Bought a bit of stock... opinions

[crimzy]

I would like to hear from people who are active in the market as I definitely am not. My $$ generally goes to bills, kids college funds, and fish tanks, (in that order). I am generally not active in stocks.
Anyway, based on the market dropping, I decided to put a few dollars from my IRA into stocks. I wanted to buy low, some relatively stable companies that wouldn't go under in the hopes that they are likely to appreciate as the market stabilizes. So I bought into Chase and GM. I do not plan on trading, just holding onto these for the indefinite future.
Any thoughts from those who know more than me???

 

[veni vidi vici]

I am considering doing the same with my Carpenters Union Pension Fund.I am planning on looking at some of my options that will be sound investments in the long term.I dont think investing into a financial institution is something i would consider at this time though.

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2785636
I am considering doing the same with my Carpenters Union Pension Fund.I am planning on looking at some of my options that will be sound investments in the long term.I dont think investing into a financial institution is something i would consider at this time though.
I hear ya... investing in the big 3 is probably a bit risky too. But Chase apparently is buying out some of the defunct financial institutions for pennies on the dollar and GM shares are less than $10 per for the first time in a looooong time. These were my thoughts.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2785638
I hear ya... investing in the big 3 is probably a bit risky too. But Chase apparently is buying out some of the defunct financial institutions for pennies on the dollar and GM shares are less than $10 per for the first time in a looooong time. These were my thoughts.
Everything is risky right now i think, so i guess you could look at it as high risk high reward and just hope for the best. Either way this is the kind of things we need to do to help in addition to the Trillion dollar investment we have already involuntarily made.

 

[stdreb27]

Now the companies I don't know, but if I were to buy stocks I'd buy companies that are "reorganizing" For instance while I was working for radioshack their stock hit a 12 dollar low. Around that point they got a new CEO and with his plan (a bit shady if you ask me) the stock went back up to about 37 dollars over the course of a few months. (it fell back down) I know several people who did this with american airlines. You just gotta pick one that isn't going to totally go belly up. ( I think the feds will bail out GM if it comes to that however)

 

[smartorl]

The market is always iffy but times like these are the times when the "little guy" can really, really make serious money, if they are willing to stick it out and don't panic. The truth is that depressions and recessions have the potential to make millionaires of the average man who had a little expendable money to play with. I also think that right now, you can overanylize the market, I would go more with your gut. Stick with companies that provide something that you think will be important and will stick around, companies that you know what they do and that people need their products and services. Good luck.

 

[kingsmith]

I fyou think it is a stabile company check the the stock price changes for year by year and over a large year period. Whats the lowest price whats the highest price where did you by in and with how much. Then you can see how much profit you could hypothetically make, second depending one how you would sell you want to consider when and how fast with online brokers you cannot always get a fast sell of all your stocks at the price you want. See what the usual sell in number of stocks is compare that to how much you have to get an idea of how long it might take to sell your stock.
Good Luck
Just Advice I am far from a professional(at least with the stock market)

 

[jdl]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2785633
I would like to hear from people who are active in the market as I definitely am not. My $$ generally goes to bills, kids college funds, and fish tanks, (in that order). I am generally not active in stocks.
Anyway, based on the market dropping, I decided to put a few dollars from my IRA into stocks. I wanted to buy low, some relatively stable companies that wouldn't go under in the hopes that they are likely to appreciate as the market stabilizes. So I bought into Chase and GM. I do not plan on trading, just holding onto these for the indefinite future.
Any thoughts from those who know more than me???
if you want to day trade, there are plenty of low dollar, high volume stocks that can net you +100 -100 in the blink of an eye. Put options are also a good posibility with the downturn of the market.
long term looks bleak right now. Put your money into a CD for 12+ months.

 

[bionicarm]

The market is very unstable right now. Even stable companies have stocks that are bouncing all over the place. I have family that's worked for Alcoa for years. I've always kept some of their stock because it floats in the $30's to low $40's. I bought a bunch last week when it was $26, thinking it was a good buy. Their stock is running around $14 to $15 today. However, I have a good feeling it'll climb back up. There's rumors Rio Tinto may put another bid in for them since the stock is so low right now. If that happens, Alcoa stock will get back into the $30's pretty quickly. But like Vegas, nothing is guaranteed in the stock market.

 

[reefraff]

I've bought some this week but every thing I am buying pays better than 5% dividends and I am in a position where I can sit on the stocks as long as it takes.
Buying good companies right now isn't a bad thing. You may not hit the bottom but it's surely going to be up from here at some point.
JPMorgan (chase) should be a good one. Not too sure about GM. I would maybe have looked at GE instead.

 

[sickboy]

I would assume you have a long time horizon until retirement (assumed from kids college fund comment), and now would be probably the best time to get into the market IMO. The market may go down some more, but that little loss isn't going matter when the market goes from 9,000 back up to 14K, so even if you are just invested in index funds (S&P, Russel, etc) you should make good money, but with the decreased risk goes decreased reward.
As far as individual companies, that gets a lot harder. A random walk down wall street talks about how you can beat the market by throwing a dart at the wall street journal, and a professor I had once proved this in a 5 month time period. He also beat the rest of the investments class and we went through and hand picked our stocks. So the notion to follow your gut is a good one. All the financial models can help, but they neglect emotion and other important variables.

 

[indyws6]

I, too, was wondering about GM stock. It closed below $5.00 yesterday. As bad as things look, though, I wonder if it is the time to buy. I could be (completely) wrong, but I can't see the government allowing GM to fail as a company. If things get too bad, it seems like there would be a "rescue" package which should, ultimately, take the stock back to a decent price. Let's say you invest $3,000 at $5.00/share and a year from now, the stock recovers to $10/share. That's a decent profit.
Does any of that make sense???

 

[bionicarm]

Originally Posted by indyws6
http:///forum/post/2788531
I, too, was wondering about GM stock. It closed below $5.00 yesterday. As bad as things look, though, I wonder if it is the time to buy. I could be (completely) wrong, but I can't see the government allowing GM to fail as a company. If things get too bad, it seems like there would be a "rescue" package which should, ultimately, take the stock back to a decent price. Let's say you invest $3,000 at $5.00/share and a year from now, the stock recovers to $10/share. That's a decent profit.
Does any of that make sense???
If they bail out GM, they'd have to bail out half of the other Fortune 500 companies. As of yesterday, Ford fell down 2.08, GM is at 4.76, Alcoa is at 12.46, GE is 19.01, .. all these stock have lost over half their value in the last two weeks. So why just bail out one company? Right now is a great time to buy, and an opportunity to make some big money on the market. The problem is, everyone is running scared. No one knows or wants to determine where the bottom is supposed to be. That's the key, knowing when to buy. If you can figure out that magical bottom, then you can make enough on your investments to hit that Retire Now button a lot sooner than later.

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by indyws6
http:///forum/post/2788531
I, too, was wondering about GM stock. It closed below $5.00 yesterday. As bad as things look, though, I wonder if it is the time to buy. I could be (completely) wrong, but I can't see the government allowing GM to fail as a company. If things get too bad, it seems like there would be a "rescue" package which should, ultimately, take the stock back to a decent price. Let's say you invest $3,000 at $5.00/share and a year from now, the stock recovers to $10/share. That's a decent profit.
Does any of that make sense???
There is actually a $25 billion bail out that has passed for the big 3. I don't have the link but do a search and you'll find the information.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2788565
There is actually a $25 billion bail out that has passed for the big 3. I don't have the link but do a search and you'll find the information.
25 billion wouldn't bail out GM, let alone all three.

 

[faqbch99]

I do not like the risk of betting in a single company, dont get me wrong i do ow several stocks of companies, but rather I like some of these Index ETF's. You are not buying 1 company but more like the sector. They trade like stocks but you are more protected if 1 company has issues.
http://finance.yahoo.com/etf
Here are some to look at: UGY, QQQQ, SDY, SPY
UltraShort Oil & Gas DUG <-- a bet on oil falling in price
Ultra Basic Materials UYM Dow Jones U.S. Basic MaterialsSM Index
Ultra Consumer Goods UGE Dow Jones U.S. Consumer GoodsSM Index
Ultra Consumer Services UCC Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services SM Index
Ultra Financials UYG Dow Jones U.S. FinancialsSM Index
Ultra Health Care RXL Dow Jones U.S. Health CareSM Index
Ultra Industrials UXI Dow Jones U.S. Industrials SMIndex
Ultra Oil & Gas DIG Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas SM Index
Ultra Real Estate URE Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate IndexSM
Ultra Semiconductors USD Dow Jones U.S. SemiconductorsSM Index
Ultra Technology ROM Dow Jones U.S. Technology SM Index
Ultra Telecommunications LTL Dow Jones U.S. Select Telecommunications
Ultra Utilities UPW Dow Jones U.S. Utilities SM Index
Good Luck, the bottom is near (I hope) and I am about the back the Bus up as well.

 

[crimzy]

I think I may just go the "September Madness" route and buy stock in the winner of my bracket...

JP Morgan Chase is my sleeper.

 

[sickboy]

That's awesome!!!!

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by faqbch99
http:///forum/post/2789481
I do not like the risk of betting in a single company, dont get me wrong i do ow several stocks of companies, but rather I like some of these Index ETF's. You are not buying 1 company but more like the sector. They trade like stocks but you are more protected if 1 company has issues.
http://finance.yahoo.com/etf
Here are some to look at: UGY, QQQQ, SDY, SPY
UltraShort Oil & Gas DUG <-- a bet on oil falling in price
Ultra Basic Materials UYM Dow Jones U.S. Basic MaterialsSM Index
Ultra Consumer Goods UGE Dow Jones U.S. Consumer GoodsSM Index
Ultra Consumer Services UCC Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services SM Index
Ultra Financials UYG Dow Jones U.S. FinancialsSM Index
Ultra Health Care RXL Dow Jones U.S. Health CareSM Index
Ultra Industrials UXI Dow Jones U.S. Industrials SMIndex
Ultra Oil & Gas DIG Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas SM Index
Ultra Real Estate URE Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate IndexSM
Ultra Semiconductors USD Dow Jones U.S. SemiconductorsSM Index
Ultra Technology ROM Dow Jones U.S. Technology SM Index
Ultra Telecommunications LTL Dow Jones U.S. Select Telecommunications
Ultra Utilities UPW Dow Jones U.S. Utilities SM Index
Good Luck, the bottom is near (I hope) and I am about the back the Bus up as well.
There are two rydex fund that are a play on the NASDAQ 100. One is a long play, one is short. A buddy of mine manages his dad's 401K and made better than 600,000.00 (they are playing with a little over a million to start) in the last 40 days or so. The funds are leveraged so you get about double the gain (or loss) of the NASDAQ 100 index.
One is the short RYVNX the long is RYVYX I made a little quick money in the short fund a couple months ago but didn't jump back in when my buddy did

I will be buying the long fund when the market hits bottom.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/2789735
I think I may just go the "September Madness" route and buy stock in the winner of my bracket...

JP Morgan Chase is my sleeper.

Too cool. When my bank's stock took a huge hit a few months ago we moved our accounts to chase. Wish I would have bought stock at that time too.