Investment

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On bonds they can call them in early. Say you're supposed to get X amount. If it benefits them to call them in early, you can lose money. You expect X amount, you get Y amount instead.
 
Hmm I don't like any of those stocks. I'd avoid.. but keep an eye on them as market indicators. I would avoid tech since no new advancements are really coming around right now because of the economy. Medical is the place to be still.
 


Die liberal scum! :)

Did you watch Bill Clinton's Address last night? How investing in sciences, technology, and removing ignorance and all that jazz would make everyone richer. I was like.. yeah.. but then I started thinking as I often do.

Did he mean if we invested in more of that stuff, more of that money being made could be redistributed? Or that all those people who are working would ultimately help those who weren't working have a better life?

He said the work of others would make life better for everyone. Wait a minute.. the message on the surface I could rally around. The intention of that mention makes me take pause and think about that. I have to work my butt off to make meager gains in my life, but others who aren't working will have leaps and bounds better lifestyle? I'm not selfish.. yet that doesn't seem like a quality incentive. I'm working harder and getting less in return, while those not working harder are getting more in return? Hmm.

Is that that really a hidden message in the Left's agenda?
 
^ Well I already gave you my 401k magic tricks, which is pretty conservative and not risky :).

As for the other investments, a mix of corporate bonds, mutual funds and a annuity. Or did you want specific names of the funds? Somehow I think these would be too conservative for you as you are starting your career.
 
Why are you insisting that I am or should be an aggressive investor? I do not want to lose my shorts in the market!

I like 401(k)'s, but also Roth IRA's as well.

I think short term T-bills in the mix would be good as well, may even compliment mutual funds.

If I am not mistaken, stocks and bonds follow inversely to a degree of each other.

May have to talk to a financial adviser...if I have the money that is...
 


Dog, there's a middle ground between aggressive and conservative. I meant that at your career stage, you can afford to take a bit more risk than somebody mid- or late-career. IOW, you have plenty of time to correct for bad investments. But investing is inherently risky - you can buy the safest one you can think of, and still have it turn out sour.

Take housing. Please! 😛 When I bought my last house in 2007, the market was still decent although I got a pretty good deal from the builder - about $80K of upgrades for free (actual cost to builder probably less than half that). But one year later the house was worth maybe $200K less than what I paid for it, upgrades notwithstanding. Nobody that I knew, living or dead, had ever been through a declining real estate market. I had always heard that real estate was a safe & sound investment - while it may not go up for a stretch of years, it never declined and there were times when it would grow dramatically in value. If I had known then what I know now, I would have stayed in my smaller house and bought the new house a year later for far cheaper.

I failed to mention or distinguish that a number of these super-conservative investments - i.e., the annuity - are for my family trusts for which I am the trustee. My personal investments are more middle-of-the-road.

Anyway, my advice is to never think you're too small to be important to a bank or investment firm. If you have the attitude that you're going to be rich and successful one day, then you probably will. It's the complacent and lazy folks who are fairly stagnant as far as accumulating wealth goes, or those who spend every dime they earn immediately. You are already starting out on the right foot so to speak, by thinking of the future and asking advice.
 
If you're buying young, go aggressive and let the money sit. You will tend to be antsy and want to buy/sell, but that's not the goal. This is money you're putting away for a later date.

By being aggressive it means you take a slightly higher risk, but you also take a large profit. If you go with something that is growth oriented, you might just get dividends or something small. If you don't have a lot of money, go big. If you do, you can afford to go with a growth.

If you buy 100 shares at $100 and it drops to $10, you still have 100 shares. It can go up, it can go down. Watch the market and get an idea of what the indicators are for your market.

I have everything highly aggressive. When I used a stock broker, the told me to expect about 7% a year. I pulled my last quarter's 401k that I hand selected myself after about 15 hours of research. In a single quarter I had pulled an unheard of 77% gain. I had like $16,000 in my 401k and 3 months later I had over $30k. They were amazed and obviously didn't beleive me.

Find, watch, invest.

Ford and Lazy boy are good investments. Anderson's (bio fuels, midwest supply company) is good but pricey.

For you, I'd stick to stocks under $10 so you can buy enough shares. It doesn't matter how much you invest if you don't have enough shares.

My 401k looks at a lot of small cap stocks, equitity holding firms, and highly aggressive funds. I avoid bonds and the money market since the pay out is low for the risk invested.
 
The only two worth looking at, in my opinion, are Texas Instruments and Intel. Though I have reservations about both.

Tell me why you are interested in these stocks?

Also, how much do you plan on investing? I think you had mentioned $1000 to start?
 
500.

I chose theses stock because they are well known, (some are blue chip), companies. Certain ones like TXN and INTC are part of the semiconductor group of which I am a fan of.

Others, like the telecom, are more 'local' businesses if I may say.
Oil seems to be good, just a thought.
No way in hell am I investing in NASDAQ:FB !
 
$500 won't buy you much when you're looking at $50 a share stocks. You get 10 shares, it goes up a dollar to $51. You now have $510.

If you bought a stock at $10, you'd have 50 shares. If it went up a smaller amount, you'd make more money. What you're looking to do is buy low and sell high. Intel is around 80% of their high.. not a good deal in my opinion if you're looking at market indicators.
On top of that, Intel really is stuck with their position. They'll be flat. The CPU market is kind of dead since heat is the biggest limiting factor in a CPU. Personally, the problem with investing in things where you have a bias is that you really blind yourself to reality. Reality is Intel isn't going to come out with any crazy life altering items that revolution the world and increase their stock.

AMD is the same way.

Boeing is a bad choice because prior to the elections coming up, mandatory military spending cuts go into effect days before the election. This means a lot of layoffs and they'll likely get hurt or stay flat. You won't see much of a profit there.

I would be look at local companies more than national companies. Oil.. look at oil based products. Cooper Tires for example. Plexiglass companies, etc.

The auto industry is iffy, so avoid anything that goes that route. Construction is slow, avoid that area. Medical is always good because there is consistent investment and money to be made there.

Find a company that produces something people want and they have to keep coming back for more and you'll find yourself a gold mine.

I know I discount auto industries, but Ford is still going strong and I think a good long term deal. Symbol is F.

Get on something that shows you stats.. for ease, Yahoo Finance. Look at the day's range, look at the year's high/low, etc. Plus the indicator of where the year is to end.
 
Not much to invest into I see.

You mentioned Pharma and Auto. I would think that they would be down since the last 4 years have been a rough ride for them.

Should I talk to a financial adviser to see what they recommend and what is available for me and my potential portfolio? I would think they have tools that you and I do not have.

I have to look at Yahoo Finance.

What about mutual funds?
 
Sign up for an account at something like TradeKing. It's free and they have the same tools the financial advisors have. A FA will want you to put your money into a mutual fund that they recommend. They get a monthly kickback for getting you to put your money into an account. For $500, they might be $0.50 a month, but you get 200 people doing that it can start to add up. Generally, those funds will decrease value as more and more investors put money in... they're mainly the FA wealthy, not you since you're a small account. If you have $20,000 to invest, they'd actually work for you because you'd actually make money and they'd get some of it.

I would really recommend buying a book and learning it on your own. You'll learn much more and know what you're doing. Meet with an FA, they'll talk about 7% yearly returns and the rule of 72 and all that. They will recommend you pay off all debt before investing any money and they'll do a budget for you and want you to make monthly contributions. This is them making money off you.

Mutual funds are collections of stocks that someone manages. They're actually the best to way invest when you don't have a lot of money. Someone else watches the stock for you and reinvests as needed. It is the simplest form of investing and if you're worried about losing money, I would definately say pick a mutual fund of your own, not one recommended by an FA.

Pharm is up actually. Everyone is on a pill these days, everyone has some condition that needs treated, etc. Auto I would avoid, but tossing in some money into Ford and letting it ride for years might be a nice pay off. Ford used to sit around $40-$50 a share, picking it up at $10 is a steal.
 
Okay, so a FA would not be a good idea if that is what you are saying. Concerning the FA, how can you tell if they are ethically and financially 'good' and 'bad'? Meaning at their job and how honest they are with customers? Would a CFP change anything?

Another thing: How would I go about searching for a Mutual Find that at least hedges against inflation annually, ( about 3% per annum)?

Would you recommend anything in your portfolio to a new potential investor?
 
I'd go with a CFP over a FA. Get someone who is paid to do it, not someone who makes money off you. If you don't have a lot of money, they'll invest your money in a way that benefits them. If you had a lot, they gain more by you making more. This is a blanket statement and doesn't apply across the board. There are good ones out there.. figuring them out though is the issue.

I think you're too worried about losing money. You should focus on making it, not losing it. Your standard return will beat out inflation.. that's the beauty of it. Some years you might be bad, but the general return is higher than inflation...granted, inflation is going up pretty quick. Look at mutual funds and see where they are compared to where they were a month/3 months/ 6 months/a year ago. It's tough because the market fell apart and is still rebounding so the last few years is hard to read.

Honestly, I can't recommend much. I pulled my money out of the market. I'm not trusting it with everything going on in Europe, with China/Russia.. not that money will matter much if things do fall apart. People with far more knowledge of the market are still investing.. me, I don't have the time right now to research everything so I'm holding off. If I find a little gem, you bet I'll jump on it.. but until then I'm working on paying off some debt.
 
Education is always good if you put it together. Knowledge is potential power. Too many people today think having an education = $$. Knowledge is worthless if not put to use.

A small business with school.. it depends. How thin would you be stretching yourself and/or stressed managing a business and attending school?

Lots of different options out there, find the best one that suits you and go for it. Investing is really never a bad idea; A bad idea is investing without researching.
 
riser you sure know your stuff.

Don't let that compliment go to your head though ... Pyree is still sobbing in the corner after you told him not to donate to a worthy charity.

I donated $10 to the Red Cross on Wed ... now they are a worthy cause.





 
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