Who's investing in the market these days?

[TROLL]

Just wanted to bring up this convo again since I'm always interested to hear what others have to say.
What are you all up to these days in such a volatile and struggling market?
I'm no pro, but I like to try and follow along with whats going on in the world today. I've got a lot to learn still and I'm interested in doing that, but so far I've been doing alright and plan to keep with it. I've only worked with stocks and mutual funds so far, but here's my latest activity...

-Bought Apple a 3-4 months ago for $129 I believe... saw it had dropped sharply since the beginning of the year and I managed to buy in at a great time, its at about $185 now. I've watched Apple for a long time, watched it soar, and now that it came back down a good bit I decided to finally get involved.

-Bought Research In Motion a couple months ago and I'm optimistic here as well... Its up a solid 15% or so I believe and I think this year is looking good for them. Followed the stock for a long while and it just seemed like the right time for me and the company to finally take a position in it.

-Last week I bought VFINX which is a Vanguard index fund that follows the S+P 500 pretty closely. I know its a pretty questionable call to get in on that right now but we'll see how it works out, its just something I was feeling at the time so I said what the hell.

Anyone else care to comment on any of this or their own thoughts lately? Just figured it'd make for interesting convo for those who play a bit...

[Soon2bG60]

Dont you like, After too keep after this, Like, All the dang time, Or you get screwed?, Like I mean you always have too watch the market, too watch for raise's and drops, Correct?
Is it really worth it?

[TROLL]

thats a lot of 'likes'... i dont really understand what you're asking... haha

[Soon2bG60]

Haha sorry Troll,
What I mean is, How much do you have too watch the market, And is it really worth it?
Age limit?

[MuddyREX]

Stuff is way too volitile for me right now. Soon.

[Scapegoat]

i'm thinking more long term.

I'm investing in smaller pieces of bucks county art right now. Not only do I have real art to put on the wall, it will be worth something 25-50 years from now. I've seen pieces the size of what I own go for anywhere between 15k to 50k depending on the artist.

Now, the artists I own are not in that range... but they are very successful, very good, artists that are carrying on the traditions of those that made history in that area. They're also still alive... and more importantly, they are friends.

So I get to support them and build a collection of fine art.

[TROLL]

Yeah I think one of the biggest questions to ask is: How do you best handle your money in our economy today? I think thats what I'm most interested to hear about from others.
I've tried to just do what I can with the situation thats been dealt to me, and I'm looking for companies who's stocks have taken a beating but have bright outlooks. There's still plenty of money to be made here, its just not quite as easy as it was a few years ago.
Or maybe the answer is in other types of investing? What do you think?

Originally Posted by Soon2bG60

Haha sorry Troll,
What I mean is, How much do you have too watch the market, And is it really worth it?
Age limit?

Well, its kind of like an executed gamble. You should only invest money that you can afford to lose. I dont know if there's an age limit to be honest, the first investments I made that werent through my dad probably weren't until I was at least 18. There are some investors who watch the market all day long, and others who buy a stock or a mutual fund and they only check on it every 3 to 6 months... so its all what you want to do with it. There is definitely money to be made though, its just all a matter of your tolerance and needs regarding risk vs. reward...

Scapegoat... thats interesting. I've never thought about investing in art before and its definitely one route to take in todays strange world. I'm actually looking at the Supra as an investment that I can enjoy, a similar type of situation I suppose.

And on another note, here's something I found interesting... I have picked all my own stocks/mutuals except for two where I took some suggestions from my father's broker. Of the two stocks he suggested initially one went up (IGT), one went down (BAC)... but now they're both down, one about -3% and the other -30%.
Of the 10 or so other stocks/mutuals I currently own, only one is down about -10%, and I have more than made up for it with my other picks.
I feel kind of lost in the world sometimes making my own selections and I dont feel like I know enough to make educated decisions and that maybe it should be left to the pros, but at the same time I think you stick to what you know, you wait until it feels right, and you dont put all your eggs in one basket. So far I guess I cant complain with that type of gameplan.

[Scapegoat]

as far as the market is concerned... probably within a years time I'm going to take about 5k to a broker, after shopping around for one, and let them do what they see fit...

I consider my truck as an investment as well... prime examples of them go for 30-40k... I paid 2.5k for mine, and figure on spending another 15-20k on the truck over the course of...3-5 years... I shouldn't have to much of an issue getting my money back if I take care of this vehicle.

[Soon2bG60]

Wonder what the market would be like on my bycycle?
hahahaha, Where can I look at this stuff at?

[TROLL]

there are a lot of sites you can use, but i hang out on http://finance.google.com/finance a good amount because i have my portfolio set up there.

another intersting site is http://www.fool.com/ although you have to pay for a lot of their info

i'm also on www.scottrade.com which i've used for a few trades but not much for research... i do believe it is pretty comprehensive as far as research and education goes though.

[Soon2bG60]

Thanks Troll.

[Scapegoat]

well, not sure... but I hear you're not allowed to invest unless you can spell bicycle correctly :p

teasing... just look around online...

I researched the 67-69 C10 before purchasing. I've seen some in the same shape as mine sitting for sale at 4-5k (which a better paint job) I've seen really good examples at 14-15k... I've seen restored examples for 30-40k.

A member of a classic pickup board had his...'68 (I think) appraised for 28k... I'm going to keep the final price of this truck, including purchasing price, under 20k... that should ensure that by the time I'm done I get my money back.

Even if gasoline becomes so outrageously priced, to the point where the common person rarely drives (which we know it won't get that far b/c then the oil companies lose money) my truck will still be worth something to the rich who can afford ****ty gas mileage and awesome cars/trucks.

My investments are more long term minded though... I don't expect to see a return on this stuff within 10-15 years... more like 20-30 years out.

My short term investment is going to be getting back into school and ensuring that I keep my awesome, well paying job, for the next 10-20 years

[TROLL]

Yeah no problem... investing is so important over the course of your life and you can never get started too early. I'd definitely recommend the 'measure twice, cut once' idea as far as doing your homework to get a basic understanding of what you're getting into before taking the plunge, but just start with a small amount of money to get your feet wet and work up from there.
Another interesting way to get into it is to play a Virtual Stock Market Game like http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx where you can build a virtual portfolio for free and see how things work out with that before going for it for real...

[Drftpretty]

sharebuilder.com

[cburwell]

I just follow certain stocks now and again. A few companies that I have considered investing in are Cisco and L3 (Level 3 communications).

Level 3 has dropped about 50% over the past 3-4 years, and Cisco has done about the same over the past 7-8 years.

Long term, both have the potential to grow as telecommunications become increasingly dependent on the internet. Both with be major providers of the infrastructure for this type of growth. Any gains will be slow, since neither of these companies have the volatility of some other stocks (IE: Apple).

[BMS]

there is no age limit, if you got money you can invest in a market.
if you want to know about cisco my dad controlled cisco systems for like the eastern half of the U.S.

[ITSTOCK]

I already dumped a lot, and will continue to dump money in to my main mutual fund, PRMSX. It was right up around $50 nearly a year ago (I bought in a couple years ago when it was bouncing at around $27), and I've gotten relatively solid returns from it. It's at $40 right now, and it's a sure bet that it will bounce way beyond after a bit of time. For the next two years I'll probably dump another $30,000 in to it. I like what they are investing in, but than again, I'm thinking REAL LONG term (i.e. 30 years).

Otherwise, the markets way too dangerous for me to play with individual stocks. It is a great time to get in, but only if you are willing to lose that money. I'm trying to build a house in another year or two, so I can't see pissing away money on short term, high risk investments in the current market.

Oh, and my other investment...guns. They have been, historically speaking, a relatively solid investment.

[Nick 95 6sp]

I never made the time or had interest to follow individual stocks personally, and I didn't want to put my trust into a broker...though there are some good ones worthy of trust and your money, and I figured if you don't devote substantial time and learning to it yourself you won't make out/you'll loose money or not make as much as "other investment options". So since I wasn't banking on making a big fast hit, I've always looked "long term" to have money for retirement; so I put my money into diversified mutal funds with relatively low fund costs. I like Vangaurd for my personal investments, but there are plenty of others around; and thru work our company has a 401k investment managment company that uses a wide mix of other funds, and I put an amount into these funds that matches the maximum amount the company will match against my investment dollar for dollar.

Based on all the historic data I've seen, unless you go the "day trader" route and play real smart and way above average with individual stocks, or find a broker you trust and who will actually work for you and not himself, I find that over the 10+ year window most people can't beat a good market index fund, since by definition it tracks a certain market index, like general top 500 stocks, or top 20 energy sector stocks, or some emerging market mix, etc. When I was younger, I always went with the more aggressive stock funds; now that I'm getting closer to retirement I'm getting a little less aggressive. Having watched many friends and others play and loose over the last 30+ years, I like the "slow but steady" growth path that has less risk but decent growth.

[Chair-Force]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

as far as the market is concerned... probably within a years time I'm going to take about 5k to a broker, after shopping around for one, and let them do what they see fit...

I consider my truck as an investment as well... prime examples of them go for 30-40k... I paid 2.5k for mine, and figure on spending another 15-20k on the truck over the course of...3-5 years... I shouldn't have to much of an issue getting my money back if I take care of this vehicle.

Put 5k in a Roth IRA. Brokers arent going to talk to you if your bankroll is 5k. 25k-50k maybe but they wont really show you love. aka they assign a junior, noob broker to you.
100k will get you some personal attention.

[Jon@WrightAgency]

Troll,

Good idea to watch this 'crazy' market closely right now...a lot of people are getting burnt - BADLY - but in times like these, when many are loosing money - there are FANTASTIC opportunities to make some quick money. What are they? Tough to say. I have been playing with alternative energy a little bit, financials, and commodities a little bit (oil, gold) - and some of my buddies have done quite well with some currency stuff recently.

Honestly, i am VERY interested in the Real Estate market right now - not so much the stock market. With this lull in the market, large amount of inventory, and prices still holding - i think there is a GREAT opportunity to make some money in the next 12-18 months. Time will tell.

(cool thread)