Stock Market Talk

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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by Joe Shlabotnik »

go birds wrote: Is there any good reading material that anyone would recommend? Thoughts on motley fool and Cramer?
Ah - good question. What I have found is that if you see, read, or hear a hot stock tip in the media, it is too late. Fade it. Cramer is the worst. If you are in a Cramer recommended stock, sell on the recommend. That is what experience has taught me.

Motley Fool has good advice. In fact, I would say read the investment press to learn, not to find stock picks.

IMO.

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go birds
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by go birds »

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:
go birds wrote: Is there any good reading material that anyone would recommend? Thoughts on motley fool and Cramer?
Ah - good question. What I have found is that if you see, read, or hear a hot stock tip in the media, it is too late. Fade it. Cramer is the worst. If you are in a Cramer recommended stock, sell on the recommend. That is what experience has taught me.

Motley Fool has good advice. In fact, I would say read the investment press to learn, not to find stock picks.

IMO.
I realize this is the million dollar question, but are there ways to come across hot stock tips or is it just based on pure luck, gut, and your own educated projections?

TimeForGuinness
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by TimeForGuinness »

Joe Shlabotnik wrote:
go birds wrote: Is there any good reading material that anyone would recommend? Thoughts on motley fool and Cramer?
Ah - good question. What I have found is that if you see, read, or hear a hot stock tip in the media, it is too late. Fade it. Cramer is the worst. If you are in a Cramer recommended stock, sell on the recommend. That is what experience has taught me.

Motley Fool has good advice. In fact, I would say read the investment press to learn, not to find stock picks.

IMO.
This, the more you read, the better you get at identifying trends...when stocks are a good or bad buy...historical trends...etc...

Ignore the stock pick crowd, they're just pumping/dumping for ad revenue.

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IMADreamer
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by IMADreamer »

My biggest advice is the sooner the better. My only regret so far, and keep in mind my portfolio took a beating last year (but has recovered) is that I didn't start 10 years sooner and that I don't have more money to invest. In fact my biggest regret in my entire life is that I didn't start 10 years sooner.

I'm a complete noob and retard when it comes to this sort of thing so after tons of research I ended up with a Roth IRA in a targeted retirement fund. I've heard people love them, and I've heard people hate them. So far I'm happy because it's pretty low maintenance on my part. I'll certainly be branching out from that but that's were I got started.

TimeForGuinness
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by TimeForGuinness »

IMADreamer wrote:My biggest advice is the sooner the better. My only regret so far, and keep in mind my portfolio took a beating last year (but has recovered) is that I didn't start 10 years sooner and that I don't have more money to invest. In fact my biggest regret in my entire life is that I didn't start 10 years sooner.

I'm a complete noob and retard when it comes to this sort of thing so after tons of research I ended up with a Roth IRA in a targeted retirement fund. I've heard people love them, and I've heard people hate them. So far I'm happy because it's pretty low maintenance on my part. I'll certainly be branching out from that but that's were I got started.
There is something to be said about having a "safer" allocation to your portfolio, it allows you to branch out a bit and not get stung as bad when things go wrong.

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IMADreamer
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by IMADreamer »

TimeForGuinness wrote:
IMADreamer wrote:My biggest advice is the sooner the better. My only regret so far, and keep in mind my portfolio took a beating last year (but has recovered) is that I didn't start 10 years sooner and that I don't have more money to invest. In fact my biggest regret in my entire life is that I didn't start 10 years sooner.

I'm a complete noob and retard when it comes to this sort of thing so after tons of research I ended up with a Roth IRA in a targeted retirement fund. I've heard people love them, and I've heard people hate them. So far I'm happy because it's pretty low maintenance on my part. I'll certainly be branching out from that but that's were I got started.
There is something to be said about having a "safer" allocation to your portfolio, it allows you to branch out a bit and not get stung as bad when things go wrong.
That was definitely my main consideration. I'm kind of in the boat that I just want to be able to retire someday and live comfortably rather then retire insanely wealthy. I mean if that happens great, but the focus of my Roth is just to get me to a safe retirement. From there I can go a little more risky.

My biggest problem the first 10 or so years of my working life was going way too safe. I grew up in a family where investing was buying more farm land or in new farm equipment and to my Grandfather it was buying a CD or putting money in a savings account. Finally a few years ago I realized those aren't making me squat and decided to tackle the "evil" stock market. My Grandfather lived through the depression and the crash so I understand his timidness towards the markets but I also can't help but think how stupid rich he would have been had he invested wisely in it rather then in CDs.

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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by Freed Roger »

go birds wrote:So are they supposed to disclose ALL fees?
Yes, for 401Ks starting July. That date keeps getting pushed back. How to disclose and untangle that layered web of fees and report it to individuals will be interesting.

Interestingly, the defined benefit plans are/were more transparant. So in this lawsuit - a company had both a defined benefit pension and 401K - the pension fund was in low fee investments, but they switched their 401K plan to high fee funds -because they could get away with it. And were sued over this. Fidelity was somehow involved.
http://benefitsbryancave.com/401k-fee-l ... -sponsors/

My understanding is that Vanguard and Dimension funds are fairly transparent funds to use without a lot of broker fee kickbacks.*

*not an investment advisor, I just play one on the internet.

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Transmogrified Tiger
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by Transmogrified Tiger »

I don't know what's best for you, but here's what I do/what I'd do if it were me.

I have an IRA that I commit 10% of my take home pay to each month. I need to look into converting it to a Roth IRA, since that's what I was after when I opened it. That IRA has index funds in it with no fees. I diversified to be even more conservative(about 40% domestic, 40% international, 20% bond) since that's what you get with index fund performance. I don't invest in individual stocks, and I would never do so as a means to save for retirement.

If I was convinced to invest in individual stocks, I would do so on top of the retirement savings, and treat the money as if I were taking it to a casino(which you pretty much are). It would be something I'd do for entertainment rather than go to the movies, or going on a road trip, etc.

TimeForGuinness
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by TimeForGuinness »

IMADreamer wrote:
TimeForGuinness wrote:
IMADreamer wrote:My biggest advice is the sooner the better. My only regret so far, and keep in mind my portfolio took a beating last year (but has recovered) is that I didn't start 10 years sooner and that I don't have more money to invest. In fact my biggest regret in my entire life is that I didn't start 10 years sooner.

I'm a complete noob and retard when it comes to this sort of thing so after tons of research I ended up with a Roth IRA in a targeted retirement fund. I've heard people love them, and I've heard people hate them. So far I'm happy because it's pretty low maintenance on my part. I'll certainly be branching out from that but that's were I got started.
There is something to be said about having a "safer" allocation to your portfolio, it allows you to branch out a bit and not get stung as bad when things go wrong.
That was definitely my main consideration. I'm kind of in the boat that I just want to be able to retire someday and live comfortably rather then retire insanely wealthy. I mean if that happens great, but the focus of my Roth is just to get me to a safe retirement. From there I can go a little more risky.

My biggest problem the first 10 or so years of my working life was going way too safe. I grew up in a family where investing was buying more farm land or in new farm equipment and to my Grandfather it was buying a CD or putting money in a savings account. Finally a few years ago I realized those aren't making me squat and decided to tackle the "evil" stock market. My Grandfather lived through the depression and the crash so I understand his timidness towards the markets but I also can't help but think how stupid rich he would have been had he invested wisely in it rather then in CDs.
CDs weren't bad 5 years ago when they had a decent interest rate. Now, not so much.

I'm a fan of storing money in as many locations as possible: Money markets, Savings, Savings bonds, CDs, Stocks, IRAs, 401ks, etc.

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Hungary Jack
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Re: Stock Market Talk

Post by Hungary Jack »

Trying to pick individual stock winners is generally a losing strategy. Stick with low-cost index funds or selected ETFs (beware of leveraged ones) that match your investment strategy and goals.

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