Good article in the "Money" section of the USA Today on this....Titled "Pinched consumers may no longer drive economic growth".......Let's put this first on the Recommended-Reading-List for this thread.....

Yup...Plenty of blame to go around.....Not giving the lenders or builders a pass....but the way it's been reported locally, the slant has been Minority-and-Poor-Homebuyers-Tricked-into-Risky-Purchases-By-Predatory-Lending-Companies.......You get the drift......

Unknown to what extent this will all have on the market as a whole.....On a lighter note, energy is stabilizing a bit with prices dropping.....Mostly due to a slight drop in ppb and refineries operating efficiently.......

Lots to consider.

 

It's NOT a hijack, and the housing market is VERY germane..........

Actually, Art....Very soon may be EXACTLY the time you want to buy a home......It might be underpriced, and provided you can get a good fixed rate.........

And I meant it when I said I wanted those skeptical of the market (whether the market itself, or the current status of the economy)......I want anyone who decides to get into it to have a clear eye.....Absolutely.

 

Mostly directed at jake00, rangerfan, and GlennFordx4 (and others lurking, but not posting who might be novices at all this).......

I'd recommend doing research on the topic (online investing)......It's really this simple. I'm assuming all of you do business through a bank, and I double-checked a couple of the biggies (BofA....Wachovia). If you don't do online banking, I'd definitely recommend that....but even if you don't, you can surf their home pages and read informationals on whatever you're interested in.

Most of the banks have a section (in the personal banking section) called something like "Brokerage Services".....You can enter there and see what that particular bank has to offer reference purchasing stocks, bonds, mutual funds online. As previously stated, you're basically opening a new account and funding that account from a designated account (checking/savings) with the option of making one-time purchases if you wish. Just surf in those areas and learn....It's all about information. Check through your bank first just to see what they do....I'm almost positive they have a similar program.

I KNOW that Sharebuilder has good, free information. And you don't have to open an account there to read it (I know, I just double-checked). Go to Sharebuilder.com, and you'll have 3 main sections on the left on the home page explaining how it works.....Inside each of them sections are informationals explaining the stock market, dollar-cost-averaging, risk, ETFs (Exchange-Traded-Funds), etc.......Hell....just open them up and print them......Makes good bathroom reading (haha).

Other options (again) are ScottTrade, eTrade, Ameritrade, et al........

I'm not here to recommend to anyone who they might choose......I'm also not here to give investment advice (totally unqualified to do so)......I just wish to open some eyes to an opportunity that most either don't know much about, or are a bit afraid of......the stock market........

And as previously advised by several of us......Use what you can afford to lose.......

 

Okay then, how about "buy low, sell high"?

Just kidding.

I'm learning already.

I had a consultant come out to my house and give us a free presentation on how we could retire as millionaires at age 60. What it came down to was this. He suggested we get an interest only loan of about 80 grand to finance our investments. Then, after about 25 years, we'd not only pay about 100 grand in interest, but we'd still have the 80 to pay back from our investment return, with about 40 grand left over. This is all speculation on the idea that investments would return 8% per year.

The idea of borrowing money to make money just didn't sit well with me, as I know what happened in 1929. So I asked him if there was any way I could just cut him a cheque for $1000 every other month as money allowed so I could build my portfolio that way. He said yes, he could do that, but he'd rather do it the other way. So I then said good night, and haven't heard from him since.

 

I'm glad you showed that cat the door, bigrig......Still wondering WTH that was all about.......

The "buy low, sell high" dogma is directed at traders....(I know, I know....you posted it tongue-in-cheek....but needs to be addressed anyway).....

I am NOT a trader.....Nor do I recommend that anyone become a trader. Traders could give a damn about the companies they are buying and selling......They just care about the market fluctuations....buying stocks on the "cheap", and selling them at a profit. Nothing wrong with this, but that's a segment of the market made for professionals (although many went into day-trading in the 90s and early 2000s.....), and it's dependent on timing for success.

I am an investor. I try to choose companies based on their current valuation.....the strength and vision of the company, and the long-term prospects for growth of the company. I then buy their stock for long-term intentions......Oh sure, periodically a portfolio may need to be adjusted, and one might decide that the 200 shares they own in the portfolio of the Greater Maui Pineapple Company might be better at 100 shares instead.......sell 100 and get something else. But this is all done with the long-term in mind. I wouldn't know how in the hell to become a trader.......

 

[QUOTE=cmpd1781]Mostly directed at jake00, rangerfan, and GlennFordx4 (and others lurking, but not posting who might be novices at all this).......

Thanks I will check it out,sometimes the internet is such a wonderful tool.

 

I spent years making hits and misses in the market and did fairly well, but found that it took a lot of my time. One day I tuned to a local FM station and found a program called "Prudent Money". I made a habit of listening every day on the way home and was very impressed with the adviser so I called and made an appointment to see him. Long story short, he has been taking care of my finances for years now and has funded my comfortable retirement without reducing my worth. He is probably the best investment I ever made.

 

Believe me, I know

When I saw house prices jump from $200K to $300-350K and even $400K+ in a matter of a few years, with interest rates as low as they were, I said to myself "They can't sustain this". I didn't have an inkling that the subprime mortgage market was pumping out loans as fast as they could, but I knew SOMETHING was up.

So, I put off buying a house for exactly that reason - too volatile, and, well, just too darn expensive. And, I wanted to see the prices level out first. I know, doesn't sound right, waiting for the prices to get higher and level off.

But I had this feeling that something was going to happen, and I should wait. Looks like my instincts were correct.

 

Playing the stock market is basically gambling. I would much rather gamble at the poker table in a casino, at least then I have much greater control over the odds of winning/losing.

If you do want to play the stock market, I suggest a mutual fund. They are managed by stock market experts, and are a much safer bet overall than individual stocks. For something as complicated as the stock market, I will let the experts (mutual fund managers) make those decisions for me.

I do, however, have a big payday coming up soon as my company was recently acquired by HP, as my $7 options are turning into $14.25 buyouts.

 

That's why I make regular dollar-cost-average buys.....The only real hit or miss that I need to worry about is if I pick the wrong company.......The only real time that I invest is when I'm searching for a new company to invest in.....

What you did worked for you....Great job and go with what you know......Can't argue against success---that's for sure......

 

WHAT?!....GO AWAY TROLL!!!....I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT!!!!!....LOSER!......

(Kidding)

Welcome, Andy.....Welcome......

I would maybe agree with the first paragraph for those doing business or hobby as "traders".......I wouldn't really characterize what I'm doing with investing (or what I'm recommending) as similar to the gaming tables in Vegas....Although Vegas is probably more fun.......

But in another way, I'd say it's similar to Vegas in that you use money that you can afford to lose....Don't sacrifice retirement, or savings, or the mortgage on you home on investments in the stock market.......

Nothing at all against mutual funds.....Now that you can find so many that have no load......The brokerage sections in the major banks that I previously quoted DO offer mutual funds as part of you overall investment strategy.

To me (another member mentioned this)....it's all about ME making the decisions, and I'll rise or fall on my own......With mutual funds....you are delegating your money to someone else to make those choices...and you will rise and fall based on what THEY do.......Now with my 401-K (and with most of y'alls 401-Ks---or 457, or IRA, or whatever), you ain't got much of a choice. One can just hope that the choices you have in your plan with the mutual funds are good choices........

And I like the idea of being an "owner" in a company....with full voting rights and everything.......Not to sound juvenile, but that's pretty cool.. With a mutual fund, you own shares in the fund...not in the individual companies that the funds invest in.......This isn't important to some folks, and that's fine and that's just as valid as my POV.....But this portfolio is mine, and I want to be more hands-on........

"Who dares, wins"

 

My adviser and I had a laugh about that "owner" thing about a month ago. Of all of the shareholders notices I have received over the years, I have yet to see a single one fail to go as the board recommended. I am sure that it has happened, but usually it is a done deal just going through required procedure. Your shares also entitle you to attend shareholders meetings and be ignored personally.

 

Good time to get into real estate though

And remember - due to the shock of the sub-prime mortgage market, there are a LOT of very good value (relatively unaffected) stocks out there.
As cpmd said - leave that for the investors (to a certain extent).

There are people out there that are a lot smarter than us all here - and they still can't read the market.
No one can. So try not to (mostly)
You need to look at a number of things (price/earning ratio for one), but just understand market dynamics, and more inportantly, the people aspect of it all.

I will leave this one till I get back from work. We might need some friendly "attitude adjustment"

 

You know, dono....I can be pretty hard to ignore when I put my mind to it...

 

And the house doesn't take a piece of everything - whether you win OR lose.

Imagine paying out an extra 5-10% of your bets if you lose OR win

You guys don't do field-service work do you? Based on a tech call I placed on HP hardware two days ago (large SAN-based tape library), they are certainly short-handed, and under-qualified. Sheesh, the darn thing says right on the front-panel what drive is bad and the guy changes the wrong one. And leaves. And the call center I spoke to was in Costa Rica - just like the Cisco call center I spoke to the week before

I'd say why that is, but you know what? I got lambasted the last time I tried to talk about my own personal knowledge of such things.

Let's just say, that even though they are not supposed to exist, there are little pieces of software running out there that knudge some things one way or the other. On purpose. Matter of fact, the last time I, ahem, worked on one of those things, I was in the WTC thinking "What would happen if a plane crashed into the building?"...