19 replies to this topic

[willy101]

I started picking stocks about a year ago. Made a lot off of seagate and blizzard after earnings, got crushed by apple after the up and down swing

 

how about you?

[Hydrogen]

Yes, I've been investing since I was 19 years old. Six years later, I still can't say I know what I'm doing . Yes, I've made some money from it. But I've also lost some too.

I'm in the same boat with apple. There's actually a pretty interesting course on coursera starting in a couple days on computational investing. I'm going to be taking it.

[Dazz]

I don't invest but back when i used to do business studies we played on a site called BullBearings. It's basically a stock market game if you feel like investing in shit without using real money

[ShadowLink64]

Been investing since 19 as well. I got lucky with some stocks and not lucky with others (net gain though ).

I am trying to decide what to invest in this year. I might just buy some short-term bonds (not long-term, since I figure interest rates have to rise eventually). Still figuring it all out.

[Random]

I have investments in stocks, but mostly long term holdings (planning on keeping for 5+ years.)

I make my higher yield investments from investing in local and online businesses or funding things like that.

[redlion]

I used to paper trade quite extensively, although I stopped altogether when I went to university. Never put my own money into it as I've never had the capital required to really trade. All of my paper accounts were in the black though.

I managed three portfolios. One that was realistic (started with 1000 USD) one that was slightly more adventurous (started with 10,000 USD) and one that I nicknamed "High Roller" because it started with 300,000. Obviously the high roller port had the best margins because you're more free to risk the 50,000 primary investment when it doesn't amount to the entire portfolio.

I make my higher yield investments from investing in local and online businesses or funding things like that.

When you say investing, you mean taking a larger share in the company than you would in the average stock transaction, right?

What I mean is, if you buy 1000 shares of apple, you're buying like, .0001% of the company. Whereas investing in your local business means you buy into a 1/10th of the company, or even larger. Correct me if I'm assuming erroneously

[Random]

You got it - 1/3 is the largest share I have in any. 

[redlion]

You got it - 1/3 is the largest share I have in any.

Just enough to capitalize, but not enough to have a controlling share. Nice

[Hydrogen]

You got it - 1/3 is the largest share I have in any.

Have any of these companies been successful? I ask this because angel investments are typically some of the riskiest. How large a percentage of your portfolio is made up of angel investments, if you don't mind me asking.

[Random]

Just enough to capitalize, but not enough to have a controlling share. Nice

Exactly, but their websites are usually through my personal company as well - giving me the ability to snoop and intervene if need be. 

 

Have any of these companies been successful? I ask this because angel investments are typically some of the riskiest. How large a percentage of your portfolio is made up of angel investments, if you don't mind me asking.

 

I haven't lost on any of them which is hard to believe...I focus on seasonal businesses that always have a strong return. Sports leagues make up most of them and they ALWAYS return well because once you have on successful season you're set. I would say 40% is made up of these kinds of investments. 

 

I also do a lot of business with the same group of 20-somethings who are excellent at running their businesses but absolutely awful at managing their own money. Which works because they always hook me up with gifts and stuff for funding their stuff in addition to the money I make. It's like having dumb older brothers. 

[Jakerz]

I've been investing my money for a while now.. buying my first stock of apple when I was 15 through my parents online broker.. My current portfolio is up somewhere around 30-35% (which isnt hard to do when you start investing at the worst part of the crash lol).. if only I had a couple hundred grand to invest at the time. Right now I'm looking at just short term investments though, so I can buy some rental properties in the near future.

[darktank]

I actually read a book about investing called A Random Walk Down Wall Street which is about the Efficient Market Hypothesis. I think there is an overwhelming amount of evidence out there that suggests that most people would just be better off investing in an S&P 500 index fund or other exchange-traded fund. The problem is that it is probably impossible to beat the market on a consistent basis. Even most mutual funds struggle to beat the performance of the S&P 500 stock index.

[NeoSam]

I invest some of my earnings every year and then of course track them from there. I really just stick to your blue chip stocks though.

[redlion]

I actually read a book about investing called A Random Walk Down Wall Street which is about the Efficient Market Hypothesis. I think there is an overwhelming amount of evidence out there that suggests that most people would just be better off investing in an S&P 500 index fund or other exchange-traded fund. The problem is that it is probably impossible to beat the market on a consistent basis. Even most mutual funds struggle to beat the performance of the S&P 500 stock index.

You shouldn't trust efficient market theory. It's been controversial since it's inception. Some would say it's been debunked.

I do agree with you though. One of the safest bets in my view is to bet on the market as a whole, or bet on a large segment of blue chip stocks, as opposed to trying to pick individual stock symbols.

[luvsmyncis]

I do profit sharing at work for my 401k. All I know about it is they match each of my $1 with $2, and I don't touch it until I'm old. There is a voluntary part where I can take some of THAT money out, but it seems like a lot of paper work is involved, so I don't touch that either.

[Hydrogen]

I do profit sharing at work for my 401k. All I know about it is they match each of my $1 with $2, and I don't touch it until I'm old. There is a voluntary part where I can take some of THAT money out, but it seems like a lot of paper work is involved, so I don't touch that either.

That's an insane match! Congratulations .

My company does no matching .

[Frizzle]

I do profit sharing at work for my 401k. All I know about it is they match each of my $1 with $2, and I don't touch it until I'm old. There is a voluntary part where I can take some of THAT money out, but it seems like a lot of paper work is involved, so I don't touch that either.

 

Is the American 401k like a pension? That sounds almost exactly like my pension..

[redlion]

Is the American 401k like a pension? That sounds almost exactly like my pension..

Yes. It's a (usually) tax-deferred pension account with an annual contribution cap currently at 17,500 USD. The name 401(k) comes from the section of IRS bylaw that allows such a pension account.

Taxes are usually paid when you withdraw from the account, so in essence you're betting that taxes stay the same or go down by the time you're retired. A 401(k) is also a bet that inflation stays relatively the same, as the fund only accrues compound interest. In essence, you're hoping that the interest rate beats the inflation rate, and that the tax rate stays at least as low as it currently is.

Don't get me started on retirement. My mother's best friend (basically the woman who raised me) is a stock market guru, and all she does all day is plan for her retirement. A bunch of her stocks are in a Roth IRA account, so I hear about it all the time.

[Futurama]

I do profit sharing at work for my 401k. All I know about it is they match each of my $1 with $2, and I don't touch it until I'm old. There is a voluntary part where I can take some of THAT money out, but it seems like a lot of paper work is involved, so I don't touch that either.

 

 

 

Walgreens. Am I right?

[HungryForNoms]

I actually read a book about investing called A Random Walk Down Wall Street which is about the Efficient Market Hypothesis. I think there is an overwhelming amount of evidence out there that suggests that most people would just be better off investing in an S&P 500 index fund or other exchange-traded fund. The problem is that it is probably impossible to beat the market on a consistent basis. Even most mutual funds struggle to beat the performance of the S&P 500 stock index.

 

^This.

 

I highly recommend a short book called The Little Book of Main Street Money by a man who did WSJ financial advice columns for decades upon decades. It's super easy to read (I spent a few minutes with it every day and finished it in less than a week, each chapter is probably <5-10 minutes to read). I highly recommend this book.

 

Basically, his message is simple: The odds that you know more than professional hedge fund managers and can crush the market consistently are very low. You can get lucky, but eventually will get crushed if you're greedy. Instead, when investing follow some simple principles:

 

-If you're young, you can think of your work skillset/paycheck like a high yield bond that will pay out for years. Balance your resources by investing heavily in stocks and HOLDING ON even in bear markets (heck, even buying more then). You want to hold onto many of those for decades, so they'll have time to bounce back after bear markets. No need to sell.

 

-If some stocks do especially well you can sell some of the profits and rebalance by buying into other market areas or bonds.

 

-Rather than picking individual stocks you're better off going for mutual funds, index funds, and exchange traded funds (ETFs). This will allow you to capture profit from general market growth or specific sectors of market growth over many years.

 

-Watch the hidden costs in funds. Some charge much more than others (3.5 or 4% instead of 1.5% of your funds value every year, and if you're getting charged 4% and your fund is only growing by 10%/year, you're actually losing about half of your profit to management fees). Sometimes it isn't really clear what these fees are, I had to call my bank to figure out what the charges were on their different mutual fund packages.

 

-Do invest in Roth IRAs if your income is going to be significantly higher when you retire (i.e. if you expect to be in a much higher tax bracket). Of course, if you work for a company that will match your savings for a 401k that's clearly the way to go.

 

I don't have an investment-matching option but I've been maxing out my IRA contributions, and since I'm going to invest heavily in the aggressive part of the market (stocks, not bonds) for the next several years before I'll want to start re-balancing my portfolio with bonds as well, I'm just investing in an S&P500 fund. It's got a very low management cost compared to other index/mutual funds and the funds meant to help people my age (planning to retire several decades down the line) would just charge a higher management fee and invest heavily in stocks right now anyway.

 

Within the next couple years I want to invest some more in robotics and tech, since I think there's still going to be huge growth in those sectors within the next 20-30 years.

 

 

 

Also, if you want the fun of day-trading without losing a ton of money, sites like Yahoo and UpDown will let you sign up for a free account that gives you 'fake money' that you can invest in real stocks. Then you can spend some time getting used to market volatility and see how your investment strategies would pan out in real life without putting your actual money on the line. I've got a portfolio on UpDown right now and I'm tracking real estate and currency index funds to balance my risk against heavy investments in robots and tech companies/ETFs. It's been pretty fun so far.

Edited by HungryForNoms, 03 March 2013 - 08:41 AM.