sell it...And buy something you can sleep with.

Also being debt free except the fixed low rate home loan and not in debt up to your eye balls, and also having the stormy day fund of several months available will let you sleep well.

Being Leveraged heavily is not a good thing. Owning what you have and living within your means is King.

Too many did not do that and 2008 wiped them out... That is insane...

OK, enough of my soap box...:lateral:

Looking at my IRA this morning, noticed that 2 of my stocks are doing pretty well.
I purchased COP (Conoco Philips) back in april. The company split off a division Philips 66. So they gave shareholders half as many shares in the new ticker PSX.
PSX is up 36.7%

My other one is T (AT&T) since april its up 26.1%

My total account is up 7.3% since april. I really happy with the return. I also can't believe I used to be one of the guys that never looked at the account and just forgot about it.

Thought I would share.

I am up 18.2% plus dividends...:woot:

There should be a good run up through the rest of the year...

2013 ? Who knows...:cheers:

Annaly Capital Management
 

For those of you that maybe don't keep up on day to day news etc.... Annaly Capital Management (NLY) which we've discussed here many times -- CUT it's dividend to .50 from .55 this quarter.

They adjust their dividend payout based on the quarters profitability. Unlike most companies that just pay a straight dividend - NLY pays a percentage of earnings out. Obviously if they don't earn as much - they pay out less. It's STILL a 11.6% dividend at todays price.

I'm holding 35,000 shares of this name.... but like junk bonds and high yield bonds (JNK and HYG) I keep a VERY CLOSE EYE on these holdings. Their totally interest rate plays and they play the "spread" which when it goes flat or inverted - you get KILLED. I use these to park cash - and to raise my overall yield. PLEASE do not buy and hold these names in an account you pay no attention to! The yield is great - but the slope is steep and fast!:cheers:

I remember you saying that in a previous post...Good to re post it for those that may have bought some...You have given them a heads up and now if they own it, they know what to do..:lateral:

I saw a graph yesterday that shows when an Incumbent wins, the market shoots straight up.

This is an interesting time in history. Not being political, but the economics of it are amazing.

In the short term, the end of the year should be a nice run up...The first of the year ? Probably a good run as well..

2013 as a whole ? Possibly ugly, or maybe not... I don't know.

But for those that have been in the market for a length of time now, know we have had a great run..I mean 17% ? That is crazy...

But pull your seatbelts tight one more time, and check your mirrors...At the very least, this is going to be a wild ride...:woot:

Politically -- the market has proven to perform BETTER long term under Democratic president. I personally think part of that was the numbers under Bill Clinton - and while he couldn't keep it in his pants... the world was okay under his presidency. But gawd almighty - if my wife looked like Hillary - I'd play around too I guess...


Nobody has a crystal ball -- and just when you think you do - you'll be proven wrong. This is why I say to pay attention - be aware - understand what you own and why... and remember that things can and do change. But that's when you go back to your charts - stretch 'em out.... and see that the presidents don't really matter. They're a mere blip.


EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Greg,


Good point. I always tell people 537 politicians don't run MY economy...

But we do need to pay attention to what they do.

Like in one of my other posts, I don't lose sleep over what I own, or the Politics, but I do pay attention..

Whoever wins, I win, but short term, i may change some of my strategy, but the Bulk of it is long term Investing...:thumbsup:

Alright, I have time finally so I'll post how my stuff is doing.

From March of this year my stocks are doing the following

OXY- -13.36%
WFM- +18.98%
KO- +9.79%
SO- +1.09%

KMP I've had since May and it's at 3.49%

My mutual fund that makes up the remainder of my ROTH account and what I took my money out of in order to buy the stocks, is +5.19%.

Using the quick equation Greg mentioned, puts me at mid 3% with my stocks overall. That means I'm getting my ass kicked apparently, lol.

If it weren't for the OXY, I'd be doing better. Oh well. I'll make a change later on.

Yeah -- OXY is killin' ya.... and that's what happens when you only have four or five stocks. One is a larger percentage of the overall performance.... if you had 10 it wouldn't have as much effect... 20 stocks and you'd hardly even notice it.

That's why we play "are you diversified"! LOL


Keep at it - you're doing fine!

Thanks Greg. I did the calculations as if I didn't own OXY and the numbers were much better than my mutual fund. I'll be working on diversifying in the coming months. First, I need to ditch my savings for a house etc account though. It's at only 0.4% now, lol.

Greg, I have enjoyed reading this thread. You make me think more and more about my retirement years in 2045 haha! I was purchasing stock from my previous employer through a ESPP where i was buying last years average price less 15%. It was always hovering around $50 or so then they acquired another company ~$4B and doubled overnight. The stock price then went to high 70's. I was really happy when i saw the values of my shares. What was also really cool was I could log into the system and see the dividend payments...man they really start to add up.

I was curious your thoughts on utilizing company match 401k. I always put in to get the company match maxed out in the last 2 companies i worked for. I figured it was "free money". What i didn't like is the cookie cutter plans you can invest in. They utilize plans based on desired retirement date which started aggressive and would get less aggressive as your retirement years approached. I have been averaging ~8% return but feel like I have less control then going out and picking 25 stocks. Another question is i am part of retirement plan through a retirement service (wellsfargo) do i actually own the stocks in the plan or do i own the plan and the service is bundling the stocks internally? I got thinking because i don't receive a dividend payment on the plan stocks. I never really paid attention till now but i always put in knowing deep down i need to have a retirement plan.

Excellent Post, as usual. Yes I have 17, and 14 are Dividend payers...

Some Ying, some Yang, so the ride is smoother. But Reviewing it and knowing you need to adjust it is half the battle..

I know some people that haven't looked at what they own in years, and don't even know what they own..Let alone how it is doing.:willy: :willy:

Company match anything is an annual pay raise since it's based on percentage of your pay. It's free money, take it.

I'm in the same boat with being locked into what my 401k is invested in for the most part. Mine isn't a targeted retirement account. It's simply a selection of mutual funds and I pick what level of investment I want, be it safe, moderate, or aggressive. What I would recommend is exactly what I'm doing. Put in the minimum amount needed to get the maximum company match, the free money, and then take whatever amount more you want to invest in retirement and open another personal account that you control. You'll just have to be diligent about sending the money to that account on your own instead of having the money removed automatically.

I can't answer your Wells Fargo question though, sorry.

Welcome to the thread and good luck.

Thanks...now that I think about it i think it is a selection of mutual funds just like you stated. I have a Roth IRA that opened as well that I contribute to out side the company plan.

Another perspective is once you reach retirement you can take the mutual funds and invest in other stocks, cds, ect.

Speaking of CDs an interesting thing my grandparents use a CD as their income. It was paying around 7% 10 years ago. Now they are getting 3%. They planned for low rates as a worse case but it it proves important to diversify even during retirement years.

Yeah Nick --- Company match is "instant free money"... max out that plan if possible! It's free money that compounds over time.

The key then is --- what you put that in to. That's where most blow it... and all the free and tax deferred is eaten alive from lack of interest on the part of the person.

Get on Google or Yahoo Finance sights -- do some research on the funds you can invest in and try to at least give yourself a fighting chance to make it grow.

The difference between down 5% and up 5% over time is absolutely HUGE and your retirement happiness depends on YOU paying attention. :cheers:

Make waves if you have to.... to get your company to change or to increase what they offer. Get your other guys there to start looking -- and if the choices aren't good -- you can effect some changes perhaps. Nicely - done correctly etc.

Keeping an eye on my 401K....20.57% return.

Nothing fancy because my choices are limited..Just a Mutual Fund..

My Schwab personal account is where I can pick what I really want..

:woot: :thumbsup:

That reminded me to check on my company matched 401k. Yeah, I know I should have thought about it sooner but it's pretty much on auto pilot since I can only select from a few mutual funds. I'm doing it mainly for the match anyway. From the start of this year PRR is + 13.7% from the start of last year +12.3%.

I need to step up my game on my stock selection if I plan to beat my mutual funds. They are kicking my ass right now but I win either way :D

I can't even begin to figure out just how well my ESPP is doing because I get the stock at a discount. I'm going to have to dig around at it some more see if I can navigate the website or else I'm going to have to look back at my reports I get when a purchase is made and do the math myself. It's green and says I've made money though. Winning!

For those maybe wanting some tools to better track a number of accounts (401k, Brokerage, ....), I would strongly recommend Wikinvest. It has mobile apps and a website. While the mobile app really only lets you see quotes and $ change on a total account, the website gives some interesting performance info. I really like it just thought I'd put it out there for others to take a look at! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks Brian!

Well... coming in to the election -- the fiscal cliff -- europe -- we'll see how much you guys have learned -- and who goes shopping when they put things on sale.... and you can test yourselves EARLY in your investing cycle (while your piles of stocks are still relatively small - vs later in life when they're quite large!) to see if you really can stand gut churning pops and drops.

When things are good - investing is the easiest thing in the world. Everything works - you look brilliant - and only wish you'd have bought more....

When things go south - you hate to open your account - wish you'd bought something different - and question your very being.

I will tell you NOW... that what you should do -- is always have a shopping list ready - and have some entry point in your mind... save MORE... and strike when the lights go out.

Let's put this into car terms so you can get a better feel for the thought process --- because it WILL make a magnificent difference down the road.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++


You're saving for a new motor for your build... it's 10K and you're saving 1K per month. You've set all your plans on this motor and your plans for next summers installation... you've bought headers - pan - accessory drive - and planned everything out. Life is good. Sadly though -- the motor is going up in price... what was 10K when you started is now 11K. The economy takes a little dip but your job is okay and you're still saving and planning... and all of a sudden - your motor guy puts everything on sale and your motor is 9K til the end of the month.

Here's your chance to buy something you've wanted "on sale".... would you hesitate? Would you think twice? Would you be excited about the great deal you just got? Or would you suddenly think there must be something wrong with the builder.... that maybe next week it will be on sale for 8500... or that maybe that motor isn't really the right one and maybe you'd better study it a bit more?


What if you weren't ready with the whole 9K? But some other items that you need were on sale as well -- and you could save 10% before a price increase...

REMEMBER --- do your homework --- take the emotion out of your investments. Know what you want and why. SCALE IN.... like buying parts for the motor/build... it's okay to buy just the headers -- it's okay to buy $500 worth when you plan to buy 1K worth... IT'S OKAY TO BUY ON SALE... and there will be sales in the future... and there will be price increases in the future.... and you'll never be fully ready and you'll never buy when the best sale prices of the century are presented. It's okay. It's INVESTING. You buy when you can.

Many of you have just gotten into investing. This has been one of the most remarkable UP markets I can remember in a very very long time. It reminds me of '96 '97 '98 and '99 when every morning you woke up the stock you owned was up a buck or 2 bucks - they never went down.... EVERYONE was brilliant and making money by the wheelbarrow full.... Most of the people that I know that were day trading then -- I haven't seen or talked to in years... they ALL lost their azzez. They really had no plan - they really did not understand anything except that when they bought at $10 the next day they had $11... the first time it went to $8 and then to $7 and then to $6 they were wiped out. They should have only played with money they could truly afford to lose -- and when it went to $8 they should have bought a little - and a little at $7 - and a little at $6.... and when it came back to $9 they'd have made a real killing...

Obviously it's never just this simple --- and we're talking MIND SET --- and I'm just trying to get people to THINK about a strategy and to prepare yourself for thinking when you're losing the game. Do you take your team and walk off the field.... or do you rally - plan - roll with it -- have confidence in what you are doing and modify your plans a little to take advantage of a weakness you see in the other team?

:cheers:

Great post Greg.

Which also points out, I need a better "plan". I need to take some time and sit down and plan out what the "on sale" prices are that I'm happy with jumping in at again, plan on what else I need to be better diversified.. and plan out what to do with my 401k. My work was looking into switching into a different account status where i could invest in individual stocks, but nothing is happened yet. do i wait to re-balance my 401k, or do i re-balance now, and wait for that to happen (if it does).

I need to put my thinking and planning caps back on. I need more time in the day. Ugh. lol

This is why I plan to only buy steady stocks for the most part. I'm in this for the long run. I'm not interested in gambling or being wiped out because I was foolish with my hard earned money. I'd just like my money to make some money. The more the better obviously but some is more than none. :D

Great post Greg! :hail:

You've helped me narrow my brokerage acct down from ~38 positions to 14. Last night I logged into my brokerage account, looked at each position, knew the reason why I owned them and knew which ones I would add to if the blue light starts flashing. Having a plan, being diversified,owning solid names and having cash ready for a sale, will help in the coming months. Hard to believe that this thread is only 9 months old. Thanks again! :thumbsup:

Excellent...38 Wow...That was a lot...Yes, I am at 17 and 14 are Dividend payers..

Yes and cash ready for the sale is always good...I keep about 6% cash ready to buy on the bigger dips...:cheers:

Nly
 

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) goes "ex" dividend today... thank you NLY!
Chalk up another .50 per share in the bank!:woot:

You don't get your money today -- it's just trading "ex dividend" today -- and I remind folks of this because if you check your account and see a big down (red) number -- stocks always trade off the amount of the dividend...

Ya don't get paid for days or weeks after a company goes "EX"....

On another note.... a buddy has just contracted to sell some property he's had for 40+ years... there was a bidding war for weeks going on by builders. It's a choice piece bordering 3 streets -- and will hold 19 houses... my point is more that there was a bidding war going on... and he (the seller) is a happy man.


Now.... we've been talking about this for weeks (he and I) as I've pushed him to finally move to cash out and use the money to improve his standard of living. I'd ask him -- dude!?!? Do you remember when you bought the property and he'd say, sure! I'd say - Why did you buy it? He'd say - it was a great investment. Then I'd ask him - when are you going to monetize (turn into cash) your investment? Do you have a plan? If you had X million in the bank - would it make a difference in your life? Or does owning / mowing / paying taxes on all that property make you happier?

He never formulated a PLAN for his INVESTMENT... there was no exit strategy. It was just "his property" but given his age and his retirement status - it was a burden. He'd never actually thought about turning it into real money. So a nudge here and there -- and I can tell you right now - this is one excited old guy! Now my problem has been to get him to stop figuring out all the crap he's gonna buy! OMG!

++++++++++++++++++++++++


So last night he calls. "How much could I earn on 1.5MM"? "Do I need a financial planner"? "What do they do for me"?


++++++++++++++++++++++++


Of course I go nuts on the "planners" - most cloaked in "planner" business cards but they're really just salesmen - and they sell crap products that only benefit themselves... and that are so complicated NOBODY understands what they've just bought ("bought" like a product - because they're not "investments").

After hanging up -- I sat down and started planning for him - figuring a list of 15 names -- 100K invested in each -- what they'd pay in dividends - what their 3 year growth rate was etc. And how much he'd get per month Gross and NET of 15% dividend taxes. When I was done - I put it into an Excel spreadsheet and emailed it to him.

Given that he is 75 -- gets SS and a small union pension... my guess is that the annual dividends are larger than he ever earned working. Think it will make a difference in his life?? Now we're working on the 32 Ford Tudor he wants to build (to keep busy)... :rofl: I'm so happy for him I can hardly stand it! :thumbsup:


Mind you -- this is just a quickie list to serve as an EXAMPLE of what he could anticipate. The actual investments should / can / will be modified once he fully understands what is going on.




http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/SCAN0026.jpg

Greg
 

What a great story! You have to love a great outcome.

Thanks again for taking the time and providing great insights to all of us on the board.

I look forward to meeting you in person at SEMA.

Prepare to be underwhelmed.... I'm not a very exciting guy.

Oh! And look DOWN to find me....


:thumbsup:

I've not posted on this thread, but have been reading with much interest. Thanks to you all for your candid conversation regarding sound investments! I've certainly learned a lot.

I was looking through my portfolio this morning and noticed MCD gave me a 10% raise last week by increasing the quarterly dividend from $0.70 to $0.77!

WELCOME!!

Hey -- Mickie D's is better to you than your boss!!!!


:cheers:

Oh yeah PM, MO, MCD, they all recently gave better raises than an employeer.

You got that right. :woot:

I picked up another 30 shares of ED today (don't laugh Greg!, I'm working up to bigger slugs ). Looked on sale to me down 10%'ish in the last 2-3 months. Plus yield at 4% is hard to pass up with the current uncertainty level. I also added some MCD a week ago given the dividend bump. To balance these steadies I added to my speculative CYOU position as well yesterday. Going to trim back on NLY and MMT positions shortly to free up some funds for future sales. Both NLY and MMT have done well for me but it may be time to reduce those positions for the time being. I currently have 14 differnt stocks in my portfolio. I may trim that back for the next month or so depending on how things go. Always looking for bargains on the best!

Brian -- As long as you're thinking and paying attention.... that's the number 1 thing I'm pushing here... So good for you.

I don't feel like I'm playing with chump change, just no where near your league. But, only 32 1/2 years old so you've given me a goal and a path - and for that I'm extremely appreciative.

Well - unlike the cars posted on Lat G -- this is really a very uncompetitive thread! :D I know how fortunate I am and have been.... thus part of the reason for trying to spread the word and help others have some of that same luck if at all possible!

I wasn't born with a silver spoon - I worked my butt off - as has my darling bride. We've just been a heck of a lot luckier than most - and many that I'm positive have worked longer and harder.

Keep at it - and when you're my age - you'll be coaching others to follow what you've done!

I woke this morning -- and the market is "down" -- let's not forget this is a PERCENTAGE game.... down a hundred points is a real ho hummer anymore... as is UP a hundred.


I immediately began to worry that you all would go back and read my "on sale - put your thinking caps on" post a couple posts ago... and think "oh hell - I'm not ready and I'm going to miss out... such and such is down 50 cents!"


NO! That is not the kind of preparation and thinking I was trying to portray.


I'm talking BIG on sale.... of real stuff.... on stocks you may already own or are on your list. We're not day trading here. We're investing.

Do your thinking in percentages.... AAPL off $5 is hardly a screaming buy...

We're talking long term investing -- and just how to think about what you're doing over that long term. SO lets say it takes you a year to save $2500 for your stock purchases... and during that year you've watched the market sinking... and here you are - ready to buy - and the market is poopie... and you're getting cold feet. This is when you have to say to yourself -- "X" company is still a good company - they're still paying "X" dividend -- there is not company specific horrible news... the market is down and so are they. Period. That is when you need to buy not turn away. Put your money in -- you just got a great opportunity. Go look at a long term chart and look at how many times things were down -- stair stepped -- a "swale" in the chart... but more importantly look at where it went AFTER that... had you been LUCKY ENOUGH to have bought then - where would you be now?

I'm NOT saying that the minute McDonalds drops $2 you should run out and hawk the house and back the truck up and fill it with MCD shares. And you certainly wouldn't buy a stock that is DOWN 10% in an up market -- unless you're doing a bunch of work to figure out WHY it's down when everything else is up! Or thinking that because Faceybook is down 50% it must be "on sale" therefore a great stock to buy "because it's going to come back". NO! Please -- that's not what I meant! :rofl:

We don't want to be discussing individual recommendations to buy or sell companies -- we want to keep this thread about investments in general... and use various real life companies for discussion purposes and examples...

SO with this "view" in mind....


I've updated my Apple (AAPL) iPhone to the new iOS6.... the one you may have heard about with the messed up Map app. I shrugged this map debacle off.... but it is something that I use ALL THE TIME....


Adrienne (daughter) was in Chandler yesterday trying to find where the new rig is -- it's at a well known address -- it's Freightliner of Chandler - it's right on the I-10 freeway... but is a weird set of streets to get there.... HER iPhone can not find the place so she's calling me.... Mine won't find it either and I had actually put the street address in!! OMG are you kidding me!

Okay -- so this isn't really a big deal right? Well --- it could be as far as the STOCK is concerned... because this is making all the news headlines and it's all you hear about from the talking heads etc on TV.... So why would it be important to the stock? Again just using this as a POSSIBLE EXAMPLE....

Apples stock has been on a tear -- it's really been meteoric.... and it's "priced for perfection"... which means any little hiccup in sales or gross revenue or by any other "metric" it has to OUTPERFORM the expectations.

Now -- they've only shipped a few million of these - into an installed base of a half a gazillion or whatever number it is... but and here's the big BUTT -- what if this gives consumers "pause" -- maybe just a pause on buying a $600 phone waiting for the company to come out with a fix - or perhaps they - after having had several versions of the iPhone - decide to actually take a look at the Android versions -- or whatever.... Maybe just 5% of people do this and Apple's sales numbers miss the "expectations". BAM! Ya get hammered. And you get hammered over night... and sometimes then, this causes a great run to finally "break" because people with HUGE profits decide to start selling to lock in a profit... they get "nervous"... their selling causes more selling...

Remember that to make an UP market -- you need MORE buyers than sellers... and when you have more sellers than buyers - things go DOWN not up.

You want to see this in real life -- pull up an "ALL" chart of Microsoft (MSFT).... the peak is December 1999 (the actual month they announced Steve bonehead Ballmer was going to be the new President) -- this chart looks like a MOUNTAIN -- a long slope up -- a nice (huge) peak -- and a long slope down.... More SELLERS than BUYERS.

What I'm really talking about here is what you hear all the time - IS THERE A "FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE" in the business? Is there a "consumer sentiment" change?

I'm not saying there is - or is going to be - or anything like that --- What I'm saying is ----- Lets watch and see 'cause it might be a great learning experience. For the market, I hope this doesn't happen... but I'm keeping my eyes and ears open, and if my friends start talking about maybe looking at a different phone "this time" --- or if they're saying they're "fine with the phone I have".... DUDE! I'm paying attention to that!

All of you are very intelligent -- and now what you need to LEARN is how to use what you know - put that into an understanding of how to be "ahead" of the market - or how to "spot a trend".... without even thinking about it - you may have done this in the past. Now start to think about how it could possibly affect your investments.

I'm not talking about being SPECULATORS here -- I talking about just good old fashioned basics.

When you go to Home Depot - are they busy? Or have you begun to see empty stores...

Are your friends all buying new cars and trucks? Or not....

Are you being asked to work overtime? Are they hiring or laying off...

Is the restaurant you go to all the time packed? Or are you going there less and nobody talks about the place anymore...

Put your eyes in and your thinking cap on and start to look at this "basic info"
and how you could be ahead of the market - or maybe not buy that sector in the market - or is there some investable play here?