Those of you who play "the market".

[Charger_Fan]

A post in RD's "how much do you make" thread got me thinking...how many here play the market & how has that experience been for you? Have you been lucky with any of your market ventures? If so, which ones?

I've always been interested in participating in the stock market, but so far haven't been able to spare any money to do so.

[TeeWJay426]

While I've never dabbled in the market directly, my 401Ks have been all stocks and mutual funds and have grown very nicely over the past few years. Unlike some guys here, I won't have to work until years after I've become worm food to reap the benefits of these investments.

[Blown70]

Well I actually had money in the market once,  Lost 50% of it.  Yea real cute.  I took the remainder out bought some cars, YES I FLIPPED them, was not the plan at the time.  Made better $$ doing that.  Btw, I still sold them below market or what I could have gotten for them.

I also, sold some motors and tranny's grilles...

I Say if you know what you are doing is great.  I got in a bad spot.

Also, from learning slowly.  You need to of course spread your $$ into different stocks, and markets.


Some day when Ms. Angry is done I will play again,

Also, for every good story you can find a few bad ones. 

Tom

[69bananabeast]

my parents had mutual fund for my for college and im just starting to put it in my name .  I dont recall when they started it just know that it's been around ten years or so .  I think it's about almost 20K right now for the college fund though I've never touced it for college and just paid with what I had . a few years ago back in spring I had a stock market project for school and Sony Best Buy and Harley turned out to be good stocks 

[greenpigs]

I swing by around 2am to check out the meat market, I look much better when the women are drunk.

[RTPTRON]

In the post you are referring to the guy invested $130K in Cisco back when their stock was cheep.  Cisco make a lot of investors well off.  The problem is that it takes money to make money.  He turned his $130K into around $7 Mil.  If you could only invest a couple of grand and return your money something like 54 times then you would have a wopping $108,000.

Let's see $108,000 = great profit but not rich.
But then again invest $130,000 and return the same and you are well off with 7 Million plus.

I am sure that some of us have the $130 K in our retirement accounts diversified over a lot of funds and stocks.  Our money is pretty safe but not anywhere near returning 54 times our money.  One day we decide that we will take a chance and invest it all in one stock that based on whatever we feel will make us rich. Do you have what it takes to go through with the trade???

There is no way I could bring myself to take that kind of chance.  Would you take the chance of losing what you have worked so hard for for a chance to get rich,,,, or go broke?

I have made a few good choices that have helped me to accumulate a little security.  One was on September 12, 2001 I sold off  a few thousand in mutual funds and purchased a Defense Mutual Fund for around $35 and it is now worth $79.  I think that is a good return but we are only talking about a few thousand dollars.

I know a few people who have made a few million in the market.  They are huge risk takers and at least one friend lost millions between 2000 and 2003 before he realized day trading was not working the way it did in the 1990s and put what was left of his money in a safer place.  He is back at it now and doing OK.

If you are looking at getting rich in the market get educated on how to play the market right.  Luck is a part of the equation but the guy that picked CISCO as the stock he wanted to invest in most likely did not just flip a coin.  He studied the market and made an informed decision,,,and then worried his ass off until he saw results.  Or maybe he just pulled CISCO out of his butt, I don't know what I am talking about.

[BigBlockSam]

i lost my shirt and pants in the stock market. now i invest in land. Rene

[Vainglory, Esq.]

I'm diversified.  I hold a few mutual funds, but I have all of my Roth IRA in stocks.  I invested in DCX right back when the new hemi first came out - it went up from $28 to about $50 now.  I invested in Home Depot at the same time at $29 and it's hanging around $40-42.  The dividends get automatically reinvested into more shares, and even if the price dips, I'm in these for the long haul and expect further growth.

[69charger2002]

i flip cars, and have sold land twice for nice profits. screw the stock market
trav

[Chryco Psycho]

i flip cars, and have sold land twice for nice profits. screw the stock market
trav

I agree , I was in the market for a while but I am not lucky & lost a ton , I also traded options & did far better & basically broke even , I can make more on cars thanks

[Charger_Fan]

i flip cars, and have sold land twice for nice profits. screw the stock market
trav

I agree , I was in the market for a while but I am not lucky & lost a ton , I also traded options & did far better & basically broke even , I can make more on cars thanks

That's pretty much how I've viewed it most of the time. It's pretty much a gamble on whether or not you're able to hit it well. I guess like anything else, those who understand it the most will be able to make good on it. Those who don't, will flounder.
Like RTPTRON said, it depends on how well you educate yourself on it.

My Dad did halfway decent with land investments, but I sure remember times when I was a kid that he was really worried about it...mostly about the IRS getting too much money from it.


Thanks for your comments & opinions, guys.

[BigBlockSam]

capital gains taxes suck.

[Troy]

capital gains taxes suck.

One thing I always have to remind myself - they don't tax it unless there's a profit. I hate paying taxes but in this case I'd rather be taxed than taking a loss.

To answer the original question, I invest in the market when I can and most of the time I come out ahead. Once I put some money into a stock and then forgot to pay attention to it and it tanked so I learned pretty quickly to sell before I take an extended period of time off. You have to understand what is going on and what is driving the market if you hope to have any success (or you could just get really lucky but you should probably just play the lottery if you're relying on luck). It takes time and energy to make smart decisions so it's really more than just a monetary investment.

Troy

[Vainglory, Esq.]

i flip cars, and have sold land twice for nice profits. screw the stock market
trav

I agree , I was in the market for a while but I am not lucky & lost a ton , I also traded options & did far better & basically broke even , I can make more on cars thanks

That's pretty much how I've viewed it most of the time. It's pretty much a gamble on whether or not you're able to hit it well. I guess like anything else, those who understand it the most will be able to make good on it. Those who don't, will flounder.
Like RTPTRON said, it depends on how well you educate yourself on it.

My Dad did halfway decent with land investments, but I sure remember times when I was a kid that he was really worried about it...mostly about the IRS getting too much money from it.


Thanks for your comments & opinions, guys.

I completely disagree.   I think most people who fail in the market fail because they thought they knew too much.   If they "educated" themselves more, chances are they'd get carried away and end up losing more.   If you want to make money in the market, don't look at trends.   Don't try to see where the market is going.   Don't attempt to guess at what will be "hot."   Just forget everything you think you know and buy i shares, an index, or mutual funds, leave them alone for 30 plus years, and cash out when you need it (i.e. retirement).   The stock market as a whole has never gone down in any extended period in all of modern history.   You don't need to know anything about any company to know that.  Just remember this - the Wall Street Journal did a study about 10-15 years ago where they set up a dartboad with the NYSE listings and picked whichever stocks their darts landed on and held them.  Over five years, they did better than 90% of professional stock pickers.

If you want to buy a single stock and actually be educated enough to pick one that will work, you need a working knowledge of accounting and economics, as well as a dose of good timing.  But the normal investor should never really touch a single stock.

[Charger_Fan]

I hear what you're saying, Vain.
My Mother in law has stocks that she's left alone for 20 years or so & last I spoke with her, they were all up from the original investment & she wasn't losing her butt on any of them.

I'd be too impatient, I think. I'd want to sell within 5 years or so & be able to use that money more quickly. I dunno, maybe I should try to leave it alone for longer.

[charger490]

ok guys if we need help investing in the market e mail me  instant@frontiernet.net . i have been in the market since 1985 and done quite well.frist you have to get a broker to invest for you.second you need money to invest. third you need a lot of luck but more important you need guts to stay in. fourth dont listen to your broker because he wants you to buy and sell so he makes money.you have to study the market and do a lot of research on each stock you buy.
1 get a Roth IRA to put your money in.
2 leave the money in there and dont go out and buy more chargers
3 start out in mutual funds
vanguard is a good mutual fund
paychex is a good stock  PAYX is the symbol charger490

[4402tuff4u]

If you are going to play the market think about it as a "long term" basis investment (blue chips). If you are going to do it on a "short term" basis you better have alot of time to monitor your investment/stock on a daily basis, know the trend (possible penny stocks), be educated on the stocks you are buying and the money you have invested will not put you out in the street if you loose it. And by no means ever borrow money to buy stock!! 

[Charger_Fan]

first you have to get a broker to invest for you ...<snip>... fourth dont listen to your broker because he wants you to buy and sell so he makes money.

Pardon my ignorance here...this whole stock market thing is just an idea I've had festering in my brain for a while & haven't pursued it beyond that, because I haven't been able to afford to play. Come to think of it, I should have studied up before opening my big mouth here.
So...why would I need a broker if I'm not gonna listen to him anyway? Or is it because I can't just jump in & play without a lisence of some sort? Kinda like I'd need a realtor lisence if I'm gonna buy & sell homes?

1 get a Roth IRA to put your money in.

This is where I put the investment profits?

And by no means ever borrow money to buy stock!!  

Yeah, I would imagine that would be the fastest way to end up bankrupt.

[PocketThunder]

And by no means ever borrow money to buy stock!!  

Yeah, I would imagine that would be the fastest way to end up bankrupt.

I think thats what happened in 1929.



All this investment talk has convinced me to up my 401k contribution from 3% to 10%.

[nh_mopar_fan]

Don't underestimate the power of dividends either. Stock that pay dividends might not be sexy picks 90% of the time but a quarterly dividend can be a very nice cushion over any fluctations that the market may go through.

We're diversified into REITS and some other limited partnerships that have a very nice return and some very nice tax benefits. For instance, fed law allows you to write-off 80% of an investment in energy partnerships. We dropped 20K into a gas exploration limited partnership that sends us a nice 500-600 check every month AND we got to write off 18K of the investment on our taxes last year. They balance hasn't gone anywhere but up since we started 2 years ago.