Investing 102

[toy71camaro]

Awesome news Lance!

[Evil_s10]

Originally Posted by SSLance

So I did a little number crunching this morning.

I tip toed back into the market for the first time since 2008 starting on Feb 07, 2014. I made a few more purchases of the same stocks in early March, and then again in early April. I sold one stock in August then bought the dip in the middle of October pretty hard across the board. Still only holding 11 equities total and still only about 25% of my total portfolio is invested in the market.

So far YTD, my total return is just over 15% on the invested portion. My biggest gainer on an individual purchase is up 40%, overall my purchases in that stock are up 27%. My smallest gainer is up 3.34%. I've also earned about 2.5% of my total current invested amount in actual dividend payments.

Mentally...I feel pretty good. While there is a little part of me that is hindsight wishing that I would have dove in head first back in February...the smart angel on the other shoulder is reminding me just how happy I've been all year long and how the dips have NOT bothered me at all. In fact, I look for them anxiously now as more opportunities to pick up my stocks on sale. One thing that I enjoy is how stable my group of stocks are...even on the wildest of days of the DOW going up and\or down...these stocks just rock on with little blips, not huge dips.

I want to thank the board for all the help along the way, I can honestly say I would have NEVER ventured back into the market had it not been for this thread. I have a whole new perspective on this now and am enjoying the ride so much more than I ever have in my investing history that goes back to 1997.

Here's to more of those dividends rolling in and the total return rising right along with them.

That is awesome to hear and is not terribly far off from my stock journey.

Starting around June 2013 I came across this thread which has been nothing short of a huge wealth of information. It has really dumbed down the process and made me feel very comfortable investing.

I started off very small, just purchasing 5 shares. I waited several more months and added more to my original.

To date I have investments in 3 sectors. I invest a short amount each week into my brokerage account, then once I feel comfortable I will purchase more. My situation does not allow me to invest more frequently but this has given me the tools necessary to succeed.

To date I am up 1.14%. I have taken a big hit when stocks went down this October. But I have take advantage and purchased more stocks.

Rambling over, thanks again Greg and everyone else.

[GEN_X]

Greg and others, what a great read.

can anyone explain exactly what each line item is and how it works on the attached chart. Some are pretty self-explanatory but some i dont understand. Thanks Jesse

[captainofiron]

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/15/f...prior-spinoff/

Ferrari IPO coming soon?

[Woody]

Originally Posted by GEN_X

Greg and others, what a great read.

can anyone explain exactly what each line item is and how it works on the attached chart. Some are pretty self-explanatory but some i dont understand. Thanks Jesse

Beta measures volatility. A stock with a 1.26 beta is 26% more volatile than the market.

Market cap is the size of the company. Apple's market cap is $677 billion which is calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the stock price. You may have heard of large cap stocks, small cap stocks,etc. It refers to the market cap of the stock.

P/E is the price earnings ratio which is calculated by dividing the annual earnings per share of the stock by the current stock price. It is used as a valuation tool. In theory, the higher the P/E the more over-valued the stock is. However, there are many things to consider when comparing P/E ratios.

EPS is earnings per share which is the net income divided by the number of outstanding shares.

Div & Yield is the dividend that the stock pays on a quarterly basis. To calculate the Yield you must multiply the quarterly dividend by four and then divide that by the stock price.

[mach1stang]

Any one have any experience with capital one sharebuilder?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[toy71camaro]

Originally Posted by mach1stang

Any one have any experience with capital one sharebuilder?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've been using them for quite a few years now.

[SSLance]

Holey Crap... Nice run up today...

I've been busy shipping Christmas packages all week and haven't paid attention, what'd I miss?

[Woody]

Originally Posted by SSLance

Holey Crap... Nice run up today...

I've been busy shipping Christmas packages all week and haven't paid attention, what'd I miss?

FOMC meeting - no rate hike announced

Also, oil prices are actually up today.

[GregWeld]

I don't even know what to post in this thread as far as NEWBS -- i.e., 102 investing -- which to me - is entirely different than say - what "I" do.

You've all now witnessed the roller coaster ride the market can take you on. This is why I've preached to all --- buy great companies -- that pay dividends -- and then sit back and relax.

This last couple of weeks wiped half a million of gains (paper) from the account that I use here for examples. Did I sell or panic or freak out? NO. Why? Because I've seen it all before. WHAT DID I DO?? I began to look at where the damage was done -- and began to think about what I'd do differently or how I'd REBALANCE going forward should the opportunity present itself.

In other words --- I didn't act --- but I did put on my thinking cap.

There's an old old saying about "BUY THE DIPS -- SELL THE RALLY'S". I warn against this "trader" mentality. You should be thinking longer term - calm - steady - invest when you are ready. Not firing from the hip. If you're a seasoned pro -- then that kind of thinking "can" work. We're not seasoned pro's. We're investors in this thread -- just working our way to retirement - looking for ways to get us there over time.

Now - in full disclosure - I thought about where I'd lighten up and I waited for this mornings rally (I had no idea the market would fall so quickly - nor did I think we'd have a two day rally that snapped a lot of stuff back so quickly!) - and pulled the trigger on some trades. I have really large positions. When you're holding 10 or 20 or 30,000 shares per name -- you can lighten up by 5 or 10,000 shares while still maintaining a healthy investment. It's year end -- I see some losers that could be trimmed if we got a rally where I could hide (cover) those losses with trimming some gainers. That's what I did. I also had some stuff in very small positions that weren't paying much dividend that I looked at and thought --- okay --- going forward is it really worth it to me to have less than a 2% dividend, and in such small amounts (500 or 1000 shares). When I could just take that gain - and reinvest it going forward in something that will pay me north of 5%. I answered that question with the sell button.

Now I have way too much cash -- so I'll discuss with my banker dudes some of their ideas (an email was already sent)... and I'll see what's what going forward.

Now -- I pay attention to this stuff big time! You could say that I make my living paying attention to the market, because I do. I'm already retired -- and the gains and dividends I get from the market are what puts fuel in my race cars. So what "I" do is different than what YOU should be doing if you're a long way from retirement or your money is inside a retirement account. There - you just keep putting money in - come hell or high water - you plug that money in!! The LAST THING you want to do is to quit putting money to work because this week the oil complex tanks... THAT IS HOW NOT TO REACH YOUR GOAL!!