Investing 102

[toy71camaro]

Nice!

the question is, do you hold or do you sell for a quick 2x-3x profit if it goes that route... That'd be the hard decision for me to make. LOL.

i agree with the "fad" comment. its the "best thing" out right now, but it only takes one good competitor to come up with the "next best thing" to knock it off its block.

on a side note, i use it for personal use (keeping up with friends/family) AND for my freelance photo business (www.facebook.com/albertd.photography). It makes a GREAT small business advertising tool!!

[Rybar]

Greg what's going on!!! Hope you make a bundle buddy.

Can you buy some for me at 28-35 I'll gladly take them off your hands.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by toy71camaro

Nice!

the question is, do you hold or do you sell for a quick 2x-3x profit if it goes that route... That'd be the hard decision for me to make. LOL.

i agree with the "fad" comment. its the "best thing" out right now, but it only takes one good competitor to come up with the "next best thing" to knock it off its block.

on a side note, i use it for personal use (keeping up with friends/family) AND for my freelance photo business (www.facebook.com/albertd.photography). It makes a GREAT small business advertising tool!!

Great question Albert -- and regardless of what you do - you'll always second guess it and do it WRONG. Sell and it'll go to $1000 hold and it goes nowhere and you wish you'd have flipped it when you had a double... ME? I'll do it the conservative way -- if it goes gangbusters I'll sell some and hold the house's money.... It's the old pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. Of course that depends if I get any at all...

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Rybar

Greg what's going on!!! Hope you make a bundle buddy.

Can you buy some for me at 28-35 I'll gladly take them off your hands.

I'd do that if it was legal tax wise.... but it's the old "fair market" rule that kicks in.

Like I said -- if I get it for the IPO set price -- great - otherwise I wouldn't bother.

[Flash68]

Did your brokerage ask you about holding it for awhile? I ask because my buddy got offered to buy some as well but they asked him (not required) to hold it for a bit (I think 90 days?) before selling. Very casual and nothing on paper. I found that kinda strange.

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

FACEYBOOK


Okay -- I've had about a zillion emails / PM's / Calls asking if "I should - could - would" buy into the FACEBOOK IPO. So here's my take on it - it's GAMBLING - it's HYPE - but it also appears to be BIG....

SO because of my "accounts" -- I've been "allowed" to get into the IPO at offering price ($28 to $35) one of my brokerages. I have asked for 2000 shares. Remember that this is 'over subscribed' so I might not get any - I might get 100 I might get 10.... I'll get what I get and pay the "set" price at OPEN.

I would NOT buy RETAIL -- in other words --- the first trades AFTER the IPO set price! That could be 60 - 70 - 80 - 100 who knows -- but since I can get in at the set price - I stand a chance of having a gain.

I'm sharing this - as I do my other "investment life" as a "here's how all this crap works investing 102 experience". So as usual -- this is a "it takes money to make money" moment. I wouldn't be allowed into the IPO if I didn't already have a substantial account! The guy that needs it the least - gets the most... I don't happen to like that morally but it is what it is.

This is expected to price TOMORROW --- so you can all live vicariously and see if I sink or swim. I don't like Facebook - I don't use it - but EVERYBODY but me does... I think it's a fad but I'm not against making money - regardless of what I think.

Seems like a strange investment for a website you've never experienced. What's your alias? John Doe Jack Smack Rodney Snodgrass??

[sokoloka]

Thank you for all the positive replies! Nice to have a feel good every once in awhile.

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Sokoloka --

Number one -- KUDOS TO YOU MY FRIEND! You're way ahead of the pack!


Just so you know - there is no "right or wrong" guide to investing or how much cash to have on hand etc. It's more your personal comfort level. However.... having said that.... you have WAY too much dead money (savings).

At your age -- you should have maybe 10K in savings for peace of mind - and the rest should be in best of breed high quality stocks. The 80 + 55 - 10 is a nice 125K to invest which should MAKE YOU 6K a year in dividend income.... reinvested - you're going to be very very comfortable in retirement!

It seems like I inherited a little of the immigrant mentality from my parents and have this innate desire to own my own home outright as soon as possible. I agree that I have too much dead money sitting around currently, and realistically I'm at least 9 months out from purchasing anything.

I adjusted my position in Citi two days ago, and low and behold the little man in the market got me AGAIN. Seems like the dump JP Morgan just took for $2B smashed all the banks down too. Should have waited one more day to adjust!! Interestingly enough, the girl who I'm seeing over here in London is a risk analyst for their hedge arm. Apparently the investment arm in question has no risk division themselves haha. Surprise!

When it comes to dividend investing, is there a "historically" BETTER time to get in? I.e. a month prior to the anticipated dividend date, after earnings, after the most recent dividend etc? Or just jump in, ride the wave and hope that the market appreciates the base stock while pumping out dividends on a quarterly basis?

I have a few more money moves to make but my goal is to diversify into the GW school of investing by mid-June and see where it takes me from there. Took two sizable (for me) gambles on open market shares yesterday both in my own company and my parent's company. Both are clost to 52 week lows - hope there's some appreciable correction in the near future.

I've always been a pretty good saver while never really denying myself anything that I REALLY want. Sometimes I chuckle to think how much more investment "capital" I'd have if I didn't start this damn corvette! But where would the fun in that be?


E

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

Seems like a strange investment for a website you've never experienced. What's your alias? John Doe Jack Smack Rodney Snodgrass??

"Tittykaka"


I don't think I'd refer to it as an "investment".... I'd call it gambling. Which is why if it pops - I'll dump some. And I highly doubt I'll get the 2000 shares requested - but if I did - that would be 70 grand... My thinking is I might get 100.

BTW right there is the lesson for "102" -- while 70K seems like a lot -- it's money that % wise for me would be like finding a nickel in the street... so if I lost it - I wouldn't notice. Most everyone that's asked me about FaceyKissyBook really can't afford to gamble like that and shouldn't be invested in it yet they're the ones that will have to pay retail - are the most eager to jump into it - and are the least sophisticated investors. AKA: The ones that should not be buying it - but will anyway.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Flash68

Did your brokerage ask you about holding it for awhile? I ask because my buddy got offered to buy some as well but they asked him (not required) to hold it for a bit (I think 90 days?) before selling. Very casual and nothing on paper. I found that kinda strange.

No they didn't ask anything like that Dave. But it doesn't surprise me. If his brokerage is one of the "underwriters" - they wan to see the stock pop - and STAY up... and or go higher.

The stock market is just a market --- so if there are more BUYERS than SELLERS -- the stock goes higher.... Thus "it pays" to ask people to refrain from selling right away. It makes more headlines - and makes the underwriters look "successful" in their underwriting efforts. Remember that they're salesman and they make big fees doing underwriting.... so they want to show others thinking about going IPO that they're the ones to do business with.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by sokoloka

Thank you for all the positive replies! Nice to have a feel good every once in awhile.



It seems like I inherited a little of the immigrant mentality from my parents and have this innate desire to own my own home outright as soon as possible. I agree that I have too much dead money sitting around currently, and realistically I'm at least 9 months out from purchasing anything.

I adjusted my position in Citi two days ago, and low and behold the little man in the market got me AGAIN. Seems like the dump JP Morgan just took for $2B smashed all the banks down too. Should have waited one more day to adjust!! Interestingly enough, the girl who I'm seeing over here in London is a risk analyst for their hedge arm. Apparently the investment arm in question has no risk division themselves haha. Surprise!

When it comes to dividend investing, is there a "historically" BETTER time to get in? I.e. a month prior to the anticipated dividend date, after earnings, after the most recent dividend etc? Or just jump in, ride the wave and hope that the market appreciates the base stock while pumping out dividends on a quarterly basis?

I have a few more money moves to make but my goal is to diversify into the GW school of investing by mid-June and see where it takes me from there. Took two sizable (for me) gambles on open market shares yesterday both in my own company and my parent's company. Both are clost to 52 week lows - hope there's some appreciable correction in the near future.

I've always been a pretty good saver while never really denying myself anything that I REALLY want. Sometimes I chuckle to think how much more investment "capital" I'd have if I didn't start this damn corvette! But where would the fun in that be?


E

Life should be part investing -- and part fun too... it's not all about just investing. But you are a CLASSIC example of how it should be done -- i.e., SAVING EARLY IN LIFE. That's what this thread is trying to get people to understand - is that TIME factor and how much it affects your ability to gain.


So the "jump in" question ------ There's no right answer --- and market "timing" never seems to work (remember the little man!).... and there's many theories written about when to buy a dividend stock. To which I smear at and say -- if it's a great company - pays a good dividend - is a best of breed name - then just buy the damn thing and if you looked at those total returns and 5 and 10 year charts... does it really make any difference in your performance if you'd saved 50 cents or a dollar on the buy? I think not.

I have a good stake in Annaly Capital Management (NLY) because of it's outsized dividend - and frankly - because it doesn't really move much - it goes 25 or 30 cents one way or the other. BUT -- at one point a month or so I showed a "loss" in the name of 20 grand or so... And you look at that when everything else (pretty much) is green and say WTF! But then I pull up my Excel spreadsheet and see that NLY pays me 19,950 PER QUARTER (35,000 shares @ .57 quarterly dividend).... so the 20K underwater goes away with the next quarterly dividend payment. Does that share price (at any given moment) really mean much right now.... HELL NO! And if it was down 40K? NO! Because I'm even in 6 months -- and if you were reinvesting that dividend you'd be buying in at lower prices.

So - that's a long answer - but if you are INVESTING -- not trying to trade.. then I wouldn't spend any time trying to game the market. The investments are so much bigger than that over time.