Any stock investors here?

[Snafflebit]

The past six months have been a welcome change in the market. I finally enjoy looking at the value of my retirement accounts and trading account. I have put money in throughout the recession, and kept faith that things would get better and after five years it may finally be starting. I really would like to start my own business, possibly wine making. A nestegg will help a lot.

I am a member of The Motley Fool, an investment recommendation service for the small investor. Anyone else actively managing their investments?

 

[Runningwolf]

When I was in HR I worked extra hard trying to convince the employees to invest in the 401k plan. It was a tough sell trying to convince people to invest their money in the market while everyone was losing thousands. It was even a tougher sell trying to convince folks to just ride it out and not pull their money out. Those that did ride it out and kept investing made out. I'm not talking about the internet bust in 2000 though. Thats another whole story.

 

[wineforfun]

I definitely keep an eye on my investments, however, I ride through the highs and lows as it will all work out in the end. Dollar cost averaging. It is a great principle to invest by. I know a lot of people that sell off when the market starts dropping, then buy back when it starts going back up. Very, very bad to do. I always tell them to just ride things out, but a lot of people get freaked out when it drops.
You are right on though, right now, it is nice to see the portfolio. However, I am more concerned about it when I am ready to retire.

 

[Rocky]

I believe that Will Rogers had the best advice concerning the stock market. He said, "Buy good stocks when they are low and when they go up, sell them. If they don't go up, don't buy them."

I got hurt pretty good by the tech stock fiasco and I did not have fly by night stocks. I had GE, IBM, Cisco, etc. but they suffered with all the others. Now, against all traditional advice, I am in annuities at 7-8%, which is good enough for me at my age. Remember, Bears make money and Bulls make money. Pigs go broke.

 

[Snafflebit]

Nice to hear that people are planning for the future. Wine making probably teaches patience better than anything. I got stung by the the dot com bubble too when I started my first serious job out of college. Those losses hurt but looking back I have done very well by staying invested through good times and bad. I try to get my friends and family interested in investing. It is difficult but I keep nagging and reminding them. I am a stock picker, mainly as a hobby and I enjoy it and have a few big gains like Apple and Tesla. But disregarding those few picks, I have run some savings calculators and I would have done quite well by putting all my savings in a couple index funds, ignoring it and doing other things with my time! If there are any other stock pickers looking for advice, my Motley Fool membership gives me three free one-year subscriptions to their Stock Advisor service. I have two left. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Geronimo]

I was lucky in the tech bubble, and had an advisor that said to dump everything in March of 2000. I went to bonds and jumped back into funds when the market was down (but not at the bottom yet) so I lost some. This last fiasco was completely unforeseeable and I'm grateful that we're out of the woods again. I also got lucky buying Bank of America stocks as they tumbled. First at 7.50, then at 6.75 and finally (every penny I could scrape up) at 5.25. I sold the whole works at 12.10. Just watching the government gives important clues as to where to watch. Take a look at what Haliburton did during the Bush/Cheney years. You could have made 10x your investment with good timing.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I have invested heavily in property mostly dirt.
When you live on an island it becomes clear that they will not bring dirt in to make it bigger but raise the price to those that want it.
supply and demand...and there is lots of people that want to live on the water......

 

[GaDawg]

I'm retired, so I like dividend paying stocks. I look for stocks that pay about half of earnings out in dividends. I want them to have money to grow the company and my dividends.

 

[Runningwolf]

I was lucky in the tech bubble, and had an advisor that said to dump everything in March of 2000. I went to bonds and jumped back into funds when the market was down (but not at the bottom yet) so I lost some. This last fiasco was completely unforeseeable and I'm grateful that we're out of the woods again. I also got lucky buying Bank of America stocks as they tumbled. First at 7.50, then at 6.75 and finally (every penny I could scrape up) at 5.25. I sold the whole works at 12.10. Just watching the government gives important clues as to where to watch. Take a look at what Haliburton did during the Bush/Cheney years. You could have made 10x your investment with good timing.

I was also one of the lucky ones with the tech bubble (dam lucky). I bought my house that year and took a lot out for the down payment, landscaping, etc. I was reluctant to do so but then BAMMM the bottom hit and I was mostly out (right at the peak of it). To this day I thank my lucky stars I didn't wait another 6 months.

 

[geek]

Interesting topic.
I ride the market and my 401-k has been really good for the last couple years..!!

I watch my account and the market daily...lol

 

[Simpsini]

I tried managing my portfolio for years, but now I have a local firm handeling it. They invest only in mutual funds. I guess I didn't have the patience it takes nor dedicate the time. I've been averaging 8% with them which is very good these days. My goal is a 5% return so right now I'm ahead of the game, but on track for reaching my retirement goal. Hopefully I can retire in 4 years and concentrate on making wine & beef jerky. I hope we all do well, even in these times of uncertainty and big government.

 

[sour_grapes]

All index funds, keep costs low, diversify, make a personal investment policy statement, set it and forget it, stay the course.

 

[Snafflebit]

All index funds, keep costs low, diversify, make a personal investment policy statement, set it and forget it, stay the course.

Hello fellow Boglehead

The Boglehead forum (people who follow the basic investing philosophy of Vanguard Funds founder Jack Bogle) has some great reading almost as entertaining as winemakingforum! And it is free.

 

[michael-s]

Something I am very lucky to have and thankful for is my and my wife's pension. My company pension plan was paid for on my behalf not requiring any funds by me. The pension plan, a DB pension plan was set up so that a member could retire, if they chose to, after 30 years with a full pension, regardless of age. I took advantage of that company pension plan this past July 1st. But during the last contract negotiations and a long 1 year strike in 2009 that pension plan setup was cancelled by the company and all new employees hired starting in 2010 have had to open and contribute to their own pension plan, a DC plan, but they own outright all the funds in that plan. My pension plan did not cost me anything but I don't own any of the funds in it. So if I were to die there are no funds to go to my wife or estate, but she would receive for the rest of her life a survivor pension, which is about 1/3 of what I receive from my pension.
My wife's pension plan is similar to mine, fully funded, but being in government they have to reach an age/years of service factor, which is 90. But that number sometimes varies when the government want to reduce employees and lets some retire earlier with a full pension. That is the total of her age added to her years of service and when they reach that number you can retire with a full pension as long as you are older than 55. She starts her full pension January 1st, 2014. She too has a survivor pension when she dies.

We have continued to save and invest regularly since we were married in the market and we use a Financial Advisor and we meet twice a year for reviews and if suggested, adjustments. Recent returns like others here have said have been excellent, with the markets now in big upswings. During the big market downturns we did not panic and bail but left the funds where they were and they have all recovered to values before the big market downturns and like I said above they are giving big returns now with the market in the shape it is in now.

 

[sour_grapes]

Hello fellow Boglehead

The Boglehead forum (people who follow the basic investing philosophy of Vanguard Funds founder Jack Bogle) has some great reading almost as entertaining as winemakingforum! And it is free.

Great! Glad to hear it. Have to admit, your comments on stock-picking and active management made me think you were anything BUT a Boglehead, which is largely what prompted me to make my comments. Glad to hear I was wrong!

 

[Geronimo]

Vanguard is the one to watch, that's for sure. Their index funds (especially the admiral funds) are so low on expenses that you'll never find any cheaper. They have some funds for aggressive traders too.

 

[Snafflebit]

Great! Glad to hear it. Have to admit, your comments on stock-picking and active management made me think you were anything BUT a Boglehead, which is largely what prompted me to make my comments. Glad to hear I was wrong!

I allocate a portion of my money to educated guesses, i.e. stock analysis and picking. It is a hobby, although I intend to make this hobby pay off. I have gained some understanding of business management and financing from learning how to read the income statements, balance sheets and the jargon of companies that gets spoken about in the investing newsgroups. So there is added benefit to diving into the details of stock selection. this might be useful if I try to talk the bank into loaning me some money for a business. The majority is sitting in S&P500 and Russell 2000 funds, growing along with the economy and dividends, away from my daily meddling.

 

[Wiz]

I am retired and am a conservative investor. I stick strictly to mutual as they do not carry to risks of stocks. I was 100% into bond funds and jumped out this passed June when interest rates started to rise and rates of return began tubing. Switched to stock mutual mixed across the board. I lost the monthly dividend return I was enjoying when I sold the bond funds. Gains have off-set the dividend loss and have received a 13% gain since end of June.

 

[novalou]

I invest in no load mutual funds in my retirement account. I stay invested even when things are headed south.

Anyone thinking of taking money out of the market now with the new highs?

 

[garymc]

I have no bonds, about 5% in mutual funds, 5% cash, and the rest in stocks. I mostly buy stocks of companies that have a history of increasing their dividends. As long as they continue with the dividends I don't have to worry about selling. Currently the dividends are being reinvested, but at some point I'll have the dividends for income. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about this approach until the last few years. Brokerages are not keen to tell you to buy stocks that you will probably never sell. Not many brokerages are going to tell you about an approach that involves very few commissions. Oh, yes, my wife and I are retired and both have defined benefit pensions if you're wondering about the allocation.