I am investing in shovels. They make digging the money holes in my back yard easier to dig. Besides, the value of a shovel can only go up from hear as inflation starts to rise.
(I am being cynical)
Remember a stock loss is still just a paper loss unless you sell...over the long haul the market has proved solid.
I’ve been steering away from stocks as well. Most of my investments are in mutual funds right now, some bonds, some higher risk stuff. I just recently got into an Emerging Markets fund and am also researching foreign bond funds.
Think Exchange Traded Funds (ETF): focus on Water, Agriculture, Energy, Emerging Markets.
I have Financial Planning background, (currently a mortgage consultant) and this is what I am doing with my own money: WAIT.
I will not sell anything now. Instead, I am buying, buying and buying!! Especially in Real Estate.
I have followed this contrarian approach for years and have always made a good profit from it AFTER economic down-swings. The most important thing is...be patient! This will not happen overnight.
I’m thinking of investing in petroleum jelly futures because I think the need for it is fixing to become quite dire.
I have liquidated common stocks and mutual funds to cash and the rest of my 'wealth' is tied up in super CDs and bonds.
The one that worries me is a 6.75% 'senior note' issued by Goldman-Sachs.
Any comments, anyone?
They are much cheaper than mutual funds with expenses, have similar levels of diversification, can be used to short or hedge a portfolio, and can be targeted to specific market sectors or countries.
They also trade like stocks, so you can get out quick, or use stop-loss orders. You can also buy options on them, or sell options with a covered call writing program to generate income while you wait out a market downturn.
PM me if you have more questions.
increase your cash position
open an e trade account
bookmark a few stocks that are undervalued
buy on a dip down
dont wait too long as a rally should be expected soon
a few stocks i am long on right now:
etfc
nvda
cpsl
have fun!
real estate.
when housing is low, you buy it.
inflation ALONE will take the prices up
guns and booze. In preparation for the zombie apocalypse, of course.
Sounds like you know pretty well how to invest. I too own stocks, and I am holding on to what I have, I have some good investments there. You never lose on Stocks til you sell, all of my stocks pay dividends too, at a higher rate than a savings account.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have had some gold investments, have that one covered personally. I don’t think it will come to that though, but at least it is comforting to know you have it.
I don’t do mutual funds.
You might be sure you have plenty of canned goods, and alternate heating sources for the winter. :-) And don’t forget the tissue paper and batteries.
I bought AIG on Monday.
I have a lot of diversification and on overall investments, even with the drop last week, I’ve only lost a couple of percent.
For stocks, I am moving more into core companies with good fundamentals, low (or no) debt, and good cash on hand, such as MSFT. Next week I may get back into GE, but wait until the panic regarding the stopping of the stock buyback to keep their AAA rating clears.
I just want to get the same deal as Jamie Gorelick did from Countrywide. Did anyones else see today’s Wall St. Journal?
Real estate because of the low housing prices. Have bought two small waterfront resorts in the past six months that I got for well under value. I’ll hold on to them and let the income from the business build my savings accounts. When the real estate values go back up, will consider selling them and making a profit. My bank also has a 6% checking account which I keep just below FDIC insurable limits.
I'm not necessarily recommending Southern Company...it's a little pricey right now, but there are a number of solid companies that have historically paid good dividends for decades. Part of your investment strategy should be to buy stock in two or three of those companies, put them in a dividend reinvestment plan and forget you have them for 30 years (other than reporting the income).
At least for now dividends are taxed at a lower rate than normal income. Also, you don't need to go through a broker and pay commissions. Dividend reinvestment plans allow you to purchase the stock directly from the company. I believe Motley Fool has a list of such companies.
I continue to buy Vanguard GNMA Bond Fund, Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, and the Hennessy Focus 30 Stock Fund. I have a long history of buying on bad news and I also have a long history of beating the market indexes and the professional money managers.
If your portfolio is fully invested and you don’t have cash to buy anything, then sell your one or two worst performing mutual funds or stocks over the last 12 months, and invest the proceeds in mutual funds (or diversified ETF’s) that are likely to emerge as “winners” as we work our way through the current financial crisis.
Keep taxes in mind in that, if possible, sell mutual funds/stocks that will produce a capital gain from within a tax deferred pension or IRA and sell mutual funds/stocks that will produce a capital loss from non-pension/retirement accounts so that you can use the capital loss on your tax return.
I do not recommend buying individual stocks unless you have sufficent asssets to diversify so that no single individual stock exceeds one to two percent of equity portion of your portfolio.
My 401k is down -22%. Come October first we have to make changes for the next quarter. I am not sure if I need to keep putting in or use what I was putting in 401k and pay on other things, like extra house payments.