Investing 102

[GregWeld]

Poor BitCoin can't catch a break! LOL


I'm sorry -- and I'm not gloating here.... but I just wonder what people really were thinking when something completely new like this comes along. The idea vs the actual reality can be debated an infinitum. Mostly though -- and this is where I take issue with the entire notion -- where is the "value" derived from in an "investment" in Bitcoins??

In a nutshell -- hoping that someone will pay a higher price than you just did. Period.

While it might be fun - and it might be the "hot deal" to talk about - and you might be the "cutting edge" dude at the water cooler in the office.... it's still just gambling. Gambling that if you pay X -- someone else will come along and pay X more. It's fantastic on the way up... and you're looking really brilliant while it's going up. But that feeling when over night it goes south and all the money you "made" goes out the window. Well - that's not the feeling you want to experience in your "investments". Save those feelings for buying a lottery ticket - or going to the dog/horse races.

Bitcoin hit a high of $1100... it's half that today. OUCH!



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bitcoin-...s-and-arrests/

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by SSLance

I'm sitting here having a hard time keeping my powder dry so to speak...

Which is NOTHING like I thought I'd be feeling a couple of months ago.

I spent part of the morning calculating the ex-dividend dates of the 10 other stocks I've got picked out but haven't purchased yet...just to make sure I don't miss any payments from them in the near future.

By looking at most of the ex-dividend dates on the stocks that I did buy into, I was just a day late and dollar short on several of them... Oh well, I'll get them next time...

You're doing good Lance... but don't rush. You can ALWAYS buy. Just keep a steady hand and ease on in there.

Frankly -- it's never about getting the last 50 cents off... but think more about PERCENTAGES... If a stock is "on sale" 5 - 6 - 7 PERCENT -- then when it comes back you have a better "total return". The problem doing this is in an up market where a guy really never gets the chance to catch the train leaving the station.

Nobody can predict what the market is going to do. NOBODY. The only thing we can TRY to do is to gain some minor understanding of it. It's why I preach LONG TERM - INVESTING - and hopefully, time, and the power of compounding, work their magic.

[GregWeld]

An interesting exercise on RETIREMENT INCOME investing.... I read the entire thing.... and there are GOOD THOUGHT PROCESS going on here. So it was certainly worth the read.

Here's where I take issue with it.... WAY TOO MANY NAMES for anyone to be able to follow and feel good about knowing what they own. That's me personally... If I can't tell you what I own -- remember them ALL -- and tell you WHY... Then they're not in my accounts. This is why I personally limit my stocks to about 20 names.

Here's the way I figure it. Let's say I have 200K invested - so 20 names would give me 10K in each one. That's just about right in my book. That's enough dough in each name to have it really working.. yet it's not too much dough per name if one should crap out. So if I have 20 million in stocks - why not the same thinking? A million per name - manageable to follow and check up on... but all stuff that I can feel good about. The ratio is the same. If I felt good enough about them to stick 100K in them - then why wouldn't I stick half a mill in it if I still liked it and it was working for me. Why try to make it complicated and just go out and find something else "just because"?


ANYWAY -- Here's the link to the article because I did like some of the work he's done - or rather - the way he looked at things. You never have to agree with EVERYTHING you read - it's all just learning you take away what you want and leave the rest on the table.


http://seekingalpha.com/article/2017..._str_2_4&ifp=0

[SSLance]

I'm really starting to like Seeking Alpha, at first it was daunting when I would click on a SA link here or there that was posted in this thread...but the more and more I read there, the more I like it.

I especially like the comments after the articles that I read, one can learn almost as much from those as they can from the articles themselves.

It was also nice to see the links to some of the stocks in the article posted above by Greg, colored differently to show that I've already been looking at them, and have even purchased some.

So, did anyone else have TWC on their looking at but haven't pulled the trigger yet list?

I liked the ROI, like the product (current TWC customer), but some of the fundamentals bothered me, mainly the debt ratio. Was trying to decide on either that or CTL as a future holding in that segment.

[GregWeld]

Individual stocks are purely PERSONAL picks...



You missed Time Warner Cable (TWC) -- and apparently the debt ratio doesn't mean a single thing to anyone - because it's going to be acquired by Comcast and is trading UP $9 a share this morning.

Originally Posted by SSLance

I'm really starting to like Seeking Alpha, at first it was daunting when I would click on a SA link here or there that was posted in this thread...but the more and more I read there, the more I like it.

I especially like the comments after the articles that I read, one can learn almost as much from those as they can from the articles themselves.

It was also nice to see the links to some of the stocks in the article posted above by Greg, colored differently to show that I've already been looking at them, and have even purchased some.

So, did anyone else have TWC on their looking at but haven't pulled the trigger yet list?

I liked the ROI, like the product (current TWC customer), but some of the fundamentals bothered me, mainly the debt ratio. Was trying to decide on either that or CTL as a future holding in that segment.

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

You missed Time Warner Cable (TWC) -- and apparently the debt ratio doesn't mean a single thing to anyone - because it's going to be acquired by Comcast and is trading UP $9 a share this morning.

That is the one part I guess I'll never understand about Stock market investing...

As a business person, I look at that balance sheet and it makes me shudder...yet someone at Comcast (or Charter as they were looking at it first) can look at it and see something completely different.

Little disappointed I missed a decent bump but have to keep reminding myself I'm in this for the long haul and for dividend income, not speculation and day trading purposes...

[gearheads78]

I think cable companies will be the next newspaper type dinasours in a few years. Might be some short term gains but long term horrizon I see many of them extinct.

[sik68]

News is coming out that the number of foreclosures in the US increased DRAMATICALLY according to RealtyTrac. +57% in California last month.

http://www.businessinsider.com/forec...pattern-2014-2

http://www.capradio.org/articles/201...nd-in-january/

Along for the ride, let's see what happens!

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by sik68

News is coming out that the number of foreclosures in the US increased DRAMATICALLY according to RealtyTrac. +57% in California last month.

http://www.businessinsider.com/forec...pattern-2014-2

http://www.capradio.org/articles/201...nd-in-january/

Along for the ride, let's see what happens!

Steven --


This is not directed at you or anyone in particular -- but I think more Californian's live on the ragged edge than almost anywhere else in the US. So a sharp rise in foreclosures there doesn't surprise me at all. There seems to be 2 economies in California --- the "coastal" communities that are nice... and the "rest of the state" which seems really depressing. Drive highway 99 vs 101 and you really notice the two economies.

[GregWeld]

Someone around this thread owns Occidental Petroleum (OXY) ---- whomever that is... is having a very nice day today! Good for them!!