A little investment fun

[mpruet]

It all depends on your circumstances.

When I was younger and had a good which was dependable, I could afford to take more risks with my portfolio.  But I was well aware that I would never have a pension and would be forced to rely on my savings/investments when I retired.  

During my early years there was no 401K, only my IRA and what money I could squirrel away. When I changed companies, I did get some retirement money, but I only got $18K when I left a company that I had been at for 12 years.  I didn’t have a formal 401K until I got my last job and only had that for 18 years.  Of course the 401K was all in mutual funds, but I chose the funds having the greatest growth.  Yea, I took a big hit in 2008, but had a tremendous growth after 2010.  

Also I had my private portfolio.  While I had some more risky companies, I also had companies would produce income such as ATT, Verizon, Southern Company, and Russell.  I turned DRIP onto every income producing company.  Also when my bank account reached a certain amount, I’d send the money to one my my DRIP stocks.  The DRIP stocks tended to balance the more risky companies. 

I’m retired now and no longer directly manage my portfolio.  I’m pleased with the performance that my management team has done because the portfolio is growing much better than what I’m withdrawing for income.  I still need to have secure money to cover any recession and I do that by maintaining a pool of near cash in a muni bond ladder which spans the next four years (about 14% of my portfolio).  My 401K is now in an IRA account and I also have a ROTH IRA.  They tend to be mid-risk funds (about 45% of my portfolio).  The remainder is in individual stocks and managed by an investment team. 

I would never recommend that anyone try to ‘get rich quick’ in the market, nor would I recommend buying on margin or playing naked options.

 

[SLB_SA]

Also when my  I still need to have secure money to cover any recession and I do that by maintaining a pool of near cash in a muni bond ladder which spans the next four years (about 14% of my portfolio). 

I'm not a fan of bonds but a bond ladder certainly has advantages.  With the decreasing yield on Treasury bonds, HY bonds might be attractive but risky.  If we are in an environment of "0%-1% bonds" (according to an "expert" on CNBC today), how will you get yield in the future?

 

[mpruet]

I'm not a fan of bonds but a bond ladder certainly has advantages.  With the decreasing yield on Treasury bonds, HY bonds might be attractive but risky.  If we are in an environment of "0%-1% bonds" (according to an "expert" on CNBC today), how will you get yield in the future?

I’m not interested in growth in that bucket.  I only want to have enough of a yield to overcome inflation.  
By having a rather secure bucket to provide income for the next few years, I can afford greater risk in other buckets where I expect (and get) a much higher growth. Over time I can move some money from the IRA through RMDs to continue to extend the bond ladder. Also these are municipal bonds AA+/AAA so have a higher yield than T-Bills.

 

[IGBT]

Well, some will say it is gambling, and while I can't disagree 100%, I will have to say...

BROKE $13,000 today!  

Now I have $11,500 and change in cash and about $1600 in stocks, all on my initial $2500 investment.

There will be time enough for counting when the market is done.

 

[IGBT]

Ending the week in all cash except for 5000 shares of ADXS, which is a really really long shot nano cap biotech trading at about 30 cents even though they have about $1.50 in cash and no debt.   You know the market has no faith when you trade at nearly 1/4 cash.

Likely a loser but it could pop up a bit on a little good news from somewhere.   A cigar butt for sure.

Currently at $13,607

 

[gojo]

Just received a dividend on MFA Financial INC. (MFA) REIT. I get .20 every 3 months, plus the stock keeps going to a higher price. Averaged at $7.21, means I bought at dips. Comes to about 11% annually.

I never and never did try to force my investments to anyone. If you read some of my messages carefully. you'll see that I recommend PAPER TRADING. 
I do live off my dividends. And I'm not a DAMN gambler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck to all :shy: .....................

 

[C-Cat]

Ending the week in all cash except for 5000 shares of ADXS, which is a really really long shot nano cap biotech trading at about 30 cents even though they have about $1.50 in cash and no debt.   You know the market has no faith when you trade at nearly 1/4 cash.

Likely a loser but it could pop up a bit on a little good news from somewhere.   A cigar butt for sure.

Currently at $13,607

Mighty impressive... but dang, looking at your portfolio there I should have bought some FIT... I was just standing in front of their products a few weeks ago in a Target and thought, this stuff looks pretty good actually and a few days later Google announced that they want to buy the company... would have been a nice profit right there...

 

[IGBT]

LOL I forgot I even had a share of FIT...that was a free stock given to me when someone used the link.   Heh I never would have bought any FIT with my money.

 

[SLB_SA]

I’m not interested in growth in that bucket.  I only want to have enough of a yield to overcome inflation.  
By having a rather secure bucket to provide income for the next few years, I can afford greater risk in other buckets where I expect (and get) a much higher growth. Over time I can move some money from the IRA through RMDs to continue to extend the bond ladder.  Also these are municipal bonds AA+/AAA so have a higher yield than T-Bills.

This article might interest you.  It says, in part, that "Fund managers know what the best performing asset class will be in 2020.  Spoiler alert: It will be stocks."  This is a collective opinion: "Or so says the collected wisdom of the 178 respondents (representing $574 billion in AUM) who participated in the November edition of BofA’s closely-watched global fund manager survey..."  

 

[IGBT]

I tinkered around a bit more in RobinHood, trading into some Gilead, selling my ADXS for $0.50 then rebuying it today for $0.36, made a fairly good move on BMY which netted me over $1500.

Currently at about $15,750.    Almost up half the price of a new Ford Transit in about 1.5 years since the start of this thread.  

 

[mpruet]

This article might interest you.  It says, in part, that "Fund managers know what the best performing asset class will be in 2020.  Spoiler alert: It will be stocks."  This is a collective opinion: "Or so says the collected wisdom of the 178 respondents (representing $574 billion in AUM) who participated in the November edition of BofA’s closely-watched global fund manager survey..."  

Which is why less than 20% of my portfolio is in muni-bonds.  That’s my spending money for the next five years and I’m not going to place that money at risk.  That allows my total portfolio to appreciate by nearly 15% this year so that it has grown significantly greater than my annual expenses.

 

[SLB_SA]

I tinkered around a bit more in RobinHood, trading into some Gilead, selling my ADXS for $0.50 then rebuying it today for $0.36, made a fairly good move on BMY which netted me over $1500.

Currently at about $15,750.    Almost up half the price of a new Ford Transit in about 1.5 years since the start of this thread.  

I am happy for you.  However I hope nobody bases their investment decisions on comments here (or on any online advice).  I do see value in getting different opinions, ideas, warnings, etc from different people but each investor needs to do his or her own due diligence before investing.  This is an unusual stock and bond market (starting in 2009) which should be expected to change as time goes on.  For example, options trading can earn you money but it can also cost you money, either slowly (options are not free) or quickly (if you make a big bet that goes bad).

The best investment advice I can give earns you 8% per year guaranteed and is automatically adjusted for inflation.  This advice is to wait until age 70 to collect social security.  This pays you 8% per year from your full retirement age (FRA) to age 70.

 

[IGBT]

I never suggest that anyone should copy my trading or even attempt to do what I am trying.

It is incredibly risky and almost an impossible task to earn 60% per year for 10 years straight.

I am down to $15,040 at close Friday, having bought back BMY a little early.   See, it is easy to lose $750 (although I am holding and expect a recovery over the next few weeks)

 

[ckelly78z]

The best investment advice I can give earns you 8% per year guaranteed and is automatically adjusted for inflation.  This advice is to wait until age 70 to collect social security.  This pays you 8% per year from your full retirement age (FRA) to age 70.

You are correct, when handing out good investment advice, you want a solid, SAFE, reliable investment that won't flutate much with the volatile market.

On the other hand, I would be very disappointed with only 8% yearly return, because I usually average about twice that amount. I am averaging 3x that amount this year, and in 2017 (2108 was good up until September, but still managed a small return).  It's all how risk averse you plan to be.

 

[IGBT]

And just like that, BMY turned around.   Now at $16,200 and all cash.

 

[IGBT]

I entered 2020 with a bang!  I bought Nektar and today it was up over 25%.

Currently the account I have grown from $2,500 is $21,787!

When I first started this thread and said I could turn $2500 into $250,000 in 10 years, I thought I was crazy.

Now....maybe not so crazy.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . .
The best investment advice I can give earns you 8% per year guaranteed and is automatically adjusted for inflation.  This advice is to wait until age 70 to collect social security.  This pays you 8% per year from your full retirement age (FRA) to age 70.

That assumes you live long enough to make up the difference.  For me, that age was 83.  I didn't think it was worth the gamble.

 

[mpruet]

That assumes you live long enough to make up the difference.  For me, that age was 83.  I didn't think it was worth the gamble.

Well - sorta.  When you consider COLA adjustments, the person who started at 62 is only going to be getting a 1.5% annual increase while the person who waits until 70 is getting an 8% annual increase.  Once the person who waited will also be getting a 1.5% COLA, but that will be based on a much higher base.

 

[IGBT]

Feel free to ignore this thread if you are not interested in what I am doing but please don't clutter it with discussions of social security.

Otherwise I am going to come to your van build thread and start discussing what is the best tampon or something.

 

[ckelly78z]

My 401K is currently up 2.93 % YTD (which is pretty decent for being Jan 11). My Charles Schwab acct is up about 10% YTD from playing around with NASDAQ phamaceuticlal stocks over thae last few days (I bought in on Thursday).

IGBT, there are lots of "runners" these days in NASDAQ, many of them in the medical sector.