[DVY]

@dude3737- KO and MCD are beast companies. Truly world-class business models, great brands that self-adjust for inflation, leverage other peoples money (KO in terms of bottlers and MCD for franchisees), and have a long track-record of performance. They also increase dividends every year.

My thoughts are to buy KO and MCD as a "quasi-bond". At 20 and 17 P/E, its basically like buying a bond that yields 5-5.8% interest and self-adjusts for inflation. Dividends payouts (real money in pocket) is 2.9% (KO) and 3.45% (MCD). Every year they historically pay-out half their earning in dividends and increase dividends regularly.

If you count it this way, its a much better store of value than precious metals as an inflation hedge. I'd venture a guess that if you factored in stock prices of said companies + dividends it would crush gold/silver.

[thirty-six]

Quick question for you guys that hold Vanguard ETFs (I've been looking at VOO as part of a portfolio base): Do you have Vanguard accounts, or do you buy them through your different brokerage? I have a Charles Schwab brokerage account and a checking account (the reason I got it, they come as a package) which I just funded to invest with and I see that they advertise commission free trades of their home-brand Schwab ETFs. I've seen that Vanguard ETFs are among the industry's cheapest to own because of very low fees, and I was wondering if this rational applies to everyone who owns them regardless of brokerage house, or if it only applies to customers who hold brokerage accounts with them. I would guess that it wouldn't make sense to put your money into a brokerage just to reap a discount on specific funds, and I wouldn't want that to influence what I buy anyway. I just was hoping someone could chip in their thoughts on this point. I prefer to keep my money in Schwab for simplicity's sake. If we have Scwhab clients on here, too, I'd be happy to hear your opinion of trading with them.

[shanefalco]

(01-31-2014 06:03 PM)thirty-six Wrote:  

Quick question for you guys that hold Vanguard ETFs (I've been looking at VOO as part of a portfolio base): Do you have Vanguard accounts, or do you buy them through your different brokerage? I have a Charles Schwab brokerage account and a checking account (the reason I got it, they come as a package) which I just funded to invest with and I see that they advertise commission free trades of their home-brand Schwab ETFs. I've seen that Vanguard ETFs are among the industry's cheapest to own because of very low fees, and I was wondering if this rational applies to everyone who owns them regardless of brokerage house, or if it only applies to customers who hold brokerage accounts with them. I would guess that it wouldn't make sense to put your money into a brokerage just to reap a discount on specific funds, and I wouldn't want that to influence what I buy anyway. I just was hoping someone could chip in their thoughts on this point. I prefer to keep my money in Schwab for simplicity's sake. If we have Scwhab clients on here, too, I'd be happy to hear your opinion of trading with them.

I think your question involves expense ratios. Vanguard ETF's are known for having cheap expense ratios, but as a client of Schwab you might want to look at their brand of ETF's. For example, VTI is the Vanguard ETF for the Total Stock Market. It has a net expense ratio of 0.05%. SCHB is the Schwab ETF for the Total Stock Market, and equivalent fund. It's net expense ratio is 0.04%, cheaper than Vanguard. With the Schwab fund, you also can buy and sell that fund for free, while you'll have to pay Schwab's fee to buy the Vanguard fund. Although the fee is only $8.95, it still adds to your overall cost. Schwab is also known for having a great checking account.

I think you need to examine how you would like to invest (allocation, fund family, etc), and determine the best way to invest that way.

If you would like to stick with Vanguard, TD Ameritrade offers many Vanguard etfs for free and also offers a banking function similar to Schwab's. Fidelity also offers a similar checking account with access to ishares etfs.

[shanefalco]

(01-31-2014 12:19 AM)Sugar Wrote:  

I have heard Vanguard and Fidelity have the most reliable funds, highest investor satisfaction, etc.

Is this fact or fiction?

Edit: I'm a new investor, complete amateur at this point, having just started on some learning resources

See my response to thirty-six for a somewhat answer to your question.

Also, if you are looking for a good book on investing, i suggest reading "Fail-Safe Investing" by Harry Browne or the updated version, "The Permanent Portfolio" by Craig Rowland. Both are great books that gives you a great breakdown of different asset classes.

[achromaticmike]

(01-24-2014 11:03 PM)Dexter Moser Wrote:  

IMO, the two best answers to this question are 1) You don't know and 2) it doesn't matter.

"You don't know" because, although every guy and his brother has a theory on the stock market, it's been shown time and again to be relatively unpredictable in the short run. Eugene Fama demonstrated the randomness of the stock market in his books, as did Burton Malkiel in "A Random Walk Down Wall Street". Fama won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2013.

More importantly, "it doesn't matter" because, while the stock market is relatively unpredictable in the short run, it has been remarkably predictable in the long run: it has averaged close to an annual 10% rate in nearly every decade over the past 100 years. Since many, if not most, of the users of this site appear to be young, they've got a VERY long time horizon. that means they can put the equity piece of their investment portfolio (and equity should be the bulk of it, 70% or more, for young people) in some low-cost index fund that mirrors the S&P 500 and let it sit there for the next 30-40 years. Strategies of asset timing almost invariably fall short of buy-and-hold investment strategies over the long term. Now, if you need that money to buy a house in the next three years, that's different - but that money shouldn't be in equities to begin with.

My personal view is the market is over-valued and the 3% YTD correction we've just seen is the start of a larger correction - perhaps 10% or so. We've gone over 400 days without a serious correction, and that's a long time. But that's just a guess - we really don't know! The market appeared over-valued, based on historical valuation metrics, in the fall of 2012, and I remember a famous investment "guru" who said the get out of the market. Of course, it soared over 30% since then! Just because the market appears irrational or over-valued doesn't mean it can't stay that way for a long time. In any event, the long-term investor is likely to get a return close to 10% per yr and the gyrations in between don't much matter.

This sounds like the financial-theory version of "men rape women because of power";

...of course the American stock market has risen X% a year for a century. You're talking about the rise of a nothing nation to the richest, most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. Does anyone really think that's going to think that's the path America is on for the next 100 years?

[DVY]

American companies are still amazing because there is (for the most part) cultural integrity. There are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large GAAP accounting, SEC regs and other agencies prevent OUTRIGHT FRAUD.

This isn't the case for developing nations.

[Steve9]

(01-31-2014 02:25 AM)DVY Wrote:  

KO and MCD are beast companies. Truly world-class business models, great brands that self-adjust for inflation, leverage other peoples money (KO in terms of bottlers and MCD for franchisees), and have a long track-record of performance. They also increase dividends every year.

Exactly DVY. My case for KO is that there are about a billion people in the emerging markets that will soon reach an income level where they can afford KO beverages.

[Cincinnatus]

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold), but as I understand it, one could've bought PHOT at a penny per share, then sold it at, say, $0.25 per share, a 2500% increase. An initial investment of $100.00 + broker's fees, then selling for $2,500 + broker's fees, seems like a decent investment.

Just tracking marijuana stocks yesterday, Fusion Pharmaceuticals (ticker:FSPM) caught my eye. Closed yesterday at $6.75 per share ... yesterday's low price was $5.15 per share, though it peaked at $8.34 a bit before 4 p.m. EST ... The 52-week low was $0.08!

[Steve9]

(02-01-2014 06:26 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold),

Cincinnatus, these seem like penny stocks that have been heavily hyped (have you seen the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"....)

You seem to be an investing noob, so I would tread very carefully - there is a good chance you will get screwed on these stocks.

[Cincinnatus]

(02-01-2014 08:07 PM)Steve9 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 06:26 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold),

Cincinnatus, these seem like penny stocks that have been heavily hyped (have you seen the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"....)

You seem to be an investing noob, so I would tread very carefully - there is a good chance you will get screwed on these stocks.

No doubt - I am an investing newbie, hence the only stocks I own at the moment are established companies with a solid track record - most based in my hometown.

That said, I've decided that my "30 minutes a day" project will be learning as much as possible about investing and trading stocks.

I've signed up for WallStreetDaily.com's newsletter and have read most of their reports. And I've been playing around with marketwatch.com's stock market game just to get a feel for things.

I don't doubt that I could lose an assload of money, but if I don't play with more than I can afford to lose, I don't see the problem with throwing some money at the market - especially considering a decent payoff could happen.

Haven't seen The Wolf of Wall Street yet, it's on my "must-view" list though. Waiting for it to come out on DVD.

[BIGINJAPAN]

(02-01-2014 02:16 PM)DVY Wrote:  

American companies are still amazing because there is (for the most part) cultural integrity. There are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large GAAP accounting, SEC regs and other agencies prevent OUTRIGHT FRAUD.

This isn't the case for developing nations.

HAHAHA

You clearly dont understand GAAP accounting and integrity. And the SEC sure did a great job of finding all those Ponzi schemes. I guess they were too busy watching tranny porn. Or sucking Jamie Dimon's cock. JP morgans made hundreds of billions of dollars fucking everyone and they get find 20 billion. HSBC is laundering hundreds of billions of dollars and no one has gone to jail, just a small fine.


Good luck investing

[CombatDiet]

@ Julio

Do you know of any resources that describe how the Spanish economy works? As in, how you can have youth unemployment (and unemployment generally) high, real estate prices high, etc.

[JayJuanGee]

(02-01-2014 08:12 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:07 PM)Steve9 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 06:26 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold),

Cincinnatus, these seem like penny stocks that have been heavily hyped (have you seen the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"....)

You seem to be an investing noob, so I would tread very carefully - there is a good chance you will get screwed on these stocks.

No doubt - I am an investing newbie, hence the only stocks I own at the moment are established companies with a solid track record - most based in my hometown.

That said, I've decided that my "30 minutes a day" project will be learning as much as possible about investing and trading stocks.

I've signed up for WallStreetDaily.com's newsletter and have read most of their reports. And I've been playing around with marketwatch.com's stock market game just to get a feel for things.

I don't doubt that I could lose an assload of money, but if I don't play with more than I can afford to lose, I don't see the problem with throwing some money at the market - especially considering a decent payoff could happen.

Haven't seen The Wolf of Wall Street yet, it's on my "must-view" list though. Waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Cincinnatus:

I can definitely relate to your above response.

I have a somewhat evolving philosophy regarding investment; however, I have always considered that a guy can take a certain level of high risk with a percentage of his total investment portfolio (taking high risk with possibly up to around 10% of the total), so long as the remainder of the investment portfolio is fairly well diversified.

Surely, guys are going to come to differing specific choices about how to distribute their investment risks and how much risks they feel comfortable to take... maybe also depending on various timeline factors as to when they are going to need the money.

As Steve 9 mentioned, I would be very skeptical of any investment choices that appear to be being hyped up based on what occurred last year without some further info about the company or the fund (unless maybe if I am throwing only less than perhaps 1% of my total investment portfolio at such an unknown risk).

(02-01-2014 08:26 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 02:16 PM)DVY Wrote:  

American companies are still amazing because there is (for the most part) cultural integrity. There are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large GAAP accounting, SEC regs and other agencies prevent OUTRIGHT FRAUD.

This isn't the case for developing nations.

HAHAHA

You clearly dont understand GAAP accounting and integrity.

Good luck investing

Big_in_J:

Do you have a link or some kind of further explanation for your assertion regarding DVY's post, rather than merely asserting that a guy is ill informed?

Personally, I do NOT put a lot of credence in the financial shenanigans within the USA financial system, yet I believe it would be a fairly complicated matter to unravel regarding the various kinds of hocus pocus that occurs to mislead and deceive investors which likely varies considerably from company to company and industry to industry.

[Veloce]

(02-01-2014 08:26 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

HAHAHA

You clearly dont understand GAAP accounting and integrity. And the SEC sure did a great job of finding all those Ponzi schemes. I guess they were too busy watching tranny porn. Or sucking Jamie Dimon's cock. JP morgans made hundreds of billions of dollars fucking everyone and they get find 20 billion. HSBC is laundering hundreds of billions of dollars and no one has gone to jail, just a small fine.

Good luck investing

DVY is talking about investing in high quality common stock, not getting involved with a Ponzi scheme, nor was he lauding the integrity of banks. Your post is as inflammatory as it is condescending.

[BIGINJAPAN]

^^^^^ Before he talked about " high quality " stocks he was talking about american companies integrity. Well if you know anything about GAAP accounting then it is anything but integrity... GAAP pretty much allows walking zombie companies to show profitability even though they are anything but.... You will all learn a hard lesson if you investing based on GAAP earnings...

Secondly he praised the SEC... Which is constantly having its employees caught watching porn and specifically tranny porn at work... What a great american institution for protecting investors... We dont need to talk about the banks as examples... How about enron, worldcom and the likes ? How about future companies like FB, NFLX, AMZN, SBUX.. GAAP is allowing them to fuck investors

As for high quality stocks, why would you invest in something like MCDs and KO now ? Don't you think you missed the boat on those ? Why not find the future ones for our generation ? Besides there will come a time that those companies will struggle once more people wake up to the harm they cause to the human body... Not to mention MCD had an epic fail with its value menu and now is struggling with earnings.

[BIGINJAPAN]

If you doubt what i am saying just go to http://www.zerohedge.com or market-ticker.org for real breakdowns of Earnings and how GAAP and NON GAAP accounting really works and how it looks on graphs...

Now is earnings season, so everything pay attention to these websites as major companies report earnings. You might be shocked to see how great american companies are nothing but legends in their own minds

[Veloce]

(02-01-2014 09:28 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

^^^^^ Before he talked about " high quality " stocks he was talking about american companies integrity. Well if you know anything about GAAP accounting then it is anything but integrity... GAAP pretty much allows walking zombie companies to show profitability even though they are anything but.... You will all learn a hard lesson if you investing based on GAAP earnings...

I don't think anyone is investing based solely on GAAP earnings.

Quote:

Secondly he praised the SEC... Which is constantly having its employees caught watching porn and specifically tranny porn at work... What a great american institution for protecting investors... We dont need to talk about the banks as examples... How about enron, worldcom and the likes ? How about future companies like FB, NFLX, AMZN, SBUX.. GAAP is allowing them to fuck investors

As with any oversight committee, things will slip through the cracks, rules will be bent. That doesn't mean they're ineffective or irrelevant. I'm also curious how you think FB, NFLX, AMZN, SBUX are out to fuck investors. Honest question.

Quote:

As for high quality stocks, why would you invest in something like MCDs and KO now ? Don't you think you missed the boat on those ? Why not find the future ones for our generation ? Besides there will come a time that those companies will struggle once more people wake up to the harm they cause to the human body... Not to mention MCD had an epic fail with its value menu and now is struggling with earnings.

I don't disagree with this, and agree with the "missed the boat" aspect. However there are still vast emerging markets for both companies and I wouldn't write them off as "struggling" anytime in our lifetime.

BIGINJAPAN I think you're probably a pretty smart and knowledgeable guy, but you might consider your tone. Your arguments would be better conveyed using practical data instead of dramatic rhetoric about
how fucked up our financial institutions are. [/quote]

[Veloce]

(02-01-2014 09:33 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

Now is earnings season, so everything pay attention to these websites as major companies report earnings. You might be shocked to see how great american companies are nothing but legends in their own minds

There's not a single company that's immune to any thousands of factors affecting their earnings. You don't assess a "great american company" as a "legend" based on Q4 '13 earnings, you look over the course of years.

Also, I looked at that website. Typical "sky is falling" rhetoric completely in line with Simon Black's "Sovereign Man". Just another website rambling on about how fucked up the whole world is, and in the one post I could find giving solid data on stock performance, it's punctuated with more extreme views and followed by a completely useless comments section. Not one useful piece of advice or information that I can't find somewhere else and presented in a more level-headed manner.

I'm not one for rosy outlooks, I'm about as financially conservative and skeptical as they come, but that website is BS. Any financial website whose heading is a quote from Fight Club shouldn't be taken very seriously.

[reaper23]

(01-01-2014 09:51 AM)reaper23 Wrote:  

hypothesis:

volatility is low, market is over valued, P/E's out of wack, share buy backs propping up prices, yen carry trade pushing assets, fed QE pushing economy, nothing real moving economy.

play:

i want to play long vol, short the market

question:

best way to do this with the understanding that the market can be irrational longer than i can be solvent

one thought I had was out of the money long dated puts on DIA or SPY. but I can't get expiration dates later than dec '14 / jan '15 through etrade.

any ideas?

shoulda made these trades!! FUCK

[Richiavelli]

(02-01-2014 09:33 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

If you doubt what i am saying just go to http://www.zerohedge.com or market-ticker.org for real breakdowns of Earnings and how GAAP and NON GAAP accounting really works and how it looks on graphs...

Now is earnings season, so everything pay attention to these websites as major companies report earnings. You might be shocked to see how great american companies are nothing but legends in their own minds

While I enjoy reading zerohedge, I take anything they say with a grain of salt. Those guys love precious medals waaaay too much. They were bullish on gold all year...and then it got monkey hammered as the worst performing asset of 2013.

Cash flow is probably one of the more important things to look at. If you aren't looking at cash flow, you can't see past GAAP. MCD always churns out good operating cash flow. I'm currently long MCD right now since December (it's taken a bit of a tumble since then but no worries.)

While I'm hesitant to buy really anything right now, what am I going to do...have it sit and earn 1 cent each month?

FYI guys, I bought a muni bond CEF called PML late December, it's been rallying at 5% up last month. Pays a sweet yearly dividend that's TaX fReE - not sure if you guys are really hot on muni's but I like it better than other bond alternatives (I was using SCHZ until I found this).

[Richiavelli]

(02-01-2014 08:40 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:12 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:07 PM)Steve9 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 06:26 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold),

Cincinnatus, these seem like penny stocks that have been heavily hyped (have you seen the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"....)

You seem to be an investing noob, so I would tread very carefully - there is a good chance you will get screwed on these stocks.

No doubt - I am an investing newbie, hence the only stocks I own at the moment are established companies with a solid track record - most based in my hometown.

That said, I've decided that my "30 minutes a day" project will be learning as much as possible about investing and trading stocks.

I've signed up for WallStreetDaily.com's newsletter and have read most of their reports. And I've been playing around with marketwatch.com's stock market game just to get a feel for things.

I don't doubt that I could lose an assload of money, but if I don't play with more than I can afford to lose, I don't see the problem with throwing some money at the market - especially considering a decent payoff could happen.

Haven't seen The Wolf of Wall Street yet, it's on my "must-view" list though. Waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Cincinnatus:

I can definitely relate to your above response.

I have a somewhat evolving philosophy regarding investment; however, I have always considered that a guy can take a certain level of high risk with a percentage of his total investment portfolio (taking high risk with possibly up to around 10% of the total), so long as the remainder of the investment portfolio is fairly well diversified.

Surely, guys are going to come to differing specific choices about how to distribute their investment risks and how much risks they feel comfortable to take... maybe also depending on various timeline factors as to when they are going to need the money.

As Steve 9 mentioned, I would be very skeptical of any investment choices that appear to be being hyped up based on what occurred last year without some further info about the company or the fund (unless maybe if I am throwing only less than perhaps 1% of my total investment portfolio at such an unknown risk).

I agree 100%. Honestly if I were in your position I'd sell most of it off and pick up a good book to learn how to invest, not speculate. You need to fundamental base for your portfolio instead of trying to play the market by news. Most likely all the MAJOR money on marajuana stocks has been made, any leftover scraps probably aren't worth chasing unless you do some serious research.

Dollar cost average SPY, SCHX (models SPY), or SCHB (models dow and some).

I don't think there are enough cult people following pot stocks right now for it to become a cult like Tesla.

(02-01-2014 08:40 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:26 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 02:16 PM)DVY Wrote:  

American companies are still amazing because there is (for the most part) cultural integrity. There are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large GAAP accounting, SEC regs and other agencies prevent OUTRIGHT FRAUD.

This isn't the case for developing nations.

HAHAHA

You clearly dont understand GAAP accounting and integrity.

Good luck investing

Big_in_J:

Do you have a link or some kind of further explanation for your assertion regarding DVY's post, rather than merely asserting that a guy is ill informed?

Personally, I do NOT put a lot of credence in the financial shenanigans within the USA financial system, yet I believe it would be a fairly complicated matter to unravel regarding the various kinds of hocus pocus that occurs to mislead and deceive investors which likely varies considerably from company to company and industry to industry.

FYI I'd take America's financial system over China's financial system or any other emerging market. Take your ChInEsE rEvErSe MeRgErS if you wish.

[Cincinnatus]

Quote:

Honestly if I were in your position I'd sell most of it off and pick up a good book to learn how to invest, not speculate. You need to fundamental base for your portfolio instead of trying to play the market by news. Most likely all the MAJOR money on marajuana stocks has been made, any leftover scraps probably aren't worth chasing unless you do some serious research.

Dollar cost average SPY, SCHX (models SPY), or SCHB (models dow and some).

I don't think there are enough cult people following pot stocks right now for it to become a cult like Tesla.

I've gotten into marijuana stocks because I believe atleast one of them is going to take off. 20 states and D.C. have medical marijuana, Colorado and Washington have legal recreational marijuana, and it's going on the ballot (recreationally) in four more states this fall. I don't mind gambling a bit, as long as my overall portfolio is sound.

The best stock pick I've made was several years ago as part of Jarden Corp.'s employee stock purchase plan. This was not too long after the recession hit, stock was trading for under $10 share - currently hovering around $60.00

[BIGINJAPAN]

(02-02-2014 06:09 PM)Richiavelli Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:40 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:12 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:07 PM)Steve9 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 06:26 PM)Cincinnatus Wrote:  

Heavily interested in marijuana-related stocks at the moment.

Cannabis Science Inc. (ticker:CBIS) closed yesterday at $0.18 ... 52 week high $0.26, 52 week low $0.03

Medical Marijuana Inc. (ticker:MJNA) closed yesterday at $0.37 ... 52 week high $0.50, 52 week low $0.09

GrowLife Inc. (tickerHOT) closed yesterday at $0.31 ... 52 week high $0.47, 52 week low $0.0042

Honestly I don't know much about trading stock (I've only bought, have never sold),

Cincinnatus, these seem like penny stocks that have been heavily hyped (have you seen the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street"....)

You seem to be an investing noob, so I would tread very carefully - there is a good chance you will get screwed on these stocks.

No doubt - I am an investing newbie, hence the only stocks I own at the moment are established companies with a solid track record - most based in my hometown.

That said, I've decided that my "30 minutes a day" project will be learning as much as possible about investing and trading stocks.

I've signed up for WallStreetDaily.com's newsletter and have read most of their reports. And I've been playing around with marketwatch.com's stock market game just to get a feel for things.

I don't doubt that I could lose an assload of money, but if I don't play with more than I can afford to lose, I don't see the problem with throwing some money at the market - especially considering a decent payoff could happen.

Haven't seen The Wolf of Wall Street yet, it's on my "must-view" list though. Waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Cincinnatus:

I can definitely relate to your above response.

I have a somewhat evolving philosophy regarding investment; however, I have always considered that a guy can take a certain level of high risk with a percentage of his total investment portfolio (taking high risk with possibly up to around 10% of the total), so long as the remainder of the investment portfolio is fairly well diversified.

Surely, guys are going to come to differing specific choices about how to distribute their investment risks and how much risks they feel comfortable to take... maybe also depending on various timeline factors as to when they are going to need the money.

As Steve 9 mentioned, I would be very skeptical of any investment choices that appear to be being hyped up based on what occurred last year without some further info about the company or the fund (unless maybe if I am throwing only less than perhaps 1% of my total investment portfolio at such an unknown risk).

I agree 100%. Honestly if I were in your position I'd sell most of it off and pick up a good book to learn how to invest, not speculate. You need to fundamental base for your portfolio instead of trying to play the market by news. Most likely all the MAJOR money on marajuana stocks has been made, any leftover scraps probably aren't worth chasing unless you do some serious research.

Dollar cost average SPY, SCHX (models SPY), or SCHB (models dow and some).

I don't think there are enough cult people following pot stocks right now for it to become a cult like Tesla.

(02-01-2014 08:40 PM)JayJuanGee Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:26 PM)BIGINJAPAN Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 02:16 PM)DVY Wrote:  

American companies are still amazing because there is (for the most part) cultural integrity. There are a few bad apples here and there, but by and large GAAP accounting, SEC regs and other agencies prevent OUTRIGHT FRAUD.

This isn't the case for developing nations.

HAHAHA

You clearly dont understand GAAP accounting and integrity.

Good luck investing

Big_in_J:

Do you have a link or some kind of further explanation for your assertion regarding DVY's post, rather than merely asserting that a guy is ill informed?

Personally, I do NOT put a lot of credence in the financial shenanigans within the USA financial system, yet I believe it would be a fairly complicated matter to unravel regarding the various kinds of hocus pocus that occurs to mislead and deceive investors which likely varies considerably from company to company and industry to industry.

FYI I'd take America's financial system over China's financial system or any other emerging market. Take your ChInEsE rEvErSe MeRgErS if you wish.

The biggest frauds that have ever happened in publicly traded companies are from the US.... No one even comes close... At least in other countries when someone gets caught they are killed or jailed... Not in good ole US of A..

You can all think what you want about zerohedge and them being fear mongers... But their analysis of Earnings and GAAP accounting is spot on... They may love gold but they loved it since $700. So even though gold went down last year, anybody who has been buying it based on them first recommending it are still up nicely.

As for FB, AMZN, NFLX and the bunch, it isnt so much them trying to fuck investors as it is the investment banks taking them public. They know the public is too stupid to to realize these companies will never be profitable in the long run. FB, TWTR and NFLX especially... AMZN and SBUX are just poorly ran and once interest rates go up they wont be able to stay afloat.

[BIGINJAPAN]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_scandal

[Days of Broken Arrows]

A good way to protect yourself from big losses is to buy stocks that also pay a dividend. If you do wind up with a loss on paper, a dividend stock can help in the following ways.

1). The dividend, added over time, can make up or equal the loss. So you can get out of a "loss" breaking even or with a small profit.

2). There is usually a run-up on the ex-dividend date because a lot of people buy in for the dividend. If you need to get out, this is the day since the price rises.

3). Often a stock will raise its dividend and more people will suddenly buy in, jacking up the price.

The negative is that stocks with high dividends usually aren't as volatile, so you don't get the big gains. But if you buy into enough of them, the dividends add up and you can make money that way too.

I would recommend looking into the Nuveen Equity Funds, that offer a good return and are pretty solid too. There's also the REIT market, which is down now, and a good time to buy in (but be careful here and really study what you plan to buy).