Who's investing in the market these days?

[SilverBulletRL]

Just started investing this year, long term... I put some money into the Visa IPO. Got in around $67 and it's up to $86 now.

[TROLL]

i made a 'safe' call last week, so this week it was time to make a speculative call... gotta keep myself on the edge of my seat.
figured i'd share it here, so take it or leave it... i hesitate to recommend my ideas to anyone in case they suck, but you know how it goes...

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:AMLN)

drug conference starts tomorrow
announcing progress on a new diabetes drug that is taken once a week instead of whats currently available which is taken 2x per day
a lot of anticipation and excitement about it... depends on what exactly is announced
watch the video for the good info: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=762223358&play=1

its up ~8% in the last two days in anticipation of the conference, but i believe it could be only the beginning of a long term boom. we'll find out though... i'm in.

[zerioustt]

i have a financial advisor who keeps my stuff straight. also set me up with life insurance that invests my monthly installments while leaving my total benefits at 300k no matter what. i can also borrow against my life insurance policy tax FREE...wooot.

[TurboDSMJ]

Microsoft, Kimberly Clarke, and Exxon-Valdez are currently putting me through college. Lolz. Gotta love the market!

[frosti108]

ive been all about tech and oil... but when that huge drop hit a few months ago i kind of just **** my pants and froze up. i havent bought or sold anything since, but it seems to have cam back up from the huge dip. lets just say im still down a few grand, but way up from the bottom. ofcourse im in apple. been in since the before the ipod hype (huge gains) also was in google for a while when it was rocketing up, but unfortunatly i was in it for the downs too LOL also like conocophill and exxon... collect some nice divids from bac, cat is good for the season... im in ocean power tech, optt, but its down under with the economy.... i also have other random stocks that arent worth discussing... lol

sometimes i think about if the world ended tomorrow, how much more fun i would have had if i didnt save and invest

[omgjacki]

Can I bring this back?
I'm interested.

[angdefeo]

sure, bring it back. are you looking for general information, pointers, or do you want to know what other people are doing?

[omgjacki]

General information. I want to get into the market and start investing but I don't know the first thing about it.

[angdefeo]

Originally Posted by omgjacki

General information. I want to get into the market and start investing but I don't know the first thing about it.

I do not feel comfortable letting you move ahead in investing, buying stocks and mutual funds while saying you don’t know much about it. For instance it’s better to at least read something like “investing for dummies” or some kind of general information guide. You will be better served by asking specific questions here.

Don’t ever forget that you are putting out your hard earned money and expect it to grow. We all expect it to grow but buying stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can make your money disappear.

PM me and I can give you some investment advice that I would not want you to share in a thread:

- such as what are your long term goals for the money and when you would need it
- what is your tolerance for risk

[omgjacki]

I have no plans to do anything right away. I would like to build up some "extra" money so I'm not in the hole if I lose anything and I definitely want to be more knowledgeable, too.

[james_ls]

If "in the market" you mean my personal pockets...then yes.

[angdefeo]

Originally Posted by omgjacki

I have no plans to do anything right away. I would like to build up some "extra" money so I'm not in the hole if I lose anything and I definitely want to be more knowledgeable, too.

Start simple, educate yourself about investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds by reading some how to information. While your building your knowlegde keep building your savings buy putting it into the highest interest rate savings account or money market account you can find. Then after you get over a certain threshold you can tranfer some of the money into trading account where you can buy stocks, bonds, and mutual funds (compaines such as schwab, tdameritrade, vanguard etc).

Try watching some Nightly Business Report on PBS channel 12. It is straight forward business news that can stoke your curiosity. Then chase information from there. Or get the NYTimes free app on your phone and browse through the business section. I feel that having knowledge will lead you into better understanding what to do with your money.

Telling you now to buy a certain stock or mutual funds feels like someone telling a person that does not know how to change a tire that the nut needs to be torqued to 75lbs when they are putting it back on the car.

I am not suggeting that your dumb. I just fear telling you to open an account with tdameritrade, buy stock in company XYZ, then possibily loosing money will turn you away from becoming knowledgable about what to do with your savings.

[marshallpre1]

Originally Posted by angdefeo

I do not feel comfortable letting you move ahead in investing, buying stocks and mutual funds while saying you don’t know much about it. For instance it’s better to at least read something like “investing for dummies” or some kind of general information guide. You will be better served by asking specific questions here.

Don’t ever forget that you are putting out your hard earned money and expect it to grow. We all expect it to grow but buying stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can make your money disappear.

PM me and I can give you some investment advice that I would not want you to share in a thread:

- such as what are your long term goals for the money and when you would need it
- what is your tolerance for risk

Winner winner chicken dinner

[omgjacki]

Yeah, of course. I'm going to have plenty of time to learn what I need to know before I can get into it. I was just curious what you guys do and how you got into it.

[angdefeo]

Originally Posted by omgjacki

Yeah, of course. I'm going to have plenty of time to learn what I need to know before I can get into it. I was just curious what you guys do and how you got into it.

i went to business school and have a masters degree in finance. since getting out of school i have worked in various businesses as a financial analyst.

i got into the investing and learning about stocks because i enjoy doing it. there have been up cycles and down cycles and i have been able to survive so far. over the years i have invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate. its just like any other hobby, i learned from others, from profesionals, and just being curious. no matter how much you learn it feels like there is still so much more to know so its a constant chase.

at times when others spend their down time watching movies, tv, or playing video games, i found myself watching cnbc and trying to make heads or tales out of what they were talking about. i was never satisifed to just put extra money into a bank account and watch it grow at 1-6% depending on what the current rates were at that time.

[g0dzuki]

^I agree with you sir. Currently I am a Senior going for my double degree in Finance and Economics at Rutgers Business School and you definitely need to sacrifice other hobbies to be able to initially peak interest and have some research follow. It's not easy but its not impossible. For some good information on what stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options (put and call) mean, you can look at www.thinkorswim.com and they have some advanced software that allows you to view different prospects of potential assets.

You can also use thinkorswim to have "fake money" in a "fake portfolio" and test your waters, many sites have this, including MSN Money Portfolio.

I'm a little pessimistic about the market as I see it crumbling eventually, the depression that was supposed to happen will happen, or something close to it. Obama just pumped some air into a run-flat with a torn sidewall. It'll only take you so far but will have to stop eventually, and get a new tire; analogy meaning refresh the economy, purge the system, get rid of corruption and primary outsourcing, get more innovative ideas to get more Americans working, citizen or non.

I had my money in AIG, GE(General Electric), AA (Alcoa) and they were pretty safe stocks EXCEPT for AIG, I kind of got screwed when they did the reverse split but I was still able to walk away with some profit.

My advice, don't invest in penny stocks unless you REALLY don't care about your money and depending on what your goal is with your money at the moment, invest accordingly.

[marshallpre1]

Originally Posted by angdefeo

i went to business school and have a masters degree in finance. since getting out of school i have worked in various businesses as a financial analyst.

i got into the investing and learning about stocks because i enjoy doing it. there have been up cycles and down cycles and i have been able to survive so far. over the years i have invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate. its just like any other hobby, i learned from others, from profesionals, and just being curious. no matter how much you learn it feels like there is still so much more to know so its a constant chase.

at times when others spend their down time watching movies, tv, or playing video games, i found myself watching cnbc and trying to make heads or tales out of what they were talking about. i was never satisifed to just put extra money into a bank account and watch it grow at 1-6% depending on what the current rates were at that time.

I'm a mechanical engineer but in the process of getting my MBA part time so I've learned a lot about financials/investments/etc.

[PAdutch]

There was a time when i thought I would like to invest in stocks. I gave it a try but it seemed if you didnt invest alot of time and money you didnt stand a chance. Im talking like an hour or 2 a day min. and like 5k at least. Just sounded like alot of risk for someone isnt in the financial world and doesnt have a ton of spare cash.

Although it does sound pretty entertaining if you have the time, money, knowledge. I mean who doesnt like making money haha.

[TROLL]

You definitely don't have to put much time into it of you're looking for modest long term returns, especially if you're looking into mutual funds and even moreso with bonds. Please don't just let your money sit in a checking or savings acct so it can devalue from inflation!

[PAdutch]

Originally Posted by TROLL

You definitely don't have to put much time into it of you're looking for modest long term returns, especially if you're looking into mutual funds and even moreso with bonds. Please don't just let your money sit in a checking or savings acct so it can devalue from inflation!

Yeah I get that, I guess I was more refering to trading stocks. Sorry if that wasnt clear.