Ray's Financial Ramblings

[popowich]

Hello,

I'm 30 years old, but already have a simple list of tips that I live by.

Take a few minutes to think about them, and maybe add some more tips of your own.

- Live below your means

- Save and invest regularly. Start young!

- Always make at least the minimum 401K contribution match required to get the full match from your employer. IRA's are good too!

- Buying a used car coming off a 2 year lease will save a lot of money over a new car

- Don't put more on your credit card than you can afford to pay off at the end of the month

- If you do have debt, pay off your highest interest rate debt first

I'll post more tips as I think of them.

-Raymond

[Kaos]

Here's my tip:
Never let people realize your true potential... then they expect things from you all the time!

I prefer to surprise people with things and look like a rockstar. :D

[popowich]

Hello,

It's coming up on the end of the year which makes it a good time to do some investment house keeping. I did some searching for a article about wash sales and found a great stock tip (http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/taxes/2007/10/24/cut-your-taxes-without-selling-low.aspx) that I did not know about in the reverse your thinking section. SBUX is one of my holding that I was considering selling and buying back in January. The tip ensures that I won't miss out if SBUX makes a come back in December, though personally I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon.

-Raymond


Reverse your thinking


The key to the wash-sale rules is that there has to be a 30-day period between when you sell shares and buy the same shares. But the rules don't specify that you have to sell before you buy. So to stay invested in a stock, buy "back" your shares first. Then, after 30 days, you can sell your original shares, leaving yourself with the same number of shares you started with.


Using this strategy means that instead of having no shares for 30 days, you'll have twice as many shares as you originally bought. So if the price goes up, you won't just make money -- you'll make double the money. Of course, if you're wrong about a potential rebound and the stock keeps going down over that 30-day period, then you'll have doubled your losses as well.


But if you're willing to take the risk of further losses to avoid having to miss out on a rebound, doubling down is the way to go. You won't always be right, but you'll never have to beat yourself up about missing out on a big move up.

[popowich]

Stocks are great, but don't put short term money in them.

That's what CD's and savings accounts are for.

By short term, I mean money you will want to spend in less than 5 years.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Hello,

I was sitting here and decided to do the math on beer:

(3) Guinness at the bar and a generous tip is $15.

(8) Guinness in the cans at the store is $15

(12) Sam Adams (pick your favorite flavor) at the store is $15

(30) Miller High Life Lite (or Keystone Lite) w/ deposit and some change back is $15

Reverse this out over a year at a rate of 3 beers per day:

Miller High Life Lite at home: $548

Sam Adams at home: $1369

Guinness at home: $2053

Guinness at the bar: $16,425

:cheers2:

-Raymond


Disclaimer: No, sorry, I don't drink 3 of or $15 of any beer/day, just some examples to make a point.

[unixgeek]

or - alternatively you can come over to my house. I just put a keg of Guiness in the keg-o-lator!

[Kaos]

^ that makes even better financial sense! :cheers2:

[THERESA]

or - alternatively you can come over to my house. I just put a keg of Guiness in the keg-o-lator!

Quite generous of you sir. :cheers2:

[THERESA]

Hello,

I was sitting here and decided to do the math on beer:

(3) Guinness at the bar and a generous tip is $15.

(8) Guinness in the cans at the store is $15

(12) Sam Adams (pick your favorite flavor) at the store is $15

(30) Miller High Life Lite (or Keystone Lite) w/ deposit and some change back is $15

Reverse this out over a year at a rate of 3 beers per day:

Miller High Life Lite at home: $548

Sam Adams at home: $1369

Guinness at home: $2053

Guinness at the bar: $16,425



Lets not forget the lesson of a DWI is priceless. :rofl:

[Kaos]

Actually I think lawyers and courts have a very good price for DWI's :gah:

[THERESA]

It should be a lot more.

[popowich]

I've been shaving my head since I was in college. For those of you that use razors, you know that they are expensive. I use them up quickly, and recently found out a way to make them last longer. I'm sure many of you out there are going to go "Duh!" when you read this, but here it is: Use shaving cream. Your razors will last significantly longer. I used to shave my head with just the razors and water. Based on my last months usage I figure I could have saved over $1500 knowing this simple tip. Hopefully I help someone else out there who thought saving the $1 for a cheap bottle of shaving cream was worth it. :banghead:

-Raymond

[unixgeek]

you didn't use shaving cream up until now?

That explains why your noggin looks the way it does....

[popowich]

I thought it was from banging my head on my desk at work! ;)

-Raymond

[harryn55]

Well only because you suggested it. Duh!

[popowich]

3) Watch my investments better. I did okay in 2007, making about 15% return on my mutuals, but I did over 30% in 2006, and close to that in 2005, when I followed the market much more closely and was involved in moving my funds around. Goal: Get investments in a position to return 30+%.



I'm breaking this down a little bit more since it's easier to deal with this way using the Scottrade tools, but it looks like for things I sold this year I cashed out gains of 31.90%, and for positions that I still hold I'm up 8.77%. This is probably misleading math since some of the profits can now be found in my existing holdings. How did the SP500 do this year? As long as I'm ahead of that I'm generally a happy person. ;)

-Raymond

[RJD]

very nicely done. 31% in this wacky year is excellent. Were you in foreign markets much? The one segment that did well for me was my Asian/Pacific Rim fund...

[popowich]

Oh, there is my math problem. Some of the positions I probably started before this year. FXI I started near the end of last year around $89/share, CTRP I've bought into 3 times but skimmed some profits off along the way too. NVT was a US winner. TOMO was a foreign big loser. I'll make a better post of this when I have time to sit down and do a more detailed and nice post. BTW, I'm sure at least Eric and I would love to hear what and when you are picking up as you go this year. :) No need to disclose how many shares of course. I think I forgot to post it, but my last purchase was some GOOG again around $660-$675/share. At the moment I'm mostly short term saving into my PayPal account (a little under 5% return) which isn't very exciting, but it's money I plan on spending later this year so I don't want to put it into Scottrade / the market.

-Raymond

[popowich]

very nicely done. 31% in this wacky year is excellent. Were you in foreign markets much? The one segment that did well for me was my Asian/Pacific Rim fund...


How do you select your investments? Do you do your own research? Do you use any investing services? A combination of both?

-Raymond

[popowich]

My 401K only made 4.40% after contributions and company matches, but being a company plan the selections are limited.

-Raymond

[popowich]

PayPal is paying 4.64% right now.

-Raymond

[popowich]

But in the interest of New Year's, here is a random resolution investing suggestion:

If you have a 401K, increase your contribution by 1%

You'll live, and it's that much more that you are saving without having to think about it. ;)

-Raymond

[harryn55]

My 401K only made 4.40% after contributions and company matches, but being a company plan the selections are limited.

-Raymond

Wow that's surprizing that you could do so well on you own but only 4.40% including contributions and company matches.
Mine went up 8.5% and 6.5% with no contributions of any kind.

[popowich]

Here are the funds that I am in for my Merrill Lynch 401K plan.

-Raymond

[popowich]

And these are the investment options available to me at this time.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I bought into AAPL (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl) today @ 136.81

I wasn't going to pick it up for another week or two but it being down a bonus 12% today on their news I couldn't resist.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I did my taxes last night, did you get yours done yet?

I'm considering adding some more GOOG.

It's down big lately on the yahoo news.

FMD and VLCM are fool picks that have taken a beating.

I'm looking to spread my refund over three picks, what do you think of these three?

-Raymond

[popowich]

I got into FMD at $15.07 today.

I'm hoping the google stays down an extra couple weeks so I can still get into it some more at these levels.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I added some GOOG today to my existing position @ 517.65/share

-Raymond

[unixgeek]

I added to my APPL position on Friday, and to the SBUX position in my IRA also.

never hurts to cost average down your cost basis.

[popowich]

I got into DRE @ 22.75 today. It was the fool bonus pick for this month.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I got into MORN @ $63.19 today.

-Raymond

[bro ho]

Hello,

I was sitting here and decided to do the math on beer:

(3) Guinness at the bar and a generous tip is $15.

(8) Guinness in the cans at the store is $15

(12) Sam Adams (pick your favorite flavor) at the store is $15

(30) Miller High Life Lite (or Keystone Lite) w/ deposit and some change back is $15

Reverse this out over a year at a rate of 3 beers per day:

Miller High Life Lite at home: $548

Sam Adams at home: $1369

Guinness at home: $2053

Guinness at the bar: $16,425

:cheers2:

-Raymond


Disclaimer: No, sorry, I don't drink 3 of or $15 of any beer/day, just some examples to make a point.

check your beer math

[popowich]

check your beer math


Weird, I'm not sure what happened there.

The Guinness at the bar works out to: $5475.

Looks like I tripled twice. :comp26:

-Raymond

[unixgeek]

The correct answer on the beer math is:

"find a sales critter with a credit card to buy you beer at the bar so he can expense it"

During this time you will have to endure some stupid sales pitch while they try to sell you their product.

[popowich]

Cost to us of vendors buying us Guinness, $0 !

:cheers2:

-Raymond

[popowich]

Go CTRP (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CTRP) go !!!

:yay: :rockernana: :yippee:

-Raymond

[popowich]

My CTRP and ISRG have had a good run. I sold of part of the profit this morning in both of those. The next issue of Fool Hidden Gems comes out at noon. I'll be moving into those picks this afternoon.

-Raymond

[unixgeek]

go AAPL GO!!!!!!!!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl

[popowich]

I'm still a couple bucks down on AAPL form when I got into it, but have bright hopes for the long term.

-Raymond

[popowich]

The GEMS are posted!

I got into ALDN at $21.05 and BBBB at $29.08.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I put a tiny amount into a tiny gem. I'm into ITI @ 2.4199

-Raymond

[popowich]

What the hell? When is the blood bath going to end?

[Raven]

Explain?

What the hell? When is the blood bath going to end?

[popowich]

Explain?


The last three months (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SPY&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=), generally speaking of course. :(

-Raymond

[esnagel]

It'll end in November when we get a new president.

[Raven]

Amen to that. :bowdown:

It'll end in November when we get a new president.

[popowich]

I think I might go outside the usual fool recommendations and pick up some GD (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gd), a Jim Cramer pick, since it's a "defensive" pick (hyuck hyuck) and not like any others that I own. What do you think? Discuss!

-Raymond

[popowich]

GREEN !!!

:yippee:

[esnagel]

I think I might go outside the usual fool recommendations and pick up some GD (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=gd), a Jim Cramer pick, since it's a "defensive" pick (hyuck hyuck) and not like any others that I own. What do you think? Discuss!

-Raymond

My system rates it a 40. Potential ROI is low, but the fools are agreeing that it's a strong pick.

Total: 95.37%
All Stars: 95.83%
Wall St: 100.00%

Looks like a safe pick.

[popowich]

Nothing like the best single day we think we've had ever following recent weeks.

I hope it keeps up!

-Raymond

[esnagel]

After yesterday, I needed a day like today. I was down to my May, 2007 levels - that's a lot of losses.

[Raven]

I signed up for Sharebuilders in ING. Any tips?

[esnagel]

Understand what you're investing in. In other words, don't buy a stock just because someone told you to, or don't buy a stock if you can't explain what the company does.

JetBlue at $5 is very attractive.
OXPS will probably dip to $19 before coming back at the end of this year or Q1 '09.

[popowich]

When getting started I'm all for picking up SPY's.

I think it's more important to be investing and getting used to doing it consistently on a schedule (every check, once a month, whatever)

-Raymond

[Raven]

SPYS? I am looking for tips to buy each month or what to start buying like Eric gave me. :thanks: I was going to do something every two weeks.

When getting started I'm all for picking up SPY's.

I think it's more important to be investing and getting used to doing it consistently on a schedule (every check, once a month, whatever)

-Raymond

[popowich]

SPY (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SPY) is the S&P500, one of the market indexes.

You can no brainer match the market while focusing your efforts on budgeting and consistently investing while getting started.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Easy come, easy go. Ah, the memories of the 2000 market.

I guess this is one of those months to remember you invest for the long haul and not the short term.

Was anyone here investing before then during other bad times such as Black Monday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_%281987%29)?

-Raymond

[popowich]

OK. I'm good at investing regularly. I think the next thing for me to work on is actively monitoring stocks that are in my non-retirement accounts for losses and gains. I tend to be more of the buy and forget and figure this stuff i supposed to be 5 to 7 year or more investments. I've been thinking about it and I probably need to do better at skimming off some profits as things go up. Not to Eric's extreme, but I need to be doing it on some level. I also need to set a realistic stop loss for myself such as 15% so when things go bad they don't get out of control. I have 4 stocks right now down around 50% which is terrible (not so much overall), but it's simple to set a stop loss on my picks so if they start going down they can automatically sell and not get out of control.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I got into FXI at 87 and 89 before the china surge. It peaked at 219, and I skimmed some off the top when it was trading higher. I sold what I had left today at 127, roughly a 38% profit on that last sell.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I used most of the FXI sale to get into SHW (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=shw) @ $52.91 on a bad news day.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I used the rest of the FXI, and sold off 50% of my Nintendo to get into CNI (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cni).

That's it for a while. :)

-Raymond

[esnagel]

JetBlue at $5 is very attractive.
OXPS will probably dip to $19 before coming back at the end of this year or Q1 '09.

Did anyone snag JBLU? 33% in 5 days is pretty darn good!
http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/w?s=JBLU

No, I didn't buy any... my money's tied up. :(

[popowich]

No shuffling to be done?

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I don't have anything profitable to be dropped. Well, I have a few, but nothing I'm ready to sell. Of course, now you're making me re-think things....

[popowich]

Great! You've had me rethinking plenty of times. :)

If you have a couple picks that are a big % more then the others, skim off a couple of those to get money for a new pick.


:yay:

[popowich]

I've already sold for some gains this year.

What do you think of me selling a Jim Cramer pick gone bad and moving it to a current pick?

We'll call it the less than 5% of my portfolio Cramer Fund. :laughing6:

The current international pick is moving into Peru and getting some BAM (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=bam).

Things have been going not so well in China and I already sold part of my China holdings.

Should I dump the rest, be happy to be up, and move on?

-Raymond

[popowich]

According to an off forum chat with Eric his stats say I should keep my AYR (the down pick), and sell off the rest of my CTRP. I think I'm going to sell 50% of it, let the profits ride, and use that to get into BAM. something isn't right here though. The ticker he jammed into my head and the company behind it don't match the review. I'm going to have to do some digging and see what is going on. But Eric seems to think I have mistakingly stumbled upon a winner. :)

[popowich]

BAP (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=bap) is what I have been meaning to post about. Heh.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Eric, you need to make a web page for your stock script!

Eric's final answer is to pass on the Cramer pick BAP, and get the one we just found BAM.

I'm going to hold on this since I need to find something that's worth moving into after selling for a gain (need to figure in the taxes lost from the profits).

Is it still worth it becomes a question.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I may have known this already but it was recently brought back to my attention that you can take out any contributions that you have made to a Roth IRA tax free! You can do this becuase you paid your taxes on the money before you put it into the IRA. Again, this is for Roth and not Traditional IRA's. I should be trying to do most of my trading inside the Roth and not a regular trading account since the Roth lets you grow your money tax free. I have not always been good about making the maximum Roth IRA contribution each year since I was under the impression that the money would be gone until I retire. That was a mistake. This is probably more valuable a lesson than any of my individual stock picks will be this year.

-Raymond

[popowich]

After talking for a little while with Eric today I decided to follow his lead and sell my Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) for a 13% loss and pick up some Landec (LNDC). No, I had never heard of them either before today. They are a company that makes packaging for food. Everyone needs to eat!

-Raymond

[popowich]

Great call Eric! LDNC up almost 10% today. :yay:

[Raven]

You rock.

Great call Eric! LDNC up almost 10% today. :yay:

[harryn55]

BAP (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=bap) is what I have been meaning to post about. Heh.

-Raymond

Maybe you should make this a Justin58 BAP.

[popowich]

My 401K first quarter results are in.

Probably not too bad for it being the worst market quarters in 5 to 6 years.

Your Portfolio's Cumulative Rate of Return:
For the period -9.37%
For the 12 months ending 03/31/2008 -8.13%

Be happy you get to keep contributing at lower prices and move on.

-Raymond

[popowich]

GOOGLE

(NasdaqGS: GOOG)
527.40 http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/fi/03rd/up_g.gif 77.86 (17.32%) as of 7:13AM ET on 04/18/08

Nice move after hours!

:yay:

[popowich]

I'm taking a little risk letting my GOOG continue to go.
I'm down overall in my Google, but it's up nicely this past week.

I sold my Apple (AAPL) for a short term 22.5% gain.

I sold the rest of my Intuitive Surgical (ISRG).
It was down big last week, but still a long term 228% gain.

I sold my BBBB for a short term 15% gain.

I have an order in for my Nintendo to sell for a 25% gain.
(I believe that one trades off hours for us)

Last but not least I sold what's left of my CTRP (I'm out of China now) for a long term 141% gain.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I'm taking a little risk letting my GOOG continue to go.
I'm down overall in my Google, but it's up nicely this past week.


I'm still down -17.42% in google before todays gains (looks to be about 3%). :(

I'm taking the gains above and using them to pay off my highest rate debt, the loan for my truck.

That's essentially the same as reinvesting at an additional fixed 7.5% return rate or 7.5% savings account for 2 years.

After the recent rate cuts most savings accounts look to be returning about 3% in April 2008.

I'm taking what used to be my truck payment and making it an automatic additional principal payment on my mortgage.

If I stick with it, my house will be paid off 2 years faster now. :yay:

I am probably going to end up selling the Google for a loss since I don't have any risk tolerance for it taking a nosedive at this point. It's money that I'm going to need to help pay a large bill in 14 months. I've already sold for a decent amount of profits in 2008, so a little bit of a tax break going the other way won't be terrible if I have to do it.

[VinnyBrooklyn]

You should see if you can switch to a bi-monthly mortage, principle gets paid down faster that way.

I am selling my shares of Potash tomorrow for about a 50% gain. I am still up 40% in Google and I am still buying that one.

I am getting some cash in the bank for a down payment on a foreclosed house in las vegas. I am going on a bus tour of houses on may 17th

[VinnyBrooklyn]

link to the tour http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/02/hey-buyers-all-aboard/

[popowich]

You should see if you can switch to a bi-monthly mortage, principle gets paid down faster that way.



I already do that too. Good tip! :)

I get paid every other Friday, and the mortgage comes out on Monday.

-Raymond

[VinnyBrooklyn]

The david bach book "the automatic millionaire" has a bunch of tips like that. Great book

[popowich]

I sold my recently purchased LNDC for a 3% gain. 1% a window. :laughing6:

[popowich]

I'm getting a little tired of muttering to myself every day about how I should have kept my AAPL and dumped some losers to help offset the winners I've sold already this year. I dumped my AFFX, FMD, and ITI (actually not a loser it's up 10%) and got back into AAPL (Apple). Much better. :D

-Raymond

[jguy3348]

This weekend was the Annual Berkshire Hathaway Annuanl Meeting. Buffett produces an annual report that is very interesting. Here are all of them.
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html

Also, there alot of Buffett sites here is CNBC's.. http://www.cnbc.com/id/19206666/pgn/2

[Raven]

^ How did you learn about stocks.

[Kaos]

I sold the rest of my Intuitive Surgical (ISRG).
It was down big last week, but still a long term 228% gain.

-Raymond

Hey I have a friend/client that just wrote about ISRG.. well I guess it was a month or so ago now..interesting view though just thought I'd share The Next Intuitive Surgical (http://www.visionaryinnovationsinc.com/intuitivesurgical.html)

[popowich]

Eric was asking me earlier today about some current recommendations. I'm not in buying mode right now and not paying attention. I liked my quote that I came up with after a few moments of thought. If you don't have an idea on how to beat the market, match it! Pick up some SPY.

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I'm still sitting on a small bit of cash. Not enough to start a new position, but nothing I have is in a good spot to average down on. So, it'll sit there.

[popowich]

Get some 3 month CD's ? Scottrade offers them. Pays better than the Scottrade interest rate on cash.

-Raymond

[VinnyBrooklyn]

I am taking half my money out of my 401k since the boss put a freeze on adding more money to it. Going on a foreclosed home tour in Las Vegas next week and gonna buy me a house or two.

[popowich]

Don't you have to pay taxes on penalties to do that unless it is for a first home purchase?

[VinnyBrooklyn]

Actually you are allowed to borrow half of what you got and pay yourself back the interest. You can use the money to buy a first home but I dont qualify for that.

[popowich]

Actually you are allowed to borrow half of what you got and pay yourself back the interest. You can use the money to buy a first home but I dont qualify for that.


No kidding, interesting fact to know. Thanks!

-Raymond

[VinnyBrooklyn]

You also have up to 30 years to pay yourself back. With the price of houses going down it may be the best way to find money for a down payment. Especially if you are currently renting

[esnagel]

I bought DBTK (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DBTK) today at 14.51. Looking to sell at 19.93 (target is 20.29). NetNagel Stock Index rates it at 123.31, a strong buy. This is a December, 2007 fool pick.

Eric

[VinnyBrooklyn]

I flew to tucson and read the latest Kiplingers magazine on the flight. They had many good stocks and the new Value investing collum was awesome. I recomend people to pick it up. BTW home prices here in tucson are still crazy. Tomorrow is las vegas for foreclousres :) When I get home I am buying Visa and target

[popowich]

I'm taking a small loss on my Google and selling at 590.

I should have known that was going to happen. :rolleyes:

It's a peace of mind sale, since I know I will need the money for a home improvement bill next year.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I sold my CNI, DRE, and MORN today all for a gain. (12%, 9%, 10%) :)

I am going to combine and move them into an S&P 500 equivalent within my IRA.

I've have not always made an IRA contribution and wanted to make sure I do that this year.

-Raymond

[esnagel]

Eric, you need to make a web page for your stock script!

Eric's final answer is to pass on the Cramer pick BAP, and get the one we just found BAM.

I'm going to hold on this since I need to find something that's worth moving into after selling for a gain (need to figure in the taxes lost from the profits).

Is it still worth it becomes a question.

-Raymond

On April 1 this was at 27.96; today it's 35.45 - a 26% gain in 2 months!. Did you buy???

Yeah, maybe I should make my script public... or just keep it to myself so I know what picks Ray wants my opinion on :innocent:

[popowich]

No, I didn't get it.

I spent the last couple months shifting from my Scottrade to my savings account to help with a large bill I'm going to have next year.

In regards to the web page, I just had an idea. Check your ICQ. :)

-Raymond

[popowich]

It looks like VFINX (http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=MUTF:VFINX) is a good SP500 fund choice. Does anyone know of a better one? I'm looking for the lowest fee fund.

-Raymond

[VinnyBrooklyn]

I was just reading about an oil trust in Kiplingers magazine. Real healthy divedend http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3ABPT

Gonna start buying some on tuesday

[popowich]

Why not get late (still early?) into an oil related pick.

I hold TM as one of esnagel's recommendations. (down 10% :()

I now own some BPT too now as my Vinny pick. :)

I dumped some of my losers including AYR and WFMI to get it.

Ugly ugly loses into those two.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Eric scared me off the BPT. :eek:

I picked up some GT with him, and also some VDE which is closer to what I wanted than the BPT pick.

-Raymond

[popowich]

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not bu my long term sales for 2008 are in the positive, and the short term (held less than a year) are in the negative? It's more about selling my big losers than not being patient. But on the surface this sounds like a good thing since my gains get taxed less and the loses help more?

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I hold TM as one of esnagel's recommendations. (down 10% :()

Yeah, I'm down 17% on TM. I think I'll be holding that one 'til like 2010 or later.

[popowich]

Almost sold it yesterday and it went *splat* over night.

-Raymond


Coventry Health Care (CVH, $31.83, -$8.17, -20.43%), the health insurer, slashed its second-quarter and full-year earnings forecasts because of higher disappointing April and May results, contributing to a decline in shares of rivals UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, $28.60, -$1.62, -5.36%), Cigna Corp. (CI, $37.17, -$2.53, -6.37%), Aetna Inc. (AET, $41.10, -$1.50, -3.52%), Humana Inc. (HUM, $42.52, -$1.92, -4.32%) and WellPoint Inc. (WLP, $48.62, -$3.34, -6.43%).

[popowich]

Hello,

A small but senseless problem that I have in my portfolio is that I have multiple Vanguard funds that more or less are equivalent simply owning VTSMX (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vtsmx) but for a higher overall fee since it's across multiple funds. I have some consolidating to do!

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I just broke rule #1 (don't let 1 position make up more than 10% of your portfolio) and bought more LNDC (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=LNDC) today. LNDC is now 14.38% of my entire stock portfolio. However, everything is pointing up for this company, I was able to lower my average purchase price and lower my exit point to $11.55. The low target is $12.40, so my exit point is below the lowest target for this stock, which currently rates 337 using my formula (100 is a good buy, I've never seen something this high).

[popowich]

A question I have wondered about some some time I think I finally have an answer to:

Q: How much do I need to retire?

A: You have enough when you can live off of withdrawing at most 4% per year.

Don't forget to include all costs in that 4%, including the management fees of your portfolio!

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I've always believed your portfolio will go up 9% / year, and inflation will go up 3% / year, so you can take 6% / year and maintain the same balance. Yes, I know... very simple math.

[popowich]

The maximum IRA contribution limit for 2008 (and foreseeable future) is $5000.

I was under the incorrect impression that it was still $4000 for 2008.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Your Portfolio's Cumulative Rate of Return:
For the period -1.35%
For the 12 months ending 06/30/2008 -13.54%

Here are my 401K statistics for the last 3 months.

How are you doing?

-Raymond

[Rebecky]

I get to sign up for our 401K plan through work in a month! I'm so excited, this is my first opportunity to participate in one since I was laid off from another job 4 years ago.

[popowich]

Don't forget to check and see how your contributions are being invested. My company, last I knew, defaults everyone into a cash equivalent fund as the default setup option. Yuck! I recommend the S&P 500 equivalent fund. I have another post I want to make later about this (reminder to self) but I just got new internet and need to get my real computer working again first. :)

-Raymond

[harryn55]

Here are my 401K statistics for the last 3 months.

How are you doing?

-Raymond

3 month + .47%
12 month -2.17%

[popowich]

The other post I wanted to make was about fees inside of 401K plans. Check to see if you have to pay a fee for your funds (load vs no load). The 401K plan with my company the fees range from 0.37% up to around 1.5%. I recently consolidated all of my funds into the S&P500 equivalent fund with a fee of only 0.37%. I'm in it for the long haul, so I don't care much about dips and drops and market roller coasters in the 401K. The fees do not sound like much but they can have a big impact over time. By reducing the fee I am paying by 1% a year I stand to grow my money much faster in the future. As an example attached are what happens to $10,000 over 30 years at both 8 and 9 average return rates. No imagine that 10K is 20K, or 50K, 100K, and that you are still adding to it yearly. Starting to see the impact of that 1% savings (1% increased rate of return). :yay:

-Raymond

PS: Here is the link to the interest calculator (http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm) so you can play around with your own numbers and see what happens with different scenarios. It's safe to use 9% as the average market return rate over a long period of time such as 30 years.

[popowich]

3 month + .47%
12 month -2.17%

Nice. I imagine you have a decent amount of fixed income in that number?

Checking the S&P500 for the last year it looks like -13.57% for the past 12 months.

-Raymond

[harryn55]

Nice. I imagine you have a decent amount of fixed income in that number?

Checking the S&P500 for the last year it looks like -13.57% for the past 12 months.

-Raymond

Yes, T.Rowe Price puts my investments into the high end of the conservative category.

[popowich]

I'm glad I already have most of the siding money moved into a savings account.

+$100 is much better than negative many hundreds.

-Raymond

[popowich]

AAPL and GOOG are looking nice.

If I'm liking GOOG it probably means it's time to sell. :rolleyes:

-Raymond

[popowich]

The maximum IRA contribution limit for 2008 (and foreseeable future) is $5000.

I was under the incorrect impression that it was still $4000 for 2008.


It's worth mentioning that along with the IRA contributions that you can invest up to $15,000 in your 401K plan.

Maybe more if you are in the "catch up" years?

-Raymond

[popowich]

I picked up some PFE (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=pfe) today.

I expect this to be a long term hold sporting a nice 7% dividend. :)

-Raymond

[esnagel]

I signed up for ShareBuilder today (another IRA) and have an automatic investment into SPY setup. I originally had QQQQ, but looking at its performance from inception, it just sucks.

[popowich]

I picked up a small amount of GE today.

Time to start rebuilding my individual stock holdings.

I'm continuing my trend of picking up large companies with a decent dividend.

-Raymond

[esnagel]

Sold IXYS (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IXYS) while away. Originally bought in May of 2007 at 9.97, sold at 13.56 / share. 33% gain in 15 months.

[popowich]

Note: I made like $40 on the PFE and shifted it to GE. That wasn't new money.

-Raymond

[popowich]

Ray is getting his gamble on today.

:iamwithstupid:

[popowich]

Note to self, index of indexes: VTWSX

[popowich]

Oops, I guess my fun from last week with the trades is over.

I just got reclassified as a pattern day trader. :eek2:

Scottrade sent me a warning e-mail basically saying cut the shit or give us a nice big deposit to back up your new trading pattern.

My nemesis GOOG currently is winning by around $500.

I have no plan to continue the games, but it was fun while it lasted. :D

-Raymond

[jguy3348]

I am not a stock trader so I do not know the Brokers. Heard good things about Zecco.com With $2500 10 free trades per month!!!

From Hold Em to stocks interesting transitiion....I went from Hold Em to currency trading. Much more casino like.

jguy3348

[popowich]

How did your holdem career end? Up, down, good but started slowly going down? Bored and wanted to try something new? How is the currency trading going for you?

[jguy3348]

Still have $300 in Poker Stars and play once a week when I am bored. Was in vegas last month and only played Black Jack for fun. The casino has a small edge.

Once I stopped playing cards in Rochester I played at the casinos but it wasn't the same. It became a money game only for me. I didn't have an edge, I wasn't that good and wasn't getting better. So i took a turn at winning but couldn't make significant improvements in my game. I do miss the people I knew, Donna, Harry..they were fun to lose to...

I moved on to trading currencies. I have found an edge and win more than I lose. I am just now after 18 months becoming a winner. I am forward testing my to make sure I actually have an edge. Big learing curve. Once your edge and money management equal wins you can raise the stakes and the sky is the limit. It is a bit like poker.

[popowich]

For a limited time Scottrade is offering 7 free trades for new referrals.

If you'd like for me to refer you in, please send me a private message (http://www.discussny.com/private.php?do=newpm&u=8), and we can both get 7 free trades! :yay:

-Raymond