Investing 102

[WSSix]

Oh no, I'll show when I'm going down as well. I'm in this for long term gains. I'm not educated enough to try any get rich quick schemes other than work hard and watch how I spend my money.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by WSSix

Oh no, I'll show when I'm going down as well. I'm in this for long term gains. I'm not educated enough to try any get rich quick schemes other than work hard and watch how I spend my money.

Good -- this will be fun!

[Beegs]

....everytime I check this thread it has 30 new posts! All good stuff...

Makes me want to vomit when I think of the three years I spent "daytrading"....my hair turned white, I had massive heart burn AND I got my ass handed to me. What a waste of time...I got REALLY good at fractions though..

Greg.....big thanks to you for sharing your wealth of knowledge on this subject!! I need to find my password for my online account and look at some good names for long term holds, thanks for lighting a fire under my backside.....

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Beegs

....everytime I check this thread it has 30 new posts! All good stuff...

Makes me want to vomit when I think of the three years I spent "daytrading"....my hair turned white, I had massive heart burn AND I got my ass handed to me. What a waste of time...I got REALLY good at fractions though..

Greg.....big thanks to you for sharing your wealth of knowledge on this subject!! I need to find my password for my online account and look at some good names for long term holds, thanks for lighting a fire under my backside.....

Welcome!!

I used to day trade BUT -- HUGE BUTT -- I NEVER EVER day traded with my "regular funds" -- I only traded a separate account that if it went to zero wouldn't have been anything to me. BIG DIFFERENCE from that and what many people are doing! I think I mentioned it in one of these posts.... It was fun - it was 'easy' - and I was good at it. BUT it was also during a record breaking BULL market. Anybody could do it. Just like the first guys that started flipping houses... it was so easy they made TV shows about it... but day traders and house flippers - usually lose in the end. It only takes a couple bad deals and, bang, you're out. ME -- I'd prefer to stay in the game and win long term. What kills me is that the names I traded in - had I just bought and held - would have made me SO MUCH MORE! OMG -- as in 10's of millions MORE. Thank god I came to my senses!

I have a very long list of woulda/shoulda/couldas....

Just a funny story -- because we need to keep all of this fun - even if it's at my own expense....

I'm really conservative - as in really when it comes to financial stuff. We owned a LOT of Microsoft stock back in the mid 90's.... and we wanted to buy a boat. SO -- I sold enough stock to pay cash for it. Okay -- we're talking "Yacht" to most here - but I always just called it "the boat".... by the time I paid the taxes - paid for the "options" price on the shares and got enough to pay for the boat - I'd sold over a million bucks worth.... SIX MONTHS LATER - the stock splits 2 for 1 -- and in another 6 months it splits 2:1 again - and a year later splits 2 for 1 again! I figure I paid around 20 million for "the boat"... it was the smallest 20 million dollar boat in the history of the UNIVERSE (thanks AL!).

BUT Hindsight is 20/20 and at the time -- there was no f'n way I was going to borrow money to buy a boat! What if the whole world fell apart?!?! At least I'd go down not owing anyone for anything! That is just the way I roll.... but man I wish I hadn't done that!

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

We owned a LOT of Microsoft stock back in the mid 90's.... and we wanted to buy a boat. SO -- I sold enough stock to pay cash for it. Okay -- we're talking "Yacht" to most here - but I always just called it "the boat".... by the time I paid the taxes - paid for the "options" price on the shares and got enough to pay for the boat - I'd sold over a million bucks worth.... SIX MONTHS LATER - the stock splits 2 for 1 -- and in another 6 months it splits 2:1 again - and a year later splits 2 for 1 again! I figure I paid around 20 million for "the boat"... it was the smallest 20 million dollar boat in the history of the UNIVERSE (thanks AL!).

BUT Hindsight is 20/20 and at the time -- there was no f'n way I was going to borrow money to buy a boat! What if the whole world fell apart?!?! At least I'd go down not owing anyone for anything! That is just the way I roll.... but man I wish I hadn't done that!

Thanks a lot! I just about pissed myself A good friend of mine who is an employee "incentives" manager for MS just bought a boat (dingy) last month and I've been harassing him a "little" bit about his personal wealth wealth.

This thread is truly a priceless lesson in life!

[pw2006]

Hey Greg- I have a story as well... I sold some of my apple options back in 2002 to help pay for my wedding/honeymoon/house down payment. The shares were trading for a split adjusted ~$7.40, we now trade close to $400. I don't refer to her as an anchor. But man do I wish I had hindsight!

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by pw2006

Hey Greg- I have a story as well... I sold some of my apple options back in 2002 to help pay for my wedding/honeymoon/house down payment. The shares were trading for a split adjusted ~$7.40, we now trade close to $400. I don't refer to her as an anchor. But man do I wish I had hindsight!

Gwen started at MSFT in 1984 --- in 1986 they went public and her first stock option was 750 shares at $32.50.... at Thanksgiving there was a bunch of fellow 'softies' at dinner and we were laughing at this "gift" -- I said I'd prefer a coupon for a free turkey at Safeway.... Because at the time - MSFT was trading at $30 and this "option" was higher at $32.50....

Man was I dumb!

Okay - just so ya know - that 750 shares - split so many times that it grew into 108,000 with a cost adjustment for the splits @ .11 cents per share.

Did I mention how dumb I was??

[ErikLS2]

I love the idea of starting a kind of investment club where we share ideas and stock picks. Think we could buy enough of a stock to force the price up?

One I thought of but didn't buy was Ford in 2008-09 when it was like at $2. It was pretty clear they weren't headed for bankruptcy or a bail-out and if you look at it's chart it went to like $18 or so in 2 years, 'bout 450% annual return but there's that hindsight again. Where's that opportunity out there now? Greg, you da man, c'mon now

[RECOVERY ROOM]

Originally Posted by ErikLS2

I love the idea of starting a kind of investment club where we share ideas and stock picks. Think we could buy enough of a stock to force the price up?

One I thought of but didn't buy was Ford in 2008-09 when it was like at $2. It was pretty clear they weren't headed for bankruptcy or a bail-out and if you look at it's chart it went to like $18 or so in 2 years, 'bout 450% annual return but there's that hindsight again. Where's that opportunity out there now? Greg, you da man, c'mon now

I bought Ford the day they were sitting in congress, They didn't have their hand out. I got in at 1.50. Smartest thing I ever did with money, Sold it at 17. And bought it again when it went down to 10..Holding on to that for a while. I like the idea of sharing Ideas and thoughts with other people on here. Everyone could benefit

[RECOVERY ROOM]

Originally Posted by Beegs

....everytime I check this thread it has 30 new posts! All good stuff...

Makes me want to vomit when I think of the three years I spent "daytrading"....my hair turned white, I had massive heart burn AND I got my ass handed to me. What a waste of time...I got REALLY good at fractions though..

Greg.....big thanks to you for sharing your wealth of knowledge on this subject!! I need to find my password for my online account and look at some good names for long term holds, thanks for lighting a fire under my backside.....

Know what you mean on the day trading, Total waste of time...This thread has got me rethinking about how I handle the investing ideas