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#1 Apr 25 2006 at 12:08 PM Rating: Default

I recently started investing in some areas of the stock market. I am just posting this to indulge my curiosty by hopefully yall answering a few questions. Do you currently have any stocks? If so, where is the bulk of your money invested?

I have 1,500 to start and I put some money in nVidia, Tim Hortons and a company my mom is currently doing research for. The bulk of that money is currently invested in my moms company but that may change once it gets to 5 dollars.

I don't really have any experience in this area, nor does anyone in my family. I'm just wondering if there was particular things to look for besides the obvious -- direction of graphs, releasing on new products, et cetera. Or maybe you have some juicy tip you want to lend me by pms. Smiley: sly Smiley: lol



#2 Apr 25 2006 at 12:09 PM Rating: Good
Diversify and stay in it for the long run.
#3 Apr 25 2006 at 12:14 PM Rating: Excellent
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Most of my investing is handled by way of tax-deferred 401ks, limiting me to an array of mutual funds. Investments are diversified heavily; some in tech funds, some in blue chip funds, some in growth funds, some in retirement, and most importantly some in funds geared to overseas markets. Sure, if we tank the global economy eats it, but the cash I had in my overseas funds weathered the crash of the internet bubble amazingly well.
#4 Apr 25 2006 at 12:14 PM Rating: Excellent
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Elderon the Wise wrote:
Diversify and stay in it for the long run.


/nod Don't try to make the stock the quick buck run, otherwise you'll lose more than your shirt.

For all the securities and bonds that I own, I have the dividends and interest coming off those reinvested automatically too.

#5 Apr 25 2006 at 12:15 PM Rating: Good
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How to invest depends on your goals and risk tolerance. But generally speaking, it's not a good idea to invest in individual stocks, but if you do, then it should be more than just a couple of them.

Mutual funds are the way to go.

#6 Apr 25 2006 at 12:16 PM Rating: Good
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Don't guess. Look for mutual funds and let the pros do it. Invest heavily in the high risk areas since you are young.

The stock market is worse than Vegas.
#7 Apr 25 2006 at 12:18 PM Rating: Good
NephthysWanderer the Charming wrote:
The stock market is worse than Vegas.
I disagree. You can't get drunk and marry a hooker at an Elvis chapel on the stock market.
#8 Apr 25 2006 at 12:24 PM Rating: Good
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Quote:
But generally speaking, it's not a good idea to invest in individual stocks, but if you do, then it should be more than just a couple of them.


If I remember correctly the magic number where your gains and losses should balance out and growth should occur is with ownership of 20 different stocks.

12-20 is what I vaguely remember, beyond 20 you have over diversified and should only be investing for dividends, under 20 you will eat hard losses sometimes.

To clarify, by 20 stocks, I mean 20 different types of stocks, ie technology,foods,retail etc etc. Such that when 1 industry takes a hit another industry increases, offsetting the loss.

Edited, Tue Apr 25 13:26:46 2006 by Kronig
#9 Apr 25 2006 at 12:25 PM Rating: Default


Thanks chaps, I will definitly look into that. Anybody heard anything about that "blue ray" technology? I'm not sure what the price for them right now is, but that seems fairly risky and could be a huge reward if it makes it big. I don't know, I think I will wait.

#10 Apr 25 2006 at 12:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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LtGoose the Hand wrote:
Or maybe you have some juicy tip you want to lend me by pms.
I got this hot tip via e-mail. I don't think i know the guy who sent it to me but he must be an old friend:
My old friend wrote:
Cross Atlantic Life and Science Technology, Inc.

Company Symbol: CTFE.PK
Current Price: $0.0085
Weekly Target: $0.10
Our Rating: 10/10
Status: Extremely St#ong Buy

Cross Atlantic Life Science Technology Inc. Shareholder Update
Friday April 21, 5:20 pm ET

Cross Atlantic Life Science Technology Inc. (Other OTC:CTFE.PK - News) ("the "Company") announces that further to the March 29, 2006 news release, management has begun due diligence on Oil and Gas properties in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Gold properties in Mongolia.
I was going to invest but I didn't have any 85/100ths of a penny lying about.
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#11 Apr 25 2006 at 12:40 PM Rating: Good
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Based on Jophiel's e-mail:

If you invested $100 at .0085 per share = 11,764.70588 shares

If they increased in price to .1 and you sold them, you would gain exactly 1,076.47.

Not a bad return for $100...

Barring the obvious scam and the fact that penny stocks rarely shoot up 100 * their share price...

For all I know at least.

#12 Apr 25 2006 at 12:43 PM Rating: Good
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LtGoose the Hand wrote:
Thanks chaps, I will definitly look into that. Anybody heard anything about that "blue ray" technology? I'm not sure what the price for them right now is, but that seems fairly risky and could be a huge reward if it makes it big. I don't know, I think I will wait.


BluRay discs and HD-DVDs are going to be all the rage as soon as the PS3 hits. Sony is going to market the hell out of everyone to produce the BluRays in mass quantities. Like any new technology, they are going to cost a pretty penny during their initial years and then steadily level out, bringing the price into an average consumer's range. Could be a good investment. Sony hasn't failed yet with the majority of their technology. I see no reason why the PS3 and BluRay will be any different.

Edited, Tue Apr 25 13:50:09 2006 by Mearyk
#13 Apr 25 2006 at 2:33 PM Rating: Good
I own some shares of GTE, er, I mean Verizon, er, I guess that will be AT&T now? I'm not selling this anytime soon. I have a 401k, but very little of that is in stocks. I do have a retirement plan, but it is defined benefit - not defined contribution. I'll get a fraction of my pay plus full medical when I retire.

If you're going to buy stock at all (and it should be the minority of your overall portfolio) and hold it, I'd recommend an index fund. Low fees and they virtually always outperform managed funds - mostly because of the fees and the mechanism by which funds are evaluated.

You have US$1500? What are you paying to make a transation? Just curious.
#14 Apr 25 2006 at 3:58 PM Rating: Excellent
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NephthysWanderer the Charming wrote:
Don't guess. Look for mutual funds and let the pros do it. Invest heavily in the high risk areas since you are young.

The stock market is worse than Vegas.


Only if you define "worse" as "pretty much guaranteed to make you money over time"...

Your advice is basically backwards. You want to invest in relatively safe stuff when you're young. You've got time to let the safe investments grow. That's not to say you can't invest in some specific stocks that you think might be big payoffs, but it's a smart bet to put investment money into long term mutual funds.

Find a stock ticker site on the internet (there's a zillion of them). Even taking a broad example like overall growth in DJI, you can take any two points that are 40 years or so apart and see a dramatic increase in value. It really doesn't matter which two points you use either. You *will* gain a significant return on your investment over time.

For the most part, unless a stock literally goes belly up, it'll be worth more in the long term then it was when you bought it.
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#15 Apr 25 2006 at 4:05 PM Rating: Good
gbaji wrote:
NephthysWanderer the Charming wrote:
Don't guess. Look for mutual funds and let the pros do it. Invest heavily in the high risk areas since you are young.

The stock market is worse than Vegas.


Only if you define "worse" as "pretty much guaranteed to make you money over time"...

Your advice is basically backwards. You want to invest in relatively safe stuff when you're young. You've got time to let the safe investments grow.


T. Rowe Price agrees with Neph -- at least that's what they are telling me. I have a 401k in their 2040 retirement fund which moves you from higher risk to lower risk as you approach 2040 (retirement age for me).
#16 Apr 25 2006 at 4:11 PM Rating: Excellent
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My 401(k) company says the same. Actually, any investment advice I've heard says that youth is the time to invest in higher risk ventures.
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#17 Apr 25 2006 at 6:46 PM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
My 401(k) company says the same. Actually, any investment advice I've heard says that youth is the time to invest in higher risk ventures.


I was contrasting the starting risk level depending on how old you are when you *start* investing. That's not the same as reletive risk level over the course of your investment career.

If you first start investing at age 55, you may as well put it in riskier investments and/or short term, high yield investments, since you want to actually make a return before you kick off. If you're age 55 and have been investing for the last 35 years, obviously you're going to do things differently.
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#18 Apr 25 2006 at 7:57 PM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
I was contrasting the starting risk level depending on how old you are when you *start* investing. That's not the same as reletive risk level over the course of your investment career.
Meh. Same deal. Everyone I've heard recommends a more conservative approach when you start investing later in life rather than taking the money you do have and gambling it on the proverbial throw of the dice in a high risk venture.

Now, of course, anyone intelligent will also tell you to diversify and, if you're starting to invest at 55 you may wish to place a portion of your savings into a high risk venture in hopes of a good reward while hedging enough in lower risk, lower yield investments to keep yourself in applesauce and liniment if it turns out that Biologically Enchanced Toasters aren't the next big thing after all. My own investment guide from my 401(k) recommends a higher ratio of risky ventures to safe ones for someone young and gradually changes to balance as you age to recommend a more conservative portfolio for older people starting out.

Really, it's not a point I care enough about to debate in depth -- I'm just sayin' what the money-people tell me.
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#19 Apr 25 2006 at 8:09 PM Rating: Good
Mearyk the Mundane wrote:

BluRay discs and HD-DVDs are going to be all the rage as soon as the PS3 hits. Sony is going to market the hell out of everyone to produce the BluRays in mass quantities. Like any new technology, they are going to cost a pretty penny during their initial years and then steadily level out, bringing the price into an average consumer's range. Could be a good investment. Sony hasn't failed yet with the majority of their technology. I see no reason why the PS3 and BluRay will be any different.


Sony actually did just have a huge failure with one of its innovative products. The UMD has failed miserably in the world market. The UMD was the mini DVD that was supposed to run on the PSP (the PSP hasn't quite lived up to the hype either). Also, from what I understand, the main reason why the PS3 launch date was pushed back is because the BlueRay technology had some bugs. I may be wrong on the BlueRay comment.

Being a foreign exchange trader in RL, I say invest in the FX market. You need to do a huge amount of research though. The turn-around can be huge.

If you do not want to invest a huge amount of time, do what everyone else has said. Invest in some mutual funds. Go for some high risks ones if you are young. Never put all of your eggs in the same basket though.

#20 Apr 25 2006 at 8:11 PM Rating: Excellent
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Yeah. I was mainly trying to impart in him the value of a long term "safe" investment portfolio. There's nothing wrong with putting "some" of your investment cash into high risk stuff when you're young. If it pays off, you'll get a nice jump into the market. If it doesn't, you're young enough to recover. I was just concerned that he might take that "take the risk while your young" argument to mean "put all your cash in high risk stuff and roll the dice".

Dunno. May have been the Vegas comment that put that impression in my head. Long term investment should never appear as though it's gambling. If it does, then you're doing it wrong. And at a young age, you can afford to look *really* long term.

I currently put 10% of my income into a 401k program, with the money divided up among a handful of different options with varying risk. It's done reasonably well, and if that's all I had, I could probably retire comfortably on it.

I *also* put 10% of my income into an employee stock purchase plan. That's pretty much been my "high risk" investment portion. In this case, it's paid off very well (although it's flattened a bit over the last handful of years, only increasing by about 50% value). Heh. The fact that I consider a 50% increase in value over 5 years to be "flat" should give you an idea how much more valuable it was when I started.

Of course, I also took a bunch of that out and purchased a home several years ago (at a really crappy time to be honest, but I didn't have a lot of choice unfortunately). That's an "investment" as well, and has increased from the 285k purchase price to the high 300k range. Also not bad for a 3 year return...
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#21 Apr 25 2006 at 9:44 PM Rating: Good
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shadomen the Brilliant wrote:
Sony actually did just have a huge failure with one of its innovative products. The UMD has failed miserably in the world market. The UMD was the mini DVD that was supposed to run on the PSP (the PSP hasn't quite lived up to the hype either). Also, from what I understand, the main reason why the PS3 launch date was pushed back is because the BlueRay technology had some bugs. I may be wrong on the BlueRay comment.


The UMD was innovative in a different way than the BluRay will be. The new High Def discs are going to eventually replace DVDs. UMD's are coming out along side of already existing DVD's, hence the reason they are not as appealing. Sony tried to bolster their PSP sales with the promise of being able to have an all-in-one entertainment system in the palm of your hands. PSP was supposed to be your iPOD, your portable DVD player and your gaming console. In all respects, it is. However, it is still too pricey for a hand held unit. On top of that the age group for hand helds is much younger than that of consoles, yet the PSP, like its console brethren, is still geared toward mature games.

That being said, the sales for UMD's were actually well above their target numbers upon release. It eventually got to even keel and is now dipping a bit. Sony didn't fail by any stretch of the imagination. They just didn't dominate the way they did in the console market.

Edited, Tue Apr 25 22:53:20 2006 by Mearyk
#22 Apr 26 2006 at 11:35 AM Rating: Good
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Diversify is really the key, and much like everyone said move from higher risk to more income or stable stocks as you get older. Also if you are willing you could always get into options. There are some option strategies that are extremely safe and are almost new investor friendly (i.e. Covered calls). However make sure if you do options you understand the basic risks and don't get into anything foolish like naked index options. The basics for your covered call is that you can write a call that says you give someone else to buy your stock from you at a set price by a set date. Now you will get money for this call and there is a chance the call will expire worthless, in that case free money for you. Now here is the part you have to watch for, make sure that the call you sell is a price you are willing to accept if someone exercises their option and purchases your stock. A good thing in your favor is that a large portions of options expire worthless.

Just another way to get that investment money working for you.

A side note about funds, they can be great and helpful, just make sure you know what share class your buying, also any broker worth his salt can do the same for you without having to put you in a fund. Funds charge annual fees which can be annoying. Anyways good luck.
#23 Apr 26 2006 at 11:41 AM Rating: Default
My moms company stocks went up! Rate-ups for all the advice!
Smiley: lol

Time to diversify though, heh.

#24 Apr 26 2006 at 9:31 PM Rating: Good
My Mom and Dad have both invested in the stockmarket. My Mom seems to think that investing in pharmaceutical is the way to go. Her reasoning: She says there will always be people who need medication; And doctors will always keep making new forms of it...

P.S. Don't invest in Nike
#25 Apr 26 2006 at 10:50 PM Rating: Default
PackyMcStout wrote:
My Mom and Dad have both invested in the stockmarket. My Mom seems to think that investing in pharmaceutical is the way to go. Her reasoning: She says there will always be people who need medication; And doctors will always keep making new forms of it...

P.S. Don't invest in Nike


It's pure comedy that you should mention that. I just finished a six page "fact sheet(s)" about NIKE and their ethics in various areas. In the end we are supposed to write a conclusion convicing our "captive" audience that one should either buy or steer clear of NIKE stocks. Smiley: laugh
#26 Apr 26 2006 at 11:02 PM Rating: Good
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LtGoose the Hand wrote:
It's pure comedy that you should mention that. I just finished a six page "fact sheet(s)" about NIKE and their ethics in various areas. In the end we are supposed to write a conclusion convicing our "captive" audience that one should either buy or steer clear of NIKE stocks.


Well. Not to ***** my conservative tinfoil hat on too tightly but...

Isn't the teacher in essense indoctrinating the students to the idea that one should invest in companies based on a set of ethical criteria (did he set the criteria for you)? I'm not saying that's completely wrong, but wouldn't it make more sense to determine the worthiness of an investment based on an economic assessment of the company? I understand this is an ethics class but it just seems like he's tossing a set of assumptions out there that are incredibly biased.

He's defining right and wrong. He's defining the list of things that should be considered in terms of right and wrong. And he's requiring that students argue for economic action based on those earlier criteria. Hmmm... This isn't effectively brainwashing kids to follow the tenents of social liberalism? He's pretty much hitting every agenda point so far as I can see...
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