to put into perspective how much money is being lost in the stock marktet post a 1 or 2 year graph of stock,
its when i see this that i realize how bad its been for big investors especially, so much money and confidence has been lost that it will take a lot to get it back

7/7/2008 1:55:06 PM

good time to raise capital gains tax

7/7/2008 1:55:48 PM

^^ No big deal...just culling the herd.

7/7/2008 1:56:38 PM

I made bank doing options trading on SNDK.

7/7/2008 1:57:29 PM

im not an investor but im playing that million dollar game on cnbc.com
and so fat from 1,000,000 invested in 1 week i made 2,000
whoopiee
but its crazy how you can lost most of it in a few days if you're not careful

7/7/2008 2:00:33 PM

7/7/2008 2:00:57 PM

7/7/2008 2:04:57 PM

Quote :

"but its crazy how you can lost most of it in a few days if you're not careful"

7/7/2008 2:15:16 PM

It's almost as if investing in stocks had a certain amount of inherent risk.

7/7/2008 2:20:46 PM

^haha. Who would have thought it.

7/7/2008 2:22:11 PM

well of course there is risk, but this is just ridiculous
one day you have a million on the street, next day you're working the streets

7/7/2008 2:24:58 PM

The classy thing to do would be to jump out the window of your 50th floor corner office, instead of posting about it.

7/7/2008 2:28:58 PM

^^

only if you're taking stupid risks.

a la Brian Hunter

7/7/2008 2:32:37 PM

Quote :

"The classy thing to do would be to jump out the window of your 50th floor corner office, instead of posting about it. "

LOL, you are on a roll.

7/7/2008 3:16:48 PM

1) Buy stocks now
2) Wait 10 years and hope the economy turns up somewhere in there
3) Profit??

7/7/2008 3:33:52 PM

now is probably a good time to buy. Im waiting until closer to Nov. If it does look like an obama win, ill wait a bit to buy. I would expect the market to take a downturn with the threat to capital gains. If you are investing long term, it probably doesnt matter much either way.

7/7/2008 3:36:50 PM

7/7/2008 3:49:10 PM

some have gone up - a lot have gone down

posting individual stocks really doesn't accomplish anything when trying to make generalizations

7/7/2008 4:39:57 PM

inherent risk indeed

i stopped watching mad money when cramer started talking about stocks that were "as safe as cash"

7/7/2008 4:45:55 PM

haha, smart move gamecat.

7/7/2008 4:48:22 PM

7/7/2008 4:52:10 PM

3-year Dow Jones



now = good time to buy???

7/7/2008 4:54:31 PM

^ The rule of thumb says that down markets are usually the best time to buy since there are bargains to be found. The question is whether or not the market has bottomed out yet, or if we're going to sink even lower...

7/7/2008 5:59:38 PM

frog, depends on your goals. Long term? sure I dont like losing money short term though, its a mental thing.. so Im personally waiting until election time. If it looks like capital gains will be raised those close to retirement will sell, others will hold and hope for future cuts. Could be a great time to buy when there is a selloff if you plan on holding through an obama pres.

7/7/2008 5:59:52 PM

Quote :

"posting individual stocks really doesn't accomplish anything when trying to make generalizations"

uh, yeah.... thank you!

i'm sitting here wondering if I was the only one thinking Lafta was a retard.

7/7/2008 7:34:40 PM

Quote :

"now = good time to buy???"

Never jump on a sinking ship. Unless you have a good reason to think the market will hit a reverse soon.

7/7/2008 7:39:52 PM

but... the market will reverse, and it will eventually hit the exact same place it was at before the tumble within a year and a half or so.

7/7/2008 8:40:26 PM

Quote :

""posting individual stocks really doesn't accomplish anything when trying to make generalizations""

we all know how the dow is doing, but you need to look at individual stocks to see the kind of damage its doing to some people's wealth

try reading the post before responding

7/7/2008 8:44:39 PM

I'm totally with that election thing. I don't want to buy stocks and have Obama mess the markets all up

But still, the fact that the market is low should be a good indicator to enter in. You can argue short term and long term but this really matters for both kinds of investments. Even if you're going for long term, you want to get in when it's low. In 20 years, almost every well managed stock investments will go up solidly, but why take one return when you could have a marginally larger return

So question:

What's the best Obama-hedge? Let's say I'm fairly confident he's going to win - should I go commodities? bonds? tax-evasion startups?

[Edited on July 7, 2008 at 8:53 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2008 8:51:09 PM

frog, I typically go mutuals.

In fact if you are looking for a good steady growth that will outdo the markets overtime just get a very low cost index fund.

Im looking at getting a target date fund that will automatically adjust your assets between stocks and bonds as you get closer to retirement. If you continue to make monthly payments in you will lower your risks of the changing markets.

If you are looking to put in one sum of money and wait, then yes, your timing matters more. But if you plan on monthly savings your timing is less important.

As far as commodities I would have told you not to jump in now, since it appears you are buying at a premium. But if Obama really plans to do half the shit he says he is going to be printing alot of money which will devalue the dollar further... so im not so sure on the commodities aspect. I would maybe split a couple of mutuals between different sectors. One thing to really consider with mutuals, esp if they raise the capital gains, is how tax effiecient they are. If it is a very active fund that trades alot you might be forced to pay short term capital gains on some of the assets... its such a pain.

Great book you might want to check out. The Bogleheads' guide to investment.
Hope that helps.

7/7/2008 9:10:27 PM

I was actually just reading Motley Fool stuff about how

Mutuals -
Indexes -

I still have some questions though. Are Index funds exclusively stocks? Or are some diversified into more different things?



[Edited on July 7, 2008 at 9:35 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2008 9:31:38 PM

ahhh, I read the motley fool book after I graduated undergrad. Picked up a couple of stocks, one of which is no longer in business. LOL

http://www.fool.com/investing/mutual-funds/2007/05/07/vanguards-best-index-funds.aspx

There is a link from the motley site on thier index funds. Hope that helps.

Sorry just saw your other question.

Here is the summary for the vanguard 500 index fund:

The investment seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of large-capitalization stocks. The fund employs a passive management investment approach designed to track the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 index, a widely recognized benchmark of U.S. stock market performance that is dominated by the stocks of large U.S. companies. It invests all, or substantially all, of assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.

[Edited on July 7, 2008 at 9:39 PM. Reason : .]

7/7/2008 9:36:30 PM

I think this thread backfired.

7/7/2008 9:54:58 PM

O_o

I like the Vanguard, but the small company fund attracts me very muchly



http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/Snapshot.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=NAESX

How does this not go up from here? lol, me saying that totally means it'll drop like a rock. But really, I'm not feeling the big company thing. I think lots of them can grow, but in terms of long term potential, there are a few that fail to convince me that their business model has sustainability period, never mind long term growth *cough* Microsoft *cough* Walmart.

[Edited on July 7, 2008 at 9:58 PM. Reason : ]

7/7/2008 9:58:07 PM

The only thing that would concern me about smaller companies is that they will be hit harder by a raise in taxes.

I think im going to put most of my investments into a target date vanguard. That way I have different index funds and bond funds. Its not sexy, but should out perform the market over time.

7/7/2008 10:02:05 PM

or you could just daytrade and not wait all that time

got the online poker too.

7/7/2008 10:17:29 PM

*cough* Starbucks *cough*

But we're just looking domestically...

7/8/2008 2:44:58 AM

Quote :

"inherent risk indeed i stopped watching mad money when cramer started talking about stocks that were "as safe as cash""

I stopped watching mad money when i heard his fucking VOICE.

7/8/2008 3:10:33 AM

Quote :

"you need to look at individual stocks to see the kind of damage its doing to some people's wealth"

No, no you don't.

7/8/2008 9:08:53 AM

^actually you, looking at broad indexes really doenst show you how individual stocks fluctuate

its obvious the market is down pretty hard, but by looking at individual stocks you'll see which sectors are doing well and which are the hardest hit

7/8/2008 11:03:20 AM

Quote :

"looking at broad indexes really doenst show you how individual stocks fluctuate"

And birds go tweet.

7/8/2008 11:21:18 AM

7/8/2008 11:36:50 AM

So what you're saying is I should invest in chemical companies?

7/8/2008 2:33:31 PM

chemical plant construction is booming at the moment, pharmaceutical is extremely stagnant as far as building growth in terms of facilities and manufacturing facilities are concerned.

7/8/2008 2:55:00 PM

Quote :

"we all know how the dow is doing, but you need to look at individual stocks to see the kind of damage its doing to some people's wealth try reading the post before responding"

jesus, you sound stupider by the moment. if you or anyone has all or most of your investments tied into one or two fucking stocks, then you deserve what you get.

try getting a clue before making a thread.

7/8/2008 3:00:45 PM

^one or two stocks? seriously are you trying hard to lose this argument

the point of this thread is to post stocks which will give us a picture of the market
i didnt say, here's one stock, now i know everything thats going on

point is many people will post stocks that they feel had significant movement, over time that will paint a picture of the market,
now tell me you havent learned anything from this thread, then again i really dont expect "you" to

reading is fundamental

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 3:08 PM. Reason : .]

7/8/2008 3:06:46 PM

we would never achieve a stock sample group big enough in this thread to show any reasonable trend in the overall market. while the indexes arent a perfect example for sure, this thread just doesnt make sense really.

Quote :

"point is many people will post stocks that they feel had significant movement, over time that will paint a picture of the market, now tell me you havent learned anything from this thread, then again i really dont expect "you" to "

responding to this, and relating to what I just said, we could EASILY "paint a picture" of the exact opposite trend from what you are going for using the exact same method you are asking for.

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 3:17 PM. Reason : ]

7/8/2008 3:10:19 PM

Quote :

"tell me you havent learned anything from this thread"

Slowly raises hand...

7/8/2008 3:13:06 PM

Raises hand.

Anyone who has any business investing in any stock better realize that rule number 1 to reduce risk....DIVERSIFY!

Raising the Capital Gains taxes, as Obama wants to do, will absolutely hurt the US stock market, its investors, and therefore businesses associated with each. Need I further elaborate on how each of these will change the economy?

7/8/2008 3:33:40 PM

Sure, why not.

7/8/2008 3:39:00 PM