Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Did anyone see that the US government seized assets of bitcoin??

I checked the price and it was trading at $125 and since I'm traveling back from
The V8 Supercar races in Austin I can't cut and paste the article
Using my phone.



http://www.cnbc.com/id/100750803

[XLexusTech]

This was recommended to me.. I am reading it now so I thought i would pass it on... Not positive its 100% relevant as its over 50...

http://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/filea...959_Gordon.pdf

[Tony_SS]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Did anyone see that the US government seized assets of bitcoin??

I checked the price and it was trading at $125 and since I'm traveling back from
The V8 Supercar races in Austin I can't cut and paste the article
Using my phone.



http://www.cnbc.com/id/100750803

DHS didn't seize any bitcoins, the just closed an exchange here in the US. This is like killing one ant and hoping the whole colony dies. As long as there is a need, it will be near impossible to stop it.

The price has stabilized with a slow steady increase... but still, they know what it takes to destabilize it. When central banks can create dollars out of thin air, a relatively small bitcoin market can easily be manipulated.

Since that bubble and crash didn't scare everyone off, they are using force to trying to close things down now, at least here in the states where they can.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Tony_SS

DHS didn't seize any bitcoins, the just closed an exchange here in the US. This is like killing one ant and hoping the whole colony dies. As long as there is a need, it will be near impossible to stop it.

The price has stabilized with a slow steady increase... but still, they know what it takes to destabilize it. When central banks can create dollars out of thin air, a relatively small bitcoin market can easily be manipulated.

Since that bubble and crash didn't scare everyone off, they are using force to trying to close things down now, at least here in the states where they can.

Well personally I'd be worried about a couple of things.


#1 --- I never want to be in a pissing match with any government.


#2 --- They seized the assets of the exchange... to me that says they
may also have access to accounts - transactions - etc... which I'd be worried about if I wasn't paying income taxes on my gains. That's what they're really after.

[GregWeld]

You guys that looked around your neighborhoods and decided that Home Depot (HD) was someone you'd like to invest with.... certainly got it right. It's up what ?? Like $4 in the last two days?


I've missed two things that if I'd have followed my gut hunch --- I "wanted to" short the housing stocks just prior to the crash --- and I wanted to buy housing stocks last year (I have three buddies in the biz and they all saw good things coming). I did neither.

Home Depot and Lowes are both "housing proxies".... * Newbs * a "proxy" is a way of buying a company (stock) that is a direct beneficiary of an industry etc without actually picking a name (stock) in the industry. Think of it like buying Goodyear if you thought "car sales" were going up. You wouldn't have to pick Ford or Chevy.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

You guys that looked around your neighborhoods and decided that Home Depot (HD) was someone you'd like to invest with.... certainly got it right. It's up what ?? Like $4 in the last two days?


I've missed two things that if I'd have followed my gut hunch --- I "wanted to" short the housing stocks just prior to the crash --- and I wanted to buy housing stocks last year (I have three buddies in the biz and they all saw good things coming). I did neither.

Home Depot and Lowes are both "housing proxies".... * Newbs * a "proxy" is a way of buying a company (stock) that is a direct beneficiary of an industry etc without actually picking a name (stock) in the industry. Think of it like buying Goodyear if you thought "car sales" were going up. You wouldn't have to pick Ford or Chevy.

HD is one of the stocks I purchased way back in Jan/12 when this thread inspired me to get off my butt. I purchased it in my Schwab account (that I opened because of this thread) and also in my 401k Brokerage Link account (that I also opened because of this thread). It is up 85% since my purchase. This thread is pure win. Thanks Greg. Your advice to buy what you know and like was right on the mark.

Don

[GregWeld]

^^^^^^^^^ AWESOME!!!



Investing CORRECTLY -- really is pretty damn simple.


It's when someone tries to get fancy that it fails.

[96z28ss]

my ford "F" is up 49% since I bought a year ago this May.

This is the best thread on the internet.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by dhutton

HD is one of the stocks I purchased way back in Jan/12 when this thread inspired me to get off my butt. I purchased it in my Schwab account (that I opened because of this thread) and also in my 401k Brokerage Link account (that I also opened because of this thread). It is up 85% since my purchase. This thread is pure win. Thanks Greg. Your advice to buy what you know and like was right on the mark.

Don

Because this thread is read by many -- I MUST comment that this is not a good habit to get into. Remember to look at your "investments" as a whole... it is, after all, ALL your money in the end. Therefore.... a well diversified portfolio would/should be a sum of all those investments. It's better to buy DIFFERENT names for each account -- and then still use the "5% rule"... to make sure you're not loaded up on any one investment.

I know this is hard to do ---- and it's far too easy to ignore these simple rules when things are humming along nicely (as they have been) ---- but these rules are more to protect you when the shizzle isn't running in your favor. Trust me when I tell you -- THEN you will be a believer in diversity --- and in not loading up the truck with "what was" working.

When I'm buying shares -- I use a DOLLAR amount -- and then round off... but I take into account my total dollar amount invested...... Where I diverge from that is actual real estate. I treat real estate as separate investments and just put in what I'm comfortable with --- and in my case --- usually enough so that I have a controlling interest as an investor (the management group actually has 49% usually -- but I want to be the largest investor on the other side).

I lump BONDS and STOCKS as a total..... so I have "X" amount invested... and use that to control the diversity as well as the 5% rule.

[dhutton]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Because this thread is read by many -- I MUST comment that this is not a good habit to get into. Remember to look at your "investments" as a whole... it is, after all, ALL your money in the end. Therefore.... a well diversified portfolio would/should be a sum of all those investments. It's better to buy DIFFERENT names for each account -- and then still use the "5% rule"... to make sure you're not loaded up on any one investment.

I know this is hard to do ---- and it's far too easy to ignore these simple rules when things are humming along nicely (as they have been) ---- but these rules are more to protect you when the shizzle isn't running in your favor. Trust me when I tell you -- THEN you will be a believer in diversity --- and in not loading up the truck with "what was" working.

When I'm buying shares -- I use a DOLLAR amount -- and then round off... but I take into account my total dollar amount invested...... Where I diverge from that is actual real estate. I treat real estate as separate investments and just put in what I'm comfortable with --- and in my case --- usually enough so that I have a controlling interest as an investor (the management group actually has 49% usually -- but I want to be the largest investor on the other side).

I lump BONDS and STOCKS as a total..... so I have "X" amount invested... and use that to control the diversity as well as the 5% rule.

HD is not a major portion of either of my accounts. I think it represents roughly 10% of each account since I also took your advice regarding diversification. However, even then it is nice to see these kinds of returns on one or two holdings. It has helped cover a couple of my purchases that have not done as well.

Don