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Old 08-06-2010, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Baltimore, MD
3,879 posts, read 8,359,598 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
the best advice your ever going to get from anywhere is this. its time to become un-illiterate about your financial future and about investing and money.

start learning or taking courses...
....
I'm good with finances and saving and all but the stock market is something that I haven't grasped yet. It's been explained a few times and I have tried to read up on it but it gets overwhelming quick and its just not getting through yet.

I've been relying on advice from others on what stocks to invest in.
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Old 08-06-2010, 07:59 PM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,886,673 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Crabcakes View Post
I'm good with finances and saving and all but the stock market is something that I haven't grasped yet. It's been explained a few times and I have tried to read up on it but it gets overwhelming quick and its just not getting through yet.

I've been relying on advice from others on what stocks to invest in.
never invest in the markets...unless you can afford to lose it. Most that do find it a nice hobby, playing with their money. Win some , loose some...just another form of gambling, plain and simple....been there done that, and did have some fun...when things were up that is.
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Old 08-07-2010, 12:34 AM
 
2,036 posts, read 4,231,605 times
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Asset allocation, or how you divide your available retirement dollars, is much more important than knowing stocks, or mutual funds, so don't worry so much about a lack of knowledge on stocks at this point. The most important thing to do is devise a long term investment plan, rebalance quarterly and stick to it. Even in jittery times, if you stick to your plan, you have a long time horizon to successfully invest. The sooner your hubby starts, the better off both of you will be.
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Old 08-07-2010, 03:16 AM
 
105,875 posts, read 107,840,851 times
Reputation: 79460
allocation is the most important part...there is always a bull market somewhere... trying to time things is a loosers game,you have to always be in it to win it..

if on those big stock ralleye days if nothing is going down your not diversified enough, and do you own enough of whats going down to carry the portfolio when its day in the sun comes.

while the last decade stocks were slow to grow ,gold rose over 400%, long term treasuries had a phenomenal run up and commodities rose over 300%...

since you dont know whats next just own them all.

otherwise your speculating on one particular economic scenerio happening and if it dosnt play out that way your screwed.

at one time only stocks were believed to be real growth vehicles but then 2 back to back recessions in the last decade changed all that. other asset classes proved they too can have their day in the sun when economic events turn nasty..

going forward no one knows if equities will ever be the barn burners they once were as we are a very different world now and folks have changed their views on investing and it may take a long time before we can go 80-100% equities and count on time making everything okay.
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Old 08-07-2010, 03:27 AM
 
105,875 posts, read 107,840,851 times
Reputation: 79460
Quote:
Originally Posted by darstar View Post
never invest in the markets...unless you can afford to lose it. Most that do find it a nice hobby, playing with their money. Win some , loose some...just another form of gambling, plain and simple....been there done that, and did have some fun...when things were up that is.
there plenty of folks including myself that say your advice may work for you but it would leave the rest of us very poor.

just taking your money and flinging it helter skelter into equities may not be a good plan but there are many other ways to invest..

unless your rich enough to retire on bank intrest you better have another idea. plus you better hope that idea pans out if its to invest in only 1 thing like real estate
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Old 08-07-2010, 03:41 AM
 
105,875 posts, read 107,840,851 times
Reputation: 79460
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Crabcakes View Post
I'm good with finances and saving and all but the stock market is something that I haven't grasped yet. It's been explained a few times and I have tried to read up on it but it gets overwhelming quick and its just not getting through yet.

I've been relying on advice from others on what stocks to invest in.


"I've been relying on advice from others on what stocks to invest in"

thats exactly the point i was trying to make. you need to stop that, learn all you can for yourself.

then at least if you want to take advice from others you have a clue as to whether it makes sense..

you need to fully understand your tolerance for risk , you need to understand the different investment vehicles and you need to understand fee structures for those you seek help from.

then you need to understand the risks and how the different scenerios the economy goes thru can effect you.

Last edited by mathjak107; 08-07-2010 at 04:51 AM..
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Old 08-07-2010, 06:26 AM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,886,673 times
Reputation: 2869
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
there plenty of folks including myself that say your advice may work for you but it would leave the rest of us very poor.

just taking your money and flinging it helter skelter into equities may not be a good plan but there are many other ways to invest..

unless your rich enough to retire on bank intrest you better have another idea. plus you better hope that idea pans out if its to invest in only 1 thing like real estate
Most of the comments here are a result of personal experences. I lost big time in the markets , that along with the 3 year downturn can, make for some sour opioins.... I am just starting to see some daylight, I hope it continues, as the last 3 months have been great business wise. ( and I am retired, on a not so great income).
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Old 08-07-2010, 06:38 AM
 
105,875 posts, read 107,840,851 times
Reputation: 79460
im curious where you went wrong in your investing that you lost so badly.

most diversified funds with rebalancing are very close to being up and certainly over many years are well up..

like i said just a standard mix of fidelity funds i use have been up every decade since the 80's. its not luck, its just being diversified, continuing with the plan in every downturn, rebalancing and constantly investing thru the decades. in fact mant times i swapped a fund for another fund in the portfolio and would have been better off with the origional.

none of the funds really were hot funds except for fidelity low priced stock fund which has been an awesome performer since i have it.

even if your plan called for buying nothing else but those 4 asset classes and did nothing but rebalance you would have averaged over 9% this past decade...

its really not the markets but bad planning that caused alot of folks to sustain heavy loses....

all markets go thru periods of time where they are pricing errors. nasdaq at 5,000 was a pricing error, it shouldnt even have been 1/2 that, homes were a pricing error, gold decades ago at 1,000 was an error.

just because something had an error short term in its pricing dosnt mean thats the new benchmark forever.

its not markets that had a tough time the last decade ,its 2 back to back recessions that caused it. markets are only messengers of what is or will be...

bad planning is to blame if real losses were incurred.

our plan calls for as much as 7 years withdrawls in cash or cash instruments,another 7 years in bonds and un-traded reits , all the rest is as aggressively invested as i was in my 30's. we are open ended on retiring but im 57 and we can retire at any point now so things are in place to have our investments act like our own pension and create a lifetime of income...thats our objective now with our investing.

we can go 15 years of withdrawls before worrying about having to sell equities when they are down.


if you believe stocks wont be higher over a 15 year time frame then maybe you dont belong in equities, but we certainly believe we will be substantially higher in another 4 years which would make even the last 15 year period profitable for stocks. our plan isnt just stocks it covers many asset classes.

i also dont buy individual issues as part of my serious plan. i have enough to deal with in market risk without taking on individual company risk too.

im not smart enough to pick just the right company in just the right sector at just the right time in just the right market sentiment and i still dont have a clue what the competitors have on the drawing board,.. im strictly funds at this stage.

its all allocation and planning

Last edited by mathjak107; 08-07-2010 at 07:28 AM..
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Old 08-07-2010, 07:50 AM
 
Location: State of Superior
8,733 posts, read 15,886,673 times
Reputation: 2869
Quote:
Originally Posted by mathjak107 View Post
im curious where you went wrong in your investing that you lost so badly.

most diversified funds with rebalancing are very close to being up and certainly over many years are well up..

like i said just a standard mix of fidelity funds i use have been up every decade since the 80's. its not luck, its just being diversified, continuing with the plan in every downturn, rebalancing and constantly investing thru the decades. in fact mant times i swapped a fund for another fund in the portfolio and would have been better off with the origional.

none of the funds really were hot funds except for fidelity low priced stock fund which has been an awesome performer since i have it.

even if your plan called for buying nothing else but those 4 asset classes and did nothing but rebalance you would have averaged over 9% this past decade...

its really not the markets but bad planning that caused alot of folks to sustain heavy loses....

all markets go thru periods of time where they are pricing errors. nasdaq at 5,000 was a pricing error, it shouldnt even have been 1/2 that, homes were a pricing error, gold decades ago at 1,000 was an error.

just because something had an error short term in its pricing dosnt mean thats the new benchmark forever.

its not markets that had a tough time the last decade ,its 2 back to back recessions that caused it. markets are only messengers of what is or will be...

bad planning is to blame if real losses were incurred.

our plan calls for as much as 7 years withdrawls in cash or cash instruments,another 7 years in bonds and un-traded reits , all the rest is as aggressively invested as i was in my 30's. we are open ended on retiring but im 57 and we can retire at any point now so things are in place to have our investments act like our own pension and create a lifetime of income...thats our objective now with our investing.

we can go 15 years of withdrawls before worrying about having to sell equities when they are down.


if you believe stocks wont be higher over a 15 year time frame then maybe you dont belong in equities, but we certainly believe we will be substantially higher in another 4 years which would make even the last 15 year period profitable for stocks. our plan isnt just stocks it covers many asset classes.

i also dont buy individual issues as part of my serious plan. i have enough to deal with in market risk without taking on individual company risk too.

im not smart enough to pick just the right company in just the right sector at just the right time in just the right market sentiment and i still dont have a clue what the competitors have on the drawing board,.. im strictly funds at this stage.

its all allocation and planning
Mostly had to do with Mutual funds, profit sharing, and bad timing. The last part was very personal, and I was invested in precious metals, some other commodities also.... I made bad choices , I know, by not hedging my bets.
The first part was behond my control as in any small business ,it takes multiable numbers of people to make things work. Just came all at a bad time , when I turned 62 and retired. I lost over 1,000.00.00 in that five year peroid., about 500,000 in cash , ( margin calls ) and about 500,00 on paper.

If it had not been for all the 40 years of collectables, and my 10 selling spree years on Ebay, I would be in a world of hurt today, living on Social Security alone.... When you aproach 70 , things start to look different. Going out and " make it happen today" thing gets harder to do.
So , bottom line , the don't gamble advice for the average person is a good one.
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Old 08-07-2010, 09:11 AM
 
105,875 posts, read 107,840,851 times
Reputation: 79460
im always curious how things went bad and now i can see.. thats called speculating what you did, not investing.....
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