2011-2012 Long Term Game

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

I agree 110% DI!

Personally I like listening to the analysts and all the rest of it, it makes me laugh. Plus I think I'm going to really like buying on days when there are 500 pt drops... I added PG and some more TRP today at open. I'm glad I kept some dry powder around.

[kadee79]

Personally I like listening to the analysts and all the rest of it, it makes me laugh.

I laugh too! If they were really so smart...they would have too much money to have a job like that! Besides which....most of them have no real conception of what is going on in the world outside of their personal urban area....don't know what farmers are doing or how they are thinking!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

DI, you Grandfather sounds like a genius to me!

Great story about NYX. Funny thing about Kramer, just this past week Mon, he is saying buy XOM and thursday it was sell. I knew it was time to pick up some XOM on Thursday..

www.cramers-mad-money.com/

Aug 6, 2011 14:18:37 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Personally I like listening to the analysts and all the rest of it, it makes me laugh.

I laugh too! If they were really so smart...they would have too much money to have a job like that! Besides which....most of them have no real conception of what is going on in the world outside of their personal urban area....don't know what farmers are doing or how they are thinking!

How true is that kadee! I always like to make fun of these people by saying, "I'll bet you think that chicken breast your eating comes from Safeway, right?" ;D

Protect the Heartland!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

I'm defiantly looking long term, and I'm a big fan of the dividend. It's all about income. I have to say that bonds are going to look nice in a few years though. Especially if you can find something at $96-98 with a 7%+ coupon. My wife and I have always had funds, her longer than me, and I have always had some real estate,(first condo at 18) so that is where my long term attitude comes from. Thanks to all the info that can be collected around here; I understand how buying the stock(going to the source) is better, for some.

Personally, I see how you can make money trading, especially in these kinds of markets 10%-15% moves, shorts, ect,ect. However, to me, it seems that you have to be right there to pull the trigger at all times. Just not happening for us, and probably won't for a while.

Right now we have our house for sale. We want to see what interest rates will do to the Canadian housing market, and we are going to put our cash into some solid dividend companies to wait it out. Although FTI has a fund that looks pretty sweet. 12% avg growth for 80 years, and a good yield to boot.

Thanks for asking DI!

[mizbear]

I have been letting my stocks sit to see how they do for a few days untouched. I tried to stay with companies I am familiar with (For instance, my nieces had me buy stock in Nintendo).

[tyfighter3]

I always like to have fun.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Look at the bright side, when we are up 20% next year, we can say we had a 50% return this year.. Just wait for the keystone announcement this Nov..

[fvbridges]

The day that the market tanked 500 points, my little portfolio gained. So much for the advice of professionals. In 2009, I had about $2500 that I was planning to invest. I was working at a Ford dealership. One of my customers there is a local edward D. jones guy and I asked him of what he thought of investing in Ford stock. This was before I had signed up with sharebuilder. His answer was that it was way too risky. Well, at the time Ford was at $1.55 a share. Had I invested in Feb. 2009, I could have sold it a little over a year later and made $17,000. Haven't talked to the guy since.

[yclept]

Hah!

"The day that the market tanked 500 points, my little portfolio gained. So much for the advice of professionals. In 2009, I had about $2500 that I was planning to invest. I was working at a Ford dealership. One of my customers there is a local edward D. jones guy and I asked him of what he thought of investing in Ford stock. This was before I had signed up with sharebuilder. His answer was that it was way too risky. Well, at the time Ford was at $1.55 a share. Had I invested in Feb. 2009, I could have sold it a little over a year later and made $17,000. Haven't talked to the guy since."

But I'll bet he had a mutual fund or an annuity that was just the "cat's meow".

Like that old codger on TV, John Houseman, used to say: "At Smith Barney we make money the old fashioned way, we steal it."

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

LOL I agree yclept, I was telling both my parents and in laws to buy things like F, CAT in Feb/march of 2009, but there funds and such are safer..

[kadee79]

DI, granted he made a pile....but will he hang on to it or blow it all? That will be the REAL test!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Nice, what's the choice of poison wxyz?

That's an intereseting stoy DI. Somewhat similar to myself, in that we sold our place in 2007 because I was fairly sure of what was to come, I was off by a year, which was the first problem.

I was going to take the cash from the sale of the place and buy up some stocks when things bottomed out. However, going into what wxyz was saying, and what you're saying about the rubber room DI, I couldn't convince anyone that things were about to stop, and my pregnant wife didn't like the idea of a gamble with the money from the house. I tried explaining how the housing market has become just like every other market because of the flipping, but, as usual, I'm crazy..

At this point I just want to thank everyone who posts real info around here about real investing, and DI thanks again for setting up this game. This interface is really great, the performance charts are great, ect, ect. It has given me the opportunity to really break down, and explain in detail, how you don't lose everything in the stock market to my wife. I swear 80% of Canadians think that if you put money in the stock market, it just vanishes, yet their funds are safe.. It's like you were saying DI, if I had known then what I know now..

It really doesn't look like the guy in the story is on the path to keeping that money, does it kadee?

[tyfighter3]

Good post DI.

[fvbridges]

At 64, I could be the oldest participant here. I am a conservative politically, but tend to be a bit more adventurous when it comes to investing. This long term game keeps my interest and is a lot like fantasy football. Thanks for all who participate.

[uncle23]

fvbridges, ...I'm 73 and my wife is 70.....to me one week is long term..........we are fortunate that our kids are set in their business ( health care )....we are in a fixed income, so any extra is ply money..

therefore my strategy is daytrading....all cash at the end of the day....in this game i got caught twice holding overnite and on weekend....it will not happen again.......

[kadee79]

And you see my screen name...that is my age! So you aren't the oldest YET! ;D

My stratigy is to have fun & see what happens. I do more watching other folks portfoilos and seeing what they do. I'm sort of a combo of both long term/short term.
But boy, did I start in the hole....hope this thing goes back up some...if not, I will be selling and hanging my head, then make it up later.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

DI that is a great post above(95)! It's great to see that we have every generation investing in this game!

I can say, that I honestly believe that I have educated my wife on how this works(she just isn't into all of this, she is the best don't get me wrong here). I know it's weird but I'm glad that I went down far, and had cash left. I put my last 30k in when XOM was at $69.

Now that we are back to a week ago levels, BCE is even to where I bought it when I first bought in(without any more buys), TRP has gone positive because I was buying on the dips, and the P&G and XOM is up, she understands that when the news is bad the stock market is good! ;D

We have some money in some funds for our two oldest kids. We are moving it into a new account and going in on some SU for them. Off 16% still from where I thought we good levels, and SU is going to be huge in 20 years when they go to school. This why I'm sure my wife dosen't think I'm crazy anymore, just in case anyone was wondering

Now we have AA paying some dividends(in the game), It would have been nice to wait on buying more AA, but I had to lock it in by the 5th for the Divds. I think it will be off until they are paid on the 25th. Reinvesting at better levels along with the 1200 in cash left at that time!

Bull by the horns DI!!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Excellent point about only having a year wxyz, got me thinking. I think SU will be up at least the 16% from here, I'm off 11% in TPLM. I think it might be a dog for me all year. This gives me an extra 5% up for sure. Good call!! ;D

[kadee79]

For christ sake, they are telling you to not do exactly what they ARE DOING... And they are doing it so that You will give them your money so they can get richer...
If folks would stop listening to them so much and revert to the Basics, a lot of folks would be happier and probaby a fair bit better off...

That is why I keep saying...if the "experts" were so good, they would be to rich to have jobs like they do!

[uncle23]

...........

I never listen to them but sometimes Cramer catches my attention because he's shouting... ;D

[yclept]

I agree that talking heads are often espousing strategies that they themselves don't follow. I do not agree that even a small minority of them encourage active trading and timing. Almost every commentator on TV sings the same old "buy and hold" song with the background orchestra playing "buy the dips", and the rhythm section beating out a "dollar-cost-average" beat. It's quite a cacophony, and hardly something a sensible person would listen to, but with almost the entire choir of TV commentators singing versions of the same thing, it must have some effect. We have some avid listeners on this board. The traders in holder's clothing need people to hold the bag when the market goes down and pass it back at the bottom, and who better to perform that task than the general public?

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

DI both posts are great. Don't worry about ranting, it happens to me, a lot.. lol.. That's what we are here for.

I'm all over the div sotcks. Beofore I started posting on the old boards, wow that was over two years ago now, I looked at things closely. I don't think there is any coincident that all of these wealthy big players have long term holdings. In fact a couple of the long term holders on here aparently have some decent coin as well. This is what give me great confidence. To be successful, you mimic sucess. If I want to be broke living on the streets I'll take advice from a bum.. ya know what I mean...

It's doesn't surprises me that these big players also trade, but they have the time.. I think that is the point some of us are making. If you have the time, and you good at trading.. I don't think you should stop. But for a lot of people, it's easier to look at the div yield as the real investment, and they would have better success long term if they didn't try to time the market. For me, it's about adding positions to good quality companies long term and increasing your income; and never forget to re-balance!! Lets face it, the more income, the more to invest, either in the economy or the markets.

[mizbear]

I am doing pretty good by just holding right now while the market is so up and down.

[IPAfan]

Well I seem to have been locked out of my account for some time, and have recently regained access. I've been very busy with work lately, and don't think I'll have the opportunity to join you all in the current game. I'll still be lurking and occasionally posting (provided I can log in).

However, my investments have pretty much remained the same. Still long TTT in a big way, then ENH, KHDHF.PK, PM, SCPZF.PK, FRFHF.PK, and several small positions.

I recently added 20% to my already heavily overweight TTT position at an average of $7.00 per share. If I had extra free cash I'd invest more, but at this time I'm pretty much cash strapped.

[kadee79]

Glad to see you beerfan! I wish you would reconsider & join the game...right now would be a good time to buy!
Several of us got caught in the down turn!

[Deleted]

Uncle is starting to run away with it.... isn't someone going to try and make it interesting?

[uncle23]

...

Archie,....today's gain was pure luck except for last 2 trades......last friday i was unaware of the time of my last buy, i tried to exit for a small gain it did not fill.....so i got caught holding for the weekend...on top of that i had a doctor's appointment today at 8 am.....my cost for TNA was 36.01..when i saw the premarket gapping up i tried a limit sell for 38.00 but the game will not let me or i don't know how ..so i did a short sell for 38.00.....when i got back fr the clinic , i saw that my short was executed 39.00 at the open and the price went back to 37.00 so i exited both position ...

ETA: I agree with DI..........daytrading is extremely risky...one mistake and i could be at the bottom quickly..........

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Aug 22, 2011 9:04:22 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

My new goal in the game is to make it to the first page of the rankings.

LOL I'm with ya wxyz! I'm still happy though. Seeing the green with the red explains the long term aspect 110%.

I also want to say nice work to Uncle23!.. Good points to explain how it works too!

I thought this was kinda interesting and fit with the game..

Become a Millionaire on a Minimum Wage Salary
www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/19/become-a-millionaire-on-a-minimum-wage-salary/

[fvbridges]

Got into the green today. Amazing

[uncle23]

.....

My benchmark is TNA 200,000 shares at 40.00/share.....buy and hold...my goal is to beat it at the end of the game...it would be tough if it recovers to 80.00/share


This is all practice for me.....i'm not in the market at all but i treat each trade as if its real life and i don't take risks lightly....

in this game i watch streaming live quotes and i'm glad i can get my orders filled instantly......i don't watch it all day....about 10 to 30 minutes 3 or 4 times.....

i spot trends like watching a flock birds change direction...