The Stock Market and Investing

kyfdx

I like real estate, but I have no desire to personally manage it. If you can find the right partners, owning an apartment complex can be financially rewarding. It's a longer term play, but can generate good tax-deferred income.

Sandman6472

Kyfdx, take a look at Phillip Morris, a tobacco stock. Also had BP and AT&T for the longest time. Have this in my Scottrade account and they're doing pretty well.

The Sandman

kyfdx

sandman_6472 said:

Kyfdx, take a look at Phillip Morris, a tobacco stock. Also had BP and AT&T for the longest time. Have this in my Scottrade account and they're doing pretty well.

The Sandman

I have Altria (MO). AT&T has a nice dividend.

cyclone4

I have been away from this site and every other site for that matter for months. I've been trying to move on from Len's passing but I think about him almost every day.

I now see some decent activity here. Just to add my two cents worth, I continue to be bullish on the stock market and I have been since the spring of 2009. My biggest holding continues to be Apple. I have lived and died with it several times in the past few years, but overall, I feel that AAPL will make you happy if you own it long enough. I'm glad that Icahn sold his shares a few months ago. He is a big pain in the a... On the other hand, I highly respect Warren Buffett. By the way, Apple's dividend is not too shabby and they continue to raise the dividend once a year. This, combined with it's growth potential in the next several years, are great reasons to own some shares.

fintail

Judging by the amount of (often kind of sketchy, ask no questions) offshore investment in my area, it seems others are bullish about the US as a whole. The recent idiocy/unpleasantness in Europe and uncertainty in Asia might well indeed be the beginning of a time when the US that everyone rags on isn't such a bad place to be.

cyclone4

fintail said:

Judging by the amount of (often kind of sketchy, ask no questions) offshore investment in my area, it seems others are bullish about the US as a whole. The recent idiocy/unpleasantness in Europe and uncertainty in Asia might well indeed be the beginning of a time when the US that everyone rags on isn't such a bad place to be.

I agree with you but I hope it's not one of those cases which makes a too much sense and the market goes in the opposite direction. I don't think it will be. We will likely be looking back 6-8 months from now and be happy at the market action.

berri

Federal Reserve = eventual bubble. Just don't know when or how bad it bursts and corrects

cyclone4

berri said:

Federal Reserve = eventual bubble. Just don't know when or how bad it bursts and corrects

People have been predicting a collapse or bubble for several years now. Even when we see a big sell-off, it will be NOTHING like it was in 2008 to early 2009.

berri

Personally, I'm not doing much of anything either way right now.

stever

We've dumped a good bit in the last month.

Therefore the market is going to roll, baby, roll.

berri

So Wall Street now has the Stever Effect Curve for negative correlation

I consider myself the Mr. Anomaly of marketing. If I like a product, service, restaurant, whatever...all too often it is the kiss of death for it. These consumer products firms and retailers could save a bundle...just pay me $250K/yr and expenses for my analysis, then do the opposite and BINGO !

stever

Good thing you hate Edmunds and only visit here because you prepaid your dues a decade in advance. I'm going to chip in a 5 year extension just because....

fintail

I'm cautiously optimistic, even in the long term. The US has numerous issues, the Fed might even be just a smaller one, but the rest of the world has even greater issues. Money wants to go somewhere, and this is the safe place.

cyclone4 said:

I agree with you but I hope it's not one of those cases which makes a too much sense and the market goes in the opposite direction. I don't think it will be. We will likely be looking back 6-8 months from now and be happy at the market action.

berri

When you are long term, don't even worry about things like the Fed or Brexit. Buy more on the dips, but keep investing and dollar cost averaging. Of course, this advice is free

tlong

I figure with the market hitting all time highs, we are due for a correction. But my strategy is long term buy and hold, with rebalancing. I'm not changing anything.

fintail

I've got probably 25 years til retirement, if I am lucky, so buy and hold is all I can and should do.

It'll be interesting to see if Brexit really plays out as the nanny state doomsdayers claim, or of the Limeyland populists will be able to carry on.

tlong

There's Brexit in the UK and Trump in the US. Regular voters are angry with the status quo. It's getting uglier. Most elections have bad choices, but I've never seen them as bad as this time.

fintail

The wrong choice would do to the US economy what a relatively slim majority of British voters seem to have done to theirs - although I doubt Brexit will sink them, it will cause pains. Even if by some disaster the lesser evil doesn't prevail in the US, there'd probably be some pain too. At the moment however, I am cautiously optimistic, and not too worried.

The status quo is a funny thing, when what claims to not be part of it still is.

Sandman6472

Kyfdx, check your messages please, just sent you one.

The Sandman

berri

Brexit mess, maybe that will be the excuse for a market correction down the road. But the Fed keeps underwriting Wall Street.

fintail

I am having doubts Brexit will be a huge impact, if it ends up going to completion at all. It will have some impact, but the world will still keep turning, and Britain won't go broke.

Our Feds can do a lot of goofy or sketchy things, but they still have a better track record than Feds elsewhere. That's what it will come down to, not who is best, but who is least bad. Thinking like that, I think American markets will be seen as a safe haven.

berri

Hard to tell if the Fed has been holding down rates this long (without much effect) in order to help the economy or to help prop up Wall Street stock prices??? Oh I forgot, that's right - trickle down will help the average working stiff

circlew

Hi cyclone4, I think about Len also, particularly every time I pass the Lexus and Merc dealers on Route 9 here in Freehold, NJ. His residence was a couple towns over as you know. His presence still persists!

cyclone4

circlew said:

Hi cyclone4, I think about Len also, particularly every time I pass the Lexus and Merc dealers on Route 9 here in Freehold, NJ. His residence was a couple towns over as you know. His presence still persists!

Thank you for sharing. I still feel like Len will send me an email any day now to discuss AAPL, the market in general, meteorology, and cosmology. He was one of a kind.

fintail

How about those precious metals prices?

I went to the store to buy a 5 lb sack of potatoes, and received a 5 lb sack of gold instead. I asked the storekeeper about this, and he replied "gold is cheaper than potatoes". I replied that I can't eat gold, but he said that was my problem.

Really, I am a little bitter, I had some un-needed gold coins I was thinking of selling, I might just hold on to them now.

houdini1

fintail said:

How about those precious metals prices?

I went to the store to buy a 5 lb sack of potatoes, and received a 5 lb sack of gold instead. I asked the storekeeper about this, and he replied "gold is cheaper than potatoes". I replied that I can't eat gold, but he said that was my problem.

Really, I am a little bitter, I had some un-needed gold coins I was thinking of selling, I might just hold on to them now.

This was one time where my procrastination saved me some dough. Been thinking about buying some gold and hey, now might be the time. What'cha got ?

Sandman6472

Been having some nice returns with a reit, real estate investment trust, I got into last year. I had a nice position in AEE and T but decided that I really wanted more dividends so found a couple of reit's and have been very satisfied. I realize that it's a bit risky but right now I'm looking for high dividend payout until I retire again in a year or two. Then I can reduce my positions a bit and get a bit more conservative. Only started getting interested in the stock market back in 2006 when I finally got my shares of Genesco that my folks got for me as a child, my dad was on their board of governors and bought a whole mess of stock for the family with the kids portion in the gifts for minors designation. Took 20 years after his death for my mom and siblings to get me the shares and during that time it got as low as 4 and recently, it's been doing great. For a time there, it stopped paying any dividends at all so was very glad that they started them up again and that my shares were still intact.
We have a radio program weekdays on the AM dial that deals with investments hosted by a father/son team. Very interesting and informative and they answer questions that listeners call in during the 50 minute program. They never tell folks what to buy or sell, they just give their opinions for the listeners to follow or not. I've called them a few times over the years and even went in to see them about my small portfolio. They've really helped me enjoy investing and though I don't really know that much overall, I enjoy their program. And with the few stocks that I've inherited over the last fourteen years, I've had a lot of fun investing in a number of different companies over the years.

The Sandman

fintail

Nothing too fancy, but they are cool in their own way. I have a slabbed AU $10 Indian, a $10 Liberty, a couple of $5 Liberty coins, a $2.50 Indian, and a $2.50 Liberty. I don't think any are rare dates, but most are good coins. Some time ago I wanted to have a "type set" of all US gold coin styles (except for the earliest coins which are unaffordable), something that fascinated me since I was a kid. I had the extras, bought when I thought was a good price, and don't really need them anymore. They just sit in a hidden box. I was thinking to hold just to see what the future will bring, but I already have the type set.

houdini1 said:

This was one time where my procrastination saved me some dough. Been thinking about buying some gold and hey, now might be the time. What'cha got ?

fintail

I've read about REITs, some good things. I am such a lazy hands off investor, that I have never pursued it. The relatively modest-moderate performance of my 401K this year might speak to that. But the Vanguard funds I bought when I sold a car a few years ago have performed nicely, for the effort and fees especially.

sandman_6472 said:

Been having some nice returns with a reit, real estate investment trust, I got into last year.

The Sandman

berri

REITs have their good and bad years like most other investments. Some of them do have a few tax peculiarities, and by law they have to distribute most of their earnings, so they can impact your annual income tax liability. A large, unexpected distribution (they do happen) could also find yourself penalized for under withholding if you don't have some contingency in your tax deduction elsewhere, or pay taxes quarterly. Personally, unless I needed the income right now, I'd be more inclined to hold them in tax deferred retirement accounts, or better yet as a Roth.

gagrice

We just bought into CarterValidus REIT. Paying 5.68% monthly payment. it is a 3-5 year offering. And they own Big cloud servers. Only put in $40k to give them a shot. We have a couple other REITs and one tax free bond fund BKN that has been paying 5.3% like clock work. No greedy investments. Mostly first mortgages paying 5-6%.

http://www.cvmissioncriticalreit.com/index.html

houdini1

gagrice said:

We just bought into CarterValidus REIT. Paying 5.68% monthly payment. it is a 3-5 year offering. And they own Big cloud servers. Only put in $40k to give them a shot. We have a couple other REITs and one tax free bond fund BKN that has been paying 5.3% like clock work. No greedy investments. Mostly first mortgages paying 5-6%.

http://www.cvmissioncriticalreit.com/index.html

That is an interesting reit. My info says it is now closed to new investors.

houdini1

My tax free funds have taken a beating over the last month because of over reaction to the current interest rate speculation, etc. Hasn't affected the divi of course...except for being better for new investors. Might be a time to buy more. I hope the decrease in prices has happened just anticipating an increase in the interest rates and that prices won't go down more when the interest rate hike actually occurs.

stever

I have a fund that mostly owns REITs. It's down this year and never has been stellar. Time to rebalance stuff.

gagrice

houdini1 said:

gagrice said:

We just bought into CarterValidus REIT. Paying 5.68% monthly payment. it is a 3-5 year offering. And they own Big cloud servers. Only put in $40k to give them a shot. We have a couple other REITs and one tax free bond fund BKN that has been paying 5.3% like clock work. No greedy investments. Mostly first mortgages paying 5-6%.

http://www.cvmissioncriticalreit.com/index.html

That is an interesting reit. My info says it is now closed to new investors.

The one we are buying into is Mission Critical REIT II. It is supposed to stay open until Spring. Our adviser told us we have too much cash not doing anything. Which is probably true. I just started buying into BKN. It kept going down over the last couple months. So I kept buying more. Good tax free dividend every month.

Sandman6472

How would I find out more about this Mission Critical Reit II? T I A.

The Sandman

tlong

I've owned the Vanguard REIT fund for many years. It's in my tax-deferred accounts to shelter the interest for the time being.

gagrice

sandman_6472 said:

How would I find out more about this Mission Critical Reit II? T I A.

The Sandman

We invested through my wife's financial planner. Looks like you could contact these people direct.

http://www.cvmissioncriticalreit2.com/

fintail

I wonder how low gold could go with Trumpy in office, and the Fed raising rates. I sold my coins today, I didn't fare too poorly even though it has plunged about $100/oz in short time - this impacts numismatics too.

And as I can't resist an emotional questionable "investment", I couldn't walk out of the old time coin shop without a coin.

gagrice

Gold is still tied to the cost of getting it out of the ground. At the current $1183 per oz, it is at the edge of being profitable. Countries will buy when it drops below $1200. Selling can be a pain also, if you don't have any proof of purchase price. The Feds want their part of the profit. Always people on the street that will buy.

China, Russia and India are all big gold users and buyers. If it drops to $1100 you will see some heavy movement in gold.

I see my VLKAY has been upgraded to a buy.

http://breakingfinancenews.com/investing/volkswagen-ag-adr-otcvlkay-has-been-upgraded-from-sell-to-buy-in-a-report-by-goldman-sachs-today/108450/

fintail

Some of the spare coins I sold had been bought some time ago. No records of purchase. Luckily, the coin shop does little more than check ID, and I seriously doubt they report to the Feds - the invoices are all handwritten. I like these old time mom and pop shops. I remember going there when I was maybe 9 years old, and my dad bought me a roll of Buffalo nickels, which were my favorite coin at the time.

Gold and stock prices will both be interesting to watch in this new world. The new regime will be pro-business, but I don't know how a looming interest rate hike will impact either. I guess even if gold falls, it is a small part of my nest egg - 401K and Vanguard stuff are doing fine.

berri

You always have to keep in mind that the markets are looking to the future. So there is a good chance the pro business aspect has already pretty much been reflected in current pricing. So there is a decent chance of some dips down the journey here. OTH, Wall Street has herd mentality. I think you are often best to look at things as a long term investor unless you have the time and skills of a day trader. Also, I think smart selling is harder than smart buying. btw, another way to invest in metals is through the mining stocks. It is kind of second derivative, but doesn't have the holding costs and futures expiration issues. Many of them also payout dividends.

fintail

I've never had metals in anything other than physical form, I kind of like to handle them now and then. It's as much for fun as investment.

houdini1

fintail said:

I've never had metals in anything other than physical form, I kind of like to handle them now and then. It's as much for fun as investment.

I can see that. Sort of like 'ol Scrooge McDuck ?

berri

OK Fin, it's King Midas from here on

gagrice

fintail said:

I've never had metals in anything other than physical form, I kind of like to handle them now and then. It's as much for fun as investment.

I never trusted the gold and silver funds. I like the feel of gold coins. No good reason for me to sell. Maybe to buy real estate. If I find the right place in Hawaii.

fintail

If I won a powerball I wonder if I could replicate that

I also prefer common numismatics over simple bullion, so I pay a little more more, but I get something pretty and interesting to look at. Not the purest profit driven investment, but it's smarter than blowing the money on other things, and it is enjoyable. I guess I got it from my dad, who was into buying silver during the mid 80s. Not a way to make a fortune, but he had a good time.

gagrice

Back in the 1970s, a friend in Anchorage was burglarized. He had two US $20 gold pieces and several Krugerrands. The insurance paid off on the gold bullion, not the numismatic value of the $20 gold pieces. They were worth considerably more than gold value. You may be able to declare them and pay more for insurance. I just remembered that when I thought about coin buying. Best kept in the bank Safety deposit box. You can go fondle them when you feel like it.

houdini1

I agree with fin, nice to have at least a couple (coins that is) to fondle.

fintail

With the high price of gold for the past several years, one can often find decent (AU) quality common date coins, especially eagles and double eagles, for maybe 10% over spot. The higher the gold price, I believe the less the premium. A terrible deal compared to common bullion, but the coins are so pleasing to the eye, and are interesting pieces of history. As I am into the aesthetics as much as the "always worth something" aspect, it doesn't hurt me. Like with architecture and even automotive design, there are times when the past was superior.

I didn't even think of the insurance aspect - I keep my little stash very well hidden, so I like to believe I am safe, but that is something to think about.