Pssh like you could say anything that would offend me or that we haven’t already heard. Going in the twin direction I assume? Nobody ever believes us when they find out or they assume we are brother and sister. So it can be pretty funny when I call her baby and give her a kiss…you can just see the yuck factor rolling around in their eyes. Funny side note…Tonight when the waitress was sitting us down she accidentally jabbed me in the head with the corner of a menu and actually gave me a minor cut. I should of made a big deal out of it and tried to get a free dessert but we already had cheesecake at home.
Oh and uh thanks for all the support about my new job. It should be pretty cool we get to watch tv, read, or see what’s going on in the court room/lockup when it gets slow. Also, I’ll get paid to do at least one ride along with an officer so I can understand their side of the situation. I don’t think I get to do a ride along with the fire department but they are right next door so maybe I can convince them to let me hop on the firetruck.
Back to investing. I’ve only had the time to do a little bit of preliminary research on some close end funds and etfs. I keep coming across this mantra of trend following for ETFs. Basically, you wait for the price to go below 200 day moving average to sell and vice versa to buy. Sounds like a bunch of basic theoretical short-term almost day trading type techniques to me. But, I’ve read it in quite a few places and I figured I’d ask about it. It kind of makes sense in a basic sandbox style classroom setting but in the real world…ehhh seems too easy and if it worked why isn’t everyone doing it? It goes against my find a solid undervalued company/fund/sector for long term gains principles. The only thing that I thought had real value in these articles was the way they setup their buying and selling points so they had emotionless stop losses to prevent any major catastrophes.
Well that’s all I have for now, I hope everyone is doing well. BTW my silver hasn’t been shipped yet but I hope it gets here in time for Christmas. I think the kids will flip out when they get some shiny money. Seems to be hovering just under $30 per ounce so we could have a few interesting days when it breaks through the resistance at $30.
“It should be pretty cool we get to watch TV, read…”
Do yourself a HUGE FAVOR…
Don’t EVER write, or say that again in a public place…E V E R!!!
The public has NO TOLERANCE for this BULLSH*T…The ONLY comments you should be making about your JOB should revolve around the RESPONSIBILTY you have to the CITIZENS THAT PAY YOU, the POLICE OFFICERS that RELY on YOU, and the APPRECIATION you have for the JOB!!
I can tell you as a Firefighter…NEVER, EVER take your job for GRANTED. ALWAYS give the tax payer MORE than they expect. I have a very simple philosophy with my engine company…This TAX PAYER might call the Fire Department ONE TIME in their LIFE. We will do EVERYTHING in our power to leave them with a positive opinion… END OF STORY!
Don’t become one of the HACKS who talk about READING and WATCHING TV while “getting some of the citeez money” Those morons make us ALL look BAD.
I’ll give you a pass on this one, but I can GUARANTEE that your POLICE CHIEF wouldn’t be so forgiving!! :shocked
I can also guarantee you that IF he read this…YOUR JOB OFFER WOULD BE GONE!!!
BE PROFESSIONAL…Keep this in the FRONT of your mind at all times and you will have a long, and well respected career.
I agree Jake, Sadly, SOME cops (not all) think its their God given right to be jerks (to put it nicely) instead of actually serving the people. Some need to be reminded who they are serving (alot like many other public servants.)
Sorry if my comments upset you…guess I need to lay my sense of humor on a little thicker next time. Everyone there was telling me to keep my sense of humor up because one of these days I’m going to hear somebody either kill themselves or someone else over the phone.
Your “girl friend”. Is SHE going to be buying real estate and investing in stocks by POOLING her money with yours???
If the answer is YES…Then you now have a PARTNER that every decision has to be discussed with and agreed on… You just made this TWICE as hard!!!
If the answer is NO…Then you’ll be doing yourself a PRICELESS favor by just going out an INVESTING, do your research, be smart, but NEVER let a girl friend interfere with your business…E V E R!!!
I’ve seen too many people PARALYZED by a wife or girl friend, filled with worry and fear, second guessed themselves to DEATH and NEVER INVEST A DIME because of it.
If this is your WIFE it’s one thing…You have to spend TIME educating her and explaining that you’re DOING THIS, if it means getting a part time job and using those funds, that’s fine…But you’re not asking for PERMISSION here…This IS going to happen.
I don’t mean to rant here but I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will be BOMBARDED with naysayers that have never invested a CENT. These people you can ignore easily…The wives and girlfriends can be harder to deal with because of the emotions involved. MAKE SURE you explain that your investing is a given, it’s going to happen, some of it will go well, some of it not so well…The KEY is to survive LONG ENOUGH to UNDERSTAND what works and what does not. To hear you say that a multiple family property might not fly with HER???..Every warning sign I have just flashed RED!! You can have ASSETS and you can have LIABILITIES…Don’t MARRY or waste your time with a LIABILITY.
Remember this…
INVESTING is 90% MENTAL…It’s about having B@LLS…And having the ability and the mental toughness to place your B@LLS on the chopping block. At this point you’re saying "NO SH* T?? I already know that…YOU DON’T…Because investing REQUIRES PAIN…It is also very EASY to stop that pain by walking away.
Most new investors make mistakes on their first few deals…If those mistakes are BIG…They WALK AWAY…They just PAID for an EDUCATION, and as soon as they received their diploma THEY THROW IT OUT!!!
SUCCESSFUL INVESTORS learn from those mistakes, ADMIT THOSE MISTAKES to themselves, come back for more, and CHANGE what needs to be changed.
if you have a wife or a girlfriend that REPEATEDLY REMINDS you of your loses YOU ARE DOOMED TO FAIL!!
I am not saying this is your situation…I don’t know you…I wrote this as a warning to others, and from SEEING this happen OVER and OVER to people who COULD HAVE been very successful investors but they Never had the B@LLS to stand up to their “partner” and explain how this was going to work.
Great post Fdjake….
Had my wife read this one.
Sometimes I can sound like a broken record….when it comes just from me.
Yeah it’s a good post Allagash. I think he usually uses an analogy of if you get in a car wreck are you going to never get in a car again. Sometimes it just takes someone else to reword the information and the planets will line up for you, light turns on, fog lifts, etc.
I just noticed www.zerohedge.com seems to be down atm but they have a pretty interesting picture explaining why. Even if you aren’t a fan of their site you guys should check it out for a laugh.
OH Fdjake in the post allagash quoted you say “Two comments from me” but only made a heading for “NUMBER ONE” was there something else you forgot to add or was the bottom part of the post the 2nd comment? Just asking because I/we don’t want to miss out on any nuggets of wisdom.
Your comments didn’t upset me…I just thought I’d give you some advice based on my experience. I see “new guys” make these same mistakes and the sad part is…There’s no need for it.
Here’s a quick REAL LIFE story that beautifully illustrates my point about being professional AT ALL TIMES…
A few years ago during the summer I stopped to get a frozen lemonade during a 100 degree heat wave…There were about 10 people standing in line. One of them is a State Trooper in Uniform with a marked cruiser parked nearby. As the line moves the Trooper gets to the window and orders a lemonade.
The clerk hands him his drink and says “We don’t charge Police Officers, Have a nice day.”
The TROOPER replies…
“Thank you for the offer but I’ll PAY just like the rest of the folks in line.”
He left his money on the counter, got in his cruiser and drove away.
That’s not the best part of the story…
The best part was the COMMENTS made by those “folks” standing in line AFTER that Trooper left.
From “That’s why it’s so hard to become a State Trooper, they only hire the best.” to “There’s an officer that GETS IT!”.
Every single comment was positive.
REMEMBER THIS…You NEVER know who’s watching or READING!!!
The second part of that post was written about having the b@lls to invest…I just forgot to label it SECOND!
Let’s see I was laid off and finished the hiring process for a better job all within a week. I’ve also rearranged my Roth IRA holdings, bought a little bit of stock, started on my taxes, studied for the LSAT, and plan on going to a sheriff’s sale on the 29th. Not sure what else you want me to do but hey I appreciate you looking out for my family’s financial well being even if you mentioned it in a derogatory manner.
Seriously, Tatertot, you don’t have anything better to do with your time than to stand around and throw pebbles at me?
If you disagree with my take on silver, like many of the others, that’s fine I have absolutely no problem with that. However, the others also expressed their viewpoints while adding something to the discussion. It’s easy to be sarcastic, skeptical, and critical towards others and ideas. It takes much more effort to believe, stand by your convictions, and enlighten others. FDJake had the good grace to help me reevaluate my words/actions from earlier on…hopefully you’ll reevaluate yours.
@John_in_NC: Good for you man lets us know how it turns out.
Back to investing. I've only had the time to do a little bit of preliminary research on some close end funds and etfs. I keep coming across this mantra of trend following for ETFs. Basically, you wait for the price to go below 200 day moving average to sell and vice versa to buy. Sounds like a bunch of basic theoretical short-term almost day trading type techniques to me. But, I've read it in quite a few places and I figured I'd ask about it. It kind of makes sense in a basic sandbox style classroom setting but in the real world...ehhh seems too easy and if it worked why isn't everyone doing it? It goes against my find a solid undervalued company/fund/sector for long term gains principles. The only thing that I thought had real value in these articles was the way they setup their buying and selling points so they had emotionless stop losses to prevent any major catastrophes.
Probably one of the biggest things I learned from rookieNYC is to focus on the major indexes…and not spend endless hours on fundamental analysis of individual companies.
Here’s a video from Marketclub that demonstrates usage of their algorithm…much along the lines of your 200 day MA approach:
Good stuff thanks for the link. I usually don’t focus on specific stocks unless there is some reasoning behind it besides technical analysis. A few examples would be Ford, Harley Davidson, and GE. Solid companies that have been around for a while, are doing well, and have a bright future ahead of them. It just seems like on every blog, forum, club, or meeting you can go to about the stock market includes a lot of technical analysis mumbo jumbo. Don’t get me wrong it has it’s place but I just don’t see how people can have the time to go through hundreds of stocks to find the ones that fit their “fool-proof system”. It seems like most intelligent/winning investors/experts find a company that has a solid foundation for an investment and then do technical analysis after that as part of their final decision.
It’s always a fun conversation when you ask a broker/expert why they haven’t averaged out better than the market over the years if their system is so good.
It just seems like on every blog, forum, club, or meeting you can go to about the stock market includes a lot of technical analysis mumbo jumbo. Don’t get me wrong it has it’s place but I just don’t see how people can have the time to go through hundreds of stocks to find the ones that fit their “fool-proof system”. It seems like most intelligent/winning investors/experts find a company that has a solid foundation for an investment and then do technical analysis after that as part of their final decision
Technical Analysis is a very important part of any investors arsenal…Knowing overbought and oversold cant be emphasized enough…And fwiw there is software that sifts through 1000’s of stock symbols scanning for all types of setups a trader/investor looks for …Years ago we used a system called the Bigeasyinvestor…It was great then I think Ameritrade or Etrade bought the software and made only their customers have access to it…Now there are many,so the idea that any one person has to search through 1000’s of symbols is incorrect…
And just to prove a point how important technical analysis is even to a big time billionaire investor like Warren Buffet I ask you this…What is his famous line?..Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful…When are people fearful???,When markets are tanking and the equities are oversold…
I’ll have to check and see if my library has that book. Seems most of my spare time as of late has been spent on sleeping, working out, and studying flash cards for all the radio codes I have to remember.
Today at the shift change meeting we found out that the Kansas City Police are in big doodoo. The FBI set up a sting operation on the KCPD swat team and ended up arresting them for theft. I believe it was 6 of them and they have been released but are on unpaid admin leave. Their police chief sure looked distressed on the news. From what we have been told the swat team had been accused of stealing several thousand dollars over the past year at drug raids. So the Chief asked for outside help and bam FBI delivered and now his department looks bad and these guys are setting police reputation way back. I’m just glad I work in a suburb and it wasn’t our department.
Anyways, I’m saving as much money as I can and I should have all my training finished in late April or early May. That’s when I plan to buy my first house and I’ll have tues-thurs off during the week to do RE/Investing. Oh and a note on Silver: Everyone liked their Christmas gifts and I’ll be buying a little more in a few days…nothing outrageous but just a few ounces here and there while it is still cheap.
Great technique…I’ve done the same with leveraged and non-leveraged ETF ticker symbols.
With regard to the book I mentioned…there’s a lot of glossing over crap out there…but this one, Trading In The Zone, is a well researched look at the paradox of trading and a dissection of the psychology that comes into play.
It isn’t sexy and it’s downright boring but it works well. I’ve memorized all the codes and the phonetic alpahbet but it still takes me a while to transfer the meaning. The alphabet was the worst since I’m used to military/aviation alphabet and not the LEO version.
I’ve got the book ordered and it should be at my doorstep in a week or so.