Investing 102

[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

[GregWeld]

As long as we're on this subject --- I'd add that what you buy in which type of account is really pretty important.

Some things to think about when selecting.


IRA/ROTH etc --- what you put in here DEPENDS on your timeframe til retirement. Obviously if you have a long time -- say more than 15 years til retirement... then I'd personally select things that are more GROWTH oriented.


If it's money in a regular account --- and it's money that may or may not be tapped in to from time to time..... THEN I'd buy more steady eddies for that account.... because I might need the money when things are down. So the Cokes --- and that sort of name would be in my normal accounts.


A couple reasons here.... again --- just some food for thought. DIVIDENDS are taxable.... and GAINS aren't UNTIL YOU TAKE THEM. So in a normal account -- your money might DOUBLE over 10 years -- but you haven't been paying tax on that and won't until you sell. YOU WILL pay tax on the dividends even if you're having them re-invested.... at 20%. So you get 2K in dividends in that normal account and you're out of pocket $400 come tax day.


Now -- all of this DEPENDS --- like most things -- because nobody is doing or should be doing - what someone else is. It all has to be tailored to what your needs and goals are and your tax and cash flow situation is. I have NOTHING in IRA/401's -- I sold them out years ago because I had no need for them. I do still own an apartment house inside of an IRA -- and it's nothing but a PITA and is taxed as well! But that's a mistake on my part and I now can't seem to get out of it so it is what it is.

[GregWeld]

I just have to do one more post today....



I was just poking around and noticed something that, personally, I think is incredibly important to "investing".


Check out WALMARTS (WMT) 5 year chart on Google Finance.....


Now -- What I want people to really pay attention to is at the end of 2008 -- 5 years ago -- WMT paid a .24 cent per quarter dividend.... Yeah - WMT sucked wind for 3 or 4 years (as share price goes).... but -- the BIG BUTT -- they now have almost doubled the dividend to .47 cents per share per quarter.

Think about that for just a minute --- have ANY OF YOU gotten a 100% increase in your pay in the last 5 years???

This is what I'm talking about when I say -- you get paid to wait.... and that you don't have to be some miracle stock picker to make money in the market LONG TERM.

Forget the share price growth --- you've doubled your cash flow even if the share price just stayed flat!!! What's wrong with that scenario??

[GregWeld]

Today is what I was waiting for. Not a big sell off but buying down a dollar here and there.... Adding to positions already established. Gotta love it!