What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

I took quite a bit off the table in the last few days. With most of what I have sitting at 52 week highs-it just seemed like an opportune time to take some profits and let the other guys try to make the last few cents on each stock. My strategy this time was to seel 1/2 of my holding of each stock to hedge a little-if the stock goes up further i can still benefit. I intened to maintain a high cash position for a little while until I see which way things are heading.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

DrDemento said:
I took quite a bit off the table in the last few days. With most of what I have sitting at 52 week highs-it just seemed like an opportune time to take some profits and let the other guys try to make the last few cents on each stock. My strategy this time was to seel 1/2 of my holding of each stock to hedge a little-if the stock goes up further i can still benefit. I intened to maintain a high cash position for a little while until I see which way things are heading.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking it'll be a good idea to hold onto the cash for a couple months, or to put it into something that is fairly stable value (typically I use oil royalties or non-cyclicals; materials are also good in the summer). Good to read that you're playing the winnings, though; nothing to lose on that.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

FlagDUDE08 said:
I'm thinking it'll be a good idea to hold onto the cash for a couple months, or to put it into something that is fairly stable value (typically I use oil royalties or non-cyclicals; materials are also good in the summer). Good to read that you're playing the winnings, though; nothing to lose on that.
Click to expand...

I am just not so sure this market can keep justifying new highs. I am just going to be very selective for the near future. Despite a lot of the rhetoric I am one who does not beleive this economy is as sound as we are being led to believe. Eventually a house of cards will collapse.


.
 
DrDemento said:
I am just not so sure this market can keep justifying new highs. I am just going to be very selective for the near future. Despite a lot of the rhetoric I am one who does not beleive this economy is as sound as we are being led to believe. Eventually a house of cards will collapse.
Click to expand...

I think that as the QE winds down the true winners will be separated from the pretenders who are surviving on nearly free money.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

I wonder where the slump is... Of course, ever since Bernanke said we had to have more inflation, we don't see much of a drop.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

Almington said:
I think that as the QE winds down the true winners will be separated from the pretenders who are surviving on nearly free money.
Click to expand...

Have you heard of QE winding down? Last I heard it was "indefinite".
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

DrDemento said:
Some times you can keep blowing up a balloon-until it breaks. Just sayin.....
Click to expand...
The only thing keeping this balloon from bursting right now is Europe. They're in such a mess over there that the USD just can't fall fast enough compared to the Euro - the Euro is actually out-falling the USD.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

St. Clown said:
The only thing keeping this balloon from bursting right now is Europe. They're in such a mess over there that the USD just can't fall fast enough compared to the Euro - the Euro is actually out-falling the USD.
Click to expand...

Does that make Europe a Fall Out Boy? :D (yes I understand this is not the puns thread)

BTW, yesterday was the three-year anniversary of the Flash Crash. That also makes me wonder if micro-trading keeps markets up...
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

To this day I am amazed at the heights of the stock market, and how overpriced ( IMO) some traded securities are. Looked at facebook and Linkedin. To me it hasn't seemed like a good buying opportunity for some time and I have lost out on some gains with my money just sitting in a brokerage account. With that said, I still think a correction is due and do not want to jump in ( at least on the larger cap companies).

My question to the more experienced guys - what types of moderately safe securities have decent ( better than 30 yr govnt bonds) yield? I was thinking corporate bonds, but that yield isn't so hot either. Was also thinking MBS, but it seems that there are some bubbles taking place in housing markets which took at hit in 2007 and that seems to be inviting trouble.

As closure, my selected portfolio has roughly tracked its return with the S&P 500. I don't have the knowledge or time to dedicate to hedge against the markets and want to either buy something with yield, or make a timely move into the market in which I will add to what I already own.

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

unh_hockey said:
To this day I am amazed at the heights of the stock market, and how overpriced ( IMO) some traded securities are. Looked at facebook and Linkedin. To me it hasn't seemed like a good buying opportunity for some time and I have lost out on some gains with my money just sitting in a brokerage account. With that said, I still think a correction is due and do not want to jump in ( at least on the larger cap companies).

My question to the more experienced guys - what types of moderately safe securities have decent ( better than 30 yr govnt bonds) yield? I was thinking corporate bonds, but that yield isn't so hot either. Was also thinking MBS, but it seems that there are some bubbles taking place in housing markets which took at hit in 2007 and that seems to be inviting trouble.

As closure, my selected portfolio has roughly tracked its return with the S&P 500. I don't have the knowledge or time to dedicate to hedge against the markets and want to either buy something with yield, or make a timely move into the market in which I will add to what I already own.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I find that non-cyclical stocks are usually the safest bet if you're worried about the heights of the stock market. Utilities are certainly a way to go if you want to look at single companies. If you want something sit-and-grow with yield, I would recommend looking at ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). These are like mutual funds, except that they trade like stocks. Diversification is what keeps these fairly safe. In the past, I have used DVY and DHY for good yield (I own neither at this time, and don't plan to reinvest within the next week). If you're liking the idea of tracking with the S&P 500, you may want to look into SPY (disclaimer: long with 401(k)). That ETF's portfolio contains the S&P 500.

A lot of the rise has to do with the fact that the Federal Reserve has been getting the printing press going. If you're looking at a timing play, I'd wait for Federal Reserve announcements (usually every 6 weeks or so), as you'll see jumps or falls then. With single companies, I also like to play when the earnings are reported. In addition, stocks are usually at a quarterly low about 30 days after the last dividend was paid out. This has to do with the tax rules, where in order to get a qualified dividend, you must have owned the stock for 61 days within a 121-day period around the ex-dividend date.

One thing to always remember: You haven't gained or lost anything until you've sold. Prices go up and down; it's just the nature of the beast. If you're OK with the commissions cost, I like to not use direct DRIPs (dividend re-investment plans) and try to pick a time when I believe the price is at a quarterly low. Do reinvest dividends, though, even if you use it to reinvest something else in your portfolio and then come back to where you received the dividend later, because that's the way you truly make money: when dividends compound.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

unh_hockey said:
To this day I am amazed at the heights of the stock market, and how overpriced ( IMO) some traded securities are. Looked at facebook and Linkedin. To me it hasn't seemed like a good buying opportunity for some time and I have lost out on some gains with my money just sitting in a brokerage account. With that said, I still think a correction is due and do not want to jump in ( at least on the larger cap companies).

My question to the more experienced guys - what types of moderately safe securities have decent ( better than 30 yr govnt bonds) yield? I was thinking corporate bonds, but that yield isn't so hot either. Was also thinking MBS, but it seems that there are some bubbles taking place in housing markets which took at hit in 2007 and that seems to be inviting trouble.

As closure, my selected portfolio has roughly tracked its return with the S&P 500. I don't have the knowledge or time to dedicate to hedge against the markets and want to either buy something with yield, or make a timely move into the market in which I will add to what I already own.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I have always maintained a portion of my portfolio in corporate bonds and another portion in corporate preferred stocks. Although the curent yields are the lowest in the past many years-I am still getting a solid 6% on that portion of my investments and the S&P rating on these companies is in the BBB or higher range. Of course anything above bank interest is going to have some attendant risk. When any investment is offering a dividend that reaches 10% or higher you have to ask yourself at what risk? And how much can you afford to lose if it turns out that the dividend was not secure. But there are a ton of solid preferred stocks and corporate bonds that will give you a legitimate 5-6% yield. Just remember to check possible call dates on these instruments-most are protected for at least 5 years from first issue. At my stage in life, medicare age plus, I tend to lean more towards solid yield and dividends but I also keep a portion of the portfolio in stocks that offer some opportunity for growth. Of course, there are some stocks that offer a bit of both-some growth and a moderate dividend also.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

Something like an index fund or corporate bonds ( of which I know little) are on radar for sure. I am currently revamping/relearning the fundamentals prior to jumping into pure equities. In regards to timing, I am not too concerned with playing FED's announcements as it seems that QE will be going indefinitely as it has been. I also only look at yearly financial reports for the companies I am interested in, and look back roughly 10 years looking for stability, reasonable growth, debt, issuing/buying back stock etc. Its kind of a process, and reading the financial statements is something I need to brush up on as first glance and much of what is published can be quite deceiving.

When any investment is offering a dividend that reaches 10% or higher you have to ask yourself at what risk?

At first glance, i would take anything at around 4-5% and assume less than moderate risk. Achieving these yields year in and year would would make me happy. 10% is downright crazy and is way too much risk for this guy to handle! I am assuming some risky government ( foreign) bonds have this yield, but a very real chance of default too. My game plan right now isn't risky investments and the like.

I find that non-cyclical stocks are usually the safest bet if you're worried about the heights of the stock market. Utilities are certainly a way to go if you want to look at single companies. If you want something sit-and-grow with yield, I would recommend looking at ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). These are like mutual funds, except that they trade like stocks. Diversification is what keeps these fairly safe. In the past, I have used DVY and DHY for good yield (I own neither at this time, and don't plan to reinvest within the next week). If you're liking the idea of tracking with the S&P 500, you may want to look into SPY (disclaimer: long with 401(k)). That ETF's portfolio contains the S&P 500.

I am trying to stay away from mutual funds due to 'costs' associated with them. I guess you nailed the appeal of ETFs as basically I can buy funds similar to mutual funds like those you would find in a 401k, but on my own terms and have liquidity - but no 'tax' breaks. Also an index fund is expected to find its way into my portfolio as well. If one had purchased an index fund tracking with the S&P 500 this year, you'd already be up something like 14% for the year - not bad at all!

But there are a ton of solid preferred stocks and corporate bonds that will give you a legitimate 5-6% yield.

Preferred stock is something I know little about. That might be something to look into! 5% yield is terrific, and if one can be relatively sure said company has adequate cash on hand to survive economic downturns, than this would be a 'safe' investment. Compared to the 5% ( from what I hear) from MBS, this seems like a clear choice to me.

Just as closure, since starting investing a few years ago my investments have returned a total of 32% or 10.5% per year. All of it is in common stock though and i have tracked roughly with the S&P 500 so I feel that the returns are fickle and obviously subject to market downturns which will in the long run likely normalize returns to something more...human.

Thanks again for the advice. I will certainly be looking into a few of these topics a little bit more.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

One thing I've talked about on here a few times that I like to invest in is oil royalties. The good news is that you can usually find good 10% distributions and they pay monthly instead of quarterly. Here's the catch: They aren't dividends, so if you do your taxes on your own, you'll be learning how to file Schedule E (not too hard, when the financiers send you your tax information, the instructions are very easy on how to do this as they tell you line by line, plus we can always help you out). This isn't a bad thing, though, because there are currently special rules in place that allow you to deduct for depletion since your royalty is considered "at risk", and so you can actually end up claiming a loss on your taxes (obviously you want to post-tax invest in this case). The catches with that, though, are that one: once you claim depletion, you reduce your basis for being able to claim it in future years, so you have to do some cycling with the ownership or either the same trust or between different trusts; and two: since the rules for royalties only allow for a certain amount of property, you do run the risk of running out, so you have to keep an eye on that. Usually you can get away with checking annual reports, something you should be doing with most of your investments anyway. Obviously with this, your basis for distribution is dependent upon the price of oil and natural gas, as well as how much is harvested in that particular month. In most cases this is the West Texas price, although there are some trusts (such as ROYT; I am long) that have exposure to Brent.

As for the mutual funds, I don't see much of a cost associated with them, so long as you're getting no-load funds, and in most cases, a brokerage house (such as Vanguard or TIAA-CREF) will offer shares in their own mutual funds free of commission charges. There's no shame with using multiple brokerage houses.
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

FlagDUDE08 said:
As for the mutual funds, I don't see much of a cost associated with them, so long as you're getting no-load funds, and in most cases, a brokerage house (such as Vanguard or TIAA-CREF) will offer shares in their own mutual funds free of commission charges. There's no shame with using multiple brokerage houses.
Click to expand...

here is what I heard, and again I need to dig into it more as I have just started looking at this stuff again - there are negative tax consequences associated with mutual funds based on folks with larger amounts in said fund. Thus is a person who is retiring and withdrawing money from a mutual fund, the tax burden is spread out throughout all participants in some form or another. My knowledge on this is based on something I heard on a value investing seminar a while ago so again my technical knowledge of this mechanic are very spotty at the time being.

With that in mind, I don't have an aversion to mutual funds, but might as well do my own work and buy into shares that ACT like mutual funds, get similar returns and avoid this potentially non-advantageous downside.

More generally speaking, i am not looking for extra income vis dividends or the like. If a security of any sort were to pay out like apple, I would simply reinvest the dividend into the stock provided that the company is generating comparable or greater returns on their OWN investments. Put another way, if they were doing as well or better than myself, I'll let them to continue to do the work. Perhaps for smaller companies, I would prefer to see reinvested money go into its capital structure provided the company is actually growing ( mid cap for example). It all depends.

Oil royalties huh? Sounds enticing :) Long anything energy related seems solid. Will look into it more, so thanks for the heads up!
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

unh_hockey said:
here is what I heard, and again I need to dig into it more as I have just started looking at this stuff again - there are negative tax consequences associated with mutual funds based on folks with larger amounts in said fund. Thus is a person who is retiring and withdrawing money from a mutual fund, the tax burden is spread out throughout all participants in some form or another. My knowledge on this is based on something I heard on a value investing seminar a while ago so again my technical knowledge of this mechanic are very spotty at the time being.

With that in mind, I don't have an aversion to mutual funds, but might as well do my own work and buy into shares that ACT like mutual funds, get similar returns and avoid this potentially non-advantageous downside.

More generally speaking, i am not looking for extra income vis dividends or the like. If a security of any sort were to pay out like apple, I would simply reinvest the dividend into the stock provided that the company is generating comparable or greater returns on their OWN investments. Put another way, if they were doing as well or better than myself, I'll let them to continue to do the work. Perhaps for smaller companies, I would prefer to see reinvested money go into its capital structure provided the company is actually growing ( mid cap for example). It all depends.

Oil royalties huh? Sounds enticing :) Long anything energy related seems solid. Will look into it more, so thanks for the heads up!
Click to expand...

Compound dividends is certainly a great way to go. Does your brokerage allow DRIPs (which one, if you don't mind me asking)? I have Sogotrade here, no DRIPs, commissions are either $5 on the fly or 5-for-the-price-of-3 if you buy in advance or trade like 50 times a month (which would put you into a tax withholding situation). I'm guessing they're a little desperate for money, but didn't want to alienate their base.

Here's what I use for royalty trust info: http://www.dividendyieldhunter.com/US_Royalty_Trust_List.html
 
Re: The Stock Market thread: BUY! BUY! BUY! Sell, sell, sell...

I am using TD ameritrade right now , but might switch to interactive brokers eventually. I don't buy or sell often and am more of a buy and hold as my time to dedicate towards these activities has been zero but lately is more - ergo the interest. As for allowing DRIPs, not sure on that one but should probably read up as one of my stocks (NRG) recently started initiating a dividend payment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top