Investing General Discussion

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Khane

Got something right about marriage
19,789
13,298
^^ Why can't anybody in the financial sector, including people who fancy themselves "savvy investors" just fucking speak plainly? You sound ridiculous.
 
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nazon

Molten Core Raider
57
51
Held my nose and started nibbling on some T today, lots of concerns about their growth in next few years but willing to risk some given how far we have pulled back. Yield is now near 6% and FCF is healthy enough to maintain. I may sell kind of soon if we get a pop related to iphone X mania or the closing of time warner merger

I purchased T today. 550 shares. I don't imagine there is much downside left, but I hope it isn't a value trap. I plan to get out at the 38-40 level.
 

Blazin

Creative Title
<Nazi Janitors>
6,379
33,478
Bought CELG late this afternoon @ $95.00/share after a monster drop sat on my hands all day, well I picked the support line well and had a total homerun as it ran straight up $5 in the next 15 mins. So did something I've never done on my Vanguard money and I sold it mins later. With earnings season in full swing would rather look for other plays.

Market looks like we are going to gap up tomorrow morning on AMZN and GOOGL earnings, could end the week back at highs
 

Rod-138

Trakanon Raider
1,136
887
Some stuff to ponder about the whole ETF/Vanguard low cost trading:

How are the companies offering virtually free trading making their money? Sure, the ETF's don't need to employ managers like mutual funds, but the transactional costs and what not should still be pretty high. Does pure volume alone make up their difference? One of the answers is the short market. Selling your ETF's stocks short makes up for the loss of any transactional fees and lets those fund companies edge out the competition - seemingly. There's a fear among many institutional investors that during a big enough bubble, lots of these Vanguards and Fidelitiys will have some trouble with all of the shorts they have to buy back along with the drop in value of the funds themselves, like a double ripple effect that could crush the fuck out of some of these guys. Are we talking mortgage backed debt crash type level, probably not, but you could definitely see a loss in your indexed fund that is much greater than the loss of the actual index. Something to think about - I havn't looked into enough to really know much about it yet, but I just had that talk with a couple of wholesalers and thought it was interesting and worth mentioning!
 

Blazin

Creative Title
<Nazi Janitors>
6,379
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You might want to do a little more research into understanding the terms you are using and how ETFs and indexing work behind the scenes. There are some systemic dangers hiding that could pose a problem in the next real down turn due to the proliferation of indexing and etf's but not for the reason you listed. Also not sure you understand the mechanism of shorting.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
19,789
13,298
Some stuff to ponder about the whole ETF/Vanguard low cost trading:

How are the companies offering virtually free trading making their money? Sure, the ETF's don't need to employ managers like mutual funds, but the transactional costs and what not should still be pretty high. Does pure volume alone make up their difference? One of the answers is the short market. Selling your ETF's stocks short makes up for the loss of any transactional fees and lets those fund companies edge out the competition - seemingly. There's a fear among many institutional investors that during a big enough bubble, lots of these Vanguards and Fidelitiys will have some trouble with all of the shorts they have to buy back along with the drop in value of the funds themselves, like a double ripple effect that could crush the fuck out of some of these guys. Are we talking mortgage backed debt crash type level, probably not, but you could definitely see a loss in your indexed fund that is much greater than the loss of the actual index. Something to think about - I havn't looked into enough to really know much about it yet, but I just had that talk with a couple of wholesalers and thought it was interesting and worth mentioning!

giphy.gif
 
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Ossoi

Tranny Chaser
15,402
7,665
Having recently paid off my student loans I've started to look into investing beyond the standard savings accounts. /r/ukpersonalfinance is a big advocate of Vanguard funds and passive investing in general, so I set up a Lifestrategy 80 and have been funneling what would have been student loan repayments into that. The plan is to not touch that money until retirement.

Anyone that takes a more active approach eg picking individual stocks themselves mind sharing their thought process? Are you looking to make short term gains? How do you balance active with a passive approach?
 

Blazin

Creative Title
<Nazi Janitors>
6,379
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Having recently paid off my student loans I've started to look into investing beyond the standard savings accounts. /r/ukpersonalfinance is a big advocate of Vanguard funds and passive investing in general, so I set up a Lifestrategy 80 and have been funneling what would have been student loan repayments into that. The plan is to not touch that money until retirement.

Anyone that takes a more active approach eg picking individual stocks themselves mind sharing their thought process? Are you looking to make short term gains? How do you balance active with a passive approach?

I do both but would always prioritize passive index for retirement .

I actively Invest/Trade as a means of making a living . If a person is maximizing retirement accounts and has other money they want to actively invest I would still only recommend doing so if you are really passionate about it and willing to invest substantial time and energy learning .

I would go a step further and say you should be debt free as well, including home.

I think you are making the right choice .
 
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Blazin

Creative Title
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Volatility in AMD had been nuts always an exciting stock to own. I’m up 20% next day I’m down 20%! Can be a real widow maker for traders
 

LiquidDeath

Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
4,829
11,118
There should be a disclaimer in this thread about scams and bad deals.

If you want to invest and you're new open a Vanguard or Fidelity account.

If you want to invest and you're a pro just keep dumping money into your Vanguard or Fidelity account.

Beat 99% of investors, case closed. Done.

What is your suggestion for diversification inside a Vanguard account? As in, do you agree with the idea that you should be into several different index funds or just all in on a single overall US market index fund?
 

Keystone

Lord Nagafen Raider
458
250
I like spreading across funds, in no means an expert though.. I'm spread across ~9 etf's currently with ~51% in IVV / IXUS / ONEQ probably more than I should have in MCHI and FTEC also but /shrug they have been hot at least. Also not exactly life changing money for me in there just more than I was comfortable leaving sitting around in a checking/savings account earning zero.
 

SirJames

Golden Squire
53
21
What is your suggestion for diversification inside a Vanguard account? As in, do you agree with the idea that you should be into several different index funds or just all in on a single overall US market index fund?


Total index fund, total bond market fund and total international fund. Adjust the percentages to your risk tolerance. I split evenly amongst the 3, but consider upping the bond amount if you are more conservative / shorter term investing.


Also, I recommend everyone have a little play money. Take 1% or less, Pick a stock or 3 you like and put some money into them. Keeps you interested in the market movements and what not.
 
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Archdruid Archeron

the Site Surgeon
<Granularity Engineer>
579
2,288
In 2008, I had a financial planner and realised that when I made money, he made money. When I lost money, he made money. When I traded, he made money. His incentive scheme was all wrong for me, so I decided to Hearn to manage my own money without just "gambling" it ask on individual stocks.

I don't ever try to offer financial advice as my best move was accidentally leaving Amazon's 401K match in Amazon shares all the way from $35 to $1100 rather than anything I didn't intentionally, so take what follows with a pinch of salt. That said, I am happy to share articles on portfolio management related to the approach I have used for nearly ten years as I didn't see anything in it from my glance in here:

3 Investment Gurus Share Their Model Portfolios

Of these, I have used Swensen's approach since 2008 using mostly vanguard admiral funds where I could. The returns have been good, albeit boosted by my (much smaller) "gambling account" where I invested in single shares (GS, GOOG, FB, AAPL, etc over the years).
 

Blazin

Creative Title
<Nazi Janitors>
6,379
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That investment approach as linked is pretty much the only advice consistently given in this thread. Low cost diversified index funds is 99.9 of the suggested method just curious how you missed that but either way welcome to the club.
 
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Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,050
113,852
Yep. Index funds (Vanguard or Fidelity) for the lowest fees. Diversify within them as you like.

Personally I find the Total Market index to plenty of diversification for me, but will eventually add the Vanguard Bond fund (closer to retirement), and possibly the international. There's also something to be said for adding a small cap fund.

But managed funds? Fuck that. Was in Ed Jones for a long time and I'd hate to calculate how much that cost me in the end.
 

Burnesto

Molten Core Raider
2,142
126
I was stuck with American Funds through my 401(k) for my first few years. Luckily the plan changed a bit and we were able to buy stocks of our own choosing. I switched everything over to VTI about a year ago and I'm loving life.

The returns are amazing without American Funds stealing your money.