OT: Stock trading | Page 20 | The Boneyard

OT: Stock trading

XLCenterFan

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Of course we can also take the El Pres approach. The other day he was picking Scrabble letters out of a bag and buying whatever ticker symbol the letters created. Rolling them dice!
 
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The interesting phase will be when the acquisitions start happening.

Gundlach, druckenmiller, marks are smart guys and they don't believe in the rally and more so have egos and don't want to be known for 3% while Joe millennial gets a 40% rip. Buckle up for some vol. No one is stopping unemployment stimulus in a month during an election year either.
 
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One of my rules is that I have to use (or would use) the brand/company to invest. I refuse to use Facebook or Amazon, so I won’t invest in either. I can get with all of the others though. Nice picks @tentoes4rings. You’re probably doing well!
Well, I don’t have all those stocks. I’d like to add Pay Pal and Square. I’ve had a great 2 month run, fueled mostly by an 80 point gain by one stock, Docusign and a lot of luck with Nikola. Plenty of mistakes along the way. Similar to you, I don’t need to use the brand but traditionally Ive always had to understand a business and what a company does before investing in it. Continued success to you.
 

87Xfer

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I'm still amazed that ordinary, well educated people think they can buy individual stocks and outsmart the market. I assume it's a hobby and not a retirement plan?
 
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I'm still amazed that ordinary, well educated people think they can buy individual stocks and outsmart the market. I assume it's a hobby and not a retirement plan?
Perhaps you've been under a rock the last 4 months. There was a major pandemic that sent the market into chaos. Since then you didn't have to outsmart the market, all you had to do was go with the market. When high sell, when low buy. Chuck Schwab has been lying to you.
 

XLCenterFan

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I'm still amazed that ordinary, well educated people think they can buy individual stocks and outsmart the market. I assume it's a hobby and not a retirement plan?
I see it as a hobby AND a way to save money. I don't see how people can't see this. Buying safe, blue chip, dividend-paying stocks is so simple even a caveman can do it. If you read the news regularly and keep track of trends and how people are spending, you can make money in the market without being a professional. I am a perfect example. I have a degree, but it's far from finance. For example, if someone who has even half a clue started buying Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft about ten years ago, they've done WELL. It doesn't take a genius or a master's in finance from NYU to see that those are winners. And see my post above (#477). You want to bet against my picks?
 

87Xfer

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I see it as a hobby and a way to save money. I don't see how people can't see this. Buying safe, blue chip, dividend-paying stocks is so simple even a caveman can do it. If you read the news regularly and keep track of trends and how people are spending, you can make money in the market without being a professional. I am a perfect example. I have a degree, but it's far from finance. For example, if someone who has even half a clue started buying Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft about ten years ago, they've done WELL. It doesn't take a genius or a master's in finance from NYU to see that those are winners. And see my post above (#477). You want to bet against my picks?
I have a masters in finance, but thanks for the tip. If you believe in the market, buying an S&P 500 fund, with almost zero load, is so simple a caveman can do it. But I'm sure you'll do better.
 

XLCenterFan

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I have a masters in finance, but thanks for the tip.
Go figure. You're one of the "professionals." There are undoubtedly many things that finance types can and should help someone like me with, but picking winning stocks isn't really one of them. Answer me this. Aside from tax advice, and input on things like money markets, or moving money around at certain stages of life, and stuff like that, why would I pay you to tell me to buy Apple, Amazon, or Google?
 

87Xfer

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Go figure. You're one of the "professionals." There are undoubtedly many things that finance types can and should help someone like me with, but picking winning stocks isn't really one of them. Answer me this. Aside from tax advice, and input on things like money markets, or moving money around at certain stages of life, and stuff like that, why would I pay you to tell me to buy Apple, Amazon, or Google?
As a "professional", I'd suggest you buy Apple, Amazon and Google. Pretty sure the rest of the market hasn't thought of that yet.
 
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I have a masters in finance, but thanks for the tip. If you believe in the market, buying an S&P 500 fund, with almost zero load, is so simple a caveman can do it. But I'm sure you'll do better.

I have been investing for 3 years and have easily outperformed the S&P 500 all 3 years. I’ve owned companies like Amazon, Google, Disney, JPMorgan, Johnson and Johnson, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. Those stocks are profit machines and they all produce things that consumers demand. If they go down, they won’t stay down.
 
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I'm still amazed that ordinary, well educated people think they can buy individual stocks and outsmart the market. I assume it's a hobby and not a retirement plan?
Why does it have to be “outsmarting” the market? As others have said, smart people can choose the top names and make intelligent assessments on whether the market will favor stay at home stocks or ones that will benefit from reopening with a reasonable chance we can ourperform some funds and 401 Ks.

To give you actual data, my work 401 K is down 3% YTD. In April I took advantage of a CARES Act inclusión that allowed me to pull some money out of my 401 at no penalty. Since then I’m up nearly 50% on my own. I took a chance and it paid off. Now I’m mitigating risk by putting the lion’s share longterm into heavyweight companies. It’s always a risk to invest on your own but if you do a lot of research, exhibit discipline and keep a longterm focus, I think it’s absolutely possible to outperform the market.
 
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Why does it have to be “outsmarting” the market? As others have said, smart people can choose the top names and make intelligent assessments on whether the market will favor stay at home stocks or ones that will benefit from reopening with a reasonable chance we can ourperform some funds and 401 Ks.

To give you actual data, my work 401 K is down 3% YTD. In April I took advantage of a CARES Act inclusión that allowed me to pull some money out of my 401 at no penalty. Since then I’m up nearly 50% on my own. I took a chance and it paid off. Now I’m mitigating risk by putting the lion’s share longterm into heavyweight companies. It’s always a risk to invest on your own but if you do a lot of research, exhibit discipline and keep a longterm focus, I think it’s absolutely possible to outperform the market.

Be careful my friend. You are treading in dangerous waters and I don't even think you know your feet are wet.
 

Chin Diesel

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I'm still amazed that ordinary, well educated people think they can buy individual stocks and outsmart the market. I assume it's a hobby and not a retirement plan?

If a larger number of people decided to get in to the market and educate themselves, there should be a larger raw number of people doing "OK" in it. Right now, if you have some spare change lying around, you can get it and make some surgical strikes. Do I think an amateur should take full control of their finances? heck no.

I do believe most people educated enough and well enough off to have some money lying around can become average at trading. Just like I believe most educated adults with a bit of training can become average at most careers. The reason there are only a small percentage of people in each profession is everyone decides to have a career and spends most of their energy in that field. You have a master's in finance. You probably could learn other career fields if you chose to do so and become competent doing it.
 
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Be careful my friend. You are treading in dangerous waters and I don't even think you know your feet are wet.
I appreciate the warning. What I did wasn’t a huge amount of $, plus I’ve already transitioned out of the more speculative stuff to slower growing but proven companies.
 

HuskyHawk

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If a larger number of people decided to get in to the market and educate themselves, there should be a larger raw number of people doing "OK" in it. Right now, if you have some spare change lying around, you can get it and make some surgical strikes. Do I think an amateur should take full control of their finances? heck no.

I do believe most people educated enough and well enough off to have some money lying around can become average at trading. Just like I believe most educated adults with a bit of training can become average at most careers. The reason there are only a small percentage of people in each profession is everyone decides to have a career and spends most of their energy in that field. You have a master's in finance. You probably could learn other career fields if you chose to do so and become competent doing it.

I was a finance major at UConn, and because of my 9th semester took a couple of grad level classes, including valuing options and futures and another math heavy investment class. I used some of that early on in my investing career. But the computerization of the market has changed much of that and valuations don't really follow the models I was taught back in the 80s.

The net result has been that I've done well managing my finances for 30 years, and have never hired a professional. But...my investments have been either in a fairly safe place (SPY, QQQQ) or in a company I know something about. I bought Amazon many years ago, not because of Amazon the retailer, but because of AWS. I added to my Microsoft position because of Azure. I did grab a few things recommended by Motley Fool, including PayPal. And I'd say Motley Fool does a reasonable job for amateur investors without much money at risk.

So to your professionalism angle, I would say that each of us probably knows something about an industry that gives you some insights you can leverage investing. If you know nothing about the company it is a good bet that the pros know a lot more than you do.
 
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Man I missed huge on SQ and LOW. SQ was $38 at its March low and today it’s at $104. LOW was $65 at its March low and today it’s at $134. Live and learn.
 
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Put 10% in crypto. Can be companies -not just currency- I am just saying if it’s not the future it’s at least part of it.
 
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I was a finance major at UConn, and because of my 9th semester took a couple of grad level classes, including valuing options and futures and another math heavy investment class. I used some of that early on in my investing career. But the computerization of the market has changed much of that and valuations don't really follow the models I was taught back in the 80s.

The net result has been that I've done well managing my finances for 30 years, and have never hired a professional. But...my investments have been either in a fairly safe place (SPY, QQQQ) or in a company I know something about. I bought Amazon many years ago, not because of Amazon the retailer, but because of AWS. I added to my Microsoft position because of Azure. I did grab a few things recommended by Motley Fool, including PayPal. And I'd say Motley Fool does a reasonable job for amateur investors without much money at risk.

So to your professionalism angle, I would say that each of us probably knows something about an industry that gives you some insights you can leverage investing. If you know nothing about the company it is a good bet that the pros know a lot more than you do.
Great post. AWS and Azure are two big reasons why AMZN and MSFT are two of my 3 biggest holdings. To me they’re like their own diversified mutual funds because of the cloud, retail presence and everything else they offer. Whether circumstances dictate more staying at home or more reopening, those two will prosper either way.
 
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Looks like PayPal is hiring for some crypto/blockhain positions. Rumor has it that they are exploring the idea of offering the ability to exchange Bitcoin & Ethereum to name a few in the future. Take this information as you will
 

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