navycop
Member
I was looking to get in the stock market field. Thinking of some well know companies. Maybe Pepsi, Coke, etc. How has it been for you? How long you been investing? Anything else??
Anyone invest in stocks?
- Thread starter navycop
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Russianwolf
Member
Some simple rules for investing in the market
1) if you need the money, don't invest it in the market. Only invest funds that you can afford to lose. Just like gambling.
2) stocks go up and down. sometimes by little amounts, sometimes by big ones. expect the unexpected.
there you have the rules.
When I invest in stocks (I pulled everything out of individual stocks about 7 years ago when my life went to pot) I try to invest in companies that I know and use. If I drive a Dodge, I invest in Chrysler. If I drink Coke, why would I invest in Pepsi. The idea being that when I buy something, I'm putting some of that money back into my own pocket in the form of value and dividends.
Companies go under all the time for any number of reasons, and you will know none of them before they happen. Thinking you can predict it is arrogance (people way more informed than any of us lose their shirts all the time too) so don't bother. Keep your investments diverse so that one lose doesn't kill you (think of the people who had all their money in Enron).
1) if you need the money, don't invest it in the market. Only invest funds that you can afford to lose. Just like gambling.
2) stocks go up and down. sometimes by little amounts, sometimes by big ones. expect the unexpected.
there you have the rules.
When I invest in stocks (I pulled everything out of individual stocks about 7 years ago when my life went to pot) I try to invest in companies that I know and use. If I drive a Dodge, I invest in Chrysler. If I drink Coke, why would I invest in Pepsi. The idea being that when I buy something, I'm putting some of that money back into my own pocket in the form of value and dividends.
Companies go under all the time for any number of reasons, and you will know none of them before they happen. Thinking you can predict it is arrogance (people way more informed than any of us lose their shirts all the time too) so don't bother. Keep your investments diverse so that one lose doesn't kill you (think of the people who had all their money in Enron).
traderdon55
Member
I saved my money and invested it in order to take an early retirement. I retired almost 5 years ago at the age of 51 and have lived on interest and dividend payments since then. The best advice I can give is invest in quality stocks,preferably those that pay dividends and be prepared to ride out the ups and downs of the market. Many people panic when they see stocks dropping and sell to cut their losses but if you are invested in quality stocks just hold them as they will go back up. You have to remember even when the stocks fall you have not lost any money until you sell because until then all of your losses are on paper and if you wait they usually go back up. A couple of years ago when the market fell so bad on paper I had a lot of loss but instead of selling I used the low prices to add to my holdings and now I am up considerably. If you are uncomfortable buying individual stocks you might buy mutual funds which allows your investments to be spread over a large variety of markets without trying to pick a large variety of stocks yourself. One important thing to remember if you go the route of individual stocks is to diversify your portfolio and don't put everything in one type of stock as different industries do better at different times than others.
hilltopper46
Member
What he said. (Actually his complete post contains a lot of very sound advice).
Warren Buffett
Seems to follow a strategy of buy individual company stocks and hold them until something gives you a good reason to sell.
The old time cowboy philosopher Will Rogers said it best. Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it
Seems to follow a strategy of buy individual company stocks and hold them until something gives you a good reason to sell.
The old time cowboy philosopher Will Rogers said it best. Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it
Scott
Member
We have gotten out of stocks except for one. Our local utility company allows us to send them as little as $25 at a time and they buy and hold the stock for us. Utilities don't go up and down a lot, but they pay dividends. We also have them reinvest the dividends.
Scott.
Scott.
Utilities
There are some utilities out there that are just great investiments .... sometimes you have to do a lot of reading to find them but they can be cash cows that pay great dividends and the stock price stays very stable. I used to hold several obscure but great utilities.
workinforwood
Member
Campbell's soup, that's where it's at! When times are good, soup sells great, and when times are bad, soup sells even greater! It's a nice steady stock, the gains are not super duper but they are pretty steady all the time. I buy it, own it, eat it, love it. Food is always a good steady investment no matter how the market is doing, you just have to use a little common sense as to what foods will do well. People will buy rice a roni all the time, they won't buy banquet chicken on a tight budget. I think potato chips would be a good investment right now. I'd want to go for a company like Jays. I know Hostess is the mostest, but the prices on Hostess and Lays have really gone insane lately...you got bags of chips pushing close to $5 now! You can get a similar size bag of Jays for $2 less, and they taste fine...so with prices rising and a slow economy, my common sense says people would purchase more Jays chips. Maybe you don't have Jays near you..but you know what I mean.
Maybe
You might have a good point with junk foods....we Americans certainly buy enough of it. Historically there are probably certain stocks that have always done well and you should be able to find out what they are. I read an article a couple of years ago by a "buy and hold" investor who started out in the 60's the first stock he bought was Pepsi and he still owned it 45 or so years later. He had added to it but never sold and he was happy.
Justturnin
Member
I invest in a few stocks, some short term and some long. For the long, look for Dividends the company pays these and they get reinvested into the stock and over time it will grow. These dont matter if they are up or down because your not selling. If you keep buying you should be getting decent quartly dividend checks by the time you retire.
Tuba707
Member
TraderDon has really great advice... listen to him.
If you are in it for the long haul and looking for stability over the prospect of aggressive gains, I'd suggest researching some mutual funds and making a choice there. Individual stocks are really a bit of a gamble without a LOT of research and knowledge about the company. Mutual funds are set up so that everything "balances out" - it removes a lot of the volatility of individual stocks (again, over time).
I think historically the stock market (as a whole) has returned an average of around 10% per year.
Also, do your research and buy your own - don't use a broker if you are going to be doing long-term investing.
Dividends are nice but aren't the be-all-end-all: it really just depends on what you are looking for. It isn't "free money".
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Some pretty interesting perspectives. I only own 3 stocks. One is Autozone, which is my employer. I've been putting 10% of my check towards their stock for 7 years. I have a whole lot of shares, but the bottom could fall out tomorrow. I also sold some of that stock to buy Ford when it went down to $2.00 a share. The third stock I own is Churchill Downs Inc. which has stayed steady for quite a while. I have no plans on getting rich, but I have a pretty nice nest egg right now. It's all a gamble in the long run, but i'll ride the rollercoaster until I fall off.
steeler fan1
Member
I am by no means an expert. I use tdameritrade to do my trading. I have a few individual stocks, some money in mutual funds and some money in etfs.
I don't speculate, I invest in companies I'm fimilar with. There are no cash cows in the investment market. Do your research, the market fluctuates alot these days, don't panic. The old addage applies, buy low sell high:wink:.
Someone mentioned early on, don't invest more than you're prepared to lose. Good advice.
Carl
I don't speculate, I invest in companies I'm fimilar with. There are no cash cows in the investment market. Do your research, the market fluctuates alot these days, don't panic. The old addage applies, buy low sell high:wink:.
Someone mentioned early on, don't invest more than you're prepared to lose. Good advice.
Carl
Haynie
Member
There is an investing game for students, "The Stock Market Game". My sixth graders participated in the AZ competition in 2008. The competition is with fake money but that is all the fake there is. The rules are pretty stringent, no gambling, no shorting, but I had a team get away with it, and no stock under 5 bucks. It is supposed to teach wise investing. Considering how competitive these kids were you would think they were losing real money when something fell. I had 12 teams during the crash and all of them came out smelling like roses, three teams even placed. (the cool thing was it was not my honor students who placed, it was my "low" students) While the rest of the world was losing real money all but one of my teams made money. They did all research on google finance. The team that lost money panicked. The rest gritted their teeth and bought. As a teacher I had an account too and got my tail kicked. Playing a game like this is a great way to learn a lot about the stock market, without the pain.
By the way, the sixth grader secret to stock buying was buy what sixth graders and their mothers liked.
By the way, the sixth grader secret to stock buying was buy what sixth graders and their mothers liked.
I have to agree that you should only invest the amount of money you are most comfortable of losing. Because with this type of game, you could always go bankrupt at any moment, so you better be ready.
You should know when to go all in and when to get out. Looking at the trend, personally, I would sell it when I see a considerable movement already. Which means, the amount I am comfortable of gaining.
You should not wait for it to hit all time high, or you might get burned when it suddenly plummets.
You should know when to go all in and when to get out. Looking at the trend, personally, I would sell it when I see a considerable movement already. Which means, the amount I am comfortable of gaining.
You should not wait for it to hit all time high, or you might get burned when it suddenly plummets.
Pepsi and Coke
Both good stocks for the long haul....also check out IBM which has a long history of being good to investors and has what looks like a winning business plan for today. Take your time making your investments and look into the company, check out their products. Apple Computer has been on a ride for awhile but is trading at a BIG multiple of price to earnings so it could be risky. You don't need to pick stocks that are popular at the moment, look for companies that tend to do pretty well in both good times and bad.
$800 invested in Pepsi in 1966 is worth about $62,000 today and paying a dividend of around $2000 a year. It has had its ups and downs over the years but remember to buy stocks for the long haul.
Both good stocks for the long haul....also check out IBM which has a long history of being good to investors and has what looks like a winning business plan for today. Take your time making your investments and look into the company, check out their products. Apple Computer has been on a ride for awhile but is trading at a BIG multiple of price to earnings so it could be risky. You don't need to pick stocks that are popular at the moment, look for companies that tend to do pretty well in both good times and bad.
$800 invested in Pepsi in 1966 is worth about $62,000 today and paying a dividend of around $2000 a year. It has had its ups and downs over the years but remember to buy stocks for the long haul.
hewunch
Member
I do, through Mutual Funds. I see no point of investing in a single stock when I can for the same money invest in 200+ stocks and lower my risk. Just my take on it.