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I have $800.00-$1200.00/ month to invest with. Instead of blowing it on junk I don't need. I decided to see how much I could turn it into over the next 5 years. I decided to buy PPR and USA. Which pays out dividends that I can just reinvest. I also ran a screener for some low price tech stocks. Found a few that seem to be undervalued and has a lot of fund ownership in them (such as vanguard funds).SLR, AVNX and CMGI seem to be the best candidates for a 5 year plan. COMS looks good also. I was just wandering what anyone else thought of this plan. Stupid, ok, good, etc. And also what anyone else would do. Not looking or asking for advice. Just opinions and I'm just interested to see what others would do.
Posts: 42 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Total gut response is that if your plan is to invest a set amount each month and leave it there, you should go with a fund, as opposed to individual stocks.
Posts: 5508 | From: Southeastern PA | Registered: Jan 2006
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actually USA is a closed end equity fund and PPR is is a trust invested in short term debt i believe. i would probably find a better couple of stock funds though
Posts: 1045 | From: novato,ca,usa | Registered: Aug 2003
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why invest when you can trade? ... imo you get a better return if you trade... but of course educate yourself on how to trade... or try both and see which one returns more to you...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna Posts: 4669 | Registered: Mar 2004
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mm35, not many true investors here--most are traders. Yes, some are traders who also have investments. For instance, FRPT is one of the rare few that started in pennies and moved on and mightbe considered an investment. I'm sure many investors have bought FRPT--yet, even with that one, most here who play it continue to trade it... make sense?
posted
Ah, but you're assuming that he *can* trade. Many people don't have the time/means to do so. I took the wording of his question to mean that he wants to "invest", but mountainman, correct me if I'm wrong.
Mach, do you agree though that if one is to "invest" in the way mentioned that picking individual stocks is not the way to go, or am I overstepping the boundaries of my knowledge here?
quote:Originally posted by Machiavelli: why invest when you can trade? ... imo you get a better return if you trade... but of course educate yourself on how to trade... or try both and see which one returns more to you...
Posts: 5508 | From: Southeastern PA | Registered: Jan 2006
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First I just want to say good luck with your new interest in stocks...you will get hooked!!
If you make a list of some of the hottest NASDAQ, NYSE, and AMEX stocks.....you can just wait for them to get over sold and pull back some......then buy it and hold until it goes up 15-50 percent....then look for the next over sold stock. you can do that every month.
I'm waiting for pullbacks on TSL, FSLR, FTK, BTJ, MTOX, CF........They are good stocks with low floats so they will make bigger moves off bottom.
Posts: 2321 | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by PCola77: Ah, but you're assuming that he *can* trade. Many people don't have the time/means to do so. I took the wording of his question to mean that he wants to "invest", but mountainman, correct me if I'm wrong.
Mach, do you agree though that if one is to "invest" in the way mentioned that picking individual stocks is not the way to go, or am I overstepping the boundaries of my knowledge here?
quote:Originally posted by Machiavelli: why invest when you can trade? ... imo you get a better return if you trade... but of course educate yourself on how to trade... or try both and see which one returns more to you...
I would say "invest" in individual stocks because you are in control. No one cares more about your money more then you. With funds, be it hedge or mutual, you are at the mercy of the fund manager. You have no control and your returns are not as good as if you invest in a whole stock yourself. I would dare to say to try a experiment for a few months or a year. Invest regularly in a mutual or hedge fund on a monthly basis and at the same time make your own portfolio of individual stocks and see which one gives you a better return. First learn fundie and/or techie analysis though. Don't go into either one blind. This is another reason I am not fond of putting your money in a fund:
HEDGER BERGER NABBED $400M FRAUD FUGITIVE By JANET WHITMAN MICHAEL BERGER Austrian arrest.July 10, 2007 -- Police have picked up fugitive financial scammer Michael Berger, five years after he fled New York to avoid jail time for covering up $400 million in losses in his hedge fund.
Berger, who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a Manhattan court in 2000 and skipped town in March 2002 before he could be sentenced, was arrested and jailed Friday in has native Austria as he was driving toward Salzburg in a red compact car, authorities said yesterday.
The FBI and Austrian police have been on an active manhunt for Berger, who at one point a few years ago was spotted on the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica, which has no extradition treaties with the U.S.
The search heated up in recent months and police are reportedly looking into whether he held fake passports.
Berger, now 35, was accused of hiding massive losses in his now infamous hedge fund, Manhattan Investment Fund.
In his guilty plea, he admitted to fudging the fund's performance figures after racking up big losses when he bet against tech stocks just as they were beginning to explode back during the late 1990s boom.
Berger tried to have his plea pulled in 2001 arguing he was mentally incompetent at the time he admitted guilt, but a judge rejected the motion.
Earlier this year, a bankruptcy judge ordered Bear Stearns, the fund's prime broker, to fork over about $160 million to the estate of the fund for failing to act on signs of fraudulent activity before its collapse in 2000.
At its peak, the fund controlled around $575 million.
U.S. authorities are seeking to have Berger shipped back to New York to face perhaps more than 10 years behind bars and over $1 million in fines for lying to investors and jumping bail on the eve of his sentencing. Austrian authorities have been looking to prosecute him as well because he cheated on at least three Austrian banks that invested in his fund.
Berger, a college dropout, arrived in New York in 1993 at the age of 22 and began his financial training in a teller program.
janet.whitman*nypost.com
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna Posts: 4669 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Individual stocks aren't the answer either. Diversity is the key. Ideally you should have 3 different accounts, one for safe Dow stocks that you invest in regularly that over time will build wealth, one for semi-speculative stocks that you still buy and hold but you keep a watchful eye on and one for pure fun (not pennies) but 5.00 to 15.00 stocks that you trade. 70/20/10 ratio seems to work for me although I've got to admit that the 10% pure speculative stocks are the most enjoyable to invest in.
Posts: 5729 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2003
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Well when I mean "individual stocks". I mean buying stocks without investing in "funds" where you have no control. I didn't mean only buying one or two stocks.. but several in different risk factors as you suggested though I would put more in speculative stocks then in "safe" stocks...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna Posts: 4669 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ok, then I thikn we are all in agreement that just having all of your money in one or two stocks is a bad idea. When I said "find" I was essentially saying that you need to be diversified, but yeah, diversifying yourself would work too, just that with $1,000 or so, it's tough to truly diversify, which is why I said fund/index.
Posts: 5508 | From: Southeastern PA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Thanks to everyone for your input. It is greatly appreciated. Yes Tex, makes sense what you said. Yes PCola77, I want to invest because I do not have enough free time to trade. I work 12 hours a day or more. A lot of saturdays too. Sunday is the only day I really have any time to do any dd.
Posts: 42 | Registered: Apr 2006
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