STOCK MARKET: Let's talk stocks and investing

[SWTsig]

i just opened an account on sharebuildre this weekend, officially marking my jump into online trading/investing... i'm mainly focusing on generating supplemental income, but since i'm not starting out with much i know that may not be the easiest thing to do.

still, i'd like to hear where some of our more investment-savy members are putting their money, what trends they are seeing, and so forth.

and..... GO!

[Medicine N Music]

There are a lot of income heavy mutual funds or ones that pay a lot of dividends. These should be your main type of investments. Vanguard mutual funds usually have the lowest expense ratio, which help definitely help your bottom line. For stocks, go with something that is relatively stable, but pays a high dividend. Be careful though, because these dividends are taxed.

[macalu]

Originally Posted by The Pharmacist There are a lot of income heavy mutual funds or ones that pay a lot of dividends. These should be your main type of investments. Vanguard mutual funds usually have the lowest expense ratio, which help definitely help your bottom line. For stocks, go with something that is relatively stable, but pays a high dividend. Be careful though, because these dividends are taxed.

VFINX -Vanguard 500 Index Fund

one of the best investments you can ever make. not much to do but let your money sit there and accumulate in the long run.

[OrangeRowdy95]

BizRadio 1110 AM has all your answers

[SWTsig]

Originally Posted by macalu VFINX -Vanguard 500 Index Fund one of the best investments you can ever make. not much to do but let your money sit there and accumulate in the long run.

can't purchase it through sharebuilder, unfortunately. i do have small monthly contributions going to a 57/43 split of LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND ISHARES and S&P SPDR fund.

[mlwoo]

Originally Posted by SWTsig can't purchase it through sharebuilder, unfortunately. i do have small monthly contributions going to a 57/43 split of LEHMAN AGG BOND FUND ISHARES and S&P SPDR fund.

How much does share builder cost a trade?

It doesn't sound like you have access to a good selection of mutual funds if you can't use Vanguard.

I have the majority of my savings in two funds, American Funds New World and American Funds Growth. The New World fund has done really well for me considering the times. American Funds is a good family but it more for the wealthy investors that can hit different breakpoints for the frontload. Since I work at a brokerage, I get everything at NAV and don't have to worry about those loads. I would consider doing C shares and paying a high expence ratio to get in American Funds New World or Europacific.

How old are you? What are you going to be using supplemental income for? From what I've gathered, you're 24-29 and emloyed full time. Use your work as your income, don't supplement it. Supplemental income is for old ladies who sell crocheted sweaters out of their house and make 100 bucks a month. Put away a little money when you have some and contribute what you can to a 401k or IRA.

You might want to reconsider Sharebuilder. I know Wachovia Securities (who I work for) has a large selection of mutual funds they can sell. They have $16 trades I think and probaly like $10 processing fee for mutual fund sells in a online account with no consultant. I'd look into it or something similar.

[ima_drummer2k]

Originally Posted by macalu VFINX -Vanguard 500 Index Fund one of the best investments you can ever make. not much to do but let your money sit there and accumulate in the long run.

I've got about 40% of my portfolio (ie. my 401K) in this fund. It's been going up and down lately, but I check it every morning. I know you're really not supposed to do that, but I do. What can I say.

[SWTsig]

Originally Posted by mlwoo How much does share builder cost a trade? It doesn't sound like you have access to a good selection of mutual funds if you can't use Vanguard. I have the majority of my savings in two funds, American Funds New World and American Funds Growth. The New World fund has done really well for me considering the times. American Funds is a good family but it more for the wealthy investors that can hit different breakpoints for the frontload. Since I work at a brokerage, I get everything at NAV and don't have to worry about those loads. I would consider doing C shares and paying a high expence ratio to get in American Funds New World or Europacific. How old are you? What are you going to be using supplemental income for? From what I've gathered, you're 24-29 and emloyed full time. Use your work as your income, don't supplement it. Supplemental income is for old ladies who sell crocheted sweaters out of their house and make 100 bucks a month. Put away a little money when you have some and contribute what you can to a 401k or IRA. You might want to reconsider Sharebuilder. I know Wachovia Securities (who I work for) has a large selection of mutual funds they can sell. They have $16 trades I think and probaly like $10 processing fee for mutual fund sells in a online account with no consultant. I'd look into it or something similar.

14.95 for trades, $0.00 for mutual funds... i have an old 401(k) from a previous employer that i'll be rolling over into my new 401(k), but i haven't set it up yet. i do have some funds sitting in a few different america funds europacific growth funds and american growth funds.

Sharebuilder was recommended as a very good brokerage site for novice investors, which i am.

[robbie380]

Originally Posted by ima_drummer2k I've got about 40% of my portfolio (ie. my 401K) in this fund. It's been going up and down lately, but I check it every morning. I know you're really not supposed to do that, but I do. What can I say.

it's not that bad...i mean you are in 500 stocks so it's not as if you are all in on one company.

[robbie380]

Originally Posted by SWTsig i just opened an account on sharebuildre this weekend, officially marking my jump into online trading/investing... i'm mainly focusing on generating supplemental income, but since i'm not starting out with much i know that may not be the easiest thing to do. still, i'd like to hear where some of our more investment-savy members are putting their money, what trends they are seeing, and so forth. and..... GO!

i haven't seen anything i've really been dying to buy for awhile. there was recently a pretty good low risk area to start looking at refiners but they have moved up a little too much right now for me to buy in but i tend to err on the side of caution. i may still look to buy some TSO or VLO on a pullback but not sure.

[radapharoah]

Originally Posted by SWTsig i just opened an account on sharebuildre this weekend, officially marking my jump into online trading/investing... i'm mainly focusing on generating supplemental income, but since i'm not starting out with much i know that may not be the easiest thing to do. still, i'd like to hear where some of our more investment-savy members are putting their money, what trends they are seeing, and so forth. and..... GO!

I recently did the same. I’m originally from brasil and moved to the states when I was 6. I am reasonably knowledgeable about what’s going on in that economy so I have put a few dollars errrr reals into that market. I bought petrobras over a month ago at 120; since then they have done a 2 for 1 split and are currently at 71 per share. There is no thing as a guarantee. But with todays condations and what we can infer about future conditions petrobras (PBR) is as good as in investment as you will find. PBR has made big waves with discoveries of offshore oilfields those optimists believe will make Brazil the third largest oil producer in the world and pessimists believe will make Brazil a top ten producer. Either way both optimist and pessimist believe that this discovery is the largest in the last decade. Other factors that make PBR a good investment is Brazil’s recent upgrade to investment grade by S&P 500 for the first time in its history. That coupled with a strong Real (local currency); its up 20% year over year (allows economy to absorb inflation).

Other investments I have recently made in brazil include Sadia (SDA) and Perdigao (PDA). Both are in the food products industry. Take a look at both. I like their ratios...


GOOD LUCK!

[ima_drummer2k]

Originally Posted by robbie380 it's not that bad...i mean you are in 500 stocks so it's not as if you are all in on one company.

Oh, I meant you're not supposed to check your 401K every day when all you have are mutual funds.

What do you guys think about borrowing against your 401K and using the funds to pay off a car loan (with a high interest rate)?

[robbie380]

Originally Posted by radapharoah I recently did the same. I’m originally from brasil and moved to the states when I was 6. I am reasonably knowledgeable about what’s going on in that economy so I have put a few dollars errrr reals into that market. I bought petrobras over a month ago at 120; since then they have done a 2 for 1 split and are currently at 71 per share. There is no thing as a guarantee. But with todays condations and what we can infer about future conditions petrobras (PBR) is as good as in investment as you will find. PBR has made big waves with discoveries of offshore oilfields those optimists believe will make Brazil the third largest oil producer in the world and pessimists believe will make Brazil a top ten producer. Either way both optimist and pessimist believe that this discovery is the largest in the last decade. Other factors that make PBR a good investment is Brazil’s recent upgrade to investment grade by S&P 500 for the first time in its history. That coupled with a strong Real (local currency); its up 20% year over year (allows economy to absorb inflation). Other investments I have recently made in brazil include Sadia (SDA) and Perdigao (PDA). Both are in the food products industry. Take a look at both. I like their ratios... GOOD LUCK!

agree with you on that as well. a good way to go after the brazil trade is just to buy EWZ which is a brazil etf.

do you know anything about cosan and their potential down in brazil? i have been holding them from 10.90. when i bought i thought it had great potential but it has lagged other brasilian stocks significantly which worries me.

[mlwoo]

Originally Posted by SWTsig 14.95 for trades, $0.00 for mutual funds... i have an old 401(k) from a previous employer that i'll be rolling over into my new 401(k), but i haven't set it up yet. i do have some funds sitting in a few different america funds europacific growth funds and american growth funds. Sharebuilder was recommended as a very good brokerage site for novice investors, which i am.

There probably is a postage process or charge like that when you sell fthe funds. It's 5.50 at an actual Wachovia Securities office so it shouldn't be over $10.

The way I look at stocks, is that unless you have enough dough to have a nice chunk in an investment(around 100 shares) in about 10-20 companies, you really shouldn't take on all of that company risk.

[Medicine N Music]

The index 500 and other 500 funds usually only cover the large cap (big) companies. If you want to fully diversify and basically have the wall street averages year in and year out, look for a fund that includes the WHOLE market, such as the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index. This basically follows most of the mid and small cap companies as well. This is one of the safest routes of investment strategies if you have at least 7 or 8 years to invest. If you have 20+ years to retirement, and want to invest INSIDE a 401k, try some of the higher growth mutual funds. Many of these funds will give you a few years of great returns and then drop, but you don't have to worry about tax inside a 401k. I like the buy and hold strategy outside the 401k and buy and homework stategy inside if you have a long time until retirement.

[SuperBeeKay]

Im 18 and Im in the stock market..

avoid finance, invest in alternative energy because of high gas prices.

Look for stocks with high volume so its easy to sell

[manbearpig]

If you wanna do value investing, the simplest thing to do is invest in the top DOW companies. The DOW dividend strategy is easy if you wanna look that up - it uses dividend yield to find the top 10 companies and then use price to distribute your money amongst them - in various possible ways.

If you wanna take risks, double the dow or do UltraDow 30 (or w/e its called) - it does twice as good/bad as the DOW.

The Dow will have ups and dows but ultimately, it always goes up. Strategies are extremely simple as well.

[macalu]

Originally Posted by ima_drummer2k I've got about 40% of my portfolio (ie. my 401K) in this fund. It's been going up and down lately, but I check it every morning. I know you're really not supposed to do that, but I do. What can I say.

well, the Vanguard 500 tracks the investment return of 500 large cap stocks. it'll go as those 500 companies go, but in long run, you're looking at 11% average yearly return. it's a proven winner over "managed mutual funds" who's expenses not only cut into your profit as soon as you put your money in, but they're unable to consistently beat the market.

oh, by the way, your posts in the "book" thread really got me interested in teh Enron debacle. honestly, i never put much thought into Enron, maybe b/c of 9/11. i picked up Conspiracy of Fools, and I'm hooked!

[SamFisher]

Originally Posted by SuperBeeKay Im 18 and Im in the stock market.. avoid finance, invest in alternative energy because of high gas prices. Look for stocks with high volume so its easy to sell

So you're saying buy the stocks that are historically high and avoid the ones that are historically low?

I'll tell you, when First Solar is trading at nearly twice Goldman Sachs like it was last month --- that's not a sign to me that I should buy FSLR

[robbie380]

Originally Posted by SuperBeeKay Im 18 and Im in the stock market.. avoid finance, invest in alternative energy because of high gas prices. Look for stocks with high volume so its easy to sell

i would avoid alternative energy because there is already a nice speculative premium priced into earnings but you would need to name specific stocks that you are talking about because there are certainly exceptions. they may have some that get oversold if we catch a quick $20 pullback in oil and it would certainly make for some nice trading. anyhow...

conversely, i am lightly fishing around the financials to see what looks solid after we get our next major credit blowup. a ton of negativity is rightly priced in but some good stocks may get thrown out along with the bad ones when we have a blow up so it will be good to know who they are when it happens. however, i was a bit surprised/unsettled when i saw JPM got put on a negative credit watch at s&p. it could have just been related to the BSC merger but it still not good to see one of the few banking titans that didn't go yield whoring wherever they could get it now have the potential to get a credit downgrade. hell these guys are backed by the fed for their BSC merger and if they got cut it would certainly spook the market.


and lol to the easy sell part :D