Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I agree with Greg, some good names, some others I would wipe off the list. You certainly have the discipline to sock away such a substantial amount. Clearly you have a big income, but that doesn't mean you had to save a penny! Good luck on the sale of your car.

I've owned Pfizer for a year. It's been a snoozer. Always hanging around even. CVS has been a solid performer. They are a drug dealer. ha I picked them as I see the baby boomers consuming more and more pills, unfortunately.

Greg, have you covered your philosophy on International stocks? Picking them to the make up of your portfolio.

So many of the companies we own nowadays are already "international". So I don't go looking for a pure international play. 20 years ago you needed to own some foreign company stocks -- but the big best of breed guys are almost all doing business in other countries. Frankly I can't think of many countries where I'd want to own their stocks. Europe is a welfare entity... Spain? Japan hasn't had a good economy for 20 years.... If you want China - buy McDonalds - Coke - Apple... and I don't want to own anything I can't pronounce. Germany is just now slipping into a possible recession...

The other way I think is about stuff like KMI/KMP/KMR.... they own the Pipes...Everyone needs to get their stuff from point A to point B... so I don't try to pick the one guy that's going to win that battle -- when they ALL have use KMP pipes...

Ditto oil --- I'd prefer to own the infrastructure plays (the pipes/storage). Versus the guys that have to drill - risk capital to find more - or have to play the pricing game. THEY ALL have to use the pipes so I invest in pipes. :>)

Again -- this is just something more to think about rather than BUY THIS or DON'T BUY that.... which isn't the way I like to do this thread.

[68Cuda]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Ditto oil --- I'd prefer to own the infrastructure plays (the pipes/storage). Versus the guys that have to drill - risk capital to find more - or have to play the pricing game. THEY ALL have to use the pipes so I invest in pipes. :>)
.

I once looked into the tanker business as an investment, really good returns, but some risk obviously considering your investment vehicle is literally a vehicle... and you hope that it stays afloat, also in the literal sense. There were some that had crazy returns where you were literally buying shares of ONE ship.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by 68Cuda

I once looked into the tanker business as an investment, really good returns, but some risk obviously considering your investment vehicle is literally a vehicle... and you hope that it stays afloat, also in the literal sense. There were some that had crazy returns where you were literally buying shares of ONE ship.

I have tankers ---- KMI owns Oil Tankers (under the KMP umbrella which is being converted to KMI shares).... and I own Dry Goods ships via Navios Marine Partners LP (NMM). They own 33 dry goods ships. I like to mix the high dividend payers in with the steady eddies and frankly my holdings allow me to do this and still sleep at night. However - I keep the percentage invested in the high div payers to a far lower amount. For instance I own just shy of half a million dollars each worth of NMM (25,000 shares) and NLY (40,000 shares).... versus 1.5 to 2MM in my more "normal" names like an AT&T or a MO or BPT etc. Although I recently halved my holdings in BPT it's still a large holding.

I usually refrain from mentioning too many of my holdings because I don't want people to think - well WELD has that so I should too! That would be the completely 100% opposite of what I would like to see from this thread. Don't own what I own and why I own it.... own what YOU want to own and what YOU understand. I mention when I don't own something because I don't understand it. There is NOTHING wrong with admitting you don't understand something therefore you avoid investing in "it". That's as it should be!

[68Cuda]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

I have tankers ---- KMI owns Oil Tankers (under the KMP umbrella which is being converted to KMI shares).... and I own Dry Goods ships via Navios Marine Partners LP (NMM). They own 33 dry goods ships. I like to mix the high dividend payers in with the steady eddies and frankly my holdings allow me to do this and still sleep at night. However - I keep the percentage invested in the high div payers to a far lower amount. For instance I own just shy of half a million dollars each worth of NMM (25,000 shares) and NLY (40,000 shares).... versus 1.5 to 2MM in my more "normal" names like an AT&T or a MO or BPT etc. Although I recently halved my holdings in BPT it's still a large holding.

I usually refrain from mentioning too many of my holdings because I don't want people to think - well WELD has that so I should too! That would be the completely 100% opposite of what I would like to see from this thread. Don't own what I own and why I own it.... own what YOU want to own and what YOU understand. I mention when I don't own something because I don't understand it. There is NOTHING wrong with admitting you don't understand something therefore you avoid investing in "it". That's as it should be!

Well I definitely do not have your resources! Therefore I will stay on the conservative side, thank you very much! I felt the tanker thing had a little much risk for my blood and I did not feel comfortable because I did not fully understand it - so I stayed away. Even though I am a much smaller fish, or relatively speaking, maybe a minnow, I share the same thought process in that I WILL NOT invest in something I do not understand. Thanks for being so open and forthcoming.