Thread: Investing, where to begin?

Originally Posted by vancouver

You have not bought a stock in almost 15 years...what exactly are you doing on this thread??

didn't know investing was limited to stocks...you sure you really work in securities?

Originally Posted by LAM

didn't know investing was limited to stocks...you sure you really work in securities?

A broker can buy you;

Stocks
Bonds
REIT's
LP's
Etc, etc.

Equities have and always will provide the best risk reward, given you understand the market. Before you argue this point, realize that all related text books say this. You cannot compare Equity index returns to other asset classes, because it takes out an important factor, the actions of the investor. 1981 to 1991 was the single greatest period for bonds in over 100 years. 1971 to 1981 was the single worst period. If you take these 2 periods out, Equities beat fixed income. The Dow is currently trading at 12.5X which is statistically low. It will trade at 20X again, who cares how long this takes, opportunites will exist for 10 plus years. N.A. Real Estate is still overvalued and will not recover significantly for a decade, Canada's real estate market will find it difficult to beat inflation over the next 10 years. As interest rates rise, N.A. long-term bonds will be decimated. Expect close to zero percent return on what you'll own over the next 2 years...over the next 10 years. The S&P 500 returned 10.7% annually from 1950 to year end 2010 (just glanced over at my most recent andex chart), small caps returned 13.4% in that period. The S&P returned 50% (total return) from 1932 to 1937, this was the worst period of the great depression.

Residential real estate has not appreaciate after inflation from 1890 to 2000, this is as far back as U.S. statistics go. One could have made money in real estate through specualtion and leverage, but had that person applied the same leverage to a diversified portfolio of equities, equities would have won (long-term). There are of course regional exceptions, but they do not apply to everyone, so they are not worth mentioning. I flipped 6 houses before 2007, I made money in a short window...

Sure, substantially more money could have been made investing in junk bonds and futures over the years, but not on a risk adjusted basis.

The fact that you stated rates are low today and a person would want to break even with their savings tells me you don't have the slightest clue. I person could build a very conservative emerging markets bond portfolio and make money with their saving in 2 ways. 1. take advantage of higher yields and capital gains from the easing cycle we just entered, Brazil has already cut rates 2X, India and china just cut rates. 2. Emerging markets currencies will no doubt continue to rise agains the U.S. dollar, money will be made on the currency. My favorite EM Bond fund is already up 3.6% YTD, due mainly to capital gains as a result of rate cuts thus far in 2012

LAM while you spend every waking moment thinking up conspiracy theories through your unaccredited amature research, I get wined and dined by portfolio managers weekly, besides the fact that I get current and up to date market and economic publicatons from global institutions on a weekly basis. I got to pick the brains of Amundi Asset Management just last week, they are the global leader in Emerging Markets bonds. I'd give up on this thread while you still can. Go back to calling me a scumbag contributor to the demise of the American middle class, you'll get more traction...

I found almost every book suggested so far on torrents. I actually had a huge compilation on my hard drive that I forgot about. Here's a link to it (I have no idea if you Americans can get it):

Trading eBooks Collection (download torrent) - TPB

Originally Posted by OfficerFarva

I found almost every book suggested so far on torrents. I actually had a huge compilation on my hard drive that I forgot about. Here's a link to it (I have no idea if you Americans can get it):

Trading eBooks Collection (download torrent) - TPB

Nice! Where were they 4 years ago?

Focus on the Alexander Elder books. Read them chronologically. The final book is priceless in that it gives you a peek into the system that actual traders use.

Originally Posted by DOMS

Gay!


Glad to help, man!

I still say oil!!! Mmm Mmm good

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Originally Posted by vancouver

LAM while you spend every waking moment thinking up conspiracy theories through your unaccredited amature research, I get wined and dined by portfolio managers weekly, besides the fact that I get current and up to date market and economic publicatons from global institutions on a weekly basis. I got to pick the brains of Amundi Asset Management just last week, they are the global leader in Emerging Markets bonds. I'd give up on this thread while you still can. Go back to calling me a scumbag contributor to the demise of the American middle class, you'll get more traction...

wow, so impressive you make a lot of money while providing nothing of added value to society. and I'm sorry unlike yourself I don't have to take a class every time I need to learn something, sucks to be you.

and of course equities yield a higher return then fixed income, especially when you can manipulate the books to pay the least amount of taxes like they do with SPE's/SPV's in tax friendly places like the Netherlands, Ireland, Cayman islands, jersey, etc.

you guys in the financial sector are worthless and most of you have no real skills. in any given year most funds under-perform..any idiot can make a best guess.

Originally Posted by fireman23

I still say oil!!! Mmm Mmm good

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oil is too high right now. Time to short it

Originally Posted by LAM

wow, so impressive you make a lot of money while providing nothing of added value to society. and I'm sorry unlike yourself I don't have to take a class every time I need to learn something, sucks to be you.

and of course equities yield a higher return then fixed income, especially when you can manipulate the books to pay the least amount of taxes like they do with SPE's/SPV's in tax friendly places like the Netherlands, Ireland, Cayman islands, jersey, etc.

you guys in the financial sector are worthless and most of you have no real skills. in any given year most funds under-perform..any idiot can make a best guess.

LAM tell us how you really feel

You made everything you said sound like it's bad...man I love capitalism

NASDAQ ticker: ERII
Hold off until March 8th report comes out, it will drop, buy it and double your money by years end.

Originally Posted by BP2000

oil is too high right now. Time to short it

Not a bad trade, but premature. Oil will continue to rise as a result of the current Iran spat. Syria is going to further destabilize and while they will be net oil importers within a few years, any further destabilization in that region will keep prices high. Further, many OPEC countries require oil to be trading at a certain price point (which is currently between $70-$100/bbl depending on country) in order to pay its bills. Saudi Arabia has not joined the Arab Spring because the King provided financial incentives to his people not too. Oil will likely rise going into the summer driving months; if the Iran issue subsides, Syria makes a deal and the Eropean economy further declines, which is expected, Oil could fall from $120ish range to $75ish, before climbing again to $100.

A lot of ifs and a lot more risk than some other no-brainer trades.

Natural Gas just reached a 13 year low. The U.S. will use more natural gas over the next 10 - 20 years, but more importantly, Asia will use much more natural gas. LNG carriers are experiencing explosive growth and with pipelines leading to Kitimat, LNG exports will also explode as Asia imports. If you buy a leveraged ETF and have a long time horizon, you just might be able to join the 1% and help me bash LAM

Nicely done my friend

Originally Posted by vancouver

Not a bad trade, but premature. Oil will continue to rise as a result of the current Iran spat.

Yea oil goes up and down like the Sun. I short it when we have these scares and it skyrocket's. Using an leveraged ETF makes this easy.

start reading barrons and the WSJ, do this for atleast a few months before you ever play around with your money.

Grafiti artist could be worth $500 million- painted the Facebook office murals and chose to be paid in stock instead of cash in 2005.

Facebook Graffiti Artist Could be Worth $500 Million - NYTimes.com

Originally Posted by Dark Geared God

The canadian 401k is stuffing it in a moose's dead ass

Let the cat do it.

Investments: Orlando is the cat's whiskers of stock picking | Money | The Observer

The Observer's panel of stock-picking professionals has been undone in our 2012 investment challenge by a ginger feline called Orlando who spent time paw-ing over the FT.
The Observer portfolio challenge pitted professionals Justin Urquhart Stewart of wealth managers Seven Investment Management, Paul Kavanagh of stockbrokers Killick & Co, and Schroders fund manager Andy Brough against students from John Warner School in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire ? and Orlando.
Each team invested a notional ?5,000 in five companies from the FTSE All-Share index at the start of the year. After every three months, they could exchange any stocks, replacing them with others from the index.
By the end of September the professionals had generated ?497 of profit compared with ?292 managed by Orlando. But an unexpected turnaround in the final quarter has resulted in the cat's portfolio increasing by an average of 4.2% to end the year at ?5,542.60, compared with the professionals' ?5,176.60.
While the professionals used their decades of investment knowledge and traditional stock-picking methods, the cat selected stocks by throwing his favourite toy mouse on a grid of numbers allocated to different companies.
The challenge raised the question of whether the professionals, with their decades of knowledge, could outperform novice students of finance ? or whether a random selection of stocks chosen by Orlando could perform just as well as experienced investors.
The result indicates that the "random walk hypothesis", popularised in economist Burton Malkiel's book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, is perhaps truer than we thought. Burkiel's book explores the idea that share prices move completely at random, making stock markets entirely unpredictable.
"It's time to crack open the Whiskas," said a good-humoured Justin Urquhart-Stewart. "The cat's got talent." To celebrate his success, Orlando's owner, former Cash editor Jill Insley, has bought him a red collar in the style of Urquhart-Stewart's omnipresent red braces.
All but one of Orlando's stocks (Morrisons) rose during the last three months of the year, including specialist plastics and foam company Filtrona, which Orlando had hastily swapped for under-performing Scottish American Investment Trust in September.
By contrast, the professionals refused to swap any stocks at the end of the third quarter and paid the price. British Gas fell by 19% and Imagination Technologies dropped by 16.8%, dragging their portfolio down by an average 7.1%.
The students may have finished last, but displayed the best performance of all the teams in the final quarter, their portfolio increasing by an average 5.4%, including a fantastic performance of 17.4% for property company Savills.
Their trading decisions were key: at the end of the final quarter they swapped Mulberry for Aviva and Betfair for Tesco. In the final quarter, Aviva's share price increased by 17% (compared with a rise of only 6.6% for Mulberry during that time) and Tesco rose by 1.2% (far superior to a fall in the Betfair share price of 5.4%).
Nigel Cook, deputy headteacher at John Hoddesdon School, said: "The mistakes we made earlier in the year were based on selecting companies in risky areas. But while our final position was disappointing, we are happy with our progress in terms of the ground we gained at the end and how our stock-picking skills have improved."
A spokeswoman for Orlando said he was not available to give an interview because of a claws in his contract.

Originally Posted by theCaptn'

Invest in gold and silver bullion. Check out kitco or world gold council.

Both gold n silver are bottoming out - both expects to run hard with silver leading. Expecting 46% gains on silver by June.

If you need suggestions PM me. I majored in finance and I'm an appraiser. I have over 400 hours of advanced finance and investment courses and will be designated hopefully this year.

Originally Posted by OfficerFarva

Pretty much everything you have listed haha. The main one I want to learn about right now is stock and options. I need to know more about real estate because I want to buy a house or condo in a year or two. I'd like to learn how to run a small business and hopefully own one in the future. Planning for my retirement is always good too.

My company offers this:

Share saving scheme: Employees may participate in the group Share saving scheme. The company will match every share bought with one bonus share if kept for a period of two calendar years. A long-term incentive scheme with an obligation to invest in shares is implemented for senior executives and key professionals.

I have to figure out how many of my eggs I want to put in that basket but damn it sounds good.


I'm going to have a lot of free time at work. I'd rather do something constructive with it instead of watching movies or crap like that.

I would highly recommend not buying shares or reinvesting with your employeer...bad risk vs reward...

.LAM got schooled by the canuck....wooo....that was ugggllyyy....just sayin..

always money to be made in commodities, they are of limited supply but always remain "valuable".

there was a time when those that traded commodities were thought to be the scum of the earth. as they caused price increases for commodities all in the name of profits, while having nothing at all to do with the actual production or manufacturing of them.

^^^ that still happens. Manipulators are still scum of the earth

12-Pound Gold Nugget Found In Ballarat, Australia, Could Be Worth More Than $500,000

Originally Posted by OfficerFarva

What books/websites/people do you recommend to start with. I have a introductory personal investment and a corporate finance textbook. I'm planning on downloading some intro micro/macro economics textbooks as well. I'm finally in the position where I have extra money and I want to make the most of it.

Lots of different answers on where to invest. You do not need Macro and Micro economics textbooks.

IMO, start learning with self-education.

Many people are negative toward the stock markets, but I do believe if you're going to be in it (to some degree)

Research: Vanguard Index Mutual Funds.

I also have T. Rowe Price Asian funds.

You could also research precious metals for 3-5% of your portfolio (just MHO). Physical metals, no paper, no "funds."

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

You could also research precious metals for 3-5% of your portfolio (just MHO). Physical metals, no paper, no "funds."

smart words Smoothy....if I can't hold it in my hands, I don't invest in it which means no debt based "assets" for me either..nothing but bullshit

people actually believe you can make money with money but without actually ever making anything of value in the process. so clueless