Investing 102

[Bucketlist2012]

Mr.Weld..

I must agree with you. I am up nicely this morning.

[toy71camaro]

+1 up almost .2% today.

Also re-asked my work about the personal brokerage account link to be able to pick individual stocks (read: investing 102 stocks) in my 401k. They said they were going to follow up on it today and see whats up. <crosses fingers>

[GregWeld]

Funny about how all this works -- which is what I'm trying to share with everyone.... It's really just an experience thing -- not a "I know the market is going to do X tomorrow..." I'm going to tell you -- I have no friggin' idea what the market is going to do. If I knew that - I'd be rich!

What I do know -- is that when I look at this Schwab account -- which is roughly 2 years old (it was new money at the beginning of 2011 but I sat on it for 6 months before doing anything) is that I'm up 10+% in value -- and I'm getting about 5% average dividend payout on top of that...

Comparing this to the CD's - Mutual Funds - Treasury bills - My own Muni Bond account.... I'm killin' 'em. Will it last? I have no idea.... but I know I'll continue to collect cash every quarter from the dividends -- AND THAT is what I invested in... the 10% (if it holds) is just gravy.

[Sieg]

One thing I know...........the healthy dividend stocks I've bought since GW started this are some of the best in my portfolio with respect to current unrealized gains:
MO $705
NLY $77
PFE $358
T $586
VZ $774
XLS $54

KO -$85 (can't win them all)

S $1261 (I bought 1K of Sprint at $2.19 just because it was too cheap for the brand)

[GregWeld]

Coke (KO) reports TUESDAY.... we'll either be okay or we'll get our arses handed to us... but again -- I buy and hold this kind of company and they come and they go. My problem is the law of large numbers here - and 6000 shares down .80 is a "number"... but then again - that same number HELPS on the way up --- so ya just got to go with the flow.

That's the thing about splits too -- a lot of people will lighten up before or after a split because of the number of shares they'll have - so there's some rebalancing done. For me -- I love a good split... 'cause in the LONG RUN they USUALLY work out just fine.

[GregWeld]

Coke (KO) looks to have a very nice up day today....


If you're not in... you never buy on a day like today... never buy stocks on up days unless we're in a major bull market. We are not (IMHO) in a major bull market.

Lots of times stocks move on "news" only to settle in a few days later. Sometimes they move up and never look back and when that happens you just have to grit your teeth and either buy in or move on and buy something else. With the stock market... you're never going to know in advance - and you'll never buy at the bottom and sell at the top. You just try to do the best you can with what you have to work with.

Seriously -- when you do the MATH -- If you're buying 100 or 200 shares of something... it really doesn't matter if you bought at $35 or $35.40... It just FEELS better when you bought a $35 stock at $34.80 and it moves up to $35.50 but 2 or 3 or 4 years from now - it doesn't really affect your pocket book that much.

[XLexusTech]

[QUOTE=GregWeld;425190]Coke (KO) looks to have a very nice up day today....


If you're not in... you never buy on a day like today... never buy stocks on up days unless we're in a major bull market. We are not (IMHO) in a major bull market.

Lots of times stocks move on "news" only to settle in a few days later. Sometimes they move up and never look back and when that happens you just have to grit your teeth and either buy in or move on and buy something else. With the stock market... you're never going to know in advance - and you'll never buy at the bottom and sell at the top. You just try to do the best you can with what you have to work with.

Seriously -- when you do the MATH -- If you're buying 100 or 200 shares of something... it really doesn't matter if you bought at $35 or $35.40... It just FEELS better when you bought a $35 stock at $34.80 and it moves up to $35.50 but 2 or 3 or 4 years from now - it doesn't really affect your pocket book that much. [/QUOTE

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks reclaimed Tuesday gains after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke and Wall Street's gaze returned to solid results from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Coca-Cola Co.

"We had good reports from Goldman Sachs (GS, Trade ) and Coca-Cola Co. (KO, Trade ), not only did they beat expectations, but they did so by a pretty wide margin," said Andrew Fitzpatrick, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates Inc. "

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Sieg

One thing I know...........the healthy dividend stocks I've bought since GW started this are some of the best in my portfolio with respect to current unrealized gains:
MO $705
NLY $77
PFE $358
T $586
VZ $774
XLS $54

KO -$85 (can't win them all)

S $1261 (I bought 1K of Sprint at $2.19 just because it was too cheap for the brand)

I want an updated report!!!

[mdprovee]

My dividends added up to $150 at the beginning of July. All reinvested.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by mdprovee

My dividends added up to $150 at the beginning of July. All reinvested.

NOW WE'RE TALKING!

Think about this -- if you're saving $150 a month - and then you get a free extra $150... every year you're saving an extra $600... and more importantly when re-invested in shares that $600 becomes $700 and then $800 and you end up 20 years down the road being like Warren Buffett - where your dividend is equal to your original investment!

While it doesn't seem like "much" now -- after 20 years... and you have an extra grand or $1500 a month to retire with... you'll be so glad you made the effort... because it might be the difference between eating tuna every night - or having steak once in awhile and paying the light bill on time.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA