Any stock investors here?

[Geronimo]

Personally, I would never put everything in to one stock or fund. But to play along, I would say you have a good one there. Very nice expense at .05%.

The thing with that fund is that it diversifies you across the entire market.

 

[Hokapsig]

Listen to what I say, not what I do. When we got married in 1987, we had $1000 left over from the wedding. A stock was coming out on Nasdaq (BSBL) selling for $.09 per share. I asked my wife about this and she said "OHHHH NOOOO. We are saving for a house." For $1000 bucks, I figure I could have bought 10,000 shares. Two years later, the stock hit a high of $46 5/8. So much for paying cash for a house.....

 

[Turock]

My other piece of advice is to live below your means, and stay out of debt. The only debt I ever allowed myself was a house--and a car when I was young. I bought my first house at 23 and had it paid for by the time I was 39. And as my income grew, I paid cash for cars to avoid interest rates. In 1999 I built and paid for a house on 6 acres in the country--and then retired the next year.

I was always of the opinion that there are 2 prices when you go to buy a big ticket item. One price is the cost of the item--the second price is a much higher one because it includes interest. Buying on a credit card and not paying it off when the bill comes is like saying,"gee, I'd rather pay the higher cost for this item--that seems fair." I always avoided that. Instead, I'd delay gratification until I saved up the money to buy it outright.

I always said to myself,"I GET interest rates--I DON'T pay them." I always got lots of criticism for my frugal ways and dedication to investing. But the people who criticized me were still working for a living while I was retired and pursuing my avocations.

I'm telling you about my experiences--not to brag--but to give others the confidence to follow your dreams and not follow what everyone else is doing. Being a good steward to your money and earning potential will give you freedom of choice down the road. When I was young, I worked very hard--had a full time job plus rental property I managed and repaired on my own, plus my house I was remodeling. I always thought that's the way it should be--work hard when young so you don't have to work hard when older, because maybe you won't be able to,then.

 

[wineforfun]

Excellent writing Turock.

 

[Turock]

I hope my experiences will inspire everyone to follow THEIR path. Being true to oneself and being your own hero to rely upon is everything. Take advantage of all your potential in life, so that life doesn't take advantage of YOU.

 

[sour_grapes]

My other piece of advice is to live below your means, and stay out of debt.

Yes! This is Item #0 on my Investment Policy Statement! (It literally is.)



On the other hand, here is a little ditty, apropos of nothing, that I composed on my walk to work this morning:

A rich spinster, Eileen McGonigle
Lived a long life most economical.
Ere she drew her last breath,
Her heirs fêted her death,
A spree both lavish and ironical.

 

[GaDawg]

My other piece of advice is to live below your means, and stay out of debt.
**********************
I have done that all my life, now that I am retired I find it hard not to live below your means

 

[GaDawg]

I have to be myself, everyone else is already taken

 

[pjd]

I invest in me! I lost my entire 401k a few years back and decided that I could do better managing my portfolio than my broker did. Today, my business nets about 15% of revenue and I spend half of my year in Florida. I also have invested in Real Estate and now control around 20 residential units and 6 commercial units. Life is good!

 

[Turock]

I did the same thing as you,pjd--I found I was better at analyzing a stock than my broker was so I always followed my own path. However, he taught me many other basics of good investing--I was young and needed that kind of info. We'd sit in his office and talk for a couple hours at a time. I was always anxious to acquire knowledge.

sour grapes---That's pretty good!! I'm surprised to hear that. My dad always said,"It's cheaper to borrow from yourself." That made so much sense to me. Can you imagine how much more money some people would have if they never paid interest rates? It really piles up over a lifetime!! Then the compounded interest rate that money COULD have earned. If you figured it up, the amount would be staggering. People put themselves in lifetime debt for the love of "stuff." Seems dumb to me.

Loved the llimerick--my brother makes up limericks and some of them just KILL me. Great stuff.

All of you make me smile--seems you're ALL alot like me. Nice to know that not everyone is just out throwing money around buying "stuff" that they end up selling in a garage sale in 5 years!! Keep up the good work!!

By the way--I totally agree about the low expense mutual funds. Paying for the expenses on mutual funds takes a big toll on your accumulated wealth in those funds over a lifetime. Another thing to consider is muni bond funds so that you have another income stream in retirement that is tax exempt. A muni bond fund is better than an annuity.

 

[Runningwolf]

I also manage a portion of my portfolio. My 401k has been doing fantastic since I transferred it out of my last company to a private investor so I leave it there. For my stocks I like TD Ameritrade for the low commission and I'm able to do my own stock research on there. I like looking at good funds that are out there and then dissecting them to find new and interesting stocks I haven't thought of before.

 

[GreginND]

As for retirement, I set up my TIAA-CREF for growth some time ago and it has been on autopilot. I still have 20 years or so before I retire and will slowly shift things away from riskier growth investments as I get closer. I know I should be paying more attention to it and investing more in retirement.

But, I have been playing with some "extra" money in the stock market for several years. I tend to invest in things I use and believe in. I have done really well with Apple - got in pretty early. It is helping me get my winery off the ground. After the crash in 2008 I picked up Ford, Starbux (It has done great! wish I had more invested in it) and some energy stocks.

 

[Hokapsig]

Again, do what I say, not what I do. In 1978, I was working as a busboy at a local restaurant for $1.85 an hour. After working the entire summer, I had finally accumulated $1000. My friends father was a stockbroker for a major brokerage house in Pittsburgh and I had started to invest with him. One day he called and asked if I was a gambling man. At 16 and flush with more money than I had ever had, I said sure. He had a deal which was high risk/high reward and was I interested. An entrepaneur was seeking 10 investors to put in $200K, guaranteeing that in 2 years I would either recieve 100x what I put in, or I would lose everything. I asked what the business was. He said the guy was going to start a new television station. I asked how would he compete against ABC, NBC and CBS. I was told he would go on cable. I said that my grandmother in suburban Pittsburgh couldn't get good cable reception from Stuebenville OH and where would this guy be broadcasting from? He said the guy would have his studios in Atlanta. I said, "nah, that will never work". And that is how Ted Turner never got my money.

Opportunity keeps knocking on my door. I keep telling it to get the hell off my porch....

 

[jswordy]

I actively manage two 401(k) accounts, a retail account and a 457(b) deferred compensation account. Benjamin Graham remains my hero.

The tech thing was crazy. I remember owning a stock with a symbol that was close to one that was a red-hot tech stock one week, and seeing my stock triple in value just from newbies who did not know what they were investing in. Crazy. I am seeing some of the same "dumb money" approach to social networking stocks, and wonder if a bubble may form there too. Not saying they are "bad" just watching the price versus performance and it looks sorta familiar. More social IPOs coming to mop up that newbie money, too.

I got out of my retail account at the top of the tech bubble. I remember calling to tell the funds I owned that I was closing out my positions, and how they begged me to stay in. I put that retail account money in CDs and waited until March 2009 to re-establish a retail account. People were panicked back in '09, and I was buying stuff like Ford at $1.98 (I knew Ford had its finances in order and thought I could not lose at less than the price of a Big Mac for a share of stock) and John Deere at $35. Iconic companies at rock-bottom prices. So I've done pretty well during the past 4 years.

I let our 401(k)s both ride out the tech bubble bust, maxxing out the contributions, since we were in effect buying cheap stocks by doing that, too. The 457(b) is a new account I just opened in the past year.

I also have a "frozen" pension that's at 2010 levels of payment from my old job, my wife has two small pensions from jobs she has held, and if I choose and am able to work until 65 I will have another pension from my current job.

I'm cautious in the market right now. It is showing the signs of a mature bull and a lot of the support we're seeing is from retail investors and sideline money rather than fundamentals, I think. This is the playground of the large, manipulative investors, who can exert extreme control on the market to squeeze out gains at the expense of retail investors, so I am a cautious man right now. I always remember I am a flea on the butt of a Doberman, and I never know when he'll scratch! There may be another year or so of modest gains, but I'm thinking we'll see some significant corrections, too. I'm into "defensive" high-yield dividend stocks now. I may miss the frothiest parts but I get good income and solid investments.

 

[Geronimo]

The market typically portends the economy (bubbles aside) and I believe we're in for a few years of stable growth. Yes, the social media market is stupid but at least FB started with a major dip. That's not all bad IMO. Twitter is stupid money IMO.

Europe and Asia are both on the cusp of a turn around which will buoy our economy further. If you look at long term planning (look at major airlines ordering new planes) everyone believes we're coming out of a major snafu and heading into a period of stability. I smell a correction coming but it's extremely unusual to see one in December of January.

The most encouraging fact is that every major economy on the planet did whatever it had to do to stabilize. All it would have taken is 1 or 2 idiots to instigate a cascade failure.

I believe all that adds up to stable growth based on reality.

 

[sour_grapes]

sour grapes---That's pretty good!! I'm surprised to hear that. My dad always said,"It's cheaper to borrow from yourself." That made so much sense to me. Can you imagine how much more money some people would have if they never paid interest rates? It really piles up over a lifetime!! Then the compounded interest rate that money COULD have earned. If you figured it up, the amount would be staggering. People put themselves in lifetime debt for the love of "stuff." Seems dumb to me.

Well, as you know, it occasionally makes sense to borrow money. (Perhaps buying a house, or financing an education or a new business.) Here is the best-ever description I have heard of how you should think of this:

Taking on debt is the "future you," sending money back in time to the "present you" (along with a hefty fee to the bank). The question is, will the "future you" think that that this was a good idea or not?

 

[Rocky]

It always makes sense to borrow money when your rate of return on the money you borrow is greater than the interest rate you pay on it. In the US, we call this the "banking industry."

 

[Turock]

sour grapes---I was talking about people who are buying things they want--not need. To me, the only allowable debt is for a house--and then, not mortgaging more than what is proper for your income level.

Curiously enough, if I had borrowed the money to build this house instead of paying outright for it in 1999 I would have been in big trouble. As it turns out, I paid for it with money that wasn't even there--if you consider how the value of everything dropped from 2000 on and then again in 2007. Stocks had inflated so much by 1999 that I paid for this house by selling only 3 shares of a stock!! No way was I going to pay interest rates again. I always said to myself," No one can take things away from you, if something bad happens, when you own things free and clear." Well, A WHOLE lot of bad things DID ending up happening! I'm happy with the insight I had.

And after 1999, no growth was left to be had--and we actually lost alot of what had been built up in portfolios in the past many years. So the money I meant to invest and grow by taking out a mortgage and not paying outright for it, wouldn't have panned out too well!! Very interesting.

Do any of you know where the Dow was in 1999? It was big news--it hit 14,000. Look how far we had to come just to get back THERE!!! Our money has lazed around doing nothing for 14 years! If we figured this out, we might find out it would take another 100 years of investing, without major setbacks, to make up for what we lost in those 14 years. There are many bankers out there who need to go sit in prison, if you ask me.

 

[Turock]

Hokapsig---Man, you're cracking me up!!! You may not be a very good stock picker, but your comedic talent is priceless!!!!

 

[sour_grapes]

sour grapes---I was talking about people who are buying things they want--not need. To me, the only allowable debt is for a house--and then, not mortgaging more than what is proper for your income level.

For what it is worth, there was not a soupcon of intent on my part to contradict you. I was agreeing with you, and building off of your post to relate what, to me, is a useful metric for deciding which debts are worthwhile ones.