Investing Thread

[StrangeSox]

I don't get what bitcoins were ever supposed to do or be.

[Y2HH]

I don't get what bitcoins were ever supposed to do or be.

 

Online, unregulated currency. It's basically a nice way to avoid paying taxes, and dodging government intervention when buying stuff that could be "underground", since so far, it's basically untracked.

 

They're created by "mining" them with really powerful PC's that decrypt blocks of code, veryyyyyy slowly, which becomes harder and harder to do over time. Usually, this is done in vast networks, where people mine blocks together, and share in the loot based on how many mflops they've decoded. It's quite hard to get a bitcoin, and for a lot of people, it can be more expensive in energy costs than what they end up with in return, for others, who have rooms of machines, perfectly specced, will do much better (ATI and AMD hardware is better than Nvidia/Intel, for instance).

[bigruss]

My company's stock shot up big today, new record for the company. Exciting times for a very conservative (historically) company.

[Jenksismyhero]

My company's stock shot up big today, new record for the company. Exciting times for a very conservative (historically) company.

 

Where was my tip?!

 

Decent bounce back after a pretty brutal day yesterday.

[Buehrle>Wood]

My company's stock shot up big today, new record for the company. Exciting times for a very conservative (historically) company.

 

Guessing you don't work for Disney. Grainger? Only thing I can think of from today.

[southsider2k5]

Guessing you don't work for Disney. Grainger? Only thing I can think of from today.

 

PNC reported today as well.

[bigruss]

Where was my tip?!

 

Decent bounce back after a pretty brutal day yesterday.

Shoulda bought it like 3-4 years ago, ~2.5x as much now.

 

Guessing you don't work for Disney. Grainger? Only thing I can think of from today.

Grainger. Of course tomorrow we'll be down. This is one of the few times when we report we actually get good gains. While we usually have good or solid numbers we typically go up before we report then down when we actually report.

[Balta1701]

Grainger. Of course tomorrow we'll be down. This is one of the few times when we report we actually get good gains. While we usually have good or solid numbers we typically go up before we report then down when we actually report.

People buying on the insider news?

[southsider2k5]

People buying on the insider news?

 

Buy on rumor, sell on news.

[Tuna]

Is anyone else investing in real estate? If so, where are you getting your properties from?

[Y2HH]

Is anyone else investing in real estate? If so, where are you getting your properties from?

 

Not I, since I don't know much about the industry. I believe Rock knows quite a bit about it, though. Speaking as a laymen when it comes to that, it seems like it would be the right time to do so, though.

[Tuna]

I'm doing well with it already, typically buy lists and send direct mail to get the properties (don't like getting into bidding wars with anything listed). I was just seeing if anyone was getting properties in an unconventional way that I haven't thought of yet.

[Chisoxfn]

Why is this thread in filabuster. Just wondering?

[Jenksismyhero]

rabble rabble rabble, capital gains taxes, wall street, white rich men, rabble rabble rabble! That better?

 

So, I have a set regimen of adding to my various mutual funds every 30-45 days, and I swear every single time I do it, the very next day the market drops. Without fail for quite a while now. It'd be nice to gain on that investment on day one just once.

 

 

[bmags]

Forgot this thread existed, good bump.

[Cknolls]

Happy Fibonacci Day!

[farmteam]

I have no idea what Fibonacci Day is necessarily, but wouldn't it have been yesterday? 5-8-13 makes more sense than 5-9-13.

 

EDIT: Though I suppose that wouldn't make sense for any year but 2013, so...carry on.

 

Could be his birth, I guess.

Edited May 10, 2013 by farmteam

[Balta1701]

I have no idea what Fibonacci Day is necessarily, but wouldn't it have been yesterday? 5-8-13 makes more sense than 5-9-13.

 

EDIT: Though I suppose that wouldn't make sense for any year but 2013, so...carry on.

 

Could be his birth, I guess.

It was 5/8/13. Stuff about it should have been popping up on wednesday.

 

0...1...1...2...3...5...8...13...21...34...

 

5/8/13.

[iamshack]

It was 5/8/13. Stuff about it should have been popping up on wednesday.

 

0...1...1...2...3...5...8...13...21...34...

 

5/8/13.

Robert Langdon would be proud, Balta...

[caulfield12]

Does anyone have any tips on any good mutual funds for an 84 year old woman who doesn't necessarily need the money to be invested hyper-conservatively (like a CD or VTIP, treasury inflation protected bonds)...

 

I have her in American Century (KC fund), Vanguard (500 Index, Value, Growth&Income, yeah, I realize there's a lot of duplication and repetition), Oakmark (Select and Oakmark Fund) as well as Legg Mason Value Index/(LMOPX) Opportunity (my biggest disaster, as Bill Miller's status as a guru has ended up a mirage, a lesson learned about chasing the one manager who beat the market 13 years in a row...although it's recovered somewhat after massive redemptions the last five years or so).

 

I put her in some Vodafone because of the high yield about a year ago.

 

Basically, she has too much money in cash/checking/savings getting zero interest, CD's are pointless....so looking at different options to present and don't want to get sold something by Edward Jones so prefer to make decisions independently.

 

VTIP would be a decent hedge against inflation, but obviously hasn't done as well as most equities in the last year.

 

And yes, normally, she should be mostly in fixed income/bonds/CD's/TIP's, etc. And only 10-15% in equities, got it.

 

 

 

 

 

[Y2HH]

Does anyone have any tips on any good mutual funds for an 84 year old woman who doesn't necessarily need the money to be invested hyper-conservatively (like a CD or VTIP, treasury inflation protected bonds)...

 

I have her in American Century (KC fund), Vanguard (500 Index, Value, Growth&Income, yeah, I realize there's a lot of duplication and repetition), Oakmark (Select and Oakmark Fund) as well as Legg Mason Value Index/(LMOPX) Opportunity (my biggest disaster, as Bill Miller's status as a guru has ended up a mirage, a lesson learned about chasing the one manager who beat the market 13 years in a row...although it's recovered somewhat after massive redemptions the last five years or so).

 

I put her in some Vodafone because of the high yield about a year ago.

 

Basically, she has too much money in cash/checking/savings getting zero interest, CD's are pointless....so looking at different options to present and don't want to get sold something by Edward Jones so prefer to make decisions independently.

 

VTIP would be a decent hedge against inflation, but obviously hasn't done as well as most equities in the last year.

 

And yes, normally, she should be mostly in fixed income/bonds/CD's/TIP's, etc. And only 10-15% in equities, got it.

 

I think you already have her invested exactly as you're looking to do here...500 index funds, value funds, etc...unless you go off the wall risky and start buying proshares funds, I don't really see much more you can do with the index/mutual fund market.

 

You could look at individual stocks that pay big dividends, like AT&T, Verizon, First Energy, etc...or perhaps a bit more conservative and buy something like Coke...they pay dividends that equate to 3+% gains...and they're probably pretty safe all things considered.

[Texsox]

What do y'all think of this? USAA has a First Invest Fund targeted for younger investers. It doesn't set the word on fire but offers a very low opening investment of $50 when you autodraft monthly deposits into the account. I was thinking of opening accounts for each of my kids (24 and 22) with joint ownership. Later I would bow out when they turn 30, get married, etc. I need to understand the tax implications doing it that way.

[Y2HH]

What do y'all think of this? USAA has a First Invest Fund targeted for younger investers. It doesn't set the word on fire but offers a very low opening investment of $50 when you autodraft monthly deposits into the account. I was thinking of opening accounts for each of my kids (24 and 22) with joint ownership. Later I would bow out when they turn 30, get married, etc. I need to understand the tax implications doing it that way.

 

For accounts such as this, the money you're putting in is already taxed, so they don't owe taxes on the initial investments, ONLY the profits those investments create (minus trading costs). So if you buy a stock/fund, and it goes up, those gains aren't realized, so they're not taxable. If they sold that stock at a profit, they'd then owe taxes on the PROFIT of that sale upon selling. It doesn't matter who on the account pays the taxes on the profit, so long as it's paid.

 

Look into fees, how much are they charging you for these funds (cost basis), etc...

[Texsox]

For accounts such as this, the money you're putting in is already taxed, so they don't owe taxes on the initial investments, ONLY the profits those investments create (minus trading costs). So if you buy a stock/fund, and it goes up, those gains aren't realized, so they're not taxable. If they sold that stock at a profit, they'd then owe taxes on the PROFIT of that sale upon selling. It doesn't matter who on the account pays the taxes on the profit, so long as it's paid.

 

Look into fees, how much are they charging you for these funds (cost basis), etc...

 

Thank you, I was actually thinking more about the original set up of the account. At some point I will be taking my name off, ''gifting'' it to them. I am wondering if it would actually be advantagious to just leave me off from the beginning. I do like the opportunity to teach them about investing using my money but they would realize the benefits.

 

The fund itself has modest fees. I am picking it for ease of use and low start up costs. I have consolidated almost everything with USAA abd for a small account like his, I am valuing conveinence over returns.

[caulfield12]

I think you already have her invested exactly as you're looking to do here...500 index funds, value funds, etc...unless you go off the wall risky and start buying proshares funds, I don't really see much more you can do with the index/mutual fund market.

 

You could look at individual stocks that pay big dividends, like AT&T, Verizon, First Energy, etc...or perhaps a bit more conservative and buy something like Coke...they pay dividends that equate to 3+% gains...and they're probably pretty safe all things considered.

 

We already have some exposure to all the telecom stocks.

 

First Energy, that's an interesting idea. Maybe 5-6-7 years ago, I put her in Oklahoma Gas & Electric and that was a good move both for appreciation and the yield.

 

Coke's another decent idea. Looks like the yield is higher for FE at this point.

 

Just don't see that there's a whole lot of ceiling left for companies like Google, Apple or Facebook. All those huge gains are probably a thing of the past, too late now to jump on board.

Edited June 22, 2013 by caulfield12