401k’s are great if you are a bad saver…It works well as a forced savings and in a good amount of time you have alot…It’s also tax deferred…
I don’t believe in any guru and Kiyosaki is at the top of my list…The leverage king…
As for buying now vs some other time…I think if you pick and choose there is some great discounts to be had…But at the same time I would piece my way into anything,regardless of the discount…Mutual funds are not for me,they never have been…People forget one major thing with mutual funds,in crashing market you will not get your money liquidated from a mutual fund…If you read closely (small print) it says the co reserves the right to basically give you and IOU for your sale…This is because mutual funds are not very liquid and when hit with huge sell orders the fund simply collapses…I use ETF (exchange traded funds),I always have…I index it to put it simply or I own closed end funds that are sold at a deep discount to dollar value…
To understand the market and how to make money correctly you have to lose alot first …There is no book,tape,CD,guru that will make that anxiety feeling of watching your money fluctuate in front of you go away…Paper trading is for dreamers…When the real money is put into the market all those paper(dream) traders lose their shirts…When done correctly there is no faster way to make money…But it’s not for everyone…You dont go into stocks with your last few k dollars…
.I’m sure there are many getting slaughtered like Kiyosaki puts it…The sheep are the masses and we all know what happens to sheep in the end…Problem is most are not intelligent enough to see when there is oppurtunity,they rather sit and gloat and think negative…
The guy next to me at work (option strategist) told me yesterday was his best day in his career…He wouldn’t say how much nor would I ask but he is a major size trader…If I had to assume his gains were well into the high numbers
I believe that the current mortgage rates are going to stay at the current level for awhile … In my own opinion, the mortgage rates are going to drop further in the next few months. So why rush?
I wouldn’t rush with a refinance, rates will stay steady for a bit…but, if you are needing to refinance anyways, now is a great time as rates are super low. For example:
Today 30yr conv PAR rate - 5.25% THAT IS LOWER THAN I HAVE SEEN IN OVER @ YEARS
Today 15yr conv PAR rate - 4.75% :shocked
Rates are super low right now, so if you need to refi, now is the time to just lock it in and pull the trigger.
If you think Money Market funds are safe, u have the wool pulled over your eyes. Most of these MMF’s invested HEAVILY in CDO’s to boost returns. The same CDO’s that Moody’s and S&P had rated AAA and are valued at less than $.50 on the dollar. BTW, when I say $.50 on the dollar, that is being generous. That’s why MER, Citi, UBS, etc are having such huge writedowns. They have no idea what this stuff is worth. In fact, there is a rumor spreading wall st today that a french, or possibly German bank, has subprime writedowns somewhere between $15-45 billion. The market is alraeady pricing in an 80% chance of a 50bp cut next week. If it doesn’t happen, uh-oh! The market will go significantly lower before it goes higher. Having said that, just wait until Wall Street layoffs deepen.
One last thing… there is no such thing as a 10yr T-Bill.
Treasury BILLS are original issue discounted securities with one year or less maturities. Treasury Notes are longer dated securities that trade with a coupon. Not to be a stickler, but I work in the bond market and it’s incorrect to say. They are 10yr Treasury Notes. Big difference.
Wall Street Pulls Off Stunning Comeback From Yet Another Sharp Decline
NEW YORK (AP) – Wall Street pulled off a stunning comeback Wednesday, surging higher in late trading and wiping out what looked to be yet another precipitous decline. The Dow Jones industrials, down more than 323 points in earlier trading, ended the day with an advance of just under 300 points, according to preliminary calculations.
So since the Dow was up 300 can you use that to buy a hamburger? Didn’t think so.
Bluemoon,
I often find myself containing my tongue when it comes to the ignorant market related comments you constantly make…You should only know the money traders make…I’m sure you would quickly realize how imbecilic you sound…
I am not a Wall Street trader. I have invested successfully for over 20 years by buying companies that have been hammered for reasons that are fixable. It has made me a substantial amount of money over that time period. It’s a very boring way to make money, but it works for me.
I found that while “paying my dues” early on, a few well chosen (or luckily chosen) books greatly helped my understanding of what was going on here. NOTHING taught me as much as actually INVESTING my money and LOSING it numerous times. I found that for ME the most CONSISTANT way to make money was contrarian investing. Dave Dremans 2 books really opened my eyes. Jack Swagger’s “Market Wizards” was a great look into the styles of different traders (especially the interview with Tom Baldwin) and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator was also a very interesting read. Victor Neiderhoffer’s book was amazing considering he consistantly mentioned how easy it is to go broke trading and ACTUALLY WENT BROKE shortly after the book came out!
I’m not looking for books that are going to TEACH trading. I think any type of investing must be learned by DOING it. However, I would be interested in knowing the books you read that influenced your development.
Yes, 300 points will just about buy you a burger. Not the $6 burger at Carls Junior, but something not too fancy at Burger King, if you don’t get fries and a drink…
I’m thinking that if you can’t buy a burger, you’ve only got one share of one stock that keeps even with the DOW and went up $3 with the rally?
Seems like a lot of work to keep up with the market for one share.
Professional RE investors vs professional Wall Street traders? I think there are much fewer traders making a LOT more than professional investors. BUT, it’s easier to become an investor. I work for a major Wall Street shop. My boss made $8M last year. While that sounds like a lot, it’s not relative to some of the other Wall Street guys. This same boss has not made less than $5M a year for the past 5 years. Think my boss is an exception? Maybe, but certainly not the best paid guy on Wall Street. Keep in mind that the MAJORITY of guys I work with make +/- $1M. What % of RE investors reach that in annual income, or even in accumulated wealth?
I’m not saying one path is better than the other. In fact, I am actively trying to accumulate wealth through REI. But, to shun Wall STreet and investing is crazy.
Another thing-- day trading and making quick bets in securities is NOT investing. I often hear many people buying stocks or do what they consider investing, when in fact they know nothing about what they are buying, and are shocked when they lose money. Why does investing in RE necesitate tons of reading and learning and stock investing not?
I’ve find it AMAZING how people just chase stock market tips. These same folks will spend 3 months researching the purchase of a flat screen TV, but when it comes to “investing” thousands of dollars in a stock they just BLINDLY follow a tip.
I’m not a trader and I guarantee that RookieNYC and NJREstudent have FORGOTTEN more about the markets than I’ll ever know, but… I have learned how to make money by WAITING for certain scenerios to line up. We have some beauties coming up in the next few years. I have no idea how to pick the next hot computer gadget, tech stock, alternative fuel company, ect. What I CAN do is watch home builders and car companies continue to drop, and drop, and drop. I can WAIT, just wait, until a catalyst enters the picture. The catalysts are usually right under your nose.
A few years ago MERCK got killed because of VIOXX. The stock was literally cut in half. Yet it STILL paid a 4% dividend. The interesting part of this was a law that the congress passed that gave mulitnational companies a tax break. This tax break was for 1 year ONLY. It allowed these companies to bring money made overseas BACK into the U.S. and pay only 5% tax on it. (The usual tax payment would have been 35%) MERCK brought $6 BILLION back home and has used that to fight, (and now it looks like settle) the lawsuits over VIOXX.
THAT WAS THE CATALYST!!! This law was passed 2 years ago when Merck was at $20/share it now trades at $51. It wasn’t a huge stretch to see that having a $6 BILLION legal defense fund was probably NOT going to hurt Merck.
I’m not trying to pat myself on the back here. The point of the post is YOU have to find a way to invest that FITS your personality. Talk to 1000 successful investors and they’ll all be doing the same thing slightly different. The thing that is EXACTLY the same is they all found a STYLE of investing that suited their own habits, weaknesses, fears, and PERSONALITIES.
Find your own and you can create a lot of wealth in a realtively short period of time.
“The game taught me the game, and it didn’t spare the rod while teaching”
That is my question. How does it work. I have been asking for 25 years how do you make money in stocks. I have never found anybody that can tell me how.
It is like Sasquatch. Everybody has heard about somebody making a lot of money from stocks but nobody is or knows that guy.
I am an engineer so I must know how a thing works. If I understand how it works I can repeat it over and over again. So if you want to shut me up for good just tell me how do you make money in stocks?