Whoa, Tonto. I didn't say you didn't. I just didn't think it was a great idea to take big risks at your stage.

Oh -- I think people are interested in it.... but there's a zillion websites out there pumping and dumping and hyping all their tricks to make millions.....

I played with it a little... lost money on a few deals, made money on most. It twisted me up inside with the stress. I quickly came to the realization that I could not afford to lose the money I was putting out there and that was the end of it for me.

The problem is that regardless of the strategy the market makes bigger moves off hype and emotion than it does off reality. I did not understand it well enough to want to take the risks. I look at it like legalized gambling. The difference is that in gambling you can directly calculate the odds and know the risks.

There are LOTS of people and lots of banks and insurance companies etc that have TRADING DESKS.... And there is lots of money to be made if you are a successful trader. But like guy seeking gold and diamonds.... some are successful and most are not.

I made millions trading. I paid HUGE taxes (ordinary income tax rates of 40% or so) and I lost millions trading. Overall I was successful at it. But was "I" successful or was it just the market period I was trading in? I think it was the market that made me look good. It was easy.

I've made WAY MORE investing than I did trading. It just doesn't seem like it.

Sums up what i've been after all these years, there is a difference. But if you would of asked me that 20 years ago i woundn't have known the differnece.

I'm sorry I haven't added much here lately. As many of you know already - I'm dealing with some nasty health issues... and that's taking my energy right now.

Having said that.... I just had a great call with a good friend regarding his investments. He's done really well and seems to have a decent (not total) grasp of the challenges. But it's what he said to me that prodded this post.... to wit: "I've been buying some stuff that's really out of favor (or something along these lines) and it's really paying off right now!". DOH!! Anyone ever hear of buying low and selling high? LOL

With that in mind - I've had my ass handed to me in some big oil related stuff - KMI - ETP are the two biggest losers.... and KMI hurt because of the dividend cut! I owned 25,000 shares of it down about 50%..... so I just bought 5,000 more shares.... yeah.... that's right... I bought MORE of it.

I also just added some Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) because it is another HUGE loser.... and cut it's dividend to ZERO... it's also down at $12... and for $100K I'll take that flier.

Thanks to you and this thread my kids will have a nice chunk to deal with when they are of age. Great dividend reinvestment strategy and diverse portfolio is the key!! :captain1: Thanks Greg!

One thing I have learned is don't worry about the ups and downs. With dividend reinvestment if you are down you just get more bang for the buck and if you are up, you are up. Win Win if you ask me.

I've been long silent as well here. But I still stop in each morning to check for any new comments.

Greg, hope your health issues are quick to recover. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help.

Vince, I agree with that last sentence. Man I love seeing those dividends keep on working for me.


Now, I've got some things to ponder. We close sale of our house Tuesday, and start our purchase for our new house. We're downsizing for now, and will be able to drop up to 40% of the purchase price on the new house. Thanks to the gains from the old. But i think we're gonna do 20% and then use some of that cash to do some remodels and even increase the investments some. Cross our fingers it all goes well!

Good for you, Albert and Vince. Glad to hear the success stories.

Stay strong, Greg.

My oil stocks are starting to pay off with the rebound. I'm still deeply red with OXY and KMI. However, my purchases from earlier this year are doing great. So I'm steadily marching back to green. I had an OXY spin off called CRC that split 10:1 earlier this year which was very nice to see as well since it was sort of given to me. My steady eddies are doing what I bought them to do.

In short, patience is working well for me. Just wish I had bought more of everything when it was down, lol. Hindsight's always 20/20.

Right now I would be careful with new positions in stocks other than drip into positions, at the current valuation of this market I personally am profit taking some of the bigger winners and will watch for a pullback that appears to be coming in the near future just based on past experience...